vrijdag 30 maart 2007

Dubbele standaards VN Mensenrechtenraad

Op de onlangs gehouden bijeenkomst van de VN Mensenrechtenraad (23 maart) hield Hillel Neuer, hoofd van UN Watch, een organisatie die de VN kritisch volgt, een toespraak waarin hij de dubbele standaard van deze raad op scherpe wijze aan de kaak stelde. Hij zei onder andere:

"Let us consider the past few months. More than 130 Palestinians were killed
by Palestinian forces. This is three times the combined total that were the
pretext for calling special sessions in July and November. Yet the champions
of Palestinian rights -Ahmadinejad, Assad, Khaddafi, John Dugard- they say
nothing. Little 3-year-old boy Salam Balousha and his two brothers were
murdered in their car by Prime Minister Haniyeh's troops. Why has this
Council chosen silence?

Because Israel could not be blamed. Because, in truth, the dictators who run
this Council couldn't care less about Palestinians, or about any human
rights.

They seek to demonize Israeli democracy, to delegitimize the Jewish state,
to scapegoat the Jewish people. They also seek something else: to distort
and pervert the very language and idea of human rights."

Zijn gehele toespraak is te beluisteren via de volgende link:
http://www.unwatch.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=bdKKISNqEmG&b=1313923&ct=3698367


De president van de VN Mensenrechtenraad reageerde als volgt (kritiek verdragen is duidelijk niet zijn sterkste kant):

LUIS ALFONSO DE ALBA: "For the first time in this session I will not express
thanks for that statement. I shall point out to the distinguished
representative of the organization that just spoke, the distinguished
representative of United Nations Watch, if you'd kindly listen to me. I am
sorry that I'm not in a position to thank you for your statement. I should
mention that I will not tolerate any similar statements in the Council. The
way in which members of this Council were referred to, and indeed the way in
which the council itself was referred to, all of this is inadmissible. In
the memory of the persons that you referred to, founders of the Human Rights
Commission, and for the good of human rights, I would urge you in any future
statements to observe some minimum proper conduct and language. Otherwise,
any statement you make in similar tones to those used today will be taken
out of the records."

Het zou de president sieren als hij ook zo fel zou reageren op 'inproper conduct and language' wanneer een van de Arabische leden weer eens zijn gal spuit over Israël. Helaas zijn grove beschuldigingen en beledigingen aan Israëls adres aan de orde van de dag, misschien dat het daarom niet meer opvalt. Terecht wijzen op het nog steeds hoge gehalte aan ondemocratische regimes dat in deze raad is vertegenwoordigd en hun hypocrisie, daar is de tijd ondanks de invoering van zogenaamde hervormingen, blijkbaar nog niet rijp voor.

Met dank aan Wendy Leibowitz en Melanie Phillips, die zeer terecht van de "UN Human Wrongs Council" spreekt.

Ratna

donderdag 29 maart 2007

Hamas: samenwerking Palestijnen en Israel op veiligheidsgebied is verraad

Volgens Hamas is samenwerking tussen Israel en de Palestijnse Autoriteit op veiligheidsgebied 'verraad' en speelt dit slechts 'de bezetting' in de kaart. Hiermee is wel duidelijk dat de weigeing van Hamas om de door de PLO met Israel gesloten akkoorden te honoreren na de vorming van de eenheidsregering niet is afgezwakt, en de dubbelzinnige tekst wat dit betreft in de regeringsverklaring (wel 'respecteren' van de akkoorden, maar alleen 'voorzover zij in het belang van het Palestijnse volk zijn') niet als een compromis van Hamas gezien moet worden. 
----------------------------------------------  
[ 26/03/2007 - 08:35 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- Hamas Movement has criticized Nemr Hammad, the political advisor of the PA chief, over his "unwarranted" calls to resume security coordination between Palestinians and Israeli security apparatuses, and regarded those calls as "permitting the IOF troops to kill more Palestinians".

The Movement, furthermore, charged that Hammad's statements meant to spoil the cordial relationship between PA president and the PA government, to divide the PA security apparatuses, and to plant distrust among them among other goals.

"Those statements are tantamount to national treason that aims at portraying PA security elements as traitors working for Israel against their own people", a statement issued by Hamas and a copy of which obtained by the PIC affirmed.

In addition, Hamas urged the immediate prosecution of Hammad over his "erred" statements, and called on PA chief Mahmoud Abbas to officially react to those statements and to specify his stand towards them.

Nixing Hammad's calls, Hamas stressed on the Palestinian people's right to resist the Israeli occupation government that usurped their lands and displaced millions of Palestinians out of their homes at gunpoint.

Instead, Hamas urged the immediate restructuring of the PA security apparatuses on national standards away from factionalism and partisan so as to serve the national interests of the Palestinian people as stipulated in the newly inked Makka agreement.

The Movement also rejected attempts of dividing the Palestinian people into two camps, "hardliners" and "moderates", asserting that the Palestinian people are one and have one and only goal that is to get rid of the occupation and to establish their independent country on their own land.

Moreover, the Movement called on the PA unity government to swiftly open the file of Palestinian collaborators who backed the IOF troops against their own people, to prosecute them, and to carry out execution terms issued by local courts against a number of them.

In an interview with the Hebrew radio on Sunday, Hammad urged the immediate resumption of security coordination between PA and Israel's security apparatuses, spurring waves of condemnation in the Palestinian street.


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premier Haniyeh: geen compromis wat betreft de vluchtelingen

Hamas maakt weer eens duidelijk dat het geen vrede met Israel wil. Men wil een Palestijnse staat, recht op terugkeer voor de vluchtelingen en recht op verzet, en zelfs daarna kan er geen vrede komen.   
 
The spokesman for Hamas in the Palestinian parliament, Salah al-Bardawil, told Haaretz, "we will not agree to recognition of Israel or peace with it [as it appears in the Saudi initiative]. We have no problem with the part of the initiative that calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders and the right of refugees to return."
 
Bardawil told Haaretz that Meshal had promised to Saudi King Adbullah that Hamas will work with the Arab consensus view, but "we cannot recognize Israel or agree to peace and normalization."
 
Meshal called on Arab leaders participating in the summit not to make concessions on refugees and the Palestinians' right to defend themselves, according to Saudi media.
 
Abbas spreekt een andere taal:
 
"This initiative simply says to Israel 'leave the occupied territories and you will live in a sea of peace that begins in Nouakchott and ends in Indonesia'," he said, referring to the Mauritanian capital in West Africa and the southeast Asian country that is the world's most populous Muslim country.
 
Wie moet Israel geloven?? Hoe kan het zakendoen met Abbas, als Hamas (dat twee keer zoveel ministers als Fatah in de nieuwe eenheidsregering heeft) tegen ieder compromis is? Voordat er serieus onderhandeld kan worden, moeten Abbas en Hamas tot overeenstemming komen over fundamentele zaken, en moet duidelijk zijn dat Abbas namens de gehele regering spreekt. 
------------------------------------------------ 
By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent, and Agencies
 

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh urged Arab leaders meeting at a summit in Riyadh on Wednesday not to compromise on the Palestinian refugees' right to return to their homes in Israel.
 
Haniyeh, the leader of the Islamist Hamas movement, told Reuters in an interview that his group would not oppose an Arab peace initiative which the summit is expected to relaunch, but would not give in on the Palestinian refugees' right of return.
 
"What concerns me more than anything else ... is not to compromise on the fundamental Palestinian rights, foremost being the right of return," Haniyeh said shortly before the summit opened.
 
"I expect the Arab summit meeting in Riyadh to reiterate the Arab countries' commitment not to compromise in any way on the Palestinian refugees right of return under any circumstances," Haniyeh said.
 
Arab leaders officially began the two-day summit in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
 
At the summit, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Arab leaders to prove they were serious about peace with Israel by reviving their five-year-old initiative.
 
"The Arab peace initiative is one of the pillars for the peace process .... This initiative sends a signal that the Arabs are serious about achieving peace," Ban told Arab leaders, according to an Arabic translation.
 
"When I was in Israel I urged my Israeli friends to take a new look at the initiative. Here in Riyadh, I also urge you, my Arab friends, to benefit from this initiative and reiterate your commitment to it because the situation is dangerous."
 
At the summit, Arab League chief Amr Moussa urged Israel to accept the initiative rather than ask for changes.
 
"The Israelis response was to ask for an amendment. We tell them to accept it first," Moussa told Arab leaders at a summit in Saudi Arabia.
 
"We are at a crossroads, it is either we move towards a real peace or see an escalation in the situation."
 
Hamas adopts ambiguity policy on Arab peace plan
In discussions with Haaretz Tuesday, a number of leading Hamas figures in the Gaza Strip said the group would refrain from expressing its views on the Arab peace initiative that members of the Arab League, including the Palestinian Authority, are expected to support during the summit in Riyadh.
 
The figures said the organization woulf adopt a policy of ambiguity on its stance vis-a-vis the peace initiative. However, senior Hamas officials admitted that they are opposed to parts of the initiative relating to a peace agreement with Israel or its recognition.
 
Palestinian sources said Tuesday that Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Meshal has promised Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah not to disrupt the decisions of the summit.
 
The same sources said that the policy of ambiguity stems from concerns that open opposition to the initiative, which is a revived version of the Saudi initiative approved at the 2002 Arab League summit in Beirut, will cause friction between Hamas and the Saudis. The initiative offers Israel normalization of relations with the Arab world in exchange for a full withdrawal to 1967 lines and a negotiated settlement to the Palestinian refugee problem.
 
Israel and the United States have not rejected the initiative but expressed reservations on such Israeli red line issues as the refugees problem. When asked whether Hamas will accept the initiative, senior officials in the group said they reject some of its principles.
 
The spokesman for Hamas in the Palestinian parliament, Salah al-Bardawil, told Haaretz, "we will not agree to recognition of Israel or peace with it [as it appears in the initiative]. We have no problem with the part of the initiative that calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders and the right of refugees to return."
 
Bardawil told Haaretz that Meshal had promised to Saudi King Adbullah that Hamas will work with the Arab consensus view, but "we cannot recognize Israel or agree to peace and normalization."
 
Meshal called on Arab leaders participating in the summit not to make concessions on refugees and the Palestinians' right to defend themselves, according to Saudi media.
 
"Meshal called on Arab leaders meeting in Riyadh to adopt a strategy based on the right to self-defense," the official Saudi news agency SPA said. "He said that conceding legitimate rights such as the right of return and the Palestinian people's right to protection was unacceptable," the report added.
 
Meshal spoke to SPA in Algeria, after a visit to Saudi Arabia for talks with officials there on Sunday.
 
Taking a more severe position, Ismail Radwan, a Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip, declared Tuesday that "the Hamas positions have not changed in any way. The new government has accepted commitments but our positions remain unchanged."
 
Another Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Fawzi Barhum, told Haaretz that "the issue is not a 'yes' or 'no' by Hamas regarding the initiative. We respect the Arab efforts to attain Palestinian rights and we will act within the Arab consensus. Nonetheless, the Zionist enemy continues to reject the initiative and we will not determine our position in reference to it before it has been accepted."
 
Meanwhile, President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to announce the Palestinian Authority's support for the initiative. Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas is not expected to present the unity government's views on the initiative.
 
Abbas: Arab plan offers Israel chance to live in 'sea of peace'
The Arab peace plan could be Israel's last chance to live in a "sea of peace" and should not be squandered, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday.
 
"This initiative simply says to Israel 'leave the occupied territories and you will live in a sea of peace that begins in Nouakchott and ends in Indonesia'," he said, referring to the Mauritanian capital in West Africa and the southeast Asian country that is the world's most populous Muslim country.
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dinsdag 27 maart 2007

Saoedi-Arabie weigert visum aan Israelische journalist

Misschien moet Saudi Arabië eerst eens met dit soort belachelijke praktijken
stoppen voordat het serieus kan worden genomen als de nieuwe vredestichter
van het Midden-Oosten...
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Saudi Arabia Bars Israeli Journalist Traveling With U.N. Chief
By WARREN HOGE
The New York Times
March 24, 2007

CAIRO, March 24 - Saudi Arabia has barred entry to a Washington-based
Israeli journalist traveling with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on his
current Middle East tour, the United Nations said today.

Mr. Ban is going to Riyadh on Tuesday for two days of the summit meeting of
the League of Arab States.

Orly Azoulay, the Washington bureau chief of Yediot Aharonot, was unable to
obtain a visa to Saudi Arabia despite assurances the Saudi mission in New
York gave the United Nations last week, said Michיle Montas, Mr. Ban's
spokeswoman.

Ms. Montas said that both Lebanon and Saudi Arabia initially refused to
grant Ms. Azoulay a visa, but that Lebanon had dropped its objections last
week and given her the needed stamp.

Ms. Azoulay, 53, an Israeli-born dual citizen of France and Israel, sought
the visa on her French passport. She said she had traveled during the past
two years to Afghanistan, Iran, Lebanon, Iraq and Pakistan and had gone to
Saudi Arabia in 2000 with correspondents covering then-Secretary of State
Madeleine K. Albright.

When the Saudi consulate in New York returned the passports of the 11 news
reporters and broadcasters to United Nations headquarters on Friday
afternoon, only Ms. Azoulay's bore no Saudi visa. Ms. Montas said this
occurred despite repeated appeals to the Saudis during the week from Vijay
Nambiar, Mr. Ban's chief of staff.

Mr. Azoulay joined the trip in London on Thursday, and Ms. Montas said that
the United Nations had been told that the visa might come through while the
United Nations group proceeded to Cairo and Jordan.

In recent days, though, she said, the Saudi mission did not return calls
from United Nations officials, and they have now concluded that Ms. Azoulay
will be not be allowed to accompany the United Nations group to Riyadh.

"The Saudis have a lot of countries coming which have no relations to
Israel, and it appears they had more concern about that than they did about
the United Nations," said an organization official who asked not to be
identified so as to speak frankly.

Mr. Ban will be in Israel on Sunday and then go to Riyadh with only a
six-hour stopover in Jordan for a working lunch with King Abdullah II.

Israel granted visas to all 11 news people, including at least 3 who are
Arab- or Iranian-born and traveling on European passports.

"When the secretary general decides that he will take under his auspices a
group of journalists, then there is some kind of responsibility that he
takes upon himself and we respect this and this is the reason Israel granted
the visas without hesitation," said Daniel Carmon, Israel's deputy United
Nations ambassador.

Asked the United Nations' reaction, Ms. Montas said, "What she was trying to
do was to report objectively, which would improve the political climate in
the region and would have been an asset to the secretary general's mission."

You Tube video ontkent Holocaust

Iemand stuurde me het volgende bericht:
 
 
I found a clip in You Tube claiming that the Holocaust did not occur.
In that video they also make fun of the Holocaust.
 
You can watch clip clicking in the link below:
 
One scene shows Jews resting and reading books in the concentration camp of Theresianstadt .
 
That camp was used as propaganda tool by the Nazis. Other scenes show musical performances and entertainment revues.
 
It is shocking to watch a video claiming that concentration camps were reading rooms for the jews.
 
"There were no 'homicidical' chambers" one can read at the end of the video. "Less than one million jews died in gas chambers", they claim.
 
 
Dezelfde persoon heeft nog ca. 60 andere video's met dergelijke strekking op YouTube gezet. Ondanks herhaalde klachten over deze video's zijn ze nog niet verwijderd, terwijl er stricte regels zijn en duizenden andere video's wel verwijderd zijn.
Je kunt je afkeuring -na inloggen- laten blijken via de link onder de video: Flag as Inappropriate
 

Arabische top in teken van Saudische vredesplan

In 2002 heeft de Arabische Liga een plan aangenomen dat Israël vrede biedt in ruil voor terugtrekking uit alle in 1967 veroverde gebieden inclusief de oude stad van Jeruzalem en een 'rechtvaardige oplossing van het vluchtelingenprobleem op grond van VN reslutie 194.' Deze resolutie wordt door de Palestijnen en de Arabische staten uitgelegd als recht op terugkeer van alle vluchtelingen en hun nakomelingen naar Israel. Op de komende top van de Arabische Liga zal dit plan opnieuw worden voorgesteld. Of dit de opmaat naar nieuwe en serieuze vredesbesprekingen kan worden, zal onder andere afhangen van de bereidheid van de Arabische staten om wijzigingen in het voorstel te accepteren en het als openingszet, niet als dictaat, te beschouwen. 
-------------------------------------------------    
Arabs head to Saudi summit to endorse Mideast peace

Reuters

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

By Wafa Amr

Palestinian Foreign Minister Ziad Abu Amr said on Tuesday the time was right for Arab states and Israel to frame a settlement of their conflict with broad international backing.

Arab leaders arriving in Riyadh were expected to relaunch a peace initiative that offers Israel normal ties with all Arab states in return for full withdrawal from land it occupied in the 1967 Middle East war. Israel rejected the plan in 2002, but along with the United States has recently shown more interest.

"The time is right to reach a settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict," the Palestinian Foreign Minister said. "I think if the relevant parties are serious we have a good plan that can achieve peace and security in the region for all."

Draft resolutions for the March 28-29 summit, hammered out in only a few hours on Monday, are dominated by the Arab-Israeli conflict and appear designed to entice Israel into talks without altering the text of the 2002 peace initiative.

Israel has made clear its objections to some parts, including the proposed full return to 1967 borders, inclusion of East Jerusalem, annexed by Israel, in a Palestinian state and demands over the return of Palestinian refugees.

The draft text obtained by Reuters reiterates a call "to all Israelis to accept the initiative and seize the current opportunity to return to the direct and serious negotiating process at all levels."

The text is viewed with caution by more militant groups on the Arab side.

Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal was quoted by Saudi media as urging Arab leaders ahead of the summit not to make concessions on Palestinian refugees.

"Meshaal called on Arab leaders meeting in Riyadh to adopt a strategy based on the right to self-defense," the official Saudi news agency SPA said.

Hamas demands a right to return for all Palestinians and descendants who fled or were driven from what is now Israel during the upheavals of the late 1940s. It has refused to recognize Israel but Palestinian officials say it has agreed not to go against the Arab peace plan during the summit.

RIGHT OF RETURN

The draft resolution sets up a mechanism to promote the peace plan that could pave the way for Arab countries with no ties to Israel to open up their own official diplomatic channels -- a long-time goal of U.S. administrations.

The final draft also avoids any mention of the phrase "right of return" for Palestinian refugees, which Israel has strongly argued against. The Arab peace initiative only talks of a just solution to the refugee question.

The text avoids a clear rejection of the idea of a Palestinian state with temporary borders, which was floated by Washington and is provided for in the peace "road map" set up by the "Quartet" of mediators including the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is to attend the Arab summit, said on Monday that Israeli and Palestinian leaders, along with officials from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, could be invited to attend the next Quartet meeting, expected to take place in Egypt.

A public meeting that brings Israeli and Saudi officials together would be a breakthrough. The countries do not have formal relations, though there are reports of informal contacts.

The summit will also give backing to the Palestinian unity government, which is led by Islamic group Hamas, and encourage the international community to end an embargo on political and financial links with the government.

(Additional reporting by Andrew Hammond)

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