Olmert “We operate in many places near and far”. Hints at Sudan operation

 

Mystery over Sudan ‘air strike’

 

Page last updated at 18:23 GMT, Thursday, 26 March 2009

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7966627.stm

 

A Sudanese government minister has confirmed reports of an air raid in eastern Sudan earlier this year.

 

The minister, Mabrook Mubarak Saleem, told an Arabic news channel that many people had been killed in the strike, said to have taken place last month.

 

Israeli officials have not commented publicly on reports that their planes may have been involved.

 

Israel’s Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, did not confirm any raid but said Israel hit everywhere to stop terror.

 

“That was true in the north,” said Mr Olmert, “and it was true in the south … Those who need to know, know there is no place where Israel cannot operate.”

 

Giving a speech in the coastal town of Herzliya, the outgoing prime minister said: “We operate in many places near and far, and carry out strikes in a manner that strengthens our deterrence.”

 

The CBS television network said it had been told by American officials that a strike by Israeli planes in January had succeeded in preventing weapons from Sudan reaching Gaza.

 

Mr Mabrook Mubarak Saleem said those killed in the air raid had been civilians from a number of African countries.

 

‘Nod and wink’

 

The BBC’s Paul Wood in Jerusalem says Israel’s response is following a traditional pattern, set when it attacked a suspected nuclear reactor in Syria in 2007, of first refusing to confirm an alleged strike and then giving a nod and a wink.

 

What we are getting now from Mr Olmert is clearly the nod and the wink, our correspondent says.

 

Much informed comment has appeared in the Israeli media, he adds, including the view of a retired general that Israel would not have had to violate anyone’s airspace to carry out the strike, if it did.

 

Nonetheless it was a long way to fly and the assumption is that this was a serious target, our correspondent says, and that these were weapons that could have changed the game in the conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants.

 

They could have included surface to air missiles or perhaps missiles with a 70km (44-mile) range that would have enabled militants to hit Tel Aviv from Gaza, our correspondent adds. 

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Egypt boosts Sudan troops over Gaza smuggling 

 

Last update – 12:45 27/03/2009 

 

By Amos Harel, Barak Ravid and Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent and News Agencies 

 

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1074406.html 

 

Egypt has been sending forces to its border with Sudan in an effort to prevent smuggling into the Gaza Strip, due to intensive international pressure following Israel’s offensive on the Hamas-ruled coastal territory earlier this year. 

 

“The Egyptians are patrolling the border and inspecting it,” a senior intelligence sources said. “They weren’t doing that until now. They started doing it because of the increased international pressure to act against the smuggling. But so far, the results are only partial.” 

 

The Iranians are concerned over the memorandum of understanding signed between Israel and the United States to combat smuggling into Gaza, the source said. Eight NATO members also said they would join the anti-smuggling effort. 

 

The Iranians see the recent interception of the arms ship Monchegorsk, which was en route to Syria, as a warning of the difficulties they are likely to face in delivering arms, the source added. That ship, which was carrying arms from Iran to the Syrian army, was stopped in Cyprus following American pressure and its cargo was confiscated. 

 

The source said the Iranians, who established smuggling networks via the Persian Gulf, Aden and east Africa, with an emphasis on Sudan. In the past the Iranians have tried to smuggle arms via Turkey. 

 

The routes planned to move weapons in planes, trucks and trains, and from Turkey to Syria and from Syria to Lebanon. A few of these shipments were caught by Turkish security services working against the smuggling. 

 

News of Egypt’s reinforcement efforts comes in the wake of foreign media reports saying that the Israel Air Force attacked a convoy of Iranian arms passing through Sudan en route to the Gaza Strip in Sudan in January. 

 

Israeli officials declined to confirm or deny Israel’s involvement in the air strike in Sudan. They also refused to comment on the various foreign media reports about the strike. 

 

Arab and U.S. media reports said that Israel was behind the attacks, since the convoys were smuggling weapons destined for Gaza. Hamas, which rules Gaza, smuggles weapons into the Strip through tunnels along the Egyptian border. 

