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Hamas told by Egypt it will close border
Sunday; Hamas says it will cooperate
Saturday 6:27 pm local time – Egypt has decided to
close its breached border with Gaza on Sunday, and
Hamas will not stand in the way, a Hamas leader said
Saturday, after holding talks with Egyptian officials.
At the same time, Egypt has agreed to coordinate with
Hamas on some border issues and to enable thousands
of Palestinians stuck in Egypt to head to third countries
for which they have visas or residency permits, senior
Hamas hardliner, Mahmoud Zahar, said after returning
to Gaza from Cairo. It was unclear whether the border
would be sealed hermetically, as it was before Hamas
blew up sections of the border wall on January 23.
It also wasn't clear to what extent, if at all, Hamas'
demand to be given a say in running the Egypt-Gaza
border was being considered.
http://www.haaretz.com/
hasen
Hamas delegation to Cairo expresses
reservations on AMA border agreement
drawn up by Israel and the Palestinian Authority in November 2005.
Hamas leader in-exile Muhammad Nasr said that the Hamas delegation
has stated it has reservations on reconsidering the agreement, which
they perceive as no longer valid. The delegation is now waiting for a
response from the Egyptians, he added. Despite speculation, there
were no official meetings between Abbas and the Hamas delegation
which comprised former foreign minister Mahmoud Zahhar, former
interior minister Sa'id Siyam and a third Hamas leader Abu Hashim.
Negotiator: PA doesn't insist on
international presence at Rafah crossing
The negotiator, Yasser Abed Rabbo, however said the Palestinian
leadership prefers to reopen Rafah crossing on the Gaza-Egyp
border according to a previous international agreement, which
was reached between Israel and the PA in 2005 and allowed the
Europeans to monitor the crossing. The EU monitors left the crossing
last June when Hamas seized control of Gaza after it routed Abbas'
security forces. Also on Saturday, a Hamas negotiator said that
Hamas would accept the return of EU monitors to Rafah crossing if
they reside in Gaza or Egypt, but not in Israel. Since the EU monitors
had been in Israel, the Israeli army could close the crossing by
preventing the monitors from traveling to the border, according to
Hamas. The deal said the crossing could not be run without the
existence of the EU monitors.
Former Egyptian FM Ahmad Maher says Rafah crossing
inadequate, criticises Fatah's conditions
(PIC) – Maher called for new arrangements for the Rafah crossing to
guarantee that the crossing will not be used as a prison door by the
Israeli occupation. He pointed out in an article published in the
London-based Arabic daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat on Friday that even
before the Rafah crossing was closed totally in June 2007 the Israeli
occupation closed it 85% of the time. He also pointed out that the
European Union, which was involved in the agreement and the
presence of whose observers was a condition for opening the
terminal for travellers, did not do anything to help in this regard.
More than 5,000 Gazans remain stranded
in Al-Arish for 11th consecutive day
More than 5,000 Gazan students, patients and businesspeople
remained stranded on Saturday in the Egyptian border town of
Al-Arish. On Friday evening Egyptian authorities had allowed
around 2,000 of the stranded Gazans passage to Cairo airport to
fly to their destinations abroad. A Palestinian student said the
number of those still left are sleeping in mosques and are living
under extremely harsh conditions.
Gazans still flooding into Egypt as
Hamas holds talks with Cairo
Saturday – The leading Egyptian government daily Al-Ahram
had announced in its Friday edition that the authorities would
close one of the two crossings blown open in the border wall
within hours in readiness for the complete resealing of the frontier.
But both the Brazil and Salahuddin Gate breaches remained open
throughout the day, supervised by Egyptian police and Hamas
paramilitaries. An Egyptian policeman told AFP he had no idea
when the border would finally be resealed. "No one knows except
President [Hosni] Mubarak," the policeman added.
Defiant Hamas bulldozes Rafah crossing wider
Friday, 1812 GMT – Hamas used a bulldozer to widen a breach in
the Gaza-Egypt border on Friday so trucks could pass out of the
Israeli-blockaded Palestinian territory despite Egypt's efforts to
seal the crossing, witnesses said. Local Palestinian residents and
the waiting truck drivers cheered "crush the barrier" and shouted
out "Hamas" as the bulldozer cleared a path wide enough to allow
trucks to pass in either direction.
