Shadi Fadda brings us today's headlines relating to Palestine and other news from around the internet.
Land Theft and Settlements
Palestinian official: Israel to demolish 900 houses in Jerusalem
RAMALLAH, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- Israel plans to demolish 900 Palestinian houses in Jerusalem, a Palestinian official warned on Wednesday. "The plan was given to a private firm to demolish the houses and building housing units and settlements in the Old City in Jerusalem," said Hatem Abdul-Qader, Jerusalem affairs' commissioner in President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/
The establishment and expansion plans of the Ma'ale Adummim settlement
Ma'ale Adummim is the largest Israeli settlement in its jurisdictional area (some 4,800 hectares) and the third largest in population size, after the ultra-Orthodox settlements of Beitar Illit and Modi'in Illit. Its city limits, which include the city's neighborhoods and the Mishor Adummim Industrial Zone, encompass a vast swath of land deep in the West Bank. Many Israelis consider Ma'ale Adummim an Israeli city that will remain under Israeli control in any final-status agreement reached with the Palestinians.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/
ARIJ Report On Increased Israeli Violations Against Palestinian Homes in Jerusalem
The Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem (ARIJ), reported that the Israeli occupation increased its violations against the Palestinians and in Jerusalem by forcing them out of their homes, internally displacing them and demolishing their homes.
http://www.imemc.org/index.
Activism/Solidarity/Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment
This has to be seen to be believed: Bil’in leader charged with arms possession, Adam Horowitz
Abdallah Abu Rahmah, a leader of the weekly nonviolent protests in Bil’in, has finally been charged after being arrested nearly two weeks ago by the Israeli military. Abu Rahmah’s arrest has been part on an ongoing Israeli campaign against Palestinian nonviolent resistance leaders. The charges against him could not be more creative. From a Popular Struggle Coordination Committee press released.
http://mondoweiss.net/2009/12/
Display of used tear gas canisters shot by the army earns Bil’in activist an arms charge in Israeli military court
Abdallah Abu Rahmah, a school teacher and coordinator of the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall, was indicted in an Israeli military court yesterday. Abu Rahmah was slapped with an arms possession charge for collecting used tear gas canisters shot at demonstrators in Bil’in by the army and showcasing them in his home.
http://palsolidarity.org/2009/
Danger: Popular struggle, Amira Hass
There is an internal document that has not been leaked, or perhaps has not even been written, but all the forces are acting according to its inspiration: the Shin Bet, Israel Defense Forces, Border Police, police, and civil and military judges. They have found the true enemy who refuses to whither away: The popular struggle against the occupation. Over the past few months, the efforts to suppress the struggle have increased. The target: Palestinians and Jewish Israelis unwilling to give up their right to resist reign of demographic separation and Jewish supremacy. The means: Dispersing demonstrations with live ammunition, late-night army raids and mass arrests. Since the beginning of the year, 29 Palestinians have been wounded by IDF snipers while demonstrating against the separation fence. The snipers fired expanding bullets, despite an explicit 2001 order from the Military Adjutant General not to use such ammunition to break up demonstrations. After soldiers killed A'kel Srour in June, the shooting stopped, but then resumed in November.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Breaking Palestine's peaceful protest | Neve Gordon
Palestinians have a long history of nonviolent resistance but Israel has continuously deployed methods to destroy it. "Why," I have often been asked, "haven't the Palestinians established a peace movement like the Israeli Peace Now? "The question itself is problematic, being based on many erroneous assumptions, such as the notion that there is symmetry between the two sides and that Peace Now has been a politically effective movement. Most important, though, is the false supposition that Palestinians have indeed failed to create a pro-peace popular movement.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
News From The Viva Palestina Humanitarian Aid Convoy: Video
mms://217.218.67.244/presstv/
Why I want to march in Gaza
On 29 December, I will attempt to cross into the Gaza Strip along with 1,300 other peace and justice activists from 43 countries. Some of us have traveled to Gaza previously. It will be my third visit since the Israeli invasion, which destroyed or damaged more than 50,000 homes and 90 percent of private industry. Pam Rasmussen comments for The Electronic Intifada.
