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Middle East Update - March 10, 2010 - Bibi Disses Biden |
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Tikkun / BIBI DISSES BIDEN - March 10, 2010
Jerusalem - Yesterday, on the first evening of Vice President Joe Biden’s official visit to Israel, when you’d think there would’ve been a state dinner to honor him, Bibi Netanyahu joined John Hagee in a massive Night to Honor Israel. Bibi pointedly dissed Biden while celebrating with Christians United for Israel, that country’s intransigence (or its adherence to God’s divine mission, depending on your point of view) and resistance to U.S. efforts to broker a peace agreement with the Palestinians. This night was full of praise for settlers and the most extreme of Israel nationalist politics. It was full of denunciation of peace and Arabs. It was fully of love for evangelical Christianity and revanchist Judaism, and smearing of Islam. Among Pastor John’s more memorable dinner quotations was one in which he called Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the “Hitler of the Middle East.”
Prime Minister's Office / PM Netanyahu’s Address to the Christians United For Israel Jerusalem Summit
Jerusalem - "Christian Zionism preceded modern Jewish Zionism, and I think enabled it. But it received a tremendous impetus several decades ago when leading American clergymen, among them most notably, Pastor John Hagee, a dynamic pastor and leader from Texas, began to say to their congregations and to anyone who listened, it’s time to take a stand with Israel. It was time to take a stand with the sole democracy in the Middle East. It was time to take a stand against the lies and the slander and the vilifications. It was time to defend the Jewish state’s right to defend itself. Today, Christians by the thousands, by the tens of thousands, by the hundreds of thousands, by the millions, by the tens of millions – today they have heard this call, and they stand with Israel. I salute you, the people of Israel salute you, the Jewish people salute you."
The Atlantic / Israel Humiliates Biden by Andrew Sullivan - 09 MAR 2010 08:26 PM
Washington - People seem to think I have been imagining a contemptuous attitude toward the US by the Israeli government, or that my concerns about its "Go Cheney Yourself" policy on the peace process are somehow a function of obsessiveness or something that isn't anti-Semitism but is somehow even "darker". But I am not imagining these things. They are real and they are dangerous.
Washington Post / U.S. condemns Israel's plans to build housing in east Jerusalem By Janine Zacharia - March 10, 2010
JERUSALEM -- After spending most of Tuesday celebrating what he called the "unshakable" bond between the United States and Israel, Vice President Biden ended the day strongly condemning the longtime U.S. ally for approving 1,600 new housing units in disputed east Jerusalem -- an awkwardly timed move that threatened to kill a new push for Mideast peace by the Obama administration.
Guardian / Biden condemns Israel over homes plan by Rory McCarthy - March 9, 2010
Jerusalem - Joe Biden, the US vice-president, condemned a plan by Israel to build 1,600 homes on occupied Palestinian land in an East Jerusalem settlement. The Israeli interior ministry's approval of the plan cast a cloud over a visit to the country by Biden just hours after he pledged strong support for the Israeli government. In an unusually strong statement issued after he arrived 90 minutes late for a dinner with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden said: "I condemn the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units."
Al-Arabiya / UN, Biden condemn Israeli settlement plans - March 10, 2010
Dubai - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday condemned Israeli plans to build 1,600 more homes on occupied land where Palestinians seek their own state, echoing comments made earlier by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. "The secretary-general condemns the approval of plans for the building of 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem by the Israeli Ministry of Interior earlier today," U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said in a statement. Next week, Ban will lead a
delegation of the Quartet on an official visit to Gaza where Israel
bombed the UN building during Operation Molten Lead.
Haaretz / When Israelis degrade Israel by humiliating Joe Biden By Bradley Burston - March 10, 2010
Jerusalem - Why would Israeli officials degrade Israel by humiliating the vice-president of the United States? What conceivable advantage is there in the Interior Ministry choosing the occasion of a high-profile visit by Joseph R. Biden, Jr., a mission aimed at soothing strained relations between Israel and the Obama administration, to announce the approval of 1,600 new homes for Israelis in East Jerusalem?
Reuters / Palestinians complain to Biden about settlement plan - March 9, 2010
Jerusalem - Biden kept Netanyahu and wife Sara waiting for 90
minutes at a dinner they were hosting for him and his spouse Jill on
Tuesday, after the project was made public. "I condemn the decision by
the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units,"
Biden said in a statement issued after he finally arrived for the meal.
The Daily Star (Lebanon) / Barak: Israel will hold all of Lebanon responsible for any Hizbullah attack By Patrick Galey - March 10, 2010
BEIRUT: Israel will not launch an assault on southern Lebanon but will retaliate indiscriminately should it be provoked, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Tuesday.
