The “E1” area of the West Bank, comprising 12 square kilometers, lies between the Maale Adumim settlement and occupied East Jerusalem, curling around and separating the Palestinian towns of Anata and Abu Dis. While E1 is home to roughly 2,600 Bedouins, Israel has prevented any Palestinian development there so that Maale Adumim might expand and new settlements can go up. Though the settlement development project was temporarily postponed in 2008 due to disapproval from the United States, Israel has long planned on emptying the space of its Palestinian inhabitants in order to implement the plan. Many of these communities have been displaced several times since the 1970s to make way for Israel’s settlement enterprise. Two years ago, rumors began circulating among the Bedouins living in the EI area of Israel’s intentions to displace them once more. These rumors have been buttressed by waves of demolition orders in most of the Bedouin encampments. Twenty communities, in which 2,600 persons live, are facing displacement, stated Abu Suleiman, mukhtar (or leader) of Qeserat, a Bedouin community within E1.

Vandals attacked a monastery in Jerusalem and a prominent school with a mixed Jewish-Arab student body on Tuesday, and police said they suspected Jewish extremists were behind the violence. - "Death to Christians" and other Hebrew-language graffiti were scrawled on the Greek Orthodox monastery in Jerusalem, while "Death to Arabs" was sprayed across a wall outside the bilingual "Hand in Hand" school in another part of the city.

King Abdullah II of Jordan met the head of the Hamas Political Bureau, Khaled Mashal, on Sunday in Amman. Mashal is conducting his first official visit to Amman in twelve years; the official visit was conducted under the direct mediation of Qatar. - Mashal arrived in Amman along with the Crown Prince of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, and were welcomed at the Amman Airport by Jordan’s Crown Prince, Hussein Bin Abdullah. The officials then headed to Amman, and held a meeting with King Abdullah at the Royal Palace in Amman. The Hamas leadership left Amman in 1999, and the movement opened its office to the Syrian Capital, Damascus. Mashal was also accompanied by his deputy, Mousa Abu Marzouq, in addition to Mohammad Nasr, Izzat Al-Rishiq, Sami Khater and Mohammad Nazzal; all are members of the Hamas Political Bureau. During the meeting, the officials discussed the situation in Palestine and the efforts to implement the national unity agreement in Palestine.

Khalid Amayreh: The Amman fiasco

A photojournalist wounded when Israeli troops used
force to disperse a peaceful demonstration in Bil’ein
village, west of Ramallah.

Israeli violations of international law and humanitarian law in the OPT continued during the reporting period.

Shooting: During the reporting period, IOF wounded 3 Palestinian civilians, including 2 cameramen, in the West Bank. In the West Bank, during the reporting period, IOF used excessive force to disperse peaceful demonstrations organized in protest to Israeli settlement activities and the construction of the annexation wall in the West Bank. As a result, Muhib Mohammed Asaad al-Barghouthi, 46, photographer of al-Hayat al-Jadida Newspaper, sustained wounds by two bullets to the feet. Al- Barghouthi was transferred to Palestine Medical Compound in Ramallah for treatment. Also Mohammed Ateya al-Tamimi, cameraman of the Popular Committee against the Wall and Settlement in Nabi Saleh village, sustained wounds by a tear gas canister to the right foot. A third Palestinian demonstrator also sustained wounds by a bullet to the right leg. PCHR fieldworker was unable to get the personal information of the third wounded person as he came from another village and he was not transferred to any hospital or medical center for treatment. On 31 January, Imad Ahed Khalil Abu Hashem, 21, sustained shrapnel wounds by a sound bomb when IOF used excessive force against a peaceful demonstration in Beit Ummar, north of Hebron. Additionally, dozens of Palestinian civilians and human rights defenders participating in peaceful demonstrations suffered from tear gas inhalation. [...] Incursions: During the reporting period, IOF conducted at least 56 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, during which they arrested 12 Palestinian civilians, including 3 children and a university professor. In the Gaza Strip, on 29 January 2012, IOF, backed by military vehicles and apaches, moved into Gaza International Airport, in the far southeast of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip amid indiscriminate firing. IOF arrested Hajjaj Yousif Ehmeid al-Soufi, 21, who is a university student and Ahmed Hussein Awad Abu Athra, 20, who is a member of the Palestinian National Security Service. Al-Soufi and Abu Athra are from al-Shouka village in the east of Rafah. Restrictions on Movement: Israel had continued to impose a tightened siege on the OPT and imposed severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.

The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) rounded up 320 Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and occupied Jerusalem in the first month of 2012, a researcher specialized in prisoners’ affairs said on Wednesday. - Riyadh Al-Ashqar said that 53 children were detained in this sweep the youngest being six-year-old Ali Al-Dirbasi in occupied Jerusalem. He added that the detainees also included four lawmakers, including parliament speaker Dr. Aziz Dweik, eight women, and an ex-prisoner who was liberated in the exchange deal between Hamas and Israel. Ashqar said that the Israeli courts passed and renewed administrative detention verdicts against 50 Palestinians.

The Israeli prison service (IPS) carried detained Islamic Jihad leader Sheikh Khader Adnan to hospital after deterioration of his health condition, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) said in a statement on Tuesday night. - It recalled that an IPS committee told the prisoner that in the event he continued to refuse liquids it would force feed him, after which Adnan opted to drink water and a potassium pill. Adnan is expected to appear in court on Wednesday to look into his lawyer’s demand for his release or to endorse an administrative detention ruling. Lawyer of the association said that the prison administration told her that Adnan decided to refrain from having liquids in protest against depriving him of meeting his lawyer. She added that the administration decided to force-feed the detainee if his condition worsened.

PIC: Israel to break Adnan’s hunger strike by force
Stephen Lendman: Khader Adnan Mohammad Musa: Israeli Prisoner of Conscience

Electronic Intifada: Protesters attacked, injured during commemoration for Palestinian teen murdered by Israeli settlers

In an effort to appeal to right-wing sentiments ahead of an election, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has reinstated subsidies for Jewish settlers in the West Bank and appointed a panel in an attempt to legalize illegal settlements. [...] These latest moves are helping to break down recent low-level peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian officials. ”They are adding obstacles at a time when everyone is intensifying efforts to try to resume peace talks,” said Palestinian government spokesman Ghassan Khatib. “I think with every additional settlement activity, the feasibility of having two states is diminished.”

The Palestine New and Info Agency, WAFA, reported that a Jewish settler illegally took over Palestinian land near the northern West Bank city of Jenin by enclosing the land in a fence and uprooting it, claiming that it belongs to him. - The land in question is located near Nazlat Zeid village, and is located behind the Israeli Annexation Wall. WAFA said that, last week, the settler, Known as Eli, fenced off a land that belongs to Abdul-Raouf Barry and some of his relatives, and claimed that he “rented the land from the Israeli government." The land is privately owned by the Barry family. Abdul-Raouf added that the family always planted the land, but was prevented from reaching it after Israel built the Annexation Wall, as the land became isolated behind it. It is worth mentioning that settlers of the Shikda and Hananit illegal settlements are conducting ongoing attacks against Palestinian orchards that belong to several residents of Nazlet Zeid village, Al-Arqa village, and Ya’bod town. Approximately 120 Dunams of lands became totally isolated behind the Wall in that area.

Stephen Lendman: Profile of a Rogue State

For Republican candidates seeking Jewish vote in the 2012 US presidential election, it is an open season to launch scathing attacks on the Palestinians and to show the Zionist side of their faces. - These candidates have been competing with one another in a cannibalistic way for months to take the most hard line position against the occupied people of Palestine. In a TV talk show on Thursday, one of these candidates Mitt Romney, the most likely to represent his party in the election, said US president Barack Obama sacrificed Israel by his policies, while his party's mate Newt Gingrich reiterated his racist slurs against the Palestinians and labeled them as an invented people. Romney claimed that the presence of Hamas (a resistance movement founded in 1987 during the first intifada) and its supporters among the Palestinian leaders was the reason behind the absence of peace between the Palestinian and Israelis. During a debate aired by US TV channels, Romney also said the [occupied] Palestinians teach their school children how to kill Jews, while the Hamas-Fatah speeches deny the Jewish people their right to statehood and call for destroying Israel. He added that the Israelis would be happy to have a two-state solution, but the Palestinians reject this solution and want to eliminate the state of Israel.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- The Aqsa foundation for endowment and heritage (AFEH) has accused Jewish fanatics of destroying many headstones in the Islamic cemetery in Bisan. - AFEH said in a statement on Wednesday that it visits the deserted cemetery all yearlong and spray chemicals to combat weeds, adding that a delegation of the foundation visited the graveyard on Tuesday and discovered the destruction. It said that it maintains the graveyard within its annual maintenance program of sites of religious significance, adding that it rebuilt many graves over the past years that were the target of similar attacks.

Aziz Dweik's six-month imprisonment is an attempt by Israel to thwart reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, says his office. - An Israeli military court has ordered the speaker of the Palestinian legislative body to be jailed for six months without trial after he was arrested at a checkpoint last week. Aziz Dweik, a member of Hamas and a senior elected politician, was imprisoned "without charge or legal justification", a statement from his office said. It claimed Israel was attempting to thwart moves towards reconciliation between the rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas. Dweik was arrested at a checkpoint near Ramallah last Thursday. According to reports, he was handcuffed and blindfolded by Israeli soldiers, who said he was being detained for "involvement in terrorist activities". Dweik has been the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council since elections six years ago. However the PLC has not sat since the summer of 2007, when Hamas – which had won elections the previous year – took control of Gaza in a bloody battle with Fatah.

PIC: Israel imprisons Dweik for six months without trial
PIC: Hamas condemns Israel's systematic detention of lawmakers
Khalid Amayreh: Dweik's abduction is state terror, pure and simple

Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongphakdi said Friday that Thailand has informed the Palestinian delegation and all member states at the United Nations in New York that it “has given recognition to the state of Palestine.” - The move comes as Palestine pushes for full membership at the U.N., a bid Washington opposes because it says a political settlement with Israel must be reached first. Thailand has friendly ties with Israel and is a major tourist destination for Israeli travelers. Thai officials have expressed concern that the recent arrest of a Lebanese man allegedly linked to Hezbollah and plotting an attack in Bangkok could hurt ties with Middle Eastern countries.

