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March 10, 2014
Daily summary - Monday, March 10, 2014
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Main News
ARAB STATES CONFIRM THEIR SUPPORT FOR PALESTINIAN POSITIONS AND THEIR ABSOLUTE REJECTION OF ANY RECOGNITION OF JEWISH STATE
The Arab League Council reaffirmed its support for the Palestinian leadership in its efforts to end the Israeli occupation, also stressing on their absolution rejection of any recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. In the closing statement of the Arab League’s foreign minister meeting yesterday, the ministers said there would be no peace without East Jerusalem being named the capital and a Palestinian state on the lines of June 4, 1967. The council also stressed on several points, including the need for Israel to withdraw from all of the occupied Palestinian and Arab territories, that peace talks must be based in international legitimacy and the Arab peace initiative to end the Israeli occupation, and that the final status issues for ending the Arab-Israeli conflict are: settlements, Jerusalem, refugees, borders, water, prisoners and security, adding that all of these issues must be solved justly. Egyptian foreign minister Nabil Fahmi also reiterated that the Palestinian cause was “not just the cause of a people but of an entire Arab nation, and this is the way it would remain.” (Al Ayyam)
NETANYAHU: ABU MAZEN REFUSES TO CONTINUE NEGOTIATIONS; “I DON’T EXPECT TO FREEZE SETTLEMETNS AND MY GOVERNMENT COALITION IS NOT ABOUT TO COLLAPSE”
In an interview with the Israeli daily “Israel Today” Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said it was unlikely that he would ever agree to freezing settlements in the West Bank. He also said that President Abbas refuses to continue negotiations, which are slated to end on April 29. Netanyahu said it was Abu Mazen who refused to negotiate and that he had no conditions on negotiations. Netanyahu also said that his coalition was not in danger of collapse because of the negotiations and the US framework agreement, saying these were ‘American and not Israeli positions,” which were to be negotiated. (Al Quds). To Israel’s public radio, Netanyahu said that “settlement freezes never got us anywhere”, saying that when Israel agreed to one in 2011 hoping that this would encourage the Palestinians to made progress in the negotiations, “they only came back to the table demanding an extension,” he said. (Al Ayyam)
NETANYAHU STUDYING PLAN TO MAINTAIN ‘SETTLEMENT POCKETS’ IN PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES
Israel’s Channel 2 last night uncovered details of a new plan which Israeli PM Netanyahu is working on with his team that includes the possibility of maintaining some isolated settlements in the West Bank as ‘pockets.” The channel said Netanyahu recently requested from his government secretary Avigai Mendelbet to look into applying the model of ‘Belgian pockets’ in Dutch territory, whereby many towns in Holland are under full Belgian sovereignty. The report said the discussion was over a small area of around seven kilometers in which about 300 settlers live. It said Netanyahu wanted to look into the legal and practical dimensions of implementing such a prototype in the West Bank. (Al Quds)
ISRAELI AUTHORITIES TO HAND OVER REMAINS OF SIX MARTYRS WITHIN THE NEXT FEW DAYS
The national campaign for returning the bodies of martyrs announced yesterday that the remains of six martyrs interred in the Israeli cemetery of numbers would be returned within the next few days. The names of the martyrs are the following: Maher Habisheh, Nablus; Imad Zbeidi, Nablus; Anas Abu Ilbeh, Qaliqila; Khaled Sanjaq, Tulkarm; and Kamel Alawneh, Jenin, all to be returned on Tuesday through the Taybeh crossing near Tulkarm. The sixth martyr, Mohammed Hanbali from Nablus, will be returned on March 18 at the same crossing. (Al Ayyam)
UAE SUSPENDS CONSTRUCTION OF HOUSING PROJECT IN GAZA WHILE QATAR CONFIRMS ITS CONTINUED SUPPORT
Minister of public works and housing in the deposed Hamas government in Gaza Yousef Ghareez said yesterday that the United Arab Emirates had announced it was stopping financial support which it has promised over a year ago for the sake of a housing project in the Gaza Strip. Ghareez said UAE officials did not give them any reason for their decision to halt the project, which he said would ‘serve a wide sector of freed prisoners.” The Hamas government had previously announced in January, 2013 that the UAE had offered $50 million to build the Sheikh Khaleefa Bin Zayid city for freed prisoners in the central Gaza Strip on an area of around 100 dunams of land.
