US State Department participating in conference to 'defend Jerusalem' in Qatar
There's a conference going on in Doha, Qatar on Sunday and Monday - its logo is at the top of this post. It's officially called the 'International Conference for Jerusalem,' but it is also known as the International Conference for the 'Defense of Jerusalem,' and what Jerusalem is being 'defended' against is 'Judaization.' Speaking at the International Conference for the Defense of Jerusalem in Doha, Qatar, Abbas was quoted by the Palestinian Ma'an news agency as saying, "The Israeli occupation authorities are using the ugliest and most dangerous means to implement plans to erase and remove the Arab-Islamic and the Christian character of east Jerusalem."Among those present at the conference are five 'Israeli Arab' members of the Knesset: Ahmad Tibi, Taleb a-Sanaa, Haneen Zoabi, Jamal Zahalka and Ibrahim Sarsur. There's also a representative of the US State Department there: Kenneth Raymond Insley, Jr. And a representative of American Friends of 'Peace Now': Lara Friedman.
The Palestinian Authority president accused Israel of "surrounding Jerusalem with an Apartheid wall and a band of settlements in order to isolate the city from its surroundings in the West Bank."
Abbas slammed Israeli authorities for setting up barriers preventing Palestinians from entering Jerusalem without "almost impossible to obtain" permits.
He implored Arabs and Muslims from other countries to visit Jerusalem if they can. "This move will have political, moral, economic and humanitarian repercussions, showing that Jerusalem belongs to all of us and no one can stop us from accessing it."
He added that visiting "occupied Jerusalem" would remind the Israelis that "Jerusalem is the cause of every Arab, Muslim and Christian," and would not constitute normalization with Israel.
The International Conference for the Defense of Jerusalem was taking place for the first time Sunday. This followed a decision made by delegates to last year’s Arab summit in Libya to hold an annual international conference that would include Arab and foreign countries and civil institutions, to discuss defending Jerusalem “against Israeli violation at all levels.”
One has to wonder what the State Department - and even 'Peace Now' - are doing at a conference against the 'Judaization' of Jerusalem. Unfortunately, I know already.
Labels: Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, State Department obsession with Israel
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:27 PM
4 Comments:
You say you "know already." what the State Department and 'Peace Now' are doing at that conference, and that that's unfortunate.
Would you care to elaborate? Really curious to know what your thoughts are on this matter.
http://www.qatarconferences.org/jerusalem/agenda_english2.pdf has a written play-list.
Hmmmm, thanks for that link!
There doesn't actually seem to be any mention of this Robert Kenneth Insley guy on that agenda :S
I managed to find his remarks, but oddly enough, they seem to be dated for a Qatar conference in 2011
https://docs.google.com/a/cifwatch.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:Y0GJCNjC_ZMJ:jerusalemcon.qatar-conferences.org/EN/Documents/Winning%2520American%2520hearts%2520and%2520minds%2520in%2520building%2520puplic%2520political%2520support%2520for%2520a%2520lasting%2520peace%2520in%2520Jerusalem.pdf+Kenneth+Raymond+Insley+zionism&hl=en&gl=il&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjZx1RB3s8_RAj2wnzTVwU-2EJ89mz8LF6DTUwdVoa5siztgXaxm5TyyiJcCeVgOJeygabFFYFp_QPQ71EQsrrrurJxG2dwkuXOXVRPjMHEaxefv1VX5eVroO5Ta5b50vdC8ySr&sig=AHIEtbQYreY7q2zTIiy1c37IfDJNqbp6mQ&pli=1
Sorry about the complex URL. That should work.
Still waiting to hear what the original poster believes is the "unfortunate" agenda that the US State Department is trying to push at this conference.
Mashood,
The conference was supposed to take place in 2011, but it was postponed because of the Arab spring. They still called it the 2011 conference, even though it took place on Sunday and Monday (I believe it was also supposed to take place in Libya - the original call for it was adopted in Sirte in late 2010).
What is unfortunate is that the United States State Department continues to maintain the illusion that Jerusalem is not the historical capital of the Jewish state and has not been so for 3,000 years. Until the 'Palestinians' acknowledge the Jewish right to and connection with Jerusalem, there cannot be any peace agreement. Conferences like this one allow the 'Palestinians' to continue to delude themselves, and the presence and active participation of the US State Department - the supposed 'honest broker' - only makes things worse.
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