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The prospect of United Nations-run schools in the Gaza Strip teaching children about the Holocaust has sparked fierce resistance this week from leaders of the Palestinian Hamas movement and forced international officials to confront a situation fraught with political risk.
U.N. officials, who say they are only discussing changes to a school program on human rights, have not commented directly on whether any new curriculum will reference the Holocaust. But Hamas leaders, saying any such reference would "contradict" their culture, are moving quickly to head off the possibility.
Israeli officials were to meet Wednesday with US envoy George Mitchell as an Israeli diplomat said both sides moved toward an understanding on the future of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters Tuesday that Mitchell would meet in New York on Wednesday with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak's chief of staff Michael Herzog.
He expected a statement to be issued afterward.
The U.S. special envoy for Middle East peace will meet two Israeli officials in New York late on Wednesday as part of his push to restart peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, U.S. officials said.
The envoy, George Mitchell, is due to see Yitzhak Molcho and Mike Herzog to follow up on his talks in London last week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on bringing about a freeze on Israeli building of Jewish settlements.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed not to freeze settlement construction in the West Bank, according to one of his ministers quoted on Wednesday.
"I heard the prime minister say with my own ears that he has no intention of freezing construction in the settlements or in Jerusalem," the English-language Jerusalem Post quoted minister without portfolio Yossi Peled as saying.
"He said there is no agreement to freeze construction in the settlements. I am telling you this first-hand," he told members of Netanyahu's hawkish Likud party on Tuesday evening.
ON ITS website, the Shomron Liaison Office makes an earnest pitch for would-be settlers to join the movement.
''Have you heard about the growth of hilltop communities in Judea and Samaria?'' reads a flyer.
''Do you want to be part of the action? Become a pioneer and claim your stake in Jewish history.''
Promoting a six-day volunteer program at the outpost of El Matan that is home to about 11 families, the flyer promises room, board and other activities including building and planting.
Palestinian Minister of National Economy Bassem Khoury met with Israel’s Vice Prime Minister and Minister for Regional Development Silvan Shalom in Jerusalem on Wednesday in what is believed to be the first minister-level meeting since the current Israeli government came to power.
The meeting was said to address bureaucratic ties between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, including entry permits for businesspeople, the export of milk products from the West Bank to Israel, and medical treatment for Palestinians in Israel.
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad visited Al-Jalazoun refugee camp near Ramallah on Tuesday evening to offer condolences to family of 15-year-old Muhammad Nayif who was killed by Israeli forces in the morning.
Fayyad expressed his sorrow and sadness reminding of Muhammad’s father, a Palestinian intelligence officer who was also killed by Israeli forces seven years ago.
Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom met with Palestinian Economic Minister Bassem Khoury in Jerusalem on Wednesday for the highest level talks between Israeli and Palestinian officials in half a year.
The meeting was the first between an Israeli and Palestinian Authority minister since Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu's government took office in March. Until Wednesday, the Palestinian ministers had boycotted their Israeli counterparts.
During the talks, which were held at the King David Hotel, the ministers discussed economic proposals to improve life for the Palestinians.
The most amazing thing about the wave of murders in recent weeks has been the collective Israeli stupefaction at the discovery of violence in our midst. Once again we have displayed our talent for excluding from the discourse the daily violence inherent in our continued domination over the Palestinians and their land.
Just hours after Defense Minister Ehud Barak told a group of students that Gilad Shalit's release won't be "at any price", a Hamas official told Ynet that Israel is trying to make talks on the kidnapped soldier's release more difficult.
"The Shalit family is paying the price of the negotiation ploys that their government is trying to carry out in a bid to present a better deal than its predecessor," said the Hamas official.
According to him, Israel is trying to bide time by presenting new versions of the deal.
Minister Yossi Peled said Tuesday that the government had no plans to freeze construction in settlements or in Jerusalem. "I have heard with my own ears that there is no agreement on freezing construction in settlements," he said.
Speaking at a conference labeled 'Preserving Jerusalem and the Golan Heights', Peled said he heard while visiting Germany with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that "Jews will continue to live and build in Jerusalem".
Regarding the peace process he said, "We must talk with whoever is willing to talk with us, but we mustn't lose our assets."
A Jew who sells land to an Arab in Israel should not be allowed to lead prayers in synagogue, should not be given the right to make a blessing during the Torah reading, should not be counted among the quorum needed for public prayers and is considered an abettor to the enemies of Israel, according to a halachic decision issued on Monday night by a group of rabbis calling themselves "The New Sanhedrin."
Waiting for Uri Davis in a hotel forecourt in Ramallah, I reflect that his reputation precedes him by a comfortable distance. His rejection of political Zionism, coupled with his conversion to Islam and his recent election to Fatah's Revolutionary Council means he is treated with a mixture of scorn and hostility by vast swaths of Israelis and supporters of Israel in the Jewish diaspora.
Even as Israeli and Palestinian leaders argue about the conditions that must be in place for a return to the negotiating table, they are striking similar tones on the need for economic development.
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad unveiled an economic plan last week intended to bring about a stable, independent Palestinian state within two years, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been talking for months about the need for an "economic peace."
Six months after the world’s top diplomats met at Sharm el Sheikh to pledge massive amounts of assistance to war-torn Gaza, there is little on the ground to show that their commitment has had any effect. The magnitude of the devastation that descended upon the Gazan people earlier this year is difficult to overstate. The UN estimates that as many as 14,000 homes and 240 schools have been destroyed and too little has been done to alleviate the suffering of the nearly 1.5 million Palestinians who overcrowd the tiny strip of territory.
The moment of truth is approaching for President Barack Obama’s much hyped initiative to re-launch the Middle East peace talks with the objective of creating an independent Palestinian entity based on the two-state solution. He is expected to present the outline of his plan at the UN’s General Assembly meetings in New York this September.
It’s been almost three years since Shams Kalboni renamed herself. She grew up with the modern Hebrew name Revital, which means “quenched thirst.” It was given to her by her Arab parents in the hope it would pave her way to an easier life in Israeli society.
And as Shams walks past blossoming purple bougainvillea plants, up the stairs and onto the veranda of her grandmother’s house in Jaffa, calls of “Revital” and “Revi” still greet her as she is embraced by aunts and cousins.
It's been four years since Israel evacuated its settlers and army from the Gaza Strip. Since then, Israel has kept Gaza under a tight siege that has undermined the economy of the already impoverished Strip. Now there seems to be consensus among most Palestinians and Israelis, though for different reasons, that the withdrawal was not constructive as far as peacemaking and ending the conflict are concerned.
Links:
[1] http://www.americantaskforce.org/print/8665
[2] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printmail/8665
[3] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printpdf/8665
[4] http://www.americantaskforce.org/rss/wpr
[5] http://www.acpus.org/donate_online
[6] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/01/AR2009090102496.html
[7] http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gHDjjt3IrmIO5TTMndOtZdw6oxeQ
[8] http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE5804FI20090901
[9] http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j8BgQaBUoGwLogQPS4fA7qVtWC6A
[10] http://www.theage.com.au/world/settler-burden-weighs-on-israel-20090831-f59m.html
[11] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=223061
[12] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=223002
[13] http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1111890.html
[14] http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1111832.html
[15] http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3770768,00.html
[16] http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3770720,00.html
[17] http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1251804468650&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FshowFull
[18] http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/sep/01/uri-davis-fatah-israel
[19] http://jta.org/news/article/2009/09/01/1007581/israeli-palestinian-mayors-pitch-rare-joint-industrial-project
[20] http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090902/OPINION/709019924/1033
[21] http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7&section=0&article=126012&d=2&m=9&y=2009
[22] http://www.momentmag.com/Exclusive/2009/2009-10/200910-Arab_to_Palestinian_Israeli.html
[23] http://www.bitterlemons.org/issue/pal1.php
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