:icon_sadangel2: Palestine Peace a dream?

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'Jerusalem in range of Hezbollah rockets'
Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:09:22 GMT
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Israel's Army Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi
Israel has voiced concerns over the military power of Lebanon's Hezbollah, saying the movement is capable of putting the main cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem (Al-Quds) in range of its possessing rockets.

Israel's Army Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi warned on Tuesday that Hezbollah possesses tens of thousands of rockets cable of reaching up to 300 kilometers in Israel, Haaretz reported.

"While it is calm at the moment — the borders are quiet in the north and the south — it is a misleading calm," said Ashkenazi, claiming that, "Beyond the fences the terror groups are gaining strength".

Last week, Israel's Military Intelligence chief Major-General Amos Yadlin claimed Palestinian movement Hamas test fired a missile capable of reaching targets in Tel Aviv.

Hamas, however, has rejected the claims, saying the remarks were mere 'fabrication' to mobilize the world opinion against the movement.

Israel fought wars against Hezbollah and Hamas both in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip in an attempt to destroy the military power of the resistance movements, but eventually left the regions without achieving its objectives.

SB/AKM

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OCCUPIED JERUSALEM – A Jewish rabbi has issued a book giving Jews permission to murder non-Jews, including babies and children, who may pose an actual or potential threat to Jews or Israel. "It is permissible to kill the Righteous among non-Jews even if they are not responsible for the threatening situation," Rabbi Yitzhak Shapiro, who heads the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva in the Yitzhar settlement in the occupied West Bank, wrote in his book "The King's Torah."
He argues that goyem (a derogatory epithet for non-Jews) may be killed if they threaten Israel.

"If we kill a Gentile who has sinned or has violated one of the seven commandments - because we care about the commandments - there is nothing wrong with the murder."

Shapiro, who heads a small Talmudic school at the settlement of Yitzhar near Nablus, claims his edict "is fully justified by the Torah and the Talmud."

The anti-goyem edict seems to come in response to the arrest by Israeli police of a Jewish terrorist who has confessed to having murdered two Palestinian shepherds in the West Bank.

"Dad, I'm Dying"

Palestinian Holocaust Museum

The terrorist, an American-born immigrant named Yaakov Teitel, also confessed to have tried to assassinate leftist Jewish figures.

Police considered the arrest an important achievement in combating Jewish terrorism, which experts contend thrives on religious edicts issued by rabbis affiliated with the religious-Zionist camp.

Nearly 16 years ago, a Jewish terrorist named Yigal Amir assassinated then Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin.

Moreover, numerous innocent Palestinians have also been murdered in cold blood by Jewish terrorists.

In 1994, Baruch Goldstein, a notorious Jewish terrorist, murdered 29 Muslim worshipers inside Al-Ibrahimi Mosque in the West Bank town of al-Khalil.

Non-Humans

The controversial edict is backed by numerous rabbis affiliated with the so-called national-religious camp as well as the Talmudic seminary in West Jerusalem, known as Merkaz Ha’rav.

Among the rabbis who have publicly supported the edict are Yitzhak Ginsburg and Ya’akov Yosef.

Ginsburg had written a leaflet glorifying murderer Goldstein and called him a "saintly figure."

Shapiro’s views on how Palestinians and non-Jews in general ought to be treated according to Jewish religious law (halacha) are widely looked at as representing the mainstream not the exception in Israel.

During the Israeli onslaught against Gaza earlier this year, Mordecahi Elyahu, one of the leading rabbinic figures in Israel, urged the army not to refrain from killing enemy children in order to save the lives of Israeli soldiers.

He had even petitioned the Israeli government to carry out a series of carpet bombing of Palestinian population centers in Gaza.

"If they don’t stop after we kill 100, then we must kill a thousand. And if they do not stop after we kill a thousand, then we must kill 10,000. If they still don’t stop, we must kill 100,000, even a million. Whatever it takes to stop them."

According to Israel Shahak, author of "Jewish History, Jewish Religion: the Weight of Three Thousand years," the term "human beings" in Jewish law refers solely to Jews.

Many Jewish orthodox rabbis, especially within the national-religious sector, view international conventions incriminating the deliberate killing of civilians and destruction of civilian homes and property as representing "Christian morals" not binding on Jews.

In 2006, the Rabbinic Council of Jewish Settlements in the West Bank urged the army "to ignore Christian morals and exterminate the enemy in the north (Lebanon) and the south (Gaza Strip).

Such manifestly racist and hateful edicts don’t raise many eyebrows in Israel, neither among the intelligentsia nor in the society at large.

Source: IslamOnline

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Israeli rabbi backs killing non-Jews
Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:19:15 GMT


An Israeli rabbi has supported the murder of non-Jewish babies who pose a threat to Israel in his recently released book The King's Torah.

Rabbi Yitzhak Shapiro, who heads the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva religious school in the occupied West Bank, says Jews are allowed to murder even non-Jewish babies and children if they pose a threat to Israel, Haaretz reported.

Shapiro said Jews are allowed to kill 'those who, by speech, weaken our sovereignty'.

"It is permissible to kill the Righteous among Nations even if they are not responsible for the threatening situation," he wrote.

Several prominent rabbis, including Rabbi Yithak Ginzburg and Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, have also recommended the book to their students and followers.

During the Israeli three-week offensive on the Gaza Strip last year, some leading rabbis issued a ruling which gave permission to kill civilians in the coastal enclave.

“It is permitted, according to Jewish Law, to fire shells and bombs at the firing sites, even if they are populated by civilians," read a ruling issued by Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, Rabbi Dov Lior, Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpe and Rabbi Meir Mazuz.

The ruling gave a free hand to Israeli commanders to attack civilian population during the war in the Gaza Strip in which at least 1350 people, including women and children, were killed.

SB/AKM

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Israel moving closer to acquiring F-35 squadron
Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:03:07 GMT

The Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter
Israel is moving closer to acquiring F-35B stealth fighter jets from the United States.

The Israeli Air Force recently submitted an official Letter of Request (LOR) to the Pentagon to purchase its first squadron of 25 F-35 stealth fighter jets. Israeli defense officials say that negotiations regarding the final price of the plane -- estimated at around $100 million -- as well as the integration of Israeli systems would continue.

The LOR will be followed by the signing of a contract at the beginning of 2010. The first aircraft are scheduled to arrive in Israel in 2014.

The Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), the F-35, will be one of the most advanced fighter jets in the world and will enable Israel to phase out some of its older F-15 and F-16 models. The JSF is manufactured by Lockheed Martin.

The first stage of the deal will be the purchase of 25 aircraft, which will comprise the first Israeli F-35 squadron. In a later stage, the IAF plans to purchase an additional 50 aircraft, some of them with vertical take-off and landing capabilities, according to the Lockheed Martin website.

According to senior Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officers, the Israeli Defense Ministry and the Pentagon have reached understandings on most of the major issues that have been at the core of disagreement between the sides.

Israeli demands have focused on three issues -- the integration of Israeli-made electronic warfare systems into the plane, the integration of Israeli communication systems, and the ability to independently maintain the plane in the event of a technical or structural problem.

The fifth-generation Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a single-seat, single-engine and multi-role fighter. The aircraft can conduct air-to-air and air-to-ground combat missions simultaneously with near impunity. The fighter is a truly transformational weapon system that provides quantum leaps in survivability and lethality.

The F-35 also carries a comprehensive sensor package that integrates vast amounts of accurate intelligence in a attempt to facilitate operations in the air, on the ground, at sea, or in space.

The single-engine F-35 Lightning II is manufactured in three variants: conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL), carrier variant (CV) as well as short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL).

MP/HGL

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US 'failed' to bring peace to ME
Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:24:49 GMT

Efforts to revive Middle East peace talks have so far failed to bear any result, says US Assistant Secretary of State William Burns.

"I wish I could stand before you today and point to substantial progress toward our goals, (but) I can not," Burns confessed in a Middle East Institute conference on Tuesday.

He however stressed that the administration of President Barack Obama would stay committed to a two-state solution regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while reiterating that a freeze on Israel's settlement activities remained the US position on the issue.

"We do not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements," Burns told journalists admitting that Israel "obviously fell short of the continuing roadmap obligation for a full settlement freeze".

Burns made the comments a day after Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met at the White House. Reports of divisions among the two leaders have surfaced.

Netanyahu, whose right-leaning coalition includes pro-settler parties, has resisted Obama's call for a total freeze on the illegal construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank — which Palestinians consider as a pre-condition for resuming peace talks.

On Tuesday, close aides to Acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas said he could resign, if the US fails to pile more pressure on Israel to meet the Palestinians' demand.

Obama set Middle East peace as a top priority at the start of his presidency in January, in contrast to his predecessor George W. Bush, who was criticized internationally for neglecting the long-running conflict.

However, the new administration has little to show for its efforts so far.

Israeli settlements are widely considered to be the main hurdle in the way of comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Under the 2002 Roadmap for Peace plan brokered by the United States, the European Union, the United Nations, and Russia, Israel has to 'dismantle settlement outposts erected since 2001 and also freeze all settlement activities'.

FF/AKM

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srael allies slam settlement expansion
Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:53:44 GMT

Israel is facing mounting criticism over its continued settlement expansion as Tel Aviv allies see the prospects of peace through a two-state solution vanish into thin air.

In a meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah in London, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Tuesday expressed concerns over the lack of progress in the Middle East peace process.

Abdullah and Brown pledged 'to increase their efforts in support of a just and viable two-state solution', and to encourage world leaders to actively engage in supporting the resumption of peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine.

On Tuesday, the French foreign minister reiterated his country's opposition to the Israeli settlements, criticizing Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu's hawkish administration for killing a leftist desire for peace born during the former Israeli government.

"We think that a freeze on settlements, that's to say no more colonization while talks are ongoing, would be absolutely indispensable," Bernard Kouchner told France Inter radio.

He also said that Netanyahu would hear from French President Nicolas Sarkozy about the need to freeze the settlements in their planned meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Wednesday.

Denmark also joined its EU partners in criticizing Israel for the expansion of its illegal settlements, the destruction of Palestinian homes and restrictions on their movement.

Tel Aviv has so far refused to heed the international community's call for a freeze on its settlement activity, which the Palestinians maintain as a precondition for any peace talks with the Israeli side.

Last week, acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas expressed deep disappointment with US President Barack Obama's failure to keep his promise to Palestinians of holding Israel accountable and compromising on the Arab nation's rights in favor of Israel and its illegal settlements.

Under the US pressure, Abbas stopped short of announcing the death of a two-state solution. However, his chief negotiator Saeb Erekat had earlier warned that the continued expansion of Israeli settlements could force the Palestinian side to abandon the two-state solution.

MRS/AKM

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UN official calls for punishing Israel
Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:24:11 GMT

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay
The United Nations' top human rights official has called for taking punitive measures against Israel over committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay told the Security Council on Wednesday that Israel was responsible for the killing of more than 1,000 civilians in Gaza and attacks on schools, mosques and UN facilities, Ynet reported.

She has also criticized the regime's confiscation of Palestinian lands and the forceful evacuation of Palestinians from their homes in east Jerusalem (Al-Quds).

A recent report released by a UN fact-finding team headed by South African Judge Richard Goldstone stated that Israel had committed war crimes during last December's war in the Gaza Strip.

The report concluded that Israel used disproportionate force and failed to protect civilians during its December 27 to January 18 offensive in Gaza.

SB/SS/RE

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BBC

West Bank deportation challenged
Berlanty Azzam had nearly finished her degree at Bethlehem University

Israel's Supreme Court is due to hear the case of a 21-year-old Palestinian woman whom the Israeli military deported to Gaza from the West Bank.

Bethlehem University student Berlanty Azzam was deported two weeks ago.

The Israeli army said she had been given a permit in 2005 allowing her to spend only a few days in Jerusalem.

But an Israeli human rights group says that when Ms Azzam left Gaza there was no such thing as a special permit for Palestinians to enter the West Bank.

The organisation, Gisha, believes tens of thousands of other Palestinians in the West Bank are also under threat of deportation.

'Illegal resident'

Ms Azzam was stopped at a checkpoint in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers at the end of October, two months before she was due to complete a degree in business management in Bethlehem.


I'm dreaming of the day when I can return to my studies
Berlanty Azzam

When they saw that the address listed on her identity card was in Gaza, she was detained for six hours, then blindfolded and handcuffed and told she would be taken to a detention centre in the southern West Bank.

"The driving took longer than it should have and I started to think something was wrong. I started to wonder, what are they doing to me?" Ms Azzam said.

After the car stopped and the blindfold was lifted, she saw she was at the Erez crossing to Gaza. She was then forced to enter the territory without being given the chance to speak to a lawyer.

"The decision that a person's address listed in the Population Registry constitutes an essential condition for the legality of his/her residence at that address - with no explicit legal basis and with no official notification... undermines the fundamental principles of the law," said a lawyer for Gisha, Yadin Elam, in its petition to the Supreme Court.

Gisha warned that if Ms Azzam's deportation were permitted, an estimated 25,000 Palestinians living in the West Bank who had Gazan addresses on their identity cards risked being removed.

The human rights group also noted in its petition that Israel had made no security allegations against Ms Azzam, and that the manner in which she was detained and forcibly removed was a violation of her right to due process.

Regarding the army's claim that Ms Azzam was present in the West Bank "illegally", Gisha argued that at the time she left Gaza, a special permit for Palestinians to remain "simply did not exist".

Furthermore, it said, Israel did not allow people to change their addresses from Gaza to the West Bank, and had not issued a single entry permit for the purpose of travelling to study to Palestinians from Gaza despite an Israeli High Court ruling in 2007.

"I'm dreaming of the day when I can return to my studies. I am worried and fearful of what might happen, and I hope that my right to education will not be violated," Ms Azzam said on Wednesday.

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Murder charges for Jewish settler, 12-11-09 : BBC :
Yaacov Teitel, Jewish settler accused of a series of murders and attacks
Mr Teitel said he had 'no regrets'

A Jewish settler has been charged in Israel with murdering two Palestinians and attacking left-wing Israeli, gay and messianic Jewish targets.

Yaacov Teitel, an American immigrant who lives in the West Bank, faces 14 charges, including two counts of murder and three of attempted murder.

"God is proud of what I have done," Mr Teitel said as he appeared in court.

Mr Teitel has been dubbed a "Jewish terrorist" by the Israeli press since he was arrested in October.

"It's been a pleasure and an honour to serve my God," he said as he entered Jerusalem District Court. "God is proud of what I have done, I have no regrets."

He is also accused of:

• Placing a bomb near a convent west of Jerusalem, wounding a Palestinian, after previously attempting to set fire to the building

* Sending a bomb disguised as a gift for the Jewish holiday of Purim to a family of messianic Jews, seriously wounding a 15-year-old boy
* A bomb attack which lightly wounded the left-wing Israeli academic Zeev Sternhell last year
* Placing a bomb in a police station in an attempted attack which police say was aimed at diverting them from providing security for gay pride parades
* Laying an explosive device next to a Palestinian home near the West Bank settlement of Eli
* Putting poisonous antifreeze in three bottles of juice and leaving them near a Palestinian village in the hope of poisoning a passer-by

The charge sheet says some of the attacks were motivated by Mr Teitel's "hatred and objection" to individuals and groups whose lifestyles and ideology conflicted with his own.

Charges include: Premeditated murder, attempted murder, weapons violations, arson in grave circumstances, incitement to violence and terror, threatening from a motive of hostility against a specific group.

The judge said he would remain in custody until further notice, and further hearings would be held in mid-December.

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B’Tselem: Military Investigations of Harm to Civilians in Operation Cast Lead Insufficient
Date : 11/11/2009 Time : 21:30

TEL AVIV, November 11, 2009 (WAFA)- According to the Israeli Judge Advocate General’s Office, since Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Military Police Investigation Unit (MPIU) has opened 23 investigations into incidents that took place during the operation, Israeli human rights Organization B’Tselem said Wednesday .

The MPIU and the Judge Advocate General’s Office have refused to provide B'Tselem with the complete list cases being investigated. However, since MPIU has requested the assistance of human rights organizations in coordinating witnesses’ meetings with investigators, B'Tselem has been able to compile a partial list of investigations under way. To the best of B’Tselem’s knowledge, of the investigations currently being carried out by MPIU Southern District into alleged harm to Palestinian civilians during the operation, 14 were opened following complaints filed by B’Tselem, al-Mezan, and Human Rights Watch.

On November 4, B’Tselem published the partial list it had compiled of investigations under way. The IDF Spokesperson’s Office then published an official response stating that 27 MPIU investigations into Operation Cast Lead were currently under way, and that in 45 additional cases that were examined by operational personnel, no further investigation was required. The response did not detail which cases were being investigated and what the results have been thus far, merely stating that B’Tselem’s information was partial, although no factual evidence was given to support such a claim. Therefore, the following list compiled by B’Tselem is still the most comprehensive one to be published at large.

Investigations of suspicions in complaints by B'Tselem:

The killing of ‘Atta ‘Azzam, 46, and his two sons, Mahmud, 13, and Hassan, 2, by a Flechette shell fired into the yard of their house in the Mughraqa area, on 6 January ‘09.

The killing of Ria Abu Hajaj, 64, and her daughter Majda Abu Hajaj, 37, by fire from a tank while they held white flags, in Juhar a-Dik, on 4 January ’09 (HRW also submitted a complaint about this incident)

The killing of eight members of the Abu Halima family, one of them Shahd, 2, in Beit Lahiya, by a phosphorous bomb, and firing at family members as they sought to flee the area, on January 4, 2009.

The killing of six members of the ‘Abd a-Dayem family and the wounding of ten others by a Flechette shell fired at a mourning tent in Beit Hanun, on January 5.

The killing of Rawhiya a-Najar, 48, by a soldier’s gunfire while she was waving a white flag, and the wounding of the ambulance driver who had come to evacuate her, in Khan Yunis, on 13 January ‘09.

The use of Sami Muhammad and Ra’d Abu Seif, from the ‘Abd Rabo neighborhood in the Jabalya refugee camp, as human shields, on 5 January ’09.

Investigations of suspicions in complaints by Human Rights Watch:

Three cases involving the suspected shooting of persons waving white flags:

The killing of Ibtisam al-Qnu’, 40, in the al-‘Atatrah neighborhood of Beit Lahiya, on January 4.

The killing of Nada al-Mardi, 5, in the al-‘Atatrah neighborhood of Beit Lahiya, on January 5.

The killing of Ibrahim Mu’in Juha, 14, the in a-Zeitun neighborhood of Gaza City, on January 5.

Investigations of suspicions in complaints by al-Mezan:

The suspected killing of the sisters Su’ad and Amal ‘Abd Rabo, 7 and 2 respectively, the wounding of their sister and grandmother, and the destruction of the family’s home, in the Izbet ‘Abd Rabo neighborhood of the Jablaya refugee camp, while they were holding white flags. Also, the killing of Adham Khamis Nasir, 37, as he tried to aid in evacuating Su’ad ‘Abed Rabo – it is unclear whether the latter incident is also being investigated (HRW also submitted a complaint about this incident).

The use of the child ‘Alaa al-‘Attar and others from his family as human shields in the al-‘Atatrah neighborhood of Beit Lahiya.

The use of Majdi ‘Abd Rabo as a human shield in the Izbet ‘Abd Rabo neighborhood of the Jabalya refugee camp.

The use of ‘Abbas Halawah as a human shield in southwest Jabalya.

In some of the cases, several eye-witnesses have given testimony to MPIU investigators who met them at Erez Checkpoint.

To the best of B'Tselem’s knowledge, only one soldier has been prosecuted as yet for actions during Operation Cast Lead. He was from the Givati Brigade and was convicted of stealing a credit card from a Palestinian. He was sentenced to seven months’ imprisonment. The media have also reported that a number of soldiers have been brought before disciplinary hearings following the operation, but the IDF Spokesperson has refused to provide B'Tselem with information about these cases.

B'Tselem is doing everything in its power to assist the investigations: its fieldworkers in the Gaza Strip have coordinated the arrival of eye-witnesses at Erez Checkpoint and have accompanied them. The organization has also provided the investigators with all the information it had on the relevant incidents.

However, the investigations now taking place are problematic and cannot be deemed sufficient. First, they only relate to isolated incidents in which a suspicion exists that soldiers breached military orders. To date, not one investigation has been opened regarding Israel’s policy during the operation, on matters such as the selection of targets, the open-fire orders given to soldiers, the legality of the weapons used, the balance between injury to civilians and military advantage, and so forth. Declarations recently made by Israeli officials indicate that there is no intention to investigate such matters.



MPIU, which is the only body currently investigating Operation Cast Lead, has no authority to investigate the responsibility of decision-makers outside the military who were involved in policy setting. Therefore, even if these investigations result in the filing of indictments against soldiers, they will be directed against the lower echelon, and the persons responsible for the policy will not be held accountable for their acts.

Second, these investigations are being carried out by a body that is an integral part of the military and cannot, therefore, be considered independent. In the past, MPIU investigations have proven to be an inefficient tool for enforcing the law on security forces, at least as regards infringement of Palestinians’ rights. The investigations regarding harm to Palestinians are usually carried out negligently: most are dragged out, superficial, and lack a real effort to locate the persons involved. In many cases, Palestinian eye-witnesses are not questioned and evidence is not collected in the field, even where possible. The fact that MPIU has been appointed to investigate the current suspicions indicates that this mode of operation has not changed.

Third, officials in the Judge Advocate General’s Office, who will ultimately decide the fate of the investigations, were personally involved in setting military policy during the operation and also approved certain actions. Such involvement will make it hard for them to make an impartial determination, based on the facts, as to the claims.

On these points, eight human rights organizations, among them B'Tselem, wrote to the Attorney General during the course of the operation, demanding that he establish an independent apparatus for investigating the operation, and not settle for MPIU investigations of isolated incidents. The reason is that the suspicions of breach of international humanitarian law do not relate merely to the acts of individual soldiers in the field, but also to wider issues of policy and the responsibility of senior officers and of the political echelon. The Attorney General rejected this demand, but added that concrete claims against the military could be directed to the Judge Advocate General’s Office.

B'Tselem has conducted field investigations of cases in which it is suspected that the military breached international humanitarian law, and even breached its own orders. For example, B'Tselem investigated cases in which soldiers killed civilians who were not taking part in the hostilities, cases in which soldiers used civilians as human shields, and cases in which soldiers used their weapons unlawfully given the circumstances existing in Gaza. In these investigations, the organization took testimonies from eye-witnesses and collected evidence from the scene of the incident. The results were forwarded to the Attorney General and the Judge Advocate General’s Office. Due to its limited resources, B'Tselem managed to document only a small amount of the incidents, and forwarded to the authorities 20 cases in which some 90 Palestinians were killed, about half of them minors.

B'Tselem reiterates its demand that Israel conduct an independent and effective investigation into the military’s conduct during Operation Cast Lead.