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Dec. 22, 2013
Daily summary - Sunday, December 22, 2013
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Main News
Sources talk about a “decision time” in negotiations approaching… And Kerry is preparing for a "political storm"
America booked 50 hotel rooms in Jerusalem and demanded Israel to evacuate settlements in the Jordan Valley.
Israeli diplomats in Europe are preparing for a "political tsunami".
According to Yediot Ahronot, the State Department booked 50 rooms in a luxury hotel in Jerusalem starting from mid-January next year, noting that this is because of what it called as “decision time” approaching, and preparing to announce a framework agreement on settlement between Israelis and Palestinians.The newspaper said "a large number of the negotiations team, nearly 130 people surrounding Secretary of State John Kerry, will leave Washington to stay in Jerusalem on the road leading to the Israeli Prime Minister's Office."According to the newspaper, "the snowstorm that hit Israel and the Palestinian territories would be like a child's game compared with the international political storm Kerry is currently preparing and that if Israel is ready for this diplomatic storm as it was ready for the snowstorm, that means weeks of sweating waiting for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.” (Al-Hayat Al-Jadida)
The President reiterated his rejection of transitional solutions
Member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization Saeb Erekat said that President Mahmoud Abbas briefed Arab Foreign Ministers on the latest developments in the peace process, "especially with regard to the continuation of the Israeli Government in killing our people in cold blood and the continuation of settlements, the demolition of houses and practices that constitute major obstacles to the peace process."Erekat said in a statement to “Wafa” that the President stressed while speaking on upholding international legality, that the released prisoners has nothing to do with the negotiations and settlement.Erekat also said that the President stressed his opposition rejecting any selective and transitional solutions, and that he solution must be a comprehensive of all final status issues within the nine-month period that cannot be extended and expire on April 29.(Al-Ayyam)
Dozens were injured during occupation repression of weekly marches
Dozens of citizens were injured on Friday during the occupation suppression of weekly rallies and marches condemning land confiscation, settlements and the wall.Eight civilians and other international solidarity activists were injured during the occupation repression of the marches inBil’in village, West of Ramallah, against settlements and the separation wall. The people's Committee to resist the wall and settlement in Bil'in said: “Israeli soldiers fired rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas and sound bombs towards the marchers when reaching lands close to the apartheid wall, and chased demonstrators in olive fields.” (Al-Ayyam)
A-Sharq Al-Awsat: Abbas presented American ideas to rescue the negotiations
"A-Sharq Al-Awsat" newspaper saidtoday that President Mahmoud Abbas presentedUS ideas at the Arab emergency ministerial meeting held yesterday afternoon at the headquarters of the Arab League in Cairo. The newspaper quoted sources described well-informed in the Arab League as saying: "these ideas are of trying to save the negotiation and the path to peace, including efforts to conclude a framework agreement between Israel and the Palestinians by the end of the month, during the visit of Secretary of State John Kerry to the Palestinian territories and Israel."The paper added that another emergency Arab ministerial meeting will be held after Secretary of State John Kerry's visit to the region to discuss the framework agreement, as the US plan submitted to the Palestinian and Israeli sides to salvage the negotiations. (http://safa.ps/details/news/118680/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%B1%D9%82-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%88%D8%B3%D8%B7%D8%B9%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%B3-%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%B6-%D8%A3%D9%81%D9%83%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%8B-%D8%A3%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%84%D8%A5%D9%86%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%B0-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%81%D8%A7%D9%88%D8%B6%D8%A7%D8%AA.html)
The President will ask the Arab Ministers today to reaffirm their support for the Palestinian position in negotiations
President Mahmoud Abbas received yesterday, Secretary for the Arab League, Nebil Elaraby, at his residence in Cairo. During the meeting the twodiscussed topics for today’s emergency meeting in the irregular session of the Arab League Council at the level of Arab Foreign Ministers. The President also received yesterday evening, Egyptian intelligence Chief Minister Mohamed Tohami, and Major General Tariq Salam, with a number of his aides.(Al-Ayyam) – (Saturday)
Sources close to Netanyahu hold Livni responsible for coalition crises
Sources close to Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, accused Justice Minister Tzipi Livni as being responsible for the recent coalition crisis, which broke out between “Yish Atid” and "the Jewish Home" parties, on the background a law granting tax benefit points for homosexuals, through legislation, is was as Livni being Chair of the Committee of Ministers for legislations, which quickly viewed and voted for these laws, preparing for its submission to the Knesset rather than deferring them until a settlement is reached between the various parties in the coalition.Sources close to Netanyahu told Maariv: "there is rage in the Netanyahu Cabinet because of the way Livni manages legislation, particularly since these who issues the law proposals themselves did not expect them to be agreed on that fast, and their goal was to generate debates between the different parties."(Al-Hayat Al-Jadida)– (Saturday)
American Jewish Writer: Israel exercises ethnic cleansing against Palestinians
Jewish American writer Max Blumenthal described Israelas a racist State that exercises oppression, ethnic cleansing and killings against Palestinians, who are suffering from Israel's brutal repression machine, and that this Israeli approach is difficult to repair.Blumenthal said, speaking at a "Press Club" last week about his book, "Goliath: life and Loathing in Israel" in front of a large audience, mostly Americans, Jews, that he did not find in Israel one politician pushing toward the just peace that Palestinians deserve, based on equality between the Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel.(http://www.qudsn.ps/article/35181)
A martyr and 4 injured in Gaza
Young Palestinian dies yesterday and 4 were injured of occupation shooting in separate incidents on the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel. Medical sources said that young Palestinian, in his twenties, Odeh Hamad, in his twenties, was killed by the Israeli occupation forces, positioned in military towers on the border town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, adding that his body was transferred by ambulance to Kamal Odwan hospital in Beit Lahia.(Al-Hayat Al-Jadida) – (Saturday)
Hamas leader: no national partner to complete the reconciliation
Hamas leader Yehia Musa, objected on his Facebook account yesterday, calls by hisleadership in Hamas for President Mahmoud Abbas to complete Palestinian. Musa who is a Deputy of Hamas in the Legislative Council, said: "I felt angry for brother Abu Al-Walid (Khalid Mashaal, head of the political Bureau of Hamas) calling Mahmoud Abbas while the latest continue with the negotiationsdespite tightening on our people in." Musa added: "Hamas must understand that there is no partner in the reconciliation and Fateh should correct its situation and appoint a national partner before Abbas executesthe people and the cause."(Al-Ayyam) – (Saturday)
Israeli Center: the basis for any peace agreement is a Palestinian recognition of a Jewish State
An Israeli research center said that the basis of any peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians is a recognition of the Palestinian people in the Jewish State, the Center said that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas considers that recognition of Israel as a Jewish State as ared line, stressing the need for recognition by the Palestinians of what the center called "the right of the Jewish people" in the old homeland, claiming Israel's recognition of Palestinian rights for 35 years.This came in a report prepared by the "Begin-Sadat" Center for political and strategic studies recently, saying that "the Palestinian Authority President rejected US Secretary of State John Kerry proposals for peace with the Israelis, citing a leaked letter sent by Abu Mazen to Kerry, confirming the Palestinians' refusal to recognize the Jewish State.” (http://qudsnet.com/news/View/260645/%D9%85%D8%B1%D9%83%D8%B2-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A-%D8%A3%D8%B3%D8%A7%D8%B3-%D8%A3%D9%89-%D8%A7%D8%AA%D9%81%D8%A7%D9%82-%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%AA%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%81-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%89-%D8%A8%D9%8A%D9%87%D9%88%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%84%D8%A9/)
Arabs: Israel practices threaten to collapse the negotiations; refusal for the presence of any Israeli soldier in the Palestinian State
The Arab League Council meeting in extraordinary session at ministerial level, which concluded Saturday evening, held Israel responsible for the negotiations failure and demanded to stop settlement activities. The meeting also decided to agree to President Abbas’ request to approach the United Nations General Assembly to demand an investigation into the circumstances of the death of late leader Yasser Arafat. The council reaffirmed its position in establishing as independent Palestinian state on all Palestinian national soil occupied in 1967, with east Jerusalem as its capital, according to the Arab Peace initiative adopted in Beirut Summit in 2002. (Al-Ayyam)
