PM Netanyahu On Turkel Commission Report On Flotilla
Monday, January 24, 2011
Media love Tel Aviv
Study says 100 TV crews, 200 print journalists from over 30 countries made 2010 a record-breaking year for media coverage of TA.
2010 was a record-breaking year for media coverage of Tel Aviv, with over 100 television crews and 200 print journalists from over 30 countries descending on the city that never sleeps, a study released this week found.
The Association for Tourism Tel Aviv – Jaffa determined that the most significant report on Tel Aviv was one compiled by Lonely Planet, which called Tel Aviv one of the hottest travel destinations for 2011.
The report also cited a piece in National Geographic that called Tel Aviv one of the world’s top beachfront cities, as well as an article written by Playboy, which verified rumors about the city’s beautiful local women.
The association said Sunday that the worldwide media coverage played a large role in a tourism boom in Tel Aviv, which saw overnight bookings climb 22 percent from the previous year to 2,230,000.
http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=204941
Abbas: We can't expect Israel to take in a million refugees
Latest leaked documents show Erekat discussing reported Olmert offer to absorb 10,000 refugees; Abbas acknowledges that insisting on the 'right of return' would be 'illogical' and 'would mean the end of Israel.'
A second cache of Palestinian documents released by Al- Jazeera on Monday night showed Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and his team, in Ramallah in June 2009, discussing the notion of 10,000 refugees and their families returning to Israel as part of a final peace agreement, as ostensibly offered by former prime minister Ehud Olmert.
In a dramatic comment on the refugee issue, furthermore, at an internal meeting that PA President Mahmoud Abbas had with the Palestinian Negotiations Support Unit on March 29, 2008, Abbas said, “On numbers of refugees, it is illogical to ask Israel to take 5 million, or even 1 million – that would mean the end of Israel.
RELATED:
PA suspects employees leaked documents to Al-Jazeera
Serry: Leaked papers 'convey an inaccurate impression'
Analysis: Reading between the PaliLeaks lines
They said 5,000 over five years.
That is even less than family reunification and it is unacceptable.
There also has to be compensation, which has to come from the Absentee Property fund.”
Both Al-Jazeera and Britain’s Guardian newspaper put a decisively negative spin on the story, with the Guardian’s website headline reading “Papers reveal how Palestinian leaders gave up fight over refugees.”
The refugee issue has emerged as one of the major obstacles to any agreement.
In a meeting on January 27, 2008, soon after the Annapolis conference, Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurei implied a readiness to solve the issue and said that if the Arab countries would “be part of the solution, there will be no problem in this issue.”
He added that the Palestinians could coordinate the matter with Jordan and even Syria.
“Even the Syrians want to be part of the process,” Qurei said, “and they don’t want to sit with you to discuss the matter, but with us.”
Erekat quipped at the meeting, “Whoever will be able to reach an agreement to solve this conflict will be the most important figure in the region after Jesus Christ!”
Also, according to the Guardian piece based on the documents, then-foreign minister Tzipi Livni – essentially adopting an idea put forth by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman – proposed a land swap that would place some Arab towns now in Israel into a future Palestinian state in exchange for placing some settlements within Israel.
Then-US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, according to the paper, suggested that some Palestinian refugees could be resettled in South America – for example, in Chile and Argentina.
Ma'aleh Adumim bone of contention with Palestinians
In documents released Sunday night, it became clear that while much of the Israeli public believed that Ma’aleh Adumim was part of the Israeli consensus and would be part of Israel in any agreement, this was a major bone of contention with the Palestinians.
The first batch of documents showed Palestinian insistence that the large settlements of Ma’aleh Adumim and Ariel become part of a Palestinian state, even if it meant the settlers remained there under Palestinian sovereignty. While at first Livni said this was an interesting idea she would have to think about, a few weeks later she said it was completely unrealistic because the settlers would be killed.
in a meeting at the King David Hotel on May 4, 2008, between Livni and Qurei, the latter said Ma’aleh Adumim, Givat Ze’ev, Har Homa and Ariel “cannot be included in a swap under any condition.”
This was Qurei’s position even as the Palestinians indicated they were ready for Israel to annex the Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem beyond the Green Line, with the exception of Har Homa.
