Settlement suspension announced and rejected
Israel’s prime minister has announced a 10-month suspension to the construction of new settlement houses in the occupied West Bank.
Binyamin Netanyahu told a news conference on Wednesday that he declared the limited halt “out of broad national interests with the aim of encouraging negotiations with our Palestinian neighbours”.
“When the period of freeze ends my government will return to the previous policy of building in Judea and Samaria,” Netanyahu said, using the Jewish name for the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli proposal excludes areas of the West Bank that Israel annexed to its Jerusalem municipality after occupying the territory in the 1967 Middle East war and building projects already under way. Read More…
MTW comment: If it did not have tragic consequences, it would be the best joke of the century. Dear Bibi, Jerusalem is not your capital. And all settlements in the Palestinian Occupied Territory, even the ones already built, are illegal and should be unconditionally dismantled before any negotiations resume.
Related:
- Netanyahu’s plan signals no intention to resume peace talks: PLO
- Russia urges Israel to freeze settlement spread
- Libya wants UN debate on settlements
- Palestinians reject Israel offer on settlement construction | 2 | 3 |
- Israel’s freeze on settlements in the West Bank helpful: U.S.
- Israel announces 10-month West Bank settlement freeze to revive peace talks with Palestinians | 2 | 3 |
- PA reaching for diplomatic plan B
- Abbas: Obama doing nothing to advance peace
“Who the F*** does Netanyahu think he is?”
(Alan Hart, ICH) — The documented truth, which flows through my book Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jews, is that every occupant of the Oval Office has at one point or another, and as President Ford once put it, been made “as mad as hell” by Israeli prime ministers. So the use of presidential expletives to describe them and Zionist lobby leaders at moments of great tension probably has a history going all the way back to Israel’s unilateral declaration of independence.
Even before that there were moments when President Truman could not contain his anger at the tactics Zionists were employing to bend him and the United Nations to their will. At one cabinet meeting Truman blurted out, “Jesus Christ couldn’t please them when he was here, so how could anyone expect that I would have any luck.”
In a vivid background report for From Our Own Correspondent, headlined Tough Lessons for Obama on Mid-East peace, Jeremy recalled some of the “false dawns” of previous presidential peace efforts.
One was a trip by President Clinton to Gaza in 1998 when Netanyahu was enjoying his first period as Israel’s prime minister. “Yes”, Jeremy added, “an American president in Gaza. It is not conceivable these days.”
After noting that Netanyahu drove Clinton mad, Jeremy went on:
After he (Netanyahu) had lectured the president about the Middle East, Mr. Clinton famously asked his aides: /…/ “Who the fuck does he think he is? Who’s the fucking superpower here?”
After recalling in his own way how President Obama has been humiliated to date by Netanyahu in his second period as prime minister, Jeremy commented that he, Obama, “might be using Bill Clintonesque language about Mr. Netanyahu.”
My own speculation is that Obama behind closed doors might even be outdoing Clinton in his use of expletives about Netanyahu. Read More…
They hate us because we occupy their country
One of the many barriers to developing a saner U.S. foreign policy is our collective failure to appreciate why military occupations generate so much hatred, resentment, and resistance, and why we should therefore go to enormous lengths to avoid getting mired in them.
Costly occupations are an activity you hope your adversaries undertake, especially in areas of little intrinsic strategic value. We blundered into Somalia in the early 1990s without realizing that we weren’t welcome; we invaded Iraq thinking we would be greeted as liberators, and we still don’t fully understand why many Afghans resent our presence and why some are driven to take up arms against us. Read More…
Targeting Muslim charities in America
To date, the Treasury Department has closed six Muslim charities by designating them terrorist organizations or claiming they provided material support to terrorism. A seventh charity was also closed for being “under investigation.” In addition, six others were raided and and have been gravely harmed by the publicity and intrusive surveillance. Two of them have since closed.
In total since 9/11, nine Muslims charities have been shuttered on bogus charges in Texas, Michigan, Missouri, Illinois, Oregon, Ohio, Massachusetts, and New York. Read More…
Iraq war inquiry opens in UK
A public inquiry into the UK’s role in the Iraq war has opened, with former civil servants first to appear in hearings that will climax with Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, taking the stand.
John Chilcot, the inquiry chairman and a former civil servant, said he was confident of producing a “full and insightful” account of the decision-making that led Britain to join the 2003 invasion against strong opposition at home and abroad.
The inquiry will also look into the justification for the war, principally the claim that Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi president, had weapons of mass destruction. These weapons were never found. Read More…
Anti-Semitism, anti-Semitism, the age-old cry of anti-Semitism
And why should anyone care?
It’s not like people are smashing windows of Jewish-owned stores and burning synagogues in Berlin.
When criticism of Israeli war crimes raises yelps of anti-Semitism, or when criticism of Israeli purchase of influence with democratically elected representatives in Britain or elsewhere raises yelps of anti-Semitism, what we hear is slanderous abuse intended to prevent free speech.
Yet why should all the world put the Jewish interest ahead of its own? Why are Jewish interests beyond criticism?
Because of the Holocaust, did you say?
Which one?
The killing of 20 million Russian and Ukrainian Christians, largely the work of Stalin’s Jews?
Not that one, you say?
Or Mao’s slaughter of tens of millions of Chinese?
Oh, no need care about them, you say?
You mean the Jewish Holocaust?
Ha, when that happened my father was serving as a volunteer in the RAF fighting the Nazis. So I’am sorry, but I feel absolutely no guilt about the Jewish Holocaust, and see no reason why it should limit my freedom of speech.
The Holocaust of European Jews, which occurred in the aftermath of World Jewry’s declaration of war against Germany, was a great crime. But it is history now, and history is a catalogue of great crimes, including the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by Jews in times both ancient and modern.
Source: http://canadianspectator.ca/
Related:
The next round of the U.S.- Iran nuclear face-off
President Barack Obama spent much of his time in Asia warning Iran that his patience for nuclear diplomacy is wearing thin. But Friday’s meeting in Brussels between representatives of the group of Western powers, Russia and China that has been negotiating with Iran produced little indication that new sanctions may be imminent if Iran continue to prevaricate. Read More…
Related:
Russia upset with US “no” on UN anti-Nazi resolution
Russia is disappointed with the US rejecting the resolution against racism adopted by the UN’s General Assembly’s committee, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday. The resolution, which was approved in New York on the initiative of Russia, in particular condemns the glorification of Nazi movement and former Waffen-SS members. US’ delegation was the only delegation, which voted against the document. 124 states voted for the resolution and 55 states abstained. (Source)
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New EU president confirms New World Order desire
As plain as it comes, the newly “elected” cnut that is the EUSSR president confirms the desire for a one world government, a New World Order of worldwide oppression and the spread of worldwide Communism. If it didn’t hit you what the EU project is all about, the new EU “president” confirms it for you in this clip.
Recorded from BBC News 24, 19 November 2009.
Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXWeOa-FuyM
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The administration guts its own argument for 9/11 trials
Entrance to the prison in Stare Kiejkuty
Can anyone reconcile Obama’s homage to “our legal traditions” and his professed faith in jury trials in the New York federal courts with the reality of what his administration is doing: i.e., denying trials to a large number of detainees, either by putting them before military commissions or simply indefinitely imprisoning them without any process at all?
Once you endorse the notion that the Government has the right to imprison people not captured on any battlefield without giving them trials — as the Obama administration is doing explicitly and implicitly — what convincing rationale can anyone offer to justify giving Mohammed and other 9/11 defendants a real trial in New York? If you’re taking the position that military commissions and even indefinite detention are perfectly legitimate tools to imprison people, then what is the answer to the Right’s objections that Mohammed himself belongs in a military commission?
If the administration believes Omar Khadr belongs in a military commission, and if they believe others can be held indefinitely without any charges, why isn’t that true of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed? By denying jury trials to a large number of detainees, Obama officials have completely gutted their own case for why they did the right thing in giving Mohammed a trial in New York. Read More…
MTW comment: What really makes this trial difficult is the fact that Sheikh Mohammed was tortured in a secret prison near Stare Kiejkuty, Poland, used by the CIA for extraordinary renditions. In March of 2003 alone, he was subjected to waterboarding exactly 183 times. Predictions that he will be sentenced to death based on his confessions, are therefore extremely unreliable. Unless… this show trial has been arranged for purely political reasons.
The decision has been announced during Obama’s tour of East Asia. Obama commented very carefully that he had a complete confidence in the American justice system. This looks, walks, and quacks like a beginning of a major battle in the ongoing power struggle between the Obama camp and the supporters of Israel. Who is calling the shots remains to be seen. Logically, two scenarios and two political agendas are possible:
1. Mosad and/or AIPAC have evidence of American complicity in 9-11. This would explain Israel’s upper hand in the Middle East peace process and Israel’s “ownership” of the American veto at the UN Security Council. Exposing the 9-11 truth during Sheikh Mohammed’s trial would lead to an acute political crisis in the US, effectively ending American pressure on freezing the settlements and on establishing a Palestinian state. However, this possibility is not very likely as Israel continues to need the US veto at the UN Security Council and the US support in weakening Iran. Also, the US has supported Israel long before 9-11.
2. Mosad and/or AIPAC have evidence of American complicity in 9-11. Obama is preempting a potential blackmail of the US government by Israel. Closing the 9-11 file with a conviction based on “voluntary” confession, Obama eliminates a possibility of a blackmail and regains independence in dealing with Israel.
I am afraid that my speculations are just a wishful thinking. Nevertheless, I will be watching this trial with interest. There is something “fishy” about it. It just doesn’t look right.
Related:
- 9-11 trial puts German-US relations under strain
- Khalid Shaikh Mohammed’s trial will convict us all
- Sentence First, Verdict Afterwards: Obama Assures Public KSM Will Be Convicted and Executed
- 9/11 suspects face New York trial
- Alleged 9/11 mastermind to stand trial in NY
- New Evidence of Torture Prison in Poland
Palestine’s right to statehood
With the Palestinian authorities in Ramallah seeking recognition of a Palestinian state through the United Nations, we must consider what this means both to Palestinians and to the rest of the world.
As statehood will have a significant effect on how Palestine is considered and likely treated by the international community, it is important to consider what exactly is the Palestinians’ entitlement to a state and what statehood means. International law provides a common denominator that can be used to answer this question. Read More…
Related:
- UN official: Gilo expansion threatens Middle East peace
- Germany attacks Israel settlement plan
- Mubarak: Jerusalem a ‘pan-Arab’ issue
- Fayyad: We won’t accept fragmented state
- Japan deplores plan to expand Gilo settlement
- Israel brands settlement issue as ‘marginal’
- French FM says Gilo expansion ‘more than regrettable’
- Egypt: Israel must stop settlement
- Egypt: Palestinian state with provisional borders ‘unacceptable’
Obama returns to greater Middle East mess
As Barack Obama arrives home from his weeklong tour of East Asia, he confronts a growing list of ever more urgent problems in the Greater Middle East that he inherited from George W. Bush’s “global war on terror”. From Palestine to Pakistan, Obama, who also faces a major fight in getting his top legislative priority – health care reform – through Congress, must make a series of critical decisions within a relatively short time. Read More…
Related:
- Israeli planes strike Gaza Strip
- IDF arrests 5 Palestinian intelligence officers
- Abbas rejected US plan to resume talks
- Hamas: We’re not negotiating with Israel
- PA’s Iraq envoy: Sever ties with Israel
- Palestinian MK: 15,000 settlement homes awaiting approval in Jerusalem
- Israeli plans to destroy the Aqsa Mosque in final stages
- Interview with Doctor Thabet El Masri – Gaza: A Death Camp?
- Gaza water unfit for human consumption
- Gazan farmers unable to work their land in ‘buffer zone’
- Palestinian goes on hunger strike over denial of medical treatment
- Gaza: lost livelihoods
- Gaza facing gas crisis
- Gaza children survive with psychological trauma and hard living conditions
- GCMHP: Gaza children need justice
- Child labor rises as Palestinian children lose faith in learning
Lebanon warns of possible Israeli attack
A Lebanese military commander said on Saturday border security would be tightened due to a possible Israeli attack.
General Jean Qahwaji warned Lebanese soldiers to “be more aware when traveling along the border,” in case of an Israeli attack on Lebanese territory, according to the London based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper.
Jordan’s Ad-Dustour daily wrote on November 6 that Israel could begin a new military operation in Lebanon in spring 2010. Citing French parliamentary and military sources, it said plans of possible military operation in Lebanon in spring 2010 were discussed in France, at a meeting of French, U.S. and Israeli military experts.
Related:
- If attacked, Iran will target Tel Aviv
- Israeli planes strike Gaza Strip
- Israeli jets attack Gaza, 7 Palestinians injured
- Israel and Hamas inch toward completion of Shalit swap
- Iran holding large-scale air-defence war games | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
- Iran to hold air-defense drills
- In warning to Russia, Iran says it can build S-300
- Russia would deliver pre-emptive nuclear strike in critical situation
- Russian defense orders to grow 8.5% in 2010
- First Russian brigade with Iskander missiles to be formed in 2010
