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I’m meeting a retired Israeli general at a Tel Aviv hotel. As I take my seat, he begins the conversation with: “Well, everything we thought for the last 30 years is no longer relevant.”
ISRAELIS want to rejoice over the outbreak of protests in Egypt’s city squares. They want to believe that this is the Arab world’s 1989 moment. Perhaps, they say, the poisonous reflex of blaming the Jewish state for the Middle East’s ills will be replaced by an honest self-assessment.
Last week Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera and Britain's Guardian newspaper released a tranche of 1,600 documents that appear to consist of Palestinian negotiators' emails and meeting minutes covering the past 10 years of manic-depressive Arab-Israeli peace negotiations.
For the mainstream Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and its archrival the Islamist Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since June 2007, the turmoil in Egypt is a source of concern.
In the West Bank, the pro-West Palestinian Authority refused to give permission for Palestinians wishing to hold protests in support of the Egyptian uprising.
Police in the Gaza Strip shut down a demonstration Monday in support of the uprising in Egypt.
Activists said six women and eight men were arrested at a park in Gaza City, where a few dozen demonstrators had gathered.
The women were released after a few hours. It was not immediately clear when the men were freed because they were separated, one of the protesters said.
Asmaa Al-Ghoul, a Gaza-based journalist and writer, was among those detained.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat urged the Middle East Quartet on Tuesday to recognize a Palestinian state within 1967 borders when it meets later this week.
"We call on the international Quartet take an historic decision to recognize the state of Palestine on the 1967 borders at its next meeting on February 5 in Munich," Erakat told AFP.
"In order to bring security and stability in the Middle East, we must drain the swamp that is the Israeli occupation, which is the sole cause of all problems in the region," he said.
Now that leftist Palestinian factions have a court mandate forcing the government in Ramallah hold elections, Fatah and Hamas are back to bickering about how the vote might be held.
Muhammad Al-Madani, member of the ruling Fatah’s main body, told Ma’an Tuesday evening that the Palestinian leadership planned to hold local elections in the summer and general elections by September.
The Western-backed Palestinian government in the West Bank said Tuesday it will hold local council elections "as soon as possible" — a surprise move reflecting fears that massive anti-government protests in Egypt could inspire unrest here, too.
The announcement was one of many responses among the region's Western-backed governments — many with questionable legitimacy and limited popular support — to reduce the chances their own people will rise up against them.
Potential 2012 U.S. presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said Tuesday that if Palestinians want an independent state, they should seek it from Arabs — not Israel.
The evangelical minister and Fox News host said Jews should be allowed to settle anywhere throughout the biblical Land of Israel — an area that includes the West Bank and east Jerusalem.
He called the demand on Israel to give up land for peace an "unrealistic, unworkable and unreachable goal."
The Arab League (AL) decided Tuesday to postpone the "Jerusalem Conference" scheduled in Doha, Qatar early February to indefinite date due to the serious situation in Egypt and some other Arab countries.
Mohammed Soubie, assistant of the AL general secretary, announced the postpone in a statement after a series of consultations between Qatar, the hosting country and the AL.
Prime Minister wants international community to make clear that new leadership must meet a series of conditions similar to those posed by Hamas in order to gain recognition of legitimacy.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked U.S. President Barack Obama and a number of other Western leaders in recent days to make it clear to any new Egyptian regime that it must abide fully by the peace agreement with Israel.
Gaza police disperse rally showing solidarity with Egyptian protesters; several thousand join Facebook group calling for a protest against Hamas rule in the Strip.
Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip are concerned about the effects of the upheaval in the Arab world, as Facebook messages call on Gaza residents to demonstrate against Hamas rule on Friday.
In a bid to fight anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial, Muslim leaders from Morocco, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq join Rabbis and Christian representatives at Nazi death camp.
n a bid to fight anti-Semitism and bridge cultural rifts, a large delegation of Muslim dignitaries visited Auschwitz on Tuesday to pay tribute to the millions of Jews and others who were systematically killed in the Holocaust.
The group of some 150 people included representatives from Morocco, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq, as well as rabbis and Christian representatives.
Move comes day after body's legal adviser says the inquiries raise questions at the heart of democratic rule.
The Knesset's House Committee approved two parliamentary inquiries into leftist non-governmental organizations on Wednesday.
One committee, headed by MK Danny Danon, would examine “the involvement of foreign bodies and states in funding activities against the state and attempting to acquire its land.” The second, headed by Fania Kirschenbaum, would probe “overseas funds and states funding Israeli organizations that participate in the delegitimization of IDF soldiers.”
Op-ed: IDF soldier who serves as B’Tselem official explains why he criticizes Israel
A volley of bullets tears through the quiet night. I’m in an IDF outpost opposite Tulkarm in the West Bank and the bullets ring out as they strike the outpost wall. Moments later, I find myself holding a grenade launcher – a weapon that fires dozens of grenades a minute, reaching as far as two kilometers away. I cock the launcher and, without giving it a second thought, open fire at houses in Tulkarm.
As Egypt convulses, pro-Israel groups and U.S. Congress members are seized by the ancient maternal dilemma: If you have nothing nice to say, should you say anything at all?
The question of whether to stake a claim in the protests against 30 years of President Hosni Mubarak’s autocracy is a key one for the pro-Israel lobby and pro-Israel lawmakers because of the role they have played in making Egypt one of the greatest beneficiaries of U.S. aid.
Guyana has declared official recognition of a Palestinian State within the 1967 borders. In a news release, the Foreign Ministry said, “It is Guyana's hope that the increasing recognition of the state of Palestine will contribute to a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the creation of lasting peace and stability in the region.”
Guyana since 1975 has been a member of the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, and in the 1970s severed diplomat ties with Israel.
Links:
[1] http://www.americantaskforce.org/print/17346
[2] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printmail/17346
[3] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printpdf/17346
[4] http://www.americantaskforce.org/rss/wpr
[5] https://www.americantaskforce.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=1
[6] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/02/opinion/02friedman.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
[7] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/02/opinion/02Halevi.html?ref=opinion
[8] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703439504576115752749337760.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
[9] http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2011/02/west-bank-palestinians-not-allowed-to-show-solidarity-with-egyptians.html
[10] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=356092
[11] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=356285
[12] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=356321
[13] http://www.statesman.com/news/nation/palestinians-to-hold-municipal-vote-1224337.html
[14] http://www.statesman.com/news/nation/huckabee-says-no-palestinian-state-in-west-bank-1224543.html
[15] http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-02/01/c_13716565.htm
[16] http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-urges-west-make-sure-new-egypt-regime-honors-peace-deal-1.340691
[17] http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/hamas-worried-upheaval-in-arab-world-will-spill-into-gaza-1.340690
[18] http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/mideast-muslim-dignitaries-pay-their-respects-at-auschwitz-1.340602
[19] http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=206342
[20] http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4022620,00.html
[21] http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/02/01/2742799/pro-israel-groups-dilemma-to-talk-egypt-or-not
[22] http://www.caribbeannewsnow.com/suriname.php?news_id=4468&start=0&category_id=36
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