Ariel Rusila's Conflicts [Ex-BalkanPerspective]

T he 9th Annual Israel Apartheid Week (a propaganda event on college campuses worldwide) is indicative of the efforts to delegitimize Israel in the eyes of the world. To counter these negative messages, and to show the positive side of Israeli society, JerusalemOnlineU.com (a leading online portal for Jewish distance learning) will be offering the award-winning documentary, Israel Inside: How a Small Nation Makes a Big Difference , for FREE, online streaming through March 17th. Please CLICK HERE to watch the film and share it with your friends to change the way the world views Israel. First published in Ari Rusila's BalkanBlog on Feb. 24th 2013.

T he results of Israeli elections 2013 spell one of the narrowest gaps ever noted between the Right and Center-Left blocs in the Knesset – both blocs are about tie and one aspect is that Three Arab parties got 12 members to new Knesset. Now PM Netanyahu has a complex political reality and now stands before a difficult task: creating a stable coalition. Israel's 2013 election saw record voter turnout. According to the Central Election Committee, 66.6% of Israelis exercised their right to vote,a turnout of 4 percent more than in the 2009 elections and the highest since 1999.And results are following (My main source is    ): The next government? The first scenario for PM Netanyahu is the formation of a narrow right-wing government including his natural partners: Habayit Hayehudi led by Naftali Bennett and the ultra-Orthodox Shas and UTJ. Besides this alternative is narrow and thus fragile also PM Netanyahu's wife – Sara – for personal reasons will push to exclud...

I sraeli PM Netanyahu decided elections to be held in 22nd January 2013, in advance of the November 2013 deadline. The immediate cause for early elections might be his troubles to agree budget cuts with his coalition colleagues. The key issue in Israeli politics during last decades has been the Israeli-Palestinian peace process but this time differ; socioeconomic questions rises to top of agenda. While the Israeli economy is slowing the ruling coalition has proposed budget cuts and already some social protests occurred summer of 2011. Other issues are the Iranian thread and PM Netanyahu's leadership skills to copy with it, tensions between secular and religious Jews in Israel especially related to military service and a debate about how to break the deadlock in the Palestinian issue which has close link to worsened relationship between U.S and Israel. Israeli Elections 2013 Factbox 34 parties are competing in the upcoming Israeli national election that will ...

Article first published as A Jordanian-Palestinian Confederation Is On The Move on Technorati. I sraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jordan's King Abdullah II had a secret meeting in Jordan during Xmas. After leak to media it was officially confirmed (PM press office) that the two leaders discussed Syria's Chemicals - whether Syrian President Bashar Assad would use chemical weapons against rebels in the civil war and whether they could fall into the hands of radical elements. However the real agenda of the meeting is more interesting. Debkafile’s sources reveal that the issue was the aspects of a possible confederation between a Palestinian West Bank state and the Hashemite Kingdom. The meeting can be seen also in wider context as part of the new Sunni-Muslim-led pro-US axis. According Debka file the Jordanian option has become a focal talking point in Amman, Washington and Palestinian centers. Netanyahu brought some pointed questions to the hi...

A s year 2012 ends the conflicts after the violent dissolution wars of Yugoslavia still are frozen ones it might be right time to summarize why all this happened. An excellent means for this is a Canadian documentary film ”The Weight of Chains”. As opposed to general picture in western main stream media the film takes a critical look at the role that the US, NATO and the EU played in the tragic breakup of a once peaceful and prosperous European state - Yugoslavia. It will present strong arguments which uncover the true reasons behind Western intervention in the Balkans and why . "The Weight Of Chains " deals with tough issues concerning the breakup of region and the consequences of a decade of instability and war. The film will present a Canadian perspective on Western involvement in the division of the ethnic groups within Yugoslavia and show that the war was forced from outside -- regular people wanted peace. Another similar approach from West was a Norwegia...

“ During its operation in Gaza, the Israeli Defense Forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare.” (Richard Kemp in the UN Human Rights Council hearing after Operation Cast Lead) T he role of civilians during ongoing operation Pillar of Defence is traditional one: Hamas and other Palestinian terror organizations intentionally target Israeli civilians and use the population of Gaza as human shields, storing and firing rockets from within populated areas. In stark contrast, Israel does not intentionally target Palestinian civilians; in opposite the Israel Defence Force (IDF) takes extraordinary measures to avoid Palestinian civilian deaths. Israel uses early warnings and sophisticated missile defence system to protect its own population while the role of civilian population in Gaza seems again to be that of cannon fodder and their value only propagandist. Hamas has systematically fired rockets over...

”In the past 24 hours Israel has made it clear that it will not tolerate rocket and missile attacks on its civilians. I hope that Hamas and the other terror organizations in Gaza got the message. If not, Israel is prepared to take whatever action is necessary to defend our people." (PM Netanyahu) E nough is Enough. The escalation of events over the past few days forced Israel to react to the Hamas attacks.The civilians of southern Israel have been under sustained attack from Gaza since last Saturday, November 10th. More than 120 rockets were fired before Israel launched Operation Pillar of Defense on 14th Nov 2012. An Israeli ground offensive is now almost assured. Hamas probably assumed that Israel won't launch broad military campaign before Israeli elections, it seems that they made a serious and for many a fatal miscalculation. The toll the rockets from Gaza have taken on Israeli citizens is heavy. Over one million civilians has lived in range and their ...