vrijdag 18 juli 2008

Palestijnse Autoriteit bejubelt Samir Kuntar als held

 
Niet alleen Hamas, maar ook Fatah - dat officiëel met Israël vredesonderhandelingen voert en het geweld heeft afgezworen - eert de vrijgelaten Hezbollah terroristen als helden:
 
Hani Al-Masri, writer and political commentator:
"This deal includes heroes, like Samir Kuntar, who committed heroic acts, in which Jews and soldiers were killed."
 
Dit is, net als de beschuldigingen dat Israël medische experimenten op gevangenen uitvoert en al die andere beschuldigingen en al die eerdere keren dat de ergste terroristen als helden werden beschreven, niet goed voor het vertrouwen tussen Israël en de Palestijnse Autoriteit. Helaas wordt de PA nooit of zeer zelden door Nederland of andere EU landen op dit soort zaken aangesproken, en lijken voor de EU de enige obstakels voor vrede de Israëlische nederzettingen te zijn, de 'muur' en de checkpoints.
 
RP
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Bulletin  July 17, 2008
PA lauds mass murderers as heroes
Samir Kuntar - crushed the head of four-year-old Eynat Haran
Dalal Mughrabi - led a bus hijacking killing 37
 
By Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook
 
According to the Palestinian Authority and Fatah, Samir Kuntar and Dalal Mughrabi epitomize the ideal heroic Palestinians.
 
Kuntar, who crushed the head of four-year-old Eynat Haran with his rifle and was serving four life sentences for murder in an Israeli prison, was freed yesterday in exchange for the bodies of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, Israeli soldiers kidnapped in 2006.

Dalal Mughrabi led a 1978 bus hijacking that was the worst terror attack in Israel's history. Thirty seven vacationers, including 12 children, were murdered. Her body was released to Lebanon as part of the exchange.

PA TV and newspapers controlled by PA president Mahmoud Abbas have had hours of broadcasting and songs in recent days, honoring the two terrorists as heroes of the Palestinians.  As reported both on PA TV and in newspapers, Abbas "congratulated yesterday's exchange of prisoner and bodies of Martyrs.  The president sent blessings to Samir Kuntar's family." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 17, 2008; PA TV, July 17, 2008]
 
Besides bludgeoning Eynat Haran to death with rocks and his rifle, Kuntar killed her father and was responsible for the death of her infant sister. He also killed two policemen in the 1979 attack in Nahariya.
 
The following are examples from the PA press:
"(Official Fatah spokesman Ahmad Abdul Rahman) said that the Fatah movement sends warm blessings to Hizbullah, to all the resistance [terror forces - Ed.], and to the Lebanese nation, and the Palestinians for their historic victory over the Israeli arrogance in their victorious July War, [2006 Lebanese War].
 
"And on the return of the heroes of freedom, the heroes and the Martyrs, headed by the great Samir Kuntar and the Martyr fighter Dalal Mughrabi, who led the most glorified Sacrifice action in the history of the Palestinian-Israeli struggle. [Editors' note: Her bus hijacking was the worst terror attack in Israel's history. Thirty seven Israeli vacationers, including 12 children, were murdered.] 
 
"He emphasized that the Fatah party... vows to the Palestinian people that Fatah will continue to struggle in the way of the pure Martyrs, until the state is liberated and the Palestinian state is established with Jerusalem as the capital. The Fatah movement turns on this day, that abounds with sincere blessings to Hizbullah ...
 
"The battle against the theft of Palestine is the battle of all the fighters and all the Arab nations.  Blessings to the free heroes and their head, the heroic fighter Samir Kuntar, and blessings to the spirit of the heroic Dalal Mughrabi and to the friends of the heroes."
 
"President Mahmud Abbas congratulated yesterday's exchange of prisoners and bodies of Martyrs.  The president sent blessings to Samir Kuntar's family."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 17, 2008] 
PA TV host addressing brother of Kuntar: "First of all a thousand blessings, on the release of the heroic leader Samir Kuntar."
[PATV, July 7, 2008]

Hani Al-Masri, writer and political commentator:
"This deal includes heroes, like Samir Kuntar, who committed heroic acts, in which Jews and soldiers were killed."
[PATV, July 5, 2008]
 
PA TV has repeatedly shown this picture of Kuntar and the Palestinian flag in recent days.

[PATV, July 7, 2008]
 
Sign on right: Freedom for Heroic prisoner Samir Al-Kuntar

 [PA Daily, picture from Lebanon, Al-Ayyam, June 30, 2008]

 

Kuntar woont ceremonie bij aan graf Mugniyeh

 
Wie achter de aanslag op Mugniyeh zat is nog niet opgehelderd, maar als Kuntar hem ooit achterna gaat (dwz. de lucht in middels autobom), dan zal daar zeker Israël achter zitten. Israëlische functionarissen hebben hem naar verluid (anoniem) al tot schietschijf verklaard. Het zou werkelijk iedereen behagen, want ook Kuntar zelf sterft graag een martelaarsdood!
 
Wouter
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Lebanon: Kuntar attends ceremony at Mugniyah's grave
 
Detainees released by Israel in framework of prisoner exchange take part in military ceremony at gravesite of assassinated Hizbullah commander. Former member of Kuntar's terror cell: We will return to Palestine one day
Roee Nahmias
Published: 07.17.08, 13:00
 
 
The five Lebanese prisoners freed by Israel in the framework of the exchange deal with Hizbullah, including Samir Kuntar, took part in a military ceremony held at the burial site of Imad Mugniyah, a top commander of the Shiite group who was assassinated in Damascus a few months ago.
 
 
The five wore Hizbullah military uniforms and kissed Mugniyah's family members. The father of the slain commander congratulated Kuntar on his release. The terrorist, who was imprisoned in Israel for nearly 30 years after being convicted of killing four Israelis during a cross-border raid on Nahariya, said in response "we owe this victory to you and Imad.
 
"We swear in the name of the almighty Allah and in the name of your pure blood that we will continue in this path and never give up until we reach the place that was given to you by God," Kuntar said, referring to what is dubbed by Islamic militants as a "martyr's death".
 
Meanwhile, Hizbullah is carrying on with the process of identifying the bodies of the 199 Lebanese and Palestinian gunmen returned by Israel Wednesday.
 
Ahmad el-Abras, who was part of the terror cell that carried out the deadly attack in Nahariya, relayed a message to Kuntar during an interview with Hizbullah's Al-Manar TV. "I'm filled with pride. We will return to Palestine one day, despite what everyone else believes," he said. 

Brief aan het Libanese volk


Ik kan een heel eind meegaan in de Israëlische woede over de Libanezen. De feestvreugde over de vrijlating van kindermoordenaar Kuntar en de 4 Hezbollah strijders lijkt breed verspreid. Heeft dit iets van doen met een Stockholm syndroom? Dit zijn lieden die Libanon in 2 desastreuze oorlogen met Israël getrokken hebben; men zou toch eerder verwachten dat ze in pek en veren het land weer uit gejaagd zouden worden!
 
Een derde Libanonoorlog is helaas al in voorbereiding, en de Libanezen zouden er beter aan doen voor die tijd wat extra afstand te scheppen tussen hun en Hezbollah.
 
Wouter
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Letter to the Lebanese people
 
Uri Orbach writes open letter to people of Lebanon, whose national hero is a child-killer
 
Uri Orbach
Published: 07.17.08, 07:59

 
Israel has no disagreement over borders with you, the Lebanese people, yet we certainly have a big dispute when it comes to your moral boundaries. We identified the bodies of our Udi and Eldad within a few hours. And how about you? For 30 years now you have failed to identify who your Samir Kuntar is.
 
It has been 30 years yet you still cannot distinguish between a national hero and a-child killer. For you, it's enough that someone killed a Jew, even if it happens to be a young girl from Nahariya, in order for you to welcome him with great honor.
 
