French advertiser buys 20 percent of Ramaalah Zoom Advertising

Maurice Levy says Publicis purchased a 20 percent stake in the Ramallah-based company Zoom Advertising. Levy, CEO of Publicis, is bringing the French advertising firm into the Palestinian and Israeli communications markets.

Levy announced a deal to buy the Israeli ad agency network BBR Group. On Monday, Publicis said it purchased a 20 percent stake in the Ramallah-based company Zoom Advertising. Publicis, one of the world’s largest advertising holding companies, said in a statement that it is the first publicly listed Western communications group to enter the Palestinian market.

Terms of the deals were not reported, according to Reuters.

The new company, Publicis Zoom, has clients that include Coca-Cola, Peugeot and the Bank of Palestine.

BBR Group, with 220 employees, is also the parent company of other agency brands with clients that include DeLak Motors; the cable TV concern Hot; the banking entity Isracard; Procter & Gamble; the food and beverage company Strauss; and the retailer Super Pharm.

Levy said in a statement that he believes the way to build lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians is through strong economies.

“Symbolically, this speaks to every man’s dream of seeing peace in the Middle East and between the Palestinian and Israeli peoples,” Levy said.

Bashar Masri, the board chairman of Zoom, also expressed his confidence that the deal was a positive signal for the Palestinian private sector.

"Today's deal is a key step towards the goal of fostering an enabling business environment for private sector growth and development, and I am confident that more investments like this one are on the horizon," Masri said in a news release.

Publicis has been expanding its presence in the Middle East with agencies in the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. 

Breaking News: Gaza Under Attsck

Missile just hit Zattoun area. Strikes south of Gaza, navy approaches North Gaza and firing .

Breaking news: Gaza Under Attack

Israel sending civilians to shelters, raised to high alert. Dropping pamphlets east of Gaza warning of boombings. Firing on houses in Deir AlBalah.

Israel denies African migrants' rights, says US

The US state department has criticised Israel's treatment of thousands of African asylum seekers who it says are being denied basic social services.

The US annual report on human rights says that many are

refused refugee status, so cannot access health care.

It is estimated that up to 60,000 migrants, most from Sudan and Eritrea, have entered Israel in recent years.

The report also criticises Israeli government officials for referring to migrants negatively as "infiltrators".

It cites statistics from the UNHCR which show Israel approved just one of the 4,603 new asylum applications it received last year.

The data also shows that more than 6,000 previous cases are still pending.

The US state department notes that Israel has ended the practice of immediately returning asylum seekers who had arrived through Egypt.

In 2010 Israel approved the construction of a barrier along its border with Egypt to try to stop migrants entering the country. Once complete it will run for 250km (155 miles) and include an electric fence and surveillance technology.

But it shows concern over regulations that allow the authorities to reject applications without appeal, and that there is no independent appeal process.

'Cancer' claim

The report acknowledges that once recognised refugees are allowed to work and access social services, but non-governmental organisations are campaigning for greater access to health care, particularly for victims of abuse.

Some right-wing politicians have been criticised for stoking up hatred with speeches comparing "infiltrators" to cancer and calling for migrants to be expelled.

Officials claim the overwhelming majority of migrants are not fleeing persecution and war but that they are economic migrants looking for jobs and a better life.

Tensions in Israel have been rising and on Wednesday a demonstration in Tel Aviv against African migrants turned violent - shop windows were broken and cars were damaged.

The following day Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the violence saying: "I want to make clear that there is no place for the statements nor the actions which we saw last night... we will resolve the problem and we will do it responsibly".

Vatican denies it will recognize East Jerusalem

The Vatican said Tuesday that an economic agreement it is negotiating with Israel will not mean the de facto recognition of Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem.

The Vatican was responding to
allegations that the deal, which involves tax status and other financial issues concerning Church properties in the Holy Land, would result in a recognition of Israel's control of East Jerusalem.

Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of an eventual homeland. Israel annexed East Jerusalem in the 1967 war and in 1980 declared the city its "united and eternal" capital. World powers have not recognized the annexation.

"The agreement on which we have been working concerns the life, activities and fiscal regime of the Catholic Church in Israel," said Monsignor Ettore Balestrero, a Vatican diplomat who is negotiating the agreement.

"In the agreement, we wished to steer clear of territorial disputes. We will not speak about East Jerusalem or places in the West Bank," he told Vatican Radio.

Both sides have been negotiating the agreement for years and there is no indication when they will reach an accord.

Source: Reuters

South Africa Freedom Fighter, Darsot, no more apartheid

The Gaza Center for Political and Development Studies (CPDS), held on Tuesday, 12th of July, a lecture on "The Role of Muslim Community in Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) in
South Africa, "delivered by Ismail Darsot, a South African activist and a conveyer. Darsot managed to confer the "impartial and inhumane" actions, undertaken by the Whites against the Blacks, in general, and Muslim society, in particular .

By Waleed M. Al-Meadana

"No nation shall go through the suffering we went through in the apartheid era," said Darsot. Black people were blocked access to education, and denied rights to claim a voice. The apartheid mentality was basically built on the superiority of the White. South Africans, generally, and the Muslim community, particularly, had not struggled for recognition only; they, rather, battled for their human rights, Darsot spoke out. We sanctioned and boycotted the South African apartheid regime till it collapsed and, thus, came to an end eventually, said the lecturer.

Group Areas Act

This law was issued to oppress and suppress the Blacks in favour of the white supremacy, by which "each nation has its own place to live," said Darsot. Arabs, residing in South Africa, were shortlisted for a 2nd class; indigenous South Africans were stamped for a 3rd class; others for a 4th class and so on. Ironically, Chinese were considered Blacks, while Japanese were reckoned to be Whites.

The Israeli Systematic Apartheid Policy

"The apartheid regime was invented by the White for the benefit of Israel," said Darsot. "The Israeli actions will get even worse before things get better," he said, stressing that Nelson Mandela was a leader because he was locked up in jail for a handful of years. "But what about the Palestinian prisoners, held captive in the Israeli jails," wondered Darsot. Israel, along with the West, distorted democracy; "it is dishonest… and people in the West do not want it ]any longer[," said Darsot. Gaza survived the Israeli war, and that was a miracle. Never had Gaza survived the alluding actions of the Truth Commission, however. "The Truth Commission is the worst thing that happened ever," said Darsot. 

Source: CPDS-Gaza

Jewish Religious Group Thanks Hitler for Committing Holocaust

Israel’s holocaust memorial has been daubed with graffiti saying "Thank you Hitler", in a suspected attack by Jewish religious extremists.

The words were sprayed in Hebrew at the entrance to Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, provoking outrage from the Israeli government.

"This is an escalation and an unprecedented crossing of red lines," Minister Yuli Edelstein said, describing the attack as a "spit in the face of Holocaust victims".

Other graffiti at the site said: "Only because of the Holocaust did we receive a state from the UN. If Hitler hadn’t existed, the Zionists would have created him" and "Wake up Jews, the cynical evil regime does not protect us it only endangers us".


Jewish Girl Paints Swastikas on Her Own Door - Busted