Palestinians Riot Near Rachel's Tomb

Number of the day: 300.
--Percentage hike in settlement construction planning in 2012, according to just released Peace Now report.

• Approval for settlement plans jumped 300% in 2012, says Peace Now - Report by the Israeli NGO says 1,747 new settler homes built in 2012; more than 300 built without permits. (Haaretz)
• IDF demands probe into group calling for 'price tag' attacks - Israeli right-wingers called for soldiers to refuse orders or fire on civilians if deemed necessary. (Haaretz+)
• Two defendants in Jerusalem lynch of Palestinian youth get plea deal - Jerusalem District Court makes deal with two Jewish youths involved in the brutal assault of Jamal Julani in the center of Jerusalem, charging them only with incitement. (Haaretz+)
• Palestinians riot near Rachel's Tomb - Some 50 Palestinian stone security forces in northern Bethlehem; one soldier lightly hurt. (Ynet)
• Upper Nazareth mayor: No Arab school here as long as I am in charge - Mayor Shimon Gapso rejects appeal to set up an Arab school in the city, claiming the request conceals 'a provocative nationalist statement intended to disrupt the status quo.' (Haaretz+)
• High Court gives go-ahead to remove Palestinian tents from E-1 - Court had already given police permission to evacuate protesters from 'Bab al-Shams,' but had previously ruled that the tents must remain. (Haaretz+)
• Morsi says his anti-Israel slurs in 2010 taken out of context - Prior to election as Egyptian president, Morsi issued call in 2010 to 'nurse our children' on hatred of Zionists, whom he described as 'bloodsuckers who attack Palestinians...descendents of apes and pigs. (Agencies, Haaretz)

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