International Solidarity Movement activist Ariadna Jové (26) was released on bail today by Israeli forces, after her arrest in the early hours of Sunday morning from her home near Ramala, reports El País.

Jové, from Barcelona, and her Australian colleague, Bridgitte Chappell, sat before the Supreme Court this morning, while the defence argued that their arrest was illegal. Jové stated: “Around 2.30 on Sunday the door opened and 15 or 20 soldiers entered, pointing their weapons at us.” The soldiers raided the apartment, taking a computer, pro-Palestinian banners, ISM volunteer membership forms, and then arrested the women on the pretext that their visas had expired and took them to the Oz Unit, which deals with illegal immigration. Another Czech activist and a U.S. journalist faced the court today, but were deported. Jové and Chappell are forbidden to enter occupied territory whilst out on bail, as the Israeli government has classified them as a threat to security.

According to El Mundo, an army spokesperson stated both women had been “involved in illegal disturbances that interfered with Israeli security.”  Jové has been living in the region since August 2009. The detainment of the two women flouted the terns of the Oslo Accords since the women were arrested by Israeli forces in a designated Palestinian zone of the West Bank. The Spanish government have formally requested an explanation for Jové’s arrest from the Israeli authorities.

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh called Israel’s ambassador to Jordan Daniel Nevo on Thursday after a roadside explosive device went off near a convoy of cars carrying three Israeli diplomats traveling from Jordan toward Israeli earlier.

The blast occurred at around 6 p.m. close to the Allenby Bridge crossing between Jordan and the West Bank. No one was hurt.

Judeh stressed in his conversation with the Israeli ambassador that Jordanian authorities were investigating the incident and that every effort was being made to apprehend the perpetrators of the attack as soon as possible.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry emphasized that Nevo was not in the convoy, and was never in any danger.

Thursday’s bombing was the first time a roadside explosive device was used in an attack in Jordan, where suicide bombings and shootings have targeted foreigners in recent years. The method is widespread in neighboring Iraq.

The sundown attack also exposed a security breach for Israeli diplomats, who are usually escorted by security personnel from both countries and use different routes and departure times during their occasional travels in Jordan.

The explosion ripped through the right side of a curvy road cutting through hilly villages on the western outskirts of the capital, Amman. The blast left a large hole about 3 feet deep and damaged a highway guardrail.

Jordanian forensic officers were inspecting the site of the attack, a security official said. The area is halfway from the Allenby Bridge over the Jordan River, which links Jordan with the West Bank.

Israel and Jordan, which signed a peace treaty in 1994, maintain close security cooperation and cordial diplomatic ties.

Read more here.

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Tuesday that Israel would never cede control of united Jerusalem nor retreat to the 1967 borders, according to a bureau statement.

The statement came after Egypt’s foreign minister said in Cairo last week that Netanyahu was ready to discuss making “Arab Jerusalem” the capital of a Palestinian state.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority could abandon its demand for a freeze on construction in East Jerusalem in exchange for an easing of the siege on Gaza and a halt to Israeli assassinations in the West Bank.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit met the foreign ministers of Egypt, France, Jordan, Spain and Tunisia in Cairo last week to revive the nascent Mediterranean Union. He briefed them about Netanyahu’s talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak a few days earlier, Israeli and European officials said.

Aboul Gheit reportedly said Israel’s willingness to give the Palestinians “100 percent of the West Bank” and the readiness to discuss Arab Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine indicate “openness, goodwill and a change compared to the past.”

According to the Arab foreign ministers, the Palestinians have agreed to waive their conditions for reopening the negotiations with Israel in exchange for other terms that Netanyahu could accept more easily.

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Muna Ennab, 23, and Samar Quzmar, 24, two of the contestants in the Miss Palestine heat, where only four girls turned up. Jamal Aruri for The National

Just as a fair selection of the world’s media began to assemble at a small hotel in Ramallah on Wednesday for what was billed as the first heat in the first ever Miss Palestine competition, two girls stormed out the front door, followed by one of the members of the press.

“We are not talking, and we are no longer taking part,” one of the girls called out over her shoulder to the pursuing reporter, who gave up the chase. Inside the lobby, a gaggle of photographers stood around looking forlorn.

“There’s no one here,” said one to a colleague. And he was almost right. A little further inside the lobby, on a beige sofa, sat what turned out to be the only contestant present. Next to her, putting a brave face on proceedings was Salwa Yousef, the pageant’s organiser.

Ms Yousef confirmed to The National that the two girls had indeed left the beauty pageant. “Problems with their families,” she said without elaborating.

She was not precise about how many contestants were left. “Between 15 and 20,” Ms Yousef said. Beyond that, she urged the increasingly restless journalists not to worry. A group of contestants were on their way from Jerusalem. The event would proceed as planned, if a little late.

Late again, she might have added. Wednesday’s event, ostensibly to select 10 finalists for the main event on December 26, was supposed to have been held on December 10. It was postponed twice. On December 15, the heat was cancelled for a third time, less than an hour before it was due to start, with many journalists already en route from Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. For all that, Trip Fashion, the company behind the competition, nevertheless managed to secure the participation of an impressive number of media outlets from across the world, including Israel.

Here was a story, after all, that appealed to journalists and editors tired of always reporting war and politics. Miss Palestine not only provided a possible new angle on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, it featured pretty girls.

But with conservative elements in Palestinian society reportedly angry at the competition, there was already a brewing controversy between traditionalists and liberals, maybe even a reflection of the division between the West Bank and Gaza.

In fact, The Jerusalem Post reports that ‘Hamas has come out strongly against a plan to hold the first Miss Palestine beauty pageant.’

Salwa Yusef said that the event would take place despite the pressure and threats by Hamas.

“We will hold the contest unless the Palestinian Authority decides otherwise,” she said. “We call on all those who are attacking us to give us a chance because we are seeking to send a message of civilization to the world.”

The names of the candidates have not been made public to avoid exposing them to threats.

The International Analyst Network calls the pageant an ‘opportunity’ for the Muslim world:

Miss Palestine should be crowned on 26 December. If for any reason she is not it will be just another one of those opportunities missed by the Palestinian Authority  over the last 16 years to try and bring some semblance of normality into the lives of the West Bank and Gazan Arabs free of governmental controls or religious coercion.

“To cancel the beauty pageant  now,” continues IAN, “would involve grave loss of face by the Palestinian Authority and would be perceived by the West Bank Arab population as a real sign of weakness in the face of strident Hamas opposition.”

EU plans to call for East Jerusalem to be the capital of a future Palestinian state have been described as a “provocation” to Israel’s right-wing government by a key figure in the history of the Middle East Peace Process, writes the EU Observer.

Israeli daily Haaretz on Tuesday (1 December) published a leaked copy of a draft statement on Israel to be adopted by EU foreign ministers next week. In quoting a statement from the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Haaretz writes: “The process being led by Sweden harms the European Union’s ability to take part as a significant mediator in the political process between Israel and the Palestinians.”

The text – which is likely to undergo changes during internal EU discussions in the run-up to the ministerial meeting – said that peace talks should lead to: “an independent, democratic, contiguous and viable state of Palestine, comprising the West Bank and Gaza and with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

“The European Union will not recognise any changes to the pre-1967 borders,” it added, in reference to Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem and parts of the West Bank following the so-called Six Day War.

The draft statement comes amid ongoing expansion of Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land under the current right-wing government of Benjamin Nentanyahu, in a process creating facts on the ground which are likely to complicate a two-state solution.

According to Haaretz, Jerusalem is waging a diplomatic campaign to keep the EU from issuing such an endorsement, but diplomats close to the EU deliberations believe it is almost inevitable.

The row follows months of mounting tension between Israel and Sweden, the current holder of the EU’s rotating presidency, which has repeatedly attacked Mr Netanyahu on the settlements issue.

Swedish diplomats declined to comment on the draft document. But a number of EU officials voiced surprise that the provisional statement evoked such a hostile reaction.

“Jerusalem should be the shared capital of two states. I think this is a position which has been stated often enough,” Lutz Gellner, the spokesman of the EU’s new foreign relations chief, Catherine Ashton, explained.

The Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs, Avigdor Lieberman, affirmed that ‘the ball is in the Palestinian court,’ reports al-Jazeera.

He referred to the restart of the peace talks, after the announcement made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of a plan that includes a halt on the construction of West Bank settlements.

