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Majority of Israelis prefer two-state solution: Gabriella Weiniger, Jerusalem Post, Dec. 18, 2012
Syrian Humanitarian Disaster Looms Face Bread Shortages: Luke Harding, The Guardian, Dec.13, 2012
Syrian Opposition Hijacked By Islamists, Foreign Influence: Michel Kilo, al-Monitor, Dec 12, 2012
Three PMW reports for Dutch Parliament: Palestinian Media Watch, Dec. 17, 2012
DIVIDING THE WEST BANK, AND DEEPENING A RIFT
An article on Dec. 2 about Israel’s decision to move forward with planning and zoning for settlements in an area east of Jerusalem known as E1 described imprecisely the effect of such development on access to the cities of Ramallah and Bethlehem from Jerusalem, and on the West Bank. Development of E1 would limit access to Ramallah and Bethlehem, leaving narrow corridors far from the Old City and downtown Jerusalem; it would not completely cut off those cities from Jerusalem. It would also create a large block of Israeli settlements in the center of the West Bank; it would not divide the West Bank in two. And because of an editing error, the article referred incompletely to the possibility of a contiguous Palestinian state. Critics see E1 as a threat to the meaningful contiguity of such a state because it would leave some Palestinian areas connected by roads with few exits or by circuitous routes; the proposed development would not technically make a contiguous Palestinian state impossible. (New York Times (correction), Dec. 16, 2012)
A more honest correction would have said this: “The Times reported, not as opinion but as fact in a news story, that the new construction being planned by Israel would cut Ramallah and Bethlehem off from Jerusalem, divide the West Bank in two, and make a contiguous Palestinian state impossible. None of those assertions was true, so we have to withdraw all of them.” —Elliot Abrams, an attorney and conservative policy analyst who served in foreign policy positions under Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush (Council on Foreign Relations, Dec. 18, 2012
"I want to take the opportunity to point out a simple fact. The walls of Jerusalem that you see behind us represent the capital of the Jewish people for some 3,000 years." —Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, on the terrace of the King David Hotel, overlooking the walls of Jerusalem's Old City, to 11 envoys from Asian and Pacific countries. Netanyahu said every Israeli government has built in Jerusalem, "and we will not change that.This is something natural, and I ask each of you to imagine that you would be restricted in building in your capitals. This is not logical, and for us what is important is that we are committed to our capital, to peace, and we will build in Jerusalem for all its residents." (Jerusalem Post, Dec. 19, 2012)
“In any conceivable political arrangement, Israel will not cede control of E-1. We refuse to accept that only a few weeks after missiles and rockets were fired from Gaza at Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, there are some who view Israel’s decision to hold on to a strategic area around Jerusalem and to build in its capital as the biggest obstacle to peace. We are getting the impression that European countries are more concerned with establishing a Palestinian state than they are with ensuring the existence of the Jewish state. The Europeans are wrong in assuming that Israel’s existence is assured and obvious.”—Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin in a greeting for the new year he sent out to his acquaintances around the world saying that construction in Jerusalem is not subject to negotiations. (Jewish Press, Dec. 18, 2012)
“We know it [the truce with Hamas] is temporary. We will have to take action. It’s a matter of time until we…bring down the Hamas regime….Unfortunately, when you have such forces, which are full of hatred and encitement, it’s only a matter of time until we will continue with the hatred again. And when you look at Gaza today, you don’t have any Jewish settlement today in the Gaza Strip. You ask yourself why they are sending missiles, why they are attacking the civilian population in Israel, and you understand the hatred. That’s something we have to realize. So it’s not about making more concessions or taking out more settlements. We did it in Gaza and we received missiles in return.” —MK Danny Danon, Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, in an interview with Newsmax TV. (Newsmax, Dec. 17, 2012)
“[A democratic] future that felt certain has now become nothing more than a vague promise—which might not be kept by the Islamist groups known for their lies, lust for power and cooperation with foreign powers. It is very likely that we will be dragged into a deep pit of chaos, violence and civil war, and that serious efforts will be deployed to prevent any evolution toward democracy by stifling the voices of free, secular forces,”—Syrian Christian opposition activist Michel Kilo writing in al-Monitor warning that light is not waiting at the end of the tunnel. Islamist hordes are. (Front Page Magazine, al-Monitor Dec. 19, 2012)
