http://www.imemc.org/content/view/23171/1/
Israeli police demolish a number of Arab houses in Negev desert
IMEMC & Agencies - Tuesday, 12 December 2006, 14:57

The Israeli Land Authority have demolished a number of houses in the Arabic village of Um Mitnan, located in the Negev desert in the southern Israel, on Tuesday afternoon.

The village is one of the unrecognized villages in the area. Israeli Land Authorities claimed that the houses were constructed without proper building permits.

Residents said that the Authorities handed out demolishing orders to 17 houses in the village.

Last Thursday, the Israli police demolished 17 houses in the unrecognized village of Twayyil in the negev.

Forty years ago the State of Israel moved the families of this village from their original land (8000 dunums) to the current location (400 meters squared per family) after the 1965 Planning and Construction law, yet the State of Israel never recognized the village, and to this day has not supplied it with the proper services even though the residents are Israeli citizens , who carry an Israeli passport and pay taxes to the Israeli government.

There are some 40 Arab villages in northern Israel that are not recognized by the state. Residents of those villages are Palestinians who tried to go back to their land in 1948, but found Jewish families occupying them and refused to go to refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza Strip or outside the country.

http://www.imemc.org/content/view/23168/1/
Aged woman dies due to an Israeli army sound bombs fired into her house in Qalqilia
Ghassan Bannoura –IMEMC & Agencies - Tuesday, 12 December 2006, 11:44

Palestinian sources reported that Palestinian aged woman died after Israeli army fire a sound bomb into her house in the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia on Tuesday morning.

Latifa Miskawi, 57, died after having a hart attack when Israeli troops invading Kfar Saba neighborhood in Qalqilia fired a sound bomb into her house, medical sources in the city reported.

Soldiers surrounded the neighborhood and started to throw sound bombs and fire live rounds at residents' houses before searching and ransacking them, troops also confiscated TV sets and electrical equipments from the searched homes, eyewitnesses reported. Latifa son Mohamed was killed by an undercover Israeli army force in 2003, army clamed that he was a fighter with Aqsa brigades of Fatah.

On Tuesday at dawn Israeli army stormed the village of Azone east of Qalqilia city and abducted four men after searching and ransacking scores of houses in the village.

http://www.imemc.org/content/view/23161/1/
Olmert: “Iran aspires to have nukes like us”
Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies - Tuesday, 12 December 2006, 01:45

Just before his trip to Germany, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert admitted “when his tongue slipped” that Israel has nuclear weapons. Olmert stated that “Iran wants to possess nuclear weapons like the US, France, Israel and Russia”.

The statements of Olmert came in an interview with the German TV station Sat. 1, ahead of his first visit to Germany since he became Prime Minister, the Israeli Ynetnews reported.

Israeli officials at Olmert's office attempted damage control, and said that Olmert was referring to the fundamental issue of Iran possessing nuclear weapons, and that he did not violate the ambiguousness policy of Israel “by admitting that Israel possesses nuclear weapons.

Olmert also said that Germany should cut its ties with Iran, adding that “Germany has greater obligations because of its Nazi past”, the Ynetnews added.

He called for more dramatic acts against Iran but ruled out Israeli military attack against Tehran.

When Olmert was asked about the nuclear power of Israel, he cut the interviewer off and said “You can go to the US Secretary of Defense and ask him about that”.

He also said that Israel does not threaten and country with “anything”, adding that “unlike Iran, we don't threaten anyone, but they threaten to wipe Israel off the map”.

Regarding the nuclear power of the US, France, Russia and the UK, Olmert said that those countries do not threaten the foundations of the world, and do not threaten to annihilate other countries.

Moreover, Olmert added that he will consider an offer to dispatch peacekeeping German troops to the Gaza Strip to be part of an international force there, but added that this suggestion should be clearly interpreted and understood before Israel and accept it.

Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, waved a fast response to Olmert's statements regrading Israel's possession of nuclear power and said that Israel is “threatening the Arab and Islamic countries, especially Iran”.

Ismail Radwan, spokesperson of Hamas, said that “the Zionist enemy is the cause of all tensions in the region”, and that the statements of Olmert are not new.

“They always had nukes”, Radwan stated, “I don't think that Olmert slipped, I believe that it was intentional in order to show off, and reveal Israel's power in the area, especially against Iran”.

http://www.imemc.org/content/view/23114/1/

Child seriously injured in Aida refugee camp
IMEMC & Agencies - Friday, 08 December 2006, 14:32

Israeli soldiers stationed near Aida refugee camp, north of the West Bank city of Bethlehem, shot and seriously injured one child, the Palestinian News Agency, WAFA, reported.

The agency stated that soldiers topping a military tower near the camp fired at a group of children, and injured Miras Nidal Al Azza, 12, with a live round in his abdomen.

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=17904
Palestinian refugees in Syria receive housing after 56 years of living in World War II barracks
Date: 08 / 12 / 2006 Time: 11:26

Ma'an - Palestinian refugees who have been living in World War II army barracks in northern Syria since 1950 have finally been given more appropriate shelter, according to a press release from the UN agency responsible for Palestine refugees, UNRWA.

On 6 December, 40 housing units were handed over to Palestinian families living in Neirab refugee camp in Aleppo, northern Syria, according ot the press release.

“Thanks to our donors and the strong support of the Syrian Government, UNRWA can help the refugees in Neirab camp with better accommodation and also raise the overall standard of living for the Palestine refugee communities both in Ein el-Tal and in Neirab”, Director of UNRWA Affairs in Syria Panos Moumtzis, told an audience who attended the hand-over ceremony in Ein al-Tal refugee camp in Aleppo.

The press release says that "the 40 new shelters are part of the Neirab rehabilitation project which addresses the problems of 1,300 families still living in the Neirab barracks area. The project will directly and indirectly improve the living conditions of over 20,000 Palestine refugees."

UNRWA is a United Nations humanitarian relief and development agency providing basic services – education, health, relief and social services – to over 4.3 million registered Palestine refugees in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon and the Syrian Arab Republic. In Syria, UNRWA provides assistance to over 430,000 Palestine refugees, 30,000 of whom live in the Aleppo area.