"STAND WITH US" COUNTERS ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTORS BY: FERN SIDMAN On Sunday afternoon, January 9th, "Stand With Us", the pro-Israel student advocacy organization, staged two counter-protests in New York City, as they faced off against hundreds of seething Hamas supporters and anti-Israel apologists assembled for vitriolic demonstrations in New York's Herald Square and outside of the Israeli Consulate in midtown Manhattan. Spearheaded by Al-Awda NY - The Palestine Right to Return Coalition along with a litany of similar far left radical offshoots such as the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, American Muslims for Palestine, Siege Busters Working Group, Existence is Resistance, ANSWER - NY and the International Socialist Organization, the demonstrators marked the two year anniversary of Operation Cast Lead which saw an Israeli incursion into Gaza; with the focus being the deterrence of Hamas sponsored rocket attacks against Israeli civilians. Calling for an "end to the occupation of Palestine" and railing against purported "IDF atrocities" against civilians in Gaza, the demonstrators held aloft signs declaring, "No US Aid to Zionist Racism and Murder!", "Bring Zionist War Criminals to Justice!" and "Free Palestine". "In the last two years since the bloody massacre on Gaza, the Zionist aggression has grown exponentially, with the backing of US imperialist forces", Ali Hussein, a spokesman for Al-Awda told the crowd. "The US continues to block international bodies from pursuing the findings of war crimes during the attacks laid out in the Goldstone Report and we are here today to tell the world that our battle against the Israeli occupation forces will never end until the illegal and morally repugnant Zionist entity is defeated", he continued. Chanting, "Free, Free Palestine" and "From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will be Free", the demonstrators marched through midtown Manhattan to the Israeli Consulate where they continued their rally. Countering the anti-Israel forces were close to 100 activists representing "Stand With Us". On display at the counter demonstration were two rockets that were fired from Gaza into Israel's southern towns since it's withdrawal in 2005. Pointing to the rockets, Avi Posnick, the Stand With Us regional coordinator for the New York chapter said, "These rockets are among the 8000 fired into Israel by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, and it is because of these rockets that Israel targeted the terrorist and weapons smuggling operations during Operation Cast Lead in December of 2008." Citing the fact that in 2010 another 235 Hamas sponsored rockets have fallen on innocent civilians in Sderot, Ashkelon and other Israeli towns, Posnick said that "Despite all this, Israel permits tons of food and supplies into Gaza through its crossings every day - calling into question the incessant and baseless accusations that there is a humanitarian or hunger crisis in Gaza. If we want to talk about peace in the Middle East, we must confront the agitprop emanating from the Hamas propaganda machine that is taking place across the street from here and declare to the world that it is Hamas terrorism and incitement that represents an impediment to peace, not Israel." The pro-Israel demonstrators held signs saying, "Israel: We Stand With You", "Stop Palestinian Terrorism; Teach Peace", and "Israel Wants Peace, Hamas Supports Terror". These signs are also part of the "Say Yes to Peace" campaign that Stand With Us launched to counter anti-Israel ads in Seattle and San Francisco. New York State Assemblyman David Weprin addressed the pro-Israel contingent by asking some simple questions. "What is rockets were fired at New York? What would the reaction of the United States be? Israel has the right to defend herself just as the United States does and we are here today to support the freedom loving State of Israel in her continual battle for survival against those bent on wanton terror", he said. Chanting "Stop Hamas Now" and "Israel Wants Peace, Hamas Wants War", the Stand With Us activists continued their vigil until early evening and vowed to return to square off against others planning similar anti-Israel protests. Said David Ruchlamer of Brooklyn, New York who attended the counter protest, "The facts on the ground are quite clear for anyone who has eyes to see. The Palestinian Authority refuses to acknowledge Israel as a Jewish state, so real and enduring peace is just not attainable. Israel cannot be compelled to make any further territorial concessions with an enemy who is devoted to its complete destruction."
 The wife a wealthy Melbourne barrister, Sonja Karkar and her pro-terror Palestinian front group “Australians for Palestine” is planning to disrupt the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne. VEXNEWS understands that Victoria Police have been alerted to the disruption plans. Karkar’s group has gone completely ga-ga because an Israeli (read Jew) athlete Shahar Peer has entered the tournament. They plan to terrorise and intimidate Peer in an orchestrated campaign of disruption. Her website ominously encourages members of her pro-terrorist group to attend any game played by Shahar Peer: The Australian Open begins on Monday 18 January 2010 and runs for two weeks. Shahar Peer will be playing in the first round and as soon as we know the date and time of her match, we will post the details. An email sent by Karkar makes her intentions perfectly clear: PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU WISH TO HELP PROTEST WHEN SHE PLAYS DURING THE TOURNAMENT. VEXNEWS understands from a well-placed source that Karkar’s group plans to smuggle whistles and other noise-making devices into the tennis centre.
They will not necessarily all be sitting in one group. In addition they will attempt to bring in a large banner to unfurl attacking the young woman and her country. These non-violent terrorist tactics are clearly calculated at distracting and discouraging Shaheer Peer from playing the sport at the elite level. Left-wing sources have been told that they can expect a free pass to be organised by them, giving rise to the suspicion that the wealthy lady Karkar is financing the tennis terror campaign.
She is married to one of Melbourne’s most accomplished commercial barristers. The bejewelled, heavily made-up activist is affronted at the mere presence of an Israeli athlete at the Australian Open and has judged her to be responsible for what ails the upper class protester. The ginger group Australians for Palestine have displayed posters that include a photograph of Shahar Peer in Israeli military uniform without explaining that all Israelis are required to serve in the Israeli Defence Forces, a situation made necessary by being surrounded by those wishing to obliterate the Middle East’s only true liberal democracy. Karkar’s attack is nothing less than organised racism, she pronounces: Although Shahar Peer has been asked to step away from promoting Israel, she already made her choice to serve Israel when she agreed to become an Israeli army poster girl. Her group disingenously claims Israel is an “apartheid” state, despite Israel being one of the most ethnically diverse and inclusive societies on Earth. And uses that false claim to justify a “sports boycott.” VexNews (See also previous post on "Tennis Jihad" ) 
 Applying double standards by requiring of [Israel] a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation" is anti-Semitism. For over 46 years, Turkey has knocked on Europe's door requesting membership in the European Union. The Europeans, however, have been in no rush to invite a Muslim country into their midst, even if it is the most westernized and most democratic Muslim country in the Middle East.
To add to it, Turkey is already a strategic partner in NATO and nearly 3 million of its citizens are peaceful and productive immigrants/guest workers in Europe. Joining the EU, however, demands of Turkey far-reaching political and social reform "on the ground" and "10 to 15 years of negotiations" while the Turks prove democratic changes are "irreversible." On the other end, U.S. [and the Quartet] yardsticks for the Palestinian Arabs, a hostile society demanding statehood, amount to praise for fabricated non-existent reforms and call to abandon the required incremental progress as clearly stated in the "goal-driven Roadmap." The end to violence and democratic reform, that Palestinians have yet to begin, is tolerable by the U.S. administration -- all in order to forge the way for the establishment of a Palestinian state within two years, one which will endanger the very survival of a free and democratic Israel and the rest of the free world. Comparison of the goals and the ramifications of each: The Turks' goal is membership in the European Union - a political alliance that the Europeans have already stated will have an iron-clad reversibility clause for Turkey if it fails to live up to its commitments. The Palestinians' goal is sovereignty as a State - status for which there is no reversibility mechanism if 'Palestine' turns into a rogue state - the kind of polity the U.S. is currently grappling with in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Iran, North Korea, Yemen and elsewhere. Logically, the yardsticks of judging readiness and maturity should be at least equal, if not more stringent for the Palestinian Arabs, a society that consciously and purposely sacrifices its own youth for political gain and tactical advantage, with a leadership that champions the murder of Jews and suicide bombers. Freedom House, a non-sectarian organization founded by Eleanor Roosevelt to monitor civil rights around the world, appraised the Palestinian Authority with the lowest possible rating in its 2009 survey - deeming it "Not [a] Free" society.
At that level political rights and civil liberties are absent or virtually nonexistent, and people experience severely restricted rights of expression and association - all as a result of the extremely oppressive nature of the regime. These "realities on the ground" are totally ignored by the EU and the U.S. in their effort to advance immediate Palestinian statehood. Requiring Israel to cede parts of its land in favour of the Palestinians' empty promises, while their Charters call for the dismantling of the Jewish State, is "applying double standards by requiring of Israel a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation." Hudson New York
 Israeli officials on Sunday tried to downplay tensions looming with the United States after George Mitchell, the Obama administration's Middle East envoy, suggested in a PBS interview that the US could consider withholding support for loan guarantees for Israel. Israel's finance minister, Yuval Steinitz, said on Sunday that Israel has "no indication that there is any intention to pressure us through the guarantees ... only a few months ago we reached an agreement with the US treasury and state departments on the extension of their guarantees." However, he also said that Israel could do without the guarantees, if necessary. "We don't have to use those guarantees. We are doing very well without them," Mr. Steinitz said Sunday. He added in his comments that Israel late last year agreed with the US on the guarantees for 2010 and 2011, and no conditions were placed on Israel at that time.
