zaterdag 13 juni 2009

Jimmy Carter ontvangt Palestijnse prijs op de Westoever

Jimmy Carter is "al jaren verliefd op het Palestijnse volk" - Wat een slijmjurk!

Hij riep de Palestijnen verder op te stoppen met elkaar te bevechten, maar ook te stoppen met geweld tegen Israel en het bestaansrecht van Israel te accepteren.

Het 'recht op terugkeer' van de Palestijnse vluchtelingen scheen hij ook niet te steunen. Blijkbaar was hij geinspireerd geraakt door de toespraak van Obama in Cairo, naar wie hij ook verwees. Normaliter hoor je Carter immers alleen over wat de Israeli's zouden moeten doen.

Wouter

_______________

Last update - 22:44 13/06/2009
In West Bank, Carter speaks of his love for the Palestinians
By The Associated Press

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1092491.html

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter was honored by the Palestinian government Saturday and pledged to support the Palestinians' campaign for independence to the end of his days.

In his acceptance speech, Carter urged the Palestinians to end their internal divisions and stop persecuting their rivals.

He was referring to the growing rift between the Islamic militant Hamas group, which controls Gaza, and Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in charge of the West Bank. Each side has been cracking down on the other's supporters, particularly since Hamas violently overran Gaza two years ago.

Carter met with Hamas' exiled leadership in Syria on Thursday and is to head to Gaza on Sunday, after meeting with Israeli officials. Carter has said peace between Israel and the Palestinians is impossible without involving Hamas, but reiterated in Syria that he was not representing the Obama administration.

Hamas is being shunned by most of the international community, including the U.S., for refusing to recognize Israel or renounce violence, though Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal has said repeatedly in recent weeks that his group wants to be part of a Mideast solution.

In the West Bank, Carter was awarded the Palestine International Award for Excellence and Creativity. Previous recipients included two former international envoys, James Wolfensohn and Peter Hansen.

Carter brokered the Israeli-Egypt peace accord of 1979 and several years ago wrote a book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, that is sharply critical of Israeli policies in the occupied territories.

"I have been in love with the Palestinian people for many years," he said Saturday, adding that this is a feeling shared by members of his family.

"I have two great-grandsons that are rapidly learning about the people here and the anguish and suffering and deprivation of human rights that you have experienced ever since 1948," he said.

Referring to President Barack Obama's call for an Israeli settlement freeze, Carter said that "in the future, I am sure, he will call for the dismantling of the settlements that exist."

But he noted that Obama also called for an end to violence against Israelis and for Arab acceptance of Israelis' right to their own nation. Carter said such acceptance is painful for displaced Palestinians, but that there has to be an accommodation in the political world.

Carter, 85, pledged his assistance, "as long as I live, to win your freedom, your independence, your sovereignty and a good life."

*** Balanced Middle East News *** MidEastweb http://www.mideastweb.org Subscribe - mail to mewnews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com MewBkd - Background & analysis - mail to Mewbkd-subscribe@yahoogroups.com News Letter - our commentary - mail to mew-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Egypte gaat eindelijk Israelische romans uitgeven

"Because we can't deal directly with Israeli publishers, which would cause a scandal in Egypt and the Arab world, we decided to negotiate with European publishing houses," he said.

Ondanks een vredesovereenkomst sinds 30 jaar wordt Israel nog steeds geboycot in Egypte. In die periode werden slechts 2 Israelische boeken vertaald en uitgegeven. De Egyptische cultuurminister Faruq Hosni heeft nu toestemming gegeven voor uitgaves van onder meer Oz en Grossman, waarschijnlijk om de weerstand tegen zijn nominatie voor de hoogste UNESCO-post te verminderen. Het hoeft niet te verbazen als achter de schermen met Israel is afgesproken dat in ruil voor het toestaan van meer vertalingen van Israelische boeken, Israel haar verzet tegen die benoeming heeft gestaakt. Daar zit dan een paar weken tussen zodat het verband niet zo direct opvalt.

Wouter

_____________

Agence Frqance Presse / June 11, 2009
Egypt to publish Israeli novels for first time
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jYLG2vBfQZTZTEz_C1yO9qrHRgWQ

CAIRO (AFP) - Egypt will publish Arabic translations of novels by renowned Israeli writers Amos Oz and David Grossman for the first time, a culture ministry official told AFP on Thursday.

"I hope to have signed an agreement with their English and French publishers by early July, without going via the Israeli publishers," said Gaber Asfur, head of the centre for translations, which is part of the culture ministry.

Culture Minister Faruq Hosni, whose bid to become the next director general of UNESCO has suffered setbacks because of comments he made about burning Israeli books, gave the project the green light, he said.

Only two Israeli books, Iraqi-born Eli Amir's novel "Yasmin" and a collection of poetry by Druze writer Naim Araidi, have been published in Arabic in Egypt, by a small private publishing house.

Egypt in 1979 became the first Arab country to sign a peace deal with Israel, but it has since rejected cultural normalisation in protest at Israel's continued occupation of Arab land and its treatment of the Palestinians.

"In Egypt, we feel you can't dance and sing together when you see the bloody daily attacks against the Palestinian people," Hosni has said, adding that "once there is peace, it will be an entirely different matter."

Alaa Aswani, who wrote the renowned "Yacoubian Building" which was turned into a successful film, has also refused to have his book translated into Hebrew because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Asfur explained the choice of publishers. "Because we can't deal directly with Israeli publishers, which would cause a scandal in Egypt and the Arab world, we decided to negotiate with European publishing houses," he said.

Asfur said he was looking at publishing short stories by Oz, Grossman's "The Yellow Wind" about Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and Israeli-occupied West Bank, as well as works by so-called new historians Tom Segev and Avi Shlaim.

Mousavi gearresteerd in Iran, nadat Achmadinejad tot winnaar is uitgeroepen

Verkiezingsfraude schijnt niet ongewoon te zijn in Iran. Het is dan ook goed mogelijk dat hervormer Mir Hossein Mousavi meer stemmen haalde dan Achmadinejad.

Ook na de vorige verkiezingen in 2005 waren er beschuldigingen van fraude. De Raad van Hoeders gelastte toen per steekproef een hertelling van 100 stembussen, waaruit geen fraude zou zijn gebleken. Gezien de grote onrust die nu is ontstaan, lijkt het waarschijnlijk dat de Raad ook nu een aantal stembussen zal laten hertellen. Door het ontbreken van democratische controle-mechanismen blijft echter onzeker hoe betrouwbaar die hertellingen zijn...

Wouter

____________

Last update - 21:42 13/06/2009
Report: Defeated Ahmadinejad rival arrested in Iran
By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent, and News Agencies

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1092304.html

Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi was arrested Saturday shortly after he was defeated at the polls by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an unofficial source reported.

According to the source, the presidential hopeful was arrested en route to the home of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Nevertheless, it should be noted that were a number of contradictory reports from Iran on Saturday, in a large part due to the heavy restrictions imposed on the media in the Islamic Republic, in particular on foreign reporters.

It was also reported that former Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani resigned from all of his official positions in protest against the results of the election, which Mousavi denounced as rigged.

Supporters of Mousavi, the main election challenger to Ahmadinejad, earlier clashed with police Saturday as authorities declared that the hard-line Iranian president was re-elected in a landslide. Opponents responded with the most serious unrest in the capital in a decade and charges that the result was the work of a dictatorship.

Khamenei closed the door on any chance he could use his limitless powers to intervene in the disputes from Friday's election. In a message on state TV, he urged the nation to unite behind Ahmadinejad, calling the result a divine assessment.

But Ahmadinejad's main challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, has rejected the result as rigged and urged his supporters to resist a government of lies and dictatorship.

The clashes in central Tehran were the more serious disturbances in the capital since student-led protests in 1999 and showed the potential for the showdown over the vote to spill over into further violence and challenges to the Islamic establishment.

Several hundred demonstrators - many wearing the trademark green colors of Mousavi's campaign - chanted the government lied to the people and gathered near the Interior Ministry as the final count was announced. It gave 62.6 percent of the vote to Ahmadinejad and 33.75 to Mousavi, who served as prime minister in the 1980s and has become the hero of a youth-driven movement seeking greater liberties and a gentler face for Iran abroad.

The turnout was a record 85 percent of Iran's 46.2 million eligible voters. Two other candidates received only a fraction of the vote.

Protesters set fire to tires outside the Interior Ministry and anti-riot police fought back with clubs and smashed cars. An Associated Press photographer saw a plainclothes security official beating a woman with his truncheon.

In another main street of Tehran, some 300 young people blocked the avenue by forming a human chain and chanted Ahmadi, shame on you. Leave the government alone.

Mousavi's campaign headquarters urged people to show restraint.

Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli, who supervised the elections and heads the nation's police forces, warned people not to join any unauthorized gatherings. Earlier, the powerful Revolutionary Guard said it would not tolerate any challenges by Mousavi's green movement - the color adopted by Mousavi's campaign.

"I'm warning that I won't surrender to this manipulation," said a statement on Mousavi's Web site. "The outcome of what we've seen from the performance of officials ... is nothing but shaking the pillars of the Islamic Republic of Iran's sacred system and governance of lies and dictatorship."

He warned people won't respect those who take power through fraud.

"I'm warning I will not surrender to this dangerous charade. The result of such performance by some officials will jeopardize the pillars of the Islamic Republic and will establish tyranny," Mousavi said in a statement made available to Reuters.

The headline on one of Mousavi's Web sites read: "I won't give in to this dangerous manipulation."

It was even unclear how many Iranians were even aware of Mousavi's claims of fraud. Communications disruptions began in the later hours of voting Friday - suggesting an information clampdown. State television and radio only broadcast the Interior Ministry's vote count and not Mousavi's midnight press conference.

Nationwide, the text messaging system remained down Saturday and several pro-Mousavi Web sites were blocked or difficult to access. Text messaging is frequently used by many Iranians - especially young Mousavi supporters - to spread election news.

At Tehran University - the site of the last major anti-regime unrest in Tehran in 1999 - the academic year was winding down and there was no sign of pro-Mousavi crowds. But university exams, scheduled to begin Saturday, were postponed until next month around the country.

The state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported that Ahmadinejad plans a public address later Saturday in Tehran.

Even before the count began, Mousavi declared himself definitely the winner based on all indications from all over Iran. He accused the government of manipulating the people's vote to keep Ahmadinejad in power and suggested the reformist camp would stand up to challenge the results.

"It is our duty to defend people's votes. There is no turning back," Mousavi said, alleging widespread irregularities.

Mousavi's backers were stunned at the Interior Ministry's results after widespread predictions of a close race - or even a slight edge to Mousavi. Many Iranians went to the people because they wanted to bring change.

"Almost everybody I know voted for Mousavi but Ahmadinejad is being declared the winner. The government announcement is nothing but widespread fraud. It is very, very disappointing. I'll never ever again vote in Iran," said Mousavi supporter Nasser Amiri, a hospital clerk in Tehran.

Bringing any showdown into the streets would certainly face a swift backlash from security forces. The political chief of the powerful Revolutionary Guard cautioned Wednesday it would crush any revolution against the Islamic regime by Mousavi's green movement.

The Revolutionary Guard is directly under the control of the ruling clerics and has vast influence in every corner of the country through a network of volunteer militias.

In Tehran, several Ahmadinejad supporters cruised the streets waving Iranian flags out of car windows and shouting "Mousavi is dead!"

Mousavi appealed directly to Iran's supreme leader, Khamenei, to intervene and stop what he said were violations of the law. Khamenei holds ultimate political authority in Iran. "I hope the leader's foresight will bring this to a good end," Mousavi said.

Iran does not allow international election monitors. During the 2005 election, when Ahmadinejad won the presidency, there were some allegations of vote rigging from losers, but the claims were never investigated.

The outcome will not sharply alter Iran's main policies or sway major decisions, such as possible talks with Washington or nuclear policies. Those crucial issues rest with the ruling clerics headed by the unelected Khamenei.

But the election focused on what the office can influence: boosting Iran's sinking economy, pressing for greater media and political freedoms, and being Iran's main envoy to the world.

Before the vote count, President Barack Obama said the robust debate during the campaign suggests a possibility of change in Iran, which is under intense international pressure over its nuclear program. There has been no comment from Washington since Ahmadinejad was declared the winner.

Afshin Ellian over verkiezingen Iran

Uit zijn blog op Elsevier:

__________________________

Weblog Afshin Ellian

Verkiezingen Iran zijn een riskante affaire

donderdag 11 juni 2009 10:23

In Iran is een groot conflict gaande met een onvoorspelbare, mogelijk gewelddadige uitkomst.

Morgen kiezen de Iraniërs hun tiende president. Kiezen? Uit honderden kandidaten mogen er slechts vier deelnemen aan de verkiezingen.

Uiteraard staat ook de betrouwbaarheid van de verkiezingen niet vast. Daarom scandeerden duizenden mensen de afgelopen dagen in Teheran: 'Als Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (de zittende president) wint, is er sprake van bedrog'. Eigenlijk stellen de presidentsverkiezingen niet zo veel voor. Geestelijke leider Khamenei zorgt dat het volk een president krijgt. Maar toch zijn de verkiezingen een extreem riskante affaire.

Kandidaten
Wie zijn de kandidaten? De huidige president is uiteraard één van de kandidaten. Mohsen Reza'i, oud-opperbevelhebber van de Revolutionaire Garde, is ook kandidaat. Dan is er Mir Hossein Mousavi, premier gedurende de oorlog tussen Irak en Iran, kandidaat namens de hervormingsgezinde beweging.

Hij vertegenwoordigt de fractie van de oud-president Khatami. De vierde kandidaat is een mullah: Mehdi Karoubi was ooit voorzitter van het Iraanse parlement. Ook hij wil worden gezien als een hervormingsgezinde politicus.

Machtige figuur
Alle kandidaten komen uit het regime zelf. Maar welke machtige figuur gaat schuil achter Mousavi en Karoubi? Ali Akbar Hachemi Rafsandjani (75). Rafsandjani is de tweede man van Iran. Hij is oud-president, oud-voorzitter van het parlement en is voorzitter van het parlement dat de Iraanse leider mag aanwijzen.

Aan Rafsandjani kleven twee zaken: hij is medeverantwoordelijk voor de massa-executies uit de jaren tachtig en hij is symbool voor de economische maffia. Die bestaat uit mensen die met hulp van Rafsandjani miljarden hebben verdiend aan corruptie en niet terugbetaalde overheidsleningen.

Van imam Khomeini's kameraden zijn er nog twee belangrijke figuren over: Khamenei, de leider, en Rafsandjani.

Debatten
Voor de eerste keer zijn op de Iraanse tv debatten uitgezonden tussen de kandidaten. Mousavi is de grootste opponent van de huidige president.

Hij beschuldigt Ahmadinedjad van verschillende zaken. De president is een avonturier op het gebied van internationale betrekkingen. De president laat zich op internationaal niveau vernederen. De president handelt op basis van zijn emoties en de president is ver verwijderd van een rationeel buitenlands- en binnenlandsbeleid.

Dat brengt Mousavi tot deze conclusie: Ahmadinejad is onbekwaam.

Beschermheer
Hoe verdedigt Ahmadinedjad zich?

De president richt zich tot de beschermheer van zijn tegenstanders, namelijk Rafsandjani. Hij opende een genadeloze aanval op Rafsandjani: hij is corrupt en zijn familie is verrijkt met overheidsgeld.

Ook zou Rafsandjani een brief hebben geschreven aan de koning van een Golfstaat met de mededeling dat Ahmadinjad niet langer dan zes maanden aan de macht zal blijven. Dit is eigenlijk landverraad.

De huidige Iraanse president verdedigde zijn buitenlandbeleid met een verwijzing naar Obama's beleid: 'De Amerikaanse regering wil onze staat niet langer omverwerpen. En de nucleaire en militaire capaciteit van Iran is nooit zo hoog geweest. De Amerikanen zijn nu ineens aardig voor ons omdat ik een hard en duidelijk beleid heb gevoerd.'

Gemoederen
In de straten van Teheran lopen de gemoederen hoog op tussen de voor- en tegenstanders van Ahmadinejad.

Rafsandjani heeft gisteren een brief geschreven aan de leider Khamenei. Hij vergeleek de huidige president met Bani Sadr, de eerste president van Iran die door Khomeini werd afgezet.

Rafsandjani refereert aan die gebeurtenissen en verlangt van Khamenei om in voetsporen van Khomeini een einde te maken aan Ahamdinejads Fitna (beproeving). Geert heeft niet voor niets zijn film Fitna genoemd.

Uitgeschakeld
Hoe nu verder? Eigenlijk is het buitengewoon vreemd dat Rafsandjani niet al eerder is uitgeschakeld. Het is algemeen bekend dat hij niet populair is bij Khamenei.

De Iraanse politieke leiding verkeert in een grote crisis. Khamenei kan voor vrijdag, de dag van de verkiezingen, niets meer doen. Maar daarna moet hij één van de kemphanen uitschakelen.

