Turkey FM: We'll Cut Israel Ties unless It Apologizes for Gaza Flotilla Raid

Comment:

"For those Arabs who think that Turkey will liberate Palestine for them" This is the title the angry Arab used instead of BBC Title: Turkey and Israel hold first talks since flotilla raid.

With full respect Assad, I can't blame the Arab masses for hoping Erdogan would be an New Salahideen, or New Mohamad Alfateh, I am sure most of them are aware that Erdogan hands are tied by secular opposition and the Turkish Army, and USA/Nato....

Though his hands are not free, Erdugan made Turkey "a powerful player in the Middle East for the first time since the break-up of the Ottoman Empire.

So in raising his pictures and the Tukish flags, Arab masses are saying thaks Turkey, and thanks Erdugan for doing what they expected from Pharaoh and Abudulla and other leaders. They are praising Mr Erdogan's stance, encoraging Turkey to move forward.

A dreamer would hope that Edogan can turm 180 degrees.  A fool would blame Turkey for not cutting the 60 years old ties with Israel for nothing and in one shift.

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And here the Wheelchair critic, spreading shit.

One year ago the Palestinian Idiot in Mollistine  commented on the Regional Alliance proposed by the Syrian President as follows:

"Based on the alliance proposed by Assad, are we to expect joint Syrian-Iraqi-Turkish-Israeli-U.S.-Iranian military exercises pretty soon? Why not? It is all for "regional stability" and to defeat "Al-Qaeda!"


Celebrate the "New Middle East" now; or else!

# posted by Tony : 3:14 AM" Thursday, August 20, 2009


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In his above old comment the Idiot attacked Syria, Iran and Turky, and predicted a joint Syrian-Iraqi-Turkish-Israeli-U.S.-Iranian military exercises pretty soon?



On seeing Turkisk-Israeli Flotilla real exercise, On Wednesday, June 09, 2010, the same asshole made a U-Turn, to ask Erdogan and Turky, not trust Arab thogs. In other words he is telling Erdogan and Turkey: Be careful. Don't Trust Arab traitor, Don't lose your old Friends, Nato and Israel

"Don't Trust the Arab Throngs!

They are the same "masses" which cheered for the former Soviet Union; they have no convictions or real understanding of their interests or of history. They are like lost sheep, looking for an easy way out; Erdogan is the shepherd of the moment. Tomorrow? Who knows....

These are the same gullible throngs that cheered for Lawrence of Arabia 100 years ago and fought the Ottomans. Why? Because the British Colonialists promised them independence. Can you believe that! ........................
As the Turks say, the Arabs are traitors, even to their own causes.

I will change my mind when I see evidence to the contrary.

# posted by Tony : 4:46 AM"

And here his latest shitball, he moved from advising Erdugan: Don't trust Arab puplic to warning Arabs: Don't trust Erdugan, and his teacher the "rabbit". They are fooling you. Sure they fooling not us Arab puplic, but somebody else.

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Zarathustra,  (I call him Khara)

I agree that Turkey's response has been only rhetorical. In fact I have just read that trade between Turkey and Israel has so far not been affected.
As you implied, the Rabbit has been giving lessons to Erdogan about fooling the Arab public with empty words; it has worked for the Rabbit.

Tony Sayegh "

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Though I believe Assad is a good teacher, I don't think Erdugan needs a teacher. I fully agree with Patrick Cockburn saying Erdugan's "track record is as a man who is quick to take advantage of others' mistakes. But he likes to pick his moment and is careful not to overplay his hand. He has done this with great skill in domestic politics in his confrontations with the Turkish army leadership who used to determine Turkey's foreign policy."

Smart leaders such as Assad and Erdugan, walking through mines fields are expected to be carefull and pick the right moment rather than commiting suicide,

Davutoglu met Ben-Eliezer to convey a message to Usrael and Turkish Seculars and Turkisk Army. Stay tuned, and beware Zionist Propaganda Dark rooms

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Turkey FM: We'll Cut Israel Ties unless It Apologizes for Gaza Flotilla Raid


Al-Manar

05/07/2010 Turkey's foreign minister has warned that diplomatic ties with Israel will be cut in the wake of the recent flotilla crisis unless certain conditions are met, the Turkish press reported Monday.

"The Israelis have three options:

They will either apologize or acknowledge an international-impartial inquiry and its conclusion. Otherwise, our diplomatic ties will be cut off," Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters on Saturday during a visit to Kyrgyzstan.

The once-close Turkish-Israeli relationship has taken a steep nose dive following a tragically botched May 31 Israeli commando raid on a Gaza aid flotilla led by a Turkish non-governmental organization. Nine Turks were killed in the attack.

Turkey recalled its ambassador to Israel after the raid. It has also closed its airspace to Israeli military aircraft in response to the incident.

Turkey has previously stated its demands that before relations are normalized Israel must apologize, pay compensation to the victims and allow for an international inquiry into the event.

Israel has so far refused to meet those demands. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week said his country would not apologize or pay compensation to the flotilla victims.

Israel has meanwhile set up its own inquiry, headed by a former Supreme Court justice. "We showed them an exit road. If they apologize as a result of their own investigation's conclusion, that would be fine for us. But of course we first have to see it," Davutoglu said.

"They are aware of our demands. If they do not want to apologize, then they should accept an international investigation," he added.

Davutoglu also suggested that Turkey could impose further sanctions against Israel should it fail to meet Turkey's conditions. "If steps are not taken, the process of isolation will continue," he said.

Davutoglu also said that Turkey had closed its airspace to all Israeli military flights in reaction to the raid. "This decision was not taken for only one or two airplanes," the minister said, adding that the closure could be extended to civilian flights as well.

Last week Turkey closed its airspace to two military airplanes, but authorities said that it was not a generalized ban.

On Friday, Israeli Trade and Labor Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer refuted a report by Turkish daily Hurriyet, which claimed that he had indicated to Davutoglu during their clandestine meeting in Brussels last week that Israel was rethinking its refusal to compensate and apologize over the flotilla incident.

"We have no plans to do that, and the minister did not promise anything to that regard during his meeting with the Turkish foreign minister two days ago," Ben-Eliezer's bureau said in response to the report.

Turkey: Relations with Israel hinging on apology

[ 05/07/2010 - 09:13 AM ]

ANKARA, (PIC)-- Turkish minister of state for EU affairs and chief negotiator Egemen Bagis has said that families of the nine Turkish victims of the Freedom Flotilla were expecting an apology from Israel.

He affirmed in a forum on Saturday that future of Turkish-Israeli relations was dependent on the steps that Israel would take in this regard.

He was quoted by the Anatolia news agency as saying that Israel should ponder whether it wants to lose Turkey or not.

Bagis doubted Israel's alleged quest for peace, adding that countries cannot achieve peace through humiliating people.

The minister also underlined that the siege on the Gaza Strip is "illegal".

Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu and his foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman had said that their government would not apologize to Turkey and would not offer compensations to families of the victims who were killed or wounded during the Israeli bloody attack on the Freedom Flotilla in international waters last May.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Peace May Rest on the Future of 88 Houses

By Mel Frykberg

Fakhri Abu Diab

Credit:Mel Frykberg/IPS

SILWAN, Occupied East Jerusalem, Jul 5, 2010 (IPS) - Frequent clashes and continuing tension in disputed East Jerusalem could portend a major outbreak of civil unrest, residents fear.

Confrontations follow Israel's acceleration of plans to demolish dozens of Palestinian homes. This could leave over a thousand Palestinians homeless.

Furthermore, Israel is continuing to strip hundreds of East Jerusalemites of their residency. Four members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) from Jerusalem have been ordered to leave the country.

Silwan has become a pivotal point of friction, in the boiling cauldron that East Jerusalem is fast becoming. This follows Jerusalem municipality's approval of the pending demolition of 22 Palestinian homes -- with another 66 on the waiting list -- to make way for a Jewish theme park and an extension of Jewish neighbourhoods, all illegal under international law.

The Jerusalem municipality argues that the Palestinian homes were built without building permits. But Palestinians face an almost impossible bureaucratic battle to obtain permits, despite a chronic housing shortage.

Simultaneously the Israeli authorities actively facilitate Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem even though this is in violation of UN resolutions.

The Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee will shortly publish a new blueprint for the expansion of Jewish neighbourhoods in East Jerusalem, most of them on privately owned Palestinian land.

"They can bring the bulldozers over my family's bodies," Fakhri Abu Diab, an accountant and spokesman from the Bustan Committee trying to fight demolitions tells IPS. "We will not leave our homes. I would rather die than see my children homeless. I'm not prepared to live in a tent that gets continually pulled down.

"The demolition of the homes will leave about 1,500 Palestinians with nowhere to go. Sixty-two percent of the homeless will be children," adds Abu Diab, father of five, and one of the residents whose house is due to be demolished.

Residents of Silwan's Bustan area have tried to meet Jerusalem's municipality halfway. They have hired architects at great expense to come up with an alternative plan that would incorporate green areas into Silwan, and also save the residents' homes.

"The plans were rejected out of hand because they didn't fit in with the municipality's plans to Judaise the neighbourhood," says Abu Diab.

The Jerusalem municipality has been adamant about destroying Palestinian homes and evicting Palestinians from Silwan, but it has not shown the same determination over settlers ordered by the Israeli courts to vacate the vicinity.

In 2008 the Israeli Supreme Court ordered a group of settlers to vacate the apartment building Beit Yonatan (named after convicted U.S. spy Jonathan Pollard who was jailed in 1987 for passing classified information on the U.S. to Israel) located in the middle of Silwan. Jerusalem's right-wing mayor Nir Barkat has refused to seal Beit Yonatan or expel the illegal Jewish settlers.

Instead, the residents of Beit Yonatan plan to hire private security guards to evict a number of Palestinian families living in an old Yemenite synagogue in the area.

