Israel-Palestine Analysis: "Security" Moves to the Front in Direct Talks (Yenidunya)

On 1 September, following the murder of four Israelis ahead of the Israel-Palestine direct talks, we said:

The most significant, if cynical, question is: which side can get the most benefit from this tragedy during direct talks? Will this attack boost Israel through attention to its security concerns? Will it make Ramallah a more valuable partner for peace, given the shadow of Hamas and other opposition groups, especially at a time when polls show that more than half of Palestinians in the West Bank do not believe that there will be a peace agreement in Washington?

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon has offered an answer, underlining the magical word "security" through reference to an "existential threat". He wrote on his Facebook page:

The vicious and cold-blooded attack on four Israeli citizens last night underscores the importance of a security dialogue like the one I just had with our counterparts from Canada and other friends and allies. After the attacks on Israel in recent weeks, the Iranian regime has proven once again the threat that it poses to global peace and security through its proxies like Hamas.

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A day later, Ayalon saw the reward from his warning through pressure on the Palestinian Authority. He said:

While negotiations are restarting in the US, ministers in Abbas' government are continuing with their incitement and encouraging acts of terrorism by visiting the and praising families of terrorists and murderers. These types of visits encourage terrorism, as we saw recently with the murder of four Israelis. The Palestinians need to make a decision, they cannot talk peace and at the same time encourage terrorism.

At the ceremony at the White House marking the official launch of direct Mideast peace talks at the White House, the most prominent word was "peace" (39 times), but it was followed by "security" (24).

Unsurprisingly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made great use of the term. For him, two points are key: the root of the conflict with Palestinians  has not changed, but there are other "genuine security needs of Israel that have changed", due to Iran and its "proxies". Let's go back to his 2009 speech at Bar Ilan University: "The simple truth is that the root of the conflict has been and remains the refusal to recognize the right of the Jewish People to its own state in its historical homeland." Netanyahu reiterated this position yesterday: "We expect you to be prepared to recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people."

Netanyahu situated this tragedy of this week's killings of Israeli settlement as a contribution to the definition of peace and security in his Washington statement:

The last two days have been difficult. They were exceedingly difficult for my people and for me. Blood has been shed, the blood of innocents: four innocent Israelis gunned down brutally, two people wounded, seven new orphans. President Abbas, you condemned this killing. That’s important. No less important is to find the killers, and equally to make sure that we can stop other killers. They seek to kill our people, kill our state, kill our peace. And so achieving security is a must. Security is the foundation of peace. Without it, peace will unravel. With it, peace can be stable and enduring.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also used the deadly event in the context of "suspicion and skepticism".  "Peace" was not a concrete and immediate action but a series of actions, starting with the willingness to come to Washington. She said:

We understand the suspicion and skepticism that so many feel, born out of years of conflict and frustrated hopes. The tragic act of terror on Tuesday and the terrorist shooting yesterday are yet additional reminders of the human costs of this conflict. But by being here today, you each have taken an important step toward freeing your peoples from the shackles of a history we cannot change, and moving toward a future of peace and dignity that only you can create.

But here is the twist: Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas also adopted the "security" framework. Indeed he offered it even more often than Netanyahu, and he also used the attack on the four Israelis for essential context:

Also, with respect to security, you do know, ladies and gentlemen, that we have security apparatuses that are still being built, that are still young, but that are doing everything that is expected from them. Yesterday, we condemned the operations that were carried. We did not only condemn them, but we also followed on the perpetrators and we were able to find the car that was used and to arrest those who sold and bought the car. And we will continue all our effort to take security measures in order to find the perpetrators. We consider that security is of essence, is vital for both of us, and we cannot allow for anyone to do anything that would undermine your security and our security. And we therefore do not only condemn, but we keep on working seriously. Security is fundamental and very sensitive.

Palestine-Israel Analysis: The Two Questions to Answer Today (Yenidunya)

Starting question for today's direct Israel-Palestine talks in Washington: as a group lacking the legitimacy of being a state, both in the eyes of Palestinians and of the international community, can the Palestinian Authority get any traction for its negotiating position?

Palestinian negotiators will first urge Israelis, as move towards resolution of the status of borders, to reach a solution on settlement construction both in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem. Before agreeing on drawing the borders, Israel will urge its "partner" to come as close as possible to a proposal based on its "security needs". That in turn will take talks to a broader agenda beyond Ramallah's demands, which means an early victory for Israel.

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Israel-Palestine: Were 4 Settlers Killed to Sabotage Talks? (Yenidunya)

The only exit for Palestinians from this outcome is standing firm against the broader agenda while re-stating its conditions, including the extension of the settlement freeze to East Jerusalem.

And thus a more specific question: will the settlement freeze issue replace the status of Temple Mount at the 2000 Camp David talks as the breaking point of discussions?

Gaza Latest: UN's Flotilla Interviews Start, More Aid Ships?, Worry Over Hamas Missiles

UN Flotilla Hearings: The UN Human Rights Council commission, headed by Karl Hudson-Phillips, former judge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), conducted eight days of hearings in Turkey on Israel’s deadly attack in May on the Mavi Marmara. The commission then moved to Jordan on Monday.

Hanin Zoabi, a member of the Israeli Knesset who was a Flotilla passenger, and six other people have been interviewed. Zoabi told UN officials that Israeli commandos were on a mission to kill. She told The Associated Press:

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It was evident from the beginning that the commandoes viewed all of us activists as terrorists. Israel's use of large numbers of elite troops with sophisticated weaponry showed it intended to kill the passengers.

The panel is due to report back to the Human Rights Council during its next session between 13 September and 11 October. However, Israel has already refused to cooperate on the grounds of the fact that there is already an independent investigation hed by UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon, as well as Israel’s Turkel Commission’s probe and the now-concluded internal military investigation.

A Grand Flotilla Campaign: Sixteen NGOs who call themselves Lifeline for Gaza (LL4G) are determined to break the blockade imposed on Gaza. Citing he “necessity” of a humanitarian mission comprised of 200 ships which is expected to start in November, LL4G founder and president Dr Noorazman Mohd Samsuddin said, “Water pollution has led to kidney damage while phosphorous in the environment has caused heart and lung ailments.”

Hamas Worries Israeli Officials?: On Monday, Israeli Defense officials praised Egyptian efforts in curbing the flow of arms to the Gaza Strip. Egypt's forces had seized several hundred shoulder-to-air missiles in Sinai in recent days. However, Israelis are worried that the large number of missiles seized by Cairo indicates that a missile capacity already positioned to target Israeli forces in a possible war.

Another Flotilla to Gaza?: Pro-Palestinian groups have been campaigning in Ireland for another “freedom flotilla” to Gaza that is expected to involve an Irish boat and up to 50 Irish people.

Dr Fintan Lane, an Irish campaigner who travelled on the first flotilla who is spearheading the project, said:

We're in the process of putting a legal team in place in case there is a situation similar to what happened the last time, and so we can provide legal aid for people.

Israel-Palestine: Were 4 Settlers Killed to Sabotage Talks? (Yenidunya)

On Tuesday night, four Israelis were killed in a car by at least one gunman in the West Bank. The Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas movement, claimed responsibility for the attack. Osama Hamdan, a Hamas spokesman, told Al Jazeera that Hamas had not planned any attacks intended to sabotage the Israeli-Palestinian Authroity talks. However, Hamdan said he was speaking for the political wing of Hamas and the Qassam Brigades could have planned the attack independently.

Abu Mujahad, spokesman of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), told YNet that the West Bank attack was a message to the Palestinian negotiating team over the resumption of direct talks with Israel. "They should not have gone for this move without the support of the Palestinian people," he said. "Our people still abide by resistance and do no believe in the fictitious talks scheduled to commence tomorrow."

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Then another Hamas response came. "Hamas praises the attack and regards it as a natural response to the crimes of the occupation," said Sami Abu-Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak responded:

This is very grave incident. The IDF and Israeli security forces will do everything they can to capture the murderers. Israel will not allow terrorists to lift their heads and will exact a price from the murderers and those who sent them.

US State Department Spokesman Philip J. Crowley called the attack as a “tragedy” and continued:

Any time one human being takes out a weapon and fires and kills other human beings it’s a tragedy.

We are cognizant that there could be external events that can have an impact on the environment. We also are cognizant that there may well be actors in the region who are deliberately making these kinds of attacks in order to sabotage the process. We are very aware that as we go forward in this process, not everyone sees this in the same way, and there are those who will do whatever they can to disrupt or derail the process.

The most significant, if cynical, question is: which side can get the most benefit from this tragedy during direct talks? Will this attack boost Israel through attention to its security concerns? Will it make Ramallah a more valuable partner for peace, given the shadow  of Hamas and other opposition groups, especially at a time when polls show that more than half of Palestinians in the West Bank do not believe that there will be a peace agreement in Washington?