28 apr 2014
Traffic across Israel ground to a halt for two minutes on Monday to remember the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust.
As sirens wailed at 10 a.m., the activity on the normally-bustling streets of Jerusalem abruptly stopped as people froze to observe a ritual which takes place every year on Holocaust memorial day, which began at sundown on Sunday.
Radio and television stations, which have been broadcasting a string of programs on the Nazi genocide, also fell silent.
This year's memorial is focused on the memory of more than 400,000 Hungarian Jews who were massacred in 1944.
During the morning, top Israeli dignitaries including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres were to lay wreaths at a ceremony at Yad Vashem Holocaust museum.
Opening the memorial events at a ceremony on Sunday evening, Peres said Israel and the world must remain ever vigilant against the global threat posed by anti-Semitism.
"We must not ignore any occurrence of anti-Semitism, any desecration of a synagogue, any tombstone smashed in a cemetery in which our families are buried," he said.
"We must not ignore the rise of nuanced neo-Nazi extreme right-wing parties, which are a danger to every man and a warning to all peoples."
On Sunday, Netanyahu dismissed President Mahmoud Abbas' remarks mourning victims of the Holocaust as a public relations stunt aimed at placating the international community.
"Instead of issuing statements designed to placate global public opinion, Abu Mazen (Abbas) needs to choose between the alliance with Hamas, a terrorist organization that calls for the destruction of Israel and denies the Holocaust, and a true peace with Israel," he said.
Earlier, Abbas called the Holocaust the "the most heinous crime against humanity in modern history" and extended his condolences to the "families of the victims and the innocent people who were killed by the Nazis including the Jews and others."
For many Israeli Jews, Palestinian recognition of the widespread killing of Jews in Europe during the Holocaust is considered important because it entails recognition of the historical trauma suffered by the Jewish people.
Palestinian leaders, however, have not historically made statements on the occasion of Holocaust Remembrance Day, pointing out that Palestinians had nothing to do with the tragedy.
As sirens wailed at 10 a.m., the activity on the normally-bustling streets of Jerusalem abruptly stopped as people froze to observe a ritual which takes place every year on Holocaust memorial day, which began at sundown on Sunday.
Radio and television stations, which have been broadcasting a string of programs on the Nazi genocide, also fell silent.
This year's memorial is focused on the memory of more than 400,000 Hungarian Jews who were massacred in 1944.
During the morning, top Israeli dignitaries including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres were to lay wreaths at a ceremony at Yad Vashem Holocaust museum.
Opening the memorial events at a ceremony on Sunday evening, Peres said Israel and the world must remain ever vigilant against the global threat posed by anti-Semitism.
"We must not ignore any occurrence of anti-Semitism, any desecration of a synagogue, any tombstone smashed in a cemetery in which our families are buried," he said.
"We must not ignore the rise of nuanced neo-Nazi extreme right-wing parties, which are a danger to every man and a warning to all peoples."
On Sunday, Netanyahu dismissed President Mahmoud Abbas' remarks mourning victims of the Holocaust as a public relations stunt aimed at placating the international community.
"Instead of issuing statements designed to placate global public opinion, Abu Mazen (Abbas) needs to choose between the alliance with Hamas, a terrorist organization that calls for the destruction of Israel and denies the Holocaust, and a true peace with Israel," he said.
Earlier, Abbas called the Holocaust the "the most heinous crime against humanity in modern history" and extended his condolences to the "families of the victims and the innocent people who were killed by the Nazis including the Jews and others."
For many Israeli Jews, Palestinian recognition of the widespread killing of Jews in Europe during the Holocaust is considered important because it entails recognition of the historical trauma suffered by the Jewish people.
Palestinian leaders, however, have not historically made statements on the occasion of Holocaust Remembrance Day, pointing out that Palestinians had nothing to do with the tragedy.
By Khalid Amayreh in Occupied Palestine
The obscene lies, hyperbolic exaggerations, and corrupt analogies Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has been indulging in lately caricature a manifestly morbid and pathologically dishonest character.
Honest people don't need to lie and don't see the need for lying. Instead, they see serenity, security and mental comfort in telling the truth. This is not the case with people like Netanyahu. He knows that for Israel, an artificial country based on mendacity, terror, land theft and ethnic cleansing, lying (and for that matter lying big) is the ultimate refuge.
But truth will continue to chase Zionists for eternity, even if the New York Times and Washington Post continue to regurgitate Zionist lies and sing Zionist hymns.
On Sunday, Netanyahu renewed his attack on the new Palestinian unity agreement between Fatah and Hamas by drawing explicitly corrupt comparisons between Hamas and the Nazis.
"Hamas is trying to start another Holocaust, "the prime minister told his cabinet at the start of its weekly meeting Sunday.
He called on PA leader Mahmoud Abbas to keep the rift with Hamas intact, saying, “we hope that he will withdraw from the alliance and return to the path of peace."
It is probably unwise to dignify Netanyahu's lies by commenting on them. However for the benefit of many people, especially in Western countries who have been constant recipients and consumers of Jewish- Zionist lies for many decades, I feel it is imperative to expose the liar and his lies.
Hamas, which the Israeli premier says is trying to wage another holocaust, is nearly hermetically locked in the Gaza Strip, blockaded from land, sea and air. Hamas can hardly provide sufficient food and water to keep 1.5 million Gazans alive. Indeed, was it not for foreign aid coming through UNRWA and from some friendly countries such as Turkey and Qatar, life itself in Gaza will become precarious, and I am not speaking metaphorically.
Yes, Hamas and other Palestinian militias do have a few hundred militiamen tasked with maintaining security. Sometimes, these militias, using antiquated and nearly innocuous weapons, attempt to defend their people against the Wehrmacht-like Israeli army which doesn't hesitate even for one second to murder women and children knowingly and deliberately.
Otherwise, these small groups in no way pose a real-let alone strategic- threat to Israel, a country that possesses hundreds of nuclear weapons, one of the best air-forces in the world, and an army notorious for its barbarianism and savagery. And above all of this, it has the United States at her beck and call as all or most American politicians, especially at the national federal level, are transformed into political whores in the service of the Zionist enterprise.
