http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=17893
American consul general tours Jericho
Date: 07 / 12 / 2006 Time: 19:03

Jericho - Ma'an – US Consul General in Jerusalem John Walles has stated, during a visit to the West Bank city of Jericho, that the Palestinians have the right to establish their own state. He mentioned that his country is pushing in that direction, through trying to resume peace negotiations.

The American consul was accompanied by Palestinian Legislative Council member, Dr Sa'eb Erekat, who announced that USAid will pay $2 million for Jericho to re-pave roads in the city. Erekat also called ob the American consul to participate in establishing a center for women's affairs in Jericho.

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=17888
Why is Israel separating me from my wife? asks Ghassan Abdullah
Date: 07 / 12 / 2006 Time: 15:58

Originally published on The Electronic Intifada
6 December 2006

Israel has decreed that my wife and I can no longer live together. I am Palestinian and she is Swiss and we have been married for 28 years. She was recently given two weeks to leave the occupied Palestinian territory. The Israeli Ministry of Interior wrote on her Swiss passport: "LAST PERMIT." We have been living together in Ramallah for 12 years. We came in 1994, when, after the Oslo Agreement, we were encouraged to move to the West Bank by the prospect of 'peace' and development.

My wife Anita speaks Arabic, likes the landscape, cooks Arabic meals, and she cares for my grandfather's village house -- an old stone building and the plants around it -- more than I do. She votes in Palestinian elections as the spouse of a Palestinian. She is active in serving the local society in public health. She has numerous friends here and considers it home. She still has her valuable European element and contacts, but she doesn't want to be separated from this environment or from me, and I certainly do not want to be separated from her. Our children are grown up and work abroad, but they are also not sure they will be allowed to visit us here. On her way to visit us in Ramallah a few months ago, our daughter, who has a Swiss passport, was delayed for six hours at Tel Aviv airport and grilled when she landed. She was lucky. Others are deported to where they took off from, often spending a night or more at the notorious detention 'facility' at the airport.

For the past 12 years, Anita has managed to stay here by diligently renewing her permit or leaving and coming back every three or six months to comply with the Israeli 'law' that applies in the occupied Palestinian territories. She is fighting now to stay here by going to a lawyer and to the Israeli courts, hoping for an injunction to be able to stay until a verdict is reached. She is also in touch with her embassy, and she has joined others in the same predicament in addressing the European Union and the American consulate, and in talking to human rights organizations, both Israeli and Palestinian, and the media.

We don't know what to do. But whatever it is, we have to do it quickly. What do we do about our shared life, our papers and accounts, the hundreds of little things that we have grown to share? What do we do about the new apartment that we made the 'mistake' of purchasing at the wrong time? She was keyed up about what tiles to choose and how to model the kitchen. We can't believe, or accept, that we are going to be separated. We believe it though, when we are reminded by other 'mixed' couples or families around us who have, and are being, separated.

Since last spring, the Israeli occupation authorities have been increasing the squeeze on holders of foreign passports by denying them entry into the Palestinian areas. Those affected include Palestinians with foreign passports or foreign wives, husbands, children, parents and other relatives. They also include foreign nationals, who come to teach at universities, work or volunteer with local or foreign non-governmental organizations, experts with various projects often funded by European countries, sympathizers or human rights activists.

Bitakhon is the magic word in Israel. In the name of bitakhon, or security, Israeli authorities can take any illegal, inhuman, immoral or aggressive measures against the Palestinian population under military occupation. They can throw the word bitakhon at any European or foreign diplomat who questions any of their measures, even when those measures go against human rights, international and humanitarian law, or the Fourth Geneva Conventions which govern the conduct of occupying powers towards the occupied population. It seems sometimes, to Palestinians, that a third rate official at any Israeli ministry can frighten the whole of the European Union and its officials by invoking the 'security' of Israelis, or by hinting at what Europe did to the Jews.

My wife is not the only one to have been given an ultimatum this last week. Dozens of other wives, husbands and children who have been living in the West Bank for years, renewing their Israeli-issued 'visitors' permits every three months, have been given short extensions, none of which exceed the end of this year. Children will have to be taken out of schools and will be separated from their parents. Mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and grandparents of the cherished local extended families will be torn apart. Hundreds of others are also waiting their fate in the coming days and weeks. Thousands have been denied visits this last summer to their families and homes and roots. Summer is often the season for marriage of Palestinians divided by different passports or IDs and festivities used to fill the summer nights with music and dance. Not in the summer of 2006.

The Israeli occupation does not stop at confiscating the land. I feel occupied in my shirt pocket. My 'Palestinian' identity card is issued by Israeli authorities. They control the Palestinian civil population registry. Every birth, death, marriage, travels in or out, is controlled by Israel -- even in Gaza, disengagement withstanding. Of course, they control the water, the roads and the movement of people within the West Bank through hundreds of barriers and checkpoints. They uproot all the trees that they decide are in their way, that are in the way of the Apartheid Wall cutting its way into the flesh of our land, or in the way of their colonial settlers who decide to take over yet another spot of land or hill top that pleases them.

Why are the Israelis attacking mixed marriages of Palestinians? Before people fall in love in Palestine now, they ask about what ID each holds and from where it is issued. They do not want to build a life at risk of being torn apart from the start.

-----------------
Ghassan Abdullah is a computer adviser in the West Bank city of Ramallah

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=17882
Israel may accept the Saudi Initiative,
with amendments, 'Maariv' claims
Date: 07 / 12 / 2006 Time: 15:03


Maariv frontpage:

Bethlehem - Ma'an - Washington has returned to play a central role in the mediation between the Arab countries and Israel, the Israeli paper ' Maariv' claims in its Thursday edition.

According to the newspaper, the US is putting pressure on Israel to accept the Saudi initiative, which was launched at the Arab Summit of 2002, and calls for the Arab countries to normalise relations with Israel in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders.

'Maariv' says that the US is putting efforts into making some amendments to the Saudi initiative in order to better suit Israel and allay Israel's reservations and fears.

The rightist paper wonders whether this initiative will be brought to life again. It claims that the US is conducted secret contacts to coordinate the initiative with reservations. According to the paper, high-ranking sources in Israel have said that the Saudi initiative has now become acceptable in Israel.

The paper also said that some Arab states like Jordan are playing a central role in the mediation in order to find a suitable phrase agreed upon by both Arabs and Israelis. It said that some other countries like the UAE, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia are also included in these contacts with Israel. Israel wishes to reach a political settlement, the paper says.

It seems that the US and Israel are counting on the Saudis to lead a change in the Arab world if the Israelis accept the initiative. According to the paper, the Saudis have said that Israel's acceptance of the initiative "could make a comprehensive change in the region".

In a meeting between US President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Olmert last month, Bush asked Olmert to speak positively about the Saudi initiative and to praise it in his statements, the paper claims. 'Maariv' says that the US wished Olmert to pave the way for accepting this initiative in order to prepare the Israeli public opinion for Israel's acceptance of it and to give a chance to the Americans to coordinate it in accordance with Israeli demands.

The paper added that it is possible that Israel will accept the initiative with some reservations. Israel's refusal to the initiative up to this moment is based on the fact that it calls for Israel to return to the 1967 borders, the paper said.

The Saudi initiative was accepted and agreed upon by the Arab countries at the Beirut Summit of 2002 where it was presented to the summit by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. The initiative says that Israel should withdraw to the 1967 borders and allow Palestinian refugees to return to their state. The Saudi king's initiative is based on the UN resolutions 242, 338 and 194. This initiative was rejected by the Israeli prime minister at the time, Ariel Sharon.

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=17882
Israel may accept the Saudi Initiative,
with amendments, 'Maariv' claims
Date: 07 / 12 / 2006 Time: 15:03

Maariv frontpage:

Bethlehem - Ma'an - Washington has returned to play a central role in the mediation between the Arab countries and Israel, the Israeli paper ' Maariv' claims in its Thursday edition.

According to the newspaper, the US is putting pressure on Israel to accept the Saudi initiative, which was launched at the Arab Summit of 2002, and calls for the Arab countries to normalise relations with Israel in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders.

'Maariv' says that the US is putting efforts into making some amendments to the Saudi initiative in order to better suit Israel and allay Israel's reservations and fears.

The rightist paper wonders whether this initiative will be brought to life again. It claims that the US is conducted secret contacts to coordinate the initiative with reservations. According to the paper, high-ranking sources in Israel have said that the Saudi initiative has now become acceptable in Israel.

The paper also said that some Arab states like Jordan are playing a central role in the mediation in order to find a suitable phrase agreed upon by both Arabs and Israelis. It said that some other countries like the UAE, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia are also included in these contacts with Israel. Israel wishes to reach a political settlement, the paper says.

It seems that the US and Israel are counting on the Saudis to lead a change in the Arab world if the Israelis accept the initiative. According to the paper, the Saudis have said that Israel's acceptance of the initiative "could make a comprehensive change in the region".

In a meeting between US President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Olmert last month, Bush asked Olmert to speak positively about the Saudi initiative and to praise it in his statements, the paper claims. 'Maariv' says that the US wished Olmert to pave the way for accepting this initiative in order to prepare the Israeli public opinion for Israel's acceptance of it and to give a chance to the Americans to coordinate it in accordance with Israeli demands.

The paper added that it is possible that Israel will accept the initiative with some reservations. Israel's refusal to the initiative up to this moment is based on the fact that it calls for Israel to return to the 1967 borders, the paper said.

The Saudi initiative was accepted and agreed upon by the Arab countries at the Beirut Summit of 2002 where it was presented to the summit by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. The initiative says that Israel should withdraw to the 1967 borders and allow Palestinian refugees to return to their state. The Saudi king's initiative is based on the UN resolutions 242, 338 and 194. This initiative was rejected by the Israeli prime minister at the time, Ariel Sharon.

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=17880
Innovative new peace initiative:
Haniyeh to get $1 billion if he meets Olmert and makes peace
Date: 07 / 12 / 2006 Time: 14:32


Haniyeh and Zahar pray together
(MaanImages Archive)
Bethlehem - Ma'an - In a new initiative, an Israeli billionaire has offered US $ one billion to Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh if he can arrange a meeting with his Israeli counterpart and reach a peace agreement.

Israeli businessman Avi Shaked, who earned his fortune from Internet gambling sites, told Reuters that he has been able to gather together many wealthy people who have expressed their readiness to flow money immediately if a peace treaty can be reached.

Shaked said that US $ 100 million will be paid immediately if Haniyeh and Olmert sit together.

In explaining his initiative, he added that violence and killing must be stopped. He is calling for both men to "please sit together and start peace negotiations, and try to reach an agreement". He added that the British prime minister, Tony Blair, has agreed to his initiative.

He also said that his initiative is a serious one, and it may secure at least one million jobs in the occupied Palestinian territories. Shaked, who owns the world's largest online casino, Casino 888, says that he wants the Palestinian economy to be like the Israeli economy so both people can live "at the same level". He adds that he wishes poverty to end as poverty is "helping to escalate the conflict".

Shaked said, "We are almost the same people. We are cousins. Why not having dialogue?" He added that he hopes that Haniyeh and his government will discuss his suggestions.

So far, the Israeli government has rejected Shaked's suggestions, saying that the Israeli government is committed to other peace plans, such as the Road Map.

An Israeli official, who refused to reveal his name, said, "With all respect, this can't be achieved through the money of a billionaire. This government is accountable to those [people] who brought them to power".

Olmert himself has said many times that he will not negotiate with Haniyeh but that he is ready to do so with Palestinian President Abbas. However, Shaked says that he wants to do something "good" with his fortune, saying, "I am ready to spend it to achieve peace ".

Avi Shaked has been associated with past peace agreements, including the Geneva initiative, and is known to be a friend of the Israeli left-leaning politician Yossi Beilin and the former Israeli prime minister, Shimon Peres.