De palestinska ledarna verkar leva i en fantasivärld som gör det omöjligt att komma överens med Israel. För en tid sedan sade Andrew Whitley, avgående director för UNRWA (FN-organisationen som tar hand om de palestinska flyktingarna och deras ättlingar) att man måste starta en diskussion om vad som skall hända med de palestinska flyktingarna i framtiden. Whitley ansåg att man måste ta dem ur illusionen att de kommer att få flytta till Israel. De palestinska ledarna bl.a. PLO:s chefsförhandlare Saeb Erekat fördömde Whitleys uttalande och sade att palestinierna rätt att återvända till sina hem (från 1948) är en av deras allra viktigaste rättigheter. Så länge de palestinska ledarna låter folket leva med den uppfattningen att flyktingarnas ättlingar kommer att få flytta till Israel finns det egentligen inga förutsättningar för ett fredsavtal med Israel. Israel skulle nämligen därmed upphöra att existera som ett hem för det judiska folket.
In a PA TV quiz for Palestinian university students, contestants were asked how many countries share a border with Lebanon. The correct answer given by the student and confirmed by the PA TV host was: "Two countries: Syria and Palestine." Although Israel is the country bordering Lebanon to the south, it is not mentioned, and “Palestine” could only be Lebanon’s neighbor if Israel did not exist.
Hizzbolahs ledare Nasrallah gör vad han kan för att sätta käppar i hjulet för FN:s utredning av vem som mördade Libanons förre premiärminister. Nasrallah uppmanar alla libaneser att bojkotta utredningen och igår anfölls utredarna av en uppretad folkmassa. Det antas allmänt att misstänkta till mordet finns bland Hizzbollahs medlemmar.
BEIRUT— The leader of Hizbullah called Thursday on all Lebanese to boycott the UN tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of a former prime minister, saying all information gathered by the team was being sent to Israel.
Sheik Hassan Nasrallah spoke Thursday, a day after a crowd of women attacked two UN investigators and a Lebanese interpreter as they gathered evidence at a private gynecology clinic in Beirut. The women scuffled with investigators and stole several items from them.
In a reaction late Thursday, the tribunal criticized Nasrallah's boycott appeal and vowed to continue its investigation.
"Any call to boycott the tribunal is a deliberate attempt to obstruct justice," the court said in a statement. "The Special Tribunal for Lebanon will continue to rely on full cooperation by the Lebanese government and the support of the international community in fulfilling its mandate, in accordance with its statute."
The UN chief stressed that the tribunal is an independent court, established at the Lebanese government's request with a mandate from the UN Security Council, which is "an important tool to uncover the truth and end impunity," UN spokesman Nesirky said.
Ett iranskt försök att smuggla vapen, antagligen till Hamas har stoppats av nigerianska myndigheter skriver Haaretz. Ett iranskt fartyg lossade 13 containers med "byggnadsmaterial"" i hamnen i Lagos. Vid en granskning visade det sig att de innehöll granater,raketer och annat explosivt material. Israel misstänker att det är fråga om en ny rutt som Iran försöker använda för att smuggla vapen till Hamas i Gaza. Nigeria intercepts 13 Iran missile containers possibly destined for Gaza
De Palestinska myndigheterna är mycket oroade över västvärldens försök att få Hamas att bli en part i fredsförhandlingarna med Israel. Hamas har ingen vision eller politisk program utan använder olika medel för att försöka störta de nuvarande myndigheterna (Fatah), säger Adnan Damiri, talesman för Fatahs säkerhetsstyrkor.
West Bank leadership concerned that US, EU may be reaching out to rival party: "Hamas has no vision or political program. They are using various methods to undermine the Palestinian Authority," spokesman says.
The Palestinian Authority said on Wednesday that it was worried about “attempts” by the US and EU to persuade Hamas to join the Middle East peace process.
It is lunchtime in the world's biggest prison camp, and I am enjoying a rather good caffe latte in an elegant beachfront cafe. Later I will visit the sparkling new Gaza Mall, and then eat an excellent beef stroganoff in an elegant restaurant.
