Gazans attack Ban Ki Moon's vehicle

(EOZ)From Ma'an:

Dozens of people threw shoes and stones at UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's convoy as it entered the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Ma'an's correspondent said.
No one was injured during the hostile welcome and the vehicles, which crossed into the Hamas-ruled territory from southern Israel, pushed through the crowd and sped away.
Ban is visiting the region to try to restart long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Many of those who protested as the UN convoy passed were family members of Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons. They hit the vehicles with signs bearing slogans accusing Ban of bias towards Israel and of refusing to meet the relatives of Palestinian prisoners.

Who is Moon meeting in Gaza? (MORE)

Israel Halts Payments to Palestinians, Adding to Fiscal Woes

All the countries that encouraged Palestine to break their promises can pay the Palestine Authorities bill now if they really care, but I doubt they do. Lip service doesn't pay the bills. If the world cares so much for the Palestinians then put up or shut up. oh... but they don't love the Arabs, they merely hate Jews.

(NYTIMES) RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestinian Authority, in over its head financially as foreign donors renege on pledges and local banks have reached their limits, has an even more serious money problem: Israel is refusing to transfer tax and customs payments that account for two-thirds of its revenue. For three weeks, the Israeli government has pointedly withheld the transfer of these payments, amounting to more than $100 million, to express opposition to the Palestinian Authority’s recent policy of pursuing United Nations membership and renewing power-sharing talks with Hamas.
The impact of Israel’s decision not to make its deposit could be devastating, according to Palestinian and international officials.
“With each passing day, the Palestinian Authority becomes weaker, and is fast approaching the day when it becomes completely incapacitated,” Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said in an interview this week.
Oussama Kanaan, the International Monetary Fund’s mission chief for the West Bank and Gaza, said that unless Israel changed its approach, salaries due on Dec. 1 that support one million Palestinians would go unpaid.
“Part of the reason why people have not revolted is that there has been some progress and security, and the living standard has been going up,” he said. “But if they cannot get their wages paid and they have high expectations about independence, they will see this as a sign of weakness and incompetence by the Palestinian Authority.”
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations and senior American officials have contacted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel in recent days, urging him to release the money. Tony Blair, the representative of the so-called quartet — the Middle East peacemaking group composed of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations — added his voice to the criticism on Wednesday, saying, “Only those who oppose peace and Israeli-Palestinian cooperation benefit from the withholding of P.A. funds.”
An aide to Mr. Netanyahu said the point was to “incentivize bad things not happening.” By that, he meant the Palestinian Authority’s pursuit of full membership in the United Nations and its planned talks with Hamas, expected to start on Thursday in Cairo.
But the aide said that if the Palestinians did not move to join other United Nations agencies — he said they had indicated a willingness to back off for now — and the Cairo meeting produced nothing more than promises of more meetings, the likelihood was that the money would be released by next week.
“We are trying to send a clear message,” he said.
Another Israeli official said that when the decision was made to withhold payment around Nov. 1, there had been several troubling developments from Israel’s point of view. First, he said, President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority said nothing after a rocket from Gaza killed someone in southern Israel. Then Mr. Abbas seemed to praise the abduction of an Israeli soldier five years ago and said he would never recognize a Jewish state. Finally, the Palestinians joined Unesco — the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization — a move that Israel rejected as another unilateral step toward statehood.
“We wanted to make clear this could not be business as usual,” the official said. “The idea is to influence Palestinian decision-making.”
The transfer of the more than $100 million a month is not, in theory, optional. It is mandated by the 1994 portion of the Oslo agreement. The money is made up of customs duties that Israel collects for Palestinian orders arriving here through Israeli ports, value-added taxes on major Palestinian purchases of Israeli goods and excise taxes on Israeli fuel bought by the Palestinians.
But the Israelis argue that by approaching the United Nations and engaging with Hamas, the Palestinian Authority is breaking its end of the Oslo accords, freeing Israel to do the same.
The United States has suspended tens of millions of dollars it has pledged to the Palestinian Authority because of Congressional objections that mirror those of Israel.
Israel has withheld payments before, notably during the 2001-2 uprising and again in 2006, when the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority and Hamas briefly formed a unity government. Foreign donors, mostly from the Arab world and the European Union, made up the difference.
That pattern has eased concerns here.
“The Authority has never collapsed, and it will not do so now,” , the chief executive of the Palestinian Stock Exchange, said in an interview. “The Arab Spring obliges the Arab countries to act in ways they are not used to. And the Israelis can rant and rave all they want. In the end, it is in their interest to help us.”
Indeed, it is widely agreed in the Israeli military establishment that a functioning Palestinian Authority is in Israel’s interest because, without it, Israel would have to police and provide civilian services to millions of Palestinians. But as the aide to Mr. Netanyahu said when asked about that, “True, but that is not our only interest.”
Relations between the two sides have deteriorated, and senior Israeli leaders, including Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, have publicly argued for withholding the Palestinian transfers. Mr. Netanyahu has not gone that far.
At the same time, the Israeli and Palestinian Finance Ministry panels working on the tax and customs transfers have recently made important strides together, reducing leakage and increasing revenues, both sides said.

...NO MORE MONEY FOR OUR MURDER...

Mr. Fayyad noted that since the Europeans were facing their own fiscal crises and the Arabs had not come forward with pledged donations, it made little sense to assume either would come to the rescue now. In the past two years, the authority has set up institutions as part of its ambition to be ready for statehood, and that has made fiscal reliability all the more important.
“If we can’t meet our contractual obligations, that has a chilling effect on the private sector,” Mr. Fayyad said. “This undermines confidence in the Palestinian Authority’s capacity to function, which has a debilitating effect on investor confidence. Like a family, a government can make do with less — but not a drop of two-thirds.”

Actually it is more simple then this. when Palestine unilaterally went to the U.N. to ask for statehood it broke the Oslo agreement. It isn't the Israeli opinion. It is a legal fact. The NYTimes is lying. They have no right to ask for funding if they broke their promises.

Turkey Seeks Simultaneous Drilling Halt

(Hudson-NY.ORG) Washington is closely monitoring the recent developments on the issue...

Redrawing the Sea: Erdogan says Israel will not be able to move in the eastern Mediterranean as it wishes.
...oh and don't forget about those Turkish warships that are being built domestically. oh joy! (Hurriyet)...in the mean time Turkey acts like it is being diplomatic with it's other neighbors:

(AA.com) Turkish Cypriot President Derviş Eroğlu on Saturday submitted a four-item proposal to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to resolve the spat with Greek Cyprus over drilling in the eastern Mediterranean.
The proposal starts with a bid for both sides to simultaneously suspend oil and gas exploration, a move that seemed to show Turkey's reluctance to start drilling work in the Mediterranean.
In the first item of the new proposal submitted to Ban, Eroğlu made an offer to the Greek side to "suspend the oil and natural gas exploration simultaneously until a comprehensive solution is found to the Cyprus problem."
If this is not going to happen, Eroğlu offered to "set up an ad-hoc committee shaped by representatives of both peoples" on the divided island.

Disgusting denial of the correlative. Turkey is on the gas pipeline and has no gas shortages like Europe does. It is not generous at all to meet this demand. Hindering exploration would raise the price of the resource... this would make Turkey profit. It sounds like as if they are making nice, but they are not. Erdogan's ploy at diplomacy is hostile and manipulative.

"We shall give some authority to the committee, such as [authority over] explorations, agreements and licenses dependent on written approval of both sides, and we will negotiate the ratio of sharing the riches that will be found," Eroğlu said.
Thirdly, the Turkish Cypriot leader proposed, "We shall use the income to finance the comprehensive talks," adding that "the adoption of the plan shall not harm the positions of either side."

He is playing as if he is generous and ready to negotiate terms... typical Islamic move of demanding conditions for negotiations.

