 |
   |
|
In this mailing:
Can Barghouti Save the Peace Process?
by Khaled Abu
Toameh
April 11, 2014 at 5:00 am
  Be the first of your
friends to like this.
According to Palestinian sources,
Abbas's biggest concern is that Dahlan may have been trying to forge an
alliance with Barghouti to topple him.
Those who believe that Barghouti
would be more flexible in the peace process are living in an illusion.
Barghouti's position regarding the peace process with Israel is no different
than that of Abbas, and possibly even less flexible.
No Palestinian leader would ever be
able to come back to his people with a deal that includes less than 100% of
Palestinian demands. As former Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat is reputed
to have said after abandoning the failed Camp David talks, "Do you want
me to be up there having tea with Sadat?"
Why is Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas now demanding the
release of jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti as a pre-condition for
agreeing to the extension of the peace talks with Israel?A senior Palestinian official in Ramallah claimed that Barghouti's release would make it easier for Abbas to agree to the extension of the peace talks after the April 29 deadline set by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Does Abbas want Barghouti released from prison out of concern for the peace process or because he is afraid of Mohammed Dahlan, another top Fatah operative who is waging a campaign to undermine the Palestinian Authority leader?
According to Palestinian sources, Abbas's biggest concern is that Dahlan may have been trying to forge an alliance with Barghouti to topple him. Abbas seems afraid that Dahlan, with the help of some Arab countries, is engaged in a scheme to remove him from power. Abbas has therefore taken a series of retaliatory measures against Dahlan, including expulsion from the Fatah Central Committee. A Palestinian official admitted in an interview with the London-based newspaper Al-Hayat that Abbas was seeking the release of Barghouti so that he could help Abbas confront Dahlan's efforts to undermine the Palestinian Authority leader. Abbas is apparently hoping that Barghouti will stand next to him once he succeeds in persuading the Americans and Israelis to release him in order to "salvage the peace process." Abbas first made the demand for the release of Barghouti during his last meeting in Washington with President Barack Obama. Barghouti, 54, was arrested by the Israel Defense Forces in April 2002 for his role in a series of terrorist attacks against Israelis. He was later sentenced to five life terms in prison. The U.S. Administration, according to senior Palestinian officials, has promised to raise the issue of Barghouti with the Israeli government. "The Americans haven't rejected the idea that Barghouti's release would boost Abbas's chances of moving forward with the peace talks," the official said. Some reports have even suggested that senior U.S. government officials have been holding "daily phone calls" with Barghouti in his prison cell to check whether he has plans to run in a future Palestinian presidential election. The Americans apparently believe that Barghouti, unlike Abbas, would rush to make far-reaching concessions that would pave the way for an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. This assumption is baseless given Barghouti's public statements over the past few years. Those who believe that Barghouti would be more flexible than Abbas regarding the peace process are living in an illusion. In fact, Barghouti's position regarding the peace process with Israel is no different than that of Abbas, and possibly even less flexible. In his last interview from prison, Barghouti held Israel fully responsible for the lack of progress in the peace process. He even called for unilateral Palestinian moves such as joining international institutions and treaties, in addition to the International Criminal Court, to pave the way for filing war crimes charges against Israel. Barghouti also called for a Palestinian campaign to "isolate and boycott" Israel in order to force it to withdraw to the pre-1967 lines. Like Abbas, Barghouti has also repeatedly called for an upsurge in "popular resistance" against Israel to force it to comply with Palestinian demands. Ironically, Barghouti does not believe that the U.S. Administration, which apparently supports his release, is capable of serving as an honest broker in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because of its "bias" in favor of Israel. And, unlike Abbas, Barghouti does not support the idea of land swaps with Israel. "No one is entitled to amend the borders or carry out land swaps," Barghouti declared in the interview. "The Palestinian people insist on a full Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders and the removal of all settlements." Moreover, Barghouti appears to be opposed to the current security coordination between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. In this regard, Barghouti shares the position of Hamas, which is also opposed to security coordination. Hence it is not clear why some are convinced that Barghouti would rush to endorse a more lenient approach toward Israel once he is freed from prison. Abbas himself is aware that neither he nor Barghouti would be able to make real concessions to Israel, especially on hard-core issues such as Jerusalem and refugees. Abbas also knows that no Palestinian leader would ever be able to come back to his people with a deal that does not include 100% of Palestinian demands. As former Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat is reputed to have said after abandoning the Camp David talks, "Do you want see me up there having tea with Sadat?" For many years, Abbas seemed to do little to help Barghouti get out of Israeli prison. At one stage, Barghouti's wife, Fadwa, even accused Abbas and the Palestinian Authority leadership of failing to assist her in her efforts to secure the release of her husband. The demand to free Barghouti is not related to the future of the peace talks in any way. The only person who would benefit from such a move is Abbas himself, who wants to take credit for releasing one of the Palestinians' most prominent figures from Israeli jail.
Related Topics: Khaled Abu
Toameh
Brandeis Backs Arsonists, Dumps Firefighter
by Douglas Murray
April 11, 2014 at 4:45 am
Be the first of your
friends to like this.
Between supporters of terrorism such
as CAIR and Hirsi Ali, there should not even be a debate over whom free
societies should choose.
The worst strains of European thinking seem to have infected America. As
cultural relativism, spinelessness and an inability to stand up for our own
values have become more and more dominant in Europe, some of us have
continued to look to the U.S. as a society safeguards its founding principles
and remains willing to uphold them in the face of opposition. Apparently not
for much longer.There have been troubling developments for some time. But an event earlier this week speaks louder than any so far. This is the decision of Brandeis University to revoke the offer of an honorary degree to the human rights hero, Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
Much of the Dutch and European cultural and political establishments took the lesson of the van Gogh killing: they shut up. They refrained from ever criticizing elements of Islam, and they pretended instead that there was no problem and nothing to see here. Women's rights and the rights of religious and sexual minorities were ignored as the importance of not disturbing Islamic sensitivities took precedence. Worse, the country turned on those like Hirsi Ali who were trying to warn them about the problem. In the process, they made a fundamental mistake, mixing up the firefighter with the fire. And so the Netherlands turned on the few firefighters they still had. Eventually Hirsi Ali was faced with no other choice but to leave. She became, as Salman Rushdie put it, perhaps the first political refugee from Europe to America of the post-war period. Now, even her recently adopted homeland is letting her down. Brandeis University was planning to award her an honorary degree at a ceremony next month. But now this offer, and the invitation to address students at their May 18th commencement, has been withdrawn. The university's President, Fred Lawrence, has announced that, "We cannot overlook certain of her past statements that are inconsistent with Brandeis University's core values. For all concerned, we regret that we were not aware of these statements earlier." Lawrence's statement is contemptible. The 'statements' complained of are a few phrases which are critical of Islam. Put the word 'Catholic' in the place of Islam in any of them and you get an average night's comedy on any major television network. So how did this volte face occur? And at who's instigation? Well there seem to be two forces behind it, one local and one national. The local one consists of a small percentage of faculty members at Brandeis who apparently objected to honouring Hirsi Ali. A public petition opposing the award was also signed by a few thousand people -- on and off campus. A member of the Muslim Student Association, Sarah Fahmy, who set up the petition, described the possibility of the award to Hirsi Ali as "A real slap in the face to Muslim students." Meanwhile Joseph Lumbard, chairman of Islamic and Middle Eastern studies, said, "This makes Muslim students feel very uneasy. They feel unwelcome here." Funny that; what with setting up public petitions, smearing opponents and successfully forcing a university to avoid honouring one of our era's greatest human rights defenders, Ms. Fahmy does not sound at all uneasy to me. Nor does it strike me that she is a person who feels at all unwelcome or in any other way backward at coming forward. In case anyone needs it spelled out, it is not Ms. Fahmy, but Ms. Hirsi Ali who is being made to feel unwelcome. It is someone who has spent her life campaigning for the rights of women and minorities who has been disinvited, not someone who has asserted her "right" to campaign against that hero. But of course behind all this is something else, at the national level. Because as with so many things that go wrong in these matters in the US, the Council on American-Islamic Relations [CAIR] is behind it. It was CAIR which appears to have led the campaign of outsiders putting pressure on the university, writing to the President of Brandeis and publicly calling on him to rescind the invitation and honour. So let's remind ourselves of who these moral arbiters are. CAIR is an organization which was an unindicted co-conspirator in the most serious terror-funding