Football is the common ground for these three postings – but not for those fans who enjoy mindless antisemitic chants (1) in contrast with those who have followed Frédéric Kanouté’s lead in expressing solidarity with the people of Gaza (2).and opposing Israel hosting the next Under-21 championship (2 and 3).

“Revenge time” tweets Ha’aretz editor Aluf Benn; the Palestinians are being punished because Obama failed to make European countries vote with Israel at the UNGA session. Reports of Israel’s reactions from Al-Monitor, Mondoweiss and Ynet news.

Two speeches on 29 November,International Day of Solidarity with Palestinians, one in New York, one in Cairo, both defining the day as marking one of the world’s great wrongs – the dispossession of the Palestinian people – and possibly a small step in the direction of redressing the wrong.

The UN General Assembly vote on granting observer status to Palestine was overwhelming and unconditional. The USA joined Micronesia and Palau in the 9 nations voting against, the UK and Germany were among the 41 which abstained. While the UK overestimates its importance, Germany struggles to recognise its own.

Cynthia Cockburn follows the work of Bat Shalom in northern Israel/Palestine, impressed in 1997 by its commitment to equality. And returns in 2012 to find Bat Shalom has gone, along with the peace movement. Judaisation has sped ahead but the status of women in Israel and of Palestinians remains the same – low.

The voice of self-righteousness is the loudest in the lands of Israel/Palestine; more truthful is the quiet grieving of the thousands of bereaved people who have lost those they loved to the conflict. Here an Israeli and a Palestinian, meeting in the Parents Circle Families Forum, find their pain gives them more in common with each other than with their ‘sides’ battles.

Operation Pillar of Defence pulled British Jews into supporting Israel, or at least gave an impression of unified support, writes Keith Kahn-Harris; it’s a pathology which affects pro-Palestinians as well, to the detriment of both peoples. Jonathan Freedland deplores the righteous vindication and point-scoring of the two sides.

The governments of France and the UK will back the PA in its bid for UN observer status later this week, although for the UK this is conditional on the PA agreeing not to pursue Israel for war crimes. Campaigns to get the UK to recognise its historic responsibility for Palestine, and the need to boost Abbas’s status after the gains for Hamas in the Gaza war may have led to this change. Hamas now also supports the bid.

The interest group CFI is the biggest group of Conservative MPs and thus, through the Tory majority, in parliament. It is the only one of the major parties to have no Friends of Palestine group. Reports from Conservative Home, Independent, Huffington Post, plus lists (only Labour Party; others have to be inferred, see original, item 1.

This is the latest episode in a long-running story (see post for links) about the Anglican Church’s support for the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme and the dismal views of the right-wing Jewish establishment that any support for the EAPPI is anti-Israel is anti-Jewish, and that only they speak for UK Jews. Groan

At best it was a misunderstanding; Gazans thought the ceasefire agreement meant they were free to go into the border zone, and celebrated by entering it; the border guards thought they were trying to breach the fence, and shot at them. Pragmatically, IDF soldiers had no idea of the conditions of the ceasefire agreement and by training shoot Palestinians who are, to them, out of order. Result 1 dead, 19 injured Palestinians. No IDF hurt.

Special Rapporteur Richard Falk peers though the fog of truce, and though it’s still blurry he discerns how much Hamas has gained from surviving the intense bombardment, and how much the array of Arab emissaries achieved in actuality and in status.

Robert Fisk interviews Uri Avnery, founder of Gush Shalom (whose blogs are often posted here). Avnery retains hope but warns that the dominant Israeli right want conquest, not peace. 2nd, in his latest column he points out that blocking the PA’s peaceful strategy for UN membership, confirms Hamas’ hero status.

On behalf of JfJfP Diana Neslen and Arthur Goodman write to Foreign Secretary William Hague objecting to his assertion that Hamas bears the main responsibility for the current crisis and citing the many Israeli assaults on Palestinian life and the truce potential preceding the barrage on Gaza.

The Security Council had several meetings after Operation Pillar of Defence began but was unable to produce any statement because all versions – including compromises from other SC members – were vetoed by the US because they did not attribute responsibility for the violence to Hamas.

Letters published in The Independent and Jewish Chronicle by two JfJfP signatories protest at the sycophantic letter (2) to Ambassador Taub claiming to express on behalf of all UK Jews solidarity with Israel’s onslaught on Gaza. An editorial in Jewish Forward (USA) lambasts powerful right-wing Jewish bodies for their (failed) campaign of denigration against Obama in the recent election. How come these elites are so out of touch with the communities they claim to speak for?

In a characteristically sharp piece, Amira Hass deplores the masculinism of competing for the biggest missile, and takes apart Israel’s dominant narrative of perpetual victimhood while ignoring its own history of permanent conquest. Small comfort, perhaps, to know this story is far less convincing to those outside Israel.

This is the text of the cease-fire agreement arrived at between Hamas and the Israeli government on November 21, 2012, under the sponsorship of the Egyptian government. UPDATES plus Gaza celebrates victory and Richard Spencer on Morsi’s status..

As most international journalists in Gaza are clustered in the same few offices, most have experienced the effects of IDF airstrikes. They are being used as human shields by Hamas say the IDF. Three Palestinian journalists have been killed. They’re not real journalists say IDF. UPDATED

It is evident that both Hamas and the Israeli government breached international rules of conduct, though neither party is a signatory to these rules. But Israel’s claim of ‘self-defence’ for launching its onslaught and its excuses for civilian deaths are most questionable says an Al Jazeera Opinion. Interpretations on BBC news and by PCHR differ, though not on these two main charges.