13 may 2014
by Arik Bender and Yuval Bagno
Despite the criticism in the Likud and in the opposition, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s plan to postpone the election for president has remained at the center of the public agenda. The Yisrael Beiteinu faction even issued a statement yesterday that it was likely to support this plan if it was based on the proposal of its chairman, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, to establish a presidential regime in Israel.
Meretz Chairwoman Zehava Galon fiercely criticized Yisrael Beiteinu for its support for the initiative and said: “Lieberman is prepared to change the rules of the game while in the middle of the game, in exchange for a dirty political deal. The deal is liable to further strengthen the prime minister’s power relative to the Knesset factions and to increase the danger of the majority’s tyranny and damage to human rights.”
A senior official who is closely associated with Netanyahu confirmed yesterday for the first time that the prime minister plans to postpone the election for president by six months. “True, the heads of the coalition parties have yet to officially support the initiative, but Netanyahu has not yet heard emphatic opposition from them,” he said. “And what is a postponement of half a year compared to ensuring the stability of the government?”
Likud figures believe that Netanyahu wants to achieve one of two goals: the first is to abolish the institution of the president and to establish a presidential regime in which the prime minister is also the ceremonial head of state—a course of action whose chances of success are negligible. The second is to get passed, within half a year, the “largest party” bill, which is also supported by Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, stipulating that the largest party forms the government. This is not the situation today, in which the president assigns the task of forming the government to the leader of the party who receives the most recommendations from the MKs.
Some Likud members support Netanyahu’s position, including Coalition Chairman Yariv Levin, who is known to oppose the behavior of outgoing President Shimon Peres. “It’s not certain that the institution of the president should be a burden on the public coffer,” says Levin, “especially since the president should be representative and not come up with original proposals behind the government’s back.”
Among the prominent opponents to Netanyahu’s initiative are Interior Minister Gidon Saar, who was the first among the top Likud members to speak out against postponing the elections for president. Yesterday Saar said that he was also opposed to the largest party bill that Netanyahu is considering as an alternative to abolishing the presidency. Saar is the only senior Likud figure who has openly spoken out against Netanyahu’s initiative. Others say in the closed conversations that “with his attempts to ensure his reign, Netanyahu is willing to sell the Likud, to destroy basic laws and to change the regime.”
Livni announced yesterday that she had been asked to discuss the proposal to postpone the election for president. “I made it clear that such a decision will only be made after it is discussed by the faction,” she said. “I will act based only on relevant and constitutional considerations.” Livni did not say that she was opposed although she did express support for the candidacy of her fellow faction member, Meir Shetrit, to the role of president.
Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid was asked yesterday if he would support postponing the elections, but did not respond. Yesh Atid was supposed to discuss the subject yesterday, but the faction decided to postpone the meeting until next week. Jewish Home Chairman Naftali Bennett also refused to comment publicly on his position. Yitzhak Herzog was also approached and made it clear that he was opposed.
This did not prevent MK Zevulun Kalfa of the Jewish Home from announcing yesterday that he was starting to hold talks with the leaders of the coalition factions to promote a bill that he introduced to abolish the institution of the president. Kalfa tabled his bill at the end of February, and it calls for the president’s ceremonial jobs to be filled by the Foreign Ministry and the Knesset speaker. […]
Netanyahu asked the coalition factions to wait for him to return from Japan on Thursday before making any decisions. But yesterday Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein announced that he would announce the date for holding the election for president by the end of next week. President Shimon Peres was asked about the matter yesterday and made it clear that he had been elected to serve seven years and had no intention of remaining beyond that.
Peres was asked his opinion yesterday about abolishing the institution of presidency and he answered with veiled criticism. “This is an important institution that exists in the majority of democratic countries. If it is decided to abolish it, the Knesset must make the decision.”
Yedioth Ahronoth (p. 4) adds: Three Likud MKs have already expressed sharp and public opposition to Netanyahu’s initiative: Interior Minister Gidon Saar, MK Haim Katz and MK Miri Regev. […] Others in the Likud said: “Rivlin’s possible election is driving Bibi crazy, and he is willing to do anything to prevent that from happening.” […]
Source: AP
Despite the criticism in the Likud and in the opposition, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s plan to postpone the election for president has remained at the center of the public agenda. The Yisrael Beiteinu faction even issued a statement yesterday that it was likely to support this plan if it was based on the proposal of its chairman, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, to establish a presidential regime in Israel.
Meretz Chairwoman Zehava Galon fiercely criticized Yisrael Beiteinu for its support for the initiative and said: “Lieberman is prepared to change the rules of the game while in the middle of the game, in exchange for a dirty political deal. The deal is liable to further strengthen the prime minister’s power relative to the Knesset factions and to increase the danger of the majority’s tyranny and damage to human rights.”
A senior official who is closely associated with Netanyahu confirmed yesterday for the first time that the prime minister plans to postpone the election for president by six months. “True, the heads of the coalition parties have yet to officially support the initiative, but Netanyahu has not yet heard emphatic opposition from them,” he said. “And what is a postponement of half a year compared to ensuring the stability of the government?”
Likud figures believe that Netanyahu wants to achieve one of two goals: the first is to abolish the institution of the president and to establish a presidential regime in which the prime minister is also the ceremonial head of state—a course of action whose chances of success are negligible. The second is to get passed, within half a year, the “largest party” bill, which is also supported by Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, stipulating that the largest party forms the government. This is not the situation today, in which the president assigns the task of forming the government to the leader of the party who receives the most recommendations from the MKs.
Some Likud members support Netanyahu’s position, including Coalition Chairman Yariv Levin, who is known to oppose the behavior of outgoing President Shimon Peres. “It’s not certain that the institution of the president should be a burden on the public coffer,” says Levin, “especially since the president should be representative and not come up with original proposals behind the government’s back.”
Among the prominent opponents to Netanyahu’s initiative are Interior Minister Gidon Saar, who was the first among the top Likud members to speak out against postponing the elections for president. Yesterday Saar said that he was also opposed to the largest party bill that Netanyahu is considering as an alternative to abolishing the presidency. Saar is the only senior Likud figure who has openly spoken out against Netanyahu’s initiative. Others say in the closed conversations that “with his attempts to ensure his reign, Netanyahu is willing to sell the Likud, to destroy basic laws and to change the regime.”
Livni announced yesterday that she had been asked to discuss the proposal to postpone the election for president. “I made it clear that such a decision will only be made after it is discussed by the faction,” she said. “I will act based only on relevant and constitutional considerations.” Livni did not say that she was opposed although she did express support for the candidacy of her fellow faction member, Meir Shetrit, to the role of president.
Yesh Atid Chairman Yair Lapid was asked yesterday if he would support postponing the elections, but did not respond. Yesh Atid was supposed to discuss the subject yesterday, but the faction decided to postpone the meeting until next week. Jewish Home Chairman Naftali Bennett also refused to comment publicly on his position. Yitzhak Herzog was also approached and made it clear that he was opposed.
This did not prevent MK Zevulun Kalfa of the Jewish Home from announcing yesterday that he was starting to hold talks with the leaders of the coalition factions to promote a bill that he introduced to abolish the institution of the president. Kalfa tabled his bill at the end of February, and it calls for the president’s ceremonial jobs to be filled by the Foreign Ministry and the Knesset speaker. […]
Netanyahu asked the coalition factions to wait for him to return from Japan on Thursday before making any decisions. But yesterday Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein announced that he would announce the date for holding the election for president by the end of next week. President Shimon Peres was asked about the matter yesterday and made it clear that he had been elected to serve seven years and had no intention of remaining beyond that.
Peres was asked his opinion yesterday about abolishing the institution of presidency and he answered with veiled criticism. “This is an important institution that exists in the majority of democratic countries. If it is decided to abolish it, the Knesset must make the decision.”
Yedioth Ahronoth (p. 4) adds: Three Likud MKs have already expressed sharp and public opposition to Netanyahu’s initiative: Interior Minister Gidon Saar, MK Haim Katz and MK Miri Regev. […] Others in the Likud said: “Rivlin’s possible election is driving Bibi crazy, and he is willing to do anything to prevent that from happening.” […]
Source: AP
A high-profile delegation of Israeli officials landed in Cairo on Monday, an Egyptian official told Ma’an.
According to the well-placed official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the delegation boarded a private plane which took off from Tel Aviv. They were welcomed at Cairo International Airport by Egyptian general intelligence officers.
The Egyptian authorities have not made any public announcements about what the source described as a "secret mission."
The official said the visiting Israeli officials would meet with their counterparts in the Egyptian foreign ministry and general intelligence service. They were expected to ask the Egyptians to help the new Israeli ambassador to Egypt with his daily operations.
They will also discuss mutual relations with Egypt and cooperation between both countries over security arrangements in the Sinai Peninsula, the source highlighted.
On Sunday, unidentified gunmen shot and killed an Egyptian soldier and injured another in the northern Sinai Peninsula, army sources said.
Egyptian military sources told Ma'an that unidentified gunmen opened fire at a group of soldiers in al-Joura village near Sheikh Zuweid, killing one and critically injuring another.
The soldiers fired back and the gunmen fled the scene, the sources said.
The injured soldier was taken to a military hospital in el-Arish.
Egyptian armed forces launched large scale military action against militants in the Sinai Peninsula in September, in what officials have described as the largest mobilization of force in the area since the 1973 war with Israel.
The military action comes in the wake of rising instability and almost daily attacks in the region, following a July coup by the Egyptian military which unseated President Mohammad Morsi.
Since then, Muslim Brotherhood activists have held weekly demonstrations in protest against the coup, while the army has consolidated its grip on power and violently repressed protests against its rule, killing around 1,400 according to Amnesty International.
At the same time, Wahhabi militant groups have stepped up a violent campaign of attacks against the government, particularly in the Sinai Peninsula.
According to the well-placed official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the delegation boarded a private plane which took off from Tel Aviv. They were welcomed at Cairo International Airport by Egyptian general intelligence officers.
The Egyptian authorities have not made any public announcements about what the source described as a "secret mission."
The official said the visiting Israeli officials would meet with their counterparts in the Egyptian foreign ministry and general intelligence service. They were expected to ask the Egyptians to help the new Israeli ambassador to Egypt with his daily operations.
They will also discuss mutual relations with Egypt and cooperation between both countries over security arrangements in the Sinai Peninsula, the source highlighted.
On Sunday, unidentified gunmen shot and killed an Egyptian soldier and injured another in the northern Sinai Peninsula, army sources said.
Egyptian military sources told Ma'an that unidentified gunmen opened fire at a group of soldiers in al-Joura village near Sheikh Zuweid, killing one and critically injuring another.
The soldiers fired back and the gunmen fled the scene, the sources said.
The injured soldier was taken to a military hospital in el-Arish.
Egyptian armed forces launched large scale military action against militants in the Sinai Peninsula in September, in what officials have described as the largest mobilization of force in the area since the 1973 war with Israel.
The military action comes in the wake of rising instability and almost daily attacks in the region, following a July coup by the Egyptian military which unseated President Mohammad Morsi.
Since then, Muslim Brotherhood activists have held weekly demonstrations in protest against the coup, while the army has consolidated its grip on power and violently repressed protests against its rule, killing around 1,400 according to Amnesty International.
At the same time, Wahhabi militant groups have stepped up a violent campaign of attacks against the government, particularly in the Sinai Peninsula.
Israeli occupation President Shimon Peres's visit to Norway encountered with mass protests called for expelling him. The protests were organized Tuesday by the popular human rights organizations and leftist parties.
26 human rights organizations and Norwegian leftist parties issued a joint statement to express their anger over Peres visit because of the Israeli continued violations against the Palestinians.
The statement criticized the Norwegian government that invited Peres, pointing out that the Israeli occupation continues the human rights violations and settlement policy in the Palestinian occupied territories.
The statement called on the Norwegian government to try Peres and the Israeli soldiers instead of inviting or honoring them.
The demonstrators gathered outside the royal palace to condemn the meeting of Peres with King Harald V of Norway.
The protesters are to organize more demonstrations during the visit period that will last for three days.
26 human rights organizations and Norwegian leftist parties issued a joint statement to express their anger over Peres visit because of the Israeli continued violations against the Palestinians.
The statement criticized the Norwegian government that invited Peres, pointing out that the Israeli occupation continues the human rights violations and settlement policy in the Palestinian occupied territories.
The statement called on the Norwegian government to try Peres and the Israeli soldiers instead of inviting or honoring them.
The demonstrators gathered outside the royal palace to condemn the meeting of Peres with King Harald V of Norway.
The protesters are to organize more demonstrations during the visit period that will last for three days.
Palestinian Orthodox Christians attending Palm Sunday mass at the Saint Porfirios church in Gaza City on April 13
By Yadin Elam
In an article published in Time magazine late last month, Finance Minister Yair Lapid explained why he supported Israel’s decision to suspend talks with the Palestinian Authority. One of the reasons Lapid lists is the character of the Hamas regime which rules Gaza.
Hamas “rules over Gaza in a reign of Islamic terror that has resulted in the murder of hundreds of Christians just because they are Christians, the oppression of women, and the public hanging of homosexuals from electricity poles,” wrote Lapid.
The claim that Hamas is responsible for the murder of hundreds of Christians surprised me.
I follow what is happening in the Gaza Strip and I did not remember a report on the murder of hundreds of Christians, whether because they are Christians or for any other reason. At first I thought there was a mistake in the Hebrew translation I read on Haaretz’s Hebrew website, but when I read the English original, I saw that was precisely what Lapid had written.
True, Lapid has already been accused a number of times in the past for not being precise. But these cases were mostly things he posted on Facebook, and I assumed he and his staff conducted a thorough examination of the facts before sending the article to be published in a respected international magazine like Time.
That is why I started checking the basis of the claim. I found numerous reports about the difficulties facing the Christian community in the Gaza Strip since Hamas took power there, and data showing the number of Christians in the Gaza Strip has fallen from some 3,000 people in 2007 to 1,400 in 2011 as a result of emigration, whether to the West Bank or elsewhere. But I found mention of only one Palestinian Christian who was killed in the Gaza Strip: Rami Ayyad, who owned the only Christian bookstore in the Gaza Strip, was accused of missionary activity, and was viciously murdered in October 2007.
Other than references to this case, I could not find any source indicating that Christians were being killed in Gaza, and certainly not that hundreds were being murdered.
Since at this stage I still assumed that Lapid’s claims had a factual basis, I posted the following message on his Facebook page on April 29, two days after his article was published: “Minister Lapid hello, you wrote in an article in Time magazine that Hamas rule in Gaza ‘resulted in the murder of hundreds of Christians just because they are Christians.’ I tried to find proof for the claim that hundreds of Christians were murdered in Gaza since Hamas took power and I did not succeed. Could you please refer me to the source you based [this claim] on?”
Even though my question was posted at 9:12 P.M., not even six minutes passed before Uri, a staff member for the Yesh Atid party headed by Lapid, answered me: “Hi Yadin, I am attaching an article on the matter, you are definitely invited to search for more articles on the issue.”
The article that Uri referred me to was that of Israeli journalist Enrique Zimmerman, which was broadcast on January 29, 2010, on Channel 2’s “Ulpan Shishi,” which at the time was hosted by none other than Yair Lapid. In fact, it was Lapid who introduced Zimmerman’s story. But what the report actually said was that the Muslims in the Gaza Strip were trying to conduct “ethnic cleansing” by encouraging the Christians to leave. The only case of murder mentioned in the story was that of Rami Ayyad. At the end of the report, Lapid told the viewers that Hamas denounced attacking Christians and claimed the attackers were religious fanatics.
I sat down and wrote to Uri: “The story from 2012 that you attached does speak of the difficult lives of Christians in Gaza, but it only mentions the murder of one man. So the question of what is the proof for the claim that ‘hundreds of Christians’ were murdered in Gaza still remains, and I would be happy to receive an answer to it.” In response, Uri quoted to me the headline of the report: “Christian schools, public and cultural institutions are burnt and blown up, and Christian public figures are being murdered.”
“The headline already says that Christian public ‘figures’ are being murdered,” Uri wrote. “Simple logic means this is more than one person, and therefore, in the story they gave the example of one person.”
To my great regret, this answer failed to make it clear how Lapid could have concluded from the story that “hundreds of Christians” were murdered in Gaza, and so I continued to question: “And you still have not brought a single bit of proof — and when hundreds of people are murdered there is a lot of proof — for the claim that hundreds of Christians have been murdered in Gaza since Hamas took power. After all, Minister Lapid based himself on sources and did not invent this claim, so why it is so hard to produce one piece of evidence?”
But neither Lapid nor anyone else on his behalf has bothered to answer this simple question. Could it be that Lapid invented the claim of hundreds of Christians murdered in the Gaza Strip?
Let us take a brief detour. On October 28, 2009, Berlanty Azzam, a Christian student who was nearing the end of her studies at Bethlehem University, was expelled from the West Bank because her official address was in the Gaza Strip. During that period I served as the head of the legal department of Gisha, a legal advocacy group for freedom of movement, which, along with Azzam, petitioned the High Court of Justice to allow her to return to the West Bank to finish her degree.
On December 12, slightly more than a month before Zimmerman’s report on “Ulpan Shishi,” the High Court denied the petition. Several briefs on both sides were filed during the hearing, but not one of them said a word about any danger Azzam might face as a Christian living in Gaza.
I call on Lapid to reveal to Time magazine’s readers, to the readers of Haaretz and to the rest of the citizens of Israel — whom he represents — the basis of his claim that “hundreds of Christians” were murdered in Gaza. I have no doubt that if Lapid discovers there was a mistake in his article, he will not hesitate to correct it.
By Yadin Elam
In an article published in Time magazine late last month, Finance Minister Yair Lapid explained why he supported Israel’s decision to suspend talks with the Palestinian Authority. One of the reasons Lapid lists is the character of the Hamas regime which rules Gaza.
Hamas “rules over Gaza in a reign of Islamic terror that has resulted in the murder of hundreds of Christians just because they are Christians, the oppression of women, and the public hanging of homosexuals from electricity poles,” wrote Lapid.
The claim that Hamas is responsible for the murder of hundreds of Christians surprised me.
I follow what is happening in the Gaza Strip and I did not remember a report on the murder of hundreds of Christians, whether because they are Christians or for any other reason. At first I thought there was a mistake in the Hebrew translation I read on Haaretz’s Hebrew website, but when I read the English original, I saw that was precisely what Lapid had written.
True, Lapid has already been accused a number of times in the past for not being precise. But these cases were mostly things he posted on Facebook, and I assumed he and his staff conducted a thorough examination of the facts before sending the article to be published in a respected international magazine like Time.
That is why I started checking the basis of the claim. I found numerous reports about the difficulties facing the Christian community in the Gaza Strip since Hamas took power there, and data showing the number of Christians in the Gaza Strip has fallen from some 3,000 people in 2007 to 1,400 in 2011 as a result of emigration, whether to the West Bank or elsewhere. But I found mention of only one Palestinian Christian who was killed in the Gaza Strip: Rami Ayyad, who owned the only Christian bookstore in the Gaza Strip, was accused of missionary activity, and was viciously murdered in October 2007.
Other than references to this case, I could not find any source indicating that Christians were being killed in Gaza, and certainly not that hundreds were being murdered.
Since at this stage I still assumed that Lapid’s claims had a factual basis, I posted the following message on his Facebook page on April 29, two days after his article was published: “Minister Lapid hello, you wrote in an article in Time magazine that Hamas rule in Gaza ‘resulted in the murder of hundreds of Christians just because they are Christians.’ I tried to find proof for the claim that hundreds of Christians were murdered in Gaza since Hamas took power and I did not succeed. Could you please refer me to the source you based [this claim] on?”
Even though my question was posted at 9:12 P.M., not even six minutes passed before Uri, a staff member for the Yesh Atid party headed by Lapid, answered me: “Hi Yadin, I am attaching an article on the matter, you are definitely invited to search for more articles on the issue.”
The article that Uri referred me to was that of Israeli journalist Enrique Zimmerman, which was broadcast on January 29, 2010, on Channel 2’s “Ulpan Shishi,” which at the time was hosted by none other than Yair Lapid. In fact, it was Lapid who introduced Zimmerman’s story. But what the report actually said was that the Muslims in the Gaza Strip were trying to conduct “ethnic cleansing” by encouraging the Christians to leave. The only case of murder mentioned in the story was that of Rami Ayyad. At the end of the report, Lapid told the viewers that Hamas denounced attacking Christians and claimed the attackers were religious fanatics.
I sat down and wrote to Uri: “The story from 2012 that you attached does speak of the difficult lives of Christians in Gaza, but it only mentions the murder of one man. So the question of what is the proof for the claim that ‘hundreds of Christians’ were murdered in Gaza still remains, and I would be happy to receive an answer to it.” In response, Uri quoted to me the headline of the report: “Christian schools, public and cultural institutions are burnt and blown up, and Christian public figures are being murdered.”
“The headline already says that Christian public ‘figures’ are being murdered,” Uri wrote. “Simple logic means this is more than one person, and therefore, in the story they gave the example of one person.”
To my great regret, this answer failed to make it clear how Lapid could have concluded from the story that “hundreds of Christians” were murdered in Gaza, and so I continued to question: “And you still have not brought a single bit of proof — and when hundreds of people are murdered there is a lot of proof — for the claim that hundreds of Christians have been murdered in Gaza since Hamas took power. After all, Minister Lapid based himself on sources and did not invent this claim, so why it is so hard to produce one piece of evidence?”
But neither Lapid nor anyone else on his behalf has bothered to answer this simple question. Could it be that Lapid invented the claim of hundreds of Christians murdered in the Gaza Strip?
Let us take a brief detour. On October 28, 2009, Berlanty Azzam, a Christian student who was nearing the end of her studies at Bethlehem University, was expelled from the West Bank because her official address was in the Gaza Strip. During that period I served as the head of the legal department of Gisha, a legal advocacy group for freedom of movement, which, along with Azzam, petitioned the High Court of Justice to allow her to return to the West Bank to finish her degree.
On December 12, slightly more than a month before Zimmerman’s report on “Ulpan Shishi,” the High Court denied the petition. Several briefs on both sides were filed during the hearing, but not one of them said a word about any danger Azzam might face as a Christian living in Gaza.
I call on Lapid to reveal to Time magazine’s readers, to the readers of Haaretz and to the rest of the citizens of Israel — whom he represents — the basis of his claim that “hundreds of Christians” were murdered in Gaza. I have no doubt that if Lapid discovers there was a mistake in his article, he will not hesitate to correct it.
"Jerusalem is Palestinian land and I hope Palestine will be a member of United Nations. It is the UN's obligation to do so," said Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu at the "International Meeting on the Question of Jerusalem" in Ankara.
Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said those people who do not understand the importance of Jerusalem and Palestinian rights there are "attacking the conscience of humanity."
Speaking in the opening ceremony of "International Meeting on the Question of Jerusalem" in the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Monday as part of the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Davutoglu said there are three steps to be aware of when discussing Jerusalem.
"We should be aware of the areas of ethical and ontological, cultural and political responsibility for Jerusalem," said Davutoglu.
Davutoglu recalled that under the terms of international law, the city of Jerusalem is regarded as under occupation, and there were two major problems to consider under this framework, those being refugees and Jerusalem's legal status.
"We are witnessing occupation of Palestinian lands since 1948, as well as Al-Aqsa Mosque. The international community should ensure justice and the rule of law through different platforms," said Davutoglu. "If the UN decisions are not being implemented, then why they were taken in the first place?"
The tensions ongoing between Arabs and Israelis since WWI erupted in November 1947, when war broke out between Israel and a military coalition of Arab states and Palestinian forces.
The UN General Assembly's offered a Partition Plan to divide the area into an Arab state, a Jewish state and the Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem -- this led to another war, commonly known as the 1948 war for Palestine. Israel took control of 60 percent of the Palestine lands, defended by a UN resolution.
The city of Jerusalem has been the object of conflicting claims by Jews and Palestinian Arabs, as both peoples consider it an irreplaceable part of their national essence.
Israel, which annexed East Jerusalem in 1980, says that the entire city is the capital of Israel and must remain under Israeli sovereignty. This claim is not recognized by the international community.
Davutoglu also recalled that Al-Aqsa Mosque is a sacred site for Muslims and cannot be occupied.
"Nobody can take sole authority over Jerusalem, peace in the Middle East is impossible without it," said Davutoglu. "Jerusalem is Palestinian land and I hope Palestine will be a member of United Nations. It is the UN's obligation to do so."
Davutoglu called on the international community to form a charity campaign for the Palestinian people who are "in deep sorrow."
The Ankara meeting is jointly organized by the UN's Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and Turkey.
Speaking after Davutoglu, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Secretary General Iyad bin Amin Madani thanked Turkey for its efforts towards protecting the rights of Palestinian people.
"The incidents in 1948 were effective in forming the Islamic Cooperation Council. We see ourselves as the protectors of the Palestinian people," said Iyad. "The city should be given to Palestine. Islamic Cooperation Council is worried over the implementation by Israel on Jerusalem. They are trying to erase the city's Arab identity and erase religious history."
Mehmet Gormez, Head of the Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs, was also present in the meeting.
Source: World Bulletin
Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said those people who do not understand the importance of Jerusalem and Palestinian rights there are "attacking the conscience of humanity."
Speaking in the opening ceremony of "International Meeting on the Question of Jerusalem" in the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Monday as part of the International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Davutoglu said there are three steps to be aware of when discussing Jerusalem.
"We should be aware of the areas of ethical and ontological, cultural and political responsibility for Jerusalem," said Davutoglu.
Davutoglu recalled that under the terms of international law, the city of Jerusalem is regarded as under occupation, and there were two major problems to consider under this framework, those being refugees and Jerusalem's legal status.
"We are witnessing occupation of Palestinian lands since 1948, as well as Al-Aqsa Mosque. The international community should ensure justice and the rule of law through different platforms," said Davutoglu. "If the UN decisions are not being implemented, then why they were taken in the first place?"
The tensions ongoing between Arabs and Israelis since WWI erupted in November 1947, when war broke out between Israel and a military coalition of Arab states and Palestinian forces.
The UN General Assembly's offered a Partition Plan to divide the area into an Arab state, a Jewish state and the Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem -- this led to another war, commonly known as the 1948 war for Palestine. Israel took control of 60 percent of the Palestine lands, defended by a UN resolution.
The city of Jerusalem has been the object of conflicting claims by Jews and Palestinian Arabs, as both peoples consider it an irreplaceable part of their national essence.
Israel, which annexed East Jerusalem in 1980, says that the entire city is the capital of Israel and must remain under Israeli sovereignty. This claim is not recognized by the international community.
Davutoglu also recalled that Al-Aqsa Mosque is a sacred site for Muslims and cannot be occupied.
"Nobody can take sole authority over Jerusalem, peace in the Middle East is impossible without it," said Davutoglu. "Jerusalem is Palestinian land and I hope Palestine will be a member of United Nations. It is the UN's obligation to do so."
Davutoglu called on the international community to form a charity campaign for the Palestinian people who are "in deep sorrow."
The Ankara meeting is jointly organized by the UN's Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and Turkey.
Speaking after Davutoglu, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Secretary General Iyad bin Amin Madani thanked Turkey for its efforts towards protecting the rights of Palestinian people.
"The incidents in 1948 were effective in forming the Islamic Cooperation Council. We see ourselves as the protectors of the Palestinian people," said Iyad. "The city should be given to Palestine. Islamic Cooperation Council is worried over the implementation by Israel on Jerusalem. They are trying to erase the city's Arab identity and erase religious history."
Mehmet Gormez, Head of the Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs, was also present in the meeting.
Source: World Bulletin
By Paul Andersen
Three weeks ago, I rode my bicycle down the West Bank of the Jordan River Valley. This was against advice from Israelis who cautioned my friend and me about our safety in Palestinian territory.
Crossing the checkpoint with merely a wave from an armed Israeli guard, we noticed an immediate change. This was no longer the First World go-go economy of Israel, but rather a Third World country.
Agriculture was still the primary economic activity, but farms here lacked the polish of Israeli kibbutzim. There was noticeable squalor in the villages we passed. Some roadsides were piled deep with trash, like an open dump. The smell of raw sewage occasionally wafted in the air.
Seeing herdsmen with sheep and goats was not a novelty, but seeing women in full burqas shepherding the flocks told us we were in a different world. After 100 kilometers, we passed another checkpoint and felt a noted sense of relief leaving Palestine behind.
This bothered me because it gave credence to the comment I read later by John Kerry stating that Israel is on the verge of becoming an apartheid state as defined by racial segregation and discrimination against Palestinians.
Kerry hit a raw nerve with his unguarded gaff, but what he said deserves serious consideration. Clearly there is inequality for Palestinians in Israel. It isn’t as pernicious as apartheid in South Africa, where the expression was coined, until you look at the Palestinian refugee camps fenced, gated and lorded over by Israeli troops and curfews.
Young Israelis I spoke to, some of whom had served in those camps, shook their heads in sorrow over this social and cultural division. Many see it as an embarrassment to their nation and an affront to their values.
The humanists among them condemn the moral failure of their state and its leadership. Meanwhile, more settlements are planned in occupied territories in an imperialistic manipulation that has been a historic part of Israel long before it became a state in 1948. Taking Palestinian land is a long-standing, controversial tradition.
Now that the high hopes for talks led by Kerry and the Obama administration have failed, the future is cloudy. A friend in Tel Aviv who was born in Israel before statehood was quick to chide this impasse as the result of ineffectual force by the U.S.
An obvious lack of coercive power to form a two-state agreement lies, he said, in the inability of the U.S. to broker the deal. “Obama could do it if it weren’t for Republicans — and their Jewish supporters — derailing everything he tries to do. America is not the entity that should broker this deal.”
My friend said that Russia and China are better equipped to take the lead. “It’s going to take Putin or the Chinese to force this agreement, someone with big enough balls to dictate terms and make them stick.”
A photograph in Haaretz Israeli News made a telling statement when I was there. It showed a young Palestinian man at a protest wearing a T-shirt and jeans, his face masked in a hood. The man leaped into the air as he launched a rock with his sling in an act of defiance that is painfully ironic.
Where biblical history teaches that David, a Jew, hurled a fatal rock at Goliath, the Philistine giant, today things are reversed. Now a young Palestinian hurls a rock at the Jewish state, which has become the Goliath of the Levant. This metaphor speaks loudly to Palestinian underdogs gaining sympathy and moral authority.
My Tel Aviv friend points out that there are 6 million Israelis in a nation the size of New Jersey surrounded by 3 billion Muslims and four vast and contiguous Arab states.
Israel is a powerhouse of military strength, but that cannot offer lasting protection in a dualistic, militant state, especially if the youth of Israeli lose their stomach for repression and war.
It would be prudent to resolve the Palestinian issue before apartheid solidifies global sympathy and fuels Arab unity against Israel. Perhaps China and Russia need to step in as the next big players on this tumultuous stage.
Source: THEASPINTIMES
Three weeks ago, I rode my bicycle down the West Bank of the Jordan River Valley. This was against advice from Israelis who cautioned my friend and me about our safety in Palestinian territory.
Crossing the checkpoint with merely a wave from an armed Israeli guard, we noticed an immediate change. This was no longer the First World go-go economy of Israel, but rather a Third World country.
Agriculture was still the primary economic activity, but farms here lacked the polish of Israeli kibbutzim. There was noticeable squalor in the villages we passed. Some roadsides were piled deep with trash, like an open dump. The smell of raw sewage occasionally wafted in the air.
Seeing herdsmen with sheep and goats was not a novelty, but seeing women in full burqas shepherding the flocks told us we were in a different world. After 100 kilometers, we passed another checkpoint and felt a noted sense of relief leaving Palestine behind.
This bothered me because it gave credence to the comment I read later by John Kerry stating that Israel is on the verge of becoming an apartheid state as defined by racial segregation and discrimination against Palestinians.
Kerry hit a raw nerve with his unguarded gaff, but what he said deserves serious consideration. Clearly there is inequality for Palestinians in Israel. It isn’t as pernicious as apartheid in South Africa, where the expression was coined, until you look at the Palestinian refugee camps fenced, gated and lorded over by Israeli troops and curfews.
Young Israelis I spoke to, some of whom had served in those camps, shook their heads in sorrow over this social and cultural division. Many see it as an embarrassment to their nation and an affront to their values.
The humanists among them condemn the moral failure of their state and its leadership. Meanwhile, more settlements are planned in occupied territories in an imperialistic manipulation that has been a historic part of Israel long before it became a state in 1948. Taking Palestinian land is a long-standing, controversial tradition.
Now that the high hopes for talks led by Kerry and the Obama administration have failed, the future is cloudy. A friend in Tel Aviv who was born in Israel before statehood was quick to chide this impasse as the result of ineffectual force by the U.S.
An obvious lack of coercive power to form a two-state agreement lies, he said, in the inability of the U.S. to broker the deal. “Obama could do it if it weren’t for Republicans — and their Jewish supporters — derailing everything he tries to do. America is not the entity that should broker this deal.”
My friend said that Russia and China are better equipped to take the lead. “It’s going to take Putin or the Chinese to force this agreement, someone with big enough balls to dictate terms and make them stick.”
A photograph in Haaretz Israeli News made a telling statement when I was there. It showed a young Palestinian man at a protest wearing a T-shirt and jeans, his face masked in a hood. The man leaped into the air as he launched a rock with his sling in an act of defiance that is painfully ironic.
Where biblical history teaches that David, a Jew, hurled a fatal rock at Goliath, the Philistine giant, today things are reversed. Now a young Palestinian hurls a rock at the Jewish state, which has become the Goliath of the Levant. This metaphor speaks loudly to Palestinian underdogs gaining sympathy and moral authority.
My Tel Aviv friend points out that there are 6 million Israelis in a nation the size of New Jersey surrounded by 3 billion Muslims and four vast and contiguous Arab states.
Israel is a powerhouse of military strength, but that cannot offer lasting protection in a dualistic, militant state, especially if the youth of Israeli lose their stomach for repression and war.
It would be prudent to resolve the Palestinian issue before apartheid solidifies global sympathy and fuels Arab unity against Israel. Perhaps China and Russia need to step in as the next big players on this tumultuous stage.
Source: THEASPINTIMES
12 may 2014
Yedioth Ahronoth by Amos Oz
It has already been nearly 50 years that I’ve been talking about the occupation and the settlements from the moral stance. On Friday, at an event at Tzavta, I wanted to say something from the divine stance.
If two states are not formed, and swiftly so, there will be a single state—and it will be an Arab state. And if there is an Arab state, I don’t envy the Jews who will live in it. That will be one of the most difficult exiles ever.
Leave Netanyahu alone, the government isn’t in his hands. The Likud faction in the Knesset is a faction of extremist settlers. Netanyahu is almost the most left wing person in the Likud faction in the Knesset.
The real government in the land is in the hands of the rabbis of the territories, and there is one person who is to blame for that. His name is Yair Lapid, who has the power to topple this government at any moment that suits him.
The names, “price tag” and “hilltop youth” are prettified names. We need to look this monster in the eye and call it by its true name. We wanted to be like all other peoples. We had hoped that the day would arrive in which there would be a Hebrew thief and a Hebrew whore. We also have Hebrew neo-Nazi groups. There is nothing that the modern-day neo-Nazis in Europe do that those groups don’t do here.
Perhaps the only difference lies in the fact that our neo-Nazi groups enjoy the tailwind of quite a few law-makers who are nationalists, and possibly even racists, and also a number of rabbis who provide them with a basis that, in my opinion, is pseudo-religious. That is, in my opinion, the chasm that lies between the Jews and the words of the Jews.
I considered the statements I made at Tzavta at length. When I speak before an audience, I prepare for hours and think about every word. I am a man of words; that is my profession.
It has already been nearly 50 years that I’ve been talking about the occupation and the settlements from the moral stance. On Friday, at an event at Tzavta, I wanted to say something from the divine stance.
If two states are not formed, and swiftly so, there will be a single state—and it will be an Arab state. And if there is an Arab state, I don’t envy the Jews who will live in it. That will be one of the most difficult exiles ever.
Leave Netanyahu alone, the government isn’t in his hands. The Likud faction in the Knesset is a faction of extremist settlers. Netanyahu is almost the most left wing person in the Likud faction in the Knesset.
The real government in the land is in the hands of the rabbis of the territories, and there is one person who is to blame for that. His name is Yair Lapid, who has the power to topple this government at any moment that suits him.
The names, “price tag” and “hilltop youth” are prettified names. We need to look this monster in the eye and call it by its true name. We wanted to be like all other peoples. We had hoped that the day would arrive in which there would be a Hebrew thief and a Hebrew whore. We also have Hebrew neo-Nazi groups. There is nothing that the modern-day neo-Nazis in Europe do that those groups don’t do here.
Perhaps the only difference lies in the fact that our neo-Nazi groups enjoy the tailwind of quite a few law-makers who are nationalists, and possibly even racists, and also a number of rabbis who provide them with a basis that, in my opinion, is pseudo-religious. That is, in my opinion, the chasm that lies between the Jews and the words of the Jews.
I considered the statements I made at Tzavta at length. When I speak before an audience, I prepare for hours and think about every word. I am a man of words; that is my profession.
The number of French Jews emigrating to Israel rose nearly four-fold in the first quarter of the year and could touch a record in 2014, a Jewish organisation said Monday.
The Jewish Agency for Israel, a global body responsible for the immigration and absorption of Jews into Israel, said 1,407 people left France for Israel between January and March against 353 people a year earlier.
"This phenomenon is speeding up" said Ariel Kandel, the head of the Jewish Agency's French chapter.
"We will not finish the year with four times more the number than in 2013 but if the current rhythm continues, there will be more than 5,000 French people leaving for Israel, something that has never happened since its creation in 1948," he said.
Kandel told AFP that the reasons for the hike in numbers were a "climate of anti-Semitism" and the prevailing gloomy economic situation in France.
France's Jewish community is one of the largest in Europe and pegged at around 500,000.
The number of French Jews leaving for Israel has been growing steadily. A total of 1,907 left in 2012 and it rose to 3,280 in 2013.
More than three million people have emigrated to Israel since 1948, including some 90,000 from France.
The Jewish Agency for Israel, a global body responsible for the immigration and absorption of Jews into Israel, said 1,407 people left France for Israel between January and March against 353 people a year earlier.
"This phenomenon is speeding up" said Ariel Kandel, the head of the Jewish Agency's French chapter.
"We will not finish the year with four times more the number than in 2013 but if the current rhythm continues, there will be more than 5,000 French people leaving for Israel, something that has never happened since its creation in 1948," he said.
Kandel told AFP that the reasons for the hike in numbers were a "climate of anti-Semitism" and the prevailing gloomy economic situation in France.
France's Jewish community is one of the largest in Europe and pegged at around 500,000.
The number of French Jews leaving for Israel has been growing steadily. A total of 1,907 left in 2012 and it rose to 3,280 in 2013.
More than three million people have emigrated to Israel since 1948, including some 90,000 from France.
11 may 2014
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) is welcomed at Tokyo's Haneda airport on May 11, 2014
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Tokyo Sunday for a summit with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe at which he is expected to raise the Iranian nuclear talks and economic cooperation.
Netanyahu is likely to press Japan to side with Israel over nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers when he meets Abe Monday afternoon, the Asahi Shimbun reported.
Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany will begin their talks in Vienna on Tuesday when they start drafting the text of a comprehensive and potentially historic deal.
In a nutshell, such an accord would reduce the scale of Iran's atomic program so as to render any dash to make nuclear weapons extremely difficult and easily detectable.
In return, all UN Security Council sanctions and additional unilateral sanctions targeting Iran's oil exports would be lifted.
Netanyahu is likely to call on Abe to oppose the lifting of sanctions, reflecting Israel's position that nothing short of a total dismantling of Iran's nuclear program is acceptable, the Asahi said.
Japan, which is heavily dependent on Middle Eastern oil, has maintained friendly relations with Iran through its years of ostracism, keeping up a diplomatic dialogue that many developed countries cut off decades ago.
Along with China, India, and South Korea, Japan is among Iran's biggest oil export markets.
The West and Israel have long suspected Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons capability alongside its civilian program, something Tehran denies.
But since President Hassan Rouhani took office in Iran in August, hopes have been raised of an end to the long-running crisis.
A senior Israeli official told AFP in Jerusalem that the two sides would be discussing security issues from both regions.
"As part of the political dialogue, we'll be sharing our concerns about the Iranian nuclear program, they have their own concerns about the North Korean program, I'm sure we have a lot in common," the official said.
Abe and Netanyahu are also expected to agree to strengthen cooperation on countering cyber-attacks, Kyodo News reported, citing a government source.
They are also likely to agree to hold a security dialogue at their level and to increase exchanges between their defense officials, it said.
On the economic front, Netanyahu will likely to give a sales pitch for Israeli technologies as he will meet with Japanese business leaders on Tuesday, local media reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Tokyo Sunday for a summit with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe at which he is expected to raise the Iranian nuclear talks and economic cooperation.
Netanyahu is likely to press Japan to side with Israel over nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers when he meets Abe Monday afternoon, the Asahi Shimbun reported.
Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany will begin their talks in Vienna on Tuesday when they start drafting the text of a comprehensive and potentially historic deal.
In a nutshell, such an accord would reduce the scale of Iran's atomic program so as to render any dash to make nuclear weapons extremely difficult and easily detectable.
In return, all UN Security Council sanctions and additional unilateral sanctions targeting Iran's oil exports would be lifted.
Netanyahu is likely to call on Abe to oppose the lifting of sanctions, reflecting Israel's position that nothing short of a total dismantling of Iran's nuclear program is acceptable, the Asahi said.
Japan, which is heavily dependent on Middle Eastern oil, has maintained friendly relations with Iran through its years of ostracism, keeping up a diplomatic dialogue that many developed countries cut off decades ago.
Along with China, India, and South Korea, Japan is among Iran's biggest oil export markets.
The West and Israel have long suspected Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons capability alongside its civilian program, something Tehran denies.
But since President Hassan Rouhani took office in Iran in August, hopes have been raised of an end to the long-running crisis.
A senior Israeli official told AFP in Jerusalem that the two sides would be discussing security issues from both regions.
"As part of the political dialogue, we'll be sharing our concerns about the Iranian nuclear program, they have their own concerns about the North Korean program, I'm sure we have a lot in common," the official said.
Abe and Netanyahu are also expected to agree to strengthen cooperation on countering cyber-attacks, Kyodo News reported, citing a government source.
They are also likely to agree to hold a security dialogue at their level and to increase exchanges between their defense officials, it said.
On the economic front, Netanyahu will likely to give a sales pitch for Israeli technologies as he will meet with Japanese business leaders on Tuesday, local media reported.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talks with Minister of Intelligence Yuval Steinitz (R)
Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz on Saturday angrily denied the latest media charge of Israeli spying on its US ally and said that someone was trying to sour bilateral relations.
"One gets the impression that someone is trying to sabotage the excellent intelligence cooperation between the United States and Israel," state-owned Channel One TV and army radio quoted him as saying.
"In all my meetings with US intelligence chiefs and the political officials who are responsible for them, I have not heard a single complaint about Israeli spying on the United States," he added.
Newsweek magazine on Thursday said that during a 1998 visit to Israel by then US vice president Al Gore a Secret Service agent surprised an intruder emerging from an air duct in Gore's room, before his arrival.
"He hears a noise in the vent and he sees the vent clips being moved from the inside. And then he sees a guy starting to exit the vent into the room," Newsweek quoted a senior former US intelligence operative as recounting.
The agent "kind of coughed and the guy went back into the vents," he said.
It was Newsweek's second story on the topic this week.
On Tuesday it alleged that Israel spies on the United States more than any US other ally does, and that these activities have reached an alarming level.
The main targets are American industrial and technical secrets, the weekly said, quoting classified briefings on legislation that would make it easier for Israelis to get US visas, the Tuesday report said.
Israeli ministers rushed to deny the charge, saying that Israel was honoring pledges it made after Jonathan Pollard, a US naval analyst, was arrested in Washington in 1985 and sentenced to life in jail for spying on the United States for Israel.
An Israeli army radio presenter on Saturday speculated that the allegations could be calculated to torpedo renewed Israeli attempts to get Pollard freed.
He quoted Steinitz as saying that on Tuesday he would meet US Senate Intelligence Committee chair Dianne Feinstein to discuss the reports.
Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz on Saturday angrily denied the latest media charge of Israeli spying on its US ally and said that someone was trying to sour bilateral relations.
"One gets the impression that someone is trying to sabotage the excellent intelligence cooperation between the United States and Israel," state-owned Channel One TV and army radio quoted him as saying.
"In all my meetings with US intelligence chiefs and the political officials who are responsible for them, I have not heard a single complaint about Israeli spying on the United States," he added.
Newsweek magazine on Thursday said that during a 1998 visit to Israel by then US vice president Al Gore a Secret Service agent surprised an intruder emerging from an air duct in Gore's room, before his arrival.
"He hears a noise in the vent and he sees the vent clips being moved from the inside. And then he sees a guy starting to exit the vent into the room," Newsweek quoted a senior former US intelligence operative as recounting.
The agent "kind of coughed and the guy went back into the vents," he said.
It was Newsweek's second story on the topic this week.
On Tuesday it alleged that Israel spies on the United States more than any US other ally does, and that these activities have reached an alarming level.
The main targets are American industrial and technical secrets, the weekly said, quoting classified briefings on legislation that would make it easier for Israelis to get US visas, the Tuesday report said.
Israeli ministers rushed to deny the charge, saying that Israel was honoring pledges it made after Jonathan Pollard, a US naval analyst, was arrested in Washington in 1985 and sentenced to life in jail for spying on the United States for Israel.
An Israeli army radio presenter on Saturday speculated that the allegations could be calculated to torpedo renewed Israeli attempts to get Pollard freed.
He quoted Steinitz as saying that on Tuesday he would meet US Senate Intelligence Committee chair Dianne Feinstein to discuss the reports.
10 may 2014
Haaretz newspaper said that the hate crimes which are committed by extremist Jewish groups against Arab property and holy sites are on the rise while the Israeli authorities are not serious about punishing the perpetrators. In a recent report, the newspaper noted that the growing support for the perpetrators or the price tag gang from right-wing figures and settler leaders are behind this rise in Jewish hate attacks against Arabs.
It pointed to a report by the Shin Bet saying that "about 100 people are actively involved in extreme right-wing violence, notably the 'price tag' acts. Another few hundreds constitute the supportive camp that abets the attacks."
It also blamed the Israeli official authorities for not taking firm action against this phenomenon.
Although the Israeli authorities know that the main fanatic activists, who support such attacks, are concentrated in Yitzhar settlement near Ramallah, they are deliberately persistent in taking no action curbing this violence, Haaretz stated.
It pointed to a report by the Shin Bet saying that "about 100 people are actively involved in extreme right-wing violence, notably the 'price tag' acts. Another few hundreds constitute the supportive camp that abets the attacks."
It also blamed the Israeli official authorities for not taking firm action against this phenomenon.
Although the Israeli authorities know that the main fanatic activists, who support such attacks, are concentrated in Yitzhar settlement near Ramallah, they are deliberately persistent in taking no action curbing this violence, Haaretz stated.
Tunisia's Minister of national security Rihda Sfar (front-R) and Minister of Tourism Amel Karboul (front-L) look on at the Constituent Assembly on May 9, 2014 in Tunis
Censure motions against two Tunisian ministers accused of promoting "normalization" with Israel were withdrawn late Friday, just before deputies in the parliament were due to take a vote.
The motions were filed late last month against Tourism Minister Amel Karboul and Deputy Interior Minister for Security Ridha Sfar, with documents purporting to show that the latter give written authorization for Israeli tourists to enter Tunisia earlier this year.
Karboul was also accused of receiving an Israeli delegation.
A vote had been expected in the evening but "the two motions of censure have been withdrawn," assembly president Mustapha Ben Jaafar announced to the assembled deputies.
"It was not our intention to attack the ministers. We wished to say that the normalization of ties with Israel in a red line," explained centrist deputy Iyed Dahmani, an avid supporter of the motions just hours earlier.
Leftist deputy Faycel Jadlaoui said the decision not to take the matter to a vote was due to the responses of the two ministers and the fact that half of the 80 signatories to the motion had withdrawn their support.
However the news came as a surprise to some deputies in the chamber and led to heated exchanges.
It is an open secret that Israelis have been visiting Tunisia for years on the quiet.
The parliamentary debate came a week ahead of an annual pilgrimage that draws Jews from around the world to Tunisia's ancient Ghriba synagogue.
'We do not deal with Israel'
The tourism minister denied receiving an Israeli delegation while defending her comments supporting the entry of tourists regardless of nationality, to boost a key sector of the Tunisian economy that was battered by the turbulence that followed the 2011 revolution.
The deputy interior minister defended himself against charges of promoting normalization with Israel, saying he merely followed procedures that have been in force for years.
"The case is purely administrative. ... We do not deal with Israeli papers," Sfar said, explaining the tourists coming from Israel had been issued with Tunisian passes, because Tunis does not recognize Israeli passports.
Sfar justified his authorizing the Israelis' entry by the need to respond to an "international campaign" accusing Tunisia of discrimination.
Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa has tried to brush the matter aside, saying it is important the new tourism season is successful.
"Normalization yes? Normalization no? Let's put these great affairs aside," he told parliament last month.
"Tourism professionals have advised that, for the tourist season to be a success, the Ghriba gathering must be a success."
Averting tourism trouble
The debate came just weeks after Israeli tourists aboard an American cruise ship were denied entry.
In response, Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line announced its ships would not return to Tunisia in a potentially severe blow to a struggling economy three years after the ouster of autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
"We continue to work with local Tunisian authorities and expect that future planned calls will operate as scheduled," the company said in a statement.
Like most other countries in the Arab world, the North African nation does not recognize Israel, primarily out of solidarity with Palestinian demands for a state of their own.
Many remember Israel's deadly 1985 air strike on the headquarters of the PLO, then hosted by Tunisia, in which 68 people were killed, and its assassination of the PLO's then number two, Abu Jihad, in Tunis three years later.
But Tunisia is one of the Arab world's most liberal countries, and still has a small Jewish population of about 1,500.
More than half are on the southern resort island of Djerba, where the Ghriba synagogue, the focus of the three-day pilgrimage that begins next Friday, is located.
Censure motions against two Tunisian ministers accused of promoting "normalization" with Israel were withdrawn late Friday, just before deputies in the parliament were due to take a vote.
The motions were filed late last month against Tourism Minister Amel Karboul and Deputy Interior Minister for Security Ridha Sfar, with documents purporting to show that the latter give written authorization for Israeli tourists to enter Tunisia earlier this year.
Karboul was also accused of receiving an Israeli delegation.
A vote had been expected in the evening but "the two motions of censure have been withdrawn," assembly president Mustapha Ben Jaafar announced to the assembled deputies.
"It was not our intention to attack the ministers. We wished to say that the normalization of ties with Israel in a red line," explained centrist deputy Iyed Dahmani, an avid supporter of the motions just hours earlier.
Leftist deputy Faycel Jadlaoui said the decision not to take the matter to a vote was due to the responses of the two ministers and the fact that half of the 80 signatories to the motion had withdrawn their support.
However the news came as a surprise to some deputies in the chamber and led to heated exchanges.
It is an open secret that Israelis have been visiting Tunisia for years on the quiet.
The parliamentary debate came a week ahead of an annual pilgrimage that draws Jews from around the world to Tunisia's ancient Ghriba synagogue.
'We do not deal with Israel'
The tourism minister denied receiving an Israeli delegation while defending her comments supporting the entry of tourists regardless of nationality, to boost a key sector of the Tunisian economy that was battered by the turbulence that followed the 2011 revolution.
The deputy interior minister defended himself against charges of promoting normalization with Israel, saying he merely followed procedures that have been in force for years.
"The case is purely administrative. ... We do not deal with Israeli papers," Sfar said, explaining the tourists coming from Israel had been issued with Tunisian passes, because Tunis does not recognize Israeli passports.
Sfar justified his authorizing the Israelis' entry by the need to respond to an "international campaign" accusing Tunisia of discrimination.
Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa has tried to brush the matter aside, saying it is important the new tourism season is successful.
"Normalization yes? Normalization no? Let's put these great affairs aside," he told parliament last month.
"Tourism professionals have advised that, for the tourist season to be a success, the Ghriba gathering must be a success."
Averting tourism trouble
The debate came just weeks after Israeli tourists aboard an American cruise ship were denied entry.
In response, Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line announced its ships would not return to Tunisia in a potentially severe blow to a struggling economy three years after the ouster of autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
"We continue to work with local Tunisian authorities and expect that future planned calls will operate as scheduled," the company said in a statement.
Like most other countries in the Arab world, the North African nation does not recognize Israel, primarily out of solidarity with Palestinian demands for a state of their own.
Many remember Israel's deadly 1985 air strike on the headquarters of the PLO, then hosted by Tunisia, in which 68 people were killed, and its assassination of the PLO's then number two, Abu Jihad, in Tunis three years later.
But Tunisia is one of the Arab world's most liberal countries, and still has a small Jewish population of about 1,500.
More than half are on the southern resort island of Djerba, where the Ghriba synagogue, the focus of the three-day pilgrimage that begins next Friday, is located.
9 may 2014
US National Security Adviser Susan Rice assured Israel at high-level talks on Thursday that Washington remained determined to stop Iran developing nuclear arms, the White House said.
"The US delegation reaffirmed our commitment to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon," said a White House statement released after talks in Jerusalem between Rice, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior officials from both sides.
"The delegations held thorough consultations on all aspects of the challenge posed by Iran, and pledged to continue the unprecedented coordination between the United States and Israel," it added.
Earlier, Netanyahu said the best defense against a nuclear Iran was to block it from developing such a weapon in the first place and he referred to a new round of talks between Tehran and world powers due to open next week in Vienna.
"The most important thing is that Iran does not attain the ability to develop a nuclear weapon, and that needs to be and must be the ultimate and most important goal of the current negotiations with Iran," he said.
"That needs to be the object of the talks, that is Israel's position, that needs to be the position of everyone who really wants to prevent the renewed threat of mass destruction by a radical regime," Netanyahu said at a ceremony marking the 69th anniversary of the allied defeat of Nazi Germany.
The White House statement said the Israeli-US talks Thursday also dealt with "other critical regional and bilateral issues," without elaborating.
"The delegations shared views candidly and intensively, in the spirit of the extraordinary and unprecedented security cooperation between our two countries," it said.
It was Rice's first trip to Israel since she took office last July and it came shortly after the collapse of US-brokered Middle East peace talks.
The White House is assessing whether to try to salvage its Middle East peace efforts after the collapse in late April of nine months of US-brokered negotiations vigorously promoted by Secretary of State John Kerry.
Netanyahu suspended negotiations after the Palestine Liberation Organisation, dominated by Abbas' Fatah movement, struck a reconciliation deal with Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.
'Catch 22'
"Netanyahu is in a 'Catch 22' situation," senior Palestinian official Nabil Shaath told a convention of the Israeli leftist party Meretz in Tel Aviv on Thursday evening.
"Before the reconciliation with Hamas, (the Israelis) argued that Fatah had no control over Hamas and therefore didn't represent all of the Palestinian people," he said.
"After the agreement with Hamas, they say we made a deal with a terror organisation."
Rice met for dinner late Thursday with President Mahmoud Abbas at his headquarters in Ramallah and said that despite the halt in talks the US remained committed to the process.
"Ambassador Rice underscored that while we have come to a pause in the parties’ talks, the United States believes the only way to achieve lasting peace is through direct negotiations that lead to two viable, independent states living side-by-side in peace and security," another White House statement said after their meeting.
Referring to the Hamas rapprochement: "She reiterated US policy that any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognition of the State of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations between the parties," the statement said.
Abbas told his guest that the Palestinian people's interest was "to seek the unity of land and people through the implementation of the reconciliation agreement and the formation of a government of independents to prepare free and fair elections," his spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said in a statement.
"The US delegation reaffirmed our commitment to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon," said a White House statement released after talks in Jerusalem between Rice, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior officials from both sides.
"The delegations held thorough consultations on all aspects of the challenge posed by Iran, and pledged to continue the unprecedented coordination between the United States and Israel," it added.
Earlier, Netanyahu said the best defense against a nuclear Iran was to block it from developing such a weapon in the first place and he referred to a new round of talks between Tehran and world powers due to open next week in Vienna.
"The most important thing is that Iran does not attain the ability to develop a nuclear weapon, and that needs to be and must be the ultimate and most important goal of the current negotiations with Iran," he said.
"That needs to be the object of the talks, that is Israel's position, that needs to be the position of everyone who really wants to prevent the renewed threat of mass destruction by a radical regime," Netanyahu said at a ceremony marking the 69th anniversary of the allied defeat of Nazi Germany.
The White House statement said the Israeli-US talks Thursday also dealt with "other critical regional and bilateral issues," without elaborating.
"The delegations shared views candidly and intensively, in the spirit of the extraordinary and unprecedented security cooperation between our two countries," it said.
It was Rice's first trip to Israel since she took office last July and it came shortly after the collapse of US-brokered Middle East peace talks.
The White House is assessing whether to try to salvage its Middle East peace efforts after the collapse in late April of nine months of US-brokered negotiations vigorously promoted by Secretary of State John Kerry.
Netanyahu suspended negotiations after the Palestine Liberation Organisation, dominated by Abbas' Fatah movement, struck a reconciliation deal with Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.
'Catch 22'
"Netanyahu is in a 'Catch 22' situation," senior Palestinian official Nabil Shaath told a convention of the Israeli leftist party Meretz in Tel Aviv on Thursday evening.
"Before the reconciliation with Hamas, (the Israelis) argued that Fatah had no control over Hamas and therefore didn't represent all of the Palestinian people," he said.
"After the agreement with Hamas, they say we made a deal with a terror organisation."
Rice met for dinner late Thursday with President Mahmoud Abbas at his headquarters in Ramallah and said that despite the halt in talks the US remained committed to the process.
"Ambassador Rice underscored that while we have come to a pause in the parties’ talks, the United States believes the only way to achieve lasting peace is through direct negotiations that lead to two viable, independent states living side-by-side in peace and security," another White House statement said after their meeting.
Referring to the Hamas rapprochement: "She reiterated US policy that any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognition of the State of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations between the parties," the statement said.
Abbas told his guest that the Palestinian people's interest was "to seek the unity of land and people through the implementation of the reconciliation agreement and the formation of a government of independents to prepare free and fair elections," his spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said in a statement.
The Talmud is a compilation of rabbinic writings that forms the basis for Jewish religious law
Right-wing news site Arutz 7 reports that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke, on Wednesday evening, with the head of the haredi (Jewish ultra-orthodox) division of the Likud, Yaakov Vider, saying that the law he intends to submit, defining Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people, will include a clause stating that Israeli law will be based on the Torah and Jewish tradition.
"In the law, we will define the Talmud as the basis for the Israeli legal system," Netanyahu told Vider, adding that the law “is a very important one that will affect how Israel looks in the future.”
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Right-wing news site Arutz 7 reports that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke, on Wednesday evening, with the head of the haredi (Jewish ultra-orthodox) division of the Likud, Yaakov Vider, saying that the law he intends to submit, defining Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people, will include a clause stating that Israeli law will be based on the Torah and Jewish tradition.
"In the law, we will define the Talmud as the basis for the Israeli legal system," Netanyahu told Vider, adding that the law “is a very important one that will affect how Israel looks in the future.”
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