Last update - 21:03 08/08/2009
Report: Jewish Fatah member nominated for party's Revolutionary Council
By Haaretz Service
Tags: Israel news, Fatah, Jewish
A Jewish member of Fatah was nominated for a spot on the party's Revolutionary Council on Saturday, the Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported. Dr. Uri Davis told Ma'an that one of Fatah's weakest attributes has been its failure to establish ties with international parties, movements and human rights organizations, and promised to step up efforts, if elected. Born to Jewish parents in Jerusalem, Davis describes himself as a Palestinian Hebrew.
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Davis has written a series of books and articles that classify the State of Israel as an apartheid state, alleging that Israel's policies towards Palestinians, including Palestinian citizens of Israel, are comparable to South Africa's apartheid policies. According to Ma'an, Davis explained that every Fatah member can run for a post on the party's 120-member Revolutionary Council regardless of religion, race or color. While it is common for Palestinian Christians to support Fatah and hold positions within the organization, Davis would likely be the first Jewish member of its Revolutionary Council if elected, the news agency said. He already serves as a Fatah-affiliated observer member (non-Palestinian) of the Palestinian National Council, to which he was appointed by the late Yasser Arafat in 1984. Davis was recruited to Fatah in the 1980s by Palestine Liberation Organization leader and founder Khalil Al-Wazir, also known as Abu Jihad, who was assassinated in 1988 by an Israeli commando unit led by current Defense Minister Ehud Barak in Tunisia, the Palestinian news agency reported. "I wasn't convinced that the Israeli left-wing parties were satisfactory because all of them are Zionist parties," Davis explained. "Thus, I examined Palestinian left-wing parties but discovered that most of them adopted Marxism," such as the secular Popular and Democratic Fronts for the Liberation of Palestine. "However I was pro-socialism rather than Marxism, so I joined Fatah because it contained a liberal framework that encompasses contradictory yet harmonious ideologies," he added. "The movement has struggled to liberate land and people from occupation."
Last update - 23:12 08/08/2009
Peres: Gay center shooting hurt all Israelis
By Ofri Ilani, Yanir Yagana and Fadi Eyadat, Haaretz Correspondents and Haaretz Service
Tags: Shimon Peres, Israel News
Tens of thousands took to Tel Aviv's Rabin Square Saturday night in a rally to show solidarity with the victims of a shooting at a Tel Aviv center for gay and lesbian youth one week ago, that left two people dead and a dozen wounded. President Shimon Peres addressed the crowd, saying "the shots fired at the beginning of the week at the gay and lesbian community hurt all of us - as people, as Jews, as Israelis." Peres mentioned the two Israelis killed in the attack, Nir Katz, 26 and Liz Trobishi, 17, saying "the person who pointed a pistol barrel at Nir Katz and Liz Trobishi pointed it all of you, all of us, at me."
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"The creator of the world did not endow anyone with the power to murder his peer," Peres said, adding "every person must fight against murder." Peres added that "all citizens are citizens with equal rights. Every man was created equal, and every citizen has the right to be who they want to be." The president vowed that "bullets will not change the principles of our lives, and murderers will not prosper," adding that Israel "will not rest until the criminal is brought to justice." Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai also spoke at the rally, where he said "we thought that in Tel Aviv-Yafo, the city of tolerance and pluralism, that has respected the Gay-Lesbian community for years, we had created an open and accepting society for our children." Huldai said he "serious failure" at the fact that in his words, Tel Aviv "became a place of hatred and murder." Huldai also called for an end to incitement against the Gay-Lesbian community, saying "we must say loudly - no more incitement." Huldai invoked the words of murdered, openly-gay former San Francisco politician Harvey Milk, who said, " "If a bullet should enter my brain, let the bullet destroy every closet door." "We, here today want that the bullets that pierced the hearts of Liz and Nir of blessed memory, and wounded their friends, should be the bullets that will destroy the walls of ignorance and hatred in our society," Huldai told the crowd. Hours before the rally, an Israel Defense Forces soldier was arrested on suspicion of threatening attendees of the rally. While in custody, the soldier confessed to making the threats. Throughout the day Saturday, operators of transportation to the event received telephone threats, including one caller who threatened to bring grenades to the demonstration. A similar threat was received by organizers of transportation from Haifa. According to Gal Zberger, who organized a Peace Now bus to take demonstrators from Haifa to Tel Aviv, "I got a phone call from a number I didn't recognize. He asked for details regarding the bus. I gave him the details and asked for his name. He said 'the one with the grenade.' I asked what he meant, and he said 'today you will get hit with grenades, not just guns.'" Another activist from the Be'er Sheva, Shai Gottler, said that earlier in the day, he got an anonymous phone call asking him when the buses were leaving for the rally. Gottler answered the caller, saying that the buses were leaving at around 6 P.M., and asked if he wanted to get a ride. In response, the caller said "I want to come to the pickup point to throw grenades at you." The police launched an investigation into the incident, and were trying to determine the source of the calls. Related articles:
Two killed in shooting at Tel Aviv gay center
Gay center shooting is reminder of Israel's hollow tolerance
Livni to gay Israelis: Don't let hate crime stop you living your lives
Religious party leader: Same-sex families undermine Judaism
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