In a move blasted by rights organizations, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that buildings of the Ulpana settlement outpost on the West Bank, ordered destroyed because of a claim by Palestinian land-owners, would receive a 60-day reprieve.
UN aid agencies in the occupied West Bank protested that Israel destroyed 21 homes of Palestinian Bedouin refugees at Khalayleh north of East Jerusalem—leaving 54 people homeless, including 35 children.
Israeli prison authorities stormed the cells of Palestinian prisoners, leaving 61 injured. The raid in Israel’s Nafha facility came after prisoners refused to submit to forcible DNA tests. The Palestinian Authority says the tests are illegal.
The US Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in MBZ v. Clinton that the ability of a US national born in Jerusalem to list Israel as place of birth on a passport is not a political question, but remanded the case for a ruling specifically on the issue.
Released document reveal that the Civil Administration in the West Bank has for years covertly mapped available land, naming the parcels after existing Jewish settlements, with an eye toward expanding these communities.
Under criticism from UNESCO, Israel reportedly removed Rachel’s Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs from its “National Heritage Sites” list—but provocation by far-right settlers seeking to secure the sites as exclusively Jewish sparked violence.
With Khader Adnan still recovering after his 66-day hunger strike against his “administrative detention” by Israel, a Palestinian woman, Hana Yahya al-Shalabi, began her own hunger strike against her detention without charge or trial.
In the worst clash in the recent protests at Jerusalem's Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif, Israeli police used tear gas and stun grenade at the entrance of al-Aqsa Mosque. Protests began after right-wing politicians called for closing the site to Muslims.
A 69-year-old Palestinian man was killed in an attack by the Israeli Air Force on tunnels and a weapons depot in Gaza—as managers of the Strip’s only power plant warned of impending blackouts if more fuel is not delivered.
Palestinian detainee Khader Adnan has been on hunger strike since Dec. 17, and Physicians for Human Rights now say that his life is at risk. His protest against administrative detention has sparked solidarity demonstrations across the West Bank.
Leon Panetta says there is “a strong likelihood that Israel will strike Iran” in the Spring—but the US and Israel postpone their unprecedented joint missile defense exercises in a an apparent bid to avoid further escalating tensions with Iran.
