| | http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/al_qaeda_e.htm Overview 1. During the visit of President George Bush to the Middle East (January 9-11, 2008), two attacks were perpetrated on the American International School in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza Strip: a. On the morning of January 10, gunmen arrived at the school and asked the security guard to leave the area. The gunmen fired an RPG rocket on the second floor of the school building, causing damage to the building façade and to the school's arts and crafts room. b. On the morning of January 12, there was another break-in at the school. Several gunmen who entered the school destroyed property and looted computers and school equipment. The gunmen also set fire to school buses and cars owned by the school. 2. Following the second break-in, a note signed by "Army of the Believers—the Al-Qaeda Organization in Palestine " was found on the scene; it was addressed to the American International School . The attack, according to the note, was aimed against those who oppose Islam and those who work day after day to destroy the youth. The note warns anyone who might attempt to corrupt the youth or to open such corrupting institutions as that school. 3. The American International School is the only private school in Gaza , attended by some 150 students from kindergarten age to high school, all from wealthy Palestinian families. The school curriculum is American and the language of instruction is English. The school was opened in September 2000 by a company owned by an American Arab named Walid Abu Shaqra, who operates ten similar schools. Reactions 4. PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas condemned the incidents, saying he held Hamas responsible for them. At the same time, he ordered restoration works to be carried out at the school, considering it "an important peak of study for the Palestinian people" (WAFA, January 12). 5. Senior Hamas figures in the Gaza Strip also condemned the attacks and promised an investigation into the incidents. 6. School principal Ribhi Salem said that the attack was carried out in protest of President Bush's visit to the Middle East. According to the principal, the American International School is a purely Palestinian institution that has no connection to American elements. He also denied that the American government was providing assistance to the school. The American International School as a target for attacks 7. Owing to the radical Islam that has established itself in the Gaza Strip, institutions and people associated with the West, Western culture, or Christianity are often subject to persecution. The Hamas movement, which took control over the Gaza Strip in June 2007, does nothing to put an end to that phenomenon, while the radical Islamic atmosphere in Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip encourages it to continue. 8. It should be noted that the American International School has been a target for attacks since its very establishment. In 2004, two foreign teachers who taught at the school were kidnapped, to be released unharmed one day later. Also in that year, a rocket was fired on the schoolyard. Yet another incident of rocket fire on the school took place on April 23, 2007, without anyone claiming responsibility. During the same week, an employee of the Palestinian Bible Society was murdered in the Gaza Strip and two internet cafés were attacked. It is likely that those responsible for the attacks are radical Islamic elements that are hostile to the West and Western culture.
Goed nieuws dat er eindelijk aandacht is voor de vergeten Joodse vluchtelingen.
Bush' zeer voorzichtige hint dat de Palestijnse vluchtelingen niet naar Israël kunnen terugkeren werd niet goed ontvangen in de Arabische wereld:
Bush infuriated many in the Arab world when he said in a statement last Thursday night summing up his trip to Israel and the Palestinian Authority that a future agreement "must establish Palestine as a homeland for the Palestinian people, just as Israel is a homeland for the Jewish people." In addition, Bush said: "I believe we need to look to the establishment of a Palestinian state and new international mechanisms, including compensation, to resolve the refugee issue."
"Palestine as a homeland for the Palestinian people just as Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people" - dat laatste is inderdaad zeer ongehoord! We zijn helemaal voor vrede, maar het accepteren van Israël als 'the homeland of the Jewish people' is uiteraard teveel gevraagd.
Ratna
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Official: Bush aware of Jewish refugees' plight
Herb Keinon , THE JERUSALEM POST Jan. 15, 2008
US President George W. Bush is "very conscious" that Jewish refugees fled to Israel from Arab lands after the 1947-49 war, and this came up in his discussions on the Palestinian refugee issue last week in Jerusalem, a senior Western diplomatic source said Tuesday.
Jewish organizations have been trying for years to underline the similarities between the plight of Jewish and Arab refugees, and this was a clear indication that the narrative has begun to seep into US administration thinking.
According to the official, "One of the points that came up in this [Bush's] discussion was the number of Jewish refugees that were created in this period after 1948. The president is very conscious that the Jewish refugees came to the Jewish state, and I think that's a parallel situation."
The official said, "A lot of the people now in Israel were refugees, they were one way or another made to feel unwelcome in the countries around the region. A lot of them lost property, and in some cases - in Iraq for example - they very narrowly escaped."
The official made an analogy that just as Jewish refugees were absorbed in the Jewish state, the Palestinian refugees should be absorbed in a future Palestinian state.
Both Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni have recently been highlighting in private conversations with guests from abroad the plight of the Jews who fled Arab countries after the creation of Israel.
"It is no coincidence that Bush has become aware of this," one Israeli government official said.
The senior Western official said that while Bush made clear while here that he was not coming to impose an American solution, neither on the refugee issue or on any of the other core issues, he was signaling certain things that the US might be prepared to do, "like compensation for refugees." The official said the US might be willing to "go out and organize an international fund" to compensate Palestinian refugees, adding, however, that this wouldn't be done until the sides requested it.
Bush infuriated many in the Arab world when he said in a statement last Thursday night summing up his trip to Israel and the Palestinian Authority that a future agreement "must establish Palestine as a homeland for the Palestinian people, just as Israel is a homeland for the Jewish people." In addition, Bush said: "I believe we need to look to the establishment of a Palestinian state and new international mechanisms, including compensation, to resolve the refugee issue."
Regarding the settlements, the Western official said Bush made it clear to Olmert that the US expected Israel to comply with the road map, which states that Israel must freeze all settlement activity, including natural growth.
The official said Israel would not be deemed to have fulfilled its road map obligations unless it completely stopped all construction in the settlements, including in east Jerusalem.
At the same time, the official said, "there is a feeling that once you make progress on defining the borders, some of these issues become less contentious."
Proffering a possible explanation as to why Olmert told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday that the government's failure to remove the illegal settlement outposts was a disgrace, the Western official said he believed "Olmert was embarrassed because his friend [Bush] was here, a steadfast supporter, and he was unable to tell him that Israel had abided by its commitment to the US."
Bush had a great deal of respect for Olmert as a "leader" and as a "politician," the official said, adding that at the US leader's dinner on Thursday with Olmert, Kadima's senior ministers and the leaders of its coalition partners, one of the president's messages was that he was willing to invest "considerable capital in this enterprise," but wanted to know the coalition was strong enough to enable Olmert "to negotiate seriously.
The official added that Bush's announcement that he would be coming back to Israel again in the spring was an indication that he believed the government would not fall. He said Bush made it clear during that dinner that if the coalition was not strong it would make it difficult for him to make the type of investment required - in terms of political capital and presidential prestige - in the current diplomatic process.
The Western official said Bush had explained that the 2008 deadline that was set for the current negotiations only dealt with coming up with an agreement on what a future Palestinian state would look like, and was "not a deadline for the establishment of the state." The establishment of the state, he said, would not take place until the road map was implemented, including creating security in Gaza.
Bush "understood that Israel needs security guarantees," the official said, and the president made it clear that "we can make it happen." The official did not spell out what those guarantees were.
Regarding Gaza, the official said the US looked favorably on the idea of the PA taking control of the Karni crossing into the northern Strip. This was one way, the official said, of the PA regaining a presence in Gaza.
Waarom een groot-moefti uit Syrië het Europees parlement toespreekt, werd er niet bij vermeld. In Nederland haalde de toespraak de pers door zijn uitspraken over Wilders:_______________________________De Telegraaf - wo 16 jan 2008, 08:36'Wilders verantwoordelijk bij bloedvergieten' STRAATSBURG - Als het na de islamfilm van Geert Wilders komt tot geweld en bloedvergieten, is Wilders daarvoor verantwoordelijk. Dat heeft de grootmoefti van Syrië dinsdag in het Europees Parlement gezegd.  | Ahmad Badr El Din El Hassoun | |
Mocht Wilders besluiten in de film de Koran te verbranden of verscheuren, "betekent dat simpelweg dat hij aanzet tot oorlogen en bloedvergieten. Dan is hij daarvoor verantwoordelijk", aldus grootmoefti Ahmad Badr al-Din al-Hassoun. "Het is de verantwoordelijkheid van het Nederlandse volk om hem ervan te weerhouden", voegde hij er aan toe. De grootmoefti is een invloedrijk religieus rechtsgeleerde in de islamitische wereld. Hij kan fatwa's (religieuze decreten) uitvaardigen. De moefti zei dat hij de situatie in Nederland volgt en ook contact heeft gehad met de Nederlandse regering. Hij wil Wilders graag ontmoeten, maar niet als die de Koran zou verbranden. Dan is er geen reden meer voor dialoog, aldus de Syriër. [...] Volgens de grootmoefti bestaat er niet zoiets als een recht om te beledigen. "Wie de Koran of de profeet Mohammed beledigt, beledigt ook de Europese normen en waarden van respect voor andermans geloof." Al-Hassoun pleitte ervoor dat de Europese Unie wetten opstelt die andere geloven respecteert en het beledigen van andermans geloof verbiedt. [...] _______________________________ Veel reakties onder het Telegraaf artikel interpreteren de waarschuwingen van deze moefti als een dreiging of oproep tot geweld. Wat je er verder ook van vindt, deze moefti is toevallig tegen het doden van wie dan ook. Dat blijkt uit een ander stukje van zijn speech, voor Arabische begrippen opmerkelijker dan zijn kritiek op Wilders, maar nochtans door de Nederlandse media genegeerd. Gelukkig niet door MEMRI:
_______________________________
Syrian Mufti: May Allah Curse Anyone Who Kills An Israeli Child
http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/4636.htm
In a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Syrian Mufti Sheikh Ahmad Badr Al-Din Hassoun came out with a surprising call:
"May Allah curse anyone who kills a Palestinian, Israeli, or Iraqi child or man, because he is killing a person whom Allah honored without connection to his religious belief."
The mufti added that if the Ka'ba, the Church of the Nativity, or the Al-Aqsa Mosque were to be destroyed, someone would rise up to rebuild them, but when a person was killed no one could bring them back to life.
Source: champress.net, January 16, 2008
Posted at: 2008-01-16
_______________________________Dat zijn nu uitspraken een geestelijk leider waardig!Helaas zijn ze verre van vanzelfsprekend. Zijn voorganger sloeg in 2003 heel andere taal uit, nl. dat zelfmoordaanslagen een prima halal verzetsmethode zijn:_______________________________De Telegraaf - do 27 mrt 2003, 10:20Syrische geestelijke leider roept op tot verzet
 | | Sjeik Ahmad Kaftaro. (Foto: EPA) |
DAMASCUS - De hoogste geestelijke
gezagsdrager in Syrië, de moefti sjeik Ahmad Kaftaro, heeft donderdag moslims
opgeroepen zich met alle middelen tegen de Amerikaanse en Britse aanvallers in
Irak te verzetten.
"Ik roep alle islamieten op alle middelen aan te wenden om de agressie
tot een mislukking te maken." Daartoe behoren volgens de moefti ook
zelfmoordaanslagen. De Amerikanen en Britten zijn volgens Kaftaro
"oorlogszuchtigen die binnendringen".
[...] _______________________________ Wouter
Uit de Jerusalem Post van 14 januari: Meanwhile Sunday, the Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration released its annual statistics for 2007 showing that despite Hamas's takeover of the Gaza Strip in June and the continued Kassam rocket attacks throughout the year, more than 7,000 Palestinians were allowed to travel to hospitals in Israel and the West Bank - an increase of 50 percent in comparison to 2006. Close to 8,000 more were allowed to accompany them. Defense officials said great risks were often taken when allowing Palestinians to exit Gaza and travel to Israel for medical care. Earlier this month, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) released a report detailing a number of cases when Palestinian terrorists tried to take advantage of the "medical route" and use it to enter Israel to perpetrate terror attacks. "Terrorists take advantage of the medical route," OC Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration Col. Nir Press said, adding: "Despite this, the vast numbers of those treated outside the Gaza Strip demonstrates our efforts to find the delicate balance between security needs and humanitarian requirements." Of men die 'delicate balans' ook daadwerkelijk bereikt, is moeilijk te beoordelen, want we weten niet hoeveel Palestijnen géén toestemming kregen die dat wel nodig hadden, en ook niet hoe groot het risico is dat terroristen dan wel was gelukt om een aanslag te plegen. En hoeveel risico nam Israël al met deze 7.000? Hoeveel aanslagen zijn nu, misschien slechts door dom geluk, voorkomen? Helaas is voor dit probleem en deze dilemma's in het geheel geen aandacht in de media, en ook niet bij humanitaire organisaties zoals het Rode Kruis. Ratna ----------
Gaza plan: Fill tankers, cut supplies
Yaakov Katz , THE JERUSALEM POST Jan. 14, 2008 www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1199964915463&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
The defense establishment's decision to rescind a decision to limit the supply of industrial diesel to the Gaza Strip is part of a plan to end ties between Israel and the Hamas-run territory, defense officials said Sunday.
The sanctions were imposed last month as part of Israeli efforts to pressure Hamas and Islamic Jihad into stopping the daily Kassam rocket attacks against Sderot and other communities in the Western Negev. The move came under harsh international criticism and a number of petitions were filed in the High Court of Justice against it.
In a brief submitted to the court on Thursday, the state wrote that Defense Minister Ehud Barak had decided to suspend the sanctions and even increase the amount of industrial diesel Israel supplies to Gaza from 1.75 million liters a week to 2.2 million. The fuel is used exclusively by Gaza's sole power plant to produce electricity.
While the state's brief to the court appeared to be a reversal of Barak's earlier decision to impose the sanction, defense officials told The Jerusalem Post Sunday that after the Palestinian fuel storage containers were full, Israel would then complete its disengagement from the Gaza Strip and cut off all ties, including the supply of fuel and electricity.
"The idea is to give them an increased amount of fuel so they can quickly fill up their tankers and when they are full we will then cut the supplies," a defense official said. "The ultimate idea is to completely disengage from Gaza and to cut off all ties with the Strip."
Meanwhile Sunday, the Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration released its annual statistics for 2007 showing that despite Hamas's takeover of the Gaza Strip in June and the continued Kassam rocket attacks throughout the year, more than 7,000 Palestinians were allowed to travel to hospitals in Israel and the West Bank - an increase of 50 percent in comparison to 2006. Close to 8,000 more were allowed to accompany them.
Defense officials said great risks were often taken when allowing Palestinians to exit Gaza and travel to Israel for medical care. Earlier this month, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) released a report detailing a number of cases when Palestinian terrorists tried to take advantage of the "medical route" and use it to enter Israel to perpetrate terror attacks.
"Terrorists take advantage of the medical route," OC Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration Col. Nir Press said, adding: "Despite this, the vast numbers of those treated outside the Gaza Strip demonstrates our efforts to find the delicate balance between security needs and humanitarian requirements."
De Hamas milities vinden het belangrijker om raketten te kunnen bouwen en afvuren op Israël dan dat zieken behandeld kunnen worden. Kwestie van prioriteiten. Ondanks de ernstige brandstoftekorten zijn de afgelopen dagen een recordaantal raketten afgeschoten. Overigens is het niet zo dat Israël nauwelijks meer olie levert en het volgende is onjuist:
"Since June, Israel has reduced deliveries to a trickle."
De beslissing om gas, stroom en olie te reduceren is pas in oktober genomen, en meermaals uitgesteld en aangevochten. De regering werd door het Hooggerechtshof gedwongen met nieuwe plannen te komen om te voorkomen dat onschuldige burgers er tezeer de dupe van zouden worden. Daarop heeft Israël de verlaging van energieleveranties beperkt tot een paar procent.
Ratna -----------
Palestinian health ministry accuses Hamas of looting Gaza Strip hospital's reserve fuel
Date: 06 / 12 / 2007 Time: 14:09
www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=26661
Ramallah - Ma'an - The Palestinian health ministry of the Ramallah-based caretaker government said on Thursday that "Hamas militias" have looted the fuel stores destined for hospital vehicles in the Gaza Strip.
A statement released by the health ministry said that fuel from the European hospital in the Gaza Strip had been stolen by the director of the hospital drivers to supply the Hamas-affiliated Executive Force.
The statement explained that the fuel reserve had been supplied by the ministry to enable the hospital to continue working for as long as possible.
The desperate shortage of fuel in the Gaza Strip has meant that gas stations have shut down and most cars are off the road as Israel continues its reduction of vital fuel supplies.
The Gaza Strip is completely dependent on fuel imports. Normally, hundreds of thousands of liters of fuel pass through the Israeli-controlled Nahal Oz checkpoint each day.
Since June, Israel has reduced deliveries to a trickle. The Israeli High Court upheld the fuel cuts in a ruling on Friday, defeating a petition by Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups, who argue that the cuts constitute collective punishment.
*** Balanced Middle East News ***
MidEastweb http://www.mideastweb.org
Goed nieuws voor Hamas en Islamitische Jihad. De meeste mensen die het kunnen zijn inmiddels al naar elders verhuisd en wie weet zal Israël ooit heel Sderot evacueren, en dat is dan natuurlijk helemaal feest. Ondanks de problemen in Gaza zal Hamas een groot overwinningsfeest organiseren, waarop men als klap op de vuurpijl een paar superqassams op Ashkelon zal afvuren...
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Study: Most Sderot kids exhibit post-traumatic stress symptoms
By Mijal Grinberg and Eli Ashkenazi, Haaretz Correspondents
Between 75 percent and 94 percent of Sderot children aged 4-18 exhibit symptoms of post-traumatic stress, says Natal, the Israel Center for Victims of Terror and War.
Natal's study, set to be released in the coming days, was based on a representative sample. The study found 28 percent of adults and 30 percent of children in Sderot have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The study was conducted by Dr. Rony Berger, director of Natal's Community Services Department, and Dr. Marc Gelkopf, with the assistance of pollster Dr. Mina Tzemach.
The town of Sderot and the western Negev as a whole have been subjected to barrages of rockets launched by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip for over seven years.
Berger emphasizes the distinction between post-traumatic stress symptoms, such as problems sleeping and concentrating, and PTSD itself, which can interfere seriously with daily life. Berger says the study found school-age children had severe symptoms of anxiety and pointed to a correlation between parent and child anxiety.
According to Prof. Muli Lahad, the director of the Mashabim Community Stress Prevention Center at Tel Hai Academic College, evacuating children up to ages 11 or 12 without their parents will exacerbate post-traumatic symptoms.
Dalia Yosef, the director of Sderot's Hosen trauma center, says the number of children aged 1-6 identified as suffering from anxiety and in need of long-term treatment is rising. She said that as of last May, of 305 children in this age group who were identified as suffering from anxiety, only 30 percent needed long-term psychological treatment. The remainder received immediate treatment only.
In the last several months, more children have been in need of more extended care in order to prevent the development of PTSD. Since May, an additional 105 children, 70 percent of whom are now in need of extended psychological treatment, have been identified as suffering from trauma.
Yaron Ben Shimol, whose daughter Lior, 5, was injured on Friday when a Qassam rocket hit their neighbors' home while she was playing with their children, said she had been treated by a psychologist for anxiety before the incident. Lior is not alone: 120 children in Sderot are currently in long-term therapy for anxiety.
Yosef notes that some of the anxiety treatment being developed in Sderot and other communities near the border with Gaza focuses on the treatment of constant stresses, with no end in sight.
"It's a serious question - how do you treat and prevent post-traumatic stress when it is not 'post,'" she said. "We take existing models for treating stress and shape them for a situation where the threat does not pass. We work with parents on creating an environment for their child in which they continue to smile, to give love and to play, so that good, safe surroundings are created for everyone," Yosef said.
Yosef said that at Hosen, parents are given various tools to cope with anxiety, including breathing and relaxation techniques. The Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council, meanwhile, has modified the Monopoly board game to allow players to "fire" Qassams, as a way of reducing stress. It is all aimed at dealing with the situation as a long-term, ongoing one.
Expert: Don't take the children alone
According to Prof. Muli Lahad, evacuating children up to age 11 or 12 without their parents will exacerbate post-traumatic symptoms. When children are left alone, far from their communities, they imagine horrible things happening to their families left at home, he explained. The children are left with the feeling, fed by what they hear and see from the media, that everything has been destroyed, said Lahad.
"When the whole family is evacuated, the problems are much smaller, if we are talking about a short-term evacuation for rest and recuperation," he added.
According to research done by the Mashabim center in Upper Galilee communities after the Second Lebanon War, evacuation of an area under bombardment is not the top priority for residents, as is commonly thought. Most of those surveyed viewed preparation of bomb shelters as the responsibility of local authorities they take most seriously. Next in importance, respondents viewed as caring for the elderly and disabled, and then health services.
When asked about remaining in their communities without their children, the vast majority of Galilee residents were opposed.
"People who are not really interested in the effects of the evacuation are working thoughtlessly, and do not understand the price," said Lahad, who as a resident of Kiryat Shmona, lived the question himself.
Vergeleken met Geert Wilders is Avigdor Lieberman van het rechtse Israel Beiteinu ('Israel ons Thuis') een lieverdje. Toch ben ik er bepaald niet rouwig om dat hij de coalitie verlaat, en dit zal de kansen op vrede in ieder geval niet verkleinen. In Israël stappen partijen wat makkelijker uit (of in) een coalitie dan hier, en ik geloof niet dat men zoiets als een regeerakkoord kent. Deze tussentijdse wisselingen maken een coalitie er niet overzichtelijker op, en komen ook de eenheid niet ten goede. Ratna ----------
Yisrael Beiteinu resigns coalition
Party chief, Minister for Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman announces party would be resigning coalition over disagreements with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert regarding core issue negotiations with the Palestinians
Fifteen months after being sworn in, Head of Yisrael Beiteinu and Minister for Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman announced Wednesday he was resigning his office and that his party was leaving the coalition.
The move, which was announced in a press conference, came just two weeks before the Winograd Commission, probing the Second Lebanon War, plans to release its final report; but the official reason behind the move was disagreements with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert regarding the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations on the core issues.
Lieberman's position as minister for strategic affairs was tailored specifically for him in exchange for Yisrael Beiteinu joining the collation, as he was made responsible for gathering "strategic intelligence" on Iran.
Besides Lieberman, Yisrael Beiteinu's Yitzhak Aharonovitch was named tourism minister and MK Stas Misezhnikov the head of the Knesset's Finance Committee.
A shrinking coalition
With Yisrael Beiteinu's now a part of the opposition, Olmert's coalition will now number only 67 MKs and it may be shrinking further: Labor will decide its coalition future after the publication of the Winograd report, Shas is threatening to resign should the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations involve Jerusalem and the Pensioners Party's future is vague as well.
Olmert may try to reinforce his coalition by having the United Torah Judaism Party join his ranks - perhaps by offering it the now-vacant Knesset's Finance Committee chairmanship - and may try to gain the support of Meretz as well.
Yisrael Beiteinu's tenure in the coalition was a stormy one: Its initial joining of the coalition sparked a heated argument in Labor, which resulted in the resignation of MK Ophir Pines-Paz; and one of its senior members, would-be tourism minister MK Esterina Tattman, was implicated in falsifying academic degrees.
Lieberman himself sparked controversy numerous times, saying Amir Peretz' tenure as defense minister was "hazardous," calling for the segregation of Jews and Arabs, and referring to MK Raleb Majadele's (Labor) appointment to science, culture and sport minister as "unfit".
In deze analyse laat Aluf Ben zien hoe de Amerikaanse positie de laatste paar jaren subtiel is opgeschoven naar de Palestijnen toe. Bush' duidelijke uitspraken over een einde aan de bezetting en een aaneengesloten Palestijnse staat zijn niet meer dan redelijk, maar loslaten van het begrip 'Joodse staat' en een wat vage formulering over de vluchtelingen in plaats van de eenduidige verklaring dat deze niet naar Israël kunnen terugkeren zijn een slecht teken. Dit zijn twee absolute voorwaarden voor Israël, die raken aan haar diepste wens: dat de Arabieren en Palestijnen, in ruil voor de bezette gebieden, voor eens en altijd hun streven om Israël te vernietigen c.q. in een Arabische staat te veranderen, zullen opgeven.
Ratna
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No "Jewish State," No Settlement Blocs:
"The King David Statement" and Bush's Developing Position
By Aluf Ben The Institute for National Security Studies
INSSINSIGHT January 16, 2008 - No. 42
During his visit to Israel this month, President George W. Bush laid out his updated approach to an Israeli-Palestinian settlement. In a statement delivered at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem [see below this article], Bush fleshed out his vision of "two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security," on the eve of negotiations over "core issues" between delegations of the two parties.
The declaration basically adheres to the lines demarcated by Bush in his "vision speech" of June 2002, but a closer look at the details reveals some development and changes in his positions in comparison with previous "vision" documents: the Aqaba Conference speech of June 2003, the letter to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of April 2004, and the Annapolis Conference speech on November 2007.
A review of these changes suggests that they reflect an American effort to present a more balanced position by opening up some distance from previous positions that were viewed by some as biased in favor of Israel, particularly by eliminating the expression "Jewish state," the implied reference to settlement blocs and the reservations about settling Palestinian refugees in Israel (all of which appeared in the letter to Sharon), and also by defining the point of departure for negotiations as "the end of the occupation that began in 1967" rather than UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338. Nevertheless, Bush left considerable room for maneuver that will allow give-and-take between the two sides in discussions on the three core issues - border, refugees and Jerusalem.
"Jewish State"
The question of Israel's character and identity came onto the political agenda following the breakdown of the peace process at end of President Bill Clinton's term of office and Israel's fears about Palestinian demands to implement the "right of return." In his plan to end the conflict - the so-called "parameters" - Clinton spoke of "Palestine as the national home of the Palestinian people and the State of Israel as the national home of the Jewish people." During Bush's presidency, Israel demanded American recognition as the "Jewish state." The administration agreed and that position was first enunciated in Secretary of State Colin Powell's "Louisville speech" in November 2001. President Bush himself declared America's commitment to Israel as a Jewish state in Aqaba, in his letter to Sharon, and at Annapolis.
However, in his King David statement, Bush reverted to the older Clinton formula and spoke only of a "national home." The American commitment to Israeli security was separated and pronounced in another context. That change apparently stems from the vigorous opposition of Palestinians and Arab states to recognition of a "Jewish state" after Israel raised the matter in the weeks leading up to the Annapolis Conference. On the eve of his departure to Annapolis, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that "the point of departure for any negotiations with the Palestinians will be recognition of Israel as the state of the Jewish people." Olmert also said that the leaders of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas and Salem Fayyad, "want to make peace with Israel as a Jewish state." The Palestinian rejection of the concept of "Jewish state" seems to be grounded in two concerns: the implicit renunciation of the "right of return" and the future status of Israeli Arabs.
Refugees
In his 2004 letter to Sharon, Bush spelled out more detailed principles for an "agreed, just, fair and realistic" resolution of the refugee problem, which, in his view, needed to found through the creation of a Palestinian state and "the settlement of refugees there, and not in Israel." But in an interview to Israel's Channel 2 Television before his departure to the region as well as in a press conference at the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem, Bush spoke of the "right of return" as one of the core issues. In so doing, he adopted Palestinian terminology for the refugee issue that raises strong objections in Israel. In the King David declaration, Bush contented himself with a more ambiguous formula: "We have to look forward to the creation of a Palestinian state and of new international mechanisms, including compensation, to resolve the refugee issue."
