UN: 2014 to be the year of solidarity with Palestine

Voicing solidarity with Palestinians in their aspirations for independent statehood, and stressing the importance of ongoing peace talks aimed at a two-state coexistence for Palestine and Israel, the UN General Assembly observed the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People with a series speeches and all six proposed resolutions adopted.

Palestinians fight Israeli attempts to claim Bethlehem

Al-Monitor 29 Nov by Daoud Kuttab — As the Christmas season approaches and as tourism to the Holy Land rises, the fight over holy sites has also escalated. The Palestinian Ministry of Information published on its website a report citing an official complaint by the Palestinian ambassador in Rome, Mai al-Kalia, against Israel, which is trying to appropriate Bethlehem. According to the Palestinian ministry, the Israeli tourism office in Rome has published touristic literature stating that “Israel, thanks to a wide range of unique sites such as the old port of Jaffa, and Nazareth, Jerusalem and Tiberias, Bethlehem, Capernaum, Masada, the Dead Sea, Fort Herod and caves near Qumran …” Four of the sites mentioned lie in the Palestinian territories, but Israel is advertising them as part of Israel in an attempt to attract Christian pilgrims from Italy.
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PHOTOS: A state-sanctioned 'price tag' on Palestinian olive trees

 Abed Rabo Jedua inspects damage to his olive trees, which were destroyed by Israeli civilians, in the West Bank village of Tuqu’, November 25, 2013. (photo: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)


An Israeli soldier stands near olive trees in the West Bank village of Tuqu’ which were destroyed by Israeli civilians escorted by soldiers, November 25, 2013. (photo: Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org)
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Israel prevents construction of Palestinian wells near Ya‘bad

JENIN (Ma‘an) 26 Nov — Israeli forces on Tuesday confiscated two pieces of digging equipment from a Palestinian village in the northern West Bank district of Jenin in order to prevent the construction of sewage wells, locals said. Israeli forces raided the village of Barta‘a al-Sharqiya while locals were drilling sewage wells at the entrance to the village and confiscated two backhoes during the process, locals said.
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Occupation forces confiscates 1500 dunums south of Nablus

NABLUS, (PIC)-- Israeli Occupation Authorities have declared its intention to confiscate about 1500 acres of Palestinian agricultural lands in Aqraba village southeast of Nablus on Thursday.

Palestinian farmers have been surprised this morning by Israeli notifications informing them of the Israeli decision to confiscate nearly 1,500 acres of their lands located west of Nablus, a Palestinian activist against settlement confirmed.

The source pointed out that the Israeli occupation authority claimed earlier that only 5 dunums would be confiscated, however it plans to confiscate 1500 dunums.

Thousands across Palestine protest against efforts to uproot Bedouin

“Activism for Naqab [has] managed to unify Palestinians and generate solidarity in the world beyond divisions and separation and beyond political parties and faction,” Abir Kopty wrote in an e-mail.

Assad: Our Battle With Saudi Is Open-Ended

"The [Saudis] gave cover to the Camp David agreement, supported the war on Lebanon in 1982, and today, they are engaged in an open-ended war against Syria. We are now openly saying that we are at war with them."
 Ten days ago, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met with a delegation of party leaders and politicians from Arab countries. He said unequivocally: The battle will continue as long as Saudi Arabia continues to “back terrorism,” and the flow of extremist fighters, money, and arms into Syria continues.

Israeli police attack anti-Prawer protests with tear gas, water cannons

Israeli occupation forces attack a Palestinian protester after a demonstration against the so-called Prawer plan at the gate of the Beit El settlement, near Ramallah, on November 30, 2013. (Photo: AFP - Abbas Momani) 

Israeli police on Saturday attacked thousands of protesters in the coastal city of Haifa and the desert village of Houra demonstrating against a draft law aimed at evicting Bedouin residents from the southern Negev.
Protests against the so-called Prawer bill – which would forcibly evict up to 40,000 Bedouins, demolish about 40 villages and confiscate more than 700,000 dunams of Negev land – also took place in the West Bank, Gaza and across at least 14 other countries.
The draft legislation of the bill was adopted by Israel's parliament in a first reading in June but it has to pass two more readings before it becomes law.
 

Activists hold 'day of rage' protests against Prawer Plan

+972′s live blog follows November 30 ‘Day of Rage’ protests against the Prawer-Begin Plan, which if  implemented, will forcefully displace tens of thousands of Bedouin living in the Negev desert.

Protesters against the Prawer Plan at Day of Rage protests outside the Negev town of Hura, November 30, 2013. (Photo: Activestills.org)

Bedouin, Palestinian and Israeli activists staged a ‘Day of Rage’ against the Prawer Plan Saturday afternoon, holding rallies and protests throughout Israel and Palestine, with international solidarity protests taking place in cities across the world.
The central protest took place outside the Bedouin town of Hura in the Negev desert. Over 1,000 Arab and Jewish protesters arrived from all over Israel, calling to stop the Prawer Plan, which if passed, will displace tens of thousands of Bedouin, who are citizens of the state.
Read more about the Prawer-Begin Plan

Solidarity saved me from the Nazis; that’s why I fight Israeli apartheid

Suzanne Weiss
"We hear disturbing reports this year from southern Israel. The Israeli government proposes to relocate some 70,000 Palestinian Bedouins from their present homes to government-approved townships. This is called the Prawer Plan, and Israel’s parliament approved it by a three-vote majority in June.
The Prawer Plan would destroy 35 Bedouin villages in the Naqab (Negev) region and extinguish Bedouin claims to land seized from them after the foundation of Israel. The government denies basic services to these villages. Right beside them, in many cases, are new, modern, fully serviced communities for Jewish settlers."

