Wednesday Links Part 1

From Ian:

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Roger Waters: ‘I Am Considering my Position’ on Anti-Israel Boycott
That's a lot of thinking for a rock musician, you must give him that.

Still, Waters has not changed his views on who is right and who is evil in the Arab-Israeli conflict. No surprises there: “The occupation and the settlement building is an impregnable obstacle to peace,” Waters said. “There can never be peace unless the occupation ends and the settlement building ends.”
Of course, in the nearby Gaza Strip there’s no peace at all, in fact, there’s been a whole lot of extra war after the occupation and the settlements all ended. But you can’t confuse this Pink Floyd ace with the facts.

Benghazi to Boston: Glenn Greenwald’s hypocrisy in condemning ‘rush to judgement’ over marathon attack

Further, Greenwald repeated completely unverified (and ultimately false) claims that the film-maker (Sam Bacile) was “an Israeli real estate developer living in California” and that he had made the film with “the help of 100 Jewish donors.”
Greenwald’s wild speculation about the cause of the attack, and the putative Israeli and Jewish connection (also parroted by the Guardian’s Julian Borger and Caroline Davies), however, was completely unfounded.

Salam Fayyad and the "Major Blow" to Peace by Khaled Abu Toameh

The claim that Fayyad's resignation is a major blow to the peace process is not only untrue, it is ridiculous. Such claims are intended to create the impression, totally false, that were it not for Fayyad's resignation, the peace process would have been salvaged.
The truth is that Abbas was the one who decided to boycott the peace talks until Israel meets his conditions, including a full cessation of settlement construction and recognition of the pre-1967 lines as the future borders of a Palestinian state.

Fayyad’s resignation

Fayyad’s departure from Palestinian politics is significant not just because it ends hopes, at least for the time being, of an alternative approach to resolving the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. The incident also reveals the unsettling reality that to truly succeed in Palestinian politics it is not enough to work for the betterment of the Palestinian people, one must be a devoted and preferably violent enemy of Israel.

Salam Fayyad pleads for new elections, unity

Outgoing PA prime minister, in farewell address, says new vote would heal the rift between the West Bank and Gaza Strip

The Jordanian-Palestinian confederation

The equation that is emerging following Obama's visit is a return to the pre-1967 borders[sic]: Egypt gets the Gaza Strip, Jordan gets the West Bank. Abdullah is safeguarding the Palestinian nationalistic claim to Jerusalem. The current process gives the Palestinians, including in Jerusalem, space to flex their sovereignty, a privilege that derives from the Palestinian right to self-determination. King Abdullah's brave vision is betting, it seems, on the Palestinians at the expense of his previous supporters. It appears that, along with Israel and the U.S., the king is forming a Palestinian-Jordanian confederation to pre-emptively strike against the radical Islamist threat.

Gantz: Coordination with Egypt Has Gotten Better

The security coordination between Israel and Egypt has not only continued despite the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood to power but has even gotten better, IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz said on Tuesday.

Greek Jews protest TV airtime for neo-Nazi lawmakers
Recent polls indicate Golden Dawn now has 14-18% of the population’s support

The program also was condemned by the prominent Union of Athens Daily Press Journalists, and social activists have launched a social media campaign calling for a boycott of the products sold by companies that sponsor shows in which Golden Dawn members appear.

Council of Europe: Greece could ban Golden Dawn

The Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights said Tuesday that Greece has the legal right to ban the far-right Golden Dawn party, the first time an international rights organization has raised the prospect of a ban.

They love the Merkava, in Moldova

Aviel Krutinsky made aliya from Moldova in September and now lives in Eilat. Back home last year, he and his bandmates, Eugen Scobioala and Dumitru Demciuc — their band’s name is Iron Dome, for the Israeli rocket interception system — recorded their first single. It’s about an Israeli tank Krutinsky fell in love with last year.

Our man in Beirut: The remarkable story of Isaac Shushan

At the moment of Israel’s creation 65 years ago, Isaac was a Jewish refugee from an Arab country who was in a different Arab country pretending to be an Arab refugee from a Jewish country. The multiplicity of lost homes and the layers of displacement in his story contain something essential about the country he helped found — a home for homeless people — and about the wars and loss among Jews and Arabs that have been part of its existence since then. Between the lines of his account, one can also discern the idea that perhaps the easy division between Jews and Arabs might not be as firm as we tend to think.