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  • December 17, 2012

    Israel approves 1,500 new housing units in the Ramat Shlomo settlement in East Jerusalem. The government is expected to approve a total of 6,500 settlement housing units over the next week,...

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  • November 23, 2012

    During talks in Jerusalem, U.S. secy. of state Clinton warns Israeli PM Netanyahu not to take extreme measures in response to the Palestinians’ UN bid expected at the upcoming UN General Assembly...

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Israel approves 1,500 new housing units in the Ramat Shlomo settlement in East Jerusalem. The government is expected to approve a total of 6,500 settlement housing units over the next week, including almost 4,000 in Givat Hamatos–a new settlement nr. Bayt Safafa–and 1,000 units in Gilo South. Palestinian envoy to the UN Riyad Mansour urges permanent members of the UNSC to take action to stop Israel’s settlement plans in East Jerusalem. (JP, REU, MNA 12/17)

In the Gaza Strip, Israeli naval vessels open fire on Palestinian fishermen working 7 naut. mi. off the Gaza coast nr. Wadi Gaza (wounding 1) and nr. al-Waha (causing no injuries). In the West Bank, the IDF shoots and injures a Palestinian man in a village nr. Nablus, after Jewish settlers entered the village and clashed with residents. Israeli forces also raid Jaba village in the n. West Bank, ransacking several homes and taking photographs of a number of buildings. The IDF patrols in 1 village nr. Tulkarm in the morning, and in 1 village nr. Jenin, and Tulkarm and 1 nearby village in the afternoon; conducts house searches and arrest raids in 1 village nr. Qalqilya in the afternoon, and in Salfit, Hebron and 3 nearby villages at night. (MNA 12/17; PCHR 12/20)

Teachers in the West Bank go on strike to protest the delay in the payment of their salaries. The PA has not set a target date for paying back salaries. Meanwhile, the PA civil servants union accuses Israel of collective punishment for withholding Palestinian tax revenues and calls a strike from 12/18 to the end of the week. (MNA 12/17)

Hamas’s Interior Ministry in Gaza says that Fatah will be allowed to celebrate its 48th anniversary in Gaza, in order ‘‘to promote the atmosphere of unity.’’ (MNA 12/17)

Syrian rebels take control of Yarmuk r.c. nr. Damascus after a fierce battle pitting rebels and anti-Asad Palestinians against the pro-Asad PFLP–GC. PLO official in Syria Anwar Abdul-Hadi says that over half the Palestinian population of Yarmuk r.c. has fled; Palestinian amb. to Syria puts the figure at 95%. (MNA, REU 12/17)

During talks in Jerusalem, U.S. secy. of state Clinton warns Israeli PM Netanyahu not to take extreme measures in response to the Palestinians’ UN bid expected at the upcoming UN General Assembly (UNGA) session on 11/29, for fear of provoking the PA’s collapse. The U.S. specifically urges Israel not to build in the area of the West Bank nr. East Jerusalem known as E1. Meanwhile, aides to Palestinian pres. Mahmud Abbas say that he has no choice but to seek UN recognition after Hamas emerged with its reputation intact or even boosted after Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense. (HA, JP, AP 11/23)

IDF troops open fire on Palestinians demonstrating nr. the Gaza border, killing 1 Palestinian and wounding 18. Palestinian amb. to the UN Riyad Mansour submits a formal protest to the UNSC. In addition, 2 Palestinian fighters die from their wounds sustained during Operation Pillar of Defense, raising the comprehensive Palestinian death toll to 162. (AP 11/23; PCHR 11/29)

In the West Bank, the IDF conducts raids in 1 village nr. Ramallah in the morning; conducts house searches and arrest raids in 1 village nr. Hebron in the afternoon and in Nablus at night. Israeli soldiers violently disperse the weekly nonviolent demonstrations held by Palestinians, Israelis and internationals in 3 villages nr. Ramallah (Bil‘in, Ni‘lin, al-Nabi Salih), 1 village nr. Bethlehem (al-Ma‘sara), and 1 village nr. Qalqilya (Kafr Qaddum). There are no serious injuries, except in Bil‘in, where 2 Palestinians are shot in the leg with rubbercoated metal bullets. Jewish settlers in the s. Hebron Hills uproot around 400 olive trees belonging to a Palestinian farmer. (MNA 11/23; PCHR 11/29)

Senior Israeli officials reveal that Israel and Turkey have resumed talks on ending the diplomatic crisis between the 2 countries that has dragged on since the attack on the Gaza-bound freedom flotilla in May 2010 (see the Quarterly Update in JPS 157). The Israeli sources report a meeting in Geneva in the past week between Israeli PM Netanyahu’s envoy Yosef Chiechanover and Turkish Foreign Ministry undersecretary Feridun Sinirliog˘lu. (REU 11/23)