Here are the headlines from Mondoweiss for 12/05/2010:
- Odious NGO Monitor smears Electronic Intifada, tries to cut funding
- First BDS victory in Japan: MUJI cancels plan to open Israeli store
- Jeffrey Goldberg doesn't work for 'The Forward' any more– and that's appropriate
- The American Jewish belief in the endurance of anti-Semitism is at the core of the problem
- Meet Moshe Soprano
- Engel and Ros-Lehtinen are quick to try to stifle Palestinian state
- To Gaza with humble apologies
- State Dep't reporters continue to be rambunctious about Israel announcing 625 new houses for Jews
- Would this work? You get to keep all your letters, and it still sounds like a Jewish state–
Odious NGO Monitor smears Electronic Intifada, tries to cut funding
Dec 04, 2010 06:45 pm | Cecilie SuraskyNGO Monitor was captured perfectly in The Forward by liberal jewish thinker Leonard Fine who said it was "an organization that believes that the best way to defend Israel is to condemn anyone who criticizes it." But now, no longer satisfied with its McCarthyite efforts to not just condemn, but actually take down respected human rights organizations, it is seeking to stop critical funding of the Electronic Intifada, a key media source for information and analysis about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Electronic Intifada (EI) is a pioneering online news outlet that has been an essential resource for activists, scholars and journalists since its inception in 2002. Its coverage is unapologetically sympathetic to the Palestinian struggle for human rights, grounded in an understanding of international law and universal human rights. Years before the current proliferation of blogs and alternate news sources, EI was there first, providing a much needed antidote to one-sided mainstream news coverage of Israel and Palestine. And they continue to provide original reporting and news and analysis you still can't get anywhere else.
Which perhaps is why NGO Monitor has made the preposterous claim that EI is "an anti-Semitic website," stunningly based on the fact that one staffer is a supporter of the BDS movement and executive director, Ali Abunimah, in his non EI-related speaking engagements, "calls for a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and routinely uses false apartheid rhetoric." Really? This is what they've got? (They'd have to start throwing a lot of Jewish Israeli government officials into the anti-Semite dungeon if invoking 'apartheid" is officially verboten… and Abunimah's one state is different in substance but certainly similar in form to an increasing number of Israeli right-wingers who also push for a "one state solution". And then there's the entirely reasonable observation that we seem to already have a de-facto one state after 43 some years of occupation.. but I digress)
Yet another of thousands of such a ridiculous claims would be laughable if NGO Monitor didn't have a card up its sleeve–EI gets about one third of its funding from a Dutch government-funded aid organization. According to the Jerusalem Post, NGO Monitor's unsubstantiated charges
"prompted Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal to say on Thursday to the Post, "I will look into the matter personally. If it appears that the government subsidized NGO ICCO does fund Electronic Intifada, it will have a serious problem with me."
As EI has documented in this must-read report, NGO Monitor has very close ties to the far-right. They use the language of NGO (non-governmental organization) transparency to go after funding of Israeli and other human rights groups and funders (including the New Israel Fund and Amnesty International) while remaining completely silent on Israel's funding-dependent and law-breaking settler groups.
NGO Monitor is an extreme right-wing group with close ties to the Israeli government, military, West Bank settlers, a man convicted of misleading the US Congress, and to notoriously Islamophobic individuals and organizations in the United States….
NGO Monitor's attack on The Electronic Intifada is part of a well-financed, Israeli-government endorsed effort to silence reporting about and criticism of Israel by attacking so-called "delegitimizers" — those who speak about well-documented human rights abuses, support boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS), or promote full equality for Palestinians. Last February, The Electronic Intifada reported that a leading Israeli think-tank had recommended a campaign of "sabotage" against Israel's critics as a matter of state policy ("Israel's new strategy: "sabotage" and "attack" the global justice movement," 16 February 2010).
NGO Monitor has already been at the forefront of a campaign to crush internal dissent by Jewish groups in Israel that want to see Israel's human rights record improved.
The Jerusalem-based organization poses as a project concerned with accountability for nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), but as Israeli human rights activist and journalist Didi Remez has stated, "NGO Monitor is not an objective watchdog: It is a partisan operation that suppresses its perceived ideological adversaries through the sophisticated use of McCarthyite techniques — blacklisting, guilt by association and selective filtering of facts" ("Bring on the transparency," Haaretz, 26 November 2009).
There is good news here- thus far EI reports that no action has been taken thus far to end their funding. Presumably anyone who does so would have to actually substantiate NGO Monitor's spurious charges. Good luck with that.
This post first appeared on Jewish Voice for Peace's blog Muzzlewatch.
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First BDS victory in Japan: MUJI cancels plan to open Israeli store
Dec 04, 2010 04:16 pm | KateAnd other news from Today in Palestine:
Land, property and resource theft and destruction / Ethnic cleansing / Settlers
Clashes re-ignite in East Jerusalem neighborhood
3 Dec - Clashes broke out after a brief period of calm in the Al-Isawiya neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem on Friday afternoon. Clashes centered on the western side of the neighborhood, when a march of peace activists and villagers passed through the area protesting the continued closure of roads leading to the residential zone ... Israeli forces manning the checkpoints blocking off road access to the area fired tear-gas canisters and rubber-coated bullets into the crowd of protesters.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=338549
Knesset members demand annexation of Ariel settlement
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC) 4 Dec -- A group of Israeli parliament members including ministers and heads of committees signed a memorandum calling on premier Benjamin Netanyahu to annex the settlement of Ariel in the West Bank. Israel Today published on Thursday said that the 35 signatories urged Netanyahu and his government to impose Israeli sovereignty on the ever growing settlement and not to deal with it as a settlement in occupied land. "The project aims at silencing all voices that call for boycotting the settlement's educational and cultural activities and trying to doubt its legitimacy and the legitimacy of the presence of Jews in this area", the memo read.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7NnuWzdX8PHzpKxe1%2bSFCKEUWGNec9UlTiQCLNBs2sWoHlCSU7yDH0%2b1VYs74Of0SSxIqMuXpqBz0KvIQFQ3LMlj8wp36q8B9V8U88DJAiaE%3d
Twilight Zone: Of fences and neighbors / Gideon Levy
The ongoing saga of a Jordan Valley moshav and the barrier it is trying to erect on lands abutting - and encroaching on - the encampment of 170 beleaguered Palestinians.
