Jan Benvie, Christian Peacemaker Teams: At-Tuwani –  Clearing the land
The landscapes of the Southern Hebron Hills remind me of my own Scottish Highlands. Both landscapes are littered with the sad ruins of forsaken homes and villages.  The Scottish ruins date from a shameful period of history (over 200 years ago) known as the 'Highland Clearances'. The new 'owners' [the English] forcibly evicted between 150 and 250 thousand people. Many Highlanders, deprived of their homes and livelihoods, lived and died in broken-hearted poverty in far away towns and foreign lands. The 'Palestinian Clearances', here in the West Bank, began when Israel occupied the land during the 1967 war. Many Palestinians, like the Scottish Highlanders, have no papers proving land ownership. Some ownership papers are in the name of great-great grandfathers, and the Israeli courts do not accept their legality. The Israeli government has simply taken Palestinian land for Israeli settlements and roads. As in the Highlands, the 'victors' have used pseudo-legal means to steal land. The Highland Clearances are a historical fact. The Palestinian clearances are current and ongoing. We can, and must, work to undo the injustice that is happening in Palestine now. ( Slideshow:: http://www.cpt.org/gallery/Abandoned-and-demolished-Palestinian-homes-and-villages-in-the-Southern-Hebron-Hills-area   )
http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=24139

 
Qurei: Israel must halt all settlement building
The chief Palestinian peace negotiator with Israel said Friday the Jewish state must call a halt to all settlement building before final status talks can continue in earnest next week. He added that his negotiating team was awaiting an answer during the meeting scheduled for Monday and if not satisfied with the response, they would take it up with US President George W Bush during his visit to the region next month.
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=191382&version=1&template_id=57&parent_id=56

 
Israeli housing minister offers Israelis free land to build homes next to Gaza
The one town that currently exists next to the Gaza Strip, Sderot, was built as a provocation to Palestinian resistance fighters, whose homemade shells can only be shot a distance of five kilometers at most and are unable to be aimed at any specific spot. Sderot is built far from any other Israeli town or development, and is within five kilometers of the Gaza Strip. Boim said that he has authorized the Israeli Land Administration (ILA) to construct fifty new developments within five kilometers of the Gaza border, and will offer the land for free to Israelis who wish to build homes there. Such a move will surely increase the Israeli casualties from Palestinian homemade shells – which Palestinian leaders say is Israel's one method of maintaining an 'excuse' for the occupation of Palestinian land.
http://www.imemc.org/article/52068

 
Rice: Sharon's settler ties were an issue
In an interview Tuesday with the BBC, the U.S. secretary of state was asked why the Bush administration waited seven years to push hard for Israeli-Palestinian peace. "I've always believed that there is a very important role for diplomatic multilateral engagement, but it comes at the right time," she said. "So for instance, on the Middle East peace process, I don't think in 2001, with the intifada having just been launched and frankly, Ariel Sharon, the father of the settlement movement, having just been elected prime minister of Israel, that there was much prospect for a final-status negotiation.
http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/106033.html

 
Israeli president refuses Hamas offer for a ceasefire
"There will be no peace talks with the Palestinians until Qassam attacks on Israel cease," said Israeli President Shimon Peres on Friday, reiterating the refusal made earlier this week by the Israeli PM Ehud Olmert. Palestinian factions have reason to be doubtful, because past ceasefires which were carried out by Hamas and other resistance factions did not result in a subsequent ending of attacks by Israel. Indeed, during a 2006 ceasefire of three months, in which no Palestinian resistance group fired any shells into Israel, Israeli attacks in the region actually increased. Every attempt by Hamas to hold out an offer for peace has been refused immediately by the Israeli leadership.
http://www.imemc.org/article/52065

 
Report: Hamas mulls unconditional Gaza truce with Israel
Israel Radio quoted a senior official in the organization, who spoke on condition of anonymity, as telling the London-based Arabic-language newspaper Asharq Alawsat on Saturday that the proposal under discussion was an unconditional bilateral cease-fire with Israel. Nonetheless, senior Lebanon-based Hamas official Osama Hamdan stressed Saturday that Hamas opposes a diplomatic agreement with Israel and views the country's existence as a threat to the entire region, and not just the Palestinians.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/937060.html

