Eye On Israel/Palestine

Moishe3rd

Killing of Palestinians bad. Killing of Jews, so what after all it's a pretty common sport.

Moishe3rd

Killing of Palestinians bad. Killing of Jews, so what after all it's a pretty common sport.

au1929 wrote:

Moishe3rd

Killing of Palestinians bad. Killing of Jews, so what after all it's a pretty common sport.

I don't see it that way at all. And in fact, I think that for a while there it went pretty starkly the other way around. You'll notice, for instance, that in most papers here in the states the number of Israelis killed since 2000 is reported while the number of Palestinians is not. Presumably this is because it doesn't matter how many Palestinians die. Also, when there is a suicide bombing, great care is taken to mention any children killed, while children killed by mistake in bombing raids in the territories are reported only in the number of victims. There are a few exceptions, but most of those are international papers.

Like Walter, I am equally against the killing of Israelis and Palestinians.

GAZA CITY (AFP) - Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian police colonel at a military roadblock in the southern Gaza Strip (news - web sites).


AFP/File Photo



A spokesman for the Palestinian security services in Gaza said Saturday that the victim was Mahmud al-Fara, 61.


Fara was shot twice while travelling in a car as troops attempted to get Palestinian vehicles to pull back from the roadblock at Abu Gholi, near the town of Khan Yunis, the witnesses said.


But Israeli military sources said he was armed and had approached the army checkpoint on foot.


Fara's death brought the overall toll since the September 2000 start of the Palestinian intifada to 4,676, including 3,630 Palestinians and 971 Israelis, according to an AFP tally.


Elsewhere nine wanted Palestinian activists were arrested overnight in the north of the West Bank, the Israeli military said.

New chapter in Mideast
Palestinians choose president in balloting observers say could boost peace process

By JOHN WARD ANDERSON and MOLLY MOORE, Washington Post
First published: Monday, January 10, 2005

JERUSALEM -- Palestinian voters appeared to overwhelmingly elect Mahmoud Abbas as their president Sunday in balloting that many Palestinians and international officials considered a milestone in efforts to bring democracy to the Arab world and a potential opening for reviving peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.
Abbas, 69, the candidate of the dominant Palestinian political party, the Fatah movement, received 66 percent to 70 percent of the ballots cast, three private exit polls showed. Mustafa Barghouti, 50, a doctor and human rights activist running as an independent candidate, was a distant second with about 20 percent of the votes, the results indicated. Analysts said they expected turnout to officially top 60 percent.

Five other candidates, including Abdelhaleem Ashqar, a college professor who faces federal racketeering charges and is under house arrest in Virginia, each received between 1 percent and 4 percent of the votes, according to the exit surveys.

Two hours after the polls closed, Abbas declared victory, surrounded by cheering and chanting supporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. The Palestinian Central Election Commission said official tallies would be released today.

Abbas told his supporters: "Difficult and complicated missions face us -- to establish a state with security and respect for our citizens, to give our prisoners freedom, to give our fugitives a dignified life and to reach our goal of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital."

Sunday's balloting for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank and Gaza Strip, was the first Palestinian presidential election in nine years. Abbas, a former Palestinian prime minister popularly known as Abu Mazen, will succeed Yasser Arafat, who died two months ago after leading the Palestinian people for nearly four decades.

Abbas's apparent victory was greeted by celebratory gunfire in the Gaza Strip and in Ramallah, where the Palestinian government is headquartered. The militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad had vowed not to participate in the vote.

International and Palestinian election monitors reported widespread confusion at polling stations in East Jerusalem, where they said Israeli officials severely limited the number of Palestinians allowed to cast ballots. The monitors said, however, that the Israeli military largely adhered to commitments to ease travel restrictions at checkpoints throughout the West Bank. No significant problems were reported in the Gaza Strip, despite concerns that Islamic militant organizations could attempt to thwart voters from reaching polling stations.

Barghouti alleged at a news conference Sunday night that monitors found voting irregularities and violations. He said there were allegations that people not registered were allowed to vote at some stations and that some voters, including Palestinian security forces, cast multiple ballots.

Overall, the election was marked by far fewer problems than many Palestinian organizations had predicted, although voter turnout was so low at midafternoon that the Palestinian election commission extended balloting by two hours. An hour before polls closed, Hanna Nasir, chairman of the commission, told reporters in Ramallah that 43 percent of the 1.9 million eligible voters had turned out. In scattered municipal elections last month in the West Bank, voter turnout was about 81 percent.

"The feeling here is that the situation is not going to change and that none of the candidates can change it," said Sana Amad, elections director at a polling station in the West Bank city of Nablus. Only 400 of 1,840 registered voters had shown up at the station by midafternoon. "It's very pessimistic."

Abbas, a pragmatic politician who almost always appears in public wearing a suit and tie, faces serious challenges from within Palestinian society as well as from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Abbas, who has said the militarization of the Palestinian uprising was a mistake, must persuade militant organizations to abandon the struggle more than four years after the current uprising began. More than 3,000 Palestinians and about 1,000 Israelis have been killed in the fighting.

In an example of the obstacles ahead, the armed wing of Abbas's Fatah movement killed an Israeli soldier in a West Bank ambush on the eve of the election.

"We expect a new, different Palestinian leadership that will be prepared to move in the direction of peace," Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told Israel Radio on Sunday.

Khalil Shikaki, director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, which conducted one of the exit polls that showed Abbas scoring a decisive victory, said: "There's no doubt he got a mandate" from Palestinians who want "to try a cease-fire and return to negotiations."

In East Jerusalem, where Israeli and Palestinian officials have clashed vociferously over allowing Palestinians to vote, turnout was extraordinarily low. Many of those who tried to cast ballots were rejected because of confusion over registration lists, according to election officials and monitors. Former president Jimmy Carter, an election monitor, telephoned Sharon's office and urged the loosening of restrictions.

Israeli officials imposed strict conditions on Palestinian voters in East Jerusalem, allowing only 5,367 of 120,000 eligible Palestinian voters to cast ballots there. Israel allowed balloting at six Israeli post offices in East Jerusalem. About 115,000 voters from East Jerusalem were required to cast ballots at 12 polling stations outside the city.

The only stories I have ever read detailing Israeli (or simply detailing those murdered by Palestinians anywhere) deaths are Jewish, Israeli, or American "right wing" sources.

Moishe3rd wrote:

The only stories I have ever read detailing Israeli (or simply detailing those murdered by Palestinians anywhere) deaths are Jewish, Israeli, or American "right wing" sources.

With all respect: that isn't true - at least not for European media.

But I have not been right in the head since Europe; the World Court and the United Nations condemned Israel for building a fence.
It is the simpler things that demonstrate people's... values.

My difficulty is that you claim that the European (normal, not right wing - although I'm not sure what "right wing" would mean in Europe) media does indeed list details or particulars about the victims of Palestinian murderers. I have not seen such with this vast internet panoply at my fingertips.
Point me in a direction.
Or, better yet, why not post those articles along with your other, ahem, less complimentary articles that you see fit to post?
I just don't get it...

Moishe3rd wrote:

But I have not been right in the head since Europe; the World Court and the United Nations condemned Israel for building a fence.
It is the simpler things that demonstrate people's... values.

My difficulty is that you claim that the European (normal, not right wing - although I'm not sure what "right wing" would mean in Europe) media does indeed list details or particulars about the victims of Palestinian murderers. I have not seen such with this vast internet panoply at my fingertips.
Point me in a direction.
Or, better yet, why not post those articles along with your other, ahem, less complimentary articles that you see fit to post?
I just don't get it...

Just reminding you that the UN and the 'World Court' (what do you mean be that: the 'International Court of Justice'?) aren't 'Europe' at all.

'Right wing' in Europe is from "conservative" over "ultra nationalist" to "Nazi" with Liberals somewhere as well.

I don't store media links, and most newspaper archives are only to be looked with paying - so, sorry that I can't give the links.

Arab Population in the West Bank and Gaza
THE MILLION-AND-A-HALF PERSON GAP
The assumption that Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza pose a demographic threat to Israel has to be radically revised. The 2004 Palestinian-Arab population was closer to 2.4 million than to the 3.8 million reported by Palestinian Authority (PA) officials. These findings should have a significant impact on politicians, policy makers and international aid agencies.


The million-and-a-half person gap occurred because the PA numbers are based on Palestine Bureau of Statistics (PBS) 1997 projections, not on actual population counts. The PBS used the PA's official 1997 census as a base population and assumed the population would grow at 4 to 5% a year, one of the highest growth rates in the world. PA Ministry of Health birth data and actual border entry/exit data, confirm that the PBS expectations were not met in any year between 1997 and 2004. There were dramatically fewer births and lower fertility rates, and instead of immigration, the West Bank and Gaza experienced a steady net emigration. When the PBS incorrect assumptions are applied over many years, the error in population forecast compounds exponentially.



Fewer births: PA Ministry of Health birth reports were substantially lower than the number predicted by the PBS.
Lower Fertility Rates: Palestinian fertility rates declined from the mid-90's through 2003, according to PA Ministry of Health, consistent with the trend occurring in other Middle Eastern Arab societies.
Net Emigration: Instead of the large immigration originally projected by the PA, the West BAnk and Gaza experienced a steady net emigration averaging 10,000 a year.
Double Counting: 210,000 Jerusalem Arabs who are already counted in Israel's population survey were included in the PA survey.
Inclusion of non-residents: Palestinians with IDs living abroad for over one year were included in the PA Census & Projection.
Internal migration: 150,000 PA Arabs who have legally relocated to Israel since 1993 are still counted by the PA.
Retrospective Alterations of Recorded Birth data.

The PA's Central Election Commission press release of October 14 2004 acknowledged that the number of eligible voters living in the West Bank and Gaza was only 1.3 million.

The resident population in January 2004 was 2.4 million: 1.35 million in the West Bank and 1.07 million in Gaza in January 2004.


Arab Population

The claim that Jews will become a minority in the region are incorrect. Since 1967, Jews have maintained their 60% majority in Israel, West Bank and Gaza and since 1990, the Jewish population has grown by 2.5% a year, only a slight fraction below the growth rate in the West Bank. The declines in Palestinian Arab growth rates and the vitality of Jewish growth rates which are the highest among Western democracies, will preserve this ratio.


The Israeli Arab growth rate of 3.1% was augmented by the influx of 150,000 Arabs from the West Bank and Gaza. The Israeli Arab natural rate of increase remained at 2.1%. Additionally, many observers have misidentified all non-Jews as "Palestinian Arabs." Many groups, such as the Druze and non-Jewish immigrants, identify themselves as Israelis, not as Arabs. Israel is becoming more multicultural not more Arab.

Palestinian Militants Attack Jewish Towns

Tue Jan 11, 3:23 AM ET


GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip (news - web sites) launched a barrage of homemade rockets and mortar rounds at Jewish towns and settlements Tuesday, hours after newly elected Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas extended his hand in peace to Israel.



The militants fired five mortar bombs at Jewish settlements, shattering the windows of a crowded synagogue during morning prayers, a settler spokesman said. No one was injured.


A homemade rocket also landed in the Israeli town of Sderot. No one was injured in the attack, but rescue services reported that several buildings and cars were damaged.


Israel has long demanded that the Palestinians halt the mortar and rocket fire, and Abbas has criticized the tactic as ineffective and damaging to the Palestinians.


The militants have stepped up the rocket fire in recent weeks, although there were no attacks during Sunday's presidential election.


Late Monday, Abbas made a public call for renewing peace negotiations, which Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants oppose.

Syrian missile deal puts new strain on Israel's tense relationship with Moscow
By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem
13 January 2005


Israel kept a stern official silence last night in the face of reports that Russia was on the brink of selling Syria sophisticated missiles in the biggest arms deal between the two countries for 15 years.

The reports were the most plausible explanation yet for what had seemed to be a mysterious mood of crisis in relations between Russia and Israel in the preparations for a three-day visit to Moscow this month by the Syrian President, Bashar Assad.

The weaponry for sale to the Syrians included the Iskander E missile with a target range which would cover most of Israel, including its nuclear reactor site at Dimona, the Moscow newspaper Kommersant reported.

A second report on Israeli TV's Channel Two said Russia had plans to sell Syria an arms package which included SA-18 shoulder-fired missiles which could threaten Israel's aircraft flying over Syria and Lebanon in an attempt to curb attacks by Hizbollah guerrillas over her northern border.

Israel blames Syria for backing militant Palestinian factions and financing Hizbollah, which in turn has acknowledged helping the Palestinian factions making attacks inside Israel and the occupied territories.

Syrian military targets have been attacked by Israeli planes over the past two years in response to attacks by Hizbollah and factions with bases in Damascus, exposing Syria's air defence systems as, so far, relatively inferior.

A major missile purchase from Moscow, causing fears of a revival of the old Cold War relationship between the Soviet Union and one of Israel's hostile neighbours, could alter the balance of air power. Neither the defence ministry nor the foreign ministry would comment last night, though the foreign ministry said that a claim in the Moscow newspaper's report that Israel's ambassador to Russia had been recalled was untrue, and that he was home on holiday.

The defence ministry referred inquiries to the office of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, whose spokesman Raanan Gissin also declined comment.

Professor Gerald Sternberg, one of the country's leading authorities on security and strategic matters, said last night that he did not know if the reports were true but that they were "plausible". He added: "If Syria were buying a long-range missile from Russia it would be very destabilising." He said Russia wanted cash but one unanswered question was how Syria would fund the purchase.

Kommersant said Damascus asked for 18 Iskander missiles in August but were told they had not been fully tested. The Syrians had now been told the missiles were ready.

Political sources were quoted yesterday as dismissing an earlier Channel Two report that the crisis had been caused by inferences that Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, had suggested Israelis had interfered in the recent elections in Ukraine on what started as the opposition side.

The daily Haaretz, which originally broke the story that there were intense discussions at the highest level of government on relations with Russia, said the sources had said the explanation was some "completely different" aspect of Russia's conduct. A Foreign Ministry spokesman could not even confirm that Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister, Alexander Saltanov, been holding talks on the potential crisis on a visit to Israel yesterday. In Gaza yesterday, a Jewish settler was killed and three Israeli soldiers wounded in an ambush which appeared to challenge the stated desire by Mahmoud Abbas, the new Palestinian President, to call a halt to violence by the armed factions. Two Islamic Jihad militants cut through a security fence surrounding the settler enclave of Morag and planted explosives on a road which blew up as an Israeli Jeep passed.

A spokesman for the faction, using the name Abu Abdullah, declared: "Our heroic attack today responds to those who describe such attacks as the smaller jihad that must end. It will never end until Palestine is returned, through the barrel of our guns."

Earlier, Israeli forces shot dead two wanted militants in Gaza City in the first military operation inside the Strip since their pullback during the Palestinian elections. A senior Palestinian Authority official, Nabil Abu Rdainah, said: "What happened in Gaza and the West Bank today underlines the urgency of reaching a mutual ceasefire to pave the way back to the negotiating table to follow the [internationally agreed] road map."

Israel weighs response to attack
Posted: Friday, January 14, 8:13am EST

Israel signaled Friday it will hold off on harsh retaliation for a bombing and shooting attack by Palestinian militants that killed six Israeli workers at a Gaza cargo crossing, giving newly elected Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas a chance to rein in violent groups. Thursday night's shooting rampage at the Karni crossing, Gaza's main lifeline, marked the militants' first major challenge to Abbas, who has spoken out against violence and has said he would try to negotiate a truce.

Three Palestinian gunmen were killed in the attack, and three armed groups claimed responsibility, including Hamas and the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, which has ties to Abbas' ruling Fatah movement.

Palestinian officials said Friday that such attacks are to be expected unless Israel halts its military operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

ISRAEL CUTS LINKS

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has cut all ties with the new Palestinian government.

The decision to end all contact with the new Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas followed a suicide bomb attack in Gaza which killed six Israelis.


The two leaders had spoken by phone this week in the highest-level Israeli-Palestinian contact in years.

A spokesman for Mr Sharon's office said that contact with the Palestinian Authority would only start when it took active steps to stop further attacks on Israelis.

Palestinian negotiations minister Saeb Erakat criticised the decision.

"We reject the freezing of contacts announced by Israel as well as the criticism addressed at (Palestinian leader-elect) Mahmud

Abbas because he does not officially take office until Saturday," Mr Erakat said.

"The best way to relaunch the peace process is not to freeze contacts but to resume them."

Mr Abbas was elected president of the Palestinian Authority in a landslide election Sunday.

Joint responsibility for the raid was claimed by three Palestinian groups, including Hamas and the al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, which has links with Mr Abbas's Fatah movement.