http://electronicintifada.net/
Violence and Aggression/Detainees
Settlers attack Palestinian family in Sheikh Jarrah
Another settler attack on a family in Sheikh Jarrah on Monday 21 December leaves the family with two broken windows and fear of future attacks. After dark on Monday 21 December 2009 a group of around 40 settlers gathered outside the Ftyaney family house. At about 7pm the settlers began throwing stones at the windows of the Ftyaney home. They then threatened the mother of the family who was at home with her three daughters.
http://palsolidarity.org/2009/
IOF Detains 6 Palestinians
December 23, 2009 (Pal Telegraph) - The Israeli occupation forces continued their arresting and raiding attacks in West Bank governorates. Today morning, they detained 6 Palestinians. Israeli sources clarified that Israeli occupation forces raided different governorates in West Bank. After they had invaded the citizens' houses, they arrested number of them and transferred them to investigation centers. They claimed that the detained citizens are "wanted".
http://www.paltelegraph.com/
Refugees
Palestinian refugees in Jordan stuck in a no man's land
AMMAN (IPS) - According to the records of the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), Jordan is home to 1.9 million displaced Palestinians. "Jordan hosts about 42 percent of the total refugee population," says Mattar Sakr, director of public relations for UNRWA in Jordan. Sakr adds that most refugees reside in 13 camps, three of them considered unofficial dwellings because they were not assigned by the government.
http://electronicintifada.net/
UN gives mud brick huts to Gaza war homeless (AFP)
AFP - When the UN officials gave Majid Asamna the keys to his new mud-brick home they told him it was just a temporary replacement for the house the Israelis demolished nearly a year ago.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
Feature: Homeless Gazans live in bleak camp one year after war
BEIT LAHIA, Gaza Strip, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- Grief could be easily seen in his eyes when Marwan al-Attar, a 55-year-old resident of Biet Lahiya town in northern Gaza Strip spoke about his camp life. Al-Attar and his family, as well as thousands of Palestinian families in the impoverished coastal enclave, had their homes destroyed and demolished during a 22-day Israeli offensive that ended on January 18.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/
Humanitarian Issues/Human Rights/Siege
Testimony: Israel prevents Gaza Christian and his Bethlehem fiancée from marrying, December 2009
I live with my sister in the Tel al-Hawa section of Gaza. For 15 years, I’ve had a clothing store in the center of the city. I am Christian, and every Christmas and Easter I go with people from the Christian community in the city to the Church of the Nativity, in Bethlehem, to pray and take part in the festivities. The church in Gaza arranges our trip through the Palestinian civilian liaison office, which requests Israeli officials to issue us the relevant permits. We go via Erez Checkpoint to Bethlehem, pray, visit the holy places, participate in ceremonies, stay a few days to visit relatives and friends, and then return to Gaza. It calms me and makes me happy. The trip also breaks my high-pressure and exhausting daily routine. It is like a trip in a quiet and healthy atmosphere.
http://www.btselem.org/
Gaza underground on schedule to beat Egypt's wall
RAFAH // Ismail Atallah could not hide his disgust. With both hands he squeezed an imaginary throat in front of him.
Image“This is what they are trying to do,” he said. “They want to strangle us. The blood of 1.5 million people means nothing to the Egyptians.” Mr Atallah, 45, an unemployed labourer, was condemning a steel wall that Egypt is constructing on its side of the Rafah border to Gaza. The construction will see a wall some 40 centimetres thick and 25 metres deep erected across the entire 10 kilometre border of Gaza and Egypt in an effort to block the hundreds of smuggling tunnels that run under it.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.
