by David Bedein
peaking in the official memorial service Holocaust Memorial Day, which occurred on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the nations of the world: “If we have learned anything from the Holocaust, then it is that we must not remain silent or deterred when confronted with evil.” In a speech that addressed events in Iran, and although the prime minister had decided not to attend the nuclear conference hosted by President Barack Obama, Mr. Netanyahu called on all enlightened nations to rise to the task, to condemn Iran’s destructive intentions forcefully and to employ real force to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. The Israeli prime minister said that the world had gradually come to resign itself to Iran’s declarations about its intention to destroy Israel and that there were no signs of the kind of international determination required to halt Iran’s increasing strength. “Iran’s leaders are in a rush to develop nuclear weapons and openly declare their intention to destroy Israel,” said Mr. Netanyahu. “But in face of these repeated declarations that they will wipe the Jewish nation off the face of the earth, we see, in the best of cases, flaccid disapproval, which too is slowly withering. No harsh condemnation, no raised voices. Business continues as usual. And there are even those who attempt to place the blame on Israel. Today, 65 years following the Holocaust, we can say in earnest: it is the absence of outrage that is most outrageous.” Israeli President Shimon Peres also touched upon Iran’s nuclear efforts: “The U.N.’s ears must be attentive to the threats of annihilation made by one of its members against another, otherwise the foundation of the U.N.’s charter will be rendered obsolete,” said the president. “It is both our right and duty to demand that the nations of the world not repeat apathy that cost the lives of millions.” President Peres also said that weapons of mass destruction in the hands of those capable of mass destruction and with voices encouraging mass destruction" were the combination most lethal to world peace. He said that they made the world an uncontrollable environment. He said that some of the Iranians were shamed and mortified by the dictatorship that had taken them over, and that also Arab countries were aware that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s anti-Israel incitement was aimed at obscuring his real aim" Iranian hegemony over the entire region.
See this report in the Philadelphia Bulletin
See this report at Israel Behind the News
Showing posts with label Shimon Peres. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shimon Peres. Show all posts
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Friday, December 11, 2009
CANADA CAN JUMP START THE PEACE PROCESS: CAN ASSERT ITS LEADERSHIP IN THE REFUGEE WORKING GROUP
CANADA CAN JUMP START THE PEACE PROCESS: CAN ASSERT ITS LEADERSHIP IN THE REFUGEE WORKING GROUP
by David Bedein
http://tinyurl.com/yz55vqc
Most recently, Israeli President Shimon Peres remarked to the European Union’s Middle East Envoy Miguel Moratinos, that the time has come to revive the dormant Refugee Working Group, comprised of 38 nations, chaired by Canada since the Madrid Middle East peace talks that were held in October, 1991. Indeed, despite the fact that Palestinian refugees and their descendents who dwell in or near United Nations refugee camps represent more than half of the Palestinian population, their fate has been overlooked by Middle East peace negotiations
Adopting the UNHCR model
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East, UNRWA, which has serviced the Palestinian refugees for more than for half a century, has countenanced a situation in which the agency operates as an anomaly: UNRWA, founded in 1949 to provide relief to the Arabs who fled from Israel in the course of the war of 1948-49, to keep them in refugee camps under the in principle promise of the “right of return” to the villages which no longer exist.
Less than one year later the UN High Commission for Refugees, UNCHR, was founded with the express purpose of protecting the rights of refugees to be rehabilitated in a permanent state of resettlement.
In real terms, this meant that UNRWA was permitted to continue to operate under its own terms with its own definition and not bound by the UNHCR Convention. UNRWA was, and remains, the only international agency devoted to keeping one specific group of refugees in a permanent state of refugee status. Why? The answer can be found on the UNHCR website, “The State of the World’s Refugees, Part 1, The Early Years puts the matter baldly: “Arab States... feared that the non-political character of the work envisioned for the nascent UNHCR was not compatible with the highly politicized nature of the Palestinian question.”
In other words, UNHCR operates on the principle that they help the refugees under their jurisdiction to find solutions so that they might get on with their lives with permanency, while UNWRA operates under the premise that the Palestinian Arab refugees are still refugees even if they acquire a new citizenship,[as many have in Jordan] until such time as they will return to their homes in Israel, from which they or their grandparents and great-great parents fled.
Canada, in the leadership role that it plays in the RWG, could ask the 38 nations that contribute to UNRWA to ask that UNRWA operate according to the principles of UNHCR - to protect the right of refugees to be resettled instead of implementing a policy that perpetuates their suffering, while fostering the illusion of the “right of return”
For a generation, any attempts to provide the refugees with permanent residence elsewhere are blocked by the UN
Indeed, in December 1985, when Israel attempted to move refugees into 1,300 permanent houses built for them near Nablus, a UN resolution was passed demanding that Israel not move refugees, because this would violate their “right of return”.
The time has come for Canada to apply UNHCR principles into the operation of UNRWA, to protect the right of Palestinian refugees to be resettled in permanent conditions, instead of dooming Palestinian refugees to yet another generation of squalor and indignity of life in 59 teeming refugee camps spread in areas ruled by Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.
View the Original Link at the Winnipeg Jewish Report: CANADA CAN JUMP START THE PEACE PROCESS: CAN ASSERT ITS LEADERSHIP IN THE REFUGEE WORKING GROUP
by David Bedein
http://tinyurl.com/yz55vqc
Most recently, Israeli President Shimon Peres remarked to the European Union’s Middle East Envoy Miguel Moratinos, that the time has come to revive the dormant Refugee Working Group, comprised of 38 nations, chaired by Canada since the Madrid Middle East peace talks that were held in October, 1991. Indeed, despite the fact that Palestinian refugees and their descendents who dwell in or near United Nations refugee camps represent more than half of the Palestinian population, their fate has been overlooked by Middle East peace negotiations
Adopting the UNHCR model
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East, UNRWA, which has serviced the Palestinian refugees for more than for half a century, has countenanced a situation in which the agency operates as an anomaly: UNRWA, founded in 1949 to provide relief to the Arabs who fled from Israel in the course of the war of 1948-49, to keep them in refugee camps under the in principle promise of the “right of return” to the villages which no longer exist.
Less than one year later the UN High Commission for Refugees, UNCHR, was founded with the express purpose of protecting the rights of refugees to be rehabilitated in a permanent state of resettlement.
In real terms, this meant that UNRWA was permitted to continue to operate under its own terms with its own definition and not bound by the UNHCR Convention. UNRWA was, and remains, the only international agency devoted to keeping one specific group of refugees in a permanent state of refugee status. Why? The answer can be found on the UNHCR website, “The State of the World’s Refugees, Part 1, The Early Years puts the matter baldly: “Arab States... feared that the non-political character of the work envisioned for the nascent UNHCR was not compatible with the highly politicized nature of the Palestinian question.”
In other words, UNHCR operates on the principle that they help the refugees under their jurisdiction to find solutions so that they might get on with their lives with permanency, while UNWRA operates under the premise that the Palestinian Arab refugees are still refugees even if they acquire a new citizenship,[as many have in Jordan] until such time as they will return to their homes in Israel, from which they or their grandparents and great-great parents fled.
Canada, in the leadership role that it plays in the RWG, could ask the 38 nations that contribute to UNRWA to ask that UNRWA operate according to the principles of UNHCR - to protect the right of refugees to be resettled instead of implementing a policy that perpetuates their suffering, while fostering the illusion of the “right of return”
For a generation, any attempts to provide the refugees with permanent residence elsewhere are blocked by the UN
Indeed, in December 1985, when Israel attempted to move refugees into 1,300 permanent houses built for them near Nablus, a UN resolution was passed demanding that Israel not move refugees, because this would violate their “right of return”.
The time has come for Canada to apply UNHCR principles into the operation of UNRWA, to protect the right of Palestinian refugees to be resettled in permanent conditions, instead of dooming Palestinian refugees to yet another generation of squalor and indignity of life in 59 teeming refugee camps spread in areas ruled by Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.
View the Original Link at the Winnipeg Jewish Report: CANADA CAN JUMP START THE PEACE PROCESS: CAN ASSERT ITS LEADERSHIP IN THE REFUGEE WORKING GROUP
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Peres Warns Brazil About Terror Activity
by David Bedein
JERUSALEM - As an integral part of his visit this week to South America, Israeli President Shimon Peres shared intelligence with Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim regarding Iran and Hezbollah being active in the three-way border between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.
Israel's President Shimon Peres, right, shakes hands with Brazil's Defense Minister Nelson Jobim in Brasilia on Tuesday. (Eraldo Peres/Associated Press)
Hezbollah terrorist cells working there are engaging, among other things, in money laundering, arms trafficking, drug trafficking and diamond smuggling in order to finance terrorist activity, according to the information conveyed by President Peres.
Israel warned Brazil and other Latin American countries of Hezbollah's intentions to perpetrate terror attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets in South America similar to the large-scale, murderous terror attacks that were committed during the 1990s against the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires and the Jewish community center in that city.
This is the first visit by an Israeli president to Brazil in 40 years.
Upon landing, Mr. Peres received a magnificent reception that included an honor guard, a military parade and a gun salute. Afterwards, Mr. Peres held a long meeting with Defense Minister Jobim, who is considered to be one of the strongest men in the Brazilian government.
Mr. Peres brought three leaders of Israel's defense industry - the director-general of Israel Aerospace Industries, the director-general of Elbit and a representative of Rafael - to the meeting in order to advance defense deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The Brazilian army is currently undergoing a modernization, and Israel's defense industries wish to take part in this process.
Mr. Peres was invited to address the Brazilian parliament, where Israel's president made specific reference to the fact that Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be visiting Brazil this week. Mr. Peres remarked that he "finds it amazing to come from a nation where it is common to see people branded with concentration camp numbers to address a nation who will hear from another nation's leader that the mass murder of Jews never occurred."
View the original article in the Philadelphia Bulletin
JERUSALEM - As an integral part of his visit this week to South America, Israeli President Shimon Peres shared intelligence with Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim regarding Iran and Hezbollah being active in the three-way border between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.
Israel's President Shimon Peres, right, shakes hands with Brazil's Defense Minister Nelson Jobim in Brasilia on Tuesday. (Eraldo Peres/Associated Press)
Hezbollah terrorist cells working there are engaging, among other things, in money laundering, arms trafficking, drug trafficking and diamond smuggling in order to finance terrorist activity, according to the information conveyed by President Peres.
Israel warned Brazil and other Latin American countries of Hezbollah's intentions to perpetrate terror attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets in South America similar to the large-scale, murderous terror attacks that were committed during the 1990s against the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires and the Jewish community center in that city.
This is the first visit by an Israeli president to Brazil in 40 years.
Upon landing, Mr. Peres received a magnificent reception that included an honor guard, a military parade and a gun salute. Afterwards, Mr. Peres held a long meeting with Defense Minister Jobim, who is considered to be one of the strongest men in the Brazilian government.
Mr. Peres brought three leaders of Israel's defense industry - the director-general of Israel Aerospace Industries, the director-general of Elbit and a representative of Rafael - to the meeting in order to advance defense deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The Brazilian army is currently undergoing a modernization, and Israel's defense industries wish to take part in this process.
Mr. Peres was invited to address the Brazilian parliament, where Israel's president made specific reference to the fact that Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be visiting Brazil this week. Mr. Peres remarked that he "finds it amazing to come from a nation where it is common to see people branded with concentration camp numbers to address a nation who will hear from another nation's leader that the mass murder of Jews never occurred."
View the original article in the Philadelphia Bulletin
Sunday, October 18, 2009
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Fatah Party Reaches out to Hamas Terror Group
by David Bedein
Jerusalem - This week, Jamal Muheisin, a member of the Fatah’s Central Committee, told Ma’an, the Palestinian news agency, that the Fatah, the ruling party of the Palestinian Authority, has signed an Egyptian-backed deal for reconciliation with Hamas. Hamas is defined by Israel, the U.S., the European Union, Canada, Russia and Australia as an illegal terrorist organization.
Hamas spokespeople said the party’s senior leadership has also approved the document, although they have not yet declared this publicly.
Other Palestinian factions are expected to respond by Oct. 20, and a formal signing ceremony will take place after the Islamic Eid Al-Adha holiday at the end of November. Hamas confirmed this schedule. Fatah leader Azzam Al-Ahmad will depart for Egypt at the beginning of the week to hand over the document, which he said was signed by Fatah’s supreme leader, President Mahmoud Abbas.
A Hamas official told the Ma’an news agency that the movement’s leaders have decided to sign the Egyptian proposal.
Ismail Al-Ashkar, a Hamas-affiliated member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) confirmed to Ma’an that Egypt set out a timeline calling on other factions to sign the deal by Oct. 20, with a signing ceremony after Eid Al-Adha.
In a statement, Mr. Al-Ashkar also shed light on the details of the Egyptian plan. He confirmed that the document calls for a Joint National Committee in lieu of a unity government. The committee would include 16 members and would represent Fatah, Hamas, and the other factions, the official said. He said the committee’s role is to implement a national unity agreement, and does not have any “political obligations” outside of this goal.
A U.S. government spokesperson said, in response to the new Fatah-Hamas accord, it would support the next Palestinian government if it follows certain conditions.
“We certainly favor an effective Palestinian government, and we are certainly supportive of a reconciliation process,” State Department spokesperson Philip Crowley said in a Washington press briefing.
“If you have a unity government that operates... on the basis of the principles that we’ve laid out, then we will be supportive of it,” Mr. Crowley stressed.
“We’ll be happy to work with whoever is in a Palestinian government that supports the principles,” he added.
Mr. Crowley was referring to the conditions of the international Quartet (the U.S., E.U., UN, and Russia), which stipulate that any Palestinian government must recognize Israel and renounce armed struggle.
That was the basis of the Declaration of Principles of the 1993 Oslo accord, which were hammered out between Israeli and Palestinian Fatah negotiators in Oslo, Norway on August 20, 1993 and signed on September 13, 1993 on the White House lawn by the two Fatah chieftains - Yassir Arafat and his protégé, Mahmoud Abbas, who has run the Palestinian Authority since Arafat died in November 2004.
Arafat and Mr. Abbas signed the agreement in the presence of President Clinton, the late Yitzhak Rabin and then-Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.
However, the American government has consistently ignored the fact that the Fatah never ratified the Declaration of Principles of the 1993 Oslo accord. The Fatah executive committee met in special session on Oct. 6, 1993 to consider ratification of the Declaration of Principles of the 1993 Oslo accord. However, the Fatah would not ratify it, “for lack of a quorum” and has never ratified the Declaration of Principles of the 1993 Oslo accord.
Meanwhile, meeting in special session on April 24, 1996, the Palestine National Council considered cancellation of the PLO covenant, which defines the PLO purpose to destroy the state of Israel. Instead of canceling the PLO covenant, the PNC created a committee to consider changes in the PLO covenant. However, that committee has never met and the PLO covenant remains part and parcel of the Palestinian political reality. Yet, the American government acts as if the PLO cancelled its covenant, despite evidence to the contrary.
View the original article in the Philadelphia Bulletin
Jerusalem - This week, Jamal Muheisin, a member of the Fatah’s Central Committee, told Ma’an, the Palestinian news agency, that the Fatah, the ruling party of the Palestinian Authority, has signed an Egyptian-backed deal for reconciliation with Hamas. Hamas is defined by Israel, the U.S., the European Union, Canada, Russia and Australia as an illegal terrorist organization.
Hamas spokespeople said the party’s senior leadership has also approved the document, although they have not yet declared this publicly.
Other Palestinian factions are expected to respond by Oct. 20, and a formal signing ceremony will take place after the Islamic Eid Al-Adha holiday at the end of November. Hamas confirmed this schedule. Fatah leader Azzam Al-Ahmad will depart for Egypt at the beginning of the week to hand over the document, which he said was signed by Fatah’s supreme leader, President Mahmoud Abbas.
A Hamas official told the Ma’an news agency that the movement’s leaders have decided to sign the Egyptian proposal.
Ismail Al-Ashkar, a Hamas-affiliated member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) confirmed to Ma’an that Egypt set out a timeline calling on other factions to sign the deal by Oct. 20, with a signing ceremony after Eid Al-Adha.
In a statement, Mr. Al-Ashkar also shed light on the details of the Egyptian plan. He confirmed that the document calls for a Joint National Committee in lieu of a unity government. The committee would include 16 members and would represent Fatah, Hamas, and the other factions, the official said. He said the committee’s role is to implement a national unity agreement, and does not have any “political obligations” outside of this goal.
A U.S. government spokesperson said, in response to the new Fatah-Hamas accord, it would support the next Palestinian government if it follows certain conditions.
“We certainly favor an effective Palestinian government, and we are certainly supportive of a reconciliation process,” State Department spokesperson Philip Crowley said in a Washington press briefing.
“If you have a unity government that operates... on the basis of the principles that we’ve laid out, then we will be supportive of it,” Mr. Crowley stressed.
“We’ll be happy to work with whoever is in a Palestinian government that supports the principles,” he added.
Mr. Crowley was referring to the conditions of the international Quartet (the U.S., E.U., UN, and Russia), which stipulate that any Palestinian government must recognize Israel and renounce armed struggle.
That was the basis of the Declaration of Principles of the 1993 Oslo accord, which were hammered out between Israeli and Palestinian Fatah negotiators in Oslo, Norway on August 20, 1993 and signed on September 13, 1993 on the White House lawn by the two Fatah chieftains - Yassir Arafat and his protégé, Mahmoud Abbas, who has run the Palestinian Authority since Arafat died in November 2004.
Arafat and Mr. Abbas signed the agreement in the presence of President Clinton, the late Yitzhak Rabin and then-Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.
However, the American government has consistently ignored the fact that the Fatah never ratified the Declaration of Principles of the 1993 Oslo accord. The Fatah executive committee met in special session on Oct. 6, 1993 to consider ratification of the Declaration of Principles of the 1993 Oslo accord. However, the Fatah would not ratify it, “for lack of a quorum” and has never ratified the Declaration of Principles of the 1993 Oslo accord.
Meanwhile, meeting in special session on April 24, 1996, the Palestine National Council considered cancellation of the PLO covenant, which defines the PLO purpose to destroy the state of Israel. Instead of canceling the PLO covenant, the PNC created a committee to consider changes in the PLO covenant. However, that committee has never met and the PLO covenant remains part and parcel of the Palestinian political reality. Yet, the American government acts as if the PLO cancelled its covenant, despite evidence to the contrary.
View the original article in the Philadelphia Bulletin
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Shocking Conclusions From Inquiry Over Gaza Expulsions
by David Bedein
An Israeli soldier keeps watch at a machine gun post atop a guard tower overlooking the Jewish settlement of Netzarim and surrounding Palestinian lands inside a small army base contiguous with the settlement, several kilometers inside the Gaza Strip on Oct. 26, 2003. An Israeli government commission has released a report criticizing the government for its handling of the last pullout of settlements from Gaza. (Brennan Linsley/Associated Press)
JERUSALEM - Four years and two months have passed since Israel expelled Jews from their homes in the Katif district of Gaza and from Jewish communities in Northern Samaria, after which the government bulldozed their homes and property, an official Israel state commission of investigation nto the Israeli government's handing of these deported Jews has issued its interim report.
The Israeli government investigation commission has concluded that the Israeli prime minister must take all practical steps for immediate and decisive action. “The state’s handling of the evacuees was tainted with failures. The obligation and stated purposes of the Israeli government was not implemented, and not enough was done for the majority of the evacuees,” states the interim report, that was filed so to allow the government to meet its obligations. According to the commission, headed by retired Israeli justice Eliyahu Matza, the treatment of the evacuees ought to have been made a national undertaking. “The treatment of the evacuees ought to be again placed at the top our national priorities, in action and not merely in declarations. This is the duty of the state, that in an effort to advance political and defensive aims has harmed a wide public. The state must hasten, it is a matter of human rights, of common human decency, of Jewish ethics.”
According to the summary report, only 250 families have begun building their permanent home, of the 926 plots that were allocated to the expelled families. The report states that some of the evacuees cannot begin building “because they lack the ability to fund the construction, since their money has been spend on their daily outlays, due to having failed to find employment. This problem concerns between 100 and 250 families that are undergoing severe economic difficulties, and it is worsening as long as they continue to reside in transient housing facilities.”
The commission also noted the worsening employment levels: whereas before the evacuation unemployment was nearly nonexistent, unemployment today stands at 16.2 percent - twice the national level. “The evacuation has directly brought about the high unemployment levels. The state must intensify its efforts to solve the employment problem, and if need be also resort to unconventional solutions,” the commission stated. Former judge Matza added that the interim report does not note those responsible for the failure and that this would be undertaken in the final report: “the report concerns an ongoing event, not merely something of the past, and it is therefore very compact and pragmatic.”
Israeli Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said at the event of the report’s release that “beyond all disputes, those who have been paying the price so far are those who have been removed from their homes, and most of them have not yet found permanent housing.”
The context of this report is that the government of Israel did everything in its power in the initial stage of the expulsion process to reassure public opinion that the Jews who were expelled from their homes were being taken care of - despite the petition to the Israel High Court of Justice by a bipartisan group of sociologists who brought overwhelming date to the court that the government of Israel had no real plan for resettlement of people from 26 communities that were being decimated.
The Israeli government at the time, under the leadership of then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, hired a top flight PR agency that blared a commercial, every hour on the hour, that "there is a solution for everyone being relocated."
On August 20, 2005, in the midst of the expulsions. Sharon's top advisor, Dov Weisglass and then Housing Minister Yitzhak Hertzog made presentations to the Conference of Major American Jewish organizations, in which these Israeli officials assured that the people being expelled would all have homes waiting for them, with ample funds to support them. Following these reassurances, a number of American Jewish groups spread the word that every family expelled from Katif was going to receive a grant of $400,000. In addition, Israeli government minister Shimon Peres assured Israeli public opinion that the American government was granting $2 billion to cover the expulsion and resettlement costs.
The investigation has put to rest any notions spread by Weisglass and Hertzog that people expelled by Israel were taken care of, while Peres's assurance of $2 billion coming from the U.S. government never came to fruition.
View the original article in the Philadelphia Bulletin
An Israeli soldier keeps watch at a machine gun post atop a guard tower overlooking the Jewish settlement of Netzarim and surrounding Palestinian lands inside a small army base contiguous with the settlement, several kilometers inside the Gaza Strip on Oct. 26, 2003. An Israeli government commission has released a report criticizing the government for its handling of the last pullout of settlements from Gaza. (Brennan Linsley/Associated Press)
JERUSALEM - Four years and two months have passed since Israel expelled Jews from their homes in the Katif district of Gaza and from Jewish communities in Northern Samaria, after which the government bulldozed their homes and property, an official Israel state commission of investigation nto the Israeli government's handing of these deported Jews has issued its interim report.
The Israeli government investigation commission has concluded that the Israeli prime minister must take all practical steps for immediate and decisive action. “The state’s handling of the evacuees was tainted with failures. The obligation and stated purposes of the Israeli government was not implemented, and not enough was done for the majority of the evacuees,” states the interim report, that was filed so to allow the government to meet its obligations. According to the commission, headed by retired Israeli justice Eliyahu Matza, the treatment of the evacuees ought to have been made a national undertaking. “The treatment of the evacuees ought to be again placed at the top our national priorities, in action and not merely in declarations. This is the duty of the state, that in an effort to advance political and defensive aims has harmed a wide public. The state must hasten, it is a matter of human rights, of common human decency, of Jewish ethics.”
According to the summary report, only 250 families have begun building their permanent home, of the 926 plots that were allocated to the expelled families. The report states that some of the evacuees cannot begin building “because they lack the ability to fund the construction, since their money has been spend on their daily outlays, due to having failed to find employment. This problem concerns between 100 and 250 families that are undergoing severe economic difficulties, and it is worsening as long as they continue to reside in transient housing facilities.”
The commission also noted the worsening employment levels: whereas before the evacuation unemployment was nearly nonexistent, unemployment today stands at 16.2 percent - twice the national level. “The evacuation has directly brought about the high unemployment levels. The state must intensify its efforts to solve the employment problem, and if need be also resort to unconventional solutions,” the commission stated. Former judge Matza added that the interim report does not note those responsible for the failure and that this would be undertaken in the final report: “the report concerns an ongoing event, not merely something of the past, and it is therefore very compact and pragmatic.”
Israeli Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said at the event of the report’s release that “beyond all disputes, those who have been paying the price so far are those who have been removed from their homes, and most of them have not yet found permanent housing.”
The context of this report is that the government of Israel did everything in its power in the initial stage of the expulsion process to reassure public opinion that the Jews who were expelled from their homes were being taken care of - despite the petition to the Israel High Court of Justice by a bipartisan group of sociologists who brought overwhelming date to the court that the government of Israel had no real plan for resettlement of people from 26 communities that were being decimated.
The Israeli government at the time, under the leadership of then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, hired a top flight PR agency that blared a commercial, every hour on the hour, that "there is a solution for everyone being relocated."
On August 20, 2005, in the midst of the expulsions. Sharon's top advisor, Dov Weisglass and then Housing Minister Yitzhak Hertzog made presentations to the Conference of Major American Jewish organizations, in which these Israeli officials assured that the people being expelled would all have homes waiting for them, with ample funds to support them. Following these reassurances, a number of American Jewish groups spread the word that every family expelled from Katif was going to receive a grant of $400,000. In addition, Israeli government minister Shimon Peres assured Israeli public opinion that the American government was granting $2 billion to cover the expulsion and resettlement costs.
The investigation has put to rest any notions spread by Weisglass and Hertzog that people expelled by Israel were taken care of, while Peres's assurance of $2 billion coming from the U.S. government never came to fruition.
View the original article in the Philadelphia Bulletin
Thursday, May 28, 2009
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Israeli Government Ministers - Palestinians Want State on Israel's Ruins
by David Bedein
Senior members of Israel’s government delivered a clear message to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama this week during a seminar in the Israeli Knesset on the subject of finding alternatives to the two-state solution.
“The Palestinian goal is not a state within the 1967 borders, but rather a Palestinian state on the ruins of the State of Israel,” Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Yaalon, who convened the seminar, told the large gathering of opponents of having an independent Palestinian state.
Mr. Yaalon, who served as commander in chief of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from 2001 to 2005, emphasized his seminar was “not a gathering of rebels,” but was intended to support the prime minister. The signal to Mr. Netanyahu, however, was clear.
Over 200 participants, many of whom remained outside the auditorium due to lack of room, attended the gathering, which was held at Israel’s Knesset on Tuesday.
The Strategic Affairs Minister said he did not see any chance an independent Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria, also known as the West Bank, or in the Gaza Strip, would be able to maintain an independent economy or be able to maintain its internal security.
Mr. Yaalon referred to the experience gained from Israel’s total withdrawal from Gaza in August 2005, which occurred two months after former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon removed him as IDF chief.
“It could be presumed with certainty that any territory that Israel would evacuate in Judea and Samaria would immediately turn into a second Hamastan,” Mr. Yaalon said.
Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai told the seminar attendees Israel should stop trying to seek favor in the eyes of the world and work to get them to see the truth.
“The Palestinians are not even willing to recognize the state of the Jewish people, because they want to eliminate the Jewish people,” Mr. Yishai said.
Former Israel National Security Council director Maj. Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland said, commenting on the seminar, that an independent Palestinian state would not be an ideal solution for the Palestinians.
“Many senior Palestinian figures would support the idea of establishing a Palestinian confederation under Jordanian rule. They realize that a Palestinian state would be controlled by Hamas and would prefer to be under Jordanian rule,” Maj. Gen. (res.) Eilan said.
Following the seminar, some members of Israel’s Knesset suggested turning Jordan into a Palestinian state, which Israeli President Shimon Peres called “ridiculous,” even though he is not supposed to express himself politically in his non-partisan position.
After Mr. Peres’ comment, Jordan’s ambassador to Israel filed an official complaint against the government of Israel for allowing a member of Israel’s Knesset to suggest replacing the Jordanian kingdom with a Palestinian state.
View this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
View this story at Israel Behind the News
Senior members of Israel’s government delivered a clear message to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama this week during a seminar in the Israeli Knesset on the subject of finding alternatives to the two-state solution.
“The Palestinian goal is not a state within the 1967 borders, but rather a Palestinian state on the ruins of the State of Israel,” Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Yaalon, who convened the seminar, told the large gathering of opponents of having an independent Palestinian state.
Mr. Yaalon, who served as commander in chief of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from 2001 to 2005, emphasized his seminar was “not a gathering of rebels,” but was intended to support the prime minister. The signal to Mr. Netanyahu, however, was clear.
Over 200 participants, many of whom remained outside the auditorium due to lack of room, attended the gathering, which was held at Israel’s Knesset on Tuesday.
The Strategic Affairs Minister said he did not see any chance an independent Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria, also known as the West Bank, or in the Gaza Strip, would be able to maintain an independent economy or be able to maintain its internal security.
Mr. Yaalon referred to the experience gained from Israel’s total withdrawal from Gaza in August 2005, which occurred two months after former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon removed him as IDF chief.
“It could be presumed with certainty that any territory that Israel would evacuate in Judea and Samaria would immediately turn into a second Hamastan,” Mr. Yaalon said.
Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai told the seminar attendees Israel should stop trying to seek favor in the eyes of the world and work to get them to see the truth.
“The Palestinians are not even willing to recognize the state of the Jewish people, because they want to eliminate the Jewish people,” Mr. Yishai said.
Former Israel National Security Council director Maj. Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland said, commenting on the seminar, that an independent Palestinian state would not be an ideal solution for the Palestinians.
“Many senior Palestinian figures would support the idea of establishing a Palestinian confederation under Jordanian rule. They realize that a Palestinian state would be controlled by Hamas and would prefer to be under Jordanian rule,” Maj. Gen. (res.) Eilan said.
Following the seminar, some members of Israel’s Knesset suggested turning Jordan into a Palestinian state, which Israeli President Shimon Peres called “ridiculous,” even though he is not supposed to express himself politically in his non-partisan position.
After Mr. Peres’ comment, Jordan’s ambassador to Israel filed an official complaint against the government of Israel for allowing a member of Israel’s Knesset to suggest replacing the Jordanian kingdom with a Palestinian state.
View this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
View this story at Israel Behind the News
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Hezbollah Victory Will Give Israel Sway
by David Bedein
Should Hezbollah prevail in Lebanon’s upcoming parliamentary elections next month, it could place Lebanon in Israel’s crosshairs.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Israel TV a Hezbollah election victory would render the terror group more vulnerable than in the past to the Israel Defense Force (IDF) because Israel would have freer rein in the event of a conflagration.
If the Iranian-financed terror organization were to become significantly stronger and were to hold a majority in the Lebanese government, Israeli security sources say Israel would directly retaliate against Lebanon in the event of a war along its northern border.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently said if Hezbollah were to win the Lebanese parliamentary elections: “[T]hat would be a troubling development, and our deployment will be in kind.”
Israel Defense Minister Barak also remarked on that issue, saying: “At present, Hezbollah already holds a third of the ministerial posts in the Lebanese cabinet. If Hezbollah receives a bigger chunk in the upcoming elections, that will expose it more than it was in the past to the IDF’s might, and will allow us freedom of action that we didn’t fully have in July 2006, during the Second Lebanon War.”
The Strategic Affairs Minister said he did not see any chance an independent Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria, also known as the West Bank, or in the Gaza Strip, would be able to maintain an independent economy or be able to maintain its internal security.
Mr. Yaalon referred to the experience gained from Israel’s total withdrawal from Gaza in August 2005, which occurred two months after former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon removed him as IDF chief.
“It could be presumed with certainty that any territory that Israel would evacuate in Judea and Samaria would immediately turn into a second Hamastan,” Mr. Yaalon said.
Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai told the seminar attendees Israel should stop trying to seek favor in the eyes of the world and work to get them to see the truth.
“The Palestinians are not even willing to recognize the state of the Jewish people, because they want to eliminate the Jewish people,” Mr. Yishai said.
Former Israel National Security Council director Maj. Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland said, commenting on the seminar, that an independent Palestinian state would not be an ideal solution for the Palestinians.
“Many senior Palestinian figures would support the idea of establishing a Palestinian confederation under Jordanian rule. They realize that a Palestinian state would be controlled by Hamas and would prefer to be under Jordanian rule,” Maj. Gen. (res.) Eilan said.
Following the seminar, some members of Israel’s Knesset suggested turning Jordan into a Palestinian state, which Israeli President Shimon Peres called “ridiculous,” even though he is not supposed to express himself politically in his non-partisan position.
After Mr. Peres’ comment, Jordan’s ambassador to Israel filed an official complaint against the government of Israel for allowing a member of Israel’s Knesset to suggest replacing the Jordanian kingdom with a Palestinian state.
View this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
View this story at Israel Behind the News
Should Hezbollah prevail in Lebanon’s upcoming parliamentary elections next month, it could place Lebanon in Israel’s crosshairs.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Israel TV a Hezbollah election victory would render the terror group more vulnerable than in the past to the Israel Defense Force (IDF) because Israel would have freer rein in the event of a conflagration.
If the Iranian-financed terror organization were to become significantly stronger and were to hold a majority in the Lebanese government, Israeli security sources say Israel would directly retaliate against Lebanon in the event of a war along its northern border.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently said if Hezbollah were to win the Lebanese parliamentary elections: “[T]hat would be a troubling development, and our deployment will be in kind.”
Israel Defense Minister Barak also remarked on that issue, saying: “At present, Hezbollah already holds a third of the ministerial posts in the Lebanese cabinet. If Hezbollah receives a bigger chunk in the upcoming elections, that will expose it more than it was in the past to the IDF’s might, and will allow us freedom of action that we didn’t fully have in July 2006, during the Second Lebanon War.”
The Strategic Affairs Minister said he did not see any chance an independent Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria, also known as the West Bank, or in the Gaza Strip, would be able to maintain an independent economy or be able to maintain its internal security.
Mr. Yaalon referred to the experience gained from Israel’s total withdrawal from Gaza in August 2005, which occurred two months after former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon removed him as IDF chief.
“It could be presumed with certainty that any territory that Israel would evacuate in Judea and Samaria would immediately turn into a second Hamastan,” Mr. Yaalon said.
Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai told the seminar attendees Israel should stop trying to seek favor in the eyes of the world and work to get them to see the truth.
“The Palestinians are not even willing to recognize the state of the Jewish people, because they want to eliminate the Jewish people,” Mr. Yishai said.
Former Israel National Security Council director Maj. Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland said, commenting on the seminar, that an independent Palestinian state would not be an ideal solution for the Palestinians.
“Many senior Palestinian figures would support the idea of establishing a Palestinian confederation under Jordanian rule. They realize that a Palestinian state would be controlled by Hamas and would prefer to be under Jordanian rule,” Maj. Gen. (res.) Eilan said.
Following the seminar, some members of Israel’s Knesset suggested turning Jordan into a Palestinian state, which Israeli President Shimon Peres called “ridiculous,” even though he is not supposed to express himself politically in his non-partisan position.
After Mr. Peres’ comment, Jordan’s ambassador to Israel filed an official complaint against the government of Israel for allowing a member of Israel’s Knesset to suggest replacing the Jordanian kingdom with a Palestinian state.
View this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
View this story at Israel Behind the News
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Peres To UN Chief: You Should Have Visited Auschwitz, Not Ahmadinejad
by David Bedein
Israeli President Shimon Peres harshly criticized U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during their Wednesday meeting in New York.
The meeting took place against the backdrop of Mr. Ban’s personal behavior during last month’s Durban II conference and the U.N.’s recent report criticizing Israeli conduct in Gaza four months ago.
Addressing the Durban II conference, Mr. Peres told Mr. Ban he should have taken his entourage to visit Auschwitz instead of sitting by idly as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered a speech devoted to the denial of the Holocaust.
Unlike the European representatives, the U.N. secretary-general listened attentively to the entire speech and did not leave the hall.
“I am ashamed,” Mr. Peres said.
Mr. Ban, in response, tried to tone down Mr. Peres’ harsh statements and said, in his defense, Mr. Ahmadinejad had misled him.
The secretary-general said he had sat with Mr. Ahmadinejad and drafted a moderate statement with him for an hour prior to his speech at the Geneva, Switzerland-based conference.
However, Mr. Ahmadinejad went up to the stage and ignored their agreement, delivering a speech denying the Holocaust instead.
Mr. Ban said his position as secretary-general prevented him from leaving the hall, but Mr. Peres rejected his explanation.
Mr. Peres said he felt a great shame that the U.N. had chosen Holocaust Memorial Day, the worst day in the Jewish consciousness, to give a platform to such a despicable man.
After their discussion about the Durban II conference, the meeting continued to be tense because of the U.N. report on the Israeli operation in Gaza, among other reasons.
Mr. Ban said he had attempted to tone down the report and had softened many problematic parts and extracted clauses that deviated from the report’s original purpose.
The Israeli president gave Mr. Ban a sharp rhetorical question, inquiring if the U.N. expected Israel to sit idly by, since more than 4,000 rockets were fired on Israel in the past three years.
He lambasted the report’s ignorance of Hamas’ activities, such as planting bombs in kindergartens, buildings and even U.N. facilities.
The secretary-general responded by saying the U.N. would not begin another inquiry into Operation Cast Lead, as the Gaza incursion is referred to by Israel, without the Jewish state’s consent.
Mr. Peres admitted Israel made some mistakes in the course if the operation and said Israel did not intend to deliberately kill civilians; however, he also said the Arabs who fire from Gaza do.
See this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
See this story at Israel Behind the News
Israeli President Shimon Peres harshly criticized U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during their Wednesday meeting in New York.
The meeting took place against the backdrop of Mr. Ban’s personal behavior during last month’s Durban II conference and the U.N.’s recent report criticizing Israeli conduct in Gaza four months ago.
Addressing the Durban II conference, Mr. Peres told Mr. Ban he should have taken his entourage to visit Auschwitz instead of sitting by idly as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered a speech devoted to the denial of the Holocaust.
Unlike the European representatives, the U.N. secretary-general listened attentively to the entire speech and did not leave the hall.
“I am ashamed,” Mr. Peres said.
Mr. Ban, in response, tried to tone down Mr. Peres’ harsh statements and said, in his defense, Mr. Ahmadinejad had misled him.
The secretary-general said he had sat with Mr. Ahmadinejad and drafted a moderate statement with him for an hour prior to his speech at the Geneva, Switzerland-based conference.
However, Mr. Ahmadinejad went up to the stage and ignored their agreement, delivering a speech denying the Holocaust instead.
Mr. Ban said his position as secretary-general prevented him from leaving the hall, but Mr. Peres rejected his explanation.
Mr. Peres said he felt a great shame that the U.N. had chosen Holocaust Memorial Day, the worst day in the Jewish consciousness, to give a platform to such a despicable man.
After their discussion about the Durban II conference, the meeting continued to be tense because of the U.N. report on the Israeli operation in Gaza, among other reasons.
Mr. Ban said he had attempted to tone down the report and had softened many problematic parts and extracted clauses that deviated from the report’s original purpose.
The Israeli president gave Mr. Ban a sharp rhetorical question, inquiring if the U.N. expected Israel to sit idly by, since more than 4,000 rockets were fired on Israel in the past three years.
He lambasted the report’s ignorance of Hamas’ activities, such as planting bombs in kindergartens, buildings and even U.N. facilities.
The secretary-general responded by saying the U.N. would not begin another inquiry into Operation Cast Lead, as the Gaza incursion is referred to by Israel, without the Jewish state’s consent.
Mr. Peres admitted Israel made some mistakes in the course if the operation and said Israel did not intend to deliberately kill civilians; however, he also said the Arabs who fire from Gaza do.
See this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
See this story at Israel Behind the News
Friday, May 8, 2009
The Philadelphia Bulletin: No Substance to Rumors of a Mount Zion Transfer
by David Bedein
Peres: Israeli Would Not Agree To Hand Over Site To Vatican
As the Papal visit in Jerusalem approaches, rumors have run rampant that the Israeli government, including Israeli President Shimon Peres, plans to use the timing of the visit to endorse a diplomatic request from the Catholic Church to hand over the site of the Last Supper on Mount Zion in Jerusalem to Vatican authorities.
When reached in Washington, Mr. Peres, now on a sensitive state visit there, said the rumors were untrue and explained the Israeli government would not agree to such a request.
This unsubstantiated rumor began in 1993, when the late Dr. Manfred Lehman, a historian with a great interest in the Vatican, told reporters at the time of the signing of the Vatican-Israel diplomatic agreement, that the Israeli
government had made secret agreements to hand over such a site in the future.
People who were engaged in an e-mail campaign against the Papal visit started the rumor. They claimed that the Israeli government was about to make this gesture to the Vatican.
When these e-mail campaigners were asked for documentation of their claim, they said that they had none.
Based on that e-mail campaign, Israel Army radio, the Jerusalem Post and UPI still published the claim that the Israeli government had agreed to hand over Mount Zion during this Papal visit.
None of these news agencies had any substantiation for their reports from any Israeli government official.
The most prominent site in question is the room on Mount Zion said to mark the burial site of Kings Solomon and Hezekiah, known by Catholics as the Last Supper Room.
It is also located in the same structure that houses King David’s Tomb. Said to be the oldest Catholic church in the world, the building has also served as a synagogue and a mosque in the past; Muslim inscriptions still adorn the walls.
Since 1967, however, it has been under Israeli control, part of a complex leased and run by a Jewish seminary for over 40 years.
An estimated 10,000 Jewish students have studied in this seminary, also known as a yeshiva, since then. For many of them, it was their first stop on their way to becoming more Jewish and their first step in their immigration to Israel.
“We were forced to give over part of the compound to the Israel Ministry of Religious Affairs,” says Rabbi Mordechai Goldstein, founder and dean of the seminary, “which then gave it over to the Ministry of the Interior. Ever since then, the Church has been making demands and claims on the area... Their goal, ultimately, is to conduct religious services here, with hundreds of thousands of Christian tourists coming through.
A Bilateral Permanent Working Commission - a team of Israeli and Vatican representatives who have been negotiating fiscal and property questions since March 1999 - released an optimistic news release at the end of last week. The commission announced “meaningful progress,” “great cordiality” and a mutual commitment to reach a final agreement “as soon as possible.”
Shmuel Ben-Shmuel, the head of the Religions Department in the Israel Foreign Ministry, affirmed there is no chance of Israel “giving away” this property.
Israeli Attorney Aviad Visoly, who represents the Jewish seminary on Mount Zion, said that recent meetings between Israel and the Vatican had nothing to do with Mount Zion, adding the meeting is held annually and will be nothing more than a briefing on the status of the negotiations thus far.
He said Israel has politely decline the Vatican request for sovereignty on Mt. Zion, and the Vatican respected that position.
Rabbi Goldstein added, however, there is constant pressure - financial and otherwise - to allow the Church to build a passageway through the Jewish seminary to enable for thousands of Christian visitors and worshipers to gain easy access the Upper Room, where the Last Supper is said to have taken place.
See this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
See this story at Israel Behind the News
Peres: Israeli Would Not Agree To Hand Over Site To Vatican
As the Papal visit in Jerusalem approaches, rumors have run rampant that the Israeli government, including Israeli President Shimon Peres, plans to use the timing of the visit to endorse a diplomatic request from the Catholic Church to hand over the site of the Last Supper on Mount Zion in Jerusalem to Vatican authorities.
When reached in Washington, Mr. Peres, now on a sensitive state visit there, said the rumors were untrue and explained the Israeli government would not agree to such a request.
This unsubstantiated rumor began in 1993, when the late Dr. Manfred Lehman, a historian with a great interest in the Vatican, told reporters at the time of the signing of the Vatican-Israel diplomatic agreement, that the Israeli
government had made secret agreements to hand over such a site in the future.
People who were engaged in an e-mail campaign against the Papal visit started the rumor. They claimed that the Israeli government was about to make this gesture to the Vatican.
When these e-mail campaigners were asked for documentation of their claim, they said that they had none.
Based on that e-mail campaign, Israel Army radio, the Jerusalem Post and UPI still published the claim that the Israeli government had agreed to hand over Mount Zion during this Papal visit.
None of these news agencies had any substantiation for their reports from any Israeli government official.
The most prominent site in question is the room on Mount Zion said to mark the burial site of Kings Solomon and Hezekiah, known by Catholics as the Last Supper Room.
It is also located in the same structure that houses King David’s Tomb. Said to be the oldest Catholic church in the world, the building has also served as a synagogue and a mosque in the past; Muslim inscriptions still adorn the walls.
Since 1967, however, it has been under Israeli control, part of a complex leased and run by a Jewish seminary for over 40 years.
An estimated 10,000 Jewish students have studied in this seminary, also known as a yeshiva, since then. For many of them, it was their first stop on their way to becoming more Jewish and their first step in their immigration to Israel.
“We were forced to give over part of the compound to the Israel Ministry of Religious Affairs,” says Rabbi Mordechai Goldstein, founder and dean of the seminary, “which then gave it over to the Ministry of the Interior. Ever since then, the Church has been making demands and claims on the area... Their goal, ultimately, is to conduct religious services here, with hundreds of thousands of Christian tourists coming through.
A Bilateral Permanent Working Commission - a team of Israeli and Vatican representatives who have been negotiating fiscal and property questions since March 1999 - released an optimistic news release at the end of last week. The commission announced “meaningful progress,” “great cordiality” and a mutual commitment to reach a final agreement “as soon as possible.”
Shmuel Ben-Shmuel, the head of the Religions Department in the Israel Foreign Ministry, affirmed there is no chance of Israel “giving away” this property.
Israeli Attorney Aviad Visoly, who represents the Jewish seminary on Mount Zion, said that recent meetings between Israel and the Vatican had nothing to do with Mount Zion, adding the meeting is held annually and will be nothing more than a briefing on the status of the negotiations thus far.
He said Israel has politely decline the Vatican request for sovereignty on Mt. Zion, and the Vatican respected that position.
Rabbi Goldstein added, however, there is constant pressure - financial and otherwise - to allow the Church to build a passageway through the Jewish seminary to enable for thousands of Christian visitors and worshipers to gain easy access the Upper Room, where the Last Supper is said to have taken place.
See this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
See this story at Israel Behind the News
Thursday, May 7, 2009
The Philadelphia Bulletin: Obama to Peres: We Are Committed to Your Security
by David Bedein
Israeli President Shimon Peres held a private meeting on Monday with President Barack Obama.
On Tuesday, details of that meeting emerged.
An expanded meeting consisting representatives of the U.S. and Israeli governments preceded the private meeting between the two presidents.
Ron Dermer, adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; Israeli Ambassador to the U.S., Sallai Meridor; and Mr. Peres’ adviser, Avi Gil, participated.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, National Security Adviser James Jones and the director of the Middle East department at the National Security Council, Dan Shapiro, represented the American side during the prior meeting.
During the private meeting, Mr. Obama said the American commitment to the State of Israel’s security was unequivocal and would find expression throughout the president’s entire term. This commitment to Israel’s security is at the top of the United States’ priorities, Mr. Obama said.
Mr. Peres took the opportunity to talk about matters connected with Iran in order to explain one of Israel’s concerns to Mr. Obama.
He said: “We must not repeat the terrible mistake that brought about the atrocity of the Holocaust, he said. Iran is the world’s problem, not only Israel’s, but it disturbs us very much, mainly because of our history as Jews. You must understand: after what we as Jews have gone through, we must open our eyes to reality, and reality is extremely disturbing.”
President Obama mentioned his future meeting with the prime minister of Israel, saying: “I look forward to my meeting with Netanyahu and am sure that we will be able to work together in positive cooperation,” he said.
Mr. Peres said his earlier meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took place in an excellent atmosphere.
“She asked me many questions about the composition of the coalition,” he said. He commented that he and Clinton had spoken about Hamas, “which lives according to the religious dictates of eternity, as compared with a political organization like Fatah, which must hold negotiations.”
See this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
See this story at Israel Behind the News
Israeli President Shimon Peres held a private meeting on Monday with President Barack Obama.
On Tuesday, details of that meeting emerged.
An expanded meeting consisting representatives of the U.S. and Israeli governments preceded the private meeting between the two presidents.
Ron Dermer, adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; Israeli Ambassador to the U.S., Sallai Meridor; and Mr. Peres’ adviser, Avi Gil, participated.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, National Security Adviser James Jones and the director of the Middle East department at the National Security Council, Dan Shapiro, represented the American side during the prior meeting.
During the private meeting, Mr. Obama said the American commitment to the State of Israel’s security was unequivocal and would find expression throughout the president’s entire term. This commitment to Israel’s security is at the top of the United States’ priorities, Mr. Obama said.
Mr. Peres took the opportunity to talk about matters connected with Iran in order to explain one of Israel’s concerns to Mr. Obama.
He said: “We must not repeat the terrible mistake that brought about the atrocity of the Holocaust, he said. Iran is the world’s problem, not only Israel’s, but it disturbs us very much, mainly because of our history as Jews. You must understand: after what we as Jews have gone through, we must open our eyes to reality, and reality is extremely disturbing.”
President Obama mentioned his future meeting with the prime minister of Israel, saying: “I look forward to my meeting with Netanyahu and am sure that we will be able to work together in positive cooperation,” he said.
Mr. Peres said his earlier meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took place in an excellent atmosphere.
“She asked me many questions about the composition of the coalition,” he said. He commented that he and Clinton had spoken about Hamas, “which lives according to the religious dictates of eternity, as compared with a political organization like Fatah, which must hold negotiations.”
See this story in the Philadelphia Bulletin
See this story at Israel Behind the News
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