Egyptian authorities shore up
Egypt-Gaza border
Friday, noon local time – The toppled Egypt-Gaza border
wall will be closed in the next few hours, according to an
Egyptian security source. Twenty-six truck-loads of equipment
have arrived at the border and construction workers are hurrying
to shore up the openings in the wall. Meanwhile, Egyptian
president Hosni Mubarak has pledged that food supplies will be
allowed into the besieged Gaza Strip from Egypt, saying that
Egypt will not allow the Palestinian people to go hungry but
at the same time Egyptian sovereignty must be preserved.
Israel cuts off electricity in Gaza;
thousands plunged into darkness
Israel cut off the vital electricity supply line known as the 'Baghdad
line' claiming there were problems with that particular line, on Friday
evening. Spokesman for the electricity company in Gaza Jamal
Al-Dardasawi pointed out that the Israeli electricity supply
company has been intermittently cutting off electricity since
last Tuesday morning, leaving thousands of Gaza City residents
battling bitter cold weather, without any means of heating. He
added that the Baghdad line is particularly important for dozens
of health centres, primarily Al-Shifaa Hospital in Gaza City.
UN: Israel deprives Gaza schools of heat
UNICEF reported that 500,000 children will return to school next
week after their winter break, but they will find classrooms without
heat, electricity or school materials. Of the people in the Gaza Strip,
deprived of all kinds of supplies by Israel, 56 percent are children
and adolescents under 18.
A fight for life in a power struggle - by Donald Macintyre
It's 8pm on Monday evening and the Aseli family is in full
emergency mode.
The power has just gone down in their apartment – for the
second time that day. His son Maher, 12, paralysed from
the neck down for the past six and a half years, normally relies
on an electric respirator to breathe. When there is no power, the
only alternative, however long the outage lasts, is to maintain his
breathing manually with an Ambo hand pump. Mr al Aseli has
recruited his five teenage nephews and nieces to help him, his wife,
Alia, and their four other sons and two daughters, aged between
eight and 21, working in rotation throughout the night, if necessary,
with the nerve-racking, exhausting, task of keeping Maher alive.
90th Palestinian patient dies due to Israeli siege of Gaza
Palestinian medical sources reported that one Palestinian man died on
Saturday after he was denied by the Israeli army to leave the Gaza strip
for treatment. Ahmad Al Shareef, 80, was pronounced died on Satruday
morning, after his heart failed, the sources said. Al Shareef is patient
number 90 who died in Gaza due to the Israeli siege on the coastal region.
Report: Israeli army killed 96 Palestinians in January 2008
Of those 87 killed in Gaza 71 were killed during extra-judicial
assassinations operations by the Israeli army while 3 out of the
9 killed in the West Bank were killed in smaller operations. The
report also shows that 10 of those 96 killed were children and
10 women. Meanwhile the number of the Palestinian civilians
kidnapped by the Israeli army during the moth of January 2008
was 540 according to the report. 50 were children and three women.
Israel steps up policy of administrative detention
Palestinian sources said that 120 Palestinians have been kidnapped
by the Israeli army from several parts of the West Bank in the past
two weeks have been jailed under the administrative detention policy.
The army under this policy refuses to give charges or reasons for the
detention; claiming that there is critical information obtained, and
revealing it to the detainee or their lawyer could risk the source of
the information. Currently there are 900 Palestinian detainees under
administrative detention, the UN deemed this policy as illegal. In
the past two weeks the Israeli army invaded West Bank Palestinian
communities at least 70 times.
Hamas de facto government releases senior
advisor to Fayyad
The de facto government in the Gaza Strip released a senior advisor
to Palestinian PM Salam Fayyad on Friday after holding him for almost
50 days in a Gaza prison. Omar Al-Ghoul, a well-known journalist and
frequent critic of Hamas, was taken from his home in Gaza in December,
Fatah officials said. Hamas said they released Ghoul after lengthy
mediation with Palestinian factions. Al-Ghoul was the most senior
Fatah official to be arrested by Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip since
the Hamas takeover of the coastal region in June 2007.
Another meeting between Olmert and Abbas soon
(PIC)-- The Israeli PM's office announced that a meeting between
Ehud Olmert and PA President Abbas is to take place soon according
an Israeli radio report on Friday. The news report stated that the
meeting is in accordance with previous arrangements to have
fortnightly meetings. Observers, however, noticed that such
meetings rather than being utilised for furthering the so-called
peace negotiations are serving as policy coordination meetings.
