Shaker al-Abssi, leader of the al-Qaeda franchise Fatah al-Islam, was reported killed in the Lebanese Army's assault on a the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp Sept. 2. Lebanese officials said they were awaiting the result of a DNA test before officially issuing a statement. Some 35 members of the Islamist group were also reported killed in the assault. More than 300 people are believed to have died since the army's three-month siege on the refugee camp began. (RIA-Novosti, Sept. 3)

From Amnesty International, Aug. 23:

Evictions crisis deepens for Palestinian villagers
The Israeli army has increased efforts to force Palestinian villagers out of the Jordan Valley region of the occupied West Bank, by destroying villagers’ homes and restricting their movement and access to water. Humsa and Hadidiya, two hamlets in the north of the Jordan Valley, are among the targeted villages. More than 100 villagers, most of them children, risk losing their homes and being forced out of the area.

Some 5,000 Israelis participated in a march around Jerusalem's Temple Mount July 15, in a monthly event led by Orthodox Jewish groups dedicated to the rebuilding of a Jewish temple on the site. The march usually draws far smaller numbers, but this one was held just one week before the Ninth of Av, the Hebrew calendar date when the First and Second Temples were destroyed by the Babylonians and Romans, respectively, a day of national mourning and fasting in Israel. (Israel Today, July 16) Meanwhile, in a bizarre reversal of recent controversies surrounding the Temple Mount, Jews protested an archaeological dig at the site approved by the Islamic overseers of the Haram al-Sharif. From the Jerusalem Post, July 15:

From Israel Indymedia (via Kibush), June 25:

Tonight we, a group of autonomous women activists, have protested against the Akerstein Company and its support for the Separation Wall. We have acted at the Akerstein sales center at Herzlia Pituach- we have inserted fast-drying glue into the locks of several entrance doors, sprayed red stains on the outer walls and hanged on the walls signs with the text reproduced below. For more details you can contact us via mail: XAutonomousX@gmail.com

Israeli police detained an Orthodox Jewish man carrying a small homemade bomb in Jerusalem June 21, as thousands marched in support of gay rights in defiance of religious protesters. Some 2,000 Israeli gays marched in the event by police estimates, while behind police barriers Orthodox protesters in traditional black and white garb intoned prayers against the march. One man approached the marchers yelling: "Filth! Get out of Jerusalem!" In 2005, an Orthodox Jew stabbed and wounded three marchers and fears of violence caused a march to be cancelled last year. (Reuters, June 21)

Ehud Barak is to be approved as Israel's new Defense Minister June 17, following the resignation two days earlier of Amir Peretz in the wake of the routing of Fatah forces from the Gaza Strip and the seizure of control by Hamas there. Israeli and international media are reporting today that Barak's first order of business will be an IDF invasion of Gaza to crush Hamas' military infrastructure, and presumably remove it from power. The UK's Sunday Times quoted senior IDF sources saying the planned Gaza assault will require 20,000 troops to destroy the bulk of Hamas's military capability in a few days. The invasion is to be triggered by Hamas rocket attacks or a resumption of suicide bombings, said the newspaper, claiming Barak has already demanded detailed plans to deploy two armored divisions and an infantry division in Gaza, accompanied by assault drones and F-16 jets. The IDF expects to confront some 12,000 Hamas fighters with arms captured from Fatah in last week's clashes. (Israel Hasbara Committee, Jerusalem Post, June 17)

Palestinians and Israelis gathered in Hebron, Nablus and Ramallah on the West Bank June 5 to mark the anniversary of the start of the 1967 Six-Day War, and to demand an immediate end to Israel's occupation of Palestinian land. In East Jerusalem, Israeli police shut down a Palestinian conference marking 40 years since Israel occupied the sector of the city.

As the Lebanese army continues to pound Fatah al-Islam positions at the Nahr el Bared refugee camp, fighting also broke out June 3 with a second Islamist faction, Jund al-Sham, at Ein al-Helweh, Lebanon's largest refugee camp. Mediators from other Palestinian groups are attempting to negotiate a ceasefire at Ein al-Helweh.