Tel Aviv viert feest rond 100-jarig bestaan

 

Aanstaande zaterdag is Tel Aviv jarig, en bereikt de respectabele leeftijd van 100 jaar. Daarom zijn er deze maand tal van festiviteiten in de stad. Kijk voor meer informatie onder andere op:

 

Tel Aviv 100 Web site: http://tlv100.co.il/

 

Tel Aviv 100 booklet: http://digital.timeout.co.il/activemagazine/welcome/TLV_100ENG.asp

 

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Tel Aviv, Israel's unique Jewish city, turns 100 and parties through the crises surrounding it
ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-ml-israel-tel-aviv-100,1,649847,full.story
9:42 AM PDT, April 5, 2009

 

 

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Well past the Sabbath midnight, hours before the Mideast erupted once again into war, Tel Aviv was doing what it loves most — partying.

 

For a place founded a century ago to be the world's first Jewish city, the atmosphere was decidedly un-kosher. Christmas decorations lined the bars and the delis were open, selling pork. In the clubs, the dancers dripped sweat. Outside, tipsy women in revealing fashion stumbled in the streets, and at 2 a.m. drivers were hunting in vain for parking spots.

 

Inside the "Zizitripo" lounge, Omer Gershon downed a shot of vodka.

 

"The nightlife here is crazier than anywhere in the world. I've got people drinking here all night long," the 34-year-old owner yelled over the thumping electronic music. "There's a lot of escapism involved. Carpe diem (seize the day) takes on a whole new meaning here."

 

And there was plenty to escape from that night. An hour's drive south, Palestinian militants were firing missiles at Israeli communities, and Israel would shortly invade the Gaza Strip with air and land strikes to stop the barrages — an operation that ultimately claimed well over 1,000 lives by both sides' count.

 

It was hardly an auspicious prelude to a year in which Tel Aviv has begun celebrating its 100th birthday with art shows, outdoor concerts, a marathon and the inevitable all-night street party. But this is a city hardened to the shocks of Middle East conflict.

 

In the 1991 Gulf War it was hit by Saddam Hussein's Scud missiles. A decade later it suffered an onslaught of Palestinian suicide bombings. In the 2006 war against Hezbollah the fear loomed that Tel Aviv might be hit from Lebanon by Iranian-supplied missiles, and during the Gaza war similar fears were felt.

 

But whatever threats may loom, the party goes on.

 

Tel Aviv was founded on April 11, 1909, on deserted Mediterranean sand dunes north of the Arab port of Jaffa. Its name, which it took later, means "Hill of Spring," and is drawn from the writings of Theodor Herzl, modern Zionism's visionary founding father.

 

Its first inhabitants were Jews from Russia, Germany and Poland. Successive waves of European anti-Semitism culminating in the rise of Nazi Germany swelled the immigrant population. In 1934 it was declared a city. After World War II came Holocaust survivors and Jews from the Middle East.

 

The founders built theaters, museums, promenades and universities. The political and military bodies of the state-to-be were born here and today, nearly 61 years after Israel became a state, Tel Aviv is a world-class, high-tech metropolis and financial capital of 400,000 people. With its suburban sprawl, the population swells to 3 million, more than half the Jews in Israel.

 

Baruch Kipnis, a geography professor who recently published a book celebrating Tel Aviv's centennial, said the city "controls almost every aspect of life" in Israel and has become "an enormous head on a shriveled body."

 

Some critics say Tel Aviv's dominance has cut a wedge between it and the rest of the country. Some deride it as "the bubble," detached from the "other" Israel of religious purists, kibbutzniks, the communities under missile attack from Gaza and the military occupation of 2.4 million Palestinians in the West Bank, just 20 miles away.

 

Forty miles southeast in the mountains is Jerusalem, the capital recognized as such by no government but Israel itself, and divided among secular Jews, Orthodox Jews and Arabs.

 

While Jerusalem suffers from bouts of religious and Arab-Israeli strife, Tel Aviv's defenders counter that their city is leaping forward into the future.

 

"Tel Aviv is the model for what Israel needs to be," said Yael Dayan, chairwoman of the city council and daughter of the late war hero, Moshe Dayan. "Jerusalem is not a city, it's a symbol, it's a place people are leaving. We are the exact opposite. We are a city of live-and-let-live."

 

Tel Aviv has always prided itself on being both a bastion of secular Jewish life and a place where the religious live in peace alongside their bohemian neighbors. Trendy Sheinkin street has an unwritten agreement: On Fridays it's open to gay parades, tattoo parlors and fresh fruit juice stands; on Saturdays it shuts down to respect the Sabbath.

 

It's a city where young religious men on street corners beckon secular Jews to say a prayer to the beat of Techno music. It has separate beaches for religious women, religious men and gays.

 

Religion in Tel Aviv often comes with a touch of irony, like the elegant woman strolling on a small street wearing large sunglasses and a low-cut tank top that quotes from the Ten Commandments: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife."

 

It is a city of refuge for Arab homosexuals rejected by the conservative societies in which they have grown up. But while there is nothing to bar Arabs from living in Tel Aviv, only a few hundred do, city officials say. The Arab population is concentrated in Jaffa — Yafo in Hebrew — and the two are merged under the formal Hebrew name Tel Aviv-Yafo.

 

In last year's mayoral election, a third of the vote went to Dov Khenin, a Jewish member of a mixed Arab-Israeli party.

 

Seated on a motorcycle outside the cafe he runs, 31-year-old Oren Chen says "living in a bubble" is not necessarily a bad thing.

 

"People say 'bubble' in a negative context, but this is actually an island of sanity," he said. "It's a place of freedom, in the most Israeli way possible."

 

For all of Tel Aviv's desire for normalcy, it can never truly escape the troubles around it.

 

The Hassen Bek mosque, built by the last Turkish ruler in the Holy Land before World War I, is virtually unused today by Muslim worshippers. Wedged between Tel Aviv and Jaffa, lit up in green as part of the nighttime seaside skyline, it serves as a stark, mute reminder of the absence of Arabs in the neighborhood it stands in.

 

After Israel's independence, Tel Aviv spread to encompass several Arab villages whose inhabitants had fled or been driven out in the 1948 war. Still, having been founded as an entirely Jewish city on empty land purchased from its Arab owners, "In that regard it is not a Zionist city, because in no way was it based on the oppression of the Arabs," said Khenin, the mayoral runner-up.

 

Tel Aviv is where the young state of Israel nearly came to civil war in 1948, when its first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, ordered the army to fight the Jewish militant Irgun group unless it laid down its weapons. One of Ben-Gurion's officers was Yitzhak Rabin, the future prime minister, assassinated in 1995 by a Jewish extremist in front of City Hall.

 

Unlike biblical cities such as Jerusalem, where Jews resettled after thousands of years of exile, Tel Aviv was the first attempt to build a Jewish city from scratch, and Dan Karmon, a 33-year-old marketing manager, is glad of it.

 

"It's a place where you can live a secular life, without having to escape your Jewish past," he said. "Tel Aviv best represents the struggle to live a normal life in Israel."

 

But never completely normal. Paul McCartney recently gave a concert in Tel Aviv, joined by the audience in singing "Give Peace A Chance." Three months later the Gaza war broke out.

 

Even music can be a sensitive subject. The Tel Aviv-based Israel Philharmonic Orchestra doesn't perform music by Richard Wagner because of its associations with Nazi Germany.

 

However, the city has a powerful German heritage, on vivid display in the 1930s Bauhaus-style buildings designed by Jewish architects who fled Nazi Germany. The 4,000 boxy white structures have earned Tel Aviv a rare UNESCO designation as a World Heritage Site.

 

___

 

On the Net:

 

Tel Aviv 100 Web site: http://tlv100.co.il/

 

Tel Aviv 100 booklet: http://digital.timeout.co.il/activemagazine/welcome/TLV_100ENG.asp

 

Fatah zou terroristische aktiviteiten weer hebben opgepakt

Dit is slecht nieuws. Harel geeft als mogelijke verklaringen dat Abbas aan macht verliest en dat men weinig van de nieuwe rechtse regering verwacht. Wat hij niet vermeldt is het feit dat het verheerlijken van geweld door de PA en in PA media nooit is opgehouden, en leden van de aan Fatah gelieerde Al Aqsa Martelaren Brigades bijvoorbeeld zo altijd het signaal kregen dat wat zij deden in principe goed was en een belangrijk onderdeel van de nationale strijd.

 

Vanwege de verbeterde samenwerking heeft Israel het afgelopen jaar meer dan 100 checkpoints en roadblocks verwijderd. De vraag is wat de nieuwe regering gaat doen als blijkt dat daardoor makkelijker aanvallen kunnen worden uitgevoerd.

