"Israel withdraws Abbas’s VIP status" Associated Press, January 16, 2012
RAMALLAH, West Bank - Israel has stripped Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas of VIP status and given him a watered-down travel permit that is valid for just two months, Palestinian officials charged yesterday.
The officials said Abbas complained about the permit at an internal meeting of his Fatah Party last week.
In a speech, Abbas said the new permit, similar to those required for Palestinian laborers entering Israel, was a reflection of Israel’s continued control over the Palestinians and suggested that Israel was trying to punish him for applying for Palestinian membership in the United Nations....
Major Guy Inbar, a spokesman for the Israeli agency that issues travel documents to Palestinians, said there has been no change in policy. He said the permit was the result of a technical glitch that should be resolved soon.
“Freedom of movement . . . remains exactly the same as it was,’’ Inbar said. “I deny all claims of changes in travel passes of Palestinian officials,’’ he said. “There is no change in position or policy regarding the travel passes of Palestinian officials.’’
The VIP permit allowed Abbas to travel whenever and wherever he wanted. Palestinian officials acknowledged the new permit has not prevented Abbas, a frequent traveler to world capitals, from moving in and out of the West Bank. Yesterday, Abbas flew to London for talks with British leaders.
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"Militant Hamas aims to join PLO" December 23, 2011|By Mohammed Daraghmeh
CAIRO - The rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas took an important step toward reconciliation yesterday, announcing plans for the Islamic militants to join the umbrella group that has overseen two decades of on-and-off peace talks with Israel.
The deal to admit Hamas into the Fatah-dominated Palestine Liberation Organization could have deep repercussions. Hamas has opposed the peace talks and rejects Israel’s right to exist.
That's a lie.
"Hamas would respect any peace deal reached between Israel and Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, provided it is approved in a global Palestinian referendum.... Hamas would abide by any PLO negotiations" "
Related: Six Zionist Companies Own 96% of the World's Media
Declassified: Massive Israeli manipulation of US media exposed
Oh, NOW the newspaper makes sense.
A strong Hamas voice in the group would further complicate the already troubled Middle East diplomatic process.
For Israel.
Israeli officials reacted with alarm to the emerging agreement.
Hamas overran Gaza in 2007, and President Mahmoud Abbas, who is also the head of Fatah, has ruled only the West Bank since then. The division has been an obstacle in peacemaking efforts with Israel, since Abbas does not speak for all Palestinians.
A full reconciliation could solve that - or it could put Hamas in charge. The Islamist group won a parliamentary election in 2006, and a short-lived government Hamas formed with Fatah was shunned by Israel and the West, freezing peace efforts....
Winning elections is overrunning the place?
Btw, Hamas foiled a COUP ATTEMPT!!!! I noticed the report left that out.
In a separate step toward reconciliation, the sides have tentatively agreed to hold separate elections next year in the West Bank and Gaza. That vote is meant to choose a single government for both territories, where Abbas hopes to establish an independent state....
Jibril Rajoub, a Fatah official and former West Bank security chief, said he was confident. “There are difficulties ahead, but the train has left the station and no one can stop it,’’ he said.
Israel objects to any Palestinian government that includes Hamas, which is committed to Israel’s destruction and has killed hundreds of Israelis in attacks.
Then why did Israel help create it?
Hamas, Son of Israel
Israel's Dirty Secret
They don't want peace with Palestinians.
Hamas has sent some signals that it might be willing to reach some sort of accommodation with Israel. The group has largely adhered to a cease-fire with Israel since a brief war three years ago, and Mashaal has said he would not stand in the way if Abbas decides to resume negotiations. It also has indicated willingness to accept a state in the West Bank and Gaza as a step toward replacing Israel with an Islamic entity.
So much for opposing peace talks and not recognizing.... SIGH!
An Israeli government spokesman, Mark Regev, rejected suggestions that Hamas is becoming more moderate. He noted that the group reiterated its calls for Israel’s destruction at its anniversary celebrations this month.
“This is a movement that is terrorist to the core. When Abu Mazen walks toward Hamas, he’s walking away from peace,’’ Regev said, using Abbas’s nickname.
