Kerry talks Mideast peace with Abbas, Sissi, Jordan king

End Of Days News

Kerry talks Mideast peace with Abbas, Sissi, Jordan king

At economic conference in Egypt, US diplomat gives no word on military aid to Cairo, encourages foreign investment

Pressure on next Israel government to repair foreign ties

Hamas and Fatah have clear, opposite interests in Israel’s election outcome

Muslim Obamas Amerika and child muslim martyrs!

End Of Days News

Palestinian TV Show Encourages Children to Kill Jews

End Of Days News

Palestinian TV Show Encourages Children to Kill Jews

Just days after its much-vaunted reconciliation pact with Mahmoud Abbas’s PLO, Hamas’s official TV channel aired a children’s program in which viewers were encouraged to “kill the Jews”. During the show, called “Pioneers of Tomorrow”, young children are interviewed by a young presenter and her “bumblebee” co-host and encouraged to carry out a variety of violent … Continue reading »

Netanyahu stands by two-state solution

End Of Days News

Netanyahu stands by two-state solution 

DEBKAfile June 25, 2013, 10:37 AM (GMT+02:00)

Ahead of US Secretary of State John Kerry’s arrival in Jerusalem and Ramallah this week, Palestinian Authority negotiator Saab Erekat suddenly declared that the Palestinians had never opposed direct negotiations or posed pre-conditions. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu restated his position in favor of a two-state solution of the dispute, while his coalition cabinet remained divided on the issue.

http://www.debka.com/newsupdatepopup/4801/

Israel cancels UNESCO visit to Jerusalem

End Of Days News

Israel cancels UNESCO visit to Jerusalem 

DEBKAfile May 20, 2013, 5:29 PM (GMT+02:00)

A month ago, Israel agreed to a  UNESCO visit to examine the state of conservation of the walled Old City of Jerusalem, a world heritage site, provided it was not political and anti-Israel motions avoided when the team submitted its findings at the organization’s next session in Cambodia. Israel withdrew permission for the visit when Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki's called the UNESCO tour a "probe (of) the occupation measures" in the city. This attempt to politicize a conservation tour violated all the understandings reached, said an Israeli official.

http://www.debka.com/newsupdatepopup/4461/

The IDF help people who want to annihilate them...real horrible people....God will step in soon....it has been prophesied! The phillistines have been a thorn in the side of the Israelites for thousands of years and God will deal with them!

IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) tweeted at 8:09 AM on Sun, May 19, 2013: Last Thursday, the #IDF facilitated the transfer of 320 trucks w/ 8,523 tons of goods to #Gaza, incl. 3,000 tons of construction materials (https://twitter.com/IDFSpokesperson/status/336106241719926784) Get the official Twitter app at https://twitter.com/download

Israel's Netanyahu, Palestine's Abbas head to China

End Of Days News

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas next week for separate bilateral talks as it tries to shore up its role in a region where its diplomatic influence is limited.

Netanyahu's visit -- the first trip by a top Israeli leader to China since former prime minister Ehud Olmert visited in 2007 -- will be focused on trade, though experts have also said he is likely to discussIran's nuclear program with China.

China, Iran's top oil customer and a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, has opposed unilateral sanctions on Tehran such as those imposed by Washington and the European Union and has called repeatedly for talks to resolve the stand-off over Iran's nuclear program.

Netanyahu's visit comes as a U.S. official said Israel has conducted an airstrike in Syria, apparently targeting a building, a development that is likely to worry Beijing.

Netanyahu is set to arrive on Monday in China's commercial capital of Shanghai, where he will meet business leaders, and fly to Beijing after for talks with Chinese leaders. Abbas will arrive in Beijing on Sunday.

It is unclear whether Netanyahu and Abbas will meet in China. China's foreign ministry said the country "is willing to offer necessary assistance if the leaders of Palestine and Israel have the will to meet in China".

China has traditionally had a low profile in Middle East diplomacy, but is keen to assert its role as a key player in international politics. It has tried on and off over the years to mediate in the Israeli-Palestinian issue but with little apparent success.

