Israel's supreme court Dec. 29 ordered the military to allow Palestinians to travel on part of a major highway that runs through the West Bank. The move, heralded by human rights activists, reopens to Palestinians a 20-kilometer section of Route 443, which links Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. "It's a huge victory," said Melanie Takefman, a spokeswoman for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, which represented the six Palestinian villages that appealed to the court to lift the ban.

Using the pretext of escalating tensions on the Gaza-Egypt border, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry has informed organizers of the Gaza Freedom March that the Rafah border will be closed over the coming weeks, into January. "We responded that there is always tension at the border because of the siege, that we do not feel threatened, and that if there are any risks, they are risks we are willing to take," organizers replied in a statement, adding that it was too late for over 1,300 delegates coming from over 42 countries to change their plans. Organizers are calling for pressure on the Egyptian government to let the march pass into Gaza. (Gaza Freedom March, Dec. 21)

"By this killing in Nablus and Gaza, the Israeli occupation has thrown open the doors of its own inferno," an al-Aqsa Brigades spokesman calling himself Abu Mahmoud said in a statement following Israel's overnight raid on Nablus. Israeli forces stormed the Nablus' Old City of Nablus in the early hours of Dec. 26, raiding several homes and killing three men affiliated with Fatah's military wing, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

Palestinian security forces that have been detaining and apparently torturing Hamas supporters on the West Bank have been working closely with the CIA, the UK Guardian reports, citing anonymous official and diplomatic sources. The two named Palestinian agencies are the Preventive Security Organisation (PSO) and General Intelligence Service (GI). One senior western official said: "The [Central Intelligence] Agency consider them as their property, those two Palestinian services." A diplomatic source added that US influence over the agencies was so great they could be considered "an advanced arm of the war on terror."

Israel reacted angrily to the news that a warrant has been issued in Britain for the arrest of former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, with President Shimon Peres calling it one of the "biggest political mistakes the UK has ever made" and warning that it is "high time" the British government changed a law allowing courts to grant such warrants. British ministers said they will look "urgently" at reforming the law.

Egypt has commenced construction of a huge metal wall along its border with the Gaza Strip that will extend 18 meters (55 feet) underground in an attempt to cut smuggling tunnels. The United States this year provided Egypt with $32 million for electronic surveillance and other security devices to prevent the movement of food, merchandise and weapons into Gaza—funds which are now likely being used in construction of the border wall. The barrier, which Egyptian officials say will be "impenetrable," is slated to be completed in 18 months. (Information Clearing House, Dec. 10; BBC News, Dec. 9)

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon "has expressed his dismay at the continuation of demolitions, evictions and the installment of Israeli settlers in Palestinian neighborhoods in occupied East Jerusalem," a statement said Dec. 2. Speaking from outside the Sheikh Jarrah home of the al-Kurd family, which was occupied by Israeli settlers earlier in the day, Richard Miron, spokesperson for the UN special coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, reiterated the concerns of the secretary general at the continued Israeli violations in Jerusalem.

The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem says the Palestinian conflict has left almost 8,900 people dead over the last 20 years—with 2009 the bloodiest. The report says 7,398 of the victims, including 1,537 minors, were Palestinian. 1,483 were Israelis, 139 of them minors. Of these, 488 were members of the security forces and 995 were civilians.