zaterdag 8 september 2007

Enquete onder Israëlische Joden over het land en de situatie

Enquetes laten niet altijd even consistente antwoorden zien, maar deze enquete maakt het wel heel bont.

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Poll of Israeli Jews finds happy in country but not with situation
Dr. Aaron Lerner     Date: 7 September 2007

Telephone poll of a representative sample of 498 adult Israeli Jews carried out by Dahaf for Yediot Ahronot the week of 7 September and published in Yediot Ahronot on 7 September 2007

Is Israel a good place to live in?
Yes 86%
No 14%

How is the security situation of the State?
Good 26%
Bad 72%

How are your spirits?
Good 86%
Bad 14%

Are you certain that Israel will continue to exist also in the distant future?
Yes 74%
No 25%

How would you term your financial situation?
Good 67%
Bad 31%

Did you consider leaving the country this year?
Never 76%
Infrequently 8%
At times 16%

Are you proud to be an Israeli?
Yes 84%
No 15%

Where are Jews safer? In Israel or in western countries?
Israel 57%
West 18%
Same thing 21%

What grade do you give to:
Olmert: Good 25% Bad 70%
Barak Good 46% Bad 32%
COS Ashkenazi Good 73% Bad 6%
Peres Good 71% Bad 15%
Daliah Itzik Good 70% Bad 17%

Do you count on the IDF to defend the State?
Yes 82%
No 15%

How do you rate Israel's deterrent strength?
High 63%
Low 35%

Can the Qassam firing be stopped?
Yes 70%
No 29%

How do you summarize the situation of the State in the following categories:
Peace process: Good 13% Bad 82%
National unity Good 36% Bad 61%
Personal security Good 34% Bad 63%
Economy Good 52% Bad 44%
General situation Good 38% Bad 60%

What actions do you support in order to stop the firing of Qassams at Sderot and the area around the Gaza Strip?
(% yes)
72% Cut off water and electricity after each rocket
60% Launch military action
37% Ask for UN intervention
24% Continue restraint
23% Invite Hamas to negotiations

What problem of Israel most concerns you?
Iranian threat 26%
Traffic accidents 23%
Educational situation 23%
Qassams 12%
Economy 8%
Syrians 5%

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

Hamas Milities vallen biddende Palestijnen aan en ontvoeren PLO leden in Gazastrook

Eén van de grootste misdaden die een Zionist kan begaan is wellicht het verbieden van het vrijdaggebed in het openbaar of deze met geweld verstoren. Als Israël dit soort idiote dingen zou uitvoeren, zou Hamas de eerste zijn om Israël van misdaden tegen de menselijkheid te beschuldigen, een veroordeling van de VN Veiligheidsraad te eisen, en wellicht een nieuwe intifada te beginnen.
 
Het feit dat tijdens de openbare preken geregeld opruiende taal tegen Israël wordt gebezigt, en soms openlijk antisemitische uitspraken worden gedaan, doet daar uiteraard niks aan af, integendeel. Maar opruiende taal tegen Hamas tijdens sommige vrijdaggebeden is natuurlijk heel wat anders. Hamas, de hoeder van de ware islam, heeft het recht dergelijke pseudo-moslims en hun volgelingen met geweld uiteen te drijven om aan deze goddeloze praktijken een einde te maken.
 
Ratna
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Hamas Militias Attack Friday Prayers, Wounding Scores in Gaza Strip
www.wafa.ps/english/body.asp?id=10340

RAMALLAH-GAZA, September 7, 2007 (WAFA - PLO news agency)
 
At least 70 citizens were wounded and scores others abducted on Friday, including PLO Leadership members when Hamas illegal executive forces attacked worshipers in Friday prayers, local sources said.

Thy told WAFA that Hamas militias opened fire towards masses of worshipers and wounded them in an attempt to bar them performing Friday prayers in Gaza city, Jabaliya , Khoza'a and Abasan town in Khan Younis.

They also beaten journalists, broke their cameras and abducted five of them.

Hamas illegal Force broke into PLO Executive Committee Headquarter in Gaza city and abducted PLO Executive member, Dr. Zakariya al-Agha and other revolutionary Council members.

In the meantime, they also abducted al-Zahra Municipality mayor, Dr. Tareq Hijjo and other Fateh cadres.

Ramon biedt Palestijnen terugtrekking uit de Westoever en gebiedsruil aan

Er wordt wel gezegd, dat beide partijen eigenlijk wel weten hoe een uiteindelijke oplossing eruit moet zien: een Palestijnse staat gebaseerd op de pre-1967 grenzen (eigenlijk bestandslijnen, die toendertijd niet door de Arabische staten werden erkend), met een landruil van een paar procent zodat Israël een paar grote nederzettingenblokken kan houden, Oost-Jeruzalem als hoofdstad van Palestina met Palestijnse soevereiniteit over de islamitische heilige plaatsen, en Israëlische soevereiniteit over de Joodse heilige plaatsen en West-Jeruzalem, en terugkeer van de vluchtelingen naar Palestina, niet Israël, en compensatie.

Het venijn zit hem uiteraard in de details, zoals soevereiniteit over de Tempelberg (boven en onder de grond), hoe trek je een grens tussen al die Joodse en Arabische wijken, hoeveel nederzettingenblokken mag Israël houden? Palestina zal bovendien knap vol worden als alle Palestijnen die nu in andere landen wonen zouden terugkeren. En hoe kom je tegemoet aan Israëls legitieme veiligheidswensen en biedt het de garantie dat zich geen terreurnetwerken kunnen ontwikkelen die wapens van over de grens importeren, zoals Hezbollah in Libanon en Hamas in de Gazastrook, zonder dat dit de Palestijnse soevereiniteit tezeer inperkt? Is dit überhaupt mogelijk? Hoe maak je van de Gazastrook een gebied met een toekomst? Een corridor naar de Westelijke Jordaanoever is daarvoor niet genoeg. Hoe de enorme bevolkingsgroei van de Palestijnen af te remmen? En, hoe is een en ander te realiseren terwijl Hamas aan de macht is in de Gazastrook, en Abbas zwak is?

Ik daag een ieder die meent dat de oplossing voor het conflict eigenlijk heel simpel is (zoals Farah Karimi een paar jaar geleden tegen me zei) om op deze vragen een antwoord te geven.

Ratna
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Report: Ramon offers PA West Bank pullout, territory exchange
By The Associated Press Last update - 12:12 07/09/2007
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/902018.html

A confidant of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has offered a broad West Bank pullout in talks with Palestinian leaders on a final-status peace deal, an Israeli newspaper reported Friday.

Vice Premier Haim Ramon met with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad and other officials in an effort to put together a joint Israeli-Palestinian declaration of principles that will be presented in November at a Mideast peace conference slated to be held in the U.S., Israel's Yediot Ahronot newspaper reported.

Ramon is offering the Palestinians an Israeli withdrawal from nearly the entire West Bank, including the Arab neighborhoods of east Jerusalem, as part of a final peace deal, according to the report by two respected correspondents for the mass circulation daily.

Tzahi Moshe, a spokesman for Ramon, would not comment on the report. Palestinian Information Minister Riad Malki denied that Ramon had met with Fayad or with any other Palestinian government officials.

According to the report's account of Ramon's offer, the border between Israel and the future Palestinian state will roughly follow the route of Israel's West Bank security barrier, leaving major Israeli settlement blocs and between 3 and 8 percent of the West Bank in Israel's hands.

In return, Israel will cede to the same amount of land inside Israel to the Palestinians to make up for the annexed territory, the report said - possibly including a land corridor between the West Bank and Gaza, a central ongoing Palestinian demand.

Palestinians who became refugees when Israel was founded in 1948 will not be allowed into Israel, but only into the Palestinian state, and an international fund will be set up to pay for their rehabilitation. Holy sites in Jerusalem's Old City will be under the control of the various religions and no national flags will be flown, the report said.

Ramon's plan closely resembles an Israeli offer to the Palestinians at a failed peace summit in 2000. U.S. President Bill Clinton, who hosted the summit, later blamed Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat for rejecting the Israeli proposal, saying he missed the opportunity to create a Palestinian state. A new round of Israeli-Palestinian violence erupted not long afterward, lasting for most of the past seven years and claiming thousands of lives.

According to the Yediot report, Olmert approves of Ramon's negotiating activities. If the efforts succeed, the report said, Olmert will publicly adopt the results, and if they fail, he will portray them as a personal effort by Ramon.

Peace moves between Israel and the Palestinians have been intensifying since June, when the Islamic militants of Hamas seized power in the Gaza Strip. Following the takeover, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of the rival Fatah movement formed a government of Western-aligned moderates in the West Bank, winning broad backing from an international community eager to prevent new gains for the Islamic hard-liners.
Hamas has remained largely isolated in Gaza.

Olmert and Abbas have met several times in recent months. Israel refused at first to discuss the three topics known as the core issues of the conflict - final borders, Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees and their millions of descendants. But the two leaders tackled those issues at their last meeting on August 28.

Damping hopes for a speedy Israeli pullout, however, are concerns that near-daily Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza, where Israeli forces pulled out two years ago, could be repeated in the West Bank if the army leaves security in the hands of Abbas' weak forces.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has warned that no West Bank pullout would be possible until Israel has developed a missile shield to counter rocket fire from the West Bank, which could threaten the country's population centers and paralyze its only international airport. Barak said this will take at least two and a half years.

Vreedzaam samenleven voor Israëli's en Palestijnen

Vreedzaam samenleven voor Israeli's en Palestijnen

IMO Blog, 08.09.2007

 

In onderstaand artikel uit The Economist worden zoveel vredesprojecten en initiatieven opgesomd, dat je je afvraagt waarom er nog geen vrede is. Eén van de redenen die worden aangevoerd van Palestijnse kant is dat al die 'co-existence' en elkaar begrijpen-en-als-mensen-leren-zien projecten de ongelijke machtsverhoudingen tussen beide volken niet veranderen. Na de bijeenkomst moeten de Palestijnen immers weer naar huis, naar een leven onder de bezetting.

Van Israëlische kant wordt wel aangevoerd dat de Israëli's die in veel van die projecten deelnemen wel oprecht proberen de zaak vanuit het perspectief van de Palestijnen te zien en hun problemen serieus nemen, maar dit omgekeerd niet gebeurt. Dit resulteert er vaak in dat alleen Israëlisch geweld en onrecht centraal staat, en de Palestijnen zichzelf puur als slachtoffer blijven zien.

Het volgende is zeer ontmoedigend:

A study earlier this year by Israel's Haifa University found that a seven-month peace-education programme for teenagers did very little to change basic attitudes about each other, and any changes were lost again a few months later.
De voor de hand liggende verklaring is dat de dagelijkse realiteit van het conflict meer impact heeft dan de politiek correcte zaken die men in zo'n lesprogramma over elkaar leert. Dit is mogelijk te ondervangen door in zulke programma's en projecten meer aandacht te besteden aan de conflicten en lastige zaken en niet alleen te focussen, zoals in sommige vredesprojecten gebeurt, op samen couscous en humus eten, elkaar van elkaars feestdagen vertellen en recepten uitwisselen. Van de andere kant is een bepaalde mate van vertrouwen nodig voor je over dergelijke zaken kunt praten en ook echt naar elkaar luisteren. Vredeseducatie zou bovendien niet in tijdelijke projecten moeten zitten, maar een vast onderdeel moeten zijn van het lesprogramma op alle scholen, zodat het geleerde niet weer 'wegzakt'. Uit onderstaand artikel blijkt verder dat samen aan iets concreets werken vaak het meeste resultaat oplevert.

Sceptici zullen zeggen dat zolang er een bezetting is, en Qassams op Sderot en de dreiging van zelfmoordaanslagen, je met praten niet ver komt. De vraag is echter wat er eerst is. Palestijnse tieners worden al jong gerekruteerd door 'het verzet', eerst om explosieven door checkpoints te smokkelen of de lanceerinstallaties van de Qassams op te ruimen, en later ook om zelf aanslagen te plegen. Hoe jonger, hoe makkelijker men Israël in komt en hoe minder snel men wordt verdacht. De Israëlische soldaten die bij de checkpoints agressief zijn tegen Palestijnen en ze nodeloos uren in de brandende zon laten wachten, zijn vaak jongens van 18 die net van school komen. Vredesplannen die op hoog niveau worden uitgedacht hebben geen kans van slagen als de bevolking er niet in gelooft, en kunnen gemakkelijk door militanten worden verijdeld, vooral als zij daarbij op steun van de bevolking kunnen rekenen.

Een probleem dat in onderstaand artikel (en door veel van dergelijke vredesinitiatieven en projecten) wordt genegeerd, is de haat educatie aan met name de Palestijnse kant. Op scholen, in TV programma's speciaal voor kinderen en in vrijdagdiensten in de moskee worden Joden van de meest verschrikkelijke zaken beschuldigd en als vijanden van de islam geportretteerd. Farfour de Muis en Nahoul de Bij vertellen kinderen dat zij alle ongelovigen moeten bestrijden, de Joden de moordenaars van profeten zijn en dat het martelarenschap moet worden verheerlijkt. Hoewel de schoolboeken wat verbeterd zijn, leert men ook daarin dat men moet strijden voor de bevrijding van geheel Palestina. Aan beide kanten wordt het gehele land veelal als Palestijns c.q. Israëlisch voorgesteld, hoewel in Israël sinds kort de Groene Lijn in de schoolboeken staat (daarvoor werden vaak alleen de gebieden die onder Oslo autonomie kregen apart ingetekend). Tegen deze overvloed aan negatieve informatie en propaganda over de ander, kunnen de vredesprojecten simpelweg (nog) niet opboksen.

Ondanks het grote aantal projecten, zomerkampen en conferenties is het op de totale bevolking uiteindelijk maar een kleine groep die op een dergelijke manier mensen 'van de andere kant' heeft leren kennen, en voor een deel zijn dat mensen die al in het wereldje zitten. Zij doen belangrijk werk, maar belangrijk is dat juist ook de 'gewone mensen' worden betrokken en met het narratief van de ander worden geconfronteerd.

Soms roepen vredesprojecten juist bij de 'gewone mensen' veel aversie op, aan Palestijnse kant vanwege de idee dat praten met de vijand een vorm van verraad is, en een soort acceptatie van de bezetting zou inhouden, aan Israëlische kant omdat men het idee heeft dat te eenzijdig het narratief van de Palestijnen wordt overgenomen, en dit eveneens neer komt op het goedpraten van hun geweld. Het volgende is een goed voorbeeld van hoe dergelijke projecten soms juist voor verwijdering zorgen:

Schemes that focus on internal change probably have more impact than cross-cultural dialogue, albeit often controversially. Several Arab-Israeli groups funded partly by the NIF raised a storm among Jews earlier this year when they published papers calling for more autonomy for Israel's Arab minority. That, says Mr Temkin, might not have happened had discrimination against Arabs been corrected earlier; yet, he argues, it shows that now they feel connected enough to Israel to demand a discussion about their status as citizens.
NIF, het New Israel Fund, is een linkse Joodse organisatie in de VS die sociale en vredesprojecten financiert. Hier wordt verwezen naar een verklaring van de officiële belangenorganisatie van de Israëlische Arabieren, waarin zij een gelijkwaardige positie als volk opeisten naast de Joden. Israël zou niet langer een Joodse staat moeten zijn, maar een soort bi-nationale staat, en bij belangrijke beslissingen zou altijd de goedkeuring vereist zijn van beide gemeenschappen. Dit zou neer kunnen komen op een einde aan de Wet op de Terugkeer (die bepaalt dat alle Joden naar Israël kunnen emigreren en het staatsburgerschap krijgen), men zou niet tegen terrorisme kunnen optreden zonder goedkeuring van de Arabische gemeenschap etc. Aangezien een aanzienlijk aantal Israëlische Arabieren met Hezbollah sympathiseren en aan de kant van de Palestijnen staan, waren veel Joden fel tegen deze ideeën, waarvan zij meenden dat die hun land in gevaar zouden brengen.

Op deze manier wordt het voor veel Joodse Israëli's wel erg moeilijk om nog met de Israëlische Arabieren te sympathiseren en mee te willen werken hun achtergestelde positie in Israël te verbeteren. De Arabieren op hun beurt zijn er juist assertiever door geworden, zoals het artikel suggereert. Beide partijen lijken dus uit elkaar te groeien, er lijkt een strijd om de macht te ontstaan.

Hoe je meer kunt bewerkstelligen dan alleen een culturele uitwisseling, zonder de overgrote meerderheid aan een of beide kanten van je te vervreemden, is één van de grote uitdagingen waar de vredesbeweging voor staat.

Ratna Pelle


Een overzicht van de belangwekkendste organisaties is te vinden op Israël-Palestina Info:

* Initiatieven voor vrede en verzoening
* Websites over vredesinittiatieven

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Israel and Palestine
Still campaigning for co-existence


Aug 30th 2007 | JERUSALEM AND RAMALLAH
From The Economist print edition

There is still no shortage of Israeli-Palestinian co-existence projects, but serious activists are more sceptical of them than they used to be.

PEACE between Palestinians and Israelis is not a problem; anyone can make it. This summer alone, a group called the June 5th Initiative ran a series of "peace days" and conferences in Israel, the West Bank and several other countries. The Sulha - reconciliation, in Arabic - Peace Project held a three-day new-age-style festival. A thousand young Jewish and Arab would-be football stars competed in a "Mini World Cup".

Countless others went to peace camps and summer schools in Israel and abroad. An 86-year-old Californian Jew donated 12 surfboards to Gaza and called it "Surfing for Peace". Previous attractions have included a "hip-hop sulha" by Arab and Jewish rappers; an olive oil blended from the produce of Israeli and Palestinian farmers; and an Israeli-Palestinian comedy tour. Add in long-established projects such as the Jerusalem peace circus, Fighters for Peace (Israeli ex-soldiers joining up with Palestinian ex-guerrillas), a host of mixed Jewish-Arab villages, schools, youth groups, environmental bodies, magazines and websites, a peace phone line, two peace radio stations and much more besides, and the churlish might ask: if so many people are intent on making peace, why hasn't it happened by now? Or more fairly: do such "co-existence" projects actually change anything for the good?

Seven years after the last serious peace talks collapsed, polls show that most Israelis and Palestinians still think a two-state solution is the only viable end to their conflict. A joint lobby group, OneVoice, hopes to get a million of their signatures on a petition calling for immediate peace talks; it has 435,000 so far. But their views on the details, such as the borders and the fate of Palestinian refugees, remain far apart, and most doubt it will happen in the next few years. When Israel's main peace groups called a rally in June to mark 40 years of occupation, perhaps 4,000 people turned up. The many hundreds of Israeli and thousands of Palestinian deaths during the second intifada have hardened hearts; Israeli security measures have rendered most of the projects that brought together Israelis and Palestinians across the Green Line (the pre-1967 border) impossible.

Plenty of philanthropists - usually Jewish ones - are still happy to fund Israeli-Palestinian get-togethers "based on the mistaken European assumption that every conflict is based on a misunderstanding", as the Israeli novelist Amos Oz, a reluctant beneficiary of many such events, recently put it. Plenty of people are happy to take their money. But the more serious donors have been shifting their approach.

The start of the intifada, says Amnon Be'eri-Sulitzeano, the director in Israel of the Abraham Fund, was "a big bang in the co-existence world. Many activists realised that just bringing people together isn't enough." Palestinians were unhappy that such projects often ignored the inequalities between them and Israeli Jews, or acted as a conscience-salve for the Israelis. "Existence first, co-existence later", became a common Palestinian slogan.

The Abraham Fund now concentrates on improving the way Israel's Jewish majority treats Arab-Israelis. It pays for cultural-awareness training for the police and Arabic lessons for young Jewish schoolchildren (the mandatory teaching starts late and there are many exemptions). One grantee, the Centre for Jewish-Arab Economic Development, runs schemes to lessen job discrimination against Arab-Israelis, who, though a fifth of the population, contribute less than a tenth of GDP.

Another big donor, the New Israel Fund (NIF), has also largely dropped co-existence. Once, "Arabs were happy to be in any kind of dialogue with Jews," says Bruce Temkin, in the Fund's New York office. "Now they want real results." Like the Abraham Fund, the NIF works only within Israel proper. Its pet projects are legal-advice centres and civil-rights groups that work mainly for Arab-Israelis, but also for other minorities. Ditto the European Commission. After a rethink in 2004, it decided, says a spokeswoman, that "you need to focus on internal conflicts before you go out to joint projects." It now pays for training young Palestinian leaders and for a scheme to resolve discord in Israeli towns.

When meetings across the Green Line do work, it is usually around some common interest that can be pursued for a long time. These include a Palestinian science museum in Jerusalem, doctors' training at a hospital trauma centre, and an attempt to write school history textbooks that include both sides' narratives of the conflict. Friends of the Earth Middle East gets Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian mayors of neighbouring districts to solve joint water-shortage problems. The Bereaved Families Forum, whose members have all lost relatives to Palestinian suicide bombings or Israeli army incursions, holds school talks and runs art projects, and operates a phone line that people can call to make contact with someone from the other side. Physicians for Human Rights, among other things, helps Palestinians who need special treatment to get to Israeli hospitals.

Those projects that still deal in traditional co-existence, such as schools and mixed Arab-Jewish communities, also stress the longer term. A study earlier this year by Israel's Haifa University found that a seven-month peace-education programme for teenagers did very little to change basic attitudes about each other, and any changes were lost again a few months later. Seeds of Peace, which brings Israeli and Palestinian children to summer camps in the United States (pictured), realised after some years that it had to involve them in follow-up projects too. Some of these, again, are not about co-existence, but about fixing problems within their own societies.

Because of the sheer profusion of peace projects, "we all have our own perspectives and we're competing for the same amounts of money, so it's hard for us to co-operate or collaborate with one another," says Simon Lichman, who has been bringing Arab and Jewish schoolchildren together for nearly two decades. It doesn't take much prompting for activists to start sniping at one another's methods and ideologies. But when asked whether their own work influences anyone beyond the participants, they often fall silent; such things are impossible to measure.
But does it make a difference?

Schemes that focus on internal change probably have more impact than cross-cultural dialogue, albeit often controversially. Several Arab-Israeli groups funded partly by the NIF raised a storm among Jews earlier this year when they published papers calling for more autonomy for Israel's Arab minority. That, says Mr Temkin, might not have happened had discrimination against Arabs been corrected earlier; yet, he argues, it shows that now they feel connected enough to Israel to demand a discussion about their status as citizens.

And if the successes do not always make the news, it is because no news is sometimes good news. Mr Be'eri-Sulitzeano describes how a Jewish couple barricaded themselves into the basilica in the Arab-Israeli town of Nazareth last year and started setting off fireworks. Outside a lynch mob gathered. The police, who have a bad record of killing Arab-Israelis at protests, employed their new awareness training to make contact with community leaders, defuse things and rescue the couple - without hurting anyone.
 

donderdag 6 september 2007

Barak: noodzaak voor grondoffensief Israël in Gazastrook nadert

Alle stoere taal ten spijt, is het probleem het ontbreken van een goeie oplossing voor de Palestijnse Qassam raketten. Zelfs tijdens grootschalige militaire operaties zoals vorig jaar zomer, lukte het niet het afvuren ervan geheel te stoppen, en dit leidde wel tot honderden doden aan Palestijnse kant.
 
Vandaar dat men het nu heeft over een andere aanpak: het tijdelijk stopzetten of onderbreken van de water of electriciteitstoevoer naar de Gazastrook. Het idee is begrijpelijk: waarom zou je stroom leveren aan mensen die jouw kinderen willen vermoorden? De gewone bevolking zal vanzelf een einde aan de Qassams eisen als iedere raket tot een stroomonderbreking zal leiden.
 
Amnesty International stond meteen klaar om dit idee - nog voordat er überhaupt een besluit is genomen - te veroordelen als 'collectief straffen', wat het oorlogsrecht schendt. Alsof die Qassams, gericht op burgerdoelen, geen schendingen van het oorlogsrecht zijn. Het probleem is dat de oude regels geen rekening houden met de nieuwe manieren van oorlogvoeren: met terrorisme, met aanvallen door privé milities die aan niets en niemand verantwoording verschuldigd zijn, maar wel door de machthebbers worden getolereerd en zelfs geholpen.
 
Desondanks vind ik het idee de water en/of stroomvoorziening te onderbreken inhumaan. De Qassams zullen doorgaan, en de bevolking wordt gedwongen het als 'martelaren' te ondergaan, voor het vaderland. Hoe meer zij lijden, hoe beter voor de Palestijnse zaak. Israëlische machthebbers zouden moeten weten dat de Hamas daartoe in staat is, en zo een nieuwe ' overwinning' zal boeken, met meer internationale sympathie tot gevolg.
 
 
Ratna
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Last update - 23:06 05/09/2007

Barak: Israel nearing need for major ground assault in Gaza Strip 
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/901170.html

By Amos Harel, Aluf Benn and Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondents, and Haaretz Service 
 
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Wednesday that Israel is nearing a major ground assault in the Gaza Strip, to deal with the ongoing Qassam rocket fire directed at Israeli communities.

"When you take a real look at the challenge of the Qassam, it is very possible that we are approaching the need for a wide ground operation in Gaza, in order to halt the rocket fire and the strengthening [of militant organizations]," said Barak, during a meeting with senior defense establishment and defense industry officials.

Israel Defense Forces ground troops operating in northern Gaza on Wednesday located and destroyed 11 Qassam rocket launchers. There were no casualties reported in the operation, which involved Golani infantrymen, combat engineers, and armor.

In a statement released Wednesday following a security cabinet meeting on Israel's response to the rocket fire, the Prime Minister's Office said the IDF would continue with "intensive military operations."

Olmert instructed the army to reduce the rocket fire on Sderot as much as possible. "The prime minister has ordered the army to provide a plan on how to minimize rockets," a government official said.

The security cabinet, however, decided against a large-scale military response, with Barak recommending "pinpoint" strikes against militants instead, a government official said.

In addition, the PMO said following the security cabinet meeting that the government is preparing a plan to "disrupt services" supplied by Israel to Gaza Strip if Qassam rocket attacks persist.

While no vote was held on cutting off utilities and other essential services to Gaza, the cabinet instructed the defense establishment, Foreign Ministry, and legal sources to begin preparing the plan for sanctions against Gaza.

A number of senior officials have endorsed the idea of cutting off basic supplies to Gaza, which relies on Israel for water, power and fuel.

"I believe there is a range of steps Israel can take without creating a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, in order to send a message to Hamas and the rest of the terror groups," said Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who left the meeting to attend a news conference with the visiting Italian foreign minister.

The threat drew a protest from the human rights organization Amnesty International. "Cutting off the supply of basic necessities such as water and electricity - which Gazans cannot obtain from elsewhere because of the blockades imposed by Israel - would constitute collective punishment of Gaza's population in violation of international humanitarian law, which prohibits all forms of collective punishment," the London-based group said.

Sderot parents, meanwhile, are demonstrating outside the Knesset building. Sources in the defense ministry said that Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered the Israel Defense Forces on Tuesday to examine the implications of temporarily cutting off the Strip from Israeli infrastructure, including electricity, fuel and the supply of basic commodities.

Barak ordered the defense establishment to examine "the operational and legal aspects of steps designed to limit Hamas' rule in the Gaza Strip." Barak told the IDF he wanted to determine the degree to which Israel was obligated to provide services for the Strip.

The call to cut off water, electricity, gas and fuel to the Strip is seen as an alternative - or, if unsuccessful, a prelude - to a broad IDF incursion into northern Gaza. Government sources, however, said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was unlikely to authorize an escalation in Israel's military actions in the region.

On Wednesday, IDF tanks and bulldozers moved into the northern Gaza Strip in what appeared to be a limited routine operation against the launchers. No shooting nor injuries were initially reported.

Sources close to Public Security Minister Avi Dichter said that the minister had told Olmert of his plan to broaden the IDF's military activity in the Strip during a private meeting the two held on Sunday. According to the sources, Dichter's plan does not involve retaking the Strip, but employs a combination of air raids and concentrated ground offensives in various sectors of the Strip.

"Each attack will focus on a different part, but in no point will the IDF forces be required to hold territory inside the Strip," sources said of Dichter's plan. Dichter has reportedly sent copies of his proposal to Barak and to several IDF generals.

Dichter reportedly told Olmert that the cabinet needed to change its reliance on countering rocket fire by tactical attacks, and switch to a broader view concerned only with putting a total end to the firing of Qassam rockets at Israel.

However, government sources told Haaretz that given the current circumstance, Olmert is likely to conclude that the scale of the IDF's military activity in the Strip is at a maximum right now. "Going in any deeper would require very large forces indeed, which would have to stay in the area for a long time," the sources said.

Earlier Tuesday, Vice Premier Haim Ramon - one of a growing number of cabinet ministers in favor of cutting off utilities to Gaza - said that Israel should attach a "price tag" to every rocket launched at Israel.

"We will set a price tag for every Qassam, in terms of cutting off infrastructures," Ramon told Army Radio. "Hamas will ... know this in advance. We will not continue to supply 'oxygen' in the form of electricity, fuel, and water while they are trying to murder our children."

As senior politicians debated what action to take, one Qassam rocket struck an open area in the western Negev Tuesday, causing no damage or injuries, and the Knesset convened for a special discussion on negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu accused Olmert and Barak of "creating the problems with which Israel is now forced to contend through a succession of reckless decisions and moves."

On Monday, Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for launching seven rockets at the western Negev, one of which struck near a day-care center in Sderot. There were no injuries, but 12 children were treated for shock.

Following the attack, the Sderot Parents Committee decided to keep children home from all of the city's schools until further notice. The committee announced it intended to appeal Wednesday to the High Court of Justice to receive permission for parents to enroll their children in schools outside the city, until the completion of reinforcements for all municipal schools.

People from Sderot are scheduled to arrive Wednesday at the Wohl Rose Park in Jerusalem to protest what they call the government's ineptitude at providing security for the northern Negev. The event's organizers intend to bus in the school students to participate in the demonstration.

According to Barak's office, the defense minister also decided to extend an order issued by his predecessor Amir Peretz, declaring a "special situation" along the border with Gaza. Barak decided the time is not yet ripe to revoke the order, which will be in effect for the coming 48 hours, and gives the Israel Defense Forces wide authority to run civilian affairs based on security concerns.

After 48 hours, a further extension of the order will be brought before the government for approval, and then to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee as well as the Knesset plenum for approval.

In addition to granting the IDF the power to issue instructions to the education and health system as well as other essential services, the order also allows for special compensation to be paid to victims of Qassam fire.

The order entitles the security establishment to issue any order necessary for protecting lives and property.

In addition, Barak also instructed his deputy Matan Vilnai and Defense Minister Director General Pinchas Buchris to accelerate production of reinforcement methods in order to better protect buildings near the Gaza Strip from rocket fire.

Al-Aqsa Martelaren Brigades kondigen nieuwe operatie aan

De Al Aqsa Martelaren Brigades - wacht even, dat zijn toch die ex-terroristen die amnestie van Israël hebben gekregen en nu in Abbas' veiligheidsdienst dienen, en training en wapens ontvangen van de Amerikanen?

The "Buraq army" unit of the Al-Aqsa Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah warned on Tuesday that if Israel deprives the Gaza Strip of water and electricity, the Israeli power generating station at Ashkelon will be bombarded.

Waarom zou de gewapende vleugel van Fatah Hamas te hulp schieten als het problemen heeft met Israël? Hamas heeft onlangs nog 8 Fatah leden in de Gazastrook ontvoerd. Bovendien dreigt Hamas een vergelijkbare coup als in Gaza te plegen op de Westelijke Jordaanoever, en is een eerdere poging hiertoe door Israël verijdeld.
 
Ratna
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Al-Aqsa Brigades announce start of operation "roaring sea waves"
Date: 04 / 09 / 2007  Time:  19:32
www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=25150

Gaza - Ma'an - The "Buraq army" unit of the Al-Aqsa Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah warned on Tuesday that if Israel deprives the Gaza Strip of water and electricity, the Israeli power generating station at Ashkelon will be bombarded.

Announcing the start of operation "roaring sea waves" in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, they said they would respond to Israeli threats to assassinate Palestinian resistance fighters. They threatened to undertake "qualitative operations" and to continue launching home made projectiles against Israeli targets.

Also on Tuesday the Al-Mujahideen Brigades, another of the units of the Al-Aqsa Brigades claimed responsibility for launching a home made projectile at the Israeli town of Sderot. However, there have been no reports from the Israelis that a projectile hit Sderot.

woensdag 5 september 2007

Evacueer de buitenposten!

Er zijn twee partijen nodig om vrede te maken, en een belangrijke voorwaarde voor het slagen van elke overeenkomst is dat de ander zich betrouwbaar toont en de daad bij het woord voegt. Israël heeft genoeg reden tot klagen over de PA, die er nooit in is geslaagd om het terrorisme uit te bannen (ervan uitgaande dat zij daar wel oprecht naar gestreefd heeft).
Israël zelf is echter gedane toezeggingen aan haar Amerikaanse bondgenoot en/of aan Abbas al herhaaldelijk niet nagekomen, namelijk om buitenposten (kleine illegale nederzettingen) te verwijderen en checkpoints te verminderen. Het is lang over tijd om deze toezeggingen na te komen, en de aanstaande internationale vredesconferentie zou een prachtige gelegenheid zijn om te tonen dat het haar ernst is met het vredesproces en zij een betrouwbare onderhandelingspartner is.
 
Wouter
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Last update - 09:58 03/09/2007   

First, evacuate the outposts

By Haaretz Editorial
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/900022.html

Israeli leaders frequently cast doubt on the ability of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to implement any diplomatic agreement, due to his political weakness. But Israel also has a long-standing commitment - to evacuate illegal outposts in the West Bank - that it has evaded carrying out for years, each time on a different pretext. The upcoming peace conference in Washington provides an appropriate moment to put an end to this foot-dragging over the outposts and to prove that the Israeli government, headed by Ehud Olmert, is capable of fulfilling its obligations. A swift evacuation of outposts also would signal to both the United States and Saudi Arabia, which Olmert is hoping to draw into the diplomatic process, that Israel is serious, and is not just talking.

Yesterday, the ministerial committee on implementing Talia Sasson's report on the illegal outposts, which is chaired by Vice Premier Haim Ramon, met for the first time in about two years. The results were predictable. The ministers heard a report on the growth of the outposts, in defiance of the promises that each of the last two premiers made to the White House. Ramon asked the relevant professionals to propose new rules on planning and building in the settlements and to explain various gaps and contradictions in the data on the number of outposts. Minister Avigdor Lieberman utilized the discussion to remind his supporters that he represents the right wing in this government. And Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who is responsible for evacuating the outposts, thus far has been prolonging the issue through discussions with the settlers on a voluntary evacuation - which, based on past experience, seem unlikely to produce results.

Olmert's predecessor Ariel Sharon promised the American administration that he would evacuate every outpost established during his term as prime minister. But the administration stopped pressuring Israel after the disengagement from the Gaza Strip, and the settlers have interpreted this as a license to continue expanding the outposts. The Sasson Report, which proposed a comprehensive policy for dealing with construction over the Green Line, was never implemented. Olmert began his term by destroying nine houses in the outpost of Amona, but was frightened by the violent pictures that evacuation produced. Since then, he has preferred to play for time. Now, the issue has arisen once again, due to a Peace Now petition to the High Court of Justice demanding the evacuation of Migron, built on private Palestinian land. The state put the court off with repeated postponements, but now it must submit an appropriate response. Meanwhile, U.S. President George Bush reiterated that Israel must evacuate the outposts, in his July 16 speech on the Middle East.

The very existence of the outposts, as well as their continued growth, call the government's ability to carry out its diplomatic commitments into question. The prime minister's attempts to reach an agreement of principles with Abbas will look like a sorry joke if Olmert does not want - or is not able - to evacuate so much as a single outpost. Olmert's view is that after the agreement of principles is reached, it should be implemented gradually, in keeping with the stages of the road map peace plan. Yet even the road map obligates Israel to evacuate the outposts during the very first stage. Why should Israeli citizens, or the international community, take the prime minister's diplomatic moves seriously as long as Olmert evades implementing even the very first step?

Hezbollah museum: "Dit is hun cultuur, dit is hun geloof"

"Dit is hun cultuur, dit is hun geloof."

Aldus het commentaar van Hezbollah, in hun onlangs geopende museum, bij een rabbi die zijn duim opsteekt bij het langsrijden van een Israëlische tank. De cultuur van Hezbollah is inderdaad veel vredelievender. In het museum zijn Hezbollah helden te zien en huilende en bloedende Israëlische soldaten.
 
Het nieuwe museum, dat in zijn eerste vier weken al meer dan driehonderdduizend bezoekers trok, is ook een bestemming voor schoolreisjes. Het is nu al hét familie-uitje in het land. En speciaal voor kinderen heeft Hezbollah een computerspelletje op de markt gebracht, dat ook in het museum te koop is. Het heet 'Special Force 2'. Je wint wanneer je Israëlische tanks en vliegtuigen neerschiet in Zuid-Libanon.
 
''Dit is geen Amerikaans spelletje, waarin allerlei stoere soldaten op een buitenlandse missie gaan,'' vertelt Jawad, een lid van Hezbollah, die heeft geholpen bij de ontwikkeling van Special Force 2. ''Dit gaat over de verdediging van onze eigen dorpen. Geen aanval, alleen maar verdediging.''
 
 
Het ontvoeren en doden van Israëlische soldaten op Israëlisch grondgebied, is inderdaad slechts verdediging, net als het afschieten van raketten op burgerdoelen in Israël. Voor de goede orde: Israël heeft zich in 2000 teruggetrokken uit Zuid-Libanon, en er is dus geen sprake meer van bezetting van Libanees land. Of vindt Hezbollah dat heel Israël eigenlijk bezet gebied is?
 
 
Ratna
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Met het hele gezin naar Hezbollah
Van onze correspondent HARALD DOORNBOS

Hezbollah heeft een museum geopend om 'de goddelijke overwinning' van vorig jaar op Israël luister bij te zetten.

De ingang van het museum in Beiroet is een nagemaakte Hezbollah-bunker. Met zandzakken en camouflagenetten. Buiten staan een paar kapotte Israëlische tanks. Daarachter een raket. Binnen dragen etalagepoppen Hezbollah-uniformen, veldtelefoons, kalasjnikovs en handgranaten.

''Alles is echt,'' vertelt bewaker Falah.

Midden in de wijk, die vorig jaar gedeeltelijk werd platgegooid door Israëlische straaljagers, heeft de radicale sjiitische beweging Hezbollah een museum ingericht. Hier, zo hoopt de door Iran gesponsorde Libanese groepering, krijgen bezoekers het idee hoe de guerrillagroep er vorig jaar in slaagde om het Israëlische leger te verslaan tijdens de zomeroorlog.

Hoewel Libanon veel meer schade heeft opgelopen dan Israël en er beduidend meer slachtoffers zijn gevallen aan Libanese zijde, claimt Hezbollah de oorlog 'op goddelijke wijze' te hebben gewonnen.

En dus is er nu een vrij macaber museum dat een wel heel eenzijdig beeld schetst van de ontwikkelingen. Huilende en krijsende Israëlische soldaten tegenover vastberaden en gelovige Hezbollah-strijders. Levensgrote foto's aan de muur van stervende Israëlische soldaten die bloed spugen.

Brokstukken van een neergehaalde Israëlische helikopter. Legerkistjes en wapens van gesneuvelde Israëlische soldaten zijn in graven gelegd en bedekt met glas, zodat je alles goed kunt zien. Tevens een afbeelding van een rabbijn die zijn duim omhoog steekt bij een langsrijdende Israëlische tank. Het commentaar van Hezbollah: ''Dit is hun cultuur, dit is hun geloof.''

Na zoveel Arabische nederlagen tegen Israël probeert Hezbollah bezoekers het idee te geven dat Israël helemaal niet zo onoverwinnelijk is. ''Dit museum vervult me met grote trots,'' vertelt een oude gesluierde vrouw, Saniyah Aboe Ta'am, die met een kind door het museum loopt. ''Een prachtig beeld van onze overwinning.''

Verwacht in dit oorlogsmuseum geen educatieve boodschap over de verschrikking van oorlog. Oorlog is verschrikkelijk voor de vijand, lijken ze hier te zeggen, maar niet voor ons. Ook belangrijk: een oorlog kun je winnen zolang je maar in God gelooft.

Het nieuwe museum, dat in zijn eerste vier weken al meer dan driehonderdduizend bezoekers trok, is ook een bestemming voor schoolreisjes. Het is nu al hét familie-uitje in het land. En speciaal voor kinderen heeft Hezbollah een computerspelletje op de markt gebracht, dat ook in het museum te koop is. Het heet 'Special Force 2'. Je wint wanneer je Israëlische tanks en vliegtuigen neerschiet in Zuid-Libanon.

''Dit is geen Amerikaans spelletje, waarin allerlei stoere soldaten op een buitenlandse missie gaan,'' vertelt Jawad, een lid van Hezbollah, die heeft geholpen bij de ontwikkeling van Special Force 2. ''Dit gaat over de verdediging van onze eigen dorpen. Geen aanval, alleen maar verdediging.''

De Israël-Bashing Club kwam bijeen in Brussel

Vorige week donderdag en vrijdag vond in het gebouw van het Europees Parlement te Brussel de VN conferentie "...of Civil Society in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace" plaats. Mijn verwachtigen zijn helaas uitgekomen: bijna alle sprekers riepen op tot een boycot van Israël en legden de oorzaak voor het conflict en het voortdurende geweld alleen bij Israël. De internationale gemeenschap, de VS voorop, werd ook veelvuldig beschuldigd van inactie en een te softe benadering van Israël. En Israël, dat was een racistische Apartheidsstaat. Alle vluchtelingen moeten kunnen terugkeren en er werd zelfs opgeroepen om het delingsplan uit 1947 te 'herdenken'.
 
Zeer onrechtvaardig inderdaad, om een vijfde van het oorspronkelijke Mandaatgebied (dat aanvankelijk ook het huidige Jordanië omvatte) te delen in twee gelijke delen, om zo zelfbeschikking voor beide volkeren te garanderen. Sommige mensen waren echter bijzonder creatief in hun beschuldigingen aan Israël, zoals de Britse parlementarier Care Short:
 
Ms. Short charged the Jewish state with the ultimate crime: Israel "undermines the international community's reaction to global warming." According to Ms. Short, the Middle East conflict distracts the world from the real problem: man-made climate change. If extreme weather will lead to the "end of the human race," as Ms. Short warned it could, add this to the list of the crimes of Israel.
 
 
Vroeger werd door bepaalde lieden gezegd dat Joden de Eerste Wereldoorlog hadden veroorzaakt, en daarvoor zouden moeten boeten. Daarvoor al werd gezegd dat ze het bloed van christelijke kinderen gebruiken om Matzes te bakken. En tegenwoordig heb je op de Iraanse TV een serie over Israëlische doctoren die Palestijnse kinderen ontvoeren en hun ogen eruithalen om ze bij blinde Joodse kinderen te implanteren. Er zijn ook mensen die Israël de schuld van de Tsunami gaven. En van AIDS.
 
Makkelijk, zo'n zondebok.
 
 
Ratna

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STATE OF THE UNION

The Israel-Bashing Club

By DANIEL SCHWAMMENTHAL
September 3, 2007

Brussels

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118877270728215947.html?apl=y

"Israel is an apartheid state," was the most often-heard charge, closely followed by calls for a boycott. The West should cut its economic ties with the Jewish state, the speakers urged, and engage the "democratically elected" Islamists now running Gaza.

No, this was not a Hamas rally somewhere in the Palestinian territories. This was Brussels, where the European Parliament last week played host to the "United Nations International Conference of Civil Society in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace."

If the conference title's inversion of the truth is reminiscent of Communist-style propaganda, this is no coincidence. The meeting was organized by the U.N. Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, a Soviet-era body founded around the time of the 1975 U.N. "Zionism is racism" resolution. That anti-Semitic resolution was revoked in 1991 but the committee continued its activities in the resolution's original spirit.

Speaker after speaker at the European Parliament on Thursday and Friday presented the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from an exclusively Palestinian perspective. Israel was accused of human rights violations while Palestinian terrorism and incitement went unmentioned. The delegates invoked the Israeli occupation as the underlying cause for the conflict without mentioning the Palestinian rejectionism and violence that prevent further Israeli withdrawals. The "right of return" of millions of Palestinians, which would lead to the demographic destruction of Israel as a Jewish state, was upheld despite the official claim to favor a two-state solution.

Amid this standard-Israel-bashing, a few delegates managed to come up with a few innovative charges against the Jewish state.

There was Clare Short, a member of the British Parliament and Secretary for International Development under Prime Minister Tony Blair until she resigned in 2003 over the Iraq war. Claiming that Israel is actually "much worse than the original apartheid state" and accusing it of "killing (Palestinian) political leaders," Ms. Short charged the Jewish state with the ultimate crime: Israel "undermines the international community's reaction to global warming." According to Ms. Short, the Middle East conflict distracts the world from the real problem: man-made climate change. If extreme weather will lead to the "end of the human race," as Ms. Short warned it could, add this to the list of the crimes of Israel.

The U.S. also came in for criticism. Pierre Galand, chairman of the European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine, admonished Washington for increasing its military aid to Israel. What really worried Mr. Galand was that this aid would allow Israel to build a missile defense system. In Mr. Galand's view, Israel's ability to protect itself against possible nuclear-tipped Iranian missiles doesn't serve the "cause of peace."

Speaking at the conference's opening session, Edward McMillan-Scott, British vice president of the European Parliament, told the audience that, "It is also worth noting that I am related to Colonel T. E. Lawrence of Arabia." Having thus established his noble pedigree, he later told me that Hamas was "not a terrorist organization." Perhaps Mr. McMillan-Scott is aspiring to the title of Edward of Hamastan?

The only attempt among the dozens of speakers to present the other side came from an Arab-Israeli. Nadia Hilou, a member of the Israeli Parliament (so much for the "apartheid" charge) explained why her countrymen are pessimistic about the prospects for peace. "It's the disappointment that the withdrawals from Gaza and Lebanon, which were seen as gestures of good will, have worsened not improved Israel's security situation." Having failed to stick to her assigned role as witness for the prosecution, Ms. Hilou is unlikely to be invited back.

One is tempted to dismiss the conference as of little practical consequence. Another U.N. conference bashing Israel -- what else is new? Bronislaw Geremek, a former Polish foreign minister and current member of the European Parliament, disagrees. That his house has played host to this "revolting" meeting, he told me, will further diminish Europe's credibility as an even-handed peace broker in Israeli eyes. Mr. Geremek, together with a group of like-minded lawmakers, many also Polish, tried in vain to stop the conference from taking place.

The U.N. gathering in Brussels, though, did more than just sow distrust between Europe and Israel. It was a further step in the growing campaign to delegitimize and demonize Israel. The calls for a boycott, championed first by radical Palestinians, have already been adopted by some mainstream organizations, such as various British unions. Similarly, the idea of establishing contacts with Hamas has been echoed recently by high-profile politicians. Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, a former EU Commission President, suggested talking to Hamas last month to help it "develop." (He later backtracked.) The British Parliament's foreign affairs committee also recommended last month to engage with Hamas. The U.K. lawmakers even added Hezbollah and Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood to their wish list of dialogue partners -- all in the interest of peace, of course.

By hosting this conference, the European Parliament has lent its good name to propaganda and helped to make radical anti-Israeli claims more mainstream. It's a huge disservice to the search for Mideast peace, which must be based on compromise and dialogue.

Mr. Schwammenthal edits the State of the Union column.

 

dinsdag 4 september 2007

Libanon: Fatah-al-Islam eindelijk verslagen - Palestijns kamp in puin

Na bijna vier maanden heeft het Libanese leger dan eindelijk het radikale Fatah-al-Islam verslagen. Duizenden Libanezen gingen zondag avond de straat op om deze overwinning te vieren. Syrië feliciteerde Libanon met deze overwinning. De gevechten hebben het Palestijnse vluchtelingenkamp waar Fatah-al-Islam zich schuilhield grotendeels verwoest, en de 40.000 inwoners waren gevlucht naar andere, ook reeds overvolle kampen - waar zij maar moesten zien te overleven.
 
Het kwam in niemands hoofd op om dit Libanon aan te rekenen, om te eisen dat het met Fatah-al-Islam praat en een diplomatieke oplossing zoekt waarbij het kamp bespaard had kunnen blijven (Er zijn overigens wel dergelijke pogingen ondernomen). Er is evenmin met grote verontwaardiging gereageerd op de beroerde en rechteloze positie van de Palestijnen in de vluchtelingenkampen. Waarom leven die mensen überhaupt in kampen? Dat is toch je reinste Apartheid? Het zijn voor het overgrote merendeel mensen die zijn geboren en getogen in Libanon, maar niemand windt zich erover op dat ze geen Libanees staatsburgerschap hebben, er geen fatsoenlijke huizen voor ze beschikbaar zijn en ze in een soort ghetto's zitten opgesloten. 
 
Voor de duidelijkheid: ik sta geheel achter de operaties van het Libanese leger tegen Fatah-al-Islam, maar heb sterk de indruk dat het lot van de Palestijnen veel mensen vooral kwaad maakt als een zeker land ze onderdrukt. 
 
Ratna
 

 
NEWS MIDDLE EAST
Fighting 'over' at Lebanon camp
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F41BDCF3-71E9-4396-84B7-93D058CAE6CC.htm
Lebanese army forces had surrounded the
Nahr al-Bared camp for over three months [AFP]
The Lebanese army has taken full control of a Palestinian refugee camp where it has been battling Fatah al-Islam fighters for more than three months, the army said.
 
Zeina Khodr, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Lebanon, said: "It seems the battles are now over. It seems the Fatah al-Islam officials remaining inside the camp have surrendered."
Crowds gathered on the streets on Sunday afternoon with the news that more than three months of fighting had ended, while troops around Nahr al-Bared camp fired celebratory shots into the air.

A senior security source told Reuters news agency: "The Lebanese army has seized the last positions of Fatah al-Islam in the camp.
 
"Most of the terrorists were killed today, the others have been captured. A few might have escaped but the army is hunting them down."

More deaths

According to the army, Fatah al-Islam fighters attacked their positions while trying to escape the camp in northern Lebanon early on Sunday.

Lebanese troops killed at least 31 fighters.

Twenty-three more fighters from the Fatah al-Islam group, 12 of them wounded, were captured when they attempted to break out of Nahr al-Bared.

The refugee camp was all but
destroyed in the fighting [AFP]
The army had estimated that 35 active fighters remained in the camp before Sunday, but it was unclear whether all had tried to flee, the security source said.

The fighting has been Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 civil war, killing more than 300 people.

Five soldiers were also killed on Sunday, raising the army death toll to 157. At least 131 Fatah al-Islam fighters and 42 civilians have been killed.

Khodr said some army sources had told her that Shaker al-Abssi, Fatah al-Islam's leader, may have escaped during the fighting.

"Army sources say that Shaker al-Abssi has managed to escape and that eight other Fatah al-Islam fighters are on the run," she said.
 
"Some sources say the fighters wore army uniform, launched an attack and maybe diverted the army [during which time] the leadership managed to escape."

However, Khodr also said that other sources from the Lebanese army told her al-Abssi had been killed during the battles.

Outside attack

Sunday's clashes were sparked when fighters from outside the camp drove up to an army checkpoint on the eastern edge of the camp and fired at soldiers, along with fighters inside, an army source said.

Fighters also attacked another checkpoint at the southern edge of the camp.

Security forces launched a search operation and the area around the camp was cordoned off.

The road that links Tripoli to Syria was closed to traffic and army checkpoints were set up on other roads throughout the region, including the main highway to Beirut, Lebanon's capital.

Khodr, said that the checkpoints were stationed every 10 to 12 kilometres along the Beirut-Tripoli highway. 

A security source said the army was concentrating its search in Ayun al-Samak, a village about 5km east of Nahr al-Bared.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

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Een nieuwe cartoon affaire in Zweden?

De 57 leden tellende Organisatie van de Islamitische Conferentie veroordeelt de publikatie van een cartoon in een Zweedse krant twee weken geleden.

İhsanoğlu said the Swedish newspaper's move should definitely be condemned, but added Muslims should remain calm while reacting to the cartoon and avoid violence. He also urged the Swedish government to punish the artist and the publisher.

Het is natuurlijk prijzenswaardig dat hij tot kalmte maande, maar het doet toch een beetje vreemd aan dat deze Turkse secretaris-generaal van de machtigste islamitische organisaties, verwacht dat de Zweedse regering een columnist en krant moet gaan vervolgen om de publikatie van een onwelgevallige cartoon.
Het volgende is welhaast hilarisch, of eerder cynisch:

Afghanistan also condemned the printing of the sketch, calling it hostile towards the Muslim world. "Our Holy Prophet's being cartooned in a Swedish paper has provoked all Afghans," wrote The Kabul Times, publishing a statement by religious scholars, imams and the Ministry of Islamic Guidance, on Saturday.

Je zou denken dat de meeste Aghanen wel wat anders aan hun hoofd hebben. Namens wie spreekt die krant? Namens wie spreekt de afgevaardigde op de OIC bijeenkomst?? Aangezien democratie niet de sterkste kant is van de Arabische staten, kunnen we er vanuit gaan dat dit niet namens de meerderheid van het volk zal zijn geweest. De cartoonaffaire vorig jaar was gemanipuleerd en aangewakkerd door imams die valse cartoons lieten zien, en regeringsleiders die wel wat afleiding van hun binnenlandse problemen konden gebruiken.
Of deze rel in een nieuwe cartoonaffaire zal ontaarden hangt meer af van het belang dat bepaalde regeringsleiders hebben in een nieuwe confrontatie met Europa dan van oprechte woede van de massa's op straat en eventuele al dan niet oprechte excuses van Zweden, de betreffende krant, de EU, of de Paus.

Ratna  
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03.09.2007 – ISTANBUL Zaman
OIC calls for peaceful reaction to Swedish cartoons
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=121086

The leader of the world's largest Muslim organization condemned the publication in a Swedish newspaper of a cartoon insulting the Prophet Mohammad, but called on devout believers to react peacefully against it.

Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, the Turkish secretary-general of the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), urged the Swedish government to immediately apologize for the publication, which observers fear could inflame a new "cartoon crisis" similar to the one which erupted two years ago following publication of defamatory caricatures in Danish and other media.

"The caricatures in question do not bode well for freedom of expression," İhsanoğlu was quoted as saying by Zaman newspaper on Sunday. He called on the West to act in a "responsible" manner where values of Islam are concerned. "It has become a habit to insult our sacred values now. It is impossible to tolerate what has been done and what has been done cannot be considered a simple incident," İhsanoğlu told the daily.

"Those who are responsible cannot hide behind the principle of freedom of press. Those who remain silent in the face of attacks against Islam may not find anyone by their side when it comes to their sacred values."

Swedish newspaper Nerikes Allehanda published a cartoon on Aug. 18 depicting the Prophet Mohammed as a dog to illustrate an editorial on self-censorship and freedom of expression and religion. On Friday, 200 Muslims protested in Oerebro, a town west of Stockholm where the Nerikes Allehanda is based. Muslim countries, including Iran, Pakistan and Egypt, condemned the cartoon, but the newspaper has refused to offer an apology.

Afghanistan also condemned the printing of the sketch, calling it hostile towards the Muslim world. "Our Holy Prophet's being cartooned in a Swedish paper has provoked all Afghans," wrote The Kabul Times, publishing a statement by religious scholars, imams and the Ministry of Islamic Guidance, on Saturday.

The Swedish government said it regretted any hurt but could not apologize as it was not responsible for the drawing and could not prevent its publication. "In line with our freedom of speech, our democracy and our way of doing things, others make these kind of [editorial] decisions," Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said in a radio interview.

Other cartoons depicting the Prophet sparked worldwide protests last year. Thousands of Muslims took to the streets in several countries in early 2006 in protest of the drawings, which were initially published by a Danish daily and later reproduced elsewhere. Newspapers in Denmark have decided to publish the controversial Swedish cartoon, reports in Turkish press said yesterday.

İhsanoğlu said the Swedish newspaper's move should definitely be condemned, but added Muslims should remain calm while reacting to the cartoon and avoid violence. He also urged the Swedish government to punish the artist and the publisher.

In an editorial on Saturday, a leading Swedish newspaper, Dagens Nyheter, said the country would not apologize for the publication. Sweden "has a duty from now on to defend its principles and present an open dialogue," it said and added that offended Muslims would not receive the apologies they are asking for.

Lars Vilks, the Swedish cartoonist in question, also said he had no intention to apologize. "You must be allowed to criticize religion, but I am not opposed to Islam," he told Danish agency Ritzau. He had, in the past, also drawn a "Jewish sow," Vilks said. He also said he had received death threats.

03.09.2007
Today's Zaman İstanbul

Hamas bedreiging voor Fatah op de Westelijke Jordaanoever

Binnen het Israëlische leger bestaat vrees dat Hamas op de Westelijke Jordaanoever een coup zal plegen vergelijkbaar met die in Gaza. Hamas zou ongeveer even sterk zijn als Fatah, en men heeft pogingen van Hamas verijdeld om een militaire macht op te zetten vergelijkbaar met de 'Executive Force' in Gaza .
Toch is men geen voorstander van meer wapens en een grotere troepenmacht voor Fatah.

"It is not about manpower," the official said, "but about motivating the Fatah forces to want to fight and defend the PA."

In Gaza had Fatah vier keer zoveel manschappen en viel toch als een kaartenhuis in elkaar omdat de motivatie ontbrak.
Israël gelooft dat deze motivatie verhoogd kan worden door de 'kwaliteit van leven' van de Palestijnen te verbeteren, en defensie is plannen aan het uitwerken om een aantal checkpoints op te heffen, in navolging van beloftes van Olmert aan Abbas. Hopelijk blijft het niet bij woorden, en hopelijk is de PA gemotiveerd genoeg om mee te helpen aanslagen te voorkomen.

Ratna
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80,000 illegal arms in terrorist hands in W. Bank
Yaakov Katz , THE JERUSALEM POST Sep. 4, 2007
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1188392527431&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Over 80,000 illegal weapons are believed to be in the hands of West Bank terrorists, according to the IDF's latest assessments of the ongoing power struggle between Hamas and Fatah.

The weapons are mostly held in private homes or hidden in caches throughout Judea and Samaria.

According to the latest assessment, and contrary to earlier predictions, defense officials told The Jerusalem Post this week that Hamas was just as strong as Fatah in the West Bank and could pose a genuine threat to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's security forces.

On Monday, the London-based Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper reported that Fatah security forces had recently thwarted an attempted coup in the PA by Hamas.

Hamas had tried establishing a military force in the West Bank similar to its Executive Force in the Gaza Strip, which then planned to attack PA institutions and take over the government, according to the report. "They have weapons and explosives and, more importantly, they are highly motivated," a senior defense official said.

According to the official, Hamas is currently in a "waiting period" and is trying to unite some of its splinter groups spread throughout the various West Bank cities, with terrorist hubs in the northern Samaria cities of Nablus and Jenin.

Earlier this year, the IDF foiled plans by Hamas to create a military force in the West Bank like the Executive Force that took over the Gaza Strip from Fatah in June.

According to a high-ranking IDF officer, Hamas tried uniting all of its factions across the West Bank but failed due to IDF preemptive action. Since then, Hamas has focused on infiltrating its men into the ranks of PA security branches - the Palestinian Police and the National Security Force.

While Fatah is currently better organized and is in control of the official PA security forces in the West Bank, the Israeli defense establishment is concerned that when Hamas launches its coup attempt, Fatah force will collapse just like they did in Gaza. There, Fatah had four times the men Hamas did, a defense official said.

For this reason, senior officials in the defense establishment have voiced opposition to a plan recently raised by the US security coordinator to the region Lt.-Gen. Keith Dayton according to which Abbas needs an additional five battalions in the West Bank to counter the growing Hamas threat. "It is not about manpower," the official said, "but about motivating the Fatah forces to want to fight and defend the PA."

The IDF Central Command believes that Abbas's time is running out and that in the coming months Hamas will try to topple his government in the West Bank and attempt to take over the PA security branches and institutions. Last week, PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad announced that his government had closed down 103 welfare and charitable institutions connected to Hamas in an effort to impair the Islamist group's financial capabilities.

The IDF has decided to take a number of steps to assist Abbas in motivating his men to fight if and when Hamas attempts its takeover.

According to defense officials, quality of life in the West Bank is an important factor in motivating PA security forces. As a result, the Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria is working on a number of ways to ease travel restrictions for PA security personnel.

Ahead of the upcoming hajj, which begins in mid-December, the civil administration is also examining ways to ease restrictions on Palestinians in general who want to travel abroad.

"The security forces need to feel that they have a reason to fight," a defense official said. "They need to feel like they have a better life to look forward to. Otherwise, they will not pose a challenge to Hamas."

Israël waarschuwde VS tegen inval Irak na 11 september

 
Uit linkse en anti-Zionistische hoek komt vaker de beschuldiging dat Israël - en haar lobby in de VS - de Amerikanen had gepusht om Irak binnen te vallen.
 
Deze mythe is al herhaaldelijk weerlegd worden. Na de Irak invasie presenteerde Martin Kramer bijvoorbeeld bewijzen dat Israël de regering Bush adviseerde Irak niet binnen te vallen, en kort daarna berichtte Yossi Alpher in the Forward dat Ariel Sharon Bush voor een invasie had gewaarschuwd. Bob Woodwards boek toonde aan dat Bush zelf erop uit was om Saddam Hussein ten val te brengen. In onderstaand artikel levert Gareth Porter verdere aanwijzingen dat Israëlische functionarissen juist probeerden om een invasie af te wenden.
 
De Israëli's zagen niet het - na de Golfoorlog verzwakte - Irak maar het fundamentalistische regime in Iran als bedreiging waartegen aktie moest worden ondernomen. Als regionale machten hadden Irak en Iran elkaar lange tijd in evenwicht gehouden. Nadat in Iran de Westers geöriënteerde Shah ten val kwam en door een islamitisch regime van Ayatollahs werd vervangen, steunden de VS Saddam Hussein in een jarenlange bloedige grensoorlog tegen Iran, die aan beide kanten vele doden kostte. Hussein viel pas uit de gratie van de Amerikanen toen hij Koeweit in 1990 binnenviel, en na de Golfoorlog was hij - ook letterlijk, vanwege de 'no-fly zones' - gekortwiekt. Iran kon hierdoor zijn invloed in de regio uitbreiden en zijn wapenarsenaal opbouwen. 
 
De suggestie dat rechtse Amerikaanse Joden bij het Israëlische veiligheidskabinet zouden kunnen aanschuiven om mee te beslissen over snode plannen voor een oorlog tegen Irak is heus niet antisemitisch, alleen maar paranoide...
 
 
Wouter (met dank aan Ami Isseroff)
 
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POLITICS: Israel Warned US Not to Invade Iraq after 9/11
By Gareth Porter*
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39051

WASHINGTON, Aug 28 (IPS) - Israeli officials warned the George W. Bush administration that an invasion of Iraq would be destabilising to the region and urged the United States to instead target Iran as the primary enemy, according to former administration official Lawrence Wilkerson.

Wilkerson, then a member of the State Department's Policy Planning Staff and later chief of staff for Secretary of State Colin Powell, recalled in an interview with IPS that the Israelis reacted immediately to indications that the Bush administration was thinking of war against Iraq. After the Israeli government picked up the first signs of that intention, Wilkerson says, "The Israelis were telling us Iraq is not the enemy -- Iran is the enemy."

Wilkerson describes the Israeli message to the Bush administration in early 2002 as being, "If you are going to destabilise the balance of power, do it against the main enemy."

The warning against an invasion of Iraq was "pervasive" in Israeli communications with the administration, Wilkerson recalls. It was conveyed to the administration by a wide range of Israeli sources, including political figures, intelligence and private citizens.

Wilkerson notes that the main point of their communications was not that the United States should immediately attack Iran, but that "it should not be distracted by Iraq and Saddam Hussein" from a focus on the threat from Iran.

The Israeli advice against using military force against Iraq was apparently triggered by reports reaching Israeli officials in December 2001 that the Bush administration was beginning serious planning for an attack on Iraq. Journalist Bob Woodward revealed in "Plan of Attack" that on Dec. 1, 2001, Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld had ordered the Central Command chief Gen. Tommy Franks to come up with the first formal briefing on a new war plan for Iraq on Dec. 4. That started a period of intense discussions of war planning between Rumsfeld and Franks.

Soon after Israeli officials got wind of that planning, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon asked for a meeting with Bush primarily to discuss U.S. intentions to invade Iraq. In the weeks preceding Sharon's meeting with Bush on Feb. 7, 2002, a procession of Israeli officials conveyed the message to the Bush administration that Iran represented a greater threat, according to a Washington Post report on the eve of the meeting.

Israeli Defence Minister Fouad Ben-Eliezer, who was visiting Washington with Sharon, revealed the essence of the strategic differences between Tel Aviv and Washington over military force. He was quoted by the Post as saying, "Today, everybody is busy with Iraq. Iraq is a problem...But you should understand, if you ask me, today Iran is more dangerous than Iraq."

Sharon, who died of a stroke in early 2006, never revealed publicly what he said to Bush in the Feb. 7 meeting. But Yossi Alpher, a former adviser to Prime Minister Ehud Barak, wrote in an article in the Forward last January that Sharon advised Bush not to occupy Iraq, according to a knowledgeable source. Alpher wrote that Sharon also assured Bush that Israel would not "push one way or another" regarding his plan to take down Saddam Hussein.

Alpher noted that Washington did not want public support by Israel and in fact requested that Israel refrain from openly supporting the invasion in order to avoid an automatic negative reaction from Iraq's Arab neighbours.

After that meeting, the Sharon government generally remained silent on the issue of an invasion of Iraq. A notable exception, however, was a statement on Aug. 16, 2002 by Ranaan Gissin, an aide to Sharon. Ranaan declared, "Any postponement of an attack on Iraq at this stage will serve no purpose. It will only give [Hussein] more of an opportunity to accelerate his programme of weapons of mass destruction."

As late as October 2002, however, there were still signs of continuing Israeli grumbling about the Bush administration's obsession with taking over Iraq. Both the Israeli Defence Forces' chief of staff and its chief of military intelligence made public statements that month implicitly dismissing the Bush administration's position that Saddam Hussein's alleged quest for nuclear weapons made him the main threat. Both officials suggested that Israel's military advantage over Iraq had continued to increase over the decade since the Gulf War as Iraq had grown weaker.

The Israeli chief of military intelligence, Maj. Gen. Aharon Farkash, said Iraq had not deployed any missiles that could strike Israel directly and challenged the Bush administration's argument that Iraq could obtain nuclear weapons within a relatively short time. He gave an interview to Israeli television in which he said army intelligence had concluded that Iraq could not have nuclear weapons in less than four years. He insisted that Iran was as much of a nuclear threat as Iraq.

Israeli strategists generally believed that taking down the Hussein regime could further upset an Iran-Iraq power balance that had already tilted in favour of Iran after the U.S. defeat of Hussein's army in the 1991 Gulf War. By 1996, however, neoconservatives with ties to the Likud Party were beginning to argue for a more aggressive joint U.S.-Israeli strategy aimed at a "rollback" of all of Israel's enemies in the region, including Iran, but beginning by taking down Hussein and putting a pro-Israeli regime in power there.

That was the thrust of the 1996 report of a task force led by Richard Perle for the right-wing Israeli think tank, the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies and aimed at the Likud Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

But most strategists in the Israeli government and the Likud Party -- including Sharon himself -- did not share that viewpoint. Despite agreement between neoconservatives and Israeli officials on many issues, the dominant Israeli strategic judgment on the issue of invading Iraq diverged from that of U.S. neoconservatives because of differing political-military interests.

Israel was more concerned with the relative military threat posed by Iran and Iraq, whereas neoconservatives in the Bush administration were focused on regime change in Iraq as a low-cost way of leveraging more ambitious changes in the region. From the neoconservative perspective, the very military weakness of Hussein's Iraq made it the logical target for the use of U.S. military power.


*Gareth Porter is an historian and national security policy analyst. His latest book, "Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam", was published in June 2005.