TO DAY IN PALESTINE

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Settlements/Land Theft and Destruction

Israel presses ahead on settlements
Palestinian leader calls for halt as building works in East Jerusalem gain momentum.
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/middleeast/2010/01/2010159620425850.html

Jerusalem municipality publishes plans to demolish hundreds of Palestinian homes
Moaz Zat`ari - Al-Maqdese Society Development (MSD)- While the world was celebrating the new year eve, Palestinians in East Jerusalem received the news: the municipality plans to demolish hundreds of Palestinian homes.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=37595

The only thing flourishing - the settler houses
Beny Gefen - The peasant began to plow his plot, about 800 meters from Itamar settlement. A military vehicle came and ordered him to leave his land "being a security danger to the settlement"... I had been in this area a year ago. Then there had been on one of the hills a small outpost of one house. Now there are about 25.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=37583

PA asked to nullify sales of church land to Israel
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Greek Patriarch Theophilios III will make the traditional journey from Jerusalem to Bethlehem for Christmas on Wednesday, but a group of prominent Orthodox figures is planning to protest his visit over sales of West Bank church land to Israel.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=252110

Activism/Solidarity/Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment
Israel: End Arbitrary Detention of Activist
Human Rights Watch – Mohammed Othman Held without Charge Photo: Palestinian youth holding flag along Israeli apartheid wall. (Jerusalem) – The Israeli military appeals court should end the administrative detention of Mohammed Othman, a West Bank rights activist, and order his release, Human Rights Watch said today.
http://www.tadamon.ca/post/2061

An attack against all those standing up against the Wall and the Occupation
January 5th, 2010— An Israeli court extended the detention of human rights activist Jamal Juma’ for a further three days. Despite being held for 20 days, no charges have yet been brought against Jamal. Protestors gathered both outside the gates of the prison and in front of a nearby checkpoint to demonstrate against the arrests and to demand the release of Jamal, Mohammed and Abdallah and the other anti-Wall prisoners.
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/2152.shtml

Christian Peacemakers deported from Israel
Two members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams have been refused entry into Israel, and deported by Israeli authorities.
http://www.imemc.org/index.php?obj_id=53&story_id=57539

Lifeline-3 finally in El-Arish
The international aid convoy Lifeline-3 for Gaza finally arrived in El-Arish harbor in Egypt on Sunday evening aboard a Turkish cargo ship en route to Gaza Strip.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7zm79OxOJKX%2bhUh%2brFG68xj6GT%2fuz%2b2W%2f28xyuiz7tAfo8hPA3P2pgT0nQzbuXfP68wEmhVSbGLx69LQy3H66F9QCJzbteA9FFgxBxxPkxtE%3d

French society organizes protest sit-in at Egyptian embassy
The Sheikh Yassin coalition on Sunday evening organized a sit-in at the Egyptian embassy in Paris to protest Egypt’s construction of a steel wall along its borders with Gaza Strip.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7zkeN6tVRHVolrfvsFhwt0blMzBVzenJRd7JRO5KgsZvB9%2fZOMC5%2bd6MvD7ejz8sCiZdFjCz5onAYp9o%2fKY1tNrL2NtbbKA7ku1PTILGzAoU%3d

Majida Abu Rahmah: My Husband: Jailed for Protesting Israel’s Wall
On International Human Rights Day in last year, my husband Abdallah Abu Rahmah was in Berlin receiving a medal from the World Association for Human Rights. This year on the same day, December 10th, Abdallah was taken away at 2am by Israeli soldiers who broke into our West Bank home. Abdallah was arrested for the same reasons he received the prize - his nonviolent struggle for justice, equality and peace in Israel/Palestine.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/majda-abu-rahmah/my-husband-jailed-for-pro_b_410613.html

