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The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil,    but because of the people who don't do anything about it    
Commentary

TitleDescriptionDate
War criminal promoted to chief of Israel lobby group David Cronin - Electronic Intifada "War criminals are seldom out of work. The shrewdest can turn a bloodstained history to their advantage.The career of Israeli military strategist Michael Herzog is a good case in point.Herzog has been sued by human rights activists over his role in a 2002 attack on Gaza. Despite – or perhaps because of – his association with state violence, Herzog’s analysis has been much in demand." ca 28/9/2018
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Palestinians try to move peace process forward without Trump Laura Rozen - Al-Monitor "Palestinian officials said they feel positive after a meeting on the sidelines of the UN to discuss how to advance a two-state solution that preserves Palestinian rights — a meeting that pointedly did not include the United States.Though representatives of some 40 countries and international organizations attended the meeting, including eight foreign ministers, the United States was not invited and did not attend, Maliki said." ca 28/9/2018
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How Israel Undermined Washington and Stalled the Dream of Palestinian Statehood Seth Anziska - NYT "Having sacrificed a great deal of political capital on the Middle East, Mr. Carter was bitterly disappointed with the failure of a broader effort on the Palestinian front. “I don’t see how they can continue as an occupying power depriving the Palestinians of basic human rights, and I don’t see how they can absorb three million more Arabs into Israel without letting the Jews become a minority in their own country,” he said during his final meeting with Israel’s ambassador in Washington. “Begin showed courage in giving up the Sinai. He did it to keep the West Bank.” ca28/9/2018
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Time to Wake Up: the Neoliberal Order is Dying Jonathan Cook - CounterPunch - "By crying wolf continuously about Corbyn’s supposed anti-semitism without any tangible evidence for it, and by making an unfounded charge of anti-semitism the yardstick for judging Corbyn’s competence for office rather than any of his stated policies, the real anti-semite’s argument begins to sound more plausible." - id27/9/2018
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Palestinians ponder reasons for punishing US measuresAhmad Abu Amer - Al-Monitor - "Wasel Abu Youssef, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, told Al-Monitor that closing the PLO’s financial accounts and expelling its representatives from Washington is “a declaration of war” on the Palestinian people and leadership. He said the US administration seeks to impose Trump`s pending peace plan, which he said is designed to liquidate the Palestinian cause." - id 27/9/2018
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Netanyahu alarmed over Abbas-Olmert meetingShlomi Eldar - Al Monitor - "The meeting of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas discredits the longstanding claim by Israel’s political right that Abbas is not a partner for peace negotiations." - id 27/9/2018
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Trump’s UN speech was the worst thing for IsraelOrly Azoulay - Ynet - "Rather than addressing those in the General Assembly chamber, Trump’s speech was intended for domestic consumption and for his political support base. On the outskirts of Pennsylvania and in the villages of Ohio, residents could hear a fiery speech in which their president kicks the world’s behind and gives them what they have always wanted—an isolationist America surrounded by great oceans, and to hell with the rest of the world." - id 27/9/2018
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Antisemitism is more complex than political criticism of IsraelLia Tarachansky - rabble.ca/Independent Jewish Voices of Canada - I`ve had the privilege and the pain of being on various sides of bigotry. From neighbours, teachers, and the other children in the Soviet kindergarten I attended I learned that being a Jew was something loathsome. As a high school student in Israel, I was taught by neighbours, teachers, and classmates that non-Jews are not wanted, that everything would be okay if they all just disappeared.Antisemitism and racism of all kinds are complex. Sometimes they`re black and white, sometimes they`re grey with misunderstanding, and sometimes they`re red with blood. One thing antisemitism is not, however, is criticism of the governments of Israel, and I don`t care whose definition of "antisemitism" you throw at me. Lately, with the attempt to redefine political criticism of Israel as "the new antisemitism," some organizations and groups have crossed the line. [ak] 25/9/2018
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Palestinians were never at the tableOmar Karmi - EI - “Israelis may have understood this or they may have not. It didn’t really matter. The imbalance of power between the two and the equally unbalanced American approach to mediation meant Israel was negotiating with itself and – on rare occasion – Washington. What the Palestinians wanted mattered little” [ry]24/9/2018
