Israelis rally to protest removal of illegal West Bank settlement News
Israelis rally to protest removal of illegal West Bank settlement

[JURIST] Some 30,000 Israelis protested in Jerusalem Sunday against the recent demolition of illegally built homes on the West Bank, a move which they fear heralds the beginning of a new wave of government-ordered Jewish settlement evacuations under the administration of Interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert [official profile]. The destruction of nine settler buildings at Amona [JURIST report] last Wednesday triggered the most violence between settlers and Israeli troops since last year’s mass withdrawals from Gaza [BBC report]. At least 160 settlers and police were injured, and Israeli police have opened an inquiry into allegations of police brutality. About 240,000 settlers and 2.4 million Palestinians live in the West Bank, though the International Court of Justice [official website] has said that settlements on the occupied territory taken from Jordan in 1967 are illegal. Reuters has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Dreyfus convicted of treason

On December 22, 1894, Jewish French army officer Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason in a court-martial trial that prompted worldwide allegations of anti-Semitism. Dreyfus was later cleared. Learn more about the case of Alfred Dreyfus and read an English translation of the famous public letter J'Accuse...! by novelist and Dreyfus partisan Emile Zola.

US passed Embargo Act, banning foreign trade

On December 22, 1807, the Embargo Act was passed at the urging of US President Thomas Jefferson. The act barred trade with any foreign nations in an effort to avoid American entry into the Napoleonic Wars of Europe. However, the act proved unenforceable and was replaced with the Non-Intercourse Act, which barred trade with France and Great Britain. Learn more about the Embargo Act of 1807 from Monticello.org