Sculpture of comatose leader stirs Israeli emotion
– Tue Oct 19, 6:27 pm ET
JERUSALEM – A lifelike sculpture of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is stirring high emotions among Israelis.Sharon, the tough army general turned politician who led Israel during the trying years of the second Palestinian uprising and uprooted Israeli settlers from Gaza in 2005, suffered a devastating stroke on Jan. 4, 2006, that has left him comatose for nearly five years.An art exhibit opening this week in Tel Aviv, which features a wax figure-like sculpture of Sharon in his hospital bed, has enraged his political supporters.There's no art here, only sickening voyeurism, said Yoel Hasson, a parliament member from Sharon's Kadima party.This is not the way I would like to remember Sharon, said Raanan Gissin, Sharon's former adviser and confidant, after visiting the Tel Aviv art gallery where the sculpture is exhibited. I think Sharon would say,I would rather not be remembered, than be remembered that way.Gissin, who serves as a family spokesman, said Sharon's two sons had no comment.
Gissin said he frequently visits the Tel Aviv hospital ward where Sharon is treated, but cannot bring himself to look at the former premier in his current state.He's neither alive nor dead. It's very tragic, Gissin said.Sharon's family plans to move the former prime minister to his private ranch in southern Israel, where he will continue to be closely supervised by medical staff, Gissin said.Israeli artist Noam Braslavsky said he created the sculpture because Sharon has been absent from the public eye for so long.There is a national consensus that no one touches his image, said Braslavsky. I'm touching an open nerve.Braslavsky said the comatose statue, whose chest moves up and down to depict Sharon's dependence on a breathing machine, represents Israel's inertia on improving the country's political situation.It's an allegory about the state of Israel's state of existence, hanging between the heavens and the earth, Braslavsky said.The artwork portrays Sharon's eyes open, but they don't see. It's reminiscent of the state of our government,Braslavsky said.
Braslavsky said he has received a wide range of reactions. He said he understood the angry responses, but said some visitors have thanked him for depicting a legendary figure whom they miss.
New Gaza peace flotilla to have up to 20 boats: organisers
– Tue Oct 19, 1:40 pm ET
MADRID (AFP) – Aid groups planning a second peace flotilla to Gaza hope to send at least twice the number of boats as took part in the first ill-fated attempt in May, they announced Tuesday.The second flotilla will have between 12 and 20 boats carrying humanitarian aid compared to just six for the first, Manuel Tapial, a Spanish member of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, told a news conference.Tapiel was part of the peace flotilla that ended on May 31 Israeli forces intercepted the ships. The raid went badly wrong and nine Turkish activists -- including one with US citizenship -- were killed, prompting a wave of international condemnation.The flotilla was carrying aid but was also aimed at pressing Israel to lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip.Sixteen organisation from 16 countries -- Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Greece, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United States -- are joining the new trip, which is to start between March and May from several European countries, he said.Groups taking part announced the bid last week following a meeting in Geneva.Our objective is both humanitarian and political, said the Spanish representative for the flotilla, Dimitris Plionis.He noted that a report by the UN Human Rights Council found there was clear evidence to back prosecutions against Israel for killing and torture when its troops stormed the Mavi Marmara, the lead ship in the May flotilla.This report gives us the legal basis to undertake our actions, Plionis said.
Palestinians urge boycott of Israel's OECD debut
By Allyn Fisher-Ilan – Mon Oct 18, 12:53 pm ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The Middle East conflict cast a shadow Monday over Israel's first conference as a member of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, with Palestinians urging members to boycott the Jerusalem meeting.Israel joined the club of free market democracies on May 10, in what its central bank governor, Stanley Fischer, called an important milestone for the integration of Israel into the global economy.But chief Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Monday OECD members should cancel their participation in the October 20-22 annual conference to protest against Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem. The meeting's theme is tourism.According to Israeli Tourism Minister Stas Mizeshnikov, 28 of the 33 OECD members have agreed to participate.Media reports say Spain, Britain and Turkey would not take part. A Palestinian official said Canada has also said it was not participating.It's a real honor for Israel, as a new member of the OECD, to host this summit, Mizeshnikov told reporters.I don't know of any countries that have boycotted Israel.Israel's candidacy was accepted despite protests from human rights campaigners and pro-Palestinian groups.Erekat accused Mizeshnikov in a statement of boasting in Israeli media at the weekend that playing host to the OECD in Jerusalem constituted a seal of approval for Israel's disputed claim to the city as its undivided capital.
OECD COMPLAINT
Mizeshnikov denied this. However, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria had complained to Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz in Washington earlier that the conference was being politicized by Mizeshnikov, an Israeli official said.In a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reported in Israeli media, Gurria said that in order to move forward ... the tourism minister should correct the misperceptions created and put the meeting in its proper perspective.Most of the international community has never recognized Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem after its capture it in the 1967 war.The future status of the holy city, and Palestinian claims to East Jerusalem as their capital, are key issues in the currently deadlocked Middle East peace talks.The capital of Israel is Jerusalem, Mizeshnikov said. That's a fact, not an arguable fact. But it doesn't in any way connect this issue to the OECD conference.The decision to hold the annual meeting in Jerusalem was a very good example of how members of the OECD evaluate Israel as a very strong state, economically, he added.The OECD, rooted in Europe's reconstruction after World War Two, deals strictly with economic issues.Despite a world financial crisis, Israel expects to see a record 3.2 million tourists in 2010, up from an earlier record of three million in 2008, Mizeshnikov said.(Additional reporting by Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah and Steven Scheer in Jerusalem) (Editing by Douglas Hamilton and Paul Taylor)
Gaza tunnellers turn former lifeline into export channel
by Mai Yaghi – Mon Oct 18, 3:00 am ET
RAFAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – The workers herd cows through the dusty tunnels beneath the Gaza border, but this time they are leading them out of the isolated Palestinian enclave and into Egypt.The lifting of restrictions in recent months has seen consumer goods pour into the Hamas-run territory through Israeli crossings, transforming the tunnels that once served as a lifeline for Gaza into its sole export channel.The tunnels are still used for smuggling in construction materials that Israel only allows to enter via authorised crossings for projects carried out under international supervision.But the canvas sacks full of food, beauty products and second-hand clothes that used to be dragged through hundreds of tunnels beneath the border now flow the other way in a lucrative trade conducted by an entrepreneurial few.We reversed our trade since the easing of the Israeli blockade and now we export, said a tunnel operator who goes by Abu Jamil.The Egyptian traders demand Israeli livestock to breed with their own to improve its quality, the 45-year-old smuggler said, calling his partners on the other side of the heavily-guarded border to tell them the cows are coming through, each with an Israel tag on its neck extolling its breeding potential.
The Egyptians also order Israeli coffee, blue jeans, mobile phones, and what Abu Jamil refers to as raw materials -- scrap copper, aluminium and used car batteries that can be recycled in Egypt.Abu Ahmad, 30, another tunnel operator, watched as his workers use a makeshift pulley to lower several cases of Israeli-made soap and hair gel into a tunnel lit by a row of electric lights.Over the last two weeks he has exported chickens, pigeons, beauty products and clothes imported from Turkey and China.He even exports fresh fruit, including figs, lychees and mangos, saying it only takes around 10 minutes to pass the goods to the other side.A lot of the fruit we import through the Israeli crossings are not available in Egypt, or if they are the prices are high, he said.The same tunnel owners and operators that have made fortunes importing desperately needed goods are still profiting from Israel's closure regime, which prevents legitimate exports from the territory.Abu Ahmad makes around 50 dollars (36 euros) for every cage of chickens he exports and 150 to 300 dollars (110-220 euros) for every tonne of goods.The profits generated by the trade have always benefited a small circle of tunnel owners and smugglers, with low-paid labourers, many of them teenagers, doing much of the dangerous subterranean work.
More than 130 Gazans have been killed in accidental cave-ins or the Israeli bombing of the tunnels in the last three years, according to local medics.And while the larger economy has shown some signs of recovery since the easing of the closures, unemployment remains above 30 percent and four out of five Gazans relay on international aid.Israel and Egypt first imposed the closures after Gaza militants kidnapped a soldier in a deadly cross-border raid in June 2006 and tightened them when Hamas -- which is pledged to Israel's destruction -- seized power a year later.
Israel began easing the restrictions earlier this year and started allowing in nearly all purely civilian goods in June following the international backlash after the deadly May 31 seizure of a Gaza-bound aid fleet.Gaza's above-ground businessmen insist that the tunnels have done little to help local industry or contribute to long-term growth and have demanded Israel open its crossings for exports. Exporting through the tunnels does nothing for us,said Amr Hamad, head of the Palestinian Federation of Industries in Gaza.We want to export in an official way and not through smuggling so that our local industries can breathe.Israel has said exports are out of the question as long as there are no security forces on the Gaza side of the border that can search shipments for bombs, weapons and fighters. As a result, more and more Gazans are resorting to the tunnels, which are regulated and taxed by Hamas.Abu Mohammed Zomaili, the owner of a furniture shop and a clothing store in Gaza City, says he has doubled his profits since the easing of the blockade by exporting bedsheets and clothes made in Turkey and brought in through Israel.He says he is able to compete because Egypt imposes high customs duties and taxes on imported goods in order to promote its own local industries.But even if Egyptian security forces were to seize some of his goods he would continue exporting because he sells his products in Egypt for twice what he pays for them.I don't risk anything and the profit margin is double,he says.
Israeli air strike kills 2 militants in Gaza Strip
– Sun Oct 17, 6:37 pm ET
GAZA (Reuters) – An Israeli air strike Sunday killed two Palestinian militants in the northern Gaza Strip who had attempted to launch rockets at Israel, the Israeli military and Palestinian medics said.Men were targeted in an air strike after they were spotted preparing to fire a rocket or a mortar shell at Israel and we identified a hit, an Israeli military spokeswoman said.Israel often carries out strikes against militant targets in the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by the Islamist group Hamas. The strikes generally target tunnels that militants use to smuggle in weapons from neighboring Egypt.It was the first killing in an Israeli attack on militants in the Gaza Strip since Sept 27. The Israeli military says militants have fired more than 165 rockets so far this year.(Reporting by Abed Shanaa, Writing by Ori Lewis)
Netanyahu says Lebanon becoming Iran satellite
– Sun Oct 17, 12:04 pm ET
DEGANIA ALEF, Israel (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Lebanon is quickly becoming a satellite of Tehran after it hosted a controversial visit by Iran's president.Netanyahu's remarks came after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad again predicted Israel's destruction, speaking at a packed rally in southern Lebanon just a few kilometres (miles) from the border with Israel.In the last few days we have heard slurs and insults directed at Israel, the Israeli premier told a weekly cabinet meeting held in the north of the country in honour of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the first kibbutz, or communal farm, at Degania Alef.Lebanon is rapidly becoming a new satellite of Iran. It's a tragedy for Lebanon, he said, in remarks carried by army radio.On Thursday Ahmadinejad toured the southern Lebanon border region, the heartland of the Shiite Hezbollah movement, and addressed a crowd of some 15,000 supporters waving Iranian and Hezbollah flags.The whole world knows that the Zionists are going to disappear, he said to thunderous applause in the village of Bint Jbeil, which was devastated during the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.The occupying Zionists today have no choice but to accept reality and go back to their countries of origin,he added.
His visit to the south brought Ahmadinejad the closest he has ever been to Israel and was seen as a joint show of defiance with Hezbollah.Some 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and some 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers, were killed in the 34-day war in 2006.The border area remains tense, with both Israel and Hezbollah having vowed a massive reprisal to any attack.Israel has long viewed Iran as its biggest threat because of Ahmadinejad's hardline rhetoric, his country's controversial nuclear enrichment programme and its support for Hezbollah and the militant Hamas movement ruling Gaza.
Israel says Paris Mideast summit postponed
– Sat Oct 16, 4:32 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – A planned October 21 summit in Paris between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has been postponed, the premier's office said on Saturday.
Following consultations, the parties concerned have agreed to decide on another date,a statement from Netanyahu's office said.On Friday the French presidency had raised the possibility of the meeting previously announced by President Nicolas Sarkozy not going ahead next Thursday as planned, following the suspension of direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat on Saturday implicitly confirmed the postponement of the Paris gathering.The continuation by Israel of settlement activity ruins all peace efforts, be they those of (US) President Barack Obama or those of President Nicolas Sarkozy, he told AFP.
He added that in any case the Palestinian Authority has not received an official invitation, giving a date, for such a meeting.Earlier on Saturday, the French foreign ministry said it was deeply disappointed with Israel's plans to resume building homes for settlers in east Jerusalem, and urged Netanyahu's government to reconsider.This decision is inopportune. France is deeply disappointed, ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said in a statement.France calls on the Israeli authorities to reconsider this decision.On Friday, Israel announced plans to build 238 new homes in east Jerusalem, provoking anger from the Palestinian Authority and criticism from its key ally the United States.US-brokered direct peace talks launched in early September ground to a halt within weeks after the expiry of a 10-month moratorium on the construction of new settler homes in the occupied West Bank.Abbas has refused to hold further negotiations while settlement construction in the West Bank continues, and a week ago Arab League foreign ministers gave US negotiators a month to try to resolve the impasse.
US disappointed at Israel's settlement move
– Fri Oct 15, 3:11 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States said Friday it was disappointed with Israel's plans for 238 new settler homes in east Jerusalem, saying it undermined US efforts to revive Middle East peace talks.We were disappointed by the announcement of new tenders in east Jerusalem yesterday. It is contrary to our efforts to resume direct negotiations between the parties, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.He said US officials had expressed their disappointment to Israeli counterparts when they were informed of the settlement plans.When asked if US Middle East envoy George Mitchell was planning to return to the region, Crowley said: We're still evaluating... what the appropriate next steps are. I've got nothing to announce.The plans for new housing in the settlement neighborhoods of Pisgat Zeev and Ramot were approved on Thursday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's Ynet news website said.Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat said it proved Israel was intent on killing every opportunity to revive peace talks between the two sides. Netanyahu has made his choice: settlements over peace, he said.Middle East peace talks launched in early September by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ground to a halt within weeks after the expiry of a 10-month moratorium on the construction of new Jewish settler homes.Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has refused to hold further negotiations while settlement construction in the West Bank continues and last week Arab League foreign ministers gave US negotiators a month to resolve the impasse.
