Belgium's New Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo and the Jews

Please note that former Belgian PM Yves Leterme (Flemish) never expressed such disdain.  On the contrary.  See his comments on the right-hand column of this blog.

Newly appointed Belgian PM Elio di Rupo stated in January 2009:

Killing in cold blood: "What the Israeli government is doing in cold blood - killing innocent people, killing women and children - is totally unacceptable and I think that what happened in some parts of the world, I mean some people were dragged before international courts, should happen to those men and women who are responsible for what is being done [in Gaza]. There is nothing that can justify killing civilians. Nothing can justify killing children, women ... people like you and me. [...] I believe that one day or another they will be brought to justice. "

Jews are remorseless: "I must tell you that I have more than sympathy for the Jewish population, I feel a form of love for them. But I also wish that the Palestinians live in prosperity and peace. And this cold blooded and remorseless attitude, while witnessing schools being destroyed and all those deaths, is unacceptable. It is totally unacceptable."  Soon after (March 2009) a Belgian Socialist (held in high regard by Mr Di Rupo) Pierre Galand (see below) created a ferociouly anti-Israel kangaroo court: the Russell tribunal on Palestine. Here. [1]

"I complained that while the Flemish Parliament maintained commercial and cultural treaties with Israel, similar agreements had been rejected by the Walloon and Brussels Parliaments.Wallonia had however, such agreements with Libya and Cuba. Di Rupo answered that he would correct this after the elections; yet he did nothing."

Israel's former ambassador to Belgium, Jehudi Kinar [photo]: "Di Rupo once said that he had not known there were poor Jews."  Interview by Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld.

"Belgium is a country with a complex political system that is difficult to analyze. It is a federal state and there are tensions between its two major populations, the Dutch-speaking Flemish and the French-speaking Walloons.

Now, 540 days after the last parliamentary elections, the Wallonian Socialist leader Elio di Rupo has been appointed prime minister of a broad six-partcoalition. An analysis of his and his party’s hostile attitude toward Israel for many years already, makes it easier to understand how he might conduct himself in future."

Jehudi Kinar was the Israeli Ambassador to Belgium and Luxemburg from 2003 until the end of 2007. Before that, he had foreign postings in the Netherlands, Germany, the United States, and Canada.

"The Socialist Party (PS) is currently the dominant party in Wallonia. Di Rupo was a big disappointment for me, yet I should have known better. After he returned from Israel in 1999 when he was Prime Minister of the Walloon Region Di Rupo said that he ‘had not known that there are poor Jews’.

During our first meeting I complained that while the Flemish Parliament maintained commercial and cultural treaties with Israel, similar agreements had been rejected by the Walloon and Brussels Parliaments.Wallonia had however, such agreements with Libya and Cuba. Di Rupo answered that he would correct this after the elections; yet he did nothing.

“We had several other bad experiences with the Socialists. In 2001, a politically motivated court case was brought against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Israeli Generals Rafael Eitan and Amos Yaron, regarding their alleged involvement in the murders of Palestinians by Christian militia in the Lebanese refugee camps Sabra and Shatilla. We won in the District Court. [2]  Then in 2003, the Wallonian and Flemish Socialists, the Greens and the CDH – a Wallonian former Christian party — passed a rare retroactive change of law in the Senate which enabled prosecution of non-Belgian citizens for crimes committed elsewhere.

Israel on trial in Brussels - a prelude to Durban II?

The latest in a long list of initiatives in Europe to demonise Israel

A so-called peoples' tribunal is convening in Brussels this weekend to put Israel on trial for crimes purportedly committed by the Israeli army during the 2006 Lebanon war.

The name of Pierre Galand, President of the French-speaking Belgian Secularist association (Centre d'Action Laïque, a member of the International Humanist Ethical Union (IHEU), the world union of Humanist organisations), features on the tribunal committee sponsorship list. He is a long-time rabid critic and demoniser of Israel.

This is how NGO Monitor described Pierre Galand in 2004:

"There are very few radical NGO activities in the United Nations or in Europe in which Pierre Galand does not actively participate. His rhetoric of hatred, anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism (disguised, as in the case of many other members of the political NGO community, in the language of human rights and sympathy for Palestinian victimization), includes references to Israeli "aggression", "war crimes", "colonization", "apartheid", etc. while referring to Palestinian terror as "heroic" and in need of international protection."

In 2001, Pierre Galand attended the UN anti-racist conference in Durban in his capacity as European Chairman of the Coordinating Committee for NGOs on the Question of Palestine (ECCP), a Brussels based association of NGOs cooperating with the UN Committee on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. At the conference, he called for the reactivation a peoples' tribunal to judge Israeli crimes against the Palestinians, and announced that he had the support of the Rossel and Danièle Mitterrand (the widow of French President François Mitterrand) Foundations, and that Nobel Prize winners would be associated with the tribunal. He had Desmond Tutu in mind.

The peoples' tribunal has finally come into being seven years later in Brussels this weekend. But the sponsorship committee list falls short of Mr. Galand's grandiose expectations. There is no trace of any foundation or Nobel prize winner. No religious leaders, no scholars, no universities either. And no trace of his fellow secularists, free thinkers, humanists, rationalists, atheists either. The media have kept mum about the event.

Altough the pseudo-tribunal is a farce, it would be unwise not to denounce it. It is a dire warning of what Durban II is likely to turn into - another exercise in the demonisation of Israel, with some Europeans taking the leading role. It proves that a small group of single-minded individuals and NGOs (Amnesty International and HRW will, according to the programme, participate) with a anti-Israel agenda are capable of collecting substantial funds and resources to put together an event like the one taking place in Brussels.

For them, the only rogue state in the world is Israel. They are not intent on bringing the Sudanese government on trial for war crimes, crimes against humanity, or worse: genocide, committed in Darfur.

"Inside the Durban debacle", by Michael J. Jordan, Salon:

"During one street rally, they saw a placard that read "Hitler Should Have Finished the Job" and heard someone yell "Kill the Jews." Nearby, a man was reportedly spotted selling the most notorious and conspiratorial of anti-Semitic tracts, "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion."

Inside the U.N. conference grounds and within its tents, the rhetoric and agitprop were also white hot. Fliers were found with Hitler's photo above the question: "What if I had won? There would be no Israel, and no Palestinian bloodshed." A press conference held by the Jewish caucus was cut short by a rowdy group of Iranian women, one of whom screamed, "Six million dead and you're holding the world hostage!"

Israel's supporters, it should be noted, usually hold their own in the media and intellectual debate. But at the Durban conference, the Jewish side came armed with little more than position papers, books and other workshop materials, and was overmatched. Thrown on the defensive, they responded by quickly printing and handing out T-shirts of their own, one with a peace sign inside the Jewish Star of David under the slogan "Fight Racism, Not Jews" and a second with Martin Luther King Jr.'s quote: "When people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews."

And certainly they had their high-profile defenders. When U.N. officials appeared ready to tolerate inflammatory anti-Israel language making its way into a final conference report, U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., the top Democrat in the U.S. delegation, said sharply, "What you have here is the paradox of an anti-racism conference that is itself racist." Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor sitting in Congress and a co-founder of its human rights caucus, blasted delegates from Western nations who he said were privately disgusted with the proceedings but refused to speak out."

For South African priest Christian Zionism is the new heresy like apartheid

And there is a famous Belgian behind this...  He is Pierre Galand, of the Free University of Brussels.  The University of Brussels is on record as being the first university in Europe where a distinguished member resigned because of the piling up of antisemitic incidents and inflammatory anti-Jewish/Israel rhetoric by some academics (Prominent Belgian Jewish figure resigned from Brussels University Board to denounce anti-Semitic incidents).

Pierre Galand, international co-ordinator of the Tribunal, is organising a session of the kangaroo court "Russell Tribunal on Palestine" in South Africa. South Africa was chosen because he accuses Israel of being an apartheid State.  The "session" will take place in November in Cape Town and he has enlisted the support of  two well-known Israel-bashers Desmond Tutu and John Dugar, as well as ... Winnie Mandela.

At the press conference, a priest Rev. Edwin Arrison, on behalf of Kairos (a viciously anti-Israel Christian group) said: 

"From the side of the churches it is important that we show our support for this tribunal. It is important because just as we declared apartheid a heresy, the new heresy we are facing today is Christian Zionism and because  of Christian Zionism there is so much support coming particularly from Christians in the USA.  There are many of us who say that  "no, we cannot allow the Bible, Christianity and so on to be misused in this way"."

"Apartheid in Israel" was on all the press conference participants' lips.

NGO Monitor has a special report on Pierre Galand: "PIERRE GALAND (BELGIUM) USING POLITICAL NGOS TO PROMOTE DEMONIZATION AND; ANTI-SEMITISM IN THE UN AND THE EU" and an UPDATE (2004) 

Head of European Humanist Association calls Shimon Peres a 'war criminal', a liar and a hypocrite

Belgian Israel-basher Pierre Galand, a much respected (and this is surreal, also highly regarded by Belgian francophone Jewish leaders) and highly influencial socialist politician and 'humanist', has called for the boycott of Shimon Peres and accused him of being a "war criminal" who behind the façade of a "man of peace" is the representative of a "criminal State".  On a previous occasion Mr Galand said that Israel was a rogue State.  He also suggested that Yithzak Rabin was a war criminal.  

On the occasion of Peres' visit to Belgium, one of the anti-Israel associations he chairs (one of them is BDS) released a statement:  "His dovish image serves to obscure the real face of this Israeli politician.  Since 2007 as President of the State of Israel, he has used his positive image to help tone down the international negative reactions to the policies of the Israeli governments who lean more and more to the right".

Pierre Galand also summoned "criminal" Shimon Peres to the last session of the Belgian kangaroo court he created (Russell Tribunal on Palestine) to be held next week in Brussels and to free Marwan Barghouti, hinting at Israel-apartheid. More on Mr Peres visit to Belgium: Belgian Jewish leaders invite head of anti-Israel university to debate with Shimon Peres.

In French: Un ancien sénateur belge traite Shimon Peres de "criminel de guerre"

Shimon Peres summoned to Belgian kangaroo court and to free Marwan Barghouti

"We would like to formally invite you to take part in this historic event. We would also like to seize this opportunity of this letter to ask you, in your position as Nobel Prize winner, President of the State of Israel and someone that has always advocated a just and durable peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, to free Marwan Barghouti. This would enable him to be in Brussels with us on these two days. Such a gesture from you would certainly be as important as the one F.W de Klerk did with Nelson Mandela in 1991 [this is particularly rich: the kangaroo count has found Israel guilty of the crime of apartheid... and Pierre Galand, who wrote the letter, says that Israel is a "rogue State" - The Russell Tribunal on Palestine dishonours victims of apartheid]. It would also mark a new beginning for Israeli-Palestinian relationships that I am sure will be a revolution in itself." (Pierre Galand)

From Pierre GALAND, General Coordinator of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine (Feb. 20, 2013)

Shimon Peres
President State of Israel

Dear Mr President,

The Russell Tribunal on Palestine is a people’s initiative whose proceedings were launched in 2009 in response to a call from Ken Coates, Chairman of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation, Nurit Peled, Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought 2001, and Leila Shahid [she is the great grand niece of Hitler's friend Hadj Amin al-Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem, and Yassir Arafat's cousin], Ambassador of Palestine to the European Union (EU). The RToP follows on the footsteps of the people’s tribunals established by the philosopher Bertrand Russell on Vietnam (1966-1967) and the Lelio Basso International Foundation for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples of Latin America (1974-1976).

[Interestingly, Bertrand Russell had a poor opinion of Islam: "Bolshevism combines the characteristics of the French Revolution with those of the rise of Islam; and the result is something radically new, which can only be understood by a patient and passionate effort of imagination. [...] Marx has taught that Communism is fatally predestined to come about; this fits in with the Oriental traits in the Russian character, and produces a state of mind not unlike that of the early successors of Mahomet. Opposition is crushed without mercy, and without shrinking from the methods of the Tsarist police, many of whom are still employed at their old work. Since all evils are due to private property, the evils of the Bolshevik régime while it has to fight private property will automatically cease as soon as it has succeeded."]

Noting the failure of third parties to push Israel to respect fundamental international legal norms and to comply with their international obligations, the RToP seeks to contribute to a just resolution of the conflict by mobilizing public opinion, enhancing the role of civil society and providing it with the legal tools it requires to take action.

