Zijn Britse media geobsedeerd door Israel?

 

Een discussie die in veel Westerse landen van toepassing is. Johan Remkes (VVD) pleit naar aanleiding van een kritisch rapport over de NOS-berichtgeving in de Gaza Oorlog voor een BBC-model. De BBC is in haar berichtgeving over Israel en de Palestijnen echter waarschijnlijk even eenzijdig als de NOS. Ook op andere onderwerpen wordt haar objectiviteit betwist, er is zelfs een website http://www.bbcbias.co.uk/ 

"BBC bias" (met aanhalingstekens) levert circa 37.800 Google hits op, met Israel in het zoekvernster erbij circa 20.000 (waaronder ook pro-Palestijnen die klagen over een pro-Israel bias bij de BBC...).

 

Wouter

 

"The BBC is not impartial or neutral. It's a publicly funded, urban organisation with an abnormally large number of young people, ethnic minorities and gay people. It has a liberal bias not so much a party-political bias. It is better expressed as a cultural liberal bias", Andrew Marr, the Daily Mail, Oct 21st, 2006.

 

Dat is niet "liberaal" zoals de VVD voor ogen staat.

______________

Event Update
20 March 2009

Just Journalism Discussion Series

On Tuesday, Just Journalism hosted a panel debate addressing the question: Do the British media have an obsession with Israel? Chaired by Jewish Chronicle editor Stephen Pollard, Channel 4 newscaster Jon Snow, former Chatham House senior research fellow Robin Shepherd, Daily Mail city editor Alex Brummer and former New Statesman editor Peter Wilby, expressed a range of opinions and prompted lively contributions from an audience of more than 130 people.

Israel reporting: an obsession?

Robin Shepherd argued strongly that the media do have an obsession with Israel. He claimed Israel's treatment by British journalists is irrational and that legitimate criticism has morphed into demonisation. He also described comparisons made between Israel and Nazi Germany or Apartheid South Africa as fundamentally unreasonable, and contended that journalists failed to address Hamas' anti-Semitic ideology.

Channel 4's Jon Snow argued, 'if there were an obsession with this issue, we'd have resolved it by now.' He said that, in fact, the Israeli-Palestinian issue was neglected by the political classes, who were ultimately responsible for breeding hatred in the region. The media, he contended, 'are left to take the can'.

Peter Wilby made a wider point that the contemporary focus on images and casualty figures in news reporting gives the impression that there is a media obsession. He added 'this is an area in which everything is contested', concluding that the media 'can't win' in pleasing sympathisers on both sides of the conflict.

The  practical realities for journalists

Alex Brummer explained how the competitiveness of the news industry places great pressures on journalists reporting from the region. Responding to a question concerning inaccurate reports about an Israeli attack on a UN school in Gaza in January, Jon Snow claimed that the nature of conflict journalism necessitates the difficult task of reporting events as they take place, despite the scarcity of facts at the time. 

Jon Snow also made the point that Israel's decision to ban journalists from Gaza made some inaccurate reporting inevitable.  Robin Shepherd disagreed, drawing a parallel with similar difficulties facing journalists reporting from Chechnya. He maintained that journalistic standards 'must not go out the window' in such conditions.

On the issue of sources used to corroborate reports, raised by Peter Wilby, Robin Shepherd argued against the use of sources exclusively from organisations that are known for holding partial views on Israel.

All the panellists agreed that journalists do not necessarily have a personal agenda to criticise Israel. Robin Shepherd argued that improper reporting is often the result of institutionalised attitudes that perpetuate within news organisations.  

The extent of media accountability
 
Discussion about the recent pressures of reporting from Israel provoked questions about whether the mechanisms for maintaining the media's accountability are adequate. Jon Snow argued that one of the distinctive strengths of Britain's broadcast media was its accessible regulatory framework. He commented: 'I am regulated by it and I bask in it'. Alex Brummer added that editors take the available complaints framework very seriously.

This was the first in a series of discussions hosted by Just Journalism.

Read about the event in this week's Jewish Chronicle.

==============
For more information or to contact us, please visit www.justjournalism.com

Just Journalism | PO Box 57596 | London | NW6 9JF | United Kingdom

 

Politie Jeruzalem zal optreden tegen 'Palestijns Cultuur Festival' in Jeruzalem

 

Vandaag zou een Palestijns cultuurfestival plaatsvinden in o.a. Ramallah, Jeruzalem, Gaza, Libanon (de vluchtelingenkampen?), Nazareth en Bethlehem. Nazareth ligt sinds 1948 in Israël, maar ze zullen zich daar best verbonden voelen met de Palestijnse cultuur. Met de Palestijnse vlag gaan zwaaien daar zal echter niet goed vallen bij de Israëlische autoriteiten en de Joodse bevolking.

Een wat zwaarder probleempje is een Palestijnse vlag op een zweefvliegtuigje boven de Oude Stad van Jeruzalem, en dat tot Arabische culturele hoofdstad van 2009 verklaren... Dat is niet minder dan een politieke provocatie, en eentje die Israël niet zal dulden. Hopelijk gaat dit niet tot rellen leiden.

Wouter
_______________

Last update - 14:03 20/03/2009      
Jerusalem Police set to prevent 'Palestinian Culture Festival'
By Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072679.html

 

Jerusalem Police announced on Friday they would prevent the so-called Palestinian Culture Festival the Palestinian Authority plans to organize in the city on Saturday.

The PA is planning to fly a glider plane painted in the colors of the Palestinian national flag over the walls of the Old City as part of the festival, which is meant to declare the city to be "the capital of Arabic culture for 2009."

The police said that they were determined to enforce the law, whereby any event organized and funded by the PA is prohibited within Jerusalem's municipal jurisdiction.
 
The head of the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel, Nachi Eyal, on Wednesday urged Public Security Minister Avi Dichter and Police Commissioner David Cohen to thwart the staging of the event.

"To the best of my understanding, this is an attempt to demonstrate Palestinian sovereignty in Jerusalem in an illegal manner," said Eyal.

"The law...obligates the Palestinian Authority to respect the sovereignty of Israel within the boundaries of the State of Israel, including East Jerusalem."

Since early Friday morning, large police forces, including Border Police, have arrived at the city and are slated to deploy to East Jerusalem and the surrounding Arab villages on Saturday.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, meanwhile, is slated to kick off the celebrations from his headquarters in Ramallah. Events are also due to be held in Gaza, Lebanon, Nazareth and Bethlehem.

 

 

IDF gaat misstanden Gaza Oorlog onderzoeken

Het leger zegt een en ander zeer serieus te nemen en de verhalen te onderzoeken. Het is echter niet de eerste keer dat dergelijke zaken aan het licht komen. Waarschijnlijk is het niet geheel te vermijden, maar ik heb wel sterk de indruk dat het leger meer zou kunnen doen.

RP
----------

Last update - 15:03 19/03/2009
IDF orders probe into allegations over Gaza war
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072350.html

 

In the wake of an Haaretz expose, the Israel Defense Forces on Thursday ordered an investigation into soldiers' accounts of alleged misconduct and serious violations of the army's rules of engagement.

Military Advocate General Brig. Gen. Avichai Mendelblit instructed the Military Police Investigation unit to launch the probe after soldiers were quoted as telling a military cadet academy that combat troops in Gaza fired at unarmed Palestinian civilians and vandalized property during Operation Cast Lead.

The head of the pe-military course, Danny Zamir, told Haaretz on Wednesday that he did not know in advance what the soldiers would say at the gathering, and what they said "shocked us." He said that after hearing the soldiers, he told IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi about his fears of a serious moral failure in the IDF.

The chief of staff's bureau requested a copy of the transcript of the discussion, and Zamir provided it. This week Zamir met with the IDF's chief education officer, Brig. Gen. Eli Shermeister, to discuss the matter. Zamir said he believed the army would take the matter seriously. "They do not intend to avoid responsibility," he said.

