December '06 Archive
Happy New Year, all.
12-31-06 - Politics in Palestine in 2006 The year 2006 was one of the most dramatic in the internal Palestinian arena in recent history. Amid a rash of political and economic transformations of most aspects of Palestinian life, the United States wielded the most control.
12-31-06 - Independent Appeal: Victims of a terrible war receive pioneering help in Gaza - and across the Israeli border
12-31-06 - Hamas and Israel 'close to deal' on prisoners
12-31-06 - Al-Qaeda leader urges Palestinians to turn against Abbas The Fatah-linked militant group Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said "these declarations sow division and serve the purpose of the Zionist (Israeli) occupation and have nothing to do with the fight against the occupier."
12-31-06 - Charities hard at work during Eid Al Adha in light of continued US-led blockade
12-31-06 - Israeli forces take12 year old and 14 year old brothers from their home for midnight interrogation Israeli forces besieged the southern Jenin home of Ahmed Mahmoud Saleh Al Shayeb. They detained the 13 member family in the rain and cold. Two children, 14 year old Nur and 12 year old Mahdi, were taken
12-31-06 - Christian Palestinians keep the faith in Levittown - and keep their homeland in their hearts Before May 1948, when Israel was created, more than 20 percent of the Palestinian population was Christian. But listen, it's really Islam that drove the Christians out. Or so the Israeli Foreign Ministry would have you believe.
12-31-06 - Peace Now: 12 new caravans set up at Amona settlement outpost
12-31-06 - Israeli Navy Boats Abduct Three Palestinian Men Near Rafah Beach Majied Farahat, his two brothers Mohamed and Ahmad were fishing on their boat when Israeli war ships surrounded them and abducted them to unknown destination, eyewitnesses reported.
12-31-06 - Deputy Defense Minister: Israel worried about post-Saddam Iraq Saddam's final words were reportedly, "Palestine is Arab."
12-31-06 - More than 1,000 West Bank Palestinians mourn Saddam Carrying a symbolic coffin for Saddam Hussein, more than 1,000 Palestinians demonstrated in Jenin in the northern West Bank, in response to the ex-Iraqi president's execution.
12-31-06 - Dr. Nazzal Calls on Palestinians to Ignore Zawahri's Incitement Commenting on the statements made by the third man in al-Qaeda Organisation Dr. Ayman Zawahri, Dr Nazzal said in a press release that such statements aim at deepening the rift between Fateh and Hamas, affirming that the Palestinian factions can infuriate by unifying under one program.
12-31-06 - Eid Al Adha messages from political prisoners call for unity
12-31-06 - Special needs families and organizations honored in northern West Bank The Health Care Committees in Jenin held a ceremony to honor the parents of children with special needs.
12-31-06 - Israel is the Only Middle East Ally for Americans Yeh. Look at the list that they offered to choose from. Somebody at Angus-Reid there is reaching for straws.
12-31-06 - Canada probing abuse claims of asylum seekers from Israel
12-31-06 - Israelis Oppose Negotiations with Syria The area of the Golan Heights?approximately 1,860 square kilometres of land?was seized by Israel during the 1967 war, and annexed to its territory in 1981. 66 per cent of respondents reject returning the Golan Heights to Syria within the framework of a real peace agreement. (Stolen)land or peace - which is it? History has proven that Israel can't have both.
12-31-06 - Christian public library opens in Gaza
12-31-06 - Israel plays down letter from Assad to Olmert
12-31-06 - A dictator's Mideast legacy
12-31-06 - Should DailyKos ban all discussions of Israel and Palestine? After one short month here, it has become abundantly clear that this site, perhaps this country, is not capable of rational discourse on the topic. Briefly, comments that are pro-Palestinian, or are in way critical of Israel's policies vis-à-vis the Palestinians, are characterized as anti-Semitic My advice (based on years of personal experience with these types): ignore the personal attacks, but stand your ground. Most importantly, stay on message - do not let them succeed in taking you so far off message that nobody wants to sift through all of the BS to get to the point. If it gets to the point to where it's one big p'ing match - then cut them right off. People have plenty of other places for that. They can start their own diary/blog. That is your best course of action.
12-31-06 - ASIO 'tricked on Hawke plot' AUSTRALIA'S spy agency was tricked by Israel into believing Bob Hawke was the target of a Palestinian assassination plot, the former Palestinian ambassador to Australia said today.
12-31-06 - Israel glad Germany will head EU Israeli diplomatic officials are breathing a sigh of relief that Germany, considered one of Israel's strongest supporters in Europe, will be taking over the rotating presidency of the European Union on Monday for the next six months.
12-31-06 - America, the Betrayer: The Fulfillment? America has failed to topple the Iran and Syria regimes, to stem the Iraqi insurgency or to smother Iran's nuclear weapons development program. Another blame-America article from the usual corners.
12-31-06 - Tomb-raiding tradition thriving in West Bank
12-31-06 - Hebron Reflection: On Coming Home to Hebron
Happy New Year, all. My New Year's prediction: There will be a MAJOR PR effort on the part of Israel and its agents in the US to try to undo the grave damage inflicted this past month on Israel's image.
12-30-06 - Abbas arrives in Gaza for Eid celebrations Just before he left Ramallah, president Abbas slammed the decision of Israel?s Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, not to release Palestinian detainees before the Muslim holiday.
12-30-06 - Northern West Bank journalist spending his third Eid Al Adha in Israeli prison without charge Israeli forces took him from the northern West Bank in April 2004 and have held him under Administrative Detention in Israeli prison since then. He has never been charged with a crime or been afforded a trial.
12-30-06 - Israel says 'justice done' with Saddam execution "Saddam Hussein brought about his own demise. This was a man who caused a great deal of harm to his people and who was a major threat to Israel," Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres told public radio Saturday.
12-30-06 - What to do with Iran? ** As an American strike in Iran is essential for our existence, we must help him pave the way by lobbying the Democratic Party (which is conducting itself foolishly) and US newspaper editors. We need to do this in order to turn the Iranian issue to a bipartisan one and unrelated to the Iraq failure.....We must turn to Hillary Clinton and other potential presidential candidates in the Democratic Party so that they publicly support immediate action by Bush against Iran.....We must clandestinely cooperate with Saudi Arabia so that it also persuades the US to strike Iran.....The Americans must act. Yet if they don't, we'll do it ourselves
12-30-06 - Book: Israel, Lobby Pushing Iran War ** Later in the book, Ritter adds: "Let there be no doubt: If there is an American war with Iran, it is a war that was made in Israel and nowhere else." Hmm.
12-30-06 - 'More options needed against Kassams' The officer said that IDF soldiers rarely succeeded in thwarting Kassam attacks before the rockets were fired, and generally had an opportunity to attack the terrorists only after they launched rockets.
12-30-06 - Israel announces new restrictions on foreigners in West Bank will be required to obtain visas from embassies and consulates inside Israeli boundaries before entering the ?Palestinian territories,? as the Israelis put it
12-30-06 - US welcomes Saddam hanging, Europe opposes execution "Saddam Hussein was a prisoner of war," a Hamas spokesman, Fawzi Barhum, told AFP. The "hanging ... is a political assassination that violates all international laws that are supposed to protect prisoners of war."
12-30-06 - Interrogators torture and attack a detainee with metal chains The center is in Maali Adumim settlement block near the occupied Jerusalem and extends on vast areas that were annexed and seized from the Palestinians.
12-30-06 - Mashal: "Fateh and Hamas talks are the only way out of the current crisis" Hamas political bureau chief, Khalid Mashal, stated on Saturday that the only way to end the current Palestinian crisis is to return to a direct and unconditional dialogue between all Palestinian factions.
12-30-06 - Leftist women's nonviolent resistance for Eid Al Adha
12-30-06 - The problems that face Bethlehem
12-30-06 - U.S. Catholics All for Disinvestment
12-30-06 - A challenge to newly elected Speaker of the House Pelosi In 2001, Pelosi told a pro-Israeli conference the real issue surrounding the Palestinian/Israeli problem is not the occupation, but Israel's right to exist. She added the occupation argument is "nonsense."
12-30-06 - Mubarak: Israel, Palestinians both losers without direct peace negotiations
12-30-06 - Dear Santa, or Someone Dear Abby,I am a Jewish freethinker in Israel. (Sometimes I write "in Israel/Palestine" because it seems to make more sense, but we won't go into that now.) I have a question. If Jewish renewal in Palestine after a thousand generations is visionary and noble, why is the idea of repatriating the displaced Palestinians after a mere fifty or sixty years seen as delusional? I don't get it.
Happy Eid Al-Adha to my Muslim friends
12-29-06 - Flooding cuts Gaza in two The bridges spanning the riverbed, which runs from Israeli territory into the Mediterranean Sea, were bombed by Israeli jets in June after Hamas-linked militants captured an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid, sparking fierce fighting. Makeshift tracks used by Palestinians drivers instead were rendered impassable by the water, which rushed down the riverbed after heavy rains swept Israel and the Palestinian territories on Wednesday and Thursday.
12-29-06 - The Rafah border crossing to open nine hours on Saturday
12-29-06 - Despite promises to ease passage, Israeli military increases restrictions on travel in the West Bank
12-29-06 - Hamas: ?We will not remain idle as Israel constructs a new settlement in the Jordan Valley? Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, warned on Thursday that it cannot stand idle as Israel continues its settlement activities in the West Bank and Jerusalem, adding that the new approval of a settlement construction in the Jordan Valley aims at creating realities imposed by Israel.
12-29-06 - No plans for immediate Palestinian prisoner release: Israel Israel is not planning to release Palestinian prisoners ahead of the Muslim feast of Eid Al-Adha, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office has told AFP.
12-29-06 - Turkish Delegation To Travel To Palestine To Deliver Humanitarian Aid
12-29-06 - Local anti-Wall organizers shot with rubber-coated bullets and beaten in Bil'in protest
12-29-06 - Army denies Israeli settlement report Israeli settlers have set up 200 mobile homes in the West Bank without official approval during the past six months, an Israeli newspaper reported Friday, citing military documents. But both the army and a settlement watchdog group disputed the report.
12-29-06 - Israel controls water resources in Gaza, West Bank -- report Moreover, it said despite limited water resources in the Palestinians territories, Israel took over more that 80 percent of them, noting that large Israeli water projects counted on drawing water from Arab sources.
