Schrijver Amos Oz bij oprichting nieuwe links blok in Israel

 

Met Kadima ter rechterzijde en deze nieuwe partij ter linkerzijde krijgt Labor het steeds moeilijker. Volgens een recente poll zou Labor nog maar 11 zetels krijgen (nu 19) en Meretz 7 (nu 5), en dat was voor de nieuwe partij was aangekondigd waarin Meretz opgaat.

 

 

RP

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Last update - 09:17 16/11/2008       
Feted author Amos Oz says new leftist party will replace Labor

 

By Roni Singer-Heruti and Akiva Eldar, Haaretz Correspondents
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1037560.html

 

 

"I hope the expanded leftist movement will become a replacement for the Labor Party," author Amos Oz told Haaretz on Saturday. "The Labor Party has finished its historic role, it isn't putting forward a national agenda and it joins any coalition," Oz said. He was among 30 intellectuals and public figures who attended the Tel Aviv press conference Friday at which the official launch of a new left-wing party modeled after Meretz was announced.

 

Referring to the refusal by Labor Party chairman Ehud Barak to commit to not joining a coalition headed by Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu, Oz said "For many years there has been a large gap between what the Labor Party says and what it does." He added that he hoped the new bloc's potential can be translated into a Knesset list consisting of Meretz members, ex-Laborites, environmentalists, supporters of Dov Khenin in the just-finished Tel Aviv mayoral elections, Reform Jews and Arabs.

 

The new party has apparently not yet carried out a poll to judge the degree of public support it can expect. "I always think in double-digit numbers," Meretz chairman Haim Oron said Friday. The new party doesn't yet have a new name. In light of the desire of new members for "rebranding," alternatives, the "Meretz" name will be evaluated in the coming days.
 
"The name must be changed because we aren't joining Meretz, we are creating a center-left bloc," Kucik said. "Our positions are close to those of Meretz but in order to break the glass ceiling we first need to change the name."

 

Among those who attended Friday's gathering were former Labor Cabinet minister Uzi Baram; Gilad Sher, who was the PMO legal adviser under Barak; Hebrew University law professor Mordechai Kremnitzer; Peace Now founder and former Labor MK Tzali Reshef, and former Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg.

 

Absent from the meeting were Labor Mks who have been talking with Oron for some weeks about the possibility of forming a new party. Despite his anticipated resignation from Labor, MK Ami Ayalon has not reach an agreement with Oron on joining. Oron has rejected Ayalon's demands for a guaranteed spot in the party leadership or number-two ranking on the list and for the holding of a poll to choose the party's head.

 

No decisions were made at Friday's meeting. According to the organizers, some of the attendees will run for the Knesset on the new list but it's not yet clear which plan to leave their current pursuits for the campaign.

 

The attendees resolved on Friday that the goal of the new alignment was to establish "a new political movement that will gather under its wings the peace-supporting, social-democrat camp in Israel." There was talk of the party's list of Knesset candidates comprising the Meretz leadership and new members, but the mechanism by which this would occur was not discussed. One possibility calls for alternating between Meretz members and new members on the list.

 

The party's founding meeting is scheduled for December 5. Hundreds of people are expected to attend. However, most are expected to express support for the new body, but not to take an active party.

 

"Friday is a day for shopping, not for ideology," Labor MK Matan Vilnai said on Friday. "The Labor Party isn't a place for the highest bidder, but rather a place with a vision and with values, and I suggest that people stop following trends."

 

 

Intolerantie voor het Museum van Tolerantie

De protesten tegen het Museum voor Tolerantie dat het Simon Wiesenthal Centrum wil bouwen op de plaats waar vroeger een islamitische begraafplaats lag, haalde vorige week zelfs het Achtuurjournaal. Uiteraard is de zaak door antizionisten als Meulenbelt aangegrepen om Israel weer eens zwart te maken. Het cynisme ten top: een museum op een islamitische begraafplaats bouwen en dat 'Museum van Tolerantie' dopen! Een inkoppertje, zou je zeggen. Maar de waarheid ligt, zoals al eerder getoond, toch wat anders. Hieronder nog wat details wat betreft de begraafplaats.

 

RP

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Once Again, the Intolerance of the Museum of Tolerance Issue

http://myrightword.blogspot.com/2006/03/once-again-intolerance-of-museum-of.html

 

 

Excerpts from Shmuel Berkowitz's article on the Muslim cemetery under the Museum of Tolerance issue:

Indeed, there was a cemetery at the site but 75 years ago, its sanctification was lifted and purpose changed.

In 1927, the Supreme Muslim Council, headed by the mufti, built the Palace inside the cemetery. As Benvenisti himself wrote in his book City of Stone, the mufti ruled that there should be no more burials there, and even ordered skeletons found at the site moved to another burial ground.

According to the 14th century Muslim wise man, The Great Hanafi Faher al-din al-Zilai, "if the corpse has disintegrated and become soil - it is permissible to sow seeds and build on it."

The last great Hanafi, Mohammed Amin Ibn Abadein, who was mufti of Damascus in the 19th century, also ruled the same. That judgment set the position of the Hanafi school that determines Muslim law in the Land of Israel. An explicit expression of this appears in Ottoman law and is quoted in many Israeli legal rulings as the "determining ruling" in Muslim law.

In 1946, the Supreme Muslim Council and the Supreme Arab Council decided to build the Arab league headquarters on the eastern flanks of the cemetery. Lacking resources, the plan was never fulfilled, but other public buildings did go up. In 1964, then-Jerusalem mayor Mordechai Ish-Shalom asked the Qadi of Jaffa and the chairman of the Sharia court of appeals, Sheikh Haher Hamad, to lift the sanctity of the cemetery in Mamilla to enable the city to establish a park there. The mayor proposed that part of the cemetery be preserved as an historic monument.

The Sharia court responded to the request and ruled that "the Mamilla Cemetery in Jerusalem is cemetery that is mondris" (abandoned), and that "its sanctity ceased to exist and since such sanctity is not eternal, and not like the sanctity of Muslim mosques - it is permissible to do on abandoned cemeteries what is allowed on any other land that never was a cemetery."

Against this background, the opposition to the construction of the Museum of Tolerance on the cemetery is odd. If in 1964 the Sharia court of appeals ruled that Independence Park could be built in the area of the cemetery, why suddenly complain about the establishment of a museum on the site, 41 years later?

 

 

Boycot-lobby tegen optreden Jeruzalem Symphonie Orkest in VS

 

De pro-Arabische lobby aan het werk met haar anti-Joodse haatcampagnes. In Nederland is dit soort clubs helaas ook aktief.

 

Het is racistisch om een orkest, puur vanwege hun nationaliteit, te willen boycotten. Bovendien schaden deze boycots de vrije culturele en wetenschappelijke uitwisseling tussen culturele instellingen en universiteiten.

 

Dit is blijkbaar het antwoord op het voorstel van het Jerusalem Symfony Orchestre om samen te werken met Arabieren uit de stad.

 

RP & WB

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Pro-Palestinian group: Cancel Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra's Michigan concert

 

Middle East Task Force of Ann Arbor says any attempt by University Musical Society to develop ties with Israeli orchestra amounts to 'condoning Israeli apartheid', urges condemnation of Israel's 'racist and discriminatory practices'

 

Merav Yudilovitch
Published:  11.15.08, 09:03 / Israel Culture
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3623216,00.html

 

 

A Pro-Palestinian group has called on the University of Michigan to cancel a scheduled performance by the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra (JSO), saying it would constitute a "violation of the calls for broad boycotts against Israel until it recognizes the Palestinian people's inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with international law."

 

In a letter to University Musical Society President Ken Fischer, the Middle East Task Force (METF) of Ann Arbor said "since the JSO is one of the primary promoters and exporters of Israeli cultural life, one of its functions is to boost Israel's image on the world stage. In this way, the truth about the Israeli occupation of Palestine becomes suppressed, and its institutionalized attacks on Palestinian cultural heritage are ignored. Any attempt by the US hosts of the tour to develop ties with this Orchestra, therefore, amounts to condoning Israeli apartheid.

 

"As such, we call upon the JSO's scheduled hosts to be mindful of the appeal issued in 2006 by Palestinian filmmakers, artists and cultural workers … to end all cooperation with Israeli art, film and cultural organizations and institutions sponsored by the Israeli government," the letter read.

 

"We urge the hosts to condemn Israel for its racist and discriminatory practices, rather than condoning them. Finally, we call upon all American citizens of conscience to support the call by the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee and to boycott all cultural institutions supported by the apartheid Israeli state."

 

METF said it would hold a non-violent protest outside the Hill Auditorium on the night of the performance, scheduled for November 16.

The group quoted JSO Conductor Leon Botstein as saying that the orchestra was "very international, with a very wide age range and a very wide political span - from extreme left to extreme right - and I admire the civility with which it handles itself", and added that "oddly enough for an orchestra that hails from Jerusalem, a city where Palestinians make up about one-third of the population, there are, apparently, no Palestinians in the orchestra."

In the letter METF also mentioned the Batsheva Dance Company, which is scheduled to perform in the US in February, 2009, calling it "an Israeli apartheid institution."
 
METF cited an article published by the London-based Independent, which said "Batsheva is hardly a political entity, but it's funded by Israel's government, its performers include none of Arab extraction, and it is proud to be considered Israel's leading ambassador."

 

JSO said in response that its management had met with Palestinian dignitaries from east Jerusalem about a year ago to discuss new ways to cooperate.

 

 

Vanwege ruil met Hezbollah wordt voor Shalit nu te hoge prijs gevraagd

Voortschrijdend inzicht? Het is waarschijnlijk ijdele hoop dat om deze reden van (het streven naar) een deal over Shalit wordt afgezien. De Hezbollah deal leidde er niet alleen toe dat Hamas nog meer gevangenen ging eisen voor Shalit (1500), maar ook dat Hamas en andere 'gewapende groepen' nog harder hun best zullen doen om Israelische soldaten te ontvoeren, zoals laatst bleek toen Israel een tunnel onklaar maakte die vanuit Gaza was gegraven onder de grens met Israel door.

 

RP

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[Now they tell us]

Senior members of Olmert's Office: Bodies-terrorist trade with Hezbollah preventing release of Shalit

Dr. Aaron Lerner

Date: 14 November 2008

Maariv correspondent Ben Caspit reports today that "Senior members of the Prime Minster's office, including  the former PMO Chief of Staff, Dr. Yoram Turbovitch, maintains that the prisoner swap according to which Samir Kuntar and additional Lebanese prisoners were released in return for the bodies of soldiers Eldad Regev and Udi Goldwasser was a "serious mistake", that caused "strategic damage to Israel" and caused "postponement of the release of Gilad Shalit, and maybe even prevented his release at this stage."

According to them as a result of the deal with Hezbollah, Hamas raised the price of Gilad Shalit to impossible heights. "


Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(Mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Website: http://www.imra.org.il

IDF soldaten voor krijgsraad na vernederen Palestijn bij checkpoint

 

Dit soort zaken zijn niet alleen immoreel, maar ook zeer schadelijk voor Israel en het leger. Hopelijk worden de daders hard gestraft en ook andere maatregelen genomen om zulke excessen en pesterijen te voorkomen.

 

RP

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Last update - 07:31 14/11/2008
IDF soldiers filmed humiliating bound Palestinian face court martial

 

By Haaretz Service
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1037217.html

 

 

The Israel Defense Forces ruled on Thursday it will court-martial four infantrymen who were filmed verbally abusing a bound and blindfolded Palestinian at what is believed to be a checkpoint in the West Bank, Channel 10 reported.

 

According to the report, IDF chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi ordered an investigation into the incident, tapping GOC Northern Command Gadi Eizencot to oversee the probe.

 

Last week, soldiers from the Golani infantry brigade posted a video on YouTube depicting a blindfolded Palestinian being forced to repeat phrases in Hebrew as the soldiers manning the checkpoint laugh in the background.
 
One of the lines is: "Golani will bring you a log to stick up your ass."

 

As the detainee repeats the words, the soldiers are heard laughing raucously in the background.

 

The clip has drawn the attention of both domestic and international media outlets, sparking public outrage at the soldiers' behavior.

 

Last week, the army issued a harsh condemnation of the troops' actions.

 

"The IDF views this incident gravely and condemns it. Behavior of this kind goes against IDF values and its soldiers' expected norms of behavior," the IDF Spokesman's Unit said in a statement it released.

 

The IDF said it was unaware of the incident until it received the clip from Channel 10, after which it immediately began an investigation.

 

"With the emergence of all of the details, it will be decided whether to take steps and which [to take]. The IDF denunciates this behavior," the statement said.

 

 

Wat wil Hamas?

 

Wat ook nog zou kunnen is dat beide partijen vooral niet als verliezer naar het staakt-het-vuren willen terugkeren. Hamas heeft volgens andere berichten nieuwe voorwaarden gesteld, zoals totale opening van de grenzen en een uitbreiding naar de Westoever. Het lijkt dan ook onwaarschijnlijk dat het een staakt-het-vuren op de oude voorwaarden (die overigens vanaf het begin door beide partijen verschillend werden geinterpreteerd) zal accepteren. Israel is de wapensmokkel een doorn in het oog, dus het zal voor Hamas gunstigere voorwaarden zeker niet accepteren. Ondertussen is Israel wat betreft een gevangenenruil die tot de vrijlating van Shalit zou leiden geen steek verder gekomen, en dat was wel één van haar motivaties voor het staakt-het-vuren.

 

RP

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What does Hamas want?

http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2008/11/what-does-hamas-want.html

 

Ami Isseroff

 

 

There are two diametrically opposed views of the recent Hamas escalation, stated with equal confidence and authority.

 

'Hamas wants to influence Israeli elections'

 

Palestinian sources in Gaza say Hamas purposely provoking Israel to end ceasefire and influence upcoming general elections. 'Hamas wants right-wing gov't to end diplomatic process; group functions best during military clashes,' says source.

"They know his election will put an end to the diplomatic process. With right-wing leadership, the chance of military clashes grows, and Hamas functions best in such a situation, and support for the group grows, while support for those who seek negotiations weakens."
 
The source warned that "if there is no Egyptian intervention and renewed examination of the ceasefire in its current form that will lead to the opening of the crossings, Hamas will continue its policy that will lead to the ultimate collapse of the truce."
 
Hamas' military wing, Izz al-Din al-Qassam claimed responsibility for eight of the 10 rockets that were fired on Israel Friday. Salah al-Din Brigades, the Popular Resistance Committees' military wing claimed responsibility for the other two.

But on the other hand...

 

Ex-Shin Bet official: Most Hamas leaders want to maintain short-term truce
By Amos Harel, Barak Ravid and Amira Hass, Haaretz Correspondents

 

Most Hamas leaders are interested in maintaining a cease-fire with Israel in the short term, according to a former deputy chief of the Shin Bet security service.

 

In an article published on U.S. Web site regarding the escalation of violence that erupted more than a week ago between Israel the Gaza Strip, the official wrote that continuing the truce would allow Hamas to achieve its other political goals.

 

"Although certain Hamas officials (particularly in the military wing) want to abandon the ceasefire altogether, most of its leaders will most likely continue to emphasize the truce's benefits and maintain the agreement for the near term, since it allows Hamas to make progress on other goals," wrote the official."
 
"The organization is concerned that a large-scale incursion by the Israel Defense Forces [IDF] would prevent it from dealing with its complex set of challenges and also endanger its main achievement, the complete control of the Gaza Strip," the official wrote. "The truce promotes Hamas's interests by buying time to advance the movement's short- and long-term goals."

 

Meanwhile, violence between Israel and Gaza continued on Friday as Hamas militants fired over a dozen rockets at the western Negev, while the Israel Air Force responded by shooting missiles at a rocket-launching pad in the northern Strip.

 

Gaza Hamas leader Mahmoud Az-Zahar warned Israel in a Friday sermon, "If you want to leave the truce, we are ready. And if you want to continue it, then abide by it."

 

 

Wat niet deugde aan Olmerts speech bij de Rabin herdenking

 

Voor de buitenwereld klonk Olmert's speech bij de herdenking van Rabin mooi, maar op sommige Israeli's kwam een en ander nogal ongeloofwaardig over.

 

RP
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The Jerusalem Post
Nov 14, 2008 18:23 | Updated Nov 14, 2008 18:26

 

Editor's Notes: The wrong speech
By DAVID HOROVITZ
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1226404736079&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


Few brief occasions have encapsulated Ehud Olmert's mishandling of the role of prime minister as thoroughly as his appearance at the Mount Herzl event on Monday marking 13 years since the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin.

Displaying the same arrogance that saw him lead the nation into a war without pausing to ascertain whether we were capable of effectively fighting it, the prime minister presumed to lecture this nation as regards our best interests, from the graveside of a former prime minister who lived, breathed, fought and died for it.

With Yad Vashem to one side of him, and rows of soldiers' graves to the other, the man who placed our vulnerability on display in the conflict with Hizbullah, and proved unable to achieve the separation from the Palestinians for which we elected him, presumed to warn us against "waiting unnecessarily to make a decision" on a viable two-state solution and told us not to "drag our feet."

He spoke with the tone and content of an embittered and marginalized prophet, terrified by the stiff-necked Israeli people's refusal to pay heed to his inspired warnings. He spoke, indeed, as though he were anyone but the man who has run this country for almost three years and was thus more able than any other Israeli to steer it toward its most cherished goals.

"The moment of truth has come," he cautioned us in his enlightened despair. "If we are determined to preserve the Jewish and democratic character of the State of Israel," he declaimed, "we must inevitably relinquish, with great pain, parts of our homeland, of which we dreamed and for which we yearned and prayed for generations... We must return to our familiar places, in the Galilee and the Negev, build them and realize the tremendous potential embodied in the unbounded energies of our people..."

As anyone but Olmert would acknowledge, the Israeli mainsteam is well aware of these imperatives. Indeed, he has been the principal beneficiary of that national awareness. We have not been waiting unnecessarily or dragging our feet. The people whom he had the hubris to lecture on Tuesday elected him almost three years ago to carry out a promised platform of separation or accommodation or "convergence" (to use the long forgotten euphemism).

The electorate recognized that the three ideals shared by Jewish Israelis - of an overwhelmingly Jewish Israel, controlling the full historical land, while maintaining its democratic nature - are mutually exclusive. And rather than risk the loss of either our predominant Jewish character or our democracy, it chose him, just as it chose Rabin 16 years ago, to oversee the "painful" separation from the Palestinians of which he spoke.

It is not Israel that needs to recognize the urgency of the hour, the "moment of truth." It is not, as Olmert implied, that Israel has failed him and itself. It is, rather, that Olmert and, especially, the intransigent Palestinian leadership, have failed us.

WHILE OLMERT addressed the nation as the voice of frustrated impotence - and made many of the same points in a similar speech later the same day in the Knesset - he was in fact uniquely capable, as our first among equals, of trying to formulate the terms for an accommodation.

He was uniquely capable, as our first among equals, of tackling the misallocation of resources that, as he lamented, leave the Galilee and the Negev under-resourced and under-prioritized.

He was uniquely capable, as our first among equals, of confronting the extremist fringe of the settlement enterprise and honoring his pledge to dismantle illegal outposts. Such steps might, just might, have bolstered Israel's credibility and eased the process toward an accommodation.

And finally, the man who lectured us on Monday about the dangers that lie in wait if we "refuse to look at reality" and "turn our heads" away from uncomfortable truths was uniquely capable, as our first among equals, of overseeing the vexed but vital process of staking out Israel's territorial red lines, insistently explaining them to the domestic public, and disseminating them at every international forum.

Through the faults of others as well as his own, he achieved none of this.

OVER MONTH after month of negotiation with the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, he sought an accord with apparently mounting flexibility. Ultimately, he indicated a readiness to make territorial concessions far greater than those envisaged by the man whose mantle he sought to share on Monday, and far beyond the red lines that a consensual Israeli consultative process would have formulated. And yet, on Monday, there was no acknowledgement of his failure to seal the deal.

Strikingly, there was also no mention of Abbas's predominant culpability in that failure. Our presumed peace partner, offered all or almost all of the territory he seeks - by a prime minister who, on the basis of Monday's speech, surely made plain in their face-to-face talks the willingness he now publicly espouses to also "relinquish Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem" - simply said no.

Humiliatingly rebuffed, the prime minister might have been expected to denounce such intransigence. He might have been expected to wonder publicly whether Abbas is any more serious than was his unlamented predecessor about reaching viable terms. He might have been expected to urge the international community to encourage Abbas to reconsider, for the good of our people and his own.

But no. On Monday the prime minister pointed the finger of blame at an electorate that had chosen him to try to reach an accommodation, rather than at the "partner" who rejected it.

In so doing, he both excused Abbas's intransigence and tacitly encouraged the international community to press Israel for concessions beyond the 100 percent Olmert has essentially conceded. This is not only a case of egregiously misdirected criticism. It is an invitation to the watching world to blame Israel for a failure that is not ours and seek to extract a consequent additional price - an invitation to literally further squeeze Israel that has been issued, staggeringly, by our own prime minister.

In his aggrieved polemic, furthermore, Olmert bitterly undermined the prospects of his Kadima would-be successor to win election and thus to achieve the very accord he prescribes. The prime minister of Israel publicly urged his people to return to the pre-1967 borders, with a minimal expansion of sovereignty in the West Bank, in a blueprint far to the left of his own Kadima, not to mention the Labor Party.

Leaving aside the fact that his own stated readiness to make those concessions still did not produce an agreement, did he expect that this public positioning might help Tzipi Livni win enough votes to make another negotiating foray? Surely it could only increase misgivings about whether Kadima can be trusted to stick to the consensual national interest. And in so doing, it can only push the Israeli electorate closer to the rightist camp where Olmert once belonged and which he now so derides.

OLMERT ON Monday, then, misportrayed the challenge Israel faces in terms that push a solution further away, undermined his would-be successor and sullied his own electorate.

In his choice of venue, he also politicized a day of national mourning. Not only was his the wrong speech, it was also delivered in the wrong place.

And purporting to speak in Rabin's name, he misrepresented Rabin, too.

Yitzhak Rabin, I suspect, would not have compromised his prime ministerial tenure and what Olmert rightly called "the narrow window of opportunity" by embarking on an inadequately weighed military adventure. A chief of General Staff who notably did not crow in victory at the end of the Six Day War, the cautious, detail-obsessed Rabin would not have been so unconscionably lax in preparing to send our irreplaceable young fighters into battle.

And Yitzhak Rabin did not allow the unique privilege of the prime ministership to be compromised by lingering corruption allegations. In 1977, he stepped down from that position amid accusations of financial wrongdoing that are dwarfed by the allegations that Olmert has been unable to dispel.

Nobody, not even Ehud Olmert, can know to what lengths Yitzhak Rabin might have gone in an effort to reach an accommodation with the Palestinians - the understanding which he, too, was elected to seek and which he, too, saw as an Israeli imperative. But Yitzhak Rabin, perhaps too brusquely, would have confronted whatever forces he deemed necessary - at home and beyond - to pave the way to such an accord. And were failure to result, he would likely have accepted such blame as was his, and accurately allocated such blame as was others'.

WHAT OLMERT should have said is that the Israeli public entrusted him with the task of seeking an accommodation with the Palestinians and that he failed, in part because of his own decisions and actions but in still greater part because of the abiding Palestinian incapacity to genuinely internalize Israel's legitimacy.

He praised Rabin for his courage in seeking peace and security for our beloved country, but he should also have praised the electorate for clinging to that aspiration even as it displays heroic resilience when faced by enemy hostility.

And he should have urged the international community, and especially the Arab world, to embrace moderation and reconciliation in the spirit of Yitzhak Rabin.

Shimon Peres en het Arabische vredesplan

 

Shimon Peres zei onder andere in zijn recente speech:

 
We cannot change the past.  HOWEVER, we can shape our future.

This seems more feasible today in light of the Saudi proposal which evolved into a Arab peace initiative.
The initiative's portrayal of our region's future provides hope to the people and inspires confidence in the nations.

YES - in order to change the world we have to change ourselves.

The Arab peace initiative states that: "A military solution to the conflict will not achieve peace or provide security for the parties".
Israel agrees with that assumption.

Further on, the initiative states that: "A just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East is the strategic option of the Arab countries".
This is Israel's strategy as well.

It continues that its goals are to: ".consider the Arab-Israeli conflict ended, and enter into a peace agreement with Israel, and provide security for all the states in the region.
Establish normal relations with Israel in the context of comprehensive peace.
Stop the further shedding of blood, enabling the Arab countries and Israel to live in peace and good neighborliness, and provide future generations with security, stability and prosperity."

These expressions in the Arab peace initiative are inspirational and promising - a serious opening for real progress.

A comprehensive regional peace requires the completion of the bilateral negotiations with the Palestinians and sharing the painful cost.  We are ready for this as we have proved many times in the past.

30 years ago when the peace accords with Egypt were signed;
15 years ago when the Oslo process began;
14 years ago when the peace agreement with Jordan was signed;
8 years ago when we withdrew completely from Lebanon;
And 3 years ago when we evacuated Gaza and dismantled willingly all our settlements there.

Today we are making progress with the negotiations with the Palestinians; we are exploring the possibility of real peace with the Syrians, the last in the list of the historic conflicts.

Het is duidelijk dat Iran niet van dergelijke verzoenende taal houdt, en natuurlijk helemaal niet wil dat de verschillende religies dichter bij elkaar komen en er misschien zelfs vrede komt tussen Israel en haar buren.

De Saoedische prins Faisal moet, met permissie, niet zeuren. Wat verwacht hij? Dat de Arabieren een voorstel doen, en Israel kwispelend als een klein hondje hun voeten komt likken? Natuurlijk is Israel het er niet 100% mee eens, en heeft het voorwaarden of alternatieve voorstellen. Daarover kan op basis van gelijkwaardigheid worden gesproken. Maar de Arabieren, verliezers van de oorlogen tegen Israel, eisen overgave voordat er serieus over vrede kan worden gepraat.

RP

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Last update - 10:27 14/11/2008      
Saudi FM: In UN speech, Peres left some parts of Arab peace plan untouched

 

By Reuters
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1037448.html

 

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal this week reacted coolly after President Shimon Peres praised on the Arab peace initiative as a "serious opening for real progress," during a United Nations-hosted interfaith meeting in New York.

"The disappointing side of President Peres' comment is that he chose parts of the Arab peace plan and left other parts untouched," Faisal told reporters on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Iran's UN envoy on Thursday accused Israel of abusing the Saudi-sponsored UN interfaith conference for political purposes and suggested it had no right to take part.
 
Speaking on the second day of the meeting, which earlier heard U.S. President George W. Bush call for worldwide religious freedom, Iran's UN Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee did not name Israel but left no doubt what country he had in mind.

"The representative of a regime [whose] short history is marked with ... aggression, occupation, assassination, state terrorism, and torture against the Palestinian people, under the pretext of a false interpretation of a divine religion, has tried to abuse this meeting for its narrow political purposes," he said.

Khazaee was referring to Peres, who took the rare opportunity of being in the same room as Saudi King Abdullah on Wednesday to praise a Saudi peace initiative that he said had brought hope to the Middle East.

"The participation of such a regime not only has no benefit to our common purpose, but, as proved in this very meeting, will give them a chance to try to disrupt the current process divert our attention from our mandate" to improve dialogue between different religions, Khazaee said.

Iran believes the Jewish state has no right to exist and opposes peace talks. Israel considers Iran an existential threat and, together with the United States and other countries, accuses it of developing nuclear weapons. Tehran denies the charge.

Khazaee's speech stood out at the two-day meeting of the UN General Assembly, convened at the request of the Saudi monarch, not only because of its accusatory language but because it failed to praise Abdullah.

Earlier, Bush proclaimed religious freedom as the foundation of a healthy society and defended the U.S. record in protecting Muslims caught up in foreign conflicts.

Religious freedom

The UN meeting, attended by leaders and diplomats from some 70 countries, was opened by King Abdullah, who on Wednesday denounced terrorism as the enemy of all religions.

Bush, a devout Methodist who said faith had sustained him through his presidency, which ends in January, praised Abdullah's initiative but also implicitly criticized countries that restrict religious practice. Saudi Arabia forbids public non-Muslim worship.

Noting that the United States had been founded by people fleeing religious persecution, Bush said that "Freedom is God's gift to every man, woman, and child - and that freedom includes the right of all people to worship as they see fit."

He was speaking a short way from the site of New York's former World Trade Center, destroyed in 2001 by planes piloted by Islamist al Qaeda militants. Some Muslim critics have called his subsequent "war on terror" a crusade against Islam.

"Our nation has helped defend the religious liberty of others, from liberating the [World War Two] concentration camps of Europe to protecting Muslims in places like Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq," said Bush.

"Religious freedom is the foundation of a healthy and hopeful society. We're not afraid to stand with religious dissidents and believers who practice their faith even where it is unwelcome."

German minister of state Hermann Groehe defended the right to convert to another faith -- a right not recognized in some Muslim countries -- and called it unacceptable some countries threatened those who want to convert with the death penalty.

 

Smokkel via tunnels viert hoogtij in Gazastrook

 

Waarom er niet meer tegen de tunnels wordt ondernomen?

 

This makes the Egyptians reluctant to take tough measures against the smugglers, fearing they will be accused by the Arab world of complicity in the "siege" against Gaza's 1.5 million Palestinians.

 

Ondertussen maakt de uitgebreide smokkel het verhaal van de stervende Gaza bevolking vanwege de blokkade wel ongeloofwaardig (evenals de grote vraag naar sigaretten, viagra, parfum, leeuwen (?) en andere niet echt levensnoodzakelijke producten die via de tunnels worden gesmokkeld):

 

When milk, flour and gas cylinders don't come from Israel, they are easily transferred through the many hundreds of tunnels. Who needs the Rafah border crossing to be reopened when one can get to Egypt via an underground tunnel? Who needs banks or Western Union when there can be subterranean transfers of cash?

 

 

RP

-----------

 

The Jerusalem Post
Nov 14, 2008 1:29 | Updated Nov 14, 2008 8:03

 

Analysis: Perfume, Viagra, lions and fuel - smuggling is Gaza's growth industry
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1226404731018&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


Sixteen months after assuming full control over the Gaza Strip, Hamas appears to be stronger than ever - largely thanks to the growing number of tunnels that are used to smuggle goods and weapons under the border with Egypt.

Israeli hopes that the embargo imposed on Gaza will eventually turn the impoverished Palestinians living there against the Hamas government seem unrealistic in light of the booming smuggling industry.

According to sources close to Hamas, the number of underground tunnels has risen in the past two years to nearly 1,000.

Once, Palestinian groups used the tunnels mainly to smuggle weapons into the Strip. But the tunnels have now become a vital tool in circumventing the Israeli commercial blockade of the district.

It's no wonder the tunnels are no longer a secret, and foreign journalists are being invited to visit them and interview their owners.

Hamas and its supporters have managed - through a carefully planned PR campaign - to market the smuggling tunnels as the only available means to prevent "starvation" in the Gaza Strip. Hamas leaders have even begun referring to them as "Tunnels of Life" because large supplies of food and medicine are being brought through them into Gaza on a daily basis.

The longer the blockade continues, the more sophisticated the tunnel-digging process becomes. Today, engineers and well-trained excavators supervise the digging of most of the tunnels, some of which are equipped with electricity and phone lines.

Some of the tunnels are said to have more than one opening on the Egyptian side so they can continue to function even after an entrance is discovered and closed by the Egyptian authorities.

Hamas representatives said Thursday that while the tunnels wouldn't solve the major problems of the Gaza Strip in the long term, they were proving to be an effective tool in countering the Israeli blockade.

When milk, flour and gas cylinders don't come from Israel, they are easily transferred through the many hundreds of tunnels. Who needs the Rafah border crossing to be reopened when one can get to Egypt via an underground tunnel? Who needs banks or Western Union when there can be subterranean transfers of cash?

When Israel decided earlier this year to temporarily suspend fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip in response to the rocket attacks on Israeli towns and cities, the smugglers installed underground pipes that continue to pump gasoline into the Gaza Strip. As a result, motorists there pay nearly half the price they were paying several months ago to fill their cars.

Underground smuggling has become one of the most profitable and sought-after professions in Gaza. Hundreds of unemployed laborers have joined the digging business, where monthly salaries range from NIS 2,500 to NIS 5,000. Most of the laborers used to work in Israel but lost their jobs because of the closure of the border crossings.

"Today there's less demand for weapons in the Gaza Strip," said a veteran Palestinian journalist who has been covering the tunnels story for over two decades. "Today people want to eat and buy cheap goods from Egypt. That's why they are smuggling everything, including sheep, calves, lions, cigarettes, perfume, electrical appliances, food and even tens of thousands of Viagra pills."

Both Israel and Egypt seem to have wearied of battling the underground tunnel trade. The two countries today realize that this is a cat-and-mouse game that needs to be dealt with on more than one front.

The major problem Israel and Egypt are facing is that there is no one in the Gaza Strip to restore law and order along the border. On the contrary, Hamas has long been involved in the smuggling business, and its members are said to control many of the tunnels in Rafah.

Once, the smuggling business was mostly run by influential clans and criminals. Today, it's an honor to be the owner of an underground tunnel, and many of the Gaza Strip's respected businessmen are said to be part of the industry.

The smugglers are boasting that they are actually performing "patriotic" deeds, since they are helping their people circumvent the Israeli embargo. Seventeen Palestinian diggers and smugglers who were killed when their tunnels collapsed in the past few months have been declared shahids (martyrs) by Hamas and their families.

This makes the Egyptians reluctant to take tough measures against the smugglers, fearing they will be accused by the Arab world of complicity in the "siege" against Gaza's 1.5 million Palestinians.

Vijf raketten uit Gazastrook komen neer in omgeving Ashkelon

 

Eleven Gaza gunmen have been killed in more than a week of fighting, and some 140 rockets and mortars have been fired from Gaza at Israel.

 

Heeft er nog iemand twijfels over de toekomst van het staakt-het-vuren?

 

Relatief nieuw is het feit dat ook 5 Katjoesja's op Ashkelon zijn afgevuurd, een stad van 120.000 inwoners.

Het valt te hopen dat Hamas en Islamitische Jihad hun raketten niet al te zeer hebben verbeterd tijdens het staakt-het-vuren. Er zijn tot nu toe nog relatief weinig mensen getroffen, maar het kan zijn dat men het opbouwt en steeds betere raketten afvuurt.

 

RP

--------

The Jerusalem Post
Nov 14, 2008 8:48 | Updated Nov 14, 2008 16:33

Five rockets slam into Ashkelon area
By JPOST.COM STAFF, YAAKOV LAPPIN AND AP
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1226404732385&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


Following the morning's Kassam rocket strikes on Sderot and the Sha'ar Hanegev region, the Ashkelon area also came under attack on Friday afternoon.

Five Grad-type Katyusha rockets were fired at the region, one of which hit the city center and another that landed on its outskirts. Three more struck open areas. Shortly afterwards, another Kassam rocket landed in a kibbutz in the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council. Also, a mortar shell exploded near the Kissufim area.

Three people were sent into shock as a result of the attack and were evacuated to Ashkelon's Barzilai Hospital.

Earlier Friday, Gaza terrorists fired ten Kassams at the South, one of which lightly wounded an elderly woman in a Sha'ar Hanegev kibbutz.

Four other people were sent into shock, while several homes, cars and a chicken coop were damaged in the attack.

Another rocket struck an electric pole near a Sderot home, sending several people into shock, including a schoolchild.

The IDF warned residents of communities near Gaza to remain as close as possible to fortified rooms, and police and rescue services announced they were raising their alert level in preparation for more attacks.

Hamas claimed responsibility for firing eight of the Kassams as well as the rockets fired at Ashkelon. The Islamic Jihad has claimed responsibility for most of the rockets fired over the last week.

Meanwhile, speaking at the site in Sderot where the Kassams landed, the city's new mayor, David Buskila, called the attacks "intolerable" and said that the government was displaying its "powerlessness and inability" in failing to stop them.

"It is sad to be a citizen of a country that cannot deploy its army to give an immediate response to this phenomenon," he added.

The Kassam barrage followed an IAF strike in northern Gaza which the army said was aimed at rocket launchers. A Hamas radio station reported that two Islamic Jihad operatives were wounded.

Dr. Moaiya Hassanain of the Gaza Health Ministry said the strike was aimed at a Hamas police installation.

Eleven Gaza gunmen have been killed in more than a week of fighting, and some 140 rockets and mortars have been fired from Gaza at Israel.

As a result of the recent salvos, all the border crossings with Gaza remained closed to deliveries of fuel and other essentials on Friday.

Zwitserland nodigt antisemitische NGO 'Nord Sud XXI' uit voor Durban II

 

Waarom Zwitserland een aan Libië geliëerde NGO uitnodigde voor een bespreking ter voorbereiding van de Durban II conferentie over racisme, wil NGO Monitor weten. De organisatie Nord Sud XXI heeft een paar jaar geleden een prijs uitgereikt aan de in Frankrijk veroordeelde Holocaust onkenner Roger Geraudy en is verbonden met de antisemitische Moammar Kadhafi Human Rights Prize (ook een NGO). Nord Sud XXI pleit voor een NGO forum op de anti-racisme conferentie zoals die ook in 2001 plaatsvond, en die uitliep op een antisemitisch haatfestijn waar zelfs de Protocollen van de Wijzen van Zion werden verkocht en Hitler-spandoeken in de grote slotdemonstratie meegedragen. Het antwoord van de Zwitserse ambassade overtuigt niet.

 

RP

-------

#3 15 November 2008

Dear Ms. Schmutz-Kirgoez,

Thank you for the response to our inquiry (copied  below) regarding the invitation from the Swiss Mission in Geneva to Nord Sud XXI (a notorious Libyan linked NGO that, as documented in detail,  engages in frequent antisemitic attacks) for a discussion regarding the Durban Review Conference  to be held on November 18. In your response, you noted that Nord Sud XXI is one of 3187 NGOs with  ECOSOC status -- a fact with which we have no quarrel.

However, your response failed to note that the Swiss Mission has only invited some 25 of these NGOs for this discussion, meaning that Nord Sud XXI is a highly privileged group with special influence in Switzerland, in contrast to  the over 3160 NGOs with ECOSOC status that have not been invited to this meeting, and will not have the opportunity to present their views of  the upcoming Durban Review Conference.

Therefore, we are again asking you, as the representative of the Swiss government, to explain the relationship with Nord Sud XXI, particularly in the light of the effort to prevent a repetition in Geneva of the hatred and antisemitism displayed by groups such as this in the 2001 NGO Forum of the Durban Conference.

We look forward to your response,

Sincerely,
Prof. Gerald M. Steinberg
Executive Director, NGO Monitor
=====

#1 NGO Monitor report: Swiss invitation to Nord-Sud XXI
November 12, 2008

H.E. Walter Haffner
Ambassador
Embassy of Switzerland
P.O. Box 6068
61060 Tel Aviv, Israel

Dear H.E. Mr. Haffner,

NGO Monitor understands that the Swiss Mission in Geneva has invited Nord Sud XXI to join a NGO discussion to be held on Tuesday, November 18, about the Durban Review Conference.

I am attaching a copy of our report about this invitation, which NGO Monitor will be publishing on Monday, November 17, 2008, along with a press release. To avoid errors or misunderstandings, we would appreciate receiving your comments, corrections, or comments on this issue in the next few days.

NGO Monitor (www.ngo-monitor.org) was founded to provide critical debate and accountability regarding the political activities of non-governmental organizations. We have over 11,000 subscribers, and are frequently quoted in the press, academic publications, by NGO officials and donors, and in governmental and parliamentary discussions.

We look forward to further communication and cooperation on these important issues.


Sincerely,
Prof. Gerald M. Steinberg
Executive Director, NGO Monitor

_________________________________

November 11, 2008

NGO Monitor understands that the Swiss Mission in Geneva has invited Nord Sud XXI to join a NGO discussion about Durban to be held on Tuesday, November 18.  Not only is Nord Sud XXI a group that has given an award to a convicted French Holocaust denier (Roger Garaudy, in 2002) and other anti-Semites, but it is a leader of the global campaign for a "NGO Forum" at the 2009 Durban II conference, by which it seeks to replicate the 2001 hatefest.

A number of leading Swiss newspapers have documented how Nord Sud XXI is a front organization for the anti-Semitic Moammar Kadhafi Human Rights Prize. According to Le Temps, "The Kadhafi Prize [for Human Rights] is managed in Geneva by North-South 21, which claims to be an organization for the defense of human rights. . . . It is worth noting that North-South 21 does not want to mention the financial investment of Tripoli in the Geneva center. The organization issues many periodicals and other publications but none mentions the name of the provider of funds..." See "Un deuxième spectacle autour du Prix Kadhafi," Le Temps, 30 août 2000.  See also "Les Noirs demandent réparation pour l'esclavage," Le Temps, 7 août 2001 (describing North-South XXI as "an NGO installed in Geneva and tied to Libya" and discussing a symposium "ordered and financed by Libya through North-South XXI.")

Nord Sud XXI often seeks to disguise and hide its Libyan connections ­ as in a recent letter to the UN here ­ but in other places they admit it.  For example: "Nord-Sud XXI had been mandated to manage the Khaddafi Prize for years, as confirmed by Ahmad Soueissi, Nord-Sud's managing director." Neue Zürcher Zeitung, June 25, 2006. Indeed, the prize's own website admits the connection:  "The [Kadhafi] Prize has other organizations such as the Geneva-based Society of North-South -21 for cultural dialogue..."  Qaddafi was never known for his consistency.

In other words, there is no doubt that Nord Sud XXI is part of (or identical to) the Kadhadi Prize organization, (to follow the details, it is often necessary to look for multiple spellings of the Libyan dictator's name.) And there is also no doubt of the group's hateful actions, which were documented exhaustively in this report by UN Watch, and in a recent Azure essay. Operating under the name of "Nord Sud XXI," it has been leading the global lobbying campaign for a "NGO Forum" hatefest at Durban II ­ see timeline here.

All of which leads to serious questions concerning the role of the Swiss government in courting this notorious GNGO (governmental NGO)? After Qaddafi's son Hannibal was arrested in Geneva this summer for violently abusing his servants ­ and then received the full backing of Libya ­ why is the Swiss government now granting legitimacy to one of this regime's most notorious propaganda organizations? More to the point, why are the Swiss inviting a group that celebrates convicted Holocaust deniers to a planning meeting for the "World Conference Against Racism"? Perhaps the Geneva version of Durban, with Swiss government involvement, will be as hatefilled as the 2001 session, or worse?


#2 Embassy of Switzerland reply

Dear Prof. Steinberg, Dear Dr. Lerner

Thank you for your e-mails which I would like to answer as follows: The Swiss Mission to the UN in Geneva is organizing on a regular base meetings with the various actors of the civil society present in Geneva, among those also a variety of NGO's representing the Jewish community. One of the next meetings will be dedicated to the process leading to the Durban Review Conference taking place in Geneva in April 2009.  Those meetings are open to all NGO's having the ECOSOC status and following the issue, independent of their respective positions. Nord-Sud XXI obtained the ECOSOC status just like 3187 other NGO's and can therefore participate in all multilateral meetings to which this status gives access. Switzerland considers the civil society an important actor in the field of promotion and protection of human rights. Switzerland is therefore engaged in a critical dialogue with many NGO's. An invitation sent to a NGO to participate in a meeting can under no circumstances be interpreted as a support of the position of the respective NGO.

Kind regards,


Monika Schmutz Kirgöz
Deputy Head of Mission

Embassy of Switzerland
228 Hayarkon Str.
P.O. Box 6068, 61060 Tel Aviv
Israel

Tel: +972 3 546 44 55 ext. 212/231
Fax: +972 3 546 44 08
monika.schmutzkirgoez@eda.admin.ch
tel.vertretung@eda.admin.ch
www.swissembassy.co.il


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

Hamas vernieuwt staakt-het-vuren niet

 

A senior Hamas official, Dr. Khalil al-Haya, called on members of Hamas' military wing to continue shooting rockets "at the Israeli settlements around Gaza."

 

According to the source, it is unclear whether the ceasefire has officially ended. "It looks like it's about to end, but even if it won't collapse in the upcoming days as a result of Israeli violations, one thing is for sure: We won't accept the current conditions for a future ceasefire."

Bovenvermelde 'bron' was ook van Hamas. Wie van beiden liegt hier? Misschien dat Islamitische Jihad meer helderheid kan geven:

A member of the al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, told Ynet that, in his estimation, all Palestinian organizations understand that the ceasefire has ended and that a new round of hard fighting with Israel is about to take place.

He also threatened that the organization would renew suicide attacks. "The recent months caused Israelis to forget the suicide bombings. And if they think the fence in Gaza or the West Bank will prevent such attacks, we promise there are ways to remind them that attacks will return to the heart of Israel," he said.

Laat het duidelijk zijn dat dit een bewuste keuze van Hamas, IJ en andere 'verzetsorganisaties' is: zij kiezen voor hernieuwde open gewapende strijd met Israel. Zij weten dat Israel een oneindig veel sterker leger heeft dan zij, en dus harder kan toeslaan. Zullen we dan nu afspreken dat als Israel dat ook daadwerkelijk doet, we hun krokodillentranen niet al te serieus gaan nemen? En Palestijnen die het daar niet mee eens zijn kunnen misschien voor een verlenging van het staakt-het-vuren op de oude condities pleiten en demonstreren? Als Hamas dat protest de kop in drukt, staat het Westen immers klaar om ze te hulp te komen, toch?

 

RP

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

 

Hamas not to renew ceasefire

 

Hamas to demand new conditions for any ceasefire talks, including prior opening of crossings; Islamic Jihad member warns of imminent suicide attacks

 

Ali Waked
Published: 11.14.08, 16:08
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3623096,00.html

 

Hamas will demand different conditions for any renewed ceasefire, regardless of whether the current six-month Hamas-Israel ceasefire will end as planned on December 19 or be terminated early as the result of rocket fire on Sderot, a source from the organization told Ynet Friday.

"If and when new discussions will commence regarding an extension of the ceasefire, we'll demand the opening of all crossings prior to or concurrent to a ceasefire," the source said. "We'll demand to put a stop to Israeli disruptions of the ceasefire via closings of the crossings or delay of goods, as well as demanding that the ceasefire apply to the West Bank." 

According to the source, it is unclear whether the ceasefire has officially ended. "It looks like it's about to end, but even if it won't collapse in the upcoming days as a result of Israeli violations, one thing is for sure: We won't accept the current conditions for a future ceasefire."

"We will demand guarantees. We will agree to an additional period of ceasefire only after crossings are opened and goods are delivered and after we receive guarantees that the ceasefire will include the West Bank," he said.

A senior Hamas official, Dr. Khalil al-Haya, called on members of Hamas' military wing to continue shooting rockets "at the Israeli settlements around Gaza."

Al-Haya spoke at a Hamas-organized rally against the arrest of organization operatives in the West Bank by associates of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Suicide attacks to resume

The Palestinian organizations involved in a ceasefire with Israel consulted with members of an umbrella organization representing the Palestinian opposition and agreed that the ceasefire, in its current format, had failed and should not be renewed.

A member of the al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, told Ynet that, in his estimation, all Palestinian organizations understand that the ceasefire has ended and that a new round of hard fighting with Israel is about to take place.

"Israelis are not the only ones who can threaten and they are not the only ones who had the means to hurt Palestinians. We are ready to show the innovations we've been acquiring over the recent months, including more massive shooting of more precise and long-range missiles," he said.

He also threatened that the organization would renew suicide attacks. "The recent months caused Israelis to forget the suicide bombings. And if they think the fence in Gaza or the West Bank will prevent such attacks, we promise there are ways to remind them that attacks will return to the heart of Israel," he said.

 

Toespraak Shimon Peres op Inter-Religieuze Dialoog VN

 

President Peres zegt:

 

The Jewish and Arab national revivals occurred at almost the same time and in almost the same place. They occurred rapidly and in a land that was small.

 

However, after the First World War, a window of opportunity was opened when Emir Feisal and President Weizmann aspired to create a new environment. They met 89 years ago, in November of 1919 to announce an understanding between the two peoples from the same crib, who could have lived under the shadow of the same trees - the old olives and tall date.
(...)

Instead, we confronted one another, abandoning faith for greed and forging swords instead of peace.  They tore apart the land and increased hostility, resulting in a region of barriers and walls that rose higher, destroying any bridges that may have been built.

 

Hundreds of thousands of men and women from all sides lost their lives. Many were incurably injured; others lost their homes and became refugees.

 

Fortunes were wasted on the purchase, maintenance and replacement of new weapons that inevitably became obsolete - resources were spent on sustaining hostility instead of advancing life.

 

The can be no consolation for the bereaved families or orphaned children other than the end of violence and bloodshed.

 

There is an Arab proverb that states that there are three events that cannot be reversed: an arrow released from its bow; a word which has escaped one's mouth; and a bullet that splits the heart.

 

We cannot change the past.  HOWEVER, we can shape our future.

 

 

Premier Olmert zegt:

 

The Government, any government, must tell the truth, and this truth, unfortunately, will obligate us to rip away many portions of the homeland - in Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. This decision, when it is made, will not be an indictment against the settlers, the vast majority of whom are not violent, but rather an integral part of a dedicated, loyal public, one which loves the land and builds it up. (toespraak bij herdenking Rabin)

 

 

President Abbas zegt:

 

"The ways of the shahids [martyrs] Arafat, Abu Jihad [Khalil Ibrahim al-Wazir], George Habash and even Sheikh Ahmed Yassin - are the ways we recognize. These are the ways in which we are meant to preserve the national interests of the Palestinian people,"

 

"We rejected Israeli proposals that stipulated making concessions including on Jerusalem and the refugees," he said.
"We either get all six points - Jerusalem, settlements, borders, refugees, water and security - or nothing at all," Abbas said. (toespraak bij herdenking Arafat)

 

RP

---------

 

 

PRESIDENT OF ISRAEL SPOKESPERSON'S OFFICE

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

His Excellency Shimon Peres, President of the State of Israel
Speech for the UN General Assembly Meeting on Inter-Faith Dialogue

Mr. President,
Mr. Secretary General,
Your Majesty,
Your Majesties,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

Earlier this week, we commemorated 13 years since the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin - my friend and partner to our journey.  He was murdered while singing a song of peace.

Assassins may take a life, but they cannot kill a dream.  That fateful night at the square, we stood together and sang of peace, the aspiration of my people for generations.

Then came three shots.

However, we were not alone in our despair.  Many who cherished Rabin's vision from around the world came to stand at our side and share our grief. Arab and Muslim leaders came, and at the time it felt like sorrow shattered barriers.

Tragedy had united the sons and daughters of all religions.  Our shared agony shed light on our shared hopes, our hunger for fraternity, the dream of peace which we nurtured in our hearts.

Mr. President,

In our region, children bear the names of prophets who are sacred to us all. Why should Moses, Moshe, and Musa, Avraham, Abraham and Ibrahim grow up as adversaries, in animosity?  As our prophets asked:

"Have we not all one father?  Hath not one God created us?  Why do we deal deceitfully every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?"

And Abraham added to his nephew Lot: "Please let there be no strife between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are kinsmen."

That was the first call for peace among brothers in history.  Brotherly relations should not involve violence or domination.  We all worship the same Lord in Heaven.

Religion carries the word of God to man, as is written in Psalms:  "What man is he that desires life and loves many days that he may see good?  Depart from evil and do good.  Seek peace and pursue it."

Religious belief requires that we recognize the eternal message that all men were created in God's image.  Harming a human being is tantamount to harming God himself.  When nuclear weapons, long-range missiles, indiscriminate terror and fanatical incitement determine the agenda, we have to change that agenda.

Mr. President,

The Jewish and Arab national revivals occurred at almost the same time and in almost the same place.  They occurred rapidly and in a land that was small.

However, after the First World War, a window of opportunity was opened when Emir Feisal and President Weizmann aspired to create a new environment. They met 89 years ago, in November of 1919 to announce an understanding between the two peoples from the same crib, who could have lived under the shadow of the same trees - the old olives and tall date.

Their declaration states: "Mindful of the racial kinship and ancient bonds existing between the Arabs and the Jewish people, and realizing that the surest means of working out the consummation of their national aspirations, is through the closest possible collaboration."

This was great statesmanship and timely wisdom.

Alas, we did not take heed of them.

Instead, we confronted one another, abandoning faith for greed and forging swords instead of peace.  They tore apart the land and increased hostility, resulting in a region of barriers and walls that rose higher, destroying any bridges that may have been built.

Hundreds of thousands of men and women from all sides lost their lives. Many were incurably injured; others lost their homes and became refugees.

Fortunes were wasted on the purchase, maintenance and replacement of new weapons that inevitably became obsolete - resources were spent on sustaining hostility instead of advancing life.

The can be no consolation for the bereaved families or orphaned children other than the end of violence and bloodshed.

There is an Arab proverb that states that there are three events that cannot be reversed: an arrow released from its bow; a word which has escaped one's mouth; and a bullet that splits the heart.

We cannot change the past.  HOWEVER, we can shape our future.

This seems more feasible today in light of the Saudi proposal which evolved into a Arab peace initiative.

The initiative's portrayal of our region's future provides hope to the people and inspires confidence in the nations.

YES - in order to change the world we have to change ourselves.

The Arab peace initiative states that: "A military solution to the conflict will not achieve peace or provide security for the parties".

Israel agrees with that assumption.

Further on, the initiative states that: "A just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East is the strategic option of the Arab countries".

This is Israel's strategy as well.

It continues that its goals are to: ".consider the Arab-Israeli conflict ended, and enter into a peace agreement with Israel, and provide security for all the states in the region.

Establish normal relations with Israel in the context of comprehensive peace.

Stop the further shedding of blood, enabling the Arab countries and Israel to live in peace and good neighborliness, and provide future generations with security, stability and prosperity."

These expressions in the Arab peace initiative are inspirational and promising - a serious opening for real progress.

A comprehensive regional peace requires the completion of the bilateral negotiations with the Palestinians and sharing the painful cost.  We are ready for this as we have proved many times in the past.

30 years ago when the peace accords with Egypt were signed;
15 years ago when the Oslo process began;
14 years ago when the peace agreement with Jordan was signed;
8 years ago when we withdrew completely from Lebanon;
And 3 years ago when we evacuated Gaza and dismantled willingly all our settlements there.

Today we are making progress with the negotiations with the Palestinians; we are exploring the possibility of real peace with the Syrians, the last in the list of the historic conflicts.

However, there are those in our region who sow hatred and try to widen the abyss and erect barriers, those who seek to wipe out other people and encourage killing.

In order to stand up against those who instigate discord and violence, we must bear the flag of brotherhood and peace.  This will be a beacon for a world in trouble.

It will end many conflicts and offer a comprehensive peace for all people - real freedom without domination or occupation; global economic cooperation and cultural relations - a new vision for the entire region.

I know it is harder to pursue peace than to wage war; building is more difficult than destruction.  Yet, this is my life experience - it is worthwhile to strive for peace and build homes.

This is the proper biography for men of good will.

For the sake of our children, let us break the bonds of hostility which stem from the past.

When the world faces a serious crisis, let us offer a new remedy to overcome old maladies.  The global crisis worries us just as our crisis worries the world.  However, we can adopt a position acceptable to the entire world without erasing our national identities and offering global opportunities.

This meeting of religious leaders can produce a movement of profound significance and one which will bear great responsibility.  By calling on their believers to serve peace in every nation for all nations, for every person and for all peoples, the bridges we build will render the barriers useless.

Let us free the world from the perception that an irrevocable curse darkens the skies of our region.

Our shared history has known golden ages during which we lived as friends and brothers.

Inter-faith dialogue will elevate our spirits, bring a breath of fresh air to our peoples today and live on in posterity.  Let us renew our faith in one God.

This is the duty and responsibility of all states and religious leaders. Let us not recoil from hardship; we must not hesitate when faced with risk.

Working for peace will justify our prayers and bring a new sense of purpose to our lives; it will demonstrate our values to our children.

Peace is not just a goal.  It is a promise made to us at the dawn of time and the pinnacle of the holiest mountain.

Let's claim them together.


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

Barkat wint burgemeestersverkiezing Jeruzalem

 

Enkele uitslagen van de burgemeestersverkiezingen in Israel.

Kandidaat Gaydamak in Jeruzalem, die ook Arabische kiezers achter zich probeerde te krijgen, kreeg maar een paar procent van de stemmen.

 

Wouter

______________

 

Secular candidate Barkat, after win: I'll be mayor of all Jerusalemites 
 
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1036679.html

By Jonathan Lis, Yair Ettinger, and Ofra Edelman, Haaretz Correspondents, Haaretz Service and The Associated Press  

 

 

Secular candidate Nir Barkat declared victory over his Haredi rival Meir Porush in the Jerusalem mayoral election early Wednesday, in a race that again exposed the deep divide between religious and secular Israelis.

 

With all polling stations reporting in the capital, Barkat won 52 percent of the vote versus 43 percent for Porush. Russian billionaire Arcadi Gaydamak ran a distant third with just 3.6 percent.

 

In his victory speech, Barkat declared himself the mayor of all Jerusalemites, pledging to work for those who had voted for him as well as those who had voted for other candidates. He added that he would be working for both religious and secular, as well as Jewish and Arab residents of the city.

 

"I'm aware of the depth of the challenge and the complexity of the mission. Now is the time to work together for the good of the city," Barkat, a technology investor and former paratroops officer, told his supporters.

 

The race in Jerusalem was one of many that captivated the country as Israelis around the country flocked to the polls for Tuesday's municipal elections, with Arab and ultra-Orthodox voter turnout exceeding expectations.

 

Meanwhile, Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai won an additional five-year term in office. With all 646 precincts reporting, Huldai won 50 percent of the vote as opposed to the 34 percent for Hadash MK Dov Khenin. Challenger Oren Shachor placed third.

 

The victorious Huldai said he was "incredibly privileged to serve as the mayor of Tel Aviv during its centennial."

 

"The residents of Tel Aviv have made their choice," he added. "Democracy is our strong point. As I've said many times, I know Tel Aviv and its residents well. I'll continue to serve them, driven by my devotion to the city's development."

 

Huldai's campaign manager Nissim Duek said he was relieved. "We had to face an increasingly fashionable [rival] with very limited resources, contrary to what people might think. Almost all of our rivals ran very aggressive campaigns."

 

"Dov Khenin did a marvelous job," he added, "but they forgot that Tel Aviv is not just [the bohemian] Rothschild Boulevard."

 

Aides to Huldai said that 150,000 of the city's residents, which comprise 37.5 percent of all of Tel Aviv's inhabitants, voted on Tuesday. Khenin's campaign expressed satisfaction at the turnout.

 

"We are certainly happy that this is a higher voter turnout than the previous elections in 2003," Khenin campaign officials said. "Yet, this is still a lower turnout than we would have liked. We are certain that a considerable part of the fact that the campaign was galvanized in recent months is to our credit."

 

Conceding defeat, Khenin said that he "remains committed to municipal action."

 

"We had to deal with malicious allegations and spins, but insisted on running a decent campaign," he said. "The elections made me very optimistic. I got to know many people who are willing to do a lot to improve their situation."

 

In Be'er Sheva, incumbent Ya'akov Terner lost to his former deputy Rubik Danilovich. Terner won just 30 percent of the vote versus 60 percent for Danilovich. With most polling stations reporting in Haifa, incumbent mayor Yona Yahav holds a 10-point lead over Ya'akov Borovsky.

 

Most of the candidates in cities and local councils cast their ballots just a short time after polling stations opened. Afterwards, they devoted their efforts to last-minute campaigning.

 

As the polls closed at 10:00 P.M. local time, the nationwide voter turnout stood at 40 percent. At least 36 percent of those eligible to vote cast their ballots in Tel Aviv; 41 percent voted in Jerusalem; Haifa saw a 35 percent turnout; Be'er Sheva's voter turnout reached 40.7 percent; and in Kiryat Shmona, which is fielding nine candidates for mayor, the voter turnout stands at 33 percent.

 

Arab and ultra-Orthodox voter turnout is hovering around 30 percent. In the southern town of Lakia, voter turnout reached 59 percent. The turnout in Netanya, though, stood at 7 percent.

Abbas prijst bij herdenking Arafat en de 'weg van de martelaars'

 

Abbas zei:

 

"The ways of the shahids [martyrs] Arafat, Abu Jihad [Khalil Ibrahim al-Wazir], George Habash and even Sheikh Ahmed Yassin - are the ways we recognize. These are the ways in which we are meant to preserve the national interests of the Palestinian people,"

 

Een mooi antwoord op Israels voorstel om Jeruzalem te delen.

 

RP

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The ways of the shahids are the ways we recognize.

Jpost.com staff and Khaled Abu Toameh , THE JERUSALEM POST Nov. 11, 2008
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1225910092784&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas paid tribute to his predecessor Yasser Arafat at a Ramallah memorial rally on Tuesday, while challenging Hamas to a referendum.

"The Palestinian leadership will continue to lead in the way of Yasser Arafat until a Palestinian state is established with Jerusalem as its capital," he said at the rally commemorating Arafat's death.

Abbas added that Fatah had rejected offers made by Israel for concessions which included Palestinian renouncement of parts of Jerusalem and the refugee issue. Furthermore, Abbas maintained that "the Palestinians will not sign any agreement with Israel which will not see the emptying of Palestinian prisoners from its jails."

"The ways of the shahids [martyrs] Arafat, Abu Jihad [Khalil Ibrahim al-Wazir], George Habash and even Sheikh Ahmed Yassin - are the ways we recognize. These are the ways in which we are meant to preserve the national interests of the Palestinian people," Abbas told thousands of Fatah supporters who had rallied for the commemoration of the former PA chairman's death.

"The Palestinian leadership will not let our fate be decided by external forces," Abbas went on, adding that should Hamas wish to join the ranks of the PLO, it should accept the organization, its institutions and its history and not set conditions.

Abbas also said that Hamas is divisive and unpatriotic. He urged Arab nations to hold Hamas responsible for the latest failure in reconciliation talks. His harsh rhetoric made it unlikely there would be a new attempt soon by Egypt to bring the two sides together.

He also challenged Hamas to a referendum. "If you are so sure of yourselves, let's go to elections today. And if you do not want elections, let's conduct a referendum."

MK Ahmed Tibi (UAL) also spoke at the rally, saying that "all Palestinians miss Arafat and, whereas in the US, a black president was elected, here, racism and fascism continue unabated."

Tibi said that the struggle must end with the establishment of Arafat's dream. He appealed to Arafat to "rise from his grave and liberate the Palestinian people."

Responding to Tibi's remarks MK Arye Eldad (NU/NRP) said that he "calls upon the Arab enemies of Israel to join Arafat in his grave."

"If they don't like it they should drink the sea at Gaza," Eldad added, alluding to the title of a controversial book by Israeli journalist Amira Hass.

Meanwhile, Hamas security forces were on high alert due to fears that Fatah would send large crowds into Gaza streets for the commemoration of Arafat's death.
Fatah strongly condemned Hamas's ban on the memorial in the Gaza Strip.

The Hamas government decided last Thursday to ban Fatah supporters from marking the anniversary and Hamas's security forces arrested dozens of Fatah supporters in southern Gaza in the past few days to prevent them from preparing for the celebrations.

Hamas said it would clamp down on rallies not authorized by the group, Israel Radio reported. In the Gaza Strip, Hamas security forces prevented students and youth groups from conducting spontaneous rallies.

Witnesses said that in a few instances, Hamas men used force and tore down Fatah flags and photos of Arafat that were hung in homes. One man who refused to take down the photo was taken for interrogation.

 

AP contributed to this report

IDF stopt terreurgroep bij infiltratie Israel

 

In de kranten zal wel weer slechts staan vermeld dat Israel vier Palestijnen heeft gedood.....

 

RP

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IDF thwarts terror cell's attempt to infiltrate Israel

 

IDF force spots terror cell about to break into Israel through border fence.
Several gunmen hurt in exchange of fire with soldiers, possibly killed. One soldier lightly injured

 

Hanan Greenberg - YNET

Published: 11.12.08, 12:14
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3622019,00.html

 

IDF forces thwarted an attempt by a Palestinian terror cell to infiltrate Israel through the Gaza border fence Wednesday noon. The cell, which included four or five members, was apparently planning to place explosive devices in the area.

According to military sources, gunmen approached the fence in an area east of Khan Younis and were about to enter Israeli territory when a paratrooper force identified them and opened fire at them.

The army reported that four Palestinians were killed in the clashes, but hospital officials in Gaza said they were unaware of any Palestinian casulaties. One soldier was lightly injured in his hand and was evacuated to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba.

The soldiers are currently scanning the area for other gunmen.

Meanwhile, the Palestinians claimed that an IDF force has entered Palestinian territory, where it clashed with Hamas and Jihad operatives.

In the course of the event Palestinian launched mortar shells at the Kissufim crossing area.

IDF sources said this was a severe and unusual incident, and that the terror organizations have been trying to break the truce in any possible way.

"We are committed to upholding the true, but first and foremost we are committed to protecting the lives of civilians and soldiers, and therefore, in any incident of this kind we will act in order to thwart it in the clearest way," said one IDF source.

 

Ali waked contributed to the report

 

Slechts enkele duizenden Arabische stemmers bij verkiezingen Jeruzalem

 

Arabieren boycotten de verkiezingen niet alleen omdat ze Israels bestuur over Oost-Jeruzalem niet erkennen, maar ook uit angst voor represailles van militante Palestijnen.

 

Issam Abu Rmaileh, a shopkeeper, said he was didn't vote because he was afraid that PA activists would harm him.

"I heard that they were standing outside the voting centers and threatening people who wanted to come and vote," he said. "I would have liked to vote because it's in our interest, but who's going to protect me and my family afterwards? The Israeli police don't do anything for the Arabs."

 

De Palestijnse Autoriteit die heeft opgeroepen tot deze boycot, doet zelf ook niks voor de Arabieren in Oost-Jeruzalem, merkte een Arabische medewerker van kandidaat Gaydamak op. Het vreemde is, dat een grote meerderheid van de Arabieren in Oost-Jeruzalem niet onder de PA zou willen vallen, ook niet als er een Palestijnse staat komt. Het is dus eigenlijk niet echt duidelijk wat ze willen, of misschien toch wel: sociale voorzieningen en onderhoud van de stad betaald door Israel, met Palestijnse soevereiniteit over de stad. Een unicum in de geschiedenis volgens mij, maar dat maakt niet uit, toch?

 

RP

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The Jerusalem Post
Nov 11, 2008 23:11 | Updated Nov 11, 2008 23:17

Jerusalem Arabs' election boycott continues
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1226404703818&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

 

As in previous municipal elections, the overwhelming majority of Jerusalem's Arab voters boycotted Tuesday's vote.

Only a few thousand Arabs - mostly municipality workers and their families - cast their ballots amid tight security measures and threats by Palestinian activists.

The number of Arab voters in the city is estimated at 125,000. But since 1967, the Arab residents of Jerusalem have been boycotting the municipal elections out of fear that their participation would be interpreted as recognition of Israel's annexation of the Arab neighborhoods.

The Arabs in Jerusalem are entitled to vote and run in the municipal elections in their capacity as permanent residents of the city. However, because they aren't citizens of the state, they can't vote for the Knesset.

As has been the case on the eve of each municipal election, the Palestinian Authority issued several warnings to the Arab residents not to participate in the election. PA officials and spokesmen repeatedly warned that any Arab who presented his or her candidacy or voted would be treated as a "traitor." The PA's top religious leaders also issued a number of fatwas [Islamic decrees] banning Arabs from taking part in the municipal election.

Early Tuesday, PA supporters in the city tried to enforce a commercial strike in protest against the municipal election. But after most of them were detained by the police, the merchants reopened their businesses, especially inside the Old City and in the main commercial center near Salah Eddin Street.

Graffiti painted overnight on the walls also warned the Arabs against participating in the election. The warnings were issued by masked men belonging to various Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Fatah.

However, despite the threats and warnings, dozens of young men working for the different candidates were seen roaming the streets and neighborhoods in an attempt to recruit potential voters. Cars carrying posters of Nir Barkat and Arkadi Gaydamak could be seen in almost every neighborhood and village in the eastern part of the city.

Gaydamak appeared to have run the largest election campaign in the Arab part of the city since 1967. Over the past few months, Gaydamak succeeded in building a vast network of supporters who worked hard to introduce him to the Arab population.

Gaydamak also ran full-page advertisements in Al-Quds, the largest daily newspaper, in which he urged the Arabs to vote for him. It was the first time that a Palestinian daily had agreed to publish such advertisements.

Gaydamak supporters expressed confidence that the majority of the Arabs who defied the boycott voted for their candidate. "Many Arabs like Gaydamak," said Ahmed Hosni, who has been working as an advisor for Gaydamak's election staff for three months.

"Gaydamak is the only candidate who visited the Arabs and promised them equality and better services. He seems to understand their problems."

Asked about the PA's call for boycotting the vote, he replied: "What has the Palestinian Authority done for the Arab residents of Jerusalem? Absolutely nothing; I see no reason why we shouldn't participate in an election that doesn't have political repercussions. These elections are about the municipal services and taxes more than political issues."

Issam Abu Rmaileh, a shopkeeper, said he was didn't vote because he was afraid that PA activists would harm him.

"I heard that they were standing outside the voting centers and threatening people who wanted to come and vote," he said. "I would have liked to vote because it's in our interest, but who's going to protect me and my family afterwards? The Israeli police don't do anything for the Arabs."

Reflecting the state of apathy, many Arab residents interviewed Tuesday said they weren't even aware that it was Election Day. And those who had heard about the election said they thought Gaydamak was running for prime minister.

"Most people just don't care," said civil engineer Haitham Bakri. "These elections are for west Jerusalem, for the Jews. The Arabs are out of the game. The candidates don't care about the Arab residents."

Hatem Abdel Kader, a top Fatah operative and resident of the city, said the decision to boycott the election was a "natural response to the ongoing occupation of east Jerusalem."

He added: "Participating in the election means legitimizing Israel's illegal occupation of the city, and that's why we're opposed to the move. East Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine and one day we will have our own municipality and elections."

Abdel Kader criticized those Arabs who either ran in the election or cast their ballots, dubbing them a "tiny minority that is driven by greed."

Another Fatah activist claimed that Gaydamak had "bought" hundreds of young Arab men. "He exploited the fact that there are many unemployed young men who are desperate for work," he said. "These people want to earn a living and some of them are even prepared to work for the devil."