In related news, Qatari prion Tamim Bin Hamad reiterated his country’s continued support for Gaza, saying its fixed position had not changed towards the Palestinian cause. These developments come days after Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain recalled their ambassadors to Qatar. (Al Ayyam)
GAZA: 12-YEAR PRISON SENTENCE FOR PALESITNIAN CHARGED WITH COLLABORATING WITH ISRAEL
A military court in Hamas’ de facto government in the Gaza Strip sentenced Palestinian [Kh. H], yesterday to 12 years in prison on charges of ‘collaboration with Israel.” The court also sentenced another defendant N.Sh. to two years in prison on charges of “disrupting revolutionary unity) – and indication to collaboration with the PA in Ramallah. (Al Ayyam)
ISRAEL DECLARES STATE OF HIGH ALERT IN NORTHERN MILITARY REGION
The northern Israeli military leadership declared a state of high alert in anticipation of attacks by Hizbullah along with border with Lebanon and Syria, according to Israeli media sources which quoted military and security sources. According to the media, army infantry and artillery units in the northern area had been given clear rules of engagement, ordering them to shoot immediately at any Hizbullah element or anyone else who is armed and could be spotted at a distance of 70 kilometers from the border fence. (Al Ayyam)
SENIOR HARADIM RABBIS DECREE ALLOWING ENTRANCE INTO AL AQSA
Rabbi Meir Mazuz, one of the senior Haradim rabbis issued a decree yesterday allowing the entry of Jews into certain areas of the Aqsa Mosque. This decree contradicts an earlier decree issued by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, banning religious Jews from going into the Aqsa compound, considering it “a violation and a dangerous transgression of Jewish law.” The decree came in the form of a response made by the rabbi to a question on his official website in which he said: “From a legal standpoint, it is allowed for Jews to enter certain areas of the Temple Mount, hence, the boundaries must be clarified before the area is entered.” (Al Ayyam)
DAILY ACTIONS TO JUDAIZE THOUSANDS OF DUNAMS OF LAND SOUTH OF BETHLEHEM
Ahmad Salah, the coordinator for the popular committees against the wall and settlements in Al Khader south of Bethlehem said yesterday that Israeli settler bulldozers have been leveling vast areas of cultivated land for farmers in an area known as Khillet al Fahem, all under the guard of the Israeli army. The said the settlers also placed a sign at the entrance to the leveled land which indicates that there is a park in this area, meaning that this is their intention. Salah said the settlers plan to take over an area of 500 dunams of land which included Khallet Al Fahem, Khallet Al Thaher, Um Nabut, Zaytuna and Abbasiyeh areas. Salah said the park was not the only plan in the making, saying the settlers also plan to build other facilities such as factories and housing units to expand the settlements of Eliezer and Daniel and therefore link between the settlement of Beitar Illit west of Bethlehem and Efrat, to the south. Ultimately, these will all be part of Israel’s Greater Jerusalem plan which would include all of these area-settlements. He said the land leveling by the settlers takes place every day. (Al Ayyam)
WARNINGS AGAINST THE REPERCUSSIONS AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE NEW ID CARD ON THE RESIDENCY OF THOUSANDS OF JERUSALEMITES
Rights and legal circles in Palestine warned yesterday of the danger of Israeli authorities imposing the new bio-magnetic ID card on Palestinian residents of Jerusalem, considering this one of the moves aimed at emptying, expelling and uprooting thousands of Palestinians from their city and its surroundings. The Israeli interior ministry however, says the magnetic card is a procedure followed in more than 100 countries, calling this new biometric card a ‘smart card.” The ministry said the cards would first be part of a two-year trial period during which those who want to replace their old cards with the biometric ones can do so, adding that it is optional for this two-year period.
