UPDATED Gaza Latest: Is Aid Ship On Its Way or Going Back to Egypt?

UPDATE 1930 GMT: Al Jazeera reports that the ship "now appears bound for the Egyptian port of El-Arish, on the Sinai peninsula. The Israeli navy warned the vessel on Tuesday to change course, and said it had 'begun preparations for stopping the ship'."

UPDATE: The Amalthea has now reportedly changed course back to el-Arish in Egypt. Its location can be tracked through a map on Electronic Intifada.

The tale of the Amalthea, the ship laden with aid for Gaza, has gone through literal twists and turns today. One of the ship's owners, Greek businessman Aleksei Angeolopoulos, said in an interview with the Arabic newspaper Ashraq al-Awsat that Amalthea would unload its humanitarian goods in the Egyptian port of el-Arish if permission to reach Gaza was denied. However, in the afternoon, the ship refused to alter its destination when it was confronted by an Israeli vessel which ordered to dock in Egypt's el-Arish port.

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Stating that the ship was carrying only humanitarian materials, Angeolopoulos said:

If Israel wants, the Israeli navy is invited to board the ship and to search it so that they can see with their own eyes that it is only carrying food and allow it to continue to the port of Gaza.

The ship is planning to reach Gaza on Wednesday.

Israel-Palestine Video: Demolition of Home in East Jerusalem (13 July)

The Alternative Information Center posts video on Palestine Note of the demolition of one of three Palestinian homes in the Issawiya neighbourhood of East Jerusalem this morning:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kutAK1TE70&feature=player_embedded#![/youtube]

Israel-Palestine Analysis: What Can Netanyahu Offer the Palestinians?

Israel-Palestine Analysis: What Can Netanyahu Offer the Palestinians?

On Monday the Jerusalem municipal planning committee approved construction of 32 new apartments in a Jewish neighborhood in the Pisgat Ze'ev across the Green Line.

Elisha Peleg, a member of the Jerusalem Municipal Planning and Construction Committee, said: "We will continue to plan and build in every neighborhood in this city and we will not allow external forces to intervene."

The development comes days before US special envoy George Mitchell arrives for talks with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, who in turn meets Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak before the weekend.

While some argue that Ramallah will not go to direct talks when the four-month proximity discussions end in September --- since Israelis have not agreed to continue the December 2008 negotiations and to halt construction both in East Jerusalem and in the West Bank --- Yasser Abed Rabbo, a Palestine Liberation Organization official, hinted a possible deal. He said:

We don't know that the proximity talks have stopped. Mitchell is coming next week, and the context and the core of the talks are more important to us than the way they are being held.

If the Palestinians move from proximity talks to direct talks, I believe that the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians will be similar to the type of negotiations between the two sides before it stopped in December 2008.

PA officials in Ramallah on Monday did not rule out the possibility. “We don’t rule out direct talks,” said one official. “But before we move to these talks, we want to have a clear agenda and timetable.”

Ramallah will not make a decision without the Arab League's confirmation but the advance towards direct talks can only come with Israel's clear pledges for the continuation of discussions stopped in December 2008. Even then, it is not going to be easy for the Palestinian Authority to sit on the table when construction is continuing in East Jerusalem, let alone when the freeze on building in the West Bank end in September.

The Palestinians are likely going to ask for a public declaration of intent to make East Jerusalem the capital of a future Palestinian state. Whether that is enough to swallow the Israeli refusal, in advance of talks, to curb settlements is unknown.

Even so, given the various interests of a broad Israeli coalition, can Netanyahu even go this far to fulfil his claim that he is ready for direct exchanges with his Palestinian counterparts?

Iran Analysis: Grand Ayatollah Golpayegani Criticises Supreme Leader? (and What Could It Mean?)

And now a report which may or may not be significant in Iran's evolving political struggle.

Very significant.

Yesterday I noticed an item on the opposition site Green Voice of Freedom: "Grand Ayatollah Safi [Golpayegan] to Supreme Leader: 'You have lost your earthly life, and I am concerned about your heavenly life'".

Iran Exclusive: The Plot to Remove Ahmadinejad, Act II

If true, that would be about the coldest and most direct slap-down a senior cleric could give Ayatollah Khamenei. He stands accused of failing --- through miscalculation or ineptitude --- to uphold both religious and political responsibilities in leading the Iranian people, to the point where he may not even be worthy of Allah's forgiveness.

And there is no doubt, from GVF's summary, that this negligence is linked to the post-election crisis. The website adds that Golpayegani recently refused to meet the President when Ahmadinejad came to Qom.

Could the report be true? It claims "informed sources". Those sources are unnamed, and I have yet to find a corroborating report.

However, one EA correspondent notes, "I know many of the senior clerics have similar criticisms of Khamenei." Another writes, "As long as no official denial is published, you can be sure that it is true. Safi Golpayegani has a perfectly run website (mostly Mosque news), and his adepts would have posted it."

Then there is the possible connection to the wider story that EA posted this weekend, "The Plot Against Ahmadinejad". In that analysis, we wrote that the backing of senior clerics was essential if the planners --- Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, top MP Ahmad Tavakoli, and Secretary of Expediency Council Mohsen Rezaei --- were to proceed. We added ,"No senior cleric has come out in public opposition."

Before posting the story, I asked a key EA source, "Which senior cleric would be most significant if he made a statement against the President?" The reply: "Safi".

Well, we now have a claim that "Safi" is pressing the Supreme Leader. It is too early to claim truth, yet alone assess impact, but this is potentially a big development for the "earthly life" of President Ahmadinejad as well as Ayatollah Khamenei.

Gaza Latest: Israel's Flotilla Enquiry, Germans Ban Turkey's IHH, & Libyan Ship En Route to Gaza

Israel's Enquiry: Last week, the Israeli Government agreed to expand the powers of the civilian Turkel Commission to include the right to subpoena witnesses. However, this was not satisfactory for activist organization Gush Shalom who requested that the committee be given the power to investigate soldiers as well. The High Court's response was not to discuss the petition further unless the commission requests that it carry out such an investigation.

Meanwhile, the head of  the military committee, Maj.- Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland, has presented the Israeli Chief of Staff, General Gabi Ashkenazi with a 100-page report detailing findings over into the military operation against the Freedom Flotilla's Mavi Marmara.

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The report says that there were only "operational mistakes" but no "operational failures" made in the planning stage of the operation. The committee criticized the Navy for not preparing a “Plan B” for the operation and said the commanders should have reconsidered putting commandos onto the Mavi Marmara’s upper deck after noticing from sea and air that there were several dozen activists on board prepared to violently resist.

The committee also said that military intelligence did not designate Turkey or the flotilla's organiser IHH as a target for gathering of information. Eiland described Turkey as "a friendly country up until 2010" and assessed the relationship with Israel as a "deteriorating" one.

Germany Bans IHH: On Monday, Germany banned the International Humanitarian Relief Organization (IHH), the organiser of the Freedom Flotilla. German Interior Minister De Maiziere said organizations that "directly or indirectly work against Israel's right to exist lose their right to be active in Germany." The first response came from the European Jewish Congress (EJC):

Over a month ago we called on front-groups like the IHH to be proscribed and banned from raising funds in Europe, we encourage the European Union to give this the highest priority. Now that Germany has shown the way, we hope that European Union and other European governments will officially ban the IHH.

It is vital that the European Union and European governments act quickly to ban organizations which pose as charities or humanitarian agencies from raising funds that assist terrorism, murder and militant activity.

Libyan Ship to Arrive Gaza on Wednesday?: The Libyan-backed aid ship, the Amalthea, is to arrive at Gaza on Wednesday, according to Agence France Presse.

The website of the charity funding the ship, headed by Saif al-Islam Gadaffi, son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddaffi, stated that "the crew on board the ship maintains a positive mood".

Haaretz reports military officials' statements that IDF is ready for forceful interception despite continuing criticisms.