Palestinian/ Israeli update 9/15/2016.. UN chief calls for end to Israel’s rule over Palestinian land
Israeli warplanes bomb northern Gaza
UN chief calls for end to Israel’s rule over Palestinian land
Israeli Army Closes Jenin-Tulkarm Road
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950625000945
Israeli army on Thursday a major road which connects between the Northern West Bank districts of Jenin and Tulkarm, according to local sources. Israeli forces broke into the town of Ya’bad, to the West of Jenin, where they distributed sheets informing local Palestinians that the military will close Jenin-Tulkarm road until Thursday evening, WAFA reported. The Israeli military did not declare the reason as to why the road was ordered to be closed to Palestinian traffic. In a separate development, Israeli police on Thursday forced a Palestinian person from Jerusalem to leave his house, under the pretext that three generations have passed since the house was rented. Mazen Qerresh, owner of the house, told WAFA that Israeli policemen broke into his house on Thursday early morning, and handed him an order issued by an Israeli court asking him to leave his house. The order claimed that Qerresh had to evacuate his house, claiming that three generations have passed since the house was rented. Qerresh said he and his family have lived in the house for 58 years, adding that eviction order forces him and his eight-member family to live outside the Old Quarter in Jerusalem.
To be noted, Israeli authorities have taken over dozens of homes apartments in Jerusalem during the past few years. The Absentees’ Property so-called law is one of Israel’s major legal instruments for seizing Palestinian property,” according to Stop The Wall campaign, a local organization monitoring Israeli violations of Palestinian rights.
Pro-Palestinian aid flotilla leaves Barcelona for Gaza
Over 70,000 Gazans suffer from prolonged internal displacement
100 Palestinian Prisoners Join Solidarity Strike as Hunger Striker al-Qadi in Critical Condition
http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950625000919
Palestinian prisoner Malik al-Qadi, who has been on hunger strike for 61 days in protest of his administrative detention without charge or trial was reported to be in critical condition on Thursday, as at least 100 Palestinian prisoners joined a mass hunger strike in support of al-Qadi and the hunger-striking Balboul brothers. Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs head Issa Qaraqe said in a statement that al-Qadi was the Palestinian hunger striking prisoner in the most critical condition since 2011, adding that al-Qadi has been “fighting death” at the Wolfson Medical Center, as he has remained in a coma for five days, Ma’an reported. Qaraqe said that al-Qadi has remained in the intensive care unit and has not responded to treatment. Israeli prison officials have reportedly been forcing treatment on al-Qadi in order to get him out of his coma, despite al-Qadi previously announcing his refusal to be treated during his strike regardless of his health condition.
Meanwhile, according to a statement issued by the committee, the number of Palestinian prisoners on a mass hunger strike launched Wednesday by 50 Fatah and Islamic Jihad-affiliated prisoners in solidarity with al-Qadi and the hunger-striking Balboul brothers has doubled, with at least 100 prisoners now participating in the strike. The committee said in a statement that the solidarity hunger strike was in its first phase of solidarity actions to support the hunger strikers, adding that it would escalate if Israel continued its “carelessness,” as authorities have continued to refuse to completely release al-Qadi and the Balbouls from administrative detention despite their worsening health. The solidarity hunger strikes were launched by groups of prisoners in the Ofer, Negev, Nafha, and Ramon prisons, and would continue in other Israeli prisons, the committee added. The committee highlighted that Israel was fully responsible for the lives of al-Qadi and Balboul brothers. Al-Qadi, a journalism and media student at al-Quds University, was detained on May 23 and had previously spent four months in Israeli custody after being detained in December 2015.
US aid to Israel ‘meaningless,’ to be used against Palestine: Analyst
Is Israel on the Brink of Tearing Itself Asunder?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article45473.htm
………………………….When Israelis talk in favour of a Palestinian state, it is chiefly to thwart a far bigger danger – a single state shared with the “enemy”. The Decision at 50 poll shows 87 per cent of Israeli Jews dread a binational conclusion to the conflict. Ami Ayalon, a former head of the Shin Bet intelligence service and a leader of Decision at 50, echoed them, warning of an “approaching disaster”. So what do Israelis think a Palestinian state should look like? Previous surveys have been clear. It would not include Jerusalem or control its borders. It would be territorially carved up to preserve the “settlement blocs”, which would be annexed to Israel. And most certainly it would be “demilitarised” – without an army or air force. In other words, Palestinians would lack sovereignty. Such a state exists only in the imagination of the Israeli public. A Palestinian state on these terms would simply be an extension of the Gaza model to the West Bank. Nonetheless, the idea of a civil war is gaining ground. Tamir Pardo, the recently departed head of Israel’s spy agency Mossad, warned last month that Israel was on the brink of tearing itself apart through “internal divisions”.
…………………..So what do Israelis think a Palestinian state should look like? Previous surveys have been clear. It would not include Jerusalem or control its borders. It would be territorially carved up to preserve the “settlement blocs”, which would be annexed to Israel. And most certainly it would be “demilitarised” – without an army or air force. In other words, Palestinians would lack sovereignty. Such a state exists only in the imagination of the Israeli public. A Palestinian state on these terms would simply be an extension of the Gaza model to the West Bank. Nonetheless, the idea of a civil war is gaining ground. Tamir Pardo, the recently departed head of Israel’s spy agency Mossad, warned last month that Israel was on the brink of tearing itself apart through “internal divisions”. He rated this a bigger danger than any of the existential threats posited by Mr Netanyahu, such as Iran’s supposed nuclear bomb.
……………………..Israeli moderates have had to confront the painful reality that their country is not quite the enlightened outpost in the Middle East they had imagined. They may raise their voices in protest now but, if the polls are right, most will eventually submit to the right’s realisation of its vision of a Greater Israel. Those who cannot stomach such an outcome will have to stop equivocating and choose a side. They can leave, as some are already doing, or stay and fight – not for a bogus referendum that solves nothing, but to demand dignity and freedom for the Palestinian people.
Jonathan Cook
Netanyahu’s reckless conduct endangers Israel | Veterans Today
by Ehud Barak
During the past two years, a sense of gloom has taken over my country, as pride in Israel’s accomplishments and self-confidence grounded in reality have given way to fear-mongering, victimhood and internal quarrels.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu enabled a militant, nationalist minority to carry out a hostile takeover of his party, Likud; to form a majority in his cabinet; and thus to hijack our national agenda in the service of a messianic drive toward, as it’s often put, “a single Jewish state, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.”
This overarching ambition is bound to culminate in either a single, binational state, which, within a generation, may have a Jewish minority and likely a Bosnia-like civil war, or else an apartheid reality if Palestinian residents are deprived of the right to vote. Both spell doom for the Zionist dream.
Netanyahu’s reckless conduct has also undermined Israel’s security. Israel has reached a new military-aid agreement for the next decade with the United States. The damage produced by Netanyahu’s irresponsible management of the relations with the White House is now fully manifest. Israel will receive $3.8 billion a year — an important contribution to our security but far less than what could have been obtained before the prime minister chose to blatantly interfere with U.S. politics.
Moreover, given the more than 20 percent cumulative rise in the cost of arms since the last 10-year agreement entered into force (in 2007), the newly agreed-upon amount represents no greater purchasing power — and even these funds will be conditioned on Israel refraining from requesting additional funding from Congress. Accentuating the degree of mistrust, according to new details reported Wednesday, the administration secured an Israeli written commitment to return any additional money that Congress might provide. In the past, Congress has added — with White House consent — $600 million to $700 million every year for Iron Dome and other defense systems.
Additionally, Israel will have to accept a gradual reduction of more than $750 million a year in funds for our defense industries. Consequently, either vital security projects will be canceled or the same amount will be reduced from important domestic programs.
Expressing our opposition to the Iran nuclear deal was certainly legitimate. But instead of holding a candid dialogue behind closed doors with President Obama, Netanyahu went behind his back to deliver a speech to Congress, shaking the foundations of bipartisan support for Israel and dividing Jewish opinion.
Likewise at home, Netanyahu has consistently nourished fear of existential threats and unleashed ghosts of enemies from within, when domestic realities called for unity and confidence and regional developments required a sober assessment and steady hand.
The Middle East is a tough neighborhood. Hezbollah, Hamas, the Islamic State and a more potent Iran are not imaginary adversaries. Yet as a former prime minister, defense minister and Israel Defense Forces chief of staff, I state unequivocally: While never to be taken lightly, none of these forces constitutes an existential threat.
Despite seven wars, two intifadas and a host of military operations, Israel has emerged as the most successful nation-building project of the 20th century: powerful scientifically, economically and militarily, with a vibrant culture. What made this possible is sorely lacking today: a vision that unifies; an action plan that is realistic; and bold, far-sighted leadership that navigates both while holding a compass, not a weather vane. Israel needs a policy that restores credibility to our relations with
Washington; prioritizes the unity of the people over the unity of the land; enhances security via cooperation with like-minded nations; and promotes democratic values rather than messianic visions.
Our people need a policy that does not seek shelter in arguing over the availability of a Palestinian partner but rather takes the initiative by implementing the Security First plan recently presented by more than 200 of Israel’s most respected former top commanders. The plan would bolster our security while preserving the two-state option and prospects for regional cooperation.
Source: http://blogdogcicle.blogspot.com/2016/09/palestinian-israeli-update-9152016-un.html