A child from Anata’sBedouins was run over by a settler near Issawiya
Child Musa swelim (13 years) of the Bedouin village of Anata, northeast of Jerusalem, was killed Monday evening, after being run over by a settler at Issawiya.The martyr uncle, Khalil swelim said that the child was transferred to Hadasa Ein Karim hospital after being run over by settler in the Issawiya junction, and was then announced dead at the hospital. (Al-Hayat Al-Jadida)
Young Palestinians save Ahmed Qurei from the occupation army grip
Eyewitness told Al-Quds that a group of young men managed to rid the car of a member of the PLO Executive Committee, Ahmed Qurei, from Israeli authorities which tried to move it inside Ma'ale Adomim settlement. The eyewitnesses added "Qurei guards lashed with hands with soldiers when they started pulling the car while Qurei was inside, after refusing to come down."Israeli authorities detained the vehicle on the eastern entrance to the town Ezareyeh, whilereturning from Khan Al-Ahmar area east of Jerusalem.(http://www.alquds.com/news/article/view/id/479192)
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Headlines
** Esmat Abdul Hamid, former Secretary of the Arab League died (Al-Hayat Al-Jadida)
** President meets with Egyptian President (Al-Hayat Al-Jadida)
** Rafah: military deployment on the border (Al-Ayyam)
** Bethlehem: occupation raids Rachel’s Tomb and Aida refugee camp (Al-Ayyam)
** Iraq: 25 killed, most of them soldiers and policemen (Al-Ayyam)
** Lebanon: Israel unilateraldemarcation of maritime borders would undermine stability in the region (Al-Ayyam)
** More calls for Jews to storm Al-Aqsa (Al-Quds)
** Israeli military: security operations must continue even if a an agreement is signed (Al-Quds)
** Fahmi: negotiations should lead to establishing a Palestinian State (Al-Quds)
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Front Page Photos
Al- Quds:Cairo – Arab League meeting
Al-Ayyam:1) Cairo – Nabil Elaraby with President Abbas during the Arab League meeting yesterday, 2)Gaza – during funeral of martyr Odeh Hamad, 3) Esmat Abdul Hamid, 3) Ankara – women protesting against the government corruption.
Al Hayat Al Jadida:1) President Abbas during his meeting with Egyptian president, 2)citizens in Odeh Hamad funeral in Beit Hanoun.
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Voice of Palestine Interviews
** Qadourah Fares, President of the prisoners’’ club.
Q: Seems like the occupation continues with its violations against prisoners, especially against women and children, now we heard about the blankets issue and its being used to blackmail prisoners by imposing buying them from the prison canteen, how do you follow up on the issue?
First of all the Prison administration act like a gang, and instead of providing blankets and suitable environment to prisoners during the storm, they make prisoners buy blankets, knowing that we already had an agreement from the military and civil administration to enter blankets, but the prison administration refused. As if this administration is from a different place, and what is agreed on the military is not agreed on them. I would also mention that the blankets they provided for prisoners to buy were in very bad condition and does not worth the price they asked for. We will issue a complaint against the prison administration in this regard, especially with regards to women and children prisoners who were treated this way during the storm.
Q: did you already issue a complaint?
No we did not issue it until now, we want to collect all information in prisons, so we include it in the complaint with testimonies from prisoners, I think that we will be able to collect all information in two weeks and issue the complaint.
Q: with regards to the situation of sick prisoners?
Not providing treatment in time, and not holding medical checks, their transfer from place to another, all of these are not being implemented in the right way. These are not innocent acts by the prison administration, they can deal with these situations in a much better way, but they don’t.
Q: only 7 days are left for the third batch of released prisoners, do you have any information about the names, or were you part of the decision?
You ask knowing the answer, Israel refuses to involve us in the decision, as happened in the first and second batches, we will know only 48 hours before the release.
** Dr. Reyad Al-Malki, Minister for Foreign Affairs, on the President visit to Cairo.
Q: news on the Arab League holding Israel responsible for the failure in negotiations, but on the other hand we hear that there is an opportunity to reach a framework agreement by the end of the nine month period?