Israeli Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar also addressed Mr. Mitchell's remark at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, saying that Israel would act in its own interests and not according to external pressures.
"The American administration knows that those who are holding up the negotiations are the Palestinians," said Sa'ar. "Israel made many concessions while the Palestinians didn't do a thing."
From the Israeli point of view, Netanyahu's offer of a ten-month freeze in settlement construction back in November was a peace-making gesture that has not been met by Palestinian willingness to come back to the negotiating table.
But from the Palestinian viewpoint, President Mahmoud Abbas is finally "standing up" to Western pressure to return to negotiations by insisting on a full moratorium on building of Israeli settlements, including in East Jerusalem.
The Palestinians see the eastern half of the city – under Jordanian control until 1967 -- as their future capital, but Israel annexed the territory and does not consider East Jerusalem neighborhoods as settlements. US backing for Israel's loan guarantees has been a hot issue in the past, most pointedly in the early 1990s when the administration of George H. W. Bush faced a head-on collision with the Likud premier, Yitzhak Shamir, who refused to curtail settlement building in the West Bank.
Ultimately, the Bush administration decided it would subtract equivalent amounts of money from the $10 billion in loan guarantees for every dollar Israel spent building settlements in the occupied territories. The outcome of the spat was a low-point in US-Israel relations.
"Theoretically of course, the withdrawal of loan guarantees could be an act of pressure, but Israel doesn’t really need loan guarantees," says Peter Medding, an expert on US-Israel relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. "But if they try to do it, as they did very unsuccessfully in the early 1990s, it would have to come from the White House. I don't think it's Obama's style, and I don't think it fits the circumstances.
If anything, they've been trying to persuade Abbas to come to the party, and are still waiting for him. " More at CSM
 The pacifists who have been stuck for the past three days in Cairo while waiting to get into Gaza have turned down Suzanne Mubarak's offer to allow only 100 of the 1,300 delegates into the Gaza Strip.
"We categorically reject the Egyptian offer of a symbolic gesture", reads a statement released by the Coordinating Committee of the Gaza Freedom March and many delegations (including ones from France, Scotland, Canada, South Africa, Sweden and New York state) which had planned to bring to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip concrete signs of international solidarity, one year after the Israeli military operation Cast Lead.
Following three days of vigils and demonstrations in the Egyptian capital, the activists have made it known that they refuse "to continue to cover the siege of Gaza", and that they will work "to allow all 1,362 participants in the March to get into Gaza as the first step towards the goal of getting the siege lifted and freeing Palestine," said Ziyaad Lunat, member of the committee.
