Activism

Not a single condemnation from the West when Israel violates ceasefire

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Three Injured By Israeli Fire In Khan Younis
Palestinian medical sources reported that three Palestinians have been injured, on Sunday evening, after Israeli soldiers, stationed across the border, opened fire at them in Al-Faraheen area, east of Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
http://www.imemc.org/article/64632

 Land Theft & Destruction / Ethnic Cleansing / Restriction of Movement / Apartheid & Occupation

Jewish settlers attack, destroy Palestinian farmland
Jewish settlers attacked the village of Qasra, south of Nablus city, and destroyed vast areas of its farmland, local sources said.
 
Hamas: Settlement activity in West Bank and Jerusalem reached its highest level
A report issued by Hamas’ Media Office said that Israeli occupation is moving at an accelerated pace to legalize most of the outposts built on occupied West Bank lands and to encourage Jews to settle there.

 
BETHLEHEM, November 24, 2012 (WAFA) – Israeli forces Saturday razed agricultural land near Bethlehem apparently to expand an illegal settlement, according to an activist. Coordinator of the Popular Committee against Settlements and the Apartheid Wall in al-Khader, Ahmad Salah, told WAFA that Israeli soldiers accompanied by bulldozers razed Palestinian land with an aim to expand the settlement of Danial, built on land belonging to the town of al-Khader, west of Bethlehem. He said Israeli soldiers have also closed with mounds of dirt and big rocks a number of roads in the area preventing residents from accessing them.
 

Israel plans to Judaize names of Palestinian neighborhoods and streets
The Israeli municipal council in occupied Jerusalem is going to hold a meeting today, Sunday, to discuss the proposal of changing the names of several Arab streets into Hebrew ones.

 

Israel to build Jewish tourist site south of Aqsa Mosque
The coalition of “Guided by Jerusalem” said the IOA decided to initiate the building of a Jewish tourist site adjacent to the southern wall of the Aqsa Mosque on 22 dunums of land.

Israel limits Palestinian access to holy site
Access to Al-Aqsa mosque compound restricted as third day of Egypt-mediated Gaza-Israel truce is tested.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/11/2012112460169713.html

 
Gaza / Israeli & Egyptian Siege on Gaza

 
Israel’s week-long assault on the Gaza Strip cost the Palestinians $300 million in economic damages, according to a report released Saturday by the Palestinian Chamber of Commerce. The agricultural sector suffered $120 million in damages, another $40 million were lost by a halt in economic activity over the eight-days of Israel’s relentless bombardment, and it will cost another $140 million to rebuild houses and other infrastructure Israel destroyed. The report also called for Gaza to be declared economically disastrous, and demanded that Israel lift restrictions on the Gaza Strip in accordance with the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire that ended the war on Wednesday. Israel has reportedly begun allowing Palestinian fisherman to travel six miles into the sea as part of the agreement, up from three. “The Israeli army naval boat which used to fire and torch Palestinian boats that sailed beyond a three-mile distance watched without doing anything to prevent them,” Murad al-Issi, a member of a local fishermen group, told Reuters on Saturday.
 
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) – Egyptian, Israeli and Palestinian officials representing the Hamas-run government in Gaza will meet next Monday in Cairo to discuss the aftermath of the ceasefire agreement. The Office of Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said he was informed by the director of Egyptian intelligence that Israel agreed to allow Gaza fishermen to go six nautical miles off the coast of Gaza instead of three, which has been the limit under Israel’s siege. 
 

Taking shelter in a Palestinian refugee camp 
In just over week of violence, at least 1,100 Palestinian rockets have landed in Israel, and more than 900 air strikes carried out in the Gaza Strip which killed at least 162 Palestinians. Al Jazeera spent the night with a family in an area often targeted by the bombing raids. Casey Kauffman reports from Jabalya Refugee camp.

 
Israeli attacks leave hundreds homeless in Gaza 
Across the Gaza Strip there are hundreds of families made homeless by the latest Israeli attacks. For some, picking up the pieces is a new challenge; others have seen it all before. But the coming winter weather doesn’t make it any easier. Al Jazeera’s Nadeem Baba reports from Gaza City.

Gaza children return to school after ceasefire 
As part of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, Israel has eased restrictions on Palestinian fishermen. Restrictions are also being eased on children, who have gone back to school for the first time since the ceasefire started. Nadim Baba has more from Gaza.
 
After 8 days of Israeli missiles raining down upon their homes, the new, Egyptian-brokered ceasefire allows Gazans to return to their homes and start the clean-up process.
 
Israeli Terrorism / Aggression / Attacks on Protest
 

Three Injured By Israeli Fire In Khan Younis
Palestinian medical sources reported that three Palestinians have been injured, on Sunday evening, after Israeli soldiers, stationed across the border, opened fire at them in Al-Faraheen area, east of Khan Younis, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Authority’s UN observer has submitted a complaint to the UN Security Council after Israeli forces violated an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip, according to Palestine’s Ma’an news agency. The Israeli army killed one person and injured 19 at the Gazan border area near Khan Younis on Friday, breaking a two-day old ceasefire between the Jewish state and the Strip. The ceasefire, put into effect Wednesday night, detracts Israel’s classification of the Gazan border area as a “buffer zone”, forbidding Israel from firing at the border area.
 
