zaterdag 16 juni 2007

Syrië: wel praten, geen vrede

Een wat cynische blik op de mogelijke intenties van president Assad achter zijn voorstellen tot vredesonderhandelingen met Israël. Hij heeft geen behoefte aan open betrekkingen, aan Israëlische toeristen in Damascus en Syriërs die zien hoe het er in een democratie aan toe gaat, en dan hebben we het nog niet over de hand van Teheran. Uiteraard kan alleen Assad Hezbollah in toom houden, en moet Libanon dus weer onder Syrische 'patronage' komen.
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http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3409448,00.html
Assad wants talks, not peace
Negotiations would end Syrian isolation, but deal would only bring cold peace
Smadar Peri Published: 06.06.07, 18:03 / Israel Opinion

No one here talks about the "return" in exchange for a peace agreement with Syria; they only talk about the "cost" it would entail. And indeed, no surprises are anticipated: A full withdrawal from the Golan Heights with tiny cosmetic modifications in the best-case scenario. On the other hand, the "return" Bashar Assad is willing to offer Israel is vague.

Assad has nothing to offer; he doesn't wish to make any offers. It will be an agreement of give-me-and-you-can-dream-of-getting-anything-in-return.

The Mukhabarat's (Syria's secret police) worst nightmare is the thought that thousands of Israeli tourists would flock to the al-Hamidiya market in Damascus. It should be noted now: If a Syrian embassy is ever established in Tel Aviv (the late Assad opposed it), only rarely would it issue visas, and the Syrians would not come here.

They would resort to the excuse that Israel is too expensive, or that Israel has yet to end its conflict with the Palestinians. Yet the truth is that anything that emits a sense of Israeli-Syrian normalcy is perceived as a threat to the minority Alawite regime, which owes its survival to apparatuses of force and intimidation.

True peaceful relations with Israel may revive the calls for democracy that accompanied Assad's rise to power seven years ago. The young optometrist handed out promises, yet the dreams were shattered with a wave of arrests that haven't ceased to this very day. Democracy in Syria would inevitably topple Assad.

Assad to demand Lebanon too
With regards to Syria's "return" for an Israeli withdrawal, I have not yet mentioned Iran's claws, which are deeply penetrating Syria. The Ayatollahs from Teheran are accompanying Assad's campaign for peace. He doesn't act behind their backs, but they will not permit him to dance to the true sounds of peace. It would be a frozen peace.

On the other hand, Assad should be believed when he says he really wants to renew negotiations. What does he have to lose? A photo op of a Syrian delegation opposite an Israeli one would immediately lift Damascus out of international isolation.

The Administration in Washington would have to erase Syria from its axis of evil; businesspeople would be permitted to assist the faltering economy; the investigation into the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri would dissipate and moderate Arab states would have to woo Assad.

It is worthwhile listening to what is being said at high places in Cairo, Riyadh and Amman regarding Syria's peace intentions and Assad's personality. Assad, according to them, would not suffice with the Golan Heights. His advisors would insist that a deal with Israel would also return Lebanon to Syrian sovereignty.

Only we, the Syrians would say, are capable of controlling Hizbullah and suppressing the conflicts in the refugee camps such as the one currently raging at Nahr al-Barad that is threatening to spread throughout Lebanon.

Until recently it was estimated here that we could keep holding on to the Golan until a visionary leader such as Anwar Sadat or his neighbor Hussein would emerge in Syria. However, young Assad, 42, has just garnered 97 percent support for renewing his term in office, and it doesn't look like he is planning to disappear any time soon.

He is beating the war drums in full cooperation with Teheran while uttering words of peace each time Washington makes a threat. He believes that Israel will have no choice but to return to the negotiating table.

Gaza: the era of justice and Islamic rule has arrived

"We are telling our people that the past era has ended and will not return," Islam Shahawan, a spokesman for Hamas' militia, told Hamas radio. "The era of justice and Islamic rule has arrived."

And that doesn't look good. Justice and islamic rule means throwing people from 15 stock buildings, killing injured patients in a hospital, executing people while their wifes and children are looking on.  

Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, heralded what he called Gaza's second liberation, after Israel's 2005 evacuation of the coastal strip.

I wonder if most Palestinians share this view. What is left of the hope after the Israeli settlers and the army left Gaza?           Don't tell me the Israelis wanted this. They wanted quiet, and, okay, also a good press. They didn't want qassams and they didn't want Hamastan. You don't always get what you want. If neither most Palestinians nor the Israelis wanted this, then who did??? Maybe we should look at Iran, one of the biggest weapons and money suppliers of Hamas, and staunchly opposed to a two-state solution.

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Last update - 15:20 14/06/2007  

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/870763.html
Hamas takes control of security HQ in Gaza City

By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent, and Agencies


Hamas fighters overran the key Preventative Security headquarters in Gaza City on Thursday, as part of what appeared to be a systematic offensive aimed at seizing control of the security mechanism across the Gaza Strip.

The Islamist group later called on Fatah fighters to surrender another key security installation in Gaza City within the hour. The call to give up the National Security compound was broadcast on Hamas radio.

"We are telling our people that the past era has ended and will not return," Islam Shahawan, a spokesman for Hamas' militia, told Hamas radio. "The era of justice and Islamic rule has arrived."

Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, heralded what he called Gaza's second liberation, after Israel's 2005 evacuation of the coastal strip.

Hamas gunmen broke through Fatah defenses at the compound in Gaza City on Thursday morning. They fired rocket-propelled grenades at the compound, provoking return fire from Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' presidential guard.

The rival factions have been engaged in bloody battles since Sunday, resulting in the deaths of at least 70 people. By noon Thursday, at least eight people had been killed. Al-Jazeera TV reported early Thursday afternoon that the death toll had climbed to at least 16.

Fatah officials said seven of their fighters were shot dead in the street outside Preventive Security building. A witness, Jihad Abu Ayad, said the men were being killed before their wives and children.

"They are executing them one by one," Abu Ayad said. "They are carrying one of them on their shoulders, putting him on a sand dune, turning him around and shooting."

Some of the Hamas fighters kneeled down outside the building, touching their foreheads to the ground in prayer. Others led Fatah fighters out of the building, some of them shirtless or in their underwear, holding their arms in the air. Several of the Fatah men flinched as the crack of gunfire split the air.

Abbas gives Fatah order to fight back
An aide to Abbas said earlier Thursday that the Fatah leader had issued the first orders to his elite guard to strike back against Hamas fighters.

Fatah forces had previously lashed out at Abbas, saying he left them with no directions and no support in the fight. Abbas' strongman in Gaza, Mohammed Dahlan, had been in Cairo for medical treatment. He returned to the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday afternoon.

Numerically superior Fatah forces have been crumbling fast under the onslaught by the better-armed and better-disciplined Hamas fighters.

"There will be no dialogue with Fatah, only the sword and the rifle," Nezar Rayyan, a senior Hamas official, told Hamas radio Thursday. "God willing, we will lead the Friday prayer in the president's office, and transform the [Gaza City] security complex into a big mosque."

Before dawn Thursday, Fatah fighters abandoned positions in central Gaza, then blew them up rather than turn them over as Hamas forces advanced.

Gaza hospitals were operating without water, electricity or blood units. Even holed up inside their homes, Gazans weren't able to escape fighting that turned so many apartment buildings into battlefields.