Borders
In the King David statement, Bush repeated the position, first expounded in his 2004 letter to Sharon, according to which the border ought to be based on the 1949 Armistice Lines "with agreement modifications that will reflect the current realities." However, he deleted the section in the letter that specifically referred to "existing Israeli population centers" as the embodiment of current realities, left that issue somewhat vague, and simply repeated the insistence that Israel needs to enjoy "recognized, secure and defensible" boundaries and the Palestinian state needs to be "viable, contiguous, sovereign and independent."
Source of Authority
Both the Annapolis Declaration and the King David statement reflect an American effort to stay away from the "sacred" declarations, agreements and concepts of the past. These latest proclamations, for example, make no reference to Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 or to the Oslo Agreements, which all appeared in every previous political document (e.g., the Bush speech of 2002, the Roadmap, and the letter to Sharon). On the other hand, Bush did stipulate this time that "the point of departure for negotiations on a permanent status agreement is clear - ending the occupation that began in 1967." In doing so, he went beyond previous references to "the end of occupation," either as a step that will contribute to Israel's future wellbeing (as in the 2002 speech) or as one of the objectives of the process (as in the Roadmap).
Jerusalem
In the King David statement, Bush referred to Jerusalem for the first time in his presidency but refrained from presenting a clear position and simply acknowledged that the political and religious concerns of both sides will make the discussions very difficult. He probably did that to avoid a confrontation with American Jewish organizations that made their rejection of the division of Jerusalem their primary reason for opposing the Annapolis process. Unlike his predecessor, Bush therefore did not elaborate a detailed plan or even stipulate general principles for the resolution of the Jerusalem issue.
_______________________
INSS Insight is published through the generosity of
Sari and Israel Roizman, Philadelphia
====================
For Immediate Release
Office of the White House Press Secretary
January 10, 2008
President Bush Discusses Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process
5:27 P.M. (LOCAL)
THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon. I'd like to, first, thank Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas for their hospitality during my trip here to the Holy Land. We had very good meetings, and now is the time to make difficult choices.
I underscored to both Prime Minister Olmert and President Abbas that progress needs to be made on four parallel tracks. First, both sides need to fulfill their commitments under the road map. Second, the Palestinians need to build their economy and their political and security institutions. And to do that, they need the help of Israel, the region, and the international community. Third, I reiterate my appreciation for the Arab League peace initiative, and I call upon the Arab countries to reach out to Israel, a step that is long overdue.
In addition to these three tracks, both sides are getting down to the business of negotiating. I called upon both leaders to make sure their teams negotiate seriously, starting right now. I strongly supported the decision of the two leaders to continue their regular summit meetings, because they are the ones who can, and must, and -- I am convinced -- will lead.
I share with these two leaders the vision of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security. Both of these leaders believe that the outcome is in the interest of their peoples and are determined to arrive at a negotiated solution to achieve it.
The point of departure for permanent status negotiations to realize this vision seems clear: There should be an end to the occupation that began in 1967. The agreement must establish Palestine as a homeland for the Palestinian people, just as Israel is a homeland for the Jewish people.
These negotiations must ensure that Israel has secure, recognized, and defensible borders. And they must ensure that the state of Palestine is viable, contiguous, sovereign, and independent.
It is vital that each side understands that satisfying the other's fundamental objectives is key to a successful agreement. Security for Israel and viability for the Palestinian state are in the mutual interests of both parties.
Achieving an agreement will require painful political concessions by both sides. While territory is an issue for both parties to decide, I believe that any peace agreement between them will require mutually agreed adjustments to the armistice lines of 1949 to reflect current realities and to ensure that the Palestinian state is viable and contiguous. I believe we need to look to the establishment of a Palestinian state and new international mechanisms, including compensation, to resolve the refugee issue.
I reaffirm to each leader that implementation of any agreement is subject to implementation of the road map. Neither party should undertake any activity that contravenes road map obligations or prejudices the final status negotiations. On the Israeli side that includes ending settlement expansion and removing unauthorized outposts. On the Palestinian side that includes confronting terrorists and dismantling terrorist infrastructure.
I know Jerusalem is a tough issue. Both sides have deeply felt political and religious concerns. I fully understand that finding a solution to this issue will be one of the most difficult challenges on the road to peace, but that is the road we have chosen to walk.
Security is fundamental. No agreement and no Palestinian state will be born of terror. I reaffirm America's steadfast commitment to Israel's security.
The establishment of the state of Palestine is long overdue. The Palestinian people deserve it. And it will enhance the stability of the region, and it will contribute to the security of the people of Israel. The peace agreement should happen, and can happen, by the end of this year. I know each leader shares that important goal, and I am committed to doing all I can to achieve it.
Thank you.
END 5:32 P.M. (Local)
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Er gaan walgelijke leugenmails het internet rond, waarin wordt gesuggereerd dat Barack Obama een radikale moslim is, die zich slechts om politieke redenen bij de United Church of Christ aansloot. Hij zou op een madrassa (radikaal-islamitische school) hebben gezeten, en toen hij trouw aan Amerika zwoer zou hij dat op een Koran hebben gedaan in plaats van een Bijbel. Dat is allemaal onzin, zoals op Snopes te lezen valt. Wat deze brieven niet vermelden en helaas geen onzin is, is dat de United Church of Christ niet echt Joden- of Israël-vriendelijk is, en het lokale tijdschrift van die kerk in Chicago een prijs toekende aan de notoire antisemiet Louis Farrakhan, leider van de 'Nation of Islam'. Gelukkig heeft Obama zich inmiddels van hem gedistantieerd, en verklaard het niet eens te zijn met de beslissing van zijn kerktijdschrift om Farrakhan een prijs uit te reiken. Het blijft echter een onaangenaam gegeven dat de kerk van de mogelijke toekomstige president, en zijn persoonlijke spirituele adviseur, op goede voet staan met een antisemiet. Ratna Barack Obama is a member of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ. Its minister, and Obama's spiritual adviser, is the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. In 1982, the church launched Trumpet Newsmagazine; Wright's daughters serve as publisher and executive editor. Every year, the magazine makes awards in various categories. Last year, it gave the Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. Trumpeter Award to a man it said "truly epitomized greatness." That man is Louis Farrakhan.
Maybe for Wright and some others, Farrakhan "epitomized greatness." For most Americans, though, Farrakhan epitomizes racism, particularly in the form of anti-Semitism. Over the years, he has compiled an awesome record of offensive statements, even denigrating the Holocaust by falsely attributing it to Jewish cooperation with Hitler -- "They helped him get the Third Reich on the road." His history is a rancid stew of lies.
It's important to state right off that nothing in Obama's record suggests he harbors anti-Semitic views or agrees with Wright when it comes to Farrakhan. Instead, as Obama's top campaign aide, David Axelrod, points out, Obama often has said that he and his minister sometimes disagree. Farrakhan, Axelrod told me, is one of those instances.
Fine. But where I differ with Axelrod and, I assume, Obama is that praise for an anti-Semitic demagogue is not a minor difference or an intrachurch issue. The Obama camp takes the view that its candidate, now that he has been told about the award, is under no obligation to speak out on the Farrakhan matter. It was not Obama's church that made the award but a magazine. This is a distinction without much of a difference. And given who the parishioner is, the obligation to speak out is all the greater. He could be the next American president. Where is his sense of outrage?
Any praise of Farrakhan heightens the prestige of the leader of the Nation of Islam. For good reasons and bad, he is already admired in portions of the black community, sometimes for his efforts to rehabilitate criminals. His anti-Semitism is either not considered relevant or is shared, particularly his false insistence that Jews have played an inordinate role in victimizing African Americans.
In this, Farrakhan stands history on its head. It was Jews who disproportionately marched for civil rights and, in Mississippi, died for that cause. Farrakhan and, in effect, Wright, despoil the graves of Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and, of course, their black colleague James Chaney.
I can even see how someone, maybe even Obama, could dismiss Farrakhan as a pest, a silly man pushing a silly cause that poses no real threat to the Jewish community. Still, history tells us that anti-Semitism is not to be trifled with. It is a botulism of the mind.
The Obama and Clinton campaigns are involved in a tasteless tussle over the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. What is clear from rereading King's celebrated "I Have a Dream" speech of Aug. 28, 1963, is how inclusive that dream was -- "all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, 'Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!' "
This, though, is not Farrakhan's dream. He has vilified whites and singled out Jews to blame for crimes large and small, either committed by others as well or not at all. (A dominant role in the slave trade, for instance.) He has talked of Jewish conspiracies to set a media line for the whole nation. He has reviled Jews in a manner that brings Hitler to mind.
And yet Wright heaped praise on Farrakhan. According to Trumpet, he applauded his "depth of analysis when it comes to the racial ills of this nation." He praised "his integrity and honesty." He called him "an unforgettable force, a catalyst for change and a religious leader who is sincere about his faith and his purpose." These are the words of a man who prayed with Obama just before the Illinois senator announced his run for the presidency. Will he pray with him just before his inaugural?
I don't for a moment think that Obama shares Wright's views on Farrakhan. But the rap on Obama is that he is a fog of a man. We know little about him, and, for all my admiration of him, I wonder about his mettle. The New York Times recently reported on Obama's penchant while serving in the Illinois legislature for merely voting "present" when faced with some tough issues. Farrakhan, in a strictly political sense, may be a tough issue for him. This time, though, "present" will not do.
cohenr@washpost.com
Mijn eerste reactie: geweldig! Alle mensen die zich kapot ergeren aan al die debiele, grove, racistische en beledigende commentaren op websites, blogs en forums, hebben nu eindelijk een wapen in handen tegen de eigenaren van de site. Hopelijk komt de wet er door en neemt Nederland hier een voorbeeld aan. En dan maar hopen dat op mijn blogs niks onoorbaars te vinden is :-)
Ratna -----------
New bill seeks to make web sites legally responsible for talkback content
Sheera Claire Frenkel , THE JERUSALEM POST Jan. 13, 2008
Web site owners or editors will be legally responsible for any content on their site, including comments made in talkbacks and message boards, a bill passed on Sunday by the Ministerial Committee on Legislation states.
According to the bill, which was drafted by MK Israel Hasson (Israel Beiteinu) web sites could be absolved of liability if they agree to reveal the details of posters.
Je zou bijna hopen dat deze historicus inderdaad wordt aangeklaagd, en de beerput van Pools antisemitisme verder opengaat. Polen zal, net als Duitsland, in het reine moeten komen met een zeer duister verleden, maar moet daar in tegenstelling tot Duitsland nog aan beginnen.
Ratna A U.S. historian has threatened to publicly reveal alleged Polish atrocities against Jews in the aftermath of World War II, if the Polish State Prosecution tries him for "insulting the nation."
The Polish State Prosecution said last week that it would consider pressing charges against historian Jan Tomasz Gross for "insulting the nation" in his book "Fear: Anti-Semitism in Poland after Auschwitz."
In his book, Gross covers the Kielce pogrom and other instances of post-war violence perpetrated by Poles against Jews. A Polish translation of the book came out last week sparking the current row.
"If they will take me to court, I will bring witnesses, Jews and Poles, to say exactly what happened [in Poland] after the war," Gross said Monday by phone. "It will be a big scandal."
Gross said that the Polish prosecution was prompted by articles published in the media accusing him of tarnishing the country's reputation.
According to a Polish law passed two years ago, anyone found guilty of accusing the Polish nation of cooperating with Nazi or Communist war crimes can be imprisoned for a maximum of three years in jail. The legality of the law is currently being debated in the country's high court and is expected to be rescinded, Gross said.
"I expect that the prosecutor general will give up the prosecution," Gross said. "I am confident nothing will come out of this. But if they do, there will be a big scandal. The book is not a slander; it is a description of a period. There are people in Poland who are already willing to deal with this subject, and there are people who don't. There is a debate now, and I hope it continues. Only that it will be a substantial debate".
The Kielce pogrom occurred July 4, 1946, when a mob including policemen in uniform attacked a group of Jewish refugees taking shelter in a building in the center of town. Some 27 Jews of the 200 that had been in the building were killed. The incident began when a child who had gone missing told police that he was kidnapped by Jews.
Gross, 61, is a Polish-Born U.S. citizen who has taught at Yale, NYU and Princeton. His books have dealt primarily with anti-Semitic incidents during and after World War II. In one of his best known books, "Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland," Gross argues that the Jewish population of the village was massacred by its Polish neighbors, and not by the Germans as previously believed.
"Out of fear of the students' reactions, many of the teachers avoid teaching this chapter of history in order to not be viewed by some students as supporters of Israel."
"The word 'Jew' has turned into one of the most common curse words among students in both east and west Germany," said Gottfried Cosler, a Frankfurt-based Holocaust scholar.
In Duitsland hebben ze vergelijkbare problemen als in Nederland. Ook hier weer is mijn reactie en gevoel: ga die confrontatie met de leerlingen aan, leg uit dat holocaust onderwijs niks met Israël te maken heeft en Israël niet is gesticht vanwege de holocaust, maar de holocaust voor veel Joden wel duidelijk maakte dat zij alleen veilig konden zijn in een eigen staat, dat zij het heft in eigen hand wilden nemen, eigen baas zijn en zichzelf kunnen verdedigen. Niet goedpraten, maar wel uitleggen, en inzichtelijk maken zonder je krampachtig van Israël te distantiëren.
Ratna
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Last update - 17:22 11/01/2008
'Jew - a common curse word among the youth of Germany'
History courses no longer manage to teach Germany's younger generation of the horrors of the Nazis, according to a study commissioned by the Federal Agency for Civic Education, a political education center known by its German acronym BPB.
In the report, which appeared in the German educational magazine "Focus-Shula," teachers are quoted as saying that they are having trouble impressing upon school children the horrors of the Holocaust, and have stated that their tools for teaching about the Shoah are not effective.
"The entire time we stood before the crematoriums of Auschwitz, the students were took more interest in the types of pipes used to pump in the lethal Zyklon B gas, and not the fate of the Nazis victims," a teacher was quoted as saying.
In their words, this generation's students are less sensitive to the horrors of the Holocaust than any before.
The research also examines the role that immigrants have played in the changing attitudes towards the Shoah. Experts are quoted in the study as saying that there is a marked rise in the number of Muslims in Germany, many of whom see the teaching of the Holocaust as a veiled endorsement of the policies of the state of Israel.
"Out of fear of the students' reactions, many of the teachers avoid teaching this chapter of history in order to not be viewed by some students as supporters of Israel."
"The word 'Jew' has turned into one of the most common curse words among students in both east and west Germany," said Gottfried Cosler, a Frankfurt-based Holocaust scholar.
Robert Sigel, a historian who contributed to the study, is of the opinion that students are taking a great interest in the Holocaust, but that the methods in which the subject is taught today are in need of improvement.
"Often time the teachers, especially the more devoted ones, get carried away, and demand way too much of themselves," Sigel told Focus magazine. "They want to teach the facts and at the same time get across a moral message, call for education and tolerance, deal with the extreme right and prevent anti-Semitism. They put all this material into the subject, and it's too much."
Susan Orban, a historian at Yad Vashem, says that the Holocaust should be taught using methods that have proved successful in the past.
"Today's kids live in different times than that of Anne Frank," Orban said. In order to bridge the generational gap, she submits a different approach, "for example, asking them to imagine that they have to abruptly leave their homes and start a new life elsewhere." Such a method, according to Orban, would speak more directly to the children's hearts and minds than descriptions of the horrors of the concentration camp.
Sigel expressed similar sentiments, adding that the children of immigrants have shown particular interest to the victims of Nazism given that many of them suffered from racial persecution, religious intolerance, and even genocide in their native lands
Het delingsplan van de Verenigde Naties ging in 1947 uit van een intensieve (economische) samenwerking tussen de Joodse en Arabische staat. Het gebied was zo klein en versnipperd in 8 enclaves, dat er anders geen 2 werkbare staten te vormen waren. Vreedzame samenleving was op dat moment echter al een illusie, en bleef dat tot op de dag van vandaag. Ook na een vredesverdrag zal er de komende jaren en decennia nog een flinke muur cq. hek blijven staan tussen beide volken en landen, met strenge veiligheidsvoorzieningen. Barenboims droom van vreedzame en harmonieuze coëxistentie zal voorlopig nog even toekomstmuziek blijven. Wouter __________________
Israeli pianist Barenboim takes Palestinian passport
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Daniel Barenboim, the world renowned Israeli pianist and conductor, has taken Palestinian citizenship and said he believed his rare new status could serve a model for peace between the two peoples.
"It is a great honour to be offered a passport," he said late on Saturday after a Beethoven piano recital in Ramallah, the West Bank city where he has been active for some years in promoting contact between young Arab and Israeli musicians.
"I have also accepted it because I believe that the destinies of ... the Israeli people and the Palestinian people are inextricably linked," Barenboim said. "We are blessed -- or cursed -- to live with each other. And I prefer the first."
"The fact that an Israeli citizen can be awarded a Palestinian passport, can be a sign that it is actually possible."
Former Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouthi, who helped organise Saturday's concert, said the passport had been approved by the previous government of which he was a member and which was replaced in June. The passport had actually been issued about six weeks ago, he added.
Argentine-born Barenboim, 65, is a controversial figure in his adoptive homeland, both for his promotion of German music and vocal opposition to Israel's occupation of the West Bank.
Asked about U.S. President George W. Bush's remarks last week on a visit to the region that a peace could be signed this year, Barenboim warned of the danger of raising hopes too high.
"It would be absolutely horrible if now, with good intentions, expectations are raised which will not be able to be fulfilled," Barenboim said. "Then we will sink into an even greater depression."
Though he dismissed any wish to play a political role, the former music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra took a dig at Bush's strikingly forceful call in Jerusalem last week for Israel to end, in the president's own words, "the occupation".
"Now even not very intelligent people are saying that the occupation has to be stopped," Barenboim said.
Based in Berlin, he is closely identified with German music and in 2001 conducted an opera by 19th-century composer Richard Wagner in Jerusalem despite anger in some quarters at a performance of a work by a German accused of anti-Semitic views.
For the past decade, Barenboim has promoted Arab-Israeli cultural contacts, notably alongside the late Palestinian-American writer Edward Said.
Yochai Kopler, a potato grower who worked with Chavez, said "sniper and mortar fire opened up. We didn't have luck this time, as we did the other times. Every day they shoot at us, and we run away like rabbits."
Dit is het lot van ca. 30.000 mensen in Sderot en kibboetsen in de buurt van Gaza. Als het aan de Hamas ligt worden dat er honderdduizenden en daarna miljoenen.
Carlos Chavez, sinds twee maanden vrijwilliger op de kibboetz, deed niks anders dan het land bewerken, maar voor Israëlisch land bewerken verdien je wat Hamas betreft de doodstraf.
Ratna Ecuadorian volunteer Carlos Chavez, 21, was killed when a Palestinian sniper fired from the border area into Israel.
Chavez had been working in a potato field near the kibbutz border fence, Ein Hashlosha's security chief said. He was hit in the back and taken by his friends to the kibbutz infirmary.
A Magen David Adom ambulance arrived on the scene shortly after, but paramedics were unable to resuscitate him.
The shots were fired in the direction of IDF engineering corps operating in the area.
Yochai Kopler, a potato grower who worked with Chavez, said "sniper and mortar fire opened up. We didn't have luck this time, as we did the other times.
Every day they shoot at us, and we run away like rabbits."
"It's tough for us to receive news like this," said Annie Rotman, who is responsible for the kibbutz's volunteers.
She said that Chavez came to the kibbutz two months ago. "Only yesterday, we spoke with him, laughed with him."
"Everyone here is afraid," she said. "The volunteers do the work, and when there is shooting, they go into hysteria. We are finding it difficult to digest what has happened."
David Lanos, 19, also a volunteer on the kibbutz, said the sniper fire came as they were preparing to plant potato seeds. "I told him, 'Sit down, they're shooting at us.' We managed to hide behind a car. When he stood up to get into it, he was hit in the back."
Lanos then told Chavez not to go to sleep. "He answered 'I'm not able,' and then I lost him."
An IDF spokesman said Chavez's showed the need for continued military operations in Gaza.
"The shooting of the Ecuadorian youth demonstrates the necessity of the defensive measures the military is carrying out with pinpoint operations," IDF spokeswoman Major Avital Leibovich said.
Palestijnen uit alle geledingen verwerpen Bush's voorstel tot compensatie van de vluchtelingen, veelal onder verwijzing naar VN resolutie 194. Er heersen veel misverstanden over deze resolutie, dus even een paar feiten op een rijtje. Deze resolutie is in 1948 door de Algemene Vergadering aangenomen (en dus geen onderdeel van het internationale recht), nog voordat er wapenstilstandsovereenkomsten tussen Israël en de buurlanden waren getekend. In deze resolutie worden een aantal aanbevelingen gedaan, onder andere met betrekking tot Jeruzalem: 7. Resolves that the Holy Places - including Nazareth - religious buildings and sites in Palestine should be protected and free access to them assured, in accordance with existing rights and historical practice; that arrangements to this end should be under effective United Nations supervision; that the United Nations Conciliation Commission, in presenting to the fourth regular session of the General Assembly its detailed proposals for a permanent international régime for the territory of Jerusalem, should include recommendations concerning the Holy Places in that territory, that with regard to the Holy Places in the rest of Palestine the Commission should call upon the political authorities of the areas concerned to give appropriate formal guarantees as to the protection of the Holy Places and access to them, and that these undertakings should be presented to the General Assembly for approval; De Arabische staten hebben deze resolutie afgewezen en van de aanbevelingen wat betreft Jeruzalem (naast bovenstaande werd, in navolging van de delingsresolutie, internationalisering van Jeruzalem voorgesteld) is niks terecht gekomen, omdat zowel Israël als de Arabische staten daar tegen waren. Sterker nog, tussen 1948 en 1967 heeft Jordanië 56 van de 57 synagoges verwoest en grafstenen van de Joodse begraafplaats gebruikt om wegen aan te leggen. In schending van het wapenstilstandsverdrag tussen Israël en Jordanië is Joden de toegang tot de Klaagmuur systematisch geweigerd. De VN noch andere internationale lichamen hebben dit veroordeeld of een poging ondernomen dit te veranderen. Over de vluchtelingen zegt 194: 11. Resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible;
Een beetje mager om aan een Algemene Vergadering resolutie, die door beide partijen is verworpen, en slechts de aanbeveling doet dat de vluchtelingen die in vrede met hun buren willen leven moeten kunnen terugkeren, een onvervreemdbaar en voor altijd geldend internationaal recht te ontlenen. Bovendien ging het toen om zojuist gevluchte Arabieren, nu gaat het met name om nakomelingen, soms van de derde of vierde generatie, die heel hun leven elders hebben gewoond. Het lijkt bijna een wanhoopsdaad om je voor een vermeend recht op een zulke gebrekkige basis te beroepen, maar toch wordt resolutie 194 door velen zo gebruikt en wordt dit (te) weinig weersproken. Ratna -------------
Palestinians Collectively Reject Bush Proposal
By Ali El-Saleh - Asharq Al-Awsat
13/01/2008
www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=1&id=11445
London, Asharq Al-Awsat- The proposal by US President George Bush during his visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories of laying down an international mechanism to compensate the Palestinian refugees has aroused Palestinian reactions that could be described as homogenous in their content, whether at the official, unofficial, or opposition levels. The Palestinian stance can be summarized by saying that this proposal if it indicates anything, it does indicate an attempt to bypass the resolutions of the international legitimacy, especially Resolution 194, which gives the refugees the right to choose between return and compensation for those who do not want to go back.
Nimr Hammad, political advisor to Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas (Abu-Mazin), told Asharq Al-Awsat, "What President Bush said expresses his viewpoint." Hammad added: "We do not believe that the solution is to shrink the international resolutions, including Resolution 194 for which the United States have been voting all the past years, and consider them as nonexistent. There is a resolution and a right that have to be taken into consideration. The formula agreed upon and ratified at the Arab, Palestinian, and even US levels is that of an agreed and negotiated settlement based on Resolution 194. Here I am also talking about the Arab initiative, the Road Map, and UN Resolution 1515, which was sponsored by the United States." Hammad concluded by saying: "Perhaps through this proposal President Bush is trying to convince the Israelis and attract them to the negotiations' table."
Moreover, Azzam Al-Ahmad, leader of Fatah parliamentary bloc, told Asharq Al-Awsat, "An international resolution ought to be taken as a whole and not in a piecemeal way." Al-Ahmad considers the proposal: "This is a deviation from Resolution 194 to which all ought to adhere." Al-Ahmad pointed out, "The resolution refers to the public right upon which the PLO can now decide, and to the private or individual right which is superseded by the public right. However, it will remain the right of every Palestinian refugee to demand this right individually." According to Al-Ahmad, similar discussions took place in the Camp David negotiations in July 2000, in which late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and the then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Baraq participated, and which were sponsored by former US President Bill Clinton.
Yahya Musa, deputy chairman of the Hamas bloc in the Legislative Council, considered, "with this proposal, Bush is trying to erase history and the international resolutions for the benefit of his jelly-like and ambiguous vision." Musa added that with this proposal of his, Bush was exploiting the circumstances to direct the issue in a way to serve his aims and beliefs, and to support Israel.
Sami Abu-Zahri, Hamas spokesman, said that Bush's proposal, by talking about compensation only, represented an abolition of the right to return, and a deviation from the resolution that gave the refugees the right to return to their homes from which they were expelled. Abu-Zahri added: "This proposal reflects Bush's stances toward the other principal issues, such as Jerusalem. He talks about amending the borders, and supporting the annexation of settlement blocks, which means usurping the Palestinian rights." "All this," according to Abu-Zahri, "emphasizes his stance, which he declared on his arrival in Tel Aviv, namely confirming the Jewishness of the State of Israel,"
Jamil Majdalawi, chairman of the Refugees Committee at the Legislative Council, described Bush's proposal as an attempt to wriggle out of Resolution 194, and to empty it of any content. Majdalawi, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said, "The basis of Resolution 194 is the right of the refugees to return to their homes from which they were expelled by force. As for the compensation, it is a completion of this essence of the resolution, and it is offered to anyone who does not want to return." Majdalawi continued, "Bush now presents the compensation as a sole option. I am afraid he finds something that encourages him to make this proposal in some Arab resolutions (the Arab initiative) and some Palestinian behaviors and vague texts, not to mention what some Palestinians, such as the Geneva groups and their infamous document, presented of ideas to resolve the issue of the refugees. These ideas not only strike at the core of Resolution 194, but they also squander the political and social entities of the Palestinian people, and consecrate their living in exile permanently. Naturally, these factors and others are the ones that encourage Bush to look for an alternative to Resolution 194."
Qaddurah Faris, member of the so-called "Geneva group," told Asharq Al-Awsat, "The issue of the refugees should not be handled this way, but it should be handled within the context of a comprehensive solution. First of all, fragmenting the issues will not do. Secondly, Bush said clearly that the United Nations failed to find a solution, and its resolutions are dated; this way, he destroys all the international references of the solution. "Qaddurah, who is one of the younger leaders of Fatah Movement, added, "The issue of compensation is part of Resolution 194. Talking about compensational one is a selective stance. The issue of the refugees and other issues should be handled collectively."
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