Media Analysis

UN: 47% of Gaza households were food insecure in 2014

47% of Gaza households were food insecure in 2014, says UNRWA emergency report
GAZA (WAFA) 22 Dec – Forty-seven percent of Palestinian households in the Gaza Strip were food insecure in 2014, revealed the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in an emergency report . . . The data released in the report shows that food insecurity is higher for non-refugees (49 per cent) than for refugees (45 per cent), although both worsened compared to 2013. This reflects a generalized food access decline in Gaza as a result of increased unemployment, high food prices and extreme volatility of the economy. UNRWA also stated that the negative impact on food access is particularly severe on urban households . . . The UNRWA added that high levels of food insecurity in Gaza are the direct consequence of the Israeli blockade on Gaza, now in its ninth year.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=30231

Activism  / Successful resistance

Palestinian police order Israeli forces out of Ramallah (with video)
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 21 Dec — Palestinian police on Monday ordered Israeli Border Police forces out of the Beituniya area of western Ramallah and threatened to use their weapons if they refused, local security sources told Ma‘’an. Security sources said that Israeli forces had been chasing Palestinian schoolchildren in the area, when a number of Palestinian police officers led by Lieutenant Akef al-Shalan arrived. Shalan ordered the Israeli forces to leave the area and threatened to use weapons if they refused. Large parts of Beituniya, on the western outskirts of Ramallah, are classified Area A, where the Palestinian Authority is supposed to have full civil and military authority as part of the Oslo Accords, although Israel regularly flouts this. Video footage was later released appearing to show the Palestinian officers leading the Israeli forces away, while locals shouted their approval. An Israeli army spokesperson had no immediate comment on the incident. [See video: Police deal with the occupation forces in Ramallah]
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=769454

Palestinian human shields to prevent house demolition in Tubas
TUBAS (PIC) 21 Dec — Palestinian residents served as human shields on Sunday night to prevent a house demolition in Tamun town, south of the West Bank city of Tubas. The PIC reporter quoted local sources as affirming that dozens of youths gathered outside the house of the injured prisoner Mahmoud Bsharat in an attempt to prevent Israeli occupation forces from approaching it.
Israeli forces had earlier informed Bsharat’s family of their intention to demolish their house as part of Israel’s collective punishment policy. The local youths closed the entrance to the towns with burning tires and stone barricades amid a state of tension across the town, the sources added. Bsharat was arrested Saturday by Israeli forces after being shot and injured for allegedly carrying out a stabbing attack, north of Tel Aviv.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=75706

Palestinians counter Israel’s wrecking balls with fundraisers
Al-Monitor 22 Dec by Rasha Abou Jalal — As part of a campaign to counter the Israeli government policy of destroying the homes of those who carry out terror attacks, Palestinians are contributing to fundraisers to rebuild houses destroyed since the Oct. 1 outbreak of the unrest in Jerusalem. Hassan Khreisheh, second deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, believes the fundraising demonstrates the popular social solidarity among citizens. The people felt they had to step up because the PA and other factions have failed to provide financial and political support for the ongoing uprising and have been unable to protect those affected by the Israeli practices, he said . . . Palestinian activists began raising funds in defiance of the demolition policy after Israeli forces blew up the house of Ibrahim Akkari in the Shuafat refugee camp Dec. 2 in Jerusalem. Ahmed Abu Hamdan, an activist leading the campaign to rebuild Akkari’s home, told Al-Monitor the destruction displaced Akkari’s family of six . . . After the success of the Akkari fundraising campaign, activists in Nablus created a similar effort Dec. 6 to replace four houses the Israeli military demolished there Nov. 13. Those houses belonged to the families of the perpetrators of the Oct. 1 shooting near the Itamar settlement east of the city, an incident that resulted in the death of two Israelis. Activist Myassar Atyani revealed the Nablus campaign collected the equivalent of about 1 million shekels (about $260,000) by Dec. 15. “This amount includes financial and in-kind donations, including construction materials, electronics and household furnishings. We are now in the process of finding and furnishing permanent alternative homes for these families, since we cannot rebuild their former homes as the occupation confiscated them before demolishing them,” Atyani told Al-Monitor.“Not only the rich donated; donations were made by all types of Palestinian people and even children, as well as poor sanitation workers. Everyone donated in order to replace these homes,” she added.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/12/palestinian-campaign-rebuild-houses-destroyed-israel.html

Israeli soldiers attempt to raid Bethlehem-area school
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 22 Dec — Israeli forces on Tuesday attempted to raid the Tuqu‘ secondary school in the Bethlehem district of the occupied West Bank, administrators said. Administrators of the school told Ma‘an that Israeli soldiers ordered teachers to evacuate the school building and tried to enter, but were prevented by faculty. Clashes then erupted between students and forces, who fired stun grenades and tear gas at the students before preventing them from leaving the area.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=769464

Violence / Detentions — West Bank, Jerusalem

Medics: 14-year-old Palestinian shot, wounded by Israeli fire
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 21 Dec  — Israeli forces shot and wounded a 14-year-old Palestinian boy with live fire during clashes in the outskirts of Silwad in eastern Ramallah on Monday afternoon, medics told Ma‘an. Ambulance crews said that Ahmad Jamal Qantawi, 14, was shot and wounded in his stomach, leg, and hand, and had suffered severe loss of blood. The boy was reportedly evacuated by an ambulance from Israel’s emergency services, Magen David Adom. The clashes broke out between Palestinian schoolchildren and Israeli forces at the western entrance to Silwad.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=769453

Israeli soldiers assault two Palestinians near Ramallah
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 22 Dec — Israeli soldiers on Tuesday assaulted two young Palestinian men, critically injuring one of them, in the town of Silwad northwest of Ramallah, locals said. The Palestinians were reportedly stopped at a checkpoint set up by Israeli soldiers at Silwad’s western entrance. The soldiers then handcuffed and physically assaulted the two for more than half an hour. Both Palestinians were taken to hospital for treatment afterward, and one of them, identified as Muhammad Nitham Hamed, was reported to have been in critical condition.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=769468

Palestinian family found unconscious after tear gas attack
MEMO 22 Dec — IMAGES — A Palestinian family were reportedly left unconscious when suspected Israeli settlers attacked their home with tear gas overnight Monday. Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld confirmed graffiti and a gas canister were found at the home in a village [Beitillu] near Ramallah. Rosenfeld said they were investigating the case as a “criminal incident with nationalistic motives.” Palestinian news agency Ma’an quoted eyewitnesses as saying that neighbors had to break open the door of the home to save the family, who were found unconscious after being targeted by three gas canisters. The graffiti reportedly read “Revenge” and “Greetings, from prisoners of Zion”, leading Israeli media to link the incident to a recent controversy surrounding the detention of Israeli settlers suspected of an arson attack that killed three members of the Palestinian Dawabsheh family, including an 18-month-old baby, earlier this year. The suspects’ lawyer has claimed in recent days that they have been tortured by Israeli intelligence agency Shin Bet in order to extract a confession.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/22986-palestinian-family-found-unconscious-inside-home-after-tear-gas-attack

Two Palestinian-Americans killed in December — no US government response
IMEMC 22 Dec by Celine Hagbard — The U.S. government has yet to respond to the killing of two of its citizens by the Israeli military over the past three weeks – the latest being Mohammad Abdul-Rahman Ayyad, 21, shot while driving his car near Silwad on Friday December 18th. On December 4th, Abdul-Rahman Wajeeh Barghouthi, 27, was shot and killed in ‘Aboud village, west of Ramallah. Barghouthi was visiting his fiancée in the [Deir Ghassana] village and was walking back to his parents’ home when Israeli soldiers [shot and killed him.] [According to a relative, Barghouthi may not have been a US citizen, though his sister is and his parents have US legal residence.]
It should be noted that in June 2014, a gang of Israelis kidnapped and burned to death a 16-year old Palestinian boy, Mohammad Abu Khdeir, after forcing him to drink gasoline. In the aftermath of that attack, a cousin of the 16-year old victim was badly beaten by Israeli troops during a protest in a Jerusalem neighborhood. The cousin, 15-year old Tariq Abu Khdeir, is a U.S. citizen from Florida who had been visiting his family when he was caught up by Israeli forces, beaten and imprisoned. At that time, after a pressure campaign from Abu Khdeir’s family and friends in the U.S., the State Department did call for an investigation.
And in October of 2014, another Palestinian-American teenager, Orwa Hammad, 14, was killed by Israeli forces during a protest in the West Bank.
A U.S. citizen who had been living illegally as a paramilitary settler, Ezra Schwartz, 18, was also killed in the latest round of violence – after allegedly being shot by a Palestinian in the militarized Israeli settlement ‘Gush Etzion’, built on Palestinian-owned land south of Bethlehem [See Haaretz article: Why did President Obama ignore the murder of a US teenager in a terror attack?]
http://www.imemc.org/article/74313

Palestinian detained for carrying knife near Ibrahimi Mosque
HEBRON (Ma‘an) 22 Dec — Israeli forces on Tuesday detained a Palestinian near the al-Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron’s Old City for carrying a knife, locals said. Munther Abu al-Faylat, head of the mosque, told Ma‘an that “a Palestinian in her 20’s was on her way to the mosque with a knife in her hand” when Israeli soldiers rushed the young woman and detained her. A local activist, Raed abu Rmeila, said that he was prevented by Israeli forces from documenting her detention, and told Ma‘an he saw the woman “tied up with chains with blood on her face.” The woman has not yet been identified, and an Israeli police spokesperson did not immediately respond for comment.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=769461

West Bank village punished for exposing Israel’s brutality
EI 21 Dec by Nancy Murray — The small West Bank village of Nabi Saleh is paying a steep price for a video of Israeli brutality. Widely circulated in recent months, the video shows the mother and sister of 12-year-old Muhammad Tamimi wresting him away from a masked and armed Israeli soldier. The boy was throttled and jammed into boulders on 28 August, despite having a cast on his arm. Israeli politicians not only defended the Israeli soldier’s actions; some argued that he should have behaved in an even more cruel manner. Miri Regev, Israel’s culture minister, said that the soldier should have shot the boy’s unarmed rescuers. Since the incident, the Israeli army has detained scores of young men from the village and subjected them to lengthy periods of interrogation, during which abusive treatment occurred. Seventeen are currently imprisoned, including Waed Tamimi, Muhammad’s 19-year-old brother. Waed was arrested, along with his 20-year-old cousin Anan, during a 19 October night raid on the home of Waed’s parents, Nariman and Bassem Tamimi. Four other young men were seized by the army that same night, including Louay Tamimi, whose brother Mustafa was killed in December 2011 when a soldier fired a high velocity tear gas canister at his head from a meter away . . . Bassem and his cousin Naji, the father of Anan, have been recognized as human rights defenders by the European Union. In 2012, Bassem was declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. The cousins have helped coordinate their village’s unarmed resistance activities. Rather than submit mutely to the confiscation of their land and freshwater spring by Israeli settlers, the residents of Nabi Saleh have for the last six years held spirited weekly demonstrations demanding an end to the Israeli occupation . . . Over the years, as many as 200 villagers have been detained out of a population of just over 500. All of them belong to the Tamimi clan. . . .
https://electronicintifada.net/content/west-bank-village-punished-exposing-israels-brutality/15083

Israeli army continues its takeover of house in Jenin
JENIN (WAFA) 21 Dec – Israeli army Monday continued its takeover of Palestinian house in Ya‘bad town, southwest of Jenin, turning into a military outpost for about a week now, said the house owner. WAFA reported on the owner, Yehya Abu Shamleh, as saying that heavily armed Israeli forces have been taking over his 200-meter-square house, preventing the occupants from leaving from evening hours till 6:00 a.m. on a daily basis for about a week now.  Forces have also been preventing the family from charging their prepayment electricity meter during power outages. Abu Shamleh was also reported as saying that forces restricted the movement of Palestinian passers-by and vehicles traveling along the road leading to the nearby settlement of Mabo Dotan, built illegally on the town’s land. This came a day after forces forcefully took over the house, spreading panic among the family members in order to secure Israeli settlers’ movement in the area.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=30215

Israel returns body of 72-year-old Hebron woman 45 days after death
[with photos] HEBRON (Ma‘an) 22 Dec — The Israeli authorities on Tuesday returned the body of 72-year-old Tharwat al-Shaarawi, who was shot dead by Israeli soldiers in early November after she allegedly attempted to ram them with her car. Her body was returned to her family via the Tarqumiya checkpoint, some 45 days after she was killed. Her son, Ayyub Shaarawi, told Ma‘an that she would be given the appropriate burial ceremonies, adding that her funeral would take place following Isha prayer. Tharwat was shot dead by Israeli forces on Nov. 6 outside a gas station in Halhul in northern Hebron. The Israeli army alleged that the 72-year-old woman attempted to run over a group of soldiers, although her family later denied this. Israel is still holding the bodies of dozens of other Palestinians killed in recent months, including those of at least 21 Hebron-area Palestinians. The policy of holding alleged Palestinian attackers’ bodies has further stoked tensions in the occupied West Bank, which has been engulfed by unrest since the beginning of October
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=769469

Hundreds attend funeral of Nablus youth after Israel returns body
[with photos] NABLUS (Ma‘an) 22 Dec  — Hundreds of Palestinians attended the funeral of 19-year-old Maram Hassouneh in Nablus on Tuesday, shortly after her body was released by Israeli authorities 22 days after an Israeli soldier she allegedly attempted to stab shot her dead. The young woman’s body was carried from Huwwara military checkpoint in southern Nablus to Rafidiya Hospital where it was prepared for burial. Hundreds of Palestinians then carried the body to her family home in western Nablus, before heading to the Rafidiya cemetery where Hassouneh was laid to rest. Mourners waved Palestinian flags, as well as Fatah flags, while chanting national slogans and condemning Israeli crimes against Palestinians. Hassouneh’s mother, Hanan, told Ma‘an that she was relieved her daughter had been buried by her friends and family, and she called on Israel to release all other bodies of Palestinians they are continuing to hold. Maram Hassouneh was shot dead by an Israeli soldier on Dec. 1 after she allegedly attempted to stab him at a checkpoint near the illegal settlement of Enav east of Tulkarem. She had previously spent a year in an Israeli prison after she was charged with attempting to stab an Israeli soldier at the same checkpoint near Enav settlement two years ago.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=769472

Army kidnaps fifteen Palestinians in the West Bank
IMEMC/Agencies 22 Dec — The Israeli military invaded, on Tuesday at dawn, dozens of homes in different districts of the occupied West Bank, and kidnapped at least fifteen Palestinians, including two children. Several Israeli military vehicles invaded different areas in the northern West Bank district of Tulkarem, before the soldiers searched and ransacked many homes, and kidnapped five Palestinians . . . The soldiers also invaded Madama village, south of Nablus, searched homes, and kidnapped Ahmad Amer Nassar, in addition to invading homes in Salem village, east of Nablus, before breaking into and searching many homes and stores, in the village and in Al-Quds Street, in Nablus city . . . In Za‘tara town, east of Bethlehem, the soldiers invaded and ransacked many homes, and kidnapped three Palestinians. The soldiers kidnapped Abdul-Rahman Hasan Dannoun after beating him and confiscating mobile phones from the family. They also kidnapped Abdul-Aziz Kamel Abu ‘Amriyya, after violently searching his gas station and confiscating surveillance cameras and tapes, while resident Jihad Mahmoud Abu Ramees was kidnapped from his home in the town . . . Also in Hebron, the soldiers kidnapped three Palestinians, including two children, in Halhoul and Doura towns, after breaking into their homes, and searching them. The three have been identified as Ayham Mohammad Sa’da, 14, his brother Mohammad, 15, in Halhoul town, and Natheer Mohammad Nassar, 20, in Doura . . . .
http://www.imemc.org/article/74316

Israel arrests 90 students at West Bank university
MEMO 21 Dec — The Israeli occupation authorities has arrested 90 Palestinian students at Birzeit University in the occupied West Bank recently, a spokesman of the university’s Students Union has told Quds Press. On Saturday, the Israelis arrested the last batch of 12 students, all members of the Islamic bloc, including the SU’s secretary, Asmaa Qadah, 20, and four affiliated to other parties. Mohamed Zeid told Quds Press that most of the 90 students are spending months or years in administrative detention with neither charge nor trial. “All of the arrests took place without any accusations or charges,” the SU spokesman explained. He noted that the occupation aims to “crack down” on the activities of the Islamic bloc. “It became clear that the Israelis are planning to weaken the Islamic Bloc so that it stops its academic services to the students.” The Students Union led by the Islamic bloc in Birzeit University has been creative on every level. Zeid pointed out that the Palestinian Authority also arrests students who are members of the Islamic bloc, also without any clear reason. “Some of the university students take many years to obtain their degrees due to their repeated arrests by both the Israelis and the PA security agencies,” he added.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/22952-israel-arrests-90-students-at-west-bank-university

Report: Israel killed 19 students, injured 102 others since October 2015
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 21 Dec – The Education Ministry stated in a report that Israeli forces have killed 19 students and detained 102 others since the beginning of violent unrest that has wracked the Palestinian Territory, Gaza, and Israel since early October, 2015. In a report published by the General Directorate of Field Follow-up on Israeli violations against schools in the occupied Palestinian Territories (oPT) over October and November, the Education Ministry revealed that 19 students and an employee were shot dead by Israeli forces over the reporting period. It also revealed that a total of 462 students and 33 teachers sustained injuries after either being hit with live and rubber-coated steel bullets, beaten up or after suffocating from tear gas inhalation. It also revealed that a total of 102 students and nine teachers were detained by Israeli forces. It added that 21 students and 17 teachers were also briefly detained.  The Ministry explained that a total of 45 schools across the West Bank were attacked by Israeli forces/settlers, delaying and denying 220 teachers safe access to school and wasting 803 classes. According to the report, as a result of Israeli attacks, education was partially disrupted in 18 schools, wasting a total of 570 classes. Besides, education was completely disrupted in 73 schools over 75 school days, wasting 6,106 classes. The Ministry also revealed that Israeli forces launched 45 attacks against 27 schools, including brutally beating up teachers and students, storming school campuses, firing tear gas canisters and stun grenades, spraying foul-smelling skunk water and firing live ammunition at schools.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=30210

Right-wing activist arrested after attacking cops
Times of Israel 21 Dec by Raoul Wootliff — Police arrested a man near Hebron Sunday night after he attacked officers during an inspection of right-wing activists under house arrest. Officers were carrying out inspections in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba when a man in his 20s lashed out at officers who arrived at his house. The police checks were intended to make sure people were keeping to restraining orders and house arrests. According to a police statement, when officers arrived at the house, the suspect forcefully threw open the door which hit one officer in the face. He shouted, “Do the check, then get out of here,” as he again hit officers with the door. He was arrested on one count of attacking an officer and taken for questioning at a local police station. Police said he also spat at an officer during the arrest. “The Israel Police views attacks on its officers with the utmost severity and will work to bring the perpetrators to justice,” the police statement said.
On Sunday night, violent clashes broke out between right wing activists and police at a Jerusalem demonstration against the prolonged detention of Jewish Israelis suspected of carrying out a fatal firebombing in the West Bank Palestinian village of Duma in July. About three hundred demonstrators blocked traffic in the Chords Bridge area, near the main entrance to the capital, and some hurled stones at police officers. Police in turn rushed the violent protesters in a bid to disperse the rally, arresting six activists. Six police officers were wounded by violence directed at them by a small minority of the protesters, a police statement said.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/right-wing-activist-arrested-after-attacking-cops/

Prisoners, court actions

Palestinian injured detainee in serious health condition
AL-KHALI, (PIC) 21 Dec — The Palestinian injured detainee Abla al-Adam, 45, suffers a very serious health deterioration after being shot and injured in her head Sunday by Israeli gunfire during her arrest. The lawyer of the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) managed to visit the injured prisoner, who is held in the intensive care unit in Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital. Abla, from Beit Ula town in al-Khalil, is scheduled to undergo a surgery on her head and right eye. Doctors said that she might lose her right eye. Abla, a mother of nine children, was detained on Sunday during an Israeli arrest campaign in the West Bank. During her arrest, she was shot directly in her head and the right side of her face.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=75716

Administrative detainee moved to Ramla prison hospital
AL-KHALIL (PIC) 20 Dec — The Israeli Occupation Authorities (IOA) moved the detained journalist Mohamed al-Qiq to Ramla prison hospital after his health seriously deteriorated due to his hunger strike. The IOA had earlier sentenced the journalist to administrative detention for six months, his wife said. The administrative detainee’s wife launched an appeal to human rights institutions to immediately intervene for her husband’s release especially due to his difficult health situation as he went on hunger strike for 26 consecutive days. The journalist Mohamed al-Qiq was arrested from his house in Ramallah on Nov. 21 under the pretext of “inciting violence”.  Since then, he launched a hunger strike in protest against his illegal detention and the ill-treatment he was receiving in custody.
http://english.palinfo.com/site/pages/details.aspx?itemid=75701

Israel places father of killed Palestinian in jail without charge, trial
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 21 Dec – Israeli authorities Monday issued an administrative detention order, without charge or trial, against the father of a Palestinian who was shot dead by Israeli troops earlier this month, after he rammed his car into Israeli soldiers, according to local sources. Israeli authorities sentenced 49-year-old Bassam Hammad, from the village of Silwad near Ramallah, to six months in prison, without a charge or trial. Bassam is the father of Anas Hammad, who was shot dead by Israeli troops outside the village after he reportedly ran over and injured some soldiers earlier this month. Bassam is the only source of income for his family of five. Bassam was detained from inside his home about a week ago. Forces reportedly searched and wreaked havoc into the house and threatened the family during his arrest.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=30217

Douma murder suspects released
IMEMC/Agencies 21 Dec — The Israeli Supreme Court is to release, on Monday, two Israelis accused of burning the Dawabsha family in the village of Douma, occupied Nablus, four months ago. Israeli public radio stated, according to Al Ray, that it is expected to release other detainees accused of the crime this evening, provided that they stay under house arrest. In the same context, the Israeli Supreme Court considers, this evening, a petition filed by one of the suspects, demanding to allow him meeting with his lawyer. The Minister of the Israeli army, Moshe Ya’alon, said in a statement last week, “The perpetrators of the crime of Dawabsheh family’s arson attack are identified for us, but there is no evidence to bring them to trial or to charge them.”
http://www.imemc.org/article/74308

5 East Jerusalem youths indicted for ‘terrorist’ activities
JERUSALEM (Ma‘an) 22 Dec — Five Palestinian youths from occupied East Jerusalem were indicted Monday for a range of “terrorist attacks,” Israeli police said. Israeli police spokesperson Luba al-Samri said in a statement that the indictments came following police investigations in coordination with Israel’s domestic security agency Shin Bet. Al-Samri said that the “large number of local terrorist attacks included throwing rocks, fireworks, and Molotov cocktails at security forces and Jews” in East Jerusalem’s Ras al-Amud neighborhood and near the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives. Two of the youths indicted were brothers aged 18 and 22 who were detained in October, as well as another East Jerusalem resident aged 22, she said. Two of the Palestinians, aged 16 and 18, reportedly confessed during interrogation to throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at an Egged bus on Sept. 17, setting the bus on fire. They also confessed to placing garbage containers in the middle of the street and cutting off electricity to a street in order to throw rocks and Molotov cocktails at Israeli forces drawn to the area, al-Samri said. The five youths have not yet been sentenced. . .
Monday’s indictments come just days after five other Palestinian youth were handed 15-year-long sentences and heavy fines for allegedly throwing stones. Their sentences came after two years behind bars already. The teens, widely known as the “Hares boys,” after their hometown, each faced 20 charges of attempted murder, after alleged stone-throwing caused a car accident in which an Israeli toddler was fatally wounded. For rights groups and the teens’ families, the ruling marked a disappointing end to a long legal battle. They argued that the youth were being held without evidence, and were unjustly prosecuted in a military court system that convicts more than 99 percent of Palestinians that come before it.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=769447

Gaza

Israeli troops shoot, injure woman near Gaza borderline
KHAN YOUNES (WAFA) 22 Dec – A Palestinian woman Tuesday was injured after Israeli troops stationed along the borderline with Gaza to the east of Khan Younes targeted her with gunfire, according to local sources. WAFA correspondent said soldiers stationed at borderline watchtowers opened gunfire on a woman, injuring her in the foot, while she was present inside her private-owned agricultural land close to the border fence with Israel in Khuza‘a, a village located southeast of Khan Younes. The woman was transferred to hospital for medical treatment, where her case was described as moderate. Israeli troops routinely open fire on farmers who attempt to enter or even approach the Israeli-imposed buffer zone along the borderline with Israel. Since 2005, Israel unilaterally imposed a 300-meter-wide buffer zone into the border with Gaza, sharply affecting the livelihood of tens of thousands of Gaza farmers, who rely heavily on agriculture to provide for their families.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=30229

Army injures three Palestinians in central Gaza
IMEMC/Agencies 22 Dec — Medical sources have reported that three Palestinians were injured, on Tuesday evening, after Israeli soldiers opened fire on several residents east of the al-Boreij refugee camp, in central Gaza. Eyewitnesses said the soldiers fired several rounds of live ammunition into the refugee camp, wounding three. Medical sources said the three Palestinians were moved to the Al-Aqsa Hospital, in the central district, suffering mild-to-moderate wounds.
http://www.imemc.org/article/74319

Israeli forces level land in Gaza border area
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 21 Dec — Israeli military vehicles and bulldozers on Monday crossed the border fence into the Gaza Strip east of the village of Khuza‘a in the southern Gaza Strip, witnesses said. Witnesses told Ma‘an that four bulldozers escorted by military vehicles advanced up to 100 meters into the Palestinian side of the border, firing gunshots towards Palestinian agricultural fields. The Israeli vehicles passed through a gate in an area known to locals as Abu Reida before leveling land and withdrawing, locals said, adding that Israeli military helicopters hovered in the sky and created smoke screens during the operation. [WAFA: The Israeli military has made at least 50 military incursions into the Gaza Strip since the start of the year, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.]
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=769443

Israeli naval forces detain 10 Palestinian fishermen, seize boats
GAZA (WAFA) 22 Dec – Israeli naval forces Tuesday detained 10 Palestinian fishermen and seized their boats off the coast of Gaza city. WAFA correspondent reported on Zakaria Baker, a fisherman’s relative, saying that Israeli naval gunboats opened fire at a group of 10 fishermen before surrounding them offshore al-Sudaniya, northwest of Gaza. Baker was also reported as saying that the fishermen were ordered to swim toward Israeli naval boats before being detained. The detainees were identified as ‘Atif Bakir, Suhaib Bakir, Khalil Bakir, and his son, Bahjat, Shadi Bakir, Yusri Miqdad, Muhammad Bakir, Hasan Bakir, Muhammad Bakir and Mahmoud al-Akhsham, all coming from the Gaza refugee camp of al-Shati’.
This came a day after four fishermen were detained offshore Gaza city and escorted to the Israeli port of Ashdod.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=30234

4,000 Palestinians need health care outside of Gaza
GAZA (Ma‘an) 22 Dec — Around 4,000 sick Palestinians in Gaza need to travel through the Rafah crossing on the Gaza Strip’s southern border with Egypt, Gaza’s Ministry of Health said Monday. Ashraf al-Qidra demanded that the border be opened during a sit-in near the crossing. He said that the continuous closure of the Rafah crossing combined with the over nine-year Israeli military blockade of Gaza is detrimental for Palestinians with health complications living inside the territory. The crossing was last open for two days earlier this month
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=769455

Gazan families visit jailed relatives
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 21 Dec — The Israeli authorities allowed a group of Gazan families of Palestinian prisoners held at the Israeli Nafha jail to visit their jailed relatives via the Erez crossing early Monday. Spokesperson of the Red Cross, Suheir Zaqqut, told Ma‘an that 57 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, including 16 children under the age of 16, headed to visit 47 jailed relatives. Zaqqut added that the Red Cross coordinates weekly visits for prisoners’ families.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=769445

In Gaza’s Khuzaa caravans, families fear another winter
KHUZA‘A, Gaza Strip (Al Jazeera) 21 Dec by Creede Newton — As cold, late-autumn rain poured down on the Gaza Strip last month, Yousef al-Najjar watched as his makeshift home sank deeper into the mud, its thin laminate floors cracking. Intended as a temporary solution for residents made homeless by Israel’s 2014 war on Gaza, the static caravans of Khuza‘a – a cluster of around 70 tin-sheet homes on the town’s outskirts, paid for by donor nations such as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates – are scarcely equipped for another winter. Najjar fears that cold temperatures and increased rainfall will make the homes unliveable. “We live in a horrible situation,” Najjar, a 47-year-old father of three, told Al Jazeera. “This area of Khuza‘a is lower than the rest. When it rains, the water settles here.” . . . The cold, wet weather has serious repercussions for the health of all families living in the caravan camp . . . One of the main problems is hygiene. With no plumbing, each caravan is equipped with three large barrels of water for sanitation, but the pipes used to deliver water here were destroyed by recent flooding. Often, there is no way for residents to clean themselves, making the community a breeding ground for bacteria and viruses. “At the beginning of winter, tonsillitis, contagious skin conditions like impetigo, influenza – all become serious issues,” [Dr.] Mohanna said. “These conditions are quickly complicated by secondary bacterial infections, leading to acute tonsillitis, high-temperature bacterial fevers, and worsening skin rashes.” Influenza can even be fatal among residents living in these conditions, he said. Mohanna recalled one caravan resident who was lucky enough to secure a loan and funds from aid organisations to build a new home in Khuza‘a: “I visited him this week. The home has no furniture, no wallpaper; it’s essentially a concrete box with some mattresses and carpets. But for him, it’s a palace. He’ll be warm and clean this winter.”
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/12/gaza-khuzaa-caravans-families-fear-winter-151213080929467.html

Israel’s sea blockade of Gaza motivated by gas finds / Charlotte Silver
EI 22 Dec — When Benjamin Netanyahu waived anti-monopoly laws to allow the development of large offshore gas reserves last week, the prime minister dismissed criticism by describing his action as imperative for Israel’s “national security.” Calling the gas under the Mediterranean Sea “a gift from God,” Netanyahu vowed his decision would lead Israel to energy independence. Fifteen years ago, the late Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat made a similar declaration as he stood aboard a fishing vessel in the Mediterranean, while British Gas confirmed the presence of natural gas less than 20 nautical miles off the coast of the Gaza Strip, within the occupied territory’s maritime zone. “It’s a gift from God to us, to our people, to our children,” Arafat said. “This will provide a solid foundation for our economy, for establishing an independent state with holy Jerusalem as its capital.” But fifteen years later the discovery of many rich gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean has reaped no benefits for Palestinians – and is likely the motive for Israel’s devastating maritime blockade on Gaza. “Israel has closed off access to Palestine’s territorial waters to protect Israeli gas platforms and export pipelines,” according to “Annexing Energy,” a new report from the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq. At the same time, Israel has forcibly blocked Palestinians from developing gas fields in Gaza’s waters. “Israel’s unlawful appropriation, exploitation and prevented development of oil and gas resources constitute plunder and further breach Palestine’s right to self-determination,” Al-Haq states. It also points out that Israel is not acting alone: “By their actions, international corporations and states, including EU members, concluding pipeline agreements to export gas from Israel’s Tamar and Leviathan fields … will effectively support and profit from Israel’s continued illegal closure of Palestinian maritime waters. (continued)
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/israels-sea-blockade-gaza-motivated-gas-finds

Restrictions on movement

Bethlehem-area village sealed by Israeli military for weeks
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 23 Dec — The movement of residents in Ras Al-Wad southwest of Bethlehem has been cut off for weeks by Israeli military forces, locals said Wednesday. A resident told Ma‘an that the forces closed off the main entrance to the small village with large mounds of dirt around three weeks ago, and the road has remained closed since. The road was used by residents in Ras al-Wad to access a main highway nearby. While they have been able to find an alternate route — a one-way dirt road that connects to the nearby village of Beit Sahour — access to the highway is severely limited, locals said. “They just don’t want Arabs accessing the highway,” a Ras al-Wad resident told Ma‘an.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=769482

Israel to relax movement restrictions over Christmas
BETHLEHEM (Maan) 21 Dec — The Israeli authorities on Monday announced measures aimed at relaxing severe movement restrictions on Palestinian Christians during the Christmas holidays. Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said in a statement that the measures would “facilitate” visits by Palestinian Christians to and from the occupied Palestinian territory to allow them “to participate in religious ceremonies.” The measures, which COGAT said were agreed upon following consultations with Christian representatives, will see a limited number of Palestinian Christians cross between the occupied West Bank and Gaza and travel abroad over a month-long period. COGAT said 500 Palestinian Christians would be able to leave the West Bank for Gaza, while another 800 will be permitted to make the opposite journey. Some 400 Palestinian Christians will be allowed to leave Israel through Ben Gurion Airport, and an unspecified number living in the West Bank will be allowed to cross into Egypt. Some 50 Christians from Gaza will be allowed to leave the occupied Palestinian territory, but only via the Allenby crossing, into Jordan. Meanwhile, COGAT said that 400 Palestinian Christians would be allowed to visit their families in the occupied West Bank and another 50 to visit the Gaza Strip. The measures will be seen by some as highlighting the severe movement restrictions that Palestinians of all religions face on a daily basis.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=769451

Land, property theft & destruction / Ethnic cleansing

Israel threatens to demolish MAP-supported kindergarten in the Jordan Valley
MAP 18 Dec — The community of Badu Ka‘abne lies at the end of a beautiful, winding road that travels between the West Bank cities of Taybeh and Jericho, offering some of the best views in the area. Driving off-road for five minutes you find a cluster of Portakabins surrounding a playground. These are in fact a school that offers education for 65 Bedouin children who live on farms or as herders, more than half of them girls and all from the age of 5 to 15. In summer they move higher up the hills to avoid the intense heat around the Dead Sea, and in winter they descend closer to the school and the milder weather. The students either walk to school or come on their families’ donkeys, which they jokingly call “their cars”. But the twelve five-year-old children who get preschool education in one of these Portakabins might soon be left without a classroom. “The Israeli soldiers came to our school on 22 November in broad daylight to hand us a demolition order for the kindergarten. The children were very scared and did not understand what was happening,” says Mahmoud, the headmaster of the school. “The Israeli occupation refuses us the provision electricity, water and basic human dignity. The water container you see just next to the school is fenced off and we cannot use the water. If they could, they would take away the air that we breathe,” he continued.
http://www.map-uk.org/news/archive/post/343-israel-threatens-to-demolish-map-supported-kindergarten-in-the-jordan-valley

Israeli settlers destroy 45 olive trees south of Nablus
NABLUS (WAFA) 22 Dec – Israeli settlers from illegal settlement of Ma’ale Levona, north of Ramallah, Tuesday evening destroyed 45 olive trees owned by Majed Daraghme from al-Leban al-Sharqiya town, south of Nablus. Zakaria Sadeh, field research coordinator for Rabbis for Human Rights, said the settlers destroyed 45 olive trees in al-Leban al-Sharqiya town under the watchful eyes of Israeli soldiers who were in the site. This act clearly violates article 53 from Fourth Geneva Convention, which states that “Any destruction by the Occupying Power of real or personal property belonging individually or collectively to private persons, or to the State…is prohibited, except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations.” However, Israeli soldiers and settlers claimed the land located near 60 Street until Ma’ale Levona settlement are part of the settlement and Palestinians are prohibited from cultivating these lands.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=30236

Punitive demolitions

Israeli forces prepare to demolish home of Silwad attacker
RAMALLAH (Ma‘an) 21 Dec — Israeli forces on Monday morning stormed the village of Silwad east of Ramallah in preparation to demolish the home of a Palestinian killed after an attempted car-ramming attack last week, relatives said. The father of 21-year-old Muhammad Abd al-Rahman Ayyad told Ma‘an that Israeli military forces surrounded and ransacked his property before engineers took measurements inside of his house, notifying the family that their home was slated for demolition. Ayyad’s father said that Israeli intelligence officers present during the raid also questioned him about his son . . . The Ayyad home will be one of many belonging to suspected attackers to be demolished in recent months.
The policy of punitive demolitions was resumed by the Israeli government in 2014 despite being abandoned in 2005 — except for one case in 2009 — following a military investigation revealing that the practice was not effective in deterring attacks. The policy is carried out solely on Palestinians who carry out attacks and never Jewish Israelis also responsible for attacks, and was slammed by Israeli rights group B’Tselem in October as “court-sanctioned revenge.” Senior UN official Miroslav Jenca last week said that punitive demolitions carried out by Israeli authorities on the family homes of Palestinians convicted or accused of attacks constitute a “clear violation of international law and aggravate an already tense environment and may be counterproductive.”
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=769441

Other News / Analysis / Opinion

Abbas: Palestinian State passports to be issued in 2016
IMEMC/Agencies 22 Dec — PA President Mahmoud Abbas says that his government is set to change the name it uses on passports from “Palestinian Authority” to “State of Palestine.” Following a Monday meeting with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Athens, the Palestinian leader said that it would most likely take one year or “even less” for the plan to be enacted. “We have already changed all documents issued by ministries and public services and they now bear the name State of Palestine. We no longer accept from anybody to use the name ‘Palestinian Authority,’” Abbas said, according to Press TV/Al Ray.
http://www.imemc.org/article/74323

Greek parliament passes unanimous vote recognizing Palestine
IMEMC/Agencies 21 Dec — The Greek Parliament unanimously voted, Tuesday, officially recognizing the state of Palestine. President Mahmoud Abbas, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, and various officials, attended the vote. The Palestinian Authority thanked Greece for the positive vote, and described it as a move in the right direction towards stronger relations, and cooperation, between the two countries. It added that the latest vote should encourage other countries around the world to recognize Palestine, and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, including the right to independence and self-determination. Speaking to Greek parliamentarians after the vote, President Abbas described the development as historic, and thanked the country for this positive diplomatic move. Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely denounced the vote, and described it as a move that has “no practical significance”.
http://www.imemc.org/article/74318

Israel has ‘deprived 23,000 orphans of monthly sponsorship’
MEMO 22 Dec —  The Deputy Head of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Shaikh Kamal Al-Khatib, said on Monday that Israel’s banning of the group has deprived 23,000 orphans from their monthly sponsorship payments, Anadolu has reported. “The Islamic Relief charity run by the movement,” explained Al-Khatib, “used to pay a minimum of $40 monthly sponsorship for each orphan spread around the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza Strip.” The Israeli government banned the Islamic Movement on 16 November. Any person or group which associates with it officially is now subject to criminal penalties, including arrest. The authorities confiscated property belonging to the organisation and its bank accounts were frozen. Seventeen affiliated organizations, including charities, were closed down. The sponsorships, explained Al-Khatib, were donated by Palestinians. He suggested that a solution for the problem is for wealthy Muslims to take over the orphan sponsorships and pointed out that efforts are being made in this regard, although, understandably, he gave no details. The Palestinian Islamic Relief charity was established by the movement in 1988 and its main activity was sponsoring orphans; it has no connection to the UK-based Islamic Relief or Islamic Relief Worldwide. The charity has been closed by the Israeli authorities several times. “Israel seeks to crack down on all projects which lie behind the persistence of the Palestinians,” added Al-Khatib. He stressed that the charity’s accounts have always been subject to Israeli monitoring.
https://ww.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/22976-israel-has-deprived-23000-orphans-of-monthly-sponsorship

Bethlehem’s resistance branches out this Christmas
MEMO 22 Dec — Palestinian activists unveiled the “Tree of Resistance” yesterday night in the courtyard of the Nativity Church in Bethlehem, West Bank. In celebrating Christmas while shedding light on the suffering of Palestinians living under the Israeli occupation, the Popular Resistance Committees against the Wall and Settlement held a ceremony which was attended by foreign supporters as well as dozens of Palestinians. The tree is an olive tree that is nearly 2,000 years old which was recently uprooted by Israeli bulldozers in Bir Ouna, near Bethlehem, in order to build part of the wall, according to the event organizer, Mazen Al-Izza. On the sidelines of the tree lighting ceremony, Al-Izza said: “Today we place the tree of life here, in the Nativity Church courtyard, as a form of resistance, decorated with the remnants of the occupation’s weapons used to oppress the Palestinian resistance in order for the world to see.”  “This tree was planted in Palestine during the time of Christ and it is proof of the sanctity of Palestine. The occupation uprooted the tree of peace from the land of peace,” he added. “This tree will remain in the Nativity Church courtyard until the end of the Christmas celebrations,” adding, “we are here to highlight the violations and injustice the Palestinians are subject to.” Activists hung gas and noise bombs and remaining pieces of live and rubber bullets used by the Israeli army to disperse Palestinian protesters, along with pictures of the protest dispersals.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/22981-bethlehems-resistance-branches-out-this-christmas

Palestinian facing extradition takes refuge in Bulgaria embassy
EI 21 Dec by Charlotte Kates — An escaped political prisoner whose extradition has been sought by Israel has taken refuge in the Palestinian Authority’s embassy in Bulgaria. Omar Nayef Zayed escaped from Israeli detention 25 years ago has lived in Bulgaria for more than two decades. News that the 52-year-old is being sought for extradition by Israel is causing deep concern among Palestinians living in Europe. Zayed, born in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, was arrested in Jerusalem during 1986. After a trial in an Israeli military court, he was convicted of involvement in the killing of an Israeli settler and given a life sentence. In 1990, he launched a hunger strike which lasted 40 days. While receiving treatment in a Bethlehem hospital, he escaped from the hospital and fled Palestine. After traveling secretly in the Middle East, he entered Bulgaria in 1994. He later married in that country; his wife and three children are Bulgarian citizens. Zayed runs a Palestinian grocery store in the capital Sofia and is well-known among Palestinians living in Bulgaria.  On 15 December, the Israeli embassy in Bulgaria officially requested the extradition of Zayed to Tel Aviv, labeling him a “fugitive from justice.” According to the website al-Araby al-Jadeed, the Bulgarian police gave him 72 hours to turn himself in. Police came to his home last Thursday, but Zayed was not there; his son was briefly arrested and then released . . . By seeking his extradition, Israel is violating a series of agreements it signed with the Palestine Liberation Organization during the 1990s. Under those agreements, all Palestinians arrested before the formation of the Palestinian Authority in 1994 were to be released. . . .
https://electronicintifada.net/content/palestinian-facing-extradition-takes-refuge-bulgaria-embassy/15082

Ambassador: Japanese donations to Palestine at $1.6 billion since Oslo
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 22 Dec — Japanese ambassador Takeshi Okudo said Tuesday that Japanese assistance to the occupied Palestinian territory had reached $1.6 billion since the 1993 Oslo Accords. Okudo told Ma‘an that Japan had supported the Palestinian people in a number of different ways, but with an emphasis on the Palestinian economy, particularly through a Japanese-funded agro-industrial zone in Jericho. “The Palestinian people have the potential to develop and benefit from Japan’s experience after World War II so they can realize their nationalistic goals and establish an independent state,” he said. The ambassador said that despite financial difficulties in Japan in the aftermath of the 2011 tsunami, aid to the Palestinians had not decreased. He also noted that Japan has provided the Palestinian health sector with state-of-the-art medical equipment and is a regular contributor to hospitals and clinics across the occupied Palestinian territory. In recent months, Japan has strongly condemned Israel for its continued settlement policies in the occupied territories.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=769456

World Bank to provide $5 million toward job creation in Palestine
BETHLEHEM (Ma‘an) 21 Dec — The World Bank on Monday announced $5 million worth of funding to go toward job creation across the occupied Palestinian territory. The international finance institution said in a statement that the money would go toward the ‘Development Impact Bonds’ project, aimed at providing private sector skills in Palestinian youth aged 18 to 29 years old. “Jobs are among the most pressing issues in Palestine,” said Steen Lau Jorgensen, the World Bank’s country director for the occupied West Bank and Gaza. “In the absence of new private sector investment, there is a limited potential for new employment. It is crucial to identify new ways and means to bring sustainable transformational impacts on the livelihoods of the Palestinian people despite the difficult investment climate.” The ‘Development Impact Bonds’ project is to be the first in a series of ‘Finance for Jobs’ projects aimed at testing “the effectiveness of selected financial interventions,” the statement said. The World Bank estimates that a quarter of the Palestinian labor force is currently unemployed, with an unemployment rate of more than 60 percent among Gaza’s youth . . . Since 1993, the World Bank has provided just short of $1 billion to the occupied Palestinian territory. At the end of September, the World Bank warned in a report that the poor state of the Palestinian economy had led to the “high risk” of renewed conflict. The World Bank pointed to reduced donor aid, the suspension of revenue payments, war, and ongoing restrictions by Israel as having all had “a severe impact on the Palestinian economy.” “The persistence of this situation could potentially lead to political and social unrest,” the report said, just days before large-scale protests swept the occupied Palestinian territory in October.
http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=769450

Netanyahu defends Shin Bet amid torture allegations
Haaretz 21 Dec by Barak Ravid — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended the Shin Bet on Monday in light of recent claims that the security agency used torture during the interrogations of Jewish right-wing activists suspected in an arson attack in the West Bank village of Duma. Netanyahu, who spoke at a weekly Likud faction meeting, said Shin Bet investigators have not participated in any deviation from procedure. The issue was raised by MK Miki Zohar (Likud), who told Netanyahu: “there is testimony that the Shin Bet is torturing Jewish administrative detainees. Check what’s happening.” Netanyahu responded that he couldn’t divulge details of the investigation, but defended Shin Bet investigators, saying: “I want to make one thing clear: All investigations are performed in accordance with the law, under the observance of the attorney general and the courts… in contrast to the claims, no one is breaking the rules enforced by the justice system.” The prime minister also stressed that the ethnic identity of suspects makes no difference in Shin Bet conduct. “They law is the same for Jews, Arabs, Christians and Circassians. We must not deviate from this,” said Netanyahu. “I’m not only talking about the instance in Duma, but I cannot go into any more detail.” One of the suspects in the case detailed the alleged torture in court Sunday. “They turn me upside down until my hands start burning – it feels like they are burning me with a lighter. They are taking me apart, bending my whole back, laughing and looking at me with contempt,” he told the court. The suspect’s claims in court came two days after his lawyer, along with the lawyers of two other Jewish suspects in the same case, claimed publicly that investigators were torturing their clients during questioning. “He has been deprived of sleep and they tied his arms behind his back and pulled on them until he vomited,” said Adi Kedar of the Honenu organization said of one of the suspects. The three have been held in administrative detention (detention without trial) since early November and saw their lawyers for the first time last Wednesday. They have yet to be publicly identified, but stand accused of fire-bombing a Palestinian house in Duma, killing three members of the Dawabsheh family.
http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.693097

Israel sues two men over fake West Bank abduction
Newsweek 22 Dec by Jack Moore — The Israeli state is suing two citizens for $161,000 after the men faked a kidnapping near the West Bank city of Hebron in April, causing a mass deployment of Israeli military. In June, Niv Asraf and Eran Nagauker were indicted for faking Asraf’s kidnapping and deceiving the security forces who carried out the eight-hour search effort. The Israeli Defense Ministry and the Israeli police filed a lawsuit against the pair at a court in the Israeli city of Beersheba on Thursday. Nagauker reported Asraf missing on April 2, saying that he had gone into the Arab village of Beit Anoun to find parts to repair a flat tire. According to the right-wing Israeli news site Arutz Sheva, the lawsuit against the pair says they planned the abduction thoroughly and misled authorities for the entire eight hours. Nagauker’s kidnapping story led to a large-scale emergency search response, with the military setting up war rooms and deploying helicopters, aircraft, and more than 1,000 soldiers. Asraf was later discovered hiding in a ditch near the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba and Nagauker eventually revealed the plot under questioning. In April, Israeli police said that the search cost the government millions of Israeli shekels. The sum of expenses requested by the state matches the cost incurred by the alleged prank, according to the lawsuit filed on Thursday.  The search focused on the area near the West Bank city of Hebron, the same area where two Palestinians with links to the militant group Hamas kidnapped and killed three Israeli teenagers in June last year . . . In April, the 22-year-old told Israeli investigators that he tried to fake his own abduction because he owed thousands in gambling debts to “well-known criminals,” the Times of Israel reported.
http://www.newsweek.com/israel-sues-two-men-fake-west-bank-abduction-406834

Leader of right-wing Israeli group calls Christians ‘blood-sucking vampires’
IMEMC 22 Dec by Celine Hagbard — The leader of the right-wing group Lehava, which calls for the expulsion of non-Jews from Israel, has issued a statement that Christians, like Muslims, should be violently removed from the Holy Land. Benzi Gopstein, in his statement, called for a ban on Christmas in the Holy Land, and said that the Christian Church is the deadly enemy of the Jewish people, and has been for hundreds of years. In the article, published on a Haredi website in Israel, [he] stated, “Christmas has no place in the Holy Land. Let us remove the vampires before they once again drink our blood.”  This is not the first time that Gopstein has engaged in incitement and threatening speech. But so far, the Israeli Prosecutors office has declined to pursue any charges of incitement against the extremist leader. He was briefly arrested last year after the ‘Hand in Hand’ peace school in Jerusalem was burned by members of his group, but was soon released by the Israeli police. His Facebook page at the time was full of posts showing doctored photos of Palestinian legislators hanging from nooses, and numerous racist slanders. Two weeks ago in Jerusalem, ‘Lehava’ held a protest outside of the YMCA in Jerusalem, shouting at Palestinian Christian children and families as they were entering and leaving the annual Christmas-tree decoration party. The group frequently protests against ‘mixed marriages’ between Jews and people of other religions. In November, Gopstein was invited to speak before the Israeli Knesset, where he was cheered by right-wing legislators.
http://www.imemc.org/article/74314

Israel’s David’s Sling missile interceptor passes final test
Globes 21 Dec — The system will form a middle layer in Israel’s missile defense, between Arrow and Iron Dome. Israel’s Ministry of Defense announced today that it had carried out a successful test of the “David’s Sling” interception system from a test site in the south of Israel. The announcement states, “The success of the trial is the final milestone in the development of the system before it is delivered to the Israel Air Force and declared operational during 2016.”  The test is the last in a series of tests to check the capabilities and performance of the system (known in Hebrew as “Sharvit Kesamim” or “Magic Wand”), which will become part of the multi-layered defense array being developed by the Ministry of Defense. The ministry says that this system will make it possible to deal much more effectively with the threats to Israel, together with the existing components of the defense array against missiles.
http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-israels-davids-sling-missile-interceptor-passes-final-test-1001089874

US army slammed after turning away Jewish dentist for having family in Israel
NEW YORK (JPost)19 Dec by Danielle Ziri — The American Jewish Committee has called on the US military to stop denying security clearances to Jews who have family living in Israel. The practice, which the AJC describes as disturbing and discriminatory, resurfaced last week when a retired dentist from Brooklyn, Dr. Gershon Pincus, who had initially received a recommendation approving the necessary clearance to work at a naval clinic in Saratoga Springs, New York, was denied his clearance because his mother and siblings live in Israel. The decision was made after a subsequent security interview in September. Pincus’s story became known after it appeared in The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. According to the article, the dentist, who had ran a successful private dental practice in New York City for 35 years, applied to serve in the United States military to “give something back to his country,” and had only been to Israel three times in the past 10 years. Since President Barack Obama took office, there have been 58 similar cases, in which Israeli ties were a significant factor in the decision to deny security clearance, the Wall Street Journal reported. Sixty-two percent of those denied clearance appealed the decision and lost.
http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/American-Jewish-group-urges-US-army-to-stop-denying-security-clearances-due-to-Israel-ties-437795

Lawsuit seeks federal investigation into US groups funding settlements
Mondoweiss 21 Dec by Alex Kane — A federal lawsuit filed last week alleges that U.S.-based tax-exempt entities who raise money for Israeli settlements are engaged in money-laundering and other crimes, and seeks a Treasury Department investigation into those activities. The suit, filed by the firm Martin McMahon and Associates on behalf of plaintiffs like Palestinian-American writer Susan Abulhawa, details a host of violations they say tax-exempt organizations commit. The suit alleges that the estimated 100 organizations are violating laws on money laundering that prohibit the transfer of money to assist illegal activities. In addition, the lawsuit says the organizations violate other U.S. laws that prohibit mail fraud, war crimes and the financing of terrorism. Unlike past lawsuits on this issue, this one does not directly take aim at the entities themselves, though the suit is harshly critical of them and alleges they are engaged in the funding of crimes. Instead, it is asking a court to direct the Treasury Department to investigate whether the organizations, which include groups like the Hebron Fund and American Friends of Ariel, have violated federal regulations on the conduct of 501(c)(3)’s. They say that the Treasury Department could recoup up to a $1 trillion dollars for American taxpayers whose money has gone to the settlements. (The entities get tax breaks for sending donations to settlements, and those tax breaks come from the federal government.) The lawsuit states that instead of charitable activities, the money raised by tax-exempt groups goes towards paramilitary activities and land theft. . . .
http://mondoweiss.net/2015/12/lawsuit-investigation-settlements

Hezbollah chief vows to retaliate for Kantar killing
Al Jazeera 22 Dec by Nour Samaha —  Hezbollah blamed Israel on Monday for the killing of its high-profile commander Samir Kantar in Syria, vowing to avenge his death.  “Tonight I say to the enemy and to the friend, the martyr Samir Kantar is one of us, a leader in our resistance, and with all certainty he was killed by the Israelis,” said Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese Shia movement, in a televised speech. Speaking in a somber tone, Nasrallah continued: “It is our right to respond to his assassination at the time and place and fashion we deem appropriate.” Kantar, who spent some 30 years in an Israeli prison and was released in 2008 as part of a prisoner swap with Hezbollah, was killed on Saturday night after suspected Israeli air strikes targeted the building he was staying in on the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus. He was reportedly working on the development of a Syrian resistance movement that would focus on the liberation of the Golan Heights from Israeli occupation in southern Syria . . . Ali Hashem, a political commentator who closely follows Hezbollah’s movements, said the calmness of the speech differed from the usual fiery approach Nasrallah tends to adopt. “I think Hezbollah was keen to convey a message to the Israelis that this [Kantar’s killing] won’t go without a response,” Hashem told Al Jazeera. “Nasrallah also stressed the fact that it would be at a time and place of their choosing, which means the whole border area – from Naqoura on Lebanon’s coast to the Golan Heights in Syria – is an open area for a future response.”
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/12/hezbollah-chief-vows-retaliate-kantar-killing-151221210807555.html

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re “The UNRWA added that high levels of food insecurity in Gaza are the direct consequence of the Israeli blockade on Gaza, now in its ninth year.”

The U.S. could end this blockade. It exists because of our veto in the UN. WaPo and NPR were pushing the image of Obama’s “deep Christian faith” recently. Evidently his concept of Christian charity doesn’t extend to the people of Gaza. Our government is a shame to us all.

This list is always mind numbing Kate

Take care

The Origin of the Palestine-Israel Conflict By Jews for Justice in the Middle East: http://www.ifamericansknew.org/history/origin.html

Occupation 101 – An excellent documentary about the Palestine-Israeli conflict: http://www.occupation101.com/

The Rejection of Palestinian Self-Determination – The Struggle for Palestine and the Roots of the Israeli-Arab Conflict: http://www.amazon.com/Rejection-Palestinian-Self-Determination-Jeremy-Hammond/dp/0557095697