Your tax dollars/euros at work: 95.5% of 'Palestinians' say 'Palestinian Authority' is corrupt
Here's an astounding statistic from an AP story on
corruption in the 'Palestinian Authority.'
A recent poll found that almost all Palestinians — 95.5 percent —
believe there is corruption in Abbas' government. Nader Said, a veteran
pollster, surveyed 1,200 people in the West Bank and Gaza Strip last
month. Among Gaza residents scoring the performance of the territory's
Hamas rulers, the figure was 82 percent.
"This is the highest rate I have ever seen in all the polls I have
done," Said, who runs an independent polling agency called AWRAD, told
The Associated Press. The margin of error was 3 percentage points.
Experts say perceptions of corruption tend to be overblown. The World
Bank, for example, found in a survey of Palestinians several years ago
that far more people believed there was corruption than actually
experienced it.
But critics say secretiveness among Abbas and his advisers and a lack
of responsiveness have fanned suspicions among the public that the
political elite enjoy privileges and special deals at the expense of
everyone else.
For example, the government hasn't submitted annual budget reports
for mandatory audits for four years, effectively preventing scrutiny of
how millions of dollars are spent, said corruption monitor Aman, the
Palestinian branch of Transparency International.
...
Hamdallah's predecessor, Salam Fayyad, was credited by international
donors with making public spending more transparent. Fayyad resigned in
2013 amid tensions with Abbas and Fatah, including over the budget.
Abbas then installed Hamdallah, an academic without political experience.
"Fayyad used to host us and brief us every year," Afaneh said. "In
the current situation, we don't hear from the government or the Finance
Ministry."
Finance Ministry officials did not respond to requests for comment.
The government does post its spending plans online. But the listings are bare-boned and often puzzling, said Afaneh.
For example, out of the government's development budget of $17.9
million for the first three months of 2014, $9.4 million went for Abbas'
small presidential plane and $4.4 million for "other" expenses. A
development budget typically goes to projects that benefit the
community.
Afaneh said plane expenses shouldn't be listed under development and
that portraying one-fourth of the development budget in that quarter as
"other" raises questions.
The public has complained loudly over issues of nepotism and
disproportionately high salaries for select senior officials, some of
whom make $10,000 a month, about 10 times the average for government
employees.
"It's rare to find someone who got a job based on his
qualifications," said Diaa Abu Dhaher, 23, who has an undergraduate
degree in business administration but works as a waiter in a Ramallah
restaurant.
95.5% is the kind of number you usually see in polls in a dictatorship... oh... wait... this is a dictatorship. But usually you don't see wall-to-wall opposition to the dictator.
But the US Left and the Europeans continue to shower money on their beloved 'Palestinian Authority' because... anything to hurt the Jews.
Those villas at the top are part of the story, by the way, and they are not Jewish. They're located in Ramallah.
Read the whole thing to see who owns them and how they got them. Yes, that's part of it. And this story too is part of the Obama #Legacy.
Labels: Abu Mazen, Palestinian Authority corruption, Ramallah, Rami Hamdullah, Salam Fayyad
A museum without exhibits for a people without a history
How appropriate. The New York Times reports that the $24 million 'Palestinian Museum' (ostensibly '
privately funded') will open this week in Bir Zeit near Ramallah, but due to infighting
it won't have any exhibits.
The long-planned — and much-promoted — inaugural exhibit, “Never Part,” highlighting artifacts of Palestinian refugees, has been suspended after a disagreement between the museum’s board and its director, which led to the director’s ouster. President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority and other dignitaries are expected to attend the opening ceremony, but a spokeswoman acknowledged on Sunday that “there will not be any artwork exhibited in the museum at all.”
Omar al-Qattan, the museum’s chairman, said Palestinians were “so in need of positive energy” that it was worthwhile to open even an empty building. “Symbolically it’s critical,” he said, conceding that the next phase, including the exhibits, “is the more exciting one.”
...
“Never Part,” developed over several years by the ousted director, Jack Persekian, was to feature artistic interpretations of things like keys and photographs that Palestinians around the world have kept from the homes they fled or were forced from in what is now Israel.
Mr. Persekian, who runs an art gallery called the Al Mamal Foundation for Contemporary Art in Jerusalem, said he had agreed to leave after the museum’s senior management unceremoniously told him that it no longer favored the project, but he said he did not know why.
“I can’t fathom what happened,” he said, offering a succinct description of the result of his work for the museum: “Waste.”
Mr. Qattan, the museum chairman, said that his team had decided that Mr. Persekian had not sufficiently built expertise among staff members during his tenure of three and a half years, and that outside artists had criticized his conception of the exhibition.
“We didn’t feel that what was delivered was up to scratch,” Mr. Qattan said.
But wait - it gets better. It seems that Mr. Persekian's successor has a slightly embellished resume.
The museum announced in a news release this month that it had named a new director, Mahmoud Hawari, who it called “the lead curator at the British Museum”and a specialist in early Islamic art, architecture and archaeology, among other topics.
A spokeswoman for the British Museum would not confirm that Mr. Hawari held the position of lead curator there, saying only that “he was a visiting academic at the British Museum.” A spokeswoman for Taawon said on Monday morning that the information in the release was based on a curriculum vitae that Mr. Hawari had provided.
In the news release by the Palestinian museum, Mr. Hawari said it would be an institution that “links Palestinians together, at home and in exile, wherever they may live.”
I guess when your
entire existence is invented, it's kind of hard to stop lying....
But here's a hint of why Mr. Persekian was fired and his exhibit canceled: It seems that the museum's owners were afraid that someone might say something against the 'Palestinian Authority.'
For “Never Part,” Mr. Persekian said he had collected images of countless artifacts from Palestinians around the world, conducted Skype interviews to document the stories behind those artifacts and planned to include physical objects as well. The objects would have been collected locally — across the West Bank for exhibitions in the museum here in Birzeit, a university town next to Ramallah, and in cities around the world for versions presented there.
Mr. Persekian said he had intended to make all this material available to artists whose work involves archival material and research, and the artists could have interpreted the objects as they saw fit. For those in charge of the museum’s finances, he said, that may have caused unease.
“Maybe they didn’t want to take a risk with something that is so unpredictable and so uncontrollable,” he said.
Yeah, imagine if some of those 'Palestinians' started talking about the corruption of the 'Palestinian Authority' or saying that they have no interest in 'returning' to 'Palestine.'
Feh.
Labels: Palestinian Museum, Palestinian people, Ramallah
Pass the popcorn: Hamas to blame Fatah for recent explosions in Gaza?
For the Hebrew-challenged, the tweet comes from Israel Radio reporter Gal Berger and says that Hamas is planning a 12:00 press conference at the (luxurious) Adam Hotel in Gaza to disclose who is behind recent explosions in Gaza. Fatah claims they will blame Ramallah (i.e. Fatah).
Pass the popcorn!
Labels: Fatah, Gaza, Hamas, Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, Ramallah
'Palestinian Authority' tries to blame Hamas
The 'Palestinian Authority' is trying to shift the blame to Hamas for Wednesday morning's terror attack in Tel Aviv.
The tweet is from Gal Berger, Israel Radio's Arab affairs correspondent. Translation for the Hebrew-impaired:
'Palestinian security source': The terrorist is a Hamas supporter. Not a registered activist. Has been invited for questioning in the past by the 'Palestinian Authority' system. His mother sells clothing to religious Muslims, and is active in Hamas in Ramallah.
The mother is divorced. The terrorist has been living with her in Ramallah (which is quite close to Jerusalem) but is originally from Tulkarm (which is northeast of Tel Aviv).
Labels: Hamas, Palestinian Authority, Palestinian terrorism, Palestinian terrorists, Ramallah, Tel Aviv
Monkey Moon bashes Israel for non-existent 'settlement construction'
Moadim l'Simcha, a happy holiday to all of you.
Just a day after Housing Minister Uri Ariel admitted that there is a
de facto building freeze in Judea, Samaria and 'east' Jerusalem, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon attacked Israel for '
settlement building.'
Ban was in Ramallah, where he held a joint news conference with
Palestinian Authority (PA) unity government Prime Minister Rami
Hamdallah. Just a day earlier he justified Hamas terrorism by saying its
cause is Israeli "occupation," at a Cairo donor conference on Sunday that raised $5.4 billion for Gaza.
"While rebuilding is important, we must tackle the root causes of instability. We
must give renewed attention to the West Bank. I once again strongly
condemn the continued settlement activity by Israel," said Ban on
Monday, according to AFP.
The statement may be a reference to construction plans in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Givat Hamatos that far-left group Peace Now raised to thwart Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's visit with US President Barack Obama two weeks ago.
The move was in fact merely the approval of building tenders at
some future date in the Jewish neighborhood of Israel's capital, and
leaves intact the building freeze gripping the area.
Moon also attacked 'provocations' on the Temple Mount after Israeli police prevented 'Palestinians' from preventing Jews from ascending the Mount (you should have heard all the noise around 6:00 am this morning) by locking them in the al-Aqsa mosque.
"I am...deeply concerned by repeated provocations at the holy sites in Jerusalem. These only inflame tensions and must stop," said Ban.
There's more -
read the whole thing. It has to make you wonder why Israel bothers to be in the United Nations at all.
Labels: Ban Ki-Moon, Gaza, Hamas, Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, Jerusalem construction, Judea and Samaria construction, Palestinian Authority, Ramallah, Temple Mount
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! UPDATED
Haaretz reporter Amira Hass was barred from a conference at Bir Zeit University because - wait for it -
she's an Israeli Joooo. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! (Hat Tip:
Gershon D).
Hass attempted to attend the "Alternatives to Neo-Liberal
Development in the Occupied Palestinian Territories – Critical
Perspectives" conference at the university, which is located near
Ramallah where she lives.
But she was ejected from the hall by the organizers, Hass
claimed, after students at the admission desk noted she worked for the
Israeli publication and alerted security authorities to intervene.
...
Her colleagues and professors told her that she was being ejected on
the one hand "for her own protection" and also to give the students "a
safe space" free of Jews.
Meanwhile, the University has officially denied that there was a problem.
"The administration has no objection to the presence of the
journalist [Amira] Hass," it insisted, in an official statement. "The
University distinguishes between friends of the Palestinian people and
its enemies ... and works with every person and institution who opposes
the occupation."
But Hass - who is well-known in Arab and leftist circles for her aggressive anti-Zionism, and provoked outrage last year for justifying rock-throwing attacks against Jews - angrily noted that she was "not told" about the policy and that "Palestinian
citizens of Israel [i.e. Israeli Arabs - ed.] who teach at Israeli
universities are not subject to the same policy."
Gee, maybe Hass ought to rethink who is democratic and who is not....
UPDATED 6:09 PM
PS The event was funded by the
German government.
Labels: Amira Hass, Haaretz, Israel's Hebrew Palestinian daily, Palestinian anti-Semitism, Ramallah
Hamas celebrates victory in Gaza with rally in Ramallah
Hamas celebrated its great 'victory' in Gaza on Saturday with a
huge rally in Ramallah.
Thousands of local Arabs took part in the rally, which was organized by the Hamas movement in Ramallah in celebration of the hard-hit terrorist organization's supposed "victory" against Israel in Operation Protective Edge.
The rally, held in the Al-Bireh neighborhood of Ramallah, was
entitled "The Pledge of Allegiance and Victory." Hamas leaders and
parliamentarians in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) from
different parts of Judea and Samaria took part in the celebration,
accompanied by leaders of other Palestinian Arab organizations.
Horse-mounted Hamas activists led the rally march, waving Hamas flags
and singing the praise of Hamas's "military wing," the Ezzedine
Al-Qassam Brigades.
Children also took part in the "festivities," parading models of the
rockets fired in massive barrages by Hamas terrorists at Israeli
civilian centers during the terror war, as well as pictures of senior Hamas leaders assassinated by the IDF in targeted airstrikes.
Khalil al-Haya, a senior Hamas leader in Gaza, gave a speech at the
rally via telephone in which he emphasized the right to "resistance"
against Israel.
The rally is particularly noteworthy because as mentioned above, it
occurred in the heart of the PA governmental center of Ramallah.
What could go wrong?
Labels: al-Qassam Brigades, Fatah, Hamas, Hamas-Fatah reconciliation, Palestinian Authority, Ramallah
He wants to bring Gaza to Ramallah
Something tells me that there won't be much enthusiasm for what happened in Gaza among the Arabs in Judea and Samaria. While they hate Israel just as much as their Gaza brethren, the Arabs of Judea and Samaria tend to be less Islamist and less supportive of Hamas than of the 'Palestinian Authority.'
On the other hand, I could see Hamas taking over Judea and Samaria and creating another Gaza-like enclave if Israel lets them (the 'Palestinian Authority' is not strong enough to stop them - Abu Bluff's protests to the contrary).
And that is Hamas 'foreign minister' Mahmoud al-Zahar's dream.
Let's go to the videotape.
Labels: Fatah, Gaza, Hamas, Judea and Samaria, Mahmoud al-Zahar, Ramallah
Mrs. Abu Bluff and grandchildren flee to Jordan
'
Moderate' '
Palestinian' President
Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen's wife and grandchildren have
fled to Jordan.
Members of the family of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
have secretly left Ramallah for Jordan, according to the online
newspaper Rai Al-Youm.
“For the first time and secretly, all the members of President Abbas’s
family have left to their residence in Amman,” the report said.
It said that Abbas’s wife and grandchildren were among the family members who left Ramallah recently.
The newspaper said that Mohamed Shehadeh, who is in charge of Abbas’s
security detail, has decided to beef up security around the PA
president’s office and residence in Ramallah.
The departure of Abbas’s family and the tight security measures came in
response to growing resentment among Palestinians with the PA
president and his policies in wake of the current war between Israel and Hamas.
Over the past two weeks, many Palestinians have accused Abbas of
failing to display strong leadership in light of the Israeli military
operation. Some have gone as far as accusing him of “collusion” with
Israel and Egypt.
Nice house you have there Abu Bluff. Wouldn't want to see anything happening to it....
Labels: Abu Mazen, Gaza, Jordan, Operation Protective Edge, Ramallah
Video: 'Palestinians' from Ramallah cut off power to Israeli 'settlements'
Someone in the area will have to say whether they actually succeeded in cutting the power - I'm not there. But this was posted on the internet on Saturday.
Let's go to the videotape.
It's a pity they weren't electrocuted.
Labels: Israel Electric Corporation, Palestinians, Ramallah
Kerry rushes to Israel to 'save' the 'peace process'
US Secretary of State John FN Kerry
rushed to Israel on Monday in a bid to 'save' the 'peace process.'
US Secretary of State John Kerry broke from his travel schedule for the
second time in a week to rush back to Israel on Monday to try to salvage
Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
The US-brokered negotiations faced a crisis over the weekend when
Israel, saying it was seeking a Palestinian commitment to continue
negotiations beyond an end-of-April deadline, delayed the fourth
prisoner release to which it had committed to in previous negotiations.
"After consulting with his team, Secretary Kerry decided it
would be productive to return to the region," State Department
spokesperson Jen Psaki said.
Kerry had interrupted a visit to Rome last week to go to Amman
for talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to try to
convince him to prolong the talks beyond an April 29 deadline for a deal
and to press Israel to release the prisoners.
Since when is 'productive' a criterion for this administration? These 'talks' have been anything but productive - if anything their impending failure is likely to be downright destructive (God forbid) - and that was predictable from the outset. You can't force two parties to come to the table when neither of them wants to, and then expect them to reach an agreement.
Arutz Sheva
adds:
Psaki reported that Kerry will be in Israel on Monday and Tuesday, and
aside from meeting Netanyahu in Jerusalem will likely meet PA Chairman
Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. Kerry interrupted a trip to Rome to meet with Abbas just last Wednesday, amid the failing talks.
Oh well. There goes the first day of the NATO foreign ministers' meeting. Well, there's a
fierce moral urgency to create a 'Palestinian' reichlet. There's no fierce moral urgency to save the Ukraine.
"Over the course of the last eight months, the Israelis and
Palestinians have both made tough choices, and as we work with them to
determine the next steps, it is important they remember that only peace
will bring the Israeli and Palestinian people both the security and
economic prosperity they all deserve," Psaki added.
I think that if you asked most Israelis, they would tell you that we have relative security and economic prosperity right now (our streets are a lot safer than Kiev's), and that what Obama-Kerry are asking us to do is to endanger that relative security and economic prosperity for a pipe dream. If you go
here, you will see that Israel is ranked as the 11th happiest country in the world, despite all of our issues with the 'Palestinians' and our other neighbors. The first Arab country to make the list is the oil-rich United Arab Emirates at number 14. The United States(!) is number 17. (Okay, Venezuela is number 20, which has to make you wonder how the survey was done, but still...). If most Israelis are happy, why would we want to change our status quo in a risky manner?
No, I don't expect Kerry to succeed. But then, I never expected him to succeed.
Labels: Abu Mazen, Binyamin Netanyahu, Jerusalem, John Kerry, Middle East peace process, Palestinian terrorists, Ramallah
Want to buy a luxury villa in Ramallah, 'Palestine'?
More details (and more villas)
here.
They look like they're poor and suffering, don't they?
Labels: Ramallah
Gazan sniper sought to enter Israel for eye treatment
32-year old Muhammad Abu Amsha attempted to transit Israel in order to receive eye treatments in Ramallah, according to the Shin Bet security service, which announced Thursday that it had arrested Abu Amsha last month. And Abu Amsha
wasn't lying.
Security sources said Amsha did really intend to receive the treatment,
but only in order to improve his eye sight so that he could take part in
futuer sniper attacks against IDF soldiers.
After his arrest,
"During questioning, he said he was supposed to act as a sniper, in an
attack planned against IDF patrols along the electronic fence with the
Strip," the Shin Bet said. "He gathered intelligence on IDF movements in
various sectors, trained in firearms, and tested various methods of
operation for the attack," the domestic intelligence service added.
An
eye injury set back Amsha's plans, and he attempted to travel to
Ramallah for treatment. Israel allows thousands of Gaza residents into
Israel every month for humanitarian reasons, a fact often exploited by
Palestinian terrorists, mostly to transfer funds for terrorism, and
reside in Israel illegally, security sources said.
"This is an especially cynical use of humanitarian permits, to facilitate a sniper attack," the Shin Bet said.
A sniper murdered a civilian employee of the Israeli Ministry of Defense on Tuesday.
Labels: Gaza, Hamas, humanitarian aid, IDF, Ramallah
'Israeli Arabs' back out of Fox store in Ramallah
Two 'Israeli Arabs' who had planned to
open a branch of Israel's Fox clothing in Ramallah have backed out of the venture out of
fear for their lives. As a result, another 150 'Palestinians' will remain jobless.
Although the owners had obtained permission from
the PA Ministry of Economy to open the clothing store, Palestinian
activists and journalists launched a campaign against the opening of a
clothing store in Ramallah.
The activists and journalists said
that the opening of an Israeli clothing store in a Palestinian city was a
form of “normalization” with Israel.
One of the leaders of the
campaign, Fadi Arouri, a photojournalist with China’s Xinhua News
Agency, told Wattan TV that the opening of a Fox store in Ramallah was a
“stain of disgrace.”
Arouri has also led campaigns aimed at preventing Israeli journalists from working in PA-controlled territories.
Earlier
this week, a group of Palestinian activists demonstrated in the center
of Ramallah in protest against the intention to open a Fox store in the
city. The activists called on the Palestinian Authority to ban Israeli
firms from opening businesses in Palestinian cities.
Following the
protests, the two businessmen decided this week to cancel the project,
although renovation work at the new clothing store had reached an
advanced stage.
A Palestinian businessman in Ramallah expressed
sorrow over the decision not to open the Fox store, saying this was a
blow to the Palestinian economy.
“Many people could have profited from this project,” the businessman told the Post. “It’s sad when thugs and extortionists succeed in preventing any economic project.”
Yes, it is. And it's why the 'Palestinian' economy continues to stagnate in a catatonic stupor, while all around it the Israeli economy is booming. And then they're jealous....
Labels: Bar Refaeli, BDS, normalization with Israel, Palestinian economy, Ramallah
Ramallah to defy boycott of Israel?
The Israel-based Fox clothing chain is opening a branch in Ramallah. That could be viewed as a sign of 'normalization' which in most parts of the world would be considered good news: it's the sort of thing that humanizes the 'other.' Unfortunately,
that's not the reaction in the 'Palestinian Authority.'
Palestinians in Ramallah on Monday expressed outrage on news that the
Israel-based Fox clothing chain was planning to open a branch in their
city. Fox confirmed Monday that it would open its first Ramallah branch
within several months, and that it would be locally operated as a
locally-owned franchise.
Large advertising signs in the city
announcing the impending opening of a Fox store enraged Palestinian
activists involved in various campaigns to promote boycotts of Israel.
The activists accused the Palestinian Authority government of issuing
permission to an Israeli company to operate in Ramallah in violation of
Palestinian law, and said they would wage a series of protests to foil
plans to open a Fox branch in Ramallah. They also threatened to resort
to Palestinian courts to achieve their goal.
...
The activist said that it was “inconceivable that while the Europeans
have decided to boycott settler produces, Palestinians are helping an
Israeli company do business in Ramallah.”
The uproar comes amidst plans to restore peace talks between Israel
and the Palestinian Authority, and could potentially prove a flash point
for popular discontent as the talks continue.
“It’s very rare for
an Israeli company to open under its own name in Ramallah,” says Avi
Nudelman, the former CEO of the Israeli-Palestinian Chamber of Commerce.
While there are numerous products imported from Israel available on
Palestinian shelve, such as Elite, Osem, Tnuva and Strauss, an
Israeli-branded store is novel.
“I hope that there won’t be any problems. Ultimately it’s a good thing, and I hope it works,” he says.
Swedish-based IKEA, which has two stores in Israel, announced last week that it is also planning to open up stores in the Arab-populated areas of Judea and Samaria. Maybe the Europeans need to reconsider their boycott of the Jewish state?
In the meantime, please note that there are some - many - 'Palestinians' who are willing to do anything to prevent normal economic relationships between Israelis and 'Palestinians.' Maybe Kerry should change his focus? As we used to say when I worked in the US, 'business is business,' although other things can clearly follow from it.
By the way, I used one of the least racy Fox ads for this post (yes, that's Bar Refaeli). If you follow the link, you'll find that the JPost used some racier ads. I wonder whether they'll use those in Ramllah....
Labels: Bar Refaeli, BDS, Ramallah
Video: 'Palestinian' protests in support of Israel
Here's a 'Palestinian' Christian from Ramallah protesting in support of Israel in front of the United Nations.
Let's go to the videotape.
Labels: Palestinian Christians, Ramallah
After all-night meeting with Netanyahu, Kerry going to Ramallah
After an all-night meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with '
moderate' '
Palestinian' President
Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen on Sunday morning. Let's put the geography in perspective, I can walk up the block and see Ramallah, so the issue here isn't the travel. It's the length of the meetings and
whether something is actually going on.
US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with Palestinian Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday morning in Ramallah before leaving
the region later in the afternoon, Israel Radio reported.
The
sit-down with Abbas, which would be Kerry's third meeting with the
Palestinian leader in the last three days, follows a late-night, hours
long meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. There had been
reports on Saturday that Kerry was on the verge of announcing a four-way
peace summit in Amman, though this was denied by an Israeli official.
Sources told Israel Radio that military officials, legal experts, and
political advisers sat in on the meeting between Kerry and Netanyahu,
perhaps suggesting that the session was not routine.
Kerry is expected
to convene a news conference later Sunday before his departure to
Brunei.
While there were reports in the Jordanian media on
Saturday that Kerry succeeded in securing an agreement for an
Israel-Palestinian-American-Jordanian summit later in the week in
Jordan, Home Front Defense Minister Gilad Erdan, a member of the
security cabinet, denied that such a meeting was imminent.
"To the
best of my understanding, Abu Mazen (Abbas) is still demanding the same
preconditions, which we have no intention of meeting," Erdan said.
Abbas
has consistently demanded a complete cessation of new construction in
east Jerusalem and in the settlements, a release of Palestinian
prisoners incarcerated before the Oslo accords, and an Israeli agreement
to use the 1967 lines as the baseline of the talks.
I am sure that after all this effort, Netanyahu is not going to willingly send Kerry away empty-handed. But since Netanyahu is the one who has shown flexibility, it is deeply disturbing that Kerry continues to try to press him, and is spending comparatively less time pressuring Abu Bluff. Netanyahu's coalition is unlikely to go along with the preconditions demanded by Abu Mazen, nor should they. It's long past time that the 'Palestinians' learned to compromise. If they can't it will prove once again that Naftali Bennett was right: The 'two-state solution' is dead.
Labels: Abu Mazen, Amman, Binyamin Netanyahu, Jerusalem, John Kerry, Middle East peace process, Ramallah
Kerry's entourage to Ramallah to be Jew-free?
If US Secretary of State John FN Kerry wants to visit Ramallah later this week, reports Khaled Abu Toameh,
he had better not bring any Jooz with him.
Just last week, for example, a journalist who requested a meeting
between Western journalists and a top Palestinian Authority official was
told "to make sure there were no Jews or Israelis" among the visitors.
The official's aide went on to explain: "We are sorry, but we do not meet with Jews or Israelis."
Another Palestinian journalist who tried to arrange an interview with
a Palestinian Authority official for a European colleague was turned
down "because the man's name indicates he is a Jew."
In yet another recent incident, a Palestinian Authority ministry
instructed its guards to "prevent Jewish reporters" from attending an
event in Ramallah.
It is not clear at this stage if the Palestinian Authority leadership
is behind the boycott of Jews and Israelis who seek to meet with its
representatives.
What is clear is that Palestinian Authority officials do not hesitate
to state in public that they do not want to meet with any Jew or
Israeli.
The Palestinian Authority representatives assume that if you are a Jew, then you must be pro-Israel or anti-Palestinian.
The only people with whom they want to meet are those who support the Palestinians and do not ask difficult questions.
Israeli journalists have actually been banned from the 'Palestinian Authority.' Someone ought to ask Jodi Rudoren (New York Times) and Sheera Frankel (McClatchy) if they hope to make it to Ramallah with John Kerry this week.
No word yet on whether Christians will be allowed in. But 'peace' is at hand.
Labels: Abu Mazen, freedom of the press, Palestinian anti-Semitism, Ramallah
'Palestinians' prepare to greet Obama by rioting
The 'Palestinians' are
rioting in preparation for President Obama's arrival in Israel on Wednesday.
Palestinian police scuffled on Tuesday with scores of demonstrators
protesting against the visit of US President Barack Obama to the
occupied West Bank later this week.
Dozens of officers and
plainclothes policemen prevented the crowd from reaching the main
offices of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the Palestinians' de
facto capital Ramallah, leading to shoving, but no serious injuries.
Palestinians
are skeptical of Obama's visit, which US officials have said will not
seek an immediate revival of peace talks with Israel.
...
Palestinian singer Alaa Shaham and fellow artists recorded a satirical
video clip in which an actor playing Obama is shown stuck at an Israeli
checkpoint and driving through a crowded Palestinian refugee camp in a
BMW.
"Obama is late, poor guy. He must have a good excuse,"
Shaham sings on the video, which since being uploaded to YouTube on
Monday night been viewed more than 10,000 times.
"We're trying to
send him a message. We welcome him, it's an important visit of course.
But U.S. policy has frustrated Palestinians - it disregards their
cause," Shaham told Reuters.
I wonder whether Obama is listening....
Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Palestinians, Ramallah
