20 feb 2017
Israeli Army Minister Avigdor Lieberman launched on Monday morning an incitement campaign against Palestinians in Umm al-Fahm within the Green Line.
In an interview with Israeli radio, Lieberman said “there is no reason whatsoever that the residents of Umm Al-Fahm, who identify as Palestinians, should continue to be citizens of Israel.”
Lieberman emphasized that he was not endorsing the traditional formula of land-for-peace promoted by advocates of a two-state solution.
He also argued that an arrangement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority would only be a small part of a larger regional agreement with moderate Arab states.
Lieberman’s statements came to defend his plan of land exchange which aims at bringing Jewish settlement in occupied West Bank under Israel sovereignty while transferring large Arab population communities within the Green Line to the Palestinian Authority.
In an interview with Israeli radio, Lieberman said “there is no reason whatsoever that the residents of Umm Al-Fahm, who identify as Palestinians, should continue to be citizens of Israel.”
Lieberman emphasized that he was not endorsing the traditional formula of land-for-peace promoted by advocates of a two-state solution.
He also argued that an arrangement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority would only be a small part of a larger regional agreement with moderate Arab states.
Lieberman’s statements came to defend his plan of land exchange which aims at bringing Jewish settlement in occupied West Bank under Israel sovereignty while transferring large Arab population communities within the Green Line to the Palestinian Authority.
17 feb 2017
Empirical historical evidence combined with little common-sense are enough to tell us the type of future options that Israel has in store for the Palestinian people: perpetual apartheid or ethnic cleansing, or a mix of both.
The passing of the “Regularisation Bill” on 6 February is all we need to imagine the Israeli-envisaged future. The new law allows the Israeli government to retroactively recognise Jewish outposts built without official permission on privately-owned Palestinian land.
All settlements – officially recognised settlements and unauthorised outposts – are illegal under international law. The verdict has been passed numerous times by the United Nations and, more recently, pronounced with unmistakable clarity in UN Security Council Resolution 2334.
Israel’s response was the announcement of the construction of over 6,000 new housing units to be built throughout the Occupied Palestinian territories, the construction of a brand new settlement (the first in 20 years), and the new law that paves the way for the annexation of large swathes of the occupied West Bank.
Undoubtedly, the law is the “last nail in the coffin of the two-state solution”, but that is not important. It never mattered to Israel, anyway. The talk of a solution was mere smoke and mirrors as far as Israel was concerned. All the “peace talks” and the entirety of “peace process”, even when it was in its zenith, rarely slowed down the Israeli bulldozers, the construction of more “Jewish homes” or ended the unceasing ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians.
Writing in Newsweek, Diana Buttu described how the process of building settlements is always accompanied by the demolition of Palestinian homes. 140 Palestinian structures were demolished since the beginning of 2017, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Territories.
Since Donald Trump was sworn in as president of America, Israel has felt liberated from its obligation to doublespeak. For decades, Israeli officials spoke passionately about peace, and did everything in their power to hinder its attainment. Now, they simply do not care. Period.
They have perfected their balancing act simply because they had to, because Washington expected it, demanded it. But Trump had given them a blank cheque: do as you please; settlements are not obstacles to peace; Israel has been “treated very, very unfairly” and I will correct that historical injustice, and so on.
Almost immediately after Trump was inaugurated as president on 20 January, all masks came off.
On 25 January, the real Benjamin Netanyahu resurfaced, dropping his act altogether, and declaring in enviable brazenness: “We are building, and we will continue to build” illegal settlements.
What more is there to talk about with Israel at this point? Nothing. The only solution that mattered to Israel is Israel’s own “solution”, always driven by blind American support, European uselessness and always imposed on the Palestinians and other Arab countries, by force if needed.
The guardians of the grand charade of the two-state solution, who shrewdly crafted the “peace process” and danced to every Israeli tune are now bewildered. They have been outed by Israel’s dreadful plans that shot their “solution” right between the eyes, leaving Palestinians to choose between subjugation, humiliation or imprisonment.
Jonathan Cook is right. The new law is the first step towards the annexing of the West Bank or, at least, most of it. Once small outposts are legalised, they would need to be fortified, (“naturally”) expanded and protected. The military occupation, in effect for 50 years, will no longer be temporary and reversible. Civil law will continue to apply to Jews in Occupied Palestinian Territories and military laws on occupied Palestinians.
It is the very definition of Apartheid, in case you are still wondering.
To meet the “security needs” of the settlers, more “Jewish-only” bypass roads will be constructed, more walls erected, more gates to keep Palestinians away from their land, schools and livelihood will be put up, more checkpoints, more suffering, more pain, more anger and more violence.
That is Israel’s vision. Even Trump is growing frustrated by Israel’s shamelessness and audacity. He called on Israel in an interview with Israel Hayom newspaper to “be reasonable with respect to peace”.
“There is so much land left. And every time you take land for settlements, there is less land left,” Trump said. He is backtracking on promises he made with regard to moving the US embassy and the unchecked expansion of the settlements and more, as he is realising that Netanyahu and his US supporters have led him to a cliff and are now asking him to jump.
But it matters little, anyway. Whether Trump holds on to his extremely pro-Israel position or reverts to a wishy-washy stance similar to that of his predecessor, Barack Obama, reality is unlikely to change – for only Israel is ultimately allowed to influence outcomes.
Israeli lawmakers’ approval of the bill is, indeed, an end of an era. We have reached the point where we can openly declare that the so-called “peace process” was an illusion from the start, for Israel had no intentions of ever conceding the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem to the Palestinians.
The Palestinian leadership is hardly blameless in all of this.
The greatest mistake that the Palestinian leadership committed (aside from its disgraceful disunity) was entrusting the US, Israel’s main enabler, with managing a “peace process” that has allowed Israel time and resources to finish its colonial projects, while devastating Palestinian rights and political aspirations.
Returning to the same old channels, using the same language, seeking salvation at the altar of the same old “two-state solution” will achieve nothing but waste further time and energy.
But Israel’s humiliating options to the Palestinians can also be read in a different way. Indeed, it is Israel’s obstinacy that is now leaving Palestinians (and Israelis) with one option, and only one option: equal citizenship in one single state or a horrific apartheid and more ethnic cleansing.
In the words of former President Jimmy Carter: “Israel will never find peace until it permit(s) the Palestinians to exercise their basic human and political rights.”
That Israeli “permission” is yet to arrive, leaving the international community with the moral responsibility to exact it.
– Dr. Ramzy Baroud has been writing about the Middle East for over 20 years. He is an internationally-syndicated columnist, a media consultant, an author of several books and the founder of PalestineChronicle.com.
The passing of the “Regularisation Bill” on 6 February is all we need to imagine the Israeli-envisaged future. The new law allows the Israeli government to retroactively recognise Jewish outposts built without official permission on privately-owned Palestinian land.
All settlements – officially recognised settlements and unauthorised outposts – are illegal under international law. The verdict has been passed numerous times by the United Nations and, more recently, pronounced with unmistakable clarity in UN Security Council Resolution 2334.
Israel’s response was the announcement of the construction of over 6,000 new housing units to be built throughout the Occupied Palestinian territories, the construction of a brand new settlement (the first in 20 years), and the new law that paves the way for the annexation of large swathes of the occupied West Bank.
Undoubtedly, the law is the “last nail in the coffin of the two-state solution”, but that is not important. It never mattered to Israel, anyway. The talk of a solution was mere smoke and mirrors as far as Israel was concerned. All the “peace talks” and the entirety of “peace process”, even when it was in its zenith, rarely slowed down the Israeli bulldozers, the construction of more “Jewish homes” or ended the unceasing ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians.
Writing in Newsweek, Diana Buttu described how the process of building settlements is always accompanied by the demolition of Palestinian homes. 140 Palestinian structures were demolished since the beginning of 2017, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Territories.
Since Donald Trump was sworn in as president of America, Israel has felt liberated from its obligation to doublespeak. For decades, Israeli officials spoke passionately about peace, and did everything in their power to hinder its attainment. Now, they simply do not care. Period.
They have perfected their balancing act simply because they had to, because Washington expected it, demanded it. But Trump had given them a blank cheque: do as you please; settlements are not obstacles to peace; Israel has been “treated very, very unfairly” and I will correct that historical injustice, and so on.
Almost immediately after Trump was inaugurated as president on 20 January, all masks came off.
On 25 January, the real Benjamin Netanyahu resurfaced, dropping his act altogether, and declaring in enviable brazenness: “We are building, and we will continue to build” illegal settlements.
What more is there to talk about with Israel at this point? Nothing. The only solution that mattered to Israel is Israel’s own “solution”, always driven by blind American support, European uselessness and always imposed on the Palestinians and other Arab countries, by force if needed.
The guardians of the grand charade of the two-state solution, who shrewdly crafted the “peace process” and danced to every Israeli tune are now bewildered. They have been outed by Israel’s dreadful plans that shot their “solution” right between the eyes, leaving Palestinians to choose between subjugation, humiliation or imprisonment.
Jonathan Cook is right. The new law is the first step towards the annexing of the West Bank or, at least, most of it. Once small outposts are legalised, they would need to be fortified, (“naturally”) expanded and protected. The military occupation, in effect for 50 years, will no longer be temporary and reversible. Civil law will continue to apply to Jews in Occupied Palestinian Territories and military laws on occupied Palestinians.
It is the very definition of Apartheid, in case you are still wondering.
To meet the “security needs” of the settlers, more “Jewish-only” bypass roads will be constructed, more walls erected, more gates to keep Palestinians away from their land, schools and livelihood will be put up, more checkpoints, more suffering, more pain, more anger and more violence.
That is Israel’s vision. Even Trump is growing frustrated by Israel’s shamelessness and audacity. He called on Israel in an interview with Israel Hayom newspaper to “be reasonable with respect to peace”.
“There is so much land left. And every time you take land for settlements, there is less land left,” Trump said. He is backtracking on promises he made with regard to moving the US embassy and the unchecked expansion of the settlements and more, as he is realising that Netanyahu and his US supporters have led him to a cliff and are now asking him to jump.
But it matters little, anyway. Whether Trump holds on to his extremely pro-Israel position or reverts to a wishy-washy stance similar to that of his predecessor, Barack Obama, reality is unlikely to change – for only Israel is ultimately allowed to influence outcomes.
Israeli lawmakers’ approval of the bill is, indeed, an end of an era. We have reached the point where we can openly declare that the so-called “peace process” was an illusion from the start, for Israel had no intentions of ever conceding the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem to the Palestinians.
The Palestinian leadership is hardly blameless in all of this.
The greatest mistake that the Palestinian leadership committed (aside from its disgraceful disunity) was entrusting the US, Israel’s main enabler, with managing a “peace process” that has allowed Israel time and resources to finish its colonial projects, while devastating Palestinian rights and political aspirations.
Returning to the same old channels, using the same language, seeking salvation at the altar of the same old “two-state solution” will achieve nothing but waste further time and energy.
But Israel’s humiliating options to the Palestinians can also be read in a different way. Indeed, it is Israel’s obstinacy that is now leaving Palestinians (and Israelis) with one option, and only one option: equal citizenship in one single state or a horrific apartheid and more ethnic cleansing.
In the words of former President Jimmy Carter: “Israel will never find peace until it permit(s) the Palestinians to exercise their basic human and political rights.”
That Israeli “permission” is yet to arrive, leaving the international community with the moral responsibility to exact it.
– Dr. Ramzy Baroud has been writing about the Middle East for over 20 years. He is an internationally-syndicated columnist, a media consultant, an author of several books and the founder of PalestineChronicle.com.
An Israeli officer serving in the army committed suicide over night near Gaza northern borders, Israeli media sources revealed on Friday.
0404 Hebrew website said that the officer was found dead while his gun was next to him.
An investigation has been opened into the circumstances of his death, the sources added.
0404 Hebrew website said that the officer was found dead while his gun was next to him.
An investigation has been opened into the circumstances of his death, the sources added.
11 feb 2017
A body belonging to an unidentified man in his 30s was found by the Israeli police on Friday afternoon near a cave in the mountainous area of Wadi Qelt, a valley between Jerusalem and Jericho.
Israel’s Channel 10 said the Israeli police refused to provide the media with details about the dead man and whether he was Palestinian or Israeli, noting that no one reported about a missing person.
The Israeli police launched an investigation to determine the circumstances behind the man’s death, the channel said, expressing its belief that there could be nationalistic motives behind his murder.
The channel noted that the same area had seen several such crimes before.
Israel’s Channel 10 said the Israeli police refused to provide the media with details about the dead man and whether he was Palestinian or Israeli, noting that no one reported about a missing person.
The Israeli police launched an investigation to determine the circumstances behind the man’s death, the channel said, expressing its belief that there could be nationalistic motives behind his murder.
The channel noted that the same area had seen several such crimes before.
7 feb 2017
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked his British counterpart Theresa May on Monday to halt funding Israeli left-wing organizations, Israeli media sources revealed.
“I gave them [the British] the [names of] the various NGOs that the government of Britain funds, among them Breaking the Silence, and I asked her to stop funding them,” Netanyahu told reporters accompanying him on an official visit to the UK.
Theresa May was set to conduct a “re-examination” of Britain’s approach to funding NGOs, he added.
Breaking the Silence responded to Netanyahu’s remarks by saying the British government does not currently provide any funding to the organization.
When it was pointed out that the British government does not fund Breaking the Silence, Netanyahu’s Office in Israel hurried to issue a clarification that said Britain funded Breaking the Silence and other NGOs indirectly, via other organizations.
Breaking the Silence is an organization that collects testimonies from former Israeli occupation soldiers about human rights violations they witness in the Palestinian territories during Israeli military raids.
“I gave them [the British] the [names of] the various NGOs that the government of Britain funds, among them Breaking the Silence, and I asked her to stop funding them,” Netanyahu told reporters accompanying him on an official visit to the UK.
Theresa May was set to conduct a “re-examination” of Britain’s approach to funding NGOs, he added.
Breaking the Silence responded to Netanyahu’s remarks by saying the British government does not currently provide any funding to the organization.
When it was pointed out that the British government does not fund Breaking the Silence, Netanyahu’s Office in Israel hurried to issue a clarification that said Britain funded Breaking the Silence and other NGOs indirectly, via other organizations.
Breaking the Silence is an organization that collects testimonies from former Israeli occupation soldiers about human rights violations they witness in the Palestinian territories during Israeli military raids.
2 feb 2017
Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav demands the government act to swiftly remove storage facilities of toxic chemical in light of report that points to high probability of leakage.
Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav has demanded the government act to swiftly remove the ammonia storage facilities in Haifa Bay, following the release of a report pointing to the great danger the location of these facilities poses to the city and its surrounding area.
The danger is not only from the storage facilities, which are not underground and therefore highly vulnerable to a missile attack, but also from the ships that bring the ammonia to the port, according to the report, written by Prof. Ehud Keinan of the Technion, the former Dean of the university’s Chemical Engineering faculty.
The report is based on a professional opinion by Prof. Keinan who warned that "the ammonia ship that enters the Haifa Bay every four weeks is akin to a ship carrying five primed atom bombs, each more deadly than the one dropped on Hiroshima."
The report determines that any leakage, resulting from either a terror attack, an earthquake (the Carmel Mountain is an active seismic area), or even an accident could create a deadly cloud of highly poisonous gas that could kill over half a million people, depending on the prevailing wind conditions.
“Ammonia is a highly toxic gas. Exposure of 0.5 percent concentrate in the air causes death in 5-10 minutes,” the report notes.
The report points to four or five points of weakness in the ammonia container, saying ther is high probability it could "crack tomorrow morning."
Israel’s ammonia needs are minimal. The vast majority of the ammonia stored in Haifa is used to manufacture fertilizers and other chemical products, primarily for export.
“The American owners of Haifa Chemicals have turned us into their backyard, as if we were some third world banana republic,” Yahav said.
The Haifa mayor said he sent the report to the Prime Minister's Office and the Supreme Court.
Haifa Chemicals accused the mayor of deliberately misleading the public and making cynical use of a report that has already been rejected by security officials.
Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav has demanded the government act to swiftly remove the ammonia storage facilities in Haifa Bay, following the release of a report pointing to the great danger the location of these facilities poses to the city and its surrounding area.
The danger is not only from the storage facilities, which are not underground and therefore highly vulnerable to a missile attack, but also from the ships that bring the ammonia to the port, according to the report, written by Prof. Ehud Keinan of the Technion, the former Dean of the university’s Chemical Engineering faculty.
The report is based on a professional opinion by Prof. Keinan who warned that "the ammonia ship that enters the Haifa Bay every four weeks is akin to a ship carrying five primed atom bombs, each more deadly than the one dropped on Hiroshima."
The report determines that any leakage, resulting from either a terror attack, an earthquake (the Carmel Mountain is an active seismic area), or even an accident could create a deadly cloud of highly poisonous gas that could kill over half a million people, depending on the prevailing wind conditions.
“Ammonia is a highly toxic gas. Exposure of 0.5 percent concentrate in the air causes death in 5-10 minutes,” the report notes.
The report points to four or five points of weakness in the ammonia container, saying ther is high probability it could "crack tomorrow morning."
Israel’s ammonia needs are minimal. The vast majority of the ammonia stored in Haifa is used to manufacture fertilizers and other chemical products, primarily for export.
“The American owners of Haifa Chemicals have turned us into their backyard, as if we were some third world banana republic,” Yahav said.
The Haifa mayor said he sent the report to the Prime Minister's Office and the Supreme Court.
Haifa Chemicals accused the mayor of deliberately misleading the public and making cynical use of a report that has already been rejected by security officials.