DAVID SINGER:Palestine – Foreign Political Interference Dressed Up As Humanitarian Aid

David Singer is an Australian Lawyer, a Foundation Member of the International Analyst Network and Convenor of Jordan is Palestine International – an organisation calling for sovereignty of the West Bank and Gaza to be allocated between Israel and Jordan as the two successor States to the Mandate for Palestine. Previous articles written by him can be found at www.jordanispalestine.blogspot.com.
Attempts by foreign Governments and international aid agencies to politically influence the outcome of negotiations begun under the Oslo Accords in 1993 – now seriously threaten the total abandonment of those Accords.

The battleground for such foreign interference is Susiya village – located in Area C which comprises about 60% of the West Bank – but where only 5% of the current West Bank Arab population live.
Area C has remained under the total administrative and security control of Israel for the last 45 years.
All the Jewish towns and villages in the West Bank have been established in Area C.

Allocation of sovereignty in Area C was to be determined in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority under the Oslo Accords and the Bush Roadmap of 2002.

Those negotiations have hit a brick wall with the continuing refusal of the Palestinian Authority to resume such negotiations unless Israel places a total ban on further building in the West Bank for the duration of those negotiations.

The Governor of Hebron – Kamel Hamid – has highlighted Susiya’s problems in an open letter – stating

“I would like to draw your attention to the intention of the Israeli authorities to demolish Khirbet Susiya, located south of the town of Yatta in Hebron Governorate. The so-called Israeli “Civil Administration” has distributed final demolition orders on June 12, 2012, to 51 structures in the Khirbet while giving the population only 3 days to object to the decision. The demolition will devastate the lives of at least 160 Palestinians including 60 children. The lawyers of the Palestinian residents of the Khirbet, Rabbis for Human Rights, managed to get a freeze on the demolition for a period of 14 days from the Civil Administration only to find the decision reversed on June 17, 2012.”

Susiya has been the subject of many court cases before Israel’s High Court of Justice.

A brief – but incomplete – summary was presented to the Senate of the Australian Parliament by Senator Lee Rhiannon on 26 June 2012:

European Armies Recruiting Muslim Soldiers by Soeren Kern

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3160/european-armies-recruiting-muslim-soldiers The chaplain’s top priority has been to organize a pilgrimage to Mecca for Muslim soldiers. “For me, the army is not about standing up for a nation; it’s about finding a job.”Germany is seeking to recruit more Muslims into its army: it cannot find enough native Germans to fill its ranks after it abolished […]

Does Freezing Settlements Help Peace? by Mudar Zahran

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3166/freezing-settlements-help-peace Israel has given such “goodwill gestures” to the Palestinians before, but the reciprocal gestures were never as good-willed. In exchange for “goodwill gestures,” Israel gets concussions. The current US administration has been advocating the freezing of Israeli settlement activity in Judea and Samaria, and so have several global players involved in the peace process. […]

RUTHIE BLUM: PEACE WAS NEVER IN THE CARDS

http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=2230

This week’s announcement of the “not guilty” verdict in two of the three indictments against former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert became the focus of a post-courtroom drama.Olmert’s defense team beamed with satisfaction, not only pleased as punch for a job well done, but quick to point a finger at (and give the finger to) State Prosecutor Moshe Lador.

Before the day was out, everyone in the country had taken a side. Those displeased with the outcome of the trial rushed to defend the State Prosecutor’s Office for having had more than reasonable cause to proceed with the case, and for treating even the leader of the country as it would any other citizen suspected of corruption. They attested, and continue to insist, that the only reason Olmert was acquitted of the two more serious charges was due to the unreliability of the prosecution witnesses, and the lack of concrete evidence.

This group fears that the surprising verdict will unjustifiably tarnish the State Prosecutor — which, they argue, could have a negative impact on the ability of the “people” to go after their politicians when warranted.

On the other side of the debate are those who were happy with the relatively light conviction on a third charge — breach of trust — made out to be far lighter than it was by Olmert himself, his supporters, Lador’s detractors, and by much of the media. This group, consisting of Kadima party members and other friends of the previously disgraced premier, accused the state prosecutor of having orchestrated a witch hunt against Olmert, compelling him to resign from the prime minister’s post three years ago.

They feel that it is now Lador’s turn to exit his post in disgrace. After all, they claim, it was he who single-handedly brought about the ouster of an incumbent head of state by going after him with “trumped-up” charges that ended up having no evidentiary basis. (If this had been true, the courts would have thrown out — not tried — the case; but that’s another story.)

This is not their only contention, however. Nor is it even their main one.

JULY 12, 1862 CONGRESS AUTHORIZED THE FIRST MEDAL OF HONOR

The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President in the name of Congress, and is conferred only upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States.” Due to the nature of its selection criteria, it is often awarded posthumously, with more than half of all awards since 1941 given to individuals who were deceased. As the award citation includes the phrase “in the name of Congress”, it is sometimes erroneously called the “Congressional Medal of Honor”. The official title, however, is simply the “Medal of Honor”.

GOVERNOR RICK PERRY: WE NEED REFORM NOT MORE MEDICAID…..SEE NOTE PLEASE

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jul/11/we-need-real-reform-not-more-medicaid/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS HE’S A DISASTER IN DEBATES BUT THE CANDIDATE WITH THE BEST IDEAS AND THE BEST RECORD AS LEGISLATOR….STILL ONE OF MY FAVES…..RSK Expecting to extend quality health care access to millions of Americans by pressing them into the existing Medicaid system is a little like expecting to win the Indy 500 in a 1965 […]

NEWS AND BUZZ 24/7

http://times247.com/

Soros-backed Super Pac takes aim at West
The Shark Tank
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Blogs
The ‘Dump West’ Super PAC, backed by George Soros himself, is taking aim at conservative Congressman Allen West. A top national Democrat operative has been retained by a new George Soros-backed super-PAC to target West for defeat this November. Read more…

Read more: http://times247.com/#ixzz20PErqF2l

Bin Laden cook released from Guantanamo WILL HE PUBLISH A COOKBOOK NEXT? RSK
A man who spent a decade as a prison…
Read more…

Democrats bleeding voters in swing states…..AW SHUCKS!!! RSK
American Thinker
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Blogs
Democrats bleeding voters in swing states
A study by Bloomberg shows the Democrats lost around 480,000 members in six swing states since 2008 while independents increased by about 440,000. The GOP picked up 38,000 members. Read more…

Read more: http://times247.com/#ixzz20PEbf9Em
Urgency, anxiety drive Obama re-election team….AW SHUCKS!….RSK
The Hill
Thursday, July 12, 2012
News
A new urgency has swept into President Obama’s campaign as disappointing fundraising numbers have emerged alongside the shaky economy as a major threat to his prospects for reelection. Read more…

Read more: http://times247.com/#ixzz20PF7bHij
Inside the Ring: CyberCom chief talks digital war training
Bill Gertz

Army Gen. Keith B. Alexander, the commander of the new U.S. Cyber Command, this week defended the creation of the military’s digital war-fighting command and its training of cyberwarriors for future high-tech combat. Read more…

Read more: http://times247.com/#ixzz20PFPOdRd

ANN COULTER: FAST AND FURIOUS IS NOT A DC LAW FIRM…..WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE?

http://frontpagemag.com/2012/ann-coulter/fast-and-furious-is-not-a-d-c-law-firm/print/ Most Americans don’t care about whether Attorney General Eric Holder is hiding Fast and Furious documents because they don’t understand the story. Until someone can tell us otherwise, there is only one explanation for why President Obama’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives gave thousands of guns to Mexican drug dealers: It put […]

MICHAEL WIDLANSKI: OBAMA AND THE BROTHERHOOD…AN INVITATION TO DISASTER

URL to article: http://frontpagemag.com/2012/michael-widlanski/obama-and-the-brothers-an-invitation-to-disaster/ President Barack Obama, who invited the Muslim Brotherhood to his Cairo speech in 2009, has now invited Brotherhood leader and Egyptian president Muhammad Morsi for talks in the United States. But as the Muslim Brotherhood comes to power in Egypt, we should all be worried, because the Brotherhood was the group […]

RICHARD BAEHR: CAMPAIGN CASH FROM JEWS IS BAD ONLY WHEN SLATED FOR THE GOP….SEE NOTE PLEASE

http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/07/campaign_cash_from_jews_is_only_bad_if_it_goes_to_republicans.html

THE NEW YORK TIMES….THE PAPER OF DRECKORD LOVES OBAMA, HATES REPUBLICANS, HATES ISRAEL AND THINKS JEWS ARE A POLITICAL NUISANCE….RSK

The New York Times has been a bit obsessed this campaign cycle with all the big-money checks going to groups backing Mitt Romney for president, or to support conservative causes. Since the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case, the political left has railed against the decision, which in their collective minds has meant that rich corporations, and/or their super-rich executives, might be able to buy the election this year for the Republicans.

Of course, in 2008, the left seemed little bothered that the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate Barack Obama became the first presidential candidate of a major party to refuse to accept federal funding for the general election. Obama was running against John McCain, the co-author of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance laws, a candidate who was certain to take the federal money, and its associated limits of $75 million in direct spending, for the general election. After all, limits on campaign spending were an article of faith for McCain. Knowing this about McCain, and aware of the excitement and enthusiasm his own campaign was generating, Obama knew that by opting out of the federal campaign financing system, he could raise and then spend multiples of the $75 million McCain had to spend in the two-month general election period.

This, of course, is exactly what occurred. In September and October, Obama spent five times what McCain did in key battleground states such as Florida, and Ohio, most of it on negative and deceptive ads aimed at McCain. Obama won easily. Given the financial crisis in September of 2008, the unpopularity of George Bush, the contrast between Obama and McCain in terms of age and charisma, and the media love affair with Obama, it is a stretch to argue that all the extra campaign cash was the reason Obama won. But it certainly helped widen his margin of victory, and his coattails probably carried other Democrats to victory in Senate and U.S. House races.

The 2012 presidential race is shaping up as one where the financial resources of the two major candidates and their support groups will be much more in balance than was the case in 2008. This in and of itself is very upsetting to the left. They like their party to have more resources than the other side, and they particularly do not like big spending by very rich Republicans, or corporations. Spending by very rich Democrats and by unions seems to bother them far less, or not at all.