Sabah

Révélations en Israël sur l’implication du Mossad dans l’affaire Ben Barka
▻http://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2015/03/23/revelations-en-israel-sur-l-implication-du-mossad-dans-l-affaire-ben-barka_4

Le 20 mars, deux journalistes du quotidien Yediot Aharonot, Ronen Bergman et Shlomo Nakdimon, ont publié une enquête fleuve dévoilant les coulisses de l’implication logistique du Mossad, en soutien des assassins marocains de l’opposant. Une enquête qui a été soumise, comme l’exige la loi en Israël, à la relecture de la censure militaire. Les journalistes ont mis au jour les détails de l’incroyable conflit politique survenu en Israël, entre le chef du Mossad, le premier ministre et celui qui fut chargé d’enquêter sur cette affaire d’État, Isser Harel. Mort en 2003, Harel fut une figure mythique des services israéliens, d’abord fondateur du Shin Bet (renseignement intérieur) après l’établissement de l’Etat en 1948, puis directeur...

L’opposition syrienne salue la victoire de Netanyahu aux élections
▻http://www.almanar.com.lb/french/adetails.php?eid=226796

Egypte : 380 ONG fermées par le pouvoir en 2 mois - mada masr

The state shut down another 99 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) across Egypt on Wednesday, for a total of 380 NGOs shuttered by government mandate in just the past two months.

▻http://www.madamasr.com/news/latest-crackdown-state-dissolves-380-ngos-just-2-months

France : 832 cheminots de nationalité ou d’origine marocaine demandent réparation à la SNCF pour discrimination - Nouvelobs

Les deux parties livreront bataille aux Prud’hommes de Paris à partir de ce lundi 23 mars.

Certains « Chibanis de la SNCF » ont assigné l’entreprise dès 2005. Renvoyés au fil des ans, leurs recours seront réexaminés du 23 au 27 mars, par un juge professionnel chargé de départager les conseillers prud’homaux qui n’ont pas réussi à se mettre d’accord.

La plupart d’entre eux ont été recrutés au Maroc au début des années 1970 par la SNCF. Embauchés comme contractuels, donc avec un contrat de droit privé, ils ne relèvent pas du statut particulier des cheminots. Longtemps réservé aux détenteurs de la nationalité française, mais ouvert désormais aux ressortissants européens, ce statut offre une garantie d’emploi et des avantages en matière de protection sociale et de retraite. Plus de 90% des salariés du groupe public sont encore aujourd’hui affiliés à ce « cadre permanent ».

Ces cheminots « ont travaillé dans des conditions difficiles, faisaient exactement les mêmes tâches que leurs collègues français au statut mais ont vu leurs carrières bloquées et ont eu des retraites moindres », plaide Me Olivier de Boissieu, l’un de leurs avocats.

Les cheminots marocains, précise sa consoeur Clélie de Lesquen-Jonas, « ne remettent pas en cause le statut », ils demandent l’application du principe « à travail égal, salaire égal ».

Alors que « les deux tiers des cheminots au statut finissent agents de maîtrise », les Marocains ont été condamnés statutairement « à rester des agents d’exécution », dit-elle.
La SNCF réfute toute discrimination

En face, la SNCF réfute toute discrimination entre salariés de même qualification, en fournissant un « panel » de comparaison de « plus de 1.000 agents ». Pour l’avocat de compagnie ferroviaire, qui invoquera également la prescription des faits, il n’y a « nullement discrimination », « on compare l’incomparable (...) la SNCF, entreprise publique, a deux statuts pour ses salariés, la loi le prévoit comme ça », considère Me Jean-Luc Hirsch.

On n’a pas été traités à égalité. Je ne peux pas m’empêcher de ressentir un sentiment d’humiliation", répond Ben Dali, 63 ans, l’un des porte-parole de l’association des cheminots marocains.

Avec émotion, il évoque « la souffrance des veuves marocaines quand elles ont dû s’inscrire au RMI » alors que les épouses des cheminots français « reçoivent immédiatement une pension » et « leurs enfants deviennent pupilles de la nation ». Six plaignants décédés sont représentés par leurs ayant-droits.

J’ai formé des collègues qui, eux, ont évolué et sont devenus mes chefs, c’est très frustrant", témoigne un autre Marocain, toujours en activité, refoulé à plusieurs examens.

Comme ce cheminot de la gare de Lyon, la moitié des 832 plaignants ont acquis un jour la nationalité française. Mais « c’était trop tard, j’étais trop vieux pour avoir le statut », réservé aux embauchés avant 30 ans.

Malgré tout, 113 plaignants ont obtenu le statut. Ce fut « à géométrie variable », explique leur avocate. Mais « eux aussi ont un préjudice car leur ancienneté n’a pas été reconnue », selon Me de Lesquen-Jonas.

D’autres, restés contractuels, ont pris le ticket de départ à 55 ans offert par la SNCF dans les années 2000 avec la garantie d’une indemnité chômage jusqu’à leur retraite. « On s’est fait avoir là encore. On a compris notre douleur quand on nous a calculé notre retraite », diminuée par les trimestres manquants, dit Ben Dali.

La pension de base d’un contractuel ayant cotisé 40 ans « n’atteint pas le minimum garanti aux cheminots au cadre permanent après 15 ans de service », environ 1.100 euros par mois, affirment les plaignants.

