Following Regev’s announcement, Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat said: “We condemn this Israeli policy of continuing settlement activities, and we hope this will be an eye opener for the US administration and other [governments].”
An unnamed Israeli official stated that the Obama administration had been informed about the latest planned construction. A State Department official followed up, telling The Jerusalem Post that Washington had conveyed its displeasure before the announcement.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said: “The United States opposes new Israeli construction in east Jerusalem”, with the “permanent status issue” of the city to be resolved through negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. He continued:
Neither party should engage in efforts or take actions that could unilaterally pre-empt, or appear to pre-empt, negotiations. Rather, both parties should return to negotiations without preconditions as soon as possible. The government of Israel noted its plans to issue tenders in east Jerusalem and we strongly objected, noting that these types of announcements harm peace efforts.
Israeli Defense Forces, commanded by the government of Ehud Olmert, started Operation Cast Lead on 27 December 2008. The operation took the lives of 1,400 Palestinians, including many civilians, and of 13 Israelis.
The officially-stated aim was to halt rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip. “For the first time in years, the children of southern Israel can grow up without the constant fear of an incoming rocket and running to the nearest bomb shelter,” Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev asserted on Sunday. So, the mission was “accomplished“ since there was no rockets coming over children in playgrounds.
Was it?
In a televised speech, the Hamas Prime Minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh said, “Gaza was victorious. Yes, Gaza was victorious with its steadfastness, its firmness and strength of faith.”
On Wednesday, the Palestine Liberation Organization indefinitely extended Mahmoud Abbas’s term as Palestinian Authority President and endorsed his refusal to negotiate with Israel unless it freezes all settlement construction. The extension of the term also applies to parliament members so that the Abbas Government can continue until new elections can be held in “the entire homeland.”
Hamas, which is in political control of Gaza, called the decision ”a confiscation of democracy”. The organisation’s spokesman, Fawzi Barhoum, said, “The Central Council is not elected and illegal, and all of its decisions are illegal and not binding on our people.”
The first comment from the Israeli front was “Come to the negotiating table.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman Mark Regev said: “We have just seen the Palestinian leadership place more and more obstacles in restarting the talks. I call upon the Palestinian side to stop making excuses and return to talks.”
So, here is Abbas’s welcome party! Now, there is more than the deadlock on the table for him. After using his last card, he is faced with stronger expectations for further steps! However, none of these expectations have changed!
Haaretz states, via the Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv, that US officials are allowing the Israeli Government to continue construction of 2,500 housing units in the West Bank
Israeli Government spokesman Mark Regev would not confirm speculations but said that the US and Israel have been trying to find a common ground on the sensitive settlement issue. Washington has been silent, but “Western officials” stated that, having made some concessions, Israel could at least finish off some existing projects which are close to completion or bound to private contracts that cannot be broken.
Following Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s meetings in Washington and with US envoy George Mitchell in London, this speculation raises the question: Is the US acceptance of the 2500 units due to the specifics of private contracts and Israeli law on settlements, or have the two sides found common ground where both sides meet with some concessions?
The report documents incidents “too numerous to count” of human rights violations by Israeli troops during the 22-day war in December/January. The report cites the killing of unarmed civilians, sometimes without warning (in other words, in cold blood), and the use of Gazan children as human shields. Read the rest of this entry »
For more than seven weeks, the international aid group Mercy Corps has been trying to send 90 tons of macaroni to the isolated Gaza Strip as part of a global campaign to help the 1.4 million Palestinians there rebuild their lives after Israel’s recent devastating 22-day military operation.
Israel, which controls most of what goes into and out of Gaza, has said no repeatedly. Read the rest of this entry »
UPDATE: I have checked the English-language website of the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center. I cannot find the specific Government briefing cited by Channel 4, but the ITIC’s reports — to be precise — indicate few rocket attacks between the cease-fire on 19 June and 4 November (what it calls the “lull”). These are the key lines in the update of 16 November: “Another important facet of the recent escalation is that for the first time, there is direct Hamas involvement in the rocket and mortar shell fire….At the same time, Hamas heads and spokesmen publicly stated that their intention was not to end the lull arrangement but to provide “an equal response” to what they call the “Israeli violations.”
I’ve just heard once more, this time from Jerusalem Post editor David Horowitz on CNN, that the catalyst for the current conflict in Gaza was the firing of rockets into southern Israel by Hamas.
We’ve already out the official release from the Israeli Government that undermines this assertion: only 11 rockets were fired between July and October 2008, with the escalation taking place after an Israeli raid killing six Hamas activists on 4 November. Channel 4 in Britain has gone even farther, however, with an Israeli Government that says Hamas fired no rockets between June and November 2008.
12:40 p.m. Off for downtime: a “holding pattern” day as Israeli Cabinet seems undecided on its next day and Hamas — through a military strategy of remaining elusive and a political strategy of popping up to make statements — holds out. While Israel may make out that it is playing “Whack-a-Mole” with the enemy, it is more likely that the Israeli military has a growing concern. Neither moving forward nor backwards, Israeli forces may become a static target for Hamas hit-and-run targets.
I don’t think the situation is tenable from an Israeli point of view for many days but, with no political breakthrough, what is their next step?
On Monday, the government spokesman Mark Regev announced that Israel is planning to build nearly 700 new apartments in east Jerusalem. He said: “We make a distinction between the West Bank and Jerusalem. Jerusalem is our capital and remains such.”
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Israeli Defense Forces, commanded by the government of Ehud Olmert, started Operation Cast Lead on 27 December 2008. The operation took the lives of 1,400 Palestinians, including many civilians, and of 13 Israelis.
On Wednesday, 
Haaretz states, via the Israeli newspaper 
Really. 
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