‘The Palestinians will make their considerations based on internal considerations that don’t need to concern us,’ Lieberman said, adding that ‘instead, we should care about our friends in the world.’ As announced on Israel’s Army Radio on Thursday, Lieberman said that the freeze on construction will mobilize international support for Israel,  as it will demonstrate Israel’s support for restarting the political peace process.

However, Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz revealed on Thursday that Israel does not have the means to apply the freeze due to a lack of settlement inspectors. There are currently only 14 in the West Bank.

Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, expressed his hopes for the restart of peace talks with the Palestinians and urged the establishment of a budge for the surveillance of the settlements, but Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz rejected the request.

Netanyahu, meanwhile, offered the 10-month suspension of settlement construction.

Yaser Abd Rabbo, secretary of the PLO’s executive commission, assured that the Israeli proposal would be rejected by the Palestinians, who called it a ‘political trick’ which did not offer anything new to the peace talks. He asked the United States to place more pressure on Israel as the US and the international community welcomed the initiative as ‘a step in the right direction.’

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Israel’s security cabinet approved on Wednesday a 10-month freeze on construction in West Bank settlements, in a bid by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to restart stalled peace talks with the Palestinians.

National Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau (Yisrael Beiteinu) was the only minister to oppose the move.

Shortly before the cabinet session, Netanyahu said the freeze would prove that Israel genuinely seeks to reach peace with the Palestinians.

“In the international circumstances that have been created, this step will advance Israel’s broad international interests. This is not a simple step, nor an easy one; but it has many more advantages than disadvantages,” Netanyahu told his aides.

Settlement building has been a key sticking point in U.S. efforts to restart Middle East peace talks; the Palestinians say they will not return to the negotiating table without a complete halt to construction.

Netanyahu added: “It will enable us to show the world this simple truth: The Government of Israel wants to enter into negotiations with the Palestinians, is taking practical steps to enter into negotiations and is very serious in its intention to advance peace.”

The prime minister was set to announce the settlement freeze at a special news conference on Wednesday evening.

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The Palestinians asked the European Union on Monday to back their plan to have the United Nations Security Council recognize an independent Palestinian state without Israeli consent, reports Haaretz.

The idea of seeking UN intervention has been gaining steam in the Arab world as the impasse in peacemaking drags on. The Palestinians seek a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in 1967.

“We will seek the support of all members of the international community,” Saeb Erekat, a top adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, told reporters in Ramallah. Besides the EU, they also plan to seek U.S. approval, Erekat said.

EU foreign ministers will discuss the Arab-backed proposal at their regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, said Petra Dachtler, an adviser to the EU’s special Middle East envoy, Marc Otte. Because the idea has only been floated recently, the EU has yet to formulate an opinion, she said.

The EU is not on the Security Council, but EU members France and Britain are permanent council members that wield veto power.

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Jack Teitel, the Israeli settler that has been charged with killing two Palestinians, denied in front of the Israeli court any sense of guilt. He added that killing the two Palestinian was pleasant, considering his act as an offer to his Lord that “I have no doubt, is proud of me,” al-Jazeera reports.

The public prosecutor has drawn up a list of his 14 charges and submitted them to the central court of Jerusalem. Among other charges, he is accused of murder, explosions, illegal possession of weapons, attempt to harm the security of his fellow citizens, racial incitement and harassment against Israeli leftists, homosexuals and even messianic Jews.

Teitel “the terrorist” emigrated to Israel from the United States in the 90’s, and killed a Palestinian taxi-driver in 1997 in east-Jerusalem. Afterwards, he murdered a Palestinian farmer in the West Bank. He was arrested last month and will remain in custody until the 16th December, while the investigations on him continue.

He denies the reports of Israeli journalists disclosing his alleged collaboration with Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) for few months some years ago.

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday addressed thousands of North American Jews at the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America, where he urged Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to relaunch peace talks immediately.

Abbas announced lastweek that he would not run for another term in an election scheduled for January, citing deadlocked efforts to revive peace talks.

“We should not place preconditions for holding talks, such preconditions have never been set in 16 years,” Netanyahu said, referring to the Palestinian demand that Israel completely halt construction in West Bank settlements before talks can resume.

Referring to the Palestinian demand in previous rounds of peace talks that Israel grant Palestinian refugees from around the world the right of return to the homes in Israel from which they were expelled, Netanyahu stressed that “the Palestinians must recognize that the fantasy of flooding Israel with refugees is gone.”

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