Middle East/Iran Inside Line: Israel says "IAEA Has Another Classified Report"

Receive our latest updates by email or RSS SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FEED
Buy Us A Cup of Coffee? Help Enduring America Expand Its Coverage and Analysis

Israel: Somewhere A Report Proves Our Case. Really: Not satisfied with the latest report of the International Atomic Energy Agency on Iran's nuclear programme, Israeli officials have insisted that the IAEA is sitting on another classified report on Iran’s nuclear programme and called on the Agency to release it.

Italy Jumps Into Israel-Sweden Dispute: Haaretz reports that Italy's foreign minister, Franco Frattini, told the newspaper that he and Swedish counterpart Carl Bildt would work to pass a resolution strongly condemning anti-Semitism and taking action against any manifestation of it throughout the European Union at the EU foreign ministers' meeting next week.

As for the claim in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that Israeli soldiers had harvested the organs of dead Palestinians, Frattini said it was within the definitiation of“anti-Semitism": “There are limits to freedom of the press that stem from respect for the truth and the duty of every journalist to prove his claims....[These are] terrible conclusions, lying and hurtful, and they have the power to assist all those who seek to incite against Jews or who oppose the existence of the State of Israel.”

On the issue of Sweden's position after the Aftonbladet claim, Frattini said, “The Council of Ministers meeting is the correct forum for Sweden to prove, with concrete steps, its determined stance against anti-Semitism." While the Swedish side is keeping its silence, Yigal Palmor of the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said, “Every initiative against anti-Semitism is welcome… But if the declaration is general and does not specifically relate to the article in Aftonbladet, it will not resolve anything.…All we asked of Sweden and the Swedes is that they reject and decry the content of the report. And our position has not changed."

Middle East Inside Line (30 August): Israel-Gaza Tension Rising, Sweden and Israel Still Fighting

Israel Tension with Hamas Rising: The tension between Israeli forces and Palestinians in Gaza has been increasing since Monday. Palestinian militants fired a Qassam rocket into the Western Negev. A 20-year-old Palestinian was shot dead when he approached a security fence separating Israel and the northern Gaza Strip; the Israeli military claimed that gunmen were placing a bomb near the security fence and opened fire. After the Palestinian's death, mortar shells fired from the Gaza Strip injured an Israeli soldier; the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), a Palestinian militant group, claimed responsibility.

On Tuesday, two Israeli jets dropped bombs on smuggling tunnels in the southern town of Rafah. The IDF said that the airstrike, which killed three Palestinian brothers and wounded seven others, was in response to Monday's mortar shell fire at Israel on Monday.

Israel-Sweden Fight Continues:

After recent tension over Palestine and the "stolen organs" controversy, diplomatic storm clouds are still over Stockholm and Tel Aviv. On Friday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul-Gheit gave a clear yet a provocative statement in Sweden:

East Jerusalem must be included in a freeze of settlement activity before Middle East peace talks can restart....Jerusalem is Arab and it will continue to be so.

Meanwhile, Washington has denied reports that the Obama Administration dropped the demand for the freezing of settlements in East Jerusalem in exchange for the Israeli concession of a 9 to 12-month settlement freeze in the West Bank.

The Middle East/Iran Inside Line: Hezbollah In, Lieberman Out, France-Germany Making a Difference?

Iran’s Nuclear Programme: Talks, Threats, and Propaganda
Israel-Palestine: After Mitchell Meeting, Netanyahu Presses His Advantage

Receive our latest updates by email or RSS SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FEED
Buy Us A Cup of Coffee? Help Enduring America Expand Its Coverage and Analysis

Lebanon: Hezbollah in Government: Prime Minister-designate Sa'ad Hariri declared on Wednesday: "The national unity government will include the [ruling] March 14 alliance, and I also want to assure the Israeli enemy that Hezbollah will be in this government whether it likes it or not because Lebanon's interests require all parties be involved in this cabinet."

France and Germany Speak Out on Middle East, Iran: On Wednesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then reiterated Germany’s call for two-state solution: "We shouldn't let the window of opportunity pass… The time is absolutely right. Let us do everything to use it."

Meanwhile, spokesmen for the Germany Government emphasised, "The German government advocates that no further settlements in the occupied territories be built. The federal government has emphasized repeatedly this position, and it has not changed." The spokesmem refused to give details on discussions over Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier held in Gaza, "strongly appealed to his kidnappers to release him as fast as possible [as] his martyrdom has already lasted too long".

French President Nicholas Sarkozy, also on the scene, endorsed the German call for a halt to Israeli settlement expansion. He then switched to Iran, publicly warned that France would support further sanctions on Tehran if it did not stop uranium enrichment: "These are the same leaders, in Iran, who tell us that the nuclear program is peaceful and that the elections were honest. Frankly, who believes them?"

Sarkozy is due to meet with the leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, in Paris next week.

Israel: Foreign Minister in Trouble?: Haaretz’s Aluf Benn has pointed out the “damage” Foreign Ministry Avigdor Lieberman is causing to Israel's reputation and called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to replace him with a “real statesman”.

Benn argues that Lieberman’s has not furthered his country’s national interests in diplomatic exchanges with other countries and has, indeed, alienated them thanks to his “aggressive” statements. Lieberman has put his Prime Minister in a “foolish” position and endangering the peace process by calling it a “dangerous folly”.

Iran's Nuclear Programme: Talks, Threats, and Propaganda

The Latest from Iran (27 August): Catching Breath

Receive our latest updates by email or RSS SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FEED
Buy Us A Cup of Coffee? Help Enduring America Expand Its Coverage and Analysis

On the diplomatic calendar for Iran's nuclear programme, the date of 14 September has a big red circle around it. That's the day when 150 nations convene in the general convention of the International Atomic Energy Authority.

And that's why we are in the midst of manoeuvres and propaganda that put even the US-Iran contest of the Bush years to shame.

Two weeks ago, Iran proposed that the 14 September conference ban attacks on any nation's nuclear facilities. This was followed on 18 August by a declaration by Iran's envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, "Talks without preconditions is Iran's main stance in negotiations on the nuclear issue."

However, Tehran backed away from Soltanieh's statement and "Western and Israeli officials" struck back a day later: “The International Atomic Energy Agency under Director General Mohamed ElBaradei was refraining from publishing evidence obtained by its inspectors over the past few months that indicate Iran was pursuing information about weaponization efforts and a military nuclear program.”

What has followed has been a battle of spin, not between Iran and the US/Israel but amongst "Western officials". Those trying to keep talks with Iran on the rails let it be known that Iran had not expanded the number of centrifuges enriching uranium at its Natanz nuclear site since the end of May. Those opposed to engagement countered with the "news" that Iranian leaders had received and rejected in May a proposal calling for a halt to Iran's nuclear enrichment program in exchange for no new United Nations sanctions.

Beyond the propaganda, what is next? Tehran says it is ready for nuclear talks without preconditions but is decided not to stop its uranium enrichment facilities. Despite the Obama talk of engagement, others in Washington and European capitals are threatening to expand sanctions if Tehran does not shelve nuclear enrichment by the end of September. Israel continues its lobbying, moving between hints of military action and support for the toughest possible economic restrictions. Russia and China, sceptical of and often opposed to such sanctions, remain silent.

For now, just keep retracing that circle around 14 September.

Israel-Palestine: After Mitchell Meeting, Netanyahu Presses His Advantage

The Middle East/Iran Inside Line: Hezbollah In, Lieberman Out, France-Germany Making a Difference?
Israel and Mitchell-Netanyahu: No Agreement Yet “Good”
Israel-Palestine: Fayyad Puts Invitation to Israel within a “Palestinian State”

Receive our latest updates by email or RSS SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FEED
Buy Us A Cup of Coffee? Help Enduring America Expand Its Coverage and Analysis

An Israeli government source says that, in his meeting with President Obama's envoy George Mitchell on Tuesday, Netanyahu proposed a nine-month freeze on settlements in the West Bank. However, he set clear conditions: this would not be an obstacle for the “continuation of normal life" and would not include 2,500 housing units on which construction has already started. It was also dependent on reciprocal steps from the Palestinian Authority and Arab states. In the event that Arabs did not meet expectations, Netanyahu asked for an American guarantee not to oppose renewed building.

The American response to Netanyahu’s proposal will be given in Washington next week when Mitchell meets with Netanyahu's envoy, attorney Yitzhak Molcho, and Defense Minister Ehud Barak's chief of staff, Brigadier General Mike Herzog. In the second week of September, Mitchell is expected to visit Israel in order to finalize the agreement.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu commented on Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas's reported willingness to meet him at next month's UN General Assembly session in New York: "If Abbas is behind this declaration, that would be progress. This is a positive thing, a positive first step." Since Abbas had refused to meet Netanyahu if Israel does not impose a full halt on its settlements in the West Bank, this could be construed as a Palestinian concession. Indeed, Netanyahu seized the opportunity to press another condition, the Palestinian leadership's recognition of a Jewish state: "We also have core issues, and the issue of recognition is core, in my view. If we insist on the recognition, there will be a peace agreement."