You are celebrating your "victory" and show contempt to our pain. One more triumph like this and you shall be lost. While going from one victory to the next, you are stuck with your misery and fanaticism.
 
With every proud display and rally for your heroes, you are being taken over the by Hizbullah gang, headed by the cannibal of bodies, Sheikh Nasrallah. The fire coming out of this bramble has been eating up Lebanon's cedars for years now.
 
Nasrallah is a man who reveals his true face even when in hiding; he is the man who also exposes your true face.
 
This is a sad day in Israel, but it holds pain and restraint and pride over what we are: A fortified Jewish wall in the face of the spearhead of the Iranian madness, which is there through your silence and encouragement. The sons have returned to our borders, while the child-killer returned to your borders.
 
We received the bodies with great sorrow, while you joyfully received a villain. Just look at the difference between us.
 

Hamas verhindert verbeteren leefomstandigheden Gazastrook

 
Als zelfs het Palestijnse Ma'an nieuws in staat is ook eens een Israëlisch standpunt te brengen, dan moet de NRC dat toch ook kunnen?? Het zal wel ijdele hoop zijn dat Nir Press, directeur voor de grensovergangen met de Gazastrook, een fair interview krijgt in NRC Handelsblad of een andere Nederlandse kwaliteitskrant.
 
RP
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Ma'an [Palestinian news agency funded by Dutch and Danish foreign ministries]

Director of Liaison office at Erez: Hamas prevented improvement of living conditions in Gaza
 
Date: 15 / 07 / 2008  Time:  15:48
http://www. maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=30570

 
Bethlehem – Ma'an – Hamas prevented the improvement of living conditions in the Gaza Strip after the Israeli disengagement, Director of the Liaison and Coordination office of Gaza crossings, Colonel Nir Press said on Monday.

Speaking to journalists in East Jerusalem, Press expressed his sorrow over developments in the Gaza Strip after the Hamas takeover of the coastal sector in June 2007. "It was the deposed Palestinian government, and not the Israeli government that was behind the deterioration of the situation in the Gaza Strip," he said.

Press is about to end a three-year-stint as Director in charge of the Gaza crossings. He began his posting the day after the Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip. "Both the Palestinians and the Israelis then expected an improvement in economic conditions after disengagement," he said. "5,000 Gazan workers worked in Israel and agricultural exports from the coastal territory saw a noticeable increase, namely strawberries and flowers. During the first year after disengagement, 44 million flowers and 13 tons of strawberry were exported from the Gaza Strip to Europe," Press said.

After the Hamas takeover of Gaza, the situation deteriorated rapidly, according to Press.

"What made things even worse was that crossing points were attacked and targeted with mortar shells and homemade projectiles, given that the crossings were meant to serve Palestinian citizens," he added.

He went on to say, "Personally, I believe that the residents of the Strip should decide how they want to live. We continued with liaison in order to ship basic materials and medicines because we see the residents of the Gaza Strip more as neighbours than enemies."

"The Palestinians must decide – strawberries or Qassams, flowers or mortars," he added.

With regards to power cut in the Gaza Strip due to lack of fuel shipment from Israel, Press said Israel used to provide the Strip with 124 Megawatts, in addition to 17 Megawatts from Egypt and 55-60 produced by the Gaza Strip Electricity generating station. He affirmed that Israel and Egypt did not stop electricity supplies, but the Electricity Generating Station stopped for a few days because of Palestinian attacks on the Nahal 'Oz crossing point through which fuel to run the station is shipped.

Press highlighted that the Hamas de facto government in Gaza has attempted to use this as propaganda. "When the Palestinians refused to receive the quantities of fuel which were available at the Nahal 'Oz terminal, they had a reserve of 800,000 litres of diesel and 188,000 litres of benzene "and despite that they attempted to accuse Israel of creating a disastrous situation in the Gaza Strip," he said.

Regarding the Gaza ceasefire which came into effect on June 19, Press said there has never been complete "calm" as "homemade projectiles and mortar shells are constantly being launched at Israeli targets, and that has a negative effect on the performance of the crossing points and prevents the improvement of living conditions in the Strip."

Despite that, Press pointed out that shipments of goods to the Strip have increased in quantity and quality, pinpointing that the crossing points have been closed several times after shells were launched from the Gaza Strip breaching the ceasefire. He also affirmed that priority was given to goods, which the Palestinian Authority (PA) led by President Mahmoud Abbas, recommends. "Lists are arranged on a daily basis," he said.

Press concluded by saying that he is hopefull that if the Gaza truce continues and captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is released, then life for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip would see a significant improvement.

Deal met Hezbollah zal leiden tot nieuwe ontvoeringen

 
De media berichtten uitgebreid over het feit dat velen in Israël de prijs voor de lichamen van de ontvoerde soldaten wel erg hoog vonden, maar volgens Ami Isseroff moet een deel van de prijs nog betaald worden. Niet alleen zal een dergelijke 'gevangenenruil' (waarin Hezbollah de gevangenen en Israël de lijken kreeg) meer ontvoeringen uitlokken, ook Kuntar en de andere 4 vrijgelaten terroristen kunnen zich nu weer met hun oude hobby gaan bezighouden: Joden vermoorden.
 
RP
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Bodies of Israeli soldiers returned by Hezbollah

The first part of the shameful "prisoner" swap deal is concluded: Bodies to be identified before Israel hands over prisoners.  The Hezbollah, of course, never had any prisoners to swap - just dead bodies. The article notes:
 
"This process exemplifies the IDF's deep moral commitment to making every effort to return soldiers who have been sent on an operational mission," it added. "The process reflects a moral and ethical strength that stems from Jewish tradition, the ethics of Israeli society and the IDF code."

 
Actually, it exemplifies the stupidity and moral bankruptcy of a system gone bad. In the future, Israel will pay a very steep price for those two coffins. We won't know how steep until the next kidnapping, which was invited by this swap. Meanwhile, the Hezbollah can celebrate a big victory.  
 
As Ha'aretz's Tzvi Bar'el observes:
 
Hezbollah has been touting the prisoner exchange deal with Israel as confirmation that the Shi'ite militant group ultimately defeated Israel in the Second Lebanon War, but the swap is at least as much of a Hezbollah victory within Lebanon.
 
"The signatures of Olmert and Peres on the swap means official confirmation of the defeat and failure of the July aggression in the face of the will of the resistance," said Nabil Kaouk, Hezbollah's commander in southern Lebanon.
 
But the swap may be even more significant within Lebanon. Since the end of the war, Hezbollah has been trying hard to prove that even if it was mistaken in its assessment of Israel's response to its abduction of Israeli soldiers, the war had a positive outcome.
Ami Isseroff

donderdag 17 juli 2008

Analyse berichtgeving New York Times over Israël en Palestijnen

 
Nederlandse kranten zouden waarschijnlijk niet beter scoren dan de New York Times. Voor een analyse van een heel jaar zijn de resultaten overigens nogal mager. Heeft men alleen naar de koppen en foto's gekeken of naar meer zaken? Zo ja, was de krant op alle andere punten wel objectief? In dat geval had men dat duidelijk moeten aangeven. Zo nee, waarom is niet naar andere zaken gekeken (onderwerpen, wie komt aan het woord, van wiens perspectief uit wordt er bericht, wordt altijd hoor en wederhoor toegepast, etc.)?
 
RP
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COMMUNIQUE: 16 July 2008
 
The New York Times: A Year-Long Analysis

Does a long term study of the New York Times reveal a bias against Israel?