Ces salariés et retraités venus du Maroc réclament en moyenne 400.000 euros de dommages et intérêts dont la moitié au titre du préjudice de retraite.

La SNCF conteste ces calculs. Les cheminots marocains optant pour le départ à 55 ans « auraient eu une retraite moins élevée s’ils avaient été au cadre permanent », affirme à l’AFP la compagnie, en évoquant des simulations commandées à un cabinet.

Le jugement devrait être mis en délibéré.

Netanyahu will be remembered for speaking Israel’s truth - Opinion - Israel News | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.648122

For at least 25 years most Israeli statesmen have been lying, misleading the world, the Israelis and themselves, until Netanyahu arose. Better late than never.
By Gideon Levy | Mar. 22, 2015 | 10:13 AM

I would like to say thank you to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Thank you for telling the truth. Last week you were revealed as the first Israeli prime minister to tell the truth. For at least 25 years most Israeli statesmen have been lying, misleading the world, the Israelis and themselves, until Netanyahu arose – he of all statesmen – and told the truth. If only this truth had been told by an Israeli prime minister 25 years ago, maybe even 50 years ago, when the occupation was born. Still, better late than never. The public rewarded him for this truth, and Netanyahu was elected for a fourth term.

Netanyahu said last week that if he were to be reelected, a Palestinian state would not be established on his watch. Plain and simple, loud and clear. This simple, pure truth was the case for all his predecessors as well – all the prime ministers, peace lovers and justice seekers from the center and the left, who gave false promises. But who thought to admit it before him? Who had the courage to reveal the truth? The latest of these deceivers was Zionist Union leader Isaac Herzog: His daring plan included five years of negotiations. The public rewarded him for that.

After all, one had to deceive the Americans, bluff the Europeans and cheat the Palestinians, fudge things for the Mideast Quartet and lie to some Israelis. One also had to play for time, to build settlements and get rid of every possible Palestinian partner – Yasser Arafat, who was too strong; President Mahmoud Abbas, who is too weak; and Hamas, which is too extreme. One has to play for time, so the Palestinians become more extreme an

J Street’s Ben-Ami tells Netanyahu: You don’t speak for us - Jewish World News - Israel News | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/.premium-1.648176

Ben-Ami, for his part, delivered a fiery address to an appreciative audience, telling the prime minister: "We say to Netanyahu, who claims to speak for all the Jews of the world - you do not speak for us.” He said that J Street is not only feeling disappointment at the election results - “It’s anger and it’s pain that we’re feeling at having watched the Prime Minister of Israel use fear mongering and scare tactics tinged with racism to claw his way to 23 per cent of the vote.”

Ben-Ami also blasted Netanyahu, Israeli ambassador Ron Dermer and House Speaker John Boehner for the “partisan gamesmanship” that enabled Netanyahu’s speech to Congress – and damaged U.S.-Israeli relations, according to Ben Ami.

Ben-Ami told his audience “being pro-Israel doesn’t mean you have to be anti-Palestinian.” He said that J Street would urge U.S. leaders to declare the settlements illegal, to publish a set of parameters for a two-state solution and to support a United Nations Security Council resolution that would provide guidelines for reaching a final settlement.

Jacobs, for his part, blasted the Jewish establishment’s rejection of J Street, saying that he was “stunned at the vituperative criticism of some who seem to imply that the greatest threat facing Israel and the Jewish people is not Iran, Hamas, or Hezbollah’s missiles but rather this pro-peace, pro-Israel group known as J Street.”

U.S. bipartisan bill would seed funding for Israeli-Palestinian civil society programs - Diplomacy and Defense - Israel News | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.648179

A bipartisan bill introduced in Congress would seed $50 million a year to promote civil society engagement between Israelis and Palestinians.

The bill “would establish a multi-national fund to support grassroots programs that promote peace and reconciliation in the region,” said a statement Friday from the office of Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.) who is joined in the initiative by Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.).

The U.S. contribution would be $50 million annually and further funding would come from the public and private sectors.

The Alliance for Middle East Peace, an umbrella for Israeli-Palestinian civil society groups which lobbied for the bill, noted that there were already hundreds of successful grassroots efforts underway. The fund would “provide the resources and expertise to scale up these initiatives to impact millions of people, and ultimately permit peace to thrive.”

The CIA Just Declassified the Document That Supposedly Justified the Iraq Invasion
▻https://news.vice.com/article/the-cia-just-declassified-the-document-that-supposedly-justified-the-iraq

Thirteen years ago, the intelligence community concluded in a 93-page classified document used to justify the invasion of Iraq that it lacked “specific information” on “many key aspects” of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs.

But that’s not what top Bush administration officials said during their campaign to sell the war to the American public. Those officials, citing the same classified document, asserted with no uncertainty that Iraq was actively pursuing nuclear weapons, concealing a vast chemical and biological weapons arsenal, and posing an immediate and grave threat to US national security.

La rapport qui a servi de prétexte à la guerre en #Irak enfin déclassifié
▻http://www.france24.com/fr/20150320-rapport-guerre-irak-menace-nucleaire-cia-bush-exageration-2002-nu

Le site américain Vice a en effet publié, jeudi 19 mars, le rapport de 2002 sur la menace irakienne, non-censuré et complet, issu des services américains. Ce document cité par George W. #Bush et ses ministres était resté « top secret » depuis 13 ans.

À sa lecture, on comprend les réticences des autorités américaines. Concernant les armes chimiques, les espions américains notaient seulement que l’Irak avait « rénové une usine de fabrication de vaccins » et détenait toujours des stocks de certains gaz dangereux (comme le sarin), mais qu’il n’y avait pas d’autres indices laissant supposer que Bagdad avait relancé un éventuel programme d’armes biologiques.

Saddam Hussein n’avait, selon les auteurs de ce rapport, « pas les moyens pour fabriquer des armes nucléaires »... même si les agents américains jugeaient qu’il en avait envie. Dans sa conclusion, l’assistant au secrétaire d’État au renseignement affirme que l’utilisation par Saddam Hussein d’armes de destruction massive est « peu probable », un ton bien moins affirmatif que le président va-t-en-guerre George W. Bush.

Al-Qaïda en Irak : des « preuves irréfutables » et « très discutables »

Le ton n’est pas non plus le même concernant l’éventuelle collusion entre Saddam Hussein et Al-Qaïda. Si Donald #Rumsfeld, le secrétaire à la Défense de l’administration Bush, avait affirmé que les services de renseignement lui avaient fourni des « preuves irréfutables » du fait que l’Irak abritait, en connaissance de cause, des membres de l’organisation terroriste, les auteurs du rapport écrivent que « la présence d’agents d’Al-Qaïda en Irak est très discutable ».

Ils soulignent à plusieurs reprises que les sources fiables manquent pour étayer la thèse d’une collaboration entre le régime irakien et les terroristes du mouvement d’Oussama Ben Laden. « Saddam Hussein est très suspicieux à l’égard de tout ce qui touche à l’islamisme radical », rappelaient même les agents du renseignement.

#Etats-Unis #crimes #assassins #impunité

La victoire de Netanyahu et les risques d’une nouvelle guerre - Scarlett HADDAD - L’Orient-Le Jour
▻http://www.lorientlejour.com/article/916834/la-victoire-de-netanyahu-et-les-risques-dune-nouvelle-guerre.html

Les sources du Hezbollah précisent que le parti a rapidement saisi la complexité de la situation et la décision de riposter a été aussitôt prise. Toutefois des débats ont eu lieu sur l’ampleur de la riposte et les moyens de la réaliser. Pour le commandement du Hezbollah qui s’est réuni en session continue pendant cette période, il s’agissait d’envoyer plusieurs messages qui se résumaient ainsi : d’abord, il n’est pas question de laisser Israël maître de la décision et de l’initiative au Sud-Liban et dans le Golan. Autrement dit, il n’est pas possible de laisser les Israéliens décider de frapper lorsqu’ils le souhaitent en toute impunité. Deuxièmement, il fallait montrer aux Israéliens que le front du Golan pourrait être ouvert, lorsque la Résistance dans son sens large le déciderait. Troisièmement, le Hezbollah riposte où et quand il veut, et il est en mesure d’agir rapidement. Enfin, s’il est vrai que le Hezbollah ne souhaite pas l’ouverture d’une nouvelle guerre, il ne la craint pas non plus et il est prêt à prendre le risque de la laisser éclater pour riposter comme il le faut à une attaque dont il est victime.

Israel chooses the path to apartheid
It was once possible to argue that Israel’s policies were not the same as apartheid because their stated goal, however imperfectly pursued, was to end the occupation. After Netanyahu’s reelection, this is no longer the case.
By James Besser | Mar. 20, 2015 Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.648006

In my quarter century as Washington correspondent for Jewish newspapers, I frequently defended Israel against charges that it had created an apartheid system in the West Bank. But this week’s election, with Benjamin Netanyahu poised to serve another term with an even more hardline coalition, means that apartheid is the path Israeli voters have chosen. The inevitable results will include even greater international isolation for the Jewish state, a boost to efforts to apply boycotts and sanctions, diminished support from American Jews and endlessly intensifying cycles of violence.

Since the Madrid peace process began in 1991, it was possible – though sometimes with great difficulty – to argue that Israel wanted to find some route to accommodation with the Palestinians. Sure, there were huge obstacles to overcome, not the least of which was a shortsighted Palestinian leadership and a volatile, nervous electorate in Israel.

But government after government at least said the right things about the need to create a Palestinian state and to make painful compromises, even if action lagged far behind the words.

It was possible to accept journalist Gershom Gorenberg’s thesis that the occupation was an “accidental empire,” its endurance shaped less by determined policies than by inertia and political cowardice. It was awful to watch even progressive governments cringe before an aggressive settlers movement, but it was understandable, especially for Americans accustomed to the timidity of our own leaders in the face of aggressive extremists.

The idea of apartheid suggests the intent to make separation and unequal treatment permanent, and in the past it was possible to argue that for all the expansion of settlements, Israel was still looking for ways to end the occupation.

No more.

Frightened by the last minute rise of the Zionist Union list in polls, Netanyahu unambiguously expressed what critics have long asserted was his core ideology: no Palestinian state. No territorial concessions. None. Period.

And Israel’s voters returned him to office, in what was widely reported as a resounding victory.

He was returned to power despite his attempt to shore up support on his political right by coming to Washington and undermining the relationship with Israel’s most critical ally, the United States, and by giving a huge boost to Republican efforts to make support for Israel a political wedge issue instead of the bipartisan cause it has always been.

He was returned to power despite the ugly attempt to scare voters with the specter of a big turnout of Israeli Arabs.

And he was returned to power after his crystal clear rejection of Palestinian statehood and the territorial compromise that most of the world believes is the only way to ensure a peaceful future for a democratic Jewish state. There were reports this week that Netanyahu was attempting to walk those comments back, but his credibility on the issue of Palestinian statehood, never strong, is nonexistent.

In the absence of any willingness to work toward a Palestinian state in the West Bank, the future is clear: continuing occupation with no effort to find a way to end it, accelerating settlement construction and a hardening of policies toward Palestinians in the West Bank.

In other words, apartheid.

Mainstream Jewish groups go ballistic when they hear the term because of what it implies: an official policy of unfairness so profound that a fractious world unites against it with sanctions, boycotts and a pariah label for the perpetrators.

Once, it was possible to argue that Israel’s policies were not the same as apartheid because their stated goal, however imperfectly pursued, was to end the occupation. No more: Bibi’s reelection makes it clear that Israeli voters, more clearly aware of Netanyahu’s intent than ever, have chosen the apartheid path, and will now have to live with the consequences.

American Jewish groups, key players in the coalition against South African apartheid, will resort to verbal gymnastics to argue that it’s not the same. Or they will simply use the convenient ploy of pointing out all the bad decisions made by Palestinian leaders over the years. When the inevitable violence erupts and when the Palestinians, left with no other options, renew their push to condemn Israel in international bodies, they will circle the wagons to defend a Jewish state they claim is unfairly treated by a hostile world. They will ratchet up efforts to stifle even moderate dissent in the Jewish world. They’ll blame the deepening divisions in the Jewish community on J Street.

Or they will say the no-statehood pledge was just politics as usual in Israel’s fractious democracy, as meaningless as most other campaign promises.

And nobody outside an increasingly narrow pro-Israel tent will buy it. Because apartheid is apartheid, and that’s exactly what Israeli voters chose this week as a course for their nation.

James Besser was Washington correspondent for the New York Jewish Week and other Anglo-Jewish newspapers for 24 years before his retirement in 2011.

Pour se consoler de la victoire de Lepentanyahou :

Gidéon Levy : Une victoire des travaillistes ne fera qu’enraciner l’occupation
Agence Média Palestine / Haaretz, le 1er février 2015
►http://www.agencemediapalestine.fr/blog/2015/03/03/gideon-levy-une-victoire-des-travaillistes-ne-fera-quenraciner-

La victoire de Netanyahu est une bonne chose pour la Palestine
Yousef Munayyer, Ballast / New-York Times, le 18 mars 2015
▻http://www.revue-ballast.fr/la-victoire-de-netanyahu-est-une-bonne-chose-pour-la-palestine

Gidéon Levy : Netanyahu mérite le peuple israélien, et ce peuple le mérite
Agence Média Palestine / Haaretz, le 18 mars 2015
▻http://www.agencemediapalestine.fr/blog/2015/03/20/gideon-levy-netanyahu-merite-le-peuple-israelien-et-ce-peuple-l

Ali Abunimah : Pourquoi je suis soulagé que Netanyahu ait gagné
Agence Média Palestine / Electronic Intifada, le 18 mars 2015
▻http://www.agencemediapalestine.fr/blog/2015/03/20/ali-abunimah-pourquoi-je-suis-soulage-que-netanyahu-ait-gagne

#israel #Palestine #Elections

ACAPS | Syria - SNAP

►http://www.acaps.org/en/pages/syria-snap-project

Mise à jour cartographique des contrôles territoriaux en Syrie au 1er mars 2015 (si tant est qu’une telle carte puisse être crédible, mais faute de mieux, on a au moins une image produite selon une méthodologie décrite dans le document).

IMG/distant/json/Capture20dE2087c.json https://dl.dropbox.com/s/1hswkjhwkvgfo0o/Capture%20d%E2%80%99%C3%A9cran%202015-03-21%20%C3%A0%2013.34.58.png?dl=0

ACAPS and MapAction established in December 2012 the Strategic Needs Analysis Project - SNAP (initially the Syria Needs Analysis Project), which is a project aimed at supporting the humanitarian response in Syria and neighbouring countries by providing an independent analysis of the humanitarian situation of those affected by the Syrian and regional crisis.

SNAP produces three types of reports: Quarterly and Monthly Regional Analysis, Thematic Reports and Scenarios.

SNAP Team can be reached at: snap@acaps.org

The project’s main office is in Beirut (Lebanon), with sub-offices in Antakya (Turkey) and Amman (Jordan). 15 people are working full-time on the project.

#syrie #cartographie #visualisation

Israeli author and journalist Yehonatan Geffen attacked at his home, called ’leftist traitor’ - National - Israel News | Haaretz
►http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.648048

Israeli author and journalist Yehonatan Geffen was attacked on Friday afternoon at his home at Moshav Beit Yitzhak in central Israel.

The assailant knocked on Geffen’s door, tried to hit him and called him “leftist” and “traitor.” Before fleeing, the attacker also threw an egg at the author. Israel Police is investigating the incident and is combing the area, and is assuming the attack was premeditated.

Geffen’s manager Boaz Ben Zion said he “really hopes this is a one-time incident,” adding: “We don’t know yet why Yehonatan was attacked, and we hope the police catch the assailant.”

Geffen posted on his Facebook page this week that March 17 – Election Day – should be declared “the Nakba Day of the Peace Camp.” Geffen also wrote following the reelection of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “the people have elected again a person whose rule is based on scaring the people,” and called Netanyahu “a racist.”

UN commission blames Israel for plight of Palestinian women - Diplomacy and Defense - Israel News | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.648068

The UN Commission on the Status of Women has approved a resolution blaming Israel’s ongoing occupation of Palestinian territory for “the grave situation of Palestinian women.”

Israel’s UN Ambassador Ron Prosor denounced the resolution saying it was further proof of the UN’s bias against Israel.

“Of the 193 member states in this institution, dozens slaughter innocent civilians and impose discriminatory laws that marginalize women and yet they all get a free pass,” he said, noting that the commission includes “some of the worst violators of human rights like Iran and Sudan.”

The 45-member commission on Friday adopted the resolution, which was sponsored by Palestine and South Africa, by a vote of 27-2 with 13 abstentions. The United States and Israel voted against it while European Union members abstained.

European companies complicit in new East Jerusalem project
▻http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/activism/bds/591-european-companies-complicit-in-new-east-jerusalem-project

European companies are involved in the new Cable Car project in East Jerusalem. A joint project sponsored by the Israeli government and the Jerusalem Municipality aims to construct a cable car that will link West Jerusalem, the Old City, Mount of Olives near the Seven Arches Hotel and Gethsemane.

The Israeli municipality in Jerusalem recently hired the French company SAFEGE to do a feasibility study on the cable car that run from West to East Jerusalem. SAFAGE contracted with another French company, POMA, which specializes in cable cars.

Il est très probable que Kahlon rejoigne la coalition droite-extrême droite qui arrive au pouvoir en Israël. Son ralliement donnerait une majorité écrasante au nouveau gouvernement qui pourra mettre en œuvre tous ses projets diaboliques (une guerre à Gaza, au Liban et qui sait encore quoi…)

Kahlon, Israel’s likely future finance minister, expected to focus on housing, bank reform - Business - Israel News | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/business/.premium-1.647712

In the aftermath of Tuesday’s election, the leader of the Kulanu party, Moshe Kahlon, appears to be the leading candidate, if not a shoo-in, for the job of finance minister. Even before Election Day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered him the post, while Kahlon demurred until the results of the balloting were in. Now, however, the accepted wisdom is that he will take the job, and he is likely to make changes in the banking and real estate sector top priorities.

His party’s political platform speaks of narrowing socioeconomic disparities, and during the campaign itself he said his priorities were improving the lot of people earning no more than 10,000 shekels ($2,500) gross per month and the reduction of poverty. His political roots are in Netanyahu’s own Likud party. He garnered tremendous political credit as communications minister - before quitting government and forming his own party - for injecting competition in the cellular telephone service sector, which in turn drove prices down by huge margins.

Settlers enter Palestinian apartment building in Silwan - Diplomacy and Defense - Israel News | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.647984

Settlers from the right-wing organization Elad-City of David Foundation on Wednesday entered into a four-apartment residential building in the mainly Palestinian East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, just south of the Old City.

The resident of the apartment was at the local police station at the time, after receiving a summons the previous evening to report for questioning on Wednesday. She said later that she was not in fact questioned, but that while she was at the station the settlers removed her belongings from her home and took possession of the building.

LIVE BLOG: Netanyahu to Fox News: I didn’t retract support for two-state solution - Israel election 2015 - Israel News | Haaretz
►http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel-election-2015/1.647966

“I didn’t retract any of the things I said in my speech six years ago, calling for a solution in which a demilitarized Palestinian state recognizes a Jewish state,” Netanyahu said to Megyn Kelly, host of “The Kelly File.” "I said that the conditions for that, today, are not achievable for a simple reason: [Mahmoud Abbas], the leader of the Palestinians, rejects consistently the acceptance of a Jewish state. He’s made a pact with the Palestinian terrorist organization, Hamas, that calls for our destruction. And the conditions in the Middle East have changed to the point where any territory we withdraw from is immediately taken up by Iranian-backed terrorists or by ISIS."

Israël va vendre du gas en Egypte, mais pas à l’Etat égyptien, alors qu’il me semble que l’Egypte a longtemps vendu du gaz à Israël...

Israel to sell $1.2 billion of natural gas to private customers in Egypt - Business - Israel News | Haaretz
►http://www.haaretz.com/business/1.647674

A group of private customers in Egypt have agreed to buy at least $1.2 billion of natural gas from Israel’s offshore Tamar field via an old pipeline built to send gas to Israel.

The Tamar partners said Wednesday they signed a seven-year deal with Dolphinus Holdings, a firm that represents non-governmental, industrial and commercial consumers in Egypt, that calls for a minimum 5 billion cubic meters of gas to be sold in the first three years.

One energy source in Israel, however, said the total export amount in the deal could be more than three times higher, depending on demand in Egypt, which is facing an energy crisis.

The supplies will pass through an underwater pipeline constructed nearly a decade ago by East Mediterranean Gas, the company that oversaw a now-defunct Egyptian-Israeli natural gas deal.

Egypt had been selling gas to Israel in a 20-year agreement, but the deal collapsed in 2012 after months of attacks on the pipeline by militants in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. It has since been out of commission and East Mediterranean Gas is suing the government of Egypt for damages.

An oil ministry source in Egypt told Reuters the ministry had not received any requests from private-sector firms to import gas. “The ministry is ready to agree to gas imports from abroad if the imports achieve the three conditions of adding value to the domestic market, solving international arbitration disputes and providing gas to the market,” the source said.

Recent offshore discoveries such as Tamar, with an estimated 280 billion cubic meters of gas, and Leviathan, which is more than twice as big, have turned previously import-dependent Israel into a potential energy exporter.

Egypt has been slow in developing its own sizable gas resources and is seeking numerous import options. In fact, Egypt’s gas reserves are double the size of Israel’s, but poor management of that country’s resource has led to the absurd situation in which it has been forced to import gas. The government bought gas from foreign energy firms operating in the country, but it paid them less than their cost of exploration and production, leading the companies to cut off their supply. In addition, the government accumulated debt to the companies for gas provided.

In trading on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, the shareholders of Tamar that are traded in Tel Aviv — Delek Drilling, Avner Oil and Isramco Negev — closed up between 6.1% and 8.9% on the day, outpacing the more modest gains of about 1% in the broader market. Texas-based Noble Energy is the field’s operator.

The Joint Arab List: Seven new MKs, two women and a lot of hope - Israel News, Ynetnews
▻http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4638619,00.html

The party has seven new MKs, among them the head of the Joint Arab List Aiman Uda, a resident of Haifa. The other new members include Aida Touma-Sliman (Akko), engineer Abd al-Hakim Hajj Yahya (Tayibe), Dr. Yosef Jabareen (Umm al-Fahem), lawyer Osama Sa’adi (Arraba), and Dr. Abdullah Abu Maaruf (Yarka).
 
The Joint Arab List includes two women and 12 men.
 
New MKs plan out Knesset term
“I hope these results will be a lever for continued cooperation with the (Arab) sector, in order to serve it in all sorts of areas, even outside of the Knesset,” said MK Abd al-Hakim Hajj Yahya.
 
“There are a lot of social causes that the Joint Arab List can contribute to. The results of the elections are not a surprise to us, but it is good news. The comments made by Netanyahu against the Arab sector in the last days of the campaign did not make a big impact, but the warning Netanyahu made is very dangerous for the continuation of co-existence,” said Hajj Yahya.
 
The Arab Israeli politician has already begun to plan his term in the next Knesset. “I am going to serve the Arab sector on central issues such as planning and construction law, in light of the problems we have in planning, industrial areas and building without a permit,” he said. “I will also take care of the advancement of local authorities because in my opinion authorities which plan to rehabilitate have not failed, but rather it shows that there is something in the government’s policy that needs to change.”
 
New MK Aida Touma-Sliman hopes to represent women. “I would like to deal with social issues in the next Knesset and the civil rights of the Arab population along with women’s rights which I have been occupied with for more than 20 years and will continue to be occupied with in the future.”
 
“Likewise, I will focus on the employment of Arab women and legislation to protect women from violence. Of course the diplomatic issue cannot be ignored and the aspects of political activity,” she added.
 
Regarding the election results, Touma-Sliman said: “Our results provide happiness and strengthen us. The public gave us its wide confidence and clearly said that it supports the approach of unity and the attempt to gain power and protect ourselves from the waves of racism that are washing over Israel.”
 
New MK Osama Sa’adi was disappointed with the change that did not end up coming: “The national right-wing camp and Netanyahu came out with a surprise and kept their reign. We are the third largest faction and this is the first time something like this has happened in history. We achieved another goal – the Yachad faction along with Eli Yishai and the racist Baruch Marzel are outside of the Knesset. Now the work begins to impact and bring about achievement for the sector that sent us.”
 
Sa’adi continued and said: “I want to work in my field, which is the Law and Justice Committee, to prevent racist legislation and to work for fair legislation for the Arab sector.”
 
Sa’adi also said he would like to work on the issue of Palestinian detainees which he says is “a subject that has been close to my heart for over 25 years.” Sa’adi also plans to work on subjects such as land confiscation and housing demolitions.
 
Regarding fears the list will separate once the new government forms, Sa’adi said, “We promised we would create a joint list and we created it, therefore the trust that the Arab sector gave us commits us to continue to work as one faction, there is no reason to break it down. We will not let the Arab public down.”
 
Dr. Yosef Jabraan, another new addition to the Joint Arab List, said that the party will focus on issues that were the basis of their election to the Knesset. “Education, housing and violence are the main issues that I want to deal with. These are the issues that our voters clearly brought up during the campaign,” he explained.

 
“The advancement of Arab education, including higher education, will be my priority, including the allocation of resources, including changing the curriculum to include the Arab-Palestinian identity as well as the restructuring of the system so that it will be managed by Arab educators. Without substantial reform of the education system, we cannot promote and advance the stance of the Arab citizens in Israel.”

Yesterday’s election, Israel’s Future: J Street
▻http://jstreet.org/blog/post/yesterdays-election-israels-future_1

Yesterday’s election, Israel’s Future
MARCH 18TH, 2015
Benjamin Netanyahu’s victory is a deep disappointment to all who hoped that Israel might choose a new direction for the country in yesterday’s election.

The Prime Minister’s renunciation of the two-state solution and resort to a campaign grounded in fear and tinged with racism successfully moved 150,000 votes from other right-wing parties into the Likud column in the campaign’s final days. But we fear that the cost to Israel in the long-run will be steep in terms of support here in the United States and internationally.

The Prime Minister’s outrageous statements in the campaign’s final days may have pushed him from 19 percent in the polls before the election to 23 percent on election night and cemented his position as the leader of Israel’s right wing, but this was not a broad mandate in support of the direction in which the Prime Minister is leading. Seventy-two percent of Israelis on the eve of the election felt the country is headed in the wrong direction, and only one-third of Israel’s voters supported the hard-right represented by Likud, Naftali Bennett and Avigdor Lieberman, a number roughly comparable to last election. Even in the next Knesset, the blocs of the center-left and of the right wing will continue to be evenly balanced.

Without question, we respect Israel’s democracy and the outcome of the election. We celebrate the vibrancy of debate and dissent in Israel over essential matters that was on full display during the campaign. And – contrary to the Prime Minister’s panicked attack on the participation of Arab citizens in the election – we view their increased participation in this year’s election as a positive sign about the strength of Israeli democracy.

None of that can change our core belief, however, that the policies that the Prime Minister articulated in order to win – outright rejection of the two-state solution and territorial compromise – should and will be rejected by the international community, including the United States. Sadly, the results of this election will only deepen Israel’s growing isolation.

The manner in which the Prime Minister secured his victory – shredding the broad bipartisanship that underpins American political support for Israel and preying on fear and racism at home – also demonstrated that he willingly put his own political interests before his concern for Israel’s relationship with the United States and his commitment to Israel’s democratic character.

Moving forward, J Street will be unwavering in making the case that Israel’s security and survival as the democratic homeland of the Jewish people require a change in course, recognizing that the need for change is ultimately a matter for the citizens of Israel to debate in the years ahead.

Here, in the United States, J Street, however, has a clear role to play. We will stand up strongly and proudly in American political and Jewish communal debates for an end to occupation, for a two-state solution and for an Israel that is committed to its core democratic principles and Jewish values.

We will speak out on behalf of the majority of American supporters of Israel – Jewish and not – who support a two-state solution and oppose moves to limit the rights of any Israeli citizens or to deny the collective right of the Palestinian people to self-determination in a state of their own.

Faced with a return to power of a Prime Minister who has publicly demonstrated that he does not share those beliefs, we will advocate strongly that the American Jewish community must maintain and even more actively promote its commitment to the core principles and policies which have been bedrocks of the US-Israel relationship for decades.

Netanyahu and Likud won by taking poorer Jewish towns, West Bank settlements - Israel election 2015 - Israel News | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel-election-2015/.premium-1.647729

Segmenting the voting by socioeconomic levels reveals a major and probably decisive difference between Likud and Zionist Union; the former got lots of votes in wealthier communities, but the latter did very well almost solely in those richer areas.

Zionist Union got its highest rate of support – 53 percent - in Kfar Shmaryahu, one of the three towns in the 10th and wealthiest decile. The rate of support for Zionist Union in the 33 towns in deciles 8 through 10 was 34.8 percent. The party came in first in 85 percent of these towns; the five exceptions were Alfei Menashe, Oranit and Mevasseret Zion, where the Likud came in first, and Elkana and Givat Shmuel, where Habayit Hayehudi ranked first.

In most of these 33 wealthier towns, the pattern was similar – Zionist Union first, Likud second and Yesh Atid third. Overall, Likud got 22.9 percent of the vote in these economically strong towns.

It was there that Yesh Atid lost a lot of its strength. In 2013, the party’s support in the top two deciles was 26.2 percent, with 24.4 percent in the 8th decile. But on Election Day the party got only 16.5 percent of the vote in deciles 9 and 10, and only 15.1 percent in the 8th decile.

The 7th decile is considered the most middle-class; it includes locales like Ramat Gan, Nes Ziona and Haifa. Here Zionist Union won seven of the 12 cities, while Likud took the other five. Moving further down the scale, however, the Likud took almost all of the towns considered middle- and lower-middle class, winning in 13 of the 15 cities in the 6th decile, 31 of 33 in the 5th decile, and 15 of 17 in the 4th decile. The towns not won by Likud in this range were generally won by Habayit Hayehudi.

Likud did not just win decisively in the West Bank, but also in the socioeconomic periphery within the Green Line, scoring decisive wins in places like Sderot (42.8 percent), Ashkelon (39.8 percent), Or Yehuda (40.5 percent), Ramle (39.8 percent), Tiberias (44.5 percent) and Kiryat Shmona (39.9 percent).

Support for Likud actually rose in the middle-class and peripheral towns compared to the last election, despite the social agenda pushed by the center-left camp and the fact that these voters didn’t benefit much, if at all, from the economic policies promulgated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It seems the messages Netanyahu broadcast in the days before the election made a grea

Voilà une jolie vidéo trouvée sur le site du ministère israélien des Affaires étrangères expliquant le processus électoral à la Knesset, avec comme message subliminal : Israël est une vraie démocratie. La preuve ? Les Arabes peuvent aussi voter, ils ont même des partis. Et pardessus le marché, le chef de la commission électorale est lui-même arabe.
Conclusion : La discrimination est interdite par la loi en Israël. Israël est une vraie démocratie.
Commencer à 1:40, c’est là que ça devient intéressant

▻https://www.youtube.com/embed/rzpWIXg3HtM?feature=player_embedded"

As an Israeli, I am ashamed that my prime minister is a racist - A Special Place in Hell - Israel News | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/a-special-place-in-hell/.premium-1.647564

This week, push came to shove.

This week, we saw how things really work. How our prime minister really thinks. What he’s willing to do, how far he’s willing to go, how many of us he’s willing to sell out, slander, abuse, for the sake of hanging on to the thing that matters to him more than anything: his job.

After this week, we can never again say that we didn’t quite know who Benjamin Netanyahu is.

As an Israeli, I am ashamed that my prime minister is a racist.

On Election Day, knowing that the whole country would see it or hear about it, he warned on a range of social media, “The rule of the Right is in danger. The Arab voters are moving in droves toward the polling places. The NGOs of the Left are bringing them in buses.”

How should Jews respond to the threat of Arab hordes advancing on ballot boxes? The posts were explicit: Rush to the polling places, grab your loved ones and get them there as well, to vote Likud.

“With your help, and with God’s help, we will put up a nationalist government which will safeguard the state of Israel,” my prime minister wrote.

Lest there be any question of how we should view this, when he took the stage for his victory speech lateTuesdaynight, Netanyahu invited singer Amir Benayoun to come up and join him. The prime minister’s message was clear: If you are religious and write a racist song ("Ahmed Loves Israel," which refers to Arabs as scum and murderers), a song so incendiary that President Reuven Rivlin feels he must revoke your invitation to the President’s Residence, your place is right here, right now, by my side.

I am ashamed to know that the prime minister of Israel is either a racist, which is a horrible thought, or that he incites racism in others for the sake of votes - which is worse.

I am ashamed that my prime minister is a cheat. I am angry that in order to win, on the eve of the election, his campaign defied a judge’s ruling and knowingly defrauded thousands of Israelis into thinking that rival Kulanu party leader Moshe Kahlon was messaging them to switch their vote to Netanyahu.

I am ashamed that my prime minister can humiliate and exploit Moshe Kahlon, an earnest and honorable man, and get away with it.

As an Israeli, I am ashamed that my prime minister is a liar, a huckster, a calculating, desperate coward, a schmaltz merchant.

Now we finally know what he meant, just last October, when he told President Obama that he remained “committed to the vision of peace of two states for two peoples.”

He explained it allon Mondaynight, when, standing behind bulletproof glass in the square where Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated, he addressed a rally of thousands of right wing Jews, many of them bused in from the West Bank at the expense of the Israeli taxpayer.

Just after telling the crowd that they should avoid incitement, that he was prime minister even of Israelis who don’t agree with him, and that “We pride ourselves on upholding the unity of Israel,” he made it all clear:

There are already two states for two peoples. There are the People of Us - that is Zionists, which is to say Jews who are right-wing, who prize settlements above all else, and who resist all compromise, forswear any concession, oppose all negotiation, and who will vote for Benjamin Netanyahu when he declares that there will be not one settler uprooted, even from outposts which Israel itself has declared illegal.

And then there are the People of Them. All of the rest of us. People he calls anti-Zionist. People whom he describes as haters of Israel. Dark forces, treacherous, in league with foreigners.

“Yes,” the uber-secular prime minister told the crowd, suddenly putting himself forward as the pious, commandment-keeping, mezuzah-kissing SuperJew, explaining who “We” are: “We keep the traditions of Israel.”

Then the man who is bought and paid for by a gambling billionaire took it up a notch. "They have V 15, but we have the People." They have the money, but we have something more important, he concluded.

“It won’t be money that decides this. Rather, it will be heart, soul, belief.”

We’re all going to need it.

I am ashamed that my prime minister believes - and is quietly pleased - that many young people who love their country, have served their country, have endangered their lives for our sake, but who are not part of Us - not settlers, not ultra-Orthodox, not right-wing, and in many cases, not Jewish - will solve their own problems of housing and providing for a new family, by leaving Israel.

I am ashamed that my prime minister perceives, and accepts, that many people who are indigent, elderly, chronically ill, will meet the challenges of a neglected and failing health care system, by dying.

I am ashamed that my prime minister is declaring that millions of Palestinians are unentitled to rights, beginning with the right to have a say as to the kind of government and country they want to live in.

Most of all, I am ashamed that what my prime minister does, works. I am ashamed that racism works here, with my people. As a Jew, I believe that if all we are left with, is bigotry and fear, it will be the end of us.

All this week, Benjamin Netanyahu made us one consistent promise: In his coming term as prime minister, there will be no hope.

It is one promise that we have all come to believe he can keep.

Pour ceux qui veulent voir le visage des prochains députés de la 20e Knesset (pas encore définitive)

Bottom-of-list candidates benefit from shock election results - Israel News, Ynetnews
▻http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4638218,00.html

Bottom-of-list candidates benefit from shock election results
While Meretz barely holds on to four of its seven seats, Likud politicians like Avi Dichter and Tzipi Hotovely will return to Knesset.