By Rabbi Dow Marmur

JERUSALEM–An estate agent told me the other day that many sellers miss opportunities because they don’t accept an early offer which is near enough to the asking price in the hope of getting more by hanging on. In most cases, more doesn’t happen and in the end the property is sold for much less than originally expected.

 I thought of my informant when I read about the recent reported encounters between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the Leader of the Opposition in the Knesset, Tzipi Livni. 

 After the elections early in 2009 it became obvious that Livni wouldn’t be able to form a government, even though her Kadima party had one more seat than Netanyahu’s Likud. In order to create a broad coalition, Netanyahu invited Livni and her party to join him, not in a commanding position but with considerable influence. She refused by arguing that, having one more seat, she wasn’t prepared to play second fiddle.

 Since then Netanyahu has shown himself to be a skilled operator who gradually and realistically has moved government foreign policy to the centre while keeping the more extreme right-wing coalition parties in check. Livni, on the other hand, has had to contend with a lot of internal strife, mainly because of the machinations of her deputy Shaul Mofaz, who wants her job as well as a seat in the government (which would make him the third former Chief of Staff in the cabinet, beside Barak and Ya’alon).

 In the meantime, Netanyahu and his team were exploiting the tensions in Kadima by seemingly successfully trying to lure some of its Knesset members back to Likud (from whence many of them originally came) by offering them government positions above their station. The matter came to a head earlier this week. In order to keep her party together, she may now agree to join the government and get a very subordinate role (minister without portfolio). Hence the allusion to my encounter with the estate agent.

 The only alternative open to Livni, as suggested by several pundits, is to call a party convention and have an election for the Kadima leader. If she wins, she’ll probably be able to keep the party together and stay in opposition awaiting the Netanyahu government to stumble or worse. More likely, however, she’d lose and Mofaz will become leader – and take his party into the government.

 I’m among those who believe that this may be a good thing for at least two reasons: (a) I’ve never thought of Livni as a great politician and her tenure in opposition hasn’t made me change my mind; (b) Kadima joining the government will make the Prime Minister less dependant on the right wing and thus more able to pursue the pragmatic politics that the situation and President Obama demand.

 Kadima may even find a face-saver, and thus help to deal with the settlers and the aftershock from the outcome of the Gilad Shalit negotiations. Livni insisted that she’d only join if the Prime Minister accepted a two-state solution. He has. (Now it’s Abu Mazen who’s the awkward one, which, of course, is in Israel’s diplomatic interest, because whatever each side says, it doubtful whether either wants a two-state solution. But that’s for another time.) It could be used as an excuse for accepting the lesser price.

 Israeli politics could do with a Christmas break, but Christmas doesn’t figure in this culture. So while much of the rest of the political world hibernates for the next week or so, Israel will be at it full steam with Tzipi Livni having the lion’s share of tsores.

*
Rabbi Marmur is spiritual leader emeritus of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto.  He now divides his time between Canada and Israel

Senior officials in Israel confirmed reports on Monday that a British court issued an arrest warrant against opposition chairwoman Tzipi Livni for her role in orchestrating Israel’s military offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip nearly a year ago.

The request for the warrant was submitted by a pro-Palestinian organization.

British sources reported late Monday that though a British court had issued an arrest warrant for Livni over war crimes allegedly committed in Gaza while she served as foreign minister, it annulled it upon discovering she was not in the U.K.

Livni served as foreign minister alongside Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak during the Israel Defense Forces offensive in Gaza. The three figures comprised the “troika” of top decision-makers who charted the course of the war.

Earlier Monday, Arab-language media reported that Livni canceled her participation in a Jewish function in London after a warrant for her arrest was issued over part in last winter’s Israel’s Gaza offensive.

Israel’s ambassador to London, Ron Prosor, conferred with officials in the British Ministry of Justice who told him that they were unaware of any criminal complaint or arrest warrant against the former foreign minister.

Yet, further inquiries by Israeli officials revealed that a warrant had indeed been issued.

Al-Quds Al-Arabi claimed on Monday that Scotland Yard advised the organizers of the Jewish National Fund conference in northwest London that the former foreign minister had canceled her scheduled address to the assembly over threats of a possible lawsuit by pro-Palestinian groups.

The Al-Quds Al-Arabi report also said that a group of about 100 anti-Israel protesters rallied outside the Hendon Hall Hotel on Sunday, just as delegates arrived at the JNF meet.

Livni’s office said in a statement following the report that her appearance at the London event was canceled two weeks ago due to a scheduling conflict.

Livni’s office also said that the opposition leader was proud of all the decisions she made as foreign minister during the Gaza war, an operation which she said achieved its goal of bring security to Israel.

A United Kingdom court two months ago deferred until further notice an appeal by local pro-Palestinian groups to issue an arrest warrant against Barak, who was visiting the country at the time.

A similar appeal was issued in 2004 against Israel’s then defense minister, Shaul Mofaz. At the time, Mofaz was granted immunity from international arrest and trial – a precedent set by the British court, which until then had given such protection only to foreign ministers or premiers

here and here

A petición expresa de Israel, la Autoridad Nacional Palestina -ANP-, detiene y encarcela a Ahmad Saadat, Secretario General del Frente Popular para la Liberación de Palestina – FPLP-. Según el acuerdo con Israel, Saadat deberá permanecer en la cárcel de Jericó bajo custodia de guardias británicos y norteamericanos. Los motivos que esgrime Israel, que Saadat es el lider del FPLP, del cual, un comando de este frente, asesinó al ministro israelí de turismo, el ultra derechista  Rehavam Ze´vi, como respuesta al asesinato de anterior secretario general del FPLP Abu Ali Mustafá.

Para los palestinos, es una acción terrorista, propia de las tropas de la ocupación, donde los militares israelíes pretenden liquidar la resistencia palestina y sus líderes.

El día 14 de marzo de 2006, las tropas israelíes de ocupación, llevaron a cabo una operación militar a gran escala que empezó a primera hora por la mañana del mismo día. La operación propuso detener a Ahmad Saadat, Secretario General del FPLP y miembro electo del Consejo Legislativo Palestino (CLP), o Parlamento, y varios activistas de FPLP acusados de asesinar a Rehavam Ze´vi (ex-ministro de israelí de Turismo). La operación que contó con el apoyo de tanques y helicópteros de guerra, causó la muerte de 3 palestinos y mas de 50 heridos.

“Curiosamente”, esta operación se inició 15 minutos después que la retirada repentina de los observadores ingleses y americanos cuya función era proteger a Saadat, según un acuerdo, redactado principalmente por los Estados Unidos. Israel, EEUU, y funcionarios ingleses procuraron negar cualquiera coordinación previa entre ellos. Sin embargo, el Ministro israelí de la Defensa, Shaul Mofaz, dijo en declaraciones al periódico israelí Haaretz que el se enteró un poco antes de la operación que Israel y de la retirada de los observadores de la prisión de Jericó. Aún más, indicó que el ejército había sido preparado hace una semana para asaltar la prisión y secuestrar a los presos.

 Más sobre Saadat y el porqué debe estar libre

El año 2002, por ordenes de Israel, la ANP detiene a Saadat

El 15 de enero de 2002, Ahmad Saadat el recientemente elegido Secretario General del Frente Popular para la Liberación de Palestina (FPLP),  fue detenido por los organismos de seguridad de la Autoridad Nacional Palestina por ordenes de Arafat (el desaparecido líder palestino) y encarcelado en Jericó con vigilancia Norteamericana y Británica.

El FPLP, es uno de los partidos políticos de mayor importancia y popularidad en Palestina, es un partido de Izquierda,  Democrático y Laico.

Este hecho inédito, se debe a las exigencias de Sharon y los norteamericanos para encarcelar a los lideres de la resistencia palestina. Centenares han sido asesinados por ordenes directas de Sharon, entre ellos se destaca el anterior Secretario General del FPLP Abu Ali Mustafa, y miles de detenidos en campos de concentración israelíes, entre los cuales se encuentran ministros, parlamentarios democráticamente electos, dirigentes sociales y politicos, mujers, niños y mas de 11.000 palestinos presos por luchar en contra de una ocupación militar extranjera y por la libertad de su país.

Las Tropas de ocupación sionista cometen todo tipo de crímenes, atrocidades y violaciones en los territorios palestinos, en contra de un pueblo que lucha por su independencia y libertad. Sin embargo, no se entiende la actitud de Arafat y los actuales autoridades de la ANP, de encarcelar a aquellos que luchan por esta libertad. No se entiende cómo acepta las ordenes de los opresores encabezados por un criminal de guerra como lo es Sharon.

A pesar que todas las fuerzas políticas y sociales de Palestina y  la propia Corte Suprema Palestina de Justicia, han exigido a Arafat y posteriormente a las autoridades de la ANP, la liberación de Ahmad Saadat y sus compañeros, antes de sus secuestro por parte de los militares israelíes. Lamentablemente, las exigencias de Israel eran mas fuertes que el clamor palestino.

La lucha del pueblo palestino por el término de la ocupación militar de sus tierras es avalada por las resoluciones de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas – ONU – , del Consejo de Seguridad y todas las demás normas del derecho y la legalidad internacionales. Sin embargo la hipocresía internacional, el doble estándar y la prepotencia militar sionista – norteamericana, han impedido el cumplimiento de la legalidad.

Campaña por la libertad de

Ahmad  Saadat

 www.freeahmadsaadat.org

Sami Moubayed is editor-in-chief of Forward Magazine in Syria. He is also a writer, political analyst, and historian, based in DamascuSpeaking to Al Jazeera from Jordan, Kaddoumi revealed the contents of a secret document - apparently shown to him personally by Arafat - regarding a meeting between Sharon, Abbas, Dahlan, US undersecretary of state William Burns and a number of CIA officials.

The world is abuzz with the accusations made by senior Fatah member Farouk Kaddoumi (Abu Al Lutf), against Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and former security minister Mohammad Dahlan for having allegedly conspired with former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon to get rid of Yasser Arafat in 2004.

The meeting was aimed at eliminating Arafat and Hamas leaders Abdul Aziz Rantisi (assassinated by Israel in April 2004), Esmail Haniya and Mahmoud Zahar.

Kaddoumi said he advised Arafat to flee Ramallah, seeing that the death threat was serious, but the ageing Arafat, who had been confined to his office in Ramallah since 2001, curtly refused. Kaddoumi accused Abbas of “deserting Fatah” and “collaborating and conniving with Israel”.

Responding to the accusations, which spread like forest fire throughout the Palestinian areas, Abbas said, “Kaddoumi claims to be in possession of five-year-old documents that prove [his allegations], so why did he not reveal them immediately?”

Abbas, who shared a close relationship with both Kaddoumi and Arafat since the 1960s, claimed that the accusations were “lies” intended to show him in poor light at the upcoming sixth Fatah General Congress, scheduled for August 4, 2009.

“He knows full well that his information is false; he has released it to undermine the convention,” he said.

Abbas loyalists were naturally furious, and so were regional Abbas allies like Jordan and Egypt. Some members of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) even demanded that Kaddoumi be put on trial for defaming the Palestinian president, while others argued that because of his age (Kaddoumi is 78) the man was hallucinating.

By all accounts, even Kaddoumi’s opponents agree that the man is not known for lying. He has an exceptionally unblemished financial record, and despite his age, still manages to capture the minds and hearts of young Palestinians because he is committed to military resistance against Israel, unlike Abbas.

Despite having worked together since he joined Fatah in 1960, Kaddoumi never really got along with Abbas. He constitutionally succeeded Arafat as chairman of Fatah in 2004 and challenged Abbas from day one, trying to wrest control of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) which is chaired by Abbas. The latter hit back, retiring all ambassadors and officials loyal to Kaddoumi.

Abbas has made it clear; anything official from Palestine comes from two sources only – the presidential office, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (which is completely independent from Kaddoumi’s control).

Kaddoumi is famed for having refused to return and live in Ramallah or the West Bank so long as the Palestinian state is not announced, and often mocks the limited statehood granted to the Palestinians by the Oslo Accords of 1993.

Recently, he tried organising an armed force loyal to him to “save” the loyal elements of Fatah – an initiative that was strongly suppressed.

Shortly after Arafat’s death, Kaddoumi tried ousting Dahlan by claiming that his Preventive Security Bureau was persona non grata in Fatah. His loyalists claim that he was bypassed as chairman of the PLO by Abbas and affectionally call him ‘Mr President’, a title that symbolically challenges the authority of Abbas.

Whether Kaddoumi’s accusations are true or not is unknown, but clearly the statement creates an unprecedented crisis for Fatah ahead of its much awaited congress.

Kaddoumi is furious that Abbas has called for the Congress in the Occupied Territories, arguing that it is illogical for a national liberation movement to convene its most important convention under Israeli occupation.

He claims that Israel, rather than Abbas or the PNA, will have the final say on who will attend the event. Abbas loyalists argue that Kaddoumi is trying to play spoilsport because he doesn’t plan to attend the conclave.

In recent years, Kaddoumi has asked for an international tribunal to investigate Arafat’s death, similar to the one created to probe the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.

Kaddoumi’s accusations are not new, having been first levelled by Hamas in July 2007, shortly after their takeover of Gaza purportedly on the basis of official correspondence found at the Fatah security headquarters in the enclave.

Reportedly, Hamas discovered a hand-written letter, dated July 13, 2003, addressed to Shaul Mofaz, the then-Israeli minister of defence in the Sharon cabinet.

The Lebanese weekly, Al Kifah Al Arabi, claimed that the Dahlan-Mofaz correspondences reveal a statement made by the Palestinian security chief saying: “Be sure that Mr Yasser Arafat is now counting his final days but let us slaughter him our way – not yours!”

That statement, if it proves to be correct, topped with Kaddoumi’s latest accusations, mean that probably, Abbas will have a lot of explaining to do at the upcoming Fatah Congress.

The PNA’s democratic character allows for challenging the head of state but while it doesn’t look likely that the allegation will lead to Abbas’s impeachment, his record may lie tainted, especially with many of his opponents more willing to believe that Kaddoumi is saying the truth.

]]> http://israelpalestinenewscompiler.wordpress.com/2009/03/30/sraeli-railways-fires-arab-workers-who-did-not-serve-in-the-military/ Mon, 30 Mar 2009 07:44:38 +0000 beyondtheborder http://israelpalestinenewscompiler.wordpress.com/2009/03/30/sraeli-railways-fires-arab-workers-who-did-not-serve-in-the-military/

One of the Arab workers said that this decision is discriminatory, and added that so far 40 Arab workers already received official dismissal letters, while the rest will most likely receive them in the next day.

Arab member of Knesset, Ahmad Tibi, raised the issue at the Knesset last week and Israel’s transportation minister, Shaul Mofaz, promised to look into it.

For full article, visit http://www.imemc.org/article/59663

The project, which began about three years ago following several grave railway accidents, employs 260 workers, about 60% of whom are Arab.

Up to now military service was not a precondition for getting the job, but Israel Railways recently decided to promote IDF veterans – a move which hurt Arabs working as observers or patrolmen.

For full article, visit http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3694148,00.html

The workers earn NIS 24 an hour, slightly above minimum wage. Since the story broke, they have allegedly been threatened not to speak to the media.

For full article, visit http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1074814.html

A large part of the operation was conducted by remote control. “The Palestinians are completely transparent to us,” says A., a reservist whose brigade was posted in the Gaza Strip. “The Shin Bet has people everywhere. We observe the whole area from the air and usually the Shin Bet coordinator can also tell you who lives in what house.” The Shin Bet defines the enemy and, for the most part, someone who belongs to Hamas’ civilian welfare organizations (the da’awa) is treated the same way as a member of its military wing, the Iz al-Din al-Qassam.

For full article, visit http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1074218.html

yesterday afternoon, after classes finished, i headed to the al yasmeen hotel for a talk that our boycott group was sponsoring. the talk, however, was not about boycott; it was about barack obama. naively, i had suspected that the speakers would be critical of obama. i expected the speakers to speak from a radical, or even a progressive point of view. instead i found liberal rhetoric from people who under bush might have been thought of as radicals. instead, what i found was optimism. i know that after george bush having a different president is a relief. a huge relief, to be sure. but to pretend like things will change for the better for palestinians, afghans, iraqis, pakistanis is to continue to drink the koolaid. for sure i want hope and change, too. that is why i voted for cynthia mckinney. but i am also realistic about what change is possible with any american president regardless of their race. what concerns me is their politics. and the change i want is radical. i will not throw a party because i am thrown a bone.

my choice for president, cynthia mckinney, has this to say to those who see hope and change in obama:

One of the first under-reported acts of President Obama was to sign an order continuing the drone airstrikes, resulting in at least 22 killed so far. For the dead children of Afghanistan or Pakistan or Gaza, it doesn’t matter to their parents if the bomb was dropped by Bush or Obama or the client state they support. And President Obama has made it clear that the bombs will continue to drop; it is up to us–the people of the United States–to stop them. That’s why it was on my birthday, in front of the Pentagon in 2007, that I declared my independence from every bomb dropped, every child killed, every veteran maimed in the name of U.S. wars. I said it, and I meant it, and I knew I was going to have to do something I’d never done before if I was ever going to have something I’d never had before. So I left the Democratic Party.

I don’t regret my decision one minute. I draw my strength from Dr. King, who in his own way, did the same thing when he refused to segregate his moral concerns.

My neighborhood in Los Angeles, Watts and South Central, is already a police state. Tonight, 25 to 30 young black men, standing handcuffed, outside the barber shop. Every night, routine dehumanization is carried out in black and brown neighborhoods by LAPD. I see it. I never miss it. It’s all around me.

Oscar Grant murdered in cold blood by law enforcement. Robert Tolan, murdered in cold blood by law enforcement, for driving his father’s car, mistaken for stolen.

