At approximately 9:30pm on Monday 1st December, Israeli Special Forces entered Balata refugee camp in Nablus and arrested 28 year old Mohammad Kamal Abu Thraa-an ex-freedom fighter who had been granted amnesty by Israeli authorities in exchange for serving time in Palestinian prison. Two hours later he was pronounced dead from gunshot wounds.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/
Brothers, 15 and 17 years old, killed in an Israeli air strike in southern Gaza
Palestinian medical sources in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip reported on Tuesday afternoon that two brothers were killed and at least two residents were wounded when the Israeli air force fired one missile at a group of Palestinians near the Gaza International Airport, in Rafah.
http://www.imemc.org/article/
Jerusalem: Arab stabbed near Meah Shearim
Arab resident of east Jerusalem suffers serious injuries after being stabbed three times in the back, near capital's Mandelbaum Gate. Man claims he was attacked by Jews.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Palestinian journalist stoned by Israeli settlers
A Palestinian journalist was stoned by Israeli settlers in Hebron on Tuesday. The victim, Amer Abdeen, a 28-year-old photojournalist for Palmedia, was also shot by Israeli forces last year. The Palestinian Ministry of Information condemned the repeated attacks on Palestinian journalists and media in the Palestinian territories, calling the attacks an attempt to impose a media blackout and portray the Israeli attacks and settler's crimes in ways against the Palestinian people.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Israeli settlers violently attack Israeli soldiers, Palestinian residents, in Hebron
Extreme Israeli settlers are still refusing to evacuate the Palestinian house they illegally occupied and dubbed it as "the house of contention" in the southern West Bank city of Hebron. On Tuesday, the settlers clashed with dozens of Palestinian residents, Israeli soldiers and policemen; several injuries were reported, Israeli Ynet News reported. Settler leaders insist on remaining in the house and threaten further violence.
http://www.imemc.org/article/
Maan: House set ablaze as settlers continue Hebron riots
Hebron – Israeli settlers set fire to a Palestinian house in the West Bank city of Hebron on Wednesday, continuing two weeks of violence. On Tuesday, hundreds of Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians in the West Bank city of Hebron on Monday night and Tuesday, throwing stones and beating residents with clubs while Israeli soldiers and police looked on.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/
hebron-riots/
Israeli forces stand by as ultra-nationalist Jewish settlers go on rampage in Hebron
HEBRON, Occupied West Bank: At least 13 Palestinians and one Israeli were wounded on Tuesday as ultra-nationalist Israelis went on the rampage in the Occupied West Bank city of Hebron, clashing with residents and Israeli security forces. The Israeli rioting broke out as rumors spread that security forces were set to evict 100 Jewish settlers from an occupied house the Israeli high court has ordered evacuated.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
Palestinians assess damage as settlers rampage throughout northern West Bank
On the evening of December 1st and the morning of December 2nd, hundreds of Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian homes and cars, burnt Palestinian property, desecrated mosques, intimidated Palestinian residents while insulting Islam.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/
-throughout-northern-west-
Hamas: The PA-Israeli coordination emboldened the settlers against WB people
Hamas stated that security coordination between the PA and Israel in the West Bank cities gave the Israeli settlers the opportunity to escalate their wild assaults on the Palestinian people there.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
ANALYSIS /Why hasn't Israel evacuated the Hebron house yet?
It is hard to understand why the order to forcibly evict settlers from the so-called House of Contention has still not been given. After all, the state announced its intention to evacuate the house more than two weeks ago, following the High Court of Justice's ruling on the subject. This week, after studying the issue, the Justice Ministry concluded that barring "weighty reasons" for postponement, Defense Minister Ehud Barak must order the evacuation within 30 days of the court's decision, meaning by December 15.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
IDF: Hebron violence shames us as Jews
Senior military officer launches harshly-worded assault on behavior of right-wing extremists in case of disputed West Bank house slated for eviction. Meanwhile army decides to deploy special Border Guard force to isolate, secure area.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
'Hebron struggle is justified, we won't restrain our youths'
Settler leader Daniela Weiss refuses to denounce violence surrounding disputed house, claims tensions would abate if state accepts Jewish ownership of property. Until then, she says, 'We're not Christians, we won't turn the other cheek.' As of tonight Border Guard troops will deploy in the area as part of recalibrated effort to curtail riots.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Renegade Chabad rabbi 'right of Kahane' plans run for Knesset
Meet Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpe, head of the World Headquarters to Save the People and Land of Israel (SOS Israel), director of the Chabad educational institutions in Kiryat Gat, author of more than 40 books on a wide range of topics in rabbinical law and Torah and the man who a few days ago said that "the state of Israel is the enemy of the Jewish people," before softening his stance a bit. He is further to the right than the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, a person who thinks Ariel Sharon is "Haman" and a "false Messiah" and that the foreign minister is "the second Isabella," perhaps the successor to the first Isabella, who is credited with the Inquisition and the expulsion of Jews from Spain.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Samu`a and Asa`el
It`s cold in the South Hebron hills in late November; I`d forgotten. Gray day, dark cloud, a hint of rain; the rocks and thistles on the slopes are a somber brown. Beautiful beyond description—but there are dark memories too; on just such a winter day we were once fiercely attacked by settlers, a few miles to the east, near Twaneh. Some of our people were hurt; miraculously, no one was killed. That time, like today, we had come for the plowing, since the only hope that our Palestinian friends could plow their fields lay in our presence beside them, or between them and their settlers. I can`t help wondering if something bad might happen today.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_ file.asp?num=30291
Israeli military detains a dozen Palestinian residents in the West Bank
On Wednesday, Israeli military detained 14 Palestinian residents from various West Bank cities, including Jenin and Bethlehem.
http://www.imemc.org/article/
Israel convicts top Palestinian
Dweik was the most senior Hamas member arrested by Israel in 2006. An Israeli military court has convicted the Speaker of the Palestinian parliament of being a member and officer of an illegal organisation.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
Hamas security frees three reporters in Gaza
Hamas security forces freed three Palestinian journalists on Wednesday whom they had arrested last month and accused of fabricating news critical of the Islamist group, officials said. The journalists worked in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip for the Palestine Press, a local news agency with ties to the group's main rival, President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction.
http://www.alertnet.org/
Israel starts to realize it's too easy to jail Palestinians without trial
The supposedly legal procedure known as "administrative detention" is meant, as everyone knows, to save the security forces from having to reveal to the accused the evidence against them, and from having to face their attorneys in court. For years it was customary for the commander of the Israel Defense Forces in the West Bank to peruse confidential material and sign an order for six months of administrative detention. In many cases, orders were extended over a number of years.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Bethlehem communion wine stopped at checkpoint
Bethlehem-Ma'an-Israeli soldiers at the Hebron checkpoint are refusing entry to trucks carrying Bethlehem Cremsian holy altar wine and communion wine to be shipped domestically and internationally for Christmas religious ceremonies. In justifying the embargo, which has been going on for the last five weeks, Israeli soldiers said the wine constitutes "a security risk."
http://www.maannews.net/en/
More than 200 protest Israeli waste dump at Deir Sharaf
On 2nd December, more than 200 Palestinian, international and Israeli activists marched to the Palestinian lands on which Israeli settlers are preparing to dump solid waste.
http://www.palsolidarity.org/
Gaza Border Crossings are closed for 27th consecutive day
PCHR Demands International Community Intervenes to end Israeli Collective Punishment of Civilian Population of Gaza. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) is gravely concerned about the continuing closure of border crossings into the Gaza Strip, which have now been sealed by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) for 27 consecutive days. This current and unprecedented closure of Gaza is inflicting severe collective punishment on the entire civilian population, in total violation of international humanitarian and human rights law. PCHR demands the international community intervenes to end these latest acts of collective punishment being imposed on Palestinian civilians by Israel.
http://www.pchrgaza.ps/files/
UNRWA: Gaza situation is 'embarrassment for the world'
"The world should be embarrassed" when it sees the deteriorating living situation in the Gaza Strip, UNRWA Director of Operations in the Gaza Strip asserted at a conference on Wednesday. The conference which adopted the slogan "Hand in hand towards unified Palestine" was held in Gaza City under the supervision of the Catholic Relief Services and the Federation of Youth Foundations.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
POLITICS: U.N. Assembly Head Hailed for Blasting Israel
The president of the General Assembly, Father Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, dropped a political bombshell last week when he lashed out at Israel for its repressive actions in the occupied territories, including the recent blockade of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news. asp?idnews=44949
OPT: Siege-Even fishing is a crime
"On the deck of an Israeli naval gunship: 15 Palestinian fishermen of the Gaza Strip stripped down to their underwear, forced on their knees, heads hooded, hands tied behind their backs and chains around their ankles; this for the 50km it took to reach the first Israeli port and prison", said to MISNA the Italian human rights activist Vittorio Arrigoni, in describing the first punishment inflicted on a group of fishermen that onboard three fishing boats were blocked on November 18 off the coast of the Gaza Strip. Vittorio Arrigoni was onboard the fishing boats along with the American Darlene Wallach and Scottish Andrew Muncie, who after being detained for a few days were expelled. "I had fallen into the water hit by a taser used by an Israeli soldier. We foreigners were then brought under cover, while the Palestinian fishermen faced the worst fate: naked, chained for 50km and exposed to the freezing winds of this season. But what occurred is unfortunately normal practice, as also testified by the many scars of these fishermen from years of water cannons, machine gunfire and abuse that not always can be avoided".
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/
Rights org: Gaza flour stocks sufficent for less than three more days
On the 27th consecutive day of closure, the Gaza power plant has been forced to shut down due to lack of fuel, and Gazans are now totally dependent on electricity generated from Israel, and to a lesser extent, Egypt. There are also chronic severe shortages of domestic cooking gas. Regarding essential food items, IOF have not permitted any consignments of flour to enter the Gaza Strip for one week, and current stocks are sufficient for just less than three days.
http://electronicintifada.net/
ISRAEL-OPT: How Gaza gets power-analysis
Gaza's sole power station supplies about 30 percent of Gaza's electricity; 10 lines from Israel supply about 62 percent; and two lines from Egypt about 8 percent.
http://www.irinnews.org/
Palestinian government says Israel not allowing funds into Gaza
Acting Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad strongly criticized Israel Tuesday, saying Israel has blocked cash transfers into the Gaza Strip, meaning thousands of public employees will not be able to get their salaries on Wednesday.
http://www.earthtimes.org/
-funds-into-gaza.html
OPEC Fund donates $3 million to UNRWA for Gaza emergency
The Vienna-based OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) has announced that it will donate $3 million to UNRWA to help the Agency cope with the emergency in Gaza. The announcement, made on the Day of International Solidarity with the Palestinian People, 28 November, said that the donation was for food aid and medicines.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/
Smuggled Egyptian goods dominate Gaza Strip markets
In advance of the annual Muslim Eid Al-Adha celebrations, Palestinian shoppers in Gaza Strip markets are finding that the majority of available goods for this year's festivities are Egyptian, according to a Ma'an investigation. As a result of the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip in recent weeks, Palestinians' choices for Eid are limited to whatever was smuggled underground from Egypt recently, residents say. Ma'an's investigation team toured Gazan markets, where they discovered that Egyptian products are plentiful, but that Palestinian and Israeli goods are almost nonexistent.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
OPT: Siege-International protests, Israeli raid
At least two Palestinians, aged 17 and 15 years, were killed and others wounded after an Israeli air force attack near Rafah, in southern Gaza. Local medical sources said that the two victims were both civilians. The aerial attack was preceded by an incursion of tanks in the airport area, engaging in a battle with Armed Palestinians who tried to slow the advance of the armored vehicles in the area. Meanwhile, the Association of International Aid Agencies (AIDA), today, a conglomerate of NGO's operating in the territory, has denounced in a communiqué "the unprecedented refusal to allow any humanitarian aid in Gaza".
