Momentum builds to test Israel’s blockade

Sharmila Devi, Foreign Correspondent

NEW YORK // A group of US activists is raising money to send a ship to break the Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza Strip that is named after President Barack Obama’s political autobiography, The Audacity of Hope.

Rashid Khalidi, a prominent Palestinian-American academic whose friendship with Mr Obama became a campaign issue in 2009, is one of the many intellectuals and campaigners who have signed an online petition in support.

“Since I am not one of the organisers of this effort, I had nothing to do with choosing the name [of the ship],” he said in an email to The National. “If it causes any embarrassment for the US administration, they need only dissociate themselves from the siege and blockade and publicly and forcefully urge Israel, and Egypt, to end it immediately.”

Jane Hirschmann, one of the organisers behind the campaign, said more than a third of the US$370,000 (Dh1.36million) needed to fund the ship had been raised online at a website, UStoGaza.org.

The ship with 40 to 60 people on board was scheduled to join a “flotilla of boats from Europe, Canada, India, South Africa and parts of the Middle East due to set sail in September/October of this year. We picked the name The Audacity of Hope because it takes a lot of courage to stand up and that’s what the people of Gaza and the West Bank have been doing,” said Ms Hirschmann, a member of the Jews Say No group.

“We want to put pressure on Obama because people in this country feel that justice has to be done and it’s our duty to do something, it’s not a provocation.”

ne people were killed in May when the Israeli navy boarded the Mavi Marmara, a ship carrying activists and aid from Turkey to Gaza.

“In the aftermath of the Gaza freedom flotilla massacre and increased worldwide scrutiny of Israel’s blockade of Gaza, the Israeli government has mounted a huge public relations campaign spreading the lie that by letting a few more items into Gaza, the blockade has been lifted,” said the website. “This is not the reality. Gaza is still under siege...”

Mr Khalidi’s signature on the petition has made him again the target of right-wing bloggers. During the presidential campaign, it was revealed Mr Obama had credited the Columbia University academic with educating him about the Middle East.

John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, and Sarah Palin, his running mate, were quick to attack Mr Khalidi, who was called a “terrorist professor” by the right-wing media. There were subsequent reports that Mr McCain had helped to finance a research institute co-founded by Mr Khalidi in the West Bank.

Mr Khalidi said the planned voyage to Gaza was further proof of the failure of Israeli propaganda among young Americans, who he said were more questioning of Israeli actions since the 2006 Lebanon war, the 2008 to 2009 Gaza war and the “flotilla fiasco” of earlier this year.

“The important exceptions to this changing situation are the American political class and much of the media and other elites, who still live in a parallel reality, rigorously policed by the Israel lobby,” said the modern Arab studies professor, who has also been critical of Arab leadership in the Middle East.

“Thus, until there is a popular movement in the US representing this growing trend [of greater questioning of Israel], one should expect little change in US policy. The activism around the Gaza flotilla and, more generally, in opposition to the occupation, and the growing boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, are all signs that there is the potential for such a movement.”

Mr Khalidi, who first knew Mr Obama when they were professors at the University of Chicago more than a decade ago, urged the US administration to publicly disown the siege and blockade of Gaza, which have “only been possible because of the complicity and support of two US administrations”.

He called the siege “utterly ineffective” and “a major public relations liability for Israel, although it is popular with the large jingoistic segment of the Israeli, and American, political class and public, who are addicted to the use of force.”

Gaza was described as a “prison camp” by David Cameron, the British prime minister, during a speech in Turkey on Tuesday. “Let me be clear: the Israeli attack on the Gaza flotilla was completely unacceptable. And I have told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu we will expect the Israeli inquiry to be swift, transparent and rigorous,” he said. “Let me be also clear that the situation in Gaza has to change. Humanitarian goods and people must flow in both directions. Gaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp.”

Roger Cohen, a New York Times columnist, castigated the US media and authorities in a recent column for ignoring the death of one of the activists in the Gaza flotilla, Furkan Dogan, who was a US citizen.

“... A chill descends when you have the combination of Israeli commandos doing the firing, an American with a foreign-sounding Muslim name, and the frenzied pre-emptive arguments of Israel and those among its US supporters who will brook no criticism of the Jewish state,” wrote Mr Cohen.

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Gaza children set new kite flying world record

7,202 children fly as many kites to enter Guinness Book of World Records as part of UN-run summer camp.

By DPA

Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip continued their record-setting ways on Thursday when 7,202 children flew just as many kites to set a new world record, a UN agency reported.

The event, organized by the United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) came one week after 7,203 Gaza refugee children set a new world record for dribbling basketballs.

On Thursday, 7,202 children, who this summer joined three-week summer-camps run by UNRWA, gathered in an area on the beach of northern Gaza Strip and flew thousands of kites of different colors.

The figure far surpassed the previous mass kite-flying record of 3,000 which was set last year by the Palestinian children in the Gaza.

One of the kites flown bore the name of Catherine Ashton, the European Union Chief of Foreign Policy, who visited the Gaza Strip last week. The kite was sent to greet her for her solidarity with Gaza.

UNRWA Operations Chief John Ging told the children that they have to wait for an official confirmation from the Guinness Book of Records "because the initial information we have is that you managed in getting into the book."

"It's an amazing achievement to break two world records in one week," said Ging, referring to last Thursday's participation of the children in dribbling thousands of basketballs.

"Gaza children are like other children in the world, they have a feeling of living a normal life despite the anomalous situation that they face in their daily lives," Ging said.

Breaking the world's record is part of the summer games organized by UNRWA in 150 summer camps all over the Gaza Strip with the participation of around 250,000 children in different sport and cultural activities.

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TAKE ACTION!

Click on poster to enlarge.

I have added my name to the list for the U.S. Boat To Gaza

Yesterday I had my name put on the list in hopes that when it comes time to fill out the application that I will be accepted to be on the U.S. Boat to Gaza. The siege and the occupation has to stop. Israel has come to a time that they have to make the choice of peace or continue their ways and find themselves alone in the world. Only they can save themselves from destruction. I have not forgot about the USS Liberty. To attack the U.S. Boat to Gaza will not set well with Americans as the USS Liberty is still a sore spot with us. May God (Allah) Speed and protect this Humanitarian act by the U.S. Boat to Gaza.

Chet

ALERT: NYC BOAT EVENT NOT TO BE MISSED

All help would be appreciated. Click here to find out how you can help to support the U.S. TO GAZA BOAT.

Thank You,

Chet

STATEMENT
Dear Friends,

This is an important moment in history. In the aftermath of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla massacre and increased world-wide scrutiny of Israel’s blockade of Gaza, the Israeli government has mounted a huge public relations campaign spreading the lie that by letting a few more items into Gaza the blockade has been lifted. This is not the reality. Gaza is still under siege, vital building materials and other supplies are banned, exports of goods from Gaza are denied and neither ships nor people can travel without permission from Israel, permission which Israel will not give. Gaza is essentially an open-air prison under a U.S.-backed Israeli blockade.

We are planning to launch a U.S. boat to Gaza, joining a flotilla of ships from Europe, Canada, India, South Africa and parts of the Middle East due to set sail in September/ October of this year. In order to succeed in this essential but costly human rights project, we need significant financial support.

Citizens around the world have responded to the plight of the Palestinian people and are taking action to help break the blockade which is suffocating the lives of the people of Gaza and denying them their liberty. The U.S. government is complicit through established policies that uncritically support Israel in its brutal attack on the Palestinian people and on those who attempt to intervene on their behalf. We in the United States must continue to step up and do our part. We must join with others from across the world to support an end to the collective punishment of 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza.

We turn to you to help make the U.S. boat, The Audacity of Hope, a reality. We must raise at least $370,000 in the next month. These funds will be used to purchase a boat large enough for 40-60 people, secure a crew, and cover the licensing and registering of the boat. In addition, the funds will subsidize some other costs of sending a U.S. delegation. We can make this happen together. For example, with 370 people giving $1,000, or with 3,700 people giving $100, we will have raised our full amount.

We have already received donations ranging from $10 to $10,000. So, give what you can and give generously. From the deck of The Audacity of Hope, we will be in a powerful and unique position to challenge U.S. foreign policy and affirm the universal obligation to uphold human rights and international law. Let us act now because every moment counts and every dollar counts. Together we will contribute to the great effort to end the blockade of Gaza and the illegal occupation of Palestine.

Please spread this appeal letter far and wide, so that others will contribute as well.

Thank you for your generosity.

On behalf of the U.S. BOAT TO GAZA,

Nic Abramson, Middle East Crisis Response

Elliott Adams, Past President, Veterans For Peace

Ujju Aggarwal

Laurie Arbeiter, Activist Response Team

Anna Baltzer, Human Rights Activist and Author

Russell Banks, Writer

Kahlil Bendib, Political Cartoonist

Medea Benjamin, Co-founder CODEPINK

Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies

Elaine Brower

Naomi Brussel, Activist Response Team

Allan Buchman, Founder and Artistic Director, The Culture Project

Leslie Cagan, Co-Founder United for Peace and Justice

Henry Chalfant, Film Maker

Kathleen Chalfant, New York

Cindy Corrie

Craig Corrie

Ellen Davidson, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions-USA

Angela Y. Davis, University of California, Santa Cruz

Noor Elashi, Writer

Basem Emara, Gaza Freedom March

Kathy Engel, Poet

Hedy Epstein, Palestine Solidarity Committee, St. Louis, Missouri

Mike Ferner, National President, Veterans For Peace

Lisa Fithian, Alliance for Community Trainers

Felice Gelman, Gaza Freedom March

Jenny Heinz, Activist Response Team/Granny Peace Brigade

Jane Hirschmann, Jews Say No!

Jennifer Hobbs, New York City Attorney/Gaza Freedom March

Nubar Hovsepian, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Studies, Chapman University
Mary Hughes – Thompson, Free Gaza Movement

Abdeen Jabara, Past President, American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Civil Rights Attorney

Tarak Kauff, Veterans for Peace

Kathy Kelly, Co-Coordinator, Voices for Creative Nonviolence

Eleanore Kennedy

Michael Kennedy

Mona Khalidi

Rashid Khalidi, Columbia University

Ramzi Kysia, Free Gaza Movement

Iara Lee, Cultures of Resistance/Freedom Flotilla Survivor

Karen Malpede, Playwright

Helaine Meisler, Hudson Valley BDS

Gail Miller, Women of a Certain Age

Fatima Mohammadi, Attorney at Law/Freedom Flotilla Survivor

Donna Nevel, Jews Say No!

Michael Ratner, President, Center for Constitutional Rights

Mariam Said, New York

Najla Said, Actor/Writer

Hannah Schwarzschild, American Jews for a Just Peace

Bert Shaw

Moira Shaw

Kathy Sheetz, Free Gaza – USA/Freedom Flotilla Survivor

Ann Shirazi, Granny Peace Brigade/Women of a Certain Age

Starhawk, Alliance of Community Trainers

Eleanor Stein, Albany Law School

Michael Steven Smith, New York City Attorney/Author

Vivian Stromberg, MADRE, Executive Director

Yifat Susskind, MADRE Policy/Communications Director

Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies, Syracuse University

Alice Walker, Author

Darlene Wallach, Free Gaza Movement, Justice for Palestinians

Donna Wallach, Free Gaza Movement, Justice for Palestinians

Sarah Wellington, Activist Response Team

Diane Wilson, Writer/Activist

Ret. Col. Ann Wright, Freedom Flotilla Survivor

Rebecca Vilkomerson, Jewish Voice for Peace

Dorothy M. Zellner, Veteran Civil Rights Activist

Organizations listed for identification purposes only

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE GROWING LIST OF INDIVIDUAL ENDORSEMENTS

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Lebanese military opens fire on Israeli aircraft

BEIRUT (AFP) - The Lebanese military opened fire with anti-aircraft batteries on an Israeli reconnaissance plane which violated the country's airspace on Sunday, the army said.

"The anti-aircraft batteries fired at an Israeli 'MK' type reconnaissance aircraft flying at low altitude in the southern sector, forcing it to turn back," it said in a statement.

Lebanon's military puts out near daily statements about Israeli violations of the country's airspace, but the aircraft are engaged only if they come within range of the ground batteries.

The United Nations considers such overflights to be a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 which brought an end in 2006 to a brief but deadly war between Israel and Lebanon's Hizbollah.

July 12 was the fourth anniversary of the start of the 34-day conflict which destroyed much of Lebanon's major infrastructure and killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, mainly civilians, and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.

Israel says its flights monitor what it says is the clandestine transfer of weapons to Hizbollah via Syria, which along with Iran is a main supporter of the Shiite Muslim movement.

Israel estimates that Hizbollah has an arsenal of 40,000 short- and medium-range rockets, held in towns and villages across the south - a significant rise from the 14,000 rockets held by the group in 2006.

It says the stockpile includes hundreds of longer-range rockets, some of them capable of reaching major Israeli population centres.

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Israel preventing U.S. from training Palestinian security forces, says watchdog

Report submitted to U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs accuses Jerusalem of delaying transfer of military equipment, despite Washington's efforts to train PA forces in West Bank.

By Barak Ravid

A report by a U.S. government watchdog has found that the Israeli government's conduct in recent years - including delaying the transfer to Palestinian security forces of AK-47 rifles, radios, vehicles and uniforms - hampers U.S. efforts to train those forces in the West Bank.

"The implementation of the U.S. security assistance programs faces a number of logistical constraints that are largely outside of U.S. control, and these security assistance programs outpace efforts to develop the limited capacity of the PA police and justice sector," states the report, which was compiled by the U.S. Government Accountability Office and presented to the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs and its subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia. It was recently released to the public.

The report cited officials from the U.S. State Department and the bureau of the U.S. security coordinator as saying that "the process for obtaining government of Israel approval for the shipment and delivery of equipment for the PASF [Palestinian Authority Security Forces] is lengthy and may hamper the timely arrival of U.S. shipments. Moreover, the USSC lacks the means to hold the government of Israel or the PA accountable if shipments are delayed or approvals withheld."

