Hamas: Israel recognizes only murder and terrorism

Ma'an
Hamas officials called the six Palestinian deaths at the hands of Israeli forces Saturday part of the policy of "hunting down resistance groups" and vehemently condemned the two attacks.

The targeted extrajudicial executions of three Fatah-affiliated former fighters in the West Bank city of Nablus were coupled with a deadly airstrike on what Israel claimed were Palestinians attempting to infiltrate the country. The attack killed three and injured a fourth.

...called the assassinations a "war crime" since all three Fatah members were shot at close range in or beside their homes after they had been detained by Israeli forces. The official speculated that the Palestinian Authority was involved in supporting the assassinations, and suggested that "resistance should be enhanced, not plotted against."

......"the crime coincides with the first anniversary of the Israeli war against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. It confirms that the enemy believes only in murder and terrorism." Full story

Wife, brothers describe Israeli assassinations

Home of Raed Sarakji, assassinated in front of family [MaanImages]
Ma'an
Family members of three slain Fatah members gave testimony of the last moments of their loved ones' lives on Saturday, hours after the men were assassinated by Israeli forces in their own homes in Nablus.

Raed Sarakji, 38

Now a widow, Tahani Ja’ara is 32 years old and seven months pregnant. "We were sleeping in our bedroom, not bigger than six square meters, when Israeli soldiers began yelling 'get out, get out.' I thought I was dreaming. When I heard the Israeli soldiers and their police dogs outside the room, that was when I realized it was real."

Tahani said her husband told soldiers he would get out of the house, so they started shooting through the door and the windows. “He fell between my hands bleeding. I started crying 'they killed him, they killed him.' Then soldiers broke the door and got in. He was already dead, but they continued to riddle his body with bullets to make sure he was killed."

Three months before his death, Sarakji opened a used tools shop in the Old City of Nablus. He had just been released from Israeli prison in January 2009 after spending seven years in jail. He was trying to restart his life, according to Tahani.....

Ghassan Abu Sharkh, 39

Ghassan's 16-year-old brother Diyaa Abu Sharkh saw him shot dead Saturday morning. “Everything happened very quickly… when we opened the door and saw the soldiers, two masked collaborators pointed to my brother Ghassan who was walking down the stairs. Before I knew it he was being shot. I couldn’t really make sense of what was going on at all. Then an Israeli officer asked me whether the dead man was Ghassan, and I said yes. 'Good, then ask everybody to leave the house,' the officer said."

“I was stading close to Ghassan when they killed him. They could have detained him very easily. He passed to join my brother Nayif who was killed by Israeli forces a few years ago [2004].”

Ghassan Abu Sharkh was a car electrician and owned a small workshop. He left behind a wife, three sons, and a daughter.....

Anan Subih, 33

Farid Subih is 45; his brother Anan was killed Saturday morning in the Ras Al-Ain neighborhood of Nablus. “At 3am, dozens of Israeli troops surrounded our four-story building. They blew open the the main gate then started shooting randomly and throwing grenades in all directions. Anan was inside, and he asked everybody to leave the building to avoid being hurt.”

He continued, “We headed to the nearby house of the Al-‘Amoudi family. Then soldiers entered the house with police dogs, and they started throwing more grenades, and a fire erupted in the warehouse full of plastic chairs and sponge material.

“My brother was not armed, but we could see soldiers continue to ransack the house. For three hours, we didn’t know what was going on. After the soldiers left, we found Anan dead … bullets tore all his body and bones. They could have detained him, and he died believing he had been granted amnesty by Israeli forces. He left behind a widow, two sons, and five daughters,” added Farid......

Anan had been affiliated with Fatah's Al-Aqsa Brigades years before, but he was completely pardoned in an amnesty deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Full story

PCHR Weekly report: 28 abducted, including 12 children, in 20 Israeli invasions this week

IMEMC
According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights' Weekly Report: On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, during the week of 16- 22 Dec 2009, Israeli forces Israeli forces conducted 20 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank [these are major incursion; the Palestinian Monitoring Group recorded many more Israeli raids into the Palestinian territories], during which they abducted 23 Palestinian civilians, including 7 children.

Israeli naval troops have continued to attack Palestinian fishermen in the Gaza Strip. In addition, Israel has continued to impose a total closure and has isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world. Israeli troops positioned at military checkpoints in the West Bank abducted 5 Palestinian civilians, including one child.

Also this week, Israeli occupation forces ordered the demolition of a mosque and 9 houses in Jabal al-Mukabber village. Full story

Six Palestinians Killed in Nablus, Gaza

IMEMC
Israeli soldiers shot and killed on Saturday six Palestinians in two separate attacks in the northern West Bank City of Nablus, and in Beit Hanoun, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. Three Palestinians were executed in Nablus, and three were shot and killed near the ‘border fence’ in northern Gaza.

... three resistance fighters of the Al Aqsa Brigades, the armed wing of Fateh, were killed and seven residents were wounded when the Israeli army invaded the city shortly after midnight and surrounded several homes in a number of neighborhoods in the Old City.

The sources added that the soldiers broke into a house that belongs to Abu Sharkh family and assassinated Ghassan Abu Sharkh in front of his wife, children and mother. He sustained several rounds of live ammunition in his chest and legs.

...his brother, Nayef Abu Sharkh, was assassinated by the Israeli forces several years ago.

The same method was used to assassinate Raed Abdul-Jabbar Al Sarkaji, 38, also in the Old City as the Israeli forces broke into his home and shot him dead while his pregnant wife was wounded in her legs.

Furthermore, soldiers broke invaded Ras Al Ein neighborhood, in the center of Nablus, and broke into the home of Adnan Sbeih, 33, but he was not there.

Later on, the army torched his home and several hours on the soldiers managed to locate Sbeih at a residential building and shot him dead. At least two Palestinians were wounded in ensuing clashes.

...Ghassan Hamdan, head of the Palestinian Medical Relief, said that the slain residents were executed in cold blood and in front of their families.

.....the three fighters were previously “pardoned” by Israel as part of a deal with Fateh leader, Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas. The Al Aqsa Brigades is the armed wing of Fateh.

The Palestinian security forces, “fully controlling Nablus”, did not attempt to intervene or stop the Israeli invasion, local sources reported.
The invasion into the city lasted for several hours.

..........In the Gaza Strip, Israeli soldiers shot and killed three Palestinians and wounded another Palestinian near the Erez Terminal, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

The three were identified as Mahmoud Al Sharatha, Hani Abu Ghazal, and Basheer Abu Dheil. All three were born in 1989 and are from the Bedouin village, in northern Gaza.

Israeli sources reported that the army spotted the three “crawling near the security fence” close to the Erez terminal, and shot them dead before they managed to infiltrate into Israel.

