Two four-year-olds are targets of incidents in occupied West Bank

Violence / Raids / Arrests

Man says Israeli settlers attempted to kidnap his 4-year-old son
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 20 Dec — A Palestinian man from the northern West Bank has said that a group of Jewish settlers attempted to kidnap his four-year-old son from a parked car on Friday evening. Majd Asous told Ma‘an that he left his four-year-old son Nadim in a parked car outside a store in the village of Huwwara south of Nablus when a group of Israeli settlers ina red Subaru approached the boy. Asous said that the settlers approached the car and grabbed the boy, but they fled the area after the child started screaming. The father added that following the incident he followed the settlers’ car, which then entered the Jewish-only settlement of Bracha near the village of Burin. Asous was unable to follow the vehicle into the settlement as access is forbidden for non-Jews. The boy was subsequently taken to a hospital to be treated for trauma.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=748466

Palestinians throw stones, injure Israeli boy [and Israelis suspected of planning attack are arrested]
JERUSALEM (AP) 21 Dec by Daniel Estrin — Palestinians hurling stones on Sunday at Jewish settlers’ cars in the West Bank lightly injured a 4-year-old Israeli boy, the Israeli military said. The incident took place in a settlement area near the West Bank city of Bethlehem. The boy was taken to the hospital, and Israeli troops later combed the area for suspects.
Earlier Sunday, Israeli police arrested five Israelis, including four minors, suspected of planning to attack Palestinians in Jerusalem. The five had collected rocks in a Jerusalem park and were caught carrying two knives, said police spokeswoman Luba Samri. She said they previously participated in activities of the extremist Jewish group Lehava.
http://news.yahoo.com/palestinians-throw-stones-injure-israeli-boy-103842153.html

2 Palestinians detained with knives near Adam settlement
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 21 Dec — Israeli news sites on Sunday reported that two Palestinians were arrested with knives near the Jewish settlement of Geva Benyamin, also known as Adam. Israeli news site Ynet said that the two were “caught” by the “security coordinator” near the settlement and were transferred to the Shin Bet for questioning.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=748790

Three kidnapped in West Bank invasions, many injured
IMEMC/Agencies 22 Dec by Saed Bannoura — Israeli soldiers kidnapped, on Monday at dawn, three Palestinians in Bethlehem and Ramallah, during military invasions that also targeted the northern West Bank city of Nablus. One of the kidnapped fainted after the soldiers repeatedly kicked and punched him. Local sources in Bethlehem said several Israeli military jeeps invaded the Wadi Ma’ali area, in the city, and kidnapped one Palestinian, identified as Khalil Jamal al-Hreimi, 19 years of age, after invading his family home, and ransacked its property. The sources said clashes took place during the invasion and that the soldiers started kicking and beating al-Hreimi until he lost consciousness. The Army also fired rounds of live ammunition, gas bombs and rubber-coated metal bullets at local youths who hurled stones and empty bottles. One soldier was mildly wounded by a stone during the clashes; many Palestinians suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation. In addition, soldiers invaded Qarawat Bani Hassan village, northwest of the central West Bank city of Ramallah, and kidnapped two Palestinians after breaking into their homes, and violently searching them … Also on Monday at dawn, dozens of soldiers and Israeli settlers invaded the Joseph Tomb area, east of the northern West Bank city of Nablus, and clashed with local youths. Local sources said the soldiers fired rounds of live ammunition, rubber-coated metal bullets, and gas bombs, causing several injuries.
http://www.imemc.org/article/70084

Soldiers kidnap ten Palestinians in West Bank, two near Gaza border
IMEMC/Agencies 21 Dec — Israeli soldiers kidnapped, on Saturday at night and Sunday at dawn, nine Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, one Palestinian in occupied East Jerusalem, and two Palestinians near the Gaza border fence. Mohammad Awad, spokesperson of the Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlements in Beit Ummar town, near Hebron, said the soldiers kidnapped a Palestinian in Safa area, after violently assaulting him in front of his family.  The kidnapped young man has been identified as Monir Radwan Ekhlayyel, 20 years of age; he was moved to the Etzion military base for interrogation. The soldiers searched and ransacked his family home. Soldiers also invaded the Samu‘ and al-Thaheriya towns, near Hebron, drove around in various neighborhoods, and withdrew during early morning hours, Sunday.  In addition, soldiers invaded Silwan town, south of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in occupied East Jerusalem, and kidnapped one Palestinian after breaking into his home and violently searching it. Local sources said the soldiers kidnapped Emad ‘Obeisan from his home in Ein al-Lowza neighborhood, and took him to an interrogation center in the city. ‘Obeisan is a former political prisoner. Furthermore, the Israeli army said it managed to locate “stolen weapons and military equipment,” and kidnapped eight Palestinians, in Jaba‘ village, south of Jenin, in the northern part of the occupied West Bank. Israeli Channel Seven said the soldiers found two pistols, a number of laptops, binoculars and night-vision equipment, and several magazines of automatic rifles, in additional to more than 200.000 New Israeli Shekels, and foreign currency, in the homes of the eight Palestinians.
Furthermore, the Israeli army said its soldiers kidnapped two Palestinians, allegedly after they crossed the border fence, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.
http://www.imemc.org/article/70074

Palestinians continue the struggle against the Adei Ad outpost
Turmus‘ayya, Occupied Palestine (ISM) 20 Dec — Hundreds of Palestinian children, women, and men gathered at Turmu‘sayya on Friday December 17th to complete the tree planting began by Palestinian Authority minister Ziad Abu Ein, who was killed by Israeli soldiers on Friday December 10th. “Ziad was planning to plant olive trees on private Palestinian land near the illegal outpost of Adei Ad, but was violently prevented from reaching the site by the Israeli military who assaulted and killed him. We thought that after killing the minister, yesterday the military would allow us to plant trees peacefully but we found the same soldiers prepared to use even more violence against us,  said human rights defender Abdullah Abu Rahmah … Abu Rahmah was injured by a stun grenade that was thrown directly at him while he was planting an olive tree. After praying near the spot where the minister was stopped by the army, protesters with olive trees climbed the hill to the site where Abu Ein had intended to plant trees.  They began planting under a barrage of tear gas; stun grenades, and beatings by Israeli border police. Two Palestinian activists, Mohammed Khatib and Jaffar Hamayel, Israeli citizen and ISM co-founder Neta Golan, and US citizen and activist Danika Padilla were all violently arrested … The four arrested activists were taken to the Binyamin settlement police station. Neta and Danika were released in the early hours of this morning. Mohammed and Jaffar have been charged with assaulting and disturbing the border police and rioting after being told to disperse.
http://palsolidarity.org/2014/12/palestinians-continue-the-struggle-against-the-adei-ad-outpost/