Filiberto Ojeda Rios assassinated by the U.S. government; I met his wife and heard the entire story of what happened as he was shot by the FBI and then bled to death.

Innocent black and brown and poor white men on death row. How many Troy Davises and Mumia Abu Jamals will we allow to exist in our country?

Native Americans trying to survive despite genocide and ethnic cleansing, struggle against drug and alcohol abuse and poverty, and try to keep their culture alive.

And yet the likes of Harry Reid, Dick Durbin, Nancy Pelosi, and now Barack Obama say nothing about the pain I see on the mean streets and reservations across our country, and the miscarriages of justice that are its regular feature, but they allow Bush and company to get away with the highest of crimes, involving millions of deaths.

do you see what i mean? mckinney has a vision for change, the kind of change that i hope for. the kind that involves justice. the kind that challenges the relationship between the rulers and the ruled.

but where is the change when the u.s. is asking the war criminals to investigate their war crimes in gaza?:

Israel must investigate allegations that its army violated international law during its three-week war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, the new U.S. envoy to the United Nations said on Thursday.

“We expect Israel will meet its international obligations to investigate and we also call upon all members of the international community to refrain from politicizing these important issues,” Ambassador Susan Rice said in her debut speech before the UN Security Council.

Rice said that Hamas had been guilty of violating international law “through its rocket attacks against Israeli civilians in southern Israel and the use of civilian facilities to provide protection for its terrorist attacks.”

“There have also been numerous allegations made against Israel some of which are deliberately designed to inflame,” she told the council during a meeting on international humanitarian law.

where is the change when george mitchell tells us that obama is committed to george bush’s vision for carving up the land AND denying palestinian refugees the right of return under un resolution 194?:

Mitchell told Israeli officials that the new administration was committed to Israel’s security, to the road map, and to the 2004 letter by president George W. Bush stating Palestinian refugees would not return to Israel and the border between Israel and the Palestinian Authority would take into consideration facts on the ground, meaning large settlement blocs would remain in Israeli hands.

where is the change when israeli colonists/terrorists continue to build colonies without anyone challenging them?

The report, released Wednesday by the group Peace Now, found that settlement construction in 2008 increased by almost 60 percent, including new construction both inside and outside of the security barrier and within illegal settlement outposts.

real change would mean: sanctions to stop using u.s. taxpayer money to fund their colonial terror project for one thing.

where is the change when the changes that obama himself promised are already being violated in less than a week (thanks tam tam) :

Unfortunately, we are again asking the president to explain why exactly he announced, with great fanfare, new ethics rules if he had no intention of abiding by them.

The Obama administration is yet again asking for a waiver to its very own rules about hiring lobbyists.

This time, it is the new treasury secretary, Tim Geithner. He wants a former lobbyist for Goldman Sachs to be his top aide at the Treasury Department.

for those who need to be reminded of why obama is more of the same bush policies you should read what as’ad abukhalil says about the reality of the so-called “change” coming from obama:

The inauguration speech included an insinuation towards the Islamic world, but it was met with exaggeration and reverence in Arab media. The series of wars and humiliation by the Bush administration has made Arabs easy victims of pretty talk, only comparatively.

However, Obama’s “reference” towards the Islamic world came in the context of his speech about terrorism and his pursuit of terrorists. In other words, he made no methodical shift from Bush’s administration’s perspective (or that of Zionists), which links the Muslim to the terrorist.

He offered no meaningful initiative to causes which concern the Arab and Islamic worlds, such as American wars and traditional western orientalist hostility, the United Sates’ support for tyrannical regimes in the Middle East, and Israel and its incessant wars and aggression.

Obama called on some regimes which “repress” their people, but everyone knows that those include only regimes which object to the American will. This means that Obama’s politics won’t be different from Bush’s politics with regard to democracy. Violation of Arabs and Muslims rights are allowed and praised if the oppressor is supportive of US wars. The proximity of Obama’s politics to those of Bush surface on more than one front, as he postponed his decision to shut down Guantanamo Camp, or he decided to shut it down within a year, after he had spoken about immediate closure. Torture may remain secretive, as the appointed Attorney General indicated.

The issue of withdrawal from Iraq has also changed. Today he speaks very vaguely about a “responsible withdrawal” from Iraq, after he used to promise complete withdrawal within a six-month period at the beginning of his electoral campaign.

As for Afghanistan, he promised to escalate the war there and increase the number of occupying troops. This means that Obama considers a policy of “surge” in Afghanistan in return for Bush’s “surge” in Iraq.

Hence, the difference between the two men, Bush and Obama, is only with regard to the location of downpour of bombs and rockets, not about ceasing them altogether. Obama surpassed Bush by calling for violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty under the rubric of “pursuit” of terrorists. And a number of Pakistani citizens were in fact killed on the first days of Obama’s administration. This was termed “inauguration bombardment.”

here is one of the first signs of more of the same in afghanistan, bombs dropped on afghan civilians and we know from obama that he promises more where this came from:

cindy sheehan gets it, too, in her critique of obama as the new emperor of the united states:

There are already indications of The Empire® beginning to fray around the edges. The latest being the US/Israeli assault on Gaza, that although very destructive, was not able to fully suppress Hamas and achieve its aims. In Iraq, the MIC has not been victorious in subduing that population and there are indications that what might rise out of the ashes will be a more religious and anti-American regime: (once the Iraqi people vanquish the US pro-consul, Maliki) no matter how many bases or how large the embassy we leave in Iraq.

Many people looked at Obama as a “peace candidate” where he is no such thing. In the first week of office, he demonstrated that the Bush regime’s illegal CIA drone bombings in the tribal regions of Pakistan would continue. Recently the US military took $40,000.00 to a village where 15 civilians were killed (less than three grand per person) with the imperialistic hubris that a few thousand lousy American dollars will pay for the life of a loved one. The Pakistani government is getting quite a bit of pressure from the civil society there about the illegal US strikes against its sovereign territories, but like all empires, the US could not care less about the people its killing, or protests against its policies.

as’ad also gets it when he critiques obama’s appearance on al arabiya this week (note: bushama is as’ad’s new name for obama):

Thirdly, there is nothing that Bushama said that was not said by Bush. The CNN guest, Aslan something who always impresses me with his lack of knowledge on the Middle East when he speaks on the Middle East, kept saying in awe that the president spoke respectfully about respect in his address to Muslims and Arabs. But so did Bush, and Bush went to a mosque in Washington, DC–in order to prepare for the bombs and missiles to fall on Muslim and Arab heads. Fourthly, Obama in talking about the Middle East–the Palestine question and beyond–suffers from an acute case of “economism” or economic reductionism. He has the tendency to reduce all Arab and Muslim issues to job and medical care. It is NOT only the economy–stupid. It is also about pride and dignity and Palestine AND about freedom from the severe oppression that people suffer under governments that are coddled and armed by the very same US of A. So the words fall hollow here. Fifthly, Obama as a representative of the White Man (and he can also be referred to as the White Man, analytically speaking just as Margaret Thatcher was a representative of the White Man) did not deviate from the deep racism that characterizes US foreign policy to the Arab-Israeli conflict. I mean when he refers to Israel’s security as “paramount” he is basically saying (like previous US president) that the security of the Palestinians is inferior because they are seen as inferior people. There is no question about that. It means that and the racism is reflected clearly in the disregard of Israeli WMDs. It never comes up in any interview with US officials on Al-Arabiyya (it is featured regularly in Al Jazeera as yesterday’s interview with Brent Scowcroft showed). Karl Marx wrote somewhere about the danger of covering up the chain with flowers. Obama is no different than Bush but American bombs and missiles under his administration will be decorated and covered with flowers. If that is a reason to celebrate, please open the champagne bottles NOW.

one thing as’ad left out of his commentary was obama’s big blunder of an historical statement about the nature of the united states:

He added that “we sometimes make mistakes,” but said that America was not born as a colonial power and that he hoped for a restoration of “the same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago.”

um…try telling that to leonard peltier! (see lower down in this post for a petition to sign regarding peltier).

there are others who can see through the obama rhetoric directed at the arab world such as m. junaid levesque-alam who wrote “a muslim’s memo to obama”:

Obama’s decision to emphasize the absurd instead of the obvious was very revealing. It was a message that Muslim life is expendable. It was a message that Muslims can be killed en masse. And it was a message the Muslim world heard loudly.

If one hundred Palestinian corpses are placed next to one Israeli corpse, the “new” White House informed Muslims through Obama’s messaging, its scales of sympathy will still not tip in their favor. They will be addressed tersely only to demand that they recognize their oppressor’s right to exist.

This is akin to yelling into the ear of a rape victim during an assault that she must recognize the rights of her rapist. It is an insult with few parallels–but many echoes.

another sign of the lack of hope and change emanating from the failure of so-called leftists–also pointed out by as’ad:

If the standards that some leftists now want to impose on the Palestinian resistance were imposed on French resistance to Nazi occupation, there would have been no resistance whatsoever in France and all the fighters of the resistance would have joined Jean Cocteau in the cafes of Paris and would have chanted with him: “Love live this shameful peace.”

and as’ad has an important historical reminder about the cold, calculated, forgetful memory about the rationale israeli terrorists used to start the june 1967 war (which of course should be read ironically given their “reason” for assaulting gaza):

“What Israeli PM Abba Eban said about blockades during the 1967 war: “To blockade, after all, is to attempt strangulation–and sovereign states are entitled not to have their State strangled. The blockade is by definition an act of war, imposed and enforced through violence. Never in history have a blockade and peace existed side by side.” From “The Israel/Arab Reader” Second ed. Ed. Walter Laqueur (1971ed.) pp. 219.

the above quote, of course, should not be forgotten, especially the part i bolded, given that the siege on gaza continues through israeli terrorists’ continued blockade by air, land, and sea. the sort of damage that the wreaked not only on human beings, but also on their livelihood. just look at al jazeera’s report on the israeli terrorist damage done to palestinian farmers in gaza:

or watch al jazeera’s report on the psychological damage the israeli terrorist aggression on gaza has created:

when i asked rami yesterday for some grounding away from the insanity of people putting their hope in obama he reminded me of many things, most importantly:

We also know that we-i mean our class- are irrelevant, and that the real struggle is between the rulers and the ruled

yes. this is it. this is where the revolution is. it is about the farmers. it is about the workers. it is about changing the system not the ruler. reggie sent me this article from the american communist party, which poses this challenge to us who are interested in real change:

Left to itself, tomorrow’s disappointment of today’s raised expectations will not automatically show people a way out of this madness. Disillusionment with Obama, when and if that comes, can lead to cynical passivity or to people giving up their original better ideals as being “naïve” and “foolish”…and becoming active supporters of the very crimes they once opposed.

But that too is where the revolutionaries come into the picture. As big questions are being discussed on street corners, classrooms, and offices, there are openings for answers that speak to the reality of the situation. Even as we are continuing to unite with people and lead forward resistance, we have to be actively and eagerly jumping into struggle with all of those caught up in this Obama-mania over the real nature of this system and what it will REALLY take to change it. We have to show them, in a living way, what it means to say that this is a SYSTEM. And we have to engage them, again in a living way, with what is meant by REVOLUTION—real revolution—and what their role in all that is and must be.

In a strategic sense, it is good that we are presented with this challenge. How could anyone imagine a revolution in the U.S.A. that did not have to go up against a lot of deeply embedded myths, values, and accepted lies? Let’s take this on and take this up with a materialist understanding of what this system must do to people and how utterly unnecessary is the suffering it imposes on people. Let’s jump into the fray—both the struggle to fight the power, and the struggle to transform the people, FOR revolution—with creativity and confidence borne of our dialectical understanding that the world is constantly changing, and that people’s conscious actions have a profound effect on that. And let’s get in there with the verve that comes from our grasp of the kind of society we are trying to bring into being, and the potential attractive power of that vision.

And there is an opening to do that now. In the current mix, and all the way through the process people go through confronting the reality of what Obama represents, we can and must reach out boldly and broadly to build a revolutionary movement that can bring about the real change the world needs.

To restate the crucial question we opened with: What will all these people do as it becomes more and more clear that Obama is dashing their hopes and shattering their illusions that he will act to bring about change that so many people long for—change that will really be in the interests of the great majority of people, here and around the world?

The answer to that—the potentially world-changing, world-historic answer—depends on you.

no i don’t want hope and change from obama. i see no reason to be hopeful. and i am not interested in the sort of minimalist change he is offering. i want the sort of change evo morales brings to bolivia:

He shook his fist in the air, the applause died down. “And I want you to know something, the colonial state ends here. Internal colonialism and external colonialism ends here. Sisters and brothers, neoliberalism ends here too.”

i want the kind of change that releases leonard peltier from prison immediately (and on that note please sign the petition linked below):

Please Let President Barack Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, U.S. Penitentiary-Canaan Warden Ronnie R. Holt, Federal Bureau of Prisons Northeast Regional Director D. Scott Dodrill, U.S. Prisons Director Harley G. Lappin, the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Leaders, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the American Civil Liberties Union and members of the national media know you HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE SAFETY AND WELLBEING OF LEONARD PELTIER!

i want the kind of change that prosecutes israeli war criminals and feeds them the justice they deserve (not just for gaza but for 61+ years of war crimes):

Public asked for information on travel plans and whereabouts of top Israeli leaders

By Redress Information & Analysis

26 January 2009

An international human rights organization has submitted evidence to the International Criminal Court for the arrest of top Israeli leaders for war crimes in Gaza and has called for information about the travel plans and whereabouts outside Israel of the suspects.

A human rights organization has called for the arrest of a number of senior Israeli leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The International Coalition against Impunity (HOKOK), a non-governmental organization registered with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, has submitted a “Letter of Notification and Referral” to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court outlining the case for the arrest of 15 Israeli political and military leaders for crimes committed in Gaza in violation of the Rome Statute and the Fourth Geneva Convention.

It has also issued an international appeal for information about the undermentioned war crimes suspects. Members of the public in Israel and throughout the world who have information about the travel plans or whereabouts of the undermentioned suspects when they are outside Israel should report this immediately to:

The Prosecutor

P.O. Box 19519

2500 Hague

Netherlands

Fax +31 70 515 8 555

otp.informationdesk [at] icc-cpi.int

The Israeli war crimes suspects are:

1. Ehud Barak
2. Amir Peretz
3. Binyamin Ben Eliezer
4. Avi Dichter
5. Carmi Gillon
6. Dan Halutz
7. Doron Almog
8. Ehud Olmert
9. Eliezer Shkedy
10. Gabi Ashkenazi
11. Giora Eiland
12. Matan Vilnai
13. Moshie Bogie Yaalon
14. Shaul Mofaz
15. Tzipi Livni

here is a report form al jazeera’s zeina awad on the war crimes investigations in gaza:

and this war crimes case as well:

National Infrastructure Minister and former Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and former IAF and IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz may face criminal charges in Spain for killing Palestinian civilians seven years ago.

A Spanish court granted a petition by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights on Thursday, asking the two be investigated for alleged “crimes against humanity” for their involvement in the 2002 assassination of Hamas operative Salah Shehade. Fourteen civilians were killed in the incident and about 100 more were injured.

i want the kind of change that shows israeli terrorism in all its true colors, so people understand that their racism is widespread and that all are complicit in the thinking and actions among the civilian AND military (which overlap completely since military service is compulsory):

“Fire on anything that moves in Zeitoun” – that was the order handed down to Israeli troops in the Givati Shaked battalion, who reduced the eastern Gaza City suburb to little more than rubble in a matter of days.

According to Israeli soldiers who took part in the three-week offensive, the destruction of the area, a known Hamas stronghold, was designed to send a wider message to Gazans. “We pounded Zeitoun into the ground,” an Israeli soldier who was deployed in the area, told The Times.

“We knew everything was booby-trapped, we knew that they would try to kidnap us and if they did that was the end, we were finished . . . so we took no chances. We pounded them with fire; they never had a chance.”

i want the kind of change that does not include palestinian resistance making concessions to the zionist colonists who stole their land by recognizing the zionist entity or by making any concession that does not include the complete and total liberation of palestine:

“We accept a state in the ‘67 borders,” said [Ghazi] Hamad. “We are not talking about the destruction of Israel.”

One hardline Hamas politician, Yehiel El Abadsa, said his group should not reconcile with Fatah and that Hamas “will be the ones to rebuild Gaza.

the kind of change i hope for is one that shows iraqis, pakistanis, and afghans as resisting and kicking out all u.s. installations, not just the abomination that is blackwater:

Blackwater, a US private security firm, has been barred from providing security for US diplomats in Iraq for its alleged involvement in the deaths of at least 17 civilians in 2007.

The Iraqi interior ministry on Thursday said the measure followed the firm’s “improper conduct and excessive use of force”.

Five former Blackwater guards are awaiting trial in the US for the incident that took place in September 2007.

one thing that we can all do, that we can all practice, live by is boycott. it works. and it is working more very single day. just look at the beautiful damage jordanian farmers are causing israeli terrorist farmers who farm stolen palestinian land:

Fruit growers in Israel have reported delays and reductions in orders from abroad since the military operation in Gaza was launched, due to various boycotts against Israeli produce.

Farmers say much of their produce is being held in warehouses due to canceled orders, and fear a sharp decrease in fruit exports to countries such as Jordan, Britain, and the Scandinavian countries.

“We export persimmons, and because of the fighting a number of countries and distributors are canceling orders,” Giora Almagor, of the southern town of Bitzaron, told Ynet. He said some of the produce had already been shipped while some was awaiting shipment in warehouses.

Almagor said a large number of cancellations came from Jordan. “The produce stays packed in warehouses, and this is causing us massive losses,” he said.

and while we may not be able to attribute the pro-palestinian boycott of starbucks to the company’s financial problems (because indeed there are hundreds of other reasons to boycott starbucks), it is a welcome sign to see them hit by the economic downturn as well:

Thousands of baristas are to lose their jobs as Starbucks shuts stores to cope with dwindling sales of lattes, cappuccinos and frappuccinos as cash-strapped consumers lose their thirst for coffee.

The Seattle-based chain tonight revealed a 70% slump in quarterly profits to $64.3m and announced that it intends to shed 6,700 employees this year. It is closing 300 stores, two thirds of which will be in the US, on top of 660 shutdowns last year.

As the global economy turns sour, appetite for Starbucks’ premium-priced drinks appears to be waning. Like-for-like sales fell by 10% at American stores and dropped by 3% elsewhere in the world – including a decline in the UK during the three months to December.

Starbucks’ chief executive, Howard Schultz, is joining in the belt-tightening by asking the company’s board to cut his basic salary from $1.2m to $10,000. Schultz, 55, dropped off Forbes’ list of the world’s billionaires last year as the value of his stake in Starbucks plunged.

and the u.s. academic and cultural boycott of israel is gaining exposure, even in the israeli terrorist press:

While Israeli academics have grown used to such news from Great Britain, where anti-Israel groups several times attempted to establish academic boycotts, the formation of the United States movement marks the first time that a national academic boycott movement has come out of America. Israeli professors are not sure yet how big of an impact the one-week-old movement will have, but started discussing the significance of and possible counteractions against the campaign.

and now there is an australian boycott of israeli academic and cultural institutions as well:

Australian Academic Boycott of Israel Responding to the CALL of Palestinian civil society to join the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, we are an Australian campaign focused specifically on a boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions, as delineated by PACBI (Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel).

this is especially important as we recall what israeli terrorists did to the islamic university of gaza, which recently came out with a statement asking us to work in solidarity to support them as they work to rebuild their university:

We firmly believe that the illegal Israeli occupation have deliberately and continuously targeted the Palestinian academic institutions, including IUG, in an attempt to keep the Palestinians ignorant and insecure so the oppressive Israeli occupation could last longer.

By destroying the university buildings, IUG is facing major disarray and delay in completing the second semester, entailing the inability of hundreds of students to graduate. Such bombardment is a flagrant violation of international law including the Fourth Geneva Convention. This violation shows a total disregard for Palestinian rights to education and for the legitimacy of the international community and international law, declarations and resolutions.
We therefore call upon all academics, students, concerned bodies and the international community to show their support and solidarity to the right of the Palestinians to education:

1. Boycotting Israeli academic institutions and refraining from participation in any form of academic and cultural cooperation.

2. Lobbying (emails, letter, fax, etc) your MP and government to pressure the government of Israel to adhere to its legal obligations to end occupation and stop attacking Palestinian educational institutions.

3. Preparing and signing petitions calling on trade unions, education institutions, organizations, social and political movements and concerned individuals around the world to support the right to education in Palestine.

4. Organizing exchange visit to and from IUG to students and faculty members to come on a speaking tour to universities and organizations in your country.

5. Sponsoring students at IUG to enable them to continue their education.

6. Initiating active academic relations with IUG through departmental links; student and faculty exchange; joint research projects; and inclusion at international academic conferences.

7. Making a donation to reconstruct the IUG buildings and facilities.

8. Establishing connections with Palestinian universities, students and faculty, through solidarity links or academic exchange.

9. Support the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s call for “a full investigation and to make those responsible people accountable.”

the academic boycott is also crucial given the ways which israeli terrorist universities not only

And that brings us to [Shlomo] Zand’s second assertion. He argues that the story of the Jewish nation — the transformation of the Jewish people from a group with a shared cultural identity and religious faith into a vanquished “people” — was a relatively recent invention, hatched in the 19th century by Zionist scholars and advanced by the Israeli academic establishment. It was, argues Zand, an intellectual conspiracy of sorts. [Tom] Segev says, “It’s all fiction and myth that served as an excuse for the establishment of the State of Israel.”

thus, a renewed call came out from palestinian civil society seeking further support for the boycott:

However, Israel’s hidden goals were to deepen the rift already existing between Hamas in Gaza and Fatah in the West Bank, in order to further divide Palestinian people both politically and geographically.

We call for immediate action to be taken to achieve the following:

* An immediate end to the internal conflict, a revival of national unity as to avoid polarization on a regional and international level, which does not serve common Palestinian goals, and formation of a National Unity Government to lead the Palestinian people through these critical times.

* Immediate commencement of reconstruction work in Gaza with a priority of finding homes for those without. The reconstruction of Gaza should be handled by Palestinians as their knowledge of the affected areas is second to none. Although Israel should take full responsibility for rebuilding all destroyed civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, if reconstruction is to be bankrolled by the international community, reconstruction funds should be handled exclusively by a Palestinian team, which should be selected on the basis of transparency, accountability and professionalism, and should consist of members from civil society, the private sector and the government. This team should utilize their collective experience on a local, regional and international level and apply it as specified by the needs of the team.

* Cooperation with civil and popular initiatives in order to allow them the possibility to assist the victims of this war. In addition, the role and independence of civil society should also be respected.

* We, Palestinian non-governmental organizations declare our complete rejection of any aid coming from USAID due to the United States’ constant military and financial support to Israel, or from any other parties whose support to Israel facilitated Israel’s military aggression in the Gaza Strip.

* An end of the siege on Gaza and opening of the borders and crossings. In addition, a safe and free passage that links the West Bank to Gaza should be created, while avoiding anything that deepens the already existing division between the West Bank and Gaza.

* Preservation of the freedom of expression and right to criticize the performance of any authorities involved in the war, and let them be answerable for their respective roles. We call for the release of all political prisoners and the immediate cessation of arrests, while allowing media impartiality and freedom from external influence.

* Conducting a comprehensive revision of Palestinian negotiating policy to ensure an immediate cessation of the construction of Israeli settlements, the end of the siege on Gaza, the end of Israel’s policy to isolate Jerusalem and to end all Israeli aggression. This policy should be linked with existing UN treaties, resolutions and standards of international law and should help develop Palestinian political discourse and its mechanisms. The reference of negotiation should be based on the Palestinian Political Prisoners Initiative with an emphasis on the right to resist.

* The intervention of the international community in providing protection for the people of Gaza and the West Bank, ending the occupation of Palestinian territory by Israel and guaranteeing Palestinians’ right to self-determination, through application of international conventions and resolutions. It is not acceptable to place the Palestinians on the same level as the Israelis; it is now clearer than ever who the oppressor is and who is being oppressed.

* Bringing the Israeli authorities before a war tribunal to hold them to account for the damage and destruction they have caused in Gaza, and to ensure the appropriate reparations are made. We propose to form a national committee to work on this front.

* Upholding the current global boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign to boycott Israeli goods, support of divestment initiatives and encourage sanctions against Israel, to re-enforce its aims in light of Israel’s recent war crimes in Gaza.

and one more thing about boycotts. i realize that it is difficult to call for anti-normalization with israeli people as well as institutions, but in practice i think this is necessary. this is, unfortunately, one of the problems with organizing, especially with americans who worry more about freedom of speech than palestinian people’s lives. also, it is important to remember that palestinians have a right to resist colonialism with armed resistance. while i support these boycott measures they cannot be adequately used to dismantle israeli terrorism, colonialism, and apartheid alone. just as south africa was not liberated through boycott, divestment and sanctions alone–it took a long armed resistance struggle as well–so too will be the case with palestine. both are needed. and both need to be supported.

and one final note: i highlighted the usaid boycott above in this most recent call from palestinian civil society. this is essential. there are so many ways in which usaid is a huge part of the problem. i was just invited to participate in a palestinian faculty development program from amideast, but declined because of its usaid funding. this usaid funding, for instance, makes it such that faculty from the islamic university of gaza are ineligible to participate regardless of which–if any–political party they belong to. rami has an amazing analysis of usaid that i think everyone should read. this is when i first met him–when he first gave this talk in beirut–and what instantly made me want to get to know him. i’ve been grateful ever since as he is one of the most committed revolutionary thinkers i know and one of the most devoted friends i have:

Development aid is the profession of donor organizations. They see development as a set of rational managerial prescriptions. For many beneficiaries in Lebanon, development is a direct transference of Western values, synonymous with “modernization”. Many recipients are trained to think this way: this is part of the package deal. The World Bank, the USAID, the EU and even the UNDP have been known to impose expertise and authority. They have also been accused of silencing alternative voices, promoting a dependent path to development, and keeping their eyes closed to the power imbalance they create. The job needs to be done, and often, these power imbalances are part of the job, and not just an externality.

Donors operate according to a semi-declared agenda related chiefly to politics (USAID) or politics and trade (EU). They impose strict conditions on the employment of consultants (international becomes a euphemism for “from donor country”). They recycle the funds in purchases and employment, and use aid to dump excess food production and distort local markets, with total disregard to citizen’s preference and health.

Knesset speaker Dalia Itzik set the elections for February 10, 2009. That’s about 100 days from now.

Here are a few observations from some of the polls released today.

In a Haaretz Dialogue poll, those asked who is most able to deal with Israel’s security problems, 33 percent of respondents answered Netanyahu, 26 percent said Defense Minister Ehud Barak, head of the Labor Party, and 14 percent said Livni. And this is why Kadima leader Tzipi Livni needs former chief of staff and minister of defense Shaul Mofaz so badly, to bolster her and Kadima’s security credentials. Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter, while seen as a Mr. Security for having served in the secretive Shabak for many years, has taken a beating of late for his handling of the Uri Bar-Lev affair and other police bungles. There is a general sense in the country that Livni, as prime minister, would be tested by the likes of Hizbullah, Hamas and maybe even the Syrians. With Mofaz [as possible Foreign Minister] and Ehud Barak [as Defense Minister] at her side, Livni would look a hell of a lot less vulnerable. Livni also desperately needs Mofaz to be happy with his lot in life and not deepen his animosity for her after her narrow win over him in the Kadima leadership race; she does not need a rebel camp in Kadima.

To this end, Kadima’s brass has been trying all sorts of tricks to secure poor Mofaz the number 2 slot; but actually all this just weakens him. Livni has asked Mofaz to be her campaign manager and election-day general, a very prestigious position, which in the last elections was held by Avi Dichter. Mofaz hasn’t replied yet. Mofaz’s people have also said that he has never even asked to be assured the number two slot. While everyone in the party is trying really hard and creatively to change the rules of the game for him, rules enshrined in the internal Kadima code, the hapless Mofaz is left standing on the playground with his hands in his pockets, kicking a stone while waiting for others to call the game. How the mighty have fallen. Just a few weeks ago he was vying for the top Kadima spot, saying he was the best possible man to lead Israel into stormy seas [and a war with Iran], and now he needs Kadima MKs to try and find a loophole in the Kadima constitution to secure him a spot on the Kadima list behind Tzipi Livni. If Mofaz is to eventually vie for a Kadima slot just like the rest of the MKs, he would be well advised to begin campaigning now, set his own agenda instead of waiting for a loophole to appear; get some of his self-respect back.

According to polls on the Knesset channel, most Kadima members don’t want Mofaz’s place to be assured in the number two slot; another reason for Mofaz to publicly declare that he’s not interested in being reserved a spot and will fight his way to the top just like all the others.

In any case, this whole story is making him look weak and the sooner it’s over the better for him. Livni is, belatedly, trying to give him a bear hug after barely defeating him in the leadership battle last month. Mofaz still has a lot of political support within the Kadima electorate and several MKs within his camp, so he should feel confident enough of getting the number 2 spot on his own without much trouble. A potential danger: Rishon LeTzion mayor Meir Nitzan however, said today that he might shift his [considerable] support from Mofaz to somebody else, as he was not invited to a Mofaz supporters meeting today.

The Right wing parties seem to have a stronger chance of forming a government than the center left, the polls show. What does this mean for the peace process with the Palestinians and Syrians? Whoever wins the elections will most likely have to form a coalition with Shas. In this regard nothing much changes from what occurred in the coalition negotiations earlier in October.

The Likud will run on a “Livni will divide Jerusalem” ticket, so it is pretty safe to assume there will be no progress with the Palestinians. Netanyahu wants “economic peace” with the Palestinians, to let them build up their economic institutions. There is no long-term vision for peace with the Palestinians under the current Likud campaign climate.

Eli Yishai of Shas has already said Jerusalem will never be given up, and that it is delusion to think of peace with Syria, so what’s the point of giving up the Golan Heights? On this score they are no different than the Likud [even though I'm pretty sure both Livni and especially Barak will accuse Bibi of secretly agreeing to give up the Golan Heights when he was Prime Minister]. 

The Likud may have an interesting problem coming up in the primaries: it has too many ex-generals. After having no real security men after Ariel Sharon and Shaul Mofaz’s departure to form Kadima, Likud leader Netanyahu looked around and he now has former OC Northern Command Yossi Peled [who became a household name as a real-time Second Lebanon War TV commentator], former Deputy Chief of Staff Uzi Dayan and Dan Meridor [while a civilian, has served on several sensitive committees and drew up Israel's strategic doctrine]. But the real ace in Netanyahu’s deck is former Chief of Staff Moshe Ya’alon. But Ya’alon still hasn’t announced if and with whom he is running, although he is expected to join the Likud and win a respected placing on its list.

Polls show that if elections were held today Labor would lose half of its mandates. Labor is in real trouble [even it's website is down] and Barak is shooting around to find something that differentiates his party from Kadima; something like the Arab Peace Initiative, and getting really tough on the settlers. Ehud Barak has decided that Labor will hold primaries ahead of the general elections. If Labor drops from its current 19 mandates to 10, there will be a lot of Labor MKs who could find themselves out of the next Knesset. Already today, former Labor leader and arch-enemy to Barak, Amir Peretz, called in his supporters for a meeting. Those who are within the opening 10 spots on the list probably want to duplicate the same roster as the previous Knesset, and those outside of the first ten [and who could find themselves out of a job on February 11] want primaries to try and improve their positions. The end result of this is that Barak now knows, as if he didn’t remember, that there is a very vocal and dangerous rebel camp within his party. .

Another interesting poll finding is that is that the Pensioners Party, who were the big surprise of the last election with 7 mandates, is virtually wiped out, with some of their votes going to the Green Party. Many people who voted for the Pensioners party in the last elections were not pensioners, but young people, who cast their ballot as a sort-of protest vote. If elections were held today, that protest vote would go towards environmental parties, which seems a more natural choice for the young, first-time voters. Problem is that the Green Party has been caught largely unprepared for its projected, sudden success and has a lot of work to do to organize itself. If they succeed in doing it well, and in time for the February 10 election, they might be the big winners.

This is the Knesset channel poll:

Kadima 31

Likud 29

Israel Hayom poll has the first two results reversed

Labor 10 [loses half of its mandates]

Arab Parties 10

Yisrael Beitenu 10

Shas 9

NRP 8

Meretz 5

UTJ 5

Greens 5

இஸ்ரேலின் இடைக்காலப் பிரதமராக இருக்கும் எஹுட் ஒல்மேர்ட் சிரியா மற்றும் பாலஸ்தீனத்துடனான இஸ்ரேலின் சமாதான உறவைக் கட்டியெழுப்ப வேண்டுமானால் 1967 ஆம் ஆண்டு மத்திய கிழக்கு யுத்தத் தில் ஆக்கிரமிக்கப்பட்ட அனைத்து நிலப் பகுதிகளிலிருந்தும் வாபஸ் பெற வேண்டும் என தெரிவித்திருக்கிறார். இஸ்ரேலிய யெடியோத் அத்ரொனோத் பத்திரிகைக்கு அளித்த விசேட பேட்டியிலேயே அவர் இவ்வாறு தெரிவித்திருக்கிறார்.
பதவி விலகிச் செல்லும் இஸ்ரேலியப் பிரதமர் எஹுட் ஒல்மேர்ட் பாலஸ்தீனர்கள் தமது எதிர்கால நாட்டின் தலைநகராக்க விரும்பும் கிழக்கு ஜெருசலேமும் இவ்வாறு வாபஸ் பெற வேண்டிய பகுதிகளில் உள்ளடங்கும் எனக்கூறியிருக்கின்றமையானது பல்வேறு எதிர்ப்புகளை உருவாக்கியிருக்கிறது.
அதே சமயம் சிரியாவுடனான சமாதான உடன்படிக்கையானது கோலன் ஹைட்ஸிலிருந்து இஸ்ரேலியர்கள் வாபஸ் பெறுவதில் தங்கியிருக்கிறது. சமாதானத்தை எட்டுவதற்காக முன்னாள் இஸ்ரேலியத் தலைவர்கள் வகுத்த பாதையில் தயாராகி வருகிறேன். நாங்கள் பாலஸ்தீனர்களுடன் உடன்படிக்கையொன்றை எட்ட வேண்டும். அதற்கு ஆக்கிரமிக்கப்பட்ட அனைத்து பிராந்தியங்களிலிருந்தும் வாபஸ் பெற வேண்டும். அப்பிராந்தியங்களில் எவ்வளவு சதவீதம் எமது கைகளில் உள்ளதோ அதையொத்த அளவு பாலஸ்தீனர்களுக்கு கொடுக்க வேண்டும், அவ்வாறு செய்யாவிட்டால் சமாதானம் ஏற்படாது எனவும் தெரிவித்திருக்கிறார்.
இஸ்ரேலிய யெடியோத் அத்ரொனோத் பத்திரிகைக்கு அளித்த விசேட பேட்டியினால் இஸ்ரேலிய அரசியல்வாதிகள் பலரின் எதிர்ப்பை சம்பாதித்துள்ளõர். இஸ்ரேலின் எதிர்காலத்தைப் பகடைக் காயாக்க ஒல்மேர்ட் முயற்சிப்பதாக அவர்கள் கண்டனம் தெரிவித்துள்ளனர். இருப்பினும் அவரது கருத்து சரியென்ற வகையில் பாலஸ்தீனியர் களிடையே உருவாகியுள்ளது.
33 மாதகாலம் பிரதமராக இருந்த எஹுட் ஒல்மேர்ட் கடந்த மாதம் 21ஆம் திகதி தனது ராஜினாமா கடிதத்தை இஸ்ரேல் ஜனாதிபதி ஷிமொன் பெரஸிடம் கையளித்தார். அன்றிலிருந்து அவர் பதவிபறிபோனாலும் இப்போதும் அவர் அடுத்த பிரதமர் தெரிவாகும் வரை பிரதமராக இருக்கிறார்.
முன்னாள் பிரதமர் ஏரியல் ஷெரோன் 2006ஆம் ஆண்டு நோய்வாய்ப்பட்டு கோமா நிலைக்குச் சென்றதைத் தொடர்ந்து எஹுட் ஒல்மேர்ட் பிரதமராக நியமிக்கப்பட்டார். அதனைத் தொடர்ந்து 2006ஆம் ஆண்டு வசந்த காலத்தில் ஹிஸ்புல்லாக்களுடன் யுத்தம் நடைபெற்றது. 2007ஆம் ஆண்டு ஜூனில் காஸா பள்ளத்தாக்குப்பிரதேசம் ஹமாஸ் வசமானது.
இவரது ஆட்சிக்காலத்தில் சிரியாவுடன் இரகசிய பேச்சுக்களில் ஈடுபட்டிருந்தார் என்பதுடன் ஹமாஸுடன் சமாதான உடன்படிக்கையினையும் மேற்கொண்டிருந்தார். இருப்பினும் லெபனானின் ஹிஸ்புல்லாவுடன் மோதிக் கொண்டமையானது பெரும் பிரச்சினைகளை ஏற்படுத்தியதுடன் ஹிஸ்புல்லா அமைப்பிடம் இஸ்ரேல் தோல்வியைத் தழுவக்காரணமாக இருந்தார். இந்த யுத்தத்தைத் தொடர்ந்து இவரது செல்வாக்கு குறையத் தொடங்கியிருந்தது. இந்நிலையில் இவர்மீது விழுந்த ஊழல் குற்றச்சாட்டு காரணமாக பதவி விலக வேண்டிய நிலைமையைக் கொண்டுவந்தது.
இஸ்ரேலின் 60 வருட கால வரலாற்றில் மிக மோசமான ஆட்சியாக எஹுட் ஒல்மேர்ட்டின் ஆட்சி இப்போது வர்ணிக்கப்படுகிறது. பெரும் சிக்கலை எதிர் கொண்டுள்ள இவரது கட்சியான கதிமா கட்சி இஸ்ரேலிய பாராளுமன்றமான நெஸட்டில் பெரும்பான் மை பலம் பெற்றாக வேண்டிய தேவைப்பாடு உள்ளது.
இவருக்கு அடுத்ததாக பிரதமராகப் போகும் மொஷாட்டின் முன்னாள் முகவரான ஸிபி லிவினி பாராளுமன்றத்தின் 120 அங்கத்தவர்களில் 61பேரது ஆதரவைப் பெற்றாலே பிரதமராக முடியும் என்ற நிலை உள்ளது. அவ்வாறு தெரிவு செய்யப்பட்டால் 1947க்குப்பின்னர் பிரதமரான பெண் என்ற பெருமை லிவினிக்குக் கிடைக்கும்.
இந்நிலையில் பாலஸ்தீன  இஸ்ரேலிய முரண்பாட்டிற்கு முடிவு ஏற்படுத்துவதில் இரண்டு தரப்புகளுமே முழு மனதுடன் ஈடுபட்டாக வேண்டிய கட்டாயம் எல்லா உலக நாட்டுத் தலைவர்களாலும் வலியுறுத்தப்பட்டாயிற்று. இருப்பினும் இன்னமும் முடித்து வைக்கப்படாத பிரச்சினையாகவே இருந்து வருகிறது. ஜூன் மாதக் கடைசியில் இஸ்ரேலுக்கு விஜயம் செய்திருந்த  பிரான்ஸ் ஜனாதிபதி நிகொலஸ் சார்க்கோஸிஉடன்படிக்கை ஒன்றின் மூலமே இரு நாட்டு மக்களும் பாதுகாப்பாக வாழ்வது சாத்தியம் தெரிவித்திருந்தார்.
பாலஸ்தீன நாடொன்றின் உருவாக்கத்தின் மூலம் மட்டுமே இஸ்ரேலியப் பாதுகாப்புக்கு உண்மையான உத்தரவாதம் கிடைக்கும் என்பது நீண்ட காலத்தில் உணரப்பட்டாலும் இன்னமும் விட்டுக் கொடுப்புக்குத் தயாராகாத இஸ்ரேலின் ஆளும் அதிகார வர்க்கத்தினர் பதவியில் இருந்து விலகிச் செல்லும் போது சொல்வதையே இப்போதைய பிரதமரான எஹுட் ஒல்மேர்ட்டும் தெரிவித்திருக்கிறார்.
பாலஸ்தீனம் மற்றும் இஸ்ரேல் ஆகியவற்றுக் கிடையே மேற்கொள்ளப்படும் சாத்தியமான உடன்படிக்கையானது இரு தரப்பு நாட்டு மக்களினதும் சுபீட்சத்துக்கு வழிவகுக்கும் என்பது நியாயமானதும் மறுக்க முடியாததுமாகும். எஹுட் ஒல்மேர்ட் பாலஸ்தீனப் போராளி குழுவான ஹமாஸுடன் உடன்படிக்கையொன்று செய்து கொள்ளப்பட்டதையடுத்து “காஸா’ தொடர்பான தனது இறு க்கமான கொள்கைகளை இஸ்ரேல் சிறிது தளர்த்தியிருந்தது. அதன் பின்னரே ஒரு விதமான அமைதி அங்கு தோன்றியிருந்தது.
அதனைத் தொடர்ந்து பாலஸ்தீன பாதுகாப்பு உச்சிமாநாடு ஜேர்மனியின் பேர்லின் நகரில் ஆரம்பமானது. இம்மாநாட்டில் 40க்கும் மேற்பட்ட அரபு நாடுகளைச் சேர்ந்த பிரதிநிதிகள் கலந்து கொண்டிருந்தனர்.
பலஸ்தீனத்தில் சட்டமும் ஒழுங்கும் அபிவிருத்தி செய்யப்படுவதானது இஸ்ரேலுடனான சமாதான உடன்படிக்கையை வெற்றிகரமாக முன்னெடுக்க உதவுவதாக அமையும் என மத்திய கிழக்கிற்கான சமாதான தூதுவர் ரொனி பிளேயர் தெரிவித்திருந்தார்.
60 வருட கால வரலாற்றைக் கொண்ட இஸ்ரேலின் செயற்பாடுகள் காரணமாக பாலஸ்தீனர்களுக்கு கடுமையான பாதிப்புக் கள் ஏற்பட்டுள்ளன. இன்னமும் கொடுமை களை எதிர் நோக்கிவரும் பாலஸ்தீன மக்கள் தம்மை அந்த இன்னல்களிலிருந்து மீட்டுத் தரும்படி உலக நாடுகளைக் கோரிய வண்ணமேயுள்ளனர்.
பாலஸ்தீனத்தின் அழிப்பில் முக்கிய கவனம் எடுக்கும் இஸ்ரேலின் செயற்பாடுகளுக்கு மத்தியில் பாலஸ்தீனத்தில் இருந்து கொண்டு ஜனநாயக முறைப்படி அமைதியைக் கொண்டு வரலாம் என்கிற போக்கில் பாலஸ்தீனத் தலைவர் மஹ்மூத் அப்பாஸ் ஒரு புறமும் அரசாங்கத்தைக்கொண்டு நடத்தும் ஹமாஸ் போராளிகள் ஒருபுறமும் இழுத்துக் கொண்டிருக்கின்றனர்.
பல ஆயிரம் பேரின் அழிவின் பின்னர் உருவாக்கப்பட்ட இஸ்ரேல் என்ற நாட்டை உலக நாடுகள் அங்கீகரித்துள்ள போதும் ஹமாஸ் அமைப்பினர் இஸ்ரேலை தம்மால் அங்கீகரிக்க முடியாது என பாலஸ்தீனர்கள் தெரிவித்து வருகின்றனர்.
இவ்வாறான இறுக்க மான நிலையில் இருந்து கொண்டிருக்கும் மத்தியகிழக்கின் அமைதி பாலஸ்தீனம் இஸ்ரேல் ஆகிய இரு தரப்பினரதும் விட்டுக் கொடுப்புகளில் மாத்திரமே தங்கியுள்ளது என்ற நிலையில் எஹுட் ஒல்மேர்ட் தெரிவித்துள்ள கருத்து எதிர்காலத்தில் வரவுள்ள பிரதமரும் தொடர்ந்து கொண்டு செல்லவேண்டியதாகவே உள்ளது. இதற்கான அடியெடுப்புகள் எடுத்து வைக்கப்படாத வரை மத்திய கிழக்கில் அமைதி ஏற்படப் போவதில்லை என்பதே நிச்சயமானது.
நன்றி மெற்ரோ நியூஸ் 02.10.08

Tzipi Livni (photo, from economist.com), Israel’s foreign ministry, has won the election to replace Ehud Olmert, the current prime minister, as the leader of the ruling Kadima party.

Early on Thursday, Ms Livni said in a victory speech, that she would now begin efforts to form a coalition government, putting her on track for the premiership.

If she hopes to avert snap elections, which polls say would bring the right-wing Likud party to power, she has 42 days to form a new government.

The central electoral commission said that in Wednesday’s poll, Ms Livni won by 431 votes, with 43.1 per cent of the vote, against 42 per cent for Shaul Mofaz, the transport minister.

Two other candidates, Meir Sheetrit, interior minister, and Avi Dichter, internal security minister, lagged behind with 8.5 and six per cent of the vote.

About 50 per cent of its 74 000 members turned out to vote, said Kadima.

Outside her home, Ms Livni, 50, said : “Tomorrow, I will begin meeting with representatives of the factions in order to form quickly a coalition that can deal with all of these challenges that lie ahead”.

“On the level of government in Israel, we have to deal with difficult threats,” she said. “The national mission … is to create stability quickly.”

‘A wall-to-wall coalition’

Yitzhak Ben Yisrael, an MP and one of Livni’s senior electoral aides, told the AFP news agency that he believed that she should be able to form a new coalition.

“After that she will invite all other parties to take part in a wall-to-wall coalition”, said Ben Yisrael, suggesting Ms Livni would also reach out to her former party Likud.

In opinion polls, Kadima is trailing the Likud party of Benjamin Netanyahu, a former Israeli prime minister.

Until a new government is formed, Mr Olmert (photo) will continue as caretaker. On Wednesday he telephoned Ms Livni in order to congratulate her and offer his “full co-operation”, said his office.

Rejecting a legal adviser’s proposal that Mr Mofaz ask for a recount, Israeli media reported that he had also called his rival to congratulate her on her victory.

The election was called after Ehud Olmert announced his resignation, because of allegations that he accepted cash payments from an American businessman, and double-claimed expenses for trips, before he became prime minister.

‘Peace negotiations’

Ms Livni has been leading US-backed negotiations with the Palestinians, and in order to reach a two-states solution with them, she advocates an Israeli withdrawal from most of the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem.

She recently told supporters :“I want to hold peace negotiations as long as the Palestinians want the same. But any agreement must provide security to Israel”.

Riad Malki, the Palestinian information minister, said that he welcomed the result of the election.

“We are going to deal with any new prime minister in Israel”, he told The Associated Press news agency.

“We hope this new prime minister will be ready to … reach a peace deal with the Palestinians that ends the occupation and allows the establishment of an independent Palestinian state living beside Israel.”

Yet, other Palestinians were more sceptical about whether Ms Livni would improve the situation for them.

Dr Mohammed Ishtayeh, director of the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction, told Al Jazeera that he believed that the Israeli foreign minister would simply continue Ehud Olmert’s policies.

“When it comes to the Palestinians … we will not really see a change in the substance, there might be some cosmetic changes here and there”, he said.

“But the problem is if she is not be able to form the coalition Israel will be going into early elections, then we will be living with Olmert for six months.”

Shas party

But before Ms Livni would be able to form a new government, there are a lot of obstacles she has to overcome, said Al Jazeera’s David Chater, reporting from Jerusalem.

“Every party in the coalition is going to try and wring new concessions out of her”, he said. 

The fate of a future coalition could depend on the ultra-Orthodox Shas party. But on Thursday, Eli Yishai, the head of the party, said that there should be no negotiations on the future of Jerusalem if his party were to be part of a Livni government.

He also demanded a big rise in family grants, something Livni has up to now rejected.

“The problem is not what is happening at Kadima, but what will happen in the next elections … we cannot predict how Netanyahu would behave if elected”, said Yehezkel Dror, a political analyst.

In February 2006 elections, just months after it was founded, Kadima made the strongest showing, but its rule has been undermined by corruption scandals and criticism of the government’s handling of Israel’s 34-day war in Lebanon in 2006.

Critics have accused Tzipi Livni of lacking political experience

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has won the leadership of the governing Kadima party, putting her on track to succeed Ehud Olmert as prime minister.

Ms Livni beat Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz by just 431 votes, or 1.1%, the central electoral commission said.

In a victory speech, Ms Livni announced that she wanted to form a new cabinet “as quickly as possible in the face of the serious threats” facing Israel.

She has 42 days to do so, during which time Mr Olmert remains prime minister.

He announced he would step down in July after facing growing pressure over multiple corruption investigations.

The senior Palestinian Authority negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said he hoped the result would lead to a return to stability.

‘Great reverence’

Correspondent in Jerusalem says that for much of Wednesday night, Ms Livni’s supporters in the Kadima party cheered at what they believed had been an emphatic victory, predicted by a series of exit polls on Israeli TV.

KADIMA PRIMARY RESULTS Tzipi Livni: 43.1% (16,936 votes) Shaul Mofaz: 42% (16,505) Meir Sheetrit: 8.4% (3,327) Avi Dichter: 6.5% (2,563)

Mr Olmert phoned his foreign minister to congratulate her and promise his full co-operation after she appeared on track to win with about 48% of the vote. Then the balloon slowly deflated as the results rolled in, our correspondent says.

According to the final results released by Kadima, Ms Livni won the election with 43.1%, or 16,936 votes. Mr Mofaz, a former defence minister and chief of staff of the Israeli military, came in a close second with 42%, or 16,505 votes.

The two other candidates, cabinet minister Meir Sheetrit and former Shin Bet director Avi Dichter, lagged far behind with 8.4% and 6.5% respectively.

Mr Mofaz’s supporters have warned that they may lodge an appeal against the result. His campaign headquarters has reportedly already demanded the ballot in the southern town of Ashkelon be disqualified.

Supporters of Shaul Mofaz said they might appeal against the result

In a victory speech early on Thursday morning, Ms Livni said that she would seek to form a new coalition government “as quickly as possible” and called for party unity.

“All the people who came to vote today expressed what they wish to happen in this country,” she said. “The national responsibility [bestowed] by the public brings me to approach this job with great reverence.”

If she can form a fresh governing coalition within the next six weeks, Ms Livni will become Israel’s first woman prime minister since Golda Meir stepped down in 1974.

Our correspondent says that will be no easy task, and if it were to end in failure, general elections will follow in a further three months.

‘Mrs Clean’

Ms Livni is seen as less hawkish than Mr Mofaz when it comes to the Palestinians and to dealing with Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT Ehud Olmert formally resigns as prime minister and his cabinet resigns with him President consults parties to pick a Knesset member to form a new cabinet – expected to be the Kadima leader The MK has 42 days to form a coalition acceptable to parliament If no coalition is formed, another MK may be asked to try to form a government, or a general election may be called If a general election is called, it must be held within 90 days Mr Olmert remains caretaker prime minister until the Knesset approves a new government

Critics say Ms Livni, a former lawyer and Mossad agent, also lacks political experience.

Her supporters say she represents a break with the past. Ms Livni is untainted by the kind of allegations of corruption and bribery that led to Mr Olmert’s resignation and have damaged the reputation of Israeli politics.

“[She] is a good choice as far as Israel’s foreign relations are concerned, but there is still the tension with Iran. I am not so sure how much experience she has for such matters and if she will be able to take the right decisions,” said Shmuel Sandler, professor at the Begin-Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies.

“She looks like ‘Mrs Clean’… but she will still have to form a coalition,” he told the Reuters news agency. “It is very difficult to predict whether she will be a strong prime minister.”

Kadima was formed three years ago when former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon split from the centre-right opposition party, Likud, to draw together support from left and right for his policy of unilateral withdrawals from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank.

But its poll ratings fell after a stroke left Mr Sharon in a coma.

His successor, Mr Olmert, faced strong criticism of his handling of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war and he was investigated in several corruption scandals.

Polls now suggest Likud could win a potential general election, which would take place if a coalition government cannot be formed in the wake of the Kadima leadership vote.

The Kadima election comes as the US government is continuing its push for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal before President George W Bush leaves office in January.

Mr Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas held talks on Tuesday. An Israeli spokesman said the two would continue to meet until a new government was sworn in.

Difficile de faire son choix entre une ancienne du Mossad et l’ancien chef d’état-major des forces israéliennes, mais quelques points pour mieux comprendre :

– les 2 sont d’accord pour arrêter le programme nucléaire Iranien par la force .
– les 2 sont d’accord sur le statut de Jérusalem comme Capitale Éternelle du Peuple Juif et d’Israël .
-Les 2 sont contre le droit au retour des réfugiés Palestiniens …….

…….. en gros les 2 sont d’accord sur toute politique qui soit hostile a la paix !