Read More: http://news.yahoo.com/israels-netanyahu-palestines-abbas-head-china-040629737.html

End Of Days News

Hagel advocates sending U.S. troops to Israel to enforce "Palestinian" state

Egypt’s Rose El-Youssef magazine boasted in a December article that six highly-placed Muslim Brotherhood infiltrators within the Obama Administration had transformed the United States “from a position hostile to Islamic groups and organizations in the world to the largest and most important supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood.” The Hagel appointment is just more evidence of that.

"Op-Ed: Hagel’s $160 Billion 'West Bank' US Troops Deathtrap," by Mark Langfan for Israel National News, February 23 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

Hagel, at Obama's bidding, plans to send troops to Judea and Samaria (the "West Bank") where they would soon be victims of Hamas terror. It's in writing. An investigative report.There is only one reason that Chuck Hagel was picked by President Obama to be US Defense Secretary, and why Obama will go nuclear to get him confirmed:
Hagel is the only person alive now dumb enough to deploy US “peacekeeping” troops to what is surely a "West Bank" deathtrap. Don’t believe me??! Well, in early 2009, two years after Hamas violently took over Gaza, Hagel along with a ragged has-been crew of “Israel Lasters” had some strong “recommendations” for the incoming President Obama.
I will let Hagel’s 2009 “recommendations” speak for themselves. But to lend a note of rationality, Florence Gaub, a NATO researcher, in 2010 published a NATO Research paper outlining some of the problems of such a deployment. (I.e. it would need about 60,000 US/Nato troops and about 160 billion Dollars over 10 years) I and I will excerpt her report as well.
Obama’s determination in confirming Hagel is based on Obama’s belief that Hagel will cripple Israel at any price: including the deaths of thousands of US soldiers at the hands of Hamas suicide bombs in the Palestinian Authority.

START OF HAGEL’S 2009 REPORT:

“A Last Chance for a Two-State Israel-Palestine Agreement,” April 2009. “Submitted to the administration of President Barack Obama” by Zbigniew Brzezinski, Chuck Hagel, et al.
The U.S. parameters should reflect the following fundamental compromise:
[A] non-militarized Palestinian state, together with security mechanisms that address Israeli concerns while respecting Palestinian sovereignty, and a U.S.-led multinational force to ensure a peaceful transitional security period. This coalition peacekeeping structure, under UN mandate, would feature American leadership of a NATO force supplemented by Jordanians, Egyptians and Israelis. We can envision a five-year, renewable mandate with the objective of achieving full Palestinian domination of security affairs on the Palestine side of the line within 15 years. Page 6

III. Substantive Issues to be Resolved: Israel-Palestine

Security.

The borders between the two states must be physically secure and fully controlled for their entire length. A U.S.-led multinational force would likely be essential for a transitional period once a peace agreement is concluded. Palestine would likely be non-militarized. No doubt Jerusalem will require a special security and administrative regime of its own and special arrangements will be needed for the use and regulation of Palestinian airspace. Page 12

 

Israel-Syria

Security. Demilitarization of the Golan Heights and limited forces zones on both sides – all likely to be supervised by multinational forces featuring American leadership – will be mandatory. Page 13

 

Annex: Addressing Israel’s Security Challenges

Beyond the current efforts we expect that, upon the full agreement of the parties, there will be a robust international effort involving outside armed forces for a period of indeterminate length assisting Palestinian authorities in executing their responsibilities in the security sphere and helping them build capacity in order eventually to act without outside assistance. Page 14

 

Naturally, the U.S. will play a large and perhaps decisive role. Yet it should not act alone – there should be broad participation reflecting international consensus on the importance of supporting the emergence of a truly sustainable two-state outcome. Page 14

 

Although General Jones’ mandate has focused exclusively on the Israel-Palestine track, clearly there would also be a robust American role in implementing the security-related aspects of any Israel-Syria accord. Beyond helping the IDF with improving capabilities designed to compensate for full withdrawal from territory occupied on the Syrian front since 1967, the U.S. would undoubtedly play a vital role in monitoring a demilitarized Golan Heights and providing early warning services to both parties. Page 16

