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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, October 6, 2010 | ||
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Netanyahu's senior cabinet ministers convened in Jerusalem but did not even take up a package of security guarantees being offered by the U.S. in return for Israel's extending a freeze on the construction of settlements in the West Bank by 60 days, officials said. The Palestinians, meanwhile, rejected a U.S. proposal that they keep negotiating without an extension in return for an American offer to formally endorse a Palestinian state based on the borders of Israel before the 1967 Middle East war. The question some are asking is whether President Obama is risking too much too soon - and for too little. Martin S. Indyk, a former American ambassador to Israel and a negotiator in the Clinton administration, said, "We have to be careful not to pay with strategic coin for mere tactical breathing room." "The original sin was putting so much emphasis on settlements, an issue we couldn't resolve," said Robert Malley, the Middle East and North Africa program director for the International Crisis Group. "We've spent the last year trying to undo the damage of that step." "We recognize that to get the parties over this hump we have to offer something of value to each side," said State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley. "In return, we need a commitment from the parties to remain in the negotiations long enough to reach an agreement. We don't want to go through this again." (New York Times) See also A Key Back Channel for U.S., Israeli Ties - Glenn Kessler Dennis Ross, a longtime Middle East expert, has emerged as a crucial, behind-the-scenes conduit between the White House and the Israeli government to discreetly smooth out differences and disputes. Ross's role is highly sensitive because it might be seen as undercutting the mission of George Mitchell, President Obama's special envoy for Middle East peace. It was Ross - a senior director for Middle East policy on the White House staff - who worked with Prime Minister Netanyahu's private attorney Yitzhak Molcho and Defense Minister Ehud Barak on a package of incentives that the Obama administration is offering Netanyahu to extend a settlement moratorium. (Washington Post) The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday it had warned the Lebanese government about the risks of a visit by Iran's president to Lebanon next week. Lebanon's largest parliamentary bloc, the Western-backed "March 14" coalition, said Ahmadinejad regards Lebanon as "an Iranian base on the Mediterranean." State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said, "Iran, through its association with groups like Hizbullah, is actively undermining Lebanon's sovereignty." Lebanese political sources have said they expect Ahmadinejad to visit Hizbullah bastions in southern Lebanon. (Reuters) View Photos of Iranian Flags in Southern Lebanon (ABNA-Iran) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
Prime Minister Netanyahu has held private discussions over the last few days with senior ministers regarding the settlement construction moratorium issue. One senior official said that Netanyahu was concerned that if Israel extended the moratorium, Jerusalem would be seen as having no "red lines," a bad perception to foster on the eve of negotiations dealing with much more critical issues. According to this official, the U.S. was putting pressure on both Israel and the Palestinians to show flexibility, and was also making it clear to both sides that it was not in either of their best interests for the negotiations to grind to a halt. Another diplomatic official said the impression that Israel was holding out on extending the moratorium by two months to get more "incentives" from the U.S. was "mistaken." Were Netanyahu to hold a vote on extending the freeze at Wednesday's security cabinet meeting, it would almost certainly be defeated. (Jerusalem Post) Israeli settlers on Tuesday gave new copies of the Koran to Palestinians in the West Bank village of Beit Fajjar where several copies of the holy book were scorched in an arson attack at a mosque on Monday. The village is at the edge of the Gush Etzion settlement bloc. (Reuters-Ha'aretz) The PA continues to educate its people to envision a world without Israel, presenting Israeli cities and regions as "Palestinian." Last week, PA TV rebroadcast an educational documentary that describes the Israeli cities of Haifa, Acre, Ashkelon, Jaffa and the Sea of Galilee as Palestinian. PA TV is under the direct control of the office of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. (Palestinian Media Watch) See also PA Announces Boycott of Israeli Supermarket Chain The Palestinian Authority Ministry of National Economy announced on Sept. 21 a boycott campaign against the Israeli Rami Levi chain of supermarkets, which it claimed has "spread like cancer" with new stores in Ramallah, Hebron and Bethlehem. Distributors and promoters of Rami Levi products will be prosecuted for advertising or selling their goods in the West Bank. (Maan News-PA) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
The new conditions proposed by the Israeli prime minister to the U.S. administration for a freeze on settlement construction for a specific period of time - thus leading to a resumption of the peace talks - demonstrate why we had been calling on the Palestinian president to continue negotiations. This newspaper reported Monday that Netanyahu would agree to extend the settlement freeze for a period of two months on the condition that the Obama administration pledges to refrain from calling for a new extension, for construction to continue on the settlement projects that have already begun, and for Washington to agree to Israeli troops being stationed in the Jordan Rift Valley as part of any final peace agreement. In addition, Netanyahu also demanded U.S. commitment to veto any UN Security Council resolution establishing a Palestinian state, as well as providing Israel with military support. Our source also said that Netanyahu had called on the Americans to help him confront the opposition he is facing within his own government by providing him with a "benefits package" that he could present to his ministers as evidence that this settlement freeze brings with it substantial gains for the Israelis. The writer is the editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat. (Asharq Al-Awsat-UK) Prime Minister Netanyahu passed the decision to freeze construction in the West Bank for 10 months and kept his promise not to extend it "a day longer." It had been assumed this concession would give him the required time to conduct direct talks with the Palestinians. But they, as is their custom, again proved they miss no opportunity to miss an opportunity. When the end of the 10-month freeze approached, the Palestinians demanded a two-month extension. Otherwise, they will not resume the direct talks. Why? Because that's the Palestinian leadership - painting itself into a corner and not knowing how to get out of it. And lo, after all the festive meetings in Washington, after 10 months of building freeze, now they're asking for two more months? Why? Because that's what they want. Even the Egyptian foreign minister denounced this demand as unnecessary foot-dragging. (Ha'aretz) A 2009 poll shows that 71% of Palestinians deem it essential that their state comprise all of Israel and the territories. (Only 17% of Israelis deem it essentially that their state control all that land.) From the Palestinian perspective, Israel is a colonial state that was suddenly dropped on their head as a result of European crimes. Most Palestinians seem to think, like Helen Thomas said, that the fair solution is for the Jews to go back to Europe. From this perspective, Palestinian political tactics are not an endless series of blunders but a perfectly rational strategy of alternating guerrilla or terrorist attacks on Israel with ceaseless political pressure designed to make Israelis, like the Crusaders, unwilling to pay the price of defending their state over however many decades or centuries it takes. If it became clear that the Palestinians' primary goal was to create a homeland living peacefully next to a Jewish state, the Israeli political spectrum would shift back toward a more dovish government. (New Republic) Observations: The Al-Qaeda Threat Faced by Europe - Ron Ben-Yishai (Ynet News)
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