Anwar Ibrahim |
| Israel Dominates the Debate in Malaysia – Again Posted: 31 Jan 2012 12:57 AM PST From Wall Street Journal Recent comments by Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim have demonstrated yet again how issues related to Israel continue to divide this majority-Muslim country – and could influence the country's next national election. In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Anwar responded to the question of whether he would open diplomatic ties with Israel by stating his "support" for "efforts to protect the security of the state of Israel," while at the same time backing the "legitimate rights of the Palestinians." He stopped short of saying he would establish diplomatic relations between the two states – what he describes as a "tricky" issue – and stated that any change to the status quo would remain contingent on Israel recognizing the aspirations of the Palestinians. Malaysia is one of three Southeast Asian nations including Indonesia and Brunei that does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, though limited economic ties exist between private companies in both countries. "Some refuse to recognize the state of Israel," he said, "but I think our policy should be clear – protect the security [of Israel] but you must be as firm in protecting the legitimate interests of the Palestinians." The comments triggered a storm of debate and criticism, with members of the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and other groups accusing the leader of abandoning the Palestinian cause – an emotive cause long-supported in the majority-Muslim Southeast Asian nation. Lawmakers called on Mr. Anwar's opposition coalition to release an official statement on the issue, while president of the right-wing Malay group Perkasa Ibrahim Ali said he would raise the issue in Parliament. Mr. Anwar responded by saying he supported a "two-state solution" with Palestine, a policy he said was no different from the official stance adopted by the United Nations and Malaysia itself. "I am issuing a stern warning to anyone trying to twist my statement just so that they can say that I have betrayed the aspirations of the Palestinian people," he said in a statement to the press. His party's stand "is to defend the rights of whoever it is that has been victimised," the statement said. Though an ethnically-diverse nation that practices freedom of religion, Malaysia has declared Islam as its state religion and tensions over Israel-Palestine issues often boil over. A large percentage of the country's population supports the Palestinian cause, and jumped to criticize Israel after it launched raids on Gaza in December 2008 and stormed a flotilla in May 2010 that was carrying activists and humanitarian aid to Gaza. Tensions over the issue are even more on edge now, as Malaysia gears up for its next general election, which must be called by early next year, giving politicians more incentive to argue their views in the press than usual. "The issue is tied in with Malaysia being an Islamic country," and the idea that "therefore it should support Palestine," said James Chin, a professor at the Malaysian branch of Australia's Monash University. He added the caveat that support for the Palestinians became a much larger issue in Malaysian politics after the era of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who has been accused by world leaders of holding anti-Semitic views, which he disputes. In a statement to the local press, Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman, a member of the ruling UMNO, disputed Mr. Anwar's claim that Malaysia's current policy on Israel is the same as his own. Although Malaysia officially supports a "two-state solution" in settling the Israel-Palestinian conflict, it has also sharply criticized actions taken by Israeli forces in the past, which the foreign minister indicated means Malaysia isn't supporting "all steps" to protect Israeli security. "[Anwar's comments] show a blanket support for anything Israel does," said Khairy Jamaluddin, the chief of UMNO's youth wing, who disputed any suggestion Malaysia's ruling party was trying to politicize the issue ahead of an election. "The issue of Palestine is a top foreign policy priority for my party, it would be an issue during the election year or otherwise… timing doesn't matter." In 2010, Mr. Anwar – who in the past has been described as the face of liberal democracy in Malaysia – found himself on the other side of the argument after he lambasted UMNO for its relationship with a public relations firm called APCO. In Parliament, he said the firm was "controlled by Zionists" and working on behalf of the American government to influence Malaysian government policy – a charge denied by both the government and the public relations firm. At the time, American-Jewish groups such as B'nai B'rith accused the opposition leader of "anti-Jewish" and "anti-Israel" slanders, and called on American officials to suspend their ties with Mr. Anwar. Still, many analysts believe the latest kerfuffle is largely electioneering on the part of the ruling coalition, preoccupied with the looming possibility that the next election will be the hardest-fought yet. "They're just using it as a weapon to bring (Mr. Anwar) down," said Mr. Chin at Monash University. – Celine Fernandez contributed to this article |
| Hamas Leader Calls for Two-State Solution, But Refuses to Renounce Violence Posted: 30 Jan 2012 06:51 PM PST From NPR.COM Hamas Foreign Minister We Accept Two-State Solution With ’67 Borders The Two-Way NPR
Hamas’ Deputy Foreign Minister Ghazi Hamad. Hamas’ Deputy Foreign Minister Ghazi Hamad told NPR’s Robert Siegel that the Islamic political party has accepted a two-state solution that respects the 1967 borders. Robert asked Hamad in a very straight forward way: “If Israel were to accept a two-state solution in which Palestine would be in Gaza and the West Bank and have its capital in Jerusalem, is that an acceptable aim that Hamas is striving for or is that in and of itself insufficient because there would still be a state of Israel?” “Look, we said, frankly, we accept the state and ’67 borders. This was mentioned many times and we repeated many times,” said Hamad. Here’s his full answer: Ghazi Hamad on All Things Considered Hamas, which has been known for its rocket attacks and suicide bombings, just signed a reconciliation with its secular rival Fatah. In 2007, Hamas expelled Fatah from Gaza and the Palestinians ended up with a divided government. According to analysts, the reconciliation between the two groups means Hamas is trying to moderate its views to appeal to the West. Hamad told Robert that people should not judge Hamas on what it used to be before: Ghazi Amad on All Things Considered “I think Hamas shows a lot of flexibility. We became more pragmatic, more realistic. Hamas is ready to go more and more for political solutions. Hamas could be a good player in making peace in this region, but don’t use sticks against him, and punishment against Hamas,” Hamad said, referring to the sanctions imposed after Hamas won a decisive majority in the Palestinian Parliament in 2006. In an analysis piece by the Associated Press, they point out that Hamas’ more moderate stance may be genuine:
In his interview with Robert, Hamad did criticize Israel. He said the ball is now in its court and it needs to decide whether it’s willing to accept a Palestinian state with its capital in Jerusalem and whether it’s willing to “evict” its settlers in Palestinian territory. “We are just fighting against occupation,” Hamad said. “We are figting to liberate our homeland. This our ambition.” Hamad also said Hamas was “not in the pocket” of Iran or Syria. Hamad made much the same comments on the BBC’s Hardtalk. But PressTV, the Iranian government’s English-language news service, reports that Hamad told them Hamas would “never recognize Israel.” For it’s part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made it clear that Israel wants nothing to do with a Palestinian government that includes Hamas. “A leopard has sunk its teeth in our flesh, in the flesh of our children, wives, our elderly, and we will not be tempted to believe that this leopard has now changed its spots,” Netanyahu told the AP. “We will not ignore its voracious growls. We will strike it down.” Note we’ve added the interview as it aired on All Things Considered at the top of this post. ===== From New York Times One day after celebrating a landmark reconciliation accordfor Palestinian unity, Khaled Meshal, the Hamas leader, said on Thursday that he was fully committed to working for a two-state solution but declined to swear off violence or agree that a Palestinian state would produce an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Palestinian Factions Sign Accord to End Rift (May 5, 2011) He defined that as "a Palestinian state in the 1967 lines with Jerusalem as its capital, without any settlements or settlers, not an inch of land swaps and respecting the right of return" of Palestinian refugees to Israel itself. Asked if a deal honoring those principles would produce an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Mr. Meshal said, "I don't want to talk about that." He added: "When Israel made agreements with Egypt and Jordan, no one conditioned it on how Israel should think. The Arabs and the West didn't ask Israel what it was thinking deep inside. All Palestinians know that 60 years ago they were living on historic Palestine from the river to the sea. It is no secret." Asked whether in his pact with Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Fatah-dominatedPalestinian Authority, he agreed to end violent resistance, he replied: "Where there is occupation and settlement, there is a right to resistance. Israel is the aggressor. But resistance is a means, not an end." He added that over the coming months, as Hamas and Fatah work out their differences, "we are ready to reach an agreement on how to manage resistance." He noted that Hamas had entered into cease-fires with Israel in the past and that it was ready to do so in the future. There is one in effect right now. But his broad principle, he said, was this: "If occupation ends, resistance ends. If Israel stops firing, we stop firing." Asked if he thought nonviolent resistance was a useful approach for the Palestinians, he replied, "Unfortunately, nonviolence doesn't work against the Israelis." Israel has blasted the Fatah-Hamas agreement as, in effect, bringing terrorists into the Palestinian government. The United States has said it is waiting to see what the pact consists of before reacting. Washington provides hundreds of millions of dollars a year to the Palestinian Authority. "We are going to be carefully assessing what this action really means," Secretary of StateHillary Rodham Clinton said of the pact in Rome. She said that Washington could not accept a Palestinian government including Hamas unless it renounced violence, agreed to live by previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements and recognized Israel. These are the so-called "quartet principles," agreed on by the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia. Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain made a similar point during a visit to London by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. Any new Palestinian government "must reject violence, recognize Israel's right to exist and engage in the peace process," a spokesman for Mr. Cameron quoted him as saying. Mr. Abbas, who has largely given up on peace negotiations with Israel under Mr. Netanyahu, concluded that the best way forward was national unity and an appeal to the international community to create a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. His Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority holds sway in the West Bank, but Hamas runs Gaza. The two groups fought a brief civil war in 2007 and have been divided ever since. The agreement they signed this week calls for a new government of technocrats to plan for elections in the coming year as well as committees to coordinate security cooperation and questions like prisoner releases. But the bitterness runs deep and many challenges remain. Mr. Meshal noted in the 30-minute interview that at the unity ceremony in Cairo on Wednesday, there had been a delay because Mr. Abbas had not initially agreed that Mr. Meshal could speak from the podium. "I don't want to go into the details of it, but there was an unfortunate wrong and we overcame it," he said of the ceremony arrangements. "This is not the superficial issue of who is sitting on the stage. The crucial issue is that there has been a division between the two main parties in the Palestinian arena. Reconciliation should be seen in the arrangement and in who is speaking." Asked what had changed in recent months that allowed the long-delayed pact to go through, he said that both Fatah and the new Egyptian government had agreed, for the first time, to Hamas's adding annexes to the agreement reflecting its views. He declined to elaborate on the contents of those additional items. Mr. Meshal said that there was recent activity on ways to release Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier held for nearly five years by Hamas, but that there had been no breakthrough. He blamed Mr. Netanyahu, saying he was responsible for the delay. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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