Egyptische astroloog waarschuwt voor machtig Israel in december 2014

 

LOL. Hoeveel mensen in de Arabische wereld zouden deze onzin geloven? Hoe dan ook, er is niks mis mee als dit uit komt, zolang die macht goed wordt gebruikt en Israel vanuit kracht vrede kan sluiten. Kerry kan zich dan tot december 2014 met andere belangrijke zaken bezig houden, en bijvoorbeeld de crisis in Syrië oplossen, of die in Zuid-Soedan, of in diverse andere landen. 

 

RP

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Egyptian astrologer says Jews will be powerful in December 2014

http://elderofziyon.blogspot.nl/2014/01/egyptian-astrologer-says-jews-will-be.html  

 

Great stuff from MEMRI:

In an end-of-year interview on Al-Nahar TV, Egyptian astrologer Sayyed Al-Shimi warned that whenever Saturn enters a fire sign, the Jews become stronger. Attributing various events, including the first World Zionist Congress, the Balfour Declaration, and the 1948, 1956, and 1967 wars, to the constellation of the stars, Al-Shimi warned that in December 2014, Saturn would enter Sagittarius again.

 

Following are excerpts from the interview, which aired on Al-Nahar TV and was posted on the Internet on December 31, 2013:

 

Sayyed Al-Shimi: Saturn will enter the fire sign of Sagittarius. My late father and I have had a long history with Saturn entering fire signs. As Sheik Daud Al-Antaki wrote, when Saturn enters any of the fire signs, the Jews grow stronger. Don't believe in this merely because I say so. It's been tested. We tested it, and it turned out that...

 

Interviewer: What happened in the past in such a case?

 

Sayyed Al-Shimi: We discovered that Saturn entered the fire sign of Sagittarius when the first World Zionist Congress convened. The Balfour Declaration was released when Saturn was in the fire sign of Leo. The Haganah Brigades began organizing and helping the English in 1928, when Saturn was in the fire sign of Sagittarius. The 1948 war took place when Saturn was in the fire sign of Leo. The 1956 war took place when Saturn was in the fire sign of Sagittarius. The 1967 war took place when Saturn was in the fire sign of Aries.

 

Between 1963-1967, my late father warned in his annual reports: "Beware, Saturn will enter the sign of Aries in 1967, and this means that the Jews will grow stronger, just like in 1956 and in 1948." "Beware," he said, "something is about to happen." But they refused to believe him.

[...]
After visiting the sign of Aries, Saturn entered the sign of Leo. This was in 1977, when Sadat visited Jerusalem.
[...]
The last time Saturn was in the fire sign of Leo occurred in 2006. I started warning them in 2004: "Beware, when Saturn enters the sign of Leo, the Jews in Palestine will get stronger. Something leading to this will inevitably occur." What happened? The Palestinian Authority split into Fatah and Hamas. Now Saturn is about to enter...

Interviewer: It all happens in fire signs? Saturn never enters a water sign, or whatever?

 

Sayyed Al-Shimi: It does enter water signs, but in December 2014, it will enter the fire sign of Sagittarius. Therefore, I hope that until December 2014, the Arab leaders must do whatever they can to resolve the Palestinian problem.

 

[...]

 

Ariel Sharon - een korte biografie

 

Lees in plaats van de gekleurde kranteberichten over Sharon liever deze zeer informatieve biografie van Ami Isseroff.

 

----------- 

“Sharon is a dynamic personality that inspires both extreme hate and revulsion among many, but also unswerving loyalty among those who served under him. He is characterized by decisiveness, knack for cutting red tape, unorthodox and incisive strategic vision as well as reckless disregard of public opinion and niceties. Though he has been politically affiliated with the Israeli right for most of his life, Sharon is a product of the pragmatic labor movement, unlike most of the founders of the Likud. In a short time, Sharon traveled a long ideological road from advocate of Greater Israel to proponent of pragmatic secular Zionism in the style of David Ben-Gurion, helping to guide Israel and Zionism toward a major ideological renewal.”

 

Biography of Ariel Sharon

 

 

 

Ariel Sharon was born Ariel Scheinermann in Kfar Malal, mandatory Palestine, on February 27, 1928. He joined the Haganah underground at the age of 14 in 1942 (1947 according to some sources). During the 1948 War of Independence, he commanded an infantry company in the Alexandroni Brigade, and distinguished himself in fighting in Jerusalem and elsewhere. He was wounded in one of the battles of Latrun. Sharon was appointed Central Command and North Command intelligence officer in 1951-52.  He then went to study in the Hebrew University, but his studies were interrupted in 1953 when he was recalled to  found and lead the "101" special commando unit which carried out retaliatory operations. Sharon and 101 were responsible for an infamous bloody  raid in Qibieh, in October 1953, in which 69 civilians were killed. The raid was a reprisal for a terror attack on Tirat Yehuda. Sharon and others have claimed since that they did not know civilians were being killed, but in an Israeli television documentary, Sharon said the raid was necessary and he would do it again.

The 101 commando unit was merged into the paratroopers with Sharon still in command. Its mission remained reprisal raids for increasing infiltration, especially from Egypt. Sharon was wounded in one such raid in Dir El Balach. Sharon was made commander of the paratroop brigade ("Hativat Tzanchanim") in 1956 and helped to establish its tactics and reputation. In the Sinai Campaign he led a controversial operation against orders to conquer the Mitla pass. In 1957 he was sent by the IDF to study at the Camberley Staff College in Great Britain. In 1958 Sharon became an Infantry Brigade Commander and later was made commander of the IDF infantry training school. He then studied law at Tel Aviv University and received an LLD degree. Sharon became Chief of Staff of the Northern Command in 1964 and Head of the Army Training Department in 1966. He fought in the 1967 Six Day War as commander of an armored division. In 1969 he was appointed Head of the Southern Command Staff.

