Middle East Inside Line: US Missile Defense "in Israel", Israeli Views of Obama

Missile Defence in Israel and Turkey: Poland’s Wyborcza newspaper claims that the Obama Administration is not going to place an American missile defense system in Poland and Czech Republic. Instead, interceptor missiles on ships and bases in Israel and Turkey, as well as a possible location in the Balkans, are being considered.

The article quotes Riki Ellison, chairman of the Missile Defence Advocacy Alliance, a Washington-based lobby group, "The signals that the generals in the Pentagon are sending are absolutely clear: as far as missile defence is concerned, the current US administration is searching for other solutions than the bases in Poland and the Czech Republic."

Ellison claims Moscow's objections are behind the change in plans, "The outcome of this debate, it has been increasingly clear, will see the Polish and Czech option abandoned… the new administration pays more attention to Russia's arguments."

Israel's Verdict on Obama: According to a Smith Research poll taken this week on behalf of The Jerusalem Post among 500 Jewish Israelis, only 4 percent see the Obama Administration’s policies as pro-Israeli. Just over 50 percent consider them more pro-Palestinian than pro-Israeli, and 35 percent stated that they are neutral.

However, it appears that a lot of those who see Washington as neutral also favour some concessions from Tel Aviv. When Israeli Jews were asked whether they would support settlement freeze for a year as part of an American deal, forty-one percent said “yes” whereas fifty percent said “no.” The large minority supporting the freeze is somewhat surprising, given that 85 percent of respondents consider Obama’s demand for a settlement freeze as a potential threat to Israeli interests.

Israel-Palestine Trade Up: According to the Customs Administration of the Israel Tax Authority, Israeli-Palestinian trade has been steadily growing and almost reached New Israeli Shekel 20 billion ($5.28 billion) in 2008, despite the global economic crisis. Of this amount, NIS 14.6 billion ($3.85 billion) was domestic trade between the State of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, while NIS 4.6 billion ($1.21 billion) was Palestinian imports and exports through Israeli ports.

The Tax Authority also stated that the trade has been continuously increasing in the first half of 2009. Three years ago, Israeli-Palestinian trade was NIS 15.6 billion ($4.2 billion). ($11.1) billion.