PALESTINIANS FIGHT BACK ~ THE RISEN PEOPLE

"Israel is obsessing over the settlement freeze, ignoring a dangerous Palestinian plan to unilaterally declare statehood with EU backing."

This is an interesting turn of events in deed, if they are true. The PNA claim they have been working on a plan to declare independence for a Palestinian state contained within the 1967 borders. This move, if both true and successful, could pose serious consequences for Israel. As of now, Palestine is not a recognized state within the UN, and as such cannot avail itself of all the legal remedies of a recognised state. However, should this new tactic be successful, Israel will be slapped with a new situation that will make it's prior "problems" look like child's play.

The Palestinians have claimed for several years, that if Israel fails to make peace, the PNA will act to declare a unilateral Palestinian state by 2011. Of course Israel will scream foul, pointing to the Oslo agreement, however, Israel will then have to explain its own actions, such as the continued building of settlements, ethnic cleansing and land grabbing, thus altering the borders, another breach of the agreement. Israel is now being confronted with it's most dangerous threat ever. The rising up of the Palestinian people. Israel knows that it can never militarily control or oppress the desire for Palestinian freedom. One only needs to look to Ireland for that answer.

With the word "Irishman" removed and replaced with "Palestinian"“I believe I am but another of those wretched (Palestinians) born of a risen generation with a deeply rooted and unquenchable desire for freedom” ~Bobby Sands, Irish Hungerstriker.

Even back in 2008 Israel was obsessing over this very possibility. It has been a looming threat over the Zionist war criminal occupying entity's heads. And now due to Israel's own genocide in Gaza, the world has turned and there appears to be some support within the UN for this move as is evident in from the "ZioNation" website, where they are having a public meltdown:

Meanwhile, the threat of a unilateral Palestinian state looms large and potent, and eclipses the petty obsession with settlement units. In July, the unfortunately irrepressible Javier Solana offered support of the EU for unconditional acceptance of a Palestinian state as a member of the UN in two years, if negotiations fail. At the end of August, the "moderate" Palestinian Authority announced that it would declare a state in two years, regardless of negotiations. Solana welcomed this provocation as well.

Due to the Palestinians' reservations over establishing a state with temporary borders, as was proposed during the second stage of the road map, this step will probably be defined as "early recognition" of Palestine.

It is understood that this will be accompanied by a public American and European declaration that the permanent border will be based on the border of June 4, 1967. Both sides may agree to alter the border based on territorial exchanges.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's refusal to discuss Jerusalem and the Palestinian refugees in the initial negotiation stages will not be allowed to delay the announcement of an independent Palestinian state.

Likewise, Netanyahu's demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, and that the Arab world embark on normalizing ties with Israel, will not constitute preconditions to an "early recognition" of Palestine.

Oh the evil Zionist ants are scurrying about in absolute panic mode. As usual and expected, Israel is calling in all it's bribed and owned politicians and UN members, plus adding it's Zionist lawyers to the mix for an all out assault on three fronts, as the Jpost is reporting this today:

According to Daniel Taub, the Foreign Ministry's deputy legal adviser, more than 200 top lawyers from all over the world have written the ICC stating that accepting the PA declaration would violate the ICC statute, which unambiguously refers only to states. He refused to say what steps, if any, Israel had taken to discourage Moreno-Ocampo from accepting the PA declaration.

Israel truly must be thinking to itself: How dare those "Risen Slaves" declare Independence from the slave masters, how dare they break the Oslo accords! Only Israel can break agreements and go un punished! The Palestinians will wait no more, they will move without Israel's approval, consent or permission. They have risen.

“If they aren't able to destroy the desire for freedom, they won't break you. They won't break me because the desire for freedom, and the freedom of the “Palestinian” people, is in my heart. The day will dawn when all the people of “Palestine” will have the desire for freedom to show. It is then we'll see the rising of the moon.~Bobby Sands


note: For another good take on this development you can go HERE

Israeli Trickery In Full Display

Have they no shame? Evidently not. Truly amazing that Israel will spend billions on "hasbara" to "explain" Israel's evilness to the world, and then they publicly attempt blackmail for the world to see up front an personal the depths they will go to attempting to circumvent the law or escape criminal charges. I wrote about this a few days ago and wondered where was the Palestinian response to this outrage and public blackmail. And finally the PA respond:

Israel is threatening to kill off a crucial West Bank economic project unless the Palestinian Authority withdraws a request to the International Criminal Court to investigate alleged Israeli crimes during last winter’s Gaza war.

Shalom Kital, an aide to defence minister Ehud Barak, said today that Israel will not release a share of the radio spectrum that has long been sought by the Palestinian Authority to enable the launch of a second mobile telecommunications company unless the PA drops its efforts to put Israeli soldiers and officers in the dock over the Israeli operation.

“It’s a condition. We are saying to the Palestinians that ‘if you want a normal life and are trying to embark on a new way, you must stop your incitement,” Mr. Kital said. “We are helping the Palestinian economy but one thing we ask them is to stop with these embarrassing charges.”

As long as the Wataniya Mobile company is unable to begin its operations, communications costs are likely to remain inordinately high for Palestinian businesses and individuals. But thwarting the company benefits four unauthorized Israeli operators who make sizeable profits in the Palestinian market using infrastructure they have set up in the illegal Israeli settlements across the West Bank.

The Qatari-owned Wataniya had begun making what was planned as the second largest private investment in West Bank history - to total seven hundred million dollars. But amid frustration at more than two years of Israeli foot-dragging over the frequencies it is now warning that if forced to miss its launch date of 15 October it may close down West Bank operations and seek the return from the Palestinian Authority of its $140m licensing fee and other damages. Mr Kital said the possibility of Wataniya closing “is something the PA will have to take into consideration.”

“This is sheer blackmail by the Israelis,” said Nabil Shaath, the former PA foreign minister. “Israel has no business stealing the frequencies, keeping them and using them as blackmail to escape an international inquiry into its violations.”

Mr Shaath said the PA would not back down over the matter.“The Palestinians in Gaza suffered greatly and we are responsible for them. We are the aggrieved party. Israeli soldiers and those who gave orders should be questioned and be liable to prosecution.”

The Palestinian request to the ICC dates back eight months. But Israeli concern over international legal steps has intensified since the UN commission, headed by South African judge Richard Goldstone, concluded that the Israeli military judicial system did not meet international legal standards of independence and impartiality. It called for the ICC to activate an indictment process within six months unless the country mounts its own credible investigations of its troops actions.

The Israeli stance on the frequencies marks a flouting of the efforts of the international community’s Middle East envoy, Tony Blair, who last month urged that they be released and warned of harm to the local economy if Israel persisted in its refusal. Mr Kital said today that Mr Blair “is very aware” there will be no release unless the Palestinians drop their request to the ICC. source

ISRAEL MAKES THREATS OVER WAR CRIMES

Someone needs to put these arrogant murdering criminals in their place.

Israel tells the PA they better "hop to it" and inform the International Criminal Court to drop all charges against Israel, or else Israel will see to it that the soon to be, done deal for a 2nd cellular provider for Palestine will be scraped AND the PA will have to foot the 300 MILLION DOLLAR bill for cancelling it. Seriously, if Abbas submits to his slave-master Netanyahu on this, then imagine what kind of Palestinian state we will end up with in any so called "peace deal" Abbas would agree to.

RAMALLAH, West Bank: Israel has informed the Palestinian Authority (PA) that it will not authorize the operation of a second cellular phone network until the PA withdraws its demand that the International Criminal Court in The Hague investigate alleged Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Strip, as documented in the Goldstone Commission report, the daily Haaretz said Sunday.

The issue of a second cellular provider is at the center of talks between the PA, the international Quartet and Israel and has been ongoing for months. Currently the sole provider is Pal-Tel and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad considers the introduction of another carrier as an important step in improving the civilian infrastructure in the West Bank. The project is central to Wataniya Palestine, the company that is set to serve as the second provider, and profits are expected to be substantial.

But if the project is not approved by Oct. 15, the PA will be forced to pay a penalty estimated at $300 million, the sum that has already been invested in licensing and infrastructure. SOURCE

GOLDSTONE REPORT BURIED FOREVER

Hate to say I told you so, but I told you so.....

U.S., Israel Move To Keep Goldstone Report From Going to Security Council

Israeli and American diplomats came to the United Nations not to praise the Goldstone Report, but to bury it. And unlike Marc Antony in his eulogy for Julius Caesar, they meant it.

The report, released September 15, caused a huge initial international stir, not only because of its findings — the bulk of them focusing on Israel — but also because of its ultimate recommendation: that the United Nations Security Council, which has binding power under international law, require Israel and Hamas, which controls Gaza, to conduct their own respective independent investigations of the evidence of human rights violations cited in the report. If they do not do so within six months, the report urged the Security Council to refer their cases to the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

But in the days following the release of Goldstone’s report, it became clear that in the arm-wrestling contest between international rights organizations and the established Israeli-American diplomatic bond, the latter wins easily.

As a result of their efforts, it appears all but certain that the report accusing Israel and the Palestinian faction Hamas of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity will not reach any binding international forums.

The 574-page report, commissioned by the U.N.’s Human Rights Council, was overseen by Judge Richard Goldstone, a widely respected South African jurist who had served on his country’s highest court and gone on to prosecute war crimes in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. The report scrutinized the events of the December 2008 Operation Cast Lead, in which Israel bombarded Gaza from the air and ground in response to the continued firing of rockets by Hamas militants at Israeli towns.

Estimates of Palestinian dead from the campaign range from 1,166 to 1,417. The number of non-combatants among them remains in sharp dispute, running from 300 (Israel’s estimate) to nearly 1,000 (Hamas’). An estimated 4,000 Palestinian homes were destroyed. Thirteen Israelis were killed during the conflict.

Israel cited the council’s one-sided condemnation of it in the council’s resolution commissioning the report and refused to cooperate with the investigation. It blocked Goldstone from entering Israel to pursue his probe, though Goldstone had secured the backing of the council’s president to expand his mandate to scrutinize Hamas, as well. The Goldstone Commission was thus unable to examine Israeli homes hit by the rockets. And it could not interview Israelis injured by them, but for a few who traveled to Geneva at the Human Rights Council’s expense to testify.

Although the report raised serious accusations against Hamas, the Palestinian faction ruling Gaza, Israel and its supporters condemned it as anti-Israel, citing its lengthier and more detailed accounts of alleged Israeli human rights violations and its use of the terms “war crimes” and “possible crimes against humanity” to describe Israeli actions. Jerusalem was especially worried about the report’s recommendation to refer the issue to the International Criminal Court if Israel refused to launch an independent investigation of its own.

The report’s defenders countered that Israel’s complaint was a case of a child murdering his parents and then seeking special consideration as an orphan. The scantier scrutiny of Hamas’s misdeeds was hardly surprising, they argued, given Israel’s decision to deny the investigators access to the scene of Hamas’s crimes, or to its victims.

Israel’s drive to counter the report began moments after Goldstone’s presentation of it. Israeli leaders took to the airways and blasted the report as biased. They also made reference to an earlier document prepared by the Israeli foreign ministry, which counters some of the points made by Goldstone.

On the diplomatic front, Israeli officials in Washington, New York and Jerusalem pressed Israel’s key goal with their American counterparts: to quarantine the report within the confines of the council and ensure that it is not picked up by other international forums. Danny Ayalon, Israel’s deputy foreign minister, was on an official Washington visit and met with Susan Rice, American ambassador to the U.N., and raised the issue with her, as well.

The argument that Israel presented to American officials and to diplomats from Russia and key European countries was designed to appeal to their own self-interest. The Goldstone report, Israeli officials asserted, carries a hidden danger for all countries participating in international military campaigns against terrorism. Supporters of Israel pointed out that the United States military, for one, had killed many civilians during its military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“This is a report that should worry every country fighting terror,” said Jonathan Peled, spokesman of the Israeli Embassy in Washington. “We need to make sure this report does not endanger the U.S. and other countries.”

Ayalon urged American Jewish leaders to take on the report. Most major Jewish groups issued statements condemning Goldstone’s findings and calling on the international community to look at the Israeli military’s inquiry into its Gaza operation. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee called the report “deeply flawed” and said that Goldstone’s investigation was rigged.

Key supporters of Israel in Congress also lashed out at the council. New York Democrat Gary Ackerman, chair of the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, fumed that the report’s authors lived in a “self-righteous fantasyland.”

Some Israeli officials went after Goldstone. Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz denounced him as an “anti-Semite.”

“Just as a non-Jew can be anti-Semitic, a Jew can also be anti-Semitic and discriminate against our people and despise and hate our people,” he told the New York paper The Jewish Week.

Goldstone has a long history of support for Israel that includes his current service on the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s board of governors.

But despite mounting pressure from Israel and its supporters in the United States, the administration took its time in making a clear statement on the report. A State Department spokesman initially said that because of the report’s length, he had no immediate comment.

This made some pro-Israel activists edgy. Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said two days after the release of the findings that he was “shocked and distressed” that the United States had yet to come out unequivocally against the report.

But by September 18, three days after their release, the State Department was ready to declare Goldstone’s findings unfair toward Israel — citing the lack of equal scrutiny stressed by others. Notably, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly did not challenge any of the report’s specific findings of human rights violations by Israel or Hamas. “While the report makes overly sweeping conclusions of fact and law with respect to Israel, its conclusions regarding Hamas’s deplorable conduct and its failure to comply with international humanitarian law during the conflict are more general and tentative,” he said.

Kelly also made clear that the United States believes the only venue for discussing Goldstone’s report is only within the council. The administration has “very serious concerns” about the attempts to take up the issue at other international bodies, he said.

Goldstone’s report was published just as the United States began its term as a member of the Human Rights Council. Administration officials said the Goldstone report demonstrated the need for the United States to sit on the council and make sure Israel is treated fairly.

While condemnation in the council is unavoidable, after their consultations with the Americans, Israeli officials were confident that the United States would easily prevent the issue from being raised at the Security Council, even without using its veto power.

Still, Jewish groups and pro-Israel activists stressed that it remained important to fight the Goldstone report in the public arena to ensure that its findings are not adopted as world public opinion.(note this is where we bloggers come into this fight to keep the truth out there and being discussed!!)

That fear could only be reinforced by the assessment of international law expert Richard Falk, a Princeton University professor, strong critic of Israel and earlier UN appointee charged with investigating allegations of Israeli war crimes.

Falk cited the report’s likely impact on “the symbols of legitimacy, what I have called the legitimacy war” between Israel and the Palestinians.

“Increasingly,” he wrote on the website Mideast Online, “The Palestinians have been winning this second non-military war.”

Falk predicted the report would mean gains for the international movement to boycott Israel and fray Israel’s Jewish support, as well. “The weight of the report will be felt by world public opinion,” he predicted.
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