Palestinian President Abbas ‘would accept’ UN upgrade

Abbas’s attempt for full UN membership was rejected last year

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas says he is ready to accept “non-member state” status at the United Nations, if Israel does not resume peace talks.

He made the comments as French President Francois Hollande lent his support to Palestinian aims for UN state recognition.

Last September the Palestinian bid for full member status fell apart when the United States said it would veto it.

Security Council backing is required for bids for full UN membership.

Israel is strongly opposed to any Palestinian bid for UN state recognition and has lobbied against it.

Israel fears Palestinian efforts for higher status at the UN are part of a plan to delegitimise the state of Israel.

Mr Abbas told a news conference in Paris that if Israel decided not to restart negotiations, “we will of course go to the (UN) General Assembly to obtain non-member status”.

French backingMr Hollande, whose recent election has reversed French policy towards Palestinian ambitions at the UN, backed Mr Abbas’s aims.

“Today, we must do everything to facilitate the recognition of a Palestinian state via a negotiated process,” Mr Hollande said at the same news conference.

Direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians stalled in late 2010 when Palestinians walked out in protest at the building of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Currently, Palestinians have “observer” status at the UN, without voting rights.

Palestinians at the UN

• Palestinians have “observer” status at the UN, without voting rights
• Non-member status requires General Assembly backing
• Full membership must be approved by the Security Council
• Palestinians have full membership of the UN’s cultural arm, Unesco

Upgrading to “non-member state” status would allow the Palestinians to sign certain international treaties such as the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

UN diplomats say approval of “non-member state” status requires a majority vote from the 193-member UN General Assembly.

Unesco memberOne-hundred-and-twenty General Assembly members already approved last year’s attempt to gain full UN recognition.

In theory, therefore, the Palestinians are almost certain to gain non-member state status if they apply.

Other entities with “non-member state” status at the UN include the Vatican, which does not have voting rights either.

Last October the UN’s cultural body Unesco voted strongly in favour ot admitting the Palestinians.

In response, Washington said it would cut funding to Unesco. Its membership dues provide around a fifth of the organisation’s budget.

Palestinian membership of Unesco was broadly seen as a step towards strengthening the Palestinians’ position at the United Nations.

(www.bbc.co.uk / 10.06.2012)

Israel: Mahmoud Sarsak at Risk of Death: Free him Immediately

Letter by William Gomes Salem-News.com

Human Rights Ambassador William Nicholas Gomes contacts the Israeli Prime Minister over the plight of hunger striker Mahmoud Sarsak.

Supporters of Mahmoud Sarsak

(SALEM) – Israel is obligated by international legal to inform people who are taken into police or military custody, of the reasons for the arrest at the time, and to promptly inform them of any charges they face.

Once a person is arrested, they are to be brought before a judge, and in criminal cases, they are to be provided a fair and public trial in which the defendant may challenge any witnesses against them.

Israel’s practice of jailing West Bank Palestinians within its own borders is gaining world attention. The actions violate the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit an occupying power from detaining members of the occupied population outside the occupied territory.

In protest of this, a number of jailed Palestinians have been taking part in hunger strikes which are a classic form of non-violent resistance. 25-year old Mahmoud Sarsak is one of those hunger strikers who is becoming a focal point of world attention. A brilliant young football star only three years ago, he is now at risk of death in an Israeli prison, on the 87th day of his hunger strike.

He is held under Israel’s “Unlawful Combatants Law,” which allows for Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to be detained for an unlimited amount of time without charge or trial. Those detained under the Statute have little or no legal protections, even less than those detained under administrative detention orders in the West Bank.

