:icon_sadangel2: Palestine Peace a dream?

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Israel slams UK over Livni's arrest warrant
Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:17:58 GMT

Livni has reportedly canceled her participation in a Jewish meeting in London after a British court issued a warrant for her arrest.
A recent arrest warrant issued against former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni in Britain has provoked anger among the Israeli officials who warn UK of strained relations.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry released a statement on Tuesday, harshly condemning "the court's cynical legal move against Opposition Chairwoman Tzipi Livni, which was initiated by radical elements."

Reports revealed on Monday that Livni has canceled her participation in a Jewish meeting in London after a British count issued a warrant for her arrest over war crimes against the Palestinians during Israel's December 2007-January 2008 offensive which left over 1,350 Palestinians dead in the Gaza Strip.

"Israel calls on the British government to fulfill, once and for all, its promises and prevent an abuse of the British legal system against Israel and its citizens by anti-Israel elements," the statement said.

"The lack of determined and immediate action to correct this distortion harms the relations between the two countries."

"If Israeli leaders cannot visit Britain in a dignified manner, it will naturally be a real obstacle to Britain's desire to have an active role in the peace process in the Middle East," the statement added.

Based on a report published by The Guardian, Westminster magistrates' court issued the warrant at the request of the lawyers acting for some of the Palestinian victims of Operation Cast Lead but dropped it once it was discovered that Livni was not in the country.

The UK Foreign Office later issued an apologetic statement, which said, "The UK is determined to do all it can to promote peace in the Middle East and to be a strategic partner of Israel," according to the paper.

"To do this, Israel's leaders need to be able to come to the UK for talks with the British government. We are looking urgently at the implications of this case," the statement added.

Britain has formerly deferred until further notice an appeal by local pro-Palestinian groups to issue an arrest warrant against Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

SB/AKM

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Israel detains 15 Palestinians in West Bank
Wed, 16 Dec 2009 01:04:33 GMT

Israeli soldiers have arrested fifteen Palestinians in pre-dawn raids in a number of occupied West Bank towns.

According to the Palestinian Information Center, those detained in the Tuesday overnight operations were from the cities of Jenin, Bethlehem, and Qalqilyah. A large number of Israeli troops cordoned off and ransacked the residents' houses in pursuit of key documents. The Palestinians were taken to military detention camps to be questioned.

The Israeli army regularly arrests Palestinians during overnight operations in West Bank towns.

However, the detentions are in flagrant violation of a security agreement with the Palestinian Authority.

Tel Aviv claims that the people arrested in the raids are 'wanted activists' and have been taken for interrogation.

More than 11,500 Palestinians, including women and children, are currently imprisoned in Israeli detention facilities, suffering harsh and life-threatening conditions.

MP/HGL

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Saudi criticizes US 'absolute backing' of Israel
Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:32:07 GMT

Saudi Arabia blames the United States for the conflict in the Middle East, saying Washington has given Israel its "absolute support."

"Absolute US backing... has made Israel see the option of living in the area without the acceptance of the people of the area," Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told the International Herald Tribune in an interview published Wednesday.

"This has led to many years of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians."

The foreign minister regretted the failure of his efforts to establish a Palestinian state and regional peace during his 35 years in office, saying reaching peace in the present circumstances was as difficult as holding water in one's hand.

"And how can you have any pleasure in anything that happens when you have people like the Palestinians living as they are?" he lamented.

The long-standing stalemate in the Middle East peace talks — further smothered by Israel's January offensive against the Gaza Strip and the death of more than 1,400 Palestinians in the conflict —lingers on as Israeli keeps refusing a permanent and complete freeze on its settlement expansion.

Acting Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday reiterated that Israel must fulfill its previous commitments before a return to peace talks.

MRS/MMA

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New Gaza war seals Israel 'failure'
Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:04:42 GMT

The military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement has warned that crippling strikes are awaiting Israel Defense Forces (IDF) should they encroach into blockaded Gaza Strip again.

"Victory will be on our side, and any large-scale aggression on the [Gaza] Strip will definitely end in absolute failure," spokesman for Ezzedeen Al-Kasam Brigades, Abu Obaida, said on Tuesday.

He also stressed the need for a political power that advocates resistance, adding that the Brigades would not give up their armed resistance as long as the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian lands persists.

On Tuesday, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, called to mind the plight of the people of Gaza during a deadly Israeli assault in December 2008-January 2009 and warned Israel against waging another war in the impoverished coastal enclave.

"If the Israeli regime launches another war against the people of Gaza, they will receive a much heavier blow and suffer a more crushing defeat than before," Ayatollah Khamenei said in Tehran during a meeting with visiting head of Damascus-based Hamas political bureau, Khaled Meshaal.

The Leader also leveled criticism at the Arab states for their failure to throw weight behind the Palestinian cause, and said, "Certain Arab states are major causes for grave concern given that they portray themselves as Muslims whilst being disloyal to the Palestinian nation."

Ayatollah Khamenei further underlined the magnitude of resistance as the only promising solution to the Palestinian crisis.

Israel's three-week offensive against Gaza left nearly 1,500 Palestinians dead, more than half of them civilians.

The Israeli assault led to the destruction of schools, mosques, houses as well as the UN compounds. Operation Cast Lead also inflicted $1.6 billion damage on the Gaza economy.

MP/AKM

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Israel decorates Gaza war 'heroes'
Thu, 17 Dec 2009 06:46:46 GMT

A Palestinian woman carries her child as she stands amid the ruins of a house in the northern Gaza Strip on November 9, 2009.

Israel decorates eight soldiers for showing “heroism” in the widely condemned Operation Cast Lead which killed hundreds of Palestinians earlier this year.

Major General Yoav Galant presented the soldiers with the honor medals on Wednesday at a ceremony attended by top Southern Command brass and the heads of councils and communities from the western Negev.

Galant said the army had reached its goals in the weeks-long offensive on the Gaza Strip and that the "soldiers acted out of faith in the justice of our cause, and their moral norms are praiseworthy."

"In the tough hours of the trial through fire you bravely and resiliently persevered. You are a lighthouse of morality and values," The Jerusalem Post quoted him as saying.

The decoration comes in the face of worldwide criticism against Tel Aviv's use of warfare against the Palestinians and several reports by international bodies and human rights watchdogs against Israel's violation of international laws during the offensive.

In July, the activist group Breaking the Silence released print and video testimony from some 30 soldiers who said they entered Gaza with blazing guns upon a "permissive" guideline by commanders, urging to shoot first and worry later about distinguishing civilians from combatants.

The 112-page testimony describes a "Neighbor Procedure" in which civilians were forced to enter suspected buildings as human shields ahead of Israeli troops.

It also charged Israel with using forbidden white phosphorus indiscriminately into Gaza streets where Israel's aerial bombardment and artillery with the help of armored bulldozers razed massive areas, including acres of gardens and farms.

In April, former South African UN prosecutor Richard Goldstone led an independent fact-finding mission commissioned by the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate international human rights and humanitarian law violations during the Gaza war.

The committee's 575-page report mostly highlighted Israeli atrocities against the people in the beleaguered Gaza Strip and documented deliberate targeting of centers, such as schools and mosques, known to be holding civilians.

The document also filed complaints that the Israeli soldiers killed unarmed people on the run, saying some of the victims were even waving white flags.

In October, the damning report was put up for a vote in the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council and endorsed by an overwhelming majority of 114 countries while 18 opposed and 44 abstained.

More than 1,400 Palestinians were killed during the three-week Israeli land, sea and air offensive in the Gaza Strip which also devastated a large part of the infrastructure in the impoverished coastal enclave.

MRS/AKM

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Ten brands boycotted over Israel links
Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:52:55 GMT


Anti-apartheid activists have named a number of commercial brands as Israel's sponsors, urging the world nations to think twice before buying their products ahead of Christmas.

The US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI) released a list of 10 multi-national companies with Israeli ties, saying the firms benefited from the West Bank apartheid wall in one way or another.

The USACBI accused the commercial groups of having a direct role in the suffering of Palestinian people, exploiting the Palestinian work forces and supporting the Israeli military build-up and its illegal settlement projects in the occupied Palestinian territories.

It said the companies posed serious threats to the environment and breached international labor laws, making a boycott against them even more urgent.

The listed firms include AHAVA cosmeceutical company, Galil textile industries, Dorot Garlic and Herbs seasoning products, all based in Israel.

Motorola telecommunications company, Intel Corporation — the world's largest semi-conductor chip maker —, Estee Lauder cosmetics and skin care companies, Sabra companies, which produce Mediterranean-style food products, and global consumer-goods company Sara Lee are the US-based companies on the list.

The Paris-based cosmetics giant L'Oreal and the American retailer of women's wear, Victoria's Secret, are also among the companies to be boycotted by the USACBI.

The pro-Palestinian drive has swollen across Europe following Tel Aviv's December 2008-January 2009 offensive in the Gaza Strip and this time seems to be aiming at the Israeli regime's commerce sector.

On Thursday, Israeli MPs threatened to boycott the British products in response to guidelines issued by the UK Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, allowing retailers to state whether the West Bank products were made by the Palestinians or the Israelis.

The advisory is expected to give the Palestinian activists and their sympathizers across the world the opportunity to single out and boycott the Israeli products.

Forty lawmakers out of Israel's 120-members parliament, Knesset, signed a petition to be sent to the British parliament, said an aide to Kadima MP Ronit Tirosh, who led the move.

The international community considers the Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be illegal and a major hurdle to peace efforts.

MRS/AKM

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'Abbas term extension devoid of legitimacy'
Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:11:23 GMT

The Palestinian Legislative Council speaker says the the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) has no constitutional authority to extended the tenure of Mahmoud Abbas as acting chief of the Palestinian Authority.

"The PLO's central council violated all political norms when it took such a step and interfered in the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC),” Aziz Dweik told Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite news channel on Wednesday.

“The solution to discord over Abbas' term extension lies in one of these two things: either to task legal experts with in-depth study of the matter or to resolve it through a national reconciliation agreement," he added.

On Wednesday, officials from the Central Council of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) decided Mahmoud Abbas would remain in office for the foreseeable future. The vote endorsed Abbas' earlier decision to call off the January 24 presidential and legislative elections due to the boycott of the vote in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas movement.

Parliament's mandate was extended too at the PLO meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Abbas says it is impossible to hold the elections due to Hamas' refusal to allow voting in the Gaza Strip.

The Central Council also endorsed Abbas' refusal to return to negotiations with Israel until the regime stops the construction of Jewish settlements in the occupied lands.

"We will not go to negotiations until Israel fully halts settlement activities and agrees to a term of reference for such negotiations," said PLO Central Council member Tawfiq al-Tirawi.

Abbas' failure to mend fences with the rival Hamas movement has impaired his reputation among scores of Palestinians.

MP/DT

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Israel excludes Al-Quds from peace plan
Fri, 18 Dec 2009 02:56:14 GMT

An illegal housing project in the West Bank settlement of Maaleh Adumim, near Jerusalem Al-Quds.

A published Israeli peace proposal and detailed map, has excluded the occupied Jerusalem Al-Quds from any negotiations with Palestinians.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has excluded East Jerusalem Al-Quds and some other terms in the proposal which falls considerably short of Israel's previous commitments, AP reported.

The so-called peace plan had been initially proposed by former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert. According to the plan, Israel would annex all settlements surrounding Jerusalem Al-Quds and settlement blocs in the West Bank.

Speaking in Nablus on Thursday, acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas said that Palestinians will not accept any deal without getting all of East Jerusalem Al-Quds, the sector Israel captured in a 1967 war.

"There is no Palestine without Jerusalem Al-Quds,'' he told a crowd of several thousand at al-Najah University. "Without that, there will be no peace at all," he added.

Meanwhile, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Robert Serry, told the Security Council at a regular monthly briefing on Thursday that Israel must fulfill its commitments, including a settlement freeze, under an internationally endorsed plan for a two-state solution.

FTP/SS/MMA

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Israeli police arrest 9 Palestinians
Thu, 17 Dec 2009 23:34:25 GMT


Israeli police arrest nine Palestinians during a march in Jerusalem Al-Quds marking the end of the city's tenure as the Capital of Arab culture.

Israeli police on Thursday, Dec. 17 blocked protesters and arrested nine Palestinians during a rally in East Jerusalem Al-Quds' old city marking the year 2009 as the end of Jerusalem Al-Quds' tenure as the Arab League's Capital of Arab Culture.

Fatah Secretary General in Jerusalem Al-Quds, Omar al-Shalabi, was also among those arrested by policemen, Reuters reported. Israeli officials said the march was considered illegal.

In the past year, Israeli police have shut down several events related to the Arab Cultural Capital festival in Jerusalem Al-Quds.

A Palestinian woman participant said that Israel wants to make Jerusalem Al-Quds Jewish. "They want to empty it of its sons, of its people, of its families and of its population so they can build illegal settlements," she said.

Meanwhile, in the West Bank city of Nablus, acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas addressed a similar rally. He said that Jerusalem Al-Quds "will remain ours" and will always be the capital of the Arab and the Islamic world.

FTP/SS/MMA

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UN: Settlement slowdown is no settlement freeze
Fri, 18 Dec 2009 09:12:54 GMT

Robert Serry, the United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East peace process
The United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Robert Serry, says Israel's partial hold-up of settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories is only a slowdown not a settlement freeze.

Serry said Israel doesn't fulfill its commitments to the Road Map for Peace in the Middle East. East Jerusalem Al-Quds should be part of the freeze and Tel Aviv should commit itself to ending the so-called natural progress of settlements and dismantling the illegal outposts erected by the settlers since March 2001, he added.

The UN Middle East Envoy went on to note that Israel is currently building more than 3000 housing units in East Jerusalem Al-Quds. In addition, it has given the green light for the construction of more than 28 public facilities in the settlements.

Serry pointed out that the partial settlement slowdown announced by Israel does not include occupied East Jerusalem Al-Quds. These settlements are illegal and should be dismantled instead of being granted further budgets.

The Israeli cabinet on December 13 granted additional budget allocations to more than 110.000 settlers living in isolated settlements in the West Bank.

The move, which came just weeks after Israel imposed a ten-month moratorium on new buildings in the West Bank settlements, defies a call by the international community for a complete halt on settlements considered illegal by the UN regulations.

Israel has repeatedly been called on to halt the construction of illegal settlements including the so-called "natural growth" in existing settlements in the West Bank.

Tel Aviv, however, claims that it is not constructing 'new' settlements but only building new units in the existing settlements

MP/MTM/DT