Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] The Court of Appeal did not take into account the decision of the ECHR, which held the authorities responsible for the deaths of eight young Dagestanis in Chechnya, relatives of the victims said and promised to appeal the verdict to a higher authority.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 10, 2020, the Supreme Court of Chechnya found the murdered eight Dagestanis guilty of encroachment on the lives of law enforcement officers and illegal arms trafficking, but dismissed the criminal case due to their death. Lawyer Andrei Sabinin sent an appeal in this case to the Third Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction.
On January 10, the European Court of Human Rights awarded 27 relatives of those killed 609,000 euros in compensation. On July 5, it became known that the Court of Appeal refused to reconsider the case for the relatives of the victims.
Residents of Dagestan Gashim Uzdanov, Pakhrudin Makhaev, Islam Magomedov and Shamil Dzhamalutdinov disappeared on September 28, 2016 on the way from Kaspiysk to Makhachkala. On October 4 of the same year, Hussein Huseynov (Gosen Gosenov), Klych Klychev, Shamil Jamalutdinov and Kamil Jamaludinov disappeared in Khasavyurt. The security forces claimed that these people were preparing a terrorist attack and were killed in a shootout.
According to the security forces, the incident occurred on the night of October 9, 2016 in the Gudermes district of Chechnya, when the police tried to stop two cars. Of these, fire was opened. Eight alleged militants were killed and four policemen wounded in the shootout, the Chechen Interior Ministry said. Employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Chechnya were presented for state awards. Reward your offer Ramzan Kadyrov previously explained the police officers by saying that "they, risking their lives, neutralized especially dangerous bandits."
The court's decision to refuse to review the case was not surprising, said Gashim Uzdanov's mother Aida . "I was hoping for a different solution, but I understand that no one wants to figure out what happened and what really happened," she told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
According to her, for all these years after the murder of her son, there was no attention from the authorities to their family. "Our family has not faced any pressure, inspections, searches over the years. But there was also no attention in a good way, that is, no one offered to help, did not provide support," she said.
Umraykhan, the mother of Islam Magomedov, is determined to go all the way and prove her son's innocence. “I have nothing to lose, this is my main goal in life. There are so many inconsistencies, lies, deceit, you can’t even imagine. I want all this to come out so that everyone knows what really happened there. All parents are ready to fight until end, despite all the difficulties," she told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.
According to her, no searches or inspections were carried out during this time, but they came home with various questions. “The last time, about a year ago, the security forces came to us, asked various questions, asked where my daughter-in-law was. But they didn’t particularly bother, I can’t say that there was any direct attention to us,” she noted.
Burliyat, the mother of Pakhrudin Makhaev, is also ready to fight to the end. "The Third Court of Cassation of the city of Sochi left the decision of the Supreme Court of Chechnya unchanged. We don't know what will happen next. But we told the lawyer that we would go to the end. We want to restore justice and prove that the decisions of the courts are illegal," she told a correspondent " Caucasian Knot."
According to her, the Russian courts do not pay any attention to the verdict of the ECtHR. "The decision of the ECtHR was announced at the meetings by both the lawyer and the parents. But there was no reaction to this, they are not taken into account," she stressed.
On June 11, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill adopted by the State Duma on non-execution of ECtHR decisions issued after March 15, 2022. Judgments of the ECtHR are no longer the basis for reviewing decisions taken by Russian courts.
Burliyat also said that during this time there was no attention from the security forces to their family. "Our family has not faced pressure from the authorities. But, as I know, the wives of the guys are all registered and their children, too," she said.
Lawyer Yulia Antonova , who temporarily represented the interests of the relatives of those killed, confirmed that the court did not take into account the decision of the ECtHR in this case. "The decision of the ECtHR was known, but it did not have any influence either on the court of first instance or on the court of second instance," she told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. According to her, the next step will be to appeal the decision to refuse to reconsider the case in the court of cassation.
Recall that on September 16, 2022, the Russian Federation ceased to be a party to the European Convention on Human Rights. However, the ECtHR stated that it retains competence to consider applications directed against the Russian Federation, provided that they took place before that day. Earlier, on March 16, 2022, it became known that due to Russia's withdrawal from the Council of Europe, the ECtHR suspended consideration of complaints from Russia. At the same time, cases that were received from Russians at the ECHR before March 16, 2022, should be considered , and decisions made before that date should be executed, analysts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" pointed out.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Mufti, chairman of the Regional Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Ulyanovsk region (RDUM UA) Ildar haji Safiullin and the Simbirsk diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church sharply condemned the mockery of an Egyptian citizen over the Koran in the Ulyanovsk region.
According to media reports, on July 1, the Egyptian Said Abu Mustafa , who moved to Russia , defiled the holy Muslim scripture on one of the streets of Ulyanovsk and filmed it on a video that he posted on the Web. The incident caused a wide public outcry. According to the governor of the Ulyanovsk region Alexei Russkikh, the attacker has already been detained.
Ildar Haji Safiullin called the desecration of the Koran a blatant and wild case. He doubted that a man of sound mind could do such an act.
“Apparently, this hot weather, which is now standing, has affected him. God bless him! He will be given a legal opinion. It will not be possible to kindle any inter-ethnic, inter-confessional strife, because we live in peace and harmony. We are in friendship and creation with all the peoples who live with us in the Ulyanovsk region, ” the mufti said in an interview with IA Regnum.
At the same time, the mufti noted that many foreign students are studying in Ulyanovsk today, including those from the Arab world and Egypt. Russian representatives of the spiritual Muslim community have collaborated with the followers of Islam in Cairo, where the oldest Muslim university, Al-Azhar, is located, and they know the locals as deeply religious and moral people.
Ildar Haji Safiullin admitted that the Egyptian who staged the provocation could be involved in any sects.
“We know that we need to protect our eyes, soul and heart. If this man (detained in Ulyanovsk - ed.) were a God-fearing person, then he would not look at sites and pages that are not needed, would not litter his brains and heart. Maybe he was a member of some sectarian formations on the Internet,” he said, commenting on the possible connection between Abu Mustafa and the Swedish provocateur who arranged the burning of the Koran in front of a mosque in Stockholm.
The actions of the Egyptian were also criticized in the Russian Orthodox Church. The Simbirsk diocese, after a request from IA Regnum , issued an official commentary in which it indicated that the Orthodox Church does not accept any actions and statements aimed at insulting the faith, desecrating sacred books and religious symbols.
“The video recording of the event that took place the other day in Ulyanovsk - mockery of the holy book of Muslims the Koran - cannot be perceived otherwise than with bitterness and indignation ... We express our sympathy to everyone who was offended by this trick. It is bitter that such events took place on Ulyanovsk land, ” the statement says.
In addition, the diocese reacted to the fact that Abu Mustafa, a man suspected of desecrating the Koran, posted his photos in Orthodox churches on the Internet.
Representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church emphasized that there are many foreign students in Ulyanovsk - Christians of various denominations, many of them often visit the Savior-Ascension Cathedral in Ulyanovsk. These students often go to the cathedral, pray, take pictures in the temple.
“As you can see from the photographs of Said Abu Mustafa, he also went to the cathedral and other Orthodox churches. But he was not a permanent parishioner of any church in the diocese—that is, he did not attend church regularly, and did not participate in liturgical and parish life. The diocese does not know for certain about his belonging to any Christian communities, the fact of baptism, etc., ” they emphasized.
As emphasized in the diocese, the video recording of the provocation in Ulyanovsk raises doubts not only about the religiosity, but also about the adequacy of the person who committed such an act.
The general director of the Assembly of the Peoples of Russia, Alexander Darkovich , also made a call not to focus on the religion of the detained Egyptian . In his Telegram channel, he drew attention to the fact that the provocation could be aimed at creating interethnic and interfaith differences.
“History convincingly proves that an extremist, whatever nationality and whatever religion he may be, does not act in the interests and on behalf of his religion or people. He acts because of his personal weaknesses and sins: mental illness, pride, vanity or greed,” wrote Darkovich.
The Governor of the Ulyanovsk Region, Alexei Russkikh, expressed confidence that the actions of the offender would be given the most stringent legal assessment.
“We respect each other, honor traditions, customs and are very sensitive to the religious feelings of believers. This is a crime against us all. Terrorism and extremism have no nationality and no religion... We will stand. Our strength is in unity! — Russkikh wrote in his Telegram channel.
The police of the Ulyanovsk region have now confirmed that Said Abu Mustafa has been detained, and an investigation is underway.