Dear Metallica
Open letter by Jews and Palestinians, Israeli citizens - Given your longstanding, vocal commitment to ideas of true justice for all, we cannot envision you cooperating with continued Israeli defiance of justice and morality and playing a part in the Israeli charade of self-righteousness.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=37584

Gaza Freedom Marchers issue the "Cairo Declaration" to end Israeli apartheid
Gaza Freedom Marchers have approved a declaration aimed at accelerating the global campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israeli apartheid, calling for a global mass, democratic anti-apartheid movement to work in full consultation with Palestinian civil society to implement the Palestinian call for BDS.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10988.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+%28Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News%29

A Journey to the Gaza Border, Kim Bullimore
Its New Year’s Eve and my team mate and I are on our way to Israel’s Erez Crossing, one of the 6 border crossings into Gaza which has been repeatedly closed by the Zionist state as part of its illegal collective punishment of the Palestinian people in Gaza. We have joined three bus loads of Israeli and Palestinian activists in Jaffa to make the hour long journey to the Gaza border crossing to protest Israel’s ongoing siege. As we wait for the buses in Jaffa, I look around the slowly gathering crowd and recognize some of the faces from demonstrations in the Occupied West Bank: several of the courageous and dedicated activists from Anarchists Against the Wall, as well as some activists from Gush Shalom and others from Ta’ayush. But there are many I don’t recognize - young people, as well as older folk - all of whom are outraged at Israel’s repeated war crimes and collective punishment of the Palestinian people of Gaza.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15665

Why I back Israel sanctions, Udi Aloni
BDS movement’s actions aimed at attaining goals of justice, peace and equality.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3829694,00.html

An Israeli Jewish lives in Ramallah: This country, Palestine, from the river to the sea
January 5, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) - Neta Golan: An Israeli Jewess lives in Ramallah: This country, Palestine, from the river to the sea. I couldn’t believe it because I was a part of the consensus opinion in Israel, that we are morally superior. They are violent. We have purity of arms. If we do kill a civilian or an innocent, it’s by mistake. Even if these mistakes happen every single day. I didn’t believe it until I saw it with my own eyes. I refused to believe that a soldier would open fire on an innocent child, but I saw it. But when you are in the West Bank, and you see a child throw a stone at a tank, you understand that if that child is killed, that is murder.
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=37596

Violence and Aggression/Detainees

Israel carries out two separate air raids on Gaza
GAZA, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) — Israeli war jets on Monday evening carried out two separate air raids on Palestinian militants in northern and eastern Gaza Strip, no injuries were reported, witnesses and security sources said. The witnesses said that an Israeli reconnaissance drone fired one missile at a group of Gaza militants east of Gaza City, the militants survived and no injuries or damaged were reported.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2010-01/05/content_12754636.htm

320 Israeli settler attacks in Nablus in 2009
Ghassan Daghlis, head of village affairs in the West Bank district of Nablus has confirmed there were 320 attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians and their property throughout 2009. He said the past year which witnessed the highest number of attacks since records began was particularly difficult for farmers and civilians.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/493-320-israeli-settler-attacks-in-nablus-in-2009

Arab Child Hurt By Explosive Near Shfa-Amr
Israeli sources reported Monday that a 13-year-old Arab child was hurt when an explosive, apparently dropped by the Israeli army during training, detonated as he carried it.
http://www.imemc.org/index.php?obj_id=53&story_id=57540

Israeli forces seize 8 Palestinians in night raids
Bethlehem – Ma’an – The Israeli military said on Tuesday it detained eight Palestinians during overnight raids in the West Bank.
A military official said one man was arrested in Biddya south of Qalqiliya, one in Jaba, southeast of Ramallah, two in Beit Duqqu, southwest of Ramallah, one in Hizma south of Ramallah, one in Biddu southwest of Ramallah, and one in the town of Beit Awwa near the city of Hebron.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=252025

Number of Palestinians serving life reaches 112
Gaza – Ma’an – Former detainee and expert in prisoner affairs Abdel Naser Farawneh said on Tuesday that the number of detainees serving life sentences in Israeli prison has reached 112.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=252043

Family calls for release of detainee held for 27 years
Ramallah – Ma’an – The family of Palestinian detainee Sami Younis called for his name to placed on the list of prisoners set for release should an exchange deal prove successful. Younis, from the village of Ara in Israel, was sentenced to life in prison on 5 January 1983. Held for 27 years, Younis is the father of three girls and a boy.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=252029

Israeli Use of Painful Shackling As a Form of Torture
Founded in 1990 to highlight a growing problem, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PACTI - stoptorture.org) "believes that torture and ill treatment of any kind and under all circumstances is incompatible with the moral values of democracy and the rule of law. (It) advocates for all persons - Israelis, Palestinians, labor immigrants and other foreigners in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) - in order to protect them from torture and ill treatment by the Israeli interrogation and law enforcement authorities."
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15664

Hamas Killing Political Activists
Probe sought in death of Gaza woman in police custody
Bethlehem – Ma’an – The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) called on Monday for an investigation into the death of a 56-year-old woman who was reportedly assaulted by police.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=251944

Israeli War Criminals
US aid for Israel tied to arms sales: 75% of the aid must be used to buy military material made in the US
WASHINGTON: Just before Christmas, the US President, Barack Obama, signed into law one of his country’s biggest aid pledges of the year. It was bound not for Africa or any of the many struggling countries on the World Bank’s list. It was a deal for $US2.77 billion ($3 billion) to go to Israel in 2010 and a total of $US30 billion over the next decade.
http://jnoubiyeh.blogspot.com/2010/01/us-aid-for-israel-tied-to-arms-sales-75.html

IDF officers abstain from UK visits for fear of arrest
Israeli officers invited to UK by British army unable to depart since European nation cannot vouch that they won’t be arrested in its territory. Deputy foreign minister says current situation could undermine good relations between countries. Meanwhile, British attorney general visits Holy Land, slated to meet justice minister.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3829769,00.html

Gaza war: One year on, Palestinians struggle to rebuild life from the rubble
For the past year the Guardian has been following Palestinians who were caught up in the devastating war in Gaza. To mark the war’s one year anniversary, Inigo Gilmore returns to Gaza to explore the fate of families trying to piece together their lives, including those who want Israel prosecuted for what they say are war crimes during the 22-day assault.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2010/jan/04/gaza-palestinian-territories

Italy-based group accuses Israel of poisoning Gaza land
The Italian New Weapons Committee accuses Israel of contaminating Gaza land through bombing, and the president of the European Jewish Congress termed the claims "unfounded blood libels reminiscent of tales of Jews poisoning wells."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1140009.html

Gaza: An inside look
Immediately following Operation Cast Lead about a year ago, B’Tselem gathered 15 young volunteers, mostly students starting their studies in communication or journalism, gave them video cameras, and asked them to document everyday life around them. Each student chose his or her personal tack. Here are the results.
http://www.ynetnews.com/home/0,7340,L-8111,00.html

Sderot ‘peace march’ promotes war, Adam Horowitz
We’ve been following the Gaza Freedom March and its aftermath here on the site, but there was another Gaza-related march held around the same time. Check out this video (after the ad) from the Jerusalem Post: The ending couldn’t have been better if it was made up.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/01/sderot-peace-march-promotes-war.html

Humanitarian
Palestinian Medics, Firefighters, Rescue Settlers From Fire
Palestinian medics and firefighters rushed to an area near Tiqua’ village, in the Bethlehem District, to rescue a group of Jewish settlers after a mechanical error set their bus ablaze, near the Tiqua’ settlement, east of the Palestinian village.
http://www.imemc.org/index.php?obj_id=53&story_id=57541

Goods – Needs Vs. Supply – Dec 6 – Jan 2
http://www.gazagateway.org/2010/01/goods-needs-vs-supply-dec-6-jan-2/

