La Boucle d'Occam

Israël

- Gabi Ashkenazi avoue qu'Israël ne s'attendait pas au Printemps arabe (Guysen)
http://www.guysen.com/news_Gabi-Ashkenazi-avoue-qu-Israel-ne-s-attendait-pas-au-Printemps-arabe_350475.html
   "L'ex-chef d'état-major de Tsahal, Gabi Ashkenazi, a reconnu que les services de sécurité israéliens ''n'avaient pas vu venir'' le ''printemps arabe''. Il s'est déclaré ''inquiet de la situation en Egypte, pas parce que Moubarak était sioniste, mais parce qu'il était une ancre de stabilité dans la région''. Evoquant le dossier syrien, il a estimé qu'il y a une opportunité de changement positif pour Israël. ''La majorité des armes du Hezbollah (libanais) arrivent des dépôts syriens. L'argent vient d'Iran, mais les armes viennent de Syrie. Après l'intervention de l'Iran et du Hezbollah en Syrie, je ne pense pas qu'un autre gouvernement syrien les soutiendra comme l'a fait Assad'', a-t-il affirmé."

- New poll shows Netanyahu still on top, Gabe Fisher (Times of Israel)
http://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-still-on-top/
   "If elections were to be held now, current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would enjoy a significant lead over his rivals, a new poll by Israel Hayom revealed on Sunday. Asking respondents who they would vote for in a hypothetical election, the poll showed the Likud under Netanyahu receiving 31 seats in the 120 seat Knesset, comfortably ahead of Labor (17 seats), Yisrael Beitenu (14 seats) and Kadima (13 seats). Yesh Atid, the new party under journalist-turned-politician Yair Lapid, would garner a respectable 12 seats, and the once-mighty Shas, nine seats. [...]
    In answer to the question of who would make the best prime minister, Netanyahu again was preferred over his rivals, with 29.1 percent of those polled indicating he was their choice. Avigdor Lieberman was a distant second at 9.2%, followed by Yair Lapid (7%) and Shaul Mofaz (4.6%). The poll was a survey of 500 Israelis over the age of 18 taken last week, the evening before Independence Day, with a margin of error of ±4.5%."

- The army gears up to disperse civilian protests, avoiding the Eisner approach, Mitch Ginsburg (Times of Israel) - "the primary battle Israel faces today “is over the [public's] perception. That is the war”."
http://www.timesofisrael.com/the-armys-battle-against-civilian-protests/
   "[...] According to Lt. Col. Bibi, the army has been training its soldiers to handle the different forms of civilian protest ever since the winter of 1988, when the first intifada broke out in Jabalya and spread through the Gaza Strip and West Bank. At the time Bibi was a new draftee in the Golani brigade and he remembers facing crowds of 20,000 people in and around the Casbah of Nablus, “armed with wooden bullets that were even worse that the metal ones” and no real plan of what to do.
    Since then, he said, the army has learned a lot. And it will likely need it. On May 15 Palestinians mark Nakba Day, commemorating their losses in Israel’s War of Independence. Several weeks later, in early June, is Nachsa Day, marking the repercussions of the 1967 defeat. Last year violent protests abounded on both days. This year, according to Samaria Brigade commander Colonel Nimrod Aloni, widespread civil protest, irrespective of those dates, is even more likely.
   “The [Palestinian] Authority has been aiming for popular unrest of the kind that resembles the first intifada,” he told the army magazine Bamahane earlier this month, opining that it would be a long time before the Palestinians rose up in arms against Israel. “Their aim is to continue to create large protests at many sites [of the kind] that might embarrass the IDF and cause casualties that would fuel the protests.” [...]
    Brig. Gen. (res) Avi Benayahu, the former IDF Spokesman, think that the picture is, in fact, the be-all and end-all. He told Army Radio last week that the primary battle Israel faces today “is over the [public's] perception. That is the war.” He noted that the army was still “three or four years away” from fully internalizing the severity of this threat. [...]
    Despite what one of Bibi’s staff officers characterized as “an insane degree of tension” between the army’s primary task of teaching civilians to wage war and its ancillary one of teaching them to perform police duties, Bibi said that the IDF now begins instructing combat soldiers to deal with the threat of civilian protests toward the end of basic training. An intelligence officer briefs them, and their sergeants introduce the riot-dispersal means at their disposal.
    The army has invested “a ton of money, millions” in the creation and production of nonlethal weapons, with factories like Beit Alfa Technologies “working around the clock,” Bibi said. Today all border-patrolling vehicles and those operating with the West Bank — apparently including the one Eisner was in — carry a basic kit of riot-dispersal gear: tear gas, rubber-coated bullets and shock grenades.
    Before beginning a tour of duty along any of the border regions or within the West Bank, combat soldiers spend a week at one of the army’s three command training bases. There they learn to work with weapons like the “skunk,” which sprays a noxious-smelling water and yeast mixture; the “scream,” which produces an unbearable sound wave; and the Remington, a shotgun that fires beanbags at a high velocity. There are many other weapons, including sand and salt bullets, and the soldiers are trained to use them during a final drill in a town-like training area generally used to simulate house-to-house combat. “We burn tires, pelt them with pinecones, fire tennis balls at them, get in their faces and scream,” said the staff officer, whose name was not cleared for usage by the IDF.
    Bibi and his staff also worked with psychologists. Flipping through the new book, which will soon be distributed to all regional commands, he said that officers have to mentally prepare their soldiers for nonlethal combat; have to lead from the front, as the Golan Heights brigade commander did last May; and have to arrive on the scene of a protest in a manner that shows preparedness. “That has an instant impact,” Bibi said.
    When facing civilian protesters, he stressed, it is also crucial to not merely stand in place and absorb the curses and stones hurled at them. Instead, he suggested, troops should remain apart from the protesters, reducing friction, and then launch a surprise charge into the crowd in order to nab the main provocateurs. “The thing they fear most is being taken into custody.” Army instruction also includes the use of concealed snipers. “When people are hit in the legs,” he said, felled with no one knowing the source of the fire, “it creates a sense of uncertainty.” Finally, the army tries to “seed surprise within the ranks of the protesters,” likely a hint at the use of security officers dressed as Arabs and operating within the crowd, both drawing out and arresting those with weapons.
    The IDF has also recognized the potency of pictures and film footage. According to Bibi, every combat platoon now sends one soldier to a two-week course in “operational documentation.” This means that in every 20-soldier group there is now, or will soon be, a pair of hands holding a camera rather than a weapon. Asked if this type of training and deployment did not strip the army of its ability to wage war, Bibi sighed and said, “We are not an army with a state [at our disposal] but a state with an army. There are missions that have to be fulfilled”."

- Palestinian prisoners reject Israeli compromise to end hunger strike, Asher Zeiger (Times of Israel)
http://www.timesofisrael.com/palestinian-prisoners-reject-israeli-compromise-to-end-hunger-strike/
   "Nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons have rejected a compromise proposal to end their hunger strike protesting the conditions of imprisonment, the Palestinian Ma’an News Agency reported Sunday.
    One of the central demands of the two-week-old strike is that Israel cease its policy of holding Palestinian detainees in solitary confinement, which the prisoners group Al-Ahrar claims violates international law. Detainees said they would continue refuses food despite an Israeli proposal to gather isolated prisoners into a special section. The Israelis also wanted the prisoners to agree not to participate in political activities upon release from solitary confinement. Fouad Khafash, director of al-Ahrar told Ma’an that the prisoners refuse “half-solutions.” [...]
    Another major target of the strikers is the Israeli policy of administrative detention, which allows for prisoners to be detained indefinitely without officially being charged. Two prisoners recently won their release from administrative detention by embarking on huinger strikes, galvanizing Palestinian and international opposition to the policy in the process. The number of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons without trial has risen by some 50 percent over the past year. At times, Israel has imprisoned thousands of Palestinians in this manner. At other times, such as during Menachem Begin’s tenure as prime minister, the number has dipped to as low as three. Currently there are 319 such prisoners.
    Israeli security officials are adamant that the practice, harsh though it is, does successfully reduce terror attacks. “The bottom line is that this is a legal tool used when there are clear-cut threats to Israeli security and there is no other recourse,” Captain Eytan Buchman of the IDF Spokesperson’s Office said recently."

Judée-Samarie

- Fatah officials urge Abbas to oust Fayyad as PM, Khaled Abu Toameh (JP) - "In a bid to ease tensions, Abbas and Fayyad met for three hours last Tuesday".
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=267853
   "Buoyed by a series of victories in elections for student councils and professional unions, Fatah representatives over the weekend urged Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to replace Prime Minister Salam Fayyad with a Fatah official. In the past few weeks, supporters of Fatah scored major victories in elections for student councils at four universities in the West Bank: Bir Zeit University north of Ramallah, Bethlehem University, Al-Quds University in Abu Dis and Hebron University. [...]
    The victories are seen by Fatah as a vote of confidence in Abbas and the faction’s policies and strategy. Fatah also views the results as a major blow to Hamas and other opposition groups that are critical of Abbas and his ruling faction in the West Bank. Tensions between Abbas and Fayyad intensified after the latter refused to deliver the PA president’s letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu two weeks ago. Fatah officials in the West Bank have since stepped up pressure on Abbas to dismiss Fayyad and appoint a Fatah figure as head of a new government.
   “President Abbas is facing growing pressure to replace Fayyad with a Fatah prime minister,” said a source close to the PA president. “The recent victories that Fatah scored in university elections show that Fatah continues to enjoy the support of a majority of Palestinians.” Fayyad, who is not a member of Fatah, heads a list called Third Way that won only two seats in the January 2006 parliamentary election. Fayyad’s refusal to deliver the letter to Netanyahu deeply embarrassed Abbas, said a Fatah official in Ramallah.
    In a bid to ease tensions, Abbas and Fayyad met for three hours last Tuesday, the official added. The official refused to say whether the two men managed to solve the crisis during the meeting, which he described as “friendly and positive.” The dispute between Abbas and Fayyad also revolves around the PA president’s declared intention to carry out a cabinet reshuffle, the official said. According to the Fatah official, Abbas faces pressure from his supporters to take away the Finance Ministry from Fayyad.
    Western donor countries have warned Abbas not to remove Fayyad or cut his powers, a Western diplomat based in Israel told The Jerusalem Post last week. The diplomat said the donors have made it clear to Abbas that any measure against Fayyad would affect international funding for the PA.
   “Fatah’s recent victories are a sign of widespread public support for President Abbas and Fatah,” said Fatah spokesman Ahmed Assaf. “This is a vote of confidence in Fatah, President Abbas and the entire leadership of the Palestinian people.” Assad said that Hamas’s defeat, on the other hand, was an indication of the movement’s failure in various fields. He added that contradictory statements by Hamas, especially regarding “resistance attacks” against Israel, were also behind the decline in the movement’s popularity. “On the one hand, Hamas talks about the need to continue the resistance,” he pointed out. “But on the other hand, Hamas is not doing anything to resist the occupation.”
    Palestinian political columnist Adel Abdel Rahman dismissed Hamas claims about forgery in the recent elections for universities, colleges and professional unions. “Hamas’s claims are the product of bankruptcy in defending their defeat and failure,” Abdel Rahman explained. “Hamas is lacking credibility among Palestinians and the easiest way is to resort to forging the facts and inciting.” Abdel Rahman and many Palestinians said that the results of the elections were a “victory for Fatah and its political and national platforms.”
    Hamas and its supports said the Fatah victories were the result of a security clampdown by the PA and Israel on students in various West Bank universities. “How can true representative elections be free when each and every student voting for the Islamic bloc could immediately be arrested and dumped behind bars for open-ended incarceration?” asked Palestinian journalist and analyst Khaled Amayreh, who is a staunch opponent of Fatah. [...]"

- Palestinian Authority defends web censorship, Khaled Abu Toameh (JP)
http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=267967
   "The Palestinian Authority Sunday defended its decision to block websites that are critical of PA President Mahmoud Abbas and denied charges that it was violating freedom of expression in the West Bank. PA Attorney-General Ahmed al-Mughni claimed that some of the blocked websites had published instructions how to manufacture explosives. He said that the websites were blocked for breaking the law and following complaints from Palestinians.
   "Some of the websites were blocked for training Palestinians how to manufacture bombs and use them," al-Mughni said without providing evidence. He said that when he ordered the websites to be blocked, he and the PA security forces were acting in accordance with the law to maintain public security. [...]"

"Processus de paix"

- Peace process to nowhere, Donna Robinson Divine & Asaf Romirowsky (Scholars for Peace in the Middle East) - "in fact the core of the conflict is more about co-existing on the same land than just dividing it"; "Mutual recognition still represents the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but it will not happen before substantial numbers of Palestinians can reckon how much of their own economic and political gains they might lose by committing themselves to an unremitting struggle against a Jewish state".
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4221913,00.html
   "Something has gone horribly wrong with the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's recent decision not to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is only the latest example and reason for the widespread pessimism about its trajectory.
    The so-called Middle East conflict has grown more rather than less intractable since Palestinian and Israeli leaders began their efforts to resolve it through negotiations. Indeed, almost two decades of negotiations have failed to convince Palestinian and Israeli leaders of a way to share the land and its resources. And in fact the core of the conflict is more about co-existing on the same land than just dividing it.
    Perhaps the realization of how many dreams would remain unfulfilled if the compromises necessary for an agreement were struck convinced politicians on both sides that resolving the dispute would be more costly and unpopular than perpetuating it. Perhaps, both sides have clung more tightly to their national narratives than to proposals to be exchanged for concessions because discussions, themselves, disclosed the gap, not so much between the two sets of negotiators, but rather between reality and the dreams ordinary Palestinians and Israelis have been encouraged to imagine of the final resolution.
    At the very least, national narratives give Israelis and Palestinians a clear definition of their collective identities even if they lock them into their confrontation. For Palestinians, a narrative etched in the injustices of exile and oppression is preferred to the founding of a state that leaves behind too many refugees stuck in the same camps created for what was believed a temporary displacement. For Israelis, whose national story is woven around the survival of the Jewish people, it is preferable to retain control over territories serving as staging ground for attacks - even though the patrols, checkpoints, and the separation barrier are often described as marks of oppression - than surrendering the land without a clear Palestinian commitment to stop their wars and end their grievances against the Jewish state.
    So, the conflict persists; the negotiations are deadlocked and the calls by the international community through the Quartet for compromise and negotiations seem more akin to linguistic rituals than to imperatives for action. Thus, a peace process cannot be successful unless the tight grip of narratives sustaining the conflict is dislodged. And they can only start to loosen if both Palestinians and Israelis begin to have different experiences of one another and of the two states a solution is expected to produce. [...]
    The time is ripe to breathe new life into Prime Minister Fayyad's approach and shift the focus from principles to programs. Let negotiations set a goal of establishing a state rather than configuring sovereignty and focus on creating the institutions necessary for a functioning political order to be up and running on the day Palestine is recognized as a full voting member of the United Nations.
    External funders should set the model for this approach, by redirecting their aid away from groups that focus on so-called human rights abuses - whose agendas are largely driven by foreign-based NGOs - and by channeling their money, instead, to state building and economic enterprises.
    Elections for legislative assemblies and municipal governments should be held and not postponed allowing office holders to take seriously their responsibilities for maintaining local law and order, education, and an infrastructure that promotes economic growth. A tax system should be established to encourage commerce and business. Palestinians should be rewarded for creating innovative schools. Palestinians can forge a path to self-fulfillment and self-determination by structuring their own local institutions.
    No one believes the present course promises anything but more deadlock or worse even if Palestinians receive backing for their national rights through the instrument of international law or the mechanisms of global organizations. The so-called international gambit has not worked in the past and is unlikely to yield tangible payback in the future.
    Building a Palestinian state is more fruitful than creating more barriers for peace. In the 1970s the "West Bank" and Gaza constituted the fourth fastest growing economy in the world! And the engine driving this quality of life explosion for the Arabs of the region was their interconnection with the modern, western, growth-oriented democratic neighbor, Israel.
    Mutual recognition still represents the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but it will not happen before substantial numbers of Palestinians can reckon how much of their own economic and political gains they might lose by committing themselves to an unremitting struggle against a Jewish state. Unfortunately, to the extent that the Oslo Process helped the traditional political leadership re-assert control over Palestinian destiny without fully ending its fraternity of combat against Israel, it could not insulate ordinary Palestinian men and women from the return of poverty, and stagnation thereby tarnishing even the idea of a peace process.
    Thus a refocus on Palestinian state building is warranted not only because it will produce more benefits for more Palestinians but also because it is likely to provide a basis for Israeli support. Palestinians and Israelis experience the benefits of two states before trying to sort out the principles and the coordinates that will actually be the basis for the boundaries drawn between them and the resources they must ultimately share."

Liban & Syrie

- Apartheid in Lebanon (Elder of Ziyon)
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.fr/2012/04/apartheid-in-lebanon.html
   "Isn't it time for celebrities to boycott Lebanon?

   "The Palestinian Association for Human Rights (Shahed) announced in its annual report Tuesday that the situation of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon is getting worse by the year, as their rights diminish in number and value daily. According to the report, “the [poor] housing conditions in camps have not been addressed, and there is no local or international initiative on the horizon to improve them.” It described the camps as “a breeding ground for disease, home collapses, and a well of social problems.”
    There are approximately 400,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, most of whom live in and around the country’s 12 camps. The camps are largely overcrowded and poorly provided for in terms of water and electricity. The report called the pace of reconstruction of Nahr al-Bared, the northern camp that was mostly destroyed during a 2007 conflict between the Lebanese Army and Islamist group Fatah al-Islam, very slow.
    The health situation in the camps is also deteriorating, according to the report, despite slight improvements in UNRWA’s health services. Education provision is dramatically declining, the report added, as problems in the education system have accumulated for 20 years now with the exception of a slight improvement at the high school level. The report also said that in 2011, it had recorded no initiatives by the Lebanese government aimed at improving the conditions of Palestinian refugees."

    Here's a list of concerts planned this summer in a state that has laws specifically to discriminate against hundreds of thousands of its Palestinian residents. Yet no one calls to boycott these bands because they are playing in Lebanon. So either the boycotters against bands playing in Israel are hypocrites who don't care about Palestinian Arab rights, or....no, that's really the only explanation."

- Syrie : 32 morts samedi (AFP)
http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2012/04/29/97001-20120429FILWWW00022-syrie-32-morts-samedi.php
   "Les violences ont fait au moins 32 morts hier en Syrie, dont 22 civils tués par les forces gouvernementales et 10 déserteurs morts dans des combats contre l'armée régulière, selon le dernier bilan dimanche de l'Observatoire syrien des droits de l'Homme (OSDH). Les civils ont été tués dans différentes provinces du pays : huit à Hama et deux à Homs (centre), trois à Idleb (nord-ouest) près de la frontière turque, quatre à Alep (nord), quatre autour de Damas et un à Raqa (nord-est). [...]"

Egypte

- L'Egypte a rompu son contrat gazier après une réunion avec un émissaire israélien (Guysen)
http://www.guysen.com/news_L-Egypte-a-rompu-son-contrat-gazier-apres-une-reunion-avec-un-emissaire-israelie_350393.html
   "Selon le journal panarabe londonien Al-Hayyat citant un responsable égyptien, le Caire a décidé d'arrêter d'exporter son gaz vers Israël, après une rencontre en Egypte entre des responsables locaux et un envoyé du Premier ministre Binyamin Netanyahou. Netanyahou ne s'est pas opposé à cette décision, et a souligné que les exportations de gaz étaient un dossier purement commercial. L'Egypte voulait rehausser le tarif du gaz facturé à Israël, pour l'aligner sur ceux pratiqués à l'étranger, mais Israël a refusé, ajoute le journal."

- Les salafistes égyptiens soutiennent Abdel Moneim Aboul Foutouh (AFP & Reuters) - "un handicap pour le candidat officiel des Frères musulmans, Mohammed Morsi, qui risque de perdre une partie importante de l'électorat islamiste".
http://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2012/04/29/les-salafistes-egyptiens-soutiennent-abdel-moneim-aboul-foutouh_1692831_3212.html#xtor=AL-32280515
   "Le principal parti fondamentaliste salafiste égyptien, Al-Nour, a décidé de soutenir un islamiste modéré dissident des Frères musulmans, pour l'élection présidentielle prévue fin mai, a annoncé samedi cette formation. Le groupe parlementaire du parti "a décidé de soutenir le candidat Abdel Moneim Aboul Foutouh pour la présidence de la république", selon un communiqué de Al-Nour. M. Aboul Foutouh est un ancien haut dirigeant des Frères musulmans en conflit avec la ligne conservatrice de la confrérie, qui l'a exclu de ses rangs l'an dernier après qu'il a annoncé son intention de se lancer dans la course à la présidence.
    Le parti Nour s'est classé deuxième derrière les Frères musulmans lors des élections législatives de cet hiver. La décision du parti salafiste, qui détient environ 20 % des sièges de députés, va constituer un handicap pour le candidat officiel des Frères musulmans, Mohammed Morsi, qui risque de perdre une partie importante de l'électorat islamiste au profit de M. Aboul Foutouh. M. Morsi est le chef du Parti de la justice et de la liberté, issu de la confrérie et première formation politique d'Egypte.
    Le premier tour de la première élection présidentielle depuis la chute de Hosni Moubarak en février 2011 est prévu les 23 et 24 mai. L'armée, au pouvoir depuis le départ de M. Moubarak, doit rendre le pouvoir aux civils en juin une fois le nouveau président élu. Les principaux autres candidats sont l'ancien chef de la Ligue arabe Amr Moussa, ainsi que le dernier Premier ministre de M. Moubarak, Ahmad Chafiq. Treize candidats au total sont en lice."

- L'Egypte tente d'apaiser les tensions avec l'Arabie saoudite, Shaimaa Fayed (Reuters)
http://fr.news.yahoo.com/legypte-tente-dapaiser-les-tensions-avec-larabie-saoudite-183153283.html
   "L'Egypte a tenté dimanche d'apaiser les tensions avec l'Arabie saoudite qui a rappelé son ambassadeur et fermé sa représentation diplomatique au Caire pour protester contre des manifestations anti-saoudiennes sur le sol égyptien. Il s'agit de la première crise diplomatique de cette ampleur entre Ryad et Le Caire depuis la chute du président Hosni Moubarak en février 2011. "La crise actuelle entre l'Egypte et l'Arabie saoudite va être limitée, étant donné les solides relations (existantes) entre les deux pays qui transcendent tous les problèmes", a déclaré la ministre égyptienne à la Coopération internationale, Faiza Abu el Nega, citée par l'agence de presse officielle Mena. [...]"

Monde arabe

- Qaradawi calls for holy war to destroy Israel (Elder of Ziyon)
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.fr/2012/04/qaradawi-calls-for-holy-war-to-destroy.html
   "Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the influential preacher based out of Yemen whose sermons are seen by tens of millions of people, once again has called for Muslims and Arabs to rise up and destroy Israel. In his sermon last Friday, Qaradawi called on all Arabs and Muslims to be "fighters and mujahadeen" and exhorted them not to accept the "humiliation and disgrace" of Israel.
    He said that the Muslims will be victorious and Israelis will go back to "the lands they came from." He added that Muslims are lying in wait for that day to happen. He further said that the Jews support Israel and it is necessary for the Muslims to similarly support the destruction of Israel. Qaradawi is often portrayed as "moderate" by Western media."

Iran

- Jpost poll: Most Israelis support US-led Iran strike, Gil Hoffman (JP) - "Only 45% said they would back an Israeli [alone] strike, 40% opposed it, and 15% had no opinion".
http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=267955
   "An overwhelming majority of Israelis would support America leading an international consortium of air forces in a military strike on Iran if sanctions and diplomatic talks do not work, according to a Smith Research poll sponsored by The Jerusalem Post. The results of the poll were announced by Post editor-in-chief Steve Linde at the Jerusalem Post Conference Sunday in New York. The poll of 500 respondents representing a statistical sample of the adult population in Israel was taken last week and had a had a 4.5 percent margin of error. The poll found that 72% would back an international strike, while just 14% would oppose it, and 14% did not express an opinion. When asked whether they supported Israel taking action if the US declined, support was much lower. Only 45% said they would back an Israeli strike, 40% opposed it, and 15% had no opinion. [...]"

USA

- Obama lifts freeze on $192 million aid package to Palestinian Authority (Times of Israel)
http://www.timesofisrael.com/obama-lifts-freeze-on-192-million-aid-package-to-palestinian-authority/
   "US President Barack Obama has lifted a ban on financial aid to the Palestinian Authority. An official with the US Agency for International Development said Saturday that the money had been restored. Obama stated that the aid was “important to the security interests of the United States.” The US Congress froze a $192 million aid package to the Palestinian Authority after its president, Mahmoud Abbas, defied US pressure and sought to attain UN endorsement of Palestinian statehood last September. The presidential waiver means that aid can now be delivered. [...]"

- Pakistan : quatre insurgés tués dans une attaque d'un drone américain (Guysen)
http://www.guysen.com/news_Pakistan-quatre-insurges-tues-dans-une-attaque-d-un-drone-americain_350464.html
   "Quatre insurgés ont été tués et deux blessés dimanche dans une attaque d'un drone américain dans la région tribale du Pakistan à proximité de la frontière afghane, ont annoncé les services de sécurité. C’est la première attaque de drone depuis l'adoption par le Parlement pakistanais de nouvelles dispositions dans les relations avec les Etats-Unis, dont l'interdiction de transporter des armes à destination de l'Afghanistan via le Pakistan."

Europe

- UK food retailer boycotts settlement exports (Ynet)
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4221785,00.html
   "The British Co-operative Group has become the first major European supermarket group to end trade with firms that export produce from Israeli settlements in the West Bank, The Guardian reported Sunday. According to the daily, the UK's fifth biggest food retailer and its largest mutual business, the Co-op took the measure as an extension of its existing policy which had been not to import produce from Jewish settlements. Now, The Guardian reported, the retail and insurance giant has taken its boycott one step further by "no longer engaging with any supplier of produce known to be sourcing from the Israeli settlements."
    The report said decision will affect four companies and contracts worth some £350,000 ($566,000). However, the Co-op stressed this is not an Israeli boycott and that its contracts will go to other companies inside Israel that can guarantee they don't export from "illegal" settlements. According to The Guardian, Co-op's decision will immediately affect four suppliers, Agrexco, Arava Export Growers, Adafresh and Mehadrin, Israel's largest agricultural export company.
    Hilary Smith, Co-op member and Boycott Israel Network (BIN) agricultural trade campaign coordinator, was quoted by The Guardian as saying that the Co-op "has taken the lead internationally in this historic decision to hold corporations to account for complicity in Israel's violations of Palestinian human rights. We strongly urge other retailers to take similar action." [...]"
- British co-op boycotts Palestinian Arab farmers (Elder of Ziyon)
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.fr/2012/04/british-co-op-boycotts-palestinian-arab.html
   "[...] Right now, if Palestinian Arab farmers want to export their goods to Europe, they use Agrexco as their distributor. They even have their own brand, Coral. Agrexco ensures that their goods would be accepted in the international markets by providing quality control and an already existing infrastructure for refrigeration, transportation, marketing and other services.
    In other words, the Co-op is now boycotting Palestinian Arab farmers who have no other means of distributing their goods to the West, and directly hurting them - and the Palestinian Arab economy as a whole. Tomatoes and other produce grown in Gaza will be affected as well. The Co-op has made a decision that hurting Israeli companies is more important than helping Palestinian Arabs who have no alternative means to market their products to the West. And this is the hypocrisy that shows that BDS cares not one bit about the people they pretend to be helping. More on this hypocrisy here."
- More about the "ethics" of the British Co-operative Group (Elder of Ziyon)
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.fr/2012/04/more-about-ethics-of-british-co.html
   "The Co-operative Group, whose supermarket decided to boycott Palestinian Arab farmers because their exporter also deals with Jews who live in Judea and Samaria, also owns a bank. The bank is just as hypocritical as the supermarket is. According to their stated policies:
   ""We will not finance any organisation that advocates discrimination and incitement to hatred." The right to freedom of speech underpins the values of a democratic society and individuals and organisations should be free to express their views or beliefs. However, 99% of customers who participated in the review supported the bank's decision to withhold finance from those extremist organisations that advocate not only discrimination but hatred."
    Yet they are the main way to fund Viva Palestina, which has numerous ties with Hamas. Here's a photo of the organization's George Galloway handing cash to Hamas' economic minister.
    It warms the heart to know that such highly ethical people have no problems with being involved in hosting an organization that funds an unrepentant terror group. They probably also violate existing British terror funding laws, even though they seem to have scammed the British Charity Commission into believing that the money handed over to Hamas was really Galloway's personal contributions. Ethics are highly relative, you know?"

Histoire

- How good a friend of the Jews was Harry Truman?, Renee Ghert-Zand (JP) - "Although Truman had supported the UN Partition Plan in November 1947, by March 1948, his administration, fearful that partition could not be successfully implemented, had changed its position and was calling for an international trusteeship of Palestine".
http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishFeatures/Article.aspx?id=267872
   "“The Truman administration really crossed a line here. It’s one thing to have a policy that is anti-Zionist, but to threaten and intimidate American Jews goes beyond the bounds of the legitimate political world,” said Dr. Rafael Medoff of a disturbing historical discovery he recently made.
    In the course of conducting research in 2011 for his new book, Herbert Hoover and the Jews: The Origins of the ‘Jewish Vote’ and Bipartisan Support for Israel, Medoff, who is also a Jerusalem Post columnist, uncovered heretofore unpublished evidence that in late April 1948, two weeks before Israel declared independence, the State Department threatened to incite a wave of anti-Semitism in the United States if Zionist leaders proclaimed the State of Israel.
    The evidence was contained in a nine-page report of a conversation between undersecretary of State Robert A. Lovett and Zionist official and World Jewish Congress co-founder Nahum Goldmann that the scholar found in Goldmann’s papers in the Central Zionist Archives in Jerusalem. “I’m not the first person to have looked at Nahum Goldmann’s papers,” Medoff told the Post, “but it appears that no one had previously taken notice of this critical section in the middle of this particular report.”
    Although Truman had supported the UN Partition Plan in November 1947, by March 1948, his administration, fearful that partition could not be successfully implemented, had changed its position and was calling for an international trusteeship of Palestine (referred to as “the truce” in Goldmann’s report). Goldmann reported that Lovett said to him: “As the situation is now, we must have a truce. If you prevent it we will become very tough. We will wash our hands of the whole situation and will prevent any help being given to you. We will publish a White Paper, which is already in preparation.”
    Lovett went on to say that this White Paper would incriminate the Arabs, the British and the Jews. “Anti-Semitism is mounting in an unprecedented way in groups and circles which are very influential and were never touched by Anti-Semitism. Such a White Paper would do great harm to the Jews in this country, and once it is published, I am not sure that outstanding Jewish leaders who are helping you today would go along with you,” Lovett threatened Goldmann and the Zionist leadership. These intimidating remarks came within the context of the State Department’s demand for an indefinite postponement of the declaration of the State of Israel.
    A week after Goldmann’s meeting with Lovett, Zionist leaders from the US and the Yishuv met in New York to decide how to proceed in light of the State Department’s threats. “Goldmann was in favor of giving in to the American demands,” Medoff said. “But the majority voted to go ahead with the state.” One of those who were vocal about proceeding was then-Zionist Organization of America president Emanuel Neumann, who wrote in his 1976 memoir, In the Arena: “I dwelt upon the historic significance of May 14, 1948, a moment which had to be seized to proclaim the Jewish state; not a week, nor a day, nor an hour should be allowed to intervene.... this might be our last chance.” [...]
    In his research, Medoff did not come across any documents spelling out exactly what would have been in that White Paper, but he thinks it would have included suggestions of dual loyalty. In addition, it might have reiterated the warning to the Zionists by both presidents Harry Truman and Franklin Roosevelt that the Zionists would be responsible for America being compelled to send troops to the Middle East, resulting in American lives being lost due to Arab attacks there.
   “The State Department was not acting in opposition to Truman. On the contrary, it was implementing presidential policy,” Medoff explained. “Truman did not want a major international conflict that would draw the Soviet Union in, and then necessitate American intervention. He didn’t have a plan to solve the Arab-Israeli conflict. He just wanted to keep things calm.” In the end, even when the War of Independence did break out, the US never did have to send in troops. “For Truman, it was simply a problem of timing,” Medoff said. With the election just months away, he acceded to his political adviser’s urging to support the establishment of the Jewish state.
    Regardless of how history played itself out, Medoff finds the document he unearthed “most troubling.” “It’s one thing for diplomats to get rough with one another. Threats can be made between the arguing parties,” he remarked. “But to threaten to harm bystanders? That is unprecedented. It is deeply disturbing that the State Department would go to such extremes. Threatening to provoke racial hatred against American citizens should have been beyond the pale.” [...]"

France

- Affaire Merah : l'enquête élargie à la circonstance aggravante d'antisémitisme (AFP) - "Ignorer le caractère antisémite de Merah et de ses possibles complices, c'est se borner à ne rien comprendre aux assassinats commis à Toulouse".
http://fr.news.yahoo.com/affaire-merah-lenqu%C3%AAte-%C3%A9largie-%C3%A0-circonstance-aggravante-dantis%C3%A9mitisme-040439938.html
   "Le parquet de Paris a accepté d'élargir l'enquête sur l'affaire Merah à la circonstance aggravante d'antisémitisme, comme le demandait la famille de l'enseignant juif assassiné avec ses deux enfants par le "tueur au scooter" à Toulouse, a-t-on appris vendredi soir de source proche de l'enquête. Dans un réquisitoire supplétif accordé le 20 avril, le parquet a demandé aux juges d'instruction nommés sur ce dossier de retenir la circonstance aggravante "d'appartenance ou de non appartenance, vraie ou supposée des victimes à une ethnie, une nation, une race ou une religion déterminée, en l'occurrence la religion juive", selon cette source. [...]
   "Ignorer le caractère antisémite de Merah et de ses possibles complices, c'est se borner à ne rien comprendre aux assassinats commis à Toulouse le 19 mars", avait alors expliqué à l'AFP un de ces avocats, Me Patrick Klugman. Le parquet a estimé que des présomptions suffisantes existaient pour considérer que les crimes commis le 19 mars l'avaient été en raison de l'appartenance des victimes à la religion juive, a indiqué vendredi soir la source proche de l'enquête.
    Alors que l'appartement où il était retranché était assiégé, Mohamed Merah aurait déclaré aux agents du RAID qu'il avait pris pour cible l'école de Montauban en raison de la confession des personnes s'y trouvant, selon cette source. Outre Jonathan Sandler, ses deux enfants Gabriel (4 ans) et Arieh (5 ans), et Myriam Monsonego (7 ans) avaient été tués à l'école juive de Toulouse."

- "Juif" : Google attaqué en justice (AFP) - "Se trouve ainsi diffusé et amplifié, de la manière la plus visuellement immédiate, le sentiment de l'omniprésence des juifs aux commandes de la France".
http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2012/04/28/97001-20120428FILWWW00344-juif-google-attaque-en-justice.php
   "Des associations françaises ont attaqué en justice la société Google pour que le moteur de recherche cesse d'associer automatiquement le mot "juif" au nom de personnalités faisant l'objet de requêtes d'internautes, a-t-on appris aujourd'hui. Une audience a été fixée mercredi à 10h, a annoncé l'avocat de SOS Racisme, Me Patrick Klugman, qui estime que la fonctionnalité "Google Suggest" avait abouti à "la création de ce qui est probablement le plus grand fichier juif de l'histoire".
    Disponible en France depuis 2008, "Google Suggest", ou la saisie semi-automatique permet de suggérer à l'internaute, quand il entre une requête dans la barre de recherche Google, d'autres demandes sur la foi notamment des requêtes faites par d'autres internautes. Dans leur assignation, l'Union des étudiants juifs de France (UEJF), J'accuse!-action internationale pour la justice (AIPJ), SOS Racisme et le Mouvement contre le racisme et pour l'amitié entre les peuples (MRAP) s'insurgent contre le fait que le terme "juif" soit souvent proposé par Google Suggest lorsqu'une recherche est faite sur le nom d'une personnalité.
   "De très nombreux utilisateurs du premier moteur de recherche de France et du monde sont quotidiennement confrontés à l'association non sollicitée et quasi systématique du terme juif avec les patronymes des personnes les plus en vue dans le monde de la politique, des médias ou des affaires", déplorent ces organisations qui ont fait le test en entrant le nom des candidats à la présidentielle. "Se trouve ainsi diffusé et amplifié, de la manière la plus visuellement immédiate, le sentiment de l'omniprésence des juifs aux commandes de la France", poursuivent ces associations. Pour les associations, en proposant le mot "juif" dans la saisie semi-automatique, Google Suggest enfreint la loi réprimant la constitution de fichiers ethniques.
    Sur son site, Google dit exclure de Google Suggest "une catégorie restreinte correspondant à des termes pornographiques, violents, incitant à la haine et liés à la violation de droits d'auteur"."

Israël

- Israël fête ses 64 ans (Infolive TV, Vidéo 1mn17)
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xqfvo2_israel-fete-ses-64-ans_news?search_algo=1
   "Une multitude de fêtes improvisées dans la rue, des barbecues en famille, des excursions dans les grands parcs du pays, ou encore un défilé militaire suivi depuis la plage par des milliers de personnes... comme chaque année, les Israéliens ont été fidèle à la tradition pour marquer le 64ème anniversaire de leur indépendance. [...]"

Judée-Samarie

- IDF arrests Palestinian carrying two bombs at checkpoint south of Nablus, Yoel Goldman (Times of Israel)
http://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-arrests-palestinian-carrying-two-bombs-at-checkpoint-south-of-nablus/
   "The IDF on Saturday arrested a Palestinian man who was carrying two improvised bombs at the Hawara checkpoint, just south of Nablus. The explosive devices were detonated in a controlled manner and the man was transferred to security forces for further interrogation. In a related incident, IDF forces in Nablus arrested another Palestinian man overnight Friday who was carrying improvised weapons and two Molotov cocktails. The weapons were confiscated and the man was transferred to the Shin Bet for further investigation."

"Processus de paix"

- Where's the Coverage? Palestinian Authority Hands Down Death Penalty for Land Sale to Jews (CAMERA)
http://blog.camera.org/archives/2012/04/wheres_the_coverage_palestinia_1.html
   "In an article "celebrating" Israel’s 64th Independence Day, "Israel’s Big Day, Under Sun and Cloud" (April 26, 2012), the New York Times could not refrain from taking a number of jabs at Israel, including the obligatory swipe at "the settlements": "Israel's settlement building in the West Bank drew more international condemnation this week after the government retroactively legalized three Jewish outposts there. The Palestinians described the move as another example of why there is no peace."
    This description is, at the least, simplistic. The communities had been authorized and approved by prior governments in the 1980s and 1990s but were missing some additional paperwork to formalize their status. The spokesman for the Prime Minister’s office, Mark Regev stated, "You can't tell me that the Israeli government has built new settlements, and you can't tell me that this is legalizing unauthorized outposts. These decisions are procedural or technical. They don't change anything whatever on the ground."
    While this story was all over the media, another story about homes in the West Bank was completely ignored. A Palestinian man, Muhammad Abu Shahala, reportedly confessed under torture to selling his home in Hebron to a Jewish man. He has been sentenced to death after a hurried trial. Caroline Glick writes on her blog:

   "The PA was established in May 1994. The first law it adopted defined selling land to Jews as a capital offense. Shortly thereafter scores of Arab land sellers began turning up dead in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria in both judicial and extrajudicial killings. Leaders of the Jewish community of Hebron wrote a letter to international leaders this week asking them to intervene with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and demand that he cancel Shahala's sentence. They addressed the letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy, the director-general of the International Red Cross, Yves Daccord, as well as Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres.
    In it they wrote, "It is appalling to think that property sales should be defined as a 'capital crime' punishable by death. The very fact that such a 'law' exists within the framework of the PA legal system points to a barbaric and perverse type of justice, reminiscent of practices implemented during the dark ages." They went on to make the reasonable comparison between the PA's law prohibiting land sales to Jews to Nazi Germany's Nuremburg laws that constrained and finally outlawed trade between Jews and Germans. The letter concluded with the question, "Is the Palestinian Authority a reincarnation of the Third Reich?""

    Certainly this is newsworthy. Yet a search of the New York Times Web site turn up zero matches for the search term "Muhammad Abu Shahala," only asking if you meant someone else. Similarly, a search of the Washington Post Web site also turned up zero matches for "Muhammad Abu Shahala." And a search on the Wall Street Journal Web site returned, "Sorry, there are no results for your search query, please try another search."
    Maybe the fact that even the sale of property by a Palestinian to a Jew is a crime punishable by death under the Palestinian Authority is "another example of why there is no peace." And remember, this is the "moderate" regime to which Israel is supposed to make concessions. Where's the good sense? Where's the tolerance? Where's the coverage?"

Egypte

- Israël/Egypte : entretien avec Jean-Noël Ferrié (Directeur de recherche au CNRS et spécialiste des systèmes politiques dans le monde musulman), Romain Mielcarek (Atlantico) - "Il y a toute une partie de l’opinion publique égyptienne et de l’élite qui n’ont jamais vraiment accepté la normalisation des relations".
http://www.atlantico.fr/decryptage/israel-egypte-vers-nouvelle-guerre-gaz-jean-noel-ferrie-344143.html
   "- Atlantico : L'Egypte a décidé de stopper ses exportations de gaz vers Israël. Ce contrat, particulièrement impopulaire auprès des Égyptiens, du fait de ses prix très bas, ne remet pas en question la sécurité énergétique de l'Etat hébreu. Pourtant, le ton est monté en Israël où certains dénoncent déjà Le Caire comme un ennemi plus dangereux encore que Téhéran. Les deux voisins se dirigent-ils vers une escalade de la violence suite à ce désaccord commercial ?
    - Jean-Noël Ferrié : C’est plus qu’un désaccord commercial. Il y a toute une partie de l’opinion publique égyptienne et de l’élite qui n’ont jamais vraiment accepté la normalisation des relations entre Israël et l’Egypte. Ce n’est pas tant qu’ils veulent faire la guerre, mais plutôt que la normalisation des relations entre les deux pays les mettent mal à l’aise. Une hostilité qui reste permanente en Egypte depuis les accords de Camps David, qui n’ont jamais suscité une grande satisfaction auprès de la population.
    Ces accords étaient pourtant favorables à l’Egypte qui reste dans un contexte de paix. Il a également beaucoup été reproché à Hosni Moubarak de s’être trop peu engagé pour la cause palestinienne, ce dernier ayant maintenu, même dans les pires moments, des relations stables avec l’Etat hébreu. Enfin, lorsque les militaires ont repris le pouvoir en 2011, ils ont commencé à prendre en compte l’hostilité populaire envers Israël pour envisager une remise en cause des accords gaziers. Il faut bien comprendre que cette situation n’a rien de nouveau. Rétrospectivement, les relations avec Israël ne sont que l’un des reproches parmi tant d’autres que la population faisait à Hosni Moubarak. La présence nouvelle d’une majorité parlementaire islamo-conservatrice ne fait rien pour arranger les choses et peut remettre en question les bonnes relations avec Israël. [...]
    - Les tensions entre ces deux pays peuvent-elles malgré tout aller plus loin ? Pourrait-il y avoir un incident armé ?
    - La situation politique en Egypte est loin d’être stabilisée. Cela peut avoir des conséquences sur ses relations diplomatiques avec Israël. Il s’agit surtout là de sauver l’honneur suite aux dérives de Hosni Moubarak en rétablissant des échanges économiques plus équitables avec l’Etat hébreu : d’où ce conflit gazier. Si la situation diplomatique empirait, il pourrait effectivement y avoir un retrait des représentations de l’un et l’autre de ces deux pays. Le dialogue pourrait être temporairement rompu. Mais parler de conflit armée reste surréaliste. Les Egyptiens ne savent que trop bien ce qu’ils auraient à perdre dans une guerre avec Israël. De plus, ces deux pays sont particulièrement liés aux Etats-Unis qui influencent les politiques aussi bien de l’un que de l’autre."

Iran

- U.S. signals major shift on Iran nuclear program, Paul Richter (Los Angeles Times) - "a significant concession".
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran-nuclear-20120428,0,353079.story
   "In what would be a significant concession, Obama administration officials say they could support allowing Iran to maintain a crucial element of its disputed nuclear program if Tehran took other major steps to curb its ability to develop a nuclear bomb. U.S. officials said they might agree to let Iran continue enriching uranium up to 5% purity, which is the upper end of the range for most civilian uses, if its government agrees to the unrestricted inspections, strict oversight and numerous safeguards that the United Nations has long demanded.
    Such a deal would face formidable obstacles. Iran has shown little willingness to meet international demands. And a shift in the U.S. position that Iran must halt all enrichment activities is likely to prompt strong objections from Israeli leaders; the probable Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney; and many members of Congress. But a consensus has gradually emerged among U.S. and other officials that Iran is unlikely to agree to a complete halt in enrichment. Maintaining an unconditional demand that it do so could make it impossible to reach a negotiated deal to stop the country's nuclear program, thereby avoiding a military attack. [...]
    The question of whether to permit even low enrichment is highly sensitive for the U.S. government and its allies because of the risk that Iranian scientists still might be able to gain the knowledge and experience to someday build a bomb. But administration officials hope a new negotiating stance, backed by punishing economic sanctions, could help end the crisis. [...]
    At least publicly, the administration had denied suggestions that it would consider approving any Iranian enrichment effort. But recently, some officials had hinted they might be willing to reevaluate that position, although with numerous caveats. A senior administration official said that if Iran fulfills U.S. and other world powers' demands for strict enforcement of U.N. monitoring and safeguards, "there can be a discussion" of allowing low-level domestic enrichment, "and maybe we can get there, potentially." But the official, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue, emphasized that such discussions remained only a small possibility because Iran has shown so little willingness to meet international demands. [...]
    George Perkovich, a nonproliferation specialist at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said he was among the U.S. hawks who believed until recently that "you have to hold the line on enrichment by Iran." Now, he said, "that view has been overtaken by events." Iran has enriched more uranium, public support for the program is widespread, and the prospects of giving up all enrichment "has become a nationalist taboo in Iran"."

France

- CRIF : les imprécations de Claude Askolovitch, Luc Rosenzweig (Causeur) - "ramener au « ghetto » et à toutes les images dévalorisantes attachées à ce concept l’organisation de représentation politique du judaïsme français, pluraliste et diverse dans toutes ses instances, est une insulte à la raison et au bon sens". Le directeur adjoint de Marianne s'est lui aussi offert une violente harangue contre Prasquier.
http://www.causeur.fr/crif-les-imprecations-de-claude-askolovitch,17243
   "Claude Askolovitch est un journaliste en vue dans le microcosme. Grand reporter au Point après avoir éditorialisé au Journal du dimanche et fait ses classes au Nouvel Obs, il ne manque pas d’espace pour s’exprimer, d’autant plus qu’il est fréquemment invité dans divers talk-shows à la radio ou à la télé. Cette notoriété, qu’il doit à son talent et son entregent, devrait l’inciter à mesurer ses propos, et à ne manier l’insulte qu’avec d’infinies précautions et surtout lorsqu’il y a vraiment matière à s’indigner.
    La charge au bazooka contre le président du CRIF Richard Prasquier publiée par Marianne2.fr se veut inspirée par la bonne conscience d’un antifascisme de bon aloi, mais s’exprime dans une forme que n’aurait pas reniée les polémistes antisémites du « Gringoire » des années 30. Le titre d’abord : « La morale du Crif s’arrête aux portes du ghetto ». On peut tout à fait, en tant que juif, être en désaccord avec les prises de positions du CRIF, ne pas se sentir représenté par lui et le clamer haut et fort. Nombreux sont ceux qui font un usage immodéré cette possibilité, et trouvent sans difficulté des médias complaisants pour les relayer, en dépit de leur statut ultra-minoritaire parmi les juifs de France. Mais ramener au « ghetto » et à toutes les images dévalorisantes attachées à ce concept l’organisation de représentation politique du judaïsme français, pluraliste et diverse dans toutes ses instances, est une insulte à la raison et au bon sens. Qu’aurait pensé Askolovitch de quelqu’un qui aurait écrit que « la morale de l’UOIF s’arrête aux portes de la casbah » ?
    Le ghetto obsède tellement notre imprécateur qu’il y revient en conclusion pour affirmer qu’il abrite aujourd’hui des « salauds », dont Richard Prasquier serait le chef de file. Rien de moins. Cette fureur est d’autant moins admissible que, de l’aveu même d’Askolovitch, elle ne dénonce pas le président du CRIF sur ce qu’il dit, mais sur ce qu’il ne dit pas. L’imprécateur aurait souhaité que Richard Prasquier sonne, pour le public israélien, le tocsin antifasciste et partage son diagnostic sur une « France malade » accordant 18% des voix à Marine Le Pen. Ne pas obéir à l’injonction d’Askolovitch fait de vous ipso facto un complice du FN, donc un salaud, sartrien peut-être, c’est plus chic, mais cela revient au même.
    L’objet de la tribune sollicitée par le quotidien de gauche israélien Haaretz se limitait à demander au président du CRIF les conséquences de la victoire au second tour de l’un ou de l’autre candidat sur les relations du pouvoir avec le judaïsme français et sur la politique de la France vis-à-vis du conflit du Proche orient. On pourra vérifier, en lisant cet article qu’il n’est en rien un brevet d’honorabilité accordé à Marine Le Pen.
    Claude Askolovitch, présenté par Marianne2 .fr comme un « bon connaisseur des institutions juives » ne peut donc ignorer que, depuis son accession à la tête du CRIF, Prasquier a fermement maintenu l’ostracisme que cette institution fait peser sur le FN, alors que quelques voix, dans les instances dirigeantes de la communauté, s’étaient élevées pour y mettre fin à la suite de la reconnaissance, par Marine Le Pen, de la Shoah comme « le summum de la barbarie ». Il n’a pu également lui échapper qu’au lendemain du drame de Toulouse, c’est lui qui, sur le perron de L’Elysée en compagnie du Grand Rabbin Gilles Bernheim et du recteur de la mosquée de Paris Dalil Boubakeur, lançait un appel exhortant le Français de toutes confessions à ne pas faire d’amalgame entre Mohamed Merah et l’ensemble des musulmans de France. Et c’est cet homme que l’on voudrait clouer au pilori comme fourrier du discours lepéniste dans la communauté juive ! Askolovitch se pare au détriment d’un homme d’honneur, et au mépris de la vérité, d’une vertu antifasciste de pacotille aussi intempestive que dérisoire."

- Polémique Hollande/Sarkozy/Ramadan : le document exclusif qui montre les propos réels tenus par Tariq Ramadan (Atlantico) - "les propos ont été tenus à l'occasion d'une réunion publique sur le thème : "Justice sociale, Palestine et islamophobie" organisée par diverses associations pro-palestiniennes".
http://www.atlantico.fr/decryptage/document-exclusif-qui-montre-que-tariq-ramadan-avait-bien-appele-voter-pour-francois-hollande-343119.html
   "Selon une note policière interne datée du vendredi 23 mars, intitulée "Mise en cause des lois de la République lors d'une conférence sur les thèmes "justice sociale, Palestine et islamophobie"", Tariq Ramadan, ainsi que Youssef Brakni du Parti des indigènes de la République et Marwan Muhammad du Collectif contre l'Islamophobie en France, ont appelé "à voter pour François Hollande" ou "pour un parti politique qui serve l’Islam". Selon la note, les propos ont été tenus à Lyon, dans le cadre du "Printemps des quartiers", dimanche 11 mars dernier, à l'occasion d'une réunion publique sur le thème : "Justice sociale, Palestine et islamophobie" organisée par diverses associations pro-palestiniennes. [...]"

- Guéant veut interdire une vidéo à la gloire de Merah, Jean-Marc Leclerc (Le Figaro) - "Au cri d'«Allah akbar», dans une sorte de transe collective, l'un des participants, binational, brûle son passeport français, insulte les «ennemis de l'islam», traitant le président de la République française de «juif», de «porc»."
http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2012/04/26/01016-20120426ARTFIG00745-gueant-veut-interdire-une-video-a-la-gloire-de-merah.php
   "L'affaire Merah n'en finit pas de rebondir des deux côtés de la Méditerranée. Le ministre de l'Intérieur, Claude Guéant, vient de signer une lettre adressée au garde des Sceaux, Michel Mercier, lui demandant d'engager des poursuites contre les participants à un prêche filmé du 30 mars 2012 et diffusé sur YouTube. Le tueur de Toulouse, Mohamed Merah, y est érigé en véritable modèle pour les musulmans, qualifié de «lion», ses crimes étant justifiés par des interprétations du Coran.
    Or cette prière collective, organisée quelque part au Maghreb, n'est pas orchestrée par n'importe qui. À l'image, le maître de cérémonie n'est autre que le Tunisien Ali Belhadj, cofondateur, avec Abassi Madani, du Front islamique du salut (FIS), ce parti islamiste radical interdit en Algérie dans les années 1990. Belhadj avait été longtemps emprisonné, avant d'être amnistié par Alger, puis de retourner quelque temps en prison pour «atteinte à la sûreté de l'État». Aujourd'hui libre, il n'a pas renoncé à l'action prosélyte. Son fils Abdelkahar Belhadj, membre d'al-Qaida au Maghreb islamique (Aqmi), a été tué le 25 juillet 2011 par l'armée algérienne alors qu'il se dirigeait vers Alger pour préparer un attentat, selon les autorités du pays.
    Dans la vidéo provocatrice, on voit ce religieux influent, visage de cire, assis en tailleur, ouvrir la séance des détestations. «Hier, j'ai vu cet homme méprisable, le Français Sarkozy…», lance-t-il aux fidèles. «J'ai vu le père de Merah, Allah ait pitié de lui», dit-il. Et d'ajouter, évoquant le tueur de Toulouse : «Il devrait être enterré en terre musulmane et des prières devraient être dites pour lui.»
    Puis vient la séquence où il invite ceux qui l'entourent à dire tout le bien qu'ils pensent du terroriste de Toulouse et Montauban, qui fit sept victimes, dont trois enfants. Au cri d'«Allah akbar», dans une sorte de transe collective, l'un des participants, binational, brûle son passeport français, insulte les «ennemis de l'islam», traitant le président de la République française de «juif», de «porc». Il défend aussi ses «frères» de Forsane Alizza, le groupe islamiste radical dont une dizaine de membres ont à répondre de leurs actes devant la justice en France, notamment pour des détentions d'armes.
   «Qu'Allah te bénisse !», l'encourage l'ancien numéro deux du FIS, son ouaille intarissable ponctuant sa diatribe en lui disant : «Cheikh, que ce lion de Merah réponde de moi pour le Jugement dernier.»
    Pour le ministre de l'Intérieur à Paris, qui a visionné ce document, l'affaire ne saurait rester sans suite. Dans sa lettre au ministre de la Justice, il écrit : «Un certain nombre de déclarations, dont certaines émanant de M. Ali Belhadj, ancien vice-président du FIS, m'apparaissent constitutives du délit de provocation et apologie aux actes de terrorisme.» Parmi «les propos incriminés», il relève «un soutien non équivoque à Mohamed Merah, présenté comme un héros et au fondateur du groupe Forsane Alizza désormais dissous par décret pris en Conseil d'État». Par ailleurs, l'hôte de Beauvau dénonce dans cette vidéo «un appel au djihad à l'encontre du président de la République».
   «Compte tenu de la gravité des faits», Claude Guéant a sollicité la suppression de la vidéo auprès de son principal diffuseur, YouTube. Si la suppression n'intervient pas «dans les meilleurs délais», demande-t-il à son collègue de la Justice, «je vous serai reconnaissant de prendre toutes dispositions utiles, en urgence, dans le cadre de l'enquête pénale que vous ne manquerez pas de faire ouvrir». La Place Vendôme fera-t-elle diligence ? Sur la vidéo, le plus virulent des participants à cette prière pour Merah lâche méprisant : «Je me moque qu'ils me dénoncent.»"

Israël

- Marche des Arabes israéliens pour marquer la "Nakba" (AFP) - "Les manifestants portaient des drapeaux et des pancartes prévenant "Pas de paix sans le droit au retour"."
http://fr.news.yahoo.com/marche-arabes-isra%C3%A9liens-marquer-nakba-171316725.html
   "Des milliers d'Arabes israéliens ont marqué jeudi la "Nakba" (catastrophe), l'exode des Palestiniens ayant accompagné la création d'Israël il y a 64 ans, en marchant vers un kibboutz, où se trouvaient avant 1948 deux villages arabes. [...] Ils ont également scandé des slogans contre les négociations de paix -- actuellement au point mort -- entre Israël et les Palestiniens et en faveur de la réconciliation entre les deux mouvements Fatah et Hamas, selon un journaliste de l'AFP. Les manifestants portaient des drapeaux et des pancartes prévenant "Pas de paix sans le droit au retour", une importante revendication des Palestiniens de la diaspora rejetée par Israël. [...]
    Pour Ahlam Taha, une jeune femme de Kafr Kana, la marche vise à "commémorer un jour très important, celui où nous avons tout laissé. Nous souffrons toujours des conséquences de cela". "Avec l'aide de Dieu, le jour viendra où tous les déplacés reviendront sur leurs terres et auront une vraie indépendance pour la Palestine", a-t-elle ajouté. Parallèlement, Israël célébrait jeudi le 64e anniversaire de sa création, selon le calendrier hébreu. [...]"
- Arab MKs 'mourn' Independence Day, Lahav Harkov (JP)
http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=267719
   "Several Arab MKs participated in “Nakba Day” demonstrations in what they labeled as the “uprooted villages” in the Galilee. Balad faction leader Jamal Zahalka said, “Independence Day is a day of mourning for the Palestinian people and on this day we remember the victims of the banishment.” Zahalka added that Palestinians will not forgive and forget until the “historic injustice” is reversed. “We have seen with our own eyes how nations have broken free from cruel rulers, and this can happen to us, too,” the Balad MK said. “Palestinians and Jews deserve to live in freedom, peace and equality, without the Zionist hegemony,” Zahalka said. [...]
    MK Alex Miller (Yisrael Beytenu), who proposed the Nakba Law, called on the Finance Ministry to look into the demonstration’s funding. “It cannot be that nonprofit organizations that are supported by the state for purposes of education and welfare will use the taxpayers’ money to harm national symbols and go against the law,” Miller said. The Nakba Law, which passed in March 2011, allows the Finance Ministry to deny funding to bodies that mark Independence Day as a day of mourning and conduct events that negate “the existence of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.” [...]"

- Plusieurs agressions anti-juives à Jérusalem jeudi, des blessés (Guysen)
http://www.guysen.com/news_-Plusieurs-agressions-anti-juives-a-Jerusalem-jeudi-des-blesses-_350342.html
   "Des jeunes Arabes ont agressé jeudi soir une famille juive à Gaï ben Hinom, à Jérusalem. Deux membres de la famille ont été sérieusement blessés et un troisième plus légèrement. Un autre incident s'est produit près de la porte des Lions à l'entrée de la Vieille ville : des jeunes Arabes ont lancé des pierres sur les visiteurs, et un enfant juif de 11 ans a été blessé à la tête. La police a entamé des recherches pour retrouver les agresseurs."
- 3e agression anti-juive à Jérusalem jeudi soir (Guysen)
http://www.guysen.com/news_-3e-agression-anti-juive-a-Jerusalem-jeudi-soir-_350344.html
   "Un juif orthodoxe a été agressé jeudi soir par des Arabes dans la rue David de la Vieille ville de Jérusalem. Les policiers ont arrêté un agresseur présumé. La victime n'a pas eu besoin de soins médicaux."

- Jérusalem-Est : manifestation contre des colons (AFP, Vidéo 1mn22) - des manifestants très agressifs viennent harceler des Juifs ("colons" selon la sympathique terminologie de l'AFP) qui osent tacher la pureté de ce quartier - "il n'y a que des Arabes qui vivent ici !" dit l'un des habitants, outré.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xqfmwz_jerusalem-est-manifestation-contre-des-colons_news?search_algo=1
   "Quelque 150 Palestiniens et Israéliens de gauche ont manifesté vendredi 27 avril 2012 à Beit Hanina à Jérusalem-Est contre l'installation pour la première fois dans ce quartier palestinien de colons israéliens."

- With more honest reporting, the world would now that... (Honest Reporting) - de sympathiques slides.
http://www.slideshare.net/HonestReporting/israels-independence-day-2012

Gaza & Hamas

- Fuel for Thought in Gaza, Ron Prosor (Israel's Permanent Representative to the United Nations) - "While the lights have come back on in Gaza, much of the international community remains in the dark about the true nature of the Hamas regime".
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shai-baitel/fuel-for-thought-in-gaza_b_1450616.html
   "When asked about his preferred method of work, satirical writer Garrison Keillor once explained, "I believe in looking reality straight in the eye... and denying it."
    Keillor's approach has been commonplace in the way that many have sized up the situation in the Gaza Strip, since Hamas -- a fundamentalist Islamist terrorist organization -- seized control of the area in a bloody coup in 2007, after winning Palestinian elections the year before.
    Like a group of smiling tour guides at a Caribbean resort, legions of pundits and policymakers have been dancing the limbo with Hamas for years, setting the bar lower and lower for what is acceptable. Instead of holding the regime responsible for the well-being of the people of Gaza, most have turned a blind eye to their oppression.
    They continue to place the words "moderate" and "reforming" in the same sentence as an organization that jails woman for taking off their veils, throws political opponents from windows, and promotes genocide in its school textbooks and television shows. The truth is that the only things Hamas has "reformed" in Gaza are the capabilities of the rockets that it fires into Israel -- and the tools that it uses to repress its own people. A recent wave of blackouts across Gaza has exposed this truth so brightly, that few can deny it.
    Over the past two months, a fuel crisis in Gaza has brought life to a standstill. Power outages closed hospital wards. Taxis were shuttered in garages. A recent poll conducted by the Arab World for Research & Development revealed that 48% of Gazans held Hamas responsible for the crisis. Only 21% blamed Israel. One young Gazan said, "Our leaders are playing while we are being grilled on the fire of poverty."
    The numbers are unsurprising for a population that has seen firsthand how promises of good governance can go out the window when extremist Islamists get their hands near the cookie jar. For years, Hamas has made billions by smuggling weapons through its tunnels on the Egyptian border, creating a black market which eventually undermined the stability of the Sinai Peninsula. As goods and aid streamed across Israeli crossings, Hamas leaders lined their pockets with black market revenues from trafficking weapons, luxury items, and discounted fuel. In February, Egyptian authorities shut down 20 of their smuggling tunnels, including an illicit fuel pipeline.
    With this pipeline now out of order, Hamas was forced to legally purchase fuel from Egypt for the first time. There was just one catch -- the Egyptian crossings into Gaza do not have the capacity to meet the Strip's needs, leaving Israel's far more developed aid crossings as the only option. Accepting assistance from Israel would have brought the idiom "don't bite the hand that feeds you" to new levels of absurdity, even for Hamas. Rather than risk the justification of their campaign of terror and policies of incitement, Hamas naturally chose to plunge their people into darkness.
    After weeks of blackouts, it became clear that this choice had backfired. Anti-Hamas campaigns calling for protests and strikes spread across social media. Protest camps erected during last year's regional unrest came back to life. In typical fashion, Hamas responded with waves of arrests. In one instance, 120 taxi drivers were imprisoned on suspicion of spreading "rumors" that Hamas was somehow at fault for the blackouts. The crisis finally came to end this month, after the Israeli government transferred more 450,000 liters of fuel into Gaza, even as hundreds of rockets flew out of the area into Israeli cities.
    While the lights have come back on in Gaza, much of the international community remains in the dark about the true nature of the Hamas regime. At the height of the fuel crisis, the UN's Human Rights Council found it appropriate to invite a Hamas leader to make a guest appearance at its headquarters -- and teach lessons about human rights to the international community.
    If Hamas has any lesson to teach, it is that fundamentalist regimes are the greatest threat to the prosperity and stability of the Middle East. Groups that exploit the democratic process under the banner of religion are often just as morally corrupt (or more) than the regimes they are trying to replace.
    It's a lesson that seems to falling on deaf ears among many in the international community, as a rising tide of fundamentalism sweeps our region. The increasing presence of morality police, alcohol bans, and the cancelations of secular legislation is coinciding with the growth of extremist religious parties. In vacuum of instability, familiar promises from Islamists are ringing out in Middle Eastern capitals from the Persian Gulf to the North African Coast.
    As the prospect of Hamas clones gaining power throughout the Middle East becomes a distinct possibility, the example of their reign in Gaza should provide fuel for thought -- and cause for concern. The success of Islamist parties in one-vote, one-time elections are not always so easily undone at the ballot box. Just ask the taxi drivers of Gaza."

Judée-Samarie

- Palestinian censorship: anti-government sites closed down (AP)
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4221454,00.html
   "The government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has moved to silence critics, raising new concerns about freedom of expression in the West Bank. Abbas' communications minister, Mashour Abu Daqa, said late Thursday that the attorney general's office ordered several websites shut down over the past six months. The sites belong to an Abbas rival, former Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan.
    Security forces have also arrested four journalists and an anti-corruption activist who have criticized Abbas and other Palestinian officials on Facebook. The Abbas government has also sued two of the journalists and the activist on charges they defamed the president and other senior officials.
    Palestinian media in the West Bank are for the most part official or sympathetic to the Palestinian Authority, forcing West Bankers to voice their dissenting opinions on Facebook. But the government fears Facebook's power because of the role it has played in energizing revolts that have toppled long-entrenched regimes in the Arab world.
    The West Bank crackdown has been criticized within the Palestinian Authority and in Washington, too. "We are concerned about any uses of technology that would restrict access to information," US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Thursday. "We've had these concerns in other parts of the world, and we wouldn't want to see the PA going in the direction that some of those regimes have gone in." Abu Daqa, the communications minister, said the shutdown of the websites was "bad for the image of the Palestinian Authority in the modern world." [...]"

- Eloigner Fayyad pour piocher dans la caisse, Sami el Soudi (Mena) - "Un vent mauvais de censure, de corruption et de menaces souffle actuellement sur Ramallah".
http://www.menapress.org/
   "Rien ne va plus entre le président de l’Autorité Palestinienne, M. Mahmoud Abbas, et son 1er ministre, Salam Fayyad. Depuis plusieurs jours, les deux hommes refusent de se parler au téléphone, et même leurs assistants ne se rencontrent plus. Parallèlement à ces évènements, Abbas subit de très fortes pressions de la part des barons du Fatah pour qu’il limoge Fayyad, ou, à tout le moins, qu’il lui retire la responsabilité qu’il exerce sur les finances publiques.
    C’est bien là le cœur de la dispute : les membres de l’OLP voudraient se servir dans la caisse et pouvoir à nouveau tirer de très gros chèques sur le trésor public, comme au temps de Yasser Arafat. Durant le règne de ce dernier, des milliards de dollars avaient été détournés de l’aide internationale à la Palestine, dont plusieurs par Arafat lui-même.
    Il prétendait, qu’en alimentant des comptes à son nom aux quatre coins de la planète, il constituait le trésor de guerre des Palestiniens. Mais à la mort du leader emblématique de "la cause", il avait tant et si bien dissimulé les coordonnées des comptes qu’il avait ouverts - et en avait perdu un certain nombre, car il était aussi totalement désordonné -, que des milliards tombèrent en déshérence, au seul profit de banquiers peu consciencieux, et furent perdus pour les Palestiniens nécessiteux auxquels ils étaient originellement destinés.
    Sans compter les dizaines de courtisans du raïs, de ministres, de chefs des forces de sécurité et de grosses pointures du parti, qui s’en sont mis plein les poches à cette époque. A l’instar de Barghouti, le chef des Tanzim, le bras armé et terroriste d’Arafat, qui venait réclamer des fonds, oralement, au "Vieux", pour des projets aux contours insaisissables, et qui recevait à chaque occasion une partie de l’argent qu’il avait demandé.
    Quant à l’affectation de ces sommes en tous points considérables, elle était laissée au bon vouloir du seul intéressé, qui n’en était comptable vis-à-vis de personne. C’est ainsi que des fortunes conséquentes se sont construites, financées par les Américains, les Européens et des Etats arabes, aux dépens des efforts pour la construction de l’Etat de Palestine. Aux rares individus qui osaient poser à Arafat la question de la gestion de ces fonds, l’intéressé prétendait que, de cette façon – en ne conservant pas de traces des dépenses et en multipliant les "chargés de budgets" – cela empêchait les Israéliens de contrôler les activités – notamment l’achat d’armes et la dotation de terroristes – de l’AP.
    Avec le décès du petit raïs et l’avènement de Salam Fayyad à la tête des finances publiques, les choses ont considérablement changé ; d’abord, parce que Fayyad est un économiste réputé, formé dans les écoles occidentales, ensuite parce que c’est un homme intègre, intéressé par l’établissement d’un Etat palestinien indépendant à côté d’Israël. Et puis, parce que le 1er ministre n’appartient pas au Fatah. Aux élections législatives de 2006, il avait lancé, avec Hanane Ashrawi, un nouveau parti, qu’ils avaient nommé la "Troisième voie", et sur la liste duquel ils avaient tous deux été élus.
    Et enfin, parce qu’il suit une sorte de doctrine, fréquemment qualifiée de fayyadisme, qui présuppose que le plus court chemin pour parvenir à un Etat passe par une sécurité publique (incluant la mise au pas absolue du terrorisme) renforcée, une bonne gouvernance (combattant la corruption), le développement économique soutenu (la Palestine ne doit pas uniquement devenir un Etat, elle doit également subvenir à ses besoins), la reconnaissance d’Israël, l’ouverture à l’Ouest, la séparation des pouvoirs et un marché libre.  
    Fort de ces principes, il n’est pas étonnant que Fayyad se soit trouvé en désaccord profond avec Abbas, principalement l’an dernier, alors de le président de l’AP cherchait à conclure un rapprochement contre-nature avec le Hamas. Pas surprenant non plus qu’il soit ainsi devenu le Palestinien à abattre pour les organisations islamistes. [...]
    Fayyad s’est également opposé à la demande d’adhésion soumise par Abou Mazen à l’ONU en septembre 2011. Bien qu’il fût à l’origine de cette idée, dès qu’il s’avéra évident que les Nations Unies ne voteraient pas la création de la Palestine, et que nous allions au-devant d’une déconvenue majeure sur la scène internationale, Fayyad tenta, mais en vain, de faire entendre raison à Mahmoud Abbas.
    Durant toute cette longue période, les relations entre les deux hommes furent tendues. Désormais, au jour le jour, les leaders de l’OLP veulent pouvoir à nouveau se servir directement dans la caisse. Et Abbas n’échapperait pas non plus à cette tentation ; quatre journalistes et plusieurs bloggeurs palestiniens ayant critiqué ces tentatives de corruption, notamment au ministère des Affaires Etrangères de l’AP, ont été récemment incarcérés sur la base de mandats décernés par le procureur général, Ahmad al Mughani. Un vent mauvais de censure, de corruption et de menaces souffle actuellement sur Ramallah.
    [...] des voix proches du Fatah exigent un remaniement ministériel et l’exclusion de l’actuel Premier ministre. Certains affirment dans ces rangs qu’il serait l’ "homme des Américains, des Européens et des Israéliens" ; on n’est même pas loin de l’accusation de trahison à la cause, et tout cela pour obtenir le droit de piller la caisse défendue par l’incorruptible cerbère.
    La braise brûle depuis des mois entre les deux patrons de l’Autorité, mais ce qui a provoqué un retour de flammes, c’est le refus de Salam Fayyad de porter une lettre d’Abbas à Binyamin Netanyahu, il y a quelques jours. L’affront est d’autant plus grand, que Ramallah avait déjà annoncé que c’était le 1er ministre qui allait remettre le pli. Fayyad a simplement commenté : "Je ne travaille pas comme facteur pour Abbas ou pour le Fath’."
    Entre quatre yeux, avec ses proches, il critique vertement l’initiative d’Abou Mazen, visant, soi-disant à raviver les négociations avec les Hébreux. Mais c’est d’une provocation qu’il s’agit, entend-on dans le cercle proche de Fayyad : "si vous désirez reprendre les discussions, vous ne posez pas de nouvelles préconditions". Et on ajoute : "pas de construction à Jérusalem et en Cisjordanie, le retour à un statu quo ante, et l’exigence des frontières de 1967 ; cela pourrait figurer dans l’accord final de cessation du conflit, mais pas au titre de condition pour accepter de s’asseoir"." (suite payante)

"Processus de paix"

- Netanyahu on Palestine (CNN, Vidéo 6mn01) - l'extrait de l'interview de Nétanyahou sur CNN concernant le "processus de paix".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_3Xrd0HNtE
   "Israel "Netanyahu"on Palestine & Arabs CNN Report Exclusive Erin Burnett Interview in Tel aviv."

- PM stance on Palestinian contiguity debated, Herb Keinon (JP)
http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=267712
   "Government officials played down Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s comments in a CNN interview this week expressing a seeming willingness for Palestinian contiguity, saying he was referring to the West Bank, and not necessarily a physical link from it to Gaza. Netanyahu, the officials said, has not publicly articulated a position on what he believes a link or “safe passage” between the West Bank and Gaza should look like in a possible future agreement.
    In a CNN interview that aired Tuesday, Erin Burnett asked Netanyahu whether he thought the Palestinians should have a country that “is contiguous, not islands here and islands there, but one space.” Netanyahu said “yes,” but was then cut off before he could elaborate. Later in the interview Burnett again returned to the issue, and said she wanted to be clear that a future state – which Netanyahu clarified must be demilitarized – “isn’t separated by Israel, as in there is a Palestine part here, Israel... ” Netanyahu said this was not what he was referring to, which would be “Swiss cheese.”
    Burnett said in her narrative of the interview that the use of the word contiguous is significant, and that there was a “lot of weight in that particular word.” Government officials pointed out, however, that Netanyahu actually never used the word. One official said that the prime minister was trying to rebut Palestinian claims that what he had in mind for a future Palestinian state were Palestinian cantons surrounded by Israel. [...]"

Egypte

- Egyptian master's thesis on Indonesia quotes the Protocols (Elder of Ziyon)
http://elderofziyon.blogspot.fr/2012/04/egyptian-masters-thesis-on-indonesia.html
   "A student at the University of Zagazig in Egypt wrote his master's thesis on the history of the various conspiracies against Islam that colonialists imposed on the population. An article in Moheet summarizes it.
    He says that the Dutch introduced communism to Indonesia, and the movement grew stronger until the Muslims defeated it. He then went on to discuss the ties between communism and Zionism, specifically via the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and the fact that Karl Marx was Jewish. He also quotes that the Protocols instruct Jews to use secularism to conquer the world.
    This is a master's thesis in an Egyptian university. Well, maybe they have a good sports program."

Syrie

- Les divisions de la rébellion menacent le soulèvement en Syrie, Erika Solomon (Reuters) - "Beaucoup soupçonnent les Frères musulmans et les salafistes de se tailler la part du lion" ; "Ils souhaitent se préserver pour la lutte qui s'ouvrira après la chute d'Assad, afin d'être les plus puissants".
http://fr.news.yahoo.com/les-divisions-la-r%C3%A9bellion-menacent-le-soul%C3%A8vement-en-162708229.html
   "[...] Officiellement, Moustafa et ses hommes combattent au sein de l'Armée syrienne libre (ASL) mais cette dernière, dépourvue de reconnaissance internationale et de financement direct étranger, n'est généralement rien d'autre qu'une étiquette sous laquelle une multitude de groupes armés cherchent à se financer. La concurrence entre eux est parfois si exacerbée qu'ils finissent par tourner leurs armes les uns contre les autres. "Tout le monde a besoin d'armes. Il y a des tensions. Il y a de la colère et, oui, parfois il y a des combats si les rebelles dans une ville donnent l'impression de disposer d'une part exagérée des armes", dit Moustafa.
    Ces différends sont amplifiés par les objectifs propres à ces soutiens extérieurs, ce qui accentue la fragmentation de la rébellion contre Bachar al Assad. Pour trouver un donateur, il faut généralement mobiliser son réseau de connaissances personnelles. Des proches ou des amis expatriés peuvent vous mettre en contact avec des hommes d'affaires ou des organisations syriennes installés à l'étranger. Il faut ensuite négocier et le prix à payer est parfois idéologique.
    Beaucoup soulignent que des organisations islamistes financent de nombreux bataillons partageant leurs vues religieuses. Les Frères musulmans disposent ainsi à Antioche de représentants prêts à rencontrer des rebelles intéressés par leur appui, disent des combattants. Des laïcs ou des adversaires des islamistes tentent de contrer cette influence en finançant des bandes rivales. "Ces groupes sont tous en train de créer leurs propres milices, comme des seigneurs de guerre. C'est un facteur de division", dit un rebelle ayant requis l'anonymat. "Ils ne réfléchissent pas en termes de stratégie militaire, ils réfléchissent en termes politiques." [...]
    D'après certaines combattants, des donateurs privés, peut-être des personnalités d'Arabie saoudite ou du Qatar, ont fourni des millions de dollars à leurs groupes favoris. Beaucoup soupçonnent les Frères musulmans et les salafistes de se tailler la part du lion. Abou Chaham, chef rebelle de 60 ans à Hama, accuse les Frères musulmans de calculs en évitant de s'exposer dans les combats afin de préserver leurs forces pour la suite. "Les Frères injectent de l'argent dans des unités rebelles et pourtant leurs hommes ne combattent pas autant que nous. Ils sont quasiment toujours les premiers à battre en retraite. Pourquoi ?", s'interroge-t-il. "Ils ne pensent pas à cette phase-là de la bataille. Ils se préoccupent de ce qui va se passer ensuite. Ils souhaitent se préserver pour la lutte qui s'ouvrira après la chute d'Assad, afin d'être les plus puissants." [...]
    Certains rebelles craignent surtout la présence d'extrémistes islamistes désireux d'attiser les tensions entre la majorité sunnite, au coeur de la révolte, et les minorités chiites, alaouites et chrétiennes. "Il y a beaucoup de djihadistes qui veulent venir de l'étranger, c'est une réalité", dit un insurgé sous le sceau de l'anonymat. "Alors, nous ne parlerons plus du combat de la Syrie pour sa liberté, nous parlerons d'une guerre religieuse."
    Expert à l'Institut d'étude de la guerre aux Etats-Unis, Joseph Holliday prévient que si les puissances étrangères ne fournissent pas un appui ordonné aux rebelles, les rivalités au sein de l'insurrection risquent de plonger la Syrie dans le chaos. "Tant que nous ne reconnaissons pas les rebelles, n'importe qui peut ouvrir sa boutique en Turquie et commencer à financer des groupes d'opposition", dit-il. "On ne sait pas qui arme qui (...) et je crains qu'avant que l'Occident décide d'agir, il ne soit trop tard"."

Iran

- Israël doute des sanctions contre l'Iran (AFP)
http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2012/04/27/97001-20120427FILWWW00350-israel-doute-des-sanctions-contre-l-iran.php
   "Le ministre israélien de la Défense Ehud Barak a jugé peu probable que les sanctions actuellement en vigueur contre l'Iran dissuade ce pays de développer l'arme atomique comme le redoute la communauté internationale. [...] "Mais la vérité doit être dite. Les chances que, à ce niveau de pression, l'Iran réponde favorablement aux exigences internationales pour arrêter son programme (nucléaire) semblent minces", a indiqué Ehud Barak, cité par son bureau. [...] Ehud Barak a estimé qu'un Iran doté de l'arme atomique déclencherait "une course aux armes nucléaires dans la région, à laquelle l'Arabie saoudite, la Turquie et même la nouvelle Egypte devront participer". Il a exprimé également ses craintes qu'une fois la bombe acquise, les groupes terroristes ne mettent pas longtemps à en acquérir le savoir-faire. [...]"

- 'India deports Iranian for spying on Israelis' (JP)
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=267739
   "Police in the Indian city of Pune deported an Iranian national last month after they discovered him spying on Israeli nationals and Jewish institutions in the city, the Pune Mirror reported on Thursday. According to the report, 40-year-old Hamid Kashkouli, an Iranian PhD student at the University of Pune, was spying on the Chabad House in the city's Koregaon Park region and the Rasta Peth Synagogue in the city. Kashkouli was on the payroll of the Iranian intelligence agency, according to the report. [...]"

Europe

- Des croix gammées visent deux synagogues genevoises, Julien de Weck (Tribune de Genève)
http://www.tdg.ch/geneve/actu-genevoise/croix-gammee-souille-synagogue-geneve/story/13323815
   "Triste réveil à Genève. Plusieurs croix gammées, inversées par rapport au symbole utilisé par les nazis, ont été taguées dans la nuit de jeudi à vendredi à proximité de deux lieux de culte de la communauté israélite. Ce matin, les passants du quartier des banques ont découvert la plaque en mémoire des déportés de la deuxième guerre mondiale souillée par le symbole de l'Allemagne nazie. A quelques kilomètres de là, les devantures d'une librairie hébraïque et d'un commerce ont également été marquées dans le quartier de Malagnou, où se trouve la synagogue Hekhal Haness. [...]"

Histoire

- 'US threatened anti-Semitic incitement in 1948' (JP)
http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=267714
   "Historian Dr. Rafael Medoff discovered documents showing that the US State Department threatened to incite anti-Semitism in 1948 if the the Zionist leaders proclaimed the State of Israel, a statement released Thursday asserted. According to the documents,then undersecretary of state Robert Lovett told Zionist official Nahum Goldmann that the Truman administration opposed plans to declare the Jewish state. Lovett reportedly threatened to release a "White Paper" criticizing Zionists, which he said would have "grave repercussions" for Jews as anti-Semitism was mounting.
    Medoff found the documents while researching for his book Herbert Hoover and the Jews: The Origins of the "Jewish Vote" and Bipartisan Support for Israel. It is "deeply disturbing that the State Department would go to such extremes. Threatening to provoke racial hatred against American citizens should have been beyond the pale," Medoff said. According to Medoff, Zionist leaders dismissed the threat, partly due to the support they received from leading Republicans, and then US president Harry Truman's concerns that Jewish voters would give them their support if his administration backed the Arabs."

- Happy Birthday Israel (Dry Bones)
http://drybonesblog.blogspot.fr/2012/04/happy-birthday-israel.html

- L'Etat juif, qui dispose de réserves gazières offshore importantes, réagit avec modération [à la rupture d'approvisionnement égyptien], Laurent Zecchini (Le Monde) - "L'Etat juif importe 43 % de sa consommation de gaz des gisements du Sinaï. C'est une forte dépendance, mais bien moindre que celle de la Jordanie". Et l'indépendance sera presque gagnée lorsque les gisements Léviathan et Tamar seront exploités.
http://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2012/04/24/israel-minimise-le-gel-des-exportations-de-gaz-par-l-egypte_1690407_3212.html