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Israel killed 39 in attack on Sudan convoy January Strike Destroyed several trucks, injured civilians

 

March 28, 2009

 

Answering accusations from a Sudanese minister that the US Air Force had killed 39 people in a January attack in ..

 

http://windowintopalestine.blogspot.com/2009/03/israel-killed-39-in-attack-on-sudan.html

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Abbas fires Palestinian Ambassador to Moscow for attending Hamas rally on Gaza

 

Written by  propal on Mar-27-09 3:26am

From:  windowintopalestine.blogspot.com {says: WARNING Holocaust in Progress ACT NOW to Save Gaza}

 

http://www.zimbio.com/Mahmoud+Abbas/articles/682/Abbas+fires+ambassador+Moscow+attending+Hamas

 

    MOSCOW, (PIC)– The veteran Palestinian diplomat Afif Safia, who serves as Palestine ambassador in Moscow was “arbitrarily” fired from his post by former PA chief and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas for attending a rally organized by Hamas Movement on Gaza tragedy, the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper revealed Thursday.

 

    According to the paper, Safia protested the decision and sent an official protest petition to Abbas, explaining that in his capacity as the Palestinian ambassador in Russia, he attended the rally which focused on the brutal Israeli aggression on Gaza Strip that left 1500 Palestinians dead, 6000 wounded, and tens of thousands of families homeless.

 

    He was quoted as saying that he would serve Palestine at any time and in any place, although he prefers to remain at his current post as ambassador.

 

    The security officer in the PA embassy in Moscow sent a report to Ramallah, criticizing and accusing Safia of publicly praising Hamas, which was immediately reacted upon by the Ramallah authority and ordered Safia out of his post, the paper added.

 

    In his speech during the Hamas-organized rally, Safia stressed that the great sacrifices of the Palestinian people in Gaza Strip and the victory they achieved on the Israeli occupation army requires different approach and performance on the part of Ramallah authority.

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Anti-Semitism to be debated in Oxford

 

Gilad Atzmon, Denis MacShane, David Aaronovitch debate ‘anti-Semitism’ at Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival.

 

 LONDON – The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival announced holding a debate on anti- Semitism as part of its 2009 events.

 

The debate, entitled “Anti-Semitism – Alive and Well in Europe?”, will host Gilad Atzmon, renowned Israeli saxophonist and devoted opponent of Zionism; Denis MacShane, Labour MP for Rotherham; and David Aaronovitch, Orwell prize-winning ‘Times’ journalist.

 

The three participants will address pressing questions related to anti-Semitism; whether it is still strongly present in Europe and if the recent Israeli bombardment of besieged Gaza has further fuelled it.

 

When the controversial topic springs up, different debaters usually side with one of two rival camps.

 

One side accuses critics of Israel as ‘closeted anti-Semites’, while the other argues that anyone who is critical of the policies of Israel or its occupation of the Palestinian territories is automatically labelled an anti-Semite in order to give the Jewish State free reign to continue ‘business as usual’.

 

Atzmon, who was born as a Jew in Israel and served in the Israeli military, has been himself accused of being an anti-Semite by supporters of Israel.

 

He often writes on Jewish identity and Tel Aviv’s policies against Palestinians under Israeli occupation.

 

Observers say Atzmon’s participation will give the debate an “insider’s view” on Jewishness, Israeli strategies and accusations of anti-Semitism.

 

Many of his critics link his anti-Zionist stances to anti-Semitic sentiments, but Atzmon argues that anti-Semitism itself has been a useful tool for Zionists.

 

“Zionism is fuelled by anti-Semitism. The Zionists need anti-Semitic acts in order to justify the state of Israel as the only viable option for Jewish existence,” he wrote in one of his articles.

 

The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival is held on 29 March-5 April 2009, where over 350 writers are expected to take part.

 

The debate on anti-Semitism will take place on Wednesday 1st April at midday in the Garden Marquee, Christ Church. 