Eroğlu said Ban was pleased with the proposal, in which he repeated Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's earlier call for the two sides to simultaneously renounce the energy explorations. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said Turkey supported the new proposal that was presented to the UN chief.

We all know Ban's bias already

"If the two parties renounce natural gas exploration, we will accept it," Erdoğan told Ban late Thursday on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly in New York, asking the UN chief to intervene with the Greek Cypriot government in Nicosia and urge them to stop their offshore explorations.
Turkish Cypriot Foreign Minister Hüseyin Özgürgün said Sunday that required coordinates had been set and drilling for oil would soon begin in northern Cyprus. If the Greek Cypriot administration sees Turkish Cypriots as a minority on the island and carries out exploration work unilaterally, Turkish Cypriots can begin exploration in the north of the island, Özgürgün said.
Richard Stone, a leader of Jewish communities in the United States, meanwhile told the daily newspaper Kathimerini on Sunday that Turkey's actions to prevent the gas and oil drilling efforts of Greek Cyprus and Israel in the East Mediterranean is "a reason for war." He said.

Meanwhile Ankara Prepares to Penalize Syria to look good for the international community and sadly the United States. Keep in mind that Assad isn't even a Muslim

(Hurriyet)"If you're going to act against fundamental rights and liberties, and the law, you will lose your position in my heart as my brother and my friend," Erdoğan said, referring to al-Assad. "I was very patient. Patience, patience, patience. And then I cracked."

It is amusing to think anyone would cooperate with Erdogan based on such dishonest intentions.

(Zaman) Opposition Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, leader Devlet Bahçeli has accused Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of working for the security of other countries while his country has been suffering from terrorist attacks.

Yikes, U.S., Turkey Agree on Delivery Schedule of Predators

(Zaman) "These [Predators] are UAVs with better qualities and features than the Herons," Yılmaz said, adding that the Turkish-made Anka would also be ready for the TSK around the same time as an alternative to Israeli-made Herons.Turkey was disappointed by Israel's failure to return six Herons it had sent to the country for maintenance, as it relies heavily on spy aircraft for surveillance missions that gather data on the activities of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, across the country's borders in the Southeast.... Meanwhile, the domestically made Anka, named after the legendary flying creature of Persian mythology, was brought out of the hangar for the first time in July 2010 and is expected to provide Turkey with a crucial advantage in its fight against the PKK. The Anka is capable of disrupting the electronic ware of enemy aircraft and has made Turkey the third country in the world, after the U.S. and Israel, to engineer UAVs.

This one is hysterically funny! Turkey’s economic lie ...Erdogan Says Turkey is a Role Model in Region?

Turkey no economic powerhouse, Erdogan’s credit bubble will soon explode

(AA.com) Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Turkey is a role model in its region and has become a country whose friendship and cooperation is asked for in the whole world. Attending a brunch meeting of the Investment Support and Promotion Agency in New York on Saturday, Erdoğan said that a country needed some qualities to draw investment and make commercial relations with another country, listing the qualities as a democratic milieu, stable economy, strong political state, dynamic real sector, big domestic market and export potential. Stressing the importance of stability and confidence, Erdoğan said that Turkey had these qualities. Turkey gives confidence to investors in the world with its economy, public financing and banking sector, Erdoğan said, adding that Turkish economy grew nine percent in 2010, 11.6 percent in the first quarter of 2011, and 8.8 percent in the second quarter of 2011. He said that Turkey became one of the fastest growing two economies together with China in the first half of the year. Noting that Turkey became an attraction center for investors, Erdoğan said that private sector investments, which were only 43 billion Turkish Lira, or TL, in 2002, rose to 164 billion TL in 2010. Erdogan noted that Turkey created 1.5 million new employment opportunities in June 2011 when compared to June 2010. He added that Turkey's success was not related with conjuncture, noting that it was related with economy management, real sector and the potential of the country. He said that Turkey's export increased from $36 billion in 2002 to $130 billion in 2010, adding that Turkey had free trade agreements with 20 countries, and opened to Middle East, Africa and South Africa countries to make export. Erdogan said that trade volume between Turkey and the United States was $16 billion in 2010.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Says Turkey Appreciated in IMF Meetings?

(Anadoluajansi) "This is the first time in nine years that I have seen such a high-level political will in the United States, aiming to make business with Turkey," Babacan said.

Turkish Opposition Says No to 'Israel Shield' aka that NATO thing Obama wanted so bad ...doesn't sound like the West likes them or vise versa as much as Erdogan's propaganda claims.

(Hurriyet) The Turkish government is doing nothing but ensuring Israel's safety by allowing the establishment of a NATO radar base in Turkey, Republican and People's Party, or CHP, leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said.

..The logo of the "Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the United Nations”

....on their website and on top of their official statements at the U.N. – shows the Palestinian Authority’s claim to a Palestine that stretches throughout the entire historical entity of the former Palestine mandate, which had nothing to do with those who call themselves Palestinians today and everything to do with a national homeland for the Jewish people... (MORE PAIN)

Palestinian Authority Apocalypse

(by Giulio Meotti :
Palestinian Authority Apocalypse
h/t Doc's Talk)

Palestinian Media Watch also revealed that Mahmoud Abbas chose an icon of genocidal anti-Semitism, the mother of four terrorists, one of whom killed seven Israeli civilians and attempted to killed twelve others, as the person to launch the statehood campaign with the United Nations. In a widely publicized event, Abbas had Latifa Abu Hmeid lead the procession to the UN offices in Ramallah and hand over a letter for the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon. It is a measure of how deeply the ethos of martyrdom has penetrated Abbas’ policy, hailed for its “moderation”. (MORE PAIN)

Pre Taliban Afghan Leader killed in Suicide Terrorist Attack

For future reference to any Afghanistan politicians: The former president of Afghanistan – Burhanuddin Rabbani, a major figure who was leading peace talks aimed at ending the war – was killed in his home Tuesday by a suicide attacker wearing an exploding turban.(I bet THAT was messy.)
(english.aljazeera.net) Burhanuddin Rabbani, a former president of Afghanistan, has been killed in a suicide attack in the country's capital, Kabul.
Rabbani, who served as president in the 1990s, was recently made the head of the High Peace Council, tasked by Hamid Karzai, the current president, to reach out to the Taliban.
Mohammad Zaher, Kabul's criminal investigations chief, said two men "negotiating with Rabbani on behalf of the Taliban" arrived at his house on Tuesday, one with explosives hidden in his turban.
"He approached Rabbani and detonated his explosives. Rabbani was martyred and four others including Masoom Stanekzai [his deputy] were injured".
Fazel Karim Aymaq, a member of the High Peace Council,  said the men claimed to have come with "special messages" from the Taliban and were thought to be "very trusted."
When Rabbani appeared, the man shook the former president's hand and bowed in a sign of respect, Aymaq said. "Then his turban exploded.''
The blast broke windows in Rabbani's home and shook nearby houses.
Initial reports said four bodyguards had been killed but Zaher said this was incorrect.
The latest in a series of targeted killings, Rabbani's is the most high-profile political killing since 2001.
He was president of the Afghan government that preceded the Taliban, a period of civil war that saw thousands of people killed.
After he was driven away from Kabul by the Taliban in 1996, he became the nominal head of the Northern Alliance, which swept to power in the capital after the Taliban's fall in 2001.
Failure
President Karzai, who cut short a trip to the United Nations in New York after hearing of the attack, called on Afghans to remain unified in the face of Rabbani's "martyrdom". An emergency cabinet meeting was called for on Wednesday.
The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also condemned the killing and underscored the UN's commitment to "supporting Afghanistan and its people attaining peace and stability and to working in close co-operation with them," his spokesman said.
Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan's president, and Yousuf Raza Gilani, the prime minister, also condemned the attack.
Amrullah Saleh, a former intelligence chief who fought against the Taliban under Rabbani, told Al Jazeera the attacks showed the government's failure in protecting high-profile figures.
"These attacks tell us that the policy of appeasement and deal making with the Taliban and Pakistan is not going to lead to peace.
"By adapting a vague policy of so called reconciliation, [the government] has created confusion in our society
and weakened the government to the extent that they can't even protect high-profiled leaders in the capital."
Rabbani's death could also unleash the resentment building up among some senior Northern Alliance members, who have criticised Karzai for his peace efforts with the Taliban.
"If Karzai wants to keep Afghanistan united, he has to launch massive massive investigations and bring the culprits to justice."

Turkish ultimatum to Israel: Apologize or face 'plan B'

(YNET) Turkey's foreign minister issued a menacing warning to Israel Thursday, saying the Jewish state must apologize for a deadly 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound vessel by the time the UN report on the incident is published. The UN Palmer Report is expected to be released in the coming days, and likely as early as Friday.

why is it do you think Turkey wants an apology so badly before this Palmer Report comes out?

Turkey is keen to bury the report, because while far from being a pro-Israel document, by upholding the legality of the blockade it places some of the responsibility for the flotilla fiasco on Turkey’s shoulders.

Addressing ongoing delays in releasing the UN report on the lethal IDF raid, Ahmet said, "It is not remotely possible for us to agree to a six-month delay," the Turkish Zaman news website reported.
“For us the deadline (for the formal apology from Israeli officials) is the day the UN report gets released, or we resort to Plan B,” Davutoglu said, but did not elaborate on what the alternate Turkish route would be. "We are not in a position to tell the UN to release or delay it," the Turkish minister added, referring to the upcoming Palmer Report, "but we will do as necessary when the UN finally does release it."
Ban Ki-moon announced that he was postponing the delivery of a UN panel's report on Israel's raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla that killed nine Turkish activists. He said the reason for the delay was to give the two governments more time to reach a "harmonious agreement" on its findings.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel will not apologize to Turkey over the 2010 flotilla incident, despite an earlier demand by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to do so.

At the time, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said it would be impossible for Turkish-Israeli ties to improve without an apology. Minister Davutoglu also addressed the issue in an earlier news conference, saying that "if the Palmer Report does not contain an apology, both sides and the United States know what we will do."

"Israel is facing a choice: deeper relations with Turkey or open a gap with the Turkish state that will not be overcome very easily," he said.

'Plan B' scenarios

Turkish officials already referred to "Plan B" and possible sanctions against Israel in the past, yet did not detail the measures they may adopt. However, according to information accumulated in Jerusalem, the Turkish plan may include the following steps:

• Downgrading Turkey's diplomatic mission in Tel Aviv
• Rejection of the appointment of a new Israeli ambassador to Turkey
• An Erdogan visit to the Gaza Strip in September
• Full Turkish support for the Palestinian UN statehood bid, coupled with an effort to form a lobby and attempts to isolate Israel at all frameworks
• Granting legal assistance to the families of Turkish fatalities and the filing of lawsuits against Israel, including ones submitted to the International Criminal Court at The Hague
• Terminating the defense cooperation with Israel, a move that would include the annulment of joint exercises and defense industry projects
• Imposition of economic sanctions and the cutting back of investments in Israel. While Israeli businesspeople will be allowed to operate in Turkey, Ankara would refrain from taking steps to promote trade.
• Turkish newspaper Hurriyet recently reported that Ankara may adopt another step: Suspending all political and economic ties between the states. The same threat was voiced last year by Turkey's ambassador to the United States

Attorneys to Ban: Halt unilateral Palestinian statehood

Int'l group of some 60 lawyers say UN resolution on statehood would be a violation of all past agreements between Israel, the Palestinians.

An international group of some 60 attorneys, including former Foreign Ministry legal adviser Alan Baker, has appealed to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to prevent a General Assembly resolution on unilateral Palestinian statehood, based on the pre-1967 lines.
In a letter dated Wednesday, the attorneys noted that such a resolution would be a violation of all past agreements between Israel and the Palestinians. They added that it would also contravene UN resolutions 242 and 338.

According to the attorneys, the legal basis for the establishment of the state by the League of Nations in 1922 affirmed its presence on territories that included Judea, Samaria, and what is now east Jerusalem. “This was subsequently affirmed by both houses of US Congress,” the attorneys stated. According to Article 80 of the UN Charter, the attorneys said, rights granted to all states or people by already existing international instruments – including those adopted by the League of Nations – remain valid. As a result, the attorneys said, the “650,000 Jews [who] presently reside in the areas of Judea and Samaria and eastern Jerusalem, reside there legitimately.” The 1949 Armistice Agreement stated that these lines “are without prejudice to future territorial settlements or boundary lines, or to claims of either Party relating thereto,” the attorneys said. Therefore, they said, “the 1967 borders” do not exist, and have never existed. Past resolutions have called for a negotiated solution to the conflict, the attorneys affirmed. Additionally, attempts to unilaterally change the status of the territory would be a breach of the 1995 Israeli-Palestinian agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the attorneys said. When the Palestinians agreed to the Oslo Accords, they knew that the settlements existed and would be one of the issues that would be negotiated during talks for a permanent-status arrangement, the attorneys said. The Olso Accords did not limit settlement activity, they added. By TOVAH LAZAROFF via jpost.com

UN Human Rights Council welcomes latest member to the Club...Syria.

(La,la land) Syria is not a democratic country, the only time in history where the people voted for their leaders (freely that is) was between 1946 and 1949. Since 1949 Syria has known only Military rule. The current incumbent Bashar al-Assad is the son of Hafez al-Assad who took power (via a coup) in 1970. During the Assad dynasty, Human rights hasn't been on the top of the list of things to do. Which kind of explains why opposition groups were simply wiped off the face of the map when it came to complaints against the system, Something the Syrian government accomplished in the city of Hama in 1982 when they killed up to 40,000 people because they could.
Currently the Syrian Government is trying to do likewise with the general populace of the country and to date they have despatched around 400 people to the great mosque in the sky. What I'm trying to point out here, is that when it comes to Human rights Syria is way back there at the end of the queue.
Which brings me to the United Nation Human Rights Council.(UNHRC) Which since it's inception has only had eyes for..Israel (That country in the Middle East contrary to the neighbours,doesn't have the Death Penalty, affords equality to: Women,Gays,different Faiths etc..) is deciding to inaugurate 'Syria' as its newest member.

Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com

No doubt, the UNHRC will issue a declaration of 'no genocide' in Syria just like it did in 2005 when its then member 'Sudan' was accused of genocide in Darfur. That accolade is only reserved for 'Israel'.

via eye-on-the-world.blogspot.com

Posted via email from noahdavidsimon's posterous

UNHRC to hold special Syria session Friday via jpost.com

The United Nations Human Rights Council plans to hold a special session on Syria this Friday in Geneva to urge its government to stop attacking civilian protesters.

“The international community has been shocked by the killing of hundreds of civilians in connection with peaceful political protests [in Syria] in the past week,” said US Ambassador to the UNHRC, Eileen Donahoe, on Wednesday.

Her country filed a request for a special session on behalf of 15 other member states, including: Belgium, France, Hungary, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Korea, Moldova, Senegal, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Zambia.

“At the special session, we expect Human Rights Council members will call on the government of Syria to meet its responsibility to protect its population and stop these attacks,” Donahoe said in a statement she issued to the press.

It marks the first time that a special session has been held on the human rights situation in Syria, which has submitted a bid to become a UNHRC member. On May 20, the UN General Assembly in New York is expected to hold an election for 15 of the council’s 47-member seats.

On February 25, the UNHRC held a special session on Libya, in which it condemned the human-rights violations. It also urged the General Assembly so suspend Libya council membership.

The Assembly did so on March 1.

The text of the Syria resolution has not been finalized yet. The US would not comment on the substance of the text, or whether it would include a call for the UN General Assembly to reject Syria’s candidacy for the UNHRC.

On Wednesday, an international collation of 17 humanrights groups led by UN Watch, called on the UNHRC to include such a call in its Syria resolution.

Earlier this week the group launched its campaign to bar Syria from the UNHRC.

UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer said, “if the council this week declares President Bashar al-Assad unwelcome as a member, it would sound the death knell for Syria’s cynical candidacy to be elected a global judge of human rights.”

The coalition of human rights groups, he said, has called for leadership on this issue from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, EU foreign minister Catherine Ashton, Ban Ki-moon and UN rights chief Navi Pillay.

Neuer said that his organization condemns a recent statement by Pakistan’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Zamir Akram, that Syria’s actions do not merit a special session. He threatened that members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference would use the meeting to focus on Israeli actions against the Palestinians.

Diplomats, however, explained that resolutions introduced at a country-specific special session must be focused on the country in question.

Syrians living in Jordan shout slogans as they protest in solidarity
with anti-government protesters in Syria,
outside the Syrian embassy in Amman April 2, 2011.
(REUTERS/Majed Jaber)

But they added, there is nothing in the procedures that would prevent countries which take the floor at the UNHRC from bringing up other issues in their statements.

Friday's Geneva meeting will be the 16th special session held by the Human Rights Council in the last five years.

The Syrian Revolution 2011: First Protest Shooting in Damascus

Syrian soldiers shot for refusing to fire on protesters?

Some sober analysis of the "Arab Spring"

Syrian soldiers have been shot by security forces after refusing to fire on protesters, witnesses said, as a crackdown on anti-government demonstrations intensified:...The Arab Spring can never bloom if the people can not be heard because of Saudi fears.

Abbas rules out peace

...without unilateral concessions on property in Jerusalem where Jewish people live and can not prosper and survive without building as needed :

Mahmoud Abbas said Jerusalem was "the gate to peace" in the Middle East

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has ruled out attending indirect "proximity talks" with Israel unless it halts the construction of settlements.

Mr Abbas told an Arab League summit he would not resume negotiations as long as Israel maintained the "status quo" in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
He was seeking support after Israel appeared to refuse to back down in a row with the US over East Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, Israeli tanks have withdrawn from Gaza after an overnight incursion.
It came after the killing of two Israeli soldiers and two Palestinian militants in the worst fighting in the territory for more than a year.
Hamas said its fighters had been involved in the initial border clash, but insisted their actions were defensive. Israel said it began when its troops spotted militants planting explosives along the border.
Reports said one Palestinian was killed during the Israeli incursion.
'Madness'
In a speech to the Arab League summit in the Libyan town of Sirte on Saturday, President Abbas demanded an immediate end to Israel's building on occupied territory, particularly East Jerusalem.

We have to have alternative plans because the situation has reached a turning point Amr Moussa Secretary-Genera, Arab League

"We cannot resume indirect negotiations as long as Israel maintains its settlement policy and the status quo," he said.
"Negotiations on the borders [of a future Palestinian state] would be absurd if Israel decides on the ground the border," he added. "We have always said that Jerusalem is the jewel in the crown and the gate to peace."
Nearly half a million Jews live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They are held illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a guest of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, described the Israeli position as "madness".

TIMELINE: ISRAEL-US ROW 9 Mar: Israel announces the building of 1,600 new homes in East Jerusalem during visit by US Vice-President Joe Biden. Mr Biden condemns the move 11 Mar: Mr Biden says there must be no delay in resuming Mid-East peace talks, despite the row 12 Mar: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the Israeli move is "deeply negative" for relations 15 Mar: The US says it is waiting for a "formal response" from Israel to its proposals to show it is committed to Mid-East peace 16 Mar: The US envoy to the Mid-East postpones a visit to Israel 17 Mar: President Obama denies there is a crisis with Israel 22 Mar: Hillary Clinton tells pro-Israel lobby group Aipac Israel has to make "difficult but necessary choices" if it wants peace with Palestinians. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu tells Aipac Israel has a "right to build" in Jerusalem 23 Mar: Mr Obama and Mr Netanyahu meet behind closed doors with no media access 23 Mar: Jerusalem municipal government approves building of 20 new homes in East Jerusalem 24 Mar: Mr Netanyahu ends Washington trip talking of a "golden" solution amid US silence Views from Israel Israel-US: A bruised friendship Issues: Borders and settlements

"This leads Israel to isolation," he told the conference. "By adopting such an attitude, Israel is not only violating international law, but also violating human feelings, conscience and history."
The Arab League's Secretary-General, Amr Moussa, said its member states should prepare for the possibility of the peace process's "complete failure".
"It's time to face Israel. We have to have alternative plans because the situation has reached a turning point," he added.
The UN chief, Ban Ki-moon, meanwhile urged Arab leaders to continue supporting US efforts to revive the peace talks.
He said Jerusalem's significance should be respected, and that the city "should emerge from negotiations as the capital of two states".
The BBC's Rana Jawad, in Tripoli, says this is the first time the UN has specified what it would like to result from the talks about Jerusalem.
The chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, welcomed the statement, telling the BBC it was "the right course for a solution in accordance with international law".
At the end of the two-day gathering in Libya, the Arab League is expected to adopt a new resolution to include a plan to establish a commission of legal advisors to pursue cases in international courts regarding East Jerusalem, our correspondent says.
'Narrowing of the gaps'
Israel's approval two weeks ago of plans for 1,600 new homes in the East Jerusalem settlement of Ramat Shlomo prompted the Palestinians to pull out of the proximity talks mediated by the US special envoy, George Mitchell, which both sides had only just agreed to attend.

[Mr Netanyahu's] position is that there is no change in Israel's policy on Jerusalem that has been pursued by all governments of Israel for the last 42 years Israeli prime minister's office

Unveiled at the start of a visit to the Middle East by US Vice-President Joe Biden, the decision caused one of the worst crises in US-Israeli ties for decades.
During a visit to Washington last week, the White House tried to persuade Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to commit to several confidence-building measures to persuade Mr Abbas to return to the talks.
A senior Palestinian Authority official has told the BBC that to re-enter the indirect negotiations it would require assurances that the Ramat Shlomo project would not be implemented for at least three years, and that the Israelis would not "continue to take actions which destroy our credibility".
An Israeli government spokesman said on Friday there had been a "narrowing of the gaps" between Israel and the US, but Mr Netanyahu stressed there had been "no change in Israel's policy on Jerusalem".
In November, Mr Netanyahu announced a 10-month suspension of new building in the West Bank. But his government considers areas within the Jerusalem municipality as Israeli territory and thus not subject to the restrictions.

POINTS OF TENSION IN JERUSALEM 1 Gilo: 850 homes approved for publication and planning objections in Nov 2009 2 Pisgat Zeev: 600 homes approved for publication and planning objections in Jan 2010 3 Sheikh Jarrah: Municipality approves the building of 20 new apartments on the site of an old hotel 4 Ramat Shlomo: 1,600 homes approved for publication and planning objections in Mar 2010 5 Silwan: Demolition orders on 88 Palestinian homes built without difficult-to-get permits - Israel planning controversial renewal project 6. West Bank barrier: Making Palestinian movement between West Bank and Jerusalem harder - Israel says it is for security

via news.bbc.co.uk

Posted via web from noahdavidsimon's posterous

Here is video of Benjamin Netanyahu, an excerpt from his recent speech to AIPAC, in regard to a nuclear Iran.





Rand Paul is okay with a nuclear Iran.







RandPaulStrangeIdeas.com

via genuinegopmom.blogspot.com