Dit alles kan ernstig uit de hand lopen en zelfs tot gewelddadige conflicten leiden in de steden van Iran. In de regio wordt gehoopt dat Iran in een burgeroorlog terecht komt. Ik betwijfel of dit gaat gebeuren. Wel zullen er koppen, veel koppen rollen. En daarmee zal het regime zichzelf aan het wankelen brengen.

P.S. Ten slotte wil ik jullie, lieve lezers bedanken voor jullie vriendelijke en oprechte woorden naar aanleiding van mijn vorige blog.

Afshin Ellian

Winnaar verkiezingen Iran zal op buitenlands terrein hoogstens retoriek aanpassen

De vorige Iraanse hervormer stapte in 2005 gefrustreerd op. De marges in de Iraanse politiek zijn smal, want de eigenlijke macht rust bij de Ayatollahs en de Raad van Hoeders van de islamitische revolutie, die ook bepalen welke kandidaten aan de verkiezingen mogen deelnemen.

Wouter

______________

Last update - 01:03 12/06/2009
ANALYSIS / All Iran candidates will bolster Hamas, Hezbollah ties
By Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz Correspondent
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1092305.html

One winner has already been declared in the Iranian elections: The Internet, used by more than 23 million Iranians, or 34 percent of the population. But that figure alone cannot be used to determine which of the four candidates will win. At the very most, one can assume most Web users will vote for reformist candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi or Mehdi Karroubi, rather than Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Mohsen Rezeai.

Although the presidential race is based mostly on the individual skills of the candidates, their agendas and public record are no less important. The candidates have almost insignificant differences on issues of core interest to the West and Israel. All of the candidates have said they are willing to hold a dialogue with the U.S., but say it would be gradual and depend on U.S. policy. Even Ahmadinejad has expressed his willingness to talk to the U.S.

This does not mean the Islamic Republic would be willing to talk with Israel, which all candidates agree is responsible for the conflict in the Middle East. But only Ahmadinejad has denied Israel's right to exist and the Holocaust.

There is a consensus in Iran regarding the right to seek nuclear technology for peaceful use. U.S. President Barack Obama's recognition that Iran has the right to develop a nuclear program for peaceful ends may create support for Ahmadinejad, who is considered a nuclear crusader who has bent Washington's will.

Iranian foreign relations are dictated by supreme leader Ali Khamenei, who has given U.S. overtures a cold shoulder so far. But the Iranian president can, at least on the surface, set the tone of the relationship, which is why the elections are important. Iran is not expected to change its ambitions to expand its influence in the Middle East and Central Asia, regardless of who wins. Its ties with Syria will not cool, its influence in Iraq will not diminish and its support for Hamas, Hezbollah and countries like Sudan and Algeria will deepen. What might change is its perception. If Mousavi or Karroubi are elected, Tehran's rhetoric will tone down. A reformist president will make it easier for Obama to justify his new policy toward Iraq. But ties between the U.S. and Iran may improve even if Ahmadinejad is reelected.

Achmadinejad staat op 69% nadat een derde stemmen is geteld

Nadat 35% van de stemmen zijn geteld...

===========================

Last update - 00:29 13/06/2009

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1092304.html

Iran's Ahmadinejad wins 69 percent of vote in early election tally

By News Agencies

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was ahead with almost 69 percent of the votes in Friday's presidential election, after 35 percent of the ballot boxes had been counted, election commission figures showed.

Ahmadinejad's main challenger, moderate former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, had nearly 29 percent of the votes cast, according to the commission which is part of the Interior Ministry.

Earlier Friday, Iran's IRNA news agency announced that Ahmadinejad was re-elected in a nationwide election after the polls closed Friday. The official count is still not ready, but supporters of the two front-runners, Ahmadinejad and Mousavi, have claimed victory.

Mousavi said at a Tehran press conference that he was the clear winner of the votes but accused the government of having made numerous legal violations.

Iranians packed polling stations from boutique-lined streets in north Tehran to conservative bastions in the countryside Friday with a choice that has left the nation divided and on edge: keeping hard-line President Ahmadinejad in power or electing a reformist who favors greater freedoms and improved ties with the United States.

Turnout was massive and could break records. Crowds formed quickly at many voting sites in areas considered both strongholds for Ahmadinejad and Mousavi, who served as Iran's prime minister in the 1980s and has become the surprise hero of a powerful youth-driven movement.

"I hope to defeat Ahmadinejad today," said Mahnaz Mottaghi, 23, after casting her ballot at a mosque in central Tehran.

Outside the same polling station, 29-year-old Abbas Rezai said he, his wife and his sister-in-law all voted for Ahmadinejad.

"We will have him as a president for another term, for sure," he said.

Voting was extended by six hours to midnight (1930 GMT, 3:30 p.m. EDT) to allow those still in line time to cast ballots.

Highly charged atmosphere, blistering recriminations

The fiery, month-long campaign unleashed passions and tensions. The mass rallies, polished campaign slogans, savvy Internet outreach and televised
debates more closely resembled Western elections than the scripted campaigns in most other Middle Eastern countries.

U.S. President Barack Obama said Iran's robust debate leading up to elections shows change is possible there, and it could boost U.S. efforts to engage Tehran's leadership.

In a sign of the bitterness from the campaign, the Interior Ministry - which oversees voting - said all rallies or political gatherings would be banned until after the announcement of results, expected Saturday.

In the only violent episode to be reported, a campaign organizer for Mousavi said about a dozen Ahmadinejad supporters attacked one of his campaign offices in Tehran with tear gas.

No one was injured, and police quickly dispersed the group, said Saeed Shariati, head of Mousavi's youth cyber campaign. There was no independent confirmation of the attack.

The cyber campaign ran several Web sites and Facebook pages supporting Mousavi. Authorities blocked at least three of them Friday.

The highly charged atmosphere brought blistering recriminations against Ahmadinejad - whom Mousavi said was moving Iran to a dictatorship - and a
stunning warning from the ruling establishment. The political chief of the powerful Revolutionary Guard warned Wednesday it would crush any revolution against the Islamic system by Mousavi's green movement - the signature color of his campaign.

The outcome will not sharply alter Iran's main policies or sway high-level decisions, such as possible talks with Washington. Those crucial policies are all directly controlled by the ruling clerics headed by the unelected Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

But Mousavi has offered hopes of more freedoms at home. If elected, he could try to end crackdowns on liberal media and bloggers and push for Iran to embrace Obama's offer of dialogue after a nearly 30-year diplomatic freeze. He favors talks with world powers over Iran's nuclear program, which the United States and others fear is aimed at making weapons. Iran says it only seeks reactors for electricity.

Iranians around the world also voted. In Dubai, home to an estimated 200,000 Iranians, the streets around the polling station at the Iranian consulate were jammed with voters overwhelmingly favoring Mousavi.

"He is our Obama," said Maliki Zadehamid, a 39-year-old exporter.

With the race too close to call, a top election official predicted turnout could surpass the nearly 80 percent in the election 12 years ago that brought President Mohammad Khatami to power and began the pro-reform movement.

A strong turnout could boost Mousavi. He is counting on under-30s, who account for about a third of Iran's 46.2 million eligible voters.

In Tehran's affluent northern districts - strongly backing Mousavi - voters waited for up to an hour to cast ballots. Mahdi Hosseini, a university student, blasted the firebrand Ahmadinejad for degrading Iran's image in the eyes of the world.

Ahmadinejad brought Iran international condemnation by repeatedly questioning the Holocaust.

In the conservative city of Qom, home to seminaries and shrines, hundreds of clerics and women dressed in long black robes waited to vote in a long line outside a mosque. Ahmadinejad's campaign has heavily courted his base of working-class families and tradition-minded voters with promises of more government aid and resistance to Western pressures over Iran's nuclear ambitions.

There were no reports of serious problems at the polls. But a top Mousavi aide, Ali Reza Beheshti, said some polling stations in northwestern and southern provinces ran out of ballots, claiming it was a deliberate attempt by the government to keep people from voting.

Iran's elections are considered generally fair, but the country does not allow international monitors. The ruling clerics, however, put their stamp on the elections from the very beginning by deciding who can run. More than 470 people sought to join the presidential race, but only Ahmadinejad and three rivals were cleared.

During the 2005 election, there were some allegations of vote rigging from losers, but the claims were never investigated.

After casting his vote in the white ballot box, the Supreme Leader Khamenei urged Iranians to remain calm.

"As far as I see and hear, passion and motivation is very high among people," Khamenei told reporters. "If some intend to create tension, this will harm people," he added.

After voting at a mosque on Friday in eastern Tehran, Ahmadinejad commented on the high turnout.

Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli said reports to election officials indicate an unprecedented turnout will be recorded in the country's election history, according to the official IRNA news agency.

Mousavi voted with his wife at a mosque in Tehran's southern outskirts.

In the southeastern city of Zahedan - where a bomb blamed on Sunni militants killed at least 25 people at a Shiite mosque last month - there were no reports of tensions. The bombed mosque was used as a polling station.

The race will go to a runoff on June 19 if no candidate receives a simple majority of more than 50 percent of the votes cast. Much depends on how many votes are siphoned off by the two other candidates: conservative former Revolutionary Guard commander Mohsen Rezaei and moderate former parliament speaker Mahdi Karroubi.

Joods-Amerikaanse vredeslobby: Zionisten tegen Israel?

J-Street is een soort linkse afsplitsing van de Amerikaanse pro-Israel lobbygroep AIPAC. AIPAC zou teveel op de veiligheid van Israel hameren en zich niet inzetten voor een vredesakkoord met de Palestijnen. Aangezien ook AIPAC tegenwoordig uitdrukkelijk voor een tweestatenoplossing pleit, is de vraag wat het verschil nog is tussen beiden?

Nou, J-Street pleit bijvoorbeeld voor praten met Hamas en Iran en tegen sancties, en is daarentegen voor stevige druk op Netanyahu om meer concessies te doen.

Dat men Israels optreden in Gaza even fout vond als de terreur van Hamas, leverde J-Street en consorten een hoop kritiek op, evenals de steun voor het zeer omstreden toneelstukje "Seven Jewish Children", dat door velen als ronduit antisemitisch wordt beoordeeld. Het wordt dan moeilijk zo'n lobbygroep nog als 'vriend van Israel' te beschouwen.

Wouter

________________

Candidly Speaking: Bogus 'Zionist' Israel-bashers

Jun. 9, 2009
Isi Leibler , THE JERUSALEM POST

It is ironic that many of the disconcerting themes relating to Israel in US President Barack Obama's Cairo speech replicated those widely promoted for months by a noisy minority of radical American Jews. These "Israel bashers" now proudly proclaim that the new language being employed by Obama "echoes the vocabulary we use."

On the eve of Binyamin Netanyahu's arrival in Washington, a full page advertisement inserted by the Israel Policy Forum (IPF) appeared in The New York Times. Instead of the customary welcome message to a visiting prime minister or expressions of solidarity, it urged Obama to press Israel to make further unilateral concessions to the Palestinians, assuring him that in the event of a confrontation, he would enjoy the backing of most American Jews because "they are not Israelis living in exile." IPF's Washington director, M.J Rosenberg, issued a call to neutralize "the minority of Jews falsely" purporting to present the Jewish community as "blind supporters" of the Israeli government.

ISRAEL POLICY FORUM is only one of a cluster of radical left-wing organizations that have the chutzpa to describe themselves as lovers of Israel and even "Zionists," while actively lobbying the Obama administration to pressure Israel. They deviously sugarcoat their anti-Israeli campaigns by comparing themselves to parents whose children are drug addicts requiring "tough love" to force them to change their dangerous habits.These sentiments were effectively replicated in Obama's Cairo speech.

They were joined in April last year by J Street, a new group initially funded by the Jewish tycoon George Soros who had achieved notoriety for demonizing successive Israeli governments irrespective of their political leanings.

J Street and another radical group, Brit Tzedek v'Shalom, proudly announced that they had succeeded in persuading 11,000 of their members to bombard the White House with e-mails urging Obama to stand firm against Netanyahu.

During the Gaza offensive, J Street condemned the action against Hamas as "disproportionate." Refusing to "pick a side" and identify "who was right and who was wrong," it applied moral equivalency to both parties proclaiming that "we recognize that neither Israelis nor Palestinians have a monopoly on right and wrong... While there is nothing 'right' in raining rockets on Israeli families or dispatching suicide bombers, there is nothing 'right' in punishing a million and a half already suffering Gazans for the actions of the extremists amongst them."

J Street also opposes Israel's efforts to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power. Despite the fact that Israelis of all political opinions are united on this issue, J Street members were e-mailed and urged to actively lobby against a bipartisan congressional resolution calling for tougher sanctions to be applied against Iran.

The radical groups also resurrected the bogus anti-Semitic charge of "dual loyalties," warning Jews that by continued "blind" support of Israel, they risked alienating the American public and would be condemned for displaying greater loyalty toward Israel than the US. They were almost hysterical in their condemnation of Jews who exercised their rights to protest against the proposed appointment of the fiercely anti-Israel Charles Freeman to head the National Security Agency. IPF spokesmen went so far as to explicitly state that being an anti-Israeli fanatic was insufficient grounds for barring a person from assuming a senior administration role.

If there was any doubt about J Street, its endorsement of the British anti-Semitic play Seven Jewish Children, effectively a contemporary blood libel, placed it squarely in the camp of those seeking to demonize the Jewish state. It justified its support on the grounds that the play would promote "rigorous intellectual engagement and civil debate on which our community prides itself."

J Street and IPF also seek to slander and undermine AIPAC, the highly effective pro-Israel lobby group, depicting it as an extreme right-wing and hawkish body although it has consistently promoted the policies of all Israeli governments, including the dovish administrations preceding Netanyahu.

IN AN ENVIRONMENT in which global anti-Semitism and demonization of Israel are beginning to make inroads into the United States, the potential of such radical groups to destabilize the standing of Israel should not be underestimated.

Never before has the Jewish community faced a situation in which organizations presenting themselves as Zionists shamelessly lobby their president to pressure the democratically elected government of the Jewish state to make concessions which could have life and death implications for its citizens.

Not that anti-Jewish Jews are a new phenomenon. Jewish communists were bitterly opposed to the campaign to liberate Soviet Jewry and defended state-sponsored anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union. But they were marginalized and regarded as pariahs by the Jewish community.

The problem in the US is that the established Jewish leaders decided to ignore these organizations, mistakenly believing that confrontations would be construed as attempts to restrict freedom of expression and would transform the radicals into martyrs.

But the issue of freedom of expression is a red herring. Any Jew is entitled to express his beliefs, no matter how nauseating or deviant such views may appear to the majority. That certainly applies to those arguing in favor or in opposition to settlements. Surely the red lines are being crossed when, as distinct from expressing views, American based organizations claiming to "love" Israel aggressively lobby the US government to pressure it to make concessions that could place lives at risk. To tolerate such groups within the framework of the Jewish community provides them with an aura of respectability to which they are not entitled. Alas, today some of these groups already attend administration briefings on a par with the recognized mainstream organizations.

Furthermore, failure to confront these Israel bashers has already provided the general media with grounds to suggest that American Jewish support of Israel is collapsing. That has certainly encouraged the Obama administration to intensify its pressure on the Netanyahu government. It may also cause some weak-kneed Jews to distance themselves from Israel to avoid confronting a popular American president.

There are even ominous mutterings predicting a possible replay of what transpired during World War II, when fearing a confrontation and bedazzled by president Franklin Roosevelt, Jewish leaders lacked the courage to protest against the indifference of the US government to the Nazi extermination of the Jews.

Now, as never before, when the beleaguered State of Israel confronts Iran, potentially one of the greatest existential threats since its creation, the support of American Jews is crucial.

A united Jewish community should marginalize the anti-Israeli radicals and urge Obama (who received 80 percent of its votes) to stand by commitments made to Israel by previous US administrations in the same manner as the Netanyahu government is obliged to adhere to undertakings made by previous Israeli governments. A strong Jewish stand in this direction could effectively tip the balance in averting a catastrophic major rift between the US and Israel.

=========

This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1244371055245&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

vrijdag 12 juni 2009

Obama over het recht op kernwapens van Iran

Als je er even over nadenkt, is het inderdaad een nogal vreemde uitspraak van Obama:

"No single nation should pick and choose which nation holds nuclear weapons."

Vreemd dat dit zo weinig mensen is opgevallen.

-----------

Obama accidently abrogates America's right to oppose Iran's nuclear weapons

http://rubinreports.blogspot.com/2009/06/obama-accidently-abrogates-americas.html

By Barry Rubin

"No single nation should pick and choose which nation holds nuclear weapons." Thus spoke President Barack Obama in his Cairo speech. After a pause for contemplation, I respond, "Why the Hell not?"

