'Hamas draait elk pleziertje in Gaza de nek om' (Het Parool)

 

De Gazastrook begint geleidelijk op Hamas-sponsor Iran te lijken...

 

____________

 

'Hamas draait elk pleziertje in Gaza de nek om'

http://www.parool.nl/parool/nl/225/BUITENLAND/article/detail/3392707/2013/02/12/Hamas-draait-elk-pleziertje-in-Gaza-de-nek-om.dhtml

12-02-13   19:00 uur  - Bron: IPS 

 

Hamas heeft in de voorbije weken de ruimte voor burgerrechten in Gaza weer wat kleiner gemaakt. Zo werden enkele journalisten gearresteerd en kregen studentes een strikte islamitische kledingcode opgelegd. Ook de Palestijnse versie van American Idol werd afgevoerd.

"Hamas voert in Gaza geleidelijk een islamisering van de samenleving door, wat indruist tegen zijn eerdere beloften", verklaart Samir Awad van de Universiteit van Bir Zeit nabij Ramallah. "De meeste mensen in Gaza zijn daar tegen. De inwoners zijn al vrij conservatief en ze hebben Hamas niet nodig om hun geloof te dicteren."

Vooral vrouwen vormen de kop-van-jut. De Al Aqsa Universiteit maakte bekend dat studentes zich van top tot teen in traditionele klederdracht moeten hullen. Sommige van hen waren woedend en noemden de nieuwe voorschriften in strijd met hun vrijheid. Ze menen dat studentes al sober genoeg gekleed gaan, maar dat sommigen een broek en lange overjas verkiezen boven een boerka of hidjab.

Waterpijp roken
In het verleden heeft Hamas al verboden dat vrouwen op een motorfiets achterop zitten, waterpijp roken of dat mannen in een vrouwenkapsalon werken. "Hamas heeft ook gemengde feesten en gemengde activiteiten in de ban gegooid, maar bepaalde beperkingen worden specifiek aan vrouwen opgelegd en niet aan mannen", meent Awad.

De kledingcode heeft het water tussen Hamas en Fatah, de partij verwant aan de Palestijnse Autoriteit, verder uitgediept. De minister van Hoger Onderwijs, Ali Jarbawi van de Palestijnse Autoriteit, noemt de beslissing van Hamas illegaal en zegt dat ze niet ingevoerd kan worden. Hij schreef hierover een officiële brief aan de voorzitter van Al Aqsa.

Faiq al-Naouk, adviseur van de Al Aqsa Universiteit, antwoordde dat de omstreden beslissing slechts geleidelijk zou worden geïmplementeerd: eerst rekenen ze op de goede wil van studentes, pas later wordt het verplicht.

New Star
Er waren nog meer incidenten in de voorbije weken. New Star, de Palestijnse versie van de talentenshow American Idol, werd geweerd van het scherm omdat Hamas oordeelde dat het programma 'onfatsoenlijk' is en schade toebrengt aan de conservatieve interpretatie van de islam.

"Dit gaat veel verder dan Hamas dat elk pleziertje in Gaza de nek omdraait. Ze leggen de vrijheid van alle inwoners aan banden volgens hun eigen grillen", zegt producer Alaa Al Abed, die pas op het laatste moment op de hoogte werd gebracht van het verbod.

Tienermeisjes en vrouwen zingen bijna nooit in het openbaar in Gaza, terwijl mannen worden aangemoedigd om te zingen over de glorie van de islam en de strijd tegen Israël.

Censuur
Ook journalisten kampen met censuur in de Gazastrook. Hamas heeft enkele Palestijnse journalisten gearresteerd op verdenking van 'verdachte activiteiten'. Het Palestijnse Centrum voor Mensenrechten heeft een lijst verspreid van mensen die actief zijn in de media en die volgens hen gearresteerd en veroordeeld werden in een gecoördineerde campagne.

Functionarissen van Hamas ontkennen dat. Volgens het ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken hadden ze duidelijk overtredingen begaan en dat zelf ook toegegeven. De woordvoerder voegde eraan toe dat deze mensen helemaal geen journalisten waren. "Diegenen die als journalist werkten, gebruiken die functie als een dekmantel voor verdachte activiteiten", zo klonk het.

(Mel Frykberg) 

 

 

Waarschuwingsborden tegen stenengooiers op Westelijke Jordaanoever

 

Kolonisten op de Westelijke Jordaanoever klagen al jaren over Palestijns geweld waaronder het bekogelen van auto's met stenen en vuurbommen, en het gebrek aan actie door de IDF om hier een eind aan te maken. Er worden nu zelfs waarschuwingsborden geplaatst langs de gevaarlijkste wegen.

 

Een betere oplossing was wellicht als ze zouden vertrekken uit het gebied waar de meerderheid van de inwoners hen niet wil hebben, en waar ze volgens de internationale gemeenschap geen recht op hebben. Waarom wachten op een vredesakkoord dat er ooit van moet komen? Elders (bv. in Israel) wacht een veiliger en duurzamer toekomst...

 

Wouter

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New Samaria Road Sign Warns of Rock, Firebomb Attacks

Drivers through roads in Samaria are likely to come across a new road sign that they are unlikely to see on roads in other parts of Israel.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/165122#.UR70L6Uz1dc

By David Lev

First Publish: 2/11/2013, 5:46 PM

The new sign

Samaria Residents Council 

 

Drivers through roads in Samaria are likely to come across a new road sign, one that they are unlikely to see on roads in other parts of Israel. The sign, designed by the Samaria Residents Council, warns drivers that they are in danger of being attacked by rocks and firebombs. 

 

The sign has a drawing of anindividual preparing to throw rocks, apparently at a passing vehicle. The sign's text says “Warning, drive quickly, Arabs throw firebombs in this area.” The sign, says the Council, points out the immediate dangers faced by drivers in Samaria. 

 

The first signs have been posted on Road 55 in central Samaria, between the towns of Alfe Menashe and Ma'ale Shomron. That section of road passes near the Arab village of Azzun, long a trouble spot in western Samaria, the source of numerous rock throwing and terror attacks. 

 

Over the past three months, the Council said, there has been an average of one large rock or firebomb attack on Road 55 daily. “If the IDF cannot or will not deal with this we have no option but to warn drivers of the situation via these signs,” the Council said. 

 

A particularly serious attack took place last Friday, when Arabs attacked a seven-month pregnant woman with large rocks near Maale Shomron. Miraculously, the woman was not killed, but only injured when a rock pierced her vehicle's windshield, sending glass flying. In the wake of the attack, residents of Maale Shomron and neighboring Karnei Shomron held an angry protest on Road 55 on Saturday night, demanding that the army do more to stop the phenomenon.

 

Hamas delegatie bezocht Bulgarije

 

Zelfs Hamas parlementariërs uit de Gazastrook kunnen schijnbaar probleemloos hun beruchte "openluchtgevangenis" verlaten, maar ze waren niet echt welkom in Bulgarije. Naar goed islamistisch gebruik kreeg Israel de schuld van alles: van de bomaanslag op een Israelische bus in Burgas tot het uitwijzen van de Hamas delegatie zelf.

 

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Hamas delegation head: Israel behind Burgas bombing

Salah Bardawil, kicked out of Bulgaria along with three other Gaza lawmakers, claims Jerusalem told Sofia to expel the group

 

 

http://www.timesofisrael.com/hamas-delegation-head-israel-behind-burgas-bombing/

By AP and TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF February 16, 2013, 7:15 pm 

 

CAIRO — The leader of a four-member Hamas delegation expelled from Bulgaria to Turkey has accused Israel of pressuring Sofia to kick the Palestinian group out of the country, also claiming that Israel was behind the July 2012 blast that killed five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian bus driver.

Salah Bardawil made the remarks Saturday after arriving in Cairo en route back to Gaza, where the Islamist group Hamas holds power. He offered no evidence to back up his claim.

Calls to Israeli officials went unanswered.

Bulgaria expelled the lawmakers Friday, saying they represented "a serious threat to national security."

Bulgaria's interior minister said the men arrived on valid visas but on ones issued "on different motives from what they demonstrated here."

Bardawil said the delegation met with media and some political figures during the visit.

The group, which included Hamas member of parliament Ismail al-Ashqar, and members of the Palestinian Legislative Council Salah al-Bardawill and Mushir al-Masri, was first reported to be in Bulgaria Thursday, and Sofia immediately denied that the officials had arrived in the country to meet with political figures.

That denial came in response to a Hamas statement that a delegation was in Bulgaria to meet with political figures in what would have been the organization's first such contacts in a European Union country.

Earlier this month, Bulgaria pointed the finger at Iranian-backed Hezbollah for being behind the July 2012 bombing. Although not directly named in the Bulgarian accusation, Iran reportedly considered withdrawing its ambassador over the incident. Iran also sponsors the Gaza-based Hamas.

 

Weduwe Arafat heeft spijt van haar huwelijk

 

Een interview vorige week met de weduwe van Arafat. Enkele opvallende uitspraken:

Suha recalled that after her husband initiated the first intifada in 1987 — it actually began as a spontaneous uprising — the world’s media attention was focused on him, “and it is no secret that it [the media] is controlled by Jews” she noted. 

 

Arafat added that she had repeatedly tried to leave her husband but was denied her freedom. “I tried to divorce Arafat more than 100 times and he didn’t let me,” she said. “Everyone knows about this story, especially those who were in his inner circle.”

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Suha Arafat: I wish I’d never married him

Palestinian leader’s widow denies she has millions in the bank, claims to have turned down dozens of suitors

 

 

http://www.timesofisrael.com/suha-arafat-i-wish-id-never-married-him/

By STUART WINER February 10, 2013, 10:25 am

·      

Suha Arafat, wife of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, 2012 (screen capture:Youtube/AlJazeeraEnglish)

Nine years after the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, his widow said she regrets the marriage and given the choice again, would not have wed him.