trial in recent American history, the Holy Land Foundation trial. It has been affirmed by this and other legal moves at the highest levels that CAIR is the product of an American support network of the designated terror group Hamas. However, wishing us to forget all this, CAIR's "Communications Director," Ibrahim Hooper, led the public campaign to get Brandeis to disinvite Hirsi Ali and said, "It is unconscionable that such a prestigious university would honour someone with such openly hateful views." So let's get this straight: Unindicted co-conspirator in a terrorism trial equals good. Woman who campaigns against religious oppression equals bad. When Hirsi Ali was being persecuted in the Netherlands, I remember scolding the Dutch public in the Dutch media. I wonder now if I might directly address American readers, not with a scold but with a plea? Please make your views known to Brandeis. Make it be known that Brandeis will not get another penny of funding from anyone who believes in actual human rights. Make it known to Brandeis that Americans, at any rate, can still tell the difference between a firefighter and a pack of arsonists. Make it clear to Brandeis that their actions are beneath the dignity of a university in a free country and beneath the contempt of the American people. A university founded on the concept of liberty is offering up its freedoms at the dictate of fanatics. If that catches on it will not only be Americans who will suffer. Between supporters of terrorism such as CAIR and Hirsi Ali, there should not even be a debate over whom free societies should choose.
Related Topics: Douglas Murray
Iran Plans to Hang Reyhaneh Jabbari Tuesday
by Shabnam
Assadollahi
April 11, 2014 at 4:30 am
Be the first of your
friends to like this.
Rayhaneh was apparently tortured
until she confessed.
The following news was posted (in Persian) on Facebook by Reyhaneh
Jabbari's mother, Shole Pakravan.Despite the ongoing strong international and domestic pressure, the executioner regime of Iran has set next Tuesday as the date to hang Reyhaneh Jabbari. The campaign to free her from execution in Iran is calling for immediate intervention of the international community to have the criminal regime of Iran stop this barbaric act. BackgroundReyhaneh Jabbari, an interior designer, was in a coffee shop speaking on the phone about her work, a conversation which was coincidentally overheard by Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, who approached her for professional advice about renovating his office. They then set a date to meet at his office in order to see and discuss Sarbandi's renovation project.On the day of the meeting, Sarbandi picked up Jabbari in his car. On the way to his office, Sarbandi stopped at a pharmacy, purchased an item (while Jabbari waited in the car), got into the car again and drove to his office. After arriving at their destination, Jabbari realized that the place did not look like a work place at all as it was a rundown house. Inside the house, Jabbari saw two drinks on the table, Morteza went inside and quickly locked the door from inside, put his arms around Jabbari's waist and told her that "she had no way of escaping". A struggle soon ensued. Jabbari trying to defend herself stabbed Sarbandi in the shoulder and escaped. Sarbandi died from bleeding. Lab analysis showed the drinks Jabbari intended to serve to Jabbari contained sedatives. Regardless, Jabbari was arrested. There she was told by the authorities that the murder had been set up [by them] and was "politically motivated". Nevertheless, Jabbari was tortured until she confessed to the murder, after she was given the death penalty which was upheld by the Supreme Court. As a result she is to be executed at any moment. The Campaign to Save Reyhaneh asks that all individuals and organizations help support us in any way possible to save Jabbari. If you have any contacts or connections with media, human rights organizations, women's rights advocates or government agencies, please support Jabbari's campaign by writing to them. Please help us save her life by signing this petition. Nazanin Afshin-Jam Shadi Paveh Shabnam Assadollahi Mina Ahadi Shabnam Assadollahi is human rights activist in Canada.
Related Topics: Iran
| Shabnam
Assadollahi
|
||||||||||||||
|
To subscribe to the this mailing list, go to http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/list_subscribe.php |
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment