Waarom zoveel controverse over Resolutie 242 van de Verenigde Naties?

 

Brabosh uit Antwerpen legt voor de vele slechte verstaanders nog eens uit wat VN-Veiligheidsraad resolutie 242 nu eigenlijk betekende.

Uit deze resolutie wordt veelvuldig selectief geshopt door de tegenstanders van Israel om het land te beschuldigen van het schenden van VN resoluties en 'dus' van het internationaal recht. Evenals overigens resolutie 194 van de Algemene Vergadering van de VN, die hoegenaamd een recht op terugkeer van de Palestijnse vluchtelingen zou inhouden.

 

Wouter

_________________

 

Waarom zoveel controversie over Resolutie 242 van de Verenigde Naties?

http://www.dagelijksestandaard.nl/2009/12/06/waarom-zoveel-controversie-over-resolutie-242-van-de-verenigde-naties/

Dec 6th 2009

brabosh - Open Podium

Controversie over VN-Resolutie 242

door Brabosh

Sinds de goedkeuring door de VN-Veiligheidsraad op 22 november 1967, heeft Resolutie 242 de context geleverd voor inspanningen om te trachten vrede te bereiken tussen Arabieren en Israëli's. Het legde de basis voor het eerste vredesverdrag ooit dat tussen Israël en een Arabisch land werd getekend, met name met Egypte in 1979, en het latere vredesverdrag dat met Jordanië werd getekend in 1994. Dat jaar werd als gevolg van de Oslo-akkoorden de Palestijnse Nationale Autoriteit [P.A.] opgericht met Yasser Arafat als eerste president – een vorm van Palestijns zelfbestuur – afgesloten tussen Israël en de PLO (Palestijnse Bevrijdings Organisatie), die vanaf dan de Arabische bevolking in de Gazastrook en op de Westelijke Jordaanoever zal besturen. Na de dood van Arafat op 11 november 2004 werd hij opgevolgd door Mahmoud Abbas.

De Palestijnse Autoriteit beweert dat Israël de eisen heeft geschonden om zich terug te trekken uit alle gebieden die het tijdens de Zesdaagse Oorlog in 1967 bezette, zoals vereist werd in de VN-resolutie 242, terwijl Israël beweert te hebben voldaan aan deze eisen en op haar beurt de PA beschuldigt van het schenden van de bepalingen van de resolutie. De tegenstanders [van het bestaansrecht] van de Joodse staat van Israël blijven hameren op de uitvoering van Resolutie 242 door Israël. Er zijn weinig resoluties die zoveel controversie hebben teweeg gebracht als deze. Wat is dan de betekenis van resolutie 242?

Resolutie 242 van de Veiligheidsraad van de Verenigde Naties
22 november 1967

The Security Council,

Expressing its continuing concern with the grave situation in the Middle East,

Emphasizing the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war and the need to work for a just and lasting peace in which every State in the area can live in security,

Emphasizing further that all Member States in their acceptance of the Charter of the United Nations have undertaken a commitment to act in accordance with Article 2 of the Charter,

Affirms that the fulfillment of Charter principles requires the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East which should include the application of both the following principles:

Withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict;

Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect for and acknowledgement of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force;

Affirms further the necessity

For guaranteeing freedom of navigation through international waterways in the area;

For achieving a just settlement of the refugee problem;

For guaranteeing the territorial inviolability and political independence of every State in the area, through measures including the establishment of demilitarized zones;

Requests the Secretary General to designate a Special Representative to proceed to the Middle East to establish and maintain contacts with the States concerned in order to promote agreement and assist efforts to achieve a peaceful and accepted settlement in accordance with the provisions and principles in this resolution;

Requests the Secretary-General to report to the Security Council on the progress of the efforts of the Special Representative as soon as possible.

De resolutie, die met algemene stemmen werd aangenomen door de VN-Veiligheidsraad op 22 november 1967, vormen de beginselen die de onderhandelingen moeten leiden naar 'een vreedzame oplossing en aanvaardbare regeling' (een Arabisch-Israëlisch vredesakkoord). Het vereist de instelling van 'een rechtvaardige en duurzame vrede in het Midden-Oosten' en riep op tot het volgende: 1) De 'terugtrekking van de Israëlische strijdkrachten uit de gebieden die het bezette in het recente conflict (1967),' en 2) de 'stopzetting van alle vorderingen van de oorlogvoerende staten' en de erkenning dat 'elke staat in het gebied het recht heeft om in vrede te leven binnen veilige en erkende grenzen, vrij van bedreigingen of daden van geweld:' Het uiteindelijke taalgebruik van de resolutie was het resultaat van de onderhandelingen tussen de twee partijen, zodat ze later niet verschillend zou worden geïnterpreteerd door elke betrokken partij.

Lees hier verder: Waarom zoveel controversie over Resolutie 242 van de Verenigde Naties?

JNF doneert bomen aan Palestijnen - kolonisten 'flabbergasted'

 

We berichtten al eerder over de 3.000 bomen die het Joods Nationaal Fonds aan de Palestijnse Autoriteit geeft voor haar nieuwe stad Ruwabi (ook wel Rawabi genoemd), een opmerkelijke geste die desalniettemin onze media niet lijkt te halen. Rechtse Israeli's vonden het ook zeer opmerkelijk, en vroegen zich hardop af of het JNF soms stiekem het PNF was geworden...

 

Wouter

______________

JNF Donates 3,000 Trees to Palestinian Authority
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/134694

Published: 11/30/09, 9:16 AM / Last Update: 11/30/09, 9:28 AM

 

A member of the board of the Jewish National Fund said "the system has gone haywire" after hearing reports that the venerable Zionist organization is donating 3,000 trees to the Palestinian Authority for a new city near Ramallah.

Maaleh Adumim Mayor Benny Kashriel, who also is a member of the JNF board, told Arutz 7 Monday morning he will bring up the issue with the JNF, which is considered a symbol of Zionism, particularly in the Diaspora where Jews have donated billions of dollars for planting trees and building the modern Jewish State.

Kashriel said the contribution to the PA is a grave step that was taken without any request for approval and without advance notice and reflects a "system that has gone haywire."

The mayor of Maaleh Adumim, which along with the rest of Judea and Samaria has been slapped with a freeze on new construction with the threat of arrest for breaking the ban, said, "The country has gone crazy when it plants trees for the PA in Judea and Samaria at the same time that it forbids Jews to build. The system does not know who it is representing – us, the Palestinian Authority or the Americans?"

Concerning the government's building freeze policy, Mayor Kashriel said he is "ashamed" of the government's move, which he said are more drastic than those taken during the years of negotiations under the Oslo Accords that blew up into the Second Intifada, also known as the Oslo War, nine years ago.

"As chairman of the local Likud faction, I am ashamed seven times over," he said. "Even during Oslo we did not receive letters that remove our authority and turn us into criminals." He also echoed sentiments of other leaders in Judea and Samaria to continue building despite the orders to halt new construction.

Kashriel said regional leaders will appeal to the High Court to overturn the building freeze, which he said violates the rights of residents of Judea and Samaria. He also has proposed that regional leaders stage a strike opposite the offices of Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Nieuwste Joodse uitvinding: Zionisme zonder Zion!

 

Eén van de leuke dingen van Israeli's en Joden is dat zij zo totaal onbevangen naar zichzelf kijken en afstand kunnen nemen van hun eigen geschiedenis, mythen, en alles wat volken en landen zoal doen en gebruiken om hun eigen identiteit en nationale claims veilig te stellen. Als je echter de enige bent die dat doet, en bovendien wel erg veel vijanden hebt, dan zou je dit lichtelijk zelfdestructief kunnen noemen.

 

Antizionisten en antisemieten maken dan ook veelvuldig en grof gebruik van alles wat Joden en Israeli's aan zeflkritiek en relativering te berde brengen, terwijl als Joden en Israeli's het voor hun land en nationale rechten opnemen dit wordt afgedaan als zionistische propaganda.

 

In ieder normaal land zou de door Zweden opgestelde verklaring over de status van Jeruzalem reden zijn voor een serie artikelen in de nationale kranten over haar legitieme claim op deze stad en waar de EU de brutaliteit vandaan haalt. Maar niet in Israel, waar de door buitenlanders meest gelezen krant een opiniestuk publiceert waarin ervoor wordt gepleit dat Israel Jeruzalem opgeeft. Ami Isseroff schreef er een scherpe reactie op. Zionistische propaganda? Ongetwijfeld, dus pas maar op.

 

RP

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Newest Jewish Invention: Zionism without Zion

06.12. 2009
http://www.zionism-israel.com/log/archives/00000725.html
Original content copyright by the author
Zionism & Israel Center http://zionism-israel.com

We Jews are no doubt a very clever people. Just ask any Jew and he or she will tell you about our Nobel prize winners, about Maimonides, about Baruch d'Espinoza, about Albert Einstein and many others. Any Anti-Semite will also tell you how clever and shrewd we Jews are. So it is not surprising that one of the tribe has come up with an earthshaking proposal that will make the Middle East safe for peace. He is not just any Jew. He is a journalist for Ha'aretz, which considers itself the cleverest and most sophisticated of all Israeli newspapers, and he is not just any journalist. He is the internationally renowned Yossi Melman. Everyone knows how clever and knowledgeable he is.

>Melman's proposal is that Israel will give up claiming Jerusalem as its capital. Don't get excited, it's only temporary, maybe for a thousand years or so, until tempers cool down a bit. After all, we waited 2,000 years, so what's another little temporary delay for us Jewish people? This will, Melman assures us, remove a major obstacle to peace. Who among us is not ready to make sacrifices for peace? Melman also proposes that the Palestinians will give up claiming Jerusalem as their capital. Since the Palestinians do not have men of genius among them like Melman, that is not likely to happen until Hell freezes over, so perhaps Melman's proposal is a bit impractical. On the other hand, Melman's proposal is timed impeccably to coincide with the EU resolution proposed by the Swedes. That which would recognize a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, but would not recognize West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The Swedes will love the Melman plan.

Melman's reasoning is that Israel and the Palestinians are the only two peoples who claim a city as capital for "religious reasons." That is why Melman thinks we claim Jerusalem as our capital. Perhaps we want to rebuild the temple there and have animal sacrifices. There are a few people who would like to do that, but of course that is not the reason we want Jerusalem as the capital, and contrary to Muslim propaganda, there are no plans to rebuild any temple. Saudi Arabia, Melman notes, does not make its capital in Mecca. One reason that might be so is that non-Muslims are not allowed to enter Mecca, which would make foreign relations a bit difficult. Melman also thinks evidently, that it is only a coincidence that the Palestinians claim the same city as a capital as the Jews. It must be well established, in Melman's view, that Jerusalem was always the capital of the Palestinian state, right? I didn't here of any such state, but Melman is the expert on the Middle East, not I. Melman doesn't suspect that Palestinians might have an impure ulterior motive in claiming Jerusalem as their capital.

Very well then. For the sake of peace, relying on the word of an expert, we shall relinquish Jerusalem as our capital, as per the Melman plan. We can adopt, for example, Tel-Aviv or Herzliya Pituach as our capital. These are fine examples of forward - looking Zionist industry, a pleasant contrast to the backward and filthy Jerusalem. We shall change the lyrics of our national anthem, Hatikva, so that the words are "to be a free people in our own land, the land of Israel and Herzliya Pituach." And we shall change the name of our national movement to Herzliya Pituachism, because "Zion" after all, is a place in Jerusalem and a poetic allusion to Jerusalem.

There are people who will tell you that Yossi Melman has forgotten more about the Middle East than most of us ever knew. In any case, he certainly forgot a few important things. The Emperor Vespasian understood that Jerusalem is the key to this country, and that whoever holds Jerusalem and makes it his capital will rule here. The next person to teach this lesson was Salah al Din (whom you may know as Saladin) who ousted the Crusaders "temporarily" from Jerusalem. The Crusaders did not understand that they would never return, but Salah al-Din did.

 

 

Read further here: Newest Jewish Invention: Zionism without Zion

---

Original content is Copyright by the author 2009. Posted at ZioNation-Zionism and Israel Web Log, where your intelligent and constructive comments are welcome. Please forward by e-mail with this notice, cite this article and link to it. Other uses by permission only.

 

El Baradei misleidde de wereld over nucleair programma Iran

Het feit dat hij toch de Nobelprijs voor de Vrede heeft gekregen zegt veel over wat deze prijs tegenwoordig voorstelt. Dat je diplomatie een kans wil geven vind ik alleszins te verdedigen, maar dat je feiten en eigen falen verdoezelt absoluut niet.

 

RP

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

Last update - 22:16 03/12/2009       
How ElBaradei misled the world about Iran's nuclear program
By Yossi Melman
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1132451.html

 

 

This week, Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei ended his controversial and unsuccessful term as director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency. His last days on the job caused a great deal of consternation, even more than the rest of his 12 years in the bureau overlooking the Danube, at United Nations headquarters in Vienna.

 

On Sunday, the Iranian government announced it would set up another 10 facilities for enriching uranium, beyond the existing two at Natanz and Qom. This was Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's defiant response to the IAEA board of governors' concern about aspects of Iran's nuclear program that "have military potential," and the agency's call that Tehran stop building at Qom and enriching uranium. The decision can also be considered a rude gesture to the person who was considered Iran's most important supporter and benefactor in the international community, ElBaradei.

 

ElBaradei was born 67 years ago in Egypt, and studied law at the universities of Cairo, Geneva and New York. He served in the Egyptian foreign service for about 15 years, and then began a three-decade career with the United Nations, first in New York and later in Vienna.
 
He started off as an inconspicuous lawyer, but after being elected to head the IAEA in 1997, everything changed. Three nuclear crises took place during his term, in Iraq, North Korea and Iran. Thanks to the first crisis, he won worldwide fame when the Americans invaded Iraq. ElBaradei and his aides refuted the Bush administration's claims that Saddam Hussein had a secret nuclear program, and maintained that documents detailing Iraq's supposed attempts to acquire uranium from Niger were forged. They were right. Bush made a mistake, was misled or perhaps even lied.

 

ElBaradei's conduct regarding Iraq's non-existent nuclear weapons brought him a great deal of international prestige. He became a popular speaker in important forums around the world, and in 2005 he and the agency received the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to curtail nuclear proliferation.

 

The prize, as people who knew him observed, went to his head and made him haughty, arrogant and self-righteous. But that's when things began to go downhill.

 

"He started to behave as if he knew better than anyone else and could not make a mistake," one of the senior officials in the agency complained. But it was after winning the prize that his career reached a nadir that stained his earlier achievements. While it could be argued that ElBaradei hardly had any control over North Korea's unstable and defiant nuclear program, the poor management of the crisis with Iran has to be attributed largely to him - the Egyptian diplomat is responsible for his organization's placatory approach toward the Iranian nuclear program. For almost a decade, starting in 1992, the agency inspectors did not notice that Iran had a secret nuclear program that violated its international commitments. Even when the agency had the information, in 2002 (to a considerable degree thanks to American, British, German and Israeli intelligence), ElBaradei ignored it and made every possible effort to undermine its reliability.

 

He intervened repeatedly to distort his inspectors' reports on Iran's nuclear sites, and he made sure that the IAEA's periodic reports about Iran would be camouflaged in diplomatic gibberish. Time and again they repeated the phrase that "no proof was found" that Iran's nuclear program had military aspects, even though they were blatantly obvious. ElBaradei was opposed to sanctioning Iran, not to mention military action, and repeatedly attempted to conduct a dialogue with Tehran in order to reach a compromise.

 

It is not clear whether his backing for Iran stemmed from his origin - as some Israeli Atomic Energy Commission officials and others believe; from his legal background and careful phrasing; or from a naive belief in international diplomacy and dialogue at any price, while consistently rejecting the military option. Maybe it was all these factors. Whatever the case may be, his conduct toward Iran raised the ire of George W. Bush's administration, which sought to have him replaced.

 

ElBaradei's relationship with Israel, which he visited twice, was tense. To the chagrin of the international agency, he repeatedly called for a nuclear-free Middle East, which was interpreted as targeting Israel. His animosity toward Israel found special expression after the attack in September 2007 on Syria's nuclear facility. He ensured that Israel's name be mentioned in the IAEA reports about the Syrian nuclear plan, even though this was not necessary. And he added a paragraph stating that Israel had carried out the attack, even though it had never officially admitted doing so.

 

Given his conduct toward Iran and his attitude toward Israel, some in Israel even considered trying to defame him by presenting him as an Iranian collaborator.

