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US President Barack Obama told Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu the US will soon present a new peace initiative to include Arab nations alongside Israel and the PA in peace negotiations. Arab states will be encouraged to take steps to normalize their relations with Israel immediately, rather than at the end of the peace process per the Arab peace initiative.
Meanwhile, here’s the post-meeting press conference. Notice how Netanyahu is addressing Obama directly, rather than the press. Perhaps I am reading into it, but it looks to me like he has trust issues with Obama.
Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)
10:45PM: In response to the rocket attack on Sderot, the IAF has reportedly struck smuggling tunnels.
10:43PM: When in Rome Sderot..
Mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, arrived in the town of Sderot on Tuesday evening together with Noam Shalit, the father of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. The two visited the impact site where a Palestinian Qassam rocket landed earlier in the evening.
Alemanno vowed to assist with the reconstruction of the homes damaged by the rocket attack. The city of Rome is bestowing honorary citizenship on Shalit, who said he does “not envy” the residents of Sderot.
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The mayor of Rome said he hoped the rocket attack does not signify the beginning of a new war, adding “fundamentalism is the problem of the entire western world, not only Israel’s.”
8:54PM: Here’s a quote from the flip-flopping Lurch:
“I emphasized to the prime minister the importance of Israel moving forward, especially with respect to the settlement issue. I also emphasized that this is not a one-way street and the burden is not only on Israel to take all the steps. It is vital that the Arab community… take steps.”
Besides the fact that the so-called “settlement” issue is a red herring, notice how Kerry talks of Arab steps as an almost afterthought. I would have thought a more appropriate statement would be something like this:
“I emphasized to the prime minister the importance of the Arabs moving forward, especially with respect to the terrorism issue. I also emphasized that this is not a one-way street and the burden is not only on Arabs to take all the steps. It is vital that the Israelis… take steps.”
(not that I think we need to take any more steps. We have taken enough steps until now, and a fat lot of good they did us)
8:13PM: What do you do if one of your most effective propaganda photos with caption is ridiculed as being so obviously unfeasible?
Do you:
a) Remove the photo and apologize for allowing such a staged photo to be passed off as true journalism
b) Remove the photo without an apology
c) Republish the photo with a new caption, because hey, it’s propaganda gold!
If you are AP, the answer is c).
A Palestinian protester lies down after being overcome by tear gas fired by Israeli troops, holds a key symbolizing the keys to houses left by Palestinians in 1948, during a demonstration marking the 61st anniversary of ‘Nakba,’ Arabic for catastrophe, in the West Bank village Bilin, near Ramallah, Friday, May 15, 2008. The rally marked the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who either fled or were driven out of their homes during the 1948 war over Israel’s creation. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
You may recall the original caption was:
A Palestinian passed out from tear gas fired by Israeli troops, holds a key symbolizing the keys to houses left by Palestinians in 1948, during a demonstration marking the 61st anniversary of ‘Nakba,’ Arabic for catastrophe, in the West Bank village Bilin, near Ramallah, Friday, May 15, 2008. The rally marked the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who either fled or were driven out of their homes during the 1948 war over Israel’s creation. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
6:30PM: This initiative deserves our support.
More details can be found here.
6:25PM: Palestinian terrorists in Gaza have fired a Qassam into Israel, extensively damaging a house in Sderot, and sending a number of people into shock.
Meanwhile, Shin Bet Chief Yuval Diskin today said that viable peace negotiations are not possible with Hamas in control of Gaza.
3:45PM: The dog had his day..in court.
A Perth man who allegedly posted an anti-Semitic video on YouTube has appeared in court on a charge of conduct likely to incite animosity or racist harassment.
Brendon Lee O’Connell, 38, of Maylands was released on $5000 bail and ordered not to go within 100m of the young Jewish man he allegedly taunted outside a South Perth shopping centre that was hosting a peaceful rally.
In Perth Magistrate’s Court today, police requested that Mr O’Connell stay away from any Jewish facilities and Campbell Barracks.
While on bail, Mr O’Connell must report to police daily. He was remanded to reappear in court on June 9.
9:42AM: Analysis of Obama-Netanyahu meeting by the Jerusalem Post’s David Horovitz.
6:10AM: Yet another palestinian “honor” killing. Or was it?
Palestinian police said on Monday they arrested a 24-year-old who allegedly killed his aunt, whose body was found in the West Bank city of Ramallah six days ago.
According to Palestinian Authority security spokesperson Major Adnan Ad-Dimeiri, the alleged murderer of 30-year-old Halimah Ahmad Ash-Sheikh was arrested on evidence that he was responsible for the killing.
Ad-Dimeiri also said that the suspected confessed to the charges, and said that he killed her for reasons of so-called “family honor.”
Ad-Dimeiri said that, according to his affidavit, the suspect rented a car, drove his aunt to the city of Nablus, stopping in the village of An-Nabi Saleh to buy food, and stopped again to get out of the car to eat. He said the suspect stabbed his aunt and left the body in Ramallah, before driving home to the West Bank city of Qalqiliya. The suspect then went the same day to the police station with the victim’s husband to report her missing.
The spokesperson also said that, after finding the body and receiving information from the person who found it, police arrested the suspect 30 hours later with an estimated 4,000 Jordanian dinars (5,648 US dollars) in jewelry he stole from the victim, though he claimed that she had given them to him recently.
The public prosecutor plans to file a case against the arrested suspect.
The victim, police said, was married six years ago and was a mother of seven.
Killing the woman for the family’s honor AND her jewellery. Talk about killing two birds with one stone.
Or rather killing a bird for her stones.
