Israel / Palestine news

[Jaboney]

Interesting. I'm not even sure how to title the thread -- Palestinians start to get their act together; Egypt feeling frisky post-thug; Israel's divide and do nothing experiences a set back?
Apparently, Egypt's also loosening the border restrictions that helped keep the lid on that pressure cooker.

A few weeks ago, Egypt also allowed an Iranian war ship to pass through the Suez Canal for the first time in decades. Maybe it's all an extravagant demonstration of creativity and political prowess among competing would-be presidential candidates in the run up to Egyptian elections.

Rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas on Wednesday proclaimed a landmark, Egyptian-mediated reconciliation pact aimed at ending their bitter four-year rift.

The declaration was made at a ceremony at the Egyptian intelligence headquarters in Cairo.

Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the accord ended "four black years" that hurt national Palestinian interests. He also said he would "soon" visit Hamas-held Gaza Strip.

The pact provides for the creation of a joint caretaker Palestinian government ahead of national elections next year, but leaves key issues unresolved and makes no mention of peace talks with Israel.

Israel has denounced the pact in advance of the Cairo ceremony, because of the militant Hamas' long history of deadly attacks against Israeli targets. It has equated the deal with a renunciation of peacemaking.

Israel considers Hamas a terrorist organization and says it will not negotiate with a future Palestinian government that includes the Iranian- and Syrian-backed group.

Abbas rejected Israel's opposition to the pact, saying the reconciliation with the militant Islamic group was an internal Palestinian affair.

[Jaboney]

Israel’s borders erupted in deadly clashes on Sunday as thousands of Palestinians — marching from Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank — confronted Israeli troops to mark the anniversary of Israel’s creation. More than a dozen people were reported killed and scores injured in the unprecedented wave of coordinated protests.

Protesters climbed over the border fence as they crossed from Syria into the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights on Sunday.
At the Lebanese border Israeli troops shot at hundreds of Palestinians trying to cross, killing 10 protesters and wounding more than 100, the Lebanese military said.

The biggest confrontation took place on the Golan Heights when hundreds of Palestinians living in Syria breached a border fence and crowded into the village of Majdal Shams, waving Palestinian flags. Troops fired on the crowd, killing four of them.

Every year in mid-May many Palestinians mark what they call Nakba, or the catastrophe, the anniversary of Israel’s declaration of independence in 1948 and the start of a war in which thousands of Palestinians lost their homes through expulsion and flight.

But this is the first year that Palestinian refugees in Syria and Lebanon tried to breach the Israeli military border in marches inspired by recent popular protests around the Arab world. Here too, word about the rallies was spread on social media sites.

Good luck guarding against that.

In other news, good luck finding a settlement.

George J. Mitchell Jr., the former senator who brokered peace in Northern Ireland and investigated the use of steroids in Major League Baseball, is resigning as the chief United States envoy to the Israelis and Palestinians amid growing frustration over the impasse in peace talks, the White House announced Friday.

[Got To Be Kidding]

Let's hope that the Salafists stay out of the picture. Those guys are REALLY bad news.

Then there's the Iranians stirring the pot, and Turkey continues to abandon secularism for something islamist.

Very interesting times.

[Jaboney]

and Turkey continues to abandon secularism for something islamist.

Maybe. So far, the gov't's gone from a French position (hard secular) to an American one (obvious ties, strong safeguards). There's some ways to go before adopting a state religion (like the UK, Nordic countries). I'm not yet worried.

Egypt grows more democratic, Turkey grows more confident and is willing to ditch its 'No Problems with the Neighbours' policy when it feels doing what's right is worth a small shit storm. More than enough room for mistakes, but also lots of positives.

[urodacus]

Good luck guarding against that.

Well, they're pretty much sitting ducks as they cross the fence one by one. Any half decent marksman would be able to pot them from half a mile away.

[Gao Bohan]

Good luck guarding against that.

Well, they're pretty much sitting ducks as they cross the fence one by one. Any half decent marksman would be able to pot them from half a mile away.

Which is what they did. They gunned theirs asses down scared thousands back to the other side of the border. I don't think Israel needs any luck, despite Jaboney's "best wishes".

[Jaboney]

Wait and see. Few people will accept the necessity of the state shooting people in cold blood too frequently.

[Got To Be Kidding]

So, we should set up a new international rule. No border controls. No restrictions. People should be free to run back and forth across borders, anywhere and anytime that they want.

[Jaboney]

Sounds like the EU. I could live with that. Unrealistic? So was the EU, back in the days of the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain. Surely you wouldn't prefer life in a fortress, or next to an open air prison, to one of free movement?

Yes, I realize that's a ridiculous, stark caricature of what's possible, but the current situation is a rather stark caricature of what ought to be considered acceptable.

[Got To Be Kidding]

Sounds like the EU. I could live with that. Unrealistic? So was the EU, back in the days of the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain. Surely you wouldn't prefer life in a fortress, or next to an open air prison, to one of free movement?

Yes, I realize that's a ridiculous, stark caricature of what's possible, but the current situation is a rather stark caricature of what ought to be considered acceptable.

Well, as long as the choice is security vs free movement, you cannot expect a population to prefer free movement. And, it takes a long time for promises of security to be believed. Remember how long it took the Europeans to bring down their borders? And how many wars had to be fought in the meantime? And, how many millions died in the process?