“The marriage to Arafat was a big mistake and I regret it,” said Suha Arafat in an interview published last week in the Turkish-language Sabah newspaper. “We were married for 22 years and it felt like 50.”

Arafat added that she had repeatedly tried to leave her husband but was denied her freedom.

“I tried to divorce Arafat more than 100 times and he didn’t let me,” she said. “Everyone knows about this story, especially those who were in his inner circle.”

According to the report, the two first met in 1986 when she was a student in Paris and engaged to a local lawyer. At the time, Suha recalled, the Palestinian leader, 33 years her senior, was a much sought after man.

“There were many women who wanted to marry him but he only wanted me, despite the objections of my family,” she said.

Suha said that although her relatives, a well-established Ramallah family, were opposed to the union, the pair married in secret on her birthday four years later. Her mother was furious at the development and flew to Tunis where she angrily berated Arafat for entering into a marriage with her daughter, which she deemed inappropriate.

“Fate chose me and it wasn’t easy right from the start,” she said.

As soon as she became Mrs. Arafat she was locked away behind walls for security reasons, Suha said.

“I had to be careful in my phone conversations because of bugging, and we were always moving from one location to another.”

Suha recalled that after her husband initiated the first intifada in 1987 — it actually began as a spontaneous uprising — the world’s media attention was focused on him, “and it is no secret that it [the media] is controlled by Jews” she noted.

As the wife of man who spent so much time in the international media spotlight, Suha said she felt like the weakest link in the chain.

“My identity was completely destroyed,” she said.

Since Arafat’s death in a Paris hospital in 2004 — she has claimed that he was poisoned — Suha said she has had dozens of marriage proposals, but rejected all hopeful suitors with the same answer: “Arafat was my hero.”

Suha lives on a stipend she gets from the Palestinian Authority, which she said is barely sufficient to support her and her daughter, and is a far distance fromreports on millions of dollars that went to her through secret bank accounts.

“All the stories about Arafat putting millions in my bank account are nonsense and lies,” she said. The money is with those who were close to Arafat and anyone who is determined can find it.”

She also denied a rumor that the apartment she now shares with her teenager daughter Zawa in Malta was purchased as a gift by the former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. The apartment, she said, is rented.

“Even if I have regrets I accept the reality. Arafat was a great leader and I was very lonely in my marriage. I was always on the defensive because of the rumors that they spread about me. But life without him is even harder.”

“If I could turn back time I wouldn’t marry Arafat,” she added. 

 

Arafat was a strong supporter of the decision to exhume her husband in November 2012 amid claims he was poisoned.

 

Israelische reactie op onderzoek Israelische en Palestijnse schoolboeken

 

Zoals bericht is onlangs een rapport uitgekomen naar hoe de ander in Israelische en Palestijnse schoolboeken wordt afgebeeld. Zoals bekend worden Joden en Israel in Palestijnse schoolboeken vaak gedemoniseerd en wordt heel Israel als Palestina neergezet en afgebeeld, en als een Arabisch land voorgesteld. De Joodse connectie met het land en met heilige plaatsen zoals de klaagmuur wordt ontkend. Hiervan zijn ruimschoots voorbeelden te vinden op internet, bijvoorbeeld op de website van Palestinian Media Watch. Zie ook het artikel hieronder voor enkele voorbeelden. Het rapport echter beweert dat het aan Palestijnse kant erg meevalt en negatieve karakteriseringen van Israeli’s een uitzondering zijn. Op het onderzoek, de methode en de gebruikte boeken valt echter nogal wat af te dingen, en dat is dan ook gebeurd.

 

Een ding wat opvalt is dat de voorbeelden van negatieve karakteriseringen van Palestijnen/Arabieren in Israelische boeken vaak beschrijvingen zijn van de geschiedenis, waarin Palestijnen en de Arabische staten Israel aanvielen en weg wilden hebben. De beschrijvingen kloppen in grote lijnen, al is het soms wat generaliserend. Ook de voorbeelden van Palestijnse kant zijn niet allemaal perse fout. Er is pas een probleem, zo merkt EoZ terecht op, wanneer wat wordt beschreven onjuist is, wanneer de geschiedenis wordt gemanipuleerd om een bepaalde ideologie of haat tegenover de ander te bevorderen.

 

Wanneer je meent dat dit het geval is hangt natuurlijk sterk af van hoe je zelf in het conflict staat. Ga je ervan uit dat de Palestijnen de onderdrukten, de slachtoffers zijn, dan zul je negatieve beschrijvingen van de zionisten die zomaar het land kwamen inpikken niet zo snel als problematisch zien, ook al is dit gewoon feitelijk onjuist. Beschrijvingen van Israel als democratisch eiland temidden van een zee van vijandige staten zul je dan juist extra aanstootgevend vinden, ook al zit er een kern van waarheid in, zeker toen nog geen enkel land een vredesverdrag met Israel had gesloten.

 

RP

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Israel responds to textbook report

http://elderofziyon.blogspot.nl/2013/02/israel-responds-to-textbook-report.html

 

From The Forward, and plenty of other places:

The question of Palestinian textbooks’ portrayal of Jews has been bitterly debated for years. More than a decade ago, the European Union considered halting aid to the Palestinian Authority based on its negative portrayals of Israelis in its textbooks.

As recently as last year, the Washington Jewish Week reported on a dispute over whether Palestinian textbooks call Israelis pigs and snakes. Over the past decade, the Israeli government, the State Department and independent groups have produced wildly varying reports on the contents of Palestinian textbooks.

The new study examined 94 books from Palestinian school systems in Gaza and the West Bank, and 74 books from the Israeli secular and religious school systems. There were just 20 instances of “extreme negative characterizations” of Palestinians in Israeli secular books and seven in Israeli ultra-Orthodox books, according to the study. One such example in an ultra-Orthodox book referred to a decimated Arab village, now the site of an Israeli settlement, as “a nest of murderers.”

Palestinian books had just six instances of these “extreme negative characterizations.” For instance, one book referred to an Israeli interrogation room as a “slaughterhouse.”

These characterizations, however, were extremely rare and statistically insignificant.

Until I see the actual report (not yet on the webpage of the organization that created it) or can see the actual textbooks I cannot say for certain that this report is wrong. I can say quite definitively that in the Palestinian Arab media, the idea of a peaceful two-state solution providing two states for two peoples is virtually nonexistent.

Israel's Ministry of Strategic Affairs came out with a response (not sure it is is online.) Here are some highlights:

The "Victims of Our Own Narratives" study on Israeli and Palestinian school books correctly recognizes that education towards a culture of peace, and the cessation of incitement, are critical elements in achieving an Israeli-Palestinian peace. However, the report is highly-problematic and strongly-misleading for five reasons:

1. The overall approach and tone of the study reflect an attempt to present an artificial and inaccurate picture of balance between the levels of incitement and peace culture development in Palestinian and Israeli textbooks. In reality, there can be no comparison between Israeli state textbooks, which, while not perfect, educate for peace, and Palestinian textbooks which are pervaded by incitement, delegitimization of Israel, and education for the continuation of conflict. While the actual findings of the study do indeed point to the very significant differences between official Israeli and Palestinian books, and the widespread incitement in the latter, in order to create the impression of balance the study understates and obscures its findings, presents results in a misleading manner, , provides excuses for the Palestinians, and couches its analysis in general terms which take as a given parallels and similarities between the educational systems.

2. The study omits important examples of incitement and delegitimization of Israelis and Jews in official PA textbooks, whether in an intentional attempt to blur the differences between the two educational systems or due to poor research. At the same time, it categorizes as negatives examples from Israeli textbooks which do not deserve to be described as such.

3. Its methodology is flawed in that it misses or obscures critical differences between Israeli and Palestinian texts. For example, if one examines the examples categorized as negative descriptions of the acts of the other, one finds that while the Israeli examples primarily refer to pogroms and terrorist attacks against Israelis and Jews, such as the 1941 Farhud pogrom in Iraq and PLO terrorist attacks, many of the Palestinian examples describe Zionism and the foundation/existence of Israel as essentially illegitimate and immoral. Inculcating the message that Israel's existence is essentially illegitimate makes any kind of progress towards an end of the conflict and lasting peace impossible. Similarly, the study finds that in both Israeli and Palestinian textbooks martyrdom through self-sacrifice is the third most common value attributed to the self-community. This obscures the fact that the Palestinian examples glorify martyrdom while perpetuating acts against Israelis, while the Israeli examples describe historical victims of such attacks (Joseph Trumpeldor's death at the Tel Hai fortress in 1920.)

4. The report provides a misleading picture regarding its sponsors. The report states that the study received funding from the US State Department, creating the impression of official US support for the study. While the project did receive a State Department grant in 2008, the US government had no involvement with the methodology or findings of the study and has not lent its support to the actual report. Additionally the authors of the report attempt to provide it with an aura of respectability and authority by noting that it was commissioned by the 'Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land'. This too is misleading as the Jewish representative on the Council, the Israeli Chief Rabbinate, has retracted its support for the study. It should also be noted that the Palestinian representatives on the council, the PA Minister of Religious Affairs and the Chief Justice of the PA Sharia Courts, have themselves made publically-documented statements of incitement and delegitimization against Israel on a number of occasions, including denying the Jewish connection to the Western Wall. (see Appendix 1 for examples).

5. Perhaps most importantly- The study provides a highly-flawed and distorted depiction of the PA's systematic efforts to educate and indoctrinate Palestinian children to hate, violence and non-acceptance of Israel's existence. This is a result of the fact that the study focuses only on a very specific and limited component of those efforts. In addition to the material included in school books, official PA educational publications, matriculation exams, summer camps, children's media programs, cultural events and social media portals, all constitute key components of the PA system for inculcating messages which glorify terror, demonize Israelis and Jews, and teach that Israel's existence is illegitimate and transitory. Information regarding incitement in these other educational and youth-oriented arenas and platforms is readily available in the public domain. While the study's authors can perhaps justify these omissions by the narrow mandate given to the study, the inaccurate and misleading picture which results strongly compromises the study's utility as an investigation into the phenomenon of education for peace/conflict and its potential solutions.

Then they give specific examples:

The following examples of incitement are not included in the study. They are either from school textbooks which presumably were examined by the researches, who chose to omit the examples, from textbooks which were not examined by the researches due to their subject matter (e.g. mathematics or natural sciences ), or from other publications, outlets and platforms which make up key elements of the PA apparatus for educating and indoctrinating Palestinian youth.
It must be noted that the following examples constitute a very small sample of the hundreds of examples of official PA incitement.
1. The dispute with Israel is not over territory, but over the legitimacy of Israel's existence, let alone Israel's existence of a Jewish state.
i. “The Levant countries [Al-Sham] presently consist of the states of Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.” [History of Ancient Civilizations textbook, Grade 5, (2012), p. 27]
ii. In a 2012 book for 3rd graders, a text referring to the Palestinian state is accompanied by a small map of the country in its entirety—including pre-1967 Israel—shown as one political unit covered by a pattern of the Palestinian flag. The text asks "An independent Palestinian state was declared in 1988. How many years have passed since the declaration of independence?" [Mathematics, Grade 3, Part 1 (2012(, p. 80.]



iii. PA textbooks falsify historical documents in order to erase and deny the Jewish connection to the land. The front cover of the National Education textbook for second grade portrays a British Mandate-era stamp in which the original Hebrew writing has been erased leaving only the Arabic.
Stamp as portrayed on front page (and again on page 7) of Grade 2 National Education textbook (part 1, 2009), and actual stamp:
iv. PA textbooks inculcate messages of non-acceptance of the other even when discussing seemingly innocuous topics. This education begins as early as first grade. In a first grade science textbook, a discussion of magnifying glasses includes the following image of a magnifying glass over a text reading "Palestine is Arabic." [Science, grade 1, Part 1, (2010), page 7]

 

 

 

Palestijns kamp in Syrië al meer dan een maand volkomen geblokkeerd

 

Tienduizenden Palestijnen zitten opgesloten in een kamp en blijven verstoken van medische zorg en voedsel. Tienduizenden anderen zijn al gevlucht, met gevaar voor eigen leven, en zo'n 1000 zijn er al gedood. Niet op het nieuws gehoord? Wij ook niet. Dat komt omdat die Palestijnen in het Syrische vluchtelingenkamp Yarmouk zitten, en ze worden belaagd en omsingeld door de troepen van president Assad, en niet die van Netanyahu. Niet alleen de media hebben dit tragische nieuws genegeerd:

No UN resolutions.
No NGOs issuing press releases and glossy reports.
No news coverage of any sort for nearly a month.
No flotillas.
No convoys.
No op-eds.
No Twitter hashtags.
No Facebook pages. 
Nothing from "human rights" groups.
Total silence from "pro-Palestinian activists."

RP 

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Food and medicine can't get past the blockade of Palestinian areas. In Syria.

http://elderofziyon.blogspot.nl/2013/02/food-and-medicine-cant-get-past.html

 

Did you hear about the blockade of Palestinian Arabs where they can't receive critical supplies?

You know, it's been all over the news.

OK, I'm lying. Because this blockade is against the entire Yarmouk camp in Syria, which normally houses some 150,000 Palestinian Arabs. Most have fled but there are still tens of thousands in the camp.

This siege is not at all like Israel's "blockade" of Gaza where residents can get medical aid, food, school supplies, cars, building materials, fuel and hundreds of other items, not to mention that they can export vegetables and move lots of goods via Egypt. 

The Yarmouk blockade, in contrast, is total.

In the very end of an Arabic article about the murder of an elderly Palestinian in Yarmouk by Assad's forces - another story you won't read about in the media - we learn this:

 

The Syrian security forces continue to impose a crippling blockade on the camp, preventing entry of medical supplies and basic needs of the refugees; [the blockade] has been in place more than a month.

I missed this story, and for good reason. Only two news sources mentioned the Yarmouk blockade over the past month, one from UPI on January 7 and one from Allvoices on January 9th. Middle East Monitor had earlier  indicated that the siege began around December 23rd so it is now in its seventh week.

No UN resolutions.
No NGOs issuing press releases and glossy reports.
No news coverage of any sort for nearly a month.
No flotillas.
No convoys.
No op-eds.
No Twitter hashtags.
No Facebook pages. 
Nothing from "human rights" groups.
Total silence from "pro-Palestinian activists."

No, if you want to read about Palestinian Arabs suffering in Syria, you have to read a Zionist blog.

Now you need to ask yourself why that is.

 

De antisemitische geschiedenis van Erdogan

 

Ik ben verre van een kenner van Turkije en de Turkse politiek, maar of islam(isme) en democratie samen kunnen gaan, dat kan pas op veel langere termijn duidelijk worden. Het idee van scheiding tussen kerk en staat is denkelijk nog erg onderontwikkeld in veel islamitische staten. Over mensen als Erdogan en Morsi maak ik me weinig illusies op dat gebied.

 

Wouter

____________

 

Like Morsi, Erdogan also has a history of anti-semitic comments (update)

http://elderofziyon.blogspot.nl/2013/02/like-morsi-erdogan-also-has-history-of.html

 

From Gatestone Institute:

 

In November 1998, the Institute for Jewish Policy Research released its annual report on current trends in anti-Semitism across the world. In the section for Turkey, the journal quoted the then-mayor of Istanbul, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in June 1997, at a meeting organized by the municipality to celebrate the city's conquest by the Ottoman Turks, remarking: "The Jews have begun to crush the Muslims of Palestine, in the name of Zionism," the mayor said, "Today, the image of the Jews is no different from that of the Nazis."

 

Erdogan later became, and still is, the Prime Minister of Turkey, a man whom President Obama describes as a personal friend, in a country that is a member of NATO, and head of a government that is regarded as moderate, and, as the London Times recently reflected, an example of how Islamism and democracy do not have to be mutually exclusive.

 

Birikim, a Turkish socialist culture magazine, also attributes the quote to Erdogan. A search through Western newspaper records, however, shows no mention at all of these comments.

 

That remark is not the only example of Erdogan's hostility in this regard. Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak has reported Erdogan commenting that the media does not fully report Israel's "murder of innocent children" because the "world's media is under the control of Israel, and this needs to be emphasised."

 

In 2009 another Turkish newspaper, Taraf, reported that Erdogan, while attending the opening of a university, stated, "wherever Jews settle, they make money. They are not property owners, as being tenants suits them best. On the other hand, whatever we have or do not have, we will invest in our houses."

 

In early January, when the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) produced a video of Morsi describing Zionists as "the descendants of apes and pigs," it took almost two weeks and a barrage of criticism for a leading newspaper, the New York Times, finally to report the comments. The eventual action led to worldwide denunciation of Morsi's remarks and even a condemnatory statement from the White House. Now that we know that Erdogan, Prime Minister of a country considered to be a leading ally of the West, made comments similar to Morsi's, will the media do its best to avoid reporting those, too?

 

The thing is, calling Jews "Nazis" is not news nowadays. "Children of apes and pigs" is more unusual and therefore potentially worth reporting. So the answer is, no, no one will act upset over Erdogan's anti-semitism. 

(h/t Sam)

UPDATE: Reader AF pointed me to a footnote in a MEMRI report that shows that Erdogan has been espousing pure anti-semitism since the 1970s.

 

On December 28, 2002, columnist Y. Bayer of the mainstream, high circulation Turkish daily Hurriyet wrote: "Did you know that: In 1974, when [Turkish Prime Minister] Tayyip Erdogan was president of the Beyoglu [Istanbul] Youth Group of the [Islamist] MSP [National Salvation Party], he wrote and directed a theatrical play called Maskomya and also played the lead role of the 'bad son?' And that the role of Erdogan's grandmother was performed by a girl from a CHP [the secular, Kemalist Republican People's Party] family, and that the play was staged 10 times despite the complaints of a board member to Erbakan?"

The historian/researcher Rifat N. Bali also commented on Erdogan's play: "Maskomya, or in its correct form Mas-kom-Ya, was a theatrical play that was staged everywhere in the 1970s, as part of the 'cultural' activities of MSP Youth Branches. The unabbreviated version of Mas-kom-Ya is Mason-Komunist-Yahudi [Mason-Communist-Jew]. It is known that the play was built on the 'evil' nature of these three concepts, and the hatred towards them."

Erdogan, some forty years ago, wrote an anti-semitic play. How did that little piece of information fly under the radar?

 

Healthwashing Israel?

 

In het verwrongen paradigma van anti-Israel activisten is de Joodse staat een verwerpelijke, racistische entiteit die zo snel mogelijk van de aardbodem moet verdwijnen. Er kan helemaal niets deugen aan dit land, en elke poging iets positiefs erover onder het voetlicht te brengen (bv. de relatieve tolerantie tegenover homosexualiteit) kan niet meer zijn dan een brute poging het imago op te poetsen. Sommige hoera-verhalen over goede initiatieven in Israel komen zeker wat eenzijdig over, maar lijken me toch constructiever dan Israel zwarter dan zwart af te schilderen. Met demoniseren en vijandbeelden is nog geen conflict opgelost.

 

Zie ook: Face the Bridge en Israel

 

Wouter

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Israel Puts Conflict Aside To Save Palestinian Lives

http://unitedwithisrael.org/israel-puts-conflict-aside-to-save-palestinian-lives/

 

According to a 2012 World Health Organization report, Israel approved 91.5 percent of Palestinian applications from Gaza to receive medical care in Israel proper, while an additional 7.2 percent were approved pending a security check. In total, 210,469 Palestinians received medical treatment inside Israel proper in 2012. This statistic includes 20 Palestinian children who were in need of marrow transplants, kidney transplants, and other life saving operations that the Palestinian Authority did not have the ability to perform.

Many democratic states don’t provide so much medical assistance to the civilian populations who are citizens of nations that they are in conflict with. For example, since 2011, USAID has only provided medical assistance for 180 Afghan patients, a tiny fraction of the tens of thousands of Afghans who were wounded during the fighting between the Taliban and NATO forces or by roadside bombs. Yet Israel has adopted a different approach, to value all human lives, including the lives of Palestinian civilians, despite the adversarial comments and actions taken by their leadership.

Israel, as a nation committed to Jewish values, supports the Talmudic passage which states, “Whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved the entire world.” This is one of the main reasons why Israel is always among the first nations to send humanitarian aid missions to assist natural disaster victims and this is why Israel is committed to help saving Palestinian lives, even if at times it puts IDF soldiers at risk. In the past, Israel has been forced to transfer medical supplies into Palestinian areas under qassam rocket fire and at checkpoints into Gaza that have been targeted by suicide bombers.

In many instances, bringing these Palestinians to Israel is the only way to save their lives. For example, a seven-month-old baby, who faced almost certain death in a Gazan hospital, was brought to an Israeli hospital that was able to perform open heart surgery, closing a hole in the infants heart. This Palestinian baby was brought to Israel by an Israeli humanitarian organization called Save A Child’s Heart, which has saved the lives of over 3,000 children from 42 countries, with fifty percent of them hailing from the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, Iraq, and Morocco.

Yet aside from giving Palestinians the opportunity to receive medical care inside Israel proper, IDF soldiers operating within Palestinian areas also provide medical assistance to the local population. As one IDF soldier, Sergeant Gilad Nesher, stated upon delivering a Palestinian baby into this world, “There is a great deal of satisfaction in giving life.” This particular Palestinian baby who was born in the Jordan Valley was struggling to breathe after he was born. The IDF soldiers performed CPR on the baby until he was able to breathe again. As one IDF military source stated, “These soldiers really fought to save the baby. It was very exciting to see them. They didn’t give up and proved that there is no higher value than saving a life.”

In other instances, IDF soldiers saved the life of a 10-month old Palestinian baby who was suffering from respiratory distress, a young Palestinian girl who had meningitis, and another young girl with jaundice. Lieutenant Colonel Dr. Michael Findlar claimed that many local Palestinians understand that they are better off turning to the IDF when they have health problems, for they possess a regimental infirmary and a military ambulance that have the means to assist them in ways that the Palestinian Authority does not.

 

Face the Bridge en Israël

 

Face the Bridge en Israël

http://www.vrijechroniqueurs.nl/face-the-bridge-en-israel/

Geplaatst op 16 februari 2013, door Ingezonden mededeling.

Omdat er kennelijk een gestandaardiseerde visie over Israël bestaat die weinig ruimte laat voor weerwoord, biedt DVC een podium aan meningen die zich ontworstelen aan de heersende doctrine van dat machtige gelijk hebben waarmee de tegenstanders van Israël de opinievorming overheersen.

De eenzijdigheid die rond het bestaansrecht van Israël tot in de fijnste finesse van de opinievorming doorgedrongen is, maakt het noodzakelijk die kennelijk afwijkende mening te weerspiegelen. Daarom op verzoek aandacht voor de onlangs opgerichte groep Face the Bridge:

De wereld houdt van slecht nieuws, want dat zorgt voor de meeste ophef. Inderdaad, geen beter vermaak dan leedvermaak. Deze wijsheid is bij uitstek van toepassing op het nieuws in het Midden-Oosten. De bestaande conflicten en incidenten tussen Israël en de Palestijnen staan volop in de schijnwerpers, evenals de spanningen tussen Israël en de Islamitische buurlanden. Daardoor ontstaat een karikatuur van de alledaagse werkelijkheid. Zo wordt het democratische Israël in toenemende mate weggezet als een racistisch, totalitair land, dat op de meest gruwelijke wijze de mensenrechten schendt, en zo zijn alle Palestijnen alleen maar slachtoffer of uit nood geboren terroristen, niet in staat tot een menswaardig bestaan.

Als gevolg van deze eenzijdige berichtgeving nemen de vijandschap en de ontmenselijking tussen de Joodse en de Islamitische mens alleen maar toe. Mensen kiezen partij voor een van beiden en zijn vervolgens alleen nog maar geïnteresseerd in berichten die hun keuze ondersteunen, waardoor hun werkelijkheid nog meer vertekend raakt. Dat proces vindt niet alleen in het Midden-Oosten zelf plaats, maar ook in westerse landen als Nederland, waar de polarisatie in de discussie over dit thema meer en meer stijgt.

Face the Bridge is een facebookpagina, die enig tegenwicht aan deze vertekening van de werkelijkheid wil bieden. De oprichters van de pagina zoeken naar voorbeelden van samenwerking of vriendschap tussen Israeli's en Palestijnen, tussen Joodse en Arabisch/Islamitische mensen, en plaatsen deze op de pagina. Samenwerking op het gebied van kunst, cultuur, gezondheidszorg, onderwijs en opvoeding, landbouw en industrie. Of zomaar een plaatje van alledag, waaruit blijkt dat Joodse en Islamitische mensen vreedzaam samenleven, zoals bijvoorbeeld een foto in een tram van Jeruzalem laat zien.

De leden van het Face the Bridge team – deels wonend in Nederland, deels in Israël – willen de bestaande conflicten niet ontkennen, maar de wereld laten zien dat er naast een muur, ook een brug tussen deze twee groepen bestaat. Een brug, die de uiting is van verbroedering en wederzijds respect, twee onmisbare voorwaarden voor welke blijvende oplossing van het conflict dan ook. Een brug – zo hopen we – die vaker begaan wordt, naarmate er meer bekendheid aan zijn bestaan gegeven wordt.

https://www.facebook.com/FaceTheBridge

Frans Schütt

 

Bijna 1.000 Palestijnen onder 70.000 doden in Syrië

 

During last year's Israel-Hamas conflict, around 100 Palestinians are said to have perished in an intense campaign between the Jewish state and the terrorist organisation in Gaza. So far, few human rights organisations and non-governmental organisations have highlighted the fact that the Syria-Palestinian death toll is up to 10 times higher than last year's conflict.

Tien keer zoveel Palestijnen zijn in Syrië omgekomen als in de laatste Gaza oorlog, waarvan menig anti-Israel activist schande sprak. Het is inmiddels bekend maar het blijft verbazen: Palestijnse doden interesseren velen vooral wanneer Israel de boosdoener is. Daarbij houdt men van zwart-wit denken, en in Syrië is alles mistig en is vaak onduidelijk of de regering of rebellen ergens achter zaten en uit wat voor groepen die rebellen uberhaupt bestaan. Er is daarbij geen vrijheid van meningsuiting in Syrië, en het regime gebruikt alle middelen die het heeft om in het zadel te blijven. Israel daarentegen is een democratie waar journalisten vrijelijk en veilig rond kunnen reizen en met iedereen praten. Het was weliswaar in Gaza ook niet echt veilig, maar dit is onvergelijkbaar met Syrië. Daarbij is het leed van die 100 gedode Palestijnen maar een klein stukje van het totale leed van de burgeroorlog in Syrië, terwijl het leed van de Palestijnen in Gaza als op zichzelf staand wordt gezien. Dat maakt het niet minder bizar dat bekende voorvechters van de Palestijnse zaak steeds zo oorverdovend stil zijn wanneer niet Israel maar een Arabisch land ze als beesten behandelt. 

 

RP

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Almost 1,000 Palestinians dead among 70,000 Syria death toll

http://www.thecommentator.com/article/2704/almost_1_000_palestinians_dead_among_70_000_syria_death_toll

UN states that death toll in Syria may be as high as 70,000, with Palestinian deaths almost 10 times higher than Hamas-Israel conflict of last year

by The Commentator on 13 February 2013 12:27

Over 9,000 people are likely to have died this year alone in the ongoing Syria conflict, with concerns being raised as to the total death toll which is likely to be as high as 70,000 people.

Navi Pillay, the UN's human rights chief, said the death toll in Syria had exceeded 60,000 by January, a figure she called "truly shocking". The figure was a almost 30 percent higher than estimates by most anti-regime activists. Now it has emerged that the death toll is estimated to have exceeded 70,000, with estimates showing that around 1,000 Palestinians have been killed as a result.

The latter figure is particularly interesting given the regional and global focus on the plight of the Palestinian people. 

During last year's Israel-Hamas conflict, around 100 Palestinians are said to have perished in an intense campaign between the Jewish state and the terrorist organisation in Gaza. So far, few human rights organisations and non-governmental organisations have highlighted the fact that the Syria-Palestinian death toll is up to 10 times higher than last year's conflict.

Pillay said "the lack of consensus on Syria and the resulting inaction has been disastrous, and civilians on all sides have paid the price."

"We will be judged against the tragedy that has unfolded before our eyes," she warned. "This council, as well as those of us in key positions within the U.N., will be rightly asked what we did."

Pillay said one immediate action the council can take is to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court, which could investigate allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

"This would send a clear message to both the government and the opposition that there will be consequences for their actions, and could have a very significant preventive effect," she said.

In January, Iran-backed Hamas claimed that around 885 Palestinians had been killed in the Syrian conflict, in which the Assad regime is reportedly being increasingly supported by Hezbollah, another organisation which derives funding from Iran. According to the report, based on Hamas figures, a further 20,500 Palestinian refugees from Syria remain trapped in Lebanon, including at least 3,500 who fled last month following a fierce outbreak of violence in the Yarmouk refugee camp outside Damascus.

Syria is said to be home to around half a million Palestinians.