The IDF Spokesman's Office said: "As a result of the request of the head of the Rabin pre-military course, Mr. Danny Zamir, to the chief of staff's bureau, a meeting was held between Zamir and the chief education officer, Brig. Gen. Eli Shermeister. The chief education officer described to the head of the preparatory course the processes of the operational and ethical inquiries being conducted by the IDF and the chief education officer's staff at all levels."

The chief education officer also described "the actions taken before during and after the operation to inculcate the soldiers and commanders with the moral aspects of the fighting."

The spokesman said that "Brig. Gen. Shermeister also made it clear that the IDF is now conducting intensive and comprehensive inquiries, and that commanders are encouraging discussion of these matters. The IDF has no supporting or prior information about these events. The IDF will check their veracity and investigate as required. The head of the preparatory course was also asked to pass on to the IDF any information he has so we can deal with it and investigate it in depth."

The IDF Spokesman's Office said: "As a result of the request of the head of the Rabin pre-military course, Mr. Danny Zamir, to the chief of staff's bureau, a meeting was held between Zamir and the chief education officer, Brig. Gen. Eli Shermeister. The chief education officer described to the head of the preparatory course the processes of the operational and ethical inquiries being conducted by the IDF and the chief education officer's staff at all levels."

The chief education officer also described "the actions taken before during and after the operation to inculcate the soldiers and commanders with the moral aspects of the fighting."

The spokesman said that "Brig. Gen. Shermeister also made it clear that the IDF is now conducting intensive and comprehensive inquiries, and that commanders are encouraging discussion of these matters. The IDF has no supporting or prior information about these events. The IDF will check their veracity and investigate as required. The head of the preparatory course was also asked to pass on to the IDF any information he has so we can deal with it and investigate it in depth."

Barak: We have the most moral army in the world

In reaction to the revelations in Haaretz, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said he was confident the IDF would look into the matter "with all seriousness."

"We have the most moral army in the world," Barak told Israel Radio. "I spent dozens of years in uniform, I know what happened in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, and Iraq, and I say to you that from the chief of staff down to the last soldier, the most moral army in the world stands ready to take orders from the government of Israel. I have no doubt that every incident will be individually examined."

 

 

Iraanse overloper onthulde Syrisch atoomproject met geld van Iran

 

De kernreactor in Syrië die Israel in september 2007 bombardeerde, was met Iraans geld en Noord-Koreaanse hulp en technologie opgezet, zo blijkt uit nieuwe onthullingen van een hooggeplaatste Iraanse overloper.

 

Dit komt overeen met eerdere waarnemingen, zoals een Noord-Koreaans schip met nucleaire brandstofstaven aan boord dat kort voor Israels bombardement werd onderschept, en het feit dat Noord-Koreanen in de reactor aan het werk waren tijdens het bombardement.

 

RP

----------

Report Iran defector revealed Syrian Nuke project financed by Iran

'Iran defector tipped off U.S. on Syrian nuclear ambitions'
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072478.html

By The Associated Press

 

 

A top-ranked Iranian defector told the United States that Iran was financing North Korean moves to make Syria into a nuclear weapons power, leading to the Israeli air strike that allegedly destroyed a secret reactor, a report said Thursday.

 

The article in the Swiss daily Neue Zuercher Zeitung goes into detail about an Iranian connection and fills in gaps about Israel's September 6, 2007, raid that knocked out Syria's nearly completed al-Kabir reactor in the country's eastern desert.

 

Ali Reza Asghari, a retired general in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards and a former deputy defense minister, changed sides in February 2007 and provided considerable information to the West on Iran's own nuclear program, said the article, written by Hans Ruehle, former chief of the planning staff of the German Defense Ministry.
 

The biggest surprise, however, was his assertion that Iran was financing a secret nuclear project of Syria and North Korea, he said. No one in the American intelligence scene had heard anything of it. And the Israelis who were immediately informed also were completely unaware.

 

Ruehle, who did not identify the sources of his information, publishes and comments on security and nuclear proliferation in different European newspapers and broadcasts and has held prominent roles in German and NATO institutions.

 

U.S. intelligence had detected North Korean ship deliveries of construction supplies to Syria that started in 2002, and American satellites spotted the construction as early as 2003, but regarded the work as nothing unusual, in part because the Syrians had banned radio and telephones from the site and handled communications solely by messengers - medieval but effective, Ruehle said.

 

Intensive investigation followed by U.S. and Israeli intelligence services until Israel sent a 12-man commando unit in two helicopters to the site in August 2007 to take photographs and soil samples, he said.

 

"The analysis was conclusive that it was a North Korean-type reactor, a gas graphite model," Ruehle said.

 

Other sources have suggested that the reactor might have been large enough to make about one nuclear weapon's worth of plutonium a year.

 

Just before the Israeli commando raid, a North Korean ship was intercepted en route to Syria with nuclear fuel rods, underscoring the need for fast action, he said.

 

On the morning of September 6, 2007, seven Israeli F-15 fighter bombers took off to the north. They flew along the Mediterranean coast, brushed past Turkey and pressed on into Syria. Fifty kilometers (30 miles) from their target they fired 22 rockets at the three identified objects inside the Kibar complex.

 

"The Syrians were completely surprised. By the time their air defense systems were ready, the Israeli planes were well out of range. The mission was successful, the reactor destroyed," Ruehle said.

 

"Israel estimates that Iran had paid North Korea between $1 billion and $2 billion for the project," Ruehle said.

 

Israel has refused from the beginning to comment on, confirm or deny the strike, but after a delay of several months Washington presented intelligence purporting to show the target was a reactor being built with North Korean help.

 

Iranian officials were not available for comment because of a national holiday. In general, Iran has been silent about the Syrian facility bombed by Israel. Syrian officials could not be reached for comment. But Syria has denied the facility was a nuclear plant, saying it was an unused military building. It has also denied any nuclear cooperation with North Korea or Iran.

 

The International Atomic Energy Agency earlier this year said United Nations inspectors had found processed uranium traces in samples taken from the site.

 

Syria has suggested the traces came from Israeli ordnance used to hit the site, but the IAEA said the composition of the uranium made that unlikely. Israel has denied it was the source of the uranium.

 

Syria has told diplomats that it built a missile facility over the ruins of the site.

 

 

Palestijnse boycot van Israelische ziekenhuizen

Uit andere bronnen heb ik begrepen dat Israelische ziekenhuizen vaak al een lager tarief rekenen voor Palestijnen.

Het is helaas een patroon dat de Palestijnen liever lijden dan iets te doen dat ook in het belang is van Israel, en deze mentaliteit is een belangrijke motor achter het conflict.

 

RP

-----------

Palestinian boycott causes Palestinian health crisis, Palestinian children die

http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/03/palestinian-boycott-causes-palestinian.html

 

Where are the international organizations who should be protecting children? Will they step in and pay the costs of medical care? Will they protest against this cruel policy? Where are the donor countries who subsidize the Palestinian authority? It is easy for them to deduct the cost of the health treatment from payments to the Palestinian Authority. For that matter, where is the Israeli government, which could deduct the needed sums from the money paid Israel to the Palestinian Authority for return of VAT payments. (A.I.)

 

Seeking to Rob Israel of Good PR, PA Sentences Its Sick to Die
by Israel National News staff

 

(IsraelNN.com)

 

A decision by the Palestinian Authority Health Minister to cut off medical benefits at Israeli hospitals has cost the life of at least one little girl, and it is not clear how many more will follow.

 

Following the recent counterterrorist Operation Cast Lead against Gaza terrorists, PA minister Fathi Abu Moughli decided in January to stop covering Israeli hospital expenses of PA residents who cross the security barrier to receive treatment.

 

As a result, strokes have gone untreated and life-saving chemotherapy, radiotherapy and bone marrow transplants for cancer patients have been put off indefinitely.

 

Six-year-old Asil Manasra died. The Palestinian Authority child had for eight months been receiving intensive treatment at an Israeli hospital for complications arising from tuberculosis. One week after the PA Health Ministry forced her family to stop the visits, the little girl struggled for breath no more.

 

Asil first became ill after receiving a TB vaccination as a six-month-old infant. During the following four years, her father, Jamal Manasra told the Associated Press that said she was subsequently misdiagnosed by two PA hospitals. The child became sicker and sicker with severe stiffness, high fever, and then acquiring liver and lung infections. Only as a five-year-old did Asil win a referral to Hadassah, where the race for time began, as the disease had overwhelmed most of her body, necessitating intensive, constant treatments.

 

The PA Health Ministry decision ended the race in February, cutting off payments for the life-saving treatments. The little girl spent the last week of her life in a hospital in Bethlehem, where medication was administered per the advice of her doctor at Hadassah.

 

"I blame everyone. Should children die because of political decisions?" Asil's father asked the AP reporter in anguish. "How can you stop treatment? When a child is so sick that she is going to die, is there something more important than that?"

 

Mahmoud Manasra of Wadi Fukeen near Jerusalem, fears he will be next. The 23-year-old was forced last month to stop the life-saving chemotherapy treatment for leukemia he had received for the past year at Hadassah Medical Center. "God knows how much I worry, my situation is getting worse," he said. "We are waiting for mercy to come down from the sky."

 

Manasra's mother Aaliya agonizes over the situation: "My son is in danger — each day I die with him a hundred deaths," she said.

 

Sharp Drop in Referrals
Initially, Abu Moughli restricted the reversal to Gazans who were wounded during Operation Cast Lead, saying those who were injured were transferred to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Morocco and other Arab countries "so that they would not have to be treated by the same country that harmed them."

 

But the PA minister told the AP that the policy change aimed not only to cut costs, but "to rid Palestinians of their need for Israeli medicine and deny the Jewish State a 'propaganda' campaign that improves its world image while the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority foots the bill."

 

"We are trying to free our health system from dependence," he said.

 

The Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan has reported a 60 percent drop in PA referrals since Operation Cast Lead ended on Jan. 18. Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem said it has only received several dozen referrals of Arab patients in February, compared with an average of 1,600 per month (!) last year.

 

'Treat Them for Free'
The leftist Physicians for Human Rights-Israel group, meanwhile has blamed the Jewish State in part for the situation due to the cost of treatment. The group contends that the way to solve the problem is that Israeli hospitals should agree to treat the PA patients for free.

 

A Hadassah official responded that the hospital has, in fact, treated some "special cases" for free, but added: "You can't run a hospital if you treat everyone for free."

 

Abu Moughli maintained that the PA's health system has greatly improved and that there is no need to send patients to Israel. Moreover, it is expensive. Instead, the patients that cannot be treated in the PA are now referred to Egypt, Jordan and elsewhere, thus saving some $17 million, and avoiding what the minister said was a cost of up to four times that of medical care in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

 

Asil's father Jamal claims, however, that it was the PA hospitals that made his daughter sick to begin with. "They lacked experience," Asil's father said of the many PA doctors who treated her. "If they knew what the problem was, she wouldn't have gotten worse."

 

Hamas dreigt meer Israelische soldaten te kidnappen

 

"The Israelis just don't learn. When they refuse to release Palestinians, it forces the Palestinians to resort to other means to gain their release - and inevitably this includes the capture of more Israeli soldiers," Mashaal said during an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald.

 

Het is natuurlijk precies omgekeerd: wanneer Israel grote aantallen Palestijnse gevangenen vrijlaat in ruil voor een soldaat, en zelfs nog andere concessies doet zoals opening van de grensovergangen voor alle materialen en commerciële goederen, maakt dat het ontvoeren van Israelische soldaten alleen maar aantrekkelijker. Nu heeft Hamas na meer dan 2,5 jaar nog steeds niets anders gekregen dan meer aanvallen van Israel. En anders dan Meshaal hieronder doet voorkomen, heeft Hamas de mogelijkheid onmiddellijk een einde te maken aan de grensafsluitingen door met het afvuren van raketten op Israel en de wapensmokkel te stoppen.

 

Hamas heeft overigens vaker gedreigd meer soldaten te ontvoeren, en hiertoe meermaals pogingen ondernomen door bijvoorbeeld tunnels onder het hek met Israel te graven (zoals begin november), maar deze pogingen zijn allemaal verijdeld door het Israelische leger.

 

RP

-----------

The Jerusalem Post
Mar 20, 2009 20:51 | Updated Mar 20, 2009 20:54
Hamas: We may be forced to kidnap more Israeli soldiers
By JPOST.COM STAFF
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1237461634849&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


In June 2006, Hamas kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Schalit because Israel refused to open the border crossing to the Gaza Strip, and now that Israel is refusing to release Palestinians in Israeli jails as part of a prisoner swap deal, the organization may have to resort to more kidnappings in order to get what it wants, Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal told an Australian paper in a report published on Friday.

"The Israelis just don't learn. When they refuse to release Palestinians, it forces the Palestinians to resort to other means to gain their release - and inevitably this includes the capture of more Israeli soldiers," Mashaal said during an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald.

When asked if he relates to the sentiment expressed by Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was quoted as saying that had he known the extent to which Israel would retaliate in 2006, he would never have ordered the kidnapping of IDF reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, Mashaal said that his group had no choice but to act, despite the destruction caused two years later by Operation Cast Lead.

"The 2006 captures were an option, a choice for Hizbullah, so they are entitled to assess the validity of what they did in terms of the consequences for Lebanon," he told the paper. "But for the Palestinians, Gaza wasn't a question of choice.

"Israel was supposed to end the siege and open the border crossings in return for a halt to the rockets; the rockets stopped, but the siege remained and the crossings stayed closed," Mashaal said. "It's unfair to ask Palestinians if they want to die slowly under siege or quickly under fire."

Palestinian rocket fire has plagued the South for over eight years, with thousands of projectiles fired into Israeli communities and cities throughout the western Negev causing billions of shekels in damage, and wounded and killing scores of civilians. Following the kidnapping in 2006, Israel severely restricted the flow of goods into the Gaza Strip, opening the borders intermittently to allow for the transport of essential supplies. A deal struck in July 2007 with Hamas which aimed to open the border permanently in return for a halt to rocket fire and progress in negotiations for a prisoner swap collapsed under continued Palestinian attacks on the western Negev.

Following Operation Cast Lead, and with the end of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's term only days away, efforts to secure the release of Gilad Schalit have intensified. However, on Tuesday the talks reached an impasse, with both sides accusing the other of having sabotaged negotiations through refusal to compromise.

Hindoes vluchten uit Pakistan voor Taliban en islamistisch geweld

 

Geregeld houden verlichte geesten als Anja Meulenbelt of Arjen El Fassed een pleidooi voor een zogenaamde eenstatenoplossing. Joden en Palestijnen gezellig samen in een land, met gelijke rechten voor iedereen. Zo'n staat zou, met dank aan de miljoenen Palestijnse vluchtelingen en hun nakomelingen echter spoedig een Arabische meerderheid hebben. Hieronder een mogelijk scenario van wat er dan zou gebeuren.

 

RP

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

Hindus flee Taliban and Islamist violence

http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/03/hindus-flee-taliban-and-islamist.html

 

This is what a democratic secular state in Israel would look like. But where would the Jews flee to?

 

Not  safe at home, Pak Hindus flee to India

 

March 16, 2009

 

 

In May 2008, Pakistan's tribal province of Orakzai was in the news. The majority Muslims did not allow the Hindus to cremate their dead at the place that had been the designated crematorium for over a century.

