country:palestine

Syria has been subject to turmoil for anti-Israel stance and opposing US hegemony over Middle East
http://www.irna.ir/en/News/80640311/Politic/Syria_has_been_subject_to_turmoil_for_anti-Israel_stance_and_opposing_US_hegemo

Sanandaj, Kordestan Prov, May 2, IRNA — Supreme Leaderˈs representative in Syria, Mojtaba Hosseini said on Thursday that Syria has been subject to turmoil for anti-Israel stance and opposing US hegemony over the Middle East.

Hosseini said that resistance of people in Palestine and Lebanon and popular movements in Libya and Bahrain and other countries have worried the enemy.

He noted that despite US pressure, Iran-Syria relations are good and President Assad continues to cooperate with Iran.

He said that the enemies have attempted to use economic sanctions and social disorder to destabilize Syria.

The Iranian representative in Syria said that the enemy is worried about failing to divide Shia and Sunni Muslims and creating religious war in Syria.

He reiterated that current civil war in Syria is not connected to Shia and Sunni Muslims.

Hojjatoleslam Hosseni criticized the western media outlets for broadcasting distorted news on Syria.

He expressed hope that through implementation of new reforms and restoration of law and order the Syrian security, the economic and political problems would be solved.

Controversy over UNESCO possible recognition of Palestine state

Cet article et la carte qui va avec date d’octobre 2011 mais reste très éclairant sur les enjeux du vote à l’Unesco d’une part, et sur le vote de ce soir. La carte est très intéressante... Tout y est si minuscule.

http://unescoscience.blogspot.no/2011/10/controversy-over-unesco-possible.html
Thursday, October 06, 2011

http://www.internationalrelations.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/NYTimes-Israel-Palestine-map-2.07.11.jpg

The Executive Board of UNESCO voted today on a recommendation to admit Palestine to the Organization. From the 58 member-states on the Board, the recommendation was passed by a vote of 40 in favor to four against, with 14 abstentions. Palestine’s request for membership will now be considered at the next session of the General Conference (October 26-November 10) where a two-thirds majority vote is required for membership to be granted. Decisions for admission are taken by the General Conference and the Executive Board which are UNESCO’s governing bodies.

2012 11 15

Bonsoir à tous,

Un article du rédacteur en chef du quotidien libanis Al-Akhbar, Ibrahim Al-Amin qui estime que l’agression israélienne de Gaza est un test décisif aux frères musulmans d’Egypte et de Palestine (Hamas)

http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/gaza-questions-egypt-and-hamas

<blockquote>Was Israel’s assessment based on accurate information reassuring that neither Egypt nor the MB leadership are prepared to take any radical action toward creating new realities in Palestine and the region? [...]The first Brotherhood-ruled Arab country, the MB as an organization, and the bereaved Hamas, are facing their toughest test. It will not be the last, but it is the toughest. Will the upshot of the Arab Spring be that Palestine is forgotten and Israel is left to ravage it undeterred? Or will the Arab Street in general, and the Palestinians in particular, sense that a positive change has occurred?[...]But the real challenge is for the Hamas leadership. If it opts to go along with the line of the worldwide MB, it will court an explosion within its own ranks. This is a serious prospect. It has been raised in internal discussions which showed that differences between Hamas’ various factions are not superficial, with the military wing – and Jaabari in particular – opposed to any truce with the enemy.</blockquote>

The Forgotten Palestinians
http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/189-israel-palestine/51844-the-forgotten-palestinians.html

The Forgotten Palestinians
( Security Council and Israel/Palestine )
2-15-6eca7palestine
Picture Credit: ramallahonline.com

On May 15, the New York Times published an article by Aaron David Miller entitled “Preserving Israel’s Uncertain Status Quo.” Miller’s picture of Israel as a struggling democratic state facing external threats presents the usual bland confection. Miller fails to address the genuine threats that are affecting hopes for peace and promoting extremist ideas within the country: Israeli police attacks on J14 demonstrators in Tel Aviv; trends towards greater economic inequality, the expansion of the separation wall, the continued siege of the Gaza Strip; and Israel’s categorical backing of violent West Bank settlers.

By Patrick O. Strickland
Counterpunch
August 20, 2012

On May 15, the New York Times ran an editorial authored by Aaron David Miller under the title of “Preserving Israel’s Uncertain Status Quo.” Miller argues that the Israeli government’s attempts to achieve a “more peaceful and prosperous future” must “count for something.”

In his discursive analysis of the contemporary political climate, Miller unfolds an unabridged list of threats to Israel: the Israeli social justice movement, the Syrian uprising, the Egyptian ousting of Hosni Mubarak, Iran, the security vacuum in the Sinai, ultra-Orthodox Jewish Israelis, and ‘Arab Israelis’ (which is, of course, a crass euphemism intended to disavow the collective identity of Palestinian citizens of Israel).

Cataloging this exhaustive account of dangers, he resorts to a number of boorish clichés and Western media assumptions. Indeed, despite Israel’s malicious enemies, he argues, “the Israelis will prosper and keep their state, but the Arabs and the Iranians will never let them fully enjoy it.”

#palestine #israel

Makana, Mandela, Marikana — endings and beginnings | Charlene Smith
http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/charlenesmith/2012/08/20/makana-mandela-marikana-endings-and-beginnings

At Marikana we saw the product of a fat and lazy cabinet. At Marikana: in those policemen we saw the result of two corrupt commissioners of police — one of whom was recently released early from jail. Our police are poorly trained, badly equipped, and scared. We saw in Lonmin the sort of uncaring corporate bullying that we see with the banks. And among the miners we saw the desperation the poor experience, we saw in their violence the futile rage that unless South Africans wake up and start pushing for social justice — that rage will sweep across the nation.

#répression #apartheid #afrique_du_sud (ça clashe aussi dans le forum)

Passionnant éditorial de Joseph Massad : Hamas and the old/new American crescent. Il décrit notamment la toute récente compatibilité, promue par le Qatar, d’une partie des islamistes avec les intérêts de l’impérialisme américain (Libye, Tunisie, Égypte, Syrie… et maintenant Palestine). Un article qui permet notamment de comprendre la soudaine défense d’un certain islamisme américano-compatible de la part d’un BHL (« il y a charia et charia »).
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/08/20128217513887730.html

The competition is now on as to who will prove to be more effective in serving US interests in Jordan, Fateh or Hamas. As Qatar has been reassuring the Americans, increasingly successfully, that the takeover of political power by Islamist forces, specifically the Muslim Brothers and kindred groups, is the best option for the US to stabilise the region for decades to come without its imperial strategy being threatened, its push to bring Hamas into the fold of US strategy may soon prove successful.

This is in line with Qatar’s support of the Muslim Brothers in Egypt and the Ennahda party in Tunisia, as well as its support of the Muslim Brothers in Syria and assorted Islamist forces in Libya.

Lire l’article complet :
– parce que c’est nettement plus subtile que l’extrait ci-dessus (il interroge notamment les limites de cette compatibilité),
– parce que le passage sur la Jordanie est vraiment édifiant,
– parce que la compatibilité de partis islamistes avec les intérêts réactionnaires et contre-révolutionnaires, et l’impérialisme américain est un sujet vital mais rarement abordé (on préfère continuer à se focaliser sur l’incompatibilité réelle ou fantasmée de l’islamisme avec la démocratie ou avec… « nos valeurs »). L’article de Joseph Massad rend ce genre de débat obsolète et propose une lecture plus pertinente.

Ibrahim al-Amin sur les effets de la crise syrienne sur le Liban. Très intéressant. Syria and Us (Part II)
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/syria-and-us-part-ii

A great disaster is likely to occur in Lebanon, the illusory entity which history teaches us – and we are reminded every day – amounts to nothing without a free Palestine and without a stable Syria. Lebanon is being steadily led, by its own citizens even more than by foreigners, in the direction of total collapse: to where there is no longer any state or any talk of partnership or amity and where factions of every kind – sectarian, confessional, regional, tribal, clan and local – prevail.

Cultural paths of religion

How ’Hava Nagila’ Became a Global Hit – Forward.com
http://forward.com/articles/159148/how-hava-nagila-became-a-global-hit

The film traces the song from its origins as a wordless Hasidic nigun, a wordless melody, in Sadagora, Ukraine, where the Ruzhiner rebbe, Yisroel Friedman, established his court in 1845. From there it traveled to Palestine early in the 20th century, where Abraham Zvi Idelsohn, the father of Jewish musicology, transcribed it and added lyrics to it in 1915 expressing celebration and brotherhood.

Même dans sa version anglaise Al Arabiya n’essaie plus de faire semblant :
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/08/17/232809.html

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned on Friday that his Lebanese Shiite militia would make lives of Israelis “a living hell” if it is attacked…

« sa milice libanaise chiite » ? Et pourquoi « s’il elle est attaquée » au lieu de « si le Liban est attaqué » ?

Hassan Nasrallah a tenu un discours aujourd’hui. Il a notamment abordé la question syrienne et le rôle de l’Organisation de coopération islamique (manière de parler du rôle de la Ligue arabe).
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/nasrallah-threatens-hell-if-israel-strikes-lebanon

The Hezbollah leader was also critical of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s decision to suspend Syria at a summit in Saudi Arabia earlier this week, accusing the body of pushing Syrians into further conflict.

“If the summit wanted to take responsibility and was really concerned with Palestine it should have taken in Syria, and not suspended Syria. It should have told them to participate in dialogue even if it’s an argument,” he said.

“The OIC should have formed a group from high ranking leaders to go to Damascus, Ankara, Doha, Riyadh and all places linked to the conflict to tell them to stop the bloodshed and move to dialogue.”

“That’s the approach they should have taken, but they want to continue what has begun in Syria. They are pushing the Syrians towards bloodshed.”

On m’a dit qu’il avait également abordé le problème de l’agitation sectaire par les monarchies du Golfe, en trouvant bonne l’idée d’un centre de dialogue inter-musulmans, mais mettant comme condition que les médias séoudiens cessent de passer leur temps à dénoncer les musulmans non-sunnites comme n’étant tout simplement pas musulmans.

@seenthis : quelle est la différence entre /tag/ et /tags/ ?

Liban : manifestation contre d’humiliants tests d’homosexualité
http://fr-ca.actualites.yahoo.com/liban-manifestation-contre-dhumiliants-tests-dhomosexualit%C

Des dizaines de personnes ont manifesté samedi devant un tribunal de Beyrouth pour protester contre le recours à un « test » anal pour les hommes soupçonnés d’être homosexuels, une orientation sexuelle illégale dans ce petit pays arabe.

Ce genre de dépêche est très largement repris partout, et notamment par des médias qui ne publient jamais aucune information pertinente concernant le Liban.

Alors :
– Non, l’« orientation sexuelle » elle-même n’est pas « illégale » ; le Liban reste un pays où la justice n’essaie pas de deviner ce qui se passe dans la tête des gens. Ce qui est illégal, ce sont les pratiques sexuelles elles-mêmes. C’est moche, mais ça n’est pas la même chose.
– Pour le coup, il y a réellement le choc de découvrir la descente de police et la pratique inadmissible des tests (j’ai déjà référencé l’article du Akhbar sur le sujet). Mais ensuite, puisqu’on traite sous l’angle de l’« illégalité », il n’est jamais précisé dans ces dépêches si l’article indigne du code pénal libanais est réellement appliqué par les tribunaux. Je n’ai jamais vu de mention d’une telle condamnation ;
– Les 36 hommes humiliés l’ont-ils été par les flics, ou ont-ils ensuite été déférés devant les tribunaux, et y a-t-il eu des condamnations ? Pas à ma connaissance.
– C’est-à-dire qu’il faudrait nous expliquer clairement s’ils s’agit d’une dérive policière (certes inadmissible) relativement déconnectée d’une réalité judiciaire dans laquelle la loi 534 est, en pratique, obsolète et jamais appliquée, ou s’il y réellement des condamnations d’homosexuels au Liban. Je m’étonne toujours de voir que cette question n’est jamais abordée.