 

RP

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Security sources: Fatah has resumed terrorist activities
By Amos Harel - Haaretz

Last update - 08:03 05/04/2009
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1076398.html

 

Defense officials said over the weekend they are concerned about the increased involvement of Fatah-affiliated militants in attacks against Jews in the West Bank over the past two months.

Fatah members stopped attacks against Israel around two years ago, but the involvement of Fatah members in the recent deadly attack in Bat Ayin and the murder of two policemen in the Jordan Valley is being investigated.

The investigation into these attacks and the attempted bombing at a mall in Haifa are under strict censorship restrictions, as requested by the Shin Bet security service.

Officers from the Israel Defense Forces' Central Command said they had a lead regarding last week's attack in Bat Ayin, in which a 13-year-old boy was killed with an ax. The assailant has not yet been caught.

Foreign elements are cooperating with Fatah militants, defense officials say. In 2003 and 2004, when Fatah was responsible for a considerable part of terrorist attacks in the West Bank and beyond the Green Line, most teams were handled by Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad operatives based in Beirut and Damascus, who supplied funds and leadership.

In addition to a possible Hezbollah connection, terrorist factions in the Gaza Strip appear to have also increased their involvement in the West Bank, the officials say.

As Israel and the Palestinian Authority have tightened security cooperation in the West Bank, Fatah members have gradually ceased to carry out attacks against Israelis. Members of the Fatah-linked Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades have also stopped targeting Israelis.

Moreover, hundreds of members of Fatah's military wing pledge, in agreements between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, to have ceased terrorist activity in exchange for the Shin Bet's promise to stop pursuing them. Some of these men still enjoy a form of protective custody in the West Bank. Others became officials in the Palestinian Authority's security forces.

However, intelligence reports suggest that several Fatah militants have resumed planning and implementing attacks against Israel. Some of the militants who signed pledges are also thought to be in violation of the contracts.

This trend could indicate a loss of power by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his prime minister, Salam Fayyad.

Alternately, political activists could be encouraging Fatah militants to carry out attacks to preserve a military option and out of the assumption that the relationship with Israel could severely deteriorate now that Benjamin Netanyahu is prime minister.

Israel en Palestijnen hervatten deze maand vredesoverleg?

Ik heb er mijn twijfels over, maar laten we het hopen. Overigens hebben zowel Netanjahoe als Lieberman aangegeven zich gebonden te achten aan de Routekaart en een tweestatenoplossing; alleen de manier waarop men die wil bereiken is anders dan het Annapolis vredesproces, waarin de eerste fases werden overgeslagen en direct begonnen met de final status onderhandelingen.

 

RP

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Last update - 09:19 04/04/2009       
Report: Israel, Palestinians to renew peace talks 'this month'
By Haaretz Service
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1076291.html

 

 

London-based Arabic language newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported Saturday that peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians will be renewed at the end of April, according to Israel Radio.

 

The report comes despite declarations by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Wednesday that Israel was changing its policies on the peace process and was not bound by commitments it made at a U.S.-sponsored conference to pursue creation of a Palestinian state.

 

Asharq al-Awsat also reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Egypt before the renewal of talks with the Palestinians.
 
Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hosem Zaki said he does not know about preparations for Netanyahu's visit.

 

 

New York Times toont meer interesse voor Israelische dan Amerikaanse soldaten

 

Een analyse van de berichtgeving in Nederlandse kranten zou waarschijnlijk een vergelijkbaar resultaat opleveren: de berichtgeving over vermeende oorlogsmisdaden door Israel wordt prominenter en onzorgvuldiger gebracht dan wanneer het onze jongens en meisjes in Afghanistan betreft, terwijl dat voor Nederlandse lezers toch meer van belang is.... 

 

RP

----------

 

New York Times: Unfair to Israel

NY Times' trigger happy on Israel

Apr. 1, 2009
GILEAD INI , THE JERUSALEM POST

 

In February 2009, a few veterans of the recently concluded Operation Cast Lead met to discuss what some of them felt was immoral conduct by the IDF. The soldiers exchanged war stories, including two specific allegations about unarmed civilians being killed in Gaza. Details of the now notorious meeting emerged the following month, when a transcript of the conversation was leaked to Israeli newspapers.

On March 20, just one day after the story broke in Israel, The New York Times covered the allegations in a front page, above the fold story. A follow-up piece the next day repeated the allegations. And a day later yet another piece dealt with the issue.

Almost exactly one year earlier, in March 2008, American veterans of the most recent Iraq war got together near Washington to publicly recollect their battlefield experiences. They told stories of indiscriminate fire, the killing of innocent civilians and systematic cover-ups of wrongful deaths.

Although these veterans' charges were clearly more relevant to American readers of The New York Times - they were, after all, about American soldiers, American policies and alleged American atrocities - the newspaper didn't cover it on its front page, as it did with the Israeli allegations. It didn't cover the Americans' accounts in three consecutive articles. It fact, although other mainstream news organizations covered the story, the Times didn't report on it at all.

THE TIMES isn't known for being soft on Americans. But this baffling discrepancy between the newspaper's handling of stories about Israeli soldiers and American soldiers is no fluke.

For example, when a US sniper testified before a military court in February 2008 that "he had ordered a subordinate to kill an unarmed Iraqi man who wandered into their hiding position near Iskandariya, then planted an AK-47 rifle near the body to support his false report about the shooting," The New York Times buried the story on page 8.

When the newspaper learned in August 2008 that two American soldiers confessed, in a signed statement to army investigators, to executing handcuffed and blindfolded Iraqi prisoners and dumping their bodies into a canal, the story ran on page 11. And when the soldiers were formally charged with murder a month later, it was noted on page 16.

Perhaps the most striking contrast is between the newspaper's treatment of the Gaza stories and its caution in dealing with allegations that American troops wrongfully killed civilians in the Iraqi town of Haditha. While The New York Times put on its front page the news that, in Israel, "the military's chief advocate general ordered an investigation into" the alleged Gaza killings, it's early 2005 report that the US military was "investigating whether a Marine squad... near the Iraqi town of Haditha committed wrongdoing" amounted to three short paragraphs hidden at the end of a long article on page 12. In fact, it wasn't until more than 10 weeks after Time magazine first scandalized the country by suggesting there may have been a massacre in Haditha - and only after US officials said the military investigation was expected to find that the marines indeed "carried out extensive, unprovoked killings of civilians" - that The New York Times found the incident worth publishing on its front page.

It gets worse. Even before The New York Times published its three pieces about allegations of Israeli misconduct, those charges had been substantially discredited. Israel's Channel 2 television station reported that the source of one of the allegations admitted his story was based only on rumors. Yet none of the three Times articles mentioned this key point. On the contrary, they wrongly described the allegations as "testimony," "revelations" and "eyewitness accounts."

This unfair overemphasis on allegations of Israeli misdeeds relative to similar, and sometimes more credible, stories about Americans is, simply put, discrimination against the Jewish state.

It took more than a week for the Times to finally reveal, in a fourth article, that the core of what it reported in the three earlier pieces was nothing more than hearsay, and that Israeli investigators believe the charges are almost certainly false. But the damage was already done. The trigger happy The New York Times splashed dubious rumors on its front page, and in doing so caused irreversible harm not only to Israel's reputation, but also to the truth. (The newspaper's "retraction" - which was not described as a retraction - was published on page four.)

In prominently highlighting the false accusations, the newspaper seemed to be implying that IDF troops, in their fight against Hamas's guerrilla fighters, exhibited bad judgment and were too quick to kill Palestinians. But what the stories actually showed was that, when it comes to bad news from Israel, it is The New York Times that's guilty of bad judgment and being quick on the trigger.

The writer is a senior research analyst at CAMERA, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America.

Joodse rechter aangewezen om oorlogsmisdaden Gaza Oorlog te onderzoeken

 

De VN Mensenrechtenraad is zo'n genante vertoning dat serieuze mensenrechtenorganisaties haar het liefst negeren en doodzwijgen. Een kwart van alle landen is erin vertegenwoordigd, naast fatsoenlijke landen evengoed de grootste mensenrechtenschenders, die elkaar hier mooi de hand boven het hoofd kunnen houden en ter afleiding samen te keer gaan tegen Israël. Het is een soort chronische Durban-diarree.

 

Als de Joodse voorzitter van de onderzoeksmissie inderdaad met een gebalanceerd en genuanceerd rapport over de Gaza Oorlog naar de Raad komt, zal dit waarschijnlijk evengoed worden verdraaid om er Israël mee aan de schandpaal te nagelen.

 

Wouter

_____________

 

The Jerusalem Post
Apr 3, 2009 12:26 | Updated Apr 3, 2009 19:25
Jewish judge to probe 'Gaza war crimes'
By JPOST.COM STAFF AND AP
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1238562901063&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


The United Nations on Friday appointed a widely respected South African judge who is a trustee of Hebrew University to lead a high-level mission to investigate alleged war crimes committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip during Operation Cast Lead.

