Israel's West Bank roadblocks increasing, says UN

Despite pledges to ease travel restrictions, Israel has increased the number of roadblocks and checkpoints over the last six months in the occupied West Bank, according to a United Nations report made public this week. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says the Israeli army erected 19 new "obstacles" since April, raising the total to 630, including 93 checkpoints controlled by soldiers.

Israel's actions contradict all of the "peace" talk we've heard from Olmert of late. But, this is a typical Zionist strategy - say one thing and do another - then blame the other guy and scream ANTI-SEMITISM...

Jews in Judea, Samaria Increased by 20 Percent in Olmert's Term

The number of Jews in Judea and Samaria grew by 20 percent from 250,000 when Ehud Olmert began his term as Prime Minister in April of 2006, to more than 300,000 in the Interior Ministry's official census in 2008, according to Yesha Council Director Pinchas Wallerstein.

For those of you who don't know - Judea and Samaria are the Jewish names for what is now commonly referred to as Palestine (Gaza and the West Bank).

'Olmert offers PA 98.1% of W. Bank'

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has discussed with the Palestinians transferring to them 98.1 percent of the West Bank, Channel 2 reported on Sunday evening.

Only "God's chosen people" could be so arrogrant as to offer the Palestinians 98% of what already belongs to them.

Group: Israel forcibly transfers Palestinians from W. Bank to Gaza

B'Tselem, the Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, argues that thousands of Palestinians may be liable to imminent deportation and that Israel is making them "illegal dwellers in their own houses".

Israel, what a democracy...

'Israel cutting off Gaza from West Bank'

An Israeli human rights group says Israel is trying to separate the Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip from those who live in the West Bank.

Palestinian rockets fired at Israel despite truce

"The attack came hours after Israeli troops killed two Palestinians in a West Bank raid. The victims included an Islamic Jihad commander. The militant group later claimed responsibility for firing the rockets, saying the attack was intended to avenge the Israeli operation."

Notice the headline and what's actually written in the article. Now, you tell me who BROKE THE TRUCE...

What a crock of Zionist propaganda Bull Sh*T!

My Trip to the West Bank

"Do you see a future for us out there?"

"The driver, an immigrant from Morocco who had served as a tank crewman in the Six-Day War, let me in on his peace plan: "Kill them all! Men, women, and children: all of them, like you did in Hiroshima."

More than one-third of settlements built on private Palestinian land

"More than one-third of Israel's 122 West Bank settlements were built on land confiscated from private Palestinian owners on security grounds, including some erected after the Israeli Supreme Court outlawed such seizures three decades ago, the Haaretz newspaper reported on Monday."

Palestinians sue for NIS 40 million for land taken by settlers

"Palestinian landowners on whose property the West Bank settlement of Homesh was constructed are demanding NIS 40 million in compensation and the right to access their land. The state is trying to reach an out-of-court compromise in order to avoid a precedent setting ruling."

Olmert: Presence of W. Bank outposts is a 'disgrace'

"Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, speaking before the government on Sunday, said it was a disgrace that Israel hasn't taken action on unauthorized West Bank outposts, according to a participant in the meeting."

West Bank's Jewish 'outposts' dig in

"They can drag us away a hundred times and we'll come back," said Landesberg, 18, who like many religious Jews wears a yarmulke and long, curled sideburns. "And if the army wants to stay and guard it, then we win, because if the Israeli army is here, the land is being occupied by Jews."

Bush prays in Bethlehem amid sea of barricades

US President George W. Bush(C) speaks with Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilis III(3rd R) while visiting the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. (AFP/Jim Watson)

"Bethlehem's own mayor Victor Batarseh was not invited to the ceremony because he is a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which the US State Department considers a terror organisation."

It's interesting how Christians (the lovers of Christ) places the security and interests of Jews (the haters of Christ) above the security and interests of their own. Even as he drives along the humiliating road-blocks and checkpoints, it probably never occurs to "Born Again Christan" Bush that his Christian brethren are also murdered, starved, and brutalized behind the apartheid wall. This is evidenced by the fact that the PFLP, a Christian organization is branded "terrorist" because it resists Israeli occupation.

Questions on Iran as Bush heads to Mideast

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks during a press conference after handing the annual budget bill to the parliament in Tehran on Monday.

"President Bush intends to use his first extended tour of the Middle East to rally support for international pressure against Iran, even as a recent U.S. intelligence report playing down Tehran's nuclear ambitions has left Israeli and Arab leaders rethinking their own approach toward Iran and questioning Washington's resolve, according to senior U.S. officials, diplomats and regional experts."

I'm sure the Palestinians will be pleased to hear Bush is in the region to pressure Iran. I'm sure they thought Bush was coming to pressure Israel to halt the wholesale slaughter of their defenseless and innocent men, women and children, stop the destruction of their homes and farms, force the removal of Israeli settlements and checkpoints, and stop the confiscation of their land.

Israel refuses to release report on settlements

"The report, whose preparation was kept secret, revealed that extensive building was carried out without permits on dozens of veteran settlements - not just outposts - often on privately owned Palestinian land. Spiegel's data came from the Civil Administration and other government agencies, as well as from photographic sorties carried out by civilian aircraft leased by the military establishment."

The Spiegel report would show Israeli's true intention ~ to steal Palestinian land and eventually "wipe Palestine off the map."

Just going to work, Palestinians and Israelis travel different roads

Palestinians board buses for the long, checkpoint-ridden commute to work.

"In the pre-dawn chill, Darwish sets his Muslim prayer rug on the floor facing Mecca. In the soft morning light, Steinmetz throws on his prayer shawl and turns toward Jerusalem. Then the lives of these West Bank neighbors diverge."

Sure does look and sound a lot like apartheid to me ~ you know what they say, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it must be a duck...

Olmert: Israel fails to halt settlements

"Israel has failed to uphold its promise to halt building in settlements, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in an unprecedented acknowledgement Friday ahead of President Bush's visit to prod Israel and the Palestinians toward a final accord."

Olmert merely states the obvious...

An Unholy Land Grab: The Story of a Palestinian Farm and Settlers

"They have now occupied strategically chosen areas through out the West Bank. Keddumim boasts of its own position on its website, saying its settlers have seized the tactical high ground overlooking routes from the Jordan towards Tel Aviv. In October this year the UN reported that over 38% of the West Bank is now occupied by Israeli settlements and by Israeli military areas. Since the West Bank and Gaza Strip only amount to 22% of the historical land of Palestine - it means that, in the current Two State negotiations, the Palestinians are expected to settle for just 13.2% of the land, despite having a population equivalent to Israel’s, or greater."

The Great Divide: Israel's forbidden road

"It runs straight through the heart of the occupied West Bank, but Palestinians are not permitted even to set foot on the asphalt their ancestors laid."

Israel's 2007 Victims…Civilians, Gazans

""In 2007, about 35 percent of those killed were civilians who were not taking part in the hostilities when killed," said the B'Tselem organization. The majority of the Palestinians killed were in the besieged Gaza Strip, it noted. The report documented that until December 29, Israeli security forces killed 373 Palestinians, 290 in Gaza Strip and 83 in the West Bank. The victims included 53 minors."

A bad investment

"The time is ripe for Israel to begin making repayments to the Palestinians, not to amass more bad debts in order to expand settlements."