As you know the president updates Arab leaders as usual with the latest developments with regards to the negotiations, to be sure that Arab leaders will not receive information only from the American side or through the media. And in order to receive the needed Arab support for the Palestinian position. That’s why this meeting was very important. The President updated everyone who attended the meeting with the latest developments. Ministers talked about not reaching any progress in the negotiations, and how Israel hinders the negotiations process with killing Palestinians in cold blood, settlement, house demolitions, the continuous attacks on Al-Aqsa and tightening the siege on the Gaza Strip. All of these are known to the Arab states, and they held Israel responsible for the negotiations failure until now. A demand was also issued to the American administration to be responsible and make the Israeli government stop these acts, to allow negotiations to reach an agreement that will include all final status issues. Libyan Foreign Minister was assigned to issue a written letter to Minister Kerry affirming the Arab position on solving the conflict.
Q: with regards to Kerry’s plan on reaching a framework agreement, were Arab ministers updated on this issue?
First of all, I have to stress here that Mr. Kerry did not issue any official plan to the Palestinian side or any other side, these are only attempts to check the positions regarding some ideas. We moved fast and the President sent a letter to President Obama defining what we can agree to and what we cannot agree to. Until now the American administration did not issue any official paper defining the American position. No real official proposal until now regarding the agreement. So we can say that we agree or not to the American proposal that we did not receive yet, there are some talks that Mr. Kerry might issue such a proposal by the beginning of the year.
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More Headlines
Abu Yusuf: Kerry’s agreement produces a perverted state
Member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization Wasel Abu Yousef, said that "Kerry’s agreement produces a Palestinian State that perverted, incomplete with noncontiguous sovereignty ".Abu Yusuf told the Jordanian daily “Al-Ghad”: "Kerry poses a security agreement and a political recognition of the Jewish State, and the survival of the occupation in the West Bank for 10 years, subjected to prolongation and retaining major settlement blocks". Abu Yusuf stressed that the agreement on an interim stage prepares according to Kerry’s plan for negotiations on remaining final status issues.” (http://safa.ps/details/news/118685/%D8%A3%D8%A8%D9%88-%D9%8A%D9%88%D8%B3%D9%81-%D8%A7%D8%AA%D9%81%D8%A7%D9%82-%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%B1%D9%8A-%D9%8A%D9%86%D8%AA%D8%AC-%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%84%D8%A9-%D9%85%D9%85%D8%B3%D9%88%D8%AE%D8%A9.html)
Kerry returns to the region in his tenth visit to salvage negotiations and follow up on security plans
US Secretary of State, John Kerry is supposed to return to the region, to meet with Palestinian and Israeli officials to discuss files of the negotiations remain stalled. Kerry will arrive in the region within the next few days, to meet with the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to discuss the latest Israeli responses about security proposals in the last visit, and then hold talks with President Mahmoud Abbas of to pass the Israeli response and discuss it . (http://qudsnet.com/news/View/260660/%D9%83%D9%8A%D8%B1%D9%8A-%D9%8A%D8%B9%D9%88%D8%AF-%D9%84%D9%84%D9%85%D9%86%D8%B7%D9%82%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B2%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%B4%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D9%84%D8%A5%D9%86%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%B0-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%81%D8%A7%D9%88%D8%B6%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%88%D9%85%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%B9%D8%A9-%D8%AE%D8%B7%D8%B7%D9%87-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%85%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9/)
Israeli forces arrests seven Palestinians in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem
Israeli forces arrested seven Palestinians in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem. In Hebron, local sources reported that occupation army forces raided the House of Mohammad Nairoukh and searched his house, the army also arrested Mus’ab al-' Talahmeh, and was taken to an unknown place. Occupation forces also arrested student at the Polytechnic University Hammam Gawa’adah after raiding his home in the village of Al-Majd Southwest of Dura. In occupied Jerusalem, occupation security forces arrested, at dawn Sunday, Abdullah Al-Fakhouri and Sam Seder from Bab Hutta in the old city of Jerusalem. (http://www.qudsn.ps/article/35191)
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Arab Press
Palestinians thirst for water treatment plant
By Eric Reidy
Polluted water and lack of treatment plants have hurt the environment as well as human health in the West Bank.
Salfit Governorate, Occupied West Bank - Khaled Sabra stands next to a broken cement wall across from his house in the Palestinian village of Bruqin. Last winter, the rains caused the stream running below the wall to rise until it overflowed, flooding Sabra's house and other homes in the center of the village.
The water also carried sewage and industrial effluent from the Palestinian village of Salfit and the Israeli settlements of Ariel, Ariel West and Barkan.
Community members had to break the wall so the polluted water could recede from their homes and the street. The effects of the pollution, however, remained even as the contaminated water flowed away.
All of Sabra's seven children and his wife have allergies, respiratory difficulties and skin diseases, he says as he rolls up the sleeve of his young daughter's dress to show the scabbing from a rash. The doctor keeps prescribing medications and treatments, but they are unaffordable and, Sabra says, not a solution for the source of the ailments: the polluted water.
Many of Bruqin's 4,200 residents, as well as those of nearby villages, are experiencing similar health issues due to the polluted water, according to the village's mayor, Nafez Barakat. In response to a petition from the Bruqin municipality, the Palestinian Authority recently approved plans to build a two-kilometer-long pipe to move the wastewater running through the village center.
But Jamal Al-Deek, the mayor of the downstream village of Kafr Al-Deek, is not satisfied with this plan. "If you want to cover two or three kilometers, it's not a solution. You make a problem for another village," he says. "We need a complete solution. Make a treatment plant."
A treatment plant could serve all seven Palestinian villages in the area. It would protect residents and the surrounding agricultural areas from the pollution and provide water for agriculture.
The treatment plant that never was
Plans to build a treatment plant have been in the works since 1994, according to Adel Yasin, director of the wastewater department at the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA). The plant was supposed to be the first constructed in the West Bank under Palestinian control.
A water treatment plan could protect agricultural areas from the effects of pollution [Eric Reidy/Al Jazeera]
The project received approval from Israeli authorities in the mid-1990s, and construction began in 1998 with funding and support from the German development bank KfW.
But two months later Israeli soldiers came and ordered work to stop, recalls Saleh Afaneh, head of the technical department in the Salfit municipality. The Israeli military cited security reasons for stopping the construction but did not provide any further explanation, Yasin adds.
In 2002, Israel gave approval for the treatment plant to be built in a second location, but plans were put on hold when it was found that treated water from the plant would mix with polluted water from Ariel just 20 meters downstream.
Through the Joint Water Committee (JWC), a Palestinian/Israeli body managing water-related issues in the West Bank, the Israelis proposed connecting Ariel to the Salfit plant. The Palestinians rejected this option because they saw it as granting implicit recognition to the settlement, according to Yasin.
The second option was to build a pipeline to bring Ariel's sewage across the Green Line for treatment in Israel. The Palestinians approved this project in 2008. Five years later, Israel has yet to begin construction on the pipeline - so the project to build a wastewater treatment plant for Salfit remains on hold.
Not just Salfit
Starting in 1996, the PA named the construction of wastewater treatment facilities as one of its top development priorities, according to a 2009 report by the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem. Today, only two plants have been built, although projects for at least three more are in various stages of implementation.
Politicking and deadlock in the JWC have delayed development, according to Eyad Yacob, a former member. The committee has only met once in the past two years and not approved any projects. Projects also often need additional approval from the Israeli Civil Administration, further slowing the process. And in the past, Israel has approved the construction of facilities only if Palestinians allow settlements to connect to them as well, according to B'Tselem.
For Palestinians, this pits environmental and health concerns against fundamental political principles. "We don't wish to have any cooperation between Palestinians and the settlers," Yasin explains.
Environmental effects
The failure to develop adequate wastewater treatment infrastructure has led to the pollution of fresh water resources in the West Bank. The five streams Palestinians in the West Bank have historically relied on for drinking water and irrigation are now flowing with sewage, says Malek Abualfailat, a project manager at Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME). Palestinians and Israeli settlers both contribute to this pollution.
West Bank Palestinians lose water and land
Thirty-three percent of Palestinian wastewater is released directly into valleys without treatment while 65 percent is collected in cesspits that leach into the ground, according to a 2011 PWA report.
Many Israeli settlements treat their wastewater before releasing it into nearby valleys. But, in several settlements such as Ariel, wastewater treatment facilities do not always function or treat sewage to adequate levels, according to Youval Arbel, a project director at FoEME.
Additionally, many highly polluting factories have moved into settlement industrial zones, such as Barkan and Ariel West, to take advantage of a lack of regulation.
In recent years, Nitzan Levi says, the problem with pollution from settlements has improved. Levi is the director general of the Municipal Association for Environmental Quality in Judea, a settler environmental group. He and others have pushed to close regulatory loopholes and enforce environmental standards at a local level.
Even so, the combined effect of Palestinian and Israeli water pollution is threatening to contaminate the Mountain Aquifer, which is located beneath the West Bank and part of Israel. A 2004 report by FoEME called the Mountain Aquifer the "largest and most significant groundwater reservoir in the region". Palestinians are almost entirely reliant on it for fresh water and it is also a water source for Israeli population centers.
In areas close to Tulkarem and Qalqilia, in the northeastern West Bank, wells tapping into the aquifer have been closed because they reached levels of pollution above safe drinking standards, Arbel says.
The threat of polluting the aquifer, according to the FoEME report, is "one of the most severe environmental problems threatening Palestinians and Israelis".
More immediately, the pollution is reaching Palestinians through the food chain. In the Salfit area, for example, animals drink from polluted streams and graze in areas nearby. "I don't drink milk or eat meat from this area anymore," said Afaneh, the engineer overseeing the Salfit project.
In the absence of a solution, Palestinian residents like Khaled Sabra are left to live with the short-term consequences as a broader environmental crisis waits on the horizon.
When he moved to Bruqin in 1987, Sabra said, "It was the most beautiful area in the country". Now, the situation is insufferable. "Where else can I go?" he asks, as he stands holding his daughter's hand by the polluted stream running in front of his house.(http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/12/palestinians-thirst-water-treatment-plant-2013121612171192492.html)
Israel ensures its Arab neighbors are ruled by tyrants
Arabic News Digest | the National
The message that the US and Israel keep sending to the Arab people is that they must accept the tyrants they decide for them or they will turn their life into hell, as they did to the Syrians, argued the Syrian writer Faisal Al Qassem in yesterday’s edition of the pan-Arab newspaper Al Quds Al Arabi.
The powers who call the shots in the region were caught off guard by the Arab Spring; even US intelligence failed to foresee the Arab uprisings against the US-backed tyrannies, the writer said.
However, the tyrants whose constituencies did not let the revolutions take their course and attain their goals, he contended.
Some said the failure of the Syrian revolution to achieve its goals was down to the strength of the regime and the support of its allies in Iran, Lebanon, Iraq and Russia.
Some put the blame on Islamists for hijacking the revolutions and others blame the divided opposition that has failed to bring all Syrians under one umbrella.
Most of these people, however, are oblivious to a more serious fact: Syria is Israel’s neighbor.
Tel Aviv will never accept that the people of countries bordering Israel can take matters into their own hands.
If that should happen, it will be an existential threat to Israel, according to the writer.
Tel Aviv would rather deal with dictatorships that trample on the people and do whatever they like at home as long as they protect Israel’s security. Since the signing of the 1974 Israeli-Syrian disengagement agreement, the Israeli borders, and the Golan Heights in particular, have been the quietest tourist resort in Israel.
There has always been an open attempt at ensuring Israel remains without any economic, democratic or military competitor in the entire the Middle East region.
Yet the Arab Spring came with a prospect of swiftly turning Arab countries into democracies so that Israel will be no longer the only democracy in the region, the writer said.
But alas for those who were too optimistic and dreamy, the Arab uprisings have been under attack from all directions at home and abroad.
Now plotting against the Syrian revolution not only aims at aborting it, but to make the Syrians regret the moment they rose against the regime that had maintained Israel’s security for decades.
As it stands, the Syrians’ dream at this point is to merely cover their basic needs, rather than building a democracy capable of competing with that of Israel.
“We have said time and again that Israel will not allow real democracies to emerge near its borders,” he suggested.
Israel would prefer to have cruel dictatorships in neighboring countries, especially since its quietest years have been when the Arab region was ruled by tyrants.
Lebanon’s word war can turn into civil war
A fierce war of words is taking place in Lebanon between Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Saad Hariri, the leader of the Future Movement, noted Abdel Bari Atwan, editor-in-chief of the news website Rai Al Youm.
The war of words is being fanned by different sections of the Lebanese media, which runs the risk of turning the polarization into a destructive civil war, the writer cautioned.
Mr. Hariri who spends most of the time travelling between Riyadh and Paris to avoid the fate of his father, who was assassinated in 2005, has made strong-worded statements defending Saudi Arabia and holding Mr. Nasrallah liable for the car bomb attacks that recently hit the country, saying it was because of Hezbollah’s backing of the Syrian regime.
Mr. Hariri’s backlash against Mr. Nasrallah is not new. Nor is his support of his Saudi allies. The novelty, however, came in the statement made on his behalf by Nouhad El Machnouk, an MP in Mr. Hariri’s Future Movement, during a ceremony held to honor Lebanese members of the media for their “resistance to Iranian occupation of the Lebanese decision making”, a clear reference to the Hezbollah bloc, he said.
Mr. El Machnouk said: “As we have kicked Syria’s guardianship out of Lebanon, we will kick out Iran’s occupation.” This means waging an open war on Hezbollah that could lead to a Syrian-style scenario.
Arabic language is still marginalized at home
“Being passionate about the Arabic language, I have frequently asked myself: what are the factors that have caused the youth to turn away from learning their mother tongue?” Wrote Zainab Hifni in the UAE-based Al Ittihad.
Is it because linguists have failed to improve and simplify Arabic to keep up with the times? Is it the fact that we are an intellectually and socially backward nation that has caused Arabic to lag behind? Or is it because we cling to the trivia of the language, failing to strike a balance between dialects and classical Arabic?
Arab nations marked “World Arabic Language Day” on Wednesday, December 18. On the same day in 1973, Arabic became the sixth official language of the United Nations; conferences have centered on the role of the media in empowering or weakening Arabic.
The Arab media outlets are partly to blame for undermining Arabic through their use of dialects. Many Arab media people have failed to use a simplified, standard Arabic in their programs, she remarked.
Academies of the Arab language have not done enough to bridge the gap between the standard Arabic and dialects, so that Arabs could meet in the middle.
Luckily, the internet has provided an opportunity for Arabic to restore its status, she said.(http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/israel-ensures-its-arab-neighbours-are-ruled-by-tyrants#full)
Memory of Palestinian villages destroyed by Israel should be revived
By RAY HANANIA
On May 27, 1942, a Nazi leader's car was attacked by the resistance. Within a month, the Nazis had tracked the attackers to a Czech village called Lidice and had expelled or massacred most of its residents, men, women and children. Today, Lidice is remembered every June in ceremonies and memorials in several cities around the world.
That made me wonder about the more than 400 villages that were destroyed by Israel in 1948 in its effort to purge non-Jews from the territories it had captured. What has been done to memorialize them or to remember their destruction?
In 1978 during the dawn of the computer era, I began writing a computer software program called “Baladi: The Palestine Database” which sought to compile facts about Palestine’s history that the owner of the software could expand. I released it publicly in 1985.
It actually consisted of several databases including one that listed chronologically by year, month and day events in Palestine’s history; a travel feature that allowed you to walk 15 of the most scenic routes of pre-Nakba Palestine, and several others that included maps and more. The databases were expandable and information could be inputted by the user.
One of the databases in Baladi was a listing of every Palestinian city, town and village that existed, including the complete list of those Israel had destroyed during its creation in 1947 and 1948. What I learned was that many of the largest Palestinian cities and towns had been attacked by Israel long before the so-called “Arab invasion” that followed Israel’s formal declaration of statehood on May 14, 1948 – giving the lie to the Israeli assertion that the Arabs started the war when they invaded in 1948.
No, the Israelis started the war in 1946, using terrorism, hostage taking, suicide bombings and the murder of civilians, such as the massacre of Deir Yassin. Many of those villages and cities that were attacked and destroyed were located in the area of the UN Partition Plan that had been designated to be a part of the “Arab state.” I continue to update the database online at www.PassportPalestine.com.
But as I read about the efforts to commemorate Lidice, I wondered about the more than 400 Lidice’s that were destroyed by Israel and what efforts were being made to memorialize them. What was being done to remember them?
There are several campaigns to commemorate the vicious massacre by ultra-terrorists Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir, two of Israel’s prime ministers, of the Palestinian village of Deir Yassin, an attack that sparked the refugee flight.
And what about memorializing the cities, towns and villages that have survived Israel’s vicious oppression over the years? What are we doing to support them?
One of the problems of the Palestinian challenge has been the slow process of documenting our history. There are many websites that promote anger and hate against Israel, and certainly Israel, as a government and military deserves much criticism. In fact, charges should be brought against Israel in the International Criminal Court for its violence and terrorism.
But the story of Palestine is a story of beauty. It is a story of people and families and achievements. We should be documenting our history in more detail, not just as statistics but as a people. Who are some of the people who were murdered by the terrorist Haganah and Irgun organizations?
We should have their pictures and biographies available so that years from now, others will know what Israel did to a people who lived in a country called Palestine.
One of my friends, activist and businessman Sam Bahour who now lives in Palestine, is helping a project called the Theatrical Museum of Palestinian Oral History. It sounds like a great project, but of course, every project needs funds.
And for some reason, we Arabs have a problem with funding. We can get some funding, but not enough. Funding is always a problem. The Arab world is one of the wealthiest regions in the world. Arabs are among the wealthiest in the world. A recent study noted that the Middle East has 157 billionaires, or 40 percent of the world’s billionaires. That’s compared to the 28 percent who live in Europe, 22 percent who live in North America (the United States mainly) and 18 percent who live in Asia.
Yet, Israel’s distorted message that twists history, denies Palestinian rights and demonizes Arabs has far more financial support. Pro-Israeli groups spend far more on public relations and press releases, on the underwriting of movies and television shows, and even on the ownership and advertising support of newspapers and mainstream news media.
They have their own museums to commemorate the Holocaust and Jewish history, and so much more. Yet, when it comes to Arab history and especially Palestinian history, there is so little. And what little exists does so on meager budgets.
In a world where perception is reality, what you do has an impact on how people view your causes. If they see that you yell and scream a lot but rarely invest your own money in something, maybe that something isn’t worth their support either.
Could our failure as Arabs to put our money where our mouths and emotions are be a part of the reason why the public so easily brushes aside our rights and claims to justice, and instead embraces the hateful anti-Arab images promoted by Israel and other groups with political agendas?
If our own people can’t step up to the plate to invest in the history of our Arab culture, or of Palestine, then what kind of history do we really have?(http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20131222190200)
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Opinions
Negotiations are a cover for settlement
Al-Khaleej Editorial
"We will not stop building (our country) and strengthen ourselves and develop settlement projects for a moment." The is what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced two days ago.
Thisannouncementchallenges all those calling the entity to freeze Jewish settlements or abandoned it, in order to facilitate reaching a settlement through negotiations with the Palestinians. It is directed to the Palestinian side, then to the Arabs, the United States and other countries that consider settlements as not legitimate in compliance with resolutions of international legitimacy. A challenge to the United Nations representing international community that issued resolutions condemning settlement and considering it illegal.
The Palestinian Authority did not realize that Netanyahu and other leaders of the Zionist entity apply the Zionist doctrine which consider the West Bank as part of the "land of Israel", and consider settlement as the backbone of Zionism, and without it there is no value of all the ideas based on mythology, where history and geography are being falsified at the sight of the world on the expense of a people that has its roots in the territory for thousands of years.
Netanyahu’s announcement on continuing settlement, was no surprise and had nothing new, but it came amid talks on US demands for a settlement freeze as an expression of "good faith" during negotiations perhaps this would facilitate reaching an agreement by the ned of the nine months.
Prime Minister of the entity wanted to say that settlement is a red line, and there is no room for bargaining. He wants to make myths that speak of the "land of Israel" a reality and wants to confirm it despite its misrepresentations and fraud.
Netanyahu understands that he exploits an error in the balance of power in favor of the Zionist project, and uses negotiations that he does not want and not mean, just as a cover for misleading the world that seeks a resolution, as he depends on the Arab retreat from a central issue, and US and Western support, and mainly on the Palestinian split that exhaust energy and potential of the conflict and make the Palestinian people and their rights a prey of Zionist plan. (http://www.alkhaleej.ae/studiesandopinions/detailedpage/a425b837-f669-4cba-a131-4e4ac3ac3b0e)
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