The three apparently bled to death as the Palestinians are not allowed to approach the border area, an issued that obstructed Palestinians medics from reaching them. Their bodies were not retrieved until the time of this report, while the fourth managed to return to the Palestinians side.

Local sources reported that the four were trying to infiltrate into Israel seeking work due to the extreme poverty in the Gaza Strip besieged by Israel since mid 2006. Full story

Israeli forces kill three youths near Erez crossing

Ma'an
Israeli forces keeping siege to Gaza shot at a group of youths near the northern border Saturday, killing three and injuring a fourth...

Eyewitnesses told Ma'an that the group of four was "a few meters away from the Gaza border fence near Erez" when Israeli forces opened fire at them. One managed to escape the attack, though witnesses said it was unclear whether or not he was injured.

Palestinian sources said the victims were likely scavenging for construction materials near the border, as Gazans continue to build mud-brick homes out of recycled cement from the rubble left from the last Israeli assault on Gaza.

...They were in their early 20s.

An Israeli army spokesman said the youths were killed by a direct hit from an aircraft strike, but reported troops firing shots at the group, which he said had been "crawling toward the border fence." When they continued advancing, he said, an aircraft was sent out.... Full story

Gaza: PFLP-GC fighters report clash with Israeli army

Ma'an
...the attack occurred at 1am, with fighters clashing with Israeli troops attempting to enter the Strip through its northern border... Full story

Settlers attack Nablus greenhouse

Ma'an
Israeli settlers destroyed parts of the Al-Juneidi greenhouse in the Sahel Dir Sharef area west of Nablus on Friday night, the second settler attack on Palestinians in two days.

...“dozens of the settlers of the illegal settlement of Shavi Shomeron attacked the greenhouse from the back." He said the group destroyed dozens of roses, jars of fertilizer and seedlings, and potted plants.

Al-Juneidi estimated tens of thousands of shekels in losses...

On Thursday evening, Israeli settlers rampaged following the shooting death of a Shave Shomeron settler rabbi in an attack claimed by the Imad Mugganiya Brigades, a branch of the Al-Aqsa Brigades, which is affiliated with Fatah.

Residents of the village of Burin said dozens of Israelis from the Yitzhar settlement stormed the village, firing weapons and attempting to set fire to at least one house. Settlers also pelted Palestinians with stones, they said. Full story

Israel closes road leading to Nablus-area village

Ma'an
Israeli military bulldozers closed a road leading in to the West Bank village of Madama, south of Nablus on Thursday...

...bulldozers constructed earth mounds that make the road inaccessible, blocking access to more than two thirds of the village’s farmland, and severing the main link to the Nablus-Qalqiliya road.

He said the alternative route is difficult to use because it passes near the militant Israeli settlement of Yitzhar.

“Closing this entrance will isolate many of the homes from the village and the structures that are used for poultry,” he said.

Qat noted that residents had been planting winter crops in the isolated area and were also planting trees there under the Green Palestine project sponsored by the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture.

He also reported that settlers destroyed a car belonging to Abdul Aziz Ziada, a resident of the area... Full story

Israel objects to site of desalination plant

IRIN
The construction of a desalination plant intended to supply some 50 million cubic metres of water annually to Palestinians living in the West Bank has again been stalled.

.......Israeli demands that an alternative site be found might delay construction for years, analysts say. Israel is not funding the project or involved in its construction but is responsible for allocating the land for it, according to the Israeli-Palestinian Joint Water Committee.

Desalination is a major plank in Israeli water policy: the country already operates two major plants and is constructing more. Full story

Prisoners' families' convoy held up in West Bank

Ma'an
Armed Israeli settlers held up a convoy of busses carrying Palestinians returning from visiting their relatives in Israeli prisons on Thursday, passengers said.

......The International Committee of the Red Cross organizes busses for Palestinians to visit their jailed relatives. [There are currently at least 7,390 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, of which 32 are women and 340 are children, taken forcefully by invading Israeli soldiers.]

The incident took place the same day as the fatal shooting of an Israeli settler near the nearby [illegal] settlement of Save Shomron.

..........The shooting was later claimed by the Imad Mughniya group, a splinter group swearing allegiance to Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Brigades.

Following the attack, Palestinians said Israeli settlers rampaged through Palestinian villages in the Nablus area, firing weapons and attempting to set fire to houses... Full story

'Santa' protests Israeli wall in Bil'in

Ma'an



Bethlehem – Palestinians dressed as Santa Claus marched against Israel’s separation wall on Christmas day in the West Bank village of Bil’in, west of Ramallah.

Demonstrators carried a Christmas tree decorated with spent gas canisters and stun grenades fired by Israeli soldiers at previous demonstrations over the past five years.

Israeli soldiers fired tear gas at the Santa Clauses.

...the weapon-garnished tree was carried in support of Abdullah Abu Rahmah, the coordinator of the Bil’in Committee Against the Wall and Settlements.

Rahmah is currently in an Israeli military prison and is being charged with weapons possession for creating an art exhibit out of discharged tear-gas canisters and stun grenades.

The Bil’in Popular Committee issued a statement calling for the release of anti-wall activists who have been detained in a recent wave of arrests...

Demonstrators also marched against the separation wall in the nearby village of Ni’lin.

Protesters hold demonstrations each Friday in Bil’in and Ni’lin, following the noon Muslim prayer, to protest the Israeli wall that severs residents of the villages from their lands. Full story

Settler Killed In West Bank Shooting

IMEMC

An Israeli settler was shot and killed on Thursday evening near the Jewish settlement of Einav, near the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, Israeli sources reported.

.......The shooting comes as Israeli settlers in the West Bank stepped-up their attacks against the Palestinians and their lands after the Israeli government agreed to a temporary freeze of settlement activities.

The attacks included attacking farmers, burning farmlands, and burning a mosque in Yasuf village on Friday December 11th.

The settlers also attacked Palestinian villagers harvesting their olives in several parts of the occupied West Bank.

They also continued their government-supported takeover of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem. Full story

Christmas in the Holy Land 2009

youtube



NeverBeforeCampaignforPalestine

Human rights groups: World has failed Gaza

IMEMC

A report by sixteen human rights groups has found that civilians in the Gaza Strip are suffering disproportionately due to Israel’s stranglehold blockade of essential goods.

.......The groups said that Israel had allowed only 41 truckloads of construction materials into Gaza since last January.

Homes, public services, farms and businesses, all parts of the civilian infrastructure, were damaged, and little has been repaired.

According to Kate Allen of Amnesty International UK, the result is that sick, traumatized and impoverished people are being punished by an illegal policy imposed by the Israeli authorities.

The report called on European foreign ministers to visit Gaza to see the damage for themselves and urged the EU to do all it can to lift the blockade. Full story

Breaking Palestine’s peaceful protest

Israeli soldiers beat Iyad Bornat, one of the Bi'lin nonviolent movement leaders

UK Guardian - Neve Gordon
Palestinians have a long history of nonviolent resistance but Israel has continuously deployed methods to destroy it

Why," I have often been asked, "haven't the Palestinians established a peace movement like the Israeli Peace Now?"

The question itself is problematic, being based on many erroneous assumptions, such as the notion that there is symmetry between the two sides and that Peace Now has been a politically effective movement. Most important, though, is the false supposition that Palestinians have indeed failed to create a pro-peace popular movement.

In September 1967 – three months after the decisive war in which the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem were occupied – Palestinian leaders decided to launch a campaign against the introduction of new Israeli textbooks in Palestinian schools. They did not initiate terrorist attacks, as the prevailing narratives about Palestinian opposition would have one believe, but rather the Palestinian dissidents adopted Mahatma Gandhi-style methods and declared a general school strike: teachers did not show up for work, children took to the streets to protest against the occupation and many shopkeepers closed shop.

Israel's response to that first strike was immediate and severe: it issued military orders categorising all forms of resistance as insurgency – including protests and political meetings, raising flags or other national symbols, publishing or distributing articles or pictures with political connotations, and even singing or listening to nationalist songs.

Moreover, it quickly deployed security forces to suppress opposition, launching a punitive campaign in Nablus, where the strike's leaders resided. As Major General Shlomo Gazit, the co-ordinator of activities in the occupied territories at the time, points out in his book The Carrot and the Stick, the message Israel wanted to convey was clear: any act of resistance would result in a disproportionate response, which would make the population suffer to such a degree that resistance would appear pointless.

After a few weeks of nightly curfews, cutting off telephone lines, detaining leaders, and increasing the level of harassment, Israel managed to break the strike.

While much water has passed under the bridge since that first attempt to resist using "civil disobedience" tactics, over the past five decades Palestinians have continuously deployed nonviolent forms of opposition to challenge the occupation. Israel, on the other hand, has, used violent measures to undermine all such efforts.

It is often forgotten that even the second intifada, which turned out to be extremely violent, began as a popular nonviolent uprising. Haaretz journalist Akiva Eldar revealed several years later that the top Israeli security echelons had decided to "fan the flames" during the uprising's first weeks. He cites Amos Malka, the military general in charge of intelligence at the time, saying that during the second intifada's first month, when it was still mostly characterised by nonviolent popular protests, the military fired 1.3m bullets in the West Bank and Gaza. The idea was to intensify the levels of violence, thinking that this would lead to a swift and decisive military victory and the successful suppression of the rebellion. And indeed the uprising and its suppression turned out to be extremely violent.

But over the past five years, Palestinians from scores of villages and towns such as Bil'in and Jayyous have developed new forms of pro-peace resistance that have attracted the attention of the international community... Israel, in turn, decided to find a way to end the protests once and for all and has begun a well-orchestrated campaign that targets the local leaders of such resistance.

One such leader is Abdallah Abu Rahmah, a high school teacher and the co-ordinator of Bil'in's Popular Committee Against the Wall, is one of many Palestinians who was on the military's wanted list. At 2am on 10 December (international Human Rights Day), nine military vehicles surrounded his home. Israeli soldiers broke the door down, and after allowing him to say goodbye to his wife Majida and three young children, blindfolded him and took him into custody. ...

The day before Abu Ramah was arrested, the Israeli military carried out a co-ordinated operation in the Nablus region, raiding houses of targeted grassroots activists who have been fighting against human rights abuses. Wa'el al-Faqeeh Abu as-Sabe, 45, is one of the nine people arrested. He was taken from his home at 1am and, like Abu Ramah, is being charged with incitement. Mayasar Itiany, who is known for her work with the Nablus Women's Union and is a campaigner for prisoners' rights was also taken into custody as was Mussa Salama, who is active in the Labour Committee of Medical Relief for Workers. Even Jamal Juma, the director of an NGO called Stop the Wall, is now behind bars.

Targeted night arrests of community leaders have become common practice across the West Bank... Adeeb Abu Rahmah, a prominent activist who has been held in detention for almost five months and is under threat of being imprisoned for up to 14 months.

.... The objective is to put an end to the pro-peace popular resistance in the villages and to crush, once and for all, the Palestinian peace movement... Full story

Settlers 'attack unfinished house' near Nablus

Ma'an
Israeli settlers destroyed construction materials in an under-construction Palestinian house in the West Bank village of Burin, south of Nablus, on Thursday, local sources said.

... Israelis from the militant settlement of Bracha destroyed hundreds of cement blocks and other materials in the house, which is owned by Burceli Abul Aziz Eid, 30.

The sources added that the building is on the southeastern corner of the village, and has come under attack by settlers previously... Full story

Israel charges peace activist with “arms possession” for picking up spent Israeli tear gas canisters

Abdullah Abu Rahmah, center, mourning the killing of relative Bassen Abu Rahma during demonstration against wall

March 13, 2009: American Tristan Anderson, who had been photographing a nonviolent demonstration in Bil'in, was shot by an Israeli high velocity tear gas canister; part of his brain has been removed and his prognosis is unclear.

IMEMC
After holding anti-Wall protest organizer Abdullah Adu Rahma in prison for over a week without charges, Israeli authorities have decided to charge him with “arms possession” for picking up spent tear gas canisters after protests, leading Abu Rahma's lawyer to ask, “What's next? Charging demonstrators for the costs of the bullets used to shoot them?”

Israel fires dozens of high-velocity tear gas canisters at the weekly non-violent demonstrations organized, in part, by Abdullah Abu Rahma. These canisters often hit Palestinians and their international and Israeli supporters, and some demonstrators have documented cases of Israeli soldiers directly firing the canisters at people. Abdullah Abu Rahma's nephew, the 30-year old Bassem Abu Rahma, was killed earlier this year when he was hit by a tear gas canister directly in the chest at close range.

On receiving the indictment Adv. Gaby Lasky, Abu Rahmah’s lawyer said that “the army shoots at unarmed demonstrators, and when they try to show the world the violence used against them by collecting presenting the remnants – they are persecuted and prosecuted.”

The tear gas canisters are extremely potent when fired by Israeli forces, but once they are spent, they are completely useless as weapons, which makes the Israeli claim that Abu Rahma was “possessing arms” extremely ridiculous.

Abu Rahma has been a lead organizer of the over three hundred weekly non-violent protests that have been held in the village of Bil'in every Friday since 2003. His abduction last week was just the latest in a series of abductions of non-violent organizers by Israeli authorities. Mohammed Othman of the Grassroots Campaign Against the Wall and Jamal Juma of the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee are among the most recent abductees... Full story

Israeli Government Admits To Harvesting Organs From Dead Palestinians

IMEMC
a recording surfaced in which Dr. Yehuda Hiss, the chief pathologist of the Israeli forensics Institute, described in detail the harvesting of skin, corneas and other organs from Palestinians and Israelis without their family’s consent.

The interview, which was recorded in 2000, aired on Israeli Channel 2 over the weekend, and included an admission by Hiss that he and his colleagues tried to cover up what they were doing, saying about corpses that had corneas removed, "We'd glue the eyelid shut. We wouldn't take corneas from families we knew would open the eyelids."

.........Alison Weir, with If Americans Knew, one of the first groups in the US to report on the possibility of organ harvesting by Israeli officials, told the IMEMC “The Israeli government’s response to the initial report was so over the top, it made us wonder, why? Why don’t they want anyone to look into this?” Full story

Report: Female Palestinian detainees suffer neglect

Ma'an
Palestinian women serving time in Israel's prisons are suffering from medical neglect, the Palestinian Prisoners Society said in a report released Monday.

... lawyers and workers with the prison discovered 17 female detainees at Israel's Ash-Sharon and Ad-Damon prison facilities were being kept in sub-standard consitions and that all had been denied medical treatment for persisting conditions.

...a female prisoner from the Gaza Strip detained in 2005... has been kept in an isolated cell for months.

Five of the 17 are serving life sentences, while 12 others are being held under administrative detention and remain neither charged or sentenced.... Full story

‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’ – Barrier Wall choking Palestinian community in birthplace of Christ

Palestinians walk in fenced lanes beside the 30-foot-high Israeli wall at the entrance to Bethlehem (CNS)

Catholic Online - Elizabeth Griffin
Just over 2,000 years ago, the Holy Family made their way from Nazareth to Bethlehem to prepare for the moment that would change history forever. If they were to take that same route today, however, they would be greeted by a 25-foot barrier wall, armed guards and a huge steel gate resembling those found on nuclear shelters.

On a recent journey to the Holy Land as representatives of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), we witnessed this reality and the unfathomable results it has wrought. Before this trip, the full picture of this crisis was not clear to us. What we hear and read in the U.S. media is too filtered for us to really know the whole truth or to know how much the Palestinians in Bethlehem – and throughout the West Bank and Gaza – are suffering.

Some Israel-based human rights groups agree. The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, which comprises prominent Israeli academics, attorneys, journalists and Israeli parliament members, says, "In areas where the barrier has already been built, the extensive violations of human rights of Palestinians living nearby are evident."

In November of 2005, the birthplace of Christ was sealed off from Jerusalem – just in time for Christmas – depriving people of freedom of movement within their land, annexing entire communities and crippling the local economy.

Amid security procedures locals say are growing more and more invasive, tourists and religious pilgrims, who are the major contributors to Bethlehem's economy, have stayed away in ever-increasing numbers. Those who do visit are encouraged by Israeli-led tour groups not to stay in Bethlehem. Rather, they are encouraged to support the hotels on the outskirts of the city, on the other side of the barrier wall.

Faced with constant and ever-changing restrictions on their movement by Israeli Defense Forces, residents of Bethlehem are finding it harder and harder to get to nearby cities like Jerusalem to work. The movement of goods and merchandise in and out of the walled-in area is completely controlled and taxed by Israeli authorities. All of these factors are contributing to an increasing unemployment rate, which the Bethlehem municipality says now stands at about 65 percent.

Two millennia after the birth of Christ, this ancient, holy city is quite literally being strangled in the shadow of the barrier wall.

If it continues on its present course, the wall will eventually grow to 439 miles in length – more than four times the length of the Berlin Wall – standing as high as 26 feet in some places. Consisting of hundreds of miles of barbed wire and thousands of tons of concrete, it is the largest infrastructure project in Israel, with a price tag to match. The United Nations estimates that the projected cost of the wall will exceed $1 billion – for which the U.S. government is at least partially willing to pay. According to the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem, a Palestinian nongovernmental organization that tracks the barrier wall's progress, the United States has diverted $50 million from $200 million slated for the Palestinian Authority to construct 34 high-tech, militarily secure crossings in the barrier wall...

........According to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which also closely monitors the progress of the barrier wall, more than 75 percent of the wall's total length is being built inside the West Bank. In July 2004, the International Court of Justice, the principal U.N. judicial organ, ruled that the construction of the barrier wall in Palestinian territory was "contrary to international law."

And a report released in November 2006 by Israeli advocacy group Settlement Watch states that "39 percent of the land used by Jewish settlements in the West Bank is private Palestinian property." According to a Nov. 22 Washington Post article about the report, this land "includes some of the large settlement blocs inside the barrier that Israel is building to separate Israelis from the Palestinian population in the West Bank." Despite all of this, construction continues.

In Bethlehem, the barrier wall has created a prison-like existence for the dwindling Christian population there. The residents are beleaguered, and the merchants we spoke to feel the world does not understand their plight. Others blame fellow Christians overseas for not doing enough on their behalf.

The present-day story of Bethlehem is of a sacred place now enmeshed in concrete and barbed wire, where the humanitarian situation deteriorates and not only compromises human dignity, but also puts at risk the long-term welfare of both Palestinians and Israelis who long for a just peace.

One cannot help but be reminded of the words from the Gospel of Luke: "Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened" (2:15).

This Christmas season, the story of a miracle birth in a quiet manger seems impossibly distant from the little town of Bethlehem that we know today. Full story

More reports from CRS

Bethlehem Cards for order

PA takes diplomats on Bethlehem 'occupation tour'

Diplomats tour the Israeli separation wall in Bethlehem [MaanImages]
Ma'an
A delegation of 15 foreign diplomats and ambassadors toured the Bethlehem area on Tuesday ahead of Christmas. Full story

Israel's doctors must allay torture fears

Dr. Yoram Blacher, head of Israeli Medical Association, opposes efforts to investigate Israeli physicians' participation on torture

UK Guardian - Antony Lerman

One of the disturbing features of the persistent use of torture ...is the role some doctors play in condoning it. The World Medical Association (WMA), which "promot[es] the highest possible standards of medical ethics, [and] provides ethical guidance to physicians", is crystal clear on this practice. Its 1975 Tokyo declaration states unequivocally that "physicians shall not countenance, condone or participate in the practice of torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading procedures, and in all situations, including armed conflict and civil conflict". ...

The specific problem of doctors' complicity in the torture of detainees in the Middle East was raised at an international patients' rights conference ... head of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I), called for the WMA to play a central role in establishing a network "to voice complaints and provide assistance to those who are willing to struggle against torture". National medical associations and human rights organisations should work together "to campaign against torture in general and against the participation of physicians in torture procedures". In saying this, Marton was thinking about what some regard as the very unsatisfactory situation in Israel.

