Zelfmoordterrorist blaast vrachtwagen op bij Gaza grensovergang

Deze aanslag, waarbij gelukkig alleen de zelfmoordterrorist omkwam, past in een trend. Grensovergangen zijn de laatste tijd een geliefd doelwit. Worden ze gesloten, dan kan men Israël beschuldigen van het gevangenhouden en collectief straffen van 1,5 miljoen Palestijnen.

 

Islamitische Jihad laat zien dat het niet van plan is het 'gewapende verzet' op te geven, staakt-het-vuren of niet. Het vreemde is, dat de periode van besprekingen over een staakt-het-vuren voor Israël betekent dat het zich alvast heel terughoudend op moet stellen, om niet op voorhand de schuld te krijgen van het mislukken ervan. Ondertussen nemen de aanslagen en raketaanvallen van Hamas en Islamitische Jihad juist toe. Dat lijkt geen gunstig voorteken.

 

Ratna

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Last update - 09:45 22/05/2008

 

Suicide bomber blows up truck at Gaza crossing; no IDF soldiers hurt

 

By Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff , Haaretz Correspondents and Reuters
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/986089.html

 

 

A Palestinian bomber blew up a truck on the Palestinian side of the Erez crossing on the Israel-Gaza Strip border early Thursday morning. The driver was the only casualty in the attempted attack.

 

A spokesman for Islamic Jihad said his group carried out the attack in cooperation with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, an offshoot of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's more secular Fatah faction. Jihad described the attack as a successful martyrdom operation.

 

An Israel Defense Forces spokeswoman confirmed that there had been an explosion in the area. No IDF soldiers were hurt.

 

The explosives-laden truck may exploded on the Palestinian side due to a technical failure. As it approached the border, other militants fired mortar shells at the crossing.

 

Shortly after the explosion, the Israel Air Force attacked a vehicle carrying several Palestinians that were apparently connected to the attempted attack. The IDF said two militants were killed in the strike.

 

Abu Ahmed, a spokesman for Islamic Jihad's armed wing, said the truck was carrying four tons of explosives. He identified the suicide bomber as 23-year-old Ibrahim Nasser from Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip.

 

Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, said the vehicle was driven by a suicide bomber under cover of heavy early morning fog and that he was accompanied by gunmen.

 

Residents in the Gaza Strip who live over 30 km (20 miles) from the crossing reported hearing the blast.

 

Israel's Channel 10 television said troops had prevented the truck from getting close to the crossing by firing at it before it exploded.

 

Thursday's incident was one in a string of recent Palestinian militant attacks on Israeli crossings on the Gaza border. Last month, on the eve of Passover, Hamas gunmen wounded 13 Israeli soldiers in a well-coordinated assault by explosives-laden vehicles against the Kerem Shalom crossing.

 

One week prior, Gaza militants killed two Israeli civilian workers at the Nahal Oz crossing's fuel depot.

 

Israel has heavily restricted the movement of Palestinian people and goods through its border crossings with Gaza since Hamas seized the territory from Fatah in fighting last June.

 

In Egyptian-mediated talks on a truce between Israel and Palestinian militant groups, Hamas has demanded the crossings be re-opened in return for a cessation of violence.

 

"Resistance is strong and we are not begging for calm," Abu Ahmed said after the attack.

 

Separately, but at the time of the bombing, IDF troops raided a village in the central Gaza Strip and shot dead a 63-year-old man, medical workers and Hamas said.

 

An IDF spokesman had no immediate information on the incident. Israel frequently carries out raids and air strikes in the Gaza Strip as part of what it describes as efforts to curb Qassam rocket fire at Negev towns.

Israëlisch-Palestijnse vredesonderhandelingen: stand van zaken

Een principe overeenkomst die op een nog nader te bepalen moment in de toekomst zal worden uitgevoerd, en waarin de hete aardappels van de vluchtelingen en Jeruzalem simpelweg zijn uitgesteld - is dat de grote doorbraak die Bush nog voor het einde van dit jaar verwacht?

 

Het enige concrete resultaat zal zijn dat er een toekomstige grens wordt overeengekomen, en er een bevriezing van de nederzettingen komt voor het gebied waar een Palestijnse staat komt, en men ook alvast wetgeving voor de evacuatie van de kolonisten aldaar voor zal bereiden. In hoeverre het leger daar ook al de verantwoordelijkheid aan de Palestijnen moet overdragen wordt uit het onderstaande niet duidelijk.

 

Er is nog een probleempje waar men zo gauw even geen oplossing voor heeft: de door Hamas geregeerde Gazastrook, en het feit dat Hamas waarschijnlijk niet aan het feestje van Bush, Olmert en Abbas mee zal werken. Bovendien hebben we Iran nog, dat Hamas, Islamitische Jihad en Hezbollah aanstuurt en dus op ieder gewenst moment roet in het eten kan gooien.

 

Ratna

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The Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations: What was - and was not - Agreed On

INSS Insight No. 56, May 21, 2008
Benn, Aluf  - The Institute for National Security Studies
www.inss.org.il:80/research.php?cat=45&incat=&read=1816

 

At the Israeli Presidential Conference "Facing Tomorrow," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declared that real progress has been made in Israel's talks with the Palestinian Authority. According to Olmert, "understandings and agreements regarding highly important matters have been achieved, though some issues are still outstanding."

 

            The talks between Olmert and PA president Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) in tandem with the talks between Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Ahmad Qurei (Abu Ala) are meant to achieve an agreement of principles by the end of 2008, as announced at the Annapolis conference. Olmert is interested in accelerating the time table and completing the formulation of the agreement by the end of the summer, in order to bring it to the Knesset for approval during the winter session.

 

            The agreement is supposed to present the outline for the two-state solution while postponing its implementation for the future, in accordance with the roadmap. At its core will be the future borders between Israel and the Palestinian state and the delineation of security arrangements between the two countries. The question of Jerusalem is to be postponed, and the two sides are still at odds over the issue of the refugees.

 

            Apparently the most important understanding achieved in the talks concerns the status of the settlements in the interim period, from the time the agreement is signed until its implementation. Determining an agreed-upon border in the West Bank will clarify which settlements are headed for future evacuation and the number of evacuees in question. Olmert made clear that once the border is determined, the government will begin procedures for "evacuation and compensation" legislation for residents of the settlements who choose to leave; furthermore, there will be a freeze on construction in the settlements slated for evacuation. In return, Israel will be free to build in the settlement blocs that are to remain within its borders.

 

            The disagreement over the border focuses on the land to be annexed by Israel and the compensation in kind to the Palestinians. The Palestinian position during the talks was similar to the proposals presented during the Taba talks and what appears in the Geneva initiative, whereby Israel would retain some 3.5% of West Bank land. The Palestinian state would receive 2% in land exchanges, and another 1.5% in a Gaza to West Bank crossing. Olmert and Livni suggested that Israel hold on to a larger area of the West Bank, some 8-10%, and that the land exchange formula give extra weight to the crossing between the two Palestinian geographical areas because of its strategic importance to the Palestinians. In the prime minister's opinion, it is possible to come up with a solution to the border dispute.

 

            Olmert has also proposed that the agreement refer to the refugee question as well and include a general declaration about principles for a solution, even if the discussion over practical steps is postponed.
Apparently the Palestinians are reluctant to concur, and prefer that the agreement cover only the issues of borders and settlements.

 

            From Israel's point of view, the main advantage of formulating the agreement lies in easing international pressures to end the occupation of the West Bank. Through its commitment to a future withdrawal from the vast majority of West Bank territory, to be accompanied by a building freeze in the settlements and a voluntary evacuation by the settlement residents, Israel will be signaling that it does not intend to perpetuate its rule over the Palestinians. The ratification of the agreement in an international forum such as the Security Council would lend authorized approval to the two-state solution and dampen the calls by hostile elements for a one-state solution.

 

            Attaining the agreement will also be seen as a political achievement for outgoing US president George W. Bush. One may assume that in the prime minister's view, proven progress in the Palestinian arena will make it easier for Bush to take a harsher stance with regard to Iran before the end of his term, perhaps even including a show of force. The link between the Palestinian question and the Iranian nuclear issue was manifested by the speeches of both leaders in the Knesset, which, in all probability, were discussed in advance between Jerusalem and Washington. Olmert promised that the agreement with the Palestinians would be approved in the Knesset by a wide majority, and Bush said that Iran can never be allowed to have nuclear weapons.

 

            The weakness of the agreement lies in its being a "shelf" agreement, and its future need to match its conditions to the reality on the ground. It is hard to set up detailed security arrangements when the nature of the future Palestinian regime is still unclear. Israel will also have reason to be concerned if it achieves an agreement with Palestinian moderates but will have to implement it while a Hamas government is in power.

 

            If an agreement is reached, the political challenge before Olmert will not be simple. He will have to recruit the Shas faction, as well as Knesset members from the right wing of Kadima who might well oppose an agreement with the Palestinians and an evacuation-compensation law. Without their support, there is no "large majority" in the Knesset to approve the agreement.

 

            The main arguments Olmert will present in favor of the agreement are that it conforms to the basic principles of the government; that its implementation is postponed and conditional upon the Palestinians making a change in the conditions on the ground; that it contains the security arrangements vital to Israel; that it postpones dealing with the issue of Jerusalem; that it allows unrestricted construction in the settlement blocs to be annexed to Israel, and that its signing will guarantee Israel unprecedented backing and support from the international community. It is safe to assume that selling the agreement will also be helped by declarations of friendship by President Bush, which will be reinforced with promises to upgrade the relations between the United States and Israel.

 

            The coming weeks will be decisive, and by the end of the summer it will be clear whether an agreement has been reached or if the Annapolis process will join the list of the failures that preceded it.

 

========
INSS Insight is published through the generosity of Sari and Israel Roizman, Philadelphia

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

UNIFIL ineffectief in zuid-Libanon

 

Niet alleen Israël, ook Libanezen zelf klagen over de ineffectiviteit van de UNIFIL vredesmacht:

 

"Peace mission?" he said of UNIFIL. "You must be kidding. I will tell you what UNIFIL troops in southern Lebanon are. They are tourists, simple, faint-hearted and ignorant tourists."

Amin, who fled Tyre earlier this month for Beirut, said UNIFIL "should be helping the Lebanese army guarantee democracy, but it is a mere illusion. The events of the last few days have strengthened Hizbullah even more.

"Everyone knows that the national army is too weak to take Hizbullah on, and UNIFIL forces pretend not to see anything. Hizbullah has built its own cable telephone system and is getting re-armed right outside their [UNIFIL's] bases. Can they really do nothing to stop it, can they not report it?"

 

Israëls voorstel om UNIFIL een robuuster mandaat te geven zodat het effectiever kan optreden is al door Italië afgewezen. Misschien kan dat land zijn leger beter inzetten voor het opruimen van al het afval in Napels in plaats van in Zuid-Libanon rond te lopen en de schijn op te houden dat men resolutie 1701 handhaaft.

 

 

Ratna

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UNIFIL issues to be raised with Kouchner

 

Herb Keinon , THE JERUSALEM POST May. 20, 2008
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1211288130732&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

 

Israel is expected to air complaints on UNIFIL's performance in Lebanon with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner in Jerusalem this week, diplomatic officials said Tuesday.

Kouchner is scheduled to arrive Wednesday evening for two days of talks.

Israel is concerned that despite the UNIFIL peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, and in contradiction to UN Security Council Resolution 1701, thousands of rockets have been smuggled south of the Litani River, according to the officials. Jerusalem has also recently complained that UNIFIL was failing to report illegal Hizbullah activity in southern Lebanon so as to avoid a confrontation with the group.

Kouchner is scheduled to meet separately with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Vice Premier Haim Ramon on Thursday.

He is also set to attend the Palestinian Authority investment conference in Bethlehem on Thursday and on Friday meet with President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salaam Fayad.

France, with an estimated 2,000 troops in the UNIFIL mission, has the third largest UNIFIL contingent, after Italy and Germany, which each have about 2,500 men involved in the force.

The overall assessment of UNIFIL's performance in Jerusalem is that it does a good job where it operates in southern Lebanon, but that it does not operate in the villages, where Hizbullah has increased its strength considerably since the Second Lebanon War ended in August 2006.

Unlike before the war, Hizbullah is no longer operating in the open areas, but rather inside the villages, and under its rules of engagement, UNIFIL cannot go into the villages without first getting the approval of the Lebanese army, something that drastically reduces its effectiveness.

This assessment received backing from an unlikely source, when the anti-Hizbullah Shi'ite mufti of Tyre, Ali al-Amin, blasted UNIFIL in an interview with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Saturday.

"Peace mission?" he said of UNIFIL. "You must be kidding. I will tell you what UNIFIL troops in southern Lebanon are. They are tourists, simple, faint-hearted and ignorant tourists."

Amin, who fled Tyre earlier this month for Beirut, said UNIFIL "should be helping the Lebanese army guarantee democracy, but it is a mere illusion. The events of the last few days have strengthened Hizbullah even more.

"Everyone knows that the national army is too weak to take Hizbullah on, and UNIFIL forces pretend not to see anything. Hizbullah has built its own cable telephone system and is getting re-armed right outside their [UNIFIL's] bases. Can they really do nothing to stop it, can they not report it?"

Israel would like the UN to amend UNIFIL's mandate, which needs to be renewed in August, and give it more robust rules of engagement that would enable it to enter Lebanese villages without a Lebanese army escort.

This, however, is considered very unlikely. Lebanon's Daily Star on Tuesday reported that Italy's new defense minister, Ignazio La Russa, who visited his country's UNIFIL contingent on Saturday, told the Italian press that there was no need for any "drastic changes" in UNIFIL's rules of engagement. "Our soldiers are today doing exactly what they were doing a month ago. I do not see a reason to drastically modify our goals or tasks at the present time," he was quoted as saying.

Yaakov Katz contributed to this report.

Rechtbank wijst France2 klacht wegens smaad af in Mohammed al-Dura zaak

 

 Deze week heeft een hogere Franse rechtbank uitgesproken dat de beschuldiging van misleiding aan de TV zender France2 geoorloofd is. France2 had een criticus aangeklaagd wegens smaad, nadat deze de omroep ervan had beticht dat de beelden en het begeleidende commentaar over de dood van het Palestijnse jongetje Mohammed al-Dura door Israëlisch geweervuur gemanipuleerd en misleidend waren.

 

 Twee dagen na het controversiële bezoek op 28 september 2000 van Ariel Sharon aan de Tempelberg in Jeruzalem, hadden honderden Palestijnse jongeren zich verzameld bij een kruispunt in de Gazastrook waar een Joodse nederzetting lag met een Israëlische militaire post. De post werd met stenen en molotov cocktails bekogeld, en nadien werd over en weer geschoten tussen soldaten en Palestijnen. Vader en zoon hadden zich verscholen achter een betonnen bak waar ze niet meer veilig weg konden. De IDF zou bewust op het jongetje en zijn vader gericht hebben en hem vermoord. Deze lezing werd nadien tegengesproken door het IDF en anderen: de jongen zou waarschijnlijk door Palestijns vuur zijn omgekomen of zelfs helemaal niet dood zijn (Andere beelden van die dag toonden Palestijnse jongeren die verwondingen simuleerden).

 

 Het werd een jarenlange controverse die wellicht nooit definitief opgehelderd wordt. De Franse rechter liet zich niet uit over de doodsoorzaak van Mohammed al-Dura, maar oordeelde - na de ruwe opnames gezien te hebben - dat de omstandigheden dermate onzeker zijn, dat het legitiem is om de versie van France2 in twijfel te trekken. France2 gaat in beroep tegen de uitspraak.

 

 De impact van de filmbeelden die de wereld rond gingen was enorm: het zette veel kwaad bloed tegen Israël, wakkerde antisemitisme aan, en maakte Mohammed al-Dura tot martelaar en symbool van de Palestijnse intifada. Er werden door de hele Arabische wereld straten, pleinen en scholen naar hem vernoemd en postzegels met de filmbeelden erop uitgegeven. Ook het lynchen van 2 Israëlische reservisten in Ramallah enkele weken later zou een wraakaktie zijn geweest voor de dood van het jongetje.

 

 

Wouter

_____________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 21, 2008

Contact:
Richard Landes : 617-504-7837, rlandes@bu.edu

The Augean Stables (blog)
The Second Draft
Muhammad al Durah Decision Today
Video http://www.seconddraft.org/movies.php

Commentary
Evidence Convinces Court to Dismiss France2's Case against Karsenty

The French justice system should be applauded for its wise decision today in the Mohammed al Durah affair. The court has set the record straight by finding Philippe Karsenty innocent of defamation for claiming that France2 aired staged footage in September 2000 during a report that falsely and maliciously portrayed the Israel Defense Forces targeting and killing a Palestinian child in the arms of his father.

The incident occurred at the onset of the second Palestinian uprising, or intifada. The court based its decision on the raw footage shot by Talal abu Rahmah, whose videos and reports from the field inspired Charles Enderlin's incendiary news broadcast. The implication of the court's decision was that that Karsenty had sufficient justification for accusing France2 of being duped by its Palestinian cameraman.

According to historian Professor Richard Landes, author of Second Draft and The Augean Stables, "This case highlights how distressingly easy it is to manipulate coverage of a story and how such manipulation can have worldwide and lasting impact, in this case directly fanning the flames of anti-Israel hatred throughout the Moslem world and Europe."

Immediately after the French2 story was aired, clips were shown repeatedly throughout the world, particularly in Moslem nations and in Europe. The broadcast of the alleged murder prompted anti-Israel riots and demonstrations and turned the child into an icon and martyr throughout the Moslem world. It also generated reverence for those who would commit violence against Israelis and Jews everywhere. The glorification of suicide terrorists who have become the bane of the 21st century became part of the al Durah narrative.

"Not only did France2 violate numerous principles of journalistic ethics in running the story as it did, but it added to these violations by blocking any reconsideration," Landes said. "As the evidence that contradicted every major contention in the aired report emerged, France2, as well as other mainstream media outlets in France, worked to prevent any correction from reaching the public.

"On the contrary, France2 attacked independent French citizens who had the temerity to criticize the TV station for their journalistic incompetence by suing them in court for defamation. In the asymmetrical warfare of global Jihad against the West, the 'weak' side treats the media of the 'strong' side as a theater of war, and no single case illustrates Western journalism's vulnerability to this kind of manipulation than the Al Durah affair," Landes said. 

Click here to view France2's original, unedited footage in the court case and to examine the evidence the court used to make its decisions as well as Professor Landes' commentary. A transcript of the court's decision will be available publicly in the coming days.

Boycotcampagne moslims tegen Denemarken en Nederland gaat door

Is dit waarom Gregorius Nekschot vorige week van zijn bed is gelicht en 30 uur vastgehouden?

 

Ondertussen publiceert de Jordaanse pers fraaie artikelen over de Joodse religie en de ware intenties van de Joden.

Ratna
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+++JORDAN TIMES 21 May '08:

 

"Boycott campaign (against Denmark) to be relaunched next month"

 

By Linda Hindi

 

AMMAN - The furore over a Danish newspaper's republication of offensive caricatures and a Dutch anti-Islamic film is far from over as boycott campaigners continue to pursue legal measures and importers of Danish goods suffer financial losses.

 

Meanwhile, the "Messenger of Allah Unites Us" campaign has added Dutch products and companies to its list and announced it will relaunch its boycott campaign on June 10.

 

.  .  .Full force", according to Sheikh, means highway billboards, more posters, printed t-shirts, bumper stickers and the like, to inform consumers not only to boycott foods but anything associated with Denmark or the Netherlands, including airlines and shipping agencies..  .  .

Teheran Universiteit houdt conferentie over einde Israël

 

Iran is weer bezig. Waarom maken ze zich toch zo druk om dat kleine k** landje?

 

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Tehran University to host int'l conference on "Israel's End"

 

Tehran, May 22, IRNA - Iran news agency
www2.irna.com/en/news/view/menu-234/0805227218000917.htm

Iranian Justice Seeking University Students Movement and University Students Mobilization Basij will jointly sponsor International Conference on Israel's End on May 26th, 2008.

According to public relations of the above mentioned Students Movement, the timing of the conference is adjusted to coincide with the sad 60th anniversary of Palestine's occupation by the Zionists.

The guests of the conference that would be attended by Iranian and foreign students of universities in Tehran will be intellectuals and university professors from Egypt, Venezuela, Morocco, Lebanon, Indonesia, the United States, Pakistan, Argentina, India, Iraq, Syria, Chile, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, France, Tunisia, and a number of other countries.

Supporting the Palestinian nation's righteous liberation movement and signs of the illegitimate Zionist regime's upcoming downfall are among the axes of the international conference.


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

President Abbas noemt recht op terugkeer heilig

Stel je voor dat Olmert zou zeggen dat Judea en Samaria heilig zijn, en Israël nooit dit stuk van haar historische land zal opgeven. Dan zou daar - en terecht - een hoop kritiek op komen. Want hoewel ik begrijp dat dit gebied voor Joden een bijzondere betekenis heeft, men zich hier door de geschiedenis en religie mee verbonden voelt, is nou eenmaal geen vrede mogelijk als Israël niet bereid is concessies te doen en dit gebied over te dragen aan de Palestijnen. Ondanks het feit dat Olmert zulke dingen niet zegt, en zich daarentegen meermaals heeft uitgesproken voor een tweestatenoplossing, wordt Israël bekritiseerd voor ieder huis dat het oostelijk van de Groene Lijn bouwt.

 

Abbas daarentegen wordt gezien als de grote man van vrede, ondanks zijn compromisloze houding ten aanzien van Oost-Jeruzalem en de vluchtelingen.

Hoe reëel en redelijk is het om van Israël te vragen de Klaagmuur, het Joodse kwartier en de Olijfberg op te geven, en in te stemmen met de komst van miljoenen Palestijnse vluchtelingen en hun nakomelingen?

 

In het laatste geval zal een tweestatenoplossing bestaan uit twee Arabische staten, of op zijn best een Arabische en een bi-nationale, waar de Arabieren over een paar decennia, op grond van de demografische realiteit, een dominante positie zullen opeisen. Waar blijft de kritiek op Abbas, die met een dergelijke hardline positie niet bijdraagt aan het wederzijdse vertrouwen en obstakels voor vrede opwerpt?

 

Ratna 

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President Abbas: Right of Return Sacred, Never be Delayed

http:// english.wafa.ps/?action=detail&id=11698

 

RAMALLAH, May 20, 2008, (WAFA - PLO news agency)-President Mahmoud Abbas stressed on Tuesday that the right of return is sacred and never be delayed.

In the opening of the 'Return Key' statue in Aida refugee camp near Bethlehem, President said that sixty years and six days elapsed on our departure from our homeland which is in our hearts, minds, hopes and dreams.

'This key, which is the biggest key in the world, is the symbol of our return, our hopes and our dreams. This key will remain a alive until we return home, God willing, nothing will hinder us and we will not abandon our dream,' President added.

President made it clear that we are determined in every word and phrase on the right of refugees to return which is a sacred right, and never be delayed or postponed.

 

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

 

Abbas at Palestine Investment Conference: East Jerusalem belongs to us and we'll get it back sooner or later

 

Date: 21 / 05 / 2008  Time:  16:36
www. maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=29423

 

 

Bethlehem - Ma'an - Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas speaking at the opening ceremony of the Palestine Investment Conference that "East Jerusalem belongs to us and we'll get it back sooner or later."

 

Abbas also described news he was receiving from Cairo regarding a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel as "encouraging." He said that he hopes the Syrian-Israeli negotiations will succeed.

 

He said he hoped Hamas would end the coup in the Gaza Strip and accept early elections. "Beloved Gaza will return to Palestinian legitimacy soon."

 

"Our hands are extended to all those who want safety and security for this precious country, and we say to them they should end their actions and return to a legitimate government. He said early legislative and presidential elections will be held, adding "This will happen soon, God willing."

 

Abbas thanked everyone who has supported the Palestinian national economy, while condemning Israeli practices since the Oslo Accords.

 

Earlier, at a lunch in honor of Gazan businessmen, he reiterated that efforts are being exerted to achieve a complete ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

 

"As soon as Hamas returns to the legislation and accepts early elections then things will get better," he said.

 

Abbas met with several ministers and economic figures in Bethlehem on Wednesday.

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

Wikipedia nieuwste front in Midden-Oosten conflict

 

Als je iets op googelt, staat Wikipedia bijna altijd bovenaan bij de resultaten, en over alles wat met Israël en de Palestijnen te maken heeft is er wel een artikel. De kwaliteit van deze artikelen wisselt nogal, afhankelijk van de schrijvers ervan. Neem je je de moeite de soms lange discussies en geschiedenis pagina's te bekijken dan stuit je soms op felle 'editors-wars' tussen sympathisanten van beide partijen. Helaas is het ideaal van Wikipedia, dat door de kennis en het corrigerend vermogen van velen, de artikelen ook goed en gebalanceerd zijn, soms ver verwijderd van de praktijk. En helaas blijken de pro-Palestijnen zich de Wikipedia regels vaak beter eigen te hebben gemaakt dan de pro-Israëli's. Een aantal artikelen zijn ongebalanceerd, er zijn veel mythes over de nakba, over allerlei Zionistische massaslachtingen (zonder vermelding van de vele Arabische slachtingen), die ook de media tegenwoordig kenmerken, terug te vinden in Wikipedia. Wikipedia is net als de media een product van de tijd en onderhevig aan de trends van de tijd.

Ratna
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http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c39_a9469/News/International.html

Latest Front In Mideast Wars: Wikipedia

Pro-Israel advocates have been banned from contributing articles on the popular encyclopedia, but battle rages.

by Tamar Snyder
Staff Writer

 

Call it the Wiki Wars.

Fed up with what he considered the skewed perception of Israel depicted by Wikipedia, the popular online encyclopedia, Gilead Ini, a senior research analyst at CAMERA, the Boston-based pro-Israel media watchdog, decided to mobilize.

On March 13, he sent an e-mail seeking 10 volunteer Wikipedia editors who would ensure that Israel-related articles "are free of bias and error, and include necessary facts and context."

"Assuring accuracy and impartiality in Wikipedia is extremely important," Ini wrote in the e-mail. "If someone searches for `Israel,' on the Google search engine, the top result would be the Wikipedia page on Israel."

More than 50 CAMERA members signed up. The group began to communicate using a private Google Group called Isra-pedia.

That's when the trouble began.

Isra-pedia e-mails were leaked to the pro-Palestinian site Electronic Intifada (EI). On April 21, Electronic Intifada posted an expose on its site, charging CAMERA with "orchestrating a secret, long-term campaign to infiltrate ... Wikipedia to rewrite Palestinian history, pass off crude propaganda as fact, and take over Wikipedia administrative structures to ensure these changes go either undetected or unchallenged."

Within hours, Wikipedia editors who allegedly participated in CAMERA's project were barred from editing topics related to the Arab-Israeli conflict for periods of time spanning one year to indefinitely.

They were faulted for working off-line, conspiring to make changes in a way that goes against the democratic culture of Wikipedia.

Wikipedia user "Gni," strongly believed to be Ini himself (though he denies this), has been banned from the site entirely.

This is the latest twist in the ongoing battle for supremacy among the ever-conflicting narratives championed by Palestinian and Israeli supporters. Instead of academics squabbling in their ivory towers, though, ordinary individuals are taking it online — and they're doing so anonymously. Wikipedia, the seventh-most frequently visited Internet site, is the go-to site for students and professionals alike. Though the online encyclopedia may not maintain the credibility held by Encyclopedia Britannica 50 years ago, it certainly commands its influence — with nearly 60 million visitors a month. That's why the stakes are so high and why winning the Wiki Wars is so important.

"When we talk about the Wikipedias of the Internet, there's a sense of community and empowerment and having that kind of access is very attractive, especially among young people," says Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which just released its first "iReport." It found a 30 percent increase in the past year alone in the number of sites on the Internet promoting inaccuracies, terror and hate. "But the casualty very often is the truth."

According to Honest Reporting (HR), another pro-Israel group that monitors media coverage of the Mideast, "Anti-Israel bias in Wikipedia takes three forms: vandalism, blatantly false allegations and attempts to marginalize the Israeli perspective."

Examples include defining Jerusalem as "the capital of Palestine" (quickly corrected) and, in an entry on "Massacres committed during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War," listing only those allegedly committed by Jews.

But who's to say that CAMERA's truth is, well, true? And on the other hand, can Electronic Intifada's version of the facts be trusted? Although Wikipedia documents every edit on its "history" page, the average user doesn't have the time to analyze each change and has no way of knowing the biases held by the anonymous, and volunteer, editors.

Therein lies the problem, since the beauty — and frustration — of Wikipedia is its supposed democracy, in which anyone can edit entries. When it comes to basic information such as the correct spelling of a name or the meaning of a technical term, it generally proves accurate.

But as any college student will tell you, you can't cite Wikipedia as a source in a term paper.

In other words, when it comes to understanding politically contested history, let the reader beware.

That's the advice offered by Gershom Gorenberg, a respected Israeli journalist, in an article in The American Prospect earlier this month. Gorenberg faults CAMERA for being deliberately duplicitous in advising Isra-pedia members to avoid usernames that mark them as pro-Israel and engaging in an administrator's gambit, by specifically avoiding editing Israel-related articles at first. (Gorenberg has been criticized by both CAMERA and EI for alleged bias).

"For a long time, I've felt that CAMERA, in approaching media coverage of Israel, has failed to make a distinction between advocacy and accuracy," says Gorenberg. "CAMERA promotes a morally simplified view of Israeli history, a propagandist view designed to avoid any dissidence."

Not everyone is as quick to blame CAMERA for its Wiki-downfall.

Social media expert Andre Oboler, a Legacy Heritage fellow at NGO Monitor who runs ZionismOnTheWeb.org, acknowledges that CAMERA made novice mistakes in its approach, the most serious of which was trying to get involved in Web 2.0 "undercover." For that CAMERA should have gotten a scolding from administrators, he said, since "this is not how things are done." Instead, though, administrators dealt the harshest consequences in their power: indefinite bans.

Oboler said that while CAMERA isn't the first advocacy group to band together to edit Wikipedia, it's the only one being scapegoated. "Wikipedians for Palestine," a closed Yahoo group established in January 2006, allegedly engaged in similar practices, inviting Wikipedians "to combat anti-Palestinian and pro-Zionist bias in the English language version of Wikipedia." The group has since been deleted — along with its archives — so it's unclear who belonged to the group and what impact, if any, the group had on Israel/Palestine-related Wikipedia pages. But it's naïve to assume that CAMERA is the only advocacy group banding together to edit Wikipedia.

"Pro-Israel advocacy groups are being smeared by pro-Palestinian supporters," says Simon Plosker, a managing editor at Honest Reporting.

In a report just released on its Web site, Honest Reporting claims that Electronic Intifada, and not CAMERA, is "manipulating Wikipedia to achieve its ideological goals."

"It's a blatant attempt to shut down our ability to respond to untruths," says Plosker.

The report reveals that Wikipedia user "Bangpound," who first expressed concern about CAMERA's subversive Wikipedia uses, is an Electronic Intifada staff member by the name of Benjamin Doherty.

"Electronic Intifada is manufacturing a story," says Oboler, who contributed to HR's report. "This is a battle between two competing lobby groups, in which one is manipulating the system to accuse the other of not playing fair, and thereby shut down the debate and ensure that it has free rein."

Ini says that with Wikipedia contributors hiding behind pseudonyms and making alliances with others to win enough votes to become administrators on the site, "it's a big game — a convoluted and complicated world."

And the stakes are high in the competition for promoting one's version of the Mideast narrative.

Ini contends his group was formed to educate fair-minded people about Wikipedia's policies and how to become editors, as well as to share resources with one another.

Though Ini has since disbanded the Isra-pedia group, his colleague at Honest Reporting vow to take on the challenge presented by Wikipedia and other Web 2.0 sites like Facebook and Digg.

"We'll be perfectly transparent about what we're going to do," says HR's Plosker. "People will know where we come from. There's nothing suspect about it. Everyone has right to contribute."

Iran arresteert Bahai leiders

 

Terwijl Iran leden van de Bahai om hun geloof vervolgt en opsluit, staat in Haifa (Israël) het belangrijkste religieuze monument van de Bahai, een tempel met prachtige tuinen, die een van de grootste toeristische attracties van de stad vormen. Israël is het enige land in het Midden-Oosten waar de Bahai vrij en veilig hun godsdienst kunnen belijden.

 

Wat lullig en onterecht dat Achmadinejad en zijn Ayatollahs zo gedemoniseerd worden en er zo paniekerig wordt gedaan over een vermeend Iraans atoomwapen.

Het is toch duidelijk wie de echte slechterikken zijn?

 

 

Wouter
___________________

Page last updated at 18:48 GMT, Monday, 19 May 2008 19:48 UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7409288.stm

Iran arrests Bahai 'leadership'

 

The seven Bahai leaders are now all in jail, the group says. The Iranian authorities have acknowledged the arrest of a number of members of the Bahai faith, which is considered to be heretical in Iran.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the arrests were a judicial matter and he did not give any further details.

The Bahai International Community says a senior member was arrested in March and six more last week; together they make up the entire leadership in Iran.

It says it has about 300,000 members in Iran, where the faith originated.

Relatives said the six senior members were taken to Evin Prison in Tehran on 14 May, after Intelligence Ministry officers raided their homes in the middle of the night.
The Bahai faith is banned by the Islamic revolutionary leadership of Iran.

Hundreds of Bahai followers have been jailed and executed since Iran's Islamic revolution in 1979, the Bahai International Community says.

However, the government denies it has detained or executed people because of their faith.

Canada voiced concern over the arrests on Friday and called for their release.


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

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Enquete Palestijnen: 57% wijst tweestatenoplossing af

Do you support or reject the creation of two states on the historic land of Palestine (a Palestinian state and Israel)?
39.5% I support
57.6% I reject
2.9% No opinion/I do not know

 

Do you support or reject the creation of a Palestinian state on the 1967 occupied territories?
68.5% I support
28.2% I reject
3.3% No opinion/I do not know

 

Vraag: waarom zijn de antwoorden op beide vragen niet identiek?

Antwoord: omdat steun voor een Palestijnse staat binnen 1967 grenzen blijkbaar nog niks zegt over de rest van het land. Daar zou bijvoorbeeld een binationale staat kunnen komen, of een tweede Arabische staat, nadat alle vluchtelingen en hun nakomelingen er zijn teruggekeerd. Het is in ieder geval een fabeltje dat steun voor een Palestijnse staat binnen pre-1967 grenzen automatisch ook een impliciete erkenning van Israël inhoudt, zoals veel optimisten geloven.

 

Ratna

-------------
 

Results of Palestinian Public Opinion Poll
No. 34 15-17 May 2008

An-Najah National University
Center for Opinion Polls and Survey Studies
Tel: (972) (9) 2345113           Fax: (972)(9) 2345982
Nablus - Palestinian: P.O.Box 7, 707
Email: Polls@najah.edu hussein596@yahoo.com

Following are the results of the Palestinian Public Opinion Poll No. 34 conducted by the Center for Opinion Polls and Survey Studies at An-Najah National University during the period from 15-17 May 2008. The University sponsors all polls conducted by its Center.

The sample included 1360 persons whose age group is 18 and above and who have the right to vote. The enclosed questionnaire was distributed on 800 persons from the West Bank and 500 persons from the Gaza Strip. The sample was drawn randomly and the margin of error is about +/-3%; still 5.8% of the members of the sample refused to answer the questionnaire.
_____________________________________________________________________

 

The opinions represented in the results reflect those of the study; they do not, by any means, represent the opinion of An-Najah National University.

Results:

 In view of the last Israeli operations against the Gaza Strip, do you support or reject resuming political negotiations between the Palestinian authority and Israel?
17.4% I strongly support
39.1% I support
24.2% I reject
15.9% I strongly reject
3.4% No opinion/I do not know

 Do you support or reject a truce (hudna) that starts in the Gaza Strip and extends to the West Bank?
20.8% I strongly support
50.7% I support
15.7% I reject
10.4% I strongly reject
2.3% No opinion/I do not know

 A group of Palestinian factions accepted a hudna with Israel that begins in the Gaza Strip and extends to the west Bank. Do you support or reject the position of these factions?
20.8% I strongly support
51.4% I support
17.1% I reject
8.2% I strongly reject
2.6% No opinion/I do not know


 Do you think that Israel will accept the hudna that Hamas and a group of Palestinian factions offered?
10.4% Yes
34.9% May be
50.5% No
4.3% No opinion/I do not know


 Do you think that the imminent visit of President Bush to the area will lead to pushing the peace process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority ahead?
13.2% Yes
79.3% No
7.5% No opinion/I do not know

Who, in your opinion, is responsible for the on-going internal Palestinian split?
14.0% Fateh movement
24.4% Hamas movement
47.0% Some persons from inside the two movements
6.8% Others (specify)
7.7% No opinion/I do not know

Who, in your opinion, is responsible for the failure to implement the Sana'a Agreement between Fateh and Hamas?
15.4% Fateh movement
24.6% Hamas movement
42.6% Some persons from inside the two movements
4.6% Others (specify)
12.9% No opinion/I do not know

Do you support or reject the creation of two states on the historic land of Palestine (a Palestinian state and Israel)?
39.5% I support
57.6% I reject
2.9% No opinion/I do not know

Do you support or reject the creation of a Palestinian state on the 1967 occupied territories?
68.5% I support
28.2% I reject
3.3% No opinion/I do not know

Do you think that the negotiations that President Mahmoud Abbas is conducting will lead to the creation of a Palestinian state on the 1967 occupied territories?
36.3% Yes
54.1% No
9.6% No opinion/I do not know

Do you think that the Palestinian resistance in its present form will lead to the creation of a Palestinian state on the 1967 occupied territories?
41.2% Yes
50.7% No
8.1% No opinion/I do not know

Do you support or reject resorting to dialogue between the Palestinian Presidency in Ramallah and the dissolved government in the Gaza Strip?
42.7% I strongly support
45.4% I support
7.1% I reject
3.2% I strongly reject
1.5% No opinion/I do not know

 Do you think that Fateh is seriously interested in a dialogue with Hamas?
48.8% Yes
41.1% No
10.1% No opinion/I do not know

Do you think that Hamas is seriously interested in a dialogue with Fateh?
40.1% Yes
49.9% No
10.1% No opinion/I do not know

In general, do you think that the current Palestinian leaderships with their different denominations are really capable of saving the Palestinian people from the miserable political situation the live?
21.1% Yes
39.3% No
39.6% No opinion/I do not know

Do you think that there is an on-going communication between Hamas and the United States?
36.7% Yes
41.9% No
21.4% No opinion/I do not know

 Do you think that there is an on-going communication between Hamas and the European Union?
49.5% Yes
27.5% No
23.0% No opinion/I do not know

Do you think that opening the Rafah Crossing for three days this week was meant to defuse the crisis in the Gaza Strip?
51.3% Yes
41.4% No
7.3% No opinion/I do not know

Do you think that opening the Rafah Crossing is considered an initial step toward ending the crisis in the Gaza Strip?
44.5% Yes
49.8% No
5.7% No opinion/I do not know

 Do you think that Hamas was able to convince the Egyptians that it is capable of running Rafah Crossing by itself solely?
29.9% Yes
57.6% No
12.5% No opinion/I do not know

Do you think that the corruption charges against the Israeli Prime minister Olmert will affect the negotiation track between the Palestinians and the Israelis?
52.3% Yes
40.8% No
6.9% No opinion/I do not know

How do you assess the performance of the Palestinian Presidency at the present time?
59.4% Good
32.7% Bad
7.9% No opinion/I do not know

 Regardless of its legitimacy or illegitimacy, do you support or reject the general policy of the Palestinian government led by Salam Fayyad?
49.3% I support
40.1% I reject
10.5% No opinion/I do not know

Regardless of its legitimacy or illegitimacy, do you support or reject the general policy of the dissolved government of Ismael Haniyeh?
32.1% I support
57.3% I reject
10.7% No opinion/I do not know

 How do you assess the performance of Salam Fayyad's care-taker government?
49.4% Good
40.0% Bad
10.6% No opinion/I do not know

How do you assess the performance of Ismael Haniyeh's dissolved government?
33.9% Good
54.3% Bad
11.8% No opinion/I do not know

 Do you support or reject dissolving the PLC?
58.2% I support
31.6% I reject
10.2% No opinion/I do not know


 Do you support or reject conducting early Presidential elections?
67.9% I support
24.7% I reject
7.4% No opinion/I do not know

 If presidential elections are held in the present time, to whom from among the following do you give your vote?
6.3% An independent candidate
3.1% A candidate from the left
14.9% A candidate from Hamas
32.6% A candidate from Fateh
5.1% A national independent candidate
3.8% An Islamic independent candidate
20.4% I will not participate in the elections
13.8% I have not decided yet

 If new PLC elections are conducted, whom do you vote for?
5.1% An independent ticket
3.5% A ticket from the left
16.2% A ticket from Hamas
32.8% A ticket from Fateh
5.1% A national independent ticket
4.0% An Islamic independent ticket
19.3% I will not participate in the elections
14.0% I have not decided yet


 If new legislative elections were to be held today, which of the following would win?
6.4% Independent Islamists bloc
7.2% Independent Nationalist bloc
45.4% Fateh bloc
20.5% Hamas bloc
1.4% A bloc from leftist organizations
20.9% No opinion/I do not know

The Palestinian Government began a security campaign in the city of Jenin to impose order and the rule of law on the city. Do you think that the campaign will succeed?
54.5% It will succeed
31.3% It will fail
14.3% No opinion/I do not know

The Palestinian Government had started a security campaign in the city of Nablus to impose order and the rule of law on the city. Do believe that the campaign succeeded in Nablus?
49.6% It succeeded
31.1% It failed
19.3% No opinion/I do not know

 Do you think that the Palestinian security forces are capable of imposing law and order on the areas in which they were redeployed?
59.9% Yes
31.0% No
9.1% No opinion/I do not know

 Do you support or reject the notion that Palestinian arms should be in the hands of Palestinian security apparatuses, and that any other arms in the hands of other Palestinian men will be considered arms for racketeering business?
65.5% I support
31.2% I reject
3.3% No opinion/I do not know

 If you are an employee and you are offered an early retirement, will you accept or reject the offer?
40.2% I accept
51.3% I reject
8.5% No opinion/I do not know

 Are you worried about your life under the present circumstances?
58.7% Yes
39.7% No
1.6% No opinion/I do not know

 Are you pessimistic or optimistic towards the general Palestinian situation at this stage?
35.2% Optimistic
62.8% Pessimistic
2.0% No opinion/I do not know

 Under the present circumstances, do you feel that you, your family and your properties are safe?
17.7% Yes
33.6% May be
48.7% No

 Which of the following political affiliations do you support?
0.5% People's Party
0.9% Democratic Front
2.6% Islamic Jihad
40.1% Fateh
17.5% Hamas
0.1% Fida
3.5% Popular Front
0.7% Palestinian National Initiative
5.4% I am an independent nationalist
3.2% I am an independent Islamist
24.4% None of the above
1.0% Others


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

Antisemitische artikelen in de Jordaanse pers

 

Niet alleen de Egyptische, ook de Jordaanse pers kan er wat van wat betreft antisemitisme. In het land dat veelal als een oase van redelijkheid wordt afgeschilderd in het door fanatisme, intolerantie en geweld gedomineerde Midden-Oosten, worden Joden - ook in regeringskranten - als de meest verschrikkelijke wezens neergezet:

 

Arafat Hijazi, a Palestinian board member of government daily Ad-Dustour, lashed out against the Jewish religion, the Jews, and Israel . In an article published in Ad-Dustour, Hijazi said that Zionist leaders have used and still use terrorism, inspired by the Talmud, which instructs them to dominate peoples and take control of their property. "The false Torah. which relies on empty lies has led generations [of Jews] to believe that they are the chosen people and that Palestine is [their] promised land. Also, [the Torah] allowed them the use of prostitution, bribe, murder, and treachery to satisfy their urges and realize their goals." (Ad-Dustour, May 7, 2008 ).

Arafat Hijazi has also published an article which denies the Holocaust and argues that the real holocaust is taking place in the Gaza Strip (Ad-Dustour, March 9, 2008 ).

 

Het betreft hier helaas niet een enkel artikel van een extremist. Misschien moet Nederland eens om opheldering vragen bij de Jordaanse ambassade?

 

Ratna

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

Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center
at the Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center (IICC)

May 20, 2008

 

[For annotated version:
www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/hi_130508e.htm  ]

 
Overview

 

1. The Jordanian press continues to publish blatantly anti-Semitic articles written by publicists associated with radical Islam or the left wing. 1
Several such anti-Semitic articles have been published in the Jordanian press in recent months, one of which in particular argues that it is absolutely true that the Jews kill Christian children for ritual purposes, suggesting it as an explanation for the "deliberate" murder of Palestinian and Arab children supposedly perpetrated by the IDF. Also published were cartoons portraying Israeli leaders as murderers of children and the happenings in the Gaza Strip as a "holocaust". Details follow.

 

Examples of anti-Semitic articles

 

2. There are several writers who publish anti-Semitic articles in the Jordanian press. Of particular note is Muwaffaq Muhaddin, a pro-Syrian journalist associated with the Jordanian left wing and a columnist for independent daily Al-Arab al-Yaum. In recent years, he has published numerous blatantly anti-Semitic articles which draw inspiration from The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and include anti-Jewish slurs and Holocaust denial. 2

3. In an article titled "Killing children according to Jewish faith" (Al-Arab al-Yaum, March 8, 2008 ), Muwaffaq Muhaddin writes as follows:

 

a. The Jewish state established in the "plundered land of Palestine " is based on "the scent of blood, the roasting, and the collective killing of children first, before the adults". The author states that he first became aware of that "vile phenomenon" while conducting a "study" about the relation between anthropology and policy, published in a book called The Cycle of Jewish Religion (a historical "study" on Zionism and Judaism, published by Muhaddin). The author claims that the killing of children by the Jews is never a military accident but is rather deliberate, rooted in Jewish faith and supported in the history of the Jewish people.

 

b. In order to "prove" that the Jews make use of children's blood, the author brings up the Damascus blood libel, according to which a boy from a Christian neighborhood of Damascus was kidnapped by Jewish rabbis and murdered in order to bake the "Matzo of Zion" (dating back to 1840, this blood libel is still a source of inspiration for anti-Semitic literature in Syria and a "proof" of the false claims raised by Arab anti-Semitists). The author notes that other such abductions took place elsewhere in the world, and that they are etched in the memory of other Christian neighborhoods in Buenos Aires and in Lithuania .

 

c. The author presents his own "anthropological interpretation" of the blood libels. He claims that "roasting people" and "the scent of blood" are recurring elements in Biblical culture, since the God of the Jews (Jehovah) blesses Jewish soldiers when he smells victims being roasted. The author goes on to say that children, being pure, are known as the best victims, hence their use for ritual purposes. He also claims that the Jewish Talmud discusses the need for children's blood since it is unspoiled.

 

4. Muwaffaq Muhaddin has recently written other anti-Semitic articles:

 

a. In an article published in Al-Arab al-Yaum on May 11, 2008 , titled "Nazi Zionism", Muhaddin writes that "the Zionist project is a replica of the Nazi project". He claims that Zionism and Nazism have identical roots, including racism, a concept of superiority, and permission to murder other peoples.

 

b. In an article published in Al-Arab al-Yaum on April 26, he claims that it's not just the Arabs who hate the Jews, but that there are other elements in the world who consider Jews to be the root of all evil. He also claims that there is an independently thinking Jewish elite which shares that view.

 

5. What follows are the main points of other anti-Semitic articles recently published in the Jordanian press:

 

a. Arafat Hijazi, a Palestinian board member of government daily Ad-Dustour, lashed out against the Jewish religion, the Jews, and Israel . In an article published in Ad-Dustour, Hijazi said that Zionist leaders have used and still use terrorism, inspired by the Talmud, which instructs them to dominate peoples and take control of their property. "The false Torah. which relies on empty lies has led generations [of Jews] to believe that they are the chosen people and that Palestine is [their] promised land. Also, [the Torah] allowed them the use of prostitution, bribe, murder, and treachery to satisfy their urges and realize their goals." (Ad-Dustour, May 7, 2008 ). Arafat Hijazi has also published an article which denies the Holocaust and argues that the real holocaust is taking place in the Gaza Strip (Ad-Dustour, March 9, 2008 ).

 

b. Salah al-Khalidi published an anti-Semitic article in the oppositionist weekly Al-Sabil, associated with the Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamic Action Front, which occasionally publishes anti-Semitic articles. The article, written against the background of the appointment of a Jewish woman from Bahrain to the Ambassador of Bahrain in the US, attacks those Arabs who sympathize with the Jews and asserts that the Jews will not settle for anything they are given. The author of the article considers the Ambassador's appointment to be part of a "plot" being concocted against the Arab and Islamic world (in Tel-Aviv , Washington , and other places) "so that this damaged world becomes the setting for the Jewish and American plans." (Al-Sabil, April 29, 2008 ).

 

Cartoons depicting Israeli leaders as murderers of innocent Palestinian children

 

6. Ad-Dustour, a Jordanian newspaper partly owned by the Jordanian government, has recently published cartoons in which Israeli leaders are portrayed as murderers of innocent Palestinian children. The cartoons are created by Jalal al-Rifa'i, a cartoonist of Palestinian descent, who frequently publishes anti-Semitic cartoons in Ad-Dustour.

The Prime Minister of Israel portrayed as a murderer of innocent Palestinian babies. The title says: "Israel rolls out the red carpet for Bush's visit [in Israel]!!" (Ad-Dustour, April 29, 2008)  The leaders of Israel (Barak and Olmert) enjoying the murder of innocent Palestinian children (Ad-Dustour, May 4, 2008)

 

A cartoon depicting the happenings in the Gaza Strip as a "holocaust"

A character whose jacket says "Western Hypocrisy" is crying, with its tears extinguishing a fire whose flames say "The Jewish Holocaust". An identical character is crying over a fire that says "The Holocaust of Gaza"; however, it has bullets for tears (Ad-Dustour, April 28, 2008).

 

===============
1 For details on manifestations of anti-Semitism in the Jordanian press, see our Information Bulletin: Contemporary Arab Muslim anti-Semitism, its Significance and Implications (Updated to March 2008). The bulletin currently appears on our site in Hebrew and is being translated into English.
2 Ibid.


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

Palestijnse terrorist met explosievengordel bij checkpoint Nablus

 

Dit bericht laat weer eens zien dat de checkpoints er niet zijn om Palestijnen te pesten maar om te voorkomen dat Israëlische burgers worden opgeblazen. Momenteel worden een aantal checkpoints opgeheven om de situatie voor de Palestijnen te verbeteren, maar menigeen houdt zijn hard vast. Deskundigen zijn het er niet over eens hoeveel en welke checkpoints essentiëel zijn voor Israëls veiligheid, en dat is ook nauwelijks met zekerheid te bepalen.

 

Het zou beter zijn als de veiligheidstroepen van de PA deze checkpoints zouden kunnen bemannen, maar die zijn herhaaldelijk ineffectief of onbetrouwbaar gebleken in de strijd tegen terrorisme.

 

Wouter
___________________

IDF SPOX: Palestinian terrorist found with explosive belt near Nablus
http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/News/the_Front/08/05/1901.htm

19 May 2008 , 22:23

 

About an hour ago, just south of Nablus at the Huwwara crossing, IDF forces identified a Palestinian terrorist carrying an explosive belt as he attempted to enter Israeli territory in order to carry out a terrorist attack. IDF forces then fired and killed the terrorist.

IDF forces noticed the Palestinian man acting suspiciously and subsequently ordered him to cease all movement. He slowly moved his hands in the direction of his explosive belt and consequently, IDF forces fired at him.

The terrorist was identified as a 20-year old Palestinian male.

This attempted suicide attack is a part of an ongoing assault by Palestinian terrorists on Israel. They are currently being questioned by security forces. Just yesterday, the IDF arrested 19 wanted Palestinian terrorists, and Palestinian terrorists continue to launch Qasam rocket attacks toward Israel from the Gaza Strip.