Yousef al-Rammouni and Israel’s moral suicide / Vacy Vlazna
Palestine Chronicle 21 Dec — Abu Dis, home to descendants of Salah ad-Din, lies 3.8 kms from the Old City of Al Quds* which can be seen over the obscenity of the Annexation Wall from homes on the village hilltops … On November 17, 2014, the earth of Abu Dis awaited the final homecoming of its son Yousef al-Rammouni whose tortured body had been further desecrated with lies by the Israeli coroner. The sky over the village wept. The previous evening, like many preceding evenings, Yousef, 32, bid goodnight to his wife, Shireen and his little boys, Mohammed 6 and Jihad 3, then crossed to West Jerusalem for his 9.20 pm shift at the Egged Bus depot at Har Hotzivim where he was a valued driver for five years … “At Egged, where his brother Yahya was also employed (Yahya resigned a few days ago afraid for his safety), he was known for his reliability and safe driving, so much so that when he was attacked by racist Jewish thugs for the second  time and decided to quit, the company begged him to return after a week off and gave him a different route at his request. … “Yousef was given another bus and reassurances for his safety. On the second occasion, large rocks blocked Yousef’s bus and he was forced to stop.  He tried to flee, abandoning the bus (which was empty) to the thugs,  but was chased  and beaten. A bystander called the police, which came and rescued him.  Yousef wrote about the incident on is Facebook wall.” At 10 pm, on Sunday 16th, Yousef was found lynched with a thin cord in his bus by a fellow driver who was ”waiting for him with two cups of tea, but after he realised his friend hadn’t emerged from the bus he went in to check. “When I approached the bus, I knocked on the window assuming Al Ramouni was sleeping or that it was a joke, but I noticed that Al Ramouni was tied to his seat,” said the colleague… He said it was only then that he realised that Al Ramouni was hanged … Typically, in matters of Palestinian criminal deaths, Israeli police released misinformation blaming the victim, in this case stating falsely that Yousef committed suicide. Inevitably, an Israeli autopsy reaffirmed this falsehood however Dr. Saber al-Aloul, a Palestinian pathologist present at the same post-mortem at the request of the al-Rammouni’s family, later said that the autopsy did not suggest suicide but rather an “organized criminal murder.” … “The two boys are still in denial about their father’s sudden absence. Mohammad keeps hiding things, insisting that no one should use them because they belong to his father. Jihad, his grandfather says, heated the boiler the other day and told his mother, his father will need to take a bath when he got back. “His dream was to educate his children – one a doctor and one a lawyer….
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/yousef-al-rammouni-and-israels-moral-suicide/#.VJf6ov8OAA

Prisoners / Court actions

Settlers sentenced to an unprecedented 30 months over ‘price tag’ attack
+972mag 21 Dec by Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man — Court sentences two West Bank settlers for setting fire to Palestinian-owned vehicles, but not before the investigatory process violated their civil rights — Two extremist settlers were sentenced to 30 months in prison on Sunday, in what is the first such conviction for a “price tag” attack against Palestinian civilians. Yehuda Landsberg and Yehuda Savir, both residents of the illegal Havat Gilad settlement outpost in the northern West Bank, were convicted of setting fire to Palestinian-owned vehicles with racist motives last year, reported Shabtai Bendet of Walla! News. The sentence was the result of a plea bargain. Israeli authorities have been notoriously ineffective in prosecuting settler attacks against Palestinians and their property. According to data from human rights organization Yesh Din, over the past nine years, only 7.4 percent of investigations into such attacks led to indictments. In an attempt to combat settler violence, the Israeli government has taken a number of steps in recent years, ranging from establishing a “nationalistic crimes” unit in the West Bank district of Israel Police, to declaring groups of “price tag” assailants as “illegal associations,” a label usually reserved for Palestinian groups. Those declarations serve law enforcement in two main ways. Firstly, declaring a group an “illegal association” opens up criminal charges of belonging to such a group. More relevant to this case, however, is that once a suspect is accused of being a member in an illegal association, their civil rights can be severely curtailed — primarily by allowing police or the Shin Bet to deny them access to legal counsel during the investigation and interrogation process. Landsberg and Savir were both denied access to attorneys under due to the illegal association accusation, which never materialized into a criminal charge in and of itself …One of the aspects of the Israeli military legal system that we at +972 most often criticize is the denial of due process, denial of access to attorneys, unnecessarily long periods in prison while awaiting trial and the coercive use of plea bargains to achieve a near-100 percent conviction rate. One cannot possibly condemn those practices when they are used against Palestinians and accept their use against Israelis. Civil rights and due process must be blind to nationality, race and type of crime.
http://972mag.com/settlers-head-to-jail-for-price-tag-police-denied-access-to-lawyers/100360/

Israel police detain 8 anti-Arab extremists
JERUSALEM (AFP) 21 Dec — Israel police rounded up eight Jewish extremists from a racist anti-Arab organization overnight, a spokeswoman said early Sunday, in the second such swoop targeting the group within a week. The suspects were rounded up in a series of raids across central and southern Israel and the occupied West Bank, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said. All eight belong to Lehava, an extremist right-wing group that fights against relationships between Jews and non-Jews which could lead to intermarriage. The group has been linked to an arson attack on a Jewish-Arab school last month. “Eight suspects who belong to Lehava were arrested and detained for questioning on suspicion of offenses involving incitement to carry out acts of violence and terror for racist motives,” Samri said in a statement. The raids took place in Herzliya and Rishon LeZion near Tel Aviv, in the southern town of Netivot, in Jerusalem, and in the Beitar Ilit settlement in the West Bank.
In a separate development, five Jewish youths — four of them minors — were picked up in a park in Jerusalem overnight carrying two commando knives and a screwdriver as they were collecting stones to attack Arabs, police said…
Lehava activists follow the teachings of the late Meir Kahane, a virulently anti-Arab rabbi whose Kach party and another offshoot were banned in 1994 after one of its members gunned down 29 Muslims in a flashpoint mosque in the West Bank city of Hebron.
http://news.yahoo.com/israel-police-detain-8-anti-arab-extremists-091648277.htm

