Category Archives: peace

Lawmakers: PA risks US aid freeze if Hamas joins government | Maan News Agency

“No US governmental money will go into any government that includes Hamas until Hamas accepts the Quartet conditions. And that’s renouncing violence, recognizing previous agreements and most explicitly recognizing Israel’s right to exist.”

via Lawmakers: PA risks US aid freeze if Hamas joins government | Maan News Agency.

I think that Hamas will find a way to accept those conditions and put ball back in Israel’s court.

Holocaust survivors feel abandoned by Netanyahu – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

Everything that Netanyahu did in those years implied that he was acting out of a conscious need to become the one to prevent a second Holocaust. Yet, those same years were also the period in which the economic, medical and emotional state of Holocaust survivors living in Israel kept declining because of their advanced age alongside their physical and emotional scars from the war. Their medical costs have increased, and their ability to pay for treatments, medication, food and heating in winter has been reduced significantly. Social Security payments they receive are absorbed by the steep cost of living and cuts to pensions, implemented by none other than Netanyahu, as part of the economic decrees he devised as finance minister in 2003.

via Holocaust survivors feel abandoned by Netanyahu – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.

Palestinian reconciliation deal a Hamas surrender – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

Abbas’ strategy finally paid off, in an agreement that at least on paper suggests a total Hamas capitulation and a clear political victory for Abbas and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The Islamic movement suddenly began speaking of Abbas as president and even applauded one of his speeches that reiterated his commitment to the peace talks. Hamas has agreed to yield its government to a unity cabinet made up of technocrats, none of whom will be known Hamas members. The Islamic movement has also crucially agreed to presidential and parliamentary elections to be conducted no later than six months after the formation of the unity government. The most important political concession, however, is that Hamas agreed to join the PLO and all its institutions.

There had been arguments concerning whether Hamas is obliged to separately accept the three conditions set out by the nearly defunct Quartet: recognizing Israel, renouncing terror and accepting all previous agreements signed by the PLO. The position presented by the PLO was that all of these conditions have already been met by the PLO, and therefore Hamas, by joining the organization — as long as the PLO does not retract its earlier positions — would be in adherence with the three conditions.

via Palestinian reconciliation deal a Hamas surrender – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.

Moldovan citizens will no longer require visas to travel to the European Union

In response to the Ukraine crisis, the European Union has said it will accelerate the Eastern partnerships and from Monday, all citizens of Moldova with a biometric passport can travel visa-free to Europe’s Schengen zone, the European Commission said on Sunday in a statement. Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine are all seeking tighter links with the European Union as part of an Eastern Partnership with the bloc, which allows for closer trade and business ties without full EU membership. Photo: MTI/EPA/Dumitru Doru

via Moldovan citizens will no longer require visas to travel to the European Union.

Noa (Achinoam Nini) in Concert | Highline Ballroom

Achinoam Nini (known also as NOA), Israeli born of Yemenite origin, raised in the US, currently resides in Israel with her husband and 3 children. She is Israel’s leading international singer/songwriter, having shared the stage with superstars such as Sting and Stevie Wonder, and Israel’s first Good Will Ambassador for FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN. Together with her longstanding collaborator Gil Dor, she has released over 15 albums which have sold millions the world over. Noa was the first Jew to perform in the Vatican 15 years ago and has done so many times since. She dedicates much of her time to promoting peace and dialogue between Israel and Palestine and was the only leading Israeli artist to agree to perform in the historic peace rally where Yitzchak Rabin was murdered.

via Noa (Achinoam Nini) in Concert | Highline Ballroom.

About the Database | Global Nonviolent Action Database

To provide free access to information about hundreds of cases of nonviolent action for learning and for citizen action. We research campaigns that have reached a point of completion. The cases are drawn from all continents and most countries. People are shown struggling for human rights, economic justice, democracy, national and ethnic identity, environmental sustainability, and peace. To learn more about searching by the issues people are struggling about, go to Issue Clusters.

To make available comparative information that will support researchers and writers to develop strategic knowledge and theory. Each case is presented in two formats: the database file (with searchable fields) and the narrative describing the struggle as an unfolding story. The database supports searches by country, by issue, by action method used, and even by year — there is a case from ancient Egypt, 12th century BCE! Some cases are part of a “wave” of campaigns, such as the “Arab Awakening” of 2011; by pressing each “wave” button one can find cases.

via About the Database | Global Nonviolent Action Database.

Nearly 90% of Syria’s Chemical Arms Have Been Removed – NYTimes.com

Nearly 90 percent of the chemicals in Syria’s weapons arsenal have now been removed from the war-torn country, with only two or three shipments left for export, the group responsible for policing the global treaty that bans chemical munitions reported on Tuesday.

The declaration by the group, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, came as new allegations have emerged about the Syrian military’s possible use of bombs containing chlorine, a commonly used industrial chemical that was not on the list of toxic compounds declared by Syria when it agreed to renounce the use of chemical weapons last year.

via Nearly 90% of Syria’s Chemical Arms Have Been Removed – NYTimes.com.

Idealists in Action » Blog Archive » Idealist is hiring a Director of Communications!

Idealist is hiring a Director of Communications!

posted by April Greene on April 21, 2014

Filed under: Idealist Community

We’re hiring!

If you love big ideas, have led large-scale multimedia campaigns, and are experienced in building and leading a communications team, become our Director of Communications in our New York City office.

Check out the full description and application instructions. The application deadline is Monday, May 5th.

via Idealists in Action » Blog Archive » Idealist is hiring a Director of Communications!.

Israeli extremist tries to remove Palestinian flag, gets caught on barbed wire (Video) – Ads Against Apartheid | Ads Against Apartheid

“Why are you on my roof?” asked Sidr in broken Hebrew.

The settler, who had a Russian accent, also spoke in broken Hebrew as he answered Sidr.

“I’ve come to talk with you,” the settler said. As he spoke, he hung onto the building’s stone ledge, his shirt stuck in the barbed wire and his feet still on the ladder.

His antics attracted the attention of Hebron’s Jewish community, which gathered below to watch the spectacle.

The settler, undeterred by his precarious position, asked Sidr to remove the two Palestinian flags.

Sidr refused and asked the settler how he would feel if Sidr attempted to climb onto his roof to remove an Israeli flag.

“Would that be good?” asked Sidr.

“But this roof is my roof.

This is all mine, this is my country and my land,” said the settler.

“No. This is my house.

Why are you here?” asked Sidr.

“You just think it’s yours.

But this whole country is the Land of Israel,” said the settler.

“Hebron is not in Israel.

This is Palestine. I am not in Tel Aviv,” said Sidr.

“What is Palestine? It is only what the Romans called it. This is the Land of Israel. This is my country.

And everything that is here is mine,” said the settler.

via Israeli extremist tries to remove Palestinian flag, gets caught on barbed wire (Video) – Ads Against Apartheid | Ads Against Apartheid.

Syria rebels get US-made missiles: source | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR

{Not supposed to happen unless, US says OK – part of every agreement to sell or supply them. So, US is saying OK or this it is simply not true and is spin to try and get it to happen. Interesting that the information is released just after Assad claims government will win in a year.}

“Moderate, well-organised fighters from the Hazm movement have for the first time received more than 20 TOW anti-tank missiles from a Western source,” the source said on condition of anonymity, and without specifying who had supplied the rockets.

via Syria rebels get US-made missiles: source | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR.