Wednesday, November 27, 2013
UN to name 2014 as 'International Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People'
The United Nations decided on Tuesday to declare 2014 as the "International "Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People".PLO official: PA will join ICC if peace talks fail
The UN adopted the draft resolution - in a 110-7 vote, with 56 member states abstaining - among five others that were blasted by Israel for promoting within the body antagonistic biases against the country.
If Israel continues to "impede peace talks," the Palestinian Authority will join more UN organizations, including the International Criminal Court, PLO official Nabil Shaath told Palestinian news agency Ma'an on Tuesday.3 terror suspects killed by police, Shin Bet near Hebron
“There are 35 conventions that do not need approval to join, on top of them is the Rome Statuette,” Shaath said, referring to the 1998 treaty which established the ICC.
Three Palestinians suspected of planning to carry out terror attacks against Israeli civilians were killed Tuesday during a joint Shin Bet and Israel Police operation in the West Bank town of Yatta, south of Hebron, the army said. The operation marked a sharp departure from the disorganized, home-grown terror of recent weeks.Gazan captured inside Israel with grenade
Two of the suspects, whom the army said were members of a “Salafist jihadi” group, were shot dead in their car after they refused to surrender themselves to security forces. They were carrying “explosive devices and 2 handguns,” the army said in a statement. A third man was killed in a gun battle “following a hot pursuit,” IDF spokesman Peter Lerner said.
A Palestinian man from Gaza was caught by security forces Tuesday morning inside Israeli territory with a fragmentation grenade in his possession, the IDF said.5 Israeli Arab teens charged with firebombing IDF base
The man crossed the border fence between Israel and Gaza, but was apprehended after a short manhunt near the Israeli kibbutz of Kfar Aza. He was taken for questioning. The infiltration marks the latest in a series of successful and attempted attacks from Gaza in recent months.
Five teenagers from the Arab neighborhood of Issawiya in East Jerusalem were brought before the Jerusalem District Court on Wednesday and charged with throwing Molotov cocktails at an IDF base in the capital.Arab IDF Soldier Gets Medal for Killing Terrorist
According to the indictment, the youths, all aged 14 or 15, were behind several attacks over the past few months on the Ofrit base and on vehicles leaving it to travel along a road that passes around the Hebrew University campus on Mount Scopus.
In October, an Arab terrorist drove a tractor into an IDF base near Ramallah trying to run over soldiers. Private G. and munitions officer Lt. Shachar Vaknin killed the terrorist.Douglas Murray: William Hague’s appeasement of Iran’s mullahs is a historic and terrible mistake
Private G., a Christian Arab, prefers to not have his name mentioned, so he won’t have problems in the Arab village in northern Israel where he lives.
The mullahs did not come to Geneva because they wished to give up their capability. And they did not come to the table because after 34 years of revolutionary Islamic governance they have seen the error of their ways. They came because international sanctions were beginning to hurt. Those sanctions – which took years to put in place – have now fallen apart thanks to a few days of incompetent negotiating on the part of the P5+1 plus some simple common sense from Tehran. People tend to say at this stage that the Iranians are ‘master negotiators’. They aren’t especially. They are simply fortunate to be playing against Catherine Ashton and a generation of other weak and short-sighted American and British politicians.Britain to Israel: Don't undermine Iran nuclear deal
As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly announces Israel is not bound to nuclear deal signed between world powers and Iran in Geneva, the West now cautions Netanyahu of carrying out an operation that would challenge the deal he dubbed "a historic mistake".Barry Rubin: How U.S Policy Is Betraying Not Only Israel, but also Sunni Arabs
Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Monday that Israel should avoid taking any action that would undermine the interim nuclear agreement reached between Iran and world powers. (h/t MtTB)
But that's not all; consider what the U.S. has done to Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. It is probable that Iran is going to give Syria a victory in the civil war. The fact is that Iran, Hizballah, and the Syrian government are on one side, and Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey have been on the other side. But now, in essence, the U.S. has objectively sided with Iran, and that is one of the reasons that the Saudis are angry. Here is what the Saudi ambassador to England, Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz, said:Elliott Abrams: Is the Iran deal really a deal at all?
"Appeasement hasn't worked in the past, and I don't think it will work in the 21st century," he was quoted as saying. "That is why the frustration really is toward the main players within the United Nations Security Council, that's their responsibility. And they will share also the blame, whatever deal comes out, they are responsible for it."
There are many arguments today about the substance of the agreement between Iran and the P5+1. But there is a prior question: Is there really an agreement at all?Iran: Construction will continue at Arak nuclear site
Looking at the text of the "agreement," the most striking thing is the conditional or aspirational language.
The Obama administration should clarify whether that is or is not the case, because the entire "agreement" can be hung up over that negotiation over implementation. The "agreement" does not appear to be binding on any party, which is convenient for the Obama administration in one way: No one can argue that it is a form of treaty that must be approved by the Senate.
The uncompleted heavy-water research reactor emerged as one of several crucial issues in negotiations in Geneva last week, when Iran agreed with six world powers to curb Tehran's nuclear program for six months in return for limited sanctions relief.Iran nuclear deal 'loophole' may allow off-site reactor work
Iran said it would not make "any further advances of its activities" on the Arak reactor, according to text of the agreement.
"The capacity at the Arak site is not going to increase. It means no new nuclear fuel will be produced and no new installations will be installed, but construction will continue there," Zarif told parliament in translated comments broadcast on Iran's Press TV.
Sunday's agreement to curb Iran's nuclear program contains an apparent gap that could allow Tehran to build components off-site to install later in a nuclear reactor where it has promised to halt work, experts said.Iran rejects US’s ‘one-sided’ version of nuclear deal
They said any impact of the omission is likely to be small if Iran follows other undertakings in the interim accord, which is designed to restrain Tehran's nuclear program for six months in return for limited sanctions relief.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday firmly criticized the White House for publishing what it said was a false version of the interim nuclear agreement reached early Sunday between Iran and the six world powers.MEMRI: The Geneva Agreement: The Path To Historic Changes In The Middle East, Led By The U.S. Administration
“What has been released by the website of the White House as a fact sheet is a one-sided interpretation of the agreed text in Geneva and some of the explanations and words in the sheet contradict the text of the Joint Plan of Action, and this fact sheet has unfortunately been translated and released in the name of the Geneva agreement by certain media, which is not true,” said a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman in Tehran, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.
Moreover, Iran will use its nuclear hegemony status, the legitimacy of its regime, and the hand that President Obama has extended to it in order to advance its status on the strategic and international level – but will not do this in cooperation with the U.S. This is because ideologically, Iran strives to change the global world order that is led by the U.S., and is seeking a status equal to or greater than that of today's superpowers.After Iran Nuclear Deal, White House Tries to Assuage Jewish Groups
Furthermore, this historic move by Obama will lead to regional instability. It will not assuage the existing tensions and conflicts; it will only inflame them, and this exacerbation will take the form of violent actions both in the region and outside it.
The White House officials, according to Hoenlein, in some cases “indicated that these are issues they will address in the coming months and the next stage, and this is only an interim agreement, and we only learned yesterday that in fact [the agreement] doesn’t go into effect right now, it only goes into effect once the joint commission [to monitor the agreement’s implementation] is established, once the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) is able to verify that Iran is living up to its commitment.”Charles Krauthammer: Worst since Munich
Hoenlein said that after the conference calls, Jewish leaders “understand [the deal] better, and that was the purpose.” Yet there is “every reason to be skeptical when you’re dealing with the Iranians,” he said.
Charles Krauthammer says he believes President Barack Obama’s deal with Iran is “the worst deal since Munich.”Rouhani says Geneva nuclear deal increased Israel's isolation
“This is a sham from beginning to end. It’s the worst deal since Munich,” Krauthammer said on Fox News “Special Report” on Monday. “It’s really hard to watch the president and the secretary of state and not think how they cannot be embarrassed by this deal.”
“Many were trying to isolate Iran, but who is isolated today? Our enemies are in fact isolated,” the Iranian president said, according to Iran's PressTV.Senior Iranian MP: Israel’s ‘Unconcealed Rage’ Over Nuclear Deal Shows Success of Geneva Agreement
While he did not mention Israel specifically, he used a language commonly used by Arab nations to describe it, speaking of "an illegitimate, occupier regime."
Speaking to reporters, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, chairman of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, said Israeli officials “were unable to conceal their rage” over the deal.Saudis angry after Obama turns both cheeks
FARS said “the anger of the Zionists (about the newly signed nuclear deal) shows the extent of the success of the Geneva agreement.”
The Sunni world is going crazy and the Shiite world is pinching itself in disbelief. Washington has in fact begun a retreat from the Middle East, but it could still change the balance of power in the region during the withdrawal. Obama, as was predicted at the start of his first term, is truly a magician. In accordance with his outlook, Obama has succeeded in turning the bad in our region into good, and the good into bad. Since Israel was first on the good side, that means it is actually now on the bad side.Riyadh Makes Cautious Statement on Iran Deal as Saudi Newspaper Cartoons Ridicule Talks
The Saudi Arabian government broke its silence on the six-month deal to lift sanctions on the Iran regime reached at the weekend, with a terse statement after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday in Riyadh. Meanwhile, the country’s newspapers ridiculed the agreement in very critical political cartoons.Egypt's Latest Fatwas from Salafis and Brotherhood
The study similarly revealed that some of these fatwas decreed that women who swim in the sea are committing "adultery" -- even if they wear a hijab: "The reason behind this particular fatwa, from their point of view, is that the sea is masculine [as with many other languages, Arabic nouns are gender specific, and "sea" is masculine], and when the water touches the woman's private parts she becomes an 'adulteress' and should be punished."Pro-Morsi Egyptians to Picket Thanksgiving Day Parade in NYC
Moreover, "Some of these fatwas also forbade women from eating certain vegetables or even touching cucumbers or bananas," due to their phallic imagery, which may tempt women to deviate.
A group of Egyptians sympathetic to former President Mohmamed Morsi are gearing up to stage a demonstration along the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade route in New York City, according to organizers.
Several hundred activists are expected to show up to the march, which is being called “Rabaa on Thanksgiving in Manhattan.”
