Comments (0)Swedish Journalist Protested in Israel
November 8, 2009Jerusalem
JTA Wire Service
A Swedish journalist who accused Israeli soldiers of harvesting Palestinian organs arrived in Israel for a news conference.
Activists on Sunday protested Donald Bostrom’s arrival at Ben Gurion Airport as a guest of the Dimona Media Conference.
Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom, who is also minister for the development of the Negev and Galilee, announced Saturday that he would not attend the conference if Bostrom attended.
Bostrom will be provided with a bodyguard during his visit, Ha’aretz reported.
In an article published in August in the popular Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, Bostrum reported that Israel seized young Palestinian men and returned them to their families with missing organs.
The story, which ran under the headline “They plunder the organs of our sons,” also cited the recent arrest of a New York rabbi accused of trafficking in human organs.
Concessions on Settlements Fall Short, Clinton Says
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Israel’s concessions on settlement building fall short of Washington’s expectations.
Two days after she praised Israel for offering what she called ‘‘unprecedented’’ concessions on West Bank settlement construction, Clinton said Monday before a conference in Marrakesh, Morocco that her statements Saturday evening in Israel were meant to offer positive reinforcement to Israel and did not mean an acceptance of West Bank settlements.
“The Israelis have responded to the call of the U.S., the Palestinians and the Arab world to stop settlement activity by expressing a willingness to restrain settlement activity,” Clinton told reporters. “This offer falls far short of what our preference would be, but if it is acted upon it will be an unprecedented restriction on settlements and would have a significant and meaningful effect on restraining their growth.”
The concessions include not building any new settlements or expropriating land for additions to existing settlements.
During a meeting earlier Saturday in Ramallah, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas rejected an Israeli proposal brought by Clinton that Israel be allowed to complete 3,000 housing units and temporarily freeze other construction, The New York Times reported.
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa on Monday criticized the United States for letting Israel get away with continuing to build settlements.
“Failure is in the atmosphere all over,” he said of restarting peace talks.
Clinton was in Marrakesh to meet with foreign ministers of several Persian Gulf nations. She met first with Moroccan Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi Fihri and was scheduled to have an audience with King Mohammed VI.
Three More Israeli Deaths from N1H1
Three more Israelis died with the swine flu, as the country’s health system began its inoculation campaign against the virus.
Israel’s Health Ministry announced Sunday that the three deaths in recent days of the N1H1 virus brings to 39 the number of Israelis that have died with swine flu since April.
Vaccines against the flu were scheduled to be administered beginning Monday to hospital and other health care personnel in Israel.
On Wednesday, the Israeli health funds will begin inoculating those with underlying health problems between the ages of 3 and 65, according to reports. About 1 million people fall into these categories, according to reports, and Israel currently has only about 300,000 vaccines available, although more are scheduled to be delivered by the end of the month.
Some 2.3 million inoculations are expected to arrive in Israel by the end of March, the Jerusalem Post reported.
This story reprinted courtesy of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.