Category Archives: Viva!

The Palestine Question

I have written about the Palestinian/Israeli situation for years…..I have even given my idea on a way from them to establish a separate state…..the protests by Palestinians have been going on for 20+ years although there has been friction between the two people since 1919 and the end of World War One. (more info about posts c an be learned using the “Search” feature)

A new round of all out disobedience has begun with Trump’s declaration on Jerusalem…..this situation opens up a whole new line of thought about the two states…..

What does Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel mean for the future of Palestine and the Palestinians, and what does it reveal about US policy? Al-Shabaka policy analysts examine these questions and recommend ways for Palestinian civil society and leaders to safeguard Palestinian rights in the face of such a setback.

Nur Arafeh argues that Trump’s announcement cements Israel’s apartheid regime and “Judaization” policies in Jerusalem, and calls for the PA to end coordination with Israel and nullify the Oslo Accords. Dana El Kurd makes the case that the US move creates two opposing legal frameworks for Jerusalem, one that follows international law and one that bends to Israeli interests. “[Trump’s declaration] sets a precedent for greater legal recognition in the future,” she writes. “Palestinians should consider new ways of resisting Israeli colonization.” Munir Nuseibah reasons that the development confirms the US as a biased mediator. “The only positive outcome is that it ends the illusion that the ‘peace process’ is legitimate,” he writes.

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That was the opinions of analysts in the region……

Some in the West are saying that with Trump’s announcement that the idea of a one state solution was once again on the table….

Jerusalem was an Arab and Muslim city for close to 1300 years. Like other parts of Palestine, it was a harmonious mosaic. But, though there was always a Christian and Jewish presence — both of people and of monuments — it was predominantly a Muslim city.

This was violently disrupted twice: first in the year 1099, from which for a period of 88 years the city was occupied by the Crusaders, and then again in 1948 when the newly created Jewish State took the city and made Jerusalem its own. When the State of Israel took the western part of the city in 1948, in violation of a United Nations Resolution, it destroyed its Arab and Muslim character and then declared it as the capital city of the Jewish people.

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More on the one state solution……

Donald Trump’s rash declaration of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital does not, of course, deserve thanks. How could it, when it in effect amounts to American complicity in supporting Israeli war crimes of illegal occupation? But one inadvertent positive outcome from the US President’s blundering is that it renews the alternative concept of a One-State solution.

Ironically, Trump’s outrageous bias towards the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu slams a nail into the coffin of the Two-State solution.

The charade of Washington acting as a neutral broker between Israelis and Palestinians is finally dead and buried with Trump’s clumsy intervention.

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Personally I say NO to the one state solution…..there has been a Palestine for over a thousand years and there should be for a thousand more.

The announcement by Trump gave the Saudis an opportunity to try and placate the Palestinians by proposing an alternative to Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine……

It was once a small rural village, noted for its fields of olive trees and spectacular views, overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem to the south-west and the Jordan Valley to the east.

But now Abu Dis is a name spoken by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as a potential capital of a future Palestinian state, as reported in the New York Times on 3 December.

This small East Jerusalem suburb was flung into the spotlight a few days later by Donald Trump’s announcement that the United States would recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

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Seriously?

Jerusalem has always been the capital of Palestine and will always be the capital…..why does the US kiss the ass of Israel at every turn?

This is a situation that can only be solved by the two people involved….not as oppressor and oppressed but as equals.

#BREAKING English article “Russia simulated a large-scale military attack against @NATO”, Commander of the Estonian Defence Forces, General Riho Terras, confirms to @BILD http://ift.tt/2F4wJ0G; #http://Zapad2017pic.twitter.com/gbprazAmHD

via aleksey godin

#BREAKING English article

“Russia simulated a large-scale military attack against @NATO“, Commander of the Estonian Defence Forces, General Riho Terras, confirms to @BILD

http://ift.tt/2E9XP5C
#Zapad2017 http://pic.twitter.com/gbprazAmHD

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CDC FluView Week 52: Influenza `Increased Sharply’ Across The Nation

wash hands, doors, handles, phones, keyboards, touch screens…

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For the second week in a row the CDC’s FluView report shows influenza activity has increased sharply across the nation, with the number of patient visits for ILI (Influenza-like Illness) so far matching the 2014-15 season, but on a pace that seems likely to exceed anything we’ve seen in recent years.

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As always, the FluView report is a snapshot of flu activity more than a week ago, and so the numbers being racked up today are likely higher. 

Add in reporting delays over the holidays, and ongoing data collection problems with the P&I Mortality rate (which runs 2 weeks behind the rest of the data) and today’s report probably doesn’t do this year’s flu season justice. 

In any event, the numbers we have are plenty bad enough.  A brief summary shows:

2017-2018 Influenza Season Week 52 ending December 30, 2017

All data are preliminary and may change as more reports are received.
Synopsis:

During week 52 (December 24-30, 2017), influenza activity increased sharply in the United States.

Viral Surveillance: The most frequently identified influenza virus subtype reported by public health laboratories during week 52 was influenza A(H3). The percentage of respiratory specimens testing positive for influenza in clinical laboratories increased.
Pneumonia and Influenza Mortality: The proportion of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza (P&I) was below the system-specific epidemic threshold in the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Mortality Surveillance System.
Influenza-associated Pediatric Deaths: One influenza-associated pediatric death was reported.
Influenza-associated Hospitalizations: A cumulative rate of 13.7 laboratory-confirmed influenza-associated hospitalizations per 100,000 population was reported.
Outpatient Illness Surveillance:The proportion of outpatient visits for influenza-like illness (ILI) was 5.8%, which is above the national baseline of 2.2%. All 10 regions reported ILI at or above region-specific baseline levels. New York City and 26 states experienced high ILI activity; Puerto Rico and nine states experienced moderate ILI activity; the District of Columbia and six states experienced low ILI activity; and nine states experienced minimal ILI activity.
Geographic Spread of Influenza:The geographic spread of influenza in 46 states was reported as widespread; four states reported regional activity; the District of Columbia reported local activity; and Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands did not report.
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If you haven’t gotten the flu vaccine, it isn’t too late.  While it may not protect as well as we’d like against H3N2, influenza B and H1N1 are part of this year’s mix, and the vaccine is expected to do much better against those strains.

If you aren’t practicing heavy duty flu hygiene (covering coughs, washing hands, staying home when sick, etc.) and somehow you haven’t gotten sick yet, you need to start.

And as we discussed last week, in Yes, We Have No Pandemic . . . But Line Up A Flu Buddy Anyway, now is a good time to form alliances with friends, relatives, and neighbors to help you (and them) get through this flu season.

While it may be too soon to call this year’s flu season `epic’, the early numbers are very impressive.  And not in a good way.

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North Korea agrees to first talks with South in two years

Koreas thumbing noses at – grin.

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Officials from Kim Jong-un’s regime and Seoul government will meet in demilitarised zone next week

North Korea has agreed to South Korea’s offer to hold talks next week, in what will be the first high-level contact between the two countries for more than two years.

The talks – the first since December 2015 – will take place in a village that straddles the demilitarised zone (DMZ) between the two countries and come amid international concern over Pyongyang’s ballistic missile and nuclear programmes.

Continue reading…

Trump’s threats against the Palestinians should worry Israel

The Netanyahu government is celebrating Trump’s recent declaration and threats against the Palestinians as victories, but Jerusalem should wait before opening the champagne. 

Palestinian burning a picture of US President Donald Trump during a protest against US President Donald Trump's latest decision to recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in Rafah, in the Southern Gaza Strip on December 8, 2017. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

Palestinian burning a picture of US President Donald Trump during a protest against US President Donald Trump’s latest decision to recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in Rafah, in the Southern Gaza Strip on December 8, 2017. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

The Trump Administration on Tuesday threatened to withhold millions of dollars in aid that it sends to the Palestinians each year, accusing them of not wanting to negotiate a peace deal with Israel.

Nikki Hailey, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, said the U.S. would stop funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) — the UN agency responsible for providing aid to Palestinian refugees — if the Palestinian leadership refuses to return to American-led peace talks. Washington is the agency’s biggest donor; it sends around $300 million a year to the agency, roughly a third of which is designated for aid to residents of refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza.

It possible that the U.S. president’s threat included Washington’s aid to the Palestinian Authority, which amounts to another $300 million dollars or so a year. The Trump administration has presented these threats as a response to the Palestinian leadership’s decision to reject continued American stewardship of the peace process. That decision was itself a response to Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and his commitment to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

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While Trump’s threats may be intended to punish the Palestinians for their lack of “appreciation or respect” for U.S. leadership in the region (as the president tweeted), his threats should also worry Israel.

Until the signing of the Oslo Accords, Israel was responsible for managing the day-to-day lives of Palestinians in the occupied territories. Infrastructure, welfare, education, health, and other services were all Israel’s responsibility as the occupying power. Oslo transferred much of that responsibility to the newly created Palestinian Authority, and the two sides passed on the bill to the international community—mainly the U.S., European Union, and Arab states. The idea was that foreign aid would act as a crutch to enable Palestinian development while the occupation came to an end and an independent Palestinian state rose in its place. In parallel, UNRWA would continue to provide aid to 810,000 people in the West Bank alone, operating 19 refugee camps, 96 schools, 43 medical centers, and more.

The peace process died and was buried, and yet the Oslo Accords—designed as an interim agreement meant to end in 1999—continue to serve as the loose framework for relations between Israel and the Palestinians. The U.S., the E.U., and the Arab states have continued to fund the PA and UNRWA, while allowing Israel to maintain the occupation under “luxury” conditions: full control of the territory, full control over the lives of the people, but without any responsibility for them and without being burdened with any serious cost. The justification for that arrangement’s continued existence was the illusion of a peace process. For the past 25 years, half the duration of the occupation, peace was supposed to come at any moment.

But now Trump has changed the equation: if the Palestinians refuse to accept Washington’s leadership of the peace process and its conditions, then there shall be no peace process, and therefore no funding to the PA and UNRWA. The problem is that if there is no peace process, and therefore no funding, then the PA and UNRWA will have to cut their services—close schools, and fire employees—and they alone will not pay the price. Angry protests in response would likely be aimed at Israel, or could undermine the PA’s strength and legitimacy.

Cuts to the PA budget and protests in the street would also likely affect the PA’s security forces, which essentially serve as Israel’s security contractor on the ground, and whom the Israeli defense establishment relies on to keep the peace and help prevent terrorist attacks. In short, one way or another, cutting off the PA’s main sources of funding will erode the framework that has until now sustained Israel’s occupation deluxe.

Trump threatens to shatter not only the underlying assumptions of the framework that subsidizes the Israel occupation (through Palestinian institutions and the UN), but also the illusion of a peace process and the two-state solution (which Netanyahu’s Likud party rejected, again, this week). The Netanyahu government may see these changes as a victory, but in the long-term it is difficult to know where the collapse of the status quo will lead. Israel’s leadership should wait before popping open the champagne.

ASIA/INDIA – Hindu radicals attack a Catholic college

Racists posing as Hindu are still racists! Except for them, your race is your religion of your poligion!

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Vidisha – Hundreds of police deployment was done at the St. Mary’s Post Graduate College in Vidisha, Sagar Diocese in Madhya Pradesh, central India as Hindu right-wing groups threaten to perform Hindu rituals in the premises.
“Calm has returned to the place now as only policemen on watch have remained in the area. We thank once again the Union Home Minister Rajnath Singhji and the Madhya Pradesh police force. And a big thank you for your prayers. The Fathers and Sisters and other personnel are in a state of shock. Do continue to pray for them,” said Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, secretary general of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India , who is following the issue, told Fides news.
On January 4, more than 900 Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad , one of the Hindu right wing student groups threatened to gather and forcibly perform “Aarti of Bharat Mata” and other Hindu goddesses in the college.
“The Madhya Pradesh police assured church authorities full police protection. The priests who manage the College, however feel that the situation is potentially very dangerous as over 900 activists were expected to gather in violation of police orders. There was already an aggression earlier on 30 December despite the presence of 20 policemen. We need to pray more. We are in touch with the Federal Home Ministry,” said Mascarenhas.
“We thank our Home Minister Singh for directly intervening to ensure safety of our Institution and priests, nuns, college personnel and staff and students. A large crowd of activists were reported to have gathered outside the college wanting to enter the premises. But a huge battalion of police is confident of dealing with the situation,” Bishop Theodore added.
It can be recalled that during the last Christmas season, a group of Hindu radicals seminarians and priests of Satna were attacked, when they were in the villages for Christmas carols.