Israelis laten zich van hun "beste" kant zien

[barfly]

sraelis make Palestinian strip naked -witnesses
By Mohammed Assadi
RAMALLAH, West Bank, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Three Israeli
soldiers forced a Palestinian man to strip naked at gunpoint and
walk like a dog in a West Bank city under curfew, Palestinian
witnesses said on Monday.
A Reuters photographer snapped Yasser Sharaf, 25, standing
naked in a cold, muddy street in Nablus on Sunday as two men
were handing him clothes to put on and two Israeli armoured
vehicles were pulling away from the scene.
Sharaf declined to comment on Monday about the incident.
Israeli military sources denied that Sharaf was forced to
strip, saying checks with soldiers involved determined that he
had been ordered only to raise his shirt to show whether he was
carrying explosives.
"When he saw members of the media in the area, he decided to
undress completely," a military source told Reuters.
Witnesses including two Palestinian firemen said Israeli
soldiers stopped Sharaf after spotting him walking in a street
in violation of curfew and, "pointing their rifles at him,
ordered him to start stripping".
"Yasser told them he had nothing to hide but they continued
shouting and readied their rifles to shoot," fireman Samir
el-Lifdawi told Reuters by telephone from Nablus.
"They forced Yasser to take off all his clothes including
his underwear...They ordered him to walk like a dog and then he
burst into tears," Lifdawi said.
He said he watched the incident unfold from a fire station a
few metres (yards) away. A colleague, Sultan al-Minawi, provided
the same account.
"He kept crying and was in a very stressful situation...
"Many residents, including women, watched him and he was very
embarrassed," Minawi said.

HUMILIATION
Palestinian civilians have often complained of being
humiliated and abused by Israeli troops who have reoccupied
Palestinian-administered West Bank cities to combat an uprising
for statehood spearheaded by armed militants.
The army says strict controls on Palestinian residents are
necessary because militants hide among the population and wear
civilian clothing when they carry out suicide bombings.
Scenes of Palestinians rolling up their shirts to prove they
are not hiding bomb belts have become frequent since the Israeli
army swept into West Bank cities in June after a spate of
suicide attacks which have killed scores of Israeli civilians.
Sunday's incident in Nablus would be the first time a
Palestinian was reported to have been ordered to strip naked in
a security operation. Palestinian civilians have complained of
being ordered to strip to their underwear at roadblocks.
At least 1,678 Palestinians and 662 Israelis have been
killed in the two-year-old uprising.
((Jerusalem newsroom, +972 2 537 0502,
jerusalem.newsroomreuters.com))
REUTERS

[mrz]

V: Legt de staat geen nadruk op de positieve kanten van het Jodendom?
A:"Men heeft de staat Israel altijd als een antwoord op het antisemitisme gezien. Er werd gedacht dat in het verleden antisemitisme ontstond door het anders-zijn van Joden. Als de Joden de diaspora zouden verlaten en in hun eigen land zouden leven, als de Joden een normale samenleving zouden vormen, zou er een einde komen aan het antisemitisme. Maar nu we hier zitten, blijkt dat het niet heeft gewerkt. In mijn ogen is het seculier zionisme mislukt. De staat is geen oplossing voor antisemitisme. Ze heeft het Joodse volk ook geen identiteit gegeven. Joden laten zich nog vaak definieren door anderen en hebben een negatief zelfbeeld. De staat zelf lijdt daar ook aan. Ik heb kort geleden voor de Irgoen Ole Holland verteld over een Israelische jongen die Jodendom definieerde als een erfelijke ziekte: je krijgt het van je ouders en je geeft het door aan je kinderen. En waarom noemde hij het een ziekte? Omdat een niet gering aantal Joden eraan is overleden."


http://www.joods.nl:9673/rubrieken/artikel?nr=1416

Je moet oppassen wat je zegt maar angst IS een ziekte. En al is het alleen door de holocaust ik denk dat je zonder meteen antisemitist te zijn wel kunt zeggen dat die angst (van o.a. die holocaust) erfelijk is. En vandaag de dag rustig in stand gehouden wordt door de zelfmoordaanslagen...

[mrz]

NOVEMBER 25, 17:33 ET
Mideast Moderates Work on Peace Plan (http://wire.ap.org/APnews/center_story.html?FRONTID=MIDEAST&STORYID=APIS7NHA9E00)

By MARK LAVIE
Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli and Palestinian moderates are close to a draft peace treaty, both sides said Monday, but at least one potential deal-breaker remains unresolved: the fate of Palestinian refugees.

Even if completed, the 40-page document would have largely symbolic value since those negotiating it are not in positions of real power. However, it could serve as a guideline in future formal negotiations.

In the West Bank, Israeli troops shot and killed an 8-year-old boy on Monday as Palestinian youths pelted tanks with rocks and bottles, defying an Israeli curfew order. Seven Palestinians were wounded.

The emerging Israeli-Palestinian document is a result of behind-the-scenes meetings during much of the 26 months of violence.

The key figure on the Israeli side is former Justice Minister Yossi Beilin, one of the architects of interim peace accords and a member of the moderate Labor Party. Beilin, who did not represent Labor in the talks, told Israel TV on Monday that difficult issues were for the first time being discussed in detail.

On the Palestinian side, the team was led by Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo, who said he was initially only representing himself, but on Sunday was given a more formal role by the Palestinian Authority.

Abed Rabbo said the draft is based on previous negotiations. ``We are trying now to reach a detailed agreement on all the issues,'' he said.

But at least one sticking point remains — the fate of refugees. ``If the Palestinians demand that there be a Palestinian right of return to Israel, there will be no agreement,'' Beilin said.

Beilin said the draft could be presented to both peoples to show that there is still hope for peace. However, neither side believes the draft will be completed before Israel's elections on Jan. 28.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who is running for re-election, has rejected the previous negotiations as a starting point, charging that Israel gave away too much. He would offer the Palestinians a truncated state after a long interim stage, an approach the Palestinians reject.

In talks that broke off in January 2001, Israel offered the Palestinians a state in the Gaza Strip, most of the West Bank and a foothold in Jerusalem.

The Nablus incident came as Israeli soldiers enforced a curfew on the city, the largest in the West Bank with a population of about 200,000, including refugee camps on its periphery.

Israeli forces have been in control of Nablus and other West Bank cities since a June invasion triggered by Palestinian suicide bombings. Curfews are frequently enforced in the towns, but more often in Nablus than elsewhere, as Israel charges that militant groups responsible for bombing and shooting attacks are centered there.

Nablus residents are defying the curfew regularly, especially now, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. People go to shops to buy food for the traditional nighttime meal, disregarding the Israeli restrictions.

Also Monday, a Palestinian official said that representatives of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement and the Islamic militant Hamas group are to resume talks this week on stopping suicide attacks.

Preparatory talks will be held in the Gaza Strip, followed by more formal negotiations in Cairo, said the official, Zakariah al-Agha. Previous negotiations ended inconclusively.