Al-Baqa’a is Jordan’s largest Palestinian refugee camp, located on the outskirts of Amman and home to more than 100,000 refugees. Many of Al-Baqa’a’s youth are becoming increasingly disenchanted with life at the camp. When you ask about the Geneva Accord on the streets of Al-Baqa’a, people answer with disgusted looks as they see it as nothing but the further dismissal of the history of the Palestinian struggle in its failure to recognize that the right of return for Palestinian refugees. Stefan Christoff reports from Jordan. Read more about The Geneva Accord and the Right of Return as seen from Al-Baqa'a Refugee Camp 

An Israeli official recently called for controls on the ability of Palestinians to have babies, and said the delivery rooms where Arabs are born are the “factory for a backward population.” This panicked response to what many Israelis see as a “demographic threat” from Palestinians fits the international legal definition of incitement to genocide. Meanwhile, leftist Israelis are debating ways to “withdraw” from Palestinians lands while keeping most of the settlers in place, and preserving a “Jewish democracy.” EI’s Ali Abunimah asks if any of these schemes can save Israel from a binational future. Read more about Can Israel escape a binational future? 

As feared, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s speech on Thursday, December 18 at the Herzliya Conference provided very little hope for 2004. Sharon acknowledged there will be a Palestinian state, thereby recognizing Israel cannot control all the land between the river and the sea, but said nothing about the size of the Palestinian state. He offered no tangible vision for the Palestinians to latch on to which suggested that after decades this man is now addressing Palestinian concerns seriously. Michael Brown analyses the content of Sharon’s speech at the Herzliya Conference. Read more about Sharon's hopeless vision 

Casualties in Tel Aviv. Casualties in Rafah. Where does CNN go? Tel Aviv. And it was absolutely right to go to Tel Aviv. It’s failure came in an inexcusable unwillingness to send a second crew to Rafah. CNN also posted seven transcripts Thursday mentioning the Tel Aviv explosion. Six of these transcripts clearly noted in the link heading that they dealt with the Tel Aviv explosion. How many headings dealt with the Rafah incident? Zero. And only one of the seven transcripts even bothered to mention the attack on Rafah. Michael Brown examines the transcripts. Read more about CNN: Two stories, one news agency 

Speaking at the third annual Herzliya conference, Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his audience: “The most important thing is maintaining the Jewish majority in the country and improving the economy to encourage more Jews from the Diaspora to immigrate.” If the Palestinians in Israel “reach 35 to 40 percent of the Israeli population, Israel will become a state with two nationalities,” he said. Israelis — on both the left and right — will have to make a choice. To solve their “Palestinian problem” Israel can opt for four ‘solutions’ EI’s Arjan El Fassed lays them out. Read more about Racism thrives at Israel's Herzliya conference 

The courtroom at the Jaffa Military Court had never been so overcrowded. Special benches had been dragged in, filling the aisle and leaving hardly any room for passage. Activists, family members and journalists crowded into every available corner (there were four TV crews, who were chased out after the judges came in) and still as many as were in had to wait outside. At long last, the verdict in the trial of Noam Bahat, Matan Kaminer, Adam Maor, Haggai Matar and Shimri Tsameret was going to be delivered. Read more about Doing things the hard way - the verdict of five "refuseniks" 

It is 12:30pm at the Nablus area District Civilian Affairs Office (DCO). It is over 40 degrees outside, where a long queue of Palestinians had been waiting in the oppressive heat (some for over three hours) with dust and dirt and no place to sit. They are here to request a permit, formal permission from the Israeli government to travel from the surrounding villages into Nablus to work. Palestinians need permits to move, to live, for everything. Suraya Dadoo takes a look at the nightmare involved in navigating the permit maze. Read more about Permission to work?