Israel refused to say if it would cooperate.

Richard Goldstone, the former UN chief prosecutor for war crimes in Yugoslavia and Rwanda, was named to head the investigation ordered by the Human Rights Council in January.

According to the mandate, the investigation should focus on Palestinian victims of the three-week operation against Hamas earlier this year.

But Goldstone, a Jewish former judge of the South African constitutional court, said his team would investigate "all violations of international humanitarian law" before, during and after the conflict that ended Jan. 18.

"It's in the interest of the victims. It brings acknowledgment of what happened to them. It can assist the healing process," he told reporters in Geneva. "I would hope it's in the interests of all the political actors, too."

Martin Uhomoibhi, the council president, explained the apparent contradiction by saying the mission always intended to evaluate the proportionality of Israel's response, which requires that acts of both warring parties be examined.

"I am confident that the mission will be in a position to assess in an independent and impartial manner all human rights and humanitarian law violations committed in the context of the (Gaza) conflict," he said in a statement.

Israel has rejected any participation in previous council investigations, including one led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu, calling them biased.

It would not say Friday if it would cooperate with the delegation, which also includes British professor of international law Christine Chinkin, Pakistani lawyer Hina Jilani and retired Irish Army Col. Desmond Travers.

"This committee is instructed not to seek out the truth but to single out Israel for alleged crimes," said Yigal Palmor, spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry. He called the 47-nation body "discredited" and said it has no "practically credibility at all."

Goldstone said he was "shocked, as a Jew," to be invited to head the mission.

"It adds an additional dimension," said Gladstone, who is on the board of governors at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. "I've taken a deep interest in what happens in Israel. I'm associated with organizations that have worked in Israel. And I believe I can approach the daunting task that I have accepted in an evenhanded and impartial manner."

On Monday, Judge Advocate-General Brig.-Gen. Avichai Mandelblit exonerated the IDF and closed a Military Police investigation into accounts of alleged serious human rights violations during Operation Cast Lead.

Mandelblit launched the investigation last week after "testimonies" from soldiers, leaked to the media by head of the Rabin Pre-Military Academy, Danny Zamir, claimed that soldiers had deliberately shot and killed innocent Palestinians during the operation.

Yaakov Katz contributed to this report

Hasbara op het internet. Gezocht: ‘een Vlaams leger van bloggers’

 

Bij deze geven we een oproep door van een Vlaamse geestverwant op Verzet Blogspot.

 

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Hasbara op het internet. Gezocht: 'een Vlaams leger van bloggers'

http://brabosh.com/2009/04/02/hasbara/

 

Hoe Israël de media oorlog verloor

Tijdens de voorbije Gaza crisis (27.12.2008-18.01.2009) is andermaal gebleken hoe belangrijk het was om onmiddellijk, adequaat en goed gedocumenteerde informatie te verstrekken als antwoord op de vele kritieken die Israël kreeg en door hierop te weinig, te vaag en te laat op te reageren, heeft het imago van Israël hierdoor veelvuldige en rake klappen gekregen. De oorzaak daarvan was niet door de feiten of acties van het IDF an sich, maar door de veelvuldige foute, verdraaide of onvolledige informatie die door de media over het conflict werd verspreid. Zie ook: Hoe Israël de media-oorlog verloor en Puzzled in Gaza van Yvonne Green en Think About This.

Westerse journalisten werden van bij het begin van het Gazaconflict niet toegelaten in het gebied, toch werd de media overspoeld met  honderden beelden van dode en gewonden en een veelvoud aan reportages. Het overgrote deel van die informatie, die via de internationale media werd losgelaten op de wereld, kwam achteraf gezien nagenoeg eenzijdig uit Palestijnse of Arabische bron. Deze informatie werd door westerse journalisten klakkeloos overgenomen zonder  noch de bronnen te checken noch op het terrein de werkelijke situatie en bestaande feiten te toetsen.

Met alle catastrofale gevolgen van dien: een sinds 1945 nooit meer geziene golf van Jodenhaat en anti-Zionisme overspoelde de wereld. De gevolgen zijn nog altijd zichtbaar en in het licht van de Antiracisme Conferentie Durban II die binnenkort van start gaat in Genève wordt - onder het mom van anti-Zionisme - een nieuwe golf van Jodenhaat verwacht tegenover de Joodse gemeenschappen in Israël en in de rest van de wereld.

Het Israëlisch Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken erkent de fout van het te weinig aan de verspreiden van informatie tav het grote publiek te hebben te gewerkt en is sinds februari een vernieuwde Hasbara gestart. Hasbara is een hebreeuws woord, met verschillende betekenissen en interpretaties. De huidige meest gehanteerde betekenis is die van 'publieke diplomatie' als 'advokaat voor Israël' met het doel het imago van Israël in het buitenland op te vijzelen. Hasbara streeft een positieve benadering na van elke informatie die toekomt, zonder daarbij de kritiek of gemaakte fouten uit de weg te gaan. Zij doet dat op een opvoedkundige wijze eerder dan door te confronteren, pro-actief eerder dan reactief.

Vlaamse Hasbara op het internet: slappe koffie

Tijdens het voorbije Gazaconflict is nogmaals de kracht van het internet gebleken en hoe weinig pro-Israël activisten daarvan gebruik hebben gemaakt. Wat de Lage Landen betreft, België en Nederland was het resultaat ronduit bedroevend. In Nederland, dat traditioneel een pak mondiger en politiek sociaal meer bewust actief is dan de de gemiddelde Vlaming in België, werd op verschillende websites en blogs verdienstelijk weerwerk verricht. Ook in Franstalig België, Wallonië en Brussel, werd flink gewerkt aan het aanscherpen van de pen, in de media en op het internet. Maar in Vlaanderen was de situatie ronduit dramatisch.

Dat heeft verschillende oorzaken. De dozijnen Joodse organisaties die actief zijn in Vlaanderen, zijn bijzonder weinig actief op het internet. Als ze al bekend zijn met het internet,  frequenteren zij voornamelijk de Franstalige websites en blogs. Hoewel de meeste Joden goed tot uitstekend de Nederlandse taal beheersen, worden de meeste Joden nog steeds opgevoed in de Franse taal. Hun huis- tuin- en keukentaal is nog steeds het Frans en ligt het ook voor de hand dat zij niet snel of veel minder geneigd zijn om te kijken wat er aan de hand is op het Internet in de Nederlandse taal. Mede aldus, hebben zij de langdurige haatcampagne op de vele honderden websites, blogs en forums over het hoofd gekeken.

En dan te beseffen dat tegenwoordig ruim tweeeneenhalf miljoen Vlaamse Belgen toegang hebben tot het internet, en enkel de honderden Vlaamse websites en blogs van de ontelbare pro-Palestijnse en anti-Zionistische organisaties actief zijn op het internet, ligt het voor de hand dat ook in Vlaanderen de mediaoorlog op het internet door pro-Israëlactivisten, bij voorbaat verloren werd nog vooraleer hij begonnen was. Voor wie op zoek was naar een denkbeeldige Joodse Lobby in België, was snel van een kale reis teruggekeerd. Welgeteld één keer werd er actief gedemonstreerd (Antwerpen, 11 januari 2009) - een half uur zacht grommen, zalven en lijmen en het was weer voorbij. Dat was het dan wat Vlaanderen betreft zowel publiek als op het internet!

Grote uitzondering [gelukkig maar] was Joods Actueel rondom Michael Freilich en zijn redactieraad, die op 31 december 2008, toch reeds vier dagen nadat het Gazaconflict was begonnen[!], een Blog opstartte. Blog die later compleet werd geïntegreerd in de website met dezelfde naam. Ook het Forum der Joodse Organisaties ontwaakte erg langzaam uit haar diepe slaap maar haar acties op het internet zijn sporadisch, te kort en beknopt en laten in het algemeen een erg passieve en gelaten indruk na. Pas halverwege het Gazaconflict, begon het FJO eindelijk iets aan haar website te doen, website waarnaar ik al 15 jaar tevergeefs op zoek was op het internet.

Op dit ogenblik zijn nog steeds enkel Joods Actueel en deze blog, Verzet Blogspot, de enige Vlaamse blog/websites die zich actief roeren op het internet. Voor het overige moet je uitwijken naar onze Noorderburen en de websites en blogs van Nederlandse origine raadplegen (zie rechts bij verwijzingen: Nederland). Het blijft allemaal hard vrijwilligerswerk door amateurs, die zonder de minste steun van overheid of ngo's, met primitieve middelen en een handvol mensen - blijven timmeren aan het imago van Israël en dat van de Joden in het algemeen. IJveren voor een gelijke en meer evenwichtige benadering van de Israëlische politiek en situatie, in vergelijking tot de landen in de rest van de wereld. blijft een weinig dankbare zaak te zijn maar wel absoluut noodzakelijk.

