Thank you for your emails about last week's Media Focus: we take in the observations you made about needs for both proportionate representation of Israel and hands-on resources and will think around the news items for angles and information that provided added value.

 

We also appreciate hearing from so many Zionist Federations and organizations about the Tel Aviv Centenary events going on around the world, especially those that have taken off so well in the Dor Hemshech groups!

Shabbat Shalom,

 

Gila

 

Gila Ansell Brauner

English Desk

The Department for Zionist Activities

WZO

 

Summary

1. Freedom of Passage

With the EU summit retracting their allegations that Israel created a "stranglehold" on the PA, please find below some relevant summaries. At the same time, we draw attention to the latest BBC and Guardian articles demanding that Israel remove the Security Fence ("the Wall")

 

2. 15^th Memorial of the Amia Bombing

While the Jewish world commemorates 15 years to the massacre at Amia, Argentina appoints as Police Chief someone who is under investigation for concealing information in the original investigation.

Below are bilingual versions of Israel's communiqué on Memorial day and a link to an article from the Jerusalem Post.

 

3. Proceedings at Goldstone committee (UN, Geneva) & related matters

A very sensitive issue, but one on which people should keep informed, bearing in mind that Hamas does run the Gaza Strip (even to the latest modesty regulations and arrests). It openly declares its hostile and highly belligerent intentions against Israel, inciting maximum unrest at will - and then sets the ground rules that international organizations apparently have no difficulty in complying with, including the profligate abuse and violation of conventions and laws by commandeering schools, hospitals, ambulances, civilian housing and UN property, as bases for its activities.

 

The committee's "fact-finding" stages therefore now draw to a predictable, pre-scripted close, with no-one questioning the mandate or the manner of its direct investigation and hearings. Israel chose not to cooperate with its investigations, in light of the baseline assumptions and weighted search - which complicated fair representation of the facts about concealment of Hamas infrastructure in densely populated civilian areas, and documentation about the figures of armed combattants vs civilian casualties. However, Noam Shalit and a group of Israelis from Sderot did go to Geneva to give evidence to the committee hearing, which might have some impact on the overall picture.

One hands-on article link (Jerusalem Post) and one briefing by a military specialist (JCPA).

 

4.      Israel's Security Concerns: Israel Advocacy Update (ZFA)

An invaluable discussion of the most significant issues, some of the better presentations and how the different issues fit together, plus additional focus on the Gilad Shalit case. Please excuse us if you already received this via direct mailing, but many people are not on the ZFA Israel Advocacy list and it is definitely added value!

I also added the link to an article by Sever Plocker in Yediot (Ynetnews) that I read yesterday, which appeared in today's MFA newsletter.

 

5. Jerusalem and Israel Film Festival

A colourful footnote to the week – one article link (Jerusalem Post).

 

1.      Freedom of Passage

 

8 Jul 2009

Easing of Restrictions in Judea and Samaria in 2009

Background Briefing [MFA]

 

1. The scope of activity of the Palestinian security forces was expanded – permission was granted to open twelve new Palestinian police stations in Area B, and the scope of activity of the existing police stations was also increased. This is in addition to the permission to open 20 new Palestinian police stations granted last year.
2. Improvements in the civil-humanitarian realm – extension of entry permits to Israel for chronic patients (and their escorts) for the purpose of medical treatment, as well as for medical students doing their internship in Israeli hospitals – from three months to six months.
3. Removal of the checkpoint at A-ram, South of Ramallah, which allows free movement of vehicles and pedestrians.
4. Removal of the Beit Iba checkpoint in Samaria in March 2009. In order to prevent the passage of potential terrorists from Nablus, a new vehicular checkpoint was set up near Dir Sharaf village, northwest of Nablus, where only spot checks are carried out.
5. Removal of two roadblocks, one next to Ras Karkar village, and the second near Eyn Yabrud village. Without the roadblocks, free passage for vehicles is possible between Ramallah and the villages East and West of it.
6. Removal of the Rimonim checkpoint, located east of Ramallah – allows movement between Ramallah and the Jordan Valley.
7. Removal of the Bir-Zeyt checkpoint, located north of Ramallah – allows swift passage between Ramallah and the villages to the north.
8. Improved passage of Palestinian public figures and businessmen – One thousand and five hundred permits were issued to public officials which allow them to pass through the Israeli crossings into Israel. This is a very significant move that will improve the quality of life of these individuals, who are the prime movers of the Palestinian economy in Judea and Samaria.
9. Opening of 422 crossing, east of Qalqilya, to free movement of Palestinian vehicles between Qalqilya and the villages to the East.
10. Removal of the roadblock at Hableh, south of Qalqilya, which allows movement between the city and the villages to the South.
11. Extending the working hours of the Haviot checkpoint, northwest of Nablus, to 24 hours a day, which will improve the movement of Nablus area residents.
12. Extending the working hours of the Asira a-Shamalya checkpoint, north of Nablus, to 24 hours a day.
13. Opening the Vered Yericho crossing, north of Jericho, which will allow free movement between the Jericho vicinity and the Jordan Valley for both vehicles and pedestrians.
14. Extending the working hours of the Hawara checkpoint, south of Nablus, to 24 hours a day, with vehicular spot checks. The Hawara checkpoint is the main one in the Nablus vicinity and the easing of restrictions there allows swift passage from the city to all parts of Judea and Samaria.

