Passion and politics at the London Palestine film festival

London Palestine Film Festival 2011 from Palestine Film Foundation on Vimeo.

source: guardian.co.uk Thursday 28 April 2011 22.30 BST
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/apr/28/london-palestine-film-festival

The London Palestine film festival has simple but radical aims: to constantly push boundaries, disrupt our conventional understandings and make us see it all anew.

Zindeeq, the opening film of the 2011 London Palestine film festival






The perilous art of choosing a film on Palestine for an international audience may appear fraught with elephant traps. Weighted down by more than 40 years of military occupation and 60 years of dispossession, and comprising the largest refugee population in the world, Palestine is a touchstone for passion and political engagement across the world. Is a film about it inherently too political, too ideologically rigid to enlighten, or indeed entertain? Do the unhappy politics of the place trump any chance of critical engagement on a film's artistic merit, or allow room for happy accident and serendipity in choosing a film?

The long-running London Palestine film festival, established at London University more than 20 years ago and held annually at the Barbican since 2005, arrived at a highly unexpected and bold solution to this challenge. It somehow manages to transcend this traditional dilemma by holding fast to a few simple but radical aims: to constantly push boundaries, disrupt our conventional understandings, make us see it all anew, and open it up for us once more. With each screening, discussion, roundtable, photography exhibit, director's conversation and artist's event, the world of Palestine is seen yet again, as if for the first time.

Under this mandate, a serious but ebullient festival has emerged. In order to keep shaking things up, a key premise was to universalise Palestine. Although we are in the midst of a wave of Palestinian film talent, they forgo the confines of a traditional "national cinema" series for an unmistakably internationalist one. This year's festival showcases 30 works by artists working in 12 different countries, and across genres from video art to biopic, puts up work for UK premieres (16 this year), and shows cutting-edge documentaries such as Mahmoud al Massad's mesmerising This Is My Picture When I Was Dead.

It also regularly celebrates archive gems, this year showing the recently restored Far from Vietnam (1967), on which Chris Marker, Jean-Luc Godard, Agnès Varda, Claude Lelouch, Alain Resnais and Joris Ivens all worked. The result is a carnival of cinematic styles and concerns that transcend and unite the historical, the aesthetic, and the political in film, and that is why it works so well. Each film and event challenges – either obliquely or directly – our thinking around Palestine today.

The festival also plays a major role as the platform for introducing Palestinian films and film-makers to UK audiences. Since its inception in 1998, more than 320 works have been shown, nearly half by Palestinians. The festival's focus on Palestinian work unites established and emerging artists. This year's festival opens with Zindeeq (pictured), a remarkable work of sublime beauty. Bold, dangerous and difficult, it is the latest work of pioneering Palestinian auteur Michel Khleifi. But it also contains a body of work from a new generation of film-makers such as May Odeh, Rima Essa and Abdallah al Ghoul.

This year the programme highlights pressing contemporary issues, as well. Vibeke Løkkeberg's astonishing Tears of Gaza offers a searing account of the human impact of the 2008-09 war in Gaza, while a triple-bill on 7 May focuses on the tunnels that furnish Gaza's precarious lifeline. And this year includes the rare chance to see Heiny Srour's 1984 feminist masterwork, Leila and the Wolves (co-presented with Birds Eye View film festival), as well as the UK premiere of Dahna Abourahme's groundbreaking documentary on the women of Ain el-Hilweh refugee camp in south Lebanon, The Kingdom of Women. Breathtaking, uplifting, heartbreaking, inspiring: welcome to Palestine.

The London Palestine film festival runs from 29 April to 11 May.
Details: palestinefilm.org

外媒：埃及外交政策轉向震動中東

轉貼來源：新華國際  2011年04月30日 09:03:10
http://big5.xinhuanet.com/gate/big5/news.xinhuanet.com/world/2011-04/30/c_121365962.htm

【以色列《國土報》網站4月，28日報道】埃及外長納比勒‧阿拉比對卡塔爾半島電視臺說，埃及正準備永久開放拉法口岸，使得貨物和人員可以不再受以色列的監督而自由進出加沙地帶。

阿拉比說，埃及將在7到10天內採取措施，緩解“巴勒斯坦國的封鎖和苦難”。

這個聲明表明埃及在加沙政策上有了重大改變。在埃及起義之前，這個口岸是與以色列聯合管理的。以色列與埃及警察共同採取的封鎖行動是一項旨在削弱哈馬斯的政策。該政策試圖通過制造經濟困難來降低哈馬斯在加沙民眾中的受歡迎程度。

【美國《紐約時報》網站4月28日報道】題：埃及轉變態度，對以色列的敵人伊朗和哈馬斯熱情起來

埃及正在制定外交政策的新路線，計劃開放與加沙之間被封鎖的邊界，並使與以色列和西方的兩大伊斯蘭主義對頭——哈馬斯和伊朗——的關係實現正常化。這一切已經開始震動中東地區的現有秩序。

因革命成功備受鼓舞、同時著眼于即將到來的選舉的埃及官員說，他們正朝著更準確地反映民意的政策前進。在此過程中，他們試圖重新建立埃及對整個地區的影響力：自從埃及1979年與以色列簽訂和平條約、成為華盛頓和以色列的盟友以來，它在中東地區的影響力便減弱了。

這一新路線的首個重要跡象是，埃及扮演中間人幫助巴勒斯坦的世俗派別法塔赫與其對頭哈馬斯達成了和解協議。外交部發言入門哈‧巴胡姆說：“我們在翻開新的一頁。埃及正在重新發揮它一度放棄的作用。”

埃及的轉變很有可能改變中東地區的力量平衡，讓伊朗獲得與此前不共戴天的敵人接近的新機會，同時拉遠埃及自身與以色列的距離。以色列一直在以略帶驚慌的目光關注著這種轉變。以色列一位高官說：“我們對埃及最近的一些舉動感到不安。”他提到了“伊朗和埃及之間的和解”以及“埃及和哈馬斯之間關係的升級”。

這位官員說：“這些動向可能給以色列的安全造成戰略性影響。過去，即使在埃及努力阻止的情況下哈馬斯也能重新武裝自己。要是埃及不再阻止，他們能在加沙建立多少恐怖力量？”該官員要求不透露姓名，因為相關國家仍在通過外交渠道討論這些事務。

數名前外交宮和分析家說，通過選擇一條更獨立的路線，埃及擁有了給予或收回支持的靈活性，因此也能重獲某種影響力。


Egyptian Military: Israel has no Right to Interfere in the Opening of Rafah Crossing

source: PNN
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9975

Cairo – PNN – The Egyptian Army Chief of Staff, General Sami Adnan, announced on Saturday that the opening of Rafah crossing located on the southern Gaza Borders with Egypt is a Palestinian-Egyptian matter that Israel do not have the right to interfere in.

Adnan statement was issued on his Facebook page, shortly after the Egyptian Forging Minister Nabiel al-Arabi announced on Thursday that the crossing will be open for supplies and people in both ways next week, ending the four years long siege on Gaza.

On Friday Israeli officials said that the opening of Rafah crossing could affect Israel's national security at a strategic level.

Israeli placed the Gaza Strip under siege in June of 2007. The army closed all crossings leading in and out of Gaza leaving the 1.5 million Palestinians living in the costal enclave in short of Food, fuel and Medical supplies.

Rafah crossing was handed over to the Palestinians by Israel in 2005 under international supervision. In 2006 when Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip after ousting President Mahmoud Abbas forces Egypt closed Rafah crossing and only opened it two to three days a month for humanitarian cases only.


Egypt to Open Gaza Border Crossing

source: Palestine Chronicle
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/news.php?id=ac0980a7257e2c2c7ad8f9cb141d8432&mode=details#ac0980a7257e2c2c7ad8f9cb141d8432

Egypt is to permanently open the Rafah border crossing to ease the Israeli blockade on Gaza, Nabil al-Arabi, the country's foreign minister, has said.

Arabi said Egypt would take "important steps to help ease the blockade on Gaza in the few days to come".

Speaking to Al Jazeera on Friday, the minister said Egypt would no longer accept that the Rafah border, Gaza's only crossing that bypasses Israel, remain blocked, describing the decision to seal it off as "shameful".

The announcement came days after Hamas, which controls Gaza, and their secular West Bank rivals Fatah, which controls the Palestinian Authority (PA), agreed to end their rift and form an interim government to prepare for elections.

In talks before the deal, the two sides had discussed reopening the crossing after positioning PA representatives at the border, a condition in a US-brokered 2005 border crossing agreement between Israel and the PA.

Mahmud Zahar, a senior Hamas official, told the AFP news agency that it was understood that the crossing, which under the 2005 agreement was to be monitored by European Union delegates, would be opened after a unity deal.

Israeli Concerns

A senior official in Jerusalem said Israel was "very concerned" about the implications of the Rafah crossing being open.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said Hamas had already built up a "dangerous military machine" in northern Sinai which could be further strengthened by opening Rafah.

"What power could they amass if Egypt was no longer acting to prevent that build-up?" the official said.

Earlier this week, unknown assailants in northern Sinai blew up a gas pipeline supplying Israel and Jordan, the second time it has been sabotaged in 10 weeks.

"We are troubled by the developments in Egypt, by the voices calling to annul the peace treaty, by the rapprochement between Egypt and Iran, and by the upgrading of relations between Egypt and Hamas," the Israeli source said.

"These developments potentially have strategic implications for Israel's national security."

Palestinian officials welcomed the Egyptian move, with Saeb Erakat, the PA's chief negotiator, saying it was one step towards loosening the siege on the Gaza Strip.

"We welcome this step by Egypt. We have been pressing them all the time to end the suffering of the people in Gaza, but the real siege is caused by Israel because there are many border crossing with Israel but only one with Egypt," he said.

"We ask Israel to open all the borders to end this crime against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip," he said.

Hatem Ewidah, the Hamas official in charge of border crossings in Gaza, also welcomed the move, but stressed it was "important to open the commercial crossing with Egypt" to reduce the impact of the blockade.

Shift in Power

In a reminder of the border tensions, which is honeycombed with tunnels that supply Gaza with everything from cars and cattle to guns, police announced hours after Arabi's comments that smugglers had shot dead an Egyptian soldier on Thursday.

The border has remained largely shut since June 2006 when Israel imposed a tight blockade on Gaza after fighters snatched Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who is still being held.

The blockade was tightened a year later when Hamas seized control of the territory, ousting forces loyal to the Western-backed PA.

The UN has called the blockade illegal and repeatedly demanded it be lifted.

(Agencies via Al Jazeera)

Hamas-Fatah Officials Sign Unity Deal in Cairo

source: PNN 27.04.11
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9961&Itemid=56

Cairo – PNN Exclusive – Palestinian sources confirmed for PNN that Hamas and Fatah have signed in Cairo on Wednesday a deal to end the division and achieve national unity.

Earlier on Wednesday delegations headed by Musa Abu Marzoka, member of Hamas Politburo member, and Azzam al-Ahmad, member of Fatah central committee started talks to reach the long awaited unity deal mediated by the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Nabeel al-Arabi.

Sources close to Azzam al-Ahmad of Fatah told PNN that the deal have in fact been signed adding that al-Ahmad and Abu Marzoka will announced the deal in a press conference at 8:00 PM ( 9:00 PM local Palestinian time).

In a phone call from Cairo al-Ahmad told PNN “we have reached reconciliation deal and both Fatah and Hamas have signed it.”

According to sources in Cairo that Fatah and Hamas signed the initial deal, while other Palestinian groups will arrive in Cairo within a week to sign the deal as well.

The Islamic movement Hamas is at loggerheads with Fatah, headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, since Hamas won the parliamentary elections in January of 2006. Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip ending months of bloody conflict with Fatah allied security forces. Egypt and other Arab countries attempts of reaching a reconciliation deal between the two largest Palestinian factions have failed so far.

According to internal sources the agreement will include the formation of a care taker government until elections take place in both the West Bank and Gaza.


達共識 巴勒斯坦期盼1年內大選

轉貼來源: 2011/4/28  撰稿‧編輯：吳寧康 　　新聞引據： 中央社
http://news.rti.org.tw/index_newsContent.aspx?nid=293837&id=6&id2=2

對立的巴勒斯坦組織哈瑪斯集團(Hamas)與法塔(Fatah)在開羅達成非正式協議，將設立過渡聯合政府、舉辦選舉。圖右為法塔代表團負責人阿瑪德(Azzam al-Ahmad)、左為哈瑪斯的第二號人物阿布馬祖格(Mussa Abu Marzuq)(AFP)




埃及官方「中東新聞社」(MENA)報導，對立的巴勒斯坦組織哈瑪斯集團(Hamas)與法塔(Fatah)，27日在開羅達成非正式協議，將設立過渡聯合政府、舉辦選舉。

報導指出，這2個分裂派系談判討論全面性議題，包括在特定授權下組成過渡政府、敲定選舉日期，並已達成完整的非正式協議。

報導中說，所有巴勒斯坦派系將在埃及召開會議，並於開羅簽署和解協議。法塔代表團負責人阿瑪德(Azzam al-Ahmad)表示，他們已達成全面和最終協議，並要求在1年內舉行總統與國會選舉。

相同的協議原本去年就可獲得各方同意，但哈瑪斯集團在最後關頭，抗議協議內容未經他們同意便遭更動，因此退出。


The division ends
Egypt brokers successful Fateh and Hamas reconciliation last night

source: Palestine Monitor 28 April 2011
http://palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1779

"[Palestinian unity] is the best weapon we have against the occupation," said Senior Fatah Central Committee member Azam al-Ahmad following the announcement of reconciliation agreement in Cairo.

At 9:00pm last night, representatives from Palestine’s two authorities, Fateh and Hamas, announced their reconciliation following talks begun in Damascus earlier this year. Now in Egypt, the reunified Palsetinian leaderships from Gaza and the West Bank have invited all of Palestine’s disparate groups to gather together in Cairo, set aside their differences, and focus on ending the occupation.

Two days ago, tens of thousands of Palestinians pressured Fateh and Hamas to reconcile via a Facebook page, building on the momentum and demands of the March 15 youth movement.

Diplomatic sources told the Jerusalem Post that "the recent upheavals in the Arab world, as well as the release in February by Al Jazeera of the ’Palestine Papers’ that provided details of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations under Ehud Olmert’s government, has led the Palestinians to hunker down in rigid positions. The sources said that this ’rigidity’ in the Palestinian positions was made clear to Quartet representatives when they met twice over the last three weeks with Saeb Erekat."

Al Jazeera English’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara stated the reconciliation deal is a result of the geopolitical reality following the Arab Spring sweeping Palestine and Israel’s neighbors.

"At the end, you could say that President Abbas has lost his patron in Egypt, which is President Mubarak, and Hamas is more on less facing almost similar trouble now, with Bashar Al-Assad [Syria’s president] facing his own trouble in Damascus,"Bishara said. "So with the US keeping a distance, Israel not delivering the goods on the peace process and the settlements, it was time for Palestinians to come together and agree on what they basically agreed on almost a year and a half ago."

ISRAEL THREATENS

"Even before the details of the reconciliation deal were officially [announced], Israel attacked the agreement," Egyptian official Al-Ahmad said.

President Benjamin Netanyahu was the first to respond to the deal. He went on the attack.

"The PA must choose either peace with Israel or peace with Hamas. There is no possibility for peace with both," Netanyahu said. Beset on all sides - Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt are all facing differeing levels of insurrection and revolution - Knesset is keeping both eyes open as the Arab Spring blossoms across the region. If a new regime in Egypt will accept Sadat-era peace agreements or old gas deals are questions worrying Israel, comfortable in the status quo of hushed yet rapid settlement growth, a siege around Gaza, and increasing interior culls of citizen freedoms.

Netanyahu added that his ultimatum would change evaporate if a reunified Palestinian movememnt disavowed violence, recognized Israel and accept previous agreements like the Oslo Accords.

Barak Obama’s administration has tread lightly, with the National Security Council expressing guarded optimism for a potential empowerment of democratically-elected Hamas, a group considered by Washington a terrorist organization. Congressmen told the New York Times the millions of US funds to the PA will be reconsidered.

Republican politicians will host Netanyahu in Washington next week, and have called for suspension of aid to the PA. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and other right-wing Israeli politicians have also threatened to withhold tax revenue collected by Israel because the PA has crossed the red line.


Abbas Tells Israeli Delegation Netanyahu does not want Peace

source: WAFA 28/4/2011 
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=16000

RAMALLAH, April 28, 2011 (WAFA) - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Thursday told an Israeli peace delegation that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not want peace.

Abbas received the Israeli delegation at his headquarters in Ramallah to discuss the initiative, which calls for establishing two states living in peace next to each other and for finding a solution to the refugee question and Jerusalem.

Abbas told the Israeli delegation that he was very close to reaching a peace agreement with Israel when former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had headed the government. However, he said, when Netanyahu came to office he wanted to start from point zero.

“We were very close but couldn’t conclude (an agreement),” said Abbas about the talks with Olmert.

He said an agreement on borders and security was within reach and could have been concluded, On borders, he said, the two sides agreed to the 1967 borders with land swap, and on security, Abbas proposed having a third party, such as NATO, to deploy forces in the Palestinian areas to monitor the area, but not Israeli forces.

“We were very close, but couldn’t conclude it. We had understandings on these issues,” said Abbas.

“We wanted to continue with Netanyahu, but he insisted to start from zero,” he said.

Netanyahu, said Abbas, rejected the idea of having NATO forces in the West Bank and insisted on having Israeli troops in the Jordan Valley and parts of the West Bank for 40 years.

“”I want to rely on my troops,” Netanyahu told Abbas, who responded saying: “I said to him this is an occupation, so keep it.”

Abbas said when Netanyahu closed all the doors in front of the peace talks, he had no choice but to seek other avenues, including going to the United Nations Security Council.

President Abbas talked about the new reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas, which had upset Israel, apparently including the Israeli delegation visiting Ramallah, which told Abbas that they were reconsidering their visit to Ramallah after the reconciliation agreement was announced Wednesday night in Cairo.

“Netanyahu has said time and time again that the Palestinian Authority must choose between Hamas and peace talks, but I responded by saying Hamas is part of the Palestinian people,” he said. “Netanyahu must make a decision between settlement construction and peace,” stressed Abbas.

He said that politics is the job of the PLO and its chairman, and not of the government.

Abbas said the reconciliation agreement is the first step towards having a government of technocrats, whose only purpose is to rebuild Gaza and prepare for elections, and not to hold negotiations with Israel.

Abbas said the Israeli peace initiative could be a base for peace talks. He called on Netanyahu to adopt it as well, after he rejected it when it was presented to him.

The delegation thanked Abbas and considered his acceptance and welcoming of the initiative a major step forward towards accomplishing peace.

Abbas: Illogical for US to Block Bid in UN for Palestinian State

source: PNN  22.04.11
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9941&Itemid=61

Ramallah – PNN - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday it would be "illogical" for the United States to block a Palestinian bid for statehood planned for September in the United Nations.

After a meeting between Abbas and the French president Nicolas Sarkozy, French sources said that Sarkozy has given Abbas his 'clear support' for efforts leading to the formation of an independent Palestinian state.

Abbas, who is in Paris for talks with French leaders, commented that Washington is already in agreeance with the principle of a Palestinian state co-existing side by side with Israel in order to ultimately bring peace to the Middle East.

Speaking to France 24 television in an interview shown on Thursday Abbas said "in principle we have a lot of signs that the United States is ready to recognize the Palestinian state," he continued, "If the United States is not ready it would not be coherent and logical."



Palestinian leaders will be looking for backing of statehood at the U.N. General Assembly. Already over 100 nations have said they recognize Palestine as a state. In order to gain full UN membership however, this must come from the UN Security Council.

US diplomats say the U.S. government maintains uncertainties about a unilateral approach to Palestinian statehood and could hinder approval of full UN membership for Palestine.

Peace talks backed by the US between Israel and the Palestinians last September broke down after disputes over continued Israeli settlement building in the West Bank became unsurpassable. Abbas said that talks on his behalf will not be resumed until all West Bank settlement building is suspended.

After meeting French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Prime Minister Francois Fillon, Abbas told journalists that the issue of Palestinian statehood was not mentioned as it was apparent what France's stance was.

A source from the presidential office said that Sarkozy had given Abbas his "clear support" for endeavors towards the creation of a Palestinian state. Fillon said last month that 2011 "should be the year when a Palestinian state is created."

Abbas spoke about possible unrest in the Palestinian territories if the Palestinian call for statehood was rebuffed in the United Nations.

Abbas warned "I don't know what the next step would be but maybe it would be difficult, maybe dangerous ...A third intifada (Palestinian uprising) is not my preference."

想要真實 別看電視─智利礦災事件的媒體觀察

轉貼來源: 2011-4-21 台灣立報
http://www.lihpao.com/?action-viewnews-itemid-106429

文■Michel Colon   譯■陳慧瑄

編按

2010年8月5日，智利聖荷西礦山坑道崩落，33名礦工陷困於地表下7百公尺的礦坑深處。智利總統品尼拉（Sebastian Pinera）親自到場指揮救援，全世界的媒體擁聚坑口，24小時現場守候。救援工作成為一場全球關注的媒體大秀，電視機前面的觀眾屏息以待，彷彿與礦工們同呼吸，共存亡。如是持續70天之後，10月13日零時12分，第一位礦工被救出，同日晚間9時55分，最後一位礦工也成功獲救，33名礦工全部存活。

這一事件是世界礦難史上的奇蹟，智利總統搭棚駐守，指揮救難，其聲望也因而水漲船高，儼然就是新時代的救世主！

然則，我們從媒體鏡頭所看到的，就是全部的事實嗎？

同樣的，在利比亞戰爭中，電視畫面能夠帶給我們多少真實的訊息？

本期《新國際》刊登兩篇主文，其一是去年智利礦災事件的的觀察，其二是北約軍事介入利比亞內戰的省視，兩篇文章都涉及到媒體角色的問題。世新大學傳播學院前院長成露茜在世時，積極提倡「媒體識讀」學程，她將主編的一本書題名為《媒體識讀：一個批判的開始》。我們期待，本期的內容，就是媒體識讀的起步，就是一個批判的開始。

近10億人觀看且深受感動。總統站在最前線，全智利的藍領與白領階級、富人與窮人都團結起來，為了拯救33位礦工的生命。情感、懸疑加上大量廣告收益的介入，這場轉播鬧劇究竟隱瞞了哪些事情？

■在智利科皮亞波的聖荷西礦區，智利總統品尼拉手上拿著一張用塑膠袋裝著的紙條，被困在地底的33名礦工透過紙條向外界表示「我們33人在地底下一切安好」，圖攝於2010年8月22日。（圖文／路透）




救世主面具下的億萬富豪
所謂的「救世主」其實都罪人。山崩的前3小時，聖荷西（San Jose）的礦工就已經聽到一些可疑的聲響並要求獲准離開，但上級拒絕了他們的請求，以致礦工們被掩埋於數噸的泥土之下。

這並不意外。2010年7月30日，一份勞工部門的報導便提出了針對聖荷西礦工的安全問題，當局卻沒有採取任何行動，且政府部門對此保持緘默。

最終的美好結局無疑讓所有人歡喜沸騰，可是這場救援秀簡化了問題的嚴重性，並且掩飾了問題的根源──過去10年，多達4百名智利礦工死於礦區，為什麼？

歐米納密（Marco-Enriquez-Ominami）是品尼拉總統上回選舉的對手，他說，會造成那麼多人罹難，主要是因為「資金投入太少，而作業安全的標準又太低」。

事實上，光是2009年，智利就發生了19萬1千件工安意外，導致443名工人死亡。智利政府必須為此直接負起責任，但是當局卻在過去12年來都拒絕簽署國際勞工組織（The International Labour Organisation）C176條有關礦區健康與安全的協議。企業家們享有不受限制的自由，工人卻沒有一丁點權利。

他微笑、專注並且關懷同胞的臉孔持續在各大螢幕出現，他是國家元首──品尼拉。但這符理想化的美好影像是否帶著過度的圓滑？這位在2009年以51.61％選票當選總統的人究竟是誰？

品尼拉今年61歲，身價12億美元，在富比士排名全球第701位富人。皮諾契特（Augusto Pinochet）血腥獨裁政權期間（1973-1990），許多政策的施行為品尼拉創造發財的機會，讓他積蓄了大量財富。彼時的智利正處於極端派經濟學者──即後來所稱的芝加哥男孩（Chicago Boys）──帶領的新自由主義的試驗階段，一連串的私有化政策，讓負責信用卡部門的品尼拉大發利市。

品尼拉綽號「拉美的貝魯斯柯尼」（譯按，Silvio Berlusconi，義大利國總理，同時也是媒體大亨，八卦醜聞大明星）。他現在擁有全國最大的電視頻道智利視野（Chilevision）、手下有最大的足球隊之一柯樂柯樂（Colo Colo），並且在零售業、礦業與製藥工業都擁有一席之地；成為總統之後，他被迫賣掉Lan Chile航空的股權（他是主要大股東）。以上即證明了他的雙重身分：國家元首與影響力強大的商人。當阿根廷日報《號手》（Clarin）問到他曖昧的身分狀態時，他表示：「只有死人與聖人不會有利益衝突」。

■智利右派反對黨聯盟總統候選人品尼拉於2009年12月13日在聖地牙哥一家公立學校投完票後，向媒體展示自己蓋過印泥的大拇指。（圖文／路透）





「成功男人」的美好形象?
品尼拉當然不是聖人。在品尼拉還是銀行經理時，軍事獨裁政權期間的司法部部長馬達黎加（Monica Madariaga）就曾經幫了他大忙。品尼拉涉案，馬達黎加施加壓力改變判決，當時的金融詐欺已經高達2億4千萬美元了。2007年，品尼拉在獲得Lan Chile航空的股份之後，運用其在證券市場的職權進行內線交易而，罪行確鑿。

誠如偉大的法國作家巴爾札克（Honoré de Balzac）所言：「所有巨大的財富之後，都隱藏著罪行。」隱藏在品尼拉背後的是血腥的顏色，是獨裁政權之下無數的受害者。

品尼拉掩藏過往，扮演起人民朋友的角色，而電視鏡頭拍下了他頭戴黃色安全帽出現在聖荷西礦區的身影，給了他一個真正的政治良機，使他的民調節節高升。就這樣，在獨裁政權之後恥於露臉的智利右翼，現在終於重現聲威。

儘管醜聞重重，品尼拉知道該如何掌握自己的優勢。他的競選團隊強調他「熱愛民主」，唯一的證據是，當1988年皮諾契特企圖透過公投延續政權時，品尼拉投下了反對票。然則，當時的皮諾契特已是強弩之末。品尼拉當選總統，歸功於競選團隊幫他塑造了「成功男人」的美好形象，這似乎意味著，能夠創造個人財富的人，也就擁有治理國家的能力。殊不知，他的財富積累都是建立在國家社會的損害之上。

而且他也正準備要持續這樣幹下去。這位法國總統沙柯吉的仰慕者意圖以「補償2010年2月大地震所造成的損失」為藉口，把國家的資產私有化。這意味著40％的柯岱爾克（Codelco，排名第一的銅礦產業）將被變賣，而其他的礦產公司也將會落入私人手裡。這樣的政策很值的玩味，尤其智利是全球銅礦出口第一大國，還記得吧，美國跨國企業為了持續掌控財富，曾經如何不擇手段，窮兇惡極，品尼拉背後的意圖，可想而知。

1970年代，阿連德（Salvador Allende）領導的進步政府知道如何促進智利的發展，讓人民脫離貧窮。為達此目的，他們必須重新取得國家資產原料產業的掌控，從國際市場上取得更合理的價格，並把收益用來滿足人民的迫切需求。對此，美國卻立刻採取了一連串壓制行動，包括金融抵制、CIA執行破壞、恐怖活動、以及各式各樣的黑函攻擊等等，一直到軍事政變，法西斯獨裁者皮諾契特掌權後才停止。有數千人因此蒙難，一整個進步的世代，不是被屠殺就是被迫流亡。

60萬營養不良的孩子
1972年12月，阿連德總統在聯合國發表演說，描述美國的阿納坎達（Anaconda）和肯內科特（Kennecott）兩家跨國銅礦公司如何在智利不當獲利。「42年來，這兩間企業已利用智利的礦產，賺取超過40億美元的利益，而他們最初的投資額還不到30萬美元。反觀我的同胞們，60萬個孩子沒有辦法體驗正常的人類生活，因為在他們生命的前8個月，基本的蛋白質就攝取不足了。這是多麼鮮明而殘酷的對比啊。我的國家──智利，原來是可以藉由40億美元而徹底改變的，或許只要其中的一丁點，也能使那些孩子們得到足夠的營養。」

阿連德演說後的幾個月就被暗殺了。而品尼拉的勝選，等於是獨裁者死後的再一次勝利，是美國的再度取得無與倫比的權力。

此外，品尼拉正計劃向美國掌控的「美洲開發銀行」貸款，此舉必然會導致社會福利的縮減。如此大肆的公器私用一點都並不令人感到意外，現在可是富豪領導！公與私的界線被泯滅，外交部長經營法拉貝拉（Falabella）連鎖百貨公司，衛生部長曾經是全國最大連鎖私立診所坎德斯（Las Condes）的總裁，即使他們暫時離開了那些職位，但在關乎公司未來發展事項時，他們仍然繼續擁有決策權。

有這麼一位億萬富豪當政，難怪營業稅會低得如此誇張──2011年3％，2012年1.5％，而且還是以大地震為藉口來減稅！根據「資誠國際聯合會計」（PriceWaterhouse Coppers）的統計，智利在最低稅率的排名上，全球第21，拉丁美洲則是冠軍。

礦坑口的電視轉播並沒有提到品尼拉和獨裁政權的關聯，也沒有提及他那些危害社會的行為。

儘管在這樣一個CEO當王的國家，聖荷西礦災事件發生之後，品尼拉無可避免地要成立勞工安全調查委員會，於12月22日提交調查報告。他還成立了礦業管理署（Mines Control Authority），下令檢討有關採礦安全的法規。

這絕不是好心大富豪的大禮，而只不過是回應大眾的不滿罷了。在礦工們獲救後不久，他們的同業們便發動示威，爭取他們未給付的薪水及獎金，同時，對於年輕工人的在職訓練、優惠制度得確認、退休制度以及退休給付，礦工們也一致控訴其缺失。而在此之前，9月7日，智利工會就已要求政府除了礦工健康及安全協議的簽署之外，也要將協議擴及到建築業與農業。

世界最缺乏正義的國家之一
電視沒提到的是，上述違反工人權益的舉動正是獨裁政權實施改革的成果，皮諾契特時期把健康、教育、社會安全當作消費品，工作權變得更加脆弱、更為彈性化。而當年這些新自由主義的改革，到現在事實上原封不動保留下來。基督教民主黨和社會黨在皮諾契特之後的20年間，以聯合政府形式輪替執政，他們對此也沒有提出任何質疑。侵害勞工權益，甚至是侵害人權，在智利都不算非法。

品尼拉家族也牽涉其中。品尼拉的兄弟荷西（Jose）在1980年代獨裁政權時期擔任勞工部長，當時正是他引進「芝加哥男孩」無遮無攔的新自由主義政策，強調退休金必須「資本化」，亦即私有化，這種災難性的錯誤帶我們回到礦坑口的災難現場。葛梅茲（Mario Gomez）是獲救的33位礦工之一，他12歲就開始在礦區作工，直到現在已經63歲了！為什麼？因為他的退休金少得可憐。這都是荷西‧品尼拉的貢獻。這些事，電視一點都沒說。

縱使智利在華盛頓的眼裡是一個經濟奇蹟，但事實上智利是全球最缺乏正義的國家之一。據「國家社經狀態研究中心」（Centre for Research on the National Socio-Economic Situation）的統計，智利的GDP正在成長，然而貧窮指數也以相同的速率增加，真正獲益的只是國家的少數人，而未來的不平等還會更加劇烈。2009年，貧窮指數上升至15％，30歲以下的人口受到的影響尤其嚴重，4個人當中就有1個人屬於貧窮人口。

然而這些官方數據仍低估了事實，他們在1988年設定的貧窮線是每日收入低於兩千披索，然而，在智利，一張公車票就要價5百披索了，生活的費用並沒有被實際評估！因此，若是以更符合實際的標準計算貧窮人口，那麼人數將高達8百萬，也就是全國人口的一半。對此，聯合國人權組織默不作聲，而以民主守護者自居的美國，正把智利納入同盟，甚至作為一個典範。智利越來越與哥倫比亞交好，這難道會是偶然嗎？哥倫比亞長期以來就被視為是美國在拉丁美洲的代理人。

簡而言之，智利的社會被分裂，人民的權利被踐踏，媒體的單一化使得資訊被扭曲，被簡化，觀眾被誤導。右翼，乃至聯合政府的的政策目標，都是皮諾契特軍政府的延續。國家逐漸成為一個商人的天堂，工人與工會組織等都被壓制。1980年代皮諾契特訂定的憲政模式，品尼拉不僅保存下來，甚且發揚光大。這些事情，電視什麼都沒有說。

麻痺觀眾 拔高廣告收益
做為總結（也從中獲取教訓，因為未來我們還要面對更多類似的電視秀），夜以繼日，國際各大媒體持續報導著同樣的傳奇故事──好心腸的億萬富豪多麼牽掛著窮人們！一而再，再而三地，電視略過了同樣這位富豪的惡行以及種種私利掛帥的行徑，略過他與獨裁政權的連繫，略過他對美國的卑躬屈膝。

智利以及全世界都聚焦在這次的事件上，許多事卻因此被一概忽略，比如說瑪撲奇（Mapuche）原住民震撼人心的絕食抗爭，他們遭到粗暴的鎮壓，政府把他們當作恐怖份子，他們的鬥爭卻在媒體上被擦拭得一乾二淨。相反地，電視在礦工的報導方面巨細靡遺，任何細微的、甚至是個人私密都不放過。我們看到有些礦工在兩個女人之間過著雙重生活，看到他們掩藏多年的私生子和情婦，你會以為你是轉到實境秀的節目。沒有資訊，只有垃圾般塞滿的情緒。電視製作人準備拍影集，出版商要出書，這是狠賺一筆的大好良機！由於對微小細節的饑渴，其中一位倖存者所寫的日誌被多方搶奪。據知，可能的買家已出5萬元。33位礦工的故事註定被剝削至最高點，他們的私生活將被完完全全地攤露。

整個「電視秀」被設計成競價爭購的形式，用最精雕細琢的技術經營情緒，麻痺觀眾，拔高廣告收益。情緒的面向被系統性地，有計畫地剝削，這樣一來就遮掩了對問題根源的真實探究。譬如，公安意外往往源自於不同利益的角力：利潤與安全的取捨。

沒有任何的調查去追究品尼拉及智利政府的責任。也沒有人而認真取追究那些西方國家的政府，為何竟如同皮諾契特的共犯一般，拒絕將這個血腥罪犯引渡受審。沒有人追究，為何在拉丁美洲兩個人當中就有一個是窮人，而整個大陸明明富豪充斥，跨國公司賺到巨額利潤？我們西方國家的政府為何總是和那些企圖對抗貧窮的人作對？為什麼當CIA企圖發動政變翦除查維斯（Hugo Chavez，委內瑞拉總統）、莫拉萊斯（Evo Morales，玻利維亞總統）、柯利亞（Rafael Correa，厄瓜多總統）時，沒有任何西方政府挺身而出？為何宏都拉斯發生軍事政變時，他們沒有採取任何抵制？當記者、工會成員以及人權工作者被系統性地殺害了，為何國際媒體不肯聲援？

電視不做真實的調查，卻以「富豪與工人同舟共濟」的訊息對觀眾洗腦。想要真實的訊息，別看電視了吧！

Tribute to Vittorio Arrigoni

One has to die to become a hero

source: Palestine Monitor
http://palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article1764

Translation of the letter written by Egidia Beretta Arrigoni, mother of Vittorio Arrigoni.

19 April 2011

One has to die to become a hero, to hit the headlines and to have TV crews around the house, but does one have to die to stay human?

I recall Vittorio in the Christmas of 2005, detained and incarcerated in the Ben Gurion Airport, the scars left by the handcuffs that cut his wrists, the denial of any contact with the consulate, the farcical process. And I recall Easter that same year, when just across the Allenby Bridge at the Jordanian border the Israeli police blocked his entrance in the country, put him on a bus and, seven against one (one of the seven was a policewoman), they beat him up “with skill”, without leaving any external marks, like the real professionals they are, then hurling him to the ground and throwing at his face, as a last scar to add to the others, the hair they had ripped off him with their machines.

He was unwanted in Israel. Too subversive, for having joined his friend Gabriele one year earlier and demonstrated along with the women and men of the village of Budrus against the Wall of Shame, teaching them the lyrics and singing together our most beautiful partisan song ‘O bella ciao, ciao…’

Back then no TV crew came by, not even when in the fall of 2008 a commando attacked in Palestinian waters off Rafah the fishing boat he had boarded. Vittorio was incarcerated in Ramle and soon after sent back home with nothing but the clothes on his body.

Nevertheless, I cannot but be thankful to the press and television that have approached us with composure, that have ‘besieged’ our home with restraint, without excesses and that have given me the chance to talk about Vittorio and about his ideals and the choices he made.

This lost child of mine is more alive than ever before, like the grain that has fallen to the ground and died to bring forth a plentiful harvest. I see it and hear it already in the words of his friends, above all the younger among them, some closer, some from afar. Through Vittorio, they have known and understood, and now even more, how one can give ‘Utopia’ a meaning, like the thirst for justice and peace, how fraternity and solidarity still stand and how, as Vittorio used to say, ‘Palestine can also be found at your doorsteps’. We were a long way from Vittorio, but now we are closer than ever, with his living presence magnified at every passing hour, like a wind from Gaza, from his beloved Mediterranean, blowing fierily to deliver the message of his hope and of his love for those without a voice, for the weak and the oppressed, passing the baton.

Stay human.


This letter was published in Italian on the newspaper Il Manifesto, translated by Nena News.

Children of Conflict

Source:

Al Jazeera

 13 Mar 2007 12:01 GMT
http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/general/2007/02/2008525183938868834.html

 Around the world, millions of children are the unheard voices of war. And the horrors they witness today will inform the adults they become tomorrow. Will they grow up to be the next leaders, teachers, freedom fighters or terrorists?

Children of Conflict is a four-part series which explores the lives of children whose lives are blighted by growing up in conflict zones. Nadene Ghouri goes in search of what the past has created and what the future holds for these young people.

She travels to Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Lebanon but begins her journey in Gaza, where she meets children growing up in an environment of frequent violence and constant economic depression.

PART ONE: Gaza

14 year old Fatima

One of the World's biggest news stories, in one of the smallest and most claustrophobic strips of land on earth. Gaza is a virtual prison with no way in and hardly any way out.


In an exclusive story, we talk to the grandchildren of Fatima Al Najar – the oldest female Palestinian suicide bomber. Bewildered and grieving for their grandmother, the children say all they want to do is to follow suit and become 'martyrs' themselves.

13 year old Rana

"I want to do the same. And I will recruit the other children of this town for martyrdom," says 14 year old Fatima. When she grows up she wants to study chemistry and engineering at university. "That's if I don't become a martyr first," she says.


Her views are contrasted with another girl, 13 year old Rana, who dreams of being a journalist "so I can tell people how we suffer here. I am a child, I know what death means, I know what war means, I know what blood means. Me and all the children here know what it means".

10 year old Tehal

Or Tehal, just 10 years old – and who wants to be the first female Palestinian president.

Her three wishes? To clean up the mess left behind by Israeli bulldozers, to give children their rights "because they have no rights here" and finally, "to build a new Gaza".





PART TWO: Lebanon

The town of Qana

The town of Qana has become synonomous with Lebanon's tragedy. Believed to be the site where Jesus performed his first miracle of turning water into wine, the town has earned infamy for two massacres of children 10 years apart. The first attack came in 1996, when Israel bombed a UN base sheltering 800 people – most of them children. Over 100 children were killed or maimed.

The second massacre was during last year's war on Lebanon. A rocket hit a house where several families had taken shelter in the basement. It collapsed – burying the children in rubble. Seventeen were killed. The images of children being carried from the rubble, looking as though they were sleeping, horrified the world.

Hussein Belhas 13 years old- survived an Israeli attack in 1996

The film goes back to find the survivors of the first massacre - now teenagers – to find that although most of them have rebuilt their lives, last summer's slaughter devastated them emotionally. And there are extraordinary parallels between the two stories.


In 1996, three year old Hussein Belhas was believed dead, and was put in a morgue freezer. Remarkably, he was discovered alive and was rescued. Now 13, a composed Hussein says: "I am the boy who died, and then came back to life. This was my destiny." Still suffering horribly from his injuries (his leg was blown off at the kneecap and has grown back as a twisted stick), Hussein will require medical treatment for the rest of his life: "When I try to play football, it hurts me. I stay awake all night with the pain."

Hasan Shalhoub 4 years old - survived an Israeli attack in 2006

His truly incredible story sits alongside that of Hasan Shalhoub, just four years old. In the massacre of 2006, Hasan lost his sister Zeinab, who was seven. Also believed dead, Hasan was left over-night in a makeshift morgue. "In the morning I woke up. I started talking to a little girl next to me, but she turned out to be dead. Then I asked for my mother."

Too young to fully realise the extent of his dramatic escape, Hasan says: "I was only injured a little bit in my head. I am fine now."





PART THREE: Afghanistan

Children scavaging in the dump for something to sell

Afghanistan is said to be the land where God only comes to weep. A place of wild beauty and extreme cruelty, it seems never to have known peace.



After the civil war of the 1980s, two-thirds of the population were either dead or refugees. And after the curse of the Taliban, a new hopelessness descended on the country.

Although Afghan children don't know why any of these wars happened, they know they have been born into a devastated land.

Victim of an unexploded mine

Misery, poverty, cold and never-ending internal conflict - this is their lot. The film looks at the many ways children are compelled to work in order to help their families to survive, and at the terrible conditions they are forced to endure.


Few play activities for children exist, and with no sewage or drainage system in Kabul (population 3.5m), many of their play areas double as open-air toilets.

The orphanage

Signs of war damage abound, and the hospitals bear witness to the daily admission of children maimed by the unexploded ordnance which has littered the fields and valleys of Afghanistan for decades.


The orphanage outside Kabul provides food and shelter for the parentless kids, and though there's no future to look forward to, at least it's warm.





PART FOUR: Democratic Republic of Congo

The film goes inside the minds of the Congolese child soldiers. What makes an 11 year old child capable of awful brutality? "I saw my father die, then they killed my aunt. I didn't want to die by machete at home. That's a pointless death. So I decided to join the militia," says 13 year old Eric.

Child soldiers marching

Responsible for the killings of thousands of innocent lives, the feared child militias of the DRC tell how their childhood was lost. Victims of a war no one understands, brutalised by their commanders who turned them into armed brigands, the children became murderers and rapists in a "kill or be killed" conflict.

For some there is hope. Fourteen year old Jolie describes how she preferred a machete to a gun in battle: "A gun can run out of bullets. A machete is safer if you want to stay alive." She calmly recalls how she first killed a man: "I hacked off his head and hands."

Commanders turn the children into armed brigands

But now she has changed her view. Holding her new baby in her arms she says: "This child will never join a militia. His father was killed in battle. And I saw too much suffering myself. What was it for? Nothing."



For others, like Eric, there is no way back to the normal world. Unable to tell his parents the truth about those he killed and unwelcome in his village he says: "At home I am nothing, but in the militia I had power and money. I want to go back to the bush."

Pro-Palestine post for Waters over The Wall

source: Cambridge City News 13/04/2011 09:20
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Cambridge/Pro-Palestine-post-for-Waters-over-The-Wall.htm

Pink Floyd star Roger Waters – writer of the band’s famous album The Wall – has become patron of the Cambridge Palestine Solidarity Campaign.




The rock singer, who was brought up and educated in the city, has also backed efforts to impose sanctions against Israel.

Averil Parkinson, spokeswoman for the Cambridge campaign, said: “We’re delighted to announce that Roger has agreed to be our patron.

“He has over the years spoken out against the illegal Israeli military occupation of Palestinian land and more recently against the separation wall or barrier, echoing his song Another Brick In The Wall, as it has continued to grow and annexe more and more of the West Bank.”

She said the rock star supported a campaign of sanctions against Israel, including a cultural boycott, which has led to musicians including Carlos Santana, Sting and Bono refusing to play in Tel Aviv.

Mr Waters, who is currently on tour with a new production of the show The Wall, has denied that the show is anti-Semitic.

He said one of the songs from the album, Another Brick In The Wall Part 2, was banned by the South African government in 1980 as it was being used by black South African children to advocate equal education rights.

He said: “In 2005, Palestinian children participating in a West Bank festival used the song to protest against Israel’s wall around the West Bank, singing: ‘We don’t need no occupation! We don’t need no racist wall!’

“At the time, I hadn’t seen first hand what they were singing about.

“Then I visited Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw that day. The wall is an appalling edifice to behold.

“In so far as The Wall has a political message it is to seek to illuminate our condition, and find new ways to encourage peace and understanding, particularly in the Middle East.”

西班牙王室首度官方拜訪巴勒斯坦

The Prince of Spain Pays First Official Visit to Palestine

source: PNN 12.04.11 - 16:35
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9881&Itemid=61


Ramallah - C. Martin/PNN - The Prince of Spain Don Felipe de Borbon and his wife Doña Leticia were welcomed today by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, in the Presidential Compound.

It is the first time that a European Royal Family has paid an official visit to Palestine. After listening to the Spanish and Palestinian anthems, the royal couple met and greeted the Palestinian army.

The royals were also welcomed by different authorities. Among them the Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister, the Governor of Ramallah, the Palestinian Ambassador in Madrid.

Spanish Royal Family in Ramallah - PNN PhotoAlso there was a representation of the religious authorities, such the Head of the Patriarchate and of the Holy Synod, Patriarch Theophilos III.

After an official lunch that is being held now with the Palestinian President, the prince and the princess of Asturias will continue on to Jordan.

Two weeks ago around thirty associations and NGOs from Spain and Israel submitted a letter to the Chief of Spanish Royal Household, Alberto Aza, asking for the cancellation of this official visit.According to the NGOs letter, which was also signed by the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), this visit supports somehow the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian land.

ICAHD say that Israel promotes, finance and legitimate the illegal construction of settlement in violation of the international law.


西班牙王儲夫婦訪問巴勒斯坦

轉貼來源： 新華網  2011年04月13日 02:54:40
http://big5.xinhuanet.com/gate/big5/news.xinhuanet.com/world/2011-04/13/c_121296751.htm

新華網拉姆安拉４月１２日電（記者陳序　呂迎旭）巴勒斯坦民族權力機構主席阿巴斯１２日在約旦河西岸城市拉姆安拉會見了來訪的西班牙王儲費利佩和王儲妃萊蒂西亞，這是歐洲王室成員首次訪問巴勒斯坦。

阿巴斯在與費利佩王儲的會談中說，馬德裏和會的召開明確了實現巴以地區和平的基礎，那就是以“土地換和平”為原則，以兩國方案為基礎建立以東耶路撒冷為首都的獨立巴勒斯坦國。

費利佩強調，西班牙一貫支持巴以和平進程，尊重巴勒斯坦人民建立獨立的巴勒斯坦國的權利。

費利佩王儲在結束當天的訪問後，將立刻啟程前往約旦。此前，他還訪問了以色列，慶祝兩國建交２５周年。

聯合國：巴勒斯坦已準備好建國

UN says Palestinian Authority Ready for Statehood

source: WAFA
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=15865

JERUSALEM, April 12, 2011 (WAFA) – A new United Nations report on progress by the Palestinian Authority (PA) in building institutions said that “in six areas where the UN is most engaged, government functions are now sufficient for a functioning government of a state,” Tuesday said a UN press release.

The report, “Palestinian State-building: A Decisive Period,” has been prepared for the forthcoming meeting of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee in Brussels scheduled for Wednesday.

It reviews progress in implementing the PA’s August 2009 “Ending the Occupation, Establishing the State,” a program of the thirteenth government, which is backed by the Quartet. The program seeks to ensure as its target Palestinian institutional readiness for statehood within two years.

The report reviews developments in six key areas where the UN is most engaged and able to assess progress: governance, rule of law and human rights; livelihoods; education and culture; health; social protection; and infrastructure and water.

In each sector, the report provides a detailed assessment of progress to date in light of strong Palestinian reform efforts and donor engagement. It also notes Israeli measures to facilitate movement and access which have also supported economic activity.

United Nations Special Coordinator Robert Serry, whose office UNSCO prepared the report, commended the achievements of President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

“This is a decisive period, as we approach the September 2011 target for the PA’s institutions to be ready for statehood,” he said. “It is also the target set by the parties to reach a negotiated permanent status agreement to create a Palestinian state at peace with Israel.”

Commenting on what needs to happen in the months ahead, Serry said, “The PA is clearly on track and I know is committed to continuing its hard work. However the institutional achievements of the Palestinian state-building agenda are approaching their limits within the political and physical space currently available, precisely at the time when it is approaching its target date for completion. No-one should underestimate what is at stake now. What we urgently need are further steps on the ground that can enable a broadening of this progress. I believe Israel needs to roll back measures of occupation to match the PA’s achievements. I also stress the urgent need for Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations on a two-state solution to resume, if the state building and political tracks are to come together by September.”

The report underlines the UN’s concerns about Gaza. Serry commented, “Recent escalations have been very worrying and I appeal once again for all to observe calm so that civilians are protected. Rocket fire must stop and Israel must show maximum restraint. This is also essential in moving forward to help meet the needs in Gaza.'

The socio-economic situation in Gaza needs to be more fully addressed, said Serry.

“I have noted Israeli steps over several months to implement cabinet decisions to adjust Gaza policy consistent with security,” he said. “This has seen a welcome approval of $155 million of UN construction projects as well as a broader range of consumer goods entering through the crossings. But much more is still needed. I am looking forward to the further approval of UN projects, a streamlining of coordination procedures, and the liberalization of the import of construction materials including aggregate, iron bars and cement. The people of Gaza need this, and it would send an important signal.”

The report also points out that the persistent Palestinian divide hinders efforts to lay the economic and institutional basis for statehood when it comes to Gaza

“The progress that has been achieved by the PA must be more meaningfully connected to all areas of de jure PA responsibility and to all Palestinian citizens,” it said.

As noted in the report, the UN continues to support efforts to achieve real progress towards unity within the framework of the Palestinian Authority and the commitments of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

The Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) is a 12-member committee that serves as the principal policy-level coordination mechanism for development assistance to the Palestinian people. It is chaired by Norway and co-sponsored by the European Union and the United States. In addition, the UN participates together with the World Bank’s secretariat and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The AHLC seeks to promote dialogue between donors, the Palestinian Authority and the government of Israel.


PLO: Reports of Withdrawal of Israeli Troops Intended to Evade of Pressure
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=15867

RAMALLAH, April 12, 2011 (WAFA) - Yasser Abed Rabbo, secretary of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said Tuesday that reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to withdraw troops from the West Bank to stave off international pressure are games intended to evade this pressure.

In a statement issued by his office, Abed Rabbo described the Israeli newspaper reports as “games that aim to stop the international pressure on Israel and its bloody and racist policies.”

He said, “Don’t believe what is said in the Israeli press. We are accustomed to these balloons and games by the respective Israeli governments to evade the requirements demanded from them.”

Abed Rabbo said that “the right wing government in Israel is trying to use these balloons, lies and intentional press leaks to stave off international pressure and to change positions calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state.”

The Israeli Haaretz newspaper said on Tuesday that Netanyahu plans to withdraw Israeli troops from the West Bank and a series of other measures to block “the diplomatic tsunami” that may follow international recognition of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders at the United Nations General Assembly in September.

Netanyahu “is examining ideas for steps that would be taken in the absence of negotiations to demonstrate an Israeli diplomatic initiative that would rally the United States, the European Union and other Western countries against a unilateral Palestinian move in the UN,” said the paper.

The Palestinian two-year “Ending the Occupation, Establishing the State” plan looks at state institutions being ready by September, the date the Palestinians hope the UN would recognize their state on the 1967 borders. The International community has been pressuring Netanyahu to come up with a proposal to save the deadlocked peace process.

The newspaper quoted two sources “with ties to Netanyahu’s bureau” as saying that the withdrawal would see redeployment of Israeli forces and handing over security responsibility to the Palestinian Authority in areas B and C, where Israel has total security control. However, it said, the withdrawal will not include evacuation of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

Netanyahu may also call for an international conference with the participation of Israel and the Palestinians to call for resumption of negotiations stalled since September after Israel had refused to extend a moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank.

The Palestinians insist that they would not return to negotiations with Israel without a total halt to all settlement activities in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.


聯合國報告稱巴民族權力機構在６個施政領域達到國家政府水平

轉貼來源： 新華網  2011年04月13日 06:58:35 　
http://big5.xinhuanet.com/gate/big5/news.xinhuanet.com/world/2011-04/13/c_121296786.htm

新華網聯合國４月１２日電（記者危瑋　白潔）聯合國秘書長發言人哈克１２日說，聯合國中東和平進程特別協調員辦公室發布的一份報告顯示，巴勒斯坦民族權力機構已經在６個施政領域達到國家政府水平。

哈克在當天中午舉行的聯合國每日例行記者會上說，報告對巴勒斯坦民族權力機構在機構建設方面進行了總結和評估，結果表明，在管理、法治和人權、生活狀況、教育和文化、健康、社會保護、基礎設施和水這６個聯合國參與最多的領域中，巴勒斯坦民族權力機構的執政能力已經達到國家政府水平。

聯合國中東和平進程特別協調員塞裏就此向巴勒斯坦民族權力機構主席阿巴斯和候任總理法耶茲表示祝賀，稱從現在起到今年９月是巴勒斯坦準備建國的關鍵時期。

塞裏指出，由于以色列持續的佔領措施以及巴以政治談判中就最終地位問題缺乏進展等原因，巴勒斯坦民族權力機構在東耶路撒冷和約旦河西岸以色列控制的地區取得進展的空間有限。由于巴勒斯坦內部分裂，加沙地帶取得進展的空間也有限。

２００９年８月，巴勒斯坦過渡政府宣布了一項計劃，將用兩年時間為未來巴勒斯坦國奠定初步基礎。根據計劃，未來巴勒斯坦國將按照１９６７年中東戰爭爆發前的邊界線而建立，包括約旦河西岸地區和加沙地帶，並擬將東耶路撒冷作為首都。巴過渡政府將于未來２年內在約旦河西岸建立一個國際機場，並將修建連接鄰國的鐵路。


世界銀行﹕巴勒斯坦經濟形勢有利建國

轉貼來源: 2011年 4月07日 美國之音 華盛頓
http://www.voanews.com/cantonese/news/ISRAEL_PALESTINIANS-119392134.html?commentSubmitted=y&field=

世界銀行說﹐巴勒斯坦當局已經做好充份準備建立獨立國家﹐但是以色列設立的限制政策正在窒息巴勒斯坦經濟持續增長的前景。在星期四發佈的報告中﹐世界銀行讚揚巴勒斯坦在發展公共服務和體制建設方面取得的進展。

報告還說﹐約旦河西岸和加沙地帶的經濟在2010年增長了9.3%。但是報告說﹐以色列對於加沙人民獲取自然資源和市場方面的限制正阻止巴勒斯坦重振私營部門。私營部門對經濟持續發展至關重要。世界銀行還對加沙地帶37.4%的高失業率表示關注。

巴勒斯坦人反對以色列在巴勒斯坦人計劃未來建國的土地上繼續興建猶太人定居點﹐退出了與以色列的和談。巴勒斯坦官員正在計劃要求聯合國承認巴勒斯坦土地為一個獨立國家。

美麗天堂 Promises

片名： 美麗天堂
原文： Promises
導演： Carlos Bolado、B.Z. Goldberg
           Justine Shapiro
編劇： Stephen Most
攝影： Ilan Buchbinder、Yoram Millo
音樂： Rabih Boukhari
剪輯： Carlos Bolado
演員： Moishe and Raheli Bar Am
           Faraj Adnan Hassan Husein
           Mahmoud Mazen Mahmoud Izhiman
           Daniel Solan、Yarko Solan
           Sanabel Hassan、Shlomo
出品： 2001年 美國

Lilian Thuram inaugure le nouveau stade international palestinien

source: France24  15/04/2011 
http://www.france24.com/fr/20110415-territoires-palestiniens-lilian-thuram-inaugure-le-nouveau-stade-international-ramallah

L'ancien champion du monde 1998, Lilian Thuram, a inauguré jeudi à Ramallah en Cisjordanie, le nouveau stade international palestinien d'Al-Bireh. Une initiative financée par l'Allemagne, la France, la Fifa et la municipalité.


AFP - L'ancien international français de football Lilian Thuram, champion du monde en 1998, a inauguré jeudi le nouveau stade international palestinien d'Al-Bireh, limitrophe de Ramallah en Cisjordanie.




Le joueur a donné le coup d'envoi d'un match de première division palestinienne dans le stade d'Al-Bireh, d'une capacité de plus de 8.000 places et d'un coût d'un million d'euros, financé par la France, l'Allemagne, la Fédération internationale de football (Fifa) et la municipalité.

L'inauguration du stade s'est déroulée en présence du président de la Fédération palestinienne de football (PFA) Jibril Rajoub et de diplomates allemand et français.

"J'ai eu la chance de rencontrer le peuple palestinien, j'ai eu la chance de rencontrer des enfants et nous avons passé un très bon moment", a déclaré aux journalistes Lilian Thuram.

"Le football joue un rôle très important. Il permet de créer des liens", a-t-il ajouté.

Lilian Thuram, qui achevait une visite de quatre jours dans les territoires palestiniens, organisée par la (PFA) et le consulat général de France à Jérusalem, est mobilisé en France dans la lutte contre le racisme.




Lilian Thuram à la rencontre des jeunes Palestiniens

source: France24
http://www.france24.com/fr/20110411-lilian-thuram-a-rencontre-jeunes-palestiniens


L'ancien international français Lilian Thuram, champion du monde de football en 1998, engagé dans la lutte contre le racisme, a rencontré lundi des jeunes Palestiniens dans le camp de réfugiés de Qalandia, près de Jérusalem.




AFP - L'ancien international français Lilian Thuram, champion du monde de football en 1998, engagé dans la lutte contre le racisme, a rencontré lundi des jeunes Palestiniens dans le camp de réfugiés de Qalandia, près de Jérusalem.


Entamant une visite de quatre jours dans les territoires palestiniens, le fondateur de la Fondation "Lilian Thuram - Education contre le racisme" s'est amusé avec ses jeunes supporteurs en visitant une école de l'Agence pour les réfugiés palestiniens (UNRWA) à Qalandia.



Il s'est aussi livré à une petite séance d'entraînement avec les enfants.

"J'ai tellement entendu parler des enfants de Palestine et de l'environnement dans lequel ils grandissent. Aujourd'hui, j'ai pu constater leur enthousiasme et leur détermination à réussir", a-t-il déclaré.

Le porte-parole de l'UNRWA, Chris Gunness, s'est félicité que "les écoliers palestiniens aient l'occasion de rencontrer des légendes vivantes du football comme Lilian Thuram, le genre de modèle dont ils doivent s'inspirer".

Au cours de son séjour, organisé par la Fédération palestinienne de football (PFA) et le consulat général de France à Jérusalem, l'ancien défenseur aura l'occasion d'échanger avec beaucoup de jeunes Palestiniens, généralement fous de foot, à Jéricho, Hébron et Ramallah.

Il doit aussi inaugurer jeudi le nouveau stade international palestinien d'Al-Bireh, ville limitrophe de Ramallah, capitale de la Cisjordanie. Ce stade de 9.000 places, d'un coût d'un million d'euros, est financé par la France, l'Allemagne et la fédération internationale de football (Fifa).


"Une telle visite d'une star internationale comme Thuram participe aux efforts contre l'embargo (israélien) imposé sur le sport palestinien", s'est réjoui le secrétaire général de la PFA, Abdoul Majid Hijeh.

Les instances sportives internationales ont demandé au gouvernement israélien d'assouplir les restrictions de déplacement qui affectent les athlètes palestiniens.




前法國國腳圖拉姆造訪巴勒斯坦難民營

轉貼來源: 2011 四月 11 18:08:57 PDT 新華社
http://www.chinesetoday.com/news/show/id/480457



新華社拉姆安拉４月１１日電（記者陳序 呂迎旭）前法國國家足球隊隊員圖拉姆１１日訪問了位於巴勒斯坦約旦河西岸的卡蘭迪亞難民營，並指導了當地兒童的足球訓練。




圖拉姆當天來到聯合國在卡蘭迪亞難民營開設的一所學校，參與並指導了學校的足球訓練課。他在課後的比賽中為孩子們擔任了臨時裁判，並與孩子們一起跳起了阿拉伯傳統舞蹈「達布卡」。


他說：「我聽說過不少關於巴勒斯坦兒童以及他們的成長環境的事情，今天我終於能親眼目睹這一切，他們對勝利的熱情和決心令我十分感動。我希望他們與我一樣享受今天的訓練。」




圖拉姆此次巴勒斯坦之行由巴足協和法國駐耶路撒冷總領事館共同組織，他將與生活在約旦河西岸及東耶路撒冷的巴勒斯坦青年足球愛好者們見面，併為一個由國際足聯、法國和德國共同出資在西岸城市拉姆安拉建立的足球場剪綵。

圖拉姆曾經代表法國國家隊參加過１４２場比賽，至今仍保持著法國球員代表國家隊出場次數最多的紀錄。他和隊友先後贏得１９９８年世界盃和２０００年歐錦賽的冠軍，見證了法國足球最為輝煌的時期。２００８年，在因體檢不合格未能加盟巴黎聖日耳曼隊後，他宣佈退役。２０１０年１０月，圖拉姆被聯合國兒童基金會任命為該機構的親善大使。在此之前，梅西和貝克漢姆等球星也都出任過親善大使一職。（完）

Et Lilian Thuram de visiter les “pauvres enfants de Palestine”

source: JSS news
http://jssnews.com/2011/04/07/et-lilian-thuram-de-visiter-les-pauvres-enfants-de-palestine/

Lundi 11 avril, la star du football français Lilian Thuram se rendra dans les territoires disputés dans le cadre d’un programme financé par la France et l’UNRWA. Thuram se rendra dans la ville de Qalandia où les Palestiniens lui montreront leur misère. Après cette visite guidée (un peu comme quand on va à Ikea et que l’on est forcé de voir ce que l’on veut nous montrer), il se rendra dans son hôtel 5 étoiles où il y rencontrera des jeunes footballeurs palestiniens.

Heureux de venir, Thuram déclaré que la visite était organisée pour sa propre culture et pour s’amuser avec les enfants palestiniens. « J’ai tellement entendu parler des enfants de Palestine et de l’environnement dans lequel ils grandissent. J’ai besoin de voir par moi-même, d’interagir avec eux et de les divertir ».

La présence de Lilian Thuram est d’autant plus importante qu’elle permettra aux enfants palestiniens de passer moins de temps devant la télévision nationale. Sur cette TV, ils sont éduqués à haïr les juifs, à travers des programmes “éducatifs” financés par l’Autorité Palestinienne (donc par la France). Des programmes où l’on retrouve “Farfour”, le Mickey palestinien, qui veut se faire exploser dans un bus israélien. Ou Twic et Twax, les deux petites souris israéliennes qui veulent donner leurs maladies aux musulmans.

Le consul général français à Jérusalem, considéré pour être un fervent défenseur de la cause palestinienne (dont la carte de visite est en arabe et en anglais bien qu’il soit le consul en Israël), Frédéric Desagneaux, a déclaré que cette visite met les pleins feux sur le soutien français à l’UNRWA. Au lieu de faire le malin, il ferait mieux d’écouter ce que les anciens dirigeants de cette organisation disent : « Il serait temps de démanteler l’UNRWA ! »

Au fait, Lilian Thuram a-t-il l’intention de passer du temps avec les enfants de Sdérot ?

Jonathan-Simon Sellem – JSSNews


French Footbal Legend to Visit Occupied Palestinian Territory

source: WAFA 7/4/2011
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=15831

JERUSALEM, April 7, 2011 (WAFA) French football star Lilian Thuram will visit the occupied Palestinian territory on Monday in support of the education program funded by France through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), Thursday said an UNRWA press release.

At the Qalandia refugee camp, Lilian will see first hand the realities of life for Palestinian children under Israeli occupation. After a brief tour, he’ll visit the local UNRWA school for a friendly match with some of the camp’s young footballers.

A delighted Thuram said the visit was about his own education as well as having fun with Palestinian children.

“I have heard so much about the children of Palestine and about the environment they grow up in. I need to see this for myself, interact with them and with luck, I will entertain and even inspire them,” he said.

Thuram made sporting history by becoming the most capped player in the history of the French national squad. He also played for top European clubs, Barcelona and Juventus. Off the pitch, he has dedicated much of his time and energy to the promotion of human rights and education against racism.

French Consul General, Frederic Desagneaux, said this visit put the spotlight on France’s long-standing support for UNRWA and its human development work.

“UNRWA has a long association with the Palestinian people and my government is proud to have worked so closely with UNRWA for so many years. Bringing Lilian here is a real joy for us, showing to Palestinians the sorts of sporting and human development they can also achieve,” he said.

Through its contributions to UNRWA’s regular budget, France supports education to some half a million children in the Agency’s five fields of operation (Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank). UNRWA also provides health, relief and social services to some of the most disadvantaged people in the Middle East. Last year alone France’s contribution to UNRWA stood at nearly USD 10 million of which USD 6 million supported core program activities.

“Lilian is a living football history”, said UNRWA spokesman, Chris Gunness. “It is brilliant that UNRWA school kids will have an opportunity to be coached by him and witness his extraordinary skills first hand. He is just the sort of role model our students should be inspired by and we are very grateful to the Palestinian Football Federation and the French government for facilitating his visit. At this time of turmoil, the stabilizing influence of UNRWA’s human development work with some of the most marginalized communities in the region has never been so important”, Gunness said.

以色列批准在東耶路撒冷新建942套住宅

轉貼來源:中國新聞網 2011年04月05日
http://big5.xinhuanet.com/gate/big5/news.xinhuanet.com/world/2011-04/05/c_121268237.htm

中新網4月5日電 據法新社報道，當地時間4日下午，以色列耶路撒冷市議會批準在該城東部定居點吉羅新建942套住宅。

值得注意的是，5日，以色列總統佩雷斯將在白宮和美國總統奧巴馬進行會談。

2009年11月，以色列批準在吉羅建設900余套住宅，受到了美國等國的強烈批評。

吉羅定居點位于東耶路撒冷，靠近約旦河西岸城市伯利恒。以色列在1967年第三次中東戰爭中佔領了約旦河西岸及東耶路撒冷，並宣稱耶路撒冷是其“永久、不可分割”的首都，而巴勒斯坦方面則希望東耶路撒冷成為巴勒斯坦國的首都。

目前，在東耶路撒冷居住著18萬名以色列人和27萬名巴勒斯坦人。

Zidane：抱歉啦！守門員！