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Law and Society
Middle EastBy Dr.Aaron.Lerner.IMRA
2 weeks ago
Dr. Aaron Lerner
Thanks to Saeed Jalili, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, for putting the cards on the table. Support for the "Palestinian cause" isn't the narrow question of right and wrong between Israel and the Palestinians. Its a symbol of the struggle against the "world powers". That's to say, by extension, that what is perceived as a successful move against Israel is seen as a successful move against the "world powers". Here's the policy ramification if you are a "world power" vis a vis pushing Israel to give a victory to the Palestinians: The move won't placate your enemies - they will reward them with a victory that will encourage them to extend and expand their struggle against you.
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Law and SocietyMiddle EastBy Dabar
3 weeks ago
The Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, it seems, is offended over Israel's possible complicity in the allegations that Dubai have made that bogus Australian passports were used by people, it alleges, were associated with causing a death in Dubai.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported, www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/betrayed-pm-should-not-be-taken-for-granted-by-israel-20100225-p5wk.html
When officials told Kevin Rudd on Wednesday afternoon that three suspected Mossad assassins had travelled on forged Australian passports, he was shocked. ''He was stunned and outraged,'' said a colleague. He considered it a personal affront as well as a national insult. Rudd has been such a strong supporter of Israel that a former chairman of the World Jewish Congress, Isi Leibler, last year described him as ''a Christian Zionist - he understands and has some sympathy for us''. And this only intensified his sense of betrayal. The Prime Minister said on radio 3AW yesterday that ''any state that chooses to do this in relation to Australian passports, frankly, is treating the Australian people, the Australian government and the Australian nation with contempt.''
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Law and SocietyMiddle EastBy Dr.Aaron.Lerner.IMRA
3 weeks ago
Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA: Here is where we are: 1. There are numerous places in the "Holy Land" beyond the "Green Line" that are intimately linked to Jewish history and thus to Jewish identity and heritage. Recognizing these historical links in now way rules out a priori that some of these places may not be under Israeli control in a final status arrangement. 2. There are numerous places in "Historical Palestine" within the "Green Line" that are intimately linked to the history of Arab Palestinians and thus to the identity and heritage of Palestinian Arabs. Recognizing these historical links in now way rules out these places (Jaffo, for example) will remain under Israeli control in a final status arrangement. 3. In the instance that a place that is holy to both Islam and other religions is under Moslem control, non-Moslem prayer is prohibited at the site. 4. As demonstrated in the "Tomb of the Patriarchs" (a place that is holy to both Judaism and other religions is under Israeli control), non-Jewish prayer is also accommodated at the site. 5. As for the Hague and Geneva Conventions cited, inasmuch as Israel has preserved and improved rather than destroyed,.are we to understand that the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights believes that international law somehow supports discrimination against Jews in places holy to Jews and Moslems? |
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Law and SocietyMiddle EastBy Dr.Aaron.Lerner.IMRA
3 weeks ago
Dr. Aaron Lerner Date: 21 February 2010
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announcement at today's cabinet meeting
that the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem
will be included on the list of heritage sites marked for state renovation
and preservation was an encouraging example of responsiveness to the
concerns of constituents.
Given how much Mr. Netanyahu has on his "plate" it is very possible that he
had nothing to do with the earlier decision by the team handling the project
not to include these major biblical sites on the list.
When news of the exclusion of the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel's Tomb
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Law and SocietyMiddle EastBy Dabar
4 weeks ago
A man is found dead in a Dubai hotel room. It is possible he was electrocuted.
Then came news that he was possibly poisoned.
That he had a heart attack and then that he was strangled.
There the information on how the death was achieved stopped. The latest information was implied in footage a of a guy carrying a tennis racquet. Clearly unless he left the racquet in the hall, the victim was done in by a man carrying a tennis racquet. Bopped him over the head?
Then we learn the victim was Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, who most of the world hadn't heard of, but that he was known to be involved in terror. The media suddenly know a lot about him. And they know for sure why Israel might want him dead. But then comes a partial explanation,
According to reports, Mabhouh oversaw the smuggling of Iranian long-range rockets into Gaza, enabling Hamas to threaten the densely populated Gush Dan region
In a video made two weeks before his death and broadcast on Al-Jazeera earlier this month, Mabhouh said he had kidnapped and murdered two IDF soldiers, Ilan Sa’adon and Avi Sasportas, in 1989.
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