Purveyor
Purveyor's JournalIsrael Warns Gazans to Flee Homes with Leaflets
Source: Associated Press
Israeli warplanes have dropped leaflets on several Gaza City neighborhoods urging people to evacuate their homes immediately.
Tuesday's warnings could signal a new round of heavy airstrikes on residential areas in the Palestinian territory.
The leaflets say "For your safety, you are required to evacuate your residences immediately and move toward central Gaza City" and list areas where people should go.
Palestinian militants have urged residents to ignore the warnings, calling them "psychological warfare."
Read more: http://www.kaaltv.com/article/stories/S2841200.shtml?cat=10728
Housing Starts in U.S. Increase to Four-Year High
Housing starts in October unexpectedly climbed to a four-year high, indicating further improvement in U.S. residential construction.
Starts rose 3.6 percent to a 894,000 annual rate, the fastest since July 2008 and exceeding all estimates in a Bloomberg survey, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. The median estimate of 82 economists called for starts to fall to a 840,000 pace. Building permits, a proxy for future construction, eased after surging the previous month.
Record-low mortgage rates and a lower risk that property values will keep falling may continue to attract buyers, giving the economy a lift and benefiting companies such as Toll Brothers Inc. (TOL) Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke is among policy makers who have singled out housing as one of the industries to nurture in order to spur the economic recovery.
“Housing is absolutely going in the right direction,” said Harm Bandholz, chief U.S. economist at UniCredit Group in New York, who projected 870,000 starts at an annual rate. “Excess supply has been wound down and there’s a steady increase in demand. That’s good for construction.”
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-20/housing-starts-in-u-s-unexpectedly-increase-to-four-year-high.html
Gaza's 96 Dead Include Farmers, Water Sellers And The Girl Next Door
Farmers on their way to sell vegetables in the marketplace, vendors of purified drinking water and people who just happened to live too close to the targets of Israeli air strikes were among the 34 Palestinians estimated to have been killed in Israel Defense Forces attacks in the past two days alone.
Just six of those casualties have been confirmed as members of militant groups.
Among the Palestinians killed in Gaza this week are the 12 members of the Daloo and Manzar families, including four small children, who died when an Israel Air Force pilot bombed their home by mistake, according to the IDF.
Between 94 and 96 Palestinians are estimated to have been killed between the beginning of Operation Pillar of Defense and 6 P.M. yesterday, at least 58 of them civilians and at least 18 of them children.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/gaza-s-96-dead-include-farmers-water-sellers-and-the-girl-next-door-1.479110
Hezbollah Leader Vows Support For Hamas Despite Syria Rift
By Agence France-Presse
Monday, November 19, 2012 17:16 EST
BEIRUT — Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah pledged the Lebanese Shiite group’s support for the Hamas rulers of Gaza in the face of Israel’s air war Monday, insisting it was unaffected by differences over the conflict in Syria.
“Some are saying that Israel is punishing Hamas for they think it abandoned Iran, Syria and Hezbollah,” Nasrallah said in a speech beamed to supporters on a big screen in the Shiite southern suburbs of Beirut.
“Iran, Syria and Hezbollah will not give up on the people of Gaza and its resistance, and this is our religious and moral and humanitarian obligation,” he said.
--CLIP
“Israel now is betting on the consumption of rocket stocks of the Palestinian resistance so it is an obligation to open the borders and send rockets and arms to the resistance in Gaza,” Nasrallah said.
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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/11/19/hezbollah-leader-vows-support-for-hamas-despite-syria-rift/
Russia Frustrated Over UN Security Council’s Silence On Gaza As Attacks Escalate
Source: Associated Press
By Associated Press, Updated: Monday, November 19, 4:08 PM
UNITED NATIONS — Russia’s U.N. ambassador on Monday expressed frustration that the Security Council has remained silent about the escalating violence in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.
Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Morocco circulated a proposed press statement last Thursday but foot-dragging by one council member meant it “is still bogged down.”
--CLIP
He would not tell reporters outside the Security Council on Monday which nation was blocking the press statement, which must be adopted unanimously. But he said anyone guessing it was the United States would be “a connoisseur” of Security Council politics.
“One member of the Security Council, I’m sure you can guess which, indicated quite transparently that they will not be prepared to go along with any reaction of the Security Council. Somehow, allegedly, that would hurt the current efforts carried out by Egypt in the region,” Churkin said.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/russia-frustrated-over-un-security-councils-silence-on-gaza-as-attacks-escalate/2012/11/19/19a61abc-3280-11e2-92f0-496af208bf23_story.html
Israelis In The U.S. Mobilize Against Gaza Conflict
Last month, we started discussing strategies for countering the policies of the Israeli government, which we believe has become increasingly dangerous for its citizens. We wanted to communicate our concerns to Americans with longstanding connections to Israel. Little did we expect the urgency of the moment.
