Arabieren en kibboetzniks protesteren samen tegen bouw Haredi stad

 

Ik blijf het een rare gewoonte vinden om hele wijken voor speciale bevolkingsgroepen te reserveren. In Nederland zou het land te klein zijn als 300 huizen voor gereformeerden, 400 voor hervormden, 250 voor rooms katholieken en 200 voor moslims werden gebouwd.
Een stad van 150.000 inwoners die alleen uit ultra-orthodoxe Joden bestaat, ik zou er ook niet graag naast wonen, maar het lijkt me vooral niet goed voor het land om dergelijke steden te hebben. Het versterkt de grote verdeeldheid die er nu al is, terwijl juist kontakt tussen verschillende bevolkingsgroepen noodzakelijk is voor nationale eenheid.

 

RP

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

JPost  - The Jerusalem Post
Sep 8, 2009 0:23 | Updated Sep 8, 2009 11:12
Arabs, kibbutzniks forge unlikely alliance against proposed haredi city east of Hadera
By MATTHEW WAGNER
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1251804514253&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull


In a move that shows that sometimes neighbors are closer than co-religionists, a group of secular kibbutzim has joined forces with Arab Israelis to torpedo plans for a future haredi city of 150,000 residents east of Hadera.

Opposition to the planned haredi town demonstrates that new Jewish building can be controversial not only beyond the Green Line but also safely inside it.

Three Hashomer Hatza'ir kibbutzim - Ma'anit, Barkai, and Metzer - have formed a coalition with three neighboring Arab villages - Umm el-Kutuf, Meishar and Barta'a to block the building of the city, called Harish, which they say will disrupt the delicate relations between Arabs and Jews in the area and will also destroy protected green areas.

On Tuesday the Construction and Housing Ministry's National Council for Building and Planning will vote in Jerusalem on whether to approve an additional 16,000 housing units in addition to the 10,000 that have already been approved and earmarked for the haredim.

Demonstrators, both kibbutzniks and Arabs, will protest outside the ministry building during the vote.

"The haredim do not have a good track record of relations with the Arabs," said Arik Hatzor, a member of Kibbutz Ma'anit, who is spearheading the opposition.

"We are afraid that a construction monstrosity that will bring tens of thousands of haredim to this part of the country, where relations between Jews and Arabs are exceptionally good, will totally upset the delicate balance here.

"The haredim are fanatics in their way of life. Just imagine what they will do to the public transportation. We are not against haredim as individuals - everyone has a right to live the way they want to live. But we are against a huge haredi city in an area that is one of the state's few green bastions."

Former Shas MK Nissim Dahan, who is now head of the Harish local council, said that the Kibbutzniks in the area were inciting the Arabs against the haredim.

"Extreme left-wing secular kibbutzniks are heating up the Arabs because they want to protect their real estate rights", said Dahan. "The kibbutzniks hope they can turn a profit by turning their agricultural land into commercial or residential property. And Harish is getting in their way."

Riad Kabha, head of the neighboring Basmat Regional Council, said that he was seriously concerned that if the expansion of Harish was approved it would ignite Arab violence.

"The Housing Ministry prevented Arabs from expanding to the west claiming that the area was reserved as green space, and now they are letting Jews build there," said Kabha. "That is discrimination and it will make a lot of people here angry."

He added that part of the land slated for Harish belonged to Arab farmers.

The rapidly growing haredi population is already reeling from the building freeze in Judea and Samaria, where Modi'in Ilit and Beitar Ilit, two of the largest haredi cities, are located.

They were further shocked by Defense Minister Ehud Barak's announcement Monday that only 100 of the 455 building units approved in Judea and Samaria within the framework of a US-Israel compromise were earmarked for haredim. No new housing whatsoever was approved in Beitar Ilit, at a time when demand for housing is skyrocketing.

While the US and Israel bicker over new building in Judea and Samaria that allows for "natural growth," the average woman in Beitar Ilit and Modi'in Ilit has over 7 children, compared to the national average of 2.8 in 2007.

According to Micha Rothchild, a member of the Haredi Building Council, a lobbying group for haredi housing interests, this year 6,500 new haredi couples will marry and need a house.

"Next year there will be 6,800 new haredi couples, and the year after, 7,350," said Rothchild. "And there already is a shortage. There are today 37,000 haredi couples who are living in storage rooms, in underground parking lots, in attics or are simply living with their parents. We are ready to go to any place in the state of Israel. Obviously, we prefer living inside the Green Line. But it turns out that even inside the Green Line it is not simple. It is sad that secular Jews are willing to cooperate with Arabs. It shows how much haredim are hated."

Ilan Sadeh, Head of the Menashe Regional Council, which includes Harish in its jurisdiction, said that the main reason for his opposition to the building of the new city was environmental.

But he admitted that he did not like the idea of 150,000 haredi neighbors. "We personally prefer non-haredi residents in this part of the country."

500 'Nieuwe' bouwvergunningen betreffen vooral oude projecten

 

De deze week door de Israelische regering afgegeven bouwvergunningen voor 500 woningen in de Joodse nederzettingen, vooral rond Jeruzalem, betreffen grotendeels oude, eerder al goedgekeurde bouwplannen die om verschillende redenen niet of deels waren uitgevoerd of tussentijds bevroren door eerdere regeringen.

 

Het feit dat het oude projecten betreft, betekent natuurlijk niet dat het handig is om ze nog even vlak voor de aangekondigde bevriezing goed te keuren. Netanjahoe probeert door deze maneuvre wellicht vooral de interne weerstand tegen de bouwstop te sussen, maar naar de buitenwereld komt het allemaal erg halfslachtig en weinig indrukwekkend over.

 

Blijkbaar moet de bouw in nederzettingen in verschillende fasen opnieuw worden goedgekeurd; dit biedt enerzijds tegenstanders meer kansen een project tegen te houden, anderzijds kan zo ook een bevriezing omzeild worden: we gaan alleen door met al eerder goedgekeurde plannen...

 

RP & WB

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


Haaretz probe: 'New' settlement permits aren't really new
By Chaim Levinson - Haaretz

8 September 2009
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1113073.html

 

At the West Bank city of Ariel's adventure park, whose construction Defense Minister Ehud Barak approved, nothing special was going on yesterday. Children were trying out the climbing wall and the mayor was walking around, proud as a groom on his wedding day. The facility was actually only approved yesterday, but has been in existence for a year and a half before receiving construction permits. In fact, a demolition order was issued against it.

Haaretz checked and discovered that these permits, are no more than another layer of permits on top of those already given, but that had not gone through for various reasons. In some places work was already underway. Haaretz has also learned that all construction permits were given on condition that the buildings go up within two months, or the permit will be rescinded.

The adventure park in Ariel is only one of the approvals Barak gave yesterday. The total number of new building starts approved yesterday in West Bank Jewish settlements is 455, mainly in the settlement blocs: 149 units in Har Gilo and 12 units in Alon Shvut - both in the Etzion Bloc, 84 units in Modi'in Ilit, 76 units in the Agan Ha'ayalot neighborhood of Givat Ze'ev, 89 units in Ma'aleh Adumim and 25 units in the nearby settlement of Kedar. The construction of 20 new units was approved for Maskiot in the Jordan Valley, the only settlement not in one of the large settlement blocs. Barak also approved public projects, like the adventure park in Ariel and a new school in Har Adar.

Yesterday, bulldozers were filling trucks with sand to level lot after lot in Har Gilo. The plan to add 234 units to the settlement, first established in 1968, was approved in 1999. Former defense minister Shaul Mofaz approved the construction of 34 units, and during Olmert's tenure 55 more units were approved. In 2008, Olmert approved another 149 units and Barak did not add to this number. Work had already begun, with Barak's approval yesterday of the 149 units coming on top of Olmert's earlier approval.

Kedar has an approved plan from 1989 for the construction of 260 units. Two years ago, the community asked for permission to market another 34 units. Approval came for 17, but it was not worthwhile for the local council to lay infrastructure for such a small number of units. Yesterday, Barak approved 25 more units.

In Alon Shvut, construction was approved in a neighborhood built 15 years ago in the center of the community. At the time, permits were issued for four buildings of 12 apartments each. For unknown reasons, only three were built. For three years the local council has been seeking permission to build the fourth apartment house, which it has now received.

Shaul Goldstein, head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council, said yesterday: We thank the government for approving continued construction. However the demand is at least ten times more than the permits. We are against the very term 'freeze,' because construction is not an obstacle to peace."

Construction began in 2000 on 600 housing units in the Agan Ha'ayalot neighborhood of Givat Ze'ev. In 2002, the intifada and shooting attacks brought about an end to sales, and the apartments remained unfinished. The contractors sued the government and the case is still in court.

In 2008, a group of ultra-Orthodox entrepreneurs took over the project, and the Olmert government approved construction of 330 of the apartments, although only 250 were actually built. The government has now approved an additional 76.

Council head Yossi Avrahami said yesterday: "I have been given a permit on top of Olmert's permit for a plan that had already been approved. This permit is foolishness."

In the Jordan Valley settlement of Maskiot, founded as a Nahal outpost by the Israel Defense Forces, Barak announced 20 new homes would be built. But work has been going on there since July 2008, when the construction of the 20 units was first approved. Yesterday he gave final approval, which means the houses can actually be put up.

The head of the Jordan Valley Regional Council, David Alhiani, said yesterday: "The fact is, these apartments were approved last year, otherwise we wouldn't have begun the infrastructure. How apartments that have already been approved and have begun to be built are approved again, you should ask the defense minister, not me."

In Ma'aleh Adumim, 89 units were approved yesterday in the Nofei Sela neighborhood. The area has had permission to build 3,000 homes for five years now. The Housing Ministry was issuing tenders little by little, but stopped two years ago. Now 89 units have been approved in an area slated for 300 units. Some 9,100 families live in Ma'aleh Adumim, and the new construction will increase the population by less than one percent. Mayor Benny Kashriel called the approval, a "poor man's feast."

In the ultra-Orthodox city of Modi'in Ilit, 84 housing units were approved. They had originally been approved long before, in the midst of an existing neighborhood, but the old plan was never implemented due to a legal battle between the city and the neighboring settlement of Matityahu. All in all, three new buildings are to be constructed in Modi'in Ilit.

"After the new building permits, we are continuing toward a freeze on construction in settlements in the West Bank for a few months," a senior official said yesterday in Jerusalem.

The official also said that American envoy George Mitchell and the U.S. administration have been informed of the approvals for the new construction, and that "it was not done behind their backs." According to the official, this is the first time since the establishment of the Netanyahu government that construction has been unfrozen. The source added that over the past six months only a few permits have been given, and even the present ones are to complete ongoing projects and to approve tenders discussed in the past.

Omstreden Charles Enderlin van Al Dura kwestie ontvangt Franse staatsprijs

Het doet denken aan de prijs die een zeer antisemitische cartoon die een paar jaar geleden in The Independent stond kreeg. Het is al erg genoeg dat iemand zoiets maakt, en aangezien er weinig kwalitatief zo voortreffelijks lijkt te ontdekken in het produceren van zeer misleidend filmmateriaal of het voorstellen van Sharon als babykiller lijkt het erop dat de betreffende prijs eerder een politiek statement tegen Israel is dan een waardering voor het geproduceerde.

 

Voor meer informatie over de Al Dura affaire zie: Second Draft - Al Dura Investigation

En op IMO: Mohammed Al Dura en de Blood Libel en De impact van de zaak Mohammed Al Dura

 

RP

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

http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/mideastdispatches/archives/001051.html

1 September 2009 - Tom Gross

AMAZEMENT AS SARKOZY GIVES PROPAGATOR OF AL-DURA MYTH AN AWARD

Charles Enderlin, the French journalist at the center of the al-Dura affair, who is accused of manipulating the truth to portray Israel in a negative light in one of the most infamous examples of media deception of modern times, has been awarded the Legion d'honneur, one of France's highest accolades. The French consul general in Jerusalem presented the award to Enderlin on behalf of President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The news has caused outrage among Jews in France who say Enderlin has helped stir up the new wave of anti-Semitism which has led to a number of brutal assaults and murders of French Jews in recent years. Enderlin is the longtime correspondent in Israel for the state-controlled France 2 TV. It was in recognition of this that he was given the award.

Curiously, the award was presented under the auspices of the Foreign Affairs Ministry and not, as would be more appropriate for a journalist, the Ministry of Culture.

French subscribers to this email list also tell me that it is unheard for the award to be made in the middle of August, when many people are on vacation, and to be presented at a foreign consulate rather than in Paris. They suspect this was done deliberately in an effort to avoid protest. No prior announcement was made that Enderlin was to receive the award, which was also unusual.

Among previous dispatches on the al-Dura affair, please see www.tomgrossmedia.com/mideastdispatches/archives/000949.html

 

Dode Zee droogt steeds sneller op

 

Ook het Meer van Galilea schijnt langzaam op te drogen. Een oorzaak is behalve wat hieronder wordt genoemd, het feit dat het de afgelopen jaren bijzonder weinig heeft geregend in Israel. In hoeverre dat toeval is of met klimaatveranderingen heeft te maken, is me niet duidelijk. Wel duidelijk is dat naast de voorgestelde oplossing om water van de Rode Zee naar de Dode zee over te brengen, een vermindering van het watergebruik noodzakelijk is.

 

RP

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

Dead Sea drying quicker than usual

Sep. 7, 2009
Ehud Zion Waldoks , THE JERUSALEM POST

 

The Dead Sea is evaporating faster each year rather than decreasing at a steady rate, according to data provided by the Hydrological Service and Eli Raz that was released on Sunday.

The sea evaporated 18 cm. in August and 19 cm. in July, dropping to 422.83 meters below sea level.

The drop-off rate over the last decade has been 1.016 meters per year. Now it has increased to 1.29 meters annually, according to the latest numbers. The sea has dropped roughly 25 meters in the last 33 years and over 10 meters in the last decade.

Fresh water used to flow down the Jordan River to replenish the Dead Sea, thus keeping it constant throughout the millennia. However, in the 1960s, the water was diverted into the National Water Carrier for the populace to drink.

These days, the only thing that flows into the Dead Sea is raw sewage and effluence from the fish ponds along the Jordan River. In addition, the industrial processes being carried out at the Dead Sea to harvest minerals also contribute to the evaporation rate.

Regional governments are aware of the problem and have commissioned the World Bank to examine the feasibility of conveying water from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea. Some of the water would replenish the Dead Sea and some of it would be desalinated for Jordanian use, one of the 10 most water-poor countries in the world.

The feasibility studies are supposed to take until early 2011 to complete. However, there has been an increasing call by local environmentalists for alternatives to the Red-Dead Canal project to be considered. They have managed to convince the World Bank to add an alternatives study to the feasibility project.

Concurrently, the Israelis and Jordanians have recently approved a pilot conveyance project to test what effect water from the Red Sea would have on the Dead Sea.

Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) has been at the forefront of pushing for the alternatives study.

"The terms of reference for the alternatives study have now been approved and it is supposed to launch in October," Friends of the Earth Israel Director Gidon Bromberg told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.

Bromberg said the alternatives study was supposed to take a year and all the studies completed by March 2011.

"However, we have still not seen a copy of the alternative study and a list of the consultants carrying out the study despite making a formal request for them. Three consultants, one from each country, have been identified by their respective governments (Israel, Jordan and the PA)," he added.

But Bromberg questioned the legality of handpicking consultants rather than preparing an international tender to find objective consultants as was done with the other feasibility studies.

"Our concern is that the people have been handpicked by their governments rather than being independent. An international tender was used for the other studies. We question the legality of this new process," he said.

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

This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1251804506197&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

 

Palestijnse steun voor Hamas op dieptepunt

 

Nederlandse media geven vaak de indruk dat Hamas zeer populair is onder de Palestijnse bevolking - niet zozeer vanwege hun extreme anti-Israel standpunt, maar omdat zij zuiverder op de graad en principiëler zouden zijn dan Fatah met haar vriendjespolitiek en corruptie. In werkelijkheid scoort Hamas in opiniepeilingen al jaren lager dan Fatah, zowel op de Westoever als in Gaza. Dat is niet omdat de Palestijnen het met hun extreme anti-Israel standpunt oneens zijn, maar omdat ze Hamas (met Israel, uiteraard) de schuld geven van de puinhoop in Gaza.

