Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has endorsed the creation of a Palestinian state for the first time, saying such an entity would have to be demilitarized. In a key, televised address outlining his government's policy toward the Middle East peace process, Netanyahu said that Palestinians must recognize that Israel is the legitimate nation-state of the Jewish people "The heart of the (Middle East) conflict has always been the Arabs' refusal to accept the existence of the Jewish state," Netanyahu said. "The withdrawals that Israel has carried out in the past have not changed this reality." "The territory in Palestinian hands must be demilitarised -- in other words, without an army, without control of airspace and with effective security safeguards." "If we receive this ... demilitarisation and the security arrangements required by Israel, and if the Palestinians recognise Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people, we will be prepared for a true peace agreement, to reach a solution of a demilitarised Palestinian state alongside the Jewish state," he said.
In a key, televised address outlining his government's policy toward the Middle East peace process, Netanyahu said that Palestinians must recognize that Israel is the legitimate nation-state of the Jewish people
"The heart of the (Middle East) conflict has always been the Arabs' refusal to accept the existence of the Jewish state," Netanyahu said. "The withdrawals that Israel has carried out in the past have not changed this reality."
"The territory in Palestinian hands must be demilitarised -- in other words, without an army, without control of airspace and with effective security safeguards."
"If we receive this ... demilitarisation and the security arrangements required by Israel, and if the Palestinians recognise Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people, we will be prepared for a true peace agreement, to reach a solution of a demilitarised Palestinian state alongside the Jewish state," he said.
Hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for the creation of a demilitarised Palestinian state for the first time, in a speech on Sunday that Arab analysts said "torpedoes all peace initiatives in the region". The United States and the European Union have offered a cautious welcome to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's propositions for the creation of a demilitarised Palestinian state. Arab leaders and analysts, however, said Netanyahu's propositions were unacceptable, especially in the light of his refusal to back down on the issues of settlements, the insistance that Jerusalem be the unified capital of the Jewish state and that Palestinians must recognise the Jewish character of Israel, a condition Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has long rejected. The Palestinians recognised Israel as a state in 1993 as part of the Oslo accords but have refused to recognise it as "Jewish" because doing so would effectively mean giving up the right of return for Palestinian refugees, a key Palestinian demand since Israel was created in 1948.
The United States and the European Union have offered a cautious welcome to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's propositions for the creation of a demilitarised Palestinian state.
Arab leaders and analysts, however, said Netanyahu's propositions were unacceptable, especially in the light of his refusal to back down on the issues of settlements, the insistance that Jerusalem be the unified capital of the Jewish state and that Palestinians must recognise the Jewish character of Israel, a condition Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has long rejected.
The Palestinians recognised Israel as a state in 1993 as part of the Oslo accords but have refused to recognise it as "Jewish" because doing so would effectively mean giving up the right of return for Palestinian refugees, a key Palestinian demand since Israel was created in 1948.
The term was first used in the late 1940s, and was coined from 'Bantu' (meaning 'people' in the Bantu languages) and '-stan' (meaning 'land of' in the Persian, Urdu, and Armenian languages). It was regarded as a disparaging term by some critics of the apartheid-era government's 'homelands' (from Afrikaans tuisland). The word 'bantustan', today, is often used in a pejorative sense when describing a country or region that lacks any real legitimacy or power, consists of several unconnected enclaves, and/or emerges from national or international gerrymandering.
The word 'bantustan', today, is often used in a pejorative sense when describing a country or region that lacks any real legitimacy or power, consists of several unconnected enclaves, and/or emerges from national or international gerrymandering.
The former US president Jimmy Carter will visit Gaza for a rare meeting with senior Hamas officials following his criticism of a key speech by Israel's prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, on Sunday night.Carter, who has been in Israel and the occupied West Bank over the past week, will be one of the most senior western figures to meet the Hamas leadership in Gaza in recent years. He is expected to meet, among other Hamas officials, Ismail Haniyeh, the former Palestinian prime minister.Last month in Damascus he met Khaled Meshal, the head of the Hamas political bureau and the group's effective leader. Carter has been meeting Israeli officials and travelled to a Jewish settlement on the West Bank at the weekend as part of his private diplomatic efforts. His visits are not always welcomed by the Israeli government, which has been angered by his meetings in recent years with Hamas.
