The Israeli human rights group Yesh Din announced Jan. 29 it is launching a campaign to help Palestinians sue the state of Israel for its use of their privately owned lands for Jewish settlement in the West Bank. The campaign follows the publication in the newspaper Ha'aretz of classified government data regarding the extent of construction in officially recognized settlements that is illegal under Israel's own laws. Violations include private and public building carried out without appropriate permits or outside of approved plans, as well as the construction of whole neighborhoods on private Palestinian lands.

Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has assembled a team to defend his government against charges of war crimes in its recent Gaza Strip offensive. Justice Minister Daniel Friedman is to lead an inter-ministerial team to prepare legal defenses for Israeli officials and military personnel. Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz warned earlier this week that Israel may face a wave of international lawsuits over its 22-day offensive.

In his first call to a foreign leader, President Barack Obama spoke to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on the phone Jan. 21, saying he wants to work "as partners to establish a durable peace in the region," according to an Abbas aid. He shortly followed the call up with one to and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Israel is currently withdrawing the last of its troops from the Gaza Strip, but prevented Abbas' administration from transferring $80 million to Gaza to pay Palestinian Authority workers there. Israel told the UN and other aid agencies they must apply for project-by-project Israeli approval and provide guarantees none of the work will benefit Hamas. (Bloomberg, Reuters, Jan. 21)

One of Barack Obama's first moves as the 44th president of the United States is expected to be the nomination of Sen. George Mitchell (D-ME) as his Middle East envoy. Mitchell headed the committee appointed by President Bill Clinton to probe the roots of the 2000 al-Aqsa Intifada. A former House majority leader, he also served as President Clinton's special envoy to Northern Ireland.

The fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip entered its third day Jan. 20, with residents struggling to absorb the devastation caused by Israel's deadly 22-day assault on the territory. UN chief Ban Ki-moon is to make his first visit to witness first hand the extent of the destruction, which has left some 4,100 homes totally destroyed and 17,000 others damaged. Medics in Gaza are now saying more than 1,300 Palestinians, nearly a third of them children, were killed in the Israeli offensive.

Israeli forces began slowly withdrawing from the Gaza Strip Jan. 19, following a tentative truce with Hamas. Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip agreed to honor Israel's declared ceasefire on the condition that Israeli troops are out of the Gaza Strip within one week. Hamas and other Gaza factions denied that Israel had "imposed its conditions" on the resistance.

Israeli troops and Hamas gunmen exchanged fire in northern Gaza early Jan. 18—hours after Israel declared a "unilateral cease-fire." The fighting began when Hamas militants opened fire at an Israeli patrol near Jabalya refugee camp. None of the soldiers was wounded. Additionally, at least seven rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel shortly after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced that his security cabinet had voted in favor of the cease-fire. (Ha'aretz, Jan. 18)

Israeli troops again pounded Gaza Jan. 16 after Hamas offered a conditional truce amid a diplomatic push to end the offensive. For a third week, the Israeli army locked down the occupied West Bank for 48 hours after Hamas called for a day of "wrath" against the offensive. Since Israel unleashed Operation Cast Lead on Dec. 27, Gaza medics say 1,169 have been killed, including at least 370 children, and 85 women. There have been more than 5,015 injured, including at least 1,745 children. (Middle East Online, Ma'an News Agency, Jan. 16)