Will this increase or decrease the likelihood of terrorist actions in America, Europe and the rest of the world?

If you were a member of a family murdered in this conflict, would you be seeking revenge?

Should Tzipi Livni and Ehud Olmert, be tried for war crimes if or when this conflict comes to an end?

What will the price of oil be in 4 weeks time?

http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.683847

EU to Issue Settlement Product Labeling Guidelines Next Week, Senior Israeli Officials Say

Neither the Foreign Ministry nor the Prime Minister’s Office have practically any detail on the contents of the new guidelines, which at this stage are closely-guarded.

The European Union is expected to issue new guidelines on November 11 regarding the labeling of products from West Bank settlements that are sold by European retail chains, senior officials in Jerusalem said.

http://m.jpost.com/?Mobileid=1#article=6017OTBGRjU1OUVGRjk3QTYxNjBDQzBGQjlBQTM3QzdDQjk=

The European Union is expected to publish in the next few weeks its long anticipated guidelines on the consumer labeling of Israeli products produced over the pre-1967 lines, in Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Golan Heights.

The impending EU labeling of what it calls "settlement products” has been a contentious issue between Brussels and Jerusalem since 2012.

Late Monday night an Israeli diplomatic official said, “We expect the guidelines to be published soon, possibly within days.”

The official added, “We’re trying to convince the European Union and its member states that this is a mistake. It has an element of discrimination to it and does not in any way help the diplomatic process.”

The official took issue with the publication of the guidelines at time when the Palestinian leadership refuses to hold direct talks with Israel and when Palestinian assailants have killed 11 Israelis and wounded over 100 in a series of some 60 attacks since October 1.

“If anything the publication of these guidelines now, gives the Palestinians a prize for their terrorism and obstinance. It also supports the overall atmosphere of Israeli boycotts,” the official said.

The guidelines, to be published out of Brussels under the guidance of the EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, do not need to be put to a vote.

The document simply puts together already existing guidelines and legislation with regard to “settlement products.” It is designed to help EU member states understand what the law is with regard to the labeling of such products.

The EU considers Jewish communities over the pre-1967 lines in east Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and the West Bank to be illegal.

For over a decade, Israeli products produced over the pre-1967 lines have been excempt from Israel’s free trade agreement with the EU. Codes have been placed on the products to allow EU custom official to properly determined if the products were produced within the Green Line or over it.

These guidelines would provide European consumers in stores with that same information.

Under pressure from the United States, the EU backed away from its push to publish the settlement guidelines during the nine-month negotiations period brokered by US Secretary of State John Kerry that ended without any results in April 2014.

Since then the peace process has been frozen. All attempts to bring the two sides together have failed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to resume direct talks immediately without any preconditions.

Abbas has refused to hold such talks unless Israel agrees to withdraw to the pre-1967 lines and to stop all Jewish building in east Jerusalem and the West Bank.

On Tuesday Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely is expected to head to the Barkan Industrial Park in the Samaria region of the West Bank to speak against settlement product labeling.

On Sunday Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein also attacked product labeling a special meeting int he Knesset with the Samaria Regional Council and a visiting delegation of Italian Jews.

The information about the pending publication of EU guidelines for settlement products comes just one week before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to travel to Washington DC to meet with US President Barack Obama.

On Monday, Army Radio said that in advance of that trip, the Jerusalem Municipality has agreed not to publish building permits for Jewish and Arab construction over the pre-1967 lines in the country's capital. It noted in particular that approval for permits to allow for additional construction in the contentious Ramat Shlomo neighborhood had been removed from the agenda of Wednesday municipal planning and construction committee.

The Jerusalem Municipality denied the report and said that construction would continue unabated throughout the capital.

“The Jerusalem municipality continues to advance construction throughout the city for all populations,” it said in a statement. It added, “The plans will be presented later.”