“

June 10, 2012 Benjamin Netanyahu Prime Minister of the State of Israel Office of the Prime Minister 3 Kaplan Street, P O Box 187 Jerusalem 91919, Israel Phone: +972-2-6753333 Fax: +972 2 6521599 E-mail: pm_eng@pmo.gov.il Re: Israel:Mahmoud Sarsak at risk of death’: Free him immediately Dear Prime Minister of the State of Israel, I am William Nicholas Gomes, Human Rights Ambassador for Salem-News.com. I am writing to express my serious concern over Mahmoud Sarsak who at risk of death in Israeli prison. Mahmoud, 25 years old and a member of the Palestinian national football team, has been detained for nearly three years under Israel’s “Unlawful Combatants Law,” which allows for Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to be detained for an unlimited amount of time without charge or trial. Those detained under the Statute have little or no legal protections, even less than those detained under administrative detention orders in the West Bank. According to the information received Mahmoud Sarsak is currently on his 87th day of hunger strike, resulting in an imminent threat to his life. Despite the urgency of his condition, the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) has denied Mahmoud access to independent doctors from PHR-Israel until today. According to PHR-Israel, The IPS also refuses to transfer him to a civilian hospital for proper treatment. Following today’s visit, the PHR-Israel doctor reported that Mahmoud has experienced extreme loss of muscle tissue and drastic weight loss. He has lost 33 percent of his body weight, from an original weight of 76 kilos down to his present weight of 51 kilos. He also suffers from frequent incidents of fainting and loss of consciousness, in addition to lapses in memory. The doctor further reported that Mahmoud is in danger of pulse disruptions (arrhythmias) that are endangering his life. PHR-Israel’s independent doctor strongly recommended that Mahmoud should be immediately transferred to a hospital, as they are at immediate risk of death. These recommendations were given directly to the IPS doctor .It should be emphasized that contrary to medical ethic and professional standards, the IPS refused the request of the independent doctor to go over the full medical files of Mahmoud. Israel’s practice of jailing West Bank Palestinians inside Israel violates the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit an occupying power from detaining members of the occupied population outside the occupied territory. I want remind you that administrative detention is allowed under international humanitarian law, it must be used only under exceptional circumstances as it infringes upon basic human rights, including the right to a fair trial. Indeed, the denial of a fair trial constitutes a ‘grave breach’ of the Fourth Geneva Convention, one of the most serious forms of war crimes. This form of arbitrary arrest also contravenes Articles 9 and 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. I also want to remind you the European Parliament called on Israel in a September 2008 resolution to “guarantee that minimum standards on detention be respected, to bring to trial all detainees, [and] to put an end to the use of ‘administrative detention orders’.” Also the United Nations Human Rights Committee has stated several times that prolonged administrative detention is likely to result in the exposure of detainees to “torture, ill-treatment and other violations of human rights.” I will also urge you Israel should immediately charge or release people jailed without charge or trial under so-called administrative detention. And Stop Jailing People Without Charge or Trial. Israel’s international legal obligations require it to inform those arrested of the reasons for the arrest at the time, to promptly inform them of any charges against them, and to bring them before a judge, and in criminal cases, to provide a fair and public trial in which the defendant may challenge any witnesses against them. In its concluding observations on Israel in 2010, the United Nations Human Rights Committee, which monitors states’ compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, criticized Israel’s “frequent and extensive use of administrative detention,” and called on Israel to “refrain from using [it]” and to “complete as soon as possible” a review of relevant legislation. Given the critical health condition of the hunger strikers and the fact that Mahmoud Sarsak face imminent death: • I demand that Mahmoud Sarsak should in advanced stage should move immediately to civilian hospitals where they can receive the standard of care necessary; • I call for immediate intervention for the IPS to provide Mahmoud Sarsak with unrestricted access to independent doctors; • I demand that Mahmoud Sarsak should allowed family visits; Please note I have writtena separate letter to UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention asking urgent intervention on the case of Mahmoud Sarsak. Please note that I have written a separate letter to the Member States of the United Nations to urgently put pressure on Israel to end its policy of arbitrary detention and to abide by the standard rules for the treatment of prisoners adopted in 1955, which set out what is generally accepted as being decent principle and practice in the treatment of prisoners. I have also communicated with the European Parliament to activate the parliamentary fact-finding mission that includes members of its Subcommittee on Human Rights to investigate the conditions of detention of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons;specifically on the case of Mahmoud Sarsak. I have emphasized that the parliamentary fact-finding mission must include an investigation into Israel’s illegal practice of administrative detention and the use of the “Unlawful Combatant Law”; I have draw urgent attention of the members of the European Parliament to bring the case of Mahmoud Sarsak attention of relevant Israeli authorities without delay. I request your urgent intervention. Yours sincerely, William Nicholas Gomes Human Rights Ambassador for Salem-News.com Salem-News.com P.O. Box 5238 Salem, Oregon 97304 http://www.williamgomes.org (salem-news.com / 10.06.2012)

