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Muslim Voice Of America Blog Lets Knowledge Guide Our Path |
Category: Palestine
President Obama welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House Friday, one day after the president’s policy speech on the Arab world and Israeli-Palestinian relations called for a return to pre-1967 borders, a state Mr. Netanyahu called “indefensible.” After a closed door meeting, Netanyahu reiterated that “Israel has certain security requirements.”
An informative documentary sponsored by the American Task Force on Palestine on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
While politicians are trying to bring peace to the Middle East, thousands of Palestinians say they’re living under apartheid. A barrier almost 700-km long has been dividing the West Bank for eight years. Israel says it’s for security, but Palestinians insist it’s segregation. Paula Slier went to check on what’s hiding behind the ‘peace facade’.
Hecklers disrupt Netanyahu’s speech at U.S. Jewish conference
Protesters chant ‘loyalty oath delegitimizes Israel’ during Prime Minister’s speech at Jewish Federations General Assembly. By Sara MillerTags: Israel newsJewish worldBenjamin NetanyahuPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the Jewish Federations General Assembly on Monday was marked by repeated heckling from members of the audience, who were then unceremoniously escorted from the plush ballroom.
The first heckler, who interrupted Netanyahu barely moments after he began his 30 minute speech, was ejected while shouting “the loyalty oath delegitimizes Israel”.
The prime minister, unperturbed by the interruption, responded by saying, “I was going to talk about delegitimizing Israel but they really have the wrong address.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking at the Jewish Federations General Assembly in New Orleans, November 8, 2010.
Subsequent interruptions of regular intervals protested Israel’s occupation, claiming that it too delegitimizes Israel.
The unprecedented scale of interruptions did not bear well with the audience, who after the first heckler’s interruptions responded with chants of “Am Yisrael Chai” [The nation of Israel lives], and “Bibi, Bibi” [Netanyahu's nickname].
Hannah King, a 17-year-old student and member of the Jewish Voices for Peace, which organized the protests, told Haaretz that the protesters had been escorted out of the hotel, where they were handed over to the police, although she did not believe that they had been arrested.
King said that she had been driven to act as she felt Israel’s behavior went against her Jewish upbringing.
“We believe that the actions that Israel is taking, like settlements, like the occupation, like the loyalty oath, are contrary to the Jewish values that we learnt in Jewish day school,” she said. “This is not Tikkun Olam. Oppressing people in refugee camps is not Tikkun Olam. And it is a hypocrisy that I cannot abide.”
“We must be tough on all countries that abuse human rights but I care about Israel because for me it’s personal,” King explained. “I don’t believe that Netanyahu heard our message but our message was aimed at the other young Jews at the convention.”
J Street urges Israel to halt settlement building until borders finalized
Pro-Israel lobby ‘profoundly disspointed’ by news of approval to build nearly 1,000 houses beyond Green Line. By Natasha MozgovayaTags: Israel newsEast JerusalemIsrael settlementsJoe BidenBenjamin NetanyahuThe pro-Israel lobby J Street issued a statement Monday criticizing Israel’s announcement that it had approved the construction of over 1,000 Jewish homes beyond the Green Line in Jerusalem.
J Street executive director Jeremy Ben-Ami.
“J Street is profoundly disappointed that the Israeli government has chosen this moment to announce yet another large round of construction in East Jerusalem,” the statement said.
The news coincided with a trip to the United States by Netanyahu, which included a meeting with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. It was during a trip by Biden to Israel earlier in the year that a diplomatic row erupted between the allies over Israeli plans to build 1,600 new Jewish homes in another East Jerusalem neighborhood, Ramat Shlomo.
“The latest negotiations designed to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict hang by a thread, and the United States is working tirelessly to find a way to keep hope for a diplomatic two-state resolution to the conflict alive,” the J Street statement said, adding that the news was even more disappointing “Netanyahu is in the U.S. this week, participating in important discussions with Vice President Biden and other American officials over how to resume peace talks and how to address the Iranian nuclear program.”
Earlier this year, Israel announced the construction of over 1,600 new houses for ultra-Orthodox families in East Jerusalem.
“I condemn the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units in East Jerusalem,” Biden said, as the timing of the announcement was strongly criticized by both the left wing parties in Israel and the U.S. administration.
