Feb 11, 2016

Top negotiator Saeb Erekat has condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's characterization of Palestinians and regional nations as "wild beasts," denouncing the remarks as apartheid-speak.

On Tuesday, Netanyahu said Israel needed to surround itself with fences and barriers "to defend ourselves against the wild beasts," as he toured the construction site of a concrete wall on western Gaza.

Erekat accused the Israeli prime minister of "adopting the laws of the jungle" in separating Palestinians from the rest of their occupied territories.

Netanyahu's statement is "the same as those of the heads of apartheid in South Africa,” said Erekat, who is also the general secretary of the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

Head of the Labor-led Zionist Union coalition, Isaac Herzog, also called for unilateral separation from the Palestinians "as much as possible."

He said negotiations between Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas could not yield any result.

"What needs to be done is separating from the Palestinians as much as possible. This is taking our fate in our own hands,” Herzog said.

An Israeli lawmaker added a bizarre twist to the controversial remarks, saying that the Palestinian nation does not exist as Arabic language does not contain the letter “P”.

"I want to go back to history, what is our place here, about Jerusalem, about Palestine, when like we said, Arabic doesn't even have 'P,' so this loan-word also merits scrutiny," Anat Berko said in a Knesset address.

While the lawmaker was correct in saying that Arabic doesn't have a "P" sound, the word for "Palestine" in Arabic begins with the consonant "F," the same as in Hebrew, and is pronounced: "Falastin."

The Likud MP's claim was met with derision during a Knesset debate on the Labor party's plan for separation from the Palestinians.

In the debate, Netanyahu and Herzog also traded barbs, with the Israeli prime minister mocking Labor for only now "waking up" to reality and recognizing that the two-state solution isn't viable.

In response, Herzog dared Netanyahu to annex more Palestinian territories. "Let's see what happens then," he said.

The last round of so-called peace talks collapsed in 2014 amid Tel Aviv’s aggressive expansion of illegal settlements and its refusal to release senior Palestinian prisoners.

Netanyahu formally suspended the talks after Abbas forged a unity pact with the Hamas resistance movement, which is based in the blockaded Gaza Strip.

Last month, UN chief Ban Ki-moon condemned Israel's "settlement enterprise" in the West Bank, calling them "provocative acts" that "rightly raise fundamental questions about Israel's commitment to a two-state solution."

"As oppressed peoples have demonstrated throughout the ages, it is human nature to react to occupation, which often serves as a potent incubator of hate and extremism," Ban said.

Netanyahu and his representative at the United Nations slammed the UN secretary general and accused him of inciting terrorism.

"The UN Secretary General's remarks give a tailwind to terrorism," the Israeli premier said in a statement.

The enterprise Ban was referring to were Israel's policies in areas of the West Bank that is home to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/02/11/449701/Erekat-Netanyahu-wild-beasts-Pal...

Feb 17, 2016

A United Nations official has called on Israel to immediately halt the destruction of Palestinian-owned properties in the occupied West Bank.

In a press release on Wednesday, the UN official said Israeli forces have destroyed, confiscated, or dismantled hundreds of Palestinian homes and other structures since the start of the year.

“The number of demolitions for just the first six weeks of 2016 is greatly alarming,” UN Coordinator for Humanitarian Assistance and Development Aid for the occupied Palestinian territory, Robert Piper, said.

Piper added that 283 homes and structures have been destroyed or confiscated between January 1 and February 15.

“Most of the demolitions in the West Bank take place on the spurious legal grounds that Palestinians do not possess building permits,” said Piper, “but, in Area C, official Israeli figures indicate only 1.5 per cent of Palestinian permit applications are approved in any case. So what legal options are left for a law-abiding Palestinian?”

He added that 404 Palestinians, including 219 children, have been displaced during this time period, a figure equivalent to half of the total number of Palestinians displaced in all of 2015.

According to Piper, another 1,150 Palestinians have also been affected.

Reports indicate that Palestinian Bedouins have particularly been hit hard by the Israeli demolitions.

Earlier this week, the European Parliament (EP) called for an immediate end to Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories as well as the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements and demolition of Palestinian homes.

More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem).

http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2016/02/17/450888/Palestine-Israel-UN-West-Bank

The General's Son. Miko Peled is a peace activist who dares to say in public what others still choose to deny. Born in Jerusalem in 1961 into a well known Zionist family, his grandfather, Dr. Avraham Katsnelson was a Zionist leader and signer of the Israeli Declaration of Independence. His Father, Matti Peled, was a young officer in the war of 1948 and a general in the war of 1967 when Israel conquered the West Bank, Gaza, Golan Heights and Sinai.

Miko's unlikely opinions reflect his father's legacy. General Peled was a war hero turned peacemaker.
Miko grew up in Jerusalem, a multi-ethnic city, but had to leave Israel before he made his first Palestinian friend, the result of his participation in a dialogue group in California. He was 39.

On September 4, 1997 the beloved Smadar, 13, the daughter of Miko's sister Nurit and her husband Rami Elhanan was killed in a suicide attack.

Peled insists that Israel/Palestine is one state—the separation wall notwithstanding, massive investment in infrastructure, towns and highways that bisect and connect settlements on the West Bank, have destroyed the possibility for a viable Palestinian state. The result, Peled says is that Israelis and Palestinians are governed by the same government but live under different sets of laws.

At the heart of Peled's conclusion lies the realization that Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace as equals in their shared homeland. All rights-Alternate Focus under educational learning aid.

Mar 10, 2016

The Israeli army has heavily deployed troops and equipment along the Lebanese border and stepped up military activities there, a report from Beirut says.

For the second day on Wednesday, Israeli troops fired tear gas canisters at Lebanese herders and farmers working near the border with the occupied Palestinian territories, The Daily Star reported.

“We were proceeding with our lives normally and everyone was working their land. Then we saw the Israeli patrol and its members begin shooting tear gas at us,” Mustafa Ahmad, one of the herders, said.

Residents said the Israeli army repeatedly shot tear gas canisters during the morning. Hours later, a large number of Israeli troops were stationed in an Israeli settlement across the Lebanese village of Kfar Kila.

According to witness accounts, Israeli troops used trees and shrubs for cover and monitored the movements within Lebanon as motorized patrols were conducted.

Local sources say Israeli patrols along the border have increased in the past week , with soldiers taking up ambush positions in the area.

The activities have sparked fears among local residents, who question the motives behind Israel’s latest transgression, The Daily Star said.

Israeli war plans

The new report comes after the Beirut-based al-Akhbar newspaper said on Saturday that Israel was seeking to launch a new war on Lebanon.

According to the paper, US officials have warned Beirut that Tel Aviv was looking for a pretext to attack Lebanon and told the Arab country's leaders “not to give Israel an excuse to start a war.”

US officials had been informed by their Israeli counterparts that Tel Aviv is interested in a new war, particularly in light of Saudi Arabia’s strategic shift in policy, al-Akhbar said.

Last month, Riyadh said it had suspended USD 3 billion in military assistance to the Lebanese military and another USD 1 billion to the country’s internal security forces.

Saudi Arabia later forced Persian Gulf Arab states to issue a statement, labeling Lebanon’s resistance movement Hezbollah a terrorist organization.

According to al-Akhbar, the Saudi decision to suspend military assistance and the consequent move to declare Hezbollah a “terrorist organization” have “whetted Israel’s appetite” for conflict with the resistance movement.

Israel launched two wars on Lebanon in 2000 and 2006. About 1,200 Lebanese, most of them civilians, lost their lives during the 33-day war in the summer of 2006.

Hezbollah is credited with driving Israeli troops out of southern Lebanon and defeating them in subsequent wars.

It is also helping the Syrian army fight Takfiri militants in a war which the resistance movement sees crucial to preventing the conflict from spilling over to Lebanon.

Lebanon to respond firmly

In reaction to reports of possible Israeli plans for a new war, Lebanon's army chief Jean Kahwagi said on Monday that Beirut was fully prepared to repel all types of threats.

“The army is today stronger than at any time before. Security on the border and inside the country is under control,” he said.

The Lebanese army has been fighting militants near the border with Syria.

“The army will remain at the highest level of readiness on all fronts of responsibility and duty, from fighting terrorism on the border, to defending against Israel and its schemes, to spreading security and stability in the interior,” Kahwagi said.

http://presstv.com/Detail/2016/03/10/454877/Israel-war-Lebanon-Saudi-Arabia-Hezb...

16.03.2016

Autopsies of those killed by Israeli defense forces reveal that Jerusalem is not only systematically executing Palestinians, but also intentionally firing rounds into corpses.

On Monday, Israeli soldiers shot and killed three Palestinians. Qassem Farid Jaber, 31, and Amir Fuad al-Juneidi, 22, were gunned down after opening fire on Israeli troopers near the Kiryat Arba Israeli settlement in the West Bank.
A Palestinian woman walks in the rain past houses that were destroyed during the 50-day Gaza war between Israel and Hamas-led militants, on November 24, 2014, in Gaza City
© AFP 2016/ MOHAMMED ABED
Two Children Killed in Israeli Airstrikes on Gaza

An Israeli soldier was reportedly injured during the incident.

A third Palestinian man was killed in a separate incident on the same day. Yousef Waleed Tarayra, 18, was shot dead after allegedly attempting a ramming attack in his car, injuring two Israeli soldiers.

Autopsies of the three men were performed on Tuesday, and according to a high-level Palestinian judicial office, the results show that their corpses were additionally fired upon.

Ashraf Mashal, the head of the General Prosecutor's’ Office in al-Khalil, said that all three autopsies showed that Israeli forces fired a number of live rounds into various parts of their bodies, according to Press TV.

Mashal said Monday’s incidents resembled the death of 20-year-old Mohamad Abu Khalaf last month. Similarly, an autopsy showed that the young man was killed by two rounds, though his body was littered with dozens of other bullets.

That incident was caught on camera by an Al Jazeera film crew.

Last November, Israeli forces shot and killed Hadeel Wajeeh Awwad, a 16-year-old girl, and seriously wounded her friend. Both girls had attempted a stabbing attack. That incident was also captured on surveillance video.

Since last October, approximately 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers. Many of these were women and children.

While Israeli Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot encouraged soldiers to exercise discretion last month, Israel’s chief Sephardic Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef urged his troops to ignore those pleas earlier this week.

During his weekly Torah lesson, Rabbi Yosef called for the killing of any “armed Palestinian,” whether they possess a gun or a rock, according to Haaretz.

http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160316/1036358861/israel-shoots-palestinian-...

Andrei.Hicks wrote on Mar 16^th, 2016 at 10:43pm:


The Torah orders its followers  to do this.

Death cult. Ban them.

Mar 27, 2016

The Israeli regime is under fire for a secret plan to renew the permission for the immigration of members of a Jewish tribe in northeastern India to the occupied Palestinian territories.

Earlier this week, Ksenia Svetlova, an opposition member of the Knesset (Israeli parliament), wrote a letter to Immigrant Absorption Minister Zeev Elkin denouncing Tel Aviv’s recent decision to bring 700 Indian nationals to Israel.

Svetlova said the move contradicts the regime's latest measure to prevent the immigration of members of the Ethiopian Jewish community over budgetary considerations.

“It turns out there is a budget. While the Ethiopian Jews are being left behind, quietly and secretly hundreds of members of the Bnei Menashe community, who identify as descendants of one of the 10 lost tribes, are being brought over,” she said.

While the Ethiopian citizens are living in dire conditions, the Indians “whose Jewishness has yet to be clarified, are being brought over with urgency,” she said.

The newcomers will be settled in illegal settler units in the occupied West Bank settlements, the Knesset member said, adding, “And all this is happening away from the public eye.”

The Bnei Menashe say they have descended from Jews banished to India in the eighth century B.C.

A senior Israeli rabbi recognized the community as a lost tribe in 2005 and about 1,700 moved to Israel over the next two years before the regime stopped giving them visas.

A private organization called Shavei Israel, headed by American-born Michael Freund, a former aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, runs the campaign for the Bnei Menashe relocation.

Last month, the Israeli regime halted plans to bring over another 9,000 members of the Falash Mura community from Ethiopia. This is while Ethiopians have repeatedly complained about discrimination by Israeli authorities against Jews of African descent.

http://presstv.com/Detail/2016/03/27/457767/Israel-India-Bnei-Menashe-Ksenia-Sve...