 
Analysis: Is a truce between Israel and Hamas possible?
The talk, mainly in the Israeli media, about a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas sounds so far-fetched in Gaza that it could be about some other place. Activists of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other organizations continued Thursday to fight Isaeli troops at al-Ma'azi and to fire rockets and artillery. Despite the truce overtures by the Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, it is doubtful he can restrain these maverick activists. . . If Haniyeh decides to prevail on the organizations to stop the shooting at Israel, he would trigger an armed clash with Islamic Jihad. Hamas would split between Haniyeh's supporters and the military wing, headed by Ahmad al-Jabari, who objects to the truce.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/936863.html

 
Palestinian teen fighter killed by Israeli forces near Khan Younis
Awad al-Foujom, a 17-year old Palestinian resistance fighter with the Ezzeh el Din brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas party, was shot and killed by Israeli special forces on Friday. Seven Palestinians were killed just the day before during an Israeli invasion of the northern Gaza Strip. No Israelis have been killed in that time period, but one Israeli soldier was injured Thursday by a Palestinian homemade shell. The 20 Palestinians killed since Tuesday of this week were mainly resistance fighters killed by aerial bombings carried out by the Israeli airforce. These bombings resulted in injuries to dozens of civilians, including some who lost limbs. Al-Foujoum's death brings the total number of people killed in the current open conflict, which began in September 2000, to 5,997 – over 5,000 of which are Palestinians. The Israeli army has denied any involvement.
http://www.imemc.org/article/52066

 
Israeli shelling Saturday leaves two fighters injured in central Gaza Strip
Two Palestinian resistance fighters were injured after and Israeli tank fired three artillery shells at them, in the town of Juhor Ad-Dik, east of Al-Burej refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on Saturday.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=26858

 
EU: International force for Gaza could  be set up as soon as agreement is made
The Middle East envoy for the European Union, Marc Otte, stated in a meeting with the Palestinian President that an international presence of troops could be mobilized quickly if Israeli and Palestinian authorities can agree to the deployment of such a force in the Gaza Strip. Otte added that, while there is some resistance to the idea of an international force – particularly among Palestinians in Gaza, there is "definitely more interest than in the past". Palestinian resistance factions had resisted angrily to the suggestion of an international force when it was announced earlier this week, stating that this would be "replacing one occupation [referring to the Israeli occupation] with another."
http://www.imemc.org/article/52067

 
Notes from underground: the secret life of Gaza's most wanted
For a man who has been on Israel's most wanted list for six years, Abu Suheib (his nom de guerre) seems remarkably calm as he sips coffee and smokes a cigarette near the back of a kebab restaurant in Gaza City Abu Suheib, a short, stocky man with a trimmed black beard, never sleeps at home and only sees his wife and three small children about once a month. They know virtually nothing about his life, except that he is a fighter. He only communicates via text messages, "because if you use a phone the planes can find you," he says. When moving from safe house to safe house "we either walk or we take taxis," he says, adding that the drivers never know who he is. "If they know they will not take us; they will be scared."
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gOCZU3mM5jppOZwsBx_c_UUYVtsA

 
Hamas TV says group has new anti-aircraft unit in Gaza
Hamas's military wing has a new anti-aircraft unit intended to combat IAF aircraft operating over the Gaza Strip Channel 10 reported Friday evening. Channel 10 said that the new unit was believed to be in possession of anti-aircraft missiles.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1196847401362&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

 
Saudi paper: Hamas asked terror groups to stop rocket attacks
Hamas is interested in a long-term ceasefire with Israel and has discussed such an option with other terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip, a Saudi newspaper reported Friday. According to the unconfirmed report in Al Jazira, Hamas recently held intensive discussions with the leaders of Islamic Jihad as well as other groups, and asked them to halt Kassam attacks against Israel as a first step in reaching a truce with Israel . The factions were wary of the offer, saying it would be pointless to negotiate with Israel without receiving any guarantees that it would stop its military activity in the strip.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1196847398121&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

 
Ailing Gaza shut off from the world
Mahmoud Daher, Gaza chief of the World Health Organisation, says that Palestinian infighting and Israel's blockade are preventing ordinary Gazans from receiving advanced medical treatment. . . But thanks to years of mismanagement by Fatah's corrupt inner circle, even in the West Bank the Palestinian health service is in decline. "There are shortages in the West Bank as well, but the difference is that in the West Bank you have relative freedom to move about to seek drugs and treatment … but the Gaza Strip is hermetically sealed off from the outside world," says Mr Daher.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/ailing-gaza-shut-off-from-the-world/2007/12/21/1198175339057.html

 
Israel allows two emergency cases to leave Gaza for hospital treatment in Egypt
But Mu'awiya Hassanain, director of the emergency and ambulance services in the Ministry of Health added that there were many other patients who need urgent medical treatment, unavailable to them in the impoverished coastal region and they were not being allowed to leave.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=26848

 
Collision course
Four years after Zvika Fogel retired from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Gaza continues to preoccupy him. He became chief of staff of Southern Command headquarters in February 2000, and in the past few years he has reflected a great deal on the actions he and his fellow officers carried out in the months that preceded the eruption of the second intifada, at the end of September 2000. His conclusion: the IDF created an irreversible situation that led to a confrontation with the Palestinians. . . According to Fogel, the situation Israel now faces in the Gaza Strip is due to fundamental flaws in the disengagement process. . . Fogel warns that the situation that has been created - the imprisonment of the Gaza Strip's inhabitants without the possibility of transit - creates "a focal point of explosion that is aimed completely at Israel ...
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/936744.html

 
If it happens again (Will it be any different?)
It hangs over us like the sword of Damocles, with dozens of people competing with one another to see who will cut the thread that holds it aloft: the next operation that none of us want, the next war that none of us have any interest in, the entry into and re-occupation of Gaza, which we really, really don't feel like doing, as the defense minister explained to the soldiers, but "there will be no other way"; "we'll be compelled"; "the clock is ticking"; "the sands are running out"; "patience has burst"; "it's just a matter of time."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/936739.html

 
Palestinian gas project 'wrecked by Israel'
An offshore gas project in the Mediterranean, which could have earned desperately needed revenue for the Palestinian economy, is in ruins after negotiations to sell the fuel to Israel collapsed. Industry sources blamed Israel for the failure of negotiations with the British multinational BG Group after the Jewish state repeatedly reduced its offer price for the gas.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=SN0VIAW4XMLSXQFIQMGCFFWAVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2007/12/22/wisrael122.xml

 
Baby doll permit – by Lama Hourani
"Mummy, do you think that the baby boy doll needs a permit at Hawara checkpoint?" 5-year-old Luai now knows the checkpoints very well between Ramallah and Nablus. "When we leave Nablus we first go to Hawara checkpoint, right? We are searched by the soldiers there and then we go by a service taxi to Ramallah, right, Mummy? But after a few minutes we face the Yetzhar checkpoint, isn't that its name, Mummy? We are again checked by the soldiers. Then before entering Ramallah we stop at Atara checkpoint. This one takes a long time, Mummy." On the road to Ramallah he keeps asking when we will arrive at the next checkpoint, making sure that he is pronouncing the name correctly.
http://gazasunflower.blogspot.com/  

 
'Santa' beaten in West Bank protest
Israeli guards beat five demonstrators, including one dressed as Santa Claus, during a protest yesterday against Israel's separation wall in the West Bank, organisers said. About 50 Palestinian, Israeli and international peace activists attended the rally in the village of Um Salomona, near Bethlehem, the Biblical birthplace of Jesus that is preparing to celebrate Christmas. Israeli border guards armed with truncheons briefly detained one activist and beat another five during the rally, the organisers said, adding that one was wearing a Santa Claus costume.
http://www.bahraintribune.com/ArticleDetail.asp?ArticleId=183912&CategoryId=2

 
Man accused of transporting projectile detained near Nablus
Israeli soldiers seized a Palestinian man at Huwwara checkpoint, south of the West Bank city of Nablus on Friday.The man was accused of transporting a homemade projectile. An Israeli military spokesperson declined to give details about the incident, but said that the alleged projectile was destroyed and the man detained for interrogation.
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=26852

 
Israeli court halts recognition of Orthodox patriarch
Israel's High Court of Justice has placed a stay on the government's decision to grant formal recognition to the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem. Patriarch Theophilus III was elected by the Greek Orthodox synod in August 2005. The court was responding to an appeal by the former Orthodox leader, Ireneos, who was ousted in 2005. The former Orthodox leader is contesting his successor's position. Patriarch Ireneos was driven from office in a scandal involving the transfer of real-estate property in the Old City of Jerusalem. Members of the Orthodox community were outraged when the patriarch apparently leased the property to Jewish investors, weakening the Christian presence in the Old City.
http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=55518

 
The soldiers don't exist – by Amira Hass
At first glance it looks like people bowing down to other people. Even the information that this is a photo of the weekly demonstration in Umm Salmona in the Bethlehem area, protesting the separation fence and the lands it is stealing, and that those who are bowing down are actually demonstrators who are praying, cannot erase the impression of prostration, of submission. But that is what is seen in the first glance of a non-Muslim, of someone who connects as a ruler. For the true Muslim worshiper, says a man named Fahr, a devout Muslim, the soldiers in front of him don't even exist
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/936840.html

 
'He is very much alive'
He was the warrior who discovered pragmatism, but two years ago he fell into a coma, leaving his people without a leader. Is Israel still waiting for Ariel Sharon to wake up? – Two years ago this month, at the age of 77, Sharon suffered a minor stroke. He was taken to hospital, was treated and went home. He seemed to recover and remained in office, but three weeks later, the night before he was due to go in for a heart procedure, he collapsed with a much larger stroke. His doctors will not talk about his case but in a brief statement the hospital appeared to suggest there were signs of hope. "His children and the doctors who are treating him see different signs that he is aware, that he knows what is going on," said Adler.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2231481,00.html

 
The demographic argument is inherently racist – an interview with Hanan Ashrawi
bitterlemons: Israel's demand to be recognized as a "Jewish state" at Annapolis caused an uproar among Palestinians. This doesn't seem like a new demand, so why the uproar? Ashrawi: It is new in a sense. It is new as a prerequisite for negotiations. This issue of the Jewishness of the state came up recently mainly because of the so-called demographic issue--which to me is an inherently racist issue--which became the central motivation for the two-state solution among the Israeli right. bitterlemons: Why is this position unacceptable to the Palestinians? Ashrawi: Once you start raising this issue it means that you want to eliminate the Palestinian refugees' right of return because they happen not to be Jewish. Israel sees the return of Palestinian refugees as a demographic way of destroying the state of Israel.
http://www.bitterlemons.org/issue/pal2.php

 
The Israeli Arab linguistic crisis
When the education minister responded to the low scores achieved by Israeli students in international reading comprehension tests, she noted they stemmed from the low achievements posted by Arab students, while the accomplishments of Hebrew-speaking students were relatively good.  The minister was right to mention the special linguistic difficulties faced by Arabs in Israel, who are required to show a double effort compared to Hebrew-speaking students. A Jewish student faces two linguistic challenges: Studying Hebrew and English. An Arab student faced four: In addition to studying Arabic, Hebrew, and English, these students must also learn the differences between spoken and written Arabic [international Modern Standard Arabic and the local Arabic language]. To this day, we have two separate education systems in practice, and the gaps between them have remained. Arab schools continue to receive fewer funds but are subjected to greater supervision.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3484406,00.html

 
Barring the door to Falashmura raises difficult questions
The next six months are going to see a traumatic and even bloody confrontation between those in the Ethiopian community in Israel, who support the continued immigration of Falashmura, and the government, determined to bring the controversial project to a close. The Ethiopians are convinced the government is discriminating against their family members by blocking their entry. The government and Jewish Agency feel they have already gone out of their way to bring in tens of thousands of non-Jews who were ineligible for citizenship to begin with. fundamental issues of Israel's national identity are at stake here. What are the limits of Jewish identity and eligibility for citizenship? And when we're inundated by reports of "neo-Nazi" teenagers, who arrived from the former Soviet Union here with their families through the Law of Return, attacking children on the street and scrawling swastikas on synagogue walls, the question becomes even more poignant. Why are they let in? Just because their grandfathers might have been Jews, while the Falashmura, who are willing to undergo an Orthodox conversion and become loyal Israeli citizens, are no longer welcome.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/936867.html

 
Rice shores up peace process
Washington has welcomed Israel's decision to abandon plans for a new Jewish settlement in Arab East Jerusalem, but maintains the recent approval of another development could undermine the reborn peace process.  US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Israel had taken "a good step" by dropping plans to develop the Atarot area in the east of the disputed city, which the Palestinian Authority has demanded as a capital of a future state of Palestine.  However, Palestinian anger simmers over invitations for building tenders in the nearby area of Har Homa,
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22960788-15084,00.html