Industrial Fuel – Needs Vs. Supply – Dec 6 – Jan 2
http://www.gazagateway.org/2010/01/indusrtrial-fuel-needs-vs-supply-dec-6-jan-2/

Association of Palestinian scholars slams Egypt’s steel wall
The association of Palestinian scholars stated the steel wall being built on its borders with Gaza is prohibited in Islam and a major sin because it will lead to the killing of the Gaza people.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7RSiJaQ6S6sAtMHODlYhlGMwzeY4WZ828WTGU8ckK33wYauIILo%2bSlkgniXzwxhleNs5euOazeFzJZH4qXkX5Oal%2bS1EqIHWmGF5eCKCQsLc%3d

Who’s Afraid of a Tambourine?
Two months ago we wrote that Israel had prohibited the transfer of musical instruments into the Gaza Strip. In that post we quoted Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai’s response to a query submitted by Israeli parliamentarian Dov Khenin last July regarding the ban: “According to the information available, no applications to bring musical instruments into the Gaza Strip have been received for the past two years”, wrote the Deputy Defense Minister. Apparently we were mistaken – and so was the Deputy Defense Minister.
http://www.gazagateway.org/2010/01/who%e2%80%99s-afraid-of-a-tambourine/

Political Developments

Abbas sticks to demand for settlement freeze before talks
Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas said on Monday he was open to peace negotiations with Israel, but that as agreed with Egypt talks could only resume when Jewish settlement activity ends."There is no objection to returning to the negotiating table or holding any meetings in principle," Abbas told reporters in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=110311

Israel believes Abbas on the verge of agreeing to peace talks
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed cautious optimism Monday that talks with the Palestinians will soon resume.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1140015.html

Fatah: No progress in reconcilliation with Hamas
Ramallah – Ma’an – Fatah denied on Monday that progress had been made in reconciliation talks with Hamas. “There is nothing new to talk about on the national reconciliation issue,” Fatah spokesman Fahmi Za’arir said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=251969

Mossad chief: Time to overthrow Abbas
Bethlehem – Ma’an Report – Israeli spy chief Efraim Halevy berated the Palestinian Authority (PA) and President Mahmoud Abbas during an interview with Army Radio on Tuesday. "The PA is useless and nothing but students of Israel and the US. As soon as the US and Israel stop funding the PA it will fade away. Abbas and his PA should know that and know to behave modestly with their threats against Israel," Halevy said during the program Good Morning Israel, hosted by Ghazi Burqai.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=252096

Hamas meets with prisoner deal mediator in Gaza
Bethlehem – Ma’an – The German intermediary in negotiations toward a proposed prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas is expected in Gaza on Tuesday, news reports said earlier in the day.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=252128

Other News
Tibi: Israel trains dogs to attack at ’Allahu Akbar’
Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies – Palestinian-Israeli lawmaker Ahmad Tibi on Monday alleged that the Israeli military trains dogs to attack anyone saying Allahu Akbar, Arabic for “God is great.”
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=252019

When Does It Become Genocide?, NADIA HIJAB
More people have started to apply the term ’genocide’ to what Israel is doing to Gaza. Israel would not directly kill tens of thousands of Palestinians, but it would create the conditions for tens of thousands to die. Any epidemic could finish the job, notes Nadia Hijab.
During a visit to Ramallah a year ago while the Israeli bombardment of Gaza was underway, I shared my fears with a close Palestinian friend. "It may sound insane, but I think the Israelis’ real objective is to see them all dead."
http://jnoubiyeh.blogspot.com/2010/01/when-does-it-become-genocide.html

"I hope that I die on my land"
Fatima Mohammed Yassin, 49, is a farmer from the Palestinian village of Bilin in the occupied West Bank. In spite of Israel’s occupation and construction of its wall in the West Bank, including on Bilin’s farm land, Yassin and her husband continue to work their land on a daily basis. Jody McIntyre spoke to her for The Electronic Intifada.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10984.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+(Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News)

