Hadash voor 2 staten - maar geen van beiden Joods

Hadash is één van de drie (overwegend) Arabische partijen in de Knesset. Hoewel van oorsprong gemengd en communistisch, heeft Arabisch nationalisme de overhand gekregen. Voor een eerder bericht met commentaar zie: Israëlische communisten voor tweestatenoplossing zonder Joods karakter

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They've given up on Israelis 
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/933201.html

Haaretz, Last update - 09:22 11/12/2007
By Avirama Golan

 

"Israel's Jewishness is like a sword against our necks," Hadash general secretary MK Mohammad Barakeh declared at his party's convention last Friday. "Hadash," he added, "does not accept the demand that every Jew can come to Israel." With this, Barakeh coined a new interpretation for the slogan "Two states for two peoples": one national state, Palestine, for the Palestinian people, and a second state, Israel, for those who live there. A national home for the Jewish people - no way.

This interpretation has prevailed in Hadash in recent years and has silenced other voices. The movement still takes pride in its definition as a "Jewish-Arab party" and calls upon leftists "to support the movement in which Jews and Arabs are partners, who without blurring their identities work together for peace and a just distribution of the state's resources," but these words have lost their meaning.

The argument under way in Hadash is not heard outside the circle of its voters and supporters, but it exemplifies the depth of the rift in the party and how its new leadership is dragging it into a narrow, dead-end street. It's hard to believe that the new leadership, which has pushed out a politician with definite civil-leftist positions like Issam Mahoul, is connected to the social movement it was back in the mid-1990s. Hadash then, headed by Tamar Gozansky, succeeded in raking in votes from the veteran left, which was persuaded that Hadash was the only party truly concerned for the weak and that it was ahead of the entire political spectrum in its insistence on partitioning the land into two states.

A look at the internal debate within the party shows that there is disappointment over the disassociation between that Hadash and today's. It is expressed in two central complaints: First, against Hadash's linking up with nationalist groups and even forces of an Islamic nature - both of them ideologies that contradict the character of the movement; and second, against the edging out of women from realistic places on the party list for the Knesset, and Jewish women in particular. Hadash members and veteran leftist activists have no hesitation nowadays in saying openly that they regret the grating division into "Jews and Arabs" and the movement's distancing from the civil definition of "Israelis."

"The Hadash convention and council," wrote Alex Macias in Hagada Hasmalit (The Left Bank) journal, "are held in Nazareth and Haifa, almost entirely in Arabic. The Israeli flag is not flown at them. The Palestinian flag is." Macias should not be suspected of fighting for "Jewish" nationalist symbols. On the contrary: He wants a civic symbol that unites. Many of those disappointed with Hadash, especially Jews, but also Arabs, feel as he does that the new values voiced by the leadership are no longer concordant with their basic principles.

Macias' protest against the ethnic division expresses the root of the problem. The question is not whether it is the number of Arabs and the number of Jews on the Hadash Knesset list that determines the party's character, but rather the question as to how many Israelis will be on the Knesset list, and to what extent the leaders of the party still see Hadash as Israeli, with a civil-rights agenda. Since Hadash succumbed to the separatist-nationalist and populist stream, and decided to join up with MK Ahmed Tibi of Ra'am-Ta'al and later with Balad, and chosen to turn its back on a social and civil agenda in favor of questions related to Palestinian nationalism, to the detriment of the right to national realization for Jews - it appears that the answer to these questions is negative.

Many people will unite against the occupation; few will agree to knock the national ground out from under their feet in order to be acceptable to former MK Azmi Bishara and his successors. As Hadash has chosen to slam the door in the face of anyone who is not capable of being a Balad enthusiast, it has lost a large public, which is seeking and not finding elsewhere a home on the militant economic and social left. In so doing, the party is not only thinning its ranks and becoming marginal and negligible, it is also playing into the hands of the right and strengthening its anti-civic, nationalist agenda.

Palestijnen kwaad over aannemen VN van Israëlische resolutie over landbouwtechnologie

Het is voor Israël niet makkelijk om een resolutie in de VN aangenomen te krijgen, zelfs niet als die niks met het conflict te maken heeft. Dat dit nu - voor het eerst - is gelukt is dan ook een kleine doorbraak.

 

Een reden hiervan is mogelijk dat de resolutie goed is voor derde wereld-landen: hij roept de rijke landen op om hun landbouwtechnologieën - een gebied waarin Israël voorop loopt - meer beschikbaar te stellen aan de derde wereld. Toch hebben alle Arabische staten zich onthouden, evenals Zuid-Afrika. Honger en droogte zijn voor sommigen blijkbaar te prefereren boven iets steunen dat van Israël af komt.

Dit doet denken aan de Iraanse weigering van Israëlische hulp na de aardbeving in Bam drie jaar geleden, waarbij zo'n 20.000 mensen waren omgekomen. Beter gezegd: sommige leiders laten hun volk graag lijden voor hun antizionistische principes.

 

Erger dan de Arabische onthouding van stemmen was de houding van de Palestijnse gezant, die meende dat Israël slechts politieke punten wou scoren en tegen de geest van de recente vredesconferentie handelde! Je moet veel fantasie hebben om zoiets te kunnen bedenken, en vooral ook een diepe haat tegen Israël koesteren. Onnodig te zeggen dat juist de Arabische onthouding indruist tegen de geest van vrede en verzoening. Als een resolutie die werkelijk niets met het conflict heeft te maken en de Palestijnen en Arabieren op geen enkele manier schaadt (integendeel), aanleiding is voor een dergelijke reactie van de Palestijnen, dan belooft dat weinig goeds voor de verdere vredesbesprekingen.

 

 

Ratna

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Palestinian UN envoy slams adoption of Israeli resolution

By News Agencies Last update - 05:56 12/12/2007
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/933583.html

Israel, often pilloried in the United Nations, claimed an unprecedented diplomatic triumph on Tuesday when a resolution it had drafted, on farm technology rather than Arab-Iraeli issues, was approved by a UN committee. However the decision was blasted by the UN's Palestinian envoy, Riyad Mansour.

Mansour said Israel was "trying to score political points" and had rejected a move by others in the committee to have the motion presented by the chair as a consensus resolution.

He said the Israeli action only emphasized "the divisions between Israel and the Arab countries," in contrast to the spirit of the recent peace conference at Annapolis.

Israel's UN Ambassador Dan Gillerman hailed the decision as historic. "It is the very first time that Israel initiates and authors and submits a resolution which has nothing to do with the (Arab-Israeli) conflict," Gillerman said.

The resolution passed the General Assembly's Second Committee, dealing with development issues, with 118 votes in favor, none against and 29 abstentions, according to UN figures. It will go before the full assembly next week.

The resolution calls on developed countries to make their agricultural technology know-how - an area where Israel has expertise - more available to the developing world.

Israel is more used to resolutions criticizing its actions in the Middle East being passed by various UN bodies, especially the Geneva-based Human Rights Council.

"It is not easy for Israel to have its resolutions and its points of view adopted," Gillerman said.

Countries that abstained on Tuesday included all 19 Arab states present, although Muslim Afghanistan and Pakistan voted in favor. Iran, Israel's fiercest critic at the world body, did not take part.

Gillerman criticized South Africa, one of several African countries to abstain. The abstention was "a shameful mistake for a country that considers itself to be the leader of Africa," he said.

It took Israel six months to negotiate the text of the resolution, which calls on developed countries to make their agricultural technology more accessible to developing nations in order to fight poverty.

The UN has set the goal of halving the number of poor by 2015, as one of the targets of the "Millennium Development Goals" (MDGs). The other goals deal with education, child and maternal mortality and HIV/AIDS.

Qassam kunnen kwart miljoen Israëli's gaan bedreigen

Als Israël niks doet, komen steeds meer burgers binnen het bereik van Palestijnse raketten, aldus de minister van interne veiligheid. Dit geldt ook voor een eventueel staakt-het-vuren, want dat verhindert de Palestijnen niet om hun raketten te verbeteren. Gebouwen vlak bij de Gazastrook worden nu al extra versterkt, maar het is ondoenlijk om alle huizen in forten te veranderen, en het zal slechts tijdelijk helpen omdat de Palestijnse raketten steeds beter worden en verder reiken.

 

Toch is nog niet tot een grootschalige invasie in de Gazastrook besloten, al zijn vandaag wel 8 Palestijnen omgekomen in operaties van het Israëlische leger. Of dit de 'opmaat' is voor een grote operatie, waar al zo lang over wordt gesproken, is de vraag. Iedereen weet dat dat tot vele doden kan leiden, en tot harde internationale veroordelingen. Bovendien brengt het Abbas en de Fatah partij in een lastig parket: een deel van Fatah heeft al gezegd Hamas te zullen steunen in hun strijd tegen 'de bezetter', maar Abbas voert vredesonderhandelingen met Israël.

 

 

Ratna
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Dichter: 250,000 under Qassam threat if we don't act
'Palestinians conducting war of attrition against Negev communities,' internal security minister tells cabinet. 'We must not allow any mistakes that may raise the number of Israeli communities facing the Qassam threat'

Roni Sofer YNET Published: 12.09.07, 12:35 / Israel News
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3480533,00.html

Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter warned Sunday of a tenfold increase in the number of Israelis subjected to a "war of attrition" should Ashkelon and nearby communities also fall under the threat of Palestinian terror and Qassam rocket fire.

"We must check to see where we went wrong and deal with the problem of Sderot if we do not want to face the same problem when Ashkelon, Ofakim and Netivot will enter the cycle of rocket fire and terror," he said during the weekly cabinet meeting. "We must complete the fortification plan for Sderot and the communities surrounding the Gaza Strip."

According to him, Palestinian terror organizations, led by Hamas, are "conducting a war of attrition" against Sderot and the rest of the western Negev communities.

The minister said the number of Israelis facing the threat of Palestinian terror may increase from 25,000 to 250,000.

"Qassam attacks are being carried out daily and we have also seen an increase in mortar fire directed at IDF bases near the Strip," Dichter told the ministers. "Statistics indicating an 8% drop in the number of students in Sderot are extremely worrying. We must not allow any mistakes that may raise the number of Israeli communities facing the Qassam threat."

During the cabinet meeting, ministers were updated by IDF Home Front Command officials on the progress made in the fortification of educational and public institutions in the Negev region, which is expected to cost between 1 and 1.5 billion shekels ($258-387 million).

The army also presented cabinet members with a fortification plan that would also include Israeli communities such as Ashkelon, Netivot and Ofakim, which are within the range of the Grad missile (range of about 25km) and other surface-to surface missiles the Palestinian terror groups have in their possession.

The cost of this plan is estimated at NIS 5.5 billion ($1.4 billion).

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the Knesset's State Control Committee last week that Israel should not enter a process of "over-fortification", and officials in his office said the State was investing hundreds of millions of shekels in the development of rocket-interception systems to be placed along the border with Gaza.

De strijd om de Russische Joden

Russische Joden schijnen momenteel erg in trek te zijn. Rusland probeert de naar Israël geëmigreerde Joden terug te halen, Israël wil ze graag houden en ook Duitsland toont interesse. Vanwaar opeens die liefde voor een groep die in Rusland altijd werd uitgekotst, in Israël wordt gediscrimineerd en laten we over Duitsland maar zwijgen?

 

Rusland en Duitsland willen graag laten zien dat (vooral hoogopgeleide) Joden bij hun welkom zijn, en weer een levendige Joodse gemeenschap in hun land opbouwen. Nadat de Joden daar eeuwenlang zijn getreiterd en vervolgd, en uiteindelijk grotendeels uitgemoord, mist men een groep die zich altijd wonderwaarlijk wist aan te passen zonder de eigen identiteit te verliezen, en een grote bijdrage aan de Europese cultuur en wetenschap heeft geleverd.

 

Bovendien wil men graag het imago van antisemitisme van zich af schudden.

 

Vandaar dat hoogopgeleide Russische Joden uit Israël nu goeie banen en huizen krijgen aangeboden in Rusland. Ondertussen is het antisemitisme alles behalve verdwenen, en wordt extreemrechtse groeperingen die de straten onveilig maken voor al wat niet Russisch genoeg is, geen stroobreed in de weg gelegd.

 

Hopelijk hebben de Russen in Israël genoeg van de geschiedenis geleerd om niet in de val van Poetin te trappen, maar ook de Israëlische regering treft blaam: men was erg blij met al die Russische Joden in de jaren '90, maar heeft niet genoeg gedaan om ze te integreren, waardoor velen nog steeds in grote wijken bij elkaar wonen en de slechtere banen hebben.

 

 

Ratna

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Sources: Russia working to get its emigrants back

By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondent Last update - 07:24 10/12/2007
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/932737.html

The Russian Embassy in Tel Aviv is operating a branch of a government body, under the guise of a cultural center, whose goal is to persuade Russian emigrants to return, according to Israeli intelligence sources.

The cultural center, which opened about two months ago, is headed by a Russian intellectual, who the intelligence sources believe worked for the Soviet secret service, the KGB. Senior government officials have reportedly expressed concerns recently over the development of "competition" between Russia and Israel over where former Russians choose to reside.

The Russian Embassy was unavailable for comment on Sunday.

The intelligence bodies are certain that the Russian cultural center that opened two months ago on Geula Street in Tel Aviv is a cover for the local branch of the Sons of the Homeland movement, established by Russian President Vladimir Putin to bring back Russians who emigrated to Israel.

More than three million Russian-speaking Jews are living on five continents. Just over one-third live in Israel. They mostly came in the large wave of immigration that took place after the former Soviet Union opened its gates. After Putin was elected in 2000, he established the Sons of the Homeland to maintain communication between Russia and its emigres, and eventually Putin charged the group with bringing back as many Russians as possible, with an emphasis on those in skilled professions.

The high level of education among many of the Jewish emigres and the fact that they are concentrated in large communities have made them a desirable target for the organization. Putin's goal is not only economic; the millions who have left Russia since the fall of communism are a blow to national pride.

Putin also wants to counter the image of Russian anti-Semitism, by showing the country as a place that attracts Jews.

A number of groups, like the Russian-Speakers Congress, are considered fronts for the Sons of the Homeland.

The cultural center opened following an agreement between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Putin, which also authorized several Israeli cultural centers to operate in Russia.

During last week's general elections in Russia, the cultural center held activities in 60 towns in Israel to encourage Russians to register and vote, and collected their contact details.

Meanwhile, some Israelis have reported received tempting job offers in Russia. "I was offered a job in a research institute in Moscow for $15,000 a year," said a leading academic in her field, who has been in contact with the cultural center. She mentioned additional incentives, such as an apartment.

The cultural center is headed by Dr. Alexander Kryukov, a leading Russian expert on Israeli culture with extensive connections in Israel, who has also translated a number of books from Hebrew into Russian. When the Russian government last year announced his appointment as a diplomat in the Russian Embassy in Tel Aviv, the Shin Bet security service tried to prevent him from receiving a visa, citing his past as a KGB spy. However, Russia insisted, and Israel acquiesced in order to avoid a diplomatic incident.

Israel and Russia are not the only countries seeking to court as many Russian Jews as possible; Germany is also encouraging Russian Jews to settle there by giving individual grants and special funding to communities to assist in settling the newcomers. According to government officials in Berlin, the arrival of some 200,000 former citizens of the Commonwealth of Independent States is an opportunity to rebuild the great pre-Holocaust Jewish community. Canada and Australia also have programs to encourage Russians with professions in demand to immigrate.

According to Absorption Ministry statistics, more than 100,000 Jews who came to Israel from the CIS have returned to Russia and Ukraine, and an estimated 70,000 Israelis are currently living in Moscow.

It was decided that, in light of the competition for Russians, the program approved by the cabinet yesterday to bring back Israelis living abroad would be marketed as early as next week in Russian and tailored to Russian employment needs.

The Russian cultural center activity gives the government organization Nativ, in charge of contacts with the Jews of the former Soviet Union and under the aegis of Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman, a reason to undergo a controversial expansion to other countries with large groups of Russian Jews.

 

Geen optimisme in Israël na Annapolis (opiniepeiling)

Volgens een veelgehoorde opvatting, weet een meerderheid aan beide kanten dat de enige oplossing een twee-statenoplossing is, en is bereid het land te delen.

In de praktijk liggen de posities van zowel het leiderschap als meerderheden aan beide kanten wat betreft belangrijke zaken als Jeruzalem en de vluchtelingen, mijlenver uit elkaar. Uit deze enquete van na de conferentie in Annapolis blijkt dat desondanks 55% van het Israëlische publiek meent dat Abbas vrede wil; bijna de helft gelooft dat de Palestijnen vrede willen, en meer dan 60% meent dat de Palestijnen recht hebben op een eigen staat, en dat zo'n staat Israël niet in gevaar hoeft te brengen. Toch is men pessimistisch over de kansen op vrede:

However, despite the positive attitude toward the two-state solution both in terms of justice and pragmatism, a large obstacle is the widespread belief among the Jewish Israeli public that even if a peace agreement is signed along these lines, it will not end the conflict with the Palestinians. Whereas 61 percent hold this pessimistic assessment, only 31 percent believe an agreement on two states would end the conflict from the Palestinians' standpoint.

