Fokus på Egypten

Det är Egypten som är i fokus för tillfället. Härunder några artiklar, en behandlar palestiniernas inställning till händelserna i Egypten, en annan USA:s komplicerade relation till Egypten.
Lite information om Muslimska brödraskapet finns i följande artikel: Background: Who are the Muslim Brothers?
Det som omvärlden kanske mest fruktar är att Muslimska brödraskapet skall få makten i Egypten, och det behöver inte ske genom våld. När omvärlden hoppas på en demokratisk utveckling i Egypten kan det mycket väl betyda att just Muslimska brödraskapet kommer till makten. MB är den bäst (och kanske enda av någon större betydelse) organiserade oppositionsgruppen i Egypten.
Läs också : Quo Vadis Egypten? En artikel på svenska av Arieh Fürth

For Palestinians, Egyptian unrest is bittersweet
"Ordinary people cheer on protesters, but Hamas and Fatah are both hesitant to take sides. "

Analysis: The US moral conundrum in Egypt
American leaders are wrestling between Washington's demands for democracy and strategic coziness with dictatorial regimes.

Oroligheter i arabvärlden - israeliskt perspektiv

En läsvärd artikel av Herb Keinon (Jerusalem Post) om oroligheterna i arbvärlden.
Comment: Recent unrest in Arab world is not about us
- From an Israeli perspective, one of the most striking elements of the evolving revolution in Egypt, Tunisia and other parts of the Arab world is the degree to which all of this is not about us.For the tens of thousands of protesters who took to Egypt’s streets over the weekend, defying the curfew and calling for the departure of President Hosni Mubarak, Israel and the Palestinians were simply not on the agenda.
- And to all those who would answer this by asking what kind of egotistical people would think that everything is about them, that they are the center of all regional developments, just consider what everyone from US President Barack Obama, to US Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and to French President Nicolas Sarkozy have been saying for years: that the Israeli-Palestinian issue is the main source of foment and ferment in the Middle East.Remove that source of antagonism, this argument ran, move Israel out of the West Bank, stop building a new apartment complex in Gilo, and stability would be much easier to bring to the region.Really? Truly? Let’s imagine that two years ago Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had accepted with open arms Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s offer of a Palestinian state on nearly 95 percent of the land, with a land swap for the rest, half of Jerusalem and an international consortium in control of the “Holy Basin,” would Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia not have set himself on fire, would rivers of people not be marching now in Egypt against Mubarak’s autocratic regime? It’s clear that the tidal wave of popular anger against the Arab world’s “moderate” regimes would be washing over those regimes regardless of an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.
Why? Because Middle East instability is not about us – it is about them. It is about Arab unemployment, and Arab poverty, and Arab despair of a better future.One of the axioms repeated ad nauseum over the years by pundits around the world is that Arab despair breeds the radicalism that breeds the terrorism, and that the source of that despair is the Palestinian issue. Take that issue away and there will be far less despair, and thus far less terrorism. Hogwash.True, there is hopelessness in the Arab world – but the source is not the Arab masses concern about the Palestinians; the source is the Arab masses concern about their own lives, their own unemployment and their own lack of freedoms. Fix that and you get stability; ignore that, and you get revolution.
-The fear and trembling is that what happened in France in 1789, in Russia in 1917 and in Iran in 1979 will repeat itself in Egypt and the Arab world in 2011. After the old was thumped out by the new in those countries, there was a brief moment when democratic forces arose – be it the National Constituent Assembly and the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in France, Alexander Kerensky in Russia, or Shapour Bakhtiar in Iran – only to be swept away by the radicals: Robespierre in Paris, the Bolsheviks in Moscow, Ayatollah Khomeini in Teheran.

Läs hela artikeln här.
Flera artiklar:
Netanyahu on Egypt unrest: Aim is to maintain stability
Muslim Brotherhood throws support behind ElBaradei
Cairo regime change could make IDF boost forces
If Brotherhood takes over, IDF will face formidable enemy

En Mellanösternexpert (Barry Rubin) ger sin syn på revolten i Egypten:‘I’m worried that others aren’t worried’

Bill Clinton: Abbas den bästa partnern Israel haft (uppdaterad)

USA:s expresident Bill Clinton har talat vid Davos World Economic Forum inför ett stort antal ledare inom ekonomi och politik.
Clinton sade bl.a. om Israel - arabkonflikten : I presidenten för de Palestinska myndigheterna, Mahmoud Abbas, har de (Israel) den bästa partnern på Västbanken som de någonsin haft.
Kanske har han rätt.
Här nedanför finns några exempel på vad Mahmoud Abbas står för. Hans uttalanden har samlats in och arkiverats av Palestinian Media Watch.
Man kan fråga sig om det som Clinton anser vara det bästa hittills är tillräckligt bra.
Tyvärr skiljer sig inte Abbas från sin föregångare Arafat utan han ger ett budskap till västvärlden (på engelska) och ett annat till sitt eget folk (på arabiska).
Till New York Times säger Abbas den 27 januari : "Jag har engagerat mig för fred... jag kommer inte att ta till våld..."
Till arabiska journalister säger Abbas enligt Al-Hayat Al-Jadidas rapport den 24 januari: "Jag har sagt det flera gånger - om araberna vill ha krig är vi med dem..."
Abbas makes contradictory statements:No to violence, yes to war against Israel

Abbas: "I will not accept a Jewish State"
Source: Palestinian TV (Fatah), Apr. 27, 2009


PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas displays a map of "Palestine" erasing Israel
Source: Palestinian TV (Fatah), Apr. 27, 2009


Abbas gives terrorist's family $2000
Source: Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (Fatah), Jan. 25, 2011


PA Chairman Abbas supports Sudanese president accused of Darfur genocide
Source: Palestinian TV (Fatah), Nov. 28, 2010


Red carpet funeral by Abbas and PA for terrorist who planned Olympic massacre
Source: Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (Fatah), Aug. 19, 2010

Abbas: I shot first bullet against Israel
Source: Al-Dustour (Jordan), Feb. 28, 2008


Abbas admits sending terrorists to kill Israelis
Source: Palestinian TV (Fatah), Feb. 14, 2005


Group that sings about destruction of Israel named national band by Abbas
Source: Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (Fatah), Nov. 22, 2010


Abbas says Jerusalem is "Allah's land" and "victory will come"
Source: Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (Fatah), July 11, 2010

Några exempel på hur palestinsk TV (som styrs av Fatah och Abbas) ser på Israel:


PA TV praises art depicting Tel Aviv as a Palestinian city
Source: Palestinian TV (Fatah), Dec. 19, 2010


Israel’s coast called "Palestine's coast" in PA TV university quiz
Source: Palestinian TV (Fatah), Nov. 26, 2010


PA TV presents Israeli city Tiberias as "Palestinian"
Source: Palestinian TV (Fatah), Nov. 23, 2010


PA TV documentary claims Haifa, Acre, Ashkelon, Jaffa and Sea of Galilee are Palestinian
Source: Palestinian TV (Fatah), Oct. 1, 2010

Terrorattack belönades av Abbas

PMW rapporterar att den palestinske presidenten Mahmoud Abbas har belönat Shahid (martyr) Khaldoun Najib Samoudys familj med ett "stipendium" på 2000 dollar.
Khaldoun dödades av israeliska soldater när han försökte sig på en terrorattack den åttonde januari vid en israelisk checkpoint (Bekaot).
Under intifadans första år var det väl bekant att bl.a. Irak betalade betydande summor till själmordsbombarnas familjer men tydligen är seden fortfrande i bruk.
Man kan fråga sig hur president Abbas tänker sig att belöning av terrorattacker skall befrämja fredssträvandena.

Abbas gives terrorist's family $2000
Earlier this month a Palestinian terrorist attempted to attack an Israeli checkpoint. Carrying two pipe bombs, he ran towards the Israeli soldiers, screaming "Allahu Akbar" - "Allah is Greater" - and was shot and killed before he could detonate the bombs. Yesterday Palestinian Authority Chairman Abbas granted "the relatives of the Shahid" $2000:
"The governor of the Jenin district, Kadura Musa, has awarded a presidential grant to the family of the Shahid (Martyr), Khaldoun Najib Samoudy, during a visit that took place yesterday in the village of Al-Yamoun. The governor noted that the grant is financial aid in the amount of $2000 that the President [Mahmoud Abbas] is awarding to the relatives of the Shahid, who was recently killed as a Martyr at the Hamra checkpoint by the Israeli occupation forces."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (Fatah) Jan. 25, 2011



Bekaot Incidents: IDF Investigation Concluded
On January 8, 2011, during a routine security inspection at the Bekaot crossing, Khaldoun Samoudi attempted to commit a terrorist attack using improvised explosive devices and a knife, charging at the soldiers while shouting “Allahu Akbar”. The soldiers, realizing that Samoudi was attempting to attack them, fired at him, resulting in his death.
Prior to the shooting, soldiers identified a Palestinian taxi arriving at the crossing. Samoudi exited the taxi and ran in the soldiers’ direction, while the rest of the passengers in the taxi fled the scene.
The inquiry found that the soldiers used the appropriate rules of engagement, during which the commander of the force, having identified the suspect as holding what seemed to be a grenade, fired directly at him. After being hit, Samoudi dropped what was discovered to be an improvised explosive device. Searches at the scene revealed that Samoudi was carrying an additional explosive device, as well as a knife.
Maj. Gen. Mizrahi has accepted the conclusions of the investigation, stating that the soldiers at the crossing acted according to protocol. He mentioned that the soldiers’ actions prevented what could have been a deadly terrorist attack.

Föintelsens minnesdag 27 januari

Den 27 januari 1945 befriades koncentrationslägret Auschwitz, därför firas dagen som Förintelsens minnesdag.
Det är varje människas skyldighet att arbeta för att det som hände under Förintelsen inte upprepas.
Alla kan göra små val som visar att alla människor har ett värde och måste respekteras. Det är inte en fråga för stormakterna och deras ledare utan för oss alla.

Besök Yad Vashems hemsida för mera information!
Du kan också bli medlem i Yad Vashems kristna avdelning: Christians Friends of Yad Vashem

Yad Vashems websida:
"On January 27, 1945, Soviet forces liberated the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, discovering the largest Nazi killing center in Europe. Auschwitz has become a symbol of the Holocaust, representing the depths of man's inhumanity to man. Eighteen governments have legislated January 27 as an annual Holocaust Memorial Day. In November 2005, the United Nations passed a resolution to mark January 27 as an international day of commemoration to honor the victims of the Holocaust, and urged member states to develop educational programs to impart the memory of this tragedy to future generations. Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremonies will be organized on the international, national, regional and local levels, including in universities and schools."







Premiärminister Netanyahus tal till Knesset med anledning av minnesdagen för förintelsen:
PM Netanyahu's address to the Knesset: International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Have the lessons of the Holocaust been learned?
For us, the Jewish people, the answer is yes.For the rest of the world, the answer is no, or at least not yet.

Analys av innehållet i Al-Jazeera dokumenten (uppdaterad)

En analys av dokumenten som Al-Jazeera publicerat skriven av Herb Keinon kan läsas här: Analysis: Reading between the PaliLeaks lines
Enligt Keinon: Inte mycket ny information, oklart varifrån informationen kommer och hur den redigerats och en oroväckande reaktion från de palestinska ledarnas sida: Vi har inte gjort några eftergifter och kommer aldrig att göra några.

Uppdaterar med några länkar:
SCOOP: Explaining How The "Palestine Papers" Story Is A Fabrication That Teaches Us The Truth (Barry Rubin)

The selling of the 'Palestine Papers' (Jackson Diehl)

Wailing over the Palestine Papers (Benny Morris)

Wiki-Palestine (Michael Freund)

Herb Keinon:

"It is not clear if, or how, "The Palestine Papers" were edited, and very little new information can be found in the documents.

- First, WikiLeaks it ain’t.
While many of the US diplomatic cables published on the WikiLeaks site were written by relatively objective US observers in capitals around the world, the PaliLeaks documents were written by a party to the negotiations – invested in the negotiations – who present a Palestinian perspective of events that transpired.

- It is not clear if, or how, the documents were edited.
With the WikiLeaks cables, one reads the entire US diplomatic cable, complete with all the diplomatic shorthand (like GOI for Government of Israel).Here, the reader does not know exactly what kind of document one is reading – whether it is the full document, or if not, what has been left out.

- The Israeli public does not pay enough serious attention to what the Palestinians say.
One of the glaring elements in the documents has to do with the Palestinian position on Ma’aleh Adumim.Since a parade of Israeli politicians, from Yossi Sarid and Yossi Beilin on the Left, to Ehud Olmert and Ariel Sharon in the Center, have said in the past that Ma’aleh Adumim will be part of Israel in any future agreement, there is a tendency among the Israeli public to believe that this is indeed what eventually will transpire.Read these documents, however, and it becomes clear that this given – it even appeared in the Geneva Accords – is no given at all.

- There is not that much new there, though just a little.
After the dust settles, it will become apparent that there is nothing earth-shatteringly new in the documents. That the Palestinians were willing to let Israel annex the Jewish neighborhoods over the Green Line, with the exception of Har Homa, is not new, nor a sign – whatever Al-Jazeera and the Guardian would have one believe – of unsurpassed flexibility.This was discussed at Camp David, and enshrined in the Clinton parameter formula – that the Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem would be under Israeli sovereignty, and the Arab neighborhoods under Palestinian sovereignty.It was part of the 2003 Geneva Accord, as well as one of the principles of the 2002 agreement drawn up by Ami Ayalon and Sari Nusseibeh.If anything, the Palestinian demand in the documents for Har Homa is a step back from this benchmark.

- The PA reaction shows we’re moving backward.
Rather than taking the publication of the documents and saying loudly and proudly that this shows a willingness to give up on maximalist Palestinian demands, the PA reaction was the complete opposite. It was to deny everything, and to say that the PA would not give in an inch.And that’s a problem."
Läs hela artikeln i Jerusalem Post här.

Al-Jazeera kopierar WikiLeaks

Al-Jazeera säger sig ha kommit över dokument som ger information om fredsförhandlingarna mellan Israel och palestinierna de senaste tio åren.
Palestinierna är arga och säger att dokumenten är falska och missvisande.
FN:s kordinator för fredsprocessen i Mellanöstern Robert Serry verkar stöda den palestinska åsikten om dokumenten.
En rolig detalj i Serrys uttalande är att han uppmanar båda parterna att vara redo för fortsatta fredsförhandlingar och han prisar de palestinska ledarna för deras positiva inställning till fredsförhandlingarna. Man kan fråga sig var Serry varit det senaste året när de palestinska ledarna envist vägrat komma till förhandlingsbordet.

'Leaked documents confuse each side's stance' (Jerusalem Post)
The Palestinian Authority on Monday accused the Al-Jazeera TV network of “fabrications,” while the ruling Fatah faction in the West Bank called for boycotting the Qatari-owned station.The attacks on Al-Jazeera came after the station revealed documents that showed that PA negotiators had offered far-reaching territorial concessions in Jerusalem.

Serry: Leaked papers 'convey an inaccurate impression'