Israel issues administrative detention orders to 33 Palestinian detainees
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 21 Dec – Israeli authorities issued administrative detention orders to 33 Palestinians, Sunday reported the Palestinian Prisoner’s club (PPC). PPC said that detention orders were issued to 33 prisoners, of which 20 prisoners’ orders were renewed for the second and the third time … The United Nations Relief Web reported that, “In May 2014, B’Tselem cautioned that the number of Palestinians held by Israel in administrative detention was rising.”  “In June and July 2014, over the course of Operation Brother’s Keeper, the military issued some 250 new administrative detention orders; at the end of August 2014, Israel was holding some 473 detainees in administrative detention – the highest number since April 2009. Within one year, the number of detainees had more than tripled,” UN Relief Web said. B’Tselem, the Israeli information center for human rights stressed that, “International law stipulates that it may be exercised only in very exceptional cases – and then only as a last possible resort, when there are no other means available to prevent the danger.” … Administrative detention is a procedure that allows the Israeli military to hold prisoners indefinitely on secret information without charging them or allowing them to stand trial. Palestinian detainees have continuously resorted to open-ended hunger strikes as a way to protest their illegal administrative detention and to demand an end to this policy which violates international law.  Following are the names of the 33 detainees who received administrative detention orders:
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=27361

Palestinian prisoner hospitalized after falling into coma
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 21 Dec — A Palestinian prisoner in Israel’s Ofer prison was hospitalized on Sunday after falling into a coma. Issa Qaraqe‘, the head of the Palestinian department of prisoner affairs, said that Jafar Awad from Beit Ummar was taken to Assaf Harofeh Medical Center in serious condition. The circumstances of his decline in health were not immediately clear.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=748839

Youth conviction: Palestinian children describe solitary confinement in Israeli military prison
RAMALLAH (Defense for Children International Palestine) 20 Dec by Samer Badawi — “I won’t move until I say goodbye to my mother.” For speaking these words, Diyaa was knocked to the floor of his family home, kicked, and beaten by Israeli soldiers who, two weeks earlier, had done the same to his two friends. It was 3 am, and Diyaa’s parents could only watch as their 16-year-old son was dragged to an army jeep, blindfolded, and — like thousands of Palestinian children before him — forced into a military detention center in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. What happened next, according to affidavits given by Diyaa and his friends, fits a pattern of Israeli abuse designed to coerce confessions from Palestinian children. Among the most troubling of their experiences were prolonged periods of solitary confinement, a correctional tactic usually reserved for adult prisoners — and, even then, only after they are convicted. “Although it’s true that, in the United States, children and juvenile offenders are sometimes held in solitary confinement — either as a disciplinary measure or to separate them from adult populations — in Israeli military detention, Palestinian children are held in solitary confinement for interrogation purposes,” said Brad Parker, international advocacy officer and attorney for DCI-Palestine … “The interrogator said that my friend Thabet accused me in his statement of throwing stones with him at a settler car, that the car overturned and the passengers were injured. I told him that was not true, and that I was at the local supermarket when I heard about the incident.” Diyaa’s friend Thabet, it turns out, had just admitted to stoning a car carrying residents of an illegal settlement near his hometown of Nablus, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. But the 16-year-old’s “confession” came after four days of solitary confinement and abuse, culminating in a threat so terrifying that Thabet immediately agreed to whatever charges had been leveled against him. According to Thabet, an Israeli interrogator told him: “If you don’t confess, I’ll have both of your parents arrested, brought here to this room, and killed.”
http://www.dci-palestine.org/documents/youth-conviction-palestinian-children-describe-solitary-confinement-israeli-military

After 177 days in prison, Israeli conscientious objector gets draft exemption
Haaretz 22 Dec by Gili Cohen — After spending 177 days in prison, conscientious objector Uriel Ferera received an exemption from military service on Sunday. Ferera had been sent to military prison 10 times, and he got the exemption that had been waiting for him when he reported to the Tel Hashomer military base. Ferera, a native of Buenos Aires who moved to Israel with his family when he was six years old, lives in Be’er Sheva and is religiously observant. “If I enlist in the army, I will contribute to the occupation even if I do not serve in the territories,” he said in an interview with Haaretz. “Any office work in the army is collaboration, and I want no part in it. “Refusing to serve is the way I protest,” he added. “Anyone who wants to make peace should not perform military service. I am doing what I feel is the most effective thing to change the current situation – I am not enlisting in the army in order to show them that there are people who think differently and refuse to obey.”
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.633034

Restriction of movement

Palestinians working in Israel strike to protest checkpoint conditions
Haaretz 21 Dec by Chaim Levinson — An estimated 4,500 West Bank Palestinians stayed home Sunday, citing long waits and humiliating treatment at the Tul Karm crossing  — Thousands of Palestinians who normally cross into Israel daily at a checkpoint near Tul Karm in order to work remained in the West Bank on Sunday to protest the conditions at the crossing. About 5,500 Palestinians pass through the crossing, which is run by the Defense Ministry, twice a day — on their way to and from jobs in Israel — mainly in construction. For the past few months the border facility has been undergoing renovations, exposing people waiting to cross to the elements. Israeli officials say the situation is temporary, on account of the renovations, and that shelter will be provided in the future. The Palestinians also complain of longer waits at the Tul Karm crossing, of about four hours, than at other crossings between Israel and the West Bank. To cross into Israel by 6 A.M., they arrive at the checkpoint at 2 A.M. The Palestinians also complain of humiliating treatment by security staff at the facility. The Tul Karm governor, an official in the Palestinian Authority, has met in recent weeks, together with representatives of the workers, with officials from Israel’s Civil Administration to discuss the issue. The deputy director of the Civil Administration also paid an early-morning visit to the checkpoint to see the conditions for himself.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.633061

Israeli forces deny Jenin-area workers entry to Israel
JENIN (Ma‘an) 21 Dec — Israeli forces on Sunday morning denied Palestinian workers from the West Bank entry to Israel through two checkpoints near Jenin despite the fact that they had permits to work in Israel. Local sources told Ma‘an that the military checkpoints of al-Jalama north of Jenin and al-Tayba west of Qalqiliya were closed at 5:00 a.m. and workers were told to return to their homes.  The sources said Israeli troops later re-opened the checkpoint at 7:00 a.m., but by that time the workers who were told to leave were too delayed to make it to work. The closure caused confusion and delays for Palestinian workers who travel through the checkpoints, as many arrive around 3 or 4 a.m. in order to ensure passage across so as to make it to their workplaces inside Israel by 7 or 8 a.m. Inspection procedures at the checkpoint typically take hours as every person must pass through metal turnstiles one at a time. The turnstiles in turn are controlled by Israeli soldiers from hidden posts, and workers frequently complain about unnecessary delays caused by the soldiers staffing the checkpoints, who are typically 18- or 19-year-old conscripts finishing their compulsory military service. Following the revolving gates, there are metal detectors and inspection stations. According to the Palestinian census bureau, around 30,000 Palestinians have received permits to work in Israel and are thus forced to cross the checkpoints on a daily basis. According to the Israeli rights group B’Tselem, Israel denies permits to tens of thousands of other Palestinians who apply, and up to 30,000 Palestinians work in Israel without permits.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=748657

The ‘false information’ that got one man refused entry to Israel
Haaretz 21 Dec by Amira Hass — The story of a meticulous border inspector and the obedient coordinator of government activities in the territories — ‘Adrian’ is a Spanish citizen, an internist and specialist in infectious diseases who planned a short visit to Israel, but his request to enter the country was refused. At the Allenby Bridge border crossing Adrian explained to the border control inspector that he was coming for a month, so as to be with his partner and 2-year-old daughter. After that the three of them would return to Spain. Adrian arrived at the border control on November 1, and explained the reason for his visit and his destination: Jerusalem. The clerk at the Allenby Bridge crossing from Jordan called ‘Maya’ at the same time to verify his story, and it turned out that she was the same inspector who Maya met at the Allenby Bridge when she entered, two months earlier. Yes, said Maya, I am now in Jerusalem (East Jerusalem, by the way, as part of the Qalandiya International biennial art festival). And yes, I received an artist’s grant from the Palestinian Museum in Ramallah and I am staying there. And I am travelling between the two cities – a distance of 15, at most 20 kilometers. … [Later] she was told Adrian lied, and therefore he was refused entry. According to what the ministry clerk understood, Adrian told the border controller at the Allenby Bridge that Maya and their young daughter were in Jerusalem, while at the same time the inquiries from Allenby showed that in fact she was really staying in Ramallah. It turns out then that the inspector had a hard time understanding Maya’s answer: Both Ramallah and Jerusalem, how can it be?
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.632983

Israeli forces close major checkpoint on Bethlehem-Ramallah road
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 21 Dec — Israeli forces on Sunday evening closed the Container checkpoint east of Bethlehem from both sides, causing major traffic jams for thousands of Palestinian commuters in the central West Bank. A Ma‘an reporter said that the closure resulted in a major traffic jam in the adjacent area, leaving hundreds of cars stranded on both sides of the checkpoint. The Container checkpoint, located northeast of Bethlehem near the Wadi Nar canyon east of al-Sawahira al-Sharqiya village, is on the only major road open to Palestinians that connects the southern West Bank regions of Hebron and Bethlehem to the central and northern West Bank. Although there are numerous other roads available to Jewish settlers to move between the two regions, for Palestinians the road is a crucial north-south link, and checkpoint closures can cause delays of many hours for commuters.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=748846

Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Apartheid

Israel makes mosque a museum, while 10,000 have no place to pray
[with photos] BEERSHEBA (Ma‘an) 21 Dec — Authorities in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba have recently converted an historic mosque into an Islamic museum despite the fact that 10,000 local Muslims still have nowhere to pray, locals said. Locals told Ma‘an that an exhibit showcasing a collection of Muslim prayer rugs was recently opened in the building that was formerly the Great Mosque of Beersheba, which was once used regularly as a mosque before the 1948 expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians from what became Israel. The exhibit, which locals say has no Arab or Muslim member on the technical supervisory team, will continue until June 2015.  The move comes after decades of protest from the area’s 10,000-strong Muslim Palestinian community, composed primarily of local Bedouins whose ancestors survived the Israeli expulsions as well as Palestinian citizens of Israel who have moved to the city from other parts of the country. Representatives of the community have long petitioned Israeli authorities to allow them to open the mosque for daily prayers or at least once a week for Friday prayers. However, the demands have been repeatedly rejected, and in 2011 the Israeli Supreme Court rejected a request for it to open as well, allowing the building to be transformed into a museum focusing on Islam. The irony is not lost on local Palestinian Muslims, who have long complained that Israeli authorities neglect Palestinian heritage and frequently appropriate Palestinian symbols and architecture. The Great Mosque of Beersheba was built in 1906 during the Ottoman era through donations collected from the Bedouin residents of the Negev.  It remained an active mosque until the Israelis occupied the city in 1948 and turned it into a detention center and headquarters for a magistrate court, following the expulsion of Beersheba’s approximately 6,000 Palestinian residents, mostly to Gaza.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=748785

Israeli settlers invade Bethlehem area, looking for site to establish new colony
IMEMC 21 Dec by Celine Hagbard — As Palestinian Christians in Bethlehem prepare for the annual Christmas celebration — the biggest day of the year in the city where Christians believe that Jesus was born — a group of Israeli settlers invaded the area on Sunday in preparation for the establishment of another illegal colony on stolen Palestinian land. The area in question is the neighborhood of Beit Bassa, located in the eastern part of Beit Sahour, the town next to Bethlehem which is known to Christians as the place where the shepherds saw the angel directing them to the birthplace of Jesus. The settlers arrived with an Israeli military escort, and walked around near Palestinian homes, farmland and shops, causing no damage but taking numerous pictures, apparently for surveying purposes to plan for the construction of a new illegal settlement colony. Already in Beit Sahour, an abandoned Israeli military base called Ush Ghraib has been re-inhabited by Israeli soldiers and settlers who hope to establish a permanent militarized settlement colony on the site — despite the illegality of such a measure. Another local site, the mountain known as Abu Ghneim, was illegally seized by Israeli forces in the 1990s and has been turned into the large settlement colony of Har Homa … The establishment of new Israeli colonies is usually preceded by the type of ‘site visit’ that was endured by the residents of Beit Bassa on Sunday. The Israeli settler colonizers then move in under cover of night with RVs and truck containers, which they place on a site and begin to reside there. Palestinians who attempt to get their land back through legal means are rebuffed by the Israeli court system which provides them no legal protection.
http://www.imemc.org/article/70076

