Latest post from Chedet revealing various methods by British government in bailing out some troubled instituition including banks and companies. Hanan who is always following the development of this website has leave few notes in his comments below. Not only IS affair has been discussed greatly but financial & administration seems like a new topic of discussion.
By Hanan on March 5, 2009 7:21 PM
Dear Dr. Mahathir,
1) Do you think that the economical collapsing of almost all countries can be a catalyzer of a global war, e.g. WW3?
2) If there is a possibility, can we do something to avoid it?
3) Can a war solve economical problems?
4) Can we learn about it from history or experience?
It would be interesting to read your opinion. May be it is worthy another post of you.
Hanan, Israel.
FINANCIAL CRISIS AND BAILOUTS - Chedet
1. I was in England recently and the newspapers were full of dismal reports on bank and business failures, the closure of well-known businesses like Woolworths and Baratt, the increases of unemployment rate with some 700,000 professionals among the 2 million laid off or unable to get jobs. And there were lots more bad news.
2. The British Government is busy bailing out banks and companies with hundreds of billions of pounds but the economy seemed to have gone into recession despite all these efforts. There is no sign that the crisis is on the mend.
3. Malaysia can feel vindicated because all the things we did in the 1997 - 98, crisis, which were condemned by the economists of Europe and America, are now being done by them blatantly and on a massive scale. They talk about trillions of dollars and hundreds of billions of pounds in bailouts. Where the money is coming from is not revealed. Have they been keeping these huge sums for such an emergency?
4. I am not a financier or even an economist. But somehow I think the bailouts are not going to work although they worked in our case.
5. This is because the banks and businesses we bailed out did not get into trouble because they abused the systems or indulged in fraud. They were forced into that situation because the currency was devalued by currency traders and they found themselves unable to meet their commitments. Once they gained access to funds through bailouts they were able to do business again and to repay the money they had received.
6. They were able to do this because, although Malaysia was in recession, the rest of the world was not. There was much less constraint in doing business.
7. The situation today is very different.
8. The collapse of the economies of the rich countries is due to extensive abuses of the financial and monetary systems so much so that the systems broke down completely. I doubt (not being an expert I can only doubt) that the trillions of dollars to bail out the failed banks and financial institutions will enable them or their economies to recover.
9. This is because their huge losses were due to fraud and they cannot recover the billions they had lost through ordinary business, i.e. through the financing of the production of goods and services. Only through doing the same things that had brought them down, i.e. through sub-prime loans, through investments in derivatives and hedge funds, through massive loans to currency traders etc. can they make the billions to return the money they had received through bailouts. Obviously they cannot be allowed to indulge in their old abuses. Through ordinary business it would take years and years to recover the money they had lost. In the meantime all these banks, financial institutions and businesses will belong to the bailor, the Government, i.e. they have effectively been nationalised. And that will spell the end of capitalism and the free market.
10. It should be noted that the East Asian countries have not yet recovered from the 1997 - 98 crisis. Their currencies have not regained their strength to the pre-crisis levels. They have all become poorer, or at least not as rich as they could be had there been no financial crisis.
11. It will be the same with the rich countries. Their GDP and per capita pre-crisis will not be restored despite the trillions they are spending on their bailouts. They are poorer now and will remain relatively poor even after they have put their houses in order.
12. I may be wrong of course. Maybe by more trillions of dollars of bailouts the rich would achieve recovery. But I have my doubts.
13. Unfortunately the poor countries will also become poorer.
Read more...
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
The United States of Israel (PIC)
The author slamming US for being bias towards the conflict alas he did not suggest steps needed to achieve Peace between Palestine & Israel. What is the problem solving solution?
The United States of Israel
By Khalid Amayreh
It seems that one doesn’t have to wait four years to find out that Hillary Clinton is just a fraud, very much like her predecessor in the job, Condoleezza Rice.
The infamous Rice paid 24 visits to Occupied Ramallah and Occupied Jerusalem, babbling about the “peace process” and George Bush’s vision of two states living side by side in peace, Israel and Palestine.
Eventually, however, it was proven beyond any doubt that she was a lying emissary representing even a more lying boss.
So one may really wonder if Hillary Clinton will be re-enacting the same absurd show, same lies, and same deception.
In her recent visit to Occupied Palestine, the former NY senator, who had proven herself a submissive pawn in the service of Zionist circles, reiterated the same old platitudes about US commitment to the “two-state” solution.
However, she didn’t dare utter a word against the unmitigated expansion of Jewish colonies in the West Bank. Needless to say, it is obvious that the relentless intensive building of Jewish-only colonies has already rendered the prospect of a viable Palestinian state utterly unrealistic, if not outright impossible.
Even pro-Israeli stalwarts, people like Bob Simon of CBS, have come to recognize that the two-state solution is dead and that time has passed it by.
If so, how could the Obama administration be truly committed to the two-state solution when the same administration keeps encouraging Israel to build more and more and more colonies on occupied territories? Silence in this case means approval, and both the American monkey and the Israeli organ grinder know it quite well.
Far from calling the spade a spade, Mrs. Clinton dutifully asserted US commitment to Israel’s security, as if the Nazi-like apartheid regime, which possess hundreds of nuclear warheads and has one of the world’s strongest armies, were facing any credible threats.
Clinton was quite silent about the recent genocidal onslaught on Gaza which left the bulk of the coastal territory thoroughly destroyed and more than 6,000 men, women and children dead or maimed, thanks to the American-made and American-supplied weapons of death that Israel unleashed against the thoroughly starved and defenseless people of Gaza.
Such a silence just enforces the impression that Clinton is not really capable of behaving honestly, a sine-qua-non for possessing the ability to make a just and durable peace. After all, she belongs to a politically-promiscuous generation of American politicians in whose lexicon words like honesty and morality and justice don’t really exist.
Let us examine a few other statements uttered by Mrs. Clinton. While in Jerusalem, she said that Israel had the right to defend itself and that no country would tolerate rockets being fired on its population centers.
Well, this is a half-truth that is worse than a big lie.
It is so because she callously ignored the fact that the junkyard-made “rockets” were actually a desperate outcry by a people languishing under a criminal siege unprecedented in its harshness since the Ghetto Warsaw siege in 1942-43.
So, one might ask Mrs. “Innocent Abroad” what she thought the tormented prisoner population of Gaza should do as Israel has effectively been transforming their enclave into a real concentration camp? Die quietly? Or just accept the status of wood hewers and water carriers vis-à-vis the Ubermenschen, the Chosenites?!!
Or just examine another repugnant statement made by her while having a chummy chat with Israeli Prime-Minister designate Benyamin Netanyahu who repeatedly declared that he wouldn’t allow the creation of a real and sovereign Palestinian state on the West Bank?
Clinton pointed out that she would work with any government chosen by the people of Israel?
Well, then why she is refusing to deal with any government chosen by the Palestinian people?
Does she think the Palestinians are “children of a lesser God” who have yet to come of age if they ever will?
Indeed, who does this lady think she is to deny our people their natural God-given right to elect the government of our choice?
