EU observers at Rafah terminal may resume work, officials say
Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC - On Monday Palestinian security forces of Hamas and Egyptian troops started to close the Rafah borders for civilian cars allowing trucks only to shuttle through the borders. On Sunday, Foreign Ministers of the Arab league issued a statement reiterating the need to run the Rafah crossing based on the 2005 agreement in order to end the crisis in the Gaza Strip.
 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=24843

 A tiny little bit of fuel now, but new electricity cuts next week
Israeli human rights organizations - The fuel and electricity cuts constitute illegal collective punishment. Gaza needs 240 MW electricity in the current peak winter season. Israel supplies (before the planned cut) 120 MW, Egypt supplies 17 MW, and Gaza`s power plant is currently producing only 45 MW – meaning that there is a deficit of 58 MW, or 24% - even before the Feb. 7 cuts are scheduled to take place.
 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=24842

 Report: Chief Rabbi says move Gazans to a Palestine in Sinai
Saul Sadka - Haaretz - Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger has been quoted as calling for Gazans to be transferred to the Sinai Peninsula, to a Palestinian state which he said could be constructed for them in the desert. [Extremism from the mouth of a `spiritual` leader - ed.] 
 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=24841

 Israeli-Arab group to urge strike
Etgar Lefkovitz - Jerusalem Post - In protest to Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz decision on Sunday that no police officers will be indicted in connection with the killing of 12 Israeli Arabs and a Palestinian during the October 2000 riots in the Galilee, the Israeli Arab Monitoring Committee has called for a meeting on Monday evening and is expected to urge the start of a general strike in the Arab sector. "This is a black day for justice, human rights and the aspiration for equality and respect between peoples," said Adalah director-general Hassan Jabareen. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel also condemned the decision. 
 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=24840

 Siege doesn’t work
Chaim Oron - Ynet News - The growing siege imposed by Israel on Gaza must be weighed in line with its ability to bring more security to Gaza-region residents. Yet so far, our experience has shown that this type of cruel collective punishment doesn’t bring results. [The author`s balancing act between `patriotism` and moral/common sense is quite typical - ed.]
 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=24839

 MachsomWatch Weekly Digest 20-21.1.08
Occasional spot checks held up the lines, but every so often, the Border Police would escape the cold into the booth, and cars would speed through. 20 Palestinians were waiting outside for their IDs. When we left, 25 minutes later, they were still waiting in the pouring rain. 
 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=24838

 A rough guide to Hebron: The world`s strangest guided tour highlights the abuse of Palestinians
Donald MacIntyre - The Independent - "We have a few hundred settlers there," says Shaul. "We don`t even question it. They are Israeli citizens and they deserve protection, just like people in Tel Aviv. To give them the protection, we take a lot of things into consideration – we have geography, we have a budget, large numbers of soldiers – but there`s one thing we won`t take into consideration, and that`s 166,000 Palestinians around here. This is the problem of Hebron. Only in this way can you close what used to be the main street for 60 years and then say it was a mistake and continue this mistake." 
 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=24835

 Gaza`s falling wall changes Middle East map for ever
The Observer - Guardian - What they will remember will not simply be the condition of unemployment and deprivation that have gathered pace but the slow, corrosive degradation of a society that has accelerated since the beginning of the second intifada in September 2000, with the closing of Israel`s labour markets to Palestinian workers. It is something that a few brief days of `festival` - as many Gazans described the extraordinary scenes last week as they poured into Egypt to shop and visit relatives - cannot solve overnight. And which they cannot fix alone.
 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=24834

 Mash`al: Hamas ready to turn over presidential security headquarters to PA
Ma`an News - "The toppling of the crossing was a correct step, yet we need to follow up with that because the issue is not about Gaza Strip`s residents shopping in Egypt," Mash`al explained. 
 http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=24833