Boycott Israeli goods and services, Why???

By Afshan Khan

Whole world is waking up to the nightmare that Israel is not committed to the Middle East conflict resolution. the world is realizing that Israel itself is a giant stumbling block to the Middle East peace which Israel so loudly proclaims it seeks.

The fact of the matter is that Israel pays the lip service to its peace commitment, but its actions shows its true intentions. So far Israeli actions since the launch of President Obama’s Mideast peace process displayed the Israeli unwillingness to show any decent gesture for its commitment to resolve the ever burning conflict.

Israeli actions so far has not given any positive signals towards its commitment to peace rather it has blatantly displayed its disrespect to its strongest ally, USA. Israel actions has shown that she wants to maintain the status quo. Maintaining the status que, for Palestinians it means perpetuating more than six decades of Israeli occupation of Palestine, 24/7 IDF patrolling of the Palestinian territories, continued Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, deporting poor Palestinian from their own homeland, striping them of their pride, depriving the innocent Palestinians children the basic human rights of decent life , in other words maintaining the ever worsening abject living conditions for Palestinians creating the generations of uneducated, poor resentful Palestinians. On the other hand, maintaining the status quo , for Israel it means, seeking the world support for safety of Jewish state in forms of both financial(billions of dollars in aid) and otherwise in constant fear of getting hit by Hammas rockets.

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French President Nicolas Sarkozy has told his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres that he is disappointed with Benjamin Netanyahu and finds it hard to understand the prime minister’s diplomatic plan. Sarkozy made his comments at the Elysee Palace two weeks ago.

The latest criticism follows the diplomatic crisis between Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama and the subsequent fallout between Netanyahu and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

High-level Israeli officials briefed on the Peres-Sarkozy meeting called it “very difficult”. The officials, who asked to remain anonymous, said Sarkozy began criticizing Netanyahu at the start of the discussion and continued for around 15 minutes.
Sarkozy’s remarks were only slightly more measured than the condemnation he expressed over Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman last summer. “You must get rid of that man,” Sarkozy told Netanyahu at the time.

Sarkozy met with Obama the week before in Washington; the effect of the encounter was evident in the French leader’s discussion with Peres. Sarkozy expressed frustration at the continuing stagnation of the peace process and assigned much of the responsibility to Netanyahu.

“I’m disappointed with him,” he reportedly told Peres. “With the friendship, sympathy and commitment we have toward Israel, we still can’t accept this foot-dragging. I don’t understand where Netanyahu is going or what he wants.”

After listening to his host’s remarks in full, Peres reportedly replied: “I’m aware that trust between Israel and the Palestinians has been undermined, but Israel has reached out its hand in peace and adopted the two-state principle, and Israel is working to strengthen and develop the Palestinian economy. There is no alternative to returning to the negotiating table as soon as possible.”

The Israeli officials described Sarkozy’s remarks as part of a broader trend among Israel’s European and American allies amid the lack of diplomatic progress in the region.

Amid the tension with the U.S. administration, even Israel’s European allies have begun criticizing the Netanyahu administration. Merkel, widely viewed as one of Israel’s most solid supporters in Europe, recently issued a public condemnation of Netanyahu and Israel’s wider policy vis-a-vis the Palestinians.

Last month Merkel accused Netanyahu of distorting the nature of a telephone discussion they had had following the uproar over Israel’s authorization of construction in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo.

Meanwhile, Italian diplomats have said Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s unqualified support for Israel on the Palestinian issue has also begun to wane. “Netanyahu spoke with Berlusconi twice recently by phone, and each time said he would surprise him on the Palestinian issue, but this doesn’t seem to be in the offing,” one of the diplomats said.

In Washington, Obama continued to assert this week that his administration aims to push both parties back to the negotiating table. On Monday, he told a Washington summit of entrepreneurs from Muslim-majority countries that “So long as I am president, the United States will never waver in pursuit of a two-state solution that ensures the rights of both Israelis and Palestinians.”

In an op-ed yesterday in the New York Times, Roger Cohen quoted U.S. special envoy George Mitchell as saying, “There has never been in the White House a president that is so committed on this issue.”

He quoted Mitchell, who is currently visiting Israel, as saying: “I believe Netanyahu is serious, capable and interested in reaching an agreement. What I cannot say is if he is willing to agree to what is needed to secure an agreement.”
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Sarkozy: Netanyahu’s foot dragging on peace process is unacceptable

NEW YORK – U.S. President Barack Obama, seeking to build on his tripartite meeting in New York on Tuesday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, told the United Nations General Assembly yesterday that nations aligned with either side should join the cause of advancing Middle East peace by speaking honestly to Israelis about Palestinians’ legitimate claims and to Palestinians and Arab nations about Israel’s right to exist.

Speaking to the 64th General Assembly, U.S. Obama yesterday urged the United Nations to “embrace a new era of engagement.” Obama also reiterated the pledge of the United States to “seek a new era of engagement with the world.”
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Netanyahu called Obama’s speech “very important” and noted the president had called attention to Israel’s efforts to improve quality of life for the Palestinians.