 

Toward the end of his term, ElBaradei changed his tone about Iran, creating the impression that he had had awakened from his illusion that Iran could be convinced to compromise. In the past few weeks, he made several resolute declarations, saying that perhaps Iran indeed wanted to nuclear weapons, as Israeli and American spokesmen had been claiming for years. But this was too little, too late. It will not suffice to clear his reputation in the West, and more importantly, it will have no effect whatsoever on the fact that he misled world opinion about the real nature of the Iranian nuclear program.

 

 

Richard Goldstone krijgt Zweedse mensenrechtenprijs

Hoe kan het ook anders? Dit zou niemand meer mogen verbazen. Zweden doet hard haar best om Israel op alle mogelijke manieren dwars te zitten, en misbruikt prijzen, bedoeld voor moedige mensenrechtenactivisten in dictaturen zoals Iran, voor haar campagne tegen Israel. Triest.

 

RP

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Last update - 18:21 04/12/2009       
Goldstone wins human rights award from Sweden NGOs
By Haaretz Service
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1132754.html

 

 

Richard Goldstone, the South African jurist and author of a controversial UN report which accused Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes during the Israel Defense Forces' military offensive in the Gaza Strip last winter, will receive the Stockholm Human Rights Award, it was announced on Thursday.

 

"Richard Goldstone has made an outstanding career in the promotion of the rule of law and human rights, first in his home country South Africa and during the last fifteen years in various highly prestigious international fora," the International Legal Assistance Consortium, a Sweden-based umbrella group of non-governmental organizations which oversees the awarding of the prize, said on Thursday.

 

The UN General Assembly endorsed the report last month and submitted it to the Security Council.

 

The 192-member General Assembly adopted the resolution last month by a vote of 114-18, with others absent or abstaining. The resolution calls on the Security Council to act if either side fails to launch credible investigations within three months.

 

The report on the Gaza war was drafted by an expert UN panel chaired by Goldstone, and concluded that both Israel and Palestinian militants committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity.

 

The harshly worded UN draft resolution, composed by Arab member states, has not been softened despite U.S. and European efforts.

 

Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gabriela Shalev, told Haaretz before the vote that she did not plan to take part. "I won't lend a hand to a debate whose conclusions are predetermined. It was a predictable Arab game."

 

 

Netanjahoe en Abbas lobbyen voor EU verklaring over Jeruzalem

 

Het is een vreemde situatie: de Palestijnse Autoriteit weigert met Israel te onderhandelen en eist eerst een volledige bouwstop. Israel besluit vervolgens gedurende tien maanden de bouw van huizen op de Westelijke Jordaanoever te staken, een concessie waar de VS, de EU en anderen lang op hebben aangedrongen. Omdat Oost-Jeruzalem hiervan is uitgesloten, besluit de PA nog steeds niet te onderhandelen. De EU verhoogt vervolgens niet de druk op de PA om zich ook wat flexibeler op te stellen, maar stelt een rapport op over Jeruzalem dat eenzijdig Israel in de beklaagdenbank zet en de Palestijnse propaganda napapegaait, en de EU voorzitter, Zweden, stelt vervolgens een verklaring op dat Jeruzalem de hoofdstad van een toekomstige Palestijnse staat zal zijn. Of West-Jeruzalem Israelisch mag blijven staat er niet in; daar is men blijkbaar nog niet uit.

 

Misschien moet Israel de EU wel diep dankbaar zijn dat het überhaupt mag bestaan, en in alle nederigheid haar hoofd buigen voor deze kampioen mensenrechten. Hoe haalt Israel het in haar hoofd om niet aan alles wat de EU zegt of eist onmiddelijk gehoor te geven?

 

Het moge inmiddels duidelijk zijn dat Israel van de EU geen recht hoeft te verwachten. Ben je het er niet mee eens dat dit in jouw naam gebeurt, laat dan je stem horen naar de politiek en vraag Nederland alles in het werrk te stellen om tot een evenwichtigere tekst te komen.

 

Zie ook: Gilo blijft gewoon door bouwen

 

RP

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

 

Netanyahu makes final push to foil Swedish plan to divide Jerusalem
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1132936.html

 

 

Israel and the Palestinian Authority are each lobbying European Union foreign ministers to adopt its respective position on Sweden's initiative to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of both Israel and Palestine. The proposal is to be discussed Sunday in Brussels at the meeting of foreign ministers of EU member states.

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has phoned several European leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero, asking them to oppose the plan and to pressure the PA to renew negotiations with Israel.

 

Meanwhile, in an attempt to counter Israeli pressure, PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad convened a group of European diplomats to ask them to support the Swedish proposal.
 

Sweden's initiative calls for the division of Jerusalem and the recognition of East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. The 27 European foreign ministers are to discuss a draft of the proposal, which is expected to be published on Tuesday. The draft proposal also reportedly hints that the European Union would recognize a unilateral Palestinian declaration of independence.

 

In weekend discussions to prepare for tomorrow's meeting the foreign ministers could not agree over the formulation of the resolution. According to senior officials in Jerusalem as well as European diplomats, the main areas of disagreement were the status of Jerusalem, possible EU recognition of a Palestinian state and the extent of support by Israel's government of the 10-month construction moratorium in West Bank settlements.

 

Sweden, with the support of Britain, Ireland, Belgium and a number of other countries, continues to promote its original formulation of the proposal calling for East Jerusalem to be the capital of the Palestinian state. France, however, is pushing for a formulation that conforms to a speech that President Nicolas Sarkozy made to the Knesset two years ago. Sarkozy said that Jerusalem would be the capital of both countries and did not mention a division of the city into East and West Jerusalem. The French are also trying to promote a more definitive declaration of support for the construction freeze.

 

When Netanyahu spoke Thursday to Zapatero, whose country will take over the rotating presidency of the EU from Sweden next month, he told the Spanish prime minister that the EU should not determine the outcome of the negotiations on a final status agreement between Israel and the PA. On Tuesday Netanyahu gave a similar message to Merkel.

 

Meanwhile, National Security Adviser Uzi Arad phoned his French counterpart, Jean-David Levitte, and apparently also called British Foreign Policy Adviser Simon McDonald. During a meeting last week in Athens with the foreign ministers of Spain, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said he hoped the wording of the resolution would be changed.

 

In meetings on Thursday in Ramallah and East Jerusalem, Fayyad asked European diplomats to support the Swedish resolution in its present form.

 

In an interview with the Saudi daily Al Watan, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said the PA was working to get the Arab states to pressure the European countries to accept the Swedish resolution. He said such a resolution was another step on the way to a United Nations Security Council resolution outlining the borders of the Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 borders.

 

Malki told Al Watan that he has spoken with European foreign ministers about adopting the Swedish proposal as it stands, and that Arab foreign ministers were summoning European ambassadors to ask them to transmit messages in support of the Swedish proposal to their capitals. Malki said a major effort was being made to gain the support of French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.

 

Meanwhile, Israel is continuing in its efforts, together with the United States, to advance a renewal of negotiations with the PA. Netanyahu's envoy Yitzhak Molcho met secretly a few days ago in New York with the U.S. special envoy for the Middle East peace process, George Mitchell. The two discussed developments in the PA ahead of the meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organization Central Council in Ramallah on December 15. On Friday, after the talks with Molcho, Mitchell phoned Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and discussed the possibility of renewing talks with Israel.

Terroristen uit Gaza lanceren Russische S-5K raketten

 

Recent rocket attacks on Israel as well as the apparent foiled terror attack near Eilat last week were part of Palestinian factions' attempts to undermine Hamas and disrupt the prisoner exchange deal negotiations with Israel, defense officials assessed.

 

Volgens een ander bericht probeert Hamas juist vanwege de zogenaamd zo vernederende gevangenenruil nu aanslagen te plegen in Israel. Er is natuurlijk altijd wel een reden voor een aanslag of ander Palestijns geweld: wel een gevangenenruil, of juist het uitblijven daarvan (om de druk op te voeren), wel Israelische concessies ('zie je wel, hoe het standvastige verzet Israel uiteindelijk op de knieën zal kunnen krijgen', en concessies worden vaak als het tonen van zwakte uitgelegd), geen concessies (we moeten wel tegen de wrede bezetter), wel onderhandelingen (druk opvoeren om meer binnen te halen, een beproefde taktiek van Arafat) of geen onderhandelingen (we hebben geen ander middel tegen het zo machtige Israel) etc. etc.

 

RP

-----------

 

IDF: Palestinians launched S-5K Rocket

Dec. 6, 2009
JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST

Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip have begun launching Russian-made S-5K rockets at southern Israel, Army Radio reported on Sunday.

On Sunday morning, security forces discovered remains of a projectile that was fired by Palestinians in the central Gaza Strip.

The missile hit an open area near Kibbutz Alumim. No one was hurt in the incident and no damage was reported.

After examining the projectile, the IDF determined it was a Russian-made S5K-type rocket, intended to be fired from fighter bombers and helicopters to attack ground targets.

According to the radio station, the Palestinians altered the projectile and launched it from the ground.

A defense official told Army Radio that the use of a new rocket type proves that the weapons smuggling into the Gaza Strip is continuing at full speed.

"Iran is constantly trying to arm Hamas, and in addition to this rocket, arms such as anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles are constantly entering the Strip," the senior official was quoted as saying.

Recent rocket attacks on Israel as well as the apparent foiled terror attack near Eilat last week were part of Palestinian factions' attempts to undermine Hamas and disrupt the prisoner exchange deal negotiations with Israel, defense officials assessed.

=========

This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1259831474836&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

 

Gilo blijft gewoon door bouwen

"Israëliërs zijn zich ervan bewust dat de internationale gemeenschap hun annexatie van Oost-Jeruzalem niet erkent. Maar dat heeft ze er nooit van weerhouden hier meer te bouwen. Bijna 40 procent van de 480.000 Joodse inwoners woont nu over de groene lijn, in het gebied dat volgens de rest van de wereld bezet is en dat volgens de Palestijnen bij hun toekomstige hoofdstad hoort."

 

Dat is een juiste constatering, maar wat de media altijd vergeten erbij te vermelden is dat ook de oude stad met de Joodse wijk en de klaagmuur, de Joodse begraafplaats op de Olijfberg en tal van andere historische plaatsen liggen in wat nu 'Oost-Jeruzalem' genoemd wordt. Wat men er ook nooit bij vermeldt, is dat dit deel van Jeruzalem in 1949 illegaal door Jordanië werd bezet, en de Palestijnse claim dus nogal discutabel is. Zij hebben de stad immers nooit in bezit gehad, laat staan haar als hoofdstad gehad. Jordanië heeft de Joden uit Oost-Jeruzalem met geweld verdreven c.q. vermoord, hun synagoges vernield en de stenen uit de Joodse begraafplaats gebruikt voor het plaveien van wegen.

 

Van wie Oost-Jeruzalem is, is een lastige vraag, maar mij dunkt dat Israel toch de beste papieren heeft. Een andere reden is dat de Joden, die de stad eeuwenlang als hoofdstad van het oude koninkrijk Israel hadden, er in de geschiedenis herhaaldelijk uit zijn verdreven maar er steeds terugkeerden. Ook in de Joodse religie speelt Jeruzalem, in tegenstelling tot in de islam, een belangrijke rol.

 

Het meest voor de hand lijkt te liggen om de Joodse wijken aan Israel toe te delen en de Arabische aan een toekomstige Palestijnse staat, maar de rest van de wereld lijkt erop gebrand heel Oost-Jeruzalem aan de Palestijnen te geven. Met rechtvaardigheid heeft dit weinig te maken. Dat de hele wereld iets vindt, betekent nog niet dat het ook juist is. Zie ook Jerusalem history en Jeruzalem, Gilo en de Groene Lijn.

 

Mocht je je ook zo aan de eenzijdige berichtgeving over Jeruzalem ergeren, laat je stem dan horen en reageer bijvoorbeeld onder onderstaand artikel op Trouw.

 

RP

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

 

Gilo blijft gewoon door bouwen

Verontwaardiging wereld richt zich op nederzetting in Oost-Jeruzalem

http://www.trouw.nl/nieuws/wereld/article2931034.ece/Gilo_blijft_gewoon_door_bouwen_.html 

 

 

Israël heeft een bouwstop ingesteld voor nederzettingen, maar dat geldt niet voor Oost-Jeruzalem. Ook al is de hele wereld daar tegen.

Afgelopen week, in een poging de gespannen verhouding met de Amerikaanse president Obama op te klaren, kondigde premier Netanjahoe een stop van tien maanden aan op nieuwbouw in nederzettingen op de Westelijke Jordaanoever. De stop, zo zei hij ook nu weer, geldt alleen niet voor Oost-Jeruzalem.

Dat Oost-Jeruzalem bij Israël hoort, spreekt ook vanzelf voor de Israëliërs. Zij dachten dat het probleem hier decennia geleden al was opgelost. Maar zeven buitenwijken, die in de afgelopen 42 jaar werden gebouwd voor Joodse inwoners van Oost-Jeruzalem, zijn sinds een paar weken toch opeens inzet van de strijd rond de bouwstop.

Omdat ze voorbij de zogenoemde groene lijn liggen van 1967, die Israël scheidt van de Westelijke Jordaanoever, zijn het volgens de internationale gemeenschap nederzettingen in bezet Palestijns gebied. Maar omdat Israël, in juni 1967, formeel het grondgebied van deze gemeenschappen annexeerde en de gemeentegrenzen van Jeruzalem aanpaste valt er over hun status volgens Israëliërs net zo min te onderhandelen als over delen van Tel Aviv of Haifa.

Het deel van Jeruzalem dat de laatste tijd in krantenkoppen opduikt is Gilo, een buurt voor de lagere middenklasse op een bergkam tussen Israëlisch West-Jeruzalem en de steden Bethlehem en Beit Jalta op de Westelijke Jordaanoever.

Het aantal inwoners in Gilo groeide sinds de jaren zeventig tot ongeveer 40.000. Afgelopen maand, toen de Planning Commissie in Jeruzalem aankondigde 900 bouwvergunningen te verstrekken voor Gilo, keurden de VS, de EU en de VN dit in scherpe bewoordingen af. Nog meer bouwen in Gilo zou een obstakel opwerpen voor nieuwe vredesbesprekingen tussen Israël en de Palestijnen.

Lees verder op: http://www.trouw.nl/nieuws/wereld/article2931034.ece/Gilo_blijft_gewoon_door_bouwen_.html 

© Trouw 2009

Barghouti weigert verbanning na vrijlating

 

Ik vraag me af of Marwan Barghouti veel te weigeren heeft als de Israeli's hem op een vliegtuig naar Verwegistan zetten. De oude garde van Fatah zou het waarschijnlijk allang best vinden, en wellicht zitten zij er ook achter, mits het bericht klopt.

 

Wouter

____________________

The Jerusalem Post
Dec 3, 2009 0:43 | Updated Dec 3, 2009 15:48
'Barghouti refuses to be deported if released'
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1259243067183&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


Jailed Fatah operative Marwan Barghouti has rejected an offer to be deported to an Arab country if he's released in a prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas for captive soldier Gilad Schalit, his wife and friends said on Wednesday.

"Marwan is going nowhere; he wants to return to his home and family in Palestine," said his wife, Fadwa Barghouti.
She said that neither she nor her husband would agree to his deportation.

His friends in Ramallah said they were unaware of any Israeli offer to deport Barghouti, along with dozens of prisoners whom Hamas was demanding in return for Schalit's release.

The London-based Al-Hayat newspaper on Wednesday quoted Palestinian sources as saying that Israel had expressed willingness to include Barghouti in a prisoner swap on condition that he would be deported.
The sources noted that Israel had so far refused to include Barghouti in a prisoner swap with Hamas.

Issa Qaraqi, the Palestinian Authority minister for prisoners' affairs, who met recently with Barghouti, said that the top Fatah operative was opposed to the idea of living in exile.

Qaraqi said Israel was insisting on the deportation of Barghouti and 11 other prominent prisoners, including Ahmad Sa'adat, secretary-general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

A Fatah official in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post that the PA leadership was pressing Israel to release Barghouti before an agreement was reached with Hamas.

"It will look very bad for Fatah and the Palestinian Authority if Hamas manages to release Marwan [Barghouti]," the official said. "We hope that the Israeli government won't make such a mistake, because it would strengthen Hamas."

Israeli officials denied reports that the government might free Barghouti.
"There are no plans to release Marwan Barghouti," said Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Tuesday. "He is the king of murderers and won't be freed."

Fathi Sabah, a political analyst with close ties to Hamas, said he believed the prisoner exchange agreement would be concluded "very soon."
"I don't think it's going to last for a long time; I think we are very close to a deal," he said.

Sabah said that Hamas was continuing to insist on the release of 20 Israeli Arab inmates, 44 prisoners from east Jerusalem and one from the Golan who were all arrested before the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.

Sabah said the first phase of the German-brokered agreement called for the release of 450 prisoners, most of whom had been arrested before the signing of the Oslo Accords.

He said that Israel has so far agreed to release 300 out of the 450 prisoners and was insisting that 120 of them be deported to Arab countries.
"Hamas is now seeking to reduce the number of prisoners on the deportation list," he added.

The analyst said that Israel's readiness to pay a heavy price for one of its soldiers "reflected its total and humiliating failure in finding out where Schalit was being held."

Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.

Kerstmis in Bethlehem anno 1999 (Dry Bones)

 

Brabosh, een Belgische pro-Israel blog, haalt in deze donkere dagen een goude oude van Dry Bones uit de kast, en gaat in op de kerstviering in Bethlehem. Die is ieder jaar goed voor reportages op TV, waarin Palestijnse christenen mogen vertellen dat zij prima samenleven met de moslims en alle vrijheid hebben, maar ja, die muur, die die maakt hen het leven onmogelijk. Waarna steevast dezelfde beelden van de muur worden getoond, daar waar die pal langs een straatje waar vroeger winkels lagen loopt. Inderdaad niet bepaald fraai, en ik begrijp zelf ook niet waarom de route van de muur daar niet iets verder van de stad is gelegd, maar er valt over Bethlehem en haar christenen wel wat meer te vertellen dan deze grijsgedraaide grammofoonplaat. Dry Bones haalt hieronder een paar herinneringen op.

 

RP

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

"Niet de geschiedenis, maar de mens herhaalt zich steeds" (Voltaire)

Kerstmis in Bethlehem anno 1999 [satire]

 

"Heeft Arafat de vieringen in Bethlehem gemoderniseerd?"

"Ja, dat heeft hij."

"Hij heeft de woorden van het kerstverhaal veranderd"

"Van: "De koning van Israël is geboren"

"Naar: "De koning van de Zionistische Entiteit is geboren"

In zijn cartoon van heden haalt Dry Bones, alias van de Israëli Yaakov Kirschen, een Gouden Ouwe cartoon uit zijn kast die hij precies 10 jaar geleden heeft gemaakt naar aanleiding van de nakende kerstviering in Bethlehem. Voorafgaand aan de overname door de PLO van Yasser Arafat van Bethlehem, wijdden locale Israëlische nieuwszenders bijzonder veel aandacht aan de versieringen die in straten van de Christelijke wijken van de geboortestad van Christus werden aangebracht en… helder schenen de 'Sterren van Bethlehem'…. In de jaren 1950 waren 90 procent van de inwoners van Bethlehem nog christenen, sindsdien is hun aantal teruggevallen tot minder dan 35 procent van de 40.000 inwoners [anno 2008].

Dry Bones over die tijd:

"Vroeger woonde ik in Jeruzalem in een buurt van waaruit het maar een korte rit was naar onze zusterstad [Bethlehem]. Ik ben een nogal sociaal type en spoedig had ik een aantal vrienden gemaakt in Bethlehem waar ik regelmatig mee ging 'stappen'. Op een dag was ik met een Amerikaan op stap in Bethlehem die regelmatig het land bezoekt. Ik stelde hem voor aan een Palestijnse zakenman die een goede vriend van me was.

Mijn zakenman nam me even apart: "Waarom stel je mij voor als een Palestijn?" vroeg hij me. "Toen ik je voor het eerst ontmoette," antwoordde ik, "heb je me gezegd dat je een Palestijn was!" "Toen jij mij ontmoette," repliceerde hij, "was jij een Israëlische Jood, dus zei ik natuurlijk dat ik een Palestijn ben!!" "Maar nu dat we vrienden zijn moet je weten dat ik geen Palestijn ben, ik ben een Christen!!"

De moslimbevolking is intussen enorm aangegroeid en heeft sindsdien de stad van mijn vriend overgenomen. Het merendeel van de christengemeenschap is gevlucht of maakt zich klaar om te vluchten naar de Amerikaanse westkust of naar Latijns Amerika. De aangename tijd van discuteren met Arabische vrienden, nippend aan kleine kopjes gevuld met overheerlijke zoete koffie in het kleine stadje Bethlehem, is al lang voorbij… maar ik mis die tijd nog altijd.

Aan mijn vrienden uit Bethlehem, waar ze deze dagen ook mogen gebleven zijn, ik wens jullie een erg gelukkige Kerst toe."

Kerstviering in Bethlehem op 24 december 2008. Diezelfde dag werden er vanuit Gaza door Hamas op één dag meer dan 80 raketten afgeschoten op willekeurige burgerdoelwitten in Zuid-Israël, het voorspel van de Gaza oorlog die enkele dagen later begon en van 27 december 2008 duurde tot 17 januari 2009

Hamas plant golf van terreuraanslagen voor na de uitruil van gevangen

 

Volgens de nieuwe blog Israned plant Hamas een golf van aanslagen om te compenseren voor de 'concessies' die het zou hebben gedaan in de gevangenenruil voor Shalit. Volgens berichten zou die bijna rond zijn en zou Israel bijna 1.000 gevangenen vrijlaten, inclusief honderden 'met bloed aan hun handen'. Waaruit de concessie van Hamas' kant dan bestaat? Wel, niet alle Hamas gevangenen worden vrijgelaten, en sommige van de ergste moordenaars mogen niet terugkeren naar de Gazastrook.

 

RP

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

 

Hamas plant golf van terreuraanslagen voor na de uitruil van gevangen

http://www.israned.com/2009/12/hamas-plant-golf-van-terreuraanslagen.html

 

 

Egyptische veiligheidsdiensten hebben vorige week in Rafah, op de grens van Egypte en Gaza, een grote voorraad bomgordels gevonden en bommen van 15 kilo. Sommige daarvan hebben ingebouwde detonators, andere een tijdmechanisme. De gordels en bommen waren vanuit Gaza naar buiten gesmokkeld en opgeslagen in Rafah, waar Hamas en hun handlangers ze kunnen ophalen en door de Sinai de Egyptische grens kunnen overbrengen naar Israel. Daar zouden ze worden opgehaald door zelfmoordterroristen van Hamas, de Palestijnse Islamitische Jihad of Popular Resistance comite's.

Volgens Israelische legerbronnen kreeg Egypte lucht van de opslagplaats door een incident vorige week woensdag, toen een Hamasterrorist werd onderschept die op weg was om een zelfmoordaanslag te plegen in Eilat of een militaire basis in de Negev. Israelische soldaten kregen hem tijdens een routinepatrouille in de gaten toen hij op weg was naar de Israelische grens met een zware rugzak. De soldaten schoten in de lucht, waarop de man zijn bepakkingliet vallen en ervandoor ging. In de rugzak zat een 15 kilobom vol metaalsplinters. De bom had een complexe detonator, die de kracht van de explosie bijna kon verdubbelen. Het ding had op grote schaal dood en verderf kunnen zaaien in Eilat.

Mogelijk hebben Egyptische veiligheidsdiensten de vluchtende Hamasterrorist gegrepen en heeft die hen naar de bergplaats in Rafah geleid, of hebben ze die gevonden via de verkenners die de zelfmoordenaar naar de Israelische grens gidsten.

De opslagplaats zou een serie grootschalige zelfmoordaanslagen van Hamas moeten bevoorraden in Zuid- en Centraal Israel, waartoe vijf tot acht zelfmoordterroristen zouden zijn klaargestoomd in de Westelijke Jordaanoever. Er lag een serie identieke rugzakken klaar waarin de terroristen hun bommnen en wapens konden dragen, naar het voorbeeld van de massamoordenaars in Mumbai.

Met deze actie zou Hamas Palestijnse kritiek willen sussen op de consessies die het heeft gedaan in de onderhandelingen over het uitwisselen van de ontvoerde Israelische soldaat Gilad Shalit tegen bijna duizend Palestijnen uit Israelische gevangenissen. Het Palestijns ongenoegen zou zich vooral richten op het feit dat Palestijnse terroristen na hun vrijlating het land niet in zouden mogen. Volgens Hamasleiders krijgen ze de keus tussen ballingschap of in de gevangenis blijven.

Intussen maakte de IDF donderdag twee bommen onklaar bij Bet El op de Westelijke Jordaanoever, op een weg die alleen door veiligheidstroepen wordt gebruikt. Een derde bom werd bij Beit Omer gevonden, ten zuiden van Gush Etzion, samen met Israelische legeruniformen die als vermomming moesten dienen. Volgens het leger zijn er de laatste maanden vrijwel geen vuurwapens of bommen gebruikt op de Westbank. Wel wordt er met stenen en Molotov cocktails gegooid.

 

Premier Poetin bezoekt Israel in 2010

 

Dat is goed nieuws, want Rusland gedraagt zich bepaald niet als vriend van Israel. Misschien dat een bezoek het Russische begrip wat kan vergroten. Ik bedoel, een mens moet toch blijven hopen.

 

RP

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

 

Russia's Putin to visit Israel in 2010

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j0rYOcGnXxNPcdy2OQC1OyulMQpw

(AFP) – 5 hours ago

 

 

MOSCOW — Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will visit Israel in 2010, he said on Friday, following a recent chill in ties between Moscow and Israel's arch-enemy Iran.

Putin's pledge to visit the Jewish state came during a meeting in Moscow with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who told him: "We would be happy to see you in Israeli in 2010."

"Thank you very much for the invitation. I will definitely come," replied Putin, who also said: "Israel is one of our highest-priority partners in the Middle East."

The announcement came after Russia's ties with Iran, a longtime partner, became strained in recent weeks due to an apparent toughening in Moscow's stance on the Iranian nuclear programme.

On Tuesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lashed out at Russia for supporting a vote by the UN's nuclear watchdog IAEA censuring Tehran over its nuclear plans, in a rare criticism of Moscow by the Iranian leader.

Iranian officials have also complained that Russia is dragging its feet on fulfilling a contract to supply Iran with advanced S-300 surface-to-air missiles.

Iranian Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi last month called on Russia "to fulfil the contract and not be influenced by Zionist pressure."

Moscow has never officially confirmed the existence of the S-300 contract.

 

Kwartet Midden-Oosten oneens over steunverklaring voor bevriezing nederzettingen Israel

 

Het 'Kwartet' heeft er geen enkel probleem mee om zich voor een Palestijnse staat uit te spreken, maar een Joodse, dat gaat blijkbaar te ver. Voor Rusland - dat de bezwaren uitte - ligt de oplossing van het conflict blijkbaar niet in twee staten voor twee volken, maar in een Palestijnse staat en een staat die Israel heet maar niet Joods genoemd mag worden. De logica hiervan ontgaat me, zoals de logica van antizionisten me meestal ontgaat, vooral wanneer zij zich ook nog eens als de ware antiracisten neerzetten.

 

Ook is Rusland er tegen om te spreken van "borders that reflect the developments [which occurred on the ground] and which fulfill the Israeli security requirements."

Want daarmee zou men op de uitkomst van de onderhandelingen vooruit lopen. Uitspreken dat de grenzen van de Palestijnse staat moeten komen op de 1967 grenzen (eigenlijk de 1949 wapenstilstandslijnen) is zeker geen vooruitlopen op de onderhandelingen, net zo min als verklaren dat Oost-Jeruzalem de Palestijnse hoofdstad moet worden. Het is een vreemde logica, of misschien ook wel niet. Alles dat Israel enige speel- c.q. onderhandelingsruimte geeft is 'vooruitlopen op de uitkomst van de onderhandelingen', alles wat bevestigt wat de Palestijnen eisen is dat blijkbaar niet. Ik noem dat een behoorlijk bevooroordeelde houding, waarmee Rusland (en de EU, die ook dikwijls dergelijke dubbele maatstaven hanteert) zich diskwalificeert als neutrale bemiddelaar.

RP

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

 

U.S. falls short in bid to gain support for Israel's settlement freeze
By Barak Ravid Haaretz

Last update - 02:53 04/12/2009
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1132624.html

 

The United States fell short in its efforts to gain a declaration of international support for Israel's temporary settlement construction freeze. The Americans were hoping that its partners in the Quartet - Russia, the European Union and the United Nations - would agree to such a declaration, but Moscow expressed a series of reservations and foiled Washington's effort.

Last Thursday, a day after the security-political cabinet decided to put a moratorium on construction in settlements for a 10 month period, a conference call was held at the highest levels among Quartet members. In addition to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Europe's outgoing foreign affairs chief, Javier Solana, and Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, were also on line.

Clinton proposed that the Quartet issue a joint statement of support for the Israeli decision to freeze construction. The other participants agreed and decided to let officials from each side formulate the announcement.

Heading the team tasked with formulating the statement was U.S. diplomat, David Hale, deputy to U.S. special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell.

Hale initiated exchanges with his colleagues in the EU, the UN and Russia, but it quickly became clear that there was no agreement on the content of the statement.

Senior Israeli and American officials say that Russia was responsible for foiling the announcement, by expressing many reservations to the text proposed by the Americans - which was reportedly very short. At the crux of the Russian objections were two points that were very important to the U.S. administration: the Jewish identity of the State of Israel, and that the future border between Israel and the Palestinians would reflect developments on the ground.

The Americans proposed that the Quartet's announcement be based on the statement issued by Secretary of State Clinton last week, supporting the announcement of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the freeze.

The proposed version called for the resumption of negotiations without preconditions so that an agreement could be reached which "would fulfill the Palestinian goal of establishing an independent, viable state, based on the 1967 borders, agreed upon exchanges [of territory], and the Israeli goal of a Jewish state with secure and recognized borders that reflect the developments [which occurred on the ground] and which fulfill the Israeli security requirements."

The Russians argued that they did not agree with stating that Israel will be a Jewish State, and that the borders will be altered on the basis of "developments" on the ground, namely Israeli annexation of the large settlement blocks.

The Russians stressed that such formulation of the Quartet's text predetermines the results of the negotiations.

Once efforts to convince the Russians failed, the Americans decided that there was no point in issuing a statement. A senior U.S. administration official told Haaretz that without a consensus among the members of the Quartet, it would be impossible to issue a statement for the whole group.

 

 

Verzet tegen de bezetting slaat toe in Rusland en Syrië

 

Aanslagen door Palestijnen zijn nooit gepleegd door 'terroristen' maar door Hamas of Hezbollah 'strijders' (het NOS journaal noemde Hezbollah niet lang geleden zelfs een 'verzetsbeweging'). Bij aanslagen op Westerse doelen buiten Israel wordt nog wel van terrorisme gesproken, hoewel men ook wat dat betreft steeds 'politiek correcter' wordt. De Arabische wereld steunt schaamteloos al het 'verzet' tegen Israel. Nu heeft Syrië zelf met islamitisch terrorisme te maken, want gisteren werd een bus met pelgrims uit Iran getroffen door een bomaanslag. Ook Rusland is altijd een groot voorstander geweest van 'verzetsgroepen' zoals de PLO. Rusland exporteert bovendien wapens naar Syrië, wetende dat die van daar naar Hezbollah worden gesmokkeld, in tegenspraak met VN veiligheidsraad resolutie 1701.

 

RP

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

 

Resistance strikes blows against the occupation - in Russia and Syria

http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/12/resistance-strikes-blows-against.html

 

 

To our dear friends in Russia and Syria,

Today, the forces of liberation and enlightenment struck a blow against the occupation in a successful operation against a bus in Damascus, killing 12. Last Friday, the resistance forces conducted a successful operation on a train in Russia, striking a blow against the Chechnya occupation forces and the apartheid Russian regime.

 

We know that these operations have evoked fear and anger in ruling circles in the Tehran regime, the Damascus regime and the Moscow regime, who find themselves helpless to stem the forces of liberation.. As right thinking people, you will no doubt understand the need of all progressive and enlightened peoples to support resistance to occupation, a right guaranteed under international legitimacy and specifically vouchsafed in the Fourth Geneva convention, and in the appropriate United Nations resolutions,for which your countries voted enthusiastically, and as intenrnationally accepted in the right to blow up anyone someone else doesn't like for any reason. As you are backers of the Hezbollah liberation movement, there is no doubt that you appreciate the justice and logic of these arguments 

 

You must realize that the time is past when people could go about their business quietly and sleep soundly at night. Thanks in large part to your efforts, liberation movements are constantly at work all over the world, blowing people to bits for the benefit of humanity. The Syrian Army Intelligence, which played such a starring role in creation of the Palestinian resistance movement and its training, as well, apparently, as in material aid to the brave resistance fighters in Iraq, understands the value and importance of resistance. Nobody is more familiar with the noble mission of People's liberation movements than Mr Putin, a former official of the KGB, since the idea of such liberation movements was pioneered by the Soviet government in Algeria, among Palestinians, in Vietnam and  elsewhere.

 

Do not even think of trying to fight the resistance. As you know, it is impossible for a state to ever win an asymmetric war against liberation fighters. Do not even think of calling these operations "terror." There is no such thing as "terror." "Terror" is an invention of reactionary Zionist neo-conservatives.  

 

Do not even think of torturing these reistance fighters either. Torture is a big no-no under the Geneva conventions and it is NOT NICE.   You must find a nice comfortable accomodation for the resistance fighter, who is to be accorded all the honors of a soldier under the Geneva convention. There, he or she can wait until his group kidnaps one of your citizens and then he and 20,000 others will be released in an exchange deal. Meanwhile, you must, also launch a dialog with him, to understand the deep underlying reasons for resistance. This is the opinion of Eyad Sarraj, a psychiatrist and Gaza expert on  people blowing up other people (there are many such experts in Gaza). You must sit the resistance fighter down on an analyst's couch and probe their early childhood to find the deep underlying reasons why they need to blow people up. Did the nice resistance fighter have too strict toilet training, or did they have an aloof father? Were they deprived of essential warmth in childhood? You must try to walk in the shoes of the nice resistance fighter, and understand what it means to grow up under a brutal occupation, deprived of the right to blow people to bits, with no C4 or even gelignite. You must empathize with the resistance figher and explain to him or her that you feel their pain.

 

You must also launch a political dialogue, since there are only political solutions to asymmetric conflicts. The Chechnya resistance fighters will no doubt be satisfied with a Chenyan state with its capital in Grozny and will accept the Russian state, for now at least. The Fateh al Islam, which evidently blew up the Syrian bus, will settle for an Al Qaida state in Syria and Lebanon, and  will  also accept the Iranian state for now, though they will not recognize it. What a wonderful window of opportunity!

 

The UN and the EU can help you. The UN will send Judge Goldstone to prepare a nice report about the war crimes of the Russian imperialist war criminals in Chechnya, and another report about the war crimes of the Beirut puppet government of the Syrian imperialists in Nahr al Bared refugee camp, where so many innoocent civilians were killed. The nice Swedes will prepare a document recognizing Damascus as the capital of the Al Qaeda Islamic Republic, and another document recognizing Grozny as the capital of the Chechen Republic, all according to international legitimacy and applicable UN resolutions. The UN can also send a peace keeping force, to make sure that nobody harms the resistance forces.

 

Surely, all right thinking and progressive people understand that this is the right way to deal with resistance movements, and that the time for solution of conflicts by violence is past. Violence only breeds more violence - a vicious circle.

 

Perhaps, on second thought, not everyone agrees. But everyone must understand how exactly it came about that "resistance" in the form of murder of civilians came to be legitimized because it was supported by the USSR in its geopolitical strategy, and by the Muslim and Arab governments for use against Israel, and legitimized and given protection by the UN. Unlike people however, plastic explosive is not racist or political. It doesn't target only Jews or only people that Russians don't like. It will work for anyone, against anyone else. Now that the genie is out of the bottle, it is perhaps too late to put it back.

 

Ami Isseroff

 

Gaat EU Oost-Jeruzalem als Palestijnse hoofdstad erkennen?

 

Komende maandag wordt een Zweeds voorstel voor een EU verklaring besproken:

 

The draft refers directly to the situation in East Jerusalem, calling on "all parties to refrain from provocative actions" and stating the EU Council "has never recognized the annexation of East Jerusalem. If there is to be a genuine peace, a way must be found to resolve the status of Jerusalem as capital of two states. The Council calls for the reopening of Palestinian institutions in Jerusalem in accordance with the road map. It also calls on the Israeli government to cease all discriminatory treatment of Palestinians in East Jerusalem."

The document deals only briefly with Israel's announcement of a 10-month moratorium on construction in settlements across the West Bank: "The Council takes note of the recent decision of the government of Israel on a partial and temporary permanent freeze and expresses the hope that it will become a step towards resuming meaningful negotiations." Israel's removal of checkpoints also receives only cursory mention: "Many checkpoints and roadblocks remain in place to protect settlements."

On the issue of borders, the document states that the EU will not accept any changes made by Israel to the 1967 borders unless they have PA approval. The EU, it says, welcomes PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's proposal of a unilateral declaration of statehood and would "be able, at the appropriate time, to recognize a Palestinian state."

 

Ik moet eerlijk zeggen dat ik mij schaam als Europeaan als dit voorstel namens de EU wordt aangenomen. Het is in feite niets minder dan een dictaat zoals men dat vroeger aan militair verslagen landen oplegde, en men weet dondersgoed dat Israel daar niet mee in kan stemmen. Er wordt blijkbaar niks gezegd over dat naast de creatie van een Palestijnse staat, doel van een en ander ook is dat Israel erkend en veilig is en veilige grenzen heeft. Het is absurd om de verwijdering van honderden roadblocks en checkpoints te negeren en in plaats daarvan te stellen dat 'Many checkpoints and roadblocks remain in place to protect settlements'. De checkpoints zijn er met name om Israel te beschermen, want juist tussen de nederzettingen zijn de meeste checkpoints opgeheven. De positie wat betreft Jeruzalem is natuurlijk ronduit belachelijk, want in delen van wat nu Oost-Jeruzalem of zelfs 'bezet' Oost-Jeruzalem heet, woonden eeuwenlang Joden en hier liggen sommige van de belangrijkste Joodse heilige plaatsen. En tot slot gaat het de EU ook niet aan wat de beide partijen over Jeruzalem overeen komen, en gaat het niet aan dat de EU zo schaamteloos één partij in het conflict steunt en voortrekt.

 

RP

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EU will recognize East Jerusalem as capital of Palestine

Last update - 08:02 01/12/2009       
EU to recognize East Jerusalem as capital of Palestinian state
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent

 

 

European Union foreign ministers are expected to officially call next week for the division of Jerusalem, to serve as the capitals of both Israel and Palestine. A draft document authored by the current holder of the rotating EU presidency, Sweden, and implying that the EU would recognize a unilateral Palestinian declaration of statehood, has been obtained by Haaretz.

 

Jerusalem is waging a diplomatic campaign to keep the EU from issuing such an endorsement, but diplomats close to the EU deliberations believe it is virtually inevitable.

 

EU foreign ministers are scheduled to meet on December 7 for a two-day meeting in Brussels on the peace process, after which a statement outlining the body's Mideast policy is expected.
 
The Swedish draft represents the first official EU articulation of a solution for one of the core issues of the final-status arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians.

 

The document expressed the EU's concern over the stalemate in the peace process and calls for the immediate renewal of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in accordance with a prescribed timetable. The goal, it states, is "an independent, democratic, contiguous and viable state of Palestine, comprising the West Bank and Gaza and with East Jerusalem as its capital."

 

The draft refers directly to the situation in East Jerusalem, calling on "all parties to refrain from provocative actions" and stating the EU Council "has never recognized the annexation of East Jerusalem. If there is to be a genuine peace, a way must be found to resolve the status of Jerusalem as capital of two states. The Council calls for the reopening of Palestinian institutions in Jerusalem in accordance with the road map. It also calls on the Israeli government to cease all discriminatory treatment of Palestinians in East Jerusalem."

 

The document deals only briefly with Israel's announcement of a 10-month moratorium on construction in settlements across the West Bank: "The Council takes note of the recent decision of the government of Israel on a partial and temporary permanent freeze and expresses the hope that it will become a step towards resuming meaningful negotiations." Israel's removal of checkpoints also receives only cursory mention: "Many checkpoints and roadblocks remain in place to protect settlements."

 

On the issue of borders, the document states that the EU will not accept any changes made by Israel to the 1967 borders unless they have PA approval. The EU, it says, welcomes PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's proposal of a unilateral declaration of statehood and would "be able, at the appropriate time, to recognize a Palestinian state."

 

Israeli diplomats have been following the Swedish initiative for several weeks. Israel's Brussels-based ambassador to the EU, Ran Kuriel, sent several messages to Jerusalem last week accusing Sweden of leading the union on a "collision course" with Israel. Kuriel wrote that Britain and France support the Swedish position, while Germany, Spain and Italy are disinclined to side with Israel on the matter.

 

Senior Foreign Ministry officials said the belief is widespread across the foreign policy echelon that Sweden is advancing an explicitly "anti-Israel" line, rendering Europe "irrelevant" to the peace process.

 

European diplomats privy to the negotiations said that although changes favorable to Israel had been made to the draft, there is virtually no chance of preventing the EU from calling for the division of Jerusalem. They said they believe the EU statement will help Palestinians return to negotiations with Israel, as it gives them guarantees of a Palestinian capital in Jerusalem even though Israel has not frozen construction there.

 

Twee explosieven ontdekt bij Ramallah

 

Hoewel het een stuk beter gaat, is het probleem van het terrorisme nog niet geheel verholpen, en het Israelische leger verijdelt nog steeds aanslagen.

 

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TWO EXPLOSIVE DEVICES UNCOVERED NEAR RAMALLAH
IDF Spokesperson

3.12.09; 16:23

 

On Thursday (Dec 3.), two I.E.D's, weighing five and three kilograms respectively, were uncovered by an IDF force a short while ago on a patrol route near Bet El, North of Ramallah. Both I.E.D's were detonated in a controlled manner by sappers. IDF soldiers were searching the area for more information.

During the night, IDF forces arrested 15 wanted Palestinians in the Judea and Samaria region. Additionally a force from the Kfir Brigade unveiled an improvised rifle in the belongings of a Palestinian in a checkpoint near the Gush Etzion junction. The rifle was confiscated and the man was taken by the Israeli Police for further investigations.

 

Het vergeten vredesaanbod van Olmert

 

In een lang interview in The Australian legt oud-premier Olmert van Israel nog eens precies uit wat hij Abbas vorig jaar heeft aangeboden, en zegt hij, ondanks Abbas' afwijzing van dit aanbod, nog steeds in zijn vredeswil te geloven. In tegenstelling tot Australië wordt Olmerts regeertermijn in Europa niet geassocieerd met dit vredesaanbod, maar met corruptieschandalen, de Libanon Oorlog en de Gaza Oorlog. Het negeren van dit serieuze bod door onze media is verbluffend en oorverdovend.

 

RP

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Ehud Olmert still dreams of peace

(Excerpt from The Australian)

 

 

But Olmert's term in office is best remembered for the extensive negotiations, and final peace offer that he undertook with Abbas.

 

Olmert explains this position to me in unprecedented detail. His offer to Abbas represents a historic watershed and poses a serious question. Can the Palestinian leadership ever accept any offer that an Israeli prime minister could ever reasonably make?

 

It is important to get Olmert's full account of this offer on the record: "From the end of 2006 until the end of 2008 I think I met with Abu Mazen more often than any Israeli leader has ever met any Arab leader. I met him more than 35 times. They were intense, serious negotiations."

 

These negotiations took place on two tracks, Olmert says. One was the meetings with the two leaders and their senior colleagues and aides (among them Kadima leader Tzipi Livni on Olmert's side). But Olmert would also have private, one-on-one meetings with Abbas.

 

"On the 16th of September, 2008, I presented him (Abbas) with a comprehensive plan. It was based on the following principles.

 

One, there would be a territorial solution to the conflict on the basis of the 1967 borders with minor modifications on both sides. Israel will claim part of the West Bank where there have been demographic changes over the last 40 years."

 

This approach by Olmert would have allowed Israel to keep the biggest Jewish settlement blocks which are mainly now suburbs of Jerusalem, but would certainly have entailed other settlers having to leave Palestinian territory and relocate to Israel.

 

In total, Olmert says, this would have involved Israel claiming about 6.4 per cent of Palestinian territory in the West Bank: "It might be a fraction more, it might be a fraction less, but in total it would be about 6.4 per cent. Israel would claim all the Jewish areas of Jerusalem. All the lands that before 1967 were buffer zones between the two populations would have been split in half. In return there would be a swap of land (to the Palestinians) from Israel as it existed before 1967.

 

"I showed Abu Mazen how this would work to maintain the contiguity of the Palestinian state. I also proposed a safe passage between the West Bank and Gaza. It would have been a tunnel fully controlled by the Palestinians but not under Palestinian sovereignty, otherwise it would have cut the state of Israel in two.

 

"No 2 was the issue of Jerusalem. This was a very sensitive, very painful, soul-searching process. While I firmly believed that historically, and emotionally, Jerusalem was always the capital of the Jewish people, I was ready that the city should be shared. Jewish neighbourhoods would be under Jewish sovereignty, Arab neighbourhoods would be under Palestinian sovereignty, so it could be the capital of a Palestinian state.

 

"Then there was the question of the holy basin within Jerusalem, the sites that are holy to Jews and Muslims, but not only to them, to Christians as well. I would never agree to an exclusive Muslim sovereignty over areas that are religiously important to Jews and Christians. So there would be an area of no sovereignty, which would be jointly administered by five nations, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the Palestinian state, Israel and the United States.

 

"Third was the issue of Palestinian refugees." This issue has often been a seeming deal-breaker. The Palestinians insist that all Palestinians who left Israel - at or near the time of its founding - and all their spouses and descendants, should be able to return to live in Israel proper. This could be more than a million people. Olmert, like other Israeli prime ministers, could never agree to this: "I think Abu Mazen understood there was no chance Israel would become the homeland of the Palestinian people. The Palestinian state was to be the homeland of the Palestinian people. So the question was how the claimed attachment of the Palestinian refugees to their original places could be recognised without bringing them in. I told him I would never agree to a right of return. Instead, we would agree on a humanitarian basis to accept a certain number every year for five years, on the basis that this would be the end of conflict and the end of claims. I said to him 1000 per year. I think the Americans were entirely with me.

 

"In addition, we talked about creating an international fund that would compensate Palestinians for their suffering. I was the first Israeli prime minister to speak of Palestinian suffering and to say that we are not indifferent to that suffering.

 

"And four, there were security issues." Olmert says he showed Abbas a map, which embodied all these plans. Abbas wanted to take the map away. Olmert agreed, so long as they both signed the map. It was, from Olmert's point of view, a final offer, not a basis for future negotiation. But Abbas could not commit. Instead, he said he would come with experts the next day.

 

"He (Abbas) promised me the next day his adviser would come. But the next day Saeb Erekat rang my adviser and said we forgot we are going to Amman today, let's make it next week. I never saw him again."

 

Olmert believes that, like Camp David a decade earlier, this was an enormous opportunity lost: "I said `this is the offer. Sign it and we can immediately get support from America, from Europe, from all over the world'. I told him (Abbas) he'd never get anything like this again from an Israeli leader for 50 years. I said to him, `do you want to keep floating forever - like an astronaut in space - or do you want a state?'

 

"To this day we should ask Abu Mazen to respond to this plan. If they (the Palestinians) say no, there's no point negotiating."

 

Olmert is right to paint this offer as embodying the most extensive concessions, and the best deal, ever offered to the Palestinians by an Israeli leader. But his very experience with this offer raises several questions. Could he have delivered its terms if the Palestinians had accepted it? Perhaps international momentum would have enabled him to do so, and, in fact, Olmert's Kadima party did remarkably well in the election which followed his prime ministership. Could any Israeli government today realistically make such an offer? The answer would seem to be no.

 

And most important, if the Palestinian leadership cannot accept that offer, can they accept any realistic offer? Do they have the machinery to run a state? Is their society too dysfunctional and filled with anti-Semitic propaganda to live in peace next to the Jewish state? Could they ever deliver on any security guarantees?

 

I put these questions to Olmert and his response to them is perhaps the most lukewarm part of our interview: "It's certainly a legitimate concern, since I never received a positive response from them. I think it's up to them (the Palestinians) to prove the point. I hope they will rise to this."

 

Olmert still believes the Palestinians should respond to the deal he offered them. If they did so, this would open the way to peace, but only if Palestinian society is reconciled to living in peace next to Israel as it really exists.

 

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Read the whole interview of Greg Sheridan from The Australian with Ehud Olmert here: Ehud Olmert still dreams of peace