Hence, comparing Hamas with the Third Reich is no less than committing an act of fornication or adultery with truth, even with language. It is the ultimate insult to people's intelligence.
The truth, however, is that in case there is a state under the sun that can be compared to Nazi Germany, it is Israel, pure and simple.
Ideologically, Israel and Nazi Germany are like Tweedledum &Tweedledee.
The German Nazis viewed non-Aryans as mere "Untermenschen (sub-humans). However, the sages of Judaism shamelessly claim that non-Jews are animals and beasts of burden walking on two feet. Just remember the statements made by the late Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of the Haredi party, Shas, a few years ago. Yosef shamelessly claimed a few years ago that non-Jews were nothing but donkeys created by God for no reason other than serving the master race, the Jews.
Indeed, like the German Nazis who viewed themselves as "the Master Race," many Zionist Jews view themselves as "the Chosen People." Some Jewish sects, such as Chabad, even advocate the murder of non-Jews in order to extricate a lung or a kidney or other organs for transplant if the Jew needed one. I am not making a "blood libel" or intending to malign Jews.
But the truth speaks for itself and the worldwide web is congested with indicting proofs if one is genuinely concerned for truth.
Moreover, like the Nazis, Israel has been following a militaristic, bellicose, aggressive and expansionistic policy toward its neighbors.
Nazi Germany adopted the policy of Lebensraum (living space) whereby the Third Reich sought to annex territories of neighboring countries especially in the East. Similarly, Israel has been establishing Jewish colonies, settled with Nazi-like Jewish settlers, in the West Bank.
And as Nazi Germany claimed the seized territories belonged to Germany, Israel now claims that the occupied Palestinian territories are not occupied but rather "disputed" territories!
The truth is that the similarities between Nazi Germany and Israel exceed by far the differences.
And the reason this truth has been absent from the western mind is more or less attributed to the successful Jewish-Zionist colonization of the western mind, especially since the end of the Second World War. Just read the Zionist Connection by the great late Jewish writer Alfred Lilienthal.
But now, in light of the communication revolution, the Jewish-Zionist grip on the western mind is getting somewhat loose. Hence, it is probably safe to say that the Israeli hasbara is living on borrowed time.
Finally, honest Jews ought to be reminded that Netanyahu and his likes are effectively dishonoring and abusing the memories of the holocaust survivors when the pathological liars compare the victims of nefarious Zionism with Nazism.
These victims didn't die so that Jews would be able to oppress and torment another people, effectively emulating the Nazis.
In the final analysis, Nazism destroyed Europe and killed or caused the death of some 60 million people. The Palestinians, on the other hand, are struggling to exit the Jewish slaughter house.
Khalid Amayreh is a Palestinian journalist living in occupied Palestine. He lost three innocent uncles to Israeli terror shortly after Israel's creation. However, his family is yet to receive an apology and/or compensation from Israel.
The obscene lies, hyperbolic exaggerations, and corrupt analogies Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has been indulging in lately caricature a manifestly morbid and pathologically dishonest character.
Honest people don't need to lie and don't see the need for lying. Instead, they see serenity, security and mental comfort in telling the truth. This is not the case with people like Netanyahu. He knows that for Israel, an artificial country based on mendacity, terror, land theft and ethnic cleansing, lying (and for that matter lying big) is the ultimate refuge.
But truth will continue to chase Zionists for eternity, even if the New York Times and Washington Post continue to regurgitate Zionist lies and sing Zionist hymns.
On Sunday, Netanyahu renewed his attack on the new Palestinian unity agreement between Fatah and Hamas by drawing explicitly corrupt comparisons between Hamas and the Nazis.
"Hamas is trying to start another Holocaust, "the prime minister told his cabinet at the start of its weekly meeting Sunday.
He called on PA leader Mahmoud Abbas to keep the rift with Hamas intact, saying, “we hope that he will withdraw from the alliance and return to the path of peace."
It is probably unwise to dignify Netanyahu's lies by commenting on them. However for the benefit of many people, especially in Western countries who have been constant recipients and consumers of Jewish- Zionist lies for many decades, I feel it is imperative to expose the liar and his lies.
Hamas, which the Israeli premier says is trying to wage another holocaust, is nearly hermetically locked in the Gaza Strip, blockaded from land, sea and air. Hamas can hardly provide sufficient food and water to keep 1.5 million Gazans alive. Indeed, was it not for foreign aid coming through UNRWA and from some friendly countries such as Turkey and Qatar, life itself in Gaza will become precarious, and I am not speaking metaphorically.
Yes, Hamas and other Palestinian militias do have a few hundred militiamen tasked with maintaining security. Sometimes, these militias, using antiquated and nearly innocuous weapons, attempt to defend their people against the Wehrmacht-like Israeli army which doesn't hesitate even for one second to murder women and children knowingly and deliberately.
Otherwise, these small groups in no way pose a real-let alone strategic- threat to Israel, a country that possesses hundreds of nuclear weapons, one of the best air-forces in the world, and an army notorious for its barbarianism and savagery. And above all of this, it has the United States at her beck and call as all or most American politicians, especially at the national federal level, are transformed into political whores in the service of the Zionist enterprise.
Hence, comparing Hamas with the Third Reich is no less than committing an act of fornication or adultery with truth, even with language. It is the ultimate insult to people's intelligence.
The truth, however, is that in case there is a state under the sun that can be compared to Nazi Germany, it is Israel, pure and simple.
Ideologically, Israel and Nazi Germany are like Tweedledum &Tweedledee.
The German Nazis viewed non-Aryans as mere "Untermenschen (sub-humans). However, the sages of Judaism shamelessly claim that non-Jews are animals and beasts of burden walking on two feet. Just remember the statements made by the late Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of the Haredi party, Shas, a few years ago. Yosef shamelessly claimed a few years ago that non-Jews were nothing but donkeys created by God for no reason other than serving the master race, the Jews.
Indeed, like the German Nazis who viewed themselves as "the Master Race," many Zionist Jews view themselves as "the Chosen People." Some Jewish sects, such as Chabad, even advocate the murder of non-Jews in order to extricate a lung or a kidney or other organs for transplant if the Jew needed one. I am not making a "blood libel" or intending to malign Jews.
But the truth speaks for itself and the worldwide web is congested with indicting proofs if one is genuinely concerned for truth.
Moreover, like the Nazis, Israel has been following a militaristic, bellicose, aggressive and expansionistic policy toward its neighbors.
Nazi Germany adopted the policy of Lebensraum (living space) whereby the Third Reich sought to annex territories of neighboring countries especially in the East. Similarly, Israel has been establishing Jewish colonies, settled with Nazi-like Jewish settlers, in the West Bank.
And as Nazi Germany claimed the seized territories belonged to Germany, Israel now claims that the occupied Palestinian territories are not occupied but rather "disputed" territories!
The truth is that the similarities between Nazi Germany and Israel exceed by far the differences.
And the reason this truth has been absent from the western mind is more or less attributed to the successful Jewish-Zionist colonization of the western mind, especially since the end of the Second World War. Just read the Zionist Connection by the great late Jewish writer Alfred Lilienthal.
But now, in light of the communication revolution, the Jewish-Zionist grip on the western mind is getting somewhat loose. Hence, it is probably safe to say that the Israeli hasbara is living on borrowed time.
Finally, honest Jews ought to be reminded that Netanyahu and his likes are effectively dishonoring and abusing the memories of the holocaust survivors when the pathological liars compare the victims of nefarious Zionism with Nazism.
These victims didn't die so that Jews would be able to oppress and torment another people, effectively emulating the Nazis.
In the final analysis, Nazism destroyed Europe and killed or caused the death of some 60 million people. The Palestinians, on the other hand, are struggling to exit the Jewish slaughter house.
Khalid Amayreh is a Palestinian journalist living in occupied Palestine. He lost three innocent uncles to Israeli terror shortly after Israel's creation. However, his family is yet to receive an apology and/or compensation from Israel.
US Secretary of State John Kerry told a group of senior international officials that Israel risks becoming an "apartheid" state if it does not make peace soon, a US news website reported.
Kerry made the remarks at a closed-door meeting of the influential Trilateral Commission on Friday, The Daily Beast news website reported Sunday.
The Daily Beast said a source at the gathering provided them with a recording of Kerry's remarks.
"A two-state solution will be clearly underscored as the only real alternative. Because a unitary state winds up either being an apartheid state with second class citizens —- or it ends up being a state that destroys the capacity of Israel to be a Jewish state," Kerry said, according to The Daily Beast.
"Once you put that frame in your mind, that reality, which is the bottom line, you understand how imperative it is to get to the two state solution, which both leaders, even (Thursday), said they remain deeply committed to," he reportedly said.
The online publication said that US, Western European, Russian, and Japanese senior officials and experts were at the event.
The term "apartheid" is a reference to South Africa's 1948-1994 oppressive and racially segregated social system.
While both Kerry and President Barack Obama have refrained from using the term when speaking of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, former president Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) titled a 2006 book that he wrote on the subject "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid."
Kerry also insisted that the peace process was not dead.
"The reports of the demise of the peace process have consistently been misunderstood and misreported. And even we are now getting to the moment of obvious confrontation and hiatus, but I would far from declare it dead," Kerry said, according to the news website.
Israel said on Thursday it was halting peace talks with the PLO following a unity deal with the Hamas movement, which rules Gaza.
On Sunday, Israel indicated it would freeze 19 Palestinian construction projects in the occupied West Bank in an apparent effort to impose sanctions on the Palestinian Authority in response to the Hamas-PLO deal, Israeli media reported.
Israel has announced plans for thousands of settler homes in the occupied West Bank and killed over 60 Palestinians since peace talks began in July.
Kerry: Israel Risks Becoming Apartheid State
Update: After a day of outraged responses, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday that he had chosen the wrong word when describing Israel’s potential future as an “apartheid state” if it didn’t reach a peace deal with the Palestinians. “I will not allow my commitment to Israel to be questioned by anyone, particularly for partisan, political purposes, so I want to be crystal clear about what I believe and what I don’t believe,” Kerry said after US lawmakers and pro-Israel groups criticized him, with some demanding his resignation or at least an apology.
US Secretary of State John Kerry warned foreign leaders and experts mainly from the US, Western Europe, Russia, and Japan on Friday saying that israel will risk becoming an apartheid state or losing its Jewish identity if a peace accord with the Palestinians is not reached in the near future. Kerry’s comments were published on Sunday by The Daily Beast news website.
The secretary of state said that if Israel doesn’t make peace soon, it could become an apartheid state, like the old South Africa.
“A two-state solution will be clearly underscored as the only real alternative. Because a unitary state winds up either being an apartheid state with second class citizens, or it ends up being a state that destroys the capacity of Israel to be a Jewish state,” Kerry told the group of senior officials and experts from the U.S., Western Europe, Russia, and Japan. “Once you put that frame in your mind, that reality, which is the bottom line, you understand how imperative it is to get to the two state solutions, which both leaders, even yesterday, said they remain deeply committed to.”
According to the 1998 Rome Statute [PDF], the “crime of apartheid” is defined as “inhumane acts… committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime.” The term is most often used in reference to the system of racial segregation and oppression that governed South Africa from 1948 until 1994.
Earlier in April, Kerry urged Israeli and Palestinian leaders to prevent the negotiations from collapsing, saying it was regrettable that both sides have taken steps recently that are not helpful in promoting peace and ending the decades-long conflict between the two sides.
Kerry made the remarks at a closed-door meeting of the influential Trilateral Commission on Friday, The Daily Beast news website reported Sunday.
The Daily Beast said a source at the gathering provided them with a recording of Kerry's remarks.
"A two-state solution will be clearly underscored as the only real alternative. Because a unitary state winds up either being an apartheid state with second class citizens —- or it ends up being a state that destroys the capacity of Israel to be a Jewish state," Kerry said, according to The Daily Beast.
"Once you put that frame in your mind, that reality, which is the bottom line, you understand how imperative it is to get to the two state solution, which both leaders, even (Thursday), said they remain deeply committed to," he reportedly said.
The online publication said that US, Western European, Russian, and Japanese senior officials and experts were at the event.
The term "apartheid" is a reference to South Africa's 1948-1994 oppressive and racially segregated social system.
While both Kerry and President Barack Obama have refrained from using the term when speaking of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, former president Jimmy Carter (1977-1981) titled a 2006 book that he wrote on the subject "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid."
Kerry also insisted that the peace process was not dead.
"The reports of the demise of the peace process have consistently been misunderstood and misreported. And even we are now getting to the moment of obvious confrontation and hiatus, but I would far from declare it dead," Kerry said, according to the news website.
Israel said on Thursday it was halting peace talks with the PLO following a unity deal with the Hamas movement, which rules Gaza.
On Sunday, Israel indicated it would freeze 19 Palestinian construction projects in the occupied West Bank in an apparent effort to impose sanctions on the Palestinian Authority in response to the Hamas-PLO deal, Israeli media reported.
Israel has announced plans for thousands of settler homes in the occupied West Bank and killed over 60 Palestinians since peace talks began in July.
Kerry: Israel Risks Becoming Apartheid State
Update: After a day of outraged responses, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday that he had chosen the wrong word when describing Israel’s potential future as an “apartheid state” if it didn’t reach a peace deal with the Palestinians. “I will not allow my commitment to Israel to be questioned by anyone, particularly for partisan, political purposes, so I want to be crystal clear about what I believe and what I don’t believe,” Kerry said after US lawmakers and pro-Israel groups criticized him, with some demanding his resignation or at least an apology.
US Secretary of State John Kerry warned foreign leaders and experts mainly from the US, Western Europe, Russia, and Japan on Friday saying that israel will risk becoming an apartheid state or losing its Jewish identity if a peace accord with the Palestinians is not reached in the near future. Kerry’s comments were published on Sunday by The Daily Beast news website.
The secretary of state said that if Israel doesn’t make peace soon, it could become an apartheid state, like the old South Africa.
“A two-state solution will be clearly underscored as the only real alternative. Because a unitary state winds up either being an apartheid state with second class citizens, or it ends up being a state that destroys the capacity of Israel to be a Jewish state,” Kerry told the group of senior officials and experts from the U.S., Western Europe, Russia, and Japan. “Once you put that frame in your mind, that reality, which is the bottom line, you understand how imperative it is to get to the two state solutions, which both leaders, even yesterday, said they remain deeply committed to.”
According to the 1998 Rome Statute [PDF], the “crime of apartheid” is defined as “inhumane acts… committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime.” The term is most often used in reference to the system of racial segregation and oppression that governed South Africa from 1948 until 1994.
Earlier in April, Kerry urged Israeli and Palestinian leaders to prevent the negotiations from collapsing, saying it was regrettable that both sides have taken steps recently that are not helpful in promoting peace and ending the decades-long conflict between the two sides.
27 apr 2014
Israeli cabinet ministers on Sunday differed over the likely fallout on the battered Middle East peace process from an intra-Palestinian reconciliation agreement.
Wednesday's surprise deal, which saw Palestinian leaders from the West Bank and the Hamas-run Gaza Strip agree to work together after years of bitter rivalry, was denounced the next day by the Israeli security cabinet.
That cabinet said it would "not negotiate" with any Palestinian government backed by the Islamist movement.
In an address to PLO leaders on Saturday, president Mahmoud Abbas said the new government, which will be made up of political independents, would recognize Israel, reject violence and abide by existing agreements.
But at Sunday's weekly meeting of Israel's full cabinet, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again slammed the rapprochement between the PLO and Hamas, whose charter calls for the destruction of Israel.
"Hamas denies the Holocaust while attempting to carry out a second Holocaust by destroying the state of Israel," he said.
"Abu Mazen (Abbas) must decide between an alliance with Hamas -- a terrorist organisation which denies the Holocaust -- and real peace with Israel."
CNN later quoted Netanyahu saying for peace talks to continue, Hamas must recognize Israel or Abbas must renounce the Islamist movement.
"If one of those things happened, we could get back to the peace negotiations. I hope he renounces Hamas and gets back to the peace table, as I've just said. The ball is in his court," he added.
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, Israel's chief negotiator with the Palestinians, said however that it was crucial to wait and see what sort of government emerged.
"The reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas, was quite a disappointment ... but we decided to wait and see what happens on the Palestinian side when a new government is created," she told reporters.
Livni ruled out any talks with Hamas and said the international community must demand that the emerging Palestinian leadership "adopt the requirements" of the Middle East peacemaking Quartet.
"I shall not conduct negotiations -- direct or indirect -- with Hamas," she said, suggesting that the peace process was not yet over.
The Quartet demands that Hamas recognize Israel, renounce violence and abide by existing agreements between Israel and the PLO.
Last week, a Palestinian official in Abbas's Fatah movement, which dominates the PLO, told AFP that the incoming government would accept the Quartet conditions.
Finance Minister Yair Lapid also said it was too early to call time on the negotiations.
"If Hamas accepts the Quartet conditions ... it will not, in effect, be Hamas any longer and then there'll be a basis for discussion," he told public radio.
"We don't see it at the moment, but we need to watch and wait and study what's going on."
Wednesday's surprise deal, which saw Palestinian leaders from the West Bank and the Hamas-run Gaza Strip agree to work together after years of bitter rivalry, was denounced the next day by the Israeli security cabinet.
That cabinet said it would "not negotiate" with any Palestinian government backed by the Islamist movement.
In an address to PLO leaders on Saturday, president Mahmoud Abbas said the new government, which will be made up of political independents, would recognize Israel, reject violence and abide by existing agreements.
But at Sunday's weekly meeting of Israel's full cabinet, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again slammed the rapprochement between the PLO and Hamas, whose charter calls for the destruction of Israel.
"Hamas denies the Holocaust while attempting to carry out a second Holocaust by destroying the state of Israel," he said.
"Abu Mazen (Abbas) must decide between an alliance with Hamas -- a terrorist organisation which denies the Holocaust -- and real peace with Israel."
CNN later quoted Netanyahu saying for peace talks to continue, Hamas must recognize Israel or Abbas must renounce the Islamist movement.
"If one of those things happened, we could get back to the peace negotiations. I hope he renounces Hamas and gets back to the peace table, as I've just said. The ball is in his court," he added.
