Is Abdelhakim Belhadj the (secret) leader of the Islamic state in Libya?

Is Abdelhakim Belhadj* the (secret) leader of #IS in #Libya? *Pictured here w/ John Mc Cain http://t.co/tp7P9Z7ny8 pic.twitter.com/zWbbQto7av
— маяковский (@moscow_ghost) March 5, 2015

Is Abdelhakim Belhadj the (secret) leader of the Islamic state in Libya? (SP).

Abdelhakim Belhadj, who despite ties to al-Qaeda was backed by the United States and NATO during the overthrow of Moammar Gadhafi, has joined the Islamic State in Libya and is leading forces there, according to US intelligence officials. Belhadj, a Libyan national and former head of the al-Qaeda-linked Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, was considered by President Barack Obama’s administration and some members of Congress as a “willing partner” in the overthrow of Gaddafi in 2011.

“Now, it’s alleged he is firmly aligned with ISIS and supports the training camps in eastern Libya,” Catherine Herridge, chief intelligence correspondent for Fox News, said Tuesday on “America’s Newsroom.”

Abdelhakim Belhadj is now the leader of #IslamicState in #Libya. At CIA rendition camp - let go, later participated overthrow #Qaddafi
— Sara A. Carter (@SaraCarterDC) March 2, 2015

Also on Tuesday, Sara Carter of The Blaze tweeted: “Abdelhakim Belhadj is now the leader of #IslamicState in #Libya. At CIA rendition camp — let go, later participated overthrow #Qaddafi.”

Despite Belhadj’s well-known ties to al-Qaeda, he was made head of the Tripoli Military Council, a position he held until resigning to run for office in May 2012.

He has also been connected to terrorist operations around the world, including the 2004 Madrid train bombings and the murder of two Tunisian politicians at behest of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Belhadj’s reported move to Islamic State would bolster the terrorist group’s efforts to recruit Libya’s existing militant forces, which includes as many as 3,000 fighters, according to the Washington Times. Hmmm..........McCain......ISIL.   Read the full story here.

ADL To Kerry: 'Your Threats Destroy Peace Talks'.

ADL To Kerry: 'Your Threats Destroy Peace Talks'.(INN).

In yet another backlash, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) issued a letter slamming the boycott threats against Israel from US Secretary of State John Kerry Tuesday.

Kerry's comments at the Munich Security Conference Saturday have sparked an immense backlash from the Israeli government. 

He said then, "today’s status quo absolutely, to a certainty, I promise you 100 percent, cannot be maintained. It’s not sustainable. It’s illusionary," Kerry stated. 

"You see for Israel there’s an increasing de-legitimization campaign that has been building up [. . .] there are talk of boycotts and other kinds of things. Are we all going to be better with all of that?" 

The ADL's response strongly condemns Kerry's comments. 

The full text reads: 

Dear Mr. Secretary:

We are writing to you at this moment with great respect for the exemplary and devoted efforts you are putting in to try to move peace forward between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

We have all witnessed the suffering and loss on all sides as the conflict continues year after year, decade after decade. We welcome your perseverance and optimism in trying to accomplish something that has eluded others time and again.

It is with this perspective in mind that we regretfully read of your comments this past weekend in Munich. In speaking about the price Israel will pay if the peace talks break down and Israel is blamed, you may have thought you were merely describing reality. But as the key player in the process, the impact of your comments was to create a reality of its own.

Describing the potential for expanded boycotts of Israel makes it more, not less, likely that the talks will not succeed; makes it more, not less, likely that Israel will be blamed if the talks fail; and more, not less, likely that boycotts will ensue. Your comments, irrespective of your intentions, will inevitably be seen by Palestinians and anti-Israel activists as an incentive not to reach an agreement; as an indicator that if things fall apart, Israel will be blamed; and as legitimizing boycott activity.

What is particularly troubling about your comments is the absence of similar tough talk about the consequences for Palestinians should the talks fail. We make this comment not in search of some theoretical balance. Rather, its absence suggests a historical amnesia about why there has been no peace and no solution all these years. Israel always must be willing to compromise for peace and at different times it is not unreasonable to ask Israel to do more.

But the core of the conflict was and remains Palestinian unwillingness to accept Israel's legitimacy and permanence as a Jewish state. That is why the Palestinians rejected the 1947 partition, that is why they rejected recognizing Israel after the 1967 war, and that is why Israeli offers at Camp David in 2000 and Annapolis in 2008 were rejected or allowed to go unanswered.  It is Palestinians who must hear the message that not only has their rejectionism been the major obstacle to peace, but it has also been the main source of their suffering and misery over the years. It is time for them to make the qualitative leap toward peace and acceptance of the legitimacy of the Jewish state.

It is encouraging that reportedly in the talks you are raising these matters with the Palestinians. Your comments in Munich, however, threaten to undo all this by ignoring the historic compulsion of the Palestinians to look for ever new reasons and incentives to reject the Jewish state. Concerns of the kind you expressed therefore would have been better left unsaid or at most discussed in private conversations with Israeli representatives.

We wish you continued success in moving this process forward. We urge you to understand, however, that those who are most against peace are the ones who will benefit the most from the unintended encouragement in the comments you expressed in Munich.

Abraham D. Foxman, ADL National Director.

The letter joins a chorus of resistance against Kerry's boycott claims, which elicited outrage from Israeli officials and Jewish American leaders alike. Some public figures - including Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and US State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki - continue to defend Kerry's comments. Despite this, a clear backlash continues - and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is not buying the threat.

"Attempts to impose a boycott on the State of Israel are immoral and unjust," Netanyahu stated, at the opening of his weekly cabinet meeting. "Moreover, they will not achieve their goal."

"Speak Softly, 'Kerry' A big stick" - Fatah: If true, Kerry must be brought before Int Criminal Court for threatening Pres Abbas.

Fatah: If true, Kerry must be brought before International Criminal Court for threatening President Abbas.(AlHayat) Google Translate.


Threats from Kerry to Abbas Verifies assassination of Arafat with U.S. approval

Ramallah - Sama Monday, February 3, 2014

A member of the central committee of Fatah, Jamal Muheisen that if true threats and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for President Mahmoud Abbas that his fate will be the fate of the late President Yasser Arafat if it is not to reach peace, they «affirms that Israel's assassination of the martyr Arafat was a green light from the U.S. administration» .

He said in broadcast remarks that Kerry threats come in the framework of failing to impose a settlement on the Israelis are consistent with international law, pointing out that Kerry should not carry the responsibility for the failure of Israel with the Palestinians. He stressed that «the true threats of Kerry, they offer to the International Criminal Court on charges of threatening the president of the Palestinian team».

The Palestinian sources said that Abbas has threatened to Kerry and find that the fate of Arafat in the event of rejection of his plan to resolve the Palestinian conflict with Israel, adding that Abbas met threat Kerry shocked and violent rejection.

Susan Rice Blasts Israel for Criticizing Kerry.

Susan Rice Blasts Israel for Criticizing Kerry.(INN).

Susan Rice, U.S. President Barack Obama’s National Security Advisor, blasted Israel on Monday over its criticism of Secretary of State John Kerry’s threats of a boycott should peace talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA) fail.

In a series of posts on her Twitter accounts, Rice said, “Personal attacks in Israel directed at Sec Kerry totally unfounded and unacceptable.”

“John Kerry’s record of support for Israel’s security and prosperity rock solid,” she wrote, adding, “POTUS and Sec Kerry remain committed to negotiations that can secure Israeli and Palestinian futures.”

Her last tweet read, “U.S. Govt [sic] has been clear and consistent that we reject efforts to boycott or delegitimize Israel.”

Rice’s comments are the latest in a series of American replies to Israeli officials who criticized Kerry for his threats at the Munich Security Conference this weekend, and come just hours after State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters that Kerry was “frustrated” by suggestions that he’s anti-Israel.

“Secretary Kerry himself personally has a proud record of over three decades of steadfast support for Israel’s security and well-being, including staunch opposition to boycotts,” said Psaki.

“There is no greater or opponent to boycotts – or proponent of Israel’s security and their future,” she added.

On Sunday, Psaki took to Twitter to stress that Kerry did not mean to threaten Israel. In both cases her comments were not as harsh towards Israel as Rice’s tweets were.

Kerry’s comments in Munich were blasted by many Israeli officials, such as Jewish Home chairman Naftali Bennett, who made clear that “a country has yet to be born that will give up its land because of economic threats, and we won't either. Only security will bring financial stability, not a terror state next to the Ben Gurion Airport."

Communications and Home Front Defense Minister Gilad Erdan also criticized Kerry on Monday, saying he was not a fair intermediary in the peace talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA).

"Currently threats are still heard against citizens of Israel and they try to terrorize us. When we hear John Kerry and the American State Department, we think they are wrong in their analysis of what's happening in the Middle East," he said, speaking at Arutz Sheva's eleventh annual Jerusalem Conference.

"It would be expected from someone who's supposed to be a fair and objective intermediary to also tell the Palestinian side about the price they will have to pay over their stubborn refusal to recognize the right of the Jewish people to their own nation state," remarked Erdan. "Where's the Palestinian price on all the continued incitement against Israel's existence?"

Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon shot down the idea that Israel might buckle under the pressure being exerted by Kerry.

“We want to negotiate,” he explained, “but we will not do it under the pressure coming from Secretary of State Kerry.”

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu responded to Kerry’s threat and said, "Attempts to impose a boycott on the State of Israel are immoral and unjust.”

"Moreover, they will not achieve their goal,” he added. “First, they cause the Palestinians to adhere to their intransigent positions and thus push peace further away. Second, no pressure will cause me to concede the vital interests of the State of Israel, especially the security of Israel's citizens.”

"For both of these reasons, threats to boycott the State of Israel will not achieve their goal," Netanyahu concluded.Hmmm....."Chicago Politics".

129 words that would change the world.

129 words that would change the world.HT: Dan Friedman. HT: IsraelMatzav.

These 129 words would change the world... if only Prime Minister Netanyahu would say them.

129 words that would change the world:

The hour is late and Iran is approaching the nuclear breakout point. At this fateful juncture, it would be foolhardy and feckless for Israel to participate in peace talks that for 20 years have already shown there is little chance of success. 

A gamble not worth taking and certainly one that no other nation facing nuclear annihilation would take. 

Today, Israel and the Jewish people have decided to deal with the threat of another holocaust without being distracted, or exhausted by matters that can be better dealt with later. 

Henceforth, Israel officially withdraws from the negotiating table in favor of ensuring the Jewish state’s long term survival. G-d willing, after we achieve that objective, we can turn our attention to other pressing problems that have bedeviled Jews for ages.

-- Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel

A pity that he doesn't have his father's courage.

Pres Obama treats enemy dictatorships better than ally Israel.

Pres Obama treats enemy dictatorships better than ally Israel.(Jpost).

Last week, it leaked that Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, had privately described US Secretary of State John Kerry as “obsessive and messianic” in his quest to broker an Israeli/Palestinian peace settlement. The Obama Administration angrily rejected Ya’alon’s words as “offensive and inappropriate,” demanding and receiving an apology. 
 
Yet, only weeks earlier, Yasser Abed Rabbo, a close adviser to Fatah/Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas, also excoriated John Kerry as possessed of “dangerous” proposals and seeking to “appease Israel by fulfilling its expansionist demands in the Jordan Valley under the pretext of security. He wants to buy Israeli silence over the Iran deal.” But for these grave, personal PA allegations against Kerry, the Obama Administration has said nothing.
 
Why this startling discrepancy in the Administration’s response? Why has it ignored blatant anti-peace statements from the PA, such as the call by the PA Minister of Religious Affairs, Mahmoud Al-Habbash  for Syrian jihadists to cease murdering each other and wage war against Israel? Or the PA’s Abbas Zaki reaffirming that the PA’s public demand for a state alongside Israel is merely a device aimed at eventually removing Israel from the map –– a policy supposedly repudiated over 20 years ago?
 
Because the Administration will not assimilate evidence that invalidates its public formula that the Palestinians are willing to conclude a genuine peace with Israel. So it ignores or finesses PA anti-peace words and deeds, while stridently criticizing Israel on disagreements and reluctance to make unilateral concessions. 
 
Under Obama’s pressure, Israel’s Netanyahu government accepted in-principle a Palestinian state and unprecedentedly froze Jewish construction in the West Bank for 10 months in a bid to bring the PA to the negotiating table. The PA refused to come until the very end and broke off talks shortly after, but it was Israel whom Obama singled out in a January 2010 TIME interview for failing to make any “bold gestures” for peace.
 
When in March 2010, during a visit to the region by Vice-President Joseph Biden, the PA named a public square in Ramallah after Dalal Mughrabi, the leader of the 1978 coastal road bus hijacking, in which 37 Israelis, including 12 children, were slaughtered, the Obama Administration was silent for days. When Clinton belatedly criticized the Mughrabi event, it was only to whitewash the PA by falsely claiming “a Hamas-controlled municipality” had initiated it. 
 
In contrast, a mere Israeli announcement of a building program in a Jewish neighborhood in eastern Jerusalem that also occurred during the Biden visit led the Obama Administration toimmediately condemn it and describe it as “destructive,” an “insult” and an “affront.”

Israel is expected to do things neither the US nor its other allies would do. This month, the Obama Administration was critical of Afghanistan’s Karzai releasing of scores of Islamist “dangerous criminals against whom there is strong evidence linking them to terror-related crimes.”
But last year, the Administration pressured Israel into releasing scores of convicted Palestinian killers of Israeli civilians –– although it did express concern when one of those released, Al Haj Othman Amar Mustafa, turned out have also murdered an American. Actions unacceptable elsewhere were positively demanded of Israel.
 
The Obama pattern is clear. The respect for sovereign decisions and deference to security concerns that apply to other US allies are absent when it comes to Israel. 

Israel is expected to bow to the Administration’s policy without demur, run security risks the US itself would not abide, and ignore the extremism, non-acceptance and bad faith of its Palestinian interlocutor, just as the Obama Administration does. This is just the unseemly underside of the disconnect between the Administration’s public words of support for Israel and the reality of its coolness and indifference to the realities it faces.Read the full story here.

Morton A. Klein is National President of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA). Dr. Daniel Mandel is Director of the ZOA’ s Center for Middle East Policy.

Kerry was warning Israel, not supporting boycotts, US says.

Kerry was warning Israel, not supporting boycotts, US says.(TOI).

US Secretary of State John Kerry does not support an economic boycott of Israel, State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said Sunday, in an effort to defuse tensions with Israel. Some Israeli politicians had responded derisively to Kerry’s statement this weekend that Israel would face a growing international boycott movement if peace talks failed. 

Psaki said Sunday that Kerry’s only reference to a boycott was a description of actions undertaken by others, which he has always opposed.

“Secretary Kerry has a proud record of over three decades of steadfast support for Israel’s security and well-being, including staunch opposition to boycotts,” she said in a statement.

“Just last year while briefing foreign ministers at an EU conference in Vilnius on peacemaking efforts, he urged them to refrain from these measures,” Psaki said.

“Secretary Kerry has always expected opposition and difficult moments in the process, but he also expects all parties to accurately portray his record and statements.”

Over the weekend at the Munich Security Conference, Kerry said that Israel faces an “increasing delegitimization campaign that has been building up. People are very sensitive to it. There are talk of boycotts and other kinds of things.” 

He warned: “Today’s status quo absolutely, to a certainty, I promise you 100 percent, cannot be maintained. It’s not sustainable. It’s illusionary. There’s a momentary prosperity, there’s a momentary peace.”

Kerry’s remarks, which were slammed by right-wing cabinet members including Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett and Intelligence and Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz, were rejected by Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, who said “immoral and unjustified” boycotts would only only “push peace farther away.”Hmmm......Kerry: "I will implement Pres Obama's vision of the world"

"Sanctions That Benefit" - Trade turnover between Iran and U.S. growing despite of sanctions.

"Sanctions That Benefit" - Trade turnover between Iran and U.S. growing despite of sanctions.(Taz).

Despite of the sanctions imposed by the U.S. and its allies on Iran, the trade turnover between the U.S. and Iran is growing, Iranian ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohsun Pakayin told Trend on Feb.1.

The trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $360 million as of 2013, according to the ambassador. The trade turnover between the U.S. and Iran was equal to $252.3 million in 2012, according to ISNA news agency.

As a result of sanctions, the trade turnover between the two countries started to drop beginning from mid-2010, while its growth is observed from mid-2012, the diplomat said.

The trade turnover between the two countries increased by 39 percent (to $118.5 million) in January-April 2013 compared to the same period of 2012.

Pakayin pointed out that immediately after the imposing of the sanctions a decrease was observed in economic relations of the two countries. However, later the U.S. companies began to find circuitous legal ways for cooperation, after which the trade turnover began to grow.

Taking into account the agreement signed in Geneva (lifting of several sanctions against Iran), the trade turnover between Iran and the U.S. will increase even more, the ambassador said.

President Obama State of the Union: Palestinian dignity as important as Israeli security.

President Obama State of the Union: Palestinian dignity as important as Israeli security.HT: IMRA.

"As we speak, American diplomacy is supporting Israelis and Palestinians as they engage in difficult but necessary talks to end the conflict there; to achieve dignity and an independent state for Palestinians, and lasting peace and security for the State of Israel – a Jewish state that knows America will always be at their side."

President Barack Obama's State of the Union Address 28 January 2014. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/01/28/president-barack-obamas-state-union-address

President Obama juxtaposed America's commitment to Israel's security with the requirement of Palestinian "dignity". Israel has many critical security requirements that the Palestinians assert do not jibe with Palestinian "dignity".

This raises another interesting question: what of Jewish "dignity"? Do we Jews also have the right to "dignity" or is our "dignity" something that can be forfeited?

"Sanctions that Benefit" - Iran's oil sales rise for the third consecutive month.

Iran's oil sales rise for the third consecutive month, as sanctions pressure eases.(TAZ).

Iran's oil exports have picked up modestly in January for the third consecutive month, according to sources who track tanker movements, adding to signs that the easing of sanctions pressure on Tehran is helping its oil exports to recover, Reuters reported.

The increase in shipments is around 50,000 barrels per day (bpd), according to one tracker company, which would take Iranian exports to around 1.2 million bpd for January and add about $150 million (£90.5 million) a month to Tehran's depleted oil revenues.

The small rise is unlikely to be a direct consequence of the easing of sanctions, which only took effect on Monday, and shippers say they are still waiting to finalise the paperwork now insurance restrictions on vessels carrying Iranian crude have been eased.

But the interim deal, which was agreed back in November in return for curbs on Iran's nuclear programme, has improved sentiment and reduced risk for buyers, giving Iranian exports a much-needed boost in the months since.

"The suspension of oil export sanctions takes the pressure off Iran's oil sector, which was close to running out of storage capacity for its production surplus and in danger of incurring irreparable losses stemming from the forced closure of oil fields," said Mark Dubowitz, of U.S.-based think-tank the Foundation for Defence of Democracies and a proponent of tough sanctions on Iran.

"There will be reduced transaction costs to service shipments of crude. And Iran now can cease to rely on foreign-owned vessels to transport goods, freeing up shipping capacity to deliver its oil."

A second tracking source familiar with Iran's shipments, who estimated an increase of 60,000 bpd in January, said he had seen a pick-up "especially in India".

"China's purchases remain firm, with Turkish imports at around 105,000 barrels per day. Syria is still picking up modest cargoes," the source said.

Hmmm......Iran's oil sales rise for the third consecutive month, Nov - Dec And Jan... who lifted the sanctions in November?

Israeli Attorney Yoram Sheftel: 'Kerry is not Messiah; He is the Enemy'

Israeli Attorney Yoram Sheftel: 'Kerry is not Messiah; He is the Enemy'(INN).

Attorney Yoram Sheftel called US Secretary of State John Kerry "the enemy" of Israel in a weekly interview with Arutz Sheva on Saturday night, relating to the clash last week between Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon and the US State Department.

"Even if Ya'alon did not do anything else in his life but say what he did, we will remember him for generations to come," Sheftel stated.

"Even though he made the statements in private messages to Yediot Aharonot, and they crossed all the lines to use it to harm the State of Israel, what [Ya'alon] said was true - and even articulated well," Sheftel claimed.

Ya'alon was quoted as saying that "Secretary of State John Kerry – who came here very determined, and operates based upon an unfathomable obsession and a messianic feeling – cannot teach me anything about the Palestinians."

"I live and breathe the conflict with the Palestinians, I know what they think, what they want and what they really mean," he continued. "The American security plan that was presented to us is not worth the paper it was written on.”"

On Saturday night, Sheftel also said to Arutz Sheva that Israel is not conducting talks with the Palestinian Authority, but with the Americans, who are working on behalf of the Arab world. 

"They want to give the Land of Israel over to the enemy, they want us to withdraw from our communities [in Judea and Samaria] and from the Jordan Valley, they want us to retreat to '1967 lines,' and give us security arrangements that don't provide security," he continued. 

"These are the Arab world's stances on the issues, as presented by Kerry - making him into an enemy, as he represents the very people who want to destroy us." 

"He tells us constantly that the US is making Israel's security a 'top priority' - then tells us, despite knowing what happened in Gaza [with the Disengagement], to withdraw from the Jordan Valley, even militarily, and has the audacity to call that 'security'," Sheftel elaborated.

"Israel withdrawing from the Jordan Valley would mean that missiles, rockets, and mortar shells would be raining down on Israeli communities [in Judea and Samaria] in a short time," Sheftel fired, "and no one knows it better than Kerry."  
"Kerry keeps saying that both sides will have to make the painful decisions - what painful decisions will Abbas have to make?" Hmmmm....A breeze of fresh air in a stinking swamp.

Flashback Dem platform elections 2012:

Democratic platform advocates talking to Hamas, a 'Palestinian' 'right of return' to 'Israel proper,' 1949 armistice lines and a capital where?HT: Carl in Jerusalem. 

http://israelmatzav.blogspot.ca/2012/09/democratic-platform-advocates-talking.html

Abbas Denies His Authority to Make Cardinal Decisions for a Lasting Peace Agreement.

Hmmmm.....Does the guy read my tweets?

Abbas Denies His Authority to Make Cardinal Decisions for a Lasting Peace Agreement.HT: jcpa

Mahmoud Abbas – “the president of the state of Palestine,” chairman of the Palestinian Authority, leader of the PLO, and head of Fatah – must recognize that he is not a serious partner for negotiating with Israel because he does not have the authority to make decisions for the Palestinian people.

The practical significance of his stated political positions in the negotiations with Israel is his rejection of any authority to make historic decisions regarding a political compromise, which closes the door to any stable, lasting solution for two states to live in peace next to each other.

In a meeting with “a popular delegation from Al-Quds” (Jerusalem) at the presidential office in Ramallah on January 10, 2014, Abbas said:1

Occupied Jerusalem is the capital of the state of Palestine, and without it there will be no solution, and no one is authorized to sign [on an agreement regarding it]….Without eastern Jerusalem as the capital of the state of Palestine there will be no peace between us and Israel….Jerusalem is not Abu Dis [a town bordering eastern Jerusalem], but Abu Dis is part of Jerusalem….The capital [of the future state of Palestine will be] in Jerusalem and the [surrounding] area, the capital [will be] in Jerusalem that was conquered in 1967.

We are telling the world that the Palestinians will not surrender and these are not empty words when we say that we will never surrender. We will stand strong and persevere, and the world will eventually have to agree to what we want. What our people want is that our flowers [young girls] and our youth stand strong and persevere as they perform their wonderful deeds in Jerusalem and other places.

This is not about stubbornness but rather steadfastness and standing strong on principles. We have rights even though we are weak in the world. We will continue to demand our rights and we will achieve our rights….We stand strong here in Jerusalem, in the West Bank, in Gaza, in the diaspora, and in every place we will achieve these rights due to our steadfastness and that of our youth.

When we agree on a solution, the Palestinian land, the skies, and the borders will be under full Palestinian sovereignty. We will control the borders and will not give up any part of them, and no one will laugh at us.

The request to recognize Israel as a Jewish state

is an issue that we did not hear before except in the last two years [and accordingly] if [you Palestinians] don’t recognize the existence of a Jewish state there won’t be a solution. We will never recognize this and will not agree to this. It is our right not to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. We have many arguments and many reasons that prevent us from doing so and we presented them to Israel. Their problem with us is that we know many things about them, we know their history and geography, and what we know, we say. We will protect everything and we will not agree to the [definition of] state [of Israel] as Jewish. We want the 1967 borders.

The right of return is a personal option. No authority, [Palestinian] state, the PLO, Abu Mazen [Abbas], or [other Palestinian] leaders have the right to take away a person’s right of return. Let there be [various] options and let the refugee choose. There is compensation and other possibilities. Even a father, if he should request it, cannot wave the right of his children, since the matter is an individual right.

Abbas’ words express a clear message that the Palestinians see the negotiations as simply a tool to achieve Palestinian rights according to the Palestinian viewpoint, and they are not seeking a way to compromise with Israel on essential issues. This follows the Palestinian approach regarding “a peace based on justice” as compared with the Israeli approach of “a peace based on compromise.”

Read the full story here.

PA: Kerry Threatens to Cut All Aid If No Peace Deal Signed

PA: Kerry Threatens to Cut All Aid If No Peace Deal Signed.HT: Matzav.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has threatened to discontinue all American aid to the Palestinian Authority if the current round of negotiations does not result in a peace agreement, Taysir Khaled, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, claimed Thursday in a report in Ma’ariv.

“So far, the negotiations did not lead to a significant breakthrough on essential issues,” Khaled said in Ramallah. “The Palestinian side cannot sign a framework agreement because it does not comply with our minimum requirements and with the rights of the Palestinians. We will not give up on the Palestinian cause for money.”
The two sides have reportedly been at odds over almost every aspect of the core issues involved in a two-state accord.Hmmm.....The Kerry - Obama diplomacy 'Bully, threaten and drone' them?

Netanyahu planning a national referendum on US peace plan to extend negotiations for another year?

Netanyahu planning a national referendum on US peace plan to extend negotiations for another year?(Debka).

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is planning to conjduct the first popular referendum in Israel’s history to ratify the amended peace framework proposal which US Secretary of State John Kerry is drafting for presentation in the coming weeks, debkafile reveals.

The prime minister has been quoted as saying that he needs the referendum to push back “domestic pressures from the right”, but in any case he believes it will be politically advantageous. 

He has confided to his closest circle that for the first time that he is in favor of the Kerry proposals and, although they don’t see eye to eye on many of the issues, he thinks the gaps between them can be bridged.

Netanyahu is counting on the the framework accord gaining an overwhelming popular majority in referendum. Although it is not yet a final-status agreement, the document will lay out principles for solutions of the core issues at dispute between Israel and the Palestinians.

After Netanyahu and Abu Mazen affirm this paper, it will be possible to extend the negotiating time frame for a final accord by at least another year and so get past the original nine-month deadline which expires at the end of April.

Our sources add that the prime minister regards the Obama administration’s acceptance of Israel as the Jewish national state to be an historic achievement of unparalleled importance. He believes he can find common ground with Secretary Kerry on Jerusalem as well.

He was encouraged to learn that Kerry is working on a formula that avoids citing E. Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state, only as a goal for their national aspirations.

Netanyahu does not expect the right-of-center Jewish Home to actually quit the government coalition over the US initiative, even though its leader, the Economy Minister Naftali Bennet, declared Tuesday that his party would not stay in a government that withdraws to the pre-1967 borders or repartitions Jerusalem.Hmmm........."Israel's staunchest ally'.Read the full story here.

Weekly Commentary: Barefaced lie from Kerry about Saudi Initiative.

Weekly Commentary: Barefaced lie from Kerry about Saudi Initiative.HT: Imra.By Dr. Aaron Lerner. Date: 9 January 2014

Here is a barefaced lie from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry:

"One of the reasons I'm going to Saudi Arabia is that Saudi Arabia's initiative holds out the prospect that if the parties could arrive at a peaceful resolution, you could instantaneously have peace between the 22 Arab nations and 35 Muslim nations, all of whom have said they will recognize Israel if peace is achieved." Secretary of State John Kerry, Jerusalem, January 5, 2014

Now take a look at the Saudi initiative he is referring to:

"The Arab Peace Initiative, 2002

...2. Further calls upon Israel to affirm:

I- Full Israeli withdrawal from all the territories occupied since 1967, including the Syrian Golan Heights, to the June 4, 1967 lines as well as the remaining occupied Lebanese territories in the south of Lebanon."

That's right. Cutting a deal with the Palestinians doesn't gain Israel "instant peace" unless Israel also withdraws from every square centimeter of the Golan Heights and what the Arab Peace Initiative terms "the remaining occupied Lebanese territories in the south of Lebanon".

Oops.

Which is worse?

Option #1: That Mr. Kerry and his huge team of experts are so recklessly shallow in their familiarity with the simplest of details of major documents relating to the "peace process" that they honestly did not notice that the Arab Peace Initiative requires full Israeli withdrawals not associated with the Palestinians.

Option #2: The Americans know and are following the time honored tradition that “the ends justify the means”.

And since we are already talking about the Arab Initiative, Mr. Kerry is reported to be lobbying for the Initiative to be amended to recognize Israel as a Jewish State with the caveat that this recognition does not infringe on the equal rights of the Israeli Arabs.

That caveat is anything but innocuous.

it should be kept in mind that the position of the Israeli Arabs is that the Law of Return, which opens Israel to immigration of Jews around the world, infringes on their rights as it does not apply, by its very nature, equally to Arabs and Jews.

Back in 2007 this position gained documented expression in a proposal for a constitution that limited immigration to humanitarian cases.

The proposal was also designed to prevent most Jews now living in Israel who have non-citizen status from becoming citizens. Read the full story here.

US ambassador Dan Shapiro: Framework draft to be presented soon.

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US ambassador Dan Shapiro: Framework 'Turkish Bazar deal' draft to be presented soon.(TOI).

The US ambassador to Israel said Tuesday that a framework proposal on all issues at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would be presented to both sides soon.

Dan Shapiro told Israel Radio that the proposal would cover security arrangements, borders, Jerusalem and all the other “core issues.”He said it will be presented to the Israelis and the Palestinians in a few weeks’ time.

Netanyahu told his Likud Knesset faction Monday that “there is no American framework document yet,” and that even if it could be agreed upon, it would not be binding on the sides, Channel 2 reported.

Netanyahu also assured the Likud MKs that he had not given in to American pressure for more flexible positions regarding the fate of Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley, and said he was only too aware of the consequences of dismantling settlements in the absence of a viable peace accord, the report said.

Netanyahu reportedly told the Likud that even the framework plan, which Kerry has not yet been able to finalize, would not be binding on the two sides. The prime minister also said there would be elements in the non-binding paper that he and his party colleagues wouldn’t like, and elements that the Palestinians wouldn’t like.Read the full story here.



WHO IS HE REPRESENTING?


Video HT: IsraelMatzav.

Jerusalem sources say if peace talks fail, US secretary of state Kerry will let Europeans boycott products from over the Green Line.

Jerusalem sources say if peace talks fail, US secretary of state Kerry will let Europeans boycott products from over the Green Line.(TOI).

Israeli diplomatic sources say US Secretary of State John Kerry is behind the recent wave of European threats to boycott settlement products, and intends to use these threats against Israel should the current series of peace talks fail, it was reported on Tuesday.

Kerry, according to sources cited in an Army Radio report, has encouraged various European countries behind the scenes in their efforts to initiate bans on the import of products originating in the West Bank settlements, but has taken pains to ensure that such actions remain “a threat” only.

If the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations fail, the sources said, Kerry will “release the restraints” and the initiatives will be allowed to “go into effect.”Hmmmm.....Perhaps time Jews would boycott Ketchup.Read the full story here.

Video - Mahmoud Abbas demands R-E-S-P-E-C-T (featuring Aretha Franklin)

HT: IsraelMatzav.....Perhaps someone should send the clip to Kerry.

President Peres vouches for Abbas in meeting with US Senators.

President Peres vouches for Abbas in meeting with US Senators. (IMRA).

 "I have known President Abbas for many years and I believe he really wants peace"

[Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA: Once again President Shimon Peres opts to promote the Palestinians in meetings with foreigners.

Considering that we faced the possibility that Moslem Brotherhood's take over of Egypt would be permanent Mr. Peres would be well advised to reconsider citing the treaty with Egypt as proof of anything.]

President Peres Meets with US Senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham and John Barrasso

President Shimon Peres, this evening (Saturday, 4 January 2014), at his Jerusalem residence, held a working meeting with US Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and John Barrasso (R-WY). The Republican senators, who arrived from Afghanistan, are visiting as part of a wider tour of the region.

President Peres began the meeting by thanking the senators for coming and said, "It's a time of decisions, all decisions are tough but not to make a decision is a mistake. Secretary Kerry in investing significant time and effort and I believe that peace is possible despite the difficulties. Before peace with Egypt people said it's impossible. With the Palestinians it's complicated for them and for us. I have known President Abbas for many years and I believe he really wants peace. There has been some progress but the major decisions are before us and we have to do what we can. It's a changing world, a changing Middle East."

President Peres and the senators also discussed the Iranian nuclear threat and President Peres said, "Terror is the greatest danger for the Arab world. There is almost no coherent Arab country left because of terror. Russia is also undergoing this awful experience. As well as what we have put before the Iranians we have to put two more issues - one is the development of long range missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, they don't need nuclear missiles if they don't want nuclear weapons. The second thing is stopping Iranian intervention in terror across the world; they are engaged, unfortunately, everywhere.

Senator John McCain thanked President Peres and said, "We've had good meetings with the Prime Minister, with President Abbas, with Secretary Kerry and we have room for guarded optimism. It's a very difficult process but we appreciate Secretary Kerry's great efforts and we also see a willingness that hasn't necessarily always been there in the past. On Iran, we share your comments and we also continue to be worried about Syria."

Hundreds of Palestinians in Ramallah protested yesterday Kerry's visit.

Hundreds of Palestinians in Ramallah protested yesterday Kerry's visit.(JPost).

PA Security Forces suppressed on Friday a demonstration organized by the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) in protest against US Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to the region.

DFLP demonstrators took to the streets of Ramallah and marched towards PA headquarters in the city. However, PA forces prevented them from reaching their destination, PIC reporter said.

The demonstrators called on PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to end the ongoing negotiation with the Israelis and to confront the escalation of Israeli settlement construction.


Palestinian protesters on Friday condemned the latest efforts by US Secretary of State John Kerry to advance peace talks with Israel, using chants evoking the Arab uprisings and telling him to go home.

Hours before Kerry was due to meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, a raucous crowd of several hundred took to the streets of Ramallah, the West Bank's de facto capital, chanting "Kerry, you coward, there's no place for you in Palestine!"Read the full story here.