Middle East Inside Line: Hamas Division, Ahmadinejad with Syria & Hezbollah, Mitchell to Resign?

Hamas Divides over Shalit Case?: Haaretz says that negotiations over the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit have divided Hamas, with the resignation of Mahmoud A-Zahar, a senior member of the negotiating team. Despite the efforts of German negotiator Gerhard Konrad, Israeli leaders have said that they will not release some senior Palestinian leaders as demanded by Hamas. A-Zahar's argued with Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal over the handling of talks and then left his post.

Hamas' "Israel Spy" Speaks: Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of Hamas founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef who worked for Israel's Shin Bet security service, converted to Christianity, and moved to California, said by phone: "I wish I were in Gaza now. I would put on an army uniform and join Israel's special forces in order to liberate Gilad Shalit. If I were there, I could help. We wasted so many years with investigations and arrests to capture the very terrorists that they now want to release in return for Shalit. That must not be done."



Ahmadinejad with Assad and Nasrallah: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah met in Damascus late Thursda. According to Al-Manar, Ahmadinejad met with Palestinian officials from at least 10 political movements during his visit. During that meeting, the Iranian president and the Palestinians expressed their desire for cooperation against Israeli "threats, aggressions," and moves regarding Islamic holy sites in Israel.

Mitchell to Resign?: Hadith a-Nass, a Nazareth-based daily Arab source, reported that special US Mideast envoy George Mitchell has requested to resign. The report claims that Mitchell is disillusioned over the bias of the State Department towards Israel and his failure to advance the resumption of peace negotiations. However, it is said that the White House has turned down Mitchell's request.

Palestine Moves if No Talks with Israel: Palestinian Authority chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, in an article, "The Political Situation in Light of Developments with the U.S. Administration and Israeli Government and Hamas's Continued Coup d'etat", threatens three steps unless negotiations with Israel are resumed.

One is an end to security cooperation with Israel, including the disbanding of the Palestinian security forces which have been trained by the US officials. The second is the nullification of the Oslo Accords and even the dissolution of the Palestinian Authority. The third? Abandoning pursuit of a two-state solution with Israel, and instead working toward a binational state that would exist on all the lands of historic Palestine.

Israel Expanding Settlements?: Haaretz has learned that Israel has plans to build another 600 homes in East Jerusalem.

Middle East Inside Line: Gaza Clashes, Israel to Be "Delegitimized"?; Ceasefire in Yemen

Gaza Clashes: Israel Defense Forces soldiers on Friday opened artillery and gun fire on a group of four Palestinians rigging explosives near the Gaza border. Two of Palestinians were killed. Following the incident Hamas's Khaled Meshal, in an interview with London-based Al Hayat newspaper, threatened that a new conflict would not be limited to Gaza.

Israel Tries to Cut Off Gaza Enquiry: The Jerusalem Post has learned that the response Israel gave to United Nations on the investigations it is conducting into Operation Cast Lead seeks to deter UN action.

"Israel feels the report it gave was a serious, comprehensive, credible and complete answer to the UN secretary-general,” one senior official in the Prime Minister’s Office said.


Meanwhile, according to a report by the Reut Institute, a Tel-Aviv-based think tank, Israel is facing a global campaign of delegitimization from demonstrations on campuses, protests when Israeli athletes compete abroad, moves in Europe to boycott Israeli products, and threats of arrest warrants for Israeli leaders visiting London. The think tank called on ministers to treat the matter as a strategic threat.

Blair as Player in Israel-Palestine Talks?: On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the envoy of the Quartet (the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia), Tony Blair, will "intensify" his work with U.S. negotiator George Mitchell to broker peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Yemen Cease-fire: A new ceasefire between the Yemeni government and northern Shia rebels came into forcetoday.

"We have decided to halt military operations in the north-western region … to stop bloodshed, bring peace to the region, the return of displaced people to their villages, reconstruction and achieve national reconciliation," Yemen's president Ali Abdullah Saleh's office said in a statement.

Israel-Palestine: Abbas "We Are Considering the US Proposal" For Talks

Following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to release hundreds of Fatah prisoners as part of an efforts to jump-start peace talks, the Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas said on Saturday that he was considering the U.S. proposal to start indirect talks with Israel.

Abbas also added that there was no pressure from the Arab states to restart negotiations, and he reiterated the need for a complete freeze in the building of settlements as a pre-condition for the talks.