Angered by the rout of their comrades in the Gaza fighting, Palestinian security forces in the West Bank allied to Abbas have arrested large numbers of men from Hamas.

Abbas met Thursday with the decision-making bodies of the organization and the PLO, and was to make an important announcement later, aides said.

One aide, speaking on condition of anonymity because no decision had been made, said Abbas was considering dissolving the governing coalition with Hamas.

Earlier in the week, Fatah ministers suspended their activities in the government due to the Gaza violence, but stopped short of dismantling the partnership.

The unity government was formed in March in a bid to stem a previous round of violence, and in the hopes of easing the international boycott imposed in the wake of the Hamas election victory in January 2006. Neither aim was achieved.

The fighting continued despite an agreement Wednesday night by Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas of the need to bring an end to the fighting between their respective parties.

Gaza: "Wij zijn geen Joden"

"Wij zijn geen Joden", riep de broer van de secretaris van Fatah en leider van de aan Fatah gelieerde Al Aqsa Martelaren Brigade, toen zijn huis, waarin 35 familieleden aanwezig waren, door de Hamas onder vuur werd genomen en met granaten werd bestookt. Enige minuten later stierf hij.
 
Hij ging er niet vanuit dat hem dezelfde behandeling te wachten stond als die de Hamas voor de Joden in petto heeft, namelijk moord in koelen bloede.
 
Zolang zowel Hamas als Fatah dergelijke praktijken acceptabel vinden voor Joden, zal het moeilijk worden om tot vrede met Israël te komen.
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New Blog on Gaza

Tuesday, June 12th, 2007

Many of us concerned with what is turning into an all out Fateh-Hamas conflict in Gaza might be interested by this view from the inside. The writer is a Telegraph reporter who I met while he was freelancing for the Christian Science Monitor and learning Arabic in Egypt.

When I first started living in Cairo, all the reporters covering the Iraq war were based there and would come unwind in the busy Egyptian capitol. They are great reporters, but so few spoke any Arabic. Charles, the Conflict Blotter author has spent more time than I have learning Egyptian Aamiyah and fusha and now Palestinian Arabic…this makes his reporting all the more relevant and nuanced.

Conflict Blotter thinks that the fighting will remain mostly in Gaza and not spread to the West Bank. However, his account of the last broadcast words of the brother of Jamal Abu al-Jediyan is chilling:

Hamas has stormed the home of Jamal Abu Jideyan, general secretary of Fatah in Northern Gaza and an Al Aqsa Brigades commander, and assassinated him. About 20 minutes ago we were listening to Sawt Al Hurriya, a Palestinian radio station, as Jideyan's brother called into the station frantic. Hamas militants had surrouned the family's home in the Jabbaliya refugee camp and had fired 16 RPG rounds at the home, with 35 family members inside, he said. "They're firing at us, firing RPGs, firing mortars. We're not Jews," he screamed into the telephone live on air, gun fire bursting in the background.

Gunmen invade hospital in Gaza and kill injured patient

Is dit hoe Hamas de orde in de Gazastrook hersteld?
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Gunmen invade hospital in Gaza and kill injured patient
Date: 15 / 06 / 2007  Time:  12:27   
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=22993 

Executive Force combatants (MaanImages)
 
Gaza - Ma'an – Gunmen disguised in Executive Force uniform invaded the Kamal Adwan Hospital and assassinated injured patient, Ramadan Sa'ed Ghaben, as well as shooting two women who were with him, on Thursday night.
 
The Palestinian health ministry condemned the attack and issued a statement warning that several hospitals and medical centres in Gaza are in danger of similar attacks.
 
The statement added that such attacks are negatively affecting the work of medical staff, and hospitals are seriously considering ceasing work, in order to protect staff.

Two states for one people

Two states for one people

Palestinian nightmare taking shape: 2 separate states in West Bank and Gaza

Ronny Shaked Published:  06.14.07, 17:25 / Israel Opinion
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3412688,00.html

Fatah has collapsed in the Gaza Strip; it's gone completely under. Gaza has turned into a jungle. Everyone is fighting each other. The political conflict between Fatah and Hamas has turned into a clan war, a war between brothers. Scores have been opened that can't be settled, and vendettas are threatening to lead Gaza to terrible anarchy. The Palestinians are destroying their future with their own hands.

Within this chaos the state of Hamastan is being created upon the ruins of the Palestinian entity. Fatah is barely able to hold on to some key positions, yet it is clear that the new Hamas reality in Gaza has reached the point of no return. There is no one to stop it.

The US and Israel as well would be deluding themselves by thinking that Mahmoud Abbas and his government can be salvaged. That day has passed, and Abbas' leadership has nothing left to say. Abbas is detached from reality; he is living in the past, ignoring the present and incapable of planning the future. He is still entertaining the hope that he could mend the fences and therefore has still not ordered his forces in Gaza to fight back.

One of the strategic results of the Hamas victory in Gaza is the formation of two divided Palestinian zones, each with a different reality and leadership. The Palestinians' nightmare has been created before their very eyes - separation between Gaza and the West Bank; two states for one people.

This situation isn't good for Israel. It's actually dreadful. The mutual bloodletting in the Strip is not working in our favor. Israel failed to understand the new reality created in Gaza following the elections.

No long-term Gaza policy

Israel didn't do a thing to embolden the moderate camp; the meetings between Ehud Olmert and Abbas were futile and humiliating. Israel didn't have nor does it have a long-term Gaza policy. This vacuum was filled by Hamas, which grew stronger because there was no power that could hinder it from conquering the Strip. Even during the past month, following the Qassam rocket fire on Sderot, Israel missed the chance of striking at Hamas.

The outcome is a new Hamas rule in Gaza that Israel cannot cooperate with, but it would not be able to ignore its needs, because it would have to continue caring for the population and supply its needs.

Israel, even if it really wants to, cannot at this point in time disengage from Gaza, but it certainly doesn't  want to go back there. A temporary solution may come in the form of international forces that would primarily be of Arab composition.

However, the entanglement of that dense piece of land in the southwestern tip of the State of Israel has become much more complex during the past week.

vrijdag 15 juni 2007

Hezbollah 'has stockpiled rockets' on Israeli border

Onder de ogen van de UNIFIL vredesmacht is Hezbollah sterker geworden dan voor de oorlog vorig jaar. Dit is niet alleen een bedreiging voor Israël, maar ook voor de Libanese democratie, die van de week weer een slag werd toegebracht met de liquidatie van een anti-Syrisch parlementslid.
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Hezbollah 'has stockpiled rockets' on Israeli border
Uzi Mahnaimi Zarit, Lebanese border The Sunday Times June 10, 2007
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article1910154.ece

HEZBOLLAH, the powerful Iranian-backed militia that fought the Israeli army last summer, has built a network of underground military bunkers under the feet of United Nations peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon close to Israel's border.

It has rebuilt its fighting capability and Israeli intelligence now estimates that it has stockpiled 20,000 rockets.

"Hezbollah will never leave southern Lebanon," said Shaul Mofaz, the former defence minister, last week. "It's now armed with rockets that could hit central and even southern Israel."

Hezbollah, which was forced to move away from the border as part of last August's ceasefire deal, has returned by stealth. "Since the Israeli forces left, Hezbollah has been building formidable military underground posts under the noses of the UN," said an Israeli intelligence officer.

Before last summer's war in Lebanon Hezbollah had more than 20 positions along the border. All were destroyed by the Israelis, who also killed several hundred fighters.