Hamas Leader declares support to the Syrian revolution

Syrian woman displays sign on her hands reading “Sorry Hama” during a demonstration against Syria’s President Al-Assad in front of the Syrian embassy

For the first time, a senior Hamas leader declares support and sympathy with the Syrian revolution.

Today the twenty fourth of February, 2012, Mr. Ismail Haniya, the Hamas prime minister of Gaza saluted the Arab Spring and greeted the Egyptian revolution and the Syrian People and their revolution. Mr. Haniya’s speech on the Syrian revolution is going to have a huge impact on the Syrian-Hamas relationship in particular and the Syrian- Palestinian relationship in general, especially when considering that Hamas used to be Syrian last major Palestinian ally before the Arab Spring.

From Al Azhar mosque, the Egyptian famous Islamic symbol, Mr. Haniya valued the Egyptian revolution and considered the new Egypt as the true strategic geopolitical depth of Palestine.

Such Hamas stance has been considered by observers to occur on any moment in view of the classical contradiction between the ideological as well as the sectarian backgrounds of both parties, Hamas and the Syrian regime.

(www.allvoices.com / 10.06.2012)

Oproep aan de Nederlandse media

Vanaf vrijdag is bijna heel Europa en bijna heel Nederland in de ban van de EK Voetbal in Polen en Oekraïne. Maar waar we niets van mogen horen of lezen is de hongerstaking van Mahmoud al-Sarsak. Al-Sarsak is een Palestijnse voetballer die al meer dan 80 dagen  in hongerstaking is in de gevangenis van de bezettende macht, Israël, en momenteel stervende is.  

Henny Kreeft, o.a. Palestina activist, is woedend over het feit dat de Nederlandse media de Palestijnen in alle opzichten in de steek laat, letterlijk en figuurlijk doodzwijgt. Kreeft: “In Nederland mag er niet gesproken worden over Palestina. Het enige wat hier mag, zijn de ophemelende artikelen over Israël en het fantastische gascontract.” Kreeft heeft ondertussen de columns geschreven ‘Nederland steunt bezetter’ en ‘Samen schrijven we geschiedenis’, maar geen woord in de Nederlandse media. Beide columns gaan over de hongerstaking van Mahmoud al-Sarsak. Kreeft vraagt zich af wat er mis is met de Nederlandse media en haar onafhankelijkheid. Kreeft: “Als de Nederlandse media pretendeert onafhankelijk te zijn en het nieuws  van alle kanten wenst  te beschrijven, dan had ze ook moeten schrijven over de pijn van de Palestijnen, over het dagelijks leven in Palestina, over de aanhoudende bezetting van Palestina, over het verwoesten van huizen, het stelen van land en het molesteren van olijfbomen. Maar geen woord, geen alinea, niemand wil of wat schrijven over Palestina. Behalve misschien dan dat de activisten en supporters van Palestina halve idioten zijn. Zeg maar dat ik een idioot ben, daar maal ik niet om. Maar geef eens berichten vanuit de Palestijnse kant.”

