Libië als voorzitter VN Veiligheidsraad blijft eigen principes trouw

Libië als voorzitter van de VN Veiligheidsraad. Het lijkt een nachtmerrie maar is de naakte werkelijkheid. En als zodanig weet men de eigen principes trouw te blijven.

 

Is het verwonderlijk dat velen in Israël de VN met wantrouwen bekijken en cynisch zijn over kwalificaties als 'schending van het internationaal recht'?


Ratna

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Last update - 09:47 10/01/2008

Libya thwarts Security Council censure of Shlomi missile strike

By Shlomo Shamir and Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondents and Reuters
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/943543.html

Libya, which last week took over the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council after decades as a pariah of the West, is hindering diplomatic efforts spearheaded by Israel to issue a resolution condemning Tuesday's Katyusha strike on the Galilee, Haaretz has learned.

Two Katyusha rockets struck the western Galilee town of Shlomi, causing no injuries early Tuesday morning. One of the rockets lightly damaged a house, and the second hit a street in the town.

The main bone of contention centers around an Israeli demand that the resolution include language that characterizes the rocket strike as a violation of UN Security Council 1701, which officially ended the Second Lebanon War.
 
The Libyan ambassador who assumed the council presidency, Giadalla Ettalhi, let it be known that his government rejects any reference to 1701, citing the UN position that there is no definitive proof that the rocket fire emanated from Lebanon.

Though Jerusalem has indicated a willingness to compromise on references to Lebanon in the document, it continues to insist that Resolution 1701 be cited in any censure.

For its part, Tripoli seeks to include language condemning the Israel Air Force flights over southern Lebanon in any resolution, a position which Israel rejects.

As president, Libya's ambassador to the UN is obliged to maintain contacts with all of the world body's member states, including Israel - with which it currently has no diplomatic relations. Diplomatic sources, however, doubted on Tuesday whether Libya would act so with reference to Israel.

The North African country was elected in October, as were Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Croatia and Vietnam, to sit on the council in 2008-09 after the United States, which foiled two earlier bids by Tripoli, decided not to block it this time.

By an alphabetical accident, Libya becomes president of the 15-nation body from its very first day as a member, succeeding Italy. Each country is president for a month, the rotation going in English alphabetical order of names.

Libya and Burkina Faso had been unopposed after being endorsed by the African regional grouping for two African seats that fell vacant on Dec. 31.

The Security Council is the powerhouse of the United Nations, with the ability to send peacekeeping troops around the world and impose sanctions on specific countries.

Unlike the five permanent members - the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China - the nonpermanent members have no individual veto. But an alliance of seven of them can stop a resolution even if the big powers want it.

Libya has only recently rehabilitated itself in Western eyes from an accused sponsor of terrorism that organized the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Scotland, which killed 270 people.

Sderot weer onder vuur door Qassams en granaten

Voor de zoveelste keer wist een moeder met haar kind in Sderot net aan de dood te ontkomen. En voor de zoveelste keer sloeg een Qassam raket vlak bij een lagere school in. Het is een wonder dat niet vaker dodelijke slachtoffers vallen bij de vrijwel dagelijkse beschietingen op Sderot en omgeving. De inwoners van Sderot hebben gelijk wanneer zij zeggen zich genegeerd te voelen.

 

Dit geldt echter niet alleen voor de Israëlische regering, maar vooral ook voor de internationale gemeenschap en al die humanitaire organisaties die moord en brand schreeuwen over de situatie in Gaza, maar Sderot geen blik waardig gunnen. En al helemaal niet op het idee komen dat een einde aan de raketten op Sderot tot de door hun zo gewenste opening van grensovergangen met Gaza zou leiden.

 

 

Ratna

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Jan 9, 2008 9:50 | Updated Jan 10, 2008 0:41

Sderot comes under fire, again
By REBECCA ANNA STOIL AND YAAKOV KATZ
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1198517332008&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Gazans greeted US President George W. Bush with more than a dozen Kassam rockets and mortar shells on Wednesday, including one instance in which a mother and baby narrowly escaped death as a rocket slammed in to the Sderot house in which they were staying.

Shortly thereafter, Palestinians said, two Gazans were killed and four were wounded by an IAF strike in Bet Hanun.

Palestinians said the two fatalities were innocent bystanders - Hadra Wahdan, 52, and Muhammad Kfarneh, 15.

The attacks began shortly before 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, when four rockets were fired at Israeli communities in the western Negev. Two hours later, a second barrage was launched - and this time, rockets hit Sderot, with one landing in the yard of a home on Rehov Hehalutz and damaging the building. One person was treated for shock.

After a few hours of relative quiet, the Kassams began to pound the western Negev once again - this time, causing more injuries and damage. A Kassam hit the roof of an empty house in the beleaguered city, and a second struck near an elementary school.

Minutes later, one person was wounded in the legs by shrapnel and three suffered from shock when yet another rocket hit Sderot.

One rocket crashed through the roof of a house where a young mother lived together with her infant son. Fortunately, they were in another room. The Popular Resistance Committees took responsibility for the attack.

Eight other rockets hit open areas, causing no damage.

The woman's husband was at work in the center of the country, but the woman's brother-in-law, Sderot resident Danny Dahan, said that as soon as she heard the "Color Red" rocket warning, she grabbed her baby, "ran into the bomb shelter and was saved by a miracle." Dahan, hearing of the strike, ran to the house and "saw a rocket that had disintegrated the young boy's bed," he told Army Radio.

"How much more can we stand? How strong can we be? We're being abandoned," said a tearful Dahan.

Less than an hour later, a Kassam scored a direct hit on a building at a nearby kibbutz, and a second rocket exploded nearby. Residents of the kibbutz emphasized that their community did not have reinforced buildings to protect against such attacks.

Residents at another nearby kibbutz were surprised to discover that a rocket had landed in one of their henhouses, but fortunately - for kibbutzniks and chickens alike - it did not explode.

In response to the attacks, the IDF struck an Islamic Jihad terror cell in the northern Gaza Strip that the army said was behind the mortar fire. Palestinian medics said one gunman was killed and six were wounded.

While the IDF has scaled back operations in Gaza due to Bush's visit to Jerusalem, defense officials said the military would continue to act against Kassam launch squads and other terrorists in the advanced stages of preparing attacks. The officials predicted that the Palestinians would continue to fire Kassam rockets at the western Negev throughout Bush's visit, which ends on Friday.

Bush: Palestijnse staat en compensatie zijn oplossing voor vluchtelingenvraagstuk

Mensen vinden me wel eens naief, en ik ben ook wel eens naief. Niet zo naief als in mijn jonge jaren, en niet zo naief als George W. Bush.

Toch lijk ik tot de zeer weinigen te behoren die enigszins optimistisch zijn over de huidige vredesonderhandelingen. Daar zijn een paar wellicht naieve redenen voor:

 

1) Er zijn echte vredesonderhandelingen, voor het eerst in 7 jaar; en de vorige keer waren die onderhandelingen geëindigd met een verklaring dat de partijen nog nooit zo dicht bij elkaar waren gekomen als toen. Er zou dus een redelijke basis moeten zijn om nu verder te komen.

 

2) Olmert zowel als Bush spreken zich zeer onomwonden - zelfs ondiplomatiek - uit voor het stichten van een Palestijnse staat. Vorige keer wou Israël zich daar nog niet openlijk voor uitspreken, hoewel het vredesproces feitelijk volgens iedereen geen andere uitslag zou kunnen hebben. Olmert is bovendien hard aan het werk om zijn achterban daarvan te overtuigen.

 

Wat nog ontbreekt zijn gedurfde uitspraken van Palestijnse kant dat men echt tot concessies bereid is.

 

Oh ja, en dat praktische probleempje in Gaza....

 

 

Wouter

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Last update - 20:24 10/01/2008

Bush: Palestinian statehood and compensation are solution to refugee issue 
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/943314.html

By Aluf Benn and Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondents, The Associated Press and Haaretz Service 

U.S. President George W. Bush on Thursday laid out his vision for resolving some of the most contentious issues dividing Israelis and Palestinians, including the matter of Palestinian refugees, which he said would be resolved by the creation of a Palestinian state and compensation.

"I believe we need to look to the establishment of a Palestinian state and new international mechanisms, including compensation, to resolve the refugee issue," said Bush, in a statement summing up two days of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Bush arrived in Israel for a three-day on Wednesday.

"There should be an end to the occupation that began in 1967," continued Bush. "The agreement must establish Palestine as a homeland for the Palestinian people, just as Israel is a homeland for the Jewish people."

"These negotiations must ensure that Israel has secure, recognized, and defensible borders," he said. "And they must ensure that the state of Palestine is viable, contiguous, sovereign, and independent."

The U.S. president reiterated a previous commitment he gave to then prime minister Ariel Sharon, saying Israel should not be expected to withdraw fully from territory captured in the Six-Day War.

"While territory is an issue for both parties to decide, I believe that any peace agreement between them will require mutually agreed adjustments to the armistice lines of 1949 to reflect current realities and to ensure that the Palestinian state is viable and contiguous," he said.

He offered no specifics to resolve the conflicting claims to Jerusalem, but urged both sides to work toward a solution. "I know Jerusalem is a tough issue," Bush said. "Both sides have deeply felt political and religious concerns."

"I fully understand that finding a solution to this issue will be one of the most difficult challenges on the road to peace, but that is the road we have chosen to walk," he added.

The president said Israel and the Palestinians must both live up to their commitments under the long-dormant road map for peace.

"On the Israeli side that includes ending settlement expansion and removing unauthorized outposts," Bush said. On the Palestinian side that includes confronting terrorists and dismantling terrorist infrastructure ... no agreement and no Palestinian state will be born of terror."

