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1. Peres Rails Fatah-Hamas Agreement as 'Fatal Mistake’
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The Hamas-Fatah agreement announced on Wednesday is “a fatal mistake” that will allow terrorists to rule Judea and Samaria and ruin the chances for the establishment of the Palestinian Authority as a country, President Shimon Peres said Thursday afternoon.
He said that the agreement, if implemented, means there will be a “continuation of rocket attacks, a continuation of the murder of innocent civilians, and the continuation of Iranian interference that supports and finances terror in our region.”
Peres is widely regarded as Israel’s champion of dialogue for peace.
His unusually harsh condemnation of the agreement between Hamas and Fatah leader PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, whom he has called “a productive leader who wants peace,” unifies the Israeli reaction so far, and even echoes the comments by plain-talking Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
“Signing this agreement that will result in elections in another year is liable to allow a terrorist group [Hamas] to control [not only] Gaza [but also] Judea and Samaria,” said the president, "and the Hamas policy will win." The Foreign Minister issued virtually the same verdict earlier Thursday, placing both leaders, from parties on opposite sides of the spectrum, in rare agreement.
“Hamas is not changing its spots,” President Peres continued, "It is not ceasing to be a terrorist group that serves Iran and smuggles weapons.”
He said the Fatah-Hamas accord is between two camps, “one calling for peace and the other calling for the destruction of Israel… This is a fatal mistake."
Sources commenting on the president's remarks took issue with the PA's sincerity when "calling for peace", due to its preconditions, incitement and refusal to negotiate, but agreed that it does mouth the peace words, as opposed to Hamas.
Comment on this story
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
The Hamas-Fatah agreement announced on Wednesday is “a fatal mistake” that will allow terrorists to rule Judea and Samaria and ruin the chances for the establishment of the Palestinian Authority as a country, President Shimon Peres said Thursday afternoon.
He said that the agreement, if implemented, means there will be a “continuation of rocket attacks, a continuation of the murder of innocent civilians, and the continuation of Iranian interference that supports and finances terror in our region.”
Peres is widely regarded as Israel’s champion of dialogue for peace.
His unusually harsh condemnation of the agreement between Hamas and Fatah leader PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, whom he has called “a productive leader who wants peace,” unifies the Israeli reaction so far, and even echoes the comments by plain-talking Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
“Signing this agreement that will result in elections in another year is liable to allow a terrorist group [Hamas] to control [not only] Gaza [but also] Judea and Samaria,” said the president, "and the Hamas policy will win." The Foreign Minister issued virtually the same verdict earlier Thursday, placing both leaders, from parties on opposite sides of the spectrum, in rare agreement.
“Hamas is not changing its spots,” President Peres continued, "It is not ceasing to be a terrorist group that serves Iran and smuggles weapons.”
He said the Fatah-Hamas accord is between two camps, “one calling for peace and the other calling for the destruction of Israel… This is a fatal mistake."
Sources commenting on the president's remarks took issue with the PA's sincerity when "calling for peace", due to its preconditions, incitement and refusal to negotiate, but agreed that it does mouth the peace words, as opposed to Hamas.
Comment on this story
2. Referendum Makes Interesting Bedfellows in Britain
by Amiel Ungar
Britain will go to a referendum on May 5 where the voters will be asked to approve or reject a change in its voting system from the "single past the post" system to the alternative vote (AV) system.
Under the current system, the candidate getting a plurality of the votes, but not necessarily a majority, is declared the victor and represents his district at the parliament in Westminster.
There are usually three competitive parties and in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales nationalist parties are competitive. Independents occasionally win and there are additional parties that pull votes such as the United Kingdom Independence Party or the British National Party. Therefore it is quite normal for the winning candidate to get 30% or less.
Under the AV system, voters select their favored candidate and list second and third choices. If one candidate gets a majority of the vote, he will be elected as under the old system. If no one gets a majority, then the last candidate is eliminated and the second and third choices are factored in until one candidate gets a majority.
The supporters of the current system argue that "single past the post" creates a stable majority, although not in the last election, and therefore accountability. A government usually gets a clear majority to work with and its failure cannot be blamed on coalition difficulties or compromises.
In addition, for this referendum the No supporters have argued that a change in the system will require 350 million pounds to educate the voter and to administer it.
The big proponents of change are the Liberal Democrats, the junior members of the coalition, who feel that the current system victimizes them. The Liberal Democrat vote has been respectable but more dispersed than the Conservatives and Labour. The Conservatives are the dominant party in rural Britain and in the more prosperous south of the country. Labour bastions are the old northern industrial heartland and Scotland.
Liberal Democrats would regularly finish second to Labor in the North and to the Conservatives in the South. In a "pass the post system" to be a silver medalist is as futile as coming in dead last. What the Liberals would really like is proportional representation. That would have been dead in the water because it promised continental European style coalitions evoking instant voter rejection. AV, should it pass, is expected to provide some help to the Liberal Democrats.
The Conservatives agreed to the referendum as part of the coalition dowry and it was agreed that each party would campaign on opposing sides of the issue. The Conservatives would be the clear losers in the event of a yes victory.
Labour is split on the issue and the divisions cross the old party fissures between supporters and opponents of Tony Blair. Those in favor of the yes believe that the current coalition is an aberration and the Liberal Democrats are much closer to Labor than to the Conservatives. Therefore, strengthening the Liberals at the expense of the Conservatives will insure Labour led coalitions. This is the position of party leader Ed Miliband who has been making joint appearances with Liberal Democrat leaders.
Most of the Labour Party parliamentary faction is supporting the no side and Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron has appeared with former Home Secretary John Reid of Labour. Labour opponents of AV would prefer to rule without the Liberals and argue that if AV had been in effect during the last elections Labour would have lost 20 additional seats.
Comment on this story
by Amiel Ungar
Britain will go to a referendum on May 5 where the voters will be asked to approve or reject a change in its voting system from the "single past the post" system to the alternative vote (AV) system.
Under the current system, the candidate getting a plurality of the votes, but not necessarily a majority, is declared the victor and represents his district at the parliament in Westminster.
There are usually three competitive parties and in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales nationalist parties are competitive. Independents occasionally win and there are additional parties that pull votes such as the United Kingdom Independence Party or the British National Party. Therefore it is quite normal for the winning candidate to get 30% or less.
Under the AV system, voters select their favored candidate and list second and third choices. If one candidate gets a majority of the vote, he will be elected as under the old system. If no one gets a majority, then the last candidate is eliminated and the second and third choices are factored in until one candidate gets a majority.
The supporters of the current system argue that "single past the post" creates a stable majority, although not in the last election, and therefore accountability. A government usually gets a clear majority to work with and its failure cannot be blamed on coalition difficulties or compromises.
In addition, for this referendum the No supporters have argued that a change in the system will require 350 million pounds to educate the voter and to administer it.
The big proponents of change are the Liberal Democrats, the junior members of the coalition, who feel that the current system victimizes them. The Liberal Democrat vote has been respectable but more dispersed than the Conservatives and Labour. The Conservatives are the dominant party in rural Britain and in the more prosperous south of the country. Labour bastions are the old northern industrial heartland and Scotland.
Liberal Democrats would regularly finish second to Labor in the North and to the Conservatives in the South. In a "pass the post system" to be a silver medalist is as futile as coming in dead last. What the Liberals would really like is proportional representation. That would have been dead in the water because it promised continental European style coalitions evoking instant voter rejection. AV, should it pass, is expected to provide some help to the Liberal Democrats.
The Conservatives agreed to the referendum as part of the coalition dowry and it was agreed that each party would campaign on opposing sides of the issue. The Conservatives would be the clear losers in the event of a yes victory.
Labour is split on the issue and the divisions cross the old party fissures between supporters and opponents of Tony Blair. Those in favor of the yes believe that the current coalition is an aberration and the Liberal Democrats are much closer to Labor than to the Conservatives. Therefore, strengthening the Liberals at the expense of the Conservatives will insure Labour led coalitions. This is the position of party leader Ed Miliband who has been making joint appearances with Liberal Democrat leaders.
Most of the Labour Party parliamentary faction is supporting the no side and Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron has appeared with former Home Secretary John Reid of Labour. Labour opponents of AV would prefer to rule without the Liberals and argue that if AV had been in effect during the last elections Labour would have lost 20 additional seats.
Comment on this story
3. Hamas-PA Merger Calls Security Cooperation Into Question
by Gavriel Queenann
An IDF spokesperson has told Israel National News the reported Fatah-Hamas reconciliation may scuttle future security cooperation between Israel and the PA.
The reconcilliation agreement, which will admit Hamas back into the PA government following elections, includes the release of political and security prisoners as well as the merging of Hamas and Fatah security systems.
Moussa Abu Marzouk, Hamas deputy political bureau chief, said part of the agreement stipulates restructuring the PLO to allow the admission of Hamas into its ranks.
As a result, the spokesman said, continued cooperation between the IDF and PA security forces is in question. Israel predicated such cooperation on maintaining Israel's security interests and keeping Hamas from attaining military power.
Israeli security experts have expressed concern that Hamas will ultimately seize power from the PA authority in Judea and Samaria as it did in Gaza in 2007.
The reconciliation talks in Cairo won Egypt's new intelligence chief, Murad Muwafi, praise from his predecessor Omar Suleiman who tried without success to bring Fatah and Hamas together.
The agreement will be signed next week in Cairo by Fatah and Hamas leaders, most likely PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Damascus-based Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Meshaal.
The Hamas-Fatah reconcilliation comes on the heels of the murder of Ben-Yosef Livnat, the 25-year old nephew of Culture and Science Minister Limor Livnat, by a PA security officer at the tomb of the Bibical Joseph earlier this week.
Livnat's murder had already put the question to the efficacy of security cooperation between the IDF and PA security forces.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu responded by saying the PA could have peace with Israel or Hamas - but not both.
Comment on this story
by Gavriel Queenann
An IDF spokesperson has told Israel National News the reported Fatah-Hamas reconciliation may scuttle future security cooperation between Israel and the PA.
The reconcilliation agreement, which will admit Hamas back into the PA government following elections, includes the release of political and security prisoners as well as the merging of Hamas and Fatah security systems.
Moussa Abu Marzouk, Hamas deputy political bureau chief, said part of the agreement stipulates restructuring the PLO to allow the admission of Hamas into its ranks.
As a result, the spokesman said, continued cooperation between the IDF and PA security forces is in question. Israel predicated such cooperation on maintaining Israel's security interests and keeping Hamas from attaining military power.
Israeli security experts have expressed concern that Hamas will ultimately seize power from the PA authority in Judea and Samaria as it did in Gaza in 2007.
The reconciliation talks in Cairo won Egypt's new intelligence chief, Murad Muwafi, praise from his predecessor Omar Suleiman who tried without success to bring Fatah and Hamas together.
The agreement will be signed next week in Cairo by Fatah and Hamas leaders, most likely PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Damascus-based Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Meshaal.
The Hamas-Fatah reconcilliation comes on the heels of the murder of Ben-Yosef Livnat, the 25-year old nephew of Culture and Science Minister Limor Livnat, by a PA security officer at the tomb of the Bibical Joseph earlier this week.
Livnat's murder had already put the question to the efficacy of security cooperation between the IDF and PA security forces.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu responded by saying the PA could have peace with Israel or Hamas - but not both.
Comment on this story
4. Lieberman: Hamas Terrorists will Roam Judea and Samaria
by Gil Ronen
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Thursday that he believes Hamas will take over Judea and Samaria in the Palestinian Authority elections planned for next year as part of the Fatah-Hamas rapprochement. Speaking on state-run Voice of Israel radio, Lieberman called the reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas "the crossing of a red line" and added that Israel "must decide upon its steps" following the development.
One of the results of Hamas-Fatah unity will be that hundreds of Hamas terrorists will go free from Fatah-PA jails, and roam in Judea and Samaria, Lieberman said. He called upon the international community to hold on steadfastly to the conditions it has set for recognition of "Palestinian" governments: the abandoning of terror, the recognition of Israel and the honoring of previous agreements.
Lieberman pointed to two possible reasons for the rapprochement. Hamas is "in a panic," he said, because its patron Bashar Assad is in trouble, while Fatah is shaken up after losing its patron, Hosni Mubarak.
MK Yitzchak Herzog (Labor) called upon the government to declare that Israel would support a UN vote establishing a PA state on the condition that negotiations for permanent borders begin forthwith and that the PA recognize former US President Bill Clinton's parameters for a diplomatic deal and carry out "confidence building measures."
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is of a different opinion. In a Wednesday evening statement he referred to the anticipated agreement between the Fatah-PA and Hamas, saying:
"The Palestinian Authority needs to choose between peace with Israel and peace with Hamas. Peace with both is impossible because Hamas aspires to destroy the State of Israel and says so openly. It fires missiles at our cities; it fires anti-tank rockets at our children.
"I think that the very idea of this reconciliation shows the weakness of the Palestinian Authority and causes one to wonder if Hamas will seize control of Judea and Samaria like it seized control of the Gaza Strip.
"I hope that the Palestinian Authority chooses correctly, i.e. that it chooses peace with Israel. The choice is in its hands."
Comment on this story
by Gil Ronen
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Thursday that he believes Hamas will take over Judea and Samaria in the Palestinian Authority elections planned for next year as part of the Fatah-Hamas rapprochement. Speaking on state-run Voice of Israel radio, Lieberman called the reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas "the crossing of a red line" and added that Israel "must decide upon its steps" following the development.
One of the results of Hamas-Fatah unity will be that hundreds of Hamas terrorists will go free from Fatah-PA jails, and roam in Judea and Samaria, Lieberman said. He called upon the international community to hold on steadfastly to the conditions it has set for recognition of "Palestinian" governments: the abandoning of terror, the recognition of Israel and the honoring of previous agreements.
Lieberman pointed to two possible reasons for the rapprochement. Hamas is "in a panic," he said, because its patron Bashar Assad is in trouble, while Fatah is shaken up after losing its patron, Hosni Mubarak.
MK Yitzchak Herzog (Labor) called upon the government to declare that Israel would support a UN vote establishing a PA state on the condition that negotiations for permanent borders begin forthwith and that the PA recognize former US President Bill Clinton's parameters for a diplomatic deal and carry out "confidence building measures."
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is of a different opinion. In a Wednesday evening statement he referred to the anticipated agreement between the Fatah-PA and Hamas, saying:
"The Palestinian Authority needs to choose between peace with Israel and peace with Hamas. Peace with both is impossible because Hamas aspires to destroy the State of Israel and says so openly. It fires missiles at our cities; it fires anti-tank rockets at our children.
"I think that the very idea of this reconciliation shows the weakness of the Palestinian Authority and causes one to wonder if Hamas will seize control of Judea and Samaria like it seized control of the Gaza Strip.
"I hope that the Palestinian Authority chooses correctly, i.e. that it chooses peace with Israel. The choice is in its hands."
Comment on this story
5. Report: Abbas’ Holocaust-Denial Dissertation Widely-Taught in PA
by Hillel Fendel
Research by the Center for Near East Policy Research Center has found that the doctoral dissertation of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas “stars” throughout the Palestinian Authority educational curriculum, and “is the basis for Holocaust studies in the PA.”
The Center’s Director, David Bedein, has asked Education Minister Gideon Saar and the government of Israel to demand that the PA remove the work from its schools and from its curricula.
Bedein wrote that the Center is engaged in preparing a movie on the PA educational system, in the course of which it tracks that which is taught in PA classrooms. “Throughout the educational system of the PA,” he wrote to Saar, “we have found that the doctorate of Mahmoud Abbas stars, and forms the basis of PA Holocaust studies.”
Downgrades Number of Victims, Accuses Zionists of Collaboration
The doctorate was published as a book in 1984, entitled,"The Other Side: the Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism.” It was completed in 1982 at a university in Communist Russia, and was defended at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
It downgrades the number of Holocaust victims to “[possibly] below one million,” and accuses Zionist leaders of encouraging the persecution of Jews.
It also denies that the gas chambers were used to murder Jews, quoting a "scientific study" to that effect by French Holocaust-denier Robert Faurisson.
Excerpts: “…it is possible that the number of Jewish victims reached six million, but at the same time it is possible that the figure is much smaller--below one million.”
"The historian and author, Raoul Hilberg, thinks that the figure does not exceed 890,000." [Holocaust authority Dr. Rafael Medoff says, “This is, of course, utterly false. Professor Hilberg, a distinguished historian and author of the classic study 'The Destruction of the European Jews', has never said or written any such thing.”]]
"It seems that the interest of the Zionist movement, however, is to inflate this figure so that their gains will be greater… This led them to emphasize this figure [six million] in order to gain the solidarity of international public opinion with Zionism.”
"A partnership was established between Hitler's Nazis and the leadership of the Zionist movement ... [the Zionists gave] permission to every racist in the world, led by Hitler and the Nazis, to treat Jews as they wish, so long as it guarantees immigration to Palestine."
Medoff writes that Abbas writes in his dissertation that the Zionist leaders actually wanted Jews to be murdered, because "having more victims meant greater rights and stronger privilege to join the negotiation table for dividing the spoils of war once it was over. However, since Zionism was not a fighting partner --suffering victims in a battle --it had no escape but to offer up human beings, under any name, to raise the number of victims, which they could then boast of at the moment of accounting."
Comment on this story
by Hillel Fendel
Research by the Center for Near East Policy Research Center has found that the doctoral dissertation of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas “stars” throughout the Palestinian Authority educational curriculum, and “is the basis for Holocaust studies in the PA.”
The Center’s Director, David Bedein, has asked Education Minister Gideon Saar and the government of Israel to demand that the PA remove the work from its schools and from its curricula.
Bedein wrote that the Center is engaged in preparing a movie on the PA educational system, in the course of which it tracks that which is taught in PA classrooms. “Throughout the educational system of the PA,” he wrote to Saar, “we have found that the doctorate of Mahmoud Abbas stars, and forms the basis of PA Holocaust studies.”
Downgrades Number of Victims, Accuses Zionists of Collaboration
The doctorate was published as a book in 1984, entitled,"The Other Side: the Secret Relationship Between Nazism and Zionism.” It was completed in 1982 at a university in Communist Russia, and was defended at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
It downgrades the number of Holocaust victims to “[possibly] below one million,” and accuses Zionist leaders of encouraging the persecution of Jews.
It also denies that the gas chambers were used to murder Jews, quoting a "scientific study" to that effect by French Holocaust-denier Robert Faurisson.
Excerpts: “…it is possible that the number of Jewish victims reached six million, but at the same time it is possible that the figure is much smaller--below one million.”
"The historian and author, Raoul Hilberg, thinks that the figure does not exceed 890,000." [Holocaust authority Dr. Rafael Medoff says, “This is, of course, utterly false. Professor Hilberg, a distinguished historian and author of the classic study 'The Destruction of the European Jews', has never said or written any such thing.”]]
"It seems that the interest of the Zionist movement, however, is to inflate this figure so that their gains will be greater… This led them to emphasize this figure [six million] in order to gain the solidarity of international public opinion with Zionism.”
"A partnership was established between Hitler's Nazis and the leadership of the Zionist movement ... [the Zionists gave] permission to every racist in the world, led by Hitler and the Nazis, to treat Jews as they wish, so long as it guarantees immigration to Palestine."
Medoff writes that Abbas writes in his dissertation that the Zionist leaders actually wanted Jews to be murdered, because "having more victims meant greater rights and stronger privilege to join the negotiation table for dividing the spoils of war once it was over. However, since Zionism was not a fighting partner --suffering victims in a battle --it had no escape but to offer up human beings, under any name, to raise the number of victims, which they could then boast of at the moment of accounting."
Comment on this story
6. Americans Grow Tired of the "Right War"
by Amiel Ungar
If support for the administration's policy in Libya has plummeted, what Barack Obama should find more disturbing is the downturn in support for the war in Afghanistan. The Washington Post-ABC News survey that came out on Monday showed that 49 percent of the respondents disapproved of Obama’s management of the war as compared with 44 percent who approved. This marks a reversal of the figures for January where those voicing approval were ascendant by nearly the same margin.
This poll was taken before the respondents could factor in two events that occurred in Afghanistan within the space of about a week. The first was the jailbreak of over 400 Taliban prisoners from the prison in Kandahar. The second was today's fatal shooting of 9 Americans by an Afghan military pilot.
The Taliban are obviously reading the polls and are interested in staging electrifying events that will further shake the confidence of American public opinion. The jailbreak demonstrates the daring and skill of the perpetrators but it equally shows a massive local support system for the Taliban in an area accorded high security.
The attack in Kabul Airport came presumably as a result of a dispute, but the Taliban were quick to claim that the pilot had acted at their behest. Even in the best case, supposing airport rage, the fact that a pilot who received his training during the NATO presence in Afghanistan could act in such a manner calls into question the feasibility of a security transfer to Afghan troops.
Supporters of the war have been confidently predicting that the United States could already hand over responsibility for some areas to local Afghani troops. If the pilot was representative of the local replacements, then the imminent Afghanization of the war is a very questionable assumption.
The incident also took place in a most secure area. It was admittedly not a repeat of 1968 Tet Offensive in Vietnam where the Vietcong fought inside the US embassy compound in Saigon and shocked American opinion. However a succession of such incidents could create a cumulative Tet effect with similar repercussions for a fatigued public.
During the 2008 presidential elections the then candidate Barack Obama argued that there was a wrong war (Iraq) and a right war (Afghanistan) and it was in the right war the United States should invest its military muscle together with its NATO allies. The rising disapproval ratings show that Obama has not managed to rally American public opinion around the right war.
As in the case of the Tet Offensive, the jailbreak in the airport attack may be deceiving and things may be going the way of the NATO coalition that reported this week the killing of a senior Taliban leader. However as Vietnam proves, the televised images and the public mood can frequently outweigh or obscure the reality on the ground.
In perhaps a tacit acknowledgment to his predecessor, Obama has brought in as a relief pitcher to Kabul, the US ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker. Obama can only hope that Afghanistan will eventually resemble the current situation in Iraq.
Comment on this story
by Amiel Ungar
If support for the administration's policy in Libya has plummeted, what Barack Obama should find more disturbing is the downturn in support for the war in Afghanistan. The Washington Post-ABC News survey that came out on Monday showed that 49 percent of the respondents disapproved of Obama’s management of the war as compared with 44 percent who approved. This marks a reversal of the figures for January where those voicing approval were ascendant by nearly the same margin.
This poll was taken before the respondents could factor in two events that occurred in Afghanistan within the space of about a week. The first was the jailbreak of over 400 Taliban prisoners from the prison in Kandahar. The second was today's fatal shooting of 9 Americans by an Afghan military pilot.
The Taliban are obviously reading the polls and are interested in staging electrifying events that will further shake the confidence of American public opinion. The jailbreak demonstrates the daring and skill of the perpetrators but it equally shows a massive local support system for the Taliban in an area accorded high security.
The attack in Kabul Airport came presumably as a result of a dispute, but the Taliban were quick to claim that the pilot had acted at their behest. Even in the best case, supposing airport rage, the fact that a pilot who received his training during the NATO presence in Afghanistan could act in such a manner calls into question the feasibility of a security transfer to Afghan troops.
Supporters of the war have been confidently predicting that the United States could already hand over responsibility for some areas to local Afghani troops. If the pilot was representative of the local replacements, then the imminent Afghanization of the war is a very questionable assumption.
The incident also took place in a most secure area. It was admittedly not a repeat of 1968 Tet Offensive in Vietnam where the Vietcong fought inside the US embassy compound in Saigon and shocked American opinion. However a succession of such incidents could create a cumulative Tet effect with similar repercussions for a fatigued public.
During the 2008 presidential elections the then candidate Barack Obama argued that there was a wrong war (Iraq) and a right war (Afghanistan) and it was in the right war the United States should invest its military muscle together with its NATO allies. The rising disapproval ratings show that Obama has not managed to rally American public opinion around the right war.
As in the case of the Tet Offensive, the jailbreak in the airport attack may be deceiving and things may be going the way of the NATO coalition that reported this week the killing of a senior Taliban leader. However as Vietnam proves, the televised images and the public mood can frequently outweigh or obscure the reality on the ground.
In perhaps a tacit acknowledgment to his predecessor, Obama has brought in as a relief pitcher to Kabul, the US ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker. Obama can only hope that Afghanistan will eventually resemble the current situation in Iraq.
Comment on this story
7. Arab Upheavals to Boost Mideast Economies?
by Gil Ronen
The wave of violent upheavals shaking the Arab world could eventually boost and revitalize the region's economies, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Wednesday.
In the short term, however, the region's oil-importing economies - including Egypt, Tunisia and Syria - face a problematic rise in crude oil prices alongside a "virtual standstill in tourism and foreign direct investment." According to the IMF's Regional Economic Outlook report, these developments raise the possibility of "spreading unrest, sharply higher oil prices, and rising fiscal deficits."
The oil-importing economies will grow by just 2.3% this year, the Washington-based body predicted. In Egypt, economic growth may drop from 5.1 percent last year to just 1.0 percent this year.
However, in the longer term, the changes taking place in the region "could provide a boost for its economies," the global economic body said. "A more inclusive reform agenda that meets the population's demands by providing greater access to opportunity and more competition would make the economies more dynamic and leverage the region's inherent strengths."
Regional strong points, it explained, include "a young labor force and a privileged geographic position at the crossroads between major markets in Europe and fast-growing emerging and developing economies in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa."
The IMF earlier this month revised its economic growth projection for the Middle East and North Africa region to 4.1% this year, down from a prediction of 4.6% growth made in January.
The economies of Egypt and Tunisia will also suffer from the effects of the civil war in neighboring Libya, which is causing the return of more than 100,000 migrant workers to their homelands.
The IMF urged Mideast leaders to create jobs for their population while tackling corruption. "The unfolding events make it clear that reforms, and even rapid economic growth ... cannot be sustained unless they create jobs for the rapidly growing labor force and are accompanied by social policies for the most vulnerable," the fund said.
Comment on this story
by Gil Ronen
The wave of violent upheavals shaking the Arab world could eventually boost and revitalize the region's economies, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Wednesday.
In the short term, however, the region's oil-importing economies - including Egypt, Tunisia and Syria - face a problematic rise in crude oil prices alongside a "virtual standstill in tourism and foreign direct investment." According to the IMF's Regional Economic Outlook report, these developments raise the possibility of "spreading unrest, sharply higher oil prices, and rising fiscal deficits."
The oil-importing economies will grow by just 2.3% this year, the Washington-based body predicted. In Egypt, economic growth may drop from 5.1 percent last year to just 1.0 percent this year.
However, in the longer term, the changes taking place in the region "could provide a boost for its economies," the global economic body said. "A more inclusive reform agenda that meets the population's demands by providing greater access to opportunity and more competition would make the economies more dynamic and leverage the region's inherent strengths."
Regional strong points, it explained, include "a young labor force and a privileged geographic position at the crossroads between major markets in Europe and fast-growing emerging and developing economies in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa."
The IMF earlier this month revised its economic growth projection for the Middle East and North Africa region to 4.1% this year, down from a prediction of 4.6% growth made in January.
The economies of Egypt and Tunisia will also suffer from the effects of the civil war in neighboring Libya, which is causing the return of more than 100,000 migrant workers to their homelands.
The IMF urged Mideast leaders to create jobs for their population while tackling corruption. "The unfolding events make it clear that reforms, and even rapid economic growth ... cannot be sustained unless they create jobs for the rapidly growing labor force and are accompanied by social policies for the most vulnerable," the fund said.
Comment on this story
8. IDF Stops 30 Jews from Entering Joseph's Tomb
by Hillel Fendel
Last night (Wednesday), just a few days after the PA police murder of Ben Yosef Livnat when he tried to pray at Joseph’s Tomb, another group of Jews attempted to enter the site – and were stopped by the IDF.
The victim was a 25-year-old father of four, the nephew of Science and Culture Minister Limor Livnat. The minister wrote about her nephew and his murder on Arutz-7.
Some 30 members of a group that has made it its goal to promote Jewish settlement in and around Shechem (Nablus) attempted to enter Joseph’s Tomb in the city last night. They announced their intentions beforehand, and demanded that the holy site be freely open to Jewish worship – as stipulated by the Oslo Accords (Interim Agreement, September 1995, Annex I, Article V, clause 2b).
At present, Jewish worshipers are allowed to enter once a month – under heavy IDF guard.
The IDF fired flare bombs in the air in an attempt to locate the group, which was engaged in finding ways to detour the IDF checkpoints in the area. Ultimately, Border Guard forces arrested the entire group and returned them to area that is under full Israeli control.
Correspondent Haggai Huberman reports that in any event, Joseph’s Tomb is surrounded by PA police forces.
MK Michael Ben-Ari (National Union) said afterwards, “I hold responsible those who do not allow Jews to enter the site in an organized manner, thus forcing them to endanger themselves in order to actualize their rights to pray.”
Comment on this story
by Hillel Fendel
Last night (Wednesday), just a few days after the PA police murder of Ben Yosef Livnat when he tried to pray at Joseph’s Tomb, another group of Jews attempted to enter the site – and were stopped by the IDF.
The victim was a 25-year-old father of four, the nephew of Science and Culture Minister Limor Livnat. The minister wrote about her nephew and his murder on Arutz-7.
Some 30 members of a group that has made it its goal to promote Jewish settlement in and around Shechem (Nablus) attempted to enter Joseph’s Tomb in the city last night. They announced their intentions beforehand, and demanded that the holy site be freely open to Jewish worship – as stipulated by the Oslo Accords (Interim Agreement, September 1995, Annex I, Article V, clause 2b).
At present, Jewish worshipers are allowed to enter once a month – under heavy IDF guard.
The IDF fired flare bombs in the air in an attempt to locate the group, which was engaged in finding ways to detour the IDF checkpoints in the area. Ultimately, Border Guard forces arrested the entire group and returned them to area that is under full Israeli control.
Correspondent Haggai Huberman reports that in any event, Joseph’s Tomb is surrounded by PA police forces.
MK Michael Ben-Ari (National Union) said afterwards, “I hold responsible those who do not allow Jews to enter the site in an organized manner, thus forcing them to endanger themselves in order to actualize their rights to pray.”
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