12-29-06 - How a spy was caught and why he still stands to profit From his prison cell, an unrepentant Pollard still claims a double-cross by U.S. prosecutors who had promised not to seek a life sentence. Mr. Olive dashes this protest: The government did not recommend the term. It was meted by U.S. District Judge Aubrey E. Robinson Jr., after reading a still-secret memo from Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger detailing the grave damage Pollard caused to national security
12-29-06 - Minister of Planning: "I have no problem in meeting with my Israeli counterpart"
12-29-06 - Message from US Consul General Jerusalem on Occasion of Eid al Adha
12-29-06 - World Responds to Palestinian Family's Jailing Despite Media Blackout There is an America that Ibrahim loves. In the New Year we resolve to live there with him.
12-29-06 - 140 residents transferred to Egypt for treatment The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported on Thursday that 140 residents suffering from heart problems and cancer were allowed through the Rafah border crossing on their way to Egyptian hospitals for treatment.
12-29-06 - Gazans fear influential radios will lead them to civil war
12-29-06 - Rabbi calls Carter an anti-Semite What a surprise.
12-29-06 - Will Israel honor its peace agreement?
12-29-06 - Finding resolution in Iraq
12-29-06 - Israeli journalist reveals the secrets of the assassination of Arafat by Ariel Sharon
12-29-06 - Hezbollah involved in Lebanon assassinations: Jumblatt
12-29-06 - Slime Throwing as "Debate"
12-29-06 - Greens, settlers work together to fight West Bank fence route Environmental activists and settlers in the Hebron region have set up a joint operation to stop the construction of a section of the separation fence in the Judean Desert.
12-29-06 - Who's afraid of a Christmas tree? The explanation provided on behalf of the public authority - published in the press - was based on the fact that more than 80 percent of the housing project's immigrant residents are Jewish. Complaints showed that the bearded character of Santa Claus, dressed in a red coat and carrying a bundle of toys for the youngsters, is offensive to religious residents. Very offensive.
12-29-06 - Belgian troops wounded in Lebanon Two Belgian soldiers on a mine-clearing operation in south Lebanon have been wounded after stepping on a cluster bomb, a UN spokesman has said.
12-29-06 - A New Roadblock to Mideast Peace (6 Letters)
12-29-06 - Israelis Disagree with Olmert on PA Gestures 49 per cent of respondents oppose the gestures that Ehud Olmert granted to Mahmoud Abbas in their meeting. Then they will be pleased to learn that Israel hasn't implemented any of them.
12-29-06 - Probe 'finds Israeli army deficient in summer war' There is no probe into Israel's conduct of the war that included the wholesale bombing of civilians (including those in the process of fleeing), and the firing of thousands of cluster bombs into civilian areas.
12-28-06 - Egypt sends weapons through Israel Egypt has sent a large shipment of weapons through Israeli territory to shore up forces loyal to the embattled Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli security officials said Thursday - an extraordinary show of support by both countries for his efforts to renew peacemaking with Israel.
12-28-06 - Gaza militants fire two rockets into Israel
12-28-06 - Palestinian deaths 'rose in 2006' B'Tselem, which monitors human rights in the occupied territories, said the figure included 141 children.
12-28-06 - 683 people killed in the conflict in 2006
12-28-06 - Israeli forces detain scores of Palestinians at Al Karamah border crossing
12-28-06 - Israeli foreign minister: West Bank barrier can be basis for border of Palestinian state Totally outrageous. Remember the claim by Israel that the barrier's route was not a border? The wall where it is presently built is illegal under international law.
12-28-06 - Water supply restored to W. Bank residents after 48 hour shortage Mekorot Water Company workers repaired a faulty water pipeline Wednesday that has failed to supply water for the past 48 hours to tens of thousands of residents of settlements and Palestinian villages in the Dolev-Talmonim and Nili Na'aleh areas in the West Bank.
12-28-06 - Israeli roadblock pledge derided "We are justifiably sceptical. Nothing has happened yet and we do not know if these roadblocks are important or peripheral ... If it is true then it will be too little too late. The only thing that will help Mahmoud Abbas is serious substantive measures accompanied by a serious and substantive peace process,"
12-28-06 - Russia calls to fulfill Olmert-Abbas agreements Russia ?hopes Israel and Palestine will not resort to unilateral actions, which would anticipate the solution of the issue of the final status of Palestinian territories,? Russian foreign ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said Thursday.
12-28-06 - Israel hopes May elections will change UN Human Rights Council "I'm not optimistic," Levanon said, but he added that it was one of the few possibilities which existed for changing the attitude of the Human Rights Council when it came to Israel and making it a more effective vehicle to advocate for victims of injustice around the world. Israel is one of the biggest human rights violators on the planet. But we aren't supposed to know that or condemn it.
12-28-06 - Palestinian Immigrant Jailings in Texas Ahmad Ibrahim says his 5-year-old niece shares her cell with her pregnant mother, Hanan Ahmad, while the 7- and 12-year-old girls share a cell with each other. The 15-year-old boy is in a third cell. All of them are incarcerated at the T. Don Hutto jail in Taylor, Texas.
12-28-06 - Israeli forces expanding Wall in West Bank's Jordan Valley
12-28-06 - AG to Eitam: Repeating anti-Arab comments may lead to charges Eitam, leader of the Religious Zionism faction in the National Union party, said at a September 10 memorial ceremony in the West Bank settlement of Eli: "The vast majority of West Bank Arabs must be deported ... all these Arabs cannot stay there and that territory cannot be forsaken. Most of them would have to leave."
12-28-06 - Mandela Institute: Palestinians taken to Israeli prison hospital are not given medical treatment A Mandela Institute lawyer, Buthaina Dukmak, visited with several of the political prisoners. She reports that 13 Palestinian political prisoners are in the Ramle Hospital suffering from paralysis or such severe disability that they cannot move without either human or wheelchair assistance.
12-28-06 - Israel to impose limits on bank accounts of security prisoners
12-28-06 - Abbas phones PM Haniyeh in sign of easing tension Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas telephoned Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas on Thursday in a sign of rapprochement between the two men as the Islamist premier set off on a tour of Arab countries.
12-28-06 - Palestinian journalists caught in the Gaza crossfire Reporters Without Borders today released the report of a visit it made to Gaza and Israel from 4 to 7 December to investigate the disturbing situation of journalists working in the Gaza Strip, to meet with the authorities and to propose ways of improving the security of the media.
12-28-06 - Editorial: Settlements make bad neighbors
12-28-06 - Israel admits it may have hit ambulance ONLY after they got caught in another lie.
12-28-06 - UAE rejects US criticism on export of sensitive material The United States is "increasingly disturbed by the diversion of goods to Iran and Syria through various ports in the UAE," Chicken Little/boy who cried wolf (Israel), who's hiding behind Uncle Sam, is the one behind it.
12-28-06 - Russia fingers Israeli fugitive in radiation poison probe
12-28-06 - His term was short, but Gerald Ford left mark on Soviet Jewry movement
12-28-06 - Lebanon sees more than 1,000 war deaths None of the counts of war dead include Lebanese killed since the fighting ended by exploding land mines or Israeli cluster bombs scattered around southern Lebanon. Such blasts have killed 27 people and wounded 167, according to the National Demining Office. No Israelis have been killed by war-related blasts since then.
12-28-06 - The Ludicrous Attacks on Jimmy Carter's Book Carter's real sin is that he cut to the heart of the problem: "Peace will come to Israel and the Middle East only when the Israeli government is willing to comply with international law." Amen. And they wouldn't be violating international law if our country wasn't letting them get away with it (and funding it, to boot). You can thank the Israeli lobby for that.
12-28-06 - U.S. Embassy Is Warning Beijing on Iran Gas Deal Tom Lantos, said his panel will "closely examine" the deal next week to see if the sanctions would apply. The ranking Republican on that committee, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican from Florida, said she will also be looking closely at the deal. Israel's top two agents on Capitol Hill, what a coincidence.
12-28-06 - Growing up angry in Gaza
12-28-06 - Muslims claim police bias Aisha Pritchard and her husband, Sadi Elhaloul, a Palestinian, were trying to board their flight from Cardiff International Airport to Dubai on 14 December. The couple claim officers from South Wales Police questioned them for around 20 minutes and then decided to remove their luggage and search it.
12-28-06 - ANALYSIS-Lebanon conflict overlaps with Mideast turmoil "The Middle East's next era promises to be one in which outside actors have a relatively modest impact and local forces enjoy the upper hand -- and in which the local actors gaining power are radicals committed to changing the status quo," he wrote in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs. In Iraq and the Palestinian territories, Islamists have already displaced secular elites, militias eclipse government authority and leaders linked to the West are on the defensive. And why is that? What has allowed these radical groups to rise in power? Moderates have for years sought justice through the proper channels - only to be denied by an America that is heavily biased in favor of and influenced by Israel. Our own national interest has never been considered. Neither have the human rights of the people in that region. As long as Israel's minions in the US tie the hands of our government, radical groups will continue to gain popularity.
12-28-06 - Jimmy Carter's Sin Against Israel
12-28-06 - Rice Told Lieberman: ´Choke Hamas´
12-28-06 - British watchdog probes charity over possible links with Palestinian militants The Charity Commission has investigated reported links between Interpal and terrorist groups on two previous occasions, but found no evidence.
12-28-06 - A sweet tradition in the Middle East, and the US
12-28-06 - Analysis: Syria, Iran won Lebanon war
12-28-06 - Israel and Apartheid: In Defense of Jimmy Carter
12-28-06 - Non-cooperative housing The assignment was to create a jointly-owned building, with four apartments, for Israeli and Palestinian residents
12-28-06 - Immigration to Israel falls to 18 year low
12-28-06 - Oh! Little Town of Bethlehem.... Where Art Thou? This lack of recognition in the West for the plight of Bethlehem?s people is a metaphor for the entire Palestinian situation. When Americans think at all about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, they do so through the prism of the Israeli narrative. They either do not see the Palestinian side of the story, or see a Palestine gutted of its human content.
12-28-06 - Muslims are Americans, too
12-28-06 - Asa Kasher attacks 'brutality' of radical rabbis Radical rabbis in Judea and Samaria and their students have increasingly been calling to replace the IDF's principle of purity of arms with a brutal and vicious military strategy, Prof. Asa Kasher said this week in an exclusive interview with The Jerusalem Post. That's already the case NOW. The myth of 'purity of arms' is just that.
12-28-06 - Palestine's Resiliant, Dignified, and Courageous Voices
12-28-06 - Israeli activists against the Wall block downtown Tel Aviv
12-27-06 - Israel PM orders resumption of Gaza strikes
12-27-06 - B'Tselem and al-Haq warn about killing of children playing with toy guns During Muslim holidays, Palestinian children and youths play with toy rifles. According to B'Tselem's figures, in recent years, IDF soldiers have killed five Palestinian children and youths who were playing with toy weapons or fireworks.
12-27-06 - Rocket attacks on Israel continue "Stop the attacks in the West Bank and Gaza Strip immediately or expect more rockets on Sderot and on Ashkelon and beyond," the Saraya al-Quds said in a leaflet sent to Xinhua by e-mail.
12-27-06 - Hebron: Israeli army attacks medical center, abducting residents,while settlers destroy farm lands In Al Thahria town south of Hebron, right wing Israeli settlers living in an illegal Israeli settlement near the village attacked and destroyed Palestinian farm land.
Eyewitnesses said that the settlers bulldozed farm lands utterly destroying crops over an area of 40 donums (10 acres). According to local farmers the settlers are trying to take over this land to enlarge the settlement.
12-27-06 - Hamas fighter injured by unknown gunmen near Jenin Palestinian sources reported on Wednesday that an unknown armed group fired rounds of live ammunition at a member of Hamas near Borqeen village, west of Jenin in the northern part of the West Bank, the member was seriously injured.
12-27-06 - Successful Israelis relinquish citizenship "..they are required to relinquish their citizenship in order to work in Capitol Hill or serve in prestigious positions in the American military or the White House," Relinquishing their Israeli citizenship does not remove the security threat.
12-27-06 - US raps West Bank settlement plan But what will the US do about it? Zero.
12-27-06 - Hebron Update: Dec. 17-25, 2006 Amy Peters and John Lynes attended a meeting in Jerusalem with a member of
International Committee Against Home Demolitions. He described the current
Israeli policy on house demolitions and suggested that international groups can
be most effective in mobilizing international and getting media attention. The
situation in East Jerusalem is critical where 10 000 out of 40 000 Palestinian
homes may face demolition.
12-27-06 - 2 Palestinian prisoners escape from jail, caught by security forces One of the prisoners was sentenced to seven years in prison for damaging security, and the other was sentenced to three for illegally staying in Israel. They got more time than those settlers that beat the crap out of the Palestinian farmers did (see today's news batch).
12-27-06 - Two settlers given jail terms for attack on Palestinian shepherds
12-27-06 - Knesset education panel: Let Palestinian students attend Israeli universities The Knesset Education, Culture, and Sports Committee on Tuesday called on Defense Minister Amir Peretz to overturn the sweeping policy of denying Palestinian students entry to study at Israeli universities.
12-27-06 - 'Palestinians' call on Israelis to evacuate Negev Right-wing activists print, distribute leaflets pretending to be al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, which declare: In light of ceasefire, which we are successfully taking advantage of for massive armament, and after huge success in expelling Zionist settlement, our organization will soon start shooting missiles at settlements of Ashkelon, Ashdod, Kiryat Gat
12-27-06 - IDF offered to 'transfer' 2 W. Bank villages, court told Meanwhile, authorities on Tuesday ordered settlers to evacuate four homes in a heavily guarded enclave in the West Bank city of Hebron, saying the structures were illegally built.
12-27-06 - Israel delays humanitarian measures It was decided Tuesday that the army would not begin removing roadblocks until the beginning of next week, partly due to weather conditions. They got what they wanted(from the US and also the EU - see today's news). It's doubtful that these measures will go in effect at all, and if they do - history has shown that it won't last long.
12-27-06 - Checkpoints within the West Bank: Israeli PM's words belie reality When media monitors went to check the results of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's pledge to make significant changes in West Bank checkpoints following the meeting with President Abbas, they were unpleasantly surprised. Within two hours of the announcement, the Yitzhar Checkpoint was reimposed after having been removed in the past.
12-27-06 - European Investment Banks ends Israel 'freeze' The European Investment Bank has announced that it would fund hundreds of environmental projects in Israel and provide loans to small businesses there, ending an 11-year investment "freeze". What's the occasion? Israel's 'humanitarian gestures'?
12-27-06 - Jerusalem turns white as first snow falls A dusting of snow covered Jerusalem for the first time this winter as foul weather caused an upsurge in accidents in Israel and the Palestinian areas.
12-27-06 - Captured Israeli still alive: minister
12-27-06 - Army detains international volunteers in Hebron The two volunteers, one Spanish and one South African, were on their way to Tal Al Ruida neighborhood to escort Palestinian schoolchildren from school back to their homes, in an attempt to stop illegal Israeli settlers living in that neighborhood from attacking the schoolchildren.
12-27-06 - Rafah crossing open for Palestinian traffic in both directions Wednesday
12-27-06 - Members of the Palestinian Presidential guard play in the snow
12-27-06 - Finland condemns Israel's new settlement construction in West Bank
12-27-06 - Even day of trading on the Palestinian Stock Exchange
12-27-06 - Prison visit registration for 2007 Families who are allowed to visit their children, fathers, husbands, wives and daughters in Israeli prisons must submit a schedule. The International Red Cross announced on Wednesday that the new dates for prison visits for the year 2007 have been issued and families must now register.
12-27-06 - Egypt reports third bird flu death in a week
12-27-06 - Abbas advocates intensive talks ahead of Rice visit Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has called for intensive talks to resolve the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians ahead of a visit to the region by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice next month
12-27-06 - Increasing numbers of Palestinians leaving Baghdad The number of Palestinians stuck on the Iraq-Syria border after fleeing violence in Baghdad has risen to 80, with more reported on the way.
12-27-06 - The Embarrassment of the Wretched
12-27-06 - Egypt wants end to 'nuclear double standards'
12-27-06 - Israel's mixed messages Unfortunately, it has become traditional in Israel to balance constructive gestures with sops to the politically potent settlers movement. The settlers' agenda is not supported by a majority of Israelis. But no recent government has felt strong enough to resist their demands.
12-27-06 - HEBRON: Learning to Love My Enemies
12-27-06 - A Palestinian view of Jimmy Carter's book
12-27-06 - Outside View: What happened to the Arabs? Reaction to the Baker-Hamilton report showed that Israel is defending certain policies that Americans do not agree on. Israel declared that occupying Iraq is in the Israeli strategic interest and that dividing Iraq is an Israeli target, while the Iraq Study Group report insisted on the need of keeping Iraq united and that war in Iraq damaged the U.S. status, interests and reputation
12-27-06 - Carter Receives Cold Shoulder "True sensitivity to Israel and American Jews would be demonstrated by ceasing these one-sided attacks and apologising for damaging the good name of the State of Israel and the Jewish people" News flash: neither the Jewish people nor the state of Israel are above criticism. Nobody is. Deal with it.
12-27-06 - In defense of Palestinians
12-27-06 - Palestinians depicted unfairly in strife with Israel But where in this imbalanced and disingenuous editorial is mention made of a far greater number of civilian Palestinian fatalities - men, women and children, victims of home demolition and reckless reprisal attacks against Israel's many political enemies? To omit this part of the dark chapter in the Israeli/Palestinian story is to go beyond racism to a "place" where Arabs in that region are reduced to evil figures in a video game or, perhaps worse, human pestilence.
12-27-06 - U.S. finally admits Arafat murdered American officials Now go to the PDF file and read it (it's only 2 pages long). Where in that document from the State Department does it prove Joe Farah's (a known Christian Zionist) allegations? Here is the only pertinent information from the PDF file "but when they
became convinced that their demands would not be met and after
they reportedly had received orders from Fatah headquarters
in Beirut, they killed the two United States officials and
the Belgian Charge". THAT'S Farah's proof? Why does it say 'REPORTEDLY'? The NSA should release the tapes - it's strange that it chooses not to, given that it WOULD release tapes that allegedly exonerate Israel in its attack on the USS Liberty ( the tapes did no such thing in that case).
12-27-06 - Unlike America, writer has no conflicts
12-27-06 - In football match, Israelis and Palestinians lose to Andalusia The proceeds from the match were to go toward financing schools in Palestinian territories in a project sponsored by the Andalusian regional government.
12-27-06 - Egyptians Question Israel's Claim to Eilat
12-27-06 - Nevzlin named in poison probe Russian authorities said an Israel-based business oligarch could be a suspect in the murder of a former Russian spy in Britain.....Nevzlin, who is involved in several Jewish charities, was one of several business moguls forced out of Russia in what many see as a deliberate corporate takeover campaign masterminded by President Vladimir Putin. Hmm.
12-27-06 - Video game lets you join the Palestinian intifada A warning - blog is from Israeli-run MEMRI.
12-27-06 - He's back: Redmond returns from Hebron What we witness we will be writing in a report, and we will release a report. There are three important issues we observed: 1) the wall, 2) the roads Palestinians can't drive down without being arrested and only Israelis can travel, and 3) school patrols-in Hebron they have built these settlements. they resemble upscale condos you might see here in the states. Next to the settlements are the Palestinian neighborhoods, and these neighborhoods are not as nice. One of the things happening is the Israeli adult settlers attack the children, and nothing is being done. I personally escorted children, and the settlers would yell, "Go back to USA, this our land!"
12-27-06 - The new refugees During the past two weeks, officials continued to prevent the entry even of those who are married and have children here and those who came on a visit.
12-27-06 - Neocons Endanger the Sixth Amendment Obviously, the demands of Israel trump the rights of American citizens, as America is now, and has been for some time, Israeli occupied territory.
12-27-06 - Israelis, Palestinians Find No Accord on Jerusalem I could do without the commentary with regard to Angus-Reid's version of Middle East history. Thanks.
12-27-06 - Gaydamak boosts Bibi A Russian-Israeli billionaire endorsed Benjamin Netanyahu?s bid to retake the Israeli premiership.
12-27-06 - Israel approves U.S. extradition The man, who changed his name after moving to Israel two years ago, is believed to have been convicted in California of drugging and raping two women in the late 1980s
12-27-06 - Hezbollah rises from ruins of its Beirut home
12-27-06 - Where's Bethlehem?
12-26-06 - Palestinian farmer shot by Israeli troops near Gaza fence A Palestinian farmer was shot and seriously injured on Tuesday in the northern Gaza Strip as he was working near the fence separating Gaza and Israel, Palestinian officials said
12-26-06 - Israel plans W.Bank homes for Gaza settlers: report Israel's defense minister has approved plans to turn a former army base in the occupied West Bank into a settlement for 30 Jewish settler families evacuated from the Gaza Strip last year, Israel Radio said on Tuesday. As predicted, and under the cover of the 'peace gestures' with regard to dismantling checkpoints and etc., Israel is moving the settlers that were evicted last year from illegal Gaza settlements to new illegal settlements on the West Bank. The world is not blind to their ongoing double dealings.
12-26-06 - Abbas gives Hamas ten-day ultimatum to prepare for unity gov't talks: report
12-26-06 - Palestinians protest West Bank barrier Dozens of Palestinian farm workers have protested south of Bethlehem against the construction of Israel's controversial West Bank separation barrier. Six people were slightly injured when scuffles broke out after a dozen bulldozers, protected by the military, started to tear down trees and raze the ground near the village of Umm Salamona on Tuesday.
12-26-06 - Israel settlement breaks promise to U.S. Israel has approved a new settlement in the West Bank to house former Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip, officials said Tuesday, breaking a promise to the U.S. to halt home construction in the Palestinian territories. Cut them right off the dole (per Bush the first), and see how they like them apples.
12-26-06 - UAE RCS distributes food parcels in KhanYounis
12-26-06 - Israel to weigh Gaza truce stance A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip on Tuesday injured two teenage Israeli boys in the southern town of Sderot. Defence Minister Amir Peretz said Israel must reconsider its "restraint". The Palestinian Islamic Jihad group said it carried out the Sderot attack in retaliation for recent Israeli military raids in the West Bank.
12-26-06 - Palestinian Election Could Be Very Close
12-26-06 - Israeli spies divided over Syria's peace overtures
12-26-06 - Palestinians say soldiers threw rocks, destroyed property Palestinians living south of Mount Hebron on the West Bank say that they have been harassed by Israel Defense Forces soldiers over the past month.
12-26-06 - Acting Finance Minister: salaries finally being paid The Acting Minister of Finance and Minister of Planning, Dr. Samir Abu Eisha, began disbursing salaries to public sector employees who had not received funds provided by the European Union for those who receive more than 2,500 shekels per month
12-26-06 - Intel. tribunal urged to try killers of journalists in Iraq, Palestine The Arab Journalists Federation (AJF) called on the U.N. Security Council on Sunday to take more decisive steps to stop the serial killing of journalists in Iraq and Palestine.
12-26-06 - My mother gave birth to me here 80 years ago. I prefer death than to see the Wall eat this land
12-26-06 - Palestinians skeptical about checkpoints
12-26-06 - Agricultural Relief workshops for remaining farm land Palestinian Agricultural Relief's North Branch is implementing a project to support agricultural lands in villages impacted by the Wall. The work is being done in concert with people of Nazareth, a city still populated by Palestinians, but inside Israeli boundaries
12-26-06 - Hamas PM to Saudi, Kuwait and Jordan Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniya of Hamas will leave for Saudi Arabia this week to continue a tour of Arab states that he interrupted a week and a half ago to deal with an internal crisis.
12-26-06 - Mazuz won't investigate illegal outposts built on Palestinian land Attorney General Menachem Mazuz ruled Tuesday that a criminal investigation will not be opened against settlements and outposts that were built on privately-owned Palestinian land. This is a ROGUE nation.
12-26-06 - A permit will open the gate in the Wall that imprisons Bethlehem The Israeli government has taken 15 percent of Bethlehem into Jerusalem, a city which it has already annexed. In past years the 70 year old Patriarch could travel along the Jerusalem ? Hebron Road within the West Bank from Jerusalem to Bethlehem to deliver Mass for the Western Christmas. But each year the route becomes more difficult.
12-26-06 - Top army judge criticizes detention of Palestinians without trial A top Israeli military judge disclosed that 2,700 Palestinians have been detained without trial this year, criticizing the military prosecution for not filing charges against some of them.
12-26-06 - Petition: Fence route forcing 'transfer' The state is hoping that Palestinians living in two villages inside the Alfei Menashe enclave will move deeper into the West Bank after allegedly being put in an impossible situation by the proposed new route of the separation barrier that traps them on the "Israeli" side, a High Court petition filed Tuesday charged.
12-26-06 - Gaza's only Catholic priest says Palestinians need peace Msgr. Musallam said that when innocent people are punished for the conflict "by hunger, by thirst, by lack of food, by lack of medicine, by lack of care," it is a "crime of war."
12-26-06 - Palestinians demand prisoner release
12-26-06 - Scandal Could Derail New York Comptroller Many states maintain similar portfolios, but Israel constitutes a cause for Hevesi. For many years, Hevesi served as the president of B'nai Zion, a fraternal organization, and several times ran to be a delegate to the World Zionist Congress. As head of B'nai Zion, he served as a member of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations ? and some years ago even briefly considered serving as the group's chairman, a post colloquially called "King of the Jews."
12-26-06 - 'Corrie' canceled in Canada in a situation eerily similar to the one that faced Nicola, it appears that Bragg faced pressure from some of his board members not to alienate Toronto's Jewish community.
12-26-06 - Mubarak, Olmert to meet Ehud Olmert is scheduled to meet Hosni Mubarak next week.
12-26-06 - U.N. Chief Pressured To Bypass Businessman South Korea?s Ban-Ki Moon, who will begin his term January 1 with little experience regarding Israel and its supporters, is coming under fire for his team?s relationship with a little-known Orthodox businessman and activist named Michael Landau. The head of a local Orthodox group in Manhattan, Landau has been actively courting the new secretary-general?s entourage and presenting himself as a go-between to help Ban navigate the U.N.?s notoriously fraught relationship with Jewish groups....Landau is reportedly backed by Malcolm Hoenlein, the influential executive vice-chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
Well well well. Caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
12-26-06 - Jordanians to visit their relatives at Israeli jails
12-26-06 - Israel's economy on the rise Israel's economy rose 12 places in an international listing. Good, now they no longer need our tax money. In fact, they should start paying it back.
12-26-06 - Heeding a call to duty, Jews move to Israel Yonatan Cooper had a hot new sports car, a swank apartment near Beverly Hills and a job he loved in politics. But this week, the 24-year-old New Jersey native plans to trade it all in for a choice that has startled some of his closest friends and family:
He has decided to emigrate to Israel and aims to serve as a paratrooper with the Israel Defense Forces. Because the armed forces of THIS COUNTRY aren't hurting for troops or anything. Something wrong with serving AMERICA?
12-26-06 - I Witness the Israel Lobby in Action This chilling statement was a candid expression of the goals of the Israel lobby. A member of a Jewish organization was saying that it's OK to have a wide-open discussion of these issues in Israel, but it's dangerous to have such a discussion here. Why?
12-26-06 - Report: Israeli mob boss negotiating plea bargain Rosenstein, 51, was extradited nine months ago to American authorities after an indictment was issued against him in Miami after a police operation revealed that he allegedly headed a drug ring that pushed millions of ecstasy pills from Israel to the United States and Australia, through Europe.
12-26-06 - Cases to test secret witnesses In three pending high-profile criminal cases, including one in Dallas, federal prosecutors have asked that the identities of Israeli government witnesses be withheld from defendants and their attorneys -- a move some legal scholars see as a highly unusual end run around the Sixth Amendment.....But University of Michigan law school professor Richard Friedman, a Sixth Amendment expert, said Israel's concerns about the security of intelligence and law enforcement officials should not be allowed to trump the Constitution.
"Israel doesn't conduct our criminal procedures, and there is no reason why a defendant's rights in court should be determined by Israeli criminal procedure," he said.
It should alarm American citizens that agents - whose identities are allowed to be kept secret - of a FOREIGN GOVERNMENT should be allowed to testify against you. But that is the nature of the beast. These agents are of a foreign government that does not now nor has it ever abided by international law; a rogue state.
12-26-06 - Yad Vashem: Why no brochure in Arabic? "If the Arabs had known about the Holocaust and studied about it, the Israeli-Arab conflict could have been solved a long time ago," Why? Does the Holocaust excuse this? Why do Zionists routinely rely on and exploit the Holocaust for political gain (as the Holocaust survivors sit in poverty in Israel)?
12-26-06 - No comparison
12-25-06 - Soldier shoots and kills construction worker in Kufr A-Dik village, northern West Bank, 14 Dec.
12-25-06 - The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Michel Sabbah, the top Catholic Clergyman in the Holy Land, right, greets Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas prior to the Christmas Mass
12-25-06 - Israeli police officers stand guard as a bulldozer demolishes a Palestinian house in the village of Issawiya, on the edge of Jerusalem, December 25, 2006
12-25-06 - Palestinians watch as bulldozers demolish a Palestinian house in the village of Issawiya, on the edge of Jerusalem, December 25, 2006
12-25-06 - Near Jenin, Israeli troops abduct ten Palestinians, including a senior fighter Several members of the Islamci Jihad were also taken prisoner during the invasion
12-25-06 - Israeli shot, wounded in West Bank
12-25-06 - Armed wing of Islamic Jihad shells southern Israel In a statement sent to reporters, the brigades said that a group of its fighters fired one mid-range homemade missile into Sderot city in southern Israel in response to the Israeli army raids in the West Bank.
12-25-06 - Jordan to host Palestinian talks
12-25-06 - 200 Israelis, Palestinians protest new Israeli-only W. Bank road Roughly 200 Israelis and Palestinians turned out for a protest march Saturday against the construction of a new West Bank viaduct that will be open to Israeli traffic only.
12-25-06 - Re-Tracing Mary's Footsteps Through Check Points, Visas and Borders
12-25-06 - W. Bank prisoner expelled to Gaza
12-25-06 - A letter from Bethlehem at Christmastime It is unbelievable that such outrageous racial discrimination exists in the 21st century
12-25-06 - Internet cafés in the front line of new Gaza violence
12-25-06 - Pope urges Mid-East peace efforts
12-25-06 - Palestinian state in 2 years 2 years? Why not NOW? This again leads me to believe that this is another attempt to appease Europe and get their support for another Middle East war (Iran). If Bush had wanted to help create a Palestinian state, he would have done so in 2005, per the Road Map. Not so. All of these recent gestures lately are awfully reminiscent of the runup to the Iraq war. And this all comes JUST as the UN slapped Iran with sanctions.
12-25-06 - Israel moves to ease restrictions on Palestinians
12-25-06 - Israeli army erects military checkpoints around Tubas The Israeli army erected several military checkpoints around the northern West Bank city of Tubas on Sunday morning.
12-25-06 - Call for peace in Bethlehem Life in Bethlehem has deteriorated, with residents finding it difficult to reach jobs in Jerusalem and West Bank towns like Hebron due to Israeli checkpoints and an Israeli barrier that cuts into West Bank land that Palestinians want for a state.
12-25-06 - Israel ministers: respond to missiles "The State of Israel must act against the Qassams in a well-planned and organized manner," said Avigdor Lieberman, the country's minister of strategic affairs. "We must not respond merely in order to appease the public."
12-25-06 - Pope calls for 'just and lasting peace' in Middle East
12-25-06 - Peace activists and local residents of Beit Sahur, a Palestinian town near the biblical West Bank city of Bethlehem, attend a torch march
12-25-06 - Poverty-struck Palestinians turn to drugs
12-25-06 - U.S., European officials visit Fatah base in Jordan
12-25-06 - 'O little ghetto of Bethlehem' The wall effectively annexes Israeli West Bank settlements, although they are considered illegal under international law. The settlements are fast-growing Israeli enclaves built on Palestinian land, their close-packed dwellings marching up once-forested hillsides like monochromatic Lego blocks. Bethlehem is surrounded by 27 settlements containing 73,000 people, according to Open Bethlehem, a local advocacy group. The settlements are connected by bypass roads that are off limits to Palestinians.
12-25-06 - Olive wood carvers under siege The handicraft has been native to the town of Bethlehem, and the predominantly Christian villages of Beit Shahour and Beit Jala in Palestine, ever since the fourth century when Catholic monks associated with the Church of the Nativity, introduced it to the local population
12-25-06 - Candle Light Procession calling for the end of Infighting At least 2000 Palestinians and Internationals joined the Candle Light procession in the town of Beit Sahour on Christmas Day to light a candle for the End of Violence, Unity of the Nation and the Lifting of the Blockade imposed on the Palestinian people.
12-25-06 - Israeli defense minister supports Palestinian prisoner release
12-25-06 - Israel to UN: Qassams unacceptable Gillerman sent the harshly worded letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and the current president of the UN Security Council.
12-25-06 - Bethlehem students' art graces church
12-25-06 - Israel - Part 3 If jewish people in America could ever clearly be shown the level of hatred that is committed by the most zealous and hateful of jews in their names, they would be ashamed, and they would demand immediate change. Unfortunately, the right wing fascists in israel have infiltrated the united states government, and we are not hearing the truth about the apartheid system they are forcing on the arab people called "palestinians". Yes, that's Roseanne Barr speaking there.
12-25-06 - Cluster bombs injure 5 in Lebanon
12-25-06 - MK Bishara in Ghajar: We won't let you become refugees "The Arab village of Ghajar was conquered in '67 along with the Golan Heights and is an inseparable part of Syria . Its status must not be changed until the Golan Heights is discussed," MK Bishara told Ynet.
12-25-06 - Pessimistic view of the Mideast Max Boot = neocon.
12-25-06 - Carter wants debate? He's got it Last week, with Anti-Defamation League director Abraham Foxman accusing Carter of "anti-Semitism," the book hit No. 5 on the New York Times best-seller list, up from No. 11 in three weeks. The league's response has been to take out ads in major newspapers, claiming, "there's only one honest thing about President Carter's new book: the criticism."
The ADL is taking out ads in major newspapers as a response to Carter's book. Priceless! Go Jimmy, Go Jimmy, Go Jimmy!
12-25-06 - Time to seek peace In his Christmas homily, the Archbishop of Westminster has said that the key to a peaceful Middle East is peace in the Holy Land, and has asked for a "conversion of heart" of everyone involved in the conflict in Israel and Palestine.
12-25-06 - Israelis seek peace with Syria, want to keep Golan Most Israelis want peace talks with Syria, but not at the cost of giving up the Golan.
12-25-06 - Serious leaders doing serious work we must also recognize that if it was us under occupation, we too would not accept being denied our freedom for 40 years,and would use every means possible to secure it.
12-25-06 - Likud May Propose Limited PA State Who are you to relegate statehood to another people? Get bent.
12-25-06 - Olmert ready to open Syria talks Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert yesterday said he would like to renew peace talks with Syria, but insisted that Damascus first end its support of anti-Israel militant groups in the Palestinian areas and Lebanon.
12-25-06 - U.S. Republican senator arrives in Syria for talks U.S. Republican Senator Arlen Specter arrived in Syria on Monday for talks with Syrian leaders on bilateral relations and situations in Lebanon, Iraq and the Palestinian territories, according to the independent Syria-News website.
12-25-06 - Dor Alon to continue fuel supply to Gaza Palestinian Minister of Energy Samir Abu Issa has told the Paz energy company Sunday that he wishes to continue doing business with Dor Alon who will continue to supply fuel to the Gaza Strip.
Merry Christmas all!
12-24-06 - Gaza middle class struggling through Western aid freeze
12-24-06 - Palestinian girls dressed as Santa Claus watch the traditional Christmas procession outside the Church of the Nativity
12-24-06 - Palestinian children dressed as Santa Claus ring bells as they ride on a car during Christmas celebrations
12-24-06 - Palestinian Christians pray in the Deir Al Latin Catholic Church during the Christmas Mass in Gaza City
12-24-06 - Palestinian alter boys and men line Manger Square in front of the Nativity Church in the Biblical West Bank town of Bethlehem
12-24-06 - A Palestinian man on stilts, dressed as Santa Claus, greets a young boy during the annual Christmas procession in the West Bank town of Bethlehem
12-24-06 - A priest prays in the Grotto at the Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ
12-24-06 - Announcements of Israeli Change of Policy Unfounded in Reality
12-24-06 - Israeli Army Tightens Military Measures Ahead of Holidays in Palestine The Israeli army tightened military measures on Sunday in different areas of the West Bank, ahead of the Muslim holiday Aladha Eid and the Christian holiday Christmas.
12-24-06 - Palestinian bagpipers march past the Church of the Nativity
12-24-06 - Muted Christmas for Gaza Christians amidst violence Several hundred people usually participate in the annual Gaza parade. Muslim clerics and government representatives have taken part in previous years. The tree is traditionally decorated with multi-coloured lights.
12-24-06 - Roundup: Israeli officials' responses differ on Olmert-Abbas summit The Israeli cabinet on Sunday unanimously approved the release of part of withheld Palestinian funds, but various views were voiced during the cabinet meeting regarding Saturday's Olmert-Abbas summit.
12-24-06 - Egypt promises continued contacts for Israeli-Palestinian truce Egypt promised Sunday its continued contacts with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to cement the recent ceasefire between the two sides, the official MENA news agency reported.
12-24-06 - Olmert says Israel may release some Palestinian prisoners next week
12-24-06 - FEATURE - Anti-Israel "rabbis" face fallout from Jewish world Neturei Karta, Aramaic for "guardians of the city", was formed in Jerusalem in the 1930s as a bulwark against the growing Zionist movement in what was then British Mandate Palestine.
12-24-06 - Abbas in festive Bethlehem visit
12-24-06 - Bethlehem on Christmas Eve: Where are all the Christians? both Palestinian Christians and Muslims celebrated the day together, and the recent civilian violence in Gaza did not seem to affect the festivities, local sources added.
12-24-06 - Palestinian Organization for the Right of Return opens Beirut headquarters The Palestinian Organization for the Right of Return, or FIRM, its Arabic acronym, opened its headquarters in Leb-anon on Friday in the presence of former Premier Salim Hoss who was the guest speaker.
12-24-06 - Supreme Court compels finance ministry to explain exclusion of Arab villages
12-24-06 - Diskin: "Fateh chances of winning new elections, close to zero" Head of the Israeli Security Agency, Shabak, Yuval Diskin, said during a cabinet session on Sunday that if Palestinian general elections are to be held today, the chances of Fateh movement in winning them are close to zero, and that Hamas movement will achieve a bigger victory that than the recent elections the movement overwhelmingly won.
12-24-06 - Israel praises U.N. Security Council decision to impose sanctions on Iran Israel's Defense Ministry said the international community "will need to continue to show determination to reach the goal of blocking Iran's nuclear plan."
12-24-06 - Teen's death prompts commander's dismissal An Israeli platoon leader was dismissed Sunday, five days after a soldier from his unit killed a 14-year-old Palestinian girl in West Bank, officials said.
12-24-06 - UAE to transfer $30 mln to Palestinian Authority "The President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan has ordered the transfer of $30 million to the Palestinian Authority as support from the United Arab Emirates to the brotherly Palestinian people and to help reduce their suffering,"
12-24-06 - Bethlehem tries to stem exodus of Christians Over the weekend, dozens of Bethlehem's poorest children will receive the gifts they requested from the man in the white beard and red suit. But few people know the real identity of the Secret Santa of Bethlehem.
12-24-06 - Bethlehem hears calls for peace In an address, the Roman Catholic Church's leader in the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, called for an end to fighting between Palestinian factions and for the revival of long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.
12-24-06 - World must not ignore Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Anglican leader The world should not ignore the problems facing Israelis and Palestinians who fear being forgotten, the leader of the world's Anglicans will say in his Christmas Day sermon, according to excerpts of the speech.
12-24-06 - Israeli delegation visits Oman in Persian Gulf This time, the Omani organizers of the conference purposely did not invite any representatives from the Palestinian Foreign Ministry, which is controlled by Hamas, in order to allow the participation of both Israeli and American representatives.
12-24-06 - Born in Shepherd's Field Israel's desire to acquire maximum geography with minimum Palestinian demography is the root of the suffering afflicting the Holy Land. Amnesty International has observed that the peace processes failed because Israel has ignored human rights, including the right of native Palestinians to return to their homes and lands.
12-24-06 - Iran sanctions ?very good for israel?
12-24-06 - Hindsight is 20/20 - how israel duped US into fighting their wars
12-24-06 - Egyptian woman dies of bird flu She is the eighth person to die of bird flu in Egypt. The positive tests raise to 17 the total number of human cases.
12-24-06 - Christmas trees become political symbols in Beirut "The opposition has succeeded in creating a brotherhood between Shiites from the south and Christians so that together they can demand an end to Western tutelage,"
12-24-06 - The Muslim prophet born in Bethlehem For centuries Muslims cherished the figure of Jesus, who is honoured in the Qur'an as one of the greatest of the prophets and, in the formative years of Islam, became a constituent part of the emergent Muslim identity.
12-24-06 - Fresh from the horse's ass Another ridiculous article by Aaron Klein of WND (owned by Christian Zionist Joseph Farah).
12-23-06 - Senior Palestinian official shot in Gaza Jarbouh was in critical condition. His bodyguard and the girl, a bystander, suffered moderate wounds.
12-23-06 - Palestinian Fatah, Hamas committed to cease-fire deal A Palestinian factional committee announced on Saturday that rival Fatah and Hamas groups are holding on to an internal deal of cease-fire in spite of sporadic violations
12-23-06 - Fateh, Hamas fighters engage in renewed clashes
12-23-06 - Palestinian militant group threatens to drop ceasefire with Israel On Thursday, two Islamic Jihad militants were killed in northern West Bank by Israeli special forces. The group's militants in Gaza responded by launching several homemade rockets at southern Israel.
12-23-06 - Israel blocks another UN fact-finding mission With Beit Hanoun, Israel followed a playbook similar to the one it used in 2002 regarding the killing of Palestinians in Jenin: Delay, delay, delay. Israel's deputy UN ambassador, Aaron Jacob, used language in 2002 strikingly similar to that employed last week by Regev. "We did not decide to reject the team. But the government of Israel decided that the time was not ripe." Why change what works? .....A decision evidently has been reached that it is better for Israel to appear to be hiding something than to have its abuses fully brought to light. Of course, Israeli officials have little to worry about when The New York Times and Washington Post fail to even cover the inability of Tutu's team to enter the area Jenin
12-23-06 - Surprise Gaza talks raise hope for peace By coincidence, it happened on a day when the UN voted to sanction Iran.
12-23-06 - Mass goers to hear of Bethlehem plight The Irish Bishop's Conference (IBC) circulated a Christmas statement to priests saying that the birthplace of Jesus has been transformed from a "bustling cultural and spiritual centre" to "a big prison".
12-23-06 - Christmas Tourism Lags in Bethlehem
12-23-06 - Father of 14-year-old girl killed by IDF released on bail to mourn
12-23-06 - Agreement On Revitalizing Palestine Industrial Free Zone
12-23-06 - Target Iran: Former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter and Investigative Journalist Seymour Hersh on White House Plans for Regime Change ** So if you read the Azeri press, for instance, you?ll find out that the Israeli Mossad has upped its efforts to build a station in Azerbaijan. And the Azeri press will delve into that more. Why does the Mossad want to build a station operating? There?s a couple reasons. One, the Mossad is working with the Azeri population. You know, there is a Jewish minority in Azerbaijan that has emigrated to Israel. And so, there?s a number of Azeri Israelis that the Israeli government now is bringing back to Azerbaijan to work on this issue.... we're not allowed to do is discuss the notion that Israel and the notion of Israeli interests may in fact be dictating what America is doing, that what we're doing in the Middle East may not be to the benefit of America's national security, but to Israel's national security. But, see, we don?t want to talk about that, because one of the great success stories out there is the pro-Israeli lobby that has successfully enabled themselves to blend the two together, so that when we speak of Israeli interests, they say, "No, we're speaking of American interests."....The bottom line is, within two days of our decision to initiate an attack on Iran, every single one of you is going to be feeling the consequences of that in your pocketbook. And it?s only going to get worse. This is not something that only I recognize. Ask Dick Lugar what information he?s getting from big business, who are saying, ?We can?t afford to go to war with Iran.? SEYMOUR HERSH: Final question: given all this, are we going to do it? SCOTT RITTER: Yes, we're going to do it.
Read the entire thing.
12-23-06 - Report: Direct flight from Tel Aviv to Beirut Hizbullah television station Al-Manar claimed Wednesday that the organization is in possession of documents proving that a Portuguese military plane carrying 11 unidentified passengers flew directly from Israel?s Ben-Gurion Airport to Beirut.
12-23-06 - Bethlehem - the last place you would want to be for Christmas "Bethlehem is the last place in the world where I would want to be for Christmas," he said. "Hamas and Fatah should remember the enemy is not each other but Israel, and the longer they fight one another the better it will be for the Israelis."
12-23-06 - O little town of Bethlehem
12-23-06 - Death of a student stirs revolt in Gaza
12-23-06 - Hamas denies it preparing five-year truce with Israel
12-23-06 - Palestinian police arrest thieves of human skulls "The gang used to unearth human skulls in Khan Yunis city, Gaza Strip, and use them in narcotic industry,"
12-23-06 - PALESTINIANS IN CHILE DENOUNCE MIDDLE EAST VIOLENCE About 450,000 Palestinians live in Chile, making it the largest and one of the strongest expatriate communities in the world.
12-23-06 - West Bank town of Bethlehem experiences little peace - or commerce
12-23-06 - Wall gate delays transfer of body of a deceased resident for three hours
12-23-06 - 30 village councils in Bethlehem voice appeal for ceasefire Thirty village councils in Bethlehem voiced an appeal to all Palestinian factions in order to stop the internal clashes and solidify the ceasefire between the armed groups, especially Fateh and Hamas who engaged in violent clashes.
12-23-06 - Palestinian dressed as Santa Claus walks past the Israeli separation wall in Bethlehem
12-23-06 - Palestinian Christian children gather by a shop selling Christmas ornaments
12-23-06 - Bethlehem Group Re-Enacts Walk of Mary, Joseph At White House Descendents of first-century Christians from the land of Jesus' birth led a candle-lit procession Saturday evening from Lafayette Park around the Ellipse and National Christmas Tree, according to a spokesman for the Ad Hoc Committee For Bethlehem, which organized the event.
12-23-06 - First for Israeli-Arabs: Campaign against underage marriage
12-23-06 - Israel's Move to Destroy the Palestinian Authority was a Calculated Plan, Long in the Making
12-23-06 - On Israel's "Right to Exist"
12-23-06 - World's biggest ecstasy dealer nabbed in Rio Yoram is alleged to have been behind the largest-ever shipment of the club drug ecstasy, a stimulant with the chemical name methylenedioxymethamphetamine, into the United States.
12-23-06 - Syria building 'death trap' villages While for years it was assumed that Israel had a major edge against Syria's military with regard to a conventional war - tank versus tank, jet versus jet - in an urban setting, the Syrian military would be able, the officer said, to wreak havoc against IDF infantry and armored units like Hizbullah did.
12-23-06 - Lebanon seizes explosives from pro-Syrian group
12-23-06 - Abraham Fund launches program to encourage Arab women to work The Abraham Fund Initiatives is a non-profit organization based in Jerusalem and New York City. It is dedicated to advancing the coexistence and cooperation between Israel's Jewish and Arab citizens.
12-23-06 - Jewish leaders: Bush finds Iran election results encouraging Bush gathered Jewish education leaders and students at the White House to discuss the role of religion in schools. The closed-door discussions also touched on other issues including the war in Iraq, spreading democracy and the crisis in Darfur.
12-23-06 - Mainstream journalist defends western bias "There was a statement issued today by Hezbollah that they would support a UN Tribunal if it is "fair, just and nonpolitical", so what about the Israeli Mossad spy ring that was uncovered in Lebanon that outside investigators claim is linked to the Hariri killing? What is the UN doing in this regard to investigate?" Mossad in Lebanon caught before this year, same story, also in 1998.
12-23-06 - Watching Christmas Midnight Mass from Bethlehem in real time
12-23-06 - Photo expo focus on Palestine
12-23-06 - Four reasons for ranting ** The ideal scenario, from Israel's point of view, would be an American military attack that would destroy Iran's nuclear facilities and remove the threat. "We have to get the United States to carry out what it promised to do, and to create the proper international climate," explains a senior official. It is not clear what President Bush told Olmert in private talks that had him leaving Bush's office feeling so satisfied. We can only presume that Olmert is depending on Bush's religious faith and obstinacy, which will lead him to attack Iran, even in light of American public opposition to military adventures in the Middle East.
12-23-06 - Calls for a ?Gate of Hope? in Bethlehem? wall
12-23-06 - Jimmy Carter, on Mission Carter is taking on the orthodoxies in his own culture, with the same sense of all or nothing. The venom he is encountering on the Jewish right is staggering.....we're getting closer and closer to the Elian Gonzales moment, the moment when the American people wake up and realize that a fanatical lobby is not representing America's best interest.
12-23-06 - Lanka mends fences with Palestine as UN envoy lashes out at Israel
12-23-06 - Israel's cost on fence route may reach 238 mln USD Israel's cost on changing route of the West Bank security fence have reached approximately NIS 700million (166.67 million US dollars) and it may rise to as much as NIS one billion (over 238 million dollars) in the near future, local newspaper Ha'aretz reported on Thursday. It would have saved them (and consequently us American taxpayers) lots of money had they built the fence on the Green Line in accordance with international law. This is not rocket science.
12-23-06 - Making a buck and a point in West Bank Don't exploit the poor people, please.
12-23-06 - Teens face charges after puzzling message spray-painted at Ontario Arabic school
12-22-06 - One dead in inter-Palestinian clashes in Gaza City A civilian, Ayman al-Girgawi, was mortally wounded in the clashes, emergency services director Dr Moawiya Hassanen told AFP.
12-22-06 - Independent Appeal: 'What would happen if the Virgin Mary came to Bethlehem today?' Since Fadia's delivery, in 2002, the United Nations confirms that a total of 36 babies have died because their mothers were detained during labour at Israeli checkpoints. All across Bethlehem - all across the West Bank - there are women whose pregnancies are being disturbed, or worse, by the military occupation of their land....."Recently, two of our pregnant patients here were tear-gassed in their homes ... The women couldn't breathe and went into premature labour. By the time we got there, the babies had been delivered stillborn."