“The fact that one side commits occasional acts of terrorism does not justify state terrorism. In this case, there was not rocket fire of any consequence from the Gaza Strip prior to Israel’s inauguration of the military raid that killed the military leader of Hamas… You can’t bomb people into peaceful coexistence.” —Chas Freeman, former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia under President George H. W. Bush, former assistant to former Secretary of Defense William Perry in an interview with Russia Today TV. Freeman suggested the timing of the operation was not a coincidence: “It’s popular in Israel to kill many Palestinians in Gaza…a war against Hamas wins votes.” (Jewish Press, Dec. 12, 2012)
"They kept us blindfolded, bound.” While he and his colleagues weren't physically tortured, “there was a lot of psychological torture, threats of being killed. They made us choose which one of us would be shot first, and when we refused, there were mock shootings."—Richard Engel, an NBC News foreign correspondent freed with colleagues Monday after five days of captivity in Syria, held by the militiamen believed to be allied with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. (Wall Street Journal, Dec. 18, 2012)
“What is…outrageous is that these resolutions claim to care about Palestinians, yet the U.N. proves itself completely oblivious to the actual suffering on the ground, happening right now: Palestinians slaughtered, maimed and expelled by Assad’s forces. Today’s farce at the General Assembly underscores a simple fact: the U.N.’s automatic majority has no interest in truly helping Palestinians, nor in protecting anyone’s human rights; the goal of these ritual, one-sided condemnations remains the scapegoating of Israel.” —Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, responding to the latest series of anti-Israel resolutions passed by the General Assembly of the united Nations. (UN Watch, Dec. 19, 2012)
COMMITTEE APPROVES 2,610 UNITS IN EAST JERUSALEM—(Jerusalem) The Jerusalem Local Planning Committee on Wednesday afternoon [Dec. 19] gave final approval for plans to construct 2,610 new housing units in Givat Hamatos, a new neighborhood in southeast Jerusalem located across the Green Line. The move comes amid widespread international censure of Israeli plans to build up to 6,500 new apartments in east Jerusalem. (Jerusalem Post, Dec. 19, 2012)
COMMITEE BARS ZOABI, ALLOWS ARAB PARTIES TO RUN—(Jerusalem) The Central Elections Committee decided on Wednesday [Dec. 19] to disqualify MK Haneen Zoabi from running for the 19th Knesset, but allowed Arab parties Balad and UAL-Ta'al to run. In his statements before the committee, MK Ben-Ari said his primary motivation for seeking Zoabi's disqualification was to ensure that "our kids will be able to live in a normal Jewish state, not one in which 30 Zoabis serve in the Knesset.” Ben-Ari cited an interview Zoabi gave immediately after becoming a member of the Knesset, in which she expressed hope Iran would obtain nuclear weapons because Israel needs to be afraid. (Jerusalem Post, Dec. 19, 2012)
'MAN PLACED BOMB, RETURNED TO WORK AT MCDONALDS'—(Tel Aviv) The central suspect in last month's bus bombing in Tel Aviv planted the explosive device and then took the train back to his job at the McDonald's in Modi'in, prosecutors stated in an indictment issued on Wednesday. Muhammed Abed Al Jaffer Nasser Mafarja, an 18-year-old resident of Taibeh, was charged with aiding the enemy in a time of war, dozens of counts of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit a crime, causing an explosion, aggravated assault, illegal transporting weapons, and giving assistance to an illegal organization. Mafarja, who could potentially receive several life sentences, was originally from the West Bank but was able to move within the Green Line and acquire a blue Israeli ID after a family reunification.. (Jerusalem Post, Dec. 19, 2012)
BETTER BRAIN SURGERY, WITH FLIGHT SIMULATION TECH—(Tel Aviv) Two Israel Air Force vets, officers Moty Avisar and Alon Geri, are behind the Selman Surgical Rehearsal Platform that lets neurosurgeons practice for difficult cases. Just as pilots can use flight simulators to practice for difficult missions before setting foot in a plane, now brain surgeons can rehearse challenging microsurgical procedures before making a single incision. The Selman Surgical Rehearsal Platform (SRP) neurosurgery simulator generates 3D images from the individual patient’s standard CT and MRI scans. The lifelike preview shows how surgical instruments will interact with the patient’s tissue and how the delicate brain structures will respond. “It took us a while to understand how to translate a simulation into a realistic model. But according to surgeon feedback, we are there. They feel they are in the OR.” (Israel21C, Dec. 19, 2012)
DESCENDANTS OF MACCABEES, GREEKS, COOPERATE IN SKIES—(Tel Aviv) 2,000 years after Judah the Maccabee fought against the decrees of Greek ruler Antiochus, the descendants of the Hasmoneans and the ancient Greeks are cooperating militarily. Cooperation with Greece has tightened following the deterioration in relations between Israel and Turkey in recent years. (Israel National News, Dec. 16, 2012)
THE 2012 DISHONEST REPORTER: GIDEON LEVY, HAARETZ—(Tel Aviv) Gideon Levy’s front page article ”Most Israelis support an apartheid regime in Israel,” backed by a survey, made headlines around the world: His article opened with the following premise: “Most of the Jewish public in Israel supports the establishment of an apartheid regime in Israel if it formally annexes the West Bank.” Levy’s entire premise was based, however, on a hypothetical situation where Israel annexes the West Bank – a policy that the majority of Israelis are opposed to according to the very same poll.For his slander against the State of Israel and his persistent promotion of the falsehood even after he had been found out, HonestReporting readers judged Gideon Levy a worthy winner of the 2012 Dishonest Reporter Award. (Honest Reporting, Dec. 17,2012)
NARROW WIN FOR MORSI IN FIRST ROUND OF EGYPT VOTING—(Cairo) Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood backers eked out a narrow win in the first round of voting on a controversial new constitution this weekend, but the results only threaten to further divide this riven nation. Unofficial counts indicate that the Islamist-written charter received the support of about 57 per cent of the 8.1 million people who cast ballots in the first half of the referendum. More than 43 per cent voted against the document. (Globe and Mail, Dec. 16, 2012)
FORMER IDF CHIEF OF STAFF LIPKIN-SHAHAK PASSES AWAY—(Jerusalem) Former IDF chief of General Staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak passed away Wednesday morning [Dec. 19] at Hadassah University Medical Center after a lengthy battle with cancer. A decorated military commander and 15th IDF chief of staff, Lipkin-Shahak twice was awarded the Medal of Honor. Lipkin-Shahak joined the IDF in the 1962, enlisting in the Paratroopers. He served as a company commander during the 1967 Six Day War and the following year took part in raids on PLO bases in Jordan. In 1973, Lipkin-Shahak lead a commando force in a raid against PLO targets in Beirut, which resulted in the killing of some 100 PLO terrorists and three senior commanders. In the Yom Kippur War, Lipkin-Shahak fought on the southern front in Sinai as deputy brigade commander of the Paratroopers. (Jerusalem Post, Dec. 19, 2012)
OPPOSITION PROTEST FIZZLES IN EGYPT—(Cairo) An opposition appeal for mass protests against a draft Egyptian constitution backfired Tuesday [Dec. 18], with a dismal turnout forcing leaders to acknowledge that they erred in calling their supporters to the streets. The failed rally suggested the waning power of protests after two years of nearly nonstop demonstrations that began with the exhilaration of an 18-day revolution, but that have since devolved into bitter infighting among former allies. The lackluster turnout also pointed to difficult choices ahead for the loosely organized group of liberals, leftists, seculars and Christians who oppose President Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood backers.(Washington Post, Dec. 18, 2012)
UN ADOPTS 9 RESOLUTIONS AGAINST ISRAEL, SILENT ON SYRIAN MASSACRE OF PALESTINIANS —(Geneva) The U.N. General Assembly today adopted nine resolutions on Palestinian rights and the Golan, sharply criticizing Israel yet making no mention of Sunday’s massacre of Palestinians by Syrian warplanes firing missiles into a mosque in a Palestinian refugee camp near Damascus. Nor did the texts mention the tens of thousands of Palestinians who continue to flee the camp. By the end of this week, the current 2012 UNGA session will have adopted 22 country-specific resolutions on Israel – and only four on the rest of the world combined, one each for Syria, Iran, North Korea and Burma. (UN Watch, Dec. 19, 2012)
'SYRIAN JETS BOMB PALESTINIAN CAMP, KILLING 25'—(Beirut) Syrian fighter jets rocketed the Palestinian Yarmouk camp in Damascus on Sunday, killing at least 25 people sheltering in a mosque in an area where Syrian rebels have been trying to advance on the capital, opposition activists said. They said the deaths resulted from a rocket hitting a mosque in the camp, to which refugees have fled from other fighting in nearby suburbs of Damascus. It was the first reported aerial attack on the camp since the revolt against Syrian President Bashar Assad erupted last year. (Jerusalem Post, Dec. 16, 2012)
Majority of Israelis prefer two-state solution: Gabriella Weiniger, Jerusalem Post, Dec. 18, 2012 —Smith Research poll shows majority of Israelis fear a bi-national state; youth hold more right-wing positions. A clear majority of Israelis believe that the establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state is Israel’s best chance to remain a Jewish and democratic state in 20 years’ time.
Syrian Humanitarian Disaster Looms as Internal Refugees Face Bread Shortages : Luke Harding, The Guardian, Dec.13, 2012 —With Assad's regime targeting bakeries, displaced families are starving as harsh weather compounds the struggle for food. The cardinal problem is bread – Syria's most important food staple. There is not enough to go round; bread is disappearing.
Syrian Opposition Hijacked By Islamists, Foreign Influence: Michel Kilo, al-Monitor, Dec 12, 2012—There was, at one point, a strong conviction among large segments of Syrian society that the fall or overthrow of the regime would inevitably lead to a democratic alternative. This conviction lasted for a while, during which the protest movement was peaceful, despite the bloodshed caused by the regime.
Three PMW reports for Dutch Parliament: Palestinian Media Watch, Dec. 17, 2012—Following PMW presentations to the Foreign Affairs Committee in 2011, Dutch Parliament passed a motion "to prevent the supply of funding to the Palestinian Authority if no concrete and effective measures are being taken [by the PA] to act against the glorification and whitewashing of terrorism." [Motion no. 1039, passed in March 2011]
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