Gaza and Israel IX

So, help me out here. Did Perez tell a bald faced, glaringly obvious lie in front of the whole world, or is the Israeli leadership so far removed from human reality they actually believe themselves?

Today Israel announced it will continue its attacks on Gaza.

Is this a continuation of the Israeli political campaign?  A continuation of Peres's snit at Davos?  A challenge to Obama and Mitchell?

What the hell is wrong with them?

 Is the Samson option the next thing up their sleeve if Obama doesn't cave or if the Palestinians manage to unite?

 As for Davos, since I couldn't catch the whole session --I tuned in half-way through Peres's rather shrill and aggressive defence-- I can't say whether the Turkish President was right in saying he had been given only 15 minutes and the Israeli had taken 25 minutes, which justified Erdegun's claim to response time.  I did find the start of his rebuttal quite calm and effective and I wish the moderator (David Ignatius, a Washington Post columnist) hadn't pulled that crap about  not keeping people waiting for their dinner. It was a very offensive put-down of a serious  right to rebuttal. 

Would it have been in order to give him his 10 minutes?

I am interested in people's take on both questions.

 

An interesting summary of what's going on in Israeli politics - not tremendously promising:

With less than two weeks to go before Israel's elections on 10 February, the polls are such that Likud chairman Binyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu felt the need to warn his supporters that it's too early to celebrate. But while Bibi may be worried that the predicted victory could still elude him, Ha'aretz commentator Ari Shavit obviously believes it's time for the grim acknowledgement that "[the] right's victory in the 2009 election is unavoidable … Netanyahu will be the next prime minister. After three years of a centre-left government, a centre-right government will come to power. The unlikely scenario is a Likud-Shas-Yisrael Beiteinu government, while the likely scenario is a Likud-Labour-Kadima one."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/30/israelandthepalestinians-gaza

 

 

Talk about cynical politicians.  This guy is putting on an act for the world, trying to look as if he's doing the decent thing (and attracting voter support as well) while helping to finance the Israeli war machine.

 

 

The trade volume between Turkey and Israel has reached to 3.3 billion dollars in 2008 from 1.4 billion dollars in 2002 when the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development came to power.

Thanks ... I've been looking for that delusional quote.

This is more encouraging, 

Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip said over the weekend that there were "indications" suggesting that the international community was on its way to ending its boycott of the Islamic movement.

Slideshow: Pictures of the week

The officials said they were "encouraged" by statements made by former British prime minister Tony Blair, who serves as the Quartet's special Middle East envoy.

In an interview published in The Times of London, Blair said that Hamas must be involved in the Middle East peace process.

He said that in the past, the issue of the Gaza Strip was neglected in an effort to establish a Palestinian state in the West Bank - an effort, he added, that was never going to work.

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• Democratic accountability in Gaza

Blair added that Hamas must both renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist before it could be involved in the peace process.

"I do think it is important that we find a way of bringing Hamas into this process, but it can only be done if Hamas is prepared to do it on the right terms," he said.

 .....

... but there is that clinker in there.

same ole same ole ... ssdd

"The local leaders believe that while they paid a heavy price, the leaders in Damascus were staying in five-star hotels in Arab capitals."

He said that while the Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip favored a new cease-fire with Israel, Mashaal and his friends were not eager to reach such a deal before achieving political gains.

... "political gains" ... like a place at the table?

If so, sounds like they still have a common goal, and Blair has moved too.

Recognition ... recognition of right of return for all peoples, and equal rights in all jurisdictions.

?

Is that a bit too broad? lol

 

 

 

An oldie but goodie, LTJ.  I wonder what's happening with that now, almost a year later?  And of course - there's nothing like "the Facebook angle" to attract readers!

Israeli war crimes:

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45637

I m not sure if Iran has much to do with Israels demise.  These selfcentred egomeniacs are their own worst enemies in my opinion.

They are using a sledge hammer to kill a Hamas mosquito sitting between their eyes.

The following link to parts I and II of the CBS 60 Minutes report that engendered so much anger from defenders of the Zionist racial supremacy movement. The problem with the segment? Truth. See for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYAgyv2MKyI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUaeID9Lap0

 

Israeli Murder Forces gun down another kid, this time in Hebron

 

This 14-year old must have been throwing rockets at innocent Zionist civilians.

You're obviously not here to read the threads with an open mind, or discuss the issues intelligently. You're here to interrupt, disrupt, and lecture from your secure place of ignorance.

So please, fuck off. 

For shame, Newbold.

Stone-throwing teenagers and children cannot and should not be equated with armed militants who shoot rockets. 

But young IDF soldiers charged with protecting the hundreds of illegal settlements in Palestinian territory can be equated with those sent into Palestinian villages and into Gaza.  They are trained to "defend" themselves by any means, which includes shooting unarmed civilians, whether they are throwing stones or walking to school or to pick up food from a UN centre.  Thousands of young Israelis are being/have been conditioned into a kind of sociopathic behaviour that's no better than teaching little Palestinian schoolchildren to hate Jews and embrace martyrdom, which is one of Israel's bugbears about Palestinian education. 

Shooting unarmed civilians, whether they are throwing stones or not, and whether the bullets are rubber-coated metal or body-piercing metal, is a major violation of the Geneva Convention.

Enough enabling already.

Israel may face war crimes trials over Gaza

Via Another Point of View

 

I'm not sure that architecture can do what politics seemingly can't, but it's an interesting proposition anyway. What to do about states that aren't terriorially contiguous? Giant green-roofed bridges!

http://i.gizmodo.com/5162642/mindblowing-buildings-in-the-sky-may-solve-israeli+palestinian-conflict

I appreciate reading Judy Rebick and Alan Sears's comments about criticizing Israel while being labelled anti-Semitic by others.  One should not be called anti-Semitic or anti-Canadian just for criticizing Israel's actions.  Perhaps Ms. Rebick and Mr. Sears just want to help make Israel into a better place for all.