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/
Blockade-busting voyages to Gaza planned from Qatar, Israel, Yemen, Cyprus, Jordan
A series of ships sailing Qatar, Israel, Yemen, and Cyprus, and Jordan will challenge the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip over the next two months, said Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) Jamal Al-Khudari on Tuesday. On Friday a ship sailing from Qatar is scheduled to make landfall in Gaza. On Saturday, a ship sailing from Haifa, in northern Israel will reach Gaza carrying five tons of humanitarian aid, including medicine, said Al-Khudari, who is the leader of the Popular Committee Against the Siege of Gaza.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Israeli-Arabs say they'll go to Gaza by boat
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip: Leaders of Israel's Arab community say they'll head to Gaza on a boat laden with humanitarian aid to defy their government's blockade of the territory. Zahi Nujeidat, a spokesman for Israel's Islamic Movement, said dozens of Arab Israelis will set sail Sunday from the Israeli port of Jaffa. It is the first such aid shipment sent from Israel.
http://www.iht.com/articles/
El Khodary: Al Marwa ship is still in regional waters, insists to reach Gaza
Independent Palestinian Legislator, head of the Popular Committee Against the Siege (PCAS), Jamal El Khodary, stated on Tuesday that the Libyan ship (Al Marwa) is still in the regional waters after being intercepted by the Israeli Navy, and is still attempting to reach Gaza to deliver the humanitarian supplies it carries.
http://www.imemc.org/article/
Bashour: There are efforts to send a Lebanese relief ship to Gaza
Maan Bashour, a noted Lebanese activist, revealed that there are contacts underway to send a Lebanese humanitarian ship to Gaza, describing the siege as the blockade of enemy and friend.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
Ship hired by Jordan Islamists to sail to Gaza December 20
A group of Jordanian Islamists will set sail for the Gaza Strip from the Jordanian port of Aqaba on December 20 with the aim of breaking the siege of the Palestinian territory, the leader of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood movement announced Tuesday. The decision was announced at a press conference attended by leaders of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood movement and its political arm, the Islamic Action Front (IAF).
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
European campaign organizes sit-ins before Egyptian embassies in Europe
The European campaign to lift the siege on Gaza has announced that it would organize sit-ins before Egyptian embassies next Saturday to demand opening the Rafah border terminal with Gaza.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
Israel Warning to Gaza Blockade-Busters
The Israeli navy prevented on Monday, December 1, a Libyan aid ship from sailing into Gaza, sending a clear warning to Arabs not to try to break its long-running suffocating siege of the impoverished territory. "Israel does not want the Libyan ship to be the first episode in a series of Arab support ships to Gaza," Adnan Abu-Amer, a Palestinian analyst, told IslamOnline.net. Israeli warships earlier in the day prevented the Libyan cargo vessel Al-Marwa, laden with 3,000 tones of urgently-needed aid, from sailing into the Gaza Strip.
http://palestinechronicle.com/
Gazans recount trials as they await solutions
Abu Mazen, a 63-year-old farmer and father of six in Gaza, has been waiting his entire life to make the holy pilgrimage to Mecca, or hajj, a journey Muslims are required to make once in their life. This year he won the visa lottery and was to leave for Saudi Arabia this weekend. "I have been dreaming of performing hajj for four years. Every year I enter the draw and my name does not come up. This year I was selected," he told AlArabiya.net. He sold his wife's gold to collect enough money to make the trip.
http://www.alarabiya.net/
Hajj in exchange for power, By Amira Hass
As it does every year, Saudi Arabia has set quotas for how many pilgrims to Mecca each country (or in this case, the West Bank and Gaza) can send for Id al-Adha, which takes place on December 8 this year. The quota for the West Bank and Gaza is 8,000 pilgrims-5,000 from the West Bank and 3,000 from Gaza. Until this year the registration process (and the lottery for the many registrants) took place separately in each of the two areas: West Bank religious affairs (Waqf) officials registered and conducted the lottery for Palestinians in the West Bank, and Gaza Waqf officials did the same for Palestinians in the Strip. But this summer, the Ramallah Waqf Minister Sheikh Jamal Mohammed Bawatneh struck an agreement with Saudi Arabia that visas would be granted only to those who registered through the ministry in Ramallah. That, of course, is a clear political statement accepting the Ramallah government as legitimate, in contrast to the other government, the deviant one in Gaza.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
PLO: Israel failed to implement first phase of Road Map
Although the Palestinian Authority's obligations under the US-backed Road Map peace plan have been achieved, a report was issued on Monday summarizing Israel's Road Map violations and failure to implement its Phase One commitments. The ten-page report, "Summary of Israeli Road Map Violations since Annapolis" issued by the Negotiations Affairs Department of the Palestine Liberation Organization documents serious Israeli violations that have occurred in the past year with respect to settlement activity, attacks against Palestinians and their property, internal closures and closure of Jerusalem institutions among others.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
PA Attorney General asks INTERPOL to arrest former PA official
The Palestinian Attorney General asked INTERPOL on Wednesday to arrest Sami Ramlawi, a former PA official who fled Palestine after being accused of corruption. Attorney General Muhammad Al-Mughanni began legal proceedings against Sami Ramlawi, the former director general in the Palestinian Finance Ministry. The PA has now classified Ramlawi as a fugitive, and is asking INTERPOL to hand him over to the PA, sources close to Al-Mughanni said on Wednesday. Ramlawi has been accused of embezzling millions of dollars from the PA.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Egypt MP: We won't let Hamas form an Islamic emirate in Gaza
A ranking Egyptian official on Wednesday lashed out at Hamas, saying the militant Palestinian group won't be allowed to set up an Islamic emirate in the Gaza Strip, the coastal territory which it controls.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
PA plans to purge West Bank councils controlled by Hamas
The Palestinian Authority is planning to replace all the Hamas-controlled municipalities and village councils in the West Bank in the coming weeks, PA officials in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday. They said the decision was aimed at undermining Hamas's influence in the West Bank and paving the way for the extension of PA President Mahmoud Abbas's term in office after it ends on January 9.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/
PM says salaries of Gaza civil servants in doubt
The Palestinian prime minister says he won't be able to pay the December salaries of 77,000 civil servants in Gaza unless Israel renews cash shipments. Israel stopped sending cash to Gaza in October, as part of a tight border closure of the Hamas-ruled territory. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad heads the moderate West Bank government, a Hamas rival. Fayyad continues to pay salaries of Gaza civil servants and members of the security forces who remained loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after Hamas ousted Abbas' troops from Gaza in 2007.
http://www.iht.com/articles/
Corruption, Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing In the Occupied Territories
It has been under 16 months since I have been back to Ramallah, yet I see so many changes that have happened in and around the city. As I did the last time I had a chance to visit the West Bank, I entered from Jordan, from the west, across the Allenby Bridge, through Jericho into the community that lies just to the west of Ramallah, which is called Al Bireh. Al Bireh is historically a Muslim community and Ramallah a Christian community, but today it's difficult to distinguish them from one another as they both seem to be and are both commonly referred to as simply, Ramallah.
http://imemc.org/article/57877
IDF opposes plan for NATO in W. Bank
A day after President-elect Barack Obama chose retired general James Jones as his national security adviser, Israeli defense officials said Tuesday that they were opposed to the deployment of a NATO force in the West Bank following an Israeli withdrawal, a plan Jones supports. A former commander of NATO, Jones has for the past year served as a security envoy to Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/
Israel's Livni faces EU criticism over settlers
EU lawmakers told Israel's foreign minister on Tuesday that her country has to do more to stop the expansion of West Bank settlements. Lawmakers at the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee said settlers' moves to defend their homes there were threatening Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, in Brussels to seek closer EU ties, said it was no longer official Israeli policy to expand settlements in the West Bank and the government has been trying to reduce them since peace talks restarted last year.
http://www.google.com/
New Hampshire Epsicopal Church votes to support BDS
BE IT RESOLVED that the 206th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire heed the call of the Diocese of Jerusalem to pursue peace, and support the World Council of Churches' 2005 economic measure regarding morally responsible investing of funds in corporations doing business in the region to confine their business activity solely to peaceful pursuits; And be it further resolved, that this Convention urge the Trustees of the diocese: 1) to research which corporations permit and provide their products or services to support or facilitate violent acts by Israelis or Palestinians against innocent civilians, construction and maintenance of unlawful Israeli settlements or Israeli-only roads in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian territory and construction of the Separation Barrier as it extends beyond the 1967 "Green Line" into Palestinian territories; 2) to work with the Outreach Commission to examine current investments; and 3) to consider a process of strategically divesting from these companies.
http://www.nhepiscopal.org/
More transnational companies divest from illegal industrial settlements
The movement in Europe to put pressure on companies that benefit from the occupation is growing. Over the last few months, European, Palestinian and Israeli activists have won significant victories toward the 2005 call by Palestinian civil society for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel. In early October, Barkan Wineries, a subsidiary of Tempo Beer Industry Ltd., decided to divest from an illegal settlement in the Barkan Industrial Park. Dutch Heineken has a 40 percent share in Tempo Beer Industry and as a member of the United Nations Global Compact, it has promised to support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights and to make sure they are not complicit in human rights abuses. According to the Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq, Heineken played a positive role in this decision by adhering to its corporate social responsibility policies.
http://electronicintifada.net/
Against Israel's Boycott of Durban II: Position of the Union Juive Francaise pour la Paix
French Jewish Union for Peace In April 2009 the United Nations Review Conference, dubbed Durban II after the 2001 World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance ( http://www2.ohchr.org/english/
http://www.alternativenews.
MK Zkoor launches new Arab party
Former member of Islamic Movement announces establishment of Al-Wasat al-Arabi Party: 'For first time Arab party will take care of citizens' hardships, it's time we thought of ourselves, took care of our future,' he says.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Jerusalem's Status: To Be Determined
Last week, approximately 100 American Orthodox Jews gathered in west Jerusalem's Talpiot district in conjunction with a Biennial National Convention for the Orthodox Union, an American Jewish organization. The choice of location was significant to them, as it was the site designated by the US for the building of a future embassy in Jerusalem. The main objective of the rally was to call for the US government to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as the 'undivided capital of Israel'. The title of the convention was also telling: Keep It One, Keep It Ours.
http://www.miftah.org/Display. cfm?DocId=18293&CategoryId=3
Palestinian youth 'should be heard'
Leaders stand accused of keeping younger generations from the political process.
http://english.aljazeera.net/
Interview: Hanan Ashrawi
Hanan Ashrawi, the prominent Palestinian politician, is cautiously optimistic about the impact Barack Obama, the US president-elect, and his administration will have on the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. Al Jazeera attended a breakfast round-table with Ashrawi while she was visiting Doha, the capital of Qatar. Below are her responses to the questions that were put to her.
http://english.aljazeera.net/
Egypt's Grand Sheik: I shook Peres' hand because I had no idea who he was
Egypt's Grand Sheik Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, considered the most senior institutional religious authority in Egypt, announced Tuesday that he had shaken the hand of Israel's President, Shimon Peres, at a conference several weeks ago, because he did not recognize him and did not know who he was.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Jewish 'Refugee' Lobby Seeks to Eclipse Palestinian Losses
A broad coalition of Jewish lobby groups has made a series of breakthroughs this year in its campaign to link the question of justice for millions of Palestinian refugees with justice for Jews who left Arab states in the wake of Israel's establishment 60 years ago. Referring to these Jews as the "forgotten refugees" and claiming that their plight is worse than that of exiled Palestinians, the campaign has scored political successes in recent months in Washington, London and Brussels.
http://palestinechronicle.com/
Lebanon: Lebanese and Palestinian children create their own space to play
Yesterday, ANERA inaugurated a children's park in the municipality of Burghliyeh, a Lebanese and Palestinian community near Tyre.
Motivation for the park came from a series of fun, interactive meetings conducted by ANERA over two months with small groups of children from Burghliyeh. The meetings brought out, early on, the need for a safe, clean and open place for children to play. They had been playing in irrigation ditches and cow pastures.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/
No Bethlehem Wine for Christmas
Christian hotels in the Holy Land as well as Catholic and Anglican churches in the UK face Christmas without Bethlehem wine as Israeli soldiers at the checkpoint at Hebron are refusing to allow lorries carrying the wine to enter Israel. The wine is made by a Roman Catholic religious order, the Salesians of Don Bosco, at the Cremisan winery in Beit Jala, a suburb of Bethlehem. The Salesians have been producing the wine for the past 125 years as a direct means of support for their pastoral and educational work among the poor of Bethlehem and to provide a livelihood for many local Palestinian families. Although small by modern standards, the winery's organic production using classical Italian methods has made its table wines and brandy famous far beyond the region.
http://palestinechronicle.com/
Tales from within: An eye on Nablus Balata Refugee Camp
As you walk through the old city of Nablus the vibrancy of the bustling markets is an inescapable feature. As you walk through the cobble stoned streets, you encounter a collage of sights and smells. The pungent aroma from the spice shops followed by the sweet smell of Knaffe is a riot for the olfactory senses. Frenetic activity on the streets is contrasted by the nonchalance of shopkeepers. People, young and old are welcoming and one is filled with a sense of warmth walking through the narrow winding streets that are a photographers delight. Everything seems effortless and the pulse of the town is set at a comfortable pace. Life appears normal. However, further scrutiny would reveal that normality in this town has been an ephemeral feature. The old city of Nablus has experienced more incursions during the second intifada than most other West Bank cities or residential areas. The city being one of the former strongholds of the second intifada experienced heavy battles on its streets and parts of the old city has been re-built numerous times after being bulldozed and bombarded.
http://www.palestinemonitor.
Palestinians say nothing will change under Obama: poll
AFP-Most Palestinians think the election of Barack Obama as US president will have no impact on the chances of a solution to the conflict with Israel, an opinion poll published on Wednesday said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/
Tell Obama`s team: Make Middle East diplomacy a priority
J Street-" Will you write to President-elect Obama`s incoming national security team right now asking them to prioritize efforts to bring about a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace?...We`ll use your signatures in meetings on Capitol Hill and with the media to demonstrate the powerful political support in our community for sustained and meaningful U.S. diplomacy to resolve the Arab-Israeli and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts. "
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_ file.asp?num=30332
Will Palestinians hit Hillary's glass ceiling?
It is difficult to recall a US secretary of state who embodied the ideals of the position: the promotion of dialogue and privileging of diplomacy. Unfortunately, US President-elect Barack Obama's nominee, Hillary Clinton, is not likely to restore these ideals to the office. Clinton has long championed military action against the former Yugoslavia, Iraq and has promised to "obliterate" Iran if the state launched a nuclear strike against Israel. Dr. Marcy Newman comments for The Electronic Intifada.
http://electronicintifada.net/
Try Tough Love, Hillary
ROGER COHEN-NYTimes-" Getting to such a two-state deal at, or close to, the 1967 borders will require concerted U.S. involvement from day one of the Obama administration. Its tone should be one of tough love, with the emphasis on tough. "
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/
Tuesday: 18 Iraqis Killed, 49 Wounded
Excerpt: A second day of bombings in northern Iraq left dozens of casualties. Overall at least 18 Iraqis were killed and 49 more were wounded across the country. No Coalition deaths were reported.
http://www.antiwar.com/
Blomb blast outside Iraqi school kills 4, wounds 12
A bomb planted in a marketplace next to a primary school killed four people and wounded 12 in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Tuesday, police said, adding that some school children were among the wounded.
http://archive.gulfnews.com/
Two Sunni party members killed
Unknown assailants have killed two members of a Sunni party in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, 400 kilometres north of the capital Baghdad, security sources said early Tuesday.
http://www.monstersandcritics. com/news/middleeast/news/
13 bodies found in mass grave in Diala
DIALA /Aswat al-Iraq: A mass grave containing 13 unknown bodies was found on Wednesday in north of Baaquba, a police source said. "The bodies were found in Albu Teama village in al-Salam region in Khalis district, north of Baaquba," the source told Aswat al-Iraq. He did not add more details. Diala province, a mix of Sunnis and [...]
http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=
Is it really coming right?
Mr Barzani is said to have recently told Mr Maliki to his face: "You smell like a dictator."
http://www.economist.com/
War of words rages between Kurds and central government
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani are supposed to be close friends since their political factions dominate the parliament and the government. They understand that they need each other to prevent their ruling coalition and government from collapse. But there is little they see eye-to-eye. Barzani is known in Iraqi quarters, particularly Arab factions, for his manipulations and maneuvering. In 1996 he sided with Saddam Hussein and his Republican Guards who, in coordination with his militias, crushed the forces of his once Kurdish nemesis Jalal Talabani, the current President of Iraq. But history in Iraq has a very short memory.
http://www.azzaman.com/
Journalist jailed in Iraq over homosexuality story
AP-International media watchdog groups called Wednesday for the release of a freelance journalist jailed in northern Iraq for violating a public decency law by writing a story about homosexuality.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/
US military wants more 'Sons of Iraq' as police
AP-The U.S. military is urging Iraq's Shiite-led government to boost the number of Sunni volunteers — many of them ex-insurgents — into its security forces, a U.S. officer said Tuesday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/
Iraqi coach looking to restore life to Halabja
AFP-Halabja will forever be remembered as the place where thousands died in 1988 when Saddam Hussein targeted the Kurdish city with a deadly poison gas attack at the height of the Iran-Iraq war.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/
U.S. Contractor Confined More Than 1000 Foreign Workers In Windowless Warehouses In Iraq
About 1,000 Asian men who were hired by a Kuwaiti subcontractor to the U.S. military have been confined for as long as three months in windowless warehouses near the Baghdad airport without money or a place to work. Najlaa International Catering Services, a subcontractor to KBR, the Texas firm formerly known as Halliburton, hired the men, who're from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. On Tuesday, they staged a march outside their compound to protest their living conditions.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/
US soldier faces hearing in 2007 deaths of Iraqis
AP-A military court heard conflicting testimony Wednesday as to whether a U.S. Army sergeant helped kill four Iraqis who were bound, blindfolded, shot and dumped in a Baghdad canal last year.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/
US army deserter applies for asylum in Germany
AP-A U.S. soldier who deserted after serving in Iraq declared Tuesday he has applied for asylum in Germany.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/
US soldiers re-enlisting because of poor economy
AP-Sgt. Ryan Nyhus spent 14 months patrolling the deadly streets of Baghdad, where five members of his platoon were shot and one died. As bad as that was, he would rather go back there than take his chances in this brutal job market.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/
Baghdad Scuttlebutt: Pssst! Obama's a Shi'ite
Time.com-Large numbers of the downtrodden sect believe that-no matter the facts and the denials.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/
U.S. Interrogator in Iraq Says Torture Policy Has Led to Deaths of Thousands of American Soldiers
We speak with a former special intelligence operations officer who led an interrogations team in Iraq two years ago. His non-violent interrogation methods led special forces to Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, the head of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. He has written a new book, "How to Break a Terrorist: The U.S. Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, To Take Down the Deadliest Man in Iraq." The publication date for the book was delayed for six weeks due to the Pentagon's vetting of it. The soldier wrote it under the pseudonym, Matthew Alexander, for security reasons. He says the U.S. military's use of torture is responsible for the deaths of thousands of U.S. soldiers by inspiring foreign fighters to kill Americans.
http://www.democracynow.org/
Ex-prosecutor says Guantanamo is "stain on America"
U.S. military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay are a "stain on America" that risk convicting innocent people because judicial standards are so low, a former senior prosecutor at the prison said on Tuesday. Darrel Vandeveld, a U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who left his post at the base in Cuba earlier this year on ethical grounds, told the BBC that it was impossible to guarantee fair trials there.
http://www.alertnet.org/
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www.TheHeadlines.org
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