The Palestinian Times

In a confidential report obtained by AFP on Thursday, the European Union accused Israel of actively pursuing the annexation of Arab east Jerusalem and undermining hopes for peace with Palestinians. The annual report drafted by the EU heads of missions in Jerusalem accused Israel of implementing in 2009 an intricate policy which includes expanding Jewish settlements and demolishing Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem. "Developments in east Jerusalem in 2009 were marked by the continued... Read Full Story

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Thursday with settler leaders but failed to ease anger over his cabinet's decision to temporarily halt new Jewish construction in the West Bank. Following the tense meeting in Netanyahu's Tel Aviv office, the settler leaders vowed to continue to oppose last week's decision to impose a 10-month moratorium on issuing building permits for new West Bank Jewish homes. "Nothing came out of the meeting," settler leader Pinhas Walerstein told AFP after... Read Full Story

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas will make a brief visit to Lebanon next week for talks with President Michel Sleiman on relations and the plight of Palestinian refugees, officials said on Thursday. A Lebanese official who did not wish to be identified told AFP that during Monday's visit Abbas will also discuss the Middle East peace process and the rebuilding of a refugee camp in northern Lebanon destroyed in 2007. A Palestinian official in the West Bank town of Ramallah where Abbas has... Read Full Story

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will on Thursday meet settler leaders upset over his cabinet's decision to suspend the construction of new West Bank homes, his office said. "The prime minister has invited the leaders of settlements in Judea and Samaria (West Bank), to listen to them and to explain the decision that has been taken," an official in his office told AFP. "There is no going back on the decision to suspend construction," said the official who requested anonymity. The... Read Full Story

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A proposal before the European Union to endorse the division of Jerusalem would risk closing off half the city to non-Muslims, according to a think tank close to the Israeli government. The Israel Project said the plan could be backed at a regular meeting of the bloc's 27 foreign ministers on Monday, as part of what it called a bid to "forge a high-profile role" in resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Diplomats in Brussels said the EU meeting was likely to... Read Full Story

A mayor of an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank was briefly detained on Wednesday as new spats broke out with government inspectors charged with enforcing a building moratorium. "The mayor of Beit Aryeh, Avi Naim, was briefly arrested today for having tried to prevent inspectors from carrying out their mission in this community," police spokesman Gil Elhadad told AFP. Naim told the Ynet news website that he had tried to physically prevent inspectors from entering his settlement... Read Full Story

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel stripped Palestinians of Jerusalem residency status last year at a faster rate than at any time in the history of the Jewish state, an Israeli rights group said on Wednesday, citing official Israeli statistics. "Revocation of residence has reached frightening proportions," said Dalia Kerstein, executive director of Israel's HaMoked Center for the Defense of the Individual. Statistics HaMoked obtained from the Ministry of Interior under a Freedom of Information... Read Full Story

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said on Wednesday it was facing an "unprecedented" budget deficit that could force it to cut back on services to more than 4.7 million people. "There is an unprecedented deficit in the UNRWA budget, and our balance has hit zero for the first time since our establishment 60 years ago," said Adnan Abu Hasna, the Gaza spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency. "If this deficit continues and if donors do not increase their assistance to UNRWA we may have... Read Full Story

Israel's ultra-nationalist Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Wednesday ruled out freeing one of the Palestinians' most popular leaders in exchange for captive soldier Gilad Shalit. "I can guarantee to you that (Marwan) Barghuthi will not be released," Lieberman said in a radio interview rebroadcast by public television. "We have no intention of releasing him because he is not just a murderer, he is a king of murderers." Marwan Barghuti, who was elected to the governing body of the... Read Full Story

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (Reuters) - The lights are going up and carols are ringing from Manger Square, but Christmas cheer hasn't spread to all of Bethlehem's residents. While calm has returned to the Biblical birthplace of Jesus, scene of heavy fighting during the Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, in the early years of this decade, big-spending foreign tourists have mostly not, say the shopkeepers and restaurant owners who depend on them for their livelihood. Last year, the West Bank town... Read Full Story