Abbas resigns!

Look at this!!

Abbas resigns!

I think that from our classes that you'll be able to understand all of this article!  Please let me know!!

Maestro.

Read More......

Israeli-Palestinian - The Oslo Accords

If you followed our last post which talked about the Israeli-Palestinian Water Issue, you probably read a term you were not familiar with; the Oslo Accords.

In case you were left with a doubt about what this could be, this post will give you a brief introduction to what the Oslo Accords are.

The Oslo Accords

It was in 1993, September the 13th when representatives from the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) and the State of Israel signed in a Washington ceremony hosted by American President at the time Bill Clinton, the "Oslo Accords", also known as "Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements"(Quite long isn't it?). This agreement was meant to end so many decades of rivalry between Israelis and Palestinians, but it wasn't exactly like that.

The Oslo Accords contained a set of principles agreed by both parts, which established a Palestinian self rule period, which was supposed to last for 5 years, but issues were not to wait, and at the third year they were already knocking the door. They were deferred though, to later negotiation that would lead to an agreement that would take effect at the end of this interim period.

The main points of the Oslo Accords were:

1. Transfer of Powers to Palestinians
   [The Oslo Accords included an agreement regarding a transfer of power and responsibilities to the Palestinians in the regions of West Bank and Gaza.]
   
   
2. The Oslo Accords do not prejudge the Permanent Status:
   [The Oslo Accords specifically state that permanent status issues are to be excluded from the interim arrangements and that the outcome of the permanent status talks should not be prejudged or preempted by the interim arrangements. During this period, the Israeli government retains sole responsibility for foreign affairs, defense and borders. Israel's position on Jerusalem remains unchanged.]
   
   
3. Security is still of Israeli responsibility:
   [In the Oslo Accords, Israel and the PLO agree that during the interim period, Israel will still be responsible for security along the international borders and the crossing points to Egypt and Jordan. Israel will also retain responsibility for and the overall security of Israelis in the West Bank and Gaza, the Israeli settlements in those areas, and freedom of movement on roads.]
   
   
   
   
   
   
   - This agreement later suffered some changes, due to disagreements. Even nowadays we can find some results of this agreement, like we mentioned in our last post, regarding the Israeli-Palestinian Water issue.
   
   
   If you want to learn a bit more about the Oslo Accords follow this link:
   http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1991to_now_oslo_accords.php
   
   
   
   
   
   

Read More......

Israeli-Palestinian Water Issue - Opinion post

It is likely that some of you might know what this post talks about, but I find it quite interesting and I believe it could be an issue we can discuss about.

The Israeli-Palestinian water issue

In class we talked about this article from The Independent. Israel is being accused of denying the regions of West Bank and Gaza the access to usable water. They say there is a complete discriminatory control that gives Israelis access to four times the water that Palestinians consume.

An Amnesty International report, made by Donatella Rovera, explains how this situation goes. This report mentions that between 180,000 and 200,000 Palestinians in rural communities have no access to running water, and blames the Israeli military to "often" prevent Palestinians from accessing rainwater, by destroying water-harvesting cisterns, prohibiting construction of water wells, and even confiscating water tankers.

The report also mentions the unequal distribution of water coming from the mountain aquifer (which is the principal groundwater resource for both communities). At the same time, it talks about the donors and how they do not manage correctly the funding water-related projects in these territories. All these issues, have some sort of relationship to the Oslo accord in the mid-nineties which we will talk about in further posts. But in a few words, the Oslo agreement established a highly unequal distribution, but the author of this amnesty says that this situation has gone way beyond the establishments of the Oslo agreement.

By the other hand; what is Israel's position in all this issue? Well, Israel is indeed defending itself with certain aspects, such as the Oslo agreement. They say that they respect what this agreement established and they blame the wrong distribution of water by the Palestinians according the the Israel's water authority.

Whatever the truth may be, it is real that Palestinians are going through a very rough situation without the right access to usable water. So, what could be a solution for this issue? If the Israeli government really is denying access, what could the Palestinians do?

Please, feel free to give your opinion, of what a solution could be.

Read More......

Problems in Jerusalem's Holy Compound

This is not meant for you to take sides, for it is peace, not Israel nor Palestine who needs your support.

Alarming problems are growing near Jerusalem's holy compund. We've seen in class the importance of Temple Mount, a site that is both important for Judaism and Islam. Being this a disputed land, precious for these two religions, I believe it is comprehensible the impact that any riot ocurring in this place will have in both Jewish and Palestinians.
Last week, 12 people were arrested in the Temple Mount by the Israeli police, which claims the arrested were youngester who were throwing rocks and petroleum bombs. Confusion and mixed opinions are all over, for the Israeli police denied they made any entrance to the al-Aqse mosque, while there on the other hand, there are Palestinians saying the Israeli police even sealed the compund, leaving around 100 worshipers inside.
Last september, Palestinian protesters presumably attacked non-Muslims with stones. The police from Israel counterattacked them using tear gas. In this story, there are also two variants: Palestinians who say those "non-Muslims" were actually Jewish extremist with intentions of damaging Jerusalem's holy site; and Israeli police saying those "non-Muslims" were tourists who were just visiting the place.
Today, an extremist Israeli tried to attack al-Aqsa and its worshipers. The Islamic Endowments Department arrested the man and handed him to Israeli authorities, saying they figured out he might have wanted to open fire inside the mosque in a radical, massacre attempt.
We know that in this world, every cause has an effect; each clash between Israeli sand Palestinians will continue to have enormous consequences in political decisions and people's minds. In Jordan, various movements in protest have been happening. There was a Jordanian march last October that asked the Israeli ambassador to leave Amman and that criticized Arab governments for their "calm" while people was facing this kind of problems. A group of Jordanian's also burned an Israeli flag at the time they urged Jordan's governement to abolish the peace treaty made with Israel in 1994. Pro-Islamic people in Turkey have also joined protests against Israel.

More information:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8324539.stm
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6891249.ece
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-10/09/content_12202767.htm
http://www.unnindia.com/english/story.php?Id=5527

Read More......

Clinton in the Middle East

Sometimes I feel the United States sees itself as the ultimate saviour of the world and therefore, that he needs to be involved in every single conflict and act as (or sometimes just pretend to be) the wise peacekeeper. Like in marital problems it is better to have no third-person participating, sometimes world conflicts need the US to step aside. Of course, if the problems within the marriage evolve into overwhelming verbal and physical abuse, there will be a need of intermediaries... and then, the world needs the United States to use its power of a dominant nation and do its best to stop the quarrel. However, being the US the key for the cease of conflict, it is extrasupermegaimportant to perform its peacekeeper role with neutrality and non-biased political movements. Really hard to do, considering the US is another country, not an alien arbiter, and so it will always have its own interests. Knowing this reality, it is crucial that, at least, it presents itself committed to the end of conflict, but always minding the power of the government's words and its consequences. Why am I saying all this? Palestinians are now accusing Clinton of slowing down and damaging peace talks in the Middle East. Their statement comes once Clinton began to praise Israel for its progressive attitude concerning the negotiations with Palestinians and the restrain concerning the Jewish settlements in Palestinian territory. Mohammed Nazzal, member of Hamas said in relation: "The Arab and Muslim people know well that the U.S. position is biased." Palestinians are urging Israel to freeze the expasion of Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Rage has grown for Israel had already accepted to halt the settlement activity back in 2003, but the action never occured. And you know, none of them respects the other's territory, this problem will go on forever. Moreover, Saeb Erekat said Palestine will refuse to continue any further peace negotiations unless the Israel redirects its "natural growth" back to Israeli territory, outside from the West Bank and East Jerusalem. I have never really trusted numbers (being a human invention, numbers can fool you any time), but according to some information given on a newspaper, there are about 500 000 Israeli settlers both the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Persuaded by my skepticism, I decided to look around if there was any other number and I found in the World Factbook that there are 187 000 settlers in the West Bank and around 177 000 in East Jerusalem. Notice that even if you add these two last numbers, you do not obtain the first number (500 000) and in the real world, more than 100 000 settlers really make a difference. So who am I to believe? And even though Clinton praised Israel for its commitment, it seems that Israel will not limit itself in East Jerusalem and that will obviously not please Palestinian leaders. Clinton also told Abbas that it was impossible for the United States to persuade Israel to immeadiately freeze the construction of settlements. Saeb Erekat expressed himself again with the following words: "If America cannot get Israel to implement a settlement freeze, what chance do Palestinians have of reaching agreement with Israel on permanent status issues?" See the importance of the US in this conflict? :)

More information:
http://dailyme.com/story/2009110100002405/palestinians-accuse-clinton-hurting-peace-talks.html
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1256799053633
http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/internacional/64186.html
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/we.html

Read More......

What if....?

We know that Israel has have nad still has many problems witht he countries on the middle east, but specially witht ther palestinian regions. Maybe the soilution is not simple but still we could try. About this i will put 2 videos.

The first one:

I know that at first it lloks very cool but as the end gets near you see it is not true. How good could it be, huh?

The second video:

This was a response to the Cellcom advertisment. Watch for yourself and think about it.

Is this really how people act after seeing a wonderful advertisement. I mean if I had been them I would have wanted to play against or along the other side, but the other side acted in violence against the poor guys that just wanted to have fun. Whom is to blame? I don't think the makers of the ad, neither the media. Or maybe the media. OK, maybe not, but why would they react that way? is their religious proud so important? If so, what are we to expect from religions that can not co-exist with each other? More tolerance is what we need, and specially leaders tolerance. This post is important because even tough we are not in war, let's accept that we create conflict with our society just for nothing. Let's keep this as a reminder that is no as difficult to create peace if both sides try hard enough.

Read More......