Eritrea Profile_20122014

Vol 21. No. 85
Saturday, 20th of december, 2014
Pages 8, Price 1.50 NFA
UNDP Country Representative commends Eritrean
people’s work spirit
NUEW branch in Italy holds 3 Conference
rd
The National Union of Eritrean
Women (NUEW) branch in Italy
held its 3rd Conference on December 14. The conference was
attended by the Eritrean Ambassador to Italy, Mr. Fisehatsion
Petros, and the Chairperson of the
NUEW in Europe region, heads of
community and national organizations, as well as representative of
10 sub-branches.
Speaking on the occasion, the
Chairperson of the branch office,
stated that the Union member are
exerting the necessary effort towards bequeathing the values of
the Eritrean women to the young
generation and the realization of
development goals, in addition
to mounting staunch resistance
against external conspiracies in
continuation of the exemplary role
they played in the days of armed
struggle for independence.
The PFDJ branch in the Northern
Red Sea region has conducted an
annual assessment meeting focusing on organizational, political and
development domains undertaken
in 2014.
In the meeting, reports were
presented outlining the work accomplishments by members of the
central office of the region and subzonal branch heads, during which
discussion was conducted on the
reports presented.
Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Haile Tewoldebirhan, head of PFDJ
branch in the region, explained that
it is aimed at evaluating organizational and political accomplish-
ments, as well as development programs implemented on the basis of
active communal participation.
Similarly, Mr. Amir Hamid, head
of political affairs of in the region,
explained that over 80 seminars
were conducted for the public
and training organized for cadres
in Afabet and Nakfa sub-zones in
2014, in addition to the regular
meetings with members.
The participants of the assessment meeting said that development programs being implemented
through active community participation have borne fruitful outcome
vis-à-vis improving livelihood, urban and rural development.
The inhabitants of Afambo area,
Central Denkalia sub-zone, stated
that the Health Station there is rendering commendable services as
regards raising community awareness and promoting wellbeing.
Commending the health care
rendered by members of the Health
Station, they said that thanks to the
promotional activities their awareness pertaining to health issues is
on the rise.
Ibrahim Suleiman, head of the
Health Station, pointed out that it
is providing service for three villages in the area, and that the local
inhabitants are exerting the necessary collaboration with them.
PFDJ branch in Northern Red Sea region
conducts annual assessment meeting
Health Station in Afambo area
rendering commendable service
Likewise, Ms. Kidan Tesfamichael, Chairperson the NUEW in
Europe, highly appraised the initiative taken by the branch members pertaining to the putting
in place of a women’s center in
Keren.
Reports were presented at the
conference outlining the work accomplishments of the branch office over the past 3 years, during
which discussions were conducted
on the reports presented.
Moreover, the participants
elected a 5-member managing
committee.
In closing remarks, Ambassador
Fisehatsion Petros, pointed out
that the role of Eritrean women
in State affairs occupies a special
place in the country’s history, and
stressed the need for steppedup endeavors towards nurturing
youth members and strengthening
organizational capacity.
The UN Resident Coordinator,
UN Humanitarian Coordinator and
UNDP Representative (UNDP)
in Eritrea, Ms. Christine Umutoni, has commended the Eritrean
people’s work spirit. She made the
remarks during an interview with
Eritrean media outlets.
Stating that such an attribute
constitutes a driving force for enhanced collaboration in the development domain, Ms. Christine
Umutoni noted that this asset emanates from the spirit of nationals to
keep intact noteworthy values.
The Resident Representative
went on to indicate that relations
between Eritrea and the UN is
gaining momentum and that the
implementation of cooperation ac-
cord concluded in January 2013
regarding environmental conservation, ensuring food security, social
welfare, education, gender equality
and human resource development is being implemented as scheduled.
In this connection, Ms. Christine
Umutoni lauded the achievements
in various sectors in general and
the health domain in particular, on
the basis of active popular participation.
Regarding the country’s programs to raise the potentials of the
youth, she explained that agreements have been reached between
the Eritrean government and UN
agencies and other partners towards
making the necessary investment
to this end.
National Union of Eritrean Women
Yemen branch conduct congress
The National Union of Eritrean
Women Yemen branch conducted
congress on 12 December at the Eritrean Embassy in Yemen.
Reports indicate that the congress
in which members of the Eritrean
community members, the youth
and staff of the Embassy took part
has been delayed due to the security problem in that country, and that
they decided to conduct the congress
in order to evaluate and plan future
activities.
In a speech he conducted at the
occasion, Mr. Mohammed-Sheik
Abduljelil, Eritrean Ambassador
in Yemen, said that the decision to
conduct this congress has been a
positive and timely, and that the
Embassy would stand alongside the
community members in all their en-
deavors.At the occasion a committee that oversees the activities of the
community has been elected. 2
Eritrea Profile, Saturday 20th of december, 2014
“Powerful media is essential and vital
when we’re facing imperialism and
neocolonialism”: Mr. Andre Vitcher,
Czech Republican Investigative Journalist
Billion Temesgen
On the past few weeks we had a
well known Czech republican investigative journalist, filmmaker,
novelist and a poet, Mr. Andre
Vitcher whom has been doing
some analytical research about
Eritrea. Mr. Andre Vitcher has
covered dozens of war zones and
conflicts from Bosnia to Peru, Sri
Lanka, Congo and Timor. With an
experience that goes far more than
being just a “journalist”, he is one
of today’s influential men working to raise awareness on how the
West is manipulating the world and
specifically countries trying to set a
history on their own to themselves,
as well as how the western propaganda is giving erroneous information about them. He also writes,
make films, and photographs for
many worldwide publications including Counter Punch, Z Magazine, Asia Times, News Weeks,
China Daily, Irish Times, Asia Pacific Journal, Press TV, CCTV and
so many more. He firmly believes
that this modern form of imperialism and neocolonialism lead by the
west needs to be fought against. On
the 5th of December 2014 the National Union of Eritrean Youth and
Students organized an overly pleasantly vivid lecture session discussing different topics which turned to
be of a successful platform of discussion both for Mr. Andre Vitcher
and the participants. Though many
question were aroused we bring
you some of the issues that highly
grasped the attention of the partakers. On today’s edition we will
present you a general introduction
presented by Mr. Andre Vitcher followed by a topic enclosing how the
media is affecting today’s world’s
on-goings; while we will explore
more on the subsequent parts of the
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following editions.
-What would you say on regards
to your own background, aspirations and your concentration on
Eritrea?
I lived in Latin America for many
years; I lived in different places and
after the journey I’ve experienced
in more than fifty countries I came
to realize that the conducts lead by
the west are not that pleasant. So
for many years I dedicated my life
fighting imperialism and neocolonialism; using my books, films and
my investigative journalism works.
Right now I am basically part of the
big media which I refuse to define
it as “alternative media” like many
people do, simply because it is not,
fighting the West. I work closely with
Tele Azul, RT, CCTV and Press TV:
making films and documentaries. I
am also a writer and I write educational and academic books dealing
with the Western neocolonialism.
Now, the reason why I came here
is because of what I saw in the past
two years. The west with its neocolonialism policies for the past two
decades has literally bulldozed out
of its way every country that reaches for its own socio-economical and
political standup on its own. In the
past two years I worked very actively in places like Venezuela, Ukraine,
Thailand, and many others trying to
survey at the similarities between the
countries that are opposing and fighting the North American along with
the European rules. And as obvious
as it is there some great similarities,
so one of the main reasons Eritrea
caught my curiosity is because your
country is part of what I call the “hit
list” of nations that are of a threat to
the western’s neocolonialism policies. I know it is a mafia word but in
a very real way it is how the world is
being grounded by the western nations. Eritrea along with more than
twenty countries is on this “hit list”;
but your country is positioned at the
most severe top ten.
When I came here I realized that
Eritrea is definitely different to what
the world says it is but very similar to my expectations: you have a
very pleasant country. Your country
is most certainly a very important
model of self-development, a strong
country which is standing proud for
decades now; and very similar to us
particularly to Latin America and
specifically Cuba.
One thing that surprised me the
most though; was that after being
here for the first three days different from other countries around
the world that I visited and worked
in --- that are also on the “hit list”
I described previously--- you have
a sound and tranquil disposition.
Those countries are rather agitated,
alarmed and afraid. But here shortly
with in the first three days of my
stay, I talked to many young people
and found out that there is no sense
of urgency in Eritrea. Young people
of yours are in point of fact exceptionally aware of the past terrible
history and years of struggle and
are positively certain that this cannot happen to Eritrea any time soon.
I hope they are right, but fighting the
western empire is not of an easy task
for that I am a little bit concerened
---from previous experiences in my
carrier--- whether these countries
can survive the bulldozing of the
west. Once again I truly hope that
what your young people are feeling
is right.
-What about your early inspirations.
My father was a nuclear scientist
in Russia. I was born and raised in
a city situated right on the border of
West-Germany. I grew up in a society
composed by inhabitants deriving
from the surroundings so we were
multi ethnical and multi lingual. Because of the western media directed
at us when I was a kid, Czechoslovakia seemed to me and people like
me much less better than the west. It
took me moving to New York to see
and experience for myself that I was
terribly wrong. When I first went to
New York, I was shocked to what
people were saying about us. They
were saying all sorts of things: like
how we didn’t have food and we had
bread lines. But truthfully Czechoslovakia was basically like any other
western countries: we listened to the
same music, had good book stores
with the same books, all materials
goods were there and edible goods
were available. You know… sure, it
wasn’t not “American flashy”, it was
a little bit greyer than the west but
the lifestyle was of good standards.
But simply due to our communist
policy all sorts of propagandas were
being handcrafted and broadcasted
through different media outlets by
the west giving wrong descriptions
about us; on how we were deprived
and had no freedom and such.
-What is Freedom to you?
Two months ago, I went back to
where I was born and grew up in. I
had bad childhood memories growing up there because of my mother
was half Asian, for me as a kid was
like a battle for survival after every
and each class. So once I had left
Czechoslovakia I actually didn’t go
back very often. But then recently I
received an invitation from the philosophical faculty of the West Bohemian faculty to deliver political lecture. The head of this department is
actually former Czech dissident, an
influential man whom even signed
the *(1) “Charter of ‘77” which is
practically one of the most important movements of Czechoslovakia.
His name Miroslav kovelt. He also
had left Czechoslovakia becoming
one powerful professor. Once I had
heard that he had preformed a ritual
in a church literally throwing piece
of row meat in the air. So I wrote
him asking why, he then told me it
was the anniversary of the American bombing in a market of Iran.
That ritual was a reminder of what
had happened when American aircrafts bombing innocent people in
the market, people still painfully remember how as the bombs went off
for a while, they couldn’t hear anything. In matter of few seconds later
fleshes of human bodies were falling
from above hitting the ground. I had
nothing to say but amazement.
After I delivered my political
lecture we went to a quite remote
village to talk like philosopher to
another, bringing up the subject
of “freedom”. What is freedom?
What is democracy? …. You know
many people think ---based on
the propaganda fed by the western
strategies--- that freedom is the opportunity of choosing between what
jeans to wear or have to choose one
thousand papers or magazines to
choose from. He said no. He said
that freedom means having some
time to think, to live in a society that
doesn’t question what will happen
to its people the next morning. But
what we have sadly dominating today because of capitalism is not real
freedom. Do you know that people
in America and most of the Western Countries live in fright? They
live each day fearing of losing their
job, they act like prostitute towards
their boss trying to get on their good
side so not to be left on the ground,
they are afraid to get sick and pay
for the expensive medications. The
stores are full with everything one
needs and many more extra that
one doesn’t need but think that its
vital to him, one is surrounded by
flashy things, people have multiple
big cars when they could survive
with one in order from a point “A”
to a point “B” … ; you might think
that’s freedom but it’s not. People
live in frustration. The frustration
of not having what the propaganda
tells them they need to. This is the
sad situation people in the west live
in and they think they have freedom
but they don’t.
-What about Freedom of information.
If you are in New York or in London most majorities of the societies,
actually 90 % of the people leaving
in industrialized countries read tabloid papers and gossip magazines.
It is not like they do tremendous
research on how their country and
simultaneously themselves are doing and will be affected by what
their governments do. “Freedom of
press” very often used as a major
propaganda by the West, it is good
to have it but it does not mean when
continued on page 3
Eritrea Profile, Saturday 20th of december, 2014
“If Not Now Then When?”
Solomon Mengsteab
Part I
A few days ago there was this report on BBC World about an overweight man whose physical state of
being has literally cost him his job.
The man was fired from his job because he was not able to tie the shoe
laces of the children at his work. The
matter was, then, taken to court for
the man claimed that he was the victim of getting sacked only because
his of obesity. It is said that, through
his case, the court shall settle whether obesity is to be considered as a
disability or not. And now his issue has raised a legal controversy
and a public debate whether obesity
should be considered a disability or
not. By that definition any physical
or mental state of being that hinders
people from undertaking tasks they
would like/have to perform or obstruct their aptitude to cope up with
their environment, whether caused
by the conscious acts of the subject
in question or not, is going to be
considered as disability.
A friend of mine used to say,
“Baldness is a disability, you are a
handicap you know?” as he teases
me, when I first began to lose my
hair. Well, baldness, especially when
it happens at young age, could bring
about a few difficulties on the young
bald man. It is not exactly easy to
look like ten years older than one’s
peers, and that feeling of uneasiness,
from the peculiarity and standing
out, can result in the restrictions of
the young man’s ability to function
socially. Trust me, I know; I lost my
hair young.
But enough with odd reports and
jests; let us return to serious affairs,
as my friend’s teasing is nothing
more than a joke, and the report of
the obese man is equally humorous.
For, if one calls obesity, a condition
that can be avoided even more so altered and reversed, given one is willing and committed enough to do all
one has to do, a disability and, even
worse, if one is foolish enough to
considers something as insignificant
as baldness a disability, it would be
a grave insensitiveness to the constraints and hardships that the actual
disabled and handicap are bound to
go through.
There is no comparative preferability among kinds of physical disabilities; whether the limitations or
losses are on the eyes, ears, hands,
legs etc. they all have, more or less,
similar effect on the individual with
the given limitation or loss; that person will have one or another sort of
limits in his/her movements, senses
and/or activities. Nevertheless, the
most difficult limitation should be
mental limitation, as it in consequence limits the use of many more
healthy and fit parts of the body.
It is probably why it is often said,
“There is only mental disability not
physical.” For physical limitation on
a certain part of the body, save the
brain, does not really restrict people
to overcome their short comings and
lead a regular life.
On the other hand, there are a lot
more shortcomings in human bearings that are of even more sombre
consequences in life. Crippling
mind fetters which fasten the mind
and, through it, the physical and the
psychological constitute of individuals. Among these shackles which
chain up the mind and through it,
continued from page 2
you don’t have it you are deprived.
People are very creative creatures
they will eventually manage to get
what they need somehow. My problem with the western media is that it
is not always “international” as they
say it is; they don’t respect other
countries. I once questioned myself
if western left wingers hate socialist countries? Because it appears
as if basically everything has to be
judged in the western left wing from
the prospect of the western media.
Somehow the mainstream media of
the west have the ability of giving a
stamp of approval to everything that
happens in the world. You need to
remember that in many countries the
west wing is weak… it lost. In Europe it lost, in the United States and
Canada better to forget it and same
goes to Australia. So we had this
very paradoxical situation on how
many people of the countries whom
experienced total collapse relied so
much on the right wing media. Nevertheless now-a-days we are living
a totally different reality: we have
a new and authentic very influential media network in the countries
were we actually want it and need
it to be. Powerful media is essential
and vital when we’re facing imperialism and neocolonialism. We have
CCTV in China, we have Venezuelan TV: “Tele Azul”, Channel 7 in
Ecuador and we have RT ---Russia
Today---. And look at what RT is
doing for example… I am pleased
that Russia has such a decisive media that is gathering elite professors
and powerful people from London
and so many European countries.
It managed to present an objective
media network and multi sided staging than the CCN or BBC do. This
marks an important moment in history. We don’t recycle what the west
produces any more like we did ten
years ago. These powerful television
and news stations ---like PRESS TV
for example--- have reporters all
over the world reporting objectively
from the places that event take in.
They have people like me working
for them. And no CNN or BBC can
contradict what the reporters have to
say because we take action directly.
I personally made five films for Tele
Azul in the last year. I made one film
about the Turkish rebellion, I made
another film on how the capitalism
destroyed the city of Surabaya in
Indonesia, and the third one highlights how the west drained Egypt.
I also made a film about the American airbase in Okinawa in Japan. I
added one defining Kenyan slums
in Mombasa and in Nairobi as a
deliberate social experimentation
place of different kinds on human
beings preformed by the masters of
the West. Press TV is broadcasting
my film about Congo and Rwanda,
I worked six years on it and I don’t
think I can go there anymore or either in Kenya. But this is simply to
give a general idea… you can imagine how important is for the left to
bring to light so many nasty realities
created by the west. And that is why
they are gracefully commissioning
these kinds of activities. This is how
internationally the Media needs to
be: free of western propaganda.
The Handicapping Postponement
3
“Powerful media is essential and
vital when we’re facing ...
*(1) - Source: Wikipedia. The
Charter of 77 criticized the government for failing to implement human rights provisions of a number of
documents it had signed, including
the 1960 Constitution of Czechoslovakia, the Final Act of the 1975
Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Basket III of the
Helsinki Accords), and 1966 United
Nations covenants on political, civil,
economic, and cultural rights.[4]:209–
212
The document also described the
signatories as a “loose, informal,
and open association of people . . .
united by the will to strive individually and collectively for respect for
human and civil rights in our country and throughout the world.” It
emphasized that Charter 77 is not an
organization, has no statutes or permanent organs, and “does not form
the basis for any oppositional political activity.” This final stipulation
was a careful effort to stay within
the bounds of Czechoslovak law,
which made organized opposition illegal. After 30 years, many of those
from both Czechoslovakia and the
UK who were personally involved
in the Charter 77 movement and
helped to gain international support
and to draw attention to the petition
gathered on 29 March 2007 at the
Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond,
London, to look back and share their
experience and memories of one of
the little-known but most significant
events of modern European history.
when they are not attended and broken presently, eventually take grim
control over the entire bearings of
an individual we find the infamous
habit of procrastination.
There is hardly anyone who does
not procrastinate, one who never lets
oneself into the indulgence of trivial
while there awaits a lot of things to
do, many a task to begin, even many
more errands to complete, a lot of
places to be, a good many people to
see etc. You should be familiar with
that feeling; you know the one that
keeps you fixed on the television set
while you have an exam to study for,
or the one that glues your bottom on
the couch when you should be off
to your appointment, or perhaps
the one that have you ridiculously
sitting around in the internet cafes
watching monies, video clips, or
when, sometimes, the network signal is strong, chatting up old friends
on face-book, or maybe the one that
won’t let you to get off the lovely
shade you are lying about when you
have tens of logs to chop etc. That’s
it, the one that is on the way of the
important things that you are supposed to be doing.
In the crudest sense Procrastination can be defined as the practice
of putting off things that ought to be
focused on right now and carrying
out less urgent tasks. More importantly when the time, energy and resources are spent or at times wasted
on things that are more enjoyable,
comfortable and/or pleasurable at
the cost of things which are more urgent, less pleasurable, and difficult;
in consequence, arranging or putting
off impending tasks to be carried out
or take place at a later time than that
first scheduled. Usually, such a postponement eventually leads to doing
those important and urgent tasks at
the eleventh hour, right before the
deadline.
According to Professor Clarry
Lay, a psychologist and a well known
writer on this particular issue, it can
be said that procrastination takes
place when there is “…a temporal
gap between intended behavior and
enacted behavior.” That is to say an
act of postponement can be called
procrastination “when there’s a significant period of time between intend time to carry out a certain task
and the actual time that the task is in
point of fact completed.
It is important however, recognize
each and every act of postponement,
re-planning and rescheduling is not
necessarily procrastination. People,
many a time, put off and reschedule
the tasks they had decided to carry
out at a certain given or period of
time, for good reasons. Sometimes
people put off important tasks whey
there comes along, although unplanned, a more urgent or impending issue to their attention. For example, one may put off one’s plans
to renovate one’s house when all of
the sudden a given member one’s
family has a medical emergency
and the money is needed there. It
is hardly possible to refer such rescheduling as procrastination. Such
an action in fact is rather a rational
prioritization.
Sometimes people may also put
off an important task when there isn’t
really anything more important, here
they may just postpone that particular important task for later as they
are not feeling particularly good,
or not in the mood or may be feeling tiered. Yet still, so long as such
postponements do not take place
too frequently and become habits or
they don’t put off the reschedule too
far off, costing productivity and efficiency, they are not necessarily procrastinations. The problem is when
someone postpones important tasks
too many times under trivial pretexts, and even worse makes a habit
of such rescheduling.
Again, there barely is an individual who does not procrastinate
in one’s life; at some point or another everyone procrastinates. It is
in human nature; we all immerse
ourselves in inconsequential petty
tasks from time to time. Nevertheless, some of us chronically avoid
important, urgent and difficult tasks
and instead engage in simple, pleasurable and less important or even
sometimes not important tasks. The
worst thing about this however, is
not that there are tantalizing, simple
and pleasurable pastime activities
are chasing us everywhere and we
are falling victims for their distractions, it’s just that we deliberately
look for distractions. And to make
things even worse such trifle distractions are increasingly available.
Eritrea Profile, Saturday 20th of december, 2014
ADS
COLONNADE MINING GROUP ERITREA LIMITED
4
STATE OF ERITREA
MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE
vacancy announcement
EUROPEAN
DEVELOPMENT
FUND
Colonnade Mining Group (Eritrea) Limited, Rig Mechanic
Colonnade Mining Group (Eritrea) Limited is seeking to hire a Drill Rig Mechanic, responsible for maintaining and repairing diamond and reverse circulation drilling machines.
The post holder will also be responsible for maintenance of auxiliary equipment, including
vehicles, pumps, generators, and any other equipment as needed. The role will be based at
the drill site when the machines are working and in Asmara when the machines are dormant.
The drilling machines run 24 hours a day so while at site, shift work will be required.
The successful candidate will have more than 5 years of experience in a mechanic’s role
with practical hands on knowledge of hydraulic systems and repair, and diesel engine expertise. The candidate will have worked on drill rigs before and understand the importance of
being organized, familiar with inventory concepts, ordering spare parts and updating maintenance and service records. Experience with the well-known brands e.g. Caterpillar, Cummins is also desirable. Reporting to the operations manager or his designated representative,
the candidate will also be required to demonstrate knowledge of mine health and safety
standards, rig maintenance processes, and drilling equipment supplies.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
• Maintenance of drilling rig, including management of maintenance schedule and
completion of daily maintenance documentation and spares ordering
• Maintenance of auxiliary equipment eg vehicles, pumps, generators etc, as required
• Responsibility for servicing of equipment for external clients
• Good working knowledge of general equipment used in the mining and construction
industries and welding expertise will be highly advantageous
This role requires an individual who is detail oriented, professional, and responsible and
who can work autonomously. Being able to think on your feet and comfort with documentation procedures is necessary.
Other requirements:
- Excellent communication skills
- Excellent written and spoken English skills, with additional skills a significant advantage
- Computer literate
- Candidate must have completed or be exempt from national service
Compensation: Competitive
Please note applications will be received up to 30 days after the date of advertisement and
only short listed candidates will be contacted.
To Eritrean Applicants:
Please send a copy of your application documents to: The Ministry of Labor and Human
Welfare
Department of Labor
P.O.Box 5252, Asmara, Eritrea
Please email your CV to: Chris van der Westhuyzen, email address [email protected] or send it to:
Colonnade Mining Group (Eritrea) Limited, c/o 6th Floor Floor, S.A. Building, 189 Warsay
Avenue, Tiravolo, Asmara, Eritrea
PROCUREMENT - NOTICE
Contract Title: Supply and Installation of Drip Irrigation Schemes Powered by
Photovoltaic in Eritrea
Publication Reference: EuropeAid/135572/IH/SUP/ER
The Government of the State of Eritrea represented by the Ministry of National Development, as the National Authorising Officer, intends to award a supply contract for supply, delivery, installation, and commissioning of 25 drip and sprinkler irrigation schemes powered
by photovoltaic in 3 regions of Eritrea, namely Debub, Maekel, and Anseba regions with
financial assistance from the 10th EDF programme of the European Union. The tender dossier
is available from:
Ministry of Agriculture,
Planning and Statistics Division,
Sawa Street,
P.O.Box- 1048,
Asmara, Eritrea.
Tel.: +291-1-181042; Fax: +291-1-181759;
Email: [email protected]
and will also be published on the EuropeAid website:
https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/europeaid/onlineservices/index.cfm?do=publi.welcome.
The deadline for submission of tenders is on April 14th, 2015, at 17:00 hrs local time.
Possible additional information or clarifications/questions shall be published on the EuropeAid website:
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and Local News Paper “Eritrea Profile and Haddas Eritrea”.
‘Teref’: Mirroring...
continued from page 7
Her unbounded conversation skills, supported
by her logically attuned minding skills are not
easy from the time of incepting the Keskese
and Axumite Obelisks, or studying at the Altar
of Adulis, or if she was a devoted faithful in
the time of the foundation of Abune Libanos
Monastery in the 6th century!
After Reading ‘Mibrak’
Well walled lyrics of Don Billion had one
great verses, which among them is ‘The Condition Things are In,’ the singer echoes that
‘my life is in a mess, {and} it is all twisted and
tangled {which} let me so depressed.’ For sure,
if you are in a moment as Don Billion, the only
remedy is getting, sharing and chatting with
‘Mibrak’ and her seems. Her thunderous laugh
pushed me to remember Lipo (701-762 CE),
one of the two great poets of the Tang Dynasty.
In one of his over 1,000 poems, he claimed: “I
laugh… and my heart is at peace. And there is
another world, not of mortal men, but of others.” Absolutely, laughing in a reasonable way
is curative and good medicine. And for sure,
Mibrak tells us about dedicated doctor who
opted to live in a far-flung area. As Mibrak tells
us, he is there to discover well and armored defending material for his beloved country.
Yes! Eritreans know the devastating impact
of war and its consequences. The Ethiopian
Military clique—The Dergue—for instance,
made a total of 136, 658, 582.56 Birr for
launching 6th offensive war as if to annex the
entire Eritrean Land (Hadas Ertra, 23 May
2006, page 3). If we take this as a point, we
can comprehend easily how terrific war and
its impacts are on both—the aggressor and the
victim—sides. Hence, we conmen war; we are
vehemently against war supporters and those
who try day and night to ignite the torch of
war. Indeed, ‘Teref’s’ Mibrak is completely
against ‘Candide,’ Voltaire’s main character in
his novel entitled ‘Candide.’ On his 15 and 16
January 1759 copies of his book he sent to major European cities, Voltaire insisted on saying
that ‘meta-pshyco-theologico-cosmo-codolgy’
is the best of all measurements about having
the best possible means of livelihood, enlightenment and life philosophy.
However, the result of Voltaire’s proved to
be negative and destroying. As the character
in the book--Professor Pangloss--advocates,
our world is engulfing to human being by
unsustainable economy lines and other socioeconomic disturbances. And war has been the
main tool in fueling the undeniable differences.
However, Mibrak has another dimension; she
is dutiful in helping the doctor in his efforts to
do prolific activities, as she is also responsible
to look after one woman is busily tasked with
preparing traditional remedies. Therefore, the
best possible is not as ‘Candide’ voices loudly. Secluding, being authoritative, practicing
technological advancements without ethical
standards…are not a good remedy. Being fully
aware of yourself and your surroundings is a
vital stand point for having the best possible
means.
“Water and food are just good and hortative
for building our body; but, knowledge is the
trusted victual for our mind and soul. Therefore, the malnourishment of the soul meets
the line of satisfaction through proved knowledge.” (Teref, Page 59)
Yosief A.Z
5
Eritrea Profile, Saturday 20th of december, 2014
Africa.UNDP.org: UN, Eritrea
showcase country’s health successes
By: Berhane Habtemariam
Eritrea has achieved impressive progress on health-related
Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs), members of the United
Nations and the Government ob-
Around 98 percent of all
children are now immunized,
as compared with 14 percent only at independence.
“Eritrea has emerged from 30
years of a devastating war, with
non-existing infrastructural, insti-
to tackling health challenges.
Ms. Umutoni also pointed out
that the country has put into
place a number of innovations
to accelerate change. These include temporary maternal clinics, mobile medical units, as
well as knowledge of migration patterns and remote areas.
served here in an event organized
during the UN General Assembly.
The discussion was hosted by
the Permanent Mission of Eritrea to the United Nations, the
UN Resident Coordinator in As-
tutional and human resources capacity,” said Osman Saleh. “It has
been able to make real progress in
all areas of social, economic and
political development,” he added.
Eritrea’s concerted efforts,
bold policies and consider-
able investments are considered
responsible for the dramatic
changes in the health sector.
“What we see as development
partners, what is responsible for
this success is community participation, the enabling environment,
leadership, strong mechanisms
for prevention, value for money
and coordinated inter-sectoral approaches,” said Christine Umutoni.
She added that community and
women’s involvement were key
velopment agenda in Eritrea.
Keynote addresses were followed by technical presentations
by Abraham Kidane, Economic
Advisor to the Ministry of Development, and Usman Abdulmumini, WHO representative in
Eritrea.
Sources: www.dehai.org
sult of the choice by Israel and the
West to obstruct the implementation of the April 2014 Palestinian
reconciliation agreement.’ To put
it differently, those within Hamas
who saw the crisis as an opportunity to put an end to Weissglass’s
regime gained the upper hand.
So far, they appear to have the
majority of the population with
them, because they seem to prefer
death by F-16 to death by formaldehyde.
Among all the sanctimonious
howls - this time including a lilylivered Cameron’s – about Israel’s
right to self-defence, and in the
face of the categorical rejection of
the Palestinians’ equivalent right,
the fundamental point that this
is an illegitimate and massively
disproportionate attack is often
lost. As the lawyer Noura Erakat
has cogently argued, ‘Israel does
not have the right to self-defence
in international law against occupied Palestinian territory.’ Its
argument that it no longer occupies the Gaza Strip is effectively a
self-generated ‘licence to kill’.
Once again, Israel is ‘mowing
the lawn’ with impunity, target-
ing civilian non- combatants and
civilian infrastructure. Given its
continual insistence that it uses
the most precise weapons available and chooses its targets carefully, it is impossible to conclude
that the targeting is not deliberate.
According to UN agencies, more
than three-quarters of the more
than 260 Palestinians killed so
far have been civilians, and more
than a quarter of them children.
Most were targeted in their own
homes: they cannot be described
as collateral damage under any
definition of the term. Of course
Palestinian militants have also
been recklessly targeting Israeli
population centres, though their
attacks have resulted in just a
single death: a man handing out
sweets to the soldiers pulverising the Gaza Strip. Human Rights
Watch has criticised both sides
but, true to form, has accused only
the Palestinians of war crimes.
Israel mows...
continued from page 8
mara, Christine Umutoni, with
the Foreign Minister of Eritrea,
Osman Saleh and Yoka Brandt,
the Deputy Executive Director
of UNICEF as keynote speakers.
In more than twenty years since
independence, the Eastern African
country reduced child mortality
by two thirds, decreased the maternal mortality ratio from 1,700
to 380 per 100,000 live births, and
maintained exceptionally low HIV
and tuberculosis prevalence rates.
Generating statistics, sustaining
funding, partnerships with the private sector and human resource capacity were identified as priorities.
Participants agreed that success on MDGs 4,5 and 6 should
serve as lessons for all other
goals and targets, and inform
priorities for the post-2015 de-
preferential status in Iran as a result
of its refusal to give open support
to the Syrian regime, and faced
unprecedented levels of hostility
from Egypt’s new military ruler.
The underground tunnel economy between Egypt and Gaza had
been systematically dismantled
by the Egyptians, and for the
first time since seizing control of
the territory in 2007 it could no
longer rely on being able to pay
the salaries of tens of thousands
of government employees. The
reconciliation agreement with
Fatah was its way of bartering its
political programme in exchange
for its own survival: in return for
conceding the political arena to
Abbas, Hamas would retain control of the Gaza Strip indefinitely,
have its public sector placed on
the PA payroll and see the border
crossing with Egypt reopened.
In the event, the quid pro quo
Hamas hoped for was not permitted to materialise and, according
to Nathan Thrall of the International Crisis Group, ‘life in Gaza
became worse’: ‘The current escalation,’ he wrote, ‘is a direct re-
Mouin Rabbani,
London Review of Books,
31 July, 2014
6
Eritrea Profile, Saturday 20th of december, 2014
Teklehaimanot Yemane
Managing Vision And
Consciousness
Part Ii
According to research, managing vision and consciousness can
make you mature at early age. The
following points to help you reconsider in the way you think.
1. Managing vision and consciousness gives way to interact
and release potential within one
environment so as to be productive
nationally, regionally and internationally. To grow in peace and with
care. It never thinks negative till
the end. Its focus is to design you
to be builders of the society. From
the beginning, it helps you learn to
be who you are and produce your
self-reliant, internalized and tangible personality. As you grow,
you are learnt to ask what you will
do, what you will do with yourself,
what you will make of yourself,
who you are, what you do want
to be, what values you do want to
serve, and to whom and what you
do want to be responsible.
2. Managing your vision
and consciousness aims you at a
development culture: happiness,
wellbeing, equity, and capability;
institutionalization of communication, cultural literacy, institutional
building skill, circle time, financial literacy, and sustainability on
education to self-develop, to selfmanage and to eventually keep
your sacred rituals and sanctuaries.
To harness with such community,
you must institutionalize the art of
a master minded managing vision
and consciousness. For example,
let me ask you this: How do you
savor getting married with uneducated person? Why do you think
you don’t correct those things you
are able to correct them? This is
simply, because your past, present
and future status is consciously or
unconsciously continuously acting
against your favor. For, you are
taught to contradict yourself. You
are taught to think unnaturally.
3. Are you making yourself
connected with culture of assertiveness, courageousness, confidence,
critical thinking, impartiality, multi
cultural ideas, consideration of all
citizens as potential citizens, and
political necessity of your vision to
your country? For, if you have no
universal and cosmopolitan vision
and consciousness, even though
you live in whatever country you
dream of, you miss taste of the true
living. For, you are disordered to
serve out of one self. Let me give
you clue to this. Molala Yosuf, a 17
years old Pakistani girl and activist
on education for girls said, “One
teacher, one child, one book and one
pen can change the whole world.”
Jack Ma was an English teacher.
Now he is the founder of Alibaba
Chinese E-commerce Company
and one of the richest Chinese persons of 22 billion dollars wealth.
He is now Chinese icon and model
to Chinese people particularly and
the world in general. What is his
secret? His secret is that he knows
how important and popular the story of Alibaba is. Why Steve Jobs
succeeded is because he found a
book called ‘The Whole Earth Catalogue’. Why Google? Because the
founders made research on how to
Google information. From this we
conclude that managing vision and
consciousness is about glowing
local wisdom in the global spectrum.
4. Managing vision and consciousness is about having multiple
skills. For, the power of vision and
consciousness rests in its capacity
to transfer you as a teacher, trader,
corporate executive, child, sibling,
worker, artist, friend or mother into
a special sort of social as well as
political responsible being, a citizen among citizens. Having this final end, you will have the power of
ownership being a teacher within
yourself. You will have full self
confidence to ask how you can do
what you are now doing more effectively, and how you can bring
your future up to the level of the
best. At the same time, you recognize your future is inside you; not
away from you.
5. From our managing vision
and consciousness point of view,
growing and developing doesn’t
result in wrong ends. Even though
your ignorance is personal, it is
not private. Managing vision and
consciousness, however, defines
as the deliberate or purposeful creation, evocation, or transmission of
knowledge, abilities, skills experiences and values to one another
openly, freely generously, exactly
and publicly. Before you walk to
be educated, you precede to discover what you have within you.
Let me give you this good example
so as to help me at least express
what problem you will face if there
is no knowledge of managing vision and consciousness.
There was a farmer in Africa who
was happy and content. He was
happy because he was content. He
was content because he was happy.
One day a wise man came to him
and told him about the glory of
diamonds and the power that goes
along with them. The wise man
said, “If you had a diamond the
size of your thumb, you could have
your own city. If you had a diamond
the size of your fist, you could probably own your own country.” And
then he went away. That night the
farmer couldn’t sleep. He was unhappy and he was discontent. He
was unhappy because he was discontent and discontent because he
was unhappy.
The next morning he made arrangements to sell off his farm,
took care of his family and went in
search of diamonds. He looked all
over Africa and couldn’t find any.
He looked all through Europe and
couldn’t find any. When he got to
Spain, he was emotionally, physically and financially broke. He got
so disheartened that he threw himself into the Barcelona River and
committed suicide.
Back home, the person who had
bought his farm was watering the
camels at a stream that ran through
the farm. Across the stream, the
rays of the morning sun hit a stone
and made it sparkle like a rainbow.
He thought it would look good on
the mantle piece. He picked up the
stone and put it in the living room.
That afternoon the wise man came
and saw the stone sparkling. He
asked, “Is Hafiz back?” The new
owner said, “No, why do you ask?”
The wise man said, “Because that
is a diamond. I recognize one when
I see one.” The man said, no,
that’s just a stone I picked up from
the stream. Come, I’ll show you.
There are many more.” They went
and picked some samples and sent
them for analysis. Sure enough, the
stones were diamonds. They found
that the farm was indeed covered
with acres and acres of diamonds.
If you notice the above mentioned story, I am sure it can give
you a clue which strengthens to be
within. It is evident to notice that
a lot of people disregard their inner
wealth and migrate to find nothing. This comes out of no sense of
managing vision and consciousness. This simply knows that you
can let other people advise you but
never allow them to decide for you.
From this understanding, managing vision and consciousness gives
you energy to follow your bliss to
capture its fruits and to know what
to do and how to act. The path of
going to some places is not to sit
there, beg, consume, and complain.
But, it is to find areas where you
can contribute your own vision,
quality of your rituals. Otherwise,
you will live with ration, pocket
money and in limbo.
6. Managing vision and
consciousness is the power to
grow and to hear the silent voices
inside. It is interactive to be inclusive in all sectors of lives. It is
not to abuse human property, steal
and loot one’s self. It is not to take
money from yourself but to serve,
give and raise you up to the level
of oracle. It is about eternality and
generational. It helps you learn only
those theories which have eternity.
For, temporary wealth never helps
you. Whatever comes, it is to focus
on eternal management. It never
desires temporary security in order to miss permanent freedom. It
is the capacity to translate eternal
vision to reality. It is the ability to
find ability in you.
By: Futsum Amaha
Rivers of Consciousness Social: http://www.facebook.com/riversofconsciousness | Contact Address: [email protected] SMS Message to: +2917261231
Eritrea Profile, Saturday 20th of december, 2014
Books Title: ‘Teref’
Genre: Variously styled shortstories
Language: Tigrigna (Vernacular)
Pages: 206
Published in and by: March
2014, Nalet
Author: Akeder Ahmedin
Understandably, ‘Teref’, has
joined the Eritrean readership
shelves in this current year. And in
interesting way, this short stories
book is a trusted harbor for Eritreans
major personal and communal accounts. And without including to the
introductory part which is crafted
in Personal Essay, this book is enriched with other 11 artistically narrated short stories. Childhood reminiscences, times of innocent men,
personal elements, war chronicles
and its horrific impacts have been
revealed. For it is neither possible
nor goodly accepted to write your
comments of one impressive book
in a one newspaper article, the writer
has chosen one notable short story
from the book: ‘Mibrak.’
‘Mibrak’
This short story unfolds its flow on
page 48 of the book entitled ‘Teref.’
And the setting of this normatively
drafted short story takes place in
one western part of Eritrea; it is a
prominent village among Eritrean
youngsters for its main reasons.
Crucially, this village which is located on the main earth road to Sudan
is ‘SenketKinab.’ And in this story,
this place has been well privileged
by the writer as prominent area for
the heart-capturing character named
‘Mibrak.’ Of course, for Mibrak, this
hamlet is like Qunu to Nelson Mandela, Cairo to Najib Mahfouz, or
Massa chutes to Catherine Hepburn.
However, this place is not subjected
to be said as we use to say: ‘See Naples and die.’
Based on a constructive conversation that held between Mibrak and
the first-story teller, the narration
goes to capture deep meaning of the
question of ‘self’ identity, an ideological part of the Post-Platonic philosophers. Immanuel Kant inquired
about that; Schopenhauer was also
depressed about having ‘the right,
understandably accepted and multifaceted meaning of being educated.’
Therefore, Mibrak, as clearly portrayed in the book, is an intellectual
lady; she is not a mere educated female. That is the reason for her so to
challenge the allegedly ‘educated’
young who then arrived to Mibrak’s
Coffee home for exposed reasons.
Meanwhile, Mibrak’s Coffee
House is remarkable for its attracting Hidareb’s songs, salubrious
wind that blows in all directions,
embittered coffee that are poured
on-in traditional Chinese porcelain,
and over that, the happily piercing
laughs of Mibrak are numerous assets of the house. At the first pace,
he, the character started cajoling at
Mibrak triggered by and how she
was christened to have that name:
Mibrak, which is meant east. She,
7
‘Teref’: Mirroring Various
Short Stories Angles
*Who is ‘Mibrak’?
Mibrak, however, thought that he
was joking simply as part of that
home asset. But quickly, she noticed
that he was one of those who were
negatively stormed by frail understanding about the meaning of being
‘Educated’ versus ‘Intellectual.’
She, Mibrak, never applied Socratic Method nor attempted to be
defendant without reasons during
her conversations. By the time the
alleged ‘educated’ young asked
if she has any knowledge about
geographical and physics related
patterns, Mibrak recalled another
dimension. Even she is not an expertise philosopher women like Felicia Nium, Marilyn McCord Adams
(b.1943) and O Aedesia of Alexandria (fifth century), her conversation
goes from a shallow seem deepness
into an ever increasing great ideas.
Indeed, in her moment with the alleged educated young, she confirmed that she is among those who
are blessed in knowing their stances,
ideas and reasons of ‘being’ and
‘having’ the meaning of their clues
in regard to various thoughts. As in
historical field that it is fact that we
can travel from Catherine of Aragon
to Grace Kelly, and here in SenketKinab, we have Mibrak.
Indeed, I know that Jim Hendria
claimed that ‘life is quicker than
the blink of an eye. And Maya Angelou armored this by proposing
that ‘there is no greater agony than
bearing an untold story.’ Therefore,
had the author of ‘Teref’ not been
so brave to write his memories and
very transformative events thereby
to enrich our literary assets, indeed,
we wouldn’t have again ‘Mibrak.’
Here, therefore, what does Mibrak
represents? Of course, her name is
literally meant ‘East’. And in all historical archives of the past millennia,
East represents another dimension.
Robert Howard once sung that
‘the East Shall never be as West, and
by the same coin, the West haven’t
to replicate the paths of the Easterners.’ Of course, the Eastern world
had been representing to part of our
world where many sages, traditional
philosophers, prophets, medicinesrelated discoveries and most where
dictatorial were and are coming
from. For the eastern world, thinking
in heart and having a blindly devoted soul to religious commandments
has been its main logos. But for the
West, liberalism, developed economies with failed moral ethics, having simple but sophisticated minding capabilities have been its own
traces. No matter of this, however,
Mibrak of ‘Teref’ is a bridge among
those inescapable differences.
Indeed, I wished Mibrak would
have been here in my country alive.
She triggered me to remember and
wander with many enthusiastically
known female artists and others.
From traditional and 1960s singers,
‘kirar’ and ‘Oud’ players, we have
like Catherina Tedla, Letenkiel,
Fana Etel, Tsehaytu Berhe, Abeba
Weldessleasie, Ghidey Rustom,
Meriem Ibrahim, Goey Lilay, Yoalanda and Rosina Conti, escorted by
the renowned Tsehaytu Berhe (Gual
Zinar), Tsehaytu Beraki and Amleset Abay. And in the dominant series
Korean Movies of 2003’s ‘Winter
Sonata,’ Steven Thevenet, authenticated that the number of Taiwanese
and Japan tourists visiting Korea
rose by 50% and 40% respectively
(Le Diplomatique, July 2013 Report).
Hence, by the same coin, for me,
Mibrak is well awarded to attract for
current and series readers, especially
to those who are well favored with
conceptualizing literary elements.
continued on page 4
8
Eritrea Profile, Saturday 20th of december, 2014
Many a time important events in the global arena are not presented in their entirety in mainstream media as there is
lack of context in most of the information they cover. In response, this column sets out to question this trend by presenting diverse perspectives from as many sources as possible with the underlying aim of bringing to fore context that is
culturally, historically, politically and economically relevant to any given topic.
Israel mows the lawn
In 2004, a year before Israel’s
unilateral disengagement from the
Gaza Strip, Dov Weissglass, eminence grise to Sharon, explained
the initiative’s purpose to an interviewer from Haaretz:
The significance of the disengagement plan is the freezing of
the peace process ... And when
you freeze that process, you prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, and you prevent a
discussion on the refugees, the
borders and Jerusalem. Effectively, this whole package called
the Palestinian state, with all that
it entails, has been removed indefinitely from our agenda. And
all this with ... a [US] presidential blessing and the ratification of
both houses of Congress ... The
disengagement is actually formaldehyde. It supplies the amount of
formaldehyde that is necessary so
there will not be a political process with the Palestinians.
In 2006 Weissglass was just
as frank about Israel’s policy towards Gaza’s 1.8 million inhabitants: ‘The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make
them die of hunger.’ He was not
speaking metaphorically: it later
emerged that the Israeli defence
ministry had conducted detailed
re- search on how to translate his
vision into reality, and arrived at a
figure of 2279 calories per person
per day - some 8 per cent less than
a previous calculation because
the research team had originally
neglected to account for ‘culture
and experience’ in determining
nutritional ‘red lines’.
This wasn’t an academic exercise. After pursuing a policy
of enforced integration between
1967 and the late 1980s, Israeli
policy shifted towards separation
during the 1987-93 uprising, and
then fragmentation during the
Oslo years. For the Gaza Strip,
an area about the size of Greater
Glasgow, these changes entailed
a gradual severance from the outside world, with the movement of
persons and goods into and out
of the territory increasingly restricted.
The screws were turned tighter
during the 2000-5 uprising, and
in 2007 the Gaza Strip was effectively sealed shut. All exports
were banned, and just 131 truckloads of foodstuffs and other essential products were permitted
entry per day. Israel also strictly
controlled which products could
and could not be imported. Prohibited items have included A4
paper, chocolate, coriander, crayons, jam, pasta, shampoo, shoes
and wheelchairs.
In 2010, commenting on this
premeditated and systematic degradation of the humanity of an
entire population, David Cameron characterised the Gaza Strip
as a ‘prison camp’ and - for once
- did not neuter this assessment
by subordinating his criticism to
proclamations about the jailers’
right of self-defence against their
inmates.
It’s often claimed that Israel’s
reason for undertaking this punitive regime, the severest ever,
was to cause the overthrow of
Hamas after its 2007 seizure of
power in Gaza. The claim doesn’t
stand up to serious scrutiny. Removing Hamas from power has
indeed been a policy objective for
the US and the EU ever since the
Islamist movement won the 2006
parliamentary elections, and their
combined efforts to undermine it
helped set the stage for the ensuing Palestinian schism.
Israel’s agenda has been different. Had it been determined
to end Hamas rule it could easily
have done so, particularly while
Hamas was still consolidating its
control over Gaza in 2007, and
without necessarily reversing the
2005 disengagement. Instead, it
saw the schism between Hamas
and the Palestinian Authority as
an opportunity to further its policies of separation and fragmentation, and to deflect growing international pressure for an end to an
occupation that has lasted nearly
half a century. Its massive assaults on the Gaza Strip in 2008-9
(Operation Cast Lead) and 2012
(Operation Pillar of Defence), as
well as countless individual attacks between and since, were
in this context exercises in what
the Israeli military called ‘mowing the lawn’: weakening Hamas
and enhancing Israel’s powers
of deterrence. As the 2009 Goldstone Report and other investigations have demonstrated, often
in excruciating detail, the grass
consists overwhelmingly of noncombatant Palestinian civilians,
in- discriminately targeted by Israel’s precision weaponry.
Israel’s current assault on the
Gaza Strip, which began on 6 July
with ground forces moving in
some ten days later, is intended to
serve the same agenda. The conditions for it were set in late April.
Negotiations that had been going
on for nine months stalled after the
Israeli government reneged on its
commitment to release a number
of Palestinian prisoners incarcerated since before the 1993 Oslo
Accords, and ended when Netanyahu announced he would no
longer deal with Mahmoud Abbas
because Abbas had just signed a
further re- conciliation agreement
with Hamas. On this occasion, in
a sharp departure from precedent,
US Secretary of State John Kerry
explicitly blamed Israel for the
breakdown in talks. His special
envoy, Martin Indyk, a career Israel lobbyist, blamed Israel’s insatiable appetite for Palestinian
land and continued expansion of
the settlements, and handed in his
resignation.
The challenge this poses to Netanyahu is clear. If even the Americans are telling the world that
Israel is not interested in peace,
those more directly invested in a
two-state settlement - such as the
EU, which has started to exclude
any Israeli entities active in occupied Palestinian territory from
participation in bilateral agreements - may start considering other ways to nudge Israel towards
the 1967 boundaries. Negotiations about nothing are designed
to provide political cover for Israel’s policy of creeping annexation. Now that they’ve collapsed
yet again, the strategic asset that
is American public opinion may
start asking why Congress is
more loyal to Netanyahu than the
Israeli Knesset is. Kerry had been
serious about reaching a comprehensive agreement: he adopted almost all of Israel’s core positions
and successfully rammed most of
them down Abbas’s throat - yet
Netanyahu still balked. Refusing
even to specify future IsraeliPalestinian borders during nine
months of negotiations, Israeli
leaders instead levelled a series
of accusations at Washington so
outlandish - encouraging extremism, giving succour to terrorists
- that one could be forgiven for
concluding Congress was funding Hamas, rather than Israel, to
the tune of $3 billion a year. Israel
received another blow on 2 June,
when a new Palestinian Authority government was inaugurated,
following the April reconciliation agreement between Hamas
and Fatah. Hamas endorsed the
new government even though itwas given no cabinet posts and
the government’s composition
and political programme were
virtually indistinguishable from
its predecessor’s. With barely a
protest from the Islamists, Abbas repeatedly and loudly proclaimed that the government accepted the Middle East Quartet’s
demands: that it recognise Israel,
renounce violence and adhere to
past agreements. He also announced that Palestinian security
forces in the West Bank would
continue their security collaboration with Israel. When both Washington and Brussels signalled
their intention to co- operate with
the new government, alarm’ bells
went off in Israel. Its usual assertions that Palestinian negotiators
spoke only for themselves - and
would therefore prove in- capable of implementing any agreement - had begun to look shaky:
the Palestinian leadership could
now claim not only to re- present
both the West Bank and the Gaza
Strip but also to have co-opted
Hamas into supporting a negoti-
ated two-state settlement, if not
the Oslo framework as a whole.
There might soon be increased
international pressure on Israel to
negotiate seriously with Abbas.
The formaldehyde was beginning
to evaporate.
At this point Netanyahu seized
on the 12 June disappearance of
three young Israelis in the West
Bank like a drowning man thrown
a lifebelt. Despite clear evidence
presented to him by the Israeli
security forces that the young
men were already dead, and no
evidence to date that Hamas was
involved, he held Hamas directly
responsible and launched a ‘hostage rescue operation’ throughout the West Bank. It was really
an organised military rampage.
It included the killing of at least
six Palestinians, none of whom
was accused of involvement in
the disappearances; mass arrests,
including the arrest of Ham as
parliamentarians and the re-arrest
of detainees released in 20IIj the
demolition of a number of houses
and the looting of others; and a
variety of other depredations of
the kind Israel’s finest have honed
to perfection during decades of
occupation. Netanyahu whipped
up a demagogic firestorm against
the Palestinians, and the subsequent abduction and burning
alive of a young Palestinian in
Jerusalem cannot and should not
be separated from this incitement.
For his part, Abbas failed to
stand up to the Israeli operation
and ordered his security forces to
continue to co-operate with Israel
against Hamas. The reconciliation
agreement was being put under
serious pressure. On the night of
6 July, an Israeli air raid resulted
in the death of six senior Hamas
members. Hamas responded with
sustained missile attacks deep into
Israel, escalating further as Israel
launched its full-scale onslaught.
A year earlier Hamas had been in
a precarious position: it had lost
its headquarters in Damascus and
continued on page 5
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