The former US president Jimmy Carter will visit Gaza for a rare meeting with senior Hamas officials following his criticism of a key speech by Israel's prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, on Sunday night.
Carter, who has been in Israel and the occupied West Bank over the past week, will be one of the most senior western figures to meet the Hamas leadership in Gaza in recent years. He is expected to meet, among other Hamas officials, Ismail Haniyeh, the former Palestinian prime minister.
Last month in Damascus he met Khaled Meshal, the head of the Hamas political bureau and the group's effective leader. Carter has been meeting Israeli officials and travelled to a Jewish settlement on the West Bank at the weekend as part of his private diplomatic efforts. His visits are not always welcomed by the Israeli government, which has been angered by his meetings in recent years with Hamas.
Thousands of Iranians took to the streets in Tehran to protest the results of Friday's presidential election. The opposition may abhor re-elected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei is also a target -- the result of a growing split in Iranian society. The success of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was never predicated on his authority as a religious scholar. There are a number of Shiite clerics who are superior to him in the pecking order. Charisma is also not a characteristic frequently associated with Iran's religious leader. Rather, Khamenei's power stems largely from his skills as a strategist. Since his election as the almost untouchable leader of the Islamic republic in 1989, Khamenei has proven remarkably adept at courting his political opponents, thereby avoiding open conflict. Few pursued consensus as arduously as Khamenei. In recent years, however, as this consensus has become more virtual than real, the position of Iran's leader has been eroded. Indeed, the current street battles are symptomatic of that erosion. Tears in the country's religious establishment have become ever more visible in Iran's recent past, the gap between the country's rich and poor has widened, and the chasm between the Western-oriented youth and the religious fanatics has deepened. Indeed, the current crisis could very well spell the beginning of the end for the Khamenei system.
Thousands of Iranians took to the streets in Tehran to protest the results of Friday's presidential election. The opposition may abhor re-elected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei is also a target -- the result of a growing split in Iranian society.
The success of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was never predicated on his authority as a religious scholar. There are a number of Shiite clerics who are superior to him in the pecking order. Charisma is also not a characteristic frequently associated with Iran's religious leader.
Rather, Khamenei's power stems largely from his skills as a strategist. Since his election as the almost untouchable leader of the Islamic republic in 1989, Khamenei has proven remarkably adept at courting his political opponents, thereby avoiding open conflict. Few pursued consensus as arduously as Khamenei.
In recent years, however, as this consensus has become more virtual than real, the position of Iran's leader has been eroded. Indeed, the current street battles are symptomatic of that erosion. Tears in the country's religious establishment have become ever more visible in Iran's recent past, the gap between the country's rich and poor has widened, and the chasm between the Western-oriented youth and the religious fanatics has deepened. Indeed, the current crisis could very well spell the beginning of the end for the Khamenei system.
Shots have been fired at a rally in Iran where hundreds of thousands of people were demonstrating against the result of last week's election.Unconfirmed reports said one protester was killed and several more were hurt when security forces opened fire. The crowd had been addressed by beaten candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, who believes the vote was fixed in favour of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Mr Ahmadinejad has dismissed the claims and says the vote was fair. The BBC's Jon Leyne, in Tehran, says Monday's rally was the biggest demonstration in the Islamic republic's 30-year history and described it as a "political earthquake".
Shots have been fired at a rally in Iran where hundreds of thousands of people were demonstrating against the result of last week's election.
Unconfirmed reports said one protester was killed and several more were hurt when security forces opened fire.
The crowd had been addressed by beaten candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, who believes the vote was fixed in favour of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Mr Ahmadinejad has dismissed the claims and says the vote was fair.
The BBC's Jon Leyne, in Tehran, says Monday's rally was the biggest demonstration in the Islamic republic's 30-year history and described it as a "political earthquake".
