by David Bedein
Jerusalem - The health of PLO leader and Palestinian Authority Chairman Machmud Abbas s failing, and he is under observation and treatment in a hospital in Amman-reported yesterday Al-Quds Al-Arabi, sparking a wave of rumors pertaining to the Palestinian president’s health.
About a month ago the 75 year-old Abbas fell in his home and sustained light injuries.
Official Palestinian media outlets were quick to report that the president had only slipped, however it was later learned that the fall was caused due to dizziness and weakness from which he suffers.
It has further been learned that the PA chairman’s health has taken a turn for the worse, which is manifested mostly in weakness and dizziness, and due to these symptoms he is under medical observation in Jordan’s royal hospital.
Al-Quds Al-Arabi, which sees print in London, reported yesterday that Abbas has secretly undergone treatment at least six times in the past few weeks. That said, the paper was not able to say the precise malady from which the PA chairman was suffering. Among other things, the paper suggested that Abbas was suffering from high blood pressure as well as a severe inflammation of one of his organs.
The paper further reported on rumors circulating that the PA chairman has been suffering from a heart ailment. Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported that Abbas’s hospitalization in Jordan’s royal hospital took place in great secrecy, under a heavy cloak of security, which also related to the medical documents detailing his condition.
Abbas’s associates in Ramallah did not deny the reports yesterday. “In the past two or three weeks he has seemed far more exhausted, and his work pace has fallen,” they said. “In the past three weeks he has gone three times to Amman, in order to undergo medical tests.”
The same associates added that Abbas’s weakness may be due to the growing pace of his diplomatic efforts, and particularly the many trips he has taken overseas, during which he visited Latin America, Libya, Russia, Germany and the Far East.
Abbas is now in Egypt after having gone for a meeting with Hosni Mubarak. Abbas arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh, where the Egyptian president is recuperating from his own surgery a few weeks ago in Germany, and wished him a speedy recovery.
“We hope to see Abu Mazen healthy and fully functioning,” said sources in Ramallah yesterday and noted the fact that in the current situation of Palestinian politics, there was no visible alternative to the current chairman - neither in his political path nor in his international associations. His aides added that the PA chairman’s health was usually good, and that he suffers from no chronic diseases.
See this report in the Philadelphia Bulletin
See this report at Israel Behind the News
Showing posts with label Abbas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Abbas. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
When Obama Meets Netanyahu
by Daniel Pipes for danielpipes.org and cross-posted from the National Review Online
On learning that Barack Obama invited Binyamin Netanyahu to visit him on March 23, presumably to discuss such momentous topics as the timing of announcements of housing units in Jerusalem and urging him to make nice to the PLO's Mahmoud Abbas, I can't help imagine what I would say to the president.
Netanyahu has previously met Obama.
Faced with such logic, I hope Obama would put aside the Palestinian issue, at least temporarily.
See the original post on Daniel Pipes' Blog
See this and related posts at Israel Behind the News
On learning that Barack Obama invited Binyamin Netanyahu to visit him on March 23, presumably to discuss such momentous topics as the timing of announcements of housing units in Jerusalem and urging him to make nice to the PLO's Mahmoud Abbas, I can't help imagine what I would say to the president.
Netanyahu has previously met Obama.
1.Let's put aside Palestinian issue - which even the past year shows has little chance of a breakthrough.
2.Instead, better to focus on the supremely dangerous Iranian nuclear buildup.
3.It's too late for resolutions, agreements, or sanctions to deal with that buildup.
4.The only decision left is whether or not to take out the nuclear infrastructure.
5.American forces have the greatest capabilities and should undertake this operation.
6.If they don't, Israeli forces should do the job.
7.That will be difficult; the IDF intelligence, planes, and payloads may not be adequate.
8. Therefore, only Israel's submarine-based nuclear weapons can assure operational success.
9. No one wants that, so better the U.S. government take action.
Faced with such logic, I hope Obama would put aside the Palestinian issue, at least temporarily.
See the original post on Daniel Pipes' Blog
See this and related posts at Israel Behind the News
Friday, March 5, 2010
Special Report: THE INCITEMENT REPORT - Incitement by the Palestinian Authority and UNRWA, January-February 2010
by The Center for Near East Policy Research
“The Palestinian Authority is once again trying to divert attention from its problems
at home, and the best way to do this is [by] escalating tensions with Israel - the
Palestinian Authority’s policy since its inception after signing the Oslo Peace Accords in 1993.
“To distract attention from charges of financial corruption and embarrassing sexual
scandals, the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank has stepped up its anti-Israel
rhetoric. Allegations of ‘ethnic cleansing,’ ‘destruction and desecration of Islamic
religious sites,’ ‘apartheid,’ ‘racism,’ ‘land theft’ and ‘conducting medical experiments on Palestinian prisoners’ are directed every day toward Israel by Abbas and his top officials and spokesmen.
“These charges are often backed up by threats to launch a ‘third intifada’ or to resume suicide bombings against Israel.
“Given Abbas’s growing predicament, the likelihood of a new wave of violence in the
West Bank or the Gaza Strip seems to be more realistic than ever.”1
On February 26, 2010, PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad stated that the Al-Ibrahimi
mosque site in Hebron [the Machpelah] is “an inseparable part of Palestinian lands
occupied in 1967, as is the Gaza strip and eastern Jerusalem.”2
According to NAM News Network:
He further warned of an increased risk of violence as a result of the Israeli government decision on the sites, adding "we are all united against the decision of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and against the terror of the settlers.”5
Several sources reported that Fayyad accused Israel of having “annexed” the site.
On February 23, 2010, PA President Mahmoud Abbas referred to the decision of the
Netanyahu government to add the Machpelah in Hebron and Kever Rachel outside of
Bethlehem to the list of national Heritage sites as a “severe provocation” that could
lead to a “war of religions” and possibly a new intifada.7
The Palestinian Authority daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, reported on February 20, 2010,
that Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad praised the popular resistance in the
village of Bil'in at a rally marking six years of struggle against the separation fence.8
See the full report at Israel Behind the News
“The Palestinian Authority is once again trying to divert attention from its problems
at home, and the best way to do this is [by] escalating tensions with Israel - the
Palestinian Authority’s policy since its inception after signing the Oslo Peace Accords in 1993.
“To distract attention from charges of financial corruption and embarrassing sexual
scandals, the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank has stepped up its anti-Israel
rhetoric. Allegations of ‘ethnic cleansing,’ ‘destruction and desecration of Islamic
religious sites,’ ‘apartheid,’ ‘racism,’ ‘land theft’ and ‘conducting medical experiments on Palestinian prisoners’ are directed every day toward Israel by Abbas and his top officials and spokesmen.
“These charges are often backed up by threats to launch a ‘third intifada’ or to resume suicide bombings against Israel.
“Given Abbas’s growing predicament, the likelihood of a new wave of violence in the
West Bank or the Gaza Strip seems to be more realistic than ever.”1
On February 26, 2010, PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad stated that the Al-Ibrahimi
mosque site in Hebron [the Machpelah] is “an inseparable part of Palestinian lands
occupied in 1967, as is the Gaza strip and eastern Jerusalem.”2
According to NAM News Network:
“After performing Friday prayers (which were held at the Al-Ibrahmi mosque3),
Fayyad said that the Palestinian people stand together in facing the Israeli
decision to list Al-Ibrahimi mosque and Rachel Tomb (sic) – a mosque – both on
Palestinian land, as Israeli UNESCO (sic) heritage sites.
“He stressed that Israel by this, breaches international law, having no claim over
the land, which the Palestinians have full rights to.”4
He further warned of an increased risk of violence as a result of the Israeli government decision on the sites, adding "we are all united against the decision of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and against the terror of the settlers.”5
Several sources reported that Fayyad accused Israel of having “annexed” the site.
On February 23, 2010, PA President Mahmoud Abbas referred to the decision of the
Netanyahu government to add the Machpelah in Hebron and Kever Rachel outside of
Bethlehem to the list of national Heritage sites as a “severe provocation” that could
lead to a “war of religions” and possibly a new intifada.7
The Palestinian Authority daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, reported on February 20, 2010,
that Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad praised the popular resistance in the
village of Bil'in at a rally marking six years of struggle against the separation fence.8
See the full report at Israel Behind the News
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
The Philadelphia Bulletin: TaxPayers’ Alliance Report: Taxes For Hatred
by David Bedein
Jerusalem - On Monday, Israel Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon participated in a press conference with the TaxPayers’ Alliance, a London-based advocacy group, to highlight how international donor funds provided to the Palestinian Authority are being directly used for incitement and hate education. The TaxPayers’ Alliance report that was submitted to the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority provided detailed documentation which showed how the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (PBC), which operates on Israeli communications frequencies, has provided consistent Palestinian television programming which promotes hatred and murder of Israelis, Jews and western regimes. The report also shows that the PBC programs consistently call for the continuation of the Palestinian armed struggle to liberate Palestine.
Israel Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon responded to the report by saying that hate education and incitement is one of the major problems in the Palestinian Authority. “Everyone talks about Hamas, which is obvious, but the Palestinian Authority, Fatah and Mahmoud Abbas also engage in incitement and have created a ‘culture of hate,’” Mr. Ayalon said. “The recent Fatah Conference, which we helped facilitate, came out with very negative messages which emphasized education to the armed struggle.”
“The Fatah Constitution still calls for the eradication of the State of Israel, and this was reaffirmed during the recent conference. This is a major problem. As long as Israel is not accepted as a legitimate and natural part of this region then we will not see a desire for peace,” Mr. Ayalon continued.
He stressed that stopping incitement was important for the political process to proceed. “If they do not stop incitement then we can’t move forward. If the Palestinians want to create a new state in the Middle East, then we cannot allow it to become another failed or terrorist state. Incitement should be stopped before a Palestinian state comes into existence and not after,” Mr. Ayalon said.
Matthew Sinclair, Research Director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, gave some examples of incitement in the Palestinian Authority, including a Palestinian Imam calling Jews “the enemy of humanity,” calling for a fight against Jews, and “to kill them” during a sermon last Friday on the official government Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation television station.
Mr. Sinclair stated that it is an issue for British and European taxpayers because the British government and European Union fund the Palestinian Authority with tens of millions every year. “This is an issue that starts from Western taxpayers interests,” Mr. Sinclair said.
A sermon broadcast Friday, January 29, on PBC stated:
“Oh Muslims! The Jews are the Jews. The Jews are the Jews. Even if donkeys would cease to bray, dogs cease to bark, wolves cease to howl and snakes to bite, the Jews would not cease to harbor hatred towards Muslims. The Prophet said that if two Jews would be alone with a Muslim, they would think only of killing him. Oh Muslims! This land will be liberated, these holy places and these mosques will be liberated, only by means of a return to the Koran and when all Muslims will be willing to be Jihad Fighters for the sake of Allah and for the sake of supporting Palestine, the Palestinian people, the Palestinian land, and the holy places in Palestine. The Prophet says: ‘You shall fight the Jews and kill them...’”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that, “It is not only missiles and rockets that endanger security and push peace further off. Words can also be dangerous.” Prime minister Netanyahu asked President Obama to demand that the Palestinian Authority Leadership cease and desist from further endorsement of murder and violence against Jews.
Read this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
Read this story at Israel Behind the News
Jerusalem - On Monday, Israel Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon participated in a press conference with the TaxPayers’ Alliance, a London-based advocacy group, to highlight how international donor funds provided to the Palestinian Authority are being directly used for incitement and hate education. The TaxPayers’ Alliance report that was submitted to the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority provided detailed documentation which showed how the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (PBC), which operates on Israeli communications frequencies, has provided consistent Palestinian television programming which promotes hatred and murder of Israelis, Jews and western regimes. The report also shows that the PBC programs consistently call for the continuation of the Palestinian armed struggle to liberate Palestine.
Israel Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon responded to the report by saying that hate education and incitement is one of the major problems in the Palestinian Authority. “Everyone talks about Hamas, which is obvious, but the Palestinian Authority, Fatah and Mahmoud Abbas also engage in incitement and have created a ‘culture of hate,’” Mr. Ayalon said. “The recent Fatah Conference, which we helped facilitate, came out with very negative messages which emphasized education to the armed struggle.”
“The Fatah Constitution still calls for the eradication of the State of Israel, and this was reaffirmed during the recent conference. This is a major problem. As long as Israel is not accepted as a legitimate and natural part of this region then we will not see a desire for peace,” Mr. Ayalon continued.
He stressed that stopping incitement was important for the political process to proceed. “If they do not stop incitement then we can’t move forward. If the Palestinians want to create a new state in the Middle East, then we cannot allow it to become another failed or terrorist state. Incitement should be stopped before a Palestinian state comes into existence and not after,” Mr. Ayalon said.
Matthew Sinclair, Research Director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, gave some examples of incitement in the Palestinian Authority, including a Palestinian Imam calling Jews “the enemy of humanity,” calling for a fight against Jews, and “to kill them” during a sermon last Friday on the official government Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation television station.
Mr. Sinclair stated that it is an issue for British and European taxpayers because the British government and European Union fund the Palestinian Authority with tens of millions every year. “This is an issue that starts from Western taxpayers interests,” Mr. Sinclair said.
A sermon broadcast Friday, January 29, on PBC stated:
“Oh Muslims! The Jews are the Jews. The Jews are the Jews. Even if donkeys would cease to bray, dogs cease to bark, wolves cease to howl and snakes to bite, the Jews would not cease to harbor hatred towards Muslims. The Prophet said that if two Jews would be alone with a Muslim, they would think only of killing him. Oh Muslims! This land will be liberated, these holy places and these mosques will be liberated, only by means of a return to the Koran and when all Muslims will be willing to be Jihad Fighters for the sake of Allah and for the sake of supporting Palestine, the Palestinian people, the Palestinian land, and the holy places in Palestine. The Prophet says: ‘You shall fight the Jews and kill them...’”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that, “It is not only missiles and rockets that endanger security and push peace further off. Words can also be dangerous.” Prime minister Netanyahu asked President Obama to demand that the Palestinian Authority Leadership cease and desist from further endorsement of murder and violence against Jews.
Read this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
Read this story at Israel Behind the News
Monday, February 8, 2010
Hamas Faces Fiscal Crisis due to Tight Restrictions and Blockade: Sources
by Emad Drimly, Saud Abu Ramadan
The deposed government of the Palestinian Islamic Hamas movement, which rules the impoverished enclave of the Gaza Strip, faces a severe fiscal crisis due to the lack of financial liquidity and the tight restrictions of the Israeli blockade, sources close to Hamas said on Sunday.
The sources, which spoke on condition of anonymity, told Xinhua that Hamas government is facing difficulties in bringing money into the blockaded enclave, which resulted in the lack of financial liquidity, adding that "this might lead to a severe financial crisis that Hamas would soon suffer from."
Israel had imposed a tight blockade on Gaza after Hamas and two minor armed groups' militants kidnapped the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in a cross-border attack in southeast Gaza Strip in June 2006. Israel tightened the blockade after the movement seized control of the enclave in June 2007.
"Hamas government is about to face so many difficulties, mainly about paying the monthly salaries for its civil and security employees and other running costs," said the sources. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas deposed Hamas government after the movement took control of the Gaza Strip.
In addition to the tight blockade that Israel imposes on the enclave, the international community led by the U.S. had imposed an embargo on the movement after it won the legislative elections four years ago. Hamas rejected the world's requirements, mainly recognizing Israel and denouncing violence.
"The financial crisis is not linked to the sources of finance or its fundamental financial abilities, but it is linked to the difficulties of bringing this money to the Gaza Strip and the shortage of liquidity due to more than three years of Israeli blockades and the restrictions imposed on the banks," said the sources.
The deposed Hamas government hasn't yet paid the salaries of January to its 34,200 employees in the Gaza Strip, said the sources, adding that "there are concerns that the government of Hamas wouldn't be able to pay its employees the salaries of the coming months if the crisis goes on."
There has been no official announcement made by Hamas government officials in Gaza that the government suffers from a financial crisis and a shortage of financial liquidity to cover its monthly running costs.
Gaza economy experts believed that the reason behind the crisis "is the tight security measures Egypt is imposing on its borders with the Gaza Strip," adding that Egypt imposes tight restrictions on money entrance into the Gaza Strip either held by individuals or groups.
Hamas had repeatedly expressed concerns over an underground steel barrier that Egypt builds under the borderline between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. The purpose of building the barriers, according to Egyptian officials, is to secure Egypt's borders and prevent smuggling through underground tunnels.
According to the experts, there is another reason behind the fiscal crisis that Hamas in Gaza is suffering from, where local banks in the Gaza Strip have financially boycotted Hamas and refused to deal with the movement or its deposed government.
According to Hamas government's official figures, there are 34, 200 employees who receive about 16 million dollars as monthly salaries, adding that 16,700 are police and security officers, and 17,500 are civil employees working at the various ministries of the government.
The sources said that the deposed government of Hamas had recently met with several experts to study the possibilities of carrying out cuts off and closing down some of the less influential ministries, merge other ministries together and reduce the monthly invoice of the salaries.
An official source in Hamas ministry of finance, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, admitted to Xinhua that there are " serious difficulties the government suffers from, especially bringing financial liquidity from abroad to the Gaza Strip."
However, the source said that "so far, the government is still able to run its affairs, adding that the delay in paying January salaries to the employees is basically related to "technical problems," adding that "the salaries will be paid within the coming few days."
In December last year, the government of Hamas approved its annual budget which is 540 million U.S. dollars. However, and due to the current difficulties it is not clear if Hamas government in Gaza will be able to continue paying the salaries to its employees in the coming few months.
Hamas officials said there are four basic sources of income into the budget of Hamas government: first is the taxes and customs the government collects from the Gaza Strip population, second is the agricultural investment in Gaza, third is the local donations and fourth is the Arab and Islamic donations.
The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) which is a rival to Hamas accuses Iran, Syria and Qatar for supporting Hamas government in the Gaza Strip by sending huge amounts of money to the movement to keep it surviving and controlling the Gaza Strip.
View the original article in People.
The deposed government of the Palestinian Islamic Hamas movement, which rules the impoverished enclave of the Gaza Strip, faces a severe fiscal crisis due to the lack of financial liquidity and the tight restrictions of the Israeli blockade, sources close to Hamas said on Sunday.
The sources, which spoke on condition of anonymity, told Xinhua that Hamas government is facing difficulties in bringing money into the blockaded enclave, which resulted in the lack of financial liquidity, adding that "this might lead to a severe financial crisis that Hamas would soon suffer from."
Israel had imposed a tight blockade on Gaza after Hamas and two minor armed groups' militants kidnapped the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in a cross-border attack in southeast Gaza Strip in June 2006. Israel tightened the blockade after the movement seized control of the enclave in June 2007.
"Hamas government is about to face so many difficulties, mainly about paying the monthly salaries for its civil and security employees and other running costs," said the sources. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas deposed Hamas government after the movement took control of the Gaza Strip.
In addition to the tight blockade that Israel imposes on the enclave, the international community led by the U.S. had imposed an embargo on the movement after it won the legislative elections four years ago. Hamas rejected the world's requirements, mainly recognizing Israel and denouncing violence.
"The financial crisis is not linked to the sources of finance or its fundamental financial abilities, but it is linked to the difficulties of bringing this money to the Gaza Strip and the shortage of liquidity due to more than three years of Israeli blockades and the restrictions imposed on the banks," said the sources.
The deposed Hamas government hasn't yet paid the salaries of January to its 34,200 employees in the Gaza Strip, said the sources, adding that "there are concerns that the government of Hamas wouldn't be able to pay its employees the salaries of the coming months if the crisis goes on."
There has been no official announcement made by Hamas government officials in Gaza that the government suffers from a financial crisis and a shortage of financial liquidity to cover its monthly running costs.
Gaza economy experts believed that the reason behind the crisis "is the tight security measures Egypt is imposing on its borders with the Gaza Strip," adding that Egypt imposes tight restrictions on money entrance into the Gaza Strip either held by individuals or groups.
Hamas had repeatedly expressed concerns over an underground steel barrier that Egypt builds under the borderline between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. The purpose of building the barriers, according to Egyptian officials, is to secure Egypt's borders and prevent smuggling through underground tunnels.
According to the experts, there is another reason behind the fiscal crisis that Hamas in Gaza is suffering from, where local banks in the Gaza Strip have financially boycotted Hamas and refused to deal with the movement or its deposed government.
According to Hamas government's official figures, there are 34, 200 employees who receive about 16 million dollars as monthly salaries, adding that 16,700 are police and security officers, and 17,500 are civil employees working at the various ministries of the government.
The sources said that the deposed government of Hamas had recently met with several experts to study the possibilities of carrying out cuts off and closing down some of the less influential ministries, merge other ministries together and reduce the monthly invoice of the salaries.
An official source in Hamas ministry of finance, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, admitted to Xinhua that there are " serious difficulties the government suffers from, especially bringing financial liquidity from abroad to the Gaza Strip."
However, the source said that "so far, the government is still able to run its affairs, adding that the delay in paying January salaries to the employees is basically related to "technical problems," adding that "the salaries will be paid within the coming few days."
In December last year, the government of Hamas approved its annual budget which is 540 million U.S. dollars. However, and due to the current difficulties it is not clear if Hamas government in Gaza will be able to continue paying the salaries to its employees in the coming few months.
Hamas officials said there are four basic sources of income into the budget of Hamas government: first is the taxes and customs the government collects from the Gaza Strip population, second is the agricultural investment in Gaza, third is the local donations and fourth is the Arab and Islamic donations.
The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) which is a rival to Hamas accuses Iran, Syria and Qatar for supporting Hamas government in the Gaza Strip by sending huge amounts of money to the movement to keep it surviving and controlling the Gaza Strip.
View the original article in People.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Israel's Tri-Dimensional Strategy
by Dr. Emmanuel Navon
www.navon.com
Benjamin Netanyahu did a good job confusing his audience last night by talking almost exclusively about archeology and tourism during his "Herzliya Speech." Not that anyone was expecting to be told the exact date and time of Israel's speculated military operation against Iran. But the trick was well done, and I can picture Uzi Arad enjoying the frustration of his successor.
My conclusion from this year's Herzliya Conference is that Israel must adopt a tri-dimensional strategy with regard to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is still a matter of ideological debate. The debate is no longer about territorial integrity versus peace (both sides to that debate have long been defeated by reality), but about 1967 versus 1948. In other words, can the Arabs in general and the Palestinians in particular be trusted that they will leave Israel alone if and when the results of the 1967 war are settled, or will they always insist on settling the results of the 1948 war?
Dan Meridor hasn't made up his mind on that. At the Herzliya Conference, he told the story (which I've heard from him before) of a meeting he had with Mahmoud Abbas before the 2000 Camp David Summit. Abbas told Meridor he took his son to Nazareth, showed him the house where he was born and said: "We are not coming back to this house." This gave Meridor the impression that the Palestinians had given up on the "right of return."
But then at Camp David Abbas was the one, of all people, who insisted on not budging on the "right of return." Meridor says he's still not sure whether the Palestinians are after us for 1967 or 1948. "If it's 1967, the conflict can be settled" he says. "If it's 1948, it can't." He also says the status-quo is untenable, implying that the conflict must be settled. He did not say what he would recommend doing if and when it becomes clear to him that the conflict is not about 1967 but about 1948.
Dan Schueftan (from Haifa University), for his part, has no doubt that the conflict is about 1948 and therefore that there is no solution to it. Because the conflict with the Palestinians has no solution, Israel must free itself from the Palestinians by getting out of most of the West Bank, "not because the Palestinians deserve it, but because Israel does not deserve to be stuck with them" he says.
Eliot Abrams (from the Council on Foreign Relations) did not clearly state his opinion on the 1948 vs. 1967 debate, though he did say that there would have been no Israeli offer that could have satisfied Arafat, and that Abbas is playing for time because he knows he's a lame duck and doesn't want to be remembered as the first Palestinian leader who gave up on the "right of return." If this doesn't mean that the conflict is about 1948, what does it mean?
The debate at the conference was basically between Dan Schueftan and Eliot Abrams on the one hand, and Danny Rothschild (the Conference's new Chairman) and Daniel Kurtzer (a former US ambassador to Israel) on the other. Rothschild and Kurtzer are of the opinion that the conflict is about 1967 and therefore can it be settled (why, in that case, was the Arab world at war with Israel before 1967 and established the PLO in 1964 is a question for them to answer).
This is why they recommend responding positively to the "Arab Peace Initiative." Kurtzer basically told his audience not to believe any of his co-panelists on that (except for Rothschild) but to only trust him (this reminded my of an op-ed Evelyn Gordon wrote in The Jerusalem Post when Kurtzer was still ambassador to Israel. The title was: "Dan Kurtzer Behaves like an Israeli." Indeed).
Olmert's offer to Abbas in September 2008 basically endorsed the "Arab Peace Initiative." Yet Abbas rejected it. Kurtzer tried to exonerate Abbas by saying that Olmert was a lame duck at the time. But, as Eliot Abrams revealed, the Bush Administration encouraged Abbas to take the offer. As Abrams argued, if Abbas was serious and sincere about ending the conflict with a pre-1967 Israel, he would have pocketed the offer and then could have blamed the new Israeli government for not honoring it (especially since, in September 2008, the prospect was that Tzipi Livni would replace Ehud Olmert, not that new elections in Israel would be held).
There is a major weakness and contradiction in Danny Rothschild's argument. Because the status quo is demographically suicidal, he says, Israel must extricate itself from it. He rejects the idea of doing so unilaterally because he claims the security challenges of a unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank would be as suicidal as the demographic ticking bomb.
So we simply must have a deal with the Palestinians. What he is saying is that Israel should expect the Palestinians to save Israel from the Palestinians.
That doesn't make sense, however, because Israel's nightmare (i.e. letting time and demography make the two-state solution irrelevant) is the Palestinians' dream. In fact, Saeb Erekat just published a paper recommending the replacement of the two-state solution by the one-state solution. It is precisely because the Palestinians know that Israel is petrified by the idea of becoming a bi-national state that they are playing for time.
If Israel wishes to separate itself from the Palestinians, it should not expect the Palestinians' cooperation in doing so. This is why I've been convinced since 2000 that only Dan Schueftan's idea makes sense.
Shueftan's strategy can only be implemented, however, if Israel completes the (expensive) technology to protect itself from short-range missiles, effectively deters Iran and its proxies, and takes the "soft war" to the enemy's court.
Operation Cast Lead proved that Israel has the military capability of deterring rocket attacks from unilaterally evacuated areas, but also that the Palestinians completely outmaneuver Israel in the diplomatic and media arenas.
It took the Goldstone Report for Israel to finally realize (with a 40 year delay) that the Arab world has been waging a "soft war" against Israel through the media, the UN and NGOs since the 1973 war.
When she was Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni endorsed her Ministry's idiotic stance that the "soft war" is about "branding" and convincing the world that Israel is cool.
The British judge that issued an arrest warrant against her two months ago was obviously not impressed by the fact that Israel has nice beaches and impressive high-tech companies. It is about time that Israel's leadership realizes that the Goldstone Report (which Prime Minister Netanyahu described as a strategic threat to Israel) is the result of the "soft war" and that this war must be fought with a clear and consistent strategy. It is an embarrassment to Israel that the "soft war" has been mostly fought so far by private organizations (such as Palestinian Media Watch, UN Watch, NGO Monitor, and BICOM, to name a few), while our Foreign Ministry only knows how to whine about its puny PR budget.
As for Iran, deterrence is and will continue to be a tricky issue. At the conference yesterday, Switzerland's former ambassador to Iran, Tim Guldiman, basically said that we should continue to negotiate with Ahmanadinejad while not even thinking of toppling his regime. This statement, of course, tells a lot about Switzerland's interests in Iran. In April 2009, Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz warmly hosted Ahmadinejad.
Meanwhile, the Swiss energy company EGL signed in 2008 a deal with Iran to import 5.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually between 2011 and 2035 (a move that undermines US efforts to put economic pressure on Iran). No wonder Guldiman was very vocal about leaving Ahmadinejad alone.
François Heisbourg, Chairman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies and of the Geneva Centre for Security Studies, argued that talks with Iran have become pointless, that even a complete embargo on refined oil would not threaten the mullahs' regime (because it would only affect about 50% of the country's oil consumption), and that if a military strike was able to delay the Iranian nuclear program for as long as the 1981 Israeli strike in Osiraq managed to delay the Iraqi nuclear program, it would definitely be worthwhile considering.
Israel's week points are not only Palestinian demographics, Arab propaganda, and Iran's nuclear program, however. Another weak point is the world's dependence on oil.
Two panels at the Conference were devoted to this topic. James Woosley (a former CIA Director who is a strong advocate of US energy independence) was very vocal about his claim that the West is funding its enemies and digging its own grave by not weaning itself from oil.
Yossi Hollander (an Israeli entrepreneur who now invests most of his time and money in the anti-oil lobby) convincingly showed that oil is a curse to the world economy and a major reason for US "tolerance" vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia.
Gal Luft (an Israeli energy expert based in Washington) argued that it takes political leadership to turn scientific knowledge into energy revolutions.
He took the example of Napoléon Bonaparte who decided he had enough with France's dependency on salt and offered a prize for the discovery of an alternative to food preservation.
This is how vacuum cans were born and made France "salt free." Hence the title of Luft's book Turning Oil into Salt.
The knowledge to dethrone oil is there; we just need leadership, and Israel should lead the way not least because it is the main geopolitical victim of oil supremacy. It is encouraging that Netanyahu has adopted the idea and set-up a team (headed by Prof. Eugene Kandel from the Hebrew University) to make Israel a world leader in alternative energies. It is, after all, thanks to Shimon Peres' personal involvement that Shai Agassi started Better Place.
So Israel's strategy must be threefold: 1. Prepare the ground for a de facto separation from the Palestinians; 2. Proactively and professionally wage the "soft war" it has been loosing for nearly four decades; 3. Lead the way in the energy revolution. If Israel manages to extricate itself from the Palestinians, to neutralize Arab propaganda, and to help the world wean itself from oil, its geopolitical situation would improve dramatically.
As for Iran, don't count on Switzerland. But if a nuclear winter eventually embraces our region, at least we Israelis will be able to enjoy, in the meantime, the new archeological and tourist sites promised last night by Netanyahu.
Dr. Emmanuel Navon (formerly: Mréjen) is a consultant, an academic and a public speaker specialized in International Relations. He was born in 1971 in Paris, where he went to an English-speaking school and graduated from Sciences-Po (MA in Public Administration), one of Europe's most distinguished universities. While at Sciences-Po he interned at the French Foreign Ministry, specializing in International Organizations, and at the French Finance Ministry, specializing in International Political Economy.
In 1993, he moved to Israel, pursuing graduate studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he earned a Ph.D. in International Relations. During his graduate studies he consulted to the Israeli Foreign Ministry on UN Reform and was selected to join the Shalem Center as a research fellow.
He was awarded the Yehoshafat Harkabi Prize for his MA Thesis and the Yaacov Herzog Prize for his Doctoral Dissertation.
Upon the completion of his academic studies, he worked as a consultant for Arttic, the leading group in Europe and Israel specialized in the preparation and management of technology-related partnerships.
There, he built European-Israeli consortia and consulted to large Israeli companies such as the Israel Aircraft Industries, Israel Electric, and Teva. After Arttic, he served as Vice-President of GoldNames, an investment company focusing on serving the Internet domain name asset class. He was instrumental in building the company's presence in the French-speaking market, and became well acquainted with Israel's high-tech industry.
With the sudden deterioration of Israel's international image and economic activity at the turn of the new millennium, Dr. Navon engaged in writing and public speaking, making the case for Israel in the foreign media and on university campuses. He was appointed CEO of the Business Network for International Cooperation (BNIC), an organization founded by Israeli high-tech legends Yehuda Zisapel and Eli Ayalon, to train Israeli business leaders for pro-Israel advocacy overseas.
In 2005, Emmanuel Navon left BNIC and founded his own company, The Navon Group Ltd. (which became The Navon-Levy Group in 2007), an international business consultancy dedicated to the strengthening of Israel's economic and strategic ties with emerging markets, especially in Africa.
In addition, he teaches at Tel-Aviv University 's Abba Eban Graduate Program for Diplomacy Studies, where he organized and chaired, between 2004 and 2008, the "Ambassadors' Forum," a regular encounter where foreign diplomats and leading Israel public figures jointly discussed current international affairs.
Dr. Navon is the author of A Plight among the Nations -Israel's Foreign Policy Between Nationalism and Realism (VDM Verlag, 2009) and of numerous articles. His blog is read by thousands of people around the world.
He is a proud reservist in the IDF, and a no less proud member of Likud (Israel's largest conservative party), and of the Movement for Quality of Government in Israel (an Israeli NGO committed to clean politics).
He sits on the boards of TrackBull Mutual Funds, an Israeli investment firm specialized in EFTs, and of EMET (Endowment for Middle East Truth), a brave and politically incorrect Washington think tank.
Dr. Navon is a regular political commentator for television channels, radio stations and newspapers in Israel, in the United States, in Europe, and in Canada. He is fluent in English, Hebrew and French, and is conversant in German.
He lives in Efrat, Israel, with his wife and their four children.
www.navon.com
Benjamin Netanyahu did a good job confusing his audience last night by talking almost exclusively about archeology and tourism during his "Herzliya Speech." Not that anyone was expecting to be told the exact date and time of Israel's speculated military operation against Iran. But the trick was well done, and I can picture Uzi Arad enjoying the frustration of his successor.
My conclusion from this year's Herzliya Conference is that Israel must adopt a tri-dimensional strategy with regard to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is still a matter of ideological debate. The debate is no longer about territorial integrity versus peace (both sides to that debate have long been defeated by reality), but about 1967 versus 1948. In other words, can the Arabs in general and the Palestinians in particular be trusted that they will leave Israel alone if and when the results of the 1967 war are settled, or will they always insist on settling the results of the 1948 war?
Dan Meridor hasn't made up his mind on that. At the Herzliya Conference, he told the story (which I've heard from him before) of a meeting he had with Mahmoud Abbas before the 2000 Camp David Summit. Abbas told Meridor he took his son to Nazareth, showed him the house where he was born and said: "We are not coming back to this house." This gave Meridor the impression that the Palestinians had given up on the "right of return."
But then at Camp David Abbas was the one, of all people, who insisted on not budging on the "right of return." Meridor says he's still not sure whether the Palestinians are after us for 1967 or 1948. "If it's 1967, the conflict can be settled" he says. "If it's 1948, it can't." He also says the status-quo is untenable, implying that the conflict must be settled. He did not say what he would recommend doing if and when it becomes clear to him that the conflict is not about 1967 but about 1948.
Dan Schueftan (from Haifa University), for his part, has no doubt that the conflict is about 1948 and therefore that there is no solution to it. Because the conflict with the Palestinians has no solution, Israel must free itself from the Palestinians by getting out of most of the West Bank, "not because the Palestinians deserve it, but because Israel does not deserve to be stuck with them" he says.
Eliot Abrams (from the Council on Foreign Relations) did not clearly state his opinion on the 1948 vs. 1967 debate, though he did say that there would have been no Israeli offer that could have satisfied Arafat, and that Abbas is playing for time because he knows he's a lame duck and doesn't want to be remembered as the first Palestinian leader who gave up on the "right of return." If this doesn't mean that the conflict is about 1948, what does it mean?
The debate at the conference was basically between Dan Schueftan and Eliot Abrams on the one hand, and Danny Rothschild (the Conference's new Chairman) and Daniel Kurtzer (a former US ambassador to Israel) on the other. Rothschild and Kurtzer are of the opinion that the conflict is about 1967 and therefore can it be settled (why, in that case, was the Arab world at war with Israel before 1967 and established the PLO in 1964 is a question for them to answer).
This is why they recommend responding positively to the "Arab Peace Initiative." Kurtzer basically told his audience not to believe any of his co-panelists on that (except for Rothschild) but to only trust him (this reminded my of an op-ed Evelyn Gordon wrote in The Jerusalem Post when Kurtzer was still ambassador to Israel. The title was: "Dan Kurtzer Behaves like an Israeli." Indeed).
Olmert's offer to Abbas in September 2008 basically endorsed the "Arab Peace Initiative." Yet Abbas rejected it. Kurtzer tried to exonerate Abbas by saying that Olmert was a lame duck at the time. But, as Eliot Abrams revealed, the Bush Administration encouraged Abbas to take the offer. As Abrams argued, if Abbas was serious and sincere about ending the conflict with a pre-1967 Israel, he would have pocketed the offer and then could have blamed the new Israeli government for not honoring it (especially since, in September 2008, the prospect was that Tzipi Livni would replace Ehud Olmert, not that new elections in Israel would be held).
There is a major weakness and contradiction in Danny Rothschild's argument. Because the status quo is demographically suicidal, he says, Israel must extricate itself from it. He rejects the idea of doing so unilaterally because he claims the security challenges of a unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank would be as suicidal as the demographic ticking bomb.
So we simply must have a deal with the Palestinians. What he is saying is that Israel should expect the Palestinians to save Israel from the Palestinians.
That doesn't make sense, however, because Israel's nightmare (i.e. letting time and demography make the two-state solution irrelevant) is the Palestinians' dream. In fact, Saeb Erekat just published a paper recommending the replacement of the two-state solution by the one-state solution. It is precisely because the Palestinians know that Israel is petrified by the idea of becoming a bi-national state that they are playing for time.
If Israel wishes to separate itself from the Palestinians, it should not expect the Palestinians' cooperation in doing so. This is why I've been convinced since 2000 that only Dan Schueftan's idea makes sense.
Shueftan's strategy can only be implemented, however, if Israel completes the (expensive) technology to protect itself from short-range missiles, effectively deters Iran and its proxies, and takes the "soft war" to the enemy's court.
Operation Cast Lead proved that Israel has the military capability of deterring rocket attacks from unilaterally evacuated areas, but also that the Palestinians completely outmaneuver Israel in the diplomatic and media arenas.
It took the Goldstone Report for Israel to finally realize (with a 40 year delay) that the Arab world has been waging a "soft war" against Israel through the media, the UN and NGOs since the 1973 war.
When she was Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni endorsed her Ministry's idiotic stance that the "soft war" is about "branding" and convincing the world that Israel is cool.
The British judge that issued an arrest warrant against her two months ago was obviously not impressed by the fact that Israel has nice beaches and impressive high-tech companies. It is about time that Israel's leadership realizes that the Goldstone Report (which Prime Minister Netanyahu described as a strategic threat to Israel) is the result of the "soft war" and that this war must be fought with a clear and consistent strategy. It is an embarrassment to Israel that the "soft war" has been mostly fought so far by private organizations (such as Palestinian Media Watch, UN Watch, NGO Monitor, and BICOM, to name a few), while our Foreign Ministry only knows how to whine about its puny PR budget.
As for Iran, deterrence is and will continue to be a tricky issue. At the conference yesterday, Switzerland's former ambassador to Iran, Tim Guldiman, basically said that we should continue to negotiate with Ahmanadinejad while not even thinking of toppling his regime. This statement, of course, tells a lot about Switzerland's interests in Iran. In April 2009, Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz warmly hosted Ahmadinejad.
Meanwhile, the Swiss energy company EGL signed in 2008 a deal with Iran to import 5.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually between 2011 and 2035 (a move that undermines US efforts to put economic pressure on Iran). No wonder Guldiman was very vocal about leaving Ahmadinejad alone.
François Heisbourg, Chairman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies and of the Geneva Centre for Security Studies, argued that talks with Iran have become pointless, that even a complete embargo on refined oil would not threaten the mullahs' regime (because it would only affect about 50% of the country's oil consumption), and that if a military strike was able to delay the Iranian nuclear program for as long as the 1981 Israeli strike in Osiraq managed to delay the Iraqi nuclear program, it would definitely be worthwhile considering.
Israel's week points are not only Palestinian demographics, Arab propaganda, and Iran's nuclear program, however. Another weak point is the world's dependence on oil.
Two panels at the Conference were devoted to this topic. James Woosley (a former CIA Director who is a strong advocate of US energy independence) was very vocal about his claim that the West is funding its enemies and digging its own grave by not weaning itself from oil.
Yossi Hollander (an Israeli entrepreneur who now invests most of his time and money in the anti-oil lobby) convincingly showed that oil is a curse to the world economy and a major reason for US "tolerance" vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia.
Gal Luft (an Israeli energy expert based in Washington) argued that it takes political leadership to turn scientific knowledge into energy revolutions.
He took the example of Napoléon Bonaparte who decided he had enough with France's dependency on salt and offered a prize for the discovery of an alternative to food preservation.
This is how vacuum cans were born and made France "salt free." Hence the title of Luft's book Turning Oil into Salt.
The knowledge to dethrone oil is there; we just need leadership, and Israel should lead the way not least because it is the main geopolitical victim of oil supremacy. It is encouraging that Netanyahu has adopted the idea and set-up a team (headed by Prof. Eugene Kandel from the Hebrew University) to make Israel a world leader in alternative energies. It is, after all, thanks to Shimon Peres' personal involvement that Shai Agassi started Better Place.
So Israel's strategy must be threefold: 1. Prepare the ground for a de facto separation from the Palestinians; 2. Proactively and professionally wage the "soft war" it has been loosing for nearly four decades; 3. Lead the way in the energy revolution. If Israel manages to extricate itself from the Palestinians, to neutralize Arab propaganda, and to help the world wean itself from oil, its geopolitical situation would improve dramatically.
As for Iran, don't count on Switzerland. But if a nuclear winter eventually embraces our region, at least we Israelis will be able to enjoy, in the meantime, the new archeological and tourist sites promised last night by Netanyahu.
Dr. Emmanuel Navon (formerly: Mréjen) is a consultant, an academic and a public speaker specialized in International Relations. He was born in 1971 in Paris, where he went to an English-speaking school and graduated from Sciences-Po (MA in Public Administration), one of Europe's most distinguished universities. While at Sciences-Po he interned at the French Foreign Ministry, specializing in International Organizations, and at the French Finance Ministry, specializing in International Political Economy.
In 1993, he moved to Israel, pursuing graduate studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he earned a Ph.D. in International Relations. During his graduate studies he consulted to the Israeli Foreign Ministry on UN Reform and was selected to join the Shalem Center as a research fellow.
He was awarded the Yehoshafat Harkabi Prize for his MA Thesis and the Yaacov Herzog Prize for his Doctoral Dissertation.
Upon the completion of his academic studies, he worked as a consultant for Arttic, the leading group in Europe and Israel specialized in the preparation and management of technology-related partnerships.
There, he built European-Israeli consortia and consulted to large Israeli companies such as the Israel Aircraft Industries, Israel Electric, and Teva. After Arttic, he served as Vice-President of GoldNames, an investment company focusing on serving the Internet domain name asset class. He was instrumental in building the company's presence in the French-speaking market, and became well acquainted with Israel's high-tech industry.
With the sudden deterioration of Israel's international image and economic activity at the turn of the new millennium, Dr. Navon engaged in writing and public speaking, making the case for Israel in the foreign media and on university campuses. He was appointed CEO of the Business Network for International Cooperation (BNIC), an organization founded by Israeli high-tech legends Yehuda Zisapel and Eli Ayalon, to train Israeli business leaders for pro-Israel advocacy overseas.
In 2005, Emmanuel Navon left BNIC and founded his own company, The Navon Group Ltd. (which became The Navon-Levy Group in 2007), an international business consultancy dedicated to the strengthening of Israel's economic and strategic ties with emerging markets, especially in Africa.
In addition, he teaches at Tel-Aviv University 's Abba Eban Graduate Program for Diplomacy Studies, where he organized and chaired, between 2004 and 2008, the "Ambassadors' Forum," a regular encounter where foreign diplomats and leading Israel public figures jointly discussed current international affairs.
Dr. Navon is the author of A Plight among the Nations -Israel's Foreign Policy Between Nationalism and Realism (VDM Verlag, 2009) and of numerous articles. His blog is read by thousands of people around the world.
He is a proud reservist in the IDF, and a no less proud member of Likud (Israel's largest conservative party), and of the Movement for Quality of Government in Israel (an Israeli NGO committed to clean politics).
He sits on the boards of TrackBull Mutual Funds, an Israeli investment firm specialized in EFTs, and of EMET (Endowment for Middle East Truth), a brave and politically incorrect Washington think tank.
Dr. Navon is a regular political commentator for television channels, radio stations and newspapers in Israel, in the United States, in Europe, and in Canada. He is fluent in English, Hebrew and French, and is conversant in German.
He lives in Efrat, Israel, with his wife and their four children.
Israeli Intelligence Think Tank Hosts Palestinian leader: Issues Ultimatum to Israel
by David Bedein
On Tuesday, February 2, Palestinian Authority leader Salman Fayyad made an unprecedented appearance at the annual “Herzlia conference” of the leading lights of Israeli intelligence, and used the occasion to issue an ultimatum to Israel, in which Fayyad, appointed as the Prime Minister of the PA by Machmud Abbas, declared that he would a Palestinian state within two years.
Fayyad said: “We have shown that we are serious in our intention to establish a state. We will do everything possible to be ready for this within two years”.
Fayyad’s theme was that “a failure to establish a state within two years could create severe disappointment on the Palestinian street”. Fayyad clarified that the international community also expects to see a solution within this time span, and that the Palestinian demand is to create a situation in which the world applies pressure on Israel.
Fayyad laced his presentation with statements of recent PLO history that had nothing to do with reality. Fayyad declared that the PLO, the Palestine Liberation Organization, the patron of the Palestinian Authority, had recognized Israel at the PLO’s conference in 1988 and in the wake of the Oslo Accord in 1993.
What Fayyad failed to mention was that at the PLO conference in 1988, which convened in Algiers, he refused to recognize Israel, while the media and many wishful thinking diplomats quoted a memo from Palestinian sources BEFORE the Algiers conference which assessed that the PLO was “expected to cancel the PLO covenant and recognize Israel”, a decision which never occurred.
The 1993 myth of PLO recognition is even more interesting.
The Oslo “Declaration of Principles” mutual recognition peace accords were indeed signed by the PLO’s Machmud Abbas and Yassir Arafat together with Israel’s Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres on the White House lawn on September 13, 1993.
Yet the Israeli Knesset Parliament ratified the Oslo Accords on September 25, 1993 - while the PLO would not ratify the accords when the PLO executive convened in Tunis on October 6, 1993 and the PLO’s Palestinian National Council convened in Gaza on April 24, 1996 to cancel the PLO Covenant which calls for Israel’s destruction and simply refused to do so and has never cancelled the PLO Covenant.
Fayyad also addressed security issues, demanding that Israel stop military incursions in areas governed by the Palestinian Authority, which have continued since Israel reestablished its presence in Palestinian cities and villages and refugee camps since April, 2002, greatly reducing terror attacks from Palestinian areas, after Palestinian terrorists had infiltrated Israel and murdered more than 1,000 people in Israel between 1993 and 2002.
During 2009, with Israeli military presence firmly entrenched in Palestinian areas, five Israelis were murdered by Palestinian terrorist infiltrators, as opposed the tens of Israelis per month who were murdered by terrorist infiltrators at the beginning of the decade.
However, Fayyad was firm in his demand that Israel must withdraw its military presence from all Palestinian areas: “The meaning of an end to the occupation is Palestinian presence, and not Israeli presence, in this area. We have proven ourselves from a security standpoint. Dealing with the security situation is not in Israel’s interests, it is also in the Palestinians’ interests”, including Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem. Fayyad went on to say that “ In all the agreements and understandings, nothing has ever been said to contradict the fact that East Jerusalem is an inseparable part of the Palestinian state...You are building exactly in the places where the Palestinian state is supposed to be established”
Along with this, Fayyad issued a further demand, to remove the “siege from the Gaza Strip”, without any call for the Palestinian Hamas regime that rules Gaza to cease and desist from hostile activity against Israel, saying that “ Removing it will contribute to a positive dynamic in advance of achieving internal Palestinian unity”. Fayyad added that if the Palestinian Authority were given a chance, it could rehabilitate Gaza very quickly. Fayyad forgot to mention that there is no chance that the PA will ever rule Gaza, where Hamas’s Gaza government remains unchallenged.
In terms of Fayyad’s call to remove Israeli military presence from Palestinian areas, Fayyad conveniently forgot to mention to the rank and file of Israeli intelligence that armed Israeli military intelligence forces protect his home and family in the Jerusalem Arab neighborhood of Beit Hanina, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, and that Israeli security guards often accompany Fayyad during his travels.
How would Fayyad react to the removal of Israeli military protection from his home and family?
On Tuesday, February 2, Palestinian Authority leader Salman Fayyad made an unprecedented appearance at the annual “Herzlia conference” of the leading lights of Israeli intelligence, and used the occasion to issue an ultimatum to Israel, in which Fayyad, appointed as the Prime Minister of the PA by Machmud Abbas, declared that he would a Palestinian state within two years.
Fayyad said: “We have shown that we are serious in our intention to establish a state. We will do everything possible to be ready for this within two years”.
Fayyad’s theme was that “a failure to establish a state within two years could create severe disappointment on the Palestinian street”. Fayyad clarified that the international community also expects to see a solution within this time span, and that the Palestinian demand is to create a situation in which the world applies pressure on Israel.
Fayyad laced his presentation with statements of recent PLO history that had nothing to do with reality. Fayyad declared that the PLO, the Palestine Liberation Organization, the patron of the Palestinian Authority, had recognized Israel at the PLO’s conference in 1988 and in the wake of the Oslo Accord in 1993.
What Fayyad failed to mention was that at the PLO conference in 1988, which convened in Algiers, he refused to recognize Israel, while the media and many wishful thinking diplomats quoted a memo from Palestinian sources BEFORE the Algiers conference which assessed that the PLO was “expected to cancel the PLO covenant and recognize Israel”, a decision which never occurred.
The 1993 myth of PLO recognition is even more interesting.
The Oslo “Declaration of Principles” mutual recognition peace accords were indeed signed by the PLO’s Machmud Abbas and Yassir Arafat together with Israel’s Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres on the White House lawn on September 13, 1993.
Yet the Israeli Knesset Parliament ratified the Oslo Accords on September 25, 1993 - while the PLO would not ratify the accords when the PLO executive convened in Tunis on October 6, 1993 and the PLO’s Palestinian National Council convened in Gaza on April 24, 1996 to cancel the PLO Covenant which calls for Israel’s destruction and simply refused to do so and has never cancelled the PLO Covenant.
Fayyad also addressed security issues, demanding that Israel stop military incursions in areas governed by the Palestinian Authority, which have continued since Israel reestablished its presence in Palestinian cities and villages and refugee camps since April, 2002, greatly reducing terror attacks from Palestinian areas, after Palestinian terrorists had infiltrated Israel and murdered more than 1,000 people in Israel between 1993 and 2002.
During 2009, with Israeli military presence firmly entrenched in Palestinian areas, five Israelis were murdered by Palestinian terrorist infiltrators, as opposed the tens of Israelis per month who were murdered by terrorist infiltrators at the beginning of the decade.
However, Fayyad was firm in his demand that Israel must withdraw its military presence from all Palestinian areas: “The meaning of an end to the occupation is Palestinian presence, and not Israeli presence, in this area. We have proven ourselves from a security standpoint. Dealing with the security situation is not in Israel’s interests, it is also in the Palestinians’ interests”, including Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem. Fayyad went on to say that “ In all the agreements and understandings, nothing has ever been said to contradict the fact that East Jerusalem is an inseparable part of the Palestinian state...You are building exactly in the places where the Palestinian state is supposed to be established”
Along with this, Fayyad issued a further demand, to remove the “siege from the Gaza Strip”, without any call for the Palestinian Hamas regime that rules Gaza to cease and desist from hostile activity against Israel, saying that “ Removing it will contribute to a positive dynamic in advance of achieving internal Palestinian unity”. Fayyad added that if the Palestinian Authority were given a chance, it could rehabilitate Gaza very quickly. Fayyad forgot to mention that there is no chance that the PA will ever rule Gaza, where Hamas’s Gaza government remains unchallenged.
In terms of Fayyad’s call to remove Israeli military presence from Palestinian areas, Fayyad conveniently forgot to mention to the rank and file of Israeli intelligence that armed Israeli military intelligence forces protect his home and family in the Jerusalem Arab neighborhood of Beit Hanina, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, and that Israeli security guards often accompany Fayyad during his travels.
How would Fayyad react to the removal of Israeli military protection from his home and family?
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
INTERVIEW WITH PALESTINIAN AMBASSADOR TO U.S. HANNA SENIORA: DO ANY OF HIS STATEMENTS RING TRUE IN THE NEW YEAR (2010)?
by Rhonda Spivak
Hanna Seniora, the man that Yasser Arafat appointed to be The Palestinian Authority’s Ambassador to the U.S. in 2002, agreed to let me interview him while he was sipping a cup of turkish coffee. We were in Beit-Jalla outside of Bethlehem.
The white-haired 72 year old Senoira, is a Christian Palestinian who lives in East Jerusalem, and is the co-CEO of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information. He is also currently a member of the Palestine National Council and the chairperson of the Palestinian-American Chamber of Commerce.
In the 1970’s, Siniora served first as editor-in-chief, and later as publisher of the Jerusalem Arab newspaper Al Fajr. That paper has an English-language edition known as The Jerusalem Times founded in 1994, of which Seniora is currently the publisher.
I first asked Seniora was how many Christians (who made up over 75% of Bethlehem’s population in 1947) currently lived in Bethlehem, which now has a Moslem majority. Do the Christians continue to leave? Seniora answered “About 40% [of Bethlehem’s population] are Christian. They are staying. They are born and raised here...”
At the time, Seniora’s answer struck me as a little odd, one which tried to downplay the ongoing exodus of Bethlehem’s Christians. According to Israeli surveys, Christians now make up less than 25 percent of Bethlehem. According to Wikipedia, in 1998 Bethlehem’s Christian population had already declined to 23%.
While Seniora mentioned his inflated figure of 40%., he didn’t mention that in Bethlehem, Christians have long complained of anti-Christian violence. His prediction that Christians in Bethlehem will all be “staying” struck me as rather untenable.
Seniora has long been a proponent of dialogue in working towards a resolution to the Palestinian-Israel conflict, and is viewed by many as a moderate.
He said that “in the long run”, he believes that a two state solution “ is the only solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but “in the short term it’s difficult because the Israeli government is still reluctant about a two state solution.” Seniora made no mention at all of any notion that there are those on the Palestinian side of the equation who oppose a two state solution, or are “still reluctant.”
Seniora said that “We [the Palestinians] have to stop violence, and they [the Israelis] have to freeze settlements.”
I asked about a Fatah-Hamas reconciliation, and Seniora spoke of Palestinian elections. Seniora said “ Eventually the [Palestinian] people will have to decide. We are trying to start a democracy where the results will be respected. Unfortunately, [in the last election when Hamas won in Gaza], the results weren’t respected and this led to [conflict]. Now Mahmoud Abbas is saying, let the voters decide and the Palestinian Authority will respect the results of the elections.”
Seniora’s above statement about the PA holding elections in the West Bank, and respecting the results if Hamas won, seemed rather fanciful to me at the time. My interview with Seniora took place last August. Since we are now in January 2010 when these elections were to be held, we can certainly say that Seniora’s statement turned out to be way off the mark. Regardless of whether Abbas declares that he is resigning or not, one thing has become increasingly clear-it’s not likely that we will see elections in the near future, since Abbas might well lose!
On the subject of Hamas, Seniora said this past August “Even Hamas has changed in the last three years from asking for the whole of historical Palestine.... Until now they [Hamas] refuse to recognize the State of Israel. They say that the PLO did that, and what did it get them? They [Hamas] say that if Israel will withdraw to the 1967 borders and the State of Palestine will take shape in the borders of ’67, then they will reconsider their position on the recognition issue.”
In response, I said to Seniora, that Hamas’s view that they would “reconsider their position,” is very different then saying they would recognize Israel. Seniora acknowledged this distinction.
When I asked whether he was saying he thought Hamas would recognize Israel, he responded “I think eventually, yes, they would.”
He said that currently “Hamas says they are ready for a long term ceasefire for ten years.”
While he was saying this, I thought to myself, that throughout the interview Seniora was trying to sell me a rather strong smelling concoction: not only will all the Christians stay in Bethlehem, but Abbas will soon call elections and respect their results, and, of course, Hamas is really in its own humble way telling us that it recognizes Israel.
Seniora expounded, “Hamas are saying that they are for ending the occupation and they have said they will live in a state [with the 1967 borders], which means that they indirectly recognize Israel.”
Seniora then said “Israel should go to Hamas and say that Hamas can participate in [Palestinian] elections in January 2010 and we[Israel] will respect the results of that, and will negotiate with you [Hamas] if you win.”
Seniora noted that Gershon Baskin, the Co-CEO of the Israel-Palestine Centre for Research and Information,[IPCRI] disagreed with him in this regard.
“Gershon [Baskin] thinks that Hamas can not participate in elections without recognizing Israel’s right to exist, but without them [Hamas] we can’t have a peaceful settlement,” Seniora said.
“Most of [Hamas’s] people justify it[ not recognizing Israel] by saying how can I recognize Israel, when I don’t have a state?,” Seniora added.
After hearing Seniora try to sanitize what Hamas has been saying, I finished the interview feeling rather pessimistic about the prospects for peace.
But there was something else that made me feel more pessimistic.
I interviewed Seniora just before a two day peace education conference IPCRI held in Beit Jalla, outside of Bethlehem on Aug 7-8. Baskin and Seniora, as Co-CEO’s of the organization were scheduled to speak at the opening session. But, when the time came Seniora wasn’t there and Baskin opened the conference without even mentioning his whereabouts.
Throughout the two day conference, Baskin actively participated and attended the sessions. But, I didn’t see Seniora attend any of the sessions. He wasn’t around much, and when he was around, he was sitting having coffee in the lounge. Baskin also gave closing remarks at the conference without Seniora.
Was this an accident, or was it symptomatic of the fact that Seniora’s interest in peace workshops is waning?
Subsequent to the conference, I read the IPCRI website, and was not surprised to find writings of Baskin posted, but nothing of Seniora’s.
Rhonda Spivak, an attorney and a writer, is a member of the Canadian and Israel Bar Associations, now editing the Winnipeg Jewish Report at http://winnipegjewishreport.com/
Hanna Seniora, the man that Yasser Arafat appointed to be The Palestinian Authority’s Ambassador to the U.S. in 2002, agreed to let me interview him while he was sipping a cup of turkish coffee. We were in Beit-Jalla outside of Bethlehem.
The white-haired 72 year old Senoira, is a Christian Palestinian who lives in East Jerusalem, and is the co-CEO of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information. He is also currently a member of the Palestine National Council and the chairperson of the Palestinian-American Chamber of Commerce.
In the 1970’s, Siniora served first as editor-in-chief, and later as publisher of the Jerusalem Arab newspaper Al Fajr. That paper has an English-language edition known as The Jerusalem Times founded in 1994, of which Seniora is currently the publisher.
I first asked Seniora was how many Christians (who made up over 75% of Bethlehem’s population in 1947) currently lived in Bethlehem, which now has a Moslem majority. Do the Christians continue to leave? Seniora answered “About 40% [of Bethlehem’s population] are Christian. They are staying. They are born and raised here...”
At the time, Seniora’s answer struck me as a little odd, one which tried to downplay the ongoing exodus of Bethlehem’s Christians. According to Israeli surveys, Christians now make up less than 25 percent of Bethlehem. According to Wikipedia, in 1998 Bethlehem’s Christian population had already declined to 23%.
While Seniora mentioned his inflated figure of 40%., he didn’t mention that in Bethlehem, Christians have long complained of anti-Christian violence. His prediction that Christians in Bethlehem will all be “staying” struck me as rather untenable.
Seniora has long been a proponent of dialogue in working towards a resolution to the Palestinian-Israel conflict, and is viewed by many as a moderate.
He said that “in the long run”, he believes that a two state solution “ is the only solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but “in the short term it’s difficult because the Israeli government is still reluctant about a two state solution.” Seniora made no mention at all of any notion that there are those on the Palestinian side of the equation who oppose a two state solution, or are “still reluctant.”
Seniora said that “We [the Palestinians] have to stop violence, and they [the Israelis] have to freeze settlements.”
I asked about a Fatah-Hamas reconciliation, and Seniora spoke of Palestinian elections. Seniora said “ Eventually the [Palestinian] people will have to decide. We are trying to start a democracy where the results will be respected. Unfortunately, [in the last election when Hamas won in Gaza], the results weren’t respected and this led to [conflict]. Now Mahmoud Abbas is saying, let the voters decide and the Palestinian Authority will respect the results of the elections.”
Seniora’s above statement about the PA holding elections in the West Bank, and respecting the results if Hamas won, seemed rather fanciful to me at the time. My interview with Seniora took place last August. Since we are now in January 2010 when these elections were to be held, we can certainly say that Seniora’s statement turned out to be way off the mark. Regardless of whether Abbas declares that he is resigning or not, one thing has become increasingly clear-it’s not likely that we will see elections in the near future, since Abbas might well lose!
On the subject of Hamas, Seniora said this past August “Even Hamas has changed in the last three years from asking for the whole of historical Palestine.... Until now they [Hamas] refuse to recognize the State of Israel. They say that the PLO did that, and what did it get them? They [Hamas] say that if Israel will withdraw to the 1967 borders and the State of Palestine will take shape in the borders of ’67, then they will reconsider their position on the recognition issue.”
In response, I said to Seniora, that Hamas’s view that they would “reconsider their position,” is very different then saying they would recognize Israel. Seniora acknowledged this distinction.
When I asked whether he was saying he thought Hamas would recognize Israel, he responded “I think eventually, yes, they would.”
He said that currently “Hamas says they are ready for a long term ceasefire for ten years.”
While he was saying this, I thought to myself, that throughout the interview Seniora was trying to sell me a rather strong smelling concoction: not only will all the Christians stay in Bethlehem, but Abbas will soon call elections and respect their results, and, of course, Hamas is really in its own humble way telling us that it recognizes Israel.
Seniora expounded, “Hamas are saying that they are for ending the occupation and they have said they will live in a state [with the 1967 borders], which means that they indirectly recognize Israel.”
Seniora then said “Israel should go to Hamas and say that Hamas can participate in [Palestinian] elections in January 2010 and we[Israel] will respect the results of that, and will negotiate with you [Hamas] if you win.”
Seniora noted that Gershon Baskin, the Co-CEO of the Israel-Palestine Centre for Research and Information,[IPCRI] disagreed with him in this regard.
“Gershon [Baskin] thinks that Hamas can not participate in elections without recognizing Israel’s right to exist, but without them [Hamas] we can’t have a peaceful settlement,” Seniora said.
“Most of [Hamas’s] people justify it[ not recognizing Israel] by saying how can I recognize Israel, when I don’t have a state?,” Seniora added.
After hearing Seniora try to sanitize what Hamas has been saying, I finished the interview feeling rather pessimistic about the prospects for peace.
But there was something else that made me feel more pessimistic.
I interviewed Seniora just before a two day peace education conference IPCRI held in Beit Jalla, outside of Bethlehem on Aug 7-8. Baskin and Seniora, as Co-CEO’s of the organization were scheduled to speak at the opening session. But, when the time came Seniora wasn’t there and Baskin opened the conference without even mentioning his whereabouts.
Throughout the two day conference, Baskin actively participated and attended the sessions. But, I didn’t see Seniora attend any of the sessions. He wasn’t around much, and when he was around, he was sitting having coffee in the lounge. Baskin also gave closing remarks at the conference without Seniora.
Was this an accident, or was it symptomatic of the fact that Seniora’s interest in peace workshops is waning?
Subsequent to the conference, I read the IPCRI website, and was not surprised to find writings of Baskin posted, but nothing of Seniora’s.
Rhonda Spivak, an attorney and a writer, is a member of the Canadian and Israel Bar Associations, now editing the Winnipeg Jewish Report at http://winnipegjewishreport.com/
PA Holds Diplomatic Event In Jerusalem: Norwegians Deny Meeting With Senior Officials
by Samuel Sokol
Last Monday, Norwegian foreign minister Jonas Gahr Store held official diplomatic talks with Palestinian Authority minister for Jerusalem Ahmed A-Rawidi and Rafik Husseini, chief of staff to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
The meeting was the first that the Palestinian Authority has held in Israel's capital for almost a decade.
Then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon closed down the PA's Jerusalem headquarters, located in the Orient House, in 2001 as a response to the Second Intifada. Since then, it has been Israeli policy to prevent PA events and institutions from operating in the eastern half of the city.
Recently the European Union and the Russian Federation have requested that Israel reopen the Orient house.
When asked by Israel's Channel 10 regarding the reopening of the Orient House, during a joint press conference with Store last Sunday, Foreign Minister Lieberman stated that "there will be no more gestures. There is simply no room to talk about opening Orient House, freezing the construction in Jerusalem or any additional gestures. Now is the time for a gesture from the Palestinians."
Dr. Aaron Lerner, the director of IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis), told the Five Towns Jewish Times that the Palestine Liberation Organization, and by extension the PLO run Palestinian Authority, is banned by Israeli law from engaging in official activities within the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem.
According to Lerner, the laws banning the PLO from operating in Jerusalem were not amended following the Oslo accords, "nor did Israel enter into any written understanding with the PLO as a result of Oslo that abrogated that law," he said.
When asked if they were aware that official meetings with Palestinian Authority figures are forbidden within Jerusalem, the Norwegian Embassy misleadingly stated that the their country’s ambassador was not present at the Augusta Victoria hospital and referred to a press release from the foreign ministry stating that the minister visited east Jerusalem, without any mention of Rafik Husseini, effectively denied that the meeting took place.
Further queries only resulted in Annika Evensen, the embassy’s first secretary, saying that she had “nothing to add to what is in the press release.”
According to Norwegian journalist Vidar Norberg, Store was welcomed to the hospital by Husseini, who compared Israeli policies to those of Apartheid South Africa and called for an international boycott of Israel goods.
Store held a press conference with the PA dignitary, complete with a podium and Norwegian and Palestinian Authority flags. Speaking to reporters, with the Gush Etzion city of Maaleh Adumim behind him, the foreign minister announced that Mahmoud Abbas’ goal is a peaceful and negotiated settlement of the Middle East conflict.
However, Abbas stands accused of inciting terrorism by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Palestinian Authority president was quoted in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida on January 17th defending his government’s decision to name a square in Ramallah after Dalal Mughrabi, a terrorist guilty of 37 counts of murder.
“Norway considers the Israeli presence in East Jerusalem to be in violation of international law, as does the entire international community,” Store said
LEGAL BASIS FOR CLOSING PALESTINIAN OFFICES IN JERUSALEM
Aaron Lerner 5 August,1996
The following is an English translation provided by the Foreign Ministry of
the law which serves as the legal basis for the closing of Palestinian
offices in Jerusalem.
LAW IMPLEMENTING THE AGREEMENT ON THE GAZA STRIP AND THE JERICHO AREA
(RESTRICTION ON ACTIVITY) 1994
Purpose of the Law: 1. The purpose of this law is to ensure compliance with
the undertaking of the Palestine Liberation Organization (hereinafter "the
PLO") concerning the restriction on the activity of the Palestinian
Authority to the areas of Gaza and Jericho in accordance with the Agreement
and to prevent activity of a political or governmental nature or other
similar activity within the area of the State of Israel which does not
accord with respect for the sovereignty of the State of Israel by the
Palestinian Authority or the PLO, without the agreement of the State of
Israel.
Definitions:
2. "meeting" - includes a march, assembly or congress; "the Agreement" -
the Agreement on the Gaza Strip and the Jericho Area signed at Cairo
between the State of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization on 4
May, 1994. "the Palestinian Authority" and "the areas of Gaza and
ericho" - as defined in the Emergency Regulations (Judea and Samaria and
the Gaza Strip - Jurisdiction over Offences and Legal Assistance) 1967;
"Representative Mission" - includes any institution, office or branch.
Restriction on the Palestinian Authority:
3.(a) The Palestinian Authority shall not open or operate a representative
mission, and shall not hold a meeting, in the area of the State of Israel
unless written permission for this has been given by the State of Israel or
by someone authorized by it to do so;
(b) The Minister of Police may, by means of an order, prohibit the opening
or operation of a representative mission of the Palestinian Authority,
order its closure, or prevent the holding of a meeting, if permission has
not been obtained in accordance with sub-paragraph (a).
(c) Orders referred to in sub-paragraph (b) shall be served, insofar as
possible, on the owner of the premises, or the occupier, or the organizers,
or whoever it seems to the Minister of Police is responsible for the
activity which is the subject of the order;
Where it is not possible to serve the order as aforesaid, the Minister of
Police shall give instructions for its publication in a manner which he
shall establish; A notice concerning the giving of the order shall be
published in the Official Gazette.
Restriction on the activity of the PLO:
4.(a) The Government may, by means of an order, the activity prohibit the
opening or the operation of a representative mission of the PLO, order its
closure, or prevent the holding of a meeting on behalf of the PLO or under
its auspices within the area of the State of Israel.
(b) The provisions of paragraph 3(c) above shall apply, with the necessary
changes, to an order referred to in sub-paragraph (a) above.
Duration of order:
5. The duration of a closure order issued pursuant to paragraphs 3 or 4
shall not exceed 6 months and may be extended from time to time for an
additional period which shall not exceed 6 months at any one time.
Ancillary authorities:
6. For the purpose of executing orders pursuant to paragraphs 3 or 4, the
Israel Police shall have all the authorities given to it by any law,
including the authority to enter into any place, to remove from there any
person, to close the place, to disperse any meeting, and to take any action
necessary to ensure the execution of the order and to use reasonable force
for this purpose.
For the purpose of this paragraph, "the Palestinian Authority" includes any
person acting on its behalf or under its auspices or using its name.
Restriction on licensing:
7.Where an order has been issued pursuant to paragraph 3 or 4, prohibiting
the opening of or operation of a representative mission, the license
required for such activity shall not be granted under any law.
Validity and entry into force:
8.(a) This Law shall enter into force on 1 January 1995.
(b) This law shall continue in force for the period of the continuance in
force of the Emergency Regulations (Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip -
Jurisdiction over Offences and Legal Assistance) 1967, as extended by the
Law implementing the Agreement on the Gaza Strip and the Jericho Area
(Judicial Powers and Miscellaneous Provisions) (Legislative Amendments)
1994.
View the original publication in the 5 Towns Jewish Times
View this story at www.israelbehindthenews.com
Last Monday, Norwegian foreign minister Jonas Gahr Store held official diplomatic talks with Palestinian Authority minister for Jerusalem Ahmed A-Rawidi and Rafik Husseini, chief of staff to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
The meeting was the first that the Palestinian Authority has held in Israel's capital for almost a decade.
Then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon closed down the PA's Jerusalem headquarters, located in the Orient House, in 2001 as a response to the Second Intifada. Since then, it has been Israeli policy to prevent PA events and institutions from operating in the eastern half of the city.
Recently the European Union and the Russian Federation have requested that Israel reopen the Orient house.
When asked by Israel's Channel 10 regarding the reopening of the Orient House, during a joint press conference with Store last Sunday, Foreign Minister Lieberman stated that "there will be no more gestures. There is simply no room to talk about opening Orient House, freezing the construction in Jerusalem or any additional gestures. Now is the time for a gesture from the Palestinians."
Dr. Aaron Lerner, the director of IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis), told the Five Towns Jewish Times that the Palestine Liberation Organization, and by extension the PLO run Palestinian Authority, is banned by Israeli law from engaging in official activities within the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem.
According to Lerner, the laws banning the PLO from operating in Jerusalem were not amended following the Oslo accords, "nor did Israel enter into any written understanding with the PLO as a result of Oslo that abrogated that law," he said.
When asked if they were aware that official meetings with Palestinian Authority figures are forbidden within Jerusalem, the Norwegian Embassy misleadingly stated that the their country’s ambassador was not present at the Augusta Victoria hospital and referred to a press release from the foreign ministry stating that the minister visited east Jerusalem, without any mention of Rafik Husseini, effectively denied that the meeting took place.
Further queries only resulted in Annika Evensen, the embassy’s first secretary, saying that she had “nothing to add to what is in the press release.”
According to Norwegian journalist Vidar Norberg, Store was welcomed to the hospital by Husseini, who compared Israeli policies to those of Apartheid South Africa and called for an international boycott of Israel goods.
Store held a press conference with the PA dignitary, complete with a podium and Norwegian and Palestinian Authority flags. Speaking to reporters, with the Gush Etzion city of Maaleh Adumim behind him, the foreign minister announced that Mahmoud Abbas’ goal is a peaceful and negotiated settlement of the Middle East conflict.
However, Abbas stands accused of inciting terrorism by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Palestinian Authority president was quoted in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida on January 17th defending his government’s decision to name a square in Ramallah after Dalal Mughrabi, a terrorist guilty of 37 counts of murder.
“Norway considers the Israeli presence in East Jerusalem to be in violation of international law, as does the entire international community,” Store said
LEGAL BASIS FOR CLOSING PALESTINIAN OFFICES IN JERUSALEM
Aaron Lerner 5 August,1996
The following is an English translation provided by the Foreign Ministry of
the law which serves as the legal basis for the closing of Palestinian
offices in Jerusalem.
LAW IMPLEMENTING THE AGREEMENT ON THE GAZA STRIP AND THE JERICHO AREA
(RESTRICTION ON ACTIVITY) 1994
Purpose of the Law: 1. The purpose of this law is to ensure compliance with
the undertaking of the Palestine Liberation Organization (hereinafter "the
PLO") concerning the restriction on the activity of the Palestinian
Authority to the areas of Gaza and Jericho in accordance with the Agreement
and to prevent activity of a political or governmental nature or other
similar activity within the area of the State of Israel which does not
accord with respect for the sovereignty of the State of Israel by the
Palestinian Authority or the PLO, without the agreement of the State of
Israel.
Definitions:
2. "meeting" - includes a march, assembly or congress; "the Agreement" -
the Agreement on the Gaza Strip and the Jericho Area signed at Cairo
between the State of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization on 4
May, 1994. "the Palestinian Authority" and "the areas of Gaza and
ericho" - as defined in the Emergency Regulations (Judea and Samaria and
the Gaza Strip - Jurisdiction over Offences and Legal Assistance) 1967;
"Representative Mission" - includes any institution, office or branch.
Restriction on the Palestinian Authority:
3.(a) The Palestinian Authority shall not open or operate a representative
mission, and shall not hold a meeting, in the area of the State of Israel
unless written permission for this has been given by the State of Israel or
by someone authorized by it to do so;
(b) The Minister of Police may, by means of an order, prohibit the opening
or operation of a representative mission of the Palestinian Authority,
order its closure, or prevent the holding of a meeting, if permission has
not been obtained in accordance with sub-paragraph (a).
(c) Orders referred to in sub-paragraph (b) shall be served, insofar as
possible, on the owner of the premises, or the occupier, or the organizers,
or whoever it seems to the Minister of Police is responsible for the
activity which is the subject of the order;
Where it is not possible to serve the order as aforesaid, the Minister of
Police shall give instructions for its publication in a manner which he
shall establish; A notice concerning the giving of the order shall be
published in the Official Gazette.
Restriction on the activity of the PLO:
4.(a) The Government may, by means of an order, the activity prohibit the
opening or the operation of a representative mission of the PLO, order its
closure, or prevent the holding of a meeting on behalf of the PLO or under
its auspices within the area of the State of Israel.
(b) The provisions of paragraph 3(c) above shall apply, with the necessary
changes, to an order referred to in sub-paragraph (a) above.
Duration of order:
5. The duration of a closure order issued pursuant to paragraphs 3 or 4
shall not exceed 6 months and may be extended from time to time for an
additional period which shall not exceed 6 months at any one time.
Ancillary authorities:
6. For the purpose of executing orders pursuant to paragraphs 3 or 4, the
Israel Police shall have all the authorities given to it by any law,
including the authority to enter into any place, to remove from there any
person, to close the place, to disperse any meeting, and to take any action
necessary to ensure the execution of the order and to use reasonable force
for this purpose.
For the purpose of this paragraph, "the Palestinian Authority" includes any
person acting on its behalf or under its auspices or using its name.
Restriction on licensing:
7.Where an order has been issued pursuant to paragraph 3 or 4, prohibiting
the opening of or operation of a representative mission, the license
required for such activity shall not be granted under any law.
Validity and entry into force:
8.(a) This Law shall enter into force on 1 January 1995.
(b) This law shall continue in force for the period of the continuance in
force of the Emergency Regulations (Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip -
Jurisdiction over Offences and Legal Assistance) 1967, as extended by the
Law implementing the Agreement on the Gaza Strip and the Jericho Area
(Judicial Powers and Miscellaneous Provisions) (Legislative Amendments)
1994.
View the original publication in the 5 Towns Jewish Times
View this story at www.israelbehindthenews.com
Sunday, January 17, 2010
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Israel Wants to End Incitement as Part of the Peace Process
by David Bedein
Jerusalem - For the first time since the genesis of Middle East peace negotiations, more than 30 years ago, the government of Israel has placed the cessation of official Arab incitement to murder Jews as a condition for the continuation of Middle East peace negotiations.
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared after last week’s government weekly cabinet meeting, “It is not only missiles and rockets that endanger security and push peace further off. Words can also be dangerous.”
Referring to recent ceremonies held by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in honor of Palestinian terrorists who had murdered Jews. Mr. Netanyahu observed that “Sadly, there has been a retreat in this area in recent months, both within the Palestinian Authority and by its leaders. Whoever sponsors and supports naming a square in Ramallah after a terrorist who murdered dozens of Israelis on the coastal road - encourages terrorism. Whoever declares those responsible for the murder of the late Rabbi Meir Hai, father to seven children, as holy martyrs - pushes peace further away.”
Mr. Netanyahu also made reference to the new Palestinian curriculum, which represents the first official curriculum since the Third Reich to inculcate war against the Jews.
In Mr. Netanyahu’s words, “incitement continues in the Palestinian media and education system; in its official media outlets and in the schools under its supervision. These serious actions represent a harsh violation of the Palestinians’ international obligation to prevent incitement. I say to the chairman of the Palestinian Authority: Stop the incitement. This is not how peace is made. Peace is made by educating towards reconciliation, by encouraging good neighborly relations and by developing mutual respect. Therefore, the cessation of Palestinian incitement is a necessary condition, not for entering into discussions, but so that we may complete them in a way that will bring about genuine peace between our two peoples.”
While Israeli concern over incitement is not new, the fact that Israel has conditioned the cessation of incitement as a condition for continuing Middle East negotiations is unprecedented.
View this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
View this story at Israel Behind the News
Jerusalem - For the first time since the genesis of Middle East peace negotiations, more than 30 years ago, the government of Israel has placed the cessation of official Arab incitement to murder Jews as a condition for the continuation of Middle East peace negotiations.
As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared after last week’s government weekly cabinet meeting, “It is not only missiles and rockets that endanger security and push peace further off. Words can also be dangerous.”
Referring to recent ceremonies held by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in honor of Palestinian terrorists who had murdered Jews. Mr. Netanyahu observed that “Sadly, there has been a retreat in this area in recent months, both within the Palestinian Authority and by its leaders. Whoever sponsors and supports naming a square in Ramallah after a terrorist who murdered dozens of Israelis on the coastal road - encourages terrorism. Whoever declares those responsible for the murder of the late Rabbi Meir Hai, father to seven children, as holy martyrs - pushes peace further away.”
Mr. Netanyahu also made reference to the new Palestinian curriculum, which represents the first official curriculum since the Third Reich to inculcate war against the Jews.
In Mr. Netanyahu’s words, “incitement continues in the Palestinian media and education system; in its official media outlets and in the schools under its supervision. These serious actions represent a harsh violation of the Palestinians’ international obligation to prevent incitement. I say to the chairman of the Palestinian Authority: Stop the incitement. This is not how peace is made. Peace is made by educating towards reconciliation, by encouraging good neighborly relations and by developing mutual respect. Therefore, the cessation of Palestinian incitement is a necessary condition, not for entering into discussions, but so that we may complete them in a way that will bring about genuine peace between our two peoples.”
While Israeli concern over incitement is not new, the fact that Israel has conditioned the cessation of incitement as a condition for continuing Middle East negotiations is unprecedented.
View this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
View this story at Israel Behind the News
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Abbas Refuses to Negotiate with Israel
by David Bedein
Even after meeting on Monday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is sticking to his view that peace negotiations with Israel should not begin until Israel meets his demands, including a complete halt to all construction in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.
A high-ranking Israeli government source said “the Palestinians want an American guarantee on the matter of Jerusalem and the refugees.”
“President Mubarak told me that Jerusalem must be part of the negotiations,” Mr. Abbas said yesterday right after the conclusion of his meeting with the Egyptian president in Sharm el-Sheikh, which was also attended by Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit and Director of Egyptian Intelligence General Omar Suleiman.
The meeting took place just a few days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s and Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer’s meeting with President Mubarak, which was meant to put pressure on the Palestinians to begin negotiations with Israel.
In the course of the meeting with the Palestinian leader, Mubarak reviewed the subjects that had come up in his meeting with Netanyahu, but Abbas was not impressed.
“We don’t want to pass judgment on proposals that at the moment are still vague,” he said. “We have no objection in principle to negotiations or to meetings. We are not posing conditions, but we’ve said over and over and are still saying - when the construction in the settlements stops and there is recognition of international principles, we will be willing to renew the negotiations.”
Hossam Zaki, a spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, confirmed yesterday that the American administration had drawn up a new plan, in which the Palestinian state is to be established within two years.
Egyptian officials Suleiman and Aboul Gheit have traveled to the United States to meet with American and British officials to discuss these proposals. Mr. Zaki said that the plan will include a presentation of Israeli and Palestinian guarantees.
At this stage, the goal of Egypt, the U.S. and of Israel is to hold a summit early next month at which the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians will be launched under the sponsorship of Egypt and with the participation of the U.S. and Jordan. After yesterday’s meeting, Abbas rejected this scenario, but the top political echelon in Israel has not lost its optimism.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who is involved behind the scenes in restarting the negotiations, said last night, “the goal is to shorten the foreplay, to shorten the corridor quickly and to move quickly onto the path of negotiations at the end of which there will be an agreement based on two states for two peoples.”
In contrast, a person projecting a clear lack of optimism is Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who met this week with Quartet envoy to the Middle East Tony Blair at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem. Mr. Lieberman told Blair that it would be impossible to reach agreement on the permanent borders within nine months and a full agreement within two years. “This is not a realistic goal, and therefore what we have to do is to begin direct talks without committing to and sanctifying a date,” he said.
See the original at The Philadelphia Bulletin: Abbas Refuses to Negotiate with Israel
Even after meeting on Monday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is sticking to his view that peace negotiations with Israel should not begin until Israel meets his demands, including a complete halt to all construction in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.
A high-ranking Israeli government source said “the Palestinians want an American guarantee on the matter of Jerusalem and the refugees.”
“President Mubarak told me that Jerusalem must be part of the negotiations,” Mr. Abbas said yesterday right after the conclusion of his meeting with the Egyptian president in Sharm el-Sheikh, which was also attended by Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit and Director of Egyptian Intelligence General Omar Suleiman.
The meeting took place just a few days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s and Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer’s meeting with President Mubarak, which was meant to put pressure on the Palestinians to begin negotiations with Israel.
In the course of the meeting with the Palestinian leader, Mubarak reviewed the subjects that had come up in his meeting with Netanyahu, but Abbas was not impressed.
“We don’t want to pass judgment on proposals that at the moment are still vague,” he said. “We have no objection in principle to negotiations or to meetings. We are not posing conditions, but we’ve said over and over and are still saying - when the construction in the settlements stops and there is recognition of international principles, we will be willing to renew the negotiations.”
Hossam Zaki, a spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, confirmed yesterday that the American administration had drawn up a new plan, in which the Palestinian state is to be established within two years.
Egyptian officials Suleiman and Aboul Gheit have traveled to the United States to meet with American and British officials to discuss these proposals. Mr. Zaki said that the plan will include a presentation of Israeli and Palestinian guarantees.
At this stage, the goal of Egypt, the U.S. and of Israel is to hold a summit early next month at which the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians will be launched under the sponsorship of Egypt and with the participation of the U.S. and Jordan. After yesterday’s meeting, Abbas rejected this scenario, but the top political echelon in Israel has not lost its optimism.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who is involved behind the scenes in restarting the negotiations, said last night, “the goal is to shorten the foreplay, to shorten the corridor quickly and to move quickly onto the path of negotiations at the end of which there will be an agreement based on two states for two peoples.”
In contrast, a person projecting a clear lack of optimism is Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who met this week with Quartet envoy to the Middle East Tony Blair at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem. Mr. Lieberman told Blair that it would be impossible to reach agreement on the permanent borders within nine months and a full agreement within two years. “This is not a realistic goal, and therefore what we have to do is to begin direct talks without committing to and sanctifying a date,” he said.
See the original at The Philadelphia Bulletin: Abbas Refuses to Negotiate with Israel
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
The Philadelphia Bulletin: The Shots the Murdered the Children's Rabbi
Jerusalem - Residents of The Jewish community of Shavei Shomron in the Samarian district of Northern Israel, were profoundly shocked when they learned of the murder of Rabbi Meir Hai, known as the “Rabbi for the kindergartens” in the area, who was shot at approximately 4:30 PM on the day before Christmas as he was driving between the Jewish communities of Einav and Shavei Shomron.
A vehicle transporting armed Fatah terrorists passed the Rabbi on the road, closed in on him and then fired at him with an automatic weapon.
Eleven bullets hit the car, and one penetrated his skull, causing his death.
An Israeli army check point had been operating until very recently only 100 feet from the site of the attack, but was lifted due to efforts to “ease the lives of the Palestinians”, according to a press release sent to the media by the Israeli army spokesman.
Mr. Gershon Mesika, chairman of the Samaria Regional Council, responded to the attack saying: “After a prolonged period of calm, the central roadblock between Tulkarm and Shavei Shomron was removed- despite our warnings.”
Rabbi Hai is survived by his wife, a teacher in a local religious girls’ high school, and seven children, the youngest of whom, Nahman, is two months old. Rabbi Hai was a well-known figure in the Samaria region, and had even established a Torah study network for kindergartens, which he also directed.
According to Menuha Hazani, a family friend, “Rabbi Meir was someone who loved everyone; he had a cheerful disposition and loved children. He was a lively spirit for children in the settlement - he always went around with candy in his pocket, pampered the children and sang songs with them. There are not many such people, who devote their entire life to giving to others. It’s quite rare. Another resident, Dina Yeshurun, adds: “You would always see Rabbi Hai with a big smile on his face, surrounded by dozens of children.”
SWIFT RESPONSE
Less than 48 hours after the terror attack, the score was settled with the murderers of Rabbi Meir Avshalom Hai. IDF crack troops killed yesterday morning three members of the from Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades, Fatah’s military wing, the unit that is now undergoing military training by the American government.
One of the killers had been released from Israeli prison just four months ago. Another one of the terrorists had signed a “wanted men’s agreement”, in he had undertaken not to engage in terrorism.
On Saturday morning large numbers of IDF troops surrounded Nablus and imposed a curfew on numerous parts of the city. Surkaji and Abu Sharah were killed after they hunkered down in their houses and refused to turn themselves in to the security forces. Abu Sharah sent out his wife, but he continued to hide out inside the house. The activity in Subuh’s house lasted a number of hours, in the course of which anti-tank rockets were fired at the house in an attempt to force the wanted man to emerge.
In the wake of the operation, the White House asked Israel for clarifications in the wake of the slaying of the three men in Nablus. Top US administration officials took the matter up with Director of the National Security Staff in the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office Uzi Arad and demanded clarifications. Arad clarified the matter with security establishment officials and then presented the Americans with a full, factual account, including details about the terror attack and the fact that the wanted men had refused to surrender and to come out of their houses.
The Israeli army also provided ballistics tests to show that the weapons seized from the terrorists matched the bullets which murdered Rabbi Chai.
The White House’s request for clarifications was made in the aftermath of Palestinian protests about the Israeli operation, which they cast as an act of Israeli provocation.
Profiles of the Arab terrorists who murdered Rabbi Meir Hai
* Nader Surkarji: Aged 40, Surkarji was high on Israel’s most wanted list from El-Aksa Martyrs Brigades. He took part in numerous terror attacks and established explosives laboratories in Nablus. Sukarji served seven years in the Israeli Hadarim Prison. He was released from prison and returned to Nablus in early 2009.
* Ghassan Abu Sharah: Aged 39, was party to the planning and execution of numerous terror attacks. His brother, Naif Abu Sharah, was formerly a Tanzim leader and was one of the founders and top commanders of El-Aksa Martyrs Brigades. Naif Abu Sharah was killed by IDF troops six years ago.
* Anan Subuh: Aged 40, Subuh engaged in the sale and supply of arms for terror attacks. He signed the wanted men’s agreement that was reached between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, in the framework of which the IDF granted immunity from arrest to all Tanzim operatives who undertook not to engage further in terrorism.
Palestinian Media Watch, which provides reports of the official Palestinian Authority media to the press, reported that.the PA-controlled media “have continuously portrayed the killers of Rabbi Meir Chai as “Palestinian heroes and Shahids” - holy Martyrs -- while describing Israel's killing of the three terrorists as "murder in cold blood" and "assassination."
The leader of the PA, Machmud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, often described in the media as a “moderate” declared the killers of Rabbi Chai to be "Shahids" (holy Martyrs) and sent his personal emissary to visit the families, as described in the following account on Palestinian Authority TV News on Sunday, December 27, as Rabbi Cjai was being buried:
"Secretary General of the Presidents Bureau, Tayeb Abd Al-Rahim, conveyed condolences on behalf of President Mahmoud Abbas to the residents of Nablus and to the families of the three Shahids [Martyrs] for the Martyrdom of their sons, who were assassinated by Israeli occupation forces yesterday morning. He conveyed to the fighting families letters of condolences from the President [Abbas] and updated them as to [Abbas's] decision to declare them as Shahids [Martyrs] of the Palestinian revolution..."
At the same time, PA TV featured am official Fatah poster, signed with condolences of PA Chairman Abbas, honoring the three terrorists. The following is the text on the poster with pictures of the terrorists:
After the terrorists were killed by Israeli troops, the Fatah threatened more "quality operations" and warned that it would avenge the killing of the "Jihad Fighters:
The news of the attack has reverberated in the United States.
Rabbi Steven Weil, executive vice president of the American based Orthodox Union, representing more than one thousand Orthodox Jewish organizations throughout the United States, issued the following statement with regard to the murder of Rabbi Meir Chai by Palestinian terrorists:
The United States Consulate in Jerusalem would not answer queries about the responsibility of Mr. Abbas and the PA for the murder of Rabbi Chai and would not issue any condemnation of the PA in this context. The only thing that the United States did condemn this week was the Israeli government announcement of further housing opportunities for Israelis to live in areas of Jerusalem that were acquired by Israel in the wake of the 1967 war.
A vehicle transporting armed Fatah terrorists passed the Rabbi on the road, closed in on him and then fired at him with an automatic weapon.
Eleven bullets hit the car, and one penetrated his skull, causing his death.
An Israeli army check point had been operating until very recently only 100 feet from the site of the attack, but was lifted due to efforts to “ease the lives of the Palestinians”, according to a press release sent to the media by the Israeli army spokesman.
Mr. Gershon Mesika, chairman of the Samaria Regional Council, responded to the attack saying: “After a prolonged period of calm, the central roadblock between Tulkarm and Shavei Shomron was removed- despite our warnings.”
Rabbi Hai is survived by his wife, a teacher in a local religious girls’ high school, and seven children, the youngest of whom, Nahman, is two months old. Rabbi Hai was a well-known figure in the Samaria region, and had even established a Torah study network for kindergartens, which he also directed.
According to Menuha Hazani, a family friend, “Rabbi Meir was someone who loved everyone; he had a cheerful disposition and loved children. He was a lively spirit for children in the settlement - he always went around with candy in his pocket, pampered the children and sang songs with them. There are not many such people, who devote their entire life to giving to others. It’s quite rare. Another resident, Dina Yeshurun, adds: “You would always see Rabbi Hai with a big smile on his face, surrounded by dozens of children.”
SWIFT RESPONSE
Less than 48 hours after the terror attack, the score was settled with the murderers of Rabbi Meir Avshalom Hai. IDF crack troops killed yesterday morning three members of the from Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades, Fatah’s military wing, the unit that is now undergoing military training by the American government.
One of the killers had been released from Israeli prison just four months ago. Another one of the terrorists had signed a “wanted men’s agreement”, in he had undertaken not to engage in terrorism.
On Saturday morning large numbers of IDF troops surrounded Nablus and imposed a curfew on numerous parts of the city. Surkaji and Abu Sharah were killed after they hunkered down in their houses and refused to turn themselves in to the security forces. Abu Sharah sent out his wife, but he continued to hide out inside the house. The activity in Subuh’s house lasted a number of hours, in the course of which anti-tank rockets were fired at the house in an attempt to force the wanted man to emerge.
In the wake of the operation, the White House asked Israel for clarifications in the wake of the slaying of the three men in Nablus. Top US administration officials took the matter up with Director of the National Security Staff in the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office Uzi Arad and demanded clarifications. Arad clarified the matter with security establishment officials and then presented the Americans with a full, factual account, including details about the terror attack and the fact that the wanted men had refused to surrender and to come out of their houses.
The Israeli army also provided ballistics tests to show that the weapons seized from the terrorists matched the bullets which murdered Rabbi Chai.
The White House’s request for clarifications was made in the aftermath of Palestinian protests about the Israeli operation, which they cast as an act of Israeli provocation.
Profiles of the Arab terrorists who murdered Rabbi Meir Hai
* Nader Surkarji: Aged 40, Surkarji was high on Israel’s most wanted list from El-Aksa Martyrs Brigades. He took part in numerous terror attacks and established explosives laboratories in Nablus. Sukarji served seven years in the Israeli Hadarim Prison. He was released from prison and returned to Nablus in early 2009.
* Ghassan Abu Sharah: Aged 39, was party to the planning and execution of numerous terror attacks. His brother, Naif Abu Sharah, was formerly a Tanzim leader and was one of the founders and top commanders of El-Aksa Martyrs Brigades. Naif Abu Sharah was killed by IDF troops six years ago.
* Anan Subuh: Aged 40, Subuh engaged in the sale and supply of arms for terror attacks. He signed the wanted men’s agreement that was reached between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, in the framework of which the IDF granted immunity from arrest to all Tanzim operatives who undertook not to engage further in terrorism.
Palestinian Media Watch, which provides reports of the official Palestinian Authority media to the press, reported that.the PA-controlled media “have continuously portrayed the killers of Rabbi Meir Chai as “Palestinian heroes and Shahids” - holy Martyrs -- while describing Israel's killing of the three terrorists as "murder in cold blood" and "assassination."
The leader of the PA, Machmud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, often described in the media as a “moderate” declared the killers of Rabbi Chai to be "Shahids" (holy Martyrs) and sent his personal emissary to visit the families, as described in the following account on Palestinian Authority TV News on Sunday, December 27, as Rabbi Cjai was being buried:
"Secretary General of the Presidents Bureau, Tayeb Abd Al-Rahim, conveyed condolences on behalf of President Mahmoud Abbas to the residents of Nablus and to the families of the three Shahids [Martyrs] for the Martyrdom of their sons, who were assassinated by Israeli occupation forces yesterday morning. He conveyed to the fighting families letters of condolences from the President [Abbas] and updated them as to [Abbas's] decision to declare them as Shahids [Martyrs] of the Palestinian revolution..."
At the same time, PA TV featured am official Fatah poster, signed with condolences of PA Chairman Abbas, honoring the three terrorists. The following is the text on the poster with pictures of the terrorists:
"With honor and admiration to those who are more honored than all of us."
[Reference to supreme honor of Shahids - Martyrs in Islam]
Palestinian Media Watch
After the terrorists were killed by Israeli troops, the Fatah threatened more "quality operations" and warned that it would avenge the killing of the "Jihad Fighters:
"The occupation murders three residents of Nablus in cold blood... the President's [Abbas's] Bureau denounces the Israeli crime...
"The [Fatah's] Al-Aqsa Brigades announced: 'By the act of murdering an elite group of our Jihad Fighters in Nablus and in Gaza, the occupation is opening for itself the gates of Hell.' They threatened that 'our activists will not stand idly by while the blood of Jihad Fighters is spilled... The enemy will hear nothing from us but the language of blood and fire, and our Shahada [Martyrdom] Seekers will go out to [the enemy] from every place in order to turn his days into nights, and he will come to regret his crime. We shall not sleep over the blood of our Jihad Fighters, and our response will be swift... We affirm the continuation of our choice of blood and Martyrdom.
The only choice, in the face of the repeated attacks against our people in the towns and villages and refugee camps of the occupied homeland. We shall turn the spilled blood of the Martyrs and the commanders into a torch of fury that will burn the forces of evil and aggression."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 27, 2009]
The news of the attack has reverberated in the United States.
Rabbi Steven Weil, executive vice president of the American based Orthodox Union, representing more than one thousand Orthodox Jewish organizations throughout the United States, issued the following statement with regard to the murder of Rabbi Meir Chai by Palestinian terrorists:
”The murder of Rabbi Meir Chai, an innocent person and beloved father of seven children, is tragic and heinous.
If preliminary reports are correct, and the perpetrators of this crime are found to be affiliated with the Palestinian Authority, then that group's leadership - from President Abbas on down, must be held responsible and account for their failures to rein in such terrorists within their midst.
We would also call upon the United States, which works closely with and supports the Palestinian Authority's security services, to undertake an inquiry and take appropriate actions in response.
The United States Consulate in Jerusalem would not answer queries about the responsibility of Mr. Abbas and the PA for the murder of Rabbi Chai and would not issue any condemnation of the PA in this context. The only thing that the United States did condemn this week was the Israeli government announcement of further housing opportunities for Israelis to live in areas of Jerusalem that were acquired by Israel in the wake of the 1967 war.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
The Philadelphia Bulletin: U.S. Presidential Envoy Makes Pledge To Combat Anti-Semitism
Will that Include a Campaign against Palestinian Authority Anti-Semitism?
by David Bedein
Jerusalem - Hannah Rosenthal, appointed last week as the United States State Department’s official envoy to combat anti-Semitism, delivered an address on Wednesday to more than 500 people who participated in the Jerusalem-based Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism.
Ms. Rosenthal opened her address by invoking her own father, who was the only member of his family to live through the ordeal of the Nazi concentration camps and then went on to delineate her job description.
Ms. Rosenthal said that she has been delegated to create a policy of vigilance against anti-Semitism and to coordinate her task assignment with all diplomatic missions of the United States throughout the world. She stated that she would focus a special effort to monitor expressions of anti-Semitism at the United Nations, noting that Israel is being held to a double standard.
Ms. Rosenthal’s passionate speech was widely acclaimed and quoted in the Israeli media.
The Bulletin asked Ms. Rosenthal after her speech about whether she would indeed apply her principled statement to combat the virulent antisemitism that emanates from the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority (PA), an entity which has received wide support from the American foreign policy establishment. Ms. Rosenthal responded that her mandate was global and would be applied everywhere.
Asked specifically about whether she would take on the anti-Semitism of the Palestinian Authority, Ms. Rosenthal said that she would consider the question. In that context, The Bulletin dispatched a letter to Ms. Rosenthal’s office, asking for a policy statement concerning official Palestinian Authority anti-Semitism.
Previous administrations of President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush had made it official policy to ignore official Palestinian Authority anti-Semitism that emanates from the media, the new constitution and the new schoolbooks of the Palestinian Authority.
At the Annapolis Summit in Nov. 2007, hosted by President Bush, The Bulletin asked representatives of the State Department and White House as to whether the U.S. would ask the PA to put an end to official anti-Semitic policies in PA education, PA media and the PA public domain. The answer was “no.”
Since Ms. Rosenthal invoked her father as an inspiration in her new task assignment, it will be instructive to see how she copes with the fact that President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warmly receive Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, while overlooking the fact that Mr. Abbas remains one of the world’s greatest holocaust deniers. Mr. Abbas wrote a Ph.D. thesis entitled “The Other Side: the Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism” which describes Nazi persecution of the Jews as a “Zionist fantasy, the fantastic lie that six million Jews were killed.”
Mr. Abbas’ Ph.D. is now widely used as a prime text in Palestinian Authority schools and Palestinian Authority Universities.
by David Bedein
Jerusalem - Hannah Rosenthal, appointed last week as the United States State Department’s official envoy to combat anti-Semitism, delivered an address on Wednesday to more than 500 people who participated in the Jerusalem-based Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism.
Ms. Rosenthal opened her address by invoking her own father, who was the only member of his family to live through the ordeal of the Nazi concentration camps and then went on to delineate her job description.
Ms. Rosenthal said that she has been delegated to create a policy of vigilance against anti-Semitism and to coordinate her task assignment with all diplomatic missions of the United States throughout the world. She stated that she would focus a special effort to monitor expressions of anti-Semitism at the United Nations, noting that Israel is being held to a double standard.
Ms. Rosenthal’s passionate speech was widely acclaimed and quoted in the Israeli media.
The Bulletin asked Ms. Rosenthal after her speech about whether she would indeed apply her principled statement to combat the virulent antisemitism that emanates from the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority (PA), an entity which has received wide support from the American foreign policy establishment. Ms. Rosenthal responded that her mandate was global and would be applied everywhere.
Asked specifically about whether she would take on the anti-Semitism of the Palestinian Authority, Ms. Rosenthal said that she would consider the question. In that context, The Bulletin dispatched a letter to Ms. Rosenthal’s office, asking for a policy statement concerning official Palestinian Authority anti-Semitism.
Previous administrations of President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush had made it official policy to ignore official Palestinian Authority anti-Semitism that emanates from the media, the new constitution and the new schoolbooks of the Palestinian Authority.
At the Annapolis Summit in Nov. 2007, hosted by President Bush, The Bulletin asked representatives of the State Department and White House as to whether the U.S. would ask the PA to put an end to official anti-Semitic policies in PA education, PA media and the PA public domain. The answer was “no.”
Since Ms. Rosenthal invoked her father as an inspiration in her new task assignment, it will be instructive to see how she copes with the fact that President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warmly receive Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, while overlooking the fact that Mr. Abbas remains one of the world’s greatest holocaust deniers. Mr. Abbas wrote a Ph.D. thesis entitled “The Other Side: the Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism” which describes Nazi persecution of the Jews as a “Zionist fantasy, the fantastic lie that six million Jews were killed.”
Mr. Abbas’ Ph.D. is now widely used as a prime text in Palestinian Authority schools and Palestinian Authority Universities.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Special Report: Assessment of US Military Aid to Fatah (The Center for Near East Policy Research)
Assessment of US Military Aid to Fatah
In March 2005, a US Security Coordinator Team was established in order to help the Palestinian Authority reorganize its security services.
The approach of the Team is being presented as markedly different from, and more effective than, prior international efforts to help the Palestinians transform the old Palestinian Liberation Organization militia into a professional force – a gendarmerie – that might serve a state. General Keith Dayton, who now holds the office of Coordinator and is striving to fulfill the mandate with which he has been charged, is on record as saying “What we have created are new men.”
This report takes a careful look at the development of this program and its import.
Click here for the full report in PDF format: Assessment of US Military Aid to Fatah
In March 2005, a US Security Coordinator Team was established in order to help the Palestinian Authority reorganize its security services.
The approach of the Team is being presented as markedly different from, and more effective than, prior international efforts to help the Palestinians transform the old Palestinian Liberation Organization militia into a professional force – a gendarmerie – that might serve a state. General Keith Dayton, who now holds the office of Coordinator and is striving to fulfill the mandate with which he has been charged, is on record as saying “What we have created are new men.”
This report takes a careful look at the development of this program and its import.
Click here for the full report in PDF format: Assessment of US Military Aid to Fatah
Sunday, August 30, 2009
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Palestinian Judge - Jews Have no History in Jerusalem
by David Bedein
Khaled Abu Toameh, Arab Affairs correspondent for The Jerusalem Post, reported that the Palestinian Authority's chief Islamic judge, Sheikh Tayseer Rajab Tamimi, has formally announced that that there was no evidence to back up claims that Jews had ever lived in Jerusalem or that the Temple ever existed.
Tamimi claimed that Israeli archeologists have "admitted" that Jerusalem was never inhabited by Jews. Tamimi's statement came in response to statements made earlier this week by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who said that Jerusalem "is not a settlement," and that "the Jews built it 3,000 years ago."
"Netanyahu's claims are baseless and untrue," said Tamimi, the highest religious authority in the Palestinian Authority. "Jerusalem is an Arab and Islamic city and it always has been so."
Tamimi claimed that all excavation work conducted by Israel after 1967 has "failed to prove that Jews had a history or presence in Jerusalem or that their ostensible temple had ever existed."
He condemned Netanyahu and "all Jewish rabbis and extremist organizations" as liars because of their assertion that Jerusalem was a Jewish city. Tamimi accused Israel of distorting the facts and forging history "with the aim of erasing the Arab and Islamic character of Jerusalem." He also accused Israel of launching an "ethnic cleansing" campaign to squeeze Arabs out of the city.
"By desecrating its holy sites, expelling its Arab residents and demolishing their homes and confiscating their lands and building settlements in Jerusalem, Israel is seeking, through the use of weapons, to turn it into a Jewish city," he said. "This is a flagrant violation of all religious, legal, moral and human values."
In another development, Hamas on Wednesday rejected the political platform of the Palestinian Authority's Prime Minister, Salaam Fayad. The platform, which was published on Tuesday, pledges that the Fayad government would work toward establishing a de facto Palestinian state within two years even if no agreement was reached with Israel. The platform talks about peaceful resistance against Israeli "occupation." The two Islamic groups said in response that the only way to establish a state was through "armed struggle." They said that Fayad's plan was unrealistic and unclear, adding that it would be impossible to establish a state "under occupation."
View this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
View this story at Israel Behind the News
Khaled Abu Toameh, Arab Affairs correspondent for The Jerusalem Post, reported that the Palestinian Authority's chief Islamic judge, Sheikh Tayseer Rajab Tamimi, has formally announced that that there was no evidence to back up claims that Jews had ever lived in Jerusalem or that the Temple ever existed.
Tamimi claimed that Israeli archeologists have "admitted" that Jerusalem was never inhabited by Jews. Tamimi's statement came in response to statements made earlier this week by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who said that Jerusalem "is not a settlement," and that "the Jews built it 3,000 years ago."
"Netanyahu's claims are baseless and untrue," said Tamimi, the highest religious authority in the Palestinian Authority. "Jerusalem is an Arab and Islamic city and it always has been so."
Tamimi claimed that all excavation work conducted by Israel after 1967 has "failed to prove that Jews had a history or presence in Jerusalem or that their ostensible temple had ever existed."
He condemned Netanyahu and "all Jewish rabbis and extremist organizations" as liars because of their assertion that Jerusalem was a Jewish city. Tamimi accused Israel of distorting the facts and forging history "with the aim of erasing the Arab and Islamic character of Jerusalem." He also accused Israel of launching an "ethnic cleansing" campaign to squeeze Arabs out of the city.
"By desecrating its holy sites, expelling its Arab residents and demolishing their homes and confiscating their lands and building settlements in Jerusalem, Israel is seeking, through the use of weapons, to turn it into a Jewish city," he said. "This is a flagrant violation of all religious, legal, moral and human values."
In another development, Hamas on Wednesday rejected the political platform of the Palestinian Authority's Prime Minister, Salaam Fayad. The platform, which was published on Tuesday, pledges that the Fayad government would work toward establishing a de facto Palestinian state within two years even if no agreement was reached with Israel. The platform talks about peaceful resistance against Israeli "occupation." The two Islamic groups said in response that the only way to establish a state was through "armed struggle." They said that Fayad's plan was unrealistic and unclear, adding that it would be impossible to establish a state "under occupation."
View this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
View this story at Israel Behind the News
Monday, August 10, 2009
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Abbas Won't Abandon Armed Resistance
Abbas: Won't Abandon Armed Resistance
by David Bedein
The Fatah general conference convened this week in Bethlehem, 20 years after the previous conference that was held in Tunisia. Discussions addressed the question of whether Fatah should give up the armed struggle.
Large posters featuring Palestinian children brandishing rifles decorated the conference hall.
“Our determination to choose the path of peace and negotiations-does not mean that we have abandoned our noble path of legitimate resistance, which is based on international law,” declared PA Chairman Abbas in his keynote speech at the three day conference of the Fatah, which is the ruling party of the Palestinian Authority.
“Yes, resistance is legal, and we are with this resistance”, Abbas repeated, over and over.
An Israeli Arab Member of the Israeli Knesset Parliament, MK Ahmed Tibi, former advisor to the late PLO founder, Yassir Arafat, also spoke at the conference, calling upon the delegates to expel Jews from the future Palestinian state, leading thousands of Palestinians in a chant: “Get out of the Palestinian lands. Get out of all of our souls. Get out already!”
Following Mr. Tibi's harangue, the Israel Legal Forum demanded that Israel Attorney General Meni Mazuz prosecute Mr. Tibi for incitement sedition and racism in his remarks
One of the possible future leaders of the Fatah, the former security chief Jibril Rajoub, presented a clear position:
“Fatah will never give up the armed struggle,” he said, “there are tactics of struggle and policy, but they depend on Israel's position and recognition of the existence of the Palestinian people.”
MEMRI, a credible middle east think tank, translated that Palestinian Legislative Council member Jamal Huwail’s speech at the Fatah conference, which reflected the tenor of events at the event: “This conference must confirm the right of resistance by all means, as they appear in U.N. conventions, considering that Fatah is a national liberation movement and its people are under occupation. The resistance is carried out not only with guns, but also [with] political activity and serious negotiations.”
MEMRI also translated Husam Khader, another senior Fatah member who has spent the last few years in an Israeli prison for active participation in the who declared that: “Fatah has not changed its national identity, and it retains the option of resistance and armed struggle. But now, for the first time... it is permitting the option of negotiations as one of the Palestinian people's strategic options and as a possible way of attaining its political goals.”
Interviewed in prison, where he is serving life for the murder of 13 Jews, Marwan Al-Barghouti, a senior Fatah member imprisoned in Israel, said in an August 4, 2009 interview with the Palestinian Authority daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida: “Resistance to the Israeli occupation is a national obligation, and it is a legitimate right...”
In an earlier interview, on July 21, he said: “Fatah believes in a combination of all forms of struggle, and it will not abandon, thwart, or rule out any form of struggle. As long as a single Israeli soldier or settler remains on the Palestinian land that was occupied in 1967, Fatah will not relinquish the option of resistance.
“There isn't a single Fatah member who does not believe in resistance, because the very essence of the Fatah [movement] is resistance, [more] resistance, and eventual victory. There isn't a single people in history that was under occupation and did not resist. Resistance is a legitimate right that is confirmed by religious law, U.N. resolutions, and international law.
“We in Fatah think that political activity and negotiations complement resistance, and harvest its fruits. Therefore, we have always called for adhering to the option of resistance, negotiation, and political activity alike.”
MEMRI also translated Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades commander Zakariya Al-Zubeidi, called on the Fatah conference “to propose a plan that will combine the political line with the resistance line within Fatah, against the backdrop of the past failure of [each path alone] to obtain results favorable to the Palestinian cause.” He likewise rejected the possibility that Fatah would omit the armed struggle from its plan.
Fatah spokesman Fahmi Al-Za'arir stated: “It is not possible to rule out or to marginalize the military option. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades are the jewel in Fatah's crown. We must strengthen their status... [and] maintain them in a state of alert..
During the Fatah conference, former PA Prime Minister Abu Alaa welcomed Khaled Abu-Usbah to the conference and referred to him and Dalal Mughrabi as Palestinian heroes for carrying out the bus hijacking in 1978, which killed 37 Israeli civilians, including 12 children.
At the same time, the Fatah party platform that was adopted at the conference, explicitly stated that Israel must not be recognized as a Jewish state.
Leaders of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations sharply criticized the statements made by former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Abu Alaa and other Fatah officials at yesterday’s Fatah Congress.
Conference Chairman Alan Solow and Executive Vice Chairman Malcolm Hoenlein said,
David Bedein can be reached at bedein@thebulletin.us.
by David Bedein
The Fatah general conference convened this week in Bethlehem, 20 years after the previous conference that was held in Tunisia. Discussions addressed the question of whether Fatah should give up the armed struggle.
Large posters featuring Palestinian children brandishing rifles decorated the conference hall.
“Our determination to choose the path of peace and negotiations-does not mean that we have abandoned our noble path of legitimate resistance, which is based on international law,” declared PA Chairman Abbas in his keynote speech at the three day conference of the Fatah, which is the ruling party of the Palestinian Authority.
“Yes, resistance is legal, and we are with this resistance”, Abbas repeated, over and over.
An Israeli Arab Member of the Israeli Knesset Parliament, MK Ahmed Tibi, former advisor to the late PLO founder, Yassir Arafat, also spoke at the conference, calling upon the delegates to expel Jews from the future Palestinian state, leading thousands of Palestinians in a chant: “Get out of the Palestinian lands. Get out of all of our souls. Get out already!”
Following Mr. Tibi's harangue, the Israel Legal Forum demanded that Israel Attorney General Meni Mazuz prosecute Mr. Tibi for incitement sedition and racism in his remarks
One of the possible future leaders of the Fatah, the former security chief Jibril Rajoub, presented a clear position:
“Fatah will never give up the armed struggle,” he said, “there are tactics of struggle and policy, but they depend on Israel's position and recognition of the existence of the Palestinian people.”
MEMRI, a credible middle east think tank, translated that Palestinian Legislative Council member Jamal Huwail’s speech at the Fatah conference, which reflected the tenor of events at the event: “This conference must confirm the right of resistance by all means, as they appear in U.N. conventions, considering that Fatah is a national liberation movement and its people are under occupation. The resistance is carried out not only with guns, but also [with] political activity and serious negotiations.”
MEMRI also translated Husam Khader, another senior Fatah member who has spent the last few years in an Israeli prison for active participation in the who declared that: “Fatah has not changed its national identity, and it retains the option of resistance and armed struggle. But now, for the first time... it is permitting the option of negotiations as one of the Palestinian people's strategic options and as a possible way of attaining its political goals.”
Interviewed in prison, where he is serving life for the murder of 13 Jews, Marwan Al-Barghouti, a senior Fatah member imprisoned in Israel, said in an August 4, 2009 interview with the Palestinian Authority daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida: “Resistance to the Israeli occupation is a national obligation, and it is a legitimate right...”
In an earlier interview, on July 21, he said: “Fatah believes in a combination of all forms of struggle, and it will not abandon, thwart, or rule out any form of struggle. As long as a single Israeli soldier or settler remains on the Palestinian land that was occupied in 1967, Fatah will not relinquish the option of resistance.
“There isn't a single Fatah member who does not believe in resistance, because the very essence of the Fatah [movement] is resistance, [more] resistance, and eventual victory. There isn't a single people in history that was under occupation and did not resist. Resistance is a legitimate right that is confirmed by religious law, U.N. resolutions, and international law.
“We in Fatah think that political activity and negotiations complement resistance, and harvest its fruits. Therefore, we have always called for adhering to the option of resistance, negotiation, and political activity alike.”
MEMRI also translated Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades commander Zakariya Al-Zubeidi, called on the Fatah conference “to propose a plan that will combine the political line with the resistance line within Fatah, against the backdrop of the past failure of [each path alone] to obtain results favorable to the Palestinian cause.” He likewise rejected the possibility that Fatah would omit the armed struggle from its plan.
Fatah spokesman Fahmi Al-Za'arir stated: “It is not possible to rule out or to marginalize the military option. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades are the jewel in Fatah's crown. We must strengthen their status... [and] maintain them in a state of alert..
During the Fatah conference, former PA Prime Minister Abu Alaa welcomed Khaled Abu-Usbah to the conference and referred to him and Dalal Mughrabi as Palestinian heroes for carrying out the bus hijacking in 1978, which killed 37 Israeli civilians, including 12 children.
At the same time, the Fatah party platform that was adopted at the conference, explicitly stated that Israel must not be recognized as a Jewish state.
Leaders of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations sharply criticized the statements made by former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Abu Alaa and other Fatah officials at yesterday’s Fatah Congress.
Conference Chairman Alan Solow and Executive Vice Chairman Malcolm Hoenlein said,
“Statements by Abbu Allah praising suicide bombers who have killed dozens of people is wholly unacceptable and represents the true challenge to the chances for peace in the region. Statements by other Fatah officials urged the continuation of armed resistance and asserted that Fatah would not recognize the State of Israel. These declarations, made by the so-called ‘moderate’ Palestinian faction puts into sharp focus the question of the real beliefs of the party with whom Israel is to negotiate. Such rhetoric cannot be dismissed as it glorifies murderers and incites others to emulate their example. The U.S. has urged the Palestinians to address the issue of incitement, which is both an immediate and long-term obstacle to the prospect of meaningful negotiations. Too often such statements have been dismissed. But as history has shown, it is a serious impediment, not only undermining the confidence of Israelis, but exhorting this and future generations to violence and hate. The leadership of the Palestinian Authority must speak out against these actions to declare and take steps that all such incitement will be stopped."
David Bedein can be reached at bedein@thebulletin.us.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Arafat Protege Abbas to Meet with Obama Today
by David Bedein
Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, the protégé of the late Yasser Arafat, will arrive in Washington, D.C., today to meet with the president of the United States.
There are 10 issues at hand that would challenge the credibility of Mr. Abbas as a peace negotiator:
Mr. Abbas’ continued incitement in the Arabic language, as expressed in his school books, media outlets and public statements that emanate from the Palestinian Authority (PA), which operates under his firm control.
Mr. Abbas’ refusal to renounce his own Holocaust Denial Ph.D., which also contends that the Nazis and Zionists worked together during WWII.
Mr. Abbas’ election platform from 2005 that calls for the total right of return to villages from before 1948.
Mr. Abbas’ celebrations of murder attacks against Jews.
Mr. Abbas’ refusal to implore the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) or the PA to ratify the Oslo Accords or cancel the PLO covenant.
Current weapons/security sharing arrangements between the PA and Hamas.
Disappearance of Arafat’s billions, some of which have wound up in the coffers of Mr. Abbas.
Mr. Abbas’ endorsement of the Hezbollah war, summer 2006.
The Nakba campaign endorsed by Mr. Abbas, which calls on Palestinians to reclaim areas lost in 1948 - by force if necessary.
Mr. Abbas’ continued confinement of Palestinian Arab refugees and their descendants to the indignity of United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) refugee camps, under the specious premise of the “right of return” to villages that no longer exist.
View this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
View this story at Israel Behind the News
Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, the protégé of the late Yasser Arafat, will arrive in Washington, D.C., today to meet with the president of the United States.
There are 10 issues at hand that would challenge the credibility of Mr. Abbas as a peace negotiator:
Mr. Abbas’ continued incitement in the Arabic language, as expressed in his school books, media outlets and public statements that emanate from the Palestinian Authority (PA), which operates under his firm control.
Mr. Abbas’ refusal to renounce his own Holocaust Denial Ph.D., which also contends that the Nazis and Zionists worked together during WWII.
Mr. Abbas’ election platform from 2005 that calls for the total right of return to villages from before 1948.
Mr. Abbas’ celebrations of murder attacks against Jews.
Mr. Abbas’ refusal to implore the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) or the PA to ratify the Oslo Accords or cancel the PLO covenant.
Current weapons/security sharing arrangements between the PA and Hamas.
Disappearance of Arafat’s billions, some of which have wound up in the coffers of Mr. Abbas.
Mr. Abbas’ endorsement of the Hezbollah war, summer 2006.
The Nakba campaign endorsed by Mr. Abbas, which calls on Palestinians to reclaim areas lost in 1948 - by force if necessary.
Mr. Abbas’ continued confinement of Palestinian Arab refugees and their descendants to the indignity of United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) refugee camps, under the specious premise of the “right of return” to villages that no longer exist.
View this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
View this story at Israel Behind the News
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Fatah, Hamas Agree on Joint Security Force
by David Bedein
deal Occurs, Despite US Training Fatah to Fight Hamas
A senior adviser to Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas has said, according to Middle East Newsline, Fatah, the faction that runs the PA, has agreed in principle to form a joint security force with its rival, Hamas.
Nabil Shaath, who is serving as a PA negotiator, said this took place in the course of its negotiations in Cairo, Egypt with the rival terrorist group, which runs Gaza. This has taken place despite the presence of American military advisers in the West Bank who are training the PA’s security forces and U.S. opposition to Hamas.
“There are many details that must be concluded,” Mr. Shaath said.
This marked the second time in three months that a Fatah official claimed an agreement with Hamas in reconciliation talks conducted in Egypt.
Egypt has been encouraging Hamas to agree to the joint security force in an effort to form a unity government with Fatah. The next round of talks was scheduled for July.
See this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
See this story at Israel Behind the News
deal Occurs, Despite US Training Fatah to Fight Hamas
A senior adviser to Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas has said, according to Middle East Newsline, Fatah, the faction that runs the PA, has agreed in principle to form a joint security force with its rival, Hamas.
Nabil Shaath, who is serving as a PA negotiator, said this took place in the course of its negotiations in Cairo, Egypt with the rival terrorist group, which runs Gaza. This has taken place despite the presence of American military advisers in the West Bank who are training the PA’s security forces and U.S. opposition to Hamas.
“There are many details that must be concluded,” Mr. Shaath said.
This marked the second time in three months that a Fatah official claimed an agreement with Hamas in reconciliation talks conducted in Egypt.
Egypt has been encouraging Hamas to agree to the joint security force in an effort to form a unity government with Fatah. The next round of talks was scheduled for July.
See this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
See this story at Israel Behind the News
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Report - Gaza As A Strategic Juncture For Insurgent Operations For Iran
by David Bedein
A report published by the Herzlia, Israel-based Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center says Iran regards Gaza as a strategic crossroads for insurgent operations in both Asia and Africa.
It also says Iran regards the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip as a regional power it can use to challenge Israel and its neighbors.
The report titled “Exposure of a Hezbollah network in Egypt” indicates Iran views the Hamas presence in the Gaza Strip as a convenient staging ground for staging terrorist attacks against Israel and in its fight with pro-Western Arab governments.
The report said the Iranian-sponsored Hezbollah has been helping Hamas’ military buildup in the Gaza Strip, despite Hamas’ refusal to “fully comply with Iranian dictates.”
“Iran considers the establishment of the radical Islamic entity in the Gaza Strip to be an important leverage for waging an armed struggle against Israel along its southern border by providing Palestinian terrorist organizations with rocket capabilities as Iran did with Hezbollah in Lebanon,” the report said. “What is more, the Iranians consider the Hamas-controlled Islamist Gaza Strip to be a regional power which they can use to increase their influence in the Arab and Muslim world, pose a considerable challenge to Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas], and export radical Islam to such pro-Western Arab countries as Egypt, using that country’s geographical proximity to the Gaza Strip.”
The report also said Iranian aid to the Gaza Strip was highlighted by the capture of a Hezbollah cell in Egypt in late 2008. Hezbollah reportedly operated Unit 1800, a unit assigned to establish operational terror cells to attack Israel from neighboring Arab states.
“It is also our assessment that those operatives had undergone training in Iran, Syria and Lebanon and had been brought back to the Gaza Strip with the assistance of Hezbollah,” the report said.
Hezbollah’s network in Egypt reportedly facilitated a weapons smuggling route through Sudan, Egypt and the Gaza Strip since at least 2005. The network, which acquired C4 plastic explosives and smuggled trained fighters to the Gaza Strip, was said to have planned attacks on Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
“The exposure of the Hezbollah network, which not only provided Gaza Strip terrorist organizations with logistical assistance but was also planning to perpetrate terrorist attacks on Egyptian soil, was a warning sign the Egyptians could not ignore,” the report said.
See this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
See this story at Israel Behind the News
A report published by the Herzlia, Israel-based Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center says Iran regards Gaza as a strategic crossroads for insurgent operations in both Asia and Africa.
It also says Iran regards the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip as a regional power it can use to challenge Israel and its neighbors.
The report titled “Exposure of a Hezbollah network in Egypt” indicates Iran views the Hamas presence in the Gaza Strip as a convenient staging ground for staging terrorist attacks against Israel and in its fight with pro-Western Arab governments.
The report said the Iranian-sponsored Hezbollah has been helping Hamas’ military buildup in the Gaza Strip, despite Hamas’ refusal to “fully comply with Iranian dictates.”
“Iran considers the establishment of the radical Islamic entity in the Gaza Strip to be an important leverage for waging an armed struggle against Israel along its southern border by providing Palestinian terrorist organizations with rocket capabilities as Iran did with Hezbollah in Lebanon,” the report said. “What is more, the Iranians consider the Hamas-controlled Islamist Gaza Strip to be a regional power which they can use to increase their influence in the Arab and Muslim world, pose a considerable challenge to Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas], and export radical Islam to such pro-Western Arab countries as Egypt, using that country’s geographical proximity to the Gaza Strip.”
The report also said Iranian aid to the Gaza Strip was highlighted by the capture of a Hezbollah cell in Egypt in late 2008. Hezbollah reportedly operated Unit 1800, a unit assigned to establish operational terror cells to attack Israel from neighboring Arab states.
“It is also our assessment that those operatives had undergone training in Iran, Syria and Lebanon and had been brought back to the Gaza Strip with the assistance of Hezbollah,” the report said.
Hezbollah’s network in Egypt reportedly facilitated a weapons smuggling route through Sudan, Egypt and the Gaza Strip since at least 2005. The network, which acquired C4 plastic explosives and smuggled trained fighters to the Gaza Strip, was said to have planned attacks on Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
“The exposure of the Hezbollah network, which not only provided Gaza Strip terrorist organizations with logistical assistance but was also planning to perpetrate terrorist attacks on Egyptian soil, was a warning sign the Egyptians could not ignore,” the report said.
See this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
See this story at Israel Behind the News
Monday, March 16, 2009
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Palestinian Authority TV Celebrates Major Terror Attack
Palestinian Authority TV Celebrates Major Terror Attack
by David Bedein
On March 12, and again yesterday, the official Palestinian Authority (PA) television, known as the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (PBC), which operates under the direct supervision of Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, and uses Israeli government frequencies, ran a television program celebrating a major Palestinian terror attack that occurred 31 years ago.
On March 11, 1978, Palestinian terrorists landed on an isolated beach located near Caesarea, where they murdered American nature photographer Gail Rubin, a cousin of the late U.S. Sen. Abraham Ribicoff, D-Conn. The terrorists proceeded to hijack a bus and murder 37 Israeli passengers aboard the vehicle.
This weekend, the Palestinian Authority celebrated this terror attack with an hour-long TV special, which included Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) training camps, while featuring interviews with Palestinian terrorists who described the planning and implementation of the killings.
According to an excerpt of the program that was translated by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), the narrator described the attack as “... one of the most important and most prominent special actions, executed by the Palestinian revolution by sea, on the coast between Haifa and Tel Aviv.
“This action, which was carried out by a group of heroes and led by the heroic fighter Dalal Mughrabi, had a great impact on continuing events of the Arab-Israeli conflict.”
The spokespeople of the outgoing prime minister, Ehud Olmert, who has often described the Fatah and the PA as “moderates,” were asked if they would issue a specific condemnation of the broadcast. No response was forthcoming.
Whenever this level of incitement has emanated from the PA, the standard response of Mr. Olmert’s spokespeople has been to “always ask the Palestinians to stop their incitement.”
However, during the three years of Mr. Olmert’s tenure, his spokespeople will not provide any record of his administration’s having issued a specific reprimand to the PA for their use of their official media organs to endorse terrorist attacks.
David Bedein can be reached at bedein@thebulletin.us
by David Bedein
On March 12, and again yesterday, the official Palestinian Authority (PA) television, known as the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (PBC), which operates under the direct supervision of Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, and uses Israeli government frequencies, ran a television program celebrating a major Palestinian terror attack that occurred 31 years ago.
On March 11, 1978, Palestinian terrorists landed on an isolated beach located near Caesarea, where they murdered American nature photographer Gail Rubin, a cousin of the late U.S. Sen. Abraham Ribicoff, D-Conn. The terrorists proceeded to hijack a bus and murder 37 Israeli passengers aboard the vehicle.
This weekend, the Palestinian Authority celebrated this terror attack with an hour-long TV special, which included Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) training camps, while featuring interviews with Palestinian terrorists who described the planning and implementation of the killings.
According to an excerpt of the program that was translated by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), the narrator described the attack as “... one of the most important and most prominent special actions, executed by the Palestinian revolution by sea, on the coast between Haifa and Tel Aviv.
“This action, which was carried out by a group of heroes and led by the heroic fighter Dalal Mughrabi, had a great impact on continuing events of the Arab-Israeli conflict.”
The spokespeople of the outgoing prime minister, Ehud Olmert, who has often described the Fatah and the PA as “moderates,” were asked if they would issue a specific condemnation of the broadcast. No response was forthcoming.
Whenever this level of incitement has emanated from the PA, the standard response of Mr. Olmert’s spokespeople has been to “always ask the Palestinians to stop their incitement.”
However, during the three years of Mr. Olmert’s tenure, his spokespeople will not provide any record of his administration’s having issued a specific reprimand to the PA for their use of their official media organs to endorse terrorist attacks.
David Bedein can be reached at bedein@thebulletin.us
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