As Electronic Intifada’s Ali Abunimah clearly points out in that Al Jazeera interview, it was truly a hollow victory for the Palestinians, just another cheap gesture by Abu Mazen…!
Indeed, when the Palestinians awoke this morning they were greeted with this bit of ‘cheer’…
Israel plans to build thousands of new homes for its settlers in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, an Israeli official said on Friday, defying a U.N. vote that implicitly recognised Palestinian statehood there.
The United States, one of Israel’s few allies in Thursday’s battle at the world forum, called “counterproductive” the construction blueprint, which included a stretch of land east of Jerusalem that Palestinians fear would bisect much of the West Bank and choke off their access to the holy city.
The Israeli official said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conservative government had authorised the construction of 3,000 housing units and ordered “preliminary zoning and planning work for thousands of units in Jerusalem and settlement blocs including Maale Adumim and E1″.
Israel froze much of its activities in E1 under pressure from former U.S. President George W. Bush and the area has been under the scrutiny of his successor, Barack Obama.
The official, who did not want to be named, would not elaborate on the plans. But Israeli media said the government saw the settlement expansion as hammering home its rejection of Thursday’s upgrade by the U.N. General Assembly of the Palestinians to “non-member observer state” from “entity”…
…Yesterday, the general assembly voted to admit Palestine as a state with observer status. Despite assurances to the contrary, the new state is likely to undermine the status of the PLO at the UN. Whereas the PLO represented all Palestinians, the PA only represents West Bankers. This recognition has diminished the Palestinian state geographically from 43% of historic Palestine granted by the partition plan to less than 18% of it (possibly 10%, if we factor annexations, settlements, military areas, etc), and has reduced Palestinians from 12 million people to 2.4 million West Bankers, 40% of whom are refugees.
The vote is essentially an update of the partition plan of 1947, whereby the UN now grants Jewish colonists and their descendants 80-90% of Palestine, leaving the rest to the native inhabitants, and it risks abrogating the refugees’ right of return.
A small minority native to the West Bank (about 1.3 million people), for whom the PA claims to speak, will gain UN status as a state under occupation, while the Palestinian refugees in the West Bank (1 million people), along with six million other refugees, risk losing their right of return.
By recognising a diminished Palestinian state, the vote effectively abandons the UN understanding of the “Jewish state” as one that has no right to discriminate against or ethnically cleanse non-Jews. The new arrangement confers the blessing of this international forum on the Israeli understanding of what a “Jewish state” entails– namely, the actually existing legal discrimination and ethnic cleansing practised by Israel –as acceptable. That this occurred on 29 November, the date of the partition plan, reiterates this date as one of continuing defeats for the Palestinians who continue to suffer from Israel’s colonial laws, and repeats UN guilt in denying Palestinians their rights not to suffer dispossession and racism. The Palestinians, however, whose majority is not represented by the PA, will no more heed this new partition plan than they did the last one and will continue to resist Israeli colonialism until it comes to an end and until Israel becomes a state for all its citizens with equal rights to all regardless of national, religious, or ethnic background…
Detonation would disrupt all the enemy’s technological devices, Sunday Times reports…
Israel could destroy Iran’s electric network with a specially designed electromagnetic bomb in the event of a military conflict between the countries, The Sunday Times reported on Sunday.
An electromagnetic bomb of this sort would be detonated above the ground, creating an electromagnetic pulse that would “disrupt all the technological devices working on the ground,” an American expert was quoted as saying to the London paper.
The use of the new technology by Israel was brought up in discussions regarding a possible attack on Tehran’s nuclear facilities, the report claimed. Such a move would send Iran “back to the stone age,” the British paper said.
This kind of bomb would operate based on the nonlethal technology of gamma rays, the report explained. The outburst of energy would “fry” electric devices and currents around the source of the explosion.
First of all, the Electromagnetic Pulse necessary to ‘knock Iran into the stone age’ would require a nuclear device detonated hundreds of kilometers above Iran, considering that there are no other means of delivering such a blow…! So, in essence, Bibi will preemptively Nuke Iran, so Israel won’t be Nuked some time down the line…?
Now, I do like the fact that there is indeed some Western pushback surfacing…
The U.S. and Israel are disagreeing publicly over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s push to set “red lines” and deadlines for dealing with Iran’s nuclear activities.
An Israeli government official said yesterday that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s comment in an interview Sept. 9 with Bloomberg Radio that the U.S. is “not setting deadlines” for Iran won’t help deter its nuclear program, and may even put the Iranians at ease. {…}
…In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said yesterday that it’s “not useful” to be setting deadlines for negotiations or red lines. President Barack Obama previously has said that Iran won’t be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon, she said, declining to elaborate.
Clinton said in the interview that economic sanctions are building pressure on Iran, and the U.S. still considers negotiations as “by far the best approach” to prevent the Islamic Republic from developing nuclear weapons.
Asked if the Obama administration will lay out sharper “red lines” for Iran or state explicitly the consequences of failing to negotiate a deal with world powers by a certain date, Clinton said, “We’re not setting deadlines.” {…}
…Clinton has said that Iran, which depends on oil for more than half of its government revenue, is losing billions of dollars from lost oil sales due to sanctions. {…}
The U.S., European allies and Israel accuse Iran of seeking an atomic bomb capability. In its report last month, the IAEA said it “is unable to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran, and therefore to conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities.” The IAEA said it hadn’t detected any material being diverted from Iran’s 16 declared nuclear facilities.
Interestingly, despite the fact that the IAEA can’t verify the diversion of nuclear material, the Neo/Ziocons must press on…
The United Nations nuclear watchdog needs to admit that it cannot determine whether Iran is building an atomic weapon and that the U.N. Security Council must take stronger action, analysts say. The International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) board of governors’ meeting could result in escalating the conflict with Iran, said David Albright, an arms-control expert at the Institute for Science and International Security.
“The IAEA has a job to do, and they need to worry about their credibility as an institution,” Albright said. “So they have to move this forward and that means escalate it. And unfortunately that increases the risk of military action.”
Yukiya Amano, director general of the IAEA, expressed frustration with Iran on Monday, saying that months of delays have stymied inspectors’ efforts to visit the Parchin military complex southeast of Tehran.
The IAEA believes Iran may have experimented there with blast tests used to trigger a nuclear charge. Meanwhile, Israel has said time is running out for diplomatic efforts to verify Iran’s nuclear intentions.
Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, such as energy production.
“We need to stop going around in circles,” Amano said of months-long fruitless talk between the IAEA and Iran. “This is frustrating.” {…}
…”The IAEA’s job is to warn the Security Council of threats to peace,” Jeffrey said. If the IAEA’s report “is strong and damning, the Security Council will be under pressure to implement actions or sanctions against Iran.”
“This is headed for another serious debate and another serious and agonizing negotiation in the Security Council about what further serious steps and sanctions to impose on Iran,” Jeffrey said.
Albright said there is little choice now but to move the matter to a higher level.
“The IAEA has done everything it can, and it should wash its hands of the whole thing,” Albright said.
Now, to say that Yukiya Amano and David Albright are acting in everybody’s best interests would be a stretch…!
All this bluster by Bibi is designed to distract from what’s really happening in the West Bank…
During protests in the West Bank on Monday, Palestinians adapted a protest anthem made popular by their neighbors in Syria last year to call for their president and prime minister to step down.
The original song, “Yalla Erhal Ya Bashar,” or “Come on Bashar, Leave,” calling for the departure of President Bashar al-Assad, was written last year in Syria. At a protest in the West Bank on Monday, protesters changed the words of the tune, to focus on President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
As Yousef Munayyer, the director of The Palestine Center in Washington, observed on Twitter, the borrowing completed a circle in a way.
Palestinians have long taught other Arabs art of protest. W/ adaptation of #Syria protest chant, we’ve come full circle…
What’s funny is that Abu Mazen, who has long since been exposed as a corrupt Israeli tool, and most of Fatah for that matter, whom all are living on borrowed time, is starting to feel the sting…
…If the United States insists on micromanaging Iran’s domestic politics to produce exactly the kind of interlocutor it wants to deal with, it will fail. In the process, Washington will continue to miss opportunities to do what it so manifestly needs to do, for America’s own interests—to come to terms with the Islamic Republic as it is, not as those radically disconnected from Iranian reality might wish it to be.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that his government’s decision to accelerate settlement building was Israel’s fundamental right, not punishment for the Palestinians joining UNESCO.
The Israeli cabinet approved the building of some 2,000 homes in Maale Adummim, Efrat and East Jerusalem settlements on Tuesday after UNESCO voted to accept Palestine as a full member in the cultural agency.
“We build in Jerusalem because it is our right and our obligation; not as punishment but as a basic right of our people to build its eternal capital,” Netanyahu told members of parliament on Wednesday.
“Jerusalem will never return to the state it was in on the eve of the Six Day War,” Netanyahu said, denying that the settlement plan could be construed as punitive…
So that makes it all A-Okay, Bibi…?
Now, being an equal dispenser of scorn where appropriate… This truly pisses me off to no end…
The PLO will not apply to join any more international organizations but will focus on full membership of the United Nations, the Palestinian Authority minister of foreign affairs said Thursday…
…If the bid fails, the PLO will keep applying for membership until Palestine is accepted in the UN, al-Malki said.
The PLO will not turn to the General Assembly, which can upgrade Palestinian representation to that of an observer state, the minister said.
“We do not want, after all of these struggles, sacrifices, and efforts by the entire Palestinian people, to accept an observer state in the United Nations. We will not accept less than we deserve: a full member state.”
Al-Malki said efforts to win votes in the Security Council were ongoing and that he would join a Palestinian delegation in New York for the council’s meeting on Nov. 11.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday that Palestinian efforts to join other UN agencies were “not beneficial for Palestine and not beneficial for anybody.”
The UNESCO vote and even Observer Status puts your foot in the door for the ICC at The Hague…! Wtf, are ya talking about, Al-Maliki and Ban…? That is the real point of this whole exercise…!
Now, moving along to the more pressing issue at hand…
Thousands gather to welcome back president from New York after delivering UN bid as Abbas tells crowds no peace talks until “complete halt” on Israeli settlements.
I only wish I could share in that euphoria for Abu Mazen’s last gasp at some sort of redemption…!
Actually, as I’ve mentioned a few times, Abu Mazen’s strongest trump card with Bibi is the dissolution of the P.A., and, I have to agree with much of what +972′s Roi Maor had to say today…
Quartet mum on Jewish state, set new negotiation deadline
The international mediators scrapped plans to endorse a Jewish state. That was probably a wise choice. Right now, the threat to dissolve the PA, if credible, could be much more significant than moves on Palestinian statehood…
Something of which I’d mentioned in my last, brief post…
Now, also remember that the ‘Jewish State’ requirement is the latest wrinkle that Bibi had introduced into the farcical ‘Negotiations’… Netanyahu: No peace without negotiations
Now would be the perfect time for Abu Mazen to bail, and, force Bibi to pony up for the cost of the entire Occupation…! After all, Abu Mazen is already hard pressed to pay all those P.A. employees’ salaries…!
According to Alquds newspaper, on September 14, President Mahmoud Abbas had a confrontational meeting with Tony Blair, the current Quartet envoy. During the meeting, which took place in Amman, Abbas presented Blair with a possible plan B should the Palestinian UN bid fails
Alquds quoted Abbas as saying, “I will return to the Palestinian leadership, which will make a decision on whether the time has come for Israel to re-assume its responsibility as an occupying authority.” He also said, “We will not keep the Palestinian Authority as a name.”
Yesterday, the Palestinian Authority president called upon the international community to recognize the right of the Palestinian people to an independent state.
Abbas’s speech at the UN hinted at this consideration when he said, “This settlement policy threatens to also undermine the structure of the Palestinian National Authority and even end its existence.”
This is the reality that is absent from many Israelis minds. The two-state solution is not going to last forever. Abbas and the PLO leaders understand that they cannot continue sailing in a sinking ship. The two-state solution is a sinking ship and only a few are trying save it. We are at a historic moment that would define the future of the Israeli-Palestinian relationship.
Alquds also reported that Tony Blair presented President Abbas with a draft proposal to end the peace process stalemate. However Abbas was quick to reject Blair’s proposal for its bias toward Israel.
The proposal demanded Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, which is something the PLO has rejected. It also referred to the 1967 borders, but considered them unrealistic and should be finalized in an agreement between the two parties.
The proposal failed to mention the settlements in any form, but it did include a call for the Palestinian leadership to drop its quest for membership at the United Nations.
According to Alquds, President Abbas asked Blair if the proposal was written by one of Netanyahu’s aides.
‘President Abbas asked Blair if the proposal was written by’…
My very first YouToobz comment evah, was on the WH’s official channel’s UN speech, where I’d asked if ‘AIPAC had written that blather’…! My little contribution to the ’cause’….! ;-)
‘The Scream’: Israel Blasts Protesters With Sonic Gun
Flashlights with puke rays. Mobile microwave pain beams. The world of less-than-lethal weapons is filled with exotic and just plain weird devices to annoy and thwart enemies. Now, Israel’s throwing its hat in the ring with another, called “the Scream.”
The Jerusalem Post reports that Israeli forces unleashed a new(ish) less-than-lethal weapon on stone throwers at a violent checkpoint demonstration on Thursday. The Scream is a vehicle-mounted sonic blaster that shoots repeated pulses of sound at targets, leaving them dizzy and nauseous.
The rollout of the Scream, according to the Post, is part of a new counter-demonstration effort led by the IDF’s Maj. Gen. Avi Mizrahi. Mizrahi is trying to use more less-than-lethal technology against Palestinian protesters to cut down the risk of an accidental death creating a rallying cry at a volatile time in the region…
…Israel less-lethal includes a few choice weapons. The “Thunder Generator” is a sonic blaster so loud you could actually die from it. The thunder machine uses liquefied petroleum gas to make loud explosions — up to 100 per minute — like a repeating flashbang grenade. It works up to 50 meters away, but stand within 10 meters and Thunder’s makers warn it can permanently injure or even kill you.
Other technologies at Israel’s disposal include the “skunk bomb,” effectively a large stink bomb that leaves the affected smelling like sewage. Targets who’ve been skunked have reported that the smell is hard to remove, even after a shower…
Palestinian Authority approached Israeli companies to purchase equipment ahead of expected demonstrations in West Bank; IDF recommended approval a few months ago to help PA deal with unrest.
…The ministers involved gave their approval at the beginning of September.
Now, the PA is working furiously to buy the equipment, but seems to be having difficulty procuring the goods because time is so short. The IDF will finish its preparations this week for a possible escalation in the territories. The Central Command will receive reinforcements of a couple of regular infantry battalions tomorrow, as part of its preliminary preparations against violent demonstrations, in the IDF’s overall plan named “Summer Seeds.”
At this stage, an additional 20 percent of forces are being added on the West Bank. The battalions have trained to deal with possible scenarios, including violent marches toward settlements, IDF checkpoints and major roads serving the Israeli population.
Now, pardon the hasbara spin, but, Arutz Sheva has this disturbing news…
PA ‘Offers’ Israel: Accept Demands or Face the UN
Abbas tries to climb off a high diplomatic tree and “offers” Israel previously refused non-starters in return for halting its UN ploy.
…However, the Palestinian Authority may be getting cold feet. Italy warned Wednesday that a bid to the United Nations would be a ”mistake” and cause “an unpleasant” situation for Western countries.
Qatar, which serves as president of the upcoming General Assembly session, said Wednesday that no formal request for recognition has been made and that it is not usual for such a request to be filed just as the General Assembly begins its fall session next week.
Qatar said that any consideration of a request, if filed, is not likely to occur before October, which would put an end to the hullabaloo about riots and violence later this month because of the failure of the Palestinian Authority to win all of its territorial and political demands.
Staying with Arutz Sheva, it would be laughable at how much spin could be put on words, if those words weren’t so tragic…
Edelstein: PA Wants Apartheid
Public Diplomacy Minister reacts to PLO official’s statement that no Jews will be allowed in ‘Palestine’.
…“After endless campaigns of delegitimization against Israel, and attempts to brand it as an apartheid state, it turns out that the Palestinians are the ones interested in apartheid,” accused Edelstein.
“I wonder if Areikat’s statement that the two nations need to live separately means that one million Israeli Arabs are not of his people.”
The Weekly Standard’s John McCormack reported that Areikat claimed the state of “Palestine” would tolerate minorities. “Asked by the Daily Caller’s Jamie Weinstein if, following the establishment of a Palestinian state, ‘there would be no Jews in the West Bank or Gaza,’ Areikat answered in the affirmative. ‘We have to be separated, we have to work on our own national identities,’ he said.”
Don’t ya just love a good RW Media Feeding Frenzy…?
One last Must Read link penned by Antiwar’s Alison Weir…
US Ambassador: Support for Israel Drives All US Mideast Policies
…Ambassador Daniel Shapiro clarified what drives US policies: “The test of every policy the Administration develops in the Middle East is whether it is consistent with the goal of ensuring Israel’s future as a secure, Jewish, democratic state. That is a commitment that runs as a common thread through our entire government.”
Today, the Israeli Interior Minister, Eli Yishai gave the final authorization to build 1,600 apartments in East Jerusalem and will approve 2,700 more in a few days time…! As Al Jazeera further reported…
Israel’s interior minister has given final approval for the construction of 1,600 new settler homes in occupied East Jerusalem, his spokesman said.
Eli Yishai will also approve 2,700 more homes shortly, Roei Lachmanovich, the spokesman, told the AFP news agency on Thursday.
Palestinians have refused to take part in peace talks while the Israeli government continues to construct settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Lachmanovich said the construction of 1,600 units woud take place in the Ramat Shlomo neighbourhood in northern East Jerusalem.
“He has approved 1,600 homes in Ramat Shlomo and will approve 2,000 more in Givat Hamatos and 700 in Pisgat Zeev,” Lachmanovich said, referring to two additional israeli neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem.
Lachmanovich said the final approvals were “economic” not political, linking the interior minister’s decision to demonstrations over housing prices and the cost of living that have rocked Israel in recent weeks.
“These are being approved because of the economic crisis here in Israel, they are looking for a place to build in Jerusalem, and these will help,” he said.
“This is nothing political, it’s just economic.”
…Lachmanovich, said the new apartments were necessary to address a housing shortage in the city. “There’s always something pending,” he said, when asked about the timing of the approvals…
…Eli Yishai, a member of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, also linked that construction project to the protest movement, saying it would help address the “real estate crisis”.
Wtf…? Of course it’s political…!
Btw, Raw Story gave the lowdown on the WH’s ‘official’ response to that announcement…
U.S. urges Israel, Palestinians not to jeopardize talks
The White House on Thursday urged Israel and the Palestinians to avoid actions that jeopardize efforts to restart stalled peace talks as both sides feuded over a planned settlement expansion.
Spokesman Jay Carney ducked a question on whether Israel’s approval for the construction of 1,600 new settler homes in east Jerusalem would make it harder to convince the Palestinians not to seek statehood at the United Nations.
“Our position on that has not changed which is that we urge both sides not to take any action that makes it harder for the two sides to come together and negotiate,” he told reporters…
I swear the WH is as worthless as teats on a boar hog…!
Anyways, speaking of worthless teats, the Steny Hoyer ‘Dog and Pony’ show traveled to Ramallah and a meetup with Abu Mazen, hilarity soon ensued…
Abbas Tells US Lawmakers he wants State Empty of Settlements
…The delegation, led by Senator Steny Hoyer, is on an official visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territory.(sic)
Abbas reviewed Palestinian policy based on reaching a settlement for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict based on the two-state solution and the 1967 borders, which would lead to the establishment of the Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
He said that the security of the upcoming Palestinian state will be the responsibility of a third party made of NATO forces with US command.
He stressed that the Palestinians’ first, second and third choice is to establish the Palestinian state through negotiations, stressing that settlements contradict with the peace process.
He added that going to the United Nations in September to seek recognition of a Palestinian state within 1967 borders does not contradict with the essence of the peace process.
He said it is not a unilateral measure and does not aim at isolating Israel or to delegitimize it, but aims at promoting the two-state solution and sends an encouraging message in the event that Israel’s intention to go back to negations is serious and supported by the international community.
Political advisor to President Abbas, Nimer Hammad, told WAFA after the meeting that “the delegation raised a number of questions concerning the Jewish state issue, the Palestinian refugees and Fatah and Hamas reconciliation, in which the president emphasized the known Palestinian stance concerning these issues.”
I’m sure Steny just adored that little bit about a full-time US/Nato presence in Palestine…!
Hoyer: Abbas, Fayyad sent mixed messages on UN bid
PA prime minister tells visiting US lawmakers no final decision yet made on statehood bid, while Abbas talks as if deal is done…
…“Fayyad said that the decision to go to the UN had not been made, in other words had not been finalized, which we were pleased to hear,” US Congressman Steny Hoyer (D-MA), the head of the delegation, told The Jerusalem Post shortly after the talks.
“Then we met with Abbas for about an hour and a half, and the discussions were different from Fayyad in the sense that he talked throughout as if the decision had been made, and that they were going to the UN,” Hoyer said…
…Hoyer said that the delegation “indicated” that a PA decision to go to the UN “would be unwise and that the Congress would be very concerned about that happening, and might take action.”
When asked what kind of action, Hoyer said “funding.”
Telecommunications access in Gaza was severed late Tuesday, cutting off Internet, mobile phones and international landline connections for hours, a Ma’an correspondent reported…
…Residents of Gaza near the border with Israel said army bulldozers were seen operating shortly before telecommunications went offline. [...]
Al-Aker said bulldozers struck several cables, the first of which was located eight meters [26 ft.] underground. Backup cables 20 meters deep [66 ft.] also sustained damage, eventually taking the entire network offline…
Now, aren’t you reassured that our US tax dollars aren’t being harmed…?
House members travel to Israel, courtesy of AIPAC lobby, not taxpayers
A record 81 House members, about a fifth of the chamber, are spending a week in Israel this month, courtesy of a foundation set up by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobby.
It’s apparently the largest number of lawmakers in the 20 years or so that these trips have been undertaken. They are run every other August in nonelection years. A group of 26 Democrats — the senior member is House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (Md.) — is already there.
And 55 Republican members , traveling in two groups, will take week-long jaunts to the Holy Land. About 47 of them are freshmen — that’s half of the new Republicans and, according to the Jerusalem Post, it will be the first trip to the country for many of them. And probably ditto for many of their spouses and staffers…
…Steny Hoyer said Wednesday that the Obama administration would use its veto at the UN Security Council if Palestinians move forward with a bid for recognition in September.
…Meeting with Israel’s president Shimon Peres, Hoyer handed over a signed resolution affirming “unyielding” support for Israel and calling on the Palestinians to return to negotiations, The Jerusalem Post reported.
Hoyer said the resolution put the US on record as being opposed to a United Nations unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood, because such a declaration was not a “positive step,” the Post report said.
The US would use its right of veto in the UN Security Council if necessary, he said.
In response, Peres said he would “never forget this bi-partisan support.”
President Peres tells visiting U.S. congressional delegation that both sides understand that negotiations must resume before UN General Assembly session next month.
Meanwhile, in Israel, the J14 movement moves into it’s 4th week…!
Now, this has got to be the most awesome Haaretz headline I’ve ever read…
Netanyahu: I understand my views on Israel’s economic policy need to change
Professor Manuel Trajtenberg, head of the experts’ panel who will talk with protest leaders, stresses to PM that he must change his priorities and make a real commitment for change.
Now, Al Jazeera’s intrepid Gregg Carlstrom asks the real burning question…
Will the Israeli left talk about occupation?
Many protesters are reluctant to talk about the occupation and settlements for fear of dividing a unified movement.
Honestly, I think the Israeli Left is still muddled and mired in the muck that is the Occupation…! I was astounded by the tone deafness to the plight of the Palestinians, and, even the other non-Jews, residing in Israel, in today’s horrid, Haaretz editorial… Between London and Tel Aviv…
The U.S. House Foreign Affairs chairwoman, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., released a statement saying:
According to existing U.S. law, such a hybrid government cannot be a recipient of U.S. taxpayer funds because the law stipulates that the PA government must recognize the Jewish state of Israel’s right to exist, among other things. Therefore, in order to implement existing law, the U.S. must end assistance to the Palestinian Authority.
The congresswoman’s sentiments were echoed by Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., the top Democrat on the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia and Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., the highest-ranking Democrat on the House foreign aid subcommittee, as the Washington Post reports. The White House too reiterated that Hamas is a “terrorist organization.”
“The purported deal, which does not require Hamas to accept Israel’s right to exist, or the binding nature of prior Palestinian commitments, or even to require Hamas to temporarily forego violence against Israel (as if it were some kind barbaric of addiction, or compulsion), is a recipe for failure, mixed with violence, leading to disaster. It is a ghastly mistake that I fear will be paid for in the lives of innocent Israelis.
“Rather than seizing the dynamic of this amazing Arab Spring to simply push for national elections and constitutional reform, the leadership of the Palestinian Authority has once again naively decided to test the trustworthiness of a bloody-handed bunch of terrorist want-to-be theocrats. While this step may be popular among Palestinians, many of whom wish to preserve the fantasy that they can have peace and so-called ‘resistantance’(also known in English as terrorism), the reality is that they can’t.
“As in prior cases, the United States will be compelled by both law and decency to withhold any assistance that could fall into the hands or control or even partial control of anyone reporting to, or belonging to a terrorist entity, as is Hamas. And in the current political climate, even assistance that would otherwise have gone to parts of the Palestinian Authority untainted by terrorism may no longer be salvageable.”
“For months, President Abbas has refused partnership with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in pursuing peace negotiations. It now appears that he is writing off partnership with the United States in helping to govern and develop Palestinian society.”
“It’s certainly historic leadership. Just not the good kind.”
What a fool tool…!
Now, one of the under-reported stories, at least in our Israeli-centric MSM, fundamental to this whole push for ‘Unity’, is the fact that both, Hamas and Fatah, are being forced to the ‘table’, by the Palestinians themselves…! Do you seriously think Hamas and Fatah are doing this willingly? They’ve tried and failed many times already…!
Arab Spring Pushes Palestinian Rivals Hamas and Fatah to Reconcile
…Changes in the region were key in pushing both sides to the table. While Fatah’s Abbas has sought to bridge the divide in recent months, he was motivated by the failure of his talks with the US and Israel to deliver tangible progress, says Abusada, pointing to the US veto of a UN Security Council resolution that would have condemned Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank. Fatah was also facing popular pressure for reconciliation. [...]
Gad says the upheaval currently under way in Syria, which hosts Hamas’s politburo, was likely a factor pushing the organization to the table. And it also couldn’t ignore the impatience of Gazans, who were tired of living under the blockade Israel imposed after Hamas took control of Gaza. As the wave of protests swept the region, Gazans organized protests of their own against Hamas, which were swiftly put down by Hamas security forces.
But the initial signs on the ground in Gaza were not positive, says Abusada. When Gazans went to a central Gaza City square to celebrate the announcement, they were dispersed by baton-wielding Hamas policemen. “That makes me wonder whether Hamas on the ground and Al Qassam is going to accept this and is ready to implement it,” he says.
…The army currently views the accord as no more than an agreement in principle that still lacks details regarding security matters, announced primarily to appease the Palestinian street.
Israel is expected to demand that the international community boycott the new Palestinian government if it does not meet the conditions the Quartet has set for Hamas.
While there’s some promise in this new push for Unity, it would seem that the first real blossoms of this Arab Spring are finally about to bear fruit for the Gazans…
Egyptian FM tells Al-Jazeera that preparations are already underway to permanently open Rafah border crossing, which would allow goods and people in and out of Gaza with no Israeli supervision.
Ma’an delivered the joyous Easter tidings to the Gazans today…
Gaza crossing open for limited goods
Israeli authorities opened Gaza’s Kerem Shalom crossing Sunday to allow the limited entry of goods and humanitarian aid into the besieged coastal enclave.
Palestinian liaison official Raed Fattouh told Ma’an that 110 trucks of goods were expected to enter the Gaza Strip.
The official, who coordinates deliveries of goods, added that two truckloads of carnations harvested in Gaza would be exported to Europe via the same crossing. Limited quantities of domestic-use gas will also be allowed in the Gaza Strip.
Earlier in April, Israeli authorities closed the Kerem Shalom crossing for seven consecutive days. It is the only terminal operating since Israel permanently closed all other crossings.
Anyways folks, to put it in the proper perspective, that would be 110 truckloads to feed 1.5 Million beseiged Gazans…
I really hadn’t planned on posting today, but, when I was perusing the I/P headlines, as I’m so wont to do…! This HuffPoo steaming pile of poo had splattered all over me…! Imagine that…? Anyhoo, it’d started off pretty innocuously…
The ‘responsibility to protect’ is currently being debated in American policy circles. Do wealthy nations have an obligation to intervene when innocents are being slaughtered by their own governments? What should the role of Western powers be in the current Arab uprisings against tyranny?
For Jews and Christians, the Bible already decided this question thousands of years ago with a celebrated verse that appears in this week’s Torah reading: “Thou shalt not sit idly by the blood of thy neighbor.” (Leviticus 19:16) If someone is drowning we must jump in the water to save them. And if peaceful demonstrators are being mowed down by tyrants then we must prevent these monsters from killing them.
Yet today many Jews are weary of the ‘R2P’ for fear it can be invoked against Israel in its battle against Hamas, even though the analogy is ludicrous. Israel is a law-abiding, flourishing democracy while Hamas is a terrorist organization committed to Israel’s destruction. We Jews dare not override the fundamental human responsibility to protect the innocent for fear that Israel-haters will subvert the principle’s intent and use it to prevent the Jewish state from its legitimate right to protect its citizens from terrorism.
Oh Snap…! Sorry, Rabbi, but you’re dead wrong on the ‘real facts on the ground’…!
As an Op-ed in today’s Haaretz had so blatantly pointed out…
Israel, remember: Gaza will be part of Palestinian state
If the Palestinian state is recognized, Abbas will be responsible for what happens in Gaza, if he does not resign first. There will no longer be room for two governments.
…Apparently, that “nest of terror” is a focus of international interest no less than it is the spring that activates Israeli politics and the military. Gilad Shalit is being held in Gaza, Iron Dome was developed and became successful − if that is success − thanks to Gaza, and the expected flotilla in May that is “threatening” Israel’s security is heading for Gaza. The supreme test of the relations between Egypt and Israel also goes through Gaza, as we tensely watch to see whether the new regime in Egypt will open the Rafah crossing and end the closure that symbolized Egyptian and Israeli security collaboration. As there is a lack of any other diplomatic process, Gaza and the Hamas leadership hold the veto over any move the PA will want to make.
If the United Nations decides to recognize the Palestinian state, Gaza will be an inseparable part of it. That is what the Oslo Accords say, and what Abbas will insist on, and no international body will claim differently. Any country that wants to recognize a Palestinian state and establish embassies there cannot avoid opening consulates in Gaza, and any country that wants to establish the foundations of its economy, free trade and freedom of movement will not be able to agree to Gaza’s continuing to be sealed off.
But Gaza, as a region of the Palestinian state, is also Abbas’ problem. He understood this very well, when, less than a year ago, he opposed Salam Fayyad’s vision of seeking UN recognition. For four years, since the Hamas takeover of Gaza, Abbas has been trying to overpower the Strip and get it to agree to reconciliation− on his terms.
I always found it fascinating that Hamas was created by Mossad as a counterbalance to Arafat’s Fatah, yet, Fatah’s Abbas is now the only real tool for Israeli ambitions…! But I digress…
Speaking of Haaretz Op-eds, Gideon Levy penned another gem today…
At home and abroad, Israelis ignore the rest of the world
You might expect such a tourism-loving people to open its eyes and ears to what can be seen and heard around the globe. Instead, we keep walling ourselves in against what the world thinks and feels.
…You could expect something different to come out of all this welcome travel. These trips were supposed to provide some openness, modesty, curiosity and knowledge. They could have taught us that despite everything we’re told, the world is not entirely against us and we’re not always the world’s chief concern; that there’s a world without Israel and it’s rich with culture and lessons. They were supposed to expand our knowledge and understanding that sometimes we too should listen to what the world has to say.
But we insist: International law doesn’t concern us, and neither do international institutions and organizations. We don’t care about world opinion, or the opinions of other governments, and we don’t even want to hear about the lessons from other nations’ pasts.
There have been closed-in nations that traveled here and there. But this combination of complete apathy to the world and endless traveling around it is a truly Israeli invention. Why? Because as the bumper sticker says, Israeli is best, bro.
Today,Mondoweiss had featured this very poignant tale of woe on Easter…
On Easter, spare a moment to think about the Christians in Jesus’s birthplace
…This year’s Easter celebrations will highlight, as they do every year, the effect Israel’s occupation regime has on Palestinian religious freedoms. A Christian tourist from the United States, Russia or Japan will have a better chance of spending Easter in Jerusalem than a Palestinian Christian from Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus. While tourists retrace Jesus’ footsteps in the Old City, Palestinians will be waiting for Israel to grant them a permit simply to visit the city. If they’re lucky enough to receive one, they will have to hope that the soldier at the checkpoint will not find an excuse to deny them
entry.
A few years ago, the Roman Catholic Emeritus Patriarch of the Holy Land, Michael Sabbah, observed that Israel should not insist on defining itself as a Jewish state because “if there is a state of one religion, other religions will naturally be discriminated against.” For more than 60 years, Israel has implemented policies that systematically discriminate against the Christian and Muslim populations of this land, beginning with the expulsion of over 700,000 Christian and Muslim Palestinians from their homes in historic Palestine during Israel’s creation in 1948. Across the country, churches and mosques were razed to the ground along with hundreds of entire Palestinian towns and villages. Following Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, Israeli authorities destroyed part of the Muslim Quarter in the Old City in order to expand the Jewish Quarter…
Now, as we’re supposed to ‘look forward’ with Easter and Pesach (Literally, to pass through, to pass over, to exempt or to spare.) We should reflect back upon a dated, albeit, awesome interview, Amy Goodman, had with the Haaretz’s intrepid Amira Hass, and the bold question she’d asked of Obama…
Israeli Journalist Amira Hass Asks Obama to Imagine Life as A Palestinian Under Occupation…
AMY GOODMAN: Well Amira, let me ask you, President Obama praised Netanyahu for the easing of the blockade. Can you talk about what that means?
AMIRA HASS: Perhaps Obama should ask himself if he would set aside in life of just getting chips and ketchup and Coca-Cola and not being allowed to produce, to create, to export, to send his daughters to university, to have visitors from outside—if this is the life that he thinks are suitable for human beings, then maybe all the Americans who voted for him made a mistake.
AMY GOODMAN: Well explain—
AMIRA HASS: Because the blockade here. Look, everybody talks about food when we come to this blockade. So now Israel is giving some more items of food, allowing the Palestinian merchants to buy some more items of food to get into Gaza and maybe some other stuff, I don’t know. But everything which is connected to raw materials for industry, for producing, anything connected to construction material is very limited. Nothing has changed. So adding ketchup, as somebody told me, does not make people feel that the blockade is over. Maybe now there are more types of shampoo that Israel will allow to enter. But anyway, in the past years, Palestinians have managed to bring in shampoo and some other hygiene products from Egypt through the tunnels. This is not the blockade.
The blockade is about being imprisoned in Gaza. This is the real closure. This is the real siege. And this is not going to change. Only today there was a court hearing of the petition of a Palestinian lawyer, woman lawyer, female lawyer, from Gaza who wants to complete her M.A. Studies at the University and the state does not allow her because they say when it comes to the passage, the movement of human beings, nothing has changed. They still do not allow or they haven’t been allowed anywhere for the past ten or fifteen years but evermore severely, they don’t allow the passage, the movement of people between Gaza and the West Bank except in some rare, very exceptional humanitarian cases. So this remains the same. This remains the same. also, Palestinians cannot export. Israel is talking only about bringing in products, not exporting. So even if Palestinians got raw materials, for example for textiles for furniture, the traditional industry that Gazans excel at, they are not allowed to export them. So they won’t earn a living. So Gaza is a huge prison where people are dependent on charity, some sort of charity. This situation is not going to change now, with Israel’s new measures.
I truly ‘hope’ for the Palestinians, but, I only see a dull flicker at the end of the smugglers’ tunnel…!
Happy Easter, and, God Bless to all…! Whatever God you pray (or not) to…! *g*
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