 

The aforementioned roadblock removals are in addition to about 140 roadblocks that were opened to traffic in the past year in order to increase the civilian Palestinian population's freedom of movement throughout Judea and Samaria. The decision to open checkpoints was made following an assessment of the situation by Central Command and as part of the plan to ease restrictions approved by the political echelon.

 

Today, in Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley, there are 504 dirt roadblocks and 14 checkpoints. The IDF will continue to act according to decisions made by the political echelon, in accordance with security assessments. These actions are meant to further ease the routine life of the Palestinian population in Judea and Samaria, while continuously fighting terror and maintaining the safety of the citizens of the State of Israel.

 

7 July 2009

Israel Strongly Rejects EU Official's Allegation that
Settlements Impact Negatively on the Palestinian Economy [MFA]

 

Senior Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Rafael Barak, summoned the head of the EU delegation to Israel, Ambassador Ramiro Cibrian Uzal, following the statement made yesterday (6 July 2009) by an EC official that Israeli settlements are "strangling the Palestinian economy" and perpetuating PA dependence on donors.

 

Ambassador Barak stated that Israel strongly rejects the political allegations made by a European Commission technical assistant regarding the impact of Israeli security measures and settlements on the Palestinian economy.

 

Political statements of this nature clearly fall outside the mandate of the ECTAO office in question, which is charged with a purely technical role in the channeling of assistance. The statement itself is also clearly unfounded. It ignores the fact that the issue of settlements has been agreed by the parties to be addressed in parallel with the fulfillment of other obligations - including Palestinian security obligations - and also that, in its disengagement plan Israel, by dismantling all settlements in the Gaza Strip and several in the West Bank, went considerably beyond its obligations under existing agreements.

 

Even more troubling is the technical assistant's implication that Israeli security measures in the West Bank are unnecessary and even illegal, alongside a total failure to recognize that it is the continued activity of Palestinian terrorist groups which makes such measures an unfortunate necessity.

 

The statement also chose to ignore the recent improvements in the West Bank economy. Recent World Bank, IMF and Palestinian Ministry of Finance data point to significant improvement of the Palestinian economy, even during the current global financial crisis. Indeed, official Palestinian data indicates that the West Bank has shown economic growth rates of 5-7% in 2008.

 

The Middle East Quartet (United Nations, European Union, Russian Federation, and the United States), in a statement issued on 26 June 2009, welcomed plans by the government of Israel to promote Palestinian economic development and declared its readiness to work closely with Israel, the Palestinian government and international donors in order to achieve sustainable economic development. Furthermore, the transfer of EU financial aid to the PA is carried out with the support and cooperation of the State of Israel.

 

In the aforementioned statement, the Quartet recognized that Israel has legitimate security concerns that must continue to be safeguarded. In fact, it is the improved security cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority that has made possible the removal of 140 checkpoints and roadblocks in recent months. These measures, which even won recognition by the Palestinian media, are expected to double real economic growth in the West Bank, from 5% to 10%. Regretfully, these facts were not deemed worthy of mention by the European official.

 

Ultimately, a vibrant, stable economy will be achieved through the resumption of negotiations between Israel and the PA. In the meantime, the European technical assistant would do well to concentrate his efforts on the tasks for which he is responsible, instead of making unfounded accusations against Israel.

 

 

2. 15^th Annual Memorial of the Amia Bombing

 

18^th July 2009

Israeli Announcement Marking the 15th Anniversary
of the AMIA Bombing [MFA]

 

Fifteen years ago today, in the morning hours of 18 July 1994, a powerful explosion rocked the peaceful city of Buenos Aires. A terrorist attack had been launched against the city's Jewish community center, AMIA (Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina).

 

Tragically, 85 people lost their lives in the attack and hundreds more were injured, all victims of international terrorism. The seven-story AMIA building, the central location for Argentina's Jewish communal activities, was totally reduced to rubble and the community's archives were destroyed in the bombing.

