EU foreign ministers likely to call for division of Jerusalem

European Union foreign ministers are expected to officially call next week for the division of Jerusalem, to serve as the capitals of both Israel and Palestine. A draft document authored by the current holder of the rotating EU presidency, Sweden, and implying that the EU would recognize a unilateral Palestinian declaration of statehood, has been obtained by Haaretz.

Jerusalem is waging a diplomatic campaign to keep the EU from issuing such an endorsement, but diplomats close to the EU deliberations believe it is virtually inevitable.

EU foreign ministers are scheduled to meet on December 7 for a two-day meeting in Brussels on the peace process, after which a statement outlining the body's Mideast policy is expected.

The Swedish draft represents the first official EU articulation of a solution for one of the core issues of the final-status arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians.

The document expressed the EU's concern over the stalemate in the peace process and calls for the immediate renewal of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in accordance with a prescribed timetable. The goal, it states, is "an independent, democratic, contiguous and viable state of Palestine, comprising the West Bank and Gaza and with East Jerusalem as its capital."

The draft refers directly to the situation in East Jerusalem, calling on "all parties to refrain from provocative actions" and stating the EU Council "has never recognized the annexation of East Jerusalem. If there is to be a genuine peace, a way must be found to resolve the status of Jerusalem as capital of two states. The Council calls for the reopening of Palestinian institutions in Jerusalem in accordance with the road map. It also calls on the Israeli government to cease all discriminatory treatment of Palestinians in East Jerusalem."

The document deals only briefly with Israel's announcement of a 10-month moratorium on construction in settlements across the West Bank: "The Council takes note of the recent decision of the government of Israel on a partial and temporary permanent freeze and expresses the hope that it will become a step towards resuming meaningful negotiations." Israel's removal of checkpoints also receives only cursory mention: "Many checkpoints and roadblocks remain in place to protect settlements."

On the issue of borders, the document states that the EU will not accept any changes made by Israel to the 1967 borders unless they have PA approval. The EU, it says, welcomes PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's proposal of a unilateral declaration of statehood and would "be able, at the appropriate time, to recognize a Palestinian state."

Israeli diplomats have been following the Swedish initiative for several weeks. Israel's Brussels-based ambassador to the EU, Ran Kuriel, sent several messages to Jerusalem last week accusing Sweden of leading the union on a "collision course" with Israel. Kuriel wrote that Britain and France support the Swedish position, while Germany, Spain and Italy are disinclined to side with Israel on the matter.

Senior Foreign Ministry officials said the belief is widespread across the foreign policy echelon that Sweden is advancing an explicitly "anti-Israel" line, rendering Europe "irrelevant" to the peace process.

European diplomats privy to the negotiations said that although changes favorable to Israel had been made to the draft, there is virtually no chance of preventing the EU from calling for the division of Jerusalem. They said they believe the EU statement will help Palestinians return to negotiations with Israel, as it gives them guarantees of a Palestinian capital in Jerusalem even though Israel has not frozen construction there.

Source:

Likudniks blast 'enemy of the Jews' Obama over settlement freeze

I say take away the money we have been giving them and let them build their own planes. No more money and no more military support for Israel. To Hell with them. Whiners all of them. Damn if they aren't the biggest babies in the world.

Member of Netanyahu's party: Obama regime is 'worst ever' for Israel; Vice PM cancels lecture after rightist protest.

Rank-and-file Likudniks and Lawmakers in the ruling Likud party lambasted the Obama administration at a gathering on Saturday, in response to Israel's decision to temporarily freeze construction in West Bank settlements.

MK Dani Danon organized the meeting after Culture and Sports Minister Limor Livnat (Likud) launched a verbal attack over the matter on U.S. President Barack Obama's administration, which she branded "terrible."

While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately distanced himself from her comments, the activists at Saturday's conference leveled further criticism at Obama over the moratorium, which Israel undertook to carry out in the wake of tremendous U.S. pressure.

"The Obama administration is an enemy of the Jews and the worst regime there ever was for the State of Israel," said Yossi Naim, the head of the Beit Aryeh regional council, at the Ra'ana meeting. "I announce to Obama: You won't be able to stop us."

The mayor of the West Bank settlement of Ariel, Ron Nahman, called Netanyahu's announcement of the settlement freeze a disgrace.

Directing his comments to Livnat, he said: "I am proud and happy that you said what you said, because you had the public courage to say what most of the public feels ever since Obama came to power."

Nahman repeatedly referred to the U.S. leader as "Hussein Obama," omitting his first name.

Ya'alon cancels lecture in Kiryat Arba in face of rightist protest

Meanwhile, Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon (Likud) cancelled a appearance at the settlement of Kiryat Arba on Saturday, due to a plan by right-wing activists to stage a protest the settlement freeze.

Ya'alon, who also strategic affairs minister, was meant to speak about "taking responsibility" to hundreds of teenagers at a gathering organized the local council.

But a group of right-wingers, including prominent activists Itamar Ben-Gvir, Noam Federman and Baruch Marzel, went to the hall where Ya'alon was meant to speak, with the intention of protesting against the minister's support for the settlement freeze.

Ya'alon's security representative saw the rightists, who were holding placards, and announced that the minister could not enter the building while they were still there. Following a 40-minute discussion, Ya'alon decided to leave the site without speaking.

Ben-Gvir said in response: "Whoever voted in favor of strangling the settlements will not be surprised that people want to protest against him."

Source:

ALERT: Nationwide Israeli Locksmith Scam

Local news stations across the country have been conducting independent stings of phony locksmith operations run by Israelis. So far, the FBI HAS BEEN SILENT. After the Mossad run phony moving truck operation of 9/11, they may be hesitant as to what they'll uncover.

If you come across one of these Israelis, contact your local FBI office, and do not pay these Israelis depite their threats, only tell them the police are on the way...and "this is a sting operation." They will leave you alone and flee.

To follow these reports nationally, click on stories of the following database:

NATIONWIDE NEWS REPORTS
updated 07/31/2009

http://www.aloa.org/pdf/p...

Latest report filed 8/14/09 from Las Vegas. Report and video of sting operation:

Police Breaking Up Phony Locksmiths
http://www.lasvegasnow.co...

Source:

I-Team: Police Breaking Up Phony Locksmiths

Just look at the phone book or online and you'll see hundreds of fly-by-night locksmith outfits using phony names and bogus addresses to fleece millions of dollars each year out of locals and tourists.

The scam emanates from New York and Florida and appears to be a highly organized criminal enterprise that flaunts local laws and has been known to use threats and intimidation against customers who are invariably in vulnerable situations.

An undercover police officer posing as a shopper locked out of car calls a company named Right On Time Locksmith. She is routed to another company, S and S Locksmith. When help arrives 15 minutes later in an unmarked van, the man says he works for a 3rd company, Mega-Locksmith.

The $30 fee mentioned on the phone gets bumped. "$50 bucks," says "locksmith" Eli Levy on hidden camera. I just say $50. Other companies are charging over $100 to open doors."

As soon as they hear a price mentioned, detectives who've been monitoring the exchange move in. Levy is an Israeli national and says this is his second day on the job. He has no business license, work card, or a valid driver's license.

He says he doesn't know how the three companies are linked and also says he doesn't need a business license. There's a very simple reason why the law requires a criminal background check for anyone working as a locksmith. Joe Esposito owned liberty lock for 29 years. "Locksmiths have the keys and the knowledge and the expertise to basically break into anybody else's house. A locksmith is basically a licensed burglar," he said.

Esposito and other legitimate locksmiths are appalled by the invasion of Las Vegas and other large cities by shady, unlicensed locksmith operators who are little more than a phone number. They take out huge ads in the Yellow Pages, have dozens of numbers under single listings, and essentially take over the market.

There are no background checks or work cards for the employees. Taxes aren't paid and the whole operation seems to be routed back to a central dispatch in New York. "It's millions of dollars. It's big. That's why they are doing it," said Esposito.

Even Metro doesn't know who owns these companies. "No not yet. It's definitely big. It almost seems like it's a human trafficking deal. You know, ‘Come here, we're going to set you up in these, work when we say, do what we say,'" said Sgt. Lenny LaRusso with Metro's Privileged License Team.

Sgt. LaRusso's team has turned up the heat in recent months, using stings to send a message and to gather information. Two of the drivers busted Tuesday afternoon were sent out by the same dispatcher to the same location.

Like Ely Levy, Sal is also from Israel. "I'm a sick person, sir. I work part time. I have to eat. I'm not stealing," he said.

But it has all the markings of a scam. The most common complaint is that the locksmiths quote one price on the phone, and then something else in person.

Cheryl Delhagen needed new locks after her home was burglarized -- a job that should have cost $150. "Finally at the end he presented me with a bill for $610," she said.

Customers say if they balk at paying, locksmiths threaten them or refuse to leave. Consumers have nowhere to go to complain.

LaRusso's team says few, if any, of the companies have actual offices. Search Google for Las Vegas Locksmiths and hundreds pop up, but the addresses are bogus. They're actually the addresses of fast food joints, Caesars Forum Shops, the Mandalay Events Center, or McCarran Airport. The office that sent out two of the men who were busted is, in fact, a locksmith shop but it's been closed down for many months.

One of the bogus companies listed the address of its office and it seemed very familiar to our I-Team producer Ian Russell. That's because it is his home address. He assures us there is no locksmith operation in his apartment.

Esposito says he's appealed to the phone company to at least ask for a business license before listing a locksmith company. He was rebuffed every time. "These people are very much taking advantage of the community and the phone company is basically assisting them in doing this," he said.

So how can you figure out which company is legit? Ask for advice from AAA, your insurance company, and know the signs of a scam.

Source:

Affidavit for Complaint of Eli Barhanun

Affidavit for Complaint of Eli Barhanun

Israeli Locksmith Ring Charged with Fraud; Group Operated in Missouri and Florida

Thu., Nov. 5 2009 @ 11:19AM

Here's a curious tale coming out of the U.S. Attorney's office in St. Louis.

Last week federal investigators charged Eliyahu Barhanun of Creve Coeur and two other men from Florida on federal charges involving a scam of overcharging customers for locksmith services. According to an affidavit (viewable at the end of this post), the men operated and/or worked with Dependable Lock, a company registered in New York but headquartered in Clearwater, Florida.

Dependable Lock managed a national network of locksmiths that it dispatched from a call center in Clearwater. The company would allegedly quote customers a price for service but then charge three times that much -- or more -- when the locksmith completed the work.

Many of the locksmiths employed by Dependable were illegal immigrants from Isreal. Financial records show that some proceeds from the locksmiths were then funneled to a real-estate company in that country.

Consumer complaints filed by customers in the State of Missouri indicate a persistent pattern of fraudulent price quotation and overcharging by Dependable Locks locksmith technicians. In 37 of 64 consumer complaints relating to Dependable Locks filed with the Missouri Attorney General's Office, the customer reported that he/she was quoted a certain price on the phone, and then was charged a significantly higher price by the responding locksmith technician at the scene.

The complaint alleges that telephone dispatchers for Dependable Locks were instructed by managers to quote a price of $54 for a car lockout, while the responding technician was instructed by managers to charge up to $179 once services had been provided.

The telephone dispatchers were instructed to misrepresent or understate the possibility of additional charges above the price quoted. The market rate for a standard car lockout is typically about $60. The locksmiths were instructed to charge significantly more than the price quoted, and significantly more than usual market rates. Technicians use techniques such as accusing the consumer who objects to the overcharge of "theft of services," threatening to call the police, withholding the customer's keys or driver's license, or following the customer to an ATM machine to ensure payment.

The locksmith technicians allegedly are allowed to split the profits of the fraudulently procured locksmith services with the company, typically 50/50 or 60/40, and that the technicians are required to remit the company's share of the proceeds by regularly purchasing and shipping money orders to the Dependable Locks location in Clearwater.

The affidavit states that Eliyahu Barhanun, David Peer and Moshe Aharoni conspired with the managers of Dependable Locks to implement a scheme to procure overcharges for locksmith services.

Eliyahu Barhanun, a.k.a. Eli Barhanun, a.k.a. Eli Barhanin, 29, Creve Coeur, MO, is charged with a felony violation of structuring financial transactions to avoid federal reporting requirements, conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.

David Peer, 31; and Moshe Aharoni, 28, both of the Clearwater, Florida area, are each charged with conspiracy to recruit and employ aliens who are not authorized to work in the United States, mail and wire fraud and engaging in financial transactions to promote unlawful activity.

Each of the above violations carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison and/or fines up to $250,000.

US Postal Inspectors have established a hotline for those believing they are victims of this scheme. The phone will not be manned, however callers will be asked to leave contact information which will trigger an investigative response. The phone number for victims is 314-539-9441.

Link to Affidavit

Source:

Israel halts football stadium construction in West Bank

Israel has ordered construction work on an internationally financed football stadium being built for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank to be halted.

Palestinian municipal authorities in al-Bireh, near Ramallah, have been told they lack the correct permit to build.

This is because Israel has designated some of the plot for the planned stadium as under its exclusive control.

If Palestinian officials do not comply with the order, Israel could demolish the arena.

The stadium's development has been financed by the world football's governing body, Fifa, as well as France, Germany and Gulf states.

Palestinians have said that Israel's issuing of the stop-work order is unreasonable and politically motivated.

Israeli officials have said they are working with their Palestinian counterparts to resolve the issue.

Source:

SCAM ALERT: PHONY Israeli Owned Locksmith Companies Operating in the U.S.

READ with CAUTION and do NOT become a victim of one of these shyster Israeli locksmith companies operating in the US.

Latest Update: On getting BUSTED

From Rip-Off Report:

The locksmith ripoffs are REAL!!!
These counterfiet locksmiths are real. They are nationwide and spreading like cockroaches. I am The Vice President of the Illinois Indiana Locksmith Association and have bee tracking these gypse type ripoffs for more then two years. They have been impersonating locksmiths all over the country. It is so large and almost Mind boggling how widespread these phonys are. The are in every major city in the US. there are many of these companys springing up all over the nation and they are all some how related to each other. The common denominator is that they all appear to be Israeli run. Most of the employees are here on tourist visas. There have been some in texas that were arressted for acting as locksmiths without a license and it was found out their visas were expired and they were deported.

They are not small individual locksmiths but rather large organized crime type outfits.

the actual people who come out to homes to do the dirty work are employees that have been trained to ripoff the consumer. The actions and mo of all the individuals seem the same. They are taught to rip off the consumer by the big dog scum that run these outfits. There general scam is to qoute a service call price of usually 55.00 and then up the charge when they get there. they routinly will drill house locks and actually charge you extra to destroy the locks so they can rip you off some more by selling you a 5.00 crap lock for 100.00 or even 200.00. they use bait and switch pricing.

Verizon has deleted almost 100,000 phony locksmith listings from there online directory in the past year. They have also about a week or two ago actually separated there advertising from the phone company portion of the business. The new company is now called idearc. I can only assume this is a logical action to avoid the possible liability of what is going on.

If you want to do a test go to smartpages.com and search for locksmith and choose a city and or state. Example if you search locksmith and Pensylvania the first 1000 listings and even more are all two different scam locksmith companys. The addresses are all fraudulant. Try Miami florida, las angelas ca, and many other large citys you will see the same thing.

These phony companys are raking in millions each year. One of the newyork companys it has been said they are making 20 million a year.

I spoke to one of the employees at a state court hearing here in chicago. I was told by this scammer employee while engaging in some friendly intelligence gathering conversation that they have inside people at the yellow pages and they receive hugh discounts for the large full page ads they are placing in citys across the nation.

This is one of the scary parts they have a near monopoly on the cell phone 411 system. They have filled the data bases with so many phony address listings in most major citys that when you call 411 on your cell phone ( which most people do now)
you will get the same counterfiet locksmiths over and over again. you could ask for 10 listings and they will all be one of these scammers or another with some local adress that is phony. they use thousands of different names also. It is always the same 55.00 service qouted for a lockout and after they unlock your stuff the price goes much higher. These companys are really not in the rural areas but the are in just about all major citys from coast to coast and from top to bottom.

Some of these companys are as follows

superb solutions- Now known as Dependable lock
this company is in the bronx new york.
some of their aliasis
sos locksmith
speedway locksmith
priceline locksmith
always available locksmith
chicago-locksmith.com
houston-locksmith.com
miami-locksmith.com
( the citys go on and on with websites that use the citys name then a dash and then locksmith.com)
usatotalsecurity.com
they use hundreds of other names such as:
locksmith 24 hour inc.
24 hour locksmith
emergency locksmith
the names just keep going on.

These companys almost always ask for your zip code.

The next company.

USA Locksmith- aka prestige business solutions
teanick - New Jersey
many of their names look like this.
#0#0#0 emergency locksmith
01 01 01 24 hour locksmith
# 1 3 1 000 locksmith
there are an untold amount of combinations like this.
in the detroit suburban area they are using common names such as oniels family locksmith, townsquare locksmith, and many more.
This company has untold thousands of phony addresses and listings all across the united states.

Another company is called:

Golden locksmith solutions - Chamblee georgia a suburb outside of atlanta.

They use names such as :
A locksmith
papa locksmith
24x7 locksmith and others

THESE ARE JUST THREE THERE ARE MORE!!!

IF you want to see a collection of some of the news storys around the country you are welcome to go to http://www.aloa.org/and click the phony locksmith link on the home page and it will give you a page full of news links all over the country.

ALOA stands for associated locksmiths of America.
Unfortunatly some of these scam outfits are using the alao logo in their ads. we are currently trying to stop this.

Some of their full page ads say they belong to the american locksmith association and there is no such association.

I am sorry this rebuttal was long but this is about as short as I can make it and it is just the tip of the iceburg.

I am a locksmith and I tell you our industry is under seige by con-artists. It seemed to have statrted in new york.

Some of these companys are also in the following businesses.

Towing ( from what ive seen on the east coast)
carpet cleaning
florists

THE common Denominater is they all seem to be Israeli foriegners.

Make sure you go to aloa.org and you will see and become a believer that this is real and not former disgruntled employees or the compitition.

MIKE Bronzell
VP IIL

____________________________________________________________

In California where I live, all locksmith companies MUST be licensed, and individuals working for LICENSED locksmith companies who have undergone RIGOROUS background checks must also submit to criminal background checks with the Department of Justice and the FBI. Read HERE on those facts.

WARNING: when using a locksmith, it is BEST to go to a locksmith which is KNOWN and in your neighborhood, a locksmith that you have actually SEEN at a location which has been there for quite a while. These Israeli rip-off artists are just that, RIP-OFF ARTISTS. Furthermore, your SAFETY is at stake here. NEVER allow a shady locksmith to come in to your home!

Here is an ABC News story posted on Youtube January 24, 2008 about these SCAM companies.



From YNet: Israeli company cons Chicago residents Bronx-based Israeli locksmith company facing two lawsuits for alleged consumer fraud, after they manipulated phone listings with false addresses and charged customers with unrealistic high prices (source)



Thanks Robin for this report.

Another Link to the Locksmith and other Israeli scams.

This is supposed to be a local locksmith. But check the numbers that is given from the snippet below.

Click on Picture to enlarge.

What does Israel have against a Palestinian stadium?

A friendly game between an Arab soccer team and a Palestinian team was supposed to inaugurate the new stadium being built in the eastern part of Al-Bireh, near Ramallah, at the end of the year. "Supposed to" because the Civil Administration, an arm of the Defense Ministry, has ordered that the work be halted and is threatening demolition.

FIFA, the international soccer federation, financed the stadium as part of a larger program to promote Palestinian soccer. The stadium covers 11 dunams (2.75 acres) and will hold 8,000 seats. An Israeli contractor, in partnership with a Dutch company and a Palestinian subcontractor, constructed the field.

In October 2008, when the field was ready, FIFA president Joseph Blatter and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad laid the cornerstone for the stadium. The governments of France and Germany are paying for the construction of stands. The outer wall, the lighting and the scoreboard are being financed by the Al-Bireh municipality, which owns the land and within whose jurisdiction the stadium is located.

In 1973, the municipality submitted for the approval of the IDF a detailed plan for the area where the stadium is now located. It received final approval from Israel's National Planning and Building Council and Supreme Planning Council in 1981. Nevertheless, on October 11 of this year, Israeli soldiers and representatives of the Civil Administration showed up at the site. They arrived via the neighboring Jewish settlement of Psagot, which overlooks Palestinian neighborhoods and was built on Al-Bireh land. They delivered a stop-work order from the administration to one of the workers (whose name was handwritten, in Hebrew, on it).

On November 1, the municipality received a "final" stop-work order - addressed anonymously to "the holder," from "the Supreme Planning Council's building inspection subcommittee," and issued by "Assaf."

The document claims that work on the stadium's stands is being carried out "without a license," and contains other standard admonitions: "You were given an opportunity to appear before the inspection subcommittee to state your case. The subcommittee has concluded that the aforementioned work was carried out without proper permission ... You are hereby obligated, in accordance with section .... of the 1966 City, Village and Buildings Planning Law, to cease activity upon and use of said land, and to raze the building ... and to restore the location to its previous state within 7 days ... If you do not act as required, all legal means will be taken against you, including demolition of the structure and any means required to restore the situation to its prior state, at your expense."

A German source has told Haaretz: "This could become a major diplomatic issue between Germany and Israel. Just imagine: A German-financed project being torn down. It would definitely be a political scandal."

Blots on the landscape

Why is the Civil Administration concerned with a soccer stadium located within Al-Bireh's municipal boundaries, which the IDF itself approved nearly 30 years ago?

It emerges that some of the land in question, which the municipality designated for a school and other public buildings in the early 1970s, had the misfortune to later be defined as being in Area C (see box). Amid the 11,000 dunams (2,750 acres) that fall within the city's bounds, there are several such Area C "blotches" - for the most part, in areas close to where the settlements of Psagot and Beit El, as well as IDF and Civil Administration bases, were built, on the lands of Al-Bireh and Ramallah. The headquarters of Jawal (the Palestinian cell-phone company) is located in Area C, as is the house of Dr. Samih Al-Abed, who heads the Palestinian team at the territory and border negotiation committee. Even part of the residence of PA President Mahmoud Abbas is in Area C.

The Al-Bireh municipality has not, however, received any maps from Israel demarcating the exact location of the parts of the town defined as Area C. Their location has been surmised, based on the tabu (Land Registry) documents submitted to the municipality, as per the 1995 Israeli-Palestinian interim agreement: The lots for which the Civil Administration did not submit documents to the city are understood to belong to Area C. But Area C is not a planning designation, per se.

"[It is] a political designation, which was supposed to be temporary - to last just 18 months," explained Al-Abed, an architect and city planner, and a former senior official in the Palestinian Planning Ministry.

"It is unjust, unreasonable and unfair to have to request and to wait for an Israeli license to build within the blotches of Area C that are within approved and recognized municipal areas," he said this week, pointing out that, "It is Al-Bireh that provides all services to the citizenry, including those bits of Area C that are in the municipal area: cleaning, garbage collection, maintenance, renovations, construction."

Musa Jwayyed, the Al-Bireh city engineer, says that over the years, various structures have been built in areas within the municipal borders that are apparently part of Area C, and that the city has also carried out the necessary infrastructure work in those areas, including preparation of a sewerage network, and the paving of roads and sidewalks - without requesting licenses from the Civil Administration.

Jwayyed: "Al-Bireh has another 18,000 dunams [4,500 acres] outside the municipal boundaries. Settlements sit on some of them, and the rest are private lands or our own land reserves. There I know I must have Israeli approval and coordination: such as for the renovation of the slaughterhouse, for reaching the municipal garbage-disposal site, for construction of a water-purification plant. But the stadium is located within the municipal boundaries that the IDF approved."

The question is: Why, all of a sudden, more than three years after construction of the entire project began and 10 months after construction of the stands started, has the Civil Administration decided to halt the work?

Ziv Nishri, the Israeli contractor who built the field, said in a telephone conversation: "The army knew about the project because it's impossible to do anything without the Civil Administration's approval. FIFA is the body dealing with the foreign minister. Without the umbrella of the Foreign Ministry, the army and the Civil Administration, nothing would be happening here."

When Nishri heard about the stop-work order this week, he was very surprised. "The plans for the stands are at least two years old. Even before we started on the project, I had the general plans for the stands, because we designed the field to fit them."

Officials at Al-Bireh city hall see a connection between the stop-work order, and the Palestinian refusal to return to the negotiating table as long as Israel does not freeze construction in the settlements, as well as the recent announcement by Prime Minister Fayyad of the planned consolidation of various Palestinian state institutions. The officials and local activists agree with Samih al-Abed when he says: "This is a typical kind of Israeli pressure, which means: 'Either you go back to negotiations or we'll punish you. We'll do whatever we can to upset your lives.'"

The coordinator of government activities in the territories responded to Haaretz: "Recently, there have been meetings and discussions between representatives of the Civil Administration and Palestinians at the very highest level, with the goal of resolving the issue of the construction of the Al-Bireh stadium. This has been in the wake of the official measures taken against the construction that was undertaken without the proper permits and in an illegal location. The Civil Administration is working with the civil-affairs ministry of the Palestinian Authority to prepare and submit an amendment to the existing zoning plan, and following that, the possibility of a permit, in principal, for the continuation of construction will be considered."

Source:

Israeli army arrests Palestinian woman for refusing to strip

Hebron – Ma’an – A woman who refused to remove her clothes in front of Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint in Hebron was detained and taken to an Israeli prison facility Tuesday afternoon, local sources said.

Umm Wisam Dovch approached the Martyrs street checkpoint in central Hebron, and was asked to remove layers of her clothing so soldiers could search her person after she passed through metal detectors at the military post. When the middle-age woman refused to remove her clothing she was struck several times by one of the soldiers and forced into a military vehicle.

