- 17 jan 2012
Sultan says Zionists burnt his house in Ohio state
CAIRO, (PIC)-- Head of Jerusalem committee at the international union of Muslim scholars Salah Sultan accused the Zionists of burning his house in the US, noting that the police investigations have failed to identify the culprits.
Sultan told the Palestinian information center (PIC) on Monday that many threats were written on the wall of his house in the US before this incident.
According to him, a Zionist TV channel broadcast a few days ago his picture with a caption labeling him as the most dangerous man against Israel and another picture of his house Ohio state.
"This brutal attack would not dissuade us from continuing our struggle and fight for the sake of Allah Almighty until achieving the liberation of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem, the prisoners and Palestine," the head of Jerusalem committee stressed.
He expressed hope that the US police and authorities could find the perpetrators who burnt the house and tried kill his son.
The house of Dr. Salah Sultan in Ohio state was set to fire on Monday while inside the house was his son Mohamed who sustained injuries and was transferred to hospital.
http://fwd4.me/0kNA 19 jan 2012, 16:28 , Respect -
Maria 18 jan 2012
Palestinians in Holland press for Netanyahu arrest warrant
AMSTERDAM, (PIC)-- Palestinians in Holland have declared their intention to seek a court order for the arrest of Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu on his visit to the Netherlands scheduled to start on Thursday.
The Palestinian home, a society formed by Palestinians living in the Netherlands, said in a statement on Wednesday that it would seek the court order in view of the Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity during the latest war on Gaza.
It said that Netanyahu’s visit to Amsterdam, the headquarters of the International Criminal Court, posed as a blatant challenge to this court and to what it represents.
The statement recalled that the Israeli war machine killed 1400 Palestinians, mostly women, children, and innocent civilians, in the course of three weeks of “genocide” against Gaza in 2008-2009 that also devastated the Strip’s infrastructure, places of worship, and hospitals.
It pointed to the Goldstone report that condemned Israel for committing war crimes in that war, calling for reactivating the report and prosecuting the Israeli leaders for involvement in crimes against humanity.
The society drew the attention to the new Israeli threats of waging a fresh and more brutal aggression Gaza within the few coming months, adding that the lack of concrete legal steps against Israel encouraged it to commit more crimes.
http://fwd4.me/0kTl
Anti Netanyahu demonstration in Amsterdam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61SOvFvFWik
Premier Netanyahu of Israel in Amsterdam
20 jan 2012, 06:05 , Respect -
Maria 22 jan 2011
US newspaper owner writes op-ed proposing Israel assassinate Obama
The editor and publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times, Andrew Adler, has come under fire, and on Friday issued an apology, for an op-ed in which he surmised that the Israeli Prime Minister should “order a hit” on US President Barack Obama in order to preserve the Jewish state.
In the article, published over a week ago, Adler laid out three possible scenarios for the Israeli Prime Minister to follow, the third being the assassination of Obama by Israeli Mossad agents based in the US. The other two options, according to Adler, would be for Israel to launch an all-out assault on Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza or to attack Iran. He argues that these are the only ways for Israel to preserve its existence in the face of the threat he claims is posed by the Iranian state.
The online news and opinion site Gawker.com scanned the print article and posted it on their website, along with a conversation their reporter had with Adler regarding his article, in which Adler ‘nervously’ stated that he did not mean to imply that Israel should assassinate the US President.
Contrary to his conversation with Gawker.com, Adler’s article states clearly that Netanyahu’s ‘third option’ is to “give the go-ahead for U.S.-based Mossad agents to take out a president deemed unfriendly to Israel in order for the current vice president to take his place, and forcefully dictate that the United States' policy includes its helping the Jewish state obliterate its enemies.”
He continues, “Yes, you read ‘three’ correctly. Order a hit on a president in order to preserve Israel's existence. Think about it. If I have thought of this Tom Clancy-type scenario, don't you think that this almost unfathomable idea has been discussed in Israel's most inner circles?”
On Friday, after dozens of commentators criticized the article, Adler told reporters with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) that he plans to publish an apology in the next issue of his newspaper, after his article received negative responses from readers.
In response to claims that the US Secret Service was investigating the call for Obama’s assassination, Adler told the JTA that he had not been contacted by the Secret Service, and was not aware of any investigation.
http://www.imemc.org/article/62879
Will Israel Assassinate Obama?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IheJ2Rohz1c
19 jan 2012
"Jewish state" is euphemism for Jewish fascism
By Khalid Amayreh in occupied Palestine
Benyamin Netanyahu, the notorious liar-prime minister of the apartheid Zionist regime, has been regurgitating his characteristic racist venom of late. He has been quoted as saying that the root-cause of the Palestinian question is "the persistent Palestinian refusal to accept a Jewish state."
Speaking at a synagogue in the Netherlands during a recent visit during which he reportedly discussed "mounting international hostility to Israel," Netanyahu argued that Israel was a "beleaguered democracy, confronting great threats and challenges.
"There are those who cast Israel as a pariah state every time we exercise the inherent right of self defense."
Well, for those people who are closely aware of the basic realities of the Israeli-Palestinian situation, Netanyahu's words are tantamount to fornicating with words and truth.
The fact that Netanyahu's mendacious words find their way to publication in the media doesn't alter this fact. A publicized big lie is still a big lie, even if and when uttered and repeated by famous people.
The truth of the matter is that Israel is a huge crime against humanity, a thoroughly deformed entity that is based on genocidal ethnic cleansing, brash racism, sheer brutality, oppression and mendacity. It is a psychotic country that views every conceivable crime and violation of international laws and norms as "legitimate self-defense."
Take for example the incessant demand that Palestinians must recognize Israel as a Jewish state. One would get a cacophony of answers as to the exact meaning of a "Jewish state" depending on whom you ask.
However, it is amply clear that the most credible and authentic answer one would get is that a Jewish state is one that rules according to Halacha, or Jewish religious laws as codified in the Talmud.
