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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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Wednesday, February 24, 2010 | ||
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In-Depth Issues:
Hamas Founder's Son Worked for Israel Security Agency - Avi Issacharoff (Ha'aretz)
Support for Israel in U.S. at 63 Percent, Near Record High - Lydia Saad (Gallup)
Assassination Shows Skillful Planning - Samuel Segev (Winnipeg Free Press-Canada)
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
The U.S. Tuesday said an Iranian offer to trade its low-enriched uranium for more highly-processed fuel for a research reactor is unacceptable. The State Department said U.S. diplomats are aggressively pursuing the idea of additional sanctions against Tehran because of its non-cooperation on the nuclear issue. The State Department says the Iranian message does not contain anything that hasn't been heard before, and that Tehran continues to back-track from its initial acceptance of the IAEA plan. In its message to the IAEA, Iran said Tuesday it is willing to trade low-enriched uranium for reactor fuel but the exchange would have to be simultaneous and take place on Iranian soil. State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley called the Iranian offer "a red herring" - a diversion that would do nothing to reassure the world community that its nuclear program is peaceful. "Under the Iranian proposal, there would be an exchange, but that would require the international community to front its own fuel to satisfy Iranian needs, while Iran continues to violate its obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty. So this response, the Iranian counterproposal, is unacceptable." (VOA News) See also Iran Letter Repeats Nuclear Swap Terms Rejected by West - Alan Cowell Iran's reply was couched in terms the U.S. and its allies have already dismissed, according to diplomats. Some analysts have said that, effectively, the IAEA proposal from last October has collapsed. But with the West demanding tougher sanctions, while China, in particular, resists such penalties, neither side is prepared to formally pronounce it dead. (New York Times) The EU is preparing tough sanctions against Iran's energy and financial sectors, aimed at forcing Iran to back down in the nuclear dispute. The EU wants to massively ratchet up the pressure on Tehran - and the instruments have already been prepared. Behind the scenes, EU finance and trade experts have worked out a confidential catalogue of possible sanctions. European governments are more determined than ever to raise the pressure on Iran, especially after the IAEA said in a report last week that Iran may now be working to develop a nuclear-armed missile. (Der Spiegel-Germany) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday, "We are very alarmed, and we cannot accept this, that Iran is refusing to cooperate with the IAEA," after the UN nuclear agency said it feared that Tehran might be working to develop a nuclear missile. "For about 20 years, the Iranian leadership carried out its clandestine nuclear program without reporting it to the IAEA," he said. Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko hinted that talks on a UN sanctions resolution could start soon. But Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabko reiterated Russia's position that it would not block the export of S-300 air defense missile systems to Iran. (Reuters-Moscow Times-Russia) See also China Resists Call for Iran Sanctions China is pushing back against any new sanctions for Iran. A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that China hopes the nuclear problem will be solved diplomatically. (FOX News) On Feb. 18, the Iranian website Asr-e Iran posted an editorial stating that Iran's possessing nuclear weapons will threaten Israel's existence and lead to its elimination - even if they are never used. Once Iran possesses nuclear weapons and shifts the balance of power in the Middle East, it states, this will be the end of Israeli society. "Iran's possession of such weapons will sow in Israel a sense of insecurity - and this sense alone will be enough to shatter the glass palace of this illegitimate regime in the Middle East. An Iran with nuclear weapons means an end to the dream of 'secure Israel' - and this means the exodus of most of the residents." (MEMRI) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad called on the international community on Tuesday to pressure Israel to renege on its decision to add the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel's Tomb to the list of national heritage sites. He added that the media had ignored the fact that Israel also declared Jerusalem's walls as heritage sites. "The Old City's walls are inside eastern and occupied Jerusalem, which will be Palestine's eternal capital." Vice Premier Silvan Shalom responded: "This is insolent and outrageous and another attempt to rewrite history. The Cave of the Patriarchs, like Rachel's Tomb, are Jewish heritage sites pointing to the deep 3,700-year affiliation of the people of Israel to their land. The people of Israel's affiliation to the land did not begin - as the Palestinians are trying to claim - in the past 100 years, but when the Cave of the Patriarchs was bought by Abraham from Ephron the Hittite for 400 silver shekels and Rachel's Tomb was purchased for a full price in the Benjamin region. They are both still mentioned in the Torah in the Book of Genesis, and no one can take that away from the people of Israel. The wild Palestinian attack is aimed at trying to cut off the affiliation and rewriting history. This is a continuation of their ideological objection to recognizing Israel as a Jewish state." (Ynet News) See also Abbas: Heritage Sites Will Ignite a War - Ali Waked PA leader Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday that the Israeli decision to include Rachel's Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs, located in Bethlehem and Hebron, in the list of national heritage sites was "a serious provocation which may lead to a religious war." (Ynet News) See also Israel: Abbas' War Threats Hypocritical - Roni Sofer The Prime Minister's Office responded Tuesday to the Palestinians' war threats. Nir Hefetz, head of the National Information Directorate, said: "This is a false and hypocritical campaign. The State of Israel is committed to the freedom of worship of all religions in all holy sites, and this is what it is doing in practice." "At the present time, the renovation of the entrance plaza and the way leading to the Muslim prayer hall in the Cave of the Patriarchs is being completed. Israel will work in a similar way to renovate the entrance used by Jews arriving at the Cave of the Patriarchs." (Ynet News) Israeli spokesman Mark Regev noted: "Just as Israel understands the Muslim connection to the Tomb of the Patriarchs, we are entitled to hear from the Palestinian side that they respect our connection to a site that is very important to the Jewish people....It is disappointing to hear other messages from the Palestinian leadership." (Jerusalem Post) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
An Iranian bomb is not a matter that concerns only Israel. It would upend the balance of power throughout the Middle East and encourage radical/terrorist organizations such as Hizbullah and Hamas to ratchet up their war against Israel. Other Middle East nations, not content to rely on an American nuclear umbrella, would seek their own bombs. An unstable region would go nuclear. It speaks volumes about Middle Eastern reality and hypocrisy that Egypt serenely lives with an Israeli bomb but breaks out in diplomatic hives at the prospect of an Iranian one. (Washington Post) Hamas senior military commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was a terrorist commander on a mission to acquire Iranian weapons for use against civilians. He was a combatant. Unlike his victims, he was fair game. In Dubai, he was taken out quietly without harming any of the civilians around him. If only Israel could fight all its battles this way. It would be the cleanest and least-deadly war in the history of warfare. It's always better to take out a high-level target in person whenever possible than with a blockbuster bomb from a distance. I can't help but wonder if those griping about the recent hit in Dubai care less about the lives of real human beings than the latest excuse to bash Israel. If the Arab-Israeli conflict will continue - and it will continue - civilians on both sides should prefer that combatants be taken off the board quietly while everyone else goes about their daily business in peace. (Commentary) Observations: Israel's Right to Self-Defense - Gerald M. Steinberg (Wall Street Journal)
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