Cyprus-Forum.com

[Talisker]

Get Real has cancelled his suicide bomber refresher course, someon told him that all the virgins promised looked like X Factor contestant 'Susan Boyle'.

Clearly FS's 'joke of the week' judging by his posting of it on multiple CF threads. Oh, how we laughed........

[Linichka]

"No point in me going any further north than Sderot though is there.."

Not at this time, GR. However, if we're fool enough to give the rug pilots free reign in the West Bank, you will be able to have a Qassam experience just about anywhere.

[Get Real!]

Europe Steps In to Pressure Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Palestinian counterpart Salam Fayyad have both been scrambling earnestly to win the backing of European leaders in advance of what could be a major EU policy shift that aims at creating new impetus for Palestinian-Israeli peace prospects.

The incipient European initiative, inspired by Sweden, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the 27-nation EU, calls for the division of Jerusalem and the recognition of occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of the future Palestinian state.

Noting that Europe has never recognized Israel’s 1967 annexation of East Jerusalem – a position shared by the rest of the international community – the draft European document states, "If there is to be a genuine peace, a way must be found to resolve the status of Jerusalem as the capital of two states."

The Swedish draft strongly criticizes Israeli policies in East Jerusalem
http://original.antiwar.com/kessel-kloh ... re-israel/

[Get Real!]

Turkey warns IAF against using airspace

If Israel were to violate Turkish airspace in order to conduct reconnaissance operations on Iran, Ankara's reaction would resemble an "earthquake," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an interview with Egyptian journalist Fahmi Huwaidi published Thursday morning.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite? ... 0181037328

NB: Do read the exchange of viewer comments below the article!

[Get Real!]

Palestinian PM hails EU resolution on Jerusalem

The Palestinian prime minister praised on Wednesday a recent EU resolution that says that Jerusalem should be the shared capital of the both Israel and a future Palestinian state.

http://en.rian.ru/world/20091209/157166806.html

[Get Real!]

EU: Jerusalem should be capital of two states

European Union ministers have called for Jerusalem to serve as the capital of both Israel and a future Palestinian state as part of a negotiated peace

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8401913.stm

[Get Real!]

Anger over Gaza drove the EU to its joint statement on Jerusalem

The European Union called on Israel yesterday to make Jerusalem the capital of a future Palestinian state, in reproof of the current Government’s rejection of such an outcome. “If there is to be a genuine peace, a way must be found through negotiations to resolve the status of Jerusalem as the future capital of two states,” the 27 foreign ministers said.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 949330.ece

[Get Real!]

A Synopsis of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

http://www.ifamericansknew.org/download/synopsis.pdf

[Natty]

I know the Gaza conflict was a while ago, but I recently came across this interview which clearly invalidates the claim made by many an Israeli spokesman that it was Hamas who broke the ceasefire thus it was they who were responsible for starting the conflict.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ej-h6_C ... feature=iv

And another

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SILJxPTqjAM

It's immensely annoying, but hardly surprising that most news outlets did not feel the need to slip in this tiny and obviously unimportant fact. Context? Who needs it? That's why I have a lot of respect for the female journalist in the first clip and morefour news in general for being willing to actually challenge Israeli claims and do their job properly.

[Get Real!]

UN urges 'credible probes' into Gaza war crimes allegations

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday called for Israel and the Palestinians to conduct without delay “credible” probes into allegations of war crimes committed in Gaza between December 2008 and January 2009 as the Security Council began discussion of the Goldstone report.

Named after respected South African jurist and former international war crime prosecutor Richard Goldstone, the report accuses both Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas of committing war crimes in the three-week long Gaza assault.

About a dozen Israelis and some 1,400 Palestinians were killed during the fighting.
http://www.france24.com/en/20091014-un- ... a-conflict