The tranquil Christmas nativity scene so familiar to us is not at all evident in Bethlehem today. Bethlehem does not lie still, and peace on earth and goodwill towards all is as elusive as ever. The tyranny of Israel’s occupation and its colonial expansionism is crippling the lives of both Palestinian Christians and Muslims alike. Yet, many Christians will again ignore the misery suffered by the Palestinians in the Holy Land and will celebrate Christmas without remembering that it was amongst this people and in their land that Jesus was born. Sonja Karkar comments for EI. Read more about In the same prison together 

IDHNA, SOUTHERN WEST BANK, 19 December 2007 (IRIN) - “The best thing about Khirbet Qassa was the grazing land. We had open spaces. Now we’ve become dependent on other people and their land,” said Abdel Halim Nattah, a shepherd in the southern West Bank. Several weeks earlier he and all his fellow villagers, 37 families numbering 272 people, were evacuated by the Israeli military from Qassa and told to find a new home somewhere else. The Israel Civil Administration said the land the Palestinians were living on was an archaeological site under state auspices, and the villagers had been given warnings about the impending evacuation. Read more about Palestinian shepherds forced to move on 

At a workshop conducted at Birzeit University (BZU) on December 13 by AMIDEAST (American-MidEast Educational and Training Services) for Palestinian universities through its Faculty Development Program, the talk turned from the announced topic of the workshop (Palestinian-American University Partnerships) to the question of Palestinian-Palestinian university partnerships or the lack thereof. The occasion had brought together important representatives (at the level of Deans and VPs) from every Palestinian West Bank University. Gaza was unrepresented, however. Rima Merriman reports. Read more about Palestine's universities: partners or prisoners? 

I am feeling optimistic about Palestine. I know it sounds crazy. How can I use “optimistic” and “Palestine” in the same sentence when conditions on the ground only seem to get worse? Israeli settlements continue to expand on a daily basis, the checkpoints and segregated road system are becoming more and more institutionalized, more than 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners are being held in Israeli jails, Gaza is under heavy attack and the borders are entirely controlled by Israel. We can never forget these things and the daily suffering of the people, and yet I dare to say that I am optimistic. Hannah Mermelstein comments. Read more about The end of Israel? 

For 365 days each year, the Electronic Intifada (EI) team works hard to tell the stories of the people of Palestine and to provide a forum for them to speak for themselves. We are determined to ensure that they are not silenced, nor are their lives and struggles forgotten. As the year draws to a close, we count on many of our readers to make a donation to allow us to continue our educational work for another year. Without that support EI simply could not exist. As the leading online publication in English on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, EI receives over sixty thousand visits each month from readers in virtually every country in the world. Read more about EI Reader Appeal: You count on us, can we count on you? 

JERUSALEM, 13 December (IRIN) - The isolation of the Gaza Strip is “intolerable” said a senior World Health Organization (WHO) official on 10 December, urging better access for Gazans to medical care outside the boxed-off enclave. Ambrogio Manenti, head of the WHO in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, urged medical professionals to take a stand against the current situation which, he said, was having a negative impact on the health of residents. Manenti was speaking at a WHO symposium with the Physicians for Human Rights-Israel organization and the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme. Read more about Concern rises regarding Gaza health care access