Johann Hari: Israel’s Voice of Reason? An Exclusive Interview With Amos Oz

Oz is sitting in the coffee shop of Joseph’s bookstore in Golder’s Green, north London, looking older and more fragile than his vigorous black-and-white author’s picture. He is 70 now, his hair wispier and whiter. He greets me with a gravelly voice, and we order black coffees. It seems far away and long ago, but Oz once dreamed of bombing this city. He was once a child of what he calls “the Jewish intifada” – the stone-throwing, death-defying Jewish rebellion against British occupation. He believed the state that would emerge from the rubble would be a model of justice and idealism for all mankind. If you were a child in Gaza now, Mr Oz, would you be dreaming the same dreams against Israel? “I don’t even have to imagine the answer to this question – I know it,” he says. “Because I was a kid in Jerusalem in ’48 when the city was besieged, shelled, starved, [and] the water supply [was] cut off. And I know the horror, and I know the despair, and I know the hopelessness, and I know the anger, and I know the frustration.” He says he was “not so much a child as a bundle of self-righteous arguments, a brainwashed little fanatic, a stone-throwing chauvinist. The first words I ever learnt to say in English were ‘British, go home!'”

For full article, visit http://www.huffingtonpost.com/johann-hari/israels-voice-of-reason-a_b_176724.html

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Haaretz poll: 54% of public dissatisfied with new government

The problem could also be the friction that accompanied the government’s formation; two key cabinet members are suffering embarrassingly low support ratings. Netanyahu, who dreamed for a decade about returning to the Prime Minister’s Bureau, will have to work hard and fast to show he is productive. The most striking result of the Haaretz-Dialog poll, conducted under Prof. Camil Fuchs of the statistics department at Tel Aviv University, is the extent of the public’s dissatisfaction with the new government. Less than a third of those surveyed said they are satisfied with Netanyahu’s government. More than half, 54 percent, are dissatisfied with the new government.

For full article, visit http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1075358.html

Assad: Israel’s new government is against peace

Assad underlined the need for continued resistance, a reference to anti-Israeli militant groups like the Palestinian Hamas, which Damascus supports.

“Resistance is a national and patriotic and moral duty and it is the only option,” he said. “Peace cannot be achieved with an enemy who does not believe in peace without it being imposed on him by resistance.”

For full article, visit http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1074919.html

Increased Reports that Next Israeli Government to Advance West Bank Settlement Construction in E1

Israeli media reports have flourished in the past week concerning Israeli plans to move forward with construction of the Mevasseret Adumim neighbourhood in the “E1 Area”, which would link between the West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim and Jerusalem, further cutting East Jerusalem off from the West Bank and splitting the West Bank into two. Israeli army radio even quoted sources claiming that future Prime Minister Netanyahu has struck a secret deal with Israel Beitenu Chairperson Avigdor Liberman concerning advancement of these plans as part of the coalition government agreements.

Expansion of Maaleh Adumim Settlement (E1)

For full article, visit http://www.alternativenews.org/content/view/1666/110/

Uri Avnery: Biberman & Co.

The addition of the Labor Party solves everybody’s problem. If the social democrats are joining the government, all this talk of fascism must be nonsense. Obviously, Liberman has been misunderstood. He has been misrepresented. He is not a fascist at all, God forbid. He is not a racist. He is just a traditional right-wing demagogue who exploits the primitive emotions of the masses to garner votes. Which elected politician could object to that?

For full article, visit http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=14958