TIP: Israel Pushes for Peace Talks without Preconditions

From The Israel Project 

 http://www.theisraelproject.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=hsJPK0PIJpH&b=689705&ct=9169747

Israel Pushes for Peace Talks without Preconditions

• Israel ready to talk anytime, anywhere
• Palestinians preparing push for unilateral independence
• Peace envoy meets Quartet in Jerusalem

Tony Blair and Benjamin Netanyahu discuss peace talks and announce economic initiatives for the Palestinians in Jerusalem in February.

Jerusalem, March 10 - In an effort to kick-start stalled peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s envoy Isaac Molho met with representatives of the “Quartet” on the Middle East in Jerusalem on Thursday.

“Israel has repeatedly called on the Palestinian Authority to resume direct talks without any preconditions and without further delay,” Ashley Perry, a spokesman in Israel’s Foreign Ministry told The Israel Project.

“Unfortunately, the Palestinians prefer diplomatic maneuvers in the dark to direct dialogue. This only stalls the peace process and will delay even more a much needed peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians,” he added.

The Quartet, which groups the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia, had tried meeting with Israeli and Palestinian envoys in Brussels, but Netanyahu decided not to send Molho because Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian negotiator, refused to meet with his Israeli counterpart and demanded only separate meetings with the mediators.

At its last meeting with the Quartet in February, Israel announced a series of economic measures to boost the economies of both the West Bank and Gaza, both of which have shown impressive growth in recent months.

The Palestinians walked out of the last direct peace talks with Israel last September and are refusing to return to the table unless Israel halts all building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Instead, the Palestinians are trying to isolate Israel at the United Nations and laying the groundwork for a resolution to declare an independent Palestine on all territory captured by Israel in 1967 including East Jerusalem without a peace agreement.

“Unilateral efforts at the United Nations are not helpful and undermine trust," said U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton late last year. She urged the parties “not to undermine good faith efforts to resolve final status issues.”

 

Hirschfield: Pete King's Hearings

Pete King's Hearings on Radical Islam in America

By Rabbi Brad Hirschfield                             Wednesday March 9, 2011

With Rep. Peter King beginning hearings tomorrow, March 10 -- hearings which will examine the issue of radicalization within the American Muslim community, two things should be stated very clearly: Islamic terror is real and so is Islamophobia. Denying the former is a deadly error, but addressing that real and pressing problem in no way necessitates or justifies the latter.

These hearings, if conducted properly, could surface both of those realities, which are rarely acknowledged in the same places and at the same time. Too often, in my own experience with both religious and communal leaders in the American Muslim community, those who are prepared to deal with the problem of Islamic terror, minimize or altogether ignore the ugliness of Islamophobia, while those who would have us focus on combating hatred of Muslims, downplay the linkage between Islam and terror in the world today.
What we need are people who have the bravery, honesty and compassion to address both at the same time. At the very least, it would be helpful if those lining up on both sides of these hearings would focus our attention on that challenge rather than simply defending King, who has said any number of outrageous things about Muslims and Islam, or suggesting that these hearings are simply an excuse for whipping up hatred against Muslims.

While it's certainly true that these hearings could become the "witch hunt" which some are concerned about. The claim that merely holding the hearings constitutes such an islamophobic hunt is inappropriate.
Raising questions, however uncomfortable, does not constitute bias against the group to whom those questions are addressed, but it does make demands upon those who raise the questions. They will have to prove that their interest lies not in showing how a particular faith community is inherently dangerous or problematic. They will have to demonstrate a willingness not only to see radicalization about which they are concerned, but also to see where it is absent and the extent to which the fight against it from inside the Muslim community has been successful.

If these hearing proceed as they should, many people whose knee-jerk reaction is to defend Islam and Muslims as a group, will find themselves uncomfortable, and so will those people who believe that to see any Muslim is to see a threat, rather than simply seeing a fellow American who happens to be Muslim. If the overly simplistic picture typically portrayed by one side or the other is simply confirmed, then Rep. King will have failed and should be held accountable for his failure.

Ultimately, if these hearings are successful, America will be safer and there will actually be greater understanding of American Muslims and a deeper appreciation of the wide range of beliefs within the American Muslim community.

Source: http://blog.beliefnet.com/windowsanddoors/2011/03/kings-hearings-on-radical-isla.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A%20windowsanddoors%20%28Beliefnet%3A%20Windows%20%26%20Doors%29#ixzz1G8DuULGS

PA working to remove Hamas from US, EU terror lists

PA working to remove Hamas from US, EU terror lists By KHALED ABU TOAMEH 07/03/2011 http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=211149 Shaath says he raised the issue with EU leaders, he wants European countries to recognize Palestinian unity gov't including Hamas.

The Palestinian Authority is working toward removing Hamas from the US and EU list of terror organizations so as to pave the way for the Islamist movement to join a Palestinian unity government, PA negotiator Nabil Shaath revealed on Monday. Shaath, who was speaking to reporters after meeting in Cairo with Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, said he raised the issue with a number of governments during a recent tour of EU capitals. “We are seeking to have Hamas removed from the list of terror organizations,” he said. “We want EU countries to recognize a Palestinian unity government that would include Hamas and other factions.” Shaath said that his Fatah faction was keen on ending the dispute with Hamas. “The current circumstances require us to reorganize our Palestinian home,” he added. “I have announced several times that we have accepted the Egyptian [reconciliation] initiative. We have agreed to a national unity government [with Hamas] that would implement the Egyptian document and prepare for elections.” Shaath was referring to an Egyptian reconciliation plan that was presented to Fatah and Hamas in 2009. He said that Fatah has accepted Hamas’s reservations about the plan, adding that he did not know why the movement was delaying its response. “This is a question that every Palestinian and Arab should be asking,” he stressed. “My fear is that Hamas’s calculations about the Arab revolts are different than ours. We see that these revolutions’ main demand is unity and support for Palestinian rights.” Shaath, a former PA foreign minister, said that a Fatah-Hamas reconciliation would embolden Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation.” Last week PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad came under attack from Fatah for offering to establish a unity government with Hamas. Fayyad's initiative was strongly criticized by Fatah because it allows Hamas to retain security control over the Gaza Strip after joining the government.

Why the Jews?

By Alan Dershowitz

http://m.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/why_the_jews_teWE8CHBVvNn5zoEVD2pzL

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Constraints alleged

Ynet: Officials: US wants dramatic statements http://bit.ly/exdZTb


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JTA: What has Arab Gulf money purchased?

From JTA:

 

Between 1995 and 2008, Arab Gulf states gave $234 million in contracts and about $88 million in gifts to American universities. What has their money purchased?

 

Read more:

http://www.jewishideasdaily.com/content/module/2011/3/2/main-feature/1/follow-the-money/r

March 1 Conference Call with Dr. Zudhi Jasser: Developments in the Arab world

Conference Call with Dr. Zuhdi Jasser of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy

 

Dr. Jasser will speak for 30 minutes about the recent developments in the Arab world as well as discussing Islam in America.  He will then take 20 minutes of questions.

                            

        Tuesday,  March 1st   9:00 am  Iowa Time

 

Presented by Rabbi David Kaufman and the Jewish Community Relations Commission Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines.

 

Instructions:

Listen in on the Conference Call at  712 432-1001       Enter access code:  457069072

 

You may submit questions for Dr. Jasser to dkaufman@aol.com. 

Rabbi Kaufman will serve as Moderator for the call.

 

Biography

M. Zuhdi Jasser is a former U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander. He is the President of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy based in Phoenix, Arizona. AIFD, founded in 2003, is a think tank and activist Muslim organization which provides a platform for an American Muslim movement to separate spiritual Islam from the political. AIFD seeks to build coalitions of Muslims which not only reject the means of terror as an anathema to Islam but more globally reject the ends of the Islamic state which Islamists seek. AIFD believes that the only way to genuinely wage the contest of ideas and counter the root cause of terrorism is for Muslims to be given ample opportunity for debate between one another-- especially within the mosques. AIFD believes that the outcome of these debates will ultimately be the primary method to defeat the ideology of political Islam which ultimately inspires radical Islamism. Dr. Jasser believes that it is essential for devotional Muslims to lead the ideological war against militant Islamism. This Muslim led effort seeks to establish the synergy of Americanism and our Constitutional democracy with a post-modern, pluralistic Islam.

Dr. Jasser is a respected physician currently in private practice in Phoenix Arizona specializing in internal medicine and nuclear cardiology. His highest military award is the Meritorious Service Medal. He recently served as the President of the Arizona Medical Association (ArMA) until June 2007. Dr. Jasser has served on the Maricopa County Board of Health since 2005. As ArMA President in early 2007, Dr. Jasser formed and now chairs a statewide Disaster Preparedness Task Force whose primary mission has been to inform and engage all Arizona physicians in disaster preparedness. Dr. Jasser chairs the bioethics committee and teaches nuclear cardiology in a major Phoenix hospital. He has been active in a number of interfaith efforts in Arizona including the founding of a Jewish-Muslim dialogue group in 2000 called the Children of Abraham.

He also was featured in the controversial PBS film, Islam v Islamists produced by ABG Films, Inc. This film was initially banned from distribution on PBS stations as originally intended in the Crossroads program but was then aired in a limited distribution to some affiliates. It received national acclaim in its release on the Fox News Channel in October 2007.

Dr. Jasser has also been an advisor on Islamic affairs to the U.S. Embassy in the Netherlands. During his last visit in December 2007, he led an AIFD program on “Citizenship and Democracy” with Dutch Muslim youth, media, and political leadership. The program focused on strategies in countering the threat of political Islam to the west while engaging anti-Islamist Muslims.

Dr. Jasser was honored in October 2007 as a “Defender of the Home Front” at the annual Keeper of the Flame Dinner of the Center for Security Policy.. He was also one of five moderate Muslims who met with Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to discuss the “Contest of Ideas with the Muslim World” at the Hudson Institute on December 5, 2007. In January 2008, Dr. Jasser was presented with the 2007 Director’s Community Leadership Award by the Phoenix office of the FBI.

Dr. Jasser was also recently featured in The Third Jihad, produced by PublicScope Films. Dr. Jasser narrates this documentary about the threat of radical Islamism to the West which was recently released and will be shown and featured internationally in 2009.

Dr. Jasser is a regular columnist and contributing editor for FamilySecurityMatters.org and Hudson New York. He appears frequently on the Fox News Channel and CNN appearing regularly on the Glenn Beck Show. Dr. Jasser has been published in the National Review, Arizona Republic, Middle East Quarterly, Dallas Morning News, Washington Times, and Beliefnet. He is a frequent national radio and television commentator and featured speaker about Islam, Islamism, moderate Muslims, and counterterrorism.

 

David Jay Kaufman
Rabbi
Temple B'nai Jeshurun
Des Moines, Iowa
www.templebnaijeshurun.org
www.rabbikaufman.blogspot.com
515-274-4679
dkaufman@aol.com

www.weareforisrael.org
President and Co-Founder