1) Hamas leader says Abbas should focus on Palestinian Unity, not peace talks with Israel.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/hamas-leader-warns-pa-against-pursuing-peace-with-israel-instead-of-palestinian-unity-1.406327
Update: Fatah threatens reevaluation of Unity talks when 3 Fatah officials delayed at Gaza border.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/abbas-fatah-must-reevaluate-reconciliation-pact-with-hamas-1.406173
Update 2: Hamas leader says it will never give up arms of claim on Jerusalem.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/hamas-pm-we-will-never-give-up-our-arms-territory-or-claims-on-jerusalem-1.406196

2) National park to be built on Mount Scopus
For the past 44 years, since its annexation, the Jerusalem Municipality has remained silent on the future development of occupied East Jerusalem. No comprehensive master plan has been produced, allowing for deliberative planning and the accommodation of natural population...
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/?p=3359&utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=1d53d8e33f-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email

3) Kufr ad-Dik resists by the hundreds
The residents of Kufr ad-Dik sent a clear and strong message of resistance to the Israeli authorities, in this, just the second of planned weekly demonstrations in the village. There were approximately 250 residents who attended the demonstration, with a number of Israeli and international activists also present, offering solidarity and support to the village of Kufr Ad-Dik in their struggle to resist the planned further expansion of the several illegal settlements besieging the village, which should it go ahead will reportedly take 80% of the land belonging to Kufr Ad-Dik. To add further insult to the injustice and illegality of this situation, the Israeli authorities have denied Kufr Ad-Dik permission to build any new homes on their own land as the village in Area C.
http://palsolidarity.org/2012/01/kufr-ad-dik-resists-by-the-hundreds/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+palsolidarity+%28International+Solidarity+Movement%29&utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=1d53d8e33f-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email
Update: Four Injured In Bil’in Weekly Nonviolent Protest

Israeli troops attacked on Friday the weekly nonviolent protest against the illegal Annexation Wall and illegal settlements, in the West Bank village of Bil’in, near the central West Bank city of Ramallah, wounding at least four residents.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62786?utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=1d53d8e33f-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email
Update 2: Kufr Qaddoum marches forward despite threats of violence
At noon on the 6th of January, 2012, a demonstration was held in the village Kufr Qaddoum, located just outside Nablus. The people gathered after the Friday-prayer and started marching along the main road that runs through the village. This road was, until the year of 2003, also the main road to Nablus, which by then only was a 10 minute drive away. This came to a short end during the second Intifada when the Israeli army decided to close the road as they considered it a safety risk to the nearby illegal settlements. The Israeli government has, since the end of the Intifada, agreed that the road is not a “safety risk” anymore and therefore gave the green-light to reopen it. The army however has so far disobeyed this decision and refuses to open the road which means that the villagers still have to take a detour of about 30 minutes, making the drive to Nablus three times longer and more expensive than before.
http://palsolidarity.org/2012/01/kufr-qaddoum-marches-forward-despite-threats-of-violence/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+palsolidarity+%28International+Solidarity+Movement%29&utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=1d53d8e33f-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email

4) IDF Finally Concedes Gaza Attacks Originated in Sinai, Not Gaza, Richard Silverstein
When even the most hawkish of Israel military correspondents concede (implicitly) the IDF’s version of the Eilat terror attacks is rubbish, you know you’ve been vindicated. You’ll recall that back in August, after the incident, Alex Fishman, Idan Landau and I all demolished the claims by the IDF that the attackers were Gazan. We argued that the attack originated in Sinai and that Sinai Islamists organized it and carried it out. Eli Lake, Avi Issacharoff and any number of obedient water carriers dutifully reported IDF and U.S. intelligence nonsense. The lies spouted by the IDF were also used to justify killing the top leadership of the Popular Resistance Committees and 25 other Gaza civilians having nothing to do with the raid.
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2012/01/06/idf-finally-concedes-gaza-attacks-originated-in-sinai-not-gaza/?utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=1d53d8e33f-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email

5) 'Soldiers supplied intel to rightist rioters'
Five settlers charged with rioting in IDF base, tracking IDF activity in West Bank. Prosecution: Soldiers helped plot riots by providing confidential docs.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4172679,00.html?utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=1d53d8e33f-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email

6) Hamas: Israel detains party leader, son
JENIN (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces detained a Hamas leader and his son in the northern West Bank on Wednesday evening, party officials said. Ali Abdulllah Khalil Abu Al-Rab, 50, and his 20-year-old son were returning from Ramallah to their home in Qabatiya, near Nablus, when they were apprehended by forces at the Zaatara crossing, the officials said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=450207&utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=1d53d8e33f-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email
Update: Israeli forces detain 2 near Hebron
HEBRON (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces detained two men in Hebron-district Beit Ummar early Sunday, after raiding a bakery in the town. Raed Mahmoud Salem, 35, and Yousef Mahmoud Salem al-Alami, 25, were seized in night raids on their homes, spokesperson of the Beit Ummar national committee Muhammad Ayad Awad told Ma'an. The soldiers also raided a bakery, injuring worker Zuhair Mukbel, Awad added.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=450869&utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=1d53d8e33f-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email
Update 2: Israel detains 4 at Jenin checkpoint
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces detained four Palestinians crossing through a Jenin checkpoint on Sunday morning, officials said. The men were seized at the Salem military checkpoint north of Jenin, where they attempted to enter Israel, an Israeli army spokesman said. In their possession were 11 pipe bombs, ammunition, a knife and a pistol, he added.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=450923&utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=1d53d8e33f-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email

7) Gaza
There was no war in Gaza, it was a massacre
Norman Finkelstein explains, what is obvious to those paying close attention, that there was no war in Gaza, what took place there was a massacre.
http://pulsemedia.org/2012/01/08/there-was-no-war-in-gaza-it-was-a-massacre/?utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=1d53d8e33f-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email

8) Palestine marks 47th Martyrs' Day
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Palestine on Saturday marked the 47th Martyrs' Day, a national day declared by late President Yasser Arafat in 1965. Muhammad Nahhal, an official in a Gaza-based association to help martyrs' families, says the day is an occasion to remember late leaders including Arafat, Hamas founder Ahmad Yassin, PFLP Secretary-General Abu Ali Mustafa and Fathi Shiqaqi, the founder of Islamic Jihad in Palestine.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=450622&utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=1d53d8e33f-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email

9) Who Are the Palestinians, Hasan Afif El-Hasan
In 1917, Jews constituted 7 percent of the indigenous Palestinian population and owned 1 percent of the land. Britain, as a colonialist power and the victor of World War I forced the Palestine Mandate and gave itself the right to grant a homeland to the Jewish people in Palestine in “Balfour Declaration” that facilitated the colonization of the land by foreign Jews.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=17368&utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=1d53d8e33f-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email

10) Israel/Palestine as a 21st Century "Lawfare" Laboratory
Below, hear Lisa Hajjar, Professor of Sociology at UCSB, speak in Washington, DC, about her new paper that brings together the two concepts of "lawfare" -- Israel's litigation of war making practices -- and targeted killing, which Israel interprets as supported within its international legal rights and duties as occupier of Palestinian territory. Hajjar's presentation is followed by two other panelists named below.
http://blog.endtheoccupation.org/2012/01/israelpalestine-as-21st-century-lawfare.html?utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=1d53d8e33f-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email

11) Israel starts the construction of 1850 new illegal houses in West Bank, apart from 6350 new illegal apartments in East Jerusalem.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/peace-now-israel-began-building-1-850-new-houses-in-west-bank-in-2011-1.406473
Update: 2011 was already a record year in illegal settlement building.
http://peacenow.org.il/eng/2011Summary

12) Economic separation under Israeli control http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/economy-of-the-occupation/3965-economic-separation-under-israeli-control
Shir Hever - AIC - "Israeli citizens, and especially Jewish settlers, enjoy privileges in the OPT over the indigenous Palestinian population. As a result, the Palestinian economy is strangled. Businesses depend on special permits from the Israeli authorities for importing raw materials and machinery, for transporting finished goods (not only to Israel but also within the OPT itself). As the Palestinians have no borders, Israel controls all of their imports and exports, and collects customs from products intended for the OPT (customs which are often withheld by the Israeli government"

13) The Gaza Music School: A composition in defiance and harmony http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/the-gaza-music-school-a-composition-in-defiance-and-harmony-6287019.htmlThe smear against AdalahBen White--This smear against Israeli human rights activists is all too familiar Adalah defends Palestinian rights. The European Jewish Congress attack on it reflects a wider pattern of bullying dnDonald Macintyre - The Independent - It was damaged by an Israeli bomb – but the Gaza Music School is quickly becoming a symbol of resilience

14) New book explores Jewish opposition to Israel's occupation By Jimmy Johnson, 9 January 2012
A new book critiques and examines how diaspora Jews articulate solidarity with Palestinians and the Palestine liberation struggle, including the growing boycott movement against Israel.
http://electronici

15) BDS roundup: a new year, and new boycott campaigns ahead Nora Barrows-Friedman's blog, 9 January 2012
US boycott campaigners encourage colleagues to refuse complicity with Cornell University's partnership with Israel's Technion Institute, Veolia loses yet another contract in London, dozens of musicians refused to perform in Israel in 2011 while the cultural boycott campaign gears up for a new year, and more.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora/bds-roundup-new-year-and-new-boycott-campaigns-ahead

16) Israel Supreme Court denies citizenship to Palestinians married to Israeli citozens,
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israeli-palestinian-couples-on-citizenship-law-supreme-court-guided-by-israeli-racism-1.406886
Update: Israel's High Court upholds racist 'Citizenship Law' to avoid "national suicide" By Ben White, 12 January 2012
Israel's High Court has rejected a legal challenge to the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law, in a 6-5 decision on Wednesday. Despite a "security" justification, the ruling has been praised in explicitly racist terms, as helping Israel maintain its 'Jewish majority'.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ben-white/israels-high-court-upholds-racist-citizenship-law-avoid-national-suicide

17) Israel closes down road leading to school in West Bank
RAMALLAH (WAFA) 9 Jan – Israeli authorities closed the only road leading to Khan al-Ahmar elementary school, dubbed school of tires, northeast of Jerusalem, the Palestinian Ministry of Education said in a statement Monday. Israeli forces warned the Bedouin residents of the area from heading to school and put up cement blocks and a fence higher than 150 cm to prevent students and vehicles from reaching it, said the statement. It condemned the closure and said it falls under the continuous Israeli assaults against the school, including raids, vandalism, as well as demolition and eviction notices that terrorize around 100 Palestinian children attending the school. Residents built the school of used tires to teach the children after Israel had refused to allow them to build a regular school.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18623&utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=8959c555a1-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email
Update: Negev Bedouin town left without water after repeated thefts of central pump
9 Jan -- Residents of a Bedouin town in the Negev are complaining that the region's water company has only been supplying them with water one to two hours a day for the past two weeks. Alsanaa Mar'i, a resident of Lakiya, said that water comes only at night, forcing residents to hoard water for use during the day.... Mar'i, who said he was told about the theft of the town's central pump, added that it had been decided not to purchase another pump. If that was indeed the case, he said, the police were at fault for not providing proper guarding of the pump.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/negev-bedouin-town-left-without-water-after-repeated-theft-of-central-pump-1.406219?utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=8959c555a1-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email

18) Lieberman: Redraw maps to oust Arabs
Al Akhbar 9 Jan -- Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman reiterated his call on Monday for some Arabs to be stripped of their Israeli citizenship and moved to a new Palestinian state as part of a final peace deal. Speaking to reporters, Lieberman said that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict requires a modification of Israel's borders and placing Arab communities under Palestinian rule. In return, Israel would receive West Bank territory with current Jewish settlements. “It's time to say these things clearly,” Lieberman said.
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/lieberman-redraw-maps-oust-arabs?utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=8959c555a1-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email

19) Settlers attack house, burn car east of Hebron
HEBRON (WAFA) 9 Jan – Dozens of Jewish settlers attacked early Monday a Palestinian house and burnt a car in al-Baqa‘a area, east of Hebron in the southern West Bank, according to witnesses. Atta Jaber, a resident in the area, told WAFA that dozens of settlers attacked the house of Jodi Abdul Jawad, throwing stones at it, and set fire to his car, completely burning it. He added that the settlers were divided into two groups; one set Abdul Jawad’s car on fire and the other attacked the house with stones to prevent Abdul Jawad from coming out to defend his property.
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=18619&utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=8959c555a1-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email
Update: Settlers attack two children in Hebron
IMEMC 9 Jan -- A group of fundamentalist Israeli settlers attacked on Sunday two Palestinian children in Tel Romeida neighborhood, in the center of the southern West Bank city of Hebron. Resident Mohammad Abu Aisha stated that a number of extremist settlers violently attacked, kicked and punched his sons Ibrahim, 12, and Waleed, 11, while Israeli soldiers in the area did not even attempt to intervene. Abu Aisha added that one of the settlers even pulled a pocket knife and waved it in front of the children. He said that the settlers are trying to scare the residents out of their homes so that they can occupy more homes and property in the area and annex it to the illegal settlements and outposts.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62798?utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=8959c555a1-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email

20) Gaza
Israel releases 4 Gaza fishermen 'detained at sea'
GAZA CITY (Ma‘an) 8 Jan -- Israeli forces released four Palestinian fishermen early Sunday, after they were detained off the coast of the Gaza Strip a day earlier. Israeli forces fired at their fishing boat off Rafah shores in southern Gaza, and forced the men to swim to an Israeli gunboat on Saturday morning, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights reported. The men were released to Gaza at 3.30 a.m. on Sunday, but Israel kept their boat and fishing equipment in custody, president of the Palestinian association for fishing and marine sports Mahfouth al-Kbarity told Ma‘an.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=450899&utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=8959c555a1-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email
Update: In Gaza: The olive fights the occupation / Eva Bartlett
GAZA CITY, Jan 8, 2012 (IPS) – *(this blog version longer than published version) “During hard times, we have survived off olive oil,” says Ahmed Sourani from the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee. “Including during the last war,” says Sourani, referring to the 23 day war Israel waged on Gaza three years ago. “Many people who couldn’t leave their homes had only bread and olive oil to sustain them for long periods.” Even during the first Intifadah (Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation), olives and olive oil were vital to survival. “They enabled many thousands of very poor Palestinian families to survive,” recalls Sourani. “When the Israeli army imposes curfews on us, preventing us from leaving our homes, it is our main food source. Most students take za‘atar (wild thyme) and olive oil sandwiches to school for their lunch.”
http://ingaza.wordpress.com/2012/01/08/the-olive-fights-the-occupation/?utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=8959c555a1-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email

21) Video interview: A report of Ni‘lin village, Palestine
Three years and a half has passed since the non-violent resistance against the apartheid wall began in the west bank village of Ni‘lin. Five people were brutally murdered, hundreds got critically injured and hundreds were brutally arrested, but the people continued their struggle with a strong will and determination to dismantle this illegal wall from their lands despite the so much future challenges for their struggle. ”I want to tell the international community that there are only two choices. to decide weather you are for it or against it, being silence with it is like being for it, so the entire world must do something to help us ending this racist occupation”, Saeed Amireh said. Here’s an interview with Saeed Amireh, 20 year old guy, a member of Ni‘lin popular committee against the apartheid wall presenting the situation of his village during his European Speaker’s Tour 2011 .
http://www.nilin-village.org/2012/01/08/a-report-of-nilin-villagepalestine/?utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=8959c555a1-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email
Update: VIDEO: Israelis arrested in Nabi Saleh subjected to 'Palestinian' treatment by occupation soldiers / Ali Abunimah
EI 8 Jan -- The kidnap, detention and torture of Palestinians, especially children, at the hands of Israeli occupation forces is a routine practice in the West Bank. It is more rare for Israelis – who enjoy racial privileges under Israel’s apartheid system – to be given the “Palestinian” treatment. Yet a video and written account provides an example of two Israelis, “Shai” and “Doron,” being subjected to the kind of abuse by Israeli soldiers more usually reserved for Palestinians. The incident occurred on 23 December at a protest in the village of Nabi Saleh, commemorating Mustafa Tamimi, who was murdered there by an Israeli soldier in cold blood two weeks before.
http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/video-israelis-arrested-nabi-saleh-subjected-palestinian-treatment-occupation?utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=8959c555a1-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=t

22) Adam Keller puts together the ongoing story of the demise of Israel democracy.
http://adam-keller2.blogspot.com/2012/01/chapters-in-tragicomedy.html

23) Uri Avnery analyzes the political situation in Israel, which lacks a vialbe left or center party
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1326463864/

24) The cuilture of Israeli impunity from murder charges
Israeli Soldier Acquitted Despite Killing Palestinian CivilianFour years after an Israeli soldier used his sniper rifle to kill a Palestinian civilian from Bethlehem district visiting family in the Ramallah district; an Israeli court acquitted the soldier and claimed that there is not enough evidence to convict the soldier, adding that no charges were filed against the shooter, the Arabs48 News Agency reported.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62819?utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=a6ad62bbba-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email
Update: 3 years on, no justice for slain Gaza toddler
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Three years on from the killing of 2-year-old Fares Hamouda and his stepbrother Muhammad, Israel has yet to respond to a complaint over their deaths. On Jan. 11, 2009, Israeli tanks shelled the Hamouda family home in Gaza City. Fares died instantly and Muhammad bled to death waiting for an ambulance which was unable to reach him in the midst of Israel's three-week bombardment of Gaza, Operation Cast Lead. Fares' mother, Intissar, told the Palestinian Center for Human Rights that the brothers had shared a close relationship. Muhammed's mother had died when he was 10 months old. "Fares would refuse to go to sleep until Muhammed came home from school. On the day of the attack Fares was sick, but he refused to take medicine from me, he wanted it from Muhammed," she said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=451868&utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=a6ad62bbba-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email