Palestinian family in Lydd faces home demolition
[with map] +972 blog 21 Dec by Rami Younis — The Naqib family has been living on their land since before 1948. That, however, didn’t stop the municipality from serving them with an arbitrary demolition order — After a relative period of calm in which the local authorities have refrained from demolishing homes of Palestinian citizens of Israel, the Lydd (“Lod” in Hebrew, “Lydda” in English) Municipality has returned to threatening residents with demolition. The war in Gaza has ended, and now the authorities have returned to their day-to-day war against Arab citizens. The home belongs to the Naqib family and was built on land that they own, according to the state land registry. The demolition order, which stated that the house was built illegally, was served back in November. The city announced it would carry out the demolition on Sunday, when police arrived on the scene. Attorney Qais Nasser submitted an urgent appeal to a district court on behalf of the family, along with a request to delay the demolition. The court rejected the request, but delayed the demolition until today (Sunday) at 1 p.m., in order to give the family time to submit an appeal to the Supreme Court. UPDATE (2:45 p.m.): The Supreme Court has delayed the demolition until Thursday. The Naqib family lives on land near the Ganei Aviv neighborhood, which was expropriated from Palestinian families in a procedure whose legality has been in doubt ever since. The family has lived on the land since before 1948, and the local urban building plan gave a green light for building the new neighborhood years ago. The city, however, has yet to approve a master plan, and even destroyed a house in the 1990s.
http://972mag.com/palestinian-family-in-lod-faces-home-demolition/100336/

Twilight Zone: Jews vs. Palestinians, landowners vs. trespassers
Haaretz 20 Dec by Gideon Levy & Alex Levac — The numbers speak for themselves: four demolitions, six razed houses, one husband, two wives, 17 children, 17 grandchildren. The story behind the numbers: Ali Moussa, a farmer who lives in the West Bank, has clung stubbornly to his land for more than 30 years. Repeatedly, forces of the Civil Administration, Israel’s governing body in the occupied territories, have demolished the houses Moussa has built. Repeatedly, he has rebuilt them. His applications for a construction permit have been ignored, but this is his home, this is his family’s land. The compound of Moussa’s ramshackle dwellings lies on a hill overlooking the valley through which Highway 60, linking Jerusalem and Bethlehem and Hebron, passes. On the hill across the valley rise the homes that are part of one of the unchecked expansions of the settlement of Efrat. They are a lot less legal than Moussa’s houses – the land does not legally belong to the settlers – but they, of course, are not under threat of demolition at the hands of the Civil Administration. Those dwellings are inhabited by Jews. If you want to see apartheid in action, here’s the place. There’s no need to elaborate. Here are Jews opposite Palestinians, landowners opposite trespassers. Apartheid in a nutshell. A short drive from Jerusalem reveals a scene of squalor that seems to have come out of a different time and place. The repeated demolitions force Moussa to rebuild his hovels with the cheapest materials he can find so that he can house his extended family – until it’s all tumbled down again by the Israel Defense Forces. It makes for a pitiful sight: eight children huddling in one room whose tin roof is leaking and where bone-chilling cold prevails even on a sunny, late-fall day. Mildewed walls through which rain drips in, bare rooms without closets, without beds, only a stack of mattresses, and sacks to hold the clothes. Kittens and children prowl about aimlessly outside; the women’s clothes are tattered. Five shacks plus a heap of ruins from the last house that was demolished, and pervasive neglect. Welcome to the compound of the Moussa family on the edge of the village of Al-Khader, outside Bethlehem…
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/twilight-zone/.premium-1.632547

Al-Aqsa raids continue, tension prevails in occupied Jerusalem
IMEMC/Agencies 22 Dec — Dozens of Israeli settlers again stormed Al Aqsa Mosque on Sunday morning, guarded by Israeli special forces. According to Al Ray Palestinian Media Agency, tensions began to escalate when a group of settlers held a “sit-in”, in an area dedicated to student gatherings. Palestinian students protested the actions with sacred chants, in addition slogans condemning settler violations. Al Aqsa guards again tried to prevent Israeli police form abducting Palestinians present. Extremist Jewish organizations gathered on Saturday night, for private Hanukkah celebrations, starting a fire a few meters away from the mosque, near Buraq Wall, with the participation of a number of senior Israeli leaders and rabbis.
http://www.imemc.org/article/70080

Gaza

200 Gazans enter Egypt as Rafah reopens for 2 days
RAFAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) 21 Dec — Around 200 Palestinians left Gaza and entered the Egyptian Sinai through the Rafah crossing on Sunday after Cairo authorized a temporary reopening of the border, a Palestinian official said. It was only the second time in two months that Egypt had opened the Rafah terminal. All of those crossing were either seeking medical treatment or were holders of a permit to stay overseas, according to Maher Abu Sabha, director of border crossings in the Gaza Strip. The southern Rafah crossing is Gaza’s only gateway to the world that is not controlled by Israel. An AFP correspondent at the scene said hundreds of people had gathered in front of the terminal. “At around midday (1000 GMT), three buses carrying around 200 people left Gaza through the Rafah terminal and entered Egypt,” Abu Sabha said. On Monday, Palestinians studying abroad would be permitted to enter Egypt, he said. On Saturday, an Egyptian official confirmed to AFP that the crossing would be open on Sunday and Monday.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2014/Dec-21/281796-egypt-allows-in-travelers-from-gaza-for-first-time-since-october.ashx

Israeli navy fires on Gaza fishing boats
IMEMC/Agencies 20 Dec — The Israeli navy, on Saturday, again opened fire at Palestinian fishermen boats, this time along the As-Sudaneyya shore, northwest of the Gaza Strip. Hamas has denied responsibility for an alleged rocket attack coming from Gaza, denouncing the recently renewed Israeli airstrikes as foolish. Local sources reported, according to the PNN, that the shots targeted small fishing boats sailing in the area. No casualties were reported. Attacks on Palestinian fishermen have been continuous since the August 26 ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, though, according to the agreement, Gaza’s allotted fishing zone was supposed to expand, incrementally.
http://www.imemc.org/article/70070

Army opens fire on Gaza farmers, fishers
IMEMC/Agencies 21 Dec — The Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA) said soldiers, stationed on military towers across the border, east of ‘Abasan town, east of the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, opened fire on several farmers trying to enter their own lands, close to the border fence.  Fearing for their lives, the farmers had to leave their lands and return home; no injuries were reported.
In addition, Israeli Navy ships opened fire on Palestinian fishing boats close to the shore in the Gaza Sea, forcing them back to shore.
http://www.imemc.org/article/70075

Hamas accuses Israel of breaking truce
Middle East Monitor 20 Dec — Palestinian faction Hamas on Saturday said that Israel’s “daily violations” in the Gaza Strip are violations of a cease-fire agreement with resistance factions. “Israeli airstrikes this morning and the continuous targeting of fishermen and farmers infringe the cease-fire agreement,” Hamas leader Salah Bardawil said in a statement. “The daily violations [by Israel] and the delay in the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip are clear violations of the truce,” Bardawil said. He also warned that recent Israeli escalation could be part of the electoral campaign of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of the March election to make up for his “defeat” in Gaza.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/15908-hamas-accuses-israel-of-breaching-truce

94 Israeli ceasefire violations since August
Humanity for Palestine/IMEMC 21 Dec — Humanity for Palestine has reported that, since the ceasefire agreement of August, 2014, Israel has committed 94 ceasefire violations. The latest was Saturday’s airstrike in Khan Younis, along with an attack on Gaza fishermen. On August 26th, Israel and the Palestinian Authority, acting on behalf of the Palestinian people – including those living in Gaza – agreed to a ceasefire to end the massive Israeli assault and the indigenous resistance.  The ceasefire was based on the following terms:
– A multilateral ceasefire. (No more attacks by either side.)
– The opening of Israeli crossings into and out of Gaza, allowing the flow of human traffic, humanitarian imports and commercial trade.
– Extension of fishing limit off Gaza’s coast from three to six miles, with discussions in one month about extending it further.
– Reduction of the “security zone” inside Gaza from 300m to 100m.
– Resumption of Egyptian-brokered talks by Sept. 26 to discuss release of prisoners, seaport/airport and other remaining issues.
However, in the approximately three months since then, Israel has violated the truce repeatedly – including 33 times in which Israeli soldiers opened fire on Palestinians, injuring 16 and killing one. Since the ceasefire was called, no more than a week has passed without Israeli fire at Palestinian protesters, farmers or fishermen. Yet only one rocket has been fired from Gaza, for which Hamas claimed no responsibility. Likewise, as the Israeli newspaper Haaretz itself has reported: “barely any progress has been made in rebuilding the shattered territory, despite donors pledging $5 billion…The cement and gravel are being regulated as if they were nuclear weapons.”  Meanwhile, no resumption of negotiations toward a longer-term, more permanent truce and a just, peaceful co-existence has occurred.
[Following is a detailed list of the Israeli violations:]
http://www.imemc.org/article/70072

Why Gazans risk sneaking into Israel
Haaretz 22 Dec by Amira Hass — Seeking way out of a decimated Gaza, residents increasingly turn to smugglers — An incident involving a ship carrying Gazans that sank on its way to Italy taught amazed residents of the Gaza Strip about an entire industry essentially created during last summer’s war with Israel. A large but unknown number of Palestinians who left the Gaza Strip either through tunnels under the Gazan border with Egypt that had not been destroyed, or through the official border crossing at Rafah, paid large sums to smugglers on the promise that they would be able to make the trip from Africa to Europe. The risks involved and the Gazans’ readiness to take them were matched by the pressing reasons they had to leave. Thus, there is no reason to be surprised about the prospect of some 170 young Palestinians who have tried to make the trip in another direction – into Israel itself from Gaza – since the beginning of the year, and certainly no wonder that the numbers have increased since the war. The unemployment rate in Gaza is between 45 percent and 50 percent, and it’s 63 percent among those between the ages of 15 and 29. In a society where most of the population is young, it is easy to understand what has been pushing them to risk bodily harm, their freedom or their lives. The fact that more jobless young people without hope of finding work in the near future in Gaza have not tried to sneak into Israel is simply testimony to the ultimate effectiveness of Israel’s border fence … A researcher in the Strip told Haaretz that he is aware of about 50 young people who have tried to enter Israel since the war, including 11 from the Rafah area and 20 from the central Gaza Strip. Several of them have been injured in the course of their attempt to get into Israel, while others have been arrested.  Undoubtedly the vast majority hoped to find employment in Israel. Since the Israeli withdrawal from the Gazan interior in 2005, Israel has not allowed Gazans to work in Israel or in the West Bank. It appears, however, that in the collective memory of Gazan residents, employment in Israel has remained a logical and natural option … Arrest is a lot more honorable than humiliating dependence on assistance from aid organizations or from relatives, or the wait for sacks of food at an UNRWA relief center. Arrest and a trial in Israel may also lead to the detainee and his family qualifying for compensation from the Palestinian Authority, at least for the period in which the detainee is in confinement.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.633073

Hamas: Gaza woman spied for Israel
Jerusalem Post 21 Dec by Khaled Abu Toameh — Hamas has arrested a Palestinian woman in the Gaza Strip on charges of spying for Israel, sources close to the movement said on Saturday. They told the Hamas-affiliated Majd website that the woman’s mission was to “reach senior leaders of Hamas.” The sources claimed that the woman, whose identity was not revealed, managed to gather “dangerous information” about some of Hamas’s top leaders through their relatives. According to the sources, the 40-year-old woman followed the wives, sons, and daughters of the top Hamas leaders in order to find out where they were hiding during Operation Protective Edge. The woman also monitored the houses of the Hamas leaders and their relatives during the war, the sources said, adding that she passed on the information to her handlers in the Israeli security authorities.
http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Hamas-Gaza-woman-spied-for-Israel-385274

Other news and opinion articles

51 Palestinian migrants detained in Egypt released
EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma‘an) 21 Dec — Egyptian authorities on Saturday released 51 Palestinians who had been detained in the North Sinai city of El-Arish after they attempted to travel to Europe by taking boats from the Egyptian coast. Chief of the Palestinian community in the North Sinai region Kamal al-Khatib told Ma‘an that the group had managed to “finish the needed procedures to release the prisoners held in the central prison.” Al-Khatib said that fines were paid on behalf of the 24 prisoners, all of whom had tried to embarking on marine vessels and travel through Egyptian territorial waters to unspecified points in southern Europe. Al-Khatib said the group was awaiting deportation orders so they could travel to the Rafah crossing into Gaza. 19 other Palestinians detained for the same charge were released from a police station in El-Arish and nine more from a police station in Beer al-Abed village near El-Arish, he said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=748635

EU insists on Hamas terror status after blacklist removal
BRUSSELS (AFP) 17 Dec — The European Union scrambled to set the record straight on Hamas Wednesday after an EU court ordered the removal of the Palestinian Islamist group from its terror blacklist, infuriating Israel. The ruling threatened recent Brussels attempts to play a bigger role in reviving the moribund Middle East peace process, with Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu saying it showed Europeans had learned nothing from the Holocaust. A vote by the European Parliament backing the recognition in principle of a Palestinian state just hours after the Hamas decision, following a series of such votes in European nations, added fuel to the fire. The EU insisted that it still viewed Hamas as a terrorist group, saying that the ruling by the General Court of the European Union was based on a technicality and that it might appeal the decision. “This is a legal ruling, not a political decision,” European Commission spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said. She said the EU would “take appropriate remedial action” and pointed out that under the ruling the designation of Hamas as a terror group and the freeze of its funds remains in place for three months or pending the outcome of an appeal. She added: “The EU continues to consider Hamas a terrorist organisation.” Britain also said it wanted to maintain the terror listing.
http://news.yahoo.com/eu-insists-hamas-terror-status-blacklist-removal-194055351.html

Egypt will back Palestinian resolution at UN
AFP 20 Dec — Cairo to support draft on Israeli withdrawal from West Bank at Security Council, Egyptian foreign minister tells Saeb Erekat — Egypt said on Saturday it supports a draft resolution submitted by the Palestinians to the UN Security Council setting out terms for a final peace deal with Israel. The Palestinians on Wednesday presented the resolution setting a 12-month deadline for wrapping up negotiations on a final settlement and the end of 2017 for completion of an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian territories. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat and Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri held talks in Cairo on the resolution during which Shoukri offered Egypt’s support for the move, a foreign ministry statement said.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4605838,00.html

FM: PA making amendments to UN statehood bid
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 21 Dec — The Palestinian Authority will make amendments to the draft resolution submitted to the UN Security Council last week setting terms and deadlines for a Palestinian-Israeli peace deal, the Palestinian foreign minister said Sunday. In an interview with the West Bank-based al-Ayyam newspaper published Sunday, Riyad al-Maliki said that Jordan would operate in its capacity as a member state of the UN Security Council to help the Palestinians submit suggested amendments and receive updates about the ongoing discussion over the draft resolution.  “The draft resolution is open to amendments to be submitted by any member state. We will try now to strengthen the draft resolution by adding some texts which are clear language-wise and do not have any ambiguities,” he said in the interview. The statements follow the submission of a resolution to the UN calling for a 2017 pullout of Israeli military forces from the West Bank, in the latest Palestinian attempt to bring an end to the 47-year old occupation … Palestinian critics, meanwhile, have expressed skepticism toward the resolution, and some see it as another attempt by the Palestinian Authority leadership under Mahmoud Abbas to further their legitimacy through largely symbolic resolutions and legal maneuvers. But the foreign minister said in the interview on Sunday that the resolution would work to address the most outstanding issues facing Palestinians in the West Bank.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=748687

US Congress passes bill increasing weapons in Israel by $200 million
Middle East Monitor 20 Dec by Ken Klippenstein & Paul Gottinger — The US Senate has unanimously passed a bill supplying Israel with military equipment that would enable it to execute an air strike on Iran. The bill, titled the US-Israel Strategic Partnership Act, includes the sale of advanced aerial refueling tankers, which refuel fighter jets in midflight – necessary for Israeli fighter jets to reach targets in Iran. This is particularly noteworthy since the Bush administration had refused to provide Israel with refueling tankers. The sale of the refueling tankers follows a 2013 arms sale to Israel that included V-22 Ospreys. Kenneth Pollack of the Brookings Institution stated shortly after the sale that Ospreys are “the ideal platform for sending Israeli special forces into Iran.” The bill, which was also passed in the House earlier this year, expands the US weapons stockpile in Israel by a value of $200 million, to a total of $1.8 billion.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/middle-east/15913-us-congress-passes-bill-increasing-weapons-in-israel-by-200-million

PFLP celebrates 47th anniversary of establishment in Balata
NABLUS (Ma‘an) 20 Dec — Members of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine celebrated the 47th anniversary of the group’s establishment on Friday with a march and rally in Balata refugee camp near Nablus. PFLP leader and former prisoner Maher Harb called for national unity to fight back again Israel and to work on rebuilding the Palestine Liberation Organization through national council elections that include all Palestinian factions. Harb saluted all prisoners being held in Israeli jails and called for popular campaigns to support them. Although the PFLP cancelled celebrations this year for its 47th anniversary out of respect for Gazans still under Israeli siege, small rallies have been held in cities across the country in recent weeks. The PFLP is a leftist political and military organization that rejects negotiations with the State of Israel. Founded in 1967 by Palestinian intellectual George Habash, the group became well known for its aircraft hijackings in the 1960s and ’70s.  Its military wing, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, has played an active role in armed conflicts with Israeli forces, most recently in Israel’s 50-day offensive on Gaza this summer.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=748532

CIA report reveals failure of Israel’s targeted killing policy
Middle East Monitor 20 Dec — A secret CIA review published recently by WikiLeaks reveals that Israel has been among the least successful countries regarding the targeted killing of opponents, Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported on Thursday. The review shows that the killings carried out by the US and its ally Israel have been the least successful among a list of eight countries; the American and Israeli authorities usually laud such assassinations. “What is notable in terms of the CIA’s own assessment of these case studies is the admission by the authors that the least successful HVT [High-Value Targeting or capture and killing of important enemy military targets] operations involve countries that the US and its close ally Israel have occupied or are currently at war with,” said Al-Akhbar. “Israel, in particular, scored the lowest, with its HVT programme labelled as ‘limited’ in its contribution towards a ‘counter-insurgency success’.” The review, Al-Akhbar continued, does not go into the details of the programme’s failures.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/americas/15917-cia-report-reveals-failure-of-israels-targeted-killing-policy