Evidence has been produced by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) and PHR-I of doctors examining interrogated Palestinians before, during or after torture without documenting, reporting or resisting, and by providing medical documents and information to the bodies responsible for the torturing. These are all expressly prohibited under WMA and Israel Medical Association (IMA) guidelines, as is even the presence of a doctor where there is torture.

These allegations have never been seriously investigated by the IMA, despite persistent urging by PHR-I as part of its long struggle against the use of torture and its bringing of the issue to the attention of the WMA. In the summer the IMA cut ties with the human rights body, accusing it of fomenting antisemitism. Dr Yoram Blachar, the chairman of the IMA, wrote in a letter that "the outrageous situation is that PHR's activity serves as fertile ground for antisemitism, anti-Israelism and anti-Zionism".

In May, a letter sent to the WMA council through the chairman, Dr Edward Hill, signed by 725 doctors from 43 countries, and supported by PHR-I, requested that the WMA investigate the IMA for failing to conform to its code on the absolute prohibition of doctors participating in and condoning torture. And it called for the immediate resignation of the then president of the WMA, Blachar. In November, Dr Derek Summerfield of the Institute of Psychiatry at the University of London, convenor of the group who signed the May letter, wrote to the new WMA president, Dr Dana Hanson, on behalf of the lead signatory Professor Alan Meyers of Boston University, and again pressed for action to investigate the IMA. And he also referred to the apparent discrepancy between the treatment of reports of collusion in torture in Iran and in Israel. At the end of October, Meyers spoke to WMA council chair Dr Edward Hill and was told that the WMA would neither be responding to nor commenting on the May letter. So far, that stance seems remain in place.

The current situation is deeply unsatisfactory. Even though Israel's supreme court in 1999 finally ruled that methods of torture used at that time by the security forces were illegal, a loophole was left for interrogators who tortured in "ticking bomb" situations, which ultimately allowed old forms of torture to creep back in by the mid-2000s, as a 2007 report by PCATI showed...

It is important to recognise that torture would not be possible without the support and safety net of doctors and that doctors are key in exposing and stopping the practice. ...allegations that Israeli doctors colluded in torture must be confronted and thoroughly investigated...

Second, PHR-I proposals for guidelines to help doctors identify torture and for legislation that would make it obligatory to report suspicion of torture and protect whistleblowers – measures that would protect doctors' independence and make it much harder for interrogators to use torture – must be adopted by the IMA and the government. Full story

Palestinians In Gaza Protest Egypt’s Border Wall

IMEMC
Thousands of Palestinians protested on Monday at the Salah Ed Deen Gate area, near the border with Egypt, against the Iron Wall Egypt is installing with American support and supervision along its border with Gaza.

.......Egypt started the installation of the Iron Wall which also goes deep underground to block the tunnels used for smuggling goods into the besieged coastal region.

......The installation of the wall caused further tension along the border between Gaza and Egypt, and also led to sporadic exchanges of fire between Palestinian fighters and Egyptian border policemen.

Egypt intends to install the 10km (6.21 miles) wall along its border with Gaza; its depth will be 30 meters (100 feet).

......Abu Zuhri added that this wall will strangle the residents and would cause a real catastrophe in the coastal region. Full story

Videos

IMEMC
Israeli troops kidnapped on Tuesday nine Palestinian civilians during pre dawn invasions targeting a number of West Bank communities.

The Israeli army radio announced that all those kidnapped men were taken to military detention camps for questioning.

.... last week ... kidnapped 17 civilians. Among those kidnapped last week there were three children. Full story

Daily Situation Report: Dec. 20, 2009

PMG

Israeli actions on Palestinian Territories of West Bank & Gaza

• Arrests (per person) — 1
• Detentions — 14 At checkpoints & in residential locales
• Raids — 31 Incl. 2 in Ramallah & 1 in Jerusalem
• Checkpoints — 9 Access impeded at 6 checkpoints
• Flying Checkpoints — 24 Incl. 2 in Jerusalem & 1 in Jenin
• Attacks -- 4 Incl. 1 in confrontations & 1 by navy
• Provocation of Pal. Forces — 2 Incl. besiege General Intelligence centre
• Wall Construction — Suspended for the weekend
• Closure (per District) — 7 Jer., Beth. (2 villages) & Hebron (4 areas)
• Closure of Main Roads — 38 Incl. 3 in Ramallah & 2 in Jerusalem
• Closure of Crossing Points — 7 All crossings are completely shut down

Palestinian actions on Palestinian land

• Demonstration — 1 Against settler attacks in Hebron district
• Pal. Security Measure — 5 Extradite 5 settlers trying to enter Jeric.
• Palestinian Attack — 1 Detonate device near Israeli army patrol Full report
  

Bended Knees: Zionist Power in American Politics

Dissident Voice - James Petras
.....The 51 Presidents of the Major American Jewish Organization (PMAJO) claim to speak for all Jews in the US

.......The “51” misrepresent their actual numbers and claim to speak for 6 million US Jews. At best they may speak for less than half of the imputed population and even then their support waxes and wanes according to the issue, the timing and the place and varies in intensity. The power of the “51” is not a result of its representativeness of the Jewish community at large, but the location of its followers in the power structure and the intensity and quasi-religious fervor of their activists.

Their political power resides in their singular forces in pursuit of the interests of the State of Israel and the control and influence in media; their nationwide networks and the wealth and financial power of contributors. Their capacity to browbeat apathetic Jews into making contributions and lending support adds organizational muscle. Their willing use of force, money and media slander intimidates any and all critics, including dissident politicians, media, journalists and professors...

..............the pro-Israel social-political configuration cannot be reduced to a common “lobby.” .... it plays a major role in shaping the opinions and behavior of public opinion and civic society organizations. ...unlike American lobbies, it acts to shape US foreign policy in the interest of a foreign military power, up to and including decisions on promoting war ....Thirdly, the term “lobby” does not ordinarily encompass the virulent repressive activities pursued by the ZPC against critical writers, cultural figures, academics and others in American society who question Israeli policy. The ZPC not only acts a foreign agent for Israel today, but has been openly doing so over fifty years...

...........Stuart Levey, a top US Treasury Department official involving in enforcing sanctions against Iran, has spent nearly a decade in close collaboration with MOSSAD, a point he brags about....

Read the full, detailed, footnoted article

Reaching the ‘No-Peace’ Agreement: The Role of Palestinian Prisoner Releases in Permanent Status Negotiations

Addameer press release

Palestinian political prisoners must be released, categories of “security detainees” must be cancelled and “political status” must be granted if peace between Israel and the Palestinians is to be achieved.

