Middle East Inside Line: IDF Concern over Settlers, Israel's Warning to Europeans, Barak's Tactics, Chomsky on "Stalinist" Israel

Israel Defense Forces Concern over Settlers: The head of Israel Defense Forces' Central Command, General Avi Mizrahi, told the troops of Kfir Infantry Brigade on Monday that the recent spate of settler violence could lead to a Palestinian uprising in the West Bank.

The Kfir Brigade, created in December 2005, consists of six battalions who man 30 percent of the roadblocks in the West Bank and are responsible for 60 percent of arrests. Although the IDF is not aware of any plan, Mizrahi said, the IDF must be ready for any escalation in the territory and for the possibility of fighting the Palestinian forces, trained in Jordan by US General Keith Dayton. Mizrahi continued:

Middle East Inside Line: Proximity Talks Continue; Israel’s Lieberman & Palestine; Chomsky Barred

In most of the settlements, there is no problem,. Most are normative – but another mosque arson, and yet another arson, and it all comes together. But Yitzhar, Gilad's Farm, Maon, they don't believe in us at all as a state. They want only one thing, and when someone loses his boundaries, you don't know where it's going to go.

"Hands off Gaza": The Israeli Foreign Ministry warned Turkey, Greece, Ireland, and Sweden that any of their citizens setting sail for Gaza would be stopped before they could reach the coastal territory.

Earlier Monday, Israeli security forces released and deported a Turkish national arrested this month for allegedly belonging to an outlawed Islamic group.

Israel's Barak Aligning with Obama: Unlike his coalition partners, Ehud Barak prefers playing the "good guy" within the context of a regional peace under Washington's guidance. Possibly because of benefits when compared to partners' "intransigence", the Labor Party declines to hit the media with conservative and provocative statements on Jerusalem.

Barak on Monday urged Israeli lawmakers to refrain from taking any actions or making remarks that might present West Jerusalem's opposition to the Middle East peace process, according to Israel Radio. He also said that Israel must work to increase the mutual trust with its top ally, the United States, and added that the proximity talks must eventually lead to direct talks with the Palestinians.

Chomsky's Response to Israeli Officials: Having been refused entry into Israel on Sunday, Noam Chomsky likened Israel to a  "Stalinist regime". In a telephone conversation with Haaretz, Chomsky said from Jordan:

The official asked me why I was lecturing only at Bir Zeit and not an Israeli university. I told him that I have lectured a great deal in Israel. The official read the following statement: 'Israel does not like what you say.

I find it hard to think of a similar case, in which entry to a person is denied because he is not lecturing in Tel Aviv. Perhaps only in Stalinist regimes.

Israel's Lieberman on North Korea: Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Sunday responded to a personal attack from the North Korean Foreign Ministry, which called him "an imbecile". He said, "I see it as a compliment from the North Koreans."

Middle East Inside Line: Proximity Talks Continue; Israel's Lieberman & Palestine; Chomsky Barred

The Proximity Talks Continue: "U.S. envoy George Mitchell returns to mediate a second round of Middle East talks this week," announced Kurt Hoyer, the US Embassy spokesman in Tel Aviv. He said it was not yet determined on what day Mitchell will arrive.

Israel's Lieberman Responds to Russia, Turkey, and Syria: Israel Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Sunday "The sale of weapons [between Syria and Russia] does not contribute to building an atmosphere of peace." He asserted that Syria has no interest in peace and critiqued Russia's "hypocritical" stance on terrorism:

Russia, but also Egypt and Turkey as well as other countries, have a policy of differentiating between 'good' and 'bad' terrorism, between that which targets Israel and that which targets others.

Middle East Inside Line: Nakba Day/Independence Day; Deterioration in East Jerusalem; Israel’s Lieberman “An Imbecile”?

Lieberman also spoke about calls to include Hamas in discussions: "We will not accept any ultimatum with regard to Hamas, and we won't let this movement take part in any peace process."



Palestine's Erekat in Israel: The top negotiator of the Palestinian Authority, Saeb Erekat, gave a speech at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv on Sunday. He called on both parties to make decisions and reiterated the Palestinian Authority’s desire for a just peace with Israel based on the two-state solution. He said:

I know that many in Palestine and Israel today doubt the possibility that peace can be achieved. I beg to differ. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. There can be a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders, with land swaps and solutions for the refugees.

Many people thought that there was no progress with the negotiations that have taken place over the years because Palestinians and Israelis have eyes that only see things that are not achieved. But I believe that Palestinians and Israelis, over the last decade of negotiations, have come a long, long way.

