Palestine Analysis: Breaking Down Israel's Counter Offer on Talks

On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that there would be no construction freeze in Jerusalem; however, he offered confidence-building gestures, such as allowing the opening of Palestinian Authority institutions in the eastern part of the city, transferring additional West Bank territory to Palestinian security control, and discussing all the core issues of the conflict during proximity talks with the Palestinian Authority.

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This counter-offer was put out by the Netanyahu Government through media organizations on Friday. The follow-up analysis was that Israel would announce an official shift in its Palestinian policy: willingness for an interim agreement in the West Bank that would include the establishment of a Palestinian state within temporary borders.


The formula of a Palestinian state within temporary borders was included in the second stage of the road map of 2003. However, this time the counter-offer, although it requires Israel to withdraw from more territory and perhaps even evacuate settlements, excludes the status of Jerusalem and only draws temporary borders with the West Bank.

U.S. Mideast special envoy George Mitchell met Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Netanyahu on Friday. Netanyahu, ready to take any dismissal of his offer as confirmation that the Palestinians are  “stubborn and rejectionist”, told Mitchell at the beginning of the meeting:

I look forward to working with the Obama administration to move peace forward. We are serious about it, we know you are serious about it and we hope the Palestinians respond.

Not only Ramallah rejected Israel’s counter-offer; Hamas’s leader in the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniya, said Thursday that resumption of peace talks with Israel is a cover-up for the "Judaization of Jerusalem".

Meanwhile, the first signs of Israel’s new military order, which can deport tens of thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank, emerged. A Palestinian from the West Bank, Ahmad Sabah,was forcibly deported to the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, immediately after his release from detention in Israel.

MENA House: Protests "En Vogue" in Egypt

It’s become a daily event.  On most evening chat shows, whether it be 10 masa’an (10 in the Evening), al hayat al youm (Life Daily), 90 Minutes, or 48 Hours, protests are reported on regular, yes daily basis.  It’s totally "en vogue" these days.

Who can argue that democracy does not exist in Egypt? Of course it does, protests go on everywhere and anywhere.  Therefore the Egyptian public have a right to speak out their opinions.  A sign of a healthy society?

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However, on 18 April, the discussion on public protests hit (no intent on the pun) the People’s Assembly (Maglis al shaab).  An internal dispute between two leading MPs broke out. Fists were thrown, unpleasantries were exchanged.


As Mona El Shazly commented on her evening show 10 Masa’an, this has become commonplace, something to which viewers and commentators have become accustomed.  The real cause for concern was the nature of the topic that caused inflammatory reactions: the National Democratic Party called on the Interior Ministry to shoot protestors, referring specifically to demonstrations on 6 April.

Activists who took part in those protests included the 6^th of April Youth Movement, the leftist Tagammu Party, the liberal Ghad Party, and the National Association for Change (NAC), and Mohamed El Baradei's pro-reform coalition, as well as members of other groups.

Protesters had planned to walk from downtown Cairo's Tahrir Square to the nearby People’s Assembly in an attempt to emulate the 6 April 2008 general strike and to protest Egypt's longstanding Emergency Law.  However, security forces brought the demonstrations to a halt.

Days before, the security forces had warned the 6^th of April Movement that the demonstration was a security threat: protests in Tahrir Square in the centre of Cairo effectively brings all of the city to a standstill. According to media reports in Egypt, ninety-three activists were arrested and ten police officers were injured.

Back to the "debate" in the People’s Assembly:

A meeting was held to discuss the human rights violations committed on 6 April.  Adding salt to the wound, a National Democratic Party (NDP) member Nassh’at al Qassas said, "I don’t know why the Interior Ministry is so lenient with protestors....Rather than using water hoses to disperse the crowd, the police ought to use live rounds to shoot them."

El-Qassas' NDP colleague, Ahmed Abu Aqrab, alleged that members of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) parliamentary bloc had falsified reports about police violations to gain media coverage. The claim led to a fistfight between Abu Aqrab and MB parliamentarian Mohamed el-Biltagy.

Vulgar exchanges between the two parties continued, with Abu Aqrab claiming that the MB receive illegal funding from abroad, to which MB member el Biltagy responded, "What do you mean? I am better than you and the likes of you!"

Another Brotherhood MP, Hamdi Hassan, showed el-Qassas a shredded t-shirt that allegedly belonged to a protester who had participated in the 6 April demonstrations.  Heated discussions continued in the People’s Assembly and later became the main topic of the evening news discussion programmes.

Assistant Interior Minister Hamed Rashid said the law allowed police to employ force against anyone attempting to disrupt public order or attack security personnel. He added that those who attacked the security forces, who were there to "maintain calm", cannot be Egyptian patriots and therefore deserve what was coming to them.

The US State Department responded by renewing calls for democratic reform.  Spokesperson P. J. Crowley said, "All individuals must exercise their basic freedoms freely." He continued, "All Egyptians must play a genuine role in an open and transparent political process," adding that more people should be involved in the political system.

In a statement last week the US Government eliminated funding for civil society in Egypt:

Under the Obama Administration, the US government acquiesced to demands from Egypt and Bolivia to eliminate all funding for independent civil society and continues the policy of restricting U.S. assistance to groups to those that receive the approval of the Egyptian government.

Whilst the US government uses democratic reform as leverage for funding to Egypt, this is not the main cause for concern.  Civil groups continue to receive funding from other sources such as the Middle East Partnership Initiative and the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.

The real worry is over three points: the enraged reaction in the People’s Assembly, hardly the action of role models in society; NDP members encouraging forces to use live rounds on their fellow Egyptian citizens in the name of "maintaining security’"; and the prospects of what might occur in the next influential protest.

US and Israel: New Secret Talks?

According to a senior Israeli official talks with American officials have been conducted throughout the past week by phone and via the Israeli Embassy in Washington. The top Middle East policy specialist at the White House, Dan Shapiro, also arrived in Israel Wednesday on a secret visit.

So far, the Obama Administration has demanded that the Netanyahu Government drop construction in East Jerusalem for at least four months. However, neither the White House nor the Prime Minister's Office have officially announced the talks or even Shapiro's arrival in Israel, let alone the substance of the discussions.

A report in the Wall Street Journal says that Prime Minister Netanyahu rejected the demand on East Jerusalem, but he did agree to other confidence-building gestures, such as allowing the opening of PA institutions in the eastern part of the city, transferring additional West Bank territory to Palestinian security control, and agreeing to discuss all the core issues of the conflict during proximity talks with the Palestinian Authority.

The Prime Minister's Bureau said on Thursday that Netanyahu Government had delivered over the weekend its most substantive response yet to the US request, confirming that Netanyahu has rejected the Obama administration's demands to freeze construction in East Jerusalem.

Responding to West Jerusalem’s official argument that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is not the heart of the problems in the region, Obama's national security adviser, Jim Jones, stated on Wednesday that progress toward Middle East peace would help thwart Iran's ambitions by preventing it from "cynically" using the conflict to divert attention from its nuclear program. He said:

One of the ways that Iran exerts influence in the Middle East is by exploiting the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict.

Advancing this peace would ... help prevent Iran from cynically shifting attention away from its failures to meet its obligations.

Seeking to resolve the conflict, Barack Obama sent a rare letter to Alan Solow, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations. To gain the confidence of the Diaspora Jews and consolidate Washington’s position in Israel, Obama said:

I am sure you can distinguish between the noise and distortion about my views that have appeared recently, and the actual approach of my administration toward the Middle East.

All sides should understand that our commitment to Israel is unshakeable and that no wedge will be driven between us.

Middle East Analysis: Cairo's Nuclear Move, Syria's Reaction

At last week's Obama-led summit on nuclear security, amidst speculation that many Arab and Muslim states would launch an ambush upon Israel's nuclear weapons, the deputy prime minister Dan Meridor summed up the conference: "Thus far, there has been no ambush."

On the same day, President Obama called on Israel to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty as he called on other states, such as India, North Korea, and Pakistan, to join:

Israel Document: Strategic Affairs Minister on “Existential Struggle” and No Concessions

Whether we're talking about Israel or any other country, we think that becoming part of the NPT is important. And that, by the way, is not a new position. That's been a consistent position of the United States government, even prior to my administration.

Haaretz subsequently quoted Western envoys reporting that Israel may come under new pressure next month at a UN meeting on atomic weapons, with the US, Britain and France considering support for Egypt's call for a zone in the Middle East free of nuclear arms. In a working paper that reportedly Egypt submitted to fellow treaty members, Cairo said the conference should formally express regret that "no progress has taken place on the implementation of the (1995) resolution" that backed the idea of "a Middle East zone free of nuclear weapons as well as other weapons of mass destruction" and should call for an international treaty conference by 2011.

Although Israel's UN mission had no official comment on the Egyptian proposal, an Israeli diplomat told Reuters the Jewish state will be ready to discuss issues such as a nuclear-weapon-free zone once there is peace in the Middle East. One Western official said:

They [the Israelis] have an interest here. If the Arabs get something they want on Israel, they'll be more supportive on Iran's nuclear program and further sanctions. Israel would benefit from that.

So for Egypt, the nuclear move is a "win-win" situation. It can increase its stock through giving the image of "driving Israel to the corner" and by leading an international gathering through which new and stronger pressure can be put on Tehran.

However, to establish this leading role in the Arab world, Cairo needs the support of a very significant country:  Syria, which is the "closest" ally of Iran and the greatest conventionally-armed "threat" to Israel. With Saudi Arabia breaking the ice with Damascus, Syrian President Bashar Assad was due Tuesday night to land in Egypt.

What is Syria seeking from this "alliance"? Damascus would gain from Egyptian support to counter Israel's allegations that Syria transferred Scud missiles to Lebanon's Hezbollah. Secondly, Cairo, in its "big brother" role mediating Palestinian affairs, could increase Syria's influence in the Gaza Strip.

Israel: Video and Statements on Independence Day

The traditional torch-lighting ceremony,  "If you will it, it is no dream," the famous declaration of Theodor Herzl, began Israel's celebrations on Monday night.

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The Speaker of Israel's Knesset, Reuven Rivlin, said: "Israel's salvation didn't come from prophets or diplomats, but from those who had the courage to stop dreaming and start fulfilling." His focus then moved to Jerusalem's social problems:

Specifically at a time of cultural openness, we are witness today to a dangerous process of intensifying fortification of every group within its four walls. This fortification brings with it not only cultural or political polarization, but also fatal segregation in everyday life. For example, look what Jerusalem has turned into in the last decade: separate neighborhoods, separate public transport, separate shopping centers for haredi and secular [residents], Arabs and Jews. Ghettos and more ghettos, separated by walls of alienation, not by walls of cement.

At a ceremony on Ammunition Hill, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was more concerned with those beyond Jerusalem, declaring that Israel wants peace with its neighbors, but not at the price of security. He continued:

Not one day has passed without us reaching out to our neighbors in peace. Not even one day, and we still reach out to those of our neighbors that desire peace.

Over the years, we have learned that the olive branches of peace will only be attained if we are strong and are willing to defend our country as did those who have fallen here.

Jerusalem, which until that time had been a divided and weakened city, became once again a city full of life, creativity and renewal.

In a special statement, President Barack Obama said:

Minutes after David Ben-Gurion declared Israel's independence, realizing the dream of a state for the Jewish people in their historic homeland, the United States became the first country to recognize Israel.

To this day, we continue to share a strong, unbreakable bond of friendship between our two nations, anchored by the United States' enduring commitment to Israel's security.

I look forward to continuing our efforts with Israel to achieve comprehensive peace and security in the region, including a two-state solution, and to working together to counter the forces that threaten Israel, the United States, and the world.

On this day, we once again honor the extraordinary achievements of the people of Israel, and their deep and abiding friendship with the American people. I offer my best wishes to President Peres, Prime Minister Netanyahu and the people of Israel as they celebrate this happy occasion.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton added:

Congratulations Israel on 62 years of independence! This is an opportunity to celebrate all that Israel has accomplished and to reaffirm the bonds that unite our two nations – our strategic partnership, our shared values, and our common aspirations.

You know, in 1948, it took President Truman only 11 minutes to recognize your new nation. And ever since, the United States has stood with you in solidarity.

Since my first visit to Israel nearly thirty years ago, I have returned many times and made many friends. And I have shared your pride in seeing the desert bloom, the economy thrive and your country flourish. I have a deep personal commitment to Israel. And so does President Obama. Our nation will not waver in protecting Israel’s security and promoting Israel’s future.

That is why pursuing peace and recognized borders for Israel is one of our top priorities. We believe it is possible – indeed necessary – to achieve a comprehensive peace in the Middle East that provides Israelis, Palestinians, and all the people of the region security, prosperity, and the opportunity to live up to their full God-given potential.

Israel today is confronting some of the greatest challenges in its history, but its promise and potential have never been greater. The United States will continue to stand with you, sharing your risks and helping shoulder your burdens, as we face the future together.