.
“Our position remains unchanged. We made its choice a long time ago … we supported and will support the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to an independent state with its capital in East Jerusalem.”
Russia’s Medvedev backs independent Palestine
JERICHO, West Bank (Reuters) – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev endorsed a Palestinian state, saying Moscow had recognized independence in 1988 and was not changing the position adopted by the former Soviet Union.
Making his first visit to the Israeli-occupied West Bank as Russian head of state, Medvedev stopped short of issuing a ringing declaration of recognition of Palestinian statehood by the modern Russian Federation which he represents.
Ehud Barak quits Labor to form ‘centrist, Zionist and democratic’ party
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Israel has been alarmed in the past two months by a string of recognitions by Latin American states including Brazil and Argentina, which some analysts say could be a precursor to a move by the Palestinians to seek full United Nations membership if efforts to revive moribund peace negotiations fall through.
The Palestinians today say 109 states out of 192 United Nations member countries recognize their statehood. Israel has warned that a “unilateral declaration” of statehood would set back the peace process.
Israel ‘regrets’ Argentina’s recognition of an independent Palestine
AFP – Argentina and Uruguay said they were joining Brazil in recognizing an independent Palestinian state, earning an immediate sharp rebuke from Israel and causing unease in the United States.
Israel called the announcement by Buenos Aires “regrettable” and said it went against an Israeli-Palestinian agreement that such a state should only be recognized with Israeli approval.
That echoed criticism Israel made after Brazil started the South American movement by saying it recognized a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders, before the Six Day War in which Israel seized Gaza and the West Bank. Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas reached out to the governments as part of an effort to win UN recognition of a Palestinian state.
Ehud Barak quits Labor to form ‘centrist, Zionist and democratic’ party
Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced Monday that he is stepping down as Labor Party chairman to set up a new party, following months of turmoil within the weakened faction.
In the wake of waning support from his own ministers, Barak is forming a new faction called Atzmaut (Independence). He will be joined by four fellow Labor lawmakers – Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai, and members of Knesset Shalom Simhon, Einat Wilf and Ori Noked.Barak and the four other members of his new party are expected to remain in Netanyahu’s coalition. It is not clear whether Labor’s eight remaining lawmakers will support the government, in particular in light of recent threats to quit the coalition over the stalled Middle East peace process.
Barak, the saboteur destroying Israel’s left wing
A saboteur sits in Israel’s Defense Ministry. He operates secretly, compartmentalizes, strikes when you least expect it and damages hapless populations without fear. Like a computer virus, he has for 15 years penetrated Israel’s left wing, and started to destroy it from the inside.
He officially turned Israel into the only state in the West, not counting the United States, that lacks a Labor party, a Socio-Democrat party or a left wing. All European countries have such parties. Much as the situation irks us, we are now more like the third world ¬ we are a state that has about one and a half parties. Almost all there is in Israel is an ultra-nationalist right, comprised of parties that have various names: Likud, Kadima, Shas, Yisrael Beiteinu, National Union; yesterday, Atzmaut (Independence) joined them.One of its main ideologists, Shalom Simhon, defined the part as being between Likud and Kadima. The act of sabotage that Defense Minister Ehud Barak began at the Camp David summit when he was prime minister reached its peak in the Knesset yesterday. All that is left is rubble.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