AMSTERDAM, (PIC)-- Palestinians in Holland have declared their intention to seek a court order for the arrest of Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu on his visit to the Netherlands scheduled to start on Thursday. - The Palestinian home, a society formed by Palestinians living in the Netherlands, said in a statement on Wednesday that it would seek the court order in view of the Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity during the latest war on Gaza. It said that Netanyahu’s visit to Amsterdam, the headquarters of the International Criminal Court, posed as a blatant challenge to this court and to what it represents. The statement recalled that the Israeli war machine killed 1400 Palestinians, mostly women, children, and innocent civilians, in the course of three weeks of “genocide” against Gaza in 2008-2009 that also devastated the Strip’s infrastructure, places of worship, and hospitals. It pointed to the Goldstone report that condemned Israel for committing war crimes in that war, calling for reactivating the report and prosecuting the Israeli leaders for involvement in crimes against humanity. The society drew the attention to the new Israeli threats of waging a fresh and more brutal aggression Gaza within the few coming months, adding that the lack of concrete legal steps against Israel encouraged it to commit more crimes.

In its annual report regarding the humanitarian situation and human rights in the occupied territories, that was submitted to the Security Council on Wednesday, the United Nations (UN) reported that the Israeli siege on Gaza is an act of collective punishment that is directly impacting the daily lives of more than 1.6 million Palestinians living in the coastal region. The report, that was prepared upon an official Palestinian request, indicated that, comparing to 2010, is a %30 increase in the number of Palestinians who are impacted by the Israeli policies and occupation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It also revealed that the Palestinians are having more hardships when it comes to obtaining basic services, including food supplies. The UN further stated that Israel is still enforcing the siege on the Gaza Strip, adding that this siege is an act of collective punishment as it impacts all aspects of life, in addition to Israel’s severe restrictions on fishermen and farmers, in addition to its restrictions on the freedom of movement of the people and the goods, an issue that created health and educational hardships. The report also discussed what was described as the “complex situation” in occupied Jerusalem due to home demolitions, and the fact the residents became more isolated from the West Bank due to the Annexation Wall.

PIC: Israeli occupation authority serves demolition notices to three brothers in Nablus

The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, demanded on Sunday the removal of the Israeli Occupation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, considering that the continuing of the Israeli Occupation blocks the establishing of an Independent Palestinian state, the Maan News Agency reported Sunday afternoon. - Ki-Moon statement came on Sunday in the Lebanese capital of Beirut as he delivered a speech before the International Conference on Reform and Transition to Democracy, according to the Hebrew “Richet Beit” broadcast website. He stated that the Israeli Occupation is an obstacle towards establishing a Palestinian state, calling for halting all Israeli settlement construction in the Occupied West Bank, considering that both “old & new” Israeli settlements are illegal. He also added that it is a real obstacle towards establishing a Palestinian state. The UN chief further said that the two-State Solution is long-awaited and the status quo would inevitably lead to another Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the course due. “It is our duty getting out of this current impasse and bringing in last peace,” he pointed out. The UN Chief is paying a visit to the Lebanese capital of Beirut, attending the UN International Conference on Reform and Transitions to Democracy. The 3-day meeting is discussing how to transition Arab countries to democracy or reform regarding the ongoing Arab Spring.

Israeli violations of international law and humanitarian law in the OPT continued during the reporting period (05 – 11 January 2012) - Shooting: During the reporting period, IOF wounded 4 Palestinian civilians, including a woman, in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In the West Bank, during the reporting period, IOF used excessive force to disperse peaceful demonstrations organized in protest to Israeli settlement activities and the construction of the annexation wall in the West Bank. As a result, 3 Palestinian civilian was wounded. Dozens of Palestinian civilians and international human rights defenders suffered from tear gas inhalation. IOF also arrested 5 Palestinian civilians, including a woman. In the Gaza Strip, on 06 January 2012, a Palestinian woman was wounded by the Israeli gunfire while she was grazing animals in the central Gaza Strip. On the same day, IOPF fired 3 artillery shells at Palestinian areas in the northern Gaza Strip. No casualties were reported, but Palestinian civilians, especially women and children, were extremely terrified. Incursions: During the reporting period, IOF conducted at least 68 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, during which they arrested 20 Palestinian civilians, including two children and a university professor. In the Gaza Strip, IOF conducted one limited incursion into the north and leveled areas of Palestinian land which they had already razed. Restrictions on Movement: Israel had continued to impose a tightened siege on the OPT and imposed severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.

The New Year has seen an increase in attacks against innocent Palestinian children living under the occupation. These attacks go unnoticed and unmentioned in the Western media, but they can be seen on this site…The following video is the picture that the zionists want you to believe is the truth about Israel (I call it zionism’s seven deadly sins), but the reality appears afterwards … NO ONE GIVES ISRAEL THE RIGHT TO KILL OR HARM CHILDREN, THE 8th DEADLY SIN.

Israel's government broke all its settlement-building records in 2011, diminishing prospects for establishing a viable Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank, Israel's activist group Peace Now said on Tuesday. - The group's annual report on building in Palestinian East Jerusalem and the West Bank -- land the Palestinians want for a future state along with the Gaza Strip -- showed that despite international calls to halt construction, thousands of new homes were being built.

"In 2011 (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu broke his government's building records and turned it into a very fruitful year for the settlers and a very sad one for the citizens of Israel," Peace Now director Yariv Oppenheimer said. "At the current rate of building we will lose the chance for a two-state solution."

Just one year before the first Zionist Congress...

