Friday,
January 31, 2014

News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:

• U.S. Says Syria Delaying Chemical Disarmament - Naftali Bendavid and Adam Entous
  The U.S. on Thursday blamed Syria's Assad regime for intentionally delaying efforts to remove chemical arms from the country for destruction, suggesting that the goal of liquidating the arsenal by midyear is in jeopardy. Robert Mikulak, the U.S. representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), told the agency's executive council that the process had "seriously languished and stalled."
      Just 4% of Syria's most dangerous chemicals have been removed, he said, despite a Dec. 31, 2013, deadline for removing all of them. "There should be no doubt that responsibility for the lack of progress and increasing costs rests solely with Syria," said Mikulak.
      Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Thursday said he made a personal appeal to his Russian counterpart to bring the Assad regime back into compliance. (Wall Street Journal)
• Ya'alon: Premature to Consider U.S.-Crafted Security Arrangements - Barbara Opall-Rome
  Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon told the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv on Tuesday that the Iranian regime "is now well received in the world despite the fact that it continues to spread its balance of terror in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, the Palestinian theater in Gaza, South America, Asia and Africa."
      He rejected arguments that failure to conclude a Palestinian peace deal deters Saudi Arabia and other moderate Sunni states from forging a united front against Iran. "People in the Arab countries don't raise the Palestinian issue; it's only lip service for external consumption. What does the Palestinian issue have to do with the Iranian threat?"
      Ya'alon insisted that it is way too premature to consider U.S.-crafted security arrangements when Palestinians are unwilling to accept Israel's right to exist in the region as a sovereign homeland for the Jewish people. "You can't talk about security coming from unmanned aerial vehicles and sensors. As long as the Israeli flag does not appear on their map...as long as they are unwilling to declare an end of conflict and end of claims until the last Palestinian refugee is satisfied, what is there to discuss? This is the essence of the conflict."  (Defense News)
• Palestinian Workers Back Scarlett Johansson's Opposition to SodaStream Boycott - Christa Case Bryant
  Palestinians who work at the SodaStream factory near Maale Adumim largely side with American actress Scarlett Johansson. "Before boycotting, they should think of the workers who are going to suffer," says a young man from Azzariah. Previously, he earned $6 a day plucking and cleaning chickens; now he makes nearly 10 times that at SodaStream, which also provides transportation, breakfast, and lunch. Another adds, "If SodaStream closes, we would be sitting in the streets doing nothing."
      All but one of those interviewed said they opposed the boycott, given the lack of alternative job opportunities in the West Bank. That underscores Israeli claims that a boycott would be counterproductive, undermining the cooperation and prosperity that could boost peace prospects. (Christian Science Monitor)
• Palestinians Denounce Western "Financial Blackmail" - Khalid Amayreh
  European officials recently warned the Palestinians that European countries were suffering from "donor fatigue" after spending billions of dollars in aid with limited results in achieving a lasting peace with the Israelis. "It has been made very clear to the Palestinians that just sitting around and waiting is not an option," said Lars Faaborg-Andersen, EU ambassador to Israel. "We have made it clear to the parties that there will be a price to pay if these negotiations falter." Each year the EU provides about $1.4 billion in assistance to the PA - by far its largest donor.
      Wasel Abu Yousef, a member of the PLO executive committee, said no leader would respond to "financial bullying" by international donors. "Any Palestinian leader budging under financial pressure from the U.S. or EU would lose public support, and if and when this happens, that leader is finished."  (Al Jazeera)
• Israel's Growing Role in Southern Syria - Ehud Yaari
  Israel is now providing a whole range of items, from medications to food, fuel, clothes, heaters, and more to Syrian villages along the Golan Heights frontier line. A significant operation of this type indicates that a system of communications and frequent contacts has been established with the local rebel militias. Israeli concerns have been aggravated by the emergence of al-Qaeda affiliates which have gained preeminence among rebel units in many parts of central and northern Syria.
      Israel may feel obliged to take unpublicized measures aimed at slowing the movement of such fighters to territory south of Damascus. The southern militias are often directed by civilian elders. Many of them have come to view Israel as a temporary ally under the present circumstances.
      King Abdullah II of Jordan is no less worried about the possible appearance of numerous al-Qaeda militants along his border. Accordingly, Amman is cultivating an array of local militias close to its long frontier with Syria, taking advantage of the fact that many inhabitants of southern Syria and northern Jordan belong to the same tribes. (Washington Institute for Near East Policy)
• Hamas, Islamic Jihad Gunmen Now in West Bank - Khaled Abu Toameh
  For the first time since 2007, masked Hamas and Islamic Jihad militiamen made a public appearance this week in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, an area controlled by Mahmoud Abbas' Palestinian Authority. PA security forces did not intervene to stop or arrest the gunmen as they fired into the air during a rally to commemorate Islamic Jihad member Nafi Sa'di, killed by the Israel Defense Forces last December.
      By allowing the gunmen to participate in a public rally in the West Bank, Abbas may be warning Israel that Palestinians have not abandoned the option of armed struggle. Senior Hamas representative Wasfi Kabaha declared at the rally, "We wanted to send a message to Israel that the Palestinian resistance continues to exist in the West Bank and is prepared for confrontation." (Gatestone Institute)
• Sandbags and Security in Shi'ite Beirut after Bombings - Dominic Evans and Laila Bassam
  Four car bombings targeting Hizbullah's stronghold in Beirut's Shi'ite neighborhoods have killed dozens of people in the last six months. Al-Qaeda-linked Sunni militants have claimed responsibility for some of the attacks and threatened more in response to Hizbullah's intervention in Syria's civil war alongside President Assad's forces. (Reuters)
• Egyptian Journalist: Attack Hamas Terrorists in Gaza
  In a Jan. 9, 2014, interview on Faraeen TV, Egyptian journalist Muhammad Hassan Al-Alfi said: "[The Palestinians] are not worthy of what we have done for them. Our sons were killed and our economy was ruined in wars fought for their sake. Now, they are fighting against us, kidnapping our sons [in Sinai] and killing them. The terrorist camps in Gaza must be attacked. The Al-Qassam Brigades [of Hamas], which train them and send them over here [to Egypt], must be attacked." (MEMRI)

News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:

• Fatah Official: Palestinians Interested in Iranian Role in Conflict with Israel - Khaled Abu Toameh
  The Palestinians have an interest in an Iranian role in the region, senior Fatah official Jibril Rajoub, who visited Tehran earlier this week, said Thursday. He said Fatah has not abandoned the option of "armed resistance" if the peace talks with Israel fail. "2014 is the year of decision; we either go to a state or to a confrontation."
      Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported Thursday that the Iranians were planning to invite PA President Mahmoud Abbas to visit Tehran. Rajoub told Iran's Al-Alam TV that he relayed a message from Abbas to the Iranian leadership that contained congratulations over Tehran's "wisdom" in dealing with the Iranian nuclear program and international sanctions. The Palestinians, Rajoub said, consider the sanctions to be unjust. He added that Iran could play a role in "managing the conflict in the region."  (Jerusalem Post)
• Israel Retaliates for Gaza Rocket Attack - Elior Levy
  After a rocket fired by Palestinians in Gaza hit Israel on Thursday, Israeli jets responded on Friday. Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon confirmed that the air force struck Hamas targets in Gaza: "We will not tolerate rocket fire on Israel," he said. (Ynet News)

Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):

Iran


• With the U.S. Fixated on Sanctions, Iran Is Writing the Script - Emily B. Landau
  The U.S. administration says more sanctions on Iran will end negotiations. Why? Because the Iranians have said so, in particular, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif. This is the same foreign minister who, two weeks ago, put a wreath on the grave of arch-terrorist Imad Mughniyeh, responsible for the deaths of several hundred Americans in Lebanon in the 1980s, and who last week complained in an interview that the U.S. has mischaracterized the concessions made by Iran in the interim deal.
      The U.S. - which until now was steadfastly advocating that sanctions brought Iran to the negotiating table - is now taking its cue from Iran on a legislative measure in Congress intended to strengthen its hand ahead of the next round of negotiations. How can it come as any surprise that Iran would emphatically claim that any new sanctions legislation will kill negotiations?
      While the administration has been hailing the new Iranian cooperation and the halt of enrichment to 20%, Iran believes that the interim deal grants it an unfettered right to continue work on any aspect of research and development of more and more advanced generations of centrifuges, and continued work related to the Arak facility.
      Of perhaps greater concern is the growing sense that the U.S. - and the P5+1 as a group - do not really want to find Iran in noncompliance with the interim deal. It is their keen desire that negotiations continue, no matter what. The writer is a senior research associate at the Institute for National Security Studies. (Ha'aretz)
• Its Great Lake Shriveled, Iran Confronts Crisis of Water Supply - Thomas Erdbrink
  In 1998, Lake Urmia in northwestern Iran was once Iran's largest lake - 90 miles long and 35 miles wide, slightly larger than Great Salt Lake in Utah. Today, only 5% of the water remains. Most blame the half-dozen major dams the government has built in the region for the lake's disappearance, many built by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps through its engineering arm, Khatam al-Anbia Construction. (New York Times)


Palestinians


• Sharansky: Are the Palestinians Ready for Peace? - David Horovitz
  Former Soviet dissident and government minister, and today Jewish Agency chairman, Natan Sharansky said he had been arguing since the 1990s that the best way to judge the seriousness of the peace process - the best criterion by which to gauge whether the two societies were truly ready for peace - was by their handling of the issue of Jews in a Palestinian state and Arabs in Israel. There'll be room for optimism when "we don't have to discuss how we are removing Jews and how they are removing Arabs" from each other's territory.
      "[It] goes without saying that every territory that is left by the Israeli army has to be Jew-free, that Abbas feels very comfortable saying...that there will be no Jews....That's why I don't believe in the reality of this peace process, which is brought from the top and not from the bottom." Abbas is correct to think that Palestinian society is not ready to live with Jews in its midst. "He's right. He's saying, 'Our society is not ready to accept this.'...But this, for me, is the barometer of readiness or not readiness to accept a peace treaty."
      What's still needed, he stressed, is true "political freedom and education. If there was organized collective effort by the free world on these issues," rather than the constant encouragement being given to the Palestinian leadership that they can circumvent these issues and get a state, then we'd truly get closer to peace. (Times of Israel)
• The Root of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict - Shlomo Cesana
  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told visiting Romanian President Traian Basescu and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper: "The root of the [Israeli-Palestinian] conflict is not the settlements. The root of the conflict is not and has never been the lack of a Palestinian state. The root of the conflict is the consistent refusal to accept the existence of an independent nation state for the Jewish people. True peace requires that the Palestinians finally recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people."
      Many people ask: Why does Israel's prime minister want recognition from the Palestinians? Why do you need such recognition from them? "This statement is not for us. Rather, it is vital in clarifying their true intentions," he answers. "Do they want real peace, or do they want to continue with the plan of stages?"  (Israel Hayom)


Israel Boycott


• What Targeting SodaStream Reveals about the BDS Movement - Abraham H. Foxman
  The SodaStream manufacturing facility in an industrial park near Maale Adumim employs 500 West Bank Palestinians. CEO Daniel Birnbaum said this week that SodaStream will not close the facility and move employees to its new plant in the Negev because of the implications for those Palestinian workers: "We will not throw our employees under the bus to promote anyone's political agenda....I just can't see how it would help the cause of the Palestinians if we fired them."
      The pillorying of this company by BDS activists only reveals the absurdity of their blind campaign, and their misguided refusal to engage in constructive dialogue regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and, at their core, rejection of Israel's Jewish existence and the two-state solution. The writer is national director of the Anti-Defamation League. (Huffington Post)
• 10 Brands You'll Have to Give Up If You're Boycotting Israel - Christa Case Bryant
  Ten brands that BDS supporters have urged others to boycott: Pampers, Victoria's Secret, Volvo, Intel, Israeli hummus, Motorola, Hewlett-Packard, Starbucks, McDonald's, and SodaStream. There are thousands of other products that contain or use Israeli-developed technology, including iPhones, iPads, MacBooks, Skype, computer firewalls, and Microsoft XP. (Christian Science Monitor)


Other Issues


• The Limited Allure of Islamic Extremism - Richard Wike
  When it comes to hearts and minds, al-Qaeda and its ilk have repeatedly demonstrated that they have very limited appeal. Indeed, the more people are exposed to extremist violence and al-Qaeda-style rule, the less they like it. In 2004, 41% of Pakistani Muslims said suicide bombings and other forms of violence against civilian targets could often or sometimes be justified. By 2013 that number had fallen to 3%. A 2005 Pew Research poll found 57% of Jordanian Muslims believed that suicide bombings could often or sometimes be justifiable. As of March 2013, support for suicide bombing among Muslims in Jordan had tumbled to 12%. The writer is Director of Global Attitudes Research at the Pew Research Center. (CNN)
• Stop Seeking Sinister Motives for PM Harper's Trip to Israel - Naomi Lakritz
  The way Harper is being treated over his trip to Israel and his principled support for that nation mirrors the way Israel is being treated over its basic right to survival. Harper noted that on his visit to Ramallah, he was not asked to criticize the Palestinians "in terms of governance or human rights or anything else." No one asked him to comment on the honor killings, suicide bombings, and zero recognition for the rights of gays and women.
      "When I'm in Israel, I'm asked to single out Israel. When I'm in the Palestinian Authority, I'm asked to single out Israel, and in half the other places around the world, you ask me to single out Israel," Harper said. (Calgary Herald-Canada)
• Turkey Is in Economic Trouble - David P. Goldman
  Turkey was supposed to be the poster-boy for prosperity through Muslim democracy. Instead, its currency is collapsing. They borrowed vast sums from the international market against a glorious future that was never to be. Among all of the world's big economies, Turkey has the worst current account deficit, at nearly 8% of economic output, roughly where Greece was before its national bankruptcy. (Asia Times-Hong Kong)


Weekend Features


• Despite Decades of Enmity, Israel Quietly Aids Syrian Civilians - Isabel Kershner
  After a rocket critically wounded an 8-year-old boy in Syria, his mother rushed the child to a local hospital, where medics told her: "If you want to save your son, you should take him to Israel." A few days later, the boy and his mother arrived at Western Galilee Hospital in Nahariya. Nearly 200 Syrians, about a third of them women and children, have been treated at this hospital since March 2013. More than 230 others have been taken to Rebecca Sieff Hospital in Safed.
      A Syrian farmer whose grandchildren had been hurt in a rocket attack said he had heard about the Israeli medical care and, ignoring the political risks, worked to bring his granddaughter to Israel. "When there is peace, I will raise an Israeli flag on the roof of my house," he said. (New York Times)
• The Israeli Hospital that Saves Syrian Lives
  Last year, the IDF set up a field hospital to treat wounded Syrian civilians near Israel's northern border. Col. Tariff Bader, a Druze medical officer who heads the Israeli field hospital, explains: "The ethical code of the IDF Medical Corps clearly states that soldiers must assist anyone who is sick or wounded - whether they are associated with the enemy or not."
      "When we realized we would be receiving many patients, we decided to build a field hospital so that we could treat people with serious injuries who require immediate care," Col. Bader said, explaining that some of the victims were so badly injured that they would not have survived the trip to a civilian hospital. The Israeli facility includes surgery, orthopedics and radiology departments.
      Despite the absence of cooperation between Israeli and Syrian medical services, some patients arrive with notes from Syrian doctors. (Israel Defense Forces Blog)
• Allah Is a Zionist - Yishai Fleisher
  One day I was on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem in a park overlooking the Temple Mount when two Arab youths menacingly approached me and told me that I had no business being there. I utilized a deep-seated Muslim theological premise - submission to Allah's will.
      "You know, Allah loves you," I told them. "Allah has given you 22 Arab countries...and just as He has given you all those lands, so too, He has given us Israel and Jerusalem. How else can you explain all this?" I pointed at the panorama of Jerusalem with its many cranes building for the next generation.
      "How were we able to build all this? Are we, Jews, better than you? More numerous than you? It is the will of God that we Jews are on this land in spite of the rest of the world. Allah gave you much, but Al-Quds [Jerusalem] He gave to us." This had an amazing effect on my Arab interlocutors. Without a word they turned and left.
      At least four verses in the Koran mention the idea that the Jewish people will be gathered into the Land of Israel. Like Sura 5, verse 21: [Moses said]: "O my people, enter the holy land that God has decreed for you."
      Or chapter 17, verse 104: "And thereafter We [Allah] said to the Children of Israel: 'Dwell securely in the Promised Land. And when the last warning will come to pass, We shall bring you as a crowd gathered out of various nations.'"  (Jerusalem Post)
• Israeli Company Testing Flying Ambulance Drone - Joshua A. Krisch
  The AirMule, an unmanned flying ambulance, has successfully completed a series of fully automatic test flights, the Israeli firm Urban Aeronautics announced last month. AirMule is significantly quieter - and stealthier - than a helicopter, and capable of landing in tight spaces with ease. The unmanned hovercraft could also serve civilian functions, rescuing patients injured by natural disasters or delivering food and supplies to isolated populations. (Popular Mechanics)
• Experimental Contact Lens Aims to Offer Tactile Sight for the Blind - Nick Lavars
  Researchers from Israel's Bar-Ilan University have developed a prototype contact lens that could enable the visually impaired to see the world in a whole new light. Developed by Professor Zeev Zalevsky, the contact lens processes digital images and translates them into tactile sensations which can then be felt on the user's cornea, allowing them to form a picture of their physical surroundings.
      The system uses a smartphone or mounted camera to capture images that are then transformed into a form of electronic Braille. "We did preliminary clinical trials on people and were able to transmit basic spatial shapes through tactile sense which the subjects were able to recognize after practice of a few minutes," Zalevsky said. (Gizmag)

Observations:

Israel Mustn't Give Up the Jordan Valley - Yiftah Ron-Tal (Ynet News)

• The perception that the Jordan Valley should remain Israel's security border in any agreement with the Palestinians has been shared by all Israeli governments in the past 20 years - from the Rabin government through the Sharon government to the Netanyahu government.
• I listen to the different statements on possibly giving up on Israeli sovereignty in the Jordan Valley and IDF presence both in the Valley and on the West Bank mountain ridge - and I'm astonished. One can determine unequivocally that Israeli security control in the Jordan Valley and on the mountain ridge is an essential component of Israel's security perception.
• Giving up on an Israeli presence in the Jordan Valley means creating territorial continuity between Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. This will immediately allow the smuggling of weapons strategically threatening the State of Israel, contrary to the agreements the sides will sign.
• Secondly, the PA's shared border with Jordan, whose population is mostly Palestinian, may undermine the stability of King Abdullah's regime - a moderate regime which Israel has the utmost interest to maintain.
• Without security control on the West Bank mountain ridge, Israel will remain without vital strategic depth, considering that the Palestinian territories will be so close to Israel's large population centers and key strategic facilities.
• There is no creative solution which can serve as an alternative to control of the Jordan Valley. An international force is not a solution either. All the examples in our region prove that such forces are ineffective against hostile elements.
  
  Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yiftah Ron-Tal is a former commander of the IDF's Ground Forces.
  

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