 

The last HonestReporting long-term analysis of the New York Times was released in November of 2007. At the time, we found that there were several disturbing patterns in how the Times reported events in the Middle East. Our conclusion was that the treatment of Israeli and Palestinian actions was so different, that there could be no question that the reporting was favoring the Palestinians rather than remaining impartial. We highlighted specific cases where headlines dealing with Israeli or Palestinian actions were written in different styles. We also noted that the vast majority of images used by the Times appears reflectively sympathetic to the Palestinians while virtually ignoring the greater context surrounding the conflict.  

We have now concluded a broader survey of the Times. Specifically, we looked at 205 articles between July of 2007 and June of 2008. Using this much larger time frame, we found that our original thesis has only been strengthened. Specifically, when reviewing headlines and photographs, it is clear that there is an inherent bias in New York Times reporting about the conflict that favors the Palestinians.

 

THE NEW YORK TIMES: JULY 2007-JUNE 2008- SUMMARY OF FINDINGS:

  • 82 percent of headlines that introduced articles describing Israeli military operations were written in a direct style in which the words "Israel" or "Israeli Forces" (or a similar phrase) were the subject. In the majority of these cases, no details were given as to whether the casualties were combatants or civilians. An example of this type of headline ran in the Times on January 4, 2008: "Israeli Forces Kill 9 in Gaza."
  • Only 20 percent of headlines that introduced articles describing Palestinian attacks named the group responsible. Most of these headlines were written in a passive, less direct style that removes responsibility of the attack from those who caused it. An example of this type of headline ran on May 13, 2008: "Rocket Fired from Gaza Kills Woman in Southern Israel."
  • 75 percent of the photographs that could be objectively determined as drawing sympathy for one side or the other in the conflict favored the Palestinians. Palestinian casualties of Israeli military operations and pictures of civilians dealing with shortages in Gaza dominated Times coverage during the time period studied. 

FINDINGS IN DEPTH

I. Headlines related to Israeli military operations:

Of the 205 articles we reviewed, 22 dealt primarily with Israeli military operations. In almost all of these, the Times used a consistent style. Israel or a related term ("Israeli Military", "Israeli Forces", etc.) was used as the subject. A strong verb ("kills", "shoots") was used and the object of the sentence was usually the number of casualties listed, often without any other details.

Below are a few examples:

II. Headlines related to Palestinian Attacks:

On the other hand, the Times style for writing headlines concerning Palestinian attacks is markedly different. We found that in only about 20 percent of the cases were those responsible for the attack mentioned in the headline. Much more common was the use of the weapon as the subject of the attack ("Rocket", Suicide Attack").

Below are a few examples of this type of style:

Clearly, none of the Times headlines are untruthful. On a case by case basis, they accurately summarize the events in the accompanying articles. However, when reviewing the numerous headlines used by the Time, there is clearly a pattern that places more weight on Israeli actions than those of the Palestinians. Balanced reporting requires that a consistent style be used no matter who is the initiator of the event. Ascribing the attack to an inanimate object such as a rocket over and over again indicates bias.

III. Photographs

No matter how accurately a news story is written, an accompanying photograph may destroy all objectivity as the reader is emotionally steered away from the facts by a moving image. When images that evoke sympathy for one side in a conflict are shown in far greater numbers than those which capture the anguish and suffering of the other side, it is a clear case of bias. In our review, we counted 73 images that could be described as supporting either the Israeli or Palestinian side. Three quarters of these images evoke sympathy for the Palestinians and portray a scene lacking in context. Even though these pictures are not taken by New York Times photographers, it is a Times editorial judgement as to which wire service images should run with a story.

Take a look at the image of the funeral for a Palestinian teacher killed in an Israeli attack that ran above the story on February 8, 2008.

The image and caption are rather disturbing. Relatives are crying over the death of a woman killed by the Israeli Defense Forces. Yet this image is rather misleading if its purpose was to illustrate the events described by the accompanying article. Several salient facts shed light on the scene in the photograph and put it in its proper context: 

  1. Palestinian terrorists had launched a rocket that landed near a playground and nursery the day before that wounded two Israeli children.
  2. Before the Israeli attack, seven Qassam rockets and four mortar shells had hit Israel wounding two more civilians.
  3. According to the Associated Press, the "school" where the "teacher" worked was just a series of huts that Palestinian militants had used as cover to launch attacks.

Why would the Palestinians launch attacks from civilian areas? Obviously in hopes that Israeli retaliation would  result in civilian casualties and pictures such as the one above would be published by the media and turn public opinion against Israel. Times' readers are more likely to remember the emotional picture of the funeral for a dead teacher killed by Israel than the actual facts listed above

Here is another example from a Times story on February 9, 2008.

The image is one portraying the depravation of the Palestinian people in Gaza. A boy in a crowd clutches a barbed wire fence because Israel has "limited supplies to Gaza." Yet unlike the picture, the article states that Israel had reduced electricity to Gaza by less than one percent. Does an electricity reduction of less than one percent really lead to the hardship that seems to be reflected in the picture? Or is this another case of Palestinians posing for the Palestinian photographer working as a stringer for Reuters?

Below is yet another example. Before getting to the well-written, balanced article by Steve Erlanger, a reader would first see civilians clutching infants running from an Israeli attack.

The picture does a disservice to Erlanger's article which clearly puts the events in their proper context.

According to the article: 

Medics at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis said that Sami Fayyad's wife was wounded, and that the couple's 3-year-old daughter was clinically dead.

Sami Fayyad, 30, was a fighter with Islamic Jihad's military wing. Ahmad Fayyad, 32, was a former member of the Palestinian Authority security forces. Israeli Army spokesmen said the brothers were firing on Israeli forces from alongside and inside the house. The house was hit by at least one tank shell, and Palestinian witnesses said Israeli forces, using armored bulldozers, then collapsed the rest of the house.

In a statement, Israel said blame for the deaths of the women "lies with the gunmen, who operated intentionally from a civilian environment."

Yet once again, it is the image of civilians running for their lives while holding their children that most will remember.

CONCLUSIONS

The news is not all bad. In our last report, we noted that certain phrases ("illegally occupied territory", "the former Palestine") appeared in the Times. We did not find these same issues in our current analysis. Perhaps the new New York Times Jerusalem bureau chief Ethan Bonner is paying closer attention to these type of issues. If so, then we hope to see even better reporting in the month ahead.

Nonetheless, even a well-written, objective article can end up misunderstood if the headlines and images around it distract from the story rather than complement it. Unfortunately, the issues of headline style and image selection that we highlighted last year are still a serious problem. The Times should make sure that:

  • All articles on the Mideast are balanced and objective and do not subjectively favor either side.
  • Headlines are written in a consistent style that shows no favoritism.
  • There is an even distribution of images that illustrate the most salient points of the accompanying articles.

HonestReporting subscribers can help push the New York Times to take these measures by writing to the Public Editor of the New York Times by clicking public@nytimes.com.

We plan to continue publishing long term analyses of specific media to determine whether reporting is fair and consistent. You can read our previous analysis of the New York Times here. If you are interested in sponsoring one of these reports, please click here.

HonestReporting. com

Libanon roept nationale feestdag uit bij terugkeer 5 Hezbollah leden

 
Nu Libanon de vrijlating van een kindermoordenaar viert met een nationale vrije dag, heeft niet zozeer Israël verloren alswel de moraal.
Het doden van een Israëlisch kind komt je in Libanon dertig jaar later op de titel van nationale held te staan. Dit heeft niks met vrijheidsstrijd te maken, maar alles met haat.
Kuntar en de andere gevangenen kregen een ware heldenontvangst in Beiroet, en werden door zowel president Michel Suleiman en premier Fouad Seniora persoonlijk verwelkomd.
 
RP
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Last update - 23:56 15/07/2008

Lebanon declares state holiday marking return of prisoners
 
(with video)
 
 
A senior Hezbollah official said that Israel's approval of a prisoner swap with his group was an official admission of defeat as Lebanon declared a national holiday to celebrate the return of Lebanese fighters held in Israeli prisons.
 
Earlier Tuesday, the cabinet ratified a prisoner exchange deal, to be carried out Wednesday, which will see five Lebanese prisoners released and transferred to Lebanon in exchange for two Israel Defense Forces reservists abducted by the Lebanese militia in July 2006.
 
Hezbollah's commander in south Lebanon, Sheik Nabil Kaouk, said the prisoner exchange demonstrates Israel's "humiliating failure in confronting the resistance both militarily and politically."
 
Kaouk added that he considered Israel's ratification of the deal an official admission of defeat.
 
Later Tuesday, the Lebanese government announced that Wednesday will be a national holiday to celebrate the "liberation of prisoners from the jails of the Israeli enemy and the return of the remains of martyrs."
 

Lichamen Ehud Goldwasser en Eldad Regev geruild voor Kuntar en 4 Hezbollah leden

 
Terwijl Israël rouwt, viert Libanon feest. Er klopt iets niet wanneer je feest viert omdat een kindermoordenaar wordt vrijgelaten. Stel, om het extreem te stellen, dat in de oorlog een Nederlander die een Duits meisje en haar vader op wrede wijze en in koelen bloede had vermoord, zou zijn vrijgelaten. Zou dat reden tot vreugde zijn geweest? Ik geloof het niet. Hoewel de nazi's een wrede bezettingsmacht waren, zouden we iemand niet vereren als held omdat hij een klein meisje heeft vermoord, al betrof het de dochter van Hitler. Libanon, ter vergelijking, is nooit geheel door Israël bezet geweest, en de laatste Israëlische soldaten zijn alweer 8 jaar geleden vertrokken. Die bezetting was niet het resultaat van de wens een groot rijk te stichten waar één ras superieur is en een leider de baas, maar om de PLO te verslaan, die frequent aanvallen uitvoerde vanuit Libanon op Israëlisch grondgebied. Toch vinden velen het heel normaal dat zowat heel Libanon mensen als Samir Kuntar als held ziet. "De een z'n terrorist is de ander z'n vrijheidsstrijder", aldus het cliché. Samir Kuntars daad heeft net zo veel met een vrijheidsstrijd te maken als de strijd van de nazi's tegen het 'rode gevaar' en het 'internationale finanzjudentum'.
 
RP
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Last update - 10:09 16/07/2008
 
Bodies to be identified before Israel hands over prisoners
 
Coffins of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev delivered to Israel-Lebanon border
 
By Haaretz Service
 
 
Two years after Israeli reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were abducted by Hezbollah guerillas in a cross-border raid, coffins said to contain their bodies were taken to the Lebanese side of its border with Israel as part of a prisoner exchange to bring them home.

The swap, overwhelmingly approved Tuesday by the cabinet, began at around 9 A.M. Wednesday at the Rosh Hanikra crossing, under the auspices of the International Red Cross Committee.
A convoy carrying the bodies of the two Israelis reached the Rosh Hanikra crossing on the Lebanese side of the border at about 8:30 A.M., where they were transferred to Red Cross monitors, beginning the first stage of the swap.

Israel also handed over to the Red Cross photographs and documents for preliminary identification of Regev and Goldwasser. Hezbollah, meanwhile, handed the ICRC letters on the condition of the two soldiers.

About 40 minutes after implementation of the deal began, the two coffins were taken to the border crossing.

Israel had moved the five Lebanese prisoners included in the exchange to the Liman military base near the Lebanese border before dawn on Wednesday, where they were to wait pending forensic identification of the two hostages.

Along with four Hezbollah guerillas seized during the 2006 conflict, Israel will also return Samir Kuntar, who has been in an Israeli jail since 1979 for the deaths of four Israelis, including Danny Haran and his four-year-old daughter Einat.

The families of the two soldiers had clung to the hope that they are still alive, despite the assumption by Israeli officials that they did not survive the July 12, 2006 kidnapping raid. A Lebanese newspaper affiliated to Hezbollah reported Tuesday that one of the two had been killed in the attack, but did not specify which, or give details of the condition of the second soldier.

President Shimon Peres on Tuesday night pardoned the five Lebanese militants who will be returned by Israel in exchange for the two soldiers and the remains of Israeli troops who fell in the Second Lebanon War, sparked by the abduction.

In Lebanon, meanwhile, preparations were underway to celebrate the return of the five.

The deal consisted of several stages. First, Hezbollah was to transfer Regev and Goldwasser, whereupon the IDF Rabbinate and the police will identify the bodies. If identification seems to be difficult, the bodies were to be transferred to the Abu Kabir Institute of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv for a more extensive examination involving DNA analysis.

Once a positive identification is made, Israel will transfer the bodies of 199 Lebanese and Palestinian militants to Lebanon. In addition, Israel will transfer Kuntar and the four others.

Earlier this week, soldiers from the Engineering Corps and the IDF Rabbinate exhumed the corpses from the Amiad cemetery for enemy combatants in the north. The bodies are being held in cold storage until the abducted IDF soldiers, or their remains, are identified. They will then be transported in a 50-truck convoy to Lebanon.

The process of identifying the soldiers and completing the transfer is expected to take several hours, during which members of the Regev and Goldwasser families will wait at the Shraga army base in the western Galilee. Once the bodies are positively identified, they will be transported directly to the base so that family members can receive their loved ones far from the public view.

The IDF Spokesman's Office said Tuesday that military authorities have been in constant contact with the families of the abducted soldiers.

"This process exemplifies the IDF's deep moral commitment to making every effort to return soldiers who have been sent on an operational mission," it added. "The process reflects a moral and ethical strength that stems from Jewish tradition, the ethics of Israeli society and the IDF code."
 

woensdag 16 juli 2008

Hezbollah probeert IAF vliegtuigen te traceren

Bizar dat Hezbollah blijkbaar zomaar een radarstation kan laten neerzetten op Libanees grondgebied, zonder dat de Libanese regering, UNIFIL of de VN ernaar kraaien.
Dat gaat lekker zo!
 
Israël zou intussen in Griekenland hebben geoefend voor een mogelijke aanval op Irans nucleaire installaties. "Wie vrede wil, moet zich op oorlog voorbereiden" gaat het gezegde, oftewel een vijand moet het uit zijn hoofd laten om een goed bewapend en op het ergste voorbereid land aan te vallen. Dat werkt natuurlijk 2 kanten op, maar het is de vraag of Israël straks nog een andere keus heeft om de Iraanse dreiging -en dreigen doet Achmadinejad genoeg- af te wenden...
 
Wouter
_______________
 
'Hizbullah trying to track IAF planes'
 
Jul. 14, 2008
 
The Iranian and Syrian militaries have assisted Hizbullah in setting up advanced radar installations atop Mt. Sannine in Lebanon's Beka Valley which can be used to track Israeli planes from the Mediterranean Sea in the West to Damascus in the East, foreign news reports revealed on Monday.

According to a report in the Azerbaijan-based Trend News Agency, Iran and Syria recently completed installing radar stations on the mountain, which is in the center of Lebanon and reaches 2,600 meters above sea level.

Israeli defense analysts said that while Syria did not need radar installations inside Lebanon to track IAF fighter jets, the systems could be used by Hizbullah in the event that Damascus supplied them with advanced radar-based air defense systems. The IDF's working assumption is that Syria has provided Hizbullah with such systems, for example, the SA-18.

Defense officials could not confirm the report but said that they were aware of Hizbullah efforts to track Israeli aircraft in the event of another war.

The reports of Iranian assistance in setting up the radar installations came as Israel grows increasingly concerned about possible Iranian involvement in Hizbullah's decision-making process. Members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards are suspected of having direct involvement in training Hizbullah fighters.

Meanwhile on Monday, another foreign media outlet reported that the IAF exercise over Greece last month was conducted so Israeli fighter jets could study the Russian-made S-300 air-defense missile system, which is deployed on the island of Crete, and believed to be on the way to Iran.

The S-300 is one of the best multi-target anti-aircraft-missile systems in the world today and has a reported ability to track up to 100 targets simultaneously while engaging up to 12 at the same time. Iran is believed to have already procured several S-300 systems to protect its nuclear facilities although reports have differed as to whether the systems have already been supplied by Russia.

According to a report on The Cutting Edge News Web site, written by award-winning journalist Edwin Black, in December 2007 Greece installed the S-300 system in Crete following several years when it was stationed in Cyprus.

In the beginning of June, Israel reportedly flew 100 F-15 and F-16 fighter jets 1,400 kilometers into Greek airspace in what has been described as a "dress rehearsal" for an airstrike against Iranian nuclear installations.

According to The Cutting Edge, by flying within range of the Greek S-300, Israel was able to record invaluable information which could assist the IAF in developing means of jamming and defeating the advanced air-defense system.

Black wrote that Iran had filed a bitter protest in Athens following the Israeli exercise, but was told by Greek officials that the S-300 had been "turned off" during the exercise.

While Israeli defense sources said that it was not yet certain that S-300 systems had been delivered to Iran, The Cutting Edge cited Russian sources which speculated that as many as five batteries had recently arrived in Iran at the price of $800 million.

Arabische media blind voor drama Darfur

 
De genocide in Darfur schijnt grotendeels aan de Arabische media voorbij te gaan, zoals Al Jazeera hieronder bericht.
Het zou moeilijk te bevatten zijn dat mede-Arabieren en mede-moslims zulke grove en grootschalige misdaden begaan, en dus neigt men naar ontkennen of negeren.
 
In het Arabische paradigma zijn altijd de anderen de schuldigen - bij voorkeur het Westen en/of de Zionistische schurkenstaat - en Arabieren de slachtoffers. Al Jazeera vergeet dan ook niet om tussendoor de Amerikaanse media te bekritiseren voor (vermeend) misbruik van Darfur om de Arabieren zwart te maken.
Wat ze wel 'vergeet' is de rol van de overheidscensuur in de berichtgeving. Daar komt geen enkel Arabisch medium omheen, blijkbaar ook Al Jazeera niet.
 
Wouter
_________

Arab media blind to Darfur
 
 


The conflict in Darfur is a news story that has been widely and emotively covered by western media but has attracted relatively little coverage within the Arab media.

The Listening Post's Salah Khadr finds out why.

There are many similarities between the violence in Iraq and Darfur from the estimate of the number of civilians killed to paramilitaries operating closely linked to the government forces, to victims who are targeted for membership of an ethnic group.

However international media coverage generally reports one as a civil war or cycle of insurgency and the other as a genocide.

More than 200,000 people have died in the conflict in Darfur, with millions more turned into refugees and the situation becoming a picture of "hell on earth" according to the UN.

Sudan's population is 40 per cent Arab and Arabs are at the heart of the conflict, but for many in the Arab world, the humanitarian catastrophe may as well not exist.

The reason being the Arab media have largely ignored it.

Lawrence Pintak, a journalist and Arab media expert, says the problem with Darfur when it comes to the Arab media is that it does not fit the template of Arabs being the victims and other people the aggressors.

"Arabs here are good guys and bad guys," he says.

'State of denial'

"I think we are in a state of denial," Jehad Khazen, a former editor of the al-Hayat newspaper, says.

"People say 'the Arabs or Muslims – cannot do this – it did not happen' – but they did do this and it did happen - and they have to reconcile themselves to the fact."

Just because the Arab media does not cover a lot of what happens in the Darfur crisis does not mean that Arab public opinion is not interested says Nadim Hasbani, an Arab media analyst from the International Crisis Group.

"A Zogby poll around March or April in 2007 showed there is a real eagerness in Arab public opinion to read more and learn more about what is happening in Darfur. But this is not reflected in the Arab media."

It could be argued that geography plays a role in the limited coverage given the conflict is in Africa, not the Middle East.

But whilst Darfur largely remains a non-event on the Arab media scene, European and North American media travel from greater distances to cover this story.

"There is always going to be some sort of reluctance to demonise their own, the Arabs as they will see themselves," Opheera McDoom, Reuters correspondent in Darfur, says.

"But I think while there has been coverage in the Arab media, there has been a reluctance in the Arab media to go to Darfur and check things out for themselves.

"I see a lot more western media going to Darfur and spending weeks in Darfur than I do Arab media and that is where you see the difference. You will get a much more in-depth coverage and a lot more interesting coverage if you actually go to Darfur, and that is where the Arab media has fallen down."

However, some Arab media analysts say that the implied rationale from the American media in particular is that the story in Darfur is Arabs killing Africans because they do not know anything other than violence.

US suspicion

"That's what the audience is left to conclude," says Mahmood Mahdani of Columbia University.

"So that's of course not acceptable if you are part of the Arab media. You can immediately sense that you are being caricatured and demonised at the same time."

 It is questionable, however, if such suspicions over the motivation and vigour of US media coverage account for the strategy of limited coverage from many Arab media outlets.

"What is most striking to me is that the media coverage has a single focus and that's a focus on atrocities, on atrocity stories, there's no attempt to place them in context," Mahdani says.

"There's no attempt to explain, to locate it historically, to show that there's any change happening.

"I think it is about linking Darfur with the larger war on terror by portraying and framing the perpetrators of violence in Darfur as Arabs."

The 22 Arab states all have a distinctive media output and often it is not so much a question of following an agenda but deciding which agenda to follow.

"It is not one agenda – every Arab government has a different agenda from the other – Egypt is more interested in Darfur as Sudan is next door and doesn't want a spill over," Khazen says.

"But a country a like the UAE or Oman – find they are not directly involved and they can't influence events – so you find that the coverage is much more limited there."

Government hindrance

Covering Darfur is also hindered by the government of Sudan who have imposed strict access criteria and will often not issue visas or take journalists to government-controlled areas.

"They [the government] know that if more information comes out there will be added pressure on the Sudanese government," Hasbani says.

"It's not easy to cover Darfur – its not easy for Western Journalists and its not easy for Arab journalists," Lawrence Pintak says.

"I talked to an Al Jazeera correspondent who was based in Khartoum a while back – and he said to go and cover Darfur – you have to go to Khartoum – then to Nairobi – to West Africa up to Cameroon, across from Cameroon to Chad and then in through the back door to the refugee camps.

"If you don't do that then you are on a guided tour and you may as well go to Disneyland."

The result of these restrictions has been a move toward more analytical coverage and away from hard reporting.

"What's happened in Arab media is that we have so much coverage of the political issues related to Darfur like – what is the UK, France, US, UN reaction to Darfur – but what we really need actually is not the political coverage, but the coverage from the ground," Hasbani says.

"What are the facts, what are the stories, where are the images of the refugees of the people being killed? These are images we don't have but are the images we need – its not about the political process.

 

dinsdag 15 juli 2008

Israëlische regering bestrijdt demonizering door NGO's te weinig

 
Vredesorganisaties hebben tot doel om de partijen in een conflict bij elkaar te brengen en tot compromissen te bewegen door begrip en vertrouwen te bevorderen. Daarom kan een club als United Civilians for Peace met geen mogelijkheid als vredesorganisatie worden aangemerkt.
 
De zogenaamde 'geoliede propagandamachine' van Israël lijkt een fictie -om niet te zeggen een lasterpraatje- als het erop aankomt tegengas te geven tegen de demonisering van de Joodse staat. De ECHTE geoliede propagandamachine en lobby zit aan de kant van de pro-Palestijnse organisaties, vaak vet gesubsidiëerd, ook door de Nederlandse overheid.
 