 

The pain and sorrow caused by this antisemitic attack is compounded by fact that those responsible for this horrifying act have not been brought to justice. But while they have yet to be individually named, responsibility for the attack is not anonymous at all. After years of enquiries, the Argentinian investigative magistrate has concluded that it is Iran who is responsible for the attack and for dispatching the murderers. The government of Argentina even appealed to Interpol to issue arrest warrants for several suspects, and this appeal was approved by the Interpol General Assembly.

 

This terrorist attack, which targeted innocent Argentinian citizens, constitutes further evidence of the antisemitic nature of the fanatical Iranian regime. As Iran aggressively seeks to expand its influence in Latin America, we denounce Iran before the entire world for standing behind many international terrorist attacks, for financing, training and arming terrorist organizations, for striving to obtain nuclear weapons and for threatening to wipe Israel off the map.

 

At this difficult hour, the people and government of Israel identify with the bereaved families, with the Jewish community in Argentina and with all the people of Argentina. Concurrently, we would like to congratulate the Jewish community which has managed to recover from the tragic event, to restore the community and maintain firm ties with the State of Israel. Furthermore, we endorse the Argentinian government's efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice.

 

18 de julio de 2009

Declaración israelí en el décimoquinto aniversario del atentado
contra la AMIA en Buenos Aires

 

Hace hoy quince años que en horas de la mañana del 18 de julio de 1994, una violenta explosión sacudió la tranquila ciudad de Buenos Aires. Se trataba de un acto de terrorismo contra la AMIA (Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina), el centro de la colectividad judía de la República Argentina.

 

Este trágico atentado, en el que  85 personas perdieron la vida y centenares resultaron heridas, fue perpetrado por el terrorismo internacional. El edificio de siete plantas de la AMIA, el centro de actividades de la  colectividad judía argentina, quedó reducido a escombros y sus archivos fueron destruidos por la explosión.

 

El dolor causado por este nefando ataque antisemita viene agravado por el hecho de que los responsables del atentado no han sido aprehendidos. Sin embargo, aunque los nombres de quienes perpetraron el crimen aún no se han divulgado, la responsabilidad del mismo no es de ningún modo anónima. Después de años de investigación, un magistrado argentino ha llegado a la conclusión de que el instigador del atentado fue Irán y de este país salieron sus ejecutores. El Gobierno argentino incluso ha solicitado a la Intepol emitir órdenes de arresto internacionales contra varios de los sospechosos y esta solicitud ha sido aprobada por la Asamblea General de la Interpol.

 

El ataque terrorista, dirigido contra ciudadanos argentinos inocentes, es una prueba más del carácter antisemita del fanático régiment iraní. Considerando los esfuerzos agresivos de Irán por ampliar su influencia en América Latina,  denunciamos a Irán ante el mundo entero por ser el instigador de numerosos ataques terroristas internacionales, por financiar, entrenar y armar a organizaciones terroristas, por tratar de obtener armas nucleares y por amenazar con borrar del mapa a Israel. 

 

En esa hora difícil, el pueblo y el Gobierno de Israel se identifican con las familias de las víctimas, con la colectividad judía argentina y con el pueblo de la República Argentina. Al propio tiempo, deseamos felicitar a la colectividad judía que ha logrado recuperarse de aquel trágico evento, restableciendo los servicios comunitarios y manteniendo sus firmes lazos con el Estado de Israel. Además, encomiamos los esfuerzos desplegados por las autoridades argentinas para capturar y enjuiciar a los autores del atentado.

 

Buenos Aires police chief allegedly concealed AMIA probe evidence, Daniela Feldman and Ilana Strauss, 7^th July 2009 http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1246443747418&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

 

3. Proceedings at the Goldstone committee (UN, Geneva) and related matters

 

Analysis: The problem with Goldstone, Haviv Rettig Gur, 6^th July 2009

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1246443735904&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

 

International Law and Military Operations in Practice - Col. Richard Kemp (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)

Former commander of British forces in Afghanistan in conference in Jerusalem, June 18, 2009

 

Excerpts from the summary:

·         The battlefield - in any kind of war - is a place of confusion and chaos, of fast-moving action. In the type of conflict that the Israel Defense Forces recently fought in Gaza and in Lebanon, and Britain and America are still fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, these age-old confusions and complexities are made one hundred times worse by the fighting policies and techniques of the enemy.

