Must-see TV from West Wing: Hide the 1709 map of Holy Land, it doesn’t show Israel!

Land Theft / Destruction / Apartheid / Refugees

ICAHD News: Displacement Report Released, Summer Rebuilding Camp Announced
House demolitions and forced evictions are among Israel’s most heinous practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). In 2011, a record year of displacement, a total of 622 Palestinian structures were demolished by Israeli authorities, of which 36% (or 222) were family homes; the remainder were livelihood-related (including water storage and agricultural structures), resulting in 1,094 people displaced, almost double the number for 2010. The Jordan Valley sustained the largest number of demolitions (32% of total structures demolished, 40% of residential structures demolished, 37% of people displaced), with 199 structures demolished and 401 people displaced.
http://blog.endtheoccupation.org/2012/01/icahd-news-displacement-report-released.html

Seventy-Six Acres of Lands Confiscated in Bethlehem
On Thursday, Palestinian families were shocked by the decision to confiscate seventy-six acres of land to the benefit of the Jerusalem Municipality. The land lays behind the Annexation Wall in al-Khass village, in the eastern part of the West Bank city of Bethlehem, the Palestinian news agency, Ma’an reported.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62863

Security Council to Discuss Jerusalem, Settlements, says Official
RAMALLAH, January 19, 2012 (WAFA) – The United Nations Security Council will hold a public session on January 24 to discuss Israeli settlements and policy in occupied East Jerusalem, Palestine’s Permanent Observer to the United Nations Riyad Mansour said Thursday. He told Voice of Palestine radio that the Security Council’s meeting was arranged to discuss a report by UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos on the Israeli settlements, the situation in the old city of Jerusalem and the bypass roads Israel is building for settlers in the West Bank. Mansour noted that the Arab and European interventions revolved around settlement activities and their detrimental impact on the political process. He pointed out that the European Union recommended in its last report to take punitive measures against the settlers, a decision which will be adopted in Brussels next month.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18738

Senior IDF officer: Migron outpost demolition would harm stability
Outpost is due to be evacuated by end of March according to High Court ruling, but officer says evacuation might ‘blur the distinction’ between inhabitants and more extremist settlers.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/senior-idf-officer-migron-outpost-demolition-would-harm-stability-1.407873?localLinksEnabled=false

Three Arab Students Exiled from Jerusalem for Seven Days
The Arabs48 news website reported on Wednesday that three Arab students, studying at the Engineering Academy in occupied Jerusalem, have received police warrants exiling them from the city for seven days after they called for a boycott of a speech by Israeli President, Shimon Peres.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62859

Dutch lawmaker incites Israel to build more colonies, violate international law, Ali Abunimah
A Dutch lawmaker is calling on Israel to continue building Jewish-only colonies in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including eastern Jerusalem, in violation of international law.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/dutch-lawmaker-incites-israel-build-more-colonies-violate-international-law

Violence

Israeli Tanks Open Fire on Northern Gaza
On Thursday, the Israeli army fired several shells at farmlands in Beit Hanoun, in the northern part of the Gaza strip, the Palestinian news agency, Ma’an, reported.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62862

Israeli undercover agents wound 3 Palestinians in Aiswayia
Israeli undercover agents stormed Aisawiya village in occupied Jerusalem and fired at civilians, wounding three young men, and detained two children.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7KiUKRxF6fHcpEoFtmgI5Z6IUI2VrCNK1GyYfIL0RafjFHviW7RnJc5L%2fVNEG69xoaWzEgKmibJDcO81e7vBKFJJ%2f5oi72wWVGvGsJkdhwrU%3d

Operation Dove: Israeli army fails to protect Palestinian children
According to a new report released by Operation Dove, Israeli authorities have been increasingly intransigent in their obligation to protect Palestinian children from settler violence in the South Hebron Hills this school year. The mandatory Israeli military escort that is supposed to ensure that Palestinian children arrive to school safely failed to walk with the children 95% of the time since the school year began in September. Soldiers and police also behaved aggressively towards Palestinians, forcing a pregnant women to spend 30 minutes at a flying checkpoint, for example, and aided settler harassment of Palestinians.
http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/component/content/article/33-west-bank/4072-operation-dove-israeli-army-fails-to-protect-palestinian-children

