Hamas Gains Allure in Gaza, but Money Is a Problem

Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

Gaza residents returned to survey the damage to their homes last month after a cease-fire ended the eight-day clash between Israel and Hamas. 

Hamas has been riding high of late, after its professed victory in the recent conflict with Israel and the overthrow last year of Egypt’s president, Hosni Mubarak, an avowed enemy.

How The New York Times burys Israel’s crimes

How The New York Times erases Israel’s crimes

Neocons, wearing jackboots, are suddenly on the defensive over Hagel

The Chuck Hagel debate has moved into a new phase: the neoconservatives are completely on the defensive. NYT op-eds by Tom Friedman ("Give Chuck a Chance") and James Besser ("Don't Let Pro-Israel Extremists Sink Chuck Hagel") have now successfully positioned Hagel as a centrist being attacked by extremists. And the neoconservatives have got their back up, as you will see below.

American Jewish Committee Demonstrates That Lobby Effort To Sink Hagel Has Backfired

their dreams of never-ending occupation will be dashed.

by: MJ Rosenberg on December 29th, 2012

At this point, it is still not clear who will be appointed Secretary of Defense. I continue to believe that former Senator Chuck Hagel will not get the job because President Obama has never said “no” to the lobby about anything. And the lobby (whether you call it the Israel Lobby or the Jewish Lobby) has never been as united about any internal U.S. matter as it is about stopping Hagel. My guess is that Obama will choose former Pentagon official, Michele Flournoy, in the hope that the excitement about a woman as Defense secretary will make observers forget that she only got the appointment because Obama was afraid to take on AIPAC.

“I hope one day this hall will be full of children from Gaza
playing their music to us all.”

Gaza Government affirms the Palestinians’ right to repel any aggression

The Palestinian government in Gaza stressed on the right of the Palestinian people to use all resistance methods in order to repel any Israeli aggression and to defend themselves from the Israeli continued crimes.

Issawi: PA did not take prisoners’ issue to the UN

Shireen Al-Issawi, the sister of hunger striker Samer Al-Issawi, has called for greater support for the issue of hunger striking Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

US and Israel illegal self-defence doctrine

How Obama and Netanyahu Disregarded Law and Facts
Why the Self-Defense Doctrine Doesn’t Legitimize Israel’s Assault on Gaza