Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Latma: Best of the Tribal Update, part 2, with closing song
Palestinian and Israeli negotiators hold clandestine talks in Jerusalem
Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, Israel’s chief envoy to peace talks, met clandestinely Tuesday morning with Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat at Jerusalem’s King David Hotel, Israeli officials said. A second meeting, which took place Tuesday evening at an undisclosed location in Jerusalem, included Washington’s point man Martin Indyk, the officials said.US letter guaranteed our preconditions, PA negotiator says
The Palestinians would not have returned to the negotiating table with Israel were it not for an American letter of assurances guaranteeing their main negotiating preconditions, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Tuesday.Embracing the Costanza Doctrine
In a lengthy interview with Nazareth-based A-Shams radio, Erekat said that the US had assured Palestinians in writing that talks would recognize the pre-1967 lines as the basis of a Palestinian state; would deal with all core issues (Jerusalem, refugees, borders, security and water); would take place within a six- to nine-month timetable; and would not allow for any provisional or interim solutions before a final status agreement was signed. Erekat also said that an American-Israeli agreement existed regarding settlements, but did not elaborate on its contents.
Unfortunately, this is nothing new. We have now had five years of an administration whose defective instincts have resulted in consistently flawed U.S. foreign policy behavior.Video shows IDF under attack during Jenin arrest
I do not believe we can afford another three more years of this. President Obama and his team need to develop a new approach for dealing with foreign policy matters.
My humble suggestion is as follows -- it is time for President Obama, and his administration, to adopt the Costanza Doctrine. It comes from the television comedy show Seinfeld. The salient principle of the Costanza Doctrine is the statement -- "(i)f every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right."
The IDF published footage Tuesday of an alleged Palestinian terrorist’s arrest, which took place in the West Bank city of Jenin before dawn and resulted in the death of a 22-year-old demonstrator. The grainy video appears to show bullets being fired at the Israeli soldiers prior to the shooting of Muhammad Anis, providing support to the IDF’s claim that the soldiers were threatened and, consequently, returned fire.SWC Blasts ‘Horrific Anti-Semitic Character’ Roger Waters as ‘Disconnected From Reality’ After BDS Call During Peace Talks
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, sharply criticized Pink Floyd musician Roger Waters Tuesday after Waters “doubled down” on his support for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel with a new call for supporters to embrace a “cultural boycott of Israel.”Tom Jones Urged to Cancel Concert in 'Apartheid' Israel
Welsh singer Tom Jones, who is set to perform in Tel Aviv in October, is facing, as many others have before him, a campaign by anti-Israel activists who are calling on him to cancel the concert.Fatah continues to glorify Saddam Hussein
According to Wales Online, a branch of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, a group which accuses Israel of ethnic cleansing and war crimes, has posted an online petition calling for Jones to cancel his October 26th appearance in Tel Aviv’s Nokia Stadium.
One of Fatah's official Facebook pages chose to glorify Saddam Hussein recently by posting the following picture with the caption: "How many people love this hero?"Kiwi Jews slam 'tasteless' Nazi memorabilia auction
The picture got 1,439 Facebook "likes" and 111 people wrote words of praise in the comments section.
This is not the first time that Saddam Hussein has been honored by Fatah. Earlier this year, Palestinian Media Watch documented that the same Fatah Facebook page posted two pictures of Saddam Hussein portraying him as a hero:
The auction of pre-1945 German military and Nazi items were up for bidding on Wednesday at Hayward's Auction House, according to the report.Photographer apologizes for nude Jewish cemetery shoot
The selection includes belts, pins, helmets and Nazi flags, the latter two which were expected to rake in between $500 and $600 for the anonymous vendor.
According to the Otago Daily Times, Australasian Union of Jewish Students Dunedin branch president Ben Isaacs responded to news of the auction, saying that the sale of anything with a swastika is harmful to the memory of those who died as a result of Nazi persecution.
Polish photographer Lukasz Szczygielski has apologized for conducting a photo shoot with a half-naked model at the Jewish cemetery in the southern Polish town of Checiny.‘Jerusalem’ rejected as baby name
Szczygielski explained that he wanted to draw attention to the neglected cemetery. “I wanted to draw attention to the neglect of the place. The cemetery is forgotten, he told Gazeta Wyborcza.
The city of Brussels refused to register the name of a locally born Israeli baby because Jerusalem does not appear on a list of approved names for children born in the country.Kurdish-Israelis Want Representation in Upcoming Conference
Hagar and Alinadav Hyman, Israelis who have lived and worked in Brussels for the last three years, decided to name their first-born Alma Jerusalem.
The Kurds are the largest indigenous Middle Eastern nation without a state. Their homeland, Kurdistan, is currently occupied by Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq. However, recent years have seen progress in the Kurdish struggle for self-determination: Kurds in Iraq enjoy autonomy under the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), Kurds in Syria have secured a degree of autonomy in Syria, and Kurds in Turkish-occupied Kurdistan are currently engaged in negotiations for greater rights.Jordanian PM: Sell future desalinated water to Israel, purchase more Kinneret water
The Kingdom of Jordan intends to sell Israel water produced by a future Jordanian desalination plant, in return for the ability to purchase an increased amount of fresh water from Israel's Kinneret reservoir, Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour declared on Monday.(h/t Zvi)What Israeli drips did for the world
When the history of the decades-old Green Revolution in Asia and Africa is written, Israel’s Netafim — the company that brought drip irrigation to the world — will be prominently featured.Tel Aviv monument to remember homosexuals persecuted by Nazis
Now, a new Netafim website documents how the company helped create the revolution, which enabled countries like India to greatly expand their crop yields and better feed their burgeoning populations.
Tel Aviv is going ahead with a plan to install a monument to the gay community persecuted by the Nazis, memorializing thousands of homosexual men who were murdered in death camps.New Book Profiles Jewish Nazi Hunter Who Aided Capture of Auschwitz Commander Rudolph Höss
The memorial is designed to be a concrete triangular slab embossed with a smaller pink triangle, reminiscent of the symbol that the Nazis forced gay men to wear on their clothes.
A new book, recently published, profiles a little known yet instrumental figure in the capture of notorious Nazi, head of the Auschwitz concentration camp, commander Rudolph Höss, the UK’s Daily Mail reported.Warsaw Uprising brought to life in stunning color film
Hanns Alexander was a German-born Jew who moved to the UK in 1936, served in the British Army in World War II and, unbeknownst to many until his death in 2006, when the details of his past were revealed in a eulogy, he worked as a translator for a team of Nazi hunters in 1945 that brought Höss to trial from which he ultimately received a death sentence for his crimes against humanity.
Rebels crouch behind barricades, dodging enemy fire. Rivers of fire belch from flamethrowers. Women and children dash across bombed-out ruins. Men pull a corpse out of rubble.
The scenes are as riveting as any Hollywood war movie. But they are snippets of historical footage from the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, enhanced by modern coloring and sound techniques — and turned into a film.
The only purely fictional elements are voiceovers presenting an imagined narrative that stitches together the footage: Two brothers scour the streets of the Polish city tasked with filming the 1944 rebellion of Warsaw residents against their Nazi occupiers, commenting on what they witness, from soup kitchens to scenes of destruction.