Wouter
_______________________
 
An NGO black hole in the Foreign Ministry
 
Jul. 8, 2008
 
For many years, the rhetoric of human rights has been one of the most effective weapons used against Israel. The strategy is simple - Israel is attacked, responds, and is instantly condemned for "war crimes," "apartheid" and "collective punishment." As a result, one would have thought that the Israeli government would have long ago launched a counter-offensive to expose and defeat such campaigns, led by powerful non-governmental organizations and amplified in the UN and the press.

But despite repeated defeats on this propaganda battlefield, the government, and the Foreign Ministry in particular, have failed to understand the danger or invest significantly in effective responses. For many years, the Foreign Ministry declared: "We only deal with governments, and not with non-government organizations (NGOs)." This may have been logical, but in practice, it meant that the intense bombardment from powerful organizations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and local NGOs such as B'Tselem, Adalah, Machsom Watch, and many more went unanswered. The officials of these groups used their resources to set the media agenda, invent (or distort) the terms of international law, falsify facts, and violate the universality of human rights.

Israeli silence changed briefly following the notorious NGO Forum of the UN's 2001 Durban Conference on Racism. Four thousand officials from 2,000 NGOs declared Zionism to be apartheid, and adopted an anti-Israel strategy of boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS), propelled by human rights rhetoric, and in parallel to the Palestinian campaign of mass terror. The racist goal of this ostensibly anti-racist gathering was to delegitimize Israel as the home of the Jewish people. In response, the Foreign Ministry finally set up a desk to monitor and respond to the NGO attack. This was a small and grossly inadequate step, but at least it was moving in the right direction.

NOW, AS the UN and the anti-Israel NGO network prepare for the Durban Review Conference to be held in Geneva in April 2009, the Foreign Ministry has left the minimalist NGO desk empty. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has denounced the anti-Semitism of the UN's Durban process, and announced that Israel will not participate if this continues. But the Israeli diplomatic corps was surprised when the Preparatory Committee for this review conference accredited the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign. European members of the committee simply waved them through, and no Israeli official was aware of the process.

The damage from this black hole in the Israeli diplomatic universe goes far beyond the Durban process. Some of the NGOs promoting the demonization campaigns get more then half their annual budgets from European governments, under the misleading headlines of "partnerships for peace" or projects claiming to promote democracy and Palestinian development. Additional funds come from the Ford Foundation and from often well-intentioned Jewish donors to the New Israeli Fund based in the US, Britain and Canada. In every discussion with the ambassadors, heads of state and foreign ministers, as well as NIF members, Israeli officials should make the case for a halt in this funding of demonization.

Officials from the United States government, while generally less prone to repeat the mantras of human rights rhetoric and the false factual claims directed against Israel, are not immune. As NGO Monitor's detailed analysis show, the State Department's annual human rights reports often copy NGO claims without bothering to check their accuracy or the underlying bias. And recently, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice condemned Israel for barring candidates for a Fulbright fellowship from traveling from Gaza to Jerusalem for interviews. (Rice failed to mention the attack on the Fulbright convoy that killed three Americans 2003, after which video interviews were initiated.)

The false charge was linked to press reports of the activities of a political NGO known as Gisha, which receives funds from the Dutch and Norwegian governments. Gisha published a typically one-sided report condemning Israeli responses to rocket attacks in Gaza, including the closure to prevent movement in and out, as "collective punishment." (Gisha's concern for students does not extend to Israelis in Ashkelon and Sapir Colleges.)

MK Rabbi Michael Melchior, who heads the Knesset Education Committee and is a member of the governing coalition, gave Gisha a public platform, and he repeated the false claim of "collective punishment." Gisha translated his words in a press release, and they were quoted in The New York Times and other major newspapers. Then, without consulting Israel, the State Department announced that as a result, it was canceling the scholarships for Gazans. By the time the facts were checked and corrections were published, the considerable damage based on Gisha's human rights warfare was done. Had the Foreign Ministry been prepared to refute and repel this NGO attack, the harm could have been avoided.

If Israel is to defeat this kind of attack, the government must first find the battlefield.
 

The writer is executive director of NGO Monitor and chairs the Political Science Department at Bar Ilan University.
 

IDF bereidt begrafenissen Goldwasser en Regev voor

 
Woensdag zal het dan gebeuren, en zal Israël de kindermoordenaar Kuntar en 4 andere Hezbollah strijders vrijlaten in ruil voor de lichamen van twee Israëlische soldaten. Daarnaast overhandigt Israël ook de overblijfselen van bijna 200 Hezbollah activisten en Palestijnen, en informatie over 4 vermiste Iraniërs.
 
Het rapport over de sinds begin jaren '80 vermiste luchtofficier Ron Arad dat Hezbollah zondag aan Israël overhandigde, was 'teleurstellend' en 'onbevredigend' volgens Israëlische regeringsleiders, maar de meesten blijven achter de deal staan, in de hoop dat dit het einde van een hoofdstuk betekent. Wat Kuntar zal doen als hij weer vrij is (doorgaan met de 'strijd', in eigen woorden), en wat de andere Hezbollah activisten doen, wat voor effect de deal heeft op de populariteit van Hezbollah en op de populariteit van de tactiek 'soldaten ontvoeren', dat alles is van later zorg.
 
RP
--------

IDF prepares funerals for Goldwasser and Regev

Jul. 14, 2008
Yaakov Katz, Tovah Lazaroff and Yaakov Lappin, THE JERUSALEM POST
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1215330967658&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

 
As families of the captive reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev held on to fading hopes that their sons might still be alive, the IDF on Monday began preparations for their burial.

Expecting that the two men, abducted on the border by Hizbullah just over two years ago, could be returned to Israel in coffins at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, the army has made arrangements for their military funerals to be held on Thursday, one day after the planned prisoner swap with Hizbullah.

IDF sources said it was likely that the funerals would be held in Regev and Goldwasser's hometowns of Kiryat Motzkin and Nahariya.

In contrast to the IDF, the International Red Cross plans to post a doctor on either side of the border to provide treatment if needed, its spokeswoman Yael Segev-Eitan told The Jerusalem Post.

"We have no indication of what to expect, so we have made preparations for either eventuality," Segev-Eitan said. "A doctor will wait on the Lebanese side of the border and another doctor will wait on the Israeli side," she said. "Our Lebanon mission has not received any orders yet."

The International Red Cross, therefore, is preparing to "receive live men or, God forbid, the bodies" and transport them across the Rosh Hanikra border crossing on Wednesday, she said.

As of Monday, no information regarding the state of the two men had been formally passed on to the families or friends of the two reservists.

Goldwasser's parents have insisted their son is alive, even after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the cabinet two weeks ago that he believed they were dead.

On Monday, however, his mother Miki said she had no comment for the press.

Speaking from his Haifa home as the two-year wait to find out what happened to his son after he was captured by Hizbullah on July 12 whittles down to hours, Regev's father, Tzvi, said he was "tense" and "stressed."

When told of the IDF's funeral preparations he said he believed that it was still unclear whether his son and Goldwasser were alive or dead. So the IDF is planning for both scenarios, Tzvi said.

In his heart, he said, he imagines only one scenario, that his son will return alive.

"I am waiting for good news," he said.

On Tuesday, upon his return from the Mediterranean summit in Paris, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert plans to ask the cabinet to vote again on the deal, which passed 22 to 3 on June 29.

But according to sources both in Kadima and the Labor party, the vote is a formality.

"Everyone wants to end this for the families," said National Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor).

Environmental Minister Gideon Ezra (Kadima) said he didn't even understand why a second vote was necessary.

But speaking to reporters before leaving Paris Olmert said he did not know how he would vote.

He attacked Hizbullah for failing to properly execute the first stage of the swap, which was to give Israel an 80-page report on the fate of the missing airman Ron Arad, who was shot down over Lebanon in 1986 and held by the Amal Shi'ite group until the night of May 4, 1988, when he disappeared.

According to sources close to the prime minister, Olmert has said that the report was "unsatisfactory." The cabinet is to be briefed on the report, which was received by Israel on Saturday. It included two previously unseen photographs of Arad, three letters to his wife Tami, and fragments of a diary that he kept. Friends of Arad are insisting that Hizbullah has more.

The report has been reviewed by the Mossad, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and Military Intelligence, whose representatives will summarize the report at the Tuesday meeting and, according to defense officials, will claim that document does not resolve the mystery surrounding Arad's disappearance.

"The Ron Arad report transferred by Hizbullah does not provide clear answers or solve the mystery surrounding his fate," Defense Minister Ehud Barak told the Labor Party faction in the Knesset on Monday.

Friends of Arad have demanded that Hizbullah turn over additional original material by Arad they believe the group has in its possession before the deal is executed.

But Barak said that despite disappointment regarding the quality of the report, the deal must go forward.

"As defense minister, a former chief of staff and a former IDF commander, I repeat that we have a moral obligation to return Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser home."

He added: "and even when they come home, we can't rest on our laurels; it will be a difficult and long negotiation to bring home Gilad Schalit [who was kidnapped by Hamas in June 2006]."

On Monday, in advance of the swap, the IDF Rabbinate completed the exhumation of the 199 Lebanese and Palestinian combatants that will be returned to Lebanon as part of the exchange, which also includes Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar who in 1979, in the coastal town of Nahariya, killed Danny Haran and his four-year old daughter Einat as well as a policeman. Also included in the deal are four captured Hizbullah fighters.

The Red Cross has had to ask its mission in Amman, Jordan, to send trucks to Israel in order to transfer the 190 Lebanese bodies Israel is planning to send back to Lebanon, the spokeswoman added.

"There simply aren't enough trucks, so we needed reinforcements," she said. "We will then wait for orders from the IDF in order to begin identifying the names, and commence the transfer to Lebanon. This should happen on Wednesday, but things can change."

Early Monday, a prison service van with tinted windows drove through the gates of the Ashmoret prison in central Israel, taking the four Hizbullah men to the nearby Hadarim penitentiary housing Kuntar.

From Hadarim, the five prisoners are to be driven early Wednesday morning to an Israeli army base just south of the frontier.

On Tuesday, Red Cross officials will begin interviewing Kuntar and the Lebanese prisoners at the Hadarim Prison, in order to ensure that they wish to return to Lebanon. "We will ask them if they have a reason to fear for their safety if they go back. Once they all tell us they want to go to Lebanon, we will transfer them," Segev-Eitan said.

The prisoners will be taken to the border at Rosh Hanikra by the Israel Prison Service's Nachshon Unit. In addition to Kuntar, the other prisoners being released are Khader Zidan, Mahar Kurani, Mahmad Sarur, and Hussein Souleiman, captured on August 16, 2008, during the Second Lebanon War.

The IDF Northern Command is planning to declare the Rosh Hanikra border crossing a closed military zone late Tuesday night to prevent press from reaching the area where the swap, scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Wednesday, will take place.

According to the current schedule, Israel will receive the bodies of Regev and Goldwasser and will begin the identification process, after which Kuntar and the four Hizbullah fighters will be transferred into Lebanon.

If the remains of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev cannot be identified on the spot, they will be flown to Jerusalem for DNA testing before the swap is completed, the officials said. A DNA analysis is expected to take around three hours.

Kuntar's Israeli lawyer, Elias Sabbagh, met with his client Sunday and said Kuntar was in high spirits ahead of his return home after nearly 30 years in an Israeli jail but did not wish to pass any comment to the media ahead of his release.

"He wants to speak from his own country as a liberated prisoner," Sabbagh said.
 

Herb Keinon, Gil Hoffman and AP contributed to this report.__._,_.___

Assad ontwijkt Olmert op conferentie

 
De beelden van hoe Assad Olmert uit de weg ging zouden haast hilarisch zijn ware het niet zo triest. Het is niet alleen kinderachtig de zaal uit te lopen wanneer een andere regeringsleider wat zegt, het is ook onbeschoft, net als het je overduidelijk afkeren of een andere uitgang nemen. Olmert stinkt niet, en is ook niet corrupter dan Assad. Het vreemde is, dat Assad ondertussen doet alsof zijn land met serieuze vredesbesprekingen bezig is met Israël. En niemand schijnt het meer te hebben over het door Assad gedwarsboomde VN tribunaal voor de moord op Rafiq Hariri, waar Syrië sterk van wordt verdacht.
 
RP
--------

Assad snubs Olmert

Devorah Lauter and JTA Staff

Though Syrian President Bashar Assad shared a conference room with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at the Union for the Mediterranean summit in Paris, Assad managed to avoid the Israeli leader.


 

PARIS (JTA) -- It was the snub of the day.

Despite overtures by Israel's prime minister to Syrian President Bashar Assad, Assad refused to acknowledge, shake hands, be photographed with or listen to Ehud Olmert when the two shared a conference room at Sunday's Union for the Mediterranean in Paris.

Just hours before the Paris summit, Olmert sent Assad a message pressing for direct talks between the two countries before a new U.S. administration takes office, and insisting on his "serious" desire for peace.

Israel and Syria are engaged in indirect peace talks through mediation by Turkey, which delivered Olmert's latest message to Assad.

But Assad chose to rebuff Olmert rather than engage in any rapprochement with him at the 43-nation Paris confab.

"We are not seeking symbols," Assad told a French TV station, saying he avoided a handshake with Olmert because Syria and Israel are still only in indirect peace talks.

In some ways, the elaborate conference held at the Grand Palais, an imposing Art Nouveau structure with a glass roof and pale green arches, served to highlight the long road left to go before Israel is recognized by some of its Arab neighbors in the Mediterranean region.

Several Arab leaders refused to be photographed with the Israeli leader, so there was no joint photo at the meeting's end.

A Reuters photographer captured a shot of Olmert apparently trying to catch Assad's attention while Assad blocks his face with his hand to avoid eye contact.

On Monday, an Israeli official said in an interview with JTA that although "Olmert sat through and listened to everything Assad said" during the Syrian leader's speech at the conference, "Assad left when Olmert spoke."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy denied that any intentional snub took place Sunday. Assad reportedly left the conference room for hallway consultations a half-hour before Olmert spoke.

Last week, Israeli and French officials had expressed hopes that some sort of direct contact between Assad and Olmert might take place at the weekend summit.

Before the conference, Olmert asked Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to convey to Assad that Olmert is "extremely serious in his desire to move forward in peace talks" with Syria, Israeli officials said.

Despite the undiplomatic maneuvering, attendees and observers noted that the broad participation in the conference may have helped lay a foundation for improved dialogue and cooperation in the region.

The leaders of such countries as Syria, Algeria, Morocco and Israel all shared a common table, and they reached some concrete agreements toward improving cooperation on regional issues.

Assad's cold shoulder wasn't the only snub at the conference. Morocco's king reportedly skipped a meeting attended by the president of Algeria due to the rivalry between the two countries.

Despite Assad's avoidance of Olmert, Assad told Al-Jazeera TV on Sunday that he wants to "normalize" relations with Israel once a peace accord is reached.

maandag 14 juli 2008

Israël bezorgd voor nieuwe aanval Hezbollah na gevangenenruil

 
Afgelopen zaterdag precies 2 jaar geleden begon de Tweede Libanon Oorlog tussen Israël en Hezbollah, en nu is er eindelijk een gevangenenruil overeengekomen waarin de overblijfselen van de twee door Hezbollah ontvoerde Israëlische soldaten die de aanleiding voor die oorlog vormden, aan Israël worden overgedragen. Israël had het allemaal graag anders gezien, en ze bevrijd toen ze nog leefden en zonder er zo'n hoge prijs voor te betalen.
 
Ondertussen waarschuwen mensen uit defensie hoek dat Hezbollah opnieuw zou kunnen aanvallen. De vorige keer was immers toch, ondanks alles, een 'succes'. Hezbollah heeft aanzienlijk meer macht gekregen in Libanon en heeft, volgens Israëlische schattingen, weer zo'n 40.000 raketten op Israël gericht staan. Daarbij zitten raketten die tot in Dimona in het zuiden kunnen komen. De UNIFIL troepenmacht komt niet waar Hezbollah niet wil dat men komt.
 
RP
----------
 
Israel concerned Hizbullah will attack after prisoner swap
 
Jul. 14, 2008
 

Fears have mounted in Israel that Hizbullah may try to carry out an attack along the northern border following the prisoner swap for abducted reservists Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser scheduled for later this week, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

According to estimates, Hizbullah may use the period following the swap as an opportunity to "change the rules" along the border and particularly inside towns located close to the border fence. Recent interviews of Hizbullah leaders, as well as articles by reporters associated with the terrorist group, have hinted that Hizbullah is planning such an attack.

As a result, the IDF has raised its level of vigilance along the northern border. The army is preparing for the possibility that after two years of relative quiet since the Second Lebanon War, Hizbullah will try to kidnap soldiers or even infiltrate Israel and raid a border town.

Since the 2006 war, there have been two incidents of rockets being fired at the North - once in Kiryat Shmona and once in Shlomi - but both attacks were attributed to Global Jihad elements and not Hizbullah.

Estimates in the defense establishment are that even following the swap, Hizbullah will still have many excuses to attack Israel, including the revenge it has said it would like to exact for the February assassination of its military commander Imad Mughniyeh, which it has attributed to Israel. Defense officials have said in the past that if Hizbullah retaliates abroad, the violence will likely reach the Israeli-Lebanese border.

Israel is also concerned that from its new position in the Lebanese government, Hizbullah may try to block the upcoming renewal of the mandate of the United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon.

UNIFIL's mandate is up for renewal in August, and the IDF is concerned that with veto power in the Lebanese cabinet, Hizbullah will be able to prevent it.

Despite the concerns, senior IDF officers told The Jerusalem Post that while there might be delays in the mandate's renewal, Hizbullah was not likely to challenge the international community by vetoing it.

"Hizbullah will ultimately not want to defy the entire international community," one officer said.

Still, the feeling in the IDF is that UNIFIL is not completely implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the Second Lebanon War and calls for the disarming of Hizbullah.

A senior officer told the Post last week that Hizbullah had set up positions inside Shi'ite villages in southern Lebanon where UNIFIL could not operate freely without being accompanied by the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), whose soldiers would usually tip off Hizbullah before a raid. Israel is also concerned with the continued smuggling of weapons to Hizbullah and via the Syrian-Lebanese border.

"The LAF is two-thirds Shi'ite and will not challenge Hizbullah," the senior officer said.

But despite the disappointment with UNIFIL, the officer said Israel preferred that the force remain in Lebanon.

"The IDF has not given up on UNIFIL," the officer said. "The alternative without them is much worse, but we still expect that the force does more."

As an example, the officer revealed that UNIFIL recently constructed a security fence north of the split city of Ghajar, half of which sits on the Israeli side of the Blue Line international border and the other half on the Lebanese side. In addition to constructing a fence, UNIFIL regularly patrols the area and has prevented hostile elements from entering the village, the officer said.

"UNIFIL does have some successes," the officer said. "We do, however, still expect that they do more."

Olmert kondigt vrijlating meer Palestijnse gevangenen aan

 
Terwijl op de conferentie van mediterrane landen de Turkse premier Erdohan aan Ehud Olmert een 'boodschap van vrede' van Syrië overbracht, verliet de Syrische minister van buitenlandse zaken de zaal voordat Israëls minister van buitenlandse zaken, Tzipi Livni een toespraak hield.
 
Ondertussen lijken Hezbollah, Hamas en Fatah in een concurrentiestrijd te zijn verwikkeld wie de meeste Palestijnse gevangenen vrij krijgt. Abbas heeft om de vrijlating van Palestijnse gevangenen gevraagd, omdat de deal met Hezbollah, waarin in een later stadium waarschijnlijk ook Palestijnse gevangenen worden vrijgelaten, hem zou schaden. Als Israël straks toestemt in de vrijlating van in totaal 1000 gevangenen in ruil voor Shalit (in twee of drie fases), hoeveel gevangenen moet Israël dan vrij laten om Abbas te 'compenseren'?
Tip: stel als voorwaarde voor de vrijlating van gevangenen voor Abbas de eis dat men ophoudt met walgelijke en absurde beschuldigingen als dat Israël nazi-achtige medische experimenten op de gevangenen uitvoert.
 
RP
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Olmert: Israel to free more prisoners
 
Jul. 13, 2008
 
Israel will release more Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture to the Palestinian Authority, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised PA President Mahmoud Abbas during a meeting in Paris on Sunday.

The identity and number of prisoners to be freed were not discussed, nor was a timetable for the release.

Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev said that the prime minister "agreed in principle" to a release, as a "gesture" to Abbas.

Israel Radio reported that Abbas said Israel's release of Palestinian bodies in the prisoner swap deal with Hizbullah undermined him.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the prisoners Abbas was demanding were mainly those sentenced before the Oslo Accords. He said Abbas also asked Olmert to reopen the Nablus institutions shut down by the IDF in the recent crackdown against Hamas, including a shopping mall Israel believed was funding Hamas activities. Erekat told Voice of Palestine Radio that the two leaders would meet again on Sunday night.

Earlier Sunday, at the outset of his meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Abbas, Olmert said that Israel and the Palestinians had "never been as close" to a peace deal than today.

Olmert said the time would soon arrive when both the Palestinians and Israelis would have to make critical decisions.

Olmert praised the meeting which he said was characterized by an atmosphere of "dialogue."

He stressed that Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations remained at the top of Israel's agenda, while he hoped to start direct talks with Syria "soon."

Sarkozy, during a trilateral statement, said he wanted to see greater French and European Union involvement in the Middle East peace process.

Olmert said he was very moved by the French initiative and that he welcomed the partnership of Sarkozy in the diplomatic process.

Abbas said he hoped an Israeli-Palestinian agreement could be wrapped up in the coming months.

Sarkozy, who looked extremely pleased to be flanked by Olmert and Abbas at the center of the world stage, said it was "a historic day" for all of the Arab leaders and the Israeli leadership to be sitting around the same table at the Mediterranean conference in the French capital.

The French president was obviously reveling in the spotlight and after the press conference, waded into the waiting French press to give a briefing on the talks.

Sarkozy told the reporters that the release of captured IDF soldier Gilad Schalit was a key to negotiations and that he had brought up the issue during talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad in the belief that the Syrian president could exert pressure on Hamas's Damascus-based leader Khaled Mashaal.

He also said he had brought a "message of peace from" Assad to Olmert.

Sarkozy said direct talks between Israel and Syria would likely begin after the new US administration was sworn in but stressed that France would try to expedite the process.

Olmert, by contrast, seemed to be avoiding the Israeli press and had not scheduled a briefing with the traveling reporters as is generally the case on state trips abroad.

Olmert also met Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and thanked him for his mediation efforts in the Israel-Syria negotiation.

Meanwhile, as Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni addressed the gathering foreign ministers in Paris, her Syrian counterpart, Walid Moallem, walked out of the hall before her speech.

Livni said the Israeli-Palestinian conflict need not be an obstacle to cooperation between countries in the region.