 The emirate of Dubai has in the past few decades been more than a shiny example of glitzy capitalism and the insulation from the repercussions (and responsibilities) of the Arab-Israeli conflict. It has represented the type of political model which has been promoted to the Arabs, by their rulers and by the West. When George W Bush, the former US president, visited the United Arab Emirates during his last year in office, he praised Dubai and its models of economic and political prosperity; he promoted the UAE's mantra and ethos as glimmers of hope to the new generation of Arabs. It took the former president little more than a few hours during his stop-over to assess the conditions in the region, and to reach his conclusions: resistance to Israel clashes with the type of prosperity that was prevalent in Dubai. Dubai hit a dramatic rise in the 1990s and became a success story that was carefully calibrated, promoted and disseminated in the Arab media and collective psyche. Daniel Pipes, who has a reputation for hostility towards Arabs and Muslims, was interviewed two years ago in the Jerusalem Post praising Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, after the release of his memoirs. There was not one word about Palestine in that book which nevertheless offered a recipe of unregulated and unrestricted capitalism. Dubai was supposed to be the antithesis of Palestine. It was designed to create a concrete Utopia that would encourage all young Arabs to forget about their political aspirations and dreams. In Lebanon, the March 14 opposition movement has been posing this question to the Lebanese people for three years: Hanoi or Dubai? But Hanoi is today a far more promising model than Dubai. Not only has Hanoi been liberated from foreign occupation and a corrupt puppet regime, but it has also become part of a sovereign country with a record of fast economic growth. Much has been written about Dubai and even more will be written about the emirate which was positioned as the success story that all Arabs were to emulate. However, its success is not based on sound economic or classical political theories. It was in fact a projection of what the West wanted to see in the Middle East. This projection represented the fruits of US co-operation with Middle Eastern governments, especially in the realm of defence and national security. Dubai was more important for the US due to military intelligence co-operation than for its lavish seven-star hotels. Dubai was supposed to be a vision but one not rooted in the productive sectors of the economy. There were early warnings of the debacle that struck Dubai World - too much glitz and ostentation and little attention to a careful building of culture and economy that reflect the region. There was a rush to build multi-billion dollar artificial ski slopes and playgrounds for the very rich of the world. But Dubai did not want to be part of the region, politically speaking. Instead it modelled itself as a copy of Las Vegas in the heart of the Arab Middle East. Dubai carefully steered away from all the issues that alarmed and agitated Arab public opinion. More at Al Jazeera
 Tom Goss writes that the condition of the Palestinian territories is rapidly changing, especially in Nablus. Nicer cars are being seen, more business is being created, movie theaters are opening, and the overall economic situation is improving. And it is happening, in part, due to trade with Israel: Local Palestinian farmers have been trained by Israeli agriculture experts and Israel supplied them with irrigation equipment and pesticides. A new Palestinian city, Ruwabi, is to be built soon north of Ramallah. Last month, the Jewish National Fund, an Israeli charity, helped plant 3,000 tree seedlings for a forested area the Palestinian planners say they would like to develop on the edge of the new city. Israeli experts are also helping the Palestinians plan public parks and other civic amenities…. I’ve long said that the Jewish communities in the Palestinian territories need to be seen as vehicles of mutually-beneficial interaction between the two, and that trying to create a Jew-free Palestine or Palestinian-free Israel will only increase extremism and quickly fail.
Goss also notes in the article that the Palestinian economy grew by 7% this year, but Abbas says it is really 11%, “helped along by strong economic performances in neighboring Israel.” Palestinians need to realize that an attack on Israel’s well-being is an attack on their own well-being, and Israelis should see the Palestinians as an exciting new market that will benefit them as it grows. World Threats
Dr. Tawfik Hamid was a member of a radical Islamist organization with Ayman Al-Zawaherri who later became the second in command of Al Qaeda. Hamid is an Islamic reformer who believes strongly in what he calls "valid interpretation for the Quran" in order to denounce radical Islamists. His comments about what caused him to become a terrorist are particularly interesting. Although it is generally believed that all terrorists are poor and oppressed, Hamid notes that his family was financially secure and that he was brainwashed.
 The Palestinian observer at the UN, Riyad Mansour, urged the Security Council to take measures against Israel in light of what he called years of failed peace negotiations and a lack of Israeli willingness to advance a comprehensive peace agreement. Speaking on behalf of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Monday evening, Mansour told the General Assembly that the peace talks had been hindered by the "settlements, arrests (of Palestinians by the IDF) and Israeli attacks." In his speech, the Palestinian envoy reiterated the claim that the IDF committed war crimes during its December-January offensive in Gaza. He went on to criticize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, saying it was "alienating" the Palestinians and withdrawing from "all of the commitments and agreements that we have reached with previous Israeli governments." The UN is currently marking the historic date of November 29 1947, the day in which it approved the partition plan separating Israel into two states – Jewish and Arabic. But while in Israel the date is celebratory, as it marks the end of the British mandate and the beginning of independent rule, the UN headquarters in New York and Geneva are holding ceremonies of mourning and solidarity with the Palestinian people. Mansour added, "Israel's daily actions on the ground prove that it does not want to take one step towards a comprehensive agreement and is realizing its settlement scheme in the West Bank and Jerusalem in blatant violation of international law. "Israeli is turning its back to a return to the negotiation table, which is aimed at achieving a just and comprehensive solution that will guarantee peace for all of the region's nations," he said. "It's time that after all these years of negotiations, which did not yield any results, the international community, and particularly the Security Council, fulfill their obligations." The Palestinian observer said the Security Council must take "immediate and determined measures that will reflect the position of the world's nations, who have repeatedly demanded a two-state solution and an end to the Israeli occupation, which began in 1967." Mansour told the General Assembly Israel has intensified its efforts to "Judaize" Jerusalem, adding that this policy culminated with what he said were excavations under and around the Al-Aqsa Mosque and granting "Zealous Jews" permission to enter the holy site in the capital's Old City. He said these acts may add a dangerous religious element to the conflict. However, Mansour stressed that the Palestinians were committed to peace as a strategic choice.
 That's one way of putting it, with Hamas as intent as ever as destroying Israel, and Fatah's remaining committed to armed "resistance" despite its attempts at putting on a friendlier face to the Western public. Not to mention the rampant corruption and misappropriation of aid for weapons. No, we're "not there yet." An update on this story. "Mideast: EU rejects calls for a Palestinian state," from AdnKronos International, November 17: Brussels, 17 Nov. (AKI) - The European Union on Tuesday rejected calls by the Palestinian Authority to declare a Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt, whose country currently holds the presidency of the EU, said conditions in the Palestinian territories "were not there yet" for such a move. Bildt was speaking before a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels. He said in regard to the establishment of a Palestinian state that "...there has to be one first. We would be ready to recognise a Palestinian state, but conditions are not there as of yet." Bildt's came after US state department spokesman Ian Kelly echoed similar concerns, saying "We support the creation of a Palestinian state that is contiguous...the best way to achieve that is negotiation between two parties." So, the policy in the coming years is to force Israel to make more land concessions, even as disastrous as past ones have proven (see also: Gaza). Earlier this week, Palestinian officials, led by chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, announced that they would seek recognition of a state from the United Nations Security Council, without a solution to the conflict with Israel. The US - Israel's biggest ally - however, has veto power in the Security Council, and could in theory exercise it to prevent the unilateral declaration.....
 A senior Palestinian official tells Fox News in the next few weeks the Palestinian Authority is planning to call for Palestinian statehood through a UN resolution-- a similar maneuver to that by which Israel was created. Both Palestinians and some Israelis believe that there is growing support in the international community for such a measure. Asked to comment on the plan, an American official said that such a UN resolution, while not a cure-all, could be expanded upon eventually.
Still, he added: "It's a measure that would make you feel good for five minutes. Then what?" Palestinian officials predict the US would veto a UN resolution. If the resolution fails, senior Palestinian officials are considering completely dissolving the Palestinian Authority.
That would leave the burden of running the West Bank to Israel--a policy that the Israeli government would be fearful of. US tax payers pay $3 billion to aid Israel a year. If Palestinians hand the keys over to the Israelis more money will likely be needed to facilitate the occupation.
The senior Palestinian official added once the Palestinian Authority is dismantled, Palestinians will push for a 'one state solution'-- ultimately making Israel no longer a Jewish state. Source: FoxNews
 A top State Department official spelled out on Tuesday that the goal of the United States in its negotiations in the Middle East is to pressure Israel into expelling Jews from Judea and Samaria in order to "end the occupation that began in 1967." William J. Burns, Under Secretary for Political Affairs, said in his address to the Middle East Institute Tuesday that he sees the U.S.mandate as one of "determined leadership" and that American must be straightforward about its intentions.
"Our goal in the region is clear," he said, "two states living side by side in peace and security; a Jewish state of Israel, with which America retains unbreakable bonds, and with true security for all Israelis; and a viable, independent Palestinian state with contiguous territory that ends the occupation that began in 1967, that ends the daily humiliations of Palestinians under occupation, and that realizes the full and remarkable potential of the Palestinian people." Although he made no mention of any demands upon the PA in order to achieve its goal of establishing a new Arab state within Israel's current borders, Burns was blunt about America's expectations of Israel. "We do not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements; we consider the Israeli offer to restrain settlement activity to be a potentially important step, but it obviously falls short of the continuing Roadmap obligation for a full settlement freeze," he said. Further, he said, "We seek to deepen international support for the Palestinian Authority’s impressive plan to build over the next couple years the institutions that a responsible Palestinian state requires. And we also seek progress toward peace between Israel and Syria, and Israel and Lebanon, as part of a broader peace among Israel and all of its neighbors." The highest ranking Foreign Service Officer in the United States, Burns served as Acting Secretary of State until the appointment of Hillary Rodham Clinton. He was the U.S. Ambassador to Jordan from 1998 to 2001, and as U.S. Ambassador to Russia from 2005 to 2008. The Under Secretary's remarks came barely 24 hours after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met at the White House with President Barack Obama for talks grudgingly scheduled just hours before he flew to the U.S. on Sunday. The two leaders were accompanied for some of the one hour and 40-minute meeting, held Monday night, by their respective administrative and security teams. On the agenda were the issues of the Iranian nuclear threat, the paralysis in Israel's negotiations with the PA, and the claim by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas that he will not run again for the leadership in PA elections on January 24. Burns vowed the U.S. "will continue to work hard to bring about the early resumption of negotiations, which is the only path to the two state solution on which so much depends, not only for the future of Israelis and Palestinians, but for the entire Middle East." "We have made limited headway," he claimed, " a shared understanding between the parties about a two-state objective; a shared interest in moving back to the negotiating table; wide international backing for this process; steady progress, in the face of very difficult odds, toward shaping reliable Palestinian security organizations and governmental institutions in the West Bank. Now we need to bear down, move ahead, fulfill our responsibilities for leadership, and challenge every other party to fulfill theirs." Source: INN
 By Robert Spencer Give up terrorism? Renounce Sharia? Cut out the rocket attacks? End the suicide bombings? Stop the genocidal rhetoric? Nope. They don't have to do a single thing. No preconditions. Let's establish that terror base state now! "National Security Advisor Reiterates US Commitment to Peace, Palestinian State at ATFP Gala," from the American Task Force for Palestine, October 16 (thanks to Pamela): Washington, DC, Oct. 16 -- At the Oct. 15 Fourth Annual Gala of the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP), the National Security Advisor, General James L. Jones, reiterated the Administration's commitment to establishing a Palestinian state and determination to move forward with peace talks. "We are clear, unambiguous and consistent," said Gen. Jones, "The time has come to relaunch negotiations without preconditions to reach a final status agreement on two states."
The National Security Advisor emphasized that, "President Obama's dedication to achieve these goals is unshaken, is committed, and we will be relentless in our pursuit of achieving these." He said that ending the conflict and the occupation is essential because what is at stake is "nothing less than the dignity and the security of all human beings." "We must move beyond talking about talks and get to the hard work of addressing the core issues that separate Israelis and Palestinians," Jones said.... Source: JihadWatch
 RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas faced growing outrage at home Sunday over his decision to withdraw support for a U.N. report that alleged Israel and Hamas committed war crimes in last winter's Gaza war. Abbas' reversal came as a result of intense U.S. pressure, Palestinian officials said. The report by respected justice Richard Goldstone will now lie dormant for at least six months rather than be sent to the U.N. General Assembly with possible recommendations for action. Israel, which vehemently denies the war crimes allegations, has warned that dealing with the Goldstone report now would derail peace efforts.
The Obama administration is pushing hard to restart Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, and a senior U.S. envoy is returning to the region in coming days to try to narrow gaps over the terms of such talks. Israel launched the three-week war to quash militant rocket barrages from Gaza that had terrorized residents of southern Israel for years. The U.N. report accused Israel of using disproportionate force and targeting civilian areas. It faulted Hamas for firing rockets indiscriminately at Israeli towns. Both sides have denied committing war crimes. The Palestinian decision to suspend the campaign for war crimes prosecutions was first reported late Thursday as the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva was considering a vote on the Goldstone report. With the Palestinians out of the picture, Arab and Muslim supporters followed suit, and the vote was deferred to March. Since then, anger in the Abbas-run West Bank and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip has been building. Leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization met late Saturday and demanded action. Planning Minister Ali Jarbawi said he would seek an explanation at a Cabinet meeting on Monday, saying "someone made a mistake." "There was a wrong decision, and this is terribly bad," he said. In an apparent attempt at damage control, Abbas announced he has appointed a three-member committee to look into how the decision was made. The announcement, made on the Palestinian news agency Wafa, did not say whether Abbas himself would come under scrutiny. Abbas' critics are unlikely to go after Abbas personally and are more likely to seek the dismissal of advisers seen as encouraging him to take the decision. Abbas aides have defended the decision, saying the Palestinians needed more time to win international support for the Goldstone report. But on Sunday, Abbas' spokesman said the Palestinian economics minister, Bassem Khouri, had resigned. It was unclear whether the resignation was to protest Abbas' decision, and Khouri declined comment. In a rare sign of public criticism, a prominent Palestinian commentator, Zakaria Mohammed, said Abbas was clearly to blame. "People are furious at him and his decision," he wrote on the independent "Faisal" Web site. Read more here,,,, Source: FoxNews
 Nineteen female Palestinian detainees have been released from an Israeli prison in return for a videotape of a soldier captured by Gaza fighters in June 2006. A 20th female prisoner will be released, probably next week, the office of Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has said. Al Jazeera's Nour Odeh, reporting from the occupied West Bank, said those freed on Friday were handed over to the Red Cross after their release from the Hasharon prison. Eighteen of the prisoners were released to the West Bank, and the other, Fatima al-Zeeq with her 18-month-old baby was returned to Gaza. "Today is like a huge party," said Nisrin Hamdan, 26, as she waited outside Ofer military camp with several of her children, all wearing T-shirts bearing a picture of their 60-year-old mother, held for assisting a suicide bomber. "My mother has been absent for seven years and today we will have her in our home." Also among those awaiting their loved ones was Nawal Hossein, 37, an aunt of a 22-year-old prisoner who was serving a 20-month sentence for plotting to become a suicide bomber.
Odeh said the one-minute video received in the exchange by Israeli officials was seen as proof of life for its captured soldier, Gilad Shalit. The video was sent directly to family members in northern Israel. An Israeli official who viewed the video said Shalit looked healthy and coherent. The exchange deal marks a breakthrough in nearly three years of Egyptian-brokered negotiations between Israel and Hamas over the soldier. German mediators joined the talks in July. Shalit was seized by fighters from Hamas and allied groups during a raid on an Israeli border base in 2006. Until Friday, the only signs of life from Shalit have been several letters and an audio recording. Only one of the letters - written three months after his capture - has been released, just last month. Hamas has not allowed the Red Cross to visit the soldier. Hamas is demanding that Israel release hundreds of prisoners, many of whom are serving lengthy sentences for attacks on Israelis, in exchange for the soldier. Currently, more than 9,000 Palestinian prisoners remain behind Israeli bars.
The Palestinian Liberation Organisation, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas all insist there can be no peace deal with Israel before all these prisoners are freed. Source: Al Jazeera (English)
 RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been told by his Fatah movement that he must not resume peace talks unless Israel freezes its settlement construction, a senior Fatah member said Wednesday. Fatah's position could help Abbas stand up to U.S. pressure to return to talks with Israel. Last week, President Barack Obama told Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that negotiations must resume as quickly as possible, without preconditions.
Obama admonished both leaders to stop wasting time. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are holding separate followup meetings in Washington this week with Obama's Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, who hopes to bring the sides back to the negotiating table. Abbas has repeatedly said he would not return to talks without a freeze in Israeli settlements, which is mandated by a U.S.-backed peace plan. Israel refuses to comply, offering at best to slow construction for a limited period. The Obama administration was initially adamant about a halt to construction, but appears to have softened its stance after failing to make headway with the Israeli government on the issue. Read more here,,,, Source: Fox News
 Five people have been injured after shots were fired at a funeral in Gaza City for two of three Palestinians killed in an Israeli air raid, Palestinian medical sources have said. The gunshots rang out from across the border with Israel, Palestinian sources told Al Jazeera, as thousands of Palestinians turned out in the streets for the funeral on Saturday. Israel has yet to confirm whether gunfire came from their side of the border, but has said that it is looking into the incident. "The funeral procession was taking place very close to the border with Israel, [near] the Nahal Ouz crossing - obviously that border that splits Gaza from Israel is very heavily guarded by Israeli forces," Sherine Tadross, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Gaza, reported. "During the procession, mourners started firing shots up into the air - as is tradition to show their defiance, their protest and anger. "Israeli forces on the border saw that as an act of aggression and started firing," she said. The incident is also the first time guns have been fired during a protest since the end of Israel's offensive on Gaza at in January that killed more than 1,300 Palestinians. The brandishing of weapons in Gaza City was a rare show of force by the Islamic Jihad movement, and came despite strict rules against the public display of weapons enforced by Hamas. The group banned the bearing of weapons in public after it seized power in Gaza in June 2007. "We call on all Palestinian resistance factions to resume martyrdom operations inside the Zionist entity," one protest leader at the funeral yelled through a megaphone, referring to suicide bombings. The funeral was for fighters from Islamic Jihad, killed on Friday evening by Israeli aircraft in a strike that severely wounded three other people. The three men killed in the Israeli air raid were travelling in a car when it was struck by a missile, Moaiya Hassanain, an official at the Gaza health ministry, said. The Israeli military said the Palestinian militants were hit from the air as they unloaded rockets from their vehicle. An Israeli military spokesman said the army had "targeted three terrorists in the Gaza Strip on their way to launch rockets at Israel". Islamic Jihad issued a statement blaming Israel for what it said was a "cowardly crime" and calling on all Palestinian armed groups to confront it. Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, condemned the violence. "These crimes are the result of a Zionist attitude based on killing, violence and destruction, especially in the absence of a strong Arab and international position, which ought to protect the interests of the Palestinian people," he said. Earlier in the day a rocket was fired from Gaza into Israel without wounding anyone, according to the Israeli military. Source: Al Jazeera (English)
 Thanks to President Obama, the odds that effective action will be taken against Iran's nuclear weapons program have increased in recent months, and perhaps significantly. Not action by the U.S. of course; Obama intends to fiddle and diddle indefinitely. But Obama's conduct has made it more likely that Israel will attack Iran. Prime Minister Netanyahu, who reportedly had Obama pegged as the next U.S. president back in 2007, has now had plenty of occasion to size-up Obama as president. It's inconceivable that Netanyahu has any respect for Obama, much less that he believes Obama will do anything to assist Israel in dealing with the Iranian threat. For one thing, Netanyahu witnessed first-hand Obama's botched effort at dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. It's not just that Obama tilted towards the Palestinians; more important is the fact that he did it so ineffectually. Netanyahu ran rings around Obama, getting his way, gaining popularity at Obama's expense, and placing the Palestinian leader (if he still can be called that) in an untenable position. How could Netanyahu have emerged from this saga with any respect for Obama? Second, Obama has revealed himself to be an utter fool when it comes to international matters. His sophomorically utopian speech to the U.N surely left no doubt in Netanyahu's mind that Obama is too fundamentally unserious to be of any use in dealing with Iran. This reality should have been apparent to Netanyahu from day one; in fact, Netanyahu had plenty of reason to doubt that even President Bush was going to take on Iran.
But wishful thinking is a powerful force even for someone as smart and experienced as Netanyahu, especially when it comes taking drastic unilateral action that risks antagonizing the U.S., not to mention the rest of the world How much easier to believe that the U.S. might finally lend a meaningful hand. After the painful spectacle of Obama's U.N. address, however, no amount of wishful thinking can obscure Israel's situation. Israel is in this alone. Not only can Obama not be expected to partner with Israel when it comes to dealing with Iran, he cannot be counted on to provide -- indeed he is not capable of providing -- sound counsel on the matter. And perhaps most importantly, Netanyahu has less to fear from ignoring Obama's counsel then he would from a formidable, or even just competent, American president. Thus, Netanyahu must feel less constrained from acting alone, even as he fully realizes that acting along represents the only option for acting. President Obama seems to relish passing judgment on the world and its leaders, as well as his own country. But Obama isn't just judging the world; he's also being judged by the world's leaders -- friend and foe alike. And being judged mercilessly. Source: Powerline
 Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York earlier this week. His 96-minute speech, which broke the alloted 15-minute protocol, marked the first time he addressed the international body since leading a coup in September 1969 which ended rule by monarchy in Libya and brought him to power. In an interview with Al Jazeera's Ghida Fakhry on Thursday, Gaddafi repeated his belief that a two-state solution is not a feasible approach to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and bringing peace in the Middle East. "Everyone is calling for a two-state solution [but] they don't understand the demographics of the region. Israel would be reduced to 14km and Israel will not accept this," Gaddafi said. "There is no way to have these two states so close, because they are already integrated. Two million Palestinians live in Israel, Gaza is isolated … torn apart and isolated. Israel should get rid of their nuclear weapons - the Muslim countries will not recognise Israel as long as they have nuclear weapons - and these problems would be done," he added. "I don't believe that Barack Obama [the US president] really understands the problem," he said. "He was a senator; he used to worry about the state that he represents and the American people. So he doesn't understand it deeply enough. Maybe in the future he might." The Libyan leader also said the current Arab approach to resolving the 60-year Arab-Israeli conflict and creating a Palestinian state would not yield positive results. "There is no way to have two states in that piece of territory." Read more here,,,, Source: Al Jazeera (English)
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