Israel will not allow war crime trials over Gaza: PM Mon Oct 12, 9:36 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel would not allow its citizens to be tried for alleged war crimes over the Gaza war and that adopting a damning UN report on the offensive endangered the stalled peace process.
The hawkish premier was speaking days before the UN Security Council was to raise the report, which accused both Israel and the Gaza Strip's Islamist Hamas rulers of committing war crimes during the 22-day war at the turn of the year.Our first mission is to head off this attack,Netanyahu told the opening of the winter session of parliament, the Knesset.This warped document... written by this warped committee undermines Israel's right to self defence. This report encourages terror and endangers the peace,he said, repeating comments he made at the annual UN General Assembly.I want to make it clear -- Israel will not take any chances for peace if it can't defend itself,he said.Netanyahu also said that Israel will not allow a situation in which its political leadership during the war and military officials would face trial over the conflict that killed 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.We will not agree to a situation where (ex-premier) Ehud Olmert, (defence minister) Ehud Barak and (ex-foreign minister and now opposition leader) Tzipi Livni, who sent our soldiers to defend our cities and citizens, will sit on the defendants' bench in The Hague,he said of the International Criminal Court.We will not agree to a situation where IDF commanders and soldiers are branded war criminals after they defended the citizens of Israel with bravery and honour from a cruel enemy, Netanyahu said.The UN report, released by an independent international fact-finding mission headed by former international war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone last month, accused Israel and Palestinian armed groups of committing war crimes during the war that erupted last December 27.
The UN Security Council is due to begin holding its regular monthly debate on the Middle East on Wednesday, with the session widely expected to discuss the findings of the Goldstone report.UN chief Ban Ki-moon supports a Palestinian proposal to reopen debate in the Human Rights Council on the report, his spokeswoman Michele Montas said on Monday.She said Ban discussed the issue during a telephone conversation with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Sunday.
Peres tells Israeli govt to relaunch peace talks Mon Oct 12, 12:33 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – President Shimon Peres on Monday urged Israel's hawkish government to relaunch peace negotiations with the Palestinians or risk further international criticism and isolation.The cabinet led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces two choices, the Jewish state's elder statesman and Nobel peace laureate told the opening winter session of parliament, the Knesset.To be alone, isolated, and solely responsible for all the (occupied) territories while facing hostility from Palestinians and Arab states, as well as increasing criticism from many other countries. This risks a de facto single state with two nations.Or we can continue to negotiate with the Palestinian Authority until we find an acceptable solution, he said.I say to the government and Knesset, here and now, don't slow down the negotiations -- look for every break, try every option in order to put an end to more than 100 years of quarrel and bloodshed.Enough with the process, the time has come to reach final conclusions. We cannot miss this opportunity,he said.If we move forwards with peace and make peace with the Palestinians, and if we start negotiations with Syria and Lebanon, we will remove the main pretext for the Iranian madness -- against us and against the other residents of this region.Netanyahu, who addressed the Knesset session immediately after Peres, said he was willing to enter peace talks without preconditions.We expect the Palestinian leaders to be genuine partners for peace. We are prepared to work hard for peace,he said.However, Netanyahu blamed the Palestinians for the failure of previous peace talks, saying they broke down because the Palestinian leadership was not ready to declare an end to the conflict and their demands, and once-and-for-all recognise the Jewish State.The United States has been pushing the Israelis and Palestinians to agree to resume peace talks that were relaunched in November 2007 but suspended after Israel launched a 22-day war on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip on December 27.
Israel, U.S. to hold anti-missile drill next week Mon Oct 12, 9:59 am ET
TEL AVIV (Reuters) – Israel and the United States will hold their biggest joint air-defense exercise next week, the Israeli military said, testing missile interceptors that would serve as a strategic bulwark in any showdown with Iran.The drill, dubbed Juniper Cobra, has taken place every two years since 2001 but now underscores efforts by the Americans to reassure Israel as they and other world powers pursue negotiations to curb Iran's nuclear program.An Israeli defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the maneuvers would begin on October 20, having been postponed from their original October 12 start-date.But a military spokeswoman, Lieutenant-Colonel Avital Leibovich, said holding the exercise next week did not constitute a postponement.The exercise will happen next week in accordance with the original plan,she said.U.S. forces including 17 naval ships and ground personnel operating the Aegis, THAAD and Patriot missile shields will be meshed with Israel's Arrow II interceptor for the drill, the defense official said.It will be the biggest Juniper Cobra ever,the official said, adding the exercise would be overseen by Admiral Mark Fitzgerald, chief of the U.S. Navy's Sixth Fleet, as well as by the commander of Israel's air defense arm.The U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv had no immediate word on scheduling. In a statement issued last week, it said Juniper Cobra is not related to or in response to any world events.
Iran denies seeking a nuclear bomb, but the lack of transparency around its designs and Tehran's rhetoric against the Jewish state have stirred fears of war.Israel, which is assumed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal, has hinted at the possibility of attacking Iran if it deems diplomacy a dead end.But some analysts believe Israel's military limitations, and U.S. resistance to the idea of pre-emptive strikes, may force it into a more defensive posture with the help of its top ally.(Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
Israel not undermining al-Aqsa foundations: Netanyahu Mon Oct 12, 6:00 am ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday blamed recent violence at Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque on Arab extremist elements whom he said spread lies that Israel intended to dig under the holy site.Tensions in Jerusalem have risen over the past few weeks after Israeli police and Palestinian protesters clashed near al-Aqsa in the walled Old City on the eve of the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur late last month.Reasons for the confrontations at the flashpoint compound, which is revered by Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) and by Jews as the Temple Mount, were disputed.Israeli security forces control access to the area and regularly prohibit young Muslim men from entering the holy site in the Old City, citing security concerns.In last month's violence, small groups of Palestinian stone-throwers confronted Israeli forces, and Israel banned the Israeli Arab head of a fundamentalist Islamist movement from Jerusalem, saying he was inciting violence.Extremist elements tried to disturb the peace and quiet in Jerusalem,Netanyahu told reporters at the weekly meeting of his cabinet.We are talking about a radical minority that spread lies that we intend to dig under the Temple Mount. I want to make clear that this is a lie,he said.I appreciate that the majority of Israel's Arab citizens were not caught up in these provocations.Muslim religious authorities have pointed to Israeli archaeological work near the compound as endangering the foundations of al-Aqsa, allegations Israel has long denied.
UPRISING
The violence in Arab East Jerusalem, which has since dissipated, was accompanied by warnings from Palestinians in senior positions of the risk of a third Intifada, or general uprising.A Palestinian uprising erupted in 2000 after then-Israeli opposition leader, Ariel Sharon, toured the plaza above Judaism's Western Wall where al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock shrine now stand.During Netanyahu's first term as prime minister, his opening of a new entrance to an archaeological tunnel for tourists near the holy compound touched off gun battles in which 60 Palestinians and 15 Israelis were killed.Israel captured East Jerusalem in a 1967 war and annexed it in a move that has not won international recognition. Israel considers all of Jerusalem its eternal and united capital.Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of the state they hope to establish in the occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip.(Writing by Jeffrey Heller, Editing by David Stamp)
Gaza militants say Hamas stops their rocket fire By Nidal al-Mughrabi – Sat Oct 10, 10:10 am ET
GAZA (Reuters) – A Palestinian armed group accused the Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers on Saturday of preventing its men from firing rockets at Israel, a sensitive allegation for the Islamist faction as it pursues mediated deals with the Jewish state.Hamas police intercepted Islamic Jihad rocket crews on three occasions over the past month, a group official said, foiling their bids to avenge Israeli fire on Gaza and to show solidarity with Palestinian protests over a contested Jerusalem shrine.We have been prevented from launching attacks, the Islamic Jihad official told Reuters, adding that Hamas had also scrapped a planned rally by the group and arrested two of its members in a dispute over control of a mosque in northern Gaza.Hamas, which fired hundreds of short-range rockets into Israel during a December-January war but has since privately called for the salvoes to stop for the sake of repairing Gaza's ravaged infrastructure, denied Islamic Jihad's allegation.There is no truce with the occupation (Israel), whose crimes against our people are continuing, and therefore we have not and we will not block resistance,said Ehab Al-Ghsain, spokesman for the Hamas-run Interior Ministry.Islamic Jihad's complaint could not be independently verified -- not least as, by its own account, its rocketeers had been only briefly detained by Hamas police.Gazan rocket attacks on Israel have tapered off since the war, and Israeli defense officials have credited Hamas, saying it sought calm in order both to avoid another conflict and to improve its standing among Palestinians and abroad.Like Islamic Jihad, Hamas is deeply conservative and rules out coexistence with Israel, a position that helped trigger a schism with U.S.