Court rejects claims of Palestinians who say daughter was killed by IDF
The Nazareth District Court rejected a claim filed by the family of a seven-year-old Palestinian girl who they said was shot dead by IDF fire. The girl was killed in March 2006 in the West Bank village of Yamoun. Justice Yitzhak Cohen ruled that "this was a painful tragedy" but added that the prosecution was not successful in proving that the child's death was a result of IDF fire.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Gaza One Year Later
Long Live Gaza: Remembering one year since the massacre
One year ago, Israel launched 'Operation Cast Lead' - intense and unprecedented attacks on the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip. The war crimes of this assault are part of a wider context: the continuing illegal blockade as well as Israel's apartheid system of control of the Palestinians. Learn the facts - then act.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Arabs in the Service of Israel
Abbas: I prevented intifada during Gaza war
Bethlehem – Ma’an – President Mahmoud Abbas said in an interview published on Tuesday that he stopped a third Palestinian intifada from occurring during the Israeli offensive against Gaza last winter. Speaking to New York’s Wall Street Journal, Abbas also said he would not allow another uprising to take place as long as he stays in office.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/
Political Developments
Report: Israel refuses release of 7 prisoners
Al-Hayat newspaper reports Marwan Barghouti, Ahmad Saadat and five Hamas military wing officials holding up prisoner exchange deal. In addition, Israel demands over 100 released prisoners be banned from returning to West Bank.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Hamas official: We won't agree to exile prisoners in Shalit swap
A senior Hamas official on Tuesday said the Islamist group would refuse to allow the exile of prisoners released in the deal to free abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Poll shows 52% of Israelis would pay 'any price' for Shalit
A majority of Israelis believe "any price" must be paid to restore prisoners in enemy hands to their families. A survey carried out by the Truman Institute at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Public Opinion in Ramallah showed that 52 percent of Israelis support this view., Advertisement, However, 35 percent of Israelis maintained that terrorists responsible for the deaths of Israelis should not be released., Some 58 percent also support the release of Arab Israelis in exchange for Gilad Shalit.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Aluf Benn / Is it easier to divide Jerusalem or free terrorists? ,Aluf Benn
What is more important for Israel's security? Bombing a nuclear reactor, or bringing home a single soldier being held prisoner? Going to war, or the future address of Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for a prisoner? Setting the borders of the state, or the imprisonment of senior terrorists? The theoretical answer is clear: Decisions about war and peace are more important than the exchange of prisoners. But in reality the attitude is precisely the opposite. It is much easier for a prime minister to divide Jerusalem or destroy Beirut than agree to the release of 10 serious Palestinian terrorists to the West Bank in exchange for the return of Gilad Shalit from the Gaza Strip. More than for any other political or security-related decision, the discussions on prisoner exchange deals lead politicians to share their troubles with the public, as if they were elected to whine, not to lead.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Other News
Palestinians celebrate Arab film at Gaza festival
Last Thursday marked the end of a one-week film festival in Gaza City. The Palestinian Film Forum, an independent Palestinian community organization, sponsored the event with 33 films produced in six Arab Gulf states. Rami Almeghari reports from the occupied Gaza Strip.
http://electronicintifada.net/
British Muslims slam U.K. pledge to end arrest threats against Israelis
Britain's flagship Muslim organization on Wednesday attacked a government pledge to reform a war crimes law used to try to arrest visiting Israeli dignitaries, saying the move could hurt Britain's image in the Middle East.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Palestinians say Bethlehem wall spoils Christmas (Reuters)
Reuters - Christian visitors coming to Bethlehem this week to celebrate the birth of Christ will encounter a concrete wall with watchtowers, built by Israel between nearby Jerusalem and the Church of the Nativity.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
2 Border Guards suspected of assault
Two officers stationed in Eilat arrested for allegedly assaulting, robbing Sudanese resident. Internal Affairs Bureau probing.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Analysis/Op-ed/Human Interest
Oh just imagine if the Palestinian resistance movement were happening in Iran!, Philip Weiss
Imagine if the Palestinian resistance movement were taking place in Iran! Dashing Mohammad Othman now rotting in detention would be a global cause. The middle-of-the-night arrest of Abdallah Abu Rahmah would be on the Nightly News. The New York Times would tell the stories of international freedom riders, the Gaza Freedom March, and the role of Twitter in the resistance.