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Palestine: The Testbed for Trump’s Plan to Tear up the Rules-Based International OrderJonathan Cook - CounterPunch - "Europe’s leading states anxiously wish to uphold the semblance of an international order they believe has prevented their region’s descent into a Third World War. Israel and the US, on the other hand, are determined to use Palestine as the testbed for dismantling these protections" [ry]24/9/2018
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If ending Syria’s war means accepting Assad and Russia have won, so be itJonathan Steele - The Guardian "The Syrian conflict was never a simple binary struggle between supporters and opponents of Assad. Millions of Syrians had little or no faith in either side but deplored the militarisation of what had started as a non-violent uprising and became a proxy war in which outside states used Syria as a battleground for their own interests." ca21/9/2018
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Meet the woman who could lead Israel’s right-wing camp IDMazal Mualem - Al-Monitor "On Sept. 17, center-left Knesset members came up to the podium one by one and warned of Shaked’s big and dangerous plan. “In one thing the justice minister is right, it’s either us or them. … It’s either a messianic, nationalist, religious and occupying Israel or an open liberal democracy that extends a hand to peace and grants equality to all its citizens,” Meretz party leader Tamar Zandberg said." ca 21/9/2018
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This Yom Kippur, I am haunted by the idea that the damage to Palestinians and Jewishness is permanentMarc H. Ellis - Mondoweiss "A Rabbi friend wrote recently that the “Jewish project” was in danger. By that he meant the ethical core of Jewish life, the search for justice, equality and the dignity of Jews and others. On Yom Kippur and after, the world’s library shelves will continue to expand with books that go far beyond what has been written by and about Jews in the past. There is no other way, if we are truthful. As Jews, we have not confessed and turned toward justice. We won’t this Yom Kippur either." ca21/9/2018
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‘Oslo sold us out’: Young Palestinians on the moment that shaped their generationYumna Patel - Mondoweiss "“What does Oslo mean to me? For me, Oslo means that the Palestinian people did not get to decide their fate as a whole.” The words of Yasmin Abu Shakdim, a 22-year-old Sociology student from the city of Hebron, are expressive of a sentiment held by many Palestinian youth...“We have two occupations, the Israeli occupation and the Palestinian Authority,” al-Azza said. “Anyone that tries to resist or get involved in politics will be arrested by either the PA or by Israeli security forces as part of their coordination. This is a result of Oslo.” ca 21/9/2018
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Is Israel a Democracy?Faisal Khan - CounterPunch - "I feel that whilst there is indeed some Anti-Semitism in Labour (can prejudice ever be entirely eradicated?) the whole issue is primarily a witch-hunt against Jeremy Corbyn because there is a realisation in many quarters that for the first time in many years we may have a Prime Minister in this country who has Pro-Palestinian sympathies." - id 20/9/2018
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How Pro-Israel Goons Rule TwitterRichard Silverstein - Tikun Olam - "Yesterday, I criticized foreign media (see Facebook post above) for calling Ari Fuld, a settler murdered by a Palestinian assailant in Gush Etzion, an “activist.” Fuld was many things. But activist was not one of them. He was a militant heavily armed settler. He served for decades in the elite IDF paratroopers unit. His websites revealed his absolute hatred of Palestinians and denial of their existence. He also organized armed patrols in his settlement, Efrat." - id20/9/2018
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The Demise of the Palestinian QuestionYacov Ben Efrat - Challenge - "Even before the rollout of the “Deal of the Century”, its general guidelines are clear. Jerusalem is off the table; defunding UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) solved the refugee problem; a confederation with Jordan will replace Palestinian sovereignty over the West Bank; and the closure of the PLO’s mission in Washington effectively removes the PLO as a partner for negotiations with Israel." - id 20/9/2018
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The Veiled Danger of the ‘Dead’ Oslo AccordsRamzy Baroud - CounterPunch - "Oslo is not a specific legal document that can be implemented or rejected. It is a spectrum in which the likes of Beilin, Lieberman and Pipes have more in common than they may think, and in which the fate of the Palestinian people is left to inept leaders, incapable of thinking outside the permissible space allocated to them by the Israelis and the Americans" [ry]17/9/2018
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How educated Arabs present a dilemma for IsraelYaron London - Ynet - "Unlike ultra-Orthodox Jews, country’s Arab sector is eager to acquire education and integrate into modern labor market, and although this is excellent news for economy, Israeli government views educated minority as a potential threat that might be able to form adequate political opposition and exacerbate current hostility." - id12/9/2018
