UPDATED Video: Benjamin Netanyahu to AIPAC Policy Conference --- The Threat is Iran

Related Post: An Israeli-Syrian Peace? Biden, US Give Conflicting Signals

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by video yesterday to the annual Policy Conference of The American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The six-minute presentation was a far-from-subtle pitch to identify Tehran as Public Enemy Number One, linking it to both Fascism and Soviet Communism:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A7SWQ5BAR4[/youtube]

For the first time in my lifetime --- I believe, for the first time in a century --- see Arabs and Jews see a common danger.

This wasn't always the case. In the '30s and '40s many Arabs supported another country, believing that there was their hope. In the '60s, '70s, '80s, they supported another country that was at odds with the Jewish state. But this is no longer the case.

So a common fight against Iran and its supposed attempt to develop nuclear weapons "presents great opportunities". At the same time, Netanyahu did not extend the greatest opportunity of "co-operation" with the Arab  world to a specific commitment to discussions for a two-state solution with Palestinian, limiting himself to the objective of "peace with the Palestinians". Instead, he restated his long-time line of a "political track, an economic track, a security track" with the precondition that "Palestinians must recognize a Jewish state".

Video: Vice President Biden at AIPAC Policy Conference

Related Post: An Israeli-Syrian Peace? Biden, US Give Conflicting Signals

Vice President Joe Biden addressed the Policy Conference of The American Israel Political Action Committee this morning. His most challenging statement was a call on Israel to freeze settlement expansion and grant greater freedom of movement to Palestinians as a means of demonstrating Israel's commitment to Palestinian statehood: "Show me." Biden received polite, if far from rapturous, applause.

Biden also stood firm on the Obama Administration's pursuit of engagement with Iran but, as Josh Mull notes below, appeared to waver on an Israeli-Syrian settlement over the Golan Heights. We'll be watching closely whether that is a misstatement or an unexpected shift in US policy.

Here is the video.

Arms for the Middle East (and Beyond): Israel Goes Bollywood

Last month we featured the advertising of the US firm Northrop Grumman, which promised arms to defend us good people (whether the US Government liked it or not).

That was nothing, however, compared to this all-singing, all-dancing Indian extravaganza from the Israeli manufacturer of aerial weapons, Rafael. Their promise to the young maiden's request for "commitment and protection, defense and dedication"?

"Together, forever, I will hold you in my heart. Together, forever, we will never be apart."

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktQOLO4U5iQ&eurl[/youtube]

Land before Peace: Israel Threatens to Demolish Palestinian Homes in East Jerusalem

A United Nations report, released Friday, has found that up to 60,000 Palestinians are at risk of eviction in East Jerusalem.

The legal pretext for the demolition of up to 1/4 of the Palestinian homes is that they have been built without permits. Behind that claim, however, is the broader issue: up to 1250 new houses are needed each year to accommodate the population growth of Palestinians, but the number of permits issues has remained at about 100 to 150 per year.

Between 2000 and 2008, the Israelis have only razed 75 houses a year, but with the accession of the new Government of Benjamin Netanyahu, there are concerns that either the national or municipal governments might expand the demolitions. The official line of the city's mayor is that he is “committed to addressing the issue of affordable housing throughout the entirety of Jerusalem,” but this should be placed beside the cold numbers of land distribution: only 13 percent of East Jerusalem is zoned by the Israeli authorities for Palestinian construction, while a third has been reserved for Israeli properties (22 percent is zoned for green areas and public infrastructure and 30 percent remains “unplanned").

In March, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned the Israelis that threatened demolitions are “not in keeping with the obligations entered into under the ‘road map'" for an Israeli-Palestinian settlement.

Further information on the status of Palestinians in East Jerusalem can be found at the B'Tselem website.

Clinton/Gates to Israel (and Congress): Back Off on Iran

Video and Transcript: Robert Gates Remarks to Senate Appropriations Committee (30 April)
Video and Transcript: Hillary Clinton Remarks to Senate Appropriations Committee (30 April)

One of the headlines from the joint appearance of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates before a Senate committee came not from the opening statements but from an exchange much later in the hearing.

Asked about a military option to curb or destroy Iran's nuclear programme, Gates firmly rejected airstrikes in favour of diplomacy to deter Tehran from an arms race: ""Their security interests are actually badly served by trying to have nuclear weapons. They will start a nuclear arms race in the Middle East and they will be less secure at the end than they are now."

Gates' statement is a clear indication that, for the foreseeable future, the Obama Administration is committed to an "engagement" to get a resolution: Iran renounces any intention of pursuing nuclear weapons, the US eases economic sanctions, and the two countries co-operate in some areas and reduce their conflict in others.

I suspect that Gates and other officials are now building policy on a "Libya precedent". In 2003, after talks pursued by European countries, Tripoli gave up its long-time pursuit of a nuclear device in exchange for the dropping of US sanctions and closer economic links and opportunities.

Clinton did make a reference to the possibility that talks with Tehran will only lead, after they stall, to an American pursuit of tougher sanctions: ""We do have intensive consultation efforts going on with our friends and like-minded nations, not only in the region but elsewhere in the world, concerning the threats that Iran poses." However, unlike her signals last month, the Secretary of State offered this as a sop to tough-minded Senators rather than as a likely development.