Hence, it would be a mockery of language and an insult to common sense to claim that Israel can be both a democratic and Jewish state.
The two are simply an eternal oxymoron since one constitutes the anti-thesis of the other.
One of the most fundamental aspects of democracy is that all citizens, irrespective of their races, sexes, ad faiths, are treated equally under the law. However, according to halacha, non-Jews living under Jewish religious law are viewed as water carriers and wood hewers. In other words, full-fledged slaves.
Often ignorant and naïve westerners don't always fully understand this matter and may be prompted to view Jewish racism even in an anecdotal manner. However, one should always be unflinching in viewing facts as facts, and Jewish racism, with all its ugly and virulent manifestations, is a solid fact of life that only people who lack intellectual honesty would deny or downplay.
Some Israeli apologists would strive to argue that Talmudic laws, which establish inherent and intrinsic superiority of Jews over non-Jews, can be moderated to give a semblance of justice to Gentile citizens of the state.
However, it is clear that such an argument is a tendentious evasive tactic at best and a deliberate and malicious lie at worst.
In fact, Israel is already applying the spirit if not the letter of Talmudic laws in many spheres against non-Jews in both " Israel" and the "occupied territories."
Indeed, whether we are talking about budgets for local councils, water allocation, and basic treatment before courts, citizenship laws, or any other conceivable aspect of life, institutionalized discrimination and racism against non-Jews is the modus operandi of that treatment.
In short, non-Jews can't find equality or justice in a Zionist let alone a Jewish state.
Today, Israel is drifting into a convulsive mood of religious fascism and right-wing secular jingoism. The alliance between these two conspicuous trends in Israel puts Israel in a situation resembling Germany in the late 1920s and 1930s whereby blatant and violent racism is the prevalent model.
When invoking the German-Nazi paradigm, we have to keep in mind that the holocaust didn't start with Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Bergen Belsen but with something that was ostensibly much less nefarious, like for example the anti-Jewish Nuremberg laws, Mien Kampf and the virulent Nazi indoctrination, e.g. the Hitler Youth organization. Kristalnacht, which occurred in November, 1938, was a delayed effect of a cause that had evolved steadily and gradually throughout Nazi Germany.
We can easily draw many genuine similarities between Nazi Germany, especially in the 10-15 years leading up to the outbreak of the Second World War, and Israel today, especially under the current premiership of Netanyahu.
This week, the Israeli and foreign media reported that Israel has effectively expelled as many as 10,000 Palestinian children form East Jerusalem because one of their parents didn't possess residency rights in the occupied Arab town.
No similar or even remotely similar action has been taken against Jews. This means that draconian and highly vindictive measures, such as violent ethnic cleansing, are reserved for non-Jews in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories just as was the case in German prior to the holocaust.
In addition to that, Israel is beginning to apply brashly discriminatory laws against whoever wishing to obtain the Israeli citizenship. According to one law, approved by the Knesset and government last year, anyone seeking the Israeli citizenship would have to recognize that Israel is a Jewish state and that non-Jews can't hope for equal rights and treatment.
But the said law can actually lead to much harsher ramifications and repercussions not sufficiently expressed in its rather euphemistic wording.
The law can enable law-enforcing authorities to harass, evict and even deport a Gentile, e.g. Arab citizen. Some Jewish religious authorities have already produced Talmudic interpretations that would allow a Jew to even murder a Gentile in order to extract his or her organ if the Jew needed one.
It is true such morbid and sickening ideas are not widespread among the religious elite in Israel. But it is also true that equally nefarious practices and beliefs are condoned and readily accepted by Talmudic sages who are wielding excessive political power in the Jewish state, including the army.
Take for example, Ovadia Yosef, the charismatic spiritual leader of the Haredi party, Shas.
Last year, this man was quoted as saying during a Sabbath homily in West Jerusalem that non-Jews, whether Muslim or Christian or even Hindu were actually beasts of burden, such as donkeys, whom the Almighty created solely to serve Jews, the master race, the chosen people.
His comments raised no eyebrows among the religious or political establishments in Israel. Those few people who criticized him did so on the ground that his offensive statements constituted a public relations disaster. But virtually none, rabbis or otherwise, disputed the halachic validity of Yosef's utterances.
Yosef is not a marginal figure in Israel. He commands the allegiance of hundreds of thousands of ultra-fundamentalist Jews. He is also the undisputed guru of the Shas party, an ultimate kingmaker in the Israeli government and Knesset. The current Israeli minister of interior Eli Yeshai is answerable to Yosef.
It is really sad and dangerous when we see much of the international community pays little attention to Jewish fascism, and instead pay disproportionate attention to fragmentary incidents of Muslim extremism.
Yes, all kinds and forms of extremism must be dealt with, mainly by examining and treating underlying causes and often legitimate grievances. However, the often pornographic hypocrisy of giving Israel a virtual carte blanche to practice apartheid and fascism against a helpless people while exerting unrelenting pressures on Muslims will not solve any problem. On the contrary, it would confound and complicate existing problems.
Israel's days of infamy are too many to count, and no amount of America's criminal connivance with the Jewish state can obliterate this fact.
But the worst is yet to come as Israel is sealing the door to any dignified peace settlement with the Palestinians by making the establishment of a viable Palestinian state virtually impossible.
In conclusion, Israel today is Nazi Germany of yesterday. The tools and ideas are strikingly similar. In Germany, they had the master race mantra, and in Israel they invoke the Chosen People in order to arrogate the rights of non-Jews.
In Germany, they had the lebensraum (breathing space) and in Israel they keep talking about Erez Yisrael hashlema or Greater land of Israel.
In Germany, the main tool of attaining hegemony was military force. The same thing is being done in Israel where military might, not justice, is what makes things right or wrong.
I know that the Jewish clout in America and Europe makes it hard for a popular uprising against the Nazis of our time. However, the world, including the United States, Israel's guardian-ally, would suffer disastrously if it didn't move, sooner than later, to stem the tide of Jewish Nazism.
http://fwd4.me/0kc4
Thousands protest against racism faced by Ethiopians in Israel
TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- Thousands of Israelis took to the streets on Wednesday in protest against racism faced by Ethiopian immigrants.
Some 5,000 people demonstrated in Jerusalem, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported, marching past the Israeli Knesset holding signs which read "social justice", "our blood is only good for wars", and "blacks and whites, we're equal."
The Ethiopian community in Israel stands at around 120,000 people, according to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics. The community has long complained of prejudice within Israeli society.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=453503 23 jan 2012, 16:37 , Respect -
Maria 23 jan 2012
Dempsey pledges to support Israel in fighting smuggling to Gaza
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey has pledged to support Israeli efforts to foil smuggling from the Egyptian Sinai peninsula to Gaza Strip.
The Israeli TV 10 channel said that Dempsey had described the smuggling process as very worrisome.
It said that Dempsey agreed with Israeli army officials on boosting security and intelligence cooperation to fight this phenomenon and to adopt all necessary measures in this regard.
The TV quoted the officials as expressing satisfaction at results of the visit, describing the results as “constructive”.
It pointed out that the American guest reviewed with the Israeli officials developments in the Middle East, and focused on the Lebanese Hizbullah party, Hamas, and Palestinian factions.
http://fwd4.me/0kft 25 jan 2012, 10:31 , Respect -
Maria 24 jan 2012
Netanyahu cites Holocaust lesson in dealing with Iran
By Jeffrey Heller
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, citing the lessons of the Nazi Holocaust and the danger a nuclear-armed Iran, said on Tuesday that Israel must not shy from acting alone to thwart any threat to its existence.
Addressing parliament ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27, Netanyahu praised a European Union decision on Monday to place sanctions on Iranian oil exports.
"But on this day of international cooperation and an important achievement against Iran, I want to remind everyone of the main lesson of the Holocaust against our people - that ultimately when there is threat to our existence, we must not leave our fate in the hands of others," he said.
"When it is a question of our fate, it is our obligation to rely only on ourselves."
Israel has said a nuclear-armed Iran would pose a threat to its existence and that all options were on the table in dealing with Tehran, which insists it is enriching uranium for electrical generation.
Israel's main ally, the United States, has voiced concern that Israel could attack Iran preemptively and deepen instability in an already volatile region. Last week, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said any decision about such a strike was "very far off".
In the speech, Netanyahu repeated his long-standing call for tougher sanctions against Iran coupled with a "credible military option" to dissuade Tehran from building nuclear weapons.
He signaled, however, that Israel was not about to give up on international diplomatic efforts to curb Iran's atomic ambitions.
Netanyahu said that one lesson of the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were killed during World War Two, was that Israel must "forge as many alliances in the world as possible" to act against any existential threat.
(2:23) Its a Trick We Jews Always Use It calling people anti-Semitic.flv 3 x viewed REMOVED
But he added: "We must not bury our heads in the sand. The Iranian regime calls openly for the destruction of Israel, and plans the destruction of Israel and acts for the destruction of Israel. The lesson says that the nations of the world must be awoken."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=455135
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCKTKMFTprM 25 jan 2012, 11:31 , Respect -
Maria 25 jan 2012
Netanyahu liegt tegen Tweede Kamer en Nederlandse bevolking – Netanyahu Lies to Parliament and Dutch Population
Dries van Agt
Het zal u niet zijn ontgaan, afgelopen week was de Israëlische premier Netanyahu in Nederland.
In een open brief (open letter) aan minister van Buitenlandse Zaken Rosenthal heb ik erop aangedrongen het bezoek aan te grijpen om de Israëlische premier eens stevig de levieten te lezen. Onder zijn verantwoordelijkheid worden immers tal van vergrijpen tegen het internationaal recht gepleegd.
Ik vrees dat mijn oproep aan dovemansoren was gericht, want Netanyahu’s bezoek vond plaats in het kader van de intensivering van de Nederlands-Israëlische betrekkingen, waartoe de VVD en het CDA in het regeerakkoord hebben besloten. Het is moeilijk te geloven, maar waar.
Op initiatief van Nederland worden de betrekkingen met Israël geïntensiveerd, terwijl de regering-Netanyahu het nederzettingenbeleid intensiveert.
Op basis van drie Israëlische bronnen hebben we een inventarisatie gemaakt van de nederzettingenuitbreidingen in het afgelopen jaar. Die wijst uit dat de Israëlische autoriteiten in 2011 de bouw van 8.878 nederzettingenhuizen hebben aangekondigd. In aanvulling daarop is de bouw van 3.769 huizen goedgekeurd.
Opgeteld meer dan 12.500 nederzettingenhuizen, die de weg naar vrede blokkeren. Meer dan 12.500 huizen, die steen voor steen een schending zijn van het internationaal recht.
Netanyahu and Rutte
Onze regering lijkt het weinig te deren. Premier Rutte zou tegen Netanyahu gezegd hebben dat het de onderhandelingen “extreem goed” zou doen, wanneer Israël de bouw van nederzettingen zou bevriezen. Welke onderhandelingen? De onderhandelingen over een twee-statenoplossing die door het nederzettingenbeleid wordt vernietigd?
(1:18) Benjamin Netanyahu in Nederland 1 x viewed REMOVED
De Nederlandse regering zou een voorbeeld moeten nemen aan Duitsland, Frankrijk en het Verenigd Koninkrijk, die het nederzettingenbeleid onlangs in scherpe bewoordingen hebben veroordeeld:
“Israëls voortdurende aankondigingen de bouw van nederzettingen in de Bezette Palestijnse Gebieden te versnellen dragen een vernietigende boodschap uit. Alle nederzettingenactiviteit, ook in Oost-Jeruzalem, moet onmiddellijk stoppen.”
In een interview met Nieuwsuur heeft premier Netanyahu het lef gehad om de Nederlandse bevolking over de omvang en gevolgen van het nederzettingenbeleid ernstig te misleiden. Daarin zei hij:
(7:58) Benjamin Netanyahu Interview on Dutch TV REMOVED
“De nederzettingen beslaan 1,5 procent van het territorium van de Westelijke Jordaanoever. 1,5 procent.”
Tegenover leden van de Tweede Kamer zou hij dezelfde bewering gedaan hebben.
Informatie van de Israëlische mensenrechtenorganisatie B’Tselem laat zien dat Netanyahu in wezen gelogen heeft. Het percentage dat hij noemde heeft uitsluitend betrekking op de “built-up areas” in de nederzettingen, dus de grond waarop huizen staan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcPO9j4Nqj8
Deze gebiedsdelen liggen echter binnen “municipal jurisdictional areas” en “areas of regional councils”, die een onlosmakelijk onderdeel van het nederzettingenbeleid zijn.
Die gebieden besloegen in 2010 respectievelijk 9.28% en 33.5% van de Westoever. Alles bij elkaar 42.8%. Palestijns land dat feitelijk ingelijfd is door Israël en niet toegankelijk is voor Palestijnen.
Een parlementariër onwaardig is het gedrag van Tweede Kamerlid Raymond de Roon (PVV), die premier Netanyahu wilde aansporen om nóg meer nederzettingen te bouwen. Via twitter verkondigde hij:
“Vandaag vraag ik Netanyahu in 2e Kamer om voor Israel te blijven bouwen in Jerusalem, Judea en Samaria zolang palestijnen vrede verhinderen”
Zou Raymond de Roon bij zijn beëdiging als Kamerlid niet verklaard hebben dat hij trouw zweert aan de Grondwet? Daarin is immers bepaald: “De regering bevordert de ontwikkeling van de internationale rechtsorde.” De nederzettingen en ander beleid van de regering-Netanyahu ondermijnen die rechtsorde!
Onze minister van Buitenlandse Zaken Rosenthal zei onderwijl over de intensivering van de betrekkingen: “Wij gaan hier gewoon mee door“. Daarmee geeft hij het signaal af dat Israël kan doorgaan met illegaal beleid dat vrede blokkeert.
Bovendien dreigt nu het gevaar dat de nederzettingen direct van de intensivering profiteren. In een tweetal opinieartikelen in NRC Handelsblad en de Volkskrant hebben onze directeur Martin Siepermann en Hans van den Broek, voormalig minister van Buitenlandse Zaken en lid van onze Raad van Advies, deze bezwaren uiteen gezet.
Tot besluit wijs ik u graag op twee andere artikelen. Al vaker heb ik gewezen op de golf van anti-democratische wetgeving die Israël overspoelt, bedoeld om de Israëlische vredes- en mensenrechtenorganisaties te ondermijnen.
Uit onverwachte hoek kwam daar nu stevige kritiek op. In een opinieartikel schreef Alon Liel, voormalig Israëlisch ambassadeur in Zuid-Afrika en directeur-generaal van het Israëlische ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, dat deze wetgeving sterk doet denken aan Apartheid Zuid-Afrika, in het bijzonder de anti-boycotwet.
Het Zuid-Afrikaanse equivalent van deze wet was ook niet gericht tegen groeperingen die zich schuldig maken aan gewelddadige of illegale activiteiten, schreef Liel, maar tegen “voices of conscience” die een probleem werden voor het regime. Het verklaart waarom organisaties van kolonisten, die de belangen van nederzettingen behartigen, in Israël vrij spel hebben.
Ook om die reden zou een intensivering van de Nederlands-Israëlische betrekkingen niet aan de orde mogen zijn. De regering-Rutte zou nu solidair moeten zijn met de in de verdrukking geraakte Israëli’s die voor een rechtvaardige vrede strijden, niet met de krachten in Israël die vrede ondermijnen.
In plaats van verantwoording af te leggen voor de toenemende onderdrukking van Israëlische vredes- en mensenrechtenorganisaties greep premier Netanyahu zijn bezoek aan om de oorlogstrom te roeren vis-à-vis Iran. Roger Cohen, gezaghebbend commentator van de New York Times, heeft de grote risico’s van een Israëlische aanval op Iran helder samengevat. In zijn artikel Don’t do it Bibi waarschuwt hij:
“An Israeli attack unites Iran in fury, locks in the Islamic Republic for a generation, cements the Syrian regime, radicalizes the Arab world at a moment of delicate transition, ignites Hezbollah on the Lebanese border, boosts Hamas, endangers U.S. troops in the region, sparks terrorism, propels oil skyward, triggers a possible regional war, offers a lifeline to Iran just as Europe is about to stop buying its oil, adds a Persian to the Arab vendetta against Israel, and may at best set back Iran’s nuclear ambitions a couple of years.”
Men mag hopen dat deze woorden aan de Bezuidenhoutseweg en op het Binnenhof zullen beklijven.
Hartelijke groet,
voorzitter
Ps: we zouden graag het bereik van onze nieuwsbrief sterk vergroten. Zou u ons daarbij willen helpen door deze nieuwsbrief door te sturen aan uw vrienden en kennissen?
Source at the RightsForum
http://fwd4.me/0lEu Google translation http://fwd4.me/0lEt
Netanyahu sees expansion of ties with China
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday he envisaged a dramatic expansion of diplomatic ties with China, including a possible role for Beijing in Middle East diplomacy.
Speaking in Tel Aviv at a celebration marking 20 years since the two nations forged relations, Netanyahu said: "I think we've barely scratched the surface of Israeli-Chinese relations. I have no doubt that in the coming years we'll see a dramatic expansion of these ties.
Israeli government figures estimate bilateral trade as having totalled some $8 billion in 2011, up from $6.7 billion in 2010.
Netanyahu also saw Beijing as playing a role in European and US-mediated diplomacy between Israel and the Palestinians.
Under Communist rule, China was a main backer of Palestinian struggle for statehood but later lowered its profile on the conflict after forging ties with Israel in the early 1990s.
"I think we can also work together to address the challenges of securing Middle East peace," Netanyahu said at the gathering attended by Chinese and Israeli diplomats.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=455243 27 jan 2012, 10:45 , Respect -
Maria 26 jan 2012
Peres in Davos: Palestinian state already established
Fayyad (L ) and Peres in Davos
At World Economic Forum, Israeli president and Palestinian PM discuss ways to jumpstart stalled peace process. Peres urges international community to contain Iran's 'destructive' influence in Mideast.
The Palestinians had effectively established a state while peace negotiations were still ongoing, President Shimon Peres told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday.
During a discussion on the chances for peace in the Middle East, Peres praised Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his prime minister, Salam Fayyad for their state-building efforts, including the establishment of an independent military force.
State-building is possible without negotiations, the president told the panel, which included Fayyad.
Addressing Iran, Peres called on Europe to impose harsher sanctions in order to halt Tehran's nuclear program, adding that the international community must bring an end to Iran's influence in the Middle East.
He said Iran has turned Gaza into a base for rocket attacks on Israel and claimed Hezbollah, which is backed by Tehran, almost led to the destruction of Lebanon.
Peres said Iran was the only country in the world to openly call for the destruction of another country – Israel. He also called on the international community to encourage Iranians to topple President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regime.
According to the president, Israel has a historic duty to make peace with the Palestinians, in accordance with that he referred to as the Jewish tradition which does not allow Jews to rule over other people.
The solution, Peres said, was two states for two peoples.
Fayyad said during the discussion that state-building and negotiations were equally important. "The political process since the Oslo Accords wasn't focused enough," he said, adding that the international community should intervene in the process. "Look at us, we are struggling just to sit (at the negotiation table). It's time we recognize the process has failed," Fayyad said.
Peres disagreed, saying the process should focus on direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians. He said the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was not a global issue.
On Wednesday Israel negotiator Yitzhak Molcho and his Palestinian counterpart Saeb Erekat met in Amman, Jordan for the fifth time. Palestinian officials said the exploratory talks did not yield results.
During the meeting Erekat insisted that Israel halt all settlement construction.
The European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in Jerusalem Wednesday, and on Thursday she held talks with Abbas.
Sources who are familiar with the talks said she was promoting an Israeli incentives package that would convince the Palestinians to continue negotiating.
http://fwd4.me/0kyq
Israeli army to force back draft dodgers
The number of Israeli female draft evaders hits 35 percent.
The Israeli military is planning to “return” hundreds of female draft dodgers who have evaded serving in the army due to religious grounds.
Israeli top brass hope the legislation of a new law next month will meaningfully decrease the number of draft dodgers.
In 1992, less than 20 percent of female draftees refrained from joining the army due to religious reasons, a figure that has now climbed to 35 percent.
The military launched an exhaustive investigation into the issue to find that almost 20 percent of the female draft dodgers had graduated from non-religious schools.
A senior Israeli army officer admits that without harsh measures, the rate of service avoidance among Israeli girls would have topped 37 percent.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/223244.html 28 jan 2012, 17:31 , Respect -
Maria 27 jan 2012
Israeli Research: Israel on Verge of International Crisis
A research that was conducted by the Institute for Policy and Strategy predicts an international crisis that will arise, this year or in the next few years, in the area and put Israel in a very tough position.
Subsequently, the Israeli army radio station interviewed the head of the institute, General Daniel Rothschild, and the head of the Herzliya Conference in the Herzliya Regional Center, to discuss the results of this research and how it reflects on Israel.
Rothschild said, "The predictions of the institute depend on the events that happened in the region and in the world. We try to predict what would happen in the coming year or few years. Like you said, Israel will be in a critical position. This year will be very hard for us."
He added, "All the factors that we studied are inter-related and connected to each other; the economic, regional and social factors are all connected. We also study the impact of the events that take place in the world on Israel, and, the impact of what happens in Israel on the world."
About the events in the Arab region, Rothschild explained that the idea of a New Middle East is just as they expected; because of what has been happening in Egypt and Syria too, also what has been happening in Iran, Turkey and North Africa, and because of the international economic depression and its effects.
He said the reasons behind this were the super-powers; for not interfering in what goes on in the Middle East while they sought to provide solutions for the dilemmas in the area, whether it be for internal problems in those countries or the changes in the order of priorities for these super-powers.
http://fwd4.me/0kts 28 jan 2012, 18:40 , Respect -
Maria 28 jan 2012
Peres: Iran the most corrupt country on earth
President tells CNN that talks with Palestinian are only path to peace in ME, calls on Iranians to get rid of 'evil government'.
President Shimon Peres voiced concern over Hamas' foreign funding but expressed hope that direct talks with the Palestinian Authority could bring an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in an interview with CNN, which was released Friday.
Addressing the rising tensions over Iran's nuclear development, Peres also restated his call on the citizens of the Islamic Republic to topple their "evil government."
The leader told the news network's Richard Quest that Hamas gets a whopping $900 million in funding each year, mostly from Iran, Qatar and Turkey. Yedioth Ahronth reported recently that Turkey has promised to funnel Hamas as much as $300 million in annual aid. Peres noted that the finances could help the terror grow stronger than the moderate movements in the Palestinian territories.
An attempt to restart the talks between Israel and the Palestinians in Amman ended this week without progress, but Peres said he still believes that negotiations are the only way to reach peace in the Middle East.
According to Peres, extremists in the region "use the (Israeli-Palestinian) conflict to justify the hatred of Israel…We don’t want to serve as an excuse.
"The things that happen in the Middle East have nothing to do with Israel. Neither in Syria, nor in Iraq, nor in Egypt, nothing. But they accuse us… the thing we can and should do, is end this conflict with the Palestinians, and stop it from continuing to be a justification to hate Israel."
In the interview, Peres refused to endorse any candidate contending for the presidency in the United States, noting only that he expects the US to persist with its commitment to Israel's security.
