Bibi Might Pull Out

Israel may offer Palestinians West bank pullout

A political source in Jerusalem has said that the US is leading the way for a new route to continuing negotiations with the Palestinians which include examining the option of offering the Palestinians an additional Israeli pullout in Judea and Samaria and transferring defense authority to the Palestinian Authority.


"The steps are being coordinated with Israel", said the senior source, "the goal for both sides is to find a route that will lead to a year of continuous talks which will end with an agreement." (Roni Sofer and Attila Somfalvi)

via ynetnews.com

Guantanamo files may star in next WikiLeaks release

WikiLeaks' next assault on Washington may highlight U.S. government reports on suspected militants held at Guantanamo Bay, which some U.S. officials worry could show certain detainees were freed despite intelligence assessments they were still dangerous.

The leaks could be an embarrassment to President Barack Obama's administration, already angered over WikiLeaks document dumps of U.S. State Department cables, as it seeks to fulfill a 2-year-old pledge to close the prison and either release the foreign terrorism suspects or move them elsewhere.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, jailed in Britain this week, has told media contacts he has a large cache of U.S. government reports about inmates at the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, known as GITMO, the last of four major tranches of U.S. government documents which WikiLeaks had acquired and at some point would make public.

"He's got the personal files of every prisoner in GITMO," said one person who was in contact with Assange earlier this year.

via reuters.com

Officials: US drops demand for settlement freeze

(The Fatah manifesto asks it's loyal to kill Jews)

U.S. President Barack Obama assured the Palestinian Authority that his administration is committed to a two-state solution and that a future Palestinian state will be independent and have territorial continuity, PA secretary general Tayeb Abdel Rahim said.

MATTHEW LEE
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has abandoned attempts to persuade Israel to slow West Bank settlement activity, officials said Tuesday, dealing a major blow to the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and one of the president’s top foreign policy initiatives.

AAfter months of trying to broker a formula under which Israel would impose a new, temporary settlement freeze in return for U.S. promises and incentives, two American officials said the administration has concluded that course won’t work. The decision was expected to be announced later Tuesday.
Talks stalled in September, barely a month after they started. The Palestinians refused to return to direct negotiations until a new freeze was in place following the expiration of an earlier, 10-month Israeli slowdown in settlement expansion.
Now, said the U.S. officials, American pressure for a three-month moratorium and the U.S. incentives package, which included political, diplomatic and security assurances for Israel, are off the table. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
The White House’s bid for a Middle East peace settlement was a longshot from the start, but its apparent breakdown comes at a time when the administration is struggling on a number of fronts abroad. There is slow progress in the Afghan war, increasing friction with China and the embarrassing deluge of confidential diplomatic cables released by the website WikiLeaks.
The U.S. officials said the administration was not giving up efforts to broker a peace deal and noted that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators will visit Washington next week for consultations.
The U.S. will be talking with both sides in the coming days, one of the officials said, while Arab states and other interested countries also will be consulted.
However, the administration’s decision to drop support for the Palestinians’ key demand could mean the end of the moribund peace process.
Obama had made Israeli-Palestinian peace a major goal of his administration, appointing seasoned peace negotiator George Mitchell as his special Mideast envoy on his second day in office.
Mitchell made dozens of trips to the region to get the parties to agree to direct talks. In early September, with the expiration of the initial slowdown looming, Obama brought Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas along with the leaders of Jordan and Egypt to launch the face-to-face discussions, which failed.
Neither Israeli nor Palestinian officials would comment on the developments in Washington before their official announcement.
Earlier Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the U.S. had halted talks with Israel on settlement activity because Washington was distracted by the WikiLeaks release of secret documents.
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley responded by saying that Israel may have been preoccupied with putting out a huge forest fire that burned until Sunday.
The U.S. had been pressing Israel to renew a moratorium on new settlement construction in exchange for security guarantees and diplomatic assurances of support. Israel wanted those in writing, as well as a pledge that east Jerusalem would be exempt from the moratorium.
The Palestinians refused to return to the peace talks unless Israel halted all building in the West Bank and east Jerusalem — lands they want for part of their future state.
Peace talks began in September but ground to a halt three weeks later after Israel’s original moratorium on new West Bank construction expired.
Netanyahu returned from a November trip to the U.S. with a list of guarantees, including 20 next-generation stealth fighter planes and U.S. pledges to veto anti-Israel resolutions at the United Nations, according to Israeli officials.
In exchange, Israel was asked to renew the expired limits on settlement construction.
Days later the deal snagged after members of Netanyahu’s Cabinet demanded a written pledge from the U.S. that the moratorium would exclude east Jerusalem. Such a pledge never materialized.
The U.S. had wanted a moratorium in the hopes that it would allow Israel and the Palestinians to make enough progress in drawing their future borders to make the settlement question irrelevant.
With borders determined, Israel could resume building on any territories it would expect to keep under a final peace deal.
But Israeli officials said Tuesday that short of an understanding on borders, a crisis could erupt if Israel agreed to the freeze sought by the U.S.
Now, said Israeli officials, insisting on anonymity because of the sensitivity of the contacts, the U.S. and Israel have agreed on a statement that “in the coming days and weeks, efforts will continue toward finding ways to renew the direct negotiations in order to reach a framework that would lead in the end to an agreement between the two sides.”
___
Associated Press writer Tia Goldenberg in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2010/12/07/officials-us-drops-demand-for-settlement-fr...

Guest Comment: What a lot of hogwash.
The statement U.S drops demand for settlement freeze, will not matter because, now, every country in the world, that wishes Israel harm and demise or sides with the Arabs over the Jews, will follow Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay footsteps and recognize a "Palestine" with the demand that Israel goes back to the dangerous 1967 border.
NOW, it is the time for ALL of us to get everyone in the Israeli government and the Israeli press that is on our side – the RIGHT side - to EXPOSE Team Palestinian Authority (PA) - in their own words.
That David Harris of American Jewish Committee (AJC) 'kvetches' about the Latin American countries recognizing "Palestine" is "unhelpful to the "peace process" is a lot a nonsense. AJC has lots of donors' money. They should be EXPOSING the Palarabs (ask "Palestinians"). They should be putting Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) presentation on a disk and send it to every Latin American Embassy and consulate in the US with the appropriate, official cover letter. AJC should make a SIGNIFICANT donation to Palestinian Media Watch that is in the business of TELLING the truth about the Palarabs, not in the business of not see, hear, speak!
More so, since it seems that the U.S is dropping its demand for construction freezw in the "settlements", how about the U.S begin demanding a TOTAL end to Team PA's incitement to hate and violence in its curriculum and the hateful political/media/mosques rhetoric AND ALSO withholding all financial support – END financing UNRWA - until Team PA complies?!
I sincerely hope the Israeli government does not just sigh in relief and thinks that it can now relax. When one front goes quiet another one will roar. Where the U.S may stop some of its bashing and the pressure on Israel, the South American countries will take over creating a HUGE pressure cooker movement of recognizing a phantom Palarab state all a very dangerous move endangering Israel's existence. THE Israeli government must demand that the U.S administration exposes the PA/Fatah/Abbas, fayyad, Erakat with every press release, every press conference, with every media outlet and public statement.
The truth is our ONLY weapon.
Nurit Greenger,
Los Angeles, USA

via docstalk.blogspot.com

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The Jews are the Enemies of Muslims Regardless of the Occupation of Palestine; ‘Believe That We Will Fight, Defeat, and Annihilate Them, Until Not a Single Jew Remains on the Face of the Earth’   MEMRI

Egyptian Cleric Muhammad Hussein Ya’qoub:

via noah.simonstudio.com

Book 041, Number 6985:

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.

via usc.edu

via noah.simonstudio.com

 

Islamic Feminism

UN 1701: Hezbollah setting up missile launchers in Southern Lebanon is fine, but a floating Premenstrual syndrome is against the rules.

Cyberbullies and hackers Law goes too far:

It is good that these people are thinking about this, but it is very obvious that this law is not phrased well at all. Obviously a conspiracy of harassment between multiple people would be a better way to phrase the law. Also a direct email or contact is different then a blog post.

Louisiana Bill Would Outlaw Insulting an Under 17 Year Old By E-Mail

The Louisiana House bill — passed by a 12–0 vote in committee, and scheduled for floor debate this Wednesday — would make it a crime (up to 6 months in jail for the first offense, up to a year for the second, and up to three years for the third), to transmit by “any ... means of electronic communication”

any electronic textual, visual, written, or oral communication with the intent to coerce, abuse, torment, intimidate, frighten, harass, embarrass, or cause emotional distress to a person under the age of seventeen.

So if a 16-year-old e-mails her boyfriend telling him that he’s a scumbag for cheating on her, and that he should feel ashamed of himself, she would be a criminal: She would be transmitting a written communication with the intent to cause emotional distress to a person under the age of seventeen.
If a newspaper or blog publishes an article harshly condemning a 16-year-old criminal, its writers and editors would also be criminals: They would be transmitting a written electronic communication (assuming the newspaper’s content is available online), and probably done so with the intent to embarrass or cause emotional distress to the 16-year-old.
If someone writes a newspaper article or blog post seeking to “scare kids straight,” and away from sex, drugs, gangs, or what have you by frightening them by the possible consequences of their conduct, they would probably be criminals: They would be transmitting a written communication with the intent to frighten persons under the age of seventeen.
Naturally, some people might try to defend this on the grounds that prosecutors won’t apply the statute as broadly as it’s written, but will instead focus just on “extreme” cyberbullying; but I think Chief Justice Roberts’ majority opinion in last week’s United States v. Stevens is instructive here:

Not to worry, the Government says: The Executive Branch construes §48 to reach only “extreme” cruelty, and it “neither has brought nor will bring a prosecution for anything less,” The Government hits this theme hard, invoking its prosecutorial discretion several times. But the First Amendment protects against the Government; it does not leave us at the mercy of noblesse oblige. We would not uphold an unconstitutional statute merely because the Government promised to use it responsibly.

via volokh.com

Chris Travers says:

At what point do we find ourselves in a society where at least teenagers are subject to “show me the man and I’ll show you the crime?” How long before this approach leaks out into the general adult population as well?
Prosecuting minors for producing child pornography by taking pictures of themselves with the intention of sexually exciting the recipient (something 30% of teens currently admit to doing) is one element of this. You’d think this too would be subject to at least an as-applied challenge based on first and fifth amendment jurisprudence, but thus far no such challenges have been successful. (US v. Stevens has some encouraging language though in this area which suggests that teen sexting may be outside the child porn exception.)
I guess I wonder to what extent teenagers’ first amendment rights are already deeply wounded and what it’s going to take to rehabilitate them.
What deeply concerns me about this though is that if teenagers aren’t given a reason to value first amendment rights because their rights are so heavily abridged, then these teenagers are less likely to value first amendment rights as adults. Our free speech rights may be grounded in the first amendment, but they cannot survive unless valued by society at large.
Also question: Given that Louisiana has a system of civil rather than common law, can the Louisiana courts even invalidate the law? Or wouldn’t that have to be struck down by the Supreme Court, and only by the Supreme Court?

via volokh.com

of Boobies And Death Panels. oh noes... they were real?

The first battle in the death panel wars is underway and the winner will be declared on December 17.  On that day, the Food and Drug Administration will determine whether insurance and Medicare should provide breast cancer patients and their doctors the option of using Avastin -- a late-stage cancer drug that has been proven to extend life.  Should the FDA deny coverage for the drug because of its cost, it will be apparent that Krugman and his ilk are winning to battle to ration care in America.  Rest assured we are watching the outcome.

boobies via midgetquest.blogspot.com
via americanthinker.

Fayyad and PA split over unilateral statehood

IMHOP: A unilateral state would work in Israel's interest in that the Jews would lose their so called peace partner and then actions could be taken to actually protect the Jewish people and remove Muslims from places where they can attack.

Foreign Ministry asks its diplomats to prevent Palestinian moves seeking recognition; tensions mount between Fayyad and PA over statehood.

via jpost.com

Unelected 'Palestinian Prime Minister' Salam Fayyad is at odds with his colleagues in the 'Palestinian Authority' regarding the usefulness of the unilateral declaration of a 'state' of 'Palestine.'

The Palestinian Authority reaffirmed on Monday its determination to unilaterally seek recognition by the international community for a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders despite statements to the contrary by PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
The announcement came amid talks in Ramallah of mounting tensions between Fayyad and the PA leadership over whether the Palestinians should proceed with plans to unilaterally declare a state without agreement with Israel.
Fayyad declared over the past few days his opposition to the PA's intention to seek unilateral statehood. He explained that the Palestinians do not want a "Mickey Mouse" state that has no sovereignty.
"We are looking for a state of Palestine, not a unilateral declaration of statehood," Fayyad said.
His statements drew criticism from some PA and Fatah officials in the West Bank.
Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior PLO official and close advisor to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, announced that the Palestinian leadership would pursue its efforts with the UN Security Council and General Assembly to win backing for a unilateral declaration of statehood.
"We are working to ensure the backing of as many countries as possible [for the unilateral declaration] before the next session of the UN General Assembly," Abed Rabbo said. He also criticized the US Administration for opposing the idea.
A top aide to Abbas said in response to Fayyad's remarks: "The prime minister expressed his personal opinion. The Palestinian leadership has a different view."
Fatah sources told the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that Fayad's statements were "unacceptable, incomprehensible and surprising." The sources said that the statement contradicted efforts made by Fatah and Abbas to gain international recognition for an independent Palestinian state. PA negotiator Saeb Erekat contacted Fayyad to reprimand him and ask him to explain his comments, the sources added.
Another negotiator, Nabil Sha'ath, said in response to Fayyad's statements: "The Palestinian people do not need the permission of anyone to declare their independence."

via israelmatzav.blogspot.com

hey... I dare you!

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