100 posts
Netenyahu and Haniyeh: The common denominator
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Re-blogged from the Israeli site, Challenge by Yacov Ben Efrat What do the top leaders of Israel and Hamas have in common? They share the same enemy: PA President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). Abbas embodies all that Ismail Haniyeh despises: secularism...
In the mean time, Turkey is into a “show trial” on the Mavi Marmara case… a FP roundup…
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The Mavi Marmara was headed towards the Gaza coast when Israeli commandos boarded it Turkey seeks 18,000-year jail terms for flotilla raid from Yahoo news Turkey put four former Israeli military commanders, including the head of the army, on t...
Palestinians Put Jordanian Option on the Table
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Article (short version) first published as Palestinians Put Jordanian Option on the Table on Technorati. Farouk Kaddoumi, a veteran PLO official, dropped a political bomb (on 31st Oct. 2012) with a call for “returning” the West Bank...
It's time for sanctions on Israel | Jamal Zahalka
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The merger of the rightwing parties will increase extremism and racism against Palestinians. Sanctions are the only answerAhead of the Israeli elections next January, a merger between the parties of the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, and the for...
Deeper EU - Israel trade relations: what about human rights concerns?
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By Marnix de WitteOn the 23rd of October, the European Parliament (EP) passed the Agreement on Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products (ACAA) to further enhance Israel – EU trade relations. A questionable agreement; what about t...
EU trade relations with Israel
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Since I have received a volume of correspondence on the Conformity Assessment and Acceptance of Industrial Products (CAA), specifically on the proposed upgrade to trade relations with Israel, I thought it would be helpful to set out Labour MEPs’ vi...
Elections in Israel: Greens launch their campaign
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Tel Aviv – The Israeli Green Movement, Hatnu’a Hayeruka (in Hebrew), prepare for a crucial test of its electoral power: the national parliamentary elections are scheduled to the 22nd of January 2013. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announce...
Boycotting Israel: a moral imperative
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The Palestinian quest for justice and freedom can be summarised in one beautiful word: sumoud. Usually, it is translated as “steadfastness” but I’m not sure the English term properly evokes the spirit that has sustained a people through many de...
Lerman in the Guardian: ‘The abuse of dissenting Jews is shameful’
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Guest post by Pink Prosecco: Antony Lerman in the Guardian: The abuse of dissenting Jews is shameful Half truths are more difficult to combat than outright nonsense. Yes, it is true to say that some right wing hardliners will call almost anyone –...
Daily Digest: Ashton joins condemnation of Iranian anti-Israel remarks
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On Saturday the EU High Representative of Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton condemned anti-Israel remarks made by Iranian leaders last week. On Friday the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called Israel a “cancerous tumour”, and on Wed...
EU upgrading relations with Israel by the back door – part 2
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On 24 July we reported on this blog that the European Union had apparently agreed to enhance the EU – Israel relationship with what we referred to as ‘a whole raft of measures all of which are considered technical and … Continue reading ...
EU upgrading relations with Israel by the back door – a blow to justice
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When the Foreign Affairs Council issued its conclusions on the Middle East on 14 May 2012 it spelled out its concern that the two-state-solution (which is one of the key cornerstones of EU policy with regard to Israel and Palestine) … Continue...
Israel Creates A New University
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A little less than two weeks ago, a committee headed up by former Israeli Supreme Court Justice Edmund Levy and appointed by Prime Minister Netanyahu, released the Levy Report. The Levy Report attempted to define, once and for all, the legal standing...
New Statesman on Israel and two states
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The New Statesman has not always been noted for its balanced coverage of Israel/Palestine, but the current issue is worth reading for a discussion of the ‘two-state solution’ and other related questions. Leader: Now is not the time...
Interesting Israeli easing
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Israel’s central bank had just cut interest rates at pixel time on Monday, easing by 25bps to a 2.25 per cent policy rate.Why’s this one so important, we hear you ask....
Racism poisons Israeli society
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By Sacha Ismail (cross-posted from Workers Liberty) “Garbage”. “Poison”. “Cancer”. These are some of the words used by Israeli politicians to describe African migrants in the last month, which has seen racist riots, assaults and firebomb...
Turkey vs. Israel today: broken ties may be permanent says PM Erdoğan…
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‘Broken’ ties with Israel may become norm for Turkey: PM Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared Sunday that his country’s “broken” relations with Israel can only be mended if the Jewish state stops b...
Is Obama Anti-Israel?
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In a poll days before the special election for the U.S. House seat vacated by Anthony Weiner, only 22% of Jewish voters said they approved of Barak Obama’s handling of Israel. Dan Senor points to the erosion of Obama’s Jewish fund-raising as anot...
Israel: Porcupine, iguana or caterpillar?
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Should Israel respond to the Arab Spring as a porcupine, an iguana or a caterpillar? An intriguing, if not perplexing, question that was posed this morning by Daniel Levy, ECFR’s newestRead more…...
Turkey vs. Israel today: “Turkey says flotilla raid was ’cause for war’ -but they intend to start a war…
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Turkish frigate TCG Giresun is seen near Turkey’s Aksaz naval base in this June 2009 file photo. (Photo: AA) Turkey says flotilla raid was ’cause for war’ by ANKARA – The Associated Press Turkey’s pr...
Turkey vs. Israel today: Erdoğan to go Egypt. Lieberman to make things worse for Israel…
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Lieberman May Become the New Qaddafi of the Middle East from The Istanbulian by Emre Kızılkaya If the Turkish government is acting irrationally nowadays, then the Israeli government -or at least a key part of it- is sheer crazy. Israel to ‘punis...
Why the crisis between Turkey and Israel is hurting everyone
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WASHINGTON — The United Nations’ recent report investigating the deaths of nine Turks when Israel stopped a flotilla trying to break a Gaza blockade has brought an end to a suspenseful episode in Turkish-Israeli relations. But with closure (o...
Turkey vs. Israel today. Naval diplomacy. Another roundup
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Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan (L) and Spain’s Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero review a guard of honour during a welcoming ceremony in Ankara September 6, 2011. REUTERS/Umit Bektas.. Turkey, Israel should keep...
Israel’s Balkan offensive
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Should the EU recognise Palestine? ECFR asked this question at a recent ‘Black Coffee Morning’ with John Bell from the Toledo Peace Institute*. It seems we may have been a little over-ambitious asRead more…...
McEwan’s speech vindicates his anti-boycott stance
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Accepting the Jerusalem prize for literature last night, novelist Ian McEwan attacked Israeli policies towards the Palestinians. His audience, which included President Shimon Peres, Culture Minister Limor Livnat and Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat, listen...
Protests against Polish-Israeli meeting in Jerusalem
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The Palestinian Solidarity organisation in Poland has initiated an international campaign against a high level governmental meeting between Poland and Israel to be held in Jerusalem. The meeting is planned to upgrade the countries' defence and econom...
Israel justifies herself with the Turkel Report….
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Israeli soldiers stand guard on a missile ship as the Israeli navy intercepts a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in the Mediterranean Sea on May 31, 2010. An Israeli probe ruled on Sunday that a May 2010 raid on Gaza-bound aid ships that killed nine Turks...
Where is our right to be outraged?
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Following strong reactions from the part of French Jewish organisations, the debate on the Middle East that was supposed to take place – Tuesday the 18th of January – at the French great school “l’Ecole Normale Supérieure” (ENS) wa...
Peace negotiations, Israel announced a postponement of the Paris Summit
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The summit which was to meet in Paris on Oct. 21 Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been postponed, said Saturday the office of Israeli Prime Minister. “After cons...
Turkey still wants apology from Israel
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Turkey wants Israeli apology for fatal raid from Yahoo news TURKEY’S prime minister has again accused Israel of “state terrorism” and called on the Jewish state to apologise and compensate victims of a raid on a Gaza-bound aid floti...
The Morning Star: when “anti-Zionism” becomes anti-semitism
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The Morning Star newspaper likes to present itself as a non-factional paper of the broad left of the British labour movement. In reality, it is the mouthpiece of the Communist Party of Britain, the remnants of the old out-and-out Stalinist CP. True,...
That may be Israel but I am Gaza
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That may be Israel but this is GazaThe Israeli Foreign Ministry is hoping to use social media to brand Israel and the government is about to spend $25 million on influencing social media. In their first salvoThe campaign will focus on hosting figure...
Kristallnacht in Covent Garden
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”DEMONSTRATE OUTSIDE AHAVA – SATURDAY 28 AUGUST” From the PSC: “The next fortnightly demonstration outside the Ahava beauty shop in Covent Garden, London, takes place this Saturday (28 August) from 12 – 2pm. The c...
Israel: it’s apartheid – but not as we know it…
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That strange combination of people calling themselves the Palestine Solidariy Campaign (PSC), have long had a strategy of trying to delegitamise Israel in the eyes of decent, liberal people, by making out it’s essentially the same as apar...
Mavi Marmara is back.
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Israel finally sends back the Mavi Marmara. Mavi Marmara flotilla ship returns to Turkey from Hurriyet Dailynews The ferry at the center of the deadly Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla has arrived back in Turkey as activists said more ships w...
Israel/Palestine: Avnery on why racists support “one state”
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Uri Avnery explains why the Israeli right’s interest in a “one-state” solution is thoroughly racist and reactionary: “Ethnic cleansing can be carried out dramatically (as in this country in 1948 and in Kosovo in 1998) or in a...
Something you couldn’t possibly have read here
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From the Catholic, anti-semitic blog ‘Splintered Sunrise‘ : Here’s something you won’t read on Shiraz Socialist July 22, 2010 at 12:11 am (Middle East) Remember when the apartheid entity and the Zionist entity were different enti...
Morning Brief (19-7)
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Ashton calls for opening of Gaza crossing. AFP reports: The European Union’s top diplomat Catherine Ashton called for the further easing of Israel’s four-year blockade of the Gaza Strip during a visit to the impoverished Hamas-run enclave...
FP roundup: ‘Secret’ talks with Israel, that everybody knows, New chapters opened in the EU negotiations etc
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Turkish Foreign Policy continues to surprise many as they are determined to think in old terms. Turkey does not aim to leave its place in “Western” world. She just diversifies and empowers its role. Thus, she can still continue to talk to...
Ashton on East Jerusalem: Settlements and demolitions of homes are illegal under international law
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It is not the first time that the EU’s High Representative has spoken candidly on the subject of Israeli settlement construction in East Jerusalem. Indeed, Ashton remarked in her maiden speech as the EU’s foreign policy chief that “East Jer...
No Apology, No Airspace: Turkey begins to bar Israeli military planes
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Turkey Barring Israeli Military Flights From Its Airspace from NYT > Turkey by By SEBNEM ARSU and JACK HEALY The new measures were part of the diplomatic fallout over Israel’s deadly raid last month on a Turkish ship. Israeli plane barred from...
Morning Brief (21-6)
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Israel to ease Gaza blockade. The New York Times reports: Bowing to worldwide pressure and condemnation, Israel on Sunday formally announced an eased blockade of Gaza that could significantly expand the flow of goods overland into the impoverished co...
Diversions and divisions in Israel
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I’ve never received such a shock from reaching into my pocket. Having just emerged from a relaxing float in the Dead Sea, I had snapped a few photos before starting to make my way to my rental car to continue my journey through the desert. But when...
Drone manufacturer Israel Aerospace Industries in running for more EU funding
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Article by David Cronin from IPS news, reproduced in full here EU Considering Aid to Israeli Military BRUSSELS, Jun 18, 2010 (IPS) – A leading Israeli supplier of warplanes used to kill and maim civilians in Gaza is in the running for two new s...
FP roundup: Turkey to freeze Israeli ties
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Turkey to freeze Israeli ties from Yahoo news ISTANBUL (Turkey) – A TURKISH newspaper reported on Wednesday that Turkey would halt military cooperation with Israel and would not send back an envoy, withdrawn after an Israeli commando operation...
A newly released video: Israeli Attack on the Mavi Marmara, May 31st 2010
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Despite the Israeli government’s thorough efforts to confiscate all footage taken during the attack, Iara Lee was able to retain some of her recordings. Above is 15 minutes of footage from the moments leading up to and during the Israeli command...
Russia may exclude Israel from Blue Stream-2 gas pipeline project
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Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday Israel may be excluded from the Blue Stream-2 gas pipeline project as it has uncovered its own gas deposits. READ MORE...
Israel: in concept and in reality
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As Israel’s raid of a protest ship trying to break the blockade of Gaza unfolded last week, it was interesting to watch how the coverage differed between the United States and Europe. Monday morning I watched as the European headlines scrolled acro...
Istanbul Bilgi U. Faculty’s Statement on the Gaza Flotilla attack (in Turkish)
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BASINA VE KAMUOYUNA DUYURULUR (8 Haziran 2010) İSTANBUL BİLGİ ÜNİVERSİTESİ ÇALIŞANLARI İSRAİL’E ‘ARTIK YETER!’ DİYOR 31 Mayıs 2010 tarihinde, uzun zamandır İsrail’in ablukası nedeniyle trajik koşullarda yaşayan Gazze...
Preliminary Legal Analysis of the Freedom Flotilla Incident
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Introduction The events on the Freedom Flotilla a few days ago shook the world. A lot was said by all sides involved in the incident. Many of the claims were based on different notions of international law and international humanitarian law in partic...
Flotilla Diplomacy
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Following the Israeli raid on the flotilla of activists carrying aid to the blockaded Gaza strip there has been a massive international backlash, but will the EU be able to forge a common policy? In some ways, it's a more opportune time, given the un...
