vjp-global

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-06-09/israel-stops-wealthy-palestinian-mediator-masri-from-gaza-entry   Israeli border guards barred Munib R. Masri, one of the wealthiest Palestinians, from entering the Gaza Strip after he helped broker the unity agreement aimed at healing the Palestinian Authority's rift with Hamas. Masri, chairman of Palestine Development & Investment Co., said he was blocked from entering Gaza by military order after waiting more than two hours at an Israeli crossing point. A spokesman for Israel's Civil Administration, which runs the heavily guarded facility, didn't immediately respond to requests for comment by phone, e-mail and text message...     Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/15138#.U5aCiyglYqc     There is now a vacuum which should be filled by a courageous Israeli initiative regarding the lives of Palestinian Arabs in Judea and Samaria.     The vacuum should be filled by a courageous Israeli initiative regarding the lives of Palestinian Arabs in Judea and Samaria…. to increase the Palestinians' per capita income; the civil administration will no longer be run by the military; Palestinians will serve on planning and building committees; identical legal norms will be applied on both sides of the Green Line; and the governance of the PA will be strengthened... The desire and need to dramatically improve the quality of life in Judea and Samaria conflicts with neither the vision of the Greater Land of Israel nor the two-state solution. … Principles of the Plan Freedom of Movement – Removal of the Separation Fence Freedom...

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/06/world/middleeast/new-israeli-settlement-plans-draw-swift-condemnation.html?src=rechp&_r=0   Israel says it is moving ahead with the planning and construction of hundreds of Jewish settlement homes as retaliation against the new Palestinian government, which has been accepted by the United States and much of the world even though it is supported by Hamas. The announcement enraged the Palestinians and flouted international opinion. By presenting the new building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as a punishment over the newly constituted government of the Palestinians, who regard that territory as theirs for part of a future state, Israel set itself further apart from international consensus and drew criticism from foreign allies, including Britain, France and the United States…   Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://fpif.org/u-s-culpability-failure-israeli-palestinian-peace-talks/ The failure of John Kerry's Israeli-Palestinian peace talks showed just how -----extreme U.S. policy on the conflict has become… … Washington has focused on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's refusal to give in to U.S. and Israeli demands that he recognize Israel as a "Jewish state." While the Palestinian government, the Palestine Liberation Organization, and the ruling Fatah party have all recognized the state of Israel for more than 20 years, the Obama administration has effectively moved the goalposts by declaring that recognizing the Israeli government, acknowledging its right to exist, and providing security guarantees is not enough, insisting that the Palestinians explicitly recognize the state of Israel's ethno-religious identity as well. No previous administration has put forward such a requirement. President Carter ...

http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/outside-edge/.premium-1.597485   Mohammed Dajani, the Al-Quds University professor who led the first organized group of Palestinian university students to Auschwitz, tenders resignation…   "By accepting my resignation, [the university's] message was loud and clear – 'there is no place for Dajani's ideas on our campus. Those who take the same path will end up the same way.' Isn't that the same message the Athenians wanted to send to Socrates' students by condemning him to death?" Dajani said. "I put my job on the line to expose the double-talk we live," Dajani told Haaretz. "We say something and do the opposite. We say we are for democracy and we practice autocracy, we say we are for freedom of speech and academic freedom, yet we deny people to practice it." Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

http://mondoweiss.net/2014/06/shocking-reality-ground.html Boston subway ads are shocking– ‘and so is the reality on the ground’ Bostonians have been checking out the “ONE WORD” campaign in their subway system, describing Israel’s crimes against Palestinians. The ad campaign was launched this week by  Ads Against Apartheid (AAA), a local Boston-based nonprofit. Posted by Sam Bryan, AIME member

http://forward.com/articles/199516/diaspora-to-israel-we-need-you-to-change/?p=all ... Moreover: "When Israel is seen by other nations — as it is by some today — as a country that endangers the world, Jews around the world, whether they want to be associated with Israel or not, bear some of the consequences." It's important to note that the principal author of the report, journalist and JPPI fellow Shmuel Rosner, is a moderate political conservative. It can't have been easy for him to write these things. The findings must have been extremely strong for his draft to speak so unequivocally. ​...​ Poster by Judith Ferster, AIME member