Boucle du 22 février

France

- Les 70 ans de "l'Affiche Rouge" célébrés à l’école : "SVP, ne dites pas à mes élèves qu'ils étaient juifs !", Benoit Rayski (historien, écrivain et journaliste)
http://www.atlantico.fr/decryptage/affiche-rouge-svp-ne-dites-pas-eleves-qu-etaient-juifs-benoit-rayski-988448.html
   "Dîtes immigrés, étrangers… Ça plaît et ça plaît même beaucoup. Dîtes autre chose… Ça gêne et ça gêne même beaucoup. Etant l'auteur d'un livre sur le sujet, j'étais invité pour en parler devant des élèves d'un lycée professionnel de Mantes-la-Jolie. Avant que je n'entre dans la classe, la prof m'a pris à part. "Je pense que ce serait mieux si vous vous absteniez de dire qu'ils étaient juifs. Vous pourriez vous contenter de dire qu'ils étaient immigrés et étrangers. Vous comprenez, avec la Palestine et tout ça…". J'ai tout de suite compris. [...]"

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Gaza & Hamas

- Gaza preacher: "It isn't about borders, but about Israel's existence" (Elder of Ziyon) - "This was on Hamas TV".
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.fr/2014/02/gaza-preacher-it-isnt-about-borders-but.html

- Two honor killings in Gaza (Elder of Ziyon) - "Some 27 women were murdered, apparently for "honor" reasons, in the West  Bank and Gaza in 2013, double the number killed in 2012".
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.fr/2014/02/two-honor-killings-in-gaza.html

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"Processus de paix"

- Palestinian official claims peace talks in 'crisis' as Abbas heads to meet Kerry in Paris, Khaled Abu Toameh (JP) - "On the eve of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's scheduled meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Paris on Wednesday a Palestinian official said the peace talks with Israel were facing a "real crisis." The official said that the US Administration was now considering extending the peace talks for at least another year".
http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Palestinian-official-claims-peace-talks-in-crisis-as-Abbas-heads-to-meet-Kerry-in-Paris-341822
- US framework draft is too vague, says top PLO official, Elhanan Miller (Times of Israel) - "Former PM Ahmed Qurei warns that Palestinian negotiators won’t accept ambiguous wording on borders, Jerusalem and settlements".
http://www.timesofisrael.com/us-framework-draft-is-too-vague-says-top-plo-official/
- PA stands firm on its terms, Khaled Abu Toameh (JP)
http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/PA-wont-accept-agreement-without-east-Jerusalem-recognition-of-Jewish-state-342092
   "The Palestinian Authority won’t accept any framework agreement that does not accept the Palestinian and Arab positions, which are based on international legitimacy, presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaineh said on Thursday. [...] Abu Rudanieh, reiterated Abbas’s “firm and permanent” position regarding any agreement with Israel, saying there would be no Palestinian state without east Jerusalem as its capital and no recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. Abbas’s positions, that all settlements are illegitimate, that a Palestinian state should be established on the pre-1967 lines, that all Palestinians be released from Israeli prisons and that the issue of the refugees be solved in a just way, were also restated. Abu Rudaineh said that Abbas clearly relayed his position to Kerry during their discussions in Paris. [...]"
- Report: Kerry's efforts on Israeli-Palestinian peace framework hit snag (JP) - "After Kerry-Abbas talks in Paris, Palestinian president deems unacceptable Kerry's proposed ideas for continuing talks with Israel, particularly insistence on recognizing Israel as Jewish state".
http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Report-Kerrys-efforts-on-Palestinian-Israeli-peace-framework-hit-snag-342164
   "After meetings between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and US Secretary of State John Kerry this week in Paris, a Palestinian official said that acceptance of Kerry's principles for continuing the talks was not forthcoming. The official said that the ideas Kerry presented to Abbas could "not serve as the basis for a framework accord between the Palestinians and Israel as they do not take into account the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people," AFP reported. "The Palestinian position explained to Mr Kerry is that the proposed ideas, particularly the insistence on recognition of the state of Israel as the Jewish nation-state, are unacceptable," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity. The official also labelled "vague" Kerry's proposals for the future of east Jerusalem. [...]"
- US peace efforts have ‘failed so far,’ says Abbas (AFP)
http://www.timesofisrael.com/us-peace-efforts-have-failed-so-far-says-abbas/

- Kerry disappointed with Palestinian verbal attacks against Israel, Herb Keinon (JP) - “Personal attacks are unhelpful”.
http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Kerry-Abbas-meet-to-discuss-core-issues-of-Israeli-Palestinian-peace-talks-341942
- US: Saeb Erekat's comments against Israel harmful to negotiations, Yitzhak Benhorin (Ynet) - "American officials upset over chief Palestinian negotiator's recent remarks that the Palestinians will call for a global boycott of Israel if peace talks flounder".
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4490386,00.html

- US: Peace framework will recognize Israel as Jewish state, Elie Leshem (Times of Israel) - Ambassadeur américain : “in the end, we’ll need to know that this is the end of the conflict, and that’s one way of verifying that… that everyone in the region and all of [Israel’s] neighbors will accept that there is a nation state of the Jewish people here, in the Jewish homeland.”
http://www.timesofisrael.com/us-peace-framework-will-recognize-israel-as-jewish-state/
   "US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro asserted on Friday that the framework peace deal currently being negotiated by US Secretary of State of John Kerry will include Palestinian recognition of Israel as “the nation state of the Jewish people.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas recognize Israel’s Jewishness has been a sticking point in negotiations, with the Palestinians refusing to accede to a demand that would tacitly do away with Palestinian hopes for a “right of return” for refugees and their descendants.
   “It’s too early to know what compromises and concessions both sides will make,” Shapiro told Israel Radio on Friday morning. “But we do believe… that Israel deserves recognition as a Jewish state. That has always been US policy — that Israel is a Jewish state and should remain a Jewish state. That will be one of the elements of the framework we’re working on.” Leading Palestinians made clear their opposition to the demand this week, insisting that by introducing the Jewish factor, Israel was drawing a red line that could doom negotiations. [...]
    But Shapiro sounded confident that, in a final-status agreement, the Palestinians — indeed, the entire Arab world — would have to accept that Israel is a Jewish state and will remain as such. “I assume that under the framework that we’re currently preparing — that we’ll see that recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, as the nation state of the Jewish people” he said. “And in the end, we’ll need to know that this is the end of the conflict, and that’s one way of verifying that… that everyone in the region and all of [Israel’s] neighbors will accept that there is a nation state of the Jewish people here, in the Jewish homeland.”
    When invoking “the end of the conflict,” Shapiro was likely implying that by recognizing Israel as a Jewish state under a permanent peace deal, the Palestinians would be forfeiting any future demand for a right of return. [...]"
- PLO official: Palestinian leadership could recognize Israel as Jewish state (JP) - "The current Palestinian leadership could possibly recognize Israel as a Jewish state in some form, a PLO official said Friday. However, a popular referendum would need to approve any such recognition accepted by the Palestinian leadership, senior Fatah official and former PA minister Nabil Amr told Palestinian news agency Ma'an".
http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/PLO-official-Palestinian-leadership-could-recognize-Israel-as-Jewish-state-342172
- Arafat accepted Israel as a Jewish State (Elder of Ziyon) - "Indeed, the statement has been wholly forgotten. Notice also that the liberal Haaretz interviewers are mentioning this as a major issue in 2004 - before Netanyahu was re-elected, before Livni made the same demand in negotiations to be rebuffed by the PLO negotiating team in 2007. It is not a new issue".
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.fr/2014/02/arafat-accepted-israel-as-jewish-state.html

- Report: Kerry framework proposal calls for Israeli freeze of settlement construction (JP) - "government officials have resigned themselves to the fact that Israeli gestures are necessary in order to entice Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas back to the negotiating table".
http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Report-Kerry-framework-proposal-calls-for-Israeli-freeze-of-settlement-construction-341875
   "Aides to US Secretary of State John Kerry will request that the Israeli government freeze all construction in settlements outside of the large blocs of communities that Israel intends to keep in any final-status deal with the Palestinians, Army Radio reported. Kerry's aides say the request will be an integral part of the framework agreement that will allow for the negotiations to continue past the originally allotted nine months, according to Army Radio.
    Officials in Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's office have yet to officially respond to the request, Army Radio reported. While there has been no official response from Jerusalem, government officials have resigned themselves to the fact that Israeli gestures are necessary in order to entice Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas back to the negotiating table. According to Army Radio, Israel would declare an "unofficial" freeze  to all construction in the isolated Jewish settlements that lie outside of the major population centers under Israeli control in the West Bank.
    While an official freeze on construction requires a government edict, an unofficial freeze could be implemented by placing bureaucratic obstacles and red tape on building plans or having the defense minister order the Civil Administration, which is charged with approving construction plans in the territories, to cease deliberating on such plans. In addition, the interior minister could instruct the Jerusalem Building and Planning Council to halt all plans in sensitive areas of the city, and the prime minister could order the housing minister to cease publishing tenders. An unofficial freeze would enable government officials to deny its existence while in practice halting all construction, according to Army Radio."
- Kerry hints settlements may not have to evacuate homes in final agreement, Herb Keinon (JP)
http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Kerry-hints-settlements-may-not-have-to-evacuate-homes-in-final-agreement-342115
   "Israelis living beyond the Green Line might not have to leave their homes following a peace agreement with the Palestinians, US Secretary of State John Kerry said in an interview broadcast on Thursday. Asked on Channel 2’s Uvda program by Ilana Dayan what personal price the settlers will have to pay as part of any agreement, Kerry said, “I’m not at all certain they will have to leave their homes.” [...]
    Kerry, in the interview that seemed an effort to gain the trust of the Israeli public, said he had “no argument with anybody in Israel who wants to say to me that no deal is better than a bad deal. I say that too. I’m not in the business of trying to put together a bad deal.” He was working closely with both sides to meet their security and long-term goals, he said. “One thing I know a hundred thousand percent is that you can’t turn to the people of Israel with the prospect that what you are offering is going to turn the West Bank into Gaza. Israel’s security is iron clad as a priority in this issue. And I have said that from day one.”
    One thing different in the current effort from those that have come in the past is that “we are trying to put the end game on the table,” Kerry said. In the past, he said, “the absence of understanding of where you are really going, and how it is going to be done,” promoted insecurity and allowed “the radical or extremists or anybody to push the system and it [fell] apart.” [...]"

- Palestinians: Eight Million Refugees Must Return to Israel, Khaled Abu Toameh (Gatestone Institute) - "Many Palestinians said that Abbas was not authorized to make any concessions or speak on behalf of the refugees".
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4184/palestinian-refugees-return
   "Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is facing criticism from Palestinian refugees for saying that he does not want to "flood" Israel with millions of refugees. Abbas made his statement during a meeting in his Ramallah office earlier this week with dozens of Israeli students – the first direct encounter of its kind between the Palestinian Authority president and Israeli youths. Abbas has also come under criticism for breaking a ban by Palestinian activists on meetings with Israelis. The ban has been imposed over the past few years by "anti-normalization" activists who oppose such meetings between Israelis and Palestinians.
    Abbas's controversial remarks about the "right of return" highlight the difficulties facing U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in his efforts to achieve a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. The Palestinian reactions to Abbas's remarks show that the issue of the refugees remains a sensitive and explosive one that could torpedo any agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians.
    Abbas told the Israeli students that the claim that he was seeking to "flood" Israel with five million refugees was nonsense. "There is propaganda saying that Abu Mazen [Abbas] wants the return of five million refugees to destroy the state of Israel," he said. "This is not true at all. All what we said was: Let's place the issue of the refugees on the table because it's a sensitive case which needs to be solved in order to end the conflict and so that the refugees would be satisfied with a peace agreement. But we are not seeking to drown Israel with millions in order to change its demography. This is nonsense."
    Representatives of Palestinian refugees rushed to issue condemnations of Abbas, accusing him of relinquishing the "right of return" of millions of Palestinians to their former villages and towns inside Israel. In Lebanon, where some 450,000 Palestinians live in several refugee camps and are exposed to Apartheid Laws that deny them access to many jobs and economic, health and educations services, Abbas's comments were received with deep resentment. During an emergency meeting in one of the refugee camps in Lebanon, Abbas was accused of "abandoning the right of return and harming Palestinian rights." The refugees said they were particularly enraged over the fact that protest letters they sent to the Palestinian Authority embassy in Beirut were totally ignored.
    Dr. Esam Udwan, an expert on refugee affairs, was quoted as saying that "Abbas's statements have caused damage to Palestinian rights." Accusing Abbas of providing Israel with concessions in return for nothing, Udwan said, "These remarks reflect Abbas's conviction that the issue of the refugees is ineffective and they have no right to return because this would mean drowning Israel. This is completely unacceptable. Who said that there are only five million refugees? The real number is eight million. Abbas mentioned the five million who are registered with UNRWA and benefit from its services. But there are millions of others who do not receive services from UNRWA and are not registered with it. This does not mean that they should be denied the right of return."
    Ali Huwaidi, another expert on refugee affairs, also lashed out at Abbas: "Regardless of Abbas's statements, the right of return is guaranteed, individually and collectively, through UN resolutions. The refugees will not give up their right no matter where they are living today. Abbas is worried about flooding Israel with five million refugees while Israel has brought one million people from the former Soviet Union and no one complained about this. Our refugees will not accept any alternative to their right to return to their homeland and we do not care what Abbas's position is." Many Palestinians said that Abbas was not authorized to make any concessions or speak on behalf of the refugees.
    This was not the first time that Abbas had come under attack on the issue of the refugees. Last year, Abbas told an Israeli TV station that he personally does not want to return to his former hometown of Safed in northern Israel. That comment too was seen by his critics as a sign that he was wiling to "surrender" the "right of return" for millions of refugees. [...]
    The reactions to Abbas's statements concerning the issue of the refugees show that any agreement that Abbas reaches with Israel under U.S. pressure will not signal the end of the conflict with Israel. They also show that millions of Palestinians continue to believe that one day they will be allowed to move to Israel, regardless of whether a Palestinian state is established in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem or not."

- PA leader supports Hamas kidnapping of Israeli soldiers (PMW)
http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=10688
   "Senior PA official and Deputy-Secretary of Fatah's Central Committee Jibril Rajoub said last month that the Palestinian Authority encourages Hamas to kidnap Israeli soldiers and hold them hostage in order to exchange them for the release of Palestinian prisoners. Click to view [...]"

- Official PA daily crossword: Haifa is "a port in occupied Palestine" (PMW)
http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=10725
   "Although PA Chairman Abbas proclaims the Palestinian Authority's desire to live side by side with an Israeli state, his official newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida  promotes a different position when it calls the Israeli coastal city Haifa "a port in occupied Palestine." That was how Haifa was termed in a recent crossword puzzle in the paper, in a clear denial of Israel's legitimacy and sovereignty. "Clue: "A port in occupied Palestine" ; Solution: "Haifa" [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 4, 2014]". Palestinian Media Watch has documented numerous examples of the official PA daily's use of crossword puzzles to deny Israel's existence. Cities such as Acre, Safed, Lod and even Tel Aviv have been presented as "Palestinian" or "occupied." [...]"

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Liban & Hezbollah

- Hezbollah: Jews invented Hollywood to 'take over the world', Yifa Yaakov (Times of Israel) - "Jews use influence, skills and superheroes to subversively hijack global culture through mass media, al-Manar claims".
http://www.timesofisrael.com/hezbollah-jews-invented-hollywood-to-take-over-the-world-as-we-want/
- Hezbollah TV: Superman is a Jewish plot to take over the world! (Elder of Ziyon)
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.fr/2014/02/hezbollah-tv-superman-is-jewish-plot-to.html