Progressive Zionist FRY'D DAZE

For our first story we have a story from Maan News coming out of Qalqiliyah where a man was Arrested for 'cursing God'

QALQILIYA (Ma'an) -- Palestinian police arrested a man on Thursday for "cursing God" while arguing with his father in Qalqiliya. 

Police responded to a call reporting a fight between a father and son in the northern West Bank town, officials said. A police report said the father called police to break up the fight after his son "cursed God." 

Police took the man, who was not identified, into custody in accordance with Article 273 of the Jordanian Penal Code, which criminalizes insulting the religious feelings of other persons or their religious faith, officials said. 

The penalty could result in a jail term of between 1-3 years, according to the code.

 It is sad that in 2011 we are still here. However this is not the first time something like this has happened in Palestinian Authority territory. According to the story in Maan, A year earlier in the same city, the PA arrested Waleed Hasayin, after he was accused of authoring blog posts critical of Islam.
Our second story comes from Egypt where ten of thousands of people rallied for an end to military and the institution of civilian rule. According to Al Jazeera:

Friday's protest drew political parties and religious movements of different stripes, though the loudest voices in the square came from Islamists, including hardline Salafis and the comparatively moderate Muslim Brotherhood.

Liberal, leftist and Islamist parties and groups such as the April 6 Movement, founded in solidarity with labour protests, participated in the rally. Islamists joined with their call to put an end to military trials of civilians, which have led to the incarceration of thousands in proceedings described by human rights activists as opaque and unfair.

Anan Zuhairi, a 26-year-old doctor, told Bilal she was not with any party or political movement but that she joined the protest because "nothing has been resolved since the revolution".

"Nothing we revolted for has happened. Emergency law is still not canceled. People are being taken out of their homes. Our demands have remained the same except they've become more," she said. "We just want democracy and freedom. The people with opinions are all in prisons." 

It seems like a new phase of the Egyptian Revolution is taking place, As angry marmothas been meticulous in describing this. It is worth checking out the information.

Our Third story comes from YNET, regarding the IAEA board rebukes defiant Iran over nuclear program

The UN nuclear watchdog board of governors censured Iran on Friday over mounting suspicions it may be seeking to develop atomic bombs, after the six big powers overcame divisions on how to best deal with a defiant Tehran.

But the resolution, which won overwhelming support at the 35-nation meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), omitted any concrete punitive steps, reflecting Russian and Chinese opposition to cornering Iran.

It was adopted by 32 votes for and two against - Cuba and Ecuador. Indonesia abstained. 

Iran however was defiant and called the findings: "unprofessional, unbalanced, illegal and politicized",

The U.S. though is vowing to stay on top of this:

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the White House welcomed a resolution on Iran's nuclear program on Friday by the United Nations atomic energy watchdog, and said the United States will keep up pressure on Tehran to abandon its drive for a nuclear bomb.The resolution by the International Atomic Energy Agency expressing growing concern about Iran's atomic work had exposed "the hollowness of Iran's claims" that its nuclear program was for purely civilian purposes, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said in a statement.

"The whole world now knows that Iran not only sought to hide its uranium enrichment program from the world for more than two decades, but also engaged in covert research and development related to activities that can have only one application: building a nuclear warhead," he said.

Finally, speaking of Iran, Yoel Marcus in Haaretz offers this scathing article: Netanyahu's policies have turned Israel into Iran

I don't know if Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Rabbi Ovadia Yosef have their dressy robes and turbans made by the same tailor and milliner, and whether the gold decorations woven into their clothes symbolize some sort of rank in their divine status or are just foppishness. Some say it's both. They have adopted the Ottoman tradition of clerics who vied in their day with the dandyish sultans. In any case, both Khamenei and Yosef have influence on questions of war and peace. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad isn't going to push that button without authorization from Khamanei, just as our prime minister and defense minister make pilgrimages to Our Master and Teacher on the issue of the Iranian threat.

Anyway, discuss or ignore or do whatever you like
Shalom

Progressive Zionist FRY'D DAZE

Hi all... for our first story we have a story coming out of the United Nations: UN Security Council panel fails to agree on Palestinian statehood bid

A UN Security Council committee said on Friday it had failed to reach agreement over a Palestinian application for full membership in the United Nations, the Portuguese UN ambassador said. 

With seemingly no chance to get through the Security Council it had been rumored that the Palestinian Authority was dropping it's bid for Statehood. However, sources inside the P.A. are denying that. At this point many observers seem to feel that the bid must continue to the General Assembly where though they have a large amount of support, approval by the U.N.G.A. means little in terms of making a difference on the ground.

This comes on the heels of the PLO's succesful bid to be recognized by UNESCO a move that then prompted the U.S. to cut off funding for the organization and throwing it into a tailspin. Currently UNESCO is looking at large scale cut backs in it's programming and is being faced with the further difficulty that those states that backed the Palestinian bid are refusing to back up their bid with money to make up for the shortfall.

Our second story comes in light of a diary by Kossak The Troubador who mentioned last night that Palestinians were planning a demonstation in the West Bank regarding freedom of movement to and from Jewish settlements, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. One of the complaints listed was that Palestinians do not have freedom to move and it was compared to the U.S. freedom riders.
But just today a story comes to light explaining the precarious security situation in the territories. The Fars agency in Iran is saying that if Israel were to strike it they would send 30,000 suicide bombers thru Syria to infiltrate and attack Israeli targets:

The agency, which is associated with the Revolutionary Guards, reported that the men have sent a petition to the Syrian government expressing their willingness to help it through "any crisis" which may arise with Israel. 

"They have asked the Syrian government for authorization to infiltrate occupied Palestinian land and carry out suicide missions against Israeli soldiers," the report stated. The article mentions the last 'Nakba Day' during which five Palestinians infiltrated Israel and were arrested by security forces. 

"The petition said that those who signed it have passed military, combat and tactical trainings and are ready to tolerate the hardest conditions in Israel," the report said."In case a crisis is caused by Israel, these men can give Netanyahu's government serious problems." 

 Our third story comes from Maan News: Ex-prisoner on hunger strike over PA inaction

NABLUS (Ma’an) -- A released Palestinian prisoner, Amal Jumaa, 41, announced Thursday she had started a hunger strike because Palestinian Authority officials have failed to provide her medical treatment.

Jumaa told Ma’an that she has been in hospital for 13 days and wanted to "officially announce today an open hunger strike because they failed to provide necessary treatment for me."

President Abbas "issued a directive to transfer me abroad for treatment. I've been waiting for days.".......The minister of health, Fathi Abu Moghli, has also been following up on her condition for quite a long time, and "he visited her family two years ago when she was still in prison."

He says the ministry has provided all necessary treatment through the public hospital. However, at her family’s request, she was moved to a private hospital, he says. He added that based on the decision by Abbas, officials are working to issue a passport and a health file to make arrangements for transferring her to Jordan.

Hamas officials immediately decried the treatment saying that health care for released prisoners is a "moral duty".

Please discuss... Shalom

Richard Goldstone Weighs In On "Apartheid" Smear

Today has not been a good day for false slanders. First off, Bill Kristol was taken to task for his libel of the Occupy Movement.

Now former South African anti-Apartheid activist, Judge, and UN Commission leader Richard Goldstone has weighed in forcefully on the use of the term "Apartheid" in reference to the situation in Israel. As many of us have maintained, the venerable South African exposes that bit of extremist rhetoric as incorrect and detrimental to the cause of peace.

The fact that Goldstone felt the need to go to the New York Times with an Op-Ed says a lot about how important this is. The spread of extremist and incorrect rhetoric in regard to the I/P situation hardens viewpoints and is undermining chances for a peace and settlement.

Israel has been accused, in circles ranging from the street to academia - and of course daily in this forum - of being like Nazi Germany and Apartheid South Africa. The first of those accusation is transparently ridiculous given the lack of a fascist government or a genocide, among many other reasons, and has wisely been ruled off limits by this site's moderators. But what of the later?

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Enter Goldstone, someone who knows a thing or three about Apartheid. Goldstone was born and raised in South Africa, and was an anti-Apartheid activist since his student days. As a judge in South Africa he was instrumental in striking down or limiting Apartheid laws near the end of the old regime, and chaired the Goldstone Commission which helped investigate political violence and bring about the transition to multi-racial democracy..

Goldstone also knows a thing or three about Israel and Palestine, having chaired the UN fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict, which accused both Israel and Hamas of war crimes.

So what does Goldstone have to say about the Apartheid charge in reference to Israel?

It is an unfair and inaccurate slander against Israel, calculated to retard rather than advance peace negotiations.

Goldstone puts it plainly

In Israel, there is no apartheid. Nothing there comes close to the definition of apartheid under the 1998 Rome Statute: "Inhumane acts ... committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime." Israeli Arabs — 20 percent of Israel’s population — vote, have political parties and representatives in the Knesset and occupy positions of acclaim, including on its Supreme Court. Arab patients lie alongside Jewish patients in Israeli hospitals, receiving identical treatment.

As someone who does see nuance in the situation, Goldstone is not a knee-jerk Israel apologist:

To be sure, there is more de facto separation between Jewish and Arab populations than Israelis should accept. Much of it is chosen by the communities themselves. Some results from discrimination. But it is not apartheid, which consciously enshrines separation as an ideal. In Israel, equal rights are the law, the aspiration and the ideal; inequities are often successfully challenged in court.

And, speaking of nuance, Goldstone does something that I have never seen those that do direct the Apartheid charge at Israel do, which is to not obscure the difference between what happens in Israel proper, and what happens in the West Bank under a military occupation

The situation in the West Bank is more complex. But here too there is no intent to maintain “an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group.” This is a critical distinction, even if Israel acts oppressively toward Palestinians there.

Obviously, the Israeli occupation of the West Bank does result in terrible social inequalities. But as Goldstone makes clear, as tragic and unjust as those may be, the situation is fundamentally different from the legal and practical situation in Apartheid-era South Africa.

On the later point, a nuanced and intelligent criticism of Goldstone's conclusions is available here.

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In any case, the case against the applicability of the Apartheid smear within Israel proper is airtight, and I have never known those that use it to make any distinction between Israel proper and the West Bank. The bottom line is this:

Here we have someone who is both an expert on South African Apartheid and the I/P conflict telling us that the 'Apartheid' smear is wrong, and, in addition to being simply incorrect, it is inflammatory and detrimental to the cause of peace:

The mutual recognition and protection of the human dignity of all people is indispensable to bringing an end to hatred and anger. The charge that Israel is an apartheid state is a false and malicious one that precludes, rather than promotes, peace and harmony.

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And on that last point, I would like to address those that constantly feel the need to use extremist rhetoric in regard to Israel: By employing extremist and ridiculous rhetoric, you are not helping the cause of peace, and not helping the Palestinian people in their national aspirations. You are sowing further discord and strife.

We see this extremist rhetoric with the ongoing embrace of inaccurate Nazi and Apartheid comparisons, and also the continuing embrace of the bizarre Khazar hoax and similar variants that seek to deny Jewish peoplehood. The later has reared its head yet again today (no, I am not going to link to it, but you can find it easily enough).

Today I have been accused of "supporting Apartheid", which is an odd charge to level at someone who supports a two state resolution along the '67 borders. But it is, sadly, par for the course. Like I said, it is time for you to dial the extremism back, and no less an authority than Richard Goldstone agrees with me on that.