Monday, September 02, 2013
PMW: Official PA daily accuses the US of being behind civil wars in Syria, Egypt, and 9/11 attacks
Since the beginning of what is called the ‘Arab Spring’, the official Palestinian Authority daily has been publishing opinion pieces accusing the US and Israel of being behind the civil wars in the Middle East in order to divide and weaken Arab states and strengthen American power. The deaths in the Arab world, including those in Syria following the chemical attack, are presented as actions in line with US policy. The official PA daily wrote today:Abbas: We are negotiating on the basis of the pre-1967 lines
“Events of mass killings do not upset [America] because they themselves have used killing as a means and a strategy to attain global domination… This is a tyranny and an effort whose goal is to divide every country… Americans aspire to topple the nation states that appeared in the Arab world after WWII.”
Abbas said he agreed to July’s resumption of talks “only once he’d received an official US guarantee that negotiations would be on a two-state solution based on the pre-1967 lines,” the report said. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had emphatically refused Abbas’s demand, ahead of the talks, to publicly state that negotiations for a Palestinian state would be based on the pre-’67 lines, and the United States has not made public any assurances it may have made on the issue to Abbas.Abbas says peace with Israel will be brought to a referendum for Palestinians 'everywhere'
Abbas also reportedly told the Fatah officials that the Palestinians are maintaining their demand that East Jerusalem be the capital of a future Palestinian state, a condition he called a “red line.”
Israel’s President Shimon Peres said Monday that Netanyahu had decided that Israel’s interests require a two-state solution, hence his readiness to resume negotiations with Abbas. Netanyahu had taken a “difficult decision” to restart talks with the Palestinians, said Peres, “and I respect that. I don’t believe he took it as an isolated step. He decided upon two states and no less important he decided against a bi-national state.”
Abbas, who was speaking at the opening of a meeting of the Fatah Revolutionary Council in Ramallah, said that Palestinians everywhere would be asked to approve an agreement with Israel through the referendum.U.S. Reveals: Indyk Took Part in One Peace Meeting
"If there is any development and an agreement, it is known that we will go to a referendum," Abbas clarified. "It won't be enough to have the approval of the Fatah Central Committee or the PLO Executive Council for an agreement. Rather, we would go to a referendum everywhere because the agreement represents Palestinians everywhere."
Abbas's calls for a referendum echo those on the Israeli side that any final status agreement with the Palestinians be put to a referendum. The Palestinian leader made similar comments regarding a referendum in an interview with a Jordanian newspaper in July.
The U.S. State Department revealed on Sunday for the first time that the U.S. envoy to the Israeli-Palestinian Authority talks had taken part in a meeting between the two parties since negotiations resumed in late July.Abbas cancels goodwill meeting with leftist MKs
"The negotiations have been serious, and U.S. Special Envoy Martin Indyk and his team have been fully briefed on the bilateral talks and also participated in a bilateral negotiating session," said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki. "As we have said in the past, we are not planning to read out the details of these meetings."
The State Department decided to make the disclosure regarding Israeli-Palestinian Authority negotiations after media attention about their course was overshadowed by the violent crackdown on Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and the Syrian government’s alleged use of chemical weapons against its people.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas canceled a pre-Rosh Hashana toast with more than 30 ministers and Knesset members that was set for Tuesday because he came under pressure from the anti-normalization movement in Ramallah.Analysis: The Hamas threat from the West Bank
Abbas invited the Knesset’s Caucus on Ending the Israeli- Arab Conflict to his headquarters in Ramallah after a Palestinian delegation was greeted by 30 MKs and ministers and a Palestinian flag at the Knesset on July 31. That meeting emphasized the need to have a show of force in Ramallah to boost the nascent Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
But the anti-normalization movement, which is strong inside Abbas’s Fatah party, criticized him for meeting such a high-profile Israeli delegation so soon after the IDF killed Palestinians in recent incidents in Jenin and Kalandiya. They also did not like it that he was hosting a toast in honor of the Jewish New Year.
There have been at least three known arrests of Hamas terror cells in the West Bank this year, prior to the latest investigation.Two bombs explode near IDF patrol on Gaza border
They all form part of a broader effort by it to recover its West Bank infrastructure, which was all but destroyed by Israel’s counter-terror operations a decade ago.
These incidents raise an unavoidable question: Can a future attack, one that isn’t thwarted, have direct repercussions on current relative calm between Israel and Gaza? To what extent are these two arenas interlinked? So far, these questions have not been put to the test, thanks to the lifesaving efficiency of the Shin Bet.
A similar incident took place Friday, when an IED exploded near an IDF patrol traveling along the Gaza border fence. No soldiers were injured in Friday’s incident.Robert Fisk finds Zionist smoking gun in likely U.S. attack against Syria
Aside from isolated rocket fire attributed to rogue Islamist groups, the border between Israel and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip has largely been calm since the ceasefire that ended last November’s Operation Pillar of Defense.
In addition to the obvious point that Iran, since the 1979 revolution, has been America’s enemy as well as Israel’s, even by the low standards of anti-Zionist agitprop, Fisk’s thesis rests on a comically thin argument. He would have Indy readers believe that the U.S. decision to engage in what will almost certainly be a very limited use of force against a few military targets in Syria, in retaliation for crossing President Obama’s red line over chemical weapons, actually represents a stealth plan to aid Israel.92-year-old former SS member on trial for WWII crime
It’s unclear of course how a few cruise missiles launched against Syrian chemical weapons sites would change the balance of power in the civil war, or even minimally disrupt Iran’s continuing military support for the regime in Damascus, or how any of this would affect Israel’s efforts to rein in Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. However, to those preaching to the anti-Zionist choir – and engaging in the facile “who benefits?” causation – such pesky questions regarding empirical evidence are obviously never relevant.
Germany put a 92-year-old former member of the Nazi Waffen SS on trial Monday on charges that he murdered a Dutch resistance fighter in 1944.Autotalks to get cars ‘talking’ on the road by 2015
Dutch-born Siert Bruins, who is now German, entered the Hagen state courtroom using a walker, but appeared alert and attentive as the proceedings opened.
For drivers, overtaking a truck is always a risk. Now, the latest craze of the auto technology arena, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication systems – or, cars that can “talk” to one another in real time – is promising to lessen that risk and heighten road safety.Gauzy Smart Glass Controls Light with an Eco Touch
Autotalks, founded and headquartered in Israel, has become a world leader in V2V as well as vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) technology, which enables, for example, traffic lights and other infrastructure to respond to an emergency vehicle’s needs.
Israeli startup Gauzy has invented smart glass that goes from transparent to opaque with nothing more than a touch. Based on liquid crystal technology used in LCD screens, this revolutionary new product has great eco potential.New pathway to treat colorectal cancer, pulmonary fibrosis
Founded in 2009 by CEO Eyal Peso and CTO Adrian Lofer, who worked together at Alvarion, Gauzy aims to revolutionize the glass industry by introducing products that can control how much light passes through.
A type of white blood cell called a macrophage is one tricky customer. Expose macrophages to a certain stimulus and they’ll promote healing. But expose them to a different stimulus and they actually make the condition worse.Who wants to be a (Technion) millionaire?
A team of Israeli researchers is making unprecedented progress in mapping the mechanism of these “good guy, bad guy” cells and understanding their role in the progression of two deadly diseases: colorectal cancer and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), an incurable lung condition.
If you ever wondered about how to get rich, it turns out you should go to Haifa and walk through the gates of the Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology. In a new list published by Bloomberg Rankings, the Technion tied for seventh among the world's universities for the number of graduates who are CEOs of U.S. tech companies with a market value of more than $1 billion.Israel Daily Picture: Happy New Year! Jews Will Blow the Shofar (Ram's Horn) in Synagogues on Thursday and Friday
Among the top 10 universities on the list, the Technion is the only one located outside the U.S.
Jews around the world prepare for Rosh Hashanna this week, the festive New Year holiday when the shofar -- ram's horn -- is blown in synagogues.BBC: The Story Of The Jews
The American Colony photographers recorded a dozen pictures of Jewish elders blowing the shofar in Jerusalem some 80 years ago. The horn was also blown in Jerusalem to announce the commencement of the Sabbath. During the month prior to Rosh Hashana, the shofar was blown at daily morning prayers to encourage piety before the High Holidays.
This epic five-part series presented by historian Simon Schama explores the story of the Jewish experience from ancient times to the present day.
(Video might be taken down by YouTube)
