zaterdag 5 januari 2008

Bommenwerkplaats in Nablus gevonden door PA of door IDF?

Terwijl Haaretz wederom met een verhaal komt waaruit blijkt hoe goed de Palestijnse politie de orde handhaaft in Nablus, vertelt Yediot Ahronot (Ynet) een ander verhaal:
 
IDF forces operating in Nablus Thursday night found two pipes resembling Qassam-like rockets in later stages of assembly in a laboratory in the West Bank city's Casbah.
.....
Military officials from Central Command told Ynet that this incident "proves that as long as the IDF has full freedom of operation in Judea and Samaria, we will succeed in achieving results against terror organizations and if it weren't for this freedom of operation, things wouldn't look the same."
[Het hele artikel staat onderaan.]
 
 
Het is vreemd dat Haaretz deze vondst in het geheel niet vermeldt, en ze laadt daarmee de verdenking op zich het mooie sprookje van gisteren niet te willen verstoren. Men had wel een verhaal van Palestijnse woede en frustratie over de legeroperatie in Nablus, waarbij 25 Palestijnen gewond raakten en verschillenden werden gearresteerd.
 
De voor de hand liggende vraag, waarom Israël vlak voor Bush' komst naar Israël een dergelijke operatie uitvoert als daar geen aanleiding voor is omdat de Palestijnen de boel geheel onder controle hebben, komt blijkbaar niet bij de journalisten van Haaretz op.
 
Een en ander maakt de gebrekkige coördinatie tussen Israël en de Palestijnen op veiligheidsgebied pijnlijk duidelijk. Misschien is dat een goed onderwerp voor de besprekingen met Bush volgende week, in plaats van fraaie maar vooral ook onrealistische vergezichten.
 
 
Ratna
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PA forces uncover Hamas explosives lab in Nablus
By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent
 
Last update - 06:37 04/01/2008
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/941702.html

Palestinian security forces uncovered a Hamas bomb-making laboratory in Nablus a week ago, where 33 kilograms of mercury and other materials used to make bombs were found, Palestinian sources said Thursday.

The bombs were to be used against Israel but also against Palestinian Authority targets, the sources said.

The hazardous materials were found in a building Palestinian intelligence believed was serving as a Hamas arms cache. Mercury is often used to complete the electrical circuit in bombs - basically an "on" switch for detonation.

In recent weeks the Palestinian security forces carried out a broad security operation in Nablus against Hamas networks. Several dozen Hamas activists were arrested, and most were released after they agreed to turn in their weapons and avoid any activities against Israel or the PA.

The governor of Nablus, Jamal Muhaisen, said the PA has confiscated 120 weapons held by Hamas, mostly M-16s but also sniper rifles, Uzi submachine guns and others.

The head of General Intelligence in the city, Abdullah Kamil, told Haaretz that during the operation his soldiers uncovered "extremely dangerous material." But he declined to give details.

Kamil maintains that the PA security forces destroyed the Hamas network in Nablus, saying that they uncovered sleeper groups affiliated with that radical Islamic organization Kamil believes is preparing to overthrow the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

He also said the PA security services in recent months have foiled dozens of planned attacks against Israeli targets that were initiated in the Hamas network in Nablus.

Muhaisen said the PA has managed to strike a blow at Hamas' financial network and has taken over the group's welfare organizations, a common conduit for transferring funds.

______________________________________________________

IDF uncovers pipes used in manufacturing of Qassams in West Bank
Pipes found along with launch pads in laboratory in Nablus Casbah; 25 Palestinians injured in IDF operations in the city

Efrat Weiss

IDF forces operating in Nablus Thursday night found two pipes resembling Qassam-like rockets in later stages of assembly in a laboratory in the West Bank city's Casbah.

Aided by intelligence pinpointing its location, the IDF forces found the laboratory with two pipes as well as the launching ramps for the projectiles.

The IDF said the rockets were in the advanced stages of assembly.

Locating the laboratory was one of the primary goals of the IDF's operations in the area.

Military officials from Central Command told Ynet that this incident "proves that as long as the IDF has full freedom of operation in Judea and Samaria, we will succeed in achieving results against terror organizations and if it weren't for this freedom of operation, things wouldn't look the same."

At least 25 injured in Nablus

Palestinian sources reported Thursday that at least 25 people were wounded during the IDF's operation in Nablus. According to reports, the casualties include an infant and one man, who was critically injured.

The IDF confirmed the attack, saying military forces were operating in an effort to locate weapons and wanted gunmen, and were using means of riot dispersal.

Large IDF forces made their way into Nablus Thursday morning, surrounding several areas, especially near Nablus' old city, and imposing a curfew. The IDF has detained one wanted gunmen for questioning.

According to Palestinian sources, an altercation flared between the soldiers and several local youths.

The Palestinians expressed their discontent with the IDF's operation in Nablus, particularly since Palestinian police were already deployed in the city.

Ali Waked contributed to this story

IDF: militanten verantwoordelijk voor dood vrouwen in zuiden Gazastrook

Bij verschillende legeroperaties in de Gazastrook zijn gisteren 9 Palestijnen omgekomen. In één van deze operaties kwamen ook ongewapende burgers om.
 
Aldus het NOS journaal: "Volgens ooggetuigen schoot het leger op het huis van een militant waarbij hijzelf, zijn moeder, twee dochters en zoon omkwamen." Men vond het niet nodig naast deze informatie van ooggetuigen ook de versie van het Israëlische leger te geven, dus dat doe ik hieronder.
 
Volgens het leger gaat het over twee, niet vier, burgers die naast twee, niet één, strijder omkwamen en bestookten de strijders de Israëlische troepen vanuit het huis onder andere met anti-tankgranaten. Zij kozen er daarmee bewust voor de daar aanwezige familieleden in gevaar te brengen.
 
 
Ratna
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January 3rd, 2008

IDF SPOKESPERSONS UPDATE
Regarding the incident earlier today in which civilians got hurt, the IDF Spokesperson wishes to clarify:

Armed gunmen entrenched themselves in a house near IDF forces that were operating against terror threats in the southern Gaza Strip. The gunmen fired heavily at the forces, from within the house, using several anti-tank missiles and small-arms. The forces responded with tank fire towards the sources of fire, killing two armed gunmen and apparently two Palestinian women who were with the gunmen in the house at the time. The IDF wishes to clarify that the responsibility for the death of the Palestinian women lies with the gunmen, who operated intentionally from a civilian environment.


--------------------------------------------
IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website:
www.imra.org.il

Israëls leiders zwijgen terwijl Egypte pelgrims Hamas Gaza binnenlaat

Laatst vroeg ik mij af waarom Israël zich niet wat assertiever opstelt naar Egypte, dat er zelf geen enkel probleem mee heeft Israël over van alles de maat te nemen. Het gemak waarmee Egypte gemaakte overeenkomsten met Israël schendt, zonder verdere verklaring, is symptomatisch voor een ongelijke verhouding.
 
Ik ben niet de enige die zich hierover opwindt....
 
 
Ratna
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The Egyptians made a move that could have only one meaning: Completely ignoring all the understandings reached with Israel. It is one thing to ignore past understandings, reached on the eve of the disengagement, regarding their responsibility for the border with Gaza. This time around they disregarded a fresh agreement from last week, reached when President Mubarak met Defense Minister Barak.

Scared of the old man?
Israel's leaders silent as Egypt ignores agreement, lets Hamas pilgrims into Gaza
Roni Sofer YNET

Minutes before Egyptian police officers opened the gates and let Hamas pilgrims returning from Saudi Arabia back into the Gaza Strip, Amos Gilad's phone rang. On the other end was an acquaintance from Cairo. Major General (Res.) Gilad from the Defense Ministry has some good connections in the Egyptian capital. We are opening the gates, the Egyptian caller informed the stunned Gilad.

Only three weeks ago, Gilad traveled to Cairo to warn our Egyptian allies that the pilgrims heading to Saudi Arabia include some Hamas men, including some terrorists who headed for training in Iran. He also warned that they will be bringing back plenty of money, aimed at greasing the wheels of the terror machine. Yet what the Egyptians heard in one ear immediately came out of the other ear.

Olmert, Livni, and Barak were stunned. The Egyptians made a move that could have only one meaning: Completely ignoring all the understandings reached with Israel. It is one thing to ignore past understandings, reached on the eve of the disengagement, regarding their responsibility for the border with Gaza. This time around they disregarded a fresh agreement from last week, reached when President Mubarak met Defense Minister Barak.

One of the people who was there when the news arrived later said he felt like Cairo was showing contempt to Israel; that it was disregarding basic rules of conduct between states, not to mention states that have a peace agreement and understandings on cooperation in the war against Islamic terrorism.

Nobody said a word

However, the feelings of Israeli leaders are one thing, and their actions are an entirely different thing. The "Mubarak effect", that is, the inexplicable paralysis vis-a-vis the Middle East's elder statesman, worked its magic again. Haunted by fears of the man who recently dispatched his foreign minister to blast our own foreign minister, our leaders chose to say nothing.

After they saw what the old man did to the woman who dared claim that Cairo is not doing its share to stop the smuggling on the Philadelphi Route, Israel's leadership went silent. Nobody said a word. Even Lieberman and Dichter, who are among the most prominent critics of Egypt when it comes to its conduct on the Gaza border, remained silent.

A day late, Jerusalem issued a weak official statement about viewing the latest developments with concern and severity, as they "undermine the war on terror and the efforts to bring about calm and advance the peace process." And who was the undersigned? Neither Olmert, nor any of his deputies, and certainly not Livni or any other cabinet member.

Nobody wanted to handle this hot potato, which Egypt hurled into Israeli territory. The Mubarak effect, no doubt, worked its magic.

vrijdag 4 januari 2008

Israël zoekt steun van Bush voor ruimte IDF op Westoever

Israël zoekt de steun van de Amerikanen voor veiligheidsarrangementen die de soevereiniteit van een toekomstige Palestijnse staat zullen beperken.
 
The Barak government reached agreement with the Clinton administration on a number of security issues with regard to a future accord with the Palestinians. However, monitoring border crossings and a long-term IDF presence in the Jordan Valley was not among them. The Palestinians vehemently opposed the security steps Israel wanted, such as the emergency IDF deployment in the West Bank, which they saw as damaging to their independence and sovereignty.
 
Israel now seeks to reopen the discussion in the hope that Bush will support its demands.
 
 
Voor zover ik weet hebben de Palestijnen ook nooit met een volledige demilitarisering ingestemd, en met het recht van Israël om over Palestijns luchtruim te vliegen. Overigens is de situatie nu anders dan in 2000, en heeft de tweede intifada niet alleen zijn tol geëist in mensenlevens aan beide kanten, maar ook in het vertrouwen in elkaar en de bereidheid concessies te doen.

According to government and security sources, "in most of the issues involving the agreement with the Palestinians, Israel is the one being asked to give tangible things. The only area in which we have real demands from the Palestinians is that of security arrangements. Therefore it is important that the talks have the proper outline so that Israel can insist on its security demands and the Palestinians will not dilute them."
 
 
Het klopt dat van Israël vooral verlangd wordt om zaken op te geven, want Israël heeft ook het meeste te vergeven. Dat men dat alleen in ruil voor harde veiligheidsgaranties wil doen is niet meer dan terecht. Toch denk ik dat beide partijen meer moeten doen dan land voor veiligheidsgaranties ruilen. De mooiste afspraken zijn weinig waard als een van beide zich er niet aan houdt, als zij door een meerderheid als onrechtvaardig worden beschouwd, als er absoluut geen vertrouwen is dat de andere partij zich aan zijn afspraken zal houden. Je kunt niet overal escapes voor verzinnen, en overal arbitrage of bemiddelingscommissies voor instellen.
 
Wat ik mis in de onderhandelingen is vooral de eis aan de Palestijnen om te erkennen dat de Joden historische rechten in het land hebben, dat Israël niet alleen een voldongen feit is maar ook recht van bestaan heeft, dat antisemitisme evenals andere vormen van racisme verwerpelijk is en moet worden bestreden. 
 
Wellicht beschouwt men dit als iets voor een later stadium, in de zekerheid dat de Palestijnen daar nu niet toe bereid of in staat zijn, maar mij klinken afspraken over specifieke arrangementen voor het leger in de Jordaanvallei, of hoe en door wie de grenzen gecontroleerd zullen worden, ook behoorlijk voorbarig in de oren. 
 
Bovendien is een einde aan de anti-Israël en antisemitische ophitsing een concreet punt dat bijdraagt aan een beter klimaat voor vrede, net als vredeseducatie aan beide kanten en allerlei projecten die beide partijen meer bewust moeten maken van de grieven en gevoeligheden aan de andere kant. Er kan morgen mee begonnen worden, en organisaties die hier al mee bezig zijn kunnen steun en versterking krijgen. Waarom wordt daar niet meer over gepraat en aan gewerkt?
 
 
Ratna
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Jerusalem seeks Bush okay for IDF free hand in West Bank 
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent

 
Israel is seeking to reach an understanding with the U.S. administration that would safeguard Israel's security interests in a future final-status agreement with the Palestinians and during current negotiations, government sources have said.

The sources also said Israel is seeking President George W. Bush's support for its security demands so that such understandings can serve as a basis for the work of the American special security envoy General James Jones, who has been tasked with formulating the security arrangements for an Israeli-Palestinian agreement.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is to discuss these security issues with Bush during the president's visit here next week.
At the heart of Israel's demands is that it remain free to act against terror in the West Bank for as long as negotiations last, and that demilitarization arrangements place limitations on the future Palestinian state.

Discussions with administration officials on this issue began even before the Annapolis summit, during the visit of the Israeli delegation to Washington.

Wednesday Olmert called a meeting ahead of the Bush visit with Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. Barak presented the security demands in detail and Livni discussed the importance of demilitarizing the areas that Israel would evacuate in the future.

Israel wants to maintain effective military superiority in the territories during the talks, and ensure that it has the freedom to act against terror organizations in Gaza. "It is inconceivable that we would be prevented from continuing the extraordinary achievement against terror in the West Bank," a source said.

"In the previous year no Israeli was killed within the Green Line from an attack that came from the West Bank. In the West Bank, four people were killed. In the South, it is true that quiet has not yet returned to Sderot, but we are carrying out an effective and focused offensive there. Hundreds of terrorists were killed last year."

Israel would like the U.S. to agree to a number of limitations on the future Palestinian state's sovereignty. Israel wants Palestine to be completely demilitarized, and for Israel to be able to fly over Palestinian air space. Border crossings would be monitored by Israel in such a way that the symbols of Palestinian sovereignty would not be compromised, but Israel would know who was coming and going.

Israel is to propose the deployment of an international force in the West Bank and along the Philadelphi Route in Rafah, and would ask that a permanent Israel Defense Forces presence remain for an extended period in the Jordan Valley.

Jordan Valley 'tripwire force'

According to Israel's plan, a small Israeli force would be stationed in the Jordan Valley as a "tripwire force" that would act as a deterrent. Israel would also demand Palestinian agreement that in the case of an emergency Israel could deploy in essential areas of the West Bank to thwart a threat of invasion from the East.

Such a deployment would only take place under extreme circumstances, but including it in the agreement would ensure that the Palestinians would not object if the time came when it was needed.

Under ordinary circumstances the West Bank would be completely demilitarized, with only internal Palestinian security forces on duty.

The Barak government reached agreement with the Clinton administration on a number of security issues with regard to a future accord with the Palestinians. However, monitoring border crossings and a long-term IDF presence in the Jordan Valley was not among them. The Palestinians vehemently opposed the security steps Israel wanted, such as the emergency IDF deployment in the West Bank, which they saw as damaging to their independence and sovereignty.

Israel now seeks to reopen the discussion in the hope that Bush will support its demands.

According to government and security sources, "in most of the issues involving the agreement with the Palestinians, Israel is the one being asked to give tangible things. The only area in which we have real demands from the Palestinians is that of security arrangements. Therefore it is important that the talks have the proper outline so that Israel can insist on its security demands and the Palestinians will not dilute them."

Een Hudna met Hamas is geen oplossing

Het was onder Amerikaanse druk dat Israël niet alleen de nederzettingen in de Gazastrook ontruimde, maar ook het leger terugtrok, en de controle van de Philadelphi Road (de grens met Egypte) overdroeg aan de PA, Egypte en waarnemers van de EU (die na de machtsovername van de Gazastrook door Hamas weer ijlings zijn vertrokken).
 
Ook de deelname van Hamas aan de verkiezingen gebeurde onder Amerikaanse druk. Israël was daartegen, omdat het de Oslo Akkoorden schendt, waarin staat dat alleen partijen die het geweld hebben afgezworen aan de verkiezingen mochten meedoen. Immers, de Palestijnse Autoriteit was gecreëerd als tijdelijke instantie om met Israël te onderhandelen namens de Palestijnen en door Israël overgedragen gebied te controleren. De Oslo akkoorden stellen duidelijk dat voor gewapende groepen buiten de eigen veiligheidsdienst en politie, die onder andere tot taak hebben aanslagen en ander geweld tegen Israëli's te verhinderen, geen plaats is.
 
Het is jammer, nee triest, dat veel Europese politici en journalisten, destijds zulke grote voorstanders van Oslo, dit lijken te zijn vergeten.
Een kernachtige samenvatting van waarom Israël niet moet ingaan op het voorstel tot een 'Hudna' (tijdelijke wapenstilstand) met Hamas:

Israel's acceptance of the hudna proposal would constitute a strategic victory for Hamas and its allies: The organization would be regarded by the Palestinian population as the leading element in the national struggle. It would quickly receive international legitimacy, establish its economic and political control through the generous assistance of the international community, and be able to develop a deterrent military capability vis-a-vis Israel through massive arms smuggling across the Egyptian border.