Et enfin : la série d’articles suite aux « tests » décontextualisent tous le fait qu’il s’agit d’une descente de police (certes scandaleuse) effectuée à la suite d’un « reportage » dégueulasse, parfaitement homophobe, de la chaîne de télévision Murr TV, dénonçant ce cinéma au motif qu’il s’y passerait des actes sexuels « contre nature » (entraînant je ne sais quel responsable débile local de la police à procéder à une descente pour mettre fin à ce que le reportage présentait comme une insoutenable nuisance dans le quartier, et aux risques que l’endroit faisait soit-disant peser sur les jeunes garçons du quartier). C’est une chaîne du 14 Mars (c’est-à-dire de nos amis modernistes et pro-occidentaux), qui s’était déjà auparavant illustrée en diffusant un autre « reportage » dégueulasse totalement raciste contre les travailleurs immigrés. Et c’est surtout la seule chaîne de télévision du Liban qui a reçu le soutien (et la visite récente) de l’ambassadrice américaine, en soutien à son courageux combat dans le brisage de tabous (c’est-à-dire la promotion du racisme et de l’homophobie au Liban).

(Précision : mes critiques portent sur le traitement médiatique, surtout dans des médias qui, d’ordinaire, ne parlent jamais du Liban : une information même anecdotique - ici une manifestation de quelques dizaines de personnes - sur l’homophobie arabe est toujours reprise largement, quand les dépêches sur l’homophobie en Israël semblent peu intéresser. La délectation occidentale pour l’homophobie arabe ressortant en creux du pink washing orientaliste en faveur d’Israël. Le combat des associations pour les droits des homosexuels au Liban, qui rejoint d’ailleurs souvent les mobilisations pour la citoyenneté et la laïcité, a évidemment toute ma sympathie.)

The Palestine Clause in Tunisia’s Constitution: For Whom?
http://www.tunisia-live.net/2012/06/19/the-palestine-clause-in-tunisias-constitution-for-whom

Tunisia may become the first sovereign state to include another nation in its constitution. The final draft of the preamble to the constitution declares that Tunisia seeks to, “serve justice for all those oppressed, and to grant individuals the right to determine their fates, and for the movements for rightful liberation, at the forefront of which is the liberation of Palestine…”

EU-Israel: One hand whitewashes the other - Ben White
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/08/201287194144393945.html

While those on the hard right portray the EU as representing a continent of anti-Semitic Israel-bashers on the path to “Eurabia”, the reality is that the EU is one of Israel’s most important allies - whose policies are playing a crucial role in frustrating the Palestinian struggle for justice.

The problem in a nutshell - a gaping disparity between rhetoric and deeds - was exemplified recently by the contrast between a European Parliament resolution on the one hand, and plans to enhance economic ties on the other.

Netanyahu seeks war with Iran so he can ethnically cleanse the West Bank - Moshe Machover
http://mondoweiss.net/2012/07/netanyahu-seeks-war-with-iran-so-he-can-ethnically-cleanse-the-west-bank

You see there is a Zionist version of what in America was called “manifest destiny”. The Zionist leadership regards the various accords, for example their agreement to the Partition of Palestine in 1947— they regard it in the exactly the same spirit as the US regarded the Indian treaties. They have just made it explicit with the Levy commission. The Levy Commission actually submitted a report that is going to be problematic, because you see the Zionists want Palestinian land but they don’t want Palestinians. The reason why they have not annexed the bulk of the West Bank with the exception of Jerusalem, where there is a Jewish majority— the reason why they have not annexed, is they want to get rid of the population first.

People forget, they annexed not only East Jerusalem but the Syrian Golan Heights, but first they did a massive ethnic cleansing there. People who are focused on the Palestinian aspect forget about the Golan Heights because it is not Palestine. The occupied territories include also the Golan Heights. What happened in 1967, when the guns were still smoking, Israel executed a massive ethnic cleansing of most of the population of the Golan Heights, more than 100,000 people, with the exception of part of the Druze community whom the Zionists don’t consider Arabs. So some  Druze were allowed to remain, and Israel annexed it.

Foreign Money : A Problem in Russia, Not in Lebanon | Rami Zurayk
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/foreign-money-problem-russia-not-lebanon

Of course, the US State Department strongly criticized the law, accusing the Russian administration of exaggeration and intimidation with the aim of limiting freedom and democracy.

But this new Russian law is not strange to the US, which closely monitors all organizations that have anything to do with Islam or Arabs, especially if it relates to Palestine. US government agencies might even go to the extent of fabricating charges against them and imprisoning their directors even if they have never received a cent from a foreign country.

The US Foreign Agents Registration Act, which goes back to 1938, allows the monitoring of organizations which pose an ideological threat to the US. It now applies to the Arabs and Palestine, but it was meant to deal with the “Red Threat” during the Cold War.

Israel, Palestine and Hebron : Not so easy | The Economist
http://www.economist.com/node/21559663

Parmi les absurdités les plus terribles du processus de paix inauguré en 1993, il y a le statut imposé à la ville de Hébron, signé en janvier 1997 et salué à l’époque par la communauté internationale, qui y voyait la preuve que Benyamin Nétanyahou, nouvellement élu, acceptait la paix. Il s’est traduit par un nettoyage ethnique d’une partie de la ville, pour protéger des colons religieux dont l’idéologie et les pratiques relèvent du fascisme. On verra sur la carte que certaines routes sont interdites aux Palestiniens, un type de mesure que le gouvernement de l’apartheid en Afrique du Sud n’avait jamais prises.

#colons #Hébron #apartheid

Syrian Elites and Lebanon
http://english.dohainstitute.org/content/888ca0b2-e590-4a29-bec1-4ddaa980ad1b

When taking in the views of Lebanese scholars and opinion-makers, the author points out how these often mistake the common Syrian “man on the street” for the stereotypical Syrian security services agent: to this important section of Lebanese society, Syrians are monolithic and in agreement, despite their manifest disagreements; when it comes to the question of Lebanon, all Syrians regard Lebanon as part and parcel of their country. Al-Kilani regards this widely-held belief as entirely spurious, and on equal footing with another myth conjured up by another segment of Lebanese society - that of the brave, heroic Syrian freedom fighter. This confusion is due to the Lebanese civil war, says the author, which did much to blight the image of each of the country’s populations in the other’s eyes. Most Lebanese began to know Syria and its people only through the behavior of the Syrian military units stationed in Lebanon.

Je n’ai pas le livre en question, mais ce passage donne à réfléchir. On y perçoit un des aspects de différenciation entre ce que disent les éditorialistes libanais (et les médias occidentaux qui les citent en utilisant le raccourci « les Libanais pensent que… ») et ce que pense une large partie de la population, deux points de vue qui peuvent être très différents ou carrément opposés.

Très intéressante recension d’Electronic Intifada sur les fabrications d’un « journaliste » anti-palestinien et anti-libanais. Et de constater qu’après de pareilles fabrications, on peut encore parfaitement travailler. Revealed : producer of propaganda BBC report on Gaza attack has history of fabrication
http://electronicintifada.net/content/revealed-producer-propaganda-bbc-report-gaza-attack-has-history-fabrication/11532

In 2002, the Toronto Star quoted CBC’s Macdonald saying that Martin eventually admitted that his source for the fake Hizballah quote was Walid Phares (“Curious silence greets discredited Hezbollah tale,” 13 December 2002).

A former top-ranking political leader of the far-right sectarian Lebanese Forces militia, Phares has reinvented himself in recent years as a “terrorism expert.” Last year he was controversially given a top job as part of US presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s team of Middle East policy advisors.

The Canadian press caught onto the story in 2002 because the fabricated quote appeared at a time when the Canadian government was considering a ban on Hizballah’s political-social wing. The quote appeared to be decisive in the ban going through, although the government denied that was the case after the CBC exposed the quote to be false.

Syria Imperialistic Sins
http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/6516/imperialistic-sins

In addition to rejecting humiliation, later slogans against Rami Makhlof, the financial giant and Bashar Al-Assad’s cousin, were no less significant. The Syrian regime did not wait for an American military intervention to implement its own version of “neoliberalism,” exactly as it did in implementing its own version of socialism. If imperialism is the driving force of neoliberalism, based on plundering national wealth for the interest of a small group of citizens and a handful of large companies, then the Syrian regime is guilty of this sin, even if it was for the interest of a handful of the Presidential court’s people.

Cet article est intéressant à plus d’un titre. Il est écrit par Khalid Saghieh, l’ancien rédacteur en chef du quotidien de gauche Al-Akhbar . Ce quotidien, créé en 2006 par Joseph Samaha, s’est résolument placé du côté du Hezbollah dans la guerre de l’été 2006 et, plus généralement, de la résistance. Mais l’insurrection en Syrie a entraîné de profondes divergences au sein de la rédaction, amenant Saghieh à démissionner. Le texte reflète le clivage de la gauche libanaise et plus largement arabe sur les priorités de la lutte actuelle au Proche-Orient : est-ce que la chute du régime syrien ne va pas profiter aux Etats-Unis, aux pays du Golfe et à Israël ? Faut-il soutenir une insurrection soutenue par l’Arabie saoudite et les Frères musulmans ?

Le Monde diplomatique reviendra, dans son numéro d’août, sur ce débat qui traverse la gauche arabe.

Selon Ilan Pappe, l’utilisation du terme « Nakba » est à l’origine une innovation israélienne :
http://electronicintifada.net/content/israel-coined-term-nakba-and-still-implementing-it/11518

The term was mentioned for the first time not in Arab or Palestinian sources but in Israeli military intelligence sources. It appeared in leaflets the Israeli air force distributed during those ten days in July on the eve of a very singular attack on a village or a town.

The leaflets demanded in the main the “peaceful” eviction of the village and its surrounding areas. If not, the leaflets warned, the village would be severely punished. We do not have all the leaflets but here is the one rained on the huge and beautiful village of al-Tira near Haifa in the middle of July 1948:

“The sword will cut your throats without pity or compensation. If you insist and continue with your wrong doing … you should know that our airplanes, tanks and artillery will grind your village to dust, shell your houses, break you back, uproot you from your land … and your village will become a desert. Oh the people of al-Tira, if you wish to avoid a Nakba [sic]… surrender. The victorious Israeli army has already demolished the criminal hotbeds of Jaffa, Acre, Tiberias and Safad. It has occupied tens of villages in the south and the north, and this triumphant army will destroy you in several hours.”

Destruction and expulsion was a nakba in the eyes of the embryonic Israeli intelligence preparing the campaign of propaganda and intimidation against the native people of Palestine. Throughout the years, until this very day, the Nakba has continued by other means, this we know.

Ou l’on admirera l’élégance (sans cesse renouvelée) qui consiste à menacer les arabes d’une mort certaine puis à prétendre (1) qu’ainsi on protège les civils, (2) qu’ils sont partis de leur plein gré.

#Israël #Palestine #Jérusalem #Cartographie #Manipulation

According to BBC, Israel has no capital – but Palestine does
Thursday, July 19 2012 | Mairav Zonszein

http://972mag.com/according-to-bbc-olympics-page-israel-has-no-capital-but-palestine-does/51348

If you go to the BBC’s website to read about the countries participating in the upcoming London Olympics, you’ll get some interesting information on Israel and Palestine. According to the BBC sports page’s profile on Israel, it simply has no capital, whereas Palestine does have one, in East Jerusalem.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry is of course up in arms. Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Foreign Press Adviser and Spokesperson Mark Regev sent a letter to BBC’s Middle East Bureau Chief Paul Danahar yesterday, expressing his “dismay” at the British network’s “discriminatory” behavior:

While Israel declares Jerusalem to be the “undivided capital of Israel,” the United States and the rest of the world do not recognize it as such, due to the capture and annexation of Palestinian land to the east, north and south of West Jerusalem, following the Six-Day War in 1967. This area has since expanded greatly through extensive settlement east of the Green Line and is referred to by the Israeli government as the Greater Jerusalem area. However to Palestinians and the rest of the world it is occupied territory, and anyone who is familiar with the city is well aware that it is not “undivided” or cohesive in any way – but rather severely divided by walls, barriers, checkpoints, and countless social and economic gaps and inequalities. However, according to all the proposed solutions brought to the table of the so-called “peace process” in the last 30 years, there should be two states for two peoples with a capital of Palestine in East Jerusalem and a capital of Israel in West Jerusalem.

The BBC’s choice raises some interesting questions: Does it make sense for a news site to independently recognize Palestine as a state and declare East Jerusalem as its capital, when the UN and the rest of the world has yet to do so – and when the Palestinians de facto have zero say or sovereignty over what goes on in their “capital?” And does the BBC refusal to list West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital mean it does not recognize Israeli sovereignty in 1948 lands either?
And what are the implications for how media outlets operate? Does that mean sites have the prerogative to recognize any entity they want as a country and proclaim its capital? According to what standards should news sites adhere to when it comes to disputed territories – the facts on the ground, or their vision for the future?

What’s going on in Israel? | Stephen M. Walt (Foreign Policy)
►http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/07/12/the_veil_falls

One of the more enduring myths in the perennial debate on the Israel-Palestine conflict is the claim that Israel has always been interested in a fair and just peace, and that the only thing standing in the way of a deal is the Palestinians’ commitment to Israel’s destruction. This notion has been endlessly recycled by Israeli diplomats and by Israel’s defenders in the United States and elsewhere. Of course, fair-minded analysts of the conflict have long known that this pernicious narrative was bogus. They knew that former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (who signed the Oslo Accords) never favored creating a viable Palestinian state (indeed, he explicitly said that a future Palestinian entity would be “less than a state.”) The Palestinians’ errors notwithstanding, they also understood that Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s offers at Camp David in 2000 — though more generous than his predecessors’ — still fell well short of a genuine two-state deal. But the idea that Israel sought peace above all else but lacked a genuine “partner for peace” has remained an enduring “explanation” for Oslo’s failure. Source: Foreign (...)

USA : HBSC accusée de blanchiment
http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-eco/2012/07/17/97002-20120717FILWWW00415-usa-hbsc-accusee-de-blanchiment.php

La banque britannique a réalisé 16 milliards de dollars de transactions secrètes avec l’Iran sur une période de six ans, selon le rapport du Sénat américain commenté mardi par les élus au cours d’une audition publique. Les responsables de la banque étaient au courant des « transactions secrètes avec l’Iran » - dont la documentation ne mentionnait aucun lien avec l’Iran - depuis 2001 et jusqu’en 2007, pour un total de 25.000 opérations, selon le rapport d’une commission d’enquête du Sénat liée à la Sécurité intérieure.

Les médias français semblent bien à la peine de voir la dimension politique (ou géopolitique) de l’affaire. Les médias israéliens et/ou obsessivement sionistes, eux, ont une façon bien plus simple de présenter l’affaire : ’HSBC ignored financial deals with Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas’
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=5056

Stern said that in the course of his work, he came across many suspicious transactions. Some involved parties he suspected of having ties to Hezbollah and Hamas — Islamist groups that the U.S. considers to be terrorist organizations. When he alerted his superiors to these dealings, he said, his concerns were dismissed.

What’s going on in Israel? | Stephen M. Walt
►http://walt.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/07/12/the_veil_falls

One of the more enduring myths in the perennial debate on the Israel-Palestine conflict is the claim that Israel has always been interested in a fair and just peace, and that the only thing standing in the way of a deal is the Palestinians’ commitment to Israel’s destruction. […]

Of course, fair-minded analysts of the conflict have long known that this pernicious narrative was bogus.

[…]

What is going on, in short, is slow-motion ethnic cleansing. Instead of driving Palestinians out by force — as was done in 1948 and 1967 — the goal is simply to make life increasingly untenable over time, so that they will gradually leave their ancestral homelands of their own accord.