Indeed this statement—like many in the speech (though there are some good ones, too) is so disastrous in its implications that the mind is boggled. A re-boggle occurs when things like this are allowed to pass by among people who should know better as acceptable or even as brilliant statesmanship.

Consider all the things wrong with Obama's sentence:

First, a nation, especially a great power, should certainly decide whether it wants certain nations to hold nuclear weapons. In effect, he sabotaged the United States by saying that it has no right to seek to deny Iran nuclear weapons. So why should there be any sanctions at all? He may not have intended it—but to attribute major policy statements of the president of the United States to ignorance is no compliment—but he said it.

Second, does this mean that a single nation can ally with other nations to pick and choose? After all, despite mythology, the previous Bush administration was extremely multilateral in its policy toward Iran's nuclear weapons. It actually delegated the diplomacy to Britain, France, and Germany who tried but failed completely. So is Obama implying that if you get a UN resolution then that's ok?

Third, it is horrifyingly a repeal of any counter-proliferation policy. The United States thus has no right to pick and choose against North Korea, or Cuba, or Venezuela or just about anyone else from having nuclear weapons.

Yet, of course, Obama is committed to stopping Iran from getting nuclear weapons, isn't he? So how can one reconcile this contradiction?

Such statements, which transcend specific declared policies, are signs of an ideology that abdicates America's leadership role in the world, abandoning everything we should have learned from the 1930s and seemed to have learned since December 7, 1941. Obama says, in effect, that America is not moral or wise enough to tell others what they should do (except Israel, of course). Forget about George W. Bush, this is a betrayal of everything Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Bill Clinton believed and practiced.

Secretary of State Hilary Clinton must be spinning in her limousine seat.

Is America a free, successful, democratic country whose stances for freedom and decency give it a right as a "single nation" to fight regimes and movements which are murderous, dictatorial, and brutal?
Well, it's all relative, isn't it (and this is an undercurrent in Obama's world view)? How dare we say that the United States is "better" as a society and government than that which prevails in Iran or Saudi Arabia or Venezuela or North Korea? Doesn't America have its sins? (Yes, but they are far smaller in recent decades and it has worked hard to correct them.)

What, one might ask, does a "single nation" have the right to do, assuming that the nation is the United States? Answer: apologize, listen, and show respect for others.

Incredibly destructive change you can believe in. Yes we can…demolish the influence of the United States, the greatest hope for peace, stability, and progress among the best elements in the world.
Now the greatest hope is either that Obama learns better, he is persuaded by more knowledgeable members of the administration, or November 2012, whichever comes first.

Of course, there is an element of exaggeration in what I've written here. But it is shocking how accurate it is nonetheless. Ignorance, inexperience, and an extremely destructive ideology are very much present.

Here's the best responce of all to Obama's Cairo speech. It comes in private conversation with an Arab Muslim whose country is ruled by a dictatorship:

"We don't want Obama to act like a Muslim or Arab," he said, "We want him to act like an American."

Netanyahu houdt zondag toespraak over Routekaart naar Vrede

Zal hij het zeggen of niet? Zal hij de magische woorden 'Palestijnse staat' uitspreken? Terwijl iedereen daarop wacht, schijnt niemand het een probleem te vinden dat Abbas blijft weigeren de magische woorden 'Joodse staat' uit te spreken, met de flauwe smoes dat Israel zelf moet weten hoe het zich noemt en hij daarmee de Arabieren in Israel zou afvallen.

Volgens dit artikel zal Netanjahoe geen bevriezing van de nederzettingen aankondigen, maar wel met een compromis komen.

Sources close to Netanyahu maintain that he will try to reach a tacit understanding with U.S. President Barack Obama on the suspension of construction for a specific period of time.

Dat betekent dat hij in feite doet wat de VS willen, maar voor een bepaalde tijd waarbinnen men dan waarschijnlijk ook stappen van de Palestijnen verwacht. Deze flexibele opstelling is een grote vooruitgang.

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

Last update - 07:32 11/06/2009
Netanyahu's speech: Yes to road map, no to settlement freeze
By Aluf Benn and Barak Ravid
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1092068.html

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will announce in his foreign policy speech scheduled for Sunday the adoption of the road map and the "two-state solution" for settling the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, according to sources close to the prime minister. The sources said the speech will "revolve around the road map."

Netanyahu will present a few conditions for the implementation of the road map, above all a Palestinian recognition of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people. He will also demand that the future Palestinian state be demilitarized.

The prime minister will propose the immediate renewal of negotiations with the Palestinian Authority on the basis of a formula that will allow for self-government as long as the Palestinians do not endanger Israel.

In the speech at Bar-Ilan University, near Tel Aviv, Netanyahu will discuss at length the opportunity that has been created for cooperation between Israel and the Arab states in light of shared concerns about Iran's nuclear program.

Netanyahu will propose a regional process in which Arab states will initiate the normalization of ties with Israel, in parallel to the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

The final draft of the speech will only be completed over the weekend.

President Shimon Peres is to meet with Netanyahu today to persuade him to adopt more moderate views regarding the Palestinians. Netanyahu is also to submit a draft of the speech to Defense Minister Ehud Barak tomorrow.

In his speech Sunday, at a bastion of Israel's national-religious movement, Netanyahu will declare that the settlements in the West Bank are not an obstacle to peace.

In recent days Netanyahu has asked his aides to collect data on the settlements. Sources close to the prime minister said Netanyahu will not announce during his speech a freeze on construction in the settlements, as the United States has insisted Israel must do.

Channel 2 news reported Wednesday that Netanyahu has evaluated a number of ways of freezing settlement construction, including issuing a temporary (several months) hold on new construction starts in return for reciprocal measures on the part of the Palestinians and Arab states. Another option is declaring a freeze on construction in Jerusalem, or in the settlement blocs, but these are not expected to be mentioned in the speech.

Sources close to Netanyahu maintain that he will try to reach a tacit understanding with U.S. President Barack Obama on the suspension of construction for a specific period of time.

The differences in the positions of Israel and the U.S. on building in in the settlements narrowed in the wake of talks between U.S. Special Envoy George Mitchell and Netanyahu Tuesday. The prime minister and his aides presented a proposal to break down the issue of natural growth in the settlements according to various types of construction, such as new building, the expansion of existing structures and the construction of public housing.

A Jerusalem source said the talks, which lasted about four hours, "resulted in a great deal of progress," as a result of the more flexible proposals put forth by Netanyahu on the settlements.

A senior Washington source confirmed that progress had been achieved, but stressed that "our position on the need to cease settlement construction has not been altered at all. The talks were good and we will continue in a few days."

The Prime Minister's Bureau refused to comment.

Zeven Joodse kinderen

Ook in Nederland is dit korte toneelstuk opgevoerd. Het roept inderdaad discussie op, en de setting is interessant: Joodse ouders die met elkaar praten over wat ze hun kinderen wel en niet moeten vertellen over Israel en het conflict, maar het gaat weer eens alleen over (vermeende) Israelische wandaden en hoe de ouders daarmee worstelen. Daarbij wordt een karikatuur gemaakt van Israel en de geschiedenis. Het vreemde is, dat dit soort dingen altijd alleen worden gemaakt over Israel. De Arabieren en Palestijnen hebben blijkbaar geen kritiek en zelfreflectie nodig, hun daden dienen niet kritisch tegen het licht te worden gehouden, zij kunnen hun kinderen zonder problemen in de ogen kijken en over het land, het conflict en het verleden vertellen...

Zie ook: Seven Muslim Children

-----------

Racist "Peace" promotion

http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/06/racist-peace-promotion.html

Following is the English part of a message circulated by Gush Shalom, promoting the anti-Semitic play Seven Jewish Children by Caryl Churchill. The showing of the play is sponsored by the Jewish women for peace coalition. The message of the play is that Jewish parents are murderers, and that they lie to their children about their murder activities. Jews believe they are "chosen" people according to the play and cover up their theft of Arab land. Jews come on Aliya and tell their children lies about Israel and so on.

This play is surely no less racist than Geert Wilders' film about Islam, yet WIlders' film is generally shunned and no "peace" groups would ever sponsor it. How can we excuse the fact that these groups, Gush Shalom and the "Coalition of Women for Peace" get money to promote peace and understanding, and instead promote racist incitement?

A sample of the dialogue:

Tell her it's the land God gave us

Dont tell her religion

Tell her her great great great great lots of greats grandad lived there

Dont tell her he was driven out

Tell her, of course tell her, tell her everyone was driven out and the country is waiting

for us to come home

Dont tell her she doesnt belong here

.......

Tell her about Jerusalem.

...

Dont tell her who used to live in this house

No but dont tell her her great great grandfather used to live in this house

No but dont tell her Arabs used to sleep in her bedroom

...

Tell her again this is our promised land.

Dont tell her they said it was a land without people

...

Tell her it's not the water for their fields

Dont tell her anything about water.

Dont tell her about the bulldozer

Dont tell her not to look at the bulldozer

Dont tell her it was knocking the house down

Tell her it's a building site

....

Dont tell her how many of them have been killed

Tell her the Hamas fighters have been killed

Tell her they're terrorists

Tell her they're filth

Dont

Dont tell her about the family of dead girls

Tell her you cant believe what you see on television

Tell her we killed the babies by mistake

Dont tell her anything about the army

Tell her, tell her about the army, tell her to be proud of the army. Tell her about the family of dead girls, tell her their names why not, tell her the whole world knows why shouldnt she know? tell her there's dead babies, did she see babies? tell her she's got nothing to be ashamed of. Tell her they did it to themselves. Tell her they want their children killed to make people sorry for them, tell her I'm not sorry for them, tell her not to be sorry for them, tell her we're the ones to be sorry for, tell her they cant talk suffering to us. Tell her we're the iron fist now, tell her it's the fog of war, tell her we wont stop killing them till we're safe, tell her I laughed when I saw the dead policemen, tell her they're animals living in rubble now, tell her I wouldnt care if we wiped them out, the world would hate us is the only thing, tell her I dont care if the world hates us, tell her we're better haters, tell her we're chosen people, tell her I look at one of their children covered in blood and what do I feel? tell her all I feel is happy it's not her.

Coalition of Women for Peace invites you to the play
Seven Jewish Children (A Play for Gaza)
Play by: Caryl Churchill
From English: Shimon Levy, Uri Shani

Thursday, 11.6.09, 7 pm, Rabin Square, Tel Aviv

The play has been translated into Hebrew and will be performed in Tel Aviv directed by Samieh Jabbarin - a Palestinian political prisoner. The Tel Aviv staging of Caryl Churchill's short play - written in record time by the highly esteemed British play-write in the midst of the Israeli bombardment of Gaza last winter will protest the two year anniversary of the Siege of Gaza and 42 years since the 1967 occupation.

Tell her it's a game
Tell her it's serious
But dont frighten her
Dont tell her they'll kill her

Actresses: Sarah von Schwartze, Gabby Eldor, Samah Wakim and others

Director: Samieh Jabbarin

Initiative: Tamara Schreiber and Rachel Avileah
Artistic Designer: Anisa Ashkar
Music: Deerar Kalash (Saxophone)
Production: Inna Michaeli, Lana Khaskia, Eilat Maoz
Special Thanks to: Adi Maoz, Raja Zoubi Omri

The play was first staged in English on February 6th 2009 in the Royal Court Theater in London

Caryl Churchill (1938) is a British feminist and anti-capitalist playwright who has written dozens of plays including: Top Girls, Owners, Cloud Nine and Far Away.

Spectatorship is free. According to the terms of copyright, all contributions will be donated to MAP – Medical Aid for Palestinians, which supplies humanitarian aid and advocates for policy change in Britain.

~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---

VS met $ 55.000.000 grootste donateur van UNRWA

Naast al haar goede en noodzakelijke werk voor de vluchtelingen heeft UNRWA ook een politieke agenda: het steunt het zogenaamde 'recht op terugkeer' van de Palestijnse vluchtelingen en hun nakomelingen, en voert geen projecten uit die gericht zijn op permanente huisvesting van de vluchtelingen. In educatieve activiteiten van UNRWA komt dit ook tot uitdrukking.

UNRWA wordt bijna geheel door Palestijnen gerund, waaronder ook aanhangers van Hamas, en woordvoerders van UNRWA staan bekend om hun anti-Israelische uitspraken. Begrijpelijk misschien als je dagelijks in de vluchtelingenkampen werkt, maar daarmee diskwalificeert UNRWA zich als onpartijdige instantie die objectieve informatie geeft.

RP
--------------

U.S. Government Contributes $55 million to UNRWA

Date : 10/6/2009 Time : 15:43
http://english.wafa.ps/?action=detail&id=12749

RAMALLAH, June 10, 2009 (WAFA - PLO news agency)- The U.S Government made, at the bi-annual meeting in Amman of the Advisory Commission (AdCom) for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the U.S. Head of Delegation to the AdCom, Liana Brooks-Rubin announced, a contribution of $55.3 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)'s General Fund, bringing the total 2009 U.S. contribution to UNRWA to $154.5 million.

During her announcement, Brooks-Rubin commented that "The United States remains deeply concerned about the humanitarian conditions facing Palestinian refugees." She noted that "The United States is a strong supporter of UNRWA, the primary provider of health care, education, housing, and humanitarian assistance to 4.7 million Palestinian refugees in the Middle East. The assistance is a key factor contributing to stability in the region."

UNRWA Commissioner General Abu Zayd thanked the U.S. government for its $55 million contribution in response to its extraordinary appeal to donors this year saying, "we are immensely grateful to the United States government for its generous and prompt contribution. It is a fine example of the American commitment to supporting UNRWA and improving the daily lives of Palestine refugees throughout the region."

The American contribution to UNRWA's General Fund will allow the Agency to deliver health, education, and relief services to 4.7 million Palestinian refugees in the region. The $154.5 million that the U.S. has already contributed to UNRWA in 2009 includes $116 million for UNRWA's General Fund supporting Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria; and $38.5 million for UNRWA's 2009 West Bank and Gaza emergency activities.

Of the U.S. contribution, $195,000 will go towards educational field trips to the United States for UNRWA students in Gaza and another $250,000 to assist herding communities at risk of displacement in the West Bank. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of State approved a grant of $535,000 to support the reconstruction of the UNRWA Health Clinic in Jenin refugee camp.

The United States is UNRWA's largest bilateral donor. In 2008, the United States provided $184.7 million to UNRWA, including $99.9 million to its General Fund, and $84.8 million to its Emergency Appeals in the West Bank, Gaza, and Lebanon.

Bewaker gedood bij aanval neonazi in Holocaust museum VS

Dit was een extremist en een extreem voorval, maar er zijn helaas genoeg mensen met dergelijke walgelijke ideeën.
Hoe de man door de zware beveiliging kwam is overigens een raadsel.

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

Neo-Nazi opens fire at U.S. Holocaust Museum
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1091875.html
By Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz Correspondent and News Agencies

An elderly white supremacist opened fire with a rifle inside the crowded U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum early Wednesday afternoon, gravely wounding a security guard before two other officers returned fire.

The assailant and his victim were both hospitalized. Police named the gunman as James Von Brunn, an 89-year-old linked a Web site advocating
anti-government and anti-Jewish sentiments. A law enforcement official said Von Brunn's vehicle was found near the Washington, D.C. museum and tested for explosives.

The assailant was in critical condition, said Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty. Police chief Kathy Lanier said the gunman appeared to have acted alone.

Fire department spokesman Alan Etter told CNN a third person was hurt after being cut by broken glass.

The museum normally has a heavy security presence with guards positioned both inside and outside. All visitors are required to pass through metal detectors at the entrance, and bags are screened.

It was not immediately known whether the gunman made it through the detectors before opening fire. He was engaged by security guards immediately after entering the door, Police chief Lanier said.

The museum, located just off the National Mall near the Washington Monument, is a popular tourist attraction. It draws about 1.7 million visitors each year.

Roads surrounding the museum were closed just after the attack.

U.S. President Barack Obama said immediately following the incident that he was saddened by the attack and concerned for the health of the wounded guard.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters he gave Obama the facts as they were known at the time, shortly after shots were fired. The White House is receiving regular updates from the FBI, Homeland Security Council and the Situation Room, said Gibbs.

The Embassy of Israel release a statement following the incident saying it was "shocked and saddened by today's shooting incident at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. The Embassy of Israel condemns this attack and is closely following the situation."

Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President of the Union for Reform Judaism, issued the following statement:

"That today's shooting at the United States Holocaust Museum should take place at a site expressly created to teach the world about the destruction and devastation brought about by human evil deepens the resonance of this terrible act."

Washington Mayor Fenty called the attack "an extremely isolated incident."

"In these days and times you never know when someone is going to grab a gun and use it in an inappropriate way as was done today," he said.

Stephanie Geraghty, 28, who had been visiting the museum, said the shooter appeared to be a white male carrying a silver gun.

"I heard the first shot, it sounded like something had been dropped from the upper stories down," she told Reuters. "The next two came really fast - bam bam. At that point everyone took off, chaos, running."

A woman whose teenaged daughter was visiting the museum at the time of the shooting said that the children heard several gunshots before they were evacuated from the building.

Sandy Perkins says her daughter, Abigail, called her shortly after the shooting and said some of her friends were very shaken, but otherwise were fine.

The teens did not see where the shots were coming from before they were safely evacuated to buses outside the museum.

Von Brunn being investigated as the prime suspect in the shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Museum, according to unnamed law enforcement agents, but officials have declined to publicly confirm him as their suspect.

According to Joseph Persichini, assistant director in charge of the Washington FBI field office, authorities have dispatched people to a suspect's home to check his computer. He said they are investigating this as a possible hate crime or domestic terrorism.

Von Brunn has a racist, anti-Semitic Web site and wrote a book called Kill the Best Gentile.

In 1983, Von Brunn was convicted of attempting to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve Board. He was arrested two years earlier outside the room where the board was meeting, carrying a revolver, knife and sawed-off shotgun.

At the time, police said Von Brunn wanted to take the members hostage because of high interest rates and the nation's economic difficulties.

On his Web site, Von Brunn says he was a PT boat captain in the U.S. Navy.

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

Update:

Last update - 16:19 11/06/2009

Holocaust Museum: No words to express our grief and shock
By Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz Correspondent and News Agencies

The United States Holocaust Museum Director on Thursday expressed her shock at the fatal shooting that took place at the museum the day before, saying "obviously, there are no words to express our grief and shock."

Sara Bloomfield described Stephen T. Johns, the security guard killed when a neo-Nazi opened fire in the museum as "a great friend who greeted us every day with a wonderful smile - and he will be missed."

The Museum will be closed Thursday in tribute to Johns; Holocaust Museum director Sara Bloomfield said that flags at the museum have been lowered to half-staff in honor of the slain.

Johns, who is African-American and a 1988 graduate of Crossland High School in Maryland, worked for Wackenhut Services Inc., which has contracted security services at the museum since 2002, according to a company statement. Johns had been posted at the museum since joining the firm in 2003. The museum has about 70 officers and supervisors on the force.

U.S. President Barack Obama and others commended the work of Johns and the other guards.

"We have lost a courageous security guard who stood watch at this place of solemn remembrance," Obama said in a statement. "My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends in this painful time."

Washington D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty also had words of praise.

"The men and women in uniform who put their lives on the line to ensure our safety are truly heroes, and I am deeply saddened that this senseless act of violence threatened the safety of our community," Fenty said in a statement.

The security guard died of his wounds in hospital a few hours after the attack and the assailant was listed in critical condition.

Washington Police Chief Cathy Lanier said the gunman was engaged by security guards immediately after entering the door with a rifle. The second he stepped into the building he began firing.

donderdag 11 juni 2009

Barak roept Netanjahoe op de tweestatenoplossing te omarmen

Het beleid van de Arbeidspartij voor dummies?

When we [in Israel] said we are not taking any options off the table, it's like a hint that we are also considering other things, without talking about them, and we mean it. But because there are cameras and recording equipment here, I cannot say any more than that."

Barak durft de term "tweestatenoplossing" in elk geval wel in de mond te nemen en steunt de initiatieven van Obama. Zelfs de extremist Lieberman is voor een tweestatenoplossing. Het wachten is op een duidelijke uitspraak van Netanjahoe....

Wouter

_______________

Barak urges PM to endorse 2 states

Jun. 10, 2009
JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST

Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Wednesday called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to publicly embrace the Road Map and accept US President Barack Obama's Middle East peace initiative.

Speaking to junior high school students in the Knesset, Barak said that Labor had joined the coalition based on the understanding that Netanyahu was committed to previous agreements and would see it as his duty to promote the peace process.

He told the children he hoped Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu would say "things that will allow us to continue on the path laid down by Obama," during a major policy address the prime minister is due to give on Sunday.

"You know the government is made up of several parties. Our party, the Labor party, joined the government, among other reasons, because we agreed that this government will abide by all agreements made by previous governments. That's why we think we should clearly state that we commend President Obama's initiative, that we are committed to the Road Map and that we want two states for two peoples, all this without compromising on our security concerns."

Barak also referred to Obama's recent speech to the Arab world from Cairo. "We may not like every word and maybe if one of you or me would have written it, we would have written it in a way which emphasizes our place here in Israel and in history…. But it was still a speech made in Cairo and intended for the Arab world, and it was important because he still told them important things about our place here and about the need to abandon the path of violence and make peace."

Moving on to the Iranian nuclear issue, Barak said it was "a very serious threat, and all indicators show they are building a nuclear weapon, they are trying to hide it by saying they only want to build power plants. It is their right to claim this, but it is a bit of a funny claim when they have a lot of oil and produce some three million oil barrels a day. They hide their [nuclear] program behind a civilian program and that's why it's very hard to prove [they are building nuclear weapons].

"Now the Obama administration said it wants to talk to the Iranians, try a 'good' approach, as they say. We can't tell them, 'Don't do it,' but we say we believe this dialogue should be short and to the point and that they shouldn't let the Iranians fool them and string them along. When we [in Israel] said we are not taking any options off the table, it's like a hint that we are also considering other things, without talking about them, and we mean it. But because there are cameras and recording equipment here, I cannot say any more than that."

On Tuesday, after meeting with Obama's Mideast envoy George Mitchell, Barak said Israel should cooperate with the US president in seeking an all-inclusive regional accord.

Barak called Obama's efforts to bring an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict "an exceptional opportunity," and said it would be right for Israel to adequately consider its path and properly navigate inside this series of challenges and opportunities."

"It would not be right for Israel to get in the way of American efforts to form a Palestinian state according to the vision of two states for two peoples," Barak said.

-------

This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1244371061003&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

Europese Joden bezorgd om winst extreemrechts bij verkiezingen EP

De winst van extreem rechtse en nationalistische partijen, waaronder de PVV, is inderdaad zorgelijk en ook beangstigend. Dat Wilders het voor Israel zegt op te nemen doet daar niks aan af. Het Israel dat hij als ideaalbeeld heeft is een Israel waarin de meeste Joden waarschijnlijk niet willen wonen.

Zie ook: Wilders en de Europese verkiezingen.

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

Jews: Far-right gains in Europe alarming

Jun. 9, 2009
Associated Press , THE JERUSALEM POST

Jewish groups across Europe reacted to far-right gains in the European parliamentary elections by urging the EU on Tuesday to do more to tackle racism and intolerance.

The European Jewish Congress, which represents Jewish communities across Europe, said winning seats in the European Parliament based on "racist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic platforms" pointed to an erosion of tolerance.

Results of voting for a new European Union assembly showed that far-right parties in the Netherlands, Britain, Austria, Hungary, Denmark and Romania posted significant victories.

In a statement, the Paris-based Jewish Congress called that a "clarion call" for the EU to tackle racism and intolerance through legislation and dialogue.

"Europeans of all backgrounds, ethnicities and religions are looking to our elected officials to unite, rather than divide us," it said.

The congress also said the victory of groups using racist and xenophobic platforms "belies a disturbing acquiescence of government to this type of incitement and a need for immediate action and education."

It said it was troubled by the fact that far-right forces did better than in the last EU assembly elections in 2004 and that they were scattered across the 27-nation EU.

"The success of such rabid groups as The Freedom Party in the Netherlands, the Freedom Party in Austria... the British National Party, and Jobbik in Hungary, among others, will sadly only serve to embolden those who espouse the dangerous concepts of extreme nationalism, racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia," the congress said.

It urged the European Parliament and the European Commission, the EU executive, to work for effective anti-racism legislation.

This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1244371054760&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

VS willen binnen 2 jaar oplossing Israelisch-Palestijns conflict

Onlangs nog verijdelde Fatah een zelfmoordaanslag van Hamas tegen haar politiemacht op de Westoever. Beide partijen hebben tientallen, zo niet honderden leden van de ander gearresteerd. Maar tegen Egypte zeggen ze allebei dat ze hun conflict op willen lossen. Of dat voor 7 juli gaat lukken is zeer twijfelachtig. Voor wie denkt dat deze inter-Palestijnse strijd een zionistisch plot is: deze strijd gaat terug tot de jaren '30 van de vorige eeuw en de grote Arabische opstand van 1936-1939, waarin de radikale Husseini clan het gematigdere leiderschap voor een groot deel vermoordde.

-----------

U.S. Plan to End Palestinian/Israeli Conflict within Two Years- Egyptian Sources
Asharq Al-Awsat Exclusive
09/06/2009
By Salaah jum'ah in Cairo and Saleh al Naeimi in Gaza
http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=17014

Asharq Al-Awsat has learned that during the Egyptian delegation's visit to Washington on 26 May, the US briefed Egyptian Intelligence Minister Omar Suleiman, and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abu el Gheit, on what Egyptian sources described as "a plan to end the Palestinian /Israeli conflict within two years on the basis of a two state solution." Washington then called for a swift response from the Arab side.

The source informed Asharq Al-Awsat that "the US officials also informed the Egyptian delegation that they had notified Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the plan during his recent visit to Washington, and they had called on him to provide a response within six weeks."

The source added that the Egyptian political leadership sensed that Obama was extremely serious [about achieving peace in the Middle East], and that the only obstacle to this is the inter-Palestinian division. Egypt therefore has decided to consult with a number of Arab leaders in order to heal the Palestinian rift as soon as possible. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has assigned the task of ending the Palestinian division to Egyptian Intelligence Minister General Omar Suleiman, who informed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of the situation. Abbas then sent a high-level delegation headed by former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei to Cairo. Egypt also asked Hamas leader Khalid Mishal to attend inter-Palestinian dialogue in Cairo, in order to put a timetable in place with regards ending inter-Palestinian division so that the Arabs are ready to enter negotiations [to end the Palestinian - Israeli conflict].

An emergency meeting of Arab Foreign Ministers is also scheduled to take place on 17 June whose main agenda will be to provide support to Egyptian efforts to end the inter-Palestinian division.

A high ranking Egyptian official revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that "Egyptian Intelligence chief, Minister Omar Suleiman is set to meet a Hamas delegation.led by Khalid Mishal in Cairo today." He added that this was "part of the Egyptian efforts to end the inter-Palestinian division, in order to pave the way for political the political process."

The source also informed Asharq Al-Awsat that "Egypt will continue to consult and communicate with all Palestinian factions and groups over the coming stage, in the context of maintaining the momentum on issues of [Palestinian] national dialogue, creating a final agreement on Palestinian reconciliation [to be announced] in Cairo on 7 July, which will pave the way for the political process."

For his part, deposed Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said that communication between his movement and Egypt are currently underway at the highest level with regards to resuming [Palestinian] national dialogue, and discussing the contentious issues between the Palestinian factions. During a visit to a Palestinian school where secondary school exams are currently underway throughout the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Haniyeh spoke of his hope that the talks would put an end to inter-Palestinian division, especially following the events of Qalqilya [where armed clashes between Hamas and Fatah resulted in six fatalities].

Hamas announced that its delegation would be made up of members of both the Syrian and Gazan branches of the movement, and would be led by Khalid Mishal. The delegation is due to meet with Egyptian intelligence Chief General Omar Suleiman in the Egyptian capital later today.

Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha said "the delegation will discuss the recent deaths of resistance fighters.by the security apparatus in the West Bank, as well as the issue of [Palestinian] dialogue." He added that along with Khalid Mishal "the movement's delegation is made up of Deputy Chairman Mousa Abu Marzook, Eyad Abu al-Nasr, as well as two members of the political bureau of the Gaza branch." Taha expected the meeting between General Suleiman and the Hamas delegation to take place later today.

Taha also denied that Hamas had threatened to withdraw from participating in the meeting. He said that Hamas's position with regards to this is yet to be resolved, but should the [Fatah affiliated] security apparatus continue to attack the resistance, whether by arrest or assassination, then Hamas would withdraw.

A Fatah delegation led by Ahmed Qurei, and including the leader of the Fatah parliamentary bloc Azzam al-Ahmed, visited Cairo on Sunday and met with General Omar Suleiman where they discussed ways to end the Palestinian division, as well as addressing issues that emerged recently as a result of tension between Hamas and Fatah.

Secretary General of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, renewed his support of Egypt's efforts to achieve Palestinian reconciliation. In a press statement, Moussa described these efforts as being vital to the Palestinians, and said that the Palestinian factions have a responsibility to reconcile quickly, especially in light of the clear international developments with regards to the Arab - Israeli conflict.

The Egyptian source also informed Asharq Al-Awsat that "Egypt is keen on ending the division as quickly as possible in light of the new US political discourse on achieving peace in the region, and President Obama's assurances of starting up the peace process as soon as possible in order to achieve a Palestinian state."
The Hamas delegation is comprised of Mousa Abu Marzook and Mohamed Nasr from the Syrian branch of Hamas, and Mahmoud al-Zahar and Nizar Awadallah of the Gaza branch. The delegation is led by exiled Hamas leader Khalid Mishal.

A senior Fatah official revealed that Cairo will invite Palestinian factions to meet in Cairo over the coming days in order to resolve inter-Palestinian division before 5 July. All factions will then be invited to endorse the outcome of the dialogue which will be announced to the public on 7 July.

The official added "The three remaining issues on the Palestinian dialogue agenda are; the electoral system, the formation of the joint [Palestinian] security force, and the formation of the [political] factional committee which will be led by President Mahmoud Abbas."

Gay Pride in Israel

Hoewel er in Israel ook wel verzet tegen is, hebben homo's er relatief veel vrijheden, en is hun positie vergelijkbaar met die in Westerse landen. Onder de Palestijnse Autoriteit en zeker onder Hamas is dat wel anders. Dat is een van de dingen die het zo vreemd maakt dat progressieven zo met de Palestijnen sympathiseren. Hetzelfde geldt voor vrouwenrechten, rechten van (religieuze) minderheden en dissidenten, vrijheid van meningsuiting etc. Hamas is een bijzonder reactionaire beweging, waarin een kleine groep autoritaire mannen het voor het zeggen heeft.

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

Gay and Zionist

http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/06/gay-and-zionist.html

One of the most interesting and unfathomable phenomena of Israel hate, next to anti-Zionist Jews, are groups like "Queers for Palestine." When they are Jewish as well, it is really disconcerting. It is highly recommended to those people to hold a gay pride parade in Gaza city. Go on. I dare you. Israel's record on gay rights is outstanding, but it hasn't earned it much support from the gay community. The effort described below sounds good, but it takes for granted that gay people know about the situation of gay rights or lack of them in Arab society and particularly in Hamas controlled Gaza. Evidently they do not.

Gay pride being used to promote Israel abroad
Jun. 7, 2009
Mel Bezalel , THE JERUSALEM POST

A group of prominent gay opinion-shapers from around the world are to visit Israel to grapple with the country's sexuality issues on a five-day seminar centering around Tel Aviv's gay pride parade, scheduled for Friday.

iPride, a project created by international Israel advocacy organization Stand With Us, will begin on Wednesday and focus on showing participants a side to Israel that does not revolve around "conflict" in the traditional military sense.

Instead, the group will hear from speakers discussing the issue of sexuality within Israeli institutions such as government, the IDF and Israeli film, and discover more about Israel's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

The event will bring together around 15 magazine editors, reporters, academics and activists from Harvard, Berlin, the UK, Spain and Italy, including Queer Eye for the Straight Guy presenter Brian Kelly. Speakers at the seminar will include influential figures from Israel's LGBT community, such as Meretz MK Nitzan Horowitz and movie producer and Kochav Nolad ("A Star is Born") TV judge Gal Uchovsky.

The idea is to improve Israel's image across the globe, according to Noa Meir, coordinator of iPride. Meir is participating in the Stand With Us fellowship program, which recruits 20 people on the Tel Aviv University campus and 150 students from around Israel in an effort to groom the country's future leaders.

"We decided to improve Israel's image through the gay community in Israel; we found that the issue is not familiar around the world," said Meir, whose team members are all heterosexual.

Although the event deliberately avoids the Israeli-Palestinian issue, the idea for the project was partly inspired by reactions to Operation Cast Lead - specifically one incident in San Francisco which saw a gay group identifying with the Palestinian cause and publicly calling to "free the gays in Israel."

"We know that gays around the world are liberal usually and they tend to identify with the Palestinians," explained Meir, "and we find it a bit ironic because you can't really be gay in the Palestinian territories."

However, Meir stressed that iPride reaches beyond the conflict and instead looks at being gay in Israel, "for better or for worse."

The group is being taken to Jerusalem next Sunday, for example, to examine the controversy that sexuality issues arouse in the capital.

A panel discussion will be held there that will debate whether an annual gay pride parade should take place in the holy city.

"Our mission is education and we want to work with different communities and populations in order to talk about issues that matter to them, and relate them to the Israel that we know and love," said Michael Dickson, director of the international Stand With Us office in Israel.

"We're glad to have the opportunity to do what hasn't been done enough, which is to reach out to the gay community and have them see, hear and experience Israel for themselves."

iPride has received some opposition however, though not from the Tel Aviv Municipality, the Foreign Ministry, the Tel Aviv University Student Union or the National Union of Israeli Students, which all support the seminar through cooperation or sponsorship, but from some of the Tel Aviv transgender community.

Meir and her fellowship team invited some transgender figures to sit on a panel, but the offer was not just refused, but condemned, though Meir is uncertain why. More recently, however, one transgender individual has agreed to represent that community in the Jerusalem debate.

During the seminar, the group will also attend Israel's 11th Gay Pride Parade, tour Tel Aviv's gay nightlife spots and Jerusalem's Old City. The tours and discussions are all due to be featured in a documentary about iPride, hosted by Brian Kelly for Channel 4 in the UK.

"We're hoping to show that Israel is a liberal country, a multicultural, pluralistic country," emphasized Meir. "That is a side of Israel we are very proud of and that we think should be shown around the world.

"Unfortunately it's a side that doesn't get enough attention… As far as a lot of people are concerned, Israel is Gaza and the West Bank and tanks, and they don't see the beautiful culture and the liberal side."

This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1244371033880&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

Obama wacht op antwoord Netanjahoe op vredesplan VS

Het wordt tijd dat Israel zelf met een duidelijk plan komt, een plan dat tegemoet komt aan de ideeën van Obama en waarin Israels 'rode lijnen' duidelijk zijn. Netanjahoe zal waarschijnlijk begin volgende week in een toespraak al op enkele zaken ingaan, maar wat nodig is is een helder plan.

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

Obama is waiting for Netanyahu

http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/06/obama-is-waiting-for-netanyahu.html

During the waiting period prior to the Six day war, a hit song was "Nasser is waiting for Rabin." A privately issued plan should be replied to in private.

'Obama awaiting PM's reply on new plan'

Jun. 9, 2009
JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST

The US has formulated a 2-year plan for cementing a two-state agreement between Israel and the Palestinians and is now waiting for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to convey Israel's reply to the plan, the London-based pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat reported Tuesday.

According to the report, the new plan was presented to Netanyahu during his visit to Washington in May. The prime minister was reportedly given six weeks to provide his response to the initiative, starting from Obama's address Cairo address last week.

The plan was also presented to Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit during their visit to the US, the report said.

According to the report, the Egyptian leadership is taking the initiative seriously, but is assessing that Palestinian divisiveness could impede its implementation. The Egyptian leadership has therefore decided to make Palestinian reconciliation a top priority, the report said, and has tasked Suleiman with expediting the unity talks.

The Jerusalem Post could not confirm the report.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was also reportedly informed of the plan and has sent a delegation to Egypt, headed by negotiator Ahmed Qurei. Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal was also summoned to Cairo ahead of the reconciliation talks, the report said.

A senior Egyptian official was quoted as saying that Suleiman would meet Mahsaal and the rest of the Hamas delegation in Cairo.

"Suleiman asked the Hamas delegation to come to Cairo as part of the efforts that Egypt is pursuing in order to bring an end to inter-Palestinian division, with the goal being to ready the way for the diplomatic process," the Egyptian official was quoted as saying. "Egypt will keep up its consultations and contacts with the Palestinian organizations and faction in the near future in a manner that will facilitate the signing of a final agreement that will bring inter-Palestinian reconciliation on July 7."

Obama's plan has also reportedly prompted the forum of Arab prime ministers to set an urgent meeting for June 17, in which the Arab world will debate Egypt's efforts to reconcile the disparate forces among the Palestinians.

Hamas plant terreuraanvallen op PA in Westoever

Hamas zal alles doen om eventuele vredesbesprekingen tussen Israel en de Palestijnse Autoriteit te laten mislukken en de PA te verzwakken. Zij heeft er daarbij geen problemen mee om haar Palestijnse broeders de dood in te jagen door midden van zelfmoordaanslagen. Vreemd dat sommigen die het voor de Palestijnen opnemen Hamas een legitieme verzetsbeweging noemen.

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

PA: Hamas West Bank terror plot exposed
Officials say member of Islamist group admitted to receiving 1.5 million euros to establish infrastructure aimed at undermining Abbas' regime

Ali Waked - YNET

Published: 06.09.09, 00:44
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3728366,00.html

The Palestinian Authority said it has exposed a plot by Hamas to carry out a string of terror attacks against the Authority's officials and institutions in the West Bank city of Nablus and the surrounding area.

PA officials said Monday evening that a Hamas member who was recently detained admitted to receiving 1.5 million euros from the Islamist group's leadership in Gaza in order to establish infrastructure aimed of undermining President Mahmoud Abbas' regime. He said that among the targets were headquarters of the Palestinian security services in Nablus.

According to a Palestinian security source, the Hamas member, Wajia Abu Aidi, led officers from the Preventive Security Service to the stashed money, which he had hidden underneath the bathtub in his home.

The source told Ynet that the money was earmarked for Hamas' military activities in Nablus.

Over the past few months the PA has increased its efforts to thwart Hamas' activity in the West Bank, mainly by blocking the transfer of funds from Gaza.

The PA fears that in case the reconciliation talks with Hamas fail and the peace negotiations with Israel are resumed, Hamas will try to destabilize the West Bank with a series of terror attacks, mainly against PA officials and bodies the Islamist group accuses of "persecuting" its members in the West Bank.

woensdag 10 juni 2009

De nederzettingen kloof tussen Israel en de VS

De Washington Post hoopt op een compromis tussen de VS en Israel over de nederzettingen. Wanneer Netanjahoe bereid is tot serieuze concessies en een tweestatenoplossing accepteert, moet de regering-Obama niet vasthouden een een totale bouwstop in de nederzettingen. Hopelijk deelt Obama de nuchtere kijk van de Washington Post.

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

The Settlement Rift
President Obama has delivered a necessary shock to Israel's right-wing government. Will he now compromise?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/06/AR2009060601796_pf.html

Sunday, June 7, 2009

IN THE WEEKS before President Obama's Cairo address to the Muslim world, his administration opened a striking public breach with the Israeli government of Binyamin Netanyahu. Even aside from any possible usefulness for courting Arab opinion, this was probably necessary. Mr. Netanyahu, who has refused to publicly support Palestinian statehood and insisted that Israeli settlement expansion will continue, was in need of a wake-up call. So the president has said repeatedly that he expects Israel to start moving toward a two-state solution, and he and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have bluntly insisted that all Israeli settlement activity stop. The medicine has had its effect: Israeli media are full of talk of the "crisis" between Washington and Jerusalem and of the fateful choice that Mr. Netanyahu must make between good relations with Washington and the hard-line ideology of his Likud party.

The question is whether the administration will allow Mr. Netanyahu the room to side with Mr. Obama, should he choose to do so. According to some officials in his government, there is much the Israeli leader may be willing to do to mend the rift. What he almost certainly will not do, however, is abandon the position of previous Israeli governments -- accepted in practice by both the Bush and Clinton administrations -- that some "natural growth" must be allowed in existing settlements.

Mr. Obama's Middle East envoy, George J. Mitchell, first called for an end to "natural growth" in 2001, when he headed a Middle East commission. Ms. Clinton publicly committed the Obama administration to the demand in a recent interview with al-Jazeera, saying "we want to see a stop to settlement construction, additions, natural growth -- any kind of settlement activity." There are some good reasons for this position: Previous Israeli governments have violated their own rules about the limits of "natural growth"; they have also failed to fulfill repeated promises to dismantle those settlements that Israel itself has deemed illegal.

The problem is that no Israeli government -- not Mr. Netanyahu's, not even one led by the current opposition -- is likely to agree to a total construction ban. By insisting on one, the administration risks bogging itself down in a major dispute with its ally, while giving Arab governments and Palestinians a ready excuse not to make their own concessions. Meanwhile, the practical need for a total settlement freeze is debatable. Palestinian negotiators have already conceded that many of the towns will be annexed to Israel in any final deal; so did former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

A good compromise is achievable. Mr. Netanyahu should publicly acknowledge that the peace process will lead to Palestinian statehood, and should adopt a series of measures curtailing settlements. He should quickly dismantle those deemed illegal, end all government subsidies, prohibit the territorial expansion of all settlements, stop new construction in those outside Israel's West Bank fence and agree to a monitoring mechanism that will prevent cheating. Mr. Obama can reasonably accept that as a freeze, while not requiring that not a single brick be laid in any of the more than 120 West Bank communities. Then he can turn to the equally important task of pressing Palestinian leaders and Arab states for measures that match Israel's actions.

Drie mislukte plannen om Israel van de kaart te vegen

Een bewijs van de grote Palestijnse steun voor deze plannen is dat men bijna unaniem tegen erkenning van Israel als Joodse staat is, tegen het opgeven van het 'recht' op terugkeer van alle vluchtelingen en hun nakomelingen, en iedere Joodse binding met het land en met Jeruzalem blijft ontkennen. Als de Palestijnen oprecht voor een tweestatenoplossing zouden zijn, waarom dan niet, zoals Israelische voorvechters van vrede zoals Amos Oz, erkennen dat twee volken en nationale bewegingen tegenover elkaar staan, en zij beide een legitieme claim op het land hebben? Ik heb dat zelden uit de mond van een Palestijn gehoord.

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

Three Failed Plans to Wipe Israel Off the Map that keep the conflict going

By Barry Rubin

There are now no less than three main plans for wiping Israel off the map.

1. Conquest. This is the old PLO strategy and continues to be the Hamas strategy. In addition, it is endorsed less overtly by a large group—arguably a majority—in Fatah, the party that controls the Palestinian Authority.

Israel will be militarily defeated, perhaps with some assistance from internal collapse, and replaced by a Palestinian Arab Islamic (Fatah version) or Palestinian Arab Islamist state.

2. Two-Stages. This was officially adopted by the PLO and Fatah. It is an alternative vision that appeals to many in those two groups but is rejected by Hamas.

A Palestinian state will be created on as much territory as possible and then used as a base for conquering the rest . A diplomatic deal can only be made to obtain such a state, however, if its terms do not foreclose the possibility of the second stage being implemented. The demand that virtually all Palestinians who wish to do so can go and live in Israel is a supplement to ensure that phase one turns into phase 2. In 2000, Yasir Arafat either rejected this in preference to Plan Number 1 or at least deemed the terms offered insufficient to make the second stage easy or possible.

3. Binational state (also known as the one-state solution). This is supported by some in PLO and Fatah, partly because it has more appeal to naïve or other Westerners. It is rejected by Hamas.

A binational state will be created. (Note the irony that this totally betrays the idea of the Palestinian movement being a nationalist one seeking its own state.) Despite assurances, it will be unworkable and beset by violence. But since Israel's strength would be dismantled and millions of Palestinian Arabs would migrate onto its territory, there would be a relatively brief—but very bloody—transition to an Arab victory and the reconstitution of the state as an Arab Muslim Palestine.

Continued at: Three Failed Plans to Wipe Israel Off the Map that keep the conflict going

Berichten dat Israel katholieke fondsen confisceerde foutief

Joodse humor:

Reports that Israel seized Catholic funds wrong

http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/06/reports-that-israel-seized-catholic.html

But reports that the Catholic church seized Jewish funds for centuries are regrettably correct.

______________

Reports that Israel seized Catholic funds wrong

June 9, 2009

ROME (JTA) -- Israel will not seize funds of Catholic institutions in the country, as Italian and Catholic media previously reported.

A statement Tuesday by the Israeli embassy to the Holy See said that "the seizure of funds from the Ministry of Education destined for some educational institutions of the Catholic Church in Israel will not be made, and that the situation remains unchanged."

Reports that Israel would seize assets of some Catholic institutions to pressure the Vatican to pay disputed taxes were published by Catholic and Italian media on Monday.

Italian media Tuesday quoted Israeli sources as saying the reports were the result of "a technical error" and a "misunderstanding."

Analyse verkiezingsuitslag Libanon

Een analyse van de verkiezingsuitslag in Libanon. Het artikel is een beetje inside, maar geeft voor de kenner wel meer informatie dan de standaardberichtjes erover.

Zie ook:

"Libanon zal het laatste land zijn dat vrede sluit met Israel"

Geen verkiezingszege voor bewapend Hezbollah in Libanon

Palestijnse vluchtelingen in Libanon

Hezbollah achtergronden

Wouter

_____________________

A good thing happened in Lebanese elections - Maybe

http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/06/good-thing-happened-in-lebanese.html

Good Mews from Lebanon - for a change. It's not great news, because Hezbollah still gets to vote with AK-47s, but at least the pro-West, moderate coalition maintained, and perhaps expanded, its majority. Michel Aoun's courting of Hezbollah cost him seats. Likewise, Walid Jumblatt, once stalwart in defense of Lebanese independence, shocked his audience of party faithful by declaring, in the last days of the election, that they would have to bow to the "inevitable" and accept Hezbollah hegemony. He too lost votes. A key thing novices have to know about Lebanese politics is this: "Everyone" supposedly knows that March 8 or M8 is the pro-Syria and pro-Hezbollah alliance, while March 14, or M14 is the pro-West, anti-Syrian bloc that coelesced around Saad Hariri, son of the popular Rafiq Hariri who was assassinated either by Syria or the Hezbollah. Because "everybody" supposedly knows it, Lebanese never mention it, so almost nobody who doesn't follow the issues closely can tell what they are talking about and what all these dates are about. Tony Badran has the story. But what he is not saying is that the Lebanese election law still seems to discriminate against the Shi'a, who are probably a majority (Lebanon has not had a census in a long time) and in favor of the Christian minority, many of whom have fled abroad. Another thing to keep in mind is that Hezbollah has a way of reduing the parliamentary majority of the government - it seems to murder MPs it doesn't like. Someday murders them, at any rate.

____________________________________

Mapping Out the Election Results

http://beirut2bayside.blogspot.com/2009/06/mapping-out-election-results.html

Tony Badran

Let's run through what seems to be the final result of the election. It seems, with the preliminary results, that the March 14 coalition and its independent allies have won 71 seats, adding one seat to their current total, despite what March 8 thought would be an electoral law advantageous to them (the 1960 law adopted in the now-defunct Doha Accord). This puts to rest the myth that in 2005, M14 won because of its alliance with Hezbollah and the gerrymandering of the electoral law of 2000. M14's victory is clear. It ran unified lists and wherever M14 won, the lists won in total without any breaches.

Who are the winners and losers?

Obviously, M14 as a coalition emerges victorious. The independents add a couple to the total number but M14 still maintains a majority on its own. It's a decisive majority trashing once and for all Bashar Assad's "imaginary majority" and "transient few" snide remarks.

Hariri reemerges with the biggest bloc and thus keeps his position as head of the parliamentary majority. The Future Movement sailed through in the north, Beirut, the Western Bekaa and Zahle, and swept two seats in Sidon. The Lebanese Forces performed very strongly in Koura and Batroun, with M14 sweeping both, and eliminating Aoun's son-in-law Gebran Bassil in what is a major symbolic victory.

Walid Jumblat sacrificed from his share for the sake of the M14 alliance, and he emerges with a slightly diminished bloc as a result.

On the other side, Michel Aoun took a hit with the loss of his son-in-law, and saw his huge margin in Keserwen dwindle down drastically to about 2,000 votes, with Mansour al-Bone and his list performing ably.

Furthermore, this was done with Aoun's preferred electoral law, which he had been bragging about since the Doha Accord saying that he "forced" it on the other parties, and that it would "liberate" the Christian vote, especially in places like Ashrafiyeh, and that he would expand his bloc to over 30 MPs. Well, his list was demolished in Beirut 1 (Ashrafiyeh), where M14 swept all five seats.

Also, his allies in Zahle (Elie Skaff and the "Popular Bloc") got smashed, with M14 performing very strongly there.

Nevertheless, Aoun scored big in districts with large Hezbollah votes, namely Baabda and Jbeil. While a victory in Jbeil was expected, the sweep in Baabda is a net win. Aoun also maintained his sweep in Keserwen, despite a dramatically narrower edge. He also did well in the Metn, winning 6 (in alliance with the Armenaian Tashnag party) out of 8, with Michel Murr and Sami Gemayel getting the other two. As such, Aoun will still claim he is the strongest in the Maronite heartland. Nevertheless, the win is very obviously a lot shakier than the "tsunami" of 2005, and nothing made it clearer than his son-in-law's big loss in Batroun. Batroun, whose citizens lost an Army pilot, shot down in his helicopter by Aoun's Hezbollah's allies, threw out the Aounists completely.

In effect, the Christian vote, as always, is still split. Aoun and his allies (Frangieh, Tashnag) will still have the largest Christian bloc (the seats in Jezzine will not be counted because they were never in play for M14, and they were gifts from Hezbollah -- and, incidentally, a setback for Berri).

The Tashnag Party, which huffed and puffed (and was puffed up by Western journos) mightily before the elections, ends up with a dud, getting only two seats (keeping the seat in Metn, and gaining a seat in Beirut 2). The other Armenian seats (Zahle, Beirut 1) went to M14.

