De SP loopt voorop in aandacht voor het lot van Palestijnse kinderen Onder de kop ‘Boycot de SP: partij heeft de principes ingeruild voor pragmatisme’ bedrijft Sander Faas een vorm van fact free politics die in Nederland zelden wordt vertoond. Volgens Faas zou in Den Haag niemand reppen over het lot van Palestijnse kinderen die onterecht in Israëlische gevangenissen zitten. Faas is ziende blind of heeft een politieke agenda die hij verhult. Eén blik op sp.nl of harryvanbommel.nl zou hem hebben geleerd dat juist de SP de afgelopen jaren voorop heeft gelopen in aandacht voor het lot van Palestijnse kinderen in Israëlische cellen. De SP heeft dit onderwerp nooit losgelaten Kort voor het werkbezoek naar Israël diende ik schriftelijke vragen in die uitsluitend gaan over het lot van Palestijnse kinderen in gevangenschap. Sindsdien heeft de SP dit onderwerp bepaald niet losgelaten. Binnen en buiten de Kamer actief met steun van anderen Overigens is de aandacht van de SP voor Palestijnse kinderen niet beperkt tot gevangenen.
US sends basketball players, coaches to Myanmar YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- The U.S. has appointed an ambassador to Myanmar and helped bring in American businessmen keen on doing business in the rapidly reforming Southeast Asian nation. Now, Washington is sending professional basketball players and coaches in a bid to boost cultural ties. The U.S. Embassy said Sunday that four "sports envoys" will be in the country this week as part of a U.S. The group will conduct several sports workshops with local youth before leaving Friday. The group includes Charlotte Bobcats basketball team manager Richard Cho, a Myanmar native who migrated to the United States. Buddhist-dominated Myanmar has a national basketball team and courts are a common fixture at private and missionary schools. President Thein Sein's government has embarked on a series of dramatic economic and political reforms since a long-ruling military junta ceded power last year, prompting the United States and other Western powers to lift sanctions.
De laffe stilte van de SP over Gaza Vanavond is SP-leider Emile Roemer gastspreker bij CiJO en CIDI’s Politiek Café. Een moment om naar uit te kijken. Het is namelijk al weer even geleden dat Emile Roemer zich uitsprak over het conflict tussen de Palestijnen en de Joodse Staat. De SP blinkt de laatste tijd uit in stilzwijgen, vooral waar het Gaza betreft. Stilte Die opvallende zwijgzaamheid begon met een opmerkelijke draai van de SP rond de steun aan de tweede Gaza-vloot. Nog opmerkelijker was dat de SP zich ook niet liet horen in protest tegen de wijze waarop Europese overheden en bedrijven meewerkten aan de Israëlische tegencampagne tegen dat Flottielje. Niet verbazend dus dat de partij geen aanleiding voor Kamervragen zag in het feit dat het Israëlische leger later erkende dat de daders van Eilat uit de Sinaï kwamen. Steun aan terreur Naar het waarom van het zwijgen is het gissen. Maar misschien dat Emile Roemer vandaag korte metten maakt met mijn kritiek.
Clinton in Burma: The WMD dimension Andrew Selth is a Research Fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute and author of Burma and Weapons of Mass Destruction: Not If, But Why, How and What. As expected, Hillary Clinton's historic visit to Burma last week prompted a flurry of reports and op-eds in the news media and on activist websites. Most of the immediate coverage focused on her discussions with President Thein Sein (pictured) and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The perennial issues of democratic reform in Burma, the release of political prisoners, the development of civil society, the plight of the ethnic communities and US economic sanctions were all given a good airing. While some were more cautious than others, most observers acknowledged that something very important is happening in Burma, and the Secretary of State's visit was a turning point in relation with the US. However, even experienced Burma-watchers were unable to agree on what actually prompted the visit. Image courtesy of the US State Department.
Gaza's fragile ceasefire threatened by border clashes as Hamas weakens | World news Abu Saad is not really following the peace talks being brokered by the US secretary of state, John Kerry. Gripping an M16 automatic rifle, his face masked by a red keffiyeh headdress, the camouflage-clad Palestinian fighter wants to talk about defending Gaza against Israeli attacks – ceasefire or no ceasefire. In a safe house reached by a circuitous route, he and other members of the military wing of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) are flaunting their weapons and defiance at a time when the truce with Israel is looking fragile. Under his balaclava, another man's eyes flicker as he registers the sound of a drone hovering above – an ominous reminder of their enemy's reach. "There are planes in the sky," he warns. A hurried consultation follows over the squad's radio. The alarm is understandable. "Our target bank is always ready," says Abu Saad. Islamic Jihad, a smaller faction backed by Iran, also respects the ceasefire. Militarily it is an unequal struggle. Hamas is in a bad way.
US Will Not ‘Turn a Blind Eye’ to Myanmar’s Reform Issues: Kerry US Secretary of State John Kerry meets National League for Democracy chairwoman Aung San Suu Kyi at her lakeside villa in Rangoon on Sunday evening. (Photo: Simon Lewis / The Irrawaddy) RANGOON — The United States will not turn a blind eye to problems including human rights violations in Burma, Secretary of State John Kerry said during his visit to the country, while reaffirming his government’s endorsement of President Thein Sein’s reforms. Kerry spent Saturday and Sunday in Burma, attending a regional meeting in Naypyidaw and meeting with Thein Sein and Parliament Speaker Shwe Mann. “We had a very frank discussion with the president and with his team,” Kerry told a press conference in the capital on Sunday that was broadcast on state television, describing the talks as “very comprehensive.” Kerry reportedly also raised US concerns over ongoing discrimination against the Rohingya Muslim minority in Arakan State. “Is everything hunky-dory? “It doesn’t happen overnight—anywhere.
Israeli airstrikes target central, northern Gaza Strip GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli airstrikes rocked northern Gaza City and al-Nuseirat refugee camp early Tuesday, causing damages, security sources and locals said. Three air-to-surface missiles struck the Abu Jarad militant base in Gaza City, causing a fire to break out, the sources said. Heavy damages, but no injuries, were reported. Additionally, Israeli warplanes fired missiles at an open area near Gaza's power plant north of al-Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. Israel's army said in a statement that a rocket fired from Gaza late Monday landed in an open area in southern Israel. It caused no damages or injuries, according to Israeli news site Ynet. The army statement said that "in retaliation the IAF targeted an underground rocket launcher in the central Gaza Strip and a terror site in the northern Gaza Strip." "Direct hits were confirmed," the statement said. "We will continue to act against the threats originating from Hamas' Gaza Strip."
Gaza’s Ark Attacked | Gaza's Ark for immediate release Gaza City – Gaza At 3:45 AM Gaza time on April 29th, the night guard on board Gaza's Ark received a call to leave the boat because it was going to be attacked. The guard left, but when nothing happened, he returned after 5 minutes. The boat sank part way and is now sitting on the shallow sea floor. Mahfouz Kabariti, Gaza’s Ark Project Manager, says: “The extent and nature of the damage are currently being investigated. "Gaza’s Ark and all our partners in the Freedom Flotilla Coalition are considering our next move in response to this cowardly act of terrorism, but our position remains clear: Neither this nor any other attack will stop our efforts to challenge the blockade of Gaza until it ends," adds David Heap of Gaza's Ark Steering Committee. Roman, Times, serif">"Freedom Flotilla boats have been sabotaged before. Roman, Times, serif">- 30 - David Heap +1-519-859-3579 <david.heap@gmail.com> www.gazaark.org @GazaArk info@gazaark.org #GazaArkAttacked
How Netanyahu provoked this war with Gaza His antagonism to all Palestinians – to Mahmoud Abbas’ Palestinian Authority no less than to Hamas – started and steadily fueled the chain reaction that led to the current misery. On Monday of last week, June 30, Reuters ran a story that began: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas on Monday of involvement, for the first time since a Gaza war in [November] 2012, in rocket attacks on Israel and threatened to step up military action to stop the strikes. So even by Israel’s own reckoning, Hamas had not fired any rockets in the year-and-a-half since “Operation Pillar of Defense” ended in a ceasefire. (Hamas denied firing even those mentioned by Netanyahu last week; it wasn’t until Monday of this week that it acknowledged launching any rockets at Israel since the 2012 ceasefire.) We got here because Benjamin Netanyahu brought us here. Israeli tanks on the border with Gaza. It was Netanyahu and his government that killed the peace talks with Abbas that were shepherded by U.S.
Israeli Invasion to Begin in “Coming Hours” Tikun-Olam Tikun Olam-תיקון עולם In a recent post, I published a State Department notice it was evacuating U.S. citizens from Gaza. The message asked those wishing to leave to provide necessary contact information by the morning of July 11th (yesterday). I predicted that meant an Israeli invasion would happen the next day (July 12th) or the following one. True to form, Israel Radio aired this announcement minutes ago: A senior military source says that the IDF will mount a significant military operation in the coming hours, after the [civilian] population is cleared from areas from which rockets are fired, mainly in northern Gaza. To be clear, the news item announces a “significant [new] military operation.” Further, the State Department announced an evacuation of U.S. embassy and consular staff from the Negev: Security Message for U.S. This is the moment so many of us have expected and dreaded. Here is the latest ineffectual pap from the State Department on the crisis:
Israel deploys more missile interceptors, Gaza death toll up to 121 Israel bombs the house of a renowned Professor of Linguistics in Gaza Israeli army continued to pound Gaza Strip sparing nothing. After attacking mosques, hospitals, handicapped care house and medical doctors; the turn seems to be for intellectuals and those working in the educational sector. Dr. Khader Khader, a renowned professor of Linguistics and Modern Stylistics at the Dep. No one was reportedly killed, but 5 people were wounded. Dr. During the ongoing war on Gaza, the war which the Israelis named the Protective Edge, the new fancy house of Dr. Dr. Visit the profile of Dr.
McCain admires 'Israeli restraint' despite 175 deaths in Gaza Hawkish US Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) says Israel is demonstrating “restraint” in its continuing airstrikes on the Gaza Strip that have killed over 170 people, adding such “restraint” is “admirable.” According to the latest reports, the death toll from Israel’s attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip has risen to 175. Over 1,230 Palestinians have also been injured since the Tel Aviv regime began its deadly airstrikes on Gaza on Tuesday. Reports also show Palestinian families are fleeing their homes in northern Gaza. According to the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, more than three quarters of the victims are civilians. Meanwhile, Palestinian fighters have launched more rockets into Israel in retaliation for the bombardment of Gaza. In an interview with CNN’s ‘State of the Union’ on Sunday, McCain said the situation has become “more dangerous than any time in the past” and he blamed Palestinians for Israel’s atrocities against them.
Watercrisis Gazastrook dreigt dinsdag 15 jul 2014, 19:55 (Update: 15-07-14, 21:02) Meisje met watertanks in de Gazastrook tijdens een watercrisis in 2012 EPA Honderdduizenden inwoners van de Gazastrook zitten zonder water door de Israëlische luchtaanvallen. De bombardementen van de afgelopen acht dagen hebben de toch al fragiele waterinfrastructuur zo goed als vernietigd, zegt een vertegenwoordiger van het Internationale Rode Kruis. Volgens de hulporganisatie dreigt een enorm watertekort voor de hele bevolking van de Gazastrook, die anderhalf miljoen inwoners telt. "Als de vijandelijkheden tussen Israël en de Palestijnen doorgaan, is de vraag niet óf, maar wanneer de bevolking te maken krijgt met een acute watercrisis." Rioolwater ongezuiverd Bijna al het drinkwater is ongeschikt voor consumptie. Daarnaast is het gevaarlijk om reparaties uit te voeren. Zwaar geschut Israël heeft vanmiddag zijn luchtaanvallen op de Gazastrook na 6 uur hervat. Aan Palestijnse zijde zijn inmiddels ruim 190 doden gevallen. Deel deze pagina