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“Our position remains unchanged. We made its choice a long time ago … we supported and will support the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to an independent state with its capital in East Jerusalem.”
Russia’s Medvedev backs independent Palestine
JERICHO, West Bank (Reuters) – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev endorsed a Palestinian state, saying Moscow had recognized independence in 1988 and was not changing the position adopted by the former Soviet Union.
Making his first visit to the Israeli-occupied West Bank as Russian head of state, Medvedev stopped short of issuing a ringing declaration of recognition of Palestinian statehood by the modern Russian Federation which he represents.
Ehud Barak quits Labor to form ‘centrist, Zionist and democratic’ party
More to follow >>
Israel has been alarmed in the past two months by a string of recognitions by Latin American states including Brazil and Argentina, which some analysts say could be a precursor to a move by the Palestinians to seek full United Nations membership if efforts to revive moribund peace negotiations fall through.
The Palestinians today say 109 states out of 192 United Nations member countries recognize their statehood. Israel has warned that a “unilateral declaration” of statehood would set back the peace process.
Israel ‘regrets’ Argentina’s recognition of an independent Palestine
AFP – Argentina and Uruguay said they were joining Brazil in recognizing an independent Palestinian state, earning an immediate sharp rebuke from Israel and causing unease in the United States.
Israel called the announcement by Buenos Aires “regrettable” and said it went against an Israeli-Palestinian agreement that such a state should only be recognized with Israeli approval.
That echoed criticism Israel made after Brazil started the South American movement by saying it recognized a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, before the Six Day War in which Israel seized Gaza and the West Bank. Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas reached out to the governments as part of an effort to win UN recognition of a Palestinian state.
Ehud Barak quits Labor to form ‘centrist, Zionist and democratic’ party
Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced Monday that he is stepping down as Labor Party chairman to set up a new party, following months of turmoil within the weakened faction.
In the wake of waning support from his own ministers, Barak is forming a new faction called Atzmaut (Independence). He will be joined by four fellow Labor lawmakers – Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai, and members of Knesset Shalom Simhon, Einat Wilf and Ori Noked.Barak and the four other members of his new party are expected to remain in Netanyahu’s coalition. It is not clear whether Labor’s eight remaining lawmakers will support the government, in particular in light of recent threats to quit the coalition over the stalled Middle East peace process.
Barak, the saboteur destroying Israel’s left wing
A saboteur sits in Israel’s Defense Ministry. He operates secretly, compartmentalizes, strikes when you least expect it and damages hapless populations without fear. Like a computer virus, he has for 15 years penetrated Israel’s left wing, and started to destroy it from the inside.
He officially turned Israel into the only state in the West, not counting the United States, that lacks a Labor party, a Socio-Democrat party or a left wing. All European countries have such parties. Much as the situation irks us, we are now more like the third world ¬ we are a state that has about one and a half parties. Almost all there is in Israel is an ultra-nationalist right, comprised of parties that have various names: Likud, Kadima, Shas, Yisrael Beiteinu, National Union; yesterday, Atzmaut (Independence) joined them.One of its main ideologists, Shalom Simhon, defined the part as being between Likud and Kadima. The act of sabotage that Defense Minister Ehud Barak began at the Camp David summit when he was prime minister reached its peak in the Knesset yesterday. All that is left is rubble.
“Barak, the saboteur destroying Israel’s left wing…“
WHAT “left wing”? How easily we overlook today the fact that the so-called “left wing” in Israel – aka Mapai/Labor – is the party that initiated the 1967 war, instituted the Alon Plan for the illegal colonization of the occupied territories, illegally colonized, and ultimately illegally annexed the Golan Heights, build the first “settlements” (more accurately called colonies) in the OPT, and in the earlier decades of the occupation did far more actual confiscation, destruction, and construction of “facts on the ground” than the “right wing”. As we used to say, “Likud talks about settlements, Labor builds them”.
I should also point out that it was the “left wing” (Mapai/Mapam/Labor) that systematically ethnically cleansed Palestine of approximately one million of its non-Jewish indigenous inhabitants (~750,000 registered as refugees, another several tens of thousands fled or were driven out, but never registered as refugees = ~1 million), and then took systematic, sometimes deadly steps to prevent their return. It was also the “left wing” that destroyed literally hundreds of villages, plowed up their cemeteries, destroyed and/or desecrated mosques and churches, stole homes and businesses, along with personal property from homes and businesses for distribution to new Jewish immigrants, and on and on and on.
The Israeli political “left wing” has never been anything to write home about.
…which all goes to explain that Ben Gurion was the first Labor party head after Independence. Halper estimates that 3-5,000 Palestinian refugees were murdered after 1948 when they attempted to return to their villages, apparently under the false security of UN Resolution 194 (I believe), the right of return, passed six months later.
All the double talk makes my head spin.
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"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
Granted, I am not a Christian myself, but I think I understand Christianity and the teachings of Jesus well enough to seriously question whether this guy understands the religion he professes to follow. I guess Taliban is not a bad analogy, in that regard at least.
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Did have the position of PM in 6 Day War of 1967 (Levi Eshkol), 1973 Yom Kippur (Golda Meir) and 1992 Oslo Accords (Yithzak Rabin), not in 1979 Camp David Accords (Menachem Begin), 1982 Invasion of Lebanon, 1990-91 1st Gulf War, 2001 Second Intifada & 9/11, 2006 Bombing of Beirut & South Lebanon and 2009-09 Gaza Bombing and war crimes (Ehud Olmert). Labor often was part of the government coalition or gave its support.
I would guess the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin was well timed and killed any prospect for a peace settlement … the opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu was well versed in inciting hatred.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
“Israel has warned that a “unilateral declaration” of statehood would set back the peace process.”
…..but of course it would. It will take longer to get those damn palestinians off of their land.
Had to come back for this news.
Serving Up Palestine One Slice at a Time
by Philip Giraldi, January 20, 2011
Antiwar Forum
I believe the White House has already indicated that it would veto any UN Security Council resolution to recognize a Palestinian state. Along with Netanyahu, I think the State Department is playing a game of deception at the behest of Israel.