The Americans cannot make peace for us. Americans cannot make the concessions that are required by Palestinians or Israelis. Americans cannot make decisions for Palestinians and Israelis. Many people say that the proximity talks after 19 years is a regression, that Palestinians not sitting face-to-face with Israelis is a step backward. That can be argued, but another argument in the science of negotiations is that proximity is when two sides exhaust everything they have – they have turned over every stone, they cannot conclude what they are trying to achieve. Then comes a third party to do four tasks: to go between, to facilitate, to arbitrate and to mediate.

Considering a future Palestinian state, he added:

Limited arms doesn’t mean limited dignity. We will not accept Israeli presence in the Palestinian state.

I am not going to waste my time talking about interim solutions. If at the end of the day, as Palestinians, we are willing to accommodate Israeli requests and end our nakba [catastrophe], and you still insist that my hometown Jericho should be called Yeriho and Nablus be called Shechem, talk to me. I’m not scared. Now it is the moment of truth. Israelis need an end to conflict. Israelis need to understand that there is a leadership that is willing to [meet] the requirements for peace.

When asked if the PA would recognize Israel as a Jewish state, Erekat said:

Why are you asking me to join the Zionist movement? I don’t want to be a Zionist... Your name is the State of Israel. I recognize you as the State of Israel. If you want to call yourselves the Eternal, United, Historical, Biblical, Hebrew Nation of Jews from now to the future, who cares?

Chomsky Not Allowed into Israel and Palestine: Professor Noam Chomsky, an American linguist and left-wing activist, was denied entry into Israel and the West Bank on Sunday by the Interior Ministry. He was scheduled to deliver a lecture at Bir Zeit University near Jerusalem.

Interior Ministry Spokeswoman Sabine Haddad told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday evening that the initial decision to deny Chomsky entry was down to a "misunderstanding" and denied claims that Chomsky's name was on a blacklist of individuals prohibited from
entering the country. She said:

We are checking with the IDF's Coordinator for Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT). If COGAT gives us the all clear, we will grant him entry.

Middle East Inside Line: Nakba Day/Independence Day; Deterioration in East Jerusalem; Israel's Lieberman "An Imbecile"?

Independence Day/Nakba (Catastrophe) Day: Palestinians marked Nakba Day on 15 May, remembering the day in 1948 when Israel declared statehood as the prelude to the fleeing or expulsion of some 700,000 Arabs from their homes. Hundreds of Israeli Arabs took part in a rally in East Jerusalem. On the same day, leaders of Hamas and Fatah displayed rare unity in a joint rally in Gaza.

Israeli Arab MK Jamal Zahalka said that if Israel's government were to go ahead with its construction plans for East Jerusalem, a "third Intifada would erupt," calling "what is happening today in Jerusalem a second Nakba".

Middle East Analysis: Russia’s Strategy on Israel, Palestine and Beyond

On Saturday night, the National Left (Smol Leumi) movement, Peace Now, and "Ofek" (the Meretz party at Hebrew University) organized a large demonstration near Zion Square in Jerusalem. Under the banner "Zionists are not settlers!", thousands of left-wing activists called for "an end to the occupation."


East Jerusalem's Deteriorating Situation: According to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (Acri), "a unified Jerusalem does not exist and he truth is, two cities exist side by side":

- Only three social service stations operate in East Jerusalem in comparison to 20 in the West.
- Less than 50 per cent of schoolchildren attend public schools; 1,000 classrooms are needed.
- The annual budget allocation per elementary school child in East Jerusalem was $152 (577 shekels) compared with $627 (2,372 shekels) in the west of the city.
- Eighty homes were demolished in 2009, leaving 300 people homeless.
- Hundreds of streets do not receive rubbish collection services.
- About 160,000 Palestinianresidents have no suitable and legal connection to the water network and 50km of main sewage lines are lacking.

Acri said Palestinians faced discrimination in almost all sectors of life, "Israel's policy for the past four decades has taken concrete form as discrimination in planning and construction, expropriation of land, and minimal investment in physical infrastructure and government and municipal services."

The report added that Israel has expropriated more than one-third of East Jerusalem land which was privately owned by Palestinians, on which it has built more than 50,000 homes for the Jewish population:

- A majority of Palestinians in East Jerusalem, including three out of four children live in poverty.
- Only 10 per cent of East Jerusalem's 300,000 Palestinians have access to social services to help remedy the situation.
- 65 per cent of Palestinian families in East Jerusalem exist below the poverty line, as opposed to 31 per cent of the city's Jewish families.

North Korea Attacks Israel's Lieberman: Looks like Pyongyang is not happy that Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has called Iran, Syria, and North Korea .the "new Axis of Evil" because of their pursuit of a "mad arms race". North Korea's Foreign Ministry said Saturday that its government has nothing to do with any spread of WMDs and called Lieberman "an imbecile in diplomacy".

Middle East Analysis: Russia's Strategy on Israel, Palestine and Beyond

On Wednesday, during a visit to Ankara following meetings with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and Hamas Political Bureau Chief Khaled Meshal, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev reiterated Moscow's Middle East policy. Both Russia and Turkey stated that the International Community must deal with Hamas due to the party's support from the Palestinian people in the 2006 elections and called on Hamas and Fatah to unite.

In February, Meshaal had been welcomed in Moscow. So latest Medvedev’s meeting is another step forward helping Hamas build strategic relations in the international arena.

Turkey Inside Line: Ankara & Russia Press Israel on Hamas Issue

As for Moscow, the move is filling the space left by Washington. Unlike the US inability to approach the problems of the region by connecting them, Moscow is showing its willingness to treat Middle East actors in a complicated and inter-linked context. This includes Iran's nuclear technology, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the challenge of Palestinian unity dilemma, and the triangle between Israel, Iran, and Syria.


Moscow is investing directly in Hezbollah through Syria and Iran, but now it is moving directly over Hamas. The Kremlin urged the Gaza leaders to release the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and to move towards reconciliation with Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah within the framework of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Finally, Moscow's latest gambit in Syria posed another challenge for Israeli officials. Medvedev said that the Middle East must be free of nuclear arms, otherwise the situation could lead to a regional or even global catastrophe.

Israeli decision-makers have tried to manipulate Russia's involvement in the region, asking it not to sell S-300 missiles to Iran in 2008 and to halt the sale of advanced MIG-31 fighter jets to Syria. West Jerusalem also sees a "finishing role" for Russia on sacntions against Iran, leaving China in isolation on the issue.

Russia, in response, agreed to the Israeli demands on military deliveries to Iran and Syria but is still holding its card on sanctions. The recent visit to Syria and the second round of its direct investment in Hamas are extra bargaining points.

Syria? As a country accused of transferring weapons to Hezbollah, recently re-sanctioned for another year by Washington, Damascus got a breather with Medvedev's visit and his proclamation of Syria as  "one of the most important political centers of the Middle East. Two cooperation agreements in the fields of air services and information and communication technology, two agreements on technical, scientific, and environmental cooperation, and a joint work programme to implement cooperation on tourism cooperation were also signed. According to Stratfor, Russia also signed agreements to sell the Syrians MiG-29 fighters, Pantsir short-range surface-to-air missiles, anti-aircraft artillery systems, and anti-tank weapons.

After Israeli criticism in February, the Kremlin said that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was the highest-level official Meshaal would meet. Its ambassador assured West Jerusalem that the Meshaal visit did not signal a swing in Moscow’s policy toward Hamas, and he said that Lavrov would reiterate that the Islamist movement must abide by conditions to recognize Israel, give up violence, and honour past peace accords.

This time, the Israeli Foreign Ministry slammed Medvedev's call to involve Hamas in the Mideast peace process and likened the organization to the Islamist Chechen rebels. In response, Andrei Nesterenko, the Russian foreign ministry spokesman, said in a statement:

Hamas is not an artificial structure. It is a movement that draws on the trust and sympathy of a large number of Palestinians. We have regular contacts with this movement.

It is known that all other participants of the Middle East quartet are also in some sort of contact with Hamas leadership, although for some unknown reason they are shy to publicly admit it.

Turkey Inside Line: Ankara & Russia Press Israel on Hamas Issue

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Turkish President Abdullah Gul, speaking in Ankara, dared to raise a sensitive point for Israel: the inclusion of Hamas into indirect talks. Gul said:

Nobody should be excluded when these talks are held. Unfortunately the Palestinians are divided in two. They must be united and to unite them there must be talks with both sides. The Hamas side won elections in Gaza and so cannot be ignored.

When Turkey talked [with Hamas] it faced threats but it emerged that Turkey was right. You cannot achieve peace by excluding people.

Turkey Inside Line: Opposition Leader Resigns, Turkish-Russian Relations & More
Israel Analysis: The Expansion of Construction in Jerusalem

Medvedev added, "We are facing a human tragedy in Gaza."


Both leaders saw practical advantage in their emphasis on "the necessity" of Hamas's inclusion in Washington-brokered talks.. The bargaining power of both Russia and Turkey can be strengthened in the Washington-Tehran-Tel Aviv triangle and the Damascus-Tel Aviv relationship.

During his visit to Syria, Medvedev talked to Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal and told him to reach a settlement in the Gilad Shalit case, freed the detained Israeli soldier quickly.