Mahmoud Abbas needs to feel the pain
- by Rami G. Khouri
Abbas is the elected president of the Palestinians, not the
viceroy of the Israelis or the deputy sheriff of the Americans.
He is now confronted with a situation in which he can choose to
achieve three important simultaneous goals: he can share the pain
of his fellow Palestinians in Gaza; provide an opening for
reconciliation and national unity talks with Hamas; and symbolically
affirm that he is the president of all Palestinians and not just a political
hit-man for Olmert and the American government. President Abbas,
your people tore down the Israeli wall that confined you along with
them. Now is the time for you to walk with your people, to show
that you are their president, not their jailer.
New PA law may threaten Fayyad's
government - by Muhammad Lahham
The PA instated a new rule this month that requires Palestinians
to pay old electricity, water and other utility bills by January 25th.
Those who do not comply will not be issued any PA document,
including driver's licenses and birth certificates. The minister of
economy highlighted that the municipal councils have 550 million
unpaid bills. Fatah PLC member Jamal Abu Ar-Rub said "the people's
economic conditions are very dire, and so the government does not
have the right to collect money on behalf of the companies which
could be seen as collective punishment." He also pointed out that
the government cannot demand that citizens pay their debts while
the government is not paying its debts to citizens.
Hamas' popularity on rise in Gaza after
tearing down wall – by Khalil Shikaki
It is very important to know that in the 18 months since it was voted into
office as the leading party in the Palestinian parliament, the popularity
of Hamas has been slipping about one percentage point every three
months. But following Hamas' takeover of Gaza last June, Hamas lost
six percentage points. The public only punished Hamas after Hamas
took over Gaza violently, essentially paying no attention to what most
Palestinians consider to be an extremely important value, which is
national unity. The survey in December suggested that Hamas'
popularity has stabilized. This is the result of what Israel did in the
weeks before Hamas destroyed the barrier on the border last week.
These include the Israeli sanctions, including the cutting of fuel
and electricity. These steps have probably reversed the trend
that we saw after June.
Solana, Blair heading to Mideast
to discuss Gaza border
Speaking to reporters after a phone conference of the Middle
East Quartet, Ferrero-Waldner said the Quartet was following
up the suggestion by Palestinian PM Salam Fayyad to hand
over border controls to the Palestinian Authority. Better access
had to be provided, in particular at the Rafah crossing between
Gaza and Egypt, Ferrero-Waldner said. A possible solution was
bringing back the EU deal, she added.
One killed, two injured in family clashes in Khan Younis
A twenty-eight-year-old man was shot dead during a family
dispute in Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip on Friday, medical
sources said. Jasser Jarghon was killed and two other local
men were injured in a family clash.
Al-Aqsa leader survives assassination attempt in Jenin
Brigades media spokesman, Abu Alyasser, said in a
statement that "Abu Uday Al-Mansour was present in
a building located in the city of Jenin when the occupation
forces tried to assassinate him, but he managed to escape
safely." "Even if they were able to assassinate him we have
hundreds of people whom are ready to continue our path and
our way of resistance," Abu Alyasser added.
ISM: Threats and harassment continue in Azzoun
Last night the Israeli army commander in the West Bank
town of Azzoun posted photocopies of hand written death
threats to town residents in various locations around Azzoun,
as witnessed by a South Korean Human Rights Worker (HRW).
In the note, the commander, identifying himself as Captain Joe,
threatens to use live fire to kill the children who throw stones at
the Israeli armored jeeps and APCs when they invade the village.
The author of the note 'Captain Joe' has verbally boasted many
times over the last month to Palestinians and International
Human Rights Workers of his willingness to kill, and how he
has just come back from Gaza. He has taken 'credit' for shooting
two youths on January 4.
Leaflet: IDF will fire at residents if they hurl stones
Residents of the West Bank village of Azun, near Qalqilya,
discovered on Friday morning that someone had hung leaflets
outside their houses and on their mosques, warning them to stop
hurling stones at IDF forces, or else the soldiers would fire at
them and close down their businesses. A military inquiry revealed
that the incident was an independent initiative carried out by an
officer on Thursday night. The matter will be investigated
thoroughly on Saturday evening.
Israeli forces close checkpoint, prevent
anti-separation wall demonstration
Israeli forces stopped the weekly demonstration against the
separation wall near Bethlehem on Friday, opening fire on those
who tried to cross the military checkpoint near the village of
Al-Khader south of Bethlehem. There are no reports of anyone
being injured. A Norwegian delegation were also visiting
Al-Khader to see the wall.
Two bombs explode near Israeli
settlement south of Bethlehem
Armed Palestinians detonated two explosive devices near
the Israeli settlement of Efrat Friday. No one was reported
injured. Israeli military sources said that one of the explosives
was aimed at an Israeli car on Road 60 that links Bethlehem and
Hebron. The other device exploded as Israeli soldiers inspected
the area, without causing any injuries.
Five injured at funeral for Palestinian
resistance fighters in Beit Ummar
Five Palestinians were injured, one critically, by Israeli army
gunfire in the West Bank town of Beit Ummar on Friday
during clashes at the funeral procession of two Palestinians
killed last week in the Israeli settlement of Kfar Etzion, south of
Bethlehem. At least 20 Israeli military vehicles were present, as the
funeral procession began at the town's mosque and attempted to
proceed to the nearby cemetery along the main street.
Eye witnesses said the clashes started after Israeli forces
prevented the funeral procession from reaching the cemetery
through the main Bethlehem-Hebron road, trying to force the
mourners to take a different route.
Freed detainee talks about harsh
conditions in Shatta prison
Detainee Mojahid Mustafa Qreeny, 25, from Jenin refugee camp in the
northern West Bank city of Jenin, was recently freed after five years
in detention at the Shatta Israeli prison. He explained the situation
at the facility and the conditions that the detainees
have to face on a daily basis.
Two children injured in explosion in Rafah
Two children were injured in an ambiguous explosion in
the As-Salaam neighbourhood of Rafah on Friday evening,
medical sources said. They were taken to Abu Yousif An-
Najar Hospital in Rafah.
Born to be wild: motorcycles imported from
Egypt tear through Gaza streets
Between 800 and 2,000 US dollars is beyond the reach of many.
But that's how much a motorcycle costs in Egypt and after the
breaching of the Gaza-Egypt border wall suddenly motorcycles
are filling the streets of Gaza City. the fear is now that there will be
an increase in motorcycle accidents as many riders do not have
licenses and are inexperienced riders. Car drivers are worried that
the number of motorcycles speeding through the streets of Gaza
is making their road use unsafe. The de facto government's police
force in Gaza say they are doing their best to crackdown on
motorcyclists riding without a license.
Gaza's greenhouses become hot property in Egypt
As Palestinians trudged across the Rafah border to stock up,
Yahya Salama had another mission -- to sell Israeli-style greenhouses in
Egypt. Palestinians with years of experience working in Israeli
greenhouses say this equipment was unavailable in Egypt.
Gazans are busy dismantling greenhouses to sell in Egypt
because it had been nearly impossible to export produce recently,
he said. In Egyptian Rafah, 22-year-old Egyptian Mahmoud Dohair
was scouring the border town for greenhouses to bring back to his
uncle's 125-acre farm in the Suez Canal town of Ismailia.
Brotherhood sought
Palestinian calls for a permanent border agreement with Egypt
intensify as Gaza is swiftly returned to a state of total siege, reports
Serene Assir from Gaza – Calls to Egyptian authorities for a greater
show of solidarity -- indeed, sovereignty from the will of Israel --
to break the siege imposed seven months ago on Gaza intensified
over the course of the week.
Egypt thwarts Hamas plan to attack Israeli tourists in Sinai
Egypt arrested 12 Hamas militants armed with weapons and
explosives in the Sinai Peninsula near its breached border with
the Gaza Strip, Egyptian security officials said Friday. Army Radio
quoted Egyptian officials as saying the men, who belonged to two
separate terror cells, were planning to attack Israeli tourists in Sinai.
Later Friday, a senior Egyptian security official announced that
authorities were searching for four Palestinian militants who
had infiltrated Sinai from Gaza, apparently aiming to carry out
a terror attack at one of the area's tourist resorts. . . Egypt has a
llowed over 2,000 Palestinians who entered Rafah illegally to
travel abroad via its airports.
New Dawn - by Saleh Al-Naami
Many Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza regard the
border breach in Rafah as an unqualified victory for
Hamas and the beginning of the end of the Israeli siege
strategy against the Palestinian people. Maamoun Al-Tamimi,
a Palestinian writer and economist from Jerusalem, believes
that the ball is now firmly in the court of Abbas. "The Palestinians
are overwhelmingly sympathetic to Hamas following what happened,
and they support the actions along the border with Egypt which
have caused considerable embarrassment to the Palestinian
leadership headed by Abbas," he
said. http://weekly.ahram.org.eg
Constants reiterated – by Amira Howeidy
In the most unlikely place -- a ramshackle "tourist" complex on
the outskirts of the Syrian capital -- a large congregation of
Palestinians from refugee camps, resistance factions and the
Diaspora gathered to deliver a message. It was a reminder of
Palestinian "constants": that the right of more than five million
refugees to return to their Palestinian homeland is inalienable;
that Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine; that all lands occupied
must be liberated; and that the right to resist Israeli occupation
by all means is enshrined in international law.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg
The state of Gaza should shame us all -
by Barbara Stocking, Director of Oxfam
On the day last week that thousands of Gazans began streaming
across the breached border with Egypt, looking for food, medicine
and a taste of freedom, one of Oxfam's staff in Gaza told us that
his children are now too frightened to sleep anywhere except in
their parents' bed. They are six and two, and desperately
confused, he said. "What they understand the least," he went
on to explain, "is why their lives are being affected by something
which they are not responsible for." 'Why us? Why are we cold?
What is happening?' I explain to them that it is because of the
blockade and the fuel and electricity cuts, but still they ask
'Why us?'" After seven months of siege, it is a good question.
And there are others: how have we allowed this situation to develop?
Gaza's future - by Henry Siegman
Does the situation in Gaza justify the relentless missile and mortar
assaults that continue to target Israeli civilians in Sderot? To argue,
as Hamas's leaders do, that these primitive Qassam rockets have
resulted in no more than two or three Israeli deaths over the years,
while Israeli retaliations cause the daily killing not only of militants
but of innocent men, women and children, is not a justification for
Hamas's targeting of Israeli civilians. That Qassam rockets have
not fallen on a kindergarten full of children in Sderot is not the
result of skilful humanitarian targeting on the part of Islamic Jihad
and Hamas militants. It is simply extraordinary luck. On the other
hand, the immorality of Hamas's assaults on Israeli civilians is not a
licence to bring Gaza's civilian population to a state of near starvation.
What UNRWA's commissioner-general Karen Abu Zayd sees as a
people 'intentionally reduced to a state of abject destitution' is seen
by Olmert as a people deprived of 'luxuries'
New reality, old dilemma
What is unlikely to be in place again is the full siege that Israel has
aimed -- against little if any world protest -- to squeeze Gaza through.
While American and Israeli officials have been demanding that Egypt
simply seals its borders and leaves Gaza to its fate, Egyptian officials
say they know for fact that it has become practically impossible to
retain the closed-crossing policy. "The Israelis and Americans can
say all they want. But they know that Egypt has to act upon its
interests," commented an Egyptian official who asked for anonymity.
And, he explained, it is certainly not in the interest of Egypt to ignore the
fact that if the Rafah crossing point was to be completely sealed off
again under continued Israeli siege on Gaza another breach will occur.
Israeli Arabs protest AG decision on
killings during Oct 2000 riots
More than 20,000 people marched Friday afternoon in the
Israeli Arab town of Sakhnin, protesting
Attorney General Menachem Mazuz's decision
earlier this week not to seek the indictments of police officers
involved in the deaths of 13 Arab civilians during the riots of
October 2000. The participants carried 13 mock coffins with
the pictures and names of the victims.
Palestinian refugees in Iraq call for unity
Palestinian refugees in Iraq, facing repeated attacks, abductions
and killings, voiced an appeal to the Palestinian people in Palestine
and to all factions in order to save them and place their issue as a
high priority. The refugees called on all Palestinian factions to
end the internal tension and to unite.
Defense official: Hasidim put IDF soldiers' lives at risk in Nablus
A defense official on Friday criticized the leniency of Israel's legal
establishment towards Bratslav Hasidim who had infiltrated the site
of Joseph's Tomb in Nablus Thursday night. "It is inconceivable
that we put IDF soldiers at continuous risk in order to remove the
Hasidim from danger, only for the legal establishment to be
lenient towards them and disregard the law," the official said.
No room for evangelicals - by Colette Avital
I find the idea of evangelicals donating large sums of money to
Israel disturbing, both because of their belief in the "Second
Coming" and because of their stated mission: "We know that
we must wait for God to bring about the fullness of the kingdom at
Christ's return." With my own ears, I have heard them passionately
declare that Israel should not be allowed to abandon one inch of territory,
since this is God's will. These dispensationalist evangelicals are
staunch supporters of Rabbi Eckstein's IFCJ. Moreover, in their
commitment to keep Israel strong and moving in the directions
prophesied by the Bible, they support some of the most extreme
elements in Israeli society. By aiding these groups both financially
and morally, they try to help create the future they envision.
Obituary - Sa'adia Marciano
The Moroccan-born social campaigner Sa'adia Marciano,
who has died in a Jerusalem hospital, aged 57, was the founder
and public face of Israel's Black Panthers protest movement,
and one of the most charismatic, if tragic, figures in Israeli society.
He battled ceaselessly for Israel's poorer Sephardim and Mizrahim
(Jews of Spanish and oriental origin) and at his death was still
campaigning to provide food and heating for Jerusalem's needy.
Marciano's group claimed common cause with Israeli Arabs and
Palestinians in the occupied territories, and were among the first
Israelis to meet Yasser Arafat in 1972.
Seven security barriers you might want to know about
Israel's 720 km (430-mile) part-wall, part-fence around Palestinian
communities in the West Bank must be the most famous security
barrier in the world today. But it's not the only one.
A Moroccan wall dividing Western Sahara into two called the 'berm'
is estimated by the U.N. refugee agency to stretch for 2,500 km
(1,500 miles) separating off land that's controlled by the indigenous
Sahrawi group, Polisario Front. Britain's Times newspaper reported
in December 2005 that India was building a 4,000 km (2,500-mile)
wall to rival the Great Wall of China on its border with Bangladesh.
Hugo Slim argues, in fact, that when you look at history, the first
casualty of war is usually the freedom of movement for civilians in the area.
British Jewish group sparks new
outrage with condemnation of Gaza blockade
LONDON - A controversial coalition of prominent Jewish activists
and academics has reignited controversy in the British Jewish
community after taking out an paid advertisement in The Times
thsi week calling for Israel to lift its economic blockade of the
Gaza strip and accusing the state of breaching international law.
Feminist academic Jacqueline Rose argues that
"Israel must negotiate with the elected Hamas
government for there to be any kind of a
solution to the rocket fire on the south."
Ambassador upset by newspaper column on Israel
Israel's ambassador to New Zealand has criticised as 'outrageous'
an article in a New Zealand newspaper which called Israel a 'terrorist
state'. [West stands by while a whole population is illegally jailed]
Ambassador Yuval Rotem told the Jewish Chronicle in London that
the column was the worst he had read in his 21-year diplomatic career.
"We have every intention to pursue it in the highest possible manner,
including with the owners of the newspaper," Mr Rotem said.
Orthodox Jewish sect condemns Israeli atrocities in Gaza
(Neturei Karta statement) Judaism and Zionism are diametrically
opposite and antithetical. Judaism is the belief in revelation at
Sinai. It is the belief that exile is a punishment for Jewish sins.
It is the teaching of the Torah they we are forbidden by the
Almighty to have our own state, or to rebel against any nation.
Zionism has for over a century denied Sinaitic revelation. It believes
that Jewish exile can be ended by military aggression. Its goal is to
transform Judaism from a religion into a nationalism. Zionism has
spent the past century strategically dispossessing the Palestinian
people. It has ignored their just claims and subjected them to
persecution, torture and death.
Clinton, Obama: The Anti-Israel factor
Here we are, days from Super Tuesday, and the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict has barely been mentioned by any of the candidates.
If past history is any guide, it won't be mentioned much and,
when it is, only in front of Jewish audiences where effusive
utterances of support for Israel will be offered. We all know
why. Candidates fear to speak with any candor about Israel
because they suspect, and not without cause, that the only
people paying attention to what they say will be zealots.
There is not a single candidate running for President who
does not know that continuation of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict grievously damages US interests in the Middle East.
It is just that the candidates fear that saying so will grievously
damage their political prospects. They are wrong.
Want the best president for Israel?
Truth is, despite the murmurings about the "Jewish vote"
and the "Israel lobby," few American Jews today are such
narrow one-issue voters. Amid American Jews' lamentable
but growing disinterest in Israel, most American Jews are
more multi-dimensional, and frankly, more passionate about
other stances such as being pro-choice and anti-Bush. With
American support for Israel so widespread and "apple pie,"
most mainstream candidates make enough pro-Israel noises
to satisfy the casually pro-Israel American Jew.
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