http://mondoweiss.net/2009/12/
Bethlehem's modern nativity scene – crib, wise men and separation wall
Israel's security barrier, complete with looming watchtowers, has found its way into the nativity scenes on sale to tourists. The shelves of Bethlehem's tourist shops this winter are filled with the gifts you might expect. There are countless carved olive-wood crucifixes, angels and last suppers. But there are also unexpected nativity scenes complete with Joseph, Mary, crib, wise men and large Israeli concrete wall with military watchtower.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Iraq
Explosions target Shiite worshippers, church in Iraq
BAGHDAD, Dec 23 (KUNA) -- Six people were killed in two separate explosions in Iraq on Wednesday, police said.
A police source told KUNA explosives went off close to a crowd of Muslim Shiites who were holding a service marking the religious occasion, Ashoura, in the district of Al-Mashtal in eastern sector of the capital. The blast killed three people and wounded 28 others. The casualties were whisked to hospitals. Meanwhile in the northern city of Mosul, three civilians were killed and five others were wounded in a blast near a church of the Chrisitian Syriatic community in the center of the city. Four churches and a convent were attacked in Mosul over the past six weeks. Gunmen killed five Christians and kidnapped others, seeking ransom.
http://www.kuna.net.kw/
Iraq election candidate killed in 'sticky bomb' attack (AFP)
AFP - A Sunni Arab candidate for Iraqi parliamentary elections was killed in a bombing on Wednesday, the first such killing ahead of the March 7 polls, police said.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
Tuesday: 3 Iraqis Killed, 13 Wounded
At least three Iraqis were killed and 13 more were wounded in light violence. Iran maintained a dominant place in Iraqi headlines by offering a conciliatory explanation of its recent incursion into Iraqi territory and speaking on the fate of three American hikers who traveled in the opposite direction.
http://original.antiwar.com/
Iraq boosts security for Shiite festival
KARBALA, Iraq, Dec 23, 2009 (AFP) - Nearly 50,000 soldiers and policemen will deploy to Iraq's central shrine cities of Karbala and Najaf this weekend to boost security for a major Shiite festival, army and police commanders said.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/
Poor conditions in Iraq drive returned refugees back to Syria
DAMASCUS, Syria, December 21 (UNHCR) – Omar Salman's* Syrian visa expired two weeks ago. A refugee from neighbouring Iraq, he believes his family's residency permits will not be renewed but says that returning to Iraq is not an option. Travelling to Jordan, which also hosts a significant number of Iraqi refugees, is also not possible. After overstaying his visa in 2006, he has been barred from entering the country for another five years.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/
Treasury sanctions Iraq-based insurgent group (Reuters)
Reuters - The U.S. Treasury on Tuesday imposed sanctions on an Iraq-based insurgent group that it said threatened the peace and stabilization efforts in Iraq.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/
Lebanon
Lebanese Army Arrests Suspected Syrian Bus Shooter
23/12/2009 The Lebanese army has arrested the man suspected of opening fire on a Syrian bus in northern Lebanon this week and killing a 17-year-old laborer. The man had "confessed under interrogation that he had personal motivations" for Monday's attack, an army spokesman said. Reports said that the man is called Shawqi al-Nazer and investigators were looking into his nationality and background. The suspect opened fire on the bus carrying Syrian laborers as it traveled near an army checkpoint in Deir Emar on the Tripoli-Akkar highway at dawn Monday.
