Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and the Secretary-General of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, Angel Gurria, signed an agreement on Tuesday paving the way for Israel to become the 32nd member of the OECD this May.
Israeli President Shimon Peres stated that membership in the organization would enable Israel to show the world its technological and scientific ability.
However, a West Jerusalem official was cautious: “In politics, nothing is final until it’s final, and today there are more countries angry with Israel.” Earlier Tuesday, Israeli Arab MK Ahmed Tibi urged the OECD to reject Israel’s request for membership, saying state-led discrimination against the Arab sector ran counter to the group’s regulations. On the economic side, the OECD is concerned about the country’s high level of national debt relative to gross domestic product, as well as its heavy spending on security.
Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad received 158 million euros from the European Union as part of the 500 million euros in aid to the Palestinians for 2010. However, the EU representative to the Palestinian Authority, Christian Burger, warned PA that this support would not continue without clear progress in the peace process with Israel.
After twenty rockets and mortar shells were fired at Israel from Gaza in the past week, three Palestinian militants were killed in an Israel Air Force strike in Gaza. ”The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] will not allow any attempts to attack Israel and will continue to forcefully foil any such attacks,” a military spokesman said following the strike.
The IDF operation came hours after an Israeli cabinet meeting and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s declaration, “I view this very seriously. The government’s policy is clear, any shooting at our territory will receive an immediate and powerful response.” Former Israeli commander Major-General Yom Tov Samia went farther, asserting another war against Hamas is needed and on the way:
We are before another round in Gaza. I am very skeptical about the possibility that Hamas will suddenly surrender or change its ways without being hit much more seriously than it was during Cast Lead.
We must create a situation in which Hamas runs out of oxygen…[including] a more focused strike with long-lasting results…taking control of certain areas in Gaza.
Samia’s words followed those of the current head of Israel’s Southern Command, Major-General Yoav Galant. Galant said, “It’s true that we are after the first rains and the sun is shining — but one can see dark clouds in the distance.”
It is unclear how this new plan, following the announcement of 700 new apartments in East Jerusalem and hundreds of housing units in the West Bank, is compatible with the official declaration of a 10-month freeze in settlement construction or how it will contribute to the re-starting of peace talks.
Following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 10-month construction freeze in West Bank settlements decision, Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered his ministry to urgently recruit and train construction supervisors on Sunday in order to enforce the construction freeze. There are currently 14 supervisors in the West Bank and 40 are to be ready within two weeks.
Barak added a comment on the significance of the “freeze”:
This step was not carried out in the Olmert government or in the Sharon government, not in my government and not in Yitzhak Rabin’s government either. The real significance is that for the first time, we are suspending all new construction for an extended period and therefore giving peace negotiations a chance.
The road is long and there are difficult obstacles ahead, but we must make every effort to overcome them. Israel’s main interest is the advancement of security and the political process – first on the Palestinian track and at the right moment on the Syrian track.
Israeli settlers in the West Bank are furious over the declaration. Settler leaders announced on Monday that they would prevent Israeli inspectors from blocking the construction of new buildings. A pro-Israeli settler group, the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel, on Monday appealed to the High Court of Justice to put a stop to the government’s plans.
In the wake of growing criticisms and pressure, Netanyahu is expected to meet with the heads of West Bank regional authorities on Tuesday.
Following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Washington visit, the Jerusalem Municipal Planning Committee approved the construction plan for an additional 900 new housing units beyond the Green Line. Questions remains over the timing and actors in this decision: is the Netanyahu Government involved? And, if so, is this primarily a message to Washington that Israel is not weak or is it prompted by internal politics, trying to consolidate opposition to any demands of the Obama Administration?
There is another possibility: the approval of the additional 900 housing units may be a harbinger of a halt to expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, at least temporarily. Before declaring that halt, Netanyahu is seeking space for a guarantee that East Jerusalem will not be item in future discussions. If Jerusalem is non-negotiable, then Israel will not build as Arabs offer gestures of “normalization”. If this is not conceded, then Israel will resume settlement construction.
On Wednesday, “left-wing” politician Yossi Beilin told Army Radio that Netanyahu is soon going to announce a complete freeze in West Bank settlement construction for 10 months. Israeli officials have not responded to this claim.
It took less than a day after Pyongyang’s second nuclear test on 25 May for Israel to identify the real significance: Iran.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman stated that the international community had to do everything to prevent Iran and North Korea from acquiring nuclear weapons. He told Army Radio: “To our regret we see a mad arms race…..Everything must be done in order thwart their attempts to reach a nuclear capability.” Lieberman added:
Up until today there were neither sanctions against Iran nor against North Korea. They need to be completely closed in terms of financial activities; the two states need to understand they are dependent on the supply of petrol because they have no refineries.
This, however, was far from Israel’s most ambitious attempt to put Iran at the centre of a global anti-Israel nuclear conspiracy. For that, we have to go to Latin America.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and the Secretary-General of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, Angel Gurria, signed an agreement on Tuesday paving the way for Israel to become the 32nd member of the OECD this May.
Army Radio reported on Wednesday that 
Following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 10-month construction freeze in West Bank settlements decision, 
Following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Washington visit, the Jerusalem Municipal Planning Committee approved the construction plan for an additional 900 new housing units beyond the Green Line. Questions remains over the timing and actors in this decision: is the Netanyahu Government involved? And, if so, is this primarily a message to Washington that Israel is not weak or is it prompted by internal politics, trying to consolidate opposition to any demands of the Obama Administration?
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