[DW] A record number of people applied for asylum in the EU, mostly from Syria, Afghanistan, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... , Venezuela ...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south... , and Colombia. The EU is debating a new migration plan.
Applications for asylum in the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... in 2022 soared to nearly one million, the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) said on Tuesday,
The agency said there were 996,000 applications last year, 53% more than in 2021.
People from Syria, Afghanistan, Turkey, Venezuela and Colombia were among the largest groups to have applied for asylum.
Germany received the largest number of applications at 244,000, followed by La Belle France, Spain, Austria and Italia.
EU UNDER 'ACUTE PRESSURE'
People who fled the war in Ukraine have been granted special temporary protection status.
Some 4 million live in the European Union. They are not part of the nearly million asylum applications filed last year.
The agency said the number of asylum seekers was putting "acute pressure on already strained reception places in many countries."
NEW EU MIGRATION PLAN
The report comes as European Union leaders debate a new migration plan, especially for those who have reached European shores without a legal pathway.
The EU recently agreed to a plan allowing states to either accept a certain number of migrants colonists or pay up to €20,000 ($21,000) for each person they refuse.
POLAND, HUNGARY BLOCK EU MIGRATION STATEMENT
Hungary and Poland, however, have objected to the plan. Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban told state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
last week they would not implement it.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has expressed confidence in the plan, saying it presents member countries with several options.
The migration plan has been especially in focus after a migrant boatwreck, believed to be one of the most tragic disasters in the Mediterranean sea in recent times, shone a light on the refugee crisis.
Indirect Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
Original article in French can he found here
[ColonelCassad] The ongoing protests in France forced the country's government to consider all possible measures and means of influencing the population in order to exclude the possible spread of a protest wave throughout the country.
For this reason, Macron has already stated that, according to the changes in the legislation, financial punishment and a number of restrictive measures will be applied to the families of young people who took part in the protests. In the words of the French President: Every participant in an unauthorized protest must be punished. Therefore, it was decided that in addition to the Protestor, fines will also be imposed on all his family members who are close relatives. In addition, all those who will be subject to financial punishment will be deprived of certain rights, such as driving a vehicle, leaving France for a certain period.
In addition, the "leader of freedom-loving France" added that in the event there is a minor child in the family, the issue of removing the child from the family, up to the deprivation of parental rights, will be considered. Macron believes that the amended legislation, which provides for “specific punishment”, will make every person think before going out to protest and will contribute to the dialogue between the people and the government to solve internal problems.
[IsraelTimes] Chris Sununu signs executive order combating BDS movement, joining dozens of other US states that have passed similar legislation.
New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu on Thursday signed an order banning state offices from investing in companies that participate in the anti-Israel boycott movement, joining dozens of other US states that have passed similar legislation.
Sununu, a Republican, signed the executive order at an event in the state capital Concord with Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan and Consul General to New England Meron Reuben.
"New Hampshire and Israel have experienced decades of successful exchange of commerce, culture, technology and tourism," Sununu said in a statement. "New Hampshire will not tolerate antisemitism, and we are taking significant steps at the state level to prohibit discriminatory boycotts."
The anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement is a flash point of the Israeli-Paleostinian dispute in the US and other countries. Supporters say BDS is a non-violent mostly peaceful movement for Paleostinian independence, but Israel and its supporters say the campaign aims to delegitimize the entirety of the Jewish state and seeks its destruction, and it has been condemned by many of Israel’s supporters as antisemitic.
Sununu’s executive order bans New Hampshire executive branch entities — covering an array of state agencies — from boycotting Israel, investing in any company that boycotts the Jewish state, or contracting with such a company.
The state agencies must also inform any company they contract with of the anti-BDS policies.
The text of the bill estimated that trade between Israel and New Hampshire has amounted to over $1 billion since 1996.
New Hampshire state politicians introduced separate anti-BDS legislation to the state House in January.
Erdan said Sununu’s bill was a counterweight to the UN’s investigatory commission of inquiry against Israel, which has criticized anti-BDS legislation by US states as infringing on free speech.
"We must boycott our boycotters and delegitimize our delegitimizers. And I have seen firsthand just how effective such measures are," Erdan said.
Several New Hampshire companies receive US foreign military financing contracts for Israel, including Milpower Source and Sponge-Jet, Inc., according to the coalition.
Corporate investments have increasingly become a weapon in the Israeli-Paleostinian proxy battleground in the US.
States withdrew hundreds of millions in investments from Unilever, the parent company of Ben & Jerry’s, after the ice cream maker attempted to prevent its Israeli licensee from selling its products in West Bank settlements in 2021. Due to Israeli laws that bar discrimination based on location, the West Bank sales ban effectively barred Ben & Jerry’s Israel from any business.
The withdrawal of investments from Unilever put heavy pressure on the multinational conglomerate, which later spun off Ben & Jerry’s Israel, resulting in a legal battle between Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s that ended last year.
State anti-BDS laws have been opposed by civil liberties groups who say they violate free speech, and have been the subject of a series of legal disputes at the state and federal levels.
[DW] The US-Canada migrant deal struck in March sees some towns struggle to cope with asylum seekers stuck at US side of the border, who had hoped to cross into Canada.
Illegal migrants, mostly from Angola, Congo, Haiti who came north through Mexico, then followed Prime Minister Trudeau’s invitation, which was rescinded and the border closed. Heaven only knows what pretext they’ll use in their asylum applications, but in the meantime northern American border communities are scrambling to provide
[DW] Around 90% of those who cross the EU's external borders illegally use migrant smugglers. How do they operate and why do migrants colonists turn to them despite horrific accidents?
Europol, the EU agency for law enforcement, has estimated that 90% of those who cross the EU's external borders illegally do so with the assistance of migrant smugglers, either for the whole journey or for part of it. "It is difficult to arrive at exact figures on the irregular flows, given their hidden nature," the European Parliament stated in a 2021 report.
While there is no doubt that human smugglers, also called migrant smugglers, run thriving businesses, the report added that it's also worth noting the majority of non-EU immigrants colonists migrate to the EU via legal channels.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO USE HUMAN SMUGGLERS?
Human smuggling is driven by supply and demand, and the degree of risk. "It is a services market," said Bird, of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. "The price goes up if there is a lot of law enforcement on the way." However, death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate... when there is a lull in business, prices sink and smugglers tend to offer incentives like group discounts, she added.
For the route between North Africa and Europe's closest coasts in Italia and Greece, prices range from €3,000 to €10,000 (up to $10,000), and sometimes more, said Hamdi. "That includes the journey to the North African coast, and the boat crossing," he added.
However, death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate... as migrants colonists often do not have the full funds required, they are often abused, exploited and sometimes taken into slavery as part of repaying the debt, he told DW. Some are forced to work off their debt, while others do odd jobs in border towns to repay debt and save up for the next leg of their journey.
Various statistics show that male migrants colonists slightly outnumber female migrants colonists. "It is a terribly strenuous journey from Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... or from Somalia just to make it to the Mediterranean," said Egeland.
"Local families often come together to raise money collectively to pay a smuggler to facilitate the journey for a young family member who might later send money back, or even legally facilitate the relocation of the family later on," said Hamdi, who added that he has met families in North Africa who had helped their family members make the dangerous crossing.
"When I would remark on the high risk of death, the overwhelmingly common response was that they were already dead while being alive and breathing," he said.
[IsraelTimes] Spokesperson for Iran-backed Kataeb Hezbollah says group is ‘working tirelessly to find out the fate of the Zionist hostage’ Elizabeth Tsurkov, who has been missing in Iraq for months.
“Please, O Russia, do not hurt us!”
According to an Iraqi intelligence source, Tsurkov was kidnapped in Baghdad "at the beginning of Ramadan," the Moslem fasting month which this year started on March 23. She was "leaving the Ridha Alwan cafe," according to the New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize... , in an area frequented by Westerners "full of coffee shops, clothing stores and markets."
A Western diplomat stationed in Iraq said that Tsurkov had arrived in Baghdad "at the beginning of December 2022." According to the Times, "she had undergone emergency back surgery in Baghdad and was recovering from the operation before she was kidnapped."
Another government official confirmed on Wednesday that Tsurkov had made previous trips to Iraq, which Israel considers an enemy country. (The New York Times quoted Iraqi officials saying she had made more than 10 visits.) According to Israeli law, it is illegal for Israeli citizens to enter enemy countries, even on a foreign passport.
Tsurkov’s website said she was a fellow at the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, as well as a research fellow at the Forum for Regional Thinking, an Israeli-Paleostinian think-tank based in Jerusalem.
"Liz is very much a part of America. She works with a Washington think tank, writes for an American magazine and studies at Princeton University. She deserves America’s every effort to bring her to safety," New Lines said on Wednesday.
Witnesses who knew her said Tsurkov used to freely move around in the Iraqi capital.
She had focused on pro-Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... factions and the movement of Iraqi Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr as part of her research on the region, according to several journalists who had met her.
If it’s good enough for Syria, not to mention Iran... Carry on worrying, guys.
[IsraelTimes] Iraqi source tells London-based Elaph there is growing ‘anxiety’ in Baghdad over potential air raids on Kataeb Hezbollah, which Israel says kidnapped researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov.
More normalcy, and the Saudis left out because they’re demanding to much for the bargain.
[IsraelTimes] Agreement between Manufacturers’ Association of Israel and the UAE’s Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone includes business delegations and networking meetups to foster economic ties.
[IsraelTimes] The United Arab Emirates pledges to give $15 million to help rebuild the Jenin refugee camp after an intensive Israeli military operation there this week.
The funding promise comes after the IDF’s two-day offensive destroyed much of the camp’s narrow roads and alleyways. Twelve Paleostinians and one Israeli soldier were killed in the fighting.
The UAE’s state-run WAM news agency reports that the money would be granted to UNRWA, the UN agency that assists Paleostinian refugees, to rebuild damaged homes and businesses and for the agency’s services. UNRWA has struggled recently to raise the funding it needs to keep its day-to-day operations helping millions of people across the Middle East.
[IsraelTimes] Spokesman for al-Qassam Brigades says terror group behind shooting near Eli last month, Tuesday’s ramming-stabbing in Tel Aviv, Thursday’s killing of soldier in West Bank
In a rare move, the front man for the military wing of Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, said Thursday that the terror group was directly responsible for a recent string of deadly attacks in Israel and the West Bank.
In a statement on Telegram, Abu Obaida said the terror shooting near the West Bank settlement of Eli on June 20, which left four Israelis dead, was carried out by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades in response to a deadly Israeli military raid in the city of Jenin two days prior.
Initially, Hamas only confirmed that the two button men were affiliated with the terror group, without taking responsibility.
Abu Obaida said a car-ramming and stabbing terror attack in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, which left seven Israelis maimed, several of them seriously, was also carried out by the group. The terrorist was initially only identified as a member of Hamas.
Earlier Thursday, the al-Qassam Brigades also grabbed credit for a shooting attack near the West Bank settlement of Kedumim, which left an Israeli soldier dead.
Abu Obaida said the attacks in Tel Aviv and Kedumim were carried out in response to a major Israeli operation in Jenin earlier this week, during which at least 12 Paleostinian button men were killed.
Hamas’s military wing has rarely issued statements taking responsibility for attacks in recent years, ostensibly to avoid retaliation by Israel, though Jerusalem has often accused it of orchestrating attacks. Generally, even when avowed Hamas members committed attacks, the terror group praised rather than claimed the killings.
Israel has not directly blamed Hamas for the three attacks it claimed on Thursday.
Hamas last claimed a deadly shooting attack outside the West Bank city of Ariel in April 2022.
Notably, the Shin Bet security agency said the assailants who carried out the attacks in Tel Aviv and near Kedumim had no known prior security offenses.
[IsraelTimes] EUBAM unit was deployed to border crossing in preparation for Paleostinian independence, but two-state vision is increasingly losing out to notion of a single, shared entity
It’s been 16 years since the borders of the Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... Strip slammed shut after Hamas, the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood, seized control of the territory from Fatah.
The takeover forced the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... to withdraw monitors who had been deployed at a Gaza border crossing to help the Paleostinians prepare for independence. Yet the EU has regularly renewed funding for the unit since then, most recently late last month.
The continued existence of the unit known as EUBAM
... European Union Border Assistance Mission — they hang out at a bunch of borders in interesting places...
is an extreme example of the West’s willingness to keep pumping hundreds of millions of dollars a year into the moribund vision of a two-state solution between Israel and the Paleostinians.
Proponents say this approach remains the best chance for securing an eventual peace deal. Critics argue that opting for such costly conflict management helps keep the 56-year-old Israeli military control of other Paleostinian territories in place and allows Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... and the US to avoid making the hard political decisions needed to end the conflict.
This week’s Israeli military operation in the Jenin refugee camp, a West Bank terror stronghold, following numerous deadly attacks by Paleostinians from the area, and previous eruptions of violence also underscore the limits of international efforts to contain the conflict.
"The international community, in my view, understands the reality that the two-state solution is gone," said Marwan Muasher, a one-time Jordanian foreign minister and former ambassador to Israel. "It does not want to acknowledge this publicly, because acknowledging it publicly is going to have to force the international community to start talking about alternatives, all of them problematic."
Muasher, now a vice president at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, is unusual among his peers. The legions of diplomats and politicians who have devoted their careers to Mideast peacemaking remain committed to the two-state vision, even as the ground around them has shifted.
"I am still a believer," said Ehud Olmert, the former Israeli prime minister who led the last round of substantive peace talks with Paleostinian leaders before leaving office in 2009.
"There is no other solution. Everything else is almost inevitably a prescription for disaster," Olmert said.
The two-state approach has guided international diplomacy since the 1993 Oslo peace accords between Israel and the Paleostine Liberation Organization. The interim accords were meant to lay the groundwork for the establishment of a Paleostinian state alongside Israel.
Paleostinians seek the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, areas Israel captured in the 1967 Six Day War, for their state. The land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, made up of pre-1967 Israel and the other three area lands, is populated in roughly equal parts by Paleostinians and Israeli Jews. Pollsters predict an eventual Paleostinian majority because of higher birth rates.
Proponents of partition say it would create a democratic Israel with a clear Jewish majority in defined borders and enable Paleostinians to realize their national aspirations.
Without partition, the default is a reality in which a shrinking Israeli minority controls a growing Paleostinian majority with few political rights. Leading rights groups claim an apartheid system is already in place. Israel rejects any allegation of apartheid, saying its own Arab citizens enjoy equal rights, while its limitations on Paleostinians are a necessity born of the need to protect itself from violence. Israel also notes that it granted limited autonomy to the Paleostinian Authority at the height of the grinding of the peace processor in the 1990s and withdrew all its soldiers and settlers from Gaza in 2005.
Since the Oslo Accords 30 years ago, the US and EU have spent billions of dollars on development projects and direct aid to the Paleostinian Authority to promote the two-state vision. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell both pledged support for a partition deal.
Yet the West has little to show for its efforts. Peace initiatives led by successive US presidents were derailed by violence, Israeli settlement expansion and mutual distrust.
Hamas, shunned by the West as a terrorist group, has fought four wars against Israel and remains entrenched in Gaza. The Paleostinian Authority, which governs semi-autonomous enclaves in the West Bank, is weaker than ever. Israel’s hard-right government opposes Paleostinian independence and is racing to expand a settler population that has ballooned to over 700,000 people.
Preoccupied with the war in Ukraine and its rivalry with China, the Biden administration has done little more than condemn Israeli settlement plans and call for de-escalation.
Recent opinion polls show that only about one-third of Israelis and Paleostinians still favor a two-state solution.
Even some members of the Paleostinian Authority, which has the most to gain from independence, have begun to speak publicly about equal rights between the river and the sea, rather than two states.
"The basis for us is ending the occupation, obtaining freedom," said Mahmoud Aloul, an aide to Paleostinian Authority President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase.... . He said it does not matter if the conflict ends with two states or a single binational state for Israelis and Paleostinians.
In academic and human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... circles, many now speak about a "one-state reality" — in which Israel wields overall control over Paleostinians. Muasher said given this environment, it is time for the world to focus on Paleostinian human rights instead of unrealistic peace plans.
Ines Abdel-Razek, executive director of the Paleostine Institute for Public Diplomacy, an advocacy group, said calls for a two-state solution are "comfortable" for the international community, but insincere.
She said that if the US were serious about peace, it would force Israel to reverse its settlement enterprise. Instead, she said, Washington gives Israel billions in military aid, allows settlement groups to raise funds in the US, engages with institutions promoting the annexation of the West Bank and pushes for normalization with other Arab countries.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...a country in Central America that sits on an enormous pool of oil. Formerly the most prospereous country in the region, it became infested with Commies sniffing almost unlimited wealth. It turned out the wealth wasn't unlimited, the economy collapsed under the clownish Hugo Chavez, the murder rate exceeded places like Honduras and El Salvador. A significant proportion of the populace refugeed to Colombia and points south...
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for 
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