Bush added that the sides should be able to reach an agreement by the end of 2008, as they agreed to do at the U.S.-hosted Middle East peace conference in Annapolis in November.

"A peace agreement should happen and can happen by the end of this year," said the American president. "I know both leaders share this important goal and I am committed to helping both sides achieve it."

Within minutes, Bush's national security adviser Stephen Hadley said the president would return to the Middle East at least once and maybe more over the next year. He wouldn't elaborate on possible destinations.

Bush also called on Arab states to reach out to Israel, saying this was "long overdue."

Bush names U.S. General as new road map monitor

Bush earlier named Lt. Gen. William Fraser to monitor the Israeli-Palestinian "road map" for peace, the White House said Thursday.

Fraser, who has served as assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will "help monitor road map commitments", White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

The U.S. president met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah earlier in the day, telling a press conference that he is confident that the Israelis and the Palestinians will reach a peace deal in 2008.

"In order for there to be lasting peace, President Abbas and Prime Minister Olmert have to come together and make tough choices," Bush said at a joint press conference with Abbas.

"And I'm convinced they will. And I believe it's possible - not only possible, I believe it's going to happen - that there be a signed peace treaty by the time I leave office [in January 2009]. That's what I believe."

Bush spent much of Thursday in the West Bank, including a pilgrimage to Jesus' traditional birth grotto in biblical Bethlehem.

The president arrived at Abbas' headquarters on Thursday for his first-ever visit to the Palestinian territories. Abbas greeted Bush as he emerged from his car in the walled compound. The two men walked side by side along a red carpet, flanked by Palestinian security in olive-and-gold uniforms.

He also accused terrorists of trying to ruin Palestinian hopes for statehood.

Abbas "knows that a handful of people want to dash the expectations of the Palestinian people," he said. "I appreciate your [Abbas'] understanding that the way to achieve peace is to offer an alternative vision of liberty."

The president said that the Americans are "very much engaged" in peace negotiations. "I am confident that with proper help, the state of Palestine will emerge... I am confident that the status quo is unacceptable, Mr. President," he said to Abbas.

Responding to a question about West Bank settlements, Bush said that "each side has got obligations under the road map... we have made our concerns about the expansion of settlements known."

Under the U.S.-backed road map for peace, Israel must halt the expansion of settlements in the first phase, and Palestinian security services must counter terrorism.

"I believe Palestinian security forces are improving... my message to the Israelis is that they ought to help, not hinder, the modernization of the Palestinian security forces," Bush said.

Abbas: Palestinians seek a state with Jerusalem as its capital

Abbas said that he and Bush agreed on the points they raised during the meeting. During the press conference, he spelled out Palestinian demands, saying that his people seek a state with "Jerusalem as its capital and an end to the refugee problem, in accordance with UN decisions."

"The Palestinian people, who are committed to peace, want to move freely in their country, with no roadblocks, [separation] fence or settlements... We want to see a different future, without thousands of prisoners in jail and innocent deaths. We want to stop the closure," Abbas continued.

In response to a question on Israel Defense Forces checkpoints in the West Bank, designed to prevent terror attacks on Israelis targets but which hinder Palestinian freedom of movement, Bush said he identified with both sides' positions.

He said that the Israelis "don't want a state on their border on which attacks can be launched. I can understand that... The checkpoints create security for Israel and they create frustrations for Palestinians."

On the Gaza Strip, which is under the control of the extremist Hamas movement since a bloody June takeover, Bush said that "there is a competing vision taking place in Gaza."

"Hamas... has delivered nothing but misery. I'm convinced his [Abbas'] government will yield a hopeful future."

Abbas echoed the sentiments, saying, "Hamas has to retreat from its coup, then we can talk."

Ahead of the visit, Palestinian police sealed off streets and erected checkpoints in large parts of the city, and residents in nearby buildings were told to stay away from windows and balconies. Palestinian security officials said U.S. snipers were being deployed in the area.

 

PA misleidt Israël in akties tegen terroristen

Doet de Palestijnse Autoriteit tegen terrorisme wat het kan? Volgens velen is Israëls wantrouwen onterecht, of erger: verhindert Israël een effectieve aanpak van Palestijnse extremisten door de PA omdat dit niet in haar belang zou zijn.

 

Ratna
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The Security Apparatus of the Palestinian Authority

Excerpt from Palestinian Terrorism in 2007 Statistics and Trends
Government of Israel
www.mfa.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/75FC2B98-A581-4C89-88AC-7C3C1D1BC097/0/Terrorism2007report.pdf
....


Wanted Persons Use of Palestinian Authority Buildings for Refuge

In recent years, wanted Tanzim members from Ramallah and nearby villages used PA buildings throughout the city, including the Mukata compound [Palestinian Authority headquarters] and military intelligence headquarters in other places, as a place to hide from Israelis security forces and as a base from which to carry out terrorist attacks.

Over the past year, a number of messages have been delivered to the heads of the Palestinian Authority regarding the presence of wanted persons at these locations, but to no avail. For example, an extensive operation was carried out in March 2007 to arrest wanted persons, including many Tanzim operatives, who had been hiding for a long time in Palestinian military intelligence headquarters in the 'Ein Umm a-Sarayit neighborhood in Ramallah. In the operation, Israel's security forces arrested 20 wanted persons, among them Yunis Gamal Yunis Kafri, 24, who had fired at IDF troops in Ramallah and at separation fence guards and had been involved in an attempt to abduct a Jewish civilian and in the abduction and interrogation of suspected collaborators.

Security Apparatus's Pretend Arrests and Interdictions

Palestinian security forces on several occasions made false representations of extensive, significant operations to interdict attacks. For example, on 25-26 September, the Palestinians announced to the media that, at a house in Bethlehem, it had seized two Kassam missiles aimed at Jerusalem and a number of explosive charges and a suspicious suitcase. In fact, a professional examination by a sapper revealed that the "missiles" were empty pipes without any propellant material or flying capability, and certainly not capable of causing any damage.

An example of false representation of arrests by the Palestinian security apparatuses occurred with respect to the arrest, on 4 December 2007, of Hassan Dabak, 26, from Jericho, a member of the Palestinian National Security Force. Dabak was arrested for belonging to the Fatah-Tanzim cell that planned terrorist attacks at the Jericho bypass route, and for supplying arms to the group. Israel had requested the Palestinian security forces to arrest Dabak, who posed a danger to the security of the region and was engaged in planning attacks. The Palestinians replied that he had been detained but, upon investigation, it was found that he was moving about freely in Jericho. He was then arrested by the IDF and handed over for interrogation by the ISA.

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

Professoren Columbia Universiteit willen zich bij Achmadinejad verontschuldigen

De opmerkingen van Achmadinejad wat betreft de Holocaust vallen uiteraard in het niet bij de zware beledigingen van de voorzitter van de Amerikaanse Columbia Universiteit tegenover Achmadinejad. Gelukkig begrijpen ze dat niet alleen in Iran, maar zijn ook meerdere professoren en medewerkers van de Columbia Universiteit tot dit verheven inzicht gekomen.

 

Ratna

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Columbia professors plan to visit Iran to apologize to Ahmadinejad

http://www.mehrnews.ir/en/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=618008

 

 

NEW YORK (MNA)  – An academic delegation of Columbia University professors and deans of faculties plans to visit Tehran to officially apologize to Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad.

The delegation plans to express regret for the insulting remarks Columbia University President Lee Bollinger directed at Ahmadinejad on September 24 in his introductory speech, the Mehr News Agency correspondent in New York reported.

Since the incident, the deans and professors from the faculties of history, anthropology, Middle Eastern studies, philosophy, and Islamic studies have criticized Bollinger's behavior toward Ahmadinejad.

A member of the delegation, who requested anonymity, said the main goal of the visit is to meet the Iranian president and officially apologize to him.

"The delegation has also prepared its itinerary," he noted.

He went on to say that the delegation also plans to visit Iranian universities in various cities and to hold talks with professors and students, and may even sign memoranda of understanding with some universities. He also said the delegation is interested in visiting seminaries and the shrine city of Qom.

However, Bollinger has warned the delegation that their trip to Iran should be a private visit and should not be undertaken as an official visit endorsed by the university.

Bollinger has so far refused to meet the Mehr News Agency correspondent to explain his disrespectful behavior toward Ahmadinejad when introducing him to the students and professors at Columbia.

Joodse organisaties niet welkom bij een deel van de Israëlische Arabieren

Een delegatie van afgevaardigden van zo'n 70 Joodse organisaties uit Amerika en Europa is in Israël om zich in de problemen van de Arabische inwoners te verdiepen. Helaas zijn zij niet overal welkom:

 

Ameer Makhoul, who heads Ittijah, an umbrella organization for Arab non-governmental organizations in Israel, asked Arab officials to cancel planned meetings with the group because Diaspora Jewry advocates the idea of Israel as a Jewish state, he said.

 

 

Stel je voor, Joden die voor Joodse zelfbeschikking opkomen... Met zulke extremisten kun je natuurlijk geen zaken doen, en al wie dat wel doet, is een verrader van de nobele Arabische zaak.

Gelukkig denken niet alle Arabische organisaties in Israël er zo over, maar het is het zoveelste voorbeeld dat laat zien dat het een flink deel van de Arabische gemeenschap helemaal niet gaat om het tegengaan van discriminatie en het verkrijgen van een betere positie in Israël, maar om het omverwerpen van deze staat. En dat staat het tegengaan van discriminatie en hun integratie uiteraard alleen maar in de weg.