Een van de zaken die Henny Kreeft nu bezig houdt, is het dossier van Mahmoud al-Sarsak. Mahmoud al-Sarsak was een veelbelovende voetballer, hij is 25 van Gaza en wilde in 2009 naar een wedstrijd in de Westbank. Echter hij is daar nooit aangekomen, maar opgepakt door de bezettende macht. Kreeft: “ Het is onbegrijpelijk dat de internationale gemeenschap niet reageert op het willekeurig oppakken  van Palestijnen door de bezettende macht. Ik noem het geen Israël meer, het zijn gewoon de bezetters van Palestina en elke dag weer ben ik pissed off als ik de internationale media lees of de boodschappen die ik  via de social media aangeboden krijg. Maar de Nederlandse media schrijft niet over dit soort zaken.  Door wat simpele columns en een persbericht zal de stemming onder het journaille wel niet veranderen, maar toch wil ik wel een poging wagen.”

Kreeft roept de Nederlandse media op om ook te schrijven over de Palestijnse zaak en dan niet uit oogpunt van Mr. Rosenthal of Verhagen met de vriendjes van de bezettende macht. Neen, toon nu eens ballen en de onafhankelijkheid en schrijf over wat er dagelijks gebeurt in de steden en dorpen in Palestina. Kreeft: “Heren en dames journalisten, neem het voortouw en schrijf over Mahmoud al-Sarsak, die voetballer wilde worden in het nationaal team van Palestina, maar dit niet meer kan doen. Schrijf over het feit dat hij door de ruim 80 dagen hongerstaking meer dan 10 kg is afgevallen. En alleen maar omdat hij zijn belangrijkste wedstrijd speelt van zijn leven, nl. in leven te blijven om ons te tonen hoe de bezetters werkelijk zijn.” Kreeft eindigt met de opmerking: “Als de Nederlandse media niet kan of mag of wil schrijven over mensen als Mahmoud al-Sarsak, is ze in feite medeverantwoordelijk voor de dood van Palestijnse gevangenen, die schreeuwen om onze hulp.”

Israel detention ends Gaza footballer’s dream

Mahmoud Al-Sarsak was arrested by Israeli security in 2009 and and, after three years of detention without trial, is now on hunger strike.

Palestinian footballer Mahmoud al-Sarsak left the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2009 to play football in the West Bank. But he never reached his goal.

He was arrested by Israeli security and, after three years of detention without trial, Sarsak is on hunger strike.

His current term of detention term ends on August 22 but there is no guarantee that it will not be renewed for a further six months, as it has been before, his family and lawyer said.

“The entire family and friends are afraid for Mahmoud’s life and the worry is killing us,” said Sarsak’s older brother, Emad.

The 25-year-old is in an Israeli jail on secret charges that he is an “unlawful combatant” linked to the militant group Islamic Jihad, an allegation he denies.

Sarsak had joined the local football team in his Rafah refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip at 14, becoming the youngest footballer to play in the Palestine Liga A at the time. The midfielder attracted the attention of a German coach while playing for the Palestine national team in Norway.

“He always dreamed of playing outside the country, to represent Palestine through playing for an Arab or an international team, and he was talented enough,” Emad said.

The first step was to play for a team in the West Bank. But Israeli security arrested him on July 22, 2009, at the Erez crossing from the blockaded Gaza enclave, the only route to Palestinian territory in the occupied West Bank.

“Mahmoud would not have tried to cross through Erez if he had anything to fear. He belonged to no (militant) faction and he had done nothing wrong,” Emad, 36, told Reuters.

Mahmoud began his strike on March 15, demanding an end to his “unjustified” detention.

“The prisoner has been on an intermittent hunger strike and is receiving medical care in a Prisons Service medical facility,” Israel’s Prison Service said in a statement in response to queries. “As in the past, he will be transferred to hospital as required.”

On May 14, Israel struck an agreement with representatives of 1,600 Palestinian prisoners to end a 27-day hunger strike, agreeing to stop solitary confinements, allow family visits and improve detention conditions.

But it did not promise to end administrative detention, a practice whereby secret information can put a person in jail for months or years. It did, though, agree that future extension of such terms would require a court order and list of charges.

“It seemed the Israelis cheated and the Egyptians (mediators) did not deal with Mahmoud as an administrative detainee. So Mahmoud pursued his hunger strike demanding his freedom,” said the brother, a civil servant in Gaza.

No trial

Lawyer Mohammed Jabarin said Israel introduced the law allowing it to detain “unlawful combatants” without trial following its withdrawal from Gaza in 2005.

“The danger of such a law is that as long as Israel sees the situation as a war situation it allows itself to keep some people in prison. It is more serious than administrative detention,” he told Reuters by phone.

He said Sarsak had lost at least 10 kgs (22 pounds) and recently began having injections and solutions of salt to combat
pain, weakness and deteriorating eyesight.

Jabarin said there were talks with the Israeli prison authorities over Sarsak’s hunger strike but there was
official promise by Israel it would not renew his detention.

He said Israel’s security holds Sarsak on suspicion of having ties with the Islamic Jihad group, but had failed to make formal charges.

The Sarsak family wants Palestinian factions and leaders to show more public support for Mahmoud.

“Standing by Mahmoud is a national duty. The family urges leaders and human rights groups to pressure Israel to release our son whose life is in danger at the moment,” Emad said.

“Sport was everything he admired and embraced in life,” said his mother. “We miss him every moment, every time we gather for a meal or to drink tea. I urge him to pursue his strike and remain steadfast until they meet his demands.”

(english.alarabiya.net / 10.06.2012)

Verkiezingen in Libië op 7 juli

Libische demonstranten.

De eerste verkiezingen in Libië sinds de val van dictator Muammar Kaddafi zijn uitgesteld en vinden plaats op 7 juli. Dat heeft de verkiezingscommissie zondag laten weten.

De stembusgang zou op 19 juni plaatsvinden, maar is uit logistieke overwegingen verzet. Volgens een woordvoerder van de commissie is het uitstel nodig vanwege beroepszaken van kandidaten die niet mogen meedoen aan de verkiezingen.

De verkiezingen zijn voor een nationale publieke conferentie die onder andere een nieuwe grondwet moet gaan vaststellen. Meer dan 2,7 miljoen Libiërs, ongeveer 80 procent van de stemgerechtigden, hebben zich laten registreren en willen gaan stemmen.

(www.parool.nl / 10.06.2012)

A NIGHT ON THE MAVI MARMARA

A little after 7 P.M. on May 30th, Kevin Neish, a retired mechanic from Vancouver, stood on the inner stairwell of Turkey’s Mavi Marmara passenger ferry. “This was the hospital,” he said, gesturing to the dull green linoleum landing in front of the ship’s information desk. “It was full of bodies. I counted them.”

Two years earlier, nine activists—eight Turks and one Turkish-American—had been killed when Israeli forces raided the boat as it carried aid to Gaza. (Israel has said it will not make a formal apology, despite Turkish demands, but it has reportedly offered compensation to the families of the dead.) Like the hundreds of visitors who surrounded him, Neish had returned to Turkey to mark the anniversary by spending the night on board. The boat has been docked in Istanbul for repairs, and it is mostly refurbished. Tan couches stained with blood have been replaced with rows of red and blue chairs. The wooden decks have been scrubbed clean. But remnants of the violence remain. On a wall beside doors to the upper deck, someone had circled the gray scuffs from bullets in red ink. “It sounds like a cliché from a novel, but there was blood on the bannister right over there,” Neish said, pointing to the polished wood. On the wall, there was a photo of the blood-covered bannister. “I won’t sleep tonight.”

The boat that night served both as a museum and a court room, stocked with evidence meant to re-create the raid. It was part of a campaign organized by the Turkish aid organization I.H.H. (in English, Humanitarian Relief Foundation), which, along with the Free Gaza Movement, also organized the 2010 “freedom flotilla.” A giant banner with portraits of the dead covered one side of the ship. Inside, photos from the journey were propped up on tripods. Video stills from the raid were hanging on the walls, placed there to counter claims that the activists who’d been aboard were armed. Two years ago, the Mavi Marmara, along with five other ships, sailed from Antalya, Turkey, toward Gaza. The goals were to deliver aid and to draw attention to the Israeli blockade of the area. The activists failed to achieve that first goal. The boats were stopped in international waters, those aboard arrested, and the cargo confiscated. In bringing attention to Gaza, though, the Mavi Marmara surpassed expectations. After the raid, all eyes were on the flotilla and the blockade, and the Israeli Army was resoundingly criticized for its response. Relations between Turkey and Israel were damaged, perhaps irreparably.

The relationship between the two countries, once allies, began deteriorating in early 2009, when Turkey loudly condemned Israel for its conduct in Gaza. The criticism was both emotional and tactical. The Turkish government had been focussed for some time on raising its prestige within the Middle East, and solidarity with the Palestinians was a key element in building good relations with Arab countries. “There was a great euphoria when Erdogan bashed Israel,” Ekrem Eddy Guzeldere, a political analyst based in Istanbul, told me. “Turkey, in its efforts to become a regional player, wants to be more influential among Arab states, and the easiest and most emotional way to do this is to criticize Israel and become a hero on the Arab street. After the Mavi Marmara, this was the main strategy.” Now, Guzeldere said, Turkey’s relationship with Israel has hit “the bottom,” but there are reasons that Turkey might want détente; the economic bond between the two countries remains strong.

But two years on, the Mavi Marmara is still standing in the way. Only a few days before the second anniversary of the attack, Turkey announced that it was formally indicting four Israeli officials for their role in the raid. A march to mark the anniversary was buoyed by an extensive advertising campaign—all over the city, large banners displayed a photo of the Mavi Marmara next to a photo of doves circling the dome of a mosque with the words “We Are Walking” and “Free Jerusalem” over it. The night before the event itself, a van plastered with the poster drove through Istanbul, blasting information about the march from speakers propped on its roof. It worked. On Thursday evening, Istanbul’s Taksim Square swelled with thousands of people walking in support of the Mavi Marmara. The demonstration—winding as it did through Taksim, a thoroughly Westernized area—could also be read as a symbol of the acceptance of the wider influence of Islam on Turkish society. I.H.H. is a religious organization, a fact that has alienated it from mainstream activism in the past, and cast suspicion upon it. I.H.H. employees have been accused of terrorism and religious fundamentalism. In the case of the Mavi Marmara, detractors said that the activists had provoked the army, and held up their religion as proof that they were eager to fight. But when the Mavi Marmara became a symbol of Turkish solidarity with Palestine, so did I.H.H. Religious conservatism once seemed contrary to activism in Turkey; in this case, it is steering it.

“We have never concealed our religious feelings,” Bulent Yildirim, I.H.H.’s president, told me. “According to Islam we should take action where there is torture.” He credits the Mavi Marmara with easing the passage of I.H.H. into the greater activist community in Turkey. “There is increased trust between the I.H.H. and the secular activists now,” Yildirim said.

Turkey has repeatedly called for Israel to apologize for the raid on the Mavi Marmara, as though the only thing standing in the way of strong political ties between the two countries is two magic words. Yildirim claims that I.H.H. wants the same thing, for the raid and also for what was said about his organization. “They accused us of being terrorists, of being Al Qaeda, of being influenced by the Iranians,” he said. “But we took a poll, and ninety-five per cent of Turks agree with what we did. Even if they don’t like what we look like, they like what we do.”

Throughout the event, Yildirim walked through the boat shaking hands and kissing cheeks like a mayor seeking reëlection. It’s thanks to the Mavi Marmara that I.H.H. has seen an increase in participation and funding, which they say comes mostly from private donors. They have gained authority, become bolder, and more immune to criticism. They have had to defend their religious ideology less. They have become much more visible—their name is forever linked to the famous ship, which they still own.

At sunset last Wednesday, with the call to prayer reverberating on the event’s loudspeakers, men unfurled large prayer mats on the concrete dock beside the boat. Women laid down their own mats behind the men. While Istanbul’s many mosques echoed across the city, the hundreds of activists prayed together in the direction of Mecca, just to the left of the Mavi Marmara’s bow.

(www.newyorker.com / 10.06.2012)

Israeli, Palestinian negotiators quietly meet

RAMALLAH, West Bank –  Israeli and Palestinian officials say their negotiators have been meeting quietly in recent weeks in hopes of ending a three-year standstill in peace efforts.

Palestinian officials said Sunday that chief envoy Saeb Erekat has been holding talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s representative, Yitzhak Molcho. They say the men are trying to set up a meeting between Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Negotiations collapsed in December 2008 and remain frozen. The Palestinians want Israel to halt settlement construction on occupied lands. Netanyahu wants talks to start without any preconditions.

An Israeli official confirmed “ongoing contacts” between the sides, and said Israel is ready to consider goodwill gestures to bring Abbas to the negotiating table.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing sensitive diplomatic contacts.

(www.foxnews.com / 10.06.2012)

#PALHUNGER | TO ALL THE “SPORTS” WHO LEAVE MAHMOUD SARSAK TO DIE ~ Cartoon by @CarlosLatuff

A tous les sportifs qui laissent mourir Mahmoud Sarsak

June 10, 2012 | 10 juin 2012 | Europalestine

Et plus particulièrement pour Platini qui a décidé de faire jouer aux moins de 21 ans la coupe européenne de foot en… Israël, en mars prochain : un cadeau signé Carlos Latuff.

And especially for Platini has decided to play under 21 European Football Cup in … Israel, in March coming: a gift by Carlos Latuff.

(occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com / 10.06.2012)

Future Egyptian president is sure to review Camp David accord

Last night on Hardball, Chris Matthews was saying that an Israeli attack on Iran would destroy the Camp David treaty. But Israeli rejectionism is having the same effect. Akiva Eldar in the National Interest says the Egyptian presidential election will end Israel impunity for its behavior. Note that the Egyptian public is tuned to the brutality of the occupation, just like we are:

Yet there is one theme that unites the two [Egyptian presidential] finalists, as well as most other candidates who were dropped in the first round: they all strongly criticize the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem and Israel’s settlement policy. Both have declared that if Israel will not get involved in serious negotiations with the Palestinians on the two-state solution, Egypt will feel free to review the Camp David accord, signed in September 1978 by President Anwar el-Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin. It is too early to predict what they mean by “reviewing” the accords. It will be difficult to cool further the diplomatic, cultural and economic relationship between the countries. Relations have been nearly frozen since Mubarak’s removal from office. A long-standing deal under which Israel was supplied with Egyptian natural gas is practically dead..

For many years, the Egyptian regime allowed Israel to have it both ways: to enjoy the benefits of peace with the most important Arab country while perpetrating a reality in the occupied territories that even the United States, Israel’s closest ally, believes to be illegal. The Israeli leaders adopted Prime Minister Menachem Begin’s perception that the Palestinian chapter in the Camp David Accords was just a fig leaf for the Egyptians..

The Al Jazeera TV network will bring into the living rooms of millions of Egyptians the next images of Israeli soldiers chasing Palestinian demonstrators. And the Egyptian populace isn’t likely to let its leaders keep business as usual vis-à-vis the Jewish State.

 (mondoweiss.net / 10.06.2012)