-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who holds sway in the West Bank and wants a Middle East peace pact.Yet Hamas has signaled willingness to enter a long-term truce with Israel and, through Egypt and Germany, is negotiating the exchange of an Israeli soldier held captive in Gaza for hundreds of jailed Palestinians.Egypt is also trying to mend the rift between Hamas and the secular Fatah faction of Abbas, who has often accused the Islamists of jeopardizing Palestinian national aspirations with pointless violence against Israel.(Writing by Dan Williams; editing by Robin Pomeroy)
Police and protesters clash in Jerusalem by Menahem Kahana – Fri Oct 9, 2:33 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli security forces on Friday clashed with stone-throwing Palestinians near Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound as authorities limited access to the flashpoint site sacred to Muslims and Jews.Eleven officers were injured and two Palestinians arrested, a police spokesman said after the scuffles, which came as Palestinians staged a one-day strike in defence of the compound they claim is threatened by right-wing Jews.The trouble started in the Ras al-Amud neighbourhood just outside the gates of the Old City following Friday prayers when a dozen masked youths hurled stones at police.As police moved deeper into the neighbourhood to arrest the youths, residents threw stones, water and even chairs at them.Authorities said it was an isolated incident and that they may lift restrictions on access to the mosque compound within days if calm prevails.Several hundred Palestinians performed prayers in the open just outside the Old City after being denied access to Al-Aqsa.Security forces set up checkpoints around and within the Old City and turned back Palestinians who do not live or work there, witnesses said.However, they were allowing in tourists and Jews wanting to pray at the Western Wall -- also known as the Wailing Wall -- below the mosque compound.Most stores in the Old City shut down, though some shop-owners grumbled about the strike.We need to strengthen our presence in Jerusalem, not weaken it,said sweets-seller Ramdan Abu Sbeeh, 32, who defied the strike call.
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's secular Fatah party called the strike to peacefully protest and to proclaim the attachment of the Palestinian people to their holy places and to Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the independent Palestinian state.Fatah accused Israeli forces of allowing rightwing Jewish extremists to enter the mosque compound while denying access to Muslims.Police claimed the Islamic Movement in Israel had incited tension and this week briefly detained its leader, Sheikh Raed Salah, for making inflammatory statements.Salah, who previously spent two years in Israeli prison, has repeatedly called in recent days for Muslims to defend Al-Aqsa against Israel.Israel imposed the restrictions on access to the mosque compound following a series of clashes that started late last month. Women could enter freely but the only men authorised to attend Friday prayers were Muslim residents of east Jerusalem or Israel over the age of 50.In the Gaza Strip, thousands of people on Friday took part in demonstrations called by the territory's Hamas rulers and the Islamic Jihad movement.The real Al-Aqsa battle has started, said Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya.About 600 people took part in a march in the Jordanian capital in support of Al-Aqsa mosque and protesting Israel's violations in Jerusalem,correspondents said. They chanted Death to Abbas and Death to Israel.In Riyadh, the head of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, Abderrahman al-Attiyah, meanwhile, called for an immediate lifting of Israel's siege and praised the resistance of the Palestinians.The latest surge in tension over the Al-Aqsa compound broke out on September 27 when Palestinians hurled stones at a group of visitors they thought were rightwing Jews.
The visitors were in fact French tourists, according to police, who responded by firing stun grenades. The Al-Aqsa compound, known to Muslims as Al-Haram Al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary) and to Jews as the Temple Mount, has often been a flashpoint of Israeli-Palestinian violence.The second Palestinian uprising, or intifada, erupted there in September 2000.
