Israel's Btselem skeptically to U.S. peace plan

"Israeli human rights organization Btselem is pessimistic about the chances for peace after the parliamentary elections, and facing an upcoming american peace proposals."

"– The international community must put pressure on Israel, " says the spokesperson Amit Gilutz to the TT."

"He has only been in Sweden one day, but had time to notice that Stockholm is strewn with colourful elsparkcyklar parked in drifts along the sidewalks, just as in the home country."

"– It's the same in Tel Aviv, they are a plague, " he says jokingly and strikes down at an outdoor café on the main square, Sergels torg."

"Amit Gilutz is visiting Sweden for a week, among other things, to tell the students at the Royal academy on the organization's efforts to distribute video cameras to palestinians in the occupied west bank. The goal is to document the suspected abuse from israeli soldiers and settlers – mobilkamerorna as each and every other palestinians have in your pocket is simply not reliable in the dark and at a distance."

"– It is one thing to get the numbers dictated to him, or to hear a testimony, but another thing to see a video clip. Because of that the media has become so visual, the project has made it possible for us to reach out with stories about the occupation. It has become more difficult to talk about these issues as the debate moved to the right, " he says."

"a Few hours after the interview, announced the president of Israel Reuven Rivlin to the incumbent prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu once again given a mandate to form a government, since his högerkoalition been victorious from the election held recently. Amit Gilutz notes that the parties that oppose the occupation received less support. He is very critical of both Netanyahu and opposition leader Benny Gantz."

"– In the mainstream of israeli politics, the debate is about how we continue our control over the palestinians, if we do it with more or less force, and whether the process to take over their land, water and resources should go faster or not. Not about to find a way to a future where we no longer control them against their will, " says Gilutz."

"Netanyahu has recently opened up to annex the israeli settlements in the west bank, a statement which was later withdrawn. Amit Gilutz think, however, that the annexation of the settlements is already implemented in practice, given that the west bank has been occupied in more than half a century and that hundreds of thousands of israelis live in settlements that are inaccessible for the palestinians."

"He is pessimistic in the face of american peace proposals, which is expected shortly."

"in view of the unilateral steps that the united states has taken in relation to the palestinians, whether it is ambassadflytten to Jerusalem, or the withdrawal of aid, it is clear that the proposal will mean the green light for Israel to continue as before," he says."

"Amit Gilutz do not want to answer the question of what the palestinian side can do differently to contribute to a peaceful solution."

" I do not think that the question is irrelevant, but it is not up to us, as the israeli organisation to say to the palestinians how they should run their struggle for freedom."

"TT: What is the responsibility of the palestinians for the conflict?"

"– the Balance of power is such that the responsibility can not be divided evenly, all of which have a situation where one people is occupying another to seem symmetrical is a distortion of reality."

"– instead of focusing on the theoretical reasoning about shared responsibility, we ought to move us forward towards a future that is sustainable for all in the region."

"Israeli ngo that documents the suspected israeli abuses against palestinians in the occupied west bank and in Gaza (which is under israeli siege since 2007)."

"Btselem (in English roughly"

"Has received several awards through the years, including the Swedish Bar association's prize Stockholm Human Rights Award 2014."