 

"Gaza is a big open sore for Hamas, and it's become a symbol that has turned people against armed struggle and in favor of negotiations," Greenberg told The Jerusalem Post in an interview on Friday. "Hamas has become marginalized politically."

According to the poll, 58 percent of Gazans said they disapprove of the job being done by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, while 42% of them said they "disapprove strongly."

 

Also surprising, Greenberg said, was that while 35% of the other groups polled stressed the importance of releasing captive IDF soldier Gilad Schalit, an overwhelming two-thirds of Gazans said the same.

 

Opvallend is ook dat een meerderheid van de Palestijnen in Gaza voor directe onderhandelingen met Israel is, tegenover 36% op de Westoever. En dat terwijl tweederde van de Gazanen voor de vrijlating van Shalit is, dit elders maar 35% is.

De verklaring voor een en ander lijkt duidelijk: de Gazanen weten wel dat met de vrijlating van Shalit ook de grenzen weer opengaan, en er eindelijk een begin gemaakt kan worden met de wederopbouw van Gaza. Men ziet Israel als hoofdschuldige van hun ellende, maar weet ondertussen heel goed dat zonder al die raketten en zonder Shalit in gevangenschap hun leven er een stuk makkelijker op zou zijn. Het Westen zou er goed aan doen om de Palestijnen in hun kritiek op Hamas te steunen, en Hamas niet te belonen met erkenning en betrokkenheid bij het vredesproces, zoals veel deskundologen en mensenrechtenorganisaties bepleiten.

 

RP

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Poll: Hamas approval rating extremely low
Abe Selig , THE JERUSALEM POST Sep. 7, 2009
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1251804506032&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

 

Hamas's approval rating has sunk to significantly low levels in the West Bank and even lower levels inside the Gaza Strip, according to a recent poll for The Israel Project that gathers Arab public opinion on a number of key issues.

The poll, conducted by Stan Greenberg of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, included face-to-face interviews with hundreds of adults in Egypt, Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza, along with a series of focus groups in Cairo and Ramallah.

While the numbers indicate ongoing, deep hostility toward Israel in the Arab world, the poll also shows signs that powerful players in the region, such as Hamas, are in deep trouble at home, and that the people living under their direct rule are becomingly increasingly vocal in their criticism.

"Gaza is a big open sore for Hamas, and it's become a symbol that has turned people against armed struggle and in favor of negotiations," Greenberg told The Jerusalem Post in an interview on Friday. "Hamas has become marginalized politically."

According to the poll, 58 percent of Gazans said they disapprove of the job being done by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, while 42% of them said they "disapprove strongly."

Fifty-seven percent of Palestinians in the West Bank also said they disapprove of Hamas, but only 16% disapproved "strongly."

"I've polled in a number of war zones in the 20th century, including Nicaragua and El Salvador during the conflicts there [in the 1980s], and I polled in Afghanistan under the Taliban, before 9/11," Greenberg said. "And I thought that in Gaza, after [Hamas's 2006] takeover, people would be cautious about responding to the poll. But just look at the results. Nearly 60% of the people there have a negative image of Hamas, and felt free to say it, which says to me that it's even worse than that."

The poll also shows Fatah would beat Hamas by a solid 10 percentage points in both the West Bank and Gaza, if Palestinians were to vote in parliamentary elections today. While Fatah's popularity was much higher than Hamas's in the West Bank, by a 45-28% margin, Fatah was still able to edge Hamas by 3% in Gaza, where 33% of those polled said they favored Fatah, compared to 30% in the West Bank.

When asked who was responsible for the current crisis in Gaza, Israel was overwhelmingly blamed by all the groups polled. But while 5% of Egyptians and Jordanians blamed Hamas for the current crisis, 35% of Palestinians in the West Bank said Hamas was to blame, while 16% of Gazans agreed.

Additionally, of all the places polled, Gazans made up the highest percentage - 38% - of those who said they believed that both Israel and Hamas, together, were responsible for the current Gaza crisis.

Nonetheless, Gazans and Jordanians both showed a surprisingly high level of support for direct negotiations with Israel. More than half of those two groups - 52% of those polled - said they believed Palestinians should negotiate directly with Israel, accept its right to exist and honor past agreements. Thirty-nine percent of Egyptians said the same, compared to 36% of Palestinians in the West Bank.

Also surprising, Greenberg said, was that while 35% of the other groups polled stressed the importance of releasing captive IDF soldier Gilad Schalit, an overwhelming two-thirds of Gazans said the same.

The poll also revealed that nearly a decade after the breakdown of the Camp David Accords between Yasser Arafat, then-US president Bill Clinton and then-prime minister Ehud Barak, a majority of those polled in Egypt, Jordan and the West Bank expressed regret that Arafat failed to accept the peace deal proposed there.

Fifty-six percent of West Bank Palestinians said that in retrospect, they wished Arafat had accepted the agreement, while 50% of Jordanians and 39% of Egyptians said the same. In Gaza, 57% of those polled said they did not regret Arafat's rejection of the deal.

Greenberg said that these West Bank results show a change of heart since the breakdown of the Camp David talks.

The poll had a margin of error of +/- 3.5%.

Lijdt relatie VS en Israel onder onjuiste berichten in Haaretz?

Dit artikel bevestigt het vermoeden dat de media, en dan met name Haaretz, de onenigheden tussen de VS en Israel nogal heeft uitvergroot, en onzorgvuldig is geweest in het toekennen van uitspraken aan mensen. Zo had Obama volgens een artikel in Haaretz op een gesloten bijeenkomst met leiders van Joodse organisaties gezegd: Israel would need "to engage in serious self-reflection" in order to reach an agreement with the Palestinians. Zowel diverse leiders van Joodse organisaties die aanwezig waren als functionarissen van het Witte Huis zeiden desgevraagd tegen JTA zich een dergelijke uitspraak van Obama niet te herinneren. De Haaretz correspondent bleef er echter bij dat hij dit citaat van 'bronnen die aanwezig waren bij de bijeenkomst' had gekregen.

 

De vraag is hoeveel en welke invloed dergelijke berichten hebben op de relatie tussen de VS en Israel. Die wordt er zacht gezegd niet beter op.Veel Israeli's klagen over Amerika's eenzijdigheid en eisende toon naar een zo trouwe bondgenoot. Amerikanen vallen op hun beurt over Israels gevoeligheid voor kritiek en haar blinde vlek voor het kwade bloed dat de voortdurende bouw in de nederzettingen zet in de rest van de wereld. Zie ook: Why Israelis and Americans are angry.

 

RP

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

 

Are inaccurate media reports hurting U.S.-Israel relationship?

By Eric Fingerhut, September 2, 2009

http://jta.org/news/article/2009/09/02/1007613/are

 

 

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- President Obama told Jewish leaders in a July meeting that Israel needs to "engage in serious self-reflection." Israel's new U.S. ambassador was "summoned" to the State Department to be lectured about Israel's building settlements in Jerusalem. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called two top aides to Obama "self-hating Jews."

All of these reports appeared in the Israeli daily Ha'aretz.

And they've all been disputed or denied by the principals involved.

Nevertheless, the tales have become an important part of the day-to-day narrative on the U.S.-Israel relationship. Partisans and pundits on both sides of the political divide have seized on the anonymously sourced stories to herald their own preconceived notions of the Obama administration and Netanyahu government.

U.S. and Israeli officials say these apparently inaccurate reports haven't had any significant impact on the U.S.-Israel relationship, but Middle East experts say the prominence of such reports -- and the leaks and spin that produced them -- could be a sign of some tension. They also may be a sign of the declining standards in Israeli journalism.

All three stories were written by the same Ha'aretz correspondent, Barak Ravid, and he is standing by their accuracy.

The first report came earlier this summer, after Obama's July 13 meeting with a group of Jewish organizational leaders. Ravid wrote that Obama said Israel would need "to engage in serious self-reflection" in order to reach an agreement with the Palestinians.

Conservative critics of Obama responded with outrage. The editor of The Weekly Standard, Bill Kristol, wrote an angry online post focusing on the quote, challenging Obama's right to "lecture the people and leaders of Israel on the need for self-reflection" when he never faced the difficult choices they encounter or the personal sacrifices they've made.

In the weeks following the meeting, however, JTA contacted virtually all the Jewish officials who attended the meeting and none recalled ever hearing such a phrase from the president, nor could they find such a quote in their notes. Multiple White House aides at the meeting told JTA that they have no recollection of the phrase being used or any record of it in their notes.

Ravid told JTA in an e-mail that he got the quote by "sources that were in the meeting with the president" and that no White House official had denied it to him.

A couple weeks later, a Ravid story characterizing the Netanyahu government on its 100th day in office as being in disarray said that "Netanyahu appears to be suffering from confusion and paranoia."

The article added, "To appreciate the depth of his paranoia, it is enough to hear how he refers to Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod, Obama's senior aides, as 'self-hating Jews.'"

The quote was not attributed to a source. Ravid said he "cannot elaborate on the sources for the story" but that he stands behind its accuracy "100 percent."

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev told JTA that Netanyahu "never spoke those words." Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador in Washington, said in an interview in August that he reached out to Emanuel and Axelrod on behalf of the prime minister and said Netanyahu was "furious" with the report.

But before the denial, supporters of Obama's Middle East policy seized on the quote as evidence that the Netanyahu government was difficult to work with. In addition, both Joe Klein in Time magazine and Ha'aretz editor-at-large Aluf Benn in a New York Times op-ed referred to the quote as if it were a matter of public record.

Finally, Ha'aretz stories in both July and August said that the Obama administration had "summoned" Oren over differences in settlement policy. But an Israeli Embassy spokesman and Oren himself have publicly denied any "summoning," which implies a crisis in relations. Both said that the first time the concerns were relayed they came as part of a get-to-know-you meeting just after Oren became ambassador, and the second time they came in what Oren called a "soft-spoken" phone call.

Ravid responded that Oren in a phone conversation had declined to comment on the latter meeting before the story was published.

"There is no dispute about the fact that twice in two weeks, the Israeli ambassador in Washington received harsh complaints about Israeli policy in east Jerusalem from very senior officials in the U.S. government," Ravid said. "The media reports in Ha'aretz or any other publication are not the cause for the problem in Israeli-U.S. relations."

Aaron David Miller, who advised six secretaries of state on Arab-Israeli negotiations and is now a public policy fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said disputed media reports like these reflect a "certain amount of dysfunction in the U.S.-Israeli relationship," particularly how each side perceives what the other side is saying and how sensitive they are to it..

With the Obama administration perceived in Israel as being more demanding than previous U.S. administrations, some conservative members of the Israeli government may be trying to manipulate the tension that has arisen over the settlement dispute by leaking stories to portray a more dire situation, observed Yoram Peri, director of the Gildenhorn Center for Israeli Studies at the University of Maryland and an expert in Israeli politics and media.

Peri cautioned that one must separate public rhetoric from real diplomatic process, which happens mostly behind closed doors.

He also attributed the problematic reporting to "the serious decline in the level of Israeli media." Today's Internet-driven news culture -- where "scoops" are more highly prized than ever -- and the financial difficulties facing newspapers have contributed to a tabloidization of the news in Israel, Peri said.

"The Ha'aretz of today is not the Ha'aretz of 10 years ago," Peri said.

Israeli and U.S. officials say stories that inaccurately portray the situation are not much of a problem.

"These are simply bumps in the road," said White House spokesman Tommy Vietor.

An Israeli government spokesman called the disputed reports "a nuisance," but said "they don't have any kind of effect on the relationship."

"The relationship is strong and good and warm," the spokesman said. "It appears that there are elements that would like to see it otherwise, but it's not affecting the good discussions we're having."

Na goedkeuring 500 nieuwe woningen in nederzettingen wil Netanjahoe even rustig aan doen

 

One of Netanyahu's main messages is that Israel has done its part, and that he is now waiting to see what gestures toward normalizing ties Arab states are willing to make.

 

Dat klinkt weinig overtuigend als je juist nog snel de bouw van 500 woningen in de Joodse nederzettingen hebt goedgekeurd. Daarmee maakt Netanjahoe de boodschap van de bevriezing ongedaan, dat Israel een stap zet en nu op een gebaar van de andere kant wacht.

 

RP

-----------

Netanyahu: Settlement construction to slow, once 500 new homes built
By Mazal Mualem, Barak Ravid, Chaim Levinson and Natasha Mozgovaya, Haaretz Correspondents and Agencies

Last update - 08:43 06/09/2009
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1112669.html

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held talks with several Likud cabinet ministers and Knesset members over the weekend, in an attempt to persuade them to support a freeze on construction in the West Bank settlements.

One of Netanyahu's main messages is that Israel has done its part, and that he is now waiting to see what gestures toward normalizing ties Arab states are willing to make.

The security cabinet is scheduled to meet on Sunday to continue its preparation for the arrival later this week of U.S. special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell.

Ministers and MKs who spoke with Netanyahu and his associates told Haaretz that the prime minister showed them the final agreement reached with the U.S. administration on suspending settlement construction. A source in the Prime Minister's Office said Netanyahu did not use the word "moratorium" or "freeze," opting instead to describe the proposed measure as "reducing the scale of construction."

Netanyahu's announcement late last week that he intends to approve the construction of hundreds of new housing units in the settlements before the suspension of building takes effect has drawn criticism from the international community.

European Union foreign ministers, meeting in Stockholm on Friday, criticized the decision in a statement by Javier Solana, the outgoing EU foreign policy chief.
"The position of the European Union is well known. All settlement activities must stop," Solana was quoted as saying.

British Foreign Minister David Milliband seconded Solana, describing the settlements as "illegal" and as "posing an obstacle to the peace process."

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, a well-known supporter of Israel in the EU, said that EU foreign ministers are in agreement on the issue.
"The foreign ministers of the European Union condemn the announcement on new construction in settlements right when the international community is asking Israel to freeze [construction]," Frattini said. "Ending construction was essentially the sole precondition for restarting the negotiations."

France also condemned Netanyahu's decision, saying that it went against Middle East peace efforts.

The White House also criticized the decision Friday. "We regret the reports of Israel's plans to approve additional settlement construction," a White House statement said. "Continued settlement activity is inconsistent with Israel's commitment under the road map."
The White House added that the administration of President Barack Obama "does not accept the legitimacy of continued settlement expansion and we urge that it stop. We are working to create a climate in which negotiations can take place, and such actions make it harder to create such a climate."
In response to a reporter's question, the White House spokesman said that the U.S. had been informed of Netanyahu's intention to proceed with new construction in the West Bank.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Mitchell and the Israelis had been having "a very open dialogue" in "very intense discussions." He would not elaborate.

But one U.S. official familiar with Mitchell's meeting last week in New York with Netanyahu envoy Yitzhak Molcho said the Israelis "told Mitchell they were going to [continue construction] and he told them they could expect a sharp response."

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the meeting had "not gone well." He added that the White House statement was released before a formal Israeli announcement of Netanyahu's plans because "we wanted to send a strong signal early on."

Meanwhile, settlers are planning to step up their protests against the construction freeze, irrespective of Netanyahu's announcement of approval for hundreds of new homes in the settlements. Settler leaders said 500 housing units will be built in places such as Givat Ze'ev, Ma'aleh Adumim and Beitar Ilit, where demand is enormous, and in Gush Etzion.

"The demand is for hundreds of housing units in each of these communities, not just a few hundred in total. The construction will probably take place to the east of the fence," according to Danny Dayan, chairman of the Yesha Council.

"A freeze has enormous political implications which are no less than a catastrophe for the settlement enterprise. Freezing construction in Ma'aleh Adumim, Gush Etzion, Beitar, what are called the 'settlement blocs,' places them clearly on the negotiating table. Why would the state freeze construction in areas that are not open for negotiation? There is nothing that signals to the Arabs that it is possible to restore them to the 1967 border than such a freeze," Dayan said.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak is expected to approve the holding of a groundbreaking ceremony at Ma'aleh Adumim this week.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas described the planned approval of residential construction as "unacceptable."

"What the Israeli government said [about the planned construction] is not useful," Abbas said after meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy Friday. "It is unacceptable to us. We want a freeze on all settlement construction."

Abbas also told journalists that a possible summit meeting with Netanyahu and Obama in New York at the UN General Assembly later this month depended on "steps that are taken beforehand regarding a settlement construction freeze."

Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat also criticized the move on Friday, saying it would derail any progress in peace negotiations.

"I think the only thing that will be suspended by this announcement is the peace process," Erekat said.

Barak zal nog toestemming geven voor 500 nieuwe woningen op Westoever

Dat lijkt me niet helemaal volgens de regels: nadat je met veel moeite een overeenkomst hebt gesloten over een tijdelijke bevriezing van de nederzettingen, nog even snel de bouw van 500 nieuwe woningen goedkeuren. Het is dan ook niet zo vreemd dat de rest van de wereld hierover not amused was. Israel kan er met recht op wijzen dat ook de VS zich niet aan de regels heeft gehouden, en op een eerdere overeenkomst met Israel is teruggekomen, en dit bovendien op een niet zo fraaie manier publiekelijk heeft uitgevochten, maar het één rechtvaardigt niet het ander. Natanjahoe laat hiermee zien geen betrouwbare onderhandelingspartner te zijn, en zet onnodig kwaad bloed bij zowel de VS, Europa als de Arabische staten. Zijn die vijfhonderd huizen dat nou echt waard?

 

RP

-----------

 

Barak to approve 500 new housing units in West Bank
JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST

Sep. 6, 2009
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1251804503729&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

 

Defense Minister Ehud Barak will approve the construction of some 500 new housing units in the West Bank by Monday evening, following an agreement reached with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. At the same time, however, he called it an Israeli duty and interest to "soberly and openheartedly support the American initiative" for a comprehensive agreement in the Middle East.

 

According to Channel 1, the newly-approved units will be within existent blocs and cities, such as Modi'in Illit, Ma'aleh Adumim and Gush Etzion.

Netanyahu intends to authorize hundreds of new West Bank housing units, and only then consider a freeze "for a few months" on further construction, a source in the Prime Minister's Office told The Jerusalem Post.

Reports suggest that settlement construction would be frozen for six to nine months, with work already in progress continuing on 2,500 housing units, and east Jerusalem largely excluded under the incipient deal.

US Mideast envoy George Mitchell, who is due in the region at the end of the week, was reportedly briefed on the plan by Netanyahu during the latter's recent talks with Mitchell in London.

Speaking on Sunday evening at an event held by the Yad Lebanim soldier's memorial organization at the Herzliya Performing Arts Center, Barak said that the US Middle East initiative was in Israel's interest.

"We stand today at the threshold of a sensitive and meaningful period," said the defense minister. "The security challenges have not disappeared, and we are committed to guarding Israel's vital security interests from any threat, but we are also on the verge of diplomatic decisions.

"I believe that it is our duty to soberly and open-heartedly support the American initiative leading to a comprehensive regional peace agreement in the Middle East," Barak continued.

"This arrangement will include components of normalization with moderate factors in the Arab world, but will also serve a tailwind for a meaningful process with the Palestinians, and hopefully in the future with the Syrians.

"I would like to reiterate, this is an Israeli interest," the defense minister said. "Even if there are disagreements with the US, I am convinced that it is possible and necessary to overcome them, and set a meaningful diplomatic process into motion, which will lead to a two-state solution, with us reaching an arrangement containing an end to the conflict, and bring an end to mutual Israeli and Palestinian demands, while maintaining what is essential to our future and security.

"I repeat, this is the Israeli interest and we must resolutely strive to achieve it," Barak added.

Hilary Leila Krieger contributed to this report.

Anti-Israel berichtgeving door Associated Press

Deze voorbeelden kom ik ook in bijvoorbeeld NRC Handelsblad en bij het NOS journaal geregeld tegen. Het Arabische Vredesplan wordt neergezet als een fair plan dat Israel erkenning en vrede biedt in ruil voor terugtrekking uit de bezette gebieden. Arabieren komen langer aan het woord en meer over de zaak zelf, terwijl Israelische woordvoerders, als ze al aan het woord komen, vaker algemene statements geven. Van Palestijns leed laat men bovendien altijd meer beelden zien en Palestijnse bronnen worden als betrouwbaarder neergezet, Israelische afstandelijker als ze niet geheel genegeerd worden. Heel Oost-Jeruzalem wordt 'bezet Arabisch Jeruzalem' genoemd, waarmee de sterke Joodse band met dit deel van de stad wordt ontkend. Dit werd echter door Jordanië illegaal veroverd in 1948, waarbij de daar wonende Joden werden verdreven. Hamas wordt soms zelfs een 'verzetsbeweging' genoemd, vaak ook 'islamitische beweging' en nooit 'terroristisch'. En inderdaad, Lieberman wordt rechts-extremistisch (extreemrechts) genoemd, of ultranationalistisch, Netanjahoe is een hardliner of een havik, en Abbas is gematigd en een man van vrede en dialoog. Het enige probleem in het Israelisch-Palestijns conflict zijn de nederzettingen en de extreem nationalistische kolonisten, gesteund door het nieuwe rechtse kabinet. Het is vreemd dat niet meer mensen over deze ontoelaatbaar tendensieuze berichtgeving vallen. Het effect blijft ondertussen niet uit: steeds meer mensen zien Israel als de oorzaak van alle problemen in het Midden-Oosten, en de Palestijnen als machteloze en onschuldige slachtoffers.

 

RP

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

 

AP anti-Israel bias

http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/09/ap-anti-israel-bias.html

 

It is about time someone noticed the bias in AP and Reuters despatches. Some other tricks. AP routinely writes that the Arab Peace Initiative would give Israel peace in return for withdrawal to 1967 borders. Sounds like a good deal, right? End the occupation, get peace. AP neglects some details. The Arab peace initiative calls for Israel to withdraw completely from East Jerusalem, including the Jewish parts, and it seems to require Israel to accept the return of Palestinian Arab refugees, which would end Jewish self determination in the only Jewish country in the world. So the deal look more like "Give up your capital and your country, and we'll give you 'peace.'" What sort of peace is that? But it is worse than that, since Arab League spokespeople routinely protest that the Arab peace initiative is a recommendation, and that no Arab country would be bound to recognize Israel. So the deal is, "Give up your capital and your country, and maybe some of us will give you 'peace'." Another trick is the unprofessional use of adjectives. News agency dispatches routinely characterize Mahmoud Abbas, King Abdullah of Jordan and King Abdulla of Saudi Arabia, as well as Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and other Arab leaders as "moderate" but refer to Avigdor Lieberman as the "ultranationalist" Foreign Minister of the "Right leaning" government of Benjamin Netanyahu. Lieberman was elected in democratic elections, unlike leaders of Arab countries. He only proposed to make loyalty a condition of citizenship. Egypt kicked out all its Jews without asking if they are loyal or not, and Jordan and Saudi Arabia do not allow any Jews to become citizens. The "Moderate" government of Mahmoud Abbas teaches Palestinian children that Haifa is the largest port in **PALESTINE.**

 

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

 

Analyzing the AP anti-Israel bias

http://www.yourish.com/2009/09/04/8729

 

Meryl Yourish @ 1:30 pm

The subtleties of the AP anti-Israel bias are always in evidence, no matter who the writer, no matter what the subject. Witness:

The gist of the article is a debate between Israeli president and former Prime Minister Shimon Peres, and the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Amr Moussa. But before we get to all that, we have to have the set-up. First, tar Netanyahu as the one preventing peace because -wait for it- he refuses to stop building settlements.

The difficulty has been compounded by the fact that in March a right-leaning government replaced the previous more moderate one in Israel.

Several months ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reluctantly agreed to accept the principle of a Palestinian state – a position his predecessors had already adopted but his Likud party has not – but said it would have to have limits on its rights to have a military or control its airspace.

Next, give Moussa a chance to respond to the above, but don't have Peres respond to it. Have Peres talk about a completely different topic.

Then, slam Peres and compliment Moussa, almost in the same breath (but while allowing Moussa to accuse the Israelis of duplicity):

Peres – pushing the boundaries on a role that is meant to be ceremonial and somewhat above the political and diplomatic fray – argued that even the borders initially delineated for the Palestinian state could be considered provisional and ultimately expanded.

"You want us to believe that?" thundered the urbane Moussa. "Another one of the tricks!"

Another way of telling which way the article is biased: There are ten paragraphs that contain quotes or paraphrases by Moussa. There are only six containing Peres' quotes or paraphrases—and the article is titled "Peres: Palestinian state first, full peace later."

I think, though, the thing that really got me is describing Moussa as "urbane" right after implying that Peres isn't acting in his government's best interest. In point of fact, nobody in Israel is complaining that Peres is overstepping his bounds, or if they have, I haven't seen it. But don't let the facts get in the way of a good anti-Israel slap.

The Associated Press: the anti-Israel Energizer bunny. They just never stop.

 

Arabieren verhuizen naar Joodse wijken in Jeruzalem

 

Als Joodse gezinnen in Sheikh Jarra of Silwan of andere Arabische wijken in Oost-Jeruzalem trekken, spreekt de wereld er schande van. Hieraan ligggen de meest verderfelijke expansionistische motieven ten grondslag, of eigenlijk is het gewoon landjepik. Uiteraard moeten Arabieren wel in Joodse wijken van de stad mogen wonen, en is het volkomen legitiem als zij er een nationalistische agenda op nahouden en willen proberen om deze wijken te verarabiseren. Dat sommige van de huidige Arabische wijken vroeger ook (gedeeltelijk) Joods waren, wordt voor het gemak vergeten.

 

RP

-----------

 

Arabs Moving Into Jewish Areas of Jerusalem

http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/09/arabs-moving-into-jewish-areas-of.html

 

Here is the truth about the "Judaization" of Jerusalem: Arabs are moving into Jewish neighborhoods. It's called "integration," but it is being done with a nationalist motivation:

 

Yousef Majlaton moved into the Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Zeev for such comforts as proper running water and regular garbage pickup. But he represents a potentially volatile twist in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute over the holy city.

 

The hillside sprawl of townhouses and apartment blocks was built for Jews, and Majlaton is a Palestinian.

 

Pisgat Zeev is part of Israel's effort to fortify its presence in Jerusalem's eastern half which it captured in the 1967 war.

 

But Majlaton, his wife and three kids are among thousands who have crossed the housing lines to Pisgat Zeev and neighborhoods like it in a migration that is raising tempers among some Jewish residents.

...

 

In 2007, the latest year with available statistics, about 1,300 of Pisgat Zeev's 42,000 residents were Arabs. In nearby French Hill, population 7,000, nearly one-sixth are Arabs, among them students at the neighboring Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Neve Yaakov, with 20,000 people, had 600 Arabs, according to the Israel Center for Jerusalem Studies, a respected think tank.

...

 

Majlaton and his wife are both Hebrew-speaking Christians. He said his new neighbors cold-shouldered them when they arrived in 2002, but gradually became friendlier.

 

He said he has since helped about 30 Arab families to move in and gets calls from prospective renters almost every day.

...

 

While his primary motivation was quality of life, he says living in Pisgat Zeev is "a nationalistic act" - a way to cement Arab presence in the city of his birth.

 

He said Palestinian leaders should follow his lead.

 

"They should bring all the Arabs to Pisgat Zeev," he said. "I'll help them find homes one by one."

The article repeats the following fallacy, which was evidently first publicized by Chris McGreal in the Guardian:

 

Netanyahu says Arabs have the right to live anywhere in the city, and so should Jews, though the Old City's Jewish Quarter is closed to Arabs.

 

There is no limitation preventing Arabs from living in the Jewish quarter.

 

Ami Isseroff

 

 

Wordt Tel Aviv tot "illegale nederzetting" bestempeld?

De meeste boycot acties zijn tegen Israël niet gericht op het beëindigen van de bezetting, maar het beëindigen van Israël, aldus Ami Isseroff. Met name culturele en academische boycots hebben niets te maken met de bezetting, en zijn gericht tegen mensen die daar zelf meestal ook niets mee te maken hebben, behalve dan dat ze in Israël wonen. (Zie ook het artikel: Boycot Israël? )

 

RP

 

Meer over deze kwestie hier: Toronto film festival showcases Tel Aviv; protest ensues

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

 

Will Tel-Aviv become an "illegal settlement"?

http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/09/will-tel-aviv-become-illegal-settlement.html

 

They are after Tel Aviv now. It was inevitable.

First they went after Jerusalem. UN resolutions "internationalized" Jerusalem. The "international" status of the city was ignored as long as Jordan illegally occupied the old city and east Jerusalem, but vigorous protests were issued when Israel conquered Jerusalem in the Six day war. Even the United States does not recognize any Jewish claims to Jerusalem, does not recognize any part of Jerusalem as part of Israel in violation of United States law, the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act. The US Consulate in Jerusalem insists that it is a mission to the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinians have long insisted that Jews had no historical connection with Jerusalem. The most recent statement to that effect was issued by the Muslim Chief Justice, Taysir Tamimi, denying Jewish historical rights in Jerusalem. He claimed it was never inhabited by Jews. The first temple is erased from history as well as the second temple, as well as the long habitation of Jews in Jerusalem prior to 1948, when Jerusalem was ethnically cleansed by the Jordan Legion.

The Arab and Muslim "narrative," given academic credentials by such people as Nadia Abu el-Hajj of Barnard University, is that Jerusalem was always an Arab city. Never mind the Menorah in the Arch of Titus. Never mind the description of the siege of Jerusalem by Josephus Flavius. Never mind the inscription from the time of Hezekiah, which describes the tunnel built to divert water from Shiloach during the siege - precisely as recorded in the Old Testament. The Palestinians have a different "narrative." The Beit al Maqdes (temple) was built by Suleiman the Muslim. Muhammad secured Jerusalem for the Muslims by flying to Jerusalem in one night on his horse (pretty good horse!) al-buraq, and tying it up at the Wailing wall, which ensures that the wailing wall is Muslim too. So much for "Zionist" Myths. Jerusalem is Arab and "Arab East Jerusalem" now belongs to the Muslims.

But now they are going after Tel Aviv as well. According to the old "Zionist narrative," apparently incorrect, Tel Aviv was founded in 1909, originally to be called "Achuzt Bayit." It was built on empty land purchased from Arabs. But a film festival in Toronto celebrating Tel-Aviv's Centennial is being boycotted, on the grounds that Tel-Aviv was stolen from the Arabs! No doubt, soon it will be discovered that Muhammad visited Tel Aviv too, and tied his horse up in Dizengoff Center. Such luminaries as Jane Fonda are boycotting the film festival:

Jane Fonda, Danny Glover and Eve Ensler have joined the growing list of artists who are boycotting the Toronto film festival over a program honoring Tel Aviv's 100th anniversary, gossip blogger Perez Hilton reported on Friday.

The three have added their names to a letter aimed at festival officials claiming that Tel Aviv was built on violence, ignoring the "suffering of thousands of former residents and descendants," Hilton reported.

Well yes, there was a war here. We didn't start it. Remember? There were also a few wars between Germany and France. Alsace is also "built on violence, ignoring the 'suffering of thousands of former residents and descendants.'" What about "former residents" of Washington DC or for that matter Toronto? Or former Jewish residents of Cairo and Baghdad? Is that a reason to boycott these cities? Will Jane Fonda and her friends leave any corner of Israel that may be claimed by Jews as our birthright?

If Tel Aviv does not belong to the Jewish people by right, then surely Beersheba, an Arab town from 640 C.E. until 1948 is Arab by right, and Neve Gordon, the boycott advocate, should not be living and teaching there. Even the most obtuse boycotters can now understand that the boycott movement is not aimed at ending the occupation, but at ending Israel.

Ami Isseroff

 

Jaarlijkse CIDI Monitor: scherpe stijging antisemitisme

 

Zie ook een recent rapport over antisemitisme in online commentaren op de website van de Volkskrant en op Hyves.

 

Het is duidelijk dat er wat moet gebeuren.

 

RP

-----------

 

JAARLIJKSE CIDI MONITOR: SCHERPE STIJGING ANTISEMITISME

CIDI - 4 sept. 2009 

 

Het idee dat Nederland een plaats is waar Joden veilig en ongestoord kunnen leven is in een enkele maand ernstig geschokt.

 

Het jaarlijkse antisemitismerapport van het Centrum Informatie en Documentatie Israel meldt voor januari 2009 een buitenproportioneel groot aantal antisemitische incidenten in vergelijking met de jaren ervoor. Het rapport over 2008 en de Gazaperiode is vanaf vandaag te lezen via de website van CIDI, www.cidi.nl.

 

Tijdens de Gaza-actie was het aantal geregistreerde incidenten in minder dan een maand bijna even hoog als in het hele jaar ervoor: 98, tegen 108 in heel 2008. Het aantal gevallen van fysiek geweld of concrete bedreiging daarmee was zelfs hoger (3 in 2007, 5 in 2008, 9 tijdens Gaza). Ter vergelijking: het gemiddelde aantal antisemitische incidenten per maand in 2008 was 9, voor de Gazaperiode was dat bijna elf keer zoveel.

 

In deze cijfers is de vrijwel ongebreidelde verspreiding van antisemitische denkbeelden op nieuwssites nog buiten beschouwing gelaten.

 

De incidenten waren bovendien grootschaliger dan ooit - honderden mensen, Joden en niet-Joden, werden ermee geconfronteerd door onder meer haatzaaiende folders en e-mails.

 

Bij straatincidenten waren daders veelal van Noord-Afrikaanse afkomst, maar er waren ook talloze autochtonen die op andere wijze antisemitische gevoelens uitten, bijvoorbeeld per e-mail.

 

Bij een analyse van hatemails bleek de meest gebezigde uiting het ontkennen en bagatelliseren van de Holocaust, de opvatting dat wat Israel in Gaza deed erger was dan de moord op zes miljoen Joden, en vooral de uitspraak dat 'Hitler zijn werk af had moeten maken' en dat 'alle Joden dood moeten'. Kennelijk vindt men die uitspraak een legitieme reactie op wat de Israelische regering in hun ogen fout deed.

 

Het gevoel van onveiligheid werd er niet beter op doordat de politie soms niet of niet adequaat optrad en doordat Justitie uiterst traag en soms pas na jaren aandringen vervolgde, en de benadeelden vaak niet informeerde. Zowel politie als justitie hebben op papier een goed beleid tegen racisme. Maar de uitvoering daarvan is vaak niet zichtbaar, terwijl van zichtbaar optreden een afschrikwekkende werking kan uitgaan.

 

Een lichtpuntje is de duidelijke stellingname van sommige kabinetsleden. Misschien wel hierdoor is de situatie in Nederland minder grimmig dan in het buitenland. Een goede stellingname van landelijke politici alleen is echter niet genoeg om deze golf van haat tegen te gaan.

 

CIDI vindt dat politie en justitie adequater moeten optreden. Het mag niet voorkomen dat, zoals in Rotterdam gebeurde, de politie zelf niet ingrijpt en vervolgens een omstander die wel de daders aanspreekt, wegstuurt omdat hij een relletje zou veroorzaken. Een snellere afhandeling van incidenten en goede informatie over aanhoudingen en vervolging moeten een  duidelijk signaal geven dat antisemitisme niet wordt getolereerd.

 

Bovendien dringen wij erop aan dat bij onderwijs over en herdenkingen van de Holocaust niet alleen wordt gewezen op overeenkomsten met de wereld van nu, maar ook op het verschil tussen werkelijke genocide zoals de Holocaust en "andere erge dingen".

===

Klik hier om rechtstreeks naar de digitale versie van het rapport te gaan. (In pdf)

Een papieren versie is tegen kostprijs te bestellen. Klik hier om dat per email te doen . De kosten van afdrukken en verzenden bedragen 10,- euro.

 

CIDI rapport: antisemitisme neemt fors toe

 

Wat vreemd is is dat destijds nauwelijks over deze incidenten werd bericht. De twee mishandelingen die hieronder staan beschreven lees ik voor het eerst. Waarom besteden de media hier niet meer aandacht aan? De ernst van de situatie kan pas doordringen als mensen op de hoogte zijn van wat er gaande is. Hopelijk brengt dit rapport daar verandering in, hoewel eerdere CIDI rapporten meestal ook doodleuk werden genegeerd.

 

RP

 

Voor het CIDI rapport zie: Monitor antisemitische incidenten in Nederland: 2008

 

---------

De Telegraaf
Militaire operaties van Israël roepen meer geweld op
Antisemitisme neemt fors toe
door Charles Sanders

 

DEN HAAG, vrijdag 4 september 2009

 

       Joden worden steeds vaker gediscrimineerd, bedreigd en aangevallen.

 

        Uit onderzoek van het Centrum Informatie en Documentatie Israël (CIDI) blijkt dat er in een maand tijd 98 ernstige incidenten waren. Over heel 2009 wordt met een verdubbeling of zelfs verdrievoudiging van uitingen van antisemitisme gerekend ten opzichte van 2008, toen er 108 meldingen waren.

 

       Volgens Elise Friedmann van het CIDI gaan mensen vooral op grote schaal over tot anti-joodse acties als Israël militaire operaties uitvoert, zoals in januari in Gaza. „Publiciteit daarover leidt tot veel verbaal en ook fysiek geweld", zegt de onderzoekster. „Autochtone Nederlanders doen dat op allerlei internetforums en in e-mails, allochtonen slaan hun slag op straat."

 

        Zo werd in Amsterdam een 16-jarig meisje door drie Marokkanen vastgepakt en „geidentificeerd als Jood door haar ketting met davidster". Vervolgens werd ze uitgescholden en geschopt. Het buitensporige geweld ging door toen het kind gewond op de grond lag. Een Joodse man, ook in Amsterdam, werd door Marokkanen op de fiets achtervolgd en voor 'kankerjood' uitgemaakt. Uiteindelijk werd hij ingesloten en in zijn buik getrapt. Toen een meisje met hoofddoek hem te hulp schoot, kreeg ook zij klappen.
       

Holocaust

 

        Elise Friedmann: „Uiterst zorgelijk, vooral omdat dit slechts het topje van de ijsberg is. Veel mensen doen geen aangifte, omdat ze vinden dat politie en justitie niet of niet adequaat optreden. Naast de schokkende cijfers zijn er nog duizenden haatzaaiende folders verspreid en e-mails verstuurd. De Holocaust wordt ontkend en uitspraken als 'Hitler had zijn werk af moeten maken, alle Joden dood', lijken op internet gemeengoed geworden."

 

       Een Joodse man die op het forum van Gretta Duisenbergs 'Stop de Bezetting' tegengas aan de eenzijdige berichtgeving gaf, werd per email bedreigd: 'Ik sla je gezin in elkaar en ik drink je bloed op, fucking Jood..'

 

        Volgens het CIDI-onderzoek tiert ook op scholen antisemitisme welig. In Amsterdam Slotervaart moesten recent de lessen worden stilgelegd toen leerlingen anti-joodse leuzen scandeerden. In Rotterdam gebeurde hetzelfde nadat scholieren „Hamas, Joden aan het gas" en „Joden zijn moordenaars, we zien het op al-Jazeera", schreeuwden.
      

UNWRA onderwijst op Gaza scholen mensenrechten zonder Holocaust

 

Wat is de grootste schending van de mensenrechten in de 20e eeuw? Nee, niet de Nakba.

Hoe kun je een 'human rights, conflict resolution and tolerance programme' doorvoeren op je scholen en daarbij de Holocaust negeren? Juist in een regio waar die regelmatig wordt ontkend, en waar een conflict speelt met een volk die dit is overkomen, is het toch totaal bezopen om deze gebeurtenis te negeren? Wat zullen leraren zeggen wanneer kinderen ernaar vragen? 'Geen idee, vraag dat maar aan je vader/aan de imam/aan de plaatselijke Hamas leider'? Die kinderen bellen vervolgens Saraa van Al Aqsa's TV programma "Pioniers van Morgen", en dan legt Nahoul de Bij uit dat het allemaal een zionistisch verzinsel is om Palestina kapot te maken en dat de Joden door Allah zijn vervloekt en in apen en varkens veranderd voor al hun misdaden. En dat ze hun bloed moeten geven voor de bevrijding van de heilige Al Aqsa en Al Quds.

 

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Statement by UNRWA on holocaust education
Source: United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
Date: 04 Sep 2009

www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/LSGZ-7VKD2R?OpenDocument


"The quotes attributed by the Simon Wiesenthal Center to UNRWA's Commissioner General, Karen AbuZayd and UNRWA's Gaza Director, John Ging are false. We condemn Holocaust denial in all its forms and we reject the politicization of the Holocaust. UNRWA will remain focused on positive curriculum development in teaching children the human rights values enshrined in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

UNRWA is committed to human rights education. UNRWA rejects any denial of the Holocaust as an historical event.

UNRWA implements a human rights, conflict resolution and tolerance programme in its schools in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza. In Gaza, UNRWA is strengthening this programme by developing a dedicated human rights curriculum anchored in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Europese Unie en Syrië gaan banden versterken

 

Toen de Europese Unie en Israel van plan waren hun relaties te intensiveren, werden brievencampagnes en andere protestacties opgezet door mensenrechten organisaties en clubs als Oxfam-Novib en dergelijke. Men vond dat Israel eerst moest laten zien serieus naar vrede te streven, iets dat met de terugtrekking uit Gaza, de terugtrekking uit Libanon, de talloze checkpoints die zijn opgeheven en roadblocks die zijn verwijderd, blijkbaar nog niet voldoende bewezen was. Ik heb echter nog niemand gehoord over onderstaande plannen en de eis horen stellen aan Syrië om eerst eens te stoppen met haar steun aan Hezbollah en de banden met Iran te verbreken, als teken dat men in vrede geinteresseerd is. Novib, Anja, Dries, Martijn van Dam, waar zijn jullie?

 

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EU and Syria close to Signing an agreement on stronger relations
Sep 04, 2009
www.sana. sy/eng/22/2009/09/04/243440.htm

 

Stockholm, (SANA - Syrian news agency)

European Union is close to signing an agreement with Syria on stronger relations between the two sides, European Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner said on Friday.

Waldner told journalists at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Stockholm that the EU was close to reach an agreement with Syria on stronger relations, saying, "In the near future we will get this agreement really going, and this will give Syria positive influence in the Middle East".

She said, "It is certainly not a gift if we give that to Syria, but it is a possibility for a contractual agreement with Syria, so I am very much in favor and I do hope this will go on."

She also stressed that engaging with Syria was absolutely in the interest of the EU.

Fadi Allafi

Waarheid en leugens in het Midden-Oosten

 

Het valt niet altijd mee te achterhalen wat nou waar is en wat er echt is gebeurd in het Midden-Oosten. Het Israelisch-Palestijns conflict is vaak net zo zeer een 'war on claims' dan een fysieke oorlog, en wie zijn kant als het onschuldige slachtoffer of de rechtmatige eigenaar van het land weet neer te zetten, wint de sympathie van de publieke opinie en daarmee uiteindelijk ook die van veel regeringen en machthebbers. Barry Rubin heeft echter wel een paar tips.

 

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Sorting out truth and lies in the Middle East

How to Tell Who's Lying and Who's Telling the Truth in the Middle East

http://rubinreports.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-to-tell-whos-lying-and-whos-telling.html

By Barry Rubin

 

A reader wrote me about one of the latest (and innumerable) sensationalist stories in the Middle East. Namely, in this case, that Hizballah has allegedly deployed chemical and biological weapons. This is absurd but it reminds us of the care that must be taken in analyzing developments in this region.

In this case, the source is a Kuwaiti newspaper. One must first ask: how does a Kuwaiti newspaper with no foreign bureaus and surely no inside sources in Hizballah (or Syria or Israeli intelligence) know this big secret? So the first question you must always ask is: Is it credible that the news outlet or other source knows what it/he/she claims to know?

The second question is the more specific identity of the source. There are sources that are literally always wrong (Debka, al-Quds al-Arabi, the Syrian state press, etc) and should be remembered as such. In this case, the newspaper is al-Siyassa, a courageous newspaper in its stance against Syria and radical Islamists and which is also pro-Saudi. Clearly, as in the past, al-Siyassa wants a sensationalist story and also to make the Syrians (and their client, Hizballah) look bad.

The third question is the rule of rationality: There have been no credible previous reports of Hizballah having these weapons. And if they did, Israeli sources would be talking about it a lot.

Consider another recent story, the claim that Israel hijacked a Russian ship carrying arms to Hamas. Russia is a very important country for Israel. Aside from trade and other issues, Israel doesn't want Moscow to sell advanced anti-aircraft missiles to Iran, just in case Israel decides one day to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities. Would Israel take the risk of creating a virtual war scenario with the Russian government? Not credible.

In the past there were mythical lands, or at least lands about which myths could be told. People remember that Marco Polo described the court of the emperor of China but not that Polo also speaks of lands along the way where he insisted he saw men with two heads.

The Middle East has become the part of the world onto which fantasies are projected. But there's a problem. Due to Political Correctness and other dubious blessings of contemporary life, one cannot even speak honestly about what goes on in Iran or Arabic-speaking lands. The old cliché that, "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all," has seemingly been enshrined on the intellectual temples of our era.

Consequently, a growing proportion of the mythology settles on the place about which it is permissible to say anything: Israel.

For example, if I were to assert that the proportion of deliberate and credibly believed lying in public life, media, and universities in the Arabic-speaking world is far higher than in the West (not to deny that there is plenty of that in the West also, enhanced by some current trends), that would be considered shocking.

Can I prove this? Certainly, just look at the record of past statements which have been proven accurate or inaccurate.

Combine that with the lack of institutional controls. If something outrageous is asserted—the Holocaust never happened, America is behind all the terrorism in Iraq, Israel murders Palestinians to steal their organs, the Mossad or CIA was behind September 11, ad infinitum—there are few voices that will say: That's nonsense! In short, not only are the lies, slanders, and conspiracy theories not countered, alternative views are endangered species.

In this context, a natural Western impulse to say that "the truth must be halfway in between" or "we're just hearing two equally credible discourses" is crippling.

Yet without understanding these realities, it is impossible to comprehend the area's political life or to set policies toward the Middle East.

 

 

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Barry Rubin is director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal. His latest books are The Israel-Arab Reader (seventh edition), The Long War for Freedom: The Arab Struggle for Democracy in the Middle East (Wiley), and The Truth About Syria (Palgrave-Macmillan). To read and subscribe to MERIA, GLORIA articles, or to order books. To see or subscribe to his blog, Rubin Reports.

 

 

Hugo Chavez valt Israel aan tijdens bezoek aan Syrië

 

"Israel has become a country that annihilates people and is hostile to peace," he said, according to the Arabic translation of his remarks to reporters.

 

Libië, Syrië, Iran en Wit Rusland zijn inderdaad heel wat vredelievendere staten waar men het verderfelijke imperialisme buiten de deur heeft weten te houden, en die dus de warme steun van de grote socialistische leider wel verdienen. Op naar een Nieuwe Wereldorde, een Wereld zonder Zionisme, zonder rechten voor minderheden, homo's en vrouwen, zonder vrijheid van meningsuiting en religie, zonder democatie en controle van de staat en haar instituties, zonder onafhankelijke rechtsspraak...

 

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Chavez: Israel was created 'to impede unity of Arab world'

Sep. 3, 2009
Associated Press , THE JERUSALEM POST

 

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez attacked Israel Thursday during his visit to Syria, calling it an imperialist nation that annihilates other people.

Chavez comments came during a news conference with his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad after a one-hour meeting at the hilltop presidential palace.

"Israel has become a country that annihilates people and is hostile to peace," he said, according to the Arabic translation of his remarks to reporters.

In comments carried by Venezuelan state television, he also accused Israel of being part of imperialist efforts to divide the Middle East.

"The entire world knows it. Why was the state of Israel created? ... To divide. To impede the unity of the Arab world. To assure the presence of the North American empire in all these lands," he said.

Chavez is on an 11-day trip to Libya, Algeria, Syria, Iran, Belarus and Russia in his bid to build a multi-polar world and decrease US influence in the region.

"I believe it is a fateful battle. It's either now or never in order to liberate the world from imperialism and change the world from a unipolar into a multi-polar world," Chavez told reporters in Damascus.

On Tuesday he attended Libya's celebration of the 40th anniversary of the coup that brought Moammar Gaddafi to power before heading to Algeria.

The firebrand Latin American leader has built close ties with Iran, Syria, Cuba and other countries while his relations have grown tense with Israel.

Chavez strongly criticized Israel's war against Gaza in December and January and said the Jewish state should return to Syria the strategic Golan Heights that it captured in 1967 Mideast war.

For his part, Assad said that he does not think Israel is ready to make peace, while Damascus is serious about the matter.

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