Diplomacy & Defense- - Israel News

La société française Safege (Suez Environnement) se retire du projet de « cable car » à Jérusalem, après l’intervention des ministres des Finances et des Affaires étrangères français, et suite aux plaintes de Saeb Erekat.

French firm pulls out of controversial Jerusalem cable car project - Diplomacy and Defense - Israel News | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.648797

Safege of France, which was slated to play a key planning role in the Jerusalem cable car project, has canceled its participation after being warned against it by the French finance and foreign ministries, a Wednesday media report said.

To “avoid giving any political interpretation,” Suez Environnement “has decided not to continue,” Le Figaro on Wednesday quoted a spokesman for Safege’s parent as saying.

Another French company that was mentioned in connection with the Jerusalem cable car has also declined to get involved.

The project, described in detail in Haaretz three weeks ago, is expected to encounter much opposition for its political as well as environmental and urban-planning implications. Many observers are skeptical that the plan will ever come to fruition.

Erekat’s initiative

Le Figaro reported that on March 10, Saeb Erekat, the Palestinians’ chief negotiator, contacted French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius to complain about the French company’s willingness to take part in building the cable car in East Jerusalem.

“The plan will lead to the illegal expropriation of private property, some of which belongs to the Waqf,” Erekat wrote to Fabius. The Waqf controls the major Islamic sites around the Old City, including the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Subsequently, the French administration secretly called a meeting with Safege’s directors. On March 12, the French Finance Ministry warned Safege’s board about the legal risks the project entailed, and the company says it sought a legal opinion on the matter.

Another French company that had expressed interest in the project, Puma, has since declined to get involved, too. On March 10, Puma, a prominent company in cable transportation, said it “did not sign any contract and did not conduct preliminary feasibility inspection for the construction project in Jerusalem,” according to Le Figaro.

Goal: reducing traffic

The Jerusalem plan envisions a cable car system that would substitute for other transport modes to the Western Wall area and other sites in Jerusalem’s historic basin.

A presentation prepared by the planners, and seen by Haaretz, shows four planned cable car stations: at the First Train Station at the end of Emek Refaim Street; next to Dung Gate by the Western Wall; next to the Seven Arches Hotel on the Mount of Olives; and near Gethsemane.

The cost is estimated at NIS 125 million ($31.7 million). Supporters of the project expect the new system to significantly reduce vehicle traffic around the Old City.

The project has yet to be submitted to the planning committees for approval, but it is being energetically promoted by the municipality and the Jerusalem Development Authority (a part-government, part-municipal body).

The right-wing organization Elad, which operates the City of David National Park, is also promoting the project.

Budget items

Documents from the JDA’s tenders committee show that in the past year, a budget of more than 1 million shekels was allotted to promote the project. Correspondence with Safege, at a cost of 87,400 euros, was done to advance the detailed planning of the project.

The JDA also approved correspondence with nine Israeli companies, including a management company, building consultants, electrical engineers, land consultants, accessibility consultants, architects and more.

Some 55,000 shekels was allotted for consultations with Seter Security Consulting about securing the cable car machinery, and 412,000 shekels was allotted to the project’s planners, the firm of Rosenfeld Arens.

At the meetings of the tenders committee, some who were present sought to reduce the costs, since if the planning committees do not approve the plans, this money will have been wasted.

Israeli army recommends fence for Jordanian border, too

The barrier, which the next government would have to approve after the coming election, would protect a new airport and defend against militant intruders.

http://www.haaretz.com/polopoly_fs/1.437069.1426177429!/image/2518119025.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_640/2518119025.jpg

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.”

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.

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.

Netanyahu a définitivement pété les plombs: il a déclaré qu’il n’y aurait pas d’Etat palestinien s’il venait à être élu, ce pour attirer les voix de Bennett (Habayit Hayehudi). Au moins, c’est clair...

L’écart entre le Likoud et le camp des anciens travaillistes continue à se creuser. Le likoud est aujourd’hui accrédité de 21 sièges contre 25 pour l’Union sioniste. La liste unie Hadash et partis arabes reste toujours en troisième position avec 13 sièges. Intéressant et nouveau pour ce qui concerne les partis arabes israéliens, même si l’espoir d’une paix et l’établissement d’un Etat palestinien ne sont pas à l’ordre du jour

Netanyahu: If I’m elected, there will be no Palestinian state - Israel election 2015 - Israel News | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/israel-election-2015/1.647212

Netanyahu: If I’m elected, there will be no Palestinian state
In a definitive disavowal of his Bar-Ilan two-state speech, prime minister makes last-minute attempt to draw voters from Bennett’s Habayit Hayeudi.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyhau said Monday that if he were to be reelected, a Palestinian state would not be created, in a definite disavowal of his 2009 speech, in which he had voiced support for the principle of two states for two peoples.

Netanyahu’s remarks in an interview with the NRG website - which is owned by casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and tied with the settler newspaper Makor Rishon - were a last-minute attempt to pull right-wing voters away from Habayit Hayehudi.

“I think that anyone who moves to establish a Palestinian state and evacuate territory gives territory away to radical Islamist attacks against Israel,” Netanyahu said. The left has buried its head in the sand time and after time and ignores this, but we are realistic and understand."

During the interview, Netanyahu declared that if the Zionist Union were to win the elections, “it would attach itself to the international community and do they bidding,” including freezing construction in West Bank and East Jerusalem settlements, and cooperate with international initiatives to return Israel’s borders to the 1967 lines.

During a visit to the East Jerusalem settlement of Har Homa earlier Monday, Netanyahu warned that if he were not elected, “Hamastan B.” would be established in Jerusalem. “If Tzipi [Livni] and Bougie [Isaac Herzog] form a government, Hamastan B will be established here.”

He also slammed Jewish-American businessman Danny Abraham, one of the primary financiers of the V-15 campaign to flip the Israeli government. Netanyahu did not mentioned Abraham by name, but said that the primary financier of V-15 has come to his office in the past and tried to convince him not to build in East Jerusalem.

“I said to him – have you ever been in Har Homa? He said no, and that it was a dangerous settlement. I suggested he go there and said he would make it in time, that he wouldn’t be late to the meeting. They took him to the car, returned to the office, and rolled on the floor with laughter. The man was prepared to go to Sinai and couldn’t believe that the car stopped after seven minutes and that he had reached his destination. These are the people telling us who needs to be in government, these are the people who think Har Home is in Sinai.”

PA holding 50 Islamic militants, fearing terror attack will give election to Likud
Hamas officials call it the biggest round-up in years, say security coordination with Israel constitutes treason.
By Amos Harel, Jack Khoury and Reuters | Mar. 10, 2015 Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.646100

Palestinian Authority security services have arrested some 50 members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the West Bank over the last two days, acting out of apparent fear that a terror attack in the coming days would give the Israeli election to Likud.

There’s a well-known precedent for this: the firebombing of a bus in Jericho on the eve of the 1988 Knesset election, which killed five Israelis, including a mother and her three children.

In later years, that incident was cited as having cost the Labor Party the victory by shifting votes from Labor to Likud at the last moment. Shimon Peres, who was Labor’s prime ministerial candidate at the time, claimed the attack had cost the left two or three Knesset seats, and that if not for this attack, Labor would have won the election.

Otherwise Occupied / Palestinians start food fight as boycott intensifies
Although Palestinian boycotts of Israeli products only have a marginal impact on the Israeli economy, they do serve a greater social purpose.
By Amira Hass | Mar. 9, 2015 Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.645863

Tnuva and Osem products are disappearing from the shelves of Palestinian grocery stores and supermarkets. However, the shop owners are boycotting these and other Israeli companies, more because several high-ranking Palestinians have publicly embarrassed them than out of patriotic fervor. It began about three and a half weeks ago, when the National Committee against Israeli Punitive Measures announced a campaign to boycott the products of five Israeli companies for as long as Israel held on to Palestinian tax revenues it had collected at the international borders.

The committee, which is headed by high-ranking Fatah member Mahmoud al-Aloul, gave the stores two weeks to clear their shelves. In the meantime, after some people ridiculed linking the end of the boycott to the return of the tax funds, a statement was made that the boycott would be indefinite.

The committee is not a governmental one and the boycott is not legally binding – unlike the boycott of products from the settlements, which is enshrined in an official government decision (supervision of this boycott was stopped, however, due to lack of desire or funds, and it is only partially observed).

At the end of the two-week period, the committee members went to several grocery stores and supermarkets, accompanied by the media (including Israeli journalists), and publicly humiliated vendors who had failed to comply. And last Monday, Fatah youth members confiscated a truck carrying Tnuva milk, worth several tens of thousands of shekels, and spilled the milk in the middle of al-Manara Square, Ramallah. It took three water tanks from the municipality (using at least 30 cubic meters of that precious fluid) to clean up the public space. Several passersby hurried to save a few of the bags and cartons of milk. When people asked why the milk had been spilled instead of being given to a refugee camp, for example, the Fatah youth answered that doing so would have made it possible to claim they had stolen the milk for themselves.

In principle, there is support for the boycott of Israeli products. This is both to encourage Palestinian local products and manufacturing, and to broadcast to Israel and Israelis that, no, it is not business as usual. But the forceful manner in which the National Committee and the Fatah youth enforcing the boycott are acting has drawn criticism and complaints.

“This is the first time high-ranking Fatah members have been hurt by Israeli punitive measures [which forced salaries to be cut because of the delay in transferring the tax monies], so they decided to act,” was the unflattering assessment of some former Fatah activists. They also said that “Fatah and its high-ranking personnel are politically marginalized, so they are looking for any way to stand out.” And, of course, there were those who raised the inevitable question, “And have they given up their VIP cards?” This question refers to documents provided by Israel that grant the high-ranking members some leniencies in movement.

I heard a further explanation of the committee’s actions from several young people (who have no need to be scared into boycotting the products of the “Zionist entity”). They said the hidden motive is to throw out the marketing companies and replace them with different ones that are owned by close associates. Even if this explanation for the National Committee’s action is groundless, it shows how deeply the current of suspicion runs of the class that it represents. Maybe it would be better if the high-ranking members engaged in the boycott invoked health considerations as well: to explain that milk, particularly that which is full of hormones, is unhealthy; and that Bamba snacks, which are full of fat and salt, are unnecessary, too.

Vegetarians overnight?

The PLO Central Council met last week in Ramallah, but one of its resolutions – to boycott all Israeli products – is an empty one, as economists from the Palestinian Authority are well aware. It is true that one can do without many of these products (who on earth needs Israeli chocolate and chewing gum, or mineral water from the Golan Heights or Ein Gedi?). It is also possible – even within the framework of the restrictive Paris Protocol on economic relations – to import them directly from abroad, rather than through Israeli importers.

But there are many products that have no replacement, and importing them from abroad will make them more expensive. What about meat, for example: A Palestinian economist told me that 97 percent of the meat and chicken that Palestinians consume is purchased from Israel. Can anyone envisage the Palestinians giving up meat and becoming vegetarians immediately? He told me that, so far, every boycott of Israeli products (including those from the settlements) has not reduced the amount of Palestinian imports from Israel by more than about five percent.

But even if abstaining from most of the products has not harmed Israel’s economy, the activity on behalf of the boycott is important. A boycott allows large-scale participation by people in the act of rebellion, without lifting a stone or firing a shot.

The roughshod military-colonialist occupation sticks its hands into every facet of human life and disrupts it: from cradle to grave, and beyond. There is no way to respond individually to every such violent act of disruption. A boycott redirects the feelings of anger and hatred, and the desire for revenge – which are justified, natural and understandable – into channels of mass action (what is surprising is the small number of individual violent expressions of those justified, natural and understandable feelings).

Whatever their motivations may be, the high-ranking members’ boycott initiative (an echo of popular, not official, initiatives) is evidence of the changes in the internal Palestinian political climate. And it is definitely not the last word.

Si cette suspension entrait en vigueur, ce serait énorme. Mais le scepticisme est de rigueur...

« Palestinian leaders vote to suspend security coordination with Israel »

By Amira Hass | Mar. 6, 2015

Despite the PLO Central Council’s vote, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, as head of PLO Executive Committee, is not expected to implement this decision anytime soon.

▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.645604

http://www.haaretz.com/polopoly_fs/1.645605.1425592944!/image/3545414717.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_640/3545414717.jpg

The PLO’s Central Council decided on Thursday night to suspend security coordination with Israel. However, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, as head of the PLO’s Executive Committee, is not expected to implement this decision anytime soon.

After two days of deliberations, the council opted to halt the security coordination because of what it termed “Israel’s systematic and ongoing noncompliance with its obligations under signed agreements, including its daily military raids throughout the State of Palestine.”

Instead of implementing the decision immediately, however, Abbas is expected to try to use the threat of its implementation to push the United States and the European Union to pressure Israel to halt construction in the settlements and release Palestinian prisoners as conditions for restarting diplomatic negotiations. In his speech to the council on Wednesday, Abbas said explicitly that he would be willing to resume negotiations if those two conditions were fulfilled.

The council’s decision to suspend security coordination indicates that its members are seeking to keep the PLO, and themselves, relevant among the Palestinian public by taking aggressive positions in response to what they view as Israel’s peace rejectionism.

The council also decided on Thursday to “boycott all Israeli products and not only those coming from Israeli settlements,” because “Israel must pay the price for its refusal to assume its responsibilities under international law.” But PA economists know the boycott doesn’t really hurt Israel’s economy; its significance is primarily symbolic.

The council is a substitute for the much larger Palestine National Council, a pan-Palestinian body that hasn’t met in years because of both its size and geopolitical circumstances. The PA’s Legislative Council has also been paralyzed for years, and as a result, the Central Council has been meeting more frequently in recent years. But even though various views are voiced in the council, the real decisions remain in Abbas’ hands.

Though some of the council’s decisions, like the boycott and suspending security coordination, were theoretically actionable, it’s not clear how they will actually be implemented. And other decisions were purely declarative, like the one stating that “Israel, the occupying power in Palestine, must assume all its responsibilities in accordance with its obligations underinternational law.”

Another resolution stressed the need to “strengthen” reconciliation between the rival Fatah and Hamas parties in order to speed reconstruction of the Gaza Strip following last summer’s war between Hamas and Israel, while still another called for holding both presidential and parliamentary elections “as soon as possible.”

Finally, the council resolved that “The Palestinian National Authority was the outcome of the national struggle of the Palestinian people to move from occupation to independence. Its institutions should be maintained and must not be dissolved.” This resolution was a response to those Palestinians who see the PA as a form of treason and demand its dissolution.

In his speech on Wednesday, Abbas mocked those who define the Oslo Accords as treasonous, noting that the PA, its various institutions and even the Hamas government in Gaza all stem from those accords.

Amira Hass tweets at @hass_haaretz

#Palestine #Cisjordanie #Israël #OLP #Autorité_palestinienne #coopération_sécuritaire #territoires_occupés

Will the change in Greece mean a boon to ties with Israel? -
The focus for now is finance, but the new leftist government might opt to provide a real counterweight to Turkey.
By Zvi Bar’el | Feb. 24, 2015 Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.643857

Despite the rain, snow and bitter cold, thousands of Athenians converged on Syntagma Square, across from the impressive national parliament, to show their support for the new government. Men, women and children marched quietly through the streets as demonstrators poured out of Metro stations and areas were closed to traffic.

“We believe in this government, but not in Europe,” one participant told Haaretz. “The rich countries choked us. They caused the enormous tax burden. They turned us into paupers. Now we have a new government that isn’t afraid.”

Greece’s new finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, is the hero of the day. His gritty appearance and tough talking have earned him the nickname Bruce Willis.

“The cabinet is filled with hot guys,” said a Greek female journalist. Hot or not, the question is whether Varoufakis can bend Europe’s Iron Lady, German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

As another journalist put it, “I’m skeptical. Europe is fed up. You have to admit that we greatly contributed to our situation, and I can see why Germany isn’t willing to pay more for our laziness.”

Janis, the manager of a clothing store, agreed. “Look at us, the store owners,” he said. “Three times a week we close at 3:30 P.M. Why? It’s how it’s always been. We like to rest.”

So will things be different now? “They promised to lower taxes, but we didn’t promise to work more,” he said.

The new decision makers don’t just have the economy on their minds. Shortly after the historic election, the winds of protest against Europe’s “foreign oppression” are still blowing. Political and foreign-policy issues may have taken a backseat, but they’re still feeding the sense of hopelessness against alleged “hostile moves” by Turkey.

“I don’t understand why Turkish planes have to carry out sorties” in Greek airspace, said a senior air-force officer. “Why do they provoke us?”

“Why does Turkey continue to arm itself to the teeth if they have no intention of harming Greece?” a Greek diplomat wondered, while a member of the country’s diplomatic corps added: “We have no doubt: Turkey is our enemy.”

The speakers were among 80 top officers who recently gathered at the military college in Athens to hear an Israeli journalist lecture on the Middle East. During the question-and-answer session, one colonel inquired whether Greece could replace Turkey as Israel’s closest friend.

Another senior officer asked whether the new military cooperation between Greece and Israel was “genuine or a temporary substitute until relations between Israel and Turkey are revived.” Another wanted to know how Greece could get involved in the peace process.

Air-force cooperation

It’s not hard to understand their doubts. Greece has never been viewed in Israel as a strategic partner, while in Greece, Israel has been seen as an occupying power, and even worse, as a friend of Turkey. The new government in Athens is suspected of “insufficient fondness” for Israel and “over-fondness” for the Palestinians.

But political and diplomatic contingencies can create new opportunities, and when Israel asked for permission to use Greek airspace for military training, Greece agreed – it hosts many of the joint exercises. Still, it seems Greece and Israel haven’t yet defined the nature of their relationship; they’re still getting acquainted.

“We’re waiting for decisions,” a senior official in Greece’s Foreign Ministry said. “In the meantime, we’re following the previous protocol.”

In other words, despite reconciliation talks, Turkey is still considered Greece’s main enemy, and the Turks view Greece as the obstacle to Ankara’s joining the European Union. “We aren’t hindering anything. I’m willing to declare now that all subjects concerning Turkey’s accession to the EU should be opened,” the official said.

The “subjects” include Turkey’s economy and approach to human rights. Conditions for EU membership are divided into policy fields, or chapters, such as economic and monetary policy and freedom of movement for workers.

Certain chapters must be closed before others are opened for evaluation. The senior Foreign Ministry official is willing to have all chapters evaluated at the same time because “in any event, the Turks won’t meet the criteria.”

Would Greece take on Turkey’s role in the Middle East? “The truth is, we neglected the Mideast,” the official said. “We didn’t even try to compete with Turkey. But maybe now there will be a new policy.”

“Maybe” and “it seems” are the watchwords, whether the issue is an economic agreement with Europe or foreign-policy matters. But the uncertainty also represents a window of opportunity for Greece and Israel. Their relationship doesn’t have to remain somnolent.

Greece doesn’t have to be taken out only as a last option because we lost Turkey. It doesn’t have to be Turkey on one side and Greece on the other. Better would be a relationship that stands on its own.

21 years after Goldstein massacre, once-thriving #Hebron is a mere memory - Diplomacy and Defense - #Israel News | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.643500

http://www.haaretz.com/polopoly_fs/1.643507!/image/902851760.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_474/902851760.jpg

#Palestine

Deadlines and red lines: Why are IDF attacks against Palestinian journalists on the rise?
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.642636

If Saleh’s injury was only a single case, so be it. But as Palestinian journalists have noticed, in recent years there has been a steady increase in Israeli violence directed toward them. Every month, MADA – the Palestinian Center for Development & Media Freedoms documents the injuries to journalists at the hands of the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli authorities. It divides the injuries – which it calls violations of press freedom – into a number of categories: Physical attacks (beatings and, occasionally, shootings); detention and arrest (for example, of those posting on Facebook); prevention of coverage; entering the workplace or the home; confiscating materials; obstruction; threats; interrogations; and prevention of travel.

(...)

Why do soldiers harm the freedom of Palestinian journalists to work? The answer is simple and does not need any learned casuistry: The role of the IDF is to safeguard the freedom of the settlers to prosper. Therefore, its role is to repress the popular Palestinian demonstrations against the settlements. The role of the IDF is to scare and deter the demonstrators, and to scare and deter those covering the demonstrations. Why is the number of physical attacks on the rise? Because the Palestinian journalists are slow in understanding. They have yet to get the message that they are forbidden to cover the protests.

Along with reports of suspicions of #corruption in the #Israel Land Authority, I mentioned here a month ago the story of the lands of Qa’oun in the northern Jordan Valley. Thirty years ago, the ILA transferred private land of the residents of the West Bank villages of Bardala and Tubas to Kibbutz Merav, of the Religious Kibbutz Movement. The Israel Land Authority (formerly Administration) – an institution that has no authority over Palestinian lands captured in 1967 – already recognized its mistake three years ago. But the land was not returned to its legal owners and the kibbutz continues to farm the land, as one of those responsible from Merav confirmed to Haaretz. For technical reasons, the response of the ILA was not published then. Here it is in its entirety:

“The Israel Land Authority acted to correct the mistake once it became known. A number of meetings were held with the kibbutz, and the authority told it that the areas must be vacated immediately. Some of the cultivated areas were included in the framework of the kibbutz’s permanent allotment, and some were held through the power of a seasonal lease. Regarding the seasonally leased areas, the contract with the kibbutz was not renewed. As for the allotment, the areas were removed from the allotment. Today, negotiations are being held with the kibbutz for setting the level of compensation it will receive in return for vacating the areas. Upon its completion, the lands will be returned to their owners.”

#vol #colonisation #crimes #journalisme #impunité

Palestinian journalists increasingly find themselves in the line of IDF fire
Voici des morts de journalistes dont personne ne se préoccupe

A Palestinian cameraman was shot by an Israeli soldier in December while filming a demonstration in the West Bank. It’s still unclear if the Israeli authorities will investigate.
By Amira Hass | Feb. 15, 2015 |Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.642481

A Palestinian cameraman was shot by an Israeli soldier in December while filming a demonstration in the West Bank. It’s still unclear if the Israeli authorities will investigate.
By Amira Hass | Feb. 15, 2015 |

Israeli judge: Some Palestinian minors see jail sentence as way of escaping home
Un argument que l’on n’avait pas encore entendu, les jeunes Palestiniens veulent aller en prison !

Jurist and attorneys call for more sympathetic handling of cases in which youngsters deliberately seek arrest to flee domestic unhappiness.
By Chaim Levinson | Feb. 15, 2015 | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.642516

Military courts in the West Bank see several cases a year of Palestinian minors who clash with the army in order to be arrested and escape conditions at home, according to an Israeli judge.

Ashkelon Magistrate’s Court Judge Amir Dahan, a former Israel Defense Forces military court judge who frequently cites this information in lectures, told students recently of the case of a Hebron girl who suffered beatings at home. She was apprehended with a knife at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in that city.

“I decided to release her, because jail is not a solution,” related Dahan during the lecture. “She needed help. A few days later, she took a knife and again went to the Tomb of the Patriarchs. I was in a real dilemma. If I let her go again and again, she could end up trying to stab a soldier. Military courts do not have rehabilitation means,” he added.

Attorney Nery Ramati, of the Gabi Lasky law firm, has represented many Palestinian minors. He is leading efforts to find alternatives to detention for Palestinian minors.

“I once represented a girl who lived at home and her parents were angry because her matriculation scores were not good. There was great pressure at home about it and they may have beaten her a little, so she decided to go to a checkpoint with fire crackers in her bag,” Ramati told Haaretz.

When she set one of the firecrackers off at the fence, IDF soldiers arrested her, Ramati said, adding that the girl then told the soldiers, “I came for you to arrest me.”

Ramati said the prosecution “went crazy over the idea that she could be released. From their point of view, she has to sit in jail because she’s dangerous,” he said.

The military court at the IDF’s Ofer base in the northern West Bank is currently hearing the case of a 16-year-old girl from Qalandiyah, who was in conflict with her parents because of her low grades at school. She came to the Qalandiyah checkpoint and called the military police over to her, at which point she was placed under arrest.

Her attorney, Tareq Barghout, asked the military court to send the teenager to a rehabilitation home for girls, in Beit Jala. The prosecution opposed the move and the IDF’s chief military prosecutor in the West Bank, Lt. Col. Morris Hirsch, even appeared in court himself to persuade the judges not to send the girl to a rehabilitation center but instead to jail, Barghout told Haaretz.

“They are still stuck in the primitive thinking of deterring minors,” Barghout said. “They don’t take into account at all the key consideration of rehabilitation. They don’t care whether this girl is rehabilitated, as long as she belongs to the Palestinian population.”

U.S. activist Rachel Corrie’s family loses appeal to Israel’s Supreme Court - Diplomacy and Defense - Israel News | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.642274

http://www.haaretz.com/polopoly_fs/1.460092!/image/1708115288.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_474/1708115288.jpg

The high court on Thursday upheld a ruling by the Haifa District Court exempting Israel from paying civil damages for wrongful death to Corrie’s family since the incident occurred in a war zone.

Netanyahu: Israel will do everything it can to halt Iran nuclear deal
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.641375

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that “world powers and Iran are galloping toward an agreement that will allow Iran to arm itself with nuclear weapons that will endanger the existence of the state of Israel,” adding that he would do everything in his power to foil such an accord before the March 31 deadline.

L’#ONU dénonce un nombre record de #Palestiniens #déplacés en 2014
▻http://www.lemonde.fr/proche-orient/article/2015/01/24/l-onu-denonce-un-nombre-record-de-palestiniens-deplaces-en-2014_4562856_3218

http://s1.lemde.fr/image/2015/01/24/600x315/4562871_3_65ed_des-soldats-israeliens-lors-de-la-destruction_1c8db9759e73246954c12c6ed4f4ebd3.jpg

L’Organisation des nations unies (ONU) affirme avoir enregistré en 2014 un nombre record de Palestiniens déplacés par des démolitions de maisons. « Les autorités israéliennes ont détruit 590 structures appartenant à des Palestiniens à #Jérusalem-Est et dans la #zone_C, forçant 1 177 personnes à se déplacer », assure le bureau pour la coordination des Affaires humanitaires de l’ONU (ou OCHA, pour Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs). Il s’agit du « plus important déplacement de population enregistré en #Cisjordanie par l’OCHA » depuis qu’elle a commencé à recenser les déplacements de façon exhaustive en 2008.

Depuis des années les organisations internationales et de défense des droits de l’homme dénoncent une tentative délibérée d’#Israël de déplacer la population palestinienne dans les 60 % de #Cisjordanie sous le contrôle total de l’Etat hébreu, dits « zone C ».

LES MAISONS DE 77 PALESTINIENS DÉTRUITES EN TROIS JOURS

Et alors que 2015 commence tout juste, « ces trois derniers jours, 77 Palestiniens, pour plus de la moitié des #enfants, ont été jetés à la rue », a ajouté le coordinateur humanitaire de l’ONU pour les territoires palestiniens, James Rawley.

Entre le 20 et le 23 janvier, l’OCHA a recensé la destruction par les autorités israéliennes de « 42 structures appartenant à des Palestiniens dans les gouvernorats de Ramallah et de Jéricho [dans le nord de la Cisjordanie occupée], de Jérusalem et d’Hébron [sud] ». Ces démolitions ont affecté, outre 77 déplacés, 59 autres Palestiniens qui ont perdu des constructions vitales pour assurer leur subsistance, notamment des abris pour animaux. L’OCHA précise que huit des constructions détruites avaient été financées par des donateurs internationaux.

Israël justifie ces démolitions par l’absence d’autorisations de construire. Mais les Palestiniens et les défenseurs des droits de l’homme affirment que la population palestinienne de la « zone C » – dont seul 1 % est dévolu au développement palestinien, selon l’ONU – est réduite à y bâtir sans autorisation, l’armée israélienne ne lui délivrant de permis de construire que très parcimonieusement.

#Israel #impunité

Report : Assassination of Hezbollah’s Imad Mughniyeh was joint U.S.-Israeli operation - Diplomacy and Defense - Israel News | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.639952

Report: Assassination of Hezbollah’s Imad Mughniyeh was joint U.S.-Israeli operation
CIA and Mossad tracked senior Hezbollah figure for months before killing him, former U.S. officials tell Washington Post.

Un gentil cadeau au Hezbollah ou bien un vilain croche-pied à Netanyahou et à ses amis républicains... Au choix !

Congress invitation: A political stunt Netanyahu might regret - Netanyahu will use the speech to boost his election campaign while helping his Republican allies undercut Obama’s efforts to secure an agreement with Iran.
By Barak Ravid | Jan. 22, 2015 Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.638398

For the past month and a half – ever since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the early elections in Israel – the U.S. administration has been walking on eggshells. The instruction passed down from both the White House and from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was to avoid any action, statement or suggestion that might be construed as even the slightest intervention in the Israeli elections in favor of Netanyahu’s political rivals, Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni.

Yet this policy failed to impress Netanyahu and his Republican allies, who have, as of two weeks ago, absolute control over Congress. House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell decided to repay their political debt to Netanyahu, intervene in the Israeli election in his favor and send him a third invitation to make a high-profile speech before both houses of Congress.

Boehner, McConnell and the other GOP leaders haven’t forgotten that Netanyahu supported their presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, in the 2012 campaign against Barack Obama. They also haven’t forgotten the royal welcome Netanyahu gave Romney in Jerusalem. They see Netanyahu as one of their own. Their kin. A conservative among conservatives. The Republican Senator from Jerusalem. The spirit of Sheldon Adelson – the patron of both Netanyahu and the Republicans – looms over this latest move, too. One can already predict that on February 11, the owner of the pro-Netanyahu newspaper Yisrael Hayom, a.k.a. ’Bibiton,’ will be seated in the first row high in the guest seats in Congress.

It was these devious political tricks that the sages of the Mishna and the Talmud had in mind when they said, Ze nehene veze lo haser – which could be loosely translated as “everyone is satisfied” or a win-win situation. Netanyahu’s invitation to speak before Congress is a massive political blow against his rivals – the Herzog’s Zionist Camp on the left and Bennett’s Habayit Hayehudi on the right – as well as a political attack on the White House’s efforts to reach a historic nuclear agreement with Iran.

Netanyahu has been given a chance to strengthen his security agenda around which he is trying to build his campaign. 30 minutes of a polished speech on Iran, ISIS, Hamas, anti-Semitism and a second Holocaust, with countless applause breaks by parliament members of the world’s most powerful superpower, could fortify his standing as the leader of the right in the race against Naftali Bennett.

In the U.S., Republicans in Congress have an opportunity to hurt Obama in the most important foreign policy issue the president will have to deal with in the rest of his term. Every word Netanyahu will say on the podium in Congress will be a finger in Obama’s eye and will strengthen the Republican campaign for additional sanctions against the regime in Tehran and for the failure of the diplomatic negotiations with Iran.

The man who cooked up the idea was no other then Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer – perhaps the most political envoy Israel has ever had in the United States. Despite being a civil servant, Dermer has been in the past weeks engaged in forbidden election propaganda in the U.S. media in support of Netanyahu. The political stunt he conspired with the Republicans is a step up in the same direction.

A complaint about this matter, filed by lawmaker Issawi Freij (Meretz), has been sitting untouched for the past three weeks on the desks of Civil Service Commissioner Moshe Dayan and Civil Service Commission’s disciplinary branch Assad Rosenberg. Despite the clear instructions distributed by the Civil Service to all government officials, forbidding them from taking part in any election propaganda, Dayan and Rosenberg are still examining whether Dermer’s actions could be considered a disciplinary violation. One can only hope they will be able to reach a conclusion before the March 17 elections.

In the past six years the Israeli prime minister and the U.S. president have had more than a few crises. But if every time it seems that the relationship between Netanyahu and the White House couldn’t get any worse, Netanyahu proves that it can.

Still, Netanyahu might end up regretting the plot that he cooked up with the Republicans. The anger at the White House on Wednesday skyrocketed. When he comes to Washington, Netanyahu shouldn’t be surprised to find the gates of the White House closed to the Israeli prime minister – for the first time in the history of U.S.-Israel relations.

NGO accuses IDF of gross abuses during Gaza war
Report by Physicians for Human Rights accuses Israel of using human shields and attacking medical workers and facilities during last summer’s war.
By Gili Cohen | Jan. 21, 2015 | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.638179

A new report by Physicians for Human Rights accuses Israel of using human shields and attacking medical workers and facilities during last summer’s war in the Gaza Strip.

The report is based on testimony from eight overseas medical experts who made three visits to Gaza and interviewed doctors and wounded Palestinians.

Several incidents described in the report took place in Khuza’a, which was under Israeli attack from July 21-25. In one, Ramadan Qdeih accused Israeli soldiers of killing his 65-year-old father, Muhammad, by shooting him twice at close range as he stood in his own doorway.

Afterward, Ramadan said, the soldiers used him as a human shield, forcing him to walk ahead of them down the stairs of the house and threatening that if anyone was hiding there, the soldiers would kill Ramadan immediately.

“At the door to the basement, one soldier placed the barrel of his rifle on Ramadan’s shoulder and fired into the basement,” the report said. “When Ramadan began to shout in fear, he was struck with the rifle butt and insulted by the Israeli soldiers.”

There is no documentation of the foreign doctors’ interview with Ramadan, but based on the report’s description, it seems this incident is one already being investigated by the Military Police.

Shortly after this incident, the report said, seven blindfolded young men were taken to the second floor of the Qdeih house and two were placed at windows from which the glass had been removed. “The Israeli soldiers placed the rifle barrels onto the men’s shoulders and fired out the windows,” it said. “They did not fire continuously, but now and then over approximately one hour.”

Two days earlier, on July 23, several hundred Khuza’a residents had tried to leave the town, carrying white flags. Dr. Kamal Qdeih, who was in the front row, told the foreign doctors that when they reached a group of Israeli tanks, the soldiers ordered them to go back.