By Dr. Mohamed Elmasry

There is good news and bad news for Palestinians.

The good news is that history was, and still is, on the side of those who struggle against great odds to end occupations: Arabs against Crusaders, Irish against British, Algerians against French, French against Germans, and so on. Every occupation is destined to end, eventually.

The bad news is that the Zionist occupation of Palestine will likely not end any time soon.

The Palestinian struggle is being obstructed by Israel and the United States because neither is ready for it to end; however, each has demonstrated a willingness to end illegal occupations: Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon after some 20 years of occupation, and in 1956 America demanded that Israeli forces withdraw from the Sinai soon after Israel, Britain and France invaded Egypt.

A common argument is that any end to the occupation must be based on Israel’s withdrawal from the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Arab East Jerusalem to its June 4, 1967, borders, but withdrawal is not enough.

Israel is a Zionist Jewish state steeped in the mindset of 19th-century European colonialism.

Any peace agreement must take place within the context of “neo-Zionism,” a new political ideology for the 21st century. This new ideology would replace “let us do what’s right for the Jews” with “let us do what’s right.”

It is essential to remember that Zionism was conceived during an age of imperialism, when all of Europe thought along these lines.

Zionist Jews are largely European and, like Europeans, made their colonial plans in complete disregard of the native population of Palestine.

The Zionist movement goes back to 1882, and developed out of anti-Jewish violence in Russia.

As a result, an organization in Odessa called “The Lovers of Zion” came into being.

At the time, Zionists made up just three percent of the Jewish population, so their cause raised little interest among European and British Jews, who were content and well-integrated into society.

Nevertheless, the First Zionist Congress was held at Basel, Switzerland, on Aug. 29, 1897, and led to the declaration of two key objectives: Zionists would promote Jewish colonization in Palestine, and work to unite Jews worldwide to foster Jewish national sentiment and consciousness.

This 19th-century colonial mentality which renders any talk of peace impossible because, as Europeans, the vast majority of Israelis do not place a high priority on living in peace with their non-European neighbours.

For example, a study by the Jaffee Centre for Strategic Studies found that some 46 percent of Israel’s Jewish citizens favor transferring Palestinians out of the occupied territories, while 31 percent favor transferring Israeli Arabs right out of the country.

Meanwhile, if most of the world’s Jews suddenly decided to move to Israel, as Zionists claim they have a right to do, they would overrun all of Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

Today, non-Zionist Jews are in the minority, and Zionism itself has become a religion for many Jews.

Israel must evolve into a modern, secular democratic state, and Zionism has to become a viable political movement, but for that to happen Zionists have to pull their head out of the ghetto.

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Zionism must evolve

Israel with all its military Might, with Nuclear weapons, with billions of American Dollars at his disposal is threatened by a enclosed, starving,stone pelting Palestinians? Or any other destitute Middle Eastern country? Seems like a joke to me.

It was former Palestinian leader,Yassar Arafaat, who was to be blamed for all that was going wrong with peace process in Middle east and now it is Mahmood Abbas takes the prize for ” NO Peace in Middle East”. r Abbas seems to enjoy quite a power to perpetuate violence in the Middle east and maintaining the status quo for Palestinians. This is just another example of Hawkish rhetoric.

For achieving true peace we need the sincerity from all sides and question every way possible of old policies which have been proven to be toxic for any peace in the region. The lobbying of AIPAC have garnered billions of financial and immense military aid to Israel from American Tressuray, but at same time has utterly failed to bring true peace and security for Israel which is only possible by bringing the peace to region. Peace in the Middle East is very crucial for the world peace. It is high time for AIPAC to enter in new era of thinking and sincerely evaluate their motives and make the peace their primary goal. AIPAC is pro Israeli lobby to further Israeli interest and influence American foreign policy to benefit Israel. There is nothing wrong with that except the fact that they are unable to see the fact that Israeli Interest and its security is in the Middle East Peace.

I like to take this opportunity to complement the J Street for their sincere peace efforts and their support to US administration for it peace efforts in the middle east and holding Israel accountable for its policies which are proving to be big hurdles in the peace talks.

Clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian protestors over the issue of holy sites have provoked a wave of condemnation in the Arab press for Israel’s behaviour.

On Sunday several Palestinians were arrested after Israeli security forces entered the Temple Mount in East Jerusalem. The incident followed clashes in the West Bank town of Hebron on Friday over Israel’s decision to list two disputed shrines as heritage sites.

The Palestinian press painted Israel’s actions as a deliberate attempt to escalate conflict in the region. Newspapers in the Middle East condemned what was perceived as a concerted effort to oppress Islamic identity and set back the peace process.

In Israel, one editorial acknowledged that the decision to list the disputed shrines may have been a “tactical mistake”, while another commentator attacked the US response to the issue.

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ME anger at Israeli ‘escalations’

The Israeli interior ministry has stopped issuing work permits to foreigners working for international non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

In the last few weeks, NGO staff have been given tourist visas instead, making it virtually impossible for them to carry out their work.

The new Israeli policy affects 120 international NGOs, many of which provide vital developmental and humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

Many NGO members have said that Israel’s actions are illegal because the country is obligated under Geneva and humanitarian law to issue them visas and let them work freely there.

Source: Al Jazeera.com

After a year of relative quiet in the south following the cease-fire that ended Operation Cast Lead, there has been a marked escalation in violence along the Israel-Gaza border. Qassam rockets and mortars are being fired from Gaza, and the Israel Air Force retaliated by attacking targets in the Strip, killing several Palestinians. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hamas that Israel would “respond forcefully” to any fire on its territory.

Incidents involving live fire have aggravated relations between Hamas and Egypt, which is tightening the siege on Gaza. The Egyptians are building an underground steel wall to thwart smuggling through tunnels into Sinai, and are prohibiting supply convoys from entering Gaza through the Rafah crossing. Foreign peace activists who wanted to show support for Gaza were stopped in Cairo.

Article from Haaretz.com
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Israel has authorised a one-off shipment of hundreds of tonnes of cement and building materials to the heavily embargoed Gaza Strip.

~ BBC

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Israel to allow cement into Gaza.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s most abject failure since returning to the premiership has been his shaky relationship with the American administration, headed by President Barack Obama. Netanyahu and his advisers know full well the extent to which Israel needs close ties with the United States – which provides Israel with a diplomatic umbrella – from both an economic and strategic standpoint. Yet, instead of working toward reaching an understanding with Obama, Netanyahu is behaving like someone itching for an unnecessary confrontation with America.

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An American week, not Isreal (By Haaretz Editorial)