‘To wipe the spit off his face, Biden had to say it was only rain’
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- Written by Philip Weiss Philip Weiss
- Published: 12 March 2010 12 March 2010
- Hits: 3190 3190
Akiva Eldar in Haaretz says that the US signed off on the East Jerusalem Judaization.
To wipe the spit off his face, Biden had to say it was only rain. Therefore, he lauded Netanyahu’s assertion that actual construction in Ramat Shlomo would begin only in another several years.
Thus Israel essentially received an American green light for approving even more building plans in East Jerusalem.
Biden might not know it, but the Palestinians certainly remember that this is exactly how East Jerusalem’s Har Homa neighborhood began: Then, too, Netanyahu persuaded the White House that construction would begin only in another several years.
Oh, and note to readers: Har Homa is a Palestinian village way outside the city of Jerusalem, to the southeast, closer to Bethlehem. Of course Jeffrey Goldberg would say, that’s Jerusalem.
Intolerant: 46% of Israeli high-schoolers don't want equality for Arabs
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- Written by Yaheli Moran Zelikovich Yaheli Moran Zelikovich
- Published: 11 March 2010 11 March 2010
- Hits: 3268 3268
Poll: 46% of Israeli high-schoolers don't want equality for Arabs
Some 81% of religious students said they would refuse to evacuate settlements, versus 36% of secular counterparts. Every second student is opposed to granting right to vote to Arabs, and 32% don't want Arab friends
Racism and refusal to evacuate alongside support for a democratic system of government – these are the jumbled sentiment of Israel's high school students, according to a recent poll.
They support a democratic form of government, but more than half of them believe that Arabs should not be allowed to vote in Knesset elections. One out of every six students would not want to study in the same class with an Ethiopian or an immigrant from the former Soviet Union, and 21% of them think that "Death to Arabs" is a legitimate expression.
Read more: Intolerant: 46% of Israeli high-schoolers don't want equality for Arabs
March 20th: Protest 7 Years Since Iraq Invasion with Rally, March and Teach-In
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- Written by Peace and Justice Works Peace and Justice Works
- Published: 11 March 2010 11 March 2010
- Hits: 3147 3147
For immediate release March 11, 2010
Portlanders to Protest 7 Years Since Iraq Invasion with Rally, March and Teach-In
Saturday, March 20, 2010 12:00 Noon
Terry Schrunk Plaza/First Unitarian Church
What:
Rally and teach-in:
Iraq, Seven Years Later: Change US Foreign Policy-Bring All the Troops Home!
When/Where:
Saturday, March 20, 2010
12 noon, rally, Terry Schrunk Plaza, SW 3rd and Madison, Portland
12:30 PM march to teach-in
1:00 PM - 3:30 PM: Teach-in (refreshments and literature available)
Main St Sanctuary, First Unitarian Church, SW 12th and Main, Portland
With the uncertain outcome of the March 7 elections continuing to have the potential to delay the withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraq, Portlanders are gearing up to protest the ongoing presence of the US military and "contractors" on the anniversary of the 2003 invasion. On Saturday, March 20, an event titled "Iraq, Seven Years Later: Change US Foreign Policy--Bring All the Troops Home!" begins with a rally at Terry Schrunk Plaza at 12 noon (SW 3rd and Madison), continues with a march through downtown Portland at 12:30 PM, followed by a "teach-in" at First Unitarian Church from 1:00 to 3:30 PM (SW 12th and Main).
The themes addressed throughout the day will include the expansion of US military presence and US support for military occupations throughout the Middle East:
The day's events are being coordinated by Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group and cosponsored or endorsed by at least 20 other organizations.
Cosponsors include: Women's International League for Peace and Freedom-Portland; Portland Peaceful Response Coalition; Center for Intercultural Organizing; American Iranian Friendship Council; Women in Black; American Friends Service Committee; International Socialist Organization; Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights (SUPER); Metanoia Peace Community; Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility; Portland Central America Solidarity Committee (PCASC); Crosstrade Solidarity; War Resisters League-Portland; Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights (AUPHR), and The Peace Project--New Directions for American Foreign Policy.
Endorsers include Recruiter Watch PDX, Freedom Socialist Party, IUPAT Painters Local 10; Workers Action, and Portland Jobs with Justice.
For more information: Peace and Justice Works, 503-236-3065 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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Thank You, Eli Yishai, for Exposing the Peace Process Masquerade
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- Written by Gideon Levy Gideon Levy
- Published: 11 March 2010 11 March 2010
- Hits: 2870 2870
There we were, on the brink of another historic upheaval (almost). Proximity talks with the Palestinians were in the air, peace was knocking on the door, the occupation was nearing its end - and then a Shas rogue, who knows nothing about timing and diplomacy, came and shuffled all the proximity and peace cards.
The scoundrel appeared in the midst of the smile- and hug-fest with the vice president of the United States and disrupted the celebration. Joe Biden's white-toothed smiles froze abruptly, the great friendship was about to disintegrate, and even the dinner with the prime minister and his wife was almost canceled, along with the entire "peace process." And all because of Yishai.
Well, the interior minister does deserve our modest thanks. The move was perfect. The timing, which everyone is complaining about, was brilliant. It was exactly the time to call a spade a spade. As always, we need Yishai (and occasionally Avigdor Lieberman) to expose our true face, without the mask and lies, and play the enfant terrible who shouts that the emperor has no clothes.
For the emperor indeed has no clothes. Thank you, Yishai, for exposing it. Thank you for ripping the disguise off the revelers in the great ongoing peace-process masquerade in which nobody means anything or believes in anything.
What do we want from Yishai? To know when the Jerusalem planning committee convenes? To postpone its meeting by two weeks? What for? Hadn't the prime minister announced to Israel, the world and the United States, in a move seen at the time as a great Israeli victory, that the construction freeze in the settlements does not include Jerusalem? Then why blame that lowly official, the interior minister, who implemented that policy?
What's the big deal? Another 1,600 apartments for ultra-Orthodox Jews on occupied, stolen land? Jerusalem won't ever be divided, Benjamin Netanyahu promised, in another applause-winning move. In that case, why not build in it? The Americans have agreed to all this, so they have no reason to pretend to be insulted.
The interior minister should not apologize for the "distress" he caused, but be proud of it. He is the government's true face. Who knows, perhaps thanks to him America will finally understand that nothing will happen unless it exerts real pressure on Israel.
What would we do without Yishai? Biden would have left Israel propelled by the momentum of success. Netanyahu would have boasted of a renewed close friendship. A few weeks later, the indirect talks would have started. Europe would have applauded, and Barack Obama, the president of big promises, would even have taken a moment away from dealing with his country's health-care issues to meet with Netanyahu. George Mitchell, who has already scored quite a few diplomatic feats here, would shuttle between Ramallah and Jerusalem, and maybe Netanyahu would eventually have met with Mahmoud Abbas. Face to face. Then everything would have been sorted out.
Without preconditions, certainly without preconditions, Israel would have continued to build in the territories in the meantime - not 1,600 but 16,000 new apartments. The IDF would have continued arresting, imprisoning, humiliating and starving - all under the auspices of the peace talks, of course. Jerusalem forever. The right of return is out of the question, and so is Hamas. And onward to peace!
Months would go by, the talks would "progress," there would be lots of photo ops, and every now and then a mini-crisis would erupt - all because of the Palestinians, who want neither peace nor a state. At the very end, there might be another plan with another timetable that no one intends to keep.
Everything was so ready, so ripe, until that scoundrel, Yishai, came and kicked it all into oblivion. It's a bit embarrassing, but not so terrible. After all, time heals all wounds. The Americans will soon forgive, the Palestinians will have no choice, and once again everyone will stand ceremoniously on the platform and the process will be "jump-started" again - despite everything that the sole enemy of peace around here, Eli Yishai, has done to us.
Source: Haaretz, 11 March. 2010
Biden to Bibi: You are endangering us
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- Written by Philip Weiss Philip Weiss
- Published: 11 March 2010 11 March 2010
- Hits: 3363 3363
The Netanyahu insult to Joe Biden is the greatest thing that ever happened. It has woken a lot of people up, maybe including Joe Biden, who is streetsmart, and will allow the mainstream press in the US to finally question the special relationship and what it is doing to the American interest. You say I’m smoking something. Here is Laura Rozen at Politico:
People who heard what Biden said [to Netanyahu behind closed doors] were stunned. “This is starting to get dangerous for us,” Biden castigated his interlocutors. “What you’re doing here undermines the security of our troops who are fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. That endangers us and it endangers regional peace.”
The vice president told his Israeli hosts that since many people in the Muslim world perceived a connection between Israel’s actions and US policy, any decision about construction that undermines Palestinian rights in East Jerusalem could have an impact on the personal safety of American troops fighting against Islamic terrorism.
Fox News gets the story here: Biden trip is filled with snubs, cold shoulders and mishaps. Foxman likens Biden to Mearsheimer and Walt. Exactly. Mearsheimer and Walt were right. This is not in our interest to be supporting ethnic cleansing!