Dit is niet alleen slecht voor Israël, maar ook voor Fatah en andere meer gematigde Palestijnen.
 
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Hudna is no solution
By Ely Karmon
 
Haaretz, Last update - 03:31 02/01/2008
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/940738.html


In light of the success of the pinpoint military operations against Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, and signs of weakening in the Hamas leadership, many are calling for accepting Ismail Haniyeh's purported offer of a hudna (a cease-fire), or alternately a tahadiyeh (a lull in the fighting), in exchange for an end to IDF operations in Gaza and a lifting of the siege. It appears that the decision makers in Israel have learned nothing.

Following the Six-Day War and up until December 1987, the security authorities allowed a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood to set up a religious, social and economic network, which in turn led to the creation of Hamas after the outbreak of the first intifada. This was done in an effort to weaken the secular PLO elements who utilized terrorism to advance their goal of a Palestinian state. That short-sighted policy failed to appreciate the Muslim Brotherhood's long-term strategy, which found a clear manifestation in the homeland of the movement, Egypt, where since the early 1970s Islamist terrorist movements have operated.

The expulsion of 415 members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad to southern Lebanon in December 1992, and their return to the territories following the Oslo Accords, without the "Hezbollization" they had undergone in training camps in Lebanon being taken into consideration, resulted in the adoption of suicide bombings as a strategic tool for undermining the peace process. Thus, with the start of the second intifada, Hamas became the backbone of the Palestinian resistance to the existence of Israel. Nonetheless, during the bloody years of the intifada, Israel's governments opted to demolish the structure of the Palestinian Authority instead of targeting the Hamas leadership, a move it took only in the assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and his deputy, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, in the spring of 2004.

Following the death of Yasser Arafat, in November 2004, instead of keeping up the pressure on Hamas, the Sharon government opted to carry out a unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip without an agreement, even though it was clear that Hamas would take over Gaza and from there carry on the fight to the West Bank. Later, Israel allowed Hamas to participate in elections and to politically take over the Palestinian Authority, establishing an independent military force modeled after Hezbollah. At the end of the process, Hamas took over the Gaza Strip, also without any serious response.

Israel's acceptance of the hudna proposal would constitute a strategic victory for Hamas and its allies: The organization would be regarded by the Palestinian population as the leading element in the national struggle. It would quickly receive international legitimacy, establish its economic and political control through the generous assistance of the international community, and be able to develop a deterrent military capability vis-a-vis Israel through massive arms smuggling across the Egyptian border.

In a year or two, an extremist state, allied with Iran, Syria and Hezbollah, will emerge on our southern border, with a good chance of taking over the West Bank and affecting the stability of Jordan, Egypt and possibly also the Islamic Movement in Israel. Even if Hamas meets its promise not to violate the cease-fire for several months, Iran and its ally, Islamic Jihad, will do everything in their power to sabotage the negotiations with the Palestinians.

Is the temporary, tactical and relative calm of a few months, maybe even a year or two, sufficient justification for Israel's next strategic failure? Will we not then face a situation similar to what emerged in southern Lebanon following Israel's unilateral withdrawal of May 2000, which led to the forlorn results of July-August 2006? Are those who are now threatening that we will respond in force if Hamas or any other Palestinian group violates the hudna, not find more excuses to avoid taking action against them?

In light of the continued targeting of Israeli communities with rocket fire, and the ongoing smuggling, Israel must employ a tough policy and keep up its effort against a strengthening of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. This should include targeting the organization's leadership, and if necessary, carrying out a ground offensive to take control of the Philadelphi route and segments of the northern Gaza Strip before weapons of strategic significance find their way there.

We should remember that there are still radical elements in Fatah who do not accept a compromise with Israel, among them Fatah Secretary General Farouk Kaddoumi, whose permanent base is Damascus. Only by bolstering the moderates in the Palestinian leadership and population in the West Bank, while politically and socially weakening Hamas in Gaza, will it be possible, perhaps, for fissures to occur in the Islamic movement and for a joint struggle with the Fatah moderates and the pragmatic leaders among Hamas against the radicals in control in Gaza and elsewhere.

Dr. Ely Karmon is a senior researcher at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism at the Inter-Disciplinary Center, Herzliya.

donderdag 3 januari 2008

PA veiligheidsdiensten boeken succes in Nablus

In een pr-achtig artikel leggen Palestijnse leiders in Nablus uit hoe succesvol ze zijn in het bestrijden van chaos, wetteloosheid en de Hamas. Om eerlijk te zijn klinkt het te mooi om waar te zijn. Het is bepaald onwaarschijnlijk dat de vele gewapende groepen, niet alleen Hamas maar ook allerlei lokale bendes, opeens geheel verslagen zouden zijn en/of al hun wapens vrijwillig hebben afgegeven. Mij zijn geen heftige gevechten bekend in Nablus de afgelopen tijd. Een slecht teken aan de wand is bovendien de oneerlijke manier waarop over de moord op twee Israëli's door leden van Fatah wordt bericht:
 
On Tuesday, two high-ranking activists wanted by the Shin Bet security services, Sufyan Kandil and Ala Abuda, gave themselves up to the Palestinian Authority and are now in a Palestinian jail.
 
 
Ze gaven zichzelf aan om te voorkomen door Israël te worden opgepakt. De Palestijnse Autoriteit laat plegers van aanslagen tegen Israëli's of andere aanvallen doorgaans snel weer vrij. De Palestijnse veiligheidsdienst die ze heeft ondervraagd, hield bovendien informatie achter voor Israël.
 
Het is natuurlijk niet bepaald fraai dat twee mensen die in dienst zijn bij de Palestijnse Autoriteit (bij een rechtbank en als lid van de nationale veiligheidsdienst) een aanval voorbereiden en uitvoeren op liftende Israëli's, maar in dit artikel wordt het als een prestatie van de PA gepresenteerd.
Het was interessant (en ook conform journalistieke regels) geweest als op zijn minst het volgende was gecheckt bij Israël:
 
Throughout the conversation Kamil charged that Israel was trying to hurt the Palestinian security forces. "How do you explain that right on the day we operated in the Balata refugee camp, the Israeli army went in? What is the logic, if not to weaken our ability to operate?"
 
 
Misschien was de logica wel om een aanslag te voorkomen waarover Israël informatie had die de PA miste, om explosieven in beslag te nemen of terroristen te arresteren die worden gezocht vanwege eerdere aanslagen tegen Israël? We weten het niet, want men heeft dit niet uitgezocht. Sinds de PA in Nablus orde op zaken stelt is Israël ook gewoon nog actief, en dat is conform de afspraken die zijn gemaakt. Aangezien bijna wekelijks aanslagen worden verijdeld is het niet zo gek dat Israël toch net ietsje meer op de eigen veiligheidsdiensten en het leger vertrouwt dan op de Palestijnse veiligheidsdiensten en politie. Kwestie van ervaring. De manier waarop inlichtendienst chef Abdullah Kamil afgeeft op Israël is een tweede slecht voorteken.
 
 
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PA security forces restore public order in turbulent W. Bank city
By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent
 
Last update - 04:30 03/01/2008
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/941352.html

NABLUS - Four young women from the Nablus neighborhood of Rafidiyeh went into a shop Wednesday near the clock square in the center of Nablus. Dressed in the trendiest jeans and blouses, they were looking for fashionable leather bags. Two minutes later they came out empty-handed, disappointed at not finding what they wanted.

Just a few months ago, they said, they did not feel safe enough to walk alone in the street. "We felt like there could be problems any moment," Laila, 20, said. "Today it's different." Her friend, Nahala, 18, says "people have stopped being afraid they're going to get hit by gunmen's bullets." And in fact, nowhere in the city, not even at the entrance to the Kasbah, could armed men be found who were not members of the Palestinian security forces.

Nablus, which until recently was decribed as the "terror capital" and the "capital of chaos," now seems like the most stable and quiet city in the West Bank.

Jamal, owner of a center-city clothing store, says the shake-downs, threats and armed robbery so typical of Nablus have stopped. "In the past, a gunman would ask a business owner for money for 'the intifada.' If he refused, the next day he could find his shop burned. Today, I'm pleased. During Id al-Adha, there was a lot of work and there are no more criminal problems," Jamal said.

The actions of the Palestinian security forces and the new urban reality in Nablus have pulled the rug out from under the claims in Israel about the weakness of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

The Palestinian security forces, which have been accused in Israel mainly of carrying out attacks like the one on Friday near Hebron that took the lives of two hikers, have managed to accomplish what until recently was considered mission impossible: bringing law and order to Nablus.

The market stalls that clogged the streets have been removed by the Palestinian police. The security forces have managed to root out a phenomenon that was common in Nablus - stolen vehicles; Police are seen on almost every street spot-checking vehicle licenses.

Most of the Fatah gunmen have surrendered their weapons to the security forces. Some have even joined them. On Tuesday, two high-ranking activists wanted by the Shin Bet security services, Sufyan Kandil and Ala Abuda, gave themselves up to the Palestinian Authority and are now in a Palestinian jail. Most important of all for the Israelis is that the PA leaders say they have destroyed the Hamas infrastructure in the city.

It is difficult to pinpoint a single reason for the success of the Palestinian security forces in Nablus. Nablus Governor Jamal Mohsein says "every decision we made has been carried out. We united the security forces and ended competition among them. There is no more shooting off guns at weddings and funerals or at any other event. We confiscated 120 firearms from Hamas activists, along with explosives intended for attacks against Israel and the PA. Hamas has no more weapons in Nablus. We appointed new governing committees for all the charitable organizations that had operated under Hamas in the past, and they own numerous properties throughout the city, including hospitals and buildings. But the bottom line is that for this trend to continue, the peace process has to move forward," Mohsein says.

The PA's decision, particularly that of its prime minister, to focus on security in Nablus, stemmed from the understanding that it is the West Bank's key city. If the security forces can bring order to chaos here, it will send a message to the other cities in the West Bank, to the terror organizations and criminal elements. For this purpose, 350 policemen were brought to the city two months ago in coordination with Israel. Only a few days ago, they left to operate in other West Bank cities.

Nablus intelligence chief Abdullah Kamil says a strategic change is taking place in the region. "We thwarted Hamas' plans, of which we have proof, to take over the PA institutions in the city and make another revolution. We found dozens of weapons in their possession and some of the most dangerous explosives intended to thwart the peace process. Our goal was to strike at Hamas militarily and then deal with criminal problems and we have done so. We have disarmed Hamas, we have hit them hard, and today they cannot rehabilitate their infrastructure. Even in Israel, they are surprised at our success."

Kamil pulls out five guns. "All of these were captured in the homes of Hamas men. Most are from Israel, but there is one rifle here that isn't in use even in Israel, an M-23 sniper's rifle. We also stopped attacks by other organizations, with help from abroad," Kamil said.

Throughout the conversation Kamil charged that Israel was trying to hurt the Palestinian security forces. "How do you explain that right on the day we operated in the Balata refugee camp, the Israeli army went in? What is the logic, if not to weaken our ability to operate?"

Egypte laat pelgrims toch via Rafah overgang naar Gazastrook terugkeren

Zoals verwacht laat Egypte de teruggekeerde Palestijnen uit Mekka via Rafah teruggaan naar de Gazastrook, in schending van de afspraken met Israël om ze via Kerem Shalom te laten terugkeren, zodat ze door de Israëlische controles moesten.
 
Israël vreest dat enkele Hamas activisten onder de pelgrims grote sommen geld voor deze organisatie de grens over zullen smokelen, een niet ongegronde vrees gezien eerdere ervaringen. Egypte hecht blijkbaar meer belang aan haar relatie met Hamas dan die met Israël, ondanks het feit dat beide landen lang geleden officieel vrede sloten. De vraag is waarom en hoe Israël Egypte beter duidelijk kan maken dat een goede verstandhouding met Israël ook in Egyptes belang is.
 
Verder commentaar op IMO Blog: Israel, Egypte en de lieve vrede
 
 
Ratna
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Egypt allows pilgrims to return to Gaza
By Avi Issacharoff and Barak Ravid 3 January 2008
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/941142.html

Hundreds of Palestinians who were stranded in El Arish in Sinai and on a boat anchored in the Red Sea began returning to the Gaza Strip yesterday, via the Rafah crossing as demanded by Hamas and in contradiction of the understanding between Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

About 2,000 Palestinians were detained after returning from the hajj in Saudi Arabia last week, after Israel demanded that they be subjected to security checks and entered Gaza via the Israeli border only. Israeli officials feared that among the pilgrims were important Hamas activists who left Gaza with the pilgrims and brought back large sums of money for Hamas.

About half of the returning pilgrims stayed on the ferry from Saudi Arabia, while half waited in tents in the El Arish area. Some pilgrims staged protests in El Arish against the Egyptian authorities.

Jerusalem officials noted yesterday that "the crossing of pilgrims and Hamas activists between the Gaza Strip and Sinai is a violation of all the agreements between Israel and Egypt."

Egypt briefed Israel on its intention to allow the pilgrims to cross. "We didn't like it that they left and we didn't like the way they returned," a military source said. "We had an expectation that it would it happen and unfortunately it did."

Hamas Gaza leader and deposed Palestinian prime minister Ismail Haniyeh blessed the pilgrims who returned from Sinai without "being injured or extorted by the Israeli occupation" and without crossing the border under Israeli supervision. Haniyeh thanked Egypt, Mubarak and Saudi Arabian King Abdullah and his government for their aid and efforts to solve the crisis.

Haniyeh also called for a "new page" in intra-Palestinian relations and urged Palestinians "to stand together in the West Bank, Gaza and outside of Palestine in the face of the threats to Palestinian interests."

He addressed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the Fatah movement and all Palestinian factions, saying that he supports dialogue "to solve the disagreements and end the separation [between the West Bank and Gaza]."
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert yesterday criticized Egypt for its inability to halt weapons smuggling from Sinai to the Gaza Strip through the tunnels on the Philadelphi Route. Meeting with a U.S. Congressional delegation who had earlier visited Egypt, he told them that Israel expects Egypt to do more to stop the smuggling.

IDF doodt 7 terroristen in Gazastrook - volgens PA een 'bloedbad' op 'burgers'

Israël doodt 7 Hamas- en andere terroristen, tegenstanders van het vredesproces, van democratie en van Abbas zelf. Toch veroordeelt zijn woordvoerder dit in harde bewoordingen:


www.wafa.ps/english/body.asp?id=10881
RAMALLAH, January 2, 2008 (WAFA - PLO news agency)- Presidency Spokesperson condemned on Wednesday the massacre perpetrated by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on the Gaza Strip which resulted in the killing of seven citizens.

The Spokesperson considered the massacre as an aggressive act aims at escalating situation before the US President George. W. Bush expected visit to the region.

"Israel tries to escape the political merits, the priority of which is implementing the Road Map plan and halting settlements activities in all Palestinian territories, including Jerusalem," according to the Spokesperson.

The Spokesperson called on the Quartet, specially the US to intervene and put an end to bloodshed and Israeli crimes which destroy the peace process.

"Israël pleegt een massaslachting door onschuldige burgers van Hamas en Islamitische Jihad te doden." Dit is een misdaad die om onmiddelijke interventie vraagt, aldus Fatah logica. Dat wat er in de Gazastrook gebeurt en de dagelijkse Qassam raketten op Israël niet bepaald aan de eisen van de Routekaart voldoen, vergeet de gematigde leiding van Fatah blijkbaar even.
 
Waarom het vredelievende Fatah - waaraan de VS wapens geeft met goedkeurung van Israël - Hamas strijders 'burgers' noemt, en overduidelijk suggereert dat het hier om ongewapende onschuldige burgers gaat, ontgaat me. Liegen is ook niet bevorderlijk voor het vredesproces.
 
Bovendien betreft het hier Abbas' eigen vijanden, mensen die Fatah leden van daken hebben gegooid en gewonden uit ziekenhuizen gesleurd. Met geld van de EU en de VS moet Abbas op de Westelijke Jordaanoever orde op zaken stellen en de verschillende milities aanpakken. Zo staat het in de Routekaart en zo heeft hij het beloofd aan Israël en de internationale gemeenschap.
Hieronder het ware verhaal van de IDF operaties.

Ratna
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IAF strike moderately wounds senior PRC militant in Gaza Strip
By Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondent, and Reuters 
Haaretz, Last update - 23:02 02/01/2008
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/940637.html

A senior militant of the Palestinian Resistance Committees was moderately wounded late Wednesday in an Israel Air Force attack on the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun.

The strike, which targeted a vehicle carrying top PRC members, was jointly orchestrated by the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet security service.

Palestinian witnesses said two other people were lightly to moderately wounded in the attack.

Meanwhile, the IDF killed seven Hamas, Popular Resistance Committees and Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade militants early Wednesday morning in a joint operation that included both land and air forces.

Palestinians reported that five of the militants were killed by an IAF missile strike while a sixth militant from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade was killed in a gunfight with IDF soldiers on the ground.

The fatalities from the IAF strike were named as Aahad Shimli, Yussef Shimli, Masab Jundia, Abed al-Karim al-Hilu and Hamad Abu Amira. The first four were Hamas militants and the last a member of the Popular Resistance Committee. The sixth militant was killed in a gunfight with troops on the ground.

Hamas's armed wing, Izz el-Deen al-Qassam, vowed after the strike to continue fighting Israel "until victory or martyrdom."

An IDF spokeswoman said the army had targeted the Palestinian gunmen after they fired anti-tank missiles at Israeli troops operating in the area.

The IDF confirmed that troops had operated for a few hours in the area near Gaza City and that they had fired, together with IAF aircraft, at gunmen who shot anti-tank missiles toward the soldiers. The soldiers withdrew shortly after sun-up.

IDF kills Hamas militant

At least one Hamas militant was killed and three others wounded Tuesday by Israel Defense Forces fire near the security fence along the central Gaza Strip.

The army said troops opened fire on a militant cell that was approaching the fence.

Hamas, which controls the Strip, said the man was a member of its security force.
 

Beperking van godsdienstvrijheid op de Tempelberg

Dit zijn het soort berichten dat me blijft verbazen, en me doet beseffen hoe weinig ik soms nog van het Midden-Oosten begrijp. Joden mogen niet op een zichtbare wijze bidden op de Tempelberg (een heilige plaats voor Joden omdat hier vroeger de Joodse Tempels hebben gestaan), want dit kan aanstootgevend zijn voor moslims. Dit is geen antisemitische richtlijn van de Ottomanen of de Britse autoriteiten tijdens hun mandaat over Palestina, maar een besluit van de Israëlische regering.  
 
A Jew is not allowed to pray in any overt manner whatsoever on the Temple Mount, even if he is just moving his lips in prayer, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter recently wrote MKs Uri Ariel and Aryeh Eldad (National Union-NRP).
.......
This interpretation, Dichter continued, "is in line with the rationale that bans Jews from praying at the site, in light of serious concerns that this will serve as a provocation, resulting in disorder, with a near certain likelihood of subsequent bloodshed."
 
 
Om problemen en spanningen te voorkomen, zet men zelf een stap terug en staat niet op zijn rechten.
 
Het is een beeld van Israël dat we niet kennen uit de media, maar dat misschien minder zou mogen verbazen dan het doet: na de verovering c.q. bevrijding van de Oude Stad van Jeruzalem tijdens de Zesdaagse Oorlog, is direct besloten om de status quo te zoveel mogelijk te handhaven en iedere geloofsgemeenschap maximale zeggenschap over de eigen heiligdommen te laten behouden.
 
Onder het mom van herstelwerkzaamheden heeft de islamitische Waqf eind jaren '90 en het afgelopen jaar opnieuw uitgebreide graafwerkzaamheden verricht waarbij talloze Joodse artefacten zijn vernield en op de vuilnisbelt van Jeruzalem belandden. Ondanks toenemende protesten uit de samenleving, niet in de laatste plaats van archeologen, heeft de regering niets tegen dergelijke werkzaamheden ondernomen, want men wilde geen lont in een kruitvat aansteken. En met dezelfde motivatie heeft men zelf werkzaamheden buiten de Tempelberg, om een kapotte loopbrug te vervangen, gestaakt na luid protest van Arabische en Palestijnse organisaties, alsmede Egypte. In tegenstelling tot de jarenlange en werkelijk schadelijke werkzaamheden van de Waqf gingen de Verenigde Naties zich ermee bemoeien en stelde een onderzoek in, dat tot de conclusie kwam dat Israël inderdaad niets onoorbaars had gedaan, maar desalniettemin Israël toch opriep de werkzaamheden te staken.  
 
 
Ratna
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No moving Jewish lips in prayer on Temple Mount, says Dichter
By Nadav Shragai, Haaretz Correspondent Last update - 08:29 02/01/2008
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/940710.html

A Jew is not allowed to pray in any overt manner whatsoever on the Temple Mount, even if he is just moving his lips in prayer, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter recently wrote MKs Uri Ariel and Aryeh Eldad (National Union-NRP).

In 1976, the Supreme Court ruled that it accepted the government's position that it was not opposed to individual Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, providing that it was not of a demonstrative nature that could lead to public disorder. High Court rulings in recent years have also been seen to support individual, as opposed to group prayer on the Mount.

Ariel and Eldad recently decided to test the State's position on this issue. They informed the police that "they intended to manifest this right" [to non-demonstrative prayer] by first coordinating the best time and place to enter and exit the Temple Mount complex.


The two MKs explained that all they intended to do was to pray, without informing the media of their plans, or wearing a talit or tefilin, or bringing a Torah scroll with them.

"It is not possible to arrest a person for 'conversing with his maker," Dichter replied, using the same terminology of the MKs' letter.

"However it is possible to carry out an arrest for expressions of outward and demonstrative signs [of prayer]."

This interpretation, Dichter continued, "is in line with the rationale that bans Jews from praying at the site, in light of serious concerns that this will serve as a provocation, resulting in disorder, with a near certain likelihood of subsequent bloodshed."

It was further explained to the two MKs that from the police's point of view, there is no substantive difference between the prayer of an individual and group prayer, since the threat to public safety is the same. Such act would be considered "altering the status quo at the site."

Dichter stressed that the state's decision to ban Jewish prayer from the Temple Mount does not distinguish between an individual praying and that of a group, and that this has been the basis of the status quo since 1967.

woensdag 2 januari 2008

Gematigde Fatah leden achter aanval op Israëli's

Een aanval op twee Israëli's op de Westoever afgelopen vrijdag is opgeëist door leden van Abbas' gematigde Fatah beweging. Eén van hen was klerk bij een rechtbank en ook betrokken bij de Palestijnse inlichtingendienst, de ander werkte voor de Palestijnse nationale veiligheidsdienst. Zij gaven zichzelf aan bij de Palestijnse Autoriteit, om zo arrestatie door Israël te vermijden.
 
Israël heeft intussen de PA opgeroepen ze niet vrij te laten en gedreigd dan het heft in eigen hand te nemen. De kans dat ze van de PA een lange straf zullen krijgen voor deze moorden is echter klein. De PA heeft plegers van aanslagen tegen Israëli's altijd snel weer vrij gelaten.
 
Zowel de Palestijnse veiligheidsdiensten als de politie en inlichtingendiensten worden overigens voor een groot deel betaald met geld van de internationale gemeenschap, waaronder de Europese Unie, en hun wapens door de EU verschaft met Israëlische toestemming, met als doel dergelijke aanvallen en aanslagen te voorkomen. Het is dan ook aan ons erop toe te zien dat leden die dergelijke misdaden begaan hard worden gestraft.
 
 
Ratna
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Terrorists who carried out deadly W. Bank shooting were Fatah men
By Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondent
 
Last update - 21:30 01/01/2008
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/940692.html

The terrorists who carried out Friday's shooting attack near the West Bank city of Hebron, killing two Israelis, were both members of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction, according to information made public Tuesday.

The terrorists turned themselves into Palestinian Authority general intelligence custody immediately following the attack, due to fears they would be captured by Israeli security forces that were in pursuit.

Ahikam Amihai and David Rubin, who were killed in the attack, were both Israel Defense Forces soldiers on leave from their unit. They were hiking near Hebron when they came under fire from Palestinian terrorists in a Jeep.

Amihai and Rubin were both armed, and managed to return fire, killing one of the terrorists. Their female companion, a Kiryat Arba resident who had joined them for the hike, was uninjured.

The PA general intelligence did not immediately inform Israel that the terrorists were in its custody, and only did so once the Shin Bet security service approached Palestinian officials.

Following the Shin Bet request, Palestinian intelligence confirmed that the terrorists had turned themselves in, and even handed over to Israel the victims' weapons, which the assailants had taken following the attack, as well as the weapons used in the shooting.

The terrorist who was killed was identified as 23-year-old Hebron resident Bassel Natsha. The two who turned themselves in are 24-year-old Hebron resident Ali Dandanes, a court clerk and Fatah member who has ties to the Palestinian general intelligence, and 26-year-old Hebron resident Amar Taha, a Fatah member and a member of the Palestinian national security forces.

According the Palestinian inquiry, the attack was premeditated, and the terrorists had waited for an opportune time to carry it out. One of the terrorists spotted the Israeli hikers, and called the other two to the scene in order to carry out the attack.

Nederlandse leraren volgen seminar bij Yad Vashem

Het shockeerde Nederland enkele jaren geleden, dat leraren op met name 'zwarte' scholen zo'n moeite hadden met het lesgeven over de Holocaust dat sommigen het onderwerp maar oversloegen. Ook voetbalden Marokkaanse jongeren destijds met kransen die tijdens de dodenherdenking waren neergelegd. Sindsdien is er veel discussie over hoe jongeren van Arabische komaf te onderwijzen over de Holocaust en hun negatieve beeld van Joden te overwinnen. Eén manier is om een vergelijking te maken met islamofobie, zoals een docent uitlegt: 
 
When teaching Holocaust studies to Dutch Muslim teenagers in Amsterdam, Mustafa Daher says he first has to defuse his pupils' own hostility toward Jews and Israel.
"If I don't capture their interest, then I have done nothing. So I use the rising Islamophobia to help them connect to the persecution of the Jews," the seasoned educator says.
"For example, I tell them that when the Nazis suspected someone was Jewish, they would pull down his pants to see if he was circumcised. Then I remind my Muslim students they are also 'snipped.' So they, too, would've ended up in a concentration camp," says Daher.

 
Om eerlijk te zijn vind ik het triest dat dit nodig is om begrip voor de Jodenvervolging bij te brengen. Wellicht zouden moslims ook vervolgd zijn door de Nazi's als er hier zoveel hadden gewoond, maar feit is dat de Joden werden vervolgd, en de Nazi's hen systematisch probeerden uit te roeien. Deze genocide stond niet op zichzelf maar stond in een lange traditie van Jodenvervolging en Europees antisemitisme. Dit is - gelukkig - de moslims nooit overkomen, en het ziet er niet naar uit dat de vooroordelen en soms zelfs haat tegen moslims deze vormen aan zal nemen. Mustafa Daher zou zijn leerlingen moeten vertellen over het specifieke karakter van antisemitisme, de oorzaken en de wijdverbreidheid van dit verschijnsel.
 
Leraren worden, wanneer zij over de jodenvervolging onderwijzen, veelvuldig geconfronteerd met niet zo frisse vergelijkingen met het Israëlisch-Palestijns conflict:
 
Judith Whitlau, who teaches groups about the Holocaust at the Dutch Theater in Amsterdam, says she has to contend with another analogy.
"Some [pupils] point to media reports from the occupied territories, and they want to know what exactly Israel itself is doing to internalize the Holocaust's lessons as it preaches others should do." 

 
 
Wat Israël doet om de lessen van de Holocaust te internaliseren is te zorgen dat Joden zich tegenwoordig kunnen verdedigen, en er een plek is waar Joden altijd naartoe kunnen wanneer zij in gevaar zijn, maar dat is om één of andere reden niet de les waar deze jongeren op doelen. Niet alles wat Israël doet in de bezette gebieden is gerechtvaardigd, maar dit is op geen enkele manier te vergelijken met de systematische volkerenmoord van de Nazi's. In de afgelopen 7 jaar kwamen circa 5.000 Palestijnen om, voor een groot deel strijders c.q. terroristen. In Auschwitz werden dagelijks duizenden Joden vergast.
 
Wat mij betreft zouden leraren wel wat confronterender mogen zijn, en benadrukken dat dergelijke vergelijkingen een goede illustratie van het probleem zijn. Het is bepaald ongepast om naar aanleiding van de grootste volkerenmoord in de geschiedenis de beschuldigende vinger richting de nakomelingen van de slachtoffers te wijzen, en van hen perfect moreel gedrag te eisen. Bovendien speelden de Palestijnen en Arabische staten zelf ook niet echt een fraaie rol tijdens de Holocaust, steunden belangrijke leiders zoals de Palestijnse moefti Haj Amin Al Hoesseini de Nazi's, en oefenden de Palestijnen druk uit op de Britse machthebbers om de immigratie van Joden te stoppen, wat in 1939 ook gebeurde.
 
Maar ik ben waarschijnlijk niet echt in de wieg gelegd voor onderwijzer, en mis de takt die deze mensen nodig hebben.
 
Ratna
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Last update - 22:21 01/01/2008

For Dutch educators, Islamophobia can be a teaching aid for Holocaust studies

By Cnaan Liphshiz and Ruthie Pliskin, Haaretz Correspondents
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/940592.html [incl. video]


The Yad Vashem Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority this week hosts a week-long seminar for 21 teachers, the first run by the museum for Dutch educators, with one day devoted to discussions about teaching Holland's Muslim minority about the Shoah.

When teaching Holocaust studies to Dutch Muslim teenagers in Amsterdam, Mustafa Daher says he first has to defuse his pupils' own hostility toward Jews and Israel.

"If I don't capture their interest, then I have done nothing. So I use the rising Islamophobia to help them connect to the persecution of the Jews," the seasoned educator says.


"For example, I tell them that when the Nazis suspected someone was Jewish, they would pull down his pants to see if he was circumcised. Then I remind my Muslim students they are also 'snipped.' So they, too, would've ended up in a concentration camp," says Daher.

Judith Whitlau, who teaches groups about the Holocaust at the Dutch Theater in Amsterdam, says she has to contend with another analogy.

"Some point to media reports from the occupied territories, and they want to know what exactly Israel itself is doing to internalize the Holocaust's lessons as it preaches others should do."

But not all the teachers in the group have Muslim students. Franca Verheijen teaches at an affluent school in Leiden, some 35 minutes by train from Amsterdam. There, drawing parallels between Islamophobia and anti-Semitism can be counterproductive.

"If I make this connection, some students usually reject the analogy, saying that unlike the Muslims, the Jews never engaged in terrorism," she says.

Another charged issue for the teachers is the question of complicity. Some 100,000 Dutch men and women belonged to the country's Nazi party during the war, openly collaborating with German authorities.

Despite this, Meir Villegas Henriquez from the Hague-based Jewish non-profit Center for Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI), said he wouldn't want to see a whole chapter in the school curriculum on Dutch Nazis.

"We're here to educate, not blame," the delegation organizer said.

Other participants in the seminar - which is partly funded by the Dutch government's Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies - were also hesitant about the issue.

"For many people this is taboo and we can't afford to waste our two weekly hours [for history] on it," said Wout Claessens from the eastern Netherlands.

One advantage Dutch teachers have over colleagues abroad, they all agreed, was the diary of Anne Frank, the world-famous manuscript written in hiding in Amsterdam by the young girl who later died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

Her story, which is mandatory reading in Dutch elementary schools, is still very useful in helping young pupils connect to the Holocaust, the teachers said. According to Henriquez, Frank's image is so indelibly etched into the Dutch psyche, that it can sometimes overshadow current problems.

"When our organization, CIDI, released its annual report last month on a 64-percent hike in anti-Semitic incidents, the study received less exposure than the decision to fell the tree outside Anne Frank's hiding place," he complained.

"Her story is a big frame of reference, but the Netherlands still has a Jewish population which is facing some challenges."
 

Vijf doden bij Fatah manifestatie in Gazastrook / PA verijdelt zelfmoordaanslag

Het enige ongewone in onderstaand bericht is, dat de PA begin deze week Hamas militanten heeft gearresteerd die een zelfmoordaanslag voorbereidden. Abbas onderneemt de laatste tijd serieuze pogingen om op de Westelijke Jordaanoever de orde te handhaven en daarbij ook het staatsmonopolie op geweld in te voeren, iets wat in een functionele staat vanzelfsprekend hoort te zijn maar dat in de Palestijnse gebieden niet was.
 
Verder wordt gemeld dat Abbas zijn oude oproep voor nieuwe verkiezingen heeft herhaald, maar Hamas dit wederom meteen afwees. Men noemde dit ongrondwettelijk, maar de hoofdreden voor de afwijzing is waarschijnlijk dat Hamas flink wat stemmen zou verliezen - wat weer de reden is dat Abbas die nieuwe verkiezingen wil.
 
Hamas verklaarde zich wel bereid tot een hernieuwde dialoog met Fatah, maar zonder de voorwaarde dat Hamas eerst het bestuur van de Gazastrook opgeeft. Kortom, de posities zijn niet gewijzigd.
 
Evenmin is de situatie in de Gazastrook veranderd: Fatah aanhangers hielden een manifestatie, Hamas had die verboden en greep in, en er vielen 5 doden en circa 30 gewonden. Ook bedreigde Hamas weer journalisten die erover wilden berichten.
 
 
Wouter
___________________________
 
Last update - 23:10 31/12/2007    
 
Five killed as violence erupts at Fatah rally in Gaza Strip 
By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent and News Agencies
 
 
Five Palestinians were killed after nightfall on Monday as anniversary celebrations for the Fatah movement turned violent in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.
 
Medical officials said one of the dead was a Hamas police officer, another was a teenager and a third was a Fatah supporter. About 30 people were wounded, they said.
 
Fatah marks the anniversary of its founding on January 1, but Hamas banned Fatah marches. All over Gaza, Fatah backers fired rifles in the air and set off fireworks.

These were the first fatalities in Fatah-Hamas fighting since November 11, when Hamas forces opened fire on a huge Fatah rally, killing eight and wounding about 85.
 
Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged Hamas Islamists on Monday to agree to early elections and to open a "new page" by ceding control of the Gaza Strip and holding reconciliation talks with his Fatah faction.
 
Reviving talk of early Palestinian elections for the first time in several months, Abbas said in a speech to mark the anniversary of the founding of Fatah that any vote should be held in agreement with his Hamas rivals.
 
"I renew the option of early elections ... and I pledge that I will do my best to ensure this election will be the product of a deep and brotherly understanding," Abbas said.
 
"I urge all, Fatah and Hamas movements and all other Palestinian factions, to study this alternative and not to rush, as usual, to reject it."
 
Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in June, prompting Abbas to sack a Hamas-led unity government and appoint a Fatah-backed administration in the West Bank. The rift helped pave the way for U.S.-backed talks with Israel.
 
Abbas said after Hamas's Gaza takeover he wanted to call early elections. But it has been several months since he talked publicly about holding a ballot although his aides have raised the possibility of snap parliamentary and presidential polls.
 
Hamas, which won a Palestinian parliamentary vote in 2006, opposes holding elections before they are due in 2010, saying it would be unconstitutional.
 
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum rejected Abbas' speech."It is full of incitement and words calling for divisions," he said. "There is no new initiative or practical step in this speech that can pave the road to start an immediate dialogue."
 
Barhoum said earlier Monday that the Islamist group was ready for dialogue with Fatah but would not accept Abbas's demand it first give up control of the coastal enclave.
 
"Abbas is betting on the American-Zionist project and not on dialogue with Hamas," Barhoum told a news conference in Gaza. "We renew our readiness and willingness to restore dialogue with Fatah without conditions."
 
PA minister: Abbas' forces foil Hamas suicide attack plot
 
Palestinian security forces loyal to Abbas have arrested Hamas militants who were plotting a suicide bombing, the Palestinian foreign and information minister said on Monday.
 
Riyad al-Malki told a news conference Palestinian security forces had arrested members of the Islamist group, but did not say whether the attack was planned for Israel or the West Bank or how many people had been arrested.
 
The announcement came a day after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ruled out relaxing Israel's grip on the West Bank until the Palestinians rein in militants.
 
Israel frequently says it has thwarted suicide bombings but it is rare for the Palestinians to make such an announcement.
 
Malki declined to say when the arrests took place but said security forces found a confessional video recorded by the would-be bombers. He also said officers had found mercury, which could be used to make explosive devices, in Nablus.
 
Hamas spokesman Barhoum declined to comment on whether its members were arrested, but said: "We support any act of resistance against the Israeli occupation but we will not be surprised if the government ... fabricates charges to pursue their arrest campaign against Hamas and other factions of resistance."
 
Abbas's government has deployed hundreds of security officers in West Bank towns in recent weeks as part of a Western-backed drive to crack down on gunmen and gangsters.
 
Israel Police and the Israel Defense Forces said they had not heard about any attacks that had been prevented by Abbas's forces.
 
Also Monday, Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a Qassam rocket and 14 mortar shells at the western Negev.
 
Gaza journalists warned not to cover Fatah anniversary events
 
Several Gaza journalists received anonymous overnight phone calls warning them not to cover upcoming events planned by the Fatah movement, fueling fears that the territory's Islamic Hamas rulers were trying to quash coverage of their rivals.
 
Reporters for at least five local and foreign news outlets received calls late Sunday and early Monday warning them to stay away from events planned by Fatah to celebrate the 43rd anniversary of the veteran Palestinian movement's establishment.
 
The reporters asked that their names be withheld because they feared retribution from Hamas, which seized power in Gaza in June after routing Fatah fighters loyal to the moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
 
A Fatah rally scheduled for Tuesday has been banned by Hamas, which repeatedly has cracked down on Fatah activists and harassed journalists covering pro-Fatah events since the Gaza takeover.
 
In an official statement, the Hamas-run interior ministry in Gaza said it supported freedom of the press and blamed Fatah for the calls, saying Fatah leaders in the West Bank were trying to embarrass the Islamic group.
 
Ibrahim Abu Al-Naja, one of Gaza's most prominent remaining Fatah leaders, said the movement would not hold a major rally Tuesday, and would make do with smaller gestures like setting off fireworks and lighting candles in the windows of pro-Fatah homes.
 
Some 70 Fatah activists were arrested or went underground over the past few days, Fatah officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they feared arrest. Hamas denied those charges, saying no political arrests had been made.
 
Hamas police raided Fatah's central office in Gaza City and seized posters, flags and computer hard disks, Fatah leader Ahmad Hillas said at a press conference Monday.
 
"I want to say clearly and honestly: No one, no power will prevent us or stop us from commemorating this anniversary," Hillas said.
 

Fatah leden betrokken bij aanval op Israëli's bij Hebron

De PA, die verantwoordelijk is voor de ontmanteling van alle gewapende milities in Palestijns gebied, verklaarde zaterdag dat Fatah's eigen Al Aqsa Martelaren milities waren opgedoekt. Sommige milities waren het daar niet mee eens, en verspreidden pamfletten die het tegendeel beweerden. Hoeveel milities er eerst waren en hoeveel daarvan nog over zijn wordt helaas niet duidelijk uit onderstaand bericht, maar het lijkt om een kleine minderheid te gaan.
 
 
Wouter
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Analysis: A Fatah member by any other name...
Khaled Abu Toameh , THE JERUSALEM POST Dec. 30, 2007
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1198517240065&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Some of the gunmen who participated in Friday's shooting attack near Hebron belong to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, Fatah activists in the West Bank confirmed over the weekend.

They said the attack was carried out jointly by Fatah and Islamic Jihad members.

The involvement of Fatah members in the attack is seen as a serious embarrassment for Abbas and the PA, whose representatives were quick to denounce the perpetrators, pledging to crack down on all armed groups in the West Bank.

The attack shows that several armed Fatah groups continue to operate in the West Bank despite statements by top PA officials to the effect that most of these groups had been dismantled.

Although many members of Fatah's armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, have in recent months handed over their weapons to the PA security forces in return for jobs and salaries, dozens of Fatah gunmen are still refusing to follow suit.

Hoping to get better jobs and salaries, these gunmen have set up small militias in various parts of the West Bank.

Others have refused to surrender their weapons for ideological reasons, preferring to join forces with Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

One of these Fatah militias is called Fursan al-Layil (Horsemen of the Night), which is active in the old city of Nablus. Other Fatah gunmen are operating under the auspices of other militias called the Yasser Arafat Groups and the Martyr Ayman Judeh Groups, which took credit for Friday's attack.

On Saturday, the IDF arrested a number of Fatah activists belonging to the Yasser Arafat Groups in Hebron on suspicion of involvement in the killing of the two IDF soldiers on Friday.

Among those arrested was the leader of the group in Hebron, Ahmed Abu Sittah, also known as Abu Suleiman.

One of the gunmen killed in the attack, Basel al-Natsheh, was also known in Hebron as a Fatah activist, although his father, Nabil, is a Hamas member who is serving time in an Israeli prison.

Six other members of the al-Natsheh clan, brothers Naim, Firas and Hazem and brothers Nu'man, Abdullah and Shadi, were also arrested by the IDF. They, too, are said to be members of the Yasser Arafat Groups in Hebron.

Fatah activists said the attack may be linked to the faction's preparations to celebrate its 43rd anniversary this week. The attackers, they explained, were apparently hoping to send a message to the Palestinian public that, contrary to claims by Hamas, Fatah has not abandoned the path of armed struggle.
But while such attacks help Fatah score points on the Palestinian street, they also embarrass the PA leadership in Ramallah, especially in front of the international community, which has just pledged to channel to more than $9 billion to the Palestinians over the next three years.

That's why PA officials were quick to condemn the attack, vowing to take measures against the perpetrators. PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad said during a tour of Nablus that his government would fulfill its security commitments toward Israel by pursuing those responsible. "The military operation took place on Palestinian soil and the PA will carry out all its duties in this regard," he said.

PA Information Minister Riad al-Malki strongly condemned the attack as an attempt to disrupt peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel.
However, both Fayad and Malki are well aware of the fact that the PA's plan to dismantle all the Fatah-affiliated militias in the West Bank is still far from achieving its goal.

Shortly after PA Interior Minister Abdel Razzak al-Yahya announced Saturday that the Aksa Martyrs Brigades had ceased to exist, the group responded by distributing thousands of leaflets throughout the West Bank scoffing at the claim and vowing to continue the armed struggle against Israel..

Israëlische premier Olmert accepteert deling van Jeruzalem

In onderstaand artikel spreekt Olmert openlijk van de noodzaak Jeruzalem te delen. Hij treedt niet in detail over hoe en wat, maar verwijst naar het standpunt van verschillende buitenlandse regeringsleiders die op zichzelf positief tegenover Israël zouden staan, maar een toekomstig Israël binnen de pre-1967 grenzen en met een gedeeld Jeruzalem zien. Olmert weet donders goed dat deze regeringsleiders een deling van de Oude Stad voorstaan, en niet bedoelen dat Israël een paar Arabische buitenwijken afstoot.
 
Des te opmerkelijker is dat hij daarentegen Ma'aleh Adumim een 'onafscheidelijk deel van Israël' noemt. Dit past echter in de formule dat de grote nederzettingenblokken in een vredesverdrag bij Israël zouden blijven, in ruil voor grondgebied binnen de Groene Lijn; zowel de vredesvoorstellen van Clinton in 2000 als het officieuze Geneefse Akkoord van 2003 gaan hiervan uit.
 
De Palestijnen staan op zijn zachtst gezegd sceptisch tegenover een dergelijke uitruil van grondgebied, en wijzen grote nederzettingen diep in de Westelijke Jordaanoever als Ma'aleh Adumim en Ariel zeker af. De regering Olmert heeft officieel nog niet van een uitruil gesproken, en steunt evenmin het voorstel van coalitiegenoot Lieberman om gebieden waar veel Arabieren wonen aan de Palestijnen over te dragen, iets wat op felle kritiek van de Arabische gemeenschap stuitte.
 
Olmert doet erg zijn best de overeenkomsten te benadrukken en verschillen te minimaliseren, en suggereert dat vrede een reële mogelijkheid is als Israël zich compromisbereid toont. Echter de tijd dringt, en Israël moet deze kans niet voorbij laten gaan.
Het interview lijkt er vooral op gericht te zijn om de Israëli's te bewegen mee te gaan in de te verwachten compromissen die Israël zal moeten sluiten voor een vredesovereenkomst. Zo benadrukt hij dat de huidige Amerikaanse en Europese leiders Israël gunstig zijn gezind, maar ook zij unaniem uitgaan van een deling van Jeruzalem en de Groene Lijn van voor 1967. Ook roept hij een doemscenario op als er geen Palestijnse staat komt: Israël zou verworden tot een staat die een toekomstige Arabische meerderheid van democratische rechten uitsluit.
 
De compromissen zullen moeilijk te verkopen zijn: van Palestijnse kant ontbreken vooralsnog duidelijke gebaren van compromisbereidheid, bijvoorbeeld over het recht op terugkeer of Jeruzalem. Alleen over het beëindigen van terroristisch geweld is de PA welwillend, maar juist hier is zij grotendeels onmachtig om de terreurgroepen te ontwapenen. Om nog te zwijgen van het probleem van de Hamas regering in de Gazastrook.
 
Opmerkelijk is dat Olmert als premier het eigen Israëlische beleid bekritiseert van doorgaande groei van de nederzettingen, en begrip uitspreekt voor de Palestijnse kritiek hierop.
 
At the same time, the prime minister expressed considerable empathy for Palestinian concerns over settlement growth. If the only construction work undertaken since the road map was accepted had been at Ma'aleh Adumim and Har Homa, he said, "then I imagine the Palestinians, though they might not have been happy about it, would not have responded in the way that they respond when every year, all the settlements - in all the territories - continue to grow. There is a certain contradiction in this between what we're actually seeing and what we ourselves promised. We always complain about the [breached] promises of the other side. Obligations are not only to be demanded of others, but they must also be honored by ourselves."
 
Het lijkt gezocht dat de Palestijnen minder problemen hebben met Har Homa en Maaleh Adumim dan met de uitbreiding van andere nederzettingen. Maaleh Adumim snijdt diep de Westbank in en Har Homa ligt tussen Arabische delen van Jeruzalem en Bethlehem, volgens de Palestijnen een strategie om Jeruzalem van het Palestijnse achterland te isoleren. Het valt te hopen dat deze mooie woorden worden gevolgd door even mooie actie, zoals de ontmanteling van de buitenposten zoals bepaald in de Routekaart naar Vrede.
 
Olmert dicht zichzelf nogal wat kwaliteiten toe, bijvoorbeeld om Abbas diepste zieleroerselen te kennen:
 
He said he was convinced, too, that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas "has made the choice in his heart" between clinging to the "myth of the 'right of return'" and the opportunity to establish a Palestinian state where all Palestinians, refugees included, would live.
"My impression is that he wants peace with Israel, and accepts Israel as Israel defines itself," Olmert said. "If you ask him to say that he sees Israel as a Jewish state, he will not say that. But if you ask me whether in his soul he accepts Israel, as Israel defines itself, I think he does. That is not insignificant. It is perhaps not enough, but it is not insignificant."
 
 
Een typisch voorbeeld van wishful thinking.
 
Eén ding moeten we Olmert nageven: hij is niet alleen creatief en compromisbereid, maar vooral ook optimistisch, en dat is in Israël heden ten dage een hele opgave.  
 
 
Ratna & Wouter
________________

'Even Israel's good friends see future with J'lem divided'
Herb Keinon and David Horovitz , THE JERUSALEM POST Jan. 1, 2008
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1198517258675&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Israel needs to internalize that even its supportive friends on the international stage conceive of the country's future on the basis of the 1967 borders and with Jerusalem divided, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has declared to The Jerusalem Post.

At the same time, he made clear that he did not envisage a permanent accord along the '67 lines, describing Ma'aleh Adumim as an "indivisible" part of Jerusalem and Israel.

In an interview at the start of a year that he hopes will yield a permanent Israeli-Palestinian peace accord, the prime minister said many rival Israeli political parties remain "detached from the reality" that requires Israel to compromise "on parts of Eretz Yisrael" in order to maintain its Jewish, democratic nature.
If Israel "will have to deal with a reality of one state for two peoples," he said, this "could bring about the end of the existence of Israel as a Jewish state. That is a danger one cannot deny; it exists, and is even realistic."

Indeed, his primary responsibility as prime minister, Olmert said, lay in ensuring a separation from the Palestinians.

"What will be if we don't want to separate?" he asked rhetorically. "Will we live eternally in a confused reality where 50 percent of the population or more are residents but not equal citizens who have the right to vote like us? My job as prime minister, more than anything else, is to ensure that doesn't happen."

The reality in which Israel was seeking an accommodation, he elaborated, includes a situation in which even "the world that is friendly to Israel... that really supports Israel, when it speaks of the future, it speaks of Israel in terms of the '67 borders. It speaks of the division of Jerusalem."

What was extraordinary about US President George W. Bush, in this context, Olmert said, was that Bush, since a landmark letter he wrote to then-prime minister Ariel Sharon in 2004, has made plain that he envisages Israel maintaining at least some territory in Judea and Samaria. Bush "has already said '67 plus," said Olmert, "and that's an amazing achievement for Israel."

Thus, Olmert asserted, while the road map obligated Israel to stop all building in the settlements, including for natural growth, the Bush letter "renders flexible to a degree the significance of what is written in the road map."

In comments likely to further exacerbate Palestinian protest at ongoing settlement expansion, Olmert said he considered Ma'aleh Adumim to be "an indivisible part of Jerusalem and the State of Israel. I don't think when people are talking about settlements they are talking about Ma'aleh Adumim."

At the same time, the prime minister expressed considerable empathy for Palestinian concerns over settlement growth. If the only construction work undertaken since the road map was accepted had been at Ma'aleh Adumim and Har Homa, he said, "then I imagine the Palestinians, though they might not have been happy about it, would not have responded in the way that they respond when every year, all the settlements - in all the territories - continue to grow. There is a certain contradiction in this between what we're actually seeing and what we ourselves promised. We always complain about the [breached] promises of the other side. Obligations are not only to be demanded of others, but they must also be honored by ourselves."

While all the final-status issues were now on the table as part of the Annapolis process, Olmert stressed that he would never accept a Palestinian "right of return" to Israel.

He said he was convinced, too, that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas "has made the choice in his heart" between clinging to the "myth of the 'right of return'" and the opportunity to establish a Palestinian state where all Palestinians, refugees included, would live.

"My impression is that he wants peace with Israel, and accepts Israel as Israel defines itself," Olmert said. "If you ask him to say that he sees Israel as a Jewish state, he will not say that. But if you ask me whether in his soul he accepts Israel, as Israel defines itself, I think he does. That is not insignificant. It is perhaps not enough, but it is not insignificant."

Asked whether next week's first Bush presidential visit was designed for Bush to become the godfather of the State of Palestine, Olmert said, "I don't think he would define a visit like this in those terms... He's coming as an expression of his friendship. Also, he's coming to give expression to his support for the diplomatic process."

Bush was not pressuring Israel in any way, Olmert said. "He's not doing a single thing that I don't agree to," he said. "He doesn't support anything that I oppose." Rather, Olmert said, both he and the president hoped that the Annapolis timetable, for an accord in the course of 2008, could be met.
Indeed, said the prime minister, there was currently an almost divinely ordained constellation of key personalities on the international stage favorably disposed to Israel, creating comfortable conditions for negotiations that might never be replicated.

"It's a coincidence that is almost 'the hand of God," Olmert said, "that Bush is president of the United States, that Nicolas Sarkozy is the president of France, that Angela Merkel is the chancellor of Germany, that Gordon Brown is the prime minister of England and that the special envoy to the Middle East is Tony Blair."

The imperative, he said, was to make every effort for progress while this array of supportive characters remained in place.

"What possible combination," he asked, "could be more comfortable for the State of Israel?"

Olmert said he believes "with all my heart" that kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Schalit is alive and that he was "making every effort" to determine the situation of captive reservists Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser. He said he favored re-examining the criteria for Palestinian prisoner releases because "it may be that there is room for more precise definitions of what constitutes 'blood on hands.'"

While Olmert said Egypt needed to do more to prevent arms smuggling into Gaza, he had high praise for President Hosni Mubarak.

"When I even think of how things would be if we were dealing with people other than Mubarak, well, I pray every day for his well-being and good health," he said.

Expansive on many issues, Olmert was insistently understated on the existential threat posed by Iran. Even in the wake of the recent US National Intelligence Estimate, he said, "The bottom line is that President Bush hasn't changed his opinion regarding the danger posed by Iran. And I haven't changed my impression regarding President Bush's commitment to prevent Iran from attaining nuclear weapons."

But, he added: "Israel always acted and prepared for the possibility that it would need to defend its existence on its own. That's always been the case and that is the case today, wherever a threat to our existence can arise. Those who need to know do know that we have the tools to defend ourselves."

The full interview with the prime minister will appear in Friday's Jerusalem Post.