zaterdag 12 december 2009

Vandalisme in moskee op Westoever leidt tot verontwaardiging bij Palestijnen en Israeli's


Iedereen in Israel op enkele extremisten na, veroordeelt de vernielingen die radikale kolonisten in een moskee hebben aangebracht, en Israel heeft een onderzoek aangekondigd. Dit incident haalde overigens ook het NOS Journaal, maar dan zonder de toevoeging dat zelfs de vertegenwoordiger van de kolonisten dit incident veroordeelde.
Overigens komt het geregeld voor dat Palestijnen Joodse heilige plaatsen op de Westoever bekladden en heilige boeken en symbolen vernielen, maar dat haalt nooit het journaal.
 
RP
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The Jerusalem Post
Dec 11, 2009 10:58 | Updated Dec 11, 2009 21:01
Palestinian demonstration dies down near Yasuf, Tapuah
By JPOST.COM STAFF AND AP
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1260447414906&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


Hundreds of Palestinian protesters from the village of Yasuf gathered near the nearby settlement of Tapuah on Friday afternoon to protest vandalism caused to a local mosque, only returning to their village hours later.

The demonstrators confronted security forces in the area, with some rioters hurling rocks at the troops. One border policeman was lightly wounded by one such rock. The forces used non-lethal weapons to disperse the rioters. Six protesters were hurt in the skirmish, apparently from tear gas.

According to Channel 2, the protests only died down after Civilian Administration head Brig.-Gen. Yoav Mordehai personally assured the head of the Salfit governorate and other Palestinian Authority leaders that security forces were doing all they could to apprehend those responsible.

Earlier on Friday, Palestinian officials claimed that radical settlers vandalized and set fire to a mosque in a Palestinian village in the West Bank. Defense officials confirmed that assailants had vandalized the mosque, and the Civil Administration has launched an investigation.

The attack took place in the village of Yasuf, south of Nablus. The assailants entered the village before dawn Friday, according to police and Munir Abushi, the Palestinian governor of the district where the village is located.

According to reports, the perpetrators set fire to a carpet and to a library in the mosque's second floor, destroying holy books. They also sprayed abusive statements in Hebrew on the walls and floor. Graffiti messages included "Price tag - greetings from Effi" and "We will burn the lot of you."

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called the act a "despicable crime," characterized settler behavior as "brutal" and demanded that Israel put a stop to their "wild antics."

Kadima and opposition leader Tzipi Livni echoed Abbas's statement by saying that the vandalism was a "severe, despicable act of provocation" and stressing that the perpetrators must be brought to justice.

"While a human rights march goes on in Tel Aviv, in Samaria extremist elements set fire to a mosque," she said during a Herzliya speech on Friday afternoon. "We must turn to introspection and contend with what is happening within Israeli society."

Settler extremists recently began to carry out attacks against Palestinians and their property in response to the government's decision to impose a ten-month moratorium on settlement construction. They have dubbed the attacks the "price tag policy."

Defense Minister Ehud Barak condemned the attack. In a statement issued by his office, Barak said he viewed the attack with grave severity and called it "an act of extremism designed to hurt any attempt by the government to make progress" toward renewing peace talks with the Palestinians. Barak said he had instructed the defense establishment to find those responsible as quickly as possible.

Following the incident, Civil Administration head Brig.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai spoke with Abushi, who expressed his dismay over repeated settler attacks. Israeli security forces have done little to protect Palestinian civilians from the settlers, he said.

A flurry of responses from politicians and activists soon followed.

MK Ahmed Tibi (United Arab List - Ta'al) said after the attack that "Barak and the army bear responsibility for this crime and for the continued riot wild behavior of settlers against Palestinians."

Labor MK Ophir Paz-Pines called the attack "a dangerous escalation intended to devolve the region into bloodshed." The lack of government preparedness against the "price tag" strategy which has been in use for years is a serious and dangerous failure, he added.

"The fire in the Yasuf mosque may have gone out," MK Nachman Shai (Kadima) said in a statement, "but the blaze could yet get out of control, spread and lead to disastrous consequences."

Peace Now called the incident "a Jewish pogrom" and warned that continued provocation by extremists could lead to a new Palestinian intifada.

Danny Dayan, head of the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip said in response to the incident that he hoped police would find those responsible. "Whoever did this is not helping the settlements," Dayan said. "This is a wrong and foolish act."

Meanwhile, far-right activist Itamar Ben-Gvir laid the blame on Barak and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, saying their decision to stop construction in the West Bank was causing anger and unrest. "Netanyahu must freeze these racist edicts to calm the atmosphere," he said.

MK Michael Ben-Ari (National Union) also stayed shy of condemning the attacks, saying that "those who wish to wipe out the Jewish people must not expect us to identify with their symbols and centers of incitement" - an apparent reference to mosques and Islamic prayer relic

vrijdag 11 december 2009

Verijdelde aanslagen op Israeli's in Turkije en India

 
IsraNed meldt meer verijdelde aanslagen afgelopen woensdag, dit keer in Turkije en India. Daar zou ik nog een verijdelde aanslag in Jeruzalem aan toe willen voegen. En natuurlijk de arrestatie van een terrorist van de Islamitische Jihad begin deze week. Voorzover het (binnen en buiten Israel) nu rustig is qua aanslagen op Joodse doelen, ligt dat niet aan een gebrek aan motivatie van de terroristen.
 
RP
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Verijdelde aanslagen op Israeli's: Turkije en India
http://www.israned.com/2009/12/verijdelde-aanslagen-op-israelis.html
 
 
Nog even verder met de verijdelde aanslagen: afdeling buitenland dit keer.
 
Turkije lijkt de laatste tijd niet echt een vriend van Israel, maar deze week bedankte de Israelische onderminister van buitenlandse zaken (en voormalig ambassadeur in de VS) Danny Ayalon Turkije voor het verijdelen van een Hezbollah-aanslag op een Israelisch doel in Turkije. De aanval zou zijn gepland als wraak voor de dood van Hezbollahtopman Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus, door een autobom, in februari 2008. Hezbollah stelt Israel daarvoor verantwoordelijk.
De terreurgroep zou in Istanbul een netwerk hebben opgezet van Iraanse agenten die zich uitgaven voor toeristen, met hulp overigens van Iraanse geheime diensten. Hezbollah-agenten zien wat van de wereld. Eerder dit jaar planden zij een aanval op de Israelische ambassade in Azerbijan en in Egypte werd een groep gearresteerd die Israelische toeristen volgde, en Israelische schepen die door het Suezkanaal voeren. Volgens Ha'aretz beraamt Hezbollah aanslagen in het buitenland om Libanon, van waaruit het opereert, buiten schot te houden.

Ook in India, een populair reisdoel van jonge Israeli's na hun diensttijd, zouden aanslagen op Israelische doelen zijn gepland. Israelische toeristen zijn gewaarschuwd om gebouwen van Joodse organisaties te mijden, meldt de Jerusalem Post.

Een aan Al Qaida gelieerde groep zou daar aanslagen hebben gepland zoals die in Mumbai, speciaal gericht op Israelische toeristen. Het plan zou aan het licht zijn gekomen na de arrestatie van de Amerikaan David Coleman Headley in Chicago. Headley heet eigenlijk Daoud Gilani en is de zoon van een Pakistaanse diplomaat. Hij maakte verkenningstrips naar Mumbai voor de aanslagen in onder meer het Chabadcentrum in november 2008, die 160 mensen het leven kostten.

Vier maanden later was hij terug in India om, vermomd als orthodoxe Jood, nieuwe doelen te verkennen: het El Al kantoor en het Chabadcentrum in New Dehli en een synagoge in een andere populaire toeristenplaats. In Goa ging hij de gangen na van Israelische toeristen.

Gilani staat in de VS terecht voor het samenzweren om bomaanslagen te plegen in India en moord in India en Denemarken.
 
 

Zweden ontstemd over Israel na aangepaste EU verklaring Jeruzalem

 
Een klassiek geval van chutzpa en projectie. Met haar extreme voorstel was het Zweden dat verdeeldheid zaaide en een probleem creëerde, nog los van de vraag waar het document überhaupt goed voor was. Men wilde blijkbaar nog graag even iets van daadkracht suggereren zo op het einde van het EU voorzitterschap, en wellicht ook de VS aftroeven, die immers graag de leiding heeft in de bemiddeling in het Midden-Oosten conflict. Was Zweden daadwerkelijk uitgeweest op eenheid en een constructieve bijdrage, dan had het de verklaring direct al afgezwakt en met de VS gecoördineerd.
 