Guardian / Israeli court to hear civil case over death of Rachel Corrie in Gaza: Parents of American activist killed by Israeli bulldozer seven years ago take fight for justice to Haifa courtroom by Rory McCarthy - March 10, 2010
Haifa - A court today began hearing a civil suit brought against the Israeli government over the death of Rachel Corrie, the US activist who was killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza seven years ago. The case, brought before a Haifa court by Corrie's family, challenges the official Israeli version of events in which the military said its troops were not to blame. The family hopes the hearing will be a chance to put on public record the events that led to their daughter's death in March 2003. If the Israeli state is found responsible, the family will press for at least $300,000 (£201,000) in damages.
Al-Jazeera / US family seeks Israeli damages - March 10, 2010
Doha - The family of a US student activist killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza has launched a case against the Israeli government. Rachel Corrie, whose family is seeking $324,000 in damages from the defence ministry, was one of several foreign activists killed in confrontations with Israel in occupied territory in the past decade. She was nonviolently protesting against Palestinian home demolitions when the army bulldozer crushed her to death.
AP News / Israel, Syria announce nuclear energy ambitions: Rivals Israel, Syria want to develop civilian nuclear energy, raising prospect of inspections by Angela Charlton - March 09, 2010
Mideast rivals Israel and Syria on Tuesday each announced ambitions to develop nuclear energy, with Israel facing the prospect that its plan could bring new international attention to its secretive nuclear activities.
AP / Turkey says Syria-Israel talks may restart - March 10, 2010
ANKARA -- Turkey's prime minister said Tuesday that Israel had accepted that his country again mediate talks with Syria but the Israeli prime minister said no decision had been made.
Gulf News / Dubai Police chief asks spies to leave the region - March 10, 2010
Dubai: Dubai Police have warned spies operating in the Gulf to leave the region within one week or face consequences. "Those spies that are currently present in the Gulf must leave the region within one week — if not, then we will cross that bridge when we come to it," Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim told Gulf News. The statement comes following the January 19 assassination of Hamas commander Mahmoud Al Mabhouh, which Dahi has blamed on Israel.
Guardian / Britain to Hamid Karzai: start Afghanistan peace talks now by Julian Borger - March 10, 2010
London - Britain will today urge the Afghan government to put more effort into the pursuit of peace talks amid fears that the war could be prolonged – and more British lives lost – as a result of incompetence and lack of political will in Kabul. A speech to be delivered in the US by the foreign secretary, David Miliband, will reflect growing anxiety in London that President Hamid Karzai's professed desire for a political solution has not been backed up by any serious planning or concrete proposals.
AP News / Egypt to pay for restoration of all synagogues: Egypt says it is dedicated to restoring all the country's synagogues by Hadeel Al-Shlachi - March 09, 2010 12:48 EST
Cairo - Egypt will shoulder the costs of restoring the country's Jewish houses of worship said the culture minister Tuesday, two days after a historic synagogue in Cairo's ancient Jewish quarter was rededicated in a private ceremony. Farouk Hosny said in a statement that his ministry views Jewish sites as much a part of Egypt's culture as Muslim mosques or Coptic churches and the restorations would not require any foreign funding.
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Middle East Update - March 9, 2010 |
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Haaretz / Biden: East Jerusalem plan undermines peace talks By Nir Hasson, Avi Issacharoff and Natash Mozgovaya - 23:51 09/03/2010
"I condemn the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units in East Jerusalem," Biden said. Read More.
AP / Israel OKs 1,600 new homes in east Jerusalem - 3:00 pm March 9, 2010
Israel approved the construction of 1,600 new homes for Jews in disputed east Jerusalem on Tuesday — a move that immediately clouded a visit by Vice President Joe Biden aimed at repairing strained ties and kickstarting Mideast peace talks. Read More.
New York Times / Biden Visits Mideast to Push Peace Talks By Ethan Bronner - March 8, 2010
Jerusalem — Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. began a five-day visit to the Middle East on Monday, part of a concerted American effort to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and keep Israel focused on relying on sanctions against Iran’s nuclear program rather than on unilateral military action. Read More.
Washington Post / Biden assures Israel of U.S. security commitment By Janine Zachariam - March 9, 2010; 8:32 AM
Jerusalem -- Vice President Biden met with top Israeli officials Tuesday and stressed his personal love for the Jewish state as well as the "unshakeable'' commitment of the United States to Israel's security. Pledging that the Obama administration would prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, Biden expressed hope that indirect Israeli-Palestinian talks could soon lead to a meaningful negotiation of Palestinian statehood. Read More.
The Times (London) / ‘Last chance’ Middle East talks at risk as settlers ignore calls for freeze on building by James Hilder - March 9, 2010
Jerusalem - A senior Palestinian leader warned yesterday that Washington faced its last chance to broker an enduring peace in the Middle East as Joe Biden, the US Vice-President, flew in to try to jump-start indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Read More.
Haaretz / Israel and U.S. launch indirect peace talks By Natasha Mozgavaya - March 8, 2010
The United States has already begun to mediate indirect peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, the Israeli Embassy in the U.S. confirmed on Monday. All three parties were cautious however whether the current round of talks, which effectively ended 14 months of suspended contacts, would yield any significant developments in the Middle East peace process. Read More.
FARS News Agency (Iran) / Afghanistan Confirms Ahmadinejad's Visit to Kabul - March 8, 2010
TEHRAN (FNA)- Afghan sources on Monday dismissed some media reports alleging that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has cancelled his upcoming visit to Kabul, and assured that the trip would take place on schedule. "Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will visit Afghanistan in coming days and at the invitation of (Afghan President) Hamid Karzai," Afghan President's Spokesman Siamak Heravi told FNA on Monday. Read More.
Jerusalem Post / '4-8 weeks left for diplomacy on Iran' By YAAKOV LAPPIN - 09/03/2010
Four to eight weeks remain to test the option of diplomatic engagement as means of stopping Iran’s nuclear program before sanctions will likely be imposed, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told an audience of foreign military officers and government officials in Herzliya on Monday. Read More.
The Nation / Exit Strategies for Afghanistan and Iraq by TOM HAYDEN - March 8, 2010
It's been a long winter for the peace movement. Waiting for Obama has proved fruitless. The Great Recession has strengthened Wall Street and diverted attention from the wars. The debate over healthcare still won't go away and has demoralized progressive advocates. Given a chance to exit from Afghanistan when the Karzai election proved to be stolen, President Obama escalated anyway, but also promised to "begin" exiting almost before an opposition could mobilize at home. Representative Dennis Kucinich will step into the crosswinds this week and force the House of Representatives to wake up, pay attention, and vote up or down on the Afghanistan war. Read More.
The Daily Star (Lebanon) / Israel weighing construction of nuclear power plant - Tuesday, March 09, 2010
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM/ PARIS: Israel will this week unveil plans to produce nuclear-generated electricity, officials said on Monday, a move that could draw fresh international attention toward its assumed atomic arsenal. Read More.
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Middle East Update - March 8, 2010 |
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Guardian / Joe Biden and George Mitchell arrive to kick-start Israeli-Palestinian talks: Indirect negotiations mark first return to peace process since Gaza war by Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem - Sunday 7 March 2010 18.03 GMT
George Mitchell meets Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem yesterday as he began a round of regional talks lasting four months. The US vice-president, Joe Biden, is due in Israel tomorrow for an American diplomatic initiative to start indirect negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. The new round of so-called "proximity talks" could be announced as early as tomorrow, but there is scepticism on both sides about the chance of any agreement. George Mitchell, the US special envoy to the Middle East, will shuttle between Israeli and Palestinian leaders for four months hoping to find common ground. Although the talks are low-key, they mark the first return to a peace process since Israel's war in Gaza more than a year ago. Read More.
Arab American Institute / James Zogby, A Game Changing Act to Promote Peace - Monday March 8, 2010
Proximity talks between Palestinians, Israelis and U.S. negotiators will begin next week, but I’m not hopeful, in large measure because the parties have never been further apart and confidence in the U.S. has been diminished. The Israelis have been up to no good: making provocative statements about keeping the Jordan Valley, staking their claim to sites in Hebron and Bethlehem, and tightening the noose around Jerusalem. At the same time, the Palestinian house remains deeply divided with reconciliation talks between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas stalled, and Hamas’s leadership participating in a defiant summit in Damascus with Iran and Hizbullah in attendance. Meanwhile tensions are growing in Jerusalem and elsewhere in the West Bank as non-violent resistance to recent provocative acts by the occupation authorities is showing signs of giving way to more violent confrontations. Worse still, the deplorable conditions in Gaza, owing to the persistence of a suffocating blockade, continue to be ignored, as if what is happening to 40% of the Palestinian people doesn’t matter. Read More.
Al-Arabiya / Washington cautions Israel against striking Iran: Israel welcomes Biden by Okaying new homes & U.S. Vice President Biden will try to revive peace talks between Palestinians and Israeli- March 8, 2010
President Barack Obama's Vice President Joe Biden is expected to start a visit to the Middle East on Monday aiming mainly to build support for reviving Israeli-Palestinian peace talks despite deep skepticism on both sides, as Israel approved the building of 112 new settler homes in the West Bank. Biden's visit comes as Yasser Abd Rabbo, a senior official in the Palestinian Liberation Organization, announced on Sunday that the Palestinians would embark on U.S.-mediated talks, despite deep skepticism about the prospects of success. Israel, meanwhile, has given the green light for the building of 112 new homes in the Jewish Beitar Ilit settlement near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank despite a partial moratorium on such construction, Israel's Environment Minister Gilad Erdan told public radio on Monday. Read More.
Israel
approves more construction in West Bank settlement: Approval to build
112 new flats in Beitar Illit comes despite Israeli government's
partial curbs on settlement construction by Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem
- Monday 8 March 2010 09.42 GMT
The Israeli defence ministry today authorised further construction in a
Jewish settlement on the occupied West Bank. The decision came prior
to the arrival in Israel of the US vice-president, Joe Biden, who is
expected to announce a new round of indirect peace talks. Approval for
112 new flats in Beitar Illit, an ultra-Orthodox settlement near
Bethlehem, was given despite a 10-month partial curb on settlement
construction announced by the Israeli government under heavy US
pressure in November. The decision to approve the building work
appeared to be an attempt to appease members of Israel's rightwing
coalition government. It was greeted with dismay by Palestinian
officials. George Mitchell, the US special envoy, has spent months
attempting to get Israelis and Palestinians to restart negotiations,
and was hoping a new round of indirect "proximity" talks would begin
today. Read More.
Reuters / Biden to try to boost Middle East peace prospects By Adam Entous - Sunday, Mar 7, 9:10 pm ET
President Barack Obama dispatched his vice president to the Middle East on Sunday to try to build support for reviving Israeli-Palestinian peace talks despite deep skepticism on both sides. Iran is also a top issue for Israelis, many of whom see Obama's focus on diplomacy and targeted sanctions to curb Tehran's nuclear program as wishful thinking. An Israeli cabinet minister, commenting on Joe Biden's visit, pointed to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's description of the September 11 attacks in the United States as a "big fabrication" as cause for concern. An Israeli political source said Israel expected Biden's main message would be "Don't bomb Iran," a cautionary note Washington has sounded before in contacts with Israeli leaders. Read More.
Haaretz / Barak to Netanyahu: Don't miss this chance for peace By Avi Issacharoff - 22:32 07/03/2010
Defense Minister Ehud Barak declared Sunday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would have to "make some difficult decisions" in order to advance the Middle East peace process, urging the government not to miss out on this chance for a settlement. The defense minister's remarks came hours after Netanyahu met with U.S. special Mideast envoy George Mitchell in Jerusalem, and as the Palestine Liberation Organization approved a proposal to launch indirect peace negotiations under U.S. moderation. "I hope that these discussions will advance the political process with the Palestinians in a manner that will enable a quick resumption of actual negotiations on core issues that will result in an agreement," said Barak, who met over the weekend with Mitchell. Read More.
USA Today-AP / Palestinians approve indirect talks with Israel - March 7, 2010
RAMALLAH, West Bank -- A skeptical Palestinian leadership agreed Sunday to begin U.S.-mediated peace talks with Israel, effectively ending a 14-month breakdown in communications between the two sides. Sunday's decision marks a first achievement for U.S. diplomacy in the Israeli-Palestinian arena. The announcement was made as the U.S. mediator, George Mitchell, was meeting in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel has welcomed the prospect of negotiations. In coming months, Mitchell is expected to shuttle between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' headquarters in Ramallah and Netanyahu's office a half hour away in Jerusalem. Sunday's decision by leading members of the Palestine Liberation Organization came a day before U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden begins the highest-level visit to the area by an Obama administration official. Read More.
The International News (Pakistan) / Syria mulls indirect talks with Israel - Monday, March 08, 2010
DAMASCUS: President Bashar al-Assad and visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Sunday discussed the prospects of resuming indirect talks between Syria and Israel. Their talks in Damascus focused on “the principles capable of relaunching the peace process” on the Syrian-Israeli track, which have been frozen for more than a year, Syria’s official SANA news agency said. Davutoglu told Assad that Turkey — which has brokered indirect talks between Syria and Israel in the past — was willing “to go forwards to achieve peace,” SANA said. Read More.
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The Harlot's Grave by Uri Avnery |
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 SOME WEEKS ago, Mehmet Ali Agca,
the Turk who tried to kill Pope John Paul II in Rome, was released
after serving 28 years in prison.
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Read more...
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The Increasing Desperation of the 'Anti-Semitism' Charge by Juan Cole |
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 March 1, 2010
The great divide between liberal
Jewish Americans and the Israeli Right has lurked as an issue since the
Likud Party first challenged Labor dominance in the late 1970s.
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HOW MUCH did the boycott of
South Africa actually contribute to the fall of the racist regime? This
week I talked with Desmond Tutu about this question, which has been on
my mind for a long time.
