Sunday, December 2, 2012
Sharia Law, American Style
It’s liberals who are always accusing conservatives of sticking their noses into places where they don’t belong. Being liberals, those places nearly always involve s-e-x.
For instance, when left-wingers push for same-sex marriages, abortions on demand for teenagers and tax-funded birth control pills, and conservatives push back, the Left condemns the Right for meddling in personal matters, ignoring the fact that they’re the ones who insist on putting these things into their party’s platform.
In the meantime, it’s liberals who insist on controlling everything from soda pop consumption to Christmas. Consider that Michael Bloomberg, the dwarf nanny of New York City, has come out in favor of a mosque at Ground Zero, but has waged a holy war against sugar, salt and large containers of Coke. Rahm Emanuel, who confuses his job as mayor of the murder capital of America with bring a nutritionist, spends his time making sure that Chicago’s vending machines not offer anything people might actually want to eat. Barack Obama lives up to his name by discouraging any references to Islamic terrorism, even going so far as to dismiss Major Hasan’s jihadist-inspired killing spree at Fort Hood as workplace violence, and making sure that the guy responsible for producing the video mocking Mohammad was tossed in the clink.
And, of course, any soldier caught trashing a Koran or talking trash to any of the Muslim terrorists stashed at Gitmo can expect to be court-martialed.
In the aftermath of the election, a number of so-called conservatives blasted Mitt Romney for telling the truth, or at least a big part of the truth regarding the reason he lost the election. It’s no secret that politicians always run a terrible risk when they stop mincing their words, but you don’t expect them to be bushwhacked by members of their own party. But no sooner had Romney explained that he couldn’t overcome all the bribes in the form of welfare, cell phones and food stamps, doled out by Obama’s administration, than he found himself being mugged by the likes of Chris Christie, Bobby Jindal and George Will. Aside from the fact that these are the last three guys who would have been chosen by either captain of a junior high school sports team, have they no idea how silly they sound with their self-righteous blather?
Among voters earning less than $30,000-a-year, Obama received seven million more votes than Romney. Do Christie, Jindal and Will, really think they voted for Obama because they approved of same-sex marriage, his foreign policy or Michelle’s crusade against cookies?
That reminds me that Republicans who think that if their candidates reach out to Hispanic voters by letting them know that they are the party that cares about religion and family values and opposes abortion, the Latinos will flock to them in 2014, 2016 and forevermore, they’re merely displaying their ignorance. While it’s true that there’s a segment of that group, 29% in the recent election, who care about such things, the majority doesn’t. And they wouldn’t have changed their vote even if Marco Rubio had replaced Paul Ryan on the ticket. For one thing, Rubio is of Cuban heritage, a heritage that is quite different from that of Mexicans, Guatemalans and Puerto Ricans.
For another thing, the majority of Hispanics do not, like former waves of immigrants, come to America with the idea of assimilating. Also, unlike the immigrants who came here from Europe and Asia, they do not place a high premium on getting an education. And even if they did, thanks to the evil known as bilingual education, their kids are often left in the dust by the competition. It’s no wonder that the drop-out rate from high school for Hispanics is as high as it is. And if there weren’t a law against it, they would drop out of grammar school.
No other group of immigrants has resisted assimilation the way these people have. And instead of it being viewed as a national tragedy, the pinheads who promote cultural diversity regard it as a reason to celebrate. But, then, it’s not their kids who wind up having to flip burgers, mow lawns or peddle drugs.
As for the much-vaunted religiosity of Hispanics, old women may still attend church regularly. Young Hispanics, however, prefer spending their time in other ways, which has resulted in a 50% illegitimacy rate in their community. Still below that of blacks, but give them time; they’re pretty new at it when it comes to women raising kids on their own.
Of the three Republican thugs who fell on Romney, the worst, as you might expect, is the gargantuan Chris Christie, who was last seen strolling hand-in-hand with Barack Obama the week prior to the election. One could have gotten the idea that the two found each other as a result of filling out eHarmony questionnaires. After all, it seems they both like cheeseburgers and ice cream cones and moonlight walks through hurricane-ravaged communities.
Apparently, they also both have a soft spot in their hearts for questionable Islamics. Christie has appointed four schmucks to his Muslim Outreach Commission that should be reason enough to trigger an FBI investigation into his own connection to scumbags. The four include Imam Mohammad Qatanani, whose deportation is sought by the Department of Homeland Security for his failure to disclose on his green card application that he was arrested by the Israelis in 1993 for his ties to Hamas; along with Ahmed Shedeed, Mohammed Younes and Imam Abdul Basit, all of whom have direct links to Hamas and/or the Muslim Brotherhood.
In response to Romney stating that it was Obama’s gifts to minorities and young voters that cost him the election, honorable Imam Christie had the gall to bloviate: “You can’t expect to be a leader of all the people and be divisive. You have to talk about themes, policies that unite people, and play to their aspirations and their goals and their hopes for their family and their neighbors.”
It so happens Romney did exactly that.
The problem is that, for the majority of blacks, Hispanics and young white morons, what they aspired to was free stuff.
For instance, when left-wingers push for same-sex marriages, abortions on demand for teenagers and tax-funded birth control pills, and conservatives push back, the Left condemns the Right for meddling in personal matters, ignoring the fact that they’re the ones who insist on putting these things into their party’s platform.
In the meantime, it’s liberals who insist on controlling everything from soda pop consumption to Christmas. Consider that Michael Bloomberg, the dwarf nanny of New York City, has come out in favor of a mosque at Ground Zero, but has waged a holy war against sugar, salt and large containers of Coke. Rahm Emanuel, who confuses his job as mayor of the murder capital of America with bring a nutritionist, spends his time making sure that Chicago’s vending machines not offer anything people might actually want to eat. Barack Obama lives up to his name by discouraging any references to Islamic terrorism, even going so far as to dismiss Major Hasan’s jihadist-inspired killing spree at Fort Hood as workplace violence, and making sure that the guy responsible for producing the video mocking Mohammad was tossed in the clink.
And, of course, any soldier caught trashing a Koran or talking trash to any of the Muslim terrorists stashed at Gitmo can expect to be court-martialed.
In the aftermath of the election, a number of so-called conservatives blasted Mitt Romney for telling the truth, or at least a big part of the truth regarding the reason he lost the election. It’s no secret that politicians always run a terrible risk when they stop mincing their words, but you don’t expect them to be bushwhacked by members of their own party. But no sooner had Romney explained that he couldn’t overcome all the bribes in the form of welfare, cell phones and food stamps, doled out by Obama’s administration, than he found himself being mugged by the likes of Chris Christie, Bobby Jindal and George Will. Aside from the fact that these are the last three guys who would have been chosen by either captain of a junior high school sports team, have they no idea how silly they sound with their self-righteous blather?
Among voters earning less than $30,000-a-year, Obama received seven million more votes than Romney. Do Christie, Jindal and Will, really think they voted for Obama because they approved of same-sex marriage, his foreign policy or Michelle’s crusade against cookies?
That reminds me that Republicans who think that if their candidates reach out to Hispanic voters by letting them know that they are the party that cares about religion and family values and opposes abortion, the Latinos will flock to them in 2014, 2016 and forevermore, they’re merely displaying their ignorance. While it’s true that there’s a segment of that group, 29% in the recent election, who care about such things, the majority doesn’t. And they wouldn’t have changed their vote even if Marco Rubio had replaced Paul Ryan on the ticket. For one thing, Rubio is of Cuban heritage, a heritage that is quite different from that of Mexicans, Guatemalans and Puerto Ricans.
For another thing, the majority of Hispanics do not, like former waves of immigrants, come to America with the idea of assimilating. Also, unlike the immigrants who came here from Europe and Asia, they do not place a high premium on getting an education. And even if they did, thanks to the evil known as bilingual education, their kids are often left in the dust by the competition. It’s no wonder that the drop-out rate from high school for Hispanics is as high as it is. And if there weren’t a law against it, they would drop out of grammar school.
No other group of immigrants has resisted assimilation the way these people have. And instead of it being viewed as a national tragedy, the pinheads who promote cultural diversity regard it as a reason to celebrate. But, then, it’s not their kids who wind up having to flip burgers, mow lawns or peddle drugs.
As for the much-vaunted religiosity of Hispanics, old women may still attend church regularly. Young Hispanics, however, prefer spending their time in other ways, which has resulted in a 50% illegitimacy rate in their community. Still below that of blacks, but give them time; they’re pretty new at it when it comes to women raising kids on their own.
Of the three Republican thugs who fell on Romney, the worst, as you might expect, is the gargantuan Chris Christie, who was last seen strolling hand-in-hand with Barack Obama the week prior to the election. One could have gotten the idea that the two found each other as a result of filling out eHarmony questionnaires. After all, it seems they both like cheeseburgers and ice cream cones and moonlight walks through hurricane-ravaged communities.
Apparently, they also both have a soft spot in their hearts for questionable Islamics. Christie has appointed four schmucks to his Muslim Outreach Commission that should be reason enough to trigger an FBI investigation into his own connection to scumbags. The four include Imam Mohammad Qatanani, whose deportation is sought by the Department of Homeland Security for his failure to disclose on his green card application that he was arrested by the Israelis in 1993 for his ties to Hamas; along with Ahmed Shedeed, Mohammed Younes and Imam Abdul Basit, all of whom have direct links to Hamas and/or the Muslim Brotherhood.
In response to Romney stating that it was Obama’s gifts to minorities and young voters that cost him the election, honorable Imam Christie had the gall to bloviate: “You can’t expect to be a leader of all the people and be divisive. You have to talk about themes, policies that unite people, and play to their aspirations and their goals and their hopes for their family and their neighbors.”
It so happens Romney did exactly that.
The problem is that, for the majority of blacks, Hispanics and young white morons, what they aspired to was free stuff.
Hamburg, Germany makes major concessions with its Muslim community
According to a report filed at radicalislam.org by Soeren Kern, a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute,
The most distressing aspect of the agreement, and certainly the most controversial, centers around the city’s agreement to include Islam as part of the public school curriculum.
That aspect of the accord is, by itself, contentious enough, but details of the pact dictate that only Muslim officials can decide who will be allowed to teach the courses. By default that means that only Muslims will be instructors, which also means students will have no opportunity to learn opposing points of view regarding the religious, social and political ideologies of Islam.
Basic fundamentals of Islam do not allow separation of church and state. The faith is an all encompassing way of life which is a key factor in the nearly impossible task of finding common ground with Western values and societies.
With 200,000 Muslims currently living in
Rather than integrating Muslims into
Other aspects of the newly announced program include building more mosques, three approved state holidays for Muslim workers, special counseling for Muslim prisoners and burial rites that adhere to Islamic tradition.
For Muslims, the biggest concession in the agreement states that they will respect fundamental rights and support equality between the sexes, but there are no specifics in the document which provide any details about enforcement of those rules.
A Cologne-based organization comprised of former Muslims who have been sentenced to death for apostasy (leaving the religion) is one of the most vocal groups among the opposition. The Central Council of Ex-Muslims called the agreement a “black day” for
A statement issued by Chairperson Mina Ahadi said, "The city of
On the other hand, Hamburg Mayor Scholz, a former federal labor minister of the Social Democrats (SPD), described the signing at the city hall as a "milestone" for integration. Other communities in
Ultimately the goal of the SPD is to see Islam recognized as an official religion in
In the end it all boils down to politics. When German elections take place in the latter part of 2013, the Social Democrats hope to oust Chancellor Angela Merkel. By making concessions to Muslims, they hope to win a huge new voting block that could make the difference.
If we have learned anything from history however, it is that appeasement can also make a difference, and no one should know that better than
U.S. household net worth lowest since 1969
The median net worth of American households has dropped to a 43-year low as the lower and middle classes appear poorer and less stable than they have been since 1969.
According to a recent study by New York University economics professor Edward N. Wolff, median net worth is at the decades-low figure of $57,000 (in 2010 dollars). And as the numbers in his study reflect, the situation only appears worse when all the statistics are taken as a whole.
According to a recent study by New York University economics professor Edward N. Wolff, median net worth is at the decades-low figure of $57,000 (in 2010 dollars). And as the numbers in his study reflect, the situation only appears worse when all the statistics are taken as a whole.
Syrian army pounds Damascus suburbs, flights to resume
(Reuters) - Syrian army forces pounded rebel-held suburbs around Damascus with
fighter jets and rockets on Sunday, activists said, killing and wounding dozens
in an offensive to push rebels away from the airport and stop them closing in on
the capital.
The army struck hard after a week of rebel advances, including the capture of
two military bases near the capital. Rebels had been planning to push into
central Damascus from their strongholds on the outskirts and fighting in the
past week has been fierce.
At least 15 people dead and dozens wounded in car bomb blast in Homs, Syria
At least 15 people are reported to be dead and dozens injured in an explosion that rocked the Hamra district of Homs, Syria. The blast happened near the Mosque of Omar and a nearby stadium.
There may have been refugee camps in the area, according to reports.
Many nearby residential buildings were damaged in the blast.
Homs has been a frequent battleground during the 20 month uprising against President Bashar Assad.
Taliban attack on US base in Afghanistan kills 3 Afghan troops, 2 civilians
Afghan officials confirm that three suicide car bombs were used in the attack in the east of country, with fighting having lasted several hours, AP reports.
Helicopters were firing at the military base, aiming at what appeared to be a militant gunman inside the compound as blasts were heard inside, Afghan officials stated.
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack via email sent to reporters.
Also, at least five bodies in Afghan army uniform were seen at the scene, an Afghan official told AFP, but it remains unclear if those were troops or attackers.
The attack comes days after senior US officials said that 10,000 troops were to stay in Afghanistan past the 2014 exodus deadline.
Unusual activity at Syrian chemical weapons sites amid rumors Assad is dead or fled
Unusual activity at Syrian chemical weapons sites amid rumors Assad is dead or fled
DEBKAfile Special Report December 2, 2012, 11:44 AM (GMT+02:00)
; "Syrian WMD stores")
Syrian WMD stores
Western intelligence officers were seeing new signs of activity at Syrian
chemical weapons sites, they told the New York Times Sunday, Dec. 2.
“It’s in some ways similar to what they’ve done before,” a senior U.S.
intelligence official said. “But they’re doing some things that suggest they
intend to use the weapons. It’s not just moving stuff around. These are
different kind of activities.”
debkafile’s Middle East sources add rumors were flying around the region Saturday night and Sunday morning that President Bashar Assad had been killed or fled Syria. Neither is confirmed. However, the rebels have in recent days made major strategic gains and begun to turn the tide of war against's Assad forces.
debkafile’s Middle East sources add rumors were flying around the region Saturday night and Sunday morning that President Bashar Assad had been killed or fled Syria. Neither is confirmed. However, the rebels have in recent days made major strategic gains and begun to turn the tide of war against's Assad forces.
The new rumors tie in with the suggestive movements of chemical weapons
detected by Western intelligence without any indication of their likely
target.
Since the Syrian uprising erupted against his regime last year, Assad has often declared he would fight his enemies to the end and threatened that if his back was against the wall and life and regime were in jeopardy, he would rather set the entire Middle East on fire than surrender.
Since the Syrian uprising erupted against his regime last year, Assad has often declared he would fight his enemies to the end and threatened that if his back was against the wall and life and regime were in jeopardy, he would rather set the entire Middle East on fire than surrender.
At Harvard, ‘Jews need not apply’
Students receive offensive invitation to join ‘The Pigeon, Harvard’s Newest Finals Club’
Harvard University students living on campus on Friday morning woke up to discover that flyers with anti-Semitic content had been slid under their doors.
The satirical fliers, invitations to join “The Pigeon, Harvard’s Newest Finals Club,” were headlined with the words “inclusion,” diversity,” and “love,” with the footnotes “Jews need not apply,” “Seriously, no fucking Jews. Coloreds OK,” and “Rophynol” — an apparent misspelling of Rohypnol, a sedative that has been designated as a date-rape drug.
The Harvard Crimson reported that administrators had launched an investigation. The dean of Harvard College, Evelynn M. Hammonds, denounced the flyers.
“As Dean of the College, and as an educator, I find these flyers offensive. They are not a reflection of the values of our community,” Hammonds wrote in an email.
“Even if intended as satirical in nature, they are hurtful and offensive to many students, faculty and staff, and do not demonstrate the level of thoughtfulness and respect we expect at Harvard when engaging difficult issues within our community.”
If Iran tries to attack, Israel will reportedly target its missiles before they get off the ground
With the help of the US-made X-band radar, Eitan drones stationed in Azerbaijan will attempt to hit the missiles ‘the moment their engines are ignited,’ Sunday Times reports
In the event that Iran attempts to fire missiles at Israel, Jerusalem will deploy giant drones stationed in neighboring Azerbaijan to destroy the missiles before they leave the ground, the London-based Sunday Times reported.
According to the report Sunday, an American-made X-band radar system deployed at the Nevatim airbase in the Negev “can detect an Iranian missile on its launchpad 1,000 miles to the northeast,” giving Israel up to 13 minutes of warning.
The report quoted an Israeli military source as saying “We’ll try to ‘kill’ them at the booster stage — the moment their engines are ignited.”
Reportedly, such a preemptive strike would be carried out with American Hellfire missiles, delivered by Eitan drones — also known as Herons — based in Azerbaijan.
“If that happens, and it isn’t as easy as it sounds, then the remaining missiles will be finished off by our Air Defense Command,” a “well-informed Israeli source” was quoted as saying.
The story was written for the British newspaper by the Tel Aviv-based Uzi Mahnaimi, who in the past has reported that the IAF used Eitan drones in an alleged attack on a Gaza-bound Iranian arms convoy in Sudan.
The Eitan has a range of over 7,400 kilometers, over four times the distance between Israel and Iran. It can also remain airborne for over 70 hours, which means that if Israel were to jam Iran’s radar system and/or destroy its air-defense batteries — as it reportedly did to Sudan in another alleged attack, on an arms factory in October — the drones could hover, unimpeded, above Iran, as their operators located targets.
The IDF claims that during the initial hours of November’s Operation Pillar of Defense in Gaza — a coming-out party of sorts for Israel’s anti-missile technology — IAF aircraft destroyed hundreds of rocket launchers, decimating Hamas’s sizable stockpile of mid-range Fajr-5 rockets capable of reaching Tel Aviv.
Although some analysts have derided the notion, Azerbaijan has been the subject of rife speculation as a possible launch pad — or, at the very least, a refueling station — for an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Any such strike faces the difficult challenge of overcoming long flight distances, which makes Azerbaijan, located on the Caspian Sea near Iran’s northern border, an ideal platform for launching airstrikes, refueling, and missions to recover downed pilots.
Azeri officials have denied reports that their country would allow Israel to use its bases for an airstrike on Iran.
EU urges Israel to forgo construction plans, return to direct talks; PM says Israel won’t negotiate on basis of new UN ‘Palestine’ upgrade
Netanyahu, citing Rabin precedent, says Israel will continue to build in settlements
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday defended his government’s plans to approve thousands of new housing units in the West Bank by saying he was taking a page out of the playbook of the country’s most revered dovish leader.
Netanyahu told his cabinet that by approving 3,000 new homes in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, Israel was following in the footsteps of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, who in 1975 approved construction in response to a UN conference equating Zionism with racism.
“The response to the attack on Zionism and the State of Israel must reinforce and underscore the implementation of the settlement plan in all areas in which the government decides regarding settlement,” Netanyahu said, quoting Rabin verbatim. “These are not my words…. Today we are building and we will continue to build in Jerusalem and in all areas that are on the map of the strategic interests of the State of Israel.”
Rabin, remembered as a hero of Israel’s left for signing the Oslo peace accords before his assassination in 1995, approved a number of settlements during his first stint as prime minister in the 1970s.
Netanyahu’s statement seemed to confirm suspicions that the move was a punitive measure following the Palestinian Authority’s receipt of an upgrade for “Palestine” to nonmember observer state at the United Nations on Thursday.
Israel came under intense international criticism after plans were announced Friday to build the 3,000 new housing units.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s spokesperson criticized the move, saying it “risks completely cutting off East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank” and that “it would represent an almost fatal blow to remaining chances of securing a two-state solution.”
Ban repeated his call for all parties to “resume negotiations and intensify efforts towards a comprehensive, just and lasting peace and urges the parties to refrain from provocative actions.”
European Union Foreign Policy chief Catherine Ashton said Sunday that she was “extremely concerned… The European Union has repeatedly stated that all settlement construction is illegal under international law and constitutes an obstacle to peace.” She called on Israel not to go through with the planned construction.
Ashton said that after the UN vote last week, she urged Israel and the Palestinians to resume “direct negotiations without delay or preconditions,” and therefore is “extremely worried by the prospects of settlement expansion on such a scale.”
Also on Sunday, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said Israel would withhold NIS 450 million in Palestinian tax revenues to offset a debt to the Israel Electric Corporation, a move widely seen as punishment for the upgrade.
Israel rejected the United Nations upgrade, saying it impeded the peace process and was in contravention of the Oslo peace accords.
“The unilateral move by the Palestinian Authority at the UN General Assembly constitutes a flagrant violation of agreements signed with the Israeli government,” Netanyahu said. “The Israeli government rejects the decision of the General Assembly.”
The cabinet on Sunday also passed a resolution saying it would not negotiate on the basis of the UN General Assembly’s recognition of a state of Palestine in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip.
The Palestinians say the UN upgrade was needed to give them greater leverage in talks with Israel.
Steinitz defended the move to approve settlement housing on Sunday, telling Channel 10 that the Palestinian UN bid was a “provocation” and an attempt to be granted a state “without recognizing Israel, demilitarization or security arrangements.”
Steinitz added it was time to “connect Ma’aleh Adumim to Jerusalem,” referring to the E1 area where some of the construction is slated to take place. “It should have happened long ago.”
‘We have no problem with Jews worldwide,’ says Gaza’s Islamist PM; calls Israel the world’s biggest terrorist state
Haniyeh to EU: Remove Hamas from terror organization list
Hamas prime minister in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniyeh, on Sunday called on European governments to remove Hamas and other Palestinian groups from their list of terrorist organizations.
The time has come for European states to lift Hamas’s classification as a terrorist group, Haniyeh told a European delegation to Gaza. He explained that his organization, and the other Palestinian groups operating in the Gaza Strip, are “national liberation movements engaged in self-defense in the face of Israel’s continued aggression against our people.”
According to Haniyeh, Israel is the world’s largest terrorist state, and “the time has come to prosecute the leaders of the occupation for their continued crimes against our people, the latest being the Eight Days’ Aggression,” referring to last month’s Operation Pillar of Defense.
“It is no exaggeration to say that the occupation is committing war crimes, given the cruelty and hardship our people faced in these eight days of war,” Haniyeh said. He added that Hamas aspires to “a Palestinian state with complete sovereignty, with Jerusalem as its capital, and the return of the refugees to the lands they owned in 1948.”
Israel launched the 8-day operation in mid-November against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip in response to relentless rocket attacks against cities and towns in southern Israel. The Israeli government and military repeatedly condemned Hamas for firing rockets from densely populated areas and for targeting Israeli civilians.
The European Union classifies Hamas and its armed wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, as well as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad as terrorist organizations. The United States and Canada also list them as terror entities.
Though Haniyeh thanked the delegates for “the effort that has been devoted to lifting the siege of the Gaza Strip and to mount an international legal campaign to prosecute the occupation’s leaders as war criminals,” he said that the root of the problem is the occupation of Palestinian land.
“We have no problem with Jews worldwide, and we don’t oppose Jews because of their Jewish identity,” Channel 10 quoted him saying. “We have a problem with the occupation that controls our land.”
“Palestine is the only country in the world that is occupied,” Haniyeh erroneously claimed. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, for example, is internationally recognized as an occupied territory belonging to the Republic of Cyprus; and the Georgian breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia are internationally recognized as occupied by Russia.
Israel established a naval blockade of the Gaza Strip in 2007 in order to prevent arms-smuggling into the region over which Hamas gained control in the 2006 elections. Hamas forcefully removed its Fatah rivals in 2007, killing many of them in the process.
US reportedly blindsided by Israel’s move to approve settlement building
Sources tell New York Times that Netanyahu informed Washington of the plan just hours before it was announced
The United States was reportedly surprised by Israel’s approval of construction of 3,000 new housing units in Jerusalem and the West Bank on the heels of last week’s UN General Assembly vote.
The decision, roundly condemned by the Obama administration and by capitals around the world, was seen as a punitive measure for the successful Palestinian upgrade to nonmember observer state status at the UN.
According to The New York Times, senior US officials were particularly frustrated because Jerusalem informed Washington of the decision just hours before the announcement was made public.
Furthermore, Israel had previously downplayed the importance it attached to the Palestinian UN bid, suggesting that retaliatory measures would be taken only if the Palestinian Authority chose to use its upgraded status to bring charges against Israel in the International Criminal Court in the Hague.
On Friday, just one day after the resolution to upgrade the Palestinian status passed the UN General Assembly by an overwhelming majority, Israel said it would approve construction of housing units in the controversial strip of land known as E1. The construction would effectively connect Jerusalem to the nearby settlement of Ma’aleh Adumim, the third-largest settlement in the West Bank.
Plans were also announced to build in the West Bank settlements of Karnei Shomron, Ariel and Giv’at Ze’ev, the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Pisgat Ze’ev and Gilo which lie beyond the Green Line, and the Gush Etzion settlement bloc.
Dan Kurtzer, a former US ambassador to Israel and to Egypt, told the Times the construction plan “is not just another few houses in Jerusalem or another hilltop in the West Bank.” Rather, Kurtzer referred to it as “one of the most sensitive areas of territory, and I would hope the United States will lay down the law.”
Settlement building has long been one of the major sticking points to renewing Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. The Palestinian Authority has demanded a freeze to all construction in the West Bank before it returns to the negotiating table. Jerusalem has repeatedly called on the Palestinians to resume talks without preconditions.
Ma’aleh Adumim is considered part of a bloc of settlements that Israel would seek to retain in any permanent accord.
US National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor called Israel’s actions “counterproductive” and said they “make it harder to resume direct negotiations or achieve a two-state solution.”
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton added that the decision would “set back the cause of a negotiated peace.”
Clinton also blasted Thursday’s UN vote on the Palestinian Authority as a “step that will not bring us any closer to peace.”
In Washington, a bipartisan group of senators warned the Palestinians they could lose US financial support of millions of dollars a year and risk the shutdown of their Washington office if they use their enhanced UN status against Israel.
Israel to hold back NIS 450 million in tax revenues to PA
Finance minister says the funds will be used to offset Palestinian debts; Palestinians call the decision ‘theft,’ ‘piracy’
Israel will withhold NIS 450 million in tax revenues that were to be transferred to the Palestinian Authority and use the money to offset debts to Israel, Israel’s finance minister said Sunday.
The move will likely be seen as a punitive measure against the Palestinians for their successful bid Thursday to upgrade their status at the United Nations to nonmember observer state.
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz confirmed that he would hold back NIS 450 million to offset a NIS 800 million debt owed by the PA to the Israel Electric Corporation.
Israel had threatened before the vote to take measures against the Palestinians, listing the withholding of tax money to offset the electricity debt as an example. The approval of 3,000 housing units in East Jerusalem and the West Bank over the weekend was also seen as a response to the UN upgrade. That move has been widely condemned as damaging the peace process.
The Palestinian Authority owes over NIS 1 billion to Israel, according to Israel Radio.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s diplomatic advisor Nimar Hamad called the Israeli decision “theft.” He said that the issue of Palestinian tax monies had nothing to do with the UN move and that he hopes the Arab states will make good on their pledge to transfer $100 million to the Palestinian Authority.
Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat called the move “financial piracy,” and urged Israel to stop repeating its mistakes.
Israel has frozen payments to the Palestinian Authority before, notably a year ago after UNESCO granted the Palestinians full membership.
“The provocation is by the Palestinians,” Steinitz told Channel 10 news on Sunday morning, saying that the PA was attempting “to promote a state without recognizing Israel, demilitarization or security arrangements.”
Two weeks before the UN vote, Stenitz said that Israel would not collect taxes on the Palestinians’ behalf, nor deliver the money to the PA or assist Ramallah in economic matters, if the Palestinians insisted on seeking nonmember observer state status at the UN.
Despite economic leaps in the last several years, the Palestinian economy is still largely beholden to foreign aid and tax revenue collected by Israel. The lack of tax money for a month will likely hurt Ramallah’s ability to pay worker salaries or provide other services.
Steinitz also dismissed the UN’s decision to grant the PA nonmember observer status. “There will be no Palestinian state until Israel is recognized as a Jewish state with a resolution ending the conflict. Israel will not allow Judea and Samaria to become a terrorist base from which rockets launched at Israeli cities.”
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