Furthermore, a large majority - 71 percent - believe it is impossible to reach a peace settlement with the Palestinians without Hamas' consent, with only 21 percent claiming the opposite. Given the perception of Abbas' weakness, it is clear why this assessment also contributes to the lack of faith in the feasibility of a peaceful solution.

Wat ik vreemd vind is, hoe je enerzijds van mening kunt zijn dat de Palestijnen vrede willen, en anderzijds dat zij geen genoegen zullen nemen met een staat naast Israël, en het conflict zal voortduren. Wellicht gelooft men dat de meerderheid oprecht vrede wil, maar een minderheid ervoor zal zorgen dat na het sluiten van een vredesverdrag het conflict nog zal voortduren. Dit betekent dat men vooral het Palestijnse leiderschap niet toevertrouwt de eigen extremisten in toom te kunnen houden, zelfs wanneer er vrede is en men een eigen staat heeft.

Ratna
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Just another forgotten peace summit
By Prof. Ephraim Yaar and Prof. Tamar Hermann

Haaretz December 10, 2007
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/933214.html

The optimism of the leaders was lost on the Jewish Israeli public, whose pessimism stems from its belief that a two-state solution wouldn't appease the Palestinians

Many assume that if the Israeli decision-makers were to openly change their position on the conflict and its resolution, the public would throng after them en masse and support an agreement. The present survey, like earlier surveys we conducted, shows that this assumption is very flimsy and that people are not hurrying to get on the Olmert government's peace train.

And apparently, despite the wide media coverage of the Annapolis conference and the prime minister's proclamation that it marked a political turning point of historic importance, the Jewish Israeli public's level of interest remained quite low; as in the period before the conference, the majority did not follow it with any regularity. Furthermore, notwithstanding the joint statement and the positive final spirit, the overall public sentiment was negative, particularly regarding whether the conference achieved a basic clarification of the disagreements between Israel and the Palestinians, or advanced chances of peace. People were more likely to remain skeptical, or not change their opinion about the chances of reaching a lasting peace with the Palestinians, than to be encouraged by the event and more optimistic about the chances for peace.

Not surprisingly, the public believes almost unanimously that both the Israeli government and the people genuinely want peace with the Palestinians. Surprisingly, today there is also a majority, albeit a small one, that thinks the Palestinian Authority genuinely wants the same, while views regarding the Palestinian people are divided, with a very slight advantage for those leaning to the positive side. Moreover, a considerable majority of the Jewish public sees the Palestinians' demand for an independent state as just, and thinks Israel can agree to the establishment of such a state.

The source of the Jewish public's skepticism - and even pessimism - is apparently the widespread belief that a peace agreement based on the "two states for two peoples" formula would not lead the Palestinians to end their conflict with Israel. This distrust of the Palestinians' intentions is also evident in the Jewish public's clear, ongoing preference for a closed border without free passage, even if the two-state solution were to be implemented.

However, the Jewish public does not think this desirable solution is within reach; the prevailing view is that without Hamas' agreement, there is no chance of reaching a peace treaty, and that the sides will have difficulty overcoming their disagreements on the core issues.

As in the past, this time, too, we found that the main issues on which the public thinks the sides will have trouble reaching a compromise are (in this order) Jerusalem and the Palestinian refugees' right of return, though compared to the late 1990s, less weight is now ascribed to Jerusalem and considerably more is given to the refugee issue.

Those are the main findings of the Peace Index survey that was carried out on Monday and Tuesday, December 3-4.

Public detachment

According to what the interviewees themselves said, despite the heavy media coverage, less than one-quarter of the Jewish Israeli public (24 percent) regularly followed what happened at the Annapolis conference, 47 percent followed the events only "sometimes," and 26 percent not at all. This division is almost identical to those we found two months and a month before the conference.

In other words, the positive attitude that the Israeli, Palestinian, and American decision-makers showed toward the gathering was not shared by the public, most of which remained skeptical or pessimistic. That detachment is evident in assessments of the outcomes: 63 percent think the conference did not bring about a basic clarification of the disagreements between Israel and the Palestinians, and a similar percentage say it did not increase the chances of a peace settlement.

This skepticism apparently also explains the segmentation of views on whether the positions Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed at the conference were too tough (only 8 percent), too conciliatory (31 percent), or appropriate (32 percent). Twenty-eight percent had no opinion on the matter, unlike past conferences, when the public showed great awareness and strong opinions about the positions that the Israeli representatives presented.

The responses as to how the conference influenced interviewees' optimism or pessimism about chances for peace also reflect a low degree of public involvement: 29 percent said they were more optimistic, 38 percent they were more pessimistic, and 33 percent did not change their attitude, had not heard of the conference at all, or did not know.

As in the past, the dominant view in Israel is that the Israeli government and people are interested in peace - 78 and 80 percent, respectively.
Surprisingly, though, now there is also a majority - albeit a small one - that says the Palestinian Authority under President Mahmoud Abbas also wants peace (55 percent). Regarding the desire for peace among the Palestinian people in general, the opinions are divided, with a very slight lead on the positive side: 48 percent think the Palestinians want peace, while 45 percent think they do not.

Notwithstanding all the events in recent years, a majority of the Jewish public also views the Palestinians' demand for an independent state as justified - 62 percent (compared to 34.5 percent who see it as unjustified).
As in the past, there is also a majority - 58 percent - that is sure or thinks Israel can permit the establishment of an independent Palestinian state (32 percent think or are sure it cannot, and the rest do not know).

No faith in the Palestinians

However, despite the positive attitude toward the two-state solution both in terms of justice and pragmatism, a large obstacle is the widespread belief among the Jewish Israeli public that even if a peace agreement is signed along these lines, it will not end the conflict with the Palestinians.
Whereas 61 percent hold this pessimistic assessment, only 31 percent believe an agreement on two states would end the conflict from the Palestinians' standpoint.

Furthermore, a large majority - 71 percent - believe it is impossible to reach a peace settlement with the Palestinians without Hamas' consent, with only 21 percent claiming the opposite. Given the perception of Abbas' weakness, it is clear why this assessment also contributes to the lack of faith in the feasibility of a peaceful solution.

All this apparently explains the belief of the majority of the Jewish Israeli public - 53 percent versus 26 percent - that, even if an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement is signed based on the "two states for two peoples" formula, the border between the two states should remain closed (5 percent prefer it be closed to Palestinians and open to Jews; 1 percent, open to Palestinians and closed to Jews; and 15 percent do not know).

In light of the upcoming resumption of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, we asked the interviewees what they see as the most difficult issues blocking an agreement between the two sides. Out of a list of six issues, the question of Jerusalem came out on top (39 percent).

Yet, compared to the findings of the November 1999 Peace Index, it appears there has been a significant decline in that assessment, which was then 57 percent. There has been, however, a considerable increase in the importance ascribed to the refugee question, which has come to be perceived as the most important obstacle, from 5 percent in 1999 to 32 percent today. Other matters of dispute - the borders, the settlements, the independent Palestinian state and water - lag far behind, in this order: borders (14 percent), settlements (8 percent), establishment of an independent Palestinian state (6 percent) and water (1 percent)

General Peace Index: 48.1 (Jewish sample - 45.6); Oslo Index: 36.9 (Jewish sample - 34.5); Negotiation Index: 50.7 (Jewish sample - 47.7)

The Peace Index Project is conducted at the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Studies and the Evans Program for Conflict Resolution Research of Tel Aviv University, headed by Prof. Ephraim Yaar and Prof. Tamar Hermann. The telephone interviews were conducted by the B. I. Cohen Institute of Tel Aviv University on December 3-4, 2007, and included 592 interviewees who represent the adult Jewish and Arab population of Israel (including the territories and the kibbutzim). The sampling error for a sample of this size is 4.5 percent. For the survey data see: http://www.tau.ac.il/peace

Mensenrechtendag en de Verenigde Naties

Amnesty International (waar ik lid van ben), Human Rights Watch en al die andere organisaties die opkomen voor de mensenrechten doen belangrijk en noodzakelijk en soms letterlijk levensreddend werk, en dat lijkt Steinberg hieronder een beetje uit het oog te verliezen.

 

Hij heeft natuurlijk gelijk dat deze organisaties wat betreft Israël vaak selectief verontwaardigd zijn, en aan Israël vaak de slechtste bedoelingen (bewust doden van burgers) toeschrijven, terwijl ze opvallend mild zijn jegens Palestijns geweld.

 

Extremer dan Amnesty of HRW zijn de Algemene Vergadering en de Mensenrechtenraad van de Verenigde Naties. Daar gaan immers de grootste schenders van mensenrechten schaamteloos vrijuit, terwijl iedere anti-Israël resolutie of veroordeling op een automatische meerderheid van het Arabische en niet-geliëerde blok kan rekenen. Vandaar dat in de Mensenrechtenraad Israël in anderhalf jaar al meer dan tien keer is veroordeeld, terwijl een veroordeling van Soedan werd tegengehouden.