Revenge and Retaliation
Is it an accident that over the past five days Israeli F-16 fighters have bombed Gaza City while tanks and missiles targeted several other areas in the Gaza strip of Palestine? It also appears that the Israelis attempted to assassinate the secretary-general of the PRC, the Palestinian Resistance Committee? While no one was killed, once again there was extensive physical damage together with the horror of being bombed, a situation which gives rise to profound fears and uncertainty in both the children and adults.
http://www.counterpunch.org/brayer01042010.html

Unbreakable in Cairo
Though I have lived most of my life in and around Chicago, it has never been my complete home. My sisters and I were born as first-generation Palestinian-Americans coming from Kuwait and for this reason our lives in Chicago always felt temporary — we were only supposed to stay until the Gulf War was over, we finished school, the occupation ended, the siege was broken, etc. The only accepted rhetoric about our presence in America was and continues to be, "This is not our home, we are from Gaza." Dana Elborno writes from Cairo.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10986.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+(Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News)

Two-state solution needed, and fast– for U.S. and Israel!, Philip Weiss
A few weeks back I wrote that there are too many Jewish Israelis in the American press, and Lisa Goldman, a writer in Tel Aviv, called me an anti-Semite. I’ve been working on a big post responding to her charge, but in the meantime I was back at it again last night, when I said that the New York Review of Books should stop hiring so many Israeli writers. How do I justify such national prejudice? Especially when I’m here in Israel, where I’m meeting a lot of amazing Israeli journos and intellectuals who have walked their talk and are trying to change their country?
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/01/two-state-solution-needed-and-fast-for-u-s-and-israel.html#more-13237

Introducing – The Daily Nuisance, by Adam Horowitz
Today, a new journalist collective based in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories launches its online publication, The Daily Nuisance (TDN). Employing Palestinian, Israeli, and locally-based international journalists, TDN (found at www.thedailynuisance.com) aims to add diverse and on-the-ground voices to the ongoing coverage of the region.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/01/introducing-the-daily-nuisance.html

Sailing into trouble: "To Gaza with Love" reviewed
To Gaza with Love is a documentary by Aki Nawaz for Iran’s English-language channel Press TV. It is an account of the first boats that successfully broke the siege of Gaza in August 2008. The filmmakers traveled to the Gaza Strip with the Free Gaza Movement, which organized the trip. Asa Winstanley reviews for The Electronic Intifada.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10981.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+electronicIntifadaPalestine+(Electronic+Intifada+%3A+Palestine+News)

Israel’s hidden friends ramp up campaign to distract Palestine activists from core issues"
Palestine is and shall remain at the centre of the struggle for justice for the Palestinian people. We Palestinians and Arabs played no part in your Holocaust and we have nothing to do with anti-Semitism, past or present, real or imagined. It is us, not you, who are continuing to suffer from the legacy of the Nazis. Go forth and take your Jewish issues elsewhere. We shall have nothing to do with you."
http://www.redress.cc/zionism/redress20100103

A Jewish American’s Evolving View of Israel
In an argument about the origins of the Israel-Palestine conflict with a Jewish friend, I mentioned ’Plan D, the secret plans of the Jewish army to expel Palestinians.’ My friend thought I was a raving lunatic, spouting a conspiracy theory promoted by anti-Semites. I didn’t used to sound that way. Growing up in Washington, D.C., I attended the Hebrew Academy, a school that my grandfather helped to found and that my father had helped lead. Like other people who attend religious schools, we were taught that we had a special relationship with God and that our group had a higher moral character. As Jews, we learned how we had been an oppressed people. As American Jews, we believed in American and Jewish values of honesty, justice, truth and peace. We took pride in Israel, a democratic country that shared our values and that represented an end to our oppression.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15663