Father of captive Israeli soldier sees no light at end of tunnel by Claire Snegaroff – Thu Oct 8, 4:28 pm ET
PARIS (AFP) – The father of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit said Thursday he saw no immediate hope that his son would be freed soon, despite the release of a video last week showing him alive.We were moved to see him after so much time, after a period in which we hadn't even received a photo of him, Noam Shalit told AFP during a trip to Paris, were he is urging France to push for his release.On the other hand we are very worried, we don't see light at the end of the tunnel, Shalit said before meeting later Thursday with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.Sarkozy reassured Shalit's father of his full support and told him that France was committed to securing his son's release, the French presidency said in a statement after their meeting.Israeli authorities last week received the first footage showing Gilad Shalit looking healthy after more than three years of captivity in Gaza, where he is being held by Palestinian militants.The video was sent in exchange for Israel's release of 20 Palestinian women prisoners.Looking gaunt, the clean-shaven 23-year-old read from a piece of paper, at times smiling or repressing a grin, as he sat on a chair against a white wall in the footage made public just hours after the women were set free.The exchange was widely seen as the biggest breakthrough since Gaza militants captured Shalit in a 2006 cross-border raid, and as a key step toward an eventual swap that would see Israel free hundreds of prisoners.But Noam Shalit, whose son also has French nationality through his mother, is not so hopeful.For us, it is a step in the right direction, but that doesn't mean that a deal on prisoners is close, there has been no breakthrough,he said.
But the decision by Hamas, the Islamist group that rules Gaza, to release the video was a sign that they are under pressure and they want to move things forward, he said.He said he believed that the video had had a powerful effect on the Israeli public.No-one can remain indifferent to a film like that, he said.Noam Shalit believes that things have progressed much more rapidly since Benjamin Netanyahu became Israeli Prime Minister in March.He took a swipe at Netanyahu's predecessor Ehud Olmert, saying Olmert repeatedly said they were trying everything, that there wasn't a day that they didn't talk about it, but at the end of the day they got nowhere.Shalit is hoping that his meeting with Sarkozy, who since the soldier's capture has personally intervened to try to secure his release, will lead to a breakthrough.We always thought France has an important role to play. France is a major player in the Middle East. Even today, although the German team is at the forefront, France has the possibility of helping finding a deal.Israel and Hamas have held nearly three years of on-again, off-again negotiations brokered by Egypt, and which German mediators joined in July. France can act on several axes, and the Paris-Damascus axis is one of them,said Shalit.The exiled political chief of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, lives in Syria, with which France is busy rebuilding once close ties after several years of tension over Damascus's role in Lebanon.Senior Hamas official Mahmud Zahar said in a recent press interview that Shalit's release was a matter of weeks, at most a few months.Noam Shalit however said Thursday that until we see a real breakthrough we cannot be reassured.We must continue our fight and not let ourselves be beguiled by all sorts of declarations in the media,he said.
US backs delay in vote on UN Gaza report Wed Oct 7, 7:01 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States Wednesday again backed a delay in a vote on a UN report that has condemned Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip and raised concerns about war crimes by both sides.State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said such a delay could help contribute to creating an atmosphere favorable to dialogue after the report's release last month triggered an outcry.All of our energies right now are being employed to move this process forward, and we want to clear the decks of any issues that might impede our progress towards this, said Kelly.And this is why we thought that it was perhaps better to delay discussion of this.The United States believes that the report raised some very serious allegations that should be reviewed,Kelly added.But we also believe that these issues should be discussed in a constructive and non-divisive manner. And for that reason, we believe that the place for this kind of discussion is in the Human Rights Council.The UN Human Rights Council has postponed until March 2010 its vote on the report, produced by an independent fact-finding mission headed by former international war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone.But Libya's deputy ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi told AFP his country had circulated a letter on behalf of the UN Arab group requesting an emergency meeting of the 15-member UN Security Council to discuss it.
The UN report accused both Israel and Palestinian armed groups of committing war crimes during the three-week war in Gaza that erupted on December 27, killing some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.The United States, which recently joined the 47-member Human Rights Council after remaining on the sidelines for years, has opposed the endorsement of the report.The European Union had also expressed concern about moves to adopt a resolution endorsing its recommendations.