12-22-06 - Gaza gripped by gun battles between factions
12-22-06 - Peretz approves Wall route around Maali Adumim Israeli Defense Minister, Amir Peretz, approved the original route of the Annexation Wall that surround Maali Adumim settlement by annexing more Palestinian lands and placing them inside the settlement?s enclave. The Israeli Jerusalem post reported that 64.000 Dunams of Palestinian lands will be inside the Israeli side of the Wall.
12-22-06 - Jordan's king warns window for peace fading in Mideast
12-22-06 - Robert Fisk: Banality and barefaced lies But in this context, why, I wonder, didn't The New York Times and the other gutless mainstream newspapers in the United States mention Israel's cosy relationship with that very racist apartheid regime in South Africa which Carter is not supposed to mention in his book? Didn't Israel have a wealthy diamond trade with sanctioned, racist South Africa? Didn't Israel have a fruitful and deep military relationship with that racist regime? Am I dreaming, looking-glass-like, when I recall that in April of 1976, Prime Minister John Vorster of South Africa - one of the architects of this vile Nazi-like system of apartheid - paid a state visit to Israel and was honoured with an official reception from Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, war hero Moshe Dayan and future Nobel prize-winner Yitzhak Rabin? This of course, certainly did not become part of the great American debate on Carter's book.
12-22-06 - Old allegiances crumble in battle for Palestinian hearts and minds
12-22-06 - State Department Weighs Plan for Palestinian State The Bush administration is considering a plan to declare an independent Palestinian state with provisional borders by the end of 2007. It will no doubt be Israel's version of a Palestinian state. It also could be seen as a way to win support (from those who need to be swayed) for a possible attack on Iran.
12-22-06 - Palestinian Christians seek end to infighting
12-22-06 - Syrian daily hits out at US terms for dialogue "You cannot tackle the Iraq question independently of the other issues in the region, because the root cause of all the problems is Israel's occupation of Arab lands," the paper said.
12-22-06 - Appeal from a bereaved Palestinian family
12-22-06 - Palestinian aid plan is extended The United States says agreement has been reached on extending aid to the Palestinians while bypassing the Hamas-led government.
12-22-06 - More Palestinians arrive at Iraq-Syria border to escape violence in Baghdad The latest group has been stranded on the Iraqi side of the border with Syria since last Saturday, UNHCR's chief spokesperson, Ron Redmond, told reporters in Geneva, adding that Iraqi border authorities initially refused to allow them to leave Iraq, citing a lack of proper documentation
12-22-06 - Pray for the little town of Bethlehem
12-22-06 - Be'lin Weekly Demonstration Against Illegal Israeli Seperation Wall Today, like the past 2 years, the demonstrations in Be'lin started after Friday prayers with participants including residents of the village, Internationals and Israeli activists participating. This week there was a high percentage of International demonstrators, in which the majority came from the countries of Poland and Spain.
12-22-06 - Palestinian Muslims Wait at Rafah Crossing to Participate in the Hajj Today was the first day in over a week that the Israeli border guards have opened the crossing and allowed individuals to pass, the Associated Press reported today.
12-22-06 - Palestinian Lawyer Manages to Meet Detainees Confined to Solitary
12-22-06 - To live and let live, among the olive groves Israel's wall will cut off Aboud from an additional 440 hectares, or 1,100 acres, of village land. I deeply understand Israel's security needs, and its obligation to protect its citizens. I doubt, however, whether separating villages like Aboud from their land, olive trees and water will improve Israel's security, and whether the wall's route in Aboud was truly chosen for security purposes.....Since 1967, Israel has severely restricted Aboud's use of the West Bank's richest aquifer, preventing the drilling of wells to access fresh water beneath the village. Therefore, Aboud's residents must purchase their water from Israel's national water company.....the barrier is destroying acres of Aboud's olive groves, uprooting more than 10,000 olive trees and cutting residents off from many more trees
12-22-06 - Israeli Army attacks several West Bank areas and abducts 24 Palestinian men
12-22-06 - As year nears end, a call for a 'just peace on equal footings' Among the ACT-supported programs in Gaza through ACT appeal MEPL61 (Emergency Assistance to the Palestinian Population) are one-time cash grants to families to assist with food purchases. Another program is providing people with various medical services, including medical treatment at its Gaza clinic, provided at a minimal fee.
12-22-06 - PCHR Weekly Report on Israeli Violations in the Occupied Territories
12-22-06 - Israeli think tank says only military strike will stop Iran: Report ** And they want US to do it as history repeats itself.
12-22-06 - Carter uniquely qualified to write about Israel-Palestine It was predictable that in a country that systematically suppresses any information contrary to Israel, it would be attacked.
12-22-06 - Face to faith "As the world continues to talk peace, Israel continues to build the wall and while Christians continue singing 'O little town of Bethlehem', Israel makes sure that this town stays as 'little' as possible. As 'little' as 2 square miles of open-air prison, surrounded by walls, fences and trenches, with no future expansion possibilities."
12-22-06 - Meeting between Israeli religious leaders ends with spat over occupation "Are you prepared to fundamentally condemn the occupation?" the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, asked Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar. Evidently he was not. Therein lies the principle obstacle to peace between the two parties - one side believes it has divine right at the expense of the other.
12-22-06 - Ratings of Israel's right surge Israel's main right-wing opposition party, Likud, has seen its ratings surge on the back of disappointment with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's coalition and would win an election should one be held now, according to an opinion poll.
12-22-06 - Professor: Carter will hurt center Although the book has gone through several printings and is on several best-sellers lists, it has been skewered by Jewish organizations and scholars as being anti-Semitic, inaccurate, misleading and absent of key facts. There also have been new charges that Carter promotes terrorism. The damage control by the usual suspects is in full swing. I would expect there may even be some black ops to get the American sheeple back in line. Israel (and consequently its minions in the US) cares more about its image than about int'l law (and other things). Carter and his book have done a world of damage to the Hasbara machine.
12-22-06 - What Price a Retirement Made in Hebron? When Israel sowed division rather than talk to the PLO they eventually got a Hamas government. Many fear that repeating the process now will lead to an Al Qaida-style Palestinian Jihadist opposition in the years to come
12-22-06 - "Corrie" Kerfuffle in Canada! Yes, just when we thought "My Name is Rachel Corrie" had come and gone without incident, and proved New York Theatre Workshop wrong for canceling it, the CanStage company in Toronto has now nixed it off their season
12-22-06 - Theatre scraps play on Mideast 'martyr' "I was asked what I thought, and I told them I would react very badly to a play that was offensive to Jews," says veteran cultural activist Bluma Appel, whose name is affixed to the theatre where CanStage presents its mainstage productions. "I would react just as badly to a play that was offensive to blacks or Muslims or white Christians," Appel said from her winter home in Florida..... Developer Jack Rose, a member of the CanStage board who, like Appel, has not read or seen the play, says: "I had one phone conversation about this. There was a question whether it would be a mistake to proceed with it, and my view was it would provoke a negative reaction in the Jewish community."
12-22-06 - America's Double Standard on Democracy in the Middle East while the Bush Administration continues talk the talk of promoting democracy in the Middle East, many in the Arab world have a jaundiced view of Washington's intentions: Democracy, yes, but only when the outcome serves the interests of the U.S.
12-22-06 - ZOA Criticizes President Bush For Again Refusing To Move U.S. Embassy To Jerusalem - Reneging On Campaign Promise Maybe they can get their man Bolton on the case?....
12-22-06 - That story from yesterday smearing Carter was originally published on this extreme rightwing Israel 'news' site and the Washington Times saw fit to print it. Imagine that.
12-22-06 - A little town oppressed by military occupation
12-22-06 - Bible College in Bethlehem Now Using Media to Combat Violence, Bring Light and Hope to Palestinians
12-22-06 - Neocons: Fighting To Prevent Our Exit From Iraq
12-22-06 - Army sets sights on missile defense Defense Ministry officials are pinning their hopes on a joint venture between Israel's Rafael Armament Development Authority and Raytheon Co.
12-22-06 - Israeli killer commits suicide A Jewish settler jailed for life for killing four Palestinians in a shooting spree in the occupied West Bank committed suicide on Friday.
12-22-06 - Israel barrier saddens Archbishop
12-22-06 - A look at charges of anti-Semitism In your paper every day, there is either an opinion or article about anti-Semitic beliefs. Jimmy Carter writes a book? Anti-Semitic. Iran holds a conference? Anti-Semitic. Professors write a paper condemning Israel's foreign policy? Anti-Semitic.
12-22-06 - Rate of cluster bomb casualties falling However, with at least 900,000 bomblets still contaminating southern Lebanon, according to MACC, there is still a high risk to inhabitants of the area.
12-22-06 - Custos Invites Palestinian Leader for Christmas Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Franciscan minister provincial in the Middle East, traveled to the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday to invite the Palestinian representative to dine with the Franciscan community on Christmas Eve in the Bethlehem convent, and then to attend Midnight Mass.
12-22-06 - Future House power says Dems back a dialogue with Iran, Syria U.S. Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said both parties? support for Israel would remain unstinting..... Hoyer scored a decisive win in a caucus vote last month to become majority leader. Jewish groups watched the race closely, since Hoyer has proven to be one of Israel's best friends in Congress, leading multiple delegations to the Jewish state and isolating the caucus' few anti-Israel voices.
12-22-06 - Stalin's Jews In his new, highly praised book "The War of the World, "Historian Niall Ferguson writes that no revolution in the history of mankind devoured its children with the same unrestrained appetite as did the Soviet revolution. In his book on the Stalinist purges, Tel Aviv University's Dr. Igal Halfin writes that Stalinist violence was unique in that it was directed internally.
12-22-06 - Anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews attend conference: "The Holocaust - Global Vision"
12-22-06 - ADL Lists Top 10 Issues Affecting Jews in 2006 The Anti-Semitic Myth of the "Israel Lobby"
That is hilarious. Maybe if the gloating about how much power the pro-Israelis have over both houses of Congress wasn't coming from THAT VERY COMMUNITY, maybe THEN these people would have a leg to stand on. That it IS happening only proves this 'anti-Semitic myth' is a charge leveled by the aforementioned in order to SHUT PEOPLE UP. Not working anymore. Come back 10 year!
12-22-06 - Israel, Palestine display damaged
12-21-06 - A Palestinian civilian from Rafah dies of injuries sustained earlier The young man was injured when Israeli boats opened fire at a number of Palestinian fishing boats in Rafah City a week ago, the sources added.
12-21-06 - Heavy gunfire in Gaza City near minister's home Gunmen exchanged fire in Gaza City early on Friday close to the home of the foreign minister in the Hamas-led government, Palestinian witnesses said.
12-21-06 - Homemade Shells Injure Three Palestinians Including a Pregnant Woman in Gaza A Palestinian home made shell landed on Thursday morning on a Palestinian house wounding three Palestinians including a pregnant woman in the northern Gaza strip.
12-21-06 - Palestinian militants fire more homemade rockets at Israel The rocket attack came in response to the Israeli attacks in West Bank where three Palestinians were killed over the past three days.
12-21-06 - Gaza's residents rally for peace
12-21-06 - Rights groups reject travel ban on West Bank hitchhikers
12-21-06 - Bush OKs Law Blocking Aid to Hamas Gov't Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., ranking member on the House International Relations Committee after Congress reconvenes Jan. 4, said she was pleased the president signed the bill she sponsored in the House.
12-21-06 - 'Bethlehem wall' shock for Williams
12-21-06 - Jordan tourist attacker to hang
12-21-06 - Japan reaffirms Mideast commitment to Jordan's king Foreign Minister Taro Aso told the king -- in Tokyo to discuss the chaos in the Palestinian territories and Iraq -- that Japan would keep supporting initiatives such as the "peace and prosperity corridor", a statement said Thursday. Under the "corridor" proposed by then prime minister Junichiro Koizumi on a visit to the Middle East in July, Japan would help develop the West Bank and build an agro-industrial park there in cooperation with Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority
12-21-06 - Report: Arabs in north get 10% of budget for rebuilding region A new report released on Wednesday accuses the government of allocating Arab communities only 10 percent - instead of the 30 percent pledged - of the budgets for rebuilding Israel's north in the wake of the war in Lebanon.
12-21-06 - Gaza ? Latest Report on ICRC Activities in the Field
12-21-06 - Asia-Africa Countries to Assist Palestine
12-21-06 - US compensation lawsuit against Ya'alon dropped In the United States last week the Washington DC District Court threw out a civil lawsuit against former IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. (res) Moshe Ya'alon demanding compensation on behalf of the families of those killed in the Lebanese village of Qana in 1996.
12-21-06 - Misuse of Weapons by Armed Groups and Security Personnel
12-21-06 - Religious leaders arrive in Bethlehem for three-day pilgrimage
12-21-06 - Bnei Brak rabbis: Don't rent to Arabs
12-21-06 - Palestinians have become targets in Iraq's chaos It was the bloodiest assault so far in what has become a long stream of attacks on Palestinians, whose community has been here since the establishment of Israel in 1948 but who've never been granted Iraqi citizenship.
12-21-06 - Canadian PM calls Hamas 'genocidal' genocide def - the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group . Who has driven nearly 3/4 million people from their homes, who has wiped Palestine off the map, who continues to squeeze a people into smaller and smaller areas of land by unlawful land confiscation (this includes by way of the wall)? Is it the Palestinians?
12-21-06 - Israeli confiscation of Jerusalem includes 100,000 Jewish settlers per year The Israelis are bringing 100,000 Jewish settlers to Jerusalem every year. The Director of Mapping in Jerusalem's Arab Studies Society said that the Israeli plan to Judaize the city will accommodate 500,000 more settlers by 2010.
12-21-06 - After 17 years Israelis demolish Palestinian home in East Jerusalem
12-21-06 - A somber Christmas for Gaza's Christians Pointing out the window to the Catholic school's playground, he says that just 100 of the school's 650 students are Christians. The rest are Muslim. At Christmastime, a Muslim often volunteers to dress up as Santa Claus and passes out gifts to all children, he said.
12-21-06 - High Court approves cutting off a-Ram from East Jerusalem This section of the barrier will surround a-Ram on three sides. The barrier's route will separate a-Ram from its last land reserves, and leaves this area on the Israeli side of the barrier. The barrier also separates a-Ram from three villages lying west of it.
12-21-06 - No escape for Palestinians locked in Gaza violence
12-21-06 - First Arab peacekeepers deploy in Lebanon
12-21-06 - Text of the patriarch of Jerusalem's 2006 Christmas message
12-21-06 - Jesus is a Terrorist
12-21-06 - EU Parliament member: Syria's peace intentions genuine
12-21-06 - Jailed Syrian dissident prods Bush on Palestine, Iraq In his December 13 statement, Bush called on Syria to free all political prisoners and to halt "intimidation and interference" which, he alleged, had been hurting Lebanon's embattled democracy.
12-21-06 - Music Review | 'West-Eastern Divan Orchestra'
12-21-06 - Harper?s ill-informed pronouncement on Hamas threatens peace in the Middle East says McDonough NDP Foreign Affairs and International Development Critic, Alexa McDonough (Halifax), today condemned Stephen Harper?s pronouncement on Hamas and Hezbollah as inflammatory and destructive to any advancing of peace in the Middle East.
12-21-06 - Another sad attempt by an Israel-defender to smear Carter Note the tone of the rhetoric that that author alleges as fact, and you'll see the hidden agenda. The Bush family ties to the Saudis are well known, yet are not given the same amount of time and attention by the pro-Israel camp for one reason - (this)Bush is an Israel-defender.
12-21-06 - OPEC Fund approves over USD 8 million for development projects Up to USD 2.5 million would support the second phase of financial aid for Palestinian civil communities as OFID provides assistance to food-insecure communities and severely affected households and people in hospitals, orphanages and homes for the elderly, Al-Herbish said.
12-21-06 - Protests result in ousting of Cambridge anti-Israel group Jewish activists are at the forefront of ousting a series of Palestinian advocacy groups held at a cluster of churches in Cambridge. To suggest that Jewish groups conspire to silence opposition is, according to the ADL and like orgs, the furtherance of an 'anti-Semitic canard'.
12-21-06 - Academic group seeks to make Jerusalem a violence-free city
12-20-06 - Two Fatah policemen killed in Gaza Hamas gunmen killed two Palestinian policemen loyal to the rival Fatah movement early Wednesday, hours after the sides agreed to a new cease-fire meant to end more than a week of factional fighting.
12-20-06 - Two Islamic Jihad militants killed by Israel in West Bank
12-20-06 - Israeli settler Runs over 72-year-old Palestinian man near Bethlehem An Israeli settler ran over an elderly man Wednesday midday in Al Khader village south of the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem.
12-20-06 - Israel denies airstrike against Palestinian gunmen in Gaza
12-20-06 - Rival forces withdraw from Gaza streets
12-20-06 - Israel 'used chemical weapons in Palestinian lands': minister
12-20-06 - Detained father of girl shot dead by IDF blocked from her funeral Al-Qadr's daughter Da'ah tried to cross the separation fence near the village of Faroun adjacent to Tul Karm to visit the family's plot of land, says her mother.
12-20-06 - Two Israeli troops suspended
12-20-06 - Israeli Air-force targets fighters in Gaza Palestinian sources in the Gaza Strip reported Wednesday that an Israeli war-jet fired a missile at a group of fighters in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, no injuries were reported.
12-20-06 - Gaza truce holds despite violence
12-20-06 - Israel may retaliate for rocket attacks
12-20-06 - Person of the Year: Ahmadinejad by Patrick J. Buchanan His trip to the United Nations, where he ran circles around U.S. journalists, was a diplomatic triumph. And he has done it all not with military power ? Iran would not last a week in an all-out war with the United States and has no defense against Israel's nuclear weapons ? but with theatrics and rhetoric.
12-20-06 - Palestinian viewpoints
12-20-06 - 'We are facing the hardest Christmas yet'
12-20-06 - Hebron Update 06-12-10 to 06-12-16 Roe, Uhler and Peters walked down Shuhada Street and were stopped by soldiers at
Gross Square. When told CPT was not allowed to pass, Dianne asked the soldiers
who was allowed. They replied that only Israeli soldiers, members of the Jewish
Community (the Hebron settlers), and guests of the Jewish Community were allowed
to pass.
12-20-06 - Reiterating the keys to peace By Jimmy Carter For 39 years, Israel has occupied Palestinian land, and has confiscated and colonized hundreds of choice sites.
Often excluded from their former homes, land, and places of worship, protesting Palestinians have been severely dominated and oppressed. There is forced segregation between Israeli settlers and Palestine's citizens, with a complex pass system required for Arabs to traverse Israel's multiple checkpoints....an examination of the book reviews and published comments reveals that these points have rarely if ever been mentioned by detractors of the book, much less denied or refuted. Instead, there has been a pattern of ad hominem statements, alleging that I am a liar, plagiarist, anti-Semite, racist, bigot, ignorant, etc. There are frequent denunciations of fabricated "straw man" accusations: that I have claimed that apartheid exists within Israel; that the system of apartheid in Palestine is based on racism; and that Jews control and manipulate the news media of America. Carter has visited the region many times, he knows of what he speaks.
12-20-06 - Al-Zawahiri: U.S. Talking to Wrong People in Iraq, Urges 'Holy War' Against Israel In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum brushed off al-Zawahiri's criticism and defended the party's electoral policy.
12-20-06 - Part two ? The long walk to class
12-20-06 - End of the strongmen - Do America and Israel want the Middle East engulfed by civil war? All of these outcomes in Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq could have been foreseen -- and almost certainly were. More than that, it looks increasingly like the growing tensions and carnage were planned. Rather than an absence of Western intervention being the problem, the violence and fragmentation of these societies seems to be precisely the goal of the intervention. Would there be near-civil wars in those three areas if we hadn't meddled therein? DOUBTFUL.
12-20-06 - America's Original Foreign Policy by Rep. Ron Paul It is time for Americans to rethink the interventionist foreign policy that is accepted without question in Washington. It is time to understand the obvious harm that results from our being dragged time and time again into intractable and endless Middle East c