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/twilight-zone-of-fences-and-neighbors-1.328585
Uprooting the Bedouins of Israel / Neve Gordon
2 Dec - Despite the fact that it was the seventh demolition since last July, this time the destruction of the Bedouin village Al-Arakib in the Israeli Negev was different. The difference is not because the homeless residents have to deal this time with the harsh desert winter; nor in the fact that the bulldozers began razing the homes just minutes before the forty children left for school, thus engraving another violent scene in their memory. Rather, the demolition was different because this time Christian evangelists from the United States and England were involved.
http://www.thenation.com/article/156822/uprooting-Bedouins-israel
Urban planning forcing Arabs from Israeli cities
According to a report carried out by Bimkom - Planners for Planning Rights, an Israeli organisation, 40% of Jaffa's 20,000 Arabs live in 'Absentee Ownership' (AO) homes, houses that Arabs were forced to flee when Jaffa was ethnically cleansed in 1948. The Israel Land Administration (ILA), which owns 90% of land in Israel and is responsible for the management of public land, has contracted Amidar, a state-run housing company, to manage the AO homes. "Amidar wants to evict these people in order to profit from the lucrative real estate potential", Jaffa resident Louis Williams told us. "Three years ago, roughly one quarter of the Arab community, comprising 497 homes, were issued with eviction or demolition notices".
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1638
Violence
Israeli fire injures 3 in north, central Gaza Strip
4 Dec - Two separate incidents of reported Israeli fire injured three Gaza residents on Saturday morning, including two workers collecting aggregates in the northern Strip and a third bystander near his home in the central region ... The workers in the north, he said, both sustained gunshot wounds to the left leg while they were collecting stone aggregates near the Erez crossing. The injuries brought to 90 the number of workers injured by Israeli fire along the borders since March.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=338694
Activism / Solidarity / Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions
Book tracks last days of photographer Tom
2 Dec - The last weeks of Tufnell Park photographer Tom Hurndall, who was shot dead by an Israeli Defence Force soldier, are the basis of a new book, launched on the eve of what would have been the student's 29th birthday. Tom was shot in the head by the sniper in April 2003 as he took pictures and worked as a volunteer for the International Solidarity Movement. He never regained consciousness and died nine months later. His dad Anthony, who along with Tom's mother Jocelyn unveiled the book, The Only House Left Standing – The Journals of Tom Hurndall, at the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce in Mayfair on Friday
http://www.camdennewjournal.com/news/2010/dec/book-tracks-last-days-photographer-tom
IWW supports Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions movement in support of Palestinian rights
3 Dec - The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or Wobblies) has officially voted to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement in support of Palestinian rights. The "Resolution in Support of the Workers of Palestine/Israel" was adopted in an overwhelming vote both at the IWW's convention in Minneapolis and by the membership via referendum. This vote makes the IWW the first union in the US and the third union in Canada to officially support the Palestinian United Call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions.
http://www.tadamon.ca/post/8435
#BDS: The first BDS victory in Japan: MUJI declared cancellation of Israeli shop plan
3 Dec - RYOUHIN KEIKAKU Co. Ltd. decided to cancel the plan to have a shop in Israel, which we announced in our news release in April 12, 2010. We decided the cancellation of the plan because of economical reason as a result of the concrete research which had been done after the news release. In the past seven months after the announcement of the plan, MUJI had been getting strong pressures from grassroots civil society in Japan and other countries including Korea.
http://youthanormalization.blogspot.com/2010/12/bds-first-bds-victory-in-japan-muji.html
#BDS: No to JNF's pinkwashing of Israeli apartheid
1 Dec - As lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and straight activists and scholars, we condemn the Jewish National Fund's launch of a new LGBT committee in New York City on December 9, 2010, for what it is: an attempt to "pinkwash" the JNF's central role in acquiring Palestinian land on which to build the Israeli apartheid state. Most immediately, this campaign is designed to cover up the ugly fact that Palestinians, with few exceptions, are effectively barred from living on 93 % of land in 1948 Palestine ("Israel").
http://youthanormalization.blogspot.com/2010/12/bds-no-to-jnfs-pinkwashing-of-israeli.html
#BDS: Polish activists force Israeli general onto the defensive
1 Dec - Today the Polish Solidarity Campaign with Palestine (Kampania Palestyna) and the Polish Stop the War Initiative protested the invitation of General Eitan Dangot, Israel's Military Co-ordinator of Government Activities in the (occupied) Territories to present at the Polish Institute of International Affairs ...Major General Dangot's lecture was shut down to the public by the Institute in response to Kampania Palestyna and Stop the War's protest.
http://youthanormalization.blogspot.com/2010/12/bds-polish-activists-force-israeli.html
Yvette Cooper calls for Israeli settler labelling on food imports
4 Dec - Cooper, who spoke after her first visit to the Middle East as shadow foreign secretary, wants the EU to follow the example of supermarkets which identify goods produced in the occupied West Bank. Labour is opposed to boycotting Israeli goods but Cooper believes consumers should be informed whether products are produced by illegal settlers.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/dec/04/yvette-cooper-israeli-settler-labelling-imports
Boycott roundup: French companies to drop out of Jerusalem rail project
3 Dec - In a significant victory for the global Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, French companies Veolia and Alstom have dropped out of the Jerusalem light rail project due to sustained pressure from Palestine solidarity groups. The companies were contracted by the Israeli government to construct and manage the tramway linking Jerusalem to several illegal Israeli settlement colonies in the occupied West Bank.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11658.shtml
Why we walked out / Ahmad Hasan and Danielle Baeck
3 Dec - Students across the US are protesting a public relations campaign that brings soldiers from the Israeli army to speak on campuses. These tours are an attempt to justify recent war crimes committed by the army and are coordinated by various organizations, the most well-known being the Zionist organization StandWithUs. Our protests have drawn attention to the massive Israeli human rights abuses in the occupied Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The protests started on 20 October 2010, when two Israeli army soldiers visited the University of Michigan campus.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11657.shtml
34 ships to carry aid to Gaza next April
4 Dec - GAZA (PIC), -- The international campaign for solidarity with the Palestinian people is preparing to send 34 ships loaded with humanitarian relief material to the Gaza Strip by next April, Mariam Zakut, the director general of culture and thought society, said. She added that the vessels would also carry Arab and foreign solidarity activists from various world continents. Zakut, who was participating in the international week for solidarity with the Palestinian people in France, said that the fleet targets forcing Israel to recognize the Palestinian people's rights and end its siege of Gaza.
http://www.ikhwanweb.com/article.php?id=27415
Gaza and the will to change the world / Tim King
2 Dec - Announcing Ken O'Keefe's upcoming mission to free Gaza that is certain to bring about change, one way or another.
http://salem-news.com/articles/december022010/gaza-bus-tk.php
Students to finance aid flotilla to Palestine
2 Dec - After three hours of debate, University of British Columbia students will be funding an aid flotilla to Gaza after all. UBC`s students`union, the Alma Mater Society (AMS), had frozen $700 that student group Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) was to donate to an aid flotilla to Gaza.
http://oncampus.macleans.ca/education/2010/12/02/students-to-finance-aid-flotilla-to-palestine/comment-page-1/
Anti
Students' Gaza aid checked for terror ties
3 Dec - Like many student governments in Canada, the University of British Columbia's Alma Mater Society is preoccupied with a bitter controversy over the Mideast conflict. But it stepped into a league of its own on Thursday when it launched an investigation of possible terrorist links in a proposed Canadian aid boat to Gaza. The decision follows a hotly disputed student council vote Wednesday night to approve, by 26-10, a donation of $700 of student money to a charity organizing the Canadian Boat for Gaza,
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/Students+Gaza+checked+terror+ties/3920683/story.html
Gaza-bound aid team stopped at Attari border
Attari (Punjab), Dec 4 (IANS) A group of 34 Indians on a humanitarian visit to Gaza as part of an Asian outreach initiative were stopped here by Indian authorities Saturday despite having valid visas, organisers said. The organisers said the ministry of external affairs had not responded to their request for permission to cross over to Pakistan even though it was sought a month back. 'We are deeply disappointed at the decision of the Indian government and it may just end up sending a wrong message about the Indian commitment to the Palestinian people,' said Ashim Roy, one of the team members.
http://sify.com/news/gaza-bound-aid-team-stopped-at-attari-border-news-national-kmesOndjiif.html
Siege / Rights violations / Restriction on movement
As Palestinians 'commute' to work / Kessel & Klochendler
BETHLEHEM CHECKPOINT, Occupied West Bank, Dec 4, 2010 (IPS) - It's 5am. The late autumn dawn is about to break. But for 3,500 Palestinian workers, a hard day's work began hours ago. Young and old men push and shove their way out through the narrow lane, barely a metre wide, bars of iron rising above them on either side. Over their heads sits a corrugated steel roof. Some try to sneak into the lane through a gap in the roof. "Being in jail is easier!" cries out one man angrily. He's a builder from Hebron. "Donkeys are made to stand like this! Even cattle are not hemmed in like this." ... The Palestinians grasp the bars, not just for fear of being trampled, but to keep their place in line. "I've got to be at work at seven, not at eight or ten! When I'm late, my Israeli boss tells me, 'You can go home, I don't need you'." This is the Israeli occupation writ small, the nitty-gritty battles to survive the Occupation in a single lane.
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=53772
Gaza facing wheat crisis
3 Dec - The head of Gaza's bakeries' association said Friday that the Strip is facing a crisis due to wheat shortages. Abdul Nasser Al-Ajramy said Israel has decreased the amount of wheat it allows into Gaza, leaving mills in the Strip empty.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=338547
UN agency says situation in Gaza is still extremely bleak due to blockade
3 Dec - The situation in Gaza is still extremely bleak, according to the UN agency responsible for Palestinian refugees. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has said that Gaza's 1.5 million people, almost half of them children, remain trapped due to the imposition of the "illegal, inhumane and counter-productive blockade" on the territory. Despite being "encouraged by positive developments - the shops are full of consumer goods, for example... the plight of the people is still desperate", said John Ging, UNRWA's Director of Operations in Gaza. "Eighty percent of the population is aid dependent," he said, so cannot afford to buy what is in the shops."
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/1804-un-agency-says-situation-in-gaza-is-still-qextremely-bleakq-due-to-blockade
War crimes
OIC medical delegation carries out plastic surgery on wounded Gazans
A delegation of doctors has arrived in Gaza and started the first phase of medical support which includes reconstructive ("plastic") surgery for people wounded during the Israeli war on the territory ... Two specialists oversaw pre-operative checks on more than 120 patients awaiting reconstructive surgery in Al Salama Association's clinics across the Gaza Strip. Jordanian specialist Dr. Mohamed El-Abady said that he was shocked at the severity of the cases he had seen. "Over the years that I have worked in this field, I have never seen cases as serious as these," he said. It was reported that the Israeli Army used internationally banned phosphorous and chemical weapons in the 3-week war it waged on Gaza in 2008/9. The result was injuries and deformities which doctors have not witnessed before.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/1803-oic-medical-delegation-carries-out-plastic-surgery-on-wounded-gazans
Professor Richard Falk on universal jurisdiction
...The issue of universal jurisdiction is of special interest at this time because of the apparent effort to give assurances to Israeli leaders that they won't be subject to a legal process if they come here (to the UK); and that of course is in reaction to the problems that the former Foreign Minister [Tzipi] Livni had when she cancelled her trip [to the UK last year]. I think it is important to realise that the whole idea of universal jurisdiction is to take account of the weakness of international institutions in upholding international criminal law ... It seems to me that if a country such as Britain, which has a proud constitutional tradition, reserves the implementation of international criminal law just for those the government doesn't like at the time - in other words if international criminal law is used for prosecuting Saddam Hussein or Slobodan Milosevic but not the friends of the government - then you discredit, in a fundamental way, the rule of law which really does depend on equals being treated equally.
http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/articles/europe/1808-professor-richard-falk-on-universal-jurisdiction
Detainees
Hamas: PA continues to detain affiliates
3 Dec - Hamas accused PA forces of arresting five of its members in the West Bank, a statement issued by regional leaders said on Friday. Those detained were from Nablus, Jenin, Tulkarem and Salfit, the statement said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=338448
Political / Diplomatic news
Abbas hints at PA dissolution over settlements
4 Dec - RAMALLAH -- President Mahmoud Abbas threatened Friday to end autonomy in the Palestinian territories if Israel insists on going ahead with settlement construction on lands that would be a Palestinian state ... The comment came two days after PA officials told AFP that American mediators engaged in bilateral talks with Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams had announced their inability to secure a promise to freeze settlement construction from Israel. Abbas himself has been threatening to resign from the Palestinian Authority since before 2009, when his term was extended by a PLO mandate, beyond its four-year elected term.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=338612
Hizb Ut-Tahrir says Hamas giving up principles
3 Dec - Hizb Ut-Tahrir (Liberation Party) issued a statement following a rare news conference held by Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza on Wednesday. The party said Hamas was heading toward the same track as Fatah and the Palestinian Authority, turning from armed struggle to negotiations with Israel, and ceding most of Palestine. Haniyeh said Wednesday that Hamas would accept the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=338483
Brazil explains recognition of Palestine
3 Dec - In a move that took Washington by surprise, Brazil has recognized the state of Palestine along the 1967 borders before Israel's seizure of the West Bank, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry said in a notice posted to its website Friday
http://www.politico.com/blogs/laurarozen/1210/Brazil_explains_recognition_of_Palestine_.html?showall
Engel and Ros-Lehtinen are quick to try to stifle Palestinian state / Philip Weiss
This is amusing/concerning/the same old story. The Brazilians decide they're sick of the neverending peace process that only results in Palestinian dispossession, and let's recognize a Palestinian state, and who jumps in with four feet? The Israel lobby. Two congresspeople. Note that Eliot Engel is sanctifying a UN resolution that is now 43 years and has produced little but suffering for the Palestinians:
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/12/engel-and-ros-lehtinen-are-quick-to-try-to-stifle-palestinian-state.html
US lawmakers blast Brazil's Palestinian move (AFP)
4 Dec - US lawmakers [that is, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee] condemned Brazil's "severely misguided" and "regrettable" decision Friday to recognize a Palestinian state on borders pre-dating Israel's seizure of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967 ... Brazil's decision also drew fire from Democratic Representative Eliot Engel,
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=338640
Israel 'saddened' as Brazil recognizes Palestinian state (AFP)
4 Dec - JERUSALEM -- Israel on Saturday said it was disappointed by Brazil's decision to recognize a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, saying it flew in the face of efforts to negotiate a peace deal.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=338760
Sarkozy receives credentials of first PA ambassador
4 Dec - French president Nikolas Sarkozy received credentials for the first Palestinian ambassador to France Hayil Al-Fahoum on Friday, following an upgrade to the status of the Palestinian mission in Paris in June.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=338615
Turkey: Israel aid no sign of improved ties
4 Dec - Turkey downplays fire aid: Israel must still apologize for flotilla raid, Erdogan says
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3993952,00.html
Haifa wildfire
As fires continue to consume more areas in Haifa, extremists torch Islamic graveyard
The Al Aqsa Foundation told the Maan News Agency that a group of Jewish extremists torched the Al Qassam Graveyard in Haifa under the guise of the ongoing fires that started Thursday in the area and continues to spread.
http://www.imemc.org/article/60086
Palestinian firefighters join efforts to control blaze (AFP)
NABLUS 3 Dec -- Palestinian firefighters are aiding efforts to control a forest fire which has spread across northern Israel, Palestinian civil defense officials said ... Brigadier General Ahmad Ar-Riziq told Ma'an that Palestinian firefighters were able to help control the fire which has spread to Palestinian villages At-Tayba and Barta'a west of Jenin.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=338524
Abbas sends firefighters to extinguish blaze in Israel
4 Dec - Palestinian civil defense forces have joined the huge international operation to tame the massive blaze ravaging northern Israel, the president's office said on Saturday. "The three units of the Palestinian civil defense were sent to assist in extinguishing the fires in the Carmel," said a statement from the office of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/12/04/128475.html
Police arrest two brothers suspected of starting Carmel wildfire
4 Dec - Police forces arrested Saturday two brothers from the Druze village of Isfiya who are suspected of being responsible for the act of negligence which started the massive fire that was still raging in the Carmel in northern Israel ... Earlier Saturday, Police Commissioner David Cohen already said that the fire was caused by negligence, and not arson
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/police-arrest-two-brothers-suspected-of-starting-carmel-wildfire-1.328805
Carmel fire approaches Usfiya
4 Dec - Wildfire that killed 41 people continues to rage, approaches outskirts of northern Druze town; residents instructed to evacuate homes
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3994063,00.html
Other news
PA closes station linked to Dahlan
4 Dec - NABLUS -- The Palestinian Authority has closed the offices of a Ramallah satellite TV station affiliated with Muhammad Dahlan, the once Fatah strongman who fled his native Gaza for the West Bank in 2007. PA police raided the offices of Falastin Al-Ghad ("Palestine Tomorrow") and informed employees that it was closing.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=338711
Erekat claims Israel uses Christmas to deepen the separation of the Holy Land
3 Dec - With regard to a pre-Christians reception that the Israeli government has organized in East Jerusalem on December 6, Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erakat denounced on Thursday that "the Israel Ministry of Tourism has hijacked Christmas for political purposes."
http://www.imemc.org/article/60081
1,000 children send Christmas message from Bethlehem
3 Dec - A thousand children from across the West Bank gathered in Bethlehem on Friday to send a Christmas message to children around the world ... Speaking at the event, [Tourism Minister Khouloud] Deibes said she wished children in Gaza could have participated in the Christmas celebrations. Two children delivered a Christmas message in Arabic and English, and said they hoped Bethlehem and Palestine would one day be open without checkpoints or walls.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=338571
Analysis / Opinion
WikiLeaks shocker: Did Abbas know in advance about the devastating blitz on his countrymen in Gaza? / Stuart Littlewood
...you have to wonder why, if the story's true, the Israelis felt comfortable discussing with the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority what would happen after their tanks and aircraft had pulverized the Gaza part of Palestine and shredded and vaporized its women and children. A genuine leader knowing about plans for such a mega-crime would surely have sounded the alert and raised merry hell at the UN for preventive action.
http://www.intifada-palestine.com/2010/12/wikileaks-shocker-did-abbas-know-in-advance-about-the-devastating-blitz-on-his-countrymen-in-gaza/
Q&A: Why only 51 percent of Israelis support equal rights for Arab minority
4 Dec ...Why is their status increasingly urgent? Higher birthrates and rising demands for Arab autonomy challenge Israel's ability to be both Jewish and democratic. Professor Smooha's study found that 48% of Arab citizens are unhappy with their lives in Israel, compared with 35% in 2003. While nearly two-thirds believed in 2003 that Israel's democracy empowered them as well as Jews, last year only half agreed with the idea. Voting turnout dropped to 53% in 2009 from 75% in 1999.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2010/1204/Q-A-Why-only-51-percent-of-Israelis-support-equal-rights-for-Arab-minority
For Israeli Arab teens, a way to serve the country without joining the army
4 Dec - Six years ago, Rabah Rizik quit his banking career to help reverse decades of public neglect toward Israel's 20 percent Arab minority. His new job? Helping to implement a pioneering civil service program akin to AmeriCorps in the United States. The initiative gave Arab high school graduates -- who are exempt from the draft faced by Jewish 18-year-olds -- the opportunity to contribute to their state, just as most of their Jewish counterparts do through military service ... But in some respects, the state program has been lose-lose: Dozens of Arab opponents demonstrated outside Rizik's home in April, calling him a traitor and an Israeli collaborator. And this year, he couldn't get enough funding for new volunteer spots, undermining the program's credibility among hundreds of prospective participants who were turned away.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2010/1204/For-Israeli-Arab-teens-a-way-to-serve-the-country-without-joining-the-army
Odious NGO Monitor smears Electronic Intifada, tries to cut funding / Cecilie Surasky
3 Dec - NGO Monitor was captured perfectly in The Forward by liberal jewish thinker Leonard Fine who said it was "an organization that believes that the best way to defend Israel is to condemn anyone who criticizes it." But now, no longer satisfied with its McCarthyite efforts to not just condemn, but actually take down respected human rights organizations, it is seeking to stop critical funding of the Electronic Intifada, a key media source for information and analysis about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. [See report about this on the EI itself, posted here Wednesday]
http://www.muzzlewatch.com/2010/12/03/odious-ngo-monitor-smears-electronic-intifada-tries-to-cut-funding/
Lebanon at stake / Ramzy Baroud
4 Dec - The timing of the Turkish Prime Minister's two-day visit to Lebanon could not be more judicious. Lebanon's enemies have been banging the drums of war louder than ever before. All the malevolent plans hatched following the assassination of Lebanon's former Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri are about to converge for one formidable goal: to destabilize and weaken Lebanon, disarm Hezbollah and allow Israel to return, uncontested, and wreck havoc on the tiny country, the way it remorselessly did in 1982.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=338165
Swiss army knives as a danger to Arab regimes / As`ad AbuKhalil
This [Washington Post article] must be the dumbest analysis there is. Look at this passage: "Arab angst about Iran's nuclear ambitions has been exposed, perhaps giving the United States greater leverage in international talks scheduled for next week." Arab angst about Iran's nuclear ambitions? Are you kidding me? Do you really think that Iran nuclear efforts are not wildly popular throughout the Arab and Muslim world-without distinction between Sunnis and Shi`ites? ... You think if Iran is bombed, the Arab public will stand with those who bomb Iran? Really? You think that Israel arsenal of WMDs are popular among Arabs/Muslims and are not seen as a matter of grave concern?
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2010/12/swiss-army-knives-as-danger-to-arab.html
Al-Akhbar in the New York Times / As`ad Abukhalil
"Al Akhbar, a Lebanese newspaper that supports the Shiite militant and political group Hezbollah, has been posting documents from eight Arab countries..." I should not get defensive about this: I should expect only ignorance and errors in the New York Times whenever any aspect of the Middle East is brought up. But the distortion--I strongly believe--is deliberate. This Al-Akhbar newspaper is a leftist newspaper founded by the leftist Joseph Samahah and led by the leftists Khalid Saghieh and Ibrahim Amin (the latter is a long time communist since his youth). Its main publisher is a secular businessperson who resides in London (Hasan Khalil). I have been to the paper numerous times and know many of the reporters and editors and I can honestly say that I know of no Hizbullah member and supporter there.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2010/12/al-akhbar-in-new-york-times.html
Lebanon
Army: Israel detonates 'spy' devices in Lebanon (AFP)
3 Dec - TYRE, Lebanon -- The Israeli army on Friday detonated two of its espionage devices in southern Lebanon, slightly injuring two passers-by, a Lebanese army spokesman said. "Around noon today, the Israeli enemy detonated two spying apparatuses by remote control in Wadi Qaysiyya outside of Majdal Selem" near the southern coastal city of Tyre, the spokesman told AFP.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=338565
Lebanon complains to UN about Israeli 'spy' devices (AFP)
BEIRUT 4 Dec -- Lebanon on Saturday filed a complaint with the United Nations over "spying" devices planted by Israel on its territory which it said the Israeli army later detonated.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=338814
Lebanon defense minister denies WikiLeaks cable content (AFP)
3 Dec -- BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr denied on Friday allegations in a diplomatic cable revealed by the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks that he gave advice to Israel in 2008 on how to get rid of Hezbollah, an aide said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=338523
Lebanon's international theatre of war / Alexander Henley
The UN tribunal on the assassination of Rafik Hariri pits world leaders in direct conflict over the legitimacy of Hezbollah
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/03/lebanon-rafik-hariri-tribunal
A legal guide to being a Lebanese woman, Part 1 / Maya Mikdashi
For the past four years I have been researching the histories and the applications of the Lebanese legal system ... I am often shocked by how much I have learned over these past four years. Many of my previously held assumptions on the legal system, the state, and my place in it as a Lebanese citizen, have been challenged. One of the lessons I have learned is that the previous sentence should have been written as such; "I have learned much about my legal position as a Lebanese Female Sunnite citizen." Such specificity is vital because Lebanese citizenship is constituted through these two registers of recognition; the sexed and the sectarian.
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/376/a-legal-guide-to-being-a-lebanese-woman-part-1
Iraq, other Mideast
Friday: 1 Iraqi killed, 4 wounded
At least one Iraqi was killed and four more were wounded in the latest attacks. The deadliest event, however, occurred in Hilla where two buses carrying Iranian pilgrims accidentally crashed into each other, leaving 24 dead and over 50 wounded.
http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2010/12/03/friday-1-iraqi-killed-4-wounded-2/
Baghdad bombs hit Iranian Shia pilgrims
Five Iranians were killed by two bombs near a house used by pilgrims near an important Shia shrine in the city's Kadhimiya district, police said. In the northern Shula district, a car bomb struck a coach of pilgrims, killing two people. Another car bomb elsewhere killed six people. Correspondents say overall, attacks are down in Baghdad in recent weeks. Police officials said more than 100 people were injured in the string of bombings.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11918441
Iran will 'never use' force against Muslim neighbors
MANAMA (Agencies) Iran will never use force against its Muslim neighbors, its foreign minister told a conference on Middle East security on Saturday, after the United States said Arab states were worried by Tehran's suspected attempts to acquire nuclear weapons. Iran's Manouchehr Mottaki said: "We have never used our force against our neighbors and never will because our neighbors are Muslims." [there never was an Iran-Iraq war, apparently]
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/12/04/128421.html
WikiLeaks memo reveals Egypt's Nile fears over Sudan
3 Dec - A leaked US embassy cable has revealed Egypt's fears about the possibility of its neighbour Sudan breaking into two. In the cable, written last year, a foreign ministry official urged the US to help postpone a referendum on independence for Southern Sudan.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11913940
Qatar is more boring than backward / Brian Whitaker
Many myths have done the rounds since Qatar was declared World Cup 2022 host – for a start, alcohol isn't illegal
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/03/qatar-myths-world-cup-2022
U.S. and other world news
Obama assures Netanyahu forest fire assistance top US priority
4 Dec - U.S. is sending a team of expert firefighters and supplies to Israel to help the country contain the worst forest fire in its history.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/obama-assures-netanyahu-forest-fire-assistance-top-u-s-priority-1.328733
Israel wildfire: How it stacks up with five other devastating blazes
Israeli officials are racing to contain wildfires that began in northern Israel on Thursday morning, prompting the evacuation of 17,000 and a rare request for international assistance. But while these fires are devastating for Israel -- as of Friday they've killed at least 42 people and burned an estimated 8,600 acres in the tiny country -- they are far smaller than other major forest fires around the globe.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-Issues/2010/1203/Israel-wildfire-How-it-stacks-up-with-five-other-devastating-blazes/Russia
Blair's bodyguards 'bought a rocket launcher on expenses to protect him in Gaza'
4 Dec - Tony Blair's police bodyguards are being investigated over extraordinary claims they bought a device for launching rockets or grenades to protect the former prime minister.Watchdog officials want to know why the officers took it upon themselves to purchase the weapon, apparently on expenses, for a trip to Gaza. It is alleged they were not permitted to buy such a device ... In a separate development, a probe has been launched by the IPCC into claims a member of Mr Blair's protection team broke rules by accompanying him to Israel and Gaza. The Mail has learned the officer was forbidden from making such visits because his partner has worked for the Israeli security services.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1335570/Blairs-bodyguards-bought-rocket-launcher-expenses-protect-Gaza.html
US 'cannot rely on cluster bomb deal' with Britain
2 Dec - A former foreign office minister has said the US should not rely on any apparent secret deal to store banned cluster munitions on British territory. Chris Bryant was responding to a leak on the WikiLeaks website suggesting the US could be exempted from the ban.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11897980
US university yanks Helen Thomas diversity award (AP)
4 Dec - Wayne State University says it'll no longer offer the Helen Thomas Spirit of Diversity Award, citing recent comments made by the longtime journalist. In a statement Friday, the Detroit school says it "encourages free speech and open dialogue," but strongly condemns what it says are "anti-Semitic remarks" made by Thomas on Thursday.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3994044,00.html
Media Matters, the watchdog group that loves to hate Fox News
2 Dec - Fighting Fox is what Media Matters does, relentlessly and obsessively. In the six years since its founding, the watchdog group has evolved from an all-purpose scourge of the conservative media into Fox News Channel's veritable shadow and constant irritant. From well before sunrise to long after it each day, teams of young researchers sift through video clips and transcripts of programs hosted by Fox stars such as Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly to find dubious facts, logical contradictions and poisonous - at least to Media Matters' liberal sensibilities - rhetoric.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/02/AR2010120205779.html?hpid=topnews
US Registrar yanks WikiLeaks domain / Jason Ditz
3 Dec - Registrar EveryDNS.net ousts WikiLeaks, citing DDoS attacks -- As of 11:00 PM EST Friday December 3, the following Domains/IPs resolve to WikiLeaks. Your mileage may vary, try other URLs or IPs if the first doesn't work.
http://news.antiwar.com/2010/12/03/wikileaks-registrar-problems-leave-site-difficult-to-reach/
PayPal cuts WikiLeaks from money flow (AP)
BERLIN 4 Dec - The online payment service provider PayPal has cut off the account used by WikiLeaks to collect donations, serving another blow to the organization just as it was struggling to keep its website accessible after an American company stopped directing traffic to it.
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/12/04-0
US agencies warn unauthorized employees not to look at WikiLeaks
4 Dec - The White House Office of Management and Budget sent a memo Friday afternoon forbidding unauthorized federal government employees and contractors from accessing classified documents publicly available on WikiLeaks and other websites using computers or devices like BlackBerrys and smart phones.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/12/03/wikileaks.access.warning/
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Jeffrey Goldberg doesn't work for 'The Forward' any more– and that's appropriate
Dec 04, 2010 01:03 pm | Scott McConnellA foreign journalist asked me what was with the Atlantic Monthly and Jeffrey Goldberg: why did a magazine which was a classic voice of the Eastern seaboard elite have a full time blogger on staff whose writing was devoted almost entirely to Israel? (including inside-baseball issues about giving money to the Jewish National Fund). It would be understandable if the Forward or JTA had him, but aren't Atlantic readers mostly interested in other things than Israel and Palestine?
It's a question that can be answered at great length. But the short version is that the Eastern establishment readership of my correspondent's image exists no longer. There is an Eastern establishment, certainly, grouped around the Ivy League and Wall Street. But to the extent it has an ethnic core at all, (and it far more ethnically diverse than sixty years ago) it is Jewish. And very interested in Israel. Jeffrey Goldberg represents it quite adequately.
And what of the old establishment? No, they weren't guillotined, or even dispossessed. They are doing fine, thank you very much. Their children, for the most part, own sporting goods stores in the hipper towns of the Mountain West. But do they read intellectual magazines, take an intense interest in foreign policy, feel a sense of stewardship for America and its place in the world?
Not so much.
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The American Jewish belief in the endurance of anti-Semitism is at the core of the problem
Dec 04, 2010 11:31 am | Philip WeissOften I've wondered what perversity of character I must retain into middle age to want to talk openly about Jewish numbers in the Establishment. For instance, the fact that Jews from Mike Bloomberg to David Steiner to Shael Polakow-Suransky are all over the schools chancellor decision in New York, or that Robert Siegel and Guy Raz on All Things Considered were my Jewish hosts last night, or that Andrea Williams and Jamie Rubin and Chuck Schumer and Richard Cohen and so many other Establishment figures (i.e., people who don't like Assange) are Jewish, etc. I often think I must not have worked out my power issues with my mother, or that I must be embittered by my own failures on the greasy pole... etc.
And then this week I realized that it's no personal failure of mine, it's actually a vital part of the discussion, and here's why.
The other night my wife and I saw an old Jewish friend.
Since returning from Jerusalem in September, my wife has become somewhat religious in her orientation (she calls herself a post-God Christian, which I will explain some other time) and also very pro-Palestinian. She'd never looked into the Middle East issue before, and now she's completely on my side-- and by the way, my wife is unscriptable. The other night my wife said, "You are seeing Jim Crow before your eyes. Our friend, he's from a very good Palestinian family, well, first they kicked his family out of their house in 1948 and then the other day they wake up and the bulldozers are in their back yard because Israel wants to expand a road, for Jews..."
The conversation went on for a while and then our old Jewish friend told an anecdote about a Jewish person getting kicked out of one of the old cricket clubs in Philadelphia. Well, my wife grew up going to the Philadelphia Cricket Club. And when we drove back home later, she said she had felt some anti-anti-Semitism in the anecdote, which she finds apocryphal. Anti-anti-Semitism is my wife's description of anger toward Christians, and she says it was prompted by her comments about Israel.
I tell you, this is the heart of it, the Jewish belief in anti-Semitism as the ongoing condition of Jewish life in the west. It is absolutely core to the Israel conversation.
And it rises again and again when Israel is criticized. It is in Jeffrey Goldberg smearing Walt and Mearsheimer as the second coming of Charles Lindbergh because they have criticized Israel (these men who would save the Jewish state thru a two-state solution). It is in Bernard-Henry Levy's piece at Huffpo that seems to link the boycott movement with Nazism, "the most rabid of hatreds" directed at the miracle of democracy that is Israel. It is in the famous American Jewish Committee study by Alvin Rosenfeld of 3 years ago: Progressive Jewish thought on Israel = Anti-Semitism. It is in the statement that an old friend in Jerusalem made to me when I told her in September about my work-- "They will always hate us, they have always hated us, they always hate the Jews; don't help them."
You criticize Israel, you are an anti-Semite.
It is the core issue for two reasons. Because the rationale for Israel is anti-Semitism--as I often say, I would have been a Zionist in the European scene of 100 years ago--and so long as there is anti-Semitism there must be an Israel; and so therefore we will find the anti-Semitism to justify Israel. That whole unconscious tautology.
And core because Jews have emerged in the last two generations from a great genocide, and you cannot address the Israel question without addressing the underlying emotion, and the legitimate Jewish fear of extermination. I am often counseled to show more compassion for my brethren in this regard; and I am trying to take that lesson. You must address Jewish fears. There is a "national psychosis" at work in Israel, as Anshel Pfeffer has said; it goes to Netanyahu and his father and everyone else; and that psychosis extends to American Jewry.
I don't know how entirely compassionate I can be when I see the American establishment so well represented by Jews. For it gives the lie to the claim that anti-Semitism is an active problem in the U.S. It's just not functionally a part of our social professional landscape; and the prevalence of Jews in the schools chancellor decision, or in the media, or the Congress, or the White House braintrust underscores my point. And that is why I must make the point: because it is true and Jews are in denial about it and Jewish American identity is still based on a description of ourselves as outsiders that is simply anachronistic. And not just anachronistic but destructive: defining ourselves by the fact that everyone hates us. (Not good, and maybe self-fulfillingly prophetic, too, honey.)
Now you may counter that the last time we had this conversation it ended in the death camps, and I accept the truth of that. But to say that we must censor ourselves now for that reason doesn't wash. For a whole host of reasons, including the fact of American democracy and idealism; to the fact that Herzl and Kafka wrote about issues of Jewish financial/real-estate achievement in Europe at the turn of the last century and understood this as a basis of resentment toward Jews; to the fact that our success is a true fact and American journalists are supposed to deal in truth and I am an empowered American; to the fact that Jewish success is obviously playing a role in our foreign policy regarding the most dangerous issues on the planet; to the fact that history does not repeat itself, and when it does try and repeat itself the repetition is farce (per Hegel); to the fact that Herzl's favorite quote in his diaries at the turn of the last century was, "Rien n arrive ni comme on le craint ni come on I'espere: nothing happens the way you fear or the way you hope," and he is absolutely right about that.
So I'm not going to shut up about this. And when they talk about anti-Semitism I will insist on talking about Jewish success, and how marvelous it is, and also how transformative historically. So let's get transformed. And lay off my wife.
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Meet Moshe Soprano
Dec 04, 2010 10:09 am | Philip WeissI try to give the people what they want (I've been a news guy most of my life), and a lot of people are talking about the cable on Wikileaks from Tel Aviv a year ago about all the organized crime in Israel, and the fears of that o.c. spreading to the U.S. (because after all we're joined at the hip). Raimondo loves the cable. A couple more responses:
1. A friend: What does this tell us about the occupation and Zionism? There are entrenched organized crime networks in many, if not most societies. But where else would an organized crime family get a reality show? Maybe Russia. To me it shows lawlessness is socially acceptable in some way and that may well be connected to the occupation.
2. I asked our regular commenter Shmuel about it, including the reality show angle:
OC is definitely a big problem in Israel, and the ills of Israeli society (including racism, occupation, etc.) all feed off one another in many different ways. I haven't read anything on the subject, but I presume it has been addressed by Israeli sociologists (a very quick google brought something up about lawlesslessness and internal institutional weakness stemming from post-67 settlement). Some of the things described in the cables (eg. the lack of impact of high profile arrests on OC operations on the ground) are very reminiscent of the situation in Italy, brilliantly described by Roberto Saviano (who recently made some very stupid pro-Israel remarks, BTW).
When I was in Israel this summer, Saviano's book had just come out in Hebrew. I wonder if anyone has tried to draw any parallels or, more interestingly, examined the differences. I don't think the reality show (a model/reporter spent a couple of weeks in the Alperon household about 4 years ago) tells us very much about the acceptability of lawlessness. Alperon was Israel's real-life Tony Soprano. Makes for popular TV.
3. Somewhat unrelated, but I'd note that the cable-writer expressed the concern that Israel could export its organized crime to the U.S. because so many Israelis come over here. Well, right on schedule:
The Baltimore Sun reports that a former Israeli special forces agent who is part of an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood-patrol attacked a black teenager, 15, in Baltimore, saying You don't belong here, and broke his wrist.
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Engel and Ros-Lehtinen are quick to try to stifle Palestinian state
Dec 04, 2010 09:52 am | Philip WeissThis is amusing/concerning/the same old story. The Brazilians decide they're sick of the neverending peace process that only results in Palestinian dispossession, and let's recognize a Palestinian state, and who jumps in with four feet? The Israel lobby. Two congresspeople. Note that Eliot Engel is sanctifying a UN resolution that is now 43 years and has produced little but suffering for the Palestinians:
Rep. Eliot L. Engel, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, today strongly condemned Brazil's recognition of the State of Palestine.
He issued the following statement: "Brazil's decision to recognize Palestine is severely misguided and represents a last gasp by a Lula-led foreign policy which was already substantially off track. If you couple this with Lula's coddling of Ahmadinejad, it presents a very bleak picture of a government which wants to establish itself as a voice in the world, but is making the wrong choices as it tries to do so. One can only hope that the new leadership coming into Brazil will change course and understand that this is not the way to gain favor as an emerging power or to become a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
"Today's action violates the spirit of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, the 'land for peace' resolution which is the basis of the Middle East Peace Process. Brazil is sending a message to the Palestinians that they need not make peace to gain recognition as a sovereign state."
U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, commented today on the Government of Brazil's recognition of a Palestinian state, pursuant to a prior request by Palestinian Authority head Abu Mazen.
"Brazil's decision to recognize a Palestinian state is regrettable and will only serve to undermine peace and security in the Middle East. The decision ignores Hamas' control over Gaza and ignores the Palestinian leadership's failure to abide by its international commitments.
"Responsible nations should urge Palestinian leaders to meet their commitments, stop incitement such as denying the Jewish people's connection to the Wailing Wall, return to direct negotiations with Israel, and recognize Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, before any discussion of a potential Palestinian state.
"NOTE: Ros-Lehtinen is a leading cosponsor of House Resolution 1734, which reaffirms Congressional opposition to unilateral measures to recognize a Palestinian state. Ros-Lehtinen also authored the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006 (P.L. 109-446), which conditioned U.S. assistance to the Palestinian Authority on, among other requirements, the PA 'publicly acknowledge[ing] the Jewish state of Israel's right to exist.'"
PS. Here is Gil Maguire lauding the Brazilian decision.
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To Gaza with humble apologies
Dec 04, 2010 09:45 am | Lillian RosengartenI am a Jew symbolic of the carnage of Gaza.
I will walk on the ravished desolation of destroyed lives
places where Apache helicopters fired yet another missile
on to crowds reduced to charred remains.
I wonder how to make contact for I am ashamed.
What justifies the brutal rampage of terror and murder?
Now in Rafah where entire neighborhoods are reduced to rubble
Where Israeli tanks and bulldozers made in USA
Add an extra 2000 families left homeless.
They flee on donkey carts piled up with no thing to nowhere!
No food, no water, no money, flattened neighborhoods from the reign of terror.
Where has hope gone? Where are the olive groves I love so much?
Does anyone remember the Nazis sixty years ago?
I am going to Gaza and wonder.
How can it be that arms will be outstretched to welcome me?
Will they see my pain as one with their pain?
I arrive with humility, afraid to witness once more
Man's inhumanity to man.
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State Dep't reporters continue to be rambunctious about Israel announcing 625 new houses for Jews
Dec 04, 2010 09:40 am | Philip WeissThe other day we picked up a State Department press conference in which reporters were bluntly questioning ass't secretary PJ Crowley about the United States covering for Israeli intransigence and colonization. Well those reporters continued to ask questions on Thursday, the words "double standard" were hurled, when the Obama administration failed to say a word of condemnation of further East Jerusalem settlement. From the State Department:
QUESTION: So before we get into the – all those WikiLeaks questions, which you were having before – I'm curious to know as to why, given your concern about actions or statements that can cause problems or incite violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories, and your unprompted condemnation of a Palestinian claim to the Western wall the other day – that you didn't open up with a condemnation or at least an expression of concern about the Israeli Government's announcement today that, in fact, 625 new houses for Jewish people will be built in East Jerusalem, and also the comments made by Israeli Foreign Minister Lieberman, who said that much of the – that a lot of anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli sentiment is being sparked by Arab Israelis themselves, including former members of the Knesset --
MR. CROWLEY: Well --
QUESTION: Can you explain why – why no --
MR. CROWLEY: I will not comment --
QUESTION: -- expression of that?
MR. CROWLEY: -- on Foreign Minister Lieberman's comments. I have not seen them. We have had multiple conversations with the Israeli Government. We have expressed our concerns about such announcements. We've done this repeatedly over time. We've done so again. We continue our very earnest, ongoing efforts to work with the parties and see if we can't create conditions for a return to negotiations, and certainly, as we've made clear over time, these kinds of announcements undermine the trust that is important to get the parties back into negotiations and to make progress.
QUESTION: Okay. And then just can you find out – or can you ask if there might be something forthcoming on Foreign Minister Lieberman's statement, given that he is actually the foreign minister and the senior Palestinian official that you condemned the other day was the deputy information minister. There seems to be a bit of a –
QUESTION: Double standard?
QUESTION: There's a bit of a difference here just in terms of seniority, going from the deputy --
MR. CROWLEY: All right. Let me try – I have not seen the foreign minister's – I understand what you're asking.
QUESTION: Could NEA maybe pose the question? I mean, maybe you don't have a problem with his statement.
MR. CROWLEY: I will take the question. I mean, just to put this in context, we had conversations with the Palestinian Authority about the other set of remarks. We gave the Palestinian Authority several days to make their own statements rebuking those remarks. When that was not forthcoming, we felt it was important to put our comments on the record. We will – I'll check and see if there's anything we want to say at this point on Foreign Minister Lieberman.
QUESTION: All right.
QUESTION: More on Israel --
QUESTION: Well, wait. Just on the terms of the Palestinians, I understand that the consul general in Jerusalem met with Abbas today. Do you have anything on that?
MR. CROWLEY: Daniel Rubinstein did meet with President Abbas. He meets with him on a regular basis. And I think it was just to keep him apprised on the – on our ongoing discussions with the Israelis.
QUESTION: Is there any progress in those discussions?
MR. CROWLEY: Our efforts are ongoing.
QUESTION: Just following up on that, the Palestinian official only told one of us that the U.S. Administration has informed them that the Israeli Government did not agree to a new settlement freeze. Did you see that?
MR. CROWLEY: Well, we're not going – as we have said many, many times, we're not going to give you a play by play. We have quiet conversations with both sides on the substance of the peace process. Those conversations are ongoing. And beyond that, we're not going to get into details of what precisely was discussed.
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Would this work? You get to keep all your letters, and it still sounds like a Jewish state–
Dec 04, 2010 07:55 am | Philip WeissPearlstine
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