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.

On his Electronic Intifada Nov. 5, Ali Abunimah digs up the hardline pro-Israel dirt on Rahm Israel Emanuel, Barack Obama's first appointment, for chief of staff. While Emanuel was doubtless chosen for his "key role in delivering a Democratic majority in the 2006 mid-term elections," there is plenty here that will serve as grist for the theorists of conspiratorial Jewish control of the government:

Israel launched an air-strike against Islamic Jihad militants in northern Gaza's Jebaliya refugee camp the night of Nov. 4 after rockets were fired into Israel. Palestinian security sources told CNN there were two Israeli strikes, though the IDF confirmed only one. The Palestinian sources said the first strike hit a group of militants, killing one and injuring three. The second, five minutes later, tageted the rocket-launching squad. (CNN, Jerusalem Post, Nov. 5) No casualties resulted from the Islamic Jihad attacks, although an Israeli army spokesman said that one of the rockets landed in Ashkelon, ten miles north of the border with Gaza. (The Scotsman, Nov. 6)

Israel's departing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced measures Nov. 2 in response to a rise in violence by extremist Jewish settlers in the West Bank, including a halt to all government financing of "illegal" Jewish settlement outposts. The announcement amounted to an acknowledgment that public funds are still being spent on the outposts, contrary to government policy and a longstanding pledge to the US. However, the move applies only to some 100 outposts considered illegal under Israeli law—not to the more than 120 "official" settlements.

The Palestine People's Party (PPP) denounced the latest Israeli decision to demolish five Palestinian homes in the town of Bruqin in the northern West Bank Oct. 31. Senior PPP member Isam Baker called the decision "part of the ethnic cleansing policy that is carried out by the Israeli authorities in the Palestinian territories."

The European Campaign to Break the Siege on Gaza is preparing to send a massive international parliamentarian delegation to Gaza by sea. The delegation had arranged a solidarity visit to Gaza, but was denied entry to the area by Egypt via the Rafah crossing in mid October. Lord Nadthir Ahmad, head of the planned delegation said the group "feels it is their moral duty to break the siege that is imposed over the past three years." (Ma'an News Agency, Oct. 31)

The Lebanese Industrialists Association is accusing Israel of falsely taking credit for traditional Middle Eastern cuisine. The organization's president Fadi Abboud said his group plans to sue Israel to stop it from marketing hummus and other regional dishes as Israeli. "It is not enough they are stealing our land," Abboud said. "They are also stealing our civilization and our cuisine." He said his group would also seek to claim baba ghanouj and tabbouleh as Lebanon's own. (AP, Oct. 7)