Zweden heeft de schijn overigens wel erg tegen: onlangs kon een Israelische tennisser niet in Zweden spelen omdat men zijn veiligheid niet kon garanderen, en in de krant Aftonbladet werd Israel van een moderne bloodlibel beschuldigd, iets waar de regering van weigerde om ook maar enige afkeuring uit te spreken. Een dergelijke afkeuring werd wel over de omstreden cartoons van Mohamed uitgesproken.
 
Wel, ik ben blij dat het voorzitterschap van Zweden er dadelijk op zit, maar feit is dat in steeds meer EU landen een extreem anti-Israel klimaat heerst.
 
RP
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Sweden to Israel: Don't divide EU over Jerusalem stance
By The Associated Press
 
 
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt warned Thursday that Israel must not play "divide and rule" with the 27-member European Union over a recent resolution calling for Jerusalem to become the shared capital of Israel and a future Palestinian state.

Bildt, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, said Thursday the bloc was united and would not "remain shy" on so crucial an issue.

The EU's adoption Tuesday of the new resolution on Jerusalem sparked an angry reaction from Israel, which captured the eastern half of the city in the 1967 Six-Day War.
 
Israel Foreign Ministry said the statement by the European Union on the status of Jerusalem was substantially softer than Sweden's initial draft, once again demonstrating the Scandinavian country's failure as the EU's rotating president.

EU foreign ministers called for negotiations over Jerusalem, saying a way should be found to make it the capital of two nations, Israel and a future Palestinian state.

"Sweden has done nothing over recent months to advance the Middle East peace process," a Foreign Ministry official said. "The EU's only saving grace is that some of its members are responsible and moderate nations didn't support the Swedish draft, which looked like something taken out of the Fatah platform at the Bethlehem conference."

Last week, Sweden presented a draft document supporting the division of Jerusalem and the recognition of East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

"The peace process in the Middle East is not like IKEA furniture," a Foreign Ministry official said, referring to the Swedish furniture chain. "It takes more than a screw and a hammer, it takes a true understanding of the constraints and sensitivities of both sides, and in that Sweden failed miserably."

A senior ministry official added that a group of nations had "saved the European Union from itself, since any other decision would have dealt severe harm to the relations between Jerusalem and Brussels, and would have prevented the EU from becoming an important partner in the peace process."

Earlier, the Foreign Ministry issued an official response to the EU statement, saying that the "European Union ignores the primary obstacle to achieving a resolution between Israel and the Palestinians: the Palestinian refusal to return to the negotiating table."
 
 

Duitse documentaire ontmaskert Al Dura hoax?


De dood van het Palestijnse jongetje Mohammed Al Dura, en vooral de beelden van France2 daarvan die de wereld rondgingen, hebben tot vele aanslagen en Israelische doden geinspireerd. Steeds meer wijst er echter op dat hij helemaal niet door Israel is gedood. Maar de mythe zal blijven voortleven en worden gebruikt, niet alleen om Palestijns geweld goed te praten, maar ook om Israels bestaansrecht te delegitimeren en het als een schurkenstaat neer te zetten. De feiten zijn daarbij van ondergeschikt belang.
 
RP
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Palivision revisited: The Palestinian martyr who wasn't: German documentary debunks Al Dura killing - again

http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/12/palivision-revisited-palestinian-martyr.html

Who killed Muhammad al Dura (or was he killed)? Al-Dura was the poster boy of the Palestinian violence, which Marwan Barghouti initated, by his own confession (boast actually) in September of 2000. Made famous by doctored French TV footage, the supposed murder of twelve year old al-Dura by evil Zionist IDF forces was fuel for a thousand real murders.

Too late, the truth is slowly coming out: there was probably no Israeli murder of al-Dura, and the entire incident was some sort of Palivision hoax. A trial in France revealed the facts. The verdict of that trial is being appealled, but there is no denying the facts - the French film makers intentionally omitted crucial footage showing al-Dura alive after his supposed "death." Apart from that, it was impossible for Israeli troops to shoot at Al Dura and leave the shell marks that were evident in the area.

Al-Dura's body is not moldering in any grave most likely, but the al-Dura hoax goes marching on - many still believe it, just as they believed the fabrications about the "Jenin Massacre" and just as they believe Israel committed war crimes in Gaza in the 2008-9 Operation Cast Lead that was carried out to stop Hamas rocket attacks.

Ami Isseroff
=================
 
 
Dec. 9, 2009
Haviv Rettig Gur , THE JERUSALEM POST
A German documentary that is the latest to attack media reports from nine years ago related to the shooting death of 12-year-old Palestinian Muhammad al-Dura will air on Channel 1 Wednesday night.

Dura was allegedly shot by Israeli soldiers at the Gaza Strip's Netzarim Junction in September 2000, during the first days of the second intifada, and the footage of his death has become a familiar image to hundreds of millions of Muslims worldwide.

Within months of the incident, however, challenges began surfacing regarding the veracity of the footage, which was broadcast worldwide by French news agency France 2. The claims have centered on discrepancies between the claims of Palestinian cameraman Talal Abu Rahma, and the footage itself, which some argue shows that Dura and his father Jamal could not have been shot from the IDF position at the Netzarim Junction.

The German documentary, titled The Child, the Death and the Truth, is the second by filmmaker Esther Schapira dealing with the Dura affair. Her previous film, the 2002 documentary Three Bullets and a Child, for the German channel ARD, purported to reveal serious discrepancies in the claims by Abu Rahma and France 2 Israel correspondent Charles Enderlin regarding IDF responsibility for Dura's death.

The debate has been the subject of lawsuits between France 2 and French media critic Phillipe Karsenty. Those are still ongoing, with a France 2 appeal to the French Cour de Cassation, the country's highest appeals court.

The film will air at 9:45 p.m. on Mabat Sheni, Channel 1's investigative program.

 

Fatah strijders kopen liever wapens dan eten voor hun kinderen?

 
Wapens zijn natuurlijk belangrijker dan voldoende voedsel voor de kinderen. Als van Israelische soldaten of van kolonisten bekend zou worden dat zij hun kinderen voedsel onthouden om wapens te kopen zou dat de media wel halen, en zagen we weer hopen verontwaardigde artikelen en reacties van Israel bashers op internet, maar nu is het stil. Men vind het blijkbaar niet van belang dat de Palestijnse kinderen van deze strijders geen eten krijgen. Als het voor de strijd tegen Israel is, is blijkbaar alles geoorloofd, en is het welzijn en van een Palestijn niet zoveel waard.
 
RP
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PMW Bulletin - Dec. 9, 2009
 
Fatah fighters buying guns
instead of food for kids,

preparing for war with Israel

by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook

Members of Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades are arming themselves for war against Israel by buying guns instead of food for their kids and by selling their wives' jewelry, according to the official Fatah website.

The website says that the Brigades, the so-called "military wing" of Fatah, are preparing a "harsh and painful" response to any Israeli attacks on Gaza. According to one of the heads of the Brigades, the fighters have to buy their own weapons to replace weapons confiscated by Hamas.
 
Following is the transcript of the item from the Fatah web site:
 
"With the renewal of the threats emanating from the Zionist military establishment to carry out a new attack on the Gaza Strip... the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades... warned of a harsh and painful response that the occupation state is not expecting. This response was conveyed by one of the heads of the Brigades in the Gaza Strip, Abu Ahed...
 
"Abu Ahed also declared that the Brigades' activity in Gaza should be viewed as a personal endeavor, since many of the Brigades' Jihad (Islamic War) fighters purchase weapons rather than food for their children, and many of them have even sold their wives' gold [jewelry] in order to obtain weapons, since the Hamas forces have confiscated the Brigades' members' weapons."
[Official Fatah web site, www.Fateh.org, Dec. 9, 2009]
 

 
Palestinian Media Watch
p:+972 2 625 4140     e: pmw@palwatch.org
f: +972 2 624 2803       w: www.palwatch.org
PMW | King George 59 | Jerusalem | Israel

Hamas bereidt zich voor op volgende confrontatie met Israel

 
Hamas has also increased its use of civilian infrastructure, particularly mosques, which the terror group already used quite extensively for storage and launching rockets during the operation. Hamas is believed to have taken control of almost 80 percent of the mosques in Gaza, using them to store weapons and set up command-and-control centers.
 
Het gebruik van burgerlijke infrastructuur - en dus het moedwillig in gevaar brengen van de eigen bevolking - is waarschijnlijk een oorlogsmisdaad, en druist sowieso in tegen het internationale recht. Maar Hamas weet dondersgoed dat de VN, mensenrechtenorganisaties en internationale onderzoekscommissies dit door de vingers zullen zien en alle aandacht op (vermeende) Israelische schendingen zullen richten, en de eigen bevolking kan toch niet weg en heeft ook niks te kiezen, dus daar hoeft het ook niet bang voor te zijn. Ondertussen roepen steeds meer mensen steeds harder dat Hamas gematigd en pragmatisch is geworden en er best mee te praten valt, alsof een leugen maar vaak genoeg herhalen hem tot waarheid maakt.
 
