An Israeli attempt to intercept one of the ships that was part of an
international Gaza aid flotilla ended in disaster. At least nine people
on board the ship died. Seven Israeli commandos are said to be injured.
While details of the incident are still emerging, one thing is clear:
Israel's policy of blockading Gaza is untenable and increasingly
indefensible. The time has come for a re-evaluation of current policies.
Allow me to say a couple of good words about Israel's ambassador to
Washington, Michael Oren.
Yes, a couple. No need to get carried away here, but he does deserve
modest recognition for a small step in the right direction.
Ma'ariv: "What Do They Want from the Palestinians?"
By Yariv Oppenheimer, Peace Now Secretary General
Those Palestinians, what ingrates. Instead of being happy that the
Israeli economy has learned to exploit the lands of Judea and Samaria
and to invest inordinate sums of money to build factories and industrial
zones in the territories, the Palestinian Authority announces a boycott
and a ban on purchasing Israeli goods that are manufactured in the
settlements. We could have expected better from the Palestinians. Since
we stole their land, established industrial zones in the territories and
exploited the cheap labor that they were able to supply in abundance,
the least they could do in return is to buy the products that are
manufactured in the territories and help the Israeli economy continue to
develop on the lands of the territories.
Last Wednesday, I spoke at a synagogue in Pittsburgh. It was Yom
Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day, a national Israeli holiday in which Israeli
Jews mark the unification of Jerusalem in 1967. I spoke about Jerusalem
and tried to demonstrate how Israeli government policies to settle Jews
in East Jerusalem - including in the heart of exclusively Palestinian
neighborhood in East Jerusalem - are jeopardizing the two state
solution, and therefore threatening Israel's future as a democratic and
Jewish state.
About halfway through my address, a woman got up, outraged, and
protested the disrespect to Jerusalem, on Yom Yerushalayim. If you are
willing to give away Jerusalem, you are not Jewish she said. She was
very shaken. She said some terrible things as she walked out.
On Wednesday, May 12th, APN cosponsored a Capitol Hill Forum on Jerusalem and the proximity talks. A standing-room-only audience of Capitol Hill staff, reporters, diplomats, and activists listened to the program. One Member of Congress was also in attendance.
Here is the video footage of the event.
There is good news in the quest for peace for Israel:
Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, mediated by Senator George
Mitchell, have begun.
These talks are sure to face many obstacles, including the risk that
either side will take steps outside of the negotiations that telegraph
bad faith. Israel's announcement two months ago that it planned to
expand a settlement in East Jerusalem is a clear example of such an
action.
There is news on that front, too.
A day after another West Bank mosque went up in flames again, Israeli Television (Channel One) today reported that law enforcement authorities have zeroed in on the settlers who torched another mosque, in the West Bank village of Yasouf, in December 2009.
According to the report, the Shin-Bet and the Police know who the terrorists are, but they have not been arrested yet because of intelligence considerations - whatever that means.