Another major point of friction is the expulsion orders on four Jerusalem- based Hamas members of the PLC after they were recently released from Israeli prisons. They were jailed in a retaliatory move after Hamas fighters in Gaza captured an Israeli soldier in 2006.

Three of the four PLC members have barricaded themselves in the Red Cross headquarters in Jerusalem after they were ordered to leave Israel by this week. They have said they will not leave the office until there is a political or diplomatic resolution to the crisis.

A fourth member is under arrest for failing to leave the country several weeks ago. They are being supported by various Palestinian factions, including the Palestinian Authority (PA) in a rare display of solidarity with Hamas.

PA president Mahmoud Abbas recently hosted the PLC members at his Ramallah office. The leaders of Jerusalem's Christian congregations are also supporting the PLC members.

Meanwhile, hundreds more East Jerusalemites continue to live in fear of losing their Jerusalem residency as Israeli authorities strip Palestinian residents who have lived or studied abroad for more than seven years of their residency.

The Israeli authorities have also warned that Palestinians joining demonstrations may be stripped of their residency. (END)

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River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

European campaign receives 9,000 requests to participate in Freedom Flotilla 2

[ 05/07/2010 - 04:54 PM ]

BRUSSELS, (PIC)-- The Brussels-based European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza said that there has been a large turnout for Freedom Flotilla 2, in terms of activists requesting to participate, and in terms of the number of ships.

The campaign, which was one of the founders of the Freedom Flotilla coalition, in a press statement on Monday, boasted that the new flotilla has a few surprises in store for Israeli authorities, one of which is that seven of the ships scheduled to participate in the flotilla are from European counties.

The European campaign added that it received around nine thousand requests forms from sympathizers from around the world since opening registration to participate in the second Freedom Flotilla, which is expected to set sail into the Gaza Strip within a few weeks, despite Israel’s May 31st raid against the first Freedom Flotilla, which left nine dead, others injured, and properties confiscated and damaged.

The first Freedom Flotilla carried 750 activists from more than 40 countries, including 44 Arab and European government and political officials, including ten Algerian MPs, more than 10,000 tons of medical supplies, building materials, and timber, and 100 ready-made houses in support of the tens of thousands of people who lost their homes in the Israeli war on Gaza in late 2008 and early 2009. The ships also carried 500 electric vehicles for the use of the disabled, especially since the recent war left nearly 600 disabled in Gaza.

Meanwhile, in Gaza, independent MP Jamal al-Khudari, Chairman of the Popular Committee against the Siege, has confirmed that Israel has publically announced that it will ease the aggravated siege on Gaza, without any mention of ending the root of the crisis.

Khudari, in a press release on Monday, noted that ending the blockade would require a series of measures on the ground, the most important of which would be to completely open commercial crossings to allow the flow of goods, and to put an end to the "restricted lists" policy, underlining that Gaza is need of all the supplies it was deprived of since the institution of the blockade four years ago.

He noted that Israel was still closing all Gaza commercial crossings except the crossing point at Kerem Abu Salem, the absorptive capacity of which is small when compared to the Strip’s needs, the biggest proof that the broadcasted ease of the siege is merely an attempt to ease international pressure.

Preparations by European, Arab, and Islamic parties for new ships headed for the Gaza Strip are well underway, Khudari confirmed, adding that scheduled departures will soon be announced.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Targeting Israel's Legitimacy

By Iqbal Jassat – Pretoria

While Kader Asmal's opinion piece 'World must deny legitimacy to Israel' [South Africa's Mail & Guardian, June 25] was welcomed as a breathtakingly courageous call for action against the Zionist entity, unsurprisingly it has also elicited raging howls of complaints from the usual suspects.

However, what I do find quite intriguing is the personal attack David Saks of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies hurls at Asmal. His insulting response as an apologist for Israel is reflective of the increasing difficulty spin-doctors for the usurpers of Palestine have in countering credible and sound analysis.

Accusing Asmal of falsehood and of “standard anti-Israel polemic” and then himself indulging in emotive rhetoric without any reference to the key components of Asmal’s brilliant argument to bring an end to Palestinians’ long ordeal, is a total cop-out!

Asmal, a veteran of the struggle against apartheid and having been closely associated with legal probes into violations of international law by Israel following its invasion of Lebanon in 1980 and the Sabra and Shatila massacres of hundreds of defenceless Palestinian refugees, cannot neither be dismissed as “ignorant”, nor of having a “jaundiced approach”.

If anything, one could correctly ask Asmal why the silence for more than two decades – especially during his tenure as a senior cabinet minister during both the Mandela and Mbeki era – until now with the publication of this significant piece?

The main thrust of Asmal’s argument is that unless there are negative consequences for maintaining the status quo; Israel will not voluntarily relinquish control of the Palestinian territories, extend equal rights to Palestinian citizens of Israel, or negotiate a just resolution to all outstanding issues.

He also recognizes that Palestinians have been turned into scapegoats for Europe’s past crimes and that every tenet of freedom and equality is violated by Israel. The all-important question posed by Asmal regarding Israeli impunity that Saks chooses to ignore is: Why must the Palestinian people pay with their lives and freedom to ease the consciences of Europeans?

