Iranian foreign minister: no nuclear deal unless all sanctions immediately lifted
(JNS.org) Iran is insisting that all sanctions against the country be lifted immediately as part of any nuclear deal with world powers.
“This is the position that the government has insisted on from the start,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was quoted as saying by the state-run IRNA news agency, Reuters reported.
The United States and European Union have imposed heavy sanctions on Iran that have crippled the Iranian economy in recent years. The United Nations has also imposed sanctions on Iran going back to 2006. The sanctions issue is one of the main sticking points in talks between Iran and the P5+1 nations (U.S., U.K., France, Russia, China, and Germany)—with America and the European countries calling for a gradual lifting of sanctions that are tied to Iran reaching specific milestones in a nuclear deal.
Talks between Iran and world powers are scheduled to resume talks on Thursday as the March 31 deadline for a political framework agreement approaches.
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French firm pulls out of Jerusalem cable car project after Palestinian pressure
(JNS.org) The French consortium SAFEGE has decided to end its participation in a Jerusalem cable car transportation project over what the firm called “political” concerns.
According to a report in the French daily newspaper Le Figaro, the move by SAFEGE came after a meeting with France’s foreign and economic ministries. The firm said that its decision was made “to avoid any political interpretation,” said a representative of Suez Environment, SAFEGE’s parent company.
Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian Authority’s chief negotiator, had contacted French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius to complain about the project, which includes a cable car in eastern Jerusalem.
“The plan will lead to the illegal expropriation of private property, some of which belongs to the Waqf (Islamic religious endowment),” Erekat wrote to Fabius, Le Figaro reported.
In addition to pressure from the Palestinians, the $31.7 million cable car project has also been met with strong opposition from environmental and religious groups in Jerusalem. Project planners hope that the cable car will reduce traffic congestion in Jerusalem by easing transportation through the Israeli capital, including to holy sites in the Old City and the Mount of Olives.
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Global Jewish genealogy database grows to 1 million entries
(JNS.org) A growing Jewish genealogy database announced that it has reached 1 million entries.
The Knowles Collection, which globally links generations of Jewish families, launched about seven years ago and is searchable for free online at FamilySearch.org/family-trees. The database has been growing by about 10,000 names per month, with contributions of records from more than 80 countries.
Though the collection, researchers “have the chance to compare their Jewish family histories against the collections of FamilySearch, giving families more opportunities to expand, preserve, and share them,” said Todd Knowles, a Jewish genealogy specialist who founded the database.
“So many of our ancestors left their native lands for new homes. The [entries from the] diaspora (Jewish communities outside Israel) are now in six different searchable databases in the Knowles Collection. These collections show how universal our families are,”Knowles said in a statement.
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Newly elected Arab Knesset members visit Abbas in Ramallah
(JNS.org) Newly elected Arab members of the Israeli Knesset visited Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Tuesday evening.
The delegation included the head of the Joint Arab List party, Ayman Odeh, as well as MKs Masoud Ghanayim, Jamal Zahalqa, and Usama al-Saadi, Ma’an News Agency reported.
According to reports, Abbas congratulated the party on its success in the March 17 Israeli election. The Joint Arab List won 13 Knesset seats, making it the third-largest party in Israel’s legislature behind Likud and Zionist Union. Abbas was publicly supportive of the Arab party during the election campaign, saying he supports any party within Israel that opposes “racism, discrimination, and apartheid.”
The Knesset members’ visit to Ramallah came as Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called for a semi-official boycott of the Joint Arab List by other Israeli parties as well as the Israeli government for what he described as “traitorous behavior” by party members. Odeh’s public relations chief recently compared Zionism to the Islamic State terror group.
The Joint Arab List was formed before the election by smaller Arab parties—including United Arab List, Ta’al, Balad, and Hadash—due to an increase in the Israeli election threshold.
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IDF selects projects for ‘green army’ environmental initiative
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), in conjunction with the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI), has launched a new initiative titled “Environmental Defense Forces: Commanders Take Responsibility for Their Surroundings.” The initiative is designed to encourage IDF officers and soldiers to protect nature as well as the landscapes and heritage surrounding it.
The green projects for 2015 are slated to be revealed at the IDF’s Military Colleges Base in Glilot, near Herzliya. They include: repair work to the Tel Kadesh archeological site; “Mountain Guards,” assigned to a unit stationed in the middle of a nature preserve on the peak of Mount Meron in northern Israel; “Green Base,” assigned to the Ammunitions Center at Camp Namera; restoring the swallows to the IDF’s Kirya command center in central Tel Aviv; “Strong Radio,” which calls for the Army Radio building to be renovated to accommodate a habitat for animals and plant life indigenous to the Mediterranean coastline on its rooftop and walls; a hiking trail to be constructed at the IDF’s instructional base in the Negev; saving the population of small desert birds in the area used by the Artillery School; and “Nature Patrols,” to be carried out by the IDF Combat Collection School at Camp Sayerim.
SPNI Executive Director Kosha (Moshe) Pakman said, “We see the contact with the IDF as an important, long-term target for educational work and for teaching [soldiers and officers] to know and love the country.”
Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA) Director General Shaul Goldstein added, “Cooperation between the INPA, soldiers, and commanders under the auspices of the ‘Environmental Defense Forces’ is crucial to protecting the values of the nation, strengthening awareness and fostering people’s connection to this place.”
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Articles from JNS.org appear on San Diego Jewish World through the generosity of Dr. Bob and Mao Shillman.
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