Pakistan's former ambassador to the United States denied any involvement in drafting a memo that accused the army of plotting a coup and suggested on the first day of a Supreme Court commission on Monday he was being framed. - Former envoy Husain Haqqani struck a defiant tone that was sure to do little to quell a scandal that has dominated Pakistani politics for the past three months and destabilized the civilian government amid rumors of a military takeover. "I had no role in creating, drafting and/or delivering the memorandum to the (U.S.) Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen," Haqqani said on Monday. "I have no knowledge of the origin, authenticity or purpose of the said memo." The murky scandal emerged last October when businessman Mansoor Ijaz, writing in a column in the Financial Times, said a senior Pakistani diplomat had asked that the memo, seeking help to rein in the military, be sent to the U.S. Defense Department.

The picture Israel paints of Gaza for the foreign media is quite different than the actual truth, it never speaks of what is actually happening there. The report that follows is just one example of what the siege is doing to the people, especially the children…The illegal Israeli siege on Gaza continues to take innocent lives daily. Adham Baroud was the latest casualty. A seven month old baby who died on December 26th in a slow and painful death from renal failure when he could be easily treated.

The illegal Israeli siege on Gaza continues to take innocent lives daily. Adham Baroud was the latest casualty. A seven month old baby who died on December 26th in a slow and painful death from renal failure when he could be easily treated. On December 1, Adham was referred to Israel for emergency treatment by his doctors in Gaza after his condition became terminal fallowing a catheter inserted four months earlier in a previous operation in Israel gets infected. Adham never made it.

Israeli violations of international law and humanitarian law in the OPT continued during the reporting period (29 December 2011 – 04 January 2012)

Shooting: During the reporting period, IOF killed a Palestinian resistance activist and wounded a civilian in the Gaza Strip. Another civilian was wounded in the West Bank. In the Gaza Strip, on 30 December 2012, an Israeli warplane fired a missile at two Palestinian resistance activists in Juhor al-Dik village, south of Gaza City. An activist was killed by shrapnel throughout the body. On 31 December 2012, a Palestinian civilian was wounded when Israeli soldiers positioned at the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel fired at him. During the reporting period, Israeli gunboats fired at Palestinian fishing boats in the Gaza Strip. Israeli naval troops also arrested 3 fishermen, but released two of them later. On 29 December 2012, Israeli warplanes bombarded a plot in the northern Gaza Strip, but no casualties were reported. In the West Bank, during the reporting period, IOF used excessive force to disperse peaceful demonstrations organized in protest to Israeli settlement activities and the construction of the annexation wall in the West Bank. As a result, a Palestinian civilian was wounded. Dozens of Palestinian civilians and international human rights defenders suffered from tear gas inhalation. Incursions: During the reporting period, IOF conducted at least 53 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, during which they arrested 29 Palestinian civilians, including 6 children. Restrictions on Movement: Israel had continued to impose a tightened siege on the OPT and imposed severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.

A French court will be looking into the case of Mohammad Ad-Dorra, 12, who was killed after being repeatedly shot, on September 30, 2000, while seeking shelter from Israeli military fire in his father’s lap; the father was also shot by several rounds.

Eleven years ago, French reporter, Sharl Anderlan, was present at the shooting, and, along with his Palestinian Cameraman, Talal Abu Rahma, videotaped the incident. Anderlan was later accused of fabricating the video, despite the fact that the shooting took place in broad daylight in front of several persons, and reporters, who were also witnesses to the incident. Ad-Dorra was shot and killed just days after the second Palestinian Intifada started. The uprising began after former Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, conducted a provocative visit to the Al Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, along with his armed body guards. Mohammad Jamal Ad-Dorra was born on November 22, 1988, and was shot dead on September 30, 2000. He and his father were walking in Salah Ed-Deen Street, in Gaza.

When the shooting started, they tried to take shelter behind a concrete barrel and the father started waving to the soldiers, trying to indicate that he was a civilian with a child, but the shooting did not stop. The father could not fully shelter the child, and both of them were shot by several rounds of live ammunition.

Two weeks after the shooting, France 2 cameraman Talal Abu Rahma, signed an affidavit stating that Israeli soldiers deliberately opened fire at the child and his father. He further stated that the soldiers were firing towards the child, “not once, but several times”. He also said that the soldiers were also firing at Palestinian policemen, and at a Palestinian police station 30 meters away.

GOP Presidential contender Rick Santorum, who appears likely to come from far behind to finish in the top 3 in Tuesday's Iowa Caucuses, is trying to out-do his former Congressional colleague Newt Gingrich when it comes to insulting Palestinians. - Gingrich called the Palestinians an "invented" people who didn't exist until sometime in the 20th century. Santorum criticized Gingrich’s widely-reported remarks as “provocative,” but his own more extreme views got little attention at the time because he was considered a hopeless back-of-the-pack candidate and not being taken very seriously. But now that he is rising rapidly in the polls, his comments deserve a second look. As far as Santorum is concerned, Palestinians don’t exist. “There are no Palestinians,” he told a questioner at a campaign event in Iowa. You can see the video here. "All the people who live in the West Bank are Israelis. There are no Palestinians. This is Israeli land," the former Pennsylvania senator said.

AWIP: Gingrich calls Palestinians 'invented' people
Slate: The U.N. Should Accept Palestine as a Full Member State - Former Palestinian presidential candidate Mustafa Barghouti explains why Israel and the United States are on the wrong side of history.
National Post: Santorum: Putting the screws to Iran

Zakariyya Daoud, a former Palestinian political prisoner, who got seriously ill while in Israeli prisons, and was only released on August 22, 2011, died of cancer on Monday, he was diagnosed in prison Israeli prisons and was deprived of the needed and specialized medical attention.

Israel released Daoud, 43, after he spent nine years out of a 16-year sentence due to the ongoing decline in his health condition. He is a father of four children; Ahmad, 19, Wisal, 20, Malak, 14, and Dalal, 13, the Maan News Agency reported. He was kidnapped and imprisoned by Israel on February 10th, 2003, the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) reported. The PPS said that Zakariyya had cancer that spread in his body due to the lack of specialized medical treatment in Israeli prisons.

PIC: Center: Death of Issa proves Israel’s criminal practices against prisoners

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Undercover Israeli security forces kidnapped a Palestinian child in Aisawiye, to the north east of occupied Jerusalem, on Tuesday evening, local sources said. - They said that the disguised soldiers broke into the village and chased a number of children who all managed to escape except the 6-year-old child Mohammed Ali Dirbas. The sources noted that back up units rushed to the scene and fired tear gas and stun grenades at nearby houses and groves, which caused breathing problems for tens of civilians.

Israeli paper, Haaretz, reported that recent Israeli and Palestinian statistics revealed that the demography of the country will significantly change by 2015, and the Jewish majority will sharply decline and the number of Arabs and Palestinians will exceed the number of Jews. - The paper stated that, according to Palestinian statistics conducted by the Palestinian Census Bureau, the number of Palestinians in the Palestinian territories is currently 4.2 Million; 2.6 of them are living in the West Bank, and 1.6 in the Gaza Strip. In addition to 1.4 million who live in the 1948 territories (Israel), which brings the estimated total to 5.6 Palestinians. Israeli statistics revealed that the population of Israel is now 7.8 Million; 5.9 million Jews, 1.6 million Palestinians and 325,000 of different nationalities. Statistics regarding the natural growth of the population revealed that by 2015, the Jewish population will be demographically equal to the number of Palestinians (6.3 Million Jews and 6.3 Million Palestinians). According to the statistics, there will be a Palestinian majority in the land by 2020, as the number of Palestinians is expected to rise to 7.2 million while the number of Jews is expected to rise to 6.8 million.

The Palestinian Prime Minister of the Gaza government, Ismail Haneyya, arrived in Istanbul Sunday on the third leg of his tour where he received a warm welcome from the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. - The vicious onslaught that Jerusalem is being exposed to in terms of Judaization and expulsion of its indigenous population and ways to support Jerusalemites and protect holy places were discussed during the meeting of the two leaders. Erdogan expressed support for Palestinian reconciliation, according to Anadolu Agency. The rebuilding of the Gaza Strip was also discussed and Haneyya revealed after the meeting that there was a Turkish comprehensive plan for the development of the Gaza Strip.

A number of Palestinian and international solidarity activists were wounded, including one shot in the neck, and several other protestors were detained in numerous anti-wall protests taking part in a number of West Bank villages on Friday afternoon. - In their weekly protest, the villagers of Kufr Qaddum, near the West Bank city of Nablus, organized a march joined by hundreds of residents and international supporters. Israeli soldiers suppressed the protest by firing a number of tear gas canisters and concussion grenades at them. Several were wounded as a result of this, and were treated by field medics. Protestors raised Palestinian and Fatah party flags to commemorate the forty seventh anniversary of the establishment of the Fatah party. In the village of Al-Ma'asara, near Bethlehem, Israeli troops detained Irene Nasser, aged 35, from Nazareth, in addition to an international supporter who was at the protest.

(WARNING: The video depicts bloody and barbaric attrocities committed by Israel that are extremely shocking)

'The Palestinian problem has been with us for far too long. We must, therefore, approach the problem with a greater sense of urgency and commitment. Let us hope that the series of conferences on the Palestinian problem would bring us closer to a workable solution. We are here not because we are allied to the Palestinian people because of race or religion, but because we believe in justice for all humanity, and the Palestinian people are as much a part of that world community as we are. We owe it to the Palestinian people to restore to them their rights and dignity - Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad, Chairman of Perdana Global Peace Organisation.

This video was presented during the Perdana Global Peace Organisation International Conference on Gaza 2010: Breaking the Siege- In the Spirit of Rachel Corrie and Mavi Marmara on 11th July 2010 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Video here)

Israeli chief of staff Benny Gantz has said that a new war on Gaza was inevitable “sooner or later” and that his army was preparing for it. - Gantz, in a statement on the army’s website on Wednesday, said that the new war would be totally different from the last one three years ago. He said that infantry forces would be more trained on night combat and would use explosives to blast their way through gates and passages.

AWIP: Israel preparing for another Gaza war

Israeli Occupation Forces demolish agricultural faci-
lities in Ethna village, west of Hebron.

The 27th of December marks the third anniversary of the commencement of Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s 27 December 2008 – 18 January 2009 offensive on the Gaza Strip. PCHR believes that Israeli forces committed serious violations of IHL and IHRL over the course of the offensive. Violations entailing individual criminal responsibility include – but are not limited to – the crimes of willful killing, the extensive destruction of civilian property, the direct targeting of civilians and civilian objects, the use of human shields, and the launching of indiscriminate attacks.

It is evident that these crimes demand judicial redress. If the law is to be respected – if it is to prove capable of protecting civilian populations – it must be enforced; victims’ rights to the equal protection of the law and effective judicial remedy must be upheld. Those responsible for committing such crimes must be investigated, tried and prosecuted in accordance with international standards.

In light of the clear and unequivocal failure of domestic justice systems, it is clear that recourse must be had to mechanisms of international criminal justice. PCHR call upon the UN Security Council, acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, to refer the situation in Israel and Palestine to the International Criminal Court. PCHR also reminds States, as High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions, of their pressing legal obligation, to search for and prosecute all those suspected of committing war crimes, regardless of their nationality.

The Israeli occupation forces killed 180 Palestinians in 2011 including 21 children and arrested 3300, a report by the Palestine liberation organization (PLO) said on Wednesday. - It said that the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) endorsed in the same year the construction of 26837 new settlement units in the occupied Palestinian land including 1774 in occupied Jerusalem and its environs. The IOA confiscated 15525 dunums of Palestinian land, razed 495 homes, and destroyed 18764 trees, the report, carrying the name of people under occupation, said. It pointed to the Jewish settlers’ attacks in the same year, noting that they escalated attacks in December and launched a series of “terrorist” assaults on mosques and violated the sanctity of a Christian Orthodox church on the Jordan River.

Stephen Lendman: Israel v. Palestine in 2012

Israel has threatened to launch another all-out war on the Gaza Strip, saying attacking the Palestinian territory is not a matter of choice, but a "war of necessity" for Tel Aviv.

Marking the third anniversary of Israel's deadly attack on Gaza, the chief of staff of the Israeli military, Lt. General Benny Gantz, said on Tuesday that Tel Aviv will ''sooner or later'' need to launch a large-scale operation against Hamas, the democratically-elected ruler of Gaza because Tel Aviv is losing its grip on the coastal strip. Gantz said Operation Cast Lead, which Israel launched against Gaza on December 27, 2008 and lasted for three week, had a deterrent effect on Israeli security, in which cracks were starting to show over time, forcing Israel to launch another war. Gantz also said that Tel Aviv is looking for the right time to launch a military offensive against the Gaza Strip and that the new war ''must be initiated by Israel and must be swift and painful".

Haaretz: IDF confirms preparations for extensive future Gaza military action
AWIP: THE CHANUKAH MASSACRE OF GAZA ~~ THREE YEARS LATER
Stephen Lendman: Gaza: Remembering Cast Lead

Today marks the third anniversary of the commencement of Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s 27 December 2008 – 18 January 2009 offensive on the Gaza Strip. 27 December also marks the anniversary of the single bloodiest day in the history of the occupation; on this day three years ago 334 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces, 76.6% of whom were civilians. Three years after the fact…. the atrocities continue.

We, Palestinians of Gaza, 3 years on from the 22-day long massacre in Israel’s operation ‘Cast Lead’, are calling on international civil society to make 2012 the year when solidarity with us in Palestine captures the spark of the revolutions around the Arab world and never looks back. On this anniversary we demand an international liberation movement that eventually leads to just that, liberation for us Palestinians from 63 years of brutal military occupation and ethnic cleansing that pours shame on any organisation or government claiming to endorse universal human rights. We will never forget the hurt of 3 years ago, the criminal onslaught that we lived through, the blood of over 1400 murdered men, women and hundreds of children running through the streets of Gaza, between the rubble, soaking our beds and etched on our minds. We will never forget. For they are still dead, and thousands more are still maimed.

The WE!: US Israel Murder - Photos
Stephen Lendman: Gaza: Remembering Cast Lead
Palestine Chronicle: Remember These Children Mr. President
PCHR: Operation Cast Lead Aftermath : The Al Ashi Family
Norman G. Finkelstein: GAZA Photoalbum [PDF]
Norman G. Finkelstein: Finkelstein on the Gaza Massacre - Video
IMEMC: Palestinian Killed, 11 Wounded, As Army Bombards Gaza
PIC: Palestinian child wounded in IOF shooting in central Gaza
PCHR: 3 Years After Operation Cast Lead Justice has been Comprehensively Denied

Since 1948, millions of Palestinians have been forced into exile from their own lands.

Former detainee and Palestinian researcher specializing in detainees’ affairs, Abdul-Nasser Farawna, stated that Israeli soldiers arrested 3,312 Palestinians, including children, since the beginning of this year. - He said that the army conducted an average of 276 arrests each month, nearly nine arrests a day. Farawna stated that the army detained men, women and children, and even went on to take patients and people with special needs. This is besides arrests targeting elected Palestinian political officials and legislators. The Palestinian researcher said that the vast majority of the arrests were carried out in the West Bank and Jerusalem, in addition to 38 carried out in the Gaza Strip, including those that targeted fishermen, and even patients at the Erez terminal, while on their way to receive medical treatment in Israel or in the West Bank. In a report published on December 19, the Ad-Dameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association stated that since October 18, 2011, when Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, was released in exchange for 477 detainees in the first stage of the swap-deal, Israeli soldiers abducted nearly 470 Palestinians, seventy of whom were children. It said that in the first 15 days of December, the army kidnapped more than 21 youth, including 11 children, from the Shu’fat refugee camp, in occupied East Jerusalem.

Israel's unquenchable thirst for Palestinian land and resources is painfully demonstrated in this shocking documentary.

