Israel boycott laws attack on freedom of expression

By Amnesty International

A law adopted by the isrælske the Knesset (Parliament) makes it a punishable offence to call for a boycott against the State of Israel or its West Bank settlements Gets a chilling methods effect on freedom of speech in Israel, said Amnesty International today.

Controversial law, passed Monday evening, makes it a civil offence to require an economic, cultural and academic boycott of persons or institutions in Israel or the occupied Palestinian territories (OPT) for political reasons. Anyone making such calls could be faced with a lawsuit and other financial penalties.

Sponsors of the Bill, originally proposed in July 2010, Knesset member and coalition Chairman since Elkin, has made it clear that one of the main objectives of the legislation is to punish them by using the boycott call to campaign against Isræls illegal settlements in the OPT or highlight the ongoing violations of Palestinian rights caused by the settlements.

"Despite proponents claim the contrary, this law is a blatant attempt to stifle peaceful dissent and campaign by attacking the right to freedom of expression, as all Governments must maintain," said Philip Luther, Amnesty International's Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

"The broad definition of boycott could apply to anyone seeking to use this non-violent means of disagreement to criticise any single person or institution involved in human rights violations or violations of international law in Israel or the occupied Palestinian territories."

Promoted and supported by the Government, the law was Netanyanhu adopted by 47 votes to 36, although the top legal advisors of the Knesset and Isræls the Attorney General said it was "borderline illegal". More isrælske human rights NGOs have indicated that they plan to challenge the law in the Isræls High Court of Justice.

Parties filing lawsuits would not have to prove that a call to boycott has resulted in actual damages, which the courts can order persons or organisations are calling for a boycott to pay compensation regardless of the damage caused.

The law also allows the minister of finance to revoke tax-exempt status for NGOs are calling for a boycott, which threatens funding on as many isrælske human rights NGOs chairs. Enterprises or organisations participating in a boycott could also be disqualified from applying for public contracts.

This is only one of many laws recently adopted or are considered by the Knesset, which has been criticized by isrælske human rights NGOs for restriction of freedom of expression, in isrælske civil society organizations or the Palestinian citizens and their political representatives ' rights.

Isræls policy of establishing settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, violating the Fourth Geneva Convention and is considered a war crime, according to the Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Amnesty International has repeatedly urged the isrælske authorities to terminate the settlement construction as a first step towards fully remove illegal isrælske settlements from the occupied Palestinian territories.

Amnesty International has taken no position on the boycott throughout the world, but fear that this law will lead to violations of the right to freedom of expression of those who call for the boycott.

(Amnesty International UK. Press Release; 12 July 2011.)

 

Israel and the Palestinian territories

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The division of the former British mandate of Palestine and the creation of the state of Israel in the years after the end of World War II have been at the heart of Middle Eastern conflicts for the past half century.

The creation of Israel was the culmination of the Zionist movement, whose aim was a homeland for Jews scattered all over the world following the Diaspora. After the Nazi Holocaust, pressure grew for the international recognition of a Jewish state, and in 1948 Israel came into being.

Much of the history of the region since that time has been one of conflict between Israel on one side and Palestinians, represented by the Palestine Liberation Organisation, and Israel's Arab neighbours, on the other. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced, and several wars were fought involving Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

Palestinians in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, have lived under Israeli occupation since 1967. The settlements that Israel has built in the West Bank are home to around 400,000 people and are deemed to be illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.

Israel evacuated its settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005 and withdrew its forces, ending almost four decades of military occupation. However, after the militant Islamic group Hamas seized control of Gaza in June 2007, Israel intensified its economic blockade of the Strip.

In 1979 Egypt and Israel signed a peace agreement, but it wasn't until the early 1990s, after years of an uprising known as the intifada, that a peace process began with the Palestinians. Despite the handover of Gaza and parts of the West Bank to Palestinian control, a "final status" agreement has yet to be reached.

The main stumbling blocks include the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees and Jewish settlements.

ISRAEL FACTS

Full name: State of Israel Population: 7.3 million (UN, 2010) Seat of government: Jerusalem, though most foreign embassies are in Tel Aviv Area: Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics cites 22,072 sq km (8,522 sq miles), including Jerusalem and Golan Major languages: Hebrew, Arabic Major religions: Judaism, Islam Life expectancy: 79 years (men), 83 years (women) (UN) Monetary unit: 1 new Israeli shekel (NIS) = 100 new agorot Main exports: Computer software, military equipment, chemicals, agricultural products GNI per capita (Israel only): US $25,740 (World Bank, 2009)Internet domain: .il International dialling code: +972

PALESTINIAN FACTS

Population: 4.4 million (UN, 2010) Intended seat of government: East Jerusalem Area: Palestinian Ministry of Information cites 5,970 sq km (2,305 sq miles) for West Bank territories and 365 sq km (141 sq miles) for Gaza Major language: Arabic Major religion: Islam Life expectancy: 73 years (men), 76 years (women) (UN) Monetary unit: 1 Jordan dinar = 1,000 fils, 1 new Israeli shekel (NIS) = 100 new agorot Main exports: Citrus GNI per capita: US $1,230 (estimated, World Bank, 2007) Internet domain: .ps International dialling code: +970

Israeli president: Shimon Peres

The Israeli president has a mainly ceremonial role; executive power is vested in the cabinet, headed by the prime minister.