·         Islamist fighting groups [...] know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. […]

·         Civilians and their property are routinely exploited by these groups, in deliberate and flagrant violation of international laws or reasonable norms of civilized behavior. Protected buildings, mosques, schools, and hospitals are used as strongholds. […]

·         And Hamas, like Hizbullah, is also highly expert at driving the media agenda. […]

·         When possible the IDF gave at least four hours' notice to civilians to leave areas targeted for attack. The IDF dropped over 900,000 leaflets warning the population of impending attacks to allow them to leave designated areas. The IDF phoned over 30,000 Palestinian households in Gaza, urging them in Arabic to leave homes where Hamas might have stashed weapons or be preparing to fight.

·         Many attack helicopter missions that could have taken out Hamas military capability were cancelled if there was too great a risk of civilian casualties in the area. During the conflict, the IDF allowed huge amounts of humanitarian aid into Gaza, even though delivering aid virtually into your enemy's hands is to the military tactician normally quite unthinkable.

·         By taking these actions the IDF did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare.

   Video: View Col. Kemp's presentation

   A British Military Expert Tells Truth to Prejudice - Melanie Phillips (Spectator-UK)

 

Related Films

 

IDEAS has released two documentary films that show what it is like to be a civilian under attack in a war zone. Under Fire and Scorched Summer put human faces to the statistics of civilian war casualties; they can be viewed, for free, at www.UnderFireDocumentary.com and www.ScorchedSummer.com, respectively. Under Fire can be watched with subtitles in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Hebrew, Arabic, Russian or Mandarin; Scorched Summer is available with English or Hebrew subtitles.

 

2 July 2009

IDF response to Amnesty Report [MFA]

 

We find it both questionable and objectionable that a well-respected and ostensibly objective international organization such as Amnesty could produce a report on Operation Cast Lead without properly recognizing the unbearable reality of nine years of incessant and indiscriminate rocket fire on the citizens of Israel. The slant of their report indicates that the organization succumbed to the manipulations of the Hamas terror organization.

 

Operation Cast Lead was a result of nine years of Hamas' unrelenting Qassam, Grad and mortar shell fire on more than a quarter of a million of Israel's citizens. Rocket fire was Hamas' preferred terror tactic, and they ruthlessly used populated areas of the Gaza Strip in order to carry out their attacks. 

 

We did not find in the report a proper reference to the reality of the Israeli home front or to Israeli security concerns, and therefore the report seems unbalanced. It presents a distorted view of the laws of war that does not comply with the rules implemented by democratic states battling terror.

 

It also ignores the efforts of the IDF to minimize as much as possible harming uninvolved noncombatant civilians. During Operation Cast Lead, the IDF utilized various fighting methods and advanced technology to minimize harm to the civilian population, while engaging terrorists who were operating from densely populated areas and using the local population as a “human shield.”

 

In many cases, areas in which strikes of legitimate targets were to take place, as required by international law, the IDF warned the local population prior to the attack, via leaflets, radio broadcasts, and direct calls to private cellular telephones. It should be stated that the IDF only targeted military targets and avoided harming civilians, sometimes to the detriment of its own military interests.

 

In addition, during Operation Cast Lead, the IDF enabled for the transfer of humanitarian aid and also instated a daily several hour cease fire so that the goods could be safely distributed.

 

The Amnesty report ignores a critical aspect of Operation Cast Lead – Hamas consistently, deliberately and routinely violated International Law, specifically the prohibition against the use of "human shields." While Hamas was using Palestinian civilian centers to fire rockets at the citizens of Israel, the IDF went to great lengths to combat their terrorism while maintaining a firm commitment to the laws of war.

 

Documented evidence, from aerial drones, ground footage and independent accounts, prove, beyond all doubt, that Hamas deliberately exploited population centers – including medical, educational, recreational and religious facilities – to provide tactical cover for their terror activities.

 

It is to Amnesty International's discredit that the report they issued, focuses so intently on any and all IDF infractions, and ignores the blatant violations of international law perpetrated by Hamas. 

 

Out of a professional, ethical and judicial obligation to thoroughly inspect certain claims made regarding Operation Cast Lead, the IDF conducted a number of investigations following the operation. The investigations proved that the IDF operated throughout the fighting in accordance with international law, maintaining high ethical and professional standards and in many incidents, for the sake of avoiding harm to unassociated civilians, even limited itself beyond existing judicial obligations. Nonetheless, the investigations found a few, unfortunate incidents that are unavoidable during combat - especially the type of combat Hamas forced upon the IDF during Operation Cast Lead, when it chose to fight from within civilian population centers.

