Meanwhile in Palestine

Here is what happens when you challenge Zionism: David Horowitz: Jimmy Carter: Jew-Hater, Genocide-Enabler, Liar.

Former President Carter says he won't visit Brandeis: "I don't want to have a conversation even indirectly with Dershowitz," Carter told The Boston Globe. "There is no need ... for me to debate somebody who, in my opinion, knows nothing about the situation in Palestine."

Israel boycott may be the way to peace: Ten Palestinians are killed for every Israeli death; more than 200, many of them children, have been killed since the summer.

The Green Line is the border: It is hard to understand why the line's deletion was justified and its restoration deemed unacceptable by settlers and their supporters. It is true that there is no sanctity in the cease-fire line beyond the fact that turning it into an official border is the only possible basis for determining Israel's final territorial arrangements and for ending the war both with the Palestinians and with the Arab countries.

Analysis: Building up force is PA Chairman Abbas' top priority: When news of the closure was broadcast this afternoon, a vendor at the New Gate in the Old City in Jerusalem cried out: "Do the Israelis want to starve us? Haniyeh is bringing in money for people who want to eat. Where else in the world is there such cruelty?" The anger against Israel is undermining the political power of Abbas who is calling for negotiations with Israel and peaceful coexistence. Aides to Abbas from the Fatah leadership have already concluded that there is no way of avoiding a direct and violent confrontation with Hamas.

Beyond imagination: While Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is still counting on the US and the EU -- and probably Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as well -- to "strengthen" his position against the Hamas-led government, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh has been scoring success after success in his extended tour of a number of Arab and Muslim states in the region.

EU backs peace plan worded by Spain, France, Italy: The 25 foreign ministers reaffirmed the initiative Thursday and leaders from the 25 EU nations will formally endorse it Friday. Diplomats said the leaders' statement nudges Syria into doing more for peace and urges Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to keep up his efforts to form a government of national unity.

Assad to Olmert: Take a chance, See if we're bluffing: Syrian President Bashar Assad called on Israel in an interview published on Friday to renew talks with Damascus. Asked about this week's conference sponsored by Iran questioning the Holocaust - the killing of 6 million Jews by Nazi Germany in World War Two - Assad said: "Listen, Europe has a complex about the Holocaust. We don't because we didn't do it."

EU summit urges Syria to play constructive peace role, warns Iran on sanctions: The European Union on Thursday embraced a Middle East peace initiative that urges Syria to play a constructive role in the region and hints to Iran of impending international sanctions over its nuclear program. It also condemned a move by the Palestinian militant group Hamas to seize a key EU-monitored border crossing Thursday between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.

Rice hints Baker report to be snubbed: Rice stressed that the administration will continue to push for a democratic Mideast, insisting it is a "matter of strategic interest," this as opposed to the Baker-Hamilton report which made a point of underplaying that goal. She reiterated the US's commitment to peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, saying that there will be many Mideast visits in the near future.

EU extends Palestinian aid deal that bypasses Hamas-led gov't: EU leaders said "the protracted deterioration" of the Palestinian situation justified continuing the World Bank-monitored aid scheme that has funneled hundreds of millions of euros (dollars) directly to Palestinians.

Rocket threat: Sderot factories at risk of closing down: In wake of this incident, the Ministry has demanded that all structures at the plants be fortified. However, in light of the dire economic situation in the region, due in large part to the almost daily Qassam attacks, both factories said they were unable to pay for such works.

Israeli Lawmaker Wants to Abolish Palestinian Authority in West Bank: "After 13 years of incitement and violence and terrorism and agreement violations, one should say that enough is enough. It is high time [that Israel] should abolish the Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria [West Bank] and transfer the leadership to Gaza," said Israeli lawmaker Yuval Steinitz.

General Assembly adopts resolutions criticizing Israeli actions against Palestinians: The Assembly also adopted a text on Israeli settlements by 162 votes in favour to 8 against and with 10 abstentions reaffirming that "settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and the occupied Syrian Golan, were illegal and an obstacle to peace and economic and social development." It also reiterated its demand for the complete cessation of all such activity.

Hamas wants simultaneous swap of Shalit, Palestinian prisoners: "The Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit will never be freed unless our hero prisoners, the long-serving and the faction leaders are freed in a reciprocal and simultaneous manner," senior Hamas leader Khalil Al-Hayya told a large Hamas rally in Gaza.

Haniyeh: We're Shahids, not ministers: The Palestinian leader called for unity among the Palestinian factions, after days of continually escalating violence in the Strip and the West Bank. "Palestinian blood must be safeguarded; we must unite for the fight to free our lands and holy sites," he said. With that, Haniyeh said no amount of pressures on his government would lead Hamas to modify its stances.

Nonviolent protest in Damon Prison against strip searches: For the third day in a row Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli Damon Prison are on hunger strike. This nonviolent action is in protest of the prison administration's arbitrary attempts to force Palestinians to submit to strip searches before visiting relatives.

Dahlan: "Accusing me of attempting to kill Haniyya, a clear lie, a bid for my assassination": Dahlan stated that Hamas gunmen were the ones who fired lat Monday at the vehicle of Major Baha' Balousha, killing his three children on their way to school, instead of him; the three children are Osama, 10, Ahmad, 6, and Salam, 3 years old. He added that Hamas knows the killers of the three children.

Hamas accuses Dahlan, presidential security of attempting to assassinate Haniyya: Hamas' media spokesperson Ismail Radwan said in a press release from Gaza that Haniyya survived an assassination attempt carried out "by a spiteful group led by Mohammad Dahlan who prepared and planned this attack", according to Radwan. Hamas accused the presidential guards of attacking the Prime Minister's convoy.

Dahlan vows to decimate Hamas:
"I told them [Hamas] that they would eat [expletive] if they recognised Israel and would eat [expletive] if they didn't recognise Israel. They would eat [expletive] if they recognised the Arab initiative and would eat [expletive] if they didn't."

Dahlan also tacitly admits that he has been behind much of the lawlessness and security chaos in Gaza: "I just deploy two jeeps, and people would say Gaza is on fire."

Dahlan says Hamas's victory in the elections was "a disaster", or nakba, for the movement, and yet, "Hamas is now the weakest Palestinian faction. They are whining and complaining. Well, they will have to suffer yet more until they are damned to the seventh ancestor. I will haunt them from now till the end of their term in four years. And I swear, whoever within Fatah says 'we should join the government," I will humiliate them."

Nonviolent protest in Damon Prison against strip searches: For the third day in a row Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli Damon Prison are on hunger strike. This nonviolent action is in protest of the prison administration's arbitrary attempts to force Palestinians to submit to strip searches before visiting relatives.

Israel to tighten enforcement of int'l boycott of PA: Security sources in Israel said that Hamas officials who will attempt in the future to bypass the economic embargo on the Palestinian Authority will also not be allowed to cross back into the Gaza Strip.

'Silent Transfer' presentation at TAU: It soon became obvious from the large number of people who had either been denied entry or had had their passports stamped 'last permit,' that in March 2006 Israel had instituted a new policy, a policy that would either separate families or cause families to leave. Recently, 105 passports were returned with visas not later than the end of December 2006, and all stamped "last permit." A week later 125 were returned with 'entry denied' stamped on them.


'Sacred Space' screened at St. Stephen's: Narrated by Nagle's wife Joy, the film focuses on the building of the wall around the area of the "Bethlehem Triangle," consisting of the towns of Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Beit Sahour." In many areas, including Bethlehem, the wall has been build well inside the West Bank, in order to include the settlements," Nagle tells viewers. "This wall confiscates Palestinian lands, attaching them to the settlements and making them part of Israel."

Jerusalem by numbers: changing birthrates: The team began to conduct the study after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert spoke, earlier this year, of a plan to partition the city, claiming that placing tens of thousands of Arabs outside the municipal boundaries would preserve the Jewish majority in Jerusalem.

John Berger rallies artists for cultural boycott of Israel: The celebrated novelist, critic and artist John Berger today calls on British writers and artists to undertake a "cultural boycott" of Israel. In a letter to the Guardian, co-signed by, among others, the artist Cornelia Parker, the musician Brian Eno, and writers Arundhati Roy and Ahdaf Soueif, Berger calls for support for "our Palestinian and Israeli colleagues". He suggests boycott tactics; in his case it meant declining to be published by a large mainstream Israeli publisher, he says.

Former President Carter says he won't visit Brandeis: "I don't want to have a conversation even indirectly with Dershowitz," Carter told The Boston Globe. "There is no need to for me to debate somebody who, in my opinion, knows nothing about the situation in Palestine." The debate request is proof that many in the United States are unwilling to hear an alternative view on the nation's most taboo foreign policy issue, Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory, Carter said.

'Barrier will be done by end of 2008': Construction of the West Bank security barrier will be completed by the end of 2008, a senior defense official.

Make Mideast peace urgent policy priority, interreligious leaders urge U.S. government: In the strongly worded, 2,500-word statement dated Dec. 12 and released Dec. 14, 35 leaders of national religious bodies, compelled by "our shared Abrahamic faith," said the United States has "an inescapable responsibility and an indispensable role to provide creative, determined leadership for building a just peace for all in the Middle East."


More lands confiscated from Kafr al-Labad, east of Tulkarem: Israeli forces have confiscated hundreds of acres of Palestinian lands belonging to the northern West Bank town of Kafr al-Labad, east of Tulkarem. The lands have been confiscated for the establishment of the separation wall around the Israeli settlement of Avne Hefez. Ma'an's correspondent has visited the location and reported that the lands are planted with olive trees and occupy some 144.6 dunums.

Haniyeh's bodyguard killed, son wounded in shooting attack: Haniyeh's convoy came under fire as it crossed, and it was forced to speed away. Officials said Haniyeh was unharmed. Government official Taher Nunu, an adviser to the Palestinian foreign minister, said Haniyeh's son Abed was wounded in the exchange.

Hamas and Fatah trade fire in power struggle: Violence between rival Palestinian groups edged closer towards civil war today as security forces loyal to the ruling Fatah organisation fired on Hamas supporters rallying in the West Bank. At least 32 Hamas supporters in Ramallah were wounded by gunfire from Fatah-loyal forces, hospital officials were quoted as saying by Reuters.

Non-violent march in Bil'in village met by Israeli military violence: "After the march, the army invaded the village and fired concussion grenades and teargas. Lately, they have been invading the village every Friday after our weekly protest", said Abu Rahme. He continued, "This is a clear attempt by the Israeli military to stifle our right to non-violently protest the unjust Israeli annexation Wall that is being built on our land." As of this report, the Israeli military is still in the village, occupying a number of houses and using those homes as sniper-posts.

Hillary Clinton: I join Israel against Ahmadinejad : Clinton called him a serious threat on Israel and her allies and continued to say that Iran must not be allowed to obtain and develop nuclear weapons.

Hamas, Fatah wage Gaza gun battle: Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh was eventually allowed to cross without the estimated $35 million cash but on the Gaza side of the border, his convoy came under intense fire from Fatah gunmen and one of his bodyguards was killed. Hamas said the gunmen had been aiming to kill the prime minister.

Hamas, Fatah Clash in Deepening Violence: - Gunmen allied with Hamas and Fatah clashed at a West Bank mosque and in Gaza Strip streets on Friday, as violence spread to areas of the Palestinian territories normally untouched by factional strife.

Gaza border shots 'targeted PM': The Palestinian Hamas group says a rival faction has tried to assassinate Prime Minister Ismail Haniya as he crossed back into Gaza from Egypt.

Hamas says Abbas wants war: A senior Hamas official has accused Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president and leader of Fatah, of starting a war after his security forces opened fire on a Hamas rally in the West Bank and firefights broke out in Gaza.

U.S. fermenting civil war: U.S. training Fatah in anti-terror tactics: U.S. officials training Palestinian security forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas are emphasizing urban anti-terrorist techniques as part of a systematic effort to bolster Abbas and his Fatah loyalists to counter the political success of Hamas, according to Palestinian analysts and officers receiving the training.

The enemy within: There are hundreds, possibly thousands of Palestinians working covertly for the Israeli intelligence services.