Het bescheiden succes van deze 'twee roependen in de woestijn' is in feite een gegeven om maar weinig trots op te zijn want het toont tegelijk de armoede aan van Joods en niet-Joods verzet aan tijdens deze goed georganiseerde anti-Israël campagne, door vele observanten reeds de pro-Palestijnse Lobby genoemd. Het echte PR-werk - pro-Israël - zou in feite moeten uitgevoerd worden door beroepsmensen, maar die laten het helaas nagenoeg compleet afweten. De toestand op het internet is echter onhoudbaar geworden en ronduit alarmerend. Er moet dringend wat aan gebeuren en een nieuwe versie van een Vlaamse Hasbara op het internet dringt zich op.

Gezocht: een Vlaams leger van bloggers

Met de kracht van het internet kan iedereen, jong en oud, geschoold en ongeschoold, op gelijk welk ogenblik en elk uur van de dag met de computer een activist zijn. Je kan zelfs een online activist zijn van op het werk of met een draagbare PC op een bank in het park of café. Het enige wat je nodig hebt is een PC en een aansluiting op het internet. Het internet is al lang geen eenrichtingsverkeer meer zoals websites dat in den beginne wèl waren, maar integendeel een interactieve weg om informatie uit te wisselen om alleen of in groep online informatie te ontvangen en door te geven.

Veel meer dan vroeger zijn op het internet erg gebruiksvriendelijke programma's gratis te downloaden en in een oogwenk te installeren. Vele van die programma's zijn eenvoudig te bedienen en laten je toe om met een vingerknip artikels, foto's en video's te downloaden. Erg populair zijn YouTube, waar iedereen eigengemaakte video's kan publiceren. Netwerken kan uitstekend via MySpace en Facebook. Vooral blogs (on line dagboeken en journaals) zijn bijzonder populair. Meer dan 65 miljoen mensen zijn lid van Facebook, meer dan 50 miljoen mensen bezoeken minstens één keer per maand YouTube en Wikipedia (online encyclopedie gemaakt door iedereen), en Technoratie, een blog traffic service, die meer dan 110 miljoen blogs telt.

Tweede belangrijkste gegeven: hoe aan correcte en objectieve informatie te geraken, hoe ze te gebruiken en online te zetten. Het Israëlisch Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken verspreid online complete pakketten voor de Israeli Webfriends, zoals u en ik. Beperkte tot zeer goed gedocumenteerde Q & A's (vraag en antwoord) worden kant en klaar toegeleverd. Overwegend in het Frans of het Engels, maar met goede vertaalprogramma's zoals bv Elan online en het vertaalprogramma van Microsoft, helpen u een eind op weg naar een Nederlandstalig antwoord. Je hoeft niet eens een blog op te starten om een online activist te worden. Neem gewoon deel (eerst registreren) aan de discussies  op de ontelbare politieke en sociale forums op het internet, blogs en interactieve mediasites van kranten en journaals. Korte compact geformuleerde antwoorden, kunnen in vele gevallen reeds het verschil maken.

Wie geïnteresseerd is om 'advokaat voor Israël' te worden kan mij emailen op brabosh - at - telenet.be.

Bronnen: Jerusalem Post van 18.01.2009: Latest hasbara weapon: 'Army of bloggers'; Haaretz van 19.01.2009: Israel recruits 'army of bloggers' to combat anti-Zionist Web sites; Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Hasbara

 

Kent Israël extremistische terroristen?

 

Zie tevens eerder bericht: 13-Jarige jongen gedood en kind van 7 jaar verwond in aanval op Westoever

 

Wouter

___________________

Kent Israel extremistische terroristen?

http://israel-in-de-media.blogspot.com/2009/04/kent-israel-extremistische-terroristen.html

 

Kent Israel extremistische terroristen?

 

Ja, in Israel komen soms ook extremisten voor die terrorisme uitvoeren.

Wat maakt het toch anders dan Palestijns terrorisme?

 

De moord op een Israelische jongen met een bijl gisteren 2 april maakt dat onbedoeld duidelijk.

Naar blijkt zijn de slachtoffers, de twee broers, zonen van een Israelische terrorist.

Hun vader had een bomaanslag op een Arabische school in Oost-Jerusalem gepland in 2003.

Voordat het onheil kon geschieden in 2003 werd de auto met explosieven ontdekt door de Israelische politie.

Die kon de explosieven onschadelijk maken en gelukkig bleef de school, met de meisjes, ongedeerd.

 

De vader van de broertjes werd als de dader opgespoord en, nu komt het enorme verschil met de Palestijnen,

Hij werd tot 15 jaar gevangenisstraf veroordeeld. Hij zit dan ook nu nog zijn straf uit.

Nog niet duidelijk is of deze broertjes van het begin af doelwit waren vanwege hun vader of dat het toeval is.

 

In beide gevallen is de dader een kille moordenaar, die kinderen afslacht met een bijl.

De broertjes kun je de daad van hun vader niet verwijten.

De echte dader van 2003 is door Israel op de juiste manier bestraft.

En van wraak kan al helemaal geen sprake zijn daar de daad van de vader verhinderd werd en er dus geen slachtoffers vielen noch schade werd aangericht.

 

MS

 

Wounded ax-attack boy is son of jailed Jewish bomb-plot cell member

By YAAKOV LAPPIN

Yair Gamliel, the seven-year-old boy whose skull was fractured by an ax-wielding terrorist in the settlement of Bat Ayin on Thursday, is the son of Ofer Gamliel, one of three men convicted in 2003 and sent to prison for 15 years for a failed bomb plot against a Arab girls school in east Jerusalem.

Shlomo Nativ z"l.
Photo: Courtesy

The Prisons Service said it would allow Gamliel to visit his son at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem's Ein Kerem for a few hours on Thursday.

Prisons Service spokesman Yaron Zamir told The Jerusalem Post the visit could only go ahead with an escort of Service staff. "We are preparing to accompany Gamliel to the hospital," Zamir said. "He [Gamliel] is choosing the time of the visit."

In 2003, the Jerusalem District Court convicted Gamliel, together with Yarden Morag and Shlomo Dvir, of attempted murder. The cell came to be known as the Bat Ayin Underground. It had planted an explosives-packed cart in the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of A-Tur in 2002, between Mokassed Hospital and an Arab girls elementary school across the street.

The bomb was found by police officers passing through the area. A police bomb squad safely detonated the explosives and the police and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) traced them back to the Jewish militant cell set on causing heavy Arab casualties.

At the end of the trial, the judges said the defendants had carefully planned the location of the attack, choosing an area that did not routinely have Israel Police or Border Police patrols, or any Israeli passersby.

The bomb was made up of two slabs of explosive material, two gas canisters, 100 liters of fuel and a large number of screws. The defendants were driven by a desire to revenge Palestinian terrorist attacks, the judges said.

 

 

Vrede tussen Israel en Palestijnen

Van Sittard Web Log:

Vrede tussen Israel en Palestijnen

http://sittard.blogspot.com/2009/04/dangerous-filename-vrede-tussen-israel.html

 

 

Uit een Israëlische opiniepeiling vorig jaar (zie hieronder):

 

The survey of 1,721 Israelis, both Arab and Jewish, also showed that 73 percent of the Jews and 94 percent of the Arabs want Israel to "be a society in which Arab and Jewish citizens have mutual respect and equal opportunities."

 

Goede wil is er dus voldoende in Israël, en de regering zou hier gebruik van moeten maken om een aktief beleid te voeren om de samenleving tussen Joden en Arabieren in Israël te verbeteren.

 

De Palestijnse Autoriteit op de Westelijke Jordaanoever doet intussen het tegenovergestelde en straft pogingen tot begrip en toenadering vanuit de bevolking genadeloos af.

 

Steun de One Voice Movement.

 

Wouter

______________

Strings of Peace

Yup. On Sunday, March 29, 2009, Palestinian officials in Jenin announced that they have disbanded a youth orchestra after it played for Holocaust survivors in Israel. The youth orchestra was founded three years ago and was called "The Strings of Peace". The group began their concert with an Arabic song called We Sing For Peace.

The story in the BBC is here. The NY Times report is here.

The Strings of Peace

-Dry Bones- Israel's Political Comic Strip Since 1973

 

Zie ook:

Palestijnse kinderen zingen voor overlevenden Holocaust

Palestijns jeugdorkest opgeheven na zingen voor Holocaust overlevenden

Palestijnse Autoriteit heeft geen boodschap aan vrede en begrip overbrengen

 

 

Lieberman acht Israel niet gebonden aan Annapolis proces

Lieberman is niet tegen een Palestijnse staat, maar tegen het principe van Annapolis om direct naar de fase van de final status onderhandelingen te gaan voordat een aantal andere zaken zijn opgelost. Bij de Routekaart wordt eerst naar een voorlopige Palestijnse staat toegewerkt, en is gedetailleerd uitgewerkt wat beide partijen moeten doen om daar te komen.

Yasser Abed Rabbo, a top aide to Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas and his unofficial spokesman, said that no one could force the Palestinians to sit around the negotiating table with "a racist like Lieberman."

De Palestijnse Autoriteit is minstens zo racistisch: zij weigert het zelfbeschikkingsrecht van de Joden te erkennen, zij bestraft het verkopen van land aan Joden met de doodstraf en in door haar gecontroleerde media wordt geregeld opgeroepen tot geweld tegen Joden en Israeli's, wordt de Holocaust ontkend en antisemitisme verspreid.

 

RP

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

Lieberman: 'Only one document obligates us, it's not Annapolis'
Apr. 1, 2009
Herb Keinon , THE JERUSALEM POST

 

 

New Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman entered his office with a bang on Wednesday afternoon, saying that while Israel is committed to every aspect of the Road Map; it is not obligated by the Annapolis process.

 

At a ceremony in the Foreign Ministry where he took the reigns from former foreign minister Tzipi Livni, Lieberman said, "There is one document that obligates us, and it is not the Annapolis document," in reference to the Road Map.

 

He said that the coalition agreements it was made clear that the government would accept all previous agreements, insisting, "There is Israeli governmental continuity." He added that while the government of Israel endorsed the Road Map in 2002, it did not do so to the 2007 Annapolis process.

 

Lieberman said that Israel would abide strictly by the Roap Map, as well as the two accompanying documents, including the Mitchell Report. "We will never agree to jump over all the clauses and go to the last one, which is negotiations over a final status agreement," he said. He noted that the agreement includes dismantling terrorist infrastructure and setting up a government that can govern.

 

The Road Map peace plan also calls on Israel to cease all settlement construction and dismantle illegal outposts.
In a speech that surprised many of the employees who were expecting generalities, Lieberman also made clear that he believed Egypt is a key strategic partner and an important factor for stability in the region.

 

"What is important is to maintain world and regional stability," he said, adding that he was being asked constantly, "What will be with Egypt?"

 

"Egypt existed in the time of our Patriarchs, and will apparently be in our time as well," he went on. "Egypt is certainly an important factor, and an important country in the Arab world, and a factor that stabilizes the regional situation, and perhaps beyond it."

 

His comments appeared to be an attempt to assuage concerns in Cairo following comments he made in the past about Egypt. Lieberman said that he would both like to visit Egypt, and would welcome their leaders here.

 

"I will definitely be happy to visit Egypt, and I would be happy for Egyptian leaders to visit us here, and for the Egyptian foreign minister to visit the Israeli Foreign Ministry. I certainly respect them, and I want them to respect us, on the basis of reciprocity," he said.

 

Late last year in a Knesset address, Lieberman slammed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's unwillingness to travel to Israel on an official visit, saying "If he wants to talk to us, he should come here; if he doesn't want to come here, he can go to hell."

 

Regarding Israel's difficult diplomatic standing in the world today, Lieberman noted that this came at a time when Israel was willing to make more concessions than ever before.

 

In relation to public opinion, he asked, "When was Israel most at its most popular in the world? After the Six Day War, not after Oslo A, B, C and D."

 

Lieberman added that in order to be respected in the world, you have to respect yourself.

 

Livni offered a brief but pointed reaction to Lieberman's speech.

 

"This speech proved that I did the right thing when I did not join the government," Livni said.

 

Yasser Abed Rabbo, a top aide to Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas and his unofficial spokesman, said that no one could force the Palestinians to sit around the negotiating table with "a racist like Lieberman."

 

Jpost.com staff contributed to this report

 

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

This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1238562881455&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

 

 

Wat Avigdor Lieberman zei over de 'Annapolis Akkoorden'

 

Sinds gisteren bestaat er een nieuw vredesverdrag tussen Israel en de Palestijnen: de "Annapolis Akkoorden". Uitgevonden door niemand minder dan minister van buitenlandse zaken Avigdor Lieberman, die gisteren op alle nieuwsprogramma's werd geciteerd als zijnde tegen deze akkoorden. Nee, nu lieg ik. De Akkoorden zijn uitgevonden door de vertaaldienst op het ministerie van buitenlandse zaken (MFA). Lieberman zei:

 

"There is one document that is mandatory for us, and it is not a matter of the Annapolis conference"

 

Dit werd vertaald als 'Annapolis Akkoorden'.

 

Later in zijn speech zei hij dat de regering Annapolis nooit ratificeerde, zonder verdere specificatie.

 

Lieberman stelde verder dat de regering gebonden is aan de Routekaart (die in een tweestatenoplossing voorziet) en aan VN resolutie 1505 (waarin de creatie van een Palestijnse staat wordt bepleit).

 

Goed vertalen is een kunst op zich. Misschien moet men bij het MFA een betere vertaler in dienst nemen, want ieder woord van een Israelische politicus gaat de wereld over. Nadat het kalf verdronken is, heeft de MFA vandaag alsnog de put gedempt en de vertaling op haar website gecorrigeerd. Voor de zekerheid hieronder de oorspronkelijke Hebreewse tekst en een link naar de (verbeterde) Engelse tekst.

 

RP & WB

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

 

Statement by incoming Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman at the ministerial inauguration ceremony

 

"We will honor all the agreements and all the undertakings of previous governments and act exactly according to the Road Map."

 

"The Oslo process began in 1993. Sixteen years have passed since then, and I do not see that we are any closer to a permanent settlement. There is one document that binds us and it is not the Annapolis Conference. That has no validity. When we drafted the basic government policy guidelines, we certainly stated that we would honor all the agreements and all the undertakings of previous governments. The continuity of government is respected in Israel. I voted against the Road Map, but that was the only document approved by the Cabinet and by the Security Council - I believe it was Resolution 1505. It is a binding resolution and it binds this government as well.

The Israeli government never approved Annapolis, neither the Cabinet nor the Knesset, so anyone who wants to amuse himself can continue to do so. I have seen all the proposals made so generously by Ehud Olmert, but I have not seen any results. "

See further:

http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/Foreign_Minister/Speeches/Statement_by_incoming_FM_Avigdor_Liberman_1-Apr-2009.htm

 

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

 

http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFAHeb/Diplomatic+updates/Events/Statement-+b-+incoming-FM-+Liberman-+at-inauguration-01-Apr-2009.htm

 

 

 דברי שר החוץ הנכנס אביגדור ליברמן בטקס חילופי שרים

1 אפריל 2009
אנחנו נכבד את כל ההסכמים ואת כל ההתחייבויות של הממשלות הקודמות, משום שבמדינת ישראל יש רציפות שלטונית, ונפעל לפי מפת הדרכים במלואו, כולל מסמכי זיני וטנט.
 

  שר החוץ אביגדור ליברמן (


צהריים טובים, כבוד שרת החוץ היוצאת, כבוד סגן השר היוצא, סגן השר הנכנס, עובדי המשרד, אורחים נכבדים, המנכ"ל.
 
כשלמדנו, במסגרת לימודי היחסים הבינלאומיים, מהי מערכת בינלאומית, למדנו שיש מדינה ויש ארגונים בינלאומיים וכל מיני חברות כלכליות חובקות-עולם. מאז השתנו פני הדברים, ובמערכת המודרנית ישנן, לצערי, מדינות שהן סמי-מדינות. קשה לקרוא למדינה כמו סומליה "מדינה" במלוא מובן המילה, וכך גם לגבי אוטונומיות למיניהן, במזרח אירופה, בבלקנים וגם פה אצלנו. קשה אפילו לקרוא למדינה כמו עיראק "מדינה" במלוא המובן. וגרוע מכך, יש היום שחקנים בין לאומיים שהם לא רציונליים, כמו ארגון אל קעידה. וגם ניתן בהחלט לשאול אם המנהיג של מדינה חזקה וחשובה כמו איראן הוא שחקן רציונלי. על פי תפיסת עולמי, עלינו להסביר לעולם שסדר העדיפויות של הקהילה הבין לאומית חייב להשתנות, ושכל ההגדרות הקודמות – ברית ורשה, ברית נאט"ו, מדינות סוציאליסטיות, קפיטליסטיות – השתנו. יש סדר עולמי שמדינות העולם החופשי מנסות לשמר, ויש כוחות או מדינות או גורמים קיצוניים שמנסים להפר אותו.
 
הטענה כי מה שמאיים היום על העולם הוא הסכסוך הישראלי-פלסטיני היא בגדר בריחה מן המציאות. המציאות היא הבעיות שנובעות מכיוון פקיסטן, אפגניסטן, איראן ועיראק.
 
מה שחשוב זה לשמור על היציבות העולמית והאזורית. מצרים היא בהחלט מדינה חשובה בעולם הערבי, גורם מייצב של כל המערכת האזורית ואולי גם מעבר לזה, ואני בהחלט רואה בה פרטנר חשוב. אשמח לבקר במצרים ולארח כאן מנהיגים מצריים, לרבות שר החוץ המצרי – הכול על בסיס של כבוד הדדי. 

אנו נוהגים בזילות בהרבה מושגים, ובייחוד במילה "שלום". אמירת המילה "שלום" עשרות פעמים ביום לא תקרב את השלום. שתי הממשלות הקודמות, ממשלת שרון וממשלת אולמרט, עשו צעדים מרחיקי לכת – ההתנתקות ואנאפוליס. 'ישראל ביתנו' לא הייתה אז חלק בקואליציה, אביגדור ליברמן לא היה שר החוץ, וגם לו רצינו, לא יכולנו למנוע את השלום. כל ההצעות מרחיקות הלכת לא הביאו את השלום – להפך. בשנים האחרונות המדינה עברה את  מלחמת לבנון השנייה ואת מבצע עופרת יצוקה. דווקא כשעשינו את כל הוויתורים, ראינו את ועידת דרבן, שתי מדינות ערביות, מאוריטניה וקטאר, ניתקו קשר וקראו לשגרירים בחזרה. קטאר הפכה למדינה קיצונית.
 
וגם בדעת הקהל אנחנו ממשיכים להפסיד מדי יום. כל הוויתורים והדיבורים על שלום רק יזמינו לחצים נוספים ומלחמות נוספות. ישנה מימרה בלטינית: Si vis pacem, para bellum – "החפץ בשלום, ייכון למלחמה". אנחנו בהחלט חפצי שלום, אבל גם על הצד השני מוטלת אחריות. אין מדינה בעולם שוויתרה כמו מדינת ישראל. מאז 77' ויתרנו על שטח גדול פי שלושה מגודלה של מדינת ישראל. תהליך אוסלו התחיל ב-93', מאז כבר עברו 16 שנים, ולא ראיתי שאנחנו מקרבים את הסדר הקבע.
 
יש מסמך אחד שמחייב אותנו, ולא מדובר בוועידת אנאפוליס – אין לזה שום תוקף. כשעברנו על קווי היסוד, אמרנו שאנחנו מכבדים את כל ההסכמים ואת כל ההתחייבויות של הממשלות הקודמות, משום שבמדינת ישראל יש רציפות שלטונית. אני הצבעתי נגד מפת הדרכים בממשלה, אבל זה המסמך היחידי שאושר בממשלה ובמועצת הביטחון, דומני החלטה 1505 – זו החלטה מחייבת, גם את הממשלה הזאת. ממשלת ישראל מעולם לא אישרה את אנאפוליס, לכן מי שרוצה להשתעשע, שימשיך להשתעשע. ראיתי את כל ההצעות הנדיבות של אהוד אולמרט, ולא ראיתי שום תוצאה.
 
לכן אנחנו נלך בדיוק לפי אותו מסמך, מפת הדרכים, כולל מסמך טנט, כולל מסמך זיני. לעולם לא אסכים שנוותר על כל 48 הסעיפים ונגיע ישר לסעיף האחרון – משא ומתן על הסדר קבע. הוותרנות לא מביאה שום תועלת, אנחנו נעמוד על קוצו של יו"ד – פירוק ארגוני טרור, הקמת ממשל יעיל, קבלת שינוי חוקתי עמוק בתוך הרשות הפלסטינית. וגם אנחנו מתחייבים לעמוד בסעיפי המסמך במלואו, כולל מסמכי זיני וטנט – אני לא בטוח שברשות הפלסטינית, או אפילו אצלנו, באותם חוגים שכל כך דוגלים בשלום, מודעים לקיום מסמכי טנט וזיני.
 
מתי הייתה מדינת ישראל הכי חזקה בעולם מבחינת דעת הקהל? אחרי הניצחון במלחמת ששת הימים, לא אחרי כל הוויתורים בהסכמי אוסלו א', ב', ג' ו-ד'. מי שרוצה לשמור על מעמדנו בדעת הקהל, חייב להבין שמי שרוצה שיכבדו אותו – חייב קודם כל לכבד את עצמו. אני חושב שזו תהיה, לפחות מבחינתנו, המדיניות.
 
אני משתדל כמה שיותר לפעול בצורה מסודרת ועם שקיפות מקסימלית. בתחילת דרכי במשרד החוץ, אני רואה צורך בהגדרת יעדים באופן ברור. כמו שיש יעד האינפלציה, שממשלה מאשרת וקובעת כל שנה, גם במדיניות חוץ חייבים להיות יעדים ברורים ומדידים. המשימה הראשונה תהיה ליצור את אותו מסמך - 'יעדי מדיניות החוץ הישראלית', ומדי שבוע, מדי חודש, נבדוק איך אנחנו מתקדמים.
 
אני בטוח שאנחנו נעבוד פה בשיתוף פעולה. אני מראש אומר לכם שנעבוד קשה, ובדרך כלל כשעובדים קשה – גם נהנים. אני מודה לכם מראש ואני רוצה לאחל לכולם, וגם לשרת החוץ היוצאת, חג פסח כשר ושמח ותודה ולהתראות.

Palestijnse Autoriteit dreigt met doodstraf voor het verkopen van land aan Joden

 

Weer een goede daad van het gematigde seculiere Palestijnse leiderschap onder leiding van Machmoed Abbas:

 

Warning the Palestinians against engaging in "suspicious real estate deeds," the religious leader said that according to Islamic teachings it was a "grave sin" to sell houses and lands to Jews.

 

De afgelopen decennia zijn tientallen Palestijnen hiervoor vermoord.

 

Stel je voor dat Israel het verkopen van land aan Arabieren met de dood zou bestraffen?? De vergelijkingen met de nazi's zouden je om de oren vliegen, de VN zou een onderzoek eisen, de EU zou met een boycot dreigen en de VS zouden om opheldering vragen.

Maar voor de PA gelden andere regels, dus dit haalt geen enkele Europese krant en niemand behalve een paar verstokte zionisten heeft het er verder over.

 

"The city of Jerusalem is the religious, political and spiritual capital of the Palestinians," he said. "The Jews have no rights in Jerusalem. This is an occupied city like the rest of the territories that were occupied in 1967."

 

Wanneer een Israelische politicus zulke dingen zegt wat betreft Palestijnse rechten in Jeruzalem, spreekt iedereen daar schande van en komt het in alle kranten, maar de PA mag gerust zeggen dat Jeruzalem, de belangrijkste stad voor de Joden op zowel religieus, cultureel, historisch en nationaal gebied, van de Palestijnen is en de Joden er niks te zoeken hebben.

 

Er klopt iets niet......

 

RP

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PA: Death penalty for those who sell land to Jews
Apr. 1, 2009
Khaled Abu Toameh , THE JERUSALEM POST

 

 

The Palestinian Authority has issued yet another warning to Palestinians against selling their homes or properties to Jews, saying those who violate the order would be accused of "high treason" - a charge that carries the death penalty.

 

The latest warning was issued on Wednesday by the Chief [Islamic] Judge of the Palestinian Authority, Sheikh Tayseer Rajab Tamimi, who reminded the Palestinians of an existing fatwa [religious decree] than bans them from selling property to Jews.

 

Sheikh Tamimi's warning came in response to reports that Jewish businessmen from the US had purchased 20 dunams of land from Palestinians on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.

 

Warning the Palestinians against engaging in "suspicious real estate deeds," the religious leader said that according to Islamic teachings it was a "grave sin" to sell houses and lands to Jews.

 

He said that the ban also applies to real estate agents or middlemen who are involved in such transactions.

 

He warned that anyone who ignores the warning would be punished in accordance with Islamic teachings and would also be ostracized by his community and family.

 

Sheikh Tamimi also issued a ban on renting out property to Jewish individuals and organizations under the pretext that they would spread moral, political and security corruption there.

 

He said that the ban was necessary to counter the Israeli government's efforts to change the Arab and Islamic culture of Jerusalem by expelling its Arab residents and turning it into a Jewish city.

 

"The city of Jerusalem is the religious, political and spiritual capital of the Palestinians," he said. "The Jews have no rights in Jerusalem. This is an occupied city like the rest of the territories that were occupied in 1967."

 

Scores of Palestinians have been murdered over the past three decades for allegedly selling their property to Jews or for acting as intermediaries in real estate deeds involving Jews.

 

Several fatwas issued by PA Islamic clerics have ruled that any Palestinian who sells his property to Jews would face the death sentence.

 

Fatah legislator Hatem Abdel Kader, who also serves as PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad's adviser on Jerusalem affairs, told The Jerusalem Post that the new-old ban was needed to thwart attempts by the new right-wing government in Israel to take control over more lands in the Arab neighborhoods of the city.

