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

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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”.

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”

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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."

Israel and Sweden: When Democracies Fight

UPDATE 1300 GMT: The Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister, Danny Ayalon, spreads his message by Twitter: "Calling on the Swedish government to strongly condemn these accusations"

Warning lights are blinking for the diplomatic relationship between Sweden and Israel. First, the "shocking" news came from a Swedish court in April that an Egyptian-born Palestinian found guilty of terror attacks against U.S. and Jewish targets in the 1980s could have his life sentence commuted to a 30-year prison term.

Then, on 4 August, Sweden criticized the State of Israel via the Swedish President of the European Union said, "The presidency of the European Union reiterates its serious concerns about the continued and unacceptable evictions in east Jerusalem, notably the evictions by Israeli authorities of two families….House demolitions, evictions and settlement activities in east Jerusalem are illegal under international law."

After the release of the report of the Jerusalem-based conservative NGO Monitor criticising “Swedish government funding for radical NGOs under the guise of human rights and humanitarian aid", eyes returned to Stockholm when the Swedish government declared on August 12 that 50 million Kronor ($6.9 million) would be given to the Palestinian Authority to help pay wages and pensions of local officials.

And that is not the end of the story. On Tuesday, the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz printed Donald Boström’s claim, from his article in Sweden's largest daily newspaper, the left-leaning Aftonbladet, that Israeli soldiers are abducting Palestinians to steal their organs:

"Our sons are used as involuntary organ donors," relatives of Khaled from Nablus said to me, as did the mother of Raed from Jenin as well as the uncles of Machmod and Nafes from Gaza, who all had disappeared for a few days and returned by night, dead and autopsied.

Israeli diplomatic circles reacted with fury. Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Yigal Palmor called the newspaper's decision to publish "a mark of disgrace": "In a democratic country, there should be no place for dark blood libels out of the Middle Ages of this type….This is an article that shames Swedish democracy and the entire Swedish press."

There has been no reaction from the Swedish Government to the latest Israeli statements.

Saudi Arabia to US: It is Israel's Move (However You Report It)

For the Associated Press, Saudi Arabia's rejection of a  US request that it establish ties with Israel was pretty cold-blooded. 
 
Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said "bluntly" that his Government was "not interested" until Israel withdrew to 1967 borders, while SoS Hillary Clinton "looked on" during the joint news conference.

Mina Al Orabi offers a much different framing in the Arabic daily Asharq Al-Awsat. Saud al Faisal "was keen to express Saudi Arabia’s 'thanks and appreciation to President Obama and to Secretary Clinton for their early  and robust focus on trying to bring peace to the Middle East'.... However, he  also indicated that 'Israel must decide if it wants real peace, which is at hand, or if it wants to continue obstructing and, as a result, leading the region towards instability and violence.'"

Saud got to the heart of the preference of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for talks on specific economic and security matters rather than a broad two-state settlement: “Today, Israel is trying to distract by shifting attention from the core issue – an end to the occupation that began in 1967 and the establishment of a Palestinian state --- towards incidental issues such as academic conferences and civil aviation matters. This is not the way to peace.”

For Saud, “The question is not what the Arab world will offer....The question really is: what will Israel give in exchange for this comprehensive offer?"

Asharq al-Awsat also made clear that Secretary of State Clinton was far from mute. She diplomatically restated that the Obama Administration “is committed to comprehensive peace in the region,” and expressed thanks to “the Prince for the leadership that King Abdullah and his government has shown by championing the Arab Peace Initiative".

The Associated Press may want to portray the Saudis as the intransigent obstacles to peace. After all, more than 200 US Congressmen/women have signed a letter to Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah "calling for precisely the measures that Saud rejected and chastising the country for its stance". 

The fact beyond the framing remains, however, that all movement is suspended without a substantive response from Tel Aviv. And if the rumoured White House spin is true --- President Obama will announce a "Middle East plan" after his meeting with Egypt's Hosni Mubarak on 17 August --- that response better come soon.