'Iranians, save your country'
The president lauded the US and the European Union's sanctions on Iran, but said there is still much to be done to stop what he called "the most corrupted country on earth." He said that the Islamic Republic's negative attributes extend beyond its budding nuclear program.
"Moral corruption is more dangerous than financial one," he said. "They hang people without courts. They send arms and money for terror. They cheat, they lie. My god, it's the only country that threatened to destroy another country."
On Thursday, Peres said at the World Economic Forum in Davos that the international community should empower the citizens of Iran to oust the regime there, and he reiterated that message during the interview.
"I would tell the Iranian people, save your own country," he said. "It's in your hands. Don't (rely) upon others. If you are ashamed of the way Iran behaves, and you should be ashamed, to save your own (honor), your own history, your own place in the world, you have to do it. "
"I'm not calling for a revolution, I'm calling Iran to get rid of the wrong revolution," he added. "To get rid of an evil government."
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Republicans woo Jewish voters by campaigning against Palestinians
WASHINGTON, (PIC)-- For Republican candidates seeking Jewish vote in the 2012 US presidential election, it is an open season to launch scathing attacks on the Palestinians and to show the Zionist side of their faces.
These candidates have been competing with one another in a cannibalistic way for months to take the most hard line position against the occupied people of Palestine.
In a TV talk show on Thursday, one of these candidates Mitt Romney, the most likely to represent his party in the election, said US president Barack Obama sacrificed Israel by his policies, while his party's mate Newt Gingrich reiterated his racist slurs against the Palestinians and labeled them as an invented people.
Romney claimed that the presence of Hamas (a resistance movement founded in 1987 during the first intifada) and its supporters among the Palestinian leaders was the reason behind the absence of peace between the Palestinian and Israelis.
During a debate aired by US TV channels, Romney also said the [occupied] Palestinians teach their school children how to kill Jews, while the Hamas-Fatah speeches deny the Jewish people their right to statehood and call for destroying Israel.
He added that the Israelis would be happy to have a two-state solution, but the Palestinians reject this solution and want to eliminate the state of Israel.
In a related context, Spiegel Online, the online version of the German newspaper Der Spiegel, published a recent article describing the Republican candidates as a "club of liars, demagogues and ignoramuses."
"The US Republican race is dominated by ignorance, lies and scandals. The current crop of candidates has shown such a basic lack of knowledge that they make George W. Bush look like Einstein. The grand old party is ruining the entire country's reputation," the article stated.
"Welcome to the wonderful world of the US Republicans. Or rather, to the twisted world of what they call their presidential campaigns. For months now, they have been traipsing around the country with their traveling circus, from one debate to the next, one scandal to another, putting themselves forward for what's still the most powerful job in the world," it added.
http://fwd4.me/0kyc
29 jan 2012
Army says drone crashes in central Israel
TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- Israeli military authorities say an unmanned aerial drone crashed on Sunday in central Israel.
The crash occurred near Moshav Yesodot during a joint Air Force and Israel Aerospace Industries drill, Israel's Ynet news site reported.
According to Ynet, the Eitan drone is scheduled to begin operational activity soon and possibly be deployed in countries such as Sudan and Iran.
US-based blogger Richard Silverstein reported on his website that the crash was caused by a "booby-trapped drone" which exploded at a secret airbase in Sdot Micha.
Sdot Micha, he says, is the home of a missile arsenal including the long-range Jerichos capable of striking Iran. He called the army's version a "cover story" necessitated by the presence of eyewitnesses.
A reconnaissance drone crashed in the Gaza Strip in late 2010. It was recovered in an army incursion into the territory.
In 2007, a smaller Israeli drone crashed in Gaza, and the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, seized it.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=456226
31 jan 2012, 10:27 , Respect -
Maria 30 jan 2012
Tunisian group calls for legislating against relations with Israel
TUNISIA, (PIC)-- The Tunisian national commission for supporting the Arab resistance and opposing normalization and Zionism stressed the need for enacting a constitutional law clearly prohibiting normalization of ties with the Israeli occupation.
This came in remarks made on Sunday by head of the commission Ahmed Al-Kahlawi in a news conference.
He noted that the commission would stage a sit-in of tents in Bardaw city until its demand in this regard is met.
He also said that the commission would work within workshops to resist the relations with the Israeli occupation in the fields of education, culture and tourism.
Kahlawi stated the success of Arab revolutions lies in severing all kind of ties with the Israeli occupation.
http://fwd4.me/0l82 1 feb 2012, 11:41 , Respect -
Maria 31 jan 2012
Israeli Internal Elections to Vote over Likud Leadership Primary Elections
Israeli internal elections to hold voting over Likud leadership, takes place late on Tuesday January 31st, between the two candidates: the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the hard-line leader Moshe Feiglin.
The Majority expects that Netanyahu would win easily re-election to the Likud leadership. If Netanyahu wins the elections, it would be the fifth time during the past nineteen years. The polling stations would open their doors at ten p.m.
The Likud's subscribers, who are one hundred and twenty thousand, would vote for the Party's leadership and for the members of Likud's councils.
Likud holds 27 seats in the 120-member parliament.
http://fwd4.me/0lEd 1 feb 2012, 11:41 , Respect -
Maria 1 febr 2012
IDF leaves behind soldier in West Bank village after operation, witnesses say
Palestinians say soldier was accompanied by two village elders to the separation fence, in an attempt to avoid a confrontation with some of the village youth.
The Israel Defense Forces accidentally left behind a soldier Wednesday night after an operation in a West Bank village near Ramallah, eyewitnesses said.
According to Palestinian residents of Budrus, IDF forces entered the village with five vehicles, rousing local residents. The vehicles left after several minutes, leaving behind a soldier.
One villager told Haaretz that the soldier was frightened and asked two elders to assist him in leaving the village. The elders accompanied him to the separation fence, in an attempt to avoid a confrontation with some of the village youth, where they were met by the soldier’s officer, along with two other soldiers.
In response to the incident, the IDF said that contact was lost between forces and one soldier for several minutes and that the incident is being investigated.
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Ki Moon: Enough Sieges on Gaza Strip
On Wednesday, UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, said that "he would work to stop the suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza Strip, and raise the sanctions that were imposed on Gaza Strip, which the civilians pay.
Ki Moon started his tour on Tuesday in the Jordanian capital, Amman then to Israel and the occupied territories.
UN Secretary General called on "the Israelis and Palestinians to go back to the negotiations to achieve a fair peace agreement within the two-state vision framework."
The Jordanian king, Abdullah II, called on the international society to strengthen the efforts to support the endeavours which aimed to revive the negotiations compromise in the Middle East.
The king assured during his meeting with Ki Moon, that his country "encourages and supports the negotiations that would discusses the final situation, which may lead to an independent Palestinian state on 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital."
http://fwd4.me/0lEh
Israel's Netanyahu wins new party mandate
By Allyn Fisher-Ilan
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has won a new mandate to head his right-wing Likud party, defeating an ultranationalist challenger opposed to any land-for-peace deal with Palestinians.
Initial results published Wednesday after voting held a day earlier showed Netanyahu captured a resounding majority of party ballots in a poll that some political commentators said could be a harbinger to an early general election ahead of a US presidential vote this year.
Israel's next national vote is due in late 2013.
With opinion polls showing Likud on course for victory, holding the ballot earlier could put Netanyahu in a better position to deal with what many Israelis believe will be pressure from Barack Obama for peace concessions should the Democrat win a second term in November.
"I thank you all for the confidence and renewed support you have given me," Netanyahu said in a victory speech in Tel Aviv, as initial results showed him way ahead of his sole rival, far-right settler, Moshe Feiglin.
"Together we shall continue to lead the nation," Netanyahu said. "We have proven the Likud is a strong and united movement."
Yigal Movermacher, a party spokesman, said a tally of some 40 percent of ballots showed Netanyahu had won 80 percent and that official results would be published later on Wednesday.
Feiglin polled about 20 percent, similar to his 24 percent showing in their last contest in 2007, initial results showed.
He had had little chance of unseating Netanyahu but had hoped to provide a voice for settlers in the party opposed to Israel giving up land they see as a biblical birthright for peace.
In an interview with Reuters, Feiglin said he advocated Israeli annexation of West Bank land captured in a 1967 war, and the provision of financial incentives to encourage Palestinians to leave.
US-sponsored peace talks stalled shortly after they began in 2010 in a dispute over settlement building in the occupied West Bank.
Exploratory talks in Jordan between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in recent weeks ended in deadlock without any agreement to restart full negotiations.
While Netanyahu has not said he wanted an early general election, "he prefers to lead and not be dragged there", Likud legislator Danny Danon told Reuters.
In his speech, Netanyahu said "there is time yet" before any national vote would be held, leaving the door open for further political maneuvers. Campaign aide Haim Bibas said Netanyahu would decide if to seek an early vote over the next two months.
The Likud poll will be followed by a Kadima primary election on March 27. Both Kadima and the left-of-centre Labour party have been actively recruiting popular figures, and some influential wild cards, such as former journalist Yair Lapid, have thrown their hats into the electoral ring as well.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=456995 4 feb 2012, 10:32 , Respect -
Maria 3 febr 2012
Palestinian aids Israeli soldier left behind in raid
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- An Israeli soldier stranded after a raid in occupied territory was escorted to safety by a Palestinian man in the same village the troops had targeted, witnesses and media reports said.
The Israeli military said Friday a batallion commander had been suspended from duties for the soldier having been abandoned on enemy turf in the raid this week, an infraction which Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz saw as a "serious incident".
Soldiers had raided Boudros village near the West Bank city of Ramallah to confront stone-throwing protesters against a barrier built on West Bank land, which Israel calls a security measure and Palestinians condemn as a land-grab.
In the stormy weather, a soldier charged with guarding a street ended up isolated from his peers and was unaware when they withdrew from the area, reports and witnesses said.
A Palestinian man identified as Mohammed said he went to tell a soldier he noticed standing alone on a village road that the others had withdrawn.
The soldier "seemed confused and his face turned red," Mohammed said, adding he then escorted the soldier toward his own home where other soldiers later picked him up.
Israeli media said the soldier, armed with a personal weapon, had been isolated from his unit for half an hour. A military spokeswoman called it "a matter of minutes" before he was reunited with other troops.
Ayyed Morrar, a local activist in Boudros, told an Israeli television station of the assistance given the soldier:
"We oppose the occupation and are willing to pay the price for freedom, but not in a way that leads to killing."
There were no reported casualties on either side in Boudros, a flashpoint of ongoing tensions in West Bank land Israel captured in a 1967 war which Palestinians seek now for a state.
Much of the conflict near Boudros is over a barrier Israel built in the aftermath of a bloody uprising a decade ago, calling it a security measure to prevent armed penetrations of its towns and cities.
Palestinians say the barrier cuts across privately owned farmland. Dozens of Palestinians accompanied by Israeli and foreign activists, confront Israeli forces in protests against the barrier and other Israeli measures on a weekly basis in the Boudros area, including nearby villages.
Western-backed peace talks for a settlement of the conflict collapsed in 2010 and exploratory discussions to get diplomacy back on track ended in failure last month in Jordan.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=457621
IDF suspends officer after soldier left behind in West Bank
IDF will investigate conduct of battalion commander, who allegedly passed on false report from field after losing soldier.
An IDF battalion commander who allegedly left one of his soldiers behind in a village near Ramallah in the West Bank during an operation this week, will be suspended until the completion of a military investigation into the incident.
IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz ordered on Friday that Lieutenant Colonel Muli Cohen, commander of the IDF's "Saar" battalion, be suspended pending the results of the investigation.
IDF sources said on Friday that the investigation would look into a possible moral failure on the part of the officer, in addition to operational failures.
Haaretz reported earlier this week that an IDF soldier was left behind in the village of Budrus on Wednesday night. According to Palestinian residents of the village, several IDF vehicles entered Budrus overnight, leaving behind a soldier when they left several minutes later.
One villager told Haaretz that the soldier was frightened and asked two elders to assist him out of the village. They accompanied him to the separation fence, in an attempt to avoid a confrontation with some of the village youth, where they were met by the soldier’s officer and other soldiers.
In response to the incident, the IDF initially said that contact had been made with the soldier who was left behind. Later, however, it turned out that the IDF had not in fact made contact with the soldier.
http://fwd4.me/0ldH 5 feb 2012, 19:19 , Respect -
Maria 5 febr 2012
Israel's Netanyahu to visit US next month
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the United States early next month to address the annual convention of the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC in Washington, his office said on Sunday.
The statement did not say whether Netanyahu would meet US President Barack Obama. But Israeli political sources said such talks, against the backdrop of heightened speculation Israel could opt to attack Iranian nuclear facilities in the coming months, were likely.
Netanyahu will attend the annual policy conference of AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which will be held on March 4-6.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=458034 6 feb 2012, 17:32 , Respect -
Maria 6 febr 2012
Netanyahu: Fatah-Hamas deal will end diplomatic process
Israel wants world to pressure Abbas not to sign with Hamas; PM says if Abbas moves to implement Palestinian reconciliation deal signed in Qatar, he will "abandon path of peace."
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu blasted the emerging reconciliation agreement between Hamas and Fatah on Monday, sending a clear message to the international community that if the deal is consummated, the Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic process is over.
One reason for Netanyahu's extremely sharp response to reports of a deal – he made it a point to make his remarks both in Hebrew and in English – was to get the international community to pressure Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas not to implement it, one government official acknowledged.
"Anyone in the international community concerned about the peace process should be intervening now with the Palestinians to prevent the consummation of this marriage," the official said.
The agreement, reached between Fatah and Hamas under the auspices of Qatar, calls for Abbas to serve as an interim prime minister of a unity Palestinian government comprised of independent figures. The government's primary job would be to prepare for presidential and parliamentary elections, and to rebuild Gaza.
After the agreement was reported, The Prime Minister's Office distributed what it called a "special statement" by Netanyahu, saying that in recent weeks he and "several world leaders" have made serious efforts to advance peace.
"If President Abbas moves to implement what was signed today in Doha, he will abandon the path of peace and join forces with the enemies of peace," Netanyahu said. "Hamas is an enemy of peace. It's an Iranian backed terror organization committed to Israel's destruction."
Saying Abbas can't have it both ways, and has to choose either a peace pact with Israel or with Hamas, Netanyahu reiterated that Hamas had not yet accepted the three minimal requirements demanded of it by the international community: to recognize Israel's right to exist, abandon terrorism, and accept previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements.
Instead, Netanyahu said, Hamas "continues to arm itself for even deadlier terrorism."
Government officials said that efforts over the last couple of weeks to put together a package of economic steps as an incentive to keep the Palestinians at nascent, low-level talks in Jordan, have now been put on hold.
"Now we are waiting to see what will be with this agreement," the official said. "We are making it clear that this agreement would be a body blow to the whole process. This sort of agreement could lead to the end of the peace process."
He characterized the move as a major "confidence destroying measure."
In 2006, following Hamas' victory in the Palestinian legislative elections and Ismail Haniyeh's appointment as prime minister, Israel stopped working with the PA government and halted the transfer of monthly tax revenue it collected for the PA.
A spokesman at the US embassy in Tel Aviv, asked about what Washington's policy would be if the Doha agreement was implemented, said the US would not articulate a "formal position on a speculative event. We will wait to see what happens."
At the same time, the spokesman reiterated that the US policy that Hamas must accept the international community's three conditions has not changed.
The EU also did not have a formal reaction Monday to the Fatah-Hamas moves. At the end of November, however, after a previous round of reconciliation talks, the EU issued a statement saying it has "consistently called for reconciliation under Abbas' authority."
The statement said it considered reconciliation "an opportunity rather than a threat," and that Palestinian unity was "an important element for a viable Palestinian state, and essential for securing a lasting peace with Israel."
At the same time, that statement said it expected a new Palestinian government to uphold the principles of non-violence, remain committed to a two-state solution, and negotiate a peaceful settlement with Israel, while accepting previous agreements and recognizing Israel's right to exist.
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Netanyahu: Abbas must choose between Hamas and peace
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his opposition to reconciliation between Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas on Monday, after the parties signed an agreement in Qatar to form a unity government to prepare for elections.
"Hamas is a terrorist organization that seeks to destroy Israel and is supported by Iran," Netanyahu insisted during a meeting of his Likud party.
"I have said more than once that the Palestinian Authority must chose between an alliance with Hamas, or peace with Israel. Hamas and peace do not go together."
Fatah leader President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas chief-in-exile Khalid Mashaal agreed that Abbas will head the joint government at a meeting in Doha on Monday.
The accord also included agreements on releasing political prisoners, reforming the Palestinian National Council and activating the PLO for the next elections, Palestine TV said.
Fatah and Hamas agreed to end four years of bitter dispute and rival governments in May 2011, but the deal has repeatedly stalled as disagreements rumble on. The candidate to lead an interim unity government had been a key sticking point.
After the May deal, Israeli officials froze the transfer of tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority, collected by Israel on the PA's behalf under international agreements. When Mashaal and Abbas met again in November, Israel moved to maintain a second freeze, initially imposed after Abbas applied for full Palestinian membership of the UN.
A statement from Netanyahu's office after the Qatar meeting on Monday did not refer to punitive measures, but warned that the deal would imperil the peace process.
"If Abbas implements what has been signed today in Doha, then he has chosen to renounce the path of peace and embrace Hamas.
"I tell Abbas: you can't have your cake and eat it, either you have a deal with Hamas or chose peace with Israel."
PLO officials held five rounds of exploratory talks with Israeli representatives in January, but insist they cannot progress to direct negotiations until Israel halts settlement building on occupied Palestinian land.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=458306