Sharon resigned from the army in June 1972. He was recalled to active military service in the 1973 Yom Kippur War (October War)  to command an armored division. He became involved in a controversy over the crossing of the Suez canal.. According to some versions of the war, Sharon's action allowed the IDF to surround the Egyptian Third Army and end the war in a superior tactical position. Others claim that his disobedience and recklessness cost many lives needlessly.

Ariel Sharon was elected to the Knesset in December 1973 on the right-wing Gahal ticket. However, he resigned a year later, and served as Security Adviser to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (1975). He was elected to the Knesset in 1977 on the Shlomzion ticket. Following the elections, he helped organize and joined the right-wing Likud party and was appointed Minister of Agriculture in Menachem Begin's first government (1977-81). During the peace negotiations with Egypt, Sharon persuaded Menachem Begin to agree to remove the settlements in Sinai in order to obtain peace with Egypt. One of his priorities was to pursue agricultural cooperation with Egypt, but his major priority was expansion of Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank and Gaza, often circumventing legal channels to found and support new settlements.

In 1981 Ariel Sharon was appointed Defense Minister. He was the architect of the 1982 Lebanon War. The war brought about the destruction of the PLO terrorist infrastructure in Lebanon and forced the PLO and Yasser Arafat into exile in Tunis. However, the war was very unpopular in Israel and abroad because of needless loss of life in operations such as the assault on the Beaufort, and the disastrous massacre  of at least 700 Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps by Christian militia, similar to the massacre conducted by these militia in Tel al-Zaatar in 1976 under Syrian auspices. Sharon was indicted by the Kahan commission for failing to foresee the possibility of a massacre and failing to intervene after the massacre was underway. In 1983, Sharon resigned as Defense Minister after a government commission found him indirectly responsible for the September 1982 massacre of Palestinians at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps by Lebanese Christians. The war in Lebanon and the Qibieh and Sabra and Shatila massacres gave Sharon the reputation of a hated super-hawk in much of the Arab world.

Sharon remained in the government as a minister without portfolio until 1984. He served as Minister of Industry and Trade from 1984-90. In this capacity, he concluded the Free Trade Agreement with the U.S. in 1985. From 1990-1992, Sharon served as Minister of Construction and Housing and Chairman of the Ministerial Committee on Immigration and Absorption. Following the fall of the Soviet Union and the waves of immigration from Russia, Sharon initiated and carried out a program to absorb the immigrants. This included the construction of 144,000 apartments in a relatively short period. He also purchased a great many trailers ("caravans")  for temporary housing. His remarkable achievement was marred by the purchase of the trailers. These poorly constructed units became the subject of controversy and bitterness. From 1992-1996, Sharon was a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. In 1996, Ariel Sharon was appointed Minister of National Infrastructure in the Netanyahu government. He was involved in fostering joint ventures with Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinians. He also served as Chairman of the Ministerial Committee for Bedouin advancement. In all these posts, Sharon found ways to support settlement activities in the West Bank and Gaza. Sharon was opposed to the Oslo peace accords with the Palestinians and sought ways to undermine them.

In 1998, Ariel Sharon was appointed Foreign Minister and headed the permanent status negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. He participated in the Wye River  negotiations.  While serving as Foreign Minister, Sharon met with U.S., European, Palestinian and Arab leaders to advance the peace process. He created and advanced projects such as the Flagship Water Project funded by the international community to find a long-term solution to the region's water crisis and a basis to peaceful relations between Israel, Jordan, the Palestinians and other Middle Eastern countries. At the same time, he sought to accelerate the building of settlements in the West Bank.

After the election of Ehud Barak as Prime Minister in May 1999, Ariel Sharon  became interim Likud party leader following the resignation of Benjamin Netanyahu. In September 1999, he was elected Chairman of the Likud. He also served as a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in the Knesset. Sharon insisted on visiting the Temple Mount Haram al-Sharif compound in September of 2000. His visit triggered or served as the excuse for a wave of violence that put an end, in practical terms, to the Oslo peace process and brought about the fall of his rival, Ehud Barak. ( See commentary on the end of the Oslo Peace Process)

In a special election held February 6, 2001, Ariel Sharon was elected Prime Minister, decisively defeating Ehud Barak. He presented his government to the Knesset on March 7, 2001. He pursued an uncompromising line against Palestinian terror groups and Yasser Arafat, and insisted that Arafat was an obstacle to peace and personally responsible for much of the violence of the Intifada. However, Sharon did not carry out the extreme programs of hawks or vindicate predictions of anti-Zionists that he would commit genocide against the Palestinians. Sharon's stand against terrorism received more support from the US and European countries following the World Trade Center bombings in September of 2001. During the first years of Sharon's administration, Palestinian terror attacks increased and diplomatic initiatives were stalled. Sharon was able to form a close and effective alliance with the United States based on common interests in fighting terror and tacit Israeli support for the US war in Iraq. After a spate of terror attacks left 140 dead in March of 2002, Sharon ordered Operation Defensive Wall in the West Bank. Since the operation, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who Sharon seemed to regard as his personal nemesis, remained besieged and neutralized in his Muqata compound in Ramallah until October, 2004, when he was allowed to leave for medical treatment.  At about the same time, Sharon accepted or helped initiate the Road Map peace initiative that effectively replaced the Oslo peace process with a staged, performance-based plan for peace. The Road Map seemed to develop into a dead letter because neither side was willing to fulfill its commitments. Sharon had promised to remove illegal settlement outposts, but in fact, as late as January 2006, very few of the outposts had been eliminated. Renewed impetus to the peace process was given following the death of Yasser Arafat and the election of Mahmoud Abbas to the Palestinian presidency.

In elections held January 28, 2003, Sharon's Likud party won 40 seats, defeating Labor Party candidate Amram Mitzna, who called for unilateral disengagement - withdrawal from Palestinian areas and construction of a defensive barrier to fend off terror attacks Sharon formed a new  coalition government, partnering principally with the centrist Shinui party as well as the right wing National Union and National Religious parties.

An IDF campaign targeting suicide bombings gradually became effective in foiling about 90% of the attacks. Targeted assassinations killed major terrorist leaders including Ahmed Yassin and Abdul-Aziz Rantissi, heads of the Hamas.  By 2004, it was evident that the IDF, under Sharon's direction, had managed to stem the wave of terror, but the diplomatic stalemate continued. Sharon also came to adopt much of the platform of the Labor party he had defeated. He began construction of a controversial security barrier along Israel's borders. The route of the wall had to be changed time and again because it had included large areas beyond the 1949 armistice lines that infringed on Palestinian territory. 

In December 2003, Ariel Sharon seemed to do an abrupt about face, adopting major portions of the plan developed by Ehud Barak and Amram Mitzna and announcing his own disengagement plan, which eventually won the support of the Bush administration. The plan faced enormous opposition from Sharon's own Likud party and threatened to dissolve the political unity of the Israeli right. Nonetheless, on October 26, 2004, the Knesset passed the plan in what was viewed as a major political triumph for Sharon. Cooperation with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, as well as the disengagement plan, drew increasingly vocal criticism from right wing extremists, formerly Sharon's greatest supporters. Formerly viewed as an archfiend by Arabs and the Israeli left, Sharon now became the target of vilification, including death threats, by the right. The election of Amir Peretz to head the Israel Labor party precipitated early elections. Sharon decided that he could not carry out his policies against considerable opposition in the Likud. On November 21, 2005, he announced that he was withdrawing from the Likud to found a new party, "National Responsibility," later renamed the Kadima Party (meaning "forward"). Sharon's new party was slated to win a decisive victory according to pollsters. However, after suffering a minor cerebrovascular accident, Sharon suffered a massive hemorrhagic stroke on January 4, 2006, leaving the Israeli political scene in an upheaval.

Several investigations produced evidence of enormous corruption in Sharon's political and business dealings and those of his sons, including bribes of hundreds of thousands of dollars, but these rumors and reports are only a minor determinant of Sharon's status in the eyes of the Israeli public and the world. No legal actions have thus far been brought against Sharon. Sharon is a dynamic personality that inspires both extreme hate and revulsion among many, but also unswerving loyalty among those who served under him. He is characterized by decisiveness, knack for cutting red tape, unorthodox and incisive strategic vision as well as reckless disregard of public opinion and niceties. Though he has been politically affiliated with the Israeli right for most of his life, Sharon is a product of the pragmatic labor movement, unlike most of the founders of the Likud. In a short time, Sharon traveled a long ideological road from advocate of Greater Israel to proponent of pragmatic secular Zionism in the style of David Ben-Gurion, helping to guide Israel and Zionism toward a major ideological renewal. In part due to his policies, the conflict faced by Israel began to shrink materially from being a regional or global Arab-Muslim-Israeli conflict to being a local Israeli-Palestinian issue in the eyes of much of the Arab world. Initially reviled in many Muslim and Arab countries as the architect of the Sabra and Shatila massacres, and pictured in racist European cartoons as eating babies, Sharon earned respect as a responsible if tough leader who took courageous steps toward ending the Israeli occupation and bringing about a peace settlement.

Ariel Sharon is twice widowed. His first wife, Margalit, was killed in an automobile accident. His second wife, Lily, died of lung cancer in 2000. He has two surviving sons, Omri and Gilad. A third son, Gur, died in 1967.

Ami Isseroff

Text: Sharon announces resignation from the Likud

Commentary: Sharon's illness upsets the chessboard

 

Twee-staten-oplossing nog steeds favoriet (Jerusalem Post)

 

Om het nieuwe jaar vol goede moed en optimistisch te beginnen: een meerderheid aan beide kanten is (nog steeds) voor een twee-staten-oplossing, volgens de meest recente enquete. - Overigens worden bij die enquetes doorgaans niet de Palestijnse en Joodse diaspora’s betrokken, die wellicht wat minder pragmatisch ingesteld zijn.

 

Nu is de twee-staten-oplossing van de één niet noodzakelijk dezelfde als de twee-staten-oplossing van de ander. De helft ziet die oplossing in de sfeer van de Clinton-voorstellen uit 2000 (‘which included a divided Jerusalem, a Palestinian state in the entirety of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip except for several large blocs of settlements, and a demilitarized Palestinian state’): 54% van de Israeli’s en 46% van de Palestijnen vinden dat een acceptabel compromis (waarbij in de opsomming overigens weer het vluchtelingenvraagstuk ontbreekt...).

De andere helft zal, mits er een akkoord komt tussen de onderhandelaren, flink moeten slikken of het akkoord gaan torpederen op wat voor manier ook. Dat zou geen tragedie zijn maar een misdaad, om de Arabische ambassadeur prins Bandar Ibn Sultan te citeren (in 2000 over de afwijzing door Arafat van de voorstellen).

 

Wouter

_____________

 

Hebrew U survey finds most Israelis and Palestinians support two-state solution

By LIDAR GRAVÉ-LAZI - 01/01/2014 01:33

http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Hebrew-U-survey-finds-most-Israelis-and-Palestinians-support-two-state-solution-336744

 

Poll addressed issues surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including expectations regarding a permanent settlement.

Yitzhak Rabin, Bill Clinton and Yasser Arafat at the White House during the Oslo Acords, Sept. 1993. Photo: Reuters

 

A majority of Israelis and Palestinians, 63 percent and 53%, respectively, support a two-state solution, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

The survey, conducted by the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah, with the support of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung in Ramallah and Jerusalem, addressed issues surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including expectations regarding a permanent settlement, threat perceptions and US foreign policy under the Obama administration.

According to the findings, 54% of Israelis and 46% of Palestinians support a permanent- settlement package along the lines of the Clinton parameters proposed on December 23, 2000, which included a divided Jerusalem, a Palestinian state in the entirety of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip except for several large blocs of settlements, and a demilitarized Palestinian state. These findings represent an increase in Palestinian support, up from 43%, and a decrease in Israeli support, down from 56%, for such a deal compared to that reported by a similar poll in December 2012.

Furthermore, 47% of the Israelis support, and 48% oppose, the dismantling of most of the settlements in the West Bank as part of a peace agreement with the Palestinians. Only 43% of Palestinians, compared to 58% of Israelis, agreed to mutual recognition as part of a permanent-status agreement after all issues in the conflict are resolved and a Palestinian state is established.

The poll also addressed the attitudes and perceptions toward the increased US involvement in the Israeli- Palestinian conflict.

According to the findings, 23% of Israelis believe the Obama administration’s policy is more supportive of Israel, 28% believe it is more supportive of the Palestinians, and 40% believe it is equally supportive of both sides.

This marked a significant increase in the Israeli belief that US policy is more supportive of Israel or balanced under Obama compared to previous polls; in December 2009, only 13% of Israelis believed US policy was more supportive, 40% thought it more supportive of Palestinians and 37% found it equally supportive. Similarly in August 2009, the relevant percentages were 12%, 40%, and 23%, respectively.

Nevertheless only 39% of Israelis respondents said an increased US role in the Israeli- Palestinian conflict would be successful, while 29% said it would be a failure. Compared to a September 2009 poll, there is a slight decline in expectations of US involvement, 42% and 30% respectively.

Along the same lines, 41% of Israelis said Israel should yield to American pressure if the US, under the Obama’s leadership, pressures it to accept a two-state solution, and 43% of said Israel should reject such pressure. While 37% of Palestinians support yielding to US pressure to accept the Clinton/Geneva Initiative-permanent settlement proposals, 59% believe Palestinians should reject such pressure.

Despite majority support for a two-state solution, there remains a great deal of mistrust, mainly on the Palestinian side. According to the poll, 60% of Palestinians believe Israel’s goals are to extend its borders to cover the entire area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea and to expel its Arab citizens, while 24% think the goals are to annex the West Bank while denying political rights to the Palestinians.

On the Israeli side, 34% think the Palestinians aspire in the long run to conquer Israel and destroy much of the Jewish population in Israel; and 21% think the goal of the Palestinians is just to conquer Israel.

The Palestinian survey was conducted between December 13 and 16 and included 1,270 adults interviewed face-to-face in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in 127 randomly selected locations, with a 3 percentage point margin of error. The Israeli sample included 601 adults interviewed by phone in Hebrew, Arabic or Russian between December 12 and 21 and included a 4.5 percentage point margin of error. The poll was planned and supervised by Prof. Ifat Maoz of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Prof. Khalil Shikaki, director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research.

 

VN, Saoedi Arabië spannen zich in tegen escalatie Libanon

 

Intussen bij de buren...

 

_____________

 

VN, Saoedi Arabië spannen zich in tegen escalatie Libanon

http://www.cidi.nl/vn-saoedi-arabie-spannen-zich-in-tegen-escalatie-libanon/

IN MIDDEN-OOSTEN / DOOR ELISE FRIEDMANN / OP 30/12/2013 OM 12:45

 

Zowel de VN als Saoedi Arabië spannen zich, samen met de legers van Libanon en Israel, in om te voorkomen dat Hezbollah Libanon verwikkelt in een oorlog met Israel. Zondag werden, waarschijnlijk door Hezbollah, vanuit Libanon vijf katjoesjaraketten afgeschoten;  twee daarvan bereikten Noord-Israel. Israel deed een aanval op de lanceerbasis. Alle partijen behalve Hezbollah lijken zich in te spannen om escalatie te voorkomen. Hezbollah maakt als politieke partij deel uit van de Libanese regering, maar heeft als terroristische organisatie een eigen agenda wat betreft Syrië en Israel. Vrijdag werd in Beiroet Mohamad Chatah, een tegenstander van de overheersing door Hezbollah, vermoord in een bomaanslag.

UNIFIL nam zondag direct contact op met het Israelische en het Libanese leger nadat de raketten uit Libanon waren neergekomen in de buurt van Kiryat Shmona en de Israelische artillerie een aanval had uitgevoerd op de lanceerbasis. “Dit is een ernstige schending van VN-resolutie 1701, die duidelijk tot doel heeft de stabiliteit in de regio te ondermijnen. Escalatie voorkomen is onze eerste prioriteit, en beide partijen hebben mij verzekerd van hun volledige medewerking”, zei UNIFIL-commandant Paolo Serra zondag.

Saoedi-Arabië stelde zondag $3 miljard ter beschikking voor wapens uit Frankrijk, een grote wapenhandelaar met koloniale banden met Libanon. De Saoedische gift, bijna dubbel het hele defensiebudget van Libanon voor 2012 ($1,7 miljard), moet het zwakke en verouderde Libanese leger versterken, zodat het een tegenwicht kan vormen tegen het veel sterkere Hezbollah. Hezbollah vormt een staat in een staat in Libanon, waar sektarische verschillen in het verleden voor jarenlange burgeroorlogen zorgden.

Noch de Libanese regering, noch Israel heeft enig belang bij een nieuwe Libanese oorlog. (Mogelijk werden daarom ‘slechts’ katjoesjaraketten afgeschoten: Hezbollah beschikt over veel nieuwere lange-afstandsraketten, die op Israel gericht zijn.) De Libanese president Michel Sleiman kondigde de Saoedische gift zondag aan op TV, kort nadat duizenden Libanezen de begrafenis bezochten van ex-minister Mohamad Chatah, die vrijdag in de hoofdstad Beiroet samen met anderen werd vermoord door een autobom in het centrum. Niemand heeft de aanslag nog opgeëist, maar Chatah was een uitgesproken tegenstander van Hezbollahs dominantie in Libanons aangelegenheden.

Chatah liet een lange open brief achter aan de Iraanse president Rouhani. Voordat hij de kans kreeg hierop handtekeningen te verzamelen van Libanese parlementsleden, werd hij het slachtoffer van de bomaanslag. In zijn brief waarschuwde hij dat de binnen- en buitenlandse veiligheid van Libanon erger in gevaar zijn dan ooit.  Hij stelt Iran verantwoordelijk voor het ondermijnen van de Libanese staat en vraagt Rouhani een nieuwe weg in te slaan:

“Het is een onomstreden feit dat de Revolutionaire Garde van Iran 30 jaar geleden de oprichter was van Hezbollah. Libanon was toen nog in een verschrikkelijke burgeroorlog verwikkeld en Zuid-Libanon was bezet door Israel. Nu, 23 jaar na het eind van de burgeroorlog en het opheffen van de Libanese militia’s en 13 jaar nadat Zuid-Libanon is bevrijd van de Israelische bezetting, blijft Hezbollah een onafhankelijke en zwaar bewapende macht vormen die zich onttrekt aan de zeggenschap van de staat. Dat gebeurt met rechtstreekse steun en sponsorschap van uw land.”

Hij roept Rouhani op tot het ondersteunen van 4 maatregelen, waaronder:

“4. Verzoek de Veiligheidsraad de stappen in te zetten die nodig zijn om de uitvoering van UNSCR 1701 af te ronden. Die motie is erop gericht Libanon vanuit het huidige, voorlopige eind van vijandelijkheden te brengen naar een permanent staakt-het-vuren met Israel, waarbij maatregelen van de VN Veiligheidsraad een eind zullen maken aan grensoverschrijdingen door Israel, en het Libanese leger de volledige en exclusieve  zeggenschap zullen geven over de veiligheid in het hele land.”
Lees hier de hele verklaring van Chatah

Escalatie door toedoen van Hezbollah dreigt aan twee Libanese fronten. In het buurland Syrië vechten door Saoedi-Arabië gesteunde soennitische moslims aan de kant van de rebellen, terwijl het sji’itische, door Iran bewapende en aangestuurde Hezbollah meevecht aan de kant van Assad. Ook de provocaties tegen Israel  worden toegeschreven aan Hezbollah. Dat geldt zowel voor de raketbeschieting zondag als voor een eerder incident, toen een Libanese soldaat over de grens heen een Israelische militair doodschoot. Ook toen spanden alle partijen zich in om escalatie te voorkomen; het zou gaan om een éénmansactie van een Hezbollah-aanhanger in het Libanese leger.

De raketbeschieting kwam zondag op een uitgekiend moment: vlak voordat de Amerikaanse minister Kerry de regio bezoekt om de vredesbesprekingen tussen Israel en de PA voort te trekken en één dag voordat Israel in dat kader 26 terroristen met bloed aan hun handen vrijlaat in het kader van die besprekingen, en tegelijkertijd weer nieuwe bouw aankondigde in de nederzettingen. Beide maatregelen wekken veel weerstand op bij Israeli’s en Palestijnen, net zoals bij vorige vrijlatingen en bouwplannen het geval was.

 

Amnesty International over de Gaza blokkade

 

Ik heb onlangs een update geschreven over de situatie in de Gazastrook. Dat viel niet mee, want betrouwbare bronnen zijn moeilijk te vinden en sommige berichten roepen evenveel vragen op als ze beantwoorden.

 

Wie ‘Elder of Ziyon’ is, is me niet bekend. (Amnesty weet het nu waarschijnlijk wel want die hebben met hem gebeld, en het lijkt me niet waarschijnlijk dat dit onder zijn ‘schrijversnaam’ gebeurd is.) Wat ik van de Elder meen te weten is dat hij (of zij...) een vrij rechts geörienteerde Israelische Jood is, althans dat leid ik af uit zijn blog. Maar hij heeft het vrijwel nooit over politieke of ideologische standpunten of argumenten; zijn strijdwapen tegen de (doorgeschoten) Israelkritiek is vooral de feiten. Die stroken vaak niet met de berichtgeving over het conflict of met kritische persberichten van ngo’s die we doorgaans een hoge betrouwbaarheid toedichten. Elder brengt alleen feiten en kritiek voor het voetlicht die ten gunste van de Israelische positie spreken, maar ze lijken vrijwel altijd hout te snijden. Zie vooral ook het tweede ontnuchterende artikel hieronder (beide stukken zijn van 4 december) over het beleid van Amnesty’s Midden-Oosten sectie, die als motto lijkt te hebben: ‘Barbertje moet hangen’.

 

Wouter

_______________

 

Amnesty's incitement against Israel

http://elderofziyon.blogspot.nl/2013/12/amnestys-incitement-against-israel.html

 

 

I have noted here many times that Israel has no restrictions of diesel and petroleum into Gaza, outside of the physical amount that can be transferred via the pipeline at Kerem Shalom. (As far as I can tell, that pipeline has never reached capacity.)

The current Gaza fuel crisis started when Hamas decided in 2011 that it didn't want fuel from Israel and instead chose to run Gaza's power plant with Egyptian fuel, sold by smugglers at lower prices that reflected the subsidy that Egypt gives all its petroleum. When Hamas' Muslim Brotherhood patrons lost power, Hamas lost its source of fuel as the smuggling tunnels were closed.

Now, instead of paying market prices (and PA taxes), Hamas chose to let the Gaza power plant shut down, causing a cascading crisis as water treatment plants, water pumps and other essential infrastructure gets shut off. This was a cynical decision on Hamas' part, as they gambled that the resulting media coverage about the crisis they started would pressure Egypt, Qatar, the PA and perhaps Gulf countries to provide fuel at a discount again.

Amnesty International chooses to blame Israel, though.

 

Israel must immediately lift its blockade on the Gaza Strip, including by allowing the delivery of fuel and other essential supplies into the territory without restrictions, said Amnesty International today. 

“This latest harsh setback has exacerbated the assault on the dignity of Palestinians in Gaza and the massive denial of rights they have experienced for more than six years because of Israel’s blockade, together with restrictions imposed by Egypt,” said Philip Luther, Middle East and North Africa Director at Amnesty International.

“The blockade has collectively punished Gaza’s population in violation of international law. The power plant shutdown has further affected all aspects of daily life, and the Israeli authorities must lift the blockade immediately, starting by allowing urgently needed fuel supplies into the Strip and working with all relevant parties to avert a prolonged humanitarian crisis this winter.” 

“The reason for the flood of sewage was the blockade,” a resident of al-Zaytoun told Amnesty International. “The question is, why is the blockade being allowed to continue? What is our crime? There is no justification for this situation. We just want to live like any other people in the world.”

 

I'll put it in large letters so Amnesty can understand:

ISRAEL ALLOWS FUEL INTO GAZA. 

HAMAS DOESN'T.

At the very end of the anti-Israel screed, Amnesty decides to do a little CYA:

 

Continuing disputes between the Hamas de facto administration in the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Authority over payment and taxes are also a factor in the current crisis. Both authorities must co-operate so that the power plant again receives a steady supply of fuel and can resume operations.

 

This isn't the first time Amnesty chose to ignore facts and blame Israel for Gaza's fuel woes. But this is even worse, as it starkly reveals Amnesty's anti-Israel bias.

My only question is - what exactly is it demanding Israel do to help provide fuel for Gaza? Already Israel agreed to pump free fuel from Qatar via Kerem Shalom, in a story I broke first:

Qatar recently offered to transfer to Hamas large amounts of fuel which it holds in storage tanks in Egypt, but the Palestinian Authority has objected. According to the Paris accords reached with Israel, it is entitled to collect value added tax on goods coming into the territories. Israel has agreed to transport Qatari oil from Israel, after unloading it in Ashdod, but the proposal has met with opposition. Over the last few days, intense negotiations have been held between Qatar, the Hamas government and the Palestinian Authority, in an attempt to resolve the problem and overcome the dire fuel shortage in Gaza.

 

So what exactly does Amnesty expect of Israel? Free fuel? Should Israel invade Gaza to physically place fuel into the power plant (if Israel is the legal occupier of Gaza, then the answer is probably yes!)

This press release proves one thing: Amnesty's bias against Israel is systemic and embedded. There is no way to spin this absurd, counter-factual press release as anything other than pure antipathy for Israel.

Even worse, it shows that Amnesty's concern over actual human rights of Gazans is dwarfed by its bias against Israel. Downplaying the roles of Hamas and Egypt in the crisis, and instead demanding Israel do something it already does, actually increases Gaza's suffering because it distracts from the reality and the actual steps needed to bring fuel to Gaza.

Amnesty should be embarrassed by such an absurd statement. Decent reporters, NGOs and governments should call Amnesty to task for abandoning its true purpose and instead choosing to use its "human rights "platform to incite against Israel.

Because that is what this is - incitement. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My conversation with an anti-Israel Amnesty spokesperson

http://elderofziyon.blogspot.nl/2013/12/anti-israel-spokesperson-from-amnesty.html

 

I called Amnesty this morning to ask about the outrageous report they issued that I discussed earlier today. I waited about five hours for a response before posting my article.

I then received a phone call from Deborah Hyams, Amnesty researcher and media contact.

Hyams explained to me that the Amnesty press release was meant to not only discuss the current exacerbation of the fuel shortage since November 1, but to look at the longer history of Israel's closure and restrictions on exports to Gaza, to explain the "root causes," from Amnesty's perspective.

When I asked specifically about why Amnesty was calling for Israel to lift restrictions on fuel when there are in fact no restrictions, she said that there are restrictions on some types of fuel. In fact, she told me, it was because Israel refused to provide industrial fuel for Gaza's power plant that Hamas was forced to smuggle regular diesel from Egypt. She did admit that price was a factor.

I explained to her my understanding that Hamas actually retooled the power plant to handle regular diesel smuggled from Egypt because they didn't want to pay Israel and they felt that with the Muslim Brotherhood in power they would have an unlimited supply of subsidized, cheap fuel from Egypt.

Hyams insisted that Israel has restrictions, today, on industrial diesel to Gaza. That is not my understanding and I told her that I've read COGAT reports since at least 2011 where they said that they can pump heavy duty diesel for the power plant and Hamas has refused. (Actually, I documented that Israel has provided heavy-duty diesel to Gaza since 2009.)

I pointed out to Hyams that, even if everything she said was true, the current crisis has nothing to do with Israel - Hamas decided it didn't want to pay the normal prices according to agreements between Israel and the PA as it has done in the past. She disagreed, saying that the current fuel outages must be looked at from a larger historical perspective and that Israel is the party most responsible for supplying Gaza with fuel under its legal obligations as an occupier; although she knows some disagree about whether Gaza is occupied by Israel, Amnesty's position is that it is. (We've discussed the hypocrisy of Amnesty vis a vis occupation in the past.)

I pressed on, saying that the press release is clearly taking advantage of a crisis that was not precipitated by Israel but the response essentially ignored all other parties but Israel. She admitted that the immediate trigger of the crisis was Egypt's closing of the tunnels (not really, since that happened over the summer and Hamas decided to stop paying the PA's taxes in late October.) However, this press release was pretty much a way for Amnesty to focus the world on Israel's role in the closure of Gaza.

It was a surreal conversation. Hyams didn't say it explicitly, but in effect she said that the current crisis with the sewage and water problems was an excuse to call attention to the fact that Israel has the primary responsibility for Gaza, according to Amnesty. Amnesty mentioned the other parties with responsibility (in wishy-washy language at the very end of the press release after paragraphs of blaming Israel) but the power problems are, in Amnesty's view, primarily an Israeli responsibility.

Immediately afterwards I called up Guy Inbar from the IDF COGAT unit and asked him if there were any restrictions on any specific type of fuel to Gaza - industrial, petroleum, cooking gas, anything. His answer was an unequivocal "no." The reason Gaza has no fuel is the PA/Hamas disagreements, not because of Israel.

Deborah Hyams is part of the problem. As NGO Monitor has documented:

 

Hyams has an extensive background in radical anti-Israel activism:

·                  In 2001, Hyams volunteered as a “human shield” in Beit Jala (near Bethlehem), to deter Israeli military responses to recurrent gunfire and mortars targeting Jewish civilians in Jerusalem.

·                 Hyams employs demonizing language regarding Israel: In 2008, she was signatory to a letter claiming Israel is “a state founded on terrorism, massacres and the dispossession of another people from their land.” Hyams also stated in 2002 that “[some] of Israel’s actions, all the way back to 1948, could be called ‘ethnic cleansing’.”

·                 In a 2002 Washington Jewish Week article, "Hyams said that while she does not condone suicide bombings, she personally believes they 'are in response to the occupation.'" In another instance she defended violence stating "occupation is violence...and the consequence of this action must result in violence [against Israelis]."

·                 Hyams has worked for some of the most radical political advocacy NGOs in the Arab-Israeli conflict, including the Alternative Information Center (AIC), Jews for Justice in Palestine and Israel (JPPI), Rachel Corrie Foundation, and Ma’an Network. Any of these affiliations should have been a red flag for Amnesty.

 

It is clear that at least in the Middle East, Amnesty is run by people with an anti-Israel agenda, where human rights, and even basic facts, are trumped by antipathy towards Israel.

 

 

Sluipschutter Gaza wilde ogen laten behandelen op Westoever

 

De aanslag op de Bedoeien die vorige week werd doodgeschoten tijdens herstelwerkzaamheden aan het grenshek met de Gazastrook, is opgeëist door de PRC (‘Volksverzetscomités’). Eerder in december werd een Gazaan opgepakt die via Erez naar de Westoever wilde reizen voor een oogbehandeling. Hij zou verbonden zijn aan de Al-Aqsa Martelarenbrigade en stond op het lijstje van terreurverdachten.

 

Wouter

___________

 

Indictment: Terrorist Gaza sniper left Strip for eye treatment

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4470067,00.html

 

Muhammad Abu Amshah from Beit Henoun was given humanitarian permit to leave Gaza for eye treatment in West Bank, only to improve vision ahead of planned shooting attack aimed at IDF

Yoav Zitun

Published:  12.26.13, 17:30

 

An indictment was filed Thursday with the Beersheba District Court against Muhammad Abu Amshah, a terror activist who planned a shooting attack in the Gaza Strip.

 

Abu Amshah, 32-year-old from Beit Hanoun, was given a humanitarian permit to leave the Gaza Strip in order to receive medical treatment in his eyes at a Ramallah hospital. However, in his Shin Bet interrogation, it became clear that the medical condition in his eyes was in the way of his scheme to shoot IDF forces patrolling along the Gaza Strip border fence.

  

The activist was arrested earlier this month by the Shin Bet and police upon leaving, as part of his permit, from the Erez Crossing to Ramallah. According to the Shin Bet, Abu Amshah admitted in his questioning that was intended to be a sniper within the framework of a planned attack by the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades against IDF forces near the Gaza border. He even underwent training exercises for the job. However an injury he sustained harmed his vision, and he planned to treat the injury prior to conducting the attack.

 

The Shin Bet further claim that Abu Amshah was involved in numerous terrorist activities aimed at civilians and IDF forces from within the Gaza Strip in recent years.

 

"The State of Israel allows every month the entry of thousands of Gaza Strip residents into Israel for humanitarian and medical needs, but sometimes terrorists cynically exploit these permits, and use them to transfer terror funds and illegally stay in Israel," the Shin Bet stated.

 

The indictment charges Abu Amshah with counts of attempted murder, contact with foreign agents and conspiring to commit murder. The cell through which Abu Amshah operated is apparently unrelated to the shooting attack that took place on Tuesday, in which an Israeli worker was killed while taking part in Gaza security fence repair work.

 

 

Gelukkig zijn de moordenaars van mijn zoon nooit gevonden

 

As a bereaved mother, it is difficult to speak out. It hurts. Yet a group of bereaved mothers created an organization called Forever Mothers. We visited the Knesset last week to lobby against the prison release. Tali Ben Yishai is a member of our group. Her daughter Ruthie and her son-in-law and three grandchildren, including a three-month-old baby, were murdered when a terrorist broke into their house close to midnight and stabbed them all to death in their beds. It is conceivable that one day their murderer could be released. After all, today the Israeli government is releasing the murderers of Rachel Weiss who along with her three children was killed in a bus bombing. As the bus burned, she tried to get her children off. A soldier who was on the bus, on his way home, David Delerosa, tried to help her but the bus exploded before they could exit. They were burned to death.

Shira Avraham, a member of Forever Mothers, knows what happens when terrorists are released. Her nine-month-old baby Shaked was murdered in her home by a terrorist who had been released in a former deal. He broke into Shira’s home the night of the festive meal of Rosh Hashanah, and murdered her baby and the friend who was holding her.

Het mag voor sommigen hardvochtig klinken dat men zo fel ageert tegen de vrijlating van Palestijnse gevangenen. Monique van Hoogstraten beweerde bij de vorige groep gevangenen die vrij werden gelaten vergoelijkend dat het om inmiddels oude mensen ging, en hun misdaden erg lang geleden zijn gepleegd. Niet vermeld werd dat sommigen openlijk zeggen trots te zijn op wat zij toen deden. Onvermeld blijft ook dat de gevangenen niet alleen een heldenontvangst krijgen bij terugkomst, maar ook een riant maandloon uitgekeerd krijgen voor de rest van hun leven. Zij worden als voorbeeld gesteld voor de Palestijnse jeugd.

Het vrijlaten van gevangenen kan verzoenend werken en beide partijen dichter bij elkaar brengen. Dat is bij de Palestijnen echter duidelijk niet de uitwerking; het voedt slechts hun nationalisme en antizionisme. Israel op zijn beurt verzacht de pijn in eigen land door bij iedere groep gevangenen die vrij komt ook weer nieuwe bouwplannen in de nederzettingen aan te kondigen. Wat men eventueel aan goodwill had kunnen kweken met de vrijlating van deze terroristen, wordt zo direct weer teniet gedaan.

RP

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

 

I’m glad my son’s murderers have not been found

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/im-glad-my-sons-murderers-have-not-been-found/

 

Sherri Mandell - Sherri Mandell is co-director of the Koby Mandell Foundation which runs programs for bereaved families in Israel.

 

Please, Israeli government, I beg you: Don’t go looking for my son’s killers. The ones who cruelly beat Koby and Yosef to death with rocks, the barbarians who attacked two eighth grade boys —  my son and his friend — who were on a hike near our home in Israel. Please don’t find them. Don’t apprehend them and put them in jail and make my family and me sit through a long trial and sentencing, where my heart will quake and my stomach will constrict and I will feel that I am about to faint.

Don’t find them guilty and put them in jail. Because I don’t want the torture of knowing that these killers will find their way to freedom one day, will be greeted by their mothers with hugs, while my son and Yosef lie in the ground. I could not bear to go through what 26 Israeli families are going through today: betrayal by the government that is supposed to protect them.

Unfortunately, the Israeli victims, the ones who were killed, have sadly disappeared from our consciousness as a society. Their parents are now old and frail, the weakest in our society. Their children were murdered by Palestinian terrorists in the early eighties or nineties, 20 or 30 years ago. They cannot stand up for themselves or for their children, because they are elderly, fragile, vulnerable. Many have died from the pain.

As a bereaved mother, it is difficult to speak out. It hurts. Yet a group of bereaved mothers created an organization called Forever Mothers. We visited the Knesset last week to lobby against the prison release. Tali Ben Yishai is a member of our group. Her daughter Ruthie and her son-in-law and three grandchildren, including a three-month-old baby, were murdered when a terrorist broke into their house close to midnight and stabbed them all to death in their beds. It is conceivable that one day their murderer could be released. After all, today the Israeli government is releasing the murderers of Rachel Weiss who along with her three children was killed in a bus bombing. As the bus burned, she tried to get her children off. A soldier who was on the bus, on his way home, David Delerosa, tried to help her but the bus exploded before they could exit. They were burned to death.

Shira Avraham, a member of Forever Mothers, knows what happens when terrorists are released. Her nine-month-old baby Shaked was murdered in her home by a terrorist who had been released in a former deal. He broke into Shira’s home the night of the festive meal of Rosh Hashanah, and murdered her baby and the friend who was holding her.

At our meeting, one of the few Knesset members who attended said, “It’s a disgrace that you bereaved mothers have to come fight for your children. It is the government that should be protecting you.”

He is right. It should not be bereaved families leading this fight. The government should be protecting the most vulnerable families. In addition, every Israeli citizen should be protesting.

And in some cases, it is not just the Israeli government that should be protecting us: It should be the American government as well. For example, Frederick Rosenfeld, whose killers are being released, was an American citizen. Originally from New York, he was killed when he was 48 years old, stabbed to death. Yet the American government, led by Secretary of State John Kerry, works to expedite his killer’s release.

Chavi Levi’s son Avichai was 16 when he was killed by terrorists, on his way home with an anniversary cake for his parents. The killers were apprehended and Chavy and her husband sat at his trial for a year. The killers were sentenced. Less than three years later, these murderers were released in the Shalit deal.

Imagine that you had a child who was murdered by Palestinian terrorists. Now imagine that the Israeli government, goaded on by America, released them home to a hero’s welcome.

Better that my son’s killers have not been found.