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1. Netanyahu: Stop Picking on Settlers; They Deserve a Normal Life
by Gil Ronen
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu voiced support Monday for one of the most viciously maligned populations in the world – the Jews who live in Judea and Samaria. The settlers “deserve to live a normal life like anyone else,” Netanyahu said, “and this is our policy, too – to make sure they can live normal lives.”
"The most difficult decision we took was the decision to suspend new construction in Judea and Samaria for ten months. The settlers in Judea and Samaria have been under unjustified attack for almost half a century,” he said.
Netanyahu said that his government carried out the ten-month freeze on Jewish construction despite the difficulty this involved, but also noted that Israel now has “a vital interest” in continuing the negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. Israel is conducting “sensitive” diplomatic contacts with the U.S., he said, in order to find a solution that would make it possible to continue the talks.
"This is not the time to make proclamations,” Netanyahu said, in a hint probably directed at nationalist leaders, settlers and the news media. “We have no interest in causing tempests, and I cannot deny every false report that appears in the media." Israel, he added, will quietly find a solution to the complex situation, “far from the spotlights.”
London-based Arab newspaper A-Sharq Al-Awsat reported Monday that Netanyahu has agreed to extend the building freeze in Judea and Samaria for another period of time, but that he has made certain conditions. The newspaper said Netanyahu wants “permission” to continue building projects that have been started in the few days that have passed since the ten-month freeze expired. He also reportedly wants a guarantee that he will not be asked for any further freeze periods after that one.
2. Survey: Political Right Gaining Voters, Most Oppose Freeze
by Maayana Miskin
A survey conducted by the Dachaf polling company for Israel's Channel 2 News has revealed that a clear majority of Israelis would like to see the government allow Jews to build in Judea and Samaria, and oppose a continuation of the 10-month construction freeze. The Palestinian Authority, with backing from the United States, is demanding that Israel continue the freeze and has left the long sought negotiations because of the issue.
54% of respondents rejected the demand and said Israel should continue to build, while only 39% said Israel should freeze construction a second time in order to ensure that talks continue.
The poll also showed the political Right gaining power in comparison to the Left. If elections were held today, the Likud-Yisrael Beiteinu block would have a total of 41 seats compared to 36 for Kadima and Labor. Likud and Yisrael Beiteinu currently have a total of 42 seats to 41 total for Kadima and Labor, with Kadima actually having one more MK than Likud.
However, while the Left as a whole has lost votes, this is not a uniform loss for each left oriented party. Kadima, which calls itself centrist, gained popularity, with respondents giving the party 25% support, or 30 seats. Likud would have won 27 seats, the poll found. Kadima currently has 28 seats, while Likud has 27.
The increase in support for Kadima, comes at the expense of Labor, which pollsters found would receive only 6 seats. The party currently has 14 seats, but it seems from the poll that some would not stay in the left affiliated parties..
MK Aryeh Eldad (Ichud Leumi – National Union) called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to pay attention to the survey. “Netanyahu needs to stop being afraid, and stop giving in to Barak's extortion. Barak has no influence in the Knesset. If Netanyahu gives in to pressure and enticement from America, he will lose public support and will share Barak's fate,” he stated.
3. Muslim Journalist: Jerusalem Arabs Prefer Israeli Sovereignty
by Chana Ya'ar
Jerusalem’s Arab population prefers Israeli sovereignty to the prospect of living under Palestinian Authority rule, according to a column written by popular Arab writer Khaled Abu Toameh.
In a hard-hitting piece published last week in Hudson New York, he contends that any talk of dividing Jerusalem, a “very small city where Jews and Arabs live across the street from each other and on top of each other,” is “completely unrealistic.”
Abu Toameh, a Muslim Arab journalist for nearly three decades, says the PA’s insistence on taking half of Jerusalem for the capital of the new country it wants to create, would turn the city into “a nightmare” of traffic snarls surrounded by security barriers, checkpoints and border crossings.
And just as no one asked the PA Arabs in Judea, Samaria and Gaza for their opinion before the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993, it appears that once again, Arab residents’ feelings are being ignored.
But Abu Toameh contends it is only fair to ask the 200,000 Arab residents of Jerusalem whether they actually want to live in a divided city “under the rule of the Palestinian Authority or Hamas.” A majority would likely prefer the status quo to other options, he says, for a number of reasons.
“First, because as holders of Israeli ID cards, they are entitled to many rights and privileges that Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip don’t enjoy. They include freedom of movement and social, economic, health and education services that Israeli citizens are entitled to.”
Abu Toameh adds that re-dividing Jerusalem would mean the entry of the PA, or of Hamas, into the city. “The Arab residents of Jerusalem have seen what happened in the West Bank and Gaza Strip over the past 16 years and are not keen to live under a corrupt authority or a radical Islamist entity,” he says pointedly.
Many, he says, ran away from Judea and Samaria because they did not want to live in areas controlled by “militiamen, armed gangs and corrupt leaders and institutions.”
Those who believe that Jerusalem can realistically be split are “living in an illusion and clearly do not know what they are talking about,” Abu Toameh says.
Instead of talking about tearing the city apart, he suggests, “it would be better if the negotiators started thinking of ways that enable Jews and Arabs to share, and not divide, the city.”
4. Tension over Mosque Repairs, Synagogue Demolition
by Maayana Miskin
Palestinian Authority Arabs were angered Sunday by a flier calling to save a synagogue in the Samaria Jewish town of El-Matan. The synagogue is facing the threat of being sealed off after the holidays. PA media outlets, including Maan and Wafa, accused those who wrote the flier of seeking the demolition of a nearby mosque.
“The settlers are trying to ignite a religious war in Shechem,” Wafa accused.
The accusations stemmed from side-by-side pictures of the synagogue in El-Matan next to a mosque near the PA town of Burin. The photos were accompanied by the caption, “The right-wing government is destroying a synagogue. This is how they ingratiate themselvse to Abu-Mazen [PA Chairman Abbas - ed.]: a synagogue is destroyed, while a mosque gets repair work.”
The flier called for a rally on Monday, October 4, opposite the Burin mosque at which demonstrators will call on the government not to block access to the El-Matan synagogue.
Nationalists have compared the El-Matan synagogue to the Burin mosque because neither structure has government approval. However, the El-Matan synagogue was built in the center of a community which had received government approval, and lacks only the signature of Defense Minister Ehud Barak to make it legal, while the Burin mosque was built outside a PA town on Israeli state land just 250 meters from the Jewish town of Yitzhar. Residents of Yitzhar have expressed concern over the building, which includes a tower that they say could be used to overlook the town and monitor their activities.
The battle over the fate of the synagogue and the mosque began with a suit filed by the extreme-left organization Yesh Din, which called to destroy the synagogue over its lack of a permit. The nationalist NGO group Regavim filed a counter-suit calling to demolish two mosques built by PA Arabs on the same grounds.
5. Ahmadinejad Heads to Beirut for State Visit Oct 13
by Chana Ya'ar
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is set to arrive in Beirut on October 13 for a two-day trip, his first official state visit to Lebanon since taking office in 2005.
He is scheduled to meet with Lebanese President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Sa'ad Hariri, Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri and officials from the Hizbullah terrorist organization.
The Iranian president is expected to tour southern Lebanon on the second day of his visit. One of the planned stops is Maroun al-Ras, a town in which one of the fiercest battles was fought between IDF soldiers and Hizbullah guerrillas during the 2006 Second Lebanon War. According to Naharnet, Ahmadinejad will also tour Bint Jbeil, another 2006 IDF-Hizbullah battleground.
Israel has allegedly appealed to the Lebanese government through U.S., French and United Nations mediators to keep Ahmadinejad from visiting the country's border with the Jewish State. Israel fears any such visit might result in “provocations” by the Iranian president, who according to a report in the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper, has threatened to hurl rocks at Israeli soldiers across the border fence.
Last week Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Leiberman told U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that Israel is “extremely worried” about Ahmadinejad's tour of the border area.
U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams reportedly met Friday in the Lebanese capital with Iranian Ambassador Ghazanfar Roknabadi to discuss the upcoming visit.
According to the Iranian state-run IRNA news agency, Williams allegedly “hailed” Tehran's “balanced approach and inclusive relations with all political and religious parties in the country.” Dr. Ahmadinejad will bear a message of peace, stability and unity for the Lebanese,” Roknabadi also told the news agency.
The Iranian envoy reportedly asked the U.N. envoy to take “serious and practical steps” to end reconnaissance flights by Israel Air Force planes in Lebanese airspace.
6. MK Danon: 'Jewish Homes On The Ground - Pure Zionism!'
by Malkah Fleisher
Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria, whose growth was unilaterally stifled by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's government during the 10-month building moratorium, have found a friend in Likud Knesset Member Danny Danon.
The 39 year-old rookie MK, who is seen as one of the prime minister's biggest critics within his party – as well as a rising Llikud star – has made himself a champion of new building efforts, placing the weight of his Knesset seat behind them.
Following the recent termination of the building freeze, his office has been instrumental in acquiring permits for new construction projects in the biblical heartland.
On the day of the termination of building, he led dozens of buses filled with World Likud members on a tour of Jewish communities in the region, with an emphasis on expressing the need for growth – and the motivation of local citizens to make it happen.
