Honderden Palestijnse politieagenten in Nablus aangekomen om orde te handhaven

Voordat Israël zich kan terugtrekken uit significante delen van de Westoever en het bestuur overdragen aan de Palestijnen, moeten dit soort projecten succesvol blijken en op grotere schaal worden uitgevoerd.

 

Ratna
-----------------

Hundreds of PA police arrive in Nablus to impose law and order
By Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondents

Last update - 15:26 02/11/2007
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/919546.html

 

 

Hundreds of Palestinian security officers arrived in Nablus on Friday in a Western-backed crackdown on gunmen in the West Bank intended to impose order ahead of a peace conference with Israel. The police are expected to significantly establish their presence in the town by the afternoon hours.

Israel, which is seeking to bolster Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, approved the deployment in the flashpoint city. Israeli government spokesman David Baker said the move would improve security. More Palestinian forces could be deployed elsewhere in the West Bank if the initiative worked well.

Palestinian Interior Minister Abdel-Razak Yahya told Reuters armed officers belonging to the Palestinian National Security Forces had entered Nablus and would deploy in the next few days, providing a major boost to the city's weak police force. 

"Hundreds of members of the Palestinian National Security Forces...arrived in Nablus to deploy for the first time to impose law and order," Yahya told Reuters by telephone.

The deployment was agreed upon following a meeting Thursday evening between Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad. Both men reached an agreement in principle on the deployment roughly one and a half months ago.

The deployment was not carried out earlier, due to difficulties on the Palestinian side in organizing their forces. Israel has agreed to allow 500 police officers to deploy, although only 300 are actually expected to do so.

Nonetheless, Israel has made it clear that the Israel Defense Forces will continue to operate in the West Bank city when needed and will retain overall security responsibility in the Nablus area, while the police officers will focus on imposing law and order.

According to recent reports, United States Mideast security coordinator Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton has said behind closed doors that the Palestinian security forces operating in the West Bank are not adequately prepared to accept security responsibility over Palestinian cities.

Barak told officials during his recent visit to the U.S. that Israel is interested in further easing restrictions on Palestinians, and to allow their security forces to operate in the West Bank.

In meetings with Israeli officials, Dayton praised Fayad for his efforts to rehabilitate the Palestinian security services. However Dayton, who prior to Hamas' rout of Fatah in the Gaza Strip expressed faith in the ability of the PA security forces, now has a much more pessimistic assessment of their capabilities.

Nonetheless, he believes the forces will be ready to assume security control following additional training in the next six months.

Israeli intelligence officials share Dayton's pessimistic assessment, telling the political leadership that the PA would be unable to exercise security control over West Bank cities in the near future.

Fayad himself said during the summer that his forces are not yet ready for the mission. Israel, however, is continuing to allow the PA to deploy police officers in West Bank cities in order to preserve public order, but not take responsibility for security matters.

The PA established a select force during the summer, which is currently awaiting deployment in Nablus. Once deployed, the force will immediately begin a sweeping operation to counter criminal activity in the city.

Israeli security sources say they believe the PA is concerned it will be unable to impose order in Nablus, due to expected clashes with armed gangs in the city. PA officials are also worried that IDF soldiers, who will continue counterterrorism operations, will also engage armed police officers.

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Abbas eist van Hamas opgeven Gazastrook voor gesprekken kunnen beginnen

Er doen veel geruchten de ronde over een mogelijke hernieuwde dialoog en toenadering tussen Fatah en Hamas. Abbas ontkent dat recente ontmoetingen met vertegenwoordigers van Hamas gericht zijn op verzoening, maar waarom nodigde hij hen dan uit voor een gezamelijk vrijdaggebed?

Last month Hamas said it was ready to hold reconciliation talks with Fatah and hinted it might be ready to give up control of the Gaza Strip. But Fatah ruled out talks unless Hamas first cedes control of the coastal territory.

Als Hamas echt heeft gesuggereerd dat het de controle over de Gazastrook op wil geven - en dat is ook de voorwaarde van Abbas -, dan lijkt de weg vrij voor verdere toenadering. Abbas wil daar uiteraard mee wachten tot na de Annapolis conferentie, maar tegelijkertijd het signaal afgeven dat hij open staat voor dialoog met Hamas. Hij heeft eerst een afspraakje met Israël en de VS, en weet dat zij extra hun best zullen doen omdat er een andere kaper op de kust is. Alom wordt immers gevreesd, dat als de top mislukt, de Palestijnen verder zullen radicaliseren. Er is een algemeen gevoel dat er, met de Fatah regering op de Westoever, nu een momentum is waarvan gebruik moet worden gemaakt. Abbas acht zichzelf in de comfortabele positie waarin hij kan eisen, zonder te laten zien dat hij ook tot een compromis bereid is.

 
Ratna
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Abbas tells Hamas officials no unity talks until group quits Gaza
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/919792.html

By The Associated Press
Last update - 13:57 02/11/2007   


Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas met Hamas officials in the West Bank on Friday but reiterated he would not hold formal reconciliation talks with the Islamist group unless it gives up control of Gaza.

Hamas forces routed Abbas's secular Fatah faction in violent clashes in Gaza in June. Abbas then sacked a Hamas-led government and appointed a Fatah-backed administration in the West Bank.

"I met with Hamas officials and told them there would be no dialogue with Hamas until they reverse their coup first," Abbas told Reuters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Abbas said he met Hamas lawmaker Hussein Abu Kwaik and a Hamas-backed former government minister, Naser el-Deen al-Shaer.

Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah said two other Hamas members were also present at the meeting at Abbas's presidential compound in Ramallah. Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters in Gaza Abbas had invited the group to his compound for prayers, but said the meeting was not linked to dialogue between Hamas and Fatah.

"The prayers in the Muqata came after an invitation by Abbas to some Islamist figures, including some Hamas officials. It was not linked to any kind of dialogue between Hamas and Fatah."

Last month Hamas said it was ready to hold reconciliation talks with Fatah and hinted it might be ready to give up control of the Gaza Strip. But Fatah ruled out talks unless Hamas first cedes control of the coastal territory.

Jerusalem has warned that dialogue between Fatah and Hamas could torpedo a peace deal with Israel, which Palestinians hope will lead to statehood

Anti-Zionisten in Bahrein kwaad over officieuze ontmoeting met Livni

De Arabische staten spreken tegenwoordig niet meer veel over "de Zionistische vijand". Toen Abbas die woorden 2 jaar geleden nog tijdens zijn verkiezingscampagne gebruikte, zorgde dat voor veel ophef.

 

In haar vredesinitiatief van 2002/2007 bood de Arabische Liga aan tot normalisatie van de betrekkingen met Israël bereid te zijn als Israël aan haar voorwaarden zou voldoen, zoals een volledige terugtrekking naar de grenzen van voor 1967 en een oplossing van het Palestijnse vluchtelingenprobleem conform de VN-resoluties, die door hen als een recht op terugkeer van alle-vluchtelingen-en-hun-nakomelingen naar Israël wordt uitgelegd.

 

Olmert wilde wel met de Arabische Liga aan tafel gaan zitten, maar uiteraard niet op voorhand en onverkort haar eisenpakket inwilligen. Onderhandelingen waren echter niet voorzien in het initiatief, hooguit over de details van de uitvoering.

 

In de aanloop naar de Annapolis conferentie wordt er alsnog officieus overlegd met de Israëli's, tot woede van de anti-Zionistische vereniging in Bahrein, een eilandstaatje met zo'n 700.000 inwoners, die nog op de ouderwetse toer is: Israël moet eerst alle eisen inwilligen en als die onafhankelijke Palestijnse staat er is, dan...

Ja wat dan? Of er dan vrede met Israël gesloten kan worden, laat men liever in het midden. Vrede is in hun Orwelliaanse taalgebruik synoniem met een Palestijnse staat, niet met vrede met Israël.

 

"Only after full peace returns can we ever think of talking with the Zionist enemy."

 

 

Wouter

Ontvangen via: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MewBkd/

 

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

Gulf Daily News, Bahrain / Oct. 29, 2007
Anti-Zionist drive to be stepped up
   By RASHA AL QAHTANI
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=198141&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=30223

ANTI-ISRAEL activists are calling for a wider public involvement in their campaign against normalisation with the "Zionists".

A meeting is being held today by the Bahrain Society Against Normalisation with the Zionist Enemy, Adliya, at 8pm, where a host of non-governmental organisations and MPs have been invited.

They will discuss steps to be taken following the Foreign Minister's unofficial meeting with his Israeli counterpart in New York earlier this month.

The society maintains that Bahrain should not have any interaction with anyone in Israel at any level.

"We are expecting a large number of people to attend this meeting where we will suggest presenting a number of letters to the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Arab League to denounce the move," said society secretary Abdulla Abdulmalik.

"The meeting will also discuss an incident that took place in a private school where students were asked to colour the Zionist regime's flag."

"We hope to get more support from all societies and citizens in our campaign."

The Foreign Ministry issued a statement earlier this month stating that the meeting came within the framework of Bahrain's role in the Arab peace initiative, which called for maintaining contacts with all sides involved in the Middle East peace process, to defend the Palestinian cause.

*****

Public Debate in Bahrain over Contacts with Israel

24/10/2007

Gulf Daily News
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com
By Mandeep Singh
http://www.palestine-pmc.com/details.asp?cat=1&id=1138

BAHRAIN should not have any interaction with anyone in Israel, at any level, the "Bahrain Society Against Normalization with the Zionist Enemy" secretary Abdulla Abdulmalik said Tuesday.

He was reacting to the Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid's recent unofficial meeting with his Israeli counterpart in New York.

But the Foreign Ministry says the meeting was within Bahrain's role in the Middle East peace process.

"The Foreign Ministry wishes to make it clear that Bahrain's stances in support of the Palestinian cause remain unequivocal and unflinching and are not susceptible to any political manipulation or bargaining," it said in a statement earlier this month.

"Bahrain's crystal clear stances, which never derailed from the Arab mainstream, stress the need to reach a lasting, comprehensive and just peace based on the establishment of a fully-independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

"The Foreign Ministry's contacts must not be regarded as a normalisation step with Israel, but as a contribution to the joint Arab efforts in support of the Palestinian cause and to the benefit of Bahrain's supreme interests."

The statement added that the meeting came within the framework of Bahrain's role in the Arab peace initiative, which called for maintaining contacts with all sides involved in the Middle East peace process, to defend the Palestinian cause.

"There is no need for this, since there is no peace in the entire Middle East region, thanks to the Israelis," Abdulmalik told a Press conference at the society headquarters in Adliya.

"We are against any such interaction, official or unofficial, until there is complete peace in the region.

"We know well enough that it is the Zionists who are responsible for what is happening in the region.

"Palestinians are being killed every day and the Zionists are getting more and more daring and arrogant. Under the circumstances, why should there be a dialogue with them?"

He said Shaikh Khalid acted against the conscience of Bahrainis, Arabs and Muslims by meeting his Israeli counterpart Tzipi Livni.

"It is not true that the meeting was within Bahrain's role in the Middle East peace process. The Arab League has mandated that role to Egypt and Jordan and not to Bahrain," said Abdulmalik.

He said it was also not right to suggest that the meeting came within the framework of Bahrain's role in the Arab peace initiative, which called for maintaining contacts with all sides involved in the Middle East peace process, to defend the Palestinian cause.

"We want all this to stop, for the sake of peace and for the sake of the Palestinian people. Only after full peace returns can we ever think of talking with the Zionist enemy."

Fatah politiemannen in Gazastrook lopen over naar Leger van Islam

Meer slecht nieuws uit de Gazastrook:

Ondanks Europese waarnemers en ondanks Egyptische beloftes de grens scherper te controleren heeft de mogelijk aan Al Qaida geliëerde Army al Islam grote hoeveelheden wapens en explosieven de Gazastrook ingesmokkeld. Deze club werd vooral bekend door de ontvoering van de Britse journalist Alan Johnston.

Maar het aller-absurdste is dat de EU aan een aantal van hun salarissen betaalt!

"The official confirmed that the Army of Islam had recruited scores of Fatah policemen. He said documents seized by Hamas showed that Ansari and his men were on the payroll of one of the PA security forces and that they had been receiving monthly payments of $27,000."

Ratna

----------

Fatah policemen in the Gaza Strip 'defect to al-Qaida'
Khaled Abu Toameh , THE JERUSALEM POST Nov. 1, 2007
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1192380715974&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Scores of Fatah policemen who used to serve in the Palestinian Authority security forces in the Gaza Strip have now joined the al-Qaida-affiliated group calling itself the Army of Islam, sources in the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry told The Jerusalem Post Thursday.

Meanwhile, Fatah's armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, claimed responsibility for firing 20 rockets from the Gaza Strip recently. The group said the attacks signaled the beginning of a military campaign dubbed "Operation Gaza Autumn," in the course of which it would fire hundreds of rockets at Israeli communities. It said residents of Sderot had two choices: leave or die.

Fatah officials in Ramallah said they did not know if the threat by the Aksa Martyrs Brigades was genuine.

"We don't know what's happening in the Gaza Strip," a senior Fatah official said. "Ever since the Hamas coup last June, we have no idea what's happening on the ground."

The official, however, did not rule out the possibility that disgruntled Fatah activists were behind the recent spate of rocket attacks, or that some former Fatah-affiliated policemen had joined the Army of Islam.

According to the sources Hamas's Interior Ministry, dozens of Fatah-affiliated policemen who recently lost their jobs have joined the al-Qaida-linked group. The Army of Islam is headed by Abu Muhammad al-Ansari, who is also known as Mumtaz Dughmush.

Ansari is a former PA Preventive Security Service officer in the Gaza Strip. He belongs to the Dughmush clan, whose members have kidnapped several foreign nationals, including BBC reporter Alan Johnston, and bombed Internet cafes, hair salons and restaurants.

The Army of Islam, which is described by some Palestinian security officials as al-Qaida's branch in Palestine, was one of three groups that participated in the kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilad Schalit in June 2006. The other two groups were Hamas and the Popular Resistance Committees.

But Hamas has since distanced itself from the Army of Islam, whose members have been kept away from Schalit. It did so after suspicions were aroused in Hamas that Ansari had received money from Fatah security officials to reveal the whereabouts of the soldier.

Tensions between Hamas and the Army of Islam reached a boiling point immediately after Hamas took over the Gaza Strip. The Army of Islam initially refused to release Johnston, but later did so after its leaders struck a deal with Hamas.

According to the agreement, the group was permitted to retain its weapons on condition they only be used to attack Israel. Over the past few months, the Army of Islam has been involved in the smuggling of large amounts of weapons and explosives into the Gaza Strip from Sinai, according to PA security officials.

They told the Post members of the group had established close ties with al-Qaida operatives in Egypt and other Arab and Islamic countries. Last week, Egyptian security forces captured two members of the Army of Islam as they were trying to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip.

A top Hamas official in Gaza City described Ansari as a "deranged and illiterate" man who was obsessed with [Jordanian arch-terrorist] Abu Musab Zarqawi, the slain leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. "This man can't even read or write," he said. "But he's dangerous."

The official confirmed that the Army of Islam had recruited scores of Fatah policemen. He said documents seized by Hamas showed that Ansari and his men were on the payroll of one of the PA security forces and that they had been receiving monthly payments of $27,000.

"They will take money from anyone, even from people they consider infidels and apostates," the Hamas official said.

Extremisten tegen Annapolis conferentie / onenigheid binnen Hamas

Ja, ook Hamas kent naast een radikale tevens een gematigde tak, vertegenwoordigd door ex-premier Haniyeh, die naar verzoening met Fatah streeft om de Palestijnse eenheid te herstellen. (De radikale tak wil gewoon de Westoever met geweld overnemen.)

 

Die eenheid lijkt steeds verder te zoeken, nu Hamas en andere extremistische groepen een alternatieve bijeenkomst (vredesconferentie zal het moeilijk kunnen heten) in Damascus willen houden als tegenwicht voor de Annapolis vredesconferentie waaraan Abbas zal deelnemen.

 

Welke van de twee bijeenkomsten zal de International Solidarity Movement (ISM) bezoeken? Ze zijn immers solidair met de Palestijnen, maar met welke Palestijnen?

 

 

Wouter

_______

 

Excerpts: Opposition to Annapolis meeting / Discord within Hamas

+++AL-AHRAM WEEKLY 1-7 Nov.'07: "A parallel PLO"

HEADING: "Palestinian factions plan an alternative to the Annapolis conference and it will convene in Damascus, reports Khaled Amayreh from Ramallah"
QUOTE: "Abbas has asked Syria to cancel the meeting"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
EXCERPTS:

The Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) has been making frantic efforts to block the "national conference" that the Hamas-led opposition plans to convene in Damascus to highlight their rejection of the upcoming US- sponsored conference in Annapolis, Maryland, scheduled for November or early December. The conference in the Syrian capital was due to take place on 7 November but has been postponed, reportedly in order to coincide with the Annapolis conference.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas has asked Syria to cancel the two-day meeting, arguing that it will exacerbate internal Palestinian divisions and seriously weaken the Palestinian position in Annapolis. Earlier this week he dispatched three aides to the Syrian capital in an attempt to convince Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to ban the meeting. Syrian officials have made it clear that Syria will not attend the Annapolis conference unless Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights is on the agenda.

In addition to Hamas, several Palestinian factions plan to attend the Damascus conference, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the second most important PLO faction after Fatah. The participation of the PFLP is significant in that it signals an end to the erstwhile PLO unity against Hamas that has prevailed since its takeover of the Gaza Strip in mid-June. Abbas can no longer claim that he enjoys the full backing of PLO factions in his protracted showdown with Hamas.

Participants will also include the Damascus-based PFLP-General Command, led by Ahmed Jibril, as well as the Islamic Jihad organisation, headed by Ramadan Abdullah Shallah. Farouk Al-Qaddumi and Hani Al-Hassan, two senior members of Fatah, have indicated they will attend in protest against what they term "Abbas's line" and "his subservience to America and Israel".
.  .  .
Defending his leadership in the face of mounting criticisms, Abbas continues to insist that the PLO has the right to negotiate with Israel. He denies that he is planning to make far-reaching concessions to Israel in Annapolis and says that any peace agreement he might reach with Israel would then have to be ratified by a majority of Palestinians.

"Any agreement will be put into effect only after it has been ratified, either through a referendum, where everyone, including Hamas, can express their opinion, or through the approval of the Palestinian National Council, which represents the Palestinian people," said Abbas.

+++JORDAN TIMES 2-3 Nov.'07: "Voices of discord emerge within Hamas", By Adel Zaanoun, Agence France-Presse

QUOTE: "'To the international community, Hamas presents itsself as a pragmatic movement, but to its grassroots and Palestinian public opinion it poses as a divine movement refusing any concession  or compomise' "
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
EXCERPTS:

 

GAZA CITY - Signs of discord have emerged between hardcore radicals and pragmatists in Hamas after the Palestinian Islamist movement's capture of the Gaza Strip, analysts said on Nov.1.

Last month, Ismail Haniyeh, who headed two successive Hamas-led governments ... said that Hamas rule in Gaza was temporary.Haniyeh also said serious efforts were being made to relaunch dialogue with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fateh Party, whose forces were overrun in Hamas' seizure of Gaza in June.

At odds with official Hamas policy, Haniyeh's personal spokesman Ghazi Hamad evoked possible negotiations with Israel in an opinion piece published in the Palestinian press last month.Hamas released a statement saying it did not reflect the party line.

Press reports said afterwards that Hamas had even suspended Hamad and Ahmed Yussef, Haniya's political adviser who had also criticised the party's hardliners.

But if Haniya and Hamad point to a certain pragmatic strand within Hamas, one of its other top Gaza leaders, Nizar Rayan, this week doused any hope of imminent reconciliation between bitter Palestinian enemies.

Known for his vitriol, Rayan on Monday vowed at a rally in the Gaza Strip that Hamas would also seize control of the West Bank, predicting a rapid overthrow of the elected Palestinian president.

His comments embarrassed the Hamas leadership, which openly favours dialogue between Fateh and Hamas.

"This was a personal comment made in haste. We want to declare that we reject and do not accept any kind of incitement against either Hamas or the Palestinian Authority," Farraj Rumana said on Wednesday.

A Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip, Fawzi Barhoum, also distanced the party from Rayan's comments.

"During meetings with supporters, some leaders can get carried away and we have a remedy for that. Only official statements reflect the positions of the movement," he told AFP.

If Mahmoud Zahar - who was foreign minister in the first Hamas-led government - is generally considered the head of the most radical wings within the group, Haniya is seen as one of the most pragmatic.

It was Hamas' entry into government after the January 2006 election that lies at the heart of the differences, said political science professor Naji Shurrab at Al Azhar University in Gaza City.

"Because he was the head of two governments, Ismail Haniya passes as leader of the moderate current endowed with a pragmatic vision," he said.

Far from weakening Hamas, which is classified as a terrorist organisation boycotted by Israel and the West, the contradictions could help its public relations campaign, says political analyst Mokheimar Abu Saada.

"To the international community Hamas presents itself as a pragmatic movement but to its grassroots and Palestinian public opinion, it poses as a divine movement refusing any concession or compromise," he said.

"The two currents exist well and good but it's the radical trend that always has the last word," he said.

Another leading Hamas member Ismail Radwan denied any "talk of radicalism and moderation" within a movement that has traditionally projected unity.
"There are certainly differing points of view but that does not degenerate into quarrels or dissension," he said.

======================

 

Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA
--------------------------------------------
IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website: http://www.imra.org.il

Joodse gemeenschap in Egypte / 100-jarige synagoge in Cairo

Op de website van "Een Ander Joods Geluid" kwam ik pas nog de grootste onzin en verdachtmakingen tegen over de redenen waarom Joden uit de Arabische wereld weg zijn gevlucht (volgens Jonathan Cook zat er uiteraard een Zionistisch complot achter).

 

Men vraagt zich af namens wie deze 'andere Joden' spreken?

 

Voor verhalen van degenen die de verdrijving aan den lijve hebben ondervonden, zie bijvoorbeeld:

World Organisation of Jews from Arab Countries (WOJAC)
Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa (JIMENA)
Historical Society of Jews from Egypt (HSJE)
Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries
Point of no return - the Middle East's forgotten Jewish refugees

 

 

Hieronder een bericht over de Egyptische Joden.

 

 

Wouter

________________

 

Haaretz / Last update - 12:20 01/11/2007    

Cairo synagogue marks 100 years of grandeur and decline

 

By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent

 

 

Two historical moments were recorded Tuesday at the Sha'ar Hashamayim synagogue in Cairo. The first was when Dr. Gaber Baltagi, an academic who writes poetry as a hobby, recited one of his works in Arabic and Hebrew, calling for peace among the nations. The second was when a loud shofar (ram's horn) blast, usually sounded at the closing of the Ne'ila service on Yom Kippur, echoed in the cavernous space of Cairo's great synagogue, bringing tears to the eyes of many of those present.

 

Members of Cairo's Jewish community - those who have remained here, as well as others who have moved away - plus many guests from Egypt and around the world, were there for a ceremony marking 100 years since the founding of the synagogue.

 

In attendance were the American ambassador to Cairo, the British ambassador, Israeli envoy Shalom Cohen as well as former Israeli ambassadors.

 

During the ceremony, the Choir of the Jewish community of Thessaloniki sang songs in Hebrew and Ladino.

 

The building was recently renovated, with the approval and assistance of the Egyptian authorities. It was rededicated Tuesday.

 

"Jews lived here throughout the ages," said community president Carmen Weinstein. "I see no reason for Jews not to continue living here."

 

Weinstein is the second woman president in the history of this Jewish community. The first was her mother, Esther, who served in that capacity for many years.

 

"When my mother was president, she ran things and I did the dirty work. Nowadays I have to do both," she said with a smile, speaking from the synagogue's pulpit. The ceremony she directed Tuesday was a historic event for the community, whose future is still in question. Weinstein declared that she is proud to be Egyptian. As befits her position as head of the community, she thanked Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak several times.