The taboo on boycotting Israel has been broken

"Something extraordinary happened on Saturday evening at the American Studies Association’s annual meeting in Washington, DC.
At a packed open meeting called by the ASA’s National Executive Council to discuss a resolution to “endorse and honor” the Palestinian call for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions, speaker after speaker rose to express strong support for the resolution."

The Economist: Iran's nuclear deal: Israel heads for a terrifying split

Such an insistence on total capitulation is characteristic of hard-liners in conflicts like this, and I confess I rarely understand the mentality behind it. In some cases the motivation behind making demands so onerous that the opponent cannot possibly grant them is clear: the hard-liner wants to provoke an armed conflict which he thinks he can win, and a compromise solution might forestall the war. This was the case, for example, with the demands America made of Saddam Hussein in the run-up to the Iraq war. In other cases, the motivation is different: the hard-liner understands that his internal political power within his own country is reinforced by the conflict, even if (perhaps especially if) his side appears to be losing, so he makes demands that ensure conflict will continue. This is the case with Hamas's refusal to recognise Israel's right to exist. A final possibility is that the hard-liner is delusional, and actually believes that insistence on maximalist demands will lead to the surrender or collapse of the other side.

'5 Broken Cameras' clinches International Emmy Award

Emad Burnat, who co-directed the Oscar-nominated film with Israel's Guy Davidi, is the first Palestinian to win an Emmy. 
 

Producer Christine Camdessus and Palestinian director Emad Burnat with their best documentary award during the 41st International Emmy Awards in New York, November 25, 2013. 

 The Oscar-nominated film "5 Broken Cameras," a chronicle of Palestinian nonviolent resistance co-directed by Palestinian Emad Burnat and Israeli Guy Davidi, nabbed the best documentary award at the 41st annual International Emmy Awards. Burnat said he is the first Palestinian to win an Emmy. Palestinians “need your support and help,” he was quoted as saying by Variety.
"5 Broken Cameras" was made from footage shot by Burnat, a resident of the Palestinian village of Bil'in, over several years beginning in 2005. It documents the childhood of his son, Gibreel, against the backdrop of the protests the village residents had staged against the construction of the security fence on land that they owned.

Already in 1984 Israel was claming Iranian bomb imminent!

'Iran in final stage of production of nuclear bomb:'
Maariv headline, April 25, 1984

Demolition and Eviction of Bedouin Citizens of Israel in the Naqab (Negev) - The Prawer Plan

What is the Prawer Plan?

Arab Bedouin citizens of Israel, inhabitants of the Naqab (Negev) desert since the seventh century, are the most vulnerable community in Israel. For over 60 years, the indigenous Arab Bedouin have faced a state policy of displacement, home demolitions and dispossession of their ancestral land. Today, 70,000 Arab Bedouin citizens live in 35 villages that either predate the establishment of the State in 1948, or were created by Israeli military order in the early 1950s. The State of Israel considers the villages “unrecognized” and the inhabitants “trespassers on State land,” so it denies the citizens access to state infrastructure like water, electricity, sewage, education, health care and roads. The state deliberately withholds basic services from these villages to “encourage” the Arab Bedouin citizens to give up their ancestral land. If Israel applied the same criteria for planning and development that exist in the Jewish rural sector, all 35 unrecognized villages would be recognized where they are

Israel’s Siege of Gaza Is Sadistic and Illegal, Yet US Support Continues

John Glaser (Antiwar.com)
Israel’s blockade of Gaza has long been known for it’s cruel results in strangling the population. But two recent happenings – namely Egypt’s destruction of Gaza’s smuggling tunnels and Israel’s decision ratchet up the blockade by blocking construction materials – have made Gaza virtually “uninhabitable,” according to the UN.

IOF destroys Bedouin village al-‘Araqib for 62nd time

NEGEV, (PIC)-- Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) demolished on Wednesday the Bedouin village of al-Araqib, in the Negev in the southern 1948 occupied territories, for the 62nd time in a row since 2010.

Hundreds of Israeli soldiers accompanied by military bulldozers abruptly raided the unrecognized village and started to demolish and remove hundreds of Palestinian homes and facilities.

Local sources said that IOF removed the demolition wastes and cleaned the area as a prelude to plant it with trees and seedlings, claiming that it belongs to Israeli lands.
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Exclusive: Secret Talks to Save Syria Begin

The United States, Iran, Russia, and Saudi Arabia and others held secret and informal discussions on Thursday to devise a strategy for improving the U.N.'s stalled relief effort in Syria, according to diplomatic sources familiar with the effort.
The meeting -- which was held at the French mission to the United Nations in Geneva -- was convened to lay the ground work for a more formal meeting scheduled for November 26 on the future of international relief efforts in Syria.
The participation of American and Iranian officials provides further evidence that the decades-long diplomatic freeze between the two countries is beginning to thaw, offering new areas beyond the ongoing round of nuclear diplomacy where the long-time enemies can cooperate.

 

Deal Reached to Halt Iran's Nuclear Program

GENEVA - The historic nuclear deal Iran signed with the United States and five other world powers early Sunday morning represents the biggest gamble of President Barack Obama's presidency, and the success or failure of that bet will have serious repercussions for the administration's standing on Capitol Hill, Washington's relationships with Israel and other Middle Eastern allies, and the national security of the United States itself.

One year after “ceasefire,” Gaza’s suffering deepens

Girls walk to school in sewage-flooded streets of Gaza City.
“Life is worse than a year ago. We just want to make a living but it’s now almost impossible. The electricity is off most of the day, and the fuel is so expensive I can only afford to turn the generator on for 30 minutes at a time,” Ibrahim Zayed, a shopkeeper in northern Gaza, told Oxfam.