 

In addition to the investigations ordered by the Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, the IDF is currently looking into complaints that were received from various sources - private lawyers, human rights organizations (including Amnesty) and media outlets (both domestic and international) - that raise different questions regarding the way in which the IDF operated during Operation Cast Lead. In certain cases, the Chief Military Advocate has already ordered the opening of a criminal investigation.

 

4. Israel's Security Concerns

 

Israel Advocacy Update (ZFA)

 

8 July 2009

 

[…]
Immediately after reading … articles in the Australian press, I went to the Israeli press where the leading story on Haaretz was ‘US denies giving Israel ‘green light’ to strike Iran’. The US State Department issued a statement declaring, “We are certainly not going to give a green light to any kind of military strike, but Israel is a sovereign country and we’re not going to dictate its actions.” The Australian followed up this story today, but surprisingly the Age did not.

US President Barack Obama also weighed in on the debate and when pressed by CNN he said, “We have said directly to the Israelis that it is important to try and resolve this in an international setting in a way that does not create major conflict in the Middle East”. He continued, “We can’t dictate to other countries what their security interests are” (see more). This statement is interesting for two reasons. Firstly, it asserts that while the US has declared it will first attempt to resolve the issue with Iran through engagement and diplomatic channels, other countries must choose their own path. The second thing it seems to suggest is that the US can now pick and choose when they dictate to other countries what their security interests are.

Please also read an interesting Op-Ed from yesterday’s Age by the well respected Middle East commentator Ehud Ya’ari entitled, ‘Here’s the real message behind Iran’s disputed election’.

Another issue which seems to be constantly on the table these days is that of the settlements. It started in March when US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton visited the region, but really began in earnest in June when Obama declared to the Muslim world, “The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements” (see more). The actual legitimacy of the settlements is indeed a thorny issue - one that also divides Israelis. However, are the settlements really the obstacle to peace as some might suggest? Indeed, Obama’s statements on the legitimacy of the settlements might be interpreted as suggesting that, without the settlements, peace would prevail in the Middle East.

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the European Union have all had their say on the settlements in recent days but nowhere have Israel’s legitimate security concerns been addressed. Following statements by the EU that Israel is allegedly strangling the Palestinians economically and, “it is the European taxpayers who pay most of the price of this dependence” the Israeli Foreign Ministry issued a statement of its own declaring that the EU comments showed a “total failure to recognise that it is the continued activity of Palestinian terrorists groups which makes such measures an unfortunate necessity” (see more).

Now it seems the Syrians have jumped on the settlement bandwagon, declaring that they will not resume peace talks until Israel halts settlement activity in the West Bank. Peace with Syria would depend on Israel’s complete withdrawal from the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau captured by Israel in the Six-Day War. I am not sure how disputes over settlement expansion or evacuation in the West Bank has any bearing on negotiations with Syria, but it seems like a convenient scapegoat in order to delay any meaningful negotiation. Funnily enough, while Israeli President Shimon Peres has told German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier that Israel would not hand the Golan Heights over to Syria on a “silver platter”, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem responded by declaring that Syria did not want the Golan Heights on a silver platter, but on a gold one. Go figure? (see more)

Finally, on the issue of abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, rumours of his imminent release last week turned out to be exactly that. Now the Egyptians are saying that negotiations will be resumed in the coming days. Please read ‘Shalit talks to resume in coming days’ from Jerusalem Post and ‘Shalit talks may pick up where Olmert left off’ from Haaretz. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has apparently told Shimon Peres that Gilad Shalit is healthy (see more).

While I will continue to remain hopeful that Gilad Shalit will be returned to his family, I came across an interesting article over the weekend that raises some legitimate reasons why Hamas would not want to do a prisoner swap with Israel, and why most of this perceived negotiation is just for show. Please read ‘Hamas fears a swap’ from Ynet for more information.

Now the people who have brought us such children’s characters as Farfour the Mouse, Nahoul the Bee, Assud the Rabbit and Naasur the Bear, have broadcast an animated movie mocking Gilad Shalit on Hamas-controlled television. This is disgusting, but obviously not surprising and naturally, fails to attract the attention of our local media, particularly the Age which is never shy when it comes to highlighting any Israeli conduct which it perceives to be worthy of its attention and presentation in a negative light.

Best wishes,
Emily

Emily Chrapot
Israel Advocacy Analyst
Zionist Council of Victoria
9272 5507
www.zcv.org.au  

They don’t want a state, Sever Plocker, Ynet News, 7^th July 2009
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3743297,00.html

Researchers increasingly argue that Palestinians uninterested in statehood…

 

5. Jerusalem and Israel Film Festival

 

It's movie time again in the capital, Hannah Brown, 8^th July 2009

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1246443750346&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull