Daily Discussion News Wrap Up

Hi all, first we had Fry'd Daze (which we will always have) but I want to try something new here. I want to try a daily news wrap up of interesting articles from around the "papers" involved with Israel and Palestine. We can look at four or five stories, and discuss. If someone wants to add stories - dynamite.


GROUND RULES: The stories have to be from reliable news sources. I do not want faux news sites like MondoFront or it's Zionist equivalent. The opinion section comes from you... the commentators. Further, please let's have no meta wars. I don't care what Daily Kos or anyone else is doing. It's just not that interesting. Let's do our own thing over here.

That said here are my first  stories:

From Maan News apparently the Left are not the only folks up in arms regarding issues of Gender Segregation in Israel. Maan, never a "friend" to the Israeli coalition is reporting that the  Israeli PM criticizes religious gender segregation:

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- A woman's refusal to sit at the back of a Jerusalem-bound bus as demanded by ultra-religious Jews moved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday to warn about the dangers of gender segregation in Israel....
The episode followed widespread outrage at zealot settlers in the occupied West Bank who have vandalized Palestinian property and turned on Israel's revered conscript military by rioting at one of its garrisons.

"Israeli society is a complex mosaic of Jews and Arabs, of secular and religious and ultra-Orthodox, and to this day we have agreed to peaceful coexistence," Netanyahu told his cabinet in broadcast remarks.

"Recently we have witnessed attempts to fray this coexistence," he said, citing Rosenblit's experience. "I totally oppose this. I think that we must not let fringe groups dismantle our common ground, and we must preserve public spaces as open and safe spaces for all the citizens of Israel."

Strong words and apparently they had an effect as Transportation Minister Israel Katz (Likud) pledged to continue to step up the ban on segregation on public transit.

HOWEVER, it should also be noted that the government is complicit in some of this as it has allowed it's rightist and religious partners unprecedented power and influence in the government. This coalition has created an atmosphere where these things are allowed to flourish and it is not until that they hit the press (both domestic and international) that they are addressed. It takes the courage of one 28 year old woman to stand up to this behavior for them to really take notice.

So... it is nice that the Prime Minister says this and hopefully follows up on this. BUT, if the government is really serious about this then they will immediately step up to arguing against the anti-democratic and gender biased rules proposed by his rightist allies.


Our next story involves the transfer of 550 more Palestinian Prisoners as part of the Shalit deal.


Photo courtesy of Ynet



Photo courtesy of Haaretz

News outlets are reporting that (Ynet):

The relatives of the Palestinian prisoners, who also hurled Molotov cocktails at soldiers, gathered at the scene to welcome the prisoners but were asked to evacuate the area. Firebombs and rocks were thrown at the soldiers during the ensuing clashes, the army said. The Palestinians also set tires on fire. Soldiers responded by firing gas canisters at the rioters.

and:

Hours before the release got underway, hundreds of Palestinian clashed with Israeli soldiers at a central West Bank checkpoint. They were among the crowd gathered at Beitunia, southwest of Ramallah, anxiously awaiting their relatives who are being freed.

Tempers ran high and, when youths began pushing the nearby security fence and throwing rocks, soldiers fired tear gas and stun grenades, witnesses said. An Israeli military spokeswoman said some of the protesters also threw firebombs.

Several were injured after inhaling tear gas.

An IDF soldier was also lightly injured due to a stone being tossed.

Most of these prisoners were not security risks and had served 2/3 of their terms for throwing Molotov Cocktails and Stones. Also of the prisoners 55 were minors between the ages of 14 and 17 and six were women. To be fair there were also three people released who were in prison for Terror related incidents. Salah Hamouri - who planned attacks (including a plan to assasinate Rabbi Ovadia Yosef) planted bombs and took place in gun attacks in the Ramallah region, Darwis Dadar who was involved in planning a suicide bombing that killed three Israelis, and Jaber Badr, who was caught planning a suicide attack.

Our next story comes from Egypt where The Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists captured 70% of the vote in the second round of the Egyptian election.
The Muslim Brotherhood party secured 39 percent of the vote, while the Salafi Al Nour party won 31 percent of the vote in the second stage of Egypt’s landmark post-Mubarak elections, according to unofficial results published on the website of Egypt’s Al-Ahram newspaper on Sunday.

The unofficial results for the second stage of elections for the lower house of the Egyptian parliament also showed that the secular, liberal Wafd party won 22 percent of the vote. Islamist parties won some 70 percent of the total vote, a similar result to the first stage of elections, which took place on November 28.

Turnout in the second round of voting in Egypt's parliamentary elections reached 67 per cent, with most constituencies expecting run-off votes, elections officials said Sunday, with more than 12 million citizens casting their ballots on Wednesday and Thursday.  

The turnout was higher than that of the first round, estimated by the High Elections Commission at 60 per cent. A final round, with the remaining nine provinces, has been set for January.

Now there has been discussion here and on other blogs whether the Obama Administration was handling this the right way by proposing talks with the Brotherhood as they seem to be the party with the largest amount of support in the Egyptian polity. One of the topics was, is this good for Israel that the Obama Administration discuss things with potential new rulers of Egypt. Now whether or not you feel this actually shows anything regarding Israel is one thing and as many here know I support the Obama Administration in their dealings with Egypt at this point.  Some however, have said "NO" that shows a bias against Israel. Well there is someone else apparently that these folks should also add to the list of those biased against Israel... The Israeli Foreign Ministry. Yep that's right - the Israeli Froeign Ministry is reaching out to the Muslim Brotherhood to discuss matters.

According to Haaretz:

Israel's new ambassador in Cairo, Yaakov Amitai, will attempt to open communication channels with Islamic officials in Egypt, including representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood and the radical Salafi movement's Al-Nour Party, according to a senior diplomatic official in Jerusalem.

The official told Haaretz that, as ambassador, Amitai must make contact with all relevant entities in positions of power, and talk to "anyone who wants to and agrees to talk to him, even if those contacts are not made public."
Finally we have this from East Jerusalem and the West Bank

The Housing Ministry published tenders on Sunday for 1,028 homes to be built in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem, part of a plan to build 6,000 housing units throughout Israel.         

According to a statement by the ministry, 500 homes will be built in Har Homa in south Jerusalem, on land occupied during the 1967 Six Day War; 348 in the West Bank settlement of Betar Illit; and 180 in Givat Ze'ev, which lies between Jerusalem and Ramallah.         

As would be expected this move was received with condemnation by the Palestinian Authority.and other political authorities. Peace Now's Hagit Ofran told AFP in response to the move.

"The building in Efrat is especially sensitive in my opinion, because it is east of the road leading to Bethlehem," Peace Now's Hagit Ofran told AFP in response to the move.

"That means that if Israel wants to annex Efrat, it will cut off Bethlehem from the southern West Bank."

To note an interesting aside here.. On Dec. 8th 2011 the M.K. Eldad (National Union) and MK Orlev (Habayit Hayehudi) proposed bills about Jerusalem. As Jeremy's Knesset Blog reports:

MK Eldad (N.U.) said that Jerusalem has been the capital and heart of the Jewish people for thousands of years. He noted that no foreign conqueror ever declared Jerusalem as its capital. He noted that divided Jerusalem served as Israel’s capital from its establishment until it was reunited in 1967 and since then a united Jerusalem serves as Israel’s capital. He explained the point of this original bill is to tell the foreign countries to stop telling Israel they can’t build in their capital. He expressed hope that this bill will strengthen Jerusalem. He agreed to postpone the vote on the bill in order to give the government more time to come around and support it.

MK Orlev (J.H.) said this bill is important for the Jewish people in the Diaspora. He slammed the Labor party for doing a 180 and opposing the bill, something that hurt the advancement of the bill as a Basic Law. He said this isn’t a political bill but rather a Jewish bill. He agreed to postpone the vote on the bill in order to give the government more time to come around and support it.

These are very controversial bills that would pretty much end any hope of a peace process with the Palestinians as they are not going to negotiate away their claims to Al-Aqsa and East Jerusalem (al-Quds). It is also interesting to note that these bills were shelved for the time being.

As always, please discuss. AND if you don't have something positive to add... don't add it. That means no anti-Semitism or Islamophobic comments. Add those and I will delete them PDQ. Have fun.