Initial plans for that neighborhood first hit the headlines during a 2010 visit to Israel by US Vice President Joseph Biden and created a major diplomatic row with Washington. Two years later, the Interior Ministry’s Jerusalem District Planning and Construction Committee ratified the plan.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4715319,00.html

Fatah on the verge of eruption

IDF troops that entered Shuafat refugee camp this week had to withdraw after encountering dozens of armed militants; this is only an example of what might happen when Fatah's armed wing, Tanzim, joins the fight against Israel. And they won't do with just knives: There are thousands of weapons all over East Jerusalem.

http://m.jpost.com/?Mobileid=1#article=6017QkRBMDdFOUVDMEMzMDUwQjAzRDA1MERCMTMyRjAyOEU=

EU ambassador: 'Territory beyond the Green Line is not part of Israel,' defends settlement labeling

Products produced over the pre-1967 lines are not “made in Israel” and cannot be labeled that way, European Union Ambassador to Israel Lars Faaborg-Andersen said on Tuesday.

He spoke to The Jerusalem Post in defense of the pending publication of guidelines to enable member states to place consumer labels on exports from east Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Golan Heights.

“The EU position is that we do not recognize Israeli authority beyond the Green Line. It is not part of Israel. It is not part of what we understand to be Israel’s international recognized borders,” said Faaborg-Andersen in a telephone interview.

“For that reason we cannot agree that products that come from settlements beyond the Green Line are labeled ‘made in Israel.’” Faaborg-Andersen will be one of the featured speakers at the fourth Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Conference in Jerusalem on November 18.

An Israeli diplomatic official warned on Monday that the EU settlement- abeling guidelines might be published in the coming weeks, possibly even in the next few days.

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.682912

Netanyahu's Apartheid Vision for Israel's Future

In the real world, outside the realm of speechmaking, Netanyahu is only ready to hold empty and aimless talks with the Palestinians.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented his current political vision to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee this week. While saying that that he does not want a binational state, Netanyahu stressed that Israel “must control the entire area for the foreseeable future.” He explained that he was prepared to divide the land but “the other side is unwilling,” and that the Middle East is subject to Islamic religious influences that preclude any possibility for peace.

On the face of it, this position does not seem extremist. It’s accepted by most Israeli Jews, according to multiple surveys that have been conducted over the last 15 years, ever since the Camp David summit. Most people support the idea of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, but believe that it is not practical since there is “no partner” on the other side. The same majority, including Netanyahu, opposes the notion of a binational state with equal rights for all its citizens, Jews and Palestinians alike.

Netanyahu has cleaved to this line for his entire tenure: Verbal consent to dividing the land – which distinguishes him from the extreme right and from settler leaders – while in practice adopting policies that thwart the realization of such partitioning. He has consistently refused to talk about future borders with the Palestinians, demanding that they recognize Israel as “a Jewish state,” developing and expanding settlements across the West Bank and presenting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as an enemy and instigator to violence.

In the real world, outside the realm of speechmaking, Netanyahu is only ready to hold empty and aimless talks with the Palestinians, or to discuss “small steps to reduce tension,” without relinquishing any control on the ground.

His words this week acknowledged Israel’s total domination over the territories, discarding the dual pretense of a “temporary war-like situation,” which the state has regularly presented to the High Court of Justice for decades, and the pretense of a Palestinian Authority supposedly enjoying autonomy in managing Palestinian affairs, as Israel likes to present things.

Netanyahu’s opposition to a binational state leads to a clear conclusion: As long as “Israel’s control of the area” continues, millions of Palestinians in the territories will remain in the inferior status of subjects devoid of civil rights. Their settler neighbors, meanwhile, enjoy such rights unhampered.