In Depth: In the fight against apartheid, Christian Palestinians defy Israel’s propaganda / Ben White
Middle East Monitor 20 Dec — In 2012, then-Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren penned an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal in which he claimed that “Christians in [Gaza and the West Bank] suffer the same plight as their co-religionists throughout the region.” While the diplomat was looking to capitalise on more recent developments in the Middle East – like Netanyahu did at the UN, with his “Hamas is ISIS” mantra – Oren’s claim that Christian Palestinians are being driven out by Muslims is a familiar one. Israel and its supporters have tried to use Christian Palestinians for propaganda point-scoring for some time. For example, back in 1997, and during Netanyahu’s first stint as prime minister, Israeli media cited government sources for reports about the alleged “brutal and relentless persecution” facing Christians in Palestinian Authority-controlled areas.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/debate/15914-in-the-fight-against-apartheid-christian-palestinians-defy-israels-propaganda

Janet Jackson, in West Bank as UNICEF envoy, tweets: Peace… Beautiful Palestinian students
Haaretz 21 Dec — Singer and entertainer Janet Jackson has spent the past few days in the West Bank as an ambassador for the United Nations children’s charity UNICEF. On Saturday, she tweeted a picture of herself with a group of girls from Yatta High School, south of Hebron. “Peace. Yatta High School, West Bank with @UN She also posted a picture of young Palestinian shepherds from a herding family in Bi’r al ‘Id, in the South Hebron Hills. Accompanied by her billionaire Qatari husband, Wissam al-Mana, Jackson crossed from Jordan into the West Bank on Wednesday. Her visit was described as private and was not announced beforehand. She did not stop in Israel during the visit. Before entering the West Bank, Jackson visited the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, home to thousands of refugees from war-torn Syria, where she and al Mana, were photographed doling out hugs to excited kids
http://www.haaretz.com/life/music-theater/1.632953

How long must Palestinians pay for the Holocaust? / Samah Salaime Egbariya
+972 blog 20 Dec — A man leading an occupying state, a racist state in which mixed marriages are protested, doesn’t get to teach lessons to others. Mr. Netanyahu, stop exploiting the Holocaust at every political opportunity; pick up a book and learn that we weren’t there in those darkest days of European and Jewish history — On the eve of a historical day for the Palestinian people, when the international community has finally figured out that there is no point in waiting for Israelis to recognize their neighbors’ right to independence, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu chose to preach to the Europeans  – to teach them a lesson he himself has yet to learn. And he is right. There really are people who have not learned a thing; not in Europe, but right here in Israel. The time has come to put everything on the table and talk about the Palestinians and the Holocaust. For years we have been keeping our heads down and avoided facing the issue. We were careful never to shout “Nazis” in protests against the occupation, against house demolitions, and on Land Day, when we speak up and resist the oppression and racism against Arabs in Israel. We are forbidden from even approaching that sensitive Jewish wound, the ultimate political trump card. We the Arabs were and still are vulnerable, weak, defeated, and yes – scared we would be blamed for taking part in or even for identifying with the horrors that took place in Europe. But khalas. Enough. No more. I am no longer willing to carry the burden of the Great Sin on my shoulders. It is no longer possible to punish us in every way possible for nearly 70 years and then hide behind the black curtain of European Jewish history.
http://972mag.com/how-long-must-palestinians-pay-for-the-holocaust-op-ed/100309/

UN asks Israel to pay Lebanon $856 million for oil spill
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) 20 Dec — Israel was asked by the UN General Assembly on Friday to compensate Lebanon for $856.4 million in oil spill damages it caused during its 2006 war with Hezbollah. The non-binding vote, which passed 170-6, asks Israel to offer “prompt and adequate compensation” to Lebanon and other countries affected by the oil spill’s pollution. In a statement, Israel condemned the resolution as biased against the nation, Israeli media reported. The oil spill was caused by Israel’s air force when it bombed oil tanks near a coastal Lebanese power plant during the fierce month-long war with Hezbollah fighters. The attack flooded the Mediterranean coastline with 15,000 tons of oil, according to the United Nations … Lebanon bore the brunt of the spill, but the Syrian coast and other Mediterranean countries have suffered as well, the UN said. The oil slick made by the spill “has had serious implications for livelihoods and the economy of Lebanon,” the resolution said. The UN asked Lebanon to continue clean-up efforts and the international community to increase funding for its environmental restoration. The US, Australia, Canada and Israel were among the six states that voted against the UN text.
http://news.yahoo.com/un-asks-israel-pay-lebanon-856-million-oil-102931731.html;_ylt=A0LEVjb1vZdUc4sAXc4PxQt.

Documentary: Ireland & Palestine
IMEMC/Agencies via the Hebron Defense Committee 22 Dec — A recently made documentary entitled “Ireland & Palestine” looks at the similarities, solidarity and campaign work of the Irish people for Palestine. [Don’t be turned off by the beginning, showing leafleters on the streets of Belfast – there’s much more to the documentary than that.]
http://www.imemc.org/article/70083

Iran unveils a memorial honoring Jewish heroes
Washington Post 18 Dec by Ishaan Tharoor — Earlier this week, authorities in Tehran unveiled a monument to slain Iranian Jewish soldiers who died during the country’s long and bitter war with Iraq between 1980 and 1988. Death tolls for the hideous conflict differ, but casualty counts usually reach more than 1 million for both countries. A public ceremony marked the memorial’s opening on Monday, with speeches that took place at a dais flanked by the Iranian flag and a menorah. Banners showed the images of fallen soldiers, hailed as “martyrs” in Farsi and Hebrew inscriptions. The commemoration may surprise those who think of the Islamic Republic’s routine, angry rhetoric directed toward Israel, a “Zionist regime” the mullahs in Tehran refuse to recognize. But after Israel, Iran has the Middle East’s second-largest community of Jews — with its current population estimated between 20,000 and 30,000. (Many more live in other countries such as the United States and Israel, where a former president, Moshe Katsav, was born in Iran.) The Iranian government points to the continued population of Iranian Jews in the country as a sign of Iran’s diverse traditions and the government’s own respect for the country’s rich history. The Old Testament Book of Esther is based in ancient Persia and is the foundation for the Jewish festival of Purim.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/12/18/iran-unveils-a-memorial-honoring-jewish-heroes/

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