I cannot put my feeling into words. I can only express my sorrow for my country. The result is unbelievable. It is a blatant lie. And now we have this kid, this stupid child who claims that his re-election is a victory of the people. How can we withstand this man ruling us for four more years? Of course Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, our supreme leader, supported him in stealing this election. He is the "father" of this kid. I didn't want to vote on Thursday but this election was totally different from previous votes. And my city, Tehran, these last few weeks, felt like a different place. I know people, entire families, who had not participated in any elections since the revolution but this time our mood and our outlook was transformed.
I cannot put my feeling into words. I can only express my sorrow for my country. The result is unbelievable. It is a blatant lie. And now we have this kid, this stupid child who claims that his re-election is a victory of the people.
How can we withstand this man ruling us for four more years? Of course Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, our supreme leader, supported him in stealing this election. He is the "father" of this kid. I didn't want to vote on Thursday but this election was totally different from previous votes.
And my city, Tehran, these last few weeks, felt like a different place. I know people, entire families, who had not participated in any elections since the revolution but this time our mood and our outlook was transformed.
For excellent behind-the-scenes coverage, Laura Rozen's War and Piece is full of valuable insights and links.
While the streets of the Iranian capital Tehran are still filled with angry supporters of defeated presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi following Friday's election, it's a different story in other parts of Iran. An RNW correspondent in Isfahan, one of the biggest provincial cities, reports no signs of popular unrest.Tens of thousands of supporters of defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi gathered for a rally in downtown Tehran on Monday, defying an Interior Ministry ban. "The street is fully packed," a witness said, adding the crowd was waiting for Mousavi and other pro-reform leaders who back his call for the annulment of the official result of Friday's election, which showed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won by a huge majority. "Where are the 63 percent who voted for Ahmadinejad?" chanted the crowd, referring to his official election tally. "If Ahmadinejad remains president we will protest every day," they shouted. "We fight, we die, we will not accept this vote rigging," was another chant in the crowd. President Ahmadinejad and Interior Ministry officials have dismissed allegations that the vote was rigged. The president has called the election "free and healthy." In a press conference, he likened the street protests to the behaviour of football supporters after their team had lost an important match.
Tens of thousands of supporters of defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi gathered for a rally in downtown Tehran on Monday, defying an Interior Ministry ban. "The street is fully packed," a witness said, adding the crowd was waiting for Mousavi and other pro-reform leaders who back his call for the annulment of the official result of Friday's election, which showed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won by a huge majority. "Where are the 63 percent who voted for Ahmadinejad?" chanted the crowd, referring to his official election tally. "If Ahmadinejad remains president we will protest every day," they shouted. "We fight, we die, we will not accept this vote rigging," was another chant in the crowd. President Ahmadinejad and Interior Ministry officials have dismissed allegations that the vote was rigged. The president has called the election "free and healthy." In a press conference, he likened the street protests to the behaviour of football supporters after their team had lost an important match.
The election results in Iran may reflect the will of the Iranian people. Many experts are claiming that the margin of victory of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the result of fraud or manipulation, but our nationwide public opinion survey of Iranians three weeks before the vote showed Ahmadinejad leading by a more than 2 to 1 margin -- greater than his actual apparent margin of victory in Friday's election. While Western news reports from Tehran in the days leading up to the voting portrayed an Iranian public enthusiastic about Ahmadinejad's principal opponent, Mir Hossein Mousavi, our scientific sampling from across all 30 of Iran's provinces showed Ahmadinejad well ahead. Independent and uncensored nationwide surveys of Iran are rare. Typically, preelection polls there are either conducted or monitored by the government and are notoriously untrustworthy. By contrast, the poll undertaken by our nonprofit organizations from May 11 to May 20 was the third in a series over the past two years. Conducted by telephone from a neighboring country, field work was carried out in Farsi by a polling company whose work in the region for ABC News and the BBC has received an Emmy award. Our polling was funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
While Western news reports from Tehran in the days leading up to the voting portrayed an Iranian public enthusiastic about Ahmadinejad's principal opponent, Mir Hossein Mousavi, our scientific sampling from across all 30 of Iran's provinces showed Ahmadinejad well ahead.
Independent and uncensored nationwide surveys of Iran are rare. Typically, preelection polls there are either conducted or monitored by the government and are notoriously untrustworthy. By contrast, the poll undertaken by our nonprofit organizations from May 11 to May 20 was the third in a series over the past two years. Conducted by telephone from a neighboring country, field work was carried out in Farsi by a polling company whose work in the region for ABC News and the BBC has received an Emmy award. Our polling was funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
The other crucial fact is that the survey was done on May 11-20 and the election was on June 12. When they started the survey, former president Khatami was a candidate. He withdrew on May 17 in favor of Mir Hossein Musavi, who had just announced his candidacy. So during most of the period of the phone survey, Mousavi was not even a declared candidate. His "green wave," that inspired so much excitement among Iranian voters had not even been invented.
So during most of the period of the phone survey, Mousavi was not even a declared candidate. His "green wave," that inspired so much excitement among Iranian voters had not even been invented.
At least seven foreign hostages seized in Yemen, including at least one child, have been found dead, officials say.They are thought to be from a group of nine foreigners, three of them children, who were kidnapped last week in a mountainous northern area. The group comprised seven Germans, a British national and a South Korean. One report says all nine hostages have been killed - but the deaths have not been confirmed by officials in Berlin, London and Seoul.
At least seven foreign hostages seized in Yemen, including at least one child, have been found dead, officials say.
They are thought to be from a group of nine foreigners, three of them children, who were kidnapped last week in a mountainous northern area.
The group comprised seven Germans, a British national and a South Korean.
One report says all nine hostages have been killed - but the deaths have not been confirmed by officials in Berlin, London and Seoul.
...For the first time, in that crowd, it seemed to me that the forces of change, the deeper Iran of civility and courage that I first encountered several months ago, might prevail. Seldom has silence been more eloquent or potent.
Exceptional Op-Ed in the NY Times today.
Obama's discourse is addressed to 'Islam', as if an idea, a concept, a belief, could hear him. As if these were not necessarily mediated by the people who hold these views, ideas, concepts or beliefs. As Soheib Bencheikh, former Great Mufti of Marseilles now director of the Institute of High Islamic Studies in Marseilles, used to say: 'I have never seen a Qur'an walking in the street.' ... here is the place for secularists in Obama's discourse? For their democratic right to vote laws rather than be imposed laws in the name of God? For their human right to believe or not to believe, to practice or not to practice? They simply do not exist. They are ignored. They are made invisible. They are made 'Muslims'. Not just by our oppressive undemocratic governments - by Obama too. And when he talks of his own fellow citizens, these '7 million American Muslims', did he ask them what their faith was, or is he assuming faith on geographical origin? In this religious straight jacket, women's rights are limited to their right to education - and Obama distances himself from arrogant westerners by making it clear that women's covering is not seen by him as an obstacle to their emancipation. Especially, if it is 'their choice'. Meanwhile, Iran is next door, with its morality police that jails women whose hair slips out of the said-covering in the name of religious laws. And what about Afghanistan or Algeria where women were abducted, tortured, raped, mutilated, burnt alive, killed for not covering?[3]
here is the place for secularists in Obama's discourse? For their democratic right to vote laws rather than be imposed laws in the name of God? For their human right to believe or not to believe, to practice or not to practice? They simply do not exist. They are ignored. They are made invisible. They are made 'Muslims'. Not just by our oppressive undemocratic governments - by Obama too. And when he talks of his own fellow citizens, these '7 million American Muslims', did he ask them what their faith was, or is he assuming faith on geographical origin?
In this religious straight jacket, women's rights are limited to their right to education - and Obama distances himself from arrogant westerners by making it clear that women's covering is not seen by him as an obstacle to their emancipation. Especially, if it is 'their choice'. Meanwhile, Iran is next door, with its morality police that jails women whose hair slips out of the said-covering in the name of religious laws. And what about Afghanistan or Algeria where women were abducted, tortured, raped, mutilated, burnt alive, killed for not covering?[3]
* It is not just a matter of feeling blue, "Q&A with Barack Obama," Relevant Magazine, 7 July 2008: scrubbed
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My only point is this -- historically I have been a strong believer in a women's right to choose . . . I have consistently been saying that you have to have a health exception on many significant restrictions or bans on abortions, including late-term abortions . . . It can be defined through physical health. It can be defined by serious clinical mental health diseases. It is not just a matter of feeling blue. I don't think that's how pro-choice folks have interpreted it. I don't think that's how the courts have interpreted it and I think that's important to emphasize and understand.
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I think it's entirely appropriate for states to restrict or even prohibit late-term abortions as long as there is a strict, well-defined exception for the health of the mother. Now, I don't think that "mental distress" qualifies as the health of the mother. I think it has to be a serious physical issue that arises in pregnancy, where there are real, significant problems to the mother carrying that child to term. Otherwise, as long as there is such a medical exception in place, I think we can prohibit late-term abortions. ... I think we know that abortions rise when unwanted pregnancies rise. So, if we are continuing what has been a promising trend in the reduction of teen pregnancies, through education and abstinence education giving good information to teenagers. That is important--emphasizing the sacredness of sexual behavior to our children. I think that's something that we can encourage. I think encouraging adoptions in a significant way.
Why I grind my teeth in my sleep. Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
In the past Ghana has enjoyed a strong relationship with the US ever since the first American Peace Corps volunteers came to Ghana in 1961, the same year that President John F. Kennedy created the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to assist the developing world (aside from a blip in the mid-1980s during the Soussoudis spy affair). Indeed, the setting up of the US Department of State's Bureau of African Affairs in 1958 was largely informed by Ghana becoming the first black African nation to gain independence the previous year. But for the next three decades, Africa was little more than a geo-political lebensraum for proxy campaigns of the Cold War. It was not until March 1978 that sub-Saharan Africa witnessed its first ever state visit by an American president, Jimmy Carter, who first met President Olusegun Obasanjo in Lagos, Nigeria, and then President William Tolbert in Monrovia, Liberia, a country the United States established diplomatic relations with 147 years ago for obvious reasons. ... Top on the list is the United States' military and energy security agenda. Before the 9/11 bombing in 2001, conventional thinking in Washington perceived no vital strategic interests for the US in sub-Saharan Africa. But this has changed. Today we can see a significant shift away from America's traditional geopolitical calculations regarding oil production and supply. The US's National Intelligence Council (NIC) estimates that by 2015, 25 per cent of American oil imports will come from West Africa, compared to 16 per cent today - an estimate even considered as too conservative in some quarters. Already West Africa supplies as much oil to the US as Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, our oil is light and sweet, making it easier and cheaper to refine than Persian oil. Plus its offshore location reduces transportation costs and minimises risk of political violence and terrorist attacks. ... The United States, in typical Dick Cheney oilthink, sees the Gulf of Guinea as offering the opportunity to break with the old politics which saw the US at the mercy of the geostrategic pressure of unstable or unfriendly oil-producing states in the `old' Gulf (Persian Gulf) and Venezuela.
Top on the list is the United States' military and energy security agenda. Before the 9/11 bombing in 2001, conventional thinking in Washington perceived no vital strategic interests for the US in sub-Saharan Africa. But this has changed. Today we can see a significant shift away from America's traditional geopolitical calculations regarding oil production and supply. The US's National Intelligence Council (NIC) estimates that by 2015, 25 per cent of American oil imports will come from West Africa, compared to 16 per cent today - an estimate even considered as too conservative in some quarters. Already West Africa supplies as much oil to the US as Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, our oil is light and sweet, making it easier and cheaper to refine than Persian oil. Plus its offshore location reduces transportation costs and minimises risk of political violence and terrorist attacks. ...
The United States, in typical Dick Cheney oilthink, sees the Gulf of Guinea as offering the opportunity to break with the old politics which saw the US at the mercy of the geostrategic pressure of unstable or unfriendly oil-producing states in the `old' Gulf (Persian Gulf) and Venezuela.
Why I grind my teeth when I sleep. Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