Blair seeks religious leader unity on Jerusalem Wed Oct 7, 11:54 am ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Former British Prime Minister and Middle East envoy Tony Blair called Wednesday for a joint appeal by Jerusalem's religious leaders on keeping the holy city open to all faiths even as tensions flare.Blair, speaking at a forum on religious understanding at Georgetown University, said it was crucial to recognize and address the religious dimension of the Middle East conflict.One of the things we've been trying to organize is a statement by the rabbinate and the Christian leaders and the Muslim leaders about Jerusalem and about Jerusalem being an open city or worship for people of all the Abrahamic faiths, Blair said.Unless we're prepared to recognize that dimension and to act upon it, then I think that we fail in our duty, he said.Blair serves as the envoy for the so-called Quartet on the Middle East peace process -- the United States, European Union, Russia and the United Nations.He was due later Wednesday to hold talks with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the latest developments in the region, which US special envoy George Mitchell is now visiting.Tensions have run high since Sunday when Israeli authorities closed the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, saying that people were inciting violence.Blair said the Middle East reminded him of Northern Ireland, where a 1998 deal brokered by Mitchell largely ended three decades of strife pitting Catholics against pro-British Protestants and British forces.They say to me, It's not really about religion, you know. It's about politics,Blair said of discussions in the two places.I say, that's fine. Unfortunately, a lot of people involved in the conflict think it's about religion. And so you can't actually separate out the religious dimension from the conflict,he said.
Libya seeks Security Council meet on UN Gaza report Tue Oct 6, 6:51 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – Libya on Tuesday pressed for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to weigh a UN report that condemned the Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip, diplomats said.Libya's deputy ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi told AFP that his country circulated a letter on behalf of the UN Arab group requesting an emergency meeting of the 15-member body to consider the UN report.The report, released by an independent international fact-finding mission headed by former international war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone last month, also accused Israel and Palestinian armed groups of committing war crimes during the three-week Gaza war that erupted December 27.Arab diplomats said the Security Council was to hold consultations Wednesday to decide whether or not to hold a formal meeting on the Goldstone report.We are welcoming Libya's step that they have asked the Security Council to meet tomorrow (Wednesday) to discuss the Goldstone report, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said in a telephone conversation from Rome.
Libya's step is supporting the Palestinian people's rights.Earlier in the day, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP that Abbas was seriously studying the possibility of asking that a UN Gaza war report be passed on to the Security Council.
The move appeared to mark an about-turn as the Palestinian delegation last Friday backed a move at the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to defer a vote on whether the report should be passed on.The United States had welcomed the decision by the UN rights body to delay a vote on the UN report.We appreciate the decision to defer consideration of the Goldstone report and will continue to focus on working with Israel and the Palestinian Authority to re-launch permanent status negotiations as soon as possible, US Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs Esther Brimmer said Friday.We also encourage domestic investigations of credible allegations of violations of international human rights and humanitarian law,added Brimmer, who heads the US delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Council.The United States, which recently joined the 47-member Council after remaining on the sidelines for years, had opposed endorsement of the report, while the European Union had also expressed concern about moves to adopt a resolution endorsing its recommendations.
Thousands of Christians march for Israel by Patrick Moser – Tue Oct 6, 12:49 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Thousands of Christian pilgrims from around the world marched through the streets of Jerusalem on Tuesday, chanting their support for Israel and praying for peace in the Holy Land.People must understand the Holy Land was given by God to the Jews,said Rosie Smith, one of a group of English women clad from head to toe in the Israeli flag. By Holy Land, she said she meant not just what is now Israel but also Jordan and the occupied West Bank.We are Christians who stand with Israel, she said. Her views echo those of many of the pilgrims who turned up at the march.Marching under dozens of national banners, the pilgrims made their way from a park near parliament to the gates of the Old City.The Angolan delegation swayed to a furious beat while the Singapore delegation swirled colourful banners in the air, chanting the Hebrew song Shalom Aleichem (peace be upon you).Colourful costumes abounded, such as the cloth with a map of the world below the words Virtuous Women Community wrapped around a Zimbabwean who identified herself as Mother General Prophetess AC Manjoro.The Korean delegation sported T-shirts proclaiming: Prepare the way for the King of Glory.
Grace Galindez-Gupana from the Philippines proudly held up a flag of Jerusalem.We are here as flag-carriers for Israel at a time when evil forces are seeking to divide Jerusalem,she said, her booming voice quivering with emotion.It says in the Bible that those who bless Israel will be blessed, those who curse her will be cursed,said Galindez-Gupana. She claims to hold the world record for the longest Drawing of Idols burned to Ashes (over five kilometers -- three miles of drawings of biblical beasts that were set alight.)Many said the annual pilgrimage, organised by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ,) represented a fulfilment of a Biblical prophesy that all nations would gather in Jerusalem for Sukkot -- the Feast of Tabernacles -- which the Jewish faithful celebrate this week.Israelis headed the procession, with employees of weapons manufacturer Rafael Advanced Defence Systems marching in the lead, in step to a drumbeat and holding up a model of a missile. Nearby a man was dressed up as a fighter jet.We are proud to be part of this, said Ron Collard, 70, who travelled from Turangi, New Zealand to attend the Sukkot celebrations in Israel.The tourism ministry also hailed the event, and the tourist dollars it brought in.The ministry estimated at 8,000 the number of Christians who travelled to Israel for the Sukkot week, saying this amounted to 56,000 hotel nights and income of between 16 million and 18 million dollars (11 million-12 million euros).
Peace fragile, prized as Palestinians tend new crops By Alastair Macdonald – Tue Oct 6, 6:39 am ET
QABATIYA, West Bank (Reuters) – The olive branch is a symbol of peace in the Middle East, but for Yusuf Sabaani the thousands of tiny olive seedlings he has just planted are a more tangible image of his dream for the future of his children.Yet, like Palestinian farmers across the West Bank, he knows his tree nursery depends not only on his own skill and the vagaries of weather but on a fragile peace with Israel that only lately took hold and now seems threatened by rumblings of new violence, fueled by anger at the pace of negotiations.It's got better over the last couple of years. During the Intifada it was tough, said Sabaani, 48, as he showed off his pride and joy, a new plastic greenhouse nurturing 30,000 olive seedlings just outside the once turbulent city of Jenin.I'm hoping that we'll see much more investment because of the stability we have here now, the father of eight said as he strolled around his small farm at the sprawling village of Qabatiya.We support peace between the Palestinians and Israel.
The negotiations are important.U.S. President Barack Obama's envoy George Mitchell will be back in the region this week, trying to push Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas back to the negotiating table for a final peace deal.But, Sabaani cautioned, in a week marked by clashes around Jerusalem that sparked talk of a third Palestinian uprising: The people who benefitted from the last Intifada are pushing again,he said of former militants lurking in the background.Going back to square one will ruin everything.Sabaani, who wants to expand his exports of high-yield, oil-producing olive trees into Saudi Arabia, is not alone in his determination to grab foreign aid and credit. It has arrived along with a Western-backed policing drive by Abbas's Palestinian Authority, curbing an anarchic mix of armed groups.Just down the road, Nimmer Nazzal, the president of the Qabatiya Cooperative for Irrigating Farmers, is inspecting the new greenhouse frames and 6 km (4 miles) of piping that will house and water the village's new venture in strawberries.
FROM TANKS, TO STRAWBERRIES
Three or four years ago we simply couldn't be out here,he said, pointing out a house on the boundary between the field and the town. It was wrecked by tank fire in the second Intifada, the years of suicide bombings and gunbattles that began in 2000.
This area was too dangerous to farm during the Intifada, said Nazzal, 41, as he explained the two-year-old, 168-member cooperative's plans to expand into luxury cash crops for export, like strawberries, diversifying away from staples like tomatoes.There were checkpoints on the roads everywhere. They stopped us going to market. We could take all day just getting into Jenin, which is only a few minutes away now.But everything still depends on the security situation. If the atmosphere goes sour, everything will collapse overnight.The appreciation the farmers of Qabatiya show for the sense of security, and the availability of funding, that have taken hold in the past year or two may be gratifying to Abbas's Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and his European and U.S. backers.They have pursued a strategy intended to break the violent despair felt by Palestinians in the early years of this decade, when the streets of Jenin and the fields around were best known as a battleground for Palestinian fighters and Israeli troops.There is also acknowledgment, too, of changes from Israel's new leader, Netanyahu. He has ordered occupying troops to ease movement for business and people around the West Bank by lifting roadblocks -- a strategy to boost prosperity before negotiating peace with a Palestinian Authority Netanyahu says is too weak in the face of Islamist hardliners to guarantee Israel security. But as they nurture the seeds of what they hope may be a new economy for the next generation, Sabaani, Nazzal and others say Netanyahu must now show more willing to negotiate a state for the Palestinians with Abbas -- or risk frustrations with the occupation boiling over again, to everyone's cost.
DON'T MAKE US MAD
Explaining how he hopes to use his $3,000 loan from a USAID-backed microfinance agency, Sabaani has his eye on more than the West Bank's drying water resources: The future will be bad if the Israelis do not give peace a chance,he said. As long as I am being reasonable, I am for peace. But if the Israelis won't give us peace, that'll make me mad and we'll react unreasonably. Palestinians are people like everyone else.Cooperative chief Nazzal, who is overseeing $125,000 of mostly European aid and loans on a hectare of heavily irrigated land, worries about water, too, and also about the whims of Israeli control of the trade outlets through which his easily spoiled strawberries and other high-margin produce must pass.We have a dream to switch from traditional farming,he said.It's an experiment. We're taking a risk for the future.
We'd like to have more control over our borders,he added.For now, Nazzal said, the economy was looking up around Jenin, away from areas where Jewish settlements have cut deep into the land and road system, defended by Netanyahu.But the further outlook, he believed, depended on President Obama: We want peace but we have no faith in this Israeli government. They want peace, but they want the land as well.
(Additional reporting by Wael al-Ahmed; editing by Myra MacDonald)
SINCE THE RAPTURE OCCURS BEFORE THE FUTURE 7 YR TREATY IS SIGNED, I WONT BE AROUND TO HAVE THE ACTUAL TREATY SIGNING. BUT UNTIL THEN THIS SITE IS DEDICATED TO THE BEGININGS OF THE ISRAELI / ARAB PEACE PROCESS. AND AS CLOSE TO THE 7 YEAR SIGNING THAT WE GET BEFORE THE RAPTURE OF THE SAVED TO HEAVEN. UNTIL WE MEET JESUS IN THE CLOUDS BODILY, AND COME TO EARTH 7 YRS LATER.
IMPORTANT LINKS
- 1159 THE COUNTDOWN P1 JVI
- 1159 THE COUNTDOWN P2 JVI
- ABORTION IS MURDER OF A WHOLE GENERATION.
- ANTICHRIST SUPER DECIEVER JVI
- BAN VACCINES, MASKS PETITION.
- BIRD MIGRATION IN ISRAEL.
- BRENT MEIDINGER - SINGER
- DAN 1:1 - DAN 3:30 VBV - 1 JVI
- DAN 4:1 - DAN 6:28 VBV - 2 JVI
- DAN 7:1 - DAN 9:27 VBV - 3 JVI
- DAN 10:1 - DAN 12:13 VBV - 4 JVI
- DANCE UNLIMITED - JASMINE
- DESTINY OF NATIONS.
- ELIJAH & MOSES PREACH 3 1/2 YEARS.
- EUS MIDEAST PEACE PLAN.
- FROM NEBUCHADNEZZAR TO TODAY.
- GABRIEL ATTAL (DICTATOR CANDIDATE)
- HOLY TEMPLE MYTH 1
- HOLY TEMPLE MYTH 2
- HOLY TEMPLE MYTH 3
- I ASKED AI LEADER QUESTIONS.
- ISRAEL 500 MILLION BIRDS IN HULA VALLEY.
- ISRAEL 500 MILLION MIGRATING BIRDS
- ISRAEL AND EUS HISTORY TO END OF TRIBULATION.
- ISRAEL CITIES LIVE CAM
- ISRAEL DEFEATS ALL ENEMIES.
- ISRAEL LIVE CAM MIGRATING BIRD
- ISRAEL LIVE CAM WESTERN WALL.
- ISRAEL RADIO
- ISRAEL WESTERN WALL LIVE CAM 2
- ISRAEL-JERUSALEM TOGETHER FOREVER.
- ISRAEL365 NEWS
- JERUSALEM COUNTDOWN JVI
- JERUSALEM POST NEWS
- JEWISH FEAST - HOLY - HOLIDAY FEASTS.
- JOHNNY BORTON SINGER
- KILLER COVID STARTED IN 1965
- MARK LEVIN (TRUTH)
- MY 12 YR GAY FLAG BAN IN OS
- MY END TIME SCENARIO
- MY EVENTS IN TIME SITE
- MY MOHAWK AND HORSE PREDICTIONS
- MY NHL HOCKEY SITE STATS
- MY TWITTER SITE
- MY YOUTUBE SITE
- NEW AGE SPIRITS JVI
- NEW WORLD OR STORY BY ME STAN
- NEW WORLD ORDER ARMAGEDDON JVI
- POPE FRANCIS ARMAGEDDON JVI
- PREDICTIONS FOR CANADA 24
- REV 1 - REV 4:6 VBV - 1 JVI
- REV 4:9 - REV 9:21 VBV - 2 JVI
- REV 10:1 - REV 14:1 VBV - 3 JVI
- REV 14:2 - REV 18:24 VBV - 4 JVI
- REV 19:1 - REV 22:21 VBV - 5 JVI
- SO CALLED MRNA SHOTS ARE GENE THERAPY
- STRONG MAN BEHIND THE SPIRIT - 2.
- THE GATEWAY PUNDIT
- THE LAST GENERATION.
- THE SHROUD OF TURIN.
- THE SHROUD OF TURIN.
- THE TIMES OF ISRAEL NEWSFEED
- WAR IN HEAVEN REV 12
- WERE 300 M MUSLIMS TO BE BURIED.
- WHOS LAND IS IT? (1)
- WHOS LAND IS IT? (2)
- WHOS LAND IS IT? (3)
- WHOS LAND IS IT? (4)
- WHOS LAND IS IT? (5)
- WHOS LAND IS IT? (6)
- WOKE CULTURE IS MAOISM
- WW3 THE WAVES.
- THE PRE TRIB RAPTURE - JVI
- BEWARE OF FALSE PROPHETS - JVI
- NEW AGE SPIRITS - JVI
- YOGA IS DEMONIC.
- DANGERS OF THE OCCULT - J NIZZO
- 23 MINUTES IN HELL-BILL WIESE.
- GET HEALED FROM KILLER VACCINE SHOTS DR JUDY MIKOVITS.
- 5 ANGELS - DR SAMUEL DOCTORIAN.
- UNDER TEMPLE MOUNT-SERGIO & RHONDA
- ROSH HASHANA HORN
- VICTORY ROSH HASHANA HORN
- AI AND BIBLE PROPHECY.
- AI QUESTIONS ABOUT REV 6 SEALS.
- ALEX JONES SHIRTS & STORE SALES BIG % OFF STORE SALES.
- ERICK STAKELBECK - ISA NEWS
- TBN ISRAEL
- THE LAND OF ISRAEL
- JOEL ROSENBERG.
- J.D FARAG.
- AMIR TSARFATI.
- JOHN HAGEE.
- MIKE - COUNCILOFTIME
- NOW THE END BEGINS.
- CHRIST IN PROPHESY JOURNAL.
- DAVID JEREMIAH.
- PRE-TRIB RAPTURE READY
- PROPHESY NEWS UPDATE.
- TERRY JAMES.
- PRE-TRIB TIM LAHAYE.
- JEWISH HOLIDAYS
- WEEKLY TORAH PORTIONS.
- TEMPLE INSTITUTE.
- TV7 ISRAEL NEWS.
- LOOK AT THE THIRD TEMPLE.
- THE 4TH TEMPLE DURING THE 1,000 YR REIGN OF JESUS I BELIEVE.
- JERUSALEM DATELINE.
- ILTV ISRAELI NEWS.
- TV7 ISRAEL NEWS
- RYANYALL - WEATHER WATCHER
- MAX VELOCITY - WEATHER WATCHER
- MAKALA ROSE - GREAT SINGER.
- DEMOCRACIES - ISRAEL AND DEATH CULTS ISLAM (BUY BOOK)
- SATANIC WORSHIP - MICROCHIP IMPLANT
- VOTE FOR CHRISTIANS.
- WHY DO CATHOLICS PRAY TO MARY.
- CATHOLIC DAILY NEWS.
- GODS PROMISED LAND FOR ISRAEL
- REARM EUROPE PLAN
- LAST DAYS AGE OF GRACE COUNTDOWN.
- CSPAN RADIO.
- MOHAMMAD DOESN'T EXIST.
- GOD GAVE THE WORLD OVER TO.