Here’s the background: last Friday, US Mideast Special Envoy George Mitchell’s deputy, David Hale, said Israeli-Palestinian understandings since the Annapolis talks would not be binding.
Following the approval of two conditions (the outlines of a border deal with Israel and a complete Israeli settlement construction freeze) by the Palestinian Liberation Organization executive committee, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that he hoped for direct negotiations in the near future, but reiterated that any permanent settlement would require recognition of Israel as a Jewish state and a long-term guarantee of Israel’s security.
Thus, the clear difference between two disputants’ mentalities: on one hand, Ramallah is considering indirect talks as a basis to be consolidated in order to move to the next round of direct talks; on the other hand, West Jerusalem sees indirect talks as a way to block preconditions.
In the midst of Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s permission for the construction of 112 housing units in the settlement of Beitar Ilit, despite the construction freeze in the West Bank settlements, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived Israel on Tuesday while Mitchell moved to Ramallah for further talks. Read the rest of this entry »
Earthquake in Turkey: At least 41 people are dead and about 100 are wounded in the eastern Turkish province of Elazıg early Monday after a 6.0-magnitude earthquake.
Israel-Palestine ”Proximity Talks:” On Sunday, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee approved a proposal allowing the Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas to begin indirect negotiations. However, there are two conditions for the four months of indirect talks: the outlines of a border deal with Israel and a complete Israeli settlement construction freeze.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will arrive in Israel on Monday afternoon. U.S. Mideast special envoy George Mitchell is still in Israel, and he is expected to have another meeting with PM Benjamin Netanyahu before going to Ramallah on late Monday. After their meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu said: “If there is a desire to get to direct talks through a corridor, then I think the sooner the better.”
Last week, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas spoke with the Wall Street Journal’s Charles Levinson about a wide range of issues including : the future of peace talks with Israel and the Obama Administration’s