donderdag 3 september 2009

Hugo Chavez valt Israel aan tijdens bezoek aan Syrië

 
"Israel has become a country that annihilates people and is hostile to peace," he said, according to the Arabic translation of his remarks to reporters.
 
Libië, Syrië, Iran en Wit Rusland zijn inderdaad heel wat vredelievendere staten waar men het verderfelijke imperialisme buiten de deur heeft weten te houden, en die dus de warme steun van de grote socialistische leider wel verdienen. Op naar een Nieuwe Wereldorde, een Wereld zonder Zionisme, zonder rechten voor minderheden, homo's en vrouwen, zonder vrijheid van meningsuiting en religie, zonder democatie en controle van de staat en haar instituties, zonder onafhankelijke rechtsspraak...
 
RP
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Chavez: Israel was created 'to impede unity of Arab world'
Sep. 3, 2009
Associated Press , THE JERUSALEM POST
 
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez attacked Israel Thursday during his visit to Syria, calling it an imperialist nation that annihilates other people.

Chavez comments came during a news conference with his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad after a one-hour meeting at the hilltop presidential palace.

"Israel has become a country that annihilates people and is hostile to peace," he said, according to the Arabic translation of his remarks to reporters.

In comments carried by Venezuelan state television, he also accused Israel of being part of imperialist efforts to divide the Middle East.

"The entire world knows it. Why was the state of Israel created? ... To divide. To impede the unity of the Arab world. To assure the presence of the North American empire in all these lands," he said.

Chavez is on an 11-day trip to Libya, Algeria, Syria, Iran, Belarus and Russia in his bid to build a multi-polar world and decrease US influence in the region.

"I believe it is a fateful battle. It's either now or never in order to liberate the world from imperialism and change the world from a unipolar into a multi-polar world," Chavez told reporters in Damascus.

On Tuesday he attended Libya's celebration of the 40th anniversary of the coup that brought Moammar Gaddafi to power before heading to Algeria.

The firebrand Latin American leader has built close ties with Iran, Syria, Cuba and other countries while his relations have grown tense with Israel.

Chavez strongly criticized Israel's war against Gaza in December and January and said the Jewish state should return to Syria the strategic Golan Heights that it captured in 1967 Mideast war.

For his part, Assad said that he does not think Israel is ready to make peace, while Damascus is serious about the matter.

Nazi's leverden wapens voor Arabische opstand in Palestina


"The Palestinian Arabs show on all levels a great sympathy for the new Germany and its Fuhrer, a sympathy whose value is particularly high as it is based on a purely ideological foundation," a Nazi official in Palestine wrote in a letter to Berlin in 1937. He added: "Most important for the sympathies which Arabs now feel towards Germany is their admiration for our Fuhrer, especially during the unrests, I often had an opportunity to see how far these sympathies extend. When faced with a dangerous behaviour of an Arab mass, when one said that one was German, this was already generally a free pass."

Vreemd dat Groot-Brittannië deze informatie pas een paar jaar geleden vrijgaf. Niet alleen de mufti was een nazi collaborateur, er was verregaande samenwerking tussen de nazi's en de Arabieren in Palestina, en de steun voor de nazi's onder zowel de Palestijnse leiders als het volk was groot.
Vreemd genoeg valt over deze belangrijke informatie alleen te lezen op zogenaamde 'zionistische websites' en media, en wordt dit door sympathisanten van de Palestijnen glashard ontkend.

De Britse anti-Joodse houding die in de jaren '30 steeds sterker werd kan niet los worden gezien van de samenwerking tusssen de nazi's en de Arabieren, en heeft vele Joden het leven gekost.

The records also show that the news of increased Nazi-Arab cooperation panicked the British government, and caused it to cancel a plan in 1938 to bring to Palestine 20,000 German Jewish refugees, half of them children, facing danger from the Nazis.

Documents show that after deciding that the move would upset Arab opinion, Britain decided to abandon the Jewish refugees to their fate. 

Onderstaand artikel hebben we 3 jaar geleden al op onze website geplaatst, maar het kan zeker geen kwaad het hier nog eens onder de aandacht te brengen.
 
RP
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Nazis 'shipped arms to Palestinians'
British National Archives unveil presence of Nazi S.S. agents in Mandatory Palestine, working closely with Palestinian leaders
Yaakov Lappin - Ynet News
Published: 05.07.06, 16:41
 
 
Historical documents in Britain's National Archives in London show that Nazi Germany attempted to ship arms to Palestinian forces in the 1930s.
 
A British Foreign Office report from 1939 reports of "news of a consignment of arms from Germany, sent via Turkey and addressed to Ibn Saud (king of Saudi Arabia), but really intended for the Palestine insurgents." Britain's chief military officer in Mandatory Palestine also noted reports "regarding import of German arms at intervals for some years now."

British documents from the same period, and German records photographed by an American spy and sent to the British government, said that a number of Nazi agents were sent to Mandatory Palestine, in order to forge alliances with Palestinian leaders, and urge them to reject a partition of the land between the Jewish and Arab populations.

One Nazi agent, Adam Vollhardt, arrived in Palestine in July 1938, and was reported to have gained strong influence with Arab leaders, meeting with Palestinian leaders throughout 1938. Vollhardt held several meetings with leading Arab politicians and told them "that the Palestine question would be settled to the satisfaction of the Arabs within a few weeks," adding that "it would be fatal to their (Palestinians') cause if at this juncture they showed any signs of weakness or exhaustion."

"Germany was interested in the settlement of the (Palestine) question on the basis of the Arabs obtaining their full demands," Vollhardt was reported to say to Palestinian leaders, according to a report by the British War Office. Vollhardt also assured Arab leaders that "the Germans could continue to support the Palestinian Arab cause by means of propaganda."

German documents photographed and sent to Whitehall by an American spy revealed that in 1937, German officials had calculated that "Palestine under Arab rule would… become one of the few countries where we could count on a strong sympathy for the new Germany."

'Arabs admire our Fuhrer'

"The Palestinian Arabs show on all levels a great sympathy for the new Germany and its Fuhrer, a sympathy whose value is particularly high as it is based on a purely ideological foundation," a Nazi official in Palestine wrote in a letter to Berlin in 1937. He added: "Most important for the sympathies which Arabs now feel towards Germany is their admiration for our Fuhrer, especially during the unrests, I often had an opportunity to see how far these sympathies extend. When faced with a dangerous behaviour of an Arab mass, when one said that one was German, this was already generally a free pass."

A second Nazi agent, Dr. Franz Reichart, was reported to be actively working with Palestinian Arabs by the British Criminal Investigation Division "to help coordinate Arab and German propaganda." Reichart was also head of the German Telegraphic Agency in Jerusalem.

German records show that the Nazis viewed the establishment of a Jewish state with great concern. A 1937 report from German General Consulate in Palestine said: "The formation of a Jewish state… is not in Germany's interest because a (Jewish) Palestinian state would create additional national power bases for international Jewry such as for example the Vatican State for political Catholicism or Moscow for the Communists. Therefore, there is a German interest in strengthening the Arabs as a counter weight against such possible power growth of the Jews."

Jewish refugees abandoned

The records also show that the news of increased Nazi-Arab cooperation panicked the British government, and caused it to cancel a plan in 1938 to bring to Palestine 20,000 German Jewish refugees, half of them children, facing danger from the Nazis.

Documents show that after deciding that the move would upset Arab opinion, Britain decided to abandon the Jewish refugees to their fate.

"His Majesty's Government asked His Majesty's Representatives in Cairo, Baghdad and Jeddah whether so far as they could judge, feelings in Egypt, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia against the admission of, say 5,000 Jewish children for adoption… would be so strong as to lead to a refusal to send representatives to the London discussions. All three replies were strongly against the proposal, which was not proceeded with," a Foreign Office report said.

"If war were to break out, no trouble that the Jews could occasion us, in Palestine or elsewhere, could weigh for a moment against the importance of winning Muslim opinion to our side," Britain's Minister for Coordination of Defence, Lord Chatfield, told the British cabinet in 1939, shortly before Britain reversed its decision to partition its mandate, promising instead all of the land to the Palestinian Arabs.
 

