News and Analysis

    Christmas 2007: even as Shepherds are displaced, Santa attacked, Christmas pilgrims denied, Bethlehem land stolen; yet Hope Grows By Mazin Qumsiyeh     My uncle’s family managed to visit their hometown (the Shepherd’s field in Palestine) but only for one week over the holidays (my wife last summer was luckier and they gave…

Michael Hirsh in Newsweek Dec 20, 2007 A unilateral military strike against Iran is much more likely following the latest intel report about Tehran’s nuke program. Ehud Olmert, like George W. Bush, is trying hard to make it seem that nothing has changed, and that the international diplomatic coalition against Iran is still intact. “The…

AP reports: “The United Nations and human rights groups accuse Israel of dropping about 4 million cluster bomblets during the war. Up to 1 million failed to explode and now endanger civilians in the area. More than 30 people have been killed by cluster bomb and land mine explosions in Lebanon since the 2006 summer…

Israel’s Ethnic Cleansers at Work – All of Palestine/Israel could be classified as an ‘archeological site’ “The best thing about Khirbet Qassa was the grazing land. We had open spaces. Now we’ve become dependent on other people and their land,” said Abdel Halim Nattah, a shepherd in the southern West Bank.   Several weeks earlier…

Haaretz reports new restrictions on Arab Christians. Father Jack Abed, a parish priest of the Melkite Catholic community near the West Bank town of Ramallah, said the new rule violated understandings between Israel and the Vatican. “One of the agreements is the freedom of movement and worship,” he said.  “There is no freedom of movement…