Sarkozy Steps Back from Palestinian State: On Monday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the leader of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas discussed the future of negotiations and a Palestinian state. Sarkozy made two points: there should be no unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state before borders are defined with Israel, and there was no time to be waste in starting negotiations since “if there are no talks….we take the risk, the international community, of a third intifada”.
Abbas supported Sarkozy’s line, “Negotiations first, proclamation of a state later.”
Israel Pushes Washington for Harsher Sanctions on Iran: Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak left for the US on Tuesday, for five days of talks with senior American officials, including US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, that will focus on Iran.
PA Security Prevents Attacks into Israel: According to Haaretz, the Palestinian Authority prevented a suicide attack about six weeks ago that a young woman (from Islamic Jihad) from Nablus had planned to carry out in Israel. Palestinian security sources said that it was not the first success to thwart such terrorist activities. Read the rest of this entry »
Israel’s Official Response on Dubai: Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said on Saturday that there was no evidence tying Israel to the assassination of Hamas strongman Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai. He added:
I don’t forsee a crisis with European allies because there is nothing that ties Israel to the assassination.
Britain, France and Germany all share our interests in the battle against global terror, therefore there will be no crisis, instead our relations [with these countries] will continue to deepen.
Palestinian-French Relations: French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told the French Journal du Dimanche that the assassination in Dubai underscores the need for peace in the Middle East and demonstrates the need for an immediate recognition of a Palestinian state.
Before Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas’s scheduled visit to Paris next week, Kouchner said, referring to Abbas’s reportedly acceptance of indirect talks under U.S. mediation:
France is training Palestinian police, businesses are being created in the West Bank… It follows that one can envision the proclamation soon of a Palestinian state, and its immediate recognition by the international community, even before negotiating its borders.
On Sunday, 57 percent of Swiss people who took part in a referendum voted in favour of a ban on the construction of minarets. The proposal had been put forward by the Swiss People’s Party (SVP), the largest party in parliament. Reaction to the Swiss people’s decision was immediate, with criticisms appearing in visual and written media all over the world.
Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf said: “Concerns [about Islamic fundamentalism] have to be taken seriously. However, a ban on the construction of new minarets is not a feasible means of countering extremist tendencies.”
The head of the Swiss Green Party, Ueli Leuenberger, pledged to support appeals against the ban to the European Court of Human Rights.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called the ban a “deeply discriminatory, deeply divisive and a thoroughly unfortunate step for Switzerland to take.” She added: “I have no hesitation at all in condemning the anti-foreigner scaremongering that has characterised political campaigns in a number of countries, including Switzerland, which helps produce results like this.”
2055 GMT: Keeping the Students Down. The Government effort to contain student protest continues. Iran’s national student organisation Daftar-Tahkim-Vahdat reports that its political director, Abbas Hakimzadeh, has been arrested.
Kohzad Esmaili, head of the Gilan branch of the alumni organisation Advar-Tahkim-Vahdat (Office of Strengthening Unity), has been re-arrested after being freed on $20,000 bail.
2045 GMT: A Non-Crowd Story? While those pre-occupied with the nuclear issue try to read Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Tabriz speech for signals (see 1425 GMT), the Green movement has other concerns, namely those who did or did not turn out:
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad received a very cold welcome from the citizens. Yoldash, the Green news organisation in Tabriz, reported that, despite the fact that the chief of “popular welcoming staff” of Ahmadinejad assured 100,000 people would be present at his speech today, only about 10-15,000 people participated in this event which can be easily recognized in the pictures taken by pro-coup Mehr news agency.
An EA source says that the Government tried to ensure a large turnout by giving university students, school children, and workers time off and transport to the rally. However, possibly because of the rain, possibly for other reasons, seats remained empty.
1805 GMT: Is Rafsanjani Lining Up with the Government’s Nuclear Proposal? Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani has told the Swedish Ambassador to Iran that the International Atomic Energy Agency is legally obliged to provide 20 percent nuclear fuel to Tehran.
