Thursday, November 07, 2013
Tom Gross: Scenes yesterday afternoon from a “moderate” Palestinian university
Al-Quds is a Palestinian university in east Jerusalem. It is often hailed as a “liberal” or “moderate” university by western diplomats and journalists.EU MP: We Froze Aid Money PA Was Using for Terror
Academics and students (including, quite possibly, some in these photos) have received and continue to receive grants from European governments, charities and foundations. Al-Quds University is also currently in partnership with liberal (and largely Jewish) institutions in the U.S., including Brandeis University and Bard College.
I would urge you to take a quick look at these photos. These kinds of scenes can be seen regularly at Palestinian universities and elsewhere in the West Bank but Western news organizations strenuously avoid reporting on them.
As long as the Palestinian Authority encourages such demonstrations and the university authorities tolerate them, it is doubtful there can ever be peace between Palestinians and Israelis. Peace which presumably we all want.
After the meeting, Susy de Martini, a European Parliament MP and member of the Parliament's budgeting committee, said that “the EU should not be funding these anti-Israel groups and activities. From what I understand, the EU recently made a decision to freeze money being sent to the Palestinians because we found that some of that money was being used to fund terror.Palestinian Hatred is the True Obstacle to Peace
“I believe that the EU needs to be friendlier to Israel and to those who are interested in real peace in the region,” de Martini added. “Economic stability is as important as political stability. I am a friend of Israel and I hope the relationship between Israel and the EU improves.”
The rambunctious Israeli press, politicians, and public cover the political spectrum, and aren’t shy about disagreeing with government positions regarding the peace process. An alphabet-soup of Jewish and Israeli organizations regularly protests government policy.Missing Peace: Israeli goodwill measures and Palestinian intransigence
By contrast, where is the Palestinian dissenting opinion? Where are the Arabic opinion columns arguing that Jews aren’t treacherous devils? That Jews have a deep and ancient connection to the land? That blowing up Israeli cafes and buses is inherently wrong? That real peace with a Jewish Israel isn’t an entirely bad idea? That peace may require that not all of the millions of descendants of 1948 refugees be able to settle in Israel?
Where is the Palestinian Peace Now? The Arab Voice for Peace? P-Street? The Palestinian movement to boycott and divest from Palestinian entities until terror and violence against Israelis is ended?
Curbing Palestinian incitement would go a long way toward peaceful coexistence. But incitement is only a symptom; the uniformly anti-Israel monopoly on Arab and Palestinian opinion is the bigger problem.
The atmosphere surrounding the current peace talks between the Palestinian Authority and Israel seems to be poisoned since the release of 26 Palestinian prisoners who were convicted of serious crimes, such as murder. The release was part of a deal that was reached with the US administration prior to the renewed negotiations.Two-State Paradigm 'Unworkable'
Many in Israel were outraged by the prisoner release which took place despite continuing Palestinian terror and incitement against Israel.
For these and other reasons, Inbar said, the current situation – a status quo in which the PA controls the civil life of Arabs in its jurisdiction, with Israel responsible for overall security – is the best solution for everyone. “It's good not just for Israelis, but for Palestinians, too,” he said. “The Palestinians look at the failed Arab states” like Syria and Egypt “and understand that things could be much worse for them.”Oslo Architect: No Repeat of Past Mistakes
And it's not just Israel and the PA that have come to this conclusion, Inbar said: Slowly, the rest of the world is coming to realize that the current status is the most workable one for the long term. “The Palestinian issue is becoming less important on the international stage,” he added, “and as a result there is less pressure on Israel to agree to setting up a PA state.”
Doctor Yair Hirschfeld of Haifa University, one of the architects of the Oslo Accords, has admitted that "mistakes were made" in the plan, and expressed his opinion that the current round of peace talks with the Palestinians will not end with the signing of a comprehensive agreement.Kerry: US considers Israeli settlements to be 'illegitimate'
Regarding Oslo, Hirschfeld said he sees it as an important part in the process of the "two state solution," however he admits that the the process saw mistakes and problems from both sides.
"Let me emphasize at this point the position of the United States of America on the settlements is that we consider them... to be illegitimate," Kerry said after discussions with Palestinian PresidentKerry pledges $75m. more in US aid to Palestinians
US Secretary of State John Kerry says the United State will provide an additional $75 million in aid to create Palestinian jobs and help them improve roads, schools and other infrastructure.Israel: Arafat 'Poisoning' Sounds More Like a Soap Opera
US officials say the aid is designed to boost Palestinian public support for faltering peace talks with Israel by showing them tangible benefits from the process. (h/t Herb Glatter)
In response, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told the BBC, "This is more soap opera than science."Arafat polonium — junk science
Palmor said the investigations had been commissioned by "interested parties" such as Arafat's widow and the Palestinian Authority and had "never bothered" to look for some key data.
"The other huge hole in the theory is the absence of all access to the French hospital where Arafat died and to Arafat's medical files," said Palmor.
"How can the cause of death be determined without the opinion of the doctors or the results of the medical tests they ran on the patient? Israel doesn't feel concerned in the least,” he told the BBC.
With the most amazing measuring equipment, in the most physically shielded room possible, you couldn’t find a piece of radioactive Polonium-210 eight years after it was made. Looking for some in an exhumed body or belongs is astonishing.Lieberman Acquitted, Will Return to Foreign Ministry
The decay products of Polonium-210 are not uncommon enough to look for either.
There’s no way on earth this lab found anything scientifically significant in the corpse of Arafat (hence their very cagy language).
Arafat died of natural causes, Aids or something else: releasing an unedited version of his medical records would go a long way to solving this little mystery. Certainly that would do more than a pseudo-sicence dance in Switzerland. No matter what his widow and his adoring terrorist friends would like to think.
In a unanimous verdict, a three-judge panel on Wednesday acquitted former Israeli foreign minister and Yisrael Beiteinu party chairman Avigdor Lieberman of corruption charges, Israel Hayom reported.Report: IDF Deems Hebrew U Area Unsafe for Soldiers
“I congratulate you on your acquittal and I am pleased with your return to the Israeli cabinet so that we can continue to work together for the benefit of Israel,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who on Sunday will ask his cabinet to reinstate Lieberman as foreign minister.
The report revealed that the IDF base in the area now locks its gate at 6 p.m. From that point on, soldiers are allowed to leave the base only in secure convoys.Palestinian man allegedly tries to run over IDF officer
During the day, soldiers are not allowed to leave on foot at all.
The new regulations were put into place following an attack on two female IDF commanders. The two women were targeted by an Arab gang throwing firebombs as they drove near the base.
An IDF officer was nearly run over early Thursday morning while conducting operations in the West Bank. The incident near the West Bank village of Naalin occurred during a security sweep of the area.Smuggling Into Gaza By Sea On the Rise
The officer, a company commander, was standing outside his vehicle during the operation when a Palestinian driver allegedly attempted to ram him. Soldiers opened fire at the car, and the driver fled. The vehicle was found abandoned several hours later.
As a result of the closure of many underground tunnels into Gaza, smuggling of weapons into Gaza by sea is on the rise, The Israel Navy thwarts many smuggling attempts into Gaza. Navy soldiers have noticed that one thing is missing: no vessels have arrived with medicine or humanitarian goods.Senior IDF Commander: Hezbollah’s Battle Tactics Spreading to Syria
Hezbollah is transferring its knowledge of warfare to Syria, teaching its Syrian allies to fight underground and lay bombs along Israel’s border. As the cooperation between Hezbollah and Syria grows stronger, the IDF is preparing for a different kind of war in the north.Former Jordanian MP Yaq'ub Qarash Glorifies Jihad and Martyrdom on PA TV, States: The Israelis "Can Only Survive as Nazis" VIDEO
The [Jews] want everything, although they have no religious rights. They want to prove myths, elevating them above the truth, although these are nothing but myths that they fabricated and now believe in. By Allah, if that [Wailing] Wall really was part of a temple, I am certain that the companions of the Prophet would have honored that. The Islamic nation is known for never having desecrated a synagogue or a church. It is a fact, however, that they do not have any rights. We confront myths.J'lem court convicts Islamic Movement leader for incitement to violence
The prosecution also said that Salah made references to blood-libel against Jews as the basis for a separate claim against him for racist incitement.John Bolton: Obama Should Listen to Saudi Arabia
In his speech, Salah said that he and other Muslims never made their Ramadan bread with the blood of children, adding, "whoever wants a more comprehensive explanation, should ask what happened to some of the European children whose blood was mixed with flour for use in holy bread."
Salah's lawyer successfully convinced the court on this point that Salah's words on the blood libel issue were potentially open to multiple interpretations, including to the Christian crusaders killing of children in Europe.
As a result, the court convicted Salah of incitement to violence, but not racist incitement.
The Saudis have been entirely candid: They think the Security Council is broken. For nearly three years Riyadh has watched Moscow and Beijing stymie every effort to have the Security Council weigh in against Syria’s Assad regime, while U.S. diplomacy has been inconsistent and ineffective. Weak American policies toward Iran, moreover, combined with Russian and Chinese political cover for Tehran, have largely rendered the council a bystander to the Iranian nuclear problem. Now, with President Obama yearning for a negotiated “resolution” of Iran’s nuclear weapons threat, the Saudis have snapped.Iran says nuclear deal possible this week
Make no mistake: For Saudi Arabia as well as Israel, an Iranian nuclear weapon constitutes an existential threat. The dangers are as great for Riyadh as for Jerusalem, and very similar in nature: a religious conflict that has existed almost since the birth of Islam, ancient ethnic disagreements, and the continuing inability to establish stable conditions for regional peace and security. That is why, if necessary, the Saudis (and most other Gulf Arab states) would privately welcome an Israeli military strike against Iran’s nuclear weapons program. The Arab governments will not say so publicly and, if Israel did attack, would likely join the international chorus of disapproval. But I for one would dearly love to see the private message that Saudi Arabia’s king would transmit to Bibi Netanyahu after a successful Israeli strike.
A second round of talks between Iran and the West kicked off in Geneva Thursday, with the Iranian foreign minister saying that a deal over his country’s controversial nuclear program could be reached by week’s end, if all parties strove to reach that goal.Israel preemptively opposes new Iran proposal
“If everyone tries their best we may have one,” Mohammad Javad Zarif was quoted by Reuters as saying. “We expect serious negotiations. It’s possible.”
Israel is reportedly urging its Western allies to reject an expected proposal to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for limited relief from crippling economic sanctions.Iranian Nobel Laureate Criticizes 'Moderate' Rouhani
“Israel in the last few hours has learned that a proposal will be brought before the P5+1 in Geneva in which Iran will cease all enrichment at 20 percent and slow down work on the heavy water reactor in Arak, and will receive in return the easing of sanctions,” an Israeli official told AFP Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Israel thinks this is a bad deal and will oppose it strongly,” the official added.
Iranian Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi has strongly criticized the human rights record of Iran’s new President Hassan Rouhani, whom the West has touted as a “moderate”.
As part of his efforts to woo both Iranians and the West, Rouhani has previously said that a strong government does not “limit the lives of the people and has claimed that he believed social networking sites such as Facebook were a welcome phenomenon.
Ebadi, however, is not buying the new president’s seemingly moderate statements. Speaking to The Associated Press, she cited a dramatic increase in executions since Rouhani took office this year and accused the government of lying about the release of political prisoners.