The documents show that the Palestinians see the 1967 lines as a baseline, and view an agreement to a land swap for land that will be annexed to Israel as a concession. The Palestinian position, as laid out in the meeting, was that any land swap needed to be in the same area, meaning that if Israel annexed a Jerusalem neighborhood beyond the Green Line, it would have to give up land in the Jerusalem area in return.
When it became clear during the discussion that the PA position was that the settlers in Ma’aleh Adumim did not have to be evacuated, PLO chief negotiator Erekat said to Livni, “Can you imagine that you accept for the sake of peace to have Jews as citizens with full rights in Palestine like Arab Israelis?” Livni replied, “But how can I provide Israelis living in Palestine with security?” To which Erekat responded, “Can you imagine that I have changed my DNA and accepted a situation in which Jews become citizens having the rights that I and my wife have. Can you imagine that this will happen one day?” One of the Israeli negotiators in the room, Udi Dekel, then interjected, “I do not have such fancy.”
Livni, however, was more diplomatic. “I have to think about this. I do not know.
You have proposed something, but I believe we have to be creative. My problem is that of security. Some said to me that there would be violence among my people if I evacuated them [from the settlements], but the pressure will be less if I give the right to choose. I cannot bear the responsibility of their life in case they are exposed to danger and then the army will have to interfere.
It is a legitimate question but we need to think about it.”
The issue came up again some three weeks later, in which Qurei said that the Jews in Ma’aleh Adumim “can live under Palestinian rule,” to which Livni replied, “You know this is not realistic.”
Qurei then said, “So take them [out], like you did in Gaza.” To which Livni responded, “We are going to [take out many settlers].”
Later in the discussion Qurei said he didn’t mind if the Israelis became Palestinian citizens, to which Livni replied, “You know this is not realistic. They will kill them the next day.”
At a meeting in mid-June 2008 between Livni, Qurei and Rice, Livni asked Qurei whether his problem with Ma’aleh Adumim was because of its size or location.
His reply was that it blocked Jerusalem from the east, and that Jerusalem was already blocked from the south.
“Perhaps Ma’aleh Adumim will remain under Palestinian sovereignty and it could be a model for cooperation and coexistence,” he said.
“We may also have international forces and make security arrangements for some time. It is the location of Ma’aleh Adumim [that is the problem], not its size.”
Qurei: Ariel set up to control water basin
The problem with Ariel, he said, was that it “was set up on the largest water basin. It was not set up simply to provide Israelis with housing units, but rather to control the water basin.” Livni replied, “The idea behind our desire to annex Ariel settlement was not to get more water but because thousands of people live there. We want to have an answer for those who have lived there for 40 years.”
Rice, at a meeting held a month later, said that no Israeli leader would cede Ma’aleh Adumim, and that if the Palestinians insisted on the matter, “then you won’t have a state!”
Though the publication of the documents created a storm in the Palestinian Authority Monday, the official response in Jerusalem was muted, with both the Foreign Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office declining comment on the matter.
Only Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman related to the documents at all, saying in an Israel Radio interview that the documents showed that even “the most left wing” Israeli government of Livni and Ehud Olmert could not reach an agreement with the PA.
“I think they show that if the government of Olmert and Tzipi Livni did not succeed in coming to an agreement with the Palestinians, then that is a sign that everyone will in the end reach the conclusion that the only way is a long term interim agreement.”
Lieberman’s position is that a final agreement at this time is impossible, and that the goal at this time should be a long-term interim agreement.
He also said it was “interesting” that Livni proposed his land swap idea of Arab towns for settlements.
Livni’s associates responded to the new report by stating that during the talks, only four Israeli Arab border towns were raised as possibilities to be included in a Palestinian state, even though they are on the Israeli side.
They said that when the Palestinians rejected the idea, the talks moved on.
Sources close to Livni also said that during the talks she made a statement rejecting the application of international law, but said she was inaccurately quoted in the document.
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=205065&R=R3
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Israeli animal charity sends aid to Gaza zoo
Truckloads of food and medicine for lions, horses, donkeys, and other ill and hungry animals were among the relief supplies flowing into the Gaza Strip from Israel following the recent three-week war.
It was no easy feat getting help to the inhabitants of the Gaza Zoo and to other wild and domesticated creatures in an area hostile to the Jewish state. But Eti Altman, co-founder and spokeswoman of Israel's largest animal-welfare organization, Let the Animals Live (LAL), is tenacious in her mission to alleviate suffering.
Since its beginnings in 1986, LAL has sheltered and found homes for 35,000 dogs and cats, neutered 50,000 strays, and provided veterinary care to thousands of abused horses, donkeys, crocodiles, dolphins, camels, and members of other species.
LAL's lobbying efforts have resulted in Israeli legislation banning practices such as exportation of dogs and cats to the Philippines for food; "entertaining" dog fights and matches between men and crocodiles; baboon breeding for experiments; university laboratory experiments on monkeys; and the exploitation of wild animals by circus owners. It is also working to stop the importation of live animals for slaughter.
Altman's assistant general manager, Ilan Lusky, explains to ISRAEL21c that the organization first learned that lions in the Gaza Zoo were in distress at the end of 2007. Their food supply was limited because of blockades in the wake of attacks on Israeli border towns.
Altman made phone call after phone call to Hamas government officials, determined to take the lions to a foster home in Israel. The offer was consistently refused.
Animals living in terrible conditions
But as the dawning of 2009 brought with it retaliatory Israeli raids on Gaza, Altman renewed her efforts to assist the zoo.
"We found out that the situation there was terrible," says Lusky. "Many animals died in the bombings, and the remaining animals were living in poor conditions. We said, 'Let's put politics aside and take care of the animals.' We were not giving up."
Altman worked around refusals of direct aid by establishing contacts with government officials and Palestinian and international animal-relief groups such as Veterinary World Service. The Israeli Ministry of Defense granted permission for the entry of 30 truckloads of oats, hay, and veterinary supplies into Gaza. LAL volunteers brought in the goods over a period of weeks and transferred them to local Arabs for delivery. The last two trucks were dispatched on Tuesday.
An official "thank you" was neither forthcoming nor anticipated.
"We're not waiting for medals or prizes," says Lusky. "Officially, they don't want our help. But we did get thanked by our international partner groups, and we know from our Palestinian contacts that the donations went to the right places."
LAL also launched a campaign to bring relief to pets affected on both sides of the conflict. Many pets were abandoned when their owners fled, or went hungry because they were unable to earn a living while under siege.
Pets deserted in bombed cities
During the war, Altman went to hard-hit southern Israeli cities with veterinarians and other volunteers to help local animal-welfare groups rescue homeless animals and distribute donated food. This initiative has extended beyond the ceasefire.
"There is an unbelievable situation with deserted pets in bombed cities such as Sderot and Ashkelon," says Lusky. "These cities are trying to take of their people, and there is no money for the animals. Because of budgetary constraints, animals are at the bottom of the list."
LAL's shelter in Ramla houses 200 dogs and 70 cats, some of them war refugees. Lusky coordinates volunteers at the shelter, and welcomes help from tourists.
If LAL can raise enough money, it will set up free veterinary clinics in war-ravaged areas. In cooperation with Israeli pet supermarket Pet Point, it is offering emergency care packages for purchase through letlive.org.il.
And if donors are found to foot the bill of $170-$350 per truckload, LAL hopes to continue sending aid to the Gaza Zoo and to domestic animals in Gaza.
In fact, although offers to find new homes for Gazan animals in Israel still are being rebuffed, Altman dares to hope that a continuing relationship can ease hostilities.
"In light of this humanitarian effort, I have no doubt we can save many of the animals in the place," says Altman. "I am hoping that through the animals we will be able to draw the two sides closer together."
For information on donating or volunteering, call Ilan Lusky, +972-3-624-1776, ext 5.
http://www.israel21c.org/social-action/israeli-animal-charity-sends-aid-to-gaza-zoo
It was no easy feat getting help to the inhabitants of the Gaza Zoo and to other wild and domesticated creatures in an area hostile to the Jewish state. But Eti Altman, co-founder and spokeswoman of Israel's largest animal-welfare organization, Let the Animals Live (LAL), is tenacious in her mission to alleviate suffering.
Since its beginnings in 1986, LAL has sheltered and found homes for 35,000 dogs and cats, neutered 50,000 strays, and provided veterinary care to thousands of abused horses, donkeys, crocodiles, dolphins, camels, and members of other species.
LAL's lobbying efforts have resulted in Israeli legislation banning practices such as exportation of dogs and cats to the Philippines for food; "entertaining" dog fights and matches between men and crocodiles; baboon breeding for experiments; university laboratory experiments on monkeys; and the exploitation of wild animals by circus owners. It is also working to stop the importation of live animals for slaughter.
Altman's assistant general manager, Ilan Lusky, explains to ISRAEL21c that the organization first learned that lions in the Gaza Zoo were in distress at the end of 2007. Their food supply was limited because of blockades in the wake of attacks on Israeli border towns.
Altman made phone call after phone call to Hamas government officials, determined to take the lions to a foster home in Israel. The offer was consistently refused.
Animals living in terrible conditions
But as the dawning of 2009 brought with it retaliatory Israeli raids on Gaza, Altman renewed her efforts to assist the zoo.
"We found out that the situation there was terrible," says Lusky. "Many animals died in the bombings, and the remaining animals were living in poor conditions. We said, 'Let's put politics aside and take care of the animals.' We were not giving up."
Altman worked around refusals of direct aid by establishing contacts with government officials and Palestinian and international animal-relief groups such as Veterinary World Service. The Israeli Ministry of Defense granted permission for the entry of 30 truckloads of oats, hay, and veterinary supplies into Gaza. LAL volunteers brought in the goods over a period of weeks and transferred them to local Arabs for delivery. The last two trucks were dispatched on Tuesday.
An official "thank you" was neither forthcoming nor anticipated.
"We're not waiting for medals or prizes," says Lusky. "Officially, they don't want our help. But we did get thanked by our international partner groups, and we know from our Palestinian contacts that the donations went to the right places."
LAL also launched a campaign to bring relief to pets affected on both sides of the conflict. Many pets were abandoned when their owners fled, or went hungry because they were unable to earn a living while under siege.
Pets deserted in bombed cities
During the war, Altman went to hard-hit southern Israeli cities with veterinarians and other volunteers to help local animal-welfare groups rescue homeless animals and distribute donated food. This initiative has extended beyond the ceasefire.
"There is an unbelievable situation with deserted pets in bombed cities such as Sderot and Ashkelon," says Lusky. "These cities are trying to take of their people, and there is no money for the animals. Because of budgetary constraints, animals are at the bottom of the list."
LAL's shelter in Ramla houses 200 dogs and 70 cats, some of them war refugees. Lusky coordinates volunteers at the shelter, and welcomes help from tourists.
If LAL can raise enough money, it will set up free veterinary clinics in war-ravaged areas. In cooperation with Israeli pet supermarket Pet Point, it is offering emergency care packages for purchase through letlive.org.il.
And if donors are found to foot the bill of $170-$350 per truckload, LAL hopes to continue sending aid to the Gaza Zoo and to domestic animals in Gaza.
In fact, although offers to find new homes for Gazan animals in Israel still are being rebuffed, Altman dares to hope that a continuing relationship can ease hostilities.
"In light of this humanitarian effort, I have no doubt we can save many of the animals in the place," says Altman. "I am hoping that through the animals we will be able to draw the two sides closer together."
For information on donating or volunteering, call Ilan Lusky, +972-3-624-1776, ext 5.
http://www.israel21c.org/social-action/israeli-animal-charity-sends-aid-to-gaza-zoo
Israeli flotilla interception legal: inquiry
JERUSALEM - An Israeli inquiry cleared the government and military on Sunday of wrongdoing in the bloody seizure of a Turkish aid ship that tried to breach the Gaza blockade, saying passengers were to blame for the violence.
The Turkel Commission, whose report will form the core of Israel’s submission to a U.N. inquiry into the May 31 incident, endorsed the sea closure but urged Israeli reviews of how to focus sanctions on Gaza’s Hamas rulers and spare its civilians.
“By clearly resisting capture, the Mavi Marmara had become a military objective,” the commission said in a 245-page report, referring to a converted cruise ship which Israeli marines boarded on the high seas after it ignored orders to turn back.
Nine pro-Palestinian Turks were killed in the ensuing brawls. The commission accused the IHH, a Turkish Islamist charity that owned the Mavi Marmara, “of planned and extremely violent””resistance which was “directly connected to the ongoing international armed conflict between Israel and Hamas”.
The findings were unlikely to be welcomed by Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country that had been in alliance with the Jewish state and which has demanded an Israeli apology for the raid and compensation over the casualties. Israel has refused.
In September, three international experts appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council to investigate the attack said it had been unlawful and resulted in violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.. Israel said the investigators’ mandate was biased.
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon set up his own inquiry into the incident, which is still in progress.
In its report, the Israeli commission said the Gaza blockade was justified given the threat of gun-running to Hamas and Israel’s efforts to maintain humanitarian supplies to ordinary Palestinians there.
“Even if the naval blockade ... had been considered not to meet the requirements of international law, individuals or groups do not have the right to take the law into their own hands and breach the blockade,” the report said, alluding to the IHH and other pro-Palestinian activists behind the May flotilla.
Marines who boarded the Mavi Marmara from helicopters and dinghies used sound tactics, resorting to gunfire when passengers threatened their lives, it said, echoing the conclusions of an Israeli military inquiry from July.
'DIRECT PARTICIPANTS'
Using video from marines’ helmet-mounted cameras and confiscated from passengers, as well as testimony from witnesses, the commission examined 133 instances in which the boarding party used guns or non-lethal violence, a panel official said.
In 127 of the cases, marines responded appropriately to passengers who attacked them, the official said. The other six cases — three of which involved gunfire — were inconclusive.
Around 100 of the some 600 passengers put up a fight and should therefore not be considered civilians but “direct participants in hostilities””whom marines could regard as combatants, the commission said.
Footage showed some of the passengers pummelling, clubbing and stabbing marines and the Israelis have said gunfire was also used against them, an account disputed by activists.
Asked whether the nine dead Turks, one of whom was also a U.S. national, had been “direct participants in hostilities,” the panel official said this could not be determined given that forensic information on how they had been shot was lacking.
The commission heard testimony from Israeli Arabs who had been passengers on the Mavi Marmara, but its call for Turkish and other foreign witnesses to come forward was largely ignored. Transcripts of the interrogation of passengers by Israeli police after their detention was also examined.
Two foreign observers, Canadian military jurist Kenneth Watkin and Northern Ireland statesman David Trimble, approved the Turkel Commission’s findings. The panel also consulted two international experts on warfare.
Marines who participated in the raid did not testify and their accounts were relayed by senior officers. The commission also questioned top generals, Defence Minister Ehud Barak and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a series of hearings.
PM Office Responds to Ruling On Israel and Flotilla Incident
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2011/01/23/16999986.html?cid=rssnewsworld
IDF plans pilotless chopper to evacuate wounded
Second Lebanon War experiences underline importance of AirMule’s unique capabilities, officers say.
The Israel Air Force and IDF Medical Corps are working to secure funding within the military’s upcoming multi-year plan for a revolutionary unmanned aerial vehicle that can fly like a helicopter and evacuate wounded soldiers in its hull from any terrain.
Called AirMule, the UAV is under development by the Yavne-based Urban Aeronautics firm. It is a single-engine UAV with vertical-takeoff-and landing capabilities and has successfully completed the first phase of its flight testing, which included autonomous hovering.
The AirMule has performed 40 test hovers and accumulated 10 hours of flight time.
Currently, the aircraft is undergoing a systems upgrade including the development and installation of wheeled landing gear that will facilitate mobility on the ground.
Senior officers said this week that the IDF was interested in buying the AirMule and planned to ask for a special budget for the program under the military’s new multi-year plan that is expected to be approved in the coming months by Maj.-Gen. Yoav Galant, who will become chief of General Staff in February.
The IDF’s interest in the Air- Mule stems from lessons learned from the Second Lebanon War, when a large number of casualties needed to be evacuated by air. IDF assessments are that the system could be operational within a few years.
“The AirMule is unique since it can bring supplies and cargo in its hull and then take back a wounded soldier,” a senior officer involved in the project said this week.
The IDF has asked Urban Aeronautics to make some changes to the UAV, which currently only has room for one soldier.
“We want to see if there is a possibility to make room for another soldier inside the hull, and [to add] a light as well as a communication system to enable the soldier to speak with someone as he is being flown to safety,” the officer said.
If the budget is obtained, the IDF plans to invest some of it in the development of the Air- Mule. The goal, the IDF officer said, would be to distribute one AirMule UAV each to brigades and divisions operating in either Lebanon or the Gaza Strip.
“It has the unique ability to land anywhere – on a roof, in a field or even hover next to a window, open its back door and enable soldiers to slide their wounded comrade inside,” he said.
“This could significantly reduce the amount of time it takes to evacuate a soldier from a battlefield.”
http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=202579
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
