Tag Archives: West Bank

March 25, 2013 · 12:05 AM

Pete Souza Photos: President Obama’s Trip To The Middle East

Obama facilitates reconciliation between Israel and Turkey

The consensus with media types and most politicians is that President Obama was the consummate Commander-in-Chief during his trip to Isreal and neighboring countries…

The Obama Diary

President Barack Obama and Dr. Suleiman A.D. Al Farajat, a University of Jordan tourism professor, jump from a ledge of the Nabataean Amphitheater during a walking tour the ancient city of Petra in Jordan, March 23

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President Barack Obama shakes hands during a meet and greet at the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, March 21

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President Barack Obama meets National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, left, and Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications, in the conference room aboard Air Force One en route to Tel Aviv, Israel, March 20

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President Barack Obama greets members of Hora, a local children’s dance troupe, before departing Israeli President Shimon Peres’ residence in Jerusalem, March 20

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President Barack Obama watch a dance performance at the Al-Bireh Youth Resource Development Center in Ramallah, the West Bank, March 21, 2013. Dr. Samih Al-Abed, Chairman of the Board, Al-Bireh Youth Resource Development Center, left, and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad of the Palestinian Authority are seated with the President

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President Barack Obama visits the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, March 22, 2013. Standing with the President, from left, are: Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau; Israeli President Shimon Peres; Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu; and Avner Shalev, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate

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President Barack Obama and President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority enter the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the West Bank, March 22

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President Barack Obama watches as a vendor writes a name using colored sand in a bottle during a walking tour of the ancient city of Petra in Jordan, March 23

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King Abdullah II of Jordan waves to President Barack Obama as he boards Air Force One at Queen Alia International Airport in Amman, Jordan, March 23

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All photos by Pete Souza – more here

All posts/photos/videos from the Middle East trip here

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March 21, 2013 · 8:50 PM

Obama Does It Again – Speech Humanizes Palestinians To The Cheers Of Israelis (VIDEO)

I watched the president’s speeches in the Middle East and I agree that the one he made in front of the young people of Isreal was the best…

Addicting Info

President Obama gave a very good speech in Israel today. Within the speech he provided both words of support, words of adulation, words of criticism, but mostly words of encouragement.

All issues in the Middle East effectively have a religious component. It is for this reason early in his speech he illustrated the commonality of the major religions in the area.

For the Jewish people, this story is central to who you have become. But it is also a story that holds within it the universal human experience, with all of its suffering and salvation. It is a part of the three great religions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – that trace their origins to Abraham, and see Jerusalem as sacred. And it is a story that has inspired communities around the globe, including me and my fellow Americans.

He then went on to praise the many accomplishments of the Israelis, from the taming of the desert through kibbutzeem (ironically a form of agrarian socialism), to the establishment of a “democracy”, to its high tech industries, and much more. He implied America’s similarity in that America is a land built on immigrants. Israel is built on immigrants from Europe, Russia, Ethiopia, North Africa, and many other countries. The similarity is one that should have been excluded from the speech given that said immigration is based mostly on religious homogeneity.

The basic focus of his speech was on three tenets, security, peace, and prosperity. He seemed to use it effectively to also promote Israeli empathy for Palestinians, if one is to go by the cheers in the room and the reviews given by both Prime Minister Netanyahu and others.

The president did however take a swipe at Netanyahu’s government when he said in one of the most touching portions of his speech that likely spoke to the emotions of every mother or father, irrespective of nationality the following.

Put yourself in their shoes – look at the world through their eyes. It is not fair that a Palestinian child cannot grow up in a state of her own, and lives with the presence of a foreign army that controls the movements of her parents every single day. It is not just when settler violence against Palestinians goes unpunished.  It is not right to prevent Palestinians from farming their lands; to restrict a student’s ability to move around the West Bank; or to displace Palestinian families from their home. Neither occupation nor expulsion is the answer. Just as Israelis built a state in their homeland, Palestinians have a right to be a free people in their own land.

He then went off script with the following.

I am going off script here for a second but; before I came here I met with a group of young Palestinians from the age of fifteen to the age of twenty two. Talking to them, they weren’t all that different from my daughters, they weren’t all that different from your daughters or sons. I honestly believe that if any Israeli parent sat down with those kids, they’d say I want those kids to succeed. I want them to prosper. I want them to have opportunities just like my kids do. I believe that’s what Israeli parents would want for these kids if they had a chance to listen to them and talk to them.

It was the President encouraging, given permission to Israelis to have empathy by stating what should be obvious; the humanity of all.

All in all most of the speech contained issues we all hear in the American Israeli dialogue and mutual support conversations.

The president had a message to the Israelis and Palestinians but one that should resonate at home.

“And let me say this as a politician. Political leaders will never take risks if the people do not push them to take some risks. You must create the change you want to see. Ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary things. I know this is possible.”

Americans should take heed. Inasmuch as there are problems in the Middle East those needs taking care of, the American wealth and income disparity could cause degeneration in our society that creates our own conflict, not between Israelis and Palestinians but between the haves and the have-nots.

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March 18, 2013 · 9:25 AM

Obama Seeks to Repair Israeli Relations

In spite of the poll mentioned at the end of this article, I truly hope for a constructive dialogue that would start the “peace process” again…

Political Wire

As he embarks this week on his first presidential trip to Israel, President Obama “will seek to clarify his support for the Jewish state’s theory of its historical roots — addressing one of several subtle, but essential, missteps he is attempting to fix in his second term. The trip is a mission of remedial diplomacy, rather than the kind of specific peace initiative common for previous presidential visits,” the Washington Post reports.

“Obama will also travel to the West Bank city of Ramallah during his four-day trip for air-clearing meetings with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and other leaders, who are deeply disappointed by Obama and his staunch opposition to their diplomatic push for statehood through the United Nations.”

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds Americans by a wide margin sympathize more with Israel than the Palestinian Authority when it comes to thorny Middle East politics, 55^ to 9%.

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February 6, 2013 · 3:07 AM

Blog Roundup – February 6, 2013

10 Things to Know for Wednesday
Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be t..

GOP’s “makeover” is purely cosmetic
Eric Cantor is set to give a big speech today offering a new direction for the Republ..

President Obama to visit Israel this spring
President Obama will visit Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan this spring, the White H..

White House to honor slain Newtown educators
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Presidential medals will be awarded posthumously to the six p..

The Most Important Chart in American Politics
The Most Important Chart in American Politics

Pentagon expected to expand benefits to same-sex spouses
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is expected to announce this week that same-sex spo..

Faced with actual facts on climate change, Fox guest makes stuff up (v..
Ahhh, Fox News being Fox News. It’s difficult to imagine that viewers aren’t tiring ..

10 Myths Conservative Media Will Use Against Immigration Reform
As congressional leaders debate a framework for comprehensive immigration reform tha..

Solomon Islands Earthquake: 8.0 Magnitude Tremor Generates Tsunami
An 8.0 magnitude earthquake off the Solomon Islands generated a small tsunami on Wed..

CIA Drone Base In Saudi Arabia: Location Disclosed By The New York Tim..
WASHINGTON — The CIA conducts lethal drone strikes against al-Qaida militants insid..

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December 23, 2012 · 1:00 PM

Enough!

Sullivan’s admonition to the GOP is simply put…on point.  You’ll agree when you read it.

Andrew Sullivan

Between the humiliating and chaotic collapse of Speaker Boehner’s already ludicrously extreme Plan B and Wayne La Pierre’s deranged proposal to put government agents in schools with guns, the Republican slide into total epistemic closure and political marginalization has now become a free-fall. This party, not to mince words, is unfit for government. There is no conservative party in the West – except for minor anti-immigrant neo-fascist ones in Europe – anywhere close to this level of far right extremism. And now the damage these fanatics can do is not just to their own country – was the debt ceiling debacle of 2011 not enough for them? – but to the entire world.

Those of us who have warned for years about this disturbing trend toward ever more extreme measures – backing torture, pre-emptive un-budgeted wars, out-of-control spending followed, like a frantic mood swing, by anti-spending absolutism of the most insane variety in a steep recession, vicious hostility to illegal immigrants, contempt for gay couples, hostility even to contraception, let alone a middle ground on abortion … well, you know it all by now.

But the current constitutional and economic vandalism removes any shred of doubt that this party and its lucrative media bubble is in any way conservative. They aren’t. They’re ideological zealots, indifferent to the consequences of their actions, contemptuous of the very to-and-fro essential for the American system to work, gerry-mandering to thwart the popular will, filibustering in a way that all but wrecks the core mechanics of American democracy, and now willing to acquiesce to the biggest tax increase imaginable because they cannot even accept Obama’s compromise from his clear campaign promise to raise rates for those earning over $250,000 to $400,000 a year.

And this is not the exception. It is the rule. On abortion, the party proposes that it be made illegal in every state by amending the Constitution. Torture? More, please. Iran? It should be attacked if it merely develops the technological skill to make a nuclear bomb, let alone actually make one. Israel? Leading Republicans don’t just support new settlements on the West Bank. They show up for the opening ceremonies!

Gun control? A massacre of children leads to a proposal for more guns in elementary schools and no concession on assault weapons. Immigration? Romney represented the party base – favoring a brutal regime of persecution of illegal immigrants until they are forced to “self-deport” – or rounding as many up as they can. Climate change? It’s a hoax – and we should respond by shrieking “Drill, Baby, Drill!” Gay marriage? The federal constitution should be amended to bar any legal recognition of any gay relationships, including civil partnerships. Their legislative agenda in this Congress? To “make Obama a one-term president.” Not saving the economy, not pursuing new policies, not cooperating to make Democratic legislation better. Just destroying a president of the opposite party. And, of course, failing.

Then there is the rhetoric. In just the last fortnight, House Republicans have asserted that secretary of state Clinton faked her recent fall and concussion at home in order to get out of testifying on the Benghazi consulate attack. And then the Weekly Standard quotes a Senate Republican staffer saying: “Send us Hagel and we will make sure every American knows he is an anti-Semite.”

Enough. This faction and its unhinged fanaticism has no place in any advanced democracy. They must be broken. But the current irony is that no one has managed to expose their extremism more clearly than their own Speaker. His career is over. As is the current Republican party. We need a new governing coalition in the House – Democrats and those few sane Republicans willing to put country before ideology. But even that may be impossible.

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December 7, 2010 · 4:00 AM

In Climate Solidarity, Palestinian Firefighters Help Israelis Fight Wildfire

After all, we’re dealing with a humanitarian issue which knows no borders.

Think Progress

In a demonstration of solidarity in the climate crisis, Palestinian firefighters were some of the first to help Israel fight the unprecedented wildfires in the divided nation. The fires are caused by record heat and drought, a predicted consequence of the long-term climate change in the region spurred by fossil fuel pollution. A team of 21 Palestinian firefighters from the Bethlehem civil defense team left the southern West Bank in four fire engines at 4 am Sunday, and “were received respectfully” by Israeli teams, Bethlehem Civil Defense Chief Ibrahim Ayish told the Jerusalem Post:

After all, we’re dealing with a humanitarian issue which knows no borders.

The solidarity shown by the Palestinians, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, the United States, and others who have come to Israel’s aid in the face of climate disasters is precisely what is needed among the political and corporate leaders who have gathered in Cancun to make progress ending the pollution that is boiling our entire planet.

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December 2, 2010 · 2:43 AM

HAPPY HANUKKAH – HAMAS AND ISRAEL TRADE HANUKKAH GIFTS

To all of my Jewish friends: 

Now is the time to cherish vivid light, radiant freedom, glowing peace, bright friends and warm family.

Wishing you a brilliant Hanukkah.

Huffington Post

As Israeli Jews were preparing to light their first Hanukkah candle, the Prime Minister of Gaza, Ismael Haniyeh, told a press conference: “We accept a Palestinian state on the borders of 1967, with Jerusalem as its capital, the release of Palestinian prisoners, and the resolution of the issue of refugees.”

Speaking for his Hamas party, he added that if a referendum of all Palestinians — in Gaza, the West Bank and the diaspora — agreed to a peace deal with Israel, “Hamas will respect the results, regardless of whether it differs with [Hamas] ideology and principles.” Haniyeh also said that “a priority of his government was to avoid a military escalation with Israel by persuading other militant factions to preserve a de facto ceasefire.”

Was it just coincidence that Haniyeh, who rarely holds press conferences, chose the eve of Hanukkah to repeat what Hamas political chief Khaled Meshal has already said several times? Perhaps Haniyeh has studied history and knows that the common story of Hannukah – brave Jewish warriors, led by the Maccabees, defeating a foreign tyrant — is a vast oversimplification. Perhaps he knows that the Jews of the Maccabeean era were caught up in a bitter cultural civil war, one that is mirrored in the Israeli Jewish cultural split today.

Continue reading here…

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