podesta_email_06930.txt

podesta-emails 2,812 words email

P17 D6 P22 V14 V11

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http://www.centerpeace.org ** Israel and the Middle East News Update ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Friday, December 11 ------------------------------------------------------------ Click here for a printer-friendly version. (http://centerpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/December-11.pdf) Headlines: * Obama: Without Peace Process, US at a Loss on How to Defend Israel * Arab Party Leader Cancels Meeting with ‘Zionists’ for Arab Rights * Greek Parliament Set to Recognize Palestine * Abbas Claims Palestinians Are Facing a New ‘Nakba’ * Prisoners Expelled in Shalit Deal Operating Terrorist Cells * Hamas Car Terrorist Caught After Manhunt * Ex-ICC Attorney: High Court Approval Could Save Settlements * First-Ever Case of IDF Reservist Joining ISIS in Syria Commentary: * Ha’aretz: “Israel is Ignoring the Time Bomb of Poverty” - By Editorial Staff * Al-Monitor: “Is this Palestine’s Arab Spring?” - By Asmaa al-Ghoul, Palestine Pulse, Al-Monitor ** Ha'aretz ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Obama: Without Peace, US at a Loss on How to Defend Israel (http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.691246) ------------------------------------------------------------ The stalemate in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process will make it hard for Washington to continue blocking international initiatives on this issue, U.S. President Barack Obama warned President Reuven Rivlin during their meeting Wednesday. Senior Israeli and American officials who were briefed on the meeting said Obama didn’t threaten, nor did he criticize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He simply described the diplomatic situation, and Israel’s eroding international status, as he saw it, officials said. Obama noted that initiatives against Israel in international forums are nothing new, and he has helped Israel fight such initiatives since taking office in 2009. See also, “Obama: Abbas Should Condemn the Violence in the Region” (Palestine News Network) (http://english.pnn.ps/2015/12/11/obama-abbas-should-condemn-the-violence-in-the-region/) ** Ma'ariv ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Arab Party Leader Cancels Meeting w/ ‘Zionists’ for Arab Rights ------------------------------------------------------------ The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations is furious over Joint List Chairman Ayman Odeh’s decision to cancel a meeting with its members. Sources in the Conference of Presidents said that Odeh refused to speak with its members after he saw they shared their building in New York with Zionist organizations including the Jewish Agency. MK Odeh commented that he had come to the US to represent Arab Israelis and that he could not wholeheartedly attend meetings held at offices of organizations that conduct activity that expels Arab citizens. See also, “Israeli Arab Leader Refuses to Enter 'Zionist' of U.S. Jewish Group” (Time of Israel) (http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-arab-leader-refuses-to-enter-zionist-offices-of-us-jewish-group/) ** Times of Israel ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Greek Parliament Set to Recognize Palestine (http://www.timesofisrael.com/greek-parliament-set-to-recognize-palestine/) ------------------------------------------------------------ Greece’s parliament is set to recognize the State of Palestine in a vote on December 22 in a largely symbolic move that will be non-binding for the Greek government. The move of recognition through parliament, rather than the state, is in order “not to disturb good relations with Israel.” If passed, the resolution will join similar non-binding gestures by other European legislatures over the past 14 months, including the parliaments of the UK, France, Spain, Ireland, Belgium and Portugal. Sweden has gone further, officially recognizing Palestine as a state. In December of last year, the European Parliament overwhelmingly backed the recognition of a Palestinian state “in principle,” though this was a watered-down version of the resolution sought by Palestinians. ** Jerusalem Post ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Abbas Claims Palestinians Are Facing a New ‘Nakba (http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Abbas-claims-Palestinians-are-facing-a-new-nakba-436980) ’ ------------------------------------------------------------ Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday accused Israel of deliberately targeting Palestinian youth and children, whom he described as the “defenders of the dream and future generation.” Palestinians are facing a “nakba (catastrophe) that is aimed at uprooting them from their lands and denying their existence,” Abbas said, in a statement on the occasion of Human Rights Day. Palestinians are facing a “fresh assault by the Israeli occupation and its settlers in the frame of their continued aggression against our rights, lands, and Islamic and Christian holy sites,” he said. ** Yedioth Ahronoth ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Prisoners Expelled in Shalit Deal Operating Terrorist Cells ------------------------------------------------------------ Palestinian sources say that the prisoners expelled in the Shalit deal to Gaza, Qatar and Turkey are working vigorously to form independent military cells in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem—in order to execute terror attacks against Israel. This was said to Yedioth Ahronoth by Hamas sources. The same expelled prisoners have also started to set up a shadow organization in the West Bank in parallel to Hamas, to the dissatisfaction of the Hamas leadership in the West Bank. See also, “Freed Hamas Prisoners from Shalit Deal Forming Independent Terror Cells” (Jerusalem Post) (http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Freed-Hamas-prisoners-from-Schalit-deal-forming-independent-terror-cells-says-report-437013) ** Arutz Sheva ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Hamas Car Terrorist Caught After Manhunt (http://www.bicom.org.uk/news-article/27876/) ------------------------------------------------------------ It was released for publication on Friday morning that in an overnight manhunt the Arab terrorist who ran over four IDF soldiers (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/204720) in his car on Thursday afternoon was caught. The terrorist was named as Mahmoud abd al Halim abd al Hamid Salam, a 37-year-old resident of the village of Al Luban in Samaria. Salam is identified with the Hamas terrorist organization. In 2001 he was given an administrative arrest for six months over terrorist involvement, but since then he has had no record of terrorist activity. See also, “Four Soldiers Wounded in West Bank Vehicle Attack” (BICOM) (http://www.bicom.org.uk/news-article/27876/) ** Jerusalem Post ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Ex-ICC Attorney: High Court Approval Could Save Settlements (http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Former-ICC-prosecutor-High-Court-approval-could-save-settlements-from-war-crime-label-436967) ------------------------------------------------------------ If the Israeli High Court of Justice approved specific settlements as legal, this could provide a complete defense to any allegations that they are war crimes, former International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo stated. Moreno-Ocampo is in Jerusalem lecturing at The Fried-Gal Transitional Justice Initiative at the Hebrew University Law School. Although Moreno-Ocampo has stepped down from his post, he was the boss of the current ICC chief prosecutor who will decide whether or not the settlements qualify as a war crime, is considered highly influential internationally, and his statement could be a major coup in the debate over the issue. ** Algemeiner ------------------------------------------------------------ ** First-Ever Case of IDF Reservist Joining ISIS in Syria (http://www.algemeiner.com/2015/12/10/report-first-ever-case-of-idf-reservist-joining-isis-in-syria/) ------------------------------------------------------------ An Israeli Arab who previously served in the Israel Defense Forces has become the latest ISIS recruit from Israel, Israeli site Walla reported (http://news.walla.co.il/item/2914509) on Thursday. The man — reported to be the first Israeli citizen to have served in the IDF and joined ISIS in Syria — was from an Arab village in northern Israel. According to his army identification card, he would have been released in January 2014, which makes him in his early 20s. According to Walla, which based its article on Arab media reports, he probably flew from Israel to Turkey, and from there traversed the vast and rather porous border to Syria. His dog tag apparently traveled with him. See also, “Former IDF Joins Islamic State in Syria” (Times of Israel) (http://www.timesofisrael.com/former-idf-soldier-joins-islamic-state-in-syria/) ** Ha’aretz – December 11, 2015 ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Israel's Government is Ignoring the Time Bomb of Poverty (http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.691228) ------------------------------------------------------------ Despite the increase in employment, poverty rates have gone up, even in families with two breadwinners. By Editorial Staff In recent years, successive governments have taken pride in being “the most social-minded.” The poverty report that came out Wednesday stresses once again how cut off the politicians’ statements are from reality. After all, 1.7 million poor people, 770,000 of them children, are not a “mistake” – not when the data and their significance have long been known to anyone who took an interest. The figures in the National Insurance Institute report show that the government isn’t really interested in treating the poverty problem. Despite the increase in employment, poverty rates have gone up, even in families with two breadwinners. This shows that employment is not the be-all and end-all, despite finance ministers’ promises over the years. The data show that even a full-time job is not a guarantee against poverty. The poverty rate among households with two breadwinners reached 5.6 percent this year, continuing the rise of the past decade. This happens partly in the public sector because of the use of human resource companies, yet only a few people, most of them outside government, call for restrictions on this type of employment. According to another key find in the report, last year the poor became poorer and their average income came in at about 35 percent below the poverty line. The situation of the poorest of the poor also got worse. But the rich got richer; the disposable income of the top 20 percent climbed 5.3 percent, compared with 2.6 percent for the middle class and 0.4 percent for the bottom 20 percent. In the summer of 2014 the Committee to Fight Poverty, headed by current Kulanu MK Eli Alalouf, released a report. To this day the report has not been discussed by the cabinet and most of its recommendations have not been implemented. In fact, from the promises inherent in the committee’s name, only the word “poverty” is left. Today only Mexico has a worse poverty rate than Israel among OECD countries, and its lead is marginal. Based on the government’s failures, it won’t be long before we take first place. Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, who blamed the previous government for the situation, hangs his hopes on the restoration of child allowances. He must implement a government program in areas such as education, housing and health to tackle the ticking time bomb of the poverty problem. Israel’s government must treat this issue with the seriousness it deserves. ** Al-Monitor – December 7, 2015 ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Is this Palestine’s Arab Spring? (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/12/palestinian-intifada-arab-spring.html) ------------------------------------------------------------ By Asmaa al-Ghoul GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – The Arab Spring model (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/01/palestine-failed-arab-spring.html) , represented by the sweeping Arab revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, has failed to free the Gaza Strip and the West Bank from the political division (http://paltoday.ps/ar/post/104166/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%82%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A-%D8%AA%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%84-%D8%B2%D9%85%D9%86%D9%8A) between Fatah and Hamas. The trouble started in June 2007, when the latter took control of the Gaza Strip by force of arms. It has also failed to bring down the existing regime and build a new one. This decentralization in leadership, whereby social media has become the main driver of protests, is very much akin to the Arab Spring revolutions, such as those in Tunisia and Egypt. Mohammed Abu Rab, a media professor at Birzeit University, told Al-Monitor, “We cannot exactly say that the current uprising is being led through social media. Social networking sites are actually the main means to mobilize young people, as most events are called upon through social communication and not through political parties.” According to Abu Rab, the absence of any leadership in charge — whether in the field or on social media — would cause these mobilization and advocacy calls to lose momentum without new developments or events to stimulate them. Abu Rab further said that there are clear similarities between the Palestinian uprising and the Arab Spring in terms of relying on social media to ramp up support and the absence of anyone leading the movement. “However, there is a major difference that needs to be pointed out. The Arab Spring revolutions were against the different Arab regimes, while the Palestinian uprising is against an occupation force,” he added, stressing that the latter is more difficult, given the harsh punishment measures (http://almawqef.com/spip.php?article13539〈=ar) set by the Israeli forces, such as arrests, house demolition and killings. “This is true despite the fact that ramping up support and mobilization against an occupation force is easier than a revolution against a regime,” Abu Rab added. Social media and free communication on the Internet at large have raised a new awareness among young people, prompting them to adopt a new rhetoric of patriotism unrelated to factional and partisan affiliations. In an Oct. 19 post on his now-deleted Facebook account, Ahmed al-Herbawi (http://www.karamapress.com/arabic/index.php?Action=ShowNews&ID=146756) , 19, who died on the eastern border of the Gaza Strip after taking a bullet in the chest (http://www.palinfo.com/news/2015/10/11/%D9%85%D9%86-%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%A9-7-%D8%A3%D9%85%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%B1---%D8%B1%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%B5%D8%A9-%D9%85%D8%AA%D9%81%D8%AC%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D8%AE%D8%AA%D8%B7%D9%81%D8%AA-%D8%AD%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%A9--%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%87%D8%B1%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%88%D9%8A--) , wrote, “I do not stand with the Ramallah authority, nor with Hamas, the [party] of hypocrisy, injustice and lies.” That Palestinian political parties (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/en/originals/2015/10/palestinian-intifada-factions-popularity.html) have yet to officially claim leadership of the current uprising is further proof that young people are its lifeblood. They are pinning their hopes on the Palestinian people to make the Arab Spring work in Palestine whether in the field or online. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the social networks (http://ramallah.city/archives/44669) as a key instigator of the escalation in Jerusalem and the West Bank. “The main battle should be focused against the instigating social media networks,” Netanyahu said. Ahmed Youssef, a Hamas leader, told Al-Monitor, “A great part of the greatness of this intifada lies in its ambiguous aspect and the secret identity of the people behind it, which is one of the reasons for its success…I am convinced that these young people are the leaders of this spontaneous outburst of protests. They are relentless and persistent, working under the banner of one national flag and one anthem, rather than the banner of one party,” he added, stressing that there are long-term plans and objectives and that every day brings a new achievement and another surprise. For his part, political writer in the Palestinian Al-Ayyam newspaper (http://www.al-ayyam.ps/) Akram Atallah believes that young Palestinians have gone beyond the different factions, acting on their own without any directives, as the different Palestinian factions have proved in past years unable to bring about change, stop the rampant settlements and save Jerusalem (http://www.siyassa.org.eg/NewsContent/2/106/7552/%D8%AA%D8%AD%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AA/%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85-%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A8%D9%89/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AA%D9%81%D8%A7%D8%B6%D8%A9-%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A9%20-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9--%D8%AF%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%B9-%D9%88%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%85%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%85%D9%84%D8%A9.aspx) . “Young people took the initiative to act, as they saw the political parties indifferent to the national interests. They decided to rise up on their own but not with the intention to belittle these parties, but to incite and encourage them to become more efficient and join the ranks of the uprising,” Atallah told Al-Monitor. Bahaa Alian (http://pnn.ps/2015/11/09/%D9%86%D9%81%D8%B0%D9%87%D8%A7-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D9%87%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D8%A8%D9%87%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D8%A8%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%A3/) , 22, who died attacking Israelis on a Jerusalem bus (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/10/19/portrait-of-palestinian-killer.html) on Oct. 13, was a living example of the will of the young people to distance themselves from the banners of the political parties. “I ask the different factions not to embrace and adopt my martyrdom (http://www.elnnews.com/%D9%88%D8%B5%D9%8A%D9%87-%D8%AA%D8%AF%D9%85%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D9%84%D9%88%D8%A8-%D9%88%D8%AA%D8%AF%D9%85%D8%B9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%86-%D8%B9%D8%B4%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D9%88%D8%B5%D8%A7/) , as I died for the sake of my homeland, not yours,” he said 10 months before he carried out his attack. Atef Abu Sef, editor-in-chief at the Institute of Public Policies (http://www.ipp-pal.ps/english/english.html) , believes that the true leader of the uprising is the arena itself, “The protest arena is the leader of this intifada, as young people act impulsively when on the ground.” He stressed, however, that while many of the youth are politicized and typically follow a specific party, in this uprising no one is following their party’s political program, but rather responding to the situation on the ground. “The intifada does not raise any big slogans. It simply reflects the real pulse of the people,” he added. A statistical study published Nov. 9 by the Jerusalem Center for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs Studies (https://www.facebook.com/alqudscenterpal/) showed that among the overall attacks carried out by Palestinians since the beginning of October, lone operations amount to 60%, 22% had organizational connections and 18% were affiliated with groups — which does not mean that the organizations or groups claimed the attacks, clarified the study. For her part, activist Ibaa Rizk told Al-Monitor that what distinguishes this intifada is that every young man is a leader in it, as there is no centralized leadership, arguing that political parties have lost their credibility in the eyes of the young people. She added that despair is the main thing pushing young Palestinians to rise up. “We are the generation of disappointments and losses. We have lived through the recent wars, blockade, infighting, the failed Palestinian reconciliation and peace process, and the false promises to open crossings and improve the situation,” she said. Rizk is reluctant to call the events in Palestine a Palestinian Arab Spring, as “the Arab Spring revolutions brought nothing but disasters to the Arab world. That is why we shall wait and see the turn of events without labeling what is happening now,” she said. Asmaa al-Ghoul writes for the Palestine Pulse and is from the Rafah refugee camp based in Gaza. ============================================================ S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace 633 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20004 For comments, please contact us at ** [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) . ** www.centerpeace.org (http://www.centerpeace.org) 2015 S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace, All rights reserved. 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