“Reaching the ‘No-Peace’ Agreement: The Role of Palestinian Prisoner Releases in Permanent Status Negotiations”, a briefing paper from Addameer, examines Israel’s failure to comply with the bilateral agreements regarding the release of Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli detention for their involvement in activities related to the ongoing belligerent Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. It concludes that prisoner releases can be instrumental in achieving a lasting peace, but only if prisoners themselves are recognized as political partners in the process.

More than sixteen years after the beginning of the “Oslo Peace Process”, Israel still holds 330 Palestinian political prisoners who were arrested before 13 September 1993, the cutoff date for arrests that determined which prisoners would be eligible for inclusion in subsequent releases. Approximately 95 of these political prisoners have spent more than 20 consecutive years in Israeli prisons.

Today, Israel holds a total of more than 7,120 Palestinian detainees. What’s more, large numbers of Palestinians are still arrested by Israel on a weekly basis. The Israeli military judicial system imposed on the occupied territory, criminalizes every aspect of Palestinian life and continues to de-politicize Palestinian national aspirations. In policy and in practice, Palestinian activities against the military occupation are never deemed “political” by Israel – and acts that would or could constitute “political offenses” have never been defined.

In a negotiated peace settlement, amnesties are often a necessary condition for putting an end to a conflict. Prisoners often play a central role in post-conflict politics and can be instrumental in addressing past grievances and in seeking justice and reconciliation. Israeli authorities however, have remained unwilling to explore a shift in discourse regarding the identification of “political offenses”... Moreover, Israeli legislation and court decisions have long enabled the State to hold detainees as “bargaining chips”, held for their potential value in hostage or political negotiations...

Addameer contends that Israel has systematically failed to act in accordance with many of its obligations under the Oslo Accords and related Israeli-Palestinian peace agreements, particularly in regards to prisoner releases. Instead, Israel treats the issue as a public relations opportunity and a means to achieve political gains. Full report

Israeli incursion, shelling reported in Gaza

Ma'an
Twenty Israeli military vehicles backed by Apache helicopters invaded the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday night, witnesses reported.

Palestinians said they saw the vehicles operating in the Al-Ghoul area, northwest of Gaza City. Gunfire was also heard in the area.

However, an Israeli military representative said he was "not familiar with any such operations."

Meanwhile witnesses also reported that an Israeli shell fell in the town of Beit Hanoun, also in the northern Gaza Strip.

...Earlier, on Sunday evening, armed Palestinian men affiliated with the PFLP and DFLP said they traded gunfire With Israeli forces in the northern Gaza Strip... Full story

Israel seizes four in night raids

Ma'an
Israeli forces detained four Palestinians overnight in the West Bank, the military said on Monday.

...said soldiers entered the village in several vehicles and then surrounded the house of Yousef Abu Al-Rab, 32, a school teacher. The troops searched the house before taking Abu Al-Rab to an unknown location.

The sources added that the Israeli soldiers threw stun grenades during the operation.

......... soldiers assaulted the men and their families during the raid. Full story

Study: Israeli students' achievements ranked lowest in West

Ynet
...Research surveying Israeli pupils' scores in international exams over last decades puts Jewish state at bottom of Western nations' list... Full story

Settlers, Palestinian Farmers Clash Near Hebron

IMEMC
A group of fundamentalist settlers clashed on Saturday with Palestinian farmers near the illegal settlement outpost of Mitzpe Asael, in the southern Hebron Hillls.

Local sources reported that two Israeli activists were with the Palestinians when attacked by the settlers.

.....Following the clashes, the army declared the area a closed military zone.

Local villagers reported that as they tried to plow their own land, a group of fundamentalist settlers arrived with dogs and attacked them.

Troops kidnapped a Palestinian villager after claiming that he refused to leave the area when it was declared a “closed military zone”.

The villagers said that the attack is one of repeated incidents against them... Full story

Israeli Army invades Bil’in

IMEMC
Israeli soldiers invaded on Saturday at night the village of Bil’in, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, and broke into two homes. The Friends of Freedom and Justice – Bil’in, reported that this is the second attack in two nights, as the army invaded the village on Friday at night after the villagers and their Israeli and International supporters held their weekly nonviolent protest against the Annexation Wall.

During the Saturday night attack, Israeli soldiers broke into two homes forcing the families out and violently searched the properties. Full story

Israel jails anti-wall campaign leader

Ma'an
The Stop the Wall Campaign announced on Sunday that its coordinator, Jamal Juma, has been imprisoned by Israel since 16 December.

Juma’s arrest follows what activists say is a military-legal crackdown on popular expressions of rejection of Israeli occupation. Dozens of protest leaders, boycott campaigners, and other civil society advocates have been arrested in recent weeks.

.....According to the campaign, Israeli security summoned Juma for interrogation at midnight 15 December. After questioning he was brought to his home.

“Juma was handcuffed while soldiers searched his house for two hours as his wife and three young children looked on helplessly,” the anti-wall campaign said in a statement.

The soldiers told Juma’s wife “she would only see her husband again through a prisoner exchange.”

“Since then, Juma has been detained, and banned from speaking to a lawyer or his family, with no explanation for his arrest,” the organization added.

......In September, another well-known member of the Stop the Wall campaign, Mohammad Othman, was detained by Israeli forces at the Allenby border crossing upon returning to the West Bank from Norway where he met with the country’s Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen and other officials.

On 10 December Israeli soldiers seized Abdullah Abu Rahmah, the coordinator of the anti-wall Popular Committee in the West Bank village of Bil’in, during a raid on his house.

Witnesses said that the Israeli military raided houses in Bil’in and another village, Nil’in, early on Saturday. Both villages hold weekly demonstrations against the construction of the separation wall on their land. Full story

According to the Stop the Wall Campaign, Jamal Juma’s court date is set for Monday.

Israel harvested organs in '90s without permission

AP [This story has changed since this was first posted - a version close to the original one is on the ABC site]

Israel has admitted that in the 1990s, its forensic pathologists harvested organs from dead bodies, including Palestinians, without permission of their families. [Al Arabiya reported that the pathologist stated that the practice had ".... lasted till the end of 2000."]

The issue emerged with publication of an interview with the then-head [AND current head] of Israel's Abu Kabir forensic institute, Dr. Jehuda Hiss. The interview was conducted in 2000 by an American academic, who released it because of a huge controversy last summer over an allegation by a Swedish newspaper that Israel was killing Palestinians in order to harvest their organs. Israel hotly denied the charge. [Numerous American pro-Israel organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and Commentary Magazine also denied it, calling the accusation a "blood libel."]

Parts of the interview were broadcast on Israel's Channel 2 TV over the weekend. In it, Hiss said, "We started to harvest corneas ... Whatever was done was highly informal. No permission was asked from the family."

The Channel 2 report said that in the 1990s, forensic specialists at Abu Kabir harvested skin, corneas, heart valves and bones from the bodies of Israeli soldiers, Israeli citizens, Palestinians and foreign workers, often without permission from relatives.

In a response to the TV report, the Israeli military confirmed that the practice took place...

In the interview, Hiss described how his doctors would mask the removal of corneas from bodies. "We'd glue the eyelid shut," he said. "We wouldn't take corneas from families we knew would open the eyelids."

Many of the details in the interview first came to light in 2004, when Hiss was dismissed as head of the forensic institute because of irregularities over use of organs there. Israel's attorney general dropped criminal charges against him, and Hiss still works as chief pathologist at the institute. He had no comment on the TV report.

Complaints against the institute, where autopsies of dead bodies are performed, at the time of Hiss' dismissal came from relatives of Israeli soldiers and civilians as well as Palestinians .... there has been no evidence to back up the claim in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that Israeli soldiers killed Palestinians for their organs. [The Swedish story did not claim this; it reported evidence indicating this may have happened and called for an investigation.] Angry Israeli officials [an numerous Israel partisans in the US] called the report "anti-Semitic."

The academic, Nancy Sheppard-Hughes [actually Scheper-Hughes], a professor of anthropology at the University of California-Berkeley, said she decided to make the interview public in the wake of the Aftonbladet controversy, which raised diplomatic tensions between Israel and Sweden and prompted Sweden's foreign minister to call off a visit to the Jewish state.

Sheppard-Hughes said... she felt the interview must be made public now because "the symbolism, you know, of taking skin of the population considered to be the enemy, (is) something, just in terms of its symbolic weight, that has to be reconsidered."

While insisting that all organ harvesting was done with permission, Israel's Health Ministry told Channel 2, "The guidelines at that time were not clear." It added, "For the last 10 years, Abu Kabir has been working according to ethics and Jewish law." Full story

Related story - Israeli Organ harvesting: from Moldova to Palestine

Petition

Palestinian officials accuse Israel of organ harvesting

Xinua
Palestinian officials on Sunday accused Israel of harvesting organs from Palestinians killed by the Israeli army years ago.

Fathi Abu Mughli, the health minister, said that Israeli doctors "have taken parts from dead bodies, including corneas, bones and skin without having permission from the Palestinian families."

In a statement sent to the media, Abu Mughli called on the Israeli government to respond to reports on organ harvesting, describing the act as "disgraceful work." He also called for an immediate investigation.

Meanwhile, Eissa Qaraqe, minister of prisoners affairs, said Israel keeps bodies of Palestinian people in secret cemeteries and refuses to hand them over to their families "to hide the fact of stealing their body parts."

"There is an Israeli Mafia trading with the body parts and some of the Palestinian families received bodies of their sons with some organs taken away," Qaraqe added.

On Saturday, the Israel's Channel 2 television reported about the issue... Full story

Top pathologist says doctors also involved in organ stealing Israeli video confirms theft of Palestinian organs

Al Arabiya
An Israeli video confirmed accusations that Tel Aviv was illegally stealing organs from the dead bodies of Palestinians and justified the practice in the name of scientific research, press reports said Sunday.

The news of the harvesting of Palestinian organs was first published by a Swedish newspaper, which an outraged Israel denied, [and afterwards in more extensive explorations by CounterPunch and the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs by If Americans Knew Executive Director Alison Weir] but according to the video corneas, hearts, bones and skin from the back were harvested from the bodies of dead Palestinians without authorization or permission from their families...

	We would not remove the entire eye. We would just remove the cornea then close the eye back
Yehuda Hiss

The 57-minute video was filmed by Yehuda Hiss, the director and chief pathologist at [Israel's state mortuary] Abu Kabir Institute of Forensic Medicine, and explains how he authorized organ theft, gave instructions to doctors to do so and said he would sometimes snatch the organs himself.

"The process started in the early 1980s and lasted till the end of 2000," Hiss, who heads the only place in Israel authorized to conduct autopsies in cases of unnatural death in Israel and the occupied territories, said in the video.

“We would not remove the entire eye,” Hiss said. “We would just remove the cornea then close the eye back.”

Hiss explained how he has also removed skin from the back of dead Palestinians and said the families of the dead never discovered the theft since they did not turn the body before burying it.

The skin was then said to have been given to soldiers who suffer from burns and in 1986 a skin bank was established in Israel.

	I specifically gave them to Tel Hashomer hospital because all the doctors there were my friends. I took no money in return, but four years later they gave us a microscope. We also gave organs to the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem and they gave us an inter-body scan to film the contents of the corpse.
Hiss

...Bones, especially long ones, and parts of the heart were also regularly stolen.

“We donated the organs we took to hospitals,” Hiss explained. “I specifically gave them to Tel Hashomer hospital because all the doctors there were my friends. I took no money in return, but four years later they gave us a microscope. We also gave organs to the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem and they gave us an inter-body scan to film the contents of the corpse.”

Israeli law prohibits taking organs from corpses without obtaining permission from the family of the deceased, which Hiss said he specifically instructed doctors not to do.

“We did it for the sake of research and medical progress,” said Hiss, who admitted to having removed organs from 125 bodies without permission or authorization.

News of organ thefts led to the suspension of Hiss as director of the institute in 2005 but Israel’s top attorney decided not to press charges and Hiss ended up just being reprimanded and going back to his position at the institute.

The Israeli Ministry of Health responded to the tape by saying that everything was done in accordance with the law while hospitals that were named argued that the topic is old news and there is no point bringing it up again now. Full story

Israeli doc admits harvesting organs

ArabNews
The chief Israeli pathologist and director of the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir, professor Yehuda Hiss, has admitted harvesting organs from the bodies of dead Palestinians without the consent of their families.

Hiss said that he and doctors who worked under him took parts from bodies — including skin, corneas and heart valves — in the 1990s for transplantation. He also admitted that the same parts were taken from dead Israelis for the same purpose.

Hiss’ remarks came in an interview with Nancy Sheppard-Hughes, a professor of anthropology at the University of California-Berkeley who tracks the organ trade worldwide. The one-hour interview was recorded in 2000 as part of Sheppard-Hughes’ study at Abu Kabir and was broadcast on Israeli television on Friday night.

The report said Sheppard-Hughes decided to publish the interview after the leading Swedish daily Aftonbladet reported in August that Israeli soldiers killed Palestinians to trade in their organs.

The Israeli pathologist said “the skins were taken from the bodies and transmitted to Hadasah hospital in Jerusalem on the request of Israeli Army to be transplanted to wounded soldiers and in case of disaster.”

Sheppard-Hughes said the taking of organs “was not only from Palestinians and the bodies of terrorists, but all people. The symbolism is of taking the parts from a population which is considered enemy for military uses. This has to be reconsidered.”

In August, Aftonbladet quoted Palestinians as saying that young men from the West Bank and Gaza Strip had been seized by the Israeli forces and that their bodies returned to their families with missing organs. Full story

Related article: "Israeli Organ Trafficking and Theft: From Moldova to Palestine" / Petition

U.S.-Israeli Arms Cooperation Quietly Growing

Forward - Nathan Guttman
... behind the scenes, strategic security relations between the two countries are flourishing.

Israeli officials have been singing the praises of President Obama for his willingness to address their defense concerns and for actions taken by his administration to bolster Israel’s qualitative military edge — an edge eroded, according to Israel, during the final year of the George W. Bush presidency.

Among the new initiatives taken by the administration, the Forward has learned, are adjustments in a massive arms deal the Bush administration made with Arab Gulf states in response to Israeli concerns. There have also been upgrades in U.S.-Israeli military cooperation on missile defense. And a deal is expected next year that will see one of the United States’ most advanced fighter jets go to Israel with some of America’s most sensitive new technology.

...in a rare public comment in October, Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren praised the Obama administration’s response to complaints about lost ground during the close of the Bush years as “warm and immediate.”

“We came to the Obama administration and said, ‘Listen, we have a problem here,’” Oren, told a gathering of the National Jewish Democratic Council. “The administration’s reaction was immediate: we are going to address this issue, we are going to make sure that we maintain your QME [qualitative military edge].”

.......According to Steve Rosen, a former lobbyist for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee [indicted under the espionage act] who is now a private consultant, the Obama administration, and especially the Pentagon, is now more open to supplying Israel with cutting-edge technology...

The United States and Israel have also recently launched a new consultative mechanism for discussing and addressing issues relating to Israel’s qualitative military edge. This new process, involving key officials from the Pentagon and State Department on the American side and Israel’s Foreign and Defense ministries, is currently being applied to several outstanding Israeli concerns. Israeli defense officials and pro-Israel activists characterize this as a significant development in strategic consultations between the two countries.

America’s commitment to maintaining Israel’s qualitative military edge was codified directly into U.S. law via 2008 legislation backed by AIPAC. This legislation requires the president to report to Congress periodically on actions taken by the administration to ensure Israel’s advantage. A spokeswoman for the House Foreign Affairs Committee told the Forward that the White House provided its first report to Congress this past summer. The report was classified, and no information regarding its content has been released.

Long before the 2008 law, the Reagan administration promised that America would ensure Israel’s military advantage over its neighbors... with the combination of all adversaries.

...Israeli officials have also praised the Obama administration for increasing cooperation about missile defense. A November joint American-Israeli exercise, codenamed Juniper Cobra, was the largest and most extensive missile defense dry run ever held, and involved 1,400 American servicemen .... “The size and the high profile [of the exercise] are a signal from the administration about its commitment to Israel’s security,” an Israeli diplomat said.

Another deal that is highly anticipated in Israel is the expected sale of the advanced F-35 fighter jets to Israel’s air force. The Pentagon has offered Israel a unique version of the radar-evading future aircraft for supply in 2015. A deal is expected to be signed early next year.

...Supporters of Israel are now pushing for the administration and Congress to limit American arms sales to Lebanon... Full story

Daily Situation Report: Dec 16, 2009

PMG
Israelis on Palestinian land (West Bank & Gaza)

• Attacks -- 6 Incl. 4 from posts & 1 from navy boats
• Raids — 21 Incl. 4 in Jenin and 6 in Hebron
• Arrests (per person) — 11 Incl. 3 children and 1 Police officer
• Detentions — 17 Incl. 2 children and 2 security officers
• Wall Construction — 21 Incl. Jer., Raml’h., Salfit, & Qalqiliya
• Destruction of Property — 1 A vehicle’s windshield broken
• Confiscation of Property — 1 A Police officer’s pistol in Ramallah
• Closure of Checkpoints — 9 Incl. 1 checkpoint closed temporarily
• Flying Checkpoints — 19 Incl. 4 in Qalqiliya and 3 in Bethlehem
• Closure (per District) — 7 Incl. Jerusalem and 4 areas in Hebron
• Closure of Main Roads — 38 Incl. 7 in Nablus and 15 in Hebron
• Closure of Crossing Points — 4, 3 crossing points open partially
• Settler Violence — 3 Vehicles stoned and farmers assaulted
• Provocation of Pal. Forces — 1 Police vehicle and officers detained

Palestinians on Palestinian land (West Bank & Gaza)

• Pal. Security Measure — 1 Israeli settler handed over, Tulkarem Full report

Mk Tibi: “Israel Illegally Took Skin Patches, Corneas To Implant Them In Wounded Troops”

IMEMC
Dr. Ahmad Tibi, deputy speaker of the Knesset... stated that the Abu Kabeer forensic center removed in the 90’s patches of skin and corneas from every corpse that was transferred to it in order to implant them in wounded soldiers.

Dr. Tibi added that the body parts were removed from Palestinians and Israelis as well.

In an interview with Israel’s TV, Channel 2, Tibi said that every corpse that was moved to the forensic center had its corneas and patches of skin removed without the approval of the families...

The patches of skin were transferred to the “Skin Bank” at the Hadassah Israeli hospital, and were used replace burnt batches of skin of Israeli soldiers wounded during military offensives, the Maan News Agency reported.

Tibi said that the person in charge of this operation was Arie Eldad, a current member of Knesset...

The Israeli TV published an audio recording of the head of the forensic center saying that corneas were removed from Palestinian and Israeli corpses, the Maan News Agency reported.

The report stated that Professor Nancy Shepherded Yoz, from Britain, met ten years ago with the director of Abu Kabeer Forensic center and recorded his statements.

She told the Israeli TV that “It is true that the parts were taken from deceased Palestinians and Israelis, but the matter of fact is that the parts were taken without family approval, this is immoral, removing skin from a body that belongs to a Palestinian in order to give it to a wounded Israeli soldier, an enemy, is immoral”.

MK Tibi said “this report reminds us of the Swedish report of organ harvest published several months ago”, and added that Israel and its foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, went on a witch hunt against the report.

“But the fact is that this new report incriminates Abu Kabeer center”, he added, “It incriminates the Israeli army”.

Dr. Tibi further stated that eight years ago, and after similar circumstances emerged, he filed a letter to the Health Minister but the minister never denied or confirmed the reports. Full story

Related story: "Israeli organ harvesting: from Moldova to Palestine"

...In her Forum 13 lecture Scheper-Hughes discussed the two motivations of Israeli traffickers. One was greed, she said. The other was somewhat chilling: “Revenge, restitution – reparation."

...Israeli brokers told her “it’s kind of ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. We’re going to get every single kidney and liver and heart that we can... Scheper-Hughes says that she “even heard doctors saying that.” Full story