Israeli attitudes to peace and a two-state solution 1. “Israel is not ready to share the land....” – a surprise from Benjamin Netanyahu Palestinian attitudes towards peace and a two-state solution 9. “The Palestinians are getting more practical over the ‘right of return’ into Israel.....” – a surprise from Nabil Sha’ath Israel’s security fence Jerusalem Gaza, Hamas, and the Goldstone and Palmer Reports 18. “There’s a humanitarian crisis in Gaza....” – a surprise from a Red Cross official in Gaza Hizbollah and Lebanon Israel’s Arabs and the apartheid charge 1. Claim: “Israel is not ready to share the land....” A surprise from Benjamin Netanyahu..... This is the land of our forefathers, the land of Israel, to which Abraham brought the idea of one God, where David set out to confront Goliath, and where Isaiah saw a vision of eternal peace. No distortion of history can deny the four thousand year old bond between the Jewish people and the Jewish land. But there is another truth: the Palestinians share this small land with us. We seek a peace in which they will be neither Israel’s subjects nor its citizens. They should enjoy a national life of dignity as a free, viable and independent people in their own state. They should enjoy a prosperous economy, where their creativity and initiative can flourish.....” - extract from Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to the US Congress, 24 May 2011 For more: see Beyond Images Briefing 286 – 30 May 2011 2. Claim: “Israel wishes to rule over the Palestinians....” A surprise from former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon...... - Former Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, speaking in Herzliya as he launched Israel’s plan for disengagement from Gaza, December 2004 For more: See Beyond Images Briefing 127 3. Claim: “Netanyahu is trapped by his right wing and he cannot make peace....” A surprise, from Mr Netanyahu: - from speech given at memorial ceremony for Theodore Herzl, reported in the Jerusalem Post, 22 July 2011 4. Claim: “Israel’s Arabs wish they could leave the country, and live in an Arab state....” A surprise from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government: An opinion poll of 1721 Israeli Jews and Arabs, conducted on behalf of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, found that 77% of Israeli Arabs would rather live in Israel than in any other country in the world. For more: see Beyond Images Briefing 219 – 2 August 2008 5. “The Palestinian moderates accept two states, a Jewish state and a Palestinian state, living side-by-side.....” A surprise from arch-moderate Palestinian leader Nabil Sha’ath “We have never agreed, and we never will agree, under any circumstances, to recognise Israel as the state of the Jewish people.... There is a chance of two states: a Palestinian [state] and a non-Jewish state of Israel....We are prepared to recognise the State of Israel, if they say that the Israeli people includes those Muslim and Christian residents who are the true owners of the land....” - from an interview by Nabil Sha’ath with Israeli Arab newspaper Kul al-Arab, 10 June 2011 6. “A future Palestinian state would be tolerant towards Jewish rights.....” A surprise from Mahmoud Abbas: “We have frankly said and always will say: if there is an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, we won’t agree to the presence of one Israeli in it....” - Mahmoud Abbas, from a press conference in Ramallah, quoted in the Jerusalem Post, 25 December 2010 A surprise, from Saeb Erekat: “First [Israel] said we would only have the right to run our own schools and hospitals. Then they consented to give us 66% [of the occupied territories]. At Camp David [in 2000] they offered 90% and recently they offered us 100%. So why should we hurry, after all the injustice we have suffered? The agreement will not be stable anyway, unless it is based on international law and justice…..” For more: see Beyond Images Briefing 243, 26 July 2009 8. Claim: “Israel’s occupation of the West Bank is a source of constant suffering for the Palestinians.....” A surprise from Mahmoud Abbas: “I will wait for Israel to freeze settlements before I start talks. Until then, in the West Bank we have a good reality…. the people are living a normal life….” - Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian leader, quoted in the Jerusalem Post, 8 January 2010 (our emphasis) 9. “The Palestinians are softening their stance on the right of return.....” A surprise from arch-moderate Nabil Sha’ath: - from interview with Kul Al Arab, 10 June 2011 For more see: Beyond Images Briefing 290 – 7 July 2011 10. Claim: “The Palestinians agree to landswaps with Israel......” A surprise (to some) from the Fatah Revolutionary Council In December 2010 the Fatah Revolutionary Council passed a resolution rejecting the concept of land swaps concerning the West Bank. It stated: “Illegal settler gangs can’t be put on an equal footing with the owners of the land and their rights....” For more see: Beyond Images Briefing 273 – 10 December 2010 11. Claim: “The International Court of Justice ruled that the wall is illegal.....” A surprise, from leading international lawyer and judge: - the ICJ opinion was “based on an unsatisfactory historical understanding”; - its analysis of Israel’s right of self-defence was “legally incorrect”; - its opinion was “not even-handed”; - and parts of it were “detached from reality” For more: see Beyond Images Briefing 101 - 6 August 2004 12. Claim: “It’s Israeli propaganda that the security fence thwarts terror attacks....” A surprise from Ramadan Shalah, leader of Islamic Jihad in the West Bank: “There is the separation fence, which is an obstacle to the resistance, and if it were not there the situation would be entirely different....” - from interview by Shalah with Lebanese TV station Al-Manar, 11 November 2006 For more: see Beyond Images Briefing 187 – 4 December 2006 A surprise from the Palestinian head of the popular committee of Shuafat, North Jerusalem: “If the Israelis put a border here [ie redivide Jerusalem], we’ll move to Haifa and Tel-Aviv. You’ll have 50,000 people who live here leaving East Jerusalem in minutes. Israel isn’t thinking about that. Israel is only thinking of how many people it can dump into the Palestinian Authority.....” For more see: Beyond Images Briefing 209 – 13 December 2007 14. Claim: “The Jews are taking over Jerusalem, and squeezing out the Arabs......” A surprise from a doveish Jerusalem thinktank:
For more see: Beyond Images Briefing 254, April 2010 15. Claim: “Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza is unacceptable and violates international law.....” A surprise, from the UN’s Palmer Report...... - statement from the UN’s Palmer Report, published September 2011 For more see: Beyond Images Briefing 301 – 30 October 2011 16. Claim: “Hamas have come round to accepting Israel.....” A surprising statement (surprising for some......) from Hamas leader..... - Usama Hamdan, responsible for Hamas international relations, Hamas Al-Aqsa TV, 24 July 2011 For more see: Beyond Images Briefing 295, 2 September 2011 17. Claim: “Hamas are getting more pragmatic, and mellowing their rejection of Israel. They would accept Israel within the 1967 lines....” A surprising statement (surprising to some) from Hamas leader: “We have liberated Gaza, but have we recognised Israel? Have we given up our lands occupied in 1948? We demand the liberation of the West Bank, and the establishment of a state in the West Bank and Gaza, with Jerusalem as its capital, but without recognising Israel…… Our plan for this stage is to liberate every inch of Palestinian land, and to establish a state in it. Our ultimate plan is Palestine in its entirety.….” For more see: Beyond Images Briefing 264 dated 23 July 2010 18. Claim: “There is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.....” A surprising voice, from a senior Red Cross official in Gaza..... - Mathilde Redmatn [this is the correct spelling – Beyond Images], Deputy head of the Red Cross in Gaza, quoted in Jerusalem Post, 22 April 2011 19. “Hamas were democratically elected, and it is a denial of Palestinian rights to avoid talking to them....” A surprising voice, from the UN: Robert Serry is the UN’s Special Coordinator in the Gaza Strip. On 1 June 2010 Hamas security forces raided and shut down the Palestinian mini-Parliament, the Women and Children Society, a Palestinian Womens’ Health Forum, and other NGOs. Serry stated (as quoted in the Jerusalem Post, 4 June 2010): “This targeting of NGOs, including UN partner organisations, is unacceptable, violating accepted norms of a free society, and harming the Palestinian people…. The Hamas authorities must cease such repressive steps….” For more see: Beyond Images Briefing 258 – 11 June 2010 20. “The Goldstone Report was authoritative, and its findings were credible....” A surprise from Judge Goldstone himself “If I would have known then what I know now, the report would have been a different document....” - Judge Richard Goldstone, Washington Post, 1 April 2011 21. Claim: “there’s no evidence that Hamas used Gazans as human shields....” A surprising voice from a senior UN official..... “The reckless and cynical use of civilian installations by Hamas and indiscriminate firing of rockets against civilian populations are clear violations of international humanitarian law…..” - John Holmes, head of UN humanitarian affairs, speaking at the UN Security Council on 27 January 2009 (reported the next day by Ha’aretz) For more see: Beyond Images Briefing 251 - 7 February 2010 22. “Goldstone is credible because he criticised both Israel and Hamas.....” A surprise (to some....) from Hamas leader Musa abu Marzouq: “All paragraphs in the Goldstone Report convict Israel and totally exonerate Hamas from any misconduct. For instance, the report exonerates Hamas from the accusation of using civilians as human shields and attributes this accusation to Israeli forces. Likewise, the report exonerates Hamas from all other accusations mentioned by Israel, and even when the report is dealing with the rockets which were launched from Gaza, it speaks about military groups without mentioning Hamas….” - Musa Abu Marzouq – second in command of Hamas, 5 December 2009 (Al Mashahid al-Siyasi, translation) For more see: Beyond Images Briefing 251, dated 7 February 2010 23. Claim: “Israel’s Operation Cast Lead was an indefensible, right-wing act of aggression against the people of Gaza.....” A surprise from Israeli writer Amos Oz, icon of the Israeli peace movement: “The systematic bombing of the citizens of Israel’s towns and cities is a war crime and a crime against humanity. The State of Israel must defend its citizens. It is obvious to everyone that the Israeli Government does not wish to enter Gaza.... but the suffering of the citizens surrounding Gaza cannot go on.....” For more see: Beyond Images Briefing 232 – 30 January 2009 24. Claim: “Israel’s siege of Gaza means that nothing gets in or out. Not even medical help, nothing....” A surprise from a leading Israeli doctor: Dr Ron Lobel, deputy director of the Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon, said in German news magazine Der Spiegel in 2008: “We treat hundreds of Gazans here each year. Most of them are extremely ill, many of them have bullet wounds. But we never ask them how they were injured or whether they belong to Hamas. Even if they’re terrorists they’re treated like any other person. They’re treated by Israel for free. We make no distinction between Israelis and Palestinians…..” For more see: Beyond Images Briefing 215, July 2008 25. Claim: “Hizbollah represents the wishes of the Lebanese people....” A surprise from the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon: “Hizbollah’s armaments demonstrate a complete disregard for the safety of Lebanon’s civilian population, Lebanese law and for the authority of the Lebanese government by armed groups..... The continued existence of Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias undermines the rights of every Lebanese citizen to live without fear of physical harm and the consolidation of Lebanon as a democratic state and the stability of the country and the region.....” - Ban Ki Moon, Sescretary General of the United Nations, from his 13th Annual report on Lebanon, quoted in the Jerusalem Post, 22 April 2011 26. Claim: “Hizbollah’s war with Israel in 2006 had the support of the Lebanese people.....” A surprising voice, from a senior cleric in Lebanon.... “I don’t think Hizbollah asked the Shi’ite community about the war. Perhaps the great emigration from the south is the best proof that the people in the south were against the war. The Shi’ite community authorised no-one to declare war in its name or to drag it into a war that was far from its wishes and from the wishes of the other ethnic communities in Lebanon.....” - Sayyed Ali al-Amin, Grand Mufti of Tyre, South Lebanon, quoted by MEMRI (www.memri.org) in Special Despatch 1266, dated 25 August 2006 For more see: Beyond Images Briefing 183 – 12 September 2006 27. Claim: “Israel is an apartheid state....” A surprise from South African judge Richard Goldstone “Nothing in Israel comes close to the definition of apartheid.... The charge that Israel is an apartheid state is a false and malicious one that precludes, rather than promotes, peace and harmony.....” - Richard Goldstone, New York Times, 31 October 2011 For more see: Beyond Images Briefing 303 – 11 November 2011
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