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Israel- Expansionism even as Joe Biden arrives to negotiate a settlement between Israel and the bele
galway |
crime and justice |
opinion/analysis
Friday March 12, 2010 11:45 by donkylemore - self
..imbalance of power in Middle East - a drastic solution The UN mandate 424 demands that Israel return to it's pre '67 borders. Even as Joe Biden's plane were touching down this week the caterpillar tracks of the bulldozers were already crunching their way into the heart of Palestinian Jerusalem in another vicious land grab from their poorer neighbor . More settlements go up in the ancient city as Mr Obama's highest serving officer comes to negotiate a deal between Israel and Palestine . |
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wo Israeli tanks have crossed their technical fence near the border with Lebanon two kilometers south of the disputed Ghajar village.
The United Nations peacekeeping forces in Lebanon, also known as the UNIFIL, were present in the area along with Lebanese Armed Forces to make sure that the Israeli forces did not cross the UN demarcated Blue Line.
UNIFIL spokesperson Neeraj Singh told Press TV no violation has occurred as the Israeli tanks did not actually cross the Blue Line.
This is while Lebanese airspace is being constantly violated by Israeli fighter jets which at times break sound barriers over villages in southern parts of the country.
In late February, several Israeli fighters invaded Lebanese airspace overnight and hovered over the southern towns of Sidon, Marjayoun and Hasbaya.
Earlier in the month, Lebanese Defense Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Elias Murr expressed concerns over continuous, near-daily Israeli airspace violations, saying the Israeli war planes had flown over Lebanon on 6,500 occasions.
The UN considers Israeli violation of Lebanese airspace to be against Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 33-day war Israel waged against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon in the summer of 2006.
While the Lebanese military reports on an almost daily basis airspace violation by Israeli fighter planes, it does not normally open fire on intruding aircraft.
In 2000, Israel finally moved to abide by a UN Security Council resolution that called on Tel Aviv to end the almost two-decade-long occupation of southern Lebanon and withdraw its forces from the areas beyond the borderline it set.
Actually the US had already approved the construction in Jerusalem - http://jewssansfrontieres.blogspot.com/2010/03/actually....html
having stuck two fingers up to it's benefactor (to the tune of billions of Dollars) the Israelis now appear to be pretending to regret being so rude to one so generous
Israel to investigate timing of settlement announcement
(http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/03/14/israel.biden/...nt%29)
Notice that it is not the building on stolen land which they regret - merely it's announcement as a big 'F.U.' to Biden
the Palestinians need the current Peace 'Process' like a woman needs a fish . . oh no . . . wait. . . .
Stupidity and the "peace process" - http://jewssansfrontieres.blogspot.com/2010/03/stupidit....html
Foreign Policy writer Mark Perry reports an interesting story, interesting because of course nobody knows exactly who decide to leaks which part of what transpired somewhere behind the closed doors of the Pentagon. Allegedly, Gen. Petraeus, the Proconsul of Arabia, who aims high and probably sees himself as a future president, threw the White House a gauntlet when he asked that Gaza and the West Bank be transferred from EUROCOM to CENTCOM. This is of course very serious. It signals a development that Chalmers Johnson has already predicted as the natural trend in a militarized global empire. As the government in Washington slowly bleeds both its capacity to act and its legitimacy, power is shifting to the Proconsuls, who are in fact the governors of the different provinces and command the only U.S. governing institution that is well funded and functional, the military.
It does not signal a breach in the relations between Israel and the U.S. The problem for American dominance is not Israel, which is and will remain a valuable ally, but the out of control populist right wing in Israel which has developed a sort of bulimic land eating disorder, and needs to feed more and more often on Palestinian land to feel satiated. That populist right wing is also a problem for the Israeli ruling class, but primarily to the extent that it matters to the US. As long as the US allows it, the Israeli ruling class would rather not confront it. Let the fanatics, as far as the Israeli center is concerned, get their daily nibble at the Palestinian expense. The predatory relation is already deeply institutionalized; the whole Israeli military apparatus is organized around the colonization process; it can be slowed down or sped up, but it cannot be dismantled with serious damage all around. The US will not risk serious damage to Israel, unless it is pushed really hard by its Arab clients. They, in their turn, couldn't care less, except occasionally when they fear that things have gone too far and they need to get a bone that they can hang on their breast as proof to their people that they are not totally venal but can get some respect from Washington. It's a political game whose object for all the players is none other than the ultimate goal of politics according to Raymond Aron, "to make things last." In its Middle East version it is often known as the bicycle principle, in the words of former Israeli FM Meridor: “the peace process [is] like being on a bicycle; one must keep pedaling lest you crash and fall off.” Except it is cycling on training rollers and need not actually go anywhere.
We are now in one of these moments when, because of a few momentary lapses, the bicycle seems about to fall off the rollers. Enter Proconsul Petraeus. We wish him to fail. But that is a far fetched expectation given that all he needs to do is remind all the bikers in the room of the importance of pedaling. But trust the commentariat and the blogosphere to read it as some kind of cosmic battle between Israel and the U.S., Netanyahu and Obama, the Lobby vs. the Army, Cpt. America vs. The blue-white Hulk.