Sultan says Zionists burnt his house in Ohio state
Head of Jerusalem committee at the international union of Muslim scholars Salah Sultan accused the Zionists of burning his house in the US, noting that the police have failed to identify the culprits.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7vQExk8XMKCxQ9ONuYK1WCYOHnv4cAHt1kfFPRTVPDnZWeuBFFDuisnAuTjIiIxa3HMcYbebsSPsyIaph%2fg5aTamGmRU3xYq8%2fgnr6CfuEd0%3d

Gaza / West Bank: Investigate Attacks on Rights Defenders
(Jerusalem) – Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) should investigate recent brutal attacks against human rights defenders in Gaza and the West Bank and hold those responsible to account, Human Rights Watch said today. 
http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/01/19/gaza-west-bank-investigate-attacks-rights-defenders 

Israel Readies for Possible Offensive Against Gaza
Israeli daily, The Jerusalem Post, reported that the General Staff of the Israeli Army had instructed the Southern-Command to take all measures to be ready for the possibility of a large-scale offensive against the Gaza Strip, which could take place in the coming months.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62853

UN: Gaza blockade – collective punishment
UN releases annual report on humanitarian conditions in Palestinian territories, asserting that food, sanitation and economic straits are dire due to ‘Israeli occupation’
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4177710,00.html

Power authority: The occupation and the PA behind Gaza power crisis
The authority of power and natural resources said the power crisis in Gaza is not only caused by the Israeli occupation, but also by the de facto government in Ramallah.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s70AZ%2bNks2ILDwVOusFeYyAe1LoM2neDKKd07swaWhHcyFuqF6yAp%2fDtoaSAOlQ7BoE3DqQ67WnoKKlEjPH61RqnlpnIzAXyTl0bfArIcW39Y%3d

Egypt Red Crescent sends aid to Gaza
RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Egypt’s Red Crescent on Wednesday announced it would donate food and medicine to refugees in Gaza. Rice, flour, sunflower oil and medicine will be channeled through the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, the Red Crescent said in a statement.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=453477

Palestinian artist ‘creates’ Gaza metro
Palestinian artist Mohamed Abusal erects red metro signs across the besieged Gaza strip, creating an imaginary metro line that goes all way through the Rafah border.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/5/25/31936/Arts–Culture/Visual-Art/Palestinian-artist-creates-Gaza-metro.aspx

War on Gaza

18 January 2009: The Abu Rujailah family
[The following is narrative twenty-two, within a series of twenty-three narratives, to mark the third anniversary of “Operation Cast Lead.” A new post will be released each day, marking the incident that happened on the same date three years ago. The narratives are developed by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights.]
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/4079/18-january-2009_the-abu-rujailah-family

BDS / Solidarity / Activism

The badly kept secret of Israel’s trade throughout the Muslim world
There’s a good chance that Iran’s computer systems, the electricity in Indonesian PM’s office and the body armor protecting Saudi soldiers came from Israel.
http://english.themarker.com/the-badly-kept-secret-of-israel-s-trade-throughout-the-muslim-world-1.408103?localLinksEnabled=false

‘Corporate Watch’ publishes guide on targeting Israeli apartheid, Allison Deger
Corporate Watch has published a BDS handbook for activists, Targeting Israeli Apartheid,  breaking down successful BDS campaigns and profiling occupation profiteers. The 368-page guide focuses, in three sections, on the Israeli economy, case studies of specific companies profiting off of the occupation, and British corporate complicity in Israeli militarism. Each section includes a “What’s next,” sub-heading, which provides boycotters with practical directional advice.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/01/corporate-watch-publishes-guide-on-targeting-israeli-apartheid.html

Lara Fabian cancels Lebanon tour after BDS campaign
Belgian singer Lara Fabian announced via Facebook on Thursday that she has cancelled her February concert in Lebanon after pro-Palestinian activists campaigned against her visit. Fabian wrote in a “Love Letter” to her “Lebanese friends” that she “won’t sing under threats” nor “deal with hatred.” The self-confessed pro-Zionist Belgian artist said she “believe(s) in tolerance, generosity and truth” and said Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel (BDS) activists were “living with hatred because they weren’t loved enough.”
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/lara-fabian-cancels-lebanon-tour-after-bds-campaign?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlAkhbarEnglish+%28Al+Akhbar+English%29

Racism / Discrimination

Immigration Ministry withheld information about murders in Israel’s Ethiopian community
Ministry commissions study in effort to understand the circumstances leading to murders in the Ethiopian immigrant community so that steps could be taken to prevent them.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/immigration-ministry-withheld-information-about-murders-in-israel-s-ethiopian-community-1.408055?localLinksEnabled=false

Latest Hasbara Meme: BLACKWASHING, Richard Silverstein
You’ve heard of pinkwashing, greenwashing–now “blackwashing” joins the cast of pro-Israel hasbara communities exploited in order to combat the major criticisms of Israeli policy toward the Palestinians.  Pinkwashing is the effort to promote Israel to the gay community in order to point out the homophobia of Arab culture and nations.  Greenwashing is the attempt by environmental groups like Jewish National Fund to point to Israel’s alleged sensitivity to environmental issues (excluding of course its heinous treatment of Negev Bedouins whose communities are being bulldozed by the Israeli government in collaboration with JNF).  Now blackwashing is the rage.
http://blog.endtheoccupation.org/2012/01/latest-hasbara-meme-blackwashing.html

Political Developments

‘Fatah, Hamas meet for unity talks’
The Palestinian factions of Hamas and Fatah have reportedly met in the Egyptian capital of Cairo to remove obstacles in the way of the process of their reconciliation.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/221830.html 

‘EU agrees in principle on Iran oil ban’
The European Union has reportedly agreed in principle to freeze the assets of the Central Bank of Iran in line with new sanctions the 27-nation bloc plans to impose on the country’s crude exports.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/221819.html

Could Israel live with a nuclear Iran? A gaming exercise suggests yes.
Israeli intelligence experts role-played Iran in a simulation exploring the ‘day after’ scenario if Iran were to launch a nuclear explosive test. The results suggest war would not break out immediately.
http://rss.csmonitor.com/%7Er/feeds/world/%7E3/q8NA9AQDh_8/Could-Israel-live-with-a-nuclear-Iran-A-gaming-exercise-suggests-yes

The myth of an isolated Iran
D.C.’s aggressive sanctions are really about protecting the dollar and undermining China.
http://www.salon.com/2012/01/17/the_myth_of_an_isolated_iran/

Time to quieten the war drums with Iran, Rami G. Khouri
The number of events and tensions revolving around Iran and its multifaceted relations with its immediate neighbors and its antagonists further afield in the U.S., Israel and some Western countries is becoming numerous and complex. Indeed, two things are becoming quite clear. First, the chances are much greater that we might witness an unintended misstep that triggers an armed confrontation, a regional Armageddon-type conflict, and a global energy and economic catastrophe. And second, those same reasons suggest that the many elements in the political arena could easily provide entry into some kind of negotiated agreement that calms things down for many years to come.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Columnist/2012/Jan-18/160238-time-to-quieten-the-war-drums-with-iran.ashx#axzz1jr5n0Szr

How Iran Could Whip the United States and Israel Without Firing a Single Shot, Mark R. Crovelli
The conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran has absolutely nothing to do with nuclear power or nuclear weapons. Instead, the pointless conflict is all about cold, hard political power in the Middle East, with the Israelis hoping to secure a vice-like grip on the region. 
http://lewrockwell.com/crovelli/crovelli67.1.html

TIME FOR THE (INTELLECTUALLY INDEFENSIBLE) CASE TO ATTACK IRAN?
Our colleague Eric Brill has produced a detailed analysis of John Yoo’s recent article, “An Unavoidable Challenge—Now is the Time to Make the Case for Military Action Against Iran,” which we are pleased to publish below.
http://www.raceforiran.com/time-for-the-intellectually-indefensible-case-to-attack-iran

Analysis / Op-ed

Arab-American high school student video targets US backing for killings of Palestinian children, Ira Glunts
The more optimistic commenters and contributors to this site have said often that the young people of this country will take the lead in exposing the pernicious relationship between the U.S. and Israeli governments.  I am a doubter, but seeing the work of Amirah Nasir and Jesse Lieberfeld is making me think that as the late great New York Met manager Casey Stengel used to say about the Amazin’ Mets, “we will build the team with the youth of America.”
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/01/high-school-student-amirah-nasir-speaks-out-eloquently-against-israeli-crimes.html

US Congress stomps on Palestinian ‘Sesame Street’ but funds Israeli version, Philip Weiss
The U.S. lawmaker who ordered the hold on funding, Ros-Lehtinen, says that the U.S. should not support Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who asked the United Nations to recognize an independent state of Palestine. She said Abbas should be negotiating the matter with Israel instead. “By providing the Palestinians with $2.5 billion over the last 5 years, the U.S. has only rewarded and reinforced their bad behavior,” she said. The U.S. did give $200 million in direct aid to the Palestinian Authority last year; it’s the funding for non-government organizations that’s on hold. Last month, Congress released $40 million of those funds. But with health care, infrastructure and other programs waiting for money, it’s doubtful that the Palestinian Sesame Street will get a piece of the pie. While Congress has turned off the tap for Palestinian Sesame Street, the U.S. is helping to support a new season of Israeli Sesame Street. The State Department awarded $750,000 to an Israeli nonprofit to team up with the Israeli show and develop classroom activities.
https://mondoweiss.net/2012/01/us-congress-stomps-on-palestinian-sesame-street-but-funds-israeli-version.html

Room for Jews Only in Israel’s ‘Villa in the Jungle’, Jonathan Cook – Nazareth 
The wheel is turning full circle. Last week the Israeli parliament updated a 59-year-old law originally intended to prevent hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees from returning to the homes and lands from which they had been expelled as Israel was established. The purpose of the draconian 1954 Prevention of Infiltration Law was to lock up any Palestinian who managed to slip past the snipers guarding the new state’s borders. Israel believed only savage punishment and deterrence could ensure it maintained the overwhelming Jewish majority it had recently created through a campaign of ethnic cleansing.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=17401

Unlawful, Unresolved: Israeli Settlers in Foreign Land, Graham Peebles
Violence, abuse, non-accountability, hate, such is communal living today within the occupied West Bank, where some 518,974 colonisers sit within 200 illegal settlements. According to Noam Chomsky, ”The settlements cover over 42% of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), not counting the Jordon valley, which they are taking over.” Estimates of colonisation vary from the 42% reported by Chomsky and B’Tselem to that of Human Rights Watch who at 60% set the figure even higher. Around half a million ‘settlers’ - more accurately, colonisers – now squat upon Palestinian soil, huddled within walled encampments upon stolen land, branded blue and white. Noisily perching upon hilltops, rooms with a view, or flourishing in verdant valleys, these settlements creep shamefully throughout the West Bank and the sacred city of Jerusalem.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=17398

CPDS: Gaza Youth Discuss Zionist Role in US Elections, Yousef M. Aljamal, Gaza
For the second week in row, the Center for Political Development Studies [CPDS] holds a video link on the role of Zionist lobby in US election. Ali Abunimah, the founder of The Electronic Intifada joined Gaza activists via Skype and emphasized the reasons of this “unshakable” relation between Israel and the US, which is known to Palestinians more than any other nation in the world.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=17396

Which is Worse Israeli Enemy? Hezbollah, Hamas or Haaretz? Haaretz, Says Bibi, Richard Silverstein
Of all the enemies facing the State of Israel, or more specifically Bibi Netanyahu (but why distinguish between the two–aren’t they identical?), who do you think he would single out as the most dangerous: Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, Turkey?  None of the above.  His worst enemies are two newspapers.  Two “extreme leftist” newspapers to be sure, but newspapers nonetheless.  Apparently, words are more powerful than Qassams and Shihabs.
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2012/01/18/which-is-worse-israeli-enemy-hezbollah-hamas-or-haaretz-haaretz-says-bibi/

Secret National Security Council Panel ‘Nominates’ U.S. Citizens, Foreign Militants for Murder, Richard Silverstein
Last October, Reuters published news about a secret U.S. government panel which “nominated” militants for murder or capture, including U.S. citizens like Anwar al-Awlaki.  The story peered into the opaque process by which a government bureaucracy decides to take a human life.  And it was disturbing…
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2012/01/18/secret-national-security-council-panel-nominates-u-s-citizens-foreign-militants-for-murder/