In an interview with Israel National Radio's Yishai Fleisher on the day residents returned to building, Danon explained why he is dedicated to the cause. "We were elected on a very clear platform to build and to settle the land," he said. "If the prime minister would have told the voters that we will not build in Judea and Samaria, he would not be the prime minister today, and I would not be in the Knesset today. Likud members are sending a clear message to the prime minister: we support you, but you must stay loyal to the way, to the platform. Otherwise, you will have no support."
Supporting Jewish growth throughout Israel is not just about political success for himself or the Likud, however. According to Danon, it is a matter of survival. "I see the large amount of [foreign] pressure on this minor issue of Jewish building in the settlements, and I ask myself, 'What will happen when we will get to the core issues?' Imagine the amount of pressure President Obama will put on our prime minister," said Danon. "We have to be very strong now. Otherwise, it will be a very dangerous precedent, because the Americans will understand they can push Israel. We have to be very strong today, because we will face the issue of Jerusalem, settlement, borders… I can only imagine the amount of pressure that will be brought to bear upon us."
MK Danon urged the United States to relent on that pressure, in the name of democracy. "We respect the American democracy, we respect the American president, but we want the American people to respect democracy in Israel, to respect the sovereignty of Israel, where we tell Jews they can build everywhere in the [land of Israel]."
For him, that right is not just a fundamental part of what Likud stands for, but a core Zionist value. "When you have Jewish homes on the ground, this is pure Zionism," he said.
Danon's adherence to essential Zionism is also evident in his Knesset record. A former Jewish Agency emissary to Miami, Florida, Danon is a co-sponsor of a new bill that would create a national holiday celebrating Aliyah – return of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel. "I believe that the energy to sustain and to win the fight is by having the good people and the right people," Danon told Fleisher. "That's why when I see Zionist people, I tell them that the ultimate force is to make Aliyah to Israel. That is what you should do."
Ultimately, Danon is optimistic about the future, though there is much work left to do. "When I see the energy of the people, I know we will prevail. It will not be easy, it will not be short-term, it will be long-term, but we will prevail. That is why we are here supporting the settlers who are the pure Zionists of Israel today."
7. Schwarzenegger Vetoes "Holocaust" Bill
by Elad Benari
Last Thursday, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that would have required companies seeking high-speed rail contracts with the state to disclose any role they played during the Holocaust, the European Jewish Press reported.
The bill, which was authored by Democratic California Assemblyman Bob Blumenfield, required companies vying for a piece of California's $45 billion high-speed rail project to reveal any involvement in transporting people to concentration, prisoner-of-war, labor or extermination camps during World War II, and also to report whether they took any steps to remediate their actions or to pay restitution to victims.
Among the international railroad companies who expressed their interest in the California project is the French national railway company (SNCF) which transported Jews to Nazi concentration camps.
SNCF claims that its operations were taken over by the Nazis during the German occupation and that its trains were forcibly requisitioned to transport people to the concentration camps. The company said the Nazis threatened to execute French railway workers and their families if they resisted orders.
France was under German occupation from May 1940 until December 1944. While the German army had originally occupied a designated zone in the northern and western parts of the country, the rest of the country was occupied in November 1942 after the Allies invaded North Africa. Unoccupied parts of France were governed by the dictatorial Vichy regime, located in Vichy as Paris was under German rule, headed by Marshal Pétain, who collaborated willingly with the German occupation. The French police and the state militia organised raids to capture Jews in both the northern and southern zones until France was liberated from German occupation between June and December of 1944.
In February 2009, France's top judicial body recognized the French government's responsibility for the deportation of Jews during World War II.
In his explanation of his veto of the law, Schwarzenegger said that while he sympathized with the victims of the Holocaust and those who were transported to camps during the war, “this bill needlessly places the state in a position of acknowledging the activities of companies during that time.”
However, SNCF said that it will fully comply with the measure’s intent, despite the veto by Schwarzenegger. In a statement released on Thursday, the company said: “The atrocities committed by Nazi Germany during WWII were so horrific that we can never forget, nor should we. The people of France and SNCF are determined to remember and honor victims of the Holocaust so that the horrors of Nazi Germany and WWII are never repeated. This commitment is ingrained in our company’s culture as well as the hearts of the French people, and is confirmed by our actions.”
The statement added that “SNCF will continue its commitment to complete transparency of its WWII history, and will voluntarily comply, and even exceed, the requirements the bill would have mandated.”
Also last week, Democratic Florida Representative Ron Klein, announced a plan to introduce legislation that would bar SNCF from lucrative US high-speed rail contracts, due to its involvement in the deportation of Jews in World War II.
“I am a strong supporter of high-speed rail for the economic benefits it will bring to Florida, but moving ahead with SNCF's bid doesn't represent progress, it represents a major step backward and a direct insult to Holocaust survivors and their families,” Klein said, describing the reasoning for the legislation.
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