Westelijke Jordaanoever bloeit economisch op na verwijderen Israelische roadblocks

Ik zit toch steeds meer te denken om een speciale goed-nieuws blog te beginnen over Israel-Palestina. Het slechte nieuws verzorgen het NOS Journaal en de dagbladen immers doorgaans al....

 

Wouter

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West Bank Peace Signals 7% Growth as Israel Removes Roadblocks 
By Gwen Ackerman

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aXCfAuLgGPFA&pos=6

 

 

Nov. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Nablus Soap and Detergents Company says its revenue has grown as much as 20 percent since Israel removed three major roadblocks in the area, making it easier for merchants from other parts of the West Bank to visit.

 

"We now have the possibility of finding more customers and sales have improved," said Mojtaba Tubeileh, 41, general manager of Nablus Soap, which had 2008 revenue of about 1 million shekels ($267,000). "We are waiting for more improvement."

 

Economic growth in the West Bank may accelerate to 7 percent this year from 5 percent as Israel eases restrictions, the International Monetary Fund said in a report last month. The lifting of barriers must continue for the expansion to be sustained, the lender said.

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he is focusing efforts on boosting the West Bank economy and will continue easing movement restrictions. Palestinian investors say a political process must be launched to bring in the foreign investment needed to turn around an economy that, according to the World Bank, has contracted 13 percent in the eight years between 2000 and 2008.

 

"This is a step forward, but you can't build an investment decision on it because if they have problems, the roadblocks will come back," said Samir Hulileh, chief executive officer of the Ramallah-based Palestine Development and Investment Ltd. Investors have to see "the West Bank and Gaza without the army and tanks and demonstrations."

 

Largest Investor

 

The company is the largest private investor by initial investment in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, according to the Palestine Capital Market Authority.

 

Israeli Vice Premier Silvan Shalom said on Sept. 23 that his country is "committed to economic peace and to focus on ways to ease the lives of Palestinians."

 

Palestinian security forces "are working better against extremists and this makes it possible to cancel more roadblocks in the future," he said.

 

Israel has removed 11 checkpoints this year, including the three around Nablus in the past six months. Some 250 roads that had been completely closed have been reopened since 2007, including 100 in the last six weeks, military spokesman Maj. Peter Lerner said in a phone interview.

 

Netanyahu said Oct. 31 that Israel's decision to dismantle roadblocks and eliminate "a lot of bureaucratic hurdles to daily life and economic activity in the Palestinian Authority's areas," had resulted in "a Palestinian economic boom."

 

Short Time

 

Some 450 blocked roads and 14 checkpoints remain in the West Bank and are necessary to stop Palestinian militants from reaching Israeli towns and cities to carry out attacks, Lerner said.

 

"If the situation turns around into a negative one, we do have the ability to relatively, in a short period of time, re- implement these elements and put them back in place," he said.

 

Tubeileh said the situation was too uncertain to forecast revenue for this year or next.

 

Palestinians, as well as the IMF and the World Bank, say that roadblocks severely limit travel and transport of goods in the West Bank and have strangled the local economy, especially the private sector.

 

"As a result of the Israeli security regime, the Palestinian economy has hollowed out, with the productive sectors declining and the public sector growing," the World Bank said in a report released in June.

 

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad told reporters in Ramallah on Oct. 14 that economic growth has been led by the $1.7 billion in international donor money granted to the Palestinian Authority last year and the $1 billion donated so far this year.

 

Solid Waste Investment

 

Imad Al-Hindi, the general manager of Ramallah-based National Beverage Company, the Palestinian franchisee for Coca- Cola Co., said revenue climbed 5 percent since the easing of restrictions as trucks can now more easily travel through the northern West Bank toward Nablus and Jenin. Revenue in 2008 was 200 million shekels, he said.

 

Profit from revenue growth was partly offset after a major checkpoint in the south was closed, increasing the cost of sending goods to that area, Al-Hindi said.

 

"There is a slight improvement but not something that will lead to major changes," he said. "A lot more of that has to happen for there to be a critical mass of change and the economic revival to go forward."

 

Hulileh said PADICO is concentrating investments on "big projects that need a longer period of time to mature" such as power stations and solid waste management. These types of infrastructure projects can be kept going "through wartime and occupation," he said.

 

Unemployment Down

 

While per capita Palestinian GDP has fallen about a third since 1999, it may expand this year due to Israel's lifting of roadblocks and to Palestinian institution building and financial changes, the World Bank said in a Sept. 22 report.

 

Unemployment in the West Bank fell to 16 percent in the second quarter from 20 percent in the previous three months, a drop the bank said may largely be due to a seasonal increase in agricultural employment. Palestinian gross domestic product in 2008 was $6.5 billion, according to the IMF.

 

The Palestine Stock Exchange has gained 11.4 percent this year, compared with a 68.1 percent jump of the Morgan Stanley Emerging Markets Index.

 

Tubeileh said that while conditions in the West Bank have improved, Israeli limits on the flow of goods into the Gaza Strip are undermining potential growth there.

 

"Before 2000, 70 percent of our sales were to Gaza," said Tubeileh, who says his family has been making soap out of olive oil in the West Bank city of Nablus for more than 400 years. "Since then I have sent two containers, and those only in the past three months."

 

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

To contact the reporter on this story: Gwen Ackerman in Jerusalem at gackerman@bloomberg.net

 

Last Updated: November 1, 2009 17:18 EST

 

 

Bedoein met Joodse wortels met de dood bedreigd

 

DNA-onderzoek in recente jaren wijst op een relatief nauwe verwantschap tussen Joden en Palestijnse Arabieren, die zeker deels zullen afstammen van in eerder eeuwen tot het christendom en later de islam bekeerde Joden. Echt nieuw of verrassend is dit niet, ook vroege zionisten als Ben-Goerion* waren die mening al toegedaan.

Van de Bedoeinen wordt doorgaans eerder een afstamming uit het Arabische schiereiland verondersteld.

 

Wouter

 

(* Ben-Gurion: "The greater majority and main structures of the Muslim Falahin in Western Erez Israel [modern Israel, West Bank, and Gaza Strip] present to us one racial strand and a whole ethnic unit, and there is no doubt that much Jewish blood flows in their veins -- the blood of those Jewish farmers, "lay persons," who chose in the travesty of times to abandon their faith in order to remain on their land.")

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Arutz 7  -  2 November 2009
Bedouin Sheikh: My People are of Jewish Descent
by INN TV staff

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/133875


(IsraelNN.com) Israel Bedouin Sheikh Salem al-Huzeil believes that he and many others like him are of Jewish descent. In an interview with INN TV, Huzeil explains how a single "tahayat" - mistake – made several generations ago led to his current situation as a Muslim Bedouin leader who identifies as Jewish.

Huzeil was joined by Tzvi Misinai, a researcher who is convinced that Huzeil's story is far from unique. In fact, most of the Bedouins and Arabs living in Israel are Jewish, Misinai says.

In the video, Huzeil tells his story, Misinai explains his research, and both men explain why they believe Israel's Bedouins and Arabs must be informed of their Jewish roots.

 

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

 

Arutz 7  -  2 November 2009
Death Threats against Bedouin with Jewish Ancestry
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/134177


(IsraelNN.com) Bedouin in the area of Rahat, northwest of Be'er Sheva, have threatened the life of a neighboring sheikh and set his house on fire following his recent meeting to reinforce ties with Jews and Judaism that are part of his ancestry.

Sheikh Salem al-Huzeil maintains that most his tribal ancestors were Jewish until they were forced to convert during the Muslim conquest approximately 1,300 years ago. Hundreds of Bedouin and Arabs families in neighboring villages are known to practice certain Jewish customs, such as lighting candles Friday night, evidence of their Jewish roots.

Bedouin enemies have reacted violently to his efforts to maintain friendly relations with the Jewish community and to demonstrate for the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit. Posters recently have been distributed calling for the death of Sheikh al-Huzeil, although he has said that his tribe has no intentions of converting to Judaism. Several members of his family suffered severe burns after Bedouin opponents set his house on fire.