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How IDF testimonies led to the ‘Haaretz blood libel’ 

 

Last update – 06:35 27/03/2009 

 

By Anshel Pfeffer 

 

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1074300.html 

 

It wasn’t even my story, but I should not have been surprised by the amount of flak I took this week for Amos Harel’s report. The stories told by alumni of the Oranim pre-military academy about their experiences as soldiers in Operation Cast Lead were not going to blow over anytime soon, and when you work for a newspaper that has just come out with one of the most controversial stories of the year, you are guilty by association. You also share part of the glory – and indeed, a number of Israel Defense Forces officers I spoke to in recent days, both active-duty and reserve, said how important they believe the report was in opening a long-overdue public debate. 

 

One night I came home and launched one of my periodic forays through the Jewish blogosphere and suddenly discovered that I had become an accomplice to blood libel. So said one of the most popular Jewish columnists in the world, Melanie Phillips, in a blog post titled “The Ha’aretz blood libel.” In two lengthy posts, Phillips excoriated this paper for, among other things, publishing rumors and hearsay, exaggerating and overplaying the soldiers’ accounts, playing into the hands of a notorious ultra-leftist (Danny Zamir, the head of the Oranim Academy), distorting the truth in our hatred for the “occupation” and, worst of all, giving succor to Israel’s enemies. 

 

I believe that Israelis should be grateful to Jews around the world who are ready to stand up for this country. In many places, and especially in Britain, the role of Israel’s advocate is a thankless job. Few successful Jewish journalists in London are prepared to constantly wear their heart on their sleeve for Israel as Phillips does. It is not just the inherently hostile atmosphere toward the Jewish state, it is also sheer exhaustion. Barely a week goes by without another couple of reports from nongovernmental organizations or United Nations agencies lambasting Israel for war crimes, with at best only scant mention of the crimes of its enemies. Just this week, there were four new reports detailing the IDF’s alleged atrocities in the Gaza operation. 

 

So just imagine: You have spent untold hours picking apart a 120-page report, hunted down ambiguities and hypocrisies, painstakingly found evidence to refute the claims, and the next series of allegations is already upon you. But now, it is not another group of latent anti-Semites and Israel-bashers; this time, it is coming from Israeli newspapers, quoting Israeli soldiers. I can understand the frustration. But all too often, that frustration translates itself into angry responses that brand Israelis who are sincerely concerned for their society and the actions of their government as traitors to the cause. 

 

Take Danny Zamir, who chaired the Oranim alumni’s symposium and compiled their stories. Since 1998, the academy he founded has prepared hundreds of young men for IDF service in combat units. Many have gone on to be officers. In 1990, as a reserve company commander, he refused to guard a settlers’ procession in Nablus. He was disciplined and sat in a military prison for a month. Despite this, the IDF realized that his concern for the army’s moral stature was real: He remained in service and has since been promoted. Maj. Zamir is deputy commander of an elite reserve battalion and, in his role as academy head, works closely with the IDF to educate new generations of soldiers. Now he is being vilified by people like Phillips as a dangerous subversive for giving his graduates a voice. 

 

Discussions like the one in Oranim Academy are going on in many places around Israel. The vast majority of Israelis still believe that the Gaza operation was unavoidable and that in fighting an enemy such as Hamas, significant civilian casualties are inevitable despite all the precautions. But the question of whether those precautions were sufficient, or alternatively excessive, and of how we minimize the number of “rotten apples” that turn up in every army will not go away. 

 

These debates are taking place in academies, in homes, in yeshivas, in kibbutz dining halls and also in many parts of the army itself. Some of them are being recorded and will come out in the media and, later, as books. And they have a hallowed place in Israeli culture. Some call it “siach lochamim” (warriors talking) and others refer to it, perhaps disparagingly, as “yorim ve’bochim” (shooting and crying). But it is an integral part of what this society is about. 

 

For the last 40 years, Haaretz has seen the promotion of this debate as its central role. This paper has never made a secret of its opposition to the occupation and the subjugation of another people – not just because of the injustices inflicted upon the Palestinians, but even more because of the deep moral and material damage it has caused Israel. In doing so, we have incurred the wrath of those who believe we are serving Israel’s enemies. For that reason, despite the fact that the Oranim soldiers’ story also appeared in Maariv and on Channel 10 television, it was Haaretz that took all the blame. 

 

Having represented this paper abroad for much of the last year, I naturally enjoyed basking in the glory of the high regard in which it is held around the world. But there were also uncomfortable moments, when I heard praise from those who could barely conceal their hatred for my country. None of us work for Haaretz so we can be regarded as “the good Israelis” by those who instinctively put Israel in the dock. After the paper published the report on the soldiers’ stories, Amos Harel turned down dozens of requests for interviews in the international media. No one had any illusions that the story would not be picked up by newspapers and television channels, but we were not doing it for them. It was for us, Israelis. 

 

Jews in Britain and other countries who speak up for Israel before hostile audiences are often bullied and told that they cannot be staunch supporters of Israel and loyal citizens at the same time, and that they should blame only themselves when Jews are attacked in response to “Israel’s crimes.” To that they respond, quite rightly, that as citizens of a democratic country, they have every right to support Israel, and that being afraid to do so would be surrendering to anti-Semitism. 

 

“Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East,”(!!!!) they constantly say in its defense. We also believe that. But if we were to refrain from voicing our concerns over the direction in which the country has been going for too long, it would not be much of a democracy any more. And if we were to ask ourselves, before publishing every report, how it will be used by Israel’s ill-wishers, that would surely be the ultimate capitulation to anti-Semitism. 

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Sydney’s Great Synagogue complains about ABC TV footage of Marcus Einfeld singing with the synagogue choir

 

http://www.smh.com.au/national/einfeld-show-hits-bum-note-20090326-9cgm.html?skin=text-only

 

Einfeld show hits bum note

 

Date: March 27 2009

 

Sean Nicholls and Emily Dunn

 

Marcus Einfeld’s Four Corners interview has sparked a spat between the Sydney Great Synagogue and the ABC. A furious synagogue president, Rosalind Fischl, emailed the congregation yesterday after members complained about footage of Einfeld singing with the synagogue choir was broadcast during Sarah Ferguson’s report on Monday. The Diary understands they were upset about having the disgraced judge so publicly associated with their synagogue. Fischl blames Einfeld and the current affairs program. “The board had refused permission for the Four Corners crew to film during Law Service [a ceremony marking the start of the legal year],” Fischl writes. “On the second Monday following Law Service the Four Corners TV crew, without prior knowledge or consent of anyone on the board of management or of the administrative staff, arrived at the synagogue to film during choir rehearsal at the invitation of Mr Einfeld. We subsequently learned that the Four Corners crew had already filmed in the synagogue at a choir rehearsal on the Monday before Law Service, again by prior arrangement with Mr Einfeld himself”. Fischl complained to the ABC and received a letter back that the broadcaster accepted “there may be conflicting accounts”. Apparently Four Corners says it received permission from the choir master, who we understand was pressured by Einfeld, and has since received a severe dressing down. This column reported on Wednesday that a separate sequence from the same program, showing Einfeld riding in the back of a car without his seatbelt, has prompted NSW police to review the footage with a view to fining him.

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West Bank Settlements expand; large number of Israeli raids on Palestinian villages

 

The real Israel-Palestine story is in the West Bank

 

Ben White 

 

The Guardian

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/feb/20/israelandthepalestinians-israeli-elections-2009

 

It is quite likely that you have not heard of the most important developments this week in the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. In the West Bank, while it has been “occupation as normal”, there have been some events that together should be overshadowing Gaza, Gilad Shalit and Avigdor Lieberman.

 

First, there have been a large number of Israeli raids on Palestinian villages, with dozens of Palestinians abducted. These kinds of raids are, of course, commonplace for the occupied West Bank, but in recent days it appears the Israeli military has targeted sites of particularly strong Palestinian civil resistance to the separation wall.

 

For three consecutive days this week, Israeli forces invaded Jayyous, a village battling for survival as their agricultural land is lost to the wall and neighbouring Jewish colony. The soldiers occupied homes, detained residents, blocked off access roads, vandalised property, beat protestors, and raised the Israeli flag at the top of several buildings. Jayyous is one of the Palestinian villages in the West Bank that has been non-violently resisting the separation wall for several years now. It was clear to the villagers that this latest assault was an attempt to intimidate the protest movement.

 

Also earlier this week, Israel tightened still further the restrictions on Palestinian movement and residency rights in East Jerusalem, closing the remaining passage in the wall in the Ar-Ram neighbourhood of the city. This means that tens of thousands of Palestinians are now cut off from the city and those with the right permit will now have to enter the city by first heading north and using the Qalandiya checkpoint.

 

Finally — and this time, there was some modest media coverage — it was revealed that the Efrat settlement near Bethlehem would be expanded by the appropriation of around 420 acres land as “state land”. According to Efrat’s mayor, the plan is to triple the number of residents in the colony.

 

Looked at together, these events in the West Bank are of far more significance than issues being afforded a lot of attention currently, such as the truce talks with Hamas, or the discussions about a possible prisoner-exchange deal. Hamas itself has become such a focus, whether by those who urge talks and cooption or those who advocate the group’s total destruction, that the wider context is forgotten.

 

Hamas is not the beginning or the end of this conflict, a movement that has been around for just the last third of Israel’s 60 years. The Hamas Charter is not a Palestinian national manifesto, and nor is it even particularly central to today’s organisation. Before Hamas existed, Israel was colonising the occupied territories, and maintaining an ethnic exclusivist regime; if Hamas disappeared tomorrow, Israeli colonisation certainly would not.

 

Recognising what is happening in the West Bank also contextualises the discussion about Israel’s domestic politics, and the ongoing question about the makeup of a ruling coalition. For the Palestinians, it does not make much difference who is eventually sitting around the Israeli cabinet table, since there is a consensus among the parties on one thing: a firm rejectionist stance with regards to Palestinian self-determination and sovereignty.

 

During the coverage of the Israeli elections, while it was clear that Palestinians mostly did not care which of the candidates for PM won, the reason for this apathy was not explained. Labor, Likud and Kadima alike, Israeli governments without fail have continued or intensified the colonisation of the occupied territories, entrenching Israel’s separate-and-unequal rule, a reality belied by the false “dove”/”hawk” dichotomy. Which brings us to the third reason why news from the West Bank is more significant than the Gaza truce talks or the Netanyahu-Livni rivalry — it is a further reminder that the two-state solution has completed its progression from worthy (and often disingenuous) aim to meaningless slogan, concealing Israel’s absorption of all Palestine/Israel and confinement of the Palestinians into enclaves.

 

The fact that the West Bank reality means the end of the two-state paradigm has started to be picked up by mainstream, liberal commentators in the US, in the wake of the Israeli elections. Juan Cole, the history professor and blogger, recently pointed out that there are now only three options left for Palestine/Israel: “apartheid”, “expulsion”, or “one state”. (http://www.juancole.com/2009/02/right-wing-sweeps-israel-racialist.html )

 

The path of the wall, and the number of Palestinians it directly and indirectly affects, continues to make a mockery of any plan for Palestinian statehood. Jayyous is just one example of the way in which the Israeli- planned, fenced-in Palestinian “state-lets” are at odds with the stated intention of the quartet and so many others, of two viable states, “side by side”. As the World Bank pointed out, land colonisation is not conducive to economic prosperity or basic independence.

 

In occupied East Jerusalem meanwhile, Israel has continued its process of Judaisation, enforced through bureaucracy and bulldozers. The latest tightening of the noose in Ar-Ram is one example of where Palestinian Jerusalemites are at risk of losing their residency status, victims of what is politely known as the “demographic battle”.

 

It is impossible to imagine Palestinians accepting a “state” shaped by the contours of Israel’s wall, disconnected not only from East Jerusalem but even from parts of itself. Yet this is the essence of the “solution” being advanced by Israeli leaders across party lines. For a real sense of where the conflict is heading, look to the West Bank, not just Gaza. – 

 

The following item provides detailed information on the current military onslaught against West Bank Palestinian villagers peacefully resisting the theft of their lands and livelihoods by Israel’s “separation wall”. It was compiled and circulated by activist Haggai Matar of Anarchists Against the Wall and New Profile, on February 22, 2009.

 

Rela Mazali

 

Nightly invasions to Palestinian villages in the West Bank

 

Imagine being awakened to the sound of a stun grenade. Imagine such a grenade landing in your front yard every night. This is the reality that residents of Palestinian villages who are struggling against the apartheid wall are forced to deal with since the attack on Gaza. These nightly invasions by the army, which terrorize villagers, are becoming ever more frequent. Invasions take place three to four time a week in the villages of Beit Likia and Bil’in. In the last week, the villages of Ma’asara, Ni’ilin and Jayus too have joined the list, as troops have been harassing those who participate and organize the village protests. During the invasions soldiers shoot tear gas and stun grenades into civilian’s houses. They also use rubber coated bullets and live rounds. On 13.2.09, two children were injured in their homes in Beit Likia, and a 60 year old woman was hit in the stomach. On that same night, soldiers reached the homes of Ma’asara popular leaders Muhammad Barjia and Mahmoud Zoahara, kept them for hours outside their homes in the cold with very little cloths, and caused damage to their property, threatening to arrest the two if demonstrations in the area were to continue. A report by Zoahara is attached hereunder. The media does not report these incidents, which have become a tiring routine of the reality of occupation. It seems that under this media blockade, army commanders feel free to carry out these crimes ==

 

Israel plans to double West Bank settlers – study

 

By Agence France Presse (AFP)

 

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=99790

 

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Israel’s Housing Ministry has plans for West Bank construction that would nearly double the number of settlers there, the group Peace Now said Monday.

 

The presence of the so-called Israeli “settlers” in the Occupied Territories is illegal under international law.

 

The group gave the estimate in research issued on the day that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due to visit to Israel on her first trip to the region since taking office.

 

US President Barack Obama has vowed to vigorously pursue peace efforts in the region, and Israeli settlements on occupied land have long been one of the main obstacles to an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

 

“The Ministry of Construction and Housing is planning to construct at least 73,000 housing units in the West Bank,” said the Peace Now study, based on analysis of data on Israeli government websites.

 

“At least 15,000 housing units have already been approved and plans for an additional 58,000 housing units are yet to be approved,” it said.

 

Out of the units already approved, nearly 9,000 have been built, Peace Now said.

 

“If all the plans are realized, the number of settler in the territories will be doubled,” the research document said, adding that the estimate is based upon an average of four people in each housing unit.

 

“The completion of these projects will make the plan of creating a Palestinian state next to Israel totally unrealistic,” Peace Now head Yariv Oppenheimer told Army Radio.

 

Included among the government’s plans are some 17,000 housing units outside existing settlements in the Bethlehem area, the Peace Now study said.

 

“There are plans for huge construction to double the size of some settlements” including Beitar Illit, Ariel, Maale Adumim and Efrat, it said.

 

Some 19,000 units are planned to be built to the east of Israel’s illegal separation barrier in the Occupied West Bank, and the ministry plans include at least six wildcat outposts – settlements not authorized by the Israeli government, it said.

 

“The plans published are only a small part of the overall housing plans for the Occupied Territories,” the group said. “There are other thousands of housing units in plans of the local authorities, private initiators and other public authorities, all of which we are in the process of collating.” Under the internationally drafted “road map for peace,” Israel is committed to dismantle all settlements built since March 2001.

 

But construction in Israeli settlements jumped 60 percent in 2008 in the wake of the re-launching of the Middle East peace process at a US conference at which the parties pledged to implement the road map. At least 1,257 new structures were built in settlements over the course of 2008, compared to 800 erected the previous year, according to figures compiled by Peace Now. – AFP with The Daily Star