Created by Israel to undermine the PLO before they flew out of control. How ironic, huh?
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"Hamas political leader to step down amid turmoil in region" by Fares Akram | New York Times, January 22, 2012
GAZA - Hamas has been buoyed by the recent rise of Islamic parties in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East after the Arab Spring revolts last year. But the group’s leaders in Damascus have found themselves in an increasingly uncomfortable position since the outbreak of the Syrian uprising.
Hamas has been unwilling to express support for the beleaguered Syrian government of President Bashar Assad, despite pressure from its Iranian backers to do so, and relatives of many of Hamas’s leaders are reported to have already left Damascus for reasons of personal safety.
An analyst close to Hamas, speaking on the condition of anonymity, suggested that Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal, who has Jordanian residency documents, might want to quit so that he could return to Jordan because the situation in Damascus had become unbearable. Jordan has said that Hamas leaders who hold Jordanian papers can return to its territory as long as they refrain from conducting any political activities there.
Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, and the European Union and is sworn to Israel’s destruction. Meshal told the New York Times in May 2009 that Hamas should be judged on its current deeds and policies and that it was “not logical for the international community to get stuck on sentences written 20 years ago’’ in its charter.
Hamas won parliamentary elections in the Palestinian territories in 2006, and a year later seized control of Gaza, the Palestinian coastal enclave, after a brief factional war with its rival party, Fatah, which dominates the Palestinian Authority.
Related: "Hamas took over the Gaza Strip violently in 2007"
How many times have they omitted winning elections? I've lost count.
Hamas routed Fatah forces from Gaza, confining the Palestinian Authority and its president and Fatah’s chief, Mahmoud Abbas, to the West Bank and deepening the internal Palestinian schism. Last May, Meshal and Abbas signed a reconciliation agreement brokered by Egypt that calls for genuine power-sharing. So far the agreement has not been acted upon, for the most part, though talks are under way to put it into effect.
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"Abbas moves toward Palestinian unity with Hamas" February 07, 2012|By Ibrahim Barzak
RAMALLAH, West Bank - After months of wavering, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas took a decisive step yesterday toward reconciliation with the Islamic militant group Hamas, a move Israel promptly warned would close the door to any peace talks.
Gives Israel an excuse to continue doing what they are doing, but let's face it: without reconciliation, Abbas was finished anyway.
In a deal brokered by Qatar, Abbas will head an interim unity government to prepare for general elections in the Palestinian territories in the coming months. The agreement appeared to bring reconciliation - key to any statehood ambitions - within reach for the first time since the two sides set up rival Palestinian governments in the West Bank and Gaza in 2007.
Yesterday’s deal, signed in the Qatari capital of Doha by Abbas and Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal, put an end to recent efforts by the international community to revive long-stalled negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians on the terms of Palestinian statehood.
Abbas appears to have concluded that he has a better chance of repairing relations with Hamas, shunned by the West as a terror group, than reaching an agreement with Israel’s hardline prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu quickly condemned the Doha deal. “It’s either peace with Hamas or peace with Israel. You can’t have them both,’’ he said in a warning to Abbas, who has had wide international support.
That is SO SITH-LIKE, isn't it?
In moving closer to Hamas, Abbas risks losing some of that backing and hundreds of millions of dollars a year in aid.
Qatar, awash with cash from vast oil and gas reserves, assured the Palestinians that it would help limit any political and financial damages, according to Palestinian officials close to the talks....
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, “Any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence. It must recognize the state of Israel. And it must accept the previous agreements and obligations between the parties, including the road map.’’
Amazing how others must commit to nonviolence while USrael uses it as a central plank in its foreign policy, 'eh? How do you say hypocrisy in Arabic?
So when is Israel going to abide by the already out-of-date road map due to expanded Israeli settlements?
Abbas and Hamas have had bitter ideological differences, with Abbas pursuing a deal with Israel and the violently anti-Israel Hamas dismissing such talks as a waste of time.
Really, the ax-grinding agenda-pushing is getting to be a bit much.
The rift deepened with Hamas’s 2007 takeover of Gaza, which left Abbas with only the West Bank.
Well, they won elections, but.... sigh.
However, some of those differences seem to have narrowed in recent months.
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"Palestinian-Israeli talks end without progress, Abbas says" by Karin Laub | Associated Press, January 26, 2012
What a shock.
RAMALLAH, West Bank - A low-level dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians about a future border has ended without any breakthrough, the Palestinian president said yesterday, reflecting the impasse plaguing the negotiations for at least three years.
President Mahmoud Abbas said he would consult with Arab allies next week to figure out how to proceed now. While frustrated with the lack of progress, Abbas is under pressure to extend the Jordanian-mediated exploratory talks, which the international community hopes will lead to a resumption of long-stalled formal negotiations on establishing a Palestinian state.
Israel said yesterday that it is willing to continue the dialogue. Abbas did not close the door to continued meetings, saying he will decide after consultations with the Arab League on Feb. 4.
A Palestinian walkout could cost Abbas international sympathy at a time when he seeks global recognition of a state of Palestine in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, the territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.
Why? Everyone conscious and with a functioning brain knows Israel is the belligerent in this matter. It's all about PIECE with them!
The gaps between the leaders are vast, and Abbas believes there is no point in returning to formal negotiations without assurances, such as marking the pre-1967 war lines as a basis for border talks and halting Israeli settlement building on occupied lands. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, says everything should be discussed in negotiations and insists he is serious about reaching a deal by year’s end.
Though there have been talks off and on, the last substantive round was in late 2008, when Israel informally proposed a deal and the Palestinians did not respond. When Netanyahu took office the next year, he took the proposal, including a state in most of the territories the Palestinians claim, off the table.
A round that was started in 2010 by President Obama quickly sputtered over settlements.
Visiting EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is scheduled to meet separately over the next two days with Abbas and Netanyahu to try to salvage the exploratory talks. Two officials involved in the contacts said she is trying to put together a package of Israeli incentives that would keep the Palestinians from walking away.
The Palestinians have accused Netanyahu of having no real intention to reach an agreement.
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"Palestinian officials say Israelis want barrier to define new border" January 28, 2012|By Dan Perry and Mohammed Daraghmeh
RAMALLAH, West Bank - Israel is proposing to essentially turn its West Bank separation barrier into the border with a future state of Palestine, two Palestinian officials said yesterday, based on their interpretation of principles Israel presented in talks this week.
Yeah, we all pretty much knew that is what was happening.
The officials said Israeli envoy Yitzak Molcho told his Palestinian counterpart that Israel wants to keep East Jerusalem and consolidate Jewish settlements behind the separation barrier, which slices off close to 10 percent the West Bank. They spoke on condition of anonymity, citing strict no-leaks rules by Jordanian mediators.
The proposal would fall short of what the Palestinians seem likely to accept, especially because it would leave Jerusalem on the Israeli side of the border.
But it would also mark a significant step for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, who has spent most of his career as a staunch opponent of Palestinian independence.
And if talks advance in such a direction, it could also spell the end for his nationalist coalition, as key members would consider the abandonment of most of the West Bank - a strategic highland and biblical heartland - an unforgivable betrayal.
Israel has confirmed that it presented principles this week for drawing a border with a Palestinian state. But the politically charged nature of the talks - though they were held at a relatively low level, below that of Cabinet ministers - was reflected in the guarded refusal by any top official to discuss details.
An Israeli government official said that as far as he knew, the information was incorrect but declined to elaborate or go on the record, citing Jordan’s demand for discretion.
Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor, one of the closest Cabinet ministers to Netanyahu, said that he has been supporting such an offer for months and that Israel should concentrate on preserving the large West Bank settlement blocs....
But no preconditions.
Israel started building the barrier in 2002, in the midst of a Palestinian uprising that included scores of deadly attacks by Palestinian militants who crossed from the West Bank into Israel and blew themselves up among civilians.
Israelis have generally credited the barrier - along with other punitive measures - with stopping the spate of incursions several years ago.
However, it was routed in a way that raised questions about Israel’s claim that it was a temporary security measure - weaving through the West Bank, looping wide around some settlements to leave room for expansion, and looking very much like a border a future Israeli government might want.
Palestinians condemned it from the start as a land grab.
Palestinian officials also said that Molcho portrayed the Jordan Valley, which makes up about one-fourth of the West Bank and borders Jordan, as a strategic Israeli security asset....
Netanyahu has said he wants a continued Israeli presence on the eastern border of a future Palestinian state as part of any peace deal.
But no preconditions.
Netanyahu has long said that Israel needs the area as a security buffer - protection against possible attack from the east.
That's what the Nazis said about Poland.
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And now a shot to Abbas' balls:
"Netanyahu retains Likud leadership; OK’d West Bank housing subsidies earlier in day" by Josef Federman | Associated Press, February 01, 2012
JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel won the leadership race of his Likud Party over his ultranationalist rival yesterday, hours after his government approved new incentives to entice people to move to West Bank settlements.
While Netanyahu was expected to win the leadership race decisively, a relatively strong showing by his ultranationalist rival, Moshe Feiglin, suggested that many Likud voters consider the prime minister too soft on peacemaking with the Palestinians....
The new housing subsidies offered to West Bank settlers appeared to be aimed at appeasing those hard-liners.
The Israeli move threatened international efforts to revive Mideast peace talks, just as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was visiting the region, and drew angry condemnations from the Palestinians, who accused Netanyahu of undermining prospects for a Palestinian state.
“They are adding obstacles at a time when everyone is intensifying efforts to try to resume peace talks,’’ said a Palestinian government spokesman.
Makes you think they don't really want peace, huh?
A round of low-level peace talks ground to a halt last week, in large part because of continued Palestinian objections to Israeli settlement construction....
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"UN leader urges Israel to halt settlements; Ban says issue key to resuming peace process" by Isabel Kershner | new york times, February 02, 2012
JERUSALEM - The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, urged Israel yesterday to refrain from further settlement construction and to offer goodwill gestures to the Palestinians during a visit aimed at revitalizing the peace process.
Ban said he hoped the exploratory talks between Israeli and Palestinian officials that took place last month in Jordan, the first direct contacts in more than a year, could be sustained.
“Israel’s cooperation in creating a positive dynamic is vital,’’ Ban told reporters after meeting with Israel’s president, Shimon Peres.
The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said last week that the discussions had ended in failure, but he left open the possibility of resuming contacts under certain conditions and after consultations with Arab League representatives later this week. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel told his cabinet Sunday that the signs of possible resumption were “not particularly good.’’
Ban arrived in Israel the day after Netanyahu won three-quarters of the vote in a primary race in his Likud Party, adding to his domestic strength.
“This is the moment to display further leadership to ensure that negotiations continue,’’ Ban told Netanyahu at a joint news conference.
Netanyahu thanked Ban for his “good intentions,’’ but said the settlement question should be dealt with as part of a final agreement. “It cannot be a precondition to enter into that agreement,’’ he said.
Netanyahu also spoke with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday and told her that Israel was interested in continuing talks with the Palestinians while preserving Israel’s security interests, according to a statement from his office.
Israel has been calling for direct negotiations without preconditions. The Palestinians have demanded a freeze in Israeli settlement construction and an Israeli acceptance of the pre-1967 lines as the basis for negotiations on the borders of a Palestinian state.
The five meetings in January ended on an acrimonious note after the Palestinian envoy refused to allow an Israeli military official to outline Israel’s security requirements and the Israeli envoy offered a vague, verbal formula on territorial issues that would have existing settlement blocs becoming part of Israel, a stance the Palestinians rejected as unacceptable.
The Palestinians say they have already presented detailed, written proposals on borders and security to the so-called quartet of Middle East peacemakers consisting of the United States, the European Union, the United Nations, and Russia. Ban said he hoped that Israel would yet submit its own “concrete proposals on territory and security.’’
Ban came to Jerusalem from Jordan, where he met King Abdullah II and other officials. After meeting with Israeli leaders he headed for the West Bank where he toured Rawabi, an ambitious city under construction that is the Palestinians’ first planned municipality. Later he met with Abbas and other officials in Ramallah.
Abbas told reporters after his meeting with Ban that the Palestinians rejected any further Israeli settlement construction and “would not accept it today or tomorrow.’’
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Related:
"Netanyahu denied caving in to international pressure by removing the settlements from the list.... although the settlements still appear on the list."
Can you see why I'm sick of the s***?
Also see: West Bank settlement housing gets initial approval
Israel legalizes settler enclave
Is that ever an up-your-ass, in-your-face piece of chutzpah as Bibi comes on over to attend the AIPAC conference and give Obama his marching orders?
"Israeli troops raid two West Bank TV stations" New York Times, March 01, 2012
JERUSALEM - Israeli troops raided two Palestinian television stations in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, confiscating transmitters, hard drives, and documents and eliciting condemnation from the Palestinian Authority.
The Israeli communications ministry said it had repeatedly warned both stations they were using frequencies that violated Israeli-Palestinian agreements and that interfered with communications in Israel. An Israeli military spokesman said interference was affecting communication at Ben-Gurion Airport.
The Palestinian Authority said it had received no warnings and that the stations were guilty of no violations.
An Israeli military spokesman, asked why documents and hard drives were confiscated, said soldiers noticed suspicious documents.
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"Also Wednesday, Israeli authorities issued demolition orders against foreign-funded solar panels and wind turbines that have provided small Palestinian herding communities with electricity, according to one of the donors, the German-based group medico international.
Is there NO LEVEL of INHUMAN OUTRAGE that ISRAEL will not stoop?
WHAT ASSHOLES!!!!!
Israeli volunteers, using funds from the German government and other foreign donors, have installed the panels and turbines in 16 herders’ hamlets in recent years because Israel refuses to link them to the electricity grid, arguing that the herders have no legal claims to the land. The hamlets are in the southern West Bank and are part of the 62 percent of the West Bank territory that mains under sole Israeli control.
Palestinians and Israeli rights group allege that Israel systematically suppresses Palestinian development in that part of West Bank, known as in Area C, while encouraging the growth of Israeli settlements, deemed illegal by most of the international community.
Last month, Israel issued stop-work orders in six of the 16 herders’ communities, saying the panels and turbines were installed without permits. Such orders often precede demolition orders.
On Wednesday, Tsafrir Cohen of medico international said demolition orders have since been issued for four of the communities, clearing the way for demolition any time after March 5.
He said the orders target projects supported by the German and New Zealand governments, as well as medico international and a Swiss aid group.
Israeli officials had no immediate comment.
The German government has expressed concern about Israel’s targeting of the installations and has asked for clarifications. Israel says it is willing to cooperate with foreign donors, but that they have to seek permits for their projects.
I say it is TIME TO STOP SENDING THEM the EXTORTION and AID CHECKS!
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"West Bank crash kills five children" Associated Press, February 17, 2012
JERUSALEM - A truck lost control in slick, rainy weather and barreled into a Palestinian school bus yesterday, killing five children and a teacher and drawing hundreds of people to a West Bank hospital in an outpouring of grief, police said.
The bus left the city of Ramallah on a school excursion but returned due to heavy rains and stormy weather, according to Palestinian police spokesman Yousif Osrael. On the way back, a truck careened into the school bus, causing it to flip and catch fire, Osrael said. The children killed were ages 4 to 6.
The accident was in the central West Bank, in an area where Israel has full control. Both Israeli and Palestinian rescuers arrived at the scene and evacuated at least 30 injured passengers to hospitals in Ramallah and Jerusalem, according to Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.
Wintry weather near the equator in this age of global fart mist?
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"Palestinians to give Israel ground rules
JERICHO, West Bank - Palestinian officials said yesterday that they plan to give a deadline to Israel to accept ground rules for negotiations, and suggested that a “no’’ will allow them to shelve Middle East talks until it does. The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, is to spell out the requirements in a letter to Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the Palestinian foreign minister, Riad Malki (AP)."
Also see: Harvard conference draws fire
Jewish charity in Boston decries ad attacking funding
A united, democratic nation with equal rights for all
Noble-sounding bid for one nation would destroy Jewish state
Sorry I missed the conference and debate, dear readers.
There is even less green now.
Related: Memory Hole: Future Vision of Israel
