On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to discuss Hamas, the kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, sanctions on Iran, and Russian’s pending delivery of S-300 missiles to Tehran.
At the end of the day, both leaders got what they sought. Medvedev did not put himself under any commitment to punish Iran severely but maintained a “threatening” position vis-a-vis Tehran. He told Netanyahu that Russia will hold off on delivering the S-300s to Iran. A spokewoman added: “The position of Russia regarding sanctions remains unchanged. [But] if Iran remains uncooperative, no one can exclude the use of sanctions.”
Netanyahu was satisfied to return home with the “success” of the deferred delivery of the S-300s, and he ticked another box in his “efforts to exhaust every possible chance to achieve peace” before “the necessity of applying a pre-emptive strike” against Iran in the future.
A new operation against Hamas is being discussed by Israeli officials, media institutions and citizens. There are two very different options: 1) hitting Hamas in a military operation even bigger than last year’s Operation Cast Lead to give a “better” lesson and open the border or 2) trying to have a dialogue, fostering economic development in Gaza.
Following “hawkish” statements by the Israeli military, The Jerusalem Post claimed that the Israeli Defense Forces are prepared to take control of the Philadelphi Corridor in the southern Gaza Strip and deploy military forces in it, a plan which was shelved ahead of the offensive in December 2008 by the Olmert Government. It is alleged that Hamas has dug several hundred tunnels under this 14-kilometer strip of land to smuggle weapons and explosives.
In contrast, an editorial in Haaretz, contends, “Israel needs to re-think of its Gaza strategy before it is too late.” Instead of an additional economic embargo and military force, which have failed to ensure Israel’s security and ease Gazans’ poor living conditions, crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip should be opened and an economic initiative should be pursued. Here is the full article:
On Sunday, Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman met Israel’s foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres, and Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer.
Barak said: “We’re always happy to see him. I hope we have fruitful talks here.” He and Suleiman talked about the “central role” of Egypt in talks with Palestinians, Egypt’s wall on the Gaza border preventing smuggling, the Iranian “threat”, and the kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
The most striking part of the visit came true at the end of the meeting between Lieberman and Suleiman. Lieberman stated that “Egypt has more to fear from Iran than we do.” He added, “The greatest danger in the Middle East today is Iran, which is a greater threat to moderate Arab nations than to Israel. Tehran is attempting to duplicate the model of Hezbollah in Egypt, Jordan, and Yemen.”
In an interview with the Arabic service of the BBC in Arabic, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of conducting secret talks with Hamas, allegedly on the issue of a Palestinian state with temporary borders. Abbas also repeated that Jerusalem wasn’t truly interested in peace and added that “Washington isn’t pushing Israel enough to advance the peace process”.
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum’s responsded, “The things that Abu Mazen [Abbas] is talking about never happened. We don’t negotiate with the enemy.” Barhoum accused Abbas of “putting his personal political failure on Hamas.”
On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to discuss Hamas, the kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, sanctions on Iran, and Russian’s pending delivery of S-300 missiles to Tehran.
On Sunday, Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman met Israel’s foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres, and Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer.
In an interview with the Arabic service of the BBC in Arabic, 
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