Palestinians Only Obstacle to Peace, Insists Lieberman. - In a Christmas press conference attended by a number of top ambassadors, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman lashed those critical of Israel’s position on the peace process, while insisting no peace could be achieved within the next decade. “In the next decade, this will be the situation and we need to know how to deal with it,” insisted Lieberman, saying that ambassadors should focus on “managing” the conflict instead of trying to solve it. Lieberman also reiterated his condemnation of the European Union for criticizing settlement expansion, saying that the only obstacle to peace with the Palestinians is the Palestinians themselves and that construction would continue. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seems to support the notion that the Israeli government has abandoned the idea of peace, insisting that his government will no longer negotiate with the Palestinians under any circumstances once they form a unity government, something expected within the next few months.

A mosque in Burqa village near Ramallah which was
burnt by Israeli settlers.

Israeli violations of international law and humanitarian law in the OPT continued during the reporting period (15 – 21 December 2011)

Shooting: During the reporting period, a Palestinian civilian was killed when fell from his bicycle as he was attempting to escape Israeli gunfire in the Gaza Strip. Two Palestinian civilians, including a fisherman, were wounded by IOF in the Gaza Strip, and a third civilian was wounded in the West Bank. n the Gaza Strip, on 16 December 2011, a Palestinian civilian was killed as he fell from his bicycles as he was attempting to escape Israeli gunfire in al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. On the same day, a Palestinian fisherman was wounded by Israeli gunfire in the northern Gaza Strip. On 21 December 2011, a Palestinian civilian was wounded when IOF fired at a number of Palestinian workers in the northern Gaza Strip. During the reporting period, IOF arrested 4 Palestinian fishermen and confiscated a fishing boat in the Gaza Strip. In the West Bank, during the reporting period, IOF used excessive force to disperse peaceful demonstrations organized in protest to Israeli settlement activities and the construction of the annexation wall in the West Bank. As a result, a Palestinian civilian was wounded. Dozens of Palestinian civilians and international human rights defenders suffered from tear gas inhalation. IOF also arrested a Palestinian civilian. Incursions: During the reporting period, IOF conducted at least 25 military incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank, during which they arrested 9 Palestinian civilians, including two children. The detainees include a leader of Islamic Jihad who was arrested in Jenin. During house raids, a dog belonging to IOF bit a Palestinian woman in Hebron. Restrictions on Movement: Israel had continued to impose a tightened siege on the OPT and imposed severe restrictions on the movement of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem.

IMEMC: Settlers Attack Child In Jerusalem, Clashes Reported
IMEMC: Palestinian Worker Wounded By Army Fire In Gaza
PIC: Israeli soldiers round up 4 Palestinians, assault paramedic
PIC: Israeli scheme to displace thousands of Palestinians in Al-Khalil
Desertpeace: Rabbi Froman: Deport mosque burners
Amira Hass: Palestinians are heroes, braving Israeli dictatorship

Stephen Lendman: Israeli Delegitimization - At issue isn't its legal nation state legitimacy. Its lawless ideology is illegitimate. It is corrosive, destructive, racist, extremist, undemocratic and hateful. It claims Jewish supremacy, specialness and uniqueness as God's "chosen people." It espouses violence, not peaceful coexistence. It chooses confrontation over diplomacy. It employs strength through militarism, intimidation, and naked aggression. It is contemptuous of moral values and ethical principles.

The Palestinians are heroes, and that's not simply a flowery journalistic phrase. It's a fact not intended for the thugs, but rather for people who shut their eyes - and they are many. Those who shut their eyes do so because they seek normalcy. What they don't see doesn't exist and doesn't bother them. Israeli normalcy longs for the Palestinians to disappear, or at least to remain silent and finally surrender. But Palestinian bravery will continue to thwart the longings of Israeli normalcy. - The Palestinians are heroes, and that's the only fact that's relevant after the slight shock of the hilltop thugs. The hands are the hands of thugs, and the head? The head is the head of the hostile regime under which the Palestinians live and which harasses them every moment of every day, week after week for decades. To live this way and remain sane - that's heroism. "And who says we're sane?" Palestinians answer me. Well, here's the proof: self-irony. The thugs of the hills are only the icing on the cake. Most of the work is being done by thugs wearing kid gloves. Unlike the people who threw the stone at the deputy brigade commander, these are fan favorites in Israel. The flesh of our flesh. Officers and soldiers, military jurists, architects and contractors in the service of the army, Interior Ministry and National Insurance Institute clerks. The hands are their hands. The head is the head of the demos, the Israeli-Jewish people, who by the democratic process send governments to be the dictator over the Palestinians.

Jewish colonists have attacked 96 Holy Muslim and Christian sacred sites in the West Bank and 46 sacred sites in Occupied East Jerusalem since the beginning of the year. - Ramallah: Jewish colonists have attacked 96 Holy Muslim and Christian sacred sites in the West Bank and 46 sacred sites in Occupied East Jerusalem since the beginning of the year. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Islamic Affairs, the colonists have left behind racist and threatening messages after vandalising Palestinian property. "Price tag" is most commonly spray painted on property in reference to the Palestinian statehood bid at the United Nations in September. Also derrogatory and insulting words are written against Islam and their Holy Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).

Khalid Amayreh: Israel gangs up on Palestinians
Khalid Amayreh: The Jewish war on Islam in Palestine
PIC: Settlers attack mosque in al-Khalil, leave racist graffiti
PIC: Israeli scheme to displace thousands of Palestinians in Al-Khalil
IMEMC: Israel Bulldozes Industrial Structures In Silwan
IMEMC: Nine Security Council Member States Condemn Israeli Settlement Expansion
Jason Ditz: US Blocks UN From Condemning Israeli Settlement Expansion

550 Palestinian prisoners were freed on Sunday, in the second stage of a deal between the Zionist entity and the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas. - The majority of the freed prisoners returned to the West Bank, ruled by Fatah movement. The second stage of the deal included 41 prisoners returned to Gaza, two to east al-Quds (Jerusalem) two to Jordan and the remainder to the occupied West Bank. Sunday’s release completes the Egyptian-brokered deal to exchange a total of 1,027 prisoners for the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was captured by Hamas fighters in June 2006. Shalit returned home on October 18 when Israel freed the first batch of 477 prisoners. Unlike the first stage, the second stage did not include anyone "with blood on their hands". The October operation included hundreds of prisoners serving life for killing Zionists.

Move 'Punishes Palestinians' for Being Recognized by UNESCO. - It was two months ago but Israeli efforts to “punish” the Palestinians for receiving recognition from the UNESCO continue today with an announcement by the Housing Ministry for 1,028 new homes in West Bank settlements. The move was announced as part of a larger collection of construction approvals throughout Israel, but included homes in occupied south Jerusalem as well as the West Bank settlements of Betal Illit and Givat Ze’ev. Construction is to start within a year. The announcement is just the latest in a number of massive expansions of the settlements by the far-right coalition government in Israel since the expiration of a partial building freeze in September of 2010.

A Palestinian fisherman has been injured after Israeli forces opened fire on his boat in Gaza's maritime boundary, medics reported. - According to Palestinian sources, a 45-year-old fisherman was injured in his legs by two gunshots fired from an Israeli naval vessel while he was fishing within the Israeli-imposed limit off the coast of the Gaza Strip on Friday. Tel Aviv has recently tightened Gaza's fishing space, allowing Palestinians to catch fish only within three miles off the coast of Gaza, which has resulted in an 85-percent loss of the fishermen's income. Palestinian fishermen are harassed daily by the Israeli naval forces patrolling the Gaza Strip's coastline around the clock. According to the head of the fishing syndicate in Gaza said that, since 2000, seven fishermen had been killed, scores injured, and hundreds abducted for interrogation, including many, who are still imprisoned in Israeli jails. Israel has subjected Gaza to an all-out land, naval, and aerial blockade since June 2007 after Hamas resistance movement took control of the coastal territory. The restrictions have deprived 1.5 million Palestinians of food, fuel, and other necessities.

In Western Europe, the Icelandic parliament recently passed a measure without objections to recognise the state of Palestine. The vote passed with 38 votes in favour and 13 abstaining. - The chairman of the opposition says Icelanders do not have sufficient knowledge of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to get involved. The opposition also maintains that the dispute should be resolved through bilateral negotiations. Iceland’s Foreign Minister Össur Skarphéðinsson said in a UN address that it would be foolish to deny Palestine rights in the middle of the democratic revolution brought on by the Arab Spring. In this episode, The Stream speaks to Össur Skarphéðinsson, Foreign Minister of Iceland and Michael Tarazi, former legal adviser to the Palestine Liberation Organization.

IMEMC: Iceland Recognizes Palestine as a State

Jewish extremists set fire to a mosque in the West Bank on Thursday and defaced it with Hebrew graffiti a day after a similar arson attack on a Jerusalem mosque. Suspicion fell on Jewish extremists widely assumed to be behind stepped-up violence against Palestinians and the Israeli military. The governor of the Palestinian city of Ramallah, Laila Ghanam, said arsonists doused the mosque in the village of Burqa with gasoline, then set it on fire. - The Hebrew words for “war” and “Mitzpe Yitzhar” were painted in red on a wall, and the Israeli military said carpets and chairs were burned. Mitzpe Yitzhar is an unauthorized Jewish settlement outpost in the West Bank where Israeli security forces demolished two structures early Thursday. On Wednesday, suspected extremists torched an unused mosque in Jerusalem.

Pierre Klochendler: Fighting Settlers’ Impunity and Immunity

Mustafa Tamimi, 28 was pronounced dead Saturday after being hit with a teargas canister directly to his face at a short range. Palestinian media sources said Tamimi was throwing rocks at the armored Israeli jeep when one of the soldiers opened the door and fired the teargas canister at him. [Video]

AWIP: No miracle yesterday in Nabi Saleh: Mustafa Tamimi murdered
Al Manar TV: Mustafa Tamimi, Latest Victim of Israel’s Barbarism

Gotta hand it to the IDF. We could never have high-lighted its apartheid policy better. - Monday night, three days after the killing of Mustafa Tamimi – who was killed by a 40mm grenade to the face by a soldier sitting in an armored vehicle – several young settler hoodlums tried to forcibly cross the border to Jordan, in order to create an outpost there. Ha’Kol Hayehudi, Israel’s equivalent of Radio Rwanda, claimed their purpose was to remind us all that Jordan, too, is a part of Israel. Others said this was retaliation for Jordan’s participation in the crisis over a bridge near the Western Wall. I have seen with my own eyes people arrested and cuffed for the crime of entering a closed military zone. I have listened as a major explained patiently that the army has declared the entire village of Al Ma’asara such a zone. I have seen the detainees being hooded and forced into military vehicle. Somehow, when it comes to right wing rioters in the West Bank, that doesn’t happen. Hours later, some arrests were made – presumably the police showed up.

Xinhuanet: Mosque torched in Jerusalem in suspected attack by extremists