The woman was at the checkpoint on her way home to Tel Ar-Rumeda, south west of the Old City. The street is closed to Palestinian vehicles and residents must pass two Israeli checkpoints and several trailers settler families whenever they leave or return to their homes.

Israeli media sources reported that the woman was suspected to be concealing a weapon in the shoulder of her coat.

Source:

EU: Settlement activity in East Jerusalem threatens two-state solution

The European Union on Wednesday joined the chorus of international criticism of an Israeli plan to build hundreds of new housing units in East Jerusalem, saying the move hampered talks over the establishment of a Palestinian state.

"The Presidency recalls that settlement activities, house demolitions and evictions in East Jerusalem are illegal under international law," the Swedish Presidency of the EU said in a statement.

"Such activities also prejudge the outcome of final status negotiations and threaten the viability of a two-state solution."

The EU statement echoed language used on Tuesday by the White House, which said it was "dismayed" by the move.

"The Presidency of the European Union is dismayed by the recent decision on the expansion of the settlement of Gilo," said the statement, referring to the Jerusalem neighborhood where Israel decided on Tuesday to build 900 new homes.

The EU presidency added that if there were to be genuine peace, a way must be found to resolve the status of Jerusalem as the future capital of two states.

Obama: Expanding settlements won't make Israel safer

The statement came shortly after U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday said the move complicated efforts by his administration to relaunch peace talks and embitters the Palestinians.

Obama told Fox News in an interview Wednesday that additional settlement building doesn't make Israel safer. He said such moves make it harder to achieve peace in the region, and embitters the Palestinians in a way that he said could be very dangerous.

"The situation in the Middle East is very difficult, and I've said repeatedly and I'll say again, Israel's security is a vital national interest to the United States, and we will make sure they are secure," Obama said in the interview.

Obama and the Palestinians have demanded that Israel halt settlement construction.

An aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday dismissed U.S. anger at Israel's approval for new homes in a settlement near Jerusalem.

Netanyahu's aide also sent reporters a message calling the building plan "a routine process." He said Netanyahu does not normally review municipal building plans and saw Gilo as "an integral part of Jerusalem."

"Construction in Gilo has taken place regularly for dozens of years and there is nothing new about the current planning and construction," the aide added.

Netanyahu seemed keen to contain the fresh dispute with Washington over settlements, ordering cabinet ministers to show restraint after the White House criticized the plan.

An official said the order went out after a deputy minister was quoted by an Israeli news website as accusing the United States of "behaving like a bull in a china shop" for objecting to the building plan for an area in the West Bank that Israel sees as part of Jerusalem.

Publication of the government commission's blueprint for Gilo on Tuesday drew sharp rebukes from the Palestinians, joined by Washington, Europe and the United Nations.

Abbas aide: Plan destroys chances for peace

Nabil Abu Rdaineh, aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, condemned the building plan, saying it "destroys the last chances for the peace process."

Abbas has said peace talks could resume only if settlement building stopped, a demand rejected by the United States which has echoed Israel in calling for negotiations, suspended for nearly a year, to start without preconditions.

Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat told an Israeli radio station on Wednesday that Netanyahu "has the choice - settlements or peace," and accused Israel of trying to decide the conflict by building instead of at the negotiating table.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, visiting Jerusalem, said France regretted Israel's decision.

Housing Minister Ariel Attias, trying to minimize the plan's significance, called it a "technical" matter, telling Army Radio it could be a year or more before building began.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement "at a time when we are working to relaunch negotiations, these actions make it more difficult for our efforts to succeed."

The United States also objected to continued evictions and the demolition of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem, he said.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also deplored the Israeli move, spokesman Farhan Haq said. Ban "believes that such actions undermine efforts for peace and cast doubt on the viability of the two-state solution" for Israelis and Palestinians, he said.

Netanyahu has said he would avoid expanding existing settlements, but rejects demands to stop building in Jerusalem.

Gilo, where some 40,000 Israelis live, was built on West Bank land Israel captured in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed as part of Jerusalem.

Some 500,000 Jews live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, also captured in 1967, among 2.7 million Palestinians

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US raps Israeli settlement plan

The United States has voiced its "dismay" over Israel's approval of 900 additional housing units at a Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the move makes it "more difficult" to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

He was speaking shortly after planning applications for the new units had been approved by Israel's interior ministry.

The planning and construction committee authorised the expansion of Gilo, which is built on land captured in 1967.

The land was later annexed to the Jerusalem municipality.

With the project yet to be reviewed, the public can still make objections.

Settlements on occupied territory are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.

It is the second time in two months that the Obama administration has spoken out on settlements.

In September the White House said it regretted reports that Israel planned to approve new construction in the West Bank.

The BBC's Paul Adams in Washington says the conventional wisdom in the US is that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has successfully thwarted Barack Obama's first foray into the stalled Middle East peace process, rebuffing American calls for a complete settlements freeze.

But some Washington observers say it's too early to write off the president's efforts, he says.

They believe Mr Obama is playing a long game and that the frosty relations between Mr Netanyahu and the White House could cause problems for the Israeli leader in the future, our correspondent adds.

'Israel's capital'

Israeli media reported earlier that the government had rejected a request from Washington to freeze the construction work at Gilo.

Mr Obama's Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, is said to have made the request to Mr Netanyahu at a meeting in London on Monday.

Mr Netanyahu replied that the project did not require government approval and that Gilo was "an integral part of Jerusalem", according to Israel Army Radio.

His spokesman, Mark Regev, declined to comment on the reports, but repeated Israel's refusal to include areas annexed to Jerusalem as part of any accommodation of Mr Obama's call for "restraint" in settlement construction.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu... is willing to adopt the policy of the greatest possible restraint concerning growth in the West Bank, but this applies to the West Bank," he told the Reuters news agency. "Jerusalem is Israel's capital and will remain as such."

Palestinian anger

The Palestinian Authority has demanded a halt to all settlement construction before it will attend new peace talks, which were suspended last year.

Mr Gibbs said: "We are dismayed at the Jerusalem Planning Committee's decision to move forward on the approval process for the expansion of Gilo in Jerusalem.

"Neither party should engage in efforts or take actions that could unilaterally pre-empt, or appear to pre-empt, negotiations."

America's position, he added, was that the status of Jerusalem must be resolved "through negotiations between the parties".

The BBC's Tim Franks in Jerusalem says Tuesday's announcement represents by far the largest batch of planning approvals for building on occupied territory since Mr Netanyahu became prime minister.

The 900 housing units, which will be built in the form of four-to-five-bedroom apartments, will account for a significant expansion of Gilo. The interior ministry said construction work would be unlikely to start for another three or four years, once the plans gained final authorisation.

A spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the planning approval was "yet another step that shows and proves Israel is not ready for peace".

"This step will ruin every single attempt - European or American - to preserve the peace process," Nabil Abu Rudeineh said.

Israel's Peace Now movement, which opposes Jewish settlement activity, said Mr Netanyahu was "showing again that he is spoiling any chance to start negotiations by continuing to create new provocations in Jerusalem".

"This development is intended to torpedo progress that is taking place between US and Palestinians and Israelis on renewing the talks," said Peace Now's Hagit Ofran.

Nearly 500,000 Jews live in more than 100 settlements built on occupied territory in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

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Reporter Helen Thomas criticizes Obama's Mideast peace efforts

Veteran White House correspondent, 89, believes U.S. hasn't done enough to advance Mideast peace.

On her 89th birthday, Hearst Newspapers columnist and veteran reporter Helen Thomas received a tray of cupcakes and personal congratulations from U.S. President Barack Obama in the White House briefing room.

But it seems that the veteran reporter, who covered every U.S. president since John F. Kennedy, requires from the Obama administration more than personal attention and cupcakes. Under Obama, Thomas says, the U.S. has not done enough to advance Middle East peace.

"I don't think they are working very hard for peace," she told Haaretz in an interview. "It's quite neglected because of Afghanistan and Iraq and the healthcare. It was right to push for a total settlements freeze, and it's wrong for President Obama to say there is no longer ban on settlements until they start negotiations - then what you get is [a] fait accompli. I don't think Obama should have caved on that."

She also criticizes the previous Administration's refusal to recognize the results of elections in Gaza in which Hamas had the upper hand.
"They've spread the word how they wanted democracy in the Middle East - but the moment Hamas won fairly, which every international observer said, including [former U.S. President Jimmy] Carter (I know he's not very popular in Israel, but he is an honest man) - they cut aid. How hypocritical can you get?"

And the fact that the United States considers Hamas a terrorist organization does not bother her.

"I think you can call anybody terrorist organization when they are in opposition - it's very loosely held word," she says. "I think people in Palestine are fighting for their land. Little by little, incursions and kicking people from their homes - who on earth would ever accept that without a fight? No American would and probably no Israeli would either. But I wouldn't give up on peace: I thought it was impossible with Begin, but something happened. Nothing is impossible. People want peace, and we should never stop trying."

The veteran White House Press Corps member has criticized Israel's policies towards the Palestinians for years.

"I've been to Israel several times with Carter and other presidents," she says. "I think the average Israeli is very fine, very fair and straightforward. But I think their treatment of the Palestinians in Jerusalem, where they continue to take their land, is wrong. It would be wrong in France, it would be wrong anywhere in the world. No one would accept that; I wouldn't. We've been always involved, and American Zionists certainly expect us to back up anything Israel does. I don't know if it is where the average American really wants us to be, but we have been there from the beginning, and I think both sides do want our intervention?.

Obama, she says, has yet to earn his Nobel Prize.

"I didn't think he deserved it yet. I think it's something he has to work for. He has to live up to it now for sure. I think it was a message - work for peace."

Thomas also believes that the Obama administration still has much to learn about the importance of its choices, but she denies being out to get its officials.

"My mission in life is to make them miserable? No," she laughs. "Actually, I think they are trying hard, and I think their hearts are in the right place. But there is no such thing as an instant president, they all have to learn. And we have to learn too, over and over again.

"I think Obama's people still don't fully understand how important every decision is. They think they have time, but they don't have that much time. I was in that press room all through the Vietnam War, and everything seems like déjà-vu all over again. I thought we'd learned that lesson of interventionism in places where people were determined to fight for their own country."

Obama has been reconsidering the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan for more than nine months; Thomas, however, thinks there is not much about which to ponder.

"He should get out. We should get out of there. You can have blue helmets to try to stabilize the situation - and get out. It became pointless, with no purpose, no mission, it's just to be there and be killed and killed. I do believe that Taliban are terrible, but I don't believe that if we don't go there, they'll all come here. I think that people need to overthrow their own tyrants."

Recently, Thomas co-authored with Craig Crawford her fifth book, "Listen Up, Mr. President: Everything You Always Wanted Your President to Know and Do." Along with plenty of historical anecdotes and personal observations, Thomas offers some advice to future presidents. She also mentions that decades at the briefing room did not help her make friends there.

"They all hate me, but no one went to this business to be liked," she says. "If you're their friend, you can't ask them [the] questions that we are asking. Besides, these are all new administrations, they start fresh every time. I think what's really wrong - the moment the president and his people step into the White House they become very secretive.

"Information that in my opinion belongs in the public domain suddenly becomes their private preserved information. They cover in walls everything. In the age of the Internet, we are certainly getting more information, no question about it - but what kind of information? That's the problem."

No one is flawless for Thomas, not even her colleagues at the White House.

"Press corps members are asking tougher questions now, but they didn't ask any tough questions ahead of the Iraqi war," she says.

"No one asked: 'Why?' And the very fact that everything was based on false facts, and nobody called their head, was shocking. People should always ask their governments 'Why?' and see if it's acceptable, why they are asking you to give your life and your family and destroy the country. People should get involved and should care."

The White House press corps grew over the years, but she also witnessed the decline of many newspapers, many of which recently closed their Washington bureaus.

"I love newspapers, and I don't want them to go out of existence. Today everybody with a laptop thinks he is a journalist and everybody with a cell phone thinks he is a photographer. It is not edited, they can say anything, they can ruin lives and reputations just by throwing it to the wind. It's a democracy, but it's important to have editors to say: 'Look, you are not a prosecutor.' I think there are big changes, and you cry when a newspaper goes down and so many have.

"But I think we'll always have an informed people and information that is fair; people deserve to read news. There is, of course, a lot of interpretation, a lot of opinion. I myself now write an opinion column - but for 57 years I wrote for UPI, where if a mother said she loves you, you had to check it out. It was about facts, and even if you cared for human race you couldn't put it in your copy."

Now Thomas can admit that over the years, she had her own sympathies.

"I thought Kennedy was the best, he is my favorite," she says. "He was very inspiring. He created the peace corps, signed the first nuclear test ban treaty and he said we are going to land man on the moon. He had great goals, told young people to go into public service. I though Johnson was great on domestic side. In the first two years in office he went through Medicare, civil rights act, public aid to education, environmental laws; he was sensational. But Vietnam brought him down."

Thomas, who was one of 9 siblings born to a family of illiterate Christian immigrants from Syria, thinks of herself as an American woman. "I was born here," she says.

And with regard to her fight to get to the top of the profession, she willingly shares credit.

"There were many, many women trying to find an equality in a journalism when the whole market for journalists was men's world. National Press Club - which was for the men alone. Each time we had to break down barriers, but I certainly didn't do it alone. It was determination; I don't like inequality and injustice. Outrage, that's what keeps me moving; anger at injustice. Actually a lot changed - it is very slow, but I think mankind does move to have a better world. I truly believe that.

"But sometimes progress is slow, and you have great setbacks. But we are our brother's keeper, we should be helping one another. We shouldn't have 47 million people in the U.S. who are uninsured because they have no jobs or are not eligible for it. Medicare for everyone, that's what we should have. I think Obama's legislation is a step in the right direction. But he could be more tough on it."

Sometimes her long exchanges with the White House spokesman, Robert Gibbs, exhaust other reporters.

"Well, you always wonder if you should have rephrase the question or ask it differently or ask much more important question," she admits. "Always Monday morning you think: 'Why did I ask it that way?' But I love the fact that we can question the president and put him on a spot, we should do it more often, it's very important to ask: 'Why.'

"I feel very privileged to hold this job for so long, because everything comes to the White House. Trivial things, and war and peace issues. Everything that [the] White House has done affects everyone in America and maybe in the world. So I feel very privileged to cover history every day. I love my work and I'd like to do it as long as I can. It keeps me involved, and I've been lucky so far."

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U.S. 'dismayed' at Israel plan to build 900 homes beyond Green Line

Israel disregards specific U.S. objection, approves plan to expand Jerusalem's Gilo neighborhood.

The White House responded angrily Tuesday to Israel's plan to build 900 new housing units beyond the Green Line in Jerusalem, despite specific objections from the U.S., saying that "we are dismayed."

In a statement, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs voiced the U.S.'s disappointment with "the Jerusalem Planning Committee's decision to move forward on the approval process for the expansion of Gilo in Jerusalem."

The Jerusalem municipal planning committee approved the construction plan Tuesday despite an expose in Israel's Yedioth Aharonot newspaper earlier in the day revealing that the U.S. has specifically objected to the construction outlined in the plan.

"At a time when we are working to relaunch negotiations," the White House spokesman went on to say, "these actions make it more difficult for our efforts to succeed. Neither party should engage in efforts or take actions that could unilaterally pre-empt, or appear to pre-empt, negotiations."

"The U.S. also objects to other Israeli practices in Jerusalem related to housing, including the continuing pattern of evictions and demolitions of Palestinian homes," the statement continued.

"Our position is clear: the status of Jerusalem is a permanent status issue that must be resolved through negotiations between the parties," he added.

State Department Spokesman Ian Kelly also voiced disapproval, saying "we understand the Israeli point of view about Jerusalem but we think all sides right now should refrain from these actions. We're calling on both parties to refrain from action and from rhetoric that would impede this process. It's a challenging time and we need to focus on what's important."

The plan - named "Gilo's western slopes" - will account for a significant expansion of the neighborhood. The planned 900 housing unites will be built in the form of 4-5 bedroom apartments, in an effort to lure relatively well-off residents.

The plan was initiated by the Israel Land Administration, and has received an initial green light, but on Tuesday the authorization was finalized.

The additional housing units are only part of the planned expansion of Gilo. In fact, the majority of apartments slated to be built in Jerusalem in the coming years will be located in Gilo. Other building plans in various stages of approval include some 4,000 new housing units in Gilo and adjacent areas.

According to sources in the planning committee, extensive building plans stem from the scrapping of the Safdie plan, which would have seen the city expand westward. The Safdie plan, named after architect Moshe Safdie, included over 20,000 housing units on open areas covering 26,600 dunams (some 6,600 acres) west of the city on natural and planted forests near Ramot. The plan had come under attack by environmental groups, and was later discarded.

According to the sources, this created a need for new land for construction, which can be found in the southern parts of the city and beyond the Green Line.

The chairman of the Gilo community administration, Moshe Ben Shushan, voiced amazement at the American disapproval, saying "this is a trend of interference in Israel's policies. I have never thought of Gilo as a settlement."

Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said Tuesday that there was no point in negotiating while Israel expands Jewish neighborhoods in the part of Jerusalem the Palestinians want for their capital.

He said the Israeli move shows that it is meaningless to resume negotiations.

Over recent days, American officials have shown a tremendous amount of interest in the construction plans, and have even approached left-wing activists for information.

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Despite U.S. objection, Israel plans 900 homes beyond Green Line

The Jerusalem municipal planning committee on Tuesday approved the construction of 900 new housing units in the city's Gilo neighborhood.

The committee's move comes in the wake of an expose Tuesday morning in the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Aharonot revealing that the U.S. has voiced objection to the expansion of Gilo, which is located beyond the Green Line.

The plan - named "Gilo's western slopes" - will account for a significant expansion of the neighborhood. The planned 900 housing unites will be built in the form of 4-5 bedroom apartments, in an effort to lure relatively well-off residents.

The plan was initiated by the Israel Land Administration, and has received an initial green light, but on Tuesday the authorization was finalized.

The additional housing units are only part of the planned expansion of Gilo. In fact, the majority of apartments slated to be built in Jerusalem in the coming years will be located in Gilo. Other building plans in various stages of approval include some 4,000 new housing units in Gilo and adjacent areas.

According to sources in the planning committee, extensive building plans stem from the scrapping of the Safdie plan, which would have seen the city expand westward. The Safdie plan, named after architect Moshe Safdie, included over 20,000 housing units on open areas covering 26,600 dunams (some 6,600 acres) west of the city on natural and planted forests near Ramot. The plan had come under attack by environmental groups, and was later discarded.

According to the sources, this created a need for new land for construction, which can be found in the southern parts of the city and beyond the Green Line.

The chairman of the Gilo community administration, Moshe Ben Shushan, voiced amazement at the American disapproval, saying "this is a trend of interference in Israel's policies. I have never thought of Gilo as a settlement."

Over recent days, American officials have shown a tremendous amount of interest in the construction plans, and have even approached left-wing activists for information.

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U.S. politician promotes home ownership in settlements

An influential Jewish community leader and Democratic State Assemblyman from New York is currently heading a mission of about 50 Americans through the West Bank and East Jerusalem to promote home purchases in the area and to protest U.S. President Barack Obama's Middle East policy.

"Our goal is to send a clear message to Washington and President Obama that Jews will continue to live in Judea and Samaria and the ultimate commitment American Jews can make is to actually come and buy property in these areas as this will ensure these communities" security and growth," said Dov Hikind, 59, who has been representing Brooklyn's 48th district since 1983.

"People buy properties in different places, and I can't think of any reason why people dedicated to the land of Israel shouldn't own something here, whether they will use it or use it as an opportunity for young families to live in that particular home," the politician told Haaretz yesterday in Elon Moreh, an Israeli settlement in the Samarian Hills.

While no one has committed to a purchase yet, the visitors have voiced serious interest, according to Hikind. He himself "absolutely" intendes to buy a home in Nof Zion, a new Jewish neighborhood in East Jerusalem. The finale of Hikind's four-day mission is a cornerstone laying in Nof Zion Wednesday afternoon.

"When there will be a real peace process, the fact that Jews live in certain areas will be dealt with at the negotiating table," Hikind said when asked whether Jews buying homes in areas designated for a future Palestinian state could be an obstacle to peace. 'I'm for peace," Hikind continued. "The issue is: Can there be natural expansion, can families grow, are they allowed to build toilets?"

Hikind dismisses the argument that American buyers can hardly be called natural expansion. "We're Jews and we care. I've always wanted to own something in Israel; it's been a dream of mine and of many Jews," he said. "For now, if a Jews wants to buy something in the Land of Israel there shouldn't be anything that says you can't buy in a particular area because Jews should not live there because that area has to be segregated."

One of the few Democrats who opposed Obama even before he was elected, Hikind says the U.S. president's policy of demanding a total settlement freeze caused the current stalemate in regional peace talks.

"President Obama actually has put a stop to whatever peace process existed, to any kind of dialogue between the Palestinian Authority and the prime minister of Israel, because Mahmoud Abbas's new position is what Obama said: there can be absolutely no construction, period," Hikind said. While Israel was willing to resume talks, Palestinians refuse to return to the negotiating table before Israel agrees to a complete freeze, he added. "They're just taking the position the president had, which is ridiculous and outrageous."

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Guess who is funding the rabbi who endorses killing gentile babies?

Right-wing spokesmen, including some elected officials, rushed to place Yaakov "Jack" Teitel in the fringe group alongside Yigal Amir, Eden Natan Zada, Eliran Golan, Asher Weisgan, Danny Tikman and a few other "political/ideological" murderers.

True, they acknowledge, there are among us several lunatic rabbis who agitate to violence. Really, just a handful; even a toddler could count them.

The more stringent will note that unlike the Hamas government, our government does not pay the salaries of rabbis who advocate the killing of babies.

Is that so? Not really.

For example, government ministries regularly transfer support and funding to a yeshiva whose rabbi determined that it is permissible to kill gentile babies "because their presence assists murder, and there is reason to harm children if it is clear that they will grow up to harm us ... it is permissible to harm the children of a leader in order to stop him from acting evilly ... we have seen in the Halakha that even babies of gentiles who do not violate the seven Noahide laws, there is cause to kill them because of the future threat that will be caused if they are raised to be wicked people like their parents."

Lior Yavne, who oversees research at the Yesh Din human rights organization, checked and found that in 2006-2007, the Ministry of Education department of Torah institutions transferred over a million shekels to the Od Yosef Hai yeshiva in Yitzhar.

The Ministry of Social Affairs has allocated over 150,000 shekels to the yeshiva since 2007, scholarships for students with financial difficulties studying there. And what can they learn with the help of public funding from the head of the yeshiva, Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira? According to selected items published last week in the media, the boys can learn that Teitel is not only innocent, but also a real saint.

Their spiritual leader stated in his book, "Torat Hamelekh" that "a national decision is not necessary in order to permit the shedding of blood of an evil kingdom. Even individuals from the afflicted kingdom can attack them."

A brochure distributed in Judean and Samarian communities stated that "needless to say that nowhere in the book does it state that these remarks are aimed only at gentiles in ancient times."

The commandments in the book do not suffice only with gentiles; you can also find in them approval to attack leftist professors: every citizen in the kingdom opposing us who encourages the fighters or expresses satisfaction with their actions is considered a pursuer and his killing is permissible," wrote the rabbi and adds, "and also considered a pursuer is someone whose remarks weaken our kingdom or have a similar effect."

Not long ago, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced that he would ask European Union countries to halt their support for the Breaking the Silence organization because he was displeased with their publications.

The minister surely has reservations about the rabbi's publications.

He is invited to approach his colleagues at the Ministry of Education and at the Ministry of Social Affairs.

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G.I. joe: Veterans-turned-baristas serve a strong brew

Just outside the largest Army base on the West Coast, a coffeehouse aims to provide active-duty soldiers and fellow veterans with help surviving the effects of war -- and maybe ending it.



Reporting from Lakewood, Wash. - For an Army weary from war, they offer tea and sympathy -- along with double tall lattes, caramel macchiatos and leads on civilian jobs. At Coffee Strong, outside the gates of the sprawling Ft. Lewis Army base, the brew is served up by veterans and comes with a shot of solidarity.

"There's no way you can spend five years of your life being deployed in Iraq and be a normal human being when you come back to the United States. You're pretty far gone by that time," Seth Manzel, who spent two years in Iraq with the Army's 1st Stryker Brigade, said as he poured free drinks Wednesday in honor of Veterans Day. "We wanted to get involved in something that would help."

Business was light -- Ft. Lewis has 18,000 soldiers deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq, and many of the rest took advantage of the holiday to sleep in. But a typical morning at the coffeehouse sees tables filled with men and women in fatigues, sipping drinks, scanning computers free of charge and reading newspapers.

Schubert played over the sound system that sometimes features live folk concerts, hip-hop performances or someone banging on the piano under the "Support War Resisters" poster that spans much of one wall.

During the Vietnam War, GI coffeehouses sprang up to provide a support system for disillusioned veterans returning to a hostile public. Now they are making a comeback among active military and combat veterans frustrated with what they consider a lack of access to medical and counseling services, and former soldiers convinced that the best way to help their comrades is to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Other coffeehouses have opened in Texas and Virginia. But Coffee Strong, which started up a year ago, operates just a few hundred yards from the biggest Army base on the West Coast -- in an urban region that has one of the most active civilian peace movements in the country.

"Most people think of this war as very abstract, as something about military and foreign policy in Washington, D.C.," said Zoltan Grossman, a geography professor at Evergreen State College in nearby Olympia, Wash. "But here we see and hear the war every day.

"We see the helicopters flying over, we see the Strykers on the highways, we hear the artillery booming from Ft. Lewis, we see the car accidents and the domestic violence and other instances of post-traumatic stress disorder affecting the people who have come back home. It makes it more real."

Grossman is on the board of G.I. Voice, a veteran-led nonprofit that helped open Coffee Strong.

"When soldiers come back from Iraq or Afghanistan, one of their major complaints is that it doesn't seem that the country knows that there's a war on," he said. "Their family doesn't necessarily want to hear their stories, their friends are more interested in reality TV."

Baristas at the shop steer patrons toward psychological and job counseling and connect them with groups that will help them get better medical treatment.

"Soldiers understand the people that are in their command, that are supposedly . . . going to help them, that's not actually their job," said Coffee Strong's manager, Andrew VanDenBergh, 27. The onetime Marine, who was stationed at Twentynine Palms, was part of the initial assault on Iraq in 2004.

"A first sergeant's job, in theory, is to help out their soldiers. But really they're working all day doing all kinds of other things -- planning, training, doing logistics. And at the end of the day, they need to move numbers with names attached to them from one column to the other column. And if your medical condition is getting in the way, that's not going to stop them."

One former military policewoman sought help at Coffee Strong because her arm had been injured during an initial tour in Afghanistan. The Army was preparing to redeploy her -- before having needed surgery -- until the shop staff put her in touch with a soldiers medical advocates organization.

"Another case," Manzel recalled, "a guy came in and said, 'I'm gonna kill my platoon sergeant.' We said, 'You should seek mental help.' He said, 'I just came from the psychiatrist. I told him this and they said I was deployable.'

"He showed us the paperwork. . . . It said, 'Latent hostility towards chain of command.'

"I'm telling you, it's systemic," Manzel said. "They have to do this to keep the numbers up. The Army cannot take care of soldiers the way it says it will and keep a force that's able to support wars on two fronts. It's just not possible."

The staff at Coffee Strong said it had found a receptive audience among Ft. Lewis' 31,000 military personnel -- at least among those who have wandered into the shop.

Most young service members join not because they want to go to war but because they have few other good options, said Manzel, 30, who wears a black T-shirt declaring his opposition to the Iraq war.

"I joined the Army after 9/11, when the economy took a downturn. I was working in a gun store. I had a daughter and a wife to support. . . . The Army was a good fit," he said.

"Being in Iraq pretty much solidified my view that the war was wrong. At first, I thought maybe there's some good that can be done. But once I saw the overall strategy . . . I could see there's no way Iraq is going to be able to pull out in the foreseeable future."

Not everyone at Ft. Lewis thinks Coffee Strong is doing the right thing. One day, a uniformed soldier walked in, ripped down the "Iraq Veterans Against the War" poster from the front window and walked out again.

Staffers said they were hopeful, however, that resentment about the long-running wars would grow and help them in their next goal: encouraging active-duty service members to resist deployment orders to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Nearly 200 Ft. Lewis soldiers have died in Iraq, and at least 46 in Afghanistan and the Philippines.

Soldiers, Manzel said, "need to know there's support in the community.

"They need to know if they get in trouble for refusing an illegal order, by God, the community's going to get together and get them a lawyer."

G.I. Voice recently held a rally outside Ft. Lewis in support of two soldiers incarcerated there, one for resisting deployment to Afghanistan and one for leaving his unit to help find his family a place to live.

Grossman said military passersby responded enthusiastically to a banner protesting the Afghanistan war.

"As soon as the soldiers saw that sign in particular, they were waving," he said. "They were giving peace signs."

kim.murphy@latimes.com

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Netanyahu seeks to foil Palestinian declaration of statehood

"THE GREEDY FOOLS DON'T WANT PEACE. THEY JUST WANT TO STEAL ALL THE LAND AND LEAVE THE PALISTINIANS WITH NOTHING. IF THEY WANTED PEACE WHY NOT LET THE PALISTINIANS HAVE THEIR STATE."

"We have prevented a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proudly announced. That was on May 4, 1999, the deadline set by the Oslo Accords for the end of the interim period and the beginning of the final peace agreement.

The negotiations bogged down. The timetable was extended and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat threatened to declare an independent Palestinian state. Netanyahu, who was being challenged by Ehud Barak for the premiership, conducted a successful diplomatic effort against the Palestinian declaration. Arafat caved, but not before declaring that "the Palestinian state exists and will be declared on Palestinian soil whether they like it or not."

There is consistency in the Middle East. Netanyahu has returned to power after a decade and is again fighting a Palestinian threat to declare statehood in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The response is similar, too. The first time around Israel threatened that such a move would result in the cancellation of existing agreements, and yesterday Netanyahu spoke of the "unraveling" of agreements if the Palestinians made good on their threat and declared a Palestinian state. He hinted that a unilateral Palestinian move would be met by a unilateral response by Israel. Israeli cabinet ministers threatened that Israel would annex portions of the West Bank.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak heard a similar threat when he was prime minister after failed talks at Camp David and the eruption of the second intifada in the autumn of 2000. He responded with a plan for unilateral separation that included the threat to gradually annex settlement blocs to Israel around Ma'aleh Adumim, Ariel and Gush Etzion. Ariel Sharon, who was then running against Barak for prime minister, ultimately carried out the decisive move of setting the route of the security fence, in advance of a future annexation of settlement blocs.

It appears that this time, too, the Palestinian threat reflects frustration more than a practical plan, and the Israeli response reflects fear of international pressure, not a decision to annex territory. From Israel's standpoint, it's good that the Palestinians are threatening to declare their state in accordance with the 1967 borders, meaning that they would put the vision of "two states for two peoples" into practice.

Just a few weeks ago, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat threatened Israel with a one-state solution, forgoing the partitioning of the country in favor of an annexation of the territories into Israel and the demand for civil rights for the Palestinians. For Israel, it's easier to contend with a demand for partition than Palestinian representation in the Knesset.

The Obama administration, which has so far failed to restart peace negotiations, will try to leverage the Palestinian threat and extract concessions from Netanyahu. It's difficult, however, to believe that the United States, even under President Barack Obama, would abandon the peace process and back a unilateral declaration of the establishment of a Palestinian state.

If Netanyahu acts correctly, he will again be able to be proud of his ability to foil Palestinian declarations of statehood, just as he did during his first term as prime minister.

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The U.S. Jew whose Iran views rile Israel intelligence officials

By Akiva Eldar

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Hillary Mann Leverett and her partner and husband, Flynt Leverett, make the Iran desk staffers in the Israeli intelligence community see red. For the past two years the Leveretts, both of whom are former U.S. National Security Council and State Department officials, have preached relentlessly against using sanctions and threats against Iran.

In late September, a harsh op-ed they wrote condemning the Obama administration appeared in The New York Times. In it they argued that the lofty talk of "openness" and the promise of "dialogue" with the Iranians are just empty rhetoric. On their Internet site, in lectures, in interviews and in their journal articles, they present assessments and proposals for action that are different from, and sometimes nearly the opposite of, those that politicians and experts in the West and in Israel present the public. They are critical of the U.S. support of Israel's nuclear ambiguity and are horrified by the possibility of Israel attacking Iran's nuclear installations.

Mann Leverett, today the CEO of the Stratega political-risk consulting firm, was a panelist in a discussion on Iran at the J Street conference in Washington two weeks ago. Before a full house of a mostly Jewish audience, she analyzed the Iranian strategy without bias or emotion: For years now, more sanctions, more boycotts and more threats have not budged Iran from its nuclear program, and they will not budge it in the future. The time has come to try to talk the Iranians in a different language, a language of respect and cooperation.

According to her, since the invasion of Iraq, Iran's regional influence has increased to the point that, without it, no progress can be made on such critical issues as the Palestinians, Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan and energy.

In a conversation with Haaretz, Mann Leverett, 41, said that up until seven or eight years ago, relations with Iran were "in the category of 'nice to have' for U.S. foreign policy. Today, rapprochement with Iran is in the 'must-have' category: The United States cannot achieve any of its high-profile objectives in the Middle East without a more productive relationship with the Islamic Republic, as it is constituted rather than as some wish it to be."

Mann Leverett's critics find it hard to dismiss her by labeling her as an "Israel hater." She grew up in a Jewish household, attended Brandeis University, worked as an intern at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, which was born in the offices of AIPAC. She served in the U.S. Embassy in Cairo under Dan Kurtzer (and also in the embassies in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Qatar). When she returned to the United States she joined a team headed by the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations at the time, Richard Holbrooke, which participated in talks with Iran over Afghanistan.

Her acquaintance with the Iranians deepened after the attacks of September 11, 2001, when she worked at the National Security Council in the unit that advises the president on Iran, Afghanistan and the Gulf states. She speaks of impressive cooperation with the Iranians, leading to the capture and expulsion of 200 Al-Qaida members from their country. According to Mann Leverett, a directive from Tehran ordering the Iranian militias in Afghanistan to join a local force established by the United States spared the Americans the kind of trouble and losses being inflicted by the militias Iran is now funding and training in Iraq.

"I was deeply impressed," she said, "by the quality of my Iranian interlocutors and the sophisticated manner in which they thought about their country's national interests."

This impression was confirmed by the many meetings she held with Iranian diplomats, officials and intellectuals across the ideological spectrum after her retirement from government service in 2004.

"Many career professionals in the State Department, the military and the U.S. intelligence community commend my argument on the necessity for a comprehensive framework for resolving U.S.-Iranian differences and realigning relations between the United States and the Islamic Republic in the same way President Nixon realigned relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China," Mann Leverett said. "Some of the more political types in the Obama administration wish I'd shut up and just be supportive of whatever they do."

She is also attacked on the Jewish right, but many in the community, she says, fear the disastrous consequences of getting blindly swept up into war with Iran over Israel's security and peace in the region.

To a question about the possibility that Israel will attack Iran, she relates above all as an American.

"Iran will not distinguish between an 'Israeli' attack and a 'U.S.' attack in calculating its response. If attacked by Israel, Iran will respond against both Israeli and American interests. Iran has many levers for targeting U.S. interests in the region, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan. While the Pentagon has complained about Iranian support for attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq, if one considers how much damage the Iranians could do to U.S. interests in both Iraq and Afghanistan, one would have to conclude that Tehran has actually been rather restrained in these arenas. An Israeli military strike would almost certainly end that restraint," she says.

Nor does she conceal her criticism of American policy regarding Israel's own nuclear program. "President Obama may enjoy talking like he is serious about nuclear disarmament, but I don't believe he is prepared to challenge Israel on the nuclear issue. Israel will be able to ignore the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty until an American president gets serious about global nonproliferation and disarmament, including the creation of weapons of mass-destruction-free zones in critical regions like the Middle East. That will require a country-neutral approach to nonproliferation issues by the United States, which would mean an end to U.S. support for Israel's nuclear ambiguity," Mann Leverett observes.

"American support for Israeli nuclear ambiguity strongly reinforces deep-seated perceptions in Tehran that the United States is out to ensure not merely Israel's safety and security, but also its regional hegemony - and that is Iran's principal concern about the U.S.-Israel relationship," she says - in addition to Iran's status in the Middle East.

In her opinion, the fear of Israeli hegemony explains Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's violent anti-Israel rhetoric and his denial of the Holocaust.

"Ahmadinejad's rhetoric about Israel and the Holocaust serves instrumental purposes for him and is very calculated. His rhetoric about Israel and the Holocaust is very popular not only at home inside Iran, but on the Arab street. Since Ahmadinejad became president of the Islamic Republic, public opinion polls show that he is routinely one of the two or three most popular political figures in the Arab world. This makes it very difficult for Sunni Arab regimes concerned about Iran's nuclear program or its rising regional influence to support military action against the Islamic Republic."

Mann Leverett notes that in Ahmadinejad's view, the only reward that his predecessor, Mohammad Khatami, received for his support of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was membership in the "axis of evil." Therefore, she says, Ahmadinejad has concluded that "he will get no significant strategic benefits from talking politely about Israel."

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Top official: U.S. won't accept partial settlement freeze

The United States does not accept continued Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank, a senior U.S. state department official has said, adding that Jerusalem's commitment to restrain settlement activity is not enough.

In an address to the Middle East Institute, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William J. Burns on Tuesday said that the Obama administration does not "accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements."

"We consider the Israeli offer to restrain settlement activity to be a potentially important step, but it obviously falls short of the continuing Roadmap obligation for a full settlement freeze," he said.

The under secretary said the goal of the Obama administration was to achieve "two states living side by side in peace and security."

"A Jewish state of Israel, with which America retains unbreakable bonds, and with true security for all Israelis; and a viable, independent Palestinian state with contiguous territory that ends the occupation that began in 1967, that ends the daily humiliations of Palestinians under occupation, and that realizes the full and remarkable potential of the Palestinian people," he told the Washington D.C.-based institute.

Burns's comments came despite Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's praise for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's willingness to restrain settlement construction as "unprecedented in the context of prior to negotiations."

She made the statement during a joint press conference with the premier in Jerusalem.

Palestinian officials had said in talks with U.S. diplomats earlier this week in Ramallah, that nothing short of an Israeli commitment to a complete settlement freeze would bring PA President Mahmoud Abbas to reconsider his recently made threats of resignation.

In his speech Tuesday, Burns also said that U.S. pressure on both sides was the only way to restart negotiations, saying that "persistent, hard-headed, day-in-and-day-out, high-level American engagement has also been a critical ingredient for success, from Henry Kissinger's shuttle diplomacy, to Jimmy Carter at Camp David, to Jim Baker on the road to Madrid."

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The world is sick of Netanyahu's lack of policy

Israel's politicians simply don't get it: The world is sick and tired of the Israeli government's cat and mouse games. Netanyahu's one 'great' move so far has been to utter the words 'Palestinian state' during his foreign policy address at Bar Ilan University in June. For some reason the world did not rejoice and laud him for his enormous political creativity. Accepting a Palestinian State in principle is no breakthrough in 2009: it is, at most, par for the course.

Ever since then, Netanyahu's behavior resembles that of a haggler at the Shuk more than that of a statesman: his major success has been in appeasing his right-wing coalition by not addressing any major policy issues. Instead he has engaged in endless bickering over whether Israel will or won't stop the building in the West Bank settlements, and has effectively prevented any serious peace negotiations.

The cost of Netanyahu's behavior is on the wall in huge letters. Just this week, the White House left Netanyahu hanging until the very last minute, when Netanyahu was already on a plane to Washington, in scheduling his meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, even though the prime minister's office expressed a desire for this meeting for weeks. The message is clear, and the humiliation is obvious. Nir Hefetz, Netanyahu's media consultant says that there is no crisis between the White House and the Israeli government. That's a matter of semantics. It may indeed not be a crisis, but simply an ever-growing feeling of being sick, tired and somewhat disgusted.

In his recent speech in Hebron, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas expressed what Obama cannot say in public: "What do the Israelis want? They seem not to want the two-state solution; they won't stop settlement expansion; they seem not to want peace." The rather humbling answer to "what does Israel want?" is that Israel has no idea. Netanyahu's associates have an elegant name for this lack of long-term policy: it's now called "managing the conflict."

Of course those on the Right will say that Abbas is merely playing his cards right; that he is just trying to deflect the responsibility for stalled peace process; and they will add "we said it the entire time: Obama is anti-Israel; here you have proof."

Let us be clear, the Palestinians have certainly made their fair share of mistakes, too. Abbas may wonder at night why he didn't accept former prime minister Ehud Olmert's offer, which is probably the best any Israeli Prime Minister will ever present. And of course there is Hamas which continues to refuse to accept Israel's right to exist. But using these Palestinian mistakes as a pretext to maintain the stalemate is a sorry excuse for a lack of policy.

Even Israel's friends no longer buy these excuses for doing nothing except build a few thousand more apartments in the territories.

Tom Friedman, probably the world's most famous columnist, is Jewish; he's not particularly left-leaning, but closer to being a liberal hawk. Except for the small minority of Jewish Republicans nobody on earth thinks that he is against Israel.

In his column on Sunday in the New York Times Friedman voiced his distaste for the farce that is called Israeli politics. His advice to the U.S. administration is "Let's just get out of the picture. Let all these leaders stand in front of their own people and tell them the truth: 'My fellow citizens: Nothing is happening; nothing is going to happen. It's just you and me and the problem we own.' Indeed, it's time for us to dust off James Baker's line: 'When you're serious, give us a call: 202-456-1414. Ask for Barack. Otherwise, stay out of our lives. We have our own country to fix.'"

Friedman's analysis is simple: he thinks that the current Israeli government believes that we can have peace without leaving the West Bank and that the Palestinians haven't made up their mind whether they accept Israel's existence or not.

I share Tom Friedman's sentiments. I too feel sick and tired, and his plan may be sound from from the American perspective. But I am worried. His advice to the U.S. administration primarily serves the Netanyahu government. If you were to ask Netanyahu what he covets most, the answer would be that he wants Obama and Mitchell off his back. After all, the only policy he has formulated is to remain in power without an overt break with the U.S. If the U.S. administration indeed backs off, this government can last for quite some time.

The result, as King Abdullah of Jordan keeps warning us, will be another round of bloodletting. We don't know whether it will start from Gaza, the West Bank or Lebanon, but the current situation is the perfect recipe for the continuation of the low intensity warfare that Israel has been involved in for years now.

But this is exactly Friedman's point: he says that neither Israel nor the Palestinians seem to feel enough pain to want to change the status quo. An increase in pain possibly means the resumption of suicide bombings in Israel and, as a result, more dead, wounded and traumatized Israelis and Palestinians. The further decline in Israel's moral fiber and international standing will be the inevitable result.

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