By Laura MacInnis
Thu Oct 15, 2009 4:48pm EDT
GENEVA, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Israeli and Palestinian leaders should launch investigations of alleged war crimes in Gaza to help rebuild trust and support peace, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Thursday.
At the opening of a U.N. Human Rights Council meeting on the issue, Navi Pillay said all sides in the Middle East conflict were violating international law and voiced concern that transgressors were left unpunished.
"A culture of impunity continues to prevail in the occupied territories and in Israel," she told the 47-member body, calling for impartial and prompt investigations into reported violations.
In a session due to stretch into Friday, Geneva envoys met to consider a resolution that chastises Israel for failing to cooperate with a U.N.-ordered fact-finding mission into the December-January war in Gaza.
In the report circulated last month, the investigators led by South African jurist Richard Goldstone accused both Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas of war crimes in Gaza, but were overall more critical of Israel than Hamas.
Israel has rejected the charges in the report and says the Human Rights Council resolution -- drafted by the Palestinians with Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan and Tunisia, on behalf of non-aligned, African, Islamic and Arab nations -- threatens peace efforts.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday Israel would not be able to take "risks for peace" if it could not defend itself from attacks on its citizens.
"It's important for the principle countries, outside of this automatic majority of the United Nations, to say we are not taking part in this. We know we should act otherwise," he said.
Israel however came under pressure in a U.N. Security Council debate on Wednesday to fully investigate its allegations.
PRESSURE ON NETANYAHU
The text calls for the U.N. General Assembly to consider the Goldstone report and for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to review Israel's adherence to it. That would keep up pressure on Netanyahu who Washington is trying to convince to commit to a "two-state solution" that previous Israeli governments have signed up to. [ID:nLE230208]
The rights council agreed during its last regular session to postpone discussion on the Gaza report after Washington applied pressure aimed at getting the Middle East peace process back on track [ID:nL2147555]. But Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas came under criticism for agreeing to the delay, leading to the request for a special session on the topic.
The resolution would be difficult for Israel's allies to endorse.
It "strongly condemns all policies and measures taken by Israel, the occupying power, including those limiting access of Palestinians to their properties and holy sites" and calls on Israel to stop digging and excavation work around the Al Aqsa Mosque as well as other Christian and Islamic holy sites.
In her speech, Pillay cited concern about the restrictions on Palestinians wishing to enter Al Aqsa and expressed "dismay" about the Israeli blockade of Gaza that she said "severely undermines the rights and welfare of the population there."
Washington joined the rights council earlier this year, vowing to change the U.N. body that the United States and Israel have criticised as anti-Israeli.
(Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay)
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Bill Gates says ideology threatens hunger fix
Thu Oct 15, 2009 12:00pm EDT
By Christine Stebbins and Roberta Rampton
DES MOINES, Iowa, Oct 15 (Reuters) - The fight to end hunger is being hurt by environmentalists who insist that genetically modified crops cannot be used in Africa, Bill Gates, the billionaire founder of software giant Microsoft (MSFT.O), said on Thursday.
Gates said GMO crops, fertilizer and chemicals are important tools -- although not the only tools -- to help small farms in Africa boost production.
"This global effort to help small farmers is endangered by an ideological wedge that threatens to split the movement in two," Gates said in his first address on agriculture made during the annual World Food Prize forum.
"Some people insist on an ideal vision of the environment," Gates said. "They have tried to restrict the spread of biotechnology into sub-Saharan Africa without regard to how much hunger and poverty might be reduced by it, or what the farmers themselves might want."
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in recent years has turned its focus to helping poor, small-holder farmers grow and sell more crops as a way to reduce hunger and poverty.
The foundation, which has committed $1.4 billion to agricultural development efforts, announced on Thursday nine new grants worth a total of $120 million aimed at raising yields and farming expertise in the developing world.
Funding will go to legumes that fix nitrogen in the soil, higher-yielding varieties of sorghum and millet, new varieties of sweet potatoes that resist pests, and a project that will support African governments to develop policies to serve small farms, Gates said.
Gates told the World Food Prize forum, which honors people who make significant contributions to alleviating hunger and improving agricultural production, that farmers need training and access to markets, not just new seeds.
The prize was established by Norman Borlaug, the Nobel Prize winning scientist often called "the father of the Green Revolution" for his work with rice and wheat.
Gates acknowledged criticism of the first Green Revolution, which dramatically raised yields in Asia and Latin America, but had environmental impacts and crowded out small farmers.
"The next Green Revolution has to be greener than the first," Gates said. "It must be guided by small-holder farmers, adapted to local circumstances, and sustainable for the economy and the environment."
The Gates Foundation is working with research partners on drought-tolerant maize using both conventional crop-breeding techniques and biotechnology, Gates said.
"The technologies will be licensed royalty free to seed distributors so that the new seeds can be sold to African farmers without extra charge," Gates said.
The foundation is also involved in work on flood-tolerant rice and wheat that resists a fast-moving strain of rust disease.
"I hope that the debate over productivity will not slow the distribution of these seeds," Gates said.
He also called on research companies to adapt technology to the needs of small farmers, and to make them available without royalties in the poorest counties.
African governments must invest in the work, Gates said, and rich counties that have pledged to increase funding for agricultural development must spell out the details of their plans.
"How much is old money, how much is new, how soon can they spend it, and when will they do more?" Gates said. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Christine Stebbins; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
By Christine Stebbins and Roberta Rampton
DES MOINES, Iowa, Oct 15 (Reuters) - The fight to end hunger is being hurt by environmentalists who insist that genetically modified crops cannot be used in Africa, Bill Gates, the billionaire founder of software giant Microsoft (MSFT.O), said on Thursday.
Gates said GMO crops, fertilizer and chemicals are important tools -- although not the only tools -- to help small farms in Africa boost production.
"This global effort to help small farmers is endangered by an ideological wedge that threatens to split the movement in two," Gates said in his first address on agriculture made during the annual World Food Prize forum.
"Some people insist on an ideal vision of the environment," Gates said. "They have tried to restrict the spread of biotechnology into sub-Saharan Africa without regard to how much hunger and poverty might be reduced by it, or what the farmers themselves might want."
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in recent years has turned its focus to helping poor, small-holder farmers grow and sell more crops as a way to reduce hunger and poverty.
The foundation, which has committed $1.4 billion to agricultural development efforts, announced on Thursday nine new grants worth a total of $120 million aimed at raising yields and farming expertise in the developing world.
Funding will go to legumes that fix nitrogen in the soil, higher-yielding varieties of sorghum and millet, new varieties of sweet potatoes that resist pests, and a project that will support African governments to develop policies to serve small farms, Gates said.
Gates told the World Food Prize forum, which honors people who make significant contributions to alleviating hunger and improving agricultural production, that farmers need training and access to markets, not just new seeds.
The prize was established by Norman Borlaug, the Nobel Prize winning scientist often called "the father of the Green Revolution" for his work with rice and wheat.
Gates acknowledged criticism of the first Green Revolution, which dramatically raised yields in Asia and Latin America, but had environmental impacts and crowded out small farmers.
"The next Green Revolution has to be greener than the first," Gates said. "It must be guided by small-holder farmers, adapted to local circumstances, and sustainable for the economy and the environment."
The Gates Foundation is working with research partners on drought-tolerant maize using both conventional crop-breeding techniques and biotechnology, Gates said.
"The technologies will be licensed royalty free to seed distributors so that the new seeds can be sold to African farmers without extra charge," Gates said.
The foundation is also involved in work on flood-tolerant rice and wheat that resists a fast-moving strain of rust disease.
"I hope that the debate over productivity will not slow the distribution of these seeds," Gates said.
He also called on research companies to adapt technology to the needs of small farmers, and to make them available without royalties in the poorest counties.
African governments must invest in the work, Gates said, and rich counties that have pledged to increase funding for agricultural development must spell out the details of their plans.
"How much is old money, how much is new, how soon can they spend it, and when will they do more?" Gates said. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Christine Stebbins; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
Allies push Israel for Gaza probe
Smoke billows from the Gaza Strip following Israeli air strikes, as seen from the southern town of Rafah on December 27, 2008
Hundreds of Palestinian civilians were killed in the 22-day conflict last winter
Israel has come under pressure from its allies to investigate UN allegations of possible war crimes by its army during its Gaza offensive last winter.
Britain's UN envoy urged Israel to hold "full, credible and impartial" investigations, echoing similar calls from his US and French counterparts.
A report by a UN mission led by Richard Goldstone accused both Israel and Palestinian militants of war crimes.
The UN Human Rights Council is set to discuss the report again later today.
The findings were originally presented by Mr Goldstone, a veteran South African judge and war crimes prosecutor, to the Council two weeks ago, but it decided to defer its response until March.
However it reconsidered because of anger among Palestinians that allegations in the report were being ignored.
Israel has rejected the Goldstone report as biased and favouring terrorism.
Western reaction
"We note that the Israeli Defence Force has already conducted and is continuing to conduct a number of investigations," said John Sawers, the British Ambassador to the UN.
"However, concerns remain... We urge the Israeli government to carry out full, credible and impartial investigations into the allegations," he added.
French Ambassador Gerard Araud urged both sides to initiate "independent inquiries in line with international standards."
The deputy US Ambassador, Alejandro Wolff, expressed serious concerns about the report - citing an "unbalanced focus on Israel" - but he repeated the US view that Israel should look into it.
"We take the allegations in the report seriously," he said. "Israel has the institutions and the ability to carry out serious investigations of these allegations and we encourage it to do so."
The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged "credible" investigations by both sides into the conduct of the Gaza conflict "without delay".
Report's findings
The Goldstone report accuses Israel of using disproportionate force and deliberately harming civilians during the 22-day conflict which began on 27 December 2008.
Palestinian Hamas militants are accused of indiscriminate rocket fire at Israeli civilians.
The report urges the Security Council to refer allegations to the International Criminal Court if either side fails to investigate and prosecute suspects.
Israel has rejected the evidence, saying it has already investigated its troops' conduct, clearing most of the subjects of wrongdoing. Hamas has also denied committing war crimes.
"For those of us who seek to resume the peace process in the Middle East, debating the Goldstone in the Security Council is but a tale full of sound and fury, signifying nothing," said Israel's envoy to the UN, Gabriela Shalev.
"If Israel is asked to take further risks for peace, the international community must recognise our right to self-defence," she added.
Israeli military action destroyed thousands of homes, hundreds of factories and 80 official buildings in Gaza.
Palestinians and human rights groups say more than 1,400 people were killed in the violence between 27 December 2008 and 16 January 2009, more than half of them civilians.
Israel puts the number of deaths at 1,166 - fewer than 300 of them civilians. Three Israeli civilians and 10 Israeli soldiers were also killed.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Not our Hollywood anti-Muslim product! Turkish TV series angers Israel
Israel soldiers (file image from Jan 2009)
Israeli soldiers were portrayed as murderers, Israel says
Israel's foreign minister has ordered Turkey's ambassador to be summoned over a Turkish TV series that portrays Israeli soldiers killing children.
Avigdor Lieberman said the programme, broadcast on Turkey's state television, incited hatred against the country.
In one clip screened on Israeli TV, an Israeli soldier takes aim at a smiling young girl.
The complaint is the latest to strain the relationship between Turkey and Israel.
Strategic ties
In a statement, Mr Lieberman said the series, which "presents Israeli soldiers as the murders of innocent children, would not be appropriate for broadcast even in an enemy country and certainly not in a state which maintains diplomatic relations with Israel".
Another clip from the series - which tells the story of a Palestinian family - reportedly shows a bullet fired by an Israeli solders travelling in slow motion towards a Palestinian child.
The programme was broadcast on Tuesday evening on Turkey's TRT One Channel.
Turkey is one of the few Muslim countries to have relations with Israel, but these have suffered since the Islamist-rooted AK Party was elected to power in 2002, deteriorating further after Israel's offensive in Gaza in January.
Last week, Ankara cancelled an international military exercise in which Israeli pilots were due to participate.
Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak sought to play down the rift, stressing that the two states shared "longstanding, important and strategic" ties.
How many Hollywood films and TV series have you seen in which Muslims were portrayed as murdering terrorists? You can tell when the music goes all Middle Eastern when the plot thickens with some Muslim terrorist connection. But here's Israel saying you can't do that to us. Only we Zionists get to.
Israeli teenagers refuse to join the occupation army join Bil'in Palestinian protesters
http://www.bilin-ffj.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=202&Itemid=1
Call to the supporters, Bil'in
At our demonstration next week, Friday, 23 October 2009, we will be joined by members of Shministim (meaning "12th graders" in Hebrew), the Israeli organization of teenagers who refuse to join the occupation army, and who accept prison sentences for their refusal.
We are sending out this call to all of you who are supporting our struggle against the military occupation asking you to join us for this important demonstration to salute the Shministim, to show our support for their cause, and to continue our work together against the Israeli occupation.
We hope to see you in large numbers and thank you in advance for your solidarity.
Meeting of Shministim members with , Bil'in Popular Committee on 13 October 2009
Present:
Iyad Bornat (Head Bil'in Popular Committee)
Haitham al-Khatib (Bil'in Popular Committee)
Hamde Abu Rahma (Bil'in Popular Committee)
Or Ben David (Shministim)
Emelia Marcovich (Shministim)
Today, two members of Shministim, the Israeli organization of teenagers who refuse to serve in the Israeli Army, Or Ben David and Emelia Marcovich, met with the Head of the Bil'in Popular Committee, Iyad Bornat. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss ideas for the Friday demonstration of 23 October 2009, which will be dedicated to the Shministim, to salute them and to continue to work together with the people of Bil'in.
Or mentions that she, together with other members of Shministim, have been coming to Bil'in many times on Fridays to protest against the Apartheid Wall alongside Palestinians and international and Israeli activists. She says that the Shministim members feel that they and the Palestinians are friends. Bil'in makes them feel like home and shows them that they can really talk to Palestinians contrary to the common belief among Israeli society that all Palestinians are terrorists and must be feared. Instead, Palestinians are human beings who are leading normal lives like the Israeli people.
For this reason, Or and Emelia decided to come today to meet with Iyad to brainstorm the planned demonstration of 23 October 2009. While Or will have to go to prison this coming Thursday for refusing to serve in the Army and will not be able to physically be at the demo, Emelia, on the other hand, will be joining the demonstration. Her prison term will start somewhat later.
Or and Emelia will also be sending out an email to all young people in Israel calling on them that they have the choice to refuse to serve in the occupation forces.
Both said that they feel good being in the West Bank in the company of Palestinians
Thank you for you continued support,
Iyad Burnat- Head of Popular Commitee in Bilin
co-founder of Friends of Freedom and Justice - Bilin
Email- bel3in@yahoo.com
www.bilin-ffj.org
Call to the supporters, Bil'in
At our demonstration next week, Friday, 23 October 2009, we will be joined by members of Shministim (meaning "12th graders" in Hebrew), the Israeli organization of teenagers who refuse to join the occupation army, and who accept prison sentences for their refusal.