RAMALLAH (IPS) – As people anxiously wait to see if the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas will hold, local and international human rights groups are calling for investigations into Israeli human rights abuses committed during its eight-day assault on the Gaza Strip, including flagrant attacks on journalists. “We want an international investigation into what happened in Gaza,” Abdal Nasser Najjar, chairman of the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate said. “We want to put an end to this [Israeli] policy of killing and injuring journalists. There is no difference between a journalist: Israeli, Palestinian, or international. We want to do our jobs only, as journalists.” In its most recent assault on the Gaza Strip, which Israel called Operation Pillar of Defense, 162 Palestinians were killed and more than 1,100 injured. Three Palestinian journalists were killed and more than a dozen injured in targeted Israeli air strikes.
 

Associated Press photographer Bernat Armangué was in Gaza as Israel targeted the region during a war that claimed more than 160 lives in eight days.

 

43 children killed and 432 wounded during aggression on Gaza
43 children were killed while 432 others were injured during the 8-day Israeli occupation aggression on the Gaza Strip according to Palestinian medical sources.

 

“He only knew how to smile,” Jehad told me, as we both struggled to hold back the tears. ”He could say just two words – Baba and Mama,” his father went on. Also on Jehad’s phone is another photo. A hideous tiny corpse. Omar’s smiling face virtually burnt off, that fine hair appearing to be melted on to his scalp. Jehad’s sister-in-law Heba was also killed. ”We still haven’t found her head,” Jehad said. And his brother is critically ill in hospital with massive burns. His chances are not good.

According to testimonies gathered by B’Tselem, on Thursday, 15 November 2012, at about 10 pm, an Israeli military air strike took place in an urban area in the al-Istiqamah neighborhood of Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip. B’Tselem does not know the objective of the strike. A large crater was created at the point of impact and nearby houses were extensively damaged. Two boys, a 9-year-old and a 16-year-old, who lived in two of the buildings that were damaged, were killed. They sustained fatal injuries from shrapnel as they lay asleep in their homes. The fathers of the two dead boys described the incident to B’Tselem by telephone.

 

‘Awad a-Nahal was killed in a bombing near his home in Rafah while trying to aid a wounded man, 17 Nov. 2012
A B’Tselem inquiry shows that on the morning of 17 November 2012, an Israeli attack targeted three armed men in Rafah. Two of them were killed on the spot and a third was wounded. Shortly afterwards, while ‘Awad a-Nahal, age 31, a resident of a nearby house, was trying to evacuate the injured man, a second attack killed both the armed man and the civilian trying to evacuate him.

 
According to media reports, on 10 November 2012 armed Palestinians fired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli military patrol jeep near the perimeter fence of the Gaza Strip. Four soldiers were wounded, one seriously. In response, an Israeli military unit, probably an armored vehicle, fired shells at the Gaza Strip. B’Tselem investigated the incident and found that, in response to the Palestinian missile attack, the Israeli military fired four tank shells in succession at the area of al -Muntar Hill, in the eastern part of Gaza City, about 1.5 kilometers from the perimeter fence. The investigation also found that the anti-tank missile fired by armed Palestinians at the military jeep had not been launched from that location. According to testimonies received by B’Tselem, when the shells were fired.
 
After a week of drones and heavy shelling, a calm fell over Gaza last night as the Israeli ceasefire took hold. Despite the truce, Gaza’s brothers in the larger Palestinian territory of the West Bank are gearing up for another day of protest. West Bankers are no strangers to demonstrations against the Israeli occupation, and protest activity has intensified in the area since Gaza and Israel started trading rockets last week. Confrontations came to a head after the funeral of local hero Rushdie Tamimi, who was shot by Israeli forces at a peaceful protest in his hometown of Nabi Saleh. 
 
The legitimate and rightful weekly demonstration of the Palestinian continued this Friday against the occupation, the apartheid wall, & the settlements. Youth and foreign solidarity activists in Nabi Saleh was wounded by rubber bullets, after Israeli occupation forces suppressed the protest march of the village, north-west of Ramallah, against the settlement and confiscation of Palestinian land. The occupation forces did also arrest several protesters, in addition to injuring a dozen as a result of Suffocation, during the suppression of the march titled “on the trail of the Martyrs ‘, in support of the Martyr Rushdie Tamimi who was killed on the village’s land a couple of days ago, and those fallen because of the latest aggression on the Gaza Strip.

 

IOF incursion ends in violent clashes
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) raided the Zabuba village to the west of Jenin on Saturday night triggering violent clashes with young men, locals told the PIC.

 
Settlers hurl stones at school in village of Urif causing damage to building. Security forces called to scene attacked by Palestinians
 
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Vandals slashed the tires of several cars in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Shufat on Sunday morning, spraying one with the slogan ‘Price tag – Gaza’, Israeli police said. Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said the force had opened an investigation. ’Price tag’ is the slogan used by right-wing extremists to describe vandalism and violence against Palestinians, usually in the West Bank, in revenge for policies they disagree with.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=541773

 

Settler violence and IDF raids: For West Bank Palestinians, there is no ceasefire
While Israelis are breathing a sigh of relief that quiet has mostly been restored (for the time being), and life can supposedly just go back to normal, with Gaza out of sight and out of mind, the other elephant in the room – the West Bank and East Jerusalem – is all but quiet.

