The Jerusalem city council's district planning committee on Dec. 28 approved plans for a large tourism complex in the flashpoint neighborhood of Silwan, just south of the Old City. The project is to be built on a plot of land currently being used as a parking lot opposite the Dung Gate, main entrance to the Western Wall and the Old City's Jewish Quarter. It would be managed by Elad, a hardline settler organization, which runs the nearby archaeological site at David's City. Local Palestinian activists protested the move. "This project aims to promote settler tourism and religious tourism," said Fakhri Abu Diab, head of the Silwan Defense Committee, who said the city had confiscated local land for the project. "This complex will change the character of the area and will emphasize the idea that Jerusalem is the capital of the Jewish people—because it is a political project too."

Hundreds of Palestinians gathered in the West Bank Dec. 11 to mourn the death of a Palestinian protester who died after being hit in the face by a tear-gas canister fired by Israeli troops at the village of Nabi Saleh two days earlier. The body of 28-year-old Mustafa Tamimi was carried in a procession that began in the West Bank capitol of Ramallah ending 10 kilometers north at his home village, which hosts weekly protests against land confiscation for an illegal settlement. Linah Alsaafin, a Ramallah-based blogger reported live from the scene in Nabi Saleh during the Friday protest in which Tamimi was mortally wounded. He "was throwing rocks at the [Israeli army] jeep, the door opened and the canister was fired with precision and intent straight in his face," Alsaafin Tweeted. "To use their term, 'surgical precision.'" (CNN, Dec. 11; Ma'an News Agency, Dec. 9)

At least four Palestinians are dead in new Israeli air-strikes on the Gaza Strip over the past two days. The first strikes came on Dec. 8, targeting cars carrying presumed operatives of Hamas' armed wing and Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, both of whom were killed. Militants responded with a barrage of rockets, some of which landed near Beersheba. No one was hurt in the rocket attacks, but aiir-raid sirens summoned residents of southern Israel to shelters. Another Israeli air-strike followed before dawn on Dec. 9, hitting a Hamas target in Gaza City. The blast flattened a nearby home, killing its owner; the man's 12-year-old son was pronounced dead hours later. The man's wife and five other children were wounded, hospital officials said. (Ma'an News Agency, Dec. 9)

A funeral procession in the West Bank town of Beit Ummar erupted into clashes between Israeli forces and locals on Nov. 20, after a man in an unmarked vehicle, initially identified as a Jewish settler, fired towards the group and Palestinian mourners responded by throwing stones. Israeli forces shortly arrived at the scene, and started firing tear gas at the Palestinians. Soldiers also stormed into two Palestinian houses, using the roof as a base to fire on Palestinians below. Troops threw a tear gas canister inside the truck of a local resident, who suffered injuries. Israeli forces also closed the road through the area and shut ordered shop-keppers to shut down their stores. An Israeli army spokesperson later told the independent Ma'an News Agency the man who fired on the procession was an army official traveling in a civilian vehicle paid for by the army. (WAFA, Ma'an News Agency, Nov. 20)

Israel's public sector workers walked out for four hours Nov. 7, shutting down trains, buses, airports, banks, government ministries and municipalities. Traffic jams clogged Tel Aviv, and the city's stock exchange and Ben Gurion International Airport were closed. A general strike by the Histadrut Labor Union was limited to four hours by an order of the National Labor Court. The union is demanding that the government officially hire some 250,000 contract workers, who are denied representation and job security. (Haaretz, JTA, AFP, Nov. 7)

Occupy Boston activists "stormed" the Israeli consulate in Beantown Nov. 5 in protest of the Gaza blockade. The activists—chanting "Occupy Wall Street not Palestine"—were also protesting the interception of the Gaza-bound "Freedom Waves" flotilla by Israeli naval forces the day before. Israel says it has started deportation of 22 detained on the two-ship flotilla, including Greek crew members. The Electronic Intifada website provided a live map, which followed the ships' course after they departed the Turkish port of Fethiye on Nov. 2, indicating that the vessels were still in international waters when they were intercepted. The Israeli military also admitted that the interception happened in international water. (Tripoli Post, Nov. 7; YNet, Nov. 5)

The Israeli government immediately said it would move ahead with "sensitive housing projects" as a rebuttal to UNESCO's Oct. 31 decision to grant Palestine full-member status. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a forum of eight senior ministers formally decided the next day to initiate a new wave of settlement construction on the West Bank. The Prime Minister's Office said the construction of 2,000 housing units planned in East Jerusalem, Gush Etzion and Ma'aleh Adumim should be expedited. "All of the mentioned areas are ones that would remain in Israeli control under any future peace agreement," the PMO said in a statement. The "forum of eight" also resolved to suspend the transfer to the Palestinian Authority of tax remittances collected by Israel in October. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman additionally announced that Israel will "review its relations" with the UN Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). (Haaretz, Nov. 2; YNet, Oct. 31)

The UN Security Council's Standing Committee on Admission of New Members is currently considering Palestine's application for full United Nations membership. Eight of the Security Council's 15 members have already declared their support for the Palestinian application: China, Russia, Brazil, India, South Africa, Lebanon, Niger and Gabon. But the Palestinians' bid faces a practically inevitable veto by the United States, one of the five permanent Security Council members—which, unlike the 10 rotating members, wield veto power within the Council. (KashmirWatch, Oct. 1)