The silly phrase of the day belongs to Mark Perry, who hyperventilates like he was just given the go order for the invasion of Normandy:
Really? That must be why the Bush administration couldn't find money for body armors in the half a trillion dollar a year defense budget, not to mention the Walter Reed scandal or other moments when the truth about how much the ruling class cares about the grunts emerges in broad daylight. Soldiers are cheap, really cheap. They are made in large batches from unemployed and looking forward to a life of un- and under-employment youth. The supply is growing, and I have full faith in the White House to create the economic conditions that will keep it growing for a while.
Go to your beds now, and wait for the next occasion to hyperventilate.
This video amply testifies to how the IDF intend, having created Palestinian ghettoes, to re-create conditions in them, consciously or otherwise, which mimic those in which European Jews suffered seven decades ago: this is the imposition of a malicious curfew, complete with mediaeval tacking of notices to doors, warning demonstrators and their sympathisers to stay out of the area. This imposition will remain until August. Is the Israeli consciousness so irretrievably damaged? So let's hear what Europe has to say about this. And how are we getting on here in Ireland with an explanation about the use of Irish passports in Dubai by Mossad? Next they used our identities and no one protested . . .
I don't know if you are referring to the UNIFIL mission between 1979-1999 but it would seem that you are.
Permit me to state that I can testify that not alone did Israel not return to thr pre 67 borders as UN resolution 424 required them to do , the Isrealis ' reinvaded ' into the UN Buffer Zone or a regular basis during the UNIFIL Mission.
I served on 6 tours of duty with UNIFIL. I was a MO .
On more than one occasion my ambulance was fired on by the LAWI ,( Israeli sponsored local Militia ; mercenaries also referred to an SLA - formerly the forces of Major Haadat ) and the village we were located in was visited by heavy Israeli tanks whose tracks tore up roads knocked walls , terrified all around.
On one occasion they came right through the village and right up to the gates of our Regimental Aid Post - small primary medical care unit - stopped at our gates and fired a firerd some bursts of 0.5 machine gun fire over our roofs for about 10 mins .
The purpose was to send a very clear message to the Irish battalion who the Israelis accused/ suspected of providing shelter to the Hizbullah when launching their mortar attacks into N.Israel ( from S Lebanon)
These were recorded as '' INCREPS- acronym for ''incursion reports '' and they were sent on to New York where they were I presume duly filed and mothballed.
There were many INCEPS which were frequently unreported, This was because there was a reluctance on behalf of some macho UNIFIL officers who were loath to see our mission so easily overwhelmed by Israel.
I have had the misfortune to have to place the little mutilated bodied of Muslim children into adult body bags many times. It is a harrowing memory which will never leave me .- children Mutilated at the hands of Israel.
I have been denied access to bring our mobile clinics to the outlying hinterland Muslim villages in our area at the whim of Israeli forces ,without being given any reason why or being forewarned in advance.
I can only assume that this served to deprive these impoverished mountain people who had no other access to medical care - and of course to humiliate us.
I can attest to the brutal attack by the Israeli Air Force on a FIJI UN compound- Operation Grapes of Wrath - where over 120 civilians were killed -mostly women and children.
But Mr John Ging's recent observations regarding violations of the laws of war and the use of white phosphorus is more vivid and searing in the public 's imagination. Moreover , while I do not know Mr Ging I feel that his calm and measured assessment of what he witnessed during Operation Cast Lead convinces more spontaneously the veracity of Israeli atrocities ; Am I right in thinking that Mr Ging has a legal background?
Anyone who served in the Irish Defence Forces during the UNIFIL mission will attest to how the Israeli army treated their Lebanese Arab neighbors .
While our government has been reserved about denunciating Israel , at least Minister Martin has been the first EU Minister for Foreign Affairs to go to GAZA.
He didn't stand on some humiliating ceremony and await Israel's permission to enter through Israeli territory . He traveled the less formal and much less commodious route through Arab territories .
In this regard he must be applauded .
But as long as the US persist in refraining from imposing sanctions against Israel the UN will remain an emasculated force , and UN missions will lack the necessary mandate or indeed the military hardware to make their mission effective .
Anyone who missed the RTE radio news this evening is missing history. Driving across the North Galway countryside I learned that US General Petraeus has told the Senate (as I recall) that Israel's recent behaviour of settlements and the two-fingers to the US it constitutes is a grave threat to US people and presence in the Middle East as it dilutes the US strong-arm image before the Arab nations. Now that's serious talk, because, unless I'm missing something, it is reminiscent of the kind of military muttering once ratcheted up against Iraq. No, the US are not about to invade Israel and Netanyahu will be thrown out anyway in time no matter how he much he sacrifices to bow to the hardliners. But it is the hardest kind of talk yet to emerge from the US, where some cap-doffing politician (or President) usually makes pathetic noises over things Israeli. But when the top brass military start muttering darkly, the cuddle days are over. Now - let's get an answer on those passports.
Wonderful satire, based on the 'Leave Brittany ALONE!' meme -
it very accurately captures the histrionics employed by Pro-Zionists the world over -
For a good example of such hysteria see the second video below, where Dr. Norman Finkelstein, at the University of Waterloo, replies to emotional blackmail attempt of a young female Zionist
Caption: Video Id: PcwQ5sKUmEY Type: Youtube Video
Leave Brittany alone!!
Caption: Video Id: cNQSV3BBtZ4 Type: Youtube Video
Finkelstein confronts crocodile-teared young Zionist hysteric
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_5708.shtml
Darfur aid dollars funding West Bank settlements
ASMARA, Eritrea -- Persons working with aid organizations assisting the victims of the Darfur conflict have passed on the news that they have confirmed through their contacts in the so called “Save Darfur Coalition” that millions of dollars raised to help the Darfur refugees have ended up in Israeli bank accounts. These accounts help fund programs that include illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
These sources inside the pro-Israel organizations that control the “Save Darfur Coalition” estimate that over $100 million was raised for Darfur, though the exact amount may never be known due to the murky nature of the financial statements these organizations submit. What is known is that over half the money raised for Darfur was consumed by “operational expenses” for these organizations, meaning bloated salaries, expense accounts and the multimillion dollar publicity campaign that helped generate the donations. Only about 10 percent of the donations received ever made it to the Darfur refugees, with several million ending up in Israeli bank accounts.
The Darfur funds were diverted to Israel by either co-mingling the funds with those used to support the Israeli projects or through a more complex system of grants to other “aid” or “relief” organizations that allowed the eventual destination of the funds to be almost impossible to trace.
What is the fuss about a pair of tanks temporarily taking up forward positions on their side of the currently recognised border ? It is after all Arab governments that started the war on Israel by rejecting UN 181 - and then being very slow twigging their silly mistake and lacking moral fibre to climb down to peace - at least by Egypt and Jordan are one up on imperialist Syria and Iraq.
Do you realise or remember that the Lebanese-Israeli frontier is the 1923 legit frontier? That as there is no outstanding territory nor other dispute with Israel apart from political posing, or being forced to pose by Syria, Lebanon could sign a peace with Israel tomorrow and defuse half its problems? The other half with imperialist Syria are of course less simple....
As per usual, Frank is lying through his teeth
http://www.shebaafarms.org/briefhistory.html
If Sheba Farms really are Lebanese, why was Syria in occupation in 1967 ? but of course Syria never recognised Lebanese independence, nor exchanged ambassadors with Lebanon till eighteen months ago.
If Syria really has "given" this area to Lebanon, all that is necessary to clear this faked up territorial detail between Israel and Lebanon as compared and contrasted to Syria is sign a frontier amendment convention between Syria and Lebanon and deposit an attested copy with the UN - but till "yesterday " that would have recognised Lebanese independence which was against Syrian imperialist policies - also aimed at Israel and Jordan.
Finally those so free lying with "Liar" because they have not done any reading beyond Arab pamphlets could usefully remember it needs one to know one. Negotiations need some empathy and brushing under the carpet awkward facts does not progress any settlement.
That's just stupid Frank, that's the sort of silly childish thing one used to hear in the playground. Not only is it silly it is also demonstrably untrue. Essentially you are admitting you are a liar, and also claiming that HB must also be a liar for pointing out that you are a liar - boy, that is stupid reasoning.
So I take it then you will be able to point out some of the lies that HB has told here, yes?
We already know that you lie frequently because you have been caught out lying numerous times, Frankie. And you appear to be admitting this when you made your 'takes one to know one' statement above. So to prove that your latest childish statement is not just more lies why don't you provide some reliable proof that clearly demonstrably proves HB is lying? That way we could be sure that you actually are capable of telling the truth, . . . . even if only on this one isolated occasion.
The real problem in the Middle East is about religious superstitions.
They all invoke unconscious dead people whose bones were bleached centuries ago.
We Irish love "The Tain".
But we don't regard it as explaining the whole universe.
Every Irish child knows this:
Me fein, Finn McCumhaill, created Lough Neigh by sweeping up a lump of land and and threw it into the middle of the Irish Sea.
Where I swept it up is called Lough Neigh.
Where it landed is called The Isle of Man.
Why won't people believe me?
.
.
To Frank;
''
Silly Frankie
author by Me publication date Sat Mar 27, 2010 21:01Report this post to the editors
"Finally those so free lying with "Liar" because they have not done any reading beyond Arab pamphlets could usefully remember it needs one to know one."
Frank . You have brought the misfortune ME to his tipping point . He is a little unwieldy at this stage . First the rattle is thrown out , later the hair pulling .. Metaphorically he is at the hair pulling stage . But I would grade this to be about 4 on his Richter scale. The scale goes up to about 6. Lets be generous and settle for 7- shall we?. Fine . That's settled
His line of clinical deterioration is amply demonstrated here. In fact it would be a psychiatrists joy to behold it.
First the didactic extract from wikepedia- the history lesson. ( maybe Reader's Digest -or Rupert Murdoch ?) Then the challenge , then the petulance despair , vituperation follow in a torrent - a sudden sequential blizzard .
But on a note of caution here .I would urge you to refrain from using arcane language , or any erudite phraseology - ME has a loathing for Latin quotations ; Must've been the school he attended .. if he did attend.
I was called an Israeli bully fro quoting Ovid or was it Cicero ? vide my piece about arming Hezbollah with the bomb- the MAD argument .
I joke you not.
I am watching this development with a keen interest . ME makes for an immediate profile of a fictional character . He writes his own script .
In fishing parlance it would be time for you to STRIKE ,,but I see you ignore this pestilence and let him nibble away as the corks bods up and down. You would make for a fine dry fly angler - perhaps you are one .
You are right of course. Bigger fish to fry.. to mangle another metaphor .
donky: I was called an Israeli bully fro quoting Ovid or was it Cicero ?"
no donky, that's just not true, now is it? no one said you were any israeli-anything. I clearly said only that you were making preposterous claims (like you just did in that last post, so at least yer consistent). You have yet to substantiate your ridiculously preposterous claim and now it appears that due to your frustration you are attempting to find common ground with Frank, a proven liar. I guess you two old geezers deserve each other
I also said your little tantrum was ridiculous and that using latin did not make you look any less ridiculous, something else you have now chosen to make up lies about. Tsk Tsk.
You're nearly as dishonest as lil' ol' Frankie,
This is what ME finally wrote on the opinion which I posted re Blair , the baroness EU etc going to Midddle East and instead give the bomb to Hezbollah , in the bizarre belief that the MAD construct might apply / balance the imbalance of power be tween Isreal and the Palestinians-(And No they're not all Hezbollah !- ) and end Israeli hegemony in the region .
But here was the voluble and ever affable ME on my commentary
****
''
You're like the Israelis: they too thought that being big, in their case militarily, they'd kick Hezbollah's ass good and proper, but Nasrallah thought them that size isn't everything, it's what you do with it that counts , . . . . big-boy ;-)''
****
It seemed to me he was going in the same direction with Frank.
The incremental deterioration to this point on ME's behalf is as I've said s case study for the psychiatrists .; Rarely do you get such a vivid clinical manifestation of the persecuted , the loss of rational argument , the collapse of the erstwhile measured persona .
He reminds me of a spinning top ; keep whipping it and it will stay upright spinning ; but stop thrashing it and it wobbles and comes down with a crash.
*
'' You're like the Israelis: they too thought that being big, in their case militarily, they'd kick Hezbollah's ass good and proper, but Nasrallah thought them that size isn't everything, it's what you do with it that counts , . . . . big-boy ;-)''
*
That was it .
What do the golfers call it when they hit the driver at its most efficatious spot and the drive takes off like a Lear jet- ''The sweet spot '' or the '' hot spot'' ?
ME has plenty of them.
****
totally out of context and you know it - you had just had the most amazing foot-stomping tantrum because I refused to answer a question in a manner that suited you.
AND it was obviously meant in jest - hence the little ';-)' symbol at the end there, donky. That's why people use those symbols, donky, to signify when they are making comments which are not meant to be taken seriously. Little did I know, you had no sense of humour
You and Frankie should get on well together
Non Violent Activist leaders targeted in Palestinian E.Jerusalem
In recent weeks, municipal police in Jerusalem have been targeting key activists who fight against the settler take-overs of Palestinian homes in Sheikh Jarrah. A neighbourhood of East Jerusalem, Sheikh Jarrah has hosted weekly protests for nearly a year by a broad coalition of Israelis and Palestinians. Saleh Abo Dayeb was among the leaders who was recently arrested. Police claimed he pushed back a settler who attempted to photograph him and that in this supposed attack he committed a terrorist act against the state of Israel. The judge found no evidence that Abo Dayeb was even involved in the alleged altercation. A week later, Mikhael Solsbury, one of the key Jewish solidarity activists was also arrested due to his involvement in organizing the weekly protests. In his case the judge also found no evidence and again noted police misconduct. The Real News' Lia Tarachansky spoke to activists, lawyers, settlers, and residents of Sheikh Jarrah to understand the struggle and the recent repression
Caption: Video Id: PYvvanGSQQE Type: Youtube Video
Non violent Activists targeted by israeli Thugs
Is it not good and re assuring to know that there are Israeli courts and judges who are asked to give legal rulings regarding the events staged in " East Jerusalem " ?
The 1923 Franco- British frontier convention still stands - because no subsequent treaty has superseded it - and UN two state policy still stands since UN 181 that the Arab parties - inclusive those claiming to speak for those Arabs self declared as "Palestinians" since 1968 - rejected in and since 1947.
So as I proposed above why do Syria and Lebanon not formally clarify their frontier in Shebaa Farms and then Israel will transfer the acres in question as it evacuated Lebanon in 2000.
After all these sixty years of stonewalling blockheadedness Syria has at last recognised Lebanon and exchanged ambassadors so what are we waiting for ? And why can not the PA and PLO also recognise Israel's right to be as Jewish as Ireland is Irish ? Both do put up with peaceful minorities rather well!
Frankie, you silly racist, 'Jewish', is a religious classification, not an ethnic one. But you already know this because you have said as much elsewhere, so you are obviously just being a silly racist- your desire for Israel to be recognised as 'Jewish' stems merely from your pathological desire to give free reign to your racist hatred of non-Jewish people by being allowed to discriminate against all non-jewish residents of Israel.
If you were asking for Israel to be recognisesd as 'Israeli' you'd have no problem.
and all of this coming from a person that refuses to recognise Palestinians as Palestinian - what a racist hypocrite you are Frankie.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/recog....html
The PLO recognizes the right of the State of Israel to exist in peace and security.
The PLO accepts United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338.
Israel-PLO Recognition (September 9, 1993)
Recoginsing Israel so that they the PLO know where to allow "marrtyrs " to blow up and maim 1000s since Oslo 1993
So what about Hamas - like CIRA RIRA INLA Prov IRA etc etc -any echoes ?
Perhaps the Mad Exile of the mythically theoretically perfect World could look at this conference report and note that Arabs call themselves Arabs as well as Palestinians, and Palestinians call themselves Arabs - and speak it!
Russia Today CrossTalk: Norman Finkelstein vs.Zio-Racist
Caption: Video Id: WTJvx5Y-jkY Type: Youtube Video
Norm vs. Racist monster - Part 1
Caption: Video Id: rUFhWF7glJg Type: Youtube Video
Norm vs. Racist monster - Part 2 (Part 3 below)
The house of Israel is not the only nation and religion to wear both Venn diagramme circles at once.
By its religious requirements being Jewish is at once a religion and an ethnicity as is the case of the Moslem World which is very loud about being an umma defending El Aqsa or Mecca when it suits.
Further the four nations of the British Isles each have their own majority variant of Christianity which - as any Irishman knows only too well, is what discriminates between English and Irish, or between Scots and English - besides the accents, haggis and geography.
Highlights of how Israel displaced Palestine, the issue’s religious roots and how the conflict continues today.
Caption: Video Id: s1ABEEB660g Type: Youtube Video
Story of Palestine - From A to X
Jews against Zionism.
These Anti-Zionists tell are willing to tell the world the truth about racist Israel
Caption: Video Id: gmS7rD_4mPA Type: Youtube Video
Anti-Zionist Jews That Lived In Palestine Tell Their Story
How can you delegitimise something (in this case the Zionist state) when it is NOT legitimate?
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=da...&col=
Avigdor Lieberman -Israel's openly racist Foreign Minister
As HB admits the Arab community in Palestiine objected to partition - announced they would fight it for months previous - so if Israel came into being by force it might just be because the Arab parties were threatening force and ethnic cleansing anyway - and I can remember that all the press and media reported in 1967 that the Arab states bragged aloud they would, "Throw Israel into the sea."
Now if HB is moderately HB and not H7 he can also bend to consider that one reason for the US War of Independence was the refusal of the colonists to abide by [HM] treaties with the Indians. Besides it would be nice to know on what basis North Korea exists; and surely he is not going to object to Singapore seceding from Malaysia any more than Ireland seceding from the UK - against majority opinion???
Incidentally given the detailed geography of British Palestine, the Arab community under UN 181 was to have collected about 80% of the then agricultural land and though Israel was scheduled 56 % of the country, over half of it and over 80% of the Israeli portion was Negev Desert.
Final question about HB 's inferred doctrine that Israel does not, or should not exist? Where does he propose to put its nearly six million Jews given the Moslem Arabs have been driving out the Christian Arabs quite steadily since European empires dissolved?
Is a political entity, a Zionist experiment in State sanctioned racism. It's demise need not in any way threaten the existence of the people within it's borders. Removing 'Israel' does not remove it's people - it merely remove the racist discriminatory political entity known as 'Israel'. Only a racist-paranoid would make the automatic assumption that removing the racist political entity known as 'Israel' would automatically threaten the existence of the people within it's borders.
Just because the Israelis immediately tried to exterminate all non-Jews when it founded it's illegal state, does not mean that everyone else would like to behave that way - that's just projecting your own paranoid-racist thoughts onto others
http://indymedia.org.il/article/2010/1/en/hamas-accepts...arter
Hamas accepts 'Israel’s right to exist’
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH - printed in The Jerusalem Post
Hamas has accepted Israel’s right to exist and would be prepared to nullify its charter, which calls for the destruction of Israel, Aziz Dwaik, Hamas’s most senior representative in the West Bank, said on Wednesday.
"The [Hamas] charter was drafted more than 20 years ago," Dwaik noted, adding that his movement would even be prepared to "nullify" the document.
"No one wants to throw anyone into the sea," he said.
Is there even any such legal classification as 'israeli'?
According to the Israeli Gov't, the answer is a resounding "NO!"
This 'Israeli' obsession with many different and varied racial/national classifications is identical to the racial obsession practiced by the racist Apartheid South African Gov't in it's heyday
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20.../1135
Court asked to define ‘Israeli’
Only Israelis from the same religious group, for example, are allowed to marry inside Israel – otherwise they are forced to wed abroad – and cemeteries are separated according to religious belonging.
Here is a news report in the Israeli "left wing " daily paper Ha Aretz about another Israeli Court hearing which is of some interest and relevance to the topic under discussuion on thsi thread .
_______________________________________________________________
Israeli Arab gets 5 years, 8 months for spying on IDF chief - Gabi Ashkenazi
By Ofra Edelman, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service
The Petah Tikva District Court on Tuesday sentenced an Israeli Arab man to five years and eight months in prison for giving Hezbollah information about the Israel Defense Forces chief of staff.
Rawi Sultani, a 23-year-old resident of Tira who attended the same gym as IDF chief Gabi Ashkenazi,
was charged late last year with collecting information about the chief of staff's daily routine.
Intelligence officials suspect the Lebanese militant organization was seeking to assassinate Ashkenazi as revenge for the Damascus killing of its second-in-command Imad Mughniyeh, which it blames on Israel.
Sultani allegedly gave the Hezbollah agent information about the gym's location, access roads and security arrangements, how many security guards Ashkenazi had, what weapons they carried, and where they were stationed inside the gym, as well as what Ashkenazi wore and which route he took to the gym.
The indictment states that a Hezbollah agent established contact with Sultani in 2008, when he participated in a Balad party delegation to a Morocco summer camp, along with delegates from other Arab states.
He allegedly met a man named Salman Hareb there.
Hareb introduced himself as a Hezbollah activist, and showed camp participants Hezbollah-made films from the Second Lebanon War.
At one point, Sultani allegedly told Hareb that he works out at the same gym as Ashkenazi.
The two agreed to keep in touch.
About a month later, Sultani received an e-mail from Hareb, and the two began a correspondence on e-mail and Facebook, the indictment says.
Hareb invited him to meet abroad, and Sultani suggested they meet in Poland, where he was going for a family trip, the indictment says.
A day or two before Sultani left Israel, Hareb told him he could not get a visa to Poland, and was sending his brother Sami in his place.
Sultani allegedly met Sami Hareb in Poland on December 23, 2008. Sami Hareb presented himself as a Hezbollah activist, and asked Sultani to help the organization collect information on Israeli sites, military bases and public figures. Sultani allegedly agreed.
Sami Hareb then asked Sultani for details about the gym, Ashkenazi's routine and his security arrangements. Sultani allegedly gave him detailed answers, and set another meeting, at which point he was given information about a secure e-mail address and a CD bearing encryption software.
Hareb allegedly explained to Sultani how to use the software, and gave him money to buy more CDs to hide the one with the encryption software.
Hareb also allegedly asked Sultani if he knew of Palestinian students abroad who would be willing to help Hezbollah, and Sultani allegedly gave him contact information for several of his friends. Hareb then asked to Sultani to gather more information on the country club and Ashkenazi's routine, and Sultani allegedly agreed.
When Sultani returned to Israel, Salman Hareb contacted him via e-mail, but Sultani allegedly did not respond to all his requests. On June 28, Sami Hareb called Sultani, who agreed to follow up on the discussion in Poland.
The prosecution said Sultani conspired to give an enemy useful information, knowingly maintained contact with a foreign agent, and knowingly gave an enemy useful information.
In its request to extend Sultani's remand, the prosecution said he had confessed both to the police and to the Shin Bet.
The state also claims it has statements from other participants in the Morocco summer camp regarding Salman Hareb's activity there, a note in Sultani's handwriting about the secure e-mail address, testimonies from Sultani's friend and brother stating he told them he had met with a Hezbollah agent in Poland, call records from Sultani's phone and the CD with the encryption software.
Sultani's father on Tuesday said that the defense establishment has blown the case out of proportion.
Attorney Fouad Sultani, who served as his son's defense lawyer, said that despite the harsh sentence it was proved that the case was not as serious as prosecutors had claimed.
Sultani added that prosecutors dropped the charge of conspiracy to commit a crime as part of the plea bargain. His son did, however, confess to contact with a foreign agent and passing information to an enemy.
Sultani also said that had these same offenses been committed by a Jew, the suspect would have gotten off with a warning.
"The defense establishment, however, sought to harm ties with the Arab world by way of an exaggerated indictment," Sultani said, adding that his son had been the subject of persecution over his political activism.
"Everyone knows that the charge of meeting a foreign agent is problematic in terms of its definition as all contact between an Israeli Arab citizen and a citizen of the larger Arab world can be interpreted as contact with a foreign agent," Sultaini said. "The defense establishment is using indictments to intimidate and prevent contact between Arab citizens [of Israel] and Arab states."
Another Jerusalem Post report worth looking at
Palestinians report boost in tourism to W. Bank for Easter
By RON FRIEDMAN
08/04/2010 05:32
Police report states 464,000 tourists traveled to territories,
137,000 of whom were int'l passport-holders
and 83,000 were Israeli Arabs.
The Palestinian Authority has announced a 50-percent rise in tourism activity in March compared to the same period last year.
A report by the PA Tourism and Antiquities Police, released on Tuesday, said tourism in the Palestinian territories had increased during March, with a considerable rise in guests registered in local hotels.
The police report stated that 464,000 tourists had traveled to the West Bank, 137,000 of whom were international passport-holders and 83,000 were Israeli Arabs.
The number of guests staying in hotels saw a 50% increase compared with last year’s figures, the report said, noting that 81,154 travelers had booked hotels –
70,047 foreign nationals,
9,426 locals,
and 1,681 Israeli Arabs
. Last March, only 39,521 tourists stayed in West Bank hotels, the statement read.
Palestinian tourism professionals approached by The Jerusalem Post said they were unaware of the precise statistics, but credited the rise in tourism to the natural ebb and flow of the seasons and to a calmer and more peaceful atmosphere in the region.
Last year saw the IDF’s Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, which negatively affected all tourism in the region.
“It makes sense that numbers are up.
After all, this is the holiday season, and many pilgrims choose to visit the region’s ho
ly sites during Easter,” said Johnny Sayegh, director of Inspiration Tours, which operates out of east Jerusalem.
“Everything affects tourism – security, politics, the economy. Lately things have gotten better. It’s been quiet, so the tourists are coming.”
Sayegh said most of the tourist groups with which he worked were groups of pilgrims visiting the West Bank to see the biblical sites, mainly Bethlehem and Jericho.
“I have many clients from Western Europe and the English-speaking world.
Most of them are Catholic pilgrims,” said Sayegh.
He added that in the last few months, there had been a marked increase of visitors from Eastern European countries like Poland, Georgia and Romania.
George Abdalla, who, together with his father Gabriel, runs Sinbad Tour Travel Agency, said that in addition to the traditional pilgrimage tours, he enjoyed marketing what he called “alternative tours.”
“Some people aren’t interested in visiting churches and graves,” he explained. “For them, I gladly offer three-day spa packages at the Dead Sea or four days of leisure in Eilat.”
Abdalla said he had recently sent tourists on a visit to a kibbutz in the Negev, where they could see modern agricultural techniques and absorb the desert tranquility.
According to Abdalla, one of the main impediments to the development of Palestinian tourism is the Israeli security measures, namely the checkpoints.
“Israeli checkpoints have a huge effect on our itineraries,” he said. “They are unpredictable, and they take a long time to go through.
We always tell our clients that schedules are subject to change because of the checkpoints. People tend to understand, but it’s a genuine hassle.”
Abdalla believes that the West Bank has a huge potential for tourism, saying the competitive prices and the good service are natural drawing points.
He also said tourism was immensely important for the development of the Palestinian economy.
“Tourism is an economic engine that helps lift other industries. A group of 60 tourists who visit generate income for many people in a varied range of industries. In the West Bank, it is the most welcome form of business and should be the government’s No. 1 priority, even before agriculture,” he said.
While the majority of Palestinian tour operators, like Sinbad and Inspiration, work mainly with pilgrims, an emerging phenomenon in the West Bank is foreign nationals who come to see the effects of the conflict firsthand.
Rami Kassis, director of the Alternative Tour Group (ATG), specializes in promoting “justice tourism” – tours and pilgrimages that include critical examinations of the history, culture and politics of the Holy Land.
Kassis said that the people using his company’s services were student groups on fact-finding missions, church groups concerned with issues of social justice, international solidarity groups and NGOs, and political organizations that wanted to learn about the conflict. Kassis takes groups to visit refugee camps, communities affected by the security barrier, local peace activists and universities.
He said that while his company was one of the smaller tour providers in the West Bank, it provided these tours for between 2,000-2,5000 people a year.
ATG’s Web site also features a special section for Jewish travelers wishing to visit the West Bank.
“Jewish travelers wearing Star of David jewelry, the kippa, or loudly referring to themselves as Jews may be misunderstood to be Israelis and supporters of the Occupation,” he said.
“This is not to say that Israelis are necessarily in danger in Palestine – many Israeli activists work side by side with Palestinians.
However, Israelis can be a target of Palestinian militant groups.
Jewish travelers are encouraged to keep all of these details in mind, and to be selective in whom they tell about their heritage.”
He added, “It is our hope that, as more Jews who oppose Israeli policies visit Palestine and make their positions known to Palestinians, this selectiveness will be less necessary.”
Five Year Old survivor of the Gaza massacre fights Israel, using the Law
http://palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1346
7 January 2009: ten days after the beginning of the Gaza massacre ‘Operation Cast Lead’ Israeli soldiers drove into the Ezbet Abed-Rabbo neighbourhood, located east of Jabalia town in the north of the Gaza Strip. Using loudspeakers they ordered inhabitants to vacate their houses, including Khalid Abed-Rabbo, his mother, wife and three daughters.
Carrying white flags, Khalid and his family stood in front of their house. Approximately fifteen metres from the house, an Israeli tank was stationed; on top of it two soldiers were eating snacks. When a third one appeared from the tank’s hatch he opened fire directly at the family. The horrible result: Amal and Su’ad, two daughters of Khalid who were three and nine respectively, were killed. The five year old Samar and her grandmother Su’ad had life-threatening injuries.
But even then, the nightmare for Khalid and his young household continued. The soldiers hindered Khalid at every possible opportunity in his attempt to reach the hospital with his injured family members. First they commanded ambulance driver Sameeh Al-Sheikh to leave without his ambulance. Around two hours after the shooting, during which time two of the girls bled to death, Khalid and his wife Kawther, received permission from the soldiers to carry the girls and their grandmother, with the help of neighbours, to the hospital on foot. When secondly three men on a horse-drawn cart wanted to take the injured, they were met with heavy fire, as were the medics. One man on the cart, Adham Khamis Mohammad Naseir, died of his injuries.
The testimony of Abed Rabbo family can be watched in “Gaza Strophe”, a documentary about Operation Cast Lead, on www.gaza-strophe.com. Khalid Abed-Rabbo starts his story at minute 2.15.
Samar: 5 yr old survivor of Gaza Massacre
Or , "Let him who is guiltless cast the first stone." When the UN agreed there should be a two state solution to the Palestine impasse of two nationalist communities wanting their own state, the Arab leaders of the time - and since - proclaim(ed) ethnic cleansing and returning Israeli Jews back to Europe while forgetting the majority of them are in families from the Arab World. The simple proof is in the PLO and Hamas "charters" black on white; and in the Arab actions of destroying the Old City synagogues of Jerusaelm in or after 1948 quarrying cemeteries and after "Oslo" failing to protect "Joseph's Tomb outside Nablus from a destructive and murderous mob.
Israel which is a result and creature of the Enlightenment - which does not preclude defending oneself from border reiving, theft and street violence besides conventional war - has indeed sought a majority Jewish nation state but has never objected to minorities in the absolutist way which the Palestine Authority refuses to accept any Jewish settlement, as Israel accepts its 20% minority Arab settlement of overwhelmingly Moslem Arabs. For comparison that is twice the minority percentage of Jews in pre- Hitler Poland or Arabs in France at present.
Perhaps those who regularly call uncomfortable stats and arguments, lies, could note that the Arab war with Israel is relatively a low casualty side show of cumulatively 20 000 (max) dead on each side, compared to the 60 000 Egyptian and Yemenis killed in Nasser's interference in the 60's; the 400 000 black Sudanese killed by Arab Sudanese in Darfur; the million killed (50/50) in the Iraq -Iran War of the 80's; the 100 000 killed in the Lebanese civil war 1976ff let alone since when the Syrians have had assassinated two Lebanese presidents; and of course Algeria - "The country of the million martyrs," while forgetting to dissect that half the fatalities of the War of Independence were from the civil war within and another 200 000 in the civil war of the GIA's (Groupes Armées Islamiques) in the 90's. If Israel had ever behaved like Arabs or Germans let alone Kipling's comments in the Battle of East & West - or even General Dyer at Amritsar; there would not be four million Arabs currently in Cis-Jordanian Palestine.
The Palestine lobby and constituency are riven with psychological transference and projections, "And add some extra just for you," such as trying - very trying - to relive or repeat in the safety of their own lives the thrills of their forefathers somewhat more justified struggles. When Columbus found America there were estimated to be 25 million Indians in America - well now there are not; but there are 35 million (US) Americans claiming Irish ancestry. Lay off the frenzy and try to persuade your "friends" to cut their losses for the offer they have spurned so often (8x) - if they really want a state rather than living as violent scroungers of international welfare.
http://mondoweiss.net/2010/05/student-protests-force-is....html
Student protests force racist liars to consider lying a little less frequently
People the world over are beginning to wise up - Israel is finished - it's only a matter of time - the future War Crimes Trials of the murderous Fascist Racist Zionists will make interesting viewing
http://www.wanted.org.il/ -Anyone who has information about the israeli War Crimes Suspects when they are outside of the Israeli borders, please report immediately to a human rights lawyer. Relevant for countries with universal jurisdiction - All calls will be treated in confidence
Wanted - FOR WAR CRIMES AND CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY - lying Fascist Racist Zionist scumbag and Ex-E.M. of Criminal Fascist Racist Zionist entity kkknown as 'israel'
Thanks very much to HB for the wanted posters, I'll be putting some of them up around my way and would urge others to do the same..
I fear these racist war criminals will not be brought to justice this side of a terrible war . But they must be made fully aware that ,like the nazis , they will eventually be defeated , brought to justice and punished severely for their crimes .. The failure to apply Nuremberg's precedents after the Vietnamese war allowed its perpetrators free rein to unleash fresh horrors . Never again.
What happens to Jews this decade or generation, happens to others next decade or generation.
Neither Spain, Russia nor Germany have recovered from their authoritarian blinkered frenzies to "purify" themselves of heretics, Jews and other minorities. The Arab World in 1945 was in a reasonable position to climb out of the Third World but is now well overtaken despite, "the silver spoon of oil," by S.Korea & the BRIC economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China) and others.
The bile aimed at Israel disregards the vicious aggression of the Arab states and society since 1947 if not before; and given the sideshow scale of the conflict raises nice psychological questions as to why the critics of this conflict are so passionately one sided and neglectful of Arab misdemeanours and boneheaded incompetence - that is if it really is about an Arab state in Palestine? and not about Moslem supremacy?
What happens to Jews this decade or generation, happens to others next decade or generation.
What happened to Jews 6 decades ago has been endlessly repeated for the last 6 decades - by Israeli Jews on Palestinian victims. The rampant very obvious hypocrisy of the racist Zionists such as Frank Adam would be astounding were it not so predictable