Israel's elder statesman: Shimon Peres

On 13 June 2007, the Israeli parliament chose the veteran politician Shimon Peres to succeed Moshe Katsav, who had taken leave of absence from the presidency earlier in the year after being accused of various sexual offences.

Mr Katsav formally resigned on 29 June after agreeing to plead guilty to several of the offences as part of a plea bargain that removed two rape charges against him.

Though the post is largely ceremonial, the president has in the past been seen by many Israelis as the nation's moral compass, and many hoped that Mr Peres would restore dignity to what they saw as a tarnished office.

Mr Peres was a leading member of the Labour party for decades, but left in 2005 and later joined the centrist Kadima party.

He has twice been prime minister, and in 1994 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his role in bringing about the signing of Israel's first interim peace accord with the Palestine Liberation Organisation in Oslo the previous year.

Israeli prime minister: Binyamin Netanyahu

Binyamin Netanyahu, the leader of the right-wing Likud party, became prime minister after an inconclusive early election in February 2009, a decade after holding the office once before.

Mr Netanyahu campaigned on a policy of toughness towards Palestinian militancy

The vote was called when his predecessor, Ehud Olmert, of the centrist Kadima party, resigned amid corruption allegations, and Mr Olmert's designated successor, Tzipi Livni, failed to put together a new centre-left coalition.

Mrs Livni and Kadima actually won one more seat in the Knesset (parliament) than Likud, but right-wing parties emerged stronger than the left overall.

Mr Netanyahu, widely seen as one of Likud's most right-wing leaders, formed a coalition with the nationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party, various religious parties, as well as the centre-left Labour party.

Despite Labour's inclusion, the coalition's composition sparked fears that it would be too hard-line on the peace process with the Palestinians.

During the election campaign, Mr Netanyahu stressed his longstanding opposition to handing back land occupied by Israel in return for peace.

But several months after coming to power, Mr Netanyahu said he would accept the creation of Palestinian state, but only on the condition that it is completely demilitarised. Palestinian leaders said the conditions were unjust and the policy change insincere.

The prime minister continued to resist pressure from US President Barack Obama's administration for a complete suspension of Israeli settlement activity - a key Palestinian condition for a return to stalled peace talks.

However, the PM in December 2009 announced a 10-month lull in permits for new settlements, sparking angry protests by settlers.

Mr Netanyahu promised to make the perceived threat of Iran's nuclear programme a priority in security policy.

During his previous term as prime minister, from 1996, Mr Netanyahu was hostile towards the Palestinian Authority created by the peace process, but also showed flexibility: In 1997, he agreed to cede most of the West Bank town of Hebron.

Defeated by Labour leader Ehud Barak in 1999, he later served as finance minister under Likud PM Ariel Sharon, pushing through a series of market-oriented reforms before resigning in 2005 in protest at Mr Sharon's decision to pull out from Gaza.

Mr Netanyahu was born in 1949 in Tel Aviv, spending part of his childhood in the United States. During his five years in Israel's army, he served as captain of an elite commando unit.

A fluent English-speaker, Mr Netanyahu has been a prominent advocate for Israel in the international media.

Palestinian leader: Mahmoud Abbas

Former Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, the candidate of the Fatah faction, won the January 2005 poll to replace the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

President Abbas succeeded Yasser Arafat as PLO leader

Mr Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, had already succeeded Yasser Arafat as leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), having been Mr Arafat's deputy since 1969.

The surprise victory of the militant Islamic movement Hamas in parliamentary polls in January 2006 led to heightened tension between the Palestinian factions. There were recurring bouts of violence between Hamas and Mr Abbas's Fatah faction, raising fears of civil war. In February 2007, Hamas and Fatah agreed to form a government of national unity.

However, in June 2007 Hamas took control of the Gaza strip, seriously challenging the concept of a coalition, which Abbas subsequently dissolved.

Mr Abbas's current term was set to have ended in January 2009, but in 2008 announced he was extending his term by another year, in order to allow presidential and parliamentary elections to be held at the same time. The move was denounced by Hamas.

In November 2009, Mr Abbas said he would not stand again in elections scheduled for 24 January 2010, in protest against the continuing impasse in attempts to resurrect peace talks with Israel.

Many analysts regard Mahmoud Abbas as a moderate. He has condemned the armed Palestinian uprising and favours the resumption of negotiations with Israel. But he faces the challenge of persuading armed groups to stop their campaign of anti-Israeli attacks.

Mahmoud Abbas was born in 1935 in Safed, a town in present-day northern Israel. He co-founded Fatah - the main political grouping within the PLO - with Yasser Arafat in the late 1950s.

He established contacts with left-wing Israelis in the 1970s and was the main Palestinian architect of the 1993 Oslo accords, which led to the foundation of the Palestinian Authority.

His brief stint as premier was plagued by power struggles with Mr Arafat over the control of the Palestinian security apparatus and over planned reforms. Mr Abbas resigned in September 2003.

The former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died in a French hospital on 11 November 2004, aged 75.

ISRAELI MEDIA

Israel's press and broadcasters are many and varied, and account for differences in language, political viewpoint and religious outlook.

The Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA), set up along the lines of the BBC, operates public radio and TV services and is funded mainly by licence fees on TV sets.

Channel 2 and Israel 10 are the main commercial TV networks. Most Israeli households subscribe to cable or satellite packages. HOT cable and YES satellite TV are the main multichannel providers.

Commercial radio arrived in 1995, but faces competition from unlicensed radio stations, some of which carry ultra-Orthodox programming.

Israel has 13 daily newspapers and at least 90 weeklies. All titles are privately-owned; many are available on the internet.

In the view of watchdog Reporters Without Borders, "the Israeli authorities are capable of both best and worst practice when it comes to respect for press freedom. Despite military censorship, its press still enjoys latitude that is unequalled in the region."

Israel has a large IT industry and one of the world's most technologically-literate populations. Around 5.3 million people - around 71% of the population - had internet access by May 2008 (InternetWorldStats).

The press

Television

Radio

Israel Broadcasting Authority - operates public radios, including speech-based Reshet Aleph, news-based Reshet Bet, music-based Reshet Gimmel, Arabic-language Reshet Dalet Galei Zahal - Israel Defence Forces (IDF) Radio, broadcasts news and music to mostly-civilian audience; also operates music and traffic news network Galgalatz

PALESTINIAN MEDIA

Television is the key source for news and information in the Palestinian areas.

The Palestinian media environment reflects the struggle between Fatah, which controls the West Bank, and Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip.

The key broadcasting outlets are the Palestinian Authority's PBC and Hamas's Al-Aqsa Media Network, each of which has its own satellite TV, terrestrial TV and radio station. There are 30 private terrestrial TV channels and at least 35 radio stations. Newspapers include pro-Palestinian Authority titles and a pro-Hamas daily. Pan-Arab satellite TVs, including Qatar's Al-Jazeera, are popular.

The Fatah-Hamas conflict has complicated an already-difficult environment for journalists, making the Palestinian territories among the most dangerous places to work. Attacks on journalists are commonplace. Journalists are subject to intimidation by the Israeli military, though to a lesser degree than by Fatah and Hamas. Self-censorship is widespread. Reporters Without Borders ranked the Palestinian Territories 163 out of 173 countries in its 2008 Press Freedom Index.

In 2008, internet penetration stood at 14.8%. The web has largely been spared the harassment suffered by other media outlets. Tests by the OpenNet Initiative (ONI) showed no evidence of technical filtering.

The press

Al-Quds - private, Jerusalem-based, largest-circulation Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam - private, Ramallah-based daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadidah - Palestinian National Authority daily Filastin - Hamas-affiliated daily

Radio

Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) - controlled by Palestinian leadership in Ramallah, operates Voice of Palestine Al Aqsa radio - Hamas-run station in Gaza

Television

Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) - controlled by Palestinian leadership in Ramallah, operates Palestine TV and Palestine Satellite Channel Al-Aqsa TV - Hamas-run station in Gaza, terrestrial and via satellite Private stations include Al-Quds Educational TV, Al-Mahd TV, Al-Majd TV, Al-Nawras TV, Watan TV

News agencies

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Policy and the paparazzi ruin heartthrob Bieber Israel travel

14 April 2011, last updated at 06: 54 -ET, Justin Bieber, Canadian popstar was primarily young people, is currently the women's world tour of his admirers in the Pop heartthrob Justin Bieber is configured to run in Israel to return the paparazzi and the frustration that three days after the visitin his words "pulled in politics".

Bieber on Twitter on Monday, told the fans he is "looking forward to this week."

Tuesday, he had organised the photographers they "should be ashamed", and he suspended the line, Prime Minister's Office after tweeting.

He gives the Outdoor concert in Tel Aviv on Thursday evening.

the 17-year-old Canadian singer was involved in the stop in Israel as part of a worldwide tour, and was designed to spend a week in the most popular tourist attractions in the city.

But according to adoring young fans was and been hounded the country known to be aggressive in the Press Pack, appealed to the "superfrustrated" Bieber and his hotel withdrew his tweet tweets to indicate anger: "staying in the hotel, with the rest of the week-u happy?"

The PR-observed-adverse-effect level

But the Mission has encountered more controversy when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, called the "bibi" and the young star of the meeting of the fell, apparently in response to a request for PM after the Bieber refuse to invite Israel to the South of the Palestinian rocket fire at Israeli children.

"We have received a request to meet with the Prime Minister to Bieber. Children are invited to the meeting from Netanyahu and encouraging them to create a PR-effect. The Prime Minister does not appear in this political issue, "Mr Netanyahu to Office, said Israel's Ynet news, according to the notification.

The factorial of a scheduled meeting Wednesday evening, never happened.

The reported comments on the sources of the singer's production Team was denied, he was never asked to meet with the Prime Minister said the request had come from Mr Netanyahu, and the singer Scooter Braun insisted even a Manager in a public meeting was ever scheduled does not.

But Bieber, where some kind of diplomatic difficulties with the tweet, saying: "I want to see this country and all the sites ive dreamed and whether its policy or prevent the paps pulled its frustrating".

 

Fatah-Hamas deal is ' smokescreen ': Israel minister (AFP)

JERUSALEM (AFP)-a reconciliation agreement as rival Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas was to finalise on Wednesday is "smokescreen," Isræls home front defence minister Matan Vilnai said.

"Nothing will change after the entry into force of this agreement, because this is all a smokescreen," Vilnai told isrælske public radio such as Hamas and Fatah officials prepared a ceremony in Cairo marking the signing of the agreement a day earlier.

"Hamas and Fatah cannot agree on something, and the best example of that came with the killing of the super terrorist Osama bin Laden," he added.

While Fatah figures and members of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank welcomed the killing of bin Laden, condemning the Hamass prime minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, raid, killed Al-Qaeda Chief.

Vilnai said that Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, who is also the leader of Fatah, "a mistake in accepting this agreement, when Hamas is in a situation of vulnerability, which explains why it made the step towards reconciliation."

The Minister said Abbas should have insisted on a "clear statement from Hamas recognises Israel and condemn the terrorism before the signing."

Reconciliation deal signed by Hamas, Fatah and other Palestinian factions on Tuesday 11 provides for the formation of a transitional Government in a Europe of Nations to lay the foundations for the presidential elections and parliamentary elections within a year.

It has been welcomed by the Palestinians in the territories shared, but Israel reacted angrily to the deal, threatening to withhold the transfer of Palestinian tax revenues until it could be sure that no money would go to Hamas.

Despite his criticism of the Unit deal spoke against Vilnai decision to suspend the transfer of funds.

"The freeze is a mistake, it is money we collect from the Palestinians, belongs to them," he said.

"This decision is a violation of previous agreements. In this case we cart before the horse. We should have waited to see how they would spend money before acting, "he added.

Israel collects taxes for the Palestinians at border crossings and ports and transfers of funds to the authority under Abbass an economic agreement agreed together with the Oslo autonomy accords.

Revenue amounting to between 3.5 and 5.0 billion shekels ($ 1.04 $ 1.48 billion) each year and represent a significant part of the budget of the authority.

 

Close attention to Obama last words about Israel (AP)

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama tries to allay some of America's largest supporters of Israel after he joined the Jewish nation 1967 borders as the basis for a Palestinian State and clashed with isrælske prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In a speech Sunday to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Obama was not expected to sketch out another significant U.S. policy shift but probably will focus on the deep U.S.-isrælske alliance.

But almost everyone in the room wanted to see how the Chairman addresses his remarks from Thursday, when he said that a future Palestine should be designed around the border lines that existed before Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and in East Jerusalem, with land swaps to take account of isrælske settlements and other changing conditions.

Obama endorsement moved U.S. position from noting the Palestinian goal of a country based on these terms and leaves the result to be settled through negotiation. By eliminating the hue, he stated, mainly what almost every Observer assumed would be the border lines of a two-State solution with mutually agreed adjustments.

Still, the change prompted bitter criticism from Netanyahu. And in a blunt display of differences between the two leaders disagree openly after a Friday meeting at the White House. Netanyahu called the 1967 demarcation "indefensible" and issued a flat rejection of the idea.

"It will not happen," he said. "Everyone knows that it will not happen."

Netanyahu, who will address the calm lobby Congress on Monday and Tuesday played down the rift.

"The differences have been blown out of proportion," he told The Associated Press on Saturday. "It is true we have some differences, but these are among friends".

Obama was to depart later Sunday for a weeklong European tour seeking tendency to old friends in the Western alliance and ensure their help with the political upheavals throughout the Arab world and the ten-year long conflict in Afghanistan.

Obama will visit Ireland, England, France and Poland.

The trip comes in the midst of the ongoing NATO-led bombing campaign in Libya and a seemingly intractable conflict between Moammar Gadhafi's forces and Libyan rebels. The negotiations will also include economic concerns, as European countries makes sharp cuts in public spending and Obama and Congressional Republicans try to hash out how to cut spending to bring U.S. debt under control.

___

Associated Press Writer Amy Teibel contributed to this report.

 

Jerusalem bookshop was ordered to leave: Israel steps up expulsions

By Jonathan Cook-Jerusalem
 
Munther Fahmi is known as a bookseller in Jerusalem. Among his customers are to be found Tony Blair, Kofi Annan, Jimmy Carter and Hollywood actress Uma Thurman.
In a city torn by political and social tensions, has Mr Fahmi bookstore where an oasis of dialogue between the Palestinians and isrælere, with known authors and academics from both sides of the divide is regularly invited to give readings and talk about their work.
But despite his high-profile connections, Mr Fahmi days in the city of his birth see numbered.
Isrælske officials have told him that after 16 years running his Bookstore in the recitals in the preamble to East Jerusalem landmark 19th-century hotel the American colony, he is no longer welcome in Israel or in Jerusalem.

Two months ago he exhausted his legal options when Isræls the Supreme Court refused to overturn the deportation order. His only hope now rests with a governmental Committee, which he has appealed for humanitarian reasons.
Mr Fahmi, 57, is far from optimistic. "My attorney tells me programs from the Palestinians accepted almost never."
The holder of an American passport in many years, Mr Fahmi said he is staying on a tourist visa, which expired on 3. April. "If the Committee rejects my case, I will be sent packing on a surface with very short notice."
Mr Fahmi is one of thousands of Palestinians in the last four decades has fallen foul of a isrælsk policy, stripping them of their right to live in Jerusalem, said Dalia Kerstein, Director of Hamoked, a isrælsk human rights group.
Although Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1967, in breach of international law, most of its Palestinian population received only isrælske residence permit allows, not citizenship.
According to isrælske figures, has more than 13,000 Palestinians--from a current population of 260,000 in East Jerusalem--had their residence permits revoked since then.
MS Kerstein said the number of withdrawals had increased considerably in recent years, with more than 4,500 Palestinians losing residence permit in 2008 alone last year which complete figures are available.
Isrælsk law stipulates that Palestinians in Jerusalem can be deprived of a residence permit if they spent at least seven years abroad--defined as including the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza--or acquired a foreign passport.
Since a test case in 1988, has the isrælske courts supported withdrawals in cases where the authorities say the Palestinians have transferred their "Centre of life" elsewhere.
"There is clearly a policy to push the Palestinians out of Jerusalem and Israel to reduce what is called here ' Palestinian demographic threat '," said Ms Kerstein. "It's really a case of ethnic cleansing".
Last week, Hamoked and another human rights group, Association of civil rights in Israel (Acri), petitoned Isræls Supreme Court to overturn policy, claimed that it is contrary to international law.
Eve For, a lawyer for Acri, said Palestinians in East Jerusalem was effectively "prisoners", punishable by Israel if they participated in a more globalised world.
"The Problem for people like Munther is that the isrælske Government and courts treat them as if they are immigrants, ignore, as the town's original inhabitants have an inalienable right to live here," Ms Kerstein said.
Like most other Palestinians in East Jerusalem decreased Mr Fahmi family isrælske citizenship in 1967. "We are the Palestinians and Israel concern us. Why would we take citizenship and give a stamp of legitimacy to our occupation? "
But the decision left him and other Palestinians in Jerusalem in a precarious position.
Mr Fahmi residence permit was revoked--without his knowledge--a long period of time spent in the United States, beginning in 1975, when he left to study. He made his American passport after marrying there and raise a family.
He decided to settle back in Jerusalem in 1995, after the signing of the Oslo accords. "I had seen Yasser Arafat [the Palestinian leader] and Yitzhak Rabin [Isræls prime minister] shake hands at the White House. Naively, I trøde it heralded a new era of reconciliation. "
The last 16 years, he has been forced to exit and enter the country every couple of months on a tourist visa.
But Mr Fahmi learned of his loss of residence permit full meaning 18 months ago when Interior Ministry officials told him that, according to a new policy, he will no longer automatically be issued tourist visas.
Now, can he he has told to spend only three months per year in Israel, including Jerusalem. He has said in his appeal to the humanitarian Committee, he must be in Jerusalem to take care of his 76-year-old mother.
"There are other countries where the indigenous population is treated like this in its home country?" he said.
Policy to withhold tourist visas to Palestinians with foreign passports have only imperfectly implemented, said Ms Kerstein, followed objections from us and European embassies.
Mr Fahmi appeared a surprising choice for enforcement, given its influential supporters. A petition has attracted more than 2,000 signatures, including the British author Ian McEwan, who won this year's Jerusalem Prize for literature, historian Eric Hobsbawn and Simon Sebag Montefiore, if book Jerusalem: The Biography has become a bestseller.
Mr Fahmi hope backup from the many isrælere and diaspora Jews, including Isræls two most famous novelists, Amos Oz and David Grossman, prevent his expulsion.
' I hope the authorities will take note of the fact that many of my supporters are people who describe themselves as friends of Israel, "he said.
Mr Grossman told the News Agency last week that the isrælske Government's actions were "a disgrace".
Rashid Khalidi, professor of Middle East history at Columbia University in New York that the petition has also signed, said Mr Fahmi case featured Isræls determination to maintain a clear Jewish majority in Jerusalem.
A formula devised by a Committee, isrælske Government in 1973 fixed percentage ratio of isrælske Jews to the Palestinians in the city of 73 to 27. Despite an aggressive policy of settling Jews in East Jerusalem have higher birth rates among Palestinians seen their share of the swell to a little over a third of the city's total population.
"There is not a family I know in East Jerusalem, which has no affected by this recall policy," said Prof. Khalidi. "It is systematic.
Last year Israel seemed to extend the policy when it revoked the residence permit of four Hamas members of the Palestinian Legislative Council who live in East Jerusalem.
Earlier this year also it shall be prohibited from Jerusalem Adnan Gheith, a prominent Palestinian political activist, who has been against a Jewish settlement drive in his Silwan neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. He was ordered to keep out of the city in four months.
Reports in the isrælske media suggest that Isræls security service has prepared a list of several hundred activists in Jerusalem, which they want issued with expulsion orders.
In an indication of fear among Palestinians in East Jerusalem, as their residency rights are threatened, have isrælske officials noticed a marked increase in Palestinians applying for isrælske citizenship in the past five years.
The figures showed in the years from isrælske Interior Ministry that approximately 13,000 Jerusalem Palestinians or 5% of the population, now isrælske citizens.
-Jonathan Cook is an author and journalist based in Nazareth, Israel. His latest books are "Israel and the clash of civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the plan to reshape the Middle East" (Pluto Press) and "Disappearing Palestine: Isræls experiments in human despair" (Zed Books). His website is www.jkcook.net. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com. A version of this article originally appeared in the national-www.thenational.ae-published in Abu Dhabi.

 

Israel must choose settlements or peace: Abbas (AFP)

CAIRO (AFP)-Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas said isrælske prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu must choose between building Jewish settlements or make peace, on a Palestinian reconciliation ceremony in Cairo on Wednesday.

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Palestinian Unity Pact is a blow to peace: Israel PM (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) – isrælske prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday condemned a new device Pact between Hamas and Fatah Palestinian factions.

"What happened today in Cairo is a huge blow to the peace and a great victory for terrorism," he told journalists during a visit to London.

(Reporting by Adrian Croft: editing by Stefano Ambrogi)

 

UK beats Israel: the Government and the Media to blame

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By R. Taylor

The current UK Government is 'the most hostile to Israel in living memory.' So says Melanie Phillips, formerly a respected UK journalist now better known for her militant anti-Islam stance and her Israel-is-never-wrong/blame-everyone-else rants.

And maybe she is right. But as all previous UK governments have meekly toed the Zionist line, it wouldn’t be saying very much. After all Gordon Brown, Cameron’s predecessor, was honorary president of the Jewish National Fund, Brown succeeded Tony Blair (need one say more), he followed Major/Thatcher and so on. Nevertheless David Cameron’s coalition is voicing the kinds of criticism of Israel’s policies that have rarely been heard before

A particular beef for Phillips (or Mad Mel as she is often referred to nowadays) was the government’s failure to support Israel in the United Nations on the issue of West Bank settlements. In her blog for The Spectator magazine on 22nd Feb she berates Cameron and co. with the following. “While the British Prime Minister David Cameron is in Egypt hymning the prospect there of democracy and human rights.....what has been overlooked is that this same David Cameron has chosen this of all moments to push the one and only democracy in the region, Israel, under the Islamist bus. While America finally vetoed the UN motion slamming Israel’s ‘illegal’ settlements because it went too far even for Obama, Britain voted in favour.”

Leaving aside her bizarre views that settlements are neither legally nor morally wrong, it does seem that UK Zionists are becoming increasingly alarmed about changing attitudes in the UK towards Israel. Long-used to a situation where the Zionist narrative was accepted virtually without question, Mel and others can’t quite believe that things have changed; that the romantic view of poor little Israel has faded in the West, that the Palestinian narrative is now much more accessible and that even our politicians have taken note.

Benedict Brogan of the Daily Telegraph is another who is concerned. He praises Cameron for a recent speech to a Jewish audience in which he described his belief in Israel as “indestructible”, but then asks why Israeli PM Netanyahu is so worried about the UK and the apparent decline of its backing for Israel. “The truth,” he laments, “is that relations between Jerusalem and London are bad, drifting to worse. …..At a time when the affairs of the Middle East should preoccupy us all, Britain gives the impression of being indifferent to the concerns of a country that is not just the only democracy in the neighbourhood, but also one of our paramount allies in the fight against militant Islam.” Brogan then quotes the dark warning from Israeli Ambassador to the UK, Ron Prosor, that the undermining of Israel even reaches “back to Her Majesty’s Government”.

Worse than that though, Brogan asserts that the “UK has turned from an indestructible ally into a gullible host for the global campaign to undermine its legitimacy,” and has become “an echo chamber for a coalition of religious and political campaign groups and academics of all stripes - some of them Jewish - pumping out a propaganda campaign of explicit and implicit hostility to Israel.” Brogan’s solution to all this?  “Cameron should find a reason to visit his friends (Israel) and tell them, face to face, why our links are indestructible.”

Edgar Davidson is a lesser known Zionist blogger but he is quite certain where much of the blame lies. His blog piece of February 20th 2011 includes a revealing anecdote. “If you need to know the depth to which the British media has indoctrinated the public with anti-Israel feelings,” he suggests helpfully, “then I can give no better example than the following: My daughter, who goes to an orthodox Jewish school, tells me that, when the subject of Israel is discussed in their Jewish studies GCSE class, students routinely state things like "the Jews have no right to Israel because they stole the land from the Palestinians". In making statements like that, those regular 15-16 year old Jewish kids, are simply repeating what they are told relentlessly in every part of the media”. Perhaps, Edgar. But, it could just be that these Jewish kids are better informed than their parents, have a greater grasp of the notion of justice and recognize that the concept of human rights applies to Palestinians too. Don’t underestimate them.

The media malaise is not confined to the usual suspects - the BBC, Channel 4 and The Guardian. It is even to be found in the UK Jewish press. In December, under the heading “The JC (Jewish Chronicle) Sinks Lower and Lower”, Edgar tells his readers that, “rapidly the JC is morphing into a Guardian look-alike, with its increasingly central contributions from anti-Zionists.” He bemoans the fact “Nicholas Saphir, the Chair of the anti-Zionist New Israel Fund (UK), is a trustee of the Kessler Foundation, which owns the Jewish Chronicle. Last week the New Israel Fund had a 4-page pullout in the JC, and rarely a week goes by nowadays without some major positive focus/article about the NIF.” This will never do.

What really worries Zionists in the UK though is the thought that they are losing the propaganda battle and their ability to ensure mainstream politicians don’t step too much out of line, or if they do go off-message, the capacity to set them on the straight-and-narrow again. A couple of examples from recent years illustrate the point.

In 2006, during Israel’s war on Lebanon William Hague was the Shadow Foreign Secretary. He had the temerity to use the word “disproportionate” when describing Israel’s military actions. A leading Zionist hit out at Hague and told The Spectator that his words comments were “not merely unhelpful” but “downright dangerous.” This was enough to secure a solemn undertaking from Hague’s boss Cameron that the ‘d’ word would not be used again. Suspicions regarding Hague still lingered, however, and in 2008 he was grilled by arch-Zionist journalist Danny Finkelstein at the Conservative Friends of Israel annual bash. “Are you a Zionist ?” he was asked. A discomfited and apologetic Hague had to agree. Later that year when Israel launched Operation Cast Lead against Gaza, the ‘d’ word did not pass his lips.

In the run up to the general election of 2010, the dramatic rise in popularity of Lib-Dem leader Nick Clegg posed a similar problem. Hadn’t he criticised Israel for its bombing of civilians in Gaza? Couldn’t he be in the next government, maybe even Foreign Secretary? Clegg would have to explain himself. Backtracking feverishly, he duly did so in the Jewish Chronicle saying his comments were made because of his genuine concern that Israel’s actions ran “counter to its best interests” - no mention of the interests of the people of Gaza, the slaughter of innocents and breaches of international law.

But what now? Opinion in the UK has shifted decisively away from blind acceptance of anything Israel does. The politicians, fed up no doubt with Netanyahu’s lies, here have tagged along, perhaps seeing for the first time that the UK’s interests do not automatically coincide with those of Israel. Aware too that the ‘peace process’ is just that - a process, with no end in sight and that supporting Israel’s policies of grabbing as much land as possible from the Palestinians is inherently dangerous to Britons.

An exchange in the House of Commons on Monday 14th is indicative of the changes. During Prime Minister’s Questions the following exchange took place;

Sir Gerald Kaufman (Labour) Will the right honourable gentleman join me in condemning utterly the slaughter inflicted on the Fogel family in a West Bank settlement over the weekend? Does he agree that no response to that savagery could be more futile than the building of further settlements, and the only way to stop this useless slaughter of innocent people - both Jews and Palestinians - is for Israel to sit down and talk?

The Prime Minister: The right honourable Gentleman is entirely right. Like others I read about the case over the weekend and found what happened extremely disturbing. Anyone who has been to Jerusalem and seen the settlement building, particularly around East Jerusalem, can understand why the Palestinians feel so strongly about building on their land. There is a danger of the two-state solution being built away if we are not careful. That is why this Government has always taken a strong view about the settlements.

It is hard to imagine a British PM speaking this way in the past, especially so soon after an event such as the massacre in Itamar colony. The times certainly are a-changing and Zionists are scared.

- R. Taylor contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.

Israel launches air strikes in Gaza

21 March 2011, last updated at 19: 35 -YOU DO NOT include many of the buildings had Hamas been infecting at least 17 people have been injured in the Israeli air strikes in Gaza several strikes, Palestinian medics said.

The responses of a maximum of nine explosions were reported in Gaza City and in the North and the South side of the area.

Witnesses say militant training camps operated by the Hamas and the cement factory's workshop were targeted as well.

On Saturday a Palestinian fired dozens of mortars, the southern Egypt to Israel, which was reportedly the heaviest barrage of such two-year period.

Of Monday's air strikes had seven children, was seriously wounded in a Palestinian medical officials said.

BBC Jon Donnison Gaza City says warplanes could be heard over the Gaza Strip for more than an hour.

Many of the buildings belonging to the Islamist Hamas group, which controls the Gaza Strip, had been infecting strikes in advance, he says.

Air strikes in Gaza is not unusual, but this seems to be one of the heaviest since Israel's significant military offensive between December 2008 and January 2009, the reward.

More than 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed.

View the original article here

Israel plans to work on contested Jerusalem holy site (Reuters)

JERUSALEM (Reuters)-Israel has given preliminary approval for renovations on a contested holy site in East Jerusalem where rebuilding has triggered violence in the past, a city official said Sunday.

Municipal planners approved the project last week to repair an earthen ramp near the Mughrabi gate of the complex are connected to a revered Muslims and Jews, which both claim the region as their own Western Wall remnant of an ancient Jewish Temple.

Meir Margalit, a town the Councilor said City Hall would probably give the planned strengthening of ramp damaged by a snow storm and an earthquake in 2004 final approval this month.

"I was surprised that this problem has passed calmly," Margalit said, maintaining that Palestinians and Muslim clerics had raised no objections, but Israel had been forced to stop working in 2007, after Palestinian protests at the time.

East Jerusalem's old walled city, the ramp is located next to a composite Muslims know as Haram es-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary, and al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest site.

Jews Revere also spot where two biblical temples were and-which is a flashpoint in the isrælsk-Palestinian conflict.

In September 2000 a visit that triggered the protests, led to years of Palestinian uprising in which thousands died on both sides of Ariel Sharon, leader of the opposition, and isrælske.

Palestinians have claimed that renovations could be harmful from the point of isrælske Islamic relics buried underground.

Margalit said experts from Jordan, Turkey and Europe had particular "there would be no damage to the status quo and something wrong" with the renewal of work on the ramp and that experts from Jordan and Turkey to monitor the project as it progresses.

Israel took East Jersusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in one step, which has won international recognition. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a State, they aim to establish the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The 50 Years War: Israel and the Arabs [VHS]

The conflict in the Middle East between Israel and its neighbors is given comprehensive treatment in this two-video set produced by PBS. Using archival footage and extensive interviews with participants, the production begins by explaining conditions in Palestine at the end of World War II and the crisis created by the exodus of European Jews who went to the Middle East after the Holocaust. The withdrawal of the British, who had controlled Palestine for decades, is detailed, as is the creation of the state of Israel. Much of the region's history is complex, with the local struggles being conducted at times as a part of the cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union, but these videos do an admirable job of explaining the complexities of the situation. The segment on the Six Day War, for example, is masterful, with the scenes shifting from Israel to Egypt to Washington to Moscow, the story developing before the viewer's eyes. The 50 Years War is often a tale of mistrust and betrayal, but this production strives to present a balanced view of history, and is not only impressive for its command of the facts but for its skillful and often dramatic presentation of history. --Robert J. McNamara

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Iran ships pass through the Suez, Israel says provocation (Reuters)

ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters)-two Iranian naval ships passed through Egypt's Suez Canal in the Mediterranean on Tuesday, heading for Syria, says a source at the Canal Authority, a Move Israel condemned as a "provocation".

Iran seems to test the State of affairs in the Middle East after the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak case. A long-standing peace agreement with Egypt is crucial for Isræls regional security.

Washington said the surveillance ships ' movement.

Ships entered the Canal kl. 11.45 (10: 45 p.m. EST Monday) Tuesday and transferred to the Mediterranean 3-d. 19.30 (8: 30 a.m. EST), Suez Canal Authority source told Reuters. "Their return is expected to be on March 3," says the source.

Suez Canal cuts through Egypt and allows transit can pass from the Middle East to Europe and vice versa without having to go around the southern tip of Africa.

The channel's northern mouth, Port Said, is about 100 km (60 km) from Israel, but the ships route would take them in the Mediterranean along the Gaza and the isrælske coast. Vessels, the first Iranian naval ships to enter the channel since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, is a frigate and a supply ship.

Israel is concerned about political upheaval in Egypt and other Arab States aligned with its allies, the United States. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had previously said he would take a "serious view" of the passage of Iranian warships.

Isrælske Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon told Isræls channel 2 tv Tuesday: "it is an Iranian provocation. When you look at the Middle East, no matter how Iranians are weighed up, the situation is not good. "

He added: "it probably does not bode well, but these two ships is not an immediate threat to us".

Isrælske media has quoted unnamed officials say the Navy as Iranian vessels would be tracked, but not confronted.

US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said: "We have a United States for a long time supported freedom of navigation, so the decision to allow them to transit the Canal is a decision between Iran and Egypt."

"Of course, we have concern about Iran's behavior in the region, we will be watching carefully," he said.

"GLOBAL ARROGANCE"

Iran's second in command of the army, Abdolrahim Mousavi, was quoted as saying by the official Irna news agency Tuesday for saying that Israel was "surprised" by the presence of Iranian naval vessels in the channel.

Using a concept which Iran refers to the United States, he added: "the global arrogance must know that the Islamic Republic of Iran's army is fully prepared to defend its objectives.

"The world should know that the presence of Iranian warships in Suez has taken place ... deep through the guidance of the Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) and our young and brave study personnel's self-confidence."

A recently completed Isrælie war game, only then Exit Egypt's Mubarak, the Presidency concluded that would increase the military preparations but try to avoid confrontation unless it sees a greater threat from Iran.

Separately, Israel announced Tuesday that its arrow II missile shield had aced his latest live trial, shooting a target missile from a u.s. military base on the California coast.

Isrælie defence official Arieh Herzog said the test selected the upgrade "to contend with new and additional threats" in the Middle East.

"Arrow can intercept all weapons array against it in the region, including those who may come from Iran," Herzog told journalists.

Egypt's ruling military Council, is facing his first diplomatic headache since taking power on February 11, approved the Iranian vessels passing through the channel, a crucial global trade route and major source of income for the Egyptian authorities.

The decision was difficult for Egypt's interim Government. Cairo is an ally of the United States, while its relations with Iran have been strained in more than three decades.

Analysts say Iran sees itself enjoys upheaval in the entire Middle East. Hjemstavnsfordrivelse and weakening of leaders sympathetic to the United States is likely to embolden Tehran, and reduce the chances of the concessions on its nuclear program. Iran denies it intends to build nuclear weapons.