We are a grass roots organization located in both Israel and the United States. Our intention is to be pro-active on behalf of Israel. This means we will identify the topics that need examination, analysis and promotion. Our intention is to write accurately what is going on here in Israel rather than react to the anti-Israel media pieces that comprise most of today's media outlets.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
No we are not-this sounds familiar...what ru planning?
Palestinians warn Israel after Jerusalem clash
Chief Palestinian negotiator Erekat says incident at Temple Mount on eve of Yom Kippur redolent of former PM Sharon's visit to site in 2000, which sparked second intifada; 'providing police escort for settlers who are against peace at all costs not act of someone who is committed to peace,' he says
Reuters
YNET News
Palestinian leaders warned Israel on Sunday not to stoke tension in Jerusalem in the hope of thwarting peace talks, after clashes at a sacred site in which Palestinians and Israeli police were injured. "At a time when (US) President (Barack) Obama is trying to bridge the divide between Palestinians and Israelis, and to get negotiations back on track, Israel is deliberately escalating tensions in Jerusalem," chief peace negotiator Saeb Erekat said.
"We've seen this before, and we know what the consequences are," the Palestinian minister added, in a statement that recalled the visit of then Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon to the site in Jerusalem's Old City in 2000.
Sharon's presence at al-Aqsa mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, triggered the second Palestinian uprising and dealt the biggest setback to peace efforts in years.
The reasons behind Sunday's clash were disputed.
According to legislator Hathem Abdel Kader and other Palestinian sources, the clash erupted in the early morning when Palestinians inside the complex -- sacred to both Islam and Judaism -- saw a group of 15 religious Jews trying to enter.
The Jews never managed to get into the complex, because several hundred Palestinians, who were on alert for such a possibility, began a loud protest. Israeli police responded with tear gas then stun grenades.
The clash occurred hours before the start of Yom Kippur, the solemn "Day of Atonement" which is the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
Police were on alert for violent protests in several flashpoints where Jews and Arabs live side by side.
Palestinians: No tourists were involved
Protesters threw stones, chairs and whatever they could lay hands on as riot police rushed to the scene. Video showed them trying to drive police away from the doorway of the al-Aqsa mosque, but there was no sign that police entered it.
Police said 17 officers were hurt and 11 rioters arrested, and medics said 13 Palestinians were treated for injuries. There were no reports of serious injury or death.
Israeli police said it began when religious Palestinians angered by immodestly dressed tourists grew violent.
Palestinians dismissed that account, saying no tourists were involved. There was no further comment from Israeli authorities, who were observing the Yom Kippur silence.
"Providing a police escort for settlers who are against peace at all costs, and whose presence is deliberately designed to provoke a reaction, are not the actions of someone who is committed to peace, but of someone who will go to extraordinary lengths to scuttle all hopes of peace," Erekat said.
He said it was "deliberately timed to coincide with the eve of the anniversary of that visit" by a government "emboldened by its ability to fend off calls for a settlement freeze".
The complex is known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary). Located above the Jewish prayer site at the Western Wall, it includes al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock mosque.
In Muslim tradition, the Prophet Mohammad ascended to heaven from the rock at the centre of what is now the Dome of the Rock shrine. The gilded dome sits over the spot where Jews believe Abraham was about to sacrifice his son Isaac to God before an angel stayed his hand.
Jewish visitors need permission from Israeli police to visit this part of the site. During mass Muslim prayers, Israel also restricts access by Palestinian Muslim men under 50.
Israel captured the site in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it with the rest of East Jerusalem, in a move not recognized internationally.
Sharon's visit enraged Palestinians and the resulting uprising rapidly escalated, with numerous suicide bomb attacks on Israeli civilians.
Comment:The PA lost at the UN, their credibility continues to slide outside the Arab world and within it. When pressed, the Arabs turn to an old tactic,blame the Jews and begin to set the stage for "But the Jews made us do it"-begin another intifada. Not this time, I am calling you out on this lie you just told the press. I agree with you on one point, we have seen this before and before and before!
It is my personal opinion that ‘writing the wrongs’ constitutes propaganda that is poorly checked and inaccurate. This is not a personal attack on the author(s), but a stand against the spread of information that deliberately defies accountability for human rights in Israel and the Occupied Territories, and the deliberate use of degrading and generalised material on the real problems of Palestinian statelessness.
ReplyDeleteDon’t fund ignorance. Make your own mind up, not someone else’s.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/JBRN-7VYHMS?OpenDocument
http://globalpolicy.org/home/189-israel-palestine/48266-israel-vs-human-rights.html
http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=22&year=2009&country=7748
http://www.hrw.org/middle-eastn-africa/israel-and-occupied-territories
http://www.rsf.org/en-rapport154-Israel.html
http://www.unhchr.ch/huridocda/huridoca.nsf/By+Symbol?SearchView&SearchOrder=1&WV=Y&Query=israel&sufs=1
http://www.googlesyndicatedsearch.com/u/crisisgroup?q=israel&ie=UTF-8
http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/annual-report-2008-israel!OpenDocument