 

The Egyptian Jewish community is one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world. Rabbi Moses Maimonides (the Rambam) lived and taught here in the 13th century. For generations, hundreds of documents were collected in what became known as the Cairo Geniza, whose discovery in 1896 contributed much to Jewish historical research.

 

One hundred years ago, when the Sha'ar Hashamayim was founded on Adly Street, it was a hub of activity. The community absorbed many waves of immigration from both Europe and the Middle East. The name plates still affixed to some of the seat backs tell the immigration story. Philippe Bach, Yosef Salameh, Felix Schwartz and Herman Horenstein are just a few of the names that can be found there.

 

Today the Cairo Jewish community has 30-40 members, most of them older women. One of them, Magda Haron (nee Shahatah), stepped up to the pulpit Tuesday to share her feelings. She said that the last time she remembers the synagogue being full was in the in the 1960s.

 

"We may be only 40 members now," she added, "but we have a glorious history behind us. Please don't let that die."

 

Haron has never visited Israel, for ideological reasons. Her parents were Communists, and she hopes to come only when a Palestinian state is established. Her father did not attend synagogue services, but Haron came with her grandfather.

 

"The future is frightening," she said, in an interview with Haaretz, "and I do not know if anyone can replace Carmen. I think that the Egyptian government should help preserve the Jewish heritage. Jews have been here since the time of the Pharaohs."

 

Among the participants at the event was Meir Cohen, a native of Cairo. He brought with him photographs from his father's wedding at the synagogue in 1947, and from his bar mitzvah in 1963. Like many Israelis born in Egypt, Cohen left along with his family after the deterioration of the Jewish community's situation in the late 1960s. He worked for Israel Television's Arabic department and was the spokesman at the Israeli embassy in Cairo in the late 1980s.

 

"With this event," said Cohen, "Carmen has resuscitated hundreds of years of Jewish life. Every detail here brings back memories of my father, members of my family and the prayer services here. This is the closing of a circle for me./

 

 

Cross posted: Israel News  Middle East Analysis

Routekaart naar Vrede afgestoft?

In de aanloop naar de vredesconferentie in Annapolis (eind deze maand, of wordt het december?) is blijkbaar de "Routekaart naar Vrede", een initiatief van de internationale gemeenschap uit 2003, weer op tafel gekomen. De stapsgewijze maatregelen om het vredesproces dat in 2001 gesneuveld was weer op gang te krijgen, werden onder Sharon en Arafat destijds nauwelijks uitgevoerd, hoewel zij lippendienst bewezen aan het initiatief.

 

De PA beweert nu zelfs de eerste fase van de Routekaart al uitgevoerd te hebben. Dit houdt in een eind aan terrorisme en opruiing, ontwapening van terreurgroepen en een begin aan hervorming van de Palestijnse instituties. Daar valt nog weinig van te merken helaas; het is nog steeds aan de zwaar bekritiseerde Israëlische veiligheidsmaatregelen te danken dat zelfmoordterroristen worden tegengehouden, en niet aan de PA. (Gaza laten we uiteraard nog buiten beschouwing.)

 

Bij die hervormingen zou Tony Blair als speciale Midden-Oosten gezant helpen, maar helaas heeft hij al ruim een maand geen nieuwsberichten meer op zijn website geplaatst, laat staan een officiële voortgangsrapportage...

 

 

Wouter

___________________

Israeli officials deny tripartite team to begin work on roadmap
By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent

Last update - 03:25 02/11/2007

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/919621.html

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad says a Palestinian-American-Israeli commission on implementing the first stage of the road map peace plan will soon begin work, but Israeli officials deny the report.

According to Fayad Thursday, the commission will consist of himself, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and U.S. security coordinator Keith Dayton.
 
Israeli officials, however, said that while the creation of such a commission was discussed during last week's visit by U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, neither its composition nor its powers have been finalized.

Israel would apparently prefer the commission not to have the power to make binding decisions on who should do what first.

The Palestinian Authority claims that it has already fulfilled all its first-stage responsibilities, whereas Israel has not fulfilled its obligation to freeze settlement construction and dismantle illegal outposts. Israel, however, says that the PA is far from fulfilling its first-stage counterterrorism responsibilities.

Fayad also said that his government is willing to operate the Gaza Strip border crossings if Israel reopens them.

The crossings have been closed since Hamas seized control of the strip because Israel does not trust Hamas to run them.

Fayad confirmed Thursday that he will be working with Defense Minister Ehud Barak and United States Mideast security coordinator Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton to carry out the first phase of the dormant road map plan for peace.

The U.S.-backed road map plan was launched in 2003 and envisioned the establishment of a Palestinian state by 2005. It consists of three phases, which entail obligations that each side must meet.

In the first phase, Palestinians were to declare an end to all violence and take action against militants, in return for which Israel would freeze settlement expansion, dismantle dozens of illegal settlement outposts and lift roadblocks to facilitate Palestinians' travel to administrative centers.

The Palestinians have argued that they have made significant progress in recent weeks by disarming dozens of militants, either voluntarily or by force, but say Israel has done little so far.

Fayad said Thursday that the three have not started working yet, but said implementing the first phase of the road map will be key to the success of the U.S.-hosted Mideast conference in Annapolis, Maryland, in November or December.

"If we want the Annapolis conference to be a successful one, and if we want the peace process to get back on track, we have to implement the first phase of the road map, and it is possible to implement it," he said.

The IDF has been preparing a list of Israel's essential security needs in advance of the conference as it did last time significant talks were held on the final status agreement. However, ahead of Annapolis the IDF will only list Israel's concerns, without dealing with the specific details of borders and territories, as was done in the past.

 

Bad news from everywhere

Eerder dit jaar begon Manfred Gerstenfeld met het verzamelen van negatief nieuws uit en over Nederland, om duidelijk te maken hoeveel invloed eenzijdige berichtgeving heeft op de beeldvorming over een bepaald land. Het bleek dat studenten die een paar van zijn colleges hadden gehoord en stukken hadden gelezen, negatiever over Nederland gingen denken, ondanks dat duidelijk was dat het om doelbewuste eenzijdige berichtgeving ging. 

 

Hij startte een blog Bad News From the Netherlands en kreeg zowel felle kritiek als steun van Nederlanders. Zijn idee is inmiddels overgenomen door enkele anderen, met Bad News From Finland, Bad News From Britain en  Bad News From Mexico. 

 

Een paar voorbeelden:

Nederland: Amsterdam Mayor Authorizes Demonstration of Extreme Rightists

Engeland: Five men are publicly beheaded in Saudi Arabia... as Gordon Brown hosts their King at No.10

Finland: Finnish Figures for Losses Caused by Shoplifting Among Highest in Europe

Mexico: Governor Threatens Force Against Flood Victims / US Plan To Give Corrupt Police Better Equipment

 

 

Wij irriteren ons wanneer Nederlandse kwesties in het buitenland onjuist of eenzijdig worden weergegeven, en Nederland bijvoorbeeld als drugs paradijs wordt neergezet, er van wordt beschuldigd abortus en euthanasie te stimuleren, of Nederlandse staatsburgers zomaar het land uit te zetten. Maar terwijl bij ons de buitenlandse pers snel weer weg is zodra het volgende schandaal, ramp of big event zich aandient, is men op Israël continu gefocused.

 

Elke Israëlische fout, elke onhandige uitspraak wordt uitvergroot en haalt krantenkoppen en journaals over de hele wereld. Hierdoor zien we niet meer dat ondanks al haar fouten, ondanks de soms onnodige agressie tegen de Palestijnen, ondanks een groep gevaarlijke extremisten, Israël één van de weinige relatief goed werkende democratieën is in het Midden-Oosten, met onafhnakelijke rechtspraak en vrijheid van godsdienst en menigsuiting. Het heeft een redelijk goed onderwijssysteem en sociale zekerheidsstelsel voor al haar burgers, en heeft baanbrekende innovaties op technisch (electronica) en geneeskundig gebied op haar naam staan.

 

Te vaak worden de verhalen over wat goed gaat in Israël, en waar het goed in is, als Zionistische propaganda terzijde geschoven. Maar zij zijn net zo waar als de berichtgeving over alles wat fout gaat. De positieve verhalen vind je helaas vooral in als gekleurd bekend staande media, terwijl de negatieve verhalen in de 'normale' media staan. Misschien moeten we standaard het nieuws over Israël in de 'normale' media net zo kritisch bekijken als dat van als pro-Israël bekend staande websites en organisaties....

 

 

Ratna

 

Met dank aan: Ami Isseroff  
__,_._,___

Christelijke pastor bedreigd in Ramallah

Groepen als Sabeel en de Christian Peacemakers Teams (CPT) doen ons graag geloven dat er geen problemen zijn tussen Palestijnse moslims en christenen. De enige problemen die de laatste hebben komen door de bezetting, waar zij immers net zo onder lijden als hun islamitische broeders. De praktijk is een andere. Vorige maand is een prominente christen in de Gazastrook vermoord. Hij had een winkel waar hij onder andere bijbels verkocht.

Het aantal christenen in groot-Bethlehem is gedaald van 60% in 1967 tot amper 20% nu. In de laatste jaren vertrokken zo'n 5.000 christenen, en er wonen nog 25.000, éénzesde van de totale bevolking. Dit is direkt en indirekt een gevolg van het toenemend islamitisch extremisme. Vanwege de terroristische aanslagen heeft Israël het verkeer tussen Bethlehem en Israël sterk beperkt middels een checkpoint en een hoge muur, wat veel schade aan de economie heeft toegebracht. Daarnaast rukken de extremisten op in het gemeentebestuur en worden de christenen regelmatig geintimideerd en getreitert.

 

 

Een pastor uit Ramallah, dat bekend staat als een van de veiligste en liberaalste steden op de Westoever, is bedreigd en naar Jeruzalem gevlucht.

 

 

Ratna & Wouter
--------

Pastor: I was threatened in Ramallah
Etgar Lefkovits , THE JERUSALEM POST Nov. 1, 2007
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1192380705906&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

 

An Arab-American evangelical pastor said Wednesday that he has been threatened by a Palestinian security official in the West Bank city of Ramallah, and has fled to Jerusalem for safety.

Pastor Isa Bajalia, 47, a US citizen born in Birmingham, Alabama, said that he had been threatened over the last two months by a Fatah security official from the Tanzim militia who also demanded $30,000 in protection money.
Bajalia said he had moved to nearby Jerusalem since the threats began.

The pastor has been living in Ramallah, considered to be the most liberal of all the West Bank cities under Palestinian control, since 1991, together with his American wife and son, who attended school in Jerusalem and has since joined the US Air Force.

For the last decade he served as pastor for a group of 30-35 people in Ramallah, holding Sunday services in private homes and carrying out missionary work among the Palestinians, who are predominantly Muslim.

Initially, Bajalia said he was treated with respect, but some suspicion, by the locals, and viewed as an outsider coming in with a foreign concept. The pastor said the threats began about two months ago after a group of church workers were seen praying on behalf of Palestinians.

"We will do to you what Hamas did to Fatah in Gaza," Bajalia said the Palestinian security official warned him. Bajalia, who has a vision problem, said he was also told that in addition to his eye problems he would not be able to walk anymore.

The Palestinian security official subsequently told Bajalia to register some of his family's land in the official's name and pay him $30,000, the pastor said. Bajalia said he had also been watched for six months.

It was not immediately clear Wednesday if the pastor was threatened specifically because of his missionary work among Muslims or as a result of the land his family owned in the city, or a combination of the two.

Last week, Bajalia filed a complaint with the US Consulate in Jerusalem over the threats, he said.

The consulate, which is responsible for US citizens living in the West Bank, told him that they were aware of the problem, but had no response or follow-up to his complaint, he said.

"You would think that they would have gotten back to me and said something," Bajalia said.

A US Consulate spokeswoman declined comment Wednesday, citing privacy regulations.

Bajalia said he became more concerned for his safety after a prominent Christian activist, Rami Khader Ayyad, 32, was killed in Gaza last month. "It made me take the threats more seriously," he said.

He has moved to east Jerusalem, and is uncertain when he will go back to Ramallah.

Bajalia's parents, who were Greek Orthodox, were born in Ramallah but immigrated to the United States in the 1950s in search of better economic opportunities, he said.

A decade and a half ago, Bajalia, who together with his four siblings had become evangelical in the US, stunned family members by telling them that he planned to return to the Holy Land.

"They thought I was crazy to come back since my parents did everything they could to get to the United States," he said. "It was quite a paradox."

Bajalia, who had worked in various ministerial roles in Alabama, said he had made the move due to a "sense of calling" to help the people of Ramallah. "I don't want to leave Ramallah, I feel a calling to be there - I consider it my city."

150 Israëlische burgers dienen aanklacht in tegen islamitische WAQF

Het is een schande dat de regering zelf Jeruzalem niet beter beschermt tegen de vernielingen die de WAQF aanricht. Hopelijk leidt deze aanklacht eindelijk tot actie.

 

Het vreemde is, dat hierover nauwelijks in de Westerse pers wordt bericht. Toen Israël er begin dit jaar van werd beschuldigd de Tempelberg in gevaar te brengen, was dit wereldnieuws, en deed de UNESCO een officiëel onderzoek naar de aantijgingen, en ondanks haar conclusie dat Israël niks in gevaar bracht, werd zij min of meer gedwongen met haar werkzaamheden te stoppen. Maar Joden gaan niet wereldwijd de straat op om tegen de graafwerkzaamheden van de WAQF te demonstreren. Of heeft dit opvallende verschil in buitenlandse aandacht ook te maken met het feit dat men nog steeds geen Israëlische/Joodse rechten in Jeruzalem erkent?

 

De geschiedenis is wat dit betreft voor christenen niet bepaald iets om trots op te zijn, en met de visie dat de stad voor alle drie de religies even heilig is, en dus géén van hen eigenaar zou moeten zijn, wordt de geschiedenis mooi verhuld. Het is immers in de afgelopen drieduizend jaar alleen de hoofdstad geweest van een Joodse staat, en ook altijd hun culturele en nationale centrum. De stad is tijdens de kruistochten verschillende malen door christenen etnisch gezuiverd van de Joodse bevolking.

Ratna & Wouter
------------------------

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                   November 1, 2007


WAQF Officials to Trial; If Convicted Facing Years in Prison

150 ISRAELI CITIZENS FILE LANDMARK CRIMINAL  PROSECUTION
OF THE WAQF OVER TEMPLE MOUNT. DESTRUCTION

A group of 150 Israeli citizens, which represent a broad cross section of the Israeli public, have initiated an unprecedented criminal prosecution of WAQF (Islamic trust) leaders in Jerusalem - alleging that they have engaged in the deliberate destruction of ancient Jewish relics on the Temple Mount.

The indictment was filed in the Jerusalem District Court today by means of a private law suit - which is first of its kind in Israeli legal history and  utilizes a seldom applied section of the criminal code. If convicted, the WAQF officials may face years in prison.

The legal action, which is led by Shurat HaDin - Israel Law Center, accuses members of the Islamic Trust ("the WAQF") of the intentional demolishing of priceless Jewish artifacts, including the remains of the Second Temple.

In recent months the WAQF has brought in bulldozers and heavy digging equipment to carry out "renovations".  Israeli archaeologists who have sifted through the discarded earth were shocked to have discovered a great number of Jewish artifacts brutally trashed by the bulldozers. A wall from the outer courtyard of the Second Temple is believed to have been completely pulverized.

The court papers contend that the recent accelerated destruction is part of a four decade long campaign by the WAQF to eradicate all evidence of the historical Jewish connection and claim to the Temple Mount.

After liberating the Old City in 1967, Israel permitted the WAQF to remain as "custodians" of the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site.

Shurat HaDin alleges that the Israeli government, in its political cowardice, has consistently refused to undertake any concrete actions to stop the criminal activities of the WAQF - thus abandoning the millenniums long Jewish claim over the Temple Mount and allowing Islamic extremists to re-write history in Jerusalem.

Shurat HaDin Director Nitsana Darshan-Leitner: "This private prosecution in an unprecedented response to the brutal attempt by the extreme WAQF to eradicate any Jewish claim over the Temple Mount. The WAQF leaders belong in prison and since Israel's government is refusing to protect Jewish heritage and property, we will prosecute the WAQF ourselves. Such action is a moral obligation, not only for the Jewish people, but also for the Christian community, which has significant interests in safeguarding the Temple Mount as well".

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND COPIES OF THE INDICTMENT:

info@ israellawcenter.org

Al-Qassam Brigades dreigen met aanvallen binnen Israël

Volgens Mohammed Deif, een leider van de gewapende tak van de Hamas, gaat deze haar strategie veranderen:

He said Daif told him, "The Al-Qassam Brigades are preparing within a few weeks to start attacking the Israelis inside their territories instead of taking a defensive position only."

Vreemd. Waren de duizenden qassams die sinds de Israëlische terugtrekking uit de Gazastrook op Israël zijn afgevuurd slechts defensief van aard? Was de kidnapping van Gilad Shalit op Israëlisch grondgebied een defensieve actie? Zijn alle beloften om van Sderot, Ashkelon en Ashdod spooksteden te maken defensieve statements? De vele aanvallen en aanslagen op de grensovergangen? De oproepen tot de heilige strijd, tot het bevrijden van heel Palestina?

The electronic website of Palestine Live stated that Hamdan quoted Daif as saying that "The Al-Qassam Brigades will strike the Israeli occupying entity very strongly if the targeted killings against Palestinians and the incursions into West Bank and Gaza Strip do not stop."

Al Qassam Brigades heeft al vaak gedreigd Israël, sorry, de Zionistische bezettingsmacht, hard te treffen. Dat dit ze niet beter lukt komt door de operaties van het leger, de afscheidingsbarriere, de checkpoints, de liquidaties van Hamas leiders en meer van dergelijke onaangename zaken.
Een paar maanden - nee, een maand - zonder raketten, zonder verijdelde aanslagen, zonder wapensmokkel en zonder explosieven die in huizen of bij checkpoints worden gevonden, en een staakt-het-vuren komt in zicht. Na een paar maanden blijken de checkpoints overbodig en kunnen de grensovergangen met de Gazastrook weer allemaal open.

Mohammed Deif draait, zoals veel Palestijnen, oorzaak en gevolg om. Het trieste - nee, alarmerende - is dat steeds meer mensen in Nederland dit ook doen.

Ratna
--------

Al-Qassam Brigades preparing attacks inside Israel
Date: 30 / 10 / 2007  Time:  12:24
www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=26061


Bethlehem - Ma'an - The Al-Qassam Brigades are preparing to start attacking the Israelis inside their territories if the Israelis do not stop targeted assassinations against Palestinians, a Hamas leader announced on Tuesday.

Sheikh Ahmad Hamdan said that he had met with the general commander of the Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas movement, Muhammad Daif.

He said Daif told him, "The Al-Qassam Brigades are preparing within a few weeks to start attacking the Israelis inside their territories instead of taking a defensive position only."

The electronic website of Palestine Live stated that Hamdan quoted Daif as saying that "The Al-Qassam Brigades will strike the Israeli occupying entity very strongly if the targeted killings against Palestinians and the incursions into West Bank and Gaza Strip do not stop."

Muhammad Daif has survived several assassination attempts by the Israelis.

 

Orthodoxe rabbi doorbreekt taboe over deling van Jeruzalem

Naast zijn pleidooi een deling van Jeruzalem te overwegen, pleit Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky ervoor dat beide kanten hun fouten toegeven.

Kanefsky predicts that no peace conference will succeed until Israelis and Palestinians accept honest versions of their conflict and admit their mistakes over the past 40 years, including the occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank after the Six-Day War in 1967.

Veel Israëli's en Joden zijn Kanefsky reeds voorgegaan in het toegeven van de eigen fouten, van medeverantwoordelijkheid voor het conflict en het lijden van de Palestijnen onder de bezetting. Voor de duidelijkheid: ik vind dit op zich een goede zaak, en denk dat het noodzakelijk is om ooit tot vrede te komen. Maar er ontbreekt iets. Aan Palestijnse kant is nog steeds amper enige erkenning van het Palestijnse en Arabische aandeel in het conflict te bespeuren, of van erkenning van de legitimiteit van het Joodse streven naar zelfbeschikking. Mede daardoor wordt de veelvuldige erkenning van Joods/Israëlische kant van de eigen fouten soms ten onrechte geinterpreteerd als bewijs dat Israël inderdaad de hoofdschuldige in het conflict is, en slechts zij concessies zal moeten doen om tot vrede te komen.  

Ratna
----------

Orthodox rabbi breaks taboo with talk of dividing Jerusalem
http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/news/article/20071028rabitab.html

By Tom Tugend Published: 10/28/2007

LOS ANGELES (JTA) -- A prominent Orthodox rabbi has broken a taboo by publicly advocating that his community consider a possible division of Jerusalem to achieve a lasting peace with the Palestinians.

Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky of B'nai David Judea wrote in Friday's Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles that the "worst-case scenario" of returning the Western Wall and the Temple Mount to Arab control would be horrifying and unfathomable to him.

"At the same time, though, to insist that the [Israeli] government not talk about Jerusalem at all (including, the possibility, for example, of Palestinian sovereignty over Arab neighborhoods) is to insist that Israel come to the negotiating table telling a dishonest story -- a story in which our side has made no mistakes and no miscalculations, a story in which there is no moral ambiguity in the way we have chosen to rule people we conquered, a story in which we don't owe anything to anyone," Kanefsky wrote.

The 44-year old rabbi occasionally has startled Orthodox circles with his innovative ideas, but he enjoys wide respect among his peers in other denominations, who elected him to a term as president of the Southern California Board of Rabbis.

Kanefsky predicts that no peace conference will succeed until Israelis and Palestinians accept honest versions of their conflict and admit their mistakes over the past 40 years, including the occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank after the Six-Day War in 1967.

He acknowledges that the slogan "Jerusalem: Israel's Eternally Undivided Capital" is treated with "biblical reverence by my community," adding that it is "a corollary to the belief in the coming of the Messiah."

It is because of the unquestioned acceptance of this slogan by the Orthodox, as well as Christian evangelists, that he decided to initiate "a conversation that desperately needs to begin," Kanefsky wrote.

Within hours of the opinion piece's publication, reactions began to pour in to the Jewish Journal. Editor-in-Chief Rob Eshman said he received more than 100 letters, e-mails and phone calls about the article, along with a number of op-ed rebuttals.

On Saturday, the Los Angeles Times reported on Kanefsky's article as the lead story in its California state section, along with local and national reactions.
Predictably, comments in mainstream Orthodox circles were highly critical, while liberal rabbis and peace groups praised Kanefsky's views and his courage in speaking out.

The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, the community's umbrella organization, is drafting a statement on the article. However, its Web site said "the Orthodox Union is preparing a comprehensive action plan which will call upon members of our community to join on the walls of Jerusalem and become her defenders against those who would divide her."

Rabbi Pesach Lerner, executive vice president of the National Council of Young Israel, denounced the article, telling the Los Angeles Times that "Rabbi Kanefsky is completely off-base. I think his call for this discussion is ridiculous. It would amount to religious suicide."

A Conservative Los Angeles rabbi, David Wolpe, also disagreed with Kanefsky's viewpoint.
"To give up Jerusalem to people who want to destroy your country is an emotional high jump you'd have to be better than an Olympic athlete to vault," he said.

However, another prominent Conservative rabbi, Harold Schulweis, applauded Kanefsky's courage "to touch the third rail, which this is. It is a mark of courage and conscience."

Reform Rabbi Laura Geller also praised Kanefsky as "a visionary leader" and hoped his article would lead to a thoughtful debate.

Hamas wil controle over Westelijke Jordaanoever

Hamas kan alleen dan een coup op de Westoever plegen, als Israël het daar zijn gang laat gaan.

 

Rayyan [Hamas leider, RP] continued to say that "in the fall the man who kills his own people will be exposed, and we will annihilate him just as we have annihilated others like him."

 

Dit zijn de mensen waar de PvdA, GroenLinks en de SP mee willen praten, en dit zijn de mensen waarvan ook het Achtuur Journaal wel erg duidelijk laat doorschemeren dat ze bij een oplossing van het conflict betrokken moeten worden. De Nazi's werden ook niet betrokken bij een 'oplossing van het probleem', en na de oorlog bleek er van hun steun weinig meer over te zijn. Een ieder die oproept om - zonder duidelijk gestelde voorwaarden - Hamas te betrekken, met Hamas te praten, en aan Hamas concessies te doen, ondermijnt niet alleen de positie van Israël, maar ook van Fatah en president Abbas. Hamas heeft laten zien dat het ook zeer goed in staat is tot het doden van Palestijnen, ziek of gezond, strijder of burger, kind of volwassene.       

 

 

Ratna

----------

 

Hamas: We'll take control over West Bank in autumn
Senior Islamist group leader says 'our supporters will soon be praying in the Muqata in Ramallah, after Abbas' regime falls like a leaf'

Ali Waked YNET Published: 10.30.07, 00:55 / Israel News
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3465575,00.html

Senior Hamas leader Nizar Rayyan said Monday that the Islamist group would soon take control over the West Bank.

"In the autumn Hamas supporters will be praying in the Muqata compound in Ramallah (site of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' offices)," he said during a rally in Gaza.

"We are now praying at the Presidential compound in Gaza, just as we said we would. Abbas' regime will fall like a leaf come autumn."

Since Hamas' violent takeover of Gaza last June, the Palestinian Authority's security services have been seeking out Hamas operatives on a daily basis, especially those suspected of belonging to the group's armed wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.

Hamas has repeatedly threatened to retaliate to any attacks against its men in the West Bank.

Rayyan continued to say that "in the fall the man who kills his own people will be exposed, and we will annihilate him just as we have annihilated others like him."

Yaser Abed Rabo, a member of Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) Executive Committee, said in response that "Rayyan belongs in an asylum.
These people are mentally and nationalistically backward.

"Rayyad, Mahmoud al-Zahar and that whole Hamas gang really, they don't deem Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank to be that important at all. All they want is to spread the Islamic mindset amongst Muslims worldwide. This group has nothing in its arsenal but threats; this gang does not know the meaning of dialog, all they can do is curse," the PA official told the Ma'an news agency.

Hamas bouwt bunker systeem langs Gaza hek

Meer slecht nieuws uit de Gazastrook. Volgens een hooggeplaatste militair is Hamas bezig een leger op te bouwen in de Gaza Strook en heeft het zijn capaciteiten flink uitgebreid door de smokkel via tunnels uit Egypte. Meer dan 112 ton explosieven zouden sinds de terugtrekking in 2005 de grens over zijn gesmokkeld.

Hoe langer Israël wacht met het aangaan van een grootschalige militaire confrontatie, hoe sterker Hamas wordt, en hoe moeilijker het dus zal worden haar te verslaan. Niemand zit te wachten op een herhaling van het Libanon debacle van vorig jaar.

 

Anderzijds zal een dergelijk offensief tot vele slachtoffers leiden, vooral aan Palestijnse kant, en de ellende en radikalisering in de Gazastrook vergroten. Een duivels dilemma.

 

 

Ratna

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

'Hamas establishing bunker system along Gaza fence'
Yaakov Katz , THE JERUSALEM POST Oct. 29, 2007
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1192380683478&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Hamas is trying to establish a bunker system as well as fortified rocket-launching and surveillance positions along the security fence with the Gaza Strip, Brig.-Gen. Moshe (Chico) Tamir, head of the Gaza Division, said Monday.

Tamir said that Hamas was "building an army" in the Gaza Strip and had obtained unprecedented capabilities through smuggling tunnels between Gaza and Egypt. On Monday, head of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) Yuval Diskin said that since Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, the Palestinians have smuggled over 112 tons of explosives into the Strip.

"They are trying to dig tunnels, build surveillance positions and mortar-fire stations along the fence," Tamir told reporters during a briefing concerning the death of IDF reservist Ehud Efrati during clashes with Hamas gunmen early Monday morning. "They are trying to build this up and we are trying to stop them."

Tamir said that Hamas was studying Israeli tactics during the IDF's daily operations along the fence and was trying to use this knowledge in its fighting methods.

"This is ongoing warfare and as such there is also a simultaneous brain war taking place," he said. "We are always studying what we do and modifying our tactics. They are trying to study us and to be wise with that knowledge."

Tamir said that for the IDF's current purposes there was no point in expanding the operations deeper into Gaza. He also said that while the IDF was working to reduce the Kassam fire from Gaza there was no perfect solution.

"They can fire Kassams from one edge of Gaza all the way to the other and farther," he explained. "We are operating close to the fence since that is where they fire mortar shells, anti-tank missiles and dig tunnels."

 

Mazuz bevriest plan om energie Gazastrook te beperken

Wat kan Israël doen tegen de qassams en andere aanvallen van de Hamas, buiten de ineffectieve pinpoint operaties langs de grens die het nu uitvoert, en een grootschalige militaire operatie?

 

Het verminderen van de electriciteits- en olietoevoer lijkt niet erg succesvol. Hoe begrijpelijk het ook is dat Israël niet de stroom wil leveren waarmee in de metaalwerkplaatsen qassams worden gebouwd, of de diesel waarmee Hamas materiaal vervoert, het lijkt onmogelijk dit te scheiden van het gebruik voor ziekenhuizen, of van de gewone burger.

 

Net als alle infrastructuur in oorlogstijd wordt het voor zowel vreedzame als offensieve doeleinden gebruikt. Toch mag in oorlogstijd de infrastructuur wel worden getroffen. Een probleem is dat de verhouding tussen Israël en de Gazastrook tussen oorlog en vrede inzit, met zelfs geen officiëel staakt-het-vuren zoals tussen Israël en Hezbollah of Israël en Syrië. Of eigenlijk is het een 'low scale' oorlog, zoals dat tegenwoordig heet. Het is een situatie waarin de Hamas en Islamitische Jihad raketten en granaten afvuren op Israël, en Israël kleine, gerichte tegenoperaties uitvoert. Drastischer maatregelen zoals een grootschalig offensief of verminderen van stroom- en gastoevoer worden echter niet gepast gevonden door de internationale gemeenschap, en in het laatste geval mogelijk ook door het Israëlisch hooggerechtshof.

 

Dit is een perfecte situatie voor Hamas: het zou in een grootschalig conflict kansloos zijn tegen de Israëlische overmacht, en kan nu relatief ongestoord zijn 'verzet' tegen de 'kolonialisten' van Sderot en andere plaatsen plegen. Israël, het internationaal recht of de internationale gemeenschap doen iets verkeerd; of allemaal.

 

 

Ratna

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

 

Mazuz freezes plan to cut Gaza power
YAAKOV KATZ, HERB KEINON and jpost.com staff , THE JERUSALEM POST Oct. 29, 2007
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1192380679220&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz determined that the current plan to cut off the supply of electricity and other vital services to the Gaza Strip must not be implemented until a mechanism can be worked out which would prevent "collective punishment" of the Palestinians.

The decision was taken in a meeting with Defense Ministry representatives on Monday.

That meeting came in response to a petition for an injunction against the move filed to the High Court of Justice on Sunday by Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, as well as other human rights groups. Adalah claimed that it was illegal for Israel to collectively punish the 1.4 million people in Gaza.

According to a Channel 10 report, Mazuz insisted that the defense establishment first devise a system for ensuring that the move would not cause a humanitarian crisis for Palestinian civilians. One suggestion that was reportedly discussed was to warn hospitals in Gaza of impending action so as to give them time to start their generators.

Deputy Supreme Court President Eliezer Rivlin ordered the state to respond to the petition within five days.

Israel began scaling back its supply of fuel to the Gaza Strip on Sunday, as part of the sanctions package approved last week by Defense Minister Ehud Barak following the recent escalation in rocket attacks.

Dor Alon, the Israeli energy company that sells fuel to Gaza, confirmed it received instructions from the Defense Ministry to reduce shipments.

The fuel cut drew harsh condemnation from Palestinians in the Strip, which relies on Israel for all of its fuel and more than half of its electricity.

Defense officials said that starting Sunday Israel cut fuel supplies to Gaza by 5 percent to 12%. The main reduction was in gasoline: Instead of 450,000 liters a week, Israel will now supply 300,000; Israel will continue to supply the same amount of industrial fuel - 1.75 million liters per week - for Gaza's sole power plant; and instead of 1.4 million liters a week of diesel, Israel will now supply 1.25 million.

"This is a serious warning to the people of the Gaza Strip. Their lives are now in danger," said Ahmed Ali, deputy director of Gaza's Petroleum Authority, which distributes Israeli fuel shipments to private Palestinian companies. "The hospitals, water pumping station and sewage will now be affected by the lack of fuel."

Israeli officials said the changes would not affect hospitals, water supplies or sewage plants, and that the gasoline cuts were "marginal" but were enough to disrupt the daily lives of Palestinian civilians and cause them "to ask themselves if the Kassam rocket fire is beneficial for them or not."

Officials said that while Israel did not want to ground ambulances or garbage trucks, the defense establishment decided to reduce the diesel supply since it was also employed by Hamas for its car pool that is used daily in terrorist activity.

In a further effort to pressure Hamas, the IDF also decided to permanently shut down the Sufa crossing into Gaza, which had been used in recent months as a temporary replacement for the main Karni cargo crossing that has been closed due to increasing terrorist threats against it.

With Sufa closed, the Kerem Shalom crossing near Sinai will be the only entry point operated by the IDF for the transfer of humanitarian supplies to the Gaza Strip. Defense officials said Sufa was being shut in line with the new policy of increasing pressure on Hamas.

"There are daily rocket attacks against the crossing, and until now we used to switch off between Kerem Shalom and Sufa and used the one that wasn't under fire," an official said. "From now on, however, if Hamas fires at Kerem Shalom it will immediately shut down and will only reopen the next day if the firing stops."

Closing Sufa means that it will cost three times as much to transport food into Gaza as it did before Hamas took over the Strip, according to Kirstie Campbell, Gaza emergency coordinator for the World Food Program.

Since Hamas took over Gaza in June, Sufa had replaced Karni as the main crossing for goods into Gaza, at double the price, she said, and using the Kerem Shalom crossing would add another 50%.

So that what cost $25 per ton to bring through Karni, cost $50 at Sufa and would now be $75 per ton at Kerem Shalom because it was the most labor intensive of the three crossings, Campbell said.

She said the increased cost would overly tax donor support and ultimately mean less food for Gazans, of whom 80 percent, or some 1.1 million of the estimated 1.4 million people there, are dependent on food handouts from the international community.

Closing Sufa would increase the vulnerability of the food supply, she said.

Reducing fuel supplies also harms people's ability to feed themselves, since basic staples such as flour and rice needed to be cooked, she said.

The outlook for Gaza under these conditions, she said, "is very bleak."

In Geneva on Thursday, John Holmes, UN under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, said Gaza's food supply had been reduced as a result of Israeli restrictions at the crossings.

"The squeeze was tightening all the time," Holmes said. In July, the UN helped bring 3,000 trucks into Gaza, a number that dropped to 1,508 in September.
In July, he said, 40 patients a day had been allowed to cross into Israel, which had fallen to under five a day in September.

While he condemned the Gazan rocket attacks against Israel, he said stopping the supply of fuel to "punish the population of Gaza" did not appear to be an appropriate response.

Unofficially, Israeli sources are saying Israel has no responsibility to supply fuel for the vehicles that are transporting the Kassams to locations where they can be fired on Israel, nor does Israel have an obligation to supply the fuel used to build the rockets.

A senior official in the Prime Minister's Office said that while it had not yet been decided when to begin suspending electricity to the Gaza Strip in response to rocket attacks, this new policy would also likely be implemented within the next few days.

The officials said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had not been flooded with urgent calls for Israel to rescind these measures, and that Israel had explained to the international community that the goal was not to punish residents of the Gaza Strip, but rather to protect Israeli citizens.

The issue - according to officials in the Prime Minister's Office - was not raised during a meeting Olmert held Sunday evening with a delegation from the Board of Directors of the United Nations Foundation that included former UN secretary general Kofi Annan.

The delegation also included Ted Turner, the founder of CNN and chairman of Turner Enterprises, and former Atlanta Mayor and US ambassador to the UN Andrew Young.

Olmert praised the UN for its involvement in putting together the Security Council resolution that ended last summer's war in Lebanon, and said that there has been a gradual improvement in Israeli attitudes toward the UN.

The prime minister told the delegation that Israel would be more than willing to converse with Hamas if it accepted the principles that Annan himself had laid down: recognizing Israel, rejecting terrorism and accepting previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements.

Also Sunday, Olmert briefed the cabinet on his talks on Friday with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and said the upcoming Middle East conference in Annapolis, Maryland, would touch on the core issues of Jerusalem, borders and refugees, but would not try to solve them.

Olmert said that the declaration that the two sides were working on to present at Annapolis would be a general declaration that would include a commitment to continue negotiations after the meeting.

"We will go to negotiations after the Annapolis meeting with the intention to solve all the problems, and which will make possible the establishment of a Palestinian state that lives in security alongside Israel, a Palestinian state that is the national home of the Palestinian people, as Israel is the national home of the Jewish people." The Annapolis declaration would not include a detailed timetable for negotiations, he said.

Tovah Lazaroff and AP contributed to the report.

Minister Ayalon roept Olmert op om Hamas uit te nodigen voor Annapolis

... indien Hamas bereid is ieder door Olmert en Abbas samen ondertekend document te accepteren.   Israël zou Hamas moeten uitnodigen voor openlijke onderhandelingen, die worden begonnen met de wederzijdse erkenning van het recht van beide volken op zelfbeschikking, en Israël als de uitdrukking van het Joodse recht op zelfbeschikking. Doet Hamas dit niet, dan is voor eens en altijd duidelijk waarom het niet bij vredesbesprekingen wordt betrokken en wie er hier tegen vrede is. Doet het dit wel, dan kan er op die basis verder worden onderhandeld.     Ratna     "I say we need to invite Hamas to Annapolis, if from the beginning, they are prepared to receive any joint document signed by Abu Mazen [PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas] and Ehud Olmert." "A call like this from Israel could bring the beginning of Hamas' disintegration because of the internal conflict which will occur," he added. -------------------------------------------------------------- Minister Ami Ayalon (Eli Tesma / BauBau) Last update - 15:13 24/10/2007 Minister Ayalon calls on PM to invite Hamas to regional summit By Haaretz Service Minister Ami Ayalon has called on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to break Israel's boycott of Hamas and invite representatives of the group to participate in the regional peace conference scheduled for later this year in Annapolis, Maryland, Army Radio reported Wednesday. The invitation would be contingent on Hamas' acceptance of the Palestinian Authority's stance at the summit, Ayalon told Army Radio. "I say we need to invite Hamas to Annapolis, if from the beginning, they are prepared to receive any joint document signed by Abu Mazen [PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas] and Ehud Olmert." Advertisement "A call like this from Israel could bring the beginning of Hamas' disintegration because of the internal conflict which will occur," he added. The Palestinians and Arab states have called on Israel to compile a joint declaration with the Palestinian Authority ahead of the summit, to deal with the core issues of refugees, Jerusalem and the borders of a future Palestinian state. Israel has backed away from the calls, saying it would prefer to see a wide understanding with the Palestinians. Olmert has sought to lower expectations for the conference to deflect pressure from right-wing coalition partners who are opposed to dividing Jerusalem and taking other sweeping steps as part of any deal with Abbas The prime minister said earlier this week that the conference should instead be viewed as a chance for the international community to support statehood negotiations, which are expected to formally begin following the gathering. Related articles: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/916646.html