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Prepared for the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs | ||||
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Monday, July 13, 2009 | ||
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In-Depth Issues:
Fatah Official: PA Will Resume Violence Against Israel When Fatah Is "Capable" (Palestinian Media Watch/IMRA)
UK Cancels Some Arms Sales to Israel - Dan Williams (Reuters)
Revolving Door at PA Prisons - Yaakov Katz (Jerusalem Post)
Israeli Drafted by NBA Team - Chris Tomasson (USA Today)
See also Israel Sweeps to Semis in Davis Cup - Pritha Sarkar (Reuters)
See also Israeli High Jumper Wins Gold at World Youth Championships - Rami Hipsh (Ha'aretz)
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday invited the Palestinians to sit down immediately to talk peace. Netanyahu recently endorsed the goal of establishing an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel as part of a final peace agreement. "There is no reason Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and I should not meet, anywhere in this country, to advance the political process," Netanyahu told the weekly meeting of his Cabinet. Netanyahu said he already has made a series of gestures, such as the removal of several military checkpoints in the West Bank, meant to improve the Palestinian economy. "In recent weeks, we have made many efforts to ease their lives, especially regarding freedom of movement for Palestinians," he said. "But I would like to make it clear that all of these efforts are unilateral on Israel's part. All these efforts can only go so far, and the results will multiply many times if only there is cooperation from the other side....Let us make peace, diplomatic peace and economic peace. Let us cooperate on these projects," he said. Netanyahu's predecessor, Ehud Olmert, spent more than a year negotiating with Abbas, but the peace talks yielded no major breakthroughs. (AP/Washington Post) See also Abbas Says He Won't Meet Netanyahu - Khaled Abu Toameh and Haviv Rettig Gur PA leader Mahmoud Abbas reiterated on Sunday his refusal to resume peace talks with Israel unless Netanyahu's government agreed to freeze all construction in the West Bank. (Jerusalem Post) See also Palestinians Reject Any Israel-U.S. Settlement Deal - Ali Sawafta Palestinians reject any deal between Israel and the U.S. that would allow even limited Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Sunday. (Reuters/Washington Post) Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, a dissident who has often criticized Iran's ruling clerics, issued an unusual decree on Saturday calling the country's rulers "usurpers and transgressors" for their treatment of opposition protesters in recent weeks. Montazeri, 87, was a leader of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and was once designated the successor to Ayatollah Khomeini. But he fell out with Khomeini in 1989 over the execution of a large group of prisoners and other policies he deemed unjust. (New York Times) See also Senior Cleric Issues Fatwa Against Iranian Regime On July 11, 2009, an Iranian website published a fatwa by senor Shi'ite cleric Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri regarding the legitimacy of the current Iranian government: "A regime that uses clubs, oppression, aggression against [the people's] rights, injustice, rigged elections, murder, arrests, and medieval or Stalin-era torture, gags and censors the press, obstructs the media, imprisons intellectuals and elected leaders on false allegations or forced confessions...is despicable and has no religious merit." (MEMRI) John Demjanjuk, 89, a suspected Nazi death-camp guard, was charged by Munich prosecutors Monday with aiding the murder of 27,900 people in the Sobibor concentration camp during World War II. The indictment follows his deportation to Germany from the U.S. in May. (Bloomberg) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated Sunday that recognition by the Palestinians of Israel as a Jewish state was key to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "I look forward to the day when the moderate leaders of the Palestinians will stand in front of their people and clearly state: 'We've had enough of this conflict, we recognize the right of the Jewish People to a state of its own' - and we will live alongside them in real peace the moment these words are spoken." (Ha'aretz) The Israel Foreign Ministry on Sunday dismissed a call by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana for the UN to set a deadline for the establishment of a Palestinian state. "Resolutions 242 and 338 of the UN, the Roadmap, and agreements between Israel and the Palestinians all cautiously determine that the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will only be reached through negotiations by the sides," the ministry said in a statement. "Israel has called more than once for the immediate renewal of the talks without preconditions. Another demand setting an artificial deadline endangers and harms the chances of actually reaching a bilateral agreement between Israel and the Palestinians." (Ha'aretz) Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem said Sunday that his country will not attend any regional summit unless Israel concedes to the principle of going back to the 1967 lines in return for peace. Mouallem spoke during a Damascus press conference with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner. (Ynet News) A senior Egyptian source said Sunday that there was no chance for a reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas, after months of Egyptian mediation efforts. He added that the chances for new elections in January 2010 are low. (Ynet News) See also Egypt Calls Off Hamas-Fatah Mediation - Khaled Abu Toameh (Jerusalem Post) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
Hamas is gradually turning Gaza into a Taliban-style Islamic entity that poses a threat not only to Israel, but also to the Americans, Europeans and moderate Arabs and Muslims. Young women in Gaza are being harassed and arrested by Hamas' "morality police" for laughing in public or leaving their homes without hijabs. Palestinian women are banned from swimming unless they are covered from top to bottom, and are being banned from entering coffee shops, restaurants and other public places unless they are escorted by male relatives. Young men are banned from swimming in the sea topless. A Palestinian journalist in Gaza remarked: "The Americans and Europeans are fighting against Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan while Hamas is building a new fundamentalist entity here." PA leader Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad insist on boycotting peace talks with Israel in protest against the ongoing construction in the settlements. But the two did not stay away from the talks when former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni were also building in the settlements. Abbas and Fayyad are waiting for the U.S. administration to deliver, hoping that Obama will force Israel to withdraw to the 1967 borders, including the eastern part of Jerusalem, and expel all the Jewish settlers from the West Bank. Palestinian officials in Ramallah explain, why return to the negotiating table with Israel when the U.S. has actually endorsed the Palestinian position and is negotiating with the Netanyahu government on behalf of the Palestinian Authority? (Hudson Institute New York) By securing the unconditional support of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for his power grab, Iranian President Ahmadinejad is free to maintain and escalate his policy of international brinksmanship on all levels. From Iran's race toward nuclear capabilities, to its efforts to destabilize Iraq and Afghanistan, to its support for Hizbullah and Hamas, to its support for anti-American regimes in Latin America and its cultivation of terror networks in the Western hemisphere, to its strategic proliferation alliance with North Korea, Ahmadinejad's continued reign means that the world can expect expanded Iranian activity on all these fronts. Despite Ahmadinejad's success in maintaining his grip on power, it is an indisputable fact that regime opponents succeeded these past few weeks as never before in destabilizing the regime and in demonstrating its hollow core. The June 12 elections were not supposed to pose a challenge to the regime. All they were supposed to do was pit one regime loyalist against three other regime loyalists. The fact that the public could view Ahmadinejad's decision to steal the election as an opportunity to bring down the regime demonstrates clearly the magnitude of the public's rejection of the Islamic Revolution. (Jerusalem Post) Observations: An Historic Opportunity for Justice - Ben-Dror Yemini (Maariv-Hebrew) To the members of the UN Human Rights Council Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict:
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