The next month, the Pakistan government signed a peace treaty with the Taliban. It was among many other such treaties and not much was made of it, especially since the latter agreed that it would recognise the writ of the government.

But in the next couple of months, the few Hindu families began facing the heat.

"It was like the smoke before the fire. The Taliban's presence was not very evident in the following two months. But things were becoming obvious. A group of locals who supported the Taliban gave us the distinct feeling that we were not wanted there," says Jagdish Lal Sharma, who says he is a Pandit from the region.

Though there were no direct threats, the Hindu families were never left in any doubt about their minority status. Sometimes it would be a warning not to stare at Muslim women for long, at other times, it would be the subtle coercion of the local administrators to sell their land when the situation was still normal. The families were weighing their options until October when they were asked to wear a red patch in their pagadis (turban).

"We were told Hindus are not supposed to wish a Muslim even inadvertently and that is why, in order to make it obvious for a passing Muslim that we were Hindus, we ought to have some element of red in our headgear," Hardwari Lal, who is now in Amritsar with his family of 13, says.

In Amrtisar, they found Surinder Kumar Billa, a local religious leader at the Durgaina temple in Amritsar, who has promised to help them get Indian citizenship.

 

 

Jagdish Lal Sharma fled with his wife and five kids:
I am a Pandit and also did some hakeemi on the side with natural medicines. There was no problem in our village till very recently. I had a very small temple near my home. One day, some other villagers came and said the presence of your temple is a threat to our religion. It should not be there. I pleaded with them to spare the temple but had no other option but to take the idols inside the house.

On October 2, we got a visa to India and I had a cousin in Amritsar. But the procedure is such that, I had to first go to Delhi -- where I knew no one -- and get my papers to come to Amritsar. You know very well how it is getting work done with the government. By the time I got the required papers to come to Amritsar, most of the money I had with me was spent.

It is a good feeling having at last come to Amritsar. The Punjab region is more or less the same on both sides. But we do not know how long we are going to be here. That is one issue we are worried about. The other is what we are going to do about our children. They do not know Punjabi and hence cannot get admitted to a school here. We have to find a way.

Our forefathers thought that staying back in Pakistan was a good idea. Now, we are thinking about our children and want them to grow up here in India.

 

Hardwari Lal, 13 family members:
I had a general store in my village. I live in a region where the Hindus have slowly disappeared. By the time I left, there was only one other family (which has also moved to India.) I have four sisters. My main concern is to find a match for them. I want to marry them to Hindus.

Apart from this, my main worry is the land I lost. My family owned a considerable amount of land worth several lakhs. As things started getting worse, there was a lot of pressure on me to sell the land to the locals.

The government was helpless. The central authorities in Peshawar could not do anything to help me. It was the local authorities who called the shots.

The local tehsildar (revenue officer) struck the deal like he was supporting me, but finalised it for 10 per cent of the original price. I had no other go but to concede. The local authorities are nothing but political agents for the radicals in these regions.

They used to come knocking and say no photos, no pictures, no idols. We were forced to remove all the family photos and idols of gods though it was inside our house. That is when I realised how different these same people were earlier. Samay ka prabhaav padta hi hain? (Time takes its toll)

It is not like the liberals have disappeared and radicals have moved in. It is the same neighbours who used to be pillars of strength in the past year who are behaving differently today. That is what pains me the most. The only Hindus who are better off are those in the Shia-dominated areas. There Shias protect the Hindus like their own against the Sunni fundamentalists. One thing I observed is that the Sikh people are somehow getting along. I admire them for that.

 

Avtari Lal Sharma:
I am also a medical practitioner. Unlike these people, I moved to Peshawar about two years ago. I never got wind of what is coming when I was there.

These people (he is Hardwari Lal's cousin) then started telling me how the situation was getting worse in Orakzai. So, when they decided to leave the country, I also decided to go with them. I wondered whether I did the right thing then, but now I am convinced it was the right thing to do.

As I sit here talking with you, I hear that they have reached Peshawar and signed a pact there too. Peshawar is about 250 km from Orakzai. Only now I realise... what is 250 km in these days and times. I am thankful I am here.

There are still many people who are there and want to leave. Most of them do not have relatives in Delhi. They do not have the money to go to Delhi first and pay a lot to get a permit to visit Punjab, where most of their relatives are. The best thing the government can do to us is to give a Punjab visa so that we can directly come here.

Another reason why most people hesitate is the money. They don't have much to start with, and then the Rs 10 they have becomes Rs 5 in India. So people really do not want to take the risk of losing everything. They are waiting to see if things will go back to normal.

So, if India is really interested in the welfare of the Hindus, they should issue Punjab visas. That is the only way those who are not well off can escape to safety.

 

Gulzari Lal Sharma:
I had a small shop. Things began getting worse before our eyes. I got really scared when they began enforcing the pagadi rule. They asked us to have some sort of red patch in our headgear. I do not know what purpose it would have served. All our neighbours knew we were Hindus. And we hardly left the village. It was really scary.

There has always been the shadow of the Taliban in the recent times in my place. In October it got really worse. The women in the family were harassed a lot. I had a little land and sold it for a decent price when I decided to leave the place.

The one thing I considered was the future of my children and when I thought about it, it was clear to me that they can't grow up in that environment. As we left, we were really worried about reaching Peshawar. Not just because we were Hindus, but that stretch was generally such a dangerous one and totally in control of the militants, even normal Pakistanis were scared to take that road.

We somehow made that distance of 250 km and reached Peshawar. From there we went to Lahore where we waited for our visas. The moment we got it, we left on the Samjhauta Express. Our permits are till 2010. Some have it till 2011.

These things are all in the hands of local authorities. All I hope for now is that we are not harassed when the duration lapses. We are pleading the Indian government for a right to stay here and hope we get it.

Reportage & Photograph: Krishnakumar P

 

IDF soldaten spreken misdragingen in Gaza tegen

 

In reaktie op aantijgingen door een aantal IDF soldaten in verschillende kranten van gisteren, zie Misdragingen door de IDF in Gaza Oorlog , doet Ynet hieronder verslag van soldaten die deze aantijgingen tegenspreken. Er zullen zeker incidenten als in Haaretz vermeld hebben plaatsgevonden, maar het is moeilijk te bepalen op welke schaal. In het IDF dienen jonge mannen van elke slag, van schietgrage racisten tot bevlogen idealisten. Het is de verantwoordelijkheid van de legerleiding om ze goed te scholen, niet alleen in het hanteren van wapens maar evenzeer in het afwegen wanneer die wel en niet te gebruiken en in de morele code waarop het IDF zich laat voorstaan. De commandanten ter plekke moeten op de naleving daarvan toezien, wat in ondergenoemde voorbeelden ook werd gedaan. Zo werd soldaten bestraft die eten uit Palestijnse huizen hadden meegenomen.

 

Wouter

__________________

IDF soldiers refute claims of immoral conduct in Gaza

'It is true that in war morality can be interpreted in many different ways, and there are always a few idiots who act inappropriately, but most of the troops represented Israel honorably,' soldier says in response to claims of immoral behavior during Operation Cast Lead.

Reservist: Claims 'fictitious'.
'Free Gaza' movement demands international investigation

 

Daniel Edelson - YNET

Published: 03.19.09, 22:09
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3689388,00.html

 

IDF soldiers who took part in January's offensive in Hamas-ruled Gaza refuted on Thursday claims of immoral conduct on the military's part.

The claims were made by soldiers who took part in the war during a post-op conference at the military academy at Oranim. The conference protocol was published Thursday.

"I don't believe there were soldiers who were looking to kill (Palestinians) for no reason," said 21-year-old Givati Brigade soldier Assaf Danziger, who was lightly injured three days before the conclusion of Operation Cast Lead.

"What happened there was not enjoyable to anyone; we wanted it to end as soon as possible and tried to avoid contact with innocent civilians," he said.

According to Danziger, soldiers were given specific orders to open fire only at armed terrorists or people who posed a threat. "There were no incidents of vandalism at any of the buildings we occupied. We did only what was justified and acted out of necessity. No one shot at civilians. People walked by us freely," he recounted.

A Paratroopers Brigade soldier who also participated in the war called the claims "nonsense". Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said "It is true that in war morality can be interpreted in many different ways, and there are always a few idiots who act inappropriately, but most of the soldiers represented Israel honorably and with a high degree of morality.

"For instance, on three separate occasions my company commander checked soldiers' bags for stolen goods. Those who stole the smallest things, like candy, were severely punished," he said.

"We were forbidden from sleeping in Palestinians' beds even when we had no alternate accommodations, and we didn't touch any of their food even after we hadn't had enough to eat for two days."

According to a reservist who spent a week in Gaza during the offensive, the claims of immoral behavior on the soldiers' part were "fictitious".

"Wherever we were we tried to cause minimum damage," said the paratrooper, who also asked to remain nameless. "We left some of the homes cleaner than they were before we occupied them. We even cleaned a refrigerator that really stunk.

"During one incident, we were informed that a female suicide bomber was heading in our direction, but even when women approached us and crossed a certain point we made do with firing in the air, or near the women," the soldier recalled. "Even when we came across deserted stores, we didn't even think of taking anything. One soldier took a can of food, but he immediately returned it after everyone yelled at him."

Major (res.) Idan Zuaretz of Givati said "in every war there is a small percentage of problematic soldiers, but we must look at it from a broad perspective and not focus on isolated incidents."

Zuaretz, a company commander, also questioned the integrity of the soldiers who made the controversial claims, saying "if this was such a burning issue for them, why have they remained silent until now? On an ethical and moral level, they were obligated to stop what they claimed had occurred and not wait two months to be heard at some esoteric debate."

According to the officer, the IDF went to great lengths and employed the most advanced technology to avoid harming civilian population.

"I've seen a few things in my time, but even I was blown away by the level of professionalism displayed by the army," Zuaretz said. "I personally gave my soldiers an order on the day we withdrew from Gaza to leave all of our goodies in the last house we occupied. Some reservists even left an envelope full of money to one Palestinian family."

Meanwhile, "Free Gaza" spokeswoman Hawida Araf told Ynet that "it is hard to say that the claims of immoral conduct are surprising," adding that an international investigative committee must be set up to probe the incidents in Gaza.

"Apparently some of things the soldiers had done in Gaza weighed on their conscience to such a degree that they felt compelled to make them known," she said.

Araf, who has organized seven sails to Gaza in defiance of the Israeli blockade, said a group of attorneys who visited the Strip following the offensive is expected to issue its report next week.

"We checked whether Israel violated any international laws in Gaza," she said, but admitted that the report was based on Palestinian eyewitness accounts and did not include soldiers' testimonies.

 

 

Misdragingen door de IDF in Gaza Oorlog

Een aantal soldaten die in Gaza hadden gevochten deed op een bijeenkomst onlangs verslag van misstanden die ze hadden meegemaakt. Onder de voorbeelden een Palestijnse vrouw met twee kinderen die door een scherpschutter zouden zijn doodgeschoten nadat zij per vergissing de verkeerde kant opliepen, een soldaat die opdracht zou hebben gekregen een oudere vrouw neer te schieten die op straat liep (of hij dat ook deed wordt hier niet vermeld), gevallen van vandalisme en racistische uitspraken van soldaten. De schaal van dit soort incidenten is niet duidelijk, maar Haaretz kondigt meer van dergelijke verhalen aan voor de komende edities. Het leger zegt de aantijgingen te zullen onderzoeken.

Dezelfde dag verscheen al in Ynet een artikel waarin andere soldaten de aantijgingen tegenspreken, althans benadrukken dat bij hun onderdeel geen misdragingen plaatshadden (zie volgende artikel).

 

Wouter

____________

IDF in Gaza: Killing civilians, vandalism, and lax rules of engagement
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent / 19-03-2009
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072040.html

During Operation Cast Lead, Israeli forces killed Palestinian civilians under permissive rules of engagement and intentionally destroyed their property, say soldiers who fought in the offensive.

The soldiers are graduates of the Yitzhak Rabin pre-military preparatory course at Oranim Academic College in Tivon. Some of their statements made on Feb. 13 will appear Thursday and Friday in Haaretz. Dozens of graduates of the course who took part in the discussion fought in the Gaza operation.

The speakers included combat pilots and infantry soldiers. Their testimony runs counter to the Israel Defense Forces' claims that Israeli troops observed a high level of moral behavior during the operation. The session's transcript was published this week in the newsletter for the course's graduates.

The testimonies include a description by an infantry squad leader of an incident where an IDF sharpshooter mistakenly shot a Palestinian mother and her two children. "There was a house with a family inside .... We put them in a room. Later we left the house and another platoon entered it, and a few days after that there was an order to release the family. They had set up positions upstairs. There was a sniper position on the roof," the soldier said.

"The platoon commander let the family go and told them to go to the right. One mother and her two children didn't understand and went to the left, but they forgot to tell the sharpshooter on the roof they had let them go and it was okay, and he should hold his fire and he ... he did what he was supposed to, like he was following his orders."

According to the squad leader: "The sharpshooter saw a woman and children approaching him, closer than the lines he was told no one should pass. He shot them straight away. In any case, what happened is that in the end he killed them.

"I don't think he felt too bad about it, because after all, as far as he was concerned, he did his job according to the orders he was given. And the atmosphere in general, from what I understood from most of my men who I talked to ... I don't know how to describe it .... The lives of Palestinians, let's say, is something very, very less important than the lives of our soldiers. So as far as they are concerned they can justify it that way," he said.

Another squad leader from the same brigade told of an incident where the company commander ordered that an elderly Palestinian woman be shot and killed; she was walking on a road about 100 meters from a house the company had commandeered.

The squad leader said he argued with his commander over the permissive rules of engagement that allowed the clearing out of houses by shooting without warning the residents beforehand. After the orders were changed, the squad leader's soldiers complained that "we should kill everyone there [in the center of Gaza]. Everyone there is a terrorist."

The squad leader said: "You do not get the impression from the officers that there is any logic to it, but they won't say anything. To write 'death to the Arabs' on the walls, to take family pictures and spit on them, just because you can. I think this is the main thing: To understand how much the IDF has fallen in the realm of ethics, really. It's what I'll remember the most."

The head of the pe-military course, Danny Zamir, told Haaretz Wednesday that he did not know in advance what the soldiers would say at the gathering, and what they said "shocked us." He said that after hearing the soldiers, he told IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi about his fears of a serious moral failure in the IDF.

The chief of staff's bureau requested a copy of the transcript of the discussion, and Zamir provided it. This week Zamir met with the IDF's chief education officer, Brig. Gen. Eli Shermeister, to discuss the matter. Zamir said he believed the army would take the matter seriously. "They do not intend to avoid responsibility," he said.

The IDF Spokesman's Office said: "As a result of the request of the head of the Rabin pre-military course, Mr. Danny Zamir, to the chief of staff's bureau, a meeting was held between Zamir and the chief education officer, Brig. Gen. Eli Shermeister. The chief education officer described to the head of the preparatory course the processes of the operational and ethical inquiries being conducted by the IDF and the chief education officer's staff at all levels."

The chief education officer also described "the actions taken before during and after the operation to inculcate the soldiers and commanders with the moral aspects of the fighting."

The spokesman said that "Brig. Gen. Shermeister also made it clear that the IDF is now conducting intensive and comprehensive inquiries, and that commanders are encouraging discussion of these matters. The IDF has no supporting or prior information about these events. The IDF will check their veracity and investigate as required. The head of the preparatory course was also asked to pass on to the IDF any information he has so we can deal with it and investigate it in depth."

More soldiers' testimonies will be published in Haaretz over the coming days.

Netanjahoe vraagt om 2 extra weken voor vormen coalitie

Netanjahoe heeft Labor nogmaals gevraagd deel te nemen aan de regering en ze vijf ministersposten aangeboden. Barak wil wel, maar een deel van de partij is faliekant tegen. Zou deelname van Labor de coalitie uit de rechtse hoek halen? Dat kan nauwelijks gezien de aantallen zetels van de verschillende partijen. Anderzijds: als minister van defensie heeft Barak vetorecht over belangrijke zaken, en kan hij voorkomen dat de regering al te hard tegen de Palestijnen optreedt. Het is jammer dat Labor niet ook buitenlandse zaken kan krijgen, dat zou Israel een hoop problemen in de internationale arena besparen.

 

RP

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

Netanyahu asks Peres for 2 more weeks
Mar. 18, 2009
Gil Hoffman , THE JERUSALEM POST

 

 

Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu will have no choice but to ask President Shimon Peres for two more weeks to form a government, after he renewed his effort to bring Labor into his coalition on Wednesday.

 

Following consultations with Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz, Beit Hanassi officially set midnight Sunday as the final deadline for Netanyahu to form a government.

 

But that deadline became irrelevant when Labor secretary-general Eitan Cabel announced that the convention that would decide whether the party joins the government would not be held until Tuesday.

 

Between now and then, Barak will work to persuade Labor MKs and activists that joining Netanyahu's government is in the best interests of both the country and the party. He had already begun to do so in a meeting with key political allies Wednesday night.

 

Barak officially declared his support for Labor joining the government Wednesday evening in a press release.

 

The statement was issued three weeks after he had announced at Jerusalem's King David Hotel that Labor would be a "responsible and serious opposition" due to the verdict of the voters that brought Labor down from 19 seats to 13 in the February 10 election.

 

"The good of the country, in light of all the challenges facing us - diplomatic, economic and social issues - requires Labor to seriously consider joining the government, and a decision will be made in the party's institutions," Barak said.

 

"We are all emissaries of the party and no one is above it. Most of the country's citizens and most Labor voters want to see the party be a partner to the country's leadership."

 

Barak's press statement came eight hours after Netanyahu issued a statement of his own, calling upon Labor to join the government.

 

"The Labor Party has many leading figures who are experienced and have much to contribute on security, diplomatic, economic and social issues," Netanyahu said.

 

"Their presence in the government would greatly strengthen the country's leadership at this juncture, and would significantly enhance Israel's efforts to successfully meet great challenges standing in its path."

 

Netanyahu has offered Labor five portfolios including defense, two deputy ministers and a Knesset committee chairmanship, even though it is possible there won't even be eight Labor MKs who would support the government if Barak's proposal to join it passes at the convention.

 

Labor MKs Ophir Paz-Pines, Eitan Cabel, Amir Peretz, Shelly Yacimovich and Yuli Tamir fiercely attacked Barak's effort to bring the party into the government and vowed to defeat his proposal at the convention.

 

Besides those five legislators, Social Welfare Minister Isaac Herzog and MKs Avishay Braverman, Orit Noked, and Daniel Ben-Simon have also expressed opposition to joining the coalition, but Barak's associates believe they will end up supporting the proposal.

 

The Labor Youth organization began efforts to pass a proposal that would start the process of toppling Barak at the convention.

 

"Barak's attempt to crawl into the government is killing Labor," Tamir said. "He has abandoned his faith in Labor's path, so he shouldn't be allowed to decide its future."

 

Sources close to Barak expressed confidence that he could pass the proposal, albeit by a small margin. Histadrut Labor Federation chief Ofer Eini will lead Barak's effort to pass the proposal, stressing the need for Labor to be in the coalition to deal with the economic crisis.

 

Likud MKs criticized Netanyahu in closed conversations for offering so many portfolios to a fraction of a party.

 

"He is paying way too much for damaged goods," a Likud MK said.

 

But Netanyahu's associates said he felt he needed Barak at his side due to the security situation, especially the threat from Iran. They said his decision to pursue Barak was reinforced in his recent meetings with IDF Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi and other top security officials.

 

Likud sources said Netanyahu would still try to bring in all the parties on the Right, except for the National Union, which Barak has ruled out. Netanyahu intends to build a coalition of 70 MKs - 61 from the Right and nine from Labor.

 

The Likud's coalition negotiating team met late Wednesday night with representatives of United Torah Judaism and continued informal contacts with Shas, reporting progress with both parties.

 

A Shas minister said his party supported Labor joining the coalition and had agreed to stall the coalition talks to bring about a national-unity government.

 

"Labor is worth waiting for, because we need a stable government," the Shas minister said. "In a coalition of 70 MKs, Shas will once again hold the balance of power. If there are only 61 MKs in the coalition, we would be less important, because every MK would hold the balance of power."

 

A Barak associate said he would not insist that Kadima also join the government as a precondition for Labor joining. Kadima officials reiterated Wednesday night that the party would remain in the opposition even if Labor entered the government.

 

"I hope Labor's leadership and institutions are stronger than the party chairman and won't allow the party to join a right-wing extremist government," said Kadima faction chairman Yoel Hasson.

 

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

This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1237114860712&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

 

Netanjahoe and Lieberman zullen het vredesproces begraven

Misschien moet Netanjahoe wat minder eerlijk worden, en net als PA president Abbas en minister Mohammed Dahlan zeggen dat hij als regeringsleider bereid is een tweestatenoplossing te accepteren, maar dat de partijen die aan de regering deelnemen dat uiteraard niet hoeven te doen. Hij kan ook nog zeggen dat hij bereid is de legitimiteit van een Palestijnse staat te erkennen, maar niet als staat voor het Palestijnse volk, want dat zou discriminatie van de Joden op de Westelijke Jordaanoever inhouden. Al dit soort uitspraken van het 'gematigde Palestijnse leiderschap' zijn voor Europa immers geen probleem. Of zou men Israel met andere maatstaven beoordelen?

RP
----------

THE WORLD FROM BERLIN
'Netanyahu and Lieberman Are the Gravediggers of the Peace Process'

Der Spiegel - 03/17/2009

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,613791,00.html

 

 

With Likud and Yisrael Beitenu having signed a coalition agreement, it looks increasingly likely that far-right politician Avigdor Lieberman will be the next Israeli foreign minister. German newspapers are concerned that such an appointment would signal the end of the peace process.

 

With far-right politician Avigdor Lieberman looking likely to become Israel's next foreign minister, leading figures in Europe have said that it may no longer be "business as usual" with Israel.

 

Prime Minister designate Benjamin Netanyahu is still in the process of building a coalition government and on Tuesday his spokeswoman said he had a "strong desire" to bring in more moderate parties. However, with Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party having sealed a deal with Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu on Monday, it is highly unlikely that Kadima or the center-left Labour Party will join the government. On Monday Kadima leader Tzipi Livni, the current Israeli foreign minister, said that she was not prepared to join a coalition that did not share her party's commitment to a peace agreement with the Palestinians.

 

Lieberman, whose party represents many immigrants to Israel from the former Soviet Union, has drawn accusations of racism for a proposal that would require Arab citizens of Israel to sign loyalty oaths or lose their citizenship. On Monday, the Israeli Arab lawmaker Ahmed Tibi called for an international boycott of Lieberman if he is appointed foreign minister. "No minister should meet him, especially no Arab minister," he told Reuters.

 

The European Union has already signalled that, regardless of who is in the coalition, it wants to see a continued commitment to the peace process. Foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Sunday that the EU could only "do business as usual with a government in Israel that is prepared to continue talking and working for a two-state solution." And on Monday, EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said: "What we want to see is a foreign minister of Israel that accepts a two-state solution."

 

Netanyahu still needs other coalition partners to form a majority government. His Likud party won 27 seats in the Feb. 10 election, while Yisrael Beitenu won 15. Netanyahu is due to continue talks with the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, which won 11 seats, on Tuesday in his bid to reach a majority in the 120-member parliament.

 

On Tuesday, German commentators are gloomy about the prospects for peace in the Middle East, arguing that Netanyahu and Lieberman represent a step backwards.

 

The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

 

"Netanyahu does not have the courage to pursue a new path in the relationship with the Palestinians. He has his election campaign of fear to thank for the fact that he will become prime minister for the second time. Netanyahu associates politics with fear, not hope. In that he differs fundamentally from the new administration in Washington. He foments fear of Iran's nuclear program, fear of the rockets from Hamas and Hezbollah. Most of all, he demonizes the Palestinians, which is why he is rejecting a two-state solution and the continuation of peace talks."

 

"Under Netanyahu and his vassals from the right-wing and the ultra-Orthodox camps, there will be no new political departures, rather steps backward and newly whipped-up enmities. Netanyahu is only going to administer the conflict, not solve it. He and Lieberman are the gravediggers of the Middle East peace process. They want to maintain the occupation and expand the settlements. This is all very convenient for the radical Islamist movement Hamas. They don't need any peacemakers in Jerusalem, but rather someone like Netanyahu who wants to end their control of the Gaza Strip through force. Hamas needs Netanyahu, because the confrontation with Israel legitimizes its very existence."

 

The Financial Times Deutschland writes:

 

"While many Arabs accept the hardliner Netanyahu as a negotiating partner, despite his rejection of the two-state solution, Lieberman is a persona non grata for Israel's neighbors -- even for states like Jordan and Egypt who see themselves as Jerusalem's partners."

 

"Progress in the Middle East conflict is only possible if the Arab states are included in the negotiating process. … In order to prevent a dangerous escalation of the conflict between Israel and its neighbors, Lieberman as foreign minister will have to undergo a similar U-turn to that of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. By giving up the Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip, Sharon, the hardliner and former Likud politician, turned his back on his political roots at the end of his career. Lieberman, however, is just starting his career."

 

The center-right Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:

 

"Whoever had believed that after the short but brutal war in the Gaza Strip and the inauguration of President Obama that the relations between Israel and the Palestinians could experience a new beginning has been disappointed. The parliamentary elections in Israel on Feb. 10 had possibly the most inconvenient result: It not only mirrors the split in Israeli society, but makes it more difficult to form a government. A coalition between Likud and Kadima would have provided a better chance of reviving the peace process than the formation of a right-wing government that includes the extreme-right Yisrael Beitenu. But this seems to now be the likely outcome."

"And on the side of the Palestinians, things don't seem much better. The civil war of two years ago sealed the double leadership structure of the (moderate) Fatah in the West Bank and the (radical) Hamas in the Gaza Strip. This weakened the Palestinians politically and increased the level of chaos. This seems to suit those Israelis who have no interest in pursuing the peace process and who have stuck to the old principle of divide and conquer."

 

"For those who would like to see this conflict resolved once and for all -- including the international community -- this was and is an unacceptable position. ... Israel's politicians would be well advised to ... pursue a more accommodating policy when it comes to the peace process."

 

-- Siobhán Dowling, 12:45 p.m. CET

Tweederde van vrijgelaten Hamas gevangenen pakken terreur weer op

 

Dat soort cijfers heb ik eerder gelezen, maar dat geldt neem ik aan ook voor gevangenen die worden vrijgelaten nadat hun straf erop zit? Of gaat het dan met name om zulke zware gevallen die in Israel voor levenslang zijn veroordeeld? Voor iedere Israeli die een terrorist heeft gedood krijgt men levenslang; vandaar dat sommige gevangenen zoals Barghouti, waarvan Hamas ook de vrijlating eist, meerdere keren levenslang hebben gekregen.

 

Israel heeft in het verleden vooral gevangenen vrijgelaten zonder bloed aan hun handen, dit zijn vaak mensen die zijn opgepakt voordat de geplande aanslag plaatsvond, en dus de intentie hadden om Israeli's te doden. Zij zouden ook zonder gevangenenruil na een paar jaar weer zijn vrijgekomen.

Of mensen met bloed aan hun handen meer of minder snel weer de 'gewapende strijd' oppakken, het feit dat er honderden in 1 keer vrijkomen, waaronder mensen die een belangrijke rol speelden in de militaire tak van Hamas, zal Hamas een enorme boost geven, en velen aanmoedigen zich bij Hamas aan te sluiten.

 

RP

----------

Israeli Minister: "Two-Thirds of Freed Hamas Prisoners Returned to Terror and Murdered Israelis"
(Voice of Israel Radio-Hebrew)
www.iba.org.il:80/bet/?entity_code=515079

Translation by  Daily Alert - March 19, 2009

the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs

 

Israeli Minister Haim Ramon, a member of the Ministerial Committee on Security Prisoners, told Israel Radio Thursday that Hamas did not negotiate over the release of prisoners but rather presented an ultimatum for Israeli capitulation.

Ramon emphasized that two-thirds of Hamas prisoners released in the past had returned to terror and murdered many Israelis.


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

Aangepaste tekst Durban II onvoldoende voor VS en Nederland

 

The Netherlands, meanwhile, has drafted for consideration an alternative text for Durban II. Just two pages in length, the Dutch proposal significantly does not refer back to the DDPA.
It also includes a reference to discrimination based on sexual orientation, one of the Dutch conditions for participation in the conference.
And, taking aim at the OIC's religious defamation drive, the Dutch document declares that "freedom of expression is a cornerstone of our fight against racism."

 

Een goed initiatief van ons kleine kikkerlandje!

Als ook de EU haar poot stijf houdt, kan het Westen de concept-tekst misschien alsnog gewijzigd krijgen. Een vrijwel complete Westerse boycot van de conferentie zou een blamage betekenen die alle gezag van de conferentie en de slotverklaring onderuit halen. Dat zullen de islamitische landen en hun bondgenoten misschien toch niet willen riskeren?

 

Wouter

______________

Revised Durban II Text Does Not Meet Conditions for U.S. Participation, Critics Say
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
By Patrick Goodenough, International Editor

http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=45214

 

 

(CNSNews.com) – Language targeting Israel and references to "religious defamation" have been removed from the draft final declaration of next month's boycott-threatened U.N. racism conference, but the amended version still fails to meet the conditions laid down by the U.S. for participation.
 
Crucially, the revised text still begins by reaffirming the Durban Declaration and Program of Action (DDPA), the document adopted at the U.N.'s first world racism conference in Durban, South Africa in 2001.
 
When the State Department announced late last month that the U.S. would not attend the Durban Review Conference ("Durban II") in Geneva, it left the door open to reverse that decision.
 
For the U.S. to attend, it said, the 2009 document would have to meet specific criteria, including that it must "not reaffirm in toto the flawed 2001 Durban Declaration and Program of Action," and that "it must not single out any one country or conflict."
 
A key point of contention in the DDPA is its singling out of Israel: While references to other country-specific situations were avoided, the "Palestinian people under foreign occupation" were identified as "victims of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance."
 
The U.S. and Israel walked out of the 2001 conference in protest. In the run up to Durban II, Canada and Israel said they would not attend, and the U.S., Italy and Australia said they too would not take part unless the wording of the text was altered significantly.
 
This week the European Union was edging closer to taking a similar, unified stance when on Tuesday, in the most significant development yet in the long-running saga, organizers released a considerably shorter proposed document in a bid to avert a Western boycott.
 
A note attached to the draft explains that some text "remains to be negotiated" while other parts, which are highlighted, had now been adopted, ahead of formal endorsement by an intergovernmental working group.
 
The new version, cut to 17 pages from 45, removes all direct references to Israel, the Palestinians, occupation and defamation of religions. (The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC)-led campaign at the U.N. to outlaw what it calls religious defamation has been widely condemned as an attempt to erode free speech and shield Islam and Islamic practices – including the treatment of women and "apostates"– from legitimate criticism.)
 
Critics say the amended Durban II text still contains problematic elements – some evident, others couched in "coded language."
 
The DDPA reaffirmation is a key problem, Anne Bayefsky, editor of the Hudson Institute's Eye on the U.N. project, said Tuesday.
 
Although the amended text "jettisons much of the extra baggage" piled on by Islamic states during the preparatory process, she said, the improvements "do not meet the minimal conditions which the Obama administration delineated for U.S. participation."
 
Not only does the revised draft reaffirm the DDPA, but the reaffirmation is highlighted in the text – meaning it is not still up for negotiation.
 
"This 'new and improved' document, therefore, breaches President Obama's key conditions," Bayefsky said. It both reaffirms the DDPA and, by doing so, breaches the further criterion, that no country or conflict be singled out.
 
"It is time to end the equivocation and get out."
 
Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based body, UN Watch, agreed that the conditions for American participation in the conference had not been met.
 
"The new text breaches red lines by reaffirming the pernicious 2001 text – which singled out Israel as a racist state," he said by phone from Geneva late Tuesday.
 
This clearly contravened the U.S. conditions.
 
Fixing gaps in international conventions
 
On the issue of religious defamation, although the specific terminology had been excised, "coded language and veiled references" still lent support to the OIC's campaign, Neuer said. These include a reference to "negative stereotyping of religions."
 
The draft also praises progress made by a U.N. body, set up as a result of the Durban process, known as the "ad hoc committee on the elaboration of complementary international standards." The committee's function is to update existing international human rights conventions, filling in "gaps" and ensuring that the conventions cover "all forms of contemporary racism, including incitement to racial and religious hatred."
 
Remedying these gaps, said Neuer, "in U.N.-speak means a call for legislating a new international crime for 'defamation of religion.'"
 
Religion also makes appearances elsewhere in the text. One article says states resolve "to fully and effectively enact and implement the prohibition of advocacy of … religious hatred … through all necessary legislative, policy and judicial measures."
 
Neuer pointed out that the revised text refers to the "transatlantic" slave trade, while there is no mention of the Arab trade in African slaves. This, he said, reflected an "anti-Western agenda."
 
In another article, Western counter-terror activities are targeted. States are called on "to ensure that any measures taken in the fight against terrorism are implemented in full respect of all human rights, in particular the principle of non-discrimination."
 
The Netherlands, meanwhile, has drafted for consideration an alternative text for Durban II. Just two pages in length, the Dutch proposal significantly does not refer back to the DDPA.
It also includes a reference to discrimination based on sexual orientation, one of the Dutch conditions for participation in the conference.
 
And, taking aim at the OIC's religious defamation drive, the Dutch document declares that "freedom of expression is a cornerstone of our fight against racism."

 

Israelische regering verhoogt druk op Hamas voor gevangenenruil

 

Het is eigenlijk vreemd dat de regering nu pas de namen heeft genoemd van de gevangenen die Hamas eist in ruil voor Shalit. Terwijl de familie van Shalit al sinds zijn ontvoering de regering onder druk zet en de publieke opinie probeert te beinvloeden met haar pleidooi alles te doen om Shalit vrij te krijgen, wisten de mensen tot nu toe niet precies wat de prijs is die Hamas vraagt. Voor duizenden, misschien tienduizenden Israeli's betekent een deal dat de daders van aanslagen waarbij zij betrokken waren, door gewond raakten of een naaste verloren, vrij komen en hun 'heroische overwinning op de zionisten' zullen vieren met de belofte in de toekomst hun oude 'beroep' weer op te nemen.

 

Zie voor meer commentaar ook:

When Shalit comes marching home again

http://www.zionism-israel.com/log/archives/00000668.html

 

RP

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Analysis: Pulling the public opinion rug out from under Hamas

Mar. 18, 2009
Herb Keinon , THE JERUSALEM POST

 

Up until now, Hamas has adroitly enlisted Israeli public opinion in getting the best possible deal for the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Schalit.

 

On Tuesday, the government decided to fight back.

 

By deciding for the first time to release the names of some of the terrorists Hamas has demanded in return for Schalit, the government - which for so long has adamantly refused to release any of these details - decided to enter the public opinion ring.

 

While many Israelis may have difficulty understanding why the government would not release 450 generic "prisoners" for Schalit, when they hear the names of a few of those prisoners - some of whom make Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar, who was exchanged for the bodies of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, look like a choir boy in comparison - the debate takes on a bit of a different tenor.

 

The names Bahij Badar, Abdullah Barghouti, Ibrahim Hamed and Abbas a-Sayid may not say a lot to a lot of people. However, the Israeli public remembers all too well, and with great pain, the attacks for which they were responsible: the worst attacks of the second intifada, from the bombing at the Sbarro pizza parlor in Jerusalem, to the Seder night massacre in Netanya, to the atrocity at the Hebrew University cafeteria. Seeing these names on the list Hamas demanded, the government reasoned, would put the whole debate over Schalit in a somewhat different perspective.

 

And with the release of the names of prisoners Israel would not release, the government also publicized some of those it would be willing to free, including those with "blood on their hands" - those responsible for killing Israelis.

 

The release of that list was also a play for public opinion, since it showed the length the government was willing to go to win the freedom of Schalit.

 

Three of the four professionals who spoke at Tuesday's cabinet meeting - the prime minister's point man on the prisoner issue, Ofer Dekel; Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) head Yuval Diskin; and OC Military Intelligence Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin - all said that Hamas had reneged on previous agreements and toughened its position because of the belief that Israeli public opinion would eventually force the government's hand.

 

The feeling of the security professionals was that Hamas believed that no government could stand up to the protests and full-court media press and pleas by the Schalit family. Hamas banked on the government caving in to the public pressure.

 

On Tuesday, however, the government tried to turn the tables on Hamas.

 

Release the names, the rationale seemed to be, and the public pressure would be lessened - or, at the very least there would be more understanding as to why the government felt unable to give in to Hamas's demands.

 

It is difficult to say how close the sides were to a deal in Cairo on Sunday and Monday, because - as Dekel and Diskin told the cabinet - when they got there, Hamas had already backtracked.

 

According to government sources, Israel had agreed to release 450 prisoners, and had also agreed to release some 320 of the prisoners from a list Hamas had submitted. The disagreement was about the other 130, and Hamas was unwilling to submit different names. Hamas apparently thought time was on its side, and with just a little more public pressure the government would cave in.

 

But Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the nation Tuesday night in his televised statement that Israel was neither beaten nor defeated, and there were red lines that could not be crossed - even in the face of a public opinion blitz.

 

Public opinion, the government also somewhat belatedly seemed to realize, does not have to be a one-way street. It seems that through its decision Sunday to set up a committee to consider toughening the conditions for the Hamas prisoners in Israeli jails, it was trying to impact Palestinian public opinion.

 

Among the suggestions the committee will reportedly deal with is the possibility of revoking visitation rights for the Palestinian prisoners, taking away phone privileges, newspaper and television access, and perhaps depriving them of electricity at night - moves that would approximate in some small way the conditions Schalit is believed to be facing.

 

If relatives cannot visit, or the prisoners can't call home, then perhaps there will be public pressure on Hamas to show some flexibility.

 

It's a long shot, but the message from the government Tuesday was that since Israel was not willing to give in to Hamas's demands, the search for that one button that would move the organization on the Schalit issue would continue.

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This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1237114855940&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull