The Pulse of the Middle East

Netanyahou aime la cartographie et s’en sert le plus souvent possible en appui de ses « narrations » et/ou de ses « mensonges »

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu loves maps. Considering them a helpful tool to illustrate his view of global affairs, he often brings them along to public speeches, to briefings with the press and to hearings in the Knesset.

1. Annexion de la Vallée du Jourdain (septembre 2019)

In election pitch, Netanyahu vows to annex Jordan Valley right away if reelected | The Times of Israel
▻https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-campaign-pitch-netanyahu-vows-to-annex-jordan-valley-if-reelected

https://static.timesofisrael.com/www/uploads/2019/09/whatsapp_image_2019-09-10_at_18.34.58.jpeg

In election pitch, Netanyahu vows to annex Jordan Valley right away if reelected
PM says ‘diplomatic conditions have ripened’ for move ‘immediately’; pledges to later apply sovereignty to all West Bank settlements, but with ‘maximum coordination’ with US

2. Reconnaissance de l’annexion du plateau du Golan (mai 2019)

Netanyahu shows off Trump’s map of Israel with Golan Heights | The Times of Israel
▻https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-shows-off-trumps-map-of-israel-with-golan-heights

https://static.timesofisrael.com/www/uploads/2019/05/000_1H30LJ-1024x640.jpg

▻https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/a-nice-map-from-trump-to-netanyahu.jpg?quality=90&strip=a

https://static.timesofisrael.com/www/uploads/2019/05/kela-alon-e1558424278411-640x400.jpg

Netanyahu shows off Trump’s map of Israel with Golan Heights
In bid to play down political chaos and focus on his foreign policy chops before going on to skewer rival Liberman, PM whips out gift from Kushner on which Trump scribbled ‘nice’

3. Les cinq ennemis d’Israël (juillet 2016)

In Netanyahu’s new illustrated world, Israel has just five enemies | The Times of Israel

▻https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-netanyahus-new-illustrated-world-israel-has-just-five-enemies

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In Netanyahu’s new illustrated world, Israel has just five enemies
The PM this week prepared a map to show MKs how he sees Israel’s place among the nations. It makes for fascinating, and surprisingly optimistic, viewing

4. Abbas exige de Netanyahou qu’il dessine une carte proposant deux États (avril2013)

’Abbas calls on Netanyahu to draw two-state map’ - Middle East - Jerusalem Post
▻https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Abbas-calls-on-Netanyahu-to-draw-two-state-map-308855
▻https://images.jpost.com/image/upload/f_auto,fl_lossy/t_Article2016_Control/211814

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has demanded a map for a future Palestinian state before the resumption of any peace talks, Palestinian news agency Ma’an quoted an aide as saying on Friday.

5. Netanyahou présente une drôle de carte « prouvant » les risque iraniens devant les membres de l’AIPAC aux Etats-Unis (mai 2015)

Benjamin Netanyahu used this strange map to show the reach of Iranian-backed terrorists - Business Insider

▻https://www.businessinsider.com/benjamin-netanyahu-used-this-strange-map-to-show-the-reach-of-irani

https://amp.businessinsider.com/images/54f488f66bb3f7c94d94bcd8-750-375.jpg

Benjamin Netanyahu just used this strange map to show AIPAC the reach of Iranian-backed terrorists

Armin Rosen

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the America-Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual conference on Monday. He defended his coming and highly controversial speech to Congress, arguing that the US and Israel were strategically and sentimentally close enough to weather even major disagreements.

6. Netanyahou montre comment il colorie le monde en bleu (mars 2018)

Netanyahu At AIPAC : Together, U.S. And Israel Are « Coloring The World Blue » | Video | RealClearPolitics

▻https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/03/06/benjamin_netanyahus_full_aipac_speech.html

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We’re coloring the world blue," he said about Israel, in front of a map of I’ve been to Africa 3 times in 18 months I’ve been to South America, Latin America— in the 70 years in the history of America of PM never went south of Texas? I love Texas but yeah, I do. We went to Argentina, we went to Columbia, to Mexico, and they said come back, we want more. That is changing. All these countries are coming to us, India, China Mongolia, Kazakhstan, all of it. Azerbaijan, Muslim countries. [For the] First time I visited Australia, tremendous, far away though. We’re coloring the world blue."

6. Netanyahou prouve l’existence de bases de lancement de missile à Beyrouth (octobre 2018)

Benjamin Netanyahu points to map of Beirut missile sites at UN - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

▻https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-03/benjamin-netanyahu-points-to-map-of-beirut-missile-sites-at-un/10331672

https://www.abc.net.au/news/image/10331658-16x9-700x394.jpg

Benjamin Netanyahu points to map of Beirut missile sites at UN

Posted 2 Oct 2018, 10:21pm

Benjamin Netanyahu points to guided missile sites in Beirut during his UN address on September 27.

7. Netanyahou propose une carte pour un statut « final » pour un État palestinien... (janvier 2014)

Bibi’s final status map leaves little room for Palestine

▻https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/01/settlements-map-two-state-netanyahu-israel-palestine.html

▻https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/files/live/sites/almonitor/files/images/almpics/2014/01/Jess%20map%20edit.jpg?t=thumbnail870

The conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is about the map — who gets what and how much of historic Palestine. US Secretary of State John Kerry may well have an opinion about this — it is hard to believe that he does not — but President Barack Obama’s White House has yet to decide whether to break with the history of the last four decades and draw an American picture of what the states of Israel and Palestine should look like.

No such hesitation is to be found among the Palestine Liberation Organization and its chairman, Mahmoud Abbas, the signatories to the Arab Peace Initiative or members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). They accept the June 4, 1967, border as the line dividing the state of Israel from the yet-to-be-created state of Palestine. They are prepared to consider modifications to this map, the so-called land swaps, not because they want to, but in order to satisfy Israel’s territorial demands over this demarcation.

8. Netanyahou et la bombe (iranienne) illustrée" (septembre 2012)

Bibi and the bomb | The Times of Israel

▻https://www.timesofisrael.com/bibi-and-the-bomb

https://static.timesofisrael.com/www/uploads/2012/09/UN-General-Assembly-I_Horo-3-1024x640.jpg https://thewallwillfall.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/net-bomb.jpg?w=1400

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (who goes by the cutesy dimunitive Bibi), had his say last night at the United Nations, telling the world about Iran’s nuclear threat with the aid of a comical-looking bomb sketch. Now the talking heads, or writing heads, scramble to have their say, running buck wild to make their opinions heard like a pack of Jews at a sour cream versus applesauce debate.

9. Netanyahou montre les sites nucléaires secrets dans la région de Téhéran" (avril 2018)

What Netanyahu Said and Didn’t Say About Iran’s Nuclear Program - The Atlantic

▻https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/04/netanyahu-iran-nuclear-program/559295

https://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/mt/2018/04/RTS1PBH1/facebook.jpg?1525181836

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a speech Monday that he billed as showing “something that the world has never seen.” He vowed to provide evidence of Iran’s duplicity over its nuclear program, and especially its obligations to the nuclear agreement Tehran signed in 2015 with the world’s powers. But much of the speech concerned details of Iran’s covert nuclear program from the years 1999 to 2003, and it provided no smoking-gun evidence that those programs were continuing in violation of the deal—something that would have given Donald Trump’s administration the justification it might be looking for to withdraw from it.

Here’s what the speech, which was made mostly in English (ostensibly for a Western audience), did say about Iran’s nuclear program.

#netanyahou #cartographie #manipulation #visualisation #mensonge #iran #israël #rhétorique #narrations #illustration

Erdogan’s newfound love for cannabis
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2019/01/turkey-erdogans-new-found-love-for-cannabis.html

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Indeed, the restrictions on hemp production were lifted in 1990 and re-regulated by the Turkish parliament to make it even more liberal in September 2016. Today, it is already legal to grow hemp in 19 cities, but you need government permits. The updated 2016 legislation relaxes the permission process for farmers. It also adds a flexible licensing process for researchers.

However, it did not catch the attention of Erdogan until now. A source close to the Palace told Al-Monitor, “Turkey is working with international consulting firms, and we believe they are the ones that brought this lucrative plant to the president’s attention.” Global consulting firm McKinsey & Co. has given similar advice to Lebanon. The Turkish agreement to work with that firm was cut off abruptly and suspiciously after widespread public reaction.

But desperate times call for interesting measures. On Jan. 9, Erdogan blasted out to the “enemies of Turkey who pretend to be friends,” saying that they have compelled Turkey to end its cannabis production. In an emotional speech, referring to his ancestral city of Rize and remembering when they used to make underwear from hemp that is more absorbent than any other material, Erdogan said Turkey has been importing the plant but is now taking steps for its widespread production.

On social media, pundits took this “enemies who pretend to be friends” to be the United States, which pressed to ban opium poppy production in 1971. Up until then, Turkey was a major producer of legal opium, but farmers were known to produce also significant amounts of the plant illegally.

Currently, Turkey has one alkaloid processing plant in Central Anatolian province of Afyon, which means “opium” in Turkish. Afyon is known for its high-quality poppy seed production. The factory produces ingredients to be used in prescription drugs. Turkey’s conservative segments now applaud Necmettin Erbakan, the late leader of the Islamist movement in Turkey, for his firm support for the construction of the plant in the late 1970s.

Pro-government media promptly started distributing informational graphs and pieces on the benefits of cannabis production — which they referred to as a national matter— to the health sector and the economy, declaring this to be a “cannabis war” and praying for a victory. Even the uses of hemp for the Ottoman navy were cited in the news.

Turkish government television TRT started airing infomercials about cannabis while referring to it as an “Anatolian plant” and elaborating on countless uses of hemp. Islamist media particularly was quite eager to back Erdogan. For example, Mehmet Toprak, a columnist for Dirilis Postasi, wrote a piece titled “Cannabis will make the US’ dollar weapon explode in their own hands.” Toprak emphasized that “President Erdogan’s decision on cannabis production is a turning point in our history. It is as revolutionary as the July 15 victory. This decision shows us how crucial it is to stand behind Erdogan for the future of our country and the Muslim lands.”

#cannabis

Turkey connecting Syria’s al-Bab to its power supply
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/08/syria-al-bab-turkey-electricity-support.html

Delegates from the Turkey’s State Electricity Generating Company, on Aug. 19 visited the local council for the city of al-Bab, in the opposition-held northeastern Aleppo countryside. The delegates then toured the city to conduct a study to develop a plan to supply it with electricity in agreement with the local council.

The inspection tour was scheduled to continue throughout August, with the aim of assessing the status of the city’s existing electricity network infrastructure and determining the requirements for its restoration.

Suite d’une longue série de mesures visant à l’annexion de ce gros bourg entre Alep et la frontière turque.

#syrie

US cuts millions of dollars’ worth of aid to Palestinians
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/08/palestine-us-aid-cuts-projects-economy.html

The US State Department has announced plans to cut $200 million in aid for Palestinians this year. These funds are to be redirected to high-priority projects elsewhere, the State Department said, giving no further explanation.

A senior State Department official told Reuters Aug. 24, “We have undertaken a review of US assistance to the Palestinian Authority (PA) and in the West Bank and Gaza to ensure these funds are spent in accordance with US national interests and provide value to the US taxpayer.”

He added, “As a result of that review, at the direction of the president, we will redirect more than $200 million in [fiscal year] 2017 Economic Support Funds originally planned for programs in the West Bank and Gaza.”

#palestine

Billion dollar debt, heat wave push Iran to cut electricity to Iraq
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/07/iran-iraq-electricity-protest.html

The two reasons have seemingly had an impact on Iran’s power supply to Iraq, as Iraq owes Iran a lot, and the latter is also suffering from electricity shortages in the capital and some southern cities due to increased electricity use in the summer.

This is not the first time that Iran cut off the electricity supply to Iraq. In early 2017, Iran cut off its power supply to Iraq because of the accrual of more than $2 billion in debt to Iran, which led Iraq to settle its debt in installments. Also, the accrual of debt in July 2016 led Iran to cut off its power supply to Iraq for two months. The power supply was only resumed after Iraq paid part of its debt.

Iraq has been importing between 1,500 and 2,000 MW from Iran since 2005 in a bid to cover its domestic production shortfall. Iraq needs more than 23,000 MW of electricity per hour to ensure a nonstop supply to homes and public buildings. However, it cannot produce more than 15,700 MW of electricity, hence the need to import electricity from abroad. The problem gets worse in times of extreme heat, when temperatures rise above 50 C (122 F).

#iran #irak #électricité_chiite !

Hamas-Fatah feud heats up as talk of Abbas successor intensifies
▻https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/06/palestine-plo-plc-hamas-fatah-abbas-successor.html

A new legal controversy and political feud has erupted between the Palestinian Hamas and Fatah movements. On June 25, Ahmad Bahar, the first deputy speaker of the Hamas-controlled Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), accused the PLO of setting up a scheme to strip the PLC of its powers and confer them to the PLO’s Palestinian Central Council (PCC).

Bahar said in a statement distributed by the PLC media office, “Turning the PCC into a substitute for the PLC is tantamount to passing the ’deal of the century,’" in reference to the forthcoming Mideast peace plan from US President Donald Trump. He pointed out that the PLC will hold a meeting next week to discuss this “dangerous plan” and to set the controls and mechanisms to stop it.

Read more: ▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/06/palestine-plo-plc-hamas-fatah-abbas-successor.html#ixzz5KHHLyN25

PA worried by potential Hamas-Israel truce
▻https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/06/palestine-israel-hamas-chance-truce-proposal-armed-clashes.html

The 24-hour military confrontation May 29 between the Israeli army and the Palestinian factions led by Hamas in the Gaza Strip proved the parties’ desire to contain the situation and keep it from escalating into an open confrontation.

The desire of the parties to refrain from military escalation indicate that the talks that circulated in Arab and Hebrew media circles in May about Egyptian and Qatari mediation attempts to conclude a long-term truce between Hamas and Israel to ease the siege on Gaza — which Al-Monitor reported on — are likely valid.

Israeli newspaper Maariv said in its editorial June 1, “The recent escalation in Gaza has not hindered the advanced contacts and negotiations on the comprehensive settlement on the southern front, but on the contrary has further accelerated them.” The newspaper stressed that “contacts continue at a high pace, with an Egyptian mediation and a limited Qatari participation.”

Read more: ▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/06/palestine-israel-hamas-chance-truce-proposal-armed-clashes.html#ixzz5HqR

Israel faces historic decision as new population figures emerge
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/04/israel-palestinians-demography-jordan-river-apartheid.html

The Israeli political right was caught off guard by the surprising official figures presented on March 26 at the Knesset by a representative of the Civil Administration, the army unit coordinating the Israeli government’s activities in the occupied territories. The representative indicated that the number of Jews and Arabs living under Israeli control in the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean had reached parity at 6.5 million for each side.

Over the years, the Zionist left kept warning about the prospect of a Jewish minority in Israel controlling a Palestinian majority, with only a small number of them enjoying full civil rights. Yet the Israeli right kept dismissing these warnings. It countered with imaginary data showing that some 3 million Palestinians live in Israel and the occupied territories, compared with 6.5 million Jews. However, from the moment the true numbers were communicated to the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee with the new data last week by the Israel Defense Forces, the leadership of the political right can no longer argue that political bias is skewing the figures. It is now forced to confront the figures.

(...)

With the official military announcement of Jewish-Arab parity between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, Israel is facing the historic decision it has been trying to postpone or repress. Israel is far from being an apartheid state currently, but if it opts for minority rule of an Arab majority, it will have no choice but to adopt apartheid methods. Precluding this option would spell the end of the Zionist idea: Israel will turn into a Palestinian state, probably a nondemocratic one, with a Jewish minority.

A decision to divide the land in order to ensure its continued Jewish and democratic nature would best be carried out through an imperfect agreement, based on Israel’s 1967 borders, implementing the UN’s Partition Resolution — this time with Palestinian approval. Barring that option, a unilateral withdrawal such as the 2005 Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip would also be preferable to preserving the status quo.

L’auteur : Yossi Beilin, Ph.D., served in various positions in the Knesset and in Israeli government posts, the last of which was justice and religious affairs minister. After resigning from Israeli Labor, Beilin headed the Meretz Party. Among other things, he initiated the Oslo process, the Beilin-Abu Mazen agreement, the Geneva Initiative and the Birthright project

#palestine #israël #démographie

Iran risks losing clout in Iraq by arresting Shiite cleric Shirazi
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/03/shirazi-shiite-iran-iraq-vilayate-faqih.html

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Protests also took place in Kuwait and other Arab countries. During a demonstration in front of the Iranian Embassy in Kuwait City, Sheikh Yussef Mulla Hadi, a leader in the Shirazi movement in the country, described the Iranian regime as a dictatorship masquerading under the banner of velayet-e faqih (clerical rule) and demanded that Shiites around the world renounce it.

Sadeq Shirazi’s older brother, Mohammad, was among the founders of the principle of velayet-e faqih, but the family believes Khamenei and Islamic Republic founder Khomeini have corrupted the concept. Mohammad Shirazi, who died in 2001, had called for establishing a velayet-e faqih, or council of jurists, but Khomeini advocated that ultimate authority be held by an individual.

Differences in interpretations appear to be leading to a Shirazi rejection of the concept of velayet-e faqih altogether. Hussein Shirazi now says velayet-e faqih, as implemented by Iran, enslaves the citizenry and contradicts the principles of freedom, equality and democracy

Mohammad Shirazi, who led the Shirazi movement, established his religious authority in Karbala during the 1960s and 1970s, until moving to Iran and settling in Qom in 1979. In the early 1970s, he founded the Islamic Action Organization, which supported liberation movements in the Islamic world, including that of the Palestinians. There also was a third brother, Hassan Shirazi, who was assassinated in Lebanon in 1980 because of his activities on behalf of the Shirazi movement.

Explication, entre autres choses, de ce curieux drapeau shirazi apparu lors de l’attaque contre l’ambassade iranienne à Londres.

#shirazi #iran #chiisme

Dahlan encouraged to form Palestinian party outside Fatah
▻https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/03/uae-request-dahlan-form-new-party-dissociated-from-fatah.html

Citing anonymous Palestinian sources, the Nabd news agency reported Feb. 5 that Dahlan was asked by the UAE to form a political party dissociated from Fatah, given Abbas’ refusal to end his and Dahlan’s dispute, which goes back to 2010. Dahlan lives in exile in the UAE but is still a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). The UAE also wants Dahlan to run in the next presidential election.

Although Nabd didn’t report Dahlan’s specific response to the UAE request, it said he is reluctant to form a new party. The article said that in January and February, Dahlan held a referendum in Gaza, Lebanon and Jordan, where supporters for his Democratic Reform Current reside, to gauge support for a new party. The referendum produced mixed results.

Imad Mohsen, a spokesman for the Democratic Reform Current, told Al-Monitor, “The UAE’s interference in our work is out of the question. … Some members of the Democratic Reform Current are indeed calling for complete dissociation from Fatah, in light of all the exclusion, separation, marginalization and trials carried out by Abbas and his entourage against his opponents.”

Read more: ▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/03/uae-request-dahlan-form-new-party-dissociated-from-fatah.html#ixzz5ADV0u