 

Ratna
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Israeli Arab leaders slam boycott of visiting Jewish donors

By Yoav Stern and Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondent

Last update - 08:35;  08/01/2008
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/942699.html

Israeli Arab leaders have condemned a partially successful Arab boycott of Jewish philanthropists who are visiting the country to learn more about the problems facing Israeli Arabs.

The task force, comprised of members of about 70 Jewish organizations from North America and Europe, was set up two years ago to advance social projects and strengthen local Israeli Arab leadership.

It hopes to increase Jewish philanthropists' awareness of majority-minority relations in Israel and help them understand the problems faced by Israeli Arabs, who constitute 20 percent of the Israeli population, said task force director Jessica Balaban.

But the group has been spurned by some of the Israeli Arabs to whom it is trying to reach out.

Ameer Makhoul, who heads Ittijah, an umbrella organization for Arab non-governmental organizations in Israel, asked Arab officials to cancel planned meetings with the group because Diaspora Jewry advocates the idea of Israel as a Jewish state, he said.

He also asked for help from Islamic Movement head Sheikh Ra'ad Salah, who pushed for the cancellation of the delegation's planned visit to an Islamic Movement pharmacy in Umm al-Fahm. In addition, other groups are also reconsidering planned meetings with the delegates, but most of the participants ignored the call to boycott the mission.

"Meeting with them means legitimizing and accepting their agenda and the framework of the State of Israel as a Jewish state," said Makhoul. "This is a multipurpose and diverse group that is trying to dictate our future."

But not all Israeli Arabs agree with Makhoul's rejection of the delegation's efforts. The delegates still have meetings and workshops scheduled to take place in the Galilee and the heavily Arab Triangle region, and are due to tour the Negev tomorrow to learn more about the Bedouin and their problems.

Shweiki Khatib, chairman of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee, met with the delegates Sunday.

"We have met and will continue to meet with Jewish figures in the past, present and future," said Khatib. "We have our red lines, but we are obligated to say what we think and explain our situation to whoever wants to hear."

Amnon Be'eri-Sulitzeanu, director general of the Abraham Fund, which aims to improve coexistence between Jews and Arabs, said the boycott was self-destructive.

"If there is discrimination and inequality and a situation that needs to be fixed, then the establishment is volunteering to take real action," he said.
"To oppose that is simply shooting oneself in the foot."

Veel Hongaarse Joden keren terug, maar de liefde voor Israël blijft

De ambivalente gevoelens van Hongaarse Joden tegenover Israël:

 

Maar binnenkort is ze van plan om terug te keren, samen met haar nieuwe vriend, zelf ook een remigrant. En zo zullen alle remigranten eens naar Israël terugkeren, gelooft ze. 'Je kan voor vijf jaar terugkeren, voor tien jaar, maar niet voor altijd.'

'Israël is zoals een virus in je lichaam. Het sluimert en breekt dan uit zoals een ziekte. Israël is een ongeneeslijke ziekte.'

 

Niet om wantrouwig te zijn, maar de kop die de Volkskrant voor het artikel koos, lijkt vooral het negatieve te willen benadrukken?

 

Wouter

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'Als je naar Israël wilt, moet je gek zijn'

 

De Volkskrant - gepubliceerd op 07 januari 2008 08:27, bijgewerkt op 08:27
http://www.volkskrant.nl/buitenland/article492470.ece/Als_je_naar_Israel_wilt,_moet_je_gek_zijn

 

AMSTERDAM - Emigreren naar Israël is veel Hongaarse Joden tegengevallen, daarom zijn velen nu weer terug. 'Ik had politieke wetenschappen gestudeerd, en in Israël was ik ober. Ik ben geen streber, maar zulke dingen zijn belangrijk.'

 

Door Jan Hunin

 

Als Andras Borgula terugblikt op zijn verblijf in Israël, moet hij altijd denken aan het meesterwerk van de Japanse regisseur Akira Kurosawa, The Seven Samurai, ook bekend van de Hollywood-versie The Magnificent Seven: 'De film gaat over zeven samoerai die een dorp moeten bevrijden van bandieten. Een missie als elke andere, maar het duurt niet lang voor ze zich persoonlijk betrokken voelen. Met Israël ging het voor mij net zo.'

 

Borgula was net 20 geworden toen hij in 1995 samen met twintig andere Hongaarse Joden naar Israël verhuisde. Hij was er voor het tweede opeenvolgende jaar niet in geslaagd een plaatsje op de toneelschool van Boedapest te bemachtigen en had behoefte aan andere lucht.

 

In Israël voelde Borgula zich onmiddellijk thuis. In tegenstelling tot zijn reismakkers. 'Na een jaar waren we nog maar met zijn drieën en tenslotte bleef ik alleen over.' Zelfs een oproepbrief van het Israëlische leger deed hem niet naar Hongarije terugkeren.

 

Een liefhebber van legerdienst was Borgula echter niet. Een jaar voor zijn vertrek naar Israël had hij van een enorm litteken op zijn bovenarm gebruikt gemaakt om niet het Hongaarse leger in te moeten. 'Een hondenbeet', verduidelijkt hij, terwijl hij de mouw van zijn T-shirt opstroopt. 'Ik had er geen last van, maar toen ik bij de medische controle kwam, deed ik alsof ik mijn arm niet kon gebruiken.' Borgula maakte een spastische beweging. 'Het spijt me', zei de dokter. 'Het spijt mij ook', antwoordde ik.' Borgula moet lachen als hij er aan terugdenkt.

 

In Israël kreeg Borgula niet eens de kans om de dokters voor aap te zetten. 'Daar vinden ze zelfs voor blinden een klusje in het leger. Legerdienst hoort er gewoon bij in Israël.'Maar Borgula kreeg het naar zijn zin in het leger. Zozeer zelfs, dat hij na twee jaar verplichte dienst besloot om er een jaartje bij te doen. 'Ik dacht: Israël heeft mij een tweede kans gegeven. Ik kan daarvoor gerust iets terugdoen.'Borgula belandde als officier bij een artillerie-eenheid aan de Libanese grens. 'Dood of word gedood, was the name of the game. Iedereen die aan de andere kant van de grens met een wapen rondliep, was een potentieel doelwit.'

 

'Toen heb ik vaak tegen mezelf gezegd: 'Je bent geboren in het dertiende district van Boedapest, je wilt acteur worden en nu ben je hier mensen aan het vermoorden. Maar ik had er geen problemen mee. Soldaat spelen is gemakkelijk: je hoeft niet na te denken.'

Na drie jaar vond Borgula het welletjes. Nog in uniform en met wapen op zak, ging hij zich inschrijven aan de toneelschool van Tel Aviv. ' Welke rol speel jij?', vroegen ze me. 'Geen', antwoordde ik, 'dit ben ik.'

Twee jaar lang volgde hij de lessen, maar toen wilde het meisje dat hij tijdens een vakantie in Boedapest had leren kennen naar Hongarije terugkeren. 'Ik volgde haar.'
Ondertussen zijn ze gescheiden, maar Borgula denkt er niet aan om weer te vertrekken uit Hongarije. In Boedapest heeft hij een Joods theater uit de grond gestampt. Dat wil hij voor geen goud in de steek laten. Naar Israël keert hij alleen terug als er een grote oorlog uitbreekt.

'Maar als je mij vraagt waar ik binnen vijf jaar zal zijn, zeg ik: waarschijnlijk in Israël. Hongarije is niet mijn eindstation. Het is alsof ik met mijn wagen onderweg ben en de garage achter me heb gelaten. Maar wie weet kom ik hier een leuk meisje tegen en blijf ik.'

De eerste keer dat Michal Mimon (27) Hongarije zag was ze 10. Haar moeder, die in 1963 met haar ouders vanuit Roemenië naar Israël geëmigreerd was, had besloten naar Europa terug te keren.

'Het was december en ik zag voor de eerste keer sneeuw, vreselijk vond ik dat. Op school moest ik Hongaars leren. Ook vreselijk. En in Israël was ik als kind zo gelukkig.' Mimon haalt een oud fotoalbum boven. Op een van de foto's poseert ze naast haar vader de strandwachter. 'Schrik niet', waarschuwt ze. 'Hij komt uit Tripoli. Hij ziet er heel erg zwart uit.'

 

Toen ze 22 werd verhuisde Mimon naar Israël. 'Ik wilde weten in welk land ik thuis was. Als ik vroeger was gegaan, had ik in het leger gemoeten.'
Ze was onmiddellijk verkocht. 'Israël is zo fantastisch en zo mooi. En ik had er een leuke vriend. Maar ik voelde me er niet thuis. Toen ik bij hem zou intrekken, vluchtte ik.' Mimon vluchtte niet alleen voor haar vriendje.

 

'Stel je voor dat je in Afrika een nieuw leven moet beginnen, maar je kan niet verder bouwen op wat je hier begonnen bent. Ik had in Hongarije politieke wetenschappen gestudeerd, maar ginder moest ik als kelnerin mijn brood verdienen. Het gaat om kleine dingen: een eigen flat, een wagen, geld. Ik ben geen streber, maar zulke zaken zijn belangrijk.'

 

En dus keerde Mimon terug, net zoals haar beste vriendinnen. 'Alle vier zijn ze vertrokken en alle vier weer teruggekeerd.'

 

Het was wel wennen, de eerste keer dat ze in Boedapest opnieuw een winkelcentrum binnenstapte. 'Ik deed automatisch mijn tas open voor de controle. En de Hongaren zijn zo gesloten. In Israël wordt je door iedereen aangesproken. Maar nu heb ik tenminste een baan die me past.' Mimon werkt in Boedapest als specialist politieke marketing voor een reclamebureau. Ze werd pas benoemd tot managing director.

 

De liefde voor Israël is wel gebleven. 'Tijdens de zomeroorlog met Libanon had ik alle Arabieren willen doden. Het is niet mooi, ik weet het. Maar Israël is de beste plek ter wereld met de beste mensen. Toch wil ik er niet wonen. Nu ben ik blij dat mijn moeder er niet is gebleven. Want het is goed om in Hongarije te zijn. Ik hou ervan.'

 

Eén woord komt steeds terug in het verhaal van Judit Schönwald (39): Gek. Moet je een zionist zijn om naar Israël te emigreren? 'Nee, je moet gek zijn. Het is genetisch bepaald, denk ik. Mijn vader wilde ook gaan.'

 

Ze was amper twee dagen in Israël toen ze op het nippertje aan de dood ontsnapte. 'Het was de tijd van de zelfmoordaanslagen op bussen. Ik kwam net een paar seconden te laat. 'Neem je die bus nog?', vroeg mijn moeder. 'Vier keer per dag', antwoordde ik. Het kon me niet schelen. Ik ben gek.'

 

Financieel gesproken werd Schönwald ook niet beter van haar vertrek naar Israël. In Boedapest had ze rechten gestudeerd aan de beste universiteit; in Canada deed ze er journalistiek bij. Maar in Israël had ze allerlei baantjes. Ze deed alles behalve waarvoor ze was opgeleid. Daarbij bracht ze drie kinderen groot. 'Het is niet gemakkelijk om een moeder te zijn in Israël, weet je.'

 

Maar het kon haar niet schelen. Ze werd verliefd op het land, dus ze bleef. 'Dertien jaar lang, wat lang is voor een Hongaar. Hongaarse Joden zijn verwend. Ze willen alles krijgen. Israël is een hard land. Weinigen kunnen er overleven.'

 

Ook Schönwald kwam vorig jaar terug. Ze was ondertussen gescheiden van haar man. 'Ik had geen keuze. Ik kon geen drie kinderen grootbrengen met niets.'
Maar thuis voelt ze zich niet in Boedapest. 'De Hongaren leven met hun hoofd in het verleden. Ze hebben niets van de geschiedenis geleerd. In acht maanden tijd zijn meer dan 90 procent van de Hongaarse Joden vermoord, en dat werd niet door de Duitsers gedaan, dat deden de Hongaren zelf. '

 

Volgens Schönwald is het antisemitisme opnieuw in opmars. 'Draag die ketting niet', zegt mijn moeder altijd wanneer ik naar buiten ga.' Ze speelt met de Davidsster rond haar nek.

 

Maar binnenkort is ze van plan om terug te keren, samen met haar nieuwe vriend, zelf ook een remigrant. En zo zullen alle remigranten eens naar Israël terugkeren, gelooft ze. 'Je kan voor vijf jaar terugkeren, voor tien jaar, maar niet voor altijd.'

'Israël is zoals een virus in je lichaam. Het sluimert en breekt dan uit zoals een ziekte. Israël is een ongeneeslijke ziekte.'


Meeste Hongaarse Joden houden het niet vol in Israël

Sinds de val van het communisme zouden tenminste vijfduizend Joden vanuit Hongarije naar Israël zijn uitgeweken, een fractie van de Joden die emigreerden vanuit de voormalige Sovjet-Unie (anderhalf miljoen), maar meer dan vanuit welk ander land in Midden-Europa.

 

De grootste emigratie had onmiddellijk na de val van het communisme plaats, toen de landsgrenzen weer opengingen. Tegenwoordig zou het aantal emigranten zijn teruggelopen tot honderd per jaar. In 2006 waren het er ongeveer tachtig.

 

Over diegenen die daarna weer terugkeerden, wil het Joodse Agentschap voor Israël in Boedapest niets kwijt. Daarover worden geen statistieken bijgehouden, zegt woordvoerster Corine Berger.

 

Andras Borgula, die in 1995 zelf de sprong waagde, en terugkeerde, schat het aantal teruggekeerde Hongaarse Joden op 90 procent. 'En van degenen die blijven, blijft 90 procent omdat ze een of ander probleem met de Hongaarse justitie hebben.' Naar geen enkel ander land zouden zoveel Joden terugkeren.

 

Vaak is de verplichte dienstplicht (drie jaar voor mannen, twee jaar voor vrouwen) de reden om terug te keren, maar de meeste emigranten hebben zware aanpassingsproblemen. 'Israël is geen gemakkelijk land om te leven. De inwoners zijn er zo betweterig', vertelt Borgula. 'Ook Hongarije is verre van ideaal, maar hier kennen ze de stront waarin ze zitten.'

 

Maar de echte waarheid ligt volgens hem dieper. 'Als je in Hongarije niet rijk, bekend of mooi bent, dan zal je ook in Israël niet rijk, bekend of mooi zijn.'

 

Anne Frank musical in Madrid

Binnenkort gaat in Spanje een nieuwe musical over Anne Frank in premiere, na eerdere toneel- (al in 1955) en filmversies, een Russische opera uit 1970 (die destijds onder het Sovjetregime niet mocht worden opgevoerd) en een Vlaamse musical uit 1994.

De Anne Frank Stichting heeft haar goedkeuring gegeven aan de nieuwe musical. Het zal dan ook wel in gepaste stijl worden uitgevoerd, en wellicht een jong publiek betrekken bij het droevige lot van de Europese Joden in de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Toch geven zulke bewerkingen een dubbel gevoel...

 

NRC berichtte al in september over deze musical:

 

Voor producent Alvero was het belangrijk dat de Anne Frank Stichting meewerkte. De stichting werd van meet af aan bij het project betrokken. „De musical is met maximaal respect voor het dagboek opgezet", oordeelt Juan Parra, al meer dan tien jaar de vertegenwoordiger van de Anne Frank Stichting voor Spanje en Latijns-Amerika. De stichting staat geenszins afwijzend tegenover nieuwe theaterwerken gebaseerd op het dagboek. In het musicalminnende Spanje is volgens Parra voor een goede vorm gekozen om een breed publiek onder de jeugd te bereiken. Het dagboek zelf was onder dictator Franco weliswaar niet verboden, maar werd door veel Spanjaarden toch gezien als een 'verzetsboek' tegen de dictatuur. Parra: „Anne Frank is in Spanje een bekende naam, maar door onze geschiedenis bestaat er minder gevoel dan in de rest van Europa voor wat er in de Tweede Wereldoorlog is gebeurd. Ook omdat er nauwelijks een joodse gemeenschap bestaat." *

 

[* Joden werden eeuwenlang niet toegelaten in Spanje.]

 

 

Wouter
_______________________________________

Last update - 20:50 09/01/2008

Coming soon to a Spanish theater: Anne Frank the musical 
By Haaretz Staff 
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/943301.html


Millions read about Anne Frank's life while she was hiding with her family from the Nazis in an attic in Amsterdam. Soon, theater lovers in Spain will be able to see the Jewish teen on Madrid's stages: The Diary of Anne Frank has been made into a tragic musical, and will open at Madrid's Calderon Theatre in February, according to the BBC's Web site.

The show's director, Rafael Alvero, said that initial reactions to the musical were mixed.

"There were doubts that a musical could be made from a story such as this," he said. "It's understandable that the show is very emotional. What we want to do will be reached through the music- and that is to understand the story better."

Last week, members of the cast, including the 13-year-old leading girl, visited the Anne Frank Museum and toured around the tiny attic apartment in Amsterdam.

The cast members also sang numbers from the musical to museum staff.
_______________________________________

Anne Frank-musical in Madrid
http://www.musicalsite.be/news.php?id=2407

buitenland: dinsdag 8 januari 2008

Op 13 februari gaat in Madrid een musical over het leven van Anne Frank in première. De 22-koppige cast zal worden aangevoerd door een 13-jarig meisje dat de hoofdrol vertolkt. Het project werd aanvankelijk met gemengde gevoelens onthaald, maar krijgt nu ook de steun van het Anne Frank Huis.

 

Vorige week brachten de castleden een bezoek aan het museum in Amsterdam en zongen er enkele nummers uit de musical. Volgens regisseur Rafael Alvero is het stuk op emotioneel vlak vergelijkbaar met een tragische opera.

 

In 1994 maakte het Koninklijk Ballet van Vlaanderen al de musical Je Anne over het leven van Anne Frank, in een regie van Frank Van Laecke.

 

Een Joodse Staat -- Gerald Steinberg

Gerald Steinberg kan niet zo goed tellen: het eerste wereld Zionistisch congres in 1897 was niet 40 maar 50 jaar voordat de VN in 1947 het delingsplan voor Palestina aannam.

Hij legt hieronder helder uit waarom Israël momenteel zo'n nadruk legt op erkenning als Joodse staat, maar begaat ook een fout:

 

In response, Israelis have started to demand explicit public and unambiguous acceptance as a Jewish state, reflecting Jewish culture, holidays, language, etc., just as France is French, Italy is Italian, Iran is Islamic, etc.

 

 

Israël is geen Joodse staat zoals Iran islamitisch is. In Israël geldt niet de Halacha maar seculiere wetten, staat en religie zijn gescheiden, er is geen raad van rabbijnen die beslissingen van de regering moet goedkeuren, geen opperste leider die wordt benoemd door religieuze leiders, en er is een onafhankelijke rechterlijke macht. In Israël leven mensen met tientallen religies vrij van angst, de moskeeën roepen er 5 keer per dag op tot gebed, en elders in het Midden-Oosten vervolgde groepen zoals de Bahai hebben er een veilig heenkomen gevonden, bekroond met een prachtige tempel in Haifa.