The stark facts pointed out by him – also avoided by the apologists – are that non-Jewish nationals have no right to return. Non-Jews are severely restricted in owning land in Israel and in the occupied territories. There is no freedom of movement for Palestinians and with the existence of more than 600 checkpoints in the West Bank; they require identity cards to travel from one village to another.

In Asmal’s assessment the matrix of controls surpasses the restrictions once imposed by South Africa’s apartheid regime and thus the need to engage in a “legitimacy war”.

It is this call that converges with current global pressure sparked by the Goldstone report and the flotilla raid to disrupt normal relations with Israel. It also echoes the demands made by an array of scholars, academics, commentators and analysts, both Jewish and non-Jewish.

Global justice movements and campaigners for Palestinian solidarity have consistently warned that unless a legitimacy war is unleashed, Israel’s cruel occupation covering all of historic Palestine will remain total and merciless.

- Iqbal Jassat is chairperson of the Media Review Network (MRN), an advocacy group based in Pretoria, South Africa. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com. Visit: www.mediareviewnet.com.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Israel’s abuse of female prisoners on the rise

[ 05/07/2010 - 03:40 PM ]

NABLUS, (PIC)-- The International Tadhamun (Solidarity) Foundation for Human Rights revealed that a special Israeli unit spontaneously raided the cells of female inmates in the Damon prison and proceeded in a barbaric inspection operation a few days ago.

Ahmed Beitawi, one of the foundation’s researchers, said that the victims were spontaneously raided by the “Droor” unit, an Israeli prisons authority unit, which specializes in inspecting female offenders, in search of drugs and contraband in their cells at exactly nine o’clock in the morning. The captives were then detained in the corners of their cells and forced to raise their hands. They remained in that position until 3:00 pm.

Beitawi said, "The inspection raid operation permeated inspection and destruction of all the prisoners’ belongings, and the procedure ended by removal of prisoners from the cells, and they were 17 captives in number, one after the other, and then they were subjected to humiliating strip searches" by female soldiers.

On her part, prisoner Amna Mona, the woman responsible for inmates in the Damon prison, denied the IPA argument that the raid operation was to search for cellular devices, clarifying that the purpose behind it was to "humiliate and terrorize prisoners and to put them in a state of emotional instability".

The human rights foundation appeals for serious efforts to stop the policy of humiliating strip searches and successive raids of prisoners’ cells.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

A Glimpse Into Jewish Collective Morbidity-introduction By Gilad Atzmon

Saturday, June 5, 2010 at 10:40AM Gilad Atzmon

As I was reading in the Guardian that nine Turkish men on board the Mavi Marmara “were shot a total of 30 times and five were killed by gunshot wounds to the head.” I came across "We Con the World', a new Israeli video production. ‘The greatest bluff’ they call the Free Gaza humanitarian mission . Considering the emerging news regarding  Israeli execution on the Mavi Marmara,  one would expect the Israelis to restrain  their so called ‘Jewish humour’  for a while.

As it happens, the collective sickening  morbidity is spilling over. It can’t be contained anymore.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOGG_osOoVg


 Our leaders better start to think seriously how to dismantle this lethal nation before it turns all of us into an ash cloud.

Gaza flotilla activists were shot in head at close range by Robert Booth

Saturday, June 5, 2010 at 12:19AM Gilad Atzmon

 

Crowds at the funeral of one of the Turkish victims of the Gaza flotilla raid, at the Beyazit mosque in Istanbul. Photograph: Vadim Ghirda/AP

Exclusive: Nine Turkish men on board Mavi Marmara were shot a total of 30 times, autopsy results reveal

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/04/gaza-flotilla-activists-autopsy-results

Israel was tonight under pressure to allow an independent inquiry into its assault on the Gaza aid flotilla after autopsy results on the bodies of those killed, obtained by the Guardian, revealed they were peppered with 9mm bullets, many fired at close range.

Nine Turkish men on board the Mavi Marmara were shot a total of 30 times and five were killed by gunshot wounds to the head, according to the vice-chairman of the Turkish council of forensic medicine, which carried out the autopsies for the Turkish ministry of justice today.

To read more:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/04/gaza-flotilla-activists-autopsy-results

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

IOF bullets wound fisherman, 3 children injured in blast of IOF ordnance

[ 05/07/2010 - 03:35 PM ]

RAFAH, (PIC)-- A Palestinian fisherman was wounded off the Gaza city beach when Israeli occupation forces (IOF) aboard gunboats fired at him while at work on Monday, medical sources told the PIC reporter.

Local sources said that IOF gunboats opened heavy machinegun fire at Gaza coast wounding Allam Bakir, whose wounds were described as moderate.

Sources in the marine police earlier told PIC reporter that IOF gunboats shelled Palestinian fishing boats off the Rafah shores, south of the Gaza Strip, with ten projectiles while at sea. No injuries or damages were reported.

IOF navy patrols routinely harass Palestinian fishermen while at work even though they work in areas fixed by the IOF.

Meanwhile, three Palestinian children were injured when IOF ordnance exploded near them in Beit Hanun, north of the Gaza Strip, on Monday.

Adham Abu Salmiya, coordinator of military and medical services, told the PIC reporter that the children were taken to a local hospital, adding that one of them was 8 years old.


River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

The Last Queen of the Night

Yasmeen El Khoudary writing from the occupied Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine, 5 July 2010

The Queen of the Night (Yasmeen El Khoudary)

The Last Queen of the Night is not the name of a mythical character, or even an ancient Oriental queen or goddess. It is not the name of a Parisian perfume or chocolate like "After 8." It is the name of a flower, one that blooms only during the night.

A family in Gaza anxiously awaits the blooming of this beautiful flower, which blooms for only a few nights every year. Sunlight bid the city farewell, and left it with the majestic presence of the Queen of the Night. In less than 15 minutes, the Queen descended from her palace to her royal steps, and began checking on her surroundings, which lay peaceful in the darkness. The family was excitingly observing every majestic move the Queen took.

It is strange to many, but normal to this city, that this flower could only be viewed at night. The family demand that the Queen honor the garden with her presence, since their days are as unlit as their nights, and they would not be able to enjoy her majestic presence either way. At night, they used their camera's flashlight to watch the flower and report her presence. As the sun rose, the Queen's throne receded.

It is a beautiful name for an equally beautiful flower. It sounds like one of those names given to famous cities around the world, like Paris's "City of Light" or Beirut's "Pear of the Middle East." These names were given for a reason. Well, from now on, I've decided that Gaza should be called "Queen of the Night" -- if for anything, for the flower that blooms.

Gaza drowns in the darkness every single day and every single night. In the day, darkness is not limited to the lack of light, means of communication, hospital operations or any of the sort. Dark, in this case, is the color of the prejudice with which the city is treated. It is the description of the siege chain-sawing the city. It is the only adjective that can be given to the dungeon that our enemies want our city to become.

Yet, the Queen of the Night never fails to find her royal path to light. The flower blooms, for she has a population to look after. So does the city. The darkness which invades the city every day and every night does not stop life from going on.

If music stops at a wedding because electricity was cut off, nothing can stop the people from singing. If TV screens shut down in the middle of yet another World Cup game, no one can stop the people from calling their friends abroad and checking the score. If a desk lamp goes off, nothing can stop an eager student from lighting a candle and resuming her or his studies about the past glory of the Arabs, the countless wonders of peace, or her or his dreams of a bright, well-lit future.

Life does stop, however, when electricity goes off at a hospital. The doctors and the family of the patient stand helpless in front of the moaning beloved. The whole city stands helpless. Even the Queen herself stands helpless, and so does the rest of the world, which never fails to assume the duties and responsibilities of the helpless no matter what time or light of the day it is. The world might exclaim, "Be joyful, ye people of Gaza, for your 'enemy' the merciful will dump countless boxes of sewing needles and tomato ketchup on you! Be grateful! But I must warn you, be discrete, or else the envious eyes of your neighbors will eat the blessings away."

Seeing as the city is in dire need of sewing needles and tomato ketchup, the world decides that the people of Gaza should finally be breathing a sigh of relief. The Israelis attribute their generous acts to their equally kind hearts. Yet, the Queen of the Night, the moaning patient, and the people, are unable to locate neither the sewing needles nor the tomato ketchup amidst the darkness.

The Queen of the Night is, at the end of the day, a plant like any other plant. Like any other plant, it has an age limit.

Will the Queen of Night die during the city's reign of dark, or will it die during the city's reign of light, if ever? Is she going to give the throne to another queen, or is she going to be the last Queen of the Night?

Yasmeen El Khoudary is a 20-year-old Palestinian, born and raised in Gaza City. While in Gaza, she graduated from the American International School (AISG) which was bombed during Israel's invasion of Gaza of winter 2008-09. She is a recent graduate of the American University in Cairo.

Jerusalemite demolishes his own home to avoid fine

[ 05/07/2010 - 09:15 AM ]

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- A Jerusalemite citizen started on Sunday to tear down his own home in the Old City of occupied Jerusalem after the Israeli occupation's municipality warned him he would have to pay for its teams if they carried out the demolition.

A statement for the research and documentary unit in the Quds center for social and economic rights said that Nayef Kastiro had built an additional room in his home to accommodate his growing family of wife and three kids.

Kastiro said that he was forced to carry out the municipality order, issued last April, due to his inability to pay for the municipality demolition teams, adding that the municipality had already fined him around 10,000 dollars.

The man told the center's researchers that he lived in a house consisting of one room and a bathroom and decided to build another room to provide more space for his family.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

WE INVENTED IT

I4P

So you can't fool us, don't even try it:

link The term ‘occupation’ conjures up painful memories in a land forced to endure centuries of English conquest.

The etymological origins of the term "boycott" are being dug back out of the bog of Irish history due to recent events in Gaza. Pro-Palestinian campaigners in Dublin delight in recounting how a certain Capt. Charles Boycott was socially ostracized for serving as estate manager for an absentee landlord during the bitter "Land War" that raged on Ireland's windswept Atlantic coast in the late 19th century.

"Today the Irish must send a message to the Israelis - we invented boycotting and we're still bloody good at it," bellowed one rabble-rouser at a recent rally in the Irish capital.

The event had been billed on every available lamppost as a public debate - "Israel: Is Boycott the Answer?" - but the few critical voices evidently found convenient excuses to duck out, leaving a cocky, young Jewish student from New York to utter the only pro-Israel sentiments.

He'll soon learn Ireland is not America LOLOL, more:

To say Irish eyes aren't smiling on Israel would be an immense understatement. A Southern Irish vessel (the MV Rachel Corrie ) was among those intercepted by the Israel Navy and its crew were instantly hailed as national heroes. Dublin's doddery and dwindling Jewish community stays shtum about what is now, alongside Sweden, probably the most pro-Palestinian state in Western Europe.

And Damn proud of it!!

The only pro-Israel demonstrations on this island have been staged by Christian Zionists, but they are to be found in sizable numbers only in British-controlled Northern Ireland. Bible-bashing Protestants up in Belfast - whose slogan is "no surrender" - stem from (mainly Scottish Presbyterian ) settlers: Steeped in Old Testament scripture, their 17th-century ancestors, the Covenanters, believed they were creating a "New Israel" and colonized Catholic land in the north of Ireland with a bloody ferocity that would make even the modern Israeli settler movement flinch.

Anti-Zionist fervor on the European Union's westernmost fringe had already been inflamed by Irish passports being forged in the recent assassination of a Hamas leader in Dubai. In response, the Irish duly copied their former imperial overlords in London by expelling an Israeli diplomat. Earlier this year, Dublin's foreign minister, Michael Martin, defiantly slipped into Gaza via the Egyptian-controlled Rafah crossing after Israel denied him entry to the enclave.

Why do the Irish get so agitated about a small sliver of land in the Middle East that most of them have never clapped eyes on? Gathering anti-Zionism across the globe is part of the explanation, but the real answer lies in the deep historical scars on this small country's collective psyche. The term "occupation" conjures up painful folk memories in a land forced to endure centuries of English conquest. The Irish instinctively side in any conflict situation with whoever they perceive to be the underdog.

Wrong-o, we side with those who are oppressed, tortured, have their land stolen are murdered by the state, who hunger for freedom and justice and equality. got it?

Gerry Adams, a northern Catholic who has led the Irish Republican movement for four decades, donned a kaffiyeh when he went to the Holy Land to make a TV documentary about Jesus earlier this year. More recently, he likened the shootings aboard the Mavi Marmara to Bloody Sunday, when members of the British parachute battalion shot dead 13 demonstrators on the streets of Derry. His comparison could not be more timely or emotive, coming on the back of an official UK inquiry which has finally, after 38 years, concluded that the British Army's actions on that day were "unjustified and unjustifiable."

Still, Israel's Foreign Ministry will be keeping a close eye on Ireland, which has always punched above its weight in Brussels.

Go on Bairbre DeBrun!!!!

It may step up its diplomatic effort in Dublin when Evrony moves on to a new posting in the autumn. Some would like to see this cautious career diplomat replaced by a more serious political appointee, although there is a severe danger that any emissary selected by the Netanyahu government could antagonize the Irish further. Whoever becomes the new ambassador here would do well to remember the words of that rabble-rouser: The Irish invented the boycott and haven't lost the knack for it.

 Posted by I4P Writers Group at 1:04 PM  

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Mishaal sends condolences over Fadlallah's death

[ 05/07/2010 - 03:03 PM ]

DAMASCUS, (PIC)-- Head of Hamas's political bureau Khaled Mishaal sent his sincere condolences over the death of the Lebanese noted religious figure Sheikh Mohamed Fadlallah, describing him as one of the most prominent Muslim scholars who supported the choice of resistance against the occupation.

In a condolence letter, Mishaal said that the late Sheikh was characterized by his distinctive knowledge, modesty and openness to others as well as his courageous positions towards the Muslim nation's issues, especially the Palestinian cause.

For its part, the Hamas Movement also expressed its deep sympathy with the Lebanese people and the family of Sheikh Fadlallah.

Hamas said in statement that the Sheikh spent his life in serving the Islamic project and calling for unity in the face of the occupation, and was one of the advocates for a rapprochement between the Muslim sects.

Sheikh Fadlallah died on Sunday in Beirut at age 75 and he was known for bridging religious divides and his opposition to the Israeli occupation and the American policy in the Middle East.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Victims United

Sunday, July 4, 2010 at 7:02AM Gilad Atzmon

Nothing gives the Israeli more libidinal pleasure than see themselves as victims while killing others. Beware, this Judeocentric clip may make you sick. It's the message, the ‘music’ and the pathos...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaGHUZ-8DWw

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Hamas: Fayyad's meeting with Barak a lifeboat for the Israeli gov't

[ 05/07/2010 - 03:08 PM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- The Hamas Movement condemned Monday Salam Fayyad's meeting with Israeli war minister Ehud Barak as a lifeboat to save the latter and his government from the political mess they got themselves into, especially following the deadly attack on the Freedom Flotilla convoy.