The Islamic Movement in the south does not want good relations with Jews," noted Rabbi Dov Stein, who as among those who met with the Sheikh. Rabbi Stein has urged Defense Minister Ehud Barak to investigate the threats and calls for incitement. The movement's northern branch is headed by Sheikh Raad Salah, who has been convicted several times for incitement.

Achmadinejad vol zelfvertrouwen over kernmacht Iran

Hoogmoed voor de val?

 

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

 

Ahmadinejad calling the shots?

http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/11/ahmadinejad-calling-shots.html

 

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asserted that Iran now deals with the West from a position of power. The enemies of Iran are like a mosquito, according to him. Nations of shopkeepers. Paper Tigers. Springtime for Iran and the IRGC, Winter for the USA, EU, GCC countries and Israel. Ahmadinejad and Iran have joined an exclusive club of people and countries  who have dealt with the United States, Britain and France from a position of power. The club includes Kaiser Wilhelm II, Adolph Hitler and Germany, Benito Mussolini and Fascist Italy, the former USSR, and of course, Saddam Hussein. They all dealt with the the West from a position of power, for quite a while.

 

A.I.

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

.

Nov 1, 2009 11:07 | Updated Nov 1, 2009 11:10
Ahmadinejad: We now deal with West from position of power
By ASSOCIATED PRESS

 

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday comparing the power of Iran's enemies to a "mosquito," saying Iran now deals with the West over its nuclear activities from a position of power.

 

The comment from Ahmadinejad comes as Iran is negotiating with the West over a UN-backed proposal to ship its uranium abroad for further enrichment.

 

The UN-brokered plan would require Iran to send 1.2 tons (or 1,100 kilograms) of low-enriched uranium - around 70 percent of its stockpile - to Russia in one batch by year's end, for processing to create more refined fuel for a Teheran research reactor.

 

But senior Iranian lawmakers on Saturday rejected the plan, raising further doubts about the likelihood Teheran will finally approve the deal.

 

Iran has made clear that, at most, it may agree to send only part of its stockpile in several shipments.

 

Premier Netanyahu wil hard optreden tegen Joodse terroristen

Aaron Lerner wijst in zijn commentaar hieronder op een belangrijk verschil tussen Israel en de Palestijnse Autoriteit, een verschil dat in de westerse media vakkundig wordt weggemoffeld. Zou de PA een dergelijke man al arresteren, dan zou de druk groot zijn deze 'held' en 'martelaar' snel weer vrij te laten. (Wanneer Israel een Palestijn arresteert die dergelijke zaken op zijn geweten heeft, is zijn heldenstatus des te groter.)

 

RP

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http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=46265
Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA: 

 

Here's the difference:

Yaakov Teitel will have his day in Israeli court and, if convicted, spend a good part of the remainder of his life behind bars.

Prime Minister Netanyahu isn't asking for Jewish terrorist Yaakov Teitel to be freed.

There are no Israeli security forces planning to capture Palestinians to trade for Yaakov Teitel's release.

The Israeli school system isn't teaching that Yaakov Teitel is a hero.

No summer camp sponsored by a leading Israeli political party is going to be named after Yaakov Teitel.

Yaakov Teitel's family isn't going to get a monthly stipend from the Government of Israel as a sign of thanks for his actions.

 

____________________________

 

http://www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng/Communication/Spokesman/2009/11/spokeshooter011109.htm

Response to Court Decision to Lift the Gag Order
(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)
01/11/2009

 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was updated by security officials several weeks ago regarding the severe details of the investigation and the arrest [of Yaakov Teitel].  In his 29.10.09 speech to the special Knesset session in memory of the late Yitzhak Rabin, the Prime Minister directed remarks at this case and the possibility that there might be a few others like it: "I believe that the lesson of tolerance and restraint has been internalized by a decisive majority of all sections of the public.But there still exist among us a few who are not prepared to accept either democratic decisions or the rule of law.  They do not represent a majority of the nation in all its sections.  They constitute a small, marginal minority.  But we have already seen the power and damage of one assassin.  We must re-condemn any use of violence and use the full weight of the law and of law-enforcement authorities against any attempt to use violence."

Prime Minister Netanyahu commends the Israel Security Agency, the Israel Police and all security and law-enforcement authorities for their determined activity against those elements who choose the path of violence and who take the law into their own hands.

Extreemrechtse kolonist opgepakt voor moordaanslagen

 

Dit is een belangrijke stap, maar hoeveel fanaten lopen er nog vrij rond? Om geweld te voorkomen, zou Israel wellicht harder tegen opruiing en haatzaaiende teksten kunnen optreden - ook van Arabische zijde overigens.

RP

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Last update - 21:03 01/11/2009       
Netanyahu: 'Minority' of violent far-rightists must be stopped
By Haaretz Service
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1125068.html

 

 

Following the arrest of a West Bank settler suspected of multiple murders and bomb attacks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel must fight the terror posed by violent extreme rightists, whom he termed a "marginal minority."

 

The Shin Bet revealed that it arrested Shvut Rachel resident Yaakov Teitel last month for allegedly killing two Palestinians, and attempting to carry out a number of terror attacks against homosexuals, leftists and a Messianic Jewish family in the West Bank.

 

"There is still among us a minority that is not prepared to accept democracy and are not prepared to accept the rule of law," said Netanyahu in a statementafter news of the arrest broke.

 

"They do not represent the majority of the nation," the prime minister added. "They are a small and marginal group, but we have already seen the strength and damage of one murderer. We must continue to condemn the use of violence and to use all legal power against any attempt at violence."

 

Sternhell: Treat Jewish and Arab terrorists the same

 

Professor Ze'ev Sternhell, an outspoken critic of Israel who was one of Teitel's alleged targets, said on Sunday that he hoped the extreme rightist would be treated with the same legal severity as is given to suspected Palestinian terrorists.

 

"I'm pleased that the great effort put in by the police and the Shin Bet in pursuing the alleged criminal culminated successfully," said Sternhell, adding: "This is an important day for democracy."

 

"The attempt last year to severely hurt a man and his family simply because of his views and stances was a dangerous phase in the deterioration of civil rights and the right of the individual to affect Israeli society," Sternhell added, referring to the bomb attack that targeted him.

 

"If the perpetrator of this attack would not have been caught I think Israeli society would have paid the price," he said. "I hope the law enforcement system will treat this terrorist in the same way it does with any terrorist, Jew or Arab."

 

Teen victim of Teitel attack: I'm relieved he was caught

 

Ami Ortiz, the Ariel teenager who was seriously wounded two years ago when he opened a package bomb allegedly sent by Teitel, told Army Radio on Sunday he was still suffering from the devastating effects of the near-fatal attack, but that he was relieved that a suspect had been caught.

 

"Teitel disagreed with my family's views, and decided to kill using something as inconspicuous and carefree as a mishloach manot, a Purim gift basket," said Ortiz, whose parents are prominent in the Messianic Jewish community.

 

The 17-year-old added that "a child smiles when he sees a mishloach manot, but Teitel used something so pure to do a horrible thing, which almost killed me, and which leaves me still suffering."

 

"The blast left me critically wounded, hanging between life and death. I feel better now. The news of his arrest makes me very happy," Ortiz said. "It's just a relief to know that a man that tried to kill you is now in the hands of police, and that he can't hurt anyone anymore."

 

Ortiz also said that his community knew "that there were more people like him ready to do things of this nature, but we hope that security forces will do everything in their power to stop these people."

 

"Leah Ortiz, Ami's mother, concluded by saying that "knowing that someone who tried to kill us was arrested makes us breath a sigh a relief for the first time after a long period of living in fear."

 

MK Tamir: Right-wing terror still strong as we remember Rabin

 

Science and Technology Minister Daniel Hershkowitz said following news of the arrest that he "categorically condemned the actions of the Jewish terrorist. It is the insane behavior of a lone man, one that is foreign to the ways of Judaism."

 

Labor MK Yuli Tamir, a former education minister, said that even as Israel commemorates the assassination of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, the right-wing movement was still going strong.

 

"It turns out, on the anniversary of Rabin's assassination, that the breeding grounds of the far-right are continuing to grow stray weeds,"
she said.

 

Meretz MK Nitzan Horowitz said the suspected Jewish terrorist was "poisoned" by the rightist movement.

 

Lawyer for Messianic Jews: More attacks seems imminent

 

Calev Myers, the legal advisor of the Jerusalem Institute of Justice, which represents many Messianic Jews who claim discrimination by the Israeli establishment, said attacks such as the one Teitel was alleged to have perpetrated could easily happen again.

 

"This religious attack is the rotten fruit of organized incitement," he said.

 

"These groups allow themselves to incite and hurt a persecuted minority and to sanction attacks against all messianic Jews," Myers said.

 

Such incement was prevalent even before the explosives were placed near the Ortiz residence in Ariel, but "the authorities did nothing," he said.

 

"Incitement continues even today and it's only a matter of time until the next religious attack," he added. "The writing is already on the wall."

 

Yonatan Ger, chairman of Jerusalem's gay and lesbian Open House, said that a clear line links "Teitel's horrific actions and hating others, whomever those others may be."

 

Although Teitel has claimed responsibility for the attacks on the Tel Aviv gay youth club, many wonder if the murderer of Nir Katz, 26 and Liz Trobishi, 16, is still at large.

 

Mike Hamel, the head of Israel's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Association, said that the gay community had "hoped that the police did in fact apprehend the murderer, but now it turns out that he isn't connected to killings, even though he confessed to have perpetrated them."

 

"I've spoken with police officials investigating the youth club murders and they told me they had a suspect who had tied himself to a series of attacks, and was responsible for distributing anti-gay posters all over Jerusalem, but that he wasn't suspected in the murders themselves," Hamel said.

 

However, Hamel said he was confident that "the police is doing everything in its power to solve the murder and that it is not interested in covering up for someone in any way."

 

Prominent gay journalist and filmmaker Gal Uchovsky commented on Teitel's arrest, as well as on the fact that he had confessed to the attacks on the Tel Aviv gay youth club, despite not being involved in the incident: "A man who brags for a murder he didn't commit is crazy."

 

"It's very saddening to learn that there's someone in Israel who would like to admit to killing gay people and I hope his community rejects him and that its leaders clarify that they do not feel as he does on these issues."

 

Palestijnen boos over hulde Hillary Clinton voor Israelische concessie

 

Het lijkt erop dat de VS hun positie hebben bijgesteld en nu geen totale bevriezing van de nederzettingen meer eisen. Voor de Palestijnen is het wennen dat zij eens geen gelijk krijgen van de nieuwe Amerikaanse regering.

Ondanks al het gekrakeel is de situatie op de Westbank rustig, en de Palestijnse economie zit flink in de lift. Wat dat betreft is dit een geschikt moment om serieuze onderhandelingen te starten. De grote olifant in de kamer is natuurlijk Hamas, waarmee de besprekingen over een eenheidsregering zijn vastgelopen.

 

RP

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Haaretz  - Last update - 09:31 01/11/2009
PA scoffs at Clinton for praising 'unprecedented' Israeli concessions
By Haaretz Service and Agencies

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1125026.html


Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' spokesman on Saturday scoffed at U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's statement that Israel is making "unprecedented" concessions on West Bank settlement construction.

"There can be no excuse for the continuation of settlements, which is really the main obstacle in the way of any credible peace process," said Nabil Abu Rdainah.

During a press conference on Saturday night with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Clinton said: "What the Prime Minister has offered in specifics of a restraint on the policy of settlements which he has just described - no new starts for example, is unprecedented in the context of prior-to negotiations."

She also said a freeze in settlement building had not been a condition for peace talks in the past and urged both sides to resume talks now.

But Abu Rdainah said: "A settlement freeze and acknowledging the terms of reference is the only way towards peace negotiations. Settlement is illegitimate and it is not possible to accept any justification for the continuation of the settlement activity or to defend it in the lands occupied in 1967, including Jerusalem."

Meanwhile, the spokesman for the Palestinian militant group Hamas, Sami Abu Zuhri, said Saturday the U.S. could not effectively engage in peacemaking while ignoring Hamas, and said Clinton's visit was "destined to fail."

During the press conference, Netanyahu said Israel was ready to start talks right away and that the Palestinians could bring their objections about settlements to the negotiating table.

"What we should do on the path to peace is get on it and get with it," he said.

The prime minister also blasted the Palestinian demand for a settlement freeze.

"But this is a new demand, it's a change of policy - of the Palestinian policy and it doesn't do much for peace - it doesn't work to advance negotiations," Netanyahu said. "It actually is used as a pretext... as an obstacle that prevents the re-establishment of negotiations."

 

Palestijnen wijzen vredesbesprekingen wederom af

 

Ahead of the meeting, Erakat said that settlement building, which the Palestinians want Israel to halt completely, was the key to renewing peace negotiations, and that there were still differences between the two sides

 

Als je pas wilt praten wanneer er geen verschillen van mening meer zijn over belangrijke zaken, komt er nooit vrede. Overigens zijn er genoeg andere obstakels voor vrede, maar Israel heeft de oplossing daarvan niet als voorwaarde gesteld om te onderhandelen. Zelfs iets cruciaals als erkenning van Israel als nationaal thuis van het Joodse volk heeft het als voorwaarde laten varen. Wanneer tonen de Palestijnen eens een klein beetje goede wil?

 

RP 

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Last update - 16:05 31/10/2009       
Palestinians rebuff Clinton bid to relaunch peace talks
By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1124825.html

 

 

The Palestinian Authority on Saturday rejected a proposal by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for the renewal of peace negotiations with Israel, Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erakat said.

 

Clinton's proposal was for the final-status talks to be relaunched on the basis of understandings over West Bank settlement construction reached between U.S. President Barack Obama's special envoy, George Mitchell, and the Israeli government, according to Erakat.

 

He said the Palestinians rejected the offer during a meeting in Abu Dabi between Clinton and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
 

Ahead of the meeting, Erakat said that settlement building, which the Palestinians want Israel to halt completely, was the key to renewing peace negotiations, and that there were still differences between the two sides

 

Joodse humor als hasbara wapen voor Israel

 

In Joodse kringen is humor al eeuwenlang een beproeft middel tegen antisemitisme en andere ellende. Wie niet horen wil, moet maar lachen?

 

Wouter

_________________

 

Israel advocacy - When all else fails - try humor

 

Here's news for a lot of Europeans:

- Israel is not headed by a dictator

- Arabs can vote in Israel.

 

Since many people do believe Israel is headed by a dictator, despite our best efforts at Israel advocacy, the only thing to do may be to laugh.

 

Ami Isseroff

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

Bring out the Laughter Brigade

Oct. 17, 2009
Daniella Ashkenazy , THE JERUSALEM POST

We've tried everything - from serious advocacy to provocative pictures of sexy sabras in bikinis. With every newspaper on the face of the earth reporting Israel's bedlam-bordering-on-anarchy two-Jews-three-opinions political culture, it's rather amazing, but a third of the Germans, Spanish and English and 20 percent of Americans recently polled believe Israel is headed by a dictator. This is only one finding in a survey conducted by Midgam in collaboration with El-Al, published in the Hebrew daily Yediot Aharonot.

We've featured Israel's free-wheeling openly-gay community as a come-on for tourists with alternative lifestyles, but 20.6 percent of the Spanish and 15 percent of the English and the Germans are sure that stoning - like in the Bible - is part of the Israeli judicial system.

All things considered, maybe it's a blessing in disguise that 10 percent of all Americans have never heard of Israel. Twenty-nine percent of the Germans who have, think Arabs can't vote.

The one ploy we Jews have yet to try is our oldest and most effective weapon. Humor.

YES, IT'S time to crack out the humor, bring on the clowns - and they come in a host of packages: Silly politicians and Kafka-like ordinances, two-bit crooks and weird court cases and people with harebrained schemes.

Israel is a militaristic country? Let's fight back by introducing folks to the IDF recruit who was afraid of the dark, whose Jewish mother snuck into boot camp and accompanied him on patrol, disappearing at daybreak. And the reserve combat unit that found itself wresting with feeding two famished Palestinian lions during the Cast Lead campaign.

Wanna kill the "stoning image" and leave an indelible impression? Scholarly descriptions of the Israeli court system won't make a dent. Tell the average Tom, Dick or Helmut about the minister of justice throwing the book at overly-judicious judges in the lower courts who've gotten into the bad habit of writing long-winded decisions "as if everyone was on the Supreme Court." They'll never forget it.

Israel is a gloomy and dangerous place? That's what focus groups find among Jewish kids. The best antidote for such adolescents is a hefty dose of anecdotes about… Israeli adolescents.

Take your pick: impudent young entrepreneurs who one August night "took over" an empty office building parking garage in the heart of Tel Aviv, set up an open-air disco that attracted thousands of youngsters, then vanished into the heat of the night with the take. Or, the partially-unidentified "benchmarkers" who attached little engraved metal plaques to benches along Tel Aviv's Rothschild Boulevard - declaring "Amnon's Bench" or "Hilah's and El'ad's Bench," leaving city officials scratching their heads at this strange graffiti. And those are just the appetizers.

Want to balance the picture of Israel being "a country filled with religious fanatics"? This glum plum was discovered by the focus group people, this time studying adults. Share the news about an Orthodox rabbi from Caesaria who donned a pair of rollerblades to make Shabbat minyanim at two different synagogues at opposites ends of town.

These are all genuine news items published in reputable mainstream Hebrew papers. They just never made the Washington Post. Most didn't even make the Jerusalem Post. Nor Chuck Shepherd's syndicated column News of the Weird carried by 250 papers across the globe… because almost all these stories which we journalists label "soft news" are safely hidden in the back pages of the Hebrew press.

Take the stories about an enterprising security guard who chose to hold up the very bank he was hired to protect against suicide bombers, or the court ruling on a divorce settlement requiring the man to pay his former spouse one pregnant goat a year for the next 35 years - raising serious questions over "who got whose goat"?

The above events occurred in the middle of the 2000-2005 Terror War - two out of literally thousands of quirky news clippings I have from that time.

CLEARLY, SOMETHING is very wrong with the way Israel is being perceived even by our most ardent supporters, if an American-Jewish woman felt compelled to go on three solidarity missions in 2002 saying "it was like visiting a relative in the hospital."

Furthermore, anecdotes like these can be skillfully used by hasbara activists, particularly on campus and in schools - lacing their argumentation with humor to defuse tension and break down stereotypes, or burying hecklers in a sea of laughter with a few well-placed shots of humor. This kind of input about Israel has the power to unsuspectingly undermine the preconceptions of even the most dedicated Israel-basher.

With all the funny Jews out there - some say 80 percent of all comedians are Jewish - it's time we mobilized cadres of talk show scriptwriters, standup comedians and humor columnists and satirists - even off-Broadway playwrights who will begin using this kind of material in their professional lives.

There is an overabundance of wacky news from Israel that can make the cut on its own merits just waiting to be spoofed and savored, that happens to paint Israel as the comical, familial, quirky and, at times, unbelievable place it really is.

No one's preconceptions - friend or foe - will survive intact.

The writer is a seasoned bilingual Israeli journalist who writes features for The Jerusalem Post and once wrote serious and humorous copy for a host of other print media (Israel Scene, Jerusalem Dateline, Davar, Telegraph, Haolam Hazeh) who are 'dead' due to no fault of her own. She authors Chelm-on-the-Med© Online (www.chelm-on-the-med.com) which serves as an open source for incredible snippets of daily life in Israel culled from the Hebrew press.

 

Palestijnse opruiing over Jeruzalem aangewakkerd door PA van Abbas

 

De rellen op de Tempelberg zijn grotendeels aan onze aandacht ontsnapt, omdat we in Israel doorgaans minder van het Israelische nieuws meekrijgen dan thuis met onze onbeperkte toegang tot al het digitale nieuws. Tijd dat we Hebreeuws leren.

De positie van Abbas en andere prominente Fatah leden en de rol van enkele van hen in de rellen is ronduit schandalig.

 

On Sunday evening, the bureau of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas released a statement condemning Israel for "extremist activities at Al-Aqsa." In the extraordinarily scathing statement, the Palestinian Authority accused Israel of sending Jewish soldiers and officers to damage the mosque, and of taking provocative steps against the Arabs of Jerusalem. "Jerusalem is a red line that must not be crossed ... The Palestinian people and its national authority will defend the holy places," declared the statement.

This was the first time Abbas' bureau had used the terms "resistance" and "battle." It also said: "Our people will continue to cling to the land of our holy city and will be victorious in resisting its Judaization, its takeover and the expulsion of its citizens."

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the president's spokesman, called upon the Palestinian people to overcome the disputes and "to unite in the battle to defend Jerusalem and the holy places."

 

Hier worden - ook in onderstaand artikel - allerlei verklaringen voor gegeven en excuses aangevoerd, maar feit is dat dit in lijn is met het Fatah beleid de afgelopen jaren, waarin 'martelaren' worden geprezen, Palestijnse scholen naar hen worden vernoemd, allerlei plaatsen in Israel als Palestijns worden voorgesteld, en iedere historische binding van de Joden met Jeruzalem wordt ontkend en dit als exclusief Palestijnse stad wordt voorgesteld, om maar een paar dingen te noemen.

 

RP

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

Palestinian anger over Jerusalem is affecting Abbas
By Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1124588.html

 

 

The pattern repeats itself: A relatively marginal Jewish organization calls upon the public to hold prayers on the Temple Mount to mark Yom Kippur, Sukkot or, as was the case this week, "Rambam Day" (commemorating Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon's visit to the Land of Israel in the 12th century). These announcements win a great deal of attention in the Palestinian and Arab media, of course.

 

Muslim clerics, Palestinian politicians and members of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel urge Muslims to flock to the Al-Aqsa Mosque to defend it from Jewish "takeover attempts." On the day of the "operation," these groups arrive at the Temple Mount, accompanied by Arab media representatives (especially the Al Jazeera TV crew). They all wait until 7:30 A.M., when the Israel Police open the Mughrabi Gate to entry by non-Muslims. The Jewish groups do not even bother to show up, but the police who enter to enable the hypothetical visit are greeted with massive stone-throwing.

 

Meanwhile, Fatah members are in the mosque to express their solidarity and to prove that they aren't being directed by Israel's Arabs, but rather are leading this fight themselves. One of the most prominent figures present is the man who holds the Jerusalem portfolio for Fatah, Hatem Abdel Qader, who was arrested there this week on suspicion of incitement.

As is the case with his fellow Fatah activists, it's doubtful that Abdel Qader really wants the escalation on the mount to spark a conflagration throughout the territories. Their main intention seems to be to make their presence felt, to let off steam and then to return to routine in the compound. But the political environment, and especially the media, pushes them to make very aggressive statements against Israel, including accusations of attempts to damage the Al-Aqsa Mosque, even though nothing has changed on the ground at the Temple Mount in recent weeks.

 

On Sunday evening, the bureau of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas released a statement condemning Israel for "extremist activities at Al-Aqsa." In the extraordinarily scathing statement, the Palestinian Authority accused Israel of sending Jewish soldiers and officers to damage the mosque, and of taking provocative steps against the Arabs of Jerusalem. "Jerusalem is a red line that must not be crossed ... The Palestinian people and its national authority will defend the holy places," declared the statement.

 

This was the first time Abbas' bureau had used the terms "resistance" and "battle." It also said: "Our people will continue to cling to the land of our holy city and will be victorious in resisting its Judaization, its takeover and the expulsion of its citizens."

 

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the president's spokesman, called upon the Palestinian people to overcome the disputes and "to unite in the battle to defend Jerusalem and the holy places."

 

Abbas is nearly the only Palestinian leader who opposed the use of violence throughout the Al-Aqsa intifada, especially the rocket fire from Gaza. The problem is that the current mood - among the media, his rivals in Hamas and even from top Fatah officials - is contagious and affecting even the PA president's bureau.

 

The most outstanding example of Fatah's new rhetoric, so reminiscent of that of Abbas' predecessor Yasser Arafat, was heard two weeks ago, when several members of the Fatah Revolutionary Council convened at the culture hall in Ramallah. On the stage sat four members of the party's central committee, at least three of whom are considered bitter enemies: Mahmoud Dahlan, Jibril Rajoub, Tawfik Tirawi and the Fatah representative in Lebanon, Sultan Abu al-Aynayn. If, a year ago, a Fatah member would have been told that they would sit side by side without fighting, he would certainly have thought it was some sort of fantasy.

 

It appears that Abu al-Aynan did not exactly call at that gathering for a renewal of suicide attacks, as the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi claimed, but he did praise the muqawama, the resistance, very highly. For his part, Tirawi declared, "We shall resist, we shall resist, we shall resist," and promised the resistance would last for 50 years. (In a conversation with Haaretz afterward, he claimed he said only that if Israel says it will keep negotiating for 20 years, the Palestinians will keep resisting for 50 years.)

 

The problem is that members of Fatah's military wing - who dropped out of the armed struggle against Israel after Hamas' violent coup in Gaza in June 2007 - could take the talk about resistance literally, and go back to initiating attacks. By the same token, Fatah's attempts to help organize the riots on the Temple Mount are liable to exact a high price in violence. If, in the next round of clashes, an Israeli policeman feels that his life is in danger and reacts by shooting and killing Palestinian demonstrators, as has happened in the past, this is liable to lead to a conflagration, especially given the current dead end in the diplomatic realm.

 

Rajoub also acknowledged in a conversation with Haaretz that the feeling of frustration and bitterness is indeed affecting the tone of Fatah leaders.

 

Election speak

 

In less than three months, the Palestinian territories are slated to have elections. It is doubtful they will be held if there is no reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas. However, if Egypt does indeed succeed in getting that Islamic organization to agree to a compromise, the vote will be held nine months from now, in June 2010. And during an election, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government still in power in neighboring Israel, it is always better to go back to Yasser Arafat's old, familiar slogans.

 

The PA, whose leaders urged Israel to take stronger action against Hamas last January, played a key role in the anti-Israel campaign launched over Operation Cast Lead and the ensuing affair of the Goldstone report about the war. And Abbas' attempt to backtrack in the midst of the uproar and stop pushing that report has brought very harsh criticism from home, which apparently is motivating the top Fatah officials' belligerent stance.

 

Officials from Netanyahu's bureau, the defense establishment and the Justice Ministry are still looking for a compromise to diminish the international pressure surrounding the report, reduce the chances of legal proceedings against top Israel Defense Forces officials in Europe and avoid pushing Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi to resign.

 

At the end of last week, the prime minister released a trial balloon about a potential Israeli inquiry - by means of a hint to journalist Lally Weymouth of Newsweek - but he retreated in light of the angry reaction to this by Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Yet, Netanyahu's close associates believe there is no way to avoid some sort of examination, even if it is done without crossing the red line - i.e., summoning officers and soldiers to testify.

 

A highly placed individual at the Prime Minister's Bureau explained this week in a meeting with guests from abroad why it is so important to Israel to avoid a commission of inquiry over Operation Cast Lead. To this day, he said (clearly hinting at the disengagement from Gaza), it has been customary to think that when statesmen err and make the security situation more complicated, we can always rely on the army to rectify matters. But if we let officers get in trouble because of actions they were required to take, we cannot expect similar responsiveness next time.

 

On Wednesday, Aluf Benn wrote in Haaretz, rightly, that Israel needs an investigative committee to examine fundamental questions, rather than to rebut exaggerated accusations of war crimes. Benn asked, for example, what the government ministers knew beforehand about the potential impact on Palestinian civilians of a large-scale military campaign in Gaza.

 

In this regard, at least, there is no dearth of convincing evidence. Ashkenazi did not spare efforts to inform the government that entering Gaza would result in hard fighting and many civilian casualties. Similar things were said a year before the war, when GOC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Yoav Gallant presented the operational plans to the cabinet. Journalists also heard pessimistic assessments from generals in the weeks preceding Cast Lead, and some even overestimated the number of casualties.

 

Europese campagne om IDF officieren te vervolgen voor "oorlogsmisdaden"

 

Waarom worden dit soort initiatieven niet ondernomen tegen werkelijke schurkenstaten, tegen de tientallen totalitaire en dictatoriale regimes die de afgelopen tijd oorlogen hebben gevoerd en hun bevolking hebben onderdrukt en dissidenten opgepakt en gemarteld? De gretigheid waarmee Europese 'mensenrechtenactivisten', 'vredes'activisten en allerhande zogenaamde idealisten zich inzetten om Israel te treffen, zwart te maken, te isoleren en demoniseren heeft een zeer nare bijsmaak.

 

RP

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

EU drawing up lists of IDF "war criminals"

Last update - 08:21 27/10/2009       
EU lawyers draw up list of IDF officers suspected of Gaza war crimes
By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondent

 

 

Human rights lawyers and pro-Palestinian activists in a number of European countries hold lists with names of Israel Defense Forces soldiers allegedly linked to war crimes committed during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip. Existing legislation enables arrest warrants to be issued against these officers if they enter those countries.

 

Lawyers in Britain and other European countries have been collecting testimonies of Palestinians and other data from Gaza since January, which they maintain proves that war crimes were committed by the IDF during the offensive. The evidence is linked to IDF officers holding ranks of battalion commander and higher, who were in command during various stages of Cast Lead.

 

The other nations who have lawyers collecting information on the matter include the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium and Norway, whose laws, as well as Britain's, allow the issuance of arrest warrants against foreign citizens suspected of war crimes.

 

Attorney Daniel Makover from London is coordinating the efforts in Britain. One of his colleagues visited the Gaza Strip several weeks after the fighting in order to collect testimonies. Palestinians civilians also gave the legal assistant their approval, and asked that he file the suits in their name, in line with British law.

 

Speaking to Haaretz, Makover refused to offer details on the identity of the IDF officers or how many were listed, but said that much depends on the specific details of each case. Makover said that anyone who was involved in an incident may face criminal charges. The attorney added that there are officers who are obviously candidates for charges, and others who are less obvious, but emphasized that it depends on the facts collected on the ground.

 

Makover said that the Goldstone report on the fighting in the Gaza Strip will bolster the efforts of the activists, and said that some of the instances mentioned in the report were already known to the attorneys. Makover is part of an unofficial network of attorneys operating in various countries in Europe, exchanging and sharing information so that suspected officers may be arrested in those countries.

 

The information is often received from pro-Palestinian activists who follow Jewish or pro-Israel groups that invite IDF officers to deliver lectures. In some instances, this information is relayed to border controls. Makover said that a small number of names of IDF officers is already on a British police watch list, and that when they arrive in Britain the authorities will issue an arrest warrant that will lead to their possible detention.

 

A number of human rights groups are busy working to create an international organization that would enable closer surveillance of those they suspect of war crimes and torture, as well as seek warrants for their arrest.

 

The IDF did not wish to specify the instructions it has given to officers before they travel abroad. In practice, many of the officers who participated in the Gaza operation have been asked to consult with legal experts at the Foreign Ministry, where they are instructed how to behave abroad and where they need to lower the profile of their identity; in some cases they are advised not to visit certain countries.

 

The Foreign Ministry released a statement saying: "The ministry is aware of efforts undertaken by Palestinian groups and their supporters to harm IDF officers through legal and public relations means, and is working to prevent such efforts."

 

Progressieve antisemieten in Egypte

 

Volgens onderstaand artikel is het Egyptische antisemitisme betrekkelijk recent, maar dat wordt niet gerelateerd aan Israels ontstaan maar aan de opkomst van totalitiaire regimes in Europa die het antisemitisme naar de Arabische wereld overbrachten. Daar viel dit in vruchtbare aarde, wat erop wijst dat dit een niet geheel nieuw en vreemd gedachtegoed was in de Arabische wereld, al was het eerder niet in die mate aanwezig. Opvallend is dat niet alleen islamisten zoals de Moslim Broederschap maar juist ook liberale groeperingen er gevoelig voor waren.

 

Ook in Europa is dit fenomeen zichtbaar, waar niet alleen extreem rechts maar ook elementen binnen radikaal links de Joodse staat demoniseren en 'zionisten' als een duistere en machtige groep voorstellen die voor allerlei onrecht verantwoordelijk wordt gehouden. In de Arabische wereld gebeurt het openlijker en extremer, en wordt antisemitisme door de staat gesteund en bevorderd. Daar immers is dit cruciaal in het kanaliseren van de onvrede en het bij elkaar houden van een slecht functionerende samenleving vol corruptie, armoede en willekeur.

 

RP & WB

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

Liberal anti-Semites in Egypt

Why are Egypt's Liberals Anti-Semitic?
By AMR BARGISI AND SAMUEL TADROS 

            Cairo - Wall Street Journal

 

            Later this week, Egypt will play host to the 56th Congress of Liberal International, which bills itself as the world federation of liberal and progressive democratic parties. Among the nearly 70 parties represented by LI are Britain's Liberal Democrats, Germany's Free Democrats, and the Liberal Party of Canada. In the U.S., LI's Web site cites the National Democratic Institute as a cooperating organization since 1986.

            In Cairo, the visiting delegates will be hosted by the Al-Gabha, or Democratic Front Party. Western liberals (in the old-fashioned sense of that word) are always delighted to discover like-minded people in the Third World, and perhaps nowhere more so than in Arab countries. Yet, at least in Egypt, there's a dirty little secret about these self-described liberal parties: They are, for the most part, virulently anti-Semitic, sometimes opportunistically but just as often out of deeply-held rancorous convictions.

            Consider the case of Sekina Fouad, a well-known journalist who also serves as the DFP's vice president. In an article published earlier this year, Ms. Fouad dismisses any distinction between Jews and Israelis, the reason for which is "the extremity of the doctrine of arrogance, distinctiveness and condescension [the Jews] set out from and seek to achieve by all means, and on top of which blood, killing, terrorizing and frightening." She corroborates this argument with an alleged statement by "President" Benjamin Franklin, asking Americans to expel Jews since they are "like locusts, never to get on a green land without leaving it deserted and barren."

 

            Needless to say, Franklin never made any such statement, not that a journalist like Ms. Fouad would bother to check. She also asks the question "Are Zionists Human?" which offers backhanded credit to Jews for having "helped [her] understand a history full of examples of their expulsion, getting rid of them and their unethical and inhuman methods." In earlier writings, Ms. Fouad has written about what she calls "Talmudic teachings that determine types of purity unachievable by the Jew unless by using Christian human sacrifice" for the making of "blood pies." Not surprisingly, she also dismisses the Holocaust as part of an "arsenal of Jewish myths."

            Nor is Ms. Fouad some kind of outlier in the Egyptian liberal movement. Take Ayman Nour, who contested the 2005 presidential election under the banner of his own party and was subsequently jailed for nearly four years, becoming something of a cause célèbre among Western officials, journalists and human-rights activists.

            Immediately after his release earlier this year, he attended a celebration organized by opposition groups-including the Muslim Brotherhood-in the northern city of Port Said, commemorating "the first battalion of volunteers from the Egyptian People setting off to fight the Jews in 1948." The word "Jews" was stressed in bolded black lettering on the otherwise blue and red banner hanging above the conference panel. Yet far from trying to distance himself from that message, Mr. Nour got into the spirit of the conference, talking not only about his solidarity with Palestinians but also "the value of standing up to this enemy, behind which lies all evils, conspiracies, and threats that are spawned against Egypt."

            Then there is the case of Egypt's oldest "liberal" party, Al-Wafd, whose eponymous daily newspaper is one of Egypt's most active platforms for anti-Semitism. Following President Obama's conciliatory Cairo speech to the Muslim world, columnist Ahmed Ezz El-Arab faulted Mr. Obama for insisting that the Holocaust was an actual historical event and gave nine historical "proofs" that it had never happened. He concluded that "the evil Jewish lies succeeded in creating an atmosphere of hatred for Germans that resulted in the death of millions."

            These examples are, sadly, just the tip of an iceberg. What makes them all the more remarkable is that, contrary to stereotype, they do not have particularly ancient roots in Egypt. Until Egypt's Jews were expelled by Gamal Abdel Nasser in the 1950s and '60s, Egypt had a millennia-old, thriving Jewish community. As late as the 1930s, Jewish politicians occupied ministerial posts in Egyptian governments and participated in nationalist politics.

 

             But all that changed with the rise of totalitarian and fascist movements in Europe, which found more than their share of imitators in the Arab world, both among Islamists and secularists. When Egypt's monarchy was overthrown in 1952 by a military coup, anti-Semitism became an ideological pillar of the new totalitarian dispensation.

 

            Since then, Egypt has evolved, coming to terms (of a sort) with Israel and adopting at least some elements of market-based economic principle. But anti-Semitism remains the political glue holding Egypt's disparate political forces together. Paradoxically, this is especially true of the so-called liberals, who think they can traffic on their anti-Semitism to gain favor in quarters where they would otherwise be suspect or unpopular. They have taken to demonizing Jews with the proverbial zeal of a convert.

            Westerners, who tend to treat Arabs with a condescension masked as "understanding," may be quick to dismiss all this as a function of anger at Israeli policies and therefore irrelevant to the development of liberal politics in the Arab world. Yet a liberal movement that winds up espousing the kind of anti-Semitism that would have done the Nazis proud is, quite simply, not liberal. That's something the visiting delegates should know before they come to Cairo. More importantly, it's something the Arab world's genuine liberals need to understand before they once again commit moral suicide.

 

 

Messrs. Bargisi and Tadros are senior partners with the Egyptian Union of Liberal Youth.

 

Iran wilt flinke aanpassingen in compromisvoorstel atoomregeling

 

Het lijkt erop dat hoe meer concessies het westen doet, hoe meer Iran zich gesterkt voelt in zijn positie dat het recht heeft op een kernwapen en het zal lukken om dat te verkrijgen. Zie ook Ami Isseroffs commentaar hieronder wat betreft Irans strategie.

 

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

Report: Iran proposes "big changes" to draft atom deal

Who is surprised by this? Perhaps President Obama and BBC listeners and readers, since the latter heard and read that Iran welcomed the agreement and would sign it. As expected, Iran will propose "changes." The changes will be big enough to prevent a meaningful agreement. They will not be big enough to prove that Iran is trying to wreck the agrement. So the negotiations will go on, and on and on, and the centrifuges will keep spinning and spinning, and the earth moving equipment will keep hollowing out mountains for more nuclear installations like the one near Qom. Then one day, Iran will have the bomb, and everyone can innocently say, "<g> who expected that?" Right?

 

Ami Isseroff

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

 

Iran proposes big changes to draft atom deal: report
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSLT25626120091029

 

Thu Oct 29, 2009 1:09pm EDT
By Reza Derakhshi

 

 

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran proposed changes to a U.N.-drafted nuclear fuel deal on Thursday, Iranian media said, making demands that appeared to challenge the basis of the agreement with the United States, France and Russia.

 

The U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which had requested a reply by last Friday, said its chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, had now received an "initial response" from Tehran.

 

"(ElBaradei) is engaged in consultations with the government of Iran as well as all relevant parties, with the hope that agreement on his proposal can be reached soon," the IAEA said in a statement. It gave no further details.

 

The Iranian pro-government daily Javan said in an unsourced report that Iran wanted shipments of low-enriched uranium (LEU) -- for conversion abroad into fuel for a Tehran research reactor -- to take place in stages, not in a single consignment.

 

It also wanted simultaneous imports of higher-enriched fuel from other countries for the same plant.

 

The conditions were likely non-starters for Western powers, which suspect the Islamic Republic covertly seeks nuclear arms capability. Tehran says its program is only for electricity.

 

"If the Iranian position is as described, it gets the IAEA nowhere," a western diplomat in Vienna said. "They are undercutting Mohamed ElBaradei, who is seeking to help them demonstrate the peaceful intent of their nuclear program."

 

ELBARADEI PLAN

 

Under ElBaradei's plan, Tehran would transfer about 75 percent of its known 1.5 tons of LEU in one shipment to Russia by the end of this year for further enrichment. The material would then go to France to be converted into fuel plates.

 

These would be returned to Tehran to power the U.S.-built reactor, which produces radio-isotopes for cancer treatment.

 

The U.S. role would be to upgrade safety and instrumentation at the plant, Iranian officials said.

 

France reacted cautiously to the reports of Tehran's latest position, saying it wanted to see Iran "respond clearly and positively to the proposal submitted by the IAEA, which is fully supported by France, the United States and Russia."

 

Western powers were likely to rebuff Tehran's proposed amendments because their priority is to reduce the stockpile of Iranian LEU to ward off the danger that Iran might turn it into the highly enriched uranium needed for an atom bomb.

 

Sending most of the LEU abroad would buy about a year for talks on forging a long-term solution to the nuclear dispute, in which Western powers want Iran to halt enrichment in return for economic incentives.

 

Iran's request for nuclear fuel imports is problematic because U.N. sanctions ban trade in such materials with Tehran.

 

Western diplomats said Iran risks rekindling demands for harsher sanctions unless it acts on the fuel plan and other nuclear transparency measures before the end of the year.

 

"NOT ONE IOTA"

 

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reiterated that his country would not retreat "one iota" on its right to a nuclear program and suggested it was gaining ground in the dispute.

 

"They (the West) used to tell us to halt everything (nuclear activities), but today they have announced their readiness to cooperate with us in fuel exchange and technology," he said in a speech in the northeastern city of Mashhad on Thursday.

 

"We welcome cooperation on nuclear fuel, power plants and technology and we are ready to cooperate," he added, without saying whether Iran would accept the IAEA proposal or not.

 

But Iran's English-language satellite station PRESS TV quoted an unnamed source as saying that Iran did not trust other countries involved, such as the United States and France.

 

"Iran needs to receive guarantees that the nuclear fuel for Tehran's research reactor will in fact be supplied," it quoted the source as saying. "Iran as the buyer of the nuclear fuel should determine how much fuel it requires to purchase."

 

The draft fuel deal emerged from talks that followed an October 1 meeting in Geneva, where Iran also told six big powers it would open a newly disclosed enrichment site to U.N. inspectors.

 

Four senior IAEA inspectors returned to Vienna on Thursday after a first visit to the site, which Iran expects to start operating at the end of 2010. The team chief said it "had a good trip" but would not elaborate. Details are likely to come in the IAEA's next quarterly report on Iran, in mid-November.

 

The inspectors wanted full access and documentation to verify that the plant, being built beneath a mountain, was designed to enrich uranium only to the low purity needed for electricity, not the high level suitable for bombs.

 

 

Israëli's en de Iraanse atoombom

 

Een toekomstige Iraanse kernbom vormt een nieuwe existentiële dreiging voor Israël die veel mensen bezighoudt. Men is verre van gerust op het compromis dat de internationale gemeenschap onlangs met Iran heeft gesloten.

 

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Israel and the Iranian A-Bomb

 

The Return of Israel's Existential Dread

In tabloid cartoons and dinner conversations, Israelis brace themselves for war with Iran.

 

By YOSSI KLEIN HALEVI - Wall Street Journal
Jerusalem

 

 

The postcard from the Home Front Command that recently arrived in my mailbox looks like an ad from the Ministry of Tourism. A map of Israel is divided by color into six regions, each symbolized by an upbeat drawing: a smiling camel in the Negev desert, a skier in the Golan Heights. In fact, each region signifies the amount of time residents will have to seek shelter from an impending missile attack. If you live along the Gaza border, you have 15 seconds after the siren sounds. Jerusalemites get a full three minutes. But as the regions move farther north, the time drops again, until finally, along the Lebanese and Syrian borders, the color red designates "immediate entry into a shelter." In other words, if you're not already inside a shelter don't bother looking for one.

 

The invisible but all-pervasive presence on that cheerful map of existential dread is Iran. If Israel were to launch a pre-emptive strike against Iranian nuclear facilities, Tehran's two terrorist allies on our borders—Hezbollah and Hamas—would almost certainly renew attacks against the Israeli home front. And Tel Aviv would be hit by Iranian long-range missiles.

 

On the other hand, if Israel refrains from attacking Iran and international efforts to stop its nuclearization fail, the results along our border would likely be even more catastrophic. Hezbollah and Hamas would be emboldened politically and psychologically. The threat of a nuclear attack on Tel Aviv would become a permanent part of Israeli reality. This would do incalculable damage to Israel's sense of security.

 

Given these dreadful options, one might assume that the Israeli public would respond with relief to reports that Iran is now considering the International Atomic Energy Agency's proposal to transfer 70% of its known, low-enriched uranium to Russia for treatment that would seriously reduce its potential for military application. In fact, Israelis from the right and the left have reacted with heightened anxiety. "Kosher Uranium," read the mocking headline of Israel's largest daily, Yediot Aharonot. Media commentators noted that easing world pressure on Iran will simply enable it to cheat more easily. If Iranian leaders are prepared to sign an agreement, Israelis argue, that's because they know something the rest of us don't.

 

In the last few years, Israelis have been asking themselves two questions with increasing urgency: Should we attack Iran if all other options fail? And can we inflict sufficient damage to justify the consequences?

 

As sanctions efforts faltered, most Israelis came to answer the first question affirmatively. A key moment in coalescing that resolve occurred in December 2006, when the Iranian regime sponsored an "International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust," a two day meeting of Holocaust deniers. For Israelis, that event ended the debate over whether a nuclear Iran could be deterred by the threat of counter-force. A regime that assembles the world's crackpots to deny the most documented atrocity in history—at the very moment it is trying to fend off sanctions and convince the international community of its sanity—may well be immune to rational self-interest.

 

Opinion here has been divided about the ability of an Israeli strike to significantly delay Iran's nuclear program. But Israelis have dealt with their doubts by resurrecting a phrase from the country's early years: Ein breira, there's no choice. Besides, as one leading Israeli security official who has been involved in the Iranian issue for many years put it to me, "Technical problems have technical solutions." Israelis tend to trust their strategic planners to find those solutions.

 

In the past few months, Israelis have begun asking themselves a new question: Has the Obama administration's engagement with Iran effectively ended the possibility of a military strike?

 

Few Israelis took seriously the recent call by former U.S. National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski to shoot down Israeli planes if they take off for Iran. But American attempts to reassure the Israeli public of its commitment to Israel's security have largely backfired. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent threat to "obliterate" Iran if it launched a nuclear attack against Israel only reinforced Israeli fears that the U.S. would prefer to contain a nuclear Iran rather than pre-empt it militarily.

 

On the face of it, this is not May 1967. There is not the same sense of impending catastrophe that held the Israeli public in the weeks before the Six Day War. Israelis are preoccupied with the fate of Gilad Shalit (the kidnapped Israeli soldier held by Hamas), with the country's faltering relations with Turkey, with the U.N.'s denial of Israel's right to defend itself, and with an unprecedented rise in violent crime.

 

But the Iranian threat has seeped into daily life as a constant, if barely conscious anxiety. It emerges at unexpected moments, as black humor or an incongruous aside in casual conversation. "I think we're going to attack soon," a friend said to me over Sabbath dinner, as we talked about our children going off to the army and to India.

 

Now, with the possibility of a deal with Iran, Israelis realize that a military confrontation will almost certainly be deferred. Still, the threat remains.

 

A recent cartoon in the newspaper Ma'ariv showed a drawing of a sukkah, the booth covered with palm branches that Jews build for the autumn festival of Tabernacles. A voice from inside the booth asked, "Will these palm branches protect us from Iranian missiles?"

 

Israelis still believe in their ability to protect themselves—and many believe too in the divine protection that is said to hover over the fragile booths. Both are expressions of faith from a people that fear they may once again face the unthinkable alone.

 

Mr. Klein Halevi is a senior fellow at the Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem, and a contributing editor to the New Republic.

 

Amnesty International waterrapport Palestijnse gebieden

 

Amnesty International heeft het - in tegenspraak met haar reputatie van een degelijke en neutrale mensenrechtenorganisatie - wederom klaargespeeld om een misleidend rapport over Israel en de Palestijnse gebieden naar buiten te brengen, waarin feiten, achtergronden en context vakkundig worden genegeerd. En vanwege haar reputatie nemen media als het NOS Journaal AI's bevindingen helaas klakkeloos over....

 

De suggestieve beelden van uitgedroogde Palestijnse landbouwgrond tegenover Israelische zwembaden - liefst nog in de Joodse nederzettingen - is ronduit vals en achterbaks. Ik kan in Nederland ook wel beelden verzamelen van een villa in het Wassenaar en een arme allochtoon en vervolgens betogen dat Nederland een racistische maatschappij is waar mensen zwaar worden gediscrimineerd en uitgebuit.

 

Wij logeerden onlangs in Galilea bij een gezin waar het douchewater werd opgevangen om nadien de tuinplanten mee water te geven. Om de waterschaarste in Israel te bestrijden wordt binnenkort het verbruik boven een minimum hoeveelheid per persoon extra zwaar belast.

 

Wouter

_________________

http://blog.camera.org/archives/2009/10/amnesty_water_falsehood_1.html

October 28, 2009

Amnesty Water Falsehood #1

We will keep a running list of Amnesty International's falsehoods in its new report "Troubled Waters -- Palestinians Denied Fair Access to Water." Keep checking back for updates.

Here is the first:

An Amnesty news report accompanying the report ("The Day the Bulldozers Came") alleges:

The village of Beil Ula, where Mahmoud [al-'Alam] lives, is not connected to the Palestinian water network.

Fact: The Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem, a Palestinian outfit, has a 17-page town profile of Beit Ula, which states on page 13:

Beit Ula has been connected to the water network since 1974. Provided by the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA), almost 70% of town households are connected to the network.

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http://blog.camera.org/archives/2009/10/amnestys_water_report_will_the.html

Amnesty's Water Report: Will the Facts Trickle Out?

Yesterday Amnesty International issued a report condemning Israel's water policies and charging the Jewish state with discriminatory practice vis-a-vis allocation to its Palestinian neighbors ("Troubled Waters: Palestinians Denied Fair Access to Water"). The report is based solely on Palestinian sources.

NGO-Monitor, Israel's Foreign MInistry, and the Water Authority have responded, blasting Amnesty for the report's flaws.

CAMERA is reviewing the report and will provide updates as they are available. In the meantime, we were struck by this promotional video for the report, which juxtaposes photographs of sprinklers and swimming pools in Israeli communities with images of barren Palestinian water reservoirs and children carrying water vessels. Yet, there is no shortage of swimming pools in the Palestinian West Bank. As Ha'aretz's Avi Issacharoff wrote on Aug. 8, 2007:

Nowadays, every city in the West Bank has a pool or a recreational complex: Bethlehem has one similar to Al-Khaluf [a clover-leaf-shaped pool in Dura, near Hebron], while Ramallah has more than 10. One of Jenin's swimming champs committed a suicide bombing at Jerusalem's Sbarro restaurant in August 2001. Nablus has a pool reserved for women, and an Olympic pool. Another pool and recreation complex sits between Nablus and Tubas.

Al Khaluf draws more than 2,500 people on an average weekend day, [lifeguard Ahmed] Rajoub says. ("West Bank swimming pools help Palestinians brave the heat")

For more on water issues concerning Israel and the Palestinians, see earlier CAMERA reports here.

Smokkeltunnels Gazastrook riskante maar florisante handel

 

Volgens andere berichten eist Hamas wel degelijk een deel van de opbrengst op als belasting. Hoe dan ook, het is duidelijk dat de mensen in Gaza niet van de honger omkomen.

 

RP

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/world/middleeast/22rafah.html?_r=3&ref=middleeast

The New York Times

Rafah Journal

Goods Flood Gaza's Tunnels, Turning Border Area Into a Shopping Mecca

By TAGHREED EL-KHODARY

Published: October 21, 2009

 

RAFAH, Gaza — Dusty sacks filled with cans of Coca-Cola were being loaded onto trucks by young boys, headed for supermarkets in Gaza City. Thousands of motorcycles were lined up on display in a nearby stadium, ranging in price from $2,000 to $10,000.

At Nijma market, refrigerators, flat-screen televisions, microwaves, air-conditioners, generators and ovens filled the tents, all at inflated prices, having been spirited into this town on the border with Egypt through tunnels under the sand. Some Gazans have even purchased cars smuggled in parts into the isolated Palestinian enclave.

The tunnels emerged as an essential lifeline for Gaza two years ago, when Israel imposed a political and economic embargo after Hamas took over the area. Israel did its best to obliterate them during its three-week military offensive in Gaza last winter, saying they were being used for smuggling weapons and explosives.

But the builders set to work immediately after that, and with little hope of the border crossings with Israel opening anytime soon — and rich profits to be harvested — there are more tunnels now than ever, and Rafah has turned into a shopping mecca where the tunnel owners are kings.

"If the siege were to be lifted," said Osama, 22, a tunnel owner, "I would end up in intensive care." Osama would not give his family name, fearing he would never be able to travel legally out of Gaza if identified. Locally, he goes by the nickname of Doda, which means worm.

In the past, armed gangs roamed this frontier town with a lawless feel; journalists and humanitarian workers were about the only visitors to venture here. Now, customers flock in from all over Gaza. What started as a few clandestine tunnels dug beneath houses has turned into a booming industry that nobody bothers to hide.

Before the Gaza war the tunnels numbered in the hundreds. Today about 1,500 of them are said to be crammed into an eight-mile stretch along the border, employing in the neighborhood of 30,000 Palestinians from all over the territory. A local merchant has opened a 24-hour grocery store called "Dubai" to cater to them. Only the milk and the yogurt come from Israel. The soft drinks, beans, chocolate, cookies and cooking oil come in consignments from under the ground.

Across the street Abu Raed Alarja, 58, fixes tools that are used to dig the tunnels. Inside his dark store, he also stocks cement, generators and blue plastic barrels strung together with strong ropes, used to drag goods from the Egyptian side.

For the tunnel owners the profits are high, but precarious. Israel regularly bombards the tunnels in response to rocket fire, and some that are not well constructed collapse. Egypt also occasionally seals them from its side, a tactic it uses to keep Hamas in line.

Hamas runs some tunnels of its own, but local residents say the group does not collect taxes from those that are privately owned.

A syndicate has been formed to supervise the tunnel system and to defend the rights of workers killed on the job — at least 116 to date, according to local human rights groups. Five workers 17 to 20 years old were killed in one of Osama's three tunnels five months ago when it collapsed because of the dryness of the sand. Osama paid the five families $2,000 each in compensation and has promised to pay an additional $7,000 each in a few months.

Osama started out as a day laborer, digging tunnels from the age of 16. He graduated to running drugs and TNT through the tunnels into Gaza. Though he is a supporter of Fatah, the secular rival of Hamas, he says he supplied both parties. He was young but intimidating enough. He says he used to eat in restaurants in Gaza City and leave without paying. "Now it is different," he said. "We fear Hamas."

For the same reason he no longer smuggles drugs or weapons, though the money he made from that illicit trade helped set him up in legitimate business. He says that each of his three tunnels cost about $300,000 to build, and that four friends helped him finance the enterprise.

By night he brings in live animals, motorcycles, potato chips, Coca-Cola and clothing for women and children. But the most lucrative import is fuel, which he pumps through a pipe fixed on the ceiling of a tunnel more than half a mile long and collects in a large tank on the Palestinian side. Like any smart businessman, Osama does most of his pumping after Israel has blocked fuel supplies from its side or has bombed a few competing tunnels, lifting prices in Gaza.

The tunnel owners, Gaza's nouveau riche, say they make on average more than $1 million a year from each tunnel.

Sharif Abu Daf, 30, used to work as a contractor in Gaza City until Israel closed the commercial crossings and prevented cement and other construction materials from coming in. Now he is digging to feed his wife and his six children and making 120 shekels, about $32, a day.

The tunnel owners have brought little change to Rafah, which they consider a conservative backwater. Instead, they prefer to invest their money in property in Gaza City and beyond.

"We make millions, but we are not educated," said Imad, 29, one of Osama's partners. Some local men, he noted, marry more than one wife. "If I want to invest, I'll go to Morocco. I heard it is a beautiful place. They have a normal government."

"What's the point of having so much money when you are not able to travel?" said Hazim, 23, another partner who started out digging tunnels. He said he wanted to go to Egypt, study business administration and then invest in Cairo.

"They have never seen beyond Gaza," said Imad's father-in-law, Abu Mohammed, 57, of the younger generation. "They think like they are in a tunnel," he continued. "They have never seen malls or real supermarkets like I saw in Dubai."