August 2005
Meretz
Meretz USA is a progressive Zionist organization that educates
Americans about issues of civil rights and peace in Israel, and promotes the values of
peace, pluralism and democracy in Israel, as envisioned by prophetic Judaism and the
Zionist pioneers and as enshrined in Israel's Declaration of Independence.
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(Social Democratic Israel).
Meretz USA
The week kicked off with the momentous, yet expected election of Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) as Chairman of the Palestinian Authority. In what was considered a landslide victory, Abu Mazen secured 62 percent of the vote, becoming the only serving elected leader in the Arab world.
While many would agree the elections marked a positive new era in the Palestinian national agenda, the media was awash with analyses and editorials voicing concern about what must now happen to ensure that the peace process moves forward.
In an editorial for the Washington Post, head of the Yahad/Meretz Party Yossi Beilin stressed that Israel and the international community must assist Abbas in his efforts to curb terror and build the Palestinian Authority following the last four years of attrition.
Outspoken Israeli journalist Amira Hass wrote a piece for Haaretz on the low turnout for the election. She called the 45-percent turnout a "political abstention" that proves the Palestinian public is not deluded about who actually rules over them. Not Abu Mazen, not Fatah, but the Israel Defense Forces.
Director of the Institute of Modern Media at Al Quds University, Daoud Kuttab highlighted the internal struggle that must now go on among the Palestinians themselves, which Abu Mazen referred to in his victory speech as the "greater jihad."
According to a poll conducted by Prof. Khalil Shikaki of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah, many Palestinians who voted for Abu Mazen are not necessarily in favor of ending the use of violence in the struggle for independence.
Meanwhile, Gaza remained a hub of violence this week: A roadside bomb detonated by Islamic Jihad on Wednesday killed one Israeli and led to the IDF’s pursuit and killing of four militants; then late Thursday night a double suicide attack at the Karni crossing killed six Israelis, culminating in Israel’s closing of all Gaza crossings and suspending ties with the Palestinian Authority until further notice.
In other news, (former IMF managing director) Stanley Fischer’s appointment as governor of the Bank of Israel drew criticism from Israeli economists and politicians who claimed he is a "foreigner" who has not served in an "elite" army unit. Haaretz reacted to this claim with an editorial rebuking this view and stressing the importance of accepting Jews from around the world as "one of us."
New studies revealed by American and Israeli statisticians
(presented this week at various American pro-Israel functions, including the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations)
on the demographic forecast of the Palestinian and Israeli populations in the next decade contradict those released in 1997 by the Palestinian Authority’s Central Bureau of Statistics. According to the new figures, Palestinians - both inside and beyond the Green Linne - will constitute a third of the estimated 5.16 million by 2015. Possibly of greater concern, is the use of these figures by such a broad group of American Jewish organizations to undermine the Israeli government’s resolution to withdraw from Gaza and parts of the West Bank.
Weekly Index:
Number of international observers present at January 9th Election: 500
Number of East Jerusalem residents who voted in the January 9th election: 26,365
Total number of Palestinians eligible to vote in East Jerusalem: 120,000
Of those who did vote, the number that voted for Abu Mazen: 16,000
Number of billboards for Palestinian candidates approved by Israel to be hung in East
Jerusalem: 15
Amount (in tons) of poultry exported from Brazil to Middle East in 2004: 750,000
Amount Saudi Arabia imported: 332,610
Price this cost the Kingdom in U.S. Dollars: 318.5 million
Sources:
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Palestine Report; GoogleNews; Haaretz
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August 12, 2005