 

In our view there is no avoiding a central U.S. role in helping the parties (especially the Palestinian side) meet their security-related responsibilities to each other in the context of two states. Page 16

 

GAUB’S 2010 NATO REPORT:

Research Paper – Research Division – NATO Defense College, Rome – “NATO: Peacekeeping in the Holy Land? A feasibility study,” by Florence Gaub. March 2010.
This paper argues that such a mission would struggle to be successful, and is very likely to fail. Although the idea is attractive to some who would like to prove NATO’s global peace-enforcing capacity, the chances are that this endeavor would turn bad and tarnish NATO’s image in more ways than one. NATO is not currently ready to take on this kind of mission, and might never be. Page 2

Bright lights, big city

Also, there are over 19 cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants. In total, 4.2 million inhabitants in the area live in cities of this kind, with more than half a million living in refugee camps. This itself implies two things: first, arms caches are difficult to locate without local knowledge, and arms smuggle is facilitated greatly. Disarmament measures would be even more difficult to enforce than they already are under friendlier circumstances. Page 8

 

Less is not more, less is less

Independently from the local security forces, the NATO force in Palestine (hence the minimalist version) would, if it follows the example of the successful cases of Bosnia and Kosovo, need forces ranging from 43,700 to 76,000 men, including the police forces. Of these, between 16,100 and 28,000 would patrol Gaza, and between 27,600 and 48,000 the West Bank. Page 10

 

Current theatres of operations would have to be reduced in size before a suitable size NATO mission in Palestine would be available without introducing longer deployments – something many Allies would like to avoid. Page 11

 

Who dunnit?

Stabilisation missions are largely infantry missions. This is topped in our case by the fact that in worst case scenario, the tasks would entail urban warfare and counterinsurgency, which are also infantry heavy tasks. Page 11

 

According to some estimates, 57,000 of the 76,000 men would preferably be international civilian police or gendarmerie. Page 11

 

Time is Money

Aside from the costs for the mission itself, additional costs can be expected, due to the training of the Palestinian police, building infrastructure and providing equipment. Some estimates calculate between $9.61 billion and $16.72 billion per year, not calculating reconstruction efforts, which in the case of the recommended 5 years would result in a total number between $48.05 billion and $83.6 billion. Page 11

 

In a Nutshell

NATO’s mission in Palestine would have slim chances of success, and a high probability of failure. One should not be blinded by perceptions of a historical opportunity and embark on an endeavor that could cost NATO credibility, prestige, money and lives simply because it seems to be a politically symbolic chance in a lifetime to establish NATO as a global security provider.

The territory involved presents aspects that would cause any campaign planner nightmares – densely populated, urban areas with highly intermingled conflicting populations, a volatile political ambiance where the tides can turn any second, and a very experienced opponent if it ever comes to counterinsurgency. Thus, this mission would need thorough preparation, careful planning, sufficient staffing and funding, a significant amount of political will, and would leave a very narrow margin for success. At the current stage, and with its other operations ongoing, it seems irresponsible to hasten NATO into a mission that has all the ingredients to turn into a quagmire that equals the Alliance’s involvement in Afghanistan. Page 12

END OF GAUB’S 2010 NATO REPORT:
And now for my analysis: Florence Gaub’s NATO College real analysis exposes Hagel’s US “peacekeeping” “recommendation” for the US defense policy fraud it is. Based on Hagel’s sheer hate of Israel, and without a whit of real thinking, Hagel would have had Obama commit the greatest US defense error in US history bringing the deaths of thousands of US soldiers, and the destruction of Israel, America’s anchor in the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean.
Can anyone imagine the depraved analysis Hagel has been spewing while, at this very moment, he is currently the “Co-Chair” of Obama’s “President Intelligence Advisory Board” (“PIAB”)?
In fact, Obama specifically nominated Hagel as Co-Chair of the PIAB as reward for Hagel’s 2009 insane Middle East “recommendations.” No wonder Obama’s policy has enabled Iran’s nuke program, and betrayed all our historic allies. “Hagel” and “Intelligence” are mutually exclusive terms. For 3 years, Obama has seen Hagel prove himself to be a useful-idiot who will dance to any Kill-Israel tune Obama plays for him.
So, in conclusion, Obama will do anything and everything to get Hagel confirmed because Obama knows Hagel, and only Hagel, hates Israel enough to sacrifice 1000s of US soldiers in body bags, and dumb enough to gladly blow 160 Billion US dollars, we don’t have, in order to grossly cripple, or perhaps even destroy Israel. In 2007,
Hagel saw Hamas takeover the Gaza Strip in 10 seconds flat. So in 2009, he knew the 60,000 US troops he was recommending Obama send into the "West Bank" would have been instantly trapped by Hamas, and subject to multiple Marine Beirut Barrack’s-type suicide blasts and kidnappings. But to compound Hagel’s rank stupidity, Hagel also wanted to put US troops on the Golan at the same time. Imagine what Assad would have done with US troops on the Golan Heights!! Add to the thousands of US body bags,
Hagel would happily spend 160 Billion US dollars we will have to borrow from the Chinese (over ten years of a minimum deployment) to expose US troops to mass-murder suicide bombing by Iran’s Hizbullah, and Tel Aviv to Hamas fired chemical-katyusha rocket barrages. (As an author’s note, if AIPAC plans on lobbying the US Congress for their “West Bank/Golan-for-Dead-US-GIs” “peace” plan, they should also plan on fighting Mark Langfan like they did in 1994; when they tried it the first time, and lost. Remember well the Nickels’ Defense Authorization Amendment fight!!!! See, US Troops On Golan Quicksand, by Mark Langfan,1994,

But get this, in early 2009, Hagel proved his total obsession with annihilating Israel by his stating in the 2009 paper’s preface: “In short, the next six to twelve months may represent the last chance for a fair, viable and lasting solution.” (Toto, we’re not in Nebraska 2009 anymore!) So, in 2009, Hagel was fiercely advocating for 60,000 US troops to have been already deployed by 2010, and 45 Billion US dollars already poured down the drain!! Such defense policy insanity conclusively proves Hagel is uniquely and inherently disqualified to be US Defense Secretary. Hagel’s 2009 “White Paper” shows only one thing: Obama has, in Hagel, knowingly nominated someone whose abysmal defense policy judgment is only “exceeded” by his evident virulent genetic in-bred German-Polish hate for both Israeli and American Jews.

The US Senators now voting for Hagel’s confirmation don’t know that they are now really voting for a deployment of 60,000 US soldiers to the "West Bank" and Golan Heights. If the Senators don’t stop this catastrophic train now, the Obama-Hagel “peace” locomotive will run them over when the actual time comes for the deployment decision.

Calling Israel’s “Guardian” Chuck Schumer?? Where are you?

 

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/12923#.USuhwxmAGkj

 

Time has come for 2 states

End Of Days News

In about a month and a half Israel's 33rd government will be sworn in, and, regardless of the make-up of the next coalition, it must succeed in determining the country's borders.

The campaigns have ended, so the truth can be said: The issue of Israel's borders is the most important of all. Israel must separate itself from the Palestinians and determine borders that will secure a democratic, egalitarian, legitimate and just state that will maintain a Jewish majority for generations to come.

It does not matter if we are convinced of our right to control the territories. This is an existential matter, because in order to preserve the state that was established here before us we must first determine the geographic borders, and then address the rest of the pressing issues: Morality, equal share of the burden, basic rights, separation of religion and state and rule of law. We will not have welfare, education, equality or national resilience until we separate from the Palestinians.

Sixty-five years after its inception, Israel still does not have a constitution or recognized borders for all of its territory - both of which are crucial for securing its identity in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence. The demographic reality that is taking shape in the area west of the Jordan River jeopardizes our national identity and internal solidarity, which were strong during Israel's early years.

Unilateral steps are fine

From a geopolitical perspective, the status quo is as dynamic as ever, and it is enough to mention the Iranian nuclear threat and the rise of political Islam alongside the extremism and collapse of regimes in the Arab world. If we continue to be dragged along the path of lack of initiative, the likelihood of ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the basis of two states for two peoples will be reduced even more. In the meantime, we will become more and more isolated in the world, until the international community, hypocritical and self-righteous as it may be, will eventually disassociate itself from us entirely.

The outline for a peace agreement has been known to us all for more than 12 years, since the days of Bill Clinton and his plan for two states for two peoples. The core issues of the conflict – Jerusalem, refugees, borders, security – will not dissipate on their own just because we are ignoring them and dragging our feet on the way to a solution. On the contrary, these problems will intensify and will become more difficult to resolve. Eleven years have passed since the Arab League presented its peace initiative, but to this day Israel's governments have not fond the time to discuss it. Now, in light of the developments in the Arab world, Israel should signal that it is willing to consider regional negotiations with the tumultuous and bleeding Arab world.

If it is established, a Palestinian state will be demilitarized, will not be allowed to have and army or form military alliances; its airspace will be controlled by Israel, and international forces will help the sides keep the peace. It is safe to assume that by that time Israel will have a multi-layered rocket and missile defense shield in place that will thwart attacks from any range.

The conflict with the Palestinians can be solved, but even if I'm wrong, we must still strive to achieve it, because the stalemate is a dangerous illusion.

Apart from engaging in peace negotiations, Israel must independently prepare to separate itself from the Palestinians and gradually create two nation states. True, we will have to evacuate settlements while preserving the large settlement blocs, which contain 80% of the settler population, and we must absorb those settlers who will return to Israel – some 100,000 – regardless of whether a peace agreement is reached. The IDF will remain in the territory until the security responsibility will be handed over to an element that is acceptable to us (we learned this lesson in the aftermath of the Gaza disengagement of 2005.)

No one will be glad to see settlers evicted from their homes, but it will be necessary for preserving Israel's future as a democratic state with a Jewish majority; as a legitimate and moral state that's existence is not dependent on controlling another nation. If the government acts responsibly and with integrity, the evacuation of settlers may even unite the people of Israel.

Unilateral steps are legitimate as long as they advance a two-state solution and are fully coordinated with the US.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4338374,00.html

Palestinians lob 9 pipe bombs at Israeli force

In the most violent attack on the West Bank in years, a group of Palestinians hurled nine pipe bombs and 4 bottle bombs at the Border Police unit guarding the Rachel’s Tomb shrine in Bethlehem Wednesday. None of the officers was hurt.

 

 

http://www.debka.com/newsupdatepopup/3475/

Israel declares Area E1 closed military zone

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Saturday night, ordered security forces to evict the Palestinian “settlement” established in the area between Maaeleh Adummim and Jerusalem, known as Area E1 and close it off as a military zone. Several Palestinians moved into the area Friday and renamed it Bab el-Shams. Netanyahu also instructed the state prosecution to apply to the Supreme Court for annulment of a temporary injunction holding up the Palestinian evacuation. The Palestinians claim Israel’s presence in E1 divides the West Bank in two parts. Israel says it leaves a wide enough corridor to link them.

http://www.debka.com/newsupdatepopup/3440/ 

THIS IS BIBLICAL!!! Palestinian Authority Chief Judge: 'Jerusalem Will Be the Capital of the Caliphate!



(SEE ARTICLE BELOW)

 

UNDERSTAND WHAT CALIPHATE MEANS



A caliphate is a Muslim spiritual community led by a supreme religious (and even political) leader known as a caliph (meaning literally a successor, i.e. a successor to the prophet Mohammad). The term caliphate is often applied to successions of Muslim empires that have existed in the Middle East and Southwest Asia. Conceptually the caliphate represents the political unity of the entire community of Muslim faithful ruled by a single caliph. In theory, the organization of a caliphate should be a constitutional republic, which means that the head of state, the Caliph, and other officials are representatives of the people and of Islam and must govern according to constitutional and religious law, or Sharia. In its early days, the first caliphate resembled elements of direct democracy and an elective monarchy.

Sunni Islam stipulates that the head of state, the caliph, should be elected by Shura – elected by Muslims or their representatives.

Followers of Shia Islam believe the caliph should be an imam chosen by God from the Ahl al-Bayt (Muhammad's purified progeny).

The caliphate was "the core leader concept of Sunni Islam, by the consensus of the Muslim majority in the early centuries."





 

Those who stubbornly insist that the Palestinian Authority represents the voice of moderation among Palestinians need to pay attention to recent comments by a PA official calling for the retaking of Jerusalem.

 

Palestinian Authority Chief Islamic Judge Tayseer Al-Tamimi uttered these words on Azhari TV on December 31, 2012:

The caliphate will be restored after this tyrannical rule comes to an end... What we are seeing in Egypt are birth pangs. The struggle between Islam and others, and all the conspiracies that aim at stopping the train that has already set out to liberate Jerusalem and to restore Islamic rule. Jerusalem will be the capital of the caliphate, Allah willing… That is why I say that it is imperative to awaken the nation, because it has the capabilities. It is imperative to awaken the nation to its duty to liberate the land of Jerusalem and Palestine – the land of the Prophet Muhammad's nocturnal journal – using all its capabilities.

The world can blind itself to the radicalism of the Palestinian people, claiming it is only Hamas that wants to liquidate the Jewish State, but it is clear that the Palestinian Authority are just as culpable.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/01/07/Palestinian-Authority-Chief-Judge-Confirms-Eradicate-Israel-And-Take-Jerusalem



Our mission is to save Jerusalem,’ Abbas tells Fatah supporters in TV address to huge Gaza rally

 

 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party staged a massive rally Friday in the Gaza Strip, the first such gathering in the territory since Hamas seized control there in 2007 and a reflection of the warming ties between the two rival factions.

In a speech from his Ramallah headquarters in the West Bank, Abbas declared that “victory is near… We will soon meet in Gaza.”

He named a list of Palestinians killed in decades of struggle against Israel — including those from rival Palestinian movements, such as Hamas’s spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. He said that when Fatah was founded, the Palestinians’ situation was far worse than today. “The world didn’t recognize us. We didn’t have a state or an entity on the political map,” he said. “We were regarded as refugees who needed charity.” But “a trailblazing force” had insistently sought to change that, a process that culminated at the UN, he said, when the General Assembly on November 29 upgraded the Palestinians’ status.

Protesting the “occupation and blockade” imposed by Israel, and the expansion of settlements in Jerusalem, Abbas declared, “Our mission is to unify our efforts to save Jerusalem our capital.”

Throngs had camped out overnight in a downtown Gaza square to ensure themselves a spot for the anniversary commemoration of Fatah founding, and tens of thousands marched early Friday carrying Fatah banners. By early afternoon, a hundred thousand people had gathered, Israel Radio reported.

Top party officials arrived in Gaza for the first time since they were ousted from Gaza by Hamas rivals in 2007.

“There is no substitute for national unity,” Abbas said in the televised address.

Senior Fatah official Nabil Shaath said the party received a congratulatory message from Hamas’s Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, who expressed hope that the two factions could reconcile their differences and work together as joint representatives of the Palestinian people.

“This festival will be like a wedding celebration for Palestine, Jerusalem, the prisoners, the refugees and all the Palestinians,” said Shaath.

Reconciliation between the two factions, however, is still far from coming to fruition. Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal, considered more pragmatic than Hamas’s Gaza-based hard-line leaders, forged a reconciliation agreement with Abbas in 2011.

But the Gaza-based leadership, unsupportive of the agreement, has held up implementing it. Also, Fatah enjoys Western support and it has been pressured not to forge a unity deal with the terrorist Hamas, which calls for Israel’s destruction.

Fadwa Taleb, 46, who worked as a police officer during the previous rule of Fatah, gathered at the rally with her family. “We feel like birds freed from our cage today,” Taleb said. “We are happy and feel powerful again.”

A Gaza security official said a Fatah-linked former aide to the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died of a heart attack in the square overnight, saying he was shocked by the large crowd that was allowed to gather.

In the West Bank, Abbas signed a presidential decree changing the name of the Palestinian Authority to the “State of Palestine,” following the Palestinians’ upgraded status at the United Nations as a non-member observer state.

According to the decree, reported by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa Thursday night, all stamps, signs, and official letterhead will be changed to bear the new name.

It is the first concrete, albeit symbolic, step the Palestinians have taken following the November decision by the United Nations. Abbas has hesitated to take more dramatic steps, like filing war crimes indictments against Israel at the International Criminal Court, a tactic that only a recognized state can carry out.

With the vast crowds waving yellow Fatah flags and chanting slogans, the large Friday rally to celebrate the movement’s 48th anniversary was a sign of growing detente with Hamas.

A number of Fatah activists and officials traveled from the West Bank to Gaza for the rally, including Jibril Rajoub, who formerly headed the Palestinian security forces in the West Bank; negotiator Shaath, Fatah cofounder Abdul Aziz Shaheen; and Fadwa Barghouti, the wife of jailed activist Marwan Barghouti.

In early December, Hamas celebrated its own anniversary, holding rallies in several West Bank cities for the first time in five years.

Hamas has gained new support among Palestinians following eight days of fighting with Israel in November, in which its terrorists fired some 1,500 rockets into Israel.

 

 

http://www.timesofisrael.com/tens-of-thousands-of-fatah-supporters-rally-in-gaza-for-first-time-in-years/

Israel will cease to exist within the decade, adviser to Egyptian president predicts

Essam al-Erian says all those who occupied Palestine ‘will have to return to their homelands,’ including Egypt

 

a senior Egyptian official who also serves as an adviser to President Mohammed Morsi on Tuesday expressed the opinion that Israel would not be around in 10 years.

The remark by Essam al-Erian, the deputy head of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, was an attempt to explain a previous statement to the effect that Jews who once lived in Egypt should return to their home country and leave Israel to the Palestinians.

“There are people in Palestine who occupied it, and those occupiers have prior homelands,” Erian wrote on his Facebook page. The quotes were cited by the London-based pan-Arab daily A-Sharq Al-Awsat.

Israel, he claimed would cease to exist within the next decade.

“There won’t be a thing called Israel anymore; only Palestine, and it’ll contain Jews, Muslims, Christians and Druze, and all of the people who lived there to begin with,” he said. “Anyone who wants to stay will stay as a Palestinian citizen.”

Thus, he explained, “all of those who occupied it” — including Jewish former residents of Egypt – “will have to return to their homelands.”

Essam al-Erian, the deputy head of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (photo credit: BBC screen capture)

On Sunday, during a television interview, Erian said that “Jews [in Israel] of Egyptian origin should refuse to live under a brutal, bloody and racist occupation stained with war crimes against humanity.”

He also questioned why former Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser expelled the Jews from Egypt in the first place.

The office of the Egyptian president and the ruling Muslim Brotherhood party attempted to distance themselves from the comments, apparently not due to Erian’s implication that Israel has no right to exist, but rather due to the implication that the tens of thousands of Jews who were expelled from Egypt in the wake of Israel’s establishment would be welcome in their country of birth.

“Erian’s statements don’t represent the stance of the presidency, and he isn’t an official spokesman of the president’s office,” the president’s statement said.

“The Jews of Egypt are criminals who deserve to be punished for what they’ve done to Egypt and the Palestinians,” said Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan.

 

http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-will-cease-to-exist-within-the-decade-adviser-to-egyptian-president-predicts/

The UN vote, the International Criminal Court and the riddle of Palestinian intentions????

Whether the Palestinian Authority’s UN bid is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ for peace depends on what the PA plans to do after the vote, and most of the signals don’t favor the optimists

 

Will the Palestinians attempt to drag Israel before the court rather than sit down to peace talks? A courtroom at the International Criminal Court, The Hague (photo credit: CC BY Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Flickr)

 

NEW YORK — The Palestinian Authority will seek, and likely win, recognition as a nonmember observer state on Thursday from the 193-member United Nations General Assembly. The move will have little effect on the ground, changing neither Israel’s security calculus nor the internal divisions of Palestinian politics.

 

But diplomats and observers believe it will mark a dramatic turning point in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict-cum-peace process of the past 20 years.

 

The optimists, like former prime minister Ehud Olmert and American Jewish left-wing advocacy group J Street, believe that the sidelined Palestinian Authority will earn enough political capital from the vote that it will have the public standing — and crucially, the desire — to return to negotiations with Israel for two states and peace.

 

The pessimists, including the White House, a majority of the Israeli political mainstream and most American Jewish advocacy groups, believe that the Palestinian Authority will be unable and unwilling to expend what capital it earns from the diplomatic victory on renewing negotiations. Rather, the PA will choose the more palatable option domestically and escalate the international legal challenges to Israel’s policies — and, rhetorically at least, to its very nature and existence — by joining the International Criminal Court and appealing for ICC investigations of Israeli officials and officers.

 

Optimists point to several statements by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, such as the one delivered earlier this month to the Arab League that seemed to suggest a willingness to return to negotiations in the wake of the UN vote.

 

“If it is possible to start talks on the following day [after the UN vote] then we are ready for that,” Abbas told reporters in Cairo.

 

Pessimists, meanwhile, point to statements delivered to Palestinian audiences by the likes of former PA foreign minister and current top negotiator Nabil Shaath, who told a Hamas rally in Gaza a week ago, “When you shout that you are marching toward Jerusalem, well this is exactly what your victory is doing. It is defending Jerusalem and Palestine in its entirety by all means of resistance — by armed resistance, by political resistance, by going to the UN, by solidarity — by all forms of confrontation with the enemy occupying our land.”

 

Abbas himself used his UN General Assembly speech in September to denounce Israel as an international lawbreaker that is “permitted to evade accountability and punishment” despite “its violations of international law and covenants,” and must be “compelled” to “respect the Geneva Conventions.”

 

Will the Palestinian Authority use the political capital garnered from a UN-granted diplomatic victory to come to the negotiating table? Or, as Shaath seemed to suggest to a Hamas rally last week and Abbas at his previous UN appearance, will it use the bid to launch one more front against Israel while refusing to negotiate?

 

Indeed, the question of whether the PA needs to actively apply to the ICC may be academic, as a statement in September by ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda suggested that the court may gain jurisdiction over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict automatically through the General Assembly’s recognition of Palestine as a state.

 

“What we have also done is to leave the door open, and to say that if Palestine is able to pass over that hurdle [of statehood] — of course, under the [UN] General Assembly — then we will revisit what the ICC can do,” Bensouda told a Council on Foreign Relations event in Washington.

 

She added that the ICC may be able to begin investigating Israel on the strength of the rejected 2009 PA request to join the Rome Statute that established the court.

 

“Palestine made a declaration under the [Rome] Statute acknowledging the jurisdiction of the court. As you know, this is one of the ways in which we can have jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute,” Bensouda said.

 

Even if the optimists are right and the PA is going to the UN with the best intentions to negotiate afterwards, will the PA be able to resist the temptation, and the titanic pressures from opposing Palestinian factions, to attempt to drag Israel before international courts rather than sit down to peace talks? And even if it somehow manages to resist such pressure for the sake of negotiations, presumably at great cost to its domestic standing, will Israel face the same ICC investigations regardless, pushing Israel away from any talks in the face of a renewed “lawfare” challenge?

 

http://www.timesofisrael.com/the-un-vote-the-international-criminal-court-and-the-riddle-of-palestinian-intentions/