De belangrijkste reden dat Israël nu deze erkenning eist is, zoals Steinberg zelf aangeeft, dat Israëls bestaansrecht in toenemende mate wordt ontkend door politici, journalisten, en intellectuelen in Europa en de VS, en er tal van anti-Israël campagnes worden gevoerd. Daar komt bij dat veel van deze mensen (en ook de gematigde Palestijnen) vaak wel zeggen voor een tweestatenoplossing te zijn, maar dit niet twee staten voor twee volken schijnt te betekenen, maar op zijn best anderhalve staat voor de Palestijnen en een halve voor de Joden, en op de langere termijn twee Arabische staten. Men vindt immers dat alle vluchtelingen naar Israël moeten kunnen terugkeren, en ook dat Israël racistisch is zolang Arabieren in Israel niet op nationaal niveau een aan de Joden gelijke positie hebben, wat op een soort bi-nationale staat neer komt.

 

_______________________

A Jewish State

By Gerald Steinberg


One hundred and ten years ago (1897), during the first World Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, Theodore Herzl "founded the Jewish state," as he wrote in his diary. His words and the actions of the Zionist movement to restore Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel after 2,000 years in exile, and to transform the Jewish people into a nation like all the others, electrified the Diaspora. 

Forty years later, on November 29 1947, more than two thirds of members of the United Nations agreed. They voted to approve the plan to create two states – one for the Jews, and one for the Arabs. But the Arabs refused, launching a campaign of terror, followed in May 1948 by a full scale invasion. And after they were defeated, they adopted a political strategy by exploiting the plight of the refugees and inventing the "right of return" mythology, (aided by the United Nations) as a means of seeking to reverse the outcome.

Sixty years have passed, and this rejectionism remains in place. At times, its expression has been muted for tactical reasons, particularly following Arab military defeats, in order to allow time for recovery and planning for the next assault on Israel. After the 1967 war, the language shifted to condemnations of settlements and "occupation", but the goal did not change, as restated by the Arab leaders meeting in Khartoum.  In 1993, Yassir Arafat and his PLO movement seemed to accept Israel's legitimacy by appearing in public with Prime Minister Rabin and signing letters of mutual recognition. But Arafat's intention was entirely different, and he clung to the 1947 policies by repeating the language of rejectionism, and avoiding changes in the refugee myths.

The Arab and Moslem rejectionists cultivated allies among intellectuals, radical academics, journalists, political leaders and activists, and
antisemites, particularly in Britain and Europe, but also in North America and elsewhere. The 1975 United Nations resolution declaring "Zionism is racism" was one expression of this rejectionism, and it was repeated in the NGO Forum of the UN's 2001 Durban conference, which included "respected groups" such as Human Rights Watch. This goal is also behind the boycotts of Israeli universities, publicity on the BBC and elsewhere for the "one state solution" (meaning the elimination of Israel as a Jewish state), "apartheid week" activities at universities, and the barrage of false claims of "war crimes", human rights violations, and "collective punishment".  

Such campaigns are central to the obsessive efforts to deny the Jewish people the right to national self-determination. For some leaders of the Anglican Church in the UK, Catholic theologians, and others, this objective reflects antisemitism, in the form of replacement theology, which views the Exile of the Jewish people is a form of divine punishment. For them, the return of the Jews to the world stage, and sovereign equality with the Christian nations of Europe is unacceptable, regardless of boundaries, policies and other details. Others reflect the "Lawrence of Arabia syndrome", patronizing the Arabs as compensation for the sins of colonialism, particularly under the British. The efforts of both groups have intensified as they understood that Israel is not simply going to fade away in a few years, as many had expected.

In response, Israelis have started to demand explicit public and unambiguous acceptance as a Jewish state, reflecting Jewish culture, holidays, language, etc., just as France is French, Italy is Italian, Iran is Islamic, etc. Fourteen years after the exuberance of Oslo, with the renewal of peace talks at the Annapolis meeting, Prime Minister Olmert put the recognition of the right of the Jews to sovereign equality squarely on the table. Unless the Palestinians, the Saudi leadership, Bashar Assad's regime in Syria, and others who claim to be interested in peace end their campaigns to delegitimize Israel, the conflict will continue.  Similarly, as long as the demonization continues in the United Nations, and has strong support in the UK and Europe, these governments cannot be considered to be serious partners in peace efforts. 
 

Prof. Gerald M. Steinberg is chairman of the Political Studies department at Bar Ilan University, and Executive Director of NGO Monitor.
Published in the Canadian Jewish News, 20 December 2007 
http://www.cjnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13737&Itemid=86  

Winograd rapport over 2de Libanon Oorlog komt 30 jan. uit

Anderhalf jaar na de Tweede Libanon Oorlog komt dan binnenkort eindelijk het definitieve Winograd rapport uit. Naar aanleiding van een voorlopig rapport van april vorig jaar zijn de chef staf van het leger en verschillende anderen uit leger- en veiligheidstop opgestapt. Hoewel de commissie Winograd niet de bevoegdheid heeft om mensen te ontslaan, zal een negatief rapport de druk op Olmert om af te treden doen toenemen. Hij heeft al gezegd daar hoe dan ook geen gehoor aan te willen geven.

 

-------------------

 

Last update - 14:21 06/01/2008

Lebanon war probe to be released on January 30

By Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondent
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/942048.html

 

 

The Winograd Commission probing the conduct of the Second Lebanon War announced on Sunday that it would present its final conclusions on Wednesday, January 30.

The panel also said it would send the findings to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert prior to a final release to the public.

The committee, chaired by retired Justice Eliyahu Winograd, was formed to investigate the conduct of the Israel Defense Forces and the political echelon during the Second Lebanon War.
 
A preliminary report was issued by the committee in April and contained harsh criticism of Olmert, former defense minister Amir Peretz and former IDF chief of staff Dan Halutz.

It also outlined a series of failures on the part of the Home Front Command.

The commission does not have formal authority to fire anyone, but a damaging report could put pressure on Olmert and others to step down.

The report will cap a 17-month investigation into the war, which broke out July 12, 2006 when Hezbollah guerrillas killed three soldiers and captured two others in a cross-border raid.

In 34 days of fighting, Israel failed to secure the return of the captured soldiers or to prevent Hezbollah guerrillas from firing nearly 4,000 rockets into Israel.

Soldiers returning from the battle front complained of poor preparations, conflicting orders and shortages of food and supplies.

Between 1,035 and 1,191 Lebanese civilians and combatants were killed in the fighting, as were 119 Israeli soldiers and 40 civilians, according to official figures from the two sides.

Olmert managed to fend off calls for his resignation immediately after the war and after the release of the interim report. His critics have become more muted in recent months as Olmert steps up peace efforts with the Palestinians.

A week and a half ago, Olmert stated that he did not intend to resign regardless of what the committee's findings entail. He added that he would respond to the report's findings during the appropriate time and place.

In response to Olmert's statements, Moshe Muscal of the Forum of Bereaved Families said that if the prime minister, "does not resign after the release of the report, we, the bereaved families must force him to do so. We will mount a struggle to force him from office and bring elections."

 

Zelfmoordterroriste onder 3 gedode Palestijnse militanten

"Vredesonderhandelingen voeren alsof er geen terrorisme is, en terrorisme bestrijden alsof er geen vredesonderhandelingen zijn", dat was het motto van Rabin tijdens de golf van zelfmoordaanslagen midden jaren '90, waarmee Hamas en co probeerden het Oslo proces te ondergraven.

 

Olmert en Livini zeggen nu ongeveer hetzelfde, maar minder poëtisch:

 

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Monday that Israel would not allow considerations in the peace process to deter it from taking military action against Palestinian militants in the West Bank and Gaza.
In the same vain, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told IDF commanders during a West Bank visit that Israel would press ahead with the fight against terrorism during the period of negotiations with the Palestinians.

 

 

Het is niet meer dan logisch dat je ook tijdens onderhandelingen diegenen blijft bestrijden die het vredesproces proberen te ondermijnen, maar legeroperaties gericht tegen Hamas en Islamitische Jihad worden steevast hard veroordeeld door Abbas. Onder de doden van de laatste operatie was een vrouwelijke zelfmoordterrorist.

----------------------

Last update - 18:38 07/01/2008      

Female suicide bomber among three militants killed by IDF in territories
By Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondent, and Reuters
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/942429.html

Three Palestinian militants were killed Monday by Israel Defense Forces fire in two separate incidents in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Near the West Bank city of Jenin, an IDF reserves force that was manning a roadblock opened fire on a group of approaching militants, killing one of them.

According to the army, troops opened fire when the gunmen had reached a distance of only several dozens meters from the roadblock, and that weapons and ammunition were found on the militant's body.

The other militants fled after troops opened fire.

Earlier Monday, IDF troops shot and killed two armed Palestinians who approached the Erez Crossing in the northern Gaza.

Islamic Jihad said both of the militants were its members, adding that one of them was a female suicide bomber who detonated herself near the border fence.

Also Monday, a Qassam rocket hit the western Negev, landing in an open field in the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council. There were no injuries or damage in the incident.

On Sunday, five IDF soldiers were wounded, one of them moderately, and five Palestinians were killed, in a series of incidents in the Gaza Strip.

The soldiers were hurt by anti-tank missiles fired by militants in two separate incidents during an operation in Bureij. IDF infantry and armored corps troops entered the camp early Sunday morning, penetrating some 1.5-2 kilometers into Palestinian territory.

In the first incident, one soldier was moderately wounded and two others lightly hurt by shrapnel. A short while later, a second missile hit the troops, lightly wounding two soldiers. All five of the soldiers were evacuated by helicopter to Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Monday that Israel would not allow considerations in the peace process to deter it from taking military action against Palestinian militants in the West Bank and Gaza.

In the same vain, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told IDF commanders during a West Bank visit that Israel would press ahead with the fight against terrorism during the period of negotiations with the Palestinians.

Drie jaar na Sasson rapport nog nauwelijks buitenposten ontruimd

De Israëlische vredesorganisatie Peace Now maakt de nederzettingen in de bezette gebieden al jaren tot speerpunt in haar campagnes, omdat deze van Israëlische kant één van de belangrijkste hindernissen voor een vredesovereenkomst vormen, en het radikale deel van de kolonisten (feitelijk een minderheid, maar met bovenmatig veel invloed) tot de voornaamste tegenstanders van een tweestatenoplossing horen.

 

De Oslo akkoorden verboden niet de bouw of uitbreiding van nederzettingen. Ze verboden beide partijen de status van de Westoever en Gazastrook te veranderen, maar dat sloeg op de legale status van de gebieden, niet op bouw- of andere activiteiten. Wel schaadden de voortgaande groei van de nederzettingen en misdragingen van kolonisten het vertrouwen van de Palestijnse bevolking in het Oslo proces, en ze deden ook het internationale aanzien van Israël geen goed.

Met name de ruim honderd zogenaamde 'buitenposten' die sinds 1996 werden gesticht (variërend van enkele caravans tot hele dorpen) zijn ook volgens de Israëlische wet illegaal, maar er zijn tot nu toe, ondanks herhaalde beloften dit wel te doen, slechts enkele van ontruimd.

 

Minister Ehud Barak heeft al bij zijn aantreden het uitgeven van bouwvergunningen voor de bestaande nederzettingen bevroren. Hij probeert al een tijdje tot overeenstemming te komen met de organisatie van kolonisten, de Yesha Council, om een deel van de buitenposten vrijwillig te ontruimen, maar het zal moeilijk zijn de kolonisten daarachter te krijgen.

 

 

Wouter

_____________________

 

Haaretz / Jan. 6, 2007

Three years after Sasson, over 100 outposts remain
By Nadav Shragai
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/942090.html

There are more than 100 unauthorized settlement outposts in the West Bank, but less than half are due to be evacuated under former prime minister Ariel Sharon's promise to U.S. President George W. Bush.

Sharon promised only to evacuate outposts established after March 2001. According to the Defense Ministry, there are about 25 such outposts; Peace Now puts the number at around 50.

Some 3,000 people currently live in unauthorized outposts. Since 2002, 31 outposts have been evacuated, but about half of these were unpopulated.

According to Peace Now, 75 outposts are built at least partly on private Palestinian land. The Yesha Council of settlements claims that only a handful of outposts are built on Palestinian land, and that "a legal solution could be found for 98 percent of the outposts."

About 80 percent of all outposts were built east of the separation fence - 112 out of 156 (the latter figure includes the 31 that have since been dismantled).

Creating a Jewish presence

Most of these outposts were built either along major roads or on high points that dominate the surrounding territory. Some were established to create territorial contiguity among isolated settlements; others were meant to create a Jewish presence in largely Palestinian areas to prevent them from being transferred to the Palestinian Authority.

According to reports by both the defense establishment and Peace Now, 35 outposts have expanded over the last six months, either through the construction of new permanent housing or the addition of new caravans. In total, this expansion consisted of 35 mobile homes and 10 permanent houses.

The Israel Defense Forces has issued "delimiting orders" against 13 outposts in recent years, but of these, only three have been evacuated. In response to a petition to the High Court of Justice by Peace Now, the Defense Ministry promised to evacuate six others, but this never happened. The organization petitioned the court again and asked it to order their immediate evacuation; that petition is still pending.

Meanwhile, Defense Minister Ehud Barak has been negotiating with the Yesha Council for months in an effort to reach an agreement under which some outposts built since March 2001 would be voluntarily evacuated. Others would be relocated, and still others would remain in place for now.

Bases instead of outposts

In a few cases, evacuated outposts would be replaced by military bases. But the council wants any such deal to include legalizing outposts that are relocated or remain in place, whereas Barak refuses to legalize any of them.

Barak's associates say his main objection to legalizing the outposts is that if Israel eventually evacuates most of the West Bank under an agreement with the Palestinians, the outpost residents would have to be compensated like other settlers, even though the outposts were originally established illegally.

But the Yesha Council claims that almost all outposts were established with the approval of ministers and army officers, so their residents might be able to obtain compensation anyway.

It bases this argument in part on attorney Talia Sasson's report on the outposts, which was commissioned by Sharon's government. Sasson found that the creation of most outposts was facilitated by "certain government agencies, public agencies and regional councils in Judea and Samaria."

Even if Barak and the Yesha Council reach an agreement, however, there is no guarantee that all the settlers will accept it. The disengagement from Gaza in 2005 greatly weakened the council's status among the settlers, and many individuals and organizations no longer accept its authority.

Pentagon islam expert Coughlin ontslagen

De strijd om ideeën wordt niet alleen gevoerd tussen het Westen (spreek: de VS) en de Arabische wereld, maar ook binnen het Pentagon. Als Stephen Coughlin inderdaad vanwege zijn felle kritiek op de Moslim Broederschap is ontslagen, en niet omdat hij zijn werk niet goed doet of omdat hij foutieve informatie verspreidde, is dat een zeer slecht teken.

 

 

Ratna

------------

 

Inside the Ring - Coughlin sacked

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080104/NATION04/410150204/1008

January 4, 2008

By Bill Gertz

 

 

Stephen Coughlin, the Pentagon specialist on Islamic law and Islamist extremism, has been fired from his position on the military's Joint Staff. The action followed a report in this space last week revealing opposition to his work for the military by pro-Muslim officials within the office of Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England.

Mr. Coughlin was notified this week that his contract with the Joint Staff will end in March, effectively halting the career of one of the U.S. government's most important figures in analyzing the nature of extremism and ultimately preparing to wage ideological war against it.

He had run afoul of a key aide to Mr. England, Hasham Islam, who confronted Mr. Coughlin during a meeting several weeks ago when Mr. Islam sought to have Mr. Coughlin soften his views on Islamist extremism.

Mr. Coughlin was accused directly by Mr. Islam of being a Christian zealot or extremist "with a pen," according to defense officials. Mr. Coughlin appears to have become one of the first casualties in the war of ideas with Islamism.

The officials said Mr. Coughlin was let go because he had become "too hot" or controversial within the Pentagon.

Misguided Pentagon officials, including Mr. Islam and Mr. England, have initiated an aggressive "outreach" program to U.S. Muslim groups that critics say is lending credibility to what has been identified as a budding support network for Islamist extremists, including front groups for the radical Muslim Brotherhood.

Mr. Coughlin wrote a memorandum several months ago based on documents made public in a federal trial in Dallas that revealed a covert plan by the Muslim Brotherhood, an Egyptian-origin Islamist extremist group, to subvert the United States using front groups. Members of one of the identified front groups, the Islamic Society of North America, has been hosted by Mr. England at the Pentagon.

After word of the confrontation between Mr. Coughlin and Mr. Islam was made public, support for Mr. Coughlin skyrocketed among those in and out of government who feared the worst, namely that pro-Muslim officials in the Pentagon were after Mr. Coughlin's scalp, and that his departure would be a major setback for the Pentagon's struggling efforts to develop a war of ideas against extremism. Blogs lit up with hundreds of postings, some suggesting that Mr. England's office is "penetrated" by the enemy in the war on terrorism.

Kevin Wensing, a spokesman for Mr. England, said "no one in the deputy's office had any input into this decision" by the Joint Staff to end Mr. Coughlin's contract. A Joint Staff spokesman had no immediate comment.

• Bill Gertz covers national security affairs. He can be reached at 202/636-3274, or at InsideTheRing@washingtontimes.com.

Arabisch antisemitisme beschreven in "Seeds of Hate" door Matthias Küntzel

In de Arabische wereld werden Joden vroeger gezien als een minderwaardig, te minachten volk, terwijl zij tegenwoordig, in navolging van het Westerse antisemitisme, worden afgeschilderd als machtig en uit zijnde op overheersing en rijkdom ten koste van anderen.   

 

The question is not only why, of course, but how: how did these ideas, especially those that portray Jews as all-powerful, work their way into modern-day Islamist discourse? The notion of the Jew as malevolently omnipotent is not a traditional Muslim notion. Jews do not come off well in the Koran — they connive and scheme and reject the message of the Prophet Muhammad — but they are shown to be, above all else, defeated. Muhammad, we read, conquered the Jews in battle and set them wandering. In subsequent centuries Jews lived among Muslims, and it is true that their experience was generally healthier than that of their brethren in Christendom, but only so long as they knew their place; they were ruled and taxed as second-class citizens and were often debased by statute. In the Jim Crow Middle East, no one believed the Jews were in control.

 

Matthias Küntzel probeert daar een antwoord op te geven in zijn boek "Jihad and Jew-Hatred; Islamism, Nazism and the Roots of 9/11". Hieronder een boekbespreking door Jeffrey Goldberg uit de New York Times.

Het is verbluffend hoe weinig aandacht dit onderwerp krijgt, en vooral ook hoe weinig verontwaardiging het oproept, buiten de kring van "islam bashers" die het vaak gebruiken als een van de vele stokken om de islam mee te slaan.

 

Still, Küntzel is right to state that we are witnessing a terrible explosion of anti-Jewish hatred in the Middle East, and he is right to be shocked. His invaluable contribution, in fact, is his capacity to be shocked, by the rhetoric of hate and by its consequences. The former Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi once told me that "the question is not what the Germans did to the Jews, but what the Jews did to the Germans." The Jews, he said, deserved their punishment. Küntzel argues that we should see men like Rantisi for what they are: heirs to the mufti, and heirs to the Nazis.

 

 

Ratna
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Seeds of Hate
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/books/review/Goldberg-t.html?em&ex=1199595600&en=148789959493e69b&ei=5087%0A

By JEFFREY GOLDBERG
Published: January 6, 2008

 

One day in Damascus not long ago, I visited the understocked gift shop of the Sheraton Hotel, looking for something to read. There wasn't much: pre-owned Grishams, a hagiography of Hafez al-Assad, an early Bill O'Reilly (go figure) and a paperback copy of "The International Jew," published in 2000 in Beirut. "The International Jew" is a collection of columns exposing the putative role of Jews in such fields as international finance, world governance and bootlegging. "Wherever the seat of power may be, thither they swarm obsequiously," the book states. These columns, which are based on the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" — they are a plagiary of a forgery, in other words — were first published in Henry Ford's Dearborn Independent more than 80 years ago.

 

Next to "The International Jew" was a copy of "The Bible Came From Arabia," a piece of twaddle that suggests the Jews are not Jews and Israel isn't Israel. And then there was a pamphlet called "Secrets of the Talmud." Not knowing these secrets (I was raised Reform), I started reading. The Talmud apparently teaches Jews how best to demolish the world economy and gives Jews the right to take non-Jewish women as slaves and rape them.

 

The anti-Semitic worldview, generally speaking, is fantastically stupid. If its propagandists actually understood the chosen people, they would know, for instance, that no one, not the chief of Mossad, not even the president of Hadassah, could persuade 4,000 Jews to stay home from the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. ("And why should I listen to you?" would have been the near-universal rebuttal to the call.) Anti-Semitic conspiracy literature not only posits crude and senseless ideas, but also tends to be riddled with typos, repetitions and gross errors of grammar, and for this and other reasons I occasionally have trouble taking it seriously.

 

The German scholar Matthias Küntzel tells us this is a mistake. He takes anti-Semitism, and in particular its most potent current strain, Muslim anti-Semitism, very seriously indeed. His bracing, even startling, book, "Jihad and Jew-Hatred" (translated by Colin Meade), reminds us that it is perilous to ignore idiotic ideas if these idiotic ideas are broadly, and fervently, believed. And across the Muslim world, the very worst ideas about Jews — intricate, outlandish conspiracy theories about their malevolent and absolute power over world affairs — have become scandalously ubiquitous. Hezbollah and Hamas, to name two prominent examples, understand the world largely through the prism of Jewish power. Hezbollah officials employ language that shamelessly echoes Nazi propaganda, describing Jews as parasites and tumors and prescribing the murder of Jews as a kind of chemotherapy.

 

The question is not only why, of course, but how: how did these ideas, especially those that portray Jews as all-powerful, work their way into modern-day Islamist discourse? The notion of the Jew as malevolently omnipotent is not a traditional Muslim notion. Jews do not come off well in the Koran — they connive and scheme and reject the message of the Prophet Muhammad — but they are shown to be, above all else, defeated. Muhammad, we read, conquered the Jews in battle and set them wandering. In subsequent centuries Jews lived among Muslims, and it is true that their experience was generally healthier than that of their brethren in Christendom, but only so long as they knew their place; they were ruled and taxed as second-class citizens and were often debased by statute. In the Jim Crow Middle East, no one believed the Jews were in control.

 

Obviously, then, these modern-day ideas about Jewish power were imported from Europe, and Küntzel makes a bold and consequential argument: the dissemination of European models of anti-Semitism among Muslims was not haphazard, but an actual project of the Nazi Party, meant to turn Muslims against Jews and Zionism. He says that in the years before World War II, two Muslim leaders in particular willingly and knowingly carried Nazi ideology directly to the Muslim masses. They were Haj Amin al-Husseini, the mufti of Jerusalem, and the Egyptian proto-Islamist Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood. The story of the mufti is a familiar one: he was the leader of the Arabs in Palestine, and Palestine's leading anti-Jewish agitator. He eventually embraced the Nazis and spent most of the war in Berlin, recruiting Bosnian Muslims for the SS and agitating for the harshest possible measures against Jews. Küntzel writes that the mufti became upset with Himmler in 1943, when he sought to trade 5,000 Jewish children for 20,000 German prisoners. Himmler came around to the mufti's thinking, and the children were gassed.

 

Hassan al-Banna did not embrace Nazism in the same uncomplicated manner, but through the 1930s, his movement, aided by the Germans, led the drive against not only political Zionism but Jews in general. "This burgeoning Islamist movement was subsidized with German funds," Küntzel writes. "These contributions enabled the Muslim Brotherhood to set up a printing plant with 24 employees and use the most up-to-date propaganda methods." The Muslim Brotherhood, Küntzel goes on, was a crucial distributor of Arabic translations of "Mein Kampf" and the "Protocols." Across the Arab world, he states, Nazi methods and ideology whipped up anti-Zionist fervor, and the effects of this concerted campaign are still being felt today.

 

Küntzel marshals impressive evidence to back his case, but he sometimes oversimplifies. One doesn't have to be soft on Germany to believe it was organic Muslim ideas as well as Nazi ideas that led to the spread of anti-Semitism in the Middle East. In his effort to blame Germany for Muslim anti-Semitism, he overreaches. "While Khomeini was certainly not an acolyte of Hitler, it is not unreasonable to suppose that his anti-Jewish outlook ... had been shaped during the 1930s," Küntzel says, citing, in a footnote, an article he himself wrote. He also oversimplifies the Israeli-Arab conflict. Jews today have actual power in the Middle East, and Israel is not innocent of excess and cruelty.

 

Still, Küntzel is right to state that we are witnessing a terrible explosion of anti-Jewish hatred in the Middle East, and he is right to be shocked. His invaluable contribution, in fact, is his capacity to be shocked, by the rhetoric of hate and by its consequences. The former Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi once told me that "the question is not what the Germans did to the Jews, but what the Jews did to the Germans." The Jews, he said, deserved their punishment. Küntzel argues that we should see men like Rantisi for what they are: heirs to the mufti, and heirs to the Nazis.

 

Jeffrey Goldberg is a national correspondent for The Atlantic and the author of "Prisoners: A Muslim and a Jew Across the Middle East Divide."


JIHAD AND JEW-HATRED
Islamism, Nazism and the Roots of 9/11.
By Matthias Küntzel.
Translated by Colin Meade.
180 pp. Telos Press Publishing. $29.95.
First Chapter: 'Jihad and Jew-Hatred' (January 5, 2008)

Israël en PA eens over agenda voor onderhandelingen

Men lijkt vooral afspraken te hebben gemaakt over hoe afspraken te gaan maken, oftewel welke mensen in welke commisies welke onderwerpen gaan bespreken. En daar werden ze het zowaar over eens. Een hele doorbraak.

_______________________________________

Israel, PA to form panel to negotiate core issues
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent

 

Last update - 08:10 06/01/2008
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/941836.html

Israel and the Palestinians will negotiate the core issues of their conflict in a special committee to be headed by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qureia.

Negotiations over the core issues - refugees, Jerusalem and borders - will begin after U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to the region this week, while the remaining issues will be discussed in other committees.

The agreement being finalized between Livni and Qureia changes the format of negotiations over the core issues which, until talks stopped in 2001, were discussed in three different committees.

A senior political source said Saturday that the special committee will allow the two sides to engage in a real dialogue. "This way it will be possible to carry out negotiations without pressure - neither political nor through leaks - and we will be able to make more progress," the source added.

Bush is due to arrive in the region on Wednesday at the start of an eight-day visit which aims, according to the White House, to bolster American allies in the Middle East.

The U.S. president will visit Israel and the Palestinian Authority and will then leave for Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

In addition to the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, Bush will hold talks with the heads of the countries he will visit on Iraq, regional security and economic relations.

Since the Annapolis conference in late November, in which Israel and the PA pledged to strive for a final-status agreement within a year, talks between the two sides have been low-key with no progress evident. The sense of an impasse intensified following contentious meetings regarding continued Israeli construction in settlements and in East Jerusalem.

However, Haaretz has learned that Livni and Qureia have achieved significant progress during a number of meetings that did not receive media attention. For example, during a meeting last Wednesday the two agreed in principle that the negotiations would be held on three levels.

At the top level, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would continue to meet every two weeks and focus on monitoring the progress in the negotiations, while they serve to break deadlocks in the negotiating committees. Livni briefed Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak on this agreement.

The second level would include the main committee, in which Livni and Qureia will coordinate negotiations on the core issues. The two sides have not yet agreed on which of the issues will be discussed first. The meetings will be between Livni and Qureia, and possibly some aides will be included.

The third tier will include subcommittees, which will be created to negotiate every other issue.

In parallel the two sides will discuss matters that will affect a final-status agreement, through various committees. Central to the discussion will be issues such as security, its implementation, road map obligations, disarmament, the deployment of a multinational force and dividing airspace.

The committee on security issues is likely to be headed by the chief of the Political-Security Department at the Defense Ministry, Major General (res.) Amos Gilad, and Palestinian Interior Minister Abd al-Razek al-Yihiye.

Hamasleider Meshaal bereid met Abbas te praten, niet met Israël

Weer een aanbod van Hamas om met Abbas te gaan praten, maar het is duidelijk dat er geen sprake is van enige matiging van Hamas' zijde: de Zionistische vijand moet worden verslagen, Abbas verkwanselt Palestijnse belangen en zijn regering moet vertrekken.

 

"No Arab country has asked Hamas to give up on the current situation in Gaza," Meshaal said, adding the government of Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad should "go."

 

Integendeel, Egypte en Saoedi-Arabië legitimeren de Hamas regering door er deals mee te sluiten, op te roepen tot een einde aan de boycot van Hamas en tot Palestijnse eenheid. Een krachtig signaal van de Arabische staten voor Abbas en tegen Hamas zou waarschijnlijk meer impact hebben dan het standpunt van de VS en andere Westerse landen.

 

 

Ratna
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Hamas ready for unconditional talks with Abbas: Meshaal
http://www.africasia.com/services/news/newsitem.php?area=mideast&item=080104215642.dewwsbve.php

 

The exiled political chief of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement reiterated in a Friday speech he was ready to talk unconditionally with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

"We are ready for an unconditional dialogue in which all issues will be discussed, including that of bringing forward elections. I say to the leaders of Fatah that our differences are political," Khaled Meshaal said, in a speech in Damascus on the 20th anniversary of the founding of Hamas.

On Monday, Abbas said he wanted to "open a new page" with Hamas if it gave up control of the Gaza Strip, which it took forcibly in mid-June last year from forces loyal to the secular Palestinian president.

The following day, senior Hamas official Mahmud Zahar said the movement welcomed dialogue, but he adamantly rejected the conditions Abbas set for talks aimed at halting the factional struggle.

"No Arab country has asked Hamas to give up on the current situation in Gaza," Meshaal said, adding the government of Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad should "go."

"Our people must stop this government from selling off Palestinian interests," he added of the administration that in effect governs in the West Bank only, and accused it of hounding Hamas members.

"Hamas will resist until the last Israeli soldier leaves Palestinian soil," Meshaal said. "This is a strategic choice. Resistance will continue -- no one can stop it."
He denied there had been contacts between the Islamist movement and "the Zionists who are our enemies," and said Hamas had turned down a European proposal for such a meeting to discuss ways of calming the situation.

"Gaza is starving and surrounded but it is still resisting," Meshaal said. He called upon "Arab leaders to take a courageous decision in order to lift the embargo" on the impoverished territory.

The Islamist leader also said an Israeli soldier seized by Gaza militant groups in a cross-border raid on June 15, 2006, would not be freed unilaterally.
"We will not free Gilad Shalit unless our prisoners are released" by Israel, he said.

Ahmed Jibril, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command (PFLP-GC) and representatives of other Damascus-based Palestinian militant movements also attended Friday's meeting marking the Hamas anniversary.

Israël wil Rafah grensovergang weer onder controle krijgen

Sinds Egypte keer op keer overeenkomsten met Israël schendt en halfhartig optreedt tegen de wapensmokkel vanuit de Sinai, is dit een alleszins redelijk verzoek. Uiteraard zullen Egypte en Hamas heftig protesteren tegen een dergelijke "vernederende" maatregel, de laatste waarschijnlijk niet alleen met woorden.

 

 

Ratna

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Report: Israel seeks to regain control of Rafah crossing
London-based al-Quds al-Arabi reports Israel sent letters to Washington, EU requesting permission to establish military base on Gaza-Egypt border, place control over Rafah crossing in hands of international monitors

Roee Nahmias YNET Published: 01.05.08, 16:26 / Israel News
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3490564,00.html

Israel has asked the United States' approval to recapture the Rafah crossing on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, European sources told London-based Arabic newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi.

The paper reported Saturday that Israel has sent letters to Washington and to the EU's headquarters in Brussels protesting Egypt's decision to allow hundreds of Palestinian pilgrims to return to the Gaza Strip last Wednesday, without being subjected to security checks by the Israeli army.

In the letter, Israel demanded that the current status quo on the Gaza-Egypt border be changed, and that Israel would be allowed to set up a military base in the area. Israel also demanded that control over the Rafah crossing would be placed in the hands of international monitors.

Egypt enabled hundreds of Palestinians to enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing this week, despite an earlier understanding with Israel that the pilgrims would enter through the Kerem Shalom crossing, and undergo security checks by the IDF.

Israel's insistence stemmed from concerns that some of the Palestinians returning from Saudi Arabia might be senior terror operatives, or Hamas officials attempting to smuggle large sums of money into the Strip.

Shin Bet rapport over terrorisme in 2007

Shin Beth telde 2.946 terroristische aanvallen tegen Israël in 2007. Dat is inclusief alle aanvallen met raketten en mortiergranaten, maar exclusief de vele verijdelde aanslagen en door Israël voor gebruik vernietigde explosieven, raketten en ander wapentuig.

(Zie ook eerdere berichten in Ynet en Haaretz)

__________________________________________

Security & Defense: Future Tense

Yaakov Katz , THE JERUSALEM POST

Jan. 3, 2008
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1198517288697&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

It wasn't that terrorists didn't try last year; they simply didn't succeed. Take a look at the statistics: In 2007, Palestinians carried out 2,946 terror attacks against Israel, nine fewer than in 2006, and 127 fewer than in 2005. Kassam rocket attacks stayed around the same number, with one significant difference - the amount of mortar fire, which jumped from 55 shells last year to a whopping 1,511 in 2007.

In spite of these attacks, a relatively low number of Israelis - 13, to be exact - were killed in them. This is due in part to the significant drop in suicide bombings; only one was successfully carried out in 2007, in comparison to six in 2006 and 60 four years earlier.

These statistics and others were released on New Year's Eve by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) as part of a report titled "Palestinian Terrorism - Statistics and Trends in 2007."

Though the report does not provide assessments or conclusions about the survivability of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, for example, it does strongly hint at the likelihood that terrorism will increase in 2008, particularly in the absence of a diplomatic breakthrough. Defense officials have predicted that despite the ongoing peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, the chances of reaching a deal by the end of the year, as the US is pushing for, are slim to nil.

According to the report, the main source of Palestinian terrorism is in the Gaza Strip, where Hamas is basically unimpeded in its military buildup. This is demonstrated in three ways.

First is the continued smuggling of weapons from Egypt into Gaza. According to the Shin Bet, more than 130 tons of explosives have been smuggled into Gaza since Israel's 2005 unilateral withdrawal - more than 80 tons of which have entered since Hamas's violent takeover of the Strip in June. Because of this, the Air Force fears that Hamas has gotten its hands on anti-aircraft shoulder-to-air missiles. As a result - as was reported in The Jerusalem Post this week - only helicopters equipped with missile defense systems are being allowed to fly over Gaza.

The second aspect of the Hamas military buildup is the tunnel and bunker system extending throughout Gaza.

The third element has to do with the makeup of the Hamas military. No longer a medium-sized terrorist group responsible for suicide bombings and shooting attacks, Hamas has turned into a full-fledged army, with brigades, battalions and special forces.

THE ASSESSMENT for the coming year is that not much will change in Gaza, particularly if it remains under Hamas control, and not that of Abbas.
Meanwhile, the defense establishment is divided on the question of what needs to be done there.

OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Yoav Galant and commander of the Gaza Division Brig.-Gen. Moshe "Chico" Tamir are the proponents of a large-scale operation aimed at destroying or weakening Hamas. Defense Minister Ehud Barak has also repeatedly said that it is only a "matter of time" before such an operation is launched.

On the other side is IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.- Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, who - contrary to popular belief - is not in favor of a massive invasion into Gaza.

There are a number of reasons for hesitation, foremost among them the timing: It is a little over a month since the Annapolis peace summit, two weeks after the beginning of negotiations with the Palestinians and only days before US President George W. Bush makes his historic visit to Jerusalem. A large-scale operation in Gaza, officials say, would be unwise at this juncture.

Another reason for caution is the risk involved in a large-scale operation.
First of all, there is the question of the "day after."

If Israel invades Gaza to cleanse it of Hamas while Abbas is still not capable of taking control, Israel would have to reoccupy Gaza, which is the last thing it wants.

Secondly, though an operation in Gaza would be limited in scope and time, it would not be "in and out."

To really hurt Hamas and impair its ability to launch attacks, IDF troops would have to enter deep into the densely populated and heavily built-up Palestinian territory to hunt down terrorist suspects, Kassam manufacturing plants and weapons caches. Troops would also most likely have to take up positions along the Philadelphi Corridor in southern Gaza, where dozens of tunnels are used for the smuggling of weapons and explosives.

All of this would mean heavy casualties on the Israeli side. Some defense officials even predict that the number could surpass the 119 soldiers killed in the Second Lebanon War. As a result, Ashkenazi today prefers a different approach - a complete disengagement from the territory, including the closure of all the crossings, as well as a full stopping of the delivery of fuel and electricity.

THE SITUATION in Judea and Samaria is slightly different. Though, according to defense establishment assessments, Hamas is just as strong in the West Bank as it is in Gaza - particularly when it comes to the social services it provides - the IDF's freedom of movement and operations there is serving as the sole obstacle to the terror group's ability to overthrow Abbas.

And though Israelis have indeed been killed over the past year there - such as off-duty soldiers David Rubin and Ahikam Amihai, who were gunned down during a hike near Hebron last Friday - the IDF and the Shin Bet have basically prevented all attempts by terror groups to infiltrate Israeli cities and perpetrate suicide bombings. This is in comparison to five years ago, when 62 attacks in Israel originating in the West Bank claimed the lives of 234 Israelis.

IDF units operate daily in West Bank cities. In Nablus alone during the past year, dozens of terror laboratories were uncovered, hundreds of suspects were arrested and the city's Islamic Jihad infrastructure was severely weakened through the killing of nine of its senior operatives and the arrest of an additional 11.