Illegal Israeli settlers shoot Palestinians right in front of 'idle' Israeli troops

File photo shows an armed Jewish settler in the occupied West Bank 

with Israeli soldiers. Photo credit: Press TV 

Jewish settlers shoot Palestinians as Israeli soldiers stand idle
Press TV
May 21, 2012

In the latest scandal involving the Israeli military, soldiers stand by and refuse to intervene as extremist Jewish settlers open fire on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

A video clip released by the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem shows armed settlers from Yitzhar settlements, near Nablus, attacked the nearby village of Asira al-Qibliya over the weekend and threw rocks at Palestinian homes, sparking clashes in the area.







The footage also shows the settlers, who were armed with two M-16 assault rifles and a pistol, shooting Palestinians in the presence of at least three soldiers. The Israeli soldiers only watched the violence and did nothing to stop the settlers. One soldier is also seen running away from the unrest.

A 24-year-old Palestinian man was injured in the shooting and five others were wounded by settlers who were throwing stones.

B'Tselem has filed a complaint with the police, urging an investigation into the incident, saying that the soldiers "did not adhere to their obligation to protect Palestinians from settler violence."

It has also called for the prosecution of the settlers involved in the violence.

Rights groups have repeatedly accused Israeli troops of refusing to protect Palestinians against the Jewish settlers. Former West Bank Division Commander Brigadier General Nitzan Alon has also said that Israeli soldiers have not been working enough to stop settler attacks on Palestinians.

Israeli settlers, mostly armed, regularly attack Palestinian villages and farms and set fire to their mosques, olive groves and other properties in the occupied West Bank in what they believe to be the "price tag" for every outpost or West Bank settlement that is demolished.

Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal under the international law.

HM/JR/AZ



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The REAL obstacle to peace in Palestine and Israel

Ehud Olmert: Right-wing Americans thwarted Israeli-Palestinian peace accord
In interview with CNN, former Prime Minister says time for a two-state solution is running out.

HAARETZ
May 5, 2012

Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert speaking at a 

conference in New York, April 29, 2012.

Photo by: Mark Israel Salem

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert tells CNN that right-wing extremists from the United States toppled his government with “millions and millions of dollars” in order to thwart his attempt to reach a lasting peace agreement with the Palestinians.

In the interview Olmert gave CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that aired on Friday, Olmert said that his peace plan was supported by a majority of Israelis and that it could have been, and still can be, implemented were it not for “superior powers” in the U.S. which he would not name.

Olmert told Amanpour that he was working toward a peace agreement in 2008, knowing that this would mean handing over East Jerusalem to the Palestinians. “But I had to fight against superior powers, including millions and millions of dollars that were transferred from this country (the U.S.) by figures which were from the extreme right wing, that were aimed to topple me as Prime Minister of Israel. There is no question about it.”

Amanpour asked Olmert if there is still time for a two-state solution “There is time,” Olmert answered, “but time is running out.”

Olmert acknowledged that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas never said yes to his 2008 proposal, but also insists that “he never said no.”

“So why not reintroduce this plan again,” asked Olmert, “and present the challenge to the Palestinians?”

Olmert criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s dealings with the Palestinians, saying, “The fact is that we don’t negotiate with the Palestinians, and the fact is that we have not proposed anything.”

When asked if Netanyahu will seek such a peace, Olmert said, “I certainly pray that he will,” adding “I doubt that he will.”

"Peace is important for Israel,” insisted Olmert. “We want peace. We need peace. We want to separate from the Palestinians. We don’t want to control the life of the Palestinians. We want them to have their own separate state.”

The first part of the former prime minister's CNN interview was released on Monday, in which he said Israel could take part in a possible military strike on Iran, but should not lead it.

The Obama Administration obstructing justice in Israeli-occupied Palestine on Human-Rights Commission probe into illegal settlements...`aint that a surprise

U.S. pressing UN Human Rights Commissioner to put off West Bank settlements probe
Israeli Foreign Ministry officials believe the aim of Obama administration pressure is to postpone the probe until at least after the presidential elections in November.

By Barak Ravid
Haaretz
May 2, 2012

The Obama administration is trying to delay the establishment of a panel appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate the issue of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

U.S. Middle East envoy David Hale met in Bern last week with UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay and asked her not to advance the matter in the near future.

An Israeli settlement near the West Bank city of Nablus. 

Photo credit: AP

According to the text of the decision to establish the panel, it is meant "to investigate the implications of the Israeli settlements on the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Palestinian people throughout the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem." However, the UN Human Rights Commissioner has yet to formulate a clear mandate for the panel and has not appointed a chairman or members.

For all the latest updates follow Haaretz on Facebook and Tumblr

Foreign Ministry officials noted that the U.S. wants to postpone the establishment of the panel to the latest possible date, hoping this will lead to the unofficial burial of the matter. However, the assessment is that it will not be possible to prevent the establishment of the panel, so the aim is therefore to delay it until at least after the U.S. presidential elections in November.

On March 30, a week after the decision by the UN Human Rights Council, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon traveled secretly to Washington to meet with his U.S. counterpart Bill Burns. Ayalon asked for help in thwarting the establishment of the panel and even suggested that the U.S. publicly threaten to quit the UN Human Rights Council if the panel is established.

The Americans did not respond to that threat, as they view membership in the UN Human Rights Council as a central issue in the foreign policy of the Obama administration. However, the Americans agreed to pressure the UN Human Rights Commissioner on the date of the establishment of the panel and the mandate that it will receive.

Following the UN Human Rights Council's decision to establish the panel to investigate the settlements, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman decided to halt cooperation with the UN Human Rights Commissioner and her staff and to boycott the proceedings of the UN Human Rights Council.

A Foreign Ministry official told Haaretz that one of the people who tried to change Lieberman's mind from taking that step was none other than Israel's ambassador to UN institutions in Geneva, Roni Leshno-Yaar.

Leshno-Yaar came to Israel several weeks ago for policy consultations, met personally with Lieberman, and tried to convince him to go back on the decision. Leshno-Yaar said that the damage of the decision would outweigh the benefits.

Lieberman listened to Leshno-Yaar, but did not accept his view. Leshno-Yaar returned to Geneva and received written instructions to cut all ties with the UN Human Rights Commissioner and to not appear at UN Human Rights Council discussions. Consequently, much of the work of Israel's envoy to UN institutions in Geneva was frozen in place.

Incidentally, Leshno-Yaar will finish his role in Geneva in a few months and return to Israel to serve at the Foreign Ministry headquarters in Jerusalem as the deputy director-general of ties between Israel and the UN.

ICC hypocrisy continues...‘Not a country’: ICC blocks Palestine war crimes probe

RT News
April 4, 2012, 15:25

(AFP Photo / Abbas Momani)

The ICC has refused Palestine’s bid for an investigation into the Israeli military offensive on the Gaza strip on the basis that Palestine is not a recognized state. Human rights groups have strongly criticized the move, while Israel has praised it.

A prosecutor from the International Criminal Court said the investigation would get the go ahead only if the UN or its Security Council recognizes Palestine as a state.

“I need Palestine recognized as a state because I am not the prosecutor of the world; I am the prosecutor of the countries who accept my jurisdiction. I need a country accepting me and then I investigate the crimes,” Luis Moreno-Ocampo told Al Arabiya on Monday.

Israel welcomed the announcement, the Israeli Foreign Minister saying in a statement that "Israel made it clear in the first place that the ICC has no jurisdiction in this matter."

The Israeli military incursion into Gaza began in winter of 2008, when their forces entered Gaza with the aim of stopping rocket fire into Israel. Palestinian forces continued with their rocket bombardment in return for what they described as Israeli “massacres”.

The war came to an end in January 2009 when Israel declared a ceasefire, Hamas followed suit 12 hours afterwards.

The conflict is estimated to have claimed between 1,166 and 1,417 Palestinian lives.
Rights groups rounded on the decision, a spokesperson from Amnesty International branding the move as “dangerous” and “inconsistent with the independence of the ICC.”

“It also breaches the Rome Statute, which clearly states that such matters should be considered by the institution’s judges,” said Marek Marczyñski, head of Amnesty International’s International Justice Campaign on Tuesday.

The Rome Statute is the ICC’s founding treaty and allows states not party to the statute to accept the Court’s jurisdiction.

In 2009 the Palestinian Authority officially accepted the purview of the International Court, but the country’s lack of recognition as a state still remains the stumbling block impeding the investigation.

Israel is not subject to the Rome Statute and consequently denies the ICC’s has any jurisdiction in Gaza.

Over 130 governments have supported Palestine’s status as an independent state, but the General Assembly still classifies the Palestine Liberation Organization as an observer state, as opposed to a non-member state.

The nation filed for UN membership last September, but the Security Council has yet to reach a decision as to whether it will welcome Palestine as a member state.

The lack of clarity concerning Palestine’s international status that is making it difficult for it do ask for legal action from institutions such as the ICC, says Jeff Halper, co-founder and executive director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.

“The Palestinians exist in a kind of a limbo. Because they’re not a state, they don’t have access to all the instruments of international law, or of the UN system. But at the same time, international law that does apply to the occupied territories is intended to protect them. Especially the 4th Geneva Convention is not enforced by the international community.”

Halper also told RT that this ambiguity is almost a catch-22 for the Palestinians, as they are left relying on the very people they believe oppress them to protect them.

“So on the one hand, they don’t have the instruments to protect themselves, and on the other hand the international community doesn’t accept its responsibility to afford protection for the Palestinians. It’s the hugest problem we have in international law and human rights – the instruments of law exist, the courts exist, the institutions exist. But the ability to implement international law on governments like Israel is completely missing,” Halper said.

ICC hypocrisy: Refuses Palestinian demands to investigate war crimes and why? - says Palestine 'not a state'

ICC won't investigate Gaza war because Palestine is 'not a state'

Maan News Agency

April 3, 2012

RSA note: The farce and kangaroo ICC (International Criminal Court) will attempt to hear alleged war crimes committed by the Gaddafi regime by yet unknown documents and sources but refuses vehemently to hear well-documented Israeli war crime abuses on the Palestinians. Its funny to also note, even though America won`t hesitate a single second to pull someone straight to the ICC to be prosecuted - yet America still refuses to recognize the ICC for fear of American being indited on war crimes charges.

A family rushes from the scene of an Israeli missile strike 

on a building in theRafah refugee camp, southern 

Gaza Strip, Dec. 28, 2008.

(MaanImages/Hatem Omar)

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The International Criminal Court will not investigate Israel's conduct during its December 2008 offensive on Gaza because Palestine is not a state, the world prosecutor said Tuesday.

In a statement, the ICC prosecutor acknowledged that over 130 countries and some UN bodies recognize Palestine as a state.

But, Palestine still holds observer status in the UN, and so the ICC cannot at this time investigate allegations of war crimes committed on Palestinian territory, the prosecutor said.

President Mahmoud Abbas applied for full UN membership in September at the UN Security Council. The US vowed to use its veto to block the bid and the council has not yet made any recommendation to admit Palestine.

The ICC said it could in the future consider allegations of crimes committed in Palestine if the Security Council determines that Palestine is a state.

Israel 'worked quietly' against bid

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Tuesday that diplomats had worked against the Palestinian request for an ICC investigation into Operation Cast Lead, Israel's 3-week offensive on the Gaza Strip that left nearly 1,400 Palestinians dead, including 300 children.

Commenting on the ICC's rejection of the bid for a tribunal, Lieberman said: "Not many understand how much work has been put into this issue," the Israeli news site Ynet reported.

"We have kept it out of the media," Lieberman said. "The Foreign Minister worked very professionally, discreetly and quietly."

ICC 'open to accusations of political bias'

Amnesty International said the ICC's decision meant victims of Israel's war on Gaza were likely to be denied justice. The prosecutor's decision opened the ICC to accusations of political bias, it added.

The rights group said ICC judges should decide on the court's jurisdiction. It said the prosecutor had "dodged the question," after considering it for three years.

"For the past three years, the prosecutor has been considering the question of whether the Palestinian Authority is a "state" that comes under the jurisdiction of the ICC and whether the ICC can investigate crimes committed during the 2008-9 conflict in Gaza and southern Israel," said Marek Marczynski, head of Amnesty International’s International Justice campaign.

"Now, despite Amnesty International’s calls and a very clear requirement in the ICC’s statute that the judges should decide on such matters, the Prosecutor has erroneously dodged the question, passing it to other political bodies," he added.

Most of the 1,400 Palestinians killed in Operation Cast Lead were civilians.

According to UN figures, Israel's military destroyed over 3,500 residential homes and made 20,000 people homeless during the 22-day assault.

A UN fact-finding mission tasked with investigating allegations of war crimes found that Israel committed "grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention in respect of willful killings and willfully causing great suffering to protected persons."

The Apartheid Israeli regime threatens to demolish German-funded solar power farm in the West Bank

A Little Power to Some Palestinian People, For Now
By Jillian Kestler-D’Amours
IPS

SHE’B EL-BUTTUM, WEST BANK, Mar 30, 2012 (IPS) - A handful of makeshift homes built from small boulders and plastic tarps and secured with thick ropes sit in the isolated community of She’b El- Buttum in the South Hebron Hills. A few metres away, several rows of solar panels and two wind turbines are affixed to the rocky hilltop, providing electricity to the village’s 150 residents.

The energy project in the South Hebron hills.

Credit: Jillian Kestler-D'Amours/IPS.

"We use the electricity for the milking machine, for the washing machine, the fridge, and for getting light when night falls," says Ismail Al-Jabarin, a 43-year-old She’b El-Buttum resident. "Before getting access to electricity, we lived on a generator that functioned two hours a day only, and had frequent problems. It is much, much better with electricity."

..."If the military forces come and destroy the electricity, our life will turn miserable again," Al-Jabarin tells IPS. "Our life is much more comfortable with electricity. Life without electricity is deplorable and very difficult."

...The systems were installed by Israeli group Community Electricity and Technology Middle East (COMET-ME), and funded in large part by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

...Currently, COMET-ME’s solar panel and wind turbine installations provide electricity to more than 1,500 people in 19 communities throughout the South Mount Hebron area, which counts a total Palestinian population of approximately 8,000.

...Still, should the demolitions go ahead, at least 500 Palestinians in the South Hebron Hills would be left in the dark.

..."Israel goes around the world to help (people) – when there are earthquakes, tsunamis, whatever – but in their own backyard, when they have under-developed communities that they are obliged to protect, they not only don’t do that but they demolish projects made to support the people."

(click here to read the full article)

Helen Thomas: Who lost her job for speaking the truth on Israel and the Jews

White House reporter who quit after anti-Semitic comment honored by Abbas
After a long silence following her infamous ‘Jews should go back to Germany’ comment, Helen Thomas receives a medal from PA President Mahmoud Abbas in Washington.


Haaretz
April 2, 2012

...Three months ago, Thomas, aged 91, granted an interview to CNN, her first after a long period of silence following the events that caused the embarrassing end to her career. She did not repeat her previous comments, though she blamed the Zionist lobby in Washington for distorting her comments.

“Everything is distorted, but I don’t care,” said Thomas. “You have organized lobbyists in favor of Israel. You can’t open your mouth. I can call the president of the U.S. anything in the book, but you say one thing about Israel and you’re off limits.” 

When asked if she had any regrets, Thomas explained, “I have regrets that everybody has misinterpreted it, and distorted it. You have [former White House Press Secretary] Ari Fleischer and [President of the Anti-Defamation League] Abe Foxman distorting everything.”

Video uploaded by VaticanRatline on Jan 13, 2012

Missed Opportunity for Peace

With the recent prisoner exchange between Hamas and the Israeli government - that saw Gilad Shalit return back home and with the return of 1,027 Palestinian men and woman, many people are scratching their heads as how the Israeli government who regard Hamas as a terrorist organization and not representatives of the Palestinian people, bargain with them and not the moderate Fatah Palestinian Authority based in the West Bank whom the whole world considers the 'real' representative faction of the Palestinian people.

Such a prisoner exchange deal with the help of Egypt really uplifted the image of Hamas and not Fatah. Also strange is that Marwan Barghouti Barghouti - "one of the most forceful proponents of a peaceful solution of the Israel-Palestine conflict,...has made his position abundantly clear from the Israeli jail where he serves five life sentences for his involvement in a number of terrorist attacks during the Second Intifada. He has repeatedly rejected further violence against Israel and believes that the two-state solution is the only way forward."

I believe Israel not only did dropped the ball but shows they really do not want lasting peace otherwise by freeing Barghouti, a real chance for peace could have been achieved. Israel`s endgame is not clear but their intentions are cloudy and shady. How long they want to drag this along for? The Palestinian generations are rising up and growing in numbers and will demographically overtake Israel. A two-state solution has to occur and cannot wait. Legitimate leaders for peace has to be released and their voices heard.

The missed opportunity to free Marwan Barghouti

For Netanyahu, the greatest danger is a strong Palestinian leader who unifies the Palestinian people behind the two-state solution.

By Carlo Strenger
Haaretz

Published 15:52 28.Oct.11

After the great joy of seeing Gilad Shalit back home, many questions have been asked: will caving in to Hamas lead to further abductions? Hasn’t the Shalit deal strengthened hardline Hamas at the expense of pragmatic Fatah? Could Israel have done this earlier?

A New York Times editorial asked why Netanyahu is able to negotiate and cut a deal with the extremist Hamas, but not with the pragmatic Fatah. But there is an even more urgent question that, for some reason, was almost not addressed: Why did Israel miss the golden opportunity to let Marwan Barghouti out of prison?

	Jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti appearing in court in Tel Aviv in 2002.
	Photo by: Archive / AP

Barghouti is one of the most forceful proponents of a peaceful solution of the Israel-Palestine conflict, and he has made his position abundantly clear from the Israeli jail where he serves five life sentences for his involvement in a number of terrorist attacks during the Second Intifada. He has repeatedly rejected further violence against Israel and believes that the two-state solution is the only way forward.

Most importantly, a number of polls have showed that Barghouti is the most popular potential contender for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority. He would win with a great margin if he ran against Ismail Haniyeh, and could be a strong unifier of all Palestinian camps.

Ostensibly, Israel should have a strong interest in liberating Barghouti: Abbas is now 76 years old; his political career is coming to an end, and Barghouti is the only strong candidate who could continue Abbas’s work towards implementing the two-state solution. He would strengthen Fatah at the expense of Hamas.

So why didn’t the Netanyahu government liberate Barghouti in the Shalit deal? This would have been a unique opportunity. It would not have required the dramatic act of a presidential pardon that has been suggested in the past and Israel would have gained a strong and reliable partner for negotiation in the future.

The answer, I think, is simple, and also applies to the NYT editorial’s question why Netanyahu can cut a deal with Hamas, but not with Fatah: Netanyahu doesn’t want the two-state solution, because believes that it is dangerous to Israel’s long-term survival.

Netanyahu does not state these views openly now, because this would put him on head-on confrontation with the international community. Hence he pays lip service to the two-state solution while doing everything to prevent its implementation.

Ultimately, Netanyahu and Hamas have one common interest: to keep pragmatic Fatah weak. This is why Hamas didn’t insist on including Barghouti in the Shalit deal. Its leadership knows that Barghouti would give Fatah a resounding victory in the next elections, and therefore prefers him in prison.

So does Netanyahu. The greatest danger for him is a strong Palestinian leader who unifies the Palestinian people behind the two-state solution. If Barghouti would be elected Palestinian president with a strong mandate, and would state his commitment to the two-state solution clearly Netanyahu’s true colors would be exposed both to the Israeli electorate and to the international community.

Netanyahu has, time and again, said that he doesn’t believe in a territorially contiguous Palestinian state. He is entitled to his views, but he should be required to make clear that he is leading Israel down a path that will destroy the two-state solution forever. He should have the integrity to state his own long-term vision that seems to be one bi-national state west of the Jordan. Because no Palestinian leader will ever accept what Netanyahu, at most, is willing to concede: a number of disconnected enclaves around the West Bank’s major population centers, some form of Bantustan-like entity; but not a viable state.

Netanyahu has been playing hide-and-seek both with the international community and with Israel’s electorate. Along the way he has driven Israel into unprecedented isolation.

If he does so out of deeply held beliefs, and not just for political survival, he should have the decency to tell the world and Israel’s electorate who he is: an ideological right-winger with an apocalyptic worldview. Then, at least, the world will know whom they are dealing with; and Israelis will have to decide, whether they want to live on the sword in a pariah state forever, or whether they want to elect a leadership that can lead Israel towards peace.

Article link: http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/strenger-than-fiction/the-missed-opportunity-to-free-marwan-barghouti-1.392512

Reopening Gaza`s Gate to the World

The Rafah border crossing with Egypt is now open and for the first time in 4 years all Gazans are free to travel

1.5 million residents of Gaza finally have a gateway to the outside world after the new interim Egyptian government lifted restrictions of the Rafah border with Gaza after 4 years. Ever since former Egyptian President Mubarak was in charge along with the insistence of Israel, Gaza was in total lock-down except for extreme medical conditions. It was in effect to drive Hamas out of power along with depriving millions of Palestinians from basic humanitarian care. (Speaking of Hamas, its such a shame upon the world powers where they insisted Hamas come into the political fold from the gun into making the group into a legitimate power. What the world powers did not bank on was the fact that the Palestinian people democratically voted Hamas into a legitimate political power. The world powers at be screamed democracy and here was a clear and just example of it; and what did the Palestinians get? They got punished for voting for Hamas).

Back to the border opening, the stringent border has led to numerous underground smuggling tunnels that brought vital supplies from Egypt into Gaza. After all, what are the Gazans supposed to do? - who`ve had a border blockade with Egypt as well as a naval blockade by Israel.

The new Egyptian foreign minster said this past Saturday (5/28/11), "the decision to close the border was shameful." His promise to open the Rafah border permanently with out the Israelis is now coming true. An agreement made 6 years old between former Egyptian President Mubarak, U.S., Israel and the EU will no longer be in effect that gave EU monitors full access to the crossing and allowed Tel Aviv to supervise/monitor security though cameras from afar. Israel watched with Egypt at the checkpoints.

Now the permanent opening of Rafah terrifies Israelis - especially weapons finding their way into hands of Gaza militants and being used against Israel.

However, this new development is a major and huge step in deflating the humanitarian crisis that will immediately and significantly improve Palestinian lives - and improving living standards will lead to a drop among those who join the militant groups. This holds true in any urban western city, where armed-gangs are prevalent mainly among socio-economic disadvantaged areas.

This is Godsend, that the current interim Egyptian government understands the will of the people and basic human rights, and not letting outside voices and puppetmasters dictate policy. Creating a new life, invigorating new spirit and hope into Gazans will affect the atmosphere from militancy/conflict into growth and prosperity.

Related Videos:

Hope for Gaza, headache for Israel as border opens at Rafah - RT News

Egypt opens Rafah border crossing - CCTV News

Egypt`s Rafah crossing reopend - AlJazeerahEnglish

Rafah border opening brings hope to Gaza - AlJazeeraEnglish

Opening the Rafah crossing - AlJazeeraEnglish

President Obama Finally Gets One Thing Right In His Middle East Policy

He calls for Israel and the future Palestinian state to the pre-1967 borders

(President Obama delivering a speech about US policy on Middle East and North Africa at the State Dept., in Washington 5/19/11. Photo by Reuters)

President Obama on Thursday (5/19/11) made an official but rarely stated US policy that the future Palestinian state should be based on the borders that existed before the 1967 war.

"We believe the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states," Obama said.

This U.S. endorsement of the policy on borders is an unique statement thats been clearly stated in any Middle East speech thus given so far. He has clearly sided to a key demand of the Palestinians and has off course the angered the Israelis.

However, at the same time, President Obama reiterated his unwavering support for Israel's security, and has endorsed major negotiating positions of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, including the contested handover of security responsibilities by Israel when the conditions on the ground will allow it.

President Obama declared the U.S. commitment to Israel's security as "unshakable," and said "every state has the right to self-defense, and Israel must be able to defend itself -- by itself -- against any threat."

"Provisions must also be robust enough to prevent a resurgence of terrorism; to stop the infiltration of weapons; and to provide effective border security," Obama continued, touching on the major concerns of Israel in facing a new Palestinian neighbor. "The full and phased withdrawal of Israeli military forces should be coordinated with the assumption of Palestinian security responsibility in a sovereign, non-militarized state. And the duration of this transition period must be agreed, and the effectiveness of security arrangements must be demonstrated."

"The status quo is unsustainable, and Israel too must act boldly to advance a lasting peace," Obama said, adding that "the dream of a Jewish and democratic state cannot be fulfilled with permanent occupation."

As again, these are just words and nothing set into stone. Off course there will be some deviations from the exact 1967 borders due to vast swaths of lands Israel used to build settlements and will have to be negotiated and swapped as President Obama suggested. Only time will tell what will actually occur on the ground but it is true that change is inevitable and the status quo has to change - not later shoved in the back burner but now.

Read and watch CNN and Haaretz`s coverage on President Obama`s Middle East policy on 5/19/11

Also read post Obama speech response and impact: Obama`s Speech: Stuttering into the Future - Aljazeera

Its Time For an Independent Palestinian State

(image courtesy of Ashour)

Twenty years of negotiations with Israel have yielded no concrete steps to peace and freedom for both sides of the aisle. The region is still the volatile mix it has been since the 1967 war. It has come a time now where the status quo can`t remain the way it is and that 'change', is needed not in the foreseeable future but now. The current 'Arab Spring' throughout the Middle East has re-invigorated the people into understanding their basic rights and not bowing down to the 'hegemony' shoved down upon them from the global powers at be.

It is especially the younger youth of the population who are the instruments of change and people now are starting to realize that. The younger youth now are ever more smart and have so much at their disposal uncovering the truth of how the world is functioning and how their rights are being trampled and slowly siphoned away.

The world powers advocate direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians which we all say is the correct way to go but has to be fair on both sides of the table, whether it have pre conditions or not. The world powers surely advocate peace, an independent state living side by side but yet take no direct concrete steps to further the peace process. Its always just words and have been just words. And off course, our glorious U.S. government which advocates peace and a two state solution is just merely words. It was only during President Clinton`s time did a chance of real peace come but at a great price to the Palestinians. President Obama, in which we all thought a real chance for peace would occur is all a farce, he and his administration has no definite drive to push Israel or further the peace process. They have no clear path as to what the peace process should be I think, I mean after all President Obama`s Middle East envoy and middleman George Mitchell recently quit. He has achieved nothing, but was that a surprise? How does Israel come to the bargaining table with no end in building settlements, which is basically stealing legitimate Palestinian land like a all you want buffet with a time limit. They are grabbing land whatever they can as fast and soon as they can and in the end envisions these areas to be 'annexed' and negotiated in land swaps - like that will ever take place.

So what do the Palestinian Authority and PLO do now, go to the international community for unilateral recognition where the international community also recognizes that the status quo has to change on the ground. With America`s former henchmen in Egypt and Tunisia gone, it should give a good boost to the Palestinian government and people. I mean don`t get me wrong, Israel has every right to peace and security like any other sovereign country but must respect basic human rights and international will that the occupied Palestinian people deserve their own sovereign country and basic rights like any other people in the world.

The time is now, not to be shoved in the backburner where the world powers can just waste and keep buying time to delay any further steps towards an independent Palestinian state.

Read Mahmud Abbas`s NYT op-ed piece: The Long Overdue Palestinian State

(Mahmoud Abbas is the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the President of the Palestinian National Authority)