Archive for January 14, 2014

U.S. VP Biden: Palestine & Israel could be an ‘island of stability’ in Mideast

 

Secretary of State Kerry is expected back in the region in the coming weeks to present his ‘framework’ for a future peace agreement.

 

 

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Monday tried to give a boost to the flagging Mideast peace process, saying he believes Israel and a future Palestine could become an “island of stability” in a turbulent region and expressing hope that leaders would make the “difficult decisions” needed for compromise.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Vice President Joe Biden – Photo: Matty Stern/US Embassy Tel Aviv

Biden made his comments at a sensitive time. Continue Reading »

IDF’s New Huge Negev Complex to be Named After Sharon

The IDF’s new 4CI Branch training complex being built in the Negev & currently known as ‘Ir HaBahadim’, will be named after former General/PM.

By Elad Benari

 

The IDF’s new training complex in the Negev, known as Ir HaBahadim (lit. the city of training bases), will be named after former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, it was announced on Sunday evening.

IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz and Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon received and approved the recommendation of a military names committee to name the complex after Sharon.

The town will be built on an area of 1,065 dunams (263 acres) and will house the IDF’s Armaments School, Logistics Training School, Military Police, and more. Continue Reading »

Arab Leader: We get Jerusalem, or No Peace

 

Despite John Kerry’s efforts, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas again signals everyone just how unrealistic a true peace deal really is.

By Ryan Jones

 

The Palestinian leadership at the weekend again signaled how far we are from reaching a bilateral, final status peace agreement, the determined and ongoing efforts of US Secretary of State John Kerry notwithstanding.

Palestinians: Give Us Jerusalem, or No Peace

Mahmoud Abbas (center) – Photo source: Israel Today

In a previous report, Israel Today pointed out how Israelis see control over Jerusalem as the next, and most significant stumbling block on the road to peace.

Polls over the past decade have consistently shown that an overwhelming majority of Israelis are opposed to surrendering to the Palestinians the eastern half of their ancient capital, including the Old City and its Temple Mount. Continue Reading »

New legislation seeks to bar all use of Nazi slurs & symbols

 

Continue Reading »

Special Tribunal to try Hezbollah defendants for assassinating Lebanese PM Hariri

 

Special Tribunal for Lebanon will open trial  against Hezbollah defendants in absentia, charged with assassinating former Prime Minster Rafik Hariri and the 21 also killed in the 2005 massive car-bomb explosion.

 

 

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) is set to open the trial in absentia on Thursday against the Hezbollah defendants alleged to have assassinated former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri and killed 21 others on February 14, 2005.

Billboards of Rafik Hariri in Sidon

Billboards of Rafik Hariri in Sidon – Photo: Ali Hashisho / Reuters

To date, the case has riled, divided and inflamed already hot disputes between Lebanon’s Sunni and Shiite population, with Sunnis demanding justice and Hezbollah claiming the case was pushed forward by Western countries trying to reduce and besmirch its name (even though the court was formed with Lebanon’s consent.) Continue Reading »

Earthquake shakes Galilee again

 

After a series of Galilee area earthquakes in October, tremors shake the region again. ‘We felt the ground moving,’ residents said, but is Israel prepared?

By Michal Margalit

 

A light earthquake was felt Monday afternoon in the Upper Galilee. Director of the Geophysical Institute of Israel, Dr. Uri Frieslander, reported that magnitude of the quake was 3.5 on the Richter scale.

3.5 on Richter scale — Photo: Reuters

The epicenter was documented in the area of Almagor, north of the Sea of Galilee.

Shortly after 3:00 pm, the quake was felt in the area of the Sea of Galilee and Upper Galilee. Continue Reading »

Hamas Declares: ‘Israel Has 8 Years Left’

In Gaza, Hamas’ Interior Minister boasts Palestinian Arabs will ‘liberate’ Israel by 2022.

By Dalit Halevy, Tova Dvorin

 

Israel will be gone in eight years, according to one Hamas official.

Fathi Hamad, Hamas’s Interior Minister, claimed in a speech honoring the anniversary of Operation Cast Lead that “Palestine” would replace the Jewish State by 2022.

Hamad noted in his speech that the Palestinian Arabs, according to Islamic prophecies, will enter the Al Aqsa Mosque “in jubilation and victory like they entered it the first time“. He said that Israel has failed in previous wars waged against the Palestinians, while the Palestinians are progressing nationally towards the stage where they are capable of conquering Jerusalem. Continue Reading »

Israel Air Force hits Gaza in retaliation to Hamas rockets fired at Israel

 

Palestinians in Gaza fire 2 rockets at southern Israel near the site of former prime minister’s burial ceremony at his Negev ranch.

Rockets land in open areas with no damage or reported injuries.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN, JPOST.COM STAFF

 

The Israel Air Force struck on Monday evening two targets in Gaza in response to rocket fire on southern Israel earlier in the day, the IDF confirmed.

IAF on the way to Gaza : Photo:REUTERS

The targets hit were a military compound and a terror infrastructure site, said an IDF spokesperson, adding that both targets were accurately hit.

Both targets belonged to Hamas, which the IDF holds responsible for failing to prevent Monday’s rocket fire. Continue Reading »

Gaza fire 2 rockets just hours before Sharon’s burial

IDF says although location of former PM’s funeral is within range of rockets from Gaza, the two rockets did not land in Israel.

 

The Israel Defense Forces said two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip just hours ahead of Ariel Sharon’s funeral on Monday morning, but they did not appear to have landed in Israel.

Fired from GazaThe location in southern Israel where the former prime minister is to be buried later Monday is within range of rockets from the Palestinian territory and rockets in the past have hit the area.

The military says Monday’s rocket fire caused no injuries or damage. Continue Reading »

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel (Arik) Sharon Laid to Rest

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is to be buried at Havat Hashikmim in the Negev, under heavy security.

The funeral began at the Knesset.

By Arutz Sheva Staff and AFP

 

 

The funeral procession for Israel’s 11th prime minister, Ariel Sharon, who died on Saturday at age 85, began Monday morning at the Knesset at a formal event attended by President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, US Vice President Joseph Biden, and former British prime minister Tony Blair.

Sharon is to be laid to rest at his Havat Hashikmim (Sycamore Ranch) in the Negev on Monday afternoon, next to his late wife, Lily. Continue Reading »

Palestinians celebrate ‘The Bulldozer’s’ death

 

Palestinians widely loathed the late Ariel Sharon as the bulldozer of crushing military offensives against them in Gaza, the West Bank and the Sabra & Chatila massacre by the hands of the Christians in Lebanon.

 

 

RAMALLAH, West Bank – Ariel Sharon’s death Saturday elicited a wide range of responses from Palestinians, but sadness wasn’t one: Some cheered and distributed sweets while others prayed for divine punishment for the former Israeli leader or recalled his central role in some of the bloodiest episodes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

A Palestinian distributes sweets after hearing about the death of Ariel Sharon in Gaza

A Palestinian distributes sweets after hearing about the death of Ariel Sharon in Gaza, Jan 11, 2013.

Continue Reading »

IDF Positions Iron Dome to Protect Sharon Burial from Gaza Rockets

Ironically, the tight security for Ariel Sharon’s Negev funeral demonstrates the lack of peace the Disengagement produced.

By David Lev

 

Security for the funeral of Ariel Sharon Monday is among the tightest for any funeral in Israel’s history. Hundreds of soldiers and police will be on hand, and helicopters, light planes, and drones will fly above the funeral procession as it works its way south from Jerusalem to Sharon’s Negev ranch. The Iron Dome system will also be on alert, in case Gaza Arab terrorists decide to fire rockets at the Negev as Sharon is being buried.

The unprecedented security, said MK Moti Yogev (Jewish Home) clearly shows, he said just how much of a mistake the 2005 Disengagement was. Continue Reading »

The country prepares for Sharon’s funeral & arrival of world leaders

 

State funeral with full military honors at his Sycamore Ranch will be open to the public.

By LAHAV HARKOV, BEN HARTMAN, JPOST.COM STAFF
 

 

Former prime minister Ariel Sharon, who passed away on Saturday, will be laid to rest on Monday at his Sycamore Ranch in a funeral open for the public.

Knesset guard carry former PM Ariel Sharon's coffin, January 12, 2014. - Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

Knesset guard carry former PM Ariel Sharon’s coffin, January 12, 2014. – Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

A special memorial service was set to take place at the Knesset on Monday at 9:30 a.m. where members of Sharon’s family, President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Binyamin netanyahu, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, US Vice President Joe Biden and former British prime minister Tony Blair are expected to speak. Continue Reading »

UN strike brings clash between Palestinian police & refugee camp residents

 

Local Palestinian employees of UNRWA strike, shutting down critical services in the West Bank.

West Bank resident says, ‘Situation can’t be tolerated with no schools, no clinics and trash everywhere’

By Reuters

 

At least 50 people were hurt on Sunday in a clash between Palestinian police and residents of a refugee camp protesting against a strike in a UN aid agency that has paralyzed services, police and an ambulance service said.

Palestinian forces arriving at Jenin (file) – Photo: AP

The demonstration, in Jalazoun camp in the West Bank, was the most violent in a series of protests over the past week stemming from a more than month-old strike for higher pay by local employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Continue Reading »

More ‘Palestinian Refugees’ Starve to death in Syria With no Flotillas on the Way

Since the Al-Yarmouk camp is besieged by the Syrian army for months, with the death toll up to 48, no world outrage or assistance since Israel can’t be blamed or demonized.

By Ari Yashar

 

 

The Al-Yarmouk “Palestinian refugee camp” in southern Damascus has been under an ongoing siege by the Syrian army. An opposition group said Saturday that two more starved to death in the camp this weekend, bringing the death total to 48.

The Syrian Revolution General Commission (SRGC), a coalition of rebel forces, said the camp of roughly 20,000 descendants of Arabs who left Israel during the 1948 war ran out of food and medical supplies after 180 days of siege by President Bashar Assad’s forces. Continue Reading »