Israel plans forced transfer of 27,000 Bedouins in West Bank and Jerusalem

and other news from today in Palestine:

Land and property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Threats to Palestinian heritage

Video -- Dkaika: Israel continues to expel Bedouins
[photos] ISM 23 Nov -- The entire Bedouin village of Dkaika encounters demolitions, and all the villagers face expulsion. Every single construction of Dkaika has a demolition order totally over 75 demolition orders including a mosque, a school, a graveyard, water cisterns, housing tents, and folds for sheep. This Thursday, on the 24th  of November, the Israeli Supreme court will decide if it will accept the interim injunction submitted by villagers in collaboration with Rabbis for Human Rights.
link to palsolidarity.org

Israel plans forced transfer of 27,000 Bedouin from East Jerusalem, Jordan Valley
JVS 21 Nov -- Israel plans to uproot Bedouin communities from 60% of the West Bank and forcibly transfer them into controlled enclosures. If this is allowed to happen, 27,000 people will be evicted from their homes and land - they will be forced to live in ghettos, with no land on which to make a living. This cruel and shocking new development represents the acceleration of Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Bedouin communities from the West Bank, since it illegally colonised the area in 1967, and they aim to complete this plan within the next 3-6 years. The first phase of this racist, apartheid strategy is scheduled for January 2012, with the forced removal of Bedouin communities from the land around East Jerusalem into a camp/ghetto next to a landfill site by Abu Dis in East Jerusalem. Work on constructing the ghetto has already started.
link to www.jordanvalleysolidarity.org

Medics: Farmers hospitalized after Israel rips up land
QALQILIYA (Ma‘an) 23 Nov – Three Palestinian farmers collapsed and required medical attention Wednesday when they saw Israeli bulldozers razing their olive fields in the northern West Bank, medics said. Mufeed Abdul-Halim Ash-Sheikh, 62, his wife Fahmiyya, 60, and his son Mahmoud, 26, were evacuated to the Darwish Nazzal Hospital after they collapsed at the scene in Azzun Itma, near Qalqilya. Israeli forces began digging in farmland last week to make way for a new section of the wall.
link to www.maannews.net

Israeli forces raid school, hand its principal demolition notice
HEBRON (WAFA) 23 Nov – Israeli forces Wednesday raided Palestinian school in Khirbet Susiya, a locale south of Yatta in Hebron, and handed its principal a demolition notice of the school, said a local activist ...A total of 36 students and seven teachers use the school, which was rebuilt from bricks and tin after Israeli forces demolished the school tents last year. The Israeli settlement Susiya was built on the ancient land of the Arab Khirbet Susiya, whereas Israeli forces completely demolished the nearby Khirbet Um Neir earlier this year
link to english.wafa.ps

Israeli bulldozers raze land, destroy irrigation networks in Jericho
JERICHO (WAFA) 22 Nov -- Israeli bulldozers Tuesday razed agricultural land belonging to Palestinian farmer Hassan Erekat and destroyed the irrigation networks considered the main water source to the land in an area northeast of the West Bank city of Jericho. Erekat told WAFA that Israeli bulldozers, under the protection of Israeli soldiers, razed 18 dunums (1 dunum=1000 square meters) of land planted with corn crops and destroyed the infrastructure of the irrigation networks that irrigate about 120 dunums of the agricultural land. "I have been planting this land since the mid eighties and I never got any notice from the Israeli government as it claims," he said.
link to english.wafa.ps

Galaxy of prominent figures slams Israel's plan to raze Maghariba Gate
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (PIC) 22 Nov – Noted Palestinian figures from occupied Jerusalem and the 1948 occupied lands on Monday warned the Israeli occupation state of its declared intent to demolish what remained of the historical Maghariba Gate and build a bridge in its place. This came during a news conference held Monday morning in the holy city by the authority of endowments and Islamic holy sites in occupied Jerusalem along with the follow-up committee in the 1948 occupied lands. Prominent figures including the grand mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine Sheikh Mohamed Hussein, preacher of the Aqsa Mosque Sheikh Ikrima Sabri and head of the follow-up committee for the Arabs Mohamed Zeidan participated in the news conference.
link to occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com

In the West Bank, a contested heritage
Jerusalem (WaPo) 21 Nov --  At a museum just off the desert road from Jerusalem to Jericho in the West Bank, the artifacts of a contested heritage are on display. Colorful mosaic floors from Byzantine-era churches and synagogues, inscriptions, Roman capitals and stone burial boxes -- all dug up by Israeli archaeologists in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip -- are shown at the site, developed by Israel’s West Bank military administration with the Israeli antiquities authority. An Israeli flag flies over the museum and adjacent ruins of ancient pilgrim hostels, asserting Israel’s control of the site, which is traditionally identified as the location of the inn mentioned in the biblical parable of the Good Samaritan. But now, after more than 40 years of Israeli occupation, Palestinians are making a bid for greater control of the West Bank’s historical and archaeological landmarks, which they are claiming as their own.
link to www.washingtonpost.com

Gaza

Aerial and naval assaults and an incursion into the southern Gaza Strip
RAFAH (PIC) 22 Nov -- Israeli occupation forces escalated their aggression against the Gaza Strip on Tuesday evening with attacks from the air, the sea, the land reported. No casualties were reported. PIC correspondent reported that Israeli occupation gunboats opened machinegun fire at Palestinian fishing boats opposite Khan Younis and Rafah shores in the southern Gaza Strip, without any casualties reported at the time of preparing this report, apart from the state of fear this has created amongst fishermen who started to head back to shore.
Meanwhile, the southern Gaza Strip witnessed a limited incursion of IOF troops to the east of Rafah. Local sources told the PIC correspondent that 3 Israeli occupation tanks and two military bulldozers, crossed the border east of Rafah from the Nahdah gate in the southern Gaza Strip and penetrated the area for a limited distance where some fields were bulldozed while drones buzzed in the skies of southern Gaza.
This incursion was preceded by an Israeli occupation airstrike that targeted a position for the Naser Salahuddin Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees. Local sources informed the PIC correspondent that occupation aircraft fired one rocket that the Abu Ataya site to the west of Rafah without causing any casualties.
link to realisticbird.wordpress.com

Blast at PRC site in southern Gaza; no injuries
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 22 Nov -- An explosion was reported late Tuesday at a site operated by the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees in the southern Gaza Strip. The Nasser Salah Ad-Din Brigades reported no injuries following the blast near Rafah, which locals blamed on Israeli aircraft. An Israeli military spokeswoman denied the reports. Gaza has experienced relative calm over the past week. Israeli aircraft last targeted the coastal enclave on Wednesday [16 Nov], in what the army described as a response to rocket fire.
link to www.maannews.net

Sowing wheat in Israel's kill zone
ISM 22 Nov By Radhika Sainath -- One need not be an agronomist to know that its been a long time since the farmers of Khuza‘a, Gaza have tended to their land near the border.  When we arrived on Friday, the densely packed soil formed small hills with alien, ridged, patterns: Israeli tanks had roamed here, dozens of them. It was hard to imagine how anything ever grew on this brown, barren soil, much less the hundreds of olive, orange and grapefruit trees the Qudaih family reminisced about ... The donkey cart pulled us down the lone road heading towards the school. I had been down this road before, my second week in Gaza, when I and 3 local children had been shot at by the Israeli army without warning, reason, or explanation. I understood why those farmers feared the Israeli army, and had not tended to this land in four years.
link to palsolidarity.org

Haniyeh: No longer any justification for siege
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 23 Nov -- Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Tuesday called on Israel to end its siege of the Gaza Strip in light of the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Speaking at an event to welcome the Arab Spring convoy, which delivered medical aid to the coastal enclave, Haniyeh noted that Israel had claimed it tightened the blockade because Shalit was held captive in Gaza.
link to www.maannews.net

The international community affirms unified opposition to Gaza blockade
MEMO 23 Nov -- EXCLUSIVE PICTURES Dozens of academics and parliamentarians from over 40 countries across Asia, Africa, Europe, and North and South America, along with revolutionary representatives from Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, have come together to affirm their opposition to and condemnation of the continuing siege of the Gaza Strip. The announcement came in the context of condemnation of siege tactics being used against any group of people, but with particular emphasis on the siege against Palestinian civilians. It was made at a conference in Gaza City on Tuesday; several members of the Palestinian Legislative Council were in attendance. During the proceedings, the European delegation called on governments and human rights organisations across the world to utilise all peaceful means at their disposal to force Israel to end its siege of Gaza.
link to www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk

Tunisia medical convoy arrives in Gaza
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 23 Nov -- A Tunisian medical aid convoy arrived late Tuesday in Gaza. Jalal Ayyad, head of Amal organization for social development in Tunisia, said the visit was to show solidarity with Gaza. The medical aid is only symbolic; the main aim is to lift the siege, he said. Still, the Tunisian delegation is carrying 1.5 tons of medication and medical aid, officials said.
link to www.maannews.net

Japan supports hearing a speech center in Gaza with equipment
RAMALLAH (WAFA)23 Nov -- Naofumi Hashimoto, Representative of Japan to the Palestinian Authority and Arslan Agha, Chairman of Society for the Care of the Handicapped in Gaza (SCGH) signed on Wednesday the grant contract of a project to install devices and tools for auditory and speech therapy in the 'hearing and speech center' of the SCGH.
link to english.wafa.ps

Activism / Solidarity

Video: Palestinian Freedom Riders
On the 15th of November, six Palestinian activists: Nadeem Al-Sharbate, Huwaida Arraf, Dr.Mazin Qumsieyeh, Fadi Qura'an, Basel Al-Araj, and Badee' Dwaik, boarded a segregated Israeli bus used by Israeli settlers to Jerusalem in an attempt to highlight the regime of discrimination on freedom of movement in place in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the fact that Palestinians cannot access Jerusalem freely. [Seeks to show that the two struggles for freedom, in the US and in Palestine, are essentially the same - pairs similar photos from the civil rights movement and the occupation of Palestine. Soundtrack includes the African American anthem "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'round" sung by Sweet Honey in the Rock and Joan Baez singing Oh Freedom. I dare anyone who remembers the civil rights struggle  - hey, anyone who loves justice - to watch this with dry eyes.]
link to www.youtube.com

Fishermen hold sit-in in protest of Israeli measures against them
GAZA (WAFA) 23 Nov  – Hundreds of Palestinian fishermen participated Wednesday in a sit-in organized by the Union of Agricultural Work Committees in front of the United Nations headquarters in Gaza, condemning Israeli policies against them and demanding the end of siege imposed on Gaza, said a statement by the union ... The participants chanted slogans; “in spite of the weather, the siege, the killing and the destruction, fishing will not stop,” condemning the Israeli policies and affirming their right to exercise fishing, stressing that they will not leave the sea, despite the horrors and attacks they face on daily bases, to keep them from the sea and push them towards begging.
link to english.wafa.ps

VIDEO: Palestina Amore
Al Jazeera 23 Nov -- Some Italians have made it their mission to mobilise support on behalf of the Palestinian cause. On May 31, 2010, an Israeli military raid on an aid flotilla sailing to the blockaded Gaza Strip resulted in the deaths of 19 unarmed peace activists, prompting international condemnation over what was perceived as a brutal and unjustified use of force. Five of those killed were Italian nationals who were part of the humanitarian mission attempting to break the blockade by delivering goods and construction materials to the occupied Palestinian territory. Israeli sanctions on Gaza since 2001 have led to widespread poverty and rampant unemployment there. But the deadly attack on the flotilla has only served to further motivate Italian supporters of the Palestinian cause. The Palestine Forum, a network of Italian committees and associations, is pushing for greater political support for the Palestinians, while the Rome Palestinian Solidarity Network is continuing to organise a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israeli products.
link to www.aljazeera.com

Detention / Court actions

Israeli forces detain 17 in West Bank raids
JENIN (Ma‘an) 22 Nov -- Israeli forces detained 17 people early Tuesday morning in raids across the West Bank. An Israeli military spokeswoman said 17 Palestinians were detained and taken for security questioning. Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine officials told Ma‘an that eight of their members were among those detained, adding that soldiers broke into several homes to make the arrests.
link to www.maannews.net

Israeli forces detain 9 across the West Bank
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 23 Nov -- Israeli forces detained nine people overnight Tuesday in raids across the West Bank, the army said. An Israeli military spokesman said three people were detained in Beit Ummar, two in Tulkarem, two in Tubas, one in Qalqiliya and one in Ramallah. Beit Ummar committee spokesman Muhammad Ayyad Awad told Ma‘an that Israeli forces raided the Hebron village at around 2.30 a.m. and ransacked three homes.
link to www.maannews.net

IOF soldiers detain 3 citizens in Al-Khalil, and a Jerusalemite
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 23 Nov -- ...Meanwhile, Israeli policemen in occupied Jerusalem arrested Ehab Al-Jallad, the coordinator of the popular Jerusalemite committee, from his home in Aisawiye town on Tuesday. The head of the committee of Jerusalemite prisoners said that the police thoroughly searched Jallad’s home and confiscated some of his belongings before taking him in. He said that Jallad was taken to Maskobeh detention center where he was told that he would be held for a week.
link to mideastnews-danmike.blogspot.com

Health Work Committee condemns arrest of its financial director
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 23 Nov – The Health Work Committee (HWC) Wednesday condemned the arrest of its financial and administrative director, Waleed Abu Ras, by the Israeli Authority’s after raiding his home in the West Bank city of Ramallah, according to a statement issued by the committee. The HWC website said that, "Dozens of soldiers raided and cluttered Waleed's house and terrorized his children before arresting him in a brutal manner." ... It added that several of HWC employees were previously subjected to the Israeli authority’s harassment through arrests, prevention of the health crews’ movement, as well as the closing of some of the committee’s centers, including the Nidal Center for Community Development in the old city of Jerusalem
link to english.wafa.ps

Aruri: Second batch of Palestinian prisoners to be freed by end of December
DAMASCUS (PIC) 23 Nov -- The second batch of Palestinian prisoners to be released from Israeli occupation jails according to the prisoners exchange deal would be set free within three weeks, Sheikh Saleh Al-Aruri, political bureau member of Hamas, said on Wednesday. He told Al-Resalah net website that the Israelis had categorically turned down an Egyptian request to re-open negotiations over the second batch ... Aruri noted that the second batch of 550 prisoners would be chosen by Israel but would not include anyone imprisoned on criminal charges.
link to Palestinian Information Center

Military court 'charges Palestinians with murder'
TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma‘an) 22 Nov -- An Israeli military court has charged two Palestinians from the southern West Bank with murder following the death of a settler whose car overturned near Hebron, Israeli media said. Israel's Ynet news site reported Tuesday that the two Palestinians from Halhul, who were not otherwise identified, confessed to hurling stones at a passing vehicle near the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba. The stones caused the car to swerve off the road and resulted in the deaths of Asher Palmer and his young son Yonaton, according to the report and others at the time in the Israeli media.  The prosecutor also filed indictments against "other members of the terrorist cell," according to the report. It says one of the men, who was not identified, is accused of stealing the settler's gun after the incident.
link to www.maannews.net

Journalists

MADA: 20 journalists killed in Palestine since 2000
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 23 Nov – Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) said in a press release Wednesday that 20 journalists were killed by the Israeli army in Palestine since 2000. MADA, in a statement marking the launch of its new campaign to prosecute and punish the Israeli army for killing reporters and journalists in Palestine, to coincide with the International Day to End Impunity today, said it will produce a video commemorating the 20 murdered reporters in Palestine.
link to english.wafa.ps

Hamas forces arrest two reporters in Gaza
IMEMC 23 Nov -- The Palestinian Journalist Syndicate in Gaza reported Tuesday that members of the Hamas-led security forces in Gaza arrested two Palestinian reporters; one in central Gaza, and the other in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. The two reporters were identified as Salah Abu Salah and Mohammad Awad. The Journalist Syndicate reported that Hamas security forces broke into the home of Awad in Al Maghazi refugee camp, in central Gaza, and kidnapped him after confiscating his personal computer, documents and a camera from the house. In Khan Younis, reporter Abu Salah was ordered to head to a security centre for questioning, and was detained upon arrival.
link to www.imemc.org

Discrimination / Extremism in Israel

Prominent Israeli rabbi faces criminal charges over anti-Arab remarks
Haaretz 22 Nov -- Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein decided Tuesday to open a criminal investigation against Safed Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, for alleged incitement to racism ... Eliyahu was one of 18 rabbis who signed a petition in October 2010, urging Jews to refrain from renting or selling apartments to non-Jews – a move seen as being directed against Arab students enrolled in Safed’s college. Some 50 rabbis eventually endorsed the so-called "rabbis' letter." The criminal investigation opened by Weinstein will not focus on "rabbis' letter," however, but rather on personal remarks made by Eliyahu.
link to www.haaretz.com

Israeli public figures apologize to Greek patriarch for ultra-Orthodox spitting incidents
Haaretz 23 Nov -- Last Friday, a group of Jewish public figures and intellectuals paid a visit to the leadership of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem with one simple goal in mind, asking for forgiveness. The group took the step following a report in Haaretz about two weeks ago describing the practice of some ultra-Orthodox Jewish young people of spitting when passing church clergy on the street.
link to www.haaretz.com

IDF must bar soldiers from leaving events over women's singing, officer says
Haaretz 23 Nov --Maj. Gen. Orna Barbivai, head of the Israel Defense Forces' personnel directorate, is expected to recommend that the Chief of Staff continue obliging soldiers to take part in formal ceremonies in which women sing, despite the objections of many rabbis. The army "must make it possible for every female soldier and any woman to sing at any ceremony and on any stage. We must enable both religious soldiers and women to have a significant army service, and [we must] not exclude them from tasks," said Barbivai
link to www.haaretz.com

Women's groups outraged by all-male rabbinical c'tee
JPost 23 Nov -- The Israel Bar Association angered a raft of liberal and women’s groups on Tuesday by failing to select a woman to serve on the Appointments Committee for Rabbinical Judges. The committee, which is headed by Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman and holds the power to elect judges to the country’s 12 regional rabbinical courts, voted instead to elect attorneys Asher Axelrod and Mordechai Eisenberg.
link to www.jpost.com

Judges Selection Commission gets first Arab rep
Ynet 22 Nov --  The Israeli Bar Association elected Attorney Khaled Hosni-Zoabi as its representative to the Judges Selection Commission, alongside Attorney Rachel Ben-Ari, Ynet learned Tuesday. Hosni-Zoabi will be the first Arab lawyer to serve on the committee.
link to www.ynetnews.com

Vast majority of Tel Aviv women report sexual harassment, survey finds
Haaretz 23 Nov -- A resounding 83% of Tel Aviv women report being sexually harassed at least once in their lifetimes, according to a new survey sponsored by the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality's committee for advancing the status of women, in conjunction with assistance shelters for the victims of sexual assault, and the Shatil organization.
link to www.haaretz.com

Political / Diplomatic / International

UN committee approves draft resolution on Palestine
NEW YORK (Ma‘an) 23 Nov -- A United Nations committee on Tuesday approved a draft resolution on the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination. The draft resolution, presented by Egypt, was approved by 166 states in a vote at the UN General Assembly's Social, Humanitarian Cultural Affairs Committee. Canada, Israel, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and the United States voted against the resolution. The resolution states that the Palestinian people have the right to self-determination and the right to an independent state. It urges all states, agencies and organizations to support and assist the Palestinian people to realize that right.
link to www.maannews.net

Abbas, Mashaal to meet in Cairo despite Egyptian unrest
GAZA CITY (AFP) 23 Nov -- President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal will meet in Cairo this week despite the unrest rocking Egypt, Hamas and Fatah officials said on Tuesday ... The talks will go ahead "as scheduled on Thursday," Hamas official Ismail Radwan told AFP in Gaza, in remarks which were confirmed by senior Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmad. The two leaders are due to finalize details of a reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas which was signed in May but has yet to be implemented.
link to www.maannews.net

Deported fighters urge reconciliation success
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 23 Nov -- Palestinian resistance fighters deported in 2002 after an Israeli siege on the Nativity church in Bethlehem have called on President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khalid Mashaal to implement the reconciliation deal signed in May. Spokesman for deportees in Europe Jiha Jaara said that it was time to bury the division, which only benefited the Israeli occupation, a statement said Wednesday.
link to www.maannews.net

Abbas meets Tantawi in Cairo
CAIRO (WAFA) 23 Nov -- President Mahmoud Abbas Wednesday met the chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces of Egypt, Mohammad Tantawi, accompanied by members of the Supreme Council, in Cairo. Abbas and Tantawi discussed the recent developments in the Palestinian arena under the Israeli occupation’s continuous settlement activities and escalations, as well as talks with the Quartet and US on the halted peace process.T he meeting also discussed efforts to implement the reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah, which is sponsored by Egypt
link to english.wafa.ps

PFLP urges PA to reconsider economic ties with Israel
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 23 Nov -- ...In a statement, deputy PFLP secretary-general Abdul-Rahim Mallouh called on the PA to assign a specialized committee to analyze economic relations and protect the economy from subordination to Israel. Mallouh urged Palestinians to boycott Israeli products, in particular settlement produce.
link to www.maannews.net

PLO: Withholding tax revenues 'state piracy'
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 23 Nov – The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) considered the Israeli withholding of Palestinian tax revenues as "state piracy,?" an illegal action and a breach of the signed agreements between PLO and Israel, Wednesday said a statement by the PLO Department of International Relations.
link to english.wafa.ps

World pushes Israel to release funds to PA
JPost 23 Nov -- Israel will not transfer a shekel of tax revenue to the Palestinian Authority if it reaches a reconciliation agreement with a Hamas that refuses to forswear terrorism and recognize Israel, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Wednesday. Lieberman's comments were made even as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Quartet envoy Tony Blair, and the EU's ambassador to Israel Andrew Standley called over the last two days for Israel to release the $100 million in tax revenue to the PA it has held up since UNESCO voted earlier this month in favor of admitting the Palestinians into the organization.
link to www.jpost.com

Clinton presses Netanyahu to release frozen Palestinian tax funds
Haaretz 23 Nov -- Israel holds $100 million in PA tax revenue collected in October as part of economic agreements; should the freeze continue through the end of November, the sum will reach $200 million -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton phoned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday night and demanded that he release Palestinian tax revenue that Israel has frozen for more than a month after UNESCO accepted the Palestinians as a member.
link to www.haaretz.com

Report: Israel returns drones to Turkey
Ynet 23 Nov -- Turkish newspaper Zaman reported Wednesday of an "important development" in the relations between Ankara and Jerusalem. According to the report, Israel has returned to Turkey a number of Heron drones after conducting maintenance work on them. About two months ago Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of failing to meet its obligations in defensedeals, adding to tensions with Israel which have escalated since an Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla killed nine people last year.
link to www.ynetnews.com

2 Egyptian policemen killed near border
Ynet 23 Nov -- Bedouin smugglers shoot, kill two Egyptian border guards trying to stop them from infiltrating Israel. Second border incident sees Golani forces pursue armed smugglers near border. IDF chief orders to increases border patrols ... The cooperation between the Israeli and Egyptian security forces proved efficient and professional throughout the night's events. The IDF said that the Egyptians recognized immediately that their troops were killed by the smugglers.
link to www.ynetnews.com

Egypt committed to Israel peace deal despite revived unrest, officials say
Haaretz 23 Nov -- Top Egyptian figures have delivered conciliatory messages to Jerusalem in the past two days, insisting that Egypt is committed to its peace accord with Israel, and will act to uphold it. Senior Foreign Ministry figures say these messages were relayed to outgoing Ambassador Yitzhak Levanon during a farewell visit he paid to Cairo on Sunday and Monday.
link to www.haaretz.com

Egypt military offers to speed up power transfer in meet with political parties
AP/Haaretz 22 Nov -- Party heads say Supreme Council of Armed Forces agree to July 2012 regime change; parties power to be transferred on April 29, probe into the death of 36 protesters in last 4 days.
link to www.haaretz.com

US blogger: Israel behind blast at Hezbollah arms cache
Ynet 23 Nov -- A massive explosion rocked a Hezbollah stronghold near Siddiqin in the southern coastal city of Tyre in southern Lebanon overnight Wednesday, a security source told The Daily Star. There were no reports of injuries. Local media said the explosion likely took place at a Hezbollah arms cache.
link to www.ynetnews.com

Hezbollah denies explosion in munitions warehouse
Ynet 23 Nov -- Hezbollah issued an official statement on Wednesday denying that the mysterious explosion in southern Lebanon took place in one of their strongholds. "Contrary to reports, the Siddiqin incident has nothing to do with any of Hezbollah's munitions warehouses," the statement said. Earlier Wednesday, it was reported that a massive explosion took place at a Hezbollah facility near Siddiqin, in the southern coastal city of Tyre. There were no reports of injuries in the blast.   The blast took place in a UNIFIL-controlled area in Lebanon. Should Hezbollah have a munitions warehouse in the area, it is in clear violation of UN Resolution 1701. A UNIFIL team is scheduled to arrive at the scene and investigate.
link to www.ynetnews.com

Other news

PA, Belgium sign partnership agreement of €71.6 m
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 23 Nov – The Palestinian Authority (PA) Wednesday signed a partnership agreement of €71.6 million, over the course of four years, with the Belgian government to support vital sectors and programs in Gaza, East Jerusalem and Area C [note unusual areas]
link to english.wafa.ps

PCBS: Hotel guests over 100,000 in third quarter
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 22 Nov -- The total number of guests in Palestinian hotels was 106,000, spending 254,000 nights during the third quarter of 2011, said a  report on Tuesday by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS). It said that 30% of guests were from European Union countries, 7% from Asia, and 6% from the USA and Canada. Room occupancy was 22% in the third quarter of 2011, a decrease of 36% compared to the third quarter of 2010 in which the number of guests decreased by 23%.
link to english.wafa.ps

Attacks on democracy in Israel

All for Peace goes silent / Mikaeli Levin
AIC 22 Nov -- The left-leaning Kol HaShalom (All for Peace--a wordplay in Hebrew that also means Voice for Peace) was on the air for the last seven years. Their studios are in Sheik Jarrah, East Jerusalem, and their shows and music are broadcast in Hebrew and Arabic ... On November 4th we got a letter from the Communication Ministry telling me personally that the radio was violating the law and therefore we had to stop all broadcasting immediately. They said it was violating the law that deals with Israelis in Israel. They said that we have a studio in East Jerusalem, which is correct; we don´t think this is a violation of the law, but it´s correct. They claim that people can listen to us in most of the territory of Israel, which is also correct. They also claim that we own a transmitter in the Occupied Territories, which is wrong. We don´t own any transmitter. And actually they demand to stop all broadcast to residents in Israel. They didn´t ask us to completely stop transmitting, just to stop transmitting in Israel.
link to www.alternativenews.org

Recommendation: Shut down 'leftist' department
Ynet 23 Nov --  In an unprecedented move, an international committee appointed by the Council for Higher Education has recommended that the Politics and Government Department at Ben Gurion University be shut down unless it addresses some of the problems pointed out by the committee. According to the Yedioth Ahronoth daily, several of the department's researchers are considered to be radical leftists. Some of them have even called for an economic, political and cultural boycott on Israel due to its "apartheid regime."
link to www.ynetnews.com

'Libel law protects truth, strengthens democracy'
JPost 23 Nov -- Netanyahu: Nobody thinks there will be a thought police; Mofaz warns "1984 is already here." Prime Minister Binyamin defended the controversial amendment to the libel bill from opposition claims that it is “anti-democratic,” in a speech to the Knesset plenum on Wednesday. "You may call this a libel law, but I say it’s a law to promote the truth," Netanyahu said. "Everyone has the right to investigate and broadcast, but no one has the right to slander."
link to www.jpost.com

Hundreds rally in TA against 'undemocratic' bills
[with video] Meretz, Peace Now organize protest against Knesset passing 1st readings of libel, judicial bills; MK Horvitz: "This is a fascist law." -- Several hundred protesters gathered at Rothschild Boulevard on Tuesday night to protest against a series of recently passed laws that they say muzzle freedom of speech. In their first plenum readings, the Knesset on Monday voted in favor of both a libel law amendment that would raise the penalty for libel without proof of damages, and another bill that seeks to regulate the Bar Association’s choice of representatives to the Judicial Selection Committee.
link to www.jpost.com

Lieberman to target human rights groups after Netanyahu shelves bill
Haaretz 22 Nov -- Foreign Minister denies reports he threatened coalition over outposts -- The Yisrael Beiteinu Party is acting to push the legislation to limit foreign funding of Israeli human rights organizations, despite the prime minister's decision to freeze two bills to this effect indefinitely.
link to www.haaretz.com

Analysis / Opinion

From the archive, 16 Nov 1988: Troops stifle West Bank rejoicing
Guardian --Independent Palestine spent the day of its birth behind closed doors yesterday, as Israel poured in thousands of troops to stop the people of the occupied territories from openly celebrating their new claims to statehood and to keep the press out. Ian Black reports from Ramallah ... Behind the eerie calm, a frisson of excitement was palpable. "Inshallah," muttered a wizened sweet vendor near the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. "We have always said we wanted peace and now we hear the news from Algiers. A state for us and state for Israel, that's how things should be." [plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose]
link to www.guardian.co.uk

Over Netanyahu's New Israel, the B.S. light is on / Bradley Burston
Haaeetz 23 Nov -- How are people who support Israel supposed to understand the Black Flag legislation which has expropriated the business of the Knesset? ... Make no mistake, this is a people which knows its way around an untruth. Like the apocryphal 50 words for snow, the Hebrew language is rich in synonyms for something south of honesty. But nothing in the ancient lexicon quite fits the Black Flagging campaign. You need something more contemporary, more Western in origin. Something that recognizes the true common denominator of Netanyahu's New Israel, the fact that the ends and the means are now one and the same. The purpose of the laws, as well as the blind eyes turned to the likes of misogynist, seditious, racist rabbis and their violent disciples, is not to institute apartheid, fascism, Jim Crow, tycoonocracy, the Chile of Pinochet or the Afghanistan of the Taliban. The purpose of these laws is to disguise the ways in which we have grown to resemble parts of each. The purpose of the laws is to shield the system by shielding us from it.
link to www.haaretz.com

The boys who call "Holocaust" / Gary Kamiya
Salon 22 Nov -- The same neocon hawks who lied us into Iraq are using the ultimate argument-stopper to push war with Iran ...Ever since the International Atomic Energy Agency released its overhyped, old-news report on Iran’s nuclear program, Israel’s amen corner in the U.S. has been loudly calling for war. If American politics did not contain an enormous blind spot, no one would pay any attention to what these discredited ideologues have to say. The Iraq war they championed turned out to be one of the biggest foreign-policy disasters in U.S. history. Their ignorant and Islamophobic view of the Middle East is as breathtaking as their bland willingness to commit America to yet another ruinous war against a Muslim country, this time one four times larger than Iraq and with more than twice as many people. They have a demonstrated track record of complete failure. Yet these incompetent militarists are still taken seriously. And the reason is simple: They purport to be supporters of Israel.
link to www.salon.com

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