On March 17, the RToP will convene for its closing session in Brussels. At this event, the members of the Jury will review the findings of the previous four international sessions of the RToP, which highlighted the complicity of third parties (the United States, the European Union, the United Nations, and multinational corporations) in breaches of international law by Israel in Occupied Palestine.

Brussels: Launching of the "Russell Tribunal" on Palestine

Behind this mock "Russell Tribunal" is Pierre Galand (NGO Monitor Special Report: "Pierre Galand (Belgium) Using Political NGOs to Promote Demonization & Anti-Semitism in the UN & EU")

"Press conference organised for the Launching of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine

Wednesday 4 March 2009 at 10.30 am
Brussels – Residence Palace – International Press Centre – Polak Room

The recent war waged by the Israeli government and the Israeli army on Gaza, already under a blockade, underlines the particular responsibility of the United States and of the European Union in the perpetuation of the injustice done to the Palestinian people, deprived of its fundamental rights.

It is important to mobilize the international public opinion so that the United Nations and Member States adopt the necessary measures to end the impunity of the Israeli State, and to reach a just and durable solution to this conflict.

Following an appeal from Ken Coates, Nurit Peled, and Leila Shahid, and with the support of over a hundred well-known international personalities, it has been decided to organise a Russell Tribunal on Palestine.

Chairman of the Conference:
Stéphane Hessel – Ambassador of France
Speakers:
Ken Coates – Chairman of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation
Nurit Peled – Sakharov prize for the freedom of thought
Leila Shahid – General Delegate of Palestine to the European Union, Belgium and Luxembourg
Pierre Galand – President of the European Co-ordinating Committee of NGOs on the Question of Palestine (ECCP)

With Ken Loach and Paul Laverty

The conference will be held in English and French
Venue Residence Palace – International Press Centre
rue de la Loi 155 - Bloc C – Polak Room
1040 Brussels - Metro Schuman
Press contact Tel / fax: 00 32 (0)2 231 01 74
Mobile: 00 32 (0) 479 12 95 32"

Source: here

A year ago in Brussels another tribunal/another condemnation :
- Israel on trial in Brussels: Iranian and Syrian Ambassadors give standing ovation to judges
- Israel bashing: International citizens' tribunal to try Israel in Brussels

The real thing: the Russell-Sartre Tribunal

UN-European Parliament: The Israel-Bashing Club (a year ago)

Source: WSJ, article by Daniel Schwammenthal

""Israel is an apartheid state," was the most often-heard charge, closely followed by calls for a boycott. The West should cut its economic ties with the Jewish state, the speakers urged, and engage the "democratically elected" Islamists now running Gaza.

No, this was not a Hamas rally somewhere in the Palestinian territories. This was Brussels, where the European Parliament last week played host to the "United Nations International Conference of Civil Society in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace."

If the conference title's inversion of the truth is reminiscent of Communist-style propaganda, this is no coincidence. The meeting was organized by the U.N. Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, a Soviet-era body founded around the time of the 1975 U.N. "Zionism is racism" resolution. That anti-Semitic resolution was revoked in 1991 but the committee continued its activities in the resolution's original spirit.

Speaker after speaker at the European Parliament on Thursday and Friday presented the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from an exclusively Palestinian perspective. Israel was accused of human rights violations while Palestinian terrorism and incitement went unmentioned. The delegates invoked the Israeli occupation as the underlying cause for the conflict without mentioning the Palestinian rejectionism and violence that prevent further Israeli withdrawals. The "right of return" of millions of Palestinians, which would lead to the demographic destruction of Israel as a Jewish state, was upheld despite the official claim to favor a two-state solution.

Amid this standard-Israel-bashing, a few delegates managed to come up with a few innovative charges against the Jewish state.

There was Clare Short, a member of the British Parliament and Secretary for International Development under Prime Minister Tony Blair until she resigned in 2003 over the Iraq war. Claiming that Israel is actually "much worse than the original apartheid state" and accusing it of "killing (Palestinian) political leaders," Ms. Short charged the Jewish state with the ultimate crime: Israel "undermines the international community's reaction to global warming." According to Ms. Short, the Middle East conflict distracts the world from the real problem: man-made climate change. If extreme weather will lead to the "end of the human race," as Ms. Short warned it could, add this to the list of the crimes of Israel.

The U.S. also came in for criticism. Pierre Galand, chairman of the European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine, admonished Washington for increasing its military aid to Israel. What really worried Mr. Galand was that this aid would allow Israel to build a missile defense system. In Mr. Galand's view, Israel's ability to protect itself against possible nuclear-tipped Iranian missiles doesn't serve the "cause of peace."

Speaking at the conference's opening session, Edward McMillan-Scott, British vice president of the European Parliament, told the audience that, "It is also worth noting that I am related to Colonel T. E. Lawrence of Arabia." Having thus established his noble pedigree, he later told me that Hamas was "not a terrorist organization." Perhaps Mr. McMillan-Scott is aspiring to the title of Edward of Hamastan?

The only attempt among the dozens of speakers to present the other side came from an Arab-Israeli. Nadia Hilou, a member of the Israeli Parliament (so much for the "apartheid" charge) explained why her countrymen are pessimistic about the prospects for peace. "It's the disappointment that the withdrawals from Gaza and Lebanon, which were seen as gestures of good will, have worsened not improved Israel's security situation." Having failed to stick to her assigned role as witness for the prosecution, Ms. Hilou is unlikely to be invited back.

One is tempted to dismiss the conference as of little practical consequence. Another U.N. conference bashing Israel -- what else is new? Bronislaw Geremek [1932-2008], a former Polish foreign minister and current member of the European Parliament, disagrees. That his house has played host to this "revolting" meeting, he told me, will further diminish Europe's credibility as an even-handed peace broker in Israeli eyes. Mr. Geremek, together with a group of like-minded lawmakers, many also Polish, tried in vain to stop the conference from taking place.

The U.N. gathering in Brussels, though, did more than just sow distrust between Europe and Israel. It was a further step in the growing campaign to delegitimize and demonize Israel. The calls for a boycott, championed first by radical Palestinians, have already been adopted by some mainstream organizations, such as various British unions. Similarly, the idea of establishing contacts with Hamas has been echoed recently by high-profile politicians. Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, a former EU Commission President, suggested talking to Hamas last month to help it "develop." (He later backtracked.) The British Parliament's foreign affairs committee also recommended last month to engage with Hamas. The U.K. lawmakers even added Hezbollah and Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood to their wish list of dialogue partners -- all in the interest of peace, of course.

