AxisMundi Jerusalem
Inside Israel and the Palestinian Territories
from FaithWorld:
Jerusalem: heart of the Mideast conflict
Jerusalem, December 8, 2009/Ammar Awad
Next week is the time of year when millions of people around the world look to Jerusalem as the source of inspiration for the Christian festival of Easter and Jewish Passover celebrations. But this week the city is also the recurrent focus of bitter dispute. The United States has directed rare strong criticism at Israel over its plans to expand Jewish settlements there, saying the building undermines U.S. efforts to advance Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Want to know more? Following are links to a sampling of recent Reuters stories about Jerusalem and a Reuters graphic on new Israeli construction in East Jerusalems:
LATEST NEWS
from Global News Journal:
Berlusconi charms Israel with EU talk
Berlusconi and Netanyahu shake hands during a meeting in Italy last year
Silvio Berlusconi is seldom shy about making headlines, and he's also known to turn on the charm when he meets foreign leaders.
So it was hardly surprising the Italian prime minister kicked off a three-day visit to Israel on Monday by declaring his hope that Israel might one day become a member of the European Union.
"My greatest dream, a
Netanyahu and Berlusconi shake hands during a meeting in Italy last year
And to mohammedsadevil, Tunisia, Algeria, Morroco, Lybia, and in particular Egypt were also part of the Roman empire. I guess that makes them part of Europe aswell.
I could understand that you dont like Muslims for personal reasons, but I would bet money on that the god muhammed professed is the same one you believe in, just looking at the same idea from a different angle. Do not expect to be tolerated if you don’t respect other cultures.
“Big Brother” bumbles into West Bank
It’s a reality television show whose contestants are isolated from the outside world, but “Big Brother” in Israel has managed to set off yet another controversy over Palestine policies.
Cameras at the studio-cum-commune outside Jerusalem caught Edna Canetti, a 54-year-old liberal activist, telling fellow residents over the weekend she wanted to see a peaceful popular campaign against Israel’s West Bank occupation.
“It bothers me that you’re silent. What’s needed is a revolt,” she declared after refusing to play along with a challenge in which contestants were divided into two groups — “rich” versus “poor” — with a plexiglass barrier between them.
Shifting to Middle East politics, Canetti said Palestinians should similarly tell Israel: “Shove your laws … We’re not going through that checkpoint and we’re not showing you IDs … This is our land.”
The remarks were in themselves unremarkable for Big Brother, an international franchise whose dramatic formula is based on the premise that very different people, cooped up together for weeks, will grow fractious. Yet while Canetti’s assertions met with bored or exasperated shrugs inside the Big Brother house, they found a far angrier audience on the Israeli far-right.
Michael Ben-Ari, a lawmaker from the National Union party who has himself been the subject of public censure after urging Israeli military conscripts to refuse orders to evacuate Jewish settlers from the West Bank, accused Canetti of sedition.
“Mrs. Canetti is, in effect, encouraging Arabs to rise up against the State of Israel, the violation of Israel Defence Force (IDF) troops’ orders, and even open insurrection,” Ben-Ari wrote in a complaint that his spokesman said had been mailed to the Justice Ministry along with a demand for a criminal investigation.
lolol, gotta love that “only symbol of freedom and liberty in the middle east” israel. what a “great” shinning light of democracy. all paid for by the american tax payer.
Photo highlights from the Holy Land
This image shot by Jerusalem based Reuters photographer Ronen Zvulun of storks flying over the Judean Desert is among the latest “Photo highlights from the Holy Land”.
Click below to view a multimedia presentation by Sharon Perry showcasing some of the best Reuters images from Israel and the Palestinian Territories during the week of August 24-31, 2009.
I would agree with my jewish brethern mr. Lapides. as a muslim, the conditions of palestine are a crime against humanity. But i do not see them as crimes being commited by the jews, instead it is the israeli government who is giving the jews a black eye. just like the taliban and al-qaeda have given us muslims a black eye, the israeli government is one of the biggest terrorist organizations in this world.muslims do not and never will hate jews and I hope it is the same the other way around.
Tunnel smugglers in Gaza
By: Suhaib Salem When you walk inside the border area between Gaza Strip and Egypt, the first thing you see are hundreds of tunnels, used by smugglers to bring goods into the Gaza Strip. Building any tunnel is a hard task that requires precise care. Tunnel smugglers need to supply the underground passageway with electricity, air and a telecommunications unit.
Working underground is like living on another planet. Going down inside one of these tunnels is a very terrifying venture. Darkness fills the entire tunnel, which runs deep and long. Some small lamps are hung to light the way, cables lie on the ground and intercoms connect one side of the border to the other. These intercoms are used by the smugglers to enable the one who based on the Egyptian side to contact his colleague on the Palestinian side. After walking a few steps inside the tunnel, you hear humming from neighboring smugglers digging their own tunnels. Sometimes one tunnel breaches the wall of its neighbor, putting both in danger of collapse. Different types of tunnels are used for certain tasks. The food smuggling tunnel differs from the tunnel used for smuggling cattle or animals.
Each tunnel is custom built for its own purpose. Tunnels for cattle and animals are longer and deeper to ease the movement of calf or sheep inside the passageway. When Hamas seized power from the rival Fatah movement in 2007, Israel tightened its blockade of the Gaza strip. Today Gazans consider the tunnels a main crossing, and most of their needs — cement, medicine, food, refrigerators and raw materials — are supplied through them. Many shops in the Gaza Strip offer smuggled goods and people come from throughout the territory to shop in the markets of Rafah, on the Egyptian border. The frontier area is frequently bombed by Israel, which says it is trying to stop weapons smuggling into the costal enclave. Egyptian border forces also bomb some tunnels from time to time. Tunnels owners repair their tunnels as fast as possible. Despite the danger, Mohammed Joma, 35, decided to work underground to feed his family. Joma, who was working inside Israel as a labourer before a Palestinian uprising erupted in 2000, said: “I face risks every day but the bad circumstances force me to (work in the tunnels). Every day, my wife and my children bid me farewell before going to my work because they think that I may not return to my house. No one likes this work, but I need to build my family’s future.” Joma receives 100 Israeli shekels a day for his labours. Tunnel owners and many businessmen in Gaza are getting rich off the smuggling trade.
It’s so sad that the arabs can only use their tunnel vision to look into the future as opposed to visions of real peace with Israel that will bring all walls and tunnels down!
the arabs love to seem themselves victimized and blame Israel and Jews instead of the malignant arab leaders who keep putting up walls of hate, destruction and blame.
they are destroying their chances of statehood with
upsurd leadership and fantasies. Cooperation with Israel
would replace arab ruins and backwardness with a glorius future.
Photo Tales from the Holyland
Click below to view a multimedia presentation showcasing some of the best Reuters images from Israel and the Palestinian Territories during the week of August 2-9, 2009.
An ageing body politic
The ageing executive body of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction is trying to emerge from its current congress in Bethlehem with a “new look” and a “new image” – not easy when the youngest member of the executive is 70-years-old and the oldest 87.
“I am sorry. I have Alzheimers,” joked one Fatah member during the congress when he realised he had forgotten to bring the list of candidates that he was supposed to vote for in the group’s first get-together in 20 years.
Even the group’s one-time ’young guard’ has grown old between congresses.
One of the drivers working for a member of Fatah’s Central Committee told me that he was shocked (and a little amused) when he asked his elderly passenger for a destination expecting somewhere in Bethlehem or nearby Ramallah and was told to drive to Beirut.
Five posts of the Central Committe have remained vacant for the past two decades while members waited for this congress to elect a new committee.
On Sunday, the Congress voted to elect new members to the Central Committee in a bid to have a new Fatah that would strengthen the credentials of its leader Mahmoud Abbas. For full story click here.
About half the members of the Central Committee are seeking re-election, including Salim al-Zanoun, the 87-year-old man. For his sake, and for the faction’s, it is hoped the next Congress can be organised before 2030 or there might be a lot of seats coming vacant before the next round of elections.
5 Years On: The ICJ and Israel’s Separation Barrier
This week marks the fifth anniversary of the International Court of Justice’s ruling against Israel’s controversial separation barrier, which is still under construction in and around the West Bank. According to a report from the UN High Commission for Human Rights, about 60 percent of the barrier has been constructed.
Israel says the barrier is aimed at preventing Palestinian terrorism, and says that since the wall has been built there has been a significant drop in attacks. However, the ICJ condemned Israel’s construction of the barrier on land within the West Bank-land Palestinians want for a future state-instead of on the Israeli side of the green line (the 1949 armistice line).
The separation barrier leaves some 80 percent of Jewish settlements on the Israeli side, leading the the ICJ to conclude that “the construction of the wall and its associated regime create a ‘fait accompli’ on the ground that could well become permanent, in which case, . . . [the construction of the wall] would be tantamount to de facto annexation” of Palestinian lands. (Read the entire text of that decision here).
In response to the ICJ’s ruling, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued this statement, where it argued that the ICJ’s ruling on the barrier was the result of a “politically motivated maneuver.” It denies the permanence of the barrier: “The fence is reversible, whereas the lives taken by terrorism are not. Moreover, the fence works. It is a temporary, non-violent security measure and it saves lives.”
Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Reuters this week that thanks to the barrier there’s been a “90% plus” reduction in suicide attacks by Palestinians in Israel.
Many Palestinians reject that idea and say the reduction in suicide attacks has nothing to do with the barrier which, after all, they say, is not yet complete and the border between the West Bank and Israel is still porous in many places.
Lives are saved with that wall. Who exactly is opposed to saving lives?