Hamas: 'Wapenstilstand betekent niet einde van verzet'

Dit is waarom Israël weinig heeft aan een staakt-het-vuren met Hamas. Hamas zal zeker niet instemmen met een deal die ook de wapensmokkel aan banden legt, en zal haar guerrilla leger in Gaza verder blijven opbouwen en zich ingraven. Hamas heeft ondertussen wel in de gaten waarom Israël niet happig is op een grootschalige confrontatie:

 

According to the Hamas official, Israel "does not have the courage and energy" to carry out a big military operation in the Gaza Strip. "They know that they can't wipe out Hamas," he said. "Also, they don't have a long-term strategy as to what they would do after they reoccupy the Gaza Strip."

 

Na de herbezetting van de Gazastrook (geeft Hamas hiermee toe dat Gaza nu niet is bezet?), moet Israël het gebied overdragen aan de Palestijnse Autoriteit en het Fatah leiderschap. Die moet in staat zijn daar vervolgens de orde te handhaven. Maar minstens zo belangrijk is dat er onvoldoende steun is voor een grote Israëlische operatie in Gaza in de internationale gemeenschap, inclusief de VS. Op zijn laatst nadat er ca. 100 doden zijn gevallen zal de Veiligheidsraad een resolutie aannemen die Israël opdraagt zich onmiddelijk terug te trekken. Net na de vieringen van het 60-jarig jubileum zal Israël wereldwijd op de voorpagina's staan als de uitvoerder van een massaslachting op de Palestijnen. Daar heeft men, om begrijpelijke redenen, even geen zin in. Ondertussen steekt niemand buiten Israël een vinger uit om het probleem van Hamas in Gaza op te lossen, en blijft zij haar macht daar consolideren. Daar is niet alleen Israël, maar vooral ook de Palestijnse bevolking in Gaza, de dupe van.

 

 

Ratna

--------------
 

'Truce doesn't mean end of resistance'

 

Khaled Abu Toameh , THE JERUSALEM POST

May. 20, 2008
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1210668678948&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

 

Israel is mistaken if it thinks that a truce with Hamas would mean that the "resistance operations" would end, a senior Hamas official said Monday.

"The confrontation with the [Israeli] occupation will continue despite the talk about a tahdiyah [calm]," said Osama Hamdan, Hamas's representative in Lebanon.
"Hamas does not trust the Israelis because they are likely to violate the tahdiyah and launch fresh aggressions against our people. As far as Hamas is concerned, all options remain open."

Hamdan's remarks came as a senior Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo Monday for talks with Egyptian General Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman on Egypt's efforts to achieve a cease-fire between the Palestinians and Israel.

The delegation, which is scheduled to meet with Suleiman Tuesday to hear about Israel's position regarding the Egyptian truce initiative, is headed by Mahmoud Zahar and Musa Abu Marzuk.

"Egypt must be biased toward the Palestinians and not play the role of mediator," Hamdan said. "Egypt should not be different from the rest of the Arabs, who fully support the Palestinian position."

He said Hamas went to Cairo only to learn about the Israeli response to the Egyptian initiative and not to discuss it, noting that his movement had already accepted it.

Referring to the case of kidnapped IDF Cpl. Gilad Schalit, the Hamas official said his movement would not "succumb" to Israel's demand that the issue be part of any truce deal.

"We won't surrender to Israeli extortion," he added. "Hamas is different from the other Palestinian parties, which are used to making free concessions to Israel."

Another Hamas representative, Ismail Radwan, said his movement did not rule out the possibility of a major confrontation if Israel rejects the initiative.

"The Israelis appear to be confused about the tahdiyah," he said. "Some Israelis are calling for accepting the tahdiyah, while others are talking about invading the Gaza Strip. But we are prepared for all possibilities, regardless of whether Israel says yes or no. If we are forced to fight, we will enter the battle."

However, some Hamas officials said they were optimistic regarding the prospects of achieving an agreement over a truce with Israel.

"There is room for optimism," a top Hamas official in the Gaza Strip told The Jerusalem Post. "We believe we are very close to reaching an agreement because Israel has signaled its willingness to accept the Egyptian initiative."

The official claimed that the Egyptians had warned Israel against launching a massive military operation in the Gaza Strip. "The Egyptians told us that they have warned Israel against the repercussions of a military operation in the Gaza Strip," he added. "The Egyptians said that such an operation would have a negative impact on their relations with Israel."

According to the Hamas official, Israel "does not have the courage and energy" to carry out a big military operation in the Gaza Strip. "They know that they can't wipe out Hamas," he said. "Also, they don't have a long-term strategy as to what they would do after they reoccupy the Gaza Strip."

Palestijnen vernielen wijngaard en akkervelden kolonisten

Niet alleen kolonisten zijn goed in het vernielen van boomgaarden en landbouwgronden van de Palestijnen, omgekeerd komt ook geregeld voor. Om de een of andere reden hoor je daar echter zelden over....

 

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

Palestinians uprooted a vineyard in Dolev

 

Nadav Shragai Haaretz 19 May 2009
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/984646.html

 

Palestinians uprooted a vineyard in Dolev this past weekend for the seventh time in 10 months. Shlomi Cohen's vineyard connects the West Bank settlements of Neria and Nahliel, and separates the Palestinian villages Mazrat a-Qabliya and Dir Amar. The vineyard is on state land. In another act of recurrent vandalism, Palestinians on Friday evening torched wheat fields belonging to Yitzhar residents, for the third time in recent weeks. A neighborhood watch patrol was stoned when it came to put out the fire.


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In Gaza gearresteerde terrorist kreeg training in Iran

 

Een door Israël gearresteerde terrorist uit Gaza geeft toe in Iran te zijn getraind.

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

Iranian-trained terrorist arrested in Gaza

19 May 2008
(Communicated by the IDF Spokesman)

 

Now released for publication: Alaa Jihad Ouad Abu Madif, a resident of Karara located near Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, was arrested on 15 April in a joint IDF-ISA operation. Iranian-trained Abu Madif, a member of the Abu Rish faction which splintered from the PLO in the 1990s, was involved in rocket attacks against Israel and was an intended suicide-bomber against IDF forces.

Abu Madif participated in a month-long military training course in Iran in May 2007, after being recruited to the Abu Rish faction a short time previously.

Abu Rish activists in the Gaza Strip are in constant contact with terror administrators in Lebanon, and are involved in the current conflict with Israel. Their main activities include high-trajectory rocket firing and laying of anti-personnel explosive devices.

Abu Madif was one of a group of activists that left Gaza through the Raffiah crossing into Egypt, and then flew from Cairo to Damascus and then on to Iran. In Iran, they were transferred to isolated military encampments in a mountainous region where they underwent comprehensive military training.

The military training included physical training, navigation, weapons training (including light and heavy weapons operation, anti-tank weapons, hand grenades), target practice, assembly and operation of explosive devices and indoctrination lessons defining Israel and the USA as the sources of evil. They were also instructed in covert activities, such as discovering and losing a tail, etc.

Upon his return to Gaza after the Hamas takeover, (September-October 2007) Abu Madif participated in a series of rocket attacks against Israel, and agreed on two separate occasions to participate in a suicide bombing attack against IDF forces at the Kissufim crossing. He was filmed for these attacks, but they were never carried out.

Abu Madif's interrogation throws light on the deep Iranian involvement in the encouragement of terror against Israel and in its support, its financing, and its military training for the activists of the various terror organizations operating in Gaza against Israel. Syrian aid and assistance in the transfer of activists to Iran is also emphasized.


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

Harry de Winter woest over blogs Afshin Ellian

Dries van Agt, Een Ander Joods Geluid en andere antizionisten klagen vaak over het feit dat de 'pro-Israël lobby' hun de mond zou proberen te snoeren. Het is een vreemd verwijt, gezien onderstaand bericht van 26 maart. Het is overigens niet de eerste keer dat mensen Afshin Ellian, een Iraanse mensenrechtenactivist die daar werd vervolgd om zijn mening, proberen de mond te snoeren. Vorig jaar deed oud-ambassadeur en bestuurslid van Stop de Bezetting Jan Wijenberg aan NRC Handelsblad het klemmende verzoek Afshin Ellian te ontslaan als columnist. Zou Ellian binnenkort ook van zijn bed worden gelicht zoals de cartoonist Gregorius Nekschot afgelopen week overkwam?

 

Ratna 

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

Nederland

Harry de Winter woest over blogs Ellian

http://www.elsevier.nl/nieuws/nederland/artikel/asp/artnr/198741/index.html

woensdag 26 maart 2008 13:05

Televisiemaker Harry de Winter en het bestuur van Stichting Een Ander Joods Geluid (EAJG) zijn zo kwaad over twee weblogs van Afshin Ellian op deze site, dat zij de hoofdredactie van Elsevier met klem verzoeken Ellian zijn weblog te ontnemen.

Harry de Winter (l) wil dat Elsevier de blogs van Afshin Ellian (r) niet meer plaatst

Dat schrijven De Winter en Jaap Hamburger, voorzitter van het bestuur van Een Ander Joods Geluid, in een brief (pdf) aan de hoofdredactie van Elsevier.

Ze zijn woest over de weblog die Ellian schreef op dinsdag 18 maart, in reactie op de paginabrede advertentie van De Winter in de Volkskrant een dag eerder.

'Afgeserveerd'
In de advertentie stelt De Winter dat als PVV-leider Geert Wilders 'hetzelfde over Joden (en het Oude Testament) gezegd zou hebben als wat hij nu over Moslims (en de Koran) uitkraamt, dan was hij allang afgeserveerd en veroordeeld wegens antisemitisme'.

In zijn weblog met de titel 'De valse demagogie van Harry de Winter' noemt Ellian deze uitspraak van De Winter 'een mooi voorbeeld van de demagogie waarin sommige Duitsers in de jaren dertig meester waren'.

Holocaustontkenners
'Want,' zo vervolgt Ellian, 'in deze tekst wordt niets uitgelegd. Kennelijk valt er ook niets uit te leggen. Als dat het geval was, had Harry de Winter wel een beargumenteerde en onderbouwde tekst geschreven voor de opiniepagina'.  Waar De Winter en EAJG vooral woest over zijn, is een passage aan het eind van zijn weblog, waar Ellian de ondertekenaars van de advertentie 'postmoderne Holocaustontkenners' noemt.

Ook zijn De Winter en EAJG boos over een eerdere weblog van Ellian, die op 13 juli 2007 werd gepubliceerd onder de titel 'Een Ander Joods Geluid bagatelliseert nazisme'. Daarin worden zij 'ordinaire Holocaustontkenners' genoemd.

'Uit te sluiten'
De Winter en EAJG vinden dat de twee genoemde weblogs van Ellian onder meer 'blijk geven van een gekunstelde redeneertrant, gezochte, ongefundeerde en leugenachtige beschuldigingen' en 'tot in het absurde verdraaide weergave van opvattingen van anderen'. Zij vragen de hoofdredactie van Elsevier Ellian 'uit te sluiten van het gebruik van Elsevier' voor zijn weblogs.

Elseviers hoofdredacteur Arendo Joustra is niet onder de indruk van de brief. 'Net als columnisten hebben webloggers een zekere vrijheid van uitdrukken in een fel debat. Harry de Winter en Een Ander Joods Geluid hebben ook een scherpe positie ingenomen in hun advertentie op de voorpagina van de Volkskrant. Wie kaatst kan de bal verwachten.'

Monddood
Voor het voorstel Ellian zijn weblog te ontnemen en zodoende monddood te maken, zoals De Winter en EAJG willlen, voelt de hoofdredactie van Elsevier niets.

Door Claudia van Zanten

 

 

Shimon Peres interview in Newsweek

 

"Zo oud als de Tien Geboden en zo nieuw als nanotechnologie"; dat is geen omschrijving van Shimon Peres, hoewel hij al langer dan wie ook meegaat in de Israëlische politiek. Hieronder enkele stukjes uit het interview dat Newsweek onlangs met hem had.

 

Meer over de genoemde conferentie op de website van Haaretz of de eigen site Facing Tomorrow.

 

 

Wouter

_____________

 

Shimon Peres interview with Newsweek

http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2008/05/shimon-peres-interview-with-newsweek.html

 

 

'Practically All of Us Were Hawks'

 

Shimon Peres on the search for peace with the Palestinians, the Iranian threat and American presidents since Truman.

 

Lally Weymouth

NEWSWEEK

Updated: 3:57 PM ET May 10, 2008

 

 

Israeli President Shimon Peres, 85, is the last remaining founding father of the Israeli state still in office. A hawk who helped build Israel's military-industrial complex, in recent years Peres has been a leader in the search for peace with the Palestinians. As part of Israel's 60th-anniversary celebrations, Peres is hosting a conference this week titled "Facing Tomorrow," which will be attended by President George W. Bush and other dignitaries. Last week Peres looked forward as well as back in an interview with NEWSWEEK's Lally Weymouth in Jerusalem.

 

Excerpts:

 

Weymouth: Is there a realistic chance of peace with the Palestinians?

Peres: I think we have to follow a two-track approach -- one political, the other economic. We have unbelievable economic proposals as to how to make accommodations between us and our neighbors. In the political negotiations, the gaps are not very great, but they are highly emotional. It will be extremely difficult to put them on paper because each party looks to its own audience and will be very careful not to appear as losers.

 

So do you think you should be focusing on improving the day-to-day lives of the Palestinian people rather than trying to achieve a political agreement?

Both. The economic coordination depends upon three parties -- the Jordanians, the Palestinians and us … What I think can be done is to take the whole length of the border between us and the Jordanians and the Palestinians and convert it into a free-trade zone. We can create close to a million jobs, change the standard of living, solve the water problem which is becoming catastrophic for the Jordanians, Palestinians and us, and build a new era.

 

What should be done about Gaza?

I think the ones who will change the situation in Gaza will be the people of Gaza. They are getting tired of Hamas. They say, "What the hell are you doing to us?" They are looking for a ceasefire.

 

As a young man, you were head of manpower under Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. Your assignment was to purchase arms for Israel, but the United States had imposed an arms embargo on your country. Sam Bronfman in Canada helped you. How did you meet him?

I went to his office without an appointment.

 

You just rang the bell?

Yes. I was in my 20s and was head of our mission in the United States.

 

You persuaded Mr. Bronfman to help you?

I told him that we wanted to buy surplus guns from the Canadian government. So, being a businessman, he asked me how much they were asking. I said, "Two million dollars." He said, "It's too much. We can cut it." Then he called up the minister of Commerce and Industry, C. D. Howe, in Ottawa and started to yell, "Two million dollars? Haven't you any shame? I want to see you." So Bronfman took his Cadillac and the two of us went to Ottawa. In Howe's office, he started to argue. My God! The poor Howe said, "OK, we shall halve it. Instead of 2 million, 1 million."

 

Then Bronfman asked me, "Where are you going to get the other million?" I said, "From you." He wanted to kill me. He called up his wife and told her, "Tonight at 8 o'clock we will invite 50 people. Everyone will pay $20,000. We need a million dollars." In the evening we had a million dollars.

 

A few years later you made a deal with the French Defense Ministry to sell Israel arms. These arms were crucial to Israel's survival in the '67 war.

Yes, the '67 war, the Sinai war and part of the Yom Kippur war. They gave us old arms. There was an embargo on arms sales by the United States, Great Britain and France. While Russia supplied free arms to the Arabs, we didn't have any guns, tanks or planes ... So I went to France and started to work. Finally, they were convinced. All of a sudden France opened up to Israel. It changed the whole situation.

 

Now you are known for your dedication to the search for peace. But when I first interviewed you in 1981, you were still hawkish.

Half of Israel was under the impression that the Arabs would not make peace with us. As long as they thought they could overpower us, they wouldn't make peace. So practically all of us were hawks. The minute that Israel showed its muscles and proved that you cannot overcome [it was] the first time we saw some chances for peace. And then we went over to the other side. It's not that I changed my character. I found a different situation.

 

Do you worry for your country on its 60th anniversary when there is such a scandal around your prime minister?

The prime minister is innocent until it will be shown otherwise. But, what shall I say? Better a democracy with scandals than an authoritarian system without scandals.

 

What do you believe should be done about Iran's nuclear program? After all, you were once the creator of the military-industrial complex here, including the Dimona reactor.

We never said we were going to wipe anybody off the map, but they have. It's not a problem of nuclear capability but of political intention.

 

What do you think about that?

I think it's terrible. I think today [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad is becoming more and more a problem for the world, not only for Israel. Sooner or later, the world will wake up.

 

You told me once that you've known every U.S. president since Harry Truman. Is that correct?

Yes.

 

So, how does this president impress you?

I think Bush did something which is very courageous. And that was to topple down Saddam Hussein. Imagine today that we would have in the Middle East both Ahmadinejad and Saddam Hussein. The problem with the Europeans is, they are right but they are always late. And here to be late is to be wrong.

 

What about President Clinton?

Clinton was a friend. Bush's father was a friend and President Ronald Reagan was a friend …

 

Reagan could conquer your heart in five minutes by his modesty. You couldn't meet Reagan without being equipped with an anti-Russian joke. And you could be sure that he had another one.

 

The title of your conference this week is "Facing Tomorrow"?

Yes. I think the world has changed, the Jewish world has changed and Israel has changed … I think that relations with the Jewish people shouldn't be based so much on finance but rather on intelligence and intellect, arts and spirit. Because, after all, it's not the pocket that enriches our minds. It's the mind that enriches our pocket and we are looking too much to the pockets and not enough to the minds.

 

We want to be citizens of the world and not just followers of our faith. We would like to be as old as the Ten Commandments and as new as nanotechnology.