Israel/Palestine News

 



The Israeli public gave its' votes to the new party Yesh Atid  & Labor instead of Far Right parties.  The Likud coalition was the biggest overall vote getter, but lost seats from the last Knesset.  But still, it looks like Netanyahu will form the next government.

 



Among the media during the election, a talking point was how the Right would win, & the Left would do crap.

 



The election & politics is discussed by supporters of Otzma LeYisrael, Hadash, Balad, &  Daam.

 



The Real News discusses what is next for Palestine.

 


Demos take place in Nabi Saleh & Bilin.

 


The IDF arrests a Palestinian mother & her baby for trying to work her family's land in  Umm Al Arayes, South Hebron hills.

 

Hamas closed several underground tunnels in Gaza after worker deaths when they collapsed during winter storms.

 

As mentioned last week, the IDF demolished three houses in the South Hebron Hills village of Hawara.

 


Hamas & Fatah continue talks to form a unity government, Yousef Alhelou reports.

Israel/Palestine News

 


Residents of Tel Aviv rallied on New Years Eve to demand the government round up & deport African refugees.

 

Yair Lapid explains the policies of his new "Center Center" party.

 


PM Netanyahu attacks former PM Olmert for the assertion that millions have been squandered on a planned attack on Iran.

 

In three videos, members of Balad explain what it is like to be part of government in a Jewish state while they are Palestinian.

 

 


A former settler explains why he will vote for Likud Beitenu.

 

The residents of Biet Safafa protest a highway the City of Jerusalem will build thru their village in South Jerusalem.

 



An IDF soldier tells Amer Abdeen "You cannot picture anymore."

 

The IDF demolishes four buildings in the villages of Umm Al Hair and Hawara in the South Hebron Hills.

 


The IDF shoots dead a youth in Gaza despite the ceasefire.

 



Amer Abdeen films the snowfall in Hebron.

 

There was a demo in Nabi Saleh.

 


The Real News reports Hamas has been able to get all factions in Gaza to agree to honor the ceasefire.

 

Activists try to stop the seizure of Palestinian land for new settlements in the E-1 area by setting up a tent city.  Netanyahu orders the Army & police to evict them.

 

Yousef Alhelou explains how Israel controls entries & exits to Gaza by controlling birth registries & IDs.  

Israel/Palestine News

 

Eldad Yaniv used to be an aide for Netanyahu.  Now he has formed a new party Eretz Hadasha, & has posted ten videos alleging corruption among Israel's political & business elite.

 

Shas has produced an election video that says Russian Israelis aren't really Jews.  Huh?  They pulled the ad.

From Jews sans frontieres:

 

from Richard Silverstein's blog:

Balad, the Israeli Palestinian political party with three MKs (including Haneen Zoabi), prepared a hilarious campaign commercial that featured Palestinian performers singing the Ha-Tikvah (national anthem).  For the most part, it was even a straightforward rendition of the song.  No words were changed.

Of course there was one small catch: as the song was played a bunch of mincing marionettes representing the crème de la crème of the Israeli far-right danced across the screen with Avigdor Lieberman chief among them.  The video is meant as a satire of Lieberman’s bill requiring Israeli Palestinian citizens to swear an oath of loyalty to Israel and sing the national anthem.  The actual singing of HaTikvah in the video is meant to satirize the legislation.

Here is how Ali Abunimah translated the Lieberman puppet’s statement:

    “I have become convinced of the need to change the anthem a bit so that the Arabs can learn it and sing it.” The gag is that the altered version Lieberman and other right-wing politicians perform is simply the same Zionist lyrics to an Arab beat.

The Knesset election committee banned the ad as insulting to Israeli icons.  They were referring to the anthem (which wasn’t insulted at all) but might just as well have been referring to Lieberman (who was).

  

The head of the settler party Bayit Yehudi Naftali Bennett in an interview calls for annexing Areas A & B of the West Bank.

 

The Jerusalem Post profiles an Israeli voter living near Gaza.

 

Max Blumenthal attends a Birthright event in Jerusalem, where Jewish youth listen to Netanyahu & dance with the IDF.

 


A car explodes in Tel Aviv, targeting mobster Nissim Alperon.

 


The Stream looks at the controversy on University of California campuses over pro-Palestinian student activism.

  

An Israeli activist tries to enter the settlement of Neve Daniel.

 


There was a demo in Nabi Saleh.

 


Seventeen year old Muhammed Al Badan is shot & wounded by an IDF soldier.

 

Al Jazeera looks at the remaining Samaritans of Mount Gerizin, West Bank.

 



The Palestinian Authority has started to use State of Palestine on all its' documents.

 

Palestinians are harassed by settlers in Susya, then arrested by the IDF,

 

Gazans call for a 24 hour worldwide hunger strike in solidarity with Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.

 

Who knew Christmas in Bethlehem is celebrated with bagpipes?

 


Khaled 'Azayzeh, a B'Tselem field researcher, shows his life in Gaza.

 

A winter storm hits the West Bank, Gaza & Israel.
Flooding in Old Quarter Hebron, above.

 


Flooding near Bilin.

Israel/Palestine News

 

Two settler parties look like they will gain votes in the coming Israeli elections.

 


Arrest of an African refugee for rape leads to protests in Tel Aviv.  This despite the fact that rape among Israelis is at a higher rate than among refugees.

 

Sir David Frost interviews Shimon Peres.

 

Gaza Uncut looks at the ceasefire & whether Israel follows it.

 


Residents of Issawia (East Jerusalem) protest after their water is disconnected.

 


Schools in Gaza suffer from overcrowding & the pupils' war-induced trauma.

 

Settlers harass Palestinians in Urif & Jalude (both near Nablus), while the IDF protects them.

 


Under the recent ceasefire, Israel is allowing gravel & concrete into Gaza.

 

Protesters demonstrate against the IDF blocking a main road connecting Susya to hospitals & schools.

 


Hamas allows Fatah supporters to celebrate the 48th anniversary of its' founding in Gaza City.