http://almanar.com.lb/
Nasrallah's call to psychological war
The 10-day period of Ashura, in this modern age, is one in which leaders of the Shiite community have ample opportunities and means to address the general public, whether about the past, present or future.The leader of Hizbullah has used this year's Ashura season to advocate a "psychological war" against Israel. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
Phalange will enter Constitutional Court plea to contest Resistance arms
The debate over the weapons of the Resistance, as well as Lebanese-Syrian relations re-emerged Tuesday as the Phalange Party said it would contest the legitimacy of article six of the Cabinet policy before the Constitutional Council. Hizbullah meanwhile said the Resistance's legitimacy necessitated no party's approval.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
Punishing Al-Manar, Al-Aqsa: Another Proof of US Democracy!
21/12/2009 Democracy and Freedom of Expression are two "slogans" that have always been used by the United States in its "campaign" against the Arab world. Yet, democracy and freedom of expression seem to be just another American "illusion" and "fantasy." As a matter of fact, the American democracy doesn't find it strange to punish and shut down a complete TV station just because it criticizes the American policy in the region… Thus, Al-Manar and Al-Aqsa TVs seem to be 'threatened' by the American prominent 'democracy,' a democracy that doesn't hesitate to punish complete satellite networks because of their 'opinions' in a country that claims to be the protector of the 'freedom of expression'.
http://www.almanar.com.lb/
U.S. and other world news
Think-tank: U.S. will sideline Israel in Iran nuclear dispute
Israel will find itself diplomatically sidelined and militarily muzzled as the United States pursues a nuclear deal with Iran next year, according to a closed-door wargame at Israel's top strategic think-tank.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Taliban claim control of over 80pc of Afghanistan
He said the US and its allies had invaded their country, with a claim to make it prosperous and developed. “Instead, they turned Afghanistan into ruins. Thousands of Afghans were killed and their houses bombed in the name of the war on terror.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_
Inside Story - Human development in the Arab world - 22 Dec 09
Oil-rich countries in the arab world must do MORE to help their poor neighbours, a United Nations report has recommended. But why should they? And what exactly can they do to help? What are the risks for the Gulf states?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Syria-Turkey co-operation brings economic opportunity - 23 Dec 09
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, is expected to sign a landmark trade deal with Syria in Damascus later on Wednesday. Five years after the two countries signed a free trade agreement, trade volume has reached nearly $2bn a year. Officials are now aiming to double that figure. Rula Amin reports on the growing presence of Turkish business in Syria.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Sami Moubayed, "The Grace of Damascus"
Hariri's visit is a confidence booster for Syria's allies in Lebanon, mainly Hezbollah. The arms of Hezbollah will not be touched, as clearly stated by Hariri's Cabinet policy statement, and on the contrary, the Lebanese state will work to protect and embrace the Lebanese resistance -- even if another war breaks out with Israel, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been threatening for months. . . . Domestically, the Hariri Cabinet is expected to do wonders for Lebanon since regional heavyweights like Syria, Iran, and Saudi Arabia all want it to succeed. . . . Reportedly, shortly after Hariri's visit to Syria, Hassan Nasrallah will be visiting Saudi Arabia. If the Saudis embrace Nasrallah as much as the Syrians embraced Hariri, a perfect friendship -- if the word applies -- would surface on all three fronts, making it increasingly difficult for Israel to create problems.
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.
Muslims as Model Minority?
Racism Review has an excellent post up right now about the western worldview presented in the recent Gallup press book, Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think. (by John Esposito and Dalia Mogahed, who must be Gallup’s token Muslim). The book is interesting, as it, at first glance, seems to be an innocuous presentation of an alternative view–alternative to the typical Islamphobia–of Muslims, in comparison to the western media.
http://www.kabobfest.com/2009/
Modern Day Slavery in Mexico and the United States
Human trafficking is the fastest growing illegal industry in the world and, by 2010, it is predicted to surpass the illicit drug trade, which will make it the world’s largest criminal activity.
http://www.coha.org/modern-
www.TheHeadlines.org
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