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The Plea That Echoes Everywhere in Gaza: ‘We Just Want to Feel Safe.’Sandy Tolan - The Daily Beast - "They blame Israel, they blame Hamas, they blame many people for their misery, but, still—after so many wars, so much destruction—people try to lead “normal” lives." - id12/9/2018
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The Day the Music Died: Will BDS Bring Tel Aviv`s Club Scene to a Standstill?Idit Frenkel - Haaretz - DJs like Shanti Celeste, Volvox, DJ Seinfeld, Python and Leon Vynehall also dropped out of Meteor. Why was this unexpected? Because Israel’s nightlife and clubbing scene – especially in Tel Aviv – had been an oasis regarding cultural boycotts, an extraterritorial hedonistic space with no room for politics. Moreover, two of the DJs spearheading the struggle on the nightlife scene regarding Mideast politics – the Black Madonna and Anthony Naples – have been here, enjoyed themselves, been honored and promised to return, until they discovered there’s such a thing as the occupation. So what has changed since 2015? First, there has been a change on the Gaza border, with civilians getting shot. Second, news reports about the nation-state law and the discrimination that comes with it have done their bit. Third, the arrests and detentions of left-wing activists entering Israel. [bz]11/9/2018
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For Israel, Khan al-Ahmar residents lack “good faith” displayed by settlersSharona Weiss - +972 - Both Mitzpe Kramim and Khan al-Ahmar were built without the necessary permits – Mitzpe Kramim on privately owned Palestinian land, Khan al-Ahmar on so-called state (public) land that was confiscated from Palestinian landowners from Anata in 1975. Both communities requested that their civilian structures be legalized retroactively. The difference? Apparently, only one community has the quality of good faith: decent, well-behaved Israeli settlers who gained rights to property that they seized illegally, all because their intentions were assumed innocent. [bz]11/9/2018
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Trump, Spinoza, and the Palestinian RefugeesSheldon Richman - AntiWar.com "Some blame victims; others – like Trumpand his ilk – pretend the victims don’t exist. Anyone who attempted somethinglike this with respect to, say, Jews would properly have been denounced by alldecent people...Let’s be clear: Trump has no intention of actuallyaddressing the refugee situation, and Israel has no intention of treating anyPalestinian justly. The criticism of UNRWA is simply a ruse for once again stickingit to the Palestinians. Why? Because Trump, like the rest of America’s ruling elite, favors Israel for geopolitical, domesticpolitical, and cultural and ethnic reasons." ca10/9/2018
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Trump`s endgame in PalestineMitchell Plitnick - +972 - Washington defunding the Palestinian refugee agency is not merely an attack on UNRWA, as serious as that may be. It is an attempt to destroy the Palestinian national movement [ry]10/9/2018
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Ceding the Palestinian narrative to ... PalestiniansBy Samer Badawi - +972 "Marcello Di Cintio’s Pay No Heed to the Rockets borrows its title from Mahmoud Darwish, Palestine’s most widely translated poet, who, amid the sounds of destruction accompanying Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, marks one night under siege with a how-to on coffee brewing. The passage, even in translation, brilliantly evokes the banal, methodical persistence of the civilian in wartime:" ca7/9/2018
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Anti-Israelism and Anti-Semitism: the Invidious ConflationSheldon Richman - CounterPunch - "How could anti-Israelism on campus or anywhere else pose a “civil and human rights challenge to North American Jewry”? If Judaism values universal justice, which the great prophets admonished the ancient Hebrews to honor, attention to the systematic injustice that Israel inflicts on the Palestinians qua non-Jews should be welcomed rather than feared by all, including Jews." - id "5/9/2018
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Trump to Defund UNWRA to Eliminate Palestinian Refugee Status, Right of ReturnRichard Silverstein= Tikun Olam - "While many of us have been calling Trump’s “deal of the century” dead in the water, he has made an alarming effort to implement his approach in de facto fashion without any party (except Israel) having any input. In other words, without even putting forward a proposal, Trump can create “facts on the ground” which would (he believes) determine the outcome without the Palestinians even realizing it." - id 5/9/2018
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An indomitable crusaderDr Naazir Mahmood - Uri highlights in his last article that the new law contains two important omissions (...)‘No Democracy. No equality. A state of Jews, for the Jews, by the Jews.’ This is pretty much what we have done in Pakistan. Though, on paper we may show some equality clause somewhere, in practice we are trying to make Pakistan a state of Muslims, for the Muslims, by the Muslims. And the situation is not much different in most other Muslim countries including Iran and Saudi Arabia. [bz] 3/9/2018
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