tagged w/ Settlements
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Will the Arab Group prevail with its request to the UN for a halt to illegal Israeli settlement building?
It would appear that former Brazilian President Ignacio Lula da Silva had it right when he said that if progress were to be made in the Middle East conflict, then the US should recuse itself from the peace process.
As the year was nearing its end, Brazil made headlines when it declared that it was recognizing a Palestinian state, which would draw its borders to the pre-1967 war political map. It didn’t take long for others to follow suit: Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, and Ecuador either did the same, or pledged that recognition would come in 2011. A worrisome trend for Israel.
The response was swift: Israel accused Latin America of undermining the peace process by its actions, and that no Palestinian state recognition could be achieved unless it was borne of negotiations between the factions. It did not matter of course, that such talks had completely collapsed, and that the United States, despite offering Israel juicy bribes, could not convince its ally to impose a further 90-day building moratorium in Palestinian occupied land.Will the Arab Group prevail with its request to the UN for a halt to illegal Israeli... more
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JERUSALEM The United States has given written assurances to Israel that it won't pressure the Jewish state for additional settlement freezes after it accepts a limited 90-day construction moratorium to revive Mideast peace talks, an Israeli official said Saturday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned from meetings with U.S. officials with an American incentive package designed to restart the stalled Israel-Palestinian peace talks.
The Palestinians left the talks soon after they begun after a dispute over Israeli construction in the West Bank, which Palestinians claim as part of their future state.
The U.S. proposal would mean Israel would cease settlement building for 90 days in return for U.S. pledges to vetoanti-Israel resolutions at the United Nations and a fleet of next-generation stealth fighter planes.
Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/11/21/1854540/us-gave-israel-a-written-pledge.html#ixzz1734mWzYAJERUSALEM The United States has given written assurances to Israel that it won't... more
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No shame!
An Israeli army officer who fired the entire magazine of his automatic rifle into a 13-year-old Palestinian girl and then said he would have done the same even if she had been three years old was acquitted on all charges by a military court yesterday.
The soldier, who has only been identified as “Captain R”, was charged with relatively minor offences for the killing of Iman al-Hams who was shot 17 times as she ventured near an Israeli army post near Rafah refugee camp in Gaza a year ago.No shame!
An Israeli army officer who fired the entire magazine of his automatic... more
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This dancing around the issue of the peace negotiations is incomprehensible to me.
Didn't we just go through an entire series of talks between the parties concerned, first with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, then with President Obama, then with Abbas and Netanyahu with the U.S., Jordan and Saudi Arabia looking on? What on earth could be said that hasn't already been said? It is clear from the outcome of the speeches and the meetings during and after the UN General Assembly that all parties except one recommended an extension of the moratorium on settlement building. Are we together so far?
Yesterday, I heard Israeli foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman trying to express in English the position that for the period of the construction moratorium, the Palestinians "wasted time". I am not sure I understood what he meant by that. Avigdor Lieberman, in fact, represents the faction referenced to by former President Clinton, who so astutely remarked a few days ago, that Israel's Russian immigrant population is an obstacle to the Middle East peace process.This dancing around the issue of the peace negotiations is incomprehensible to me.... more
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Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu has urged the Palestinians to continue peace talks despite an end to Israel's ban on West Bank settlement-building.
In a statement moments after the end of the 10-month partial freeze, he asked Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to continue seeking a "historic" deal.
Hours later, bulldozers were reported to have begun work in two settlements.
Mr Abbas had warned that peace talks would be a "waste of time" unless the freeze was extended.
Construction work
Israeli media said bulldozers had started levelling ground for 50 homes in the settlement of Ariel in the northern West Bank.
However, construction work was expected to be slow because of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
Similar activity was also reported in the settlement of Adam, near Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, the US renewed calls for Israel to maintain the construction freeze, saying its position on the issue remained unchanged and the US state department was staying "in close touch" with all parties.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke to Mr Netanyahu and also to Tony Blair, the representative of the Middle East Quartet (the EU, Russia, the UN and US), as the end of the construction freeze neared, a spokesman said.
Israel says the settlements are no bar to continuing direct talks on key issues, and US negotiators have been working intensively to secure a deal.
On Saturday, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak told the BBC he would attempt to convince government colleagues of a compromise deal, said the chances of a deal on the issue was "50/50".
More @ Link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11415719Israel's PM Benjamin Netanyahu has urged the Palestinians to continue peace talks... more
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More than 150 Israeli academics say they will no longer lecture or work in Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
In a letter, they said they supported the recent decision by a group of actors and others not to take part in cultural activity there.
The academics said that acceptance of the settlements caused "critical" damage to Israel's chances of achieving peace with the Palestinians.
The actors were criticised for refusing to perform at a new cultural centre.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the last thing Israel needed as it resumed direct peace talks was a boycott from within.
'Stupid behaviour'
In a letter published on Sunday, the academics said they would no longer take part in any kind of cultural activity, or lecture in any kind of academic setting, in settlements built on land occupied following the Middle East war - demarcated by what is commonly known as the "Green Line".
They explained that they wanted to show support and solidarity for the 53 actors, writers and directors who last week said they would not take part in performances at the new cultural centre built in Ariel.
"We'd like to remind the Israeli public that, like all settlements, Ariel is also in occupied territory," the academics said.
"If a future peace agreement with the Palestinian authorities puts Ariel within Israel's borders, then it will be treated like any other Israeli town."
"Legitimatisation and acceptance of the settler enterprise cause critical damage to Israel's chances of achieving a peace accord with its Palestinian neighbours."
Close to 500,000 Jews live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They are considered illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.
A separate letter, signed by a number of well-known Israeli authors and artists, is expected to be published in the coming days.
Yigal Cohen-Orgad, the chancellor of the Ariel University Centre, told Haaretz newspaper on Tuesday that "stupid behaviour seems to attract academic stupidity".
Several right-wing politicians have criticised the actors, saying they are subsidised by the Israeli state and should have their funds withdrawn if they refuse to work in any settlements.More than 150 Israeli academics say they will no longer lecture or work in Jewish... more
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Four Israeli settlers and three Palestinians were wounded Monday in clashes in the northern West Bank over the forcible removal of two mobile homes of the settlers, police said.
The clashes occurred when Israeli troops removed two mobile homes in the outpost of Givat Ronen, near the Har Bracha settlement, sparking protests from Israeli settlers, who hurled rocks at Palestinian vehicles at a nearby check-point.
As troops moved in to disperse the settlers from the check-point, the latter regrouped at the nearby village of Kafr Burin--the scene of several earlier attacks by settlers--where they clashed with Palestinian villagers.
The settlers also set on fire a Palestinian field near the village of Hawarrah, south of Nablus. Smoke and flames could be seen in early afternoon on the hill leading up to Har Bracha.
"Four Israelis were wounded this morning, one of them seriously, when Palestinians attacked them with stones in Burin," a spokesman for the Israeli police said, adding that border police had intervened to restore calm.
He confirmed that two settlers were detained while protesting the removal of the mobile homes.
Both the citizens' committee and the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip said they had no hand in Monday's violence. In the evening, the committee organized a protest, in which activists blocked 13 intersections in the Samaria region from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. to condemn the demolitions.
Hardline settlers have long pursued a "price tag" policy of attacking Palestinian farms and villages to protest the military's removal of outposts of settlements.
The international community considers all Israeli settlements on the West Bank and East Jerusalem--territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 war--illegal, but the settler movement of the Jewish state is strongly opposed to any withdrawal from these areas as it views them an inseparable part of biblical Israel.
The Palestinians view the presence of a half million Israelis in more than 120 settlements scattered across the occupied territories as a severe threat to their ability to establish a viable independent state.Four Israeli settlers and three Palestinians were wounded Monday in clashes in the... more
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In this MSNBC interview about the Obama-Netanyahu meeting, Amb. Dore Gold explains that the United States and Israel are strong strategic allies. He says that Israel must clarify its policy goals, and specifically that Israel must maintain defensible borders and a united Jerusalem.
A Crisis in U.S.-Israel Relations: Have We Been Here Before?
By Dore Gold
-As a result of the June 1967 Six-Day War, Israel entered the eastern parts of Jerusalem and the West Bank in a war of self-defense. It is very important to recall that Israel entered these areas after it was attacked, and after it requested that the Jordanians not join the Egyptian war effort. There were Jordanian artillery attacks throughout Jerusalem and all of Israel, as well as movement of Jordanian ground forces into areas that were previously no-man's land.
-There is presently a marked shift underway in U.S. policy on Jerusalem. True, no U.S. administration accepted Israel's annexation of Jerusalem in July 1967. Nonetheless, in the past we saw the U.S. and Israel coming to a modus vivendi with respect to Israeli policy in Jerusalem, when Israel built various neighborhoods in the eastern parts of the city, from Ramat Eshkol to Gilo to Ramot.
-A neighborhood called Har Homa in southeastern Jerusalem was established in 1997 during the Clinton administration to ease the considerable shortage of housing in the Jewish sector. On two occasions, the Arab bloc initiated a draft resolution in the UN Security Council to condemn Israel for constructing Har Homa. On both occasions, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, Bill Richardson, vetoed those resolutions under instructions from the Clinton administration.
-The Oslo Agreements in 1993 do not require a freeze on construction in the neighborhoods of Jerusalem. Furthermore, under the Oslo Agreements, Jerusalem was treated as having a completely different status than the West Bank and the city was kept under Israeli control, while seen as an issue for permanent status negotiations in the future.
-It is possible to discern a growing view, which has been reported in the Washington Post, that the Obama administration intends to put on the table its own plan for Middle East peace, based on a nearly full Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 lines, that most Israeli planners view as militarily indefensible. As the Palestinians see this scenario unfold, their incentive to re-enter negotiations will decline as they look forward to the prospect that an American peace plan will be imposed. If indeed there is such a plan being prepared, then the recent U.S.-Israel tensions over construction in east Jerusalem may only be Act I in a much longer drama that the two countries are about to face.
Please read the full article:
http://jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=1&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=376&PID=0&IID=3655&TTL=A_Crisis_in_U.S.-Israel_Relations:_Have_We_Been_Here_Before?In this MSNBC interview about the Obama-Netanyahu meeting, Amb. Dore Gold explains... more
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This past week, UN chief Ban Ki-moon voiced his concern that an Israeli plan to raze 22 Arab homes to make way for an archaeological park in annexed east Jerusalem is unhelpful and against international law.This past week, UN chief Ban Ki-moon voiced his concern that an Israeli plan to raze... more
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News about Israel today is dominated by headlines pointing to the "greatest rift in decades". I find it hard to believe that one of America's most special relationships is really in existential peril...but things don't look great between the two nations.
Last week, as Biden was in Israel discouraging settlement building, the government announced 1600 new settlements in East Jerusalem. The Obama Adminstration is more than a little miffed. And though Netanyahu's government has apologized for the *timing* of the announcement, they don't seem near to reversing the decision.
From Voice of America:
"The Israeli leader said Israel has been building in mostly Arab East Jerusalem for the past 40 years and no Israeli leader during that time has stopped it. Mr. Netanyahu said building Jewish neighborhoods on the land, in his words, in no way has hurt the Arabs of East Jerusalem, and he said the construction did not come at their expense."
(Link: http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/middle-east/Israel-Tries-to-Defuse-Crisis-with-US-87665107.html)
So what happens if nobody gives? Is Israel really in a position to distance itself from the US? Is the Obama Administration really in a position to risk its closest ally in the Middle East? Or is this a bunch of hullabaloo over nothing?News about Israel today is dominated by headlines pointing to the "greatest rift... more
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Former NFL star Michael Irvin has been accused of raping a woman in 2007 in a civil suit filed Thursday in Broward Circuit Court, according to the Miami Herald
Ex-Cowboy Michael Irvin Accused Of Rape at Super Bowl XLIV …Irvin (VIDEO)...http://ctpatriot1970.wordpress.com/2010/02/05/ex-cowboy-michael-irvin-accused-of-rape-at-super-bowl-xliv-irvin-video/
No criminal charges were ever filed, though a Broward state attorney’s office spokesman says they are looking into it and could reach a decision next week.
The alleged attack reportedly took place at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on July 4th or 5th in 2007, though the unnamed woman did not report it to Seminole police until July 20.Former NFL star Michael Irvin has been accused of raping a woman in 2007 in a civil... more
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in the interest of creating peace between israel and the palastinians, israel removed thousands of jewish settlers from gaza in order to give it back to the palastinians only to recieve more palastinian rocket fire and jewish settler frustration. settlement building, and relocation is destroying jewish and arab lives alike.in the interest of creating peace between israel and the palastinians, israel removed... more
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The Associated Press-By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH
RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestinians should give up seeking an independent state and pursue a single country in which they would enjoy equal rights with Israelis, the chief Palestinian negotiator in Mideast peace talks said Wednesday.
The remark by Saeb Erekat was not a novel idea — prominent Palestinians, including past negotiators, have floated it before, usually when efforts to achieve a negotiated solution to the decades old-conflict with Israel are faltering as they are now.
Barack Obama's push to restart the peace talks has faltered, largely due to disagreements over further construction of Israeli settlements in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, lands the Palestinians want for their hoped-for state.
Some 500,000 Israelis now live in the West Bank and east Jerusalem in settlements built by Israel since capturing the territories in 1967. Israel promised to halt all settlement activity in a 2003 peace plan, but construction has never stopped.
Israel has rebuffed calls from the Obama administration to freeze all settlement construction, instead offering to limit it in the West Bank while retaining the right to continue building in Jerusalem.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he will not resume negotiations until all settlement construction stops.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has spent much of this week seeking to clarify the American position.The Associated Press-By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH
RAMALLAH, West Bank — The... more
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On 11th October 2009, activists protested inside Sainsbury’s on Cromwell Street, West London to highlight the sale of Israeli and illegal Settlement produce by both Sainsbury’s and other major supermarket chains across the UK.On 11th October 2009, activists protested inside Sainsbury’s on Cromwell Street,... more
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Palestine normally is on the news only when there is a rebellion or an Israeli attack. But Palestine exists even when the media do not talk at all about it and must face enormous problems every day. In the West Bank the construction of the wall and Israeli settlements continue to make daily life almost impossible for the Palestinians who live nearby.Palestine normally is on the news only when there is a rebellion or an Israeli attack.... more
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Former Arkansas governor and presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee says the US has taken too harsh a stance against Israel on the issue of settlements.
Huckabee: US policy on Israeli settlements like racial segregation
Huckabee said the US should not "be telling Jewish people in Israel where they should and should not live."Former Arkansas governor and presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee says the US has taken... more
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The former Israeli Defense Forces Military attorney explains the definitions of "occupation," vis a vis Israel.The former Israeli Defense Forces Military attorney explains the definitions of... more
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