Israeli police evicted a disabled Palestinian man and his wife from their East Jerusalem home of more than 50 years in a late-night raid early Nov. 9. The eviction followed a July Israeli supreme court order that found the home, provided to the couple in 1956 by the Jordanian government and a UN refugee program, was built on land they did not own. A Jewish land association said it has Ottoman-era documents proving the land originally was owned by Jews who fled in 1948 when Jordanian troops took East Jerusalem.

President-elect Barack Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel apologized Nov. 14 for disparaging remarks made by his father about Arabs. Benjamin Emanuel, speaking about his son to an Israeli newspaper last week, said, "Obviously, he will influence the president to be pro-Israel. Why wouldn't he? What is he, an Arab? He's not going to clean the floors of the White House." Rahm Emanuel called the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee to apologize, saying "These are not the values upon which I was raised or those of my family." (Fox News, Nov. 14)

Palestinian security forces arrested 12 followers of Hamas in West Bank Nov. 16, in an ongoing crackdown against the Islamic movement. The arrests, by forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, took place in Nablus, Salfeet and Hebron, a Hamas statement said. The arrests could further complicate efforts to reconcile the Hamas and Fatah movements. Hamas days earlier rejected an Egyptian initiative to hold a Palestinian reconciliation dialogue, saying it cannot sit with Fatah while its followers on West Bank face a Fatah-led clampdown.

Speaking before the General Assembly, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said Israel's ongoing efforts to build settlements in the West Bank is "illegal," a breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and have lead to widespread human rights abuses against Palestinians. Ban's statement came as he announced the findings of two new reports prepared for his office last week.

An explosion in the northern Gaza Strip killed a Palestinian militant and critically wounded another, medical workers reported Nov. 15. The Popular Resistance Committees said an Israeli air-strike targeted a group of its militants as they approached the Israel-Gaza border near the town of Beit Hanoun. An Israeli army spokesman denied that any air-strike had been carried out. (Reuters, Nov. 15)

Israeli forces detained six Palestinians and stormed one village across the West Bank before daybreak Nov. 14. Israeli sources said that the troops arrested six "wanted" Palestinians from al-Ubeidieh in the Bethlehem governorate, from Hizma and Abu Dis in the central region and the village of Beit Ur near Ramallah. The village of Tuqu south of Bethlehem was also raided, with no detentions reported. The detainees were taken to an unknown location for questioning. (Ma'an News Agency, Nov. 14)

Israel went back on a pledge to ease its blockade of the Gaza Strip Nov. 13, turning away critical UN deliveries of fuel and food at the borders for the seventh consecutive day. Gaza was plunged into darkness as the territory's only power plant shut down for lack of fuel. Just before dark, Palestinans went into the streets in a frantic search for candles and bread. As night fell, sirens sounded across the Gaza Strip in protest of the closure.

Greek Orthodox and Armenian worshipers got down to fisticuffs Sunday Nov. 9 in East Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Christian denominations jealously guard their divided areas of the traditional site of the crucifixion. Dozens of worshipers dressed in denominational vestments traded kicks and punches, knocking down tapestries and toppling decorations. Israeli police entered the shrine, and two clerics were arrested.