(6 Dec) Ongoing violent attacks perpetrated by extremist Jewish settlers against Palestinians civilians and property has reached an unprecedented level in the West Bank. The escalation of hatred and racist aggression targeting Palestinian civilians all across the West Bank, including women and children has led to this retrospective review of the events of last week.
http://www.palestinemonitor.
Palestinians protest rampage by Hebron settlers
(5 Dec) Palestinians protested on Friday against a rampage by settlers in response to Israel's eviction of squatters from a disputed building in Hebron, and Israel deployed extra forces to contain the unrest. Palestinian youths burned tyres in Hebron and threw stones at Israel Defense Forces soldiers at a checkpoint, who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets, witnesses said. Violence spread to another West Bank town where Palestinians said settlers torched olive orchards, a day after settlers shot and wounded three Palestinians in anger at the removal of Israeli families from a building occupied in defiance of a court order.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
15 residents wounded in Hebron
(5 Dec) Israeli sources reported that Israeli settlers attacked dozens of Palestinian residents in the southern West Bank city of Hebron and opened fire at them wounding fifteen residents, including a father and his child. The settlers also broke into more than ten Palestinian homes causing excessive damage. The Israeli army fully sealed off Hebron and barred the media from entering while the settles continued their attacks against the residents and their homes. The settlers also attacked Israeli soldiers and policemen. The settlers damaged and set ablaze a number of Palestinian homes, vehicles and olive trees.
http://www.imemc.org/article/
Lie to us, but do not ignore us: settler taped shooting Palestinians point blank
(5 Dec) A video of an Israeli settler shooting two Palestinians at close range was made public by the Israeli human rights group B'tselem on Thursday. The sounds and images of a machine-gun waving settler were transmitted to international, local and Israeli TV stations. The footage showed a middle-aged Israeli from one of the illegal settlements inside the Palestinian city of Hebron firing at 40-year-old Husni Matariyah at point blank range. The bullet hit the left side of Matariah's chest. The settler then shot Matariah's 65-year-old father Abed Al-Hai in the hand...Although his crime was cruel and brutal, it is not out of the ordinary in Palestine for settler mobs to decide that they will exact some sort of punishment against Palestinians. Indeed, such acts have been going on for decades.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Hebron shooting: Two settlers turn themselves in
(6 Dec) Two residents of Kiryat Arba suspected of firing at Palestinians during riots in Hebron Thursday turned themselves in to police Saturday. Two Palestinians sustained wounds in the incident. The two suspects, men in their 40s and 50s, say they faced life danger during the incident and were scared of being lynched by Palestinians. The two men say they fired as an act of self-defense. Palestinian residents of Hebron told Ynet that the shooting occurred near Kiryat Arba. Settlers were said to have fired in the direction of the Sa'afin residence, where two family members were injured. A B'tselem investigator who reportedly witnessed the incident said a number of settlers had fired in the air, but one aimed towards the house and injured the Palestinians inside it.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Video: Settlers filmed shooting at Palestinians turn themselves in
(6 Dec) Two Kiryat Arba residents, suspected of shooting at Palestinians following the forced eviction of settlers from the "House of Contention" in Hebron on Thursday, turned themselves in to the authorities on Saturday. The two have been transferred to the custody of the Hebron District police for questioning after they were seen apparently shooting at Palestinians at close range in a film shot by the Isareli human rights group B'Tselem.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
PA police: Settlers set fire to Palestinian home in Hebron
(6 Dec) Jewish settlers torched a rooftop enclosure of a Palestinian man's home in the West Bank city of Hebron on Saturday, a Palestinian police spokesman said. The Hebron resident, Nidal Awawi, told Reuters a room he had built on his roof was blackened and destroyed by a fire set off before dawn. There were no casualties, he said. A spokesman for Palestinian police, Ramadan Awad, blamed the arson on Jewish settlers he said were spotted fleeing the scene as flames engulfed the building. Awawi's house is surrounded on three sides by settler homes.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Settlers near Tulkarem destroy olive trees and local water pipe
(5 Dec) Settlers destroyed eighty small olive trees only recently planted by a Palestinian farmer near Tulkarem in the northern West Bank on Friday. The vandals came from the illegal Israeli settlement Avne Hefez which is built on the lands of the Palestinian village of Shufa. They left the settlement and descended on the olive field of A'zmi Saleh. Member of land defense committee in Tulkarem Tahsin Hamid reported the destruction of a district water pipe, preventing municipal water from reaching some remote villages.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
The Ministry of Awqaf warns of possible massacres committed by settlers
(5 Dec) GAZA, (PIC)--The Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs in the Haneyya government in Gaza has warned of possible massacres against Palestinian worshipers in mosques in the West Bank especially in al-Khalil. The ministry called on Arab and Muslim people to demonstrate in protest at the crimes committed by the settlers in al-Khalil, reminding them of the [1994] Ibrahimi Mosque massacre when a Zionist settler entered the mosque while Muslims were praying the dawn prayer, hurled hand grenades at them and sprayed them with bullets from his automatic machine gun, killing 29 worshipers.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
Settler stone throwers cause Palestinian car to skid off road; two injured
(6 Dec) Two Palestinians were injured Saturday evening when their car skidded off the road after being showered with stones by settlers. The work colleagues were on their way to Nablus, heading home after working for the day in Ramallah. Palestinian medical sources identified the two as 23-year-old Atef Ibrahim Muhammad Rashid and 29-year-old Samah Husam Baslat. The man and woman were moved to hospital in Nablus, where their conditions are described as moderate.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Footage shows settlers shooting two Palestinians
(6 Dec) An Israeli human rights group released video footage yesterday showing Israeli settlers shooting two Palestinians at close range, hours after police forcibly evicted residents of a controversial settlement house in the occupied West Bank. The film, recorded by a Palestinian in Hebron with a camera from the group B'Tselem, showed settlers attacking his house, situated in a valley close to the building where dozens of settlers were evicted by riot police on Thursday.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Hebron settlers take their fight into Israel
(5 Dec) By Jonathan Cook, Nazareth--Extremist settler groups currently involved in violent confrontations with Palestinians in the centre of Hebron have chosen their next battleground, this time outside the West Bank. A far-right group know as the Jewish National Front, closely associated with the Hebron settlers, is preparing to march through one of the main Arab towns in northern Israel. The march, approved by the Supreme Court back in October, is scheduled to take place on December 15, the group announced this week...A significant number of hardline religious Jews have chosen to relocate to areas in Israel heavily populated with Palestinians, claiming that they are there to stop Jews losing the demographic battle. In the mixed cities, the settlers' response has been to set up armed encampments inside or close to Palestinian neighbourhoods, masquerading as religious seminaries.
http://palestinechronicle.com/
Haaretz editorial: Mayhem in Hebron
(5 Dec) The evacuation of the House of Contention in Hebron yesterday brought a cautious measure of optimism that, in spite of everything, the government has decided to enforce the rule of law and not surrender to lawbreakers and their Yesha Council settler lobbyists. But the evacuation is only one step in the necessary campaign against the settlers, whose opposition threatens to spread throughout the territories... The Israeli cabinet, which examines every act and statement in the light of electoral repercussions, is not permitted to let the IDF and the law become a mockery. The IDF must stop the hooliganism and violence from spilling over onto the Palestinian street, which yesterday appeared to be the main victim in the struggle between the troops and the settlers.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
The settlers: the newest ally to Palestinian nationalism?
(6 Dec) Ironically today, there are no greater allies to the Palestinian cause of independence than that of the seemingly rabid settler movement and their heightened willingness to use violence and intimidation. For years the international press has cast the conflict in an unfair light by overemphasizing the violence of Palestinians while under-reporting that of either the Israeli military or settler movement. Throughout the world it has been Palestinians who have been perceived as the irrational and violent actors in the unfolding tragedy. Israel has been characterized as the righteous victim who must live in fear of their 'crazy ideological neighbors'.
Creating such an impression in spite of the overwhelming asymmetry of the conflict is no small feat, and one which Palestinians have long fought to overcome. Now it seems the settlement movement, and its renewed sense of urgency, are working along side Palestinian peace activists to change this perspective to a more accurate picture.
http://www.palestinemonitor.
Opinion: Who's afraid of Daniela Weiss?
(5 Dec) By Uri Orbach--Normal rightists can distinguish between just positions and crazed settler violence-- Religious rightists are uncomfortable about blatantly speaking out against reckless settlers, because then people will think that we are leftist too, and at this difficult time it is not nice to join the leftist media wave. So once the seasonal attack on the settlers starts, everyone enters the bunker. This is a mistake, of course. One can be in favor of the right of Jews to hold on to the House of Peace in Hebron, yet at the same time be outraged by the thuggish behavior of the youths there. One can see the injustice inherent in the court ruling, yet continue the fight without going crazy.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
UN Security Council condemns Hebron violence
(6 Dec) The United Nations (UN) Security Council held an emergency meeting on Friday evening to condemn Israeli settler violence against Palestinians in the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Thursday. The meeting was called by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Arab countries' members within the UN body. The Security Council speaker read a statement welcoming the evacuation of Israeli settlers from the Ar-Rajabi family home:
http://www.maannews.net/en/
PCHR Weekly Report 27 Nov-3 Dec: 3 Palestinians killed, 10 wounded
(5 Dec) In its weekly report of Israeli human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (West Bank and Gaza) for the week of 27 Nov.-03 Dec. 2008, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) reported that 3 Palestinians, 2 of whom were children, were killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. 10 Palestinians and 3 international human rights defenders were wounded by Israeli forces in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
http://www.imemc.org/article/
Two residents of Jerusalem kidnapped during a protest against settler attacks in Hebron
(5 Dec) The Arabs48 news website reported that dozens of Palestinian residents protested in Jerusalem on Friday against the escalating attacks carried out by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, especially in the city of Hebron. The Israeli police and border guard units violently attacked the protesters in an attempt to disperse the protest. An Israeli police spokesperson said that border guard policemen arrested two Palestinian youths during the clashes that erupted between the Palestinian protesters and the army.Israeli sources reported that the army imposed further restrictions on Palestinians attempting to reach the Al Aqsa Mosque for Friday prayers.
http://www.imemc.org/article/
Five Palestinians, two international peace activists wounded as army attacks Ni'lin weekly protest
(5 Dec) As hundreds of Palestinian residents and international peace activists conducted their non-violent weekly protest against the Israeli Annexation Wall on Nil'in village lands, Israeli soldiers violently attacked them and fired at them, wounding five residents and two peace activists from Denmark and Spain.
http://www.imemc.org/article/
Three wounded in Bil'in weekly nonviolent protests against the Annexation Wall
(5 Dec) As the residents of Bil'in village, accompanied by Israeli and International peace activists, conducted their weekly nonviolent protest against the Israeli Annexation Wall on the village's land and the escalating attacks carried out by the settlers in Hebron, Israeli soldiers violently attacked the protesters, firing rubber-coated metal bullets and gas bombs; three, including a child, were wounded by rubber-coated bullets and dozens suffered from gas inhalation.
http://www.imemc.org/article/
IDF soldier assaults Haaretz photographer in Hebron
(6 Dec) By Amos Harel--An Israeli photographer on assignment for Haaretz was assaulted by an Israel Defense Forces soldier in Hebron on Saturday. The photographer, Tess Scheflan, suffered light head injuries and was taken by an ambulance to hospital. Scheflan, who is a staffer for the Jini photo news agency, stayed in Hebron alongside Haaretz reporter Fadi Edayat to cover the aftermath of the forced eviction of settlers from a disputed home in the West Bank city.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Soldier assaults photojournalist in Hebron
(6 Dec) IDF officials launch inquiry after soldier assaults Haaretz photographer in West Bank town of Hebron Saturday; photojournalist sustains light wounds after being punched and hit with gun butt--"The photographer spotted soldiers running; she photographed them and one of the troops ran in her direction. He attempted to grab the camera of another photographer who was there with us; he walked up to him aggressively, and grabbed him by the neck. I asked Tess to photograph him so we can file a complaint, and then he punched her in the face. She fell down to the ground and he hit her again, this time with his gun butt," Edayat said. "For half an hour she couldn't see with her left eye. I asked a medic to treat her; she was very tense and in pain."
http://www.ynetnews.com/
IDF in Hebron helps Palestinian woman in labor
(5 Dec) While security forces attempted to quell the riots in Hebron over the evacuation of the disputed house on Friday, Civil Administration officers were assisting a Palestinian woman who went into labor in the midst of the turmoil...Due to the tumultuous occurrences that were sweeping the city, the Red Crescent could only operate at certain pre-coordinated spots, which were all far from the family's home. "We couldn't take the woman by foot," Feigel said. "So straightaway we told her to climb on an Administration jeep so we could assist with the evacuation. "The woman, already in labor, left the house accompanied by her mother. We drove her to the point at which a Red Crescent ambulance was waiting, and she was taken to the hospital in Hebron."
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Legal analysis /Not a law unto themselves
(5 Dec) By Ze'ev Segal--Defense Minister Ehud Barak gave the go-ahead to evacuate the House of Contention in Hebron when he was armed with a "certificate of kashrut" from the High Court of Justice issued 18 days ago. Barak has not always been thrilled by the High Court's involvement in defense matters, but he placed the supremacy of the court's authority and the duty to uphold Supreme Court rulings at the top of his agenda. The High Court ruling regarding the House of Contention is a song of praise of the principal of law enforcement by the authorized branch of government, as well as the principal of forbidding self-interpretation of the law. The settlers will have to internalize this message, today more than ever.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Israel's test
(5 Dec) It's good news that Israel is evacuating an illegal (under Israeli law) settlement in Hebron, but as Moran Banai points out commitment to the rule of law requires Israel to act swiftly to dismantle all illegal settlements. A big part of the issue here, of course, is that many if not all of the "legal" settlements are going to need to go at some point. And nobody on the Palestinian side is going to have any confidence that Israel will ever do that as long as the government continues to not enforce even its own laws against settlement expansion and outpost building.
http://yglesias.thinkprogress.
On the tragedy of the Al Kurd family in Jerusalem
(including videos) The Jaber, Al Kurd and thousands of other families were made refugees in 1948. The Sheikh Jarrah housing project constructed jointly by UNRWA and the Jordanian Government in the 1950s aimed at finding a temporary, transitional solution for the 28 refugee families until the circumstances enabled their return to their original homes be it in Talbyieh, Jaffa, Ramleh or elsewhere in 1948. The Solution for Um Kamel, the 27 refugee families of Sheikh Jarrah and the 3.5 million Palestinian refugees living in refugee camps remains the same as stipulated in UN General Assembly resolution 194 passed in December 1948. Now is the time to stop the suffering, the dispossession and the displacement of Palestinians. Now is the time for Palestinians to go back to their original homes.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_
Huge demonstration in northern Gaza to protest settlers' crimes in Al-Khalil
(6 Dec) GAZA, (PIC)--Thousands of Palestinians participated in the demonstrations called for by Hamas to protest the crimes committed by Israeli extremist settlers against the citizens of al-Khalil [Hebron] and other parts of the West Bank. The demonstrations took place after the Friday prayers from various mosques in the northern Gaza Strip and merged to form a huge demonstration which marched through the roads of Gaza and ended at the house of martyr Imad Aqel in Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
Qassam rocket fired from Gaza hits Ashkelon
(6 Dec) A barrage of Qassam rockets and mortar shells was fired on Saturday from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel, striking targets as far north as Ashkelon. No injuries were reported in the attacks. Gaza militants fired three Qassam rockets and at least ten mortar shells at the Negev region on Saturday, in addition to six Qassams that pelted the area on Friday.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
South under fire; Gaza crossings to remain closed
(6 Dec) Attacks on south continue: Gaza Strip crossings will remain closed Sunday as well in the wake of the rocket and mortar shell offensive targeting southern Israel Saturday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak decided after consulting with security officials.
http://www.ynetnews.com/
Islamic Jihad prods Palestinian factions to avenge Hebron settler riots
(6 Dec) The Islamic Jihad on Saturday urged all Palestinian factions in the territories to immediately retaliate for the assaults on West Bank residents carried out by riotous settlers following the evacuation of a disputed home in the town of Hebron, Israeli media reported. The group called on all rival organizations to "use any possible means of struggle to combat the actions of the enemy, his policy, and his schemes." The Jihad bulletin included praise for Palestinian residents of Hebron embroiled in conflict with Jewish settlers.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Gaza man electrocuted in Rafah tunnel
(6 Dec) Palestinian 20-year-old Nidal As'ad Abu Jami was electrocuted on Saturday morning inside a tunnel under the border between Egypt and Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, local medical sources said. According to Muawiyah Abu Hassanein, the director of Ambulance and Emergency Services in the Palestinian Health Ministry, the young man arrived dead at Abu Yousif An-Najjar Hospital in Rafah shortly following the accident.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Gaza: Qatar ship's voyage postponed, Libyan vessel moored in Europe, Free Gaza boat to depart soon
(6 Dec) The aid ship from Qatar slated to depart from Cyprus Saturday morning and arrive in Gaza the following morning was postponed for logistical reasons stemming from Israeli pressure to prevent the ship's arrival. Member of the PLC Jamal Al-Khudari said the delay did not indicate that the ship would be stymied. Another vessel, he added, is set to launch from the fort of Jaffa, Israel on Sunday morning. The Jaffa ship will carry aid as well as members of the Israeli Knesset and Islamic leaders living in Israel...There is much international aid destined for Gaza, Al-Khudari noted, explaining that there are 2,000 trucks of food and supplies lined up at Gaza crossing points. He accused Israel of invoking irrelevant pretexts in order to keep the crossings closed.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Gaza cash crisis explained; not the result of the tunnel industry, expert affirms
(6 Dec) It is not the tunnel industry which caused Gaza's cash-crisis, but rather the economic agreement between Gaza-importers and their Israeli business partners that has resulted in the exit of hundreds of millions of shekels worth of bills from the Strip. Political analyst Omar Sha'ban explained that since the tunnel trade works mostly in US dollars, it is at most marginally connected to the depletion in currency resources. He described the major factor as the exchange of shekels for goods at the northern crossing points in Gaza.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
No salaries before Eid: Gaza banks fold as treasuries run dry
(6 Dec) The 1,000 Israeli shekels promised to Gaza Strip government workers will not be paid out by some banks before the Islamic holiday of Eid Al-Adha, according to bank employees who were told not to go to work on Saturday. Several bankers told Ma'an that they received phone calls on Friday evening from bank managers telling them not to head to work on Saturday morning as there is no cash left in banks' treasuries to distribute.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Palestinians denounce honour killings, gender abuse
(6 Dec) Eight United Nations (UN) agencies co-sponsored the first Palestinian festival to combat violence against women, driving home the message that so-called honour killings "have nothing to do with honour." "It is time for action, not words," UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) Programme Manager in the occupied Palestinian territory Alia El Yassir told participants at the event in Ramallah on Friday. "UN agencies are working as one on this issue and supporting civil societies in their efforts to end violence against women." The festival, with a similar event taking place in Gaza, was part of the global 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence, an annual international campaign.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Olmert aborts promised release of 250 prisoners
(6 Dec) Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will not fulfill his promise to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and has cancelled the release of 250 Palestinian detainees. The release was supposed to occur in advance of the Muslim holiday Eid Al-Adha, but a Palestinian source who preferred not to be named said the release was not just postponed until after the holiday but cancelled entirely.
According to the source Olmert has already informed Abbas about the decision. Member of the Legislative Council Dr Hassan Khreisheh said he believed Olmert is unable to execute the promised release on account of the timing. He cited coming elections as the reason for the cancellation. "Every candidate needs the support of the settlers," Khreisheh explained. "No one will vote for a party releasing prisoners."
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Skin condition spreading in Israeli prison; sufferers refused access to treatment
(6 Dec) An alarming number of Palestinian prisoners of Israel have been infected by a skin disease, caused by the unsanitary conditions inside the prison facilities, said a lawyer for the Prisoners' Society on Saturday. The lawyer noted that Israeli prison medical staff have refused to treat the condition, which is adding to the intolerable living situation in the prison. According to one prisoner, Tamer Samer Badran, dozens of prisoners have developed a rash from what they believe to be chemicals used in the shower water. He explained that he asked to be seen by a doctor but was refused.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Blair reveals that Abbas has reached an 'undeclared agreement' with Israelis
(5 Dec) RAMALLAH, (PIC)--Tony Blair, the Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East, revealed that President Mahmoud Abbas and his negotiations team have reached an "undeclared agreement" to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. He pointed out that both sides are keeping the matter under wraps and that he would not reveal any details of what was agreed.
http://www.palestine-info.co.
Jimmy Carter to visit Syria, Lebanon next week
(6 Dec) Former President Jimmy Carter plans to meet with Syrian President Bashar Assad and other officials to discuss prospects for peace in the Middle East during visits to Lebanon and Syria next week. The Carter Center said Friday that Carter will lead a pre-electoral assessment mission in Lebanon. The center is considering observing parliamentary elections scheduled for the spring.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/
Renowned Palestinian singer Rim Banna holds concert in Geneva
(5 Dec) The Arab community in Geneva enjoyed the powerful lyrics of renowned Palestinian singer Reem Banna on Friday evening. The 700-person hall was sold out, and the 30 US dollars per ticket will be donated to women's charities in Gaza. Banna was born in Nazareth and gained popularity after releasing a recording of traditional Palestinian folk songs for children. Many of the songs had been forgotten and Banna not only resurrected them but made the ballads popular. She is also a composer and her songs often center on Palestinian life and culture.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Palestinian author shares story of struggles and inspiration
(5 Dec) By Anna Beth Blevins--Ibtisam Barakat's life changed when she was 3. The Six-Day War ripped apart the Palestinian West Bank in 1967 and shattered her community. She lived in Ramallah, a Palestinian city on the West Bank that after the war became occupied by Israel. From that point on, her childhood was filled with struggles and conflict. Barakat, now 45, decided to tell her story. Her first book, Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood , was published last year ... Since then, Barakat has traveled widely to share her experiences, reading from her book and speaking about the effects of war.
http://www.columbiamissourian.
Palestinian children exercise their right to play at the 2008 Global Peace Games
(5 Dec) By Monica Awad--Hundreds of Palestinian children from various cities, villages and refugee camps came to Ramallah to celebrate their 'right to play' at the 2008 Global Peace Games for Children and Youth, held last month at Majed Al Asad stadium. "Through today's activities, I would like to send a message of peace to the world," said Qussai Al Shalaf, a 15-year-old boy from Ramallah.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/
Normalizing the abnormal
(3 Dec) Mahmoud lives in a village in the Hebron area. He worked in an Israeli factory in the settlement of Qityat Malakhi for more than six years. The Israeli authorities always refused to issue him a work permit, just like they have to thousands of Palestinians...Mahmoud is a refugee from the village of Iraq Al-Manshia, which is not too far from Qiryat Malakhi. Despite this, he cannot realize his Right of Return through this work permit. He also can't say "No" to the occupation, not because he likes the occupation, but because he needs it to make ends meet. When I met Mahmoud, he said smiling: "Soon I'll be 30, and I'll get the permit." His answer did not make any sense to me at first because the concept, the logic, the natural and unnatural are reversed. Mahmoud waits impatiently for the age of 30 seeing it as an approaching gift. He is, unlike the rest of the world, awaiting old age; he wants to be older to get that permit.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Remembering the Nablus Casbah
(2 Dec) By Jesse Aizenstat--Bethlehem-Ma'an Feature-I never did find out why the professors left their apartment in the first place. All I knew was that I was standing on their porch looking out on the Old City of Nablus, Palestine. The sun had just gone down, my fellow volunteers were out and I was soon pacing the living room like a maniac. Something was up. The air was filled with tension from the Israeli arrests-turned-imprisonments the evening before. I could sense it would be another long night.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Palestinians have been cast aside
(5 Dec) By As'ad Abdul Rahman--Where do we stand today when civic and human rights societies have been dubbed as sceptical and, therefore, been closed down?When "leaders" use national interests as a cover for achieving their personal interests, we are reminded of Nelson Mandela who gave his successor, Thabo Mbeki, one sole piece of advice: "Beware of bad consultants." The two governments are totally absorbed in fighting each other; thus they don't concentrate on the siege over the whole Palestinian territories that paralyses people's vital activities and interests.
http://www.gulfnews.com/
From an Israeli settlement, a rabbi's unorthodox plan for peace
(5 Dec) By Isabel Kershner--Rabbi Froman, 63, is a founding member of Gush Emunim, the ideological, messianic settlement movement that sprang up after Israel's conquest of the West Bank, with its biblical landmarks, in the 1967 war. He has been living here for 35 years, teaches at religious seminaries in Tekoa and in another West Bank settlement in the Hebron hills, and wears a black suit and white shirt, conventional Orthodox rabbinical garb. But that is about where his similarity with other Jewish settlers in the West Bank ends. Among his close friends, the rabbi counts not only Mr. Arafat, who was reviled by most Israelis by the time of his death in 2004, but also a wide array of Muslim sheiks. He believes in making peace with his Palestinian neighbors and has engaged in "thousands of hours" of dialogue, he said, with Palestinian leaders, including Mr. Arafat's rivals in the militant Islamist group Hamas.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/
The adventures of Andy in disappeared Palestine
(5 Dec) By Hatim Kanaaneh- Galilee--Andy hails from America. He belongs to the rare breed of self-assigned truth and justice seekers who dedicate themselves to the task of saving the human race at this late hour of its incessant march, lemmings like, to its demise. He has no plausible connection to Palestine or the Palestinians except that he, like Jimmy Carter, finds them awfully wronged and their suffering worthy of recognition. He wants to set the record straight. Together with another fighter for Palestine, Dr. Ahlam (Arabic for 'dreams') Muhtaseb, he sets out to document the wrongs done the Palestinians in 1948 through visits to their destroyed former homes and the recording of interviews with members of separated families in Galilee and the refugee camps in Lebanon.
http://palestinechronicle.com/
Gene test shows Spain's Jewish and Muslim mix
(4 Dec) The genetic signatures of people in Spain and Portugal provide new and explicit evidence of the mass conversions of Sephardic Jews and Muslims to Catholicism in the 15th and 16th centuries after Christian armies wrested Spain back from Muslim control, a team of geneticists reports. Twenty percent of the population of the Iberian Peninsula has Sephardic Jewish ancestry and 11 percent have DNA reflecting Moorish ancestors, the geneticists have found.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/
Book review: Lion of Jordan, The Life of King Hussein in War and Peace by Avi Shlaim
(6 Dec) Reviewed by Ian Pindar--An Israeli intelligence report once described King Hussein of Jordan (1935-99) as a man trapped on a bridge burning at both ends, spanning a crocodile-infested river. Assuming the throne at 17, Hussein soon discovered that you can't please everyone all the time, especially when you are dealing with Israelis, Palestinians, the Arab world, Britain and America. Yet he displayed a remarkable ability to survive in this snakepit. Avi Shlaim's openly partisan portrait reveals a thoughtful man whose efforts to secure peace in the Middle East were constantly thwarted by American ignorance and Israeli duplicity.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Jordan First: A king's modernization motto obscures a Palestinian past and Iraqi present
(5 Dec) By Ahmed Shihab-Eldin--For Arabs, our national identity is perhaps the most divisive and debilitating issue preventing our collective and individual advancement in today's modern world. Carved by the British and French colonial powers, most Arab countries today have superficial borders that both struggle to unify those within them and often prevent those on one side of a given line from identifying with those from the other despite a shared history, culture and what should be a shared interest. Nowhere is this more true than it is in today's Jordan, yesterday's Ottoman empire, and the long past Kingdom of Petra.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
Cluster bomb-riddled areas in South 'virtually occupied'
(6 Dec, IPS) By Thalif Deen--NEW YORK: When the United Nations talks of "Israeli-occupied territories," the conventional definition is that these disputed lands include the West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights-all of them conquered during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. But to most Lebanese, there are border villages inside Southern Lebanon that are virtually "no-man's land" because of the myriad of cluster bombs spread by Israel's warplanes, artillery and rockets during its 34-day conflict with Lebanon in 2006. For all intents and purposes, says one Arab diplomat, stretching the United Nations definition further, these heavily mined border villages are also "Israeli-occupied territories."
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
Osbat al-Ansar issues fatwa outlawing fighting with Lebanese Armed Forces
(5 Dec) SIDON: The Islamist Osbat al-Ansar group based in the southern Palestinian refugee camp of Ein al-Hilweh issued a fatwa on Friday forbidding its members against fighting the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF). "It is against our religion to fight the Lebanese Army ... The daily details of life in the camp should not distract us from the events in the Gaza Strip," the group's spokesman, Abu Sharif Akel, said during a rally at the camp on Friday. The rally was organized by the Islamist Hamas movement in solidarity with Gaza.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
Cyprus: Seven Palestinians injured after they trigger buffer zone landmine
(6 Dec) Seven Palestinians were almost killed yesterday when one of them stepped on a landmine as the small group attempted to smuggle across from the occupied areas in the Larnaca district.A young man and a four-year-old child are receiving treatment at Larnaca general hospital. Their condition is out of danger. The remaining five were discharged after they were administered first aid. The incident occurred at around 3am at an unknown location, as the four adults and three children, who are Palestinians from Iraq, tried to cross over to the free areas.
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/
Saudis lay on 100,000 troops to protect faithful during hajj
(6 Dec, AFP) For the first time, the authorities have brought in sophisticated US-built helicopters to guard against possible attack during the world's largest pilgrimage, which has often been blighted by tragedy. Around 2 million Muslims are expected to join the annual ritual, which this year begins on Saturday, including several hundred thousand Saudis and residents of the kingdom and at least 1.6 million from other countries.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
Sources: 5 Blackwater guards charged in shooting
(5 Dec, AP) WASHINGTON – Five Blackwater Worldwide security guards have been indicted and a sixth was negotiating a plea with prosecutors for a 2007 shooting that left 17 Iraqis dead and became an anti-American rallying cry for insurgents, people close to the case said Friday. Prosecutors obtained the indictment late Thursday and had it put under seal until it is made public, perhaps as early as Monday.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/
Iraq translators' mask ban dropped
(6 Dec) The Pentagon has rescinded a controversial decision that banned Iraqi interpreters working for US troops in Baghdad from protecting their identities by wearing ski-masks. The ban was meant to reflect the improved security situation-in which interpreters were no longer afraid of retaliation. But that is not the case.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/
Troop pullout to leave US and Britain as Iraq force
(5 Dec) BAGHDAD — A majority of the foreign troops that have been part of the multinational coalition in Iraq will depart in the next few weeks or have already done so, because they will no longer have the authority to operate in Iraq when the United Nations resolution authorizing their presence expires Dec. 31.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/
2,000-year-old tomb unearthed in Arbil
(5 Dec) An ancient 2,000-year-old tomb was unearthed 200 meters west of the Arbil castle, according to a Kurdish archeologist. "A local resident has dug a well four meters deep inside his house in early November 2008. Discovering an ancient chamber, he reported it to the Archeological Department of Arbil, which set up a team to excavate the site
http://en.aswataliraq.info/?p=
Bush says he has made Middle East 'freer, more hopeful'
(6 Dec, AFP) WASHINGTON: US President George W. Bush said Friday he is handing successor Barack Obama a Middle East in which Iran seeks nuclear arms and the Arab-Israeli conflict remains the "most vexing problem." "Despite these frustrations and disappointments, the Middle East in 2008 is a freer, more hopeful, and more promising place than it was in 2001," Bush claimed in prepared remarks that amount to a wide-ranging defense of his highly unpopular legacy in the region.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
Open letter to the British Foreign Secretary
(5 Dec) By Stuart Littlewood--You seem like a clever man – Kennedy scholar, something big in Social Justice, then head of Tony Blair's policy unit, now foreign secretary. Tell us, why do so many western politicians have so much trouble coming to terms with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which their countries are obliged to observe?... So when you were within home-made rocket range of Gaza recently, Mr Miliband, why didn't you drop in to see first-hand the deprivation, pain and death your government department has helped inflict on 1.4 million civilians for the last 30 months, tearing up nearly every Article of the Declaration in the process?Instead, you visited Sderot to "show solidarity" with the people there.
http://palestinechronicle.com/
Memo for Obama
(5 Dec) By Uri Avnery--For the President-Elect, Mr. Barack Obama. The following humble suggestions are based on my 70 years of experience as an underground fighter, special forces soldier in the 1948 war, editor-in-chief of a newsmagazine, member of the Knesset and founding member of a peace movement: (1) As far as Israeli-Arab peace is concerned, you should act from Day One. (2) Israeli elections are due to take place in February 2009. You can have an indirect but important and constructive impact on the outcome, by announcing your unequivocal determination to achieve Israeli-Palestinian, Israeli-Syrian and Israeli-all-Arab peace in 2009....
http://palestinechronicle.com/
Breakthroughs don't come easy
(5 Dec) By Petra Marquardt-Bigman--The transitional period between election day and the inauguration of a new president is a time when American thinktanks vie for a chance to get the incoming administration's attention for the policy recommendations formulated by their experts. A very impressive example of such an effort is the recent Brookings Institution publication that outlines A Middle East strategy for the next president.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Will you continue to ignore Gaza's suffering, Mr. Obama?
(5 Dec) By Kathleen and Bill Christison--Palestine and Palestinian suffering have always taken a back seat in the world's attention while the United States starts this war, finishes off that war, or expands it; while the world deals with wars and economic crises; while the attention of the compassionate is taken up by starvation and pestilence and war in Sudan or in Congo or Rwanda or Somalia. Throughout these crises – quite legitimate crises all – Palestine is always left to molder, sometimes at a more rapid pace in more inhumane circumstances than at other times.
http://palestinethinktank.com/
-gazas-suffering-mr-obama/
Having spent hours with Obama, Chuck Hagel tells the Israeli lobby we need justice in Palestine or our foreign policy is meaningless
(5 Dec) "The Middle East is as central to what they want to accomplish as any one thing, and why is that?Yes it's a sense of justice. They also understand that unless we bring this Israeli Palestinian issue to some higher ground, and unless we are able to break through the fog that has surrounded, dominated, and consumed the effort that all Presidents have made since 1948, and leaders of the world have made, that continues to elude us, unless we break through that, then we will continue to see a more dangerous, complicated world."
http://www.philipweiss.org/
Telling it as it is
(5 Dec) By Mustafa Barghouti--...One point that we need to make urgently is that Palestine is the core problem, the one from which all other troubles in the region emanate....Israel is going to have an election soon, with the winner most likely a Likud or a former Likud member: Netanyahu or Livni. This establishes that Israel is not going to change its ways anytime soon. It will continue to build settlements and walls, alter the demographics of Jerusalem, and generally keep the Palestinians confused and divided. Therefore the Palestinians need to act. ... All I am saying is that we need to illustrate the gross injustice done to Palestinians. We need to provide an alternative view to an audience long monopolized by the Israeli lobby. We need to uphold the values of change, freedom, equality Obama has been talking for so long about. Palestine is the world's biggest victim of apartheid. We have a just cause and we need to defend it.
http://www.maannews.net/en/
Obama must rescue the two-state solution
(5 Dec) By Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski--Resolution of the Palestinian issue would have a positive impact on the region. It would liberate Arab governments to support US leadership in dealing with regional problems, as they did before the Iraq invasion. It would dissipate much of the appeal of Hizbullah and Hamas, dependent as they are on the Palestinians' plight. It would change the region's psychological climate, putting Iran back on the defensive and putting a stop to its swagger.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/
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www.TheHeadlines.org
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