❶ . ‘An atmosphere of fear’: Increased Israeli army operations worry Aida refugee camp [Bethlehem district]
. . . ❶― (a) Israeli forces injure 4 Palestinian youths in Duheisha camp [Bethlehem district] clashes

• Background: “The Palestinian Refugee Camps: The Promise Of ‘Ruin’ And ‘Loss’.” Rethinking History

❷ . Israel approves 770 new settlement units in Gilo settlement, northern Bethlehem
❸ . Artist of the Month. Johnny Issa Andonieh: Iconographer from Bethlehem
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❶ . ‘AN  ATMOSPHERE  OF  FEAR’:  INCREASED  ISRAELI  ARMY  OPERATIONS  WORRY  AIDA  REFUGEE  CAMP  [BETHLEHEM  DISTRICT]  
Ma’an News Agency
Chloe Benoist
Dec. 11, 2016      On a chilly Monday afternoon, a group of four Israeli soldiers were stationed on the balcony of what is known to locals as the Cola building in Aida refugee camp’s cemetery, weapons pointed at a group of five Palestinian boys, none older than 11, who were peeking from around a street corner some 50 meters away.
___The scene has become a familiar one in the occupied West Bank refugee camp, as the Israeli army has escalated military procedures in Aida over the past several months, creating what some residents have called a perpetual “atmosphere of fear.”
Note:  Chloé Benoist is a journalist based in Bethlehem since January 2016, after graduating from the    American University of Beirut with a master’s in political science in June 2014
More . . .         Related:  Aida Camp

. . . ❶― (A)  ISRAELI  FORCES  INJURE  4  PALESTINIAN  YOUTHS  IN  DUHEISHA  CAMP  [BETHLEHEM  DISTRICT]  CLASHES  
Ma’an News Agency 
Dec. 12, 2016   Four young Palestinian men were shot and injured during clashes with Israeli forces who stormed the al-Duheisha refugee camp in the southern occupied West Bank district of Bethlehem early on Monday morning.
___Locals told Ma’an that Israeli military vehicles raided the camp from three directions and troops stormed several neighborhoods before young men responded by throwing stones and empty bottles at the soldiers.      More . . .        Related:  Duheisha Camp

• Abreek-Zubiedat, Fatina. “The Palestinian Refugee Camps: The Promise Of ‘Ruin’ And ‘Loss’.” Rethinking History 19.1 (2015): 72-94.   SOURCE.

According to the political theorist Hannah Arendt, a ‘refugee’ is a ‘stateless’ or ‘non-citizen’ person who threatens the nation-state system. Consequently, countries have acknowledged the need for a solution to the refugee problem, whose status is considered temporary, with two possible options: return to the homeland or country of origin, or naturalization in the host country. Historically, both solutions have failed (Arendt, Hannah. The Origins of Totalitarianism. 1966, 280–283). Arendt views the refugee camp as a ‘final solution’ involving the incarceration of refugees after denying their citizenship. Only then do they become homo sacer in the sense implied by ancient Roman law: destined to die, with their life defined as ‘bare.’

❷ . ISRAEL  APPROVES  770  NEW  SETTLEMENT  UNITS  IN  GILO  SETTLEMENT,  NORTHERN  BETHLEHEM  
Palestine News Network – PNN
Dec. 7, 2016  The Israeli “Construction and Planning Committee” of the Jerusalem City Council on Wednesday approved 770 new settlement units in the illegal settlement of Gilo, northern Bethlehem, which Israel is attempting to annex.
___According to IMEMC, the approval comes as part of 20 new settlement projects in the Occupied West Bank, which also include tourist and commercial buildings, on approximately 142.846 Dunams of lands, while the constructions themselves will occupy around 98.927 square/meters.       More . . . 
❸ .  ARTIST  OF  THE  MONTH.  JOHNNY  ISSA  ANDONIEH:  ICONOGRAPHER  FROM  BETHLEHEM          
This Week In Palestine
December, 2016  Johnny Issa Andonieh was born in Bethlehem in 1957. Interested in theology and monastic life since his youth, Johnny was introduced to iconography while in his thirties by a monk who lived at Mar Saba Monastery, located on the edge of the Kidron Valley (Wadi Nar) in the Jerusalem Wilderness. Since that time, Johnny has dedicated himself to writing icons. Between 1990 and 1992, he studied Byzantine and Russian methods of iconography in Cyprus, working in several churches with Greek and Cypriot iconographers.   
More . . .        Related:  Bethlehem Museum
“O Little Town of Bethlehem.” Words by Munther Isaac. Sung by the Bethlehem Bible College Choir.