"This is a dangerous conspiratorial security meeting taking place in response to the American diktats and the Zionist wish, and aimed to raise the level of the security cooperation between the Palestinian Authority (in Ramallah) and the enemy to protect its security and liquidate the resistance," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said in a press statement to the Palestinian information center (PIC) on Monday.

Spokesman Barhoum added that Fayyad wanted at this particular time to meet Barak in order to confer legitimacy on Israel' Judaization and settlement activities, and its decision to exile Jerusalemite citizens.

The spokesman also stressed that this meeting brought further disgrace to the PA and confirmed that Mahmoud Abbas lied about his engagement in indirect negotiations with Israel.

For its part, the Palestinian ministry of interior in Gaza strongly denounced the PA for its persistence in meeting with Israelis after all the hideous crimes they committed against the Palestinian people.

Commenting on Fayyad's meeting with Barak on Monday, the ministry said that the PA must refrain from holding meetings with Israel while the latter is working diligently on Judaizing the Palestinian lands, annexing the Islamic holy places, expelling the Palestinians from their homes and cities, and expanding the segregation wall and settlements.

It warned that such meetings would drag the region into more tension and give Israel a cover to persist in killing the Palestinians, destroying their homes and besieging them.

The Islamic Jihad Movement also deplored Fayyad for his intended meeting with Barak and described it a security meeting par excellence and part of the agenda being pursued by him away from the Palestinian people's interests.

Islamic Jihad said in a statement on Monday that that talks about tabling the issue of Gaza siege during this meeting is a mere deception because those who killed activists aboard the ships of the Freedom Flotilla convoy would not lift their blockade.

The Movement described the meeting as only aimed at embellishing the image of Israeli killers like Barak and washing their hands of the crimes they committed against the Palestinian people and the anti-siege activists.


River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Israel to build 2,700 settlement units when alleged freeze ends next month

[ 05/07/2010 - 10:02 AM ]

NAZARETH, (PIC)-- The Israeli Haaretz newspaper reported Monday that there are plans to build 2,700 housing units in West Bank settlements as soon as the nominal settlement freeze ends next September.

The newspaper also noted that the Israeli municipal council in occupied Jerusalem will approve next week a plan to build 60 settlement units north of occupied Jerusalem.

It quoted heads of settlements as saying that they started to process legal documents necessary for the resumption of settlement expansion on September 27.

A report issued by B'Tselem, a human rights organization, said that the settlements in the West Bank have tripled since the signing of the Oslo agreement in 1993.

The report revealed that the Jewish settlements effectively control nearly 42 per cent of the West Bank while the Israeli government still encourages settlers to move to settlements, the thing which prevents the establishment of a Palestinian state.

B'Tselem said the settlements, a major stumbling block in now-stalled peace talks, have resulted in extensive Israeli human rights violations against the Palestinians.

It said Israeli treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank was reminiscent of the old apartheid regime in South Africa and called on Israel to stop granting incentives to Israelis to move to settlements, and to dismantle them.



River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Jordan is not Palestine

 By Lamis Andoni

Jordan absorbed many Palestinians during the Arab-Israeli war in 1948 [GETTY]

George Mitchell, the US special envoy to the Middle East, has recently expressed his frustration at the lack of progress in the stalled "peace process".

But it may be time for Mitchell to move aside, as Geert Wilders, the leader of the Netherlands' third-largest party, seems to have found a 'creative solution' to the conflict: Jordan should be renamed Palestine and become a homeland for the Palestinians.

Unfortunately for Wilders - and the Israeli right - this 'solution' is neither original nor acceptable and Jordanian officials have responded with a resounding condemnation of the proposal.

The 'Jordan option'

The plan to turn Jordan into a Palestinian homeland and to give Israel complete control over the historic land of Palestine is regularly rehashed by the Israeli right whenever there is international pressure, however minimal, on Israel to stop its expansionism.

Last month, around half of the 120-member Israeli knesset, submitted "a two states for two peoples on both sides of River Jordan" proposal for discussion. In practice the proposal entails an expulsion of Palestinians to Jordan so that the kingdom becomes a de facto Palestinian homeland.

The forceful revival of what has historically been referred to as the "Jordan option" comes amid growing international pressure over the building of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The Israeli right, many of whom belong to the Likud party of Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, see the Jordanian option as an adequate and practical solution to plans to establish a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.Dying 'two-state' solution
The Israeli right's fear of a Palestinian state comes at a time when many Palestinians, including officials, believe that the two-state solution is all but dead.

The rapid expansion of Israeli settlements, the erection of the separation wall, and the ongoing annulment of residency permits for Arabs in East Jerusalem, has left little room, if any, for a Palestinian state.

But many in the Israeli right are concerned by the plan of Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister, to establish a de facto state by building institutions and housing across the lands of the West Bank, including in areas where Israeli forces remain.

While many Palestinians are concerned that Fayyad's plan will only serve to transform the currently fragmented Palestinian territories into an entity that lacks contiguity and sovereignty, the Israeli right are afraid that any kind of Palestinian state, however distorted, will threaten their claim to the entire historic land of Palestine.

Buffer state

There are 10 official Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan [GETTY]

The "Jordan option" is deeply rooted in the idea that the eastern part of Jordan is part of the historic land of Palestine. Consequently many Israeli leaders, mostly but not solely from the Likud party, argue that the Palestinian population should be transferred "to that part of Palestine".

The idea, however, was given little credence before 1977, when the Likud party came to power for the first time. The Likud promoted the idea as an alternative to a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In 1982, Yitzhak Shamir, who became the Likud prime minister in 1983, wrote that, "reduced to its true proportions, the problem is clearly not the lack of a homeland for the Palestinian Arabs. That homeland is Trans-Jordan, or Eastern Palestine .... A second Palestinian state to the west of the River is a prescription for anarchy."

But the "Jordan option" contravenes the tacit understanding reached by the founders of Israel and King Abdullah I that Israel would accept the establishment of a Hashemite-run state in east Jordan.

In fact, Israel's early leaders saw the Hashemite entity as both a buffer between Israel and the rest of the Arab world, and a state that could absorb those Palestinian refugees who fled or were expelled during the Arab-Israeli war of 1948 and the Six Day war in 1967.

But it is precisely the fact that Israeli leaders intentionally turned Jordan into the absorber of the largest Palestinian refugee population that is now being used to justify transforming it into a substitute homeland for the Palestinians and forcibly sending more.Immoral and illegal
Today Jordan is home to about 1.9 million Palestinian refugees, more than 337,000 of whom live in the country's 10 official refugee camps.

The argument that the majority of Jordanians are of Palestinian origin and that Jordan is therefore already the de facto homeland of the Palestinians is hypocritical and erroneous.

There are no precise statistics but it is true that at least half of Jordan's population of about 6.2 million people are of Palestinian origin. But that is a result of Israeli expansionism and a deliberate policy of emptying Palestinian lands of Palestinians.

If Jordan was the original home of the Palestinian people, Israel would not have had to demolish around 450 Palestinian villages or to devise policies to expel the Palestinian population.

Moreover, there was already a community with its own traditions, costumes and dialect specific to the east of Jordan before the establishment of Israel.

Furthermore, the whole principle of evicting a population, erasing their villages, and bringing in settlers so as to change an area's demographics is simply immoral and illegal under international law.

Perpetual war

Refugees cross the remains of the Allenby Bridge over the River Jordan in 1967 [GETTY]

The fulfillment of the right wing dream of turning Jordan into Palestine cannot happen without a gradual or mass expulsion of Palestinians from Israel, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, along with the use of force against Jordanians.

It presents, therefore, a scenario of continuous war and conflict that cannot possibly end Israel's "Palestinian problem".

But even though this 'vision' cannot be easily fulfilled without resorting to all out war, it must be taken seriously as it offers an excuse to force yet more Palestinians from their homeland.

Over the years, two variations of the "Jordan option" have developed. The first is based on "transferring" the Palestinian population of the East Bank and even Israel "proper" to Jordan, where the Palestinian homeland is to be established. The second scenario is based on establishing a Palestinian state in Jordan, which would also include the Arab-populated areas of the West Bank.

Both options have been rejected, but the proposals have remained alive as a stick with which to threaten the Palestinians and the Jordanians and to counter perceived threats or the international community's verbal support for the establishment of a Palestinian state. In other words, Israeli leaders use the "Jordan option" whenever Israel is in time of crisis.

Dispossessing 'infiltrators'

The fact that 53 knesset members have been strongly pushing the "Jordan option" is testimony to the level of isolation Israel currently feels. But, instead of addressing the core issue of Palestinian national rights, the leaders of the Israeli right are raising the spectre of further dispossession of the Palestinian people.
What has made this proposal more threatening to both Jordan and the Palestinians is that was preceded by a new military order that allows Israel to expel those deemed not to have the 'right' Israeli paperwork as "infiltrators". As the Israeli daily Haaretz reported, according to this order residents of East Jerusalem, Palestinian citizens of other countries and even those who hold Israeli passports could be classified as "infiltrators" and expelled.

Under the guise of assuring "judicial oversight of the extradition process", Israel has effectively established a new plan for the gradual but large scale expulsion of Palestinians to Jordan, thus making the "Jordan option" all the more real.

In rationalising his controversial proposal, Wilders argued that "the West has to protect Jerusalem" and "to stop the offensive by leftists and Muslims to destroy Israel".

Spoken in the tradition of his party's anti-Muslim views, Wilders both exposed and echoed the concept underlying the "Jordan option": That, like so many other racist ideas, it cannot be implemented without resorting to force and the exclusion of "the other".

Lamis Andoni is an analyst and commentator on Middle Eastern and Palestinian affairs.


River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian