ISRAEL
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- KOFI ANNAN DEPLORES ISRAEL'S EXCESSIVE USE OF FORCE IN GAZA
:: UN PRESS RELEASES - New York, Beirut, 7 March 2003 (UN Information
Centre)- The Secretary-General deeply deplores the use of disproportionate
and excessive force by the Israeli Army in the Jabalya refugee
camp in Gaza earlier today, which reportedly led to the killing
of 11 Palestinians and the injuring of more than 140.
- Such military actions in densely populated areas, as well
as the demolition of Palestinian homes, cannot be accepted as
a legitimate means of self-defence and violate international
humanitarian law. The Secretary-General once again wishes to
remind Israel of its obligations in this regard, and in particular
of the need to protect the lives of civilians.
http://www.escwa.org.lb/information/press/un/2003/mar/07.html
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- CHRISTIAN ACTION FOR ISRAEL MARCH 2003
:: Israel's Keeper Neither Slumbers Nor Sleeps We should thank
God that neither the UN nor the Quartet endorsed the valiant
US actions in Iraq, for by their non-cooperation, these bodies
have lost any moral authority they might have had to pressure
Israel into acting against its own best interests and commit
suicide by bowing to the 'Road Map.'
- :: Israel On The Altar There is ample reason, now that war
on Saddam has been decided, to support the leaders of the US
and Britain and their forces in the field. But there is also
every reason to oppose the sacrifice of Israel to patch up frayed
relations over Iraq.
- :: Bush's Choice: Powell or the Prophets Christians who accept
Palestinian demands to Jerusalem are essentially denying the
validity of their own traditions. It is imperative, then, that
American Christian supporters of Israel launch an all-out effort
to remind Bush of these facts and counter the pressure he is
coming under from the likes of Tony Blair and Colin Powell.
- :: Laundering Abu Mazen Merely the fact that he has been
selected by arch-terrorist Arafat to take on the mantle of authority
should already give pause to those committed to fighting terrorism.
In fact, anyone involved with the corrupt, duplicitous terrorist
organization called the PLO - Abu Mazen is the head of its executive
committee - should by now be considered unfit to lead anything
but a prison-work detail. Beyond his senior position in the PLO,
however, Abu Mazen is also a Holocaust revisionist, a conspiracy
theorist, and a promoter of terrorism.
- The Ugly Truth Critics of Israel swallow the notion that
the terrorists are fringe elements in their society and that
the Palestinian Authority has done its utmost to rein them in
and that it condemns their activities. But they seem to have
missed the disconcerting truth about the PA
- :: The Arafat Show Continues Already the fine print has appeared:
Abu Mazen, Arafat explains, will deal only with "domestic"
issues and will have nothing to do with such matters as Palestinian
"foreign policy," including relations with Israel or
security matters, including control of the military forces or
ending the current fighting.
- Fight the Canard The thrust of the article was that even
though the myth of a Jewish conspiracy directing American foreign
policy is preposterous, it nevertheless exists, persists and
is believed by hundreds of millions throughout the world - and
by millions in the United States itself.
- :: A Palestinian PM? ...consistent with the pattern he's
followed since the PA was created a decade ago, Mr. Arafat wants
to maintain his hold on power, keep his hand on the terrorism
spigot, and control relations with the Israelis. Until the PA
Chairman steps down entirely, it seems unlikely the PA will take
any serious steps toward democracy, or peace.
- :: All The News That's Fit to Print? - The New York Times
and Israel. One of the great myths of modern journalism, particularly
outside the U.S., is that the New York Times is "pro-Israel."
In fact, it would be truer to say that the opposite is the case.
- :: Old Terrorists Don't Die, They Just Fade Away Yasser Arafat
is still the undisputed leader of the Palestinians, but the title
is worthless. He has become irrelevant. The keffiyeh-cloaked
head of the PLO leader, whose words and actions opened news bulletins
for decades, has largely disappeared from the screens, VIP lounges
and halls of power.
- :: The Unstrung Quartet ...it is not the creation of a state
that rouses the greatest enthusiasm in Gaza or Nablus, but the
destruction of one, namely Israel. It's not the borders of the
Jewish state that have been the essence of the dispute all these
years but its very existence.
http://christianactionforisrael.org/isreport/mar03/isrep03mar.html
THERE WILL NEVER BE A PALESTINIAN DEMOCRACY
:: Facing reality By Barbara Lerner - March 27, 2003 - Israel's
Natan Sharansky is one of the intellectual godfathers of President
Bush's new "democracy first" approach to the Palestinian
question. Sharansky's influence is hard to miss. His influence
on the views of his countrymen is another matter. Twenty-nine
months of suicide bombings, shellings, and machine-gun attacks
aimed at civilians have decimated the ranks of Israelis who still
believe a Palestinian state could ever be anything other than
the same old terror-warriors, with new and more lethal powers.
When I interviewed Sharansky in Jerusalem on February 12, his
political party had just lost two of its four seats in Israel's
120-member parliament, but his faith that democracy was the answer
remained unshaken...
- :: I offer up the Israeli everyman's objection at the outset:
Polls show that 80 percent of Palestinians approve of suicide
bombings. Anyone they elect will be a murdering thug. "Of
course," Sharansky explodes. "It's primitive to think
democracy is about elections. It's not. It's about freedom. Freedom
is the key." First, he explains, you have to free people
from the all-pervasive fear that is the sine qua non of all tyrannies.
Give people the freedom to express themselves, to say what they
really think, over time - without the fear that government goons
will come and get them. That's the start of the democratization
process. Elections are at the other end. They come last, after
people have experienced what it's like to live free, because
that - not elections - is what democracy is about. Once people
know freedom, Sharansky argues, they vote to keep it. And because
rulers in a democracy can't ignore what majorities vote for if
they want to stay in office, they have powerful incentives to
respect freedom at home and to pursue peace abroad. For tyrants,
the situation is quite different. Freedom is their nemesis, and
to negate it they need to demonize enemies, both at home and
abroad - justifications for their brutal, suffocating control.
http://christianactionforisrael.org/isreport/mar03/never.html
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- MAKING NICE TO THE QUARTET
:: By Gary Rosenblatt - March 26, 2003 - It's no secret that
Washington is very angry with these allies, especially France
and the UN, over the diplomatic debacle leading to an Iraq war
the U.S. is leading with few followers. Administration officials
feel these allies are not only wrong strategically in resisting
a war to remove Saddam Hussein but were diplomatically deceptive
along the way, leading the U.S. to believe they would support
the war once Saddam was proved to be dissembling rather than
disarming. But that was not the case.
- Then, in a surprise move on the eve of war with Iraq, President
Bush made a point of speaking out on the Israeli-Palestinian
situation, announcing plans to go ahead with the long-delayed
"road map," crafted with America's Quartet partners
and calling for a cessation of violence leading to a Palestinian
state within two years.
- One Israeli official told me not to worry. The U.S., he said,
has learned its lesson and will not get burned again on the Mideast
situation. "The silver lining for us," he said, "is
that Washington is so upset with the EU, UN and Russia that after
the war, the Quartet will be finished." He also suggested
the U.S. will seriously reconsider its support of the UN - the
U.S. now pays about 22 percent of the $146 billion budget - after
being humiliated by the world body. http://christianactionforisrael.org/isreport/mar03/nice.html
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- A LIGHT UNTO THE NATIONS
:: By Reuven Koret - March 26, 2003 - Yesterday, British Foreign
Secretary Jack Straw commented that "there is a real concern
too that the West has been guilty of double standards" by
"on the one hand, saying the United Nations Security Council
resolutions on Iraq must be implemented, on the other hand, sometimes
appearing rather quixotic over the implementation of resolutions
about Israel and Palestine." Asked if he would plead guilty
to double standards, Straw said: "To a degree, yes ... and
we're going to deal with it."
- :: Well, let's deal with it now. As the UK demonstrates such
resolute adherence to UN Security Council resolutions, the timing
couldn't be better. Let's talk about British double standards.
- Yesterday, too, as reports first came in about the UK forces
waiting on the edge of Basra, as a civil rebellions of Shiite
enemies of the regime confronted Sunni authorities in the city,
the Brits were giving us a demonstration of their resolve.
- :: The word went out that Sunnis were suppressing the uprising
with "horizontal" mortar fire at crowds. To avoid danger
to their soldiers, the British waited outside the city and directed
artillery at the mortar positions. Later they dropped what they
described as a precision bomb on the Ba'ath headquarters, flattening
it.
http://christianactionforisrael.org/isreport/mar03/light.html
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- SPECIAL INVESTIGATIVE REPORT
:: Israel Resource News Agency - UNRWA, founded as a humanitarian
agency, has subordinated its role as a service provider to a
political agenda:
- It is the only UN agency dedicated exclusively to one group
of refugees and establishes its own unique and expansive standards.
- :: As a result, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, who
would not be counted as refugees anywhere else in the world (including
descendants of refugees) are registered by UNRWA as refugees.
- It is predicated upon the notion of the "right of return"-
a right that in fact does not exist within international law.
- As a result, it maintains a policy of keeping the refugees
in a temporary situation until they can return to homes and villages
in Israel left more than half a century ago (the vast majority
of which no longer exist).
- :: It will not work to find realistic solutions to the plight
of the refugees and will not consider resettlement as an option.
Instead, it reinforces the goal of return with a number of practices
within its 59 UNRWA refugee camps.
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- UNRWA has perpetuated the problems of the refugees:
- :: Palestinian Arab refugees and their descendants cannot
get on with their lives. They live in "limbo," deprived
of basic human rights.
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- UNRWA has fomented terrorism among the Palestinians:
- :: Refugees, encouraged by UNRWA to see themselves as entitled
to a "return" that will never happen, believe they
are being cheated.
- :: As a result, they are filled with frustration and rage,
and turn to radicalism.
- :: Most of the 23,000 employees of UNRWA are themselves refugees,
and they too are often associated with terrorist groups such
as Hamas.
- :: It is in the UNRWA refugee camps that bombs are manufactured,
recruitment is done, and suicide bombers are dispatched.
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- :: There will be no resolution of the current Palestinian-Israeli
crisis, no genuine cessation of violence, until the refugee issue
is realistically resolved.
- :: UNRWA officials dissemble on these issues, claiming to
have no responsibility for what is transpiring-which in fact
is not the case.
- :: They rarely even acknowledge the extent of the problem.
The degree to which they turn a blind eye is suggestive of tacit
approval if not complicity.
- :: It is time for an aroused international community to hold
UNRWA accountable. The committed involvement of major UNRWA funders
will be key. http://israelbehindthenews.com/Archives/Oct-26-01.htm#UNRWA
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- THE PLO: AIMING TO BRING 300,000 ARAB REFUGEES TO THE GALILEE
:: HaAretz - by Uzi Benziman - Arafat intends to plant in any
agreement with Israel a fuse that will eventually blow it to
pieces
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- SETTLING THE GALILEE
:: The way Arafat envisions it, the right of return will be realized
by the approximately 300,000 Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon.
The explanation: Unlike refugees who have found their place in
Jordan, or even in the West Bank, these people never became integrated
in their country of refuge. This demand poses an existential
threat to Israel - not just because of the huge number of hostile
residents the country would be forced to absorb (about a 25 percent
increase to the present number of Israeli Arabs), but because
of the object of their yearnings: the Galilee, from which their
families fled in 1948.
- :: Cumulative experience with Arafat indicates that he means
what he says: To him, limiting the right of return to refugees
residing in Lebanon is a major concession. Yossi Beilin's assertion
that a formula could be found for resolving the problem of the
refugees without Israel having to absorb them in great numbers
still awaits convincing proof.
- :: According to military intelligence assessments, Arafat
is absolutely serious about his position on this issue. He says
the same things in public that he whispers in private. The demand
to realize the right of return within the borders of Israel is
part of his conception of peace. Unlike the accords with Egypt
and Jordan, which were based on the "land for peace"
formula, Arafat intends to plant in any agreement with Israel
a fuse that will eventually blow it to pieces.
- :: Put another way: The way Arafat sees it, peace will not
be secured, even in the event of a total Israeli withdrawal (or
a near-total withdrawal combined with a territorial exchange),
nor in an accord that gives him sovereignty over the Temple Mount
and East Jerusalem - unless his demand for the right of return
is completely fulfilled.
- :: Even if he says things here and there in unofficial conversations
with Israelis that leave his interlocutors with the impression
that he is ready to show some flexibility on the issue, army
intelligence believes his public position is what counts: He
has made what amounts to a historic commitment to bring the refugees
home and does not intend on - or is not capable of - retracting
it.
- :: Excerpted from "Corridors of Power" Ha'aretz
26 October 2001, with rhanks to Dr. Aaron Lerner of "imra"
for bringing this article to out attention. http://israelbehindthenews.com/Archives/Oct-26-01.htm#UNRWA
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- HUNDREDS SIGN PETITION FOR ISRAEL
:: The Israeli Action Committee - March 25, 2003 - On bulletin
boards across campus the support for Israel at Binghamton University
is clear. Hundreds of your fellow students and faculty members
signed their names to affirm their support for "the State
of Israel's right to exist within secure and recognized borders
and the continuation of the strong U.S.-Israel relationship."
This petition is part of a nationwide effort at 60 schools to
show the unified support of Israel on America's college campuses.
- :: America's relationship with Israel - the only democracy
in the Middle East - is crucial. The signatures of the hundreds
of supporters of the petition were originally to be published
as an ad in Pipe Dream, but instead they are posted on campus
because of a policy prohibiting political ads.
- :: We thank the Pipe Dream staff for accommodating the publicity
of the petition with this letter despite this policy. Together
along with tens of thousands of students nationwide, BU students
are showing their support for America, Israel and democracy.
http://www.bupipedream.com/032503/opinion/o8.htm
- INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MARCH FOR PAS AND ISRAELIS FROM
TELAVIV TO JERUSALEM
:: About one year ago the idea for an International Human Rights
March was born. The idea gathered a lot of interest and sympathy,
and in May that year the work and planning for the Human Rights
March began. A large number of people have gotten involved in
the project, and we cooperate with groups in many countries.
- Our most important partners are the Palestinian and Israeli
organizing committees. Together with them we have worked with
a plan to carry out the Human Rights March in April 2003. There
are many things to take into consideration when determining such
a date. A short time ago we sent out a letter in which we asked
you to provide feedback on the choice between doing the March
in June/July or September 2003.
- :: At this point in time the critical situation in the Middle
East is decisive for our actions. We wish to be absolutely aware
of responsibility in planning our project. Therefore, together
with our partners in the Middle East and those of you who have
answered our request for feedback, we have decided that the International
Human Rights March will take place
- :: September 4 - September 25 2003 - starting in Tel Aviv,
and concluding in Jerusalem . . .
- We therefore invite you all now to participate in, and/or
work for the realization of Human Rights March 2003!
- A smaller group will still travel to Palestine/Israel in
June/July.
:: This is because the Palestinians are fearful for what can
happen in their country, while the world's attention is turned
towards Iraq. It will therefore be possible for those of you
who can only travel in June/July to go together with us. We will
of course spend time in both Israel and Palestine, and there
will be ample opportunity to get to know both the land and the
people - and at the same time make good use of ourselves.
http://humanrightsmarch.org/en/index.php?page=contents/start_en.html
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