We are sending out this call to all of you who are supporting our struggle against the military occupation asking you to join us for this important demonstration to salute the Shministim, to show our support for their cause, and to continue our work together against the Israeli occupation.
We hope to see you in large numbers and thank you in advance for your solidarity.
Meeting of Shministim members with , Bil'in Popular Committee on 13 October 2009
Present:
Iyad Bornat (Head Bil'in Popular Committee)
Haitham al-Khatib (Bil'in Popular Committee)
Hamde Abu Rahma (Bil'in Popular Committee)
Or Ben David (Shministim)
Emelia Marcovich (Shministim)
Today, two members of Shministim, the Israeli organization of teenagers who refuse to serve in the Israeli Army, Or Ben David and Emelia Marcovich, met with the Head of the Bil'in Popular Committee, Iyad Bornat. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss ideas for the Friday demonstration of 23 October 2009, which will be dedicated to the Shministim, to salute them and to continue to work together with the people of Bil'in.
Or mentions that she, together with other members of Shministim, have been coming to Bil'in many times on Fridays to protest against the Apartheid Wall alongside Palestinians and international and Israeli activists. She says that the Shministim members feel that they and the Palestinians are friends. Bil'in makes them feel like home and shows them that they can really talk to Palestinians contrary to the common belief among Israeli society that all Palestinians are terrorists and must be feared. Instead, Palestinians are human beings who are leading normal lives like the Israeli people.
For this reason, Or and Emelia decided to come today to meet with Iyad to brainstorm the planned demonstration of 23 October 2009. While Or will have to go to prison this coming Thursday for refusing to serve in the Army and will not be able to physically be at the demo, Emelia, on the other hand, will be joining the demonstration. Her prison term will start somewhat later.
Or and Emelia will also be sending out an email to all young people in Israel calling on them that they have the choice to refuse to serve in the occupation forces.
Both said that they feel good being in the West Bank in the company of Palestinians
Thank you for you continued support,
Iyad Burnat- Head of Popular Commitee in Bilin
co-founder of Friends of Freedom and Justice - Bilin
Email- bel3in@yahoo.com
www.bilin-ffj.org
Israel must end 'unfair' jailing
Palestinian protest against detentions
The thousands of detentions by Israel is a major Palestinian grievance
11:14 GMT, Wednesday, 14 October 2009 12:14 UK
Israel holds hundreds of Palestinians without trial or any way to clear their names, say two Israeli rights groups which urge an end to such detentions.
The groups say currently 335 prisoners are held in "administrative detention" under rules dating back to 1945 when the area was under British control.
They add it is only meant for extreme circumstances and Israel's extensive use breaks international law.
Israel says the detentions are used as a last resort to prevent future attack.
Detention orders last for six months without the Israeli military having to bring a prosecution against the detainee.
After six months the orders can be extended by a judge, but the campaign groups, B'Tselem and HaMoked, say this only gives an impression of fairness.
KEY FACTS
7,150 Palestinians in Israeli custody: 5,000 serving sentences and 1,569 awaiting trial
335 Palestinians in administrative detention
Nine Palestinians are detained as "illegal combatants"
Source: B'Tselem
In the vast majority of cases, the report Without Trial says, judges declare the evidence secret and rely on intelligence reports that are never shown to the detainee or defence lawyers.
"Consequently, it is impossible for the detainee to refute the allegations or to present alternative evidence," the report says.
The groups call on Israel to release the administrative detainees or prosecute them in accordance with standards of due process that are set forth in international law.
Burden of proof
An Israeli army statement stressed administrative detention was used to "remove terror activists regarding whom there is concrete information concerning a clear and present danger posed by them".
It added that efforts were being made to decrease the use of detention without trial. The B'Tselem-HaMoked report acknowledges a decline in numbers such case.
B'Tselem says overall Israel currently holds 7,150 Palestinians in custody. Of these some 5,000 are serving sentences and 1,569 were awaiting trial, with 335 under administrative detention.
There are also nine people detained under a 2002 law regarding "illegal combatants".
The joint B'Tselem-HaMoked report also calls for an immediate end to such incarcerations, which they say offers "fewer protections" to internees than offered to administrative detainees.
They argue that "illegal combatant" internees are only released if they can prove they will not harm state security "thus switching the burden of proof onto the shoulders of the internee, who can never refute the allegations".
The army insisted that such interments - along with administrative detention - were "fully consistent with international law and with the rulings of the Supreme Court".
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
PA demands UN censure Israel over Temple Mount, Gaza
By Barak Ravid
The UN Human Rights Council's deliberations over the Goldstone report on last winter's Gaza offensive will also deal with Jerusalem, the Temple Mount riots and the siege of Gaza, according to a resolution the Palestinian Authority and a group of countries intend to submit.
Haaretz has received a copy of the draft resolution, and the Foreign Ministry is bracing for a diplomatic battle ahead of the vote, which is scheduled to take place on Monday.
According to a political source in Jerusalem, the PA's ambassador to UN institutions in Geneva, Ibrahim Khraishi, told the ambassadors of the countries involved, most of them Arab and Muslim, that the main motivation behind the Palestinian request to discuss the Goldstone report stemmed from "Israeli provocations in Jerusalem." The Palestinians had originally decided not to have the report discussed.
The Palestinian ambassador said Israel must be shown that it cannot evade international law.
The new draft resolution is entitled "The human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem."
The resolution, which Foreign Ministry sources have described as "very extreme," has three parts: East Jerusalem, the Goldstone report on Operation Cast Lead, and the report by the UN's human rights commissioner on conditions in the Gaza Strip.
An official at the Foreign Ministry says the draft "will only serve to show how excessive the Palestinian claims really are."
In the section on Jerusalem, the council states that it is "deeply concerned ... at the Israeli policy of closure and severe restrictions, including the permit regime, that continue to be imposed on the movement of Palestinians, hindering their free access to their Christian and Muslim holy sites, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque."
The resolution "strongly condemns all policies and measures taken by Israel, the occupying power, to limit access of Palestinians to their properties and holy sites particularly in Occupied East Jerusalem, on the basis of national origin, religion, sex, age or any other status, which are in grave violation of the Palestinian People's civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights."
The draft proposal demands that Israel abide by international conventions and "allow Palestinian citizens and worshippers unhindered access to their properties and religious sites."
There is also a demand that Israel "immediately cease all digging and excavation works ... beneath and around Al Aqsa Mosque and its vicinity, and refrain from any acts or operations that may endanger the structure or foundations or change the nature of holy sites both Christian and Islamic in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem."
Regarding the Goldstone report, the draft resolution states that the council "fully endorses the recommendations contained in the report, and calls upon all concerned parties including UN bodies, to ensure their immediate implementation in accordance with their respective mandates."
The resolution recommends that the General Assembly "consider the report during its 64th session" and requests that the Secretary General submit a report to the 13th session of the council on "the status of implementation" of the report's recommendations. On Gaza, the resolution states the "Israeli siege imposed on the occupied Gaza Strip, including the closure of border crossings and the cutting of the supply of fuel, food and medicine, constitutes collective punishment of Palestinian civilians and leads to disastrous humanitarian and environmental consequences."
The deliberations at the council will take place tomorrow and Friday, with a vote on the resolution on Monday.
The Foreign Ministry is preparing for a difficult struggle.
According to instructions being sent out to Israeli ambassadors, "We must make it clear to our interlocutors that we are opposed to any resolution on which there would be a vote, and we expect that their delegations will oppose [such a move]."
The Goldstone report will also be mentioned today at the Security Council during the monthly general review of developments in the Middle East. But the council will not deliberate on it, turning down an effort by Libya to hold a special session on the subject.
The UN Human Rights Council's deliberations over the Goldstone report on last winter's Gaza offensive will also deal with Jerusalem, the Temple Mount riots and the siege of Gaza, according to a resolution the Palestinian Authority and a group of countries intend to submit.
Haaretz has received a copy of the draft resolution, and the Foreign Ministry is bracing for a diplomatic battle ahead of the vote, which is scheduled to take place on Monday.
According to a political source in Jerusalem, the PA's ambassador to UN institutions in Geneva, Ibrahim Khraishi, told the ambassadors of the countries involved, most of them Arab and Muslim, that the main motivation behind the Palestinian request to discuss the Goldstone report stemmed from "Israeli provocations in Jerusalem." The Palestinians had originally decided not to have the report discussed.
The Palestinian ambassador said Israel must be shown that it cannot evade international law.
The new draft resolution is entitled "The human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem."
The resolution, which Foreign Ministry sources have described as "very extreme," has three parts: East Jerusalem, the Goldstone report on Operation Cast Lead, and the report by the UN's human rights commissioner on conditions in the Gaza Strip.
An official at the Foreign Ministry says the draft "will only serve to show how excessive the Palestinian claims really are."
In the section on Jerusalem, the council states that it is "deeply concerned ... at the Israeli policy of closure and severe restrictions, including the permit regime, that continue to be imposed on the movement of Palestinians, hindering their free access to their Christian and Muslim holy sites, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque."
The resolution "strongly condemns all policies and measures taken by Israel, the occupying power, to limit access of Palestinians to their properties and holy sites particularly in Occupied East Jerusalem, on the basis of national origin, religion, sex, age or any other status, which are in grave violation of the Palestinian People's civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights."
The draft proposal demands that Israel abide by international conventions and "allow Palestinian citizens and worshippers unhindered access to their properties and religious sites."
There is also a demand that Israel "immediately cease all digging and excavation works ... beneath and around Al Aqsa Mosque and its vicinity, and refrain from any acts or operations that may endanger the structure or foundations or change the nature of holy sites both Christian and Islamic in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem."
Regarding the Goldstone report, the draft resolution states that the council "fully endorses the recommendations contained in the report, and calls upon all concerned parties including UN bodies, to ensure their immediate implementation in accordance with their respective mandates."
The resolution recommends that the General Assembly "consider the report during its 64th session" and requests that the Secretary General submit a report to the 13th session of the council on "the status of implementation" of the report's recommendations. On Gaza, the resolution states the "Israeli siege imposed on the occupied Gaza Strip, including the closure of border crossings and the cutting of the supply of fuel, food and medicine, constitutes collective punishment of Palestinian civilians and leads to disastrous humanitarian and environmental consequences."
The deliberations at the council will take place tomorrow and Friday, with a vote on the resolution on Monday.
The Foreign Ministry is preparing for a difficult struggle.
According to instructions being sent out to Israeli ambassadors, "We must make it clear to our interlocutors that we are opposed to any resolution on which there would be a vote, and we expect that their delegations will oppose [such a move]."
The Goldstone report will also be mentioned today at the Security Council during the monthly general review of developments in the Middle East. But the council will not deliberate on it, turning down an effort by Libya to hold a special session on the subject.
Russia Not Budging On Iran Sanctions
Clinton Unable to Sway Counterpart
Clinton: Iran's Nuke Program of Serious Concern
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is meeting with Russia's Foreign Minister on Tuesday, discussing Iran's nuclear program. The Russian foreign minister said that Russia and the U.S. Position on Iran coincide.
By Mary Beth Sheridan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
MOSCOW, Oct. 13 -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton held lengthy talks with senior Russian officials Tuesday as part of an intense American effort to improve relations, but she made few gains on a top U.S. priority -- increasing pressure on Iran.
Clinton urged her Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, to work together on developing possible sanctions in case international negotiations over the Iranian nuclear program fail, said a U.S. official close to the talks.
But the Russian was cool to the idea, saying he was concerned about backing Iran into a corner, the U.S. official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive sessions.
Emerging from four hours of talks with Clinton, Lavrov told reporters that "threats, sanctions and threats of pressure" against Iran would be "counterproductive."
Senior administration officials said that the differences are tactical rather than substantive. Both sides agreed that Iran would face sanctions if it failed to carry out its obligations, a State Department official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
But failure to win a Russian commitment to a set of specific sanctions in advance could leave the administration vulnerable to Republican criticism that it gave the Kremlin what it wanted by overhauling missile defense plans in Europe but that it got nothing in return.
Russia's support is key to getting U.N. Security Council approval of any sanctions, but the country has traditionally been cautious on confronting Iran, a key trading partner and neighbor. In recent years, however, Russia has grown increasingly concerned about indications that Iran could be developing nuclear weapons, analysts say. Iran insists that its program is aimed only at producing energy.
Lavrov told reporters that Russia wants to focus on negotiations for now -- particularly the concessions made by Iran this month, after the revelation that it had built a secret nuclear facility near Qom. Under heavy international pressure, the Islamic republic agreed to admit inspectors and send much of its uranium to Russia for enrichment.
Clinton emphasized in her meeting with Lavrov that she favors a two-track approach of negotiations and the threat of punishment.
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"We need to prepare the track of pressure. There's cajolement and there's pressure" at the same time, said the official close to the talks, describing her argument.
"Where the Russians have a different approach is. . . . they want to exhaust all the diplomatic avenues before we talk about sanctions," the official said.
During her visit, part of a five-day European trip, Clinton also met with civil-society activists at Spaso House, the U.S. ambassador's residence, promising them that promoting democracy remains an important part of the administration's agenda.
"We will lead based on values and not just interests," Clinton said.
Several of those in attendance said that they liked Clinton's speech, noting that she spoke not only about improving governance but also about accountability of the government, a subject that was not emphasized as often in the Bush years.
"It's a signal for people we are not alone," said Natalia Budaeva, country director for the International Republican Institute.
Clinton concluded her evening with a night at the opera -- Prokofiev's "Love of Three Oranges." She wraps up her visit to Russia on Wednesday with a trip to Tatarstan.
Correspondent Philip P. Pan contributed to this report.
Clinton: Iran's Nuke Program of Serious Concern
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is meeting with Russia's Foreign Minister on Tuesday, discussing Iran's nuclear program. The Russian foreign minister said that Russia and the U.S. Position on Iran coincide.
By Mary Beth Sheridan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
MOSCOW, Oct. 13 -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton held lengthy talks with senior Russian officials Tuesday as part of an intense American effort to improve relations, but she made few gains on a top U.S. priority -- increasing pressure on Iran.
Clinton urged her Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, to work together on developing possible sanctions in case international negotiations over the Iranian nuclear program fail, said a U.S. official close to the talks.
But the Russian was cool to the idea, saying he was concerned about backing Iran into a corner, the U.S. official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive sessions.
Emerging from four hours of talks with Clinton, Lavrov told reporters that "threats, sanctions and threats of pressure" against Iran would be "counterproductive."
Senior administration officials said that the differences are tactical rather than substantive. Both sides agreed that Iran would face sanctions if it failed to carry out its obligations, a State Department official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
But failure to win a Russian commitment to a set of specific sanctions in advance could leave the administration vulnerable to Republican criticism that it gave the Kremlin what it wanted by overhauling missile defense plans in Europe but that it got nothing in return.
Russia's support is key to getting U.N. Security Council approval of any sanctions, but the country has traditionally been cautious on confronting Iran, a key trading partner and neighbor. In recent years, however, Russia has grown increasingly concerned about indications that Iran could be developing nuclear weapons, analysts say. Iran insists that its program is aimed only at producing energy.
Lavrov told reporters that Russia wants to focus on negotiations for now -- particularly the concessions made by Iran this month, after the revelation that it had built a secret nuclear facility near Qom. Under heavy international pressure, the Islamic republic agreed to admit inspectors and send much of its uranium to Russia for enrichment.
Clinton emphasized in her meeting with Lavrov that she favors a two-track approach of negotiations and the threat of punishment.
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"We need to prepare the track of pressure. There's cajolement and there's pressure" at the same time, said the official close to the talks, describing her argument.
"Where the Russians have a different approach is. . . . they want to exhaust all the diplomatic avenues before we talk about sanctions," the official said.
During her visit, part of a five-day European trip, Clinton also met with civil-society activists at Spaso House, the U.S. ambassador's residence, promising them that promoting democracy remains an important part of the administration's agenda.
"We will lead based on values and not just interests," Clinton said.
Several of those in attendance said that they liked Clinton's speech, noting that she spoke not only about improving governance but also about accountability of the government, a subject that was not emphasized as often in the Bush years.
"It's a signal for people we are not alone," said Natalia Budaeva, country director for the International Republican Institute.
Clinton concluded her evening with a night at the opera -- Prokofiev's "Love of Three Oranges." She wraps up her visit to Russia on Wednesday with a trip to Tatarstan.
Correspondent Philip P. Pan contributed to this report.
Palestinian faith in Obama 'evaporates'
Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas shake hands while Barack Obama looks on at in New York last month. Photograph: Jim Watson/AFP
Leaked memo from President Mahmoud Abbas accuses White House of buckling under pressure from Israel
* Rory McCarthy Jerusalem
* guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 13 October 2009 18.37 BST
Palestinian political leaders have expressed acute disappointment in the Obama administration, saying their hopes that it could bring peace to the Middle East have "evaporated" and accusing the White House of giving in to Israeli pressure.
The unusually frank comments come in an internal memo from the Fatah party, led by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, but reflect a broader frustration among Palestinian politicians that Washington's very public push for peace in the Middle East has yet to produce even a restarting of peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians.
"All hopes placed in the new US administration and President Obama have evaporated," said the document, which was leaked to the Associated Press news agency.
It said Barack Obama "couldn't withstand the pressure of the Zionist lobby, which led to a retreat from his previous positions on halting settlement construction and defining an agenda for the negotiations and peace".
The document, dated Monday, came from an office led by Mohammed Ghneim, a Fatah hardliner and the party's number two, who returned to the West Bank only this year after many years in exile. He was long a critic of the Oslo accords of the mid-1990s, arguing they gave too much to the Israelis.
Other Palestinian figures share the frustrations. Mohammad Dahlan was reported as saying this week that he felt "very disappointed and worried by the US administration retreat".
For many months now, the Palestinians have kept to their position that talks cannot restart without an end to construction in Israeli settlements and a guarantee that a full agreement is on the table, based on the borders before the 1967 war, in which Israel captured east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.
"The Israelis need to acknowledge that the 1967 borders are the borders between the two states, and this is the foundation of any negotiations," said Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior aide to Abbas.
George Mitchell, the US envoy to the Middle East, was in Jerusalem again at the weekend for another round of apparently fruitless talks between the two sides.
After Obama met with Abbas and Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, in New York last month he said he wanted negotiations to restart soon. But even with the president's newlyawarded Noble peace prize, that still seems harder than first expected.
Washington has notably toned down its language on Israeli settlement-building, and no longer calls for a full freeze to construction, talking instead of "restraint."
But this Palestinian disenchantment also comes at a time when Abbas has seen his personal credibility badly damaged among his own people, and it may be partly an effort to deflect criticism. There was disquiet when he agreed at the last minute to go to New York last month for the Netanyahu meeting, even though the Israelis had not agreed to the full halt to settlement building that Abbas had demanded.
The criticism worsened dramatically when 10 days ago he decided against supporting a vote at the UN human rights council to endorse a critical UN report on the Gaza war, written by the South African judge Richard Goldstone.
The report, hailed by human rights groups, accused both Israel and Hamas of war crimes and recommended that international prosecutions be considered.
Although it appeared that the Palestinians had enough support at the council to endorse the report, Abbas backed away at the last minute, apparently under intense US diplomatic pressure. He faced bitter criticism from his political rival, Hamas. It said he was unfit to lead and pulled out of a crucial reconciliation agreement due to have been signed later this month.
Abbas has since reversed his decision. Now the report will once again be considered at the human rights council in Geneva at a special session starting on Thursday. In New York tomorrow the UN security council will hold a debate on the Middle East, brought forward after Libya, a current council member, said the Goldstone report should be discussed.
It is not only the Palestinians who see little chance of peace: last week, Israel's often outspoken foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said there was no chance of a full peace deal with the Palestinians until a "much later stage."
"There are many conflicts in the world that haven't reached a comprehensive solution, and people learned to live with it," he said.
Psychiatric Torture in China
From: Falun Gong Human Rights Working Group (letter3@falunhr.org)
An Abundance of Reports
In December 2008, the U.N. Commission against Torture reported on China's overall human rights situation, its' first report on China in 8 years. In the report, "the Committee also notes with concern that this provision has been misused to detain some people in psychiatric hospitals for reasons other than medical."[1]
After U.N. Special Rapporteur Prof. Manfred Nowak's two week country visit to China at the end of 2005, the U.N. published a report on the country mission to China. The report states that torture occurred in Chinese mental hospitals in 8% of the cases submitted to the Special Rapporteur's mandate over the 5-year period from 2000 to 2006.[2]
Research indicates that cases of psychiatric "treatment" have spread to 23 out of 33 provinces under the direct leadership of the central government in China. At least 100 psychiatric facilities have been used in the effort to wipe out Falun Gong practitioner's belief. Clearly, the abuse of psychiatric drugs on those who hold a different opinion from the government has been a well-planned, systematically carried out, top-down policy.
Daniel B. Borenstein, President of the American Psychiatric Association, published a letter in the New York Times on March 27, 2001, entitled "Jailed in China: Confront the Abuse." He stated in the article, "The WPA [World Psychiatric Association] Committee on the Use and Abuse of Psychiatry has moved too slowly in the face of serious accusations about psychiatric imprisonment of Falun Gong members, union and student leaders, and others who are diagnosed as 'political maniacs' and subjected to shock therapy and psycho-tropic medications."[3]
Robin Munro devoted an entire chapter of his book, Dangerous Minds: Political Psychiatry in China Today and its Origins in the Mao Era to the psychiatric abuse of Falun Gong practitioners. In "The Falun Gong: New Targets of Psychiatric Abuse,"[4] he describes how 42-year-old Tian Guihua was abused at the Jiaozhou Mental Hospital in Shandong Province. Eight mental patients held her down, while a doctor injected her with nerve damaging drugs. "Later the female doctor asked Tan daily whether she would continue to practice Falun Gong. Tan said, 'yes,' and the doctor shocked her with electrical needles."[5]
The Political Use of Drugs at Mental Hospitals
Xuzhou Mental Hospital in Jiangsu Province is a typical example. Reports of abuse started coming in shortly after July 20, 1999, when the persecution started. In December 2000, these healthy Falun Gong practitioners were sent to the Xuzhou Mental Hospital: Gao Chuanyin, Gao Xiayun, Lu Bingling, Niu Shuxia, Wang Jinghua, Meng Qinquan, Wang Hui, and Wang Ping. In March 2001, practitioners Wu Di, Peng Zhongmei, Ding Jianhua, Yuan Ling, Guo Juanling, Bian Guiling, Wang Yumei, Dong Mei, Gao Chunmei, and Ma Jiling were sent there as well.
Practitioners have reported losing consciousness, being tied with ropes, given electroshock treatments, being deprived of sleep, staring blankly, drooling, trembling, losing their eyesight or hearing, the destruction of muscles or internal organs, loss of memory, physical or mental disability, and even death. One of them asked the medical staff, "Why did you inject and feed these drugs to us who are not sick? They answered, "It is not up to us; people at the top instructed us to do so. We don't want to treat you like this but we don't want to lose our jobs either."
Prolonged Practice of Psychiatric Torture
Since the object of psychiatric treatment is not the "patient's" well being, it may take place in mental hospitals, forced labor camps, or any detention facility. The following accounts remind us of what takes place under China's expanding economy.
1. Mr. Zhao Peijie, male, 32 years of age, from Xiaonigou Village, Datong Town, Rongcheng City, Shandong Province, was beaten, tortured, and forced to take drugs that destroyed his central nervous system. As a result, he became mentally ill. He died in the wilderness on June 28, 2008.
2. In April 2006, officials from the Chibi City Police Department, Hubei Province arrested Ms. Liu Xiaolian, 69, and sent her to the Psychiatric Department of the Pufang Hospital. At the hospital, Ms. Liu was brutally beaten, injected with toxic drugs, fed with mentally debilitating drugs, and shocked with high-voltage electric batons. For 24 hours, they continuously injected her with the mental drug. She lost consciousness for two consecutive days and her whole body became dark and swollen. After she woke up, she temporarily lost the ability to speak. She died on the afternoon of October 26, 2008.
3. Ms. Li Dongqing, 46, lived in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province. On May 24, 2008, she was arrested and put into the Dongling District Mental Hospital in Shenyang. She was injected with drugs, which made her suffer severe psychological damage.
4. Ms. Han Ming was an employee of the Pingshui Machinery Factory in Pingba County, Guizhou Province. On February 28, 2001, she was sentenced to two years of forced labor. While detained in the Guizhou Province Women's Forced Labor Camp, she was injected with an unknown drug, which caused her entire body to suffer muscle atrophy. Her condition deteriorated and she died on March 20, 2003, at the age of 30.
5. Ms. Zhang Wuying and her husband Mr. Wu Dianhui are from Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province. In February of 2000, the Changzhou Public Security Bureau arrested Mr. Wu. Although Mr. Wu and his wife were not mentally ill, after he was released from the detention center, the two were forcibly taken to the Changzhou Liberation Army's 102 Mental Hospital. Ms. Zhang was tied to the bed, injected with drugs and force-fed, even though she was over five months pregnant.
To cover up their crimes, the perpetrators typically blame the victim. In one example, Ms. Meng Lijun died after she was injected with poisonous drugs and had harmful drugs mixed in her food and water. Her family asked the police why they used drugs on a healthy person. They replied, "She had a mental problem because of practicing Falun Gong and she contracted the mental illness before her imprisonment."
Ms. Meng is just one of the many thousands.
1. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/docs/CAT.C.CHN.CO.4.pdf
2. http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/publisher,UNCHR,MISSION,CHN,,0.html
3. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/27/opinion/l-jailed-in-china-confront-the-abuse-574694.html
4. Robin Munro on Falun Gong (See Page 158)
5. Ibid. Page 163
Contact: 619-280-3112
An Abundance of Reports
In December 2008, the U.N. Commission against Torture reported on China's overall human rights situation, its' first report on China in 8 years. In the report, "the Committee also notes with concern that this provision has been misused to detain some people in psychiatric hospitals for reasons other than medical."[1]
After U.N. Special Rapporteur Prof. Manfred Nowak's two week country visit to China at the end of 2005, the U.N. published a report on the country mission to China. The report states that torture occurred in Chinese mental hospitals in 8% of the cases submitted to the Special Rapporteur's mandate over the 5-year period from 2000 to 2006.[2]
Research indicates that cases of psychiatric "treatment" have spread to 23 out of 33 provinces under the direct leadership of the central government in China. At least 100 psychiatric facilities have been used in the effort to wipe out Falun Gong practitioner's belief. Clearly, the abuse of psychiatric drugs on those who hold a different opinion from the government has been a well-planned, systematically carried out, top-down policy.
Daniel B. Borenstein, President of the American Psychiatric Association, published a letter in the New York Times on March 27, 2001, entitled "Jailed in China: Confront the Abuse." He stated in the article, "The WPA [World Psychiatric Association] Committee on the Use and Abuse of Psychiatry has moved too slowly in the face of serious accusations about psychiatric imprisonment of Falun Gong members, union and student leaders, and others who are diagnosed as 'political maniacs' and subjected to shock therapy and psycho-tropic medications."[3]
Robin Munro devoted an entire chapter of his book, Dangerous Minds: Political Psychiatry in China Today and its Origins in the Mao Era to the psychiatric abuse of Falun Gong practitioners. In "The Falun Gong: New Targets of Psychiatric Abuse,"[4] he describes how 42-year-old Tian Guihua was abused at the Jiaozhou Mental Hospital in Shandong Province. Eight mental patients held her down, while a doctor injected her with nerve damaging drugs. "Later the female doctor asked Tan daily whether she would continue to practice Falun Gong. Tan said, 'yes,' and the doctor shocked her with electrical needles."[5]
The Political Use of Drugs at Mental Hospitals
Xuzhou Mental Hospital in Jiangsu Province is a typical example. Reports of abuse started coming in shortly after July 20, 1999, when the persecution started. In December 2000, these healthy Falun Gong practitioners were sent to the Xuzhou Mental Hospital: Gao Chuanyin, Gao Xiayun, Lu Bingling, Niu Shuxia, Wang Jinghua, Meng Qinquan, Wang Hui, and Wang Ping. In March 2001, practitioners Wu Di, Peng Zhongmei, Ding Jianhua, Yuan Ling, Guo Juanling, Bian Guiling, Wang Yumei, Dong Mei, Gao Chunmei, and Ma Jiling were sent there as well.
Practitioners have reported losing consciousness, being tied with ropes, given electroshock treatments, being deprived of sleep, staring blankly, drooling, trembling, losing their eyesight or hearing, the destruction of muscles or internal organs, loss of memory, physical or mental disability, and even death. One of them asked the medical staff, "Why did you inject and feed these drugs to us who are not sick? They answered, "It is not up to us; people at the top instructed us to do so. We don't want to treat you like this but we don't want to lose our jobs either."
Prolonged Practice of Psychiatric Torture
Since the object of psychiatric treatment is not the "patient's" well being, it may take place in mental hospitals, forced labor camps, or any detention facility. The following accounts remind us of what takes place under China's expanding economy.
1. Mr. Zhao Peijie, male, 32 years of age, from Xiaonigou Village, Datong Town, Rongcheng City, Shandong Province, was beaten, tortured, and forced to take drugs that destroyed his central nervous system. As a result, he became mentally ill. He died in the wilderness on June 28, 2008.
2. In April 2006, officials from the Chibi City Police Department, Hubei Province arrested Ms. Liu Xiaolian, 69, and sent her to the Psychiatric Department of the Pufang Hospital. At the hospital, Ms. Liu was brutally beaten, injected with toxic drugs, fed with mentally debilitating drugs, and shocked with high-voltage electric batons. For 24 hours, they continuously injected her with the mental drug. She lost consciousness for two consecutive days and her whole body became dark and swollen. After she woke up, she temporarily lost the ability to speak. She died on the afternoon of October 26, 2008.
3. Ms. Li Dongqing, 46, lived in Shenyang City, Liaoning Province. On May 24, 2008, she was arrested and put into the Dongling District Mental Hospital in Shenyang. She was injected with drugs, which made her suffer severe psychological damage.
4. Ms. Han Ming was an employee of the Pingshui Machinery Factory in Pingba County, Guizhou Province. On February 28, 2001, she was sentenced to two years of forced labor. While detained in the Guizhou Province Women's Forced Labor Camp, she was injected with an unknown drug, which caused her entire body to suffer muscle atrophy. Her condition deteriorated and she died on March 20, 2003, at the age of 30.
5. Ms. Zhang Wuying and her husband Mr. Wu Dianhui are from Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province. In February of 2000, the Changzhou Public Security Bureau arrested Mr. Wu. Although Mr. Wu and his wife were not mentally ill, after he was released from the detention center, the two were forcibly taken to the Changzhou Liberation Army's 102 Mental Hospital. Ms. Zhang was tied to the bed, injected with drugs and force-fed, even though she was over five months pregnant.
To cover up their crimes, the perpetrators typically blame the victim. In one example, Ms. Meng Lijun died after she was injected with poisonous drugs and had harmful drugs mixed in her food and water. Her family asked the police why they used drugs on a healthy person. They replied, "She had a mental problem because of practicing Falun Gong and she contracted the mental illness before her imprisonment."
Ms. Meng is just one of the many thousands.
1. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/docs/CAT.C.CHN.CO.4.pdf
2. http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/publisher,UNCHR,MISSION,CHN,,0.html
3. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/27/opinion/l-jailed-in-china-confront-the-abuse-574694.html
4. Robin Munro on Falun Gong (See Page 158)
5. Ibid. Page 163
Contact: 619-280-3112
Monday, October 12, 2009
Zionists show their respect of Palestinians: Israelis flatten Palestinian home
Palestinian women checks her reflection in a wardrobe door salvaged from demolished house in Beit Hanina
Israel has demolished hundreds of Palestinian homes built without permits
Israeli authorities have demolished two Palestinian-owned structures in East Jerusalem, in defiance of international calls to stop such actions.
Palestinian reports say a family of five was forcibly evicted from their home in the Beit Hanina district before the building was demolished.
Israeli bulldozers then destroyed the foundations of another building nearby.
UN officials say such demolitions violate international law and raise serious humanitarian concerns.
Israel says buildings subject to demolition orders have been built without permits.
Palestinians say it is virtually impossible to obtain the necessary approval from Israel's municipal authorities in Jerusalem.
The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem , says the authorities have demolished about 420 Palestinian-owned houses in East Jerusalem since 2004 saying they were built without permits.
Israel occupied the territory in the 1967 war and annexed it soon afterwards in a move that has not been recognised internationally.
"Not an enemy of Israel" Clinton says North Korea missile tests won't affect talks
South Koreans watch TV reporting North Korea's missile test at a train station in Seoul, South Korea, on Monday.
Lee Jin-man / AP
Kim Jong-il's regime also delineated 'no-sail zones' off both its east and west coasts in a bid to show toughness ahead of talks on its nuclear program.
By Donald Kirk |
Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
from the October 12, 2009 edition
Seoul, South Korea - North Korea interrupted moves toward dialogue on its nuclear program Monday by reportedly test-firing five short-range missiles off its east coast.
A South Korean official, briefing the Korean media, said two short-range KN-02 missiles were fired in the morning and three more in the afternoon. The missiles, with a range of 75 miles, were shot from mobile launch pads near where North Korea fired a long-range Taepodong-2 missile on April 5.
The timing of the tests, the North's first in three months, is particularly significant since North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il has shown clear interest in opening two-way dialogue with the US – and has even indicated his willingness to enter six-party talks that he had previously vowed to spurn. The tests are an effort to show North Korea's toughness – and at the same time to draw the US into bilateral talks, which the US has said it would agree to only if North Korea first agreed to six-party talks. Koh Yu Hwan, a professor at Dongguk University here, was quoted by Yonhap, the South Korean news agency, as saying the tests help North Korea "stake out its position ahead of its talks with the outside world." Ryoo Kihl Jae, professor at the University of North Korean Studies, said North Korea was "demonstrating its guts."
Clinton plays down missile tests
The US response to Monday's tests, however, suggested that North Korea may have to do more to make an impression. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in Belfast, said the US position was "unaffected by the behavior of North Korea" and the US goal "remains the same" – to get the North to return to six-party talks.
The US has still not confirmed plans for the US envoy on North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, to go to Pyongyang in pursuit of six-party talks. Nor has the US approved a visit to Washington by a North Korean official despite "speculation in Seoul," said Yonhap, that he wants to go there "to set up bilateral dialogue."
China's visit to Pyongyang
The missiles were launched just two days after talks in Beijing in which China's Premier Wen Jiabao assured South Korea's President Lee Myung Bak and Japan's new prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, that Mr. Kim would like to improve relations with South Korea and Japan as well as the US.
Mr. Wen based that assessment on his three-day visit to Pyongyang that began last week when Kim Jong-il personally greeted him at the airport. Kim, before seeing Wen off in another airport ceremony, said he was ready to authorize North Korea's return to multilateral talks depending on "the outcome" of dialogue with the US.
China and North Korea also signed deals on trade and investment during Wen's visit – all vital to stabilizing the North's deteriorating economy.
'No-sail zones'
North Korea, moreover, signaled the possibility of more tests by delineating no-sail zones off both its east and west coasts. South Korea's defense ministry said the no-sail zones had gone into effect on Saturday while Wen was meeting the leaders of South Korea and Japan, and would last until October 20.
By warning ships to stay away, North Korea raised the possibility of tests of medium-range missiles – and possibly of another long-range missile. North Korea's test-firing of missiles in early July and again on Monday appeared as a sign of defiance of stringent sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council in June in the wake of the North's underground nuclear test on May 25.
See, you can be as intransigent as all hell, threatening nukes at everyone, but that's OK as long as you're not an enemy of Israel. Pakistan too is lousy with militant Muslims gets a pass because Israel knows Pakistan's leadership is under the thumb of the U.S.A.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
A Palestinian dream: Speech by President Obama delivered in Congress 2010
My fellow Americans.
Millions of you and not special interest groups elected us to office on a platform of change and it is time for us all to deliver. I am laying out a program to do so but first we have to face some painful truths that have increasingly become obvious…
On the economy:
As you know, we now have the largest ever recorded debt for this government (at 11.9 trillion dollars meaning some $40,000 national debt per citizen of the USA). We have also just recorded the largest deficit in budget in history with our government expenses outpacing revenue by $1.4 trillion for the last fiscal year. The fact that our citizens and corporations are also frequently in debt to the same creditors means that those creditors hold a very strong stranglehold on our economy and our nation's future. Some of those people are individuals who have traditionally owed their office to the US government- people like royal families in the Gulf Arab states. Others have far more influence and control over International financial institutions. The future of America cannot be held hostage to those foreign interests.
A study by the economist Thomas R. Stauffer showed that the cost of the US support to Israel until 2003 was $3 trillion (Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, June 2003). I have asked an independent team of economic advisors (not including any supporters of Israel or of Palestinians) to evaluate these figures and the panel concluded that the figures are actually somewhat higher. Seven years ago, our country has invaded and occupied Iraq costing us thousands of American lives and over a million Iraqi lives but also costing us an additional $3 trillion (see the book by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stieglitz and Kennedy School of Government professor Linda J. Bilmes, “The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict”). That we attacked Iraq in contravention of the UN charter and at the behest of a group of neoconservative Zionists is now well established (see the book by Professors Mearsheimer and Walt on this Israel-first lobby). The same lobby is pushing us for conflict with Iran which other economists estimate will be even costlier (Iran has a size and population three times that of Iraq and its military is far more advanced than Iraq ever was even before the sanctions were applied to Iraq in the 1990s). In short, our support for Israel (even excluding conflict with Iran) has cost us more than half our national debt of $12 trillion. My administration wants to get our house in order and spend and live within our means. These desires shared by most of us must now be matched by actions and I call on us in the executive branch and on both houses of Congress to get together to effect a real change that will prevent any further erosion in our economic power and slowly begin to reclaim our rights.
On national security:
My fellow Americans....I was gratified to receive the Nobel Peace Prize but getting top peace is not an easy task when dealing with a history of wars and conflicts over the past 200 years. This is especially true when we in America had a large part to play in these wars and conflicts. In 1916, the first major European war was raging and had reached a deadly stalemate with trench warfare. Germany offered a deal to end the war and the parties returning to prewar borders. But our country was approached by a group of our own citizens who as part of the International World Zionist Organization have made a different deal with Britain and France. These citizens including one previous Supreme Court Judge pressured our government to enter the war on the side of the allies who promised the Zionist movement to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine in return for this lobbying effort. Palestine then had a population that was 93% Christian and Muslim native Palestinians. The Jules (French) and Balfour (English) public declarations of support for the Zionist project were then adopted also by the US Congress under heavy Zionist pressure. Many humanistic Jews opposed the scheme that would collect them from around the world displacing native population. Despite the majority of the US public being against us entering that European first war, our government decided to go to war based on these narrow short-term political interests. After WWII, my predecessor President Truman decided to support the Zionist project for similar reasons. This only matched his decision to use atomic weapons that killed and maimed hundreds of thousands of civilians even when he knew that surrender by Japan could have been achieved in other less deadly ways. Since 1945, we have used American military forces in over 40 countries killing millions. Today we have US troops stationed in three times as many countries. Our military uses most of our discretionary budget. We are now engaged in active hot conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Our military forces have also engaged in attacks in Somalia and Sudan in the last two years. It is not a coincidence that these are all countries in the Middle East that the domestic lobby called AIPAC has had a lot to say about long before the conflicts arose.
The security establishment now recognizes that our attacks on these countries did not enhance our security but degraded it in the long term and created a pool of millions who hate our policie. Since the events of Sept 11, 2001, the US has lost more credibility around the world as we failed to investigate the real reason behind these events or to draw the appropriate lessons. Instead our government chose to listen to foreign agendas and engage in brutal attacks on others who had nothing to do with Sept 11 using manufactured myths and propaganda that we are now resurre4cting with respect to yet one more country- Iran. Surveys showed that even among our traditional allies in Western Europe, people believe the US and Israel (not Iran or North Korea) pose the most significant risk to world peace. My administration has done much to allay the fears of the rest of the world about US hegemony and intentions of unilateral dictates on their future. But our statements must be matched with actions on the ground which we have so far failed to achieve. We cannot address people’s legitimate concerns about US policy by public relations.
Addressing these challenges:
The conundrums created by the policies cited above cannot be solved by incremental changes like stimulus packages, healthcare reforms, shuffling some troops from one country to another, or closing Guantanamo (needed as these are). The American people and the world at large look for real change and it is time to listen to them instead of Washington lobbyists. I am laying out these principles that I believe are critical to begin to achieve the change we all seek:
1-I ask Congress to dissolve the Federal Reserve (a private unelected entity of Bankers) an institution that caused great pain in our country. The Government will print its own money and this money will return to being backed by Gold. We cannot continue down the same direction that already degraded the dollar value by 40% against the leading world currencies over the past few years.
2-I have invoked my right as a commander in chief and in compliance of US law that prohibit funding violators of human rights and issued an executive order that suspended all military and economic assistance to the state of Israel (now at $3 billion is our largest foreign aid recipient) until a) it complies with human rights and prosecutes all officers who committed human rights violations (especially those using US supplied weapons and finances) and b) it complies with all relevant United Nations General Assembly and Security Council resolutions. I ask the American public to engage in discussion to expose the extent of financial loss caused to us by support of Israeli violations of these resolutions. Citizens have a right to demand transparency about who lobbies their congressional representatives and what decisions they make in Congress that benefits foreign powers at the expense of US citizens. Hillary Clinton had to step down as Secretary of State because of clear conflict of Interest issues that will be investigated involving the same foreign interests. I am pleased to report that Cynthia McKinney has accepted to be my nominee for Secretary of state.
3-I have instructed my Attorney General to create a task force to seek return and reimbursement to the American public from the World Zionist Organization and the State of Israel the massive transfer in wealth that occurred as a result of their activities especially when these activities were illegal under US laws (e.g. not registering under the congressional requirement of registration as foreign lobbies). There is now considerable evidence that the Zionist movement has accumulated hundreds of billions of dollars with schemes that are at best shady and at worst extortionist and illegal, it would be indeed possible using existing laws to seek a return of these assets. There is also evidence that some of these same money was recycled to spend on lobbying activities to and pressure tactics to get even more billions of dollars.
4-I have asked the Department of Defense to begin the process of withdrawing US troops from all 120 foreign countries they are stationed in (beginning with Afghanistan). Our budget prediction is that once this is accomplished we will be able to trim our defense budget in half saving tax payers hundreds of billions of dollars.
5-We will create two new national museums each with the same budget as the current National Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC. The museums will commemorate the genocides (holocausts) of Native Americans and of African Americans. This will begin to heal the wounds of our world and face-up to our own historical responsibilities.
6- Where we were wrong historically we must face up to it. I have thus asked ex-president Jimmy Carter and the group of elder statesmen to lead the creation of a “Truth and Reconciliation Department” with sections to deal with all outstanding issues including Vietnam, our war and Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. The commissions created under this Department will have jurisdictions to prosecute war criminals or refer them to the International Courts as legally appropriate.
7-We will no longer support dictators and corrupt leaders. We will demand removal of dictators like Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak who has been in office for over three decades with Western support. We will support democratic elections even when parties that get elected are not supportive of Israel or the previous US policy shaped in Tel Aviv. We will instead engage in immediate talks with groups like Hezbollah and Hamas and with countries like Venezuela and Iran to build a better future for all of us inequality and we will push for democracy and support of the will of the people even when this means resistance to Israeli hegemony. As John Kennedy stated once "If we make peaceful revolution impossible, we make violent revolution inevitable."
8-We must focus on the daunting real challenge of our planet not the manufactured crises that special interests want us to focus on. Thus, instead of confronting Iran, Venezuela, and other nations, I am now asking those nations to join us as equals on the table to discuss climate change and fair and equitable distribution of world resources. We will together invest in alternative energy and safeguard our joint environment. And we will eliminate nuclear weapons.
9- I urge our allies to use the example we set and face to the historical injustice they have committed (e.g. European Colonization in the Americas, Africa and Asia) so that we can put these issues behind us as we focus on other pressing issues.
These changes that provide practical solutions will be resisted by the same entrenched power that created the problems. We must be courageous enough to demand real change and implement it. We recall how in our nation’s history it was always people who made the change not politicians. It was the masses of people that gave the women’s right to vote, and later achieved the pressure needed to realize the enactment of civil rights laws. It was massive people resistance that ended the war on Vietnam and ended US support for Apartheid South Africa. To these movements we are also grateful for the 40 hour week and for social security and for the support of education that allowed a person like me to be who we can be. I believe this is another pivotal moment in our history. As we rise to the challenge, our economical, political, and moral standing will begin to make a real turn around.
I stated before that these challenges and the changes they require are bigger than one government or one country alone can handle. People of various faiths and of all political and ethnic backgrounds are indeed joining together to address these issues. I know we can count on millions of you in America and millions abroad to join us in this historic struggle for a better future. Now is the time for real change. This is our moment. Join us. God bless you and God bless our planet.
[One can hope; if not Obama, then maybe another US president but only when and if more/enough US taxpayers wake –up to how they are being fleeced and cause the change... that is our responsibility…]
Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
A Bedouin in cyberspace, a villager at home
http://qumsiyeh.org
Millions of you and not special interest groups elected us to office on a platform of change and it is time for us all to deliver. I am laying out a program to do so but first we have to face some painful truths that have increasingly become obvious…
On the economy:
As you know, we now have the largest ever recorded debt for this government (at 11.9 trillion dollars meaning some $40,000 national debt per citizen of the USA). We have also just recorded the largest deficit in budget in history with our government expenses outpacing revenue by $1.4 trillion for the last fiscal year. The fact that our citizens and corporations are also frequently in debt to the same creditors means that those creditors hold a very strong stranglehold on our economy and our nation's future. Some of those people are individuals who have traditionally owed their office to the US government- people like royal families in the Gulf Arab states. Others have far more influence and control over International financial institutions. The future of America cannot be held hostage to those foreign interests.
A study by the economist Thomas R. Stauffer showed that the cost of the US support to Israel until 2003 was $3 trillion (Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, June 2003). I have asked an independent team of economic advisors (not including any supporters of Israel or of Palestinians) to evaluate these figures and the panel concluded that the figures are actually somewhat higher. Seven years ago, our country has invaded and occupied Iraq costing us thousands of American lives and over a million Iraqi lives but also costing us an additional $3 trillion (see the book by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stieglitz and Kennedy School of Government professor Linda J. Bilmes, “The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict”). That we attacked Iraq in contravention of the UN charter and at the behest of a group of neoconservative Zionists is now well established (see the book by Professors Mearsheimer and Walt on this Israel-first lobby). The same lobby is pushing us for conflict with Iran which other economists estimate will be even costlier (Iran has a size and population three times that of Iraq and its military is far more advanced than Iraq ever was even before the sanctions were applied to Iraq in the 1990s). In short, our support for Israel (even excluding conflict with Iran) has cost us more than half our national debt of $12 trillion. My administration wants to get our house in order and spend and live within our means. These desires shared by most of us must now be matched by actions and I call on us in the executive branch and on both houses of Congress to get together to effect a real change that will prevent any further erosion in our economic power and slowly begin to reclaim our rights.
On national security:
My fellow Americans....I was gratified to receive the Nobel Peace Prize but getting top peace is not an easy task when dealing with a history of wars and conflicts over the past 200 years. This is especially true when we in America had a large part to play in these wars and conflicts. In 1916, the first major European war was raging and had reached a deadly stalemate with trench warfare. Germany offered a deal to end the war and the parties returning to prewar borders. But our country was approached by a group of our own citizens who as part of the International World Zionist Organization have made a different deal with Britain and France. These citizens including one previous Supreme Court Judge pressured our government to enter the war on the side of the allies who promised the Zionist movement to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine in return for this lobbying effort. Palestine then had a population that was 93% Christian and Muslim native Palestinians. The Jules (French) and Balfour (English) public declarations of support for the Zionist project were then adopted also by the US Congress under heavy Zionist pressure. Many humanistic Jews opposed the scheme that would collect them from around the world displacing native population. Despite the majority of the US public being against us entering that European first war, our government decided to go to war based on these narrow short-term political interests. After WWII, my predecessor President Truman decided to support the Zionist project for similar reasons. This only matched his decision to use atomic weapons that killed and maimed hundreds of thousands of civilians even when he knew that surrender by Japan could have been achieved in other less deadly ways. Since 1945, we have used American military forces in over 40 countries killing millions. Today we have US troops stationed in three times as many countries. Our military uses most of our discretionary budget. We are now engaged in active hot conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Our military forces have also engaged in attacks in Somalia and Sudan in the last two years. It is not a coincidence that these are all countries in the Middle East that the domestic lobby called AIPAC has had a lot to say about long before the conflicts arose.
The security establishment now recognizes that our attacks on these countries did not enhance our security but degraded it in the long term and created a pool of millions who hate our policie. Since the events of Sept 11, 2001, the US has lost more credibility around the world as we failed to investigate the real reason behind these events or to draw the appropriate lessons. Instead our government chose to listen to foreign agendas and engage in brutal attacks on others who had nothing to do with Sept 11 using manufactured myths and propaganda that we are now resurre4cting with respect to yet one more country- Iran. Surveys showed that even among our traditional allies in Western Europe, people believe the US and Israel (not Iran or North Korea) pose the most significant risk to world peace. My administration has done much to allay the fears of the rest of the world about US hegemony and intentions of unilateral dictates on their future. But our statements must be matched with actions on the ground which we have so far failed to achieve. We cannot address people’s legitimate concerns about US policy by public relations.
Addressing these challenges:
The conundrums created by the policies cited above cannot be solved by incremental changes like stimulus packages, healthcare reforms, shuffling some troops from one country to another, or closing Guantanamo (needed as these are). The American people and the world at large look for real change and it is time to listen to them instead of Washington lobbyists. I am laying out these principles that I believe are critical to begin to achieve the change we all seek:
1-I ask Congress to dissolve the Federal Reserve (a private unelected entity of Bankers) an institution that caused great pain in our country. The Government will print its own money and this money will return to being backed by Gold. We cannot continue down the same direction that already degraded the dollar value by 40% against the leading world currencies over the past few years.
2-I have invoked my right as a commander in chief and in compliance of US law that prohibit funding violators of human rights and issued an executive order that suspended all military and economic assistance to the state of Israel (now at $3 billion is our largest foreign aid recipient) until a) it complies with human rights and prosecutes all officers who committed human rights violations (especially those using US supplied weapons and finances) and b) it complies with all relevant United Nations General Assembly and Security Council resolutions. I ask the American public to engage in discussion to expose the extent of financial loss caused to us by support of Israeli violations of these resolutions. Citizens have a right to demand transparency about who lobbies their congressional representatives and what decisions they make in Congress that benefits foreign powers at the expense of US citizens. Hillary Clinton had to step down as Secretary of State because of clear conflict of Interest issues that will be investigated involving the same foreign interests. I am pleased to report that Cynthia McKinney has accepted to be my nominee for Secretary of state.
3-I have instructed my Attorney General to create a task force to seek return and reimbursement to the American public from the World Zionist Organization and the State of Israel the massive transfer in wealth that occurred as a result of their activities especially when these activities were illegal under US laws (e.g. not registering under the congressional requirement of registration as foreign lobbies). There is now considerable evidence that the Zionist movement has accumulated hundreds of billions of dollars with schemes that are at best shady and at worst extortionist and illegal, it would be indeed possible using existing laws to seek a return of these assets. There is also evidence that some of these same money was recycled to spend on lobbying activities to and pressure tactics to get even more billions of dollars.
4-I have asked the Department of Defense to begin the process of withdrawing US troops from all 120 foreign countries they are stationed in (beginning with Afghanistan). Our budget prediction is that once this is accomplished we will be able to trim our defense budget in half saving tax payers hundreds of billions of dollars.
5-We will create two new national museums each with the same budget as the current National Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC. The museums will commemorate the genocides (holocausts) of Native Americans and of African Americans. This will begin to heal the wounds of our world and face-up to our own historical responsibilities.
6- Where we were wrong historically we must face up to it. I have thus asked ex-president Jimmy Carter and the group of elder statesmen to lead the creation of a “Truth and Reconciliation Department” with sections to deal with all outstanding issues including Vietnam, our war and Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. The commissions created under this Department will have jurisdictions to prosecute war criminals or refer them to the International Courts as legally appropriate.
7-We will no longer support dictators and corrupt leaders. We will demand removal of dictators like Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak who has been in office for over three decades with Western support. We will support democratic elections even when parties that get elected are not supportive of Israel or the previous US policy shaped in Tel Aviv. We will instead engage in immediate talks with groups like Hezbollah and Hamas and with countries like Venezuela and Iran to build a better future for all of us inequality and we will push for democracy and support of the will of the people even when this means resistance to Israeli hegemony. As John Kennedy stated once "If we make peaceful revolution impossible, we make violent revolution inevitable."
8-We must focus on the daunting real challenge of our planet not the manufactured crises that special interests want us to focus on. Thus, instead of confronting Iran, Venezuela, and other nations, I am now asking those nations to join us as equals on the table to discuss climate change and fair and equitable distribution of world resources. We will together invest in alternative energy and safeguard our joint environment. And we will eliminate nuclear weapons.
9- I urge our allies to use the example we set and face to the historical injustice they have committed (e.g. European Colonization in the Americas, Africa and Asia) so that we can put these issues behind us as we focus on other pressing issues.
These changes that provide practical solutions will be resisted by the same entrenched power that created the problems. We must be courageous enough to demand real change and implement it. We recall how in our nation’s history it was always people who made the change not politicians. It was the masses of people that gave the women’s right to vote, and later achieved the pressure needed to realize the enactment of civil rights laws. It was massive people resistance that ended the war on Vietnam and ended US support for Apartheid South Africa. To these movements we are also grateful for the 40 hour week and for social security and for the support of education that allowed a person like me to be who we can be. I believe this is another pivotal moment in our history. As we rise to the challenge, our economical, political, and moral standing will begin to make a real turn around.
I stated before that these challenges and the changes they require are bigger than one government or one country alone can handle. People of various faiths and of all political and ethnic backgrounds are indeed joining together to address these issues. I know we can count on millions of you in America and millions abroad to join us in this historic struggle for a better future. Now is the time for real change. This is our moment. Join us. God bless you and God bless our planet.
[One can hope; if not Obama, then maybe another US president but only when and if more/enough US taxpayers wake –up to how they are being fleeced and cause the change... that is our responsibility…]
Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
A Bedouin in cyberspace, a villager at home
http://qumsiyeh.org
U.S. upholds contiguous Palestinian state
www.chinaview.cn
2009-10-12 01:02:52
by David Harris
JERUSALEM, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- U.S. special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell told reporters after meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday that Washington supports the creation of a Palestinian state with "contiguous territory."
The "contiguous" Palestinian state suggests that Palestinians would be able to travel between any two places of their future state without entering Israel.
Analysts believe that Mitchell was reassuring Palestinians over its position of upholding the creation of a Palestinian state.
Jonathan Rynhold, a senior research associate at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies near Tel Aviv, said Mitchell used the word "contiguity" to make the Palestinians understand that the U.S. is not prepared to allow Israel to continue settlement expansion, despite Benjamin Netanyahu's reticence over a complete freeze on Israeli construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The idea of being able to move through a Palestinian state in the West Bank without having to enter Israel is not new. It had been talked about during the administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush.
However, the Palestinian leadership is seemingly seeking reassurance from the current U.S. government of Barack Obama regarding the geographical nature of a Palestinian state.
The Palestinians want negotiations to resume from where they left off a year ago, when Ehud Olmert was the Israeli prime minister. His successor Benjamin Netanyahu, however, wants talks to begin without preconditions.
"This is the Americans saying 'we've got our standard preconditions and here's one of them. You've both agreed in the past to negotiate on this basis, so here's something you really can't say no to as a precondition'," said Rynhold.
By discussing and stressing contiguity, the Americans are sending a message to the Israelis concerning settlements, he added.
He cited Israel's so-called E1 project as an example. The scheme intends linking Maaleh Adumin, an Israeli town of some 30,000 people in the West Bank, with Jerusalem.
Both the Palestinians and the Americans object to its implementation because they say it will break the West Bank in two. Rynhold believes the Israelis will accept this argument.
"Israel can live with the Road Map and it can live with contiguity," he said, referring to the document that currently serves as the basis for the international push for a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians.
The Road Map refers to the "creation of an independent Palestinian state with provisional borders through a process ... to enhance maximum territorial contiguity, including further action on settlements."
Some in Israel and beyond suggest that a Palestinian state be created only in the West Bank, because of the ongoing battle between the West Bank-based Fatah movement and its key political rival Hamas, which has been controlling Gaza for over two years. However, the majority is holding that the West Bank and Gaza should together constitute a single Palestinian state.
As such, the two would have to be physically linked. While the idea of a contiguous state makes perfect sense, there are practicalities on the ground that would have to be thrashed out with the Israelis.
The distance from the West Bank to Gaza at their closest points is some 30 kilometers as the crow flies. That distance would have to be crossed via one or more secured methods, with both rail and road as possible options. Tunnels and viaducts have both been suggested in the past.
Whatever the eventual solution would be, the issue is one that is often "overlooked," according to Justus Reid Weiner, the co-author of Linking the Gaza Strip with the West Bank: Implications of a Palestinian Corridor across Israel.
"A state does not possess an inherent right to a link between its geographically distinct areas. In particular this may be applied to the sovereign link called for by the Palestinians between Gaza and the West Bank," he suggested, underscoring Israel's fears about a safe passage between the two territories being used by militants without Israeli ability to intervene.
However, the majority opinion does appear to favor some physical link between Gaza and the West Bank.
These and other issues, particularly those surrounding Israeli settlements in the West Bank, are likely to be high on Mitchell's agenda during the rest of this week.
On Thursday, the envoy, along with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is expected to present to Obama an interim report on progress to date about the efforts to bring the Palestinians and Israelis back to the negotiating table.
With that in mind, Mitchell travelled to Egypt over the weekend where he met two senior government ministers. Washington is hoping that Cairo can help revive the Israeli-Palestinian talks and prod Hamas and Fatah to end their various disputes ahead of peace talks.
The Obama administration has thus far taken Egypt's role very seriously. Egyptian opinion has been sought along the path as Obama seeks to find a new formula to advance Palestinian-Israeli peace."
Only a single democratic Palestinian/Israeli state will work in the long run. The place is far too small to be divided into warring camps as it is now. The Canaan Peace Plan is the model to follow for permanent resolution of the I-P conflict because it allows Israeli and Palestinian communities to co-exist where they are now without massive relocation.
2009-10-12 01:02:52
by David Harris
JERUSALEM, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- U.S. special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell told reporters after meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday that Washington supports the creation of a Palestinian state with "contiguous territory."
The "contiguous" Palestinian state suggests that Palestinians would be able to travel between any two places of their future state without entering Israel.
Analysts believe that Mitchell was reassuring Palestinians over its position of upholding the creation of a Palestinian state.
Jonathan Rynhold, a senior research associate at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies near Tel Aviv, said Mitchell used the word "contiguity" to make the Palestinians understand that the U.S. is not prepared to allow Israel to continue settlement expansion, despite Benjamin Netanyahu's reticence over a complete freeze on Israeli construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The idea of being able to move through a Palestinian state in the West Bank without having to enter Israel is not new. It had been talked about during the administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush.
However, the Palestinian leadership is seemingly seeking reassurance from the current U.S. government of Barack Obama regarding the geographical nature of a Palestinian state.
The Palestinians want negotiations to resume from where they left off a year ago, when Ehud Olmert was the Israeli prime minister. His successor Benjamin Netanyahu, however, wants talks to begin without preconditions.
"This is the Americans saying 'we've got our standard preconditions and here's one of them. You've both agreed in the past to negotiate on this basis, so here's something you really can't say no to as a precondition'," said Rynhold.
By discussing and stressing contiguity, the Americans are sending a message to the Israelis concerning settlements, he added.
He cited Israel's so-called E1 project as an example. The scheme intends linking Maaleh Adumin, an Israeli town of some 30,000 people in the West Bank, with Jerusalem.
Both the Palestinians and the Americans object to its implementation because they say it will break the West Bank in two. Rynhold believes the Israelis will accept this argument.
"Israel can live with the Road Map and it can live with contiguity," he said, referring to the document that currently serves as the basis for the international push for a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians.
The Road Map refers to the "creation of an independent Palestinian state with provisional borders through a process ... to enhance maximum territorial contiguity, including further action on settlements."
Some in Israel and beyond suggest that a Palestinian state be created only in the West Bank, because of the ongoing battle between the West Bank-based Fatah movement and its key political rival Hamas, which has been controlling Gaza for over two years. However, the majority is holding that the West Bank and Gaza should together constitute a single Palestinian state.
As such, the two would have to be physically linked. While the idea of a contiguous state makes perfect sense, there are practicalities on the ground that would have to be thrashed out with the Israelis.
The distance from the West Bank to Gaza at their closest points is some 30 kilometers as the crow flies. That distance would have to be crossed via one or more secured methods, with both rail and road as possible options. Tunnels and viaducts have both been suggested in the past.
Whatever the eventual solution would be, the issue is one that is often "overlooked," according to Justus Reid Weiner, the co-author of Linking the Gaza Strip with the West Bank: Implications of a Palestinian Corridor across Israel.
"A state does not possess an inherent right to a link between its geographically distinct areas. In particular this may be applied to the sovereign link called for by the Palestinians between Gaza and the West Bank," he suggested, underscoring Israel's fears about a safe passage between the two territories being used by militants without Israeli ability to intervene.
However, the majority opinion does appear to favor some physical link between Gaza and the West Bank.
These and other issues, particularly those surrounding Israeli settlements in the West Bank, are likely to be high on Mitchell's agenda during the rest of this week.
On Thursday, the envoy, along with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is expected to present to Obama an interim report on progress to date about the efforts to bring the Palestinians and Israelis back to the negotiating table.
With that in mind, Mitchell travelled to Egypt over the weekend where he met two senior government ministers. Washington is hoping that Cairo can help revive the Israeli-Palestinian talks and prod Hamas and Fatah to end their various disputes ahead of peace talks.
The Obama administration has thus far taken Egypt's role very seriously. Egyptian opinion has been sought along the path as Obama seeks to find a new formula to advance Palestinian-Israeli peace."
Only a single democratic Palestinian/Israeli state will work in the long run. The place is far too small to be divided into warring camps as it is now. The Canaan Peace Plan is the model to follow for permanent resolution of the I-P conflict because it allows Israeli and Palestinian communities to co-exist where they are now without massive relocation.
Friday, October 09, 2009
A Palestinian peace activist asks "Why"?
Why does Obama get a prize whilst Bush gets shoes
By Iyad Burnat
Today, when I came home from our nonviolent demonstration in Bil'in, after the soldiers shot tear gas and after seeing the violence of the Israeli soldiers, I heard that President Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize. When I heard this from the media I started to go crazy. I asked myself why. The Americans are still in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Palestine is still occupied. In the recent news I saw that the Israeli soldiers closed Jerusalem, and I heard that many people were injured. We haven't seen anything changed. Why didn't the committee give the prize to Bush? I remember nine years ago Bush had a good speech about the establishment of a Palestinian state in the year of 2005. We saw after the speech that Sharon invaded Al Aqsa mosque, and the American army invaded Iraq. Why didn't you give the prize to this man at that time, and he got shoes instead? This is injustice!
I am so sorry Mr. Bush. You worked very hard, eight years with killing children, starting wars and supporting the occupation, and they gave the prize to another man.
I ask you our friends in the Nobel Committee, why didn't you choose quality? I think your prize makes the people more violent. Do you think that Obama can make peace, and why didn't you wait until he actually made the peace? Maybe he will invade another country. Sorry, but we are still under occupation and it makes us very crazy because we see every day and night the suffering of our children, and it's killing us. We hear in the speeches that the president talks about peace, but nothing has changed. To deserve a Nobel prize you need to work, not talk. We need the work to be done now, not tomorrow. We need our land now, not tomorrow.
http://www.bilin-ffj.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=201&Itemid=1
Thank you for you continued support,
Iyad Burnat- Head of Popular Commitee in Bilin
co-founder of Friends of Freedom and Justice - Bilin
By Iyad Burnat
Today, when I came home from our nonviolent demonstration in Bil'in, after the soldiers shot tear gas and after seeing the violence of the Israeli soldiers, I heard that President Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize. When I heard this from the media I started to go crazy. I asked myself why. The Americans are still in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Palestine is still occupied. In the recent news I saw that the Israeli soldiers closed Jerusalem, and I heard that many people were injured. We haven't seen anything changed. Why didn't the committee give the prize to Bush? I remember nine years ago Bush had a good speech about the establishment of a Palestinian state in the year of 2005. We saw after the speech that Sharon invaded Al Aqsa mosque, and the American army invaded Iraq. Why didn't you give the prize to this man at that time, and he got shoes instead? This is injustice!
I am so sorry Mr. Bush. You worked very hard, eight years with killing children, starting wars and supporting the occupation, and they gave the prize to another man.
I ask you our friends in the Nobel Committee, why didn't you choose quality? I think your prize makes the people more violent. Do you think that Obama can make peace, and why didn't you wait until he actually made the peace? Maybe he will invade another country. Sorry, but we are still under occupation and it makes us very crazy because we see every day and night the suffering of our children, and it's killing us. We hear in the speeches that the president talks about peace, but nothing has changed. To deserve a Nobel prize you need to work, not talk. We need the work to be done now, not tomorrow. We need our land now, not tomorrow.
http://www.bilin-ffj.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=201&Itemid=1
Thank you for you continued support,
Iyad Burnat- Head of Popular Commitee in Bilin
co-founder of Friends of Freedom and Justice - Bilin
Tony Blair's niece begins epic cycle for peace
9th October 2009
Cyclists from across the world will today arrive in Amman to take part in the 4th international Peace Cycle to Jerusalem.
Among the group are Lauren Booth, sister-in-law of Tony Blair, and her daughter Alexandra.
As ex-PM Blair becomes favorite for first President of Europe, his 8-year old niece will take a fortnight off school to cycle through the occupied Palestinian territories.
She will stay with Palestinian families and learn what life is like under Israeli occupation.
Mr Blair has not publicly commented on his niece's planned trip, which will take her to a refugee camp in Amman, home to Palestinian families made homeless in 1948, and unrecognized Arab villages within Israel.
Then, together with her mother and people from six countries, Alex will cycle the length of the West Bank where travel is severely restricted due to Israeli checkpoints, road blocks, curfews and closures.
Journalist Lauren Booth says the Peace Cycle is a chance for Alex to express her friendship and hopes for peace with her Arab, Palestinian peers.
She said: The question I have always been asked on previous trips to Gaza and the West Bank is: when can we meet your children? I have no doubt that Alex's presence will lift morale both for those cycling and, more importantly, for the families cut off from the world's children by walls and checkpoints.
As well as hoping to raise awareness of the issues around the conflict in Israel and the Palestinian territories, and calling for a just peace in the region, the Peace Cyclists are raising funds to support the establishment of a mobile eye clinic in the occupied territories.
The project is called Oyooni, Arabic for My Eyes and will enable Palestinians with diabetes and glaucoma to receive treatment they otherwise can not obtain because o f restricted movement in the Palestinian territories.
Lauren and Alexandra will be making daily reports of their journey for justice and peace. Their story can be followed at www.thepeacecycle.com
The Peace Cycle is co organized and hosted by Siraj, Center for Holy Land Studies http://www.sirajcenter.org
Please donate to the Qalqilieh Cycling Club, for more information, please do not hesitate to contact us,
Salaam and greetings.
George S. Rishmawi
Coordinator,
Siraj, Center For Holy Land Studies
Beit Sahour, Schoold Street
P.O.Box 48
Palestine
Email: george@sirajcenter.org
abusaliba@yahoo.com
abusaliba@gmail.com
abusalib@p-ol.com
Website: http://www.sirajcenter.org
Tel: +972 2 274 8590
Fax: +972 2 274 8774
Mobile: 0599 180 872
USA number: 1 989 607 9480
Cyclists from across the world will today arrive in Amman to take part in the 4th international Peace Cycle to Jerusalem.
Among the group are Lauren Booth, sister-in-law of Tony Blair, and her daughter Alexandra.
As ex-PM Blair becomes favorite for first President of Europe, his 8-year old niece will take a fortnight off school to cycle through the occupied Palestinian territories.
She will stay with Palestinian families and learn what life is like under Israeli occupation.
Mr Blair has not publicly commented on his niece's planned trip, which will take her to a refugee camp in Amman, home to Palestinian families made homeless in 1948, and unrecognized Arab villages within Israel.
Then, together with her mother and people from six countries, Alex will cycle the length of the West Bank where travel is severely restricted due to Israeli checkpoints, road blocks, curfews and closures.
Journalist Lauren Booth says the Peace Cycle is a chance for Alex to express her friendship and hopes for peace with her Arab, Palestinian peers.
She said: The question I have always been asked on previous trips to Gaza and the West Bank is: when can we meet your children? I have no doubt that Alex's presence will lift morale both for those cycling and, more importantly, for the families cut off from the world's children by walls and checkpoints.
As well as hoping to raise awareness of the issues around the conflict in Israel and the Palestinian territories, and calling for a just peace in the region, the Peace Cyclists are raising funds to support the establishment of a mobile eye clinic in the occupied territories.
The project is called Oyooni, Arabic for My Eyes and will enable Palestinians with diabetes and glaucoma to receive treatment they otherwise can not obtain because o f restricted movement in the Palestinian territories.
Lauren and Alexandra will be making daily reports of their journey for justice and peace. Their story can be followed at www.thepeacecycle.com
The Peace Cycle is co organized and hosted by Siraj, Center for Holy Land Studies http://www.sirajcenter.org
Please donate to the Qalqilieh Cycling Club, for more information, please do not hesitate to contact us,
Salaam and greetings.
George S. Rishmawi
Coordinator,
Siraj, Center For Holy Land Studies
Beit Sahour, Schoold Street
P.O.Box 48
Palestine
Email: george@sirajcenter.org
abusaliba@yahoo.com
abusaliba@gmail.com
abusalib@p-ol.com
Website: http://www.sirajcenter.org
Tel: +972 2 274 8590
Fax: +972 2 274 8774
Mobile: 0599 180 872
USA number: 1 989 607 9480
US President Barack Obama has been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.
Barack Obama's stirring oratory and easy charm have won him many supporters
The Nobel Committee said he won it for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples".
The committee highlighted Mr Obama's efforts to support international bodies and promote nuclear disarmament.
There were a record 205 nominations for this year's prize. Zimbabwe's prime minister and a Chinese dissident had been among the favourites.
The laureate - chosen by a five-member committee - wins a gold medal, a diploma and 10m Swedish kronor ($1.4m).
"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," the Norwegian committee said in a statement.
"His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population."
Asked why the prize had been awarded to Mr Obama less than a year after he took office, Nobel Committee head Thorbjoern Jagland said: "It was because we would like to support what he is trying to achieve".
"It is a clear signal that we want to advocate the same as he has done," he said.
He specifically mentioned Mr Obama's work to strengthen international institutions and work towards a world free of nuclear arms.
'New climate'
Since taking office in January, President Obama has pursued an ambitious international agenda including a push for peace in the Middle East and negotiations over Iran's nuclear programme.
But critics say he has failed to make breakthroughs. Domestically, Mr Obama has been working to tackle an economic crisis and win support for healthcare reform.
The statement from the Nobel Committee also said the US president had "created a new climate in international politics".
"Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play," it said.
The committee added that the US was now playing a more constructive role in meeting "the great climatic challenges" facing the world, and that democracy and human rights would be strengthened.
Mr Obama is the first US president to win the prize since former US President Jimmy Carter in 2002. Former vice-president Al Gore shared the prize in 2007.
Among earlier US leaders, Theodore Roosevelt won the prize in 1906 and Woodrow Wilson won it in 1919.
The Nobel prize was invented by the Swedish industrialist and inventor of dynamite Alfred Nobel, and was first awarded in 1901.
He designated the parliament in Norway, which at the time was united with Sweden, to elect the peace prize committee. Swedish academies are responsible for other prizes.
The prize-giving ceremony for the peace award is due to take place on 10 December in the Norwegian capital, Oslo.
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Road Map to Peace? Our way or the highway says "Peace Partner" Israel FM to Tell U.S. Envoy No Peace Deal Possible
By REUTERS
Published: October 8, 2009
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's foreign minister said on Thursday he would tell a visiting U.S. Middle East envoy that there was no chance of reaching a comprehensive peace deal with the Palestinians for many years.
Right-wing foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman is due to meet U.S. President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, in Jerusalem on Thursday to discuss, among other issues, the stalled peace process with the Palestinians.
"I will tell him clearly, there are many conflicts in the world that haven't reached a comprehensive solution and people learned to live with it," Lieberman told Israel Radio.
"But together with this, people made the most dramatic decision. To give up using force. To give up terror. And to stop inciting against one another," he said.
Obama has made resumption of suspended peace talks a foreign policy priority and invested significant political capital in it last month by organizing a meeting of the Israeli and Palestinian leaders in New York, with scant results.
Lieberman, whose Yisrael Beitenu party is junior partner in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, has said in the past that peace efforts with the Palestinians would take many years.
"What is possible to reach is a long-term intermediate agreement ... that leaves the tough issues for a much later stage," Lieberman said, referring to issues like the future status of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees and borders.
TINDERBOX
Mitchell will meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders this week to try to relaunch peace talks that have been stalled since Israel's war in the Gaza Strip in January.
King Abdullah of Jordan, whose country has made peace with Israel and plays an important role in advancing the peace process with the Palestinians was quoted on Thursday as saying "we are sliding back into the darkness."
"Is Israel going to be fortress Israel or is it going to be part of the neighborhood?" the King asked in an interview with the Israeli daily Haaretz.
The paper said the king had specifically asked it to relay a message to the Israeli people that it should "disavow the illusion that the status quo can be perpetuated."
He warned that Jerusalem, which the Netanyahu government says is the non-negotiable, non-divisible capital of Israel, "is a tinderbox that will have a major flashpoint throughout the Islamic world."
Fifteen years after his late father Hussein concluded a peace treaty with Jordan's Jewish neighbor state, he said, "our relationship is getting colder."
Lieberman was asked about Abdullah's warnings but did not address them directly, apart from noting that Jordan had a very large Palestinian population.
"Whoever says that it's possible to reach in the coming years a comprehensive agreement that means the end of conflict, that both sides sign on the end of conflict, simply doesn't understand the reality," Liberman said.
"He's spreading illusions and in the end brings disappointment and drags us into comprehensive confrontation."
(Writing by Ari Rabinovitch and Douglas Hamilton; Editing by Ralph Boulton)
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Published: October 8, 2009
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's foreign minister said on Thursday he would tell a visiting U.S. Middle East envoy that there was no chance of reaching a comprehensive peace deal with the Palestinians for many years.
Right-wing foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman is due to meet U.S. President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, in Jerusalem on Thursday to discuss, among other issues, the stalled peace process with the Palestinians.
"I will tell him clearly, there are many conflicts in the world that haven't reached a comprehensive solution and people learned to live with it," Lieberman told Israel Radio.
"But together with this, people made the most dramatic decision. To give up using force. To give up terror. And to stop inciting against one another," he said.
Obama has made resumption of suspended peace talks a foreign policy priority and invested significant political capital in it last month by organizing a meeting of the Israeli and Palestinian leaders in New York, with scant results.
Lieberman, whose Yisrael Beitenu party is junior partner in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, has said in the past that peace efforts with the Palestinians would take many years.
"What is possible to reach is a long-term intermediate agreement ... that leaves the tough issues for a much later stage," Lieberman said, referring to issues like the future status of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees and borders.
TINDERBOX
Mitchell will meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders this week to try to relaunch peace talks that have been stalled since Israel's war in the Gaza Strip in January.
King Abdullah of Jordan, whose country has made peace with Israel and plays an important role in advancing the peace process with the Palestinians was quoted on Thursday as saying "we are sliding back into the darkness."
"Is Israel going to be fortress Israel or is it going to be part of the neighborhood?" the King asked in an interview with the Israeli daily Haaretz.
The paper said the king had specifically asked it to relay a message to the Israeli people that it should "disavow the illusion that the status quo can be perpetuated."
He warned that Jerusalem, which the Netanyahu government says is the non-negotiable, non-divisible capital of Israel, "is a tinderbox that will have a major flashpoint throughout the Islamic world."
Fifteen years after his late father Hussein concluded a peace treaty with Jordan's Jewish neighbor state, he said, "our relationship is getting colder."
Lieberman was asked about Abdullah's warnings but did not address them directly, apart from noting that Jordan had a very large Palestinian population.
"Whoever says that it's possible to reach in the coming years a comprehensive agreement that means the end of conflict, that both sides sign on the end of conflict, simply doesn't understand the reality," Liberman said.
"He's spreading illusions and in the end brings disappointment and drags us into comprehensive confrontation."
(Writing by Ari Rabinovitch and Douglas Hamilton; Editing by Ralph Boulton)
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Sunday, October 04, 2009
Iran 'co-operation' draws praise
Mohamed ElBaradei: "I see that we are at a critical moment"
The US and the UN have given an upbeat assessment of the possibility of settling the nuclear dispute with Iran. US National Security Adviser Jim Jones said Tehran was now "willing to come to the table", following talks this week between Iran and major powers. The head of the UN's nuclear agency, who is in Tehran, said there had been a "gear shift" towards co-operation. He announced that inspectors would visit a newly revealed nuclear site in the Iranian city of Qom, on 25 October.
The US had urged Iran to give the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, "unfettered access" to the uranium enrichment facility within two weeks. Speaking on CBS television on Sunday, Mr Jones said: "We now have an Iran that is willing to come to the table." Earlier the head of the IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei, said in Tehran that inspectors would ensure that the Qom facility was for "peaceful purposes". He added: "I see that we are shifting gears from confrontation into transparency and co-operation. I continue, of course, to call on Iran to be as transparent as possible." Mr ElBaradei held talks with the top Iranian nuclear official, Ali Akbar Salehi, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He is due to leave on Monday.
Mr ElBaradei's visit comes as the New York Times quoted an internal IAEA report as saying Iran could have the know-how to produce a workable nuclear bomb. The confidential report, excerpts of which have also been published on the website of the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), emphasises that its conclusions are tentative and unconfirmed. "The agency... assesses that Iran has sufficient information to be able to design and produce a workable implosion nuclear device based upon highly enriched uranium as the fission fuel," ISIS quoted the report as saying. The New York Times said this went well beyond the public positions taken by the US and other countries on the possibility of Iran creating a bomb, but Mr ElBaradei had raised doubts about the report's reliability.
Iranian 'engagement'
Also on Sunday the US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, told NBC television that Iran had a "finite period" to open its nuclear programme to full international inspection.
She declined to set a deadline. Tehran insists it has the right to develop nuclear energy, but the revelation of the second enrichment facility has heightened fears among Western governments that it is trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies any attempt to develop a military nuclear capability. The UN Security Council has demanded a halt to uranium enrichment by Iran. The talks in Geneva earlier this week between Iran and six major powers - the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany - were the first since July 2008. Officials said the talks marked "engagement" on the part of Tehran after the country agreed to co-operate "fully and immediately" on opening the second enrichment facility to inspectors. The two sides also agreed to hold further talks in October.
The US and the UN have given an upbeat assessment of the possibility of settling the nuclear dispute with Iran. US National Security Adviser Jim Jones said Tehran was now "willing to come to the table", following talks this week between Iran and major powers. The head of the UN's nuclear agency, who is in Tehran, said there had been a "gear shift" towards co-operation. He announced that inspectors would visit a newly revealed nuclear site in the Iranian city of Qom, on 25 October.
The US had urged Iran to give the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, "unfettered access" to the uranium enrichment facility within two weeks. Speaking on CBS television on Sunday, Mr Jones said: "We now have an Iran that is willing to come to the table." Earlier the head of the IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei, said in Tehran that inspectors would ensure that the Qom facility was for "peaceful purposes". He added: "I see that we are shifting gears from confrontation into transparency and co-operation. I continue, of course, to call on Iran to be as transparent as possible." Mr ElBaradei held talks with the top Iranian nuclear official, Ali Akbar Salehi, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He is due to leave on Monday.
Mr ElBaradei's visit comes as the New York Times quoted an internal IAEA report as saying Iran could have the know-how to produce a workable nuclear bomb. The confidential report, excerpts of which have also been published on the website of the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), emphasises that its conclusions are tentative and unconfirmed. "The agency... assesses that Iran has sufficient information to be able to design and produce a workable implosion nuclear device based upon highly enriched uranium as the fission fuel," ISIS quoted the report as saying. The New York Times said this went well beyond the public positions taken by the US and other countries on the possibility of Iran creating a bomb, but Mr ElBaradei had raised doubts about the report's reliability.
Iranian 'engagement'
Also on Sunday the US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, told NBC television that Iran had a "finite period" to open its nuclear programme to full international inspection.
She declined to set a deadline. Tehran insists it has the right to develop nuclear energy, but the revelation of the second enrichment facility has heightened fears among Western governments that it is trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies any attempt to develop a military nuclear capability. The UN Security Council has demanded a halt to uranium enrichment by Iran. The talks in Geneva earlier this week between Iran and six major powers - the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany - were the first since July 2008. Officials said the talks marked "engagement" on the part of Tehran after the country agreed to co-operate "fully and immediately" on opening the second enrichment facility to inspectors. The two sides also agreed to hold further talks in October.
Palestinians slam Abbas over UN Gaza report delay
* Abbas stance criticised even within his own party
* 14 rights groups condemn delay over U.N. Gaza report
* Dismay on streets; minister voices surprise at decision
By Mohammed Assadi
Sun Oct 4, 2009 12:24pm EDT
RAMALLAH, West Bank, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Critics accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday of letting down his people by bowing to U.S. pressure and postponing action on a U.N. report that criticised Israel's offensive in Gaza.
The Palestinian Authority agreed in Geneva on Friday to defer a vote in the United Nations Human Rights Council on a resolution that would have condemned Israel's failure to cooperate with a U.N. war crimes investigation led by South African jurist Richard Goldstone. It would also have forwarded his report to the Security Council.
Hamas, the Islamist group which runs the Gaza Strip, condemned Abbas, but the president and his Palestinian Authority also faced anger from commentators in their own backyard in the West Bank, and even criticism within Abbas's own Fatah party.
"Abu Mazen has lost a lot from this," said Shawan Jabarin, who runs the al-Haq human rights watchdog in Ramallah, using Abbas's familiar name.
"Even the average man in the street thinks Abu Mazen has given up the rights of the victims and given up on pursuing Israeli war criminals," Jabarin added.
Protesters said they would march in Ramallah on Monday.
A group of 14 rights groups issued a statement condemning the consent to a delay and vowing to "seek justice".
The United States said it was in the interests of efforts to relaunch peace negotiations between Abbas and Israel that the U.N. body give both Israel and Hamas more time to pursue Goldstone's recommendations that they each launch their own credible investigations into possible crimes in January's war.
Palestinians say over 900 of 1,400 people killed in Gaza were civilians. Israel, which contests those figures, lost 10 soldiers and three civilians during the three-week offensive, which it said it launched with the aim of halting rocket attacks from Gaza that disrupted life in nearby Israeli towns.
Abbas's foreign minister, Riyad al-Malki, said the Authority agreed with postponing until March a vote that could lead to the Security Council referring Israel and Hamas to the International Criminal Court. Israel has denounced the report as biased.
"COST US DEAR"
Ismail Haniyeh, once Abbas's prime minister and the leader of Hamas in Gaza, said Abbas's consent to deferring a vote on the report "encouraged the occupier ... to continue his crimes".
But even within Fatah, where Abbas has struggled to assert the kind of dominance his late predecessor Yasser Arafat enjoyed, voices were raised against the decision in Geneva.
"The consent to defer the vote had cost us dear. We'll need years to fix this mistake," said one Fatah official, who declined, however, to be quoted by name.
Abbas's government, led by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, has demanded the report's recommendations be implemented in full. Planning Minister Ali Jarbawi expressed his "surprise" over the Palestinian consent to a postponed vote.
On the streets of Abbas's West Bank base, Ramallah, there was also dismay. "This shows that the Palestinian leadership cannot be trusted to defend our just cause and this will cost us international sympathy," said bank clerk Husam Ahmad.
Formal negotiations with Israel on establishing a Palestinian state have been suspended since the Gaza conflict.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday the United Nations would deal a "fatal blow" to prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace if it endorsed Goldstone's report.
(Additional reporting by Nidal Al-Mughrabi in Gaza, editing by Alastair Macdonald and Mark Trevelyan)
* 14 rights groups condemn delay over U.N. Gaza report
* Dismay on streets; minister voices surprise at decision
By Mohammed Assadi
Sun Oct 4, 2009 12:24pm EDT
RAMALLAH, West Bank, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Critics accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday of letting down his people by bowing to U.S. pressure and postponing action on a U.N. report that criticised Israel's offensive in Gaza.
The Palestinian Authority agreed in Geneva on Friday to defer a vote in the United Nations Human Rights Council on a resolution that would have condemned Israel's failure to cooperate with a U.N. war crimes investigation led by South African jurist Richard Goldstone. It would also have forwarded his report to the Security Council.
Hamas, the Islamist group which runs the Gaza Strip, condemned Abbas, but the president and his Palestinian Authority also faced anger from commentators in their own backyard in the West Bank, and even criticism within Abbas's own Fatah party.
"Abu Mazen has lost a lot from this," said Shawan Jabarin, who runs the al-Haq human rights watchdog in Ramallah, using Abbas's familiar name.
"Even the average man in the street thinks Abu Mazen has given up the rights of the victims and given up on pursuing Israeli war criminals," Jabarin added.
Protesters said they would march in Ramallah on Monday.
A group of 14 rights groups issued a statement condemning the consent to a delay and vowing to "seek justice".
The United States said it was in the interests of efforts to relaunch peace negotiations between Abbas and Israel that the U.N. body give both Israel and Hamas more time to pursue Goldstone's recommendations that they each launch their own credible investigations into possible crimes in January's war.
Palestinians say over 900 of 1,400 people killed in Gaza were civilians. Israel, which contests those figures, lost 10 soldiers and three civilians during the three-week offensive, which it said it launched with the aim of halting rocket attacks from Gaza that disrupted life in nearby Israeli towns.
Abbas's foreign minister, Riyad al-Malki, said the Authority agreed with postponing until March a vote that could lead to the Security Council referring Israel and Hamas to the International Criminal Court. Israel has denounced the report as biased.
"COST US DEAR"
Ismail Haniyeh, once Abbas's prime minister and the leader of Hamas in Gaza, said Abbas's consent to deferring a vote on the report "encouraged the occupier ... to continue his crimes".
But even within Fatah, where Abbas has struggled to assert the kind of dominance his late predecessor Yasser Arafat enjoyed, voices were raised against the decision in Geneva.
"The consent to defer the vote had cost us dear. We'll need years to fix this mistake," said one Fatah official, who declined, however, to be quoted by name.
Abbas's government, led by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, has demanded the report's recommendations be implemented in full. Planning Minister Ali Jarbawi expressed his "surprise" over the Palestinian consent to a postponed vote.
On the streets of Abbas's West Bank base, Ramallah, there was also dismay. "This shows that the Palestinian leadership cannot be trusted to defend our just cause and this will cost us international sympathy," said bank clerk Husam Ahmad.
Formal negotiations with Israel on establishing a Palestinian state have been suspended since the Gaza conflict.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday the United Nations would deal a "fatal blow" to prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace if it endorsed Goldstone's report.
(Additional reporting by Nidal Al-Mughrabi in Gaza, editing by Alastair Macdonald and Mark Trevelyan)
Saturday, October 03, 2009
Palestinian Youth Murdered by Israeli Army
On Wednesday, 30 September 2009, the Israeli army murdered a Palestinian youth outside his school, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam high school in Yabad village, west of Jenin. This school had been closed from 2001-2006.
Around 11:35am, a military jeep with the license plate number 655474 left the main road to turn into the access road to the school where a group of male students gathered close to the main entrance of the school. The jeep was driving at a fast speed and targeted Foad Mahmoud Naiyf Turkuman (age 17) who was crouching down close to a small concrete wall. According to eye witnesses (one of his teachers and three of his friends), the jeep hit Foad directly and pushed him against the wall. Due to the impact, Foad was thrown 2.5 meters and fell to the ground in front of the vehicle. The driver of the jeep then drove his vehicle forward running two wheels over Foad's chest and torso of the already injured youth a second time. He then stopped the engine and called for reinforcement, claiming mechanical failure. The driver of the jeep closed the gate of the school and did not allow any of the teachers cars to go out and take the injured student from the ground, or help him.
A second jeep with the license plate number 611041 arrived. The newly arrived soldiers threw tear gas at three friends of Foad's standing nearby as well as into the school court yard to prevent anyone from coming to the scene. About 24 students were injured by the tear gas. Eventually, the second jeep towed the first one away to underline the claimed mechanical failure. While the media portrayed the event as an accident, the Palestinians clearly see it as a deliberate murder. Some witnesses documented the event with their mobile phone cameras.
When Foad's brother, Mahdi Mahmoud Naiyf Turkuman ran to the scene to help his brother, the soldiers blocked his way. He injured his wrist when he slammed his hand against the jeep in an attempt to get through. As teachers and students tried to come to Foad's rescue, saying that they will call an ambulance to take him to the hospital, the soldiers allegedly asked what was the problem and if anyone was injured!
Foad, who was seriously injured, was left unattended for 30 minutes because the army prohibited anyone from approaching. Finally, the teachers and a relative were allowed to rescue him and take him to Jenin hospital in a relative's private car. He died from his injuries at the hospital an hour later. His brother Mahdi had to be sedated by injection since he witnessed the murder of his own brother and was in shock.
Eye witnesses mentioned that the soldiers obviously assumed that the boys were about to throw stones. Since the Israeli army is not supposed to use their guns on stone throwers, they seemed to have opted to use their jeep as a weapon instead.
Most of the students were in their classes, but a few were finishing up and going to their homes.
Foad's family, who are refugees from Haifa since 1948, decided to file suit for murder against the Israeli army.
Background
The village of Yabad is surrounded by five illegal settlements, Mevo Dotan, Hermesh, Rehan, Shaqed, and Hinnanit. The Separation Wall is located west of Yabad village. Since 2003, the new road 585, located south of Yabad, is used primarily for military vehicles. Before that, the military used the old road. There is a checkpoint with 3 towers close to the school.
The Separation Wall, the Israeli-only road and the illegal settlements claimed 2,000 donums of land belonging to Yabad farmers. Since 2001, a total of 40% of Palestinian land has been lost throughout the West Bank.
One of the reasons why the military jeeps are coming to the area of the school is that the Israeli army is checking the water level for Yabad village once a month. Water is a serious issue here as everywhere else in the West Bank. Only 9% of the total available water resources are accessible to Palestinians, 91% are appropriated for Israeli use.
Around 11:35am, a military jeep with the license plate number 655474 left the main road to turn into the access road to the school where a group of male students gathered close to the main entrance of the school. The jeep was driving at a fast speed and targeted Foad Mahmoud Naiyf Turkuman (age 17) who was crouching down close to a small concrete wall. According to eye witnesses (one of his teachers and three of his friends), the jeep hit Foad directly and pushed him against the wall. Due to the impact, Foad was thrown 2.5 meters and fell to the ground in front of the vehicle. The driver of the jeep then drove his vehicle forward running two wheels over Foad's chest and torso of the already injured youth a second time. He then stopped the engine and called for reinforcement, claiming mechanical failure. The driver of the jeep closed the gate of the school and did not allow any of the teachers cars to go out and take the injured student from the ground, or help him.
A second jeep with the license plate number 611041 arrived. The newly arrived soldiers threw tear gas at three friends of Foad's standing nearby as well as into the school court yard to prevent anyone from coming to the scene. About 24 students were injured by the tear gas. Eventually, the second jeep towed the first one away to underline the claimed mechanical failure. While the media portrayed the event as an accident, the Palestinians clearly see it as a deliberate murder. Some witnesses documented the event with their mobile phone cameras.
When Foad's brother, Mahdi Mahmoud Naiyf Turkuman ran to the scene to help his brother, the soldiers blocked his way. He injured his wrist when he slammed his hand against the jeep in an attempt to get through. As teachers and students tried to come to Foad's rescue, saying that they will call an ambulance to take him to the hospital, the soldiers allegedly asked what was the problem and if anyone was injured!
Foad, who was seriously injured, was left unattended for 30 minutes because the army prohibited anyone from approaching. Finally, the teachers and a relative were allowed to rescue him and take him to Jenin hospital in a relative's private car. He died from his injuries at the hospital an hour later. His brother Mahdi had to be sedated by injection since he witnessed the murder of his own brother and was in shock.
Eye witnesses mentioned that the soldiers obviously assumed that the boys were about to throw stones. Since the Israeli army is not supposed to use their guns on stone throwers, they seemed to have opted to use their jeep as a weapon instead.
Most of the students were in their classes, but a few were finishing up and going to their homes.
Foad's family, who are refugees from Haifa since 1948, decided to file suit for murder against the Israeli army.
Background
The village of Yabad is surrounded by five illegal settlements, Mevo Dotan, Hermesh, Rehan, Shaqed, and Hinnanit. The Separation Wall is located west of Yabad village. Since 2003, the new road 585, located south of Yabad, is used primarily for military vehicles. Before that, the military used the old road. There is a checkpoint with 3 towers close to the school.
The Separation Wall, the Israeli-only road and the illegal settlements claimed 2,000 donums of land belonging to Yabad farmers. Since 2001, a total of 40% of Palestinian land has been lost throughout the West Bank.
One of the reasons why the military jeeps are coming to the area of the school is that the Israeli army is checking the water level for Yabad village once a month. Water is a serious issue here as everywhere else in the West Bank. Only 9% of the total available water resources are accessible to Palestinians, 91% are appropriated for Israeli use.
Friday, October 02, 2009
Statement of Solidarity with the Palestinian General Strike
International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network-Labor
October 1, 2009
In the long tradition of Jewish working class involvement in and support for liberation struggles, IJAN-Labor stands in solidarity with the High Follow-up Committee for the Arab Citizens of Israel, the National Committee of Local Authorities, and all parties, movements and institutions of Palestinian civil society in Israel, who have called a general strike for today, October 1, 2009.
This strike marks the ninth anniversary of the Jerusalem and Al Aqsa Day in October 2000 when Israeli authorities massacred 13 Palestinian protesters. The killers have never been brought to justice.
IJAN-Labor also welcomes the Trades Union Congress (U.K.) resolution of 17 September, which endorses the growing movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israeli apartheid, and calls for reconsideration of the TUC's relationship with the Histadrut, the Zionist labor federation whose latest crime was to support Israel's attacks on Gaza.
The BDS campaign has been endorsed by a growing number of labor bodies, including the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), Solidaires Industrie (France), UNISON (UK), Transport and General Workers Union (UK), Western Australia Branch of the Maritime Union of Australia, Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Canadian Union of Public Employees-Ontario, six Norwegian trade unions, Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Scottish Trades Union Congress, and Intersindical Alternativa de Catalunya.
In the United States, despite growing support from labor organizations and populations across the globe, the AFL-CIO and Change to Win fail to recognize what their British counterpart has now acknowledged: that Israel is a state built on defeating the aspirations and solidarity of working families not only in Israel but internationally.
Often without the knowledge or consent of union members, US Labor officialdom remains a leading accomplice of Israeli apartheid and the Zionist colonialism of which it is part. For more than sixty years, it has closely collaborated with the Histadrut, which has spearheaded and whitewashed apartheid, dispossession, ethnic cleansing and exploitation of the Palestinians since the 1920s.
Indeed, the Histadrut (as both employer and union) provided lethal weapons which the
South African apartheid government used against Black workers, while at home it either excluded or segregated Arab workers.
Today, in solidarity with the general strike of Palestinian workers in Israel and growing international labor support for BDS, we call on US labor organizations to divest their estimated $5 billion investment in State of Israel Bonds, and to end all relations with the Histadrut.
For more information IJAN Labor, please see our website: http://www.ijsn.net/C91
If you are interested in participating in IJAN Labor, please email us at: Labor-IJAN@ijsn.net
October 1, 2009
In the long tradition of Jewish working class involvement in and support for liberation struggles, IJAN-Labor stands in solidarity with the High Follow-up Committee for the Arab Citizens of Israel, the National Committee of Local Authorities, and all parties, movements and institutions of Palestinian civil society in Israel, who have called a general strike for today, October 1, 2009.
This strike marks the ninth anniversary of the Jerusalem and Al Aqsa Day in October 2000 when Israeli authorities massacred 13 Palestinian protesters. The killers have never been brought to justice.
IJAN-Labor also welcomes the Trades Union Congress (U.K.) resolution of 17 September, which endorses the growing movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israeli apartheid, and calls for reconsideration of the TUC's relationship with the Histadrut, the Zionist labor federation whose latest crime was to support Israel's attacks on Gaza.
The BDS campaign has been endorsed by a growing number of labor bodies, including the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), Solidaires Industrie (France), UNISON (UK), Transport and General Workers Union (UK), Western Australia Branch of the Maritime Union of Australia, Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Canadian Union of Public Employees-Ontario, six Norwegian trade unions, Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Scottish Trades Union Congress, and Intersindical Alternativa de Catalunya.
In the United States, despite growing support from labor organizations and populations across the globe, the AFL-CIO and Change to Win fail to recognize what their British counterpart has now acknowledged: that Israel is a state built on defeating the aspirations and solidarity of working families not only in Israel but internationally.
Often without the knowledge or consent of union members, US Labor officialdom remains a leading accomplice of Israeli apartheid and the Zionist colonialism of which it is part. For more than sixty years, it has closely collaborated with the Histadrut, which has spearheaded and whitewashed apartheid, dispossession, ethnic cleansing and exploitation of the Palestinians since the 1920s.
Indeed, the Histadrut (as both employer and union) provided lethal weapons which the
South African apartheid government used against Black workers, while at home it either excluded or segregated Arab workers.
Today, in solidarity with the general strike of Palestinian workers in Israel and growing international labor support for BDS, we call on US labor organizations to divest their estimated $5 billion investment in State of Israel Bonds, and to end all relations with the Histadrut.
For more information IJAN Labor, please see our website: http://www.ijsn.net/C91
If you are interested in participating in IJAN Labor, please email us at: Labor-IJAN@ijsn.net
Thursday, October 01, 2009
Don't threaten Iran, Carter says
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- The United States and other nations should take a diplomatic approach toward Iran in negotiations over that nation's nuclear program, President Carter said Thursday.
President Carter says the U.S. should take a diplomatic approach toward Iran.
Iran's nuclear chief and representatives from the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, as well as Germany, started talks Thursday in Switzerland over a recently revealed nuclear facility in Iran.
Tehran says it is developing its nuclear program for energy purposes, but many nations think Iran wants to make nuclear weapons and will be able to do so in the near future.
The existence of the second uranium enrichment facility prompted President Obama and the leaders of Britain and France to publicly chide the Islamic republic and threaten further sanctions last week at the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
A deliberate approach will work best with Tehran, Carter said.
"I hope and pray that Iran will be induced to permit international inspectors to come in and observe their entire nuclear program, because what they're doing so far is completely illegal under the nonproliferation treaty," Carter said in an interview with CNN's Candy Crowley.
"They have a right to purify uranium and plutonium to use for nuclear power," Carter said. "If Iran is on the borderline, the constant threats that we or the Israelis are going to attack Iran is the best thing to force them to say, 'Let's defend ourselves.' I don't think Iran has made up their mind what to do, and I think the best thing we can do is engage them and stop making these idle threats."
Iran said Tuesday it will allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect the new facility, but it did not offer a timetable for the visits.
Carter's comments came on his 85th birthday and on the day the Jimmy Carter Presidential Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, reopened after a $10 million redesign. The museum, which opened in 1986, was closed for five months for the renovation.
Carter also commented Thursday on remarks he made in mid-September, when he said he thought much of the extreme animosity toward Obama was caused by racism.
In an interview with NBC's Brian Williams last month, Carter said, "I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he's a black man, he's African American."
Carter went on to add that racism "has bubbled up to the surface because of a belief among many white people -- not just in the South, but around the country -- that African Americans are not qualified to lead this country."
Obama said afterward he did not believe racism is behind most of the attacks on him.
On Thursday, Carter said he was only speaking about a "fringe element."
"I said those that had a personal attack on President Obama as a person, that was tinged with racism," Carter said. "But I recognize that people that disagree with him on health care or the environment, that the vast majority of those are not tinged with racism."
Carter, who was president from 1977-1981, said the renovated museum is "a continuum of what you do before, during and after a presidency."
He noted that many of the problems he dealt with while in office still exist today.
"I've identified about 30 things of importance that I had to address when I was president that are still on the desk of the Oval Office and President Obama has to address, notably the Mideast and Iran and energy and a comprehensive health plan and many, many others," he said.
President Carter says the U.S. should take a diplomatic approach toward Iran.
Iran's nuclear chief and representatives from the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, as well as Germany, started talks Thursday in Switzerland over a recently revealed nuclear facility in Iran.
Tehran says it is developing its nuclear program for energy purposes, but many nations think Iran wants to make nuclear weapons and will be able to do so in the near future.
The existence of the second uranium enrichment facility prompted President Obama and the leaders of Britain and France to publicly chide the Islamic republic and threaten further sanctions last week at the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
A deliberate approach will work best with Tehran, Carter said.
"I hope and pray that Iran will be induced to permit international inspectors to come in and observe their entire nuclear program, because what they're doing so far is completely illegal under the nonproliferation treaty," Carter said in an interview with CNN's Candy Crowley.
"They have a right to purify uranium and plutonium to use for nuclear power," Carter said. "If Iran is on the borderline, the constant threats that we or the Israelis are going to attack Iran is the best thing to force them to say, 'Let's defend ourselves.' I don't think Iran has made up their mind what to do, and I think the best thing we can do is engage them and stop making these idle threats."
Iran said Tuesday it will allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect the new facility, but it did not offer a timetable for the visits.
Carter's comments came on his 85th birthday and on the day the Jimmy Carter Presidential Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, reopened after a $10 million redesign. The museum, which opened in 1986, was closed for five months for the renovation.
Carter also commented Thursday on remarks he made in mid-September, when he said he thought much of the extreme animosity toward Obama was caused by racism.
In an interview with NBC's Brian Williams last month, Carter said, "I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he's a black man, he's African American."
Carter went on to add that racism "has bubbled up to the surface because of a belief among many white people -- not just in the South, but around the country -- that African Americans are not qualified to lead this country."
Obama said afterward he did not believe racism is behind most of the attacks on him.
On Thursday, Carter said he was only speaking about a "fringe element."
"I said those that had a personal attack on President Obama as a person, that was tinged with racism," Carter said. "But I recognize that people that disagree with him on health care or the environment, that the vast majority of those are not tinged with racism."
Carter, who was president from 1977-1981, said the renovated museum is "a continuum of what you do before, during and after a presidency."
He noted that many of the problems he dealt with while in office still exist today.
"I've identified about 30 things of importance that I had to address when I was president that are still on the desk of the Oval Office and President Obama has to address, notably the Mideast and Iran and energy and a comprehensive health plan and many, many others," he said.
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About Me
- Steve Lewis
- Prophesy bearer for four religious traditions, revealer of Christ's Sword, revealer of Josephine bearing the Spirit of Christ, revealer of the identity of God, revealer of the Celestial Torah astro-theological code within the Bible. Celestial Torah Christian Theologian, Climax Civilization theorist and activist, Eco-Village Organizer, Master Psychedelic Artist, Inventor of the Next Big Thing in wearable tech, and always your Prophet-At-Large.