Israel to build more settler homes - Middle East. The Israeli cabinet has approved the building of hundreds of new homes for Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, a day after five members of a settlement family were killed. The Israeli prime minister's office said the approval was a stern political message to Palestinians following the incident in a remote settlement over the weekend. A statement from Binyamin Netanyahu's office said the ministerial team on settlements decided on Saturday night to approve the construction of several hundred units at Gush Etzion, Maale Adumim, Ariel and Kyriat Sefer. According to The Associated Press news agency, the prime minister's office said in a text message to reporters that the construction will be in major settlement blocs that Israel expects to hold on to in any final peace deal.
Netanyahu is expected to deliver a major policy speech soon, possibly proposing a Palestinian state within temporary borders as a way out of a longstanding negotiations impasse. SACSIS.org.za » News » The World » Will 2011 Bring the End of the Israeli State as We Know It? Five Israelis killed in West Bank - Middle East. Five Israelis, who according to media reports were all members of the same family, have been killed in an overnight attack on a West Bank settlement. Israeli army officials said on Saturday that a Palestinian got into the Itamar settlement near Nablus in the north of the West Bank and killed five people, but did not elaborate on who the victims were.
Israeli reports suggested that the victims, three children and their parents, had all been stabbed to death in their beds.Three other children managed to escape and raise the alarm, according to the Israeli news site Ynet. Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said he was "deeply shocked" by the incident and ordered a large military operation in the West Bank, said Al Jazeera's correspondent in Ramallah.
He also called on the Palestinian Authority to help find the attackers. Our correspondent said 20 people have been arrested so far in connection with the attack and that detentions are going on. 'Satanic murder' U.S. Blocks Security Council Censure of Israeli Settlements. 'Anxious' Israel backs Egypt regime - Middle East. Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, has said that he was following events in Egypt with "vigilance and worry". At a news conference alongside Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, on Monday in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said Egypt could wind up with a radical Islamic regime as in Iran. He hoped Israel's three-decade-old peace treaty with Egypt would survive any changes that were taking place.
Earlier, an Israeli newspaper had reported that Israel has called on the United States and Europe to curb their criticism of President Hosni Mubarak "in a bid to preserve stability in Egypt" and the wider Middle East. The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that the foreign ministry, in an urgent special cable, instructed its ambassadors to key countries, to "stress ... the importance of Egypt's stability".
Increasingly, president Mubarak has been isolated by swift and at times harsh criticism from Western leaders who called for reform. 'Anxiously monitoring' "[...] Defence calculations. West Bank civilian dies in Israeli army raid in Hebron. 7 January 2011Last updated at 10:19 The scene of the killing of Amr Qawasme Israeli troops have shot dead a 67-year-old Palestinian man by mistake in an operation to arrest members of the Islamist militant organisation, Hamas. The pre-dawn raid happened in Hebron, in the West Bank, a day after six supporters of Hamas had been released from jail by the Palestinian Authority. The man who died was a neighbour of one of the Hamas men. Hamas has said it holds the Palestinian Authority and Israel responsible.
Reports from the scene of the shooting said it took place in a bedroom on the building's first floor. The Reuters news agency has reported that the man, Amr Qawasme, was shot and killed in his bed when soldiers broke into his home before dawn. His wife, Sobheye, said she heard several shots fired and later saw her husband lying in a pool of blood. "I was praying when they entered. "I was shocked. Reports say Israeli forces carried out a number of raids across the city, rounding up five men.
Israeli air strike on Gaza as tensions rise. 21 December 2010Last updated at 07:44 BBC correspondent, Jon Donnison, says there has been a recent rise in tension along the Gaza-Israel border in recent weeks. Israeli jets have carried out air strikes in the Gaza Strip, injuring at least two Palestinian militants, doctors say. It follows a strike on Saturday in which five militants were killed. This was the deadliest attack since Operation Cast Lead - Israel's major offensive in Gaza almost two years ago. BBC Gaza correspondent, Jon Donnison, says there has been a recent rise in tension along the Gaza-Israel border in recent weeks.
Israel says its latest air strikes targeted tunnels, a Hamas training centre and a weapons factory in Gaza. The rockets fired by Palestinian militant groups into Israel rarely cause injury or damage, but they do cause widespread fear. They are not fired by Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls Gaza, but by smaller militant groups. The UN says over 200 Palestinians have been injured in the same period. Human Rights Watch Denounces Israel’s Policies As Apartheid. Today, the human rights’ New-York based organization, Human Rights Watch (HRW), published a comprehensive report untitled , and it is a departure for an organization which is usually quite friendly towards Israel as opposed to Amnesty International. The report shows that Israel operates a two-tier system for the Israeli and Palestinian populations of the occupied territories of the West Bank and East-Jerusalem. Human Rights Watch is calling on said Carroll Bogert from Human Rights Watch. The HRW’s report takes even its assessment of the serious human rights abuse a step further by calling on the United States to significantly reduce military aid to Israel because of Israeli’s blatantly discriminatory policies stifling development of Palestinian communities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem, when analyzing the situation in the West Bank, came up with similar conclusion than HRW. said Carroll Bogert with Human Rights Watch.