The American-Jewish lobby urged Israel to delay any further construction over the Green Line “until negotiations over the border have been finalized, in the interest of its long-term security and survival as a democracy and as the homeland of the Jewish people.”
Last month, over 120 leaders of Jewish organizations from around the world and important Jewish figures met in Jerusalem for a two-day conference for a meeting organized by the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute to deliberate the impact of the peace process and possible concessions to be expected and demanded a role in determining the fate of Jerusalem and other key issues in Mideast peace talks.
Participants in the conference were former presidential adviser Elliott Abrams; Malcolm Hoenlein of the Conference of Presidents of the Major American Jewish Organizations; former U.S. ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer; the head of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman; the senior vice president of Bna’i B’rith International, Daniel Mariaschin; Pierre Besnainou, a leading figure of the Jewish community in France; and others.
U.S. ‘deeply disappointed’ with new East Jerusalem construction plan
State Department Spokesman, J Street condemn plan to build 930 houses beyond the Green Line as Netanyahu makes official U.S. visit. By Natasha MozgovayaTags: Israel newsUSEast JerusalemJ StreetIsrael settlementThe United States said it was “deeply disappointed” on Monday by Israel’s announcement of a plan to build over 1,000 new Jewish homes beyond the Green Line in Jerusalem.
“We were deeply disappointed by the announcement of advance planning for new housing units in sensitive areas of East Jerusalem. It is counter-productive to our efforts to resume direct negotiations between the parties,” said U.S. State Department Spokesman Philip J. Crowley.
Israel’s announcement of its program which will allow some 1,300 new housing units to be built beyond the Green Line could prove to be an embarrassment to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is currently in the United States.
“We have long urged both parties to avoid actions which could undermine trust, including in Jerusalem, and will continue to work to resume direct negotiations to address this and other final-status issues,” Crowley said.
Ruth Yosef, who chairs the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee, published over the weekend details of a program that will allow 930 housing units to be built in the Har Homa C area, with another 48 units in Har Homa B. An additional 320 units are planned for Ramot, also beyond the Green Line.
The pro-Israel lobby J Street also issued a statement criticizing the new building permits, saying that “J Street is profoundly disappointed that the Israeli government has chosen this moment to announce yet another large round of construction in East Jerusalem.”
The American-Jewish lobby urged Israel to delay any further construction over the Green Line “until negotiations over the border have been finalized, in the interest of its long-term security and survival as a democracy and as the homeland of the Jewish people.”
Palestinian – Ali’s story
a Haaretz.com article
Why Salam Fayyad is Israel’s public enemy number oneThe Palestinian PM is gradually undermining and invalidating Israel’s traditional arguments: He has brought security, but there is still no peace. He will kill us with moderation. Palestinians Salam Fayyad PA Benjamin Netanyahu Mahmoud Abbas Benjamin Netanyahu marches from victory to victory. After beating the U.S. president, he returned and bested the Palestinian prime minister, who Tuesday skipped a scheduled visit in East Jerusalem.
Salam Fayyad is public enemy number one in Israel these days. We proscribe him, because the world finds him praiseworthy. Fayyad is not corrupt, and that’s a problem. He’s not even a hedonist, apparently. He is pleasant, his cheeks stubble-free – altogether nicer and less threatening than Yasser, say.
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad smiles before a meeting of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee for Assistance to Palestinians at UN Headquarters on Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2010.
He studied and worked in the United States, and his English is fluent; yet another strategic loss for Israel. There’s a rumor that on a recent visit, senior members of the New York Times editorial staff were more impressed by him than by his Israeli counterpart, and gave expression to this in an editorial calling on Netanyahu to stop his dangerous games.
With wise counsel shall Fayyad wage his war against us: He is building the Palestinian state from its foundations, stone by stone. His security forces are imposing law and order, suppressing terror, weakening Hamas. Monies sent to the Palestinian Authority no longer get lost on their way to their destination. Donors trust him because they see the results of their contributions.
Fayyad is gradually undermining and invalidating Israel’s traditional arguments: He has brought security, but there is still no peace. He meets PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ extremism with moderation. Dangerous he is: He will kill us with moderation.
And now he is casting an eye at Jerusalem, too; his scheming knows no bounds or fences. After mapping Israeli neglect precisely, he leaped into no man’s land. If Israel will not build and renovate the schools in East Jerusalem, then he will step in to fill the vacuum. If Israel neglects the roads and sidewalks despite repeated complaints, he orders them repaired and paved.
And as if that provocative and scandalous interference were not enough, he has the chutzpah to openly celebrate the completion of these works. That won’t do. Netanyahu and Mayor Nir Barkat and Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch will head him off. Fayyad may spend money in our stead, but quietly. The right to noisy celebration is reserved for the Jewish settlers of Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah.
Our right to the entire city of Jerusalem has expired, and not only because half of it is Arab and has remained so despite all the cleansing and Judaization efforts. Our right expired because we never genuinely joined it together. Just the reverse: We divided and governed, stole and inherited, and even the new wall we stuck in its heart in order to divide it, Hallelujah.
One can argue about our historic right, but it is difficult to dispute our natural duty, which comes from above. Through our own stinginess and hardheartedness toward the eastern part of the city, which was never joined to the rest and became an open wound. Unified Jerusalem, a godless city.
Salam Fayyad can still be kept away from the center of the city, but Jerusalem itself can no longer be kept off the center of the agenda.
Archbishop denounces Israeli occupation and Synod call for “an end to the occupation”
ADL: Statements “worst kind of anti-Judaism, bordering on anti-Semitism”; Wiesenthal Center urges Pope to denounce Bustros’s remarks. The Simon Wiesenthal Center urged Pope Benedict XVI on Monday to immediately denounce a statement by Melkite Catholic Archbishop Cyril Salim Bustros at a Vatican Synod on the Middle East.
The archbishop had opined that “We Christians cannot speak about the promised land for the Jewish people. There is no longer a chosen people. All men and women of all countries have become the chosen people. The concept of the promised land cannot be used as a base for the justification of the return of Jews to Israel and the displacement of Palestinians.”
Butrus added that the “justification of Israel’s occupation of the land of Palestine cannot be based on sacred scriptures.”
Jewish reaction was swift.
“This political stunt, wrapped in theological garb, not only insults every Jew, but flies in the face of the statements and actions of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, both who have visited Israel and expressed solidarity with her people,” said Rabbis Marvin Hier and Abraham Cooper, dean and founder and associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, respectively. The two men had audiences with both pontiffs.
“The archbishop’s statement comes at the end of the conference wherein the so-called ‘Palestine Kairos’ document – which openly denies the right of Israel to be a Jewish state – was presented at the Vatican for the first time. These developments demand immediate action by the pope. Hopes for peace in the Middle East will only come when both sides recognize the rights of the others. These latest moves, left unchallenged, will damage interfaith relations and embolden anti- Semites and terrorists,” said Hier and Cooper.
The Anti-Defamation League also expressed deep concern over the remarks, calling them “the worst kind of anti-Judaism, bordering on anti-Semitism.”
In a letter to Cardinal-elect Kurt Koch, the newly-appointed president of the Vatican’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, ADL national director Abe Foxman wrote: “By stating that God’s covenantal promise of land to the Jewish people ‘was nullified by Christ’ and that ‘there is no longer a chosen people,’ Bustros is effectively stating that Judaism should no longer exist.”
A spokesman for the Vatican, Father Federico Lombardi, issued a statement Monday that sought to play down Butrus’s remarks and distance the Holy See from them.
“If one wants a summary of the Synod’s position, attention must currently be paid to the “Message,” which is the only written text approved by the synod in the last few days,” Lombardi said. “There is also a great richness and variety in the contributions made by the fathers, but which as such should not all be considered as the voice of the synod as a whole.”
Lombardi, without specifically mentioning Bustros, embraced the synod’s call for “an end to the occupation” while suggesting that the Arab bishop’s statements belonged to the collection of “individual” contributions that did not express the synod’s official stance.
According to the Catholic News Service, the Synod Message regarding the Jews “warned against inappropriate use of the words of the Bible,” and said that “recourse to theological and biblical positions which use the word of God to wrongly justify injustices is not acceptable.”