Gedeeltelijke bevriezing nederzettingenbouw overeengekomen


He he, ze zijn eruit. Min of meer dan, want er is nog onduidelijkheid over wat er gebeurt na de afgesproken tijd (9 maanden), en het is ook nog onduidelijk wat Israel ervoor terugkrijgt, behalve de opening van een paar commerciële vertegenwoordigingen in de Golfstaten. Er zijn geen substantiële concessies toegezegd door enige Arabische staat, en de Palestijnen zijn niet eens bereid weer met Israel te gaan praten zolang er ook maar één steen op de andere wordt gezet in Oost-Jeruzalem, bijvoorbeeld in de Joodse wijk in de oude stad. In feite wordt de al bestaande situatie sinds de regering Netanjahoe aan het roer trad, nu tot officieel beleid verklaard: geen goedkeuring van nieuwe bouwprojecten in de nederzettingen.
Binnen Netanjahoe's eigen Likoed partij organiseert zich intussen het verzet hiertegen.

RP
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Ch 2: Partial settlement freeze deal
Sep. 3, 2009
JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST
 
 
There has been a partial agreement between Israel and the US on settlement activity, Channel 2 reported Thursday.
According to the reported deal, construction in east Jerusalem will continue, as will the building of 2,500 West Bank housing units already underway.
 
The building of community centers in settlements will also be allowed, according to Channel 2.
 
Apart from the above, there will be a nine-month settlement freeze, according to the report.
In exchange, Israel will reportedly get commercial representation in Gulf states.
 
However, the TV channel claimed that there was still no agreement on what will happen regarding settlement construction after the nine-month freeze, or on Israel being allowed to use Arab states' airspace.
 
============

Sep 3, 2009 23:46 | Updated Sep 3, 2009 23:54
Majority of Likud MKs to rally against PM on settlements
By GIL HOFFMAN 


Pressure on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu inside the Likud will intensify next week ahead of his final decisions regarding a potential settlement freeze as part of US President Barack Obama's efforts to seek Middle East peace. 
 
Amid headlines suggesting that Netanyahu has already agreed to a freeze, more than half of the Likud faction has accepted an invitation to speak at a hawkish rally at the party's Tel Aviv headquarters on Wednesday in favor of expanding settlements.
The 16 MKs to attend the event include Vice Premier Silvan Shalom, ministers Gilad Erdan, Moshe Kahlon, Yuli Edelstein and Michael Eitan, and Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin.
 
Vice Premier Moshe Ya'alon has not decided whether to attend, while Minister-without-Portfolio Bennie Begin and several other lawmakers who might have come will be abroad.
 
Organizer Shevah Stern said he expected Ya'alon to come, because the event meshed with his principles. He said the rally was not intended to be anti-Netanyahu, and that if the prime minister wanted to talk in favor of the settlements, he would be the event's sole speaker.
Perhaps the most surprising speaker at the event will be Shalom, who is considered a relative dove in the party but will not miss the chance to attack the prime minister. Shalom criticized Netanyahu on the settlement issue in a series of radio and TV interviews on Thursday.

"A clear, wide majority in the Likud would not give a hand to any step that would strangle the settlements, which is one of the party's banners," Shalom said. "We need to take steps to advance the diplomatic process, but with conditions, and one of them must be not freezing the settlements that we built. The Palestinians cannot ask us to make unilateral, irreversible, far-reaching concessions that impact the permanent [borders] just for agreeing to meet with us."
Shalom predicted that Netanyahu and Obama's diplomatic process would "blow up in our face and lead to a dead end."
 
By contrast, the prime minister's No. 2 in the Likud, Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar, backed up Netanyahu in a pre-Rosh Hashana toast he hosted for Likud activists on Thursday night at the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds.
 
"In today's complex situation, our prime minister whom we chose, Binyamin Netanyahu, must maintain all our national interests - the settlements that are the apple of our eye, Jerusalem, and also our relations with the United States and avoiding international isolation, because we will not be able to do the things that are close to our hearts if we are isolated," Sa'ar said, in what was interpreted as a reference to preventing the nuclearization of Iran.
 
Sa'ar called on his colleagues not to be "enticed by newspaper headlines" and to instead support the prime minister, who he said sees eye to eye with the rest of the Likud but must take international considerations into account.
 
Another Netanyahu loyalist in the party, who is very close to the prime minister, said Netanyahu had no problem with his critics speaking in favor of settlements as long as they did not judge him without knowing what he intends to do.
 
"Bibi doesn't care any less about Judea and Samaria than anyone else in the Likud, but he is the only one who has the full picture on all the interests of the country, and he has to make decisions on existential matters even if he has to make decisions he doesn't want to make that he wouldn't make in a normal period," the Netanyahu loyalist said.
"It's easy to criticize when the responsibility is not on your shoulders. Prime ministers don't demonstrate. They have to make decisions."
 
Meanwhile, Netanyahu lost the potential of Kadima making up for a possible rebellion in the Likud when Kadima MK Shaul Mofaz announced that he was no longer in favor of his party joining the coalition.
"Governments are judged by results, and the Netanyahu government hasn't provided any," Mofaz told Army Radio.
"If the government had a diplomatic plan, it would never have had to get to the point where settlements had to be frozen. Chances of the party joining the government have decreased. I don't see a reason or process that could lead us into the government. There are no negotiations or talks. There isn't even a plan. And those are the most important things," he said.
 
 

Madonna geeft concert in Israel


In tegenstelling tot Polen, is ze in Israel wel welkom.
 
----------------
 
September 2, 2009
Last updated: 4:17pm, September 2 2009
 
 
Madonna made her return to the stage in Israel last night after a 16-year absence and told a crowd of 50,000: "Israel is the energy centre of the world."
 
The concert, at Hayarkon Park in Tel Aviv, was the first of two to mark the end of her Sticky & Sweet tour. The second is this evening at the same venue.
 
She took the stage half an hour late and delighted fans when she grabbed an Israeli flag from the crowd and draped herself in it for her final song.
 
She told the audience: "I shouldn't have stayed so long away. Every time I come here, I get so supercharged with energy. I truly believe that Israel is the energy centre of the world. And I also believe that if we can all live together in harmony in this place, then we can live in peace all over the world."
 
Madonna arrived in Israel on Sunday and spent the evening visiting the Western Wall. On Monday she had dinner with opposition leader Tzipi Livni and she is expected to meet Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Friday.
 
Although she has not performed in Israel since 1993 she visited the country in 2004 and 2007. She has been practicing Kabbalah for more than 10 years and has adopted the Hebrew name Esther.
 

Christendom zondigt tegen God volgens islamitische autoriteiten Egypte

 
Egyptian Christians see the controversy as explicitly revealing how religious authorities and the government truly feel about the building of churches. In Egypt, Christians are not allowed to construct or fix churches unless they receive a permit from governors. But usually authorities make excuses and circumvent giving a direct answer to requests for building permits. At the end, however, nearly all requests for permits in Egypt are denied.
 
Het vreemde is dat je de kerk en christelijke groeperingen zo weinig over dit soort dingen hoort. Wanneer Israel dergelijke wetten kende, of religieuze autoriteiten zich op een dergelijke manier zouden uitlaten, dan zou er alom schande van worden gesproken en werd Israel voor een racistische religieus-fundamentalistische staat uitgemaakt.
 
RP
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Egyptian Muslim leaders are caught in a storm of controversy after a human rights group confronted them about a fatwa (Islamic edict) that stated the building of a church is "a sin against God."
 
Tue, Sep. 01, 2009 Posted: 05:15 PM EDT
 
 
Egyptian Muslim leaders are caught in a storm of controversy after a human rights group confronted them about a fatwa (Islamic edict) that stated the building of a church is "a sin against God."
 
Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, the highest official of religious law in Egypt, and the justice minister have issued an investigation of the jurists who issued the fatwa, according to Assyrian International News Agency.
 
The controversy began when the president of the Egyptian Union Human Rights Organization, Dr. Naguib Gabraeel, asked the Fatwa Council about a statement found in a textbook at Cairo University on inheritance and execution of wills.
 
Students, both Muslims and Christians, were taught "it is forbidden for a person to donate money for what would lead to sin, such as donating in his will money towards build[ing] a church, a nightclub, a gambling casino, towards promoting the alcohol industry or for building a barn for rearing pigs, cats or dogs."
 
Gabraeel asked the council what the sharia (Islamic law) position on the statement found in the textbook is. He asked if it is forbidden for a Muslim to donate money to build a church or a monk's quarters even if it is in the name of God and Christianity, which is recognized by the country's constitution. The Egyptian constitution claims to respect religious freedom. He also noted that wealthy Coptic Christian businessmen have donated towards the building of mosques.
 
The council replied by affirming the law found in the textbook and issuing a fatwa on it.
 
Included in the fatwa is an explanation on why it is a "sin" to build a church. According to the fatwa, Christians believe salvation is achieved through belief in Jesus as Lord while Muslims don't. Muslims believe that Issa [Jesus in Arabic] "is a slave of Allah and His Messenger, and that Allah is one."
 
The Islamic edict said God did not have a son and that Christianity deviated from absolute monotheism. Therefore, a Muslim is forbidden to donate funds towards a building that does not worship Allah alone.
 
The author of the textbook, Mohammed el-Maghrabbi, said it is sinful for even a Christian to devote money in his will towards building a church because it would be considered in Islam as separation from God.
 
In other words, it is illegal for even non-Muslims to offer money in their will towards building a church or synagogue.
 
The fatwa has upset many people, especially Coptic Christians, for categorizing churches with nightclubs, casinos, alcohol, and places to raise animals considered unclean by Islam.
 
After receiving the shocking response by the council, Gabraeel and a delegation from his human rights group visited the Grand Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawi of the famous Al-Azhar University, a chief Sunni Islamic learning center in the world.
 
Tantawi contradicted the council and said "sharia does not prevent Muslims from donating to the building of a church, as it is his free money." He also went on to say sharia law does not interfere with other faiths "because religion, faith and what a person believes in is a relationship between him and his God."
 
Immediately after Tantawi's statements were publicized, there was a backlash from the Muslim community and he revoked his statements less than 24 hours after the visit by the human rights delegation. Tantawi claimed the delegation had misunderstood him, even though everything he said was recorded and sent to media outlets and uploaded on Coptic advocacy web sites.
 
Egyptian Christians see the controversy as explicitly revealing how religious authorities and the government truly feel about the building of churches. In Egypt, Christians are not allowed to construct or fix churches unless they receive a permit from governors. But usually authorities make excuses and circumvent giving a direct answer to requests for building permits. At the end, however, nearly all requests for permits in Egypt are denied.
 
In contrast, there are no such building permits necessary for the construction or fixing of mosques.
 
Ethan Cole
Christian Post Reporter
 

Boycot Israel oproep door professor Ben Gurion Universiteit


Het is vrij uniek dat een professor oproept zijn eigen land en universiteit te boycotten, maar het is niet de eerste keer dat het gebeurt in Israel. Vreemd genoeg is zelfs een zo duidelijke stellingname tegen niet alleen je land, maar je werkgever en je collega's, in Israel geen reden om iemand uit z'n functie te ontslaan.
 
The primary effect of Gordon's Israel-bashing will be to detract from the work of his university. I am a doctor; my professional career has focused on preventing hereditary genetic diseases in the Bedouin Arab community. Today, the laboratory that I founded at Ben-Gurion University is working with Bedouin, Palestinian and Jordanian doctors and researchers to improve the health of Arab children across the region. This is but one of the many Israeli-Arab collaborations -- in fields that range from developing advanced water technologies to solar energy, environmental conservation and emergency medicine -- that will be compromised here if "collective punishment" for Gordon's actions or for my opposition to his views is imposed on BGU.
 
Niet bepaald de woorden en het werk van een apartheidsregime dacht ik zo.
 
RP
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Boycotting Israel - BGU President responds to Neve Gordon

There just isn't a great way to handle a haywire faculty member who calls for a boycott against his own institution, especially if he has tenure. Rivka Carmi shows grace under fire below. But if the "law in Israel is very clear" perhaps the law has to be changed. An institution should not be forced to pay the salary of an employee who calls for a boycott against it, and neither should a state. But how can we change the law and still ensure proper protection for legitimate views?
 
Ami Isseroff
_________________
 
Neve Gordon's divisive Op-Ed
Ben-Gurion University's president responds to one of her professor's call for a boycott of Israel.
 
By Rivka Carmi
September 1, 2009
 
 
As president of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, I have always remained open and impartial to the wide diversity of opinions within our academic faculty and their right to free speech, no matter how controversial their views or writings may be.
 
However, I strongly believe a call for a worldwide boycott of Israel written by a Ben-Gurion University faculty member, Neve Gordon, that appeared in The Times oversteps the boundaries of academic freedom -- because it has nothing to do with it.
 
Academic freedom exists to ensure that there is an unfettered and free discussion of ideas relating to research and teaching and to provide a forum for the debate of complicated ideas that may challenge accepted norms. Gordon, however, used his pulpit as a university faculty member to advocate a personal opinion, which is really demagoguery cloaked in academic theory.
 
Gordon argues that Israel is an "apartheid" state and that "a boycott would save Israel from itself." But the empirical facts show that it would destroy the very fabric of the society that he claims to want to protect. Instead of investing in activities that promote coexistence, this "call for a boycott" is already being used to isolate Israel.
 
This is particularly pernicious for our university, a proudly Zionist institution that embodies the dream of Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, to bring development and prosperity to all the residents of the Negev region. This work -- which includes community outreach and scientific innovation in Israel and around the world carried out by nearly 25,000 students, faculty and staff -- is being threatened by the egregious remarks of one person, under the guise of academic freedom.
 
A number of online campaigns have been launched calling for donors and other supporters of the university to "boycott BGU." We have heard the calls by those who demand that the university ignore Israeli law and fire Gordon, a tenured faculty member, on the basis of his statements. And we are also under attack by others who champion Gordon on the basis of freedom of speech.
 
Like it or not, Gordon cannot be readily dismissed. The law in Israel is very clear, and the university is a law-abiding institution.
 
At the same time, by calling on other entities, including academic institutions, to boycott Israel -- and effectively, to boycott his own university -- Gordon has forfeited his ability to work effectively within the academic setting, with his colleagues in Israel and around the world. After his very public, personal soul-searching in his Op-Ed article, leading to his extreme description of Israel as an "apartheid" state, how can he, in good faith, create the collaborative atmosphere necessary for true academic research and teaching?
 
The primary effect of Gordon's Israel-bashing will be to detract from the work of his university. I am a doctor; my professional career has focused on preventing hereditary genetic diseases in the Bedouin Arab community. Today, the laboratory that I founded at Ben-Gurion University is working with Bedouin, Palestinian and Jordanian doctors and researchers to improve the health of Arab children across the region. This is but one of the many Israeli-Arab collaborations -- in fields that range from developing advanced water technologies to solar energy, environmental conservation and emergency medicine -- that will be compromised here if "collective punishment" for Gordon's actions or for my opposition to his views is imposed on BGU.
 
There are many more hopeful and pragmatic voices to be heard at our institution than Gordon's, and they are the ones who will ultimately guide us, and Israel, to a brighter future.
 
 
Rivka Carmi is the president of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beer-Sheva, Israel.
 
 

De staat Palestina uitgeroepen op 14 mei 2048 (novelle)

 
Van Binjamin Heyl ontving ik onderstaande mail over de in novelle vorm verschenen droom van een Palestijnse staat, uitgeroepen in 2048. Of dat naast of in plaats van Israel zou zijn, wordt uit de omschrijving niet duidelijk.
Dat het schijnbaar onmogelijke mogelijk is, heeft het zionisme bewezen, dat na bijna 2.000 jaar miljoenen Joden van over de hele wereld herenigde in hun land van oorsprong en de staat Israel stichtte. De Verenigde Naties hadden opgeroepen tot een Joodse en een Arabische staat in het Britse mandaatgebied, maar deden weinig concreets om die te realiseren. De staat Palestina werd eigenlijk al in 1988 uitgeroepen door de PLO, nadat Jordanië formeel afstand had gedaan van het gebied dat toen al 21 jaar in Israëlische handen was. Anders dan de PLO in 1988, bevonden de zionisten zich toen ze in 1948 hun staat uitriepen in het gebied zelf, en bleken ze bij machte haar te verdedigen. Het wonder vereiste militaire kracht, zoals de stichting van de meeste onafhankelijke staten. Een mooi volgend wonder zou zijn de vreedzame stichting van een Palestijns-Arabische staat naast Israël, en liefst niet pas in 2048.
 
Wouter
 
Binjamin Heyl heeft meerdere boeken op zijn naam staan over religieuze en historische onderwerpen, zie ondermeer:
____________________
 

Sjalom!

 

Graag wil u informeren over de verschenen novelle:

De staat Palestina uitgeroepen op 14 mei 2048.

Geschreven door Binjamin Shalom en Mohammed Salaam.

 

Hierin wordt beschreven hoe we elkaar hebben leren kennen in Haïfa (1982). We elkaar soms in de haren zaten om onze rechten, de Israëlische en Palestijnse, te verdedigen, wat gepaard ging met de nodige emoties en de logica nogal eens ver te zoeken was. Langzaam schoven we op. Hij liet me een stukje Palestina zien die ik misschien wel liever niet wilde weten en andersom liet ik hem een stukje Israël zien dat hij zich niet kon voorstellen.

Samen praten, nieuwe ontmoetingen. Dan toch weer ruzie met de nodige emoties (en te weinig logica), praten, nieuwe ontmoetingen met het onbekende. Praten over de muur die stond tussen de nachtmerries van Mohammed en mijn dromen.

De novelle gaat uiteindelijk over ons beider droom waar we in geloven. Het gaat in tegen de logica van vandaag en gisteren. We geloven dat het onmogelijke wel degelijk mogelijk is. Er zijn wel meer wonderen gebeurd. Gebeurtenissen die ingingen tegen de menselijke logica.

 

De royalities zullen overgemaakt worden aan een projekt in Israël waar mensen samenwonen die niet logisch lijkt, maar het gebeurt al heel wat jaren: Neve Shalom / Wahat al-Salam: Oase van Vrede (zie  www.nswas.org)

 

De novelle is uigegeven door Uitgeverij Gopher in Amsterdam (www.gopher.nl)   .             

ISBN 9789051796698.

 

Groet,

 

Binjamin

 

 

Term 'Nakba' wordt weer geschrapt uit Arabische schoolboeken in Israel

 
Het gaat niet zozeer om termen als om de inhoud die eraan wordt gegeven. Zo zullen de kinderen in Gaza vast leren over zionisme, maar vraag niet wat ze erover leren. Voor de Arabieren was de vestiging van Israel zeker een ramp, maar één waarin ze zelf een aktieve rol hebben gespeeld. Het (na 2 jaar) weer schrappen van het woord Nakba uit de schoolboeken is wel een stapje achteruit, maar vooral symbolisch. Intussen is de leerstof op Arabische scholen in Israel ongetwijfeld nog heel wat evenwichtiger dan in de Palestijnse gebieden, waar Israel helemaal niet lijkt te bestaan, en de Holocaust nooit heeft plaatsgevonden.
 
Wouter
_______________
 
JPost  - The Jerusalem Post
Aug 30, 2009 23:27 | Updated Aug 31, 2009 4:03
Sa'ar drops 'Nakba' from Arab textbooks
By ABE SELIG
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1251145155639&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


Israeli Arab advocacy groups on Sunday reacted sternly to an announcement from Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar that the phrase Nakba, which means "catastrophe" in Arabic and is used by Arabs to describe the creation of the State of Israel, would be dropped from textbooks for the new school year, which begins on Tuesday.

While Sa'ar had previously said he was mulling such a move, an official announcement of the change came during an extensive briefing the minister gave to the cabinet on Sunday morning regarding the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year.

"What Israeli Arabs experienced during the [1948 War of Independence] was certainly a tragedy," Sa'ar said. "But the word 'Nakba,' whose meaning is similar to 'Holocaust' in this context, will no longer be used. The creation of the State of Israel cannot be referred to as a tragedy, and the education system in the Arab sector will revise its studies [regarding this] in elementary schools."

The specific textbook in question was approved for third graders in the Arab sector just over two years ago by then-education minister Yuli Tamir and described the events surrounding the war as catastrophic, as Arabs had been expelled from their homes and became refugees after their lands were confiscated by Israel.

While the textbook also mentioned that Arabs rejected the United Nations partition plan that called for the division of territory between Arabs and Jews, Tamir's decision to approve the text drew fire from the opposition at the time and was again criticized last summer by then-opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu.

"The government took Ze'ev Jabotinsky out of the school textbooks and inserted the Nakba instead," Netanyahu said at the time.

Tamir's decision appears to have been repealed by Sa'ar's announcement, although it remained unclear on Sunday if the Education Ministry planned on discontinuing the textbooks that use the word "Nakba" or would enforce a prohibition on using the term in the classroom altogether.

Atef Moaddi, who heads the Follow-up Committee on Arab Education in Israel, a Nazareth-based group that works on behalf of the country's Arab schools, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that Sa'ar's decision was nothing less than a "political gimmick" aimed at denying the Israeli Arab community their identity.

"For Israeli Arabs, who consider themselves a part of the Palestinian people, the Nakba is not up for debate, it is a historical fact," Moaddi said. "But if Sa'ar thinks that by taking this narrative out of the textbooks, he will somehow absolve himself - as both a representative of the State of Israel and as a human being - of responsibility for the Nakba, he is wrong.

"Our position has always been that both narratives - the Jewish, Zionist narrative and the Arab, Palestinian narrative - should be taught in both Jewish and Arab classrooms," he continued. "But the Arab pupil is not stupid. He or she will learn about the Nakba from a variety of other sources, be it on the Internet or on the street. But our position is that we prefer for them to learn about it in the educational framework of the classroom."

Moaddi added that principals and teachers from Arab schools had contacted his organization and expressed "dismay and outrage" over the decision.

"It's simply unacceptable to us," he said.

Sawsan Zaher, an attorney with Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, took Moaddi's sentiment even further, telling the Post that Sa'ar's decision was a violation of international law.

"This prohibition is part of the continuing control operated by the Ministry of Education against the Arab education system," Zaher said.

"The Ministry of Education implements severe supervision over the Arab education system and controls its curriculum, budget and appointments," she continued. "Prohibiting Arab students from studying about the Nakba is illegal and violates international law, which obliges states to enable national minorities to learn and study about their own history, culture and tradition."

The Education Ministry however, responded to both groups' remarks by insisting that Sa'ar's decision did not infringe on their rights to learn about their culture and history, but that the word "Nakba" itself was problematic.

"The creation of the State of Israel cannot be taught about as a catastrophe inside the country's schools," a ministry spokeswoman said. "That is what the minister has decided."

Zweedse regering ontkent bericht over veroordeling antisemitisch artikel

 
Het is onbegrijpelijk dat de Zweedse regering haar poot stijf houdt en zich weigert te distanciëren van een artikel in een grote Zweedse krant dat riekt naar antisemitisme en middeleeuwse bloedlaster. Moeten Joden dan ook maar ambassades in brand gaan steken en Zweden boycotten voordat ze een handreiking mogen verwachten?
 
 
Wouter
_______________
 
 
Aug. 31, 2009
Herb Keinon , THE JERUSALEM POST

The crisis over the Swedish newspaper article claiming IDF soldiers killed Palestinians and snatched their organs refuses to fade away, with Sweden's Foreign Minister denying a report that his country would work together with Italy to pass a resolution condemning anti-Semitism at an upcoming informal meeting of European foreign ministers.

Monday's Haaretz quoted Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini as saying that he and Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt agreed to work to pass a resolution saying that the EU, under the Swedish Presidency, strongly condemned anti-Semitism and would work against its manifestations in Europe.

Frattini, according to the paper, said he would demand that the statement make clear reference to the offensive Aftonbladet article.

Later in the day, however, the Swedish news agency TT quoted Bildt - currently on a trip to Kabul - as denying that he discussed with Frattini a possible resolution to the Israeli-Swedish friction at the upcoming meeting.

According to the news agency, the Swedish foreign ministry's head of communications, Cecilia Julin, denied Bildt and Frattini even discussed the disagreement, or a possible resolution at the Council of Ministers.

"From the Swedish side we have no plans to handle this question through the informal foreign ministers' meeting in Stockholm," said Julin. She said that Bildt suggested that Frattini's comment must have arisen through an "Italian misunderstanding."

Swedish President Fredrik Reinfeldt also continued to hunker down Monday behind the official Swedish position that this was an issue of press freedom, and that the Swedish government could not take a stand.

Referring to Swedish laws regarding freedom of the press, Reinfeldt said at a press conference in Stockholm, "We cannot be asked by anyone to contravene the Swedish constitution, and this is something we will also not do within the European Union."

Israel has said repeatedly that it was not asking the Swedish government to impinge upon freedom of the press, but rather to condemn a "blood libel" that appeared in a Swedish newspaper.

Bildt, meanwhile, is still scheduled to arrive in Israel on September 11 for a one day visit. Israel, according to diplomatic officials, continues to wait for a condemnation of the article by the Swedish government. If such a condemnation is not forthcoming by the time of Bildt's visit, the officials said, it would cast a serious cloud over the trip and Sweden's efforts to play a significant role in the diplomatic process.

 

Israel wil vrijgave geheim rapport IAEA over atoomplannen Iran

 
Volgens Israel, gebaseerd op onder andere een bericht van de Associated Press, heeft de IAEA een document waar alles in staat over Irans nucleaire programma maar wil dat niet vrijgeven.
 
AP quoted senior Western diplomats as saying the information concerned allegations that Iran had actively pursued research into developing nuclear warheads.

El Baradei, according to the AP report, has opposed the document's publication out of the fear that this would make Iran even more intransigent and less likely to cooperate with the IAEA, and push the US or Israel closer to a possible military strike on Teheran's nuclear facilities.

Ondertussen is de IAEA hoogst gematigd en voorzichtig in haar officiële uitlatingen betreffende Iran, en dat zou Iran ook juist de indruk kunnen geven dat het zich niet zo'n zorgen hoeft te maken en dus gewoon door kan gaan. De internationale gemeenschap laat eventuele nieuwe sancties waarschijnlijk sterk van het uitgekomen rapport afhangen, waarmee de kans op harde sancties die echt impact hebben nu een stuk kleiner is geworden.
 
RP
----------------
 
 
A word or two of caution: Nobody knows for certain that the classified document exists, and of course its existence will be denied, or it will be claimed that it is just opinions of inspectors. People who follow the public reports closely say that in fact there is usually a section on military dimensions, and that the current report is not much different from previous ones. Iran's welcome of the IAEA report is par for the course. They have done the same regarding previous reports and always claim the document exonerates them.
_________________________

J'lem wants IAEA report on Iran released

Aug. 31, 2009
Herb Keinon , THE JERUSALEM POST

Israel wants the International Atomic Energy Agency to release a classified report on Iran's alleged nuclear weapons experiments, government officials said Sunday, following Friday's release of an IAEA report that was welcomed by Teheran as "positive."

Although the report said that Iran was stonewalling about "possible military dimensions" to its nuclear program, the report was far less critical of it than Israel would have liked.

According to government officials, the IAEA has another document that is a summary of everything the agency knows about Iran's nuclear program, but which has remained classified.

Israel is keen on getting that document released, but has limited leverage since it is not a member of the IAEA.

The current head of the IAEA, Mohammed ElBaradei, did not agree to release the document, and the decision to do so will now go to his successor, Japan's Yukiya Amano, due to take office on December 1.

The Associated Press reported some 10 days ago on the existence of a secret IAEA summary of Iran's alleged weapons experiments, based on agency investigations and US and other intelligence reports.

AP quoted senior Western diplomats as saying the information concerned allegations that Iran had actively pursued research into developing nuclear warheads.

El Baradei, according to the AP report, has opposed the document's publication out of the fear that this would make Iran even more intransigent and less likely to cooperate with the IAEA, and push the US or Israel closer to a possible military strike on Teheran's nuclear facilities.

 

Volgens Ronny Naftaniel alleen driestatenoplossing realistisch


 "Maar een nucleair Iran zou geen onoverkomelijke situatie zijn. Israël en Iran houden elkaar dan in een nucleair evenwicht. Israël kan Iran in zo'n geval waarschuwen dat elke aanval een nucleaire tegenaanval van Israël tot gevolg heeft. "
 
Ja, dat zou bij een rationeel handelend leiderschap een voldoende afschrikking zijn, maar Achmadinejad ziet zichzelf als door God gezonden met een missie, namelijk de wereld van het zionisme te verlossen, en daar moet je dan maar wat voor over hebben. Hoeveel geeft hij überhaupt om zijn eigen bevolking? Hij geeft miljarden aan Hezbollah en Hamas, zowel in cash als via wapens en trainingen, terwijl de eigen bevolking honger lijdt.
 
Ook wat betreft Hamas vind ik Naftaniel erg berustend. Hamas zit er nou eenmaal en daar is niks aan te doen. Als het westen zich harder op zou stellen zowel naar Iran toe als naar Hamas, en als Israel meer steun zou krijgen voor haar militaire acties tegen Hamas en we niet zo met de propaganda van Hamas mee zouden gaan, dan zou het er heel anders uitzien. Naftaniel moet zich voor een verandering op dit gebied inzetten, en blijven hameren op de extremistische ideeën van Hamas, in plaats van zich bij zaken neer te leggen. Zolang Hamas in Gaza zit, is vrede onmogelijk en zal Hamas er alles aan doen dit te verhinderen.
 
RP
------------
 
 
Auteur Pim van den Dool
30 augustus , 2009

Een hervatting van het vredesproces tussen Israël en de Palestijnen heeft meer kans als president Obama inzet op een driestatenoplossing. Dit originele idee oppert Ronny Naftaniel, directeur van het CIDI. Hij pleit voor een Palestijnse staat die bestaat uit de Arabische wijken in Jeruzalem en het grootste deel van de Westelijke Jordaanoever. De Gazastrook ziet hij als verloren aan de door Iran gesponsorde extremisten van Hamas. Maar een Israëlische aanval op Iran ziet Naftaniel als gevaarlijk. Deel 2 van een exclusief interview van Stan de Jong-verslaggever Pim van den Dool met Ronny Naftaniel.

President Obama wil het vredesproces weer in gang zetten. Wat vindt u van zijn optreden tot nu toe?
Naftaniel: "Ik heb gemengde gevoelens. Zijn Iranbeleid vind ik te slap, maar ik ben wel een tegenstander van het Israëlische nederzettingenbeleid en vind het positief dat hij dat aankaart. Overigens is dat slechts één van de vele hobbels die er te nemen zijn."

Heeft onderhandelen over vrede eigenlijk wel zin zolang Hamas de baas is op de Gazastrook?
Naftaniel: "Israël heeft op dit moment inderdaad een halve gesprekspartner, maar ik denk dat daar weinig aan te veranderen is. De Gazastrook komt waarschijnlijk niet meer onder het gezag van de Palestijnse Autoriteit en Israël is er definitief vertrokken. Daarom denk ik dat er beter op een driestatenoplossing dan op een tweestatenoplossing ingezet kan worden."

Hoe ziet een toekomstige Palestijnse staat er volgens u dan uit?
Naftaniel: "Die zal gecreëerd moeten worden op het grootste deel van de Westelijke Jordaanoever. De Arabische wijken van Jeruzalem kunnen onderdeel worden van dat Palestina. Verder is het zaak dat de politiemacht van de PA (Palestijnse Autoriteit – red.), die nu wordt getraind door de Amerikanen, sterk genoeg is om eventueel terrorisme in te dammen. Palestina mag natuurlijk nooit een tweede Gaza worden."

Maar wat moet er dan met Gaza gebeuren?
Naftaniel: "Ik vrees dat daar heel weinig meer mee te beginnen is. De aanwezigheid van Hamas daar is overigens niet levensbedreigend voor de joodse staat. Maar als er in de toekomst opnieuw veel raketaanvallen komen, zou het in mijn nieuwe scenario niet uitgesloten zijn dat het Israëlische leger er weer moet ingrijpen."

U bent er voor dat Israël zich terugtrekt van de Westelijke Jordaanoever. Wat moet er met de 500.000 joden gebeuren die in Oost-Jeruzalem en op de Westbank wonen?
Naftaniel: "Die zijn onder te verdelen in drie groepen. Het lijkt mij logisch dat de joodse wijken in Oost-Jeruzalem bij Israël gaan horen, net als de drie grote 'settlement blocks' waar het merendeel van de kolonisten op de Westoever woont. Daar moet dan wel tegenover staan dat de Palestijnen een deel van het Israëlische grondgebied krijgen, bijvoorbeeld een deel waar veel Israëlische Arabieren wonen. Dan blijven er nog 100.000 tot 150.000 kolonisten over die veel verder van de Israëlische grens leven. Zij zouden of naar Israël kunnen emigreren of gewoon in een onafhankelijk Palestina blijven wonen. Je hebt best kans dat een groot deel van de ultraorthodoxe joden dat daar woont dat ook wil, want voor hen is het wonen in een heilige Bijbelse plaats belangrijker dan het wonen binnen de Israëlische landsgrenzen."

Nog een ander heikel punt is het Palestijnse vluchtelingenvraagstuk en het door de Palestijnen geclaimde recht op terugkeer. Ziet u daar een oplossing voor?
Naftaniel: "Er bestaat geen automatisch recht op terugkeer van de Palestijnse vluchtelingen en hun nazaten naar Israël. Resolutie 194 van de VN, die overigens niet bindend is, zegt dat er alleen sprake kan zijn van terugkeer of compensatie als er vrede is bereikt en dat is nog niet het geval. Desalniettemin is het voor Israël wellicht bespreekbaar om de 30 à 40.000 vluchtelingen die daadwerkelijk in 1948 zijn gevlucht weer op te nemen, maar de nakomelingen van de oorspronkelijke vluchtelingen moeten worden gehuisvest in de te creëren Palestijnse staat."

Tot slot de kwestie-Iran, iets dat de meeste Israëliërs misschien nog wel meer bezighoudt dan het vredesvraagstuk. Hoopt u dat Israël binnenkort militair ingrijpt?
Naftaniel: "Nee, dat zou een hele gevaarlijke actie zijn en wel om meerdere redenen. Ik ben er niet van overtuigd dat Israël ertoe in staat is om alle nucleaire faciliteiten uit te schakelen. Bovendien vrees ik in het geval van militair ingrijpen toch de nodige Iraanse burgerslachtoffers en Israël moet voorkomen dat het de Iraanse bevolking, die helemaal niet anti-Israëlisch is, massaal tegen zich krijgt. Daarbij komt nog dat Iran over veel gevaarlijke wapens beschikt die grote schade in Israël kunnen aanrichten."

Moet Israël zich dan neerleggen bij een nucleair Iran?
Naftaniel: "Nee, het beste is om Iran door middel van effectieve sancties te dwingen zijn kernwapenprogramma op te geven. Denk bijvoorbeeld aan een partiële boycot van Iraanse olieproducten. Met Iraanse olie worden in het Westen veel producten gemaakt die vervolgens weer worden geïmporteerd door Iran. Als Amerika en Europa daarmee stoppen krijgt Iran ernstige economische problemen en keert de bevolking zich vermoedelijk opnieuw tegen het regime. Dat zou het mooiste scenario zijn. Maar een nucleair Iran zou geen onoverkomelijke situatie zijn. Israël en Iran houden elkaar dan in een nucleair evenwicht. Israël kan Iran in zo'n geval waarschuwen dat elke aanval een nucleaire tegenaanval van Israël tot gevolg heeft. "

* Lees deel 1 van het interview, 'Antisemitisme in Nederland schrikbarend gestegen', op Stan de Jong of hier.

 

woensdag 2 september 2009

Palestijnse Autoriteit leert haar kinderen dat Israel niet bestaat


Na twee voorbeelden is het wel duidelijk: in TV programma's van door de Palestijnse Autoriteit gefinancierde zenders en in schoolboeken wordt Israel 'Palestina' genoemd, en liggen Haifa, Tel Aviv en Tiberias dus in Palestina en niet in Israel, grenst Palestina aan vier andere landen en aan twee zeeën etc. etc. Voor de Palestijnen is dit nog steeds hun land waar zij ooit naar zullen terugkeren en niet een ander land dat, hoe pijnlijk dat misschien ook voor hen is, zal blijven waar het is en waarmee een compromis gesloten moet worden. Sommigen zeggen dat de Palestijnen Israel wel gaan erkennen als ze zelf een staat hebben, maar deze kinderen leren niet dat er een conflict is over het land en dat ook een gedeelte Israelisch zal blijven omdat de Joden hier ook wonen en thuishoren. Ze leren dat Israel eigenlijk helemaal niet bestaat, dat het maar een tijdelijke kunstmatige staat is, die niet thuishoort in het gebied.
 
RP
------------

Bulletin - Sept. 2, 2009 -
Palestinian Media Watch
Click here to view on PMW's new web site: http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=1290

 
Palestinian TV children's quizzes
teach that there is no Israel
by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

 
Palestinian children are taught through formal and informal education to see a world in which "Palestine" replaces all of Israel. Two children's quizzes broadcast last week on Fatah-controlled Palestinian Authority television show how the PA routinely teaches its children to identify all Israeli cities as Palestinian cities.

In the two quizzes on PA TV, children were asked to identify Palestinian cities. The suggested answers were exclusively Israeli cities: Haifa, Jaffa, Acre and Tiberias.

The following are the transcripts of the PA TV quizzes:

Quiz 1: Haifa, Jaffa and Acre are "Palestine"
Host reads clue: "Where is Palestine's most important port, in Haifa, Jaffa or Acre?"
Child: "Jaffa."
Host: "Is it correct?"
[Checks computer.]
Host: "Bravo!"
[PA TV (Fatah), Aug. 26, 2009]
To view this PA TV quiz, click here: http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=408&fld_id=408&doc_id=1288 

Quiz 2: Jaffa, Acre and Tiberias are "Palestine"
Host reads clue: "There's a Palestinian city whose walls are very high and strong, and Napoleon, whom we all know, stopped his battle, because he was unable [to breach] the solid walls.
Which city is it, Jaffa, Acre or Tiberias?"
Child: "Acre."
Host: "Applause, bravo!"
[PA TV (Fatah), Aug. 30, 2009]
To view this PA TV quiz, click here: http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=408&fld_id=408&doc_id=1289 
 
The following are examples from PA schoolbooks, which also teach Palestinian children to imagine a world without Israel:

"Coastal states differ in terms of their access to water sources, such as...: states located on sea coasts with accesses to two seas, for example: Palestine and Egypt to the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea."
[Physical Geography and Human Geography, Grade 12, p. 105]

"Palestine has a long coast facing the Mediterranean Sea and a short coast on the Gulf of Aqaba."
[Health and Environment Studies, Grade 8 (2003), p. 130, the Israeli city of Eilat is on the Gulf of Eilat (Aqaba) - Ed.]

"The Tiberias Lake [Sea of Galilee], in Palestine."
[Physical Geography, Grade 5, p. 25]
For the full report on Palestinian schoolbooks click here: http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=122

The following are examples of previous PA TV quizzes teaching the identical message of a world without Israel:

Child host: "List three Palestinian ports... we have the Haifa port, Jaffa, Ashkelon, Eilat, Ashdod & Gaza." [Note: All are Israeli cities except Gaza.]

Child host: "What is the size of the state of Palestine?"
(On phone) Haidar: "27,000 sq. km." 
[Note: The size of the West Bank and Gaza is 6,220 sq. km. The figure of 27,000 sq. km. includes all of Israel.]

Child host: "Name three countries bordering Palestine."
(On phone) Muhammad: "Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt."
[Note: Only Israel borders Lebanon.]

Child host: "The Palestinian borders overlook two important seas. What are their names?"
(On phone) Lama: "The Mediterranean and the Red Sea."
[Note: The Red Sea borders Israel's southern tip.]

Child host: "What's the name of the only sweet-water lake in Palestine?"
On phone, Ayyam: "The Tiberias Sea [the Sea of Galilee]."
[Note: The Sea of Galilee is in Israel.] [PA TV (Fatah), Sept. 1, 2008]

Child host: "Where is Ein Harod [Israeli town]?"
Child: "In Palestine."
Child host: "Good. Which mountain is the tallest in Palestine? And where is it located?"
Child: "Mount Meron [in Israel]."
Child host: "That's half an answer, where is it located? In Nablus, Hebron or Galilee?"
Child: "In the Galilee [in Israel]."
Child host: "Correct answer. The tallest mountain in Palestine is Mount Meron, in the Upper Galilee, east of the mountain is the city of Safad [Israeli city], the capital of northern Palestine."
[PA TV (Fatah), Sept. 9, 2008]

Child host: "What is the name of the desert in Palestine?"
Nahad: "The Negev desert" [southern Israel]
Child host: "Correct answer."
[PATV (Fatah), Sept. 18, 2008]

Child host: "Which of the Palestinian cities is named after the Roman ruler, the Emperor Tiberias?"
Child: "Tiberias." [Israeli city]
Child host: "Your answer is correct."
[PA TV (Fatah), Sept. 20, 2008]

Child host: "Yesterday's riddle: O bride of Palestine, the most beautiful in the garden, O you who sit on the shore waiting for time to return. Don't cry, my dear, beautiful daughter of Canaan ... And the answer is: Jaffa. [Israeli city - part of Tel Aviv]"
Child host: "Which Palestinian city is called 'the flower of Galilee'? The possibilities are: Tiberias, Nazareth, Acre." [All are Israeli cities]
Answer: "Nazareth."
[PA TV (Fatah) Sept. 15, 2008]

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

 
 

Nee, nee, nee: Hamas zal Israel niet erkennen, zegt Haniyeh

 
Haniyeh zegt het nog maar eens, voor het geval het nog niet duidelijk was.

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

Haniyeh: Hamas will not recognize Israel
Published yesterday (updated) 01/09/2009 20:32
www. maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=222841

 
Gaza - Ma'an - De facto Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Monday evening reiterated Hamas' refusal to recognize Israel repeating his famous line, "Castles will not fall, neither will they determine our attitudes by force, and we will not recognize Israel."

Haniyeh's comments came during an iftar, the sundown meal breaking the Ramadan fast along with dignitaries from the eastern Gaza Strip. "The pledge between us and the Palestinian people is that we do not remiss martyrs' blood, nor Jerusalem, nor our holy land. Our prisoners will be freed for sure."

UNRWA-baas: geen les over Holocaust in scholen Gaza

 
The UN official was responding to accusations from refugee camp committees in Gaza that UNRWA was teaching a version of history to Palestinian students that "confirms the Holocaust and raises sympathy for Jews."
 
Sympathie voor Joden, nee dat kunnen we niet hebben!
 
UNRWA gehoorzaamt Hamas en kan ook niet anders, wil het in de Gazastrook kunnen blijven functioneren. Dit is een van de dingen waar onze media over zwijgen. UNRWA is niet onafhankelijk, kan geen onafhankelijke positie innemen wat betreft zaken die met het conflict te maken hebben en leert de kinderen een door Hamas goedgekeurde versie van de geschiedenis. UNRWA is dan ook geen neutrale buitenstaander maar zelf partij in het conflict, zij wordt gerund voor en door Palestijnse vluchtelingen die vaak de Hamas ideologie onderschrijven. Of UNRWA oorspronkelijk de Holocaust wel had willen opnemen in haar programma is dan ook twijfelachtig.

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


UNRWA chief: Gaza school curriculum does not include Holocaust
Published yesterday (updated) 01/09/2009 18:58
www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=222848

Gaza - Ma'an - Karen Abu Zayd, the commissioner-general of the UN agency for Palestinian Refugees, UNRWA, said on Tuesday that curriculum at UN schools in Gaza does not refer to the Jewish Holocaust.

During a news conference at the Gaza harbor Abu Zayd said, "I can refute allegations that UN school curriculum includes anything about the Holocaust. Anyone can have a look at the school books. Really we focus on human rights in curriculum."

She went on to say, "Last year was the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and we found that the Palestinians were deprived of many rights." The human rights curriculum also teaches some history, she said.

Abu Zayd explained that the curriculum for these schools was written in the regional UN office in the Gaza Strip, and that it is revised by a group of editors from Palestine and from abroad.

The UN official was responding to accusations from refugee camp committees in Gaza that UNRWA was teaching a version of history to Palestinian students that "confirms the Holocaust and raises sympathy for Jews."

In a letter to UNRWA's Gaza director John Ging on Sunday, the committees urged the refugee agency to scrap its program.

"The refugee camps committees categorically refuse to let our children be taught this lie created by the Jews and intensified by their media," the committees' letter said. "First of all, [the Holocaust] is not a fact, and secondly, those who added it to the curriculum intended to mess with our children's emotions."

Holocaust denial is not uncommon in Gaza's refugee camps, where many feel marking legitimate Jewish suffering discounts the injustices done to Palestinians displaced from their homes in 1948.

The refugee committees argued in their letter that Palestinians should be taught about the Nakba (Catastrophe), an Arabic term that refers to the forced exodus of some 750,000 refugees from their homes when Israel was established, rather than the Holocaust.

The Gaza group's letter was sent the same day that Israeli Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar told the government's cabinet that the word Nakba had been removed from all lesson plans. "It can be said with certainty that Arab Israelis experienced a tragedy in the war, but there will be no use of the word 'Nakba,' whose meaning is similar to Holocaust in this context."

Bouwprojecten in Joodse nederzettingen lopen sterk terug

 
Sinds november zijn er geen nieuwe bouwprojecten in de Joodse nederzettingen meer goedgekeurd. Zoals eerder opgemerkt zou er apart bij vermeld mogen worden hoeveel van de lopende bouwprojecten in Oost-Jeruzalem zijn, of zijn die hier buiten beschouwing gelaten?
 
Wouter
 
Andere recente berichten:
_________________


Settlement housing starts drop by a third in first half of year
Tovah Lazaroff , THE JERUSALEM POST
 
Housing starts in Judea and Samaria fell by 33.7 percent in the first six months of 2009, compared to the same period in 2008, according to Central Bureau of Statistics data released on Monday.

The report comes as Israel and the United States are discussing a possible freeze in settlement activity.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has not approved any new West Bank construction projects since taking office on March 31. Peace Now says that no new settlement projects have been approved since November.

But using previously issued permits, settlers were able to start work on 672 apartments in the first half of 2009, down from the 1,015 that were begun in the same months last year.

For the country as a whole, housing starts declined 3% in that same time period.

The only area to fare worse than the settlements was Tel Aviv, where work on new apartments dropped by 40%.

In all of 2008, work began on 2,118 apartments in the settlements, a 42% increase from the 1,490 housing starts in 2007.

But it was already obvious in the first quarter of 2009 that the numbers were falling. There was a 39% dip in that quarter, with construction beginning on 342 apartments from January through March, compared to 560 in the same period in 2008.

The trend continued, with a 27% drop year-over-year in the second quarter, with 330 apartment starts from April through June, compared to 455 a year earlier.

The decline also reflects a continued shift from public to private construction in West Bank settlements, where in 2009, 66% of the new construction was private and 34% was public.
In 2008, 49.7% of the new construction was private and 50.3% was public.

There was a significantly smaller decline in the number of completed apartments in the first half of 2009, with only a 5% drop from 2008.

Nationwide, the number of finished apartments rose by 3.1%.
But in the settlements, 878 apartments (55% in public projects) were finished in the first half of 2009, compared with 932 (24% public) in the first half of 2008.

Balad zomerkampen staatsondermijnend?


Balad is een antizionistische Arabisch-Israelische partij met 3 zetels in de Knesset.
 
Wat mag een democratie doen om zichzelf te beschermen tegen groeperingen die tegen de staat zijn en mensen tegen de staat ophitsen? Het is een oud en niet echt oplosbaar probleem. Op de middelbare school in de jaren '80 was een hot discussiethema altijd of de Centrumpartij (later Centrum Democraten) nou verboden moest worden of niet, en die discussie speelt nu nog in België wat betreft het Vlaams Belang. Voor een democratie die wordt omringd door min of meer vijandige staten, en waarvan een etnische minderheid onder de eigen bevolking deels tegen de staat is, zijn deze vragen nog nijpender dan voor ons.
 
RP
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Balad vows to continue anti-Israel camps
Gil Hoffman , THE JERUSALEM POST
 
Balad officials expressed concern on Monday that they would be pressured to close down party-sponsored summer camps for young activists in the wake of the arrest of a party operative for spying on IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi.

Rawi Sultani, a 23-year-old Israeli-Arab from Tira, northeast of Kfar Saba, was allegedly recruited by Hizbullah in the summer of 2008 when he traveled to Morocco to attend a Balad summer camp. But the party also runs such camps in Arab towns in northern Israel and in the West Bank.

"We won't change our political activities," Balad faction chairman MK Jamal Zahalka said. "We train our youth in legitimate political activities, according to the law in Israel and other countries, and we don't intend to change that."

A participant in one of the camps told Channel 2 they were intended to strengthen young Balad activists' Palestinian identity. He said they learned in the camps about the "catastrophe" caused by Israel's creation, and how to protest against the West Bank security barrier.

National Union MK Michael Ben-Ari called upon Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz to make Balad an illegal party, which was done in the 1980s to the Kach party of the late MK Meir Kahane, with whom Ben-Ari was close.

Far-Right activist Baruch Marzel called upon Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch and other judges who enabled Balad to run in February's election to "do some soul-searching and resign," due to the arrest that was announced on Monday.

"The judicial system's apologetics led to the devious acts and plans that were revealed today," Marzel said.

dinsdag 1 september 2009

Hamas woedend over idee van Holocaust onderwijs door UNRWA in Gaza


Nadat Hamas de Holocaust in een brief aan de VN onlangs een 'leugen, uitgevonden door de zionisten' noemde, doet geestelijk leider Younis al-Astal er nog een schepje bovenop, door onderwijs over de Holocaust een 'oorlogsmisdaad' te noemen.

Adding the Holocaust to the curriculum would amount to "marketing a lie and spreading it," al-Astal wrote in a statement.
"I do not exaggerate when I say this issue is a war crime, because of how it serves the Zionist colonizers and deals with their hypocrisy and lies," he wrote.

Als nu de ware aard van Hamas als een stelletje extremistische antisemitische terroristen nog niet duidelijk is, dan weet ik het niet meer. Ben benieuwd hoe Anja en Dries dit rechtvaardigen.

Al Asharq schrijft:

Still, Hamas has been making overtures to the West, hoping to end a stifling blockade of Gaza. The statements about the Holocaust by senior Hamas officials could undermine the group's attempt to present itself as pragmatic.

Dat mag je hopen. Veel kranten in Nederland hebben hierover kort bericht de laatste dagen, zoals De Pers, Spits, Trouw, ND, AD, Telegraaf en veel regionale dagbladen. Grote afwezigen lijken de NRC en de Volkskrant, en ook het NOS Journaal vond het geen item waard, zoals men extremistische uitspraken en dreigementen van Hamas meestal gewoon negeert.

Some 6 million Jews were killed in the Nazi campaign to wipe out European Jewry, and the urgent need to find a sanctuary for hundreds of thousands of survivors contributed to the creation of Israel after World War II.

Daarover verschillen de meningen. De Holocaust heeft de sympathie voor een Joodse staat vergroot, maar tegelijkertijd het potentieel aan Joden die erheen kunnen emigreren drastisch verkleind.
 
Volgens De Standaard ontkent de VN bij monde van Chris Gunness dat er plannen zijn aan Holocaust-onderwijs te gaan doen.
 
RP
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Hamas Leader Denies Nazi Genocide of Jews
http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=17954
31/08/2009
 
 
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip, (AP) – A Hamas spiritual leader on Monday called teaching Palestinian children about the Nazi murder of 6 million Jews a "war crime," rejecting a reported U.N. proposal to include the Holocaust in Gaza's school curriculum.

A senior Israeli official said such statements should make the West think twice about ending its boycott of Hamas, in place since the group seized Gaza by force in 2007.

Hamas spiritual leader Younis al-Astal lashed out after hearing that the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, the main U.N. body aiding Palestinian refugees, planned to introduce lessons about the Holocaust to Gaza students.

Adding the Holocaust to the curriculum would amount to "marketing a lie and spreading it," al-Astal wrote in a statement.

"I do not exaggerate when I say this issue is a war crime, because of how it serves the Zionist colonizers and deals with their hypocrisy and lies," he wrote.

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri also objected to including what he referred to as the "so-called Holocaust" in the lesson plan. "We think it's more important to teach Palestinians the crimes of the Israeli occupation," he said.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said countries contemplating ending their boycott of Hamas must "seriously reconsider" after the Hamas statements, which he described as "obscene."

Many Palestinians are reluctant to acknowledge Jewish suffering, fearing it might diminish their own. Attitudes toward the Holocaust range from outright denial to challenging its scope.

Still, Hamas has been making overtures to the West, hoping to end a stifling blockade of Gaza. The statements about the Holocaust by senior Hamas officials could undermine the group's attempt to present itself as pragmatic.

The U.S. and Europe list Hamas as a terror group, but there have been growing calls, particularly in Europe, to talk to the militants. Hamas control of Gaza is seen as a key obstacle to any Mideast peace deal.

UNRWA provides education, health care and welfare services to more than half of Gaza's 1.4 million people. Spokesman Chris Gunness said a final decision has not been made about the Holocaust course for Gaza schools.

"While the Holocaust is currently not included on the basis of age appropriateness, all elements (of the curriculum) remain under review and under evolution," he said.

The U.N. runs 221 schools in Gaza for more than 200,000 students and is the largest independent agency in the territory, controlled by Hamas since a violent takeover in 2007. The West Bank, the other territory that is supposed to comprise a future Palestinian state, is controlled by Hamas' Western-backed rivals of the Fatah movement, led by President Mahmoud Abbas.

Three teachers at U.N. schools said that according to the new program, basic information about the Holocaust was expected to be taught to eighth grade students as part of human rights classes.

Two of the teachers said they were told about the lesson plan by colleagues involved in the new syllabus. Another teacher said he attended a recent meeting with education officials where he was told to try to teach the new syllabus without offending parents' sensibilities.

All three said they had not received the syllabus for the human rights classes yet, even though the school year began in late August. They requested anonymity because they are not allowed to speak to reporters.

Israeli officials said the statements place Hamas in a pariah club of Holocaust deniers that includes Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Some 6 million Jews were killed in the Nazi campaign to wipe out European Jewry, and the urgent need to find a sanctuary for hundreds of thousands of survivors contributed to the creation of Israel after World War II.

Many Palestinians are reluctant to acknowledge the full extent of the Holocaust because they feel it provided legitimacy for Israel's establishment. A majority of Gaza's 1.4 million people are descendants of Palestinians who fled or were driven out of their homes during the 1948 Mideast war over Israel's creation.

Hamas' founding charter calls for Israel's destruction, though senior Hamas officials have recently said they would accept a Palestinian state alongside Israel as an interim stage to full Islamic control of the region.

Hamas is frequently at loggerheads with the U.N. refugee agency, which it considers the only serious challenge to its control of Gaza. Over the summer, Hamas accused the U.N. of spreading "immorality" in summer camps for children, because it offered activities such as folk dancing and crafts.

 

Rellen van Haredim in Jeruzalem rond moordzaak


Sommige ultra-orthodoxe Joden zijn net zo erg als de extremistische moslims van Hamas, de Talibaan en dergelijke. Men neemt de wet in eigen hand, heeft totaal geen respect voor de staat en haar instituties 'want alleen Gods wetten zijn geldig', is gewelddadig en totaal intolerant.
 
 
Dat er niet meer excessen zijn, komt omdat ze in een democratische rechtsstaat met een stevig gezag leven, maar ze doen er veel aan die te ondermijnen.
 
RP
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Haredim block murder investigation in J'lem
Police arrive at scene of murder in Geula neighborhood hostel. Haredim throw stones at them, set police cruiser ablaze, and try to block removal of murdered man's body. Clashes also break out in Mea Shearim. Police respond with stun grenades
Efrat Weiss
Published:  08.31.09, 08:48
 
 
The crime scene in Jerusalem's Geula neighborhood has turned into a battleground between police and haredim. A few dozen ultra-Orthodox people threw stones at police officers dispatched to the hostel on Tsfaniya Street, where a 50-year-old man was murdered Sunday night during a fight. The protesters tried to block removal of the murdered man's body from the scene.

In the Mea Shearim neighborhood intense clashes broke out between the two sides. Haredim threw stones and metal objects at police officers, who responded with stun grenades. Eight police officers and an ultra-Orthodox man were lightly wounded. Three police officers were evacuated to the hospital for medical attention. The rest of the wounded were treated by ambulance crews on the spot. Damage was caused to a police patrol car and two motorcycles.

Haredim started fires at a number of different locations throughout the city. A police cruiser was set ablaze on David Yellin Street. The cruiser was parked there as its police passengers investigated Sunday's murder. Police believe that haredi protesters are behind the arson. No one was injured in the incident.
 
Haredim tried to set fire to the welfare bureau on Yehezkel Street, however, a police force on site prevented this. A haredi man was arrested while throwing stones at the welfare bureau building.

Police investigation of the murder has thus far revealed that the scuffle between the 23-year-old Palestinian who lives in the West Bank and works in the hostel and the 50-year-old Jewish victim was not nationalistically motivated. The two had reportedly been arguing since morning hours and the dispute boiled over in the evening when the Palestinian, who works at the hostel, allegedly stabbed the Jewish man in the back, chest and abdomen, multiple times.
 
The suspect, who fled the scene, was apprehended by Border Guard officers operating north of the capital.

Ongoing battle between haredim and police
 
The ultra-Orthodox struggle against the police was bumped up in recent days. Earlier Sunday, haredim gathered in Mea Shearim to protest against the welfare bureau's cooperation with the police in the investigation of the haredi woman charged with starving her toddler son.
 
During the protest, they damaged a security vehicle parked near the welfare bureau. The vehicle's mirrors were smashed and tires slashed. Police were dispatched to the location to help the security company's employee leave the scene with the car.

On Saturday, hundreds of ultra-Orthodox demonstrated and attempted to block the entrance to the Karta parking lot in the city. The protestors blocked adjacent streets and confronted police forces which tried to prevent them from reaching the parking lot. Eleven of the detainees were released on Sunday with court restrictions, but following an appeal filed by local police, the court ordered that the detainees' remand be extended by 24 hours.