26 june 2014
Naftali Bennett speaking at the Knesset
Economy minister attacks PA for transferring funds to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Economy Minister Naftali Bennett on Thursday called Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a "mega-terrorist" for transferring Palestinian Authority funds to Palestinian inmates in Israeli prisons.
"A person who lines the pockets of murderers with tens of millions of shekels each month is a mega-terrorist, who has not changed his ways," Bennett, who is also the chairman of the right-wing Habayit Hayehudi party, told Israel Radio.
Bennett also condemned on the program a statement by President-elect Reuven Rivlin to build trusting relations with Abbas in the wake of the Palestinian president's call to release the three Israeli teens kidnapped earlier this month. Bennett said Abbas should be measured by his deeds, not his declarations.
Israel's security cabinet decided Wednesday night to examine options for preventing the fund transfers.
The PA's Ministry for Prisoners' Affairs gives stipends totaling 20 million shekels a month to Palestinian prisoners. The stipends vary between 1,400 shekels for a prisoner sentenced to three years to 12,000 shekels for a 30-year sentence. Released prisoners are eligible for stipends varying between 5,000 shekels for less than three-years in prison and 87,000 shekels for serving over 30 years.
In recent years, Israel has been claiming that the funds given by foreign governments to the PA, earmarked for building up the Authority's institutions, are eventually allocated for these stipends. Several countries, including Britain and Norway, have changed the relevant procedures to make sure their donations are not transferred to prisoners.
Economy minister attacks PA for transferring funds to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Economy Minister Naftali Bennett on Thursday called Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a "mega-terrorist" for transferring Palestinian Authority funds to Palestinian inmates in Israeli prisons.
"A person who lines the pockets of murderers with tens of millions of shekels each month is a mega-terrorist, who has not changed his ways," Bennett, who is also the chairman of the right-wing Habayit Hayehudi party, told Israel Radio.
Bennett also condemned on the program a statement by President-elect Reuven Rivlin to build trusting relations with Abbas in the wake of the Palestinian president's call to release the three Israeli teens kidnapped earlier this month. Bennett said Abbas should be measured by his deeds, not his declarations.
Israel's security cabinet decided Wednesday night to examine options for preventing the fund transfers.
The PA's Ministry for Prisoners' Affairs gives stipends totaling 20 million shekels a month to Palestinian prisoners. The stipends vary between 1,400 shekels for a prisoner sentenced to three years to 12,000 shekels for a 30-year sentence. Released prisoners are eligible for stipends varying between 5,000 shekels for less than three-years in prison and 87,000 shekels for serving over 30 years.
In recent years, Israel has been claiming that the funds given by foreign governments to the PA, earmarked for building up the Authority's institutions, are eventually allocated for these stipends. Several countries, including Britain and Norway, have changed the relevant procedures to make sure their donations are not transferred to prisoners.
A Palestinian youth was injured on Thursday in an explosion in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
The spokesman of the Gaza Ministry of Health, Ashraf al-Qidra, said that a 26-year-old arrived at Nasser hospital with severe injuries.
The circumstances behind the blast are unclear.
The spokesman of the Gaza Ministry of Health, Ashraf al-Qidra, said that a 26-year-old arrived at Nasser hospital with severe injuries.
The circumstances behind the blast are unclear.
Israel's hawkish president-elect Reuven Rivlin, who opposes the creation of a Palestinian state, has said he is willing to meet counterpart Mahmoud Abbas, a newspaper reported Thursday.
"I met with Abu Mazen (Abbas) in the past on a number of occasions and I will also meet with him in the future," the Yediot Aharonot newspaper quoted Rivlin as saying.
"We both realize that direct dialogue is the condition for our Middle East to be a safe place," he said on Wednesday at a three-day conference in Jerusalem for Israeli media.
Rivlin said he received a letter from Abbas after he was elected on June 10 to succeed elder statesman Shimon Peres, whose term ends in late July.
Yediot published what it said was an image of the letter, in Arabic, which congratulated Rivlin and called for a peace agreement and an independent Palestine.
The incoming president is a staunch backer of illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and has never hidden his opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state.
Settlements were a key issue that derailed the latest round of US-backed peace talks in April after nine months of fruitless negotiations.
Rivlin, a former military intelligence officer and lawyer by profession, was quoted in 2010 as saying he would "rather accept Palestinians as Israeli citizens than divide Israel and the West Bank in a future two-state peace solution."
"I met with Abu Mazen (Abbas) in the past on a number of occasions and I will also meet with him in the future," the Yediot Aharonot newspaper quoted Rivlin as saying.
"We both realize that direct dialogue is the condition for our Middle East to be a safe place," he said on Wednesday at a three-day conference in Jerusalem for Israeli media.
Rivlin said he received a letter from Abbas after he was elected on June 10 to succeed elder statesman Shimon Peres, whose term ends in late July.
Yediot published what it said was an image of the letter, in Arabic, which congratulated Rivlin and called for a peace agreement and an independent Palestine.
The incoming president is a staunch backer of illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and has never hidden his opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state.
Settlements were a key issue that derailed the latest round of US-backed peace talks in April after nine months of fruitless negotiations.
Rivlin, a former military intelligence officer and lawyer by profession, was quoted in 2010 as saying he would "rather accept Palestinians as Israeli citizens than divide Israel and the West Bank in a future two-state peace solution."
A young Palestinian man was found hanged late Wednesday in a field on the outskirts of Beit Surik, south of Ramallah, police said.
Muhammad Khalid Khalil Mansour, 23, disappeared nine days ago from the neighboring village of Biddu. Residents of Beit Surik discovered his body hanging from a tree.
Police have opened an investigation and the body has been sent to the Institute of Forensic Medicine at al-Quds University.
Muhammad Khalid Khalil Mansour, 23, disappeared nine days ago from the neighboring village of Biddu. Residents of Beit Surik discovered his body hanging from a tree.
Police have opened an investigation and the body has been sent to the Institute of Forensic Medicine at al-Quds University.
25 june 2014
Israeli troops patrol the area between the West Bank village of Halhul and the adjacent city of Hebron, on June 24, 2014 as they search for three Israeli teenagers who went missing in the West Bank
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised President Mahmoud Abbas Tuesday for condemning the alleged kidnapping of three teenagers, but criticized the Gaza-West Bank government the PLO agreed upon with Hamas.
Netanyahu spoke as Israel began to wind down a huge crackdown on the Islamist movement, having arrested hundreds in an operation to find the youngsters who went missing in the southern West Bank nearly two weeks ago.
Israel was coming under increasing international pressure to use restraint in its manhunt, after Israeli raids across the West Bank killed four Palestinians.
"I appreciate what president Abbas said a few days ago in Saudi Arabia, rejecting the kidnapping," Netanyahu told his Romanian counterpart Victor Ponta at a meeting in Jerusalem.
"I think these were important words," he said.
Abbas condemned the alleged kidnapping, telling a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation that "those who kidnapped the three teenagers want to destroy us."
"We will hold them accountable," he said, but did not blame Hamas.
US Secretary of State John Kerry thanked Abbas for his "courageous stand in support of efforts to find the three kidnapped Israeli teenagers" in telephone talks, a senior State Department official said.
Kerry also "emphasized the need for restraint from all sides during this difficult time," the official added.
Blame game
Israel immediately accused its Islamist foe of kidnapping the youngsters, who went missing on June 12 at a hitchhiking spot near the city of Hebron.
Hamas has denied that it kidnapped the teens, and Israel has provided no evidence for its involvement.
Israel has used that as a pretext to uproot the Islamist movement's West Bank network, arresting 354 Palestinians, 269 of them Hamas members, according to the army.
But the Palestinian Prisoners' Society puts the number of detained at over 500.
Israeli forces have also killed five Palestinians and injured dozens throughout their West Bank operation, largely considered the most extensive deployment since the Second Intifada.
Abbas, meanwhile, has pledged to continue security coordination with Israel, which he said was in Palestinians' "best interest" since it would "help protect us."
Israel seized on the opportunity presented by the operation to try to rupture a reconciliation agreement between Abbas and Hamas, under which the two sides formed a merged administration for the West Bank and Gaza earlier this month for the first time in seven years.
In remarks aired Tuesday, Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal told Al-Jazeera television that "we do not have information about what happened," but stressed his support for "every resistance attack against the Israeli occupation."
'No alliance with kidnappers'
Afterwards, Netanyahu reiterated that if "Abbas really means what he said about the kidnapping, and if he is truly committed to peace and to fighting terrorism, then logic and common sense mandate that he break his pact with Hamas."
"There can be no alliance with the kidnappers of children," he said.
Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said Israel was beginning to wind down its arrest operation, which has cost the lives of four Palestinians and sparked public anger in the West Bank.
"The operation by the Israeli army against Hamas has been mostly completed," he told public radio, adding that the number of wanted Palestinians still at large had greatly diminished as "dozens and dozens" were now in custody.
Middle East Quartet envoy Tony Blair said Tuesday he was "deeply troubled by the ongoing events" and Palestinian deaths.
"Israel must act with restraint when operating in populated Palestinian areas –- including Gaza –- and ensure that civilians are not harmed," he said in a statement, calling for a limit on restrictions on movement and access in the West Bank.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius condemned the alleged kidnappings, but implored Israel to "respect international law... and use proportional force" in its arrests.
Palestinian lawyer Hiba Masalha slammed Israel's ultimatum against kidnapping as hypocritical on Tuesday, noting that the number of Palestinian children in Israeli jails had surpassed 250 in the wake of the arrest campaign.
"Detaining Palestinian children from their houses in the middle of the night without informing their parents and families of the reasons for their detention is kidnapping," Masalha said.
Tensions have risen among Palestinians over the death toll from the Israeli operation, particularly as it comes ahead of next week's start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
A former top army commander, Israel Ziv, said it was in Israel's interest to focus the operation on intelligence gathering rather than physical intimidation.
"There are casualties, and definitely we have to reconsider when is the right timing to change this mode of operation and to move towards what is more effective, which is ... intelligence or psychological warfare," he said.
Israeli forces had withdrawn from the center of Hebron, where they had been concentrating their operation, but were still blocking off roads around the city and were stationed in large numbers a short distance outside, security sources told AFP.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised President Mahmoud Abbas Tuesday for condemning the alleged kidnapping of three teenagers, but criticized the Gaza-West Bank government the PLO agreed upon with Hamas.
Netanyahu spoke as Israel began to wind down a huge crackdown on the Islamist movement, having arrested hundreds in an operation to find the youngsters who went missing in the southern West Bank nearly two weeks ago.
Israel was coming under increasing international pressure to use restraint in its manhunt, after Israeli raids across the West Bank killed four Palestinians.
"I appreciate what president Abbas said a few days ago in Saudi Arabia, rejecting the kidnapping," Netanyahu told his Romanian counterpart Victor Ponta at a meeting in Jerusalem.
"I think these were important words," he said.
Abbas condemned the alleged kidnapping, telling a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation that "those who kidnapped the three teenagers want to destroy us."
"We will hold them accountable," he said, but did not blame Hamas.
US Secretary of State John Kerry thanked Abbas for his "courageous stand in support of efforts to find the three kidnapped Israeli teenagers" in telephone talks, a senior State Department official said.
Kerry also "emphasized the need for restraint from all sides during this difficult time," the official added.
Blame game
Israel immediately accused its Islamist foe of kidnapping the youngsters, who went missing on June 12 at a hitchhiking spot near the city of Hebron.
Hamas has denied that it kidnapped the teens, and Israel has provided no evidence for its involvement.
Israel has used that as a pretext to uproot the Islamist movement's West Bank network, arresting 354 Palestinians, 269 of them Hamas members, according to the army.
But the Palestinian Prisoners' Society puts the number of detained at over 500.
Israeli forces have also killed five Palestinians and injured dozens throughout their West Bank operation, largely considered the most extensive deployment since the Second Intifada.
Abbas, meanwhile, has pledged to continue security coordination with Israel, which he said was in Palestinians' "best interest" since it would "help protect us."
Israel seized on the opportunity presented by the operation to try to rupture a reconciliation agreement between Abbas and Hamas, under which the two sides formed a merged administration for the West Bank and Gaza earlier this month for the first time in seven years.
In remarks aired Tuesday, Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal told Al-Jazeera television that "we do not have information about what happened," but stressed his support for "every resistance attack against the Israeli occupation."
'No alliance with kidnappers'
Afterwards, Netanyahu reiterated that if "Abbas really means what he said about the kidnapping, and if he is truly committed to peace and to fighting terrorism, then logic and common sense mandate that he break his pact with Hamas."
"There can be no alliance with the kidnappers of children," he said.
Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said Israel was beginning to wind down its arrest operation, which has cost the lives of four Palestinians and sparked public anger in the West Bank.
"The operation by the Israeli army against Hamas has been mostly completed," he told public radio, adding that the number of wanted Palestinians still at large had greatly diminished as "dozens and dozens" were now in custody.
Middle East Quartet envoy Tony Blair said Tuesday he was "deeply troubled by the ongoing events" and Palestinian deaths.
"Israel must act with restraint when operating in populated Palestinian areas –- including Gaza –- and ensure that civilians are not harmed," he said in a statement, calling for a limit on restrictions on movement and access in the West Bank.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius condemned the alleged kidnappings, but implored Israel to "respect international law... and use proportional force" in its arrests.
Palestinian lawyer Hiba Masalha slammed Israel's ultimatum against kidnapping as hypocritical on Tuesday, noting that the number of Palestinian children in Israeli jails had surpassed 250 in the wake of the arrest campaign.
"Detaining Palestinian children from their houses in the middle of the night without informing their parents and families of the reasons for their detention is kidnapping," Masalha said.
Tensions have risen among Palestinians over the death toll from the Israeli operation, particularly as it comes ahead of next week's start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
A former top army commander, Israel Ziv, said it was in Israel's interest to focus the operation on intelligence gathering rather than physical intimidation.
"There are casualties, and definitely we have to reconsider when is the right timing to change this mode of operation and to move towards what is more effective, which is ... intelligence or psychological warfare," he said.
Israeli forces had withdrawn from the center of Hebron, where they had been concentrating their operation, but were still blocking off roads around the city and were stationed in large numbers a short distance outside, security sources told AFP.
Hizb ut-Tahrir in Palestine on Tuesday slammed PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas as a traitor to the Palestinian people for his renunciation of the armed resistance, his recognition of the occupation, and his security cooperation with it.
Abbas should have rather appealed to the Muslim armies and encourage them to liberate Palestine from the Israeli occupation instead of giving up resistance, Hizb ut-Tahrir said in a statement.
The Islamic party spoke against the silence maintained by the Arab Foreign ministers over Abbas's subordination to the Israeli occupation and his betrayal of his own people.
The statement called on all Palestinian movements and organizations, most notably Fatah and Hamas, to combine forces and work together in order to raise Palestinians’ alertness to such “criminals and traitors” against the Palestinian and Islamic nations.
Abbas should have rather appealed to the Muslim armies and encourage them to liberate Palestine from the Israeli occupation instead of giving up resistance, Hizb ut-Tahrir said in a statement.
The Islamic party spoke against the silence maintained by the Arab Foreign ministers over Abbas's subordination to the Israeli occupation and his betrayal of his own people.
The statement called on all Palestinian movements and organizations, most notably Fatah and Hamas, to combine forces and work together in order to raise Palestinians’ alertness to such “criminals and traitors” against the Palestinian and Islamic nations.
24 june 2014
President Mahmoud Abbas says Israel wants the “Palestinian Authority without authority or power, which is unacceptable,” in remarks published Tuesday.
“We're living a real crisis in Hebron and all over the West Bank. Such acts (kidnapping) could happen anywhere; we completely reject it and are sorry it happened," he told Egypt's al-Watan newspaper.
"We hope to bring them back but we also hope that Israel would think of us as humans too."
"When three Palestinians are killed we do not hear any reactions from the Israeli government that they are sorry, yet we are working to bring those kids back to their families,” Abbas said.
When asked if Israel was attempting to bring down the PA and obstruct the new government’s job, Abbas’ responded that “Israel’s acts in the West Bank are unjustified, their ways of searching the houses, assaulting locals and killing innocent people are rejected. Israel has taken away all authority from the Palestinian Authority.
"We are well aware of that and that is why we demanded that occupation would end immediately, and that is why we went to international organizations ... We want to have our rights and an independent Palestinian state next to the Israeli state; we refuse a one-state solution."
“We're living a real crisis in Hebron and all over the West Bank. Such acts (kidnapping) could happen anywhere; we completely reject it and are sorry it happened," he told Egypt's al-Watan newspaper.
"We hope to bring them back but we also hope that Israel would think of us as humans too."
"When three Palestinians are killed we do not hear any reactions from the Israeli government that they are sorry, yet we are working to bring those kids back to their families,” Abbas said.
When asked if Israel was attempting to bring down the PA and obstruct the new government’s job, Abbas’ responded that “Israel’s acts in the West Bank are unjustified, their ways of searching the houses, assaulting locals and killing innocent people are rejected. Israel has taken away all authority from the Palestinian Authority.
"We are well aware of that and that is why we demanded that occupation would end immediately, and that is why we went to international organizations ... We want to have our rights and an independent Palestinian state next to the Israeli state; we refuse a one-state solution."
By Khaled Amayreh
American Consul General to Jerusalem Michael A. Ratney on Monday, 23 June, addressed the 56th annual convention of the American Federation of Ramallah, Occupied Palestine (AFRP), held for the first time in Ramallah.
Speaking before more than 1500 Palestinian-Americans, Ratney said the U.S. government was still committed to the "peace process," saying that the two-state solution “required building a strong and self-sustaining economy."
He didn't explain how such an economy can be built let alone sustained in the presence of a sinister foreign military occupation and absence of any semblance of Palestinian sovereignty.
Incidentally, a few hours before Ratney's speech in Ramallah, Israeli forces rampaged through the town, storming shops and businesses, vandalizing property and further humiliating the already demoralized police forces of Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas as these forces had to content themselves with just looking on, watching the Jewish Gestapo gang up on Palestinian citizens.
More to the point, the American Consul-General, who invoked the missing and purportedly kidnapped three Israeli settlers, didn't even allude to the murder by Israel of six Palestinians this week, including a 13-year-old child in Dura, Mohamed Jehad Dudin, who eyewitnesses said was killed in cold blood and without any provocation by trigger-happy Israel soldiers raiding his neighborhood.
Furthermore, the America diplomat made no mention of thousands of Palestinian political and resistance prisoners, languishing in Israeli dungeons and detention centers, many without charge or trial.
Response
By meticulously examining Ratney's remarks, I can assume that the respected American diplomat is exuding a shockingly high level of hypocrisy, mendacity and dishonesty. The lack of rectitude in his speech is amply conspicuous.
I don't wish to indulge in a point-by-point rebuttal of Ratney's remarks. In the final analysis, the destructive American role in the Middle East has long been explained and exposed rather ad nauseam.
None the less, I wish to make the following points to make the record straight:
I strongly believe that the U.S. can not build peace in the ME for the following reasons:
1-The American government doesn't really have a will of its own when it comes to Israel and Palestine. Successive U.S. governments are hopelessly subject to powerful Jewish pressure groups which control those who are in control in Washington. This is not a passing facetious remark by an exasperated Palestinian who is indignant over unlimited and unrestricted American support and backing of Israel 's criminal colonialism. It is rather a reminder of solemn confessions and statements made by eminent American figures, including prominent academics, a former president and clergymen of impeccable credentials.
2-The US is not sufficiently honest to broker peace between its ally, Israel and the Palestinians due to its natural propensity to support Israel- right or wrong. The U.S. has never taken any meaningful stance against Israel, even when Israel went far beyond the pale, which occurred numerous times and continues to occur, virtually on a daily basis.
3- The U.S. has said nothing and done nothing to prevent Israel from effectively decapitating all realistic prospects for peace as the Nazi-like entity continues to pursue a relentless campaign to seize as much Palestinian land as possible, thus killing any remaining chances for the creation of a viable and territorially contiguous Palestinian state. Indeed, the shockingly obsequious U.S. approach toward Israel represents the exact antithesis of all claimed lofty American ideals about dedication and commitment to human rights and civil liberties.
4-The US has been trying to bribe the Palestinians with the precarious promise of economic prosperity. However, 20 years of "Oslo" have proven the utter impossibility of achieving economic prosperity under a foreign military occupation. Indeed, 20 years of "peace process" have given us neither peace nor liberty, nor economic prosperity. Instead, we have been affronted with a police state without a state that is at Israel's beck and call. But the Palestinians, while wishing for an honorable, dignified and above all just peace with our neighbors, will never accept a Palestinian judenrat that would torment us on Israel's behalf.
5-Hence, with the U.S. being effectively Israel's lawyer, besides being Israel's guardian-ally, is utterly unfit to serve as honest broker between Israel, the criminal aggressor, and its Palestinian victims.
I have been closely following American policy in this part of the world ever since the Roger plan in the late 1960s. And I have reached the inevitable conclusion that the American role in brokering peace between Israel and the Palestinians can be compared to that of a "judge" who tells a rapist and his tormented and humiliated victim to "just sort it out amongst yourselves."
Khaled Amayreh
American-educated journalist,
Hebron, Occupied Palestine
American Consul General to Jerusalem Michael A. Ratney on Monday, 23 June, addressed the 56th annual convention of the American Federation of Ramallah, Occupied Palestine (AFRP), held for the first time in Ramallah.
Speaking before more than 1500 Palestinian-Americans, Ratney said the U.S. government was still committed to the "peace process," saying that the two-state solution “required building a strong and self-sustaining economy."
He didn't explain how such an economy can be built let alone sustained in the presence of a sinister foreign military occupation and absence of any semblance of Palestinian sovereignty.
Incidentally, a few hours before Ratney's speech in Ramallah, Israeli forces rampaged through the town, storming shops and businesses, vandalizing property and further humiliating the already demoralized police forces of Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas as these forces had to content themselves with just looking on, watching the Jewish Gestapo gang up on Palestinian citizens.
More to the point, the American Consul-General, who invoked the missing and purportedly kidnapped three Israeli settlers, didn't even allude to the murder by Israel of six Palestinians this week, including a 13-year-old child in Dura, Mohamed Jehad Dudin, who eyewitnesses said was killed in cold blood and without any provocation by trigger-happy Israel soldiers raiding his neighborhood.
Furthermore, the America diplomat made no mention of thousands of Palestinian political and resistance prisoners, languishing in Israeli dungeons and detention centers, many without charge or trial.
Response
By meticulously examining Ratney's remarks, I can assume that the respected American diplomat is exuding a shockingly high level of hypocrisy, mendacity and dishonesty. The lack of rectitude in his speech is amply conspicuous.
I don't wish to indulge in a point-by-point rebuttal of Ratney's remarks. In the final analysis, the destructive American role in the Middle East has long been explained and exposed rather ad nauseam.
None the less, I wish to make the following points to make the record straight:
I strongly believe that the U.S. can not build peace in the ME for the following reasons:
1-The American government doesn't really have a will of its own when it comes to Israel and Palestine. Successive U.S. governments are hopelessly subject to powerful Jewish pressure groups which control those who are in control in Washington. This is not a passing facetious remark by an exasperated Palestinian who is indignant over unlimited and unrestricted American support and backing of Israel 's criminal colonialism. It is rather a reminder of solemn confessions and statements made by eminent American figures, including prominent academics, a former president and clergymen of impeccable credentials.
2-The US is not sufficiently honest to broker peace between its ally, Israel and the Palestinians due to its natural propensity to support Israel- right or wrong. The U.S. has never taken any meaningful stance against Israel, even when Israel went far beyond the pale, which occurred numerous times and continues to occur, virtually on a daily basis.
3- The U.S. has said nothing and done nothing to prevent Israel from effectively decapitating all realistic prospects for peace as the Nazi-like entity continues to pursue a relentless campaign to seize as much Palestinian land as possible, thus killing any remaining chances for the creation of a viable and territorially contiguous Palestinian state. Indeed, the shockingly obsequious U.S. approach toward Israel represents the exact antithesis of all claimed lofty American ideals about dedication and commitment to human rights and civil liberties.
4-The US has been trying to bribe the Palestinians with the precarious promise of economic prosperity. However, 20 years of "Oslo" have proven the utter impossibility of achieving economic prosperity under a foreign military occupation. Indeed, 20 years of "peace process" have given us neither peace nor liberty, nor economic prosperity. Instead, we have been affronted with a police state without a state that is at Israel's beck and call. But the Palestinians, while wishing for an honorable, dignified and above all just peace with our neighbors, will never accept a Palestinian judenrat that would torment us on Israel's behalf.
5-Hence, with the U.S. being effectively Israel's lawyer, besides being Israel's guardian-ally, is utterly unfit to serve as honest broker between Israel, the criminal aggressor, and its Palestinian victims.
I have been closely following American policy in this part of the world ever since the Roger plan in the late 1960s. And I have reached the inevitable conclusion that the American role in brokering peace between Israel and the Palestinians can be compared to that of a "judge" who tells a rapist and his tormented and humiliated victim to "just sort it out amongst yourselves."
Khaled Amayreh
American-educated journalist,
Hebron, Occupied Palestine
23 june 2014
The minister of health of the former Hamas-run government in Gaza died early Monday, a ministry spokesman said.
Mufid al-Mukhallalati underwent open heart surgery at the European Hospital in the southern Gaza Strip and died shortly after, health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra told Ma'an.
Mufid al-Mukhallalati underwent open heart surgery at the European Hospital in the southern Gaza Strip and died shortly after, health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra told Ma'an.
Hamas spokesman Husam Badran described Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ recent remarks as a stab in the back of the Palestinian people, urging all political forces and national factions to state their positions clearly in this regard.
Commenting on Abbas’s remarks in Jeddah in which he said that the Palestinian uprising destroyed Palestinian people, Badran said on Sunday that such position is a betrayal of the Palestinian blood and sacrifices, and provides a cover for Israel's aggression.
Abbas’ statements came in total disregard for the suffering of more than 5000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails including those who spent more than 30 years in custody in addition to those who have been on hunger strike for three consecutive months, Badran added.
The spokesman said that any resistance operation targeting Israeli soldiers and settlers is a national must and a source of pride for the Palestinian people who made great sacrifices.
In another context, Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu expressed his satisfaction with Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas' statement denouncing the kidnapping of 3 Israeli settlers in al-Khalil ten days ago.
According to Israeli media sources, Netanyahu said that Abbas must be judged by his actions, especially by his ability to stop incitement against Israel.
He renewed his call on Abbas to dismantle the newly formed unity government, saying that Hamas and Fatah cannot be mixed.
Netanyahu expressed hope that Abbas would choose the negotiation path with Israelis and revoke his alliance with Hamas.
Commenting on Abbas’s remarks in Jeddah in which he said that the Palestinian uprising destroyed Palestinian people, Badran said on Sunday that such position is a betrayal of the Palestinian blood and sacrifices, and provides a cover for Israel's aggression.
Abbas’ statements came in total disregard for the suffering of more than 5000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails including those who spent more than 30 years in custody in addition to those who have been on hunger strike for three consecutive months, Badran added.
The spokesman said that any resistance operation targeting Israeli soldiers and settlers is a national must and a source of pride for the Palestinian people who made great sacrifices.
In another context, Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu expressed his satisfaction with Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas' statement denouncing the kidnapping of 3 Israeli settlers in al-Khalil ten days ago.
According to Israeli media sources, Netanyahu said that Abbas must be judged by his actions, especially by his ability to stop incitement against Israel.
He renewed his call on Abbas to dismantle the newly formed unity government, saying that Hamas and Fatah cannot be mixed.
Netanyahu expressed hope that Abbas would choose the negotiation path with Israelis and revoke his alliance with Hamas.
In statements to a delegation of Arab journalists in Ramallah on Saturday, Erekat said that Hamas is "a patriotic movement" and that "it was never involved in terrorist acts, and will never be." He pointed out that the prison breaks which took place in Egypt during the 2011 revolution, as well as violence in Sinai, were carried out by individuals, not affiliated to the movement.
Erekat added that he met with the Egyptian post-coup president Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi when he was serving as defense minister, and told him that "a number of individuals from different nationalities are messing with Sinai."
Furthermore, Erekat complained of Netanyahu government's insistence to turn the Palestinian Authority to "an authority without authority", and that it succeeded in doing so.
"We have been living for 5 years without any powers. Netanyahu has succeeded in stripping us of our legal and political mandates, and he wants to turn us into a mere security power," he told reporters.
He added that Netanyahu wants Gaza to remain separated from the West Bank in order to force Palestinians to live under two leaderships.
Erekat said that the PA is currently working on a letter to be sent to 114 countries of the UN General Assembly wherein it will expose all Israeli violations. He explained that Israel is carrying out collective punishments against Palestinians in an unprecedented manner. "In 3 days, they killed 3 children with cold blood," he said.
"We told the Israelis, if you want to continue negotiations, we have to start with a map based on 67 borders to draw the borders of two states. This would take us three months, in which Israel should stop its aggression, stop arresting our citizens, and release the fourth round of prisoners," he added.
Erekat added that he met with the Egyptian post-coup president Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi when he was serving as defense minister, and told him that "a number of individuals from different nationalities are messing with Sinai."
Furthermore, Erekat complained of Netanyahu government's insistence to turn the Palestinian Authority to "an authority without authority", and that it succeeded in doing so.
"We have been living for 5 years without any powers. Netanyahu has succeeded in stripping us of our legal and political mandates, and he wants to turn us into a mere security power," he told reporters.
He added that Netanyahu wants Gaza to remain separated from the West Bank in order to force Palestinians to live under two leaderships.
Erekat said that the PA is currently working on a letter to be sent to 114 countries of the UN General Assembly wherein it will expose all Israeli violations. He explained that Israel is carrying out collective punishments against Palestinians in an unprecedented manner. "In 3 days, they killed 3 children with cold blood," he said.
"We told the Israelis, if you want to continue negotiations, we have to start with a map based on 67 borders to draw the borders of two states. This would take us three months, in which Israel should stop its aggression, stop arresting our citizens, and release the fourth round of prisoners," he added.
The U.N. envoy to the Middle East peace process has denied allegations in the Israeli media that he offered to aid the Palestinian Hamas group. Robert Serry said in a statement Sunday that he was asked by Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah to help transfer Qatari funds to pay the salaries of former Hamas employees who lost their jobs after the new Palestinian unity government was formed.
He said he was considering the request and had notified Israeli authorities. He insisted the U.N. would not provide such assistance without Israeli approval.
An Israeli official confirmed the allegations, reported by Channel 2, and said Israel was considering expelling the envoy. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
He said he was considering the request and had notified Israeli authorities. He insisted the U.N. would not provide such assistance without Israeli approval.
An Israeli official confirmed the allegations, reported by Channel 2, and said Israel was considering expelling the envoy. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