Sweden currently holds the European Union’s rotating presidency.
Enduring America’s Mr Smith carries out a close reading of the latest Iran move in the nuclear negotiations and how to respond to it:
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki’s remarks on Thursday, reviewing the the nuclear dispute between Iran and the West, are a clear departure from the proposal floated in October by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohammad El-Baradei. Indeed, that proposal now appears dead in the water. Iran is progressively coming out with a spirited defiance against the idea of having its low-enriched uranium (LEU) processed abroad and returned in the form of 20% enriched nuclear fuel, suitable for its Tehran medical reactor.
The reasons behind this position are not irrational. Russia has once again delayed the operational start of the Bushehr nuclear reactor, cold-shouldering Iran as it has frequently done on the issue in the past decade. Historically, France has manipulated provision of nuclear fuel from the Eurodiff consortium, in which Iran is a dormant stakeholder. So, in the eyes of Tehran, both parties to the El-Baradei deal have a poor track record and therefore cannot be trusted to deliver nuclear fuel on time. Read the rest of this entry »
Is French President Nicolas Sarkozy stepping in as the “honest broker” for Israel-Syria talks? In Saudi Arabia for a two-day visit, Sarkozy — who has just met with Syrian President Bashir al-Assad and Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu in separate meetings — said: “The deadlock that we find ourselves in today is very worrying. I told both Assad and Netanyahu that France is ready to facilitate a restart of the talks if both parties thought we could help in this effort.”
Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was in Amman on Tuesday for talks with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas. On Wednesday, he is going to Israel to hold a meeting on the prospect of peace talks.
The joint statement issued after the meeting called on Israeli and Arab sides to revive the peace process, underlined international efforts to stop Iran’s nuclear programme, and mentioned efforts for peace negotiations with Syria. Netanyahu again stated that Israel was prepared for immediate discussions as long as there are no preconditions.
Two days after Netanyahu’s visit, Syrian President Bashar Assad arrives in Paris. Although Paris has not confirmed a link between the two events, Sarkozy may be serving as the broker for a start-up of indirect talks between Syria and Israel. And that is probably the main reason for the friendliness and handshakes on Wednesday.
I think this visit will turn out to have been very important.
It was a very focused and very positive conversation. This conversation dealt with the range of subjects that are important for the security of Israel, and for our joint efforts to advance peace.
Now Netanyahu has to prepare himself for an unexpected difficulty as he meets French President Nicholas Sarkozy on Wednesday. Before the Prime Minister’s arrival, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner harshly criticized Israel. Kouchner, who canceled his visit to Israel last month, declared that Israel was not the side demanding peace since there has been no advance on the settlement issue:
What really hurts me, and this shocks us, is that before there used to be a great peace movement in Israel. There was a left that made itself heard and a real desire for peace.
It seems to me, and I hope that I am completely wrong, that this desire has completely vanished, as though people no longer believe in it.
The criticism is undoubtedly linked to Kouchner’s announcement that he will visit the region in coming days to persuade Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas to run for re-election.
Sarkozy Steps Back from Palestinian State: On Monday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the leader of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas discussed the future of negotiations and a Palestinian state. Sarkozy made two points: there should be no unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state before borders are defined with Israel, and there was no time to be waste in starting negotiations since “if there are no talks….we take the risk, the international community, of a third intifada”.
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On Sunday, 57 percent of Swiss people who took part in a referendum voted in favour of a ban on the construction of minarets. The proposal had been put forward by the Swiss People’s Party (SVP), the largest party in parliament. Reaction to the Swiss people’s decision was immediate, with criticisms appearing in visual and written media all over the world.
2055 GMT: Keeping the Students Down. The Government effort to contain student protest continues. Iran’s national student organisation Daftar-Tahkim-Vahdat reports that its political director, Abbas Hakimzadeh, 
Enduring America’s Mr Smith carries out a close reading of the latest Iran move in the nuclear negotiations and how to respond to it:
Is 
On Wednesday, 
Leaving Washington for Paris, 
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