RP
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The Jerusalem Post
Dec 10, 2009 1:18 | Updated Dec 10, 2009 9:29
Hamas preparing 'offensive' tunnels
By YAAKOV KATZ
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1260181035814&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


Israel is likely to face advanced Iranian weaponry, long-range rockets, large missile silos and dozens of kilometers of underground tunnels connecting open fields with urban centers in the event of a future conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, according to the latest Israeli assessments.

Since Operation Cast Lead ended almost a year ago, Hamas has increased its weapons smuggling and today operates hundreds of tunnels along the Philadelphi Corridor. It has smuggled in dozens of long-range Iranian-made rockets that can reach Tel Aviv as well as advanced anti-aircraft missiles and anti-tank missiles.

Hamas is believed to have a significant number of shoulder-launched anti-tank missiles and 9M113 Konkurs, which have a range of four kilometers and are capable of penetrating heavy armor.

In addition, Hamas is believed to have today a few thousand rockets, including several hundred with a range of 40 kilometers and several dozen with a range of between 60 and 80 km. Intelligence assessments are that Hamas smuggled the missiles into the Gaza Strip through tunnels, possibly in several components.

Iran already supplies Hamas with 122mm Katyusha rockets that are smuggled into Gaza in several pieces and then assembled by Hamas engineers.

One of the main lessons Hamas learned from Cast Lead was the need to reinforce its defenses and as a result has invested efforts in digging additional tunnels, which connect open fields with homes belonging to key operatives as well as command centers.

The idea is to enable freedom of movement for the operatives between different battlefields, which it found difficult during Israel's ground offensive in Gaza earlier this year.

Hamas has also increased its use of civilian infrastructure, particularly mosques, which the terror group already used quite extensively for storage and launching rockets during the operation. Hamas is believed to have taken control of almost 80 percent of the mosques in Gaza, using them to store weapons and set up command-and-control centers.

Hamas, is "padding" itself as well by setting up its command centers in large apartment buildings. This way, it believes, the IDF will not attack them by air, and will need to send ground forces deep into the population centers, where it will lose its technological advantage.

In addition, Hamas is hoping to increase the effectiveness of its rocket capability during a future conflict and has created large missile silos.

Hamas has also recently increased its efforts to dig what the IDF calls "offensive tunnels" close to the border with Israel, which the terror group could use to infiltrate into Israel and kidnap soldiers.

These tunnels are believed to be of strategic value for Hamas, which would only use them for large-scale attacks and high-value targets.

donderdag 10 december 2009

Een moslim uit Koeweit vindt zijn Joodse wortels

 
Een moslim met grootouders uit Jeruzalem en de Westoever, komt via zijn Joodse grootmoeder uit bij het jodendom. Dat kan in Canada, maar in de Arabische wereld is zo'n overstap erg gevaarlijk. Mark Halawa is zich gaan vereenzelvigen met het jodendom en het Joodse volk. Er zijn schijnbaar veel mensen met gemengde voorouders in de regio, en het zou mooi zijn als zij een brug zouden kunnen vormen in het conflict.

The other issue that needs urgent attention is intermarriage in Israel. Unfortunately, a story like my grandmother's is not so rare. Many young Jewish women are wooed by Arab men and brought back to live in their villages. The children and grandchildren are never told the truth, especially with political tensions and the emotional unrest this would cause a family. As a result, many Jews are lost to our people. My mother has five sisters, and from there I have a few dozen cousins who are all Jewish -- all living as Muslims in the Middle East. I recently met a seventh-generation Israeli, whose cousin married a Palestinian and went to live in Saudi Arabia; her descendents are Jews living in Saudi Arabia.

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"Arab Jew:" A Muslim Arab discovers... He is Jewish!
 
A story that is not really incredible, because there are many many Jews like this man, and many more whose identity is buried centuries back. These are the real "Arab Jews." (A.I.)
 
===================
 
by Mark Halawa

Growing up in Kuwait, I had the best of everything. My father owned a successful construction company, and provided us five children with amenities like piano lessons, swimming, calligraphy and trips all over the world. Although we were Muslims like everyone else, we were totally secular and my father always aimed to shield us from religious people whom he described as crazies.

I grew up being told that Israelis and Jews were the lowest type of creature in existence, put on Earth only to kill us Arabs. In math class the teacher would say, "If one rocket killed X number of Jews, how many would six rockets kill?"

My father was rabidly anti-Israel. He was a product of Nasser's school of thought: secular from a Muslim point of view, yet deeply dedicated to the idea of pan-Arab unity. Israel, he believed, was an American proxy in the post-colonial Middle East.

My father was a supporter of the PLO since the 1960s when Yasser Arafat (who founded the PLO while living in Kuwait) was raising money from wealthy Palestinians working in Gulf States. As an engineer, my father participated in a program where the engineering association in Kuwait would deduct money from his monthly salary to be sent directly to the PLO. He insisted that war and resistance was the only way to deal with Israel.

In the summer of 1990, when I was 12 years old, our lives changed completely. We were on vacation when Saddam Hussein invaded and annexed Kuwait. My father's business -- along with much of the country -- was ravaged. Our savings became worthless pieces of paper. We could not go back to Kuwait, so we immigrated to Canada. My father did manage to sneak back in for a few days to retrieve important business documents that would later be useful in recovering compensation from a United Nations fund.

Praying in the Dark

Of my family, I'm the only one who stayed in Canada. My father never really adjusted to life in the New World, and he had good business contacts back in Jordan, so my parents returned there. All my siblings also moved back to the Middle East. One brother runs a successful company in Jordan, two brothers are studying in Egypt (one dentistry and the other business), and my sister lives in Dubai where she works in the banking industry.

One evening in 2003, I was studying at the university library in London, Ontario, when I happened to notice an older man. From his chassidic garb, he looked like a religious Jew. My curiosity was aroused, so I approached him and asked, "Are you Jewish?"

With a gentle smile on his face, he said, "No, but I like to dress this way." I didn't know whether he was joking or not. All the religious people I had come across in the past were pretty scary. Are Jews supposed to be funny?

His name was Dr. Yitzhak Block, a retired professor of philosophy. We exchanged a few words and then he asked about my background. My family history is pretty complex, and I get a headache every time I have to explain it all. So I simply told him that I'm an Arab from Kuwait, and mentioned that my grandmother from my mother's side is Jewish.

My mother's parents met in Jerusalem when my grandfather, an Arab from the West Bank, was serving in the Jordanian army fighting the Zionists. He was 18 years old and my grandmother was 16. Her father ran a school in Jerusalem -- the same school where she would jump off the wall to meet my handsome, uniformed grandfather. They fell in love, got married, and lived for a number of years in Shechem (Nablus).

After my grandfather was discharged from the Jordanian army, the family moved to Kuwait, where oil profits were fueling huge business and construction projects. That's where my mother met my father and got married.

Knowing about my grandmother's Jewish background always made me curious about Jews. Whenever we were on vacation in Amman, Jordan, I used to constantly watch the Israeli channel -- when my parents weren't around. My favorite was the Israeli national anthem, and I would stay up late waiting to hear them play it at the end of the TV transmission.

Standing there in the university library, this religious Jew, Dr. Block, looked at me and said, "In Muslim law, you're considered Muslim, since the religion goes by the father. But according to Jewish law, you're Jewish, since Jewish identity is transmitted by the mother."

My head started to spin and memories of my childhood in Kuwait began to surface. I recalled how my grandmother had a funny name on her documents, Mizrachi, which I never heard before. She also had a small prayer book with Hebrew letters, and she prayed in the dark crying. (I thought the Wailing Wall was so named because crying was a part of prayer.)

Aside from a vague family legend, my grandmother never mentioned anything about being Jewish -- but now the pieces were fitting into place. I thanked Dr. Block for the conversation, and ran home to tell my roommate what I heard. He smiled and said, "So you're a Mus-Jew!" I was not amused.

I went to my room and called my mother. She rebuffed the story, saying, "Don't listen to people like that. We are Muslims and that's that."

I decided to call my grandmother myself and bring up the subject.

I beat around the bush a bit -- after all, she'd been denying it for the past 50 years -- and then finally blurted out, "Grandma, are you Jewish?"

She didn't answer the question directly, but she started crying and spoke about the years of Arab-Israeli conflict. She told me how her brother Zaki had been killed in Jerusalem before the rebirth of the State. To me that was sufficient confirmation of her Jewishness and I decided to leave it at that.

Over the next few months, I avoided the whole issue of Judaism, mainly for the sake of not upsetting my mother. Besides, I was just finishing university, and career was my main priority. I was content with telling myself that I belonged to a mixed-faith family.

Read the rest of the story here: My Muslim background left me unprepared for this shocking discovery

 

Egypte wil tunnelsmokkel Gaza tegengaan met muur in de grond


Egypte gaat een diepe muur bouwen langs de grens met Gaza om de smokkeltunnels tegen te gaan, een plan waar al jaren sprake van was.
 
Eerder vulde het land, volgens onderstaand artikel in Haaretz, de smokkeltunnels met gas, vaak als er nog mensen in de tunnels zaten. Vreemd dat we daar nooit over lazen in Nederlandse kranten. De muur komt langs de grens tussen Egypte en de Gazastrook en zal negen à tien kilometer lang worden, met stalen platen die 20 tot 30 meter in de grond worden geplaatst tegen de smokkeltunnels.
 
De anders zo alerte VN, de Organisatie van de Islamitische Conferentie, Amnesty International en Human Rights Watch hebben niet gereageerd op de muur en het gebruik van gas in smokkeltunnels, en ook Dries van Agt en andere antizionisten heb ik er nog niet over gehoord.
 
Het is natuurlijk hardstikke goed dat Egypte de wapensmokkel eindelijk lijkt te willen aanpakken, al is het de vraag in hoeverre dit zal werken. Veel tunnels liggen dieper dan 30 meter om detectie door Egypte of Israel te voorkomen, en de kans op instorten te verkleinen. Een van de problemen is dat lokale Bedoeinen aan Egyptische kant van de smokkel profiteren en bijna iedereen die in Egypte in dienst van de overheid werkt corrupt is vanwege de lage salarissen.
 
RP
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Egypt building iron wall on Gaza border to stop smuggling
By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent
Last update - 08:34 09/12/2009
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1133749.html

 
Egypt has begun the construction of a massive iron wall along its border with the Gaza Strip, in a bid to shut down smuggling tunnels into the territory. The wall will be nine to 10 kilometers long, and will go 20 to 30 meters into the ground, Egyptian sources said. It will be impossible to cut or melt.

The new plan is the latest move by Egypt to step up its counter-smuggling efforts. Although some progress had been made, the smuggling market in Gaza still flourishes.

Egyptian forces demolish tunnels or fill them with gas almost every week, often with people still inside them, and Palestinian casualties in the tunnels have been steadily rising.

Recently, Egypt examined several possibilities of blocking the tunnels, and joint American-Egyptian patrols have been seen in Rafah attempting to detect tunnels using underground sensors.

Construction of the wall has already begun. It will be made of enormous slates of steel, reaching deep into the ground. However, it is not expected to stem smuggling completely.

Several defense sources told Haaretz they believe that once captive soldier Gilad Shalit is released, Israel will have to re-examine the benefits of closing Gaza off. The closure has been undermined by the tunnel system, which provides not only munitions but food, cars, motorcycles, drugs, medicine and fuel, much more than what Israel allows into the Strip through the official border crossing.

The tunnels also allow people to cross in and out of the Strip, including terrorists who linked up with pro-Al-Qaida groups in Gaza and tried to carry out attacks in Egypt, defense sources said.

The smuggling industry is so institutionalized that tunnel operators purchase licenses from the Rafah municipality, allowing them to connect to electricity and water. Hamas has also been ensuring no children are employed in the tunnels, and is taxing all smuggled goods.

The Egyptians often intercept munitions before they can enter the Strip and have stepped up checks at internal roadblocks and checkpoints in the Sinai. Observers say mounting American pressure is in part responsible for increasing Egyptian efforts to combat the smugglers.

Islamitische Jihad terrorist in Nablus opgepakt door IDF

 
De IDF doet nog geregeld invallen in o.a. Nablus, waar een Palestijnse terrorist van Islamitische Jihad zich 7 jaar kon schuilhouden.
 
____________
 
IDF Spokesperson
8 December 2009
Wanted Islamic Jihad Operative Arrested Last Night in Nablus

 
Last night, in a joint Israel Defense Forces and Israel Security Agency (ISA) operation, Zalach Mahmad Zalach Buchari, a wanted Islamic Jihad operative was arrested in Nablus.

Buchri, born in 1973, was a wanted suspect for the past seven years due to his involvement in the Islamic Jihad terror organization.

The suspect was an active Islamic Jihad operative responsible for planning a suicide bombing in the Tel Aviv central bus station in January 2002. In this terror attack 28 civilians were wounded, three of them were critically injured and one of them suffered mild injuries.

In 2003, Buchari recruited another suicide bomber to carry out an attack within Israel which was thwarted by security forces at the last minute.

Bucahri was also involved in activities against Israel Defense Forces soldiers. In 2002 he attempted to carry out a car bombing and to detonate large explosives against IDF soldiers.

Between 2002-2003, Buchari planned to abduct Israeli soldiers and to construct an explosives-manufacturing lab inside Israeli territory.

Seven years ago, Zalach Mahmad Zalach Buchari went into hiding in Nablus for fear of being arrested. Last night he was arrested in his apartment and transferred to the custody of the ISA.

Hamas: onthoofd vrouwelijke etalagepoppen

 
zaterdag 5 december 2009
Hamas: onthoofd vrouwelijke etalagepoppen
http://www.israned.com/2009/12/hamas-onthoofd-vrouwelijke.html#more
 
 
De tijd is misschien niet ver dat Meulenbelt haar 'Sisters in Arms' in Gaza alleen nog in een burka kan bezoeken, schreef Harrie Verbon onlangs in een discussie op de Joop - het verbaasde hem dat 'links' een dergelijk regime zo kritiekloos steunt.
 
Maar een burka is nog een best case scenario voor Meulenbelt: winkeliers in Gaza moeten nu al de koppen van vrouwelijke etalagepoppen afhalen, signaleert het kritische Israelische dagblad Ha'aretz, dat goede contacten heeft met Palestijnen.

Hamas heeft in de Gazastrook de concurrerende Fatah-beweging vrijwel uitgeroeid, maar de concurrentiestrijd met extremitische moslimbewegingen wordt steeds heviger.

Hamas organiseert religieklasjes in regeringskantoren en bevoordeelt de sharia-rechtbanken boven de burgerlijke, meldt Haaretz. Op scholen en universiteiten zijn religieuze studies uitgebreid en door de hele strook opereren 'Islamitische verzoeningscomitee's', die bemiddelen in geschillen tussen gezinnen en individuen. Steeds meer markten en winkels sluiten op vrijdag en op het strand zijn aparte secties voor mannen en vrouwen. De Hamasregering verbiedt 'onzedige' kleding op scholen en propageert het invoeren van uniformen.

In het parlement, waar alle kamerleden lid zijn van Hamas, wordt gesproken over sharia-achtige straffen zoals het afhakken van handen bij diefstal.

Het Hamas ministerie van religie heeft overal in Gaza posters opgehangen die erop aandringen dat vrouwen zich zedig kleden in een hijab of lanbge jurken. Winkeliers moeten vrouwelijke etalagepoppen zedig aankleden en, als gezegd, de hoofden eraf halen.
 
 

woensdag 9 december 2009

Palestijn aangehouden met 6 bommen bij Bethlehem


Een goed idee van Israned om de verijdelde aanslagen en gevonden explosieven eens te gaan bijhouden. Je hoort er inderdaad zelden over, en zo lijkt het alsof de checkpoints en het hek er alleen maar staan om de Palestijnen te pesten. Dat er levens door worden gered ontgaat de meeste mensen.
 
Ook worden er door Hamas en Hezbollah geregeld verkenningen bij de grens uitgevoerd of explosieven neergelegd. Als Israel daartegen optreedt en er vallen doden bij, komt dat in het nieuws als 'Israelische agressie' terwijl de aanleiding vaak wordt vergeten. Als Israel niet zo alert zou zijn zouden er al veel meer soldaten ontvoerd zijn en aanslagen gepleegd.
 
RP
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maandag 7 december 2009
Palestijn aangehouden met 6 bommen bij Bethlehem
 
 
Het is bekend dat er veel meer verijdelde aanslagen zijn dan gelukte. Over die verijdelde aanslagen hoor je zelden: laten we het eens gaan bijhouden.
Zondag arresteerde de IDF bij Bethlehem een Palestijn die zes bommen bij zich had. De bommen wogen elk een kilo en zaten verstopt in brandblussers, rapporteerde de Israelische legerradio.
Voor wie het gemist had: meer over bommen leest u hier. Stand vanaf vorige week: 9 bommen onderschept op de Westbank, 1 onderweg vanuit Gaza, en een compleet arsenaal bij Rafah.
Zondag arresteerde het Libanese leger een vier man sterke terreurcel met een grote hoeveelheid explosieven bij Majdal Anjar in de Libanon Vallei. Zij wilden een aanslag gaan plegen op Unifilsldaten, rapporteerde de Hezbollah-zender  al-Manar.

Zonder bommen: de Hezbollah-agent Mehdi Kanso, die deelnam aan de ontvoering van de soldaten Eldad Regev en Ehud Goldwasser, heeft waarschijnlijk de Israelisch-Libanese grens verkend ter voorbereiding van een aanslag. Eldad Regev en Ehud Goldwasser werden ontvoerd op 12 juli 2006. Op 16 juli 2008 werden hun lichamen na twee jaar onzekerheid aan Israel teruggegeven in ruil voor het vrijlaten van gevangenen.

Zondag rapporteerde het Israelische tv-kanaal 2 dat Kanso een paar weken geleden bij de grens rondreed met professionele foto-apparatuur, in een Land Rover die leek op het model dat in 2002 is gebruikt om de soldaten Benny Avraham, Adi Avitan en Omar Sueid te ontvoeren. Unifil-troepen hadden Kanso met zijn apparatuur tot het grensgebied toegelaten nadat hij ze wijsmaakte dat hij een verslaggever was van Hizbollah's tv-station Al-Manar.

Kanso wordt in Israel gezocht voor het plannen van de ontvoering van Regev en Goldwasser en het transporteren van de ontvoerde soldaten van Israel naar Libanon.
 

dinsdag 8 december 2009

Vredesproces Midden-Oosten is geen IKEA meubel uit Zweden

 
De EU moet zijn oproep om te onderhandelen natuurlijk in de eerste plaats aan de Palestijnen richten, die maar blijven weigeren om weer met Israel om de tafel te gaan zitten. Vreemd genoeg reppen de ministers daarover met geen woord, maar hebben zij het wel over 'provocaties' in Oost-Jeruzalem:
 
The draft released Tuesday said the ministers are "deeply concerned about the situation in East Jerusalem" and urged both sides to avoid what it called "provocative actions."
 
Met 'provocatieve acties' bedoelt men waarschijnlijk zware misdaden als het bouwen van een paar huizen over de Groene Lijn, of het doen van opgravingen van bijzondere artefacten die de Joodse aanwezigheid in Oost-Jeruzalem in vroeger tijden aantonen, iets dat de Palestijnen pertinent ontkennen en waar ze dus niet zo blij mee zijn.
 
RP
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Last update - 18:41 08/12/2009       
Israeli officials to Sweden: Middle East peace is not IKEA furniture
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1133635.html
 
 
Foreign Ministry officials responded with harsh criticism on Tuesday to a call by European Union ministers for negotiations over the status of Jerusalem, saying that Sweden, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, had failed.
 
Last week, Sweden presented a draft document supporting the division of Jerusalem and the recognition of East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
 
"The peace process in the Middle East is not like IKEA furniture," one official said, making a reference to the do-it-yourself Swedish furniture chain. "It takes more than a screw and a hammer, it takes a true understanding of the constraints and sensitivities of both sides, and in that Sweden failed miserably."
 
The Foreign Ministry said that Tuesday's EU statement was substantially softer than Sweden's initial draft, once again demonstrating Sweden's failure as the rotating president of the union. "Sweden has done nothing over recent months to advance the Middle East peace process," the Foreign Ministry officials said. "The EU's only saving grace is that some of its members are responsible and moderate nations that didn't support the Swedish draft, which looked like something taken out of the Fatah platform at the Bethlehem conference."
 
The senior officials added that a group of nations had "saved the European Union from itself, since any other decision would have dealt severe harm to the relations between Jerusalem and Brussels, and would have prevented the EU from becoming an important partner in the peace process."
 
Earlier Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry issued an official response to the EU statement, saying that the "European Union ignores the primary obstacle to achieving a resolution between Israel and the Palestinians: the Palestinian refusal to return to the negotiating table."
 
"Given the Israeli government's efforts to renew the negotiations, Israel regrets that the EU has chosen to adopt a text that, although containing nothing new, does not contribute to the renewal of negotiations," the statement continued.
 
"In light of the extreme draft originally presented by the Swedish presidency at the start of discussions, Israel does welcome the fact that at the end of the process the voices of the responsible and reasonable EU states prevailed, balancing and improving the text. We also welcome the recognition given to the measures and efforts taken by Israel to enable the resumption of negotiations," it went on to say.
 
"We expect the EU to act to promote direct negotiations between the parties, while considering Israel's security needs and understanding that Israel's Jewish character must be preserved in any future agreement," concluded the statement.
 
Meanwhile, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat also issued a statement, saying that he "completely rejects the decision of the EU to support the division of Jerusalem," calling it a real danger for the future of Jerusalem and predicting that such a division would never work. Barkat noted that the recent celebration of the 20th anniversary of the reunification of Berlin reminds us that "no divided city in the history of the world has functioned properly."
 
 

EU wil Jeruzalem als hoofdstad van Israel en van Palestijnse staat


Oké, dit is iets beter dan het voorstel van Zweden, dat zich niet onderscheidde van Palestijnse propaganda. Als men vindt dat er onderhandeld moet worden, kun je natuurlijk niet al vantevoren bepalen wat de uitkomst daarvan moet zijn:

"The EU will not recognize any changes to the pre-1967 borders, including with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties".

Het gebrek aan elementaire kennis bij sommige ministers is verbluffend:

"I don't really understand why Israel does not accept that Palestine consists of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem," Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn told journalists. "The Israelis have a right to live in Israel, the Palestinians have a right to live in Palestine."

Misschien, beste Jean Asselborn, omdat Israel meent ook rechten in Oost-Jeruzalem te hebben, waar de oude Joodse wijk ligt, de Klaagmuur, de oude Joodse begraafplaats op de Olijfberg, het oude ziekenhuis en tientallen synagoges. Bent u er weleens geweest, beste Jean Asselborn? Heeft u weleens iets gelezen over de geschiedenis van de oude stad, een museum bezocht, met oudere Joden gepraat die u bijvoorbeeld konden vertellen dat zij tussen 1948 en 1967 niet naar de Klaagmuur mochten, ondanks de afspraken hierover in het wapenstilstandsverdrag met Jordanië? Of telt voor u alleen wat de Palestijnen erover zeggen, die iedere Joodse binding met de stad ontkennen, en beweren dat de Joden in 1967 voor het eerst in Oost-Jeruzalem kwamen? Kunt u misschien iets minder met uw domheid te koop lopen?

RP
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Last update - 21:16 08/12/2009
EU foreign ministers: Jerusalem must be joint capital of Israel, Palestinian state
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent, and Reuters
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1133616.html


European Union foreign ministers on Tuesday called for negotiations over the status of Jerusalem, saying a way should be found to make it the capital of two nations, Israel and a future Palestinian state.

Sweden, which currently holds the European Union presidency, presented a draft document last week supporting the division of Jerusalem and the recognition of East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

Click here for the EU draft document on the division of Jerusalem.

"If there is to be a genuine peace, a way must be found through negotiations to resolve the status of Jerusalem as the future capital of two states," EU foreign ministers agreed in a statement released on Tuesday, diplomats said.

The status of Jerusalem - a city holy to three religions - is a sensitive issue for Israel, which considers the city to be its indivisible capital. Palestinians want the eastern part of Jerusalem to serve as the capital of a Palestinian state.

Israel has strongly objected to the Swedish draft resolution that does not recognize Israel's claims to the eastern part of the city. Israel's Foreign Ministry warned the move would damage the EU's ability to be a Mideast mediator.

"The EU will not recognize any changes to the pre-1967 borders, including with regard to Jerusalem," said the EU ministerial draft. It referred to the Six-Day War in which Israel captured east Jerusalem from the Jordanian army.

The document also called for the establishment of a Palestinian state comprising the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem. "If there is to be [peace] a way has to be found to resolve the status of Jerusalem as the capital of two states," it said.

The competing claims to East Jerusalem remain the most intractable issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Last week, Israel sternly warned the EU against adopting new language that endorses East Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state.

The draft released Tuesday said the ministers are "deeply concerned about the situation in East Jerusalem" and urged both sides to avoid what it called "provocative actions."

Most EU ministers appeared supportive of the latest draft, although some said the declaration should not antagonize either party in the dispute at the risk of undermining efforts to restart peace talks.

"I don't really understand why Israel does not accept that Palestine consists of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem," Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn told journalists. "The Israelis have a right to live in Israel, the Palestinians have a right to live in Palestine."

Finish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb said the EU must affirm its stand on the status of Jerusalem and insist that Israel must not resume settlement building.

"The EU has very strong principles and we have to stick to those principles," Stubb said. "I think the negotiations, the peace process must simply start and this is a way forward."

The EU foreign ministers also praised Israel's decision to a 10-month freeze in construction in West Bank settlements, calling it a "step in the right direction." They added, however, that a comprehensive settlement to the Arab-Israel conflict requires a regional approach.
 
 

Positief economisch nieuws van de Westelijke Jordaanoever


Omdat we meer van slecht nieuws dan van goed nieuws houden, vooral als het goede nieuws Israel in een positief daglicht stelt, is hier weinig aandacht voor. Mensen blijven liever praten over hoe slecht het gaat vanwege de vele Israelische checkpoints en dagelijkse vernederingen, ondanks het feit dat veel van die checkpoints zijn verwijderd.

RP
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It should be emphasized that removal of the checkpoints and roadblocks entails a calculated risk. For example, on July 9, 2009, an Israeli vehicle was shot at and the shooters exploited the opening of the checkpoint in Ramallah in order to escape from the city's security forces.

The economic situation in the Palestinian Authority and Israeli relief measures - periodic update
6 December 2009
 
Truck crossings between Israel and the West Bank: 2007-2008
1st half 2007:  80,968
2nd half 2007: 82,460
1st half 2008: 108,630
2nd half 2008: 189,101

Points for emphasis

·         Growth continues in the West Bank. Fayyad recently addressed the growth of 8% or more that is projected for 2009. In an interview with the New York Times on November 11, Quartet emissary Blair anticipated that the Palestinian economy might reach a double-digit growth rate in 2009.

·         The second cellular company in the West Bank, Wataniya, commenced operations at the beginning of November with 3.8 MHz and 40,000 subscribers. According to various publications, the company is expected to bring investments estimated at about $700 million into the West Bank, and to bring revenues of $354 million into the treasury of the Palestinian Authority, while providing thousands of jobs.

·         The Palestinian Authority has a budget deficit of $200 million because of missing donations for 2009 (after receiving a $200 million contribution from Saudi Arabia).

·         Israel continues to transfer collected tax monies to the Palestinian Authority on a regular basis. In November, the Minister of Finance signed approval to transfer the monies to the Palestinian Authority. NIS 330 million was transferred on November 29 (compared with NIS 293 that was transferred in October).

·         Projects:
-   Construction work on the central structure in the French project of the Bethlehem industrial zone commenced in the middle of November. The project is being built in Area A.
-   The USAID project to upgrade the Jalameh crossing (Gilboa) has been completed. It enables the passage of thousands of travelers and hundreds of vehicles each week. The project has enabled 3.3 times more Israeli Arabs to enter the West Bank cities, from 16,000 in September to 52,000 in November.
-   The cornerstone was laid on October 13 for the new Al Jinan neighborhood in Jenin, in which about 1000 housing units will be constructed.

·         Progress on the project to construct West Bank electricity substations: The European Investment Bank approved on November 17 a 250 million Euro loan to the Israel Electric Corp. to finance its investment plans and investments in the power grid as part of a regional project. Concomitantly, a financial agreement was attained between the Israel Electric Corp. and the Palestine Electric Company, with the European Bank acting as facilitator for the construction of four substations in the West Bank. The project will be implemented by the Israel Electric Corporation. The European Investment Bank will provide the loan package for construction of the power lines from Israel and for financing the construction of the stations themselves.

·         The Palestinians canceled their participation in the annual meeting organized by the Ministry of Defense to promote infrastructure projects (water, sewage and electricity) in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The meeting, which was to have been held on December 2 in Tel Aviv, with the participation of delegates from the international community who are involved in the projects, Palestinian representatives (head of the Water Authority and head of the Ministry of Energy), and Israeli representatives (from the Ministry of Defense, the Unit for the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories-COGAT, the IDF, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Water Authority, and the Israel Electric Corp.), was postponed.
 
 
----------------

Important statements:

Marc Otte, European Union emissary to the Middle East, to the working group for Middle East affairs in the European Parliament (November 24):
-         There has been an economic improvement in the West Bank, primarily due to removal of the checkpoints.
-         There is no shortage of equipment or cement for construction in Gaza, and Hamas is controlling the resources.
-         Hamas dismissed employees of the systems and appointed its own people, and that is the reason that there is no construction in Gaza.
-         The prevailing economy in Gaza is not an official economy but rather an economy of tunnels; there are no shortages in Gaza, but there is a problem of unemployment, primarily for civilians who are not close to Hamas and have no buying power.
-         The security fence has proven its effectiveness in the fight against terrorism.


--------------------------------------------
IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website:
www.imra.org.il



Hamas regering in Gaza hindert vertrek patienten voor behandeling

 
Wanneer besteden het journaal, de NRC, de Volkskrant etc. eens aandacht aan de Palestijnse reisrestricties? Op 7 december hebben grenswachten bij een Palestijns checkpoint bij Rafah 35 patienten teruggestuurd die naar ziekenhuizen op de Westoever of Israel wilden reizen voor behandeling. Deze mensen liggen nu in Gaza weg te kwijnen omdat zij de noodzakelijke behandelingen daar niet kunnen krijgen. Met dank aan Hamas dat ze niet wilde laten gaan omdat ze de juiste papieren misten. Waar blijft de verontwaardiging van de mensenrechtenactivisten en Palestina sympathisanten? En, terwijl (zogenaamde) Palestijnse patienten zich in Israel hebben geprobeerd op te blazen of explosieven probeerden te smokkelen, wat is voor Hamas het gevaar, mocht iemand om oneigenlijke redenen de grens over willen? Als Hamas zelf de grenzen gesloten houdt voor nota bene zieken, is het een beetje vreemd dat het Israel bekritiseert voor de 'blokkade' van Gaza.
 
RP
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PCHR - Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
Press Release


Ref: 123/2009
Date: 07 December 2009
Time: 12:00 GMT

Ministry of Interior's Decision, Palestinian Police Obstruct of Travel of Patients Receive Medical Treatment in Hospitals outside Gaza;
PCHR Calls on Gaza Government to Immediately Cancel Such Measures

 
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) condemns external travel restrictions imposed on the population of the Gaza Strip. These restrictions also apply to patients seeking medical treatment unavailable in the Gaza Strip.  PCHR calls upon the Government in Gaza to remove all travel restrictions imposed, in particular the obligation to obtain permission from the Ministry of Interior in Gaza; these obligations contradict the provisions of the Palestinian Basic Law and international standards related to the freedom of movement.

According to investigations conducted by PCHR, on Monday morning, 07 December 2009, the Palestinian police stationed at the Customs Checkpoint near Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing prevented 37 patients and their companions from heading towards the crossing to travel to hospitals in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and Israel.  The police claimed that these patients did not obtain exit permits from the Office of Traveling Registration in the Ministry of Interior.  According to a number of these patients, they were forced to travel back to the governmental complex to apply for permission, where they were forced to wait for more than three hours.  A number of these patients are scheduled for surgery in Palestinian or Israeli hospitals today, these measures have obstructed their travel to hospital, raising concerns regarding their health.

On 25 November 2009, the Ministry of Interior declared the opening of an office for the registration of travelers in Abu Khadra governmental complex in Gaza City.  The Ministry requested each individual in the Gaza Strip wishing to travel abroad to refer to that office to obtain permission three days prior to the time of travel.  The application form for such permission is divided into three sections: personal information; destination and purpose of travel and companions; and a pledge that needs signatures.  In additional, two personal photographs, photocopies of the identity card and the passport, photocopies of documents that explain the purpose of travel and a photocopy of the permit obtained from the other side (Israel) must be annexed to the application form.  The originals of all of those documents must be brought to the office to confirm they are true copies.

These restrictive measures are imposed as the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip suffer from the impacts of the total ban imposed by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on their travel outside the Gaza Strip since 25 June 2006, when IOF tightened the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip.  Under this closure regime, the majority of the Palestinian civilian population have been prevented from traveling outside the Gaza Strip through Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing, excluding a very limited number of patients and traders.  In addition, dozens of patients have been enduring the complications of obtaining permission to receive medical treatment in Palestinian and/or Israeli hospitals, and many of them have been prevented from traveling even though they have permits and others have had to wait for long hours and even days.  It is worth noting that the issuance of permits by IOF for patients is often declared late at night, and patients are instructed to travel to Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing on the following morning, which makes it impossible to meet the condition to obtain travel permission from the Ministry of Interior in Gaza.

PCHR follows up with utmost concern the restrictions and hindrances imposed by the Ministry of Interior, which limit the travel of the Gaza population abroad.  PCHR believes that such measures violate the right of each Palestinian to freedom of movement, including traveling outside the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) controlled areas; in particular, they violate Article 9 of the Palestinian Basic Law, which calls for equality before the judiciary and the law.  They also prejudice the right to freedom of movement and residence of the population, both their freedom to travel within their territory and from and back to their territory whenever they wish.  Additionally, such illegal measures violate international human rights standards, including Article 12 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which the PNA has declared its commitment to.  PCHR is concerned that such measures may lead to violations of Palestinian civilians' right to have maximum adequate physical and mental care.

PCHR strongly condemns the measures imposed by the Government in Gaza, which restrict the freedom of movement of the population of the Gaza Strip, and calls upon the Palestinian Government in the Gaza Strip to:

1)      Nullify the requirement to obtain permission for traveling from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank and/or abroad from the Office of Traveling Registration in the Ministry of Interior, as it constitutes a violation of their right to freedom of movement.
 
2)      Take all necessary measures to facilitate the travel of patients from the Gaza Strip, especially to Palestinian hospitals in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, or Israeli hospitals; all documents held by patients are official ones that are issued by the External Medical Treatment Department in accordance with accredited procedures that include signatures of specialized doctors, the Higher Committee for External Medical Treatment and the Service Purchase Department in the Ministry of Health.

Public Document
 
**************************************
For more information please call PCHR office in Gaza, Gaza Strip, on +972 8 2824776 - 2825893
PCHR, 29 Omer El Mukhtar St., El Remal, PO Box 1328 Gaza, Gaza Strip.
E-mail:
pchr@pchrgaza.org, Webpage http://www.pchrgaza.org
-----------------------------------
If you got this forwarded and you want to subscribe, send mail to
request@pchrgaza.org
and write "subscribe" in the subject line.

EU verklaring Jeruzalem tot dinsdag uitgesteld wegens onenigheid


Men kwam er maandag niet uit, en dus wordt dinsdag verder vergaderd, nu door de ministers van buitenlandse zaken. Ik vind het persoonlijk verbluffend dat een dergelijk idioot voorstel zoveel steun heeft. Ter informatie: het voorstel is dat de EU Oost-Jeruzalem als hoofdstad van een Palestijnse staat erkent zonder dat enige melding wordt gemaakt van de status van de oude stad of zelfs West-Jeruzalem en Joodse rechten aldaar. Ook ontbreekt iedere melding van legitieme Israelische veiligheidsbehoeften, of de vraag of men straks ook weer, net als onder het bestuur van Jordanië tot 1967, de toegang tot de Klaagmuur zal worden ontzegd? Joden hebben blijkbaar geen rechten in Jeruzalem, alleen Palestijnen.
Een ander punt is dat Israel wel wordt bekritiseerd op van alles, maar er niks positiefs instaat over bijvoorbeeld de bouwstop in de nederzettingen.

Israeli officials said that they had been told by those supporting the statement that it was needed to prod Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas back to the negotiating table.

Dat is een mooi staaltje van omkering. Dit voorstel sterkt de Palestijnen juist in hun besluit geen genoegen te nemen met de huidige Israelische bouwstop en te volharden in haar weigering de onderhandelingen te hervatten.
 
RP
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European FMs to decide on ME text

 
 
The 27 EU foreign ministers are scheduled to decide Tuesday on the final wording of a statement on the Middle East that may very well include European recognition of east Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

Efforts in Brussels on Monday to get a consensus on the text among the EU ambassadors failed, meaning the foreign ministers themselves will have to delve into the arguments over the text.

One Israeli official said it was very rare for a text this substantial to reach the foreign ministerial level without prior agreement.

The official said that Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt was working hard to pass the statement, extremely problematic from an Israeli point of view. He is being supported by British Foreign Secretary David Miliband. Other countries behind the proposal are Ireland and Portugal.

The countries that are working to amend the text and have it include more supportive statements toward Israel are Italy, Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic and Poland.

France and Germany, one official said, are somewhere in the middle, weary of the diplomatic battle that both Israel and the Palestinians have been waging across Europe over the last week.

And not only in Europe. Foreign Ministry director-general Yossi Gal was in Washington on Monday for high-level talks with US officials during which this issue, and the ramifications of the passage of the statement, was high on the agenda.

Israeli officials said that they had been told by those supporting the statement that it was needed to prod Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas back to the negotiating table.

Israel has waged an extensive diplomatic charge over the last week against the Swedish draft, one that included intervention by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and National Security Council head Uzi Arad.

Nevertheless, there was a degree of pessimism in Jerusalem Monday night about the likelihood of removing the clause calling for recognition of east Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

Israel is concerned that the draft statement, while it prejudges negotiations on Jerusalem, does not make sufficient mention of Israel's security needs, nor does it talk about the need for a future Palestinian state to be demilitarized, or for Israel to be a Jewish state.

 

Klare taal is juist naar de Palestijnen nodig (IMO)

 

Klare taal is juist naar de Palestijnen nodig

http://www.zionism-israel.com/blog/archives/00000410.html

IMO Blog, 2009

Op 23 november verscheen in Trouw een opiniestuk van oud-correspondent Eddo Rosenthal, onder de titel "Wachten op nieuwe Palestijnse volksopstand". Als reaktie schreef ik onderstaand artikel, dat men helaas niet heeft geplaatst.

Volgens Eddo Rosenthal dreigt een derde intifada als het Westen niet een eenzijdige Palestijnse onafhankelijkheidsverklaring steunt of Israël harder onder druk wordt gezet tot het doen van concessies. Hij stelt terecht dat de wereld beducht is voor de onrust die zo'n verklaring teweeg kan brengen en de hoop daarom is gevestigd op de hervatting van de vredesbesprekingen. Wat hij niet vermeldt is dat Abbas hardnekkig weigert aan hernieuwd vredesoverleg deel te nemen, ondanks de Israëlische bereidheid tot een gedeeltelijke bouwstop, die eind november officieel werd aangekondigd maar daarvoor al officieus bekend was. De Palestijnse reactie hierop was voorspelbaar: men wees Israëls handreiking af als volstrekt onvoldoende, zoals men talrijke eerdere vredesvoorstellen afwees als volstrekt onacceptabel. Nog in 2008 bood toenmalig premier Ehud Olmert Abbas 98% van de Westoever, deels via een landruil voor de nederzettingenblokken, en de Arabische wijken van Jeruzalem. Waarom moeten we de Palestijnen voor een dergelijke halsstarrigheid belonen met de aankondiging een onafhankelijkheidsverklaring hoe dan ook te zullen steunen?

Een dergelijke steun zou tenminste gepaard moeten gaan met enkele duidelijke voorwaarden: de Palestijnen moeten het zogenaamde 'recht op terugkeer' van de vluchtelingen en hun miljoenen nakomelingen opgeven, Israël als Joodse staat erkennen en bereid zijn voor Jeruzalem een regeling te accepteren op basis van het principe dat Arabische wijken naar de Palestijnse staat gaan, en Joodse naar Israël. Daarnaast moet een oplossing voor de heerschappij van Hamas op de Gazastrook worden gevonden. Komt de Palestijnse staat er voorlopig alleen op de Westoever? En wat dan als Hamas ook in Gaza de onafhankelijkheid uitroept? En hoe wordt voorkomen dat Hamas ook op de Westoever een coup kan plegen? Zonder de aanwezigheid van het Israëlische leger aldaar is die mogelijkheid zeker reëel.

President Abbas heeft zich overigens zelf duidelijk tegen een derde intifada uitgesproken, omdat dit absoluut niet in het belang is van de Palestijnen. Het gaat sinds enige jaren weer beter op de Westoever: onder andere vanwege de opheffing van honderden checkpoints en roadblocks door Israël is de bedrijvigheid toegenomen en schieten luxe winkelcentra als paddestoelen uit de grond, en er is een economische groei van 7%. De Palestijnse Autoriteit slaagt er steeds beter in de orde te handhaven in Palestijnse steden, waar het Israëlische leger zich nog maar zelden vertoont. Het is logisch dat de Palestijnen vanuit zo'n situatie niet terug willen naar de ellende van de tweede intifada, met continu straatverboden, invallen van het Israëlische leger, en Palestijnse gewapende groepen die om de macht strijden. Hoewel er natuurlijk nog veel moet gebeuren lijkt Rosenthals pessimisme misplaatst.

Volgens Rosenthal 'legt Obama Israël geen strobreed in de weg bij de nederzettingenbouw', en moet het Westen eindelijk eens duidelijk zijn naar Israël toe. Sinds Obama aan de macht is hoor ik hem, wat betreft het Midden-Oosten, echter zelden over iets anders dan de nederzettingen praten. Het voornoemde 'recht op terugkeer', haatspeeches door imams en Hamas activisten, verering van zelfmoordterroristen als nationale helden en antisemitisme in (ook door de Palestijnse Autoriteit gecontroleerde) media: ik heb hem er nauwelijks over gehoord. Waar klaagt Rosenthal toch over?

Obama's druk op Israël heeft vruchten afgeworpen, want sinds de nieuwe regering aan de macht is zijn geen nieuwe uitbreidingsplannen voor nederzettingen goedgekeurd, en nu is zelfs officieel een bouwstop afgekondigd. Ook heeft Netanjahoe zich onder deze druk begin juni voor een Palestijnse staat uitgesproken, al was het niet van harte. Ik wacht met smart totdat eenzelfde druk op de Palestijnen (en de Arabische wereld) wordt uitgeoefend om een gebaar naar Israël te maken.

Rosenthal vindt dat Israël ook niet meer in 'bezet Oost-Jeruzalem' mag bouwen. Daarmee miskent hij de legitieme Joodse aanspraken op delen van Oost-Jeruzalem, zoals hun heilige plaatsen (waaronder de Klaagmuur en de Joodse begraafplaats op de Olijfberg) en wijken waar voor 1948 al Joden woonden totdat zij er door het Jordaanse leger werden verdreven. Jeruzalem is bovendien nooit de hoofdstad van een Arabische staat geweest en wordt geen enkele keer genoemd in de Koran. Het is tegenwoordig bon-ton de Joodse en Arabische claims op Jeruzalem gelijk te stellen en de Groene Lijn als grens te beschouwen, maar Eddo Rosenthal zou beter moeten weten.

Het is heel modieus om alle schuld voor het vastgelopen vredesproces bij Israël te leggen, maar daarmee wordt de complexiteit van het conflict miskend, en de mechanismen waardoor extremisten en hardliners aan beide kanten een oplossing in de weg staan en elkaar in de kaart spelen.

Ratna Pelle

maandag 7 december 2009

Waarom zoveel controverse over Resolutie 242 van de Verenigde Naties?

 
Brabosh uit Antwerpen legt voor de vele slechte verstaanders nog eens uit wat VN-Veiligheidsraad resolutie 242 nu eigenlijk betekende.
Uit deze resolutie wordt veelvuldig selectief geshopt door de tegenstanders van Israel om het land te beschuldigen van het schenden van VN resoluties en 'dus' van het internationaal recht. Evenals overigens resolutie 194 van de Algemene Vergadering van de VN, die hoegenaamd een recht op terugkeer van de Palestijnse vluchtelingen zou inhouden.
 
Wouter
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Waarom zoveel controversie over Resolutie 242 van de Verenigde Naties?
Controversie over VN-Resolutie 242
door Brabosh

Sinds de goedkeuring door de VN-Veiligheidsraad op 22 november 1967, heeft Resolutie 242 de context geleverd voor inspanningen om te trachten vrede te bereiken tussen Arabieren en Israëli's. Het legde de basis voor het eerste vredesverdrag ooit dat tussen Israël en een Arabisch land werd getekend, met name met Egypte in 1979, en het latere vredesverdrag dat met Jordanië werd getekend in 1994. Dat jaar werd als gevolg van de Oslo-akkoorden de Palestijnse Nationale Autoriteit [P.A.] opgericht met Yasser Arafat als eerste president – een vorm van Palestijns zelfbestuur – afgesloten tussen Israël en de PLO (Palestijnse Bevrijdings Organisatie), die vanaf dan de Arabische bevolking in de Gazastrook en op de Westelijke Jordaanoever zal besturen. Na de dood van Arafat op 11 november 2004 werd hij opgevolgd door Mahmoud Abbas.

De Palestijnse Autoriteit beweert dat Israël de eisen heeft geschonden om zich terug te trekken uit alle gebieden die het tijdens de Zesdaagse Oorlog in 1967 bezette, zoals vereist werd in de VN-resolutie 242, terwijl Israël beweert te hebben voldaan aan deze eisen en op haar beurt de PA beschuldigt van het schenden van de bepalingen van de resolutie. De tegenstanders [van het bestaansrecht] van de Joodse staat van Israël blijven hameren op de uitvoering van Resolutie 242 door Israël. Er zijn weinig resoluties die zoveel controversie hebben teweeg gebracht als deze. Wat is dan de betekenis van resolutie 242?

Resolutie 242 van de Veiligheidsraad van de Verenigde Naties
22 november 1967

The Security Council,

Expressing its continuing concern with the grave situation in the Middle East,

Emphasizing the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war and the need to work for a just and lasting peace in which every State in the area can live in security,

Emphasizing further that all Member States in their acceptance of the Charter of the United Nations have undertaken a commitment to act in accordance with Article 2 of the Charter,

Affirms that the fulfillment of Charter principles requires the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East which should include the application of both the following principles:

Withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict;

Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgement of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force;

Affirms further the necessity

For guaranteeing freedom of navigation through international waterways in the area;

For achieving a just settlement of the refugee problem;

For guaranteeing the territorial inviolability and political independence of every State in the area, through measures including the establishment of demilitarized zones;

Requests the Secretary General to designate a Special Representative to proceed to the Middle East to establish and maintain contacts with the States concerned in order to promote agreement and assist efforts to achieve a peaceful and accepted settlement in accordance with the provisions and principles in this resolution;

Requests the Secretary-General to report to the Security Council on the progress of the efforts of the Special Representative as soon as possible.

De resolutie, die met algemene stemmen werd aangenomen door de VN-Veiligheidsraad op 22 november 1967, vormen de beginselen die de onderhandelingen moeten leiden naar 'een vreedzame oplossing en aanvaardbare regeling' (een Arabisch-Israëlisch vredesakkoord). Het vereist de instelling van 'een rechtvaardige en duurzame vrede in het Midden-Oosten' en riep op tot het volgende: 1) De 'terugtrekking van de Israëlische strijdkrachten uit de gebieden die het bezette in het recente conflict (1967),' en 2) de 'stopzetting van alle vorderingen van de oorlogvoerende staten' en de erkenning dat 'elke staat in het gebied het recht heeft om in vrede te leven binnen veilige en erkende grenzen, vrij van bedreigingen of daden van geweld:' Het uiteindelijke taalgebruik van de resolutie was het resultaat van de onderhandelingen tussen de twee partijen, zodat ze later niet verschillend zou worden geïnterpreteerd door elke betrokken partij.

Lees hier verder: Waarom zoveel controversie over Resolutie 242 van de Verenigde Naties?

JNF doneert bomen aan Palestijnen - kolonisten 'flabbergasted'

 
We berichtten al eerder over de 3.000 bomen die het Joods Nationaal Fonds aan de Palestijnse Autoriteit geeft voor haar nieuwe stad Ruwabi (ook wel Rawabi genoemd), een opmerkelijke geste die desalniettemin onze media niet lijkt te halen. Rechtse Israeli's vonden het ook zeer opmerkelijk, en vroegen zich hardop af of het JNF soms stiekem het PNF was geworden...
 
Wouter
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JNF Donates 3,000 Trees to Palestinian Authority
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Published: 11/30/09, 9:16 AM / Last Update: 11/30/09, 9:28 AM

 
A member of the board of the Jewish National Fund said "the system has gone haywire" after hearing reports that the venerable Zionist organization is donating 3,000 trees to the Palestinian Authority for a new city near Ramallah.

Maaleh Adumim Mayor Benny Kashriel, who also is a member of the JNF board, told Arutz 7 Monday morning he will bring up the issue with the JNF, which is considered a symbol of Zionism, particularly in the Diaspora where Jews have donated billions of dollars for planting trees and building the modern Jewish State.

Kashriel said the contribution to the PA is a grave step that was taken without any request for approval and without advance notice and reflects a "system that has gone haywire."

The mayor of Maaleh Adumim, which along with the rest of Judea and Samaria has been slapped with a freeze on new construction with the threat of arrest for breaking the ban, said, "The country has gone crazy when it plants trees for the PA in Judea and Samaria at the same time that it forbids Jews to build. The system does not know who it is representing – us, the Palestinian Authority or the Americans?"

Concerning the government's building freeze policy, Mayor Kashriel said he is "ashamed" of the government's move, which he said are more drastic than those taken during the years of negotiations under the Oslo Accords that blew up into the Second Intifada, also known as the Oslo War, nine years ago.

"As chairman of the local Likud faction, I am ashamed seven times over," he said. "Even during Oslo we did not receive letters that remove our authority and turn us into criminals." He also echoed sentiments of other leaders in Judea and Samaria to continue building despite the orders to halt new construction.

Kashriel said regional leaders will appeal to the High Court to overturn the building freeze, which he said violates the rights of residents of Judea and Samaria. He also has proposed that regional leaders stage a strike opposite the offices of Prime Minister Netanyahu.