The regime described in Netanyahu’s vision has a name – it’s called apartheid. There is no other term for two populations living in the same area, one with political rights and the other under perennial military occupation. No security argument or warnings about the effects of Islam can whitewash the implications of this vision. Netanyahu’s words should shock anyone who is concerned about the justice of Israel’s cause and the country’s future. Concerned people should unite and form a national salvation front that will work to replace this government.

http://m.jpost.com/?Mobileid=1#article=6017QUE4OTlCRjZDQTMxMUZERUZEMDU3NTk1MkY4RjYzNDA=

Zoabi: Israel like Germany of 1930's - remaining silent as Palestinian homes burn

Joint List MK Haneen Zoabi, speaking at Dutch Kristallnacht memorial event, criticizes on Israeli public for "remaining silent" on Palestinian oppression.

Joint List MK Haneen Zoabi spoke about racism in Israel at a Kristallnacht commemoration event in Amsterdam Sunday, according to a Channel 10 report.

Zoabi spoke at an alternative commemoration event hosted by local left-wing Jewish activists and pro-Palestinian organizations in the Dutch capital, ushering in much criticism from the local Dutch Jewish and Israeli community.

"It is my honor to speak on behalf of the Kristallnacht victims...on behalf of all the Jews in history who have resisted oppression." Zoabi said.

The Joint List MK drew a comparison between Germany of the 1930's and modern Israel, saying, "During Kristallnacht thousands of Jewish businesses and synagogues were burned, while the Germans remained silent. Today, as the homes of Palestinians are burned, as churches and people are burned alive- the majority in Israel remains silent."

THE INDEPENDENT

EU to ban West Bank companies labelling products 'made in Israel'

European Commission Adopts Guidelines for Labeling Products From Israeli Settlements

EU Ambassador to Israel Lars Faaborg-Andersen was summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem to be reprimanded over the decision.

The European Commission adopted Wednesday morning the Notice on indication of origin of goods from the territories occupied by Israel since June 1967, a senior EU official said. According to the official, the notice will contain guidelines for labeling of products from West bank settlements.

Boris Johnson has had to cancel planned public events in the West Bank because of security fears after he criticised backers of a boycott on Israeli goods.

Famous for being famous best describes the prat these days.

Jerusalem Post

http://m.jpost.com/?Mobileid=1#article=6017RjNFQjFFREJCQzlBNDIyQjU2MUM0QjRBMzdEOUY2MTY=

Far-right settler rabbi: Paris attacks are payback for the Holocaust
By JPOST.COM STAFF
Sat, 14 Nov 2015, 10:29 PM
The quote from Dov Lior, the chief rabbi of the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba, was first reported by the Walla! news agency.

A religious Zionist cleric from a Jewish settlement on the West Bank told mourners on Saturday during the funeral of an Israeli father and son gunned down by Palestinian terrorists that the attacks in Paris were deserved due to what Europeans "did to our people 70 years ago."

The quote from Dov Lior, the chief rabbi of the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba, was first reported by the Walla! news agency.

"The wicked ones in blood-soaked Europe deserve it for what they did to our people 70 years ago," Lior said.

The controversial rabbi once wrote an approbation for a book called The King’s Torah that was co-written in 2009 by radical settler figure Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, which permitted killing civilian non-Jews in times of war.

He was summoned by police for questioning on grounds of incitement to violence but refused to report for questioning, saying the Torah was not open to police investigation. He was subsequently arrested and brought for questioning but no charges were made.

Last year, Lior published a letter saying that Jewish law permits destroying the entire Gaza Strip to bring peace to the south of the country.

Lior said that he had received questions about whether Jewish law permits harming a civilian population not directly involved with the combatants.

He first cited the opinion of the Maharal of Prague, a renowned 16th-century rabbi, who wrote that a nation under attack can wage a fierce war against the assaulting nation, and that it is not obligated regarding the safety of people who are personally involved in hostilities.

“At a time of war, the nation under attack is allowed to punish the enemy population with measures it finds suitable, such as blocking supplies or electricity, as well as shelling the entire area according to the army minister’s judgment, and not to needlessly endanger soldiers but rather to take crushing deterring steps to exterminate the enemy,” Lior wrote.

Addressing the hostilities with Hamas, the rabbi continued to say that “in the case of Gaza, it would be permitted for the defense minister to even order the destruction of all of Gaza so that the South will no longer suffer and to prevent injury to our people, who have been suffering for so long from the enemies surrounding us.”

“Talk of humanitarianism and consideration are nothing when weighed against saving our brothers in the South and across the country and the restoration of quiet to our land,” he said.

http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.687513

Europe's Largest Department Store Removes Israeli Products From Shelves

KaDeWe in Berlin will re-label products following the EU's decision to mark Israeli settlement goods, spokeswoman says.

Europe's largest department store, the Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe) in Berlin, has removed Israeli products from the shelves following the European Union's decision to label Israeli products from the West Bank and the Golan Heights.

In an interview with German magazine Der Spiegel published on Friday, the store's spokewoman, Petra Fladenhofer said: "Only after fixing the labels, we'll return the products to our shelves." She did not elaborate on what kinds of products were pulled.

http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/.premium-1.687546

U.S. Anthropologists Massively Back Boycott of Israel

American Anthropological Association vote goes 1,040 for, 136 against; association’s 12,000 members worldwide will now be asked to approve or reject decision.

Has israel joined the fight against ISIL ?

About 90 years ago!

There are similarities between ISIL and Israel. ISIL wants to reestablish a Caliphate. There has been a Caliphate off and on in the region since the seventh century. The last one finished in 1912. It has become a driving ambition of Sunni Muslims to recreate a Caliphate. Israel is similarly driven to reestablish ancient Israel, not just where they are now but on all the land from the river Jordan to the Mediterranean. This is being done despite it currently being someone else's land. ISIL is attempting their plans with obvious violence. Israel is going about their land grab in a more subtle and devious manner coupled with as much violence as they can get away with as they are concerned with public opinion.

n this day in 1947, the United Nations General Assembly voted to partition Palestine between two newly created Arab and Jewish states while placing Jerusalem under a “special international regime.”

Passage of the resolution required a two-thirds majority -- not counting abstaining and absent members -- of the then 56-member assembly. When the crunch came, 33 delegations (72 percent) voted for partition, 13 voted against and 10 abstained.

Some wavering countries received a telegram signed by 26 U.S. senators seeking their support for the plan. At the time, the Senate was considering a foreign aid package that included $60 million for China, which abstained.

President Harry S. Truman later said: “The facts were that not only were there pressure movements around the United Nations unlike anything that had been seen there before, but that the White House, too, was subjected to a constant barrage. I do not think I ever had as much pressure and propaganda aimed at the White House as I had in this instance. The persistence of a few of the extreme Zionist leaders—actuated by political motives and engaging in political threats—disturbed and annoyed me.”

The partition plan was never implemented because all Arab governments rejected it, arguing it violated the principles of national self-determination embedded in the U.N. charter.

After Israel declared its independence on May 15, 1948, the civil war between Arabs and Jews became an inter-state conflict as a combined invasion by Egypt, Jordan and Syria, together with expeditionary forces from Iraq, entered Palestine. The ensuing 10-month war ended with an armistice under which Israel retained not only the area demarcated by the partition plan but also nearly 60 percent of the land that the U.N. resolution had allocated to Palestinian Arabs. Other territory ended up in the hands of Jordan and Egypt.

Some 700,000 Palestinian Arabs fled or were expelled from Israel, becoming refugees.

Greg

How do you resolve the inner conflict and hypocrisy you must feel as an IT Technician when trying to promote a boycott of Israeli goods and services by making posts on a BB and website written in PHP and thereby contributing to profits for the Zend corporation and its Israeli founders, financial backers and technicians?

How does your cognitive process allow you to reach the conclusion that Israeli PHP from MAM is OK but Israeli tomatoes from Tesco are bad? Or do you prefer to brush such questions aside?

Well G, because he can buy tomatoes elsewhere.. but where on the net can he get so much high end, intellectual and stimulation conversation -):