Israel to World: "Suck It."

If the E-1 plan is fully implemented Palestinians could, theoretically, travel between the northern and southern West Bank via a road – that at this time does not exist – through the Judean desert, looping around the Ma'ale Adumim bloc and the expanded area of Jerusalem whose outskirts would stretch nearly to Jericho. There have also been suggestions for an alternate road route for Palestinians running north-south between Ma'ale Adumim and Jerusalem that uses overpasses and tunnels to bypass Israeli built-up areas (which already exists to some extent).[1] However, the Palestinians have rejected Israeli offers to complete such a road.[9]

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/03/stevie-wonder-drops-out-of-benefit-for-israeli-soldiers/

What took him so long? I don't endorse a full cultural boycott but playing for the IDF?

was bummed when someone recently informed me that all those sodastream seltzer water maker things are made by illegal Israeli settlers

(tbf I haven't independently confirmed this)

pesach benson is a great name

a pesach of a name

maybe we need a rolling middle east thread. anyway:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/04/us-egypt-politics-idUSBRE8B30GP20121204

perhaps this will dispel previous "confusion" about where Chomsky stands.

The cease-fire agreement stated that the measures to implement the end of the siege and the targeting of residents in border areas “shall be dealt with after 24 hours from the start of the ceasefire.” There is no sign of steps in this direction. Nor is there any indication of US-Israeli willingness to rescind their policy of separating Gaza from the West Bank in violation of the Oslo Accords, to end the illegal settlement and development programs in the West Bank designed to undermine a political settlement, or in any other way to abandon the rejectionism of the past decades.

http://www.israeli-occupation.org/2012-12-01/noam-chomsky-palestine-2012-gaza-and-the-un-resolution/

The Demographic Success of Israel’s Settlement Project

http://www.counterpunch.org/wp-content/dropzone/2012/12/Cohen-Gordon-graph6.jpg

7.7 children per Ultra-Orthodox woman in the West Bank. !!!!!!!

For comparison, the top 3 countries by fertility rate are Niger (7.19), Guinea-Bissau (7.07), and Afghanistan (7.07).

http://tentofabraham.wordpress.com/2012/12/05/hasidic-jew-heads-up-one-of-the-most-progressive-health-ministries-in-the-world-2-videos/

Nor is there any indication of US-Israeli willingness to rescind their policy of separating Gaza from the West Bank in violation of the Oslo Accords

I guess Chomsky didn't hear about the civil war of 2007 that created two Palestinian "leaderships" (one of whom rejects the Oslo Accords completely) who hate each other's guts and who won't be reconciling during any of our lifetimes. But other than that, Gaza and the West Bank are two completely harmonious units, who could even think about dealing with them separately?

It's Chomsky, so why do I even bother wasting time on this crap?

Haha so they are separating them for their own good. Nice.

They separated themselves, if it wasn't clear enough for you.

that story is a little more complicated than "they separated themselves"

They separated themselves, if it wasn't clear enough for you.
--NoTimeBeforeTime

*cough cough* bullshit.

You're right, there was a secret Israeli plan to play divide and conquer games among the Palestinians and conveniently promote separation between two political entities who have been actively trying the eliminate the other. Sneaky and so very complicated!

And it's all been going so well for Israel since then too, with all the wars and rockets and make believe Palestinian "presidents" (whose terms ended years ago) getting recognized as leaders of states that include territory that they can't even visit for fear of death. Sure, it seems like a headache when I put it that way, but that shows how devious the plan really is!

But please do enlighten me on the true puppetmasters behind the Hamas-Fatah split and how they could make everyone hold hands again whenever they felt like it.

Despite the thread title, this is one of the few places it's possible to read/lurk on a largely courteous, dignified debate on I/P news, so could you please either modify your tone or whack a sock in it?

The potential for a dignified debate goes out the window when Juan Cole and Neve Gordon get trotted out at reputable sources, but sure, enjoy your echo chamber.

juan cole is pretty chill, i thought you were talking about chomsky

Okay so let me get this straight. The PA and Hamas don't get along and that's why Israel restricts movement between the West Bank and Gaza because... they are protecting them from violently attacking each other. Again so nice.

No, obviously they restrict movement between the West Bank and Gaza because they don't want Fajr-5 rockets launched from Ramallah directly into the Western Wall.

Hahahaha whatever. You guys are hilarious.

please do enlighten me on the true puppetmasters

new hamas perfume

http://paltimes.net/new/images/uploads/122012/re_1354801194.jpg

Israel reportedly threatens to cancel Gaza truce if Islamic Jihad heads enter Strip

EU clarifies: No intention to boycott settlement products

I guess EU is really attached to their Sodastream products.

so that is true?

about sodastream?

The EU's highest court ruled in 2010 that Sodastream was not entitled to claim a "Made in Israel" exemption from EU customs payments because of the companies' primary manufacturing plant location outside of Israel in the Israeli-occupied territories West Bank settlement of Mishor Adumim.[56][57][58]
Sodastream has been criticized for operating a manufacturing plant on land in the West Bank by the Israeli non-governmental organizations Coalition of Women for Peace[59] and Peace Now,[60] as well as other human rights organizations.[61]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mishor_Adumim

huh

Meshal welcomed by Hamas PM Haniyeh and Fatah representatives on his first-ever visit to the Strip; Meshal to reporters: I ask God to give me martyrdom one day on this land.

i was thinking about maybe starting a rolling middle east 2013 thread in january and moving all my syria/israel/gaza/west bank/egypt/iran/iraq/etc chat over there and i was wondering what ppl on this thread think. i know hurting has been asking for a new thread to talk about israel and i think having a more catchall rolling thread could help lead to more coherent discussion on the region as opposed to balkanized conversation over a dozen or so threads... idk, what do people think?

yes i think that's a good idea.

you might as well start it now. roll out the '13s like a car dealership!

why can i never locate binladenthumbsup.jpg when i truly need it?

sounds like a good idea to me

xp

don't know if we're ready for a two-thread solution

Meshal holds a parade:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/world/middleeast/khaled-meshal-hamas-leader-delivers-defiant-speech-on-anniversary-celebration.html

I think a lot of media have covered what Meshal said and it's hard to sugarcoat the meaning of his speech, but I think this is representative of some of the frustration about coverage re Hamas: http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2012/12/hamas-moderate-leader-promises-to.html

Beinart says Obama dngaf anymore:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/12/10/why-obama-will-ignore-israel.html

Contrary to reports in the Israeli press, Team Obama didn’t mastermind the angry European response.

huh

idk, i didn't see any such reports

i wonder what he means by "israeli press". i'd assume israel has its own breitbart/nypost/dailymail zone but idk hebrew so i wouldn't be able to get into it.

Time to sell Israel a buncha bombs

http://mobile.defensenews.com/article/312100010

Iran’s air force commander said Tuesday that the distance between Iran and Israel is the maximum range that Tehran requires its missiles fly. Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh made the statement in response to a US intelligence report revealed last week that claimed Tehran is no longer on track to achieve an intercontinental missile by 2015.

“We don’t need missiles with more than a 2,000-kilometer range, even though have the technology to build them,” Hajizadeh told reporters. “Israel is our longest-range target.”

NYT:

Correction: December 7, 2012

An earlier version of this article referred imprecisely to the effect of planned Israeli development in the area known as E1 on access to the cities of Ramallah and Bethlehem from Jerusalem, and on the West Bank. Such development would limit access to Ramallah and Bethlehem to only narrow corridors far from the Old City and downtown Jerusalem. It would also create a large block of Israeli settlements in the center of the West Bank; it would not divide the West Bank in two.

Because of an editing error, the article referred incompletely to the possibility of a contiguous Palestinian state. Critics see E1 as a threat to the meaningful contiguity of such a state state because it would leave some Palestinian areas connected to one another by roads with few exits or by circuitous routes; the proposed development would not, technically, make a contiguous Palestinian state impossible.