 

Past Israeli Terrorism

 

Nabatiyyah camp: erased by Israeli bombs, As’ad AbuKhalil
It occurred to me yesterday that we should have a special website to chronicle all Israeli crimes from the beginning of the Zionist colonization of Palestine.  And just yesterday I thought about the Nabatiyyah refugee camp that does not exist anymore.  This was a refugee camp near the city of Nabatiyyah in South Lebanon which housed thousands of Palestinian families who were kicked out from their homeland in 1948.  In 1974-1975, the labor government of Shimon Peres and Itzhak Rabin ordered massive bombing raids against the camp and the bombing raids were so incinerating that it was bombed out of existence, literally.  In December 1975, Israeli fighter jets bombed the camp and there was nothing left whatsoever.  This is the other history of Israel that most Americans are ignorant about.

 
Israeli Injustice System
 
Footage of questioning of youths charged with assaulting Arab teen erased from police computers. The majority of the interrogation records in the Jerusalem lynch case have been erased from police computers, Ynet has learned. The records consist of at least 10 hours of video and audio footage from the questioning of 10 youths charged with assaulting an Arab teen in Jerusalem last August.
 
Illegal Arrests
 

IOF soldiers arrest MP Mansour
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested MP Yasser Mansour after storming his home at dawn Saturday in Nablus city.

 
The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) continued its daily arrest campaigns in different parts of the West Bank, where they detained since Saturday 12 citizens in various districts.
 
HEBRON (Ma’an) — Israeli forces detained four Palestinians in the southern West Bank early Sunday, locals told Ma’an. Diaa Ghaleb Samamreh, and Issa Ahmad Issa Samamreh were detained in south Hebron town al-Dhahiriya, residents said. Ismail Amro was arrested in nearby Dura, and Issa Khalil Abdullah Zein was seized in Yatta, they said. An Israeli army spokeswoman said one person had been detained in each of the towns.
 

IOF arrests a Palestinian, sets military checkpoint
Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested at dawn on Sunday a Palestinian young man during raids carried out in the village of Silat al-Harithiya west of Jenin, and took him to an unknown destination.

 
Other Prisoner News
 
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The Palestinian Authority will release Hamas-affiliated detainees as a goodwill gesture to boost reconciliation efforts, a PLO official said Sunday, after Hamas announced similar measures earlier. Nabil Shaath told Ma’an that preparations will begin in the coming days to release dozens of Hamas prisoners held for political reasons, adding that the PA has already recently released a large number of Hamas-affiliated detainees. Hamas representatives will also begin to participate in leadership meetings in the West Bank, including sessions of the executive committee of the PLO, Shaath added.
 

Hamas MPs demand Abbas to release political prisoners
A meeting was held between PA president Abbas and a delegation of MPs and former ministers from Hamas Movement on Saturday evening, at the Muqata in Ramallah.

 

Health condition from prisoner Qa’qour deteriorates
The Israeli occupation authorities prevented a medical committee from visiting the patient prisoner Hamza Sam Qa’qour, 32, from the city of Jenin, who is held in Megiddo prison.

 
Arrest of Intisar Al Hudra extended, she is accused of stabbing a soldier
Israeli police have extended the arrest of Intisar Al Hudra (35) from al Tour. She is accused of stabbing an Israeli soldiers in Salah Edin St.  She will be presented to the Magistrate Court on Friday.
 
Administration at Galboa prison delays release of prisoner Majed al Ja’a
The administration at Galboa prison have delayed the released of prisoner Majedal Ja’ba from Jerusalem without providing an explanation. Al Ja’ba was supposed to released on Thursday after completing his 2 year sentence. Many of his family and friends  spent the entire day waiting outside the prison to welcome him home. Al Ja’ba lawyer’s was also enable to elicit the reason for the delay in his release. Majed al Ja’ba (32) is married with 2 children. He was arrested on 27/12/10 after being charged for working with Hamas.
 
Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHR) issued a statement revealing that an independent PHR doctor visited hunger striking detainee, Ayman Sharawna, who has been on hunger strike for 141 days, and stated that Sharawna is facing life threatening conditions.
 
The Jordanian prisoners in Israeli prisons complained about their poor conditions within the occupation prisons.
 
Protests / Solidarity / Activism / BDS
 

Doctors Worldwide delegation arrives in Gaza
The delegation of Doctors Worldwide organization arrived in the Gaza Strip, which has been experiencing Israeli attacks, on Saturday in a solidarity visit.

 
Libyan delegation arrives in Gaza Strip on solidarity visit
A delegation of 40 Libyan diplomats has arrived in the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing on a solidarity visit. Members of the group include the deputy head of the Libyan National Congress, Saleh Al-Makhzoun, and the Deputy Prime Minister, Al-Siddiq Karim. They were received at the border by a number of Palestinian MPs who then accompanied the delegation to Al-Shifa Hospital to meet some Gazans wounded during Israel’s offensive.
 
The World Association of Muslim Scholars has announced that it is sending a high-level delegation to the Gaza Strip. The group will be led by the association’s Secretary-General Sheikh Ali Al-Kurra Daghi and is expected to cross into Palestine from Rafah on Friday. The delegation is expected to include members of the board of trustees and executive officers
 
Activists occupy roof of Scottish Parliament to condemn weak stance on Gaza, demand sanctions
Activists in Scotland today scaled and occupied the roof of the Scottish Parliament to protest the Scottish government’s failure to condemn Israel’s attack on Gaza and to demand sanctions be imposed on Israel.