 

He said that Jerusalem was facing a "fierce onslaught" by the Israeli government and Jewish settler groups. He said that Israel's ultimate goal was to change the demographic and topographic reality in Jerusalem, as well as its cultural and religious identity.

 

Israel, he added, is in a race against time to decrease the Arab population of the city while increasing its Jewish population.

 

"They want to reduce the percentage of the Arab population from 27% to 12%," he said.

 

He claimed that the Jerusalem Municipality and the Interior Ministry issued about 400 demolition orders for illegal houses in Arab neighborhoods of the city just last month.

 

Abdel Kader said that Israel's measures had kept approximately 90,000 Arab residents of Jerusalem on the West Bank side of the security fence.

 

 

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

This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1238562884554&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

 

13-Jarige jongen gedood en kind van 7 jaar verwond in aanval op Westoever

Ik vind het voorbarig om gelijk te spreken van een terreur-aanval als nog niets bekend is over omstandigheden en motieven. Bij terreur denk ik toch vooral aan vooraf door een groep voorbereide aanslagen, wat hier niet het geval lijkt.

 

Wouter

_____________

Last update - 13:20 02/04/2009
13-year-old killed, 7-year-old wounded in West Bank terror attack 
By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1075941.html


A 13-year-old boy was killed and a 7-year-old was seriously hurt Thursday in a terror attack at the West Bank settlement of Bat Ayin. The two were set upon by an axe-wielding man who is thought to have fled the area following the attack.

Channel 2 television reported that the terrorist was a local Palestinian employee. Security forces are said to be combing the area in search of the assailant.

The teen sustained critical head wounds and later died of his injuries, Magen David Adom rescue personnel said. The 7-year-old was evacuated to Hadassah Ein Karem in Jerusalem for treatment.

A settler official told Channel 2 that an armed resident in the settlement opened fire in the direction of the terrorist as he fled, though it is unclear if the terrorist was wounded. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Immediately after the attack, a passerby confronted the terrorist and wrestled the axe from him. The terrorist subsequently broke free from the passerby's grasp and fled the scene, Channel 2 said.

"He tried to stab me. I kicked him, he kicked me," the settler, who gave his name only as Avinoam, told Channel 10.

Bat Ayin officials said residents in the settlement have been instructed to remain in their homes. Security forces in the vicinity have also been advised to remain on high alert.

Bat Ayin, situated in the Etzion bloc south of Jerusalem near the Palestinian cities of Bethlehem and Hebron, is not ringed by a security fence, residents told Channel 2. This is apparently for ideological reasons.

This was the first attack in the Etzion Bloc since January 2008, when two students were wounded after two terrorists armed with knives broke into their yeshiva.

Two people were injured in a stabbing incident at Gush Etzion Junction in 2006.

Three people were killed in a shooting attack in 2005 when terrorists shot at youths from a passing vehicle.

 

 

Eerste uitdaging Netanjahoe is om een eerlijke kans te krijgen

Netanjahoe en zijn regering worden bepaald niet warm onthaald. Netanjahoe is geen vredesduif, maar de media geven wel erg de indruk dat hij, en vooral minister van buitenlandse zaken Avigdor Lieberman, de duivel in eigen persoon is. Een opmerking van Lieberman dat hij zich niet aan de Annapolis overeenkomst zou houden, ging de wereld over. Dat er geen Annapolis overeenkomst was, omdat men het niet eens kon worden, en de Palestijnen diverse Israelische voorstellen afwezen, wordt er uiteraard niet bij verteld. Alle opruiende anti-vredesopmerkingen en nationalistisch gepraat over 'martelaren' en 'heldendaden' (bedoeld wordt omgekomen terroristen en zelfmoordaanslagen) door de Palestijnse Autoriteit wordt per definitie genegeerd, om zich volledig te kunnen concentreren op wat Israel fout doet, fout zou kunnen doen en fout heeft gedaan.

 

RP

-----------

The Jerusalem Post
Apr 1, 2009 0:21 | Updated Apr 1, 2009 0:28
PM's first diplomatic challenge: Trying to get a fair hearing
By HERB KEINON
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1238423656119&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


As Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was making his way to the Knesset Tuesday to present his government, a close confidant of his noted that in the United States, a new president has at least a few days of grace to relish the moment.

"Here, Bibi didn't even have 10 seconds," he said.

Indeed, as Netanyahu was putting the last-minute touches on his Knesset speech, he was interrupted constantly to deal with one political "crisis" after the next, from Silvan Shalom's spot around the cabinet table, to how many Shas ministers would be in the mini-security cabinet.

Things didn't get any easier for Netanyahu when he finally delivered his speech. He was interrupted continuously by heckling, most vociferously by Shelly Yacimovich, who is ostensibly part of his coalition.

And that was the greeting Netanyahu got on his home turf. Away - well, don't even ask.

Czech Foreign Minister Karl Schwarzenberg, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, was quoted in a Czech daily Tuesday as saying that the EU was not happy with "some of the steps of the Israeli government, namely construction works close to Jerusalem, but also access to Gaza, which is today very limited."

What was so significant about that remark, accompanied as it was by the announcement that an Israeli-EU summit envisioned under a new upgrade agreement was not now in the offing, was that it was made by Schwarzenberg, arguably one of Israel's best friends in Europe.

Even more telling was that the remark was made regarding actions taken by a government that outgoing foreign minister Tzipi Livni would have had us believe was the absolute darling of the Western world.

As for Netanyahu's government, Schwarzenberg had this to say: "The new Israeli government has not raised much excitement, either."

And that's all before Netanyahu even showed up for Day One of his new job.

The new prime minister's diplomatic task is daunting, and begins immediately. His most immediate challenge will be to persuade the US and Europe that he is not the peace obstacle they imagine.

To read some of what has been written about the new government in the Western press, and to hear some of the statements of the world's leaders, were it not for Netanyahu's government, peace would be flowing like a roaring river - as if Iran wasn't destabilizing, Hizbullah wasn't threatening, and Hamas wasn't smuggling arms and planning to kidnap IDF soldiers and kill Israelis.

The main problem, to listen to Schwarzenberg, is the lack of enthusiasm engendered by the Netanyahu government.

In his address to the Knesset on Tuesday, Netanyahu said what he has said consistently since the elections - that peace was possible, that he would pursue it, that he had no desire to rule over any Palestinians, and that in his vision of a permanent agreement with them, they would have complete control over their lives, except over those aspects that could threaten Israel.

But the world is not buying it, so Netanyahu's most important job right now is to convince the US and the fair-minded in Europe of his sincerity.

For his own reasons, Netanyahu remains allergic to uttering the phrase "two states for two peoples," even though what he has in mind seems to be a Palestinian entity that has all the trappings of a state, except for those accouterments that could threaten Israel: an army, the right to form defense treaties, and full control over airspace, water and the electromagnetic spectrum.

Netanyahu told the Knesset that he would engage with the Palestinians on three levels simultaneously: on improving the Palestinian economy, enhancing Palestinian security capabilities, and conducting political negotiations.

But what he must do immediately, if he wants to gain any semblance of an attentive ear in Washington and Europe, is to spell out in more detail what exactly he has in mind.

Because of an antipathy many of the Western elites had toward Netanyahu in the past, because of his coalition partners, because of the way he is portrayed in the Israeli media, Netanyahu ascends to the premiership with the burden of proving an interest in peace on his shoulders, and not - ironically - on the shoulders of the Palestinians.

Justified or not, that's the reality. Netanyahu's first order of business needs to be to convince the world that he is serious about peace.

If he can do that, then it will be easier for him to enlist their help in dealing with all the other huge challenges facing him and the country: from Gaza, to Syria, to Iran.

Ministers en hoge functionarissen in 32ste regering van Israël

 

De grootste regering ooit in Israels geschiedenis, en dat in tijden van economische crisis....

 

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

Ministers and Senior Officials of the 32nd Government of Israel
31 Mar 2009 - Ministry of Foreign Affairs

 

President
Shimon Peres - President

Government Ministers
Benjamin Netanyahu - Prime Minister
Minister of Economic Strategy, Minister of Pensioner Affairs, Minister of Health, Minister of Science, Culture, and Sport
Silvan Shalom - Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Regional Development and the Development of the Negev and the Galilee
Moshe Ya'alon - Vice Prime Minister and Minister
Ehud Barak - Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense
Avigdor Liberman - Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs
Dan Meridor - Deputy Prime Minister , Minister of Intelligence and Atomic Energy
Eliyahu Yishai - Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior
Yitzhak Aharonovitch - Minister of Public Security
Ariel Atias - Minister of Housing and Construction
Ze'ev Benjamin Begin - Minister
Benjamin Ben-Eliezer - Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor
Avishay Braverman - Minister
Yuli Edelstein - Minister of Information and Diaspora Affairs
Michael Eitan - Minister of Improvement of Government Services
Gilad Erdan - Minister of Environmental Protection
Daniel Hershkowitz - Minister
Isaac Herzog - Minister of Welfare and Social Affairs
Moshe Kahlon - Minister of Communications
Yisrael Katz - Minister of Transportation and Road Safety
Uzi Landau - Minister of National Infrastructures
Sofa Landver - Minister of Immigration Absorption
Limor Livnat - Minister
Yakov Margi - Minister of Religious Services
Meshulam Nahari - Minister
Yossi Peled - Minister
Stas Misezhnikov - Minister of Tourism
Yaakov Neeman - Minister of Justice
Gideon Sa'ar - Minister of Education
Shalom Simhon - Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development
Yuval Steinitz - Minister of Finance

Deputy Ministers
Daniel Ayalon - Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
Lea Nass - Deputy Minister of Pensioner Affairs
Matan Vilnai - Deputy Minister of Defense

Senior Government Officials
Reuven Rivlin, MK - Speaker of the Knesset
Dorit Beinisch - President of the Supreme Court
Micha Lindenstrauss - State Comptroller and Ombudsman
Stanley Fischer - Governor of the Bank of Israel
Lt.-Gen. Gaby Ashkenazi - IDF Chief of General Staff
Menachem Mazuz - Attorney General
Rabbi Shlomo Amar - Sephardi Chief Rabbi
Rabbi Yona Metzger - Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi


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

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70% Palestijnse jeugd gelooft niet in geweld als oplossing conflict met Israël

Goed en slecht nieuws. Het zou mooi zijn als ze ook de kinderen in Sderot en omgeving eens willen onderzoeken, waarvan een meerderheid met stress verschijnselen te maken heeft.

 

RP

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Last update - 03:42 01/04/2009       
UN: 70% of Palestinian youth oppose violence to resolve conflict with Israel
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1075465.html

By DPA

 

 

Nearly 70 percent of Palestinian young adults believe the use of violence to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is not very helpful, according to a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) study released Tuesday.

 

Only 8 percent believe violence is an important tool, the study, based on interviews with 1,200 Palestinians over the age of 17 in the West Bank and Gaza.

 

The study also found out that more than 80 percent of young Palestinians are depressed, and 47 percent identify themselves as Muslim rather than Palestinian.
 
It found that 39 percent were "extremely" depressed and 42 percent were depressed by their conditions. Depression was more marked in the Gaza Strip where 55 per cent said they were "extremely" depressed.

 

When asked to define their identity, 47 percent identified themselves as Muslims, 28 percent as Palestinians, 14 percent as humans and 10 per cent as Arabs.

 

"Young people are exceptionally vulnerable in a conflict situation. They are more likely to be injured, arrested or sucked into harmful situations," said Jens Toyberg-Frandzen, special representative for UNDP's Program of Assistance to the Palestinian People.

 

"At UNDP we have always understood that you cannot develop an economy or a nation without developing its youth, particularly when the economic and political environment appears to offer limited hope," he said.

 

Unemployment rates for Palestinian youth range from 35 percent in the West Bank to 51 percent in Gaza, said UNDP.

 

The survey of attitudes of Palestinian youth was part of a report commissioned by the UNDP and presented to a workshop designed to plan a strategy for youth development for the Palestinian Authority.

 

 

Verhalen van Israelische soldaten op nieuwe website

Nina, a 25 year-old IDF medic who  served in Gaza, recounts how she and other IDF soldiers treated wounded Palestinian men, women and children and arranged for them to be flown to Israeli hospitals for medical care. She explains that IDF medics are taught not to see nationality, but rather to treat the wounded with the severest injuries first, even if they are terrorists.
 
Amir, a military reserve paramedic in the Givati unit in Gaza, confirms Nina's account. "I was present when injured Palestinians were flown out by IDF chopper to Israeli hospitals. Imagine the cost of that helicopter, but we believe that human life is of the highest value – their identity doesn't matter." Amir's video relates how he helped a pregnant Palestinian woman in labor while he was searching for terrorists in Gaza.

 

Denk niet dat dergelijke verhalen in de Volkskrant, NRC of het AD verschijnen....

 

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

IDF SOLDIERS SPEAK OUT IN NEW WEBSITE
 
ISRAELI SOLDIERS SHARE THEIR PERSONAL COMBAT EXPERIENCES WITH THE WORLD
 

JERUSALEM  (March 27, 2009) – Israeli soldiers launched a website to share their personal experiences of serving in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).  Their testimonies contrast sharply with recent media reports of alleged IDF misconduct.
 
Calling themselves "Soldiers Speak Out," the group provides video testimony at (www.soldiersspeakout.com) highlighting their personal accounts of the IDF's moral code.
 
StandWithUs, an international education organization, created the website in response to IDF members in its student programs who felt they had to speak out.  This independent initiative is not coordinated with either the IDF or the Israeli Government.

"We created this website because a few isolated allegations from `anti-war' Israeli soldiers are being used to defame the IDF.  Yet the IDF has over 700,000 citizen soldiers and reservists who try to live up to the IDF's high ethical standards. The IDF impartially judges all alleged violations, and punishes offenders," explained Roz Rothstein, International Director of StandWithUs.
 
The soldiers share experiences rarely told by the international media. Nina, a 25 year-old IDF medic who  served in Gaza, recounts how she and other IDF soldiers treated wounded Palestinian men, women and children and arranged for them to be flown to Israeli hospitals for medical care. She explains that IDF medics are taught not to see nationality, but rather to treat the wounded with the severest injuries first, even if they are terrorists.
 
Amir, a military reserve paramedic in the Givati unit in Gaza, confirms Nina's account. "I was present when injured Palestinians were flown out by IDF chopper to Israeli hospitals. Imagine the cost of that helicopter, but we believe that human life is of the highest value – their identity doesn't matter." Amir's video relates how he helped a pregnant Palestinian woman in labor while he was searching for terrorists in Gaza.
 
The soldiers also describe the challenges of fighting terrorists who use inhumane tactics. Inon, a 25 year-old lieutenant in the Golani brigade, recalls that during the 2006 Lebanon war, he and his unit spotted an elderly woman shouting in pain. As they tried to help, they realized that Hezbollah had wired her with a suicide bomb belt and was using her as a human trap for the Israeli soldiers. "This is what we are up against."
 
"We had no shortage of volunteers," said StandWithUs Israel Director Michael Dickson, "Many feel that the media has been skewed. Many soldiers feel a deep sense of injustice, including those who risked their own lives in Gaza to protect Palestinian civilians. These young soldiers are deeply moral and recognize that their service is vital to a country like Israel, which is constantly endangered by terrorists and hostile neighbors.
 
"All the soldiers we met illustrate the IDF's moral code with first-hand experiences. The media may not always report on it, but by putting the soldiers' stories on the Internet, they can speak to people directly. I anticipate that there will be many more soldiers speaking out," said Dickson.
  
·        The Soldiers Speak Out website is at www.soldiersspeakout.com

-------------
Jerusalem Post coverage: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1237727552888&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

 

Palestijnse raketten 'Made in China'

 

Sommigen doen de Palestijnse raketten die vrijwel dagelijks vanuit de Gazastrook op Israel worden afgevuurd af als 'vuurwerk'...

 

_____________

The Jerusalem Post
Apr 1, 2009 0:03 | Updated Apr 1, 2009 0:15
'Palestinians firing Chinese-made rockets'
By YAAKOV LAPPIN

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1238423655926&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


A growing number of Chinese-made rockets are being smuggled into the Gaza Strip from Sinai and fired at Israel, a senior police sapper told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, at least two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip at the western Negev, with no injuries or damage being reported.

During a press conference held Tuesday in Jerusalem, Supt. Kobi Preger, deputy head of the Israel Police's national bomb disposal laboratory, identified at least three types of Chinese-made rockets among those being fired from the Gaza Strip.

"The 107 millimeter [diameter] rocket, often called a 'Grad,' and two types of 122mm rockets are made in China," Preger said.

He added that one version of the 122mm rocket had a range of 40 kilometers and had been used by Hamas to target areas such as Yavne, north of Ashdod, during Operation Cast Lead.

It is widely believed that the group is seeking to obtain rockets that can reach Tel Aviv.

While a Grad-type 107mm rocket carries 1.2 kilograms of explosives, both forms of the 122mm rocket can carry 6.3kg, Preger said.

"Regarding improvised rockets made in Gaza, terrorists are trying improve on the range," he warned. "The rockets are going farther and getting more powerful."

Over the years, Palestinian factions have competed against each other to create their own rocket types. According to the police, the Palestinian Resistance Committees has produced the al-Nasser, identifiable by its black and green camouflage colors and red tip. Fatah in Gaza has made and fired the al-Aqsa rocket, while Islamic Jihad uses the al-Quds 3 rocket. Hamas's flagship rocket is the Kassam, which in its various forms is usually marked with red and green colors.