The Government Accountability Office worked on the report from July 2009 to last May, meeting with American, Israeli and Palestinian officials in Washington, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Ramallah. The document examines the extent and effectiveness of U.S. security assistance to the PA since 2007, in the context of the roadmap peace plan requiring security efforts as a prelude to the implementation of the two-state solution.

The report calls on the State Department to define specific objectives and come up with concrete methods of measuring progress, especially given the fact that it has invested $392 million in rehabilitating and training PA security forces since 2007 - more than $160 million to fund certain units of the security forces, $89 million for vehicles and nonlethal equipment, $99 million for the renovation or construction of PA security forces' installations and $22 million in programs to increase the forces' capacity. The State Department has requested an additional $150 million for 2011.

American military consultants are cited as saying there has been an improvement in the security situation in the West Bank, but that it is probably not directly linked to their work.

For their part, Israeli and Palestinian officials praise the training activities, but the document states that the U.S. government doesn't have the means to determine whether such training is actually helping the PA meet its commitments under the roadmap.

Like the State Department, the Israeli government also comes in for criticism. The report quotes top American and Palestinian officials, who describe how Israel delays and hampers the training of Palestinian forces, whether deliberately or because of red tape.

"State [Department] officials stated that the government of Israel prefers not to establish objectives or measures that might limit its flexibility to conduct security operations within the West Bank," the report says.

Despite Israel's demand that the Palestinians act against terrorist groups, Israel has rebuffed American efforts to train Palestinian forces in combating terror, the Government Accountability Office found. The report states that the Americans wanted to set up Palestinian counterterrorist units, a step opposed by the Israeli government.

The document also states that Israel is delaying the transfer of light weapons and ammunition to Palestinian security forces. For instance, a shipment of 1,000 AK-47s was approved by the Israeli government, but detained in customs.

PA officials quoted in the report say the shortage of up-to-date weaponry hampers international efforts to improve the functioning of Palestinian security forces. However, an Israeli Defense Ministry official disputed this, saying the PA forces "had sufficient weapons."

American officials told the accountability office that Israel was delaying the transfer of nonlethal equipment as well, and insists on deciding on a case-by-case basis whether equipment can be transferred to the PA. For instance, Israel approved the shipment of raincoats to the Palestinians, but would not "guarantee the approval of future shipments of raincoats of comparable types and quantities," according to the report.

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Obama's friend raising funds for new Gaza aid ship

Rashid Khalidi, a well-known critic of Israel, hopes to raise at least $370,000 in the next month.

By Natasha Mozgovaya

WASHINGTON - A fundraising campaign is currently underway in the United States to finance the purchase of an American ship in an effort to break the Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza Strip in the early autumn. The ship is to be named after U.S. President Barack Obama's book "The Audacity of Hope."

If that isn't enough to stir the ghosts of the 2008 American presidential election, one of the prominent figures to support the initiative is Columbia University history professor Rashid Khalidi, a well-known critic of Israel whose friendship with the American president from their days together in Chicago engendered criticism of Obama.

An email being circulated by pro-Palestinian activists in the U.S. said the goal of the fundraising campaign is to raise at least $370,000 next month to obtain possession of a ship that could accommodate between 40 and 60 people and for operational expenses. The e-mail said the ship will join a flotilla of other vessels from Europe, Canada, India, South Africa and the Middle East in an additional attempt to break the Israeli naval blockade.

Right-wing Internet-based blog columnists immediately seized on the involvement of Khalidi, whom they portrayed as a friend of Obama who was supporting Hamas. Khalidi said he does not know what the ship will ultimately be named, but said the White House should not be embarrassed by the name "The Audacity of Hope" and should instead call for Israel's naval blockade of the Hamas-controlled territory to be lifted.

Khalidi, who was born in the U.S. and the son of a Palestinian refugee, told Haaretz that although he will participate in the fundraising event for the ship, he will not be sailing in it himself. In a reference to the Israel Defense Forces, he added: "Given the national-religious hierarchy which determines what the IDF can do to whom, the fact that the ship is American will make it harder to deal with it as the Mavi Marmara was dealt with."

The Mavi Marmara was boarded by the Israel Navy at the end of May while part of a flotilla attempting to run the blockade. Nine people on board the ship were killed in the confrontation with naval commandos.

Khalidi said he visited relatives in the Gaza Strip a number of years ago. He characterized the blockade as a measure "imposed on a population of 1. 5 million people who are effectively imprisoned, and most of whom are deprived of living a normal life."

When asked by Haaretz if he was aware of the proposed name of the ship and whether the choice of name was appropriate, Khalidi said: "I am not one of the organizers of this effort, and had no knowledge that this name had been chosen. If the name is a problem for the [Obama] administration, it can simply insist publicly that Israel lift the siege. That of course would require it to respond to the systematic mendacity of those in Congress and elsewhere who support the siege. It is shameful that the U.S. and Egyptian governments are complicit in this indefensible siege."

Khalidi said the fact that the ship is American would bring attention to the Gaza issue, which had begun to have an impact on American public opinion.

"This has not been the result of the ineffective efforts of the two feeble Palestinian 'authorities', nor has it mainly been the result of the work of activists, important though this has been," he said.

"It has primarily been a natural response to the actions of successive Israeli governments. These actions have appeared more and more unjustifiable to growing segments of US public opinion - the only place largely impervious to this change has been the US Congress. This is especially the case among younger people, who can detect the deception and chicanery which are an essential part of 'selling' such rotten goods as occupation, discrimination, and attacks on civilians. It is also visible in widening sectors of the American Jewish community."

Israel's blockade of Gaza was punishing civilians while having little effect on the Hamas administration, Khalidi said.

"The siege is not imposed on the Hamas government, or on a 'terrorist entity', as the Israeli government describes the entire Gaza Strip: it is imposed on a population of 1.5 million people, who are effectively imprisoned, and most of whom are deprived of living a normal life. Moreover, it hardly affects that government, as has been amply reported by Haaretz, the NY Times and other organs not known for their sympathy for Hamas."

This for of collective punishment could constitute a war crime, he said.

"This is collective punishment of a civilian population, pure and simple - as Dov Weisglass cynically said, the Gazans would be “put on a diet”. That is potentially a war crime. Most of Gaza’s population, being children, did not vote for Hamas or anyone else. Any human being of any political orientation should oppose this siege".

Nor does Khalidi have any faith in current peace talks between the Netanyahu administration and the Palestinians.

"Negotiations between the most extreme Israeli government in decades and a Palestinian authority operating without a national consensus are unlikely to resolve the outstanding issues," he said.

"Doing so would require accepting international law as the basis for a settlement, and abandoning the bankrupt “peace process” approach and the flagrant American bias in favor of Israel’s policies that have significantly worsened the situation over the past two decades. If the new flotilla helps to end the blockade of Gaza, and perhaps helps to bring the two Palestinian authorities to understand how much damage the continuation of the division between them, and between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, is doing to the Palestinian cause, it will have been a good thing."

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Israel: We won't assist 'obsessive' UN Gaza flotilla probe

No Big Surprise in this story. I think everybody knew they would not cooperate in in this probe.

Decision not to cooperate with the UN committee has not been announced officially, but is expected to be made this week.

By Jack Khoury, Barak Ravid and Shlomo Shamir

Israel does not intend to cooperate with the United Nations Human Rights Council's investigation into Israel's interception of a Gaza-bound flotilla at the end of May. The raid resulted in nine deaths.

According to a senior Israeli official, the sense at the Foreign Ministry, the Defense Ministry and the Prime Minister's Office is that cooperating with the investigative committee would only confer legitimacy upon the UNHRC, which has consistently acted against Israel.

"This is an unnecessary committee," the official said, "which is the product of an obsession with Israel."

The decision not to cooperate with the UN committee has not been announced officially, but is expected to be made this week. It is believed it will be accompanied, however, by a decision to cooperate with a separate flotilla committee acting on behalf UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The secretary general's team is expected to examine the conclusions of Israel's Turkel Committee as well as the results of a Turkish investigation into the flotilla incident.

Although the decision by the Human Rights Council to look into the case was made two months ago, the makeup of its investigative panel was only announced Friday. The committee will consist of Desmond de Silva of Britain, the former chief prosecutor of the UN war crimes tribunal on events in the African country of Sierra Leone; International Criminal Court judge Karl Hudson-Phillips of Trinidad; and Mary Shanthi Dairiam of Malaysia, a women's rights activist.

The three-member panel is to submit its conclusions by mid-September, before which it is expected to try and visit Israel, Gaza and Turkey. In light of Jerusalem's expected decision not to cooperate with the panel, it is not thought the members will be allowed into Israel.

Over the weekend, Israel prepared for a possible attempt by another flotilla, this time from Lebanon, to run the Gaza naval blockade. Syria and Hezbollah are thought to be organizing the flotilla in an effort to divert international attention from the imminent release of conclusions from an investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak sent a message to Lebanon over the weekend demanding the government there stop the flotilla. The Lebanese government, however, vehemently denied that any such flotilla is in the offing.

The country's transportation minister, Ghazi al-Aridi, told the daily Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar he was unaware of any such plans. He said that if he did ever receive such a request, it would be considered based on applicable laws and regulations. Al-Aridi added that Lebanon supports the Palestinians, but is committed above all to observing international law.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman decided to release the Mavi Marmara and two other Turkish ships that were part of the flotilla at the end of May and had been towed to port in Israel. Despite earlier demands that the ships' owners promise the vessels would not be used in future Gaza-bound flotillas, the three Israeli leaders decided to release the ships unconditionally.

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Germany and Israel fail to agree on submarine sale

Germany funded more than 80 percent of the cost of Israel's first three Dolphin submarines in the 1990s.

By Reuters

Germany and Israel have failed to agree on a sale's deal of a German submarine to Israel, a Berlin source said on Friday.

"There is no financial commitment," government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said. "There are no concrete negotiations with Israel over a sixth submarine. As for whether there are informal talks -- because of the nature of the matter, I can make no statement on this."

The U.S. journal Defense News reported this week that Chancellor Angela Merkel's government had turned down Israel's request for a discount of up to one-third on the price of a $1.6 billion package including two other warships and torpedoes.

Germany funded more than 80 percent of the cost of Israel's first three Dolphin submarines in the 1990s, and is currently accounting for a third of the cost of two more submarines being manufactured in Germany.

The full cost of the diesel-powered Dolphin class submarine would be some $700 million. Others already in Israel's fleet were extensively underwritten by Germany, which is dedicated to Israel's security, founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust.

With Germany currently reining in public finances in the country's biggest post-war austerity drive, Berlin has made clear it can grant no additional military aid at the moment.

Wilhem's comments appear to confirm the end of a year of negotiations Israel had hoped would lead Berlin to grant large subsidies, as it has in previous sales.

Israel would find it extremely hard to buy the vessels without German subsidies, having decided last week to trim its defense budget by 5 pct in 2011 and in 2012.

It had hoped for similar aid on two Meko corvettes, built at ThyssenKrupp's Blohm+Voss shipyards in Hamburg, and Defense News reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealed to Merkel personally on the matter.

Wilhelm said the two leaders spoke on the phone over the past week but could not say whether naval aid was brought up.

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Women Prepare to Set Sail Past Israel

By Mona Alami

BEIRUT, Jul 22, 2010 (IPS) - The 'Maryam', an all-female Lebanese aid ship, currently docked in the northern Lebanese port of Tripoli, is getting ready to set sail for Gaza in the next few days. The ship, which aims to break Israel's siege on the Palestinian territory, will carry about 50 aid workers, including some U.S. nuns keen to deliver aid to the long-suffering women and children of Gaza.

"We were all drawn to the project...united by a feeling of stark injustice," says Samar Hajj, one of the organisers of the Maryam, which is named after the mother of Christ.

Israel's siege began in 2006 after Hamas militants won Palestinian legislative elections, then led a cross-border raid and kidnapped an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit. Its watertight blockade has been maintained with Egypt's help, since Hamas sought control of the territory in 2007. It has resulted in crippling shortages, making daily life difficult in Gaza.

On May 31, Israeli forces attacked Mavi Marmaris, a Turkish humanitarian aid vessel bringing aid to Gaza, killing nine Turkish activists on board. After the attack, which sparked a wave of global condemnation of Israel, Hajj gathered to protest against Israel in downtown Beirut with 11 other friends. "We were appalled at the violent images we saw on TV and wanted to take action."

The women later got in touch with Yasser Kashlak, a 36-year-old Syrian of Palestinian origin, who heads the Free Palestine Movement. Kashlak had contributed to the financing of other vessels that tried breaking the siege, including the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and the Naji al Ali.

"After the Mavi Marmaris incident, one of the women hailed Mary during our weekly meeting. Her exclamation came like a revelation, so we decided to call our ship Maryam (Mary in Arabic). The name was perfect for a vessel that comprised only women. Who could disparage the Virgin Mary, a recognised saint in most religions?" says Hajj.

The ship is slated to make a stopover in a friendly port before heading to Israel because of the palpable hostility between Lebanon and Israel. Last month, the Cypriot government banned any vessel headed to Gaza from its docks. But activists can still sail from a port in Turkish Cyprus.

"We have the option to sail from a number of friendly ports and are completely aware of our obligation to transit through a foreign port to avoid our trip being labeled an act of war," says Hajj.

Hajj estimates that she has received about 500 applications for the trip, but the Maryam will transport only about 50 women, half of who are Lebanese nationals, the rest being Arabs, Europeans and from the U.S. The organiser explains that carrying Palestinians on the ship is not an option because of the risk of arrests by Israelis.

"The ship will transport cancer medicine and other necessary items for women and children. We will not carry any weapons or terrorists, irrespective of what the Israeli army might say," says Hajj.

While they wait to set sail, the headquarters of the Maryam remains agog with activity as women from different backgrounds, political affiliations, nationalities and religious beliefs converse, argue and joke.

"All women travelling on the ship have taken on the name Maryam and are distinguishable by a number, like Maryam 1, Maryam 2, etc. We prefer to keep identities secret to avoid pressure from respective embassies," adds Hajj.

Maryam 1 is a middle aged Indian lawyer and the wife of an admiral. "I am a follower of the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi who fought against every form of oppression peacefully in the course of his life. He was also opposed to the occupation of Palestine," she says.

The lawyer explains that before deciding to join the Maryam, she studied the legal implications of the attack on the Free Gaza Flotilla, which she says was illegitimate.

"What the Mavi Marmaris attack highlighted was that two sets of rules were applied to humanity, depending on a people's colour, race and religion. But what people fail to realise is that suffering is by nature indivisible."

Sitting across from her was Maryam 2, a former biologist of Lebanese- Armenian descent. "I have been closely following the Palestinian issue and have been moved by the blatant injustice that is practiced against Palestinians by the Israelis," she says.

At the daily meetings, Maryam 2 bonded with other women from diverse backgrounds, particularly a Turkish journalist. Turkey and Armenia have been at odds since the Turkish massacre of Armenians in the early 19th century.

"The journalist, who barely speaks English told me I was a godsend when she discovered I could speak some Turkish. Here at the Maryam headquarters, nationality and religion dissolve behind the common resolve of breaking the siege of Gaza," she says.

The sail date for both aid ships from Beirut has yet to be announced. Lebanese Transport Minister Ghazi Aridi said the Naji Al-Ali is now docked at the northern Lebanese port of Tripoli and can set sail once it is cleared by port authorities. However, the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat reported recently that the sail of the two ships has been postponed until further notice, particularly after Iran cancelled sending two aid ships to the area. The report was denied by Saer Ghandour, the organiser of the Naji Al-Ali sailing, who added that the ship's formalities were still in process.

Meanwhile, most Maryam passengers are impatient to set sail. "We will not fight Israelis with weapons, stones or knives, but with our free will," says Maryam 3, a single woman working in the Lebanese government. "And we will not surrender."

In Israel, the army chief, Gabi Ashkenazi, told the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee on Jul. 6 that every effort should be made to ensure that no more flotillas set sail for Gaza.

"Now a Lebanese flotilla with women and parliament members is getting organised. Israel is trying to prevent its departure in open and covert ways."

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UN rights body names team to probe Israeli raid on Gaza aid flotilla

UN Human Rights Council voted last month to set up an inquiry into Israel's raid on a Gaza bound aid flotilla despite Israel's establishment of an independent committee also investigating the incident.

By Reuters and Haaretz Service

The United Nations Human Rights Council appointed a team of international experts on Friday to investigate Israel's raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla and called on all parties to cooperate.

The fact-finding team comprises three independent experts --Sir Desmond de Silva (Britain), Karl Hudson-Phillips (Trinidad and Tobago) and Mary Shanthi Dairiam (Malaysia), a U.N. statement said.

The 47-country Council voted to set up the independent inquiry on June 2 to look into what it called violations of international law in Israel's commando attack in May in which nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists were killed.

"The expertise, independence and impartiality of the members of the mission will be devoted to clarifying the events which took place that day and their legality," said Thailand's ambassador Sihasak Phuangketkeow, current Council president. "

We call upon all parties to fully cooperate with the mission and hope that this mission will contribute to peace in the region and justice for the victims," he said.

In response to the UN's decision, top officials in Jerusalem said that establishing an international committee to probe the Gaza flotilla attack was unnecessary, as Israel had appointed an investigation committee that included well known international figures, Israel Radio reported.

The Israeli navy stormed the flotilla on May 31, killing eight Turks and a Turkish-American on board a Turkish ship.

Israel said its commandos acted in self-defense and has rejected calls for an international inquiry into the raid.

But Pakistan and Sudan led a move by Muslim countries at the UN human rights body, here they hold an effective majority, to condemn the raid as outrageous and demand "full accountability and credible independent inquiries".

The UN team is expected to travel to Israel, Turkey and Gaza in August to interview witnesses and gather information before reporting back to the Council in September. The Council opens a three-week session in Geneva on Sept. 12.

It was not yet clear whether Israel -- which has a long history of rejecting UN probes as one-sided -- would cooperate and allow the team to visit, according to UN sources.

Israel announced in June that they would be establishing an independent public committee to investigate the raid.

"It is not ideal, but the other options are less good," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said regarding the probe. "The flotilla to Gaza was not a one-time incident. We are in the midst of a difficult and continuous fight against the State of Israel."

A retired Supreme Court justice, Jacob Turkel, is heading the committee, also includes two international observers and tackles the legality of the blockade of Gaza and the legality of the navy's actions.

A separate Israeli military inquiry released on July 12 found intelligence and operational errors in the raid but defended the use of force.

De Silva is a former chief war crimes prosecutor at the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone. Hudson-Phillips is a former judge at the International Criminal Court who also served as attorney-general of Trinidad and Tobago.

Shanthi Dairiam is a Malaysian women's rights activist working in UN and Asian regional forums.

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“Can I have your business card?”

By Yasmeen J El Khoudary

As I peeked out of the small window, I wondered what the weather was like on the German coastline. The sky affirmed my speculations about what time of the day it was; it was certainly my most favorite. The sky looked tranquil, exhibiting light shades of grey and golden white in the horizon, signaling the approach of sunlight. I wish I could be down there to feel that soft breeze and smell the fresh air that carries with it a few drops of dew, I thought to myself. It’s funny, how this time of the day is probably the same everywhere in the world regardless of what time of the year it is. It’s always so beautiful and so promising, like a reenactment of the saying that goes: “after the darkness comes light.” I wish I could stay on this plane forever and witness the same scene repeat itself around the globe. I then looked at my copy of Thomas Friedman’s “The World is Flat,” and thought that my observation could be used to prove his theory about Globalization.

Although I did not have time to read the book during my eternal flight, thanks to a garrulous German nationalist who kept me ‘company’ by giving me an 8-hour history lesson, I learned that two of the main driving forces behind globalization are considered to be media and the spread of soft culture, like education, food and movies. I had learned that a few days earlier in a political science class, where we also discussed America’s “hegemony” (such a scary term) and it’s effort to fight those who resemble a “backlash against Globalization” (quoted from Friedman’s book, which we were required to read for the same class) through increasing security measures in airports and elsewhere. Why was an American teacher at the American University in Cairo telling me this?

A few weeks earlier, I was notified of my acceptance to the National Council on US-Arab Relations’ internship program in Washington, D.C. Excitement filled my friends and me as we collectively read the e-mail, but it all evaporated as we went back to studying in the dorms lobby. I was so busy with my final exams that I had no time to think about the internship, or to even send an email to my internship supervisors in DC confirming my acceptance of their acceptance.

I was on a plane to America one day before my internship started. I flew from Cairo to Frankfurt, and then from Frankfurt to DC. During my two flights, I finally had some time to think about what was lying ahead. It all came to me out of the sudden. While my thoughts were racing to the future, I was starting to feel nervous: my plans were not going to work because I was going to be detained at the airport. The Lufthansa representative in Cairo’s busy airport, once he finished inspecting my suspicious Palestinian passport, said that I couldn’t travel because I didn’t have a transit visa that would allow me to spend four hours in Frankfurt’s airport. He failed to understand that I was not intending on leaving the airport (my Palestinian passport taught me better) and that I did not need a transit visa to stay in the airport. He finally gave in to the power of easy logic and let me check-in.

I went to high school in the same city that issued my passport, in the Palestinian city of Gaza. The name of my school was, however, the American International School in Gaza. Despite the fact that the school today is nothing but a huge pile of rubble and dust because the Israelis bombed it last year, it was once a beautiful school that stood overlooking the Mediterranean. From the year 2000 until 2006, I was one of its 170 students, who were taught by 25 teachers, a group of Palestinians, Canadians, and a majority of Americans. The school was based on an American system, and we were taught using American textbooks. We learned American history as much as we learned Palestinian history; we memorized the capitals of the 50 states while memorizing verses from the Quran; we celebrated American Thanksgiving a week after celebrating Palestine’s independence day. We organized donation campaigns for Mukhayyam Jenin after the Israeli massacre in 2003, and our school was an all time favorite target for the Israeli army, giving us countless days off school.

America was nothing but a history subject for me when I was in high school, despite the fact that the school was very different from other schools in Gaza, and that people around me never failed to point that out. Some of the elders in the family would constantly ask my parents to remove my siblings and I from the school, because they thought that we were being brainwashed by American culture and that we forgot everything about our religion, country and language. My parents always defended their decision to keep us in the school, but they kept us under close surveillance when it came to learning about history and politics, making sure that we were not swayed by the American point of view.

And we weren’t. In fact, my parents needed not worry, because one of the school’s main policies was to avoid talking about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the first place. It’s not like we were missing out on much; after all, we were living the conflict itself. However, when we as students came to basic realizations like concluding that America is a supporter of Israel, no one forced us to believe otherwise. We were taught about freedom of thought, speech and expression. It was easy for us to comprehend all these concepts being taught at the American school by American teacher, only we didn’t see the significance of a teacher’s nationality.

My experience at AIS made it easy for me to transfer to AUC after graduating from the former. Like AIS, the institution was American and the instructors were mostly Americans. The only difference is that at AUC, there was more space for discussing politics, including heated ones like the Palestinian Israel conflict, especially because I was studying Political Science. American teachers were critical of America, Egyptian teachers were critical of Egypt, and other random teachers were critical of everyone. Here, my eyes were open to America. It wasn’t just part of a history lesson or the name of my school, and not just the main supporter of Israel. It was something that I had to learn more about.

By the time I became a student at AUC, things in America had already changed. In 2006, the US had already launched two major offensives and was being administered by Bush for four more years. In all, things were not looking good. America’s popularity was sliding down the ramp, and people had reasons to be frustrated and deeply opposed to its policies. I was one of these people, for I have had enough of America’s blind support for Israel, something that I actually experienced in my every day life rather than something I heard over the news. I was also frustrated with America’s way of handling things (or not) in Iraq, and to me, Bush was nothing but a mad neo-conservative whose only concern was Israel and America’s hegemony, the same word that my teacher used in class.

As I said before, I did not have time to think about my internship after I was accepted because I was busy with my final exams. Then why the hell was I going?! On the plane I asked myself why I was going to spend the next ten weeks of my life in the country that supports the very reason of my struggle? Why did my dad want me to do it? True, I was going to work at the Palestine Center, but how “Palestinian” was that place going to be? Was I ready for the crusades of Zionists and Israel lovers whose haven was Washington DC? Or was it the love of travel; was travel humiliation my new opium? Was the humiliation I received while crossing my country’s own border not good enough? What if I was going to be strip-searched, put in a small room for long hours, and eventually be detained and sent back to Cairo? There was no way I was going to be able to go back to Palestine and I resented the idea of taking summer courses. If my American teacher said it, it must be true. What better target for airport security than an 18-year-old Palestinian Muslim whose passport was issued in Gaza?

Oh well, it was too late now. The plane finally landed. After politely accepting the German guy’s shiny business card, I left the plane with my green Palestinian passport in my right hand, feeling a river of pride run through my veins as I felt my heart swell with the love for Palestine. Nothing will shatter my confidence and pride, I thought to myself, if this really is America, the country that was built by and for immigrants, then it should live up to its standards. As I entered the airport, I stood in the line and waited for my turn like all “non-US citizens”. At least five plasma screens were showing pictures of the diversity of life in America; one of the pictures showed two Muslim young women smiling next to a mosque. I read a scene of hypocrisy in that picture, and pictured the same garrulous German guy trying to forcibly fake a smile.

When it was finally my turn, the guy at the passport desk called on me and started the long-awaited conversation. “What are you going to do in DC?” to which I answered “internship” and explained where and what my internship was. “Great. Where will you be living?” “At the George Washington University dorms,” I replied. “When does your internship end and when will you be leaving?” “It finishes on the 8th of August and I will be leaving the following day. ” “OK, here’s your passport, enjoy your stay!” I stood there gazing at him, was that it?! Khalas?? His eyebrows jumped up and he smiled at me, a “goodbye!” smile. I grabbed my passport, and sped off towards the luggage not believing what had just happened (or not happened).

My passport was processed in a blink of an eye, and so was my storming out of the airport and arrival at the dorms. At that point, a funny feeling erupted in my stomach as I imagined my brain saying, “I told you so!” Then again, a few hours earlier my brain was telling me something completely different. I figured it must be the penetration of logic, telling me that what people and the media say does not always apply, if ever. Looking back at the airport, it seemed like the guy sitting behind the desk certainly lived up to his country’s standards, and that the scenes that were displayed on the plasma screens might have actually been representative, and who knows, maybe the German can actually smile. After all, he did show a sign of friendship when he gave me his business card, although I have yet to understand what exactly I was supposed to do with it.

As mentioned earlier, my internship in DC was with the National Council US-Arab Relations, which in turn placed me with the Palestine Center at the Jerusalem Fund in DC. I was a full-time intern at the Palestine Center, while at the same time we met with foreign policy makers and representatives in DC through the Council. Through my involvement in these two programs, I was exposed to a lot of American and non-American people, and very few people who shared a similar background or experiences with me. Countless conversations and memorable encounters took place, and some stood to prove the inaccuracy of my thoughts as I was on the plane.

For one, I was never confronted by that crusade I thought about while I was on the plane. Was I mistaken to have these thoughts in the first place? When I think about it today, I see that I was too naïve to have had these thoughts. Wasn’t I taught, alongside everything about America, that not everything that the media says is true? Did I just want to ‘go with the flow,’ and be scared of America’s airport security, just like everyone else (those who might have had actual reasons for worrying?)

Of the things that my American school taught me, I had the liberty to exercise at least my freedoms of thought and speech in America, and people around always wanted to hear. I realized, after countless conversations and debates that people in America rarely heard the story from a person who actually lives under occupation. Like me, they fed on the media, which was never objective, let alone representative of the Palestinian side of the issue. When I tried to do my part by telling people what life was like, and why they should re-consider their pro-Israel, pro-occupation thoughts, I was fascinated to see how people could change. Even though comparing the Palestinian cause to airport security in terms of media portrayal is like comparing apples to oranges, I’m sure that if I had talked to someone who made the same journey, my pre thoughts would have been different. But no one took the initiative, and my American teacher only made it worse.

I decided to take the initiative. At that point, it all made sense. I understood why my dad asked me to apply in the first place, and I was able to answer the question, “what the hell am I doing here?” I realized that it was an opportunity that gave me responsibility that I carried on my shoulders, and that I had to represent a different face of Palestine, one that would make my country proud.

Today, I look back at summer 2008 and think of it as an experience that was equal in importance to my years of study at AUC. I learned that a person can not criticize others and expect that the criticisms are going to solve the problem; something has to be done. It’s easy for us as Palestinians and Arabs to sit at home and blame America for the continuity of the conflict, and we very much can, but that is not going to take us anywhere (look at past situations) unless we take the initiative to transform these criticisms into viable action that will help put an end to the criticism. But, no one is going to ask us to take the initiative, we should do it ourselves if we really care.

For this and more, I’ve decided to apply for graduate school in the US. I’ve been enrolled in American education institutions since Grade 7, and I believe that there is a lot for me to learn from an institution that is based in the US. I visited Georgetown while I was in DC for the second time (I went back a few months later for a Model Arab League conference), and the Hogwarts-like buildings and the greenery of the place fascinated me, and I intend on applying for the Master’s in Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution there. Besides the education, I see Georgetown, DC, and the US as a venue where I can advocate for a cause I deeply believe in. I will offer my own shiny business card, and live to prove to the world that Palestinians are more than capable of presenting themselves and the noble cause they present.

A voice from Palestine

Lebanon flotilla bound for Gaza seeks to inflame Mideast, Israel official says

In letter to Security Council, UN envoy Gabriela Shalev says world must do everything to halt planned aid convoy in order to prevent 'any escalation.'

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Israel launches campaign to halt Lebanon Gaza-bound flotilla

Foreign Ministry instructs Israeli ambassadors to ask senior American, UN, EU and Egyptian officials to pressure Syria and Lebanon to stop latest planned flotilla from sailing from Lebanon to Gaza.

By Jack Khoury, Natasha Mozgovaya, Barak Ravid and Zvi Bar'el

Israel launched a diplomatic effort yesterday to keep the latest planned flotilla from sailing from Lebanon to the Gaza Strip.

The Foreign Ministry instructed Israeli ambassadors to ask senior officials in the United States, United Nations, European Union and Egypt to pressure Syria and Lebanon to stop the flotilla, which Israel deems a "provocation" in light of its recent decision to end its civilian blockade of Gaza.

Syria has been included because senior Israeli officials say it is helping to organize the flotilla. Hezbollah is also involved, they charged.

"This is a clear and organized provocation," one official said.

Officially, the flotilla is being organized by Palestinian businessman Yasser Kashlak, who last month tried and failed to organize another flotilla from Lebanon. The two ships are slated to sail from Tripoli by the end of this week.

Israel's message to international diplomats is that it views this flotilla particularly gravely because it is sailing from the port of an enemy country.

Last week, Egypt cooperated with Israel in diverting a Libyan aid ship headed to Gaza to the Egyptian port of El-Arish, and so Israeli officials are hopeful it will do the same this time.

Israel is still refusing to release three Turkish ships captured in a May 31 raid on an earlier Gaza-bound flotilla, saying it will not do so without a written pledge from the Turkish government that the ships will not be used for such activities again. That raid, which resulted in the death of nine Turks after passengers attacked the Israeli boarding party, tore gaping holes in the already tattered Israeli-Turkish relations.

A representative of the IHH organization, which sponsored that flotilla, told the Turkish daily Hurriyet that in the past, Israel has demanded such guarantees only from the groups that organized the ships, not from the governments of the countries whence they sailed.

Ankara, for its part, is demanding that Israel supply tugs to tow the ships to Turkey. Israel has yet to respond to this demand, and is apparently unwilling to discuss it until the Turks respond to Israel's demand for a written guarantee.

Turkish officials said they believe Israel is using its possession of the ships to prove its claim that the government in Ankara played an active role in the flotilla. Turkey insists the flotilla was strictly a private initiative by IHH.

Turkey is also still demanding that Israel apologize for the raid's casualties - a demand Israel has rejected on the grounds that no casualties would have occurred had its soldiers not been attacked. Recently, however, Ankara has slightly softened its stance, saying it will hold off on insisting on an apology until Israel completes its own probe of the raid.

Ankara is angry that Washington has not launched its own inquiries, as one of the nine killed in the incident was an American citizen of Turkish descent. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan even charged that Washington is indifferent "because he was a Turk."

American officials say they have asked Turkey for the autopsy report, which is necessary to conduct any probe, but that Ankara refuses to hand it over.

IHH, for its part, is seeking to file lawsuits against Israel over the flotilla in international courts. The group recently invited Israeli lawyers to a conference to discuss how this could best be done.

One of the invitations went to Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, which eventually decided to decline the invitation on the grounds that Israel, like many other countries, defines IHH as a terrorist organization. Attendance at such a conference could result in legal proceedings against the Israeli participants.

Private Israeli attorneys invited to attend evidently declined for the same reason, and a source familiar with the guest list said that, in the end, it includes no Israelis.

However, IHH claims the list does include lawyers from 25 other countries, including the United States, Britain, Egypt and Indonesia.

Meanwhile, American activists are trying to raise funds for their own ship to Gaza, which they plan to call "The Audacity of Hope," after U.S. President Barack Obama's best-selling memoir.

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Report: Egypt rejected Netanyahu map for future Palestinian state

Prime Minister outlined his vision for Mubarak during their meeting on Sunday, an Israeli source told A-Sharq al-Awsat paper, adding that the draft was not in line with Arab demands for 1967 borders.

By Jack Khoury

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu showed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak during their meeting earlier this week a map outlining his vision for a final settlement with the Palestinians, including borders for a future state, the London-based A-Sharq al-Awsat reported on Tuesday.

A senior Israeli source told the newspaper that Mubarak refused to accept Netanyahu's proposal, which was not in line with the Palestinians and Arab League demand for a state based on the 1967 borders with negligible amendments.

The Egyptian president reportedly advised Netanyahu to redraft the proposal to be consistent with the vision laid out by the Arab world.

According to the same report, Mubarak grilled Netanyahu over the course of their three-hour meeting on Sunday to see how serious the Israeli leader was about resuming direct peace talks with the Palestinian Authority.

Although the report cited Mubarak has having praised Netanyahu for his latest efforts to move toward peace, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said that Cairo's official position on the matter was that more work needs to be done to bridge the gap between Israel and the Palestinians before they can move to direct talks.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Netanyahu met separately with Mubarak in Cairo on Sunday. Abbas has refused to negotiate directly with Netanyahu unless Israel agrees to recognize its 1967 borders as a basis for drawing a future Palestinian state, and accepts the deployment of an international force to guard its borders. Netanyahu has refused to be pinned down on a framework for negotiations.

At the conclusion of the Mubarak-Netanyhau meeting, the prime minister lauded the Egyptian leader for his involvement in the peace process.

"President Mubarak represents the aspiration to expand the circle of peace, stability and security to all the region's peoples. I view him as a central partner in achieving these important goals."

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Conscientious objector Yonatan Shapira questioned by Shin Bet

Non-active Israel Air Force pilot who authored the "pilots' letter" of 2003, signed by 27 IAF pilots who said they would refuse to fly over the occupied territories

By Amira Hass

The Shin Bet security service on Sunday questioned a conscientious objector about his activity in an Israeli group that supports sanctions against Israel as part of its struggle against the occupation.

Yonatan Shapira, 38, a non-active Israel Air Force pilot who authored the "pilots' letter" of 2003, signed by 27 IAF pilots who said they would refuse to fly over the occupied territories, said he was instructed not to disclose any details from the interview.

Shapira told the agent he publishes everything regarding his anti-occupation activity and intended to publish this interview as well as any future ones in full detail, he told Haaretz.

He said he received the impression that this troubled his interrogator, who asked for the piece of paper he was writing on because it was "a recording device and is not legal."

Shapira gave her the paper but after leaving the building wrote down the questions from memory. The agent reminded Shapira the Knesset was expected shortly to outlaw calls for sanctions against Israel, he said.

He said the Shin Bet called him on Sunday at noon, while he was visiting friends in Tel Aviv.

"The caller said she was from the Shin Bet and that she wanted to talk to me," he said. "I asked what it was about and she said it wasn't for the phone. I said if anyone was listening to us it was only them, but she insisted we meet and that it was not an interrogation."

Attorney Gaby Lasky advised Shapira to ask at the interview whether he was considered a suspect and told him he did not have to say anything because such a meeting constituted a political interrogation even if the Shin Bet called it a conversation.

Shapira consulted with Yonatan Polak, who has been summoned many times for Shin Bet interrogations about his activity in the popular committees against the separation fence.

Polak told Haaretz that many of the Israeli participants in demonstrations against the separation barrier have been called in by the Shin Bet for questioning.

Shapira's meeting with the agent took place in the rear building of the police station on Dizengoff Street, not far from his friends' place. A security guard conducted a body search ("quite an intimate one", Shapira wrote on Facebook ), explaining he was checking to make sure Shapira wasn't hiding any recording devices.

The agent said something along the lines of "we wanted to meet you because recently we see you've been very active," Shapira said. He asked whether he was suspected of anything and she said he wasn't, that this was not an investigation and that she "only wanted to talk."

Almost immediately, Shapira related, she began talking about his activity in Global BDS Movement: Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions for Palestine, which supports measures against Israel. She asked what he did exactly, whether it was a Palestinian organization and what he knew about it and its activities.

Shapira said he told her that everything she asked was public knowledge, available on the Internet and in the press. He said he would be happy to deliver a public lecture about BDS to the Shin Bet and the police but would not conduct a political discussion in a Shin Bet interrogation room.

The agent asked if he knew the protests he took part in were illegal, in light of the Israel Defense Forces having declared the area a closed military area on Friday.

When he did not reply, she talked about the graffiti slogans, "Liberate all ghettos" and "Free Gaza and Palestine," spray-painted by Israeli and pro-Palestinian activists on a remnant of the Warsaw Ghetto last week.

She asked Shapira, who was one of the activists, whether the graffiti was his idea, whether it had anything to do with BDS and whether he did not understand that he "crossed a line and hurt many people's feelings" with his action.

Shapira said that he repeated his offer to discuss the issues in public and told the agent that for now she could get all the information from media interviews he had given.

When asked if the Shin Bet was bugging his phone, the agent first said she could not answer, then said, "You won't talk about BDS, why should I tell you?" When he asked her, "If I talk, will you tell?," she said no.

The Shin Bet said in a response that it is authorized, as part of its duty to preserve state security and democracy from terror threats, sabotage, subversion and espionage to receive and to gather information, and that Shapira was told clearly that the meeting was not an interrogation and that he was not considered a suspect.

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Palestinian Women Prisoners

Since 1967, approximately 700,000 Palestinians have been arrested and detained under Israeli military orders. This number accounts for close to 20 percent of the population in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Today, 7,000 Palestinians -- including over 300 children and 34 women -- remain in Israeli prisons. The AIC explored the stories of two Palestinian women, both former prisoners, and looked at how Israel uses imprisonment to stifle popular resistance against the occupation.

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Israel: Libyan Aid Ship Won't Break Gaza Blockade

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

Israel navy makes contact with Libya-sponsored Gaza aid ship

The Al-Amal, carrying 15 pro-Palestinian activists, 12 crew members and 2,000 tons of food and medicine, reportedly ignores Israeli request to divert to Egyptian port of El-Arish.

By Anshel Pfeffer and News Agencies

The Israeli navy on Tuesday made radio contact with a Libyan-sponsored ship sailing for Gaza in defiance of a maritime blockade, a military spokeswoman said.

"The navy just began its process of trying to stop the ship," she said. "At this time the process of communicating with them has begun."

An Israeli ship warned the Moldovan-flagged, Greek-registered Al-Amal that it was entering a closed military zone.

The ship, which left Greece on Saturday afternoon, was commissioned by the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation, headed by Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, second son of Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi.

"The ship's captain was asked by the gunboat crew to go to El-Arish port instead, stressing that the vessel will not be allowed to go into Gaza at all," the foundation said in a statement on its website.

"The captain and the head of the foundation's team on board affirmed that the Ship's sole destination is Gaza, asserting that it is carrying humanitarian aid and has no other purpose whatsoever, while the gunboat is still present near the ship," it added.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces prepared to board the boat, seeking to avoid confrontation. Six weeks ago, nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed when navy commandos stormed a Turkish aid ship, prompting international condemnation and two national inquiries.

Israel Radio reported that the government was also exploring diplomatic channels in an attempt to persuade the Al-Amal to turn back.

The Al-Amal, carrying 15 pro-Palestinian activists and 12 crew members and 2,000 tons of food and medicine is expected to arrive off the coast of Gaza by Wednesday morning.

On Monday the Foreign Ministry advised the defense establishment to wait until the ship approaches or enters the coastal strip's territorial waters before making any attempt to stop it, to avoid the risk of breaking international law.

Aboard the 92-meter vessel are a crew of 12 from Haiti, India and Syria, under the command of a Cuban-born captain. Most of the activists on board are from Libya, except for one Nigerian, one Algerian and one Moroccan.

In Gaza, preparations for the ship's arrival were already underway on Tuesday, with local residents adorning the main harbor with Libyan flags and posters bearing the image of the Libyan leader.

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