Soon after the ceasefire agreement Hezbollah began to rebuild its positions in Shi'ite villages close to the Israeli border.

"The entrance to an underground post is usually in the backgarden of a Hezbollah supporter," said one source. "The householder receives compensation for the use of his garden."

Modern equipment is used to sink the shafts, sometimes as deep as 70ft. Some bunkers are as wide as a football field, others can hold fewer than 10 fighters.

They are equipped with sophisticated communications equipment and many are believed to be connected by tunnels, limiting Israel's ability to destroy them from the air.

Since last August huge quantities of arms, including Russian-made antitank missiles, short- and long-range rockets, small arms, mines and ammunition have been smuggled into Lebanon from Syria and Iran.

Israeli military intelligence sources say there is particular concern over long-range Fatah-110 rockets that have been supplied to Hezbollah.

This rocket, with a 125-mile range and a 500lb warhead, is an improved version of a Chinese assault rocket, said Uzi Rubin, an Israeli missile expert. These rockets could reach Tel Aviv if hostilities resume.

Reports this weekend suggested that Israel may be willing to return the Golan Heights to Syria in a peace deal that would require Damascus to cut ties with Hezbollah and other militant groups. But Brigadier General Yosef Baidatz, a senior military intelligence officer, told the Israeli parliament's foreign and defence committee last week that Syria was preparing for war.
 

ChristenUnie: Erkenning Israël cruciaal voor vrede

De ChristenUnie pleit tegen contacten met de Palestijnse eenheidsregering, en heeft alle hoop op president Abbas gevestigd. Dit is een beetje vreemd, want Abbas maakt deel uit van de eenheidsregering en heeft de regeringsverklaring ondertekend. Er is geen Fatah binnen de eenheidsregering en erbuiten, er is één Fatah en dat zit (vooralsnog) samen met Hamas en onafhankelijke ministers in de eenheidsregering.  

"De ChristenUnie vindt dat alle inspanningen nu gericht moeten zijn op het versterken van de positie van president Abbas. De hernieuwde onderhandelingen tussen Olmert en Abbas en de Amerikaanse minister van Buitenlandse zaken Rice zijn een goed voorteken dat er schot zit in het zoeken naar mogelijke vredesregelingen. Het vredesinitiatief van de Arabische Liga is een goed uitgangspunt om tot onderhandelingen te komen.

Om het vertrouwen tussen Abbas en Olmert te herstellen kan Abbas zich inzetten door een teken van leven te geven van de ontvoerde Israëlische soldaat, door de raketaanvallen vanuit de Gazastrook te stoppen alsook het interne geweld tussen Fatah en Hamas. Olmert zal op zijn beurt het leger moeten aanspreken op proportionaliteit als het gaat om het gebruik van geweld, het vergroten van de bewegingsvrijheid van de Palestijnen en het stoppen met de uitbouw van de nederzettingen.
" 

Het probleem is dat Abbas vrij machteloos staat, en tot genoemde zaken simpelweg niet in staat is. Hamas heeft de Gazastrook overgenomen; hoe kan Abbas dan aan informatie over Shalit komen of de qassam aanvallen stoppen?? Het is wishful thinking ten top. Ontmoetingen tussen Olmert en Abbas zijn prima, maar Abbas kan geen beloftes aan Olmert doen, en dat maakt het moeilijk voor Israël om concessies te doen.
 
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ChristenUnie

Erkenning Israël cruciaal voor vrede
woensdag 13 juni 2007 13:32
 
Ter herdenking van de zesdaagse oorlog, veertig jaar gelden, riep president Abbas Fatah en Hamas op een volledige burgeroorlog in de Gaza te voorkomen. Hij noemde de onderlinge strijd zelfs erger dan het leven onder de Israëlische bezetting. Is er nog hoop voor het vredesproces tussen Israël en de Palestijnen, en wat kan Nederland hieraan bijdragen?

Een Palestijnse journalist bezoekt de Tweede Kamer en ik krijg gruwelijke beelden te zien van het geweld in de Gazastrook. Het geweld tussen de Israëlische soldaten en de Palestijnen, en tussen de Palestijnen onderling. De journalist pleit voor vrede en rust in Gaza. Ik verbaas me over de aanwezigheid van vele kinderen en jongeren bij de demonstraties die vaak op geweld uitlopen. Waarom nemen vaders hun kinderen mee naar demonstraties? Waarom zoveel geweld? Palestijnse kinderen worden op de Hamastelevisie aangespoord om zelfmoordaanslagen te plegen en er zijn sinds 30 april honderden Qassamraketten vanuit Gaza op Israël afgevuurd. Ik begrijp van de journalist dat vele Palestijnen in de Gazastrook ook niet achter deze beschietingen staan. Ik ben het met hem eens: het bloedvergieten en het doden van onschuldige kinderen, vrouwen en ouderen, die niets met het conflict te maken hebben, moet stoppen. En er moet een duurzame oplossing komen waardoor twee volken in vrede naast elkaar kunnen leven. Die vrede kan pas standhouden onder de voorwaarde die het [Nederlandse] regeerakkoord noemt: 'Veilige en erkende grenzen voor Israël en een levensvatbare Palestijnse staat'.

Zolang de Palestijnse eenheidsregering de staat Israël niet erkent en het gebruik van geweld niet afwijst, zal er geen vooruitgang geboekt worden in de vredesbesprekingen. Dat de Palestijnse regering, gedomineerd door Hamas, daartoe niet bereid is, blijkt steeds weer. Premier Haniyeh zei op 2 april in een Saudische krant dat ,,er geen sprake kan zijn van de erkenning van Israël''. ,,Alle vorm van verzet is een legitiem recht van de Palestijnen''. De Hamasleider in Gaza, Sami Abu Zuhri, zei het op 6 april als volgt: ,,Hiermee voeden we onze kinderen op: gewapend verzet, geen erkenning van Israël, een Palestijnse staat van de rivier tot aan de zee, alle heilige plaatsen zijn van ons, inclusief Jeruzalem, alle vluchtelingen dienen terug te keren naar Israël.''

Somber
De ChristenUnie is het met minister Verhagen van Buitenlandse Zaken eens dat alleen gesprekken tussen premier Olmert en president Abbas kunnen leiden tot tastbare verbeteringen van de veiligheid voor de Israëliërs en de Palestijnen. Verhagen wil ook contacten onderhouden met gematigde ministers van de eenheidsregering. De ChristenUnie is daar tegen, omdat dan toch de indruk ontstaat dat Nederland banden aanhaalt met een regering waarin de meerderheid van de ministers, inclusief de premier, lid is van Hamas. Hamas staat al jaren op de lijsten van terroristische organisaties van de Europese Unie. Omdat de minister toch steun kreeg voor zijn opstelling van CDA en PvdA diende ik onlangs een motie in die van de regering vraagt om de relaties met de eenheidsregering te heroverwegen indien geweldsuitbarstingen door Hamas worden ondersteund of goedgekeurd. De Hamaswoordvoerder heeft inmiddels gemeld dat Hamas achter de raketbeschietingen vanuit Gaza staat en niets zal doen om deze te verhinderen. Op de Palestijnse staatstelevisie worden oproepen uitgesproken om ,,de kelen door te snijden van Palestijnen die niet hun gezicht bedekken,,. Er vinden in Gaza aanvallen plaats op internetcafés, restaurants met tv-schotels, christelijke en buitenlandse instellingen. Deze en andere uitspraken lijken mij reden genoeg om de relatie met de eenheidsregering te heroverwegen.

Vredesinitiatief
De ChristenUnie vindt dat alle inspanningen nu gericht moeten zijn op het versterken van de positie van president Abbas. De hernieuwde onderhandelingen tussen Olmert en Abbas en de Amerikaanse minister van Buitenlandse zaken Rice zijn een goed voorteken dat er schot zit in het zoeken naar mogelijke vredesregelingen. Het vredesinitiatief van de Arabische Liga is een goed uitgangspunt om tot onderhandelingen te komen.

Om het vertrouwen tussen Abbas en Olmert te herstellen kan Abbas zich inzetten door een teken van leven te geven van de ontvoerde Israëlische soldaat, door de raketaanvallen vanuit de Gazastrook te stoppen alsook het interne geweld tussen Fatah en Hamas. Olmert zal op zijn beurt het leger moeten aanspreken op proportionaliteit als het gaat om het gebruik van geweld, het vergroten van de bewegingsvrijheid van de Palestijnen en het stoppen met de uitbouw van de nederzettingen.

Bij de onderhandelingen past voor Nederland bescheidenheid als het gaat om een blauwdruk voor een definitief vredesverdrag. Uiteindelijk telt het resultaat, stopzetting van het onderlinge bloedvergieten.

(Auteur: Joël Voordewind. Hij is buitenlandwoordvoerder van de ChristenUnie in de Tweede Kamer.)

Bron: nieuwsbank http://www.nieuwsbank.nl/inp/2007/06/13/R288.htm

donderdag 14 juni 2007

Abbas dissolves government, declares state of emergency

For a commentary on the recent developments see also Gaza: US and Israel are asleep at the controls
 
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Last update - 21:58 14/06/2007   
 
Abbas dissolves gov't, declares state of emergency
 
By News Agencies

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas decided Thursday to declare a state of emergency and to dissolve the Hamas-Fatah coalititon government, following Hamas' near-complete takeover in the Gaza Strip.
 
Abbas' Fatah movement and rival faction Hamas have been waging bloody warfare in the Gaza Strip as Hamas moved in to seize control; at least 80 Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of this week.
 
The decisions were announced in a news conference by top Abbas aide Tayeb Abdel Rahim.
 
The PA chairman also intends to call for the deployment of a multi-national force in Gaza, and plans to appoint an independent politician as the new Palestinian prime minister, to replace Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, his aides said earlier.
 
Abbas had already informed the United States, Egypt and Jordan of his decision, Rahim said.
 
Following the announcement of Abbas' decision, Hamas issued a statement saying it rejected Abbas' decrees.
 
"Hamas rejects the Abbas decisions. In practical terms these decisions are worthless. Prime Minister Haniyeh remains the head of the government even if it was dissolved by the president," senior Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters.
 
Earlier Thursday, Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti said that the factions would attend an Egyptian-brokered meeting in the Gaza Strip later in the day. The information could not be confirmed independently.
 
In recent days, Hamas has repeatedly refused to attend Egyptian-brokered truce talks.
 
Meanwhile, the PLO decision-making body recommended Thursday that Abbas declare a state of emergency and dismantle the Palestinian unity government in response to Hamas' near-takeover of Gaza, an aide said.
 
Abbas said he would review the recommendations and make decision within hours, said Nabil Amr.
 
Earlier in the week, Fatah ministers suspended their activities in the government due to the Gaza violence, but stopped short of dismantling the partnership.
 
The unity government was formed in a bid to stem a previous round of violence, and in the hopes of easing the international boycott imposed in the wake of the Hamas election victory in January 2006. Neither aim was achieved.
 

Two women would-be suicide bombers caught on way to attack

Het meest cynische is wellicht het misbruik van de mogelijkheid van Palestijnen in Israëlische ziekenhuizen behandeld te worden. Hoe vreemd dat Israël dergelijke aanvragen met wantrouwen bekijkt. Dit is niet de eerste keer dat een ziekenhuisbehandeling als middel wordt gebruikt om Israël binnen te komen.

Als Palestijnen in de toekomst (nog) moeilijker toestemming krijgen voor een behandeling in Israël, dan weet u waar u moet klagen: bij Islamitische Jihad.
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Last update - 16:26 13/06/2007  

Two women would-be suicide bombers caught on way to attack

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/870671.html

By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent


The Shin Bet security service revealed Wednesday that it successfully curbed a double suicide attack planned for Tel Aviv and Netanya by the Islamic Jihad.

According to the Shin Bet, two women from the Gaza Strip were arrested who were supposed to carry out the attack.

The two women, mothers to young children, were arrested at the Erez checkpoint on May 20, while attempting to enter Israel.

One of the women, a 30-year-old mother of four, requested permission from Israel to reach Ramallah, falsely claiming she needed medical care. Her aunt, a 39-year-old mother of eight who was pregnant, was supposed to accompany her to treatment in Ramallah.

The Shin Bet maintains that the two were due to meet with an Islamic Jihad militant in Ramallah, who was supposed to give them explosive belts and take them to their destined locations inside Israel.
 

EU resumes aid to the Palestinian ministry of finance

Na de verovering van de Gazastrook kan Hamas inderdaad wel wat geld gebruiken. Ik bedoel, hoe is te garanderen dat geld dat naar de door Hamas gecontroleerde Palestijnse Autoriteit gaat, niet in handen van Hamas terechtkomt?? De PA doet totaal niks om de orde te herstellen en wetteloosheid tegen te gaan, integendeel, het draagt er aan bij. Op de loonlijst van de PA staan onder andere gunmen die nu gewonden in ziekenhuizen doodschieten en tegenstanders standrechtelijk executeren.
 
Ondanks de zogenaamde boycot, heeft de PA vorig jaar meer geld ontvangen van de internationale gemeenschap dan voor de verkiezingsoverwinning van Hamas.

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EU resumes aid to the Palestinian ministry of finance
Date: 11 / 06 / 2007  Time:  12:17
www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=22853

Bethlehem - Ma'an - The European Union announced on Monday that it is to renew economic support to the Palestinian ministry of finance.

On Monday, Palestinian finance minister, Dr Salam Fayyad, and European Commissioner Representative, John Kjaer, signed an agreement to re-launch the European Assistance to the Palestinian finance ministry.

Initially the European Union will provide funding for a EURO 4 million project to support the finance minister in ensuring that Palestinian taxpayers' money is spent efficiently and that all expenditure is accounted for according to international standards.

The EU was formerly one of the largest financial supporters of the Palestinian finance ministry. However, following the success of the Hamas government in the January 2006 elections, the EU withdrew aid to the Palestinian government. Following the withdrawal of aid the Hamas government struggled to function and was often unable to pay employees.

The EU stated in a press release, "With the establishment of the National Unity Government and the appointment of a Minister committed both to the Quartet principles and the development of sound public financial management, the European Commission has decided to renew its assistance to the Ministry of Finance."

Dr Salam Fayyad said, "This support for the Ministry's internal audit and internal control departments will help me ensure that we work in accordance with the best international standards, and that the government can give every Palestinian taxpayer the assurance that their money is being legally and honestly spent."

Kjaer urged the EU to exert pressure on Israel to release the tax revenues owed to the Palestinians.

Although this limited resumption of aid to one ministry of the Palestinian government does not indicate a full acceptance of the Palestinian coalition, it marks a discernible change in policy of the EU.

Salam Fayyad is a non-Hamas minister and member of the Palestinian Third Way party. Hamas, the democratically-elected choice of the Palestinian people in 2006, remains listed as a terrorist organization by the EU, US and Israel, among others.

Defense establishment to rethink Gaza policy after Hamas conquest

Last update - 08:55 14/06/2007   

Defense establishment to rethink Gaza policy after Hamas conquest
 
By Haaretz Service

The defense establishment is to hold meetings next week in an effort to prepare recommendations for a new policy in the Gaza Strip, in the wake of what seems to a Hamas conquest of the area.
 
The general assessment in the Israel Defense Forces is that there is a new reality in the Strip and that Hamas has defeated Fatah in the battle for power.
 
Israel is watching the developments in the area with grave concern.
 
Hamas effectively completed its victory over Fatah in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday following a day of fighting in which 26 people were killed.
 
Most of the dead were affiliated with Fatah, although at least two civilians participating in a peace demonstration and two United Nations aid workers were also killed. Since the fighting began Sunday, at least 67Palestinians have been killed in the internecine battles.
 
Since Hamas is boycotted by Israel, it is still unclear how essential contacts will be handled, particularly in matters of coordination over the control of transit points and the entry into Israel of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip for humanitarian purposes.
 
At this stage all crossings into the Gaza Strip are closed to traffic because of the fighting. IDF forces along the border fence have been instructed to show restraint and avoid being dragged into the Palestinian infighting.
 
Israeli political sources said Wednesday that the Hamas takeover requires that Israel reexamine its ties with the Gaza Strip, and whether it will continue its economic ties, the infrastructure links - providing of fuel and electricity from Israel.
 
The situation emerging in the Gaza Strip is also lending greater urgency to the decision of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to promote an initiative for the deployment of a multi-national force along the Philadelphi Route and for the construction of a barrier to combat smuggling of arms and weapons into the Gaza Strip.
 
A strategy for the containment of the current situation will be on the agenda of talks between Olmert and President George Bush in Washington next Tuesday.
 

Abbas orders Fatah forces to fight back in Gaza

Nadat Hamas de Gazastrook heeft overgenomen, krijgt Fatah het bevel terug te vechten, en dit pas nadat Fatah officials Abbas onder zware druk hebben gezet. De prangende vraag is, waarom Fatah alle wapens die het van de VS heeft gekregen en de westerse trainingen niet eerder heeft gebruikt?? Op papier heeft Fatah meer strijdkrachten met superieure wapens en training. Je zou haast gaan denken dat ze zijn omgekocht. 
Ondertussen zal de democratische gekozen Hamas een democratisch islamitisch bestuur in Gaza gaan instellen, waarin vrouwen die zonder hoofddoek op TV verschijnen worden bedreigd, en te vrijpostig geklede vrouwen op straat zuur in hun gezicht krijgen gegooid, en internetcafe's en uitgaansgelegenheden worden gesloten.
 
_________________________________
 
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/870763.html
Last update - 12:15 14/06/2007   
 
Aides: Abbas orders Fatah forces to fight back in Gaza
 
By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent, and Agencies
 

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas gave his first order to his elite presidential guard Thursday to strike back against Hamas rivals.
 
Fatah and Islamic rivals Hamas have been engaged in bloody battles since Sunday, resulting in the deaths of at least 60 people. Of that number, 33 were killed Wednesday.
 
Numerically superior Fatah forces have been crumbling fast under the onslaught by the better-armed and better-disciplined Hamas fighters.
 
Hamas gunmen Thursday morning broke through Fatah defenses at its Preventive Security compound in Gaza City.
 
Fighters from the two factions were waging heavy battles inside the compound, sources said.
 
Before dawn Thursday, Fatah fighters abandoned positions in central Gaza, then blew them up rather than turn them over as Hamas forces advanced.
 
Hospitals were operating without water, electricity or blood units. Even holed up inside their homes, Gazans weren't able to escape fighting that turned so many apartment buildings into battlefields.
 
Angered by the rout of their comrades in the Gaza fighting, Palestinian security forces in the West Bank allied to Abbas have arrested large numbers of men from Hamas.
 
On Wednesday, Hamas militants seized most Fatah positions in the coastal territory, prompting an Abbas aide to declare that "Gaza is lost."
 
A Hamas militant was killed early Thursday in clashes with Fatah gunmen in the southern Gaza town of Rafah. At around the same time, three bodies were brought to Gaza City's Shifa hospital.
 
Hundreds of senior Fatah officials fearing for their lives requested Wednesday that Israel evacuate them from Gaza by sea.
 
Diplomats said a top aide to Abbas told them that some of the Fatah leader's men ran for their lives, others ran out of bullets and that after days of battle "Gaza is lost."
 
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah was to meet with the decision-making bodies of the organization and the PLO, and was to make an important announcement later, aides said.
 
One aide, speaking on condition of anonymity because no decision had been made, said Abbas was considering dissolving Fatah's dysfunctional governing coalition with Hamas.
 
Earlier in the week, Fatah ministers suspended their activities in the government due to the Gaza violence, but stopped short of dismantling the partnership.
 
The unity government was formed in March in a bid to stem a previous round of violence, and as a move to ease the international boycott imposed in the wake of the Hamas election victory in January 2006.
 
Truce talks
The West Bank arrests came after Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas agreed late Wednesday on the need to bring an end to the fighting between their respective parties, which killed at least 27 people Wednesday.
 
Abbas and Haniyeh made their clearest move yet to reach out to the other, agreeing in a telephone call on the need to staunch the bloodshed, according to a Hamas official and a television station run by Fatah.
 
Hamas emphasized, following the Fatah-affiliated television broadcast, that the two leaders had not reached a cease-fire agreement, but were merely in preliminary talks.
 
Hamas radio denied the two had reached an agreement, and clashes increased in intensity in the hour after the statement was broadcast.
 
Earlier, a Hamas spokesman offered a conditional cease-fire under which the interior minister, a post now held by Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, would command all of the Palestinian security services.
 
"[Egyptian mediators] received the proposal and promised to present it to Abbas. The ball is now in [his] court. Hamas does not set impossible conditions, and if there are serious intentions to resolve the crisis, we will be ready to reciprocate," said Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman.
 
Abbas has branded the fighting "madness," and pleaded with Hamas' Damascus-based political leader, Khaled Meshal, for a halt to the violence. His forces - desperately trying to cling to their remaining bases in Gaza - lashed out at Abbas, saying he left them with no directions and no support in the fight.
 

Minister Verhagen: Er is een weg naar vrede in het Midden-Oosten (Trouw)

deVerdieping   | podium  | 12-06-2007
Minister Verhagen: Er is een weg naar vrede in het Midden-Oosten (opinie)
 
 
Veertig jaar vredesproces heeft ons inzicht verschaft in wat Israëliërs en Palestijnen willen en nodig hebben. Beëindiging van het Palestijns-Israëlisch conflict zou bovenaan ieders prioriteitenlijstje moeten staan, zowel lokaal, regionaal als internationaal. Zonder doorbraak liggen slechts meer geweld en lijden in het verschiet. De wil tot concessies is hierbij onontbeerlijk. Leiders die compromissen van de hand wijzen, handelen niet in het belang van hun electoraat.

Voordat de fundamentele vragen kunnen worden opgelost, moet de huidige cyclus van geweld en spanning worden doorbroken. Alle partijen moeten hiertoe vertrouwenwekkende maatregelen nemen. Vanzelfsprekend moeten premier Olmert en president Abbas elkaar regelmatig ontmoeten. Dialoog tussen hen is van essentiële waarde.

Beide partijen kunnen ook unilateraal maatregelen treffen. Zo zou Israël onder meer de bewegingsvrijheid van Palestijnen moeten vergroten, een einde moeten maken aan de nederzettingen activiteiten, gevangen Palestijnse politici in vrijheid moeten stellen en de belastinggelden die het namens de Palestijnse Autoriteit int, moeten overdragen. De Palestijnse eenheidsregering zou een einde moeten maken aan de raketaanvallen, zich moeten inspannen voor de vrijlating van korporaal Shalit en een geloofwaardig begin moeten maken met de hervorming van de Palestijnse veiligheidssector.

Als onderdeel van de Palestijnse overheid zou Hamas zich moeten omvormen tot een normale politieke beweging. Dit betekent dat Hamas verantwoording moet afleggen over zijn inkomsten en uitgaven en nadrukkelijk geweld moet afzweren als legitiem politiek instrument.

Zulke korte termijn maatregelen zouden de opmaat kunnen vormen voor onderhandelingen over een alomvattend vredesakkoord. De contouren van zo'n akkoord zijn niet zo controversieel als men misschien zou denken. Veertig jaar vredesproces heeft ons onmiskenbaar inzicht verschaft in wat beide partijen willen en nodig hebben.

Voor de Palestijnen is het van belang dat een vredesakkoord leidt tot een soevereine en levensvatbare staat. Deze staat zou gebaseerd moeten zijn op de grenzen van 4 juni 1967, met Oost-Jeruzalem als hoofdstad. Toegang tot heilige plaatsen zou voor Moslims, Joden en Christenen gegarandeerd moeten zijn. Er zou een rechtvaardige oplossing gevonden moeten worden voor het Palestijnse vluchtelingenvraagstuk.

Voor Israël is het essentieel dat een vredesakkoord het Joodse karakter van de staat Israël garandeert. Het akkoord zou tegemoet moeten komen aan Israël's veiligheidsbelangen en Israël internationale erkenning en legitimiteit moeten bieden.

Beide partijen zullen pijnlijke concessies moeten doen. Het creëren van een levensvatbare Palestijnse staat betekent dat Israël verreweg de meerderheid van zijn nederzettingen zal moeten ontmantelen. Jeruzalem moet met de Palestijnen worden gedeeld en in verbinding staan met Palestijns gebied op de Westelijke Jordaanoever.

Wat betreft het vluchtelingenvraagstuk acht ik het niet haalbaar dat vluchtelingen op grote schaal terugkeren naar de staat Israël, binnen de grenzen van 1967. In plaats daarvan dienen Israël en de internationale gemeenschap gezamenlijk verantwoordelijkheid nemen om vluchtelingen die niet kunnen terugkeren te compenseren.

Laat er geen misverstand over bestaan: natuurlijk is het aan de partijen zelf om overeenstemming te bereiken over een akkoord. Wat voor partijen een aanvaardbare uitkomst is, dient ook voor ons aanvaardbaar te zijn. Gelet op de huidige impasse, kunnen de partijen echter wel voordeel hebben bij het van buitenaf vlot trekken van het vredesproces.

Het Arabische vredesinitiatief, dat onlangs nieuw leven werd ingeblazen, biedt hiertoe een historische opstap. Het Kwartet, bijeen op 25 en 26 juni in Cairo, moet die gelegenheid aangrijpen om nauw overleg te voeren met Arabische sleutelspelers. Ik kan mij voorstellen dat het Kwartet voortbouwt op het Arabische initiatief en zijn ideeën over, of zelfs een opzet voor, een vredesregeling voorlegt aan de VN Veiligheidsraad. Die zou deze opzet kunnen bekrachtigen en voorleggen aan de Israëlische en Palestijnse regeringen. Vanzelfsprekend moet het precieze eindresultaat dan worden uitonderhandeld door de partijen zelf.

Om te verzekeren dat een vredesakkoord houdbaar is, zal de internationale gemeenschap twee zaken moeten garanderen: veiligheid en ontwikkeling.

Israël zal vanzelfsprekend geen oplossing kunnen aanvaarden die zijn veiligheid bedreigt. Dit is volkomen begrijpelijk. Zodra Israël zich terugtrekt achter de grenzen van 4 juni 1967, zou er geen veiligheidsvacuüm mogen ontstaan in de voormalig bezette gebieden. De beste manier om dit te verzekeren is de aanwezigheid van een sterke internationale troepenmacht, die daar gestationeerd zou moeten worden na de aanvaarding van een vredesakkoord.

Internationale hulp is van essentieel belang om een economisch levensvatbare Palestijnse staat te creëren en de Palestijnen uitzicht te bieden op een beter leven.

Samenvatting van de rede gisteravond uitgesproken in Cairo, Egypte.


Hamas' kindertijdschrift al-Fateh tweewekelijks in Londen gepubliceerd

CIDI, 05 juni 2007
Hamas' kindertijdschrift al-Fateh tweewekelijks in Londen gepubliceerd

In de Britse hoofdstad Londen wordt sinds september 2002 tweewekelijks het kindertijdschrift van de Hamas, al-Fateh, uitgegeven. Via het tijdschrift dat te zien is op de website
www.al-fateh.net, worden kinderen blootgesteld aan gewelddadig materiaal, antisemitisme en haatprediking.

Met vrolijke plaatjes en poëtische woorden worden opdrachtgevers van zelfmoordaanslagen en zelfmoordterroristen afgebeeld als helden. Joden worden ondermeer gekarakteriseerd als "moordenaars van de profeten" en als vernietigers van de Arabische en islamitische wereld. De acties van zelfmoordterroristen worden bezien als heldendaden, geweld wordt aangemoedigd en in het tijdschrift valt bovendien te lezen hoe moeders hun zonen oproepen Joden te vermoorden.

Het vinden van de negatieve karakterisering van Joden vergt weinig moeite. Zo verscheen in het tweede exemplaar van de maand mei 2007 een verhaal met de onschuldig ogende titel "Wat wil ik later worden?". In dit verhaal gaat een jongetje na waarom hij astronaut en geen arts, leraar of boer wil worden. Hij vertelt dat de bevolking op zijn planeet (alleen de Arabische wereld is afgebeeld op een plaatje) vroeger in vrede en veiligheid leefde; in een omgeving waar wetenschap en religie samen onafscheidelijk waren en waar de Arabische taal, islam en de Koran centraal stonden. Hier kwam volgens het stripverhaal op de website een einde aan toen kwaadaardige buitenaardse wezens het gebied binnendrongen.

Terwijl een monster met een davidsster op zijn hoofd wordt afgebeeld, wordt er gezegd dat de koning van de buitenaardsen zegt dat hij de islam haat en dat wetenschap van religie gescheiden moet zijn en dat de planeet, zoals zij is, vernietigd dient te worden. Samen met zijn ministers, afgebeeld met pijpenkrullen, smeedt hij het plan om de planeet (de Arabische wereld) te splijten. Met geweld delen ze de wereld in kleine stukjes op en verkrijgen ze zo de macht en controle over het verdeelde gebied. De bevolking zou snakken naar degene die de planeet weer kan herstellen en terug kan brengen naar de oude staat, toen er één taal en één religie was. Het jongetje besluit met de woorden dat dat de reden is waarom hij een astronaut wilt zijn: zodat hij de planeet, dat in stukken verspreid is geraakt, weer bijeen kan krijgen, het "kwaadaardige buitenaardse" overwinnend.

Ook een vaak terugkerend onderdeel in het tijdschrift is "Het verhaal van een martelaar" waarin de "heroïsche daden van een mujahid" die tijdens een zelfmoordaanslag (waaronder zelfmoordaanslagen gericht tegen burgers), door het Israëlische leger of door rivaliserende groeperingen om het leven is gekomen, uitgebreid aan bod komen.
 
 
Voor de afbeeldingen zie:

From the Nile to the Euphrates - PA continuous libel (1997 -2007)

In de Arabische wereld duikt geregeld de mythe op dat Israël zijn grenzen zou willen uitbreiden van de Nijl tot de Eufraat (in Irak), omdat dit ergens in de Bijbel staat genoemd. Ook de Palestijnse Autoriteit verspreid deze fabel. Voor de duidelijkheid: geen enkele Israëlische regering heeft ooit dergelijke plannen gekoesterd, evenmin als rechtse of pro-kolonisten partijen.  

 

Palestinian Media Watch Bulletin - June 12, 2007

Contact details here

View this bulletin online here

From the Nile to the Euphrates -
PA continuous libel (1997 -2007)
about secret plan to conquer Arab nation
by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook

Lies and libels have been used for many years by the Palestinian Authority to present Israel as a dangerous existential threat to the Arab and Muslim world. One of the repeating libels, that Israel is planning to conquer Arab lands, including lands in Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia – "from the Euphrates until the Nile" – was repeated this week in the PA daily Al-Ayyam.

For many years the Palestinian Authority (PA) has promoted this "Euphrates to the Nile" libel, and below PMW has cited more than 20 additional Palestinian references in recent years. As with all effective propaganda, detailed fictitious allegations are often advocated to make the lie sound credible.

The following are some of these PA fabrications:

  1. The term "From the Nile to the Euphrates your land, oh Israel," is written above the gates of the Knesset.
  2. The term "The Nile to the Euphrates" appears on Israeli money
  3. The two blue stripes on the Israeli flag represent the Nile and the Euphrates and the Star of David represents the state of Israel.
  4. Israeli children in school are taught through repetition of the expression: "Land of Israel -from the Nile to the Euphrates."

Repeatedly presenting Israel as a country that plans to expand and destroy other countries is an integral part of Palestinian hate promotion. Palestinians are more likely to feel justified fighting and killing Israelis when it is presented as an act of self-defense. The repetition of this charge over so many years should categorize this almost as an ideology.

This week the PA presented the "Nile to the Euphrates" libel again as an principle so intrinsic to the State of Israel it is said to be written above the gates of the Knesset: "From the Euphrates until the Nile, your land oh Israel." 

 

Below is this latest version of this libel, and more than 20 other references from among the many times this libel has been made in the past:

Click here to see previous PMW reports on Lies and Libels

A video clip which has been airing on PA TV since 2001 depicts a classroom of Jewish children wearing kippot (religious skullcaps) in front of the Israeli flag, repeating after a teacher: "The Land of Israel from the Nile to the Euphrates". The video clip is shown as if were an actual classroom in an Israeli school. The child actors speak Hebrew
.[PA TV,  since January 31, 2001]

Click here to see the video

"In 1967, it [Israel] occupied all that was left of Palestine in addition to the larger Arab territory... before initiating the third stage, in order to make the slogan written on the top of the gates of the Knesset come true: "From the Euphrates until the Nile, your land oh Israel."
[Al-Ayyam, June 4, 2007]

"…The Zionists' aspirations are not limited to Palestine from the sea to the river, and not to Egypt and the Sha'am lands [includes parts of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel], extending to Iraq and Al-Medina, or from the Euphrates to the Nile … the idea of 'the greater Middle East' includes [lit: swallows] many countries in the Islamic world…"
[Al-Risalah, December 7, 2006]

Political sciences lecturer, Dr. Hamd Al-Fara claims that "Israel already realized with success its dream to be from the Nile to the Euphrates – since, currently, Israelis from the Mossad [Israeli secret service] are in Iraq, and there is an Israeli embassy in Egypt."
[PA TV, July 7, 2006]

"The Israelis think in a completely different way. They think that the problem is summarized with how to get away with the loot they looted during unusual circumstances, in the near and distant past, that is the land of Palestine they hold serves as a departure point to the [territory] between the Euphrates and the Nile."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nihad Munir Al-Rees, March 20, 2006]

Barakat Al-Fara of the PLO, former Palestinian deputy ambassador to Egypt:
"The June 67 war took place and emphasized that the Zionist enemy did not set as a goal only Palestine, but it set as a goal the Arab nation, from the ocean to the gulf, and it plans a Jewish state which will spread out from the Nile to the Euphrates…"
[PA TV, January 1, 2006]

"There is a fairy tale or a slogan of the global Zionist movement which states that the borders of Israel are from the Euphrates to the Nile. When [the settlements] were destroyed, and when the settlers were banished from the settlements, the Palestinian people, all the free people and all Arabs erased this fairy tale."
[PA TV, August 5, 2005]

"There is no escape, but to clarify to the world that our enemies, that Zionism in particular, yearn to establish their state to control the world from east to west, and not the greater state of Israel from the Euphrates to the Nile, but they stare and want to establish their state over the entire planet earth."
[PA TV, June 18, 2004]

"The Arabs and Muslims must consolidate a political-military defense strategy, in which the armed masses will participate… I emphasize the word 'defense'… for taking a defensive stance and a defensive initiative, which are meant to prevent the most dangerous and the worst [thing] of all, that is seen in the horizon, that is approaching comes from the United States, that is allowing Israel to establish the Israeli empire from the Euphrates to the Nile including the city of Medina [the second most sacred site in Islam, the burial site of the Prophet Muhammad]."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, September 22, 2003]

Headline: "Why are the Palestinians committed to the Hudna [ceasefire] and the Roadmap, and the Israelis are acting as opposed to it?" by international law lecturer, Dr. Hana Isah:
"There is no doubt that the politicians in Israel are not interested in stability, and as a result, they escape from any agreement we will sign with them, since their goal is to extend their theft and their arrogant repression with all that concerns Palestine… 'The land of Israel from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates, from Lebanon to the Nile.' This slogan is the basis which drives the foundation of Israel since the foundation of the Zionist movement until today, and the future."
[Al-Hayat Al'Jadida, August 10, 2003]

[Ahmad Halas Abu-Maher, Fatah secretary in the Gaza Strip] confirms the matters: "We are not only fighting for the Palestinian people. We are fighting in defense of the Arab nation and on this region, in which every people is a target for Israeli aggression. The slogan of Israel is 'from the Nile to the Euphrates,' in geographic terms. But in terms of its interests, Israel is larger than that. It extends to the entire Arab and Muslim territory. Therefore, when we are fighting and being killed in Gaza and Jenin, it is for the sake of the entire Arab nation."
[PA TV, July 29, 2002]

Abu-Karsh: "Even the Israeli flag, the blue line and the second blue line, and the Star of David in the middle, this is what is between the two rivers, that is the Nile and the Euphrates."
Abu-Sharakh: "The Zionist project still exists. They want a greater state of Israel from the Euphrates to the Nile. If it will not happen in the next 50 years, they will ask [to make it come true] within the next hundred years, until their hopes and their aspirations in establishing a greater state of Israel will be realized. And this must be understood by the Arab nation and the entire world… They [Israelis] think about the state of Israel from the Euphrates to the Nile as something that cannot be avoided. From the Euphrates to the Nile."
[PA TV, July 17, 2002]

"The Zionists are behind the plot aiming to disconnect the rivers that extend from outside the Arab homeland in, such as the Euphrates and the Nile. The Zionists stole the Palestinian water and founded projects that transferred the water from the north to southern areas. They control the southern waters and steal them, and established the settlements above the water sources."
[PA TV, March 22, 2002]

"Zionism decided in the Basel committee in 1897 that Israel will be established between the Nile and the Euphrates, and this is what Israel aspires to realize. Therefore, every piece of land that we achieve is a withdrawal from the Zionist idea."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, February 11, 2002]

"The Hebrew state adopted an official flag – a blue Star of David (symbolizing the state of Israel), between two blue lines symbolizing the Nile River and the Euphrates which the Zionist movement viewed as its borders."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, October 28, 2001]

"Poor Israel: Its primitive, childish dream "the land of Israel from the Nile to the Euphrates" is reduced to a flag with a Star of David and two blue lines, one of them is the Nile, in the imagination, and the other is the disappointing Euphrates. These two lines will approach inwards, and will squeeze the Star of David until it bursts. This is what it [Israel] chose for itself…"
["The Voice of Women" in Al-Ayyam, July 19, 2001]

"… All the killing is followed by an intensive bombing of the national security outposts… what does it mean if not a declaration of an encompassing war on the Palestinian people, if not the determination to realize the constant goal of Zionism, of extending the occupation territory as far as possible, from the Euphrates to the Nile…"
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 19, 2001]

Friday sermon by preacher Dr. Muhammad Madi:
"Arabs and Muslims! The Zionist slogan, the slogan of the Jews' state in Palestine – from the Nile to the Euphrates. It is written in their books and on their coins…"
[PA TV, May 4, 2001]

"The Palestinians view the Israeli flag as a symbol for the greater Jewish state that spreads out from the Nile to the Euphrates according to the Zionist dream: the two blue lines symbolize the two rivers, and the Star of David between them is the symbol of the state. The Palestinians pride themselves in their flag with the four colors, which represents the blood, the war, and the peace…"
[Al-Ayyam, May 14, 2000]

"A strategy was consolidated by some of the ones who hold a Jewish perspective, which was subsequently known as 'Zionism' aiming to establish a national homeland for the Jews in Palestine – or according to the traditional idea which sets the borders of the state of Israel from the Nile to the Euphrates."
[Al-Ayyam, February 12, 2000]

Hussein Abu-Shanab: "The map storm reminds us of the three superpowers [that emerged] in the [original] map in the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion'… Herzl sent a furious letter to these nations and demanded they change the mandatory borders of Palestine so that they include the Litany River, that is 'from the water to the water' – [a slogan] expressed by the poster spread over the Knesset 'from the Euphrates to the Nile.' Sharon's declarations to journalists following the Palestinian-Israeli-American triple-meeting were for abolishing the process… considering that the historical homeland, according to the Zionist perspective, is from the Nile to the Euphrates…"
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, December 21, 1997]


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Factional battles kill 616 Palestinians since 2006

In de laatste dagen zijn hier ca. 50 doden bijgekomen, en het einde lijkt nog lang niet in zicht. Toch hoor je sympathisanten van de Palestijnen hier weinig over, en als men erover spreekt wordt het veelal weer aan de bezetting geweten. 
_________________________________________

Factional battles kill 616 Palestinians since 2006
06 Jun 2007 12:44:41 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Mohammed Assadi
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L06911174.htm

RAMALLAH, West Bank, June 6 (Reuters) - An estimated 616 Palestinians have been killed in factional fighting since Hamas defeated Fatah in elections in January 2006, a leading Palestinian rights group said on Wednesday.

President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah said earlier this week that Palestinians were at the brink of civil war and the danger posed by factional fighting was equal to and sometimes exceeded the "danger of occupation" by Israel.

In its annual report, the Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens' Rights said 345 Palestinians were killed in factional fighting in 2006.

In the first five months of 2007, another 271 Palestinians were killed in factional fighting, the commission said.

A Reuters count puts the number of Palestinians killed by Israelis since January 2006 at 659.

Fighting between Fatah and ruling Hamas Islamists surged late last year and continued into 2007, despite the formation of a Palestinian unity government in March.

The bulk of fighting was in Gaza, the power base of Hamas. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

Last month some 50 Palestinians were killed in factional fighting. Despite the latest ceasefire deal, Abbas's Presidential Guard accused Hamas fighters on Tuesday of staging an early morning assault on a Fatah base near the strategic Karni commercial crossing in Gaza.

"The report is very tragic," said Mamdouh al-Aker, the commissioner for the human rights group.

Copies of the Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens' Rights report were sent to Abbas, who formed a committee to look at the findings.

The commission also reported an increase in the number of Palestinians tortured by members of the Palestinian security services.

The commission reported 133 torture cases in 2006 and said two security officers were dismissed for abuse. The commission did not provide torture figures for the first five months of 2007.

Israeli human rights groups said in a report in May that Israeli security interrogators routinely mistreat and sometimes torture Palestinian detainees.

IDF to deploy 4 battalions of troops to secure Homesh march

Waarom mogen deze mensen, onder begeleiding van nota bene 4 bataljons, naar een twee jaar geleden ontruimde nederzetting marcheren? Waarom verklaart het leger dit geen militair gebied? Heeft het niks beter te doen dan extremisten beveiligen?

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Last update - 10:29 12/06/2007  

IDF to deploy 4 battalions of troops to secure Homesh march

By Nadav Shragai and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/870093.html

The Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday it will deploy four battalions of Israel Defense Forces troops to secure a march to the former West Bank settlement of Homesh planned for Tuesday.

The IDF spokesman told reporters the march "was coordinated with the Yesha council and approved at the state level. The IDF and the Police will work together to keep the peace and secure the event."

The spokesman added that the IDF will not allow anyone to seize or resettle any of the territory of the former settlement and will require all rally participants to leave the area by nightfall.

Some senior IDF officers have harshly criticized the decision to allow the march and to provide security for it, saying that instead of focusing on fighting terror, the IDF is wasting its time providing security for political demonstrations by settlers.

Over the past year, numerous illegal rallies and marches have been held at Homesh, which was evacuated during Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip and four settlements in the northern West Bank.

Tuesday's rally is being organized by groups headed by the Yesha Council. It will leave from the old train station of Sebastia, a symbolic place as the site of the first post-1967 Jewish settlement in the West Bank, and head for Homesh where participants will be addressed by MKs and public officials. Thousands are expected to take part in the march, mostly members of youth groups.

Rally organizers have purchased shovels, brooms, rakes and hoes, and participants have been asked to bring tools to help "prepare the place for occupation, or at least give it back its previous appearance, with paths, roads and vegetation."

The Homesh First organization, which was behind the previous protests at the site, is not participating in the rally and is planning a separate march aimed at permanently resettling the site.