By hosting this conference, the European Parliament has lent its good name to propaganda and helped to make radical anti-Israeli claims more mainstream. It's a huge disservice to the search for Mideast peace, which must be based on compromise and dialogue."

- UN panel conference at EU Parliament despite Israeli protests

- European Parliamentarians denounce anti-Israel conference

- European Parliament to host controversial anti-Israeli conference

Durban II: Just Say "Non", Judeosphere

Judeosphere makes this appeal - you can sign the petition by sending an email to Ligue Internationale contre le Racisme et l'Antisémitisme (LICRA) licra@licra.org

"On Feb. 27, a petition was sent to the French newspaper Le Monde, signed by such prominent figures as Alan Finkielkraut, Claude Lanzmann and Elie Wiesel.

The letter denounces the rise of anti-semitism in public forums and urges Western democracies to follow the example of Canada and refuse to participate in the second UN-sponsored conference against racism known as Durban II.

You can read the full text of the letter and the growing number of signatories here. Some excerpts:

"At Durban, in South Africa, the global conference against racism was held under the auspices of the United Nations, in the very city where Gandhi began his career as a lawyer. It is in the name of human rights that "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" was chanted; and it is in the name of cultural relativism that there was silence on the discrimination and violence committed against women.

The great political crimes have always needed words to lend themselves legitimacy. Words presage action. From Mein Kampf ... to Stalin to Pol Pot, examples abound that justify the necessary extermination of the people’s enemy in the name of a race, in the name of the workers’ emancipation or in the name of some divine spiritual order. Totalitarian ideologues have replaced religions. … On September 11, 2001, several days after the Durban conference, it was in God’s name that the worst terrorist crime in history was committed.

Either democracies get their act together, following Canada's example, who just announced its refusal to participate in Durban II, recognizing that it risked being "marked by expressions of intolerance and anti-Semitism," and cease to abstain from or vote for resolutions contrary to the universal ideal of 1948, or religious obscurantism and its trail of political crimes will triumph under the good auspices of the United Nations. And when the hateful words are transformed into acts, nobody will be able to say: "We didn’t know.""

Let’s be reminded of the role played by some European NGOs at Durban, namely the Coordinating Committee for NGOs on the Question of Palestine (ECCP), a Brussels based association of NGOs cooperating with the UN Committee on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, headed by a Belgian Pierre Galand, who is still busy demonising Israel. Pierre Galand is the Chairman of the Belgo-Palestinian Association and, amazingly, in 2006 was appointed Chairman of the Belgian francophone secular movement (Centre d’action laïque) , a member of the International Humanist Ethical Union (IHEU)!!!
NGO Monitor Special Report: "Pierre Galand (Belgium) Using Political NGOs to Promote Demonization & Anti-Semitism in the UN & EU"
Philosemitism: "Israel on trial in Brussels - a prelude to Durban II?, The latest in a long list of initiatives in Europe to demonise Israel"

Europeans exporting hatred of Israel to South Africa

"The tribunal coordinator, former Belgian senator Pierre Galand, said the tribunal would compare Israel to apartheid South Africa, putting questions to the Jewish state about crimes against humanity."

Ben Levitas, another vice chairman of the South African Zionist Federation, told JTA that the Jewish community has expressed great concern about the tribunal.

“This is not a court that reflects public opinion," Levitas said. "They have been very selective in their choice of witnesses.”

The anti-Israel kangaroo court is the idea of a radical anti-Zionist Belgian Pierre Galand who says that Israel is a "rogue state" (for more on his anti-Israel militancy click HERE).   Among the "tribunal" patrons there is another Belgian, François Houtart, a priest, former professor at the Catholic University of Louvain and Israel hater, who was accused of having molested a young boy from his family: "In 2009, Houtart signed the Appeal for the removal of Hamas from the EU terror list and he became instrumental in the Russell Tribunal against the state of Israel. In 2010, a cousin of Houtart (female) filed an anonymous complaint to the Adriaenssens commission that her brother was sexually abused by Houtart, while he stayed at their house. The priest admits having inappropriately touched his cousin twice around 1970." The cousin decided to come forward when she heard that his supporter were working to nominate him for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.  See also: Francois Houtart, Belgian Activist Priest, Admits Sexual Abuse.  This fact doesn't seem to embarrass the "tribunal" crowd.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (JTA) -- Ten years after the notorious U.N. anti-racism conference in Durban, South Africa, that devolved into an Israel-bashing frenzy, anti-Zionist forces are mobilizing again to hold another anti-Israel conference in South Africa. This time, Israel will be on trial.

The Russell Tribunal on Palestine -- a standing organization that held two tribunals against Israel last year in Barcelona and London -- has been called for Nov . 5-6 in Cape Town “to probe whether the treatment of Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories meets the criteria of the United Nations convention against the crime of apartheid.”

The South African Zionist Federation has called the event, which is to involve prominent South Africans and already is making national headlines here, “an irrelevant talk shop.”

“Despite its name, the Russell Tribunal is not an impartial, accountable judicial body,” a vice chairman of the South African Zionist Federation, Ben Swartz, told JTA. “Rather it is a loose association of lobbyists pushing a narrow, one-sided political agenda, in this case the delegitimization of the State of Israel.”

He called it “a pointless political smear campaign by a self-appointed group of anti-Israel activists.”

But because of the attention it is receiving in South Africa, the tribunal is likely to be a damaging public relations exercise against Israel. The event has won several key endorsements in the country, including from South Africa’s leading federation of trade unions, the ruling African National Congress party, the South African Communist Party, and Zackie Achmat, the AIDS activist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee.

While the tribunal said it invited Israel, Dov Segev-Steinberg, the Israeli ambassador to South Africa, denied the claim.

Is Belgium endorsing the 'Israel Apartheid State' concept?

"To attack Israel by using the word "apartheid" is therefore to deracialise a racist concept, and it runs the risk of inviting anyone who visits, or truly understands, Israel to say that if this is apartheid, apartheid must have been a perfectly reasonable system. Hendrik Verwoerd will laugh from the depths of hell. To be fair, some of the more cunning operators inside the Israeli-apartheid brigade are aware of this." (Robin Shepherd)

It looks as though Belgium endorsing the 'Israel Apartheid State' concept. A press conference is being held tomorrow to present the findings of the third session of Russell Tribunal for Palestine held in Cape Town.  See NGO Monitor report: HERE and more HERE. The findings: "The Tribunal finds that Israel subjects the Palestinian people to an institutionalised regime of domination amounting to apartheid as defined under international law. [...] the Tribunal concludes that Israel’s rule over the Palestinian people, wherever they reside, collectively amounts to a single integrated regime of apartheid."

The kangaroo court was created by a Belgian Pierre Galand.  The press conference will take place at the De Markten Theatre "the cultural centre in the heart of Brussels" - run by the Flemish authorities.  An anti-Israel and anti-US exhibition ("project") "Cast Lead #2" is alsoo being shown now at De Markten.

In a full two year period since this charade has been going on Jewish leaders have not raised a single protest and ignored it.  The South African Jewish community has to be commended for having ensured that the charade was a failure.  The cartoon below is by Carlos Latuff.

A Bertrand Russell 'tribunal' to try philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy for warmongering, unbridled imperialism and Zionism etc.

The kangaroo court was created at the initiative an anti-Zionist political party "Les Indigènes de la République" to judge French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy. The "charges" against the philosopher are as follows:

- Advocacy of unbridled imperialism and Zionism
- Intellectual dishonesty, as a characteristic of the errors of philosophy, the accumulation of capital and power
- False accusation of an imaginary crime against Iran
- Warmongering and advocating humanitarian imperialism
- Aiding in the creation and promotion of SOS Racisme with a view to silencing autonomous movements of immigration
- Dissemination of false news likely to sow discord between Christian and Muslim religious communities.

The trial is due to take place in Paris on 28 January. 

This initiative is a pure product of what is happening in Europe.  Among the witnesses one finds British/Pakistani historian Tarik Ali and a Belgian teacher of the prestigious European School, Pierre Piccinin.  Another much respected Belgian, Pierre Galand [1]created a kangaroo court to try Israel ... using Bertrand Russell's name too - the Belgian Russell Tribunal on Palestine.

More in French here

[1] "Pierre Galand (Belgium) Using Political NGOs to Promote Demonization & Anti-Semitism in the UN & EU"

The European Union wishes good luck to the Israel-bashing Russell tribunal

Belgian newspaper Le Soir reports that the European Commission - accused by the Russell kangaroo court of complicity with Israel - declined the invitation to stand before the kangaroo jury, but sent a letter wishing "good luck" to the work of the London "conference". 

Among the outstanding members of the court, Le Soir lists Stéphane Hessel, Mairead Maguire and John Dugard - three well-known Israel-bashers.

The boss of the court, Belgian Pierre Galand, is happy with the "growing notoriety of the tribunal gained thanks to its seriousness".  Well neither the BBC nor the British newspapers covered the session. So much for the notoriety.

Pierre Galand announced that the next two sessions to be held in South Africa in October 2011 and the United States in 2012 will examine whether the "apartheid" accusation is reflects what is going on in the occupied territories and the role of the Unites States and in the United States in this "dossier".

- Israel lynching tribunal coming to the United States in 2011 (Russell Tribunal on Palestine, Belgium)
- The judgment of the "embarrassing sham kangaroo spectacle"

Israel lynching tribunal coming to the United States in 2011 (Russell Tribunal on Palestine, Belgium)

Created in Brussels, the capital of Europe, by Pierre Galand (NGO Special Report (2004): "Pierre Galand (Belgium) Using Political NGOs to Promote Demonization & Anti-Semitism in the UN & EU"), the "kangoroo court" was launched in Belgium (where it was created and launched in Belgium and held its first session in Barcelona, will be in London in November, in South Africa mid 2011 and in the United States end 2011.  Yet another European (Belgian to be precise) contribution to Peace.

Source: Harry's Place (Amnesty, Law Society Hosts Russell Tribunal on Palestine, Alan A, October 30th 2010)

On Monday 8 November, the Amnesty Human Rights Action Centre will host a meeting on the Russell Tribunal on Palestine. That meeting will feature Ewa Jasiewicz who is billed as a “Member of UK Committee”

Ewa Jasiewicz was the spokeswoman who justified the desecration of the Warsaw Ghetto earlier this year:

The Tribunal will then hold its full session at the Law Society on 20-22 November. It will feature such luminaries as John Dugard, Ronald Kasrils, Mike Mansfield, and the conspiracy theorist and kook, Cynthia McKinney.
"I had a mother to call me because her son had a very gruesome task. Her son’s charge by the Department of Defense was to process 5,000 bodies that had received a single bullet wound to the head. And these were mostly males and her son was afraid to talk because he had signed a silence agreement. So he only complained to his mother. But the data about these individuals was entered into a Pentagon computer and then, reportedly, the bodies were dumped in the swamp in Louisiana. This is as a result of the tragedy of hurricane Katrina. Now I have verification from insiders who wish to remain anonymous at the Red Cross that this is true."
________
Jonathan Hoffman : Please protest (especially if you are a lawyer) to the Law Society about them letting their rooms for this Kangaroo Court:
http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/contactus.law#contactform

- Irish Nobel laureate to 'examine' Israel war crimes in London soon
Raising funds in Belgium for the London session:
- Anti-Israel "Russell tribunal" coming to London from ... Belgium
- Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation Betrays Bertrand Russell

Cartoon above: Israel embassy in Spain

François Houtart, Hamas supporter Belgian priest, the next Nobel Peace Prize laureate ?

The ever resourceful Belgians have had yet a new fabulous idea.  They will put foward the name of a Roman Catholic priest François Houtart, 85, for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.  He is of course anti-Israel and a firm believer in creating kangoroo courts to delegitimise Israel ... and legitimise Hamas.

As we wrote previously (François Houtart, a Belgian anti-Zionist priest, awarded UNESCO prize for tolerance and non-violence) (2009):

François Houtart, a Belgian priest and professor at the Catholic University of Louvain, has been awarded (shared) the 2009 UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence. The announcement reads (excerpt):

"François Houtart (Belgium) for his life-long commitment to world peace, intercultural dialogue, human rights and the promotion of tolerance, and in recognition of his outstanding efforts to advance the cause of social justice in the world. [...]"

What the announcement leaves out is that François Houtart is a staunch anti-Israeli/US militant :

* he signed an appeal launched by Nadine Rosa-Rosso to all candidates for the 736 seats in the European parliament to remove Hamas from the EU terror list (International List Of Hamas Supporters Published, Harry's Place);

* he is a member of the Russell Tribunal for Palestine, concocted by another Belgian, Pierre Galand (Brussels: Launching of the "Russell Tribunal" on Palestine) the third such mock tribunal cooked up in Belgium ...;

* he is the chairman of the BRussells Tribunal - Peple vs Total War, that is co-chaired by Jean Bricmont, professor at the Catholic University of Louvain. Pierre Klein, professor at the Free University of Brussels is the secretary; and

* he is a member of the "People's Court" in which "individuals of concience" tried Israel for "crimes committed by the Israeli army in Lebanon during the summer 2006 [which] are a violent affront to the universal human conscience"(Israel on trial in Brussels: Iranian and Syrian Ambassadors give standing ovation to judges and Lebanon war mock tribunal condemns Israel and U.S.).

Anti-Israel "Russell tribunal" coming to London from ... Belgium

A top Belgian personality, Pierre Galand, President of the Belgian secular movement, advisor to the Rector of the Free University of Brussels, anti-Israel militant and the initiator of the Tribunal Russell on Palestine will be chairing a fund-raising event at the Molière Theatre in Brussels to bring the "Tribunal" to London. (Special NGO Report: "Pierre Galand (Belgium) Using Political NGOs to Promote Demonization & Anti-Semitism in the UN & EU")

Professor Eric David, also of the  Free University of Brussels, will be there too.  Eric David is the spiritual father of the calamitous and now defunct Belgian Universal Jurisdiction Law, a.k.a. "a law against justice"... and a top Israel-basher.  (Last week: Jewish students denounce Free Brussels University biased debate on Dieudonné)

From the "Tribunal" blog: "Russell Tribunal on Palestine-What's next?

Less than a week after the Barcelona session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine, we now have to use the little energy we have left to start thinking about the future.  And the future is London.

The Barcelona session focused on EU obligations and failings. The London session will focus on corporations profiting from the occupation but also on labour rights in Palestine-Israel and the role third party States play in letting those violations take place.

We do not have a definitive date yet for this session but it should hopefully happen towards the end of 2010. [In fact 20, 21 and 22 November.]

The Barcelona session, thanks to the efforts of everyone was a huge success. Those 3 days were fantastic, media interest in Spain at least was very impressive, the feedback I receive everyday from participants is incredibly encouraging and the findings/conclusions of the jury are groundbreaking. (to read conclusions, click here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/27775868/Russell-Tribunal-on-Palestine-findings)

Our goal is for the London session to be even better.  For this, we need the support of everyone. The first step is going to be to raise around £60K [approx. 94,290.2 USD]. You can help by donating online here http://www.russelltribunalonpalestine.net/pages/Support_the_Russell_Tribunal_on_Palestine-1152211.html
do also contact me [?] if you know any organisations, foundations, charities, unions, wealthy individuals...that you think might be able to contribute.  Again, our hope is that we will raise those £60K at a "grassroot" level. This is our tribunal. The tribunal of the people.

I'll very much appreciate if you could put me in touch with people, organisations, foundations, charities that you think might be able to help and support our work.  Thanks a million for your help and support."

[1] On the Belgian Universal Jurisdiction Law, see : The Suit Against Sharon in Belgium: A Case Analysis, Manfred Gerstenfeld's interview of Irit Kohn (JCPA)
and
NGO Monitor's report by Anne Herzberg: NGO "LAWFARE" - Exploitation of Courts in the Arab-Israeli Conflict Resort to National Courts: Criminal Prosecutions Belgium: Ariel Sharon and the Limits of Universal Jurisdiction, p.p. 23-27

François Houtart, a Belgian anti-Zionist priest, awarded UNESCO prize for tolerance and non-violence

François Houtart, a Belgian priest and professor at the Catholic University of Louvain, has been awarded (shared) the 2009 UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence. The announcement reads (excerpts):

"François Houtart (Belgium) for his life-long commitment to world peace, intercultural dialogue, human rights and the promotion of tolerance, and in recognition of his outstanding efforts to advance the cause of social justice in the world.

Mr Houtart is an ardent promoter of North-South cooperation and the founder of the Tri-Continental Centre (CETRI), a non-governmental organization renowned for its work on development issues and in the International Council of the World Social Forum. Known throughout his life as a defender of human rights, he has contributed significantly to the advancement of the inter-faith and inter-cultural dialogue. As a noted sociologist of religions and theology, he has authored numerous publications and given lectures in over 100 universities around the world. An honorary member of the Academy of Sciences of Vietnam and Cuba and a member of the Commission on Struggle against Racism of the Ecumenical Council of the Churches, he has served as President of the Committee for Human Rights in Burundi (1986-1992); founder and director of the international review "Social Compass" (1960-1990); and President of the International League for People’s Rights (2003-2008)."

What the announcement leaves out is that François Houtart is a staunch anti-Israeli/US militant :

* he signed an appeal launched by Nadine Rosa-Rosso to all candidates for the 736 seats in the European parliament to remove Hamas from the EU terror list (International List Of Hamas Supporters Published, Harry's Place);

* he is a member of the Russell Tribunal for Palestine, concocted by another Belgian, Pierre Galand (Brussels: Launching of the "Russell Tribunal" on Palestine) the third such mock tribunal cooked up in Belgium ...;

* he is the chairman of the BRussells Tribunal - Peple vs Total War, that is co-chaired by Jean Bricmont, professor at the Catholic University of Louvain. Pierre Klein, professor at the Free University of Brussels is the secretary; and

* he is a member of the "People's Court" in which "individuals of concience" tried Israel for "crimes committed by the Israeli army in Lebanon during the summer 2006 [which] are a violent affront to the universal human conscience"(Israel on trial in Brussels: Iranian and Syrian Ambassadors give standing ovation to judges and Lebanon war mock tribunal condemns Israel and U.S.).

[1] On the Centre Tricontinental (CETRI), one can find : 17 articles on Palestine, 0 article on Burundi (in spite of the fact that, according to the statement, the UNESCO prize was awarded for the priest's commitment to the advancement of human rights in Burundi), 3 articles on the Congo, 0 article on Soudan, 9 articles on Sri Lanka etc. It's strange the little attention Burundi, the Congo et Rwanda receive because they were Belgian colonies, and there is a mutually strong link between citizens of these countries and Belgium.

We had a look at the sources of the articles posted on the CETRI blog and we were not disappointed: Electronic Intifada, Le Monde Diplomatique, Counterpunch (surprise surprise Counterpunch ), Palestine Monitor, etc.


- Jean Bricmont and The De-Zionization of the American Mind - The anti-US ravings of an arrogant man

- Special Report: "Pierre Galand (Belgium) Using Political NGOs to Promote Demonization & Anti-Semitism in the UN & EU"

Israel on trial in Brussels: Iranian and Syrian Ambassadors give standing ovation to judges

A prelude to Durban II?

A Durban-style mock trial of the State of Israel was held in February in Brussels, the capital of Europe. The Court declared "the Israeli authorities in charge of the 2006 war against Lebanon guilty of the following international crimes: war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide." No less!

John Catalinotto, Miguel Urbano Rodrigues and Ángeles Maestro (who coined a new word "falsimedia" for the occasion) complained that the European "corporate" media did not report the trial implying that they take their marching orders from their imperialist paymasters (Ramsey Clark's IA Center website), whereas Al Jazeera TV broadcast the proceedings in full to Arab countries.

What they failed to say is that the progressive anti-imperialist European media and blogs have not reported the trial either. An article by Lebanese journalist Scarlett Haddad may hold the clue as to why the "progressives" thought it wiser not to trumpet their unparalled triumph.

It transpires that the Syrian and Iranian Ambassadors to Belgium were at the trial and that they gave a ten-minute standing ovation to the judges after the reading of the verdict. Such shocking news would probably not have gone down well with European public opinion.

"The Ambassadors of Lebanon, Syria and Iran, as well as the Vice President of the European Parliament, Luisa Morgantini, were among the 300 odd attendees who gave the judges a ten-minute standing ovation after the reading of the verdict", excerpt from an article "The "tribunal of conscience" harshly condemns Israel from Brussels" by Scarlett Haddad for L’Orient-Le Jour. Posted on Islam in Belgium, tag: the Empire of Evil.

Let's see what two individuals Pierre Galand and Jean Bricmont who are well known for their obsessive anti-Israeli militancy did or rather did not do:

Pierre Galand is the head of the Belgian-Palestinian Association, which specialises in the most outrageous vilification of Israel. There is no mention whatsoever of the event on the association’s website.

One would be hard put to find a fiercer (and more ludicrous) critic of Israel than Jean Bricmont, a Professor at the Catholic University of Louvain. Unsurprisingly, not only was he a member of the Peoples' Court Executive Committee but he also "gave political statements on the issues before the court". Bricmont too has kept silent about the whole pantomime. For someone who relishes the anti-Israeli limelight it is strange indeed.

On the Kangooroo Court:
Lebanon war mock tribunal condemns Israel and U.S.
Israel on trial in Brussels - a prelude to Durban II?

Oxfam anti-Israel campaigns taste bitter: the "Unattributable Gaza Update"

In July 2003, Oxfam Belgium produced this poster: "Israeli fruit tastes bitter. Say no to the occupation of Palestine. Don't buy any fruit from Israel." for which it eventually apologized, after an international campaign was successfully launched by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre (here and here). The poster still features prominently on the website of the Belgian-Palestinian Association, whose chairman is a former Oxfam Belgium head, Pierre Galand, who keeps the tradition very much alive.

Now Blue Truth has this story:
Oxfam's Unattributable Gaza Update

""Unattributable Gaza Update": that is the actual title of periodic e-mail alerts sent out from Oxfam International, the UK-based NGO. The subtitle states "This document is for your information only – do not attribute to Oxfam International – check and confirm all figures before reporting." One of the e-mails that I received was signed by 'Mohammed Ali' Abu Najela "Advocacy and Media Researcher, Oxfam GB, Gaza Strip - Occupied Palestinian Territories" and the other was signed by Michael Bailey "Advocacy and Media Manager, Jerusalem Office".

The e-mail contains various statistics regarding reports of food and fuel delivery, electric power supplies, personnel movement, and incidents of rocket fire between Hamas and Israel. Interestingly, despite the significant amount of humanitarian aid supplied by Israel, none of the aid reported in Oxfam's e-mail is listed as coming from Israel-sources are UNRWA, WHO, "commercial" and "conveyor belt" (presumably unloaded at one of the crossings).

Given the curious disclaimers in the e-mail, I sent my own e-mails to Oxfam asking why they send out information that they don't want to be attributed to them. I received a response from one Elizabeth Stevens, Oxfam America Humanitarian Communications Officer:

"I think you received an update that we sent to a specific distribution list. The sources for the information for these updates are thought to be reliable, but as most of the observations aren't our own, we can't say with absolute certainty that they are true. We included the caveat because we don't want anyone on the list to pass the information on without taking further measures to verify it. It is important that people intervening in any volatile conflict situation be able to keep track of the ever-changing landscape; however, not all information collected under these conditions can be verified quickly or easily. We want to be sure the readers on our list get what they need to do their jobs and that they also understand the limitations of the fact-gathering."

Now comes the interesting part: now that I have made this inquiry, I am now on the "specific distribution list" for more of these Unattributable Updates! Last I checked, I don't need this information to do MY job. So why does Oxfam think I should receive these? Given the history of deliberate misinformation and media manipulation by Palestinians and their advocates, this could be just another way that Palestinians use NGOs as part of their propaganda war. Certainly it's not like information, especially unattributable information, would ever circulate around the Internet!

Unfortunately, this is not really a humorous matter. The al-Durah affair was used by Palestinians to inflame tensions and inspire heinous acts of terrorism against Israeli civilians. The so-called "Jenin massacre", the Hezbollah photo frauds unquestioningly disseminated by Reuters, and the Gaza beach incident in which the deaths of civilians from a Palestinian land mine were blamed on an Israeli attack-- all were prominently used against Israel while the "corrections", if ever acknowledged at all, were made very quietly. Just 2 months ago, there was a miracle that occurred in Gaza that received remarkably little press coverage-- a Palestinian who had died, allegedly because he was denied access to Israel for medical care according to the press release from Physicians for Human Rights in a story given prominent play on the BBC, was resurrected the next day, though I don't think the BBC felt that his resurrection was unusual enough to publicize. What if I suggested that Oxfam and other NGOs knowingly manipulate their reports to deliberately harm Israel? What if I suggested that Oxfam and other NGOs knowingly employed Hamas terrorists on the ground in Gaza; or that they were required to pay a percentage of their funds (donated by well-meaning citizens in Europe and the US) to Hamas to help fund Gazan rocket factories; or that they knowingly collaborated in allowing Hamas to limit the distribution of aid to its own loyalists? These observations aren't my own, so I can't say with absolute certainty that they are true. (...)"

Special Report: "Pierre Galand (Belgium) Using Political NGOs to Promote Demonization & Anti-Semitism in the UN & EU" (NGO Monitor, 2004).

A new common European platform for the academic and cultural boycott of Israel (EPACBI)

In Europe pro-Israel and anti-Israel groups operate differently.  Pro-Israel groups operate on a national basis: if a nasty anti-Israel boycott campaign is run in Belgium or in France, pro-Israel groups in other European countries will not be interested.  Whereas anti-Israel groups operate at (1) national level, (2) intra-European level and/or at (3) international level.  A good example of this is the Russell Tribunal on Palestine which was initiated by a well respected Belgian, Pierre Galand, and has attracted people from all over the world.  The "Tribunal" was launched in Belgium without a single Jewish Belgian voice denouncing it (the reason being that they want exposure and it is better to keep a low profile - don't mention the problem and it will go away).  The Kangaroo court then went to Barcelona and there were a few local protests.  It is now having a session in London - a few UK blogs have objected (Harry's Place and Jewish Chronicle HERE, HERE and HERE), but nobody in France or Germany let alone in Belgium will be interested enough relay these protests. The Tribunal is scheduled to have session in South Africa and the U.S. (it will not end there) giving it a distinctively international imprint. Although this initiative may not amount to much, the cumulative effect of countless such Europe-wide initiatives should not be ignored. Many of these campaigns are funded by European governments and the European Union and there never seems to be any lack of funds to carry them out.

Paris Declaration of a European Platform for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (EPACBI)

French Mediapart gives the name of the organisers :

AKULBI : Akademisk og Kulturell Boikott av staten Israel (Norway)
AURDIP : Association des Universitaires pour le Respect du Droit International en Palestine (France)
BAB : Berlin Academic Boycott (Germany)
BRICUP : British Committee for Universities for Palestine (England)
CUNCAP : Comissió Universitària Catalana per Palestina (Catalonia)
ICACBI : Italian Campaign for the academic and cultural boycott of Israel (Italy)
PACBI : Palestinian campaign for the academic and cultural boycott of Israel (Palestine)
PSABI : Action Group at KTH for Boycott of Israel (Sweden)
Belgian and Dutch delegations were present at the launch of EPACBI (their website in 11 European languages ...).

"This declaration announces the establishment of a common European platform for the academic and cultural boycott of Israel. The national, regional and local organisations and movements adhering to this platform:

• Accept and promote the boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions and divestment from companies that contribute to Israel’s grave violations of international law and human rights;

Belgian Jewish leaders invite head of anti-Israel university to debate with Shimon Peres

Belgian Jewish leaders invited the head of the Free University of Brussels to a debate which, unsurprisingly, turned out to be a disastrous "blame-Shimon-Peres-and-Israel-game". The audience was shocked by the violence of the charge.  President Peres who was scheduled to answer questions, but left immediately after answering Mr Vivier's accusations. There are people in Belgium who hold positive views on Israel but they are ignored, why do Belgian Jewish leaders turn to Israel-bashers? Yet again, the debate was not about Israel. The debate was about the Israel-Arab conflict and the badness of Israel.  The Free University of Brussels is a hotbed of anti-Israel sentiment and honestly the Rector who wascriticised for accepting the invitation to meet Peres had to be shown to be more than critical of Israel.  The Russell Tribunal on Palestine was created by Pierre Galand and others from the ULB who called Shimon Peres a "war criminal" ("behind his facade of a man of peace he is a war criminal" and the "representative of a criminal State"). M. Peres praised the United States and President Obama. Well done Mr. Peres and sorry for the affront.

Yossi Lempkowicz @ EJP:

Speaking on Tuesday at an event hosted by the umbrella representative groups of the Belgian Jewish community, the president Shimon Peres responded to "concerns" about the Israeli government’s policy expressed by the rector of the Brussels Free University (ULB), Didier Viviers, who was invited to debate with the Israeli leader in presence of ambassadors, academics, politicians and members of the Jewish community.

 Viviers’s presence at the event had been sharply criticized by several fellow professors as well as by pro-Palestinian and extreme left pro-boycott activists who staged a demonstration in front of the Palais des Academies where the event took place. "I accepted the invitation to discuss with the president and to ask him a few questions as part of our freedom of speech," he said. "My university, Mister President, is concerned about violations of international law. The colonisation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem is illegal and violates the Geneva Convention," the rector told Peres. He also questioned the president's personal position on the issue and what he called the "double discourse." "While you are in favor of negotiations with the Palestinians on the issue, colonisation, which is the main obstacle, continues, even in East Jerusalem, a policy which is condemned by the Europeans," he said, before bluntly asking : "Mr President dont’you feel that you are used by Netanyahu and Lieberman."

In his lenghty response, Peres recalled that the Arabs rejected the partition plan of Palestine in 1947 into a Jewish and an Arab state. "The Arabs rejected it while we accepted." "Israel was attacked seven times, went through seven wars not only with the Palestinians but also with Arab countries." "We made peace with Egypt and Jordan and we gave back all land and water, and though people still criticze us.," he said. Recalling the time when he had to replace Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin after he was assassinated in 1995, Peres stressed that Palestinian terror followed began with several bloody bus bombings. "But we later started a peace process with the Palestinians, we helped buit their economy, their security. We agreed to give back the Gaza Israeli settlements completely. Instead of creating a state, Hamas, a terror group, took control of Gaza." " We have to complete our negotiations with the Palestinians but Hamas, which controls Gaza, doesn’t want to negotiate while the PLO under President Abbas in the West Bank doesn’t have control over the whole situation."  [...]