Head of the Jerusalem Center for social and legal rights, Ziad Hammuri said the new magnetic card is a precursor to the revocation of ID cards from more than 150,000 Jerusalemites, effectively barring them from entering Jerusalem in accordance with the Israeli plan for 2020 which aims at reducing the Palestinian presence in Jerusalem from 35% to 12% by 2030. He said those Jerusalemites who do not have documents proving ownership or rent inside the Jerusalem municipal borders, required in order to renew their ID or get the new biometric one will be at risk. He said the interior ministry is ‘playing a game’ saying the first two years were optional, but that this measure would become mandatory after the two years are done, taking one more step at Judaizing the city. (Al Quds)
DURING A CONFERENCE IN PRAGUE: AMBITIOUS PLAN TO ACHIEVE REAL CHANGE IN PALESTINIAN ECONOMY AND CREATE THOUSANDS OF JOB OPPORTUNITIES
Over 1,000 people participated in a conference last week in Prague in which they discussed an economic initiative to achieve a radical change and growth in the Palestinian economy and create thousands of job opportunities. Quartet representative Tony Blair and former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright attended the conference, which was organized by the Quartet committee. The economic plan is designed to be implemented over the course of several years. Blair said the Palestinian economy had ‘great potentials” adding that the initiative covered all details and specified needs from the private sector, financial and international institutions and governments. He said the plan does not only offer jobs and an increase in GNP but also revolves around “removing obstacles and giving businesses more opportunities to be pioneering and for the PA to be in a position that allows it to run its own affairs.” The plan aims at stimulating development based on the private sector in the West Bank including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip via eight sectors, which are: construction, building material, agriculture, tourism, communications and IT, energy, water and light industries. (Al Quds)
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: SYRIAN REGIME COMMITTING WAR CRIMES IN YARMOUK CAMP
Amnesty International said yesterday that Syrian forces were committing war crimes through starving Palestinian and Syrian citizens in the Yarmouk Camp. The rights organization said no less than 128 refugees had died in the camp as a result of these tactics, saying thousands of refugees are besieged and are facing a ‘humanitarian catastrophe.” Amnesty said families have had to search for food in the streets, putting them at risk of sniper fire. Electricity has been mostly cut off from the camp since April 2013 and most hospitals have been shut down. The organization said stories are coming out of families eating cats and dogs, under the threat sniper fire while out searching for food, saying starvation was being used a ‘war tactic”. Philip Luther from Amnesty said the malnutrition in the camps was like collective punishment for civilians, calling on the Syrian regime to allow humanitarian groups immediate access. (http://maannews.net/arb/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=680112)
ISRAELI TROOPS RAID, SET UP GATE, IN HEBRON
Israeli army troops patrolled the streets around Hebron this morning, setting up an iron gate east of the district. Security sources told “Safa” that several Israeli patrol cars raided Bani Naim and Ithna this morning before setting up an iron gate at the eastern entrance to Hebron named “Beit Aynun”. So far the troops have left the gate open but there were fears among the residents that it would be closed to them soon. The Beit Aynun street connects between Hebron and the eastern towns, in which dozens of thousands of people live. (http://safa.ps/details/news/124234/.html)
GULF DIPLOMAT: IT WOULD BE DIFFICULT TO DECLARE HAMAS AND JIHAD ‘TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS’
A Gulf diplomatic source said yesterday that declaring Hamas and the Islamic Jihad ‘ terrorist organizations” like others would be ‘very difficult’ but said it had been discussed. On Friday, Saudi Arabia declared Da’ish, the Muslim Brotherhood the Saudi Hizbullah, the Huthi group and all groups that fall under Al Qaeda as ‘terrorist organizations”. As to why Hamas and Jiihad had not been included, the source, who works in the Saudi diplomatic corps and preferred to remain unnamed, said there was ‘particular sensitivity when it comes to this matter, even though Hamas belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic Jihad is considered Iran’s ‘firstborn’ in Palestine.” The source said that if the two organizations were declared terrorist, “this would weaken the Palestinian cause, which is something nobody wants in the Arab world.” (http://www.qudsnet.com/news/View/268134/)
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Headlines
*PLO refugee affairs department closes offices in Gaza in condemnation of attack on its employees (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*The President to give an important speech to Fatah’s Revolutionary Council (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Israel announces discovery of 40 missiles with 160 kilometer range on ship (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Compensations of $13.5 million being cashed for those affected by the Alexa storm (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Israeli apartheid week opens in South Africa (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Injuries in Anata, leveling of land in Bethlehem (Al Quds)
*Arab-nations meeting in Cairo today reaffirm support for the rights of the Palestinian people (Al Quds)
*New Iron Dome battery set up in Eilat (Al Ayyam)
*The Knesset to vote this week on laws against Arab parties and a settlement (Al Ayyam)
*The President receives Chines envoy to the peace process (Al Ayyam)
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Front Page Photos
Al- Quds:Eilat: Israeli military man carrying boxes said to be containing missiles from Iran to Gaza found on the ship detained by Israel
Al-Ayyam: 1) Rafah: Citizens wait for their relatives to arrive from Egypt through the exceptional border crossing opened for incoming pilgrims while it remained closed for outgoing people; 2) Baghdad: Burned cars at suicide bomb site in the city
Al Hayat Al Jadida:.1)The President during his meeting with Wu Sike; 2) Israeli soldier near the missile battery set up in Eilat
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Voice of Palestine News
Jerusalem:
Yehuda Glick stormed Al-Aqsa yesterday with tens of settlers, who tried to perform Talmudic rituals in its yards, this included prayers outside Al-Aqsa, in front of Al-Selselah gate. At the same time, the occupation police continued in imposing tight restrictions on entering Al-Aqsa by Jerusalemites.
Also, in Anata, north east of Jerusalem, the occupation forces attacked citizens owners of lands east of Anata, when trying to cultivate their lands seized by a settler, the owners and popular resistance activists managed to reach the lands which was closed with Barbed wire, and tried to plant trees, then the occupation special forces reached the area and attacked tem injuring three citizens as a result of using tear gas, in addition to arresting 7 citizens. This came as part of a series of activities of the popular committees to resist the wall and settlements in Jerusalem, these will continue in the coming days and weeks.
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Voice of Palestine Interviews
** Dr. Hanna Issa, Secretary General of the Muslim Christian organization, on warning on Israel escalating its seizure policies.
Q: Israel escalates its seizure policies in Jerusalem, what are the pressures that can be imposed on Israel to stop these practices?
Israel did not stop for a minute in its settlement construction, we can see this even when Clinton was the US President, and we could easily see this back then, when Israel dramatically increased its settlement activities, all Israeli parties are similar with this regards, especially when it comes to Jerusalem. That’s why we should have taken positions that are clear, not only condemnations of Israeli practices, this is a very serious issue, Israel imposed facts on the ground in order for not allowing a viable Palestinian state in the future, this is a clear systematic Israeli policy aiming at controlling more Palestinian lands. There are 440 settlements, of which 144 are big settlements, 96 outposts, and more than 600,000 settlers in the West Bank and another 400,000 in east Jerusalem.
Q: Connections were made with international organizations like the UNESCO, and a committee was supposed to visit Jerusalem to investigate the Israeli violations, this committee did not visit Jerusalem due to a deal made between UNESCO, Israel and Palestine.
This committee should have visited the Palestinian territories and see what is happening in Jerusalem, the issue became a financial issue for UNESCO since the American money is very important for it, so it can’t really operate when it’s under pressure.
Q: with regards to Israeli attempts to control Al-Aqsa, are there any effort made by the organizations to stop these practices?
Of course, we all know that Palestinian organizations are in full cooperation with all relevant bodies through Jordan and Morocco, Saudi Arabia, the Arab League and more, all are trying to interfere in this matter, but Israel is doing what it sees as its interest considering itself above the law, in addition to the American unlimited support for Israel.
** Ahmad Salah, coordinator of the popular committee to resist the wall and settlements in Al-Khader, on occupation leveling agricultural lands in Al-Khader south of Bethlehem.
Q: this is not the first, what are we talking about this time?
We are talking about a very serious settlement attack in Al-Khader, especially in areas adjacent to settlements, yesterday; lands were leveled including 500 dunams in one area to allow expanding settlements in the area.
Q: are there any moves on ground to stop this?
We are trying with the owners to confront this, but the settlers are usually supported by the army, so they come back and seize the lands after we evacuate them.
Q: in some areas like Al-Maleh, lawyers were invited to issue law suits, why don’t you coordinate with these other committees and issue joint law suites?
There is coordination between the committees, but Israeli courts don’t deal with these violations collectively but individually, the same thing happens with international organizations…
Q: I don’t mean addressing Israeli judiciary system but international justice organizations…
It’s the same, they deal with individual cases. We became refugees in our own homeland; they control more lands than we do in the West Bank.
** Issam Baker, coordinator of the factions in Ramallah and Al-Bireh, on a demonstration against the American pressures next week in Ramallah.
Q: The demonstration is against the American pressures on the Palestinian leadership
You know that since the resumption of the negotiations, there were some efforts where the US played the role of negotiations sponsor, all these efforts contributed to reaching a framework agreement, information leaked regarding the issue contains a lot of dangers to the Palestinian constants, like the abolition of t eh right of return, excluding Jerusalem form an agreement, Israeli control over the Jordan Valley and settlements, in addition to recognizing Israel as a Jewish state. The only gate for a settlement of the conflict is through the Palestinian rights, other than that will only keep the conflict alive.
Q: So you are protesting the framework agreement.
You know that Kerry’s visits and his ideas, in addition to Netanyahu’s speech at AIPAC, all meant to pressure the leadership; we want to say that these will not be useful and that our leadership insists on our legitimate rights. The US wants to continue its pressure during Presidents Abbas’ visit to Washington…
Q: But the Palestinian side did not receive anything written until the moment..
You know that all ideas. Even if not handed over yet, will include a Jewish state as Kerry said, we know serious pressures are being imposed on the leadership…
Q: I understand that you support negotiations, but without American pressures?
We are not against negotiations, but we rejected these negotiations, since we had conditions as Palestinians and the Israeli side did not agree, so we thought that the return to negotiations was a wrong decision.
** Waade’ Abu Nassar, specialist on Israeli Affairs, on the Captured Iranian weapons ship.
Q: what does Israel aim at through holding this conference regarding the captured ship in Eilat?
We can mention two main aims; the first is the Iranian issue in general, especially the negotiations with Iran and Ashton’s current visit to Iran, in order to show that Iran is not serious in these negotiations. The other aim is of course is the so called Iranian support for terrorism, this incudes mentioning the weapons seized in the ship.
Q: Hoe can Israel use this event?
Israel will use it in two levels, the Iranian intentions, trying to present Iran as not being serious and a lair, since some European leaders view the new Iranian President Rouhani as a peace man, and that Iran still support what is being described by Israel an terror, and that this should be dealt with.
Q: Israel attacked Ashton for her visit to Iran; do you think we might see new tensions in the relationships between the EU and Israel?
This is possible, this issue will be confronted in Europe, but I think that the EU –Israel relations witnesses ups and downs usually, but these relations involve serious interests and it will not be easy to affect these.
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More Headlines
Palestinian traveler killed by Israeli army bullets at the Allenby [Karameh] Bridge crossing
A 30-year old Palestinian youth was killed this morning at the Allenby Bridge crossing by Israeli army bullets. According to Israeli police, the young man tried to snatch a weapon from an Israeli soldier at the bridge, prompting the soldier to immediately open fire, killing him immediately. The sources said no soldiers were wounded in the incident. According to Mustapha Dawabsheh, director of the Karameh bridge crossing, the Israeli soldier shot the Palestinian after claiming he had tried to steal his gun. The man was coming from Jordan, whereby the incident took place at the first Israeli checkpoint. (http://maannews.net/arb/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=680148)
PLO refugee affairs office closes its office in Gaza in protest of attack on its employees
The PLO’s refugee affairs office condemned the attack by protesters who stormed the office of head of the department Zakariya Al Agha and hit employees while cursing them. As a result, Al Agha ordered the office closed. According to a statement issued by the department, as Al Agha was leaving the office on his way to Ramallah to attend the revolutionary council meetings and discuss suspended salaries of the employees, he was shocked at several of these employees storming the office and beating some of its staff. The statement also said the protesters threatened to burn the office down. (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
Knesset to vote this week on laws against Arab parties, peace settlement
Today starts a decisive week for the Israeli Knesset where its members will vote on three draft laws presented by the government. Arab parties say that some of these laws are directed against them and hat one will contribute to placing more obstacles in front of the peace process. According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, the Knesset will vote on the second and third readings of the draft laws. The first law is being construed by the Arab parties as an attempt to prevent their representation in the Knesset by raising the threshold for representation from 2% to 3.25%. The third law calls for a referendum on any concessions Israel might make over occupied land and which would need the approval of 80 Knesset members before being approved. Arab parties said this was one more attempt to put additional obstacles in front of the peace process. Israel opposition groups have announced they would boycott the sessions. (Al Ayyam)
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Arab Press
Palestine does not need Blair’s lecture
The National Editorial
For years, Tony Blair has made an art out of ignoring obvious but inconvenient facts. This is a man who led his country into an illegal war in Iraq and – even after years of chaos, after millions of disrupted Iraqi lives, after hundreds of thousands of dead and maimed civilians – still continues to argue that it was worth it. As an architect of the war, he still believes he can be a spokesperson for Iraqis.
The same must surely be said for his tenure as Representative of the Quartet, a job he has held for seven years, promoting economic growth in Palestine on behalf of the UN, the EU, the US and Russia. Speaking in Prague this week as he opened a two-day conference on using international investment to build industries and create jobs, he said there was enormous potential in the West Bank and Gaza. Improvements in the economy of Palestine, he said, would improve the quality of life of Palestinians.
Mr. Blair is right, of course. But he failed to ask precisely what it might be that is hindering the economy of Palestine? This is not a complicated question. The answer has been known since 1967. It is the brutal Israeli occupation of the lands of Palestine.
In October last year, the World Bank released a report pointing out that the occupation is costing Palestine US$3.54bn every year. Note that this only applied to the West Bank. The cost to Gaza of the strangling siege – in place since 2006 – was unestimated. Israel has taken every opportunity to impoverish Palestinians, a cruel policy described by an adviser to former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as putting “the Palestinians on a diet but not to make them die of hunger”. Chillingly, Israel even calculated the minimum calories needed for men, women and children.
It is the occupation that has stopped Palestinian entrepreneurs from reaping the rewards of their effort. On the West Bank, illegal mega-settlements siphon off water from Palestinians and use it for Jewish-only housing and industries. Palestinians are effectively forced to work in these industries, but are barred from owning a business in their own country. Gaza’s borders are shut and Israel controls imports and exports.
No wonder then, without access to their own resources, without controlling their land borders or the sea or their airspace, without being able to move freely between the West Bank and Gaza, without controlling what comes in or goes out of their country and with their land daily stolen by the Israeli state, that the Palestinian economy is suffering. In fact it is a tribute to Palestinian ingenuity that it continues to survive at all.
There is enormous potential in Palestine. Mr. Blair should help the Palestinians achieve it by working to remove the biggest obstacle that Palestinians face. Palestinians don’t need lectures on economic growth. They need political pressure that ends the occupation.(http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/editorial/palestine-does-not-need-blairs-lecture)
Middle East peace process amid Obama’s pessimism
By HASSAN BARARI
THE most recent statements by US President Barack Obama suggest that he is not optimistic about the possibility of peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians in the coming months. In an interview given to an American journalists Jeffery Goldberg, President Obama made it perfectly clear that time was running out for Israel to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians. He added that if Netanyahu thought that peace with the Palestinian Authority is a remote possibility then Netanyahu should think of an alternative plan.
All along US Secretary of State Kerry’s wheeling and dealing to have the Palestinians and the Israelis agree on a framework agreement, Obama has not shown presidential investment in the process. For Kerry to exercise pressure on both sides, Obama should have demonstrated more interest in the process. Longtime observers to the Israeli politics observe that Obama’s perceived lack of interest in the process has weakened Kerry’s effort.
It seems that Obama does not want to associate himself with a possible failure. He seems to learn from his own experience. From the start of his first term, Obama approached the Arab-Israeli conflict in a bold manner. He exerted immense pressure on the Israeli government asking it to freeze settlements. He failed to compel the Israeli government to offer the necessary concessions to make peace possible. Later, Obama realized that he had exaggerated his ability to make a difference. That said, Obama has always said the right things.
The American administration has yet to play the role of an honest broker. A few months ago, Prof. Rashid Khalidi published a book about what he called “Brokers of Deceit.” Khalidi’s main argument is that successive American administrations have always taken the Israeli side. It remains to be seen whether Kerry will stray from that course. Thus far, all leakages about Kerry’s framework proposal indicate that he is only getting closer to the Israeli positions. Daniel Kurtzer, a former US ambassador to Egypt and Israel and currently teaching at Princeton University, says, “One criticism of Kerry’s diplomacy is that he may be bending over so far to address Israeli concerns that he may not be able to meet the Palestinians concerns.”
Undoubtedly, Kerry has spent time and effort in painstaking negotiations. Unfortunately, he has drawn close to the Israeli perspective. With the deadline nearing, it is not clear how Kerry could convince the Palestinian leader to accept his ideas when there is a near Arab consensus that the Jewishness of the Israeli state is a non-starter! Again, I agree with Khalidi that America cannot play a constructive role in solving the conflict.
Furthermore, it is not clear whether the Israeli government takes Kerry seriously. In the absence of presidential involvement in the process, various Israeli politicians are not expected to budge. Put differently, Obama should send an unequivocal message that peacemaking in the Middle East is an American priority. He needs to put the Palestinian-Israeli track on the front burner.
In a week or so, Obama will meet the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. Will Obama succeed in convincing Abbas to sign on to Kerry’s framework? Can Abbas say no? What will be the price for Abbas? Given the risks involved, these questions are difficult to answer. Only time can help us understand the depth of the quandary that faces all parties involved.
In order not to lose the bigger picture, Obama has yet to back Kerry in the latter’s ambition to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. A likely failure will further undercut the US influence in the region. Not while ago, Obama told the New Yorker that he seeks to create what he called geopolitical equilibrium in the Middle East. Such balancing act, according to Obama, can bring stability in the otherwise tumultuous region. Perhaps, it is just about time that Obama needs to realize that short of solving the Arab-Israeli conflict, his balancing act will be in trouble. Chances are high that American’s influence will further diminish in the region.(http://www.arabnews.com/news/537491)
United Jerusalem is an anathema
BY SHLOMO BIN-AMI
Back in 1996, Benjamin Netanyahu won a general election by mobilizing large constituencies against then-Prime Minister Shimon Peres's alleged intention to "divide Jerusalem." Nearly two decades later, Netanyahu remains committed to old, vacuous slogans about a "united Jerusalem" — a conviction that could, yet again, unravel the Israel-Palestine peace process.
As US Secretary of State John Kerry prepares to present a framework agreement for a conclusive round of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, Netanyahu's hard line position on Jerusalem is simply a non-starter. In a last-ditch effort to improve the proposal's chances of success, US President Barack Obama — who has largely avoided taking a proactive role in the peace process during his second term — met with Netanyahu at the White House to urge him to moderate his position.
But changing Netanyahu's mind will not be easy — not the least because of the domestic political pressure he faces. Since Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War, the country's political class has championed the city as Israel's "united eternal capital" — a vision that they remain unwilling to abandon.
The problem is that no serious negotiation with the Palestinians could accommodate this position. Jerusalem's Arab population — which already accounts for more than 40 per cent of the total — is growing by 3.5 per cent annually, compared to 1.5 per cent growth among Israelis.
Once this sizeable swath of voters begins participating in municipal elections — which they have so far avoided, lest they be viewed as legitimizing Israeli rule — control of the city council is likely to pass to a Palestinian majority.
Peres understood that a Jerusalem united under exclusively Israeli rule was not feasible, assuring Norway's foreign minister in a 1993 letter — critical to the conclusion of the Oslo accords — that Israel would respect the autonomy of Palestinian institutions in East Jerusalem areas.
Likewise, in 2000, Prime Minister Ehud Barak endorsed the Clinton Parameters, which called for Jerusalem's division into two capitals along ethnic lines. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert followed suit in his 2008 peace proposal to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas; he also recommended internationalizing the Old City's administration.
Yet Netanyahu and his supporters remain adamant that Jerusalem will not be split. What they fail to grasp is that the 1980 Jerusalem Law, which declared the city — "united in its entirety" — to be Israel's capital did not actually result in unity.
The subsequent effort to "Israelise" the city, by building a network of Jewish neighborhoods in Palestinian-dominated East Jerusalem, has failed to secure a solid Jewish majority, largely owing to the unwillingness of middle-class Israelis to settle there.
Indeed, not only has the settlement project turned East Jerusalem into a hub of political and social tension, but the high financial cost — more than $20 billion in total — forced the diversion of limited resources from growth-oriented investment in West Jerusalem. As a result to this, Jerusalem has become Israel's poorest city.
Unsurprisingly, the 200,000 members of Israel's liberal and prosperous middle class that abandoned the city in the last 20 years find Tel Aviv — Israel's economic capital, and a center of technology-driven growth — far more appealing.
Complicating the situation further is the division between secular Israelis and the fanatic Orthodox communities whose rejection of the secular state and yearning for a society based on the strictest interpretation of Halacha (Jewish religious law) epitomize a deep-seated fear about Arabs. Such communities, which comprise 30 per cent of Jerusalem's population, make the notion of a united, peaceful Jerusalem farfetched, at best.
In 1966, a year before Israeli paratroopers ostensibly united Jerusalem, the composer Naomi Shemer sang of, "the city that sits solitary, and in its heart a wall." Today, the wall that divides Jerusalem is not made of concrete or brick — but that does not make it any less real.
This enduring division is exemplified in the contrast between municipal services and infrastructure in the city's Jewish and Arab neighborhoods.
Of course, to some degree, Jerusalem's Palestinian residents benefit from Israel's advanced social-security and health-care systems, the likes of which their brethren in the Palestinian Authority can only imagine at best.
Nonetheless, they continue to identify themselves as Palestinian, with only 10,000 of Jerusalem's 300,000 Palestinian residents having agreed to apply for Israeli citizenship.
But the Jerusalem issue is subject to an even more fundamental confusion: What are Jerusalem's actual boundaries? In the cavalier spirit that prevailed after 1967, the Israeli government extended the city's boundaries from 10,875 acres to more than 31,000 acres. Netanyahu's claim that this extended Jerusalem is the biblical capital of the Jewish people is a historical travesty.
A Jerusalem controlled by non-productive Orthodox Jewish communities and disenfranchised Palestinians is destined for economic and political collapse. By agreeing to a divided Jerusalem, Netanyahu would be initiating the long-overdue departure from the hubris and megalomania that has brought the city to its current state of stagnation and isolation. Giving up on a "united" Jerusalem is the only way to secure the city's "eternal" status.(http://www.timesofoman.com/Columns/Article-1762.aspx)
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Opinions
AIPAC and changing its role..!!
Omar Helmi Al-Ghoul
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee – AIPAC, is considered the strongest global pressure associations to support Israel, is very much influential on decision makers in the United States, particularly members of Congress. Its Membership is not limited to Jews, but also non-Jewish supporters of the State of Israel, of the Democratic and Republican parties. Since 1953 (its established) it mobilizes efforts in US Executive and legislative institutions to support the State of Israeli occupation and aggression, and built its colonial choices without hesitation, to create new generations of American leaders to continue the US support.
AIPAC held its Annual Conference in support of Israel last week, which is a platform for promoting Israeli policies hostile to peace. The AIPAC platform also serves as an investigation room for US leaders including the President of the United States, who addresses the conference determining his policies, and shows what support he had provided for Israel. Even when there are differences between the US President and the leaders of the Government of Tel Aviv, the President offers his perspective on the General Conference, to request assistance to support his point of view, and vice versa, the leaders of the Israeli Government use AIPAC to put pressure on US decision maker to stop its pressure, and to increase political, diplomatic, security and economic support to Israel, as Netanyahu is doing now, when asking AIPAC for its support in the face of President Obama and John Kerry’s pressures during his visit last week to Washington.
President Mahmoud Abbas devoted a positive tradition in his insistence to meet with a number of AIPACleaders every visit to the United States in recent years, to present his point of view, and show that Israeli Government positions hinder the peace process, in addition to its rejection of the two-State solution on the borders of June 4, 1967, and the reflection of these positions on the future of the peoples of the region. But Abu Mazen’s efforts did not achieved a breakthrough to shift the direction and policies of AIPAC, while being able change the stereotype on the Palestinian leadership and people, and open doors with a number of AIPAC leaders for discussions, and accepting the Palestinian and Arab views in principle.
President Abbas’ efforts alone are not sufficient enough to make a quantum leap in AIPAC and its positions on resolving the conflict in the region, especially the Palestinian-Israeli issue. Which forces a search for strengthened his efforts with a Palestinian, Arab, Muslim and international team, especially with American and European involvement, to start a broad and in-depth dialogue with the AIPAC Poles through the optimal use of political and economic interests language. And work to rationalize the political discourse forAIPAC members who influence AIPAC policies, taking advantage of the current international changes, which are in the interest of the US and Israel alike, to revolutionize AIPAC’s discourse, and dramatically change it in support of peace.
AIPACwas never supportive of peace, since its establishment in the first half of the 1950’s. So work should be done through all internal (American) and external fronts to penetrate the static political mind, and push with the interests’ dialogue affect to make it review its political foundations, in order for AIPAC to practice a positive role in building peace in the region and contribute to saving Israel from the evil of its acts.
Palestinian decision makers should formulate a long and medium term plan,in cooperation with Israeli peace activists Americans, Europeans and Arab leaders, to launch a peace attack inside AIPAC to achieve this objective. (http://amin.org/articles.php?t=opinion&id=23495)
Arab position supporting the Palestinian constants
Al-Quds Editorial
The Council of the Arab League made it very clear at the end of the Arab ministerial meeting yesterday in Cairo, when it confirmed that there will be no peace without an independent Palestinian State on all the territories occupied since 1967, with east Jerusalem as its capital, which consists an integral part of the occupied territories, the need to resolve the refugee issue on the basis of General Assembly resolution 194 and the Arab peace initiative, and the release of Palestinian and Arab prisoners from Israeli jails, in addition to reiterating that all measures taken by Israel, including the illegality of settlements or attempts The Judaization of Jerusalem, are null.Thus it reaffirmedthat the Arab nationstands beside the Palestinian people and their national constants and rights, in confronting the Israeli Government’s attempts to impose its conditions and a settlement that is consistent with its expansionist ambitions, which affects the inalienable rights of our people.
Obviously, the Arab League statement also contained important points supporting the Palestinian position, asserting that Netanyahu’s Government demand for recognizing Israel a Jewish State aims at failing the negotiations and that the Arab League completely rejects the demand because of its consequences, the second point confirming the need to release all Palestinian and Arab prisoners and lifting the unjust siegeof the Gaza Strip, which also supports the Palestinian position on the issue of prisoners who Israel insists on continuing to treat as contrary to international law, this assertion has significance in pushing the prisoners’ issue to top the priorities, especially since this issue is important for the whole Palestinian people and the Arab world, since these prisoners are freedom fighters and no peace can be achieved as long as the other party insists on keeping them in prisons.
This Arab message to Israel and the United States regarding the foundations of a just and comprehensive peace is clear, and constitutes a real support for the Palestinian negotiators and leadership, at a time of increasing pressure on the Palestinian side to accept what is less than the Palestinian legitimate constants, and provide concessions to the Israeli occupation.
Perhaps the Palestinian firm position regarding the Israeli impossible conditions, and this Arab support for the Palestinian position, made the American Foreign Ministry announce that the Palestinian side is not bound to recognize Israel as a Jewish state the night before yesterday, which must put an end to this condition, which Netanyahu and his Government made a key demand to foil peace efforts and to harm he inalienable rights of our people.
We must say here that upholding the Palestinian national constants and the legitimate rights of our people, in addition to this clear Arab support for the Palestinian position and international legitimacy, moves the ball back to Israel and block the road completely before holding the Palestinian side responsible for the negotiations; failure, and that the Israeli Government's demands and conditions are unrelated to international legitimacy and the principles and terms of reference of the peace process. If Israel insisted on the intransigent positions it will then assume full responsibility for the failure of the negotiations, then the international and the United States must say their word, and it is inconceivable to imagine a position lining up along with the occupation and its violations of international law, unlessthey want Israel's international isolation and the loss of their credibility in the peace negotiations sponsorship.(Al-Quds)
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