“You can take action wherever you are:” G4S offices in London occupied over role in Gaza siege
Campaigners staged a sit-in demonstration at the central London offices of security company G4S yesterday afternoon to protest the company’s supply of services and equipment to Israeli prisons and checkpoints, including the Erez checkpoint that forms part of Israel’s siege on Gaza.

 

Thousands protest in London demanding an end to the Gaza siege
Thousands of British protestors marched in London, on Saturday, outside 10 Downing Street, demanding an end to the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip and an end to the suffering of the Palestinians.

 
COLOMBO (Ma’an) — Hundreds of people staged a demonstration in Sri Lanka on Friday to show solidarity with the people of Gaza, a Palestinian Authority diplomat said. Anwar al-Agha, PA ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Republic of Maldives, told Ma’an Sunday that demonstrators had gathered in front of a municipality building in Colombo before marching through the center of the city. Government officials, activists and representatives of various political parties joined the rally, al-Agha added.
 
From 28 November through 1 December, thousands of activists, organizers, youth, faith-based groups, trade unions, musicians, academics, and more will converge on Porto Alegre, Brazil for the first ever World Social Forum dedicated exclusively to Palestine. For those who are unable to join us in Brazil, the World Social Forum Free Palestine WSF-FP calls for simultaneous protests, creative actions and media efforts worldwide to call attention to the goals and strategies that will be discussed and promoted during this Forum.
 
Qalandiya International Festival: where art meet politics
Photos by Lazar Simeonov Ramallah — On 1 November, the first biennale event of Qalandiya International Festival was launched and lasted for two weeks.

 
Israeli / Zionist Racism & Discrimination
 

Sterilize the Palestinian people, Dutch writer Leon de Winter says with Israeli ambassador listening, Ali Abunimah
“Maybe we should secretly add some means of birth control to Gaza’s drinking water,” to a warm audience reception.

 
Jewish school faces complaints about anti-Muslim textbook
The textbook calls Muslims “rabid fanatics” with “savage beginnings” and characterizes the Prophet Muhammad as a “rabid Jew-hater,” according to the organization’s letter.
 
The head of the IDF’s social media unit, lieutenant Sacha Dratwa, enjoys more than Twitter and Facebook. Apparently, he’s also into some good ‘ol fashioned Jim Crow styled blackface as well. Yesterday, a photo began circulating of the social media guru with sand smeared on his face with the caption, “Obama style.” The photo was actually uploaded on September 29th, but the photo only began circulating after Gawker ran a story on Dratwa, increasing his international profile.
 

Political Developments / Other News
 
BEIRUT (Reuters) — Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel on Sunday that thousands of rockets would rain down on Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities if Israel attacked Lebanon. In a speech marking the Shiite Muslim festival of Ashura, Nasrallah said Hezbollah’s response to any attack would dwarf the attacks from Gaza during the eight-day conflict between Israel and Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip. ”Israel, which was shaken by a handful of Fajr-5 rockets during eight days – how would it cope with thousands of rockets which would fall on Tel Aviv and other (cities)… if it attacked Lebanon?” he said in speech, relayed by video-link to tens of thousands of Shiite faithful in central Beirut.
 
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Exiled Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal plans to visit the Gaza Strip for the first time next month, informed sources told Ma’an on Sunday. Mashaal hopes to attend the 25th anniversary celebrations of the movement in Gaza. Ahmad Yousef, a former adviser to Hamas prime minister, told Ma’an that Mashaal will be in Gaza soon, but the details of his trip will be confidential.
 
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) – The ceasefire agreement signed Wednesday with Israel did not include a commitment by Egypt to prevent smuggling of arms into the Gaza Strip, a senior Hamas leader said. Izzat al-Rishiq wrote on his Facebook page Saturday that “it is not true, as some claim, that the agreement included that Egypt will work with special US units to prevent smuggling of weapons into Gaza.” He added: “These are Israeli rumors aimed to ease the impact of defeat.” 
 
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — A senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip said on Saturday the group will continue to procure weapons after its ceasefire with Israel, and he expects support from Iran to the movement to grow further. ”We have no choice but to continue to bring in weapons by all possible means,” Mahmoud al-Zahhar said, adding that he expected Tehran would “increase its military and financial support to Hamas.” ”We have a right to take money and weapons from Iran. They (Iran) give to us for the sake of God, no conditions attached, and I am a witness to that,” al-Zahhar told reporters.
 

Haniyeh Appreciates Iranian Support for Gaza
Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Thursday thanked Iran for the support for Gaza people in his statement after victory over the Israeli occupying regime in eight-day war.

 

Iran Congratulates Palestinian Resistance over Victory
Iran congratulated the Palestinian resistance and people for their victory against the Zionist entity, criticizing Arab and international silence.

 
The leader of Tunisia’s Al-Nahda Party, Sheikh Rachid Ghannouchi, has praised the achievements of the Palestinian resistance in the face of Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip. Sheikh Ghannouchi added that the Egyptian-brokered truce “represents a victory for Palestine, the Arab and Muslim nations, and the free people of the world”.
 
The President of Tunisia, Moncef Marzouki, has accepted an invitation from Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh to visit the Gaza Strip, it has been announced in Tunis. President Marzouki will visit the occupied West Bank during the same trip to Palestine. According to an official source, President Marzouki phoned Mr. Haniyeh to congratulate him on the perseverance of the Palestinians during the latest Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip. The source also revealed that the President has met with the Ministers of Defence, Health and Foreign Affairs to discuss arrangements for a humanitarian aid convoy to go to Gaza on behalf of the government.
 
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Egypt will invite Palestinian factions to Cairo to resume reconciliation talks after Palestine’s bid for a UN status upgrade this week, a political official said Saturday. Khalil Assaf, who heads the coalition of independents in the West Bank and also chairs the public freedoms committee established under the reconciliation deal, said he expects Egypt’s invitation in the coming days. All Palestinian leaders will then convene in Cairo to discuss their next steps after President Mahmoud Abbas returns from the UN bid, due for a vote at the UN General Assembly on Thursday, Assaf said. All the principles of reconciliation have been agreed and now the leaders need to get on with implementing them, he told Ma’an.
 
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — A Fatah delegation en-route to Gaza arrived at Rafah crossing on Sunday as part of a visit to show solidarity with the Gazan people, a Fatah official said. Amin Maqboul, who heads the delegation from Fatah’s revolutionary council, told Ma’an that the group is scheduled to travel to al-Mathaf hotel in Gaza City and will then visit hospitals and families who lost relatives during Israel’s eight-day offensive on the coastal enclave.
 
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Fatah leader Amin Maqboul said Saturday he will visit the Gaza Strip on Sunday with a delegation from his party. The visit was requested by Fatah chief President Mahmoud Abbas, he said. The 11-member delegation will visit the wounded and families of those killed after Israel’s eight-day bombardment of Gaza, Maqboul said.
 
GAZA CITY â?? With rocks, slingshots and song, young Palestinians took on the Israeli military in scenes unusual in the West Bank these days. That’s because in the wake of the worst hostilities between Israel and Hamas in four years, emotional respect for Hamas has been recently boosted among Palestinians also in the West Bank. “The result of this war is Hamas has definitely become more popular,” said Mkhaimar Abusada, a political science professor at Al-Azha University in Gaza. “I’m talking to some of my friends in the West Bank and they are cheering, they are saluting Hamas and Islamic Jihad for striking Israel with long-range missiles.”
 

Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Endorse Abbas’s Move At The UN
Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyya, senior Hamas official, Ahmad Bahar, and Islamic Jihad Leader, Mohammad al-Hindi, phoned Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, informing him that their movements endorse Abbas’s UN Observer Status application.

 
PARIS (Reuters) — France on Thursday indicated it would support Palestinian efforts to secure a diplomatic upgrade at the United Nations, a decision likely to boost the PLO as it seeks greater international recognition. Frustrated that a bid for full UN membership last year failed amid US opposition in the UN Security Council, the PLO has launched a watered-down bid for recognition as a non-member state, similar to the Vatican’s UN status.
 
Nick Clegg will urge coalition partners to support Palestinian request for recognition of statehood at United Nations.
 

US Senators warn Abbas about upcoming UN bid
Democrats and Republicans say move could jeopardize American aid, and that negotiations are the only way to a Palestinian state.

 
Israel will negotiate with ‘other Palestinian groups’ if Abbas pushes statehood bid, deputy FM says
Israel will negotiate with other Palestinian factors if Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas presses forward with his statehood bid at the United Nations this week, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon warned on Saturday. Speaking in an interview on Israel Radio, Ayalon said that other Palestinian groups exist with which Israel can negotiate, but the deputy foreign minister refused to specify to which organizations he was referring.
 
At least Arafat wore a uniform, not a suit,’ says Gilad Erdan.
 

They seem desperate to convince the world of this: VIDEO: ‘Two state solution’ still an option
The President of Israel Shimon Peres tells HARDtalk in Jerusalem that a ‘two state solution’ is still an option for Israel and the Palestinians despite the recent conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Ahmadinejad: Israel has ‘childish’ desire to attack Iran, Tehran can defend itself
Iranian president says Israel knows Iran won’t ‘attack anybody’; world powers agree to seek renewed talks with Iran as soon as possible.
 
US troops are expected in Egypt early next week. Meanwhile, American forces have all but surrounded Iran and are stationed in countless bases across the Middle East
 

Lobbyists pay UK authorities to buy support for Israeli regime

Pro-Israeli lobbyists inside the UK have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds since the last general election taking lawmakers on propaganda tours to the Israeli occupied Palestinian territories.
 
JERUSALEM — The United Nations envoy to the Middle East acknowledged in an interview with McClatchy Sunday that he has maintained quiet contacts with the Islamist group Hamas for “years,” despite the international community’s official policy to isolate the group.
 
Calls mount to ban Hamas from Twitter
An evangelical group says Hamas access to Twitter violates the United States’ ‘material support’ laws.

 

EU sponsored Israeli weapons fair on eve of Gaza attacks
It is shocking that Europe’s support for a Tel Aviv arms fair, held just before Israel’s latest assault on Gaza, has gone unnoticed by the media.

Analysis / Op-ed / Human Interest
 
Al-Qassam: occupation was forced to raise the white flag
The Martyr Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades declared that they fired during the battle of “Shale stones”, which lasted for eight days, 1573 rockets, a number of them were used for the first time.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7hqHiNggf4GBkb30SrVouaI9DmAhztp4p7c%2bDJMa24kD2GpCakYYIz6FPzWLhIQKBHFGIDdQoeriTI%2bTxGII4p%2fyDD9CAxreJA1f6YeAGiIk%3d
 
Mohammad al-Daif: The “Phantom” Hamas Leader
Mohammad al-Daif, general commander of Hamas’ military wing, the Izzedin al-Qassam Brigades, has been conducting special operations against Israel since the 1980s, despite numerous attempts to capture or assassinate him.
 
The great praise being voiced for the steadfastness of the people and resistance in Gaza cannot blind us to some facts and questions related to the latest developments. The cease-fire announced yesterday – though necessary to halt the Israeli killing-machine – has only added to these complex questions.
 
How we made the world hear Gaza, as citizen journalists, Rana Baker
By ingenious use of social media, Rana Baker and other citizen journalists were able to reach the world from Gaza as the bombs fell, and influence the way the Israeli attack was reported.
 
As Israeli airstrikes on the Palestinian territory of the Gaza strip rained bombs on civilian areas, President Obama reiterated his support of Israel, saying, “There is no country on earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders. So we are fully supportive of Israel’s right to defend itself from missiles landing on people’s homes.”  Israel took advantage of this support to kill 162 Palestinians, compared to the 6 Israeli deaths, before a ceasefire agreement was reached between Hamas and Israel on Wednesday, November 21st. Israel launched hundreds of airstrikes into Gaza last week. Yet when it comes to Gaza and the Israeli occupation of Palestine, Obama doesn’t speak for African Americans.  A recent CNN/ORC poll found that people of color are among the segments of the population in America most likely to oppose Israeli military attacks. 
 

Israeli terrorism against Gaza: the context, As’ad AbuKhalil
“The Israeli government has referred to its siege policy as a form of “economic warfare.” In a Nov. 2008 cable from the US embassy in Tel Aviv released by WikiLeaks, US officials wrote, “As part of their overall embargo plan against Gaza, Israeli officials have confirmed . . . on multiple occasions that they intend to keep the Gazan economy on the brink of collapse without quite pushing it over the edge” with the aim of having Gaza’s economy “functioning at the lowest level possible consistent with avoiding a humanitarian crisis.” This was achieved through an Israeli-imposed blockade that ended all normal trade.  The result has been high and persistent unemployment, which stood near 30 percent by June 2012, according to the International Monetary Fund. Approximately 39 percent of Gaza’s people lived below the poverty line in 2011. The figure would be far greater without donor aid.  Gaza’s economic decline is seen in the near collapse of its agricultural sector. One factor is the destruction of around 7,800 acres of agricultural land during Cast Lead. Consequently, approximately one-third of Gaza’s total arable land is out of production. Furthermore, Israeli-imposed buffer zones — areas of restricted access — now absorb nearly 14 percent of Gaza’s total land and at least 48 percent of total arable land.  Similarly, the sea buffer zone covers 85 percent of the maritime area promised to Palestinians in the Oslo Accords, reducing 20 nautical miles to three, where waters are fouled by sewage flows in excess of 23 million gallons daily.  Another critical constraint is water. Gaza’s aquifer has been ruined by prolonged over-pumping and sewage and contaminant infiltration.

 
Although eight days of Israeli airstrikes in retaliation for Hamas-launched rockets left 162 Palestinians dead, residents of Gaza express backing for Hamas and its current campaign.
 

Poll: Israelis dissatisfied with cease-fire
A poll shows about half of Israelis think their government should have continued its military offensive against Palestinian militants in Hamas-ruled Gaza.

 
Israel and Hamas have claimed victory after their 8-day conflict, but both probably lost. The clear winners, for now, are Iran and Egypt’s President Mohamed Mursi.
Even taking at face value the Israeli military’s statistics on its success in destroying 40 percent of Hamas’s medium range rockets and the undoubted value of testing Israel’s Iron Dome rocket defenses, the prospect of any lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians has been pushed one step further into the distance.
 
(GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip) — Hamas has emerged from battle with the triumphal sense of a hard-won game change: By stopping its offensive when it did, Israel‘s hard-line government seems to have grudgingly accepted that the Islamic militant group cannot soon be dislodged from power in Gaza. Hamas dared rocket the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem areas, then stared down threats of a ground invasion to wipe out the group — emerging with its rule intact, world figures rushing to the region to put out the fire and key Muslim countries openly on its side. In the rush of diplomacy, Hamas also succeeded in overshadowing its main Western-backed Palestinian rival. Still unclear is whether the Egyptian-brokered truce can deliver the promised end to Gaza’s stifling blockade.
 
On Thursday, a group of Israeli soldiers published a photograph of some of their comrades lying on the ground, their faces clouded in defeat and exuding an air of brokenness. A short tagline attached to the image read, “Bibi is the loser”; it was uploaded onto Facebook and Hebrew media outlets. The photo has gone viral. This is not the only evidence of the sense of defeat felt by Israelis since yesterday’s announcement of a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian resistance movement. Hundreds of comments left by visitors to the sites are quite clear in their sentiments; and Israelis have no qualms about insulting their leaders in the most egregious terms.
 
A “premature” truce ending eight days of Israeli air strikes on Gaza could see Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing alliance lose votes in polls in January, a new survey has showed. “Right-wing and ultra-religious voters favored continuing the military operation,” Professor Yitzhak Katz, who conducted the poll for daily Maariv, told Army Radio.
 
Many key phrases have been presented to explain Israel’s latest military onslaught against Gaza, which left scores dead and wounded. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is flexing his muscles in preparation for the Israeli general elections in January, suggested some. It is Israel’s way of testing the administration of Egyptian President Muhammad Mursi, commented others. It was a stern message to Iran, instructed few. Or that Israel is simply assessing its ‘deterrence’ capabilities. And so on.
 
You are invited to read this free essay from the London Review of Books. Subscribe now to access every article from every fortnightly issue of the London Review of Books, including the entire LRB archive of over 12,500 essays and reviews.
The ceasefire agreed by Israel and Hamas in Cairo after eight days of fighting is merely a pause in the Israel-Palestine conflict. It promises to ease movement at all border crossings with the Gaza Strip, but will not lift the blockade. It requires Israel to end its assault on the Strip, and Palestinian militants to stop firing rockets at southern Israel, but it leaves Gaza as miserable as ever: according to a recent UN report, the Strip will be ‘uninhabitable’ by 2020. And this is to speak only of Gaza. How easily one is made to forget that Gaza is only a part – a very brutalised part – of the ‘future Palestinian state’ that once seemed inevitable, and which now seems to exist mainly in the lullabies of Western peace processors. None of the core issues of the Israel-Palestine conflict – the Occupation, borders, water rights, repatriation and compensation of refugees – is addressed by this agreement.
 

Why Israel Desires to be Hated by Palestinians, Oren Ben-Dor
Yet another massacre is unfolding in Gaza, the largest prison in the world.  We are surrounded by familiar chatter: ‘Israel’s right to defend itself’; ‘Palestinians’ legitimate resistance to (the 1967) occupation’; ‘who started it this time?’ Most insidious, however, is the stale refrain, sung by a chorus which includes President Obama, that the violence is disastrous for the ‘peace process’ aimed at a ‘two-state solution’.

 

Overwhelming US support for onslaught was given in prejudicial disregard of Palestinian perspective — Scholars
We, the undersigned Directors of the International Council for Middle East Studies (ICMES), join the international community in condemning the recent Israeli military offensive, “Operation Pillar of Defense,” which has involved targeted assassination, attacks on non-military locations, and the killing or injury of at least 1,000 Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip—all illegal acts under international law. These Israeli attacks primarily against an occupied, largely unarmed civilian population are neither warranted nor justified, whether in light of the facts or in view of the alternative avenues available for peaceful resolution to the regional conflict of which Operation Pillar of Defense is emblematic.

 
The latest edition of KPFA’s weekly radio show Voices of the Middle East and North Africa was, not surprisingly, devoted entirely to Gaza. The program included interesting interviews with Al Jazeera reporter Sherine Tadros and analyst and Jadaliyya co-editor Mouin Rabbani, but to me the highlight was a reading by Baghdad-born poet, novelist, and translator Sinan Antoon of a long excerpt from his translation of the Mahmoud Darwish poem “Silence for Gaza.” 
 
Yesterday on “Morning Joe,” Zbigniew Brzezinski gave a bravura performance, urgently calling on Obama to help impose a solution on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before it further radicalized Arab societies, endangering world security. Obama had “dropped” the matter in his first term, Brzezinski said, caving to Netanyahu.
 
Most of the world supported the struggle of African Americans against Jim Crow during the Freedom Movement. Most of the progressive black leadership in this country spoke out against the apartheid regime, advocating boycotts, divestment, sanctions against apartheid South Africa. Where are they today on apartheid Israel?
 

Hats off to Yousef Munayyer. Earlier this week the New Yorker published When the Smoke Clears in Gaza, advising “fundamental change” was needed in Israel’s approach to their relationship with Palestinians: “new paradigm.. based on equality”. Thanksgiving day, the New York Times published Munayyer’s wake up call to Washington. Will they listen?

 
Alan Dershowitz routinely defends immoral behaviour by the Israeli army by vilifying civilians killed by Israel.
 
If Israel refuses to give effect to the agreed stoppage of targeted assassinations and does not move to end the blockade in good faith, it will not be surprising to see the rockets flying again. The Gaza Ceasefire, unlike a similar ceasefire achieved after Operation Cast Lead four years ago, is an event that has a likely significance far beyond ending the violence after eight days of murderous attacks. It is just possible that it will be looked back upon as a turning point in the long struggle between Israel and Palestine. Many have talked about ‘the fog of war,’ but it pales besides the ‘the fog of truce making,’ and in our media-infected air, the outcomes along with conjectures about the future are already being spun in all possible directions. Supporters of every position give their own spin, and then proclaim ‘victory.’ But as with the violent phases of the conflict, it is clarifying to distinguish the more persuasive contentions and interpretations from those that are less persuasive. What follows is one such attempt at such clarification.
 
 In Peter Watkins’ remarkable BBC film, The War Game,which foresaw the aftermath of an attack on London with a one-megaton nuclear bomb, the narrator says: “On almost the entire subject of thermo-clear weapons, there is now practically total silence in the press, official publications and on TV. Is there hope to be found in this silence?”  The truth of this statement was equal to its irony. On 24 November, 1965, the BBC banned The War Game as “too horrifying for the medium of broadcasting”. This was false. The real reason was spelt out by the chairman of the BBC Board of Governors, Lord Normanbrook, in a secret letter to the Secretary to the Cabinet, Sir Burke Trend.
 

The message sent from Palestinian resistance during the Israeli attack on Gaza, Hanan Abunasser
(Note: If you are not a citizen of Gaza, you may find it difficult to understand what I feel.) This time is different for me as a survivor of both Cast Lead and Pillar of Defense. Though it is heartbreaking that all Palestinians of Gaza are being collectively punished for trying to stay alive, this time the performance of the Palestinian resistance gave me, the oppressed and powerless, some balance in this struggle. We, in Gaza, do not only suffer from 65-years old occupation, but also 6 years old inhuman and medieval siege. Literally, the people of Gaza, after this, are left with no choice except resistance. I should make myself clear here saying we resist using all means of resistance but it such situation, when all of us are attacked, then armed resistance is the only solution left.

 
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http://original.antiwar.com/engelhardt/2012/11/25/is-gaza-outside-israel/

Destruction

Did they tell you the purpose of all this?

To locate weapons. But we didn’t find any weapons. They confiscated kitchen knives. There was also stealing. One guy took twenty shekels. Guys went into the houses and looked for things to steal. This was a very poor village. The guys were saying, “What a bummer, there’s nothing to steal.”

That was said in a conversation among the soldiers?

Yeah. They enjoyed seeing the misery, the guys were happy talking about it. There was a moment someone yelled at the soldiers. They knew he was mentally ill, but one of the soldiers decided that he’d beat him up anyway, so they smashed him. They hit him in the head with the butt of the gun, he was bleeding, then they brought him to the school along with everyone else. There were a pile of arrest orders signed by the battalion commander, ready, with one area left blank. They’d fill in that the person was detained on suspicion of disturbing the peace. They just filled in the name and the reason for arrest. There were people with plastic handcuffs that had been put on really tight. I got to speak with the people there. One of them had been brought into Israel to work for a settler and after two months the guy didn’t pay him and handed him over to the police.

[…]

Anything else you remember from that night?

A small thing, but it bothered me — one house that they just destroyed. They have a dog for weapons searches, but they didn’t bring him; they just wrecked the house. The mother watched from the side and cried. Her kids sat with her and stroked her.

What do you mean, they just destroyed the house?

They smashed the floors, turned over sofas, threw plants and pictures, turned over beds, smashed the closets, the tiles. There were other things — the look on the people’s faces when you go into their house. And after all that, they were left tied up and blindfolded in the school for hours. The order came to free them at four in the afternoon. So that was more than twelve hours. There were investigators from the security services there who interrogated them one by one.

Had there been a terrorist attack in the area?

No. We didn’t even find any weapons. The brigade commander claimed that the Shin Bet did find some intelligence, that there were a lot of guys there who throw stones.


Elimination Operation

It all took about a second and a half. And then they took out the bodies, carried the bodies. We went to a debriefing. I’ll never forget when they brought the bodies out at the base. We were standing two meters away in a semicircle, the bodies were covered in flies, and we had the debriefing. It was, “Great job, a success. Someone shot the wrong car, and we’ll talk about the rest back on the base.” I was in total shock from all the bullets, from the crazy noise. We saw it on the video, it was all documented on video for the debriefing. I saw all the things that I told you, the people running, the minute of gunfire, I don’t know if it’s twenty seconds or a minute, but it was hundreds of bullets and it was clear that the people had been killed, but the gunfire went on and the soldiers were running from the armored truck. What I saw was a bunch of bloodthirsty guys firing an insane amount of bullets, and at the wrong car, too. The video was just awful, and then the unit commander got up. I’m sure we’ll be hearing a lot from him.

What do you mean?

That he’ll be a regional commanding officer or the chief of staff one day. He said, “The operation wasn’t carried out perfectly, but the mission was accomplished, and we got calls from the chief of staff, the defense minister, the prime minister” — everyone was happy, it’s good for the unit, and the operation was like, you know, just: “Great job.” The debriefing was just a cover-up.

[…]

But the Shin Bet agents were as happy as kids at a summer camp.

What does that mean?

They were high-fiving and hugging. Really pleased with themselves. They didn’t join in the debriefing, it was of no interest to them. But what was the politics of the operation? How come my commanders, not one of them, admitted that the operation had failed?

Shoot to Kill

They actually shot people?

They shot anyone walking around in the street. It always ended with, “We killed six terrorists today.” Whoever you shot in the street is “a terrorist.”

That’s what they say at the briefings?

The goal is to kill terrorists.

What are the rules of engagement?

Whoever’s walking around at night, shoot to kill.

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In other news, days after meeting with US Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta and days before the Palestinian bid to upgrade its status to observer member of UN (with the added benefit of joining the ICC and prosecuting Israeli officials for war crimes), Ehud Barak announces that soon he will no longer travel abroad in an official capacity (that is, he’s retiring from politics). Even though Netanyahu is trying desperately to sink the Palestinian moves at the UN, perhaps some other Israeli leaders have figured out which way the international winds are blowing.

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