Perhaps it is callous of me to be so self-indulgent, but I think I at least deserve the coffee. I would be having a stiff drink instead, if only the ultra-Islamic regime hadn't banned alcohol with a harsh and heavy hand...
...Don't, please, accuse of me of complacency or denying the truth. I do not pretend to know everything about Gaza. I don't think it is a paradise, or remotely normal. But I do know for certain what I saw and heard.
There are dispiriting slums that should have been cleared decades ago, people living on the edge of subsistence. There is danger. And most of the people cannot get out.
But it is a lot more complicated, and a lot more interesting, than that. In fact, the true state of the Gaza Strip, and of the West Bank of the Jordan, is so full of paradoxes and surprises that most news coverage of the Middle East finds it easier to concentrate on the obvious, and leave out the awkward bits.
Which is why, in my view, politicians and public alike have been herded down a dead end that serves only propagandists and cynics, and leaves the people of this beautiful, important part of the world suffering needlessly.
For instance, our Prime Minister, David Cameron, recently fawned on his Islamist hosts in Turkey by stating Gaza was a 'prison camp'. This phrase is the official line of the well-funded Arab and Muslim lobby, who want to make sure Israel is seen by the world as a villainous oppressor...
But if you think Israel is the only problem, or that Israelis are the only oppressors hereabouts, think again. Realise, for a start, that Israel no longer rules Gaza. Its settlements are ruins.
No Israelis can be found inside its borders. And, before you say 'but Israel controls the Gaza border', look at a map. The strip's southern frontier – almost as hard to cross as the Israeli boundary – is with Egypt. And Cairo is as anxious as Israel to seal in the Muslim militants of Hamas.
Gaza was bombed on the day I arrived in retaliation for a series of rocket strikes on Israel, made by Arab militants. Those militants knew this would happen, but they launched their rockets anyway. Many Gazans hate them for this...
...Can anyone think of a siege in human history, from Syracuse to Leningrad, where the shops of the besieged city have been full of Snickers bars and Chinese motorbikes, and where European Union and other foreign aid projects pour streams of cash (often yours) into the pockets of thousands? Once again, the word conceals more than it reveals.
In Gaza's trapped, unequal society, a wealthy and influential few live in magnificent villas with sea views and their own generators to escape the endless power cuts.
Gaza also possesses a reasonably well-off middle class, who spend their cash in a shopping mall – sited in Treasure Street in Gaza City, round the corner from another street that is almost entirely given over to shops displaying washing machines and refrigerators.
Siege? Not exactly. What about Gaza's 'refugee camps'. The expression is misleading. Most of those who live in them are not refugees, but the children and grandchildren of those who fled Israel in the war of 1948.
All the other refugees from that era – in India and Pakistan, the Germans driven from Poland and the Czech lands, not to mention the Jews expelled from the Arab world – were long ago resettled.
Unbelievably, these people are still stuck in insanitary townships, hostages in a vast struggle kept going by politicians who claim to care about them. These places are not much different from the poorer urban districts of Cairo, about which nobody, in the Arab world or the West, has much to say.
...One – which I feel all of us should be aware of – is the plight of Christian Arabs under the rule of the Palestinian Authority. More than once I heard them say: 'Life was better for us under Israeli rule.'
One young man, lamenting the refusal of the Muslim-dominated courts to help him in a property dispute with squatters, burst out: 'We are so alone! All of us Christians feel so lonely in this country.'
This conversation took place about a mile from the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where tourists are given the impression that the Christian religion is respected. Not really.
I was told, in whispers, of the unprintable desecration of this shrine by Palestinian gunmen when they seized the church in 2002 – 'world opinion' was exclusively directed against Israel. I will not name the people who told me these things.
I have also decided not to name another leading Christian Arab who told me of how his efforts to maintain Christian culture in the West Bank had met with official thuggery and intimidation.
My guide and host reckons there are 30,000 Christians in the three neighbouring municipalities of Bethlehem, Beit-Sahour and Beit- Jala. Soon there will be far fewer.
He has found out that 2,000 emigrated between 2001 and 2004, a process which has not stopped. What is most infuriating about this is that many Christians in Britain are fed propaganda blaming this on the Israelis.
Arabs can oppress each other, without any help from outside. Because the Palestinian cause is a favourite among Western Leftists, they prefer not to notice that it is largely an aggressive Islamic cause.
A special video recording of ‘Oseh Shalom’ by Britain’s Chief Rabbi, recorded to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel, has just seen one million hits on YouTube.
The recording features the Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks with soloist chazzans Jonny Rugel, Shimon Craimer and Rabbi Lionel Rosenfeld along with the Shabbaton Choir as well as children from the Moriah Jewish Day School in London.
The idea of a "Palestine" that replaces Israel is more important to Palestinian children than education. That was the message of a cartoon in the official PA daily newspaper last week. A second message in the cartoon was that Palestinian youth are prepared to use violence.The cartoon shows a teacher teaching a Palestinian child the letters of the alphabet. However, the text in the child's mind shows that he visualizes the map of "Palestine" replacing all of Israel before he starts learning the alphabet. The cartoon also carries a message of violence, as the child's pencil is shaped as a slingshot with a stone next to it.
Palestinian Media Watch has documented that during the five years of the Palestinian terror campaign, from 2000 - 2005, the Palestinian Authority used all the communication channels it controlled to actively encourage children to participate in the violence.Click here to view PA TV clip from 2001 telling children to throw away their toys and pick up stones.
Terrorists who killed 6 lauded as "heroes" in clip shown seven times in three days on PA TV A clip broadcast seven times in three days on PA TV labeled Palestinian terrorists as "heroes" for having murdered six Israelis in two terror attacks. PA TV showed the clip to coincide with the anniversary celebrations of the Palestinian Arab Front (formerly Arab Liberation Front), the organization that carried out the attacks in 1975 and 1980.
On the same day as the official Palestinian Authority daily newspaper ran a positive front-page story about a solidarity visit by Israelis to condemn last week's arson attack at a mosque near Bethlehem [see PMW bulletin], the office of PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad used the incident as an opportunity to libel and demonize Israel.
PM Fayyad's national affairs advisor accused Israel of being behind the arson attack, and added that the arson "represents part of a policy of state terror, which the Zionist apartheid state is carrying out against the Palestinians."The following is the full reaction from the office of PM Fayyad: "Advisor to the Prime Minister [Fayyad] on national affairs, Minister Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul: 'Herds of settlers throughout the Palestinian territories and the occupation army complement each other as regards the crimes and the new provocative violations, which are targeting our people, its places of worship, its property, its land and its interests. This is done with the aim of stirring up emotions and arousing the Palestinian residents to respond to the unceasing racist Israeli offensive, aimed at igniting a fire on the Palestinian front, so that the eyes of the world will turn away from the Israeli violations...'. In a press release, the advisor to the Prime Minister added that what happened in Beit Fajar was not incidental, but rather represents part of a policy of state terror, which the Zionist apartheid state is carrying out against the Palestinians." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Oct. 6, 2010
Jerusalem Post rapporterar från mötet som de katolska biskoparna från Mellanöstern hållit i Rom den senaste veckan: Vatican synod calls for end to Israel’s ‘occupation’ Några citat från mötet: "Den Heliga Skriften kan inte användas för att försvara judarnas återvändande till Israel..." "Vi kristna kan inte tala om "Det utlovade landet" som en exklusiv rätt för ett priviligerat judiskt folk. Löftet upphävdes av Kristus. Det finns inte längre något utvalt folk - alla män och kvinnor av alla nationaliteter har nu blivit det utvalda folket." "Även om Israels statsöverhuvud är judisk så är framtiden grundad på demokrati. De palestinska flyktingarna kommer småningom att återvända och detta problem måste lösas."(Monsignor Cyril Salim Bustros)
Mordechay Lewy, Israel’s ambassador to the Holy See, told The Jerusalem Post that Bustros, in saying that Jesus nullified God’s covenant with the Jewish people, was “returning to successionist theology, contradicting Second Vatican Council teaching and Pope Benedict himself – who has welcomed the return of Jews to their ancient homeland.” “Also,” added the ambassador, “by inviting all Palestinian refugees to return and denying Israel’s right to define itself a Jewish state – the only such in the world – he is regressing to hard-line positions that deny Israel’s right to exist. ”During the meeting, several bishops blamed the Israeli- Palestinian conflict for spurring the flight of Christians from the Middle East – a position echoed in their final paper. While the bishops condemned terrorism and anti-Semitism, they laid much of the blame for the conflict squarely on Israel.
Ayalon: 'Vatican Synod is a forum for Arab propaganda' Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon slammed the Vatican synod after bishops called for an end to the "occupation," in a statement released on Sunday. In reaction to the Vatican's criticism, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said: "We express our disappointment that this important Synod has become a forum for political attacks on Israel in the best history of Arab propaganda. The Synod was hijacked by an anti-Israel majority.""We are especially appalled at the language used by Archbishop [Cyrille Salim] Bustros during his press conference," Ayalon remarked, referring to the archbishop whose committee drafted the statement. "We call on the Vatican to distant themselves from Archbishop Boutros' comments which are a libel against the Jewish People and the State of Israel and should not be construed as the Vatican's official position. These outrageous comments should not cast a shadow over the important relationship between the Vatican, the State of Israel and the Jewish People."A Foreign Ministry spokesman criticized the bishops' statement that Israel shouldn't use the Bible to justify "injustices" against the Palestinians."This has never been a policy of any government in Israel so this position sounds particularly hollow," Yigal Palmor said Sunday. "Let he who has never sinned cast the fist stone."Palmor also said Israel is the only Mideast country whose Christian population is growing, and called on Christians not to flee the region. "Israel views their presence in the Middle East as a blessing and regrets their decline in Arab countries," he said.According to statistics he provided, there were some 151,700 Christians in Israel last year, compared with 132,000 in 1999 and 107,000 two decades ago.
"In the name of radical Islamic-inspired nationalism, Mideast Christians of all denominations, including Catholics, have faced devastating persecution for their religious convictions. From the Gaza Strip and Egypt to Iraq to Turkey, Christians have been murdered, had their churches burned to the ground and their holy books destroyed, and have been demoted to secondclass citizens exposed to libels and exploitation by Muslim neighbors.
Ostensibly with the purpose of addressing these injustices and stemming the tide of a dwindling Christian population in the Mideast, Pope Benedict XVI convened a special Vatican Synod in Rome, composed of about 200 bishops mostly from Muslim countries. Yet these bishops hijacked the synod and issued a statement Saturday that all but ignored the plight of Catholics living in Muslim lands while singling out Israel’s “occupation” for special castigation."
Palestinierna vägrar igen förhandla med Israel. Tydligen anser de att det är mera fördelaktigt för dem att inte för tillfället föra några förhandlingar.
Det rapporteras att palestinierna överväger att försöka få FN att erkänna en palestinsk stat och därmed få en egen stat utan att förhandla och komma överens med Israel.Detta kunde betyda att palestinierna får en stat vid sidan av Israel men konflikten skulle fortsätta och bland annat kraven på att de palestinska flyktingarna skall få "återvända" till Israel skulle finnas kvar.
Här finns två länkar till artiklar som behandlar detta ämne: Palestinians may ask UN to recognize state in ’67 borders Salim Zanoun, chairman of the Palestine National Council, the PLO’s parliament- in-exile, said over the weekend that it was “impossible” for the Palestinians to recognize Israel as a Jewish state because that would jeopardize the right of return for Palestinian refugees to their original homes inside Israel and threaten the status of Israel’s Arab minority.
“The Palestinians have given all [of] what they have for the sake of peace,” Zanoun said. “But we won’t give up our basic national rights, first and foremost the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital on all the territories occupied in 1967 and the return of the refugees to their homes.
“It’s impossible to recognize Israel as a Jewish state because we want to preserve the right of return for those Palestinians who were forcibly expelled from their homes and lands,” Zanoun said. “We also want to protect the rights of the Arab Palestinians living in the territories that were occupied in 1948 and who are facing a conspiracy by the racist, extremist Israeli government.”
Does the PA fulfill the criteria for an independent state? According to the 1933 Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States, which is now part of customary law and therefore binding on all countries, a state must possess a permanent population, a defined territory, a government and a capacity to enter into relationships with other states.
Furthermore, the convention states that “the political existence of the state is independent of recognition by other states.”
Vi undertecknade anser den finska ICAHD (Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions)-organisationens petition för att upphöra med vapenhandel med Israel vara både orimlig och grundlös. Vi delar president Tarja Halonens och utrikesminister Stubbs uppfattning enligt vilken Finlands vapenhandel med Israel är liten och följer strikt EU:s principer. Till exempel Israels andel av försvarsmaterialimporten är endast 3.6 procent, och Israel hör inte heller till de länder för vilka vapenexportförbud gäller. ICAHD har specialiserat sig på att svartmåla Israel. Till exempel år 2009 inbjöd denna organisations finska avdelning Norman Finkelstein till Finland. Till och med enligt Wikipedias uppgifter har Finkelstein "blivit känd för allmänheten på grund av sina antisionistiska åsikter". Finkelstein har för vana att jämföra Israel med Nazi-Tyskland, vilket uppfyller den definition på antisemitism som formulerats år 2005 av EU:s dåvarande centrum mot rasism, EUMC. Enligt denna definition är nämligen "jämförelser mellan dagens israeliska politik och nazisternas politik" ett "exempel på hur antisemitismen manifesterar sig i förhållande till staten Israel, när man tar hänsyn till den vidare kontexten". Inget annat land med vilket Finland har idkat vapenhandel har fått lika synlig och negativ uppmärksamhet, inte ens fastän i fråga varande land skulle ha dödat tusentals civila (t.ex. Kina, Ryssland, USA) under de senaste decennierna. Därför kan ovan nämnda petition inte enbart bero på moralisk indignation över Israels handlingar i självförsvar. Sålunda kvarstår endast en förklaring till nämnda petition: den torde representera - kanske till och med underskrivarna ovetandes - en strävan att göra Israel till "nationernas jude", hela världens syndabock. En sådan strävan återspeglar den urgamla antisemitism som ligger djupt i den europeiska kulturen och som idag finner sin politiskt korrekta form i antisionismen. Vi hoppas att den politiska ledningen i Finland inte hemfaller till att fatta beslut som baserar sig på fördomsdriven påtryckning.
Irans president Ahmadinejad har under den gångna veckan besökt Libanon. Han träffade Hizzbollahs ledare Nashrallah i Beirut, reste till södra Libanon för att, i numera välkända ordalag, svära ve och förbannelse över Israel. Énligt Ahmadinejad är Israel bl.a. skyldig till den ekonomiska krisen i världen och luftföroreningarna men den "sionistiska" staten kommer inte att existera länge till. Mer oroande än Ahmadinejads ord är det faktum att besöket visar att Libanon långt har förlorat sin självständighet och styrs av Iran (och Syrien) genom Hizzbollah. En grupp på 250 libaneser sände i veckan ett öppet brev till Ahmadinejad där de protesterade mot besöket och vad de upplevde som Ahmadinejads försök att dra in Libanon i ett nytt krig med Israel.
Här är länkar till några artiklar som behandlar besöket. US: Ahmadinejad's visit insult to Lebanese sovereignty Editorial: Ahmadinejad’s victory tour Foreign Ministry: Ahmadinejad bears a violent message "Not everyone welcomed Ahmadinejad, however. A group of 250 politicians, lawyers and activists sent an open letter to Ahmadinejad on Tuesday, criticizing Teheran's backing of Hizbullah and expressing worry Iran was looking to drag Lebanon into a war with Israel."One group in Lebanon draws power from you ... and has wielded it over another group and the state," the letter said, addressing Ahmadinejad."Your talk of 'changing the face of the region starting with Lebanon' and 'wiping Israel off the map through the force of the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon' ... makes it seem like your visit is that of a high commander to his front line," it said."
Den turkiske journalisten Sefik Dinc som var ombord på skeppet Mavi Marmara när det bordades av israeliska soldater har skrivit en bok om händelsen. Hans version av händelserna stämmer långt överens med den israeliska versionen och står i skarp kontrast till den turkiska versionen och den version som organisationen IHH försöker förmedla. Det är kanske onödigt att säga att FN:s mänskorättsråds undersökning av händelsen inte heller stämmer överens med uppgiftena i Sefik Dincs bok, men så ska man komma i håg att rådet hade sin uppfattning klar redan innan undersökningen kommit igång. Sefik Dinc intervjuades av israeliska Channel 1 den 24 september. Han sade bl.a. "Jag såg med mina egna ögon att när soldaterna kom ner från helikoptrarna för att borda fatyget avfyrade de inga skott. Det var först när soldaterna mötte motstånd och märkte att några av deras vänners liv var i fara som de började använda skarp ammunition."
En engelsk översättning av intervjun kan läsas här ( översättning av Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center : 1. Following is a transcript of the interview granted by Şefik Dinç to Channel 1 on September 24. Dinç was interviewed by Rafael Sadi, the spokesman for the Organization of Turkish Immigrants in Israel. The interview was transcribed by the ITIC.
2. Interviewer: In your interesting book, you write that the Turkish government should not have let the flotilla set sail, why?
3. Dinç: Israel declared several times that it would not let the ships enter the Gaza Strip. In light of those statements, we did not believe that those ships could reach Gaza. The ships should not have set sail from Turkey, but things happened as they did, and they set sail after all.
4. Interviewer: According to your eyewitness account, IDF soldiers only opened fire when they felt that their own lives or the lives of their fellow soldiers were in danger.
5. Dinç: As you know, I was on board the ship. I saw with my own eyes that when the soldiers came on helicopters and started landing on the ship, they did not fire. It wasn’t until the soldiers were met with resistance and realized that some of their friends’ lives were in danger that they began using live ammunition.
6. Interviewer: Did you notice anyone using knives or iron bars?
7. Dinç: Actually, I saw no knives being used. I did see iron bars being used.
8. Interviewer: In your book, you describe cases of humane treatment from IDF soldiers [of the detained ship passengers], such as removing their handcuffs, and even an interesting encounter in Israel with a Jew of Turkish descent who gave you his mobile phone.
9. Dinç: The soldiers uncuffed some people who were having difficulties, particularly older people, women, and people who did not act aggressively. As for the Israeli policeman, his Turkish was excellent, we spoke, and he said that he had immigrated to Israel from Istanbul. He asked me if I contacted my family and whether I had a telephone to make a call. I told him I didn’t, and then he gave me his own mobile phone so that I could call my family. I thank him again.
10. Interviewer: Your book is more balanced and less one-sided. Aren’t you concerned that the Turkish government won’t like it, and that you will come under criticism?
11. Dinç: When I started writing the book, I knew that many elements in Turkey wouldn’t like what I had to say, such as members of the IHH, the Turkish government, and the Israeli government as well.
12. Interviewer: Thank you very much. I wish you continued success as an impartial journalist.
The text reads: Several exercises were held on board the ship to prepare in advance for a possible attack. In one exercise, the passengers were instructed on how to put on gas masks and lifebelts, and how to resist the Israeli attack. The photograph shows one of the passengers practicing with a slingshot he had brought along.
The text reads: The soldiers who rappelled from the helicopters were met with resistance from the passengers. The first three soldiers were caught, beaten with iron bars and wooden clubs, and taken to the space below the captain’s command bridge.
The text reads: After the three well-armed soldiers landed on the ship, they were beaten and taken to the ship’s interior.
Organisationen ICAHD Finland har samlat ihop ett par hundra namnteckningar för ett upprop som kräver att Finland avbryter all vapenhandel med Israel. Helsingin Sanomat har gett uppropet stort utrymme. Bland undertecknarna finns främst vänsterpolitiker och företrädare för De Gröna, men också SFP:s viceordförande Nils Torvalds. Lite förvånande är kanske att det finns två företrädare för Kyrkans utlandshjälp (Hemberg Jouni, ledare för internationella arbetet och Muma Päivi områdesansvarig västafrika) samt ordförande för fullmäktige för Finlands Röda Kors, Kiuru Krista bland undertecknarna. Skall företrädare för nämnda organisationer verkligen vara med och försöka påverka Finlands regering till att avbryta en del av handelsförbindelserna med Israel. Har Röda Korset eller Kyrkans utlandshjälp varit med och krävt att Finland avbryter vapenhandel med andra länder än Israel? Det är förövrigt en fråga man kan ställa till alla undertecknarna, är det vapenhandeln eller Israel man vill komma åt? Det skulle också vara intressant att veta hur många av undertecknarna känner till organisationen ICAHD Finland. För ett år sedan var ICAHD med och organiserade ett tillfälle där Norman Finkelstein talade i Helsingfors. Finkelstein är bl.a. författare och han jämför Israel med nazisterna (enligt EU:s direktiv = antisemitism) och samtidigt berömmer han terroristorganisationen Hizzbollah för vad de uppnått. På ICAHD:s hemsida finns det också en direkt länk till Finkelsteins hemsida. Finkelsteins arbete har kritiserats hårt för att inte överhvudtaget vara seriös.
New York Times och Times beskriver Finkelsteins arbete såhär(Citatet från CAMERA): In his controversial book The Holocaust Industry, Finkelstein argues that "Jewish elites" have created an "industry" to perpetuate the memory of the Holocaust as a ploy to extort money and to gain influence, as well a tactic "to crush any dissent, any criticism, of the State of Israel." The New York Times' review of the book described its premise as a "novel variation" of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the fraudulent essay concocted in the late nineteenth century by the Czarist secret police which purports to uncover a Jewish conspiracy to take over the world. Accordingly, the Times' reviewer described Finkelstein as "juvenile," "arrogant," and "stupid"
Det kan vara värt att påminna att en av undertecknarna, före detta utrikesminister Tuomioja, i en tidningsintervju när han var minister gav uttryck för samma tankar som Finkelstein: Han jämförde Israel med Nazityskland.
Israels premiärminister Netanyahu sade i ett tal vid inledandet av Knessets vintersession att om palestinierna erkänner Israels som judarnas nationalstat/hemland kan han gå med på att förlänga byggstoppet i bosättningarna på västbanken. De palestinska ledarna förkastade genast förslaget och kallade det för rasistiskt. Faktum är att sedan början av 1900-talet har man i internationella sammanhang talat om att bilda en judisk stat. Det var också vad FN:s delningsförslag 1947 gick ut på: en judisk och en arabisk stat. Araberna har alltid motsatt sig detta och tydligen gör de det fortfarande. Det verkar vara viktigare för dem att inte erkänna judarnas rätt till ett eget hemland än att få ett eget självständigt Palestina vid sidan av Israel.
Today, there are over 950,000 Israelis living within range of rocket, mortar and grad attacks, with the highest population in Be’er Sheva, where approximately 531,000 civilians have 60 seconds to find shelter in case of an attack. The map below indicates how much time people have to take cover given the distance the rocket travels. Those living in the 10 kilometer range have 15 seconds to find safety once the alarm sounds, those in the 20 km range have 30 seconds, 30 km – 45 seconds, and 40 km a minute. Operation Cast Lead was initiated to reduce the number of rocket attacks against the inhabitants of southern Israel and was highly successful in its goal.
Mahmoud Zahar, en av Hamas högsta ledare, påstod i ett tal för några dagar sedan att Hamas under intifadan utförde terrorattacker på Arafats order. Läs Khaled Abu Toamehs artikel om ämnet: Will Abbas, Too, Order Hamas to Carry Out Terror Strikes? Former Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, who won the Nobel Peace prize, fooled all of the people all of the time. Mahmoud Zahar, a prominent Hamas leader, has just revealed that Yasser Arafat, when he failed to get what he wanted at the negotiating table, instructed Hamas to launch terror attacks in the heart of Israel. Hamas obviously took Arafat's orders seriously, waging an unprecedented campaign of suicide booming and terror attacks that killed and injured thousands of Jews and Arabs.... ...Zahar made this revelation during a lecture at the Islamic University in Gaza City marking the 10th anniversary of the second intifada, which erupted in September 2000, a few weeks after the failure of the Camp David summit. ...Does this rapprochement mean that Arafat's successor, Mahmoud Abbas, is planning to use Hamas again against Israel if the Palestinians don't get all what they want through direct and indirect talks? Some of the Palestinians who are negotiating with Israel these days were very close to Arafat back then; it is highly likely that they knew about his instructions to Hamas. Nabil Sha'ath, Saeb Erekat and Yasser Abed Rabbo were among Arafat's inner circle of advisors and confidants.
En läsvärd artikel av Israels före detta FN-ambassadör Dore Gold som behandlar Jerusalems ställning. Artikeln är ett svar på före detta premiärminister Olmerts förslag om att Israel skulle avstå från anspråken på Gamlastan i Jerusalem (Tempelberget, Klagomuren). Israel borde istället klargöra för omvärlden att det finns vissa saker de aldrig kommer att ge upp, säger Gold.
Ben-Gurion’s legacy on Jerusalem under assault (Jerusalem Post) A response to former prime minister Ehud Olmert from a former Israeli ambassador to the UN. Today, he says, Israel must reestablish that red line.
Right after the War of Independence, prime minister David Ben-Gurion faced inexorably difficult pressures over the future of Jerusalem.The UN planned to press its case for internationalization. Its grounds were General Assembly Resolution 181, adopted in 1947 and known as the partition plan, which not only advocated the establishment of Jewish and Arab states in former British Mandatory Palestine, but also recommended putting Jerusalem under UN control as a corpus separatum, or separate entity.True, the resolution was not legally binding; it had been forcibly rejected by the Arab states. Moreover, the UN never established the special regime for Jerusalem that it proposed. In fact, it failed to dispatch any forces to save the Old City when reports streamed in that its ancient synagogues were being systematically destroyed. Nevertheless, even after the war ended, leading diplomatic players in the UN, including the US government, came back and insisted on resurrecting the idea of international control.Ben-Gurion stood in the Knesset on December 5, 1949 and, in no uncertain terms, rejected the demand for internationalization. He looked back at what had happened during the War of Independence, explaining that the UN “did not lift a finger” when invading Arab armies tried to destroy the holy city. It was only because of the efforts of the newly created IDF that the siege of Jerusalem had been lifted and the rest of its Jewish population saved. Ben-Gurion declared that Israel no longer viewed Resolution 181 as having any further “moral force” with regard to Jerusalem.Four days later the General Assembly responded, again insisting that Jerusalem “should be placed under a permanent international regime.”Ben-Gurion nonetheless stood his ground and declared on December 13, 1949 that the Knesset and the rest of the government would be transferred from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.LOOKING BACK 60 years, internationalization was a complete failure. And yet it now appears it is coming back.Former prime minister Ehud Olmert has put forward a proposal in this paper (“The terms for an accord,” September 24) for the Old City of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount and the Western Wall, in which this area will be overseen by “an international trusteeship.” Läs hela artikeln här.
