Sid Shniad <[email protected]> Oct 23 09:23PM -0700 *http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20050780
* BBC News 23 October 2012 * Merkel to unveil Roma Holocaust memorial in Berlin German Chancellor Angela Merkel is to unveil a memorial to the Roma victims of the Nazi Holocaust in Berlin. The memorial - a circular pool of water with a small plinth in the middle - will be in the Tiergarten park, near the Reichstag, the German parliament building. The unveiling comes after years of delays and disputes over the memorial's design and its cost. Experts say between 220,000 and 500,000 Roma were killed during World War II. "It's very important to me that we have a culture of remembrance," Mrs Merkel said in an interview on her YouTube channel. "Every generation must confront its own history afresh. And for that we must have suitable places that people can go to in the future, when the witnesses from the time are no longer alive." Mrs Merkel acknowledged that the building of the memorial had taken a long time and entailed "may discussions", and recalled that the memorial to murdered Jews of Europe had also taken more than 15 years to complete. President Joachim Gauck and some 100 elderly survivors will join Mrs Merkel at the opening ceremony on Wednesday. *Ongoing discrimination* The memorial has been designed by the Israeli artist Dani Karavan. A fresh flower will be laid on the plinth at the centre of the memorial every day. "Auschwitz" by Italian poet Santino Spinelli is engraved around the pool's rim. A chronology of the Nazi extermination campaign stands next to the memorial. In 1982, Germany officially recognised the genocide of the Roma and Sinti - a related people who live mostly in German-speaking areas of Central Europe. The leader of the Central Council of Sinti and Roma in Germany, Romani Rose, will also be at the ceremony. He told Agence France-Presse: "Opening the memorial sends an important message to society that anti-Roma sentiment is as unacceptable as anti-Semitism." In recent years, Germany has been moving to commemorate the persecution of the Roma during World War II. However, Roma organisations and human rights groups say they are still discriminated against in many European countries. * * * <http://www.timesofisrael.com/jimmy-carter-netanyahu-has-abandoned-two-state -solution-in-favor-of-greater-israel/> http://www.timesofisrael.com/jimmy-carter-netanyahu-has-abandoned-two-state- solution-in-favor-of-greater-israel/ Times of Israel October 22, 2012 Jimmy Carter: Netanyahu has abandoned two-state solution in favor of Greater Israel Former US president, visiting Israel, backs Abbas plan to have the UN accept Palestine as nonmember state * *By Raphael Ahren * < <http://www.timesofisrael.com/jimmy-carter-netanyahu-has-abandoned-two-state -solution-in-favor-of-greater-israel/#comments> http://www.timesofisrael.com/jimmy-carter-netanyahu-has-abandoned-two-state- solution-in-favor-of-greater-israel/#comments> Jimmy Carter meeting with Shimon Peres on Sunday. (photo credit: Mark Neyman/GPO/Flash 90) Former US president Jimmy Carter said Monday that Israel's current government has abandoned the two-state solution, making a "catastrophic" one-state solution increasingly inevitable. Speaking to reporters in Jerusalem, Carter endorsed the Palestinians' plan to ask the United Nations to accept Palestine as a nonmember state, and said he hoped Israel and the US, who oppose the move, would nonetheless accept the outcome of the UN's vote. "We are heading towards a one-state outcome, which will fail to ensure the security and democratic rights of the people of Israel and renege on the promise of self-determination for Palestinians," Carter said. "The two-state solution is vanishing. We urgently need a fresh approach by all parties if a Palestinian state is to be achieved." Carter, who is visiting Israel as the head of a delegation of former statesmen, said that all Israeli prime ministers since Golda Meir supported the two-state solution - until Benjamin Netanyahu. 'The two-state solution has basically been abandoned and we're now moving toward a Greater Israel, or Eretz Israel, taking over all of the land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan river' "Every prime minister I've known has been a pursuer of the two-state solution and I don't know that [US] President [Barack] Obama has found that prime minister Netanyahu is going to go that route," Carter said in the American Colony Hotel in East Jerusalem. "All indication to us is that the two-state solution has basically been abandoned and we're now moving toward a Greater Israel, or Eretz Israel, taking over all of the land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, which I think is contrary to the two-state solution concept." "That policy of promoting a two-state solution seems to be abandoned now," Carter added. "And we're deeply concerned about this move toward a catastrophic one-state choice - it's not a solution, it's a choice. This is a major concern." Carter, who sat in the White House from 1977 to 1981, is touring in the Middle East as a member of "The Elders," a group of former statesmen who seek to promote peace across the globe. Carter is traveling with former Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland and Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland, who both also spoke very critically of Israel. Robinson said she had witnessed "so many discriminations and human rights concerns" during her visit to Israel. "Each time we come, I see a real deterioration in the lives and in the situation of Palestinians," she said. "The growth of settlements - each time it's quite remarkable, it takes your breath away." Jimmy Carter, left, with PA President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah (photo credit: Mati Milstein/The Elders) Earlier on Monday, the three "Elders" met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. Abbas told them that he has decided to go ahead with the plan to ask the UN General Assembly to accept Palestine as a nonmember state in November. While Israel and the US fiercely oppose such a move, saying it doesn't change facts on the ground and would preempt the outcome of future negotiations, Carter, Robinson and Brundtland wholeheartedly endorsed the plan, as it would give the Palestinians "a new stature." "My hope is that the Israelis will say: We were opposed to it but we accept it, and the same for the United States," Carter told The Times of Israel at the press conference. "I'd hope that any country that votes against the Palestinian move or abstains, after the decision is made by the General Assembly will accept the results of the vote." The Elders delegation's next stop is Cairo, where they are expected to meet senior officials, including President Mohammed Morsi. Carter said he has known Morsi for a long time and that Morsi intends to maintain the 1979 peace agreement with Israel. _____ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2013.0.2741 / Virus Database: 2614/5839 - Release Date: 10/18/12 Internal Virus Database is out of date. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
