Israel-Palestine: Still No Agreement to Discuss "Core Issues"

After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the Palestinian Authority of "evading negotiations with Israel", the Authority's leader West Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday that Israel and the Palestinians could reach a deal within two months, as long as Netanyahu was willing to take a new approach in the peace process.

Netanyahus response brought nothing new to the table:

I am prepared to immediately sit privately for direct, continuous negotiations with Abu Mazen [Abbas] until white smoke emerges. If Abu Mazen will agree to my suggestion to directly discuss all the core issues, we will know very quickly if it is possible to reach an agreement.

Who is refusing to discuss these "core issues"?

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Syria Analysis: A New American Approach?

Last Wednesday, President Barak Obama appointed Robert Ford as the first U.S. ambassador to Syria since 2005. Since Ford is a recess appointment, he can serve only until the end of the next session of Congress, which will likely be in December 2011.

On Sunday, the Kuwaiti al-Rai newspaper reported that Washington has been in secret contact with Syrian officials in the hope for reaching a comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and Damascus. Sources quoted Obama adviser Dennis Ross as saying that "Syria is ready to move away from Iran and reduce relations with Hezbollah and Hamas, and work with the United States in the fight against terrorism".

If this is true, then is the White House trying to undertake the new track as an alternative to the deadlocked Israeli-Palestinian peace process? The approach is not new --- this has been evaluated since Obama became President --- but it never reached the top of the agenda.

So the Administration may now be using Damascus to bring fresh blood to the "hopeless Middle East", amidst an analysis that a new Middle East war could emerge if Obama cannot break the deadlock between Israelis and Palestinians. But will Washington be ready to persist with the new approach?

Israel: Hundreds Protest in Tel Aviv over Killing of Palestinian Woman

Photo: Tomer Appelbaum (Haaretz)Hundreds of Israelis gathered in front of the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv on Saturday to protest the death of Jawaher Abu Rahmah, a 36-year-old Palestinian woman killed on Friday by tear gas fired by the Israeli military.

Police arrested eight activists. The protestors claim that police acted violently, detaining and beating Musi Raz, a former member of the Israeli Parliament, the Knesset.

The demonstrators held up pictures of Abu Rahma and chanted, “End the occupation” and “[Defense Minister Ehud] Barak, how many protesters have you killed as of today?” 

Abu Rahmah died on Saturday morning. She was exposed to tear gas as Israeli soldiers tried to disperse a crowd in the West Bank village of Bil'in. The demonstrators were protesting Israel's "separation wall".

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Israel-Turkey: Another Mini-Conflict

On Thursday evening, the state-owned Turkish Radio-Television Cooperation said its reporters were treated in an ill-mannered way during their three-day-visit to Israel. The TRT reporters had been invited to Israel by the Yilmazlar group, which has business links with West Jerusalem. However, the news agency said that its reporters were held up for hours  in security checks. Israeli authorities confiscated a camera; when TRT objected, the officials said the camera will be held temporarily and returned later. 

TRT said it has complained to the Israeli Embassy in Ankara. There has been no response so far from either Turkish or Israeli politicans. 

Israel Snapshot: A Happy (Secure) New Year?

The Israeli international security sevice Shin Bet, in its annual report , says 2010 witnessed the lowest number of terror attacks and victims in Israel in a decade.

In 2010, nine civilians and soldiers were killed in 798 terror-related incidents in Israel and the territories, compared with 15 deaths in 1,354 incidents in 2009. The height of violence came in 2002, when 452 Israelis were killed..

Only 150 rockets were fired from the Hamas-ruled Gaza territory, versus 569 in 2009. The oft-made assertion by the Israeli Government is that this indicates "success" in the 2008/2009 war in Gaza.

Yet, amidst these markers of reduced violence, the political discourse from Israeli is still one of insecurity. There is the continuing clash with Hamas and the deadlocked peace process with the Palestinian Authority. There are repeated declarations that Hamas is stockpiling arms, including "quality" weapons smuggled into Gaza from Egypt.

And there is always the omnipotent, "existential threat" of Iran, with its ever-imminent Bomb and its label of primary sponsor of Hezbollah and Hamas.

Happy New Year?

Iran Analysis: Tehran's Win-Win with the Nuclear Obsession

At this point, Iran doesn’t even need to have a real nuclear program. All it needs is a few underground bunkers with people moving in and out of them, heating uranium ore and drinking tea. They are already accomplishing most of their goals by stoking fear in the hearts of reasonable people who should be able to see through the façade of the regime.

For Tehran, this is going to be a win-win situation. If the West decides not to attack and Iran develops the weapons, it will have security against future assaults. If the West does launch an operation, expect thousands of innocent dissident Iranians to be slaughtered for supposedly helping the US, the UK, and Israel.

For the umpteenth time, the West needs to respond to the regime by helping the opposition movement in Iran. Otherwise, the talk about how Iran’s nukes will destroy us all is assisting a destruction of a different kind: the destruction of hope for a change that will bring rights and justice.

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Israel Analysis: Lieberman's Triple Attack on Turkey, Palestine, & His Own Prime Minister

On Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman launched a multi-front attack, bombarding Turkey, the Palestinian Authority...and his own Prime Minister.

Talking to Israeli diplomats, Lieberman pressed his belief that the "Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity", saying that they "would find a reason not to sign a peace agreement even if the Israelis had offered Tel Aviv and a retreat to 1947 borders". He called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's attempt to achieve a peace agreement "unrealistic" and said the Palestinian Authority, recognized by West Jerusalem since 1994, was an "illegitimate government that doesn't conduct elections".

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Israel-Palestine Analysis: Washington Blocks the UN and the Palestinians

On Friday, the UN General Assembly voted to hold a summit for the 10th anniversary of the World Conference Against Racism, also known as the Durban Conference.

In 2001, the declaration from Durban singled out Israel for criticism, likening Zionism to racism and referring to "the plight of the Palestinians." In April 2009, there was a follow-up conference, but the US, Canada, Israel, New Zealand, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, and Australia did not participate. The conference report had no language accusing Israel of racism and no reference to the recent Gaza War. 

Washington continues its opposition to any gathering. US Ambassador Susan Rice said Washington voted against Friday's resolution "because the Durban declaration process has included ugly displays of intolerance and anti-Semitism, and we do not want to see that commemorated".

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WikiLeaks: Israel Bombed Syria Nuclear Reactor in 2007 (YNet)

A confidential cable sent on April 25, 2008 by then-US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to State Department representatives worldwide states that "on September 6 2007, Israel destroyed the nuclear reactor built by Syria secretly, apparently with North Korea's help."

The document is in fact a first official and detailed confirmation of the attack, starting with the intelligence collected before the strike, the cooperation between Israel and the United States, the troubling and harsh conclusions shared by both countries, the Israeli government's decision to bomb Syria and the fear that President Bashar Assad would launch a war in response.

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The Turkey-Israel-US Triangle: Obama Boosts Erdogan's Credibility

On Sunday, following a conversation with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President Obama conducted an e-mail interview with the Turkish daily Hurriyet. 

Obama said that he and Erdogan had “reaffirmed the strong state of U.S.-Turkish relations” despite some differences “from time to time.” He continued:

Our partnership is resilient, and we agreed that the irresponsible acts of WikiLeaks do not threaten it. Given the increasingly complex challenges the world faces, I believe that U.S.-Turkish cooperation is more important now than ever.

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