 

Ondanks het feit dat men zich hiermee totaal ongeloofwaardig maakt, zijn er nog steeds veel mensen die de VN aanhalen als bewijs van Israëls misdaden. Zo betoogde Dries van Agt gisteren weer eens dat Israël op grote schaal de mensenrechten en VN resoluties schendt, en dit wordt genegeerd door Nederland, en hij noemde minister Verhagen zelfs Israëls tweede ambassadeur.

Tja, onze regering is gelukkig (nog) niet zo erg als de Mensenrechtenraad, maar Israëls tweede ambassadeur is wat veel eer :-). Misschien moet Van Agt eens wat meer op zijn eigen compas varen in plaats van continu te verwijzen naar organen die worden beheersd door dictatoriale regimes.

 

 

Ratna

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From defenders to defamers
Dec. 9, 2007

Gerald Steinberg , THE JERUSALEM POST
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1196847295606&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

 

Monday, December 10 is International Human Rights Day - commemorating the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the members of the United Nations in 1948. Following the unimaginable horrors of the Holocaust, the signatories pledged to protect the "inherent dignity" and the "equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family."

But like other promises made during this period, this one was also soon violated.

In much of the world, human rights, including the basic right to life, are given short shrift. The watchdogs, both in the United Nations itself, and in the accompanying network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that claim to promote morality and human rights, have become a major part of the problem. The words that expressed revulsion at the crimes committed against the Jewish people - "war crimes," "collective punishment," "indiscriminate mass killing," "violations of international law," and so on - have become weapons in the political war accompanying the terror campaigns against Israel.

The "reformed" United Nations Human Rights Council, which is charged with implementing the 1948 Declaration, is run by many of the worst violators of human rights. Its reports are written by "experts" who are obsessed with attacking Israel. In 2001, the UN held a conference in Durban attended by thousands of delegates, ostensibly to combat racism and xenophobia. Following a preparatory conference in Iran, led by Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson, this exercise became a vehicle for hatred and anti-Semitism.

Many of the NGO "superpowers" are guilty of aiding and abetting this disgraceful process. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Paris-based FIDH (International Federation of Human Rights), and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) in Geneva, routinely exploit these norms to pursue their own narrow ideological agendas. They participated in the NGO Forum of the 2001 Durban Conference, which was even worse than the diplomatic session. Like the UN, the NGO reports focus obsessively on Israel, and erase the context of terrorism in order to make false and frequent accusations. In 2002, an Amnesty official was quoted on the BBC confirming the false reports of a massacre in Jenin. In 2006, HRW published hundreds of pages attacking Israeli responses to Hizbullah attacks, and glossing over Hizbullah's aggression and use of human shields.

Similarly, Israel-based NGOs such as B'tselem, Bimkom, and Gisha, which claim to support universal human rights, use double standards to falsely and systematically portray Israeli responses to terror as violations of these moral norms.

The halo effect enjoyed by the UN and NGO human rights network two or three decades ago has also been eroded by reports which make headlines, but are later shown to be fabricated or unverifiable. Essentially lacking their own research capabilities, HRW and Amnesty rely on "local eyewitnesses" for evidence. These "eyewitnesses" know that their reports, regardless of the lack of evidence or context, will be used to promote boycotts, demonization and other political campaigns. In this way, human rights have become a vehicle to promote incitement, hatred and terror - the antithesis of the objectives proclaimed in 1948.

 

IN ORDER to change this dismal state of affairs, and restore the moral foundation and universality of human rights, the structure of the international diplomatic and NGO mechanisms must be overhauled. Kenneth Roth, who has headed Human Rights Watch since 1993, and Irene Khan, who has controlled Amnesty International since 2001, have been in power for far too long. The donors and members of these organizations must also act responsibility to ensure that their support is not abused. Donors to NGOs are like directors of corporations who are accountable for transgressions committed by the officers of their firms.

The Ford Foundation, which was threatened with investigation by the US Congress after funding the most virulent participants in the 2001 Durban NGO Forum, adopted guidelines to prevent a repetition. Some donors to HRW and the New Israel Fund (which funds B'tselem, Machsom Watch, Gisha, Bimkom, Adalah, and others) have cut or conditioned their donations on an end to the double standards, and some members and officials of Amnesty have resigned in protest. These are all steps in the right direction.

In the Spring of 2009, the UN Human Rights Council has scheduled a follow up to the infamous Durban conference. This provides a rare opportunity for the governments that actually care about human rights, as well as the NGO community, to reverse course, and demonstrate that the lessons have been learned. If they succeed, this will mark an important step in the restoration of the values embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But if they fail, the Declaration, and the foundation of an international moral code based on a single universal standard, may never recover.

 

The writer is the chair of the Political Studies department at Bar Ilan University, and Executive Director of www.ngo-monitor.org

 

Hamas wil dialoog met VS

Zelfs Hamas wil eigenlijk vrede, maar wel een vrede zonder compromissen. Tussen hen en de vrede die zij nastreven staat een landje met een paar miljoen Joden erin.

 

Hamas vraagt een dialoog met de VS; misschien denken ze die ervan te kunnen overtuigen hun steun aan Israël te staken. Dat zou immers wat makkelijker vechten. Maar het zijn realisten daar bij de Hamas, dus ze zullen wel alleen van Amerika verlangen om Israël onder druk te zetten geen militaire akties meer te ondernemen en de grenzen van de Gazastrook open te gooien, zodat de arme Gazanen weer wat lucht krijgen en - als mooie bijkomstigheid - Hamas makkelijker wapens en terroristen kan smokkelen en aanslagen in Israël kan plegen. Dat er de laatste paar jaar geen bussen en discotheken meer zijn ontploft in Israël is immers niet te danken aan de gegroeide humanitaire inzichten van Hamas, maar aan harde veiligheidsmaatregelen van Israël.

 

Het is een duivels dilemma, maar de Palestijnen hebben zelf voor Hamas gekozen in een democratisch proces, daarover lijken vriend en vijand het eens. Een racistische en terroristische beweging heeft echter niets te zoeken in een democratisch proces, en volgens het Oslo akkoord hadden ze helemaal niet mee mogen doen aan de Palestijnse verkiezingen. De PA is opgericht als onderhandelingspartner met Israël, maar het enige waarover Hamas bereid is te onderhandelen is de onvoorwaardelijke overgave van de Joodse staat, om deze te vervangen door een islamitische staat.

 

In the letter, which was posted on a number of Palestinian Web sites, Yousef said that even some Westerners had complained about Washington's "narrow-mindedness" in dealing with Hamas.

 

Dat is helaas waar, en het zal niet leiden tot matiging van Hamas, maar tot versterking van hun extremisme en compromisloosheid.

 

Wouter

________________

Hamas to Rice: We want dialogue with US

Khaled Abu Toameh , THE JERUSALEM POST Dec. 9, 2007


"Many people make the mistake of presuming that Hamas has some ideological aversion to making peace. Quite the opposite; we have consistently offered dialogue with the US and the EU," Ahmed Yousef, a senior Hamas official, said Sunday.

In an open letter to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Yousef, who serves as senior political adviser to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, said that his movement did not have any "ideological arguments" with the West.

"We are not anti-American, anti-European or anti-anyone," he explained, adding that the time has come for Washington and other Western countries to talk to Hamas.

Sources close to Hamas told The Jerusalem Post that Haniyeh and other top leaders of the Islamist movement had given their blessing to the content of the open letter. According to the sources, the letter reflects Hamas's growing predicament under international sanctions and its fear of a massive Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip.

But the letter is also seen as a sign of growing divisions inside Hamas, where many officials and activists remain strongly opposed to any form of dialogue with the US.

The letter comes against a backdrop of reports suggesting that Hamas had sought to patch up its differences with Fatah. Syrian-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal has been summoned to Riyadh for talks with Saudi leaders on ways of ending the Hamas-Fatah power struggle.

According to some reports, Hamas has agreed to hand over to Fatah a number of Palestinian Authority institutions in the Gaza Strip, among them the home and office of PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

In his letter, Yousef accused the US of "hypocrisy" for refusing to accept Hamas's victory in the January 2006 parliamentary election.

Addressing Rice, he wrote: "Meaningful steps toward a resolution cannot take place while the legitimacy of the elected government in Palestine continues to be ignored by your administration. Not only is the policy to isolate Hamas unethical, it is ineffectual as well. Your administration ignores the realities on the ground."

"The Change and Reform Party, the name of the new political party we formed for the Palestinian elections, won an overwhelming majority in the occupied territories. To pretend otherwise is not only futile but detrimental to US interests in the region for many years to come and likely to add to the anti-American sentiment throughout the Middle East and the Muslim world. You cannot preach about exporting democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan and ignore the democratic process in Palestine."

In the letter, which was posted on a number of Palestinian Web sites, Yousef said that even some Westerners had complained about Washington's "narrow-mindedness" in dealing with Hamas.

The State Department, he added, "should be looking for new solutions instead of reinforcing old stereotypes. On a personal note, we found it amusing that a black person empathizes with Israeli deaths on the one hand and Palestinian segregation on the other - if media reports are accurate. It is a military occupation, Ms. Rice. Their citizens face insecurity and death because that is the situation they have created for themselves. We do not beg you to recognize us. Our party is the legitimately elected party in the occupied territories. You owe it to your sense of fairness to engage meaningfully with all relevant parties to the conflict."

Yousef complained that the Palestinians were being punished for holding a free and fair election and voting for Hamas. "It is hard to get across the appalling level of privation that the Palestinian people, and in particular the 1.3 million Palestinians who live in Gaza, currently suffer from," he said.

"Our isolation is complete, confining us in a ghetto (worse than the Jewish ghettos of Warsaw) where our sewage, power and water systems have been destroyed, all normal supplies constrained and even humanitarian aid withheld. Many people have not been paid for nearly two years, over 75% are unemployed and now the Israelis are threatening to cut off fuel and power supplies and to invade us once again."

He reminded Rice that her predecessor, General Colin Powell, had stated that the US should find a way to engage with Hamas because it won the election and because it continues to enjoy the support of many Palestinians.

"If you were even-handed in this conflict, if you engaged with us openly, then the chances of peace would dramatically increase," he concluded. "As it is, you are setting yourself up for failure and with that failure will come more pain and anguish for the Palestinian people, a further colonization of our lands and a blank space in history for the Bush administration's role in making peace in the Middle East."

 

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1196847294451&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFul

 

VS defensieminister Gates: Israël vormt geen nucleaire bedreiging zoals Iran

De Amerikaanse minister van defensie Robert Gates legt op een conferentie van de Golfstaten uit wat het verschil is tussen een Iraans kernwapen en een Israëlisch. Hij ontmaskert ook het selectieve gebuik door Iran van de bevindingen van de Amerikaanse veiligheidsdiensten:

 

 

And in a sarcastic riff, he goaded Iran to acknowledge its bad behavior - from arming terrorists in Iraq to its support for militant organizations like Hezbollah and Hamas.

 

Asked if the United States would be willing to sit down and talk with Iran, Gates said the behavior of the "new leadership of Iran has not given one confidence that a dialogue would be productive."

 

Noting that Iran embraced the recent U.S. intelligence report, Gates said Iran should accept that all other intelligence conclusions about its conduct are true. When the report came out earlier this week, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hailed it as a declaration of victory for his country.

 

"In reality, you cannot pick and choose only the conclusions you like of this National Intelligence Estimate," Gates said. "Since that government now acknowledges the quality of American intelligence assessments, I assume that it also will embrace as valid American intelligence assessments of its funding and training of militia groups in Iraq."

 

Gates said Iran should also acknowledge it delivers weapons to terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan, supports terror groups and continues to develop ballistic missiles that could be used to carry weapons of mass destruction.

 

 

Ratna

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Gates: Israel doesn't pose nuclear threat like Iran

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates defended Israel's reputed nuclear program on Saturday, saying Israel did not seek to destroy its neighbors or support terrorism, unlike Iran.

 

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/932361.html

By News Agencies

 

 

Asked at an international security conference in Bahrain on Saturday whether he thought Israel's nuclear program posed a threat to the region, Gates replied: "No, I do not."

 

The statement was greeted by laughter from a room filled with government officials from Middle Eastern countries.

 

Israel is widely assumed to have the region's only atomic arsenal, but refuses to confirm or deny it. Washington has long avoided pressing Israel to go public with its capabilities.

 

Gates did not specifically mention Israel's nuclear weapons or arsenal, but responded to questions about its "nuclear program" -- giving the Pentagon chief room to dismiss any suggestion that he implicitly confirmed the existence of nuclear weapons in Israel.

 

He dismissed the allegation that the United States applied a double standard on the nuclear issue by supporting Israel while calling for Iran to abandon its enrichment activities, which Tehran says are for peaceful
purposes.

 

"Israel is not training terrorists to subvert its neighbours. It has not shipped weapons into a place like Iraq to kill thousands of innocent civilians covertly," Gates said.

 

"It has not threatened to destroy any of its neighbours. It is not trying to destabilise the government of Lebanon.

 

"So I think there are significant differences in terms of both the history and the behaviour of the Iranian and Israeli governments. I understand there is a difference of view on that," he said.

 

Iran denies U.S. allegations that it has armed, trained and funded Shi'ite militias in Iraq, blaming the violence in Iraq on the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003.

 

A year ago, Gates first angered Israelis during testimony to the U.S. Congress by including Israel in a list of nuclear-armed countries in the regions around Iran to explain why Tehran might have sought the means to build an atomic bomb. He has not publicly discussed it since.

 

Iran accuses U.S. of spying on nuclear weapons program Iran has sent a protest letter to the United States accusing it of spying on the Islamic state's nuclear activities, the official IRNA news reported on Saturday, citing the country's foreign minister.

 

The letter, submitted to the Swiss embassy in Tehran which handles U.S. interests in the country, was in reaction to the U.S. intelligence report published last Monday, which concluded that Iran had actually stopped atomic weapons development in 2003.

 

"The ministry submitted a letter to the Swiss embassy in Tehran ... demanding explanations over America's espionage on Iran's nuclear case," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was quoted as saying by IRNA.

 

Gates: Gulf States must demand Iran come clean on nuclear program Persian Gulf nations must demand that Iran come clean about its past nuclear ambitions and openly vow to not develop such weapons in the future, Gates said Saturday.

 

In a broad call to diplomatic arms, Gates exhorted leaders from the Gulf to band together to force Iran to stop its uranium enrichment program and to help the fragile Iraqi government.

 

"Everywhere you turn, it is the policy of Iran to foment instability and chaos, no matter the strategic value or cost in the blood of innocents - Christians, Jews and Muslims alike," Gates said in a keynote address at the Manama Conference in Bahrain. "There can be little doubt that their destabilizing foreign policies are a threat to the interests of the United States, to the interests of every country in the Middle East, and to the interests of all countries within the range of the ballistic missiles Iran is developing."

 

And in a sarcastic riff, he goaded Iran to acknowledge its bad behavior - from arming terrorists in Iraq to its support for militant organizations like Hezbollah and Hamas.

 

Asked if the United States would be willing to sit down and talk with Iran, Gates said the behavior of the "new leadership of Iran has not given one confidence that a dialogue would be productive."

 

Noting that Iran embraced the recent U.S. intelligence report, Gates said Iran should accept that all other intelligence conclusions about its conduct are true. When the report came out earlier this week, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hailed it as a declaration of victory for his country.

 

"In reality, you cannot pick and choose only the conclusions you like of this National Intelligence Estimate," Gates said. "Since that government now acknowledges the quality of American intelligence assessments, I assume that it also will embrace as valid American intelligence assessments of its funding and training of militia groups in Iraq."

 

Gates said Iran should also acknowledge it delivers weapons to terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan, supports terror groups and continues to develop ballistic missiles that could be used to carry weapons of mass destruction.

 

Gates' rebukes didn't reach any Iranian ears directly, since Iran decided at the last moment not to attend the gathering, organized by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.

 

While Gates used the intelligence estimate as a hammer against Iran here, the report has bruised the Bush administration. The findings were in stark contrast to a 2005 estimate that said Tehran was continuing its weapons development.

 

And it flies in the face of U.S. President George W. Bush's rhetoric on Iran, such as when he said in October that people interested in avoiding World War III should be working to prevent Iran from having the knowledge needed to make a nuclear weapon.

 

The administration has acknowledged that the report may make it harder to build international support to persuade Iran to give up its uranium enrichment program.

 

Gates' speech followed efforts by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to press for new sanctions against Iran.

 

Rice asserted Friday in Brussels, Belgium, that Washington would continue pressing for new sanctions against Iran while holding talks to convince Tehran to come clean about its nuclear program.

 

But Russia ignored her calls to punish Iran. Despite continued support from NATO and other European allies, Rice was unable to convince Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that fresh sanctions were urgently needed.

 

Rice said her talks with Lavrov were an extension of other conversations we have had, suggesting the two didn't see eye to eye.

 

Gates, in his speech, pressed Gulf nations to back sanctions to force Iran to suspend enrichment, and to demand that Iran openly affirm that it does not intend to develop nuclear weapons in the future.

 

"In a complex region where partnerships do not come easy," Gates said the countries need to pull together and develop regional air and missile defense systems.

 

Gates ended his speech with a grim warning against underestimating the United States.

 

"Some countries," he said, may believe our resolve has been corroded by the challenges we face at home and abroad. This would be a grave misconception."

 

"Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, Fascist Italy and the former Soviet Union all made that miscalculation," Gates said. "All paid the price. All are on the ash heap of history."

 

Gates' stop in Bahrain is the last stop on a frenetic, weeklong tour of the region, which included meetings with military commanders on the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

Bolton: U.S. intelligence report influenced by politics
U.S. intelligence services were seeking to influence political policy-making with their assessment Iran had halted its nuclear arms program in 2003, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said.

 

Der Spiegel magazine quoted Bolton on Saturday as saying the aim of the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), contradicting his and President George W. Bush's own oft-stated position, was not to provide the latest intelligence on Iran.

 

"This is politics disguised as intelligence," Bolton was quoted as saying in an article appearing in next week's edition.

 

Bolton described the NIE, released on Monday, as a "quasi-putsch" by the agencies, Der Spiegel said.

 

Bolton has long criticized Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the Vienna-based U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), for refusing to declare that there was hard evidence Tehran was trying to develop nuclear weapons.

 

Earlier this year Bolton said: "Regime change or the use of force are the only available options to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapons capability, if they want it."

Israëlische communisten voor tweestatenoplossing zonder Joods karakter

Hadash, de Israëlische communistische partij en overwegend Arabisch, was ooit zijn tijd ver vooruit met de slogan "twee staten voor twee volken". Nu deze positie mainstream is geworden in Israël, en dit misschien zelfs gerealiseerd gaat worden, zit men met een probleem. 

 

Bijzondere gastspreker Erekat, hoofd onderhandelaar namens de Palestijnse Autoriteit, zei dat president Abbas een twee-statenoplossing van de hand wees:   

 

Erekat, who came to wish conference-goers well, wound up inadvertently touching a sore point. "Abu Mazen told me that the moment Israel demands that we recognize two states for two peoples, I should get up and leave the talks," he said, referring to PA President Mahmoud Abbas. "And that is what I did."

 

 

Hadash wrong zich vervolgens - net als de Palestijnen dit eerder deden - in vreemde bochten om de cirkel recht te buigen:

 

Barakeh said Hadash would not drop its policy of two states for two peoples. "We won't toss our principles on the ash heap of history," he said.
He explained that Hadash interprets the slogan differently from Israeli officials. Hadash does not accept the demand that Jews anywhere in the world can come to Israel to realize their right to self-determination.
"These are Zionist definitions we cannot accept," he said, emphasizing that his party rejects the notion that a state that constitutes the realization of a people's self-determination be founded on the basis of race. "The state's Jewishness is a sword at our necks and the necks of the Palestinian people."

 

 

Beste Barakeh, wat is de betekenis van 'twee staten voor twee volken' als dit niet betekent dat de Joden in Israël hun recht op zelfbeschikking kunnen realiseren? Als Joden niet naar Israël kunnen immigreren, wat is dan de zin van twee staten? Een van de fundamenten van Israël is, dat Joden nu altijd een plek hebben waar zij heen kunnen gaan, waar zij geen minderheid zijn en waar zij zichzelf kunnen verdedigen. Waarom niet gelijk oproepen tot één staat, waar de Arabieren binnen afzienbare tijd de meerderheid zullen vormen? Wel zo eerlijk. En waarom zijn de Palestijnen wel een volk en de Joden niet? 

 

 

Ratna

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Hadash does not accept the demand that Jews anywhere in the world can come to Israel to realize their right to self-determination.
At rally, Hadash touts two-state solution without the Jewishness

By Yoav Stern Last update - 01:30 09/12/2007
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/932397.html

It was hard for an audience to be more excited than the one at the Hadash convention on Friday. After more than three hours of speeches in a hot and crowded auditorium, the penultimate speaker was Saeb Erekat, chief negotiator for the Palestinians, who gave a moving imitation of Arafat. Then came Hadash chair Mohammed Barakeh.

"We here, at the seventh Hadash convention, declare loud and clear that we are in favor of the Palestinian people, we are in favor of the legitimate Palestinian leadership," he exclaimed, drawing cheers from the crowd.

The relationship between Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the Arabs in Israel was the focus of opening-night speeches at the convention of the left-wing, heavily Arab party.

Behind the scenes, the main question concerned the Arabs' political future in Israel once a Palestinian state is established. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni recently said the new state would also realize the national rights of the Arabs in Israel, a statement that drew harsh criticism from this community.

In the past, Hadash and the Communist Party took pride in calling for "two states for two peoples" at a time when advocating a Palestinian state was considered heresy. Now this slogan has become a burden on Hadash, particularly after Israeli leaders began using it to justify the demand that Israel be a Jewish state.

Hadash's political rivals in the Arab community criticize the party on that point. Balad claims that this slogan gives Israeli Jews legitimization for designating their state "Jewish," and thereby undermines the grounds for demanding recognition of the collective rights of the Arabs in Israel.

Erekat, who came to wish conference-goers well, wound up inadvertently touching a sore point. "Abu Mazen told me that the moment Israel demands that we recognize two states for two peoples, I should get up and leave the talks," he said, referring to PA President Mahmoud Abbas. "And that is what I did."

In his speech, Erekat recounted the negotiations with Israel ahead of Annapolis, and explained that the Palestinians are prepared to recognize the State of Israel, but not its Jewish character. "I told Tzipi Livni that I do not recall submitting an application to joint the Zionist movement," he said.

Barakeh said Hadash would not drop its policy of two states for two peoples. "We won't toss our principles on the ash heap of history," he said.

He explained that Hadash interprets the slogan differently from Israeli officials. Hadash does not accept the demand that Jews anywhere in the world can come to Israel to realize their right to self-determination.

"These are Zionist definitions we cannot accept," he said, emphasizing that his party rejects the notion that a state that constitutes the realization of a people's self-determination be founded on the basis of race. "The state's Jewishness is a sword at our necks and the necks of the Palestinian people."

Hadash boasts that it is not a transient one-issue party, but one that has an opinion on every issue on the agenda. The backbone of Hadash is the Communist Party of Israel, the country's oldest party, which spent lengthy sessions hashing out its positions. It naturally devotes much attention to socioeconomic matters, but on Friday it seemed like the political issue and Palestinian nationalism were preoccupying everyone.

The party's secretary general, Mohammed Nafa, said that he supports any "organization that resists the occupation" and that those fighting for liberation are entitled "to use any means they see fit" to resist the occupation. "Those who bomb Bint Jbail and beyond Bint Jbail cannot wonder there is bombing in Haifa and beyond Haifa," he said.

Christenen doelwit van radicale moslims in Gazastrook

Weer een christen die wordt bedreigd in de Gazastrook. Hamas ontkent iedere betrokkenheid, maar het is duidelijk dat de situatie van de christenen dramatisch is verslechterd sinds Hamas' machtsgreep een half jaar geleden:

 

Christians living in the Gaza Strip told the Post that they were very worried about the increased attacks on members of their community and religious institutions. "The latest incident is aimed at sending a message to all the Christians here that we must leave," said a Christian leader. "Radical Islamic groups are waging a campaign to get rid of us and no one seems to care."

 

 

Misschien kunnen het NOS journaal en RTL correspondent Conny Mus dit jaar met kerst eens een paar christenen in de Gazastrook opzoeken in plaats van hun eeuwige reportages over Bethlehem en de muur die er doorheen loopt.

 

 

Ratna

-------------------  

 

Muslim gunmen target Christian in Gaza

Khaled Abu Toameh , THE JERUSALEM POST Dec. 8, 2007
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1196847287392&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Muslim gunmen in the Gaza Strip tried to kill another Palestinian Christian over the weekend, sources in Gaza City told The Jerusalem Post.

They said four masked gunmen tried to kidnap Nabil Fuad Ayad, who works as a guard at a local church. Nabil's cousin, Rami, was kidnapped and murdered two months ago by the same group, the sources said.

The sources identified the gunmen as members of the radical Islamic Salafi movement.

"They were dressed in the traditional Salafi clothes," said an eyewitness. "They were also carrying guns."

The gunmen tried to force Ayad into their car as he was walking in the street, but he managed to escape to a nearby shop. Shopkeepers who began shouting drove the gunmen away.

As they fled the scene, the assailants fired several shots into the air.

Salafism represents a Sunni Islamic school of thought whose followers argue that Islam was perfect and complete during the days of Prophet Muhammad, but that undesirable innovations have been added due to materialist and cultural influences.

The Salafis, who have become very active in the Gaza Strip in recent months, are totally opposed to common Western concepts like economics, constitutions and political parties. They refer to the 2,500 Christians in the Gaza Strip as Crusaders and have vowed to drive them out of the area.

Hamas denied any involvement in the attack, saying its security forces had launched an investigation after receiving a complaint from the victim.

Christians living in the Gaza Strip told the Post that they were very worried about the increased attacks on members of their community and religious institutions. "The latest incident is aimed at sending a message to all the Christians here that we must leave," said a Christian leader. "Radical Islamic groups are waging a campaign to get rid of us and no one seems to care."

Hamas wil wapenstilstand om Israëlische invasie te voorkomen

Een staakt-het-vuren heeft van oudsher tot doel om de partijen dichter bij elkaar te brengen en vrede voor te bereiden. Hamas heeft dergelijke bestanden tot nu toe echter steevast gebruikt om zichzelf verder te versterken en zich voor te bereiden op een nieuwe ronde. Het is bepaald niet toevallig dat Hamas juist nu - terwijl een Israëlische operatie in de Gazastrook op handen is - weer met dit voorstel komt.

 

Hamas heeft zich vorige week nog hard tegen vrede en ieder compromis uitgesproken, en gezegd dat niemand het recht heeft ook maar een centimeter van Palestina op te geven. Ook heeft men een wet in het parlement ingediend die ieder compromis wat betreft Jeruzalem verbiedt. 

 

Met vrede en toenadering heeft dit voorstel dus niets te maken.

 

 

Ratna

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Al-Quds: Hamas seeking truce, stop to rocket fire
By Avi Issacharoff Last update - 01:30 09/12/2007
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/932396.html

The Israel Defense Forces on Friday killed a Palestinian man in the Gaza Strip and wounded another, Palestinian sources reported. Meanwhile, the London-based Arabic daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported yesterday that Hamas is seeking a truce with Israel.

Sources said Bajat Abu Daka, 27, was shot to death by IDF soldiers while working the land near his home in the village of Hiza'a near Khan Yunis.

According to the Al-Quds report, senior Hamas officials have been trying recently to persuade its military wing to stop firing Qassams at Israel to prevent a large-scale Israeli military strike on the Strip. The paper also reported that the leader of Hamas' political wing in Damascus, Khaled Meshal, met recently with the secretary-general of the Islamic Jihad in Lebanon to discuss the matter, and that the Islamic Jihad had approved the move in principle, but conditioned it on Israel's agreement that the cease-fire be mutual. The report said senior officials in Egypt had offered to mediate the deal.

Palestinian sources told Haaretz that the intention was to unilaterally initiate a month-long cease-fire with as a test, among other things in honor of the Id al-Adha holiday. "Hamas has tried in the past to reach a cease-fire with Israel," Salah al-Bardawil, a Hamas parliament member told Haaretz, "but we reached a dead end in light of Israel's actions and the killing of dozens of Palestinians. However if both sides would commit to the cease-fire, there would be no problem with it."

Al-Bardawil added that without an Israeli pledge to observe the cease-fire, "there is no point," and also said "I think there is no problem with the Palestinian side. All the organizations agree, but within Israel there is still no agreement about a cease-fire."

Meanwhile, Hamas yesterday denied a report by the London daily Asharq Al-Awsat that the organization intended to give Israel a video of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit in return for the passage of 2,000 Muslim pilgrims to Mecca and Medina by way of the Rafah crossing.

Last week, Egypt allowed Palestinians to travel to Saudi Arabia via Sinai, contrary to the Israeli stand and that of the Palestinian Authority government in Ramallah. Various Fatah officials had spread rumors in recent weeks that Egypt had agreed to the passage of the pilgrims in conjunction with a deal to release Shalit.

In other news, the IDF on Friday arrested two Palestinian camera men working for Reuters and AP during a protest against the separation fence near the village of Umm Salamuna near Bethlehem.

The two, Mohammed Abu Ghania of Reuters and Iyad Hamed of AP, were filming the demonstration from a distance. According to Abu Ghania, soldiers and police approached them without warning and announced they were under arrest for breaking an order banning them from entering a closed military zone.

"We did not know the area had been defined as closed and we were not asked to leave beforehand," Abu Ghania told Haaretz.

"From there were were taken for questioning to the Gush Etzion junction station where we heard for the first time that we were being accused of disrupting the security forces and attacking them. We were not even close to the police or the soldiers when we were filming," he said.

Ambities Iran niet goedaardig volgens onderdirecteur inlichtingendienst VS

De onderdirecteur van de National Intelligence, een van de Amerikaanse veiligheidsdiensten die het rapport over Iran hebben uitgebracht, zegt dat Iran nog steeds uit is op het maken van een atoomwapen. Het blijkt allemaal behoorlijk onduidelijk en verwarrend:

 

"We did not in any way suggest that Iran was benign for the future," Kerr told the panel. "What we had to do was address the evidence we had, that at least a part of their program (was) suspended in 2003."

Kerr noted the estimate also concluded with "moderate confidence" that Iran still wants a future weapons capability.

 

 

Iran ontwikkelt ook nog steeds ballistische raketten, en die zijn vrij nutteloos zonder een nucleaire lading.

 

 

Ratna

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U.S. spy official says Iran ambitions not "benign"
http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2007/12/will-real-nie-please-stand-up.html

 

Thu Dec 6, 2007 7:25pm GMT
By Randall Mikkelsen

 

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran retains key nuclear capabilities despite having frozen weapons development in 2003, and its ambitions cannot be considered benign, a senior U.S. spy official told Congress on Thursday.

 

The deputy director of National Intelligence, Donald Kerr, told a House of Representatives Intelligence subcommittee that there was reason to believe Iran still wanted an ability to make nuclear weapons.

 

He was responding to a Republican lawmaker who questioned the accuracy of an official National Intelligence Estimate this week that said U.S. agencies did not know whether Iran intended to develop a nuclear weapon.

 

The report has forced President George W. Bush to defend his assertions that Iran represented a potential nuclear threat. It backed off a 2005 conclusion that Iran was determined to develop such a weapon and said Iran had abandoned weapon design and covert enrichment in 2003.

 

But Iran still had the "most important" component of a future program, a uranium-enrichment plant, Kerr told the panel. That and Iran's civil nuclear power program can provide important expertise. Iran also was working on ballistic missiles, he said.

 

"We did not in any way suggest that Iran was benign for the future," Kerr told the panel. "What we had to do was address the evidence we had, that at least a part of their program (was) suspended in 2003."

 

Kerr noted the estimate also concluded with "moderate confidence" that Iran still wants a future weapons capability.

 

Iran has consistently denied pursuing a nuclear weapon. But it has asserted a right to develop its own civil nuclear capability.

 

U.S. Rep. Todd Tiahrt, a Kansas Republican, told Kerr he was puzzled by the new intelligence estimate. "We have this sort of dichotomy, the words and actions from Iran seem to be offset by the National Intelligence Estimate," Tiahrt said.

 

He suggested U.S. intelligence agencies had gotten too big at their headquarters and not put enough agents in the field.

 

Kerr responded that the new report was one of the most comprehensive National Intelligence Estimates ever, with more than 1,000 "source notes."

 

He also said it had benefited from reforms and restructurings in U.S. intelligence agencies since the September 11 attacks and a flawed pre-war estimate on Iraqi weapons. The estimate's findings were subjected to rigorous challenges and tests of alternative explanations, he said.

 

The New York Times reported on Thursday that notes obtained last summer from deliberations of Iranian military officials involved in weapons development had played a significant role in the change of views about Iran's nuclear activities.

 

The newspaper report, citing senior intelligence and government officials, said the notes included bitter complaints by military officers over a decision to shut down Iran's weapon-design program.

 

 

Source of this Israel News article

 

(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Wanneer zal Iran een atoombom hebben?

Deze vraag moet niet met behulp van speculatie worden beantwoord, maar met harde feiten. De vele verschillende inschattingen en jaartallen die worden genoemd, geven te denken. Het rapport van het NIE is dan ook geen reden om achterover te leunen en opgelucht adem te halen.

 

 

Ratna

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When will Iran have a bomb?

Spy agencies worldwide divided on Iran threat; Israel fears 'worst case scenario'

 

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3479180,00.html

 

Ronen Bergman
Published:  12.05.07, 10:58 / Israel Opinion

 

 

The story goes like this: The Mossad says the Iranians will be producing their first nuclear device by 2009. The IDF's intelligence branch talks about Iran acquiring all the knowledge needed to produce a bomb within six months. The CIA says Iran will have a bomb by 2011, or maybe only in the middle of the next decade, that is, 2015. Confused? We're not done yet.

 

The US State Department's research division is talking about 2013 as the target date, but all intelligence bodies that contributed to the US report published Monday agree that Iran stopped developing its military nuclear program in 2003 because of international pressure, yet continues to enrich uranium

The report says Iran does not employ a clandestine path, but the same report two years ago claimed it does employ such path, and Israel firmly argues that Iran is indeed doing it to this very day.

All of the above is public information only, and we haven't said a word yet about the various and differing views of intelligence agencies in Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, and Egypt, which also have a position on the matter.

So what is the truth? When will Iran really have a bomb? Where should the public anxiety index be?

First, we should treat the report published in the US Monday, which contradicts previous reports published in the same forum, with the same skepticism that should be reserved for alarmist assessments frequently provided by Israeli intelligence agencies.

Israel has been slammed in Washington over the fact that since 2001, in every meeting between an Israeli prime minister and an American president, Israel claimed that Iran is "six months away" from reaching the "technological threshold." Sources in the American capital say that Israel made a fool of itself while trying to alarm the world.

 
Is Iran fooling the world again?

 

At the same time, we must recall that US intelligence officials have their own agenda. It consists of excessive caution in the wake of the huge screw-up in the efforts to uncover Saddam Hussein's attempts to acquire nuclear weapons. This agenda is also affected by their unwillingness to back military action against Iran, especially after wallowing in the Iraqi swamp as a result of the above-mentioned screw-up.
 
Foreign intelligence agencies that maintain contacts with the Mossad and Military Intelligence have been complaining in recent months that they are not receiving from Israel the evidence that would justify our Armageddon predictions regarding Iran. An echo of these complaints can be found in Monday's report, which contradicts the analysis of Israel's secret services.

 

However, this report mostly relies on assessments, rather than absolute and in depth knowledge of what's going on in Iran. The Ayatollah regime already surprised us in the past with its ability to hide a secret path en route to the bomb. There is no guarantee they are not doing it again.

For Israel, the report is big trouble: It brings closer what Israel views as the worst case scenario in addressing the Iranian threat. One of the top figures dealing with the Iranian threat recently said the following in a closed-door forum: "The relationship between Israel and the US is more complex than ever. We may see a situation, which I view as the worst possibility, where the US president tells us: 'I don't want to draw the required conclusions. You want to attack? Do it. I won't hinder you. You will strike, and you will pay the price.' I view such situation as the worst case scenario because of what will happen after it, which would have implications in various arenas, and because it will create various problems and deepen the gaps between them and us."

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Verhouding tussen seculieren en religieuzen in Israël niet veranderd, wel verbeterd

Volgens Yair Lapid wordt Israël niet steeds religieuzer, zoals een recent onderzoek zou aantonen. Om eerlijk te zijn hoop ik dat hij gelijk heeft, net als met zijn bewering dat de orthodoxen en seculieren elkaar beter leren kennen en respecteren.

 

 

Ratna

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Seculars not going anywhere

Yair Lapid responds to study claiming that Israel's secular sector is on the decline

 

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3479335,00.html

Kobi Nahshoni
Published:  12.05.07, 17:29 / Israel Opinion

 

 

About a week after Ynet reported about a study by the Israel Democracy Institute claiming that the secular sector in Israel has been declining over time, Yair Lapid responds to the findings in an article to be published this Saturday in the "Olam Katan" (small world) weekly.

"The figures regarding the change in the ratio of seculars in the country are simply false," Lapid says. "The study did not ask people how they define themselves, which is the main question in my view, but rather, it asked about their way of life. If they would ask me, for example, whether I go to synagogue on occasion, I would say I do. Yet nobody would ask if I go to a Reform or Orthodox synagogue, or whether I go because I want my kids to see Jewish tradition and feel the atmosphere. So saying that I'm a religious Jew based on this is unthinkable!"

"The real figure we should be addressing is the one by the Central Bureau of Statistics, and this figure has not changed for many years – 45 percent of Israel's population defines itself as secular, 35 percent as traditional, eight percent as ultra-Orthodox, and nine percent as religious. The only place where we sometimes see a shift in the numbers is between the religious and ultra-Orthodox. The Israel Democracy Institute is not suspected of attempting to deliberately manipulate data, certainly not of this kind, but in my view they asked the wrong questions research-wise. I don't think it is right to analyze modes of conduct and define belonging based on that. Therefore, I think the religious public's delight is premature."

Lapid says that a change that did take place in the State of Israel in recent decades is that many more seculars feel they lost Judaism to the religious and have decided they wish to take interest in Judaism and deal with it in their own way.

 

"In my view this is a positive thing," Lapid says, and adds: "Judaism is a great and noble thing, and to say 'we'll leave it to the Orthodox and religious without taking any interest' is irresponsible. For years Judaism has been a sort of product put on the religious shelf, and on holidays we would take it off the shelf and let seculars play with it for a bit. Now, Judaism is going back to being something that more closely touches everyone."

 

'Truly positive trend'

Lapid says his family visited religious friends on Friday evening two weeks ago "so that the kids see a Shabbat as it should be," but emphasizes that even though he did something that has to do with tradition, this doesn't turn him into something he is not, as he put it.

 

Lapid adds: "My children receive education that greatly emphasizes the fact they are part of a human group that has tradition, collective memory, and a state. I am a great believer in the need for Israel to be a Jewish state. I certainly believe my children will pass that on to their children."
  
"By the way, this openness goes both ways," Lapid adds. "When I see today the great movement of ultra-Orthodox women to job placements at high-tech companies and secular companies, for me this means recognition on the part of Orthodox society that seculars are not about to disappear. I think that on both sides, the two parts of the nation are finally starting to know each other, and this, more than anything, is a truly positive trend."

Israël kwaad op Egypte voor doorlaten pelgrims uit Gazastrook

Vrijdag berichtte ik over de samenwerking van Egypte en Saoedi-Arabië met Hamas om 2000 Palestijnen uit de Gazastrook via de Sinai aan de jaarlijke hajj pelgrimstocht te laten deelnemen, ten koste van een afspraak tussen de PA en Israël om een gelijk aantal pelgrims via Israël naar Jordanië door te laten. Voor de PA levert dit maneuver vooral prestigeverlies op, maar Israël vreest dat tussen de pelgrims tientallen aspirant-terroristen zitten die naar Iran reizen voor een cursus terrorisme.

 

Egypte heeft al eerder afspraken met Israël geschonden door Hamas terroristen door te laten naar Gaza. Ook tegen de wapensmokkel onderneemt Egypte volgens Israël te weinig aktie. Hamas kan zo recentelijk zijn wapenarsenaal verbeteren.

 

 

Ratna

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Israel livid as pilgrims cross Rafah
Yaakov Katz , THE JERUSALEM POST Dec. 6, 2007
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1196847263033&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Amid concerns that terrorists were allowed to leave Gaza and travel abroad for training in Iran, Israel has filed a complaint with Cairo after Egypt allowed 1,700 Palestinians to pass through the Rafah Crossing to make the haj pilgrimage to Mecca.

On Monday, for the first time since Hamas's violent takeover of Gaza in June, Egypt unilaterally opened the Rafah border terminal and allowed 700 Palestinians, who claimed to be religious pilgrims on their way to Mecca, to pass through. On Tuesday, another 1,000 crossed through the terminal.

"This is a clear breach of agreements we have made with the Egyptians," a senior diplomatic official said Wednesday, in reference to the November 2005 agreement under which the Rafah Crossing was opened. The official said the unilateral opening of the border had been preceded by another breach of agreements in October, when Egypt allowed 85 Hamas operatives to cross back into Gaza after cutting a hole in the border fence.

IDF intelligence estimates released Wednesday indicated that up to a couple of dozen Hamas terrorists were among the so-called pilgrims Egypt allowed out of the Gaza Strip. In recent years, hundreds of Hamas terrorists have traveled abroad to Iran and Lebanon for military training, and officials said it was possible that these terrorists would do the same.

Once the 1,700 Palestinians return to the border to reenter Gaza, they will join another 2,000 Palestinians who have been waiting near the border crossing since Hamas seized control of the Strip in June. Military Intelligence believes there are a number of wanted terrorists within that group as well.

In response to the increasing number of violations, the Foreign Ministry filed a harsh complaint with Cairo, and senior defense officials are scheduled to travel to Egypt in the coming week for talks about the recent events.

In addition to allowing Palestinians to pass through the Rafah Crossing, Israel is also upset with the Egyptians' continued failure to curb the smuggling of weapons and explosives via tunnels into the Gaza Strip. According to recent assessments, since Hamas's takeover, the terror group has smuggled into Gaza 100 tons of explosives, millions of bullets, hundreds of anti-tank missiles and even a small number of Katyusha rockets.

A delegation of American military engineers recently toured the Egyptian side of the Philadelphi Corridor and was shown a number of tunnels that the Egyptians tried to portray as being too small for weapons-smuggling. According to Israeli officials, the delegation was not convinced and demanded that Cairo take more decisive action against the smuggling industry.

"We have no doubt that if they only wanted to, they are capable of curbing the smuggling," a defense official said.