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Jews build 'Museum of Tolerance' on 1,000s of Arab graves

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Wednesday, February 17, 2010 10:42 AM

GINOBIFFARONI


Israel makes life very hard for Palestinians, says ICRC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8519921.stm

Israeli restrictions make normal life "close to impossible" for many West Bank Palestinians, the International Committee of the Red Cross has said.

Some Palestinians are often unable to reach a hospital or visit relatives, while 50% live in poverty, it said.

They are also frequently harassed by Jewish settlers, the organisation said.

An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman said the ICRC had ignored statements by the Palestinian Authority that West Bank residents lived a "normal life".

Whilst the economy has shown some signs of growth, the ICRC statement said restrictions linked to Israeli settlements had deprived many Palestinian farmers of their land.


We reiterate our call on Israel to do more to protect Palestinians in the West Bank against settler violence
Beatrice Megevand-Roggo
ICRC

Israeli settlers 'still building'

It said attacks and harassment by settlers prevented many farmers from cultivating their own land, and some 10,000 Palestinian olive trees had been cut down or burned in the past three years.

"The ICRC has repeatedly called for action to be taken to allow Palestinians to live their lives in dignity," said ICRC head of operations in the Middle East, Beatrice Megevand-Roggo.

"We reiterate our call on Israel to do more to protect Palestinians in the West Bank against settler violence, to safeguard their land and crops, to allow families to repair their houses and to assure that all Palestinians can get to hospital or to school without delay."

Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said the report ignored official PA figures which showed the economic situation had "improved remarkably" over the past year.

He also referred to comments by PA President Mahmoud Abbas to the Washington Post in May 2009, where he said "in the West Bank, we have a good reality, the people are living a normal life".

In November, the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a 10-month cessation of building new settlements in the West Bank, a precondition for peace talks demanded by the Palestinians.

But, according to information released by the Israeli government, around 30 settlements are still being developed in defiance of the order.

US attempts to revive peace talks have stalled over the Jewish settlement issue.

Palestinians say they will not return to peace talks unless Israel stops settlement building in the West Bank.

Israel has a long-standing commitment under an existing peace plan to stop settlement growth.

All settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are considered illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.





Either you Are with the terrorists, or ... you Are with the terrorists

Life is like a jar of Jalapeño peppers.
What you do today, might Burn Your Ass Tomorrow"

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Wednesday, February 17, 2010 2:49 PM

GINOBIFFARONI


I wonder if they catch any of these folk, if terrorism charges would be laid ?


http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2010/02/201021614324286713.html

'With friends like these ...'
By Ibrahim Hewitt


Allegations that the Israeli secret service, Mossad, was behind the killing of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai are gaining strength.

The accusation originated with Hamas after the 49-year-old was found dead in a hotel in Dubai last month.

Israel, unsurprisingly, has neither confirmed nor denied that Mossad operatives carried out the killing.

The Times newspaper, however, has reported Ehud Olmert, the former Israeli prime minister, alluding to "Mossad ... waging a covert war of assassinations across the Middle East, targeting Hamas and Iranian officials".

Foreign passports

Dubai's chief of police has now said that 11 people were involved in the operation and they all used European - including six British - passports to get into and out of the Emirate.

It is known that Mossad uses foreign passports "regularly" because Israeli passports raise "red flags" when its operatives are travelling.

An Israeli passport is still unacceptable in most of the Arab capitals and a visa is unlikely to be granted to holders of Israeli passports seeking to enter Dubai - one exception was for an Israeli tennis player taking part in a Dubai tournament last year.

If Mossad's involvement is proven to be true, it is yet another example of Israel's disregard for the sovereignty of other nations - including supposed "strategic allies" like Britain.

There is no record of US passports ever being used in such operations - Israel tends to spy on its main benefactor instead.

In 1996, when Khaled Meshaal, the head of Hamas' political bureau, was the target of an assassination attempt in Amman, the Mossad team responsible was captured and they had used genuine Canadian passports to enter Jordan.

'Stategic allies'

What is doubly interesting about that attempt on Meshaal's life is that it took place during Binyamin Netanyahu's first term as Israeli prime minister.

Assassinations tailed off in the intervening years but have now resurfaced as a serious tactic against Israel's opponents, again while Netanyahu is at the helm of Israel's government.

The trail to find those responsible for al-Mabhouh's killing could therefore lead all the way to Netanyahu himself.

If that is the case, then it surely raises questions about Britain's relationship with the country called a "strategic ally" by David Miliband, the UK's foreign secretary, when he raised the possibility of changing Britain's universal jurisdiction obligations to make it possible for Israelis suspected of committing war crimes to enter the UK.

The foreign office says that it is "in contact with the Dubai authorities" about the identity of the six British passport holders.

A former Mossad agent quoted in The Times claims that passports used in such operations include those belonging to real dual nationality holders while others are "acquired".

Passports 'forged'

According to the Daily Telegraph newspaper British government "sources" believe that the passports were forged and were used by "Mossad agents".

In a bizarre twist, reports are coming from the Middle East about Hamas claims that two men belonging to the Palestinian Authority's security agencies have been captured by Jordan and sent to Dubai in connection with this murder.

The PA has made a counter-claim that the two are actually Hamas members.

The world of espionage has always been murky and it may well be that we will never know what really happened in the hotel room where Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was murdered.

However, there surely is sufficient doubt for the British government to review its dealings with the Israeli government, "strategic ally" or not.

With friends like these, who needs enemies?




Either you Are with the terrorists, or ... you Are with the terrorists

Life is like a jar of Jalapeño peppers.
What you do today, might Burn Your Ass Tomorrow"

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Wednesday, February 17, 2010 3:47 PM

LITTLEBIRD



What's it going to take to bring the settlement issue under control?

Looks like they are trying to turn the West Bank into another Gaza. If they can't get what they want they turn into the worst of bullies. Kinda reminds me of another country.




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Wednesday, February 17, 2010 4:18 PM

RUE

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!


BTW, I'm not ignoring this topic b/c I don't care or agree. But some things are just too painful and frustrating to dwell on.

***************************************************************

Silence is consent.

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Wednesday, February 17, 2010 11:06 PM

GINOBIFFARONI


Quote:

Originally posted by rue:
BTW, I'm not ignoring this topic b/c I don't care or agree. But some things are just too painful and frustrating to dwell on.

***************************************************************

Silence is consent.




But would you agree that this is the number one issue challenging world peace ?




Either you Are with the terrorists, or ... you Are with the terrorists

Life is like a jar of Jalapeño peppers.
What you do today, might Burn Your Ass Tomorrow"

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Thursday, February 18, 2010 6:47 AM

RUE

I have a vote and I'm not afraid to use it!


What SignyM told me many years ago is that people don't fight b/c they are 'different' from each other. They fight for control of real things like land, water, oil, or other natural resources, or control of economic (human) resources. It took a long time for that to filter through, but it's a truism that I've come to accept b/c I've tested it out over the last two decades and always found it to be the case. Even the 'ideal' of 'freedom' is about who has real control in the real world.

Recent studies have shown that even religious terrorists are motivated by real world issues like economic opportunity.

That said, Palestine is probably one of the bigger sparks of dispute, but not the only one.

And ultimately, the driving force of world involvement in the conflict in the MidEast is about control of MidEast oil and MidEast shipping.

What drives me personally up the wall about Palestine, and what makes it so frustrating and painful for me, is the blatant unfairness of it, the hypocrisy of Israel, and the US's blindly insane support of Israel, no matter what. But that's an emotional response caused by personal issues which rage at that sort of thing.

***************************************************************

Silence is consent.

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Thursday, February 18, 2010 10:13 AM

GINOBIFFARONI


Well said,

that is why I think this thread, and the Iran thread are so important...

I posted earlier


http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2010/02/12/israel-fighting-dele
gitimisation-campaign


Israel fighting 'delegitimisation campaign'


As outrage grows in US campuses over Israeli policies towards Palestinians, Israel seems to be fighting back.

continues


If we debate the facts in our own forums, it limits our leaders ability to make up our minds for us... if the involved partys really want our support, ( or not ) they need to take notice of our collective opinions, and not simply bribe our leaders.

The posts about the Israeli supreme court were particularly of interest...

I only wish the pro Israel lobby was to be heard from ( the rational lobby I mean, Participant left after I pointed out he posted a fake 60 minutes story, and NewOld seems to be the Jewish equivalent of a holocaust denier, and the Palestinians do not exist )

I can understand this being a frustrating and painful subject, I avoided posting alot of pictures because of that...

I'll keep posting on this thread, more because I feel the frustration too, and want to do something... My local MP says he agrees with my position, but his party feels... makes me want to scream.

sigh...





Either you Are with the terrorists, or ... you Are with the terrorists

Life is like a jar of Jalapeño peppers.
What you do today, might Burn Your Ass Tomorrow"

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Thursday, February 18, 2010 11:41 AM

LITTLEBIRD


I understand the frustration this subject produces. Also, the anger, rage and sense of hopelessness.

I will keep adding to this thread also. Reasoned debate and continuing to look for solutions may be our only hope.

Here is an article about just such a debate and how it changed a few minds.

"That "Special Relationship" is hereby up for discussion. Pass the word."

http://www.paltelegraph.com/opinions/views/4212-questioning-our-specia
l-relationship-with-Israel

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Friday, February 19, 2010 1:32 AM

LITTLEBIRD


In exploring some of the Israeli High Court rulings I found this. Interesting.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/30/AR2009
073003809.html?sid=ST2009073100107

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Friday, February 19, 2010 4:09 PM

GINOBIFFARONI


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8523588.stm

Highlights

The international police agency Interpol - which has issued arrest notices for all 11 suspects although it admitted their true identities were unclear - issues red notices to seek the arrest of wanted persons with a view to extraditing them.



Diplomatic tensions have been building between Britain and Israel after it emerged on Monday that six of the passports used by the 11 suspected assassins were British.

They were clones of passports belonging to men who have dual British and Israeli citizenship.



I think if I could I would do away with Dual Citizenships... just seems like you should pick one or the other





Either you Are with the terrorists, or ... you Are with the terrorists

Life is like a jar of Jalapeño peppers.
What you do today, might Burn Your Ass Tomorrow"

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Saturday, February 20, 2010 12:04 AM

FREMDFIRMA



Man, they got a LONG history of that kinda bullshit, the whole blowup with New Zealand a while ago is also typical of the way they do business.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Israel_%E2%80%93_New_Zealand_spy_sca
ndal


With "friends" like these....


-F

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Saturday, February 20, 2010 9:31 AM

GINOBIFFARONI


Quote:

Originally posted by Fremdfirma:

Man, they got a LONG history of that kinda bullshit, the whole blowup with New Zealand a while ago is also typical of the way they do business.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Israel_%E2%80%93_New_Zealand_spy_sca
ndal


With "friends" like these....


-F




I am still amazed about the lack of fallout over the Pollard affair...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Pollard

1. It didn't dent the financial / military support given by the US

2. After Israel sold their guy out, people still work for them


Even the Soviets wouldn't have done that.....







Either you Are with the terrorists, or ... you Are with the terrorists

Life is like a jar of Jalapeño peppers.
What you do today, might Burn Your Ass Tomorrow"

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Sunday, February 21, 2010 3:25 PM

GINOBIFFARONI


I wonder if they have some sort of bet how far they can go ?


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8527532.stm


Israel adds West Bank shrines to heritage list
Jewish settler prays at the Tomb of the Patriarchs (file)
The Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron has been a flashpoint for decades

Israel's prime minister has announced a controversial plan to add two major religious sites in the West Bank to the country's national heritage list.

Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem would now be included in the $107m restoration plan.

Israeli media said the two sites had been included on the list only after pressure from nationalist ministers.

The Palestinian Authority warned the decision would "wreck" peace efforts.

Negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians have been frozen for more than a year, with the PA refusing to participate until Israel halts settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Israel has scaled back construction in the West Bank, but it does not consider areas within the Jerusalem municipality to be settlements.

'Violation'

Addressing a cabinet meeting, Mr Netanyahu unveiled the two additions to the national heritage list.

He said the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Rachel's Tomb had to be preserved because they showed Israel's ancient ties to the land.


The purpose of the list... is to single out sites that are of great importance to the Jewish people
Mark Regev
Israeli government spokesman

"Our existence here doesn't just depend on the might of the military or our economic and technological strength," he added. "It is anchored first and foremost in our national and emotional legacy."

The Tomb of the Patriarchs - which Muslims call the al-Ibrahimi mosque - is where the Bible says Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were buried along with three of their wives.

It has been a flashpoint for decades, with 500 Jewish settlers living in enclaves near the disputed site, surrounded by 170,000 Palestinians.

The Tomb of Rachel - a shrine to the Biblical matriarch holy to Jews, Christians, and Muslims - has also been a source of controversy.

Israel's West Bank barrier juts far into Bethlehem so that the tomb is located on the Israeli side, ostensibly for security reasons. However, Palestinians say it impedes their access and represents an illegal land grab.

Rachel's Tomb (file)
Palestinians have complained they are denied access to Rachel's Tomb

Jewish settlers and nationalists, who oppose giving up control of any of the West Bank, said they were pleased with Mr Netanyahu's announcement and that they would press for additional biblical sites to be added to the list.

A spokesman for the Palestinian Authority condemned the decision, particularly the designation of the Tomb of the Patriarchs, and warned it could take the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a dangerous direction.

"We believe that this particular violation is very dangerous because it might add to the religious nature of the conflict," Ghassan Khatib told the Associated Press.

But Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said the list was not meant to draw borders ahead of a final status agreement.

"The purpose of the list... is to single out sites that are of great importance to the Jewish people," he said.

Close to 500,000 Jews live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem. They are illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.




Either you Are with the terrorists, or ... you Are with the terrorists

Life is like a jar of Jalapeño peppers.
What you do today, might Burn Your Ass Tomorrow"

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Tuesday, February 23, 2010 10:59 AM

LITTLEBIRD


They are trying to silence the rulings they don't like in their own supreme court, and now they are going after human rights workers. Wonder what's next?

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100222/FOREIGN/
702219878&SearchID=7338274960347


Israel’s new ‘attack on freedom of speech’

Jonathan Cook, Foreign Correspondent

* Last Updated: February 21. 2010 11:01PM UAE / February 21. 2010 7:01PM GMT

Right-wing activists protest against the New Israel Fund’s alleged role in the Goldstone war crimes report. Gali Tibbon / AFP

NAZARETH // The Israeli government and its right-wing supporters have been waging a “McCarthyite” campaign against human-rights groups by blaming them for the barrage of international criticism that has followed Israel’s attack on Gaza a year ago, critics say.

In a sign of the growing backlash against the human-rights community, the cabinet backed a bill last week that, if passed, will jail senior officials from the country’s peace-related organisations should they fail to meet tough new registration conditions.

The measure is a response to claims by right-wing lobbyists that Israel’s human-rights advocates supplied much of the damaging evidence of war crimes cited by Judge Richard Goldstone in his UN-commissioned report into Israel’s Operation Cast Lead.

Human-rights groups funded by foreign donors, such as the European Union, would be required to register as political bodies and meet other demands for “transparency”.

Popular support for the clampdown was revealed in a poll published last week showing that 57 per cent of Israeli Jews believed “national-security” issues should trump human rights.

In a related move, right-wing groups have launched a campaign of vilification against Naomi Chazan, the Israeli head of an American Jewish donor body called the New Israel Fund (NIF) that channels money to Israeli social justice groups. The NIF is accused of funding the Israeli organisations Mr Goldstone consulted for his report.

Billboard posters around Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and a newspaper advertising campaign, show a caricature of Ms Chazan with a horn growing from her forehead under the title “Naomi-Goldstone-Chazan”.

“We are seeing the evaporation of the last freedoms of speech and organisation in Israel,” said Amal Jamal, head of politics at Tel Aviv University and the director of Ilam, a media-rights organisation that would be targeted by the new legislation. The Israeli political system, he added, was being transformed into a “totalitarian democracy”.

Leading the charge against human-rights groups – most of which are officially described as “non-governmental organisations” – has been a self-styled “watchdog group” known as NGO Monitor. Its activities have won support from the government following the international censure faced by Israel for its attack on Gaza.

The bill, approved by a ministerial committee last week, is the product of a conference staged in the parliament in December by Gerald Steinberg, NGO Monitor’s director, and a settler-backed organisation known as the Institute of Zionist Strategies.

A professor at Bar Ilan University, Prof Steinberg presented a report to MPs and ministers that referred to peace groups as “Trojan horses” and argued for imposing constraints on funding from European governments and the NIF.

In a statement at the time, Prof Steinberg said: “For over a decade European governments have been manipulating Israeli politics and promoting demonisation by funding a narrow group of favored non-governmental organisations.”

He has reserved special criticism for advocacy groups for the country’s Arab minority and for Jewish groups opposing the occupation, accusing both of promoting an image of Israel as an “apartheid” state that carries out “war crimes” and “ethnic cleansing”.

According to his report, 16 Israeli peace NGOs received US$8 million (Dh29m) in European funding in the previous three years.

Pressure has been building in the government for action. This month Yuli Edelstein, the diaspora affairs minister and a member of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, told reporters the cabinet had been “concerned for a time with a number of groups under the guise of NGOs that are funded by foreign agents”.

One of the MPs who participated in December’s conference, Zeev Elkin, also of Likud, initiated the legislation.

Although the bill will need to pass a vote of the parliament, backing from the government has dramatically increased its chances of success.

According to the legislation, human-rights groups will have to satisfy a long list of new conditions. They include: registering as political bodies; submitting ID numbers and addresses for all activists; providing detailed accounts of all donations from overseas and the purposes to which they will be put; and declaring the support of foreign countries every time an activist makes a speech or the organisation stages an event.

Senior officials in NGOs that fail to meet the requirements face up to a year in jail.

Hagai Elad, head of the Association of Civil Rights in Israel, the country’s largest human-rights law centre, said there was “a very hostile political climate” and that freedoms were being attacked “one step at a time”.

“These are classic McCarthy techniques, portraying our organisations as enemies of the state and suggesting that we are aiding Hamas and terror groups.”

He added that NGOs were heavily regulated under Israeli law. “Which leaves me with a troubling question: given that we are already transparent, what is the real motivation behind this legislation?”

Caught in the middle of the campaign against the NGOs has been Ms Chazan, a former dovish MP.

Maariv, a populist newspaper, published a report last month by a right-wing group called Im Tirtzu that blamed Ms Chazan and the NIF for funding human-rights groups responsible for 90 per cent of the criticisms of Israel contained in the Goldstone Report that were from non-official sources.

A counter-report last week suggested that in reality only about four per cent of the citations were from NIF-funded groups, and many were unrelated to the Gaza operation.

But the attack on Ms Chazan has rapidly gained traction, with commentators denouncing her in the media and the derogatory billboard posters springing up across the country.

The campaign against the NIF was backed this month by a petition signed by a long list of former generals, including Giora Eiland, the previous head of the National Security Council, and Doron Almog, a recent chief of the army’s southern command.

Ms Chazan has also been sacked by the right-wing Jerusalem Post newspaper after 14 years serving as one of its few liberal columnists, while an article accusing Ms Chazan of “serving the agenda of Iran and Hamas” was distributed to foreign journalists by the Government Press Office.

Ms Chazan said: “They’re using me to attack, in the most blatant way, the basic principles of democracy.”

NIF has pointed out that Im Tirtzu’s funders include Christians United for Israel, a group led by pastor John Hagee, who made the headlines in the US presidential race in 2008 when in a speech supporting contender John McCain he said “Hitler was fulfilling God’s will”.

foreign.desk@thenational.ae

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