Ireland Jumps on Bandwagon to Give PA Embassy Status
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
January 26, 2011, Shevat 21, 5771
Ireland on Tuesday and granted the Palestinian Authority embassy status, but unlike Latin American countries, it did not recognize the PA as a country. Israel says it “regrets” the action but is not surprised. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/news.aspx/140996
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas claimed that as many as 10 other European countries will follow suit. His international diplomatic war on Israel, which began when he took office after Yasser Arafat died, has paid off so far. Several Latin American countries this past month have recognized the PA as a country based on the 1949 Armistice Lines. Peru added its name to the growing list this week.
"Israel expresses its regret over the step taken by Ireland, but is not surprised by it considering the many years of biased policy relating to the conflict," the government stated.
Sweden, Finland and Denmark are expected to follow Ireland's move, and France, Germany and Belgium also might upgrade their PA missions to the embassy level.
Israel is trying to convince the international community that the upgrading of relations will damage the chances for a mutual agreement between the Arab world and Israel. Israeli efforts are focused on Britain, which also may grant the PA embassy status.
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said the actions by Peru and Ireland “are largely meaningless on the ground and destructive for negotiations they do contribute to the bubble of expectation that is growing amongst the Palestinian leadership... We all know that bubbles eventually burst and it is negligent to contribute to this unsustainable policy.
"Every free gift the Palestinians receive from the international community contributes to their recalcitrance and maximalist strategy. We can see an obvious connection to the recent spate of recognition and a hardening of the Palestinian position."
Abbas’ diplomatic campaign is aimed at giving him enough international support to bypass talks with Israel, which by most accounts have moved beyond the realm of possibility. He stated as far back as two years ago that at the appropriate time, he will turn to the pro-Arab United Nations to as a country with the all of the land restored to Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/141067
PA leaders, including Abbas, recently have warned that failure to meet PA demands and establish it as a state might ignite renewed violence.
Former PA legal advisor Amjad Atllah wrote on the Foreign Policy website this week that the leaks of diplomatic cables, along with the demonstration in Tunisia and other countries, shows that change can come without the United States.
“This means there may be more exhibitions of ‘people power’ with unpredictable consequences,” he wrote.
Leest u ook het onderstaande bericht eens door. Het laat de contradictie zien met het bovenstaande:
Arab World Won't Donate to Palestinian Authority
by Elad Benari
January 26, 2011, Shevat 21, 5771
Palestinian Authority representatives, who arrived on Wednesday at the Arab League’s economic summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, came equipped with an armload of financial requests, mainly consisting of requests for donations of tens of millions of dollars aimed at investing in Jerusalem.
The PA had asked for a sum of $150 million, for projects in tourism and education in the neighborhoods of east Jerusalem. In addition to this amount, PA economists sought an additional amount of $200 million to stabilize the PA banking system.
PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad explained about the projects and their importance. He spoke of the plight of Arabs living in Jerusalem and of the need to expand building and encourage tourism that will strengthen their economic position. Fayyad also spoke about trade and infrastructure projects in east Jerusalem, as though Israel is not the governing body in Jerusalem.
It should be noted that during speeches they made ahead of the summit, PA leaders made sure to emphasize the importance they see in the existence of Arab projects in Jerusalem, especially when it comes to initiatives that may undermine the Israeli legislation which they have defined as “Zionist, discriminatory, and harmful”. This means that PA leadership places particular importance on illegal activities in Jerusalem’s eastern neighborhoods.
However, as it turns out, the Arab world is in no hurry to donate money to the PA: Arab leaders have decided not to transfer any funds to the PA at the moment, and have deferred the decision on this issue to the next economic conference which will take place in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, in 2013.
Meanwhile at the same summit, Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa warned that Arab leaders should learn a lesson from the uprising in Tunisia. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/141855
“It is on everyone's mind that the Arab self is broken by poverty, unemployment and a general slide in indicators,” he said, calling the events in Tunisia an example of the “big social shocks” that await Arab societies.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak also noted that rising food prices and unemployment could threaten the status quo in Arab nations.
In an opening address to the gathering, Mubarak said, “We are not isolated from the world with its problems, challenges and crises. Employment and creating employment opportunities will remain one of the most important challenges we face... We have priorities to achieve food security and combat climate change impacts.”
Irish Artists Vow to Boycott Israel
by Chana Ya'ar
August 25 2010, Elul 15, 5770
A group of more than 150 Irish artists have pledged to boycott Israel as part of a solidarity campaign coordinated with the Palestinian Authority.
The petition recently signed by the artists in Dublin commits the signatories to boycott the Jewish State until “it respects international law,” and reads as follows:
“In response to the call from Palestinian civil society for a cultural boycott of Israel, we pledge not to avail of any invitation to perform or exhibit in Israel, nor to accept any funding from any institution linked to the government of Israel, until such time as Israel complies with international law and universal principles of human rights.”
The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC), which organized the initiative, claimed the brother of musician Eoin Dillon – one of the signatories to the boycott -- was “kidnapped by Israeli commandos on May 31 this year when he was first mate on board the Challenger 1, which was part of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla.”
The six-vessel flotilla in question was sent to break Israel’s maritime blockade of Gaza, in violation of the country’s sovereign international rights. Each vessel was boarded on May 31 by Israeli Navy commandos after ignoring repeated requests to change course and head to the Ashdod port. The commandos took control of the boats and directed them to the port, where the activists were ordered to disembark and were then each deported to their countries of origin.
On one of the vessels, the Turkish-sponsored Mavi Marmara, the IDF commandos were ambushed by armed terrorists linked to the Turkish IHH organization. In the ensuing clashes, nine IHH fighters were killed and several IDF soldiers were seriously wounded.
Speaking to the Irish Times daily newspaper, composer Raymond Deane, founder of the organization, quoted a 2005 statement from Israel’s Foreign Ministry saying culture was considered a propaganda tool. Deane contended that artists who perform in Israel are backing the Jerusalem government “whether they like it or not.”
A number of other musicians offered similar views, expressing their hope the boycott would encourage young Israelis to “speak out.” Irish singer Damien Dempsey claimed that in Israel, the military is running the show, and needs the world to stand up to it.
Not the First Time
This is not the first time that Irish artists have launched a cultural boycott of Israel on the altar of “Palestinian rights.”
In 2007, members of the Irish state-sponsored academy of creative artists, Aosdana, attempted to launch a similar boycott of Israeli cultural events and institutions.
The resolution to “back the call from Palestinian filmmakers, artists and cultural workers to end all cooperation with Israeli state-sponsored cultural events and institutions, had also been proposed by Deane. The motion, seconded by playwright Margaretta D’Arcy, was defeated by the organization’s general assembly.
However, a follow-up sponsored by D’Arcy and seconded by Deane passed, calling on Irish artists and institutions to “reflect deeply” before working with Israeli cultural institutions.
Writing for The Evening Herald at the time, Irish journalist Ian O’Doherty pointed out in response, “In fairness to Aosdana, the call for a boycott seems to have been led by a hardcore group… The fact that Israel is the least segregated society in the region, and that Israeli Arabs enjoy more freedom than their counterparts in other, Arab-run, countries, is something that tends to be conveniently forgotten.”
IPSC activists were also busy with similar pursuits a year later, during Israel’s war against the Hamas terrorist rulers of Gaza in the winter of 2008-2009, Operation Cast Lead. For days, the group demonstrated at the U.S. and Israeli embassies in Dublin against the “ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza.” Ignored were the thousands of deadly mortar and rocket attacks fired almost daily by Gaza terrorists since 2000 at Jewish communities in southern Israel.
A spokesman for the Israeli embassy in Dublin responded last week to the current boycott effort with a statement, calling the campaign “regrettable and ill-advised.” The embassy noted, “Vilifying and ostracizing Israel and promoting a lose-lose program of boycotts is not the way to secure legitimate Palestinian rights.”