Middle East Inside Line: Lieberman's "Ambiguity" on Dubai Assassination, Netanyahu Denies Iran War Plans, and More

Israel FM Lieberman "Ambiguity" on Dubai Assassination: Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman did not deny Israeli involvement in the killing of Hamas's Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel but said that Israel has a "policy of ambiguity" on intelligence matters and there was no proof Mossad was behind the assassination. Lieberman said, "The Mossad was not behind the assassination of Mahmoud el- Mabhouh, but rather [it is] a foreign organization that is trying to frame Israel."

Middle East Special: “Why Chuckles Greeted Hillary Clinton’s Gulf Tour”
Israel-Russia: Situation Now A-OK on Iran?

Netanyahu "No Iran War": Following a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu --- in response to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's accusation that Israel was "planning a spring or summer war" --- said, "Israel is not planning any sort of war."



Hamas' Tunnel: Haaretz says that Hamas has recently set up 'legal' tunnels, which they use to smuggle merchandise and resources, especially cement and gasoline which have led to an awakening of Gazan factories. The newspaper says Hamas's new policy has hit many "illegal" tunnel owners, with the increase in merchandise leading to sharply decreasing prices and reduced earnings for the "illegal" smuggling industry.

Hezbollah Defiance: Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassen Nasrallah threatened that "if Israel attacks Beirut in the future, Hezbollah will attack Tel Aviv". He said:

If you hit our ports, we will bomb your ports, and if you hit our oil refineries, we will bomb your oil refineries.

It is untrue that we are giving Israel an excuse to launch an aggression on Lebanon. Israel does not need an excuse, and if it needs an excuse it creates one.

Israel has been living in a state of crisis on the strategic level since the July 2006 and Gaza wars. It can neither impose peace based on its conditions nor wage war.

Middle East Analysis: The Iran-Russia-Israel Triangle

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is leaving for Russia on Sunday. At his weekly cabinet meeting, he said that he will push Moscow, "an important power and ally", for crippling sanctions on Iran during his meetings with  President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. "If Russia agrees to sanctions, China will find itself alone and may be forced to line up with the Western powers," an Israeli official said.

Middle East Inside Line: “Organ Harvesting” Furour, Clinton in Gulf, Hariri's Death, and More
Israel, Hamas, and Russia: Who is in Bed with the Bear?

Undoubtedly Netanyahu will ask Moscow to freeze its supply of advanced S-300 surface-to-air missiles to Iran and to give full support at the UN Security Council to sanctions. Yet that raises a question from the other side. Given that Russia is involved not only in Israel's Palestinian question but also in Israel's "Hamas problem", on which case is Tel Aviv ready to give concessions?

Then add Iran to the triangle. What might Moscow seek to gain in Middle East at the expense of loosening its relationship with Iran, a relationship which once could have been its spearhead in the region? Will Moscow run the risk of losing a "nuclear-going" Iran or limit its response by not accepting Netanyahu's demands?

Ahh, the risk of going bed with the bear....

Middle East Inside Line: Netanyahu To Moscow, "Organ Harvesting" Furour, Clinton in Gulf, and More

British MP Disciplined over Israel "Organ Harvest" Story: Baroness Jenny Tonge, a Liberal Democrat lawmaker in Britain, has been fired from her position by leader Nick Clegg after she called for an enquiry into claims that Israel Defense Forces soldiers harvested organs in Haiti following last month's earthquake.

Clinton Talking Iran Sanctions in Gulf: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visits Saudi Arabia and the Qatar this week. U.S. officials hinted Saturday that one way Saudi Arabia could help diplomatically over the Iran issu ewould be to offer guarantees that it would meet China's oil requirements.

NEW Middle East Analysis: The Iran-Russia-Israel Triangle
Palestine Video: The Avatar Protest (12 February)

Senator Kerry Warns Arabs: Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry said at a U.S.-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday that "peace may never come if it is now realized now":

Building trust must be a step-by-step process, and the region must recognize Israel's desire for acceptance and its fundamental need for security. And perhaps most importantly, the leading voices in the Arab world have a vital role to play with their people in creating the atmosphere for lasting peace with Israel.

In southern Israel, I also saw the toll that Hamas rockets had inflicted in a barrage that no country would endure interminably.

At this crucial juncture, Israel should refrain from taking steps, which have the potential to prejudge negotiations and create tensions

5th Anniversary of Hariri's Death: Tens of thousands of people from across the country gathered in Beirut's main square Sunday to mark the fifth anniversary of the killing of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.

"We will show that we want to continue in the path of Rafik Hariri," declared his son, Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

The ‘Fatah-Gate’ sex scandal: Rafik Husseini, the director of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s bureau, is under immense pressure to resign after he was caught on tape naked in the bedroom of an Arab woman from Jerusalem.