Also in New York, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Haaretz: “Obama is always trying to maintain balance. For us the positive aspect is that he said Israel is a Jewish state. He also spoke very clearly about Iran, and we see his speech in a very positive light. The tripartite meeting had a very positive effect, because the main thing is we showed we do not intend to compromise on our positions and that we will need to conduct a dialogue without preconditions.”

“The time has come to relaunch negotiations – without preconditions – that address the permanent-status issues: security for Israelis and Palestinians; borders, refugees and Jerusalem,” Obama said.

Senior members of Netanyahu’s entourage said that five weeks was a realistic time frame for the beginning of negotiations, adding that no concrete subjects in a future agreement were discussed at the meeting. The main goal of the meeting The main goal of the meeting was to renew communication between the leaders and their teams, they said.

Lieberman, asked whether he thought Obama’s patience with the parties was running out, answered: “The president of the United States has the hardest job in the world. One can empathize with his position. And he has problems that are far more serious than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – North Korea, Afghanistan, Pakistan. Anyone who saw [Libyan leader Muammar] Gadhafi’s appearance at the UN today knows that clear-thinking logic is not the strong suit of Middle Eastern leaders.”

While at the United Nations, Lieberman is holding a series of meetings with his counterparts, mainly from Europe.

Agreement on Iran

Lieberman said the main thing he noticed in his meetings was “agreement on the Iranian threat. Everyone understands completely that Iran is the greatest threat. That is felt by the Europeans and the Arabs. Everyone is also saying something to be on the safe side about the settlements, but Iran is the big issue.”

Obama reiterated the U.S. pledge “to continue to seek a just and lasting peace between Israel, Palestine, and the Arab world,” and told the General Assembly that “some progress” had been made at the three-way meeting the day before.

Obama’s statement that “America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements” met with enthusiastic cheers in the General Assembly chamber.

Obama also said the goal of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations is “two states living side by side in peace and security – a Jewish State of Israel, with true security for all Israelis; and a viable, independent Palestinian state with contiguous territory that ends the occupation that began in 1967 and realizes the potential of the Palestinian people.”

Obama added: “I am not naive. I know this will be difficult. But all of us must decide whether we are serious about peace, or whether we only lend it lip service. To break the old patterns – to break the cycle of insecurity and despair – all of us must say publicly what we would acknowledge in private. The United States does Israel no favors when we fail to couple an unwavering commitment to its security with an insistence that Israel respect the legitimate claims and rights of the Palestinians. And nations within this body do the Palestinians no favors when they choose vitriolic attacks over a constructive willingness to recognize Israel’s legitimacy and its right to exist in peace and security.”

Obama called on the members of the General Assembly to remember that “the greatest price of this conflict is not paid by us. It is paid by the Israeli girl in Sderot who closes her eyes in fear that a rocket will take her life in the night. It is paid by the Palestinian boy in Gaza who has no clean water and no country to call his own. These are God’s children,” the president said.

Obama’s speech emphasized the difference between his administration’s attitude toward the world body and that of this predecessor.

“I took office at a time when many around the world had come to view America with skepticism and distrust. Part of this was due to misperceptions and misinformation about my country. Part of this was due to opposition to specific policies, and a belief that on certain critical issues, America has acted unilaterally, without regard for the interests of others. This has fed an almost reflexive anti-Americanism, which too often has served as an excuse for our collective inaction.”

Obama said that we know “the future will be forged by deeds and not simply words… So for those who question the character and cause of my nation, I ask you to look at the concrete actions that we have taken in just nine months.”

As examples, Obama cited his prohibition, on his first day in office, of the use of torture by the United States, and the closing of the prison at Guantanamo Bay. “America will live its values, and we will lead by example,” the president said.
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Obama tells UN: We do not accept Israeli settlements

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama, said Tuesday he saw encouraging signs of a softening of Israel’s resistance to his call for a freeze on settlement-building in the occupied West Bank.

Earlier Tuesday, an Israeli government minister said no tenders had been issued for new housing projects in Israeli settlements since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-leaning government took office five months ago. Netanyahu has rebuffed Obama’s push for a complete freeze, creating the most serious rift in U.S.-Israeli relations in a decade.

“There has been movement in the right direction,” Obama said when asked about the latest development after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at the White House.

The two leaders, meeting for the third time in as many months, talked about how to jump-start the stalled Middle East peace process, a top foreign policy priority for Obama.

It was Mubarak’s first visit to the United States since 2004. He had stayed away after falling out with former President George W. Bush over the latter’s focus on promoting democracy in the Middle East and criticism of human rights in Egypt.

Mubarak’s visit comes as the Obama administration has been pushing moderate Arab states to take steps that could encourage Israel to freeze settlement building on Palestinian territory.

Mubarak, however, said Arab states would only take a more active role in supporting the peace process once Israelis and Palestinians began direct negotiations.

Arab states have so far been cool to the idea of steps such as giving overflight rights to Israeli civilian aircraft and allowing Israel to open interest sections in foreign embassies in their capitals.

They have put the onus on Israel to revive the peace process, while Israel has said the Palestinians and Arab states must first do more to advance the peace process.
Obama sees progress on Israeli settlements issue

BERLIN (Reuters) – A senior member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative party on Tuesday urged Israel not to build more settlements, warning it risked political suicide if it continued to do so.

Israeli settlements “political suicide”: Merkel ally