By killing Hamas leader Ahmad Jabari on November 14, the Israeli government intentionally escalated the military struggle with Hamas. For a long time now, both sides have been using indiscriminate military measures – Hamas shooting rockets on Israeli civilians and Israel imposing different levels of siege. However, the recent assassination has made the threat of a new war immediate.
This renewed conflict has already cost civilian lives on both sides, and the death toll is constantly rising. Such casualties are a foreseeable result of war, and might have been considered inevitable if Israel was truly defending itself. But the Gaza campaign is by no means a measure of defense. It reflects a unilateralism and isolationism that is likely to deepen the insecurity of all of us for years to come.
Starting in the summer of 2011, a wave of protest put debates on social justice and civic equality at center stage. With ongoing unrest all over the country, the legitimacy of the government was called into question. As others have pointed out, generating a military crisis is a convenient way of diverting attention from civic equality. In a traditionally militarized Israel, this is truly the oldest trick in the book: “security” measures ensure that employment security or pension security are overlooked.
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http://972mag.com/israelis-in-the-united-states-mobilize-against-gaza-conflict/60381/
Israeli MK Incites Violence Against Leftists, Palestinians
In developed societies, incitement to violence is a punishable offense. Israel’s standards should be no different.
During Thursday’s rally, right-wing Israeli member of Knesset Michael Ben-Ari (National Union) is seen encouraging the chanting crowd with phrases like, “leftist traitors,” and “leftists out.” He then asks: Why is it only 200 flights and 15 killed? We want 15 flights and 2,000 killed!
Watch: Right-wing demonstrators call for expulsion of leftists
When I posted this video on my personal facebook account earlier today, it had only 300 views, and I noted that, in my opinion, MK Ben-Ari should be arrested. (I still believe that to be the case, and I hope the authorities are reading this.) I got a number of responses from Israeli Jews noting, with some embarrassment, that the clip is disgusting and that Ben-Ari does not represent Jews or Israel or them:
--CLIP
The sentiments are reassuring. And indeed, politically, Ben Ari – a self-declared supporter of the slain Rabbi Meir Kahane and a former member of the outlawed group Kahane Chai – has very few followers in Israel, though enough to get him and his party elected. Some of them are seen in the video with him, chanting “Gaza is a graveyard.”
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http://972mag.com/israeli-mk-incites-violence-against-leftists-and-palestinians/60250/
Violent Protests Erupt In West Bank; Protester Dies Of Wounds
The fighting in Gaza threatens to spark a wave of violence in the West Bank. Hundreds of Palestinian protesters on Monday clashed with security forces in several locations in the West Bank – at the Birzeit University, near the village of Furiq and around Camp Ofer.
The protesters hurled stones and Molotov cocktails at the security forces who responded with crowd-dispersal means.
Meanwhile, Rashid Tamimi, 31, who was hit by IDF fire during a Saturday protest against the IDF operation in Nabi Salah, has died of his wounds.
Tamimi suffered abdomen wounds and succumbed to his wounds on Monday. A Youtube video shows him being taken away from the scene of the protest.
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http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4308667,00.html
Israel Is A Terrorist State: Turkey PM
Source: Reuters
ISTANBUL / DOHA: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan described Israel on Monday as a “terrorist state” in carrying out its bombardment of Gaza, underlining hostility for Ankara’s former ally since relations between them collapsed in 2010.
His comments came after nearly a week of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel and Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip. An Israeli missile killed at least 11 Palestinian civilians including four children in Gaza on Sunday.
“Those who associate Islam with terrorism close their eyes in the face of mass killing of Muslims, turn their heads from the massacre of children in Gaza,” Erdogan told a conference of the Eurasian Islamic Council in Istanbul.
“For this reason, I say that Israel is a terrorist state, and its acts are terrorist acts.”
Read more: http://tribune.com.pk/story/468075/israel-is-a-terrorist-state-turkey-pm/
Fatah, Hamas Agree To Unite Over Gaza Crisis
AFP - Rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas said on Monday they have decided to end infighting in a show of solidarity in the West Bank over the Gaza crisis, an AFP reporter said.
"From here, we announce with other (factional) leaders, that we are ending the division," senior Fatah official Jibril Rajoub told a crowd of about 1,000 who gathered for a demonstration in Ramallah, the West Bank's political capital.
Among those present at the rally were top members of Hamas's leadership in the West Bank as well as senior officials from its smaller rival Islamic Jihad, the AFP correspondent said.
Ramallah's Manara Square was a sea of Palestinian flags as the crowd chanted "Unity!" and "Hit, hit Tel Aviv" in an appeal to Hamas militants who have fired at least five rockets at the coastal city since Thursday.
MORE...
http://www.france24.com/en/20121119-fatah-hamas-agree-unite-over-gaza-crisis
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