Similarly, Michel Murr didn't pull off the kind of performance many thought he would, keeping only his seat in the Metn. He fielded a candidate in Baabda (Gharios) who lost. His companion in the Metn, Sarkis Sarkis, also lost.

Similarly, the so-called centrist bloc that was touted before the elections, comes out decidedly smaller than even initially thought. The bloc was supposed to be affiliated with the President, Suleiman, with candidates close to him, or effectively putting themselves in his corner, not breaking through: Nazim Khoury in Jbeil, al-Bone and Farid Haykal Khazen in Keserwen, Edmond Gharios (and even perhaps Pierre Daccache) in Baabda, and even Murr himself. Although there are others who did make it (people like Robert Ghanem, etc. can still support the President), the bloc as initially conceived did not quite materialize.

This balance of power will now be transferred to the battle over the cabinet formation. M14 has a clear victory, and so will pick the Prime Minister. The battle, however, will be over the heresy of the "veto third" -- which has no existence in the constitution or the Taef Accord. Hariri has been consistently rejecting its continuation in the future cabinet, and he got support today from Jumblat as well, who called it a "fallacy." M14 will agree to a national unity government, though its principled position now is that it rejects the "veto third" formula. They are making plenty of noise about giving a boost to Suleiman, and how that will materialize remains to be seen. M8 is almost certainly going to reject it and will cite the relatively weak performance of the so-called independents/centrists as support for their position. This is a potential looming crisis on the horizon, as I argued in my pre-election briefing, especially since Hezbollah and the March 8 groups have shown themselves to be anti-democratic and violent forces who wouldn't hesitate to paralyze the country and ultimately attack people in their homes to get what they want.

Let's see how this plays out.

Hamas vrouwen planden zelfmoordaanslag tegen Fatah politie

Hamas probeert nu ook zelfmoordaanslagen tegen de Palestijnse Autoriteit op de Westbank te plegen.

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

Last update - 12:56 09/06/2009
Three Hamas women arrested for plotting suicide attack against Fatah
By The Associated Press
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1091561.html

Palestinian Authority security forces have arrested three Palestinian women who were allegedly planning a suicide attack targeting their own policemen in the West Bank.

Palestinian official Jamal Muheisen said Tuesday the women are members of Hamas, the Islamic group that has a long-running feud with the Western-backed Fatah government in the West Bank.

Muheisen said the women were arrested Sunday on their way to the town of Qalqiliya, where four police officers and four Hamas militants were been killed in recent clashes.

He added that one woman was carrying an explosive belt and confessed she intended to blow herself up in a police compound.

"Libanon zal het laatste land zijn dat vrede sluit met Israel"

Libanon zal de laatste Arabische staat zijn om vrede met Israel te sluiten, aldus Sa'ad Hariri, de leider van het gematigde blok dat zondag de verkiezingen won. Hij is een bondgenoot van Fuad Siniora, de huidige minister president, en zal hem waarschijnlijk opvolgen.

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

The Jerusalem Post
Jun 9, 2009 22:24 | Updated Jun 9, 2009 22:44
Hariri rules out peace talks with Israel
By AP AND JPOST STAFF
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1244371055387&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Lebanon will not conduct an independent peace track with Israel, and may not even join the Arab peace initiative, should it become the basis for regional negotiations, Sa'ad Hariri, the billionaire businessman who is the favorite to lead Lebanon's government following Sunday's elections, said on Tuesday.

"We will follow after the Arab initiative," he told CNN. "You see, the Arab initiative includes many countries for the peace process, and Lebanon will come as we see fit."

Earlier, when the interviewer reminded Hariri about comments made by pundits suggesting that Lebanon would be the last country to make peace with Israel, the coalition leader readily agreed with the view.

"[Other people don't say that,] I say that," he told the station.

Legislative allies said Tuesday that Hariri, the 39-year-old moderate leader of the largest parliamentary bloc in the winning coalition, is expected to replace his ally Fuad Saniora, after his pro-Western coalition fended off a serious challenge from Iranian-backed Hizbullah in weekend elections.

Hariri's alliance dealt a major setback to Hizbullah and its Syrian and Iranian backers in Sunday's vote, gaining 68 seats to the opposing group's 57. The other three seats in the 128-member parliament went to independents.

Fears of Iran gaining more influence in the Arab country swayed Christian swing voters away from the coalition led by the Shi'ite group and helped deliver the election victory to the US-aligned camp. Analysts and voters said Tuesday that President Barack Obama's outreach to the Muslim world also helped blunt the appeal of the group.

dinsdag 9 juni 2009

Hooggerechtshof Israel buigt zich over vrijstelling dienstplicht voor ultra-orthodoxen

De vrijstelling van dienstplicht in de IDF van de ultra-orthodoxen is velen in Israel een doorn in het oog, en zij schendt het non-discriminatie beginsel zoals dat in de Basic Laws is vastgelegd. Bovendien komt de verdediging van het land zo te rusten op de schouders van een steeds kleinere groep, want de ultra-orthodoxen vormen vanwege hun demografische groei een steeds groter percentage van de Israelische bevolking.

RP
---------------

Court hears petition against Haredi IDF exemption

Jun. 7, 2009
Dan Izenberg , THE JERUSALEM POST

The High Court of Justice on Sunday heard five petitions challenging the constitutionality of the Tal Law, which enables yeshiva students to perform truncated military service or a year of public service and then join the work force without being drafted.

Because of the complexity of the issues involved, the petition was heard before a panel of nine justices and a ruling is expected to take several months.

The Tal Law was originally approved in 2002 as a transitional law for five years. Its aim was to pave the way for haredi men to enter the workforce after making some sort of contribution to the state. The underlying assumption was that a certain percentage of haredi men would leave full-time yeshiva study for work, if the threat of being drafted into the army for a lengthy period were removed.

Two years ago, after the High Court had rejected petitions against it, the Knesset extended the law for another five years. Once again, several petitions were filed against it.

"There are two classes of citizens," said 70-year-old attorney Yehuda Ressler, who has been fighting against massive draft exemptions for yeshiva students in court for almost 40 years. "There is discrimination between one person's blood and another's.

"Why doesn't the government conscript haredim from this day forward as it does secular Israelis? It is a cancer in the nation," he said. "We can't live with this."

In the decision to reject the earlier petitions, the court had agreed with them that the Tal Law was discriminatory and hence violated the Basic Law: Human Freedom and Liberty.

Although it had been passed for good reasons, as an attempt to integrate the haredim into Israeli society, it had failed the test of proportionality because of the meager results achieved. But the court was willing to give the law more time.

On Sunday, the state's representative, Avi Licht, argued that the law had made great progress since then. An authority had been established to assist haredim find work in public service. Within one year, the number who had left yeshivot and were performing public service had jumped from 70 to 700, he said.

He also said that there had been major changes in haredi society. Rabbinical leaders understood that not everyone could belong to the "community of learners" and that haredi men would have to work to support themselves.

At this point, Justice Ayala Procaccia asked Licht to explain why, if the haredi leadership had come to understand this, it had forced through a law permitting them not to learn the secular "core curriculum" in the yeshivot ketanot, which are attended by high-school age boys. These core studies teach students skills that are meant to help them find a place in the modern world.

"On what basis do you expect the Tal Law to succeed and a process of change to take place in the haredi community, when we see that no such change is going to take place in the haredi educational system?" asked Procaccia. "Such changes don't happen by themselves."

Licht replied that the fact was that within one year, the number of haredim performing public service had increased tremendously.

"We cannot ignore this," he said.

Licht added that there will always be some yeshiva students who will continue to study full-time.

"The question is whether the arrangements provided by the law will reduce the gap," he said.

Licht predicted that beginning in 2012, about 2,000 yeshiva students would do public service and a few hundred would join the army each year.

He maintained that the number of haredim in the age cohort which reached draft age each year was about 4,500. Licht said that a total of about 6,000 yeshiva students ask for draft deferments, but many of them are enrolled in religious-Zionist yeshivas and seek to defer their service only by a year or two.

Eliad Shraga, who represented the Movement for Quality Government, said the number of haredim currently in the army or public service was a drop in the bucket. He said that as opposed to these figures, there were roughly 56,000 haredim of military conscription age who were studying in yeshivot and renewed their deferments each year.

This figure, he added, did not include tens of thousands of young haredim who had not served in the army and were still of draftable age but had married and had enough children to no longer be draftable. These students had to be taken into account when comparing the number of haredim serving in the army or in public service with those who do not serve at all.

Shraga also argued that the right to equality was not the only constitutional right that was violated by the Tal Law. Since the burden of military service was shared by fewer citizens than would be if the haredim also served, the danger to those who did serve increased. This situation violated their right to life.

Other rights that were violated by the law included the right to property, intellectual development and quality of life, Shraga argued.

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

This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1244371030725&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

Geen verkiezingszege voor bewapend Hezbollah in Libanon

Gelukkig hebben de pro-Westerse partijen de Libanese verkiezingen gewonnen, maar Hezbollah houdt haar zetelaantal. Het is vreemd dat zij enerzijds zegt de uitslag en de democratie te respecteren, en anderzijds zegt dat haar wapens niet ter discussie staan. In een functionerende democratie en rechtsstaat hebben leger en politie het alleenrecht op wapens en het gebruik van geweld, en zij staan onder bevel van de democratisch gekozen regering, die weer is gebonden aan de grondwet. In Libanon is men nog lang niet zo ver, maar deze uitslag is een positief teken. De kans is echter reëel dat Hezbollah, net als vorig jaar, met geweld een beslissende stem in de regering zal afdwingen.
Haar wapens zijn niet alleen bedoeld om tegen Israel te vechten, rotzooi in Egypte te trappen en Hamas te helpen, maar ook om haar invloed en macht in Libanon te vergroten.

RP

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

The Jerusalem Post
Jun 8, 2009 2:49 | Updated Jun 8, 2009 18:51
Hizbullah: Our weapons are off limits
By AP AND JPOST.COM STAFF
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1244371035563&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah on Monday accepted the results the Lebanese parliamentary elections in which the guerrilla group and it allies were defeated by the Western-backed coalition.

"We accept these results...with sportsmanship and in a democratic way and we accept that the ruling camp has achieved the parliamentary majority," Nasrallah said in a televised address, adding that opposition leaders would meet soon to agree on a joint stance over the naming of a new prime minister and the formation of a new government.

Earlier Monday, the group warned that its weapons arsenal was not up for debate.

"The majority must commit not to question our role as a resistance party, the legitimacy of our weapons arsenal and the fact that Israel is an enemy state," senior Hizbullah member Mohamed Ra'ad told AFP.

The election result, dealt a stunning setback to the Iranian-backed group, and setting the stage for renewed political deadlock in the volatile nation.

The winners celebrated in the streets, setting off fireworks and driving around in motorcades honking hours before the official results were even announced.

Sunday's parliamentary vote was an early test of US President Barack Obama's efforts to forge Middle East peace. A win by Hizbullah would have boosted the influence of its backers Iran and Syria and risked pushing one of the region's most unsettled countries into international isolation and possibly more conflict with Israel.

Obama on Monday congratulated the Lebanese people for a peaceful national election held with "courage" and a "commitment to democracy." "Once more, the people of Lebanon have demonstrated to the world their courage and the strength of their commitment to democracy," the Obama statement said, without a direct reference to Hizbullah's defeat.

Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said on television that he "presents this victory to Lebanon," after stations projected his coalition was winning. "It is an exceptional day for democracy in Lebanon."

The interior minister announced the final results from all 26 districts at a news conference. The tally showed the winning coalition with 68 seats versus 57 for the Hizbullah-led alliance. Three seats went to independents. The seat allocation is almost unchanged from the outgoing legislature, ensuring that the same disputes will continue to roil the political scene.

Hizbullah retained its 11 seats. That would almost replicate the deadlock that existed in the outgoing parliament, in which the pro-Western bloc had 70 seats and an alliance of Hizbullah and other Shi'ite and Christian factions had 58.

OTV, the television station of one of Hizbullah's key Christian allies, former army chief Michel Aoun, conceded that the party's candidates who challenged pro-Western competitors in several Christian districts had been defeated, preventing a victory for the Hizbullah-led coalition.

The battle in Christian districts was the decisive factor. Lebanese generally vote along sectarian and family loyalties, with seats for Sunnis and Shi'ites in the half-Christian, half-Muslim, 128-member parliament already locked up even before the voting started.

Christians in the pro-Western coalition warned that the heavily armed Hizbullah would bring the influence of Shiite Iran to Lebanon. The Maronite Catholic Church made a last-minute appeal, warning that Lebanon as a state and its Arab identity were threatened, a clear reference to Hizbullah and its Persian backer, Iran.

Sunnis were also driven to vote for the pro-Western coalition to get back at Shiite Hizbullah gunmen for seizing the streets a year ago in Beirut from pro-government supporters.

Turnout nationwide was about 52.3 percent, said the government, an increase over the 2005 figure of 45.8 percent.

Boosted by its 2006 war with Israel, Hizbullah and its allies provoked a political crisis in 2007-2008 with demands for a voice in the government. They staged protests and installed an encampment in downtown Beirut that paralyzed the commercial heart of the Lebanese capital. The showdown culminated in street battles that brought the country to the edge of another civil war.

An agreement to end the violent confrontation gave Hizbullah veto power over major government decisions.

This time around, the pro-Western coalition vowed not to give Hizbullah and its allies a blocking minority in the new government if they won, maintaining that the arrangement paralyzed decision-making. Hizbullah and its allies have countered that sharing power ensured peace. A failure by the parties to agree on how to share power could set the stage for another round of confrontation that could again inflame sectarian tensions.

Vier dode militanten uit Gazastrook bij infiltratiepoging en aanval op IDF patrouille

Dit zal in veel media weer als Israelische agressie worden beschreven en antizionisten zullen zeggen dat Hamas het recht heeft dit met raketten op Israelische burgers te beantwoorden. Het is inderdaad waarlijk misdadig om te verhinderen dat gewapende strijders van Hamas Israel binnen dringen om een Israelische plaats aan de grens met Gaza aan te vallen.

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

Last update - 10:38 08/06/2009
Four Gaza militants killed as IDF thwarts terror attack
By Anshel Pfeffer and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent, and Reuters
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1091197.html

At least four Palestinian militants were killed on Monday after a group of gunmen tried to cross into Israel near the Karni crossing in the Gaza Strip.

Just after 6 A.M. at least ten militants, some on horseback, opened fire on an Israel Defense Forces patrol on the Israeli side of the fence, which returned fire. There were no injuries reported among the IDF troops.

An IDF source said that the group was planning to launch an attack on an Israeli community bordering the Strip. Residents said the Palestinian militants fired anti-tank weapons and set off explosives against the patrol.

No group took initial responsibility for the attack, the first of its kind to reportedly involve horses. Israel closed the crossings into Gaza following the attempted attack.

The incident is one of the bloodiest clashes between Gaza militants and IDF troops since Operation Cast Lead against Hamas almost five months ago.

Gaza blockade talks

Israeli security officials were expected to meet this week to discuss easing the blockade of the Gaza Strip, following U.S. President Barack Obama's recent criticism of the "continuing humanitarian crisis" there.

So far, Israel has made do with weak promises to reconsider its policy, but Obama's Cairo speech Thursday - in which he said the blockade devastates Palestinian families and does not serve Israel's security interests - may push Jerusalem to take action.

The Defense Ministry department responsible for coordinating government activities in the territories began assessing the closure two weeks ago to determine whether to advocate any changes.

The top Israel Defense Forces officers involved in the assessment are due to explain their positions to Defense Minister Ehud Barak this week. The matter is slated to be discussed by the cabinet at a later stage.

Although Israel has reduced the amount and type of goods entering Gaza, Palestinians are still receiving medicine and medical equipment, gas and food. However, Israel still bans "dual-use" goods - those it classifies as potentially enabling terror activities - such as construction materials.

Some 100 trucks bearing goods such as medicine and food enter Gaza daily, down from about 130 during the second half of 2008, when Hamas' declared lull in violence was in effect. But Human Rights Watch, one of several aid groups urging eased restrictions, says the current number remains far below the 475 trucks that entered Gaza daily prior to Hamas' takeover in June 2007.

Specifically, the trucks contain medication and medical equipment as well as non-luxury food items, including meat, dairy products, fruit and vegetables, and humanitarian aid. Just Sunday, 75 trucks entered Gaza through the Kerem Shalom border crossing, some 420,000 tons of diesel fuel were brought to the Gaza power station and 75 tons of cooking gas entered the Strip through the Nahal Oz crossing.

At the Erez crossing, an American-Israeli feminist delegation and left-wing activists dressed like clowns held a rally Sunday to protest the ban on toys entering Gaza.

Israel vergoedt schade Palestijnen door kolonisten in Hebron veroorzaakt

Kunnen ze die schade niet verhalen op de kolonisten in Hebron?

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

Israel to pay 50 Hebron Palestinians for damage
Yaakov Lappin , THE JERUSALEM POST

Jun. 7, 2009
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1244371030877&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

In an unprecedented move, the Defense Ministry has granted 50 Palestinian families from Hebron NIS 250,000, taken from taxpayers' money, as compensation for damages to their property by settler activists in December 2008.

The damages occurred after police cleared the Beit Hashalom structure, which was claimed by settlers in the city. The evacuation set off a succession of revenge attacks on Palestinians by far-Right activists.

"After the disturbances in the Jabari neighborhood of Hebron, Civil Administration commander Brig.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai toured the area and decided to take the unusual step of creating a mechanism to compensate Palestinians for property damaged," said a source from the Home Front Command, which initiated the idea.

"A committee was set up allowing Palestinians in Hebron to directly submit their claims for compensation to the Civil Administration. Appraisers were sent to the addresses of the claimants to estimate the cost of the damage," he added.

"This was an ad-hoc committee designed to deal with only this issue," the Civil Administration source said, adding that "it was created because of the scope of the damage."

Defense Minister Ehud Barak then complied with Mordechai's request to approve all of the requests for compensation.

Hamas bouwt gedoneerde ambulances om tot militaire voertuigen

De Palestijnse krant Al-Hayat Al-Jadida meldt dat volgens het Palestijnse ministerie van gezondheid Hamas 46 ambulances heeft geconfisceerd, de medische spullen eruit gehaald en zwart geverfd, om ze als militaire voertuigen te gebruiken. De ambulances waren door Arabische staten gedoneerd aan de Gazastrook na Israels offensief in januari.

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

Bulletin - June 8, 2009

Palestinian Media Watch
Hamas converts 46 ambulances to military vehicles, misusing humanitarian aid
by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook

PMW has documented the repeated use of foreign funding by both the PA and Hamas for terror and glorification of terror. The following is another case of well intended humanitarian assistance given to Palestinians that is appropriated for military or terror purposes:

"The [Palestinian] Health Ministry stated yesterday that Hamas militias had raided 46 ambulances, donated by Arab states during the recent aggression on the Gaza Strip, of the medical equipment that they contained... and used them as military vehicles to arrest civilians, after painting [the ambulances] black.

The Ministry's director of public relations and information, Dr. Omar Nasr... said that the medical equipment removed from the ambulances was expensive. He demanded that the Hamas militias declare, courageously and openly, what had become of the thousands of tons of medical equipment which had been brought into the Gaza Strip as assistance for the Palestinian people, and which had passed at its [Hamas's] orders to private warehouses and its own medical centers, and was later sold to the helpless citizen..."

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 20, 2009]

_________________

Palestinian Media Watch:
p:+972 2 625 4140 e: pmw@pmw.org.il
f: +972 2 624 2803 w: www.pmw.org.il

maandag 8 juni 2009

Hongaarse fascisten marcheren Europees parlement binnen

"Jobbik", de extreemrechtse nationalistische partij in Hongarije, heeft met 14.77% van de stemmen drie zetels gewonnen in het Europese parlement. Behalve openlijk antisemitisch is de partij ook vijandig naar de Roma-minderheid. Ze marcheren al met uniformen en vlaggen, alleen de geweren ontbreken nog.

Wouter

________________

Last update - 16:52 07/06/2009
'Hungarian Jews should stick to playing with their circumcised tails'
By Yehuda Lahav
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1090959.html

The last day of voting was underway on Sunday for the European Parliament election, and in Hungary, the conservative right-wing party Fidesz was expected to win by a solid lead.

However, the real question in this election was whether or not the extreme rightist party Jobbik would gain the necessary 5 percent of the vote to achieve representation in the EU parliament.

Topping the Jobbik list is Christina Morvay, who sparked controversy several days ago when she responded to criticism in a letter saying "I would be glad if the so-called proud Hungarian Jews would go back to playing with their tiny little circumcised tail rather than vilifying me."

This statement and the spirit in which it was written were widely condemned by a host of professors at the university where Morvay is a lecturer. Former Hungarian foreign minister Dr. Géza Jeszenszky said that with this statement, Morvay "removed herself from public life" and that her comments were inappropriate for a public figure and for a woman in general.

The spokesman for the Fidesz party Robert Repassi described Morvay as "inconceivable and anti-Semitic," and voiced hope that she would issue an apology. The apology never came.

Director of the Alliance of Hungarian Jewish Communities Gustav Zoltai remarked that comments such as Morvay's should rule out anyone who aspires to be a representative in the European parliament, adding that "she'd be better off not advertising her vast experience with what she calls 'tiny little circumcised tails'."

Even though Morvay's statement drew extensive criticism and general condemnation, experts say that Jobbik's chances of achieving representation are relatively good, perhaps thanks to the party's "wild" outspoken style which may appeal to the more primitive elements within Hungarian society.

Israel en Hillary Clinton oneens over eerdere afspraken nederzettingengroei

Obama also reiterated the importance of a two-state solution and making progress toward that goal, referring to "the need for all of us to redouble our efforts to bring about two states, Israel and a Palestinian state, that are living side by side in peace and security."

He added, "I think the moment is now for us to act on what we all know to be the truth, which is that each side is going to have to make some difficult compromises."

Wat ik me afvraag gezien bovenstaande, is waarom beperkte bouw in bestaande nederzettingen voor natuurlijke groei tot het centrale thema is verworden, en al die andere heikele punten zoals de status van Jeruzalem, de Palestijnse vluchtelingen en erkenning van Israel als Joodse staat, genegeerd worden.

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

Israel rejects Clinton claim of no agreement on settlements
Jun. 7, 2009
HILARY LEILA KRIEGER and HERB KEINON , THE JERUSALEM POST

Just after US President Barack Obama's landmark address in Cairo, and just before US Mideast envoy George Mitchell returns to the region on Tuesday, the dispute between Washington and Jerusalem over settlement construction ratcheted up a notch.

Israeli officials rejected on Saturday a statement by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dismissing Israeli assertions that the Bush administration had agreed to allow some construction in the settlements to allow for natural growth.

"There is no memorialization of any informal and oral agreements. If they did occur, which, of course, people say they did, they did not become part of the official position of the United States government," Clinton told reporters on Friday, in a news conference with her Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu, at the State Department.

Recently, Israeli officials, buttressed by some former Bush administration appointees, have maintained that Jerusalem retained tacit US approval to build in already existing settlements, so long as new settlements were not created, the lines of the settlements' boundaries did not expand and no government aid was given to these residents.

Some Israeli officials are contending that the US is backtracking on previous understandings which were vital to Israel supporting both the Gaza disengagement, and the road map, a three-stage process leading towards a Palestinian state which called for a halt to settlement construction, including for natural growth.

Clinton said that despite reports of such understandings, which were outlined by former deputy national security adviser Elliott Abrams in The Washington Post in April, "There are contrary documents that suggest that they were not to be viewed as in any way contradicting the obligations that Israel undertook pursuant to the road map. And those obligations are very clear."

In response, a senior government official reiterated Jerusalem's position that understandings "were reached between the Israel and American government concerning settlements, and on the basis of those understanding Israel accepted the road map and disengaged from the Gaza Strip. Those understandings have been confirmed publicly by leading officials of the Bush administration."

Clinton and other State Department officials have also repeatedly refused to endorse a written document in 2004 from then US president George W. Bush to former prime minister Ariel Sharon, in which he acknowledged that it was not realistic to expect Israel to pull back completely to the June 1967 lines, something Israel interpreted as US support for its holding on to the large settlement blocs close to the Green Line.

Israel officials have long maintained that construction in these specific settlement blocs should not be subject to the same restraints imposed on other settlements, which are mostly located outside of the security fence and often near Palestinian population centers.

When the subject of whether the US felt bound by the Bush letter was raised with State Department Assistant Secretary Philip Crowley on Wednesday, he referred to Israeli and Palestinian obligations under the road map.

Asked whether this meant the US was not bound by the letter, he replied, "I would suggest that you keep focusing on the road map."

Despite the differences, a senior administration official told The Jerusalem Post shortly after Obama's speech in Cairo Thursday that "there's a professional, constructive dialogue on this issue," and that "we have differences, but believe we can find an arrangement that works."

The settlement issue is expected to be a primary focus of Mitchell's discussions here this week.

The settlements issue has become a major flash point between the US and Israeli governments, as Obama and his top deputies have frequently and publicly repeated the demand that settlement construction stop, despite the political complications that creates for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his coalition.

Obama himself attempted to defuse some of the tension during his European trip this weekend, however, pointing out that his demands have been long-standing US policy.

He also stressed that he is not only making demands of Israel.

"I've discussed the importance of a cessation of settlement construction," he said in France Saturday, "but I also want to reemphasize, because that's gotten more attention than what I've also said, which is the Palestinians have to renounce violence, end incitement, improve their governance capacity so that Israelis can be confident that the Palestinians can follow through on any commitments they make across the table."

The day before, in Germany, he also emphasized his call for the Arab states to take decisive action.

"The Arab states have to be a part of this process. It's not sufficient just to point at the Palestinian problem and then say we are not going to engage, we're not going to take responsibility," he said.

"They are going to have to step up as well because the Arab states not only are important politically, they're also important economically. And to the extent that they put their shoulder behind the wheel, that can move the process forward in a significant way."

He referred to them making economic and diplomatic moves towards Israel as the process gains momentum.

He added, "I think the moment is now for us to act on what we all know to be the truth, which is that each side is going to have to make some difficult compromises."

In a joint press conference with Obama in France on Saturday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy joined the US president in calling on Israel to stop settlement construction.

On Iran, the two presidents again mutually called for the Islamic Republic not to develop a nuclear weapons program.

Obama said there must be "tough diplomacy" with Teheran on the nuclear issue. Sarkozy said he worried about "insane statements" by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Meanwhile, Obama on Friday delayed for another six months moving the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, in what has become a bureaucratic ritual since Congress passed a law in 1995 requiring the move.

An escape clause in the Jerusalem Embassy Act allows the president to delay the move every six months if he determines it contrary to US security interests.

"US policy on Jerusalem has not changed; Jerusalem is a final-status issue to be resolved in peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians," a White House official said Friday.

AP contributed to this report.
_______

This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1244035012765&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

Obama stelt verhuizing Amerikaanse ambassade naar Jeruzalem uit

Ook de als zeer pro-Israel bekend staande Bush junior heeft de Amerikaanse ambassade niet naar Jeruzalem verplaatst. Zo eenzijdig pro-Israel was dus zelfs Bush niet in alle opzichten.

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

Jerusalem: We have not given up our 14 year hope: That the US will abide by its own laws

Last update - 03:40 06/06/2009
Obama postpones U.S. embassy move from T.A. to Jerusalem
By Haaretz Service

United States President Barack Obama on Friday postponed moving the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by an additional six months, Israel Radio reported.

A senior White House official said that U.S. policy regarding the status of Jerusalem remains unchanged, and that it is a final-status issue to be resolved within the framework of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

The U.S. Congress approved the transfer of the embassy 14 years ago.

Last month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that all of Jerusalem would always remain under Israeli sovereignty. Netanyahu said he had made the same declaration during his visit to Washington last month when he met with Obama.

"The new U.S. administration informs us with intolerably ease that we have to give up Jerusalem," the premier said during a May ceremony marking Jerusalem Day.

"With all due respect, the U.S. president sees the American interest and does not know that Jerusalem is not a territorial issue, but a much deeper one - 'the hope of two thousand years/the land of Zion and Jerusalem,'" he said, quoting Israel's national anthem.

zondag 7 juni 2009

Palestijnse vluchtelingen in Libanon

Van alle Palestijnse vluchtelingen buiten Gaza, zijn die in Libanon er het slechtst aan toe. Ze leven voor een groot deel in aparte kampen, kunnen geen Libanees staatsburger worden, mogen allerlei beroepen niet uitoefenen en zijn daarom grotendeels afhankelijk van de hulp van UNRWA. Voor de duidelijkheid: dit stuk is niet vanuit een 'zionistisch perspectief', maar vanuit Libanees oogpunt geschreven.

Palestinians in Lebanon are also banned from seeking state healthcare, owning property and even bringing in building materials into the refugee camps.

Het is vreemd dat we hier zelden over horen, terwijl Israel continu door allerlei mensenrechtenactivisten en politici de maat wordt genomen omdat Palestijnen in Gaza bijvoorbeeld geen bouwmateriaal mogen invoeren. Beste Gretta, Van Agt, Von der Dunk & co, als je je zo druk maakt om de onderdrukking van de Palestijnen, waarom horen we jullie hier dan nooit over?

In 1976, Lebanese Christian militiamen overran the Tal al-Zaatar refugee camp in East Beirut and massacred or expelled all of its residents.

Wat men vergeet erbij te vermelden is dat dat gebeurde met Syrische goedkeuring en waarschijnlijk iets meer dan alleen goedkeuring....

RP
----------------

Lebanon's Palestinian refugees

http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/05/2009527115531294628.html
By Omar al-Issawi, Al Jazeera

In 1948 hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled from or forced to flee their homeland in the wake of the creation of the state of Israel.

While some were forced out by armed Israeli militias - perhaps the most notorious being the Irgun and Stern gangs - others fled in the belief Arab armies would defeat those Jewish forces fighting for independence and that they would then be able to return home.

There are thousands of Palestinian refugees across the globe, many of whom settled in neighbouring Arab countries including Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. Not to mention those Palestinians classed as refugees within the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

However, of all the Palestinian refugees in the Arab world, it is those who have taken shelter in Lebanon who have suffered the most.
According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) the international body set up to ensure the welfare of Palestinian refugees, the highest percentage of Palestinian refugees who are living in abject poverty reside in Lebanon.

There are about 400,000 officially registered Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, or approximately 10 per cent of the population. Just under half of the refugees continue to live in camps.

The issue of "naturalisation" of Palestinian refugees has often been used as a political card in Lebanon, a small country built on a delicate confessional balance.
Due to the sensitivity of the issue, there has been no official census in Lebanon since 1932 that could determine the number of Christians and Muslims of various sects.
Mostly Sunni Muslims, the Palestinian refugees are seen as a potential boon to Lebanese Muslim political aspirations, especially Sunni ones.

Civil war

And indeed, when the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) was based in Lebanon between 1972 and 1982, it threw its lot behind the Muslim-dominated leftist forces that were engaged in civil war against the Christian-led right.

However, the PLO, under the leadership of Yasser Arafat, resolutely rejected the idea of Lebanon becoming a state for the dispossessed Palestinians.

While those Palestinians resident in Syria and Jordan, for example, do not enjoy the benefits of full citizenship, they do have access to education, healthcare and employment.

Conversely, Lebanon stands accused of not being the gracious host to the Palestinians that Arab tradition dictates.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Palestinian refugee camps were under stringent Lebanese security control. For instance, travel from one camp to another was restricted and even reading newspapers in public was banned.

Today, Palestinians in Lebanon continue to suffer from draconian measures which the Lebanese state claims are there to prevent them from becoming permanent guests.

As recently as 2005, Palestinian refugees were banned from taking up employment in 70 professions. Today, the number of restricted professions stands at 20 and includes senior medical, legal and engineering careers.

Massacres

While these restrictions were recently eased, applicants must have a valid work permit and membership of the appropriate professional representative body. Both are beyond the financial means of most Palestinian refugees.

A major bone of contention for Lebanese nationals has been the fact that armed Palestinian groups continue to thrive in the refugee camps.

Many Lebanese believe the presence of armed Palestinians on Lebanese soil is a potential flashpoint and point to the clashes at the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in Northern Lebanon as a case in point.

Between May and September of 2007, Nahr al-Bared was the scene of a brutal conflict between the radical Fatah al-Islam group and the Lebanese army.

However, Nahr al-Bared was an exception to the rule, with the major refugee camps such as Ain al-Helweh falling under a shared sphere of influence among Fatah, Hamas and other Palestinian groups with strong grassroots support.

Indeed, the Palestinians themselves point out that their own security fears and a history of violence - including wholesale massacres - perpetrated in the camps is a major reason why Palestinians continue to bear arms.

In 1976, Lebanese Christian militiamen overran the Tal al-Zaatar refugee camp in East Beirut and massacred or expelled all of its residents.

Six years later, Israeli forces facilitated the entry of Lebanese Christian militiamen into the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in West Beirut. That massacre claimed the lives of about 800 residents of the camps.

Camps War

Between 1985 and 1989, Lebanon was the scene of what became known as the Camps War, when Pro-Syrian militiamen from Amal, a Lebanese Shia movement, and anti-Arafat factions laid siege to Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut and the South.

Palestinian refugees suffered grim atrocities, and according to journalist Robert Fisk, the Camps War was worse than the Sabra and Shatila massacre.

Today, on the eve of parliamentary elections, Palestinians in Lebanon are conveniently forgotten.

The battle lines have been drawn and they are along strictly Lebanese lines, with each political faction hurling accusations at each other and bringing into play the regional and international influences of Washington, Tel Aviv, Tehran and Damascus.

But many analysts point out that Lebanon ignores the plight of the Palestinians on its territory at its own peril.

Walk into Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp, Ain al-Helweh, at midday and you are struck by the number of school age children in the streets, many going to and from their UNRWA schools as they cannot attend state schools.

Palestinians in Lebanon are also banned from seeking state healthcare, owning property and even bringing in building materials into the refugee camps.
However, the future of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon will be among the first items on the agenda of Lebanon's new parliament.

The Sabra Shatila Foundation, after consultation with human rights organisations including International Lawyers Sans Frontieres and members of Lebanon's legislature, will table a draft law in parliament which promises, in the words of the foundation, to: "erase, in one vote, decades of illegal and immoral treatment of more than 10 per cent of Lebanon's population".

The draft text reads: "Be it enacted by the Chamber of Deputies ... that all Palestinian refugees in Lebanon shall immediately acquire, receive and enjoy the full faith and credit of all civil rights possessed by Lebanese citizens except citizenship or naturalisation."

The alternative can only mean that Lebanon's refugee camps will be a hotbed for further frustration and disappointment for their residents, and could well prove to be a fertile breeding ground for future extremism.

PA troepen treden bruter op dan IDF bij huiszoekingen

Soms is de haat tussen Hamas en Fatah groter dan die tegen Israel. Het is niet de eerste keer dat de Palestijnen klagen dat Hamas/Fatah ze nog barbaarser behandelt dan Israeli's. Ik kan mij overigens niet voorstellen dat Israelische soldaten eerst toestemming vragen voordat ze het huis van een gezochte terrorist binnengaan, zoals deze moeder van een onlangs door Israel gedode Hamas terrorist beweert, dus wellicht is dit vooral bedoeld als belediging aan het adres van Fatah.

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

'IDF troops more polite than PA police'
Khaled Abu Toameh , THE JERUSALEM POST

Jun. 6, 2009
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1244035010760&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

IDF soldiers who raid the homes of Palestinians are more polite than the Palestinian Authority security forces in the West Bank, the mother of a top Hamas terrorist who was killed by Israel said over the weekend.

The mother was speaking shortly after security forces loyal to PA President Mahmoud Abbas stormed her family's house in the village of Rafat in the West Bank.

Her son, Yihye Ayyash, nicknamed The Engineer, was responsible for a spate of suicide bombings in the 1990s that killed more than 100 Israelis and wounded hundreds others.

The mother said that about 30 Palestinian security officers participated in the raid early Friday.

"They behaved in a shameful way," she said. "When the Jews come, they ask for permission and cry out before they enter a house." She said that Abbas's security forces acted in a "barbaric" manner and did not take into account that women and children were sleeping inside the house.

The Palestinian policemen did not even knock on the door, she added. "They raided the house and started searching for weapons," she said. "They left behind a lot of damage. Even a copy of the Koran was not spared."

The raid on Ayyash's home came amid increased tensions between Hamas and Fatah in the West Bank. PA policemen killed four Hamas gunmen in Kalkilya in two separate incidents last week. Four policemen were also killed in the clashes.

Over the weekend, Abbas's forces arrested another six Hamas supporters in different parts of the West Bank, sources close to the Islamic movement said.

The sources said that the arrests bring to approximately 700 the number of Hamas-affiliated detainees who are currently being held in PA prisons in the West Bank.

The PA security forces have also banned the families of the four Hamas men who were killed in Kalkilya from mourning them in public, the sources said. They added that PA policemen prevented mourners from heading to the dead men's homes to offer their condolences to the families.

The wives of the owners of the houses where the Hamas men were hiding remain in custody.

Amal al-Basha, whose husband Abdel Nasser was killed in the first clash between the Hamas gunmen and PA policemen, is accused of hurling a hand grenade at the security forces, killing three policemen. She was seriously injured in the raid.

The second woman is the wife of Abdel Fattah Shraim. She and her husband are being interrogated on suspicion of providing shelter to the two Hamas terrorists who were shot and killed by PA policemen when they were discovered hiding in the family's basement.

Meanwhile, Hamas published photos and names of PA policemen and security commanders who allegedly took part in the elimination of the four Hamas men in Kalkilya.

Hamas called on its supporters in the West Bank to kill the policemen and their officers because of their role in the killings and for being "collaborators" with Israel and the US.

Hamas's list included Husam Sheikh Hamed, a senior officer with the PA's Preventive Security Service, who is said to have personally led the attacks on the two Hamas cells.

Egyptische psycholoog op Hamas TV: "De Joden verdienden hun vernietiging door Hitler"

Obama's woorden hebben blijkbaar niet op iedereen indruk gemaakt; hij heeft nog een hoop werk te verrichten in de Arabische landen. Vrijdag zei Gretta Duisenberg dat Hamas Israel helemaal niet wil vernietigen, en geen terrroristische organisatie is maar vrede wil sluiten. Hieronder wat vredelievende woorden die onlangs op Hamas TV waren te horen.

"I always ask myself: Why did Hitler annihilate the Zionists or the Jews? By character, they definitely deserve this. This is why they suffered this massacre or annihilation, and so, they adopt the [Nazi] character, and project it onto the Palestinian people."

-----------

MEMRITV No. 2128| June 5, 2009
Egyptian Psychologist Dr. Wafa Musa: The Jews Deserved Their Annihilation by Hitler

Following are excerpts from a Hamas TV women's show, which aired on May 14, 2009:

To view this clip, visit www.memritv.org/clip/en/2128.htm

Egyptian psychologist Dr. Wafa Musa: The terrorist psychology of the Jews derives only from their love of money. The only god or religion of the Jews is money - not the Jewish religion or the dream of the so-called Greater Israel. This is a lie they tell themselves.
[...]
I always ask myself: Why did Hitler annihilate the Zionists or the Jews? By character, they definitely deserve this. This is why they suffered this massacre or annihilation, and so, they adopt the [Nazi] character, and project it onto the Palestinian people.
[...]
Kifah Al-Ramali, Gaza Islamic University: The killing of Palestinian women, and women in general, by the Jews is not a random thing. Rather, it is their ideology, which is taught to their children in their curricula. It is mentioned in the books of the Torah. I will present some short samples, although their books are full of this. For instance, the greatest Jewish scholar, on whom they completely rely, Maimonides, wrote in his book that the Jews have the right to rape non-believing women. By non-believing, he meant non-Jewish.
[...]
Mother of quintuplets born in Gaza: The first I named Isma'il Haniya, and the second Khaled Mash'al. The third is Mahmoud Al-Zahar. And the girls are Fatima Al-Najjar and Maryam Farahat. God has given me this grace, which I consider a miracle. No matter how many martyrs we lose, we will continue to give birth to Palestinian heroes, who will grow to be fighters, Allah willing. I hope I will raise them well, Allah willing, that they will serve as a role model for the people, and that they will be well-educated. I hope that they will be... I present them as a gift to the country and to Islam. They are afraid that we will bear children, who will grow to be fighters. This is what they fear.

________________

For assistance, please contact MEMRI at memri@memri.org.

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) is an independent, non-profit organization that translates and analyzes the media of the Middle East. Copies of articles and documents cited, as well as background information, are available on request.

MEMRI holds copyrights on all translations. Materials may only be used with proper attribution.

MEMRI
P.O. Box 27837, Washington, DC 20038-7837
Phone: (202) 955-9070
Fax: (202) 955-9077
www.memri.org

Palestijnse Autoriteit bijt Obama's hand

De onder controle van de Palestijnse Autoriteit staande krant Al-Hayad al-Jadida schreef over Obama:

"We do not expect the new American president to express hostility towards Israel or to demand that it dismantle settlements... He will remain hostage to the American imperialist interests, which are in tandem with [those of] the Israeli occupation...."

Dat is nogal vijandig na de verzoenende en zelfs nogal pro-Palestijnse speech van Obama in Cairo. Het heeft, aldus Barry Rubin, alles te maken met het radikalisme van veel leiders in de Palestijnse Autoriteit. Hij is dan ook erg pessimistisch:

"These are all factors that ensure there will be no comprehensive peace agreement and that Obama's policy will fail. He should only learn--and remember--that this outcome is going to be the PA's fault."

Los van wiens schuld dat zou zijn, laten we hopen dat Rubin geen gelijk krijgt, en Obama wel succes zal hebben. Daarvoor zal hij echter beide partijen onder druk moeten zetten en zijn ogen niet moeten sluiten voor het feit dat de Palestijnse Autoriteit vooralsnog Israel niet erkent en ieder compromis van de hand wijst.

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

The Palestinian Authority Bites Obama's Hand

http://rubinreports.blogspot.com/2009/06/palestinian-authority-bites-obamas-hand.html

MEMRI is publishing a round-up of articles and cartoons in the Arabic-speaking world about President Barack Obama's Cairo speech. Roughly they fall into three categories: Obama is great and this marks a real change; we must await actions to accompany these fine words; and it is all a trick and conspiracy to fool Muslims.

A number of Saudi and Egyptian newspapers are positive, but those in a number of other countries fall into the second (suspicious) or third (rejectionist) categories.

What is most surprising--at least for U.S. policymakers--comes from the Palestinian Authority's (PA) official newspaper, Al-Hayad al-Jadida, written by its veteran editor, Hafez al-Barghouti. Presumably, he would not write something like this if the PA wanted a different response. According to the MEMRI translation he said:

"We do not expect the new American president to express hostility towards Israel or to demand that it dismantle settlements... He will remain hostage to the American imperialist interests, which are in tandem with [those of] the Israeli occupation...."

This is pretty hostile coming right after the most pro-Palestinian speech ever made by a U.S. president and the visit of PA leader Mahmoud Abbas to Washington, not to mention the fact that the PA is the largest beneficiary per capita of U.S. funds in history and faces no U.S. pressure to live up to its obligations.

Yet it is par for the PA's course. Gratitude is not in the PA's playbook. As shown in the Abbas visit to Washington, President Obama and his administration is likely to experience the PA's lack of cooperation with its effort to create quickly a Palestinian state. Already, for example, Abbas put two preconditions on any negotiations with Israel: stopping all construction on existing settlements and promising the PA a state in advance of any PA compromises or clear picture of what such a diplomatic solution would include.

In addition, violating U.S. law, the PA is still using aid from American taxpayer money to pay for institutions it names in honor of terrorists who murdered Israeli civilians.

This is because the PA is less eager for a state than Obama is, an element of the situation that many in the administration totally fail to comprehend. It is also due to the fact that Fatah, the PA's ruling party, is still quite radical. A large majority of its leaders still view as their goal Israel's complete destruction while the organization--including Abbas himself--are more eager for a deal with the radical Islamist Hamas than with Israel.

These are all factors that ensure there will be no comprehensive peace agreement and that Obama's policy will fail. He should only learn--and remember--that this outcome is going to be the PA's fault.

Diverse enquetes in Israel kritisch over Obama

Het ultieme bewijs dat het antwoord dat je krijgt in een enquete in hoge mate afhangt van hoe je de vraag stelt. Helaas staat bij de meeste enquetes niet vermeld hoeveel mensen zijn ondervraagd, en van #3 is niet duidelijk of ook Arabieren ondervraagd zijn.

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

Roundup of Israeli polls published the week Obama spoke in Cairo show
Israelis see Obama as pro-Palestinian and reject freeze on "natural growth"
Dr. Aaron Lerner

Date 5 June 2009

The following is a roundup of polls this week:

Poll #1 Poll of representative sample of Jewish Israeli adults carried out by Geocartography Knowledge Group - Dr. Rina Degani - this week for Israel's Public Television Program "Osim Seder" - "Making Order". Results broadcast on 3 June 2009.

Poll #2 Telephone poll of a representative sample of adult Israelis (including Arab Israelis) carried out by Shvakim Panorama for Israel Radio's Hakol Diburim (It's All Talk) the week of 4 June 2009 and broadcast on 4 June.

Poll #3 Telephone poll of a representative sample of adult Israelis conducted by the B. I. Cohen Institute of Tel Aviv University the end of May 2009 for The Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research and the Evens Program in Mediation and Conflict Resolution "War and Peace Index"

Poll #4 Telephone poll of a representative sample of 501 adult Israelis (including Arab Israelis) carried out by Dahaf (Dr. Mina Tzemach) for Yediot Ahronot "last weekend" and published in Yediot Ahronot on 5 June 2009.

# before each question identifies the poll.
______

#1 Should the Government evacuate unauthorized outposts?
Yes 40% No 51% No opinion 9%

#2 Do you support or oppose the evacuation of unauthorized outposts?
For 40.1% Against 40.4% Don't know 19.5%

#4 Should the illegal outposts be evacuated
Yes 70% No 25%

#3 Should Israel agree to evacuate illegal outposts and isolated settlements located in the heart of the Palestinian population if a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians depended on it?
Yes 53% No 29%

#1 Should the Government meet the American request to freeze settlements?
Yes 40% No 51% No opinion 9%

#2 Do you support or oppose the American demand for a halt to construction in Judea and Samaria?
Support 29.5% Oppose 55.6% Don't know 17.9%

#4 Should there be a freeze on settlement construction?
Yes 52% No 43%

#4 Should construction for natural growth be permitted in the settlements?
Yes 54% No 42%

#3 Should Israel should agree to evacuate all settlements if a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians depended on it?
Yes 41% No 53%

#2 Does President Obama give preference to the interests of the Arab states over Israel's interests?
Yes 47.1% No 28.9% Don't know 24.0%

#3 What side does Barack Obama support?
Palestinian 55% Israeli 5% Neutral 31%

#4 What is Obama more concerned for: Israelis security needs or the Palestinian desire to establish a state?
Palestinian desires 51% Israel's needs 22%

#1 How do you perceive the Obama Middle East initiative?
Favorable 30% Negative 30% Ambivalent 23% No opinion 17%

#4 Are Obama's policies good for Israel?
Good 26% Bad 53%

#4 Are you disappointed with the policies of Obama towards Israel?
Yes 51% No 41%

#4 Should Netanyahu accept Obama's demands or reject them even at the cost
of sanctions Yes 56% No 40%

#1 Will American pressure lead to the fall of the Netanyahu Government?
Yes 22% No 64% No opinion 13%

#3 Was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's trip to Washington successful?
Yes 19% No 65%

#3 How would you term the stance Netanyahu presented to the US?
Too rigid 13% Just right 56% Too lenient 9%

#3 (Jews only) Is there a chance for an agreement with the Palestinians that doesn't include the two states for two people's formula?
Yes 18% No 67%

#3 (Jews only) Do settlements serve or weaken Israel's interests?
Weaken 48% Serve 43%

#4 Should Israel agree to the establishment of a Palestinian state within the framework of a peace agreement?
Yes 55% no 41%

#4 What grade do you give to Netanyahu for his performance as prime minister since his election?
Good 47% Bad 45%

#4 Are your satisfied with Netanyahu's performance in the crises with the US?
Yes 34% no 47%

#4 Will Netanyahu agree in the end to the establishment of a Palestinian state?
Yes 44% No 50%

#4 Who is responsible for the crises with the US?
Netanyahu 16% Obama 28% Both 50%

#4 If there is an agreement to a settlement freeze should Yisrael Beteinu remain in the government?
Total: Yes 41% No 36%
Yisrael Beiteinu voters: Yes 60% No 23%

#4 If there is an agreement on a settlement freeze should Kadima join the government?
Total: Yes 41% No 43%
Kadima voters: Yes 52% No 41%

#4 If it is decided to evacuate settlements would you join in action opposing it?
No 85% Yes 12%

_______________________

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-7255730
INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il
Website: http://www.imra.org.il

Oud-ambassadeur Israel bekritiseert Netanjahoe's afwijzing tweestatenoplossing

Zou Netanjahoe eindelijk eens een keer luisteren? Hij vervreemdt met zijn positie ook sympathisanten van Israel, en speelt antizionisten in de kaart.

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

Last update - 20:06 06/06/2009
'Netanyahu failure to back two-state solution harming Israel'
By Haaretz Service
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1090738.html

Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu's failure to declare support for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is causing "significant" damage to Israel, former ambassador to the United States Sallai Meridor said Saturday.

"There is, in my opinion, significant political and moral damage in [Netanyahu] not saying: At the end of the road, I'm ready for a Palestinian state," Merridor told Channel 2.

Merriror's comments came after U.S. President Barack Obama reaffirmed his commitment to Palestinian national aspirations on Thursday during a speech to the Muslim world in Cairo.

The former envoy, who was recently replaced in the top diplomatic post by academic Michael Oren, explained that Israel's small size and relative lack of power meant that it could not afford to appear to alienate the international community by refusing to support the establishment of a Palestinian state, under certain conditions.

"Our strength is dependant upon, among other things, our moral position, upon how we are perceived in the world," he said.