A few weeks ago, Israelis elected a new Knesset a majority of whose members are bona fide fascists, many of whom shamelessly demand ethnic cleansing of non-Jews. Others advocate genocide against the Palestinian community whose existence in Palestine predated the arrival of East European Khazari immigrants by thousands of years.
But we heard nothing from Clinton, or Obama or the other political whores of Washington, D.C., past and present, whose one-eyed approach to the Arab-Israel conflict is responsible for the enduring bloodshed and oppression in this part of the world.
Another point. Mrs. Clinton might be tempted to think that the blood money she pledged for the reconstruction of Gaza and propping-up the Palestinian Judenrat in Ramallah would induce the Palestinians to choose a government that would give up or compromise the inalienable rights of our people to return to their homes and towns in what is now Israel. But, nay, this won’t happen, come what may.
This won’t happen, because what is in the heart is in the heart, and collaborators and quislings, no matter what grand titles they have, shall eventually be crushed.
And now a few words for those gullible Palestinian and Arab leaders who entertain the same false hopes every time a new American administration comes to power.
It is time you realize that without a real revolution in Washington, one that would deliver the American government and people from the Zionist stranglehold, there is not the slightest chance in hell that America will be able to accomplish peace in Palestine.
Today, Israel tightly controls the American government, including Congress, as well as the media, especially the so-called agenda-setter media. Moreover, Israeli leaders are bragging about Israel’s predominance in American political life.
“We don’t ask our American friends to do this or that , we order them to do it,” suggested one Israeli official recently.
This means that as long as Israel continues to call the shots in Washington D.C. and as long a American officials such as Hillary Clinton continue to shake at the mere thought of upsetting the powerful Zionist lobby, which exploits America and her resources for the purpose of achieving Jewish-Zionist territorial aggrandizement in the Middle East, counting on America to bring peace to this region borders on illusive and delusional day-dreaming.
For sure, a country that is nearly hopelessly enslaved by Jewish money and Jewish power, is not free to achieve peace.
Such a state should be called the “United States of Israel,” not the “United States of America.”
In recent years and months, some American politicians warned of the grave consequences of America’s phenomenal subservience to Israel.
Michael Scheuer, a former CIA analyst now a consultant to CBS News, was quoted as saying that “our unqualified support of Israel was the main reason for 9/11.”
Anthony Zinni, George Bush’s first envoy to the Middle East declared that “the United States invaded Iraq for Israel and oil.”
Now, Israel is pushing and bullying the Obama administration to attack Iran in order to ensure Israel’s military supremacy in the Middle East and beyond.
Some American government officials privately acknowledge this bullying, but are reluctant to speak openly lest they lose their jobs.
What is crystal clear though is that America’s embrace of Israeli colonialism and criminality will just preclude any genuine chance of peace in Palestine.
In Short, America needs to produce politicians who are more honest than fearing the wrath of the Jewish lobby.
However, this won’t happen until mainstream America discovers the disastrous role Israel and her agents play in America’s national life.
Read more...
The United States of Israel
By Khalid Amayreh
It seems that one doesn’t have to wait four years to find out that Hillary Clinton is just a fraud, very much like her predecessor in the job, Condoleezza Rice.
The infamous Rice paid 24 visits to Occupied Ramallah and Occupied Jerusalem, babbling about the “peace process” and George Bush’s vision of two states living side by side in peace, Israel and Palestine.
Eventually, however, it was proven beyond any doubt that she was a lying emissary representing even a more lying boss.
So one may really wonder if Hillary Clinton will be re-enacting the same absurd show, same lies, and same deception.
In her recent visit to Occupied Palestine, the former NY senator, who had proven herself a submissive pawn in the service of Zionist circles, reiterated the same old platitudes about US commitment to the “two-state” solution.
However, she didn’t dare utter a word against the unmitigated expansion of Jewish colonies in the West Bank. Needless to say, it is obvious that the relentless intensive building of Jewish-only colonies has already rendered the prospect of a viable Palestinian state utterly unrealistic, if not outright impossible.
Even pro-Israeli stalwarts, people like Bob Simon of CBS, have come to recognize that the two-state solution is dead and that time has passed it by.
If so, how could the Obama administration be truly committed to the two-state solution when the same administration keeps encouraging Israel to build more and more and more colonies on occupied territories? Silence in this case means approval, and both the American monkey and the Israeli organ grinder know it quite well.
Far from calling the spade a spade, Mrs. Clinton dutifully asserted US commitment to Israel’s security, as if the Nazi-like apartheid regime, which possess hundreds of nuclear warheads and has one of the world’s strongest armies, were facing any credible threats.
Clinton was quite silent about the recent genocidal onslaught on Gaza which left the bulk of the coastal territory thoroughly destroyed and more than 6,000 men, women and children dead or maimed, thanks to the American-made and American-supplied weapons of death that Israel unleashed against the thoroughly starved and defenseless people of Gaza.
Such a silence just enforces the impression that Clinton is not really capable of behaving honestly, a sine-qua-non for possessing the ability to make a just and durable peace. After all, she belongs to a politically-promiscuous generation of American politicians in whose lexicon words like honesty and morality and justice don’t really exist.
Let us examine a few other statements uttered by Mrs. Clinton. While in Jerusalem, she said that Israel had the right to defend itself and that no country would tolerate rockets being fired on its population centers.
Well, this is a half-truth that is worse than a big lie.
It is so because she callously ignored the fact that the junkyard-made “rockets” were actually a desperate outcry by a people languishing under a criminal siege unprecedented in its harshness since the Ghetto Warsaw siege in 1942-43.
So, one might ask Mrs. “Innocent Abroad” what she thought the tormented prisoner population of Gaza should do as Israel has effectively been transforming their enclave into a real concentration camp? Die quietly? Or just accept the status of wood hewers and water carriers vis-à-vis the Ubermenschen, the Chosenites?!!
Or just examine another repugnant statement made by her while having a chummy chat with Israeli Prime-Minister designate Benyamin Netanyahu who repeatedly declared that he wouldn’t allow the creation of a real and sovereign Palestinian state on the West Bank?
Clinton pointed out that she would work with any government chosen by the people of Israel?
Well, then why she is refusing to deal with any government chosen by the Palestinian people?
Does she think the Palestinians are “children of a lesser God” who have yet to come of age if they ever will?
Indeed, who does this lady think she is to deny our people their natural God-given right to elect the government of our choice?
A few weeks ago, Israelis elected a new Knesset a majority of whose members are bona fide fascists, many of whom shamelessly demand ethnic cleansing of non-Jews. Others advocate genocide against the Palestinian community whose existence in Palestine predated the arrival of East European Khazari immigrants by thousands of years.
But we heard nothing from Clinton, or Obama or the other political whores of Washington, D.C., past and present, whose one-eyed approach to the Arab-Israel conflict is responsible for the enduring bloodshed and oppression in this part of the world.
Another point. Mrs. Clinton might be tempted to think that the blood money she pledged for the reconstruction of Gaza and propping-up the Palestinian Judenrat in Ramallah would induce the Palestinians to choose a government that would give up or compromise the inalienable rights of our people to return to their homes and towns in what is now Israel. But, nay, this won’t happen, come what may.
This won’t happen, because what is in the heart is in the heart, and collaborators and quislings, no matter what grand titles they have, shall eventually be crushed.
And now a few words for those gullible Palestinian and Arab leaders who entertain the same false hopes every time a new American administration comes to power.
It is time you realize that without a real revolution in Washington, one that would deliver the American government and people from the Zionist stranglehold, there is not the slightest chance in hell that America will be able to accomplish peace in Palestine.
Today, Israel tightly controls the American government, including Congress, as well as the media, especially the so-called agenda-setter media. Moreover, Israeli leaders are bragging about Israel’s predominance in American political life.
“We don’t ask our American friends to do this or that , we order them to do it,” suggested one Israeli official recently.
This means that as long as Israel continues to call the shots in Washington D.C. and as long a American officials such as Hillary Clinton continue to shake at the mere thought of upsetting the powerful Zionist lobby, which exploits America and her resources for the purpose of achieving Jewish-Zionist territorial aggrandizement in the Middle East, counting on America to bring peace to this region borders on illusive and delusional day-dreaming.
For sure, a country that is nearly hopelessly enslaved by Jewish money and Jewish power, is not free to achieve peace.
Such a state should be called the “United States of Israel,” not the “United States of America.”
In recent years and months, some American politicians warned of the grave consequences of America’s phenomenal subservience to Israel.
Michael Scheuer, a former CIA analyst now a consultant to CBS News, was quoted as saying that “our unqualified support of Israel was the main reason for 9/11.”
Anthony Zinni, George Bush’s first envoy to the Middle East declared that “the United States invaded Iraq for Israel and oil.”
Now, Israel is pushing and bullying the Obama administration to attack Iran in order to ensure Israel’s military supremacy in the Middle East and beyond.
Some American government officials privately acknowledge this bullying, but are reluctant to speak openly lest they lose their jobs.
What is crystal clear though is that America’s embrace of Israeli colonialism and criminality will just preclude any genuine chance of peace in Palestine.
In Short, America needs to produce politicians who are more honest than fearing the wrath of the Jewish lobby.
However, this won’t happen until mainstream America discovers the disastrous role Israel and her agents play in America’s national life.
Read more...
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Hillary Clinton, Gaza, and the six-state solution
Found this interesting article from Haaretz & seems like more are believes this issue no longer the conflict between 2 states but in fact 6 as claimed by Bradley Burston.
Hillary Clinton, Gaza, and the six-state solution
Welcome, Madame Secretary.
Welcome to Israel, a country whose byzantine electoral system has managed only to elect an outgoing premier-for-life.
Welcome to a nation in which, with apologies to a former Louisiana legislator, half the country is under fire, and the other half is under indictment.
Welcome to a peace process which, in the manner of lies, damn lies, and statistics, seems determined to prove that there are impossibilities, absolute impossibilities, and Two States for Two Peoples.
Welcome, that is, to the political campaign of your life.
At this, the outset of your tenure at State, the campaign for peace in the Holy Land gives every appearance of a diplomatic offensive. Don't be fooled. You and your president must approach this challenge for what it is: a campaign for swing states.
At stake is nothing less than the conflict the world wants most to solve.
To prevail, you will need to successfully contend with six swing states. There are, first of all, the Four States for Four Peoples located within the cramped confines of the Holy Land itself - two of them Palestinian -one in Hamas-ruled Gaza, one in the Fatah-led West Bank - and two of them Israeli - one for settlers, one for the rest of us.
Then, for good measure, there are the swing states of Syria and Iran.
These six are the keys to Middle East peace, and the reason for its absence.
The conflict is so hidebound, the sides so exhaustively jaded, that you will need every ounce of creativity, energy, sensitivity, wiles, wisdom, charm and against-the-squall optimism to make a half an ounce of headway.
Your opening moves have been useful. The hundreds of millions of dollars in aid earmarked for reconstruction in Gaza recasts the U.S. policy message in a way that will be difficult for Israel and the Palestinians to ignore. It will lend fresh impetus and urgency to solving the logjam over border crossings and the critical need to speed reconstruction aid into the Strip.
One left-field reason that U.S. the aid may actually foster movement: Americans, who have been notably understanding of wide-scale Israeli attacks on heavily populated areas, may take heightened interest in the rebuilt structures, and having them remain intact. This is, in turn, a potentially powerful incentive for Israel to seek alternatives to the devastation of the recent war, whose effectiveness inn the service of Israel's interest has yet to be demonstrated.
Herewith an overview of the swing states.
1. EXODUS ISRAEL In essence, the nation within the pre-1967 borders of the state of Israel.
THE UPSIDE: Opinion polls have consistently shown that a majority of Israelis, Jews and Arabs alike, favor a viable independent Palestinian state in the West Bank.
In fact, given Avigdor Lierberman's explicit endorsement last week of such a state, a clear majority of 70 Knesset members in the 120-seat house may be said to favor such an eventual solution [Kadima (28 seats), Yisrael Beiteinu (15), Labor (13), Hadash (4), Ra'am-Ta'al (4), Meretz (3), and Balad (3)
THE RUB: Qassam and Grad/Katyusha rocket attacks in the wake of the 2005 disengagement from the Gaza Strip have gutted all Israeli popular support for a withdrawal in the West Bank in the foreseeable future.
THE WAY FORWARD: High energy, under-the-radar diplomacy with presumptive prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Allow him to pay domestic lip service where needed, but encouraging him to quietly but powerfully explore a peace deal with Syria and take back-channel local steps like gumming up new settlement construction in bureaucratic mire [see next].
2. THE ORANGE FREE STATE The settlement empire in Judea, Samaria [the West Bank] and East Jerusalem.
THE UPSIDE: The financial crisis along with fringe anti-government extremism on the part of a small but vocal segment of the settler population has cooled general Israeli sympathy and support for fostering settlements.
THE RUB: Despite the obvious differences in form and function, settlement construction inflames Palestinians in much the same way that Qassam rockets infuriate Israelis, placing peace that much farther from reach. Meanwhile, the rise of radical Islam among Palestinians props up the settlement enterprise, adding weight to the basic settler argument that Arabs covet Tel Aviv as part of a Palestinian state every bit as much as they claim Jenin and Nablus.
THE WAY FORWARD: Continued U.S. support for and coordination of successful Palestinian Authority police security responsibility in Arab population centers of the West Bank, fostering greater autonomy, less friction, and tangible movement toward future Palestinian sovereignty.
Also, savvy U.S. encouragement of concessions to boost employment and economic growth for Palestinians in the West Bank, at the same time ensuring that this does not come at the expense of the security of settlers. Also, the U.S. should lend planning assistance toward a future two-state solution, with settlement concentrated in enclaves along the 1948-67 Green Line borders, the geographic option left open for a Palestinian state including part of Jerusalem as a capital, and free movement for Palestinians north and south in the West Bank.
3. QASSAMISTAN The Gaza Strip, more rigorously Islamic and poorer by far than the West Bank. Herein dubbed Qassamistan, and not Hamastan, in commemoration of the lethal role that the rockets have played in the death of the peace process.
THE RUB, WHICH MAY ALSO BE THE UPSIDE: Hamas, sole ruler of Gaza since bitter civil warfare with Fatah in mid-2007, is itself divided at least three ways. Once a movement with iron discipline and one voice, Hamas' leadership is shared with varying levels of ease between the Damascus-based Political Bureau of Khaled Meshal and his deputy Musa Abu Marzuk, the founding Gaza branch of Ismail Haniyeh and Mahmoud Zahar, and Izz el-Din al-Qassam, the group's shadowy but influential military wing.
Despite an unwillingness to amend the group's frankly and even murderously anti-Semitic charter, there have been voices within the group suggesting that Hamas would be willing to reach an accommodation with Fatah and even, on a level which allows it its own lip service, an eventual co-existence with Israel.
THE WAY FORWARD: Intelligent and largely unseen U.S. diplomacy to help forge a Palestinian unity government which Israel can suck up and live with, so that negotiations on a wide range of sub-peace-deal issues (e.g., aid distribution, prisoner exchange including Gilad Shalit, border crossing policy) can take place without one Palestinian side, or Israel, intentionally scuttling any talks between any two of the others. Key: An effective Egyptian role in mediation and in cooling cross-border attacks.
THE DUCHY OF UPPER PALESTINE East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Culturally and to an extent linguistically different from Gaza, and with a legacy of some condescension toward the Strip and its residents.
THE RUB: Fatah's long history of corruption and double dealing has harmed its standing with Palestinians. Many younger residents of the West Bank have opted for radical Islam and the eventual erasure of the Jewish state.
THE UPSIDE: Successive Palestinian disappointments this decade have effectively eroded support for every Palestinian faction in existence, leading to signs of a new openness for solutions to the conflict, along with hope for economic stability.
THE WAY FORWARD: Fostering the Fatah-ruled West Bank as a new model for an eventual independent state. Convincing Israel to let Fatah-PA control security (and suppress the Islamic Jihad and armed Hamas units) in the West Bank, rather than having Israeli soldiers undermine PA authority in high-profile IDF raids.
5. SYRIA Arguably the most important swing state of them all.
THE RUB: Damascus still plays host to a range of ultra-militant Palestinian organizations. It remains allied to Iran and, as such, is crucial to the power Hezbollah holds in Lebanon.
THE UPSIDE: Syria, increasingly cash-starved as falling oil prices sap Iran's treasury, is desperate to end its international isolation, and fervently desires Washington's help to that end. Netanyahu has flirted with the prospect of peace with Syria in the past, knowing that only a Likud-led government could command the clout needed to give up the Golan. Were such a peace concluded, Hezbollah would lose much of its strength in Lebanon, and there would be strong Palestinian public pressure for a final peace as well.
THE WAY FORWARD: Encourage Netanyahu to pick up where he left off in the 1990s.
6. IRAN
THE RUB: Nuclear weapons research, ballistic missile research, lobbying and backing Hezbollah, Hamas, for proxy wars.
THE UPSIDE: Plummeting oil revenues, economic crisis, long-term effects of inflation and imbalance of wealth, an internet-aware younger generation. An election later this year, which could topple Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
THE WAY FORWARD: Keep back channels open to Tehran, while supporting Netanyahu, should he pick up with Syria.
Read more...
Hillary Clinton, Gaza, and the six-state solution
Welcome, Madame Secretary.
Welcome to Israel, a country whose byzantine electoral system has managed only to elect an outgoing premier-for-life.
Welcome to a nation in which, with apologies to a former Louisiana legislator, half the country is under fire, and the other half is under indictment.
Welcome to a peace process which, in the manner of lies, damn lies, and statistics, seems determined to prove that there are impossibilities, absolute impossibilities, and Two States for Two Peoples.
Welcome, that is, to the political campaign of your life.
At this, the outset of your tenure at State, the campaign for peace in the Holy Land gives every appearance of a diplomatic offensive. Don't be fooled. You and your president must approach this challenge for what it is: a campaign for swing states.
At stake is nothing less than the conflict the world wants most to solve.
To prevail, you will need to successfully contend with six swing states. There are, first of all, the Four States for Four Peoples located within the cramped confines of the Holy Land itself - two of them Palestinian -one in Hamas-ruled Gaza, one in the Fatah-led West Bank - and two of them Israeli - one for settlers, one for the rest of us.
Then, for good measure, there are the swing states of Syria and Iran.
These six are the keys to Middle East peace, and the reason for its absence.
The conflict is so hidebound, the sides so exhaustively jaded, that you will need every ounce of creativity, energy, sensitivity, wiles, wisdom, charm and against-the-squall optimism to make a half an ounce of headway.
Your opening moves have been useful. The hundreds of millions of dollars in aid earmarked for reconstruction in Gaza recasts the U.S. policy message in a way that will be difficult for Israel and the Palestinians to ignore. It will lend fresh impetus and urgency to solving the logjam over border crossings and the critical need to speed reconstruction aid into the Strip.
One left-field reason that U.S. the aid may actually foster movement: Americans, who have been notably understanding of wide-scale Israeli attacks on heavily populated areas, may take heightened interest in the rebuilt structures, and having them remain intact. This is, in turn, a potentially powerful incentive for Israel to seek alternatives to the devastation of the recent war, whose effectiveness inn the service of Israel's interest has yet to be demonstrated.
Herewith an overview of the swing states.
1. EXODUS ISRAEL In essence, the nation within the pre-1967 borders of the state of Israel.
THE UPSIDE: Opinion polls have consistently shown that a majority of Israelis, Jews and Arabs alike, favor a viable independent Palestinian state in the West Bank.
In fact, given Avigdor Lierberman's explicit endorsement last week of such a state, a clear majority of 70 Knesset members in the 120-seat house may be said to favor such an eventual solution [Kadima (28 seats), Yisrael Beiteinu (15), Labor (13), Hadash (4), Ra'am-Ta'al (4), Meretz (3), and Balad (3)
THE RUB: Qassam and Grad/Katyusha rocket attacks in the wake of the 2005 disengagement from the Gaza Strip have gutted all Israeli popular support for a withdrawal in the West Bank in the foreseeable future.
THE WAY FORWARD: High energy, under-the-radar diplomacy with presumptive prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Allow him to pay domestic lip service where needed, but encouraging him to quietly but powerfully explore a peace deal with Syria and take back-channel local steps like gumming up new settlement construction in bureaucratic mire [see next].
2. THE ORANGE FREE STATE The settlement empire in Judea, Samaria [the West Bank] and East Jerusalem.
THE UPSIDE: The financial crisis along with fringe anti-government extremism on the part of a small but vocal segment of the settler population has cooled general Israeli sympathy and support for fostering settlements.
THE RUB: Despite the obvious differences in form and function, settlement construction inflames Palestinians in much the same way that Qassam rockets infuriate Israelis, placing peace that much farther from reach. Meanwhile, the rise of radical Islam among Palestinians props up the settlement enterprise, adding weight to the basic settler argument that Arabs covet Tel Aviv as part of a Palestinian state every bit as much as they claim Jenin and Nablus.
THE WAY FORWARD: Continued U.S. support for and coordination of successful Palestinian Authority police security responsibility in Arab population centers of the West Bank, fostering greater autonomy, less friction, and tangible movement toward future Palestinian sovereignty.
Also, savvy U.S. encouragement of concessions to boost employment and economic growth for Palestinians in the West Bank, at the same time ensuring that this does not come at the expense of the security of settlers. Also, the U.S. should lend planning assistance toward a future two-state solution, with settlement concentrated in enclaves along the 1948-67 Green Line borders, the geographic option left open for a Palestinian state including part of Jerusalem as a capital, and free movement for Palestinians north and south in the West Bank.
3. QASSAMISTAN The Gaza Strip, more rigorously Islamic and poorer by far than the West Bank. Herein dubbed Qassamistan, and not Hamastan, in commemoration of the lethal role that the rockets have played in the death of the peace process.
THE RUB, WHICH MAY ALSO BE THE UPSIDE: Hamas, sole ruler of Gaza since bitter civil warfare with Fatah in mid-2007, is itself divided at least three ways. Once a movement with iron discipline and one voice, Hamas' leadership is shared with varying levels of ease between the Damascus-based Political Bureau of Khaled Meshal and his deputy Musa Abu Marzuk, the founding Gaza branch of Ismail Haniyeh and Mahmoud Zahar, and Izz el-Din al-Qassam, the group's shadowy but influential military wing.
Despite an unwillingness to amend the group's frankly and even murderously anti-Semitic charter, there have been voices within the group suggesting that Hamas would be willing to reach an accommodation with Fatah and even, on a level which allows it its own lip service, an eventual co-existence with Israel.
THE WAY FORWARD: Intelligent and largely unseen U.S. diplomacy to help forge a Palestinian unity government which Israel can suck up and live with, so that negotiations on a wide range of sub-peace-deal issues (e.g., aid distribution, prisoner exchange including Gilad Shalit, border crossing policy) can take place without one Palestinian side, or Israel, intentionally scuttling any talks between any two of the others. Key: An effective Egyptian role in mediation and in cooling cross-border attacks.
THE DUCHY OF UPPER PALESTINE East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Culturally and to an extent linguistically different from Gaza, and with a legacy of some condescension toward the Strip and its residents.
THE RUB: Fatah's long history of corruption and double dealing has harmed its standing with Palestinians. Many younger residents of the West Bank have opted for radical Islam and the eventual erasure of the Jewish state.
THE UPSIDE: Successive Palestinian disappointments this decade have effectively eroded support for every Palestinian faction in existence, leading to signs of a new openness for solutions to the conflict, along with hope for economic stability.
THE WAY FORWARD: Fostering the Fatah-ruled West Bank as a new model for an eventual independent state. Convincing Israel to let Fatah-PA control security (and suppress the Islamic Jihad and armed Hamas units) in the West Bank, rather than having Israeli soldiers undermine PA authority in high-profile IDF raids.
5. SYRIA Arguably the most important swing state of them all.
THE RUB: Damascus still plays host to a range of ultra-militant Palestinian organizations. It remains allied to Iran and, as such, is crucial to the power Hezbollah holds in Lebanon.
THE UPSIDE: Syria, increasingly cash-starved as falling oil prices sap Iran's treasury, is desperate to end its international isolation, and fervently desires Washington's help to that end. Netanyahu has flirted with the prospect of peace with Syria in the past, knowing that only a Likud-led government could command the clout needed to give up the Golan. Were such a peace concluded, Hezbollah would lose much of its strength in Lebanon, and there would be strong Palestinian public pressure for a final peace as well.
THE WAY FORWARD: Encourage Netanyahu to pick up where he left off in the 1990s.
6. IRAN
THE RUB: Nuclear weapons research, ballistic missile research, lobbying and backing Hezbollah, Hamas, for proxy wars.
THE UPSIDE: Plummeting oil revenues, economic crisis, long-term effects of inflation and imbalance of wealth, an internet-aware younger generation. An election later this year, which could topple Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
THE WAY FORWARD: Keep back channels open to Tehran, while supporting Netanyahu, should he pick up with Syria.
Read more...
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
No chance for 2 states (Ynetnews)
Silly me for thinking 2-states solution is the final one whereas the reality is further than expected.
No chance for 2 states
Israeli leaders must realize there are better options than two-state solution
(Giora Eiland Published: 03.04.09)
A unity government will reportedly not be created, because Tzipi Livni thinks Benjamin Netanyahu does not adhere to the notion of the "two-state solution." But is this the only political solution? This is what Livni and many others around the world think, but it isn't so.
Not only is it far from being the single solution, it’s a bad solution, and will likely never be achieved.
The idea of "two states" is based on a series of assumptions: First, the assumption that the primary Palestinian national ambition is statehood. There is no basis to this. The Palestinian ethos is based on values such as justice, victimization, revenge, and above all, the "right of return."
It's true that the Palestinians want to do away with the occupation, but it's wrong to assume that this translates into a desire for an independent state. They would prefer the solution of "no state at all" – that is, the State of Israel will cease to exist and the area between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River will be divided among Jordan, Syria and Egypt.
The second assumption is that if a Palestinian state is created, it will be ruled by "moderates." There is no basis to this. It is likely that the regime in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank will fall within a short time into the hands of Hamas.
The third assumption is that two stable states can exist in the narrow strip that lies between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. It is easy to prove this is not possible: the Palestinian state will not be able to be independent and Israel will not be able to defend itself.
The fourth assumption is that Israel can implement this agreement; that is, an agreement that entails evacuating 100,000 settlers from Judea and Samaria. Even if we ignore the social and political intricacies of this, such an operation would cost more than $30 billion, not including billions more that will be required to redeploy the army. Is this possible?
In short, the most the Israeli government can offer the Palestinians, and still survive politically, is less than the minimum that a Palestinian regime can accept, and still survive politically.
Chance for change
There are at least two other solutions that are much more beneficial, and not only for Israel.
The first is to create an independent political entity in the West Bank that will be part of a confederation with Jordan. This may sound surprising, but there are increasing voices, both in Jordan and in the West Bank, in support of this idea.
The Jordanian logic is simple: If a Palestinian state is created, it will be ruled by Hamas, and a Hamas state neighboring Jordan is the beginning of the end for the Hashemite Kingdom. So it is better that control over security in the West Bank be in Jordanian hands.
Palestinians who support this idea do so for two reasons: They prefer a Jordanian rule to Hamas rule, and it is the quickest way to dispose of the Israelis.
The second alternative is a regional solution, in which there will be an exchange of territory not only between Israel and the Palestinian state; rather, Egypt will also be involved. Gaza can be expanded to three times its size, on account of Egyptian territory, and can be given genuine economic viability.
In exchange, the Palestinians will renounce a significant piece of land in the West Bank, and this will allow Israel to decrease the number of evacuees to 30,000.
Israel will compensate Egypt with territories in the south by opening a land crossing between Egypt and Jordan, north of Eilat, and more.
Back to the new Israeli government: Netanyahu would do best by not only rejecting the "two-state solution" but also persuading the United States to examine alternative solutions.
US President Barack Obama talked about change – here's a chance to make a change in the way the Americans have been looking at the situation until now.
Read more...
No chance for 2 states
Israeli leaders must realize there are better options than two-state solution
(Giora Eiland Published: 03.04.09)
A unity government will reportedly not be created, because Tzipi Livni thinks Benjamin Netanyahu does not adhere to the notion of the "two-state solution." But is this the only political solution? This is what Livni and many others around the world think, but it isn't so.
Not only is it far from being the single solution, it’s a bad solution, and will likely never be achieved.
The idea of "two states" is based on a series of assumptions: First, the assumption that the primary Palestinian national ambition is statehood. There is no basis to this. The Palestinian ethos is based on values such as justice, victimization, revenge, and above all, the "right of return."
It's true that the Palestinians want to do away with the occupation, but it's wrong to assume that this translates into a desire for an independent state. They would prefer the solution of "no state at all" – that is, the State of Israel will cease to exist and the area between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River will be divided among Jordan, Syria and Egypt.
The second assumption is that if a Palestinian state is created, it will be ruled by "moderates." There is no basis to this. It is likely that the regime in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank will fall within a short time into the hands of Hamas.
The third assumption is that two stable states can exist in the narrow strip that lies between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. It is easy to prove this is not possible: the Palestinian state will not be able to be independent and Israel will not be able to defend itself.
The fourth assumption is that Israel can implement this agreement; that is, an agreement that entails evacuating 100,000 settlers from Judea and Samaria. Even if we ignore the social and political intricacies of this, such an operation would cost more than $30 billion, not including billions more that will be required to redeploy the army. Is this possible?
In short, the most the Israeli government can offer the Palestinians, and still survive politically, is less than the minimum that a Palestinian regime can accept, and still survive politically.
Chance for change
There are at least two other solutions that are much more beneficial, and not only for Israel.
The first is to create an independent political entity in the West Bank that will be part of a confederation with Jordan. This may sound surprising, but there are increasing voices, both in Jordan and in the West Bank, in support of this idea.
The Jordanian logic is simple: If a Palestinian state is created, it will be ruled by Hamas, and a Hamas state neighboring Jordan is the beginning of the end for the Hashemite Kingdom. So it is better that control over security in the West Bank be in Jordanian hands.
Palestinians who support this idea do so for two reasons: They prefer a Jordanian rule to Hamas rule, and it is the quickest way to dispose of the Israelis.
The second alternative is a regional solution, in which there will be an exchange of territory not only between Israel and the Palestinian state; rather, Egypt will also be involved. Gaza can be expanded to three times its size, on account of Egyptian territory, and can be given genuine economic viability.
In exchange, the Palestinians will renounce a significant piece of land in the West Bank, and this will allow Israel to decrease the number of evacuees to 30,000.
Israel will compensate Egypt with territories in the south by opening a land crossing between Egypt and Jordan, north of Eilat, and more.
Back to the new Israeli government: Netanyahu would do best by not only rejecting the "two-state solution" but also persuading the United States to examine alternative solutions.
US President Barack Obama talked about change – here's a chance to make a change in the way the Americans have been looking at the situation until now.
Read more...
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Gazans want open borders, not handouts (Ynetnews)
Does the re-building of Gaza more important than the Long term Peace agreement: 2-state Solution between Israel & Palestine? Billions of dollars have been pledged for this effort yet how many times of re-building are needed until the Leaders realize the MORE SIGNIFICANT solution is the Peace truce of 2-state recognition & REAL commitment in ceasing fire. Of cause, one can always argue that humanitarian needs are also important in the deterioting condition in Gaza but to my dissappointment, Hamas side is still reluctant to see it through by not agree to the proposal. Overall, the action is just like cutting the grass on the surface but not on the root.
Gazans want open borders, not handouts
(Ynetnews) After billions pledged at international donor conference toward Strip's rebuilding, ordinary Palestinians say there will be no real success until border crossings are opened. 'I don't think we can derive hope from the conference,' resident says
As the world's top diplomats pledged billion of dollars for war-ravaged Gaza in Egypt on Monday, ordinary people here, from merchants to housewives, said they'd rather have open borders than handouts.
Even some tunnel smugglers who profit from Gaza's blockaded borders say they'd rather import legally through open crossings than risk Israeli bombing raids and shaft collapses.
"I want a ceasefire and open borders. Crossings are better than tunnels," said 22-year-old smuggler Abu Mahmoud, leaning over a shaft as workers tried to clear a 100-meter stretch of tunnel that had collapsed under a recent Israeli air strike.
The closure of Gaza, imposed by Israel and Egypt after a violent Hamas takeover in June 2007, has deepened poverty and fostered militancy. A three-week military offensive in Gaza by Israel wreaked considerable destruction but left the militants in power. Now donor countries have to find a way to rebuild Gaza.
On Monday, donors pledged a total of $5.2 billion for Gaza and for the government of Hamas' main rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Abbas had sought at least $2.8 billion in new aid from the donors' conference in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheik.
Aid officials say reconstruction is only possible with open borders. But Israel and Egypt have set conditions that include a complicated prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas, and reconciliation between Hamas and Abbas.
But ordinary Palestinians say there will be no real success until the borders are opened.
In Gaza City, car parts dealer Nayef Masharawi, 60, said the blockade has been bad for business. He noted that a gallon of Egyptian motor oil bought from tunnel smugglers costs nearly twice as much as the superior product he used to import from Israel. His last shipment from Israel arrived in May 2007, a month before the Hamas takeover.
The elderly shopkeeper said he had fond memories of the 1970s, when he would drive from Gaza City to his Mercedes supplier in the Israeli port city of Haifa without borders or checkpoints.
At the upscale Delice Cafe in Gaza City, patrons paid little attention to speeches from the conference broadcast live on a TV in the corner.
"I don't think we can derive hope from such a meeting," said civil engineering student Wassim Jaradat, 24, sitting at a table with two friends and sipping cappuchino. "I don't think any immediate results will be seen on the ground."
However, housewife Sulafa Ayyad said she was hoping to claim compensation for damage to her two-story home in Gaza City's Zeitoun neighborhood. The house, built with savings from her husband Ibrahim's years as a laborer in Israel, was hit by bullets and shrapnel.
Ayyad, 33, said that so far, the family has received only $200 from a neighborhood welfare committee. She said there was some confusion over whether the family should get emergency aid from Hamas or a UN aid agency for refugees.
"I am so glad that the world supports us, but I voice my hope that all the promises and pledges will reach the people who were affected by the war," she said. "I am one of them, but until this minute, they fed us only words, not deeds."
Gaza's desperation is perhaps most keenly felt in the border town of Rafah, near Egypt, where hundreds of young men report to work every day in smuggling tunnels. Israeli warplanes keep bombing the tunnels because smugglers bring in not only consumer goods, but also weapons and cash for Hamas.
On Monday, for example, Egyptian police found 450 kilograms of TNT hidden in sacks near the border with the Gaza Strip, a security official said. Police have found 10 tunnels north of Rafah crossing during the past 48 hours.
On Sunday, five tunnel workers died when a tunnel collapsed from heavy rains. One of them was Ahmed Abu Samhadaneh, 20, a second-year university student. He had supported his parents and seven siblings with tunnel work for the past year, as the only breadwinner.
His shaken father Issam, standing next to Ahmed's freshly dug grave, blamed the greed of his son's employer and the blockade.
"If the border was open, my son would still be alive today," he said. "He wouldn't have to go work in the tunnels."
Read more...
Gazans want open borders, not handouts
(Ynetnews) After billions pledged at international donor conference toward Strip's rebuilding, ordinary Palestinians say there will be no real success until border crossings are opened. 'I don't think we can derive hope from the conference,' resident says
As the world's top diplomats pledged billion of dollars for war-ravaged Gaza in Egypt on Monday, ordinary people here, from merchants to housewives, said they'd rather have open borders than handouts.
Even some tunnel smugglers who profit from Gaza's blockaded borders say they'd rather import legally through open crossings than risk Israeli bombing raids and shaft collapses.
"I want a ceasefire and open borders. Crossings are better than tunnels," said 22-year-old smuggler Abu Mahmoud, leaning over a shaft as workers tried to clear a 100-meter stretch of tunnel that had collapsed under a recent Israeli air strike.
The closure of Gaza, imposed by Israel and Egypt after a violent Hamas takeover in June 2007, has deepened poverty and fostered militancy. A three-week military offensive in Gaza by Israel wreaked considerable destruction but left the militants in power. Now donor countries have to find a way to rebuild Gaza.
On Monday, donors pledged a total of $5.2 billion for Gaza and for the government of Hamas' main rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Abbas had sought at least $2.8 billion in new aid from the donors' conference in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheik.
Aid officials say reconstruction is only possible with open borders. But Israel and Egypt have set conditions that include a complicated prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas, and reconciliation between Hamas and Abbas.
But ordinary Palestinians say there will be no real success until the borders are opened.
In Gaza City, car parts dealer Nayef Masharawi, 60, said the blockade has been bad for business. He noted that a gallon of Egyptian motor oil bought from tunnel smugglers costs nearly twice as much as the superior product he used to import from Israel. His last shipment from Israel arrived in May 2007, a month before the Hamas takeover.
The elderly shopkeeper said he had fond memories of the 1970s, when he would drive from Gaza City to his Mercedes supplier in the Israeli port city of Haifa without borders or checkpoints.
At the upscale Delice Cafe in Gaza City, patrons paid little attention to speeches from the conference broadcast live on a TV in the corner.
"I don't think we can derive hope from such a meeting," said civil engineering student Wassim Jaradat, 24, sitting at a table with two friends and sipping cappuchino. "I don't think any immediate results will be seen on the ground."
However, housewife Sulafa Ayyad said she was hoping to claim compensation for damage to her two-story home in Gaza City's Zeitoun neighborhood. The house, built with savings from her husband Ibrahim's years as a laborer in Israel, was hit by bullets and shrapnel.
Ayyad, 33, said that so far, the family has received only $200 from a neighborhood welfare committee. She said there was some confusion over whether the family should get emergency aid from Hamas or a UN aid agency for refugees.
"I am so glad that the world supports us, but I voice my hope that all the promises and pledges will reach the people who were affected by the war," she said. "I am one of them, but until this minute, they fed us only words, not deeds."
Gaza's desperation is perhaps most keenly felt in the border town of Rafah, near Egypt, where hundreds of young men report to work every day in smuggling tunnels. Israeli warplanes keep bombing the tunnels because smugglers bring in not only consumer goods, but also weapons and cash for Hamas.
On Monday, for example, Egyptian police found 450 kilograms of TNT hidden in sacks near the border with the Gaza Strip, a security official said. Police have found 10 tunnels north of Rafah crossing during the past 48 hours.
On Sunday, five tunnel workers died when a tunnel collapsed from heavy rains. One of them was Ahmed Abu Samhadaneh, 20, a second-year university student. He had supported his parents and seven siblings with tunnel work for the past year, as the only breadwinner.
His shaken father Issam, standing next to Ahmed's freshly dug grave, blamed the greed of his son's employer and the blockade.
"If the border was open, my son would still be alive today," he said. "He wouldn't have to go work in the tunnels."
Read more...
Monday, March 2, 2009
6 Qassams hit Negev region
Abbas has no right to ask Hamas to recognize Israel
Hamas slams Abbas's demand for recognizing two-state solution
The political difference among Fatah & Hamas as well as demanding for 2-state decision proposed by Abbas has been slammed by Hamas group. Looks like the this conflict will be dragging to infinite time for now.
In the unrelated event, 6 random Qassam rockets from Palestine hitting Negev-Israel. Although no casualty reported but what is the meaning of Cease-Fire agreement if the rocket launching or the attack that meant to kill still continue? I am start to wondering is this a planned attack or just some civillian that can get hold of the fire power & blast it to the other side just for FUN?
6 Qassams hit Negev region
Rocket lands in yard, lodging itself in mud thereby causing little damage, five more Qassams land in open Negev areas ; no injuries reported
A Qassam rocket landed Sunday evening in the yard of a Sderot home. Luckily, because of the recent rain the rocket became lodged in mud, causing only minor damage to the house.
No injuries were reported as no one was in the house at the time. Later two more Qassam rockets landed in open spaces in Sdot Negev Regional Council, and another landed in Eshkol Regional Council. No injuries or damage were reported in the attacks.
The Color Red alert interrupted Sderot Mayor David Buskila while he was honoring a number of basketball players with trophies after a game that took place in the southern city.
"We stopped the ceremony and ran for cover. Unfortunately this firing has been continuing in small doses since the end of 'Cast Lead', because of the lack of a sufficient response," Buskila said.
"If we had responded after the first round of fire we wouldn't be discussing this now, but there is currently no leadership or government in Israel and we are waiting on this issue."
The mayor added that the public must not allow the reality of the rockets to jade them. "I think the residents of Sderot were even getting used to a little quiet, and that's what should be happening here," he said.
Shortly after the attack on Sderot, another Qassam rocket landed in an open space within the Sdot Negev Regional Council's limits. No injuries or damage were reported.
A third rocket fired from Gaza at around 10:20 pm also landed in an open area in the Sdot Negev Regional Council, and a fourth, fired at approximately 11 pm, landed in an open space in the Eshkol Regional Council. There were no reports of injury or damage in these attacks.
A few minutes later, two more rockets landed in open spaces within the Sdot Negev Regional Council's limits, but caused no injury or damage.
Since the end of the IDF's 'Cast Lead' operation in Gaza more than 70 rockets and mortar shells have been fired at the Negev and Ashkelon.
Earlier Sunday a Qassam rocket landed between the Shaar HaNegev and Ashkelon Coast regional councils. No injuries or damage were reported.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declared Sunday during the cabinet meeting, "The State of Israel has a broad range of actions that it can take. This range of actions will be exhausted until complete quiet is brought to the south."
Read more...
Hamas slams Abbas's demand for recognizing two-state solution
The political difference among Fatah & Hamas as well as demanding for 2-state decision proposed by Abbas has been slammed by Hamas group. Looks like the this conflict will be dragging to infinite time for now.
In the unrelated event, 6 random Qassam rockets from Palestine hitting Negev-Israel. Although no casualty reported but what is the meaning of Cease-Fire agreement if the rocket launching or the attack that meant to kill still continue? I am start to wondering is this a planned attack or just some civillian that can get hold of the fire power & blast it to the other side just for FUN?
6 Qassams hit Negev region
Rocket lands in yard, lodging itself in mud thereby causing little damage, five more Qassams land in open Negev areas ; no injuries reported
A Qassam rocket landed Sunday evening in the yard of a Sderot home. Luckily, because of the recent rain the rocket became lodged in mud, causing only minor damage to the house.
No injuries were reported as no one was in the house at the time. Later two more Qassam rockets landed in open spaces in Sdot Negev Regional Council, and another landed in Eshkol Regional Council. No injuries or damage were reported in the attacks.
The Color Red alert interrupted Sderot Mayor David Buskila while he was honoring a number of basketball players with trophies after a game that took place in the southern city.
"We stopped the ceremony and ran for cover. Unfortunately this firing has been continuing in small doses since the end of 'Cast Lead', because of the lack of a sufficient response," Buskila said.
"If we had responded after the first round of fire we wouldn't be discussing this now, but there is currently no leadership or government in Israel and we are waiting on this issue."
The mayor added that the public must not allow the reality of the rockets to jade them. "I think the residents of Sderot were even getting used to a little quiet, and that's what should be happening here," he said.
Shortly after the attack on Sderot, another Qassam rocket landed in an open space within the Sdot Negev Regional Council's limits. No injuries or damage were reported.
A third rocket fired from Gaza at around 10:20 pm also landed in an open area in the Sdot Negev Regional Council, and a fourth, fired at approximately 11 pm, landed in an open space in the Eshkol Regional Council. There were no reports of injury or damage in these attacks.
A few minutes later, two more rockets landed in open spaces within the Sdot Negev Regional Council's limits, but caused no injury or damage.
Since the end of the IDF's 'Cast Lead' operation in Gaza more than 70 rockets and mortar shells have been fired at the Negev and Ashkelon.
Earlier Sunday a Qassam rocket landed between the Shaar HaNegev and Ashkelon Coast regional councils. No injuries or damage were reported.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declared Sunday during the cabinet meeting, "The State of Israel has a broad range of actions that it can take. This range of actions will be exhausted until complete quiet is brought to the south."
Read more...
Sunday, March 1, 2009
2-state solution: A joke?
2-state solution (recognition) has been viewed as the only alternative to settle Palestinian-Israel conflict once and for all. As both Leaders are sadden by the number of casualties in this conflict, wise decision making is expected in every leader in this battle or at least to have a vision for one coutnry/people's sake. At least the West still committed to have 2-sate solution for both.
The differences between Fatah & Hamas within Palestine have again become the major road-block in this Peace accomplishment with Israel. The different Political ideology is the key to prevent the reconciliation with Israel where Hamas 1988 founding charter calls for destruction of the Jewish state. Still wondering if there is other political party in this world that would want to wipe off a country as the political agenda
Back to the fundamental condition to achieve Peace between those 2 countries: 2-state solution. Is this just “Clapping with 1 hand” or we are just to naïve to believe that both countries really want to make-peace with each other?
Hamas: We will never recognize Israel (Reuters)
Published: 02.28.09, 17:42 / Israel News
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday any unity government with Hamas would have to agree to a two-state solution with Israel, a demand quickly rejected by his Islamist rivals.
The disagreement could hamper Egyptian-brokered reconciliation talks aimed at ending a schism between the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, where Abbas's Fatah faction holds sway.
"We are moving in steady steps towards ... a national unity government that abides by our known commitments, which include the two-state vision and the signed (peace) commitments," Abbas said in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Hamas official Ayman Taha in Gaza said Abbas's comments undermine chances for reaching a unity agreement.
"We reject any pre-conditions in the formation of the unity government. Hamas will never accept a unity government that recognizes Israel," Taha said.
A dozen Palestinian factions including Fatah and Hamas began reconciliation talks in Cairo on Thursday to try to agree by March 20 on a unity government. Previous efforts by Arab negotiators to reconcile Fatah and Hamas have failed.
A deal could lead to the lifting of Israel's blockade of the Gaza strip and boost Abbas's peacemaking efforts with Israel.
But Hamas continues to say it will not formally recognise Israel and its 1988 founding charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.
Read more...
The differences between Fatah & Hamas within Palestine have again become the major road-block in this Peace accomplishment with Israel. The different Political ideology is the key to prevent the reconciliation with Israel where Hamas 1988 founding charter calls for destruction of the Jewish state. Still wondering if there is other political party in this world that would want to wipe off a country as the political agenda
Back to the fundamental condition to achieve Peace between those 2 countries: 2-state solution. Is this just “Clapping with 1 hand” or we are just to naïve to believe that both countries really want to make-peace with each other?
Hamas: We will never recognize Israel (Reuters)
Published: 02.28.09, 17:42 / Israel News
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday any unity government with Hamas would have to agree to a two-state solution with Israel, a demand quickly rejected by his Islamist rivals.
The disagreement could hamper Egyptian-brokered reconciliation talks aimed at ending a schism between the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, where Abbas's Fatah faction holds sway.
"We are moving in steady steps towards ... a national unity government that abides by our known commitments, which include the two-state vision and the signed (peace) commitments," Abbas said in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Hamas official Ayman Taha in Gaza said Abbas's comments undermine chances for reaching a unity agreement.
"We reject any pre-conditions in the formation of the unity government. Hamas will never accept a unity government that recognizes Israel," Taha said.
A dozen Palestinian factions including Fatah and Hamas began reconciliation talks in Cairo on Thursday to try to agree by March 20 on a unity government. Previous efforts by Arab negotiators to reconcile Fatah and Hamas have failed.
A deal could lead to the lifting of Israel's blockade of the Gaza strip and boost Abbas's peacemaking efforts with Israel.
But Hamas continues to say it will not formally recognise Israel and its 1988 founding charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.
Read more...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