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, Israel's chief negotiator with the Palestinians, said however that it was crucial to wait and see what sort of government emerged.
"The reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas, was quite a disappointment ... but we decided to wait and see what happens on the Palestinian side when a new government is created," she told reporters.
Livni ruled out any talks with Hamas and said the international community must demand that the emerging Palestinian leadership "adopt the requirements" of the Middle East peacemaking Quartet.
"I shall not conduct negotiations -- direct or indirect -- with Hamas," she said, suggesting that the peace process was not yet over.
The Quartet demands that Hamas recognize Israel, renounce violence and abide by existing agreements between Israel and the PLO.
Last week, a Palestinian official in Abbas's Fatah movement, which dominates the PLO, told AFP that the incoming government would accept the Quartet conditions.
Finance Minister Yair Lapid also said it was too early to call time on the negotiations.
"If Hamas accepts the Quartet conditions ... it will not, in effect, be Hamas any longer and then there'll be a basis for discussion," he told public radio.
"We don't see it at the moment, but we need to watch and wait and study what's going on."
26 apr 2014
'Judea and Samaria' means that the territory belongs to Israel
By Uri Avnery
Imagine a war breaking out between Israel and Jordan. Within two or three days the Israeli army occupies the entire territory of the Hashemite Kingdom. What will be the first act of the occupation authority?
Establish a settlement in Petra? Expropriate land near Aqaba?
No. The very first thing will be to decree that the territory will henceforth be known as “Gilead and Moab”.
All the media will be ordered to use the biblical name. All government and court documents will adopt it. Except for the radical Left, nobody will mention Jordan anymore. All applications by the inhabitants will be addressed to the Military Government of Gilead and Moab.
Why? Because annexation starts with words.
Words convey ideas. Words implant concepts in the minds of their hearers and speakers. Once they are firmly established, everything else follows.
The writers of the Bible already knew this. They taught “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.” (Proverbs 18:21). For how many years now have we been eating the fruit of “Judea and Samaria”?
When Vladimir Putin last week restored the old name of “New Russia” to the territory of East Ukraine, it was not just a semantic change. It was a claim for annexation, more powerful than a salvo of cannon shots.
Recently I listened to a speech by a left-wing politician, and was disturbed when she spoke at length about her struggle for a “political settlement” with the Palestinians.
When I remonstrated with her, she apologized. It was a slip of the tongue. She had not meant it that way.
In Israeli politics, the word “peace” has become poison. “Political settlement” is the vogue term. It is meant to say the same. But of course, it doesn’t.
“Peace” means much more than the formal end of warfare. It contains elements of reconciliation, of something spiritual. In Hebrew and Arabic, Shalom/Salaam include wellbeing, safety and serve as greetings. “Political settlement” means nothing but a document formulated by lawyers and signed by politicians.
The “Peace of Westphalia” put an end to 30 years of war and changed the life of Europe. One may wonder whether a “Political settlement of Westphalia” would have had the same effect.
The Bible enjoins us: “Seek peace and pursue it!” (Psalms, 34:14) It does not say “Seek a political settlement and pursue it.”
When the Israeli Left gives up the term Peace, this is not a tactical retreat. It is a rout. Peace is a vision, a political ideal, a religious commandment, an inspiring idea. Political Settlement is a subject for discussion.
Peace is not the only victim of semantic terrorism. Another is, of course, the West Bank.
All TV channels have long ago been ordered by the government not to use this term. Most journalists in the written media also march in step. They call it “Judea and Samaria”.
“Judea and Samaria” means that the territory belongs to Israel, even if official annexation may be delayed for political reasons. “West Bank” means that this is occupied territory.
By itself, there is nothing sacred about the term “West Bank”, which was adopted by the Jordanian ruler when he illegally incorporated the area in his newly extended kingdom. This was done in secret collusion with David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister, who wanted to erase the name “Palestine” from the map. The legal basis was a phony conference of Palestinian “notables” in Jericho.
King Abdallah of Jordan divided his fief into the East Bank (of the Jordan river) and the West Bank.
So why do we insist on using this term? Because it means that this is not a part of Israel, but Arab land that will belong – like the Gaza Strip – to the State of Palestine when peace (sorry, a Political Settlement) is achieved.
Until now, the semantic battle remains undecided. Most Israelis talk about the “West Bank”. “Judea and Samaria” has remained, in common parlance, the realm of the settlers.
The settlers, of course, are the subject of a similar semantic battle.
In Hebrew, there are two terms: Mitnahalim and Mityashvim. They essentially mean the same. But in common usage, people use Mitnahalim when they mean the settlers in the occupied territories, and Mityashvim when they speak about settlers in Israel.
The battle between these two words goes on daily. It is a fight for or against the legitimacy of the settlement beyond the Green Line. Up to now, our side seems to have the upper hand. The distinction remains intact. If someone uses the term Mityashvim, they are automatically identified with the political Right.
The Green Line itself is, of course, the leftist concept. It makes a clear distinction between Israel and the occupied territories. The color comes from the fact that this border – actually the 1949 armistice line – was always marked on the maps in green. Until.
Until the (left-wing) Minister of Labor, Yigal Alon, decreed that henceforth the Green Line would no longer be marked on any map. Under an old law dating back to the British Mandate, the government owns the copyright for all maps printed in the country, and the Minister of Labor was in charge.
This remained so until Gush Shalom sued the government in the Supreme Court. Our argument was that since on the two sides of this line different laws apply, the citizens must have a map that shows them what law they have to obey at a given place. The ministry gave in and promised the court that it would print maps with the Green Line marked.
For lack of an alternative, all Israelis use the term “Green Line”. Since Rightists do not recognize this line at all, they have not invented an alternative word. For some time they tried the term “Seam-Line”, but this did not catch on.
A line between what? At the beginning of the occupation, the question arose what to call the areas just conquered.
We of the peace camp called them, of course, “occupied territories”. The Right called them “liberated territories” and floated the slogan “Liberated territories will not be returned”, a catchy rhyme in Hebrew. The government called them “administered territories” and later “disputed territories”.
The general public just settled for “the territories” – and that is the term used nowadays by everybody who has no interest in stressing his or her political conviction every time these areas are mentioned.
This raises the question about the Wall.
When the government decided to create a physical obstacle between Israel and the Occupied Territories, a name was needed. It is built mainly on occupied land, annexing in practice large areas. It is a fence in open areas, a wall in built-up ones. So we simply called it “the Wall” or “the Fence”, and started weekly demonstrations.
The “Wall/Fence” became odious around the world. So the army looked around for a term that sounded non-ideological and chose “separation obstacle”. However, this term now appears only in official documents.
With whom are we negotiating about the Political Settlement? Ah, there is the rub.
For generations, the Zionist movement and the State of Israel denied the very existence of a Palestinian people. In the 1993 Oslo Agreement, this idiotic pretense was dropped and we recognized the PLO as the “representative of the Palestinian people”. But the Palestinian state was not mentioned, and until this very day our government abhors the terms “Palestinian state” or “State of Palestine”.
Even today the term “Palestinians” evokes conscious or unconscious rejection. Most commentators speak about a political settlement with “our neighbors” – by which they do not mean the Egyptians, Jordanians, Syrians or Lebanese, but You Know Who.
In Oslo, the PLO negotiators strenuously insisted that their new state-in-the-making should be called the “Palestinian National Authority”. The Israeli side vehemently objected to the word “National”. So the agreement (actually a “Statement of Principles”) calls it the “Palestinian Authority” and the Palestinians themselves call it the “Palestinian National Authority”. Palestinians who need urgent medical treatment in Israeli hospitals are turned back if they bring financial documents signed by the “Palestinian National Authority”.
So the fight goes on along the semantic front. For me, the really crucial part is the fight for the word Peace. We must reinstate it as the central word in our vocabulary. Clearly, loudly, proudly.
As the hymn of the peace movement (written by Yankele Rotblit as an appeal by the fallen soldiers to the living) says:
“Therefore, sing a song to peace / Don’t whisper a prayer / Sing a song to peace / In a loud shout!”
- Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer and peace activist with Gush Shalom. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com
By Uri Avnery
Imagine a war breaking out between Israel and Jordan. Within two or three days the Israeli army occupies the entire territory of the Hashemite Kingdom. What will be the first act of the occupation authority?
Establish a settlement in Petra? Expropriate land near Aqaba?
No. The very first thing will be to decree that the territory will henceforth be known as “Gilead and Moab”.
All the media will be ordered to use the biblical name. All government and court documents will adopt it. Except for the radical Left, nobody will mention Jordan anymore. All applications by the inhabitants will be addressed to the Military Government of Gilead and Moab.
Why? Because annexation starts with words.
Words convey ideas. Words implant concepts in the minds of their hearers and speakers. Once they are firmly established, everything else follows.
The writers of the Bible already knew this. They taught “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.” (Proverbs 18:21). For how many years now have we been eating the fruit of “Judea and Samaria”?
When Vladimir Putin last week restored the old name of “New Russia” to the territory of East Ukraine, it was not just a semantic change. It was a claim for annexation, more powerful than a salvo of cannon shots.
Recently I listened to a speech by a left-wing politician, and was disturbed when she spoke at length about her struggle for a “political settlement” with the Palestinians.
When I remonstrated with her, she apologized. It was a slip of the tongue. She had not meant it that way.
In Israeli politics, the word “peace” has become poison. “Political settlement” is the vogue term. It is meant to say the same. But of course, it doesn’t.
“Peace” means much more than the formal end of warfare. It contains elements of reconciliation, of something spiritual. In Hebrew and Arabic, Shalom/Salaam include wellbeing, safety and serve as greetings. “Political settlement” means nothing but a document formulated by lawyers and signed by politicians.
The “Peace of Westphalia” put an end to 30 years of war and changed the life of Europe. One may wonder whether a “Political settlement of Westphalia” would have had the same effect.
The Bible enjoins us: “Seek peace and pursue it!” (Psalms, 34:14) It does not say “Seek a political settlement and pursue it.”
When the Israeli Left gives up the term Peace, this is not a tactical retreat. It is a rout. Peace is a vision, a political ideal, a religious commandment, an inspiring idea. Political Settlement is a subject for discussion.
Peace is not the only victim of semantic terrorism. Another is, of course, the West Bank.
All TV channels have long ago been ordered by the government not to use this term. Most journalists in the written media also march in step. They call it “Judea and Samaria”.
“Judea and Samaria” means that the territory belongs to Israel, even if official annexation may be delayed for political reasons. “West Bank” means that this is occupied territory.
By itself, there is nothing sacred about the term “West Bank”, which was adopted by the Jordanian ruler when he illegally incorporated the area in his newly extended kingdom. This was done in secret collusion with David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister, who wanted to erase the name “Palestine” from the map. The legal basis was a phony conference of Palestinian “notables” in Jericho.
King Abdallah of Jordan divided his fief into the East Bank (of the Jordan river) and the West Bank.
So why do we insist on using this term? Because it means that this is not a part of Israel, but Arab land that will belong – like the Gaza Strip – to the State of Palestine when peace (sorry, a Political Settlement) is achieved.
Until now, the semantic battle remains undecided. Most Israelis talk about the “West Bank”. “Judea and Samaria” has remained, in common parlance, the realm of the settlers.
The settlers, of course, are the subject of a similar semantic battle.
In Hebrew, there are two terms: Mitnahalim and Mityashvim. They essentially mean the same. But in common usage, people use Mitnahalim when they mean the settlers in the occupied territories, and Mityashvim when they speak about settlers in Israel.
The battle between these two words goes on daily. It is a fight for or against the legitimacy of the settlement beyond the Green Line. Up to now, our side seems to have the upper hand. The distinction remains intact. If someone uses the term Mityashvim, they are automatically identified with the political Right.
The Green Line itself is, of course, the leftist concept. It makes a clear distinction between Israel and the occupied territories. The color comes from the fact that this border – actually the 1949 armistice line – was always marked on the maps in green. Until.
Until the (left-wing) Minister of Labor, Yigal Alon, decreed that henceforth the Green Line would no longer be marked on any map. Under an old law dating back to the British Mandate, the government owns the copyright for all maps printed in the country, and the Minister of Labor was in charge.
This remained so until Gush Shalom sued the government in the Supreme Court. Our argument was that since on the two sides of this line different laws apply, the citizens must have a map that shows them what law they have to obey at a given place. The ministry gave in and promised the court that it would print maps with the Green Line marked.
For lack of an alternative, all Israelis use the term “Green Line”. Since Rightists do not recognize this line at all, they have not invented an alternative word. For some time they tried the term “Seam-Line”, but this did not catch on.
A line between what? At the beginning of the occupation, the question arose what to call the areas just conquered.
We of the peace camp called them, of course, “occupied territories”. The Right called them “liberated territories” and floated the slogan “Liberated territories will not be returned”, a catchy rhyme in Hebrew. The government called them “administered territories” and later “disputed territories”.
The general public just settled for “the territories” – and that is the term used nowadays by everybody who has no interest in stressing his or her political conviction every time these areas are mentioned.
This raises the question about the Wall.
When the government decided to create a physical obstacle between Israel and the Occupied Territories, a name was needed. It is built mainly on occupied land, annexing in practice large areas. It is a fence in open areas, a wall in built-up ones. So we simply called it “the Wall” or “the Fence”, and started weekly demonstrations.
The “Wall/Fence” became odious around the world. So the army looked around for a term that sounded non-ideological and chose “separation obstacle”. However, this term now appears only in official documents.
With whom are we negotiating about the Political Settlement? Ah, there is the rub.
For generations, the Zionist movement and the State of Israel denied the very existence of a Palestinian people. In the 1993 Oslo Agreement, this idiotic pretense was dropped and we recognized the PLO as the “representative of the Palestinian people”. But the Palestinian state was not mentioned, and until this very day our government abhors the terms “Palestinian state” or “State of Palestine”.
Even today the term “Palestinians” evokes conscious or unconscious rejection. Most commentators speak about a political settlement with “our neighbors” – by which they do not mean the Egyptians, Jordanians, Syrians or Lebanese, but You Know Who.
In Oslo, the PLO negotiators strenuously insisted that their new state-in-the-making should be called the “Palestinian National Authority”. The Israeli side vehemently objected to the word “National”. So the agreement (actually a “Statement of Principles”) calls it the “Palestinian Authority” and the Palestinians themselves call it the “Palestinian National Authority”. Palestinians who need urgent medical treatment in Israeli hospitals are turned back if they bring financial documents signed by the “Palestinian National Authority”.
So the fight goes on along the semantic front. For me, the really crucial part is the fight for the word Peace. We must reinstate it as the central word in our vocabulary. Clearly, loudly, proudly.
As the hymn of the peace movement (written by Yankele Rotblit as an appeal by the fallen soldiers to the living) says:
“Therefore, sing a song to peace / Don’t whisper a prayer / Sing a song to peace / In a loud shout!”
- Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer and peace activist with Gush Shalom. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com
25 apr 2014
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Growing number of Jewish activists say they will not accept crimes committed by the Israeli regime in the name of their religion.
Israel has long been a source of instability in the Middle East and around the world. The destruction of homes to make way for illegal settlements, assassinations, indiscriminate bombing of civilians and an apartheid wall, ripping apart Palestinian families and communities have come to define its very existence. All this is being done in the name of Judaism, the oldest of the three Abrahamic religions. For years Israel's ideology of 'Zionism' has been seen as synonymous with Judaism. However, for an increasingly vocal and visible minority of Jews, Zionism represents an unjust perversion, both theologically and ethically. |
Israeli forces on Friday treated a young Palestinian girl who was choking near Ramallah in the central West Bank, an army spokesman said.
He said the 39-day-old infant had an accident in her home near el-Bireh and was unable to breathe. The mother evacuated her to a nearby army post where medics offered initial care, he said.
The spokesman said the girl was transferred by Palestinian medics to a hospital in Ramallah.
He said the 39-day-old infant had an accident in her home near el-Bireh and was unable to breathe. The mother evacuated her to a nearby army post where medics offered initial care, he said.
The spokesman said the girl was transferred by Palestinian medics to a hospital in Ramallah.
Orthodox Archbishop Atallah Hanna and former Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah on Friday urged Christian youth not to enlist in the Israeli military and to ignore Israeli "propaganda" encouraging them to do so.
The statement came after a meeting between the two religious figures on Friday, which followed reports on Tuesday that Israeli authorities would distribute military enlistment papers to Palestinian Christian youth who are citizens of Israel in order to encourage them to voluntarily sign up for military service.
The leaders called upon Christian youth who have received the enrollment papers to "tear them up and throw them away and not to engage with them in any way."
The leaders also stressed the "firm national position of the Christians in refusing to join a military that exercises violence against the rights of the Palestinian people."
The forms to be sent to Christian youth resemble the mandatory enlistment forms distributed to Jewish and Druze Israelis, and the army hopes that by sending these papers more youth will voluntarily sign up to enlist.
Although Christian Palestinian citizens of Israel are currently exempt from military service along with Muslims, a government decision made in February to re-classify Christians as a separate ethnicity distinct from "Arab" raised fears that mandatory enrollment would follow, as it did for Palestinians of the Druze religion in the 1950s.
About 10 percent of Palestinian citizens of Israel, also called "Arab-Israelis," are Christians, while the majority of the remaining are Muslims and Druze.
Although the majority of Palestinians were expelled from their homes inside Israel during the 1948 conflict that led to the creation of the state of Israel, some managed to remain and their descendants today make up around 20 percent of Israel's population.
The statement came after a meeting between the two religious figures on Friday, which followed reports on Tuesday that Israeli authorities would distribute military enlistment papers to Palestinian Christian youth who are citizens of Israel in order to encourage them to voluntarily sign up for military service.
The leaders called upon Christian youth who have received the enrollment papers to "tear them up and throw them away and not to engage with them in any way."
The leaders also stressed the "firm national position of the Christians in refusing to join a military that exercises violence against the rights of the Palestinian people."
The forms to be sent to Christian youth resemble the mandatory enlistment forms distributed to Jewish and Druze Israelis, and the army hopes that by sending these papers more youth will voluntarily sign up to enlist.
Although Christian Palestinian citizens of Israel are currently exempt from military service along with Muslims, a government decision made in February to re-classify Christians as a separate ethnicity distinct from "Arab" raised fears that mandatory enrollment would follow, as it did for Palestinians of the Druze religion in the 1950s.
About 10 percent of Palestinian citizens of Israel, also called "Arab-Israelis," are Christians, while the majority of the remaining are Muslims and Druze.
Although the majority of Palestinians were expelled from their homes inside Israel during the 1948 conflict that led to the creation of the state of Israel, some managed to remain and their descendants today make up around 20 percent of Israel's population.
24 apr 2014
Tunisian parliament has accepted on Wednesday a petition to question the tourism minister over a decision allowing Israelis to enter the country with their passports, the Israeli radio said. 85 members of the parliament signed the petition, which considered recognizing Israeli passports as normalization of diplomatic ties with Israel.
Tunisia's Prime Minister, Mehdi Jomaa, said on Tuesday that all previous governments authorized entry of Israelis to visit what they consider sacred Jewish shrines, the Israeli radio claimed.
Tunisia's Prime Minister, Mehdi Jomaa, said on Tuesday that all previous governments authorized entry of Israelis to visit what they consider sacred Jewish shrines, the Israeli radio claimed.
23 apr 2014
Several Israel-based organizations on Wednesday condemned a new campaign to recruit Palestinian Christian citizens of the country to serve in the military.
In a joint statement, more than 15 Palestinian youth movements and community organizations said the Israeli move was an effort to divide Palestinian citizens of Israel from their own people.
The groups said they would "struggle against (the campaign for) enlistment in the Israeli army" to ensure that such divisions would not occur.
"We are confident that young Arabs will reject all recruitment plans. This dangerous escalation by the Israeli institution will only make young Arabs more loyal to their people and their national identity."
The groups urged all Palestinian organizations of influence, in addition to the leadership of Palestinian towns within Israel, to play an active role in raising awareness about "plans for Israelization" of Palestinians by recruiting them to join the military.
The statement comes a day after army radio reported that Israel would adopt a new policy of actively recruiting Christians.
In February, parliament approved a law giving Muslim and Christian Palestinians separate representation on a national employment commission, drawing fire from Palestinian MKs.
"The measure was to be expected following the campaign by the Israel right to divide Christians from their own people by encouraging them to think that they are not Arabs," said Bassel Ghattas, a member of parliament for the communist Hadash party.
He urged Christians who received call-up papers to "send them back or publicly burn them, because the next step could be compulsory military or community service."
Israel's Palestinian community, which makes up some 20 percent of the population, are the descendants of the 160,000 Palestinians who remained on their land after the majority of the Palestinian population was forcibly displaced by Jewish militias during the creation of Israel in 1948.
They complain of routine discrimination, particularly in housing, land access, and employment.
In a joint statement, more than 15 Palestinian youth movements and community organizations said the Israeli move was an effort to divide Palestinian citizens of Israel from their own people.
The groups said they would "struggle against (the campaign for) enlistment in the Israeli army" to ensure that such divisions would not occur.
"We are confident that young Arabs will reject all recruitment plans. This dangerous escalation by the Israeli institution will only make young Arabs more loyal to their people and their national identity."
The groups urged all Palestinian organizations of influence, in addition to the leadership of Palestinian towns within Israel, to play an active role in raising awareness about "plans for Israelization" of Palestinians by recruiting them to join the military.
The statement comes a day after army radio reported that Israel would adopt a new policy of actively recruiting Christians.
In February, parliament approved a law giving Muslim and Christian Palestinians separate representation on a national employment commission, drawing fire from Palestinian MKs.
"The measure was to be expected following the campaign by the Israel right to divide Christians from their own people by encouraging them to think that they are not Arabs," said Bassel Ghattas, a member of parliament for the communist Hadash party.
He urged Christians who received call-up papers to "send them back or publicly burn them, because the next step could be compulsory military or community service."
Israel's Palestinian community, which makes up some 20 percent of the population, are the descendants of the 160,000 Palestinians who remained on their land after the majority of the Palestinian population was forcibly displaced by Jewish militias during the creation of Israel in 1948.
They complain of routine discrimination, particularly in housing, land access, and employment.
22 apr 2014
In a new policy, Palestinian Christian citizens of Israel will begin receiving army conscription papers, Israeli media said Tuesday.
Israeli news site The Times of Israel quoted Army Radio as saying that though joining the Israeli army would remain voluntary for Christians, they would now be receiving recruitment papers starting at the age of 16.
Previously, a decades-old policy required Palestinian Christian citizens of Israel to initiate contact with the army if they wanted to join, the Times of Israel report said.
In February, the Israeli Knesset passed a bill that created an identity marker for Christians, separating them from the "Arab" identifier previously used for all Palestinian citizens of Israel.
"It's a historic and important step that could balance the State of Israel and connect us to the Christians, and I am careful not to refer to them as Arabs, because they are not Arabs," bill sponsor Likud MK Yariv Levin said in January.
Christians are "our natural allies," Levin said, adding that Muslims "want to destroy the state (of Israel) from within."
PLO executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi, herself a Christian, condemned the law as an effort to divide the Palestinian community.
Israeli news site The Times of Israel quoted Army Radio as saying that though joining the Israeli army would remain voluntary for Christians, they would now be receiving recruitment papers starting at the age of 16.
Previously, a decades-old policy required Palestinian Christian citizens of Israel to initiate contact with the army if they wanted to join, the Times of Israel report said.
In February, the Israeli Knesset passed a bill that created an identity marker for Christians, separating them from the "Arab" identifier previously used for all Palestinian citizens of Israel.
"It's a historic and important step that could balance the State of Israel and connect us to the Christians, and I am careful not to refer to them as Arabs, because they are not Arabs," bill sponsor Likud MK Yariv Levin said in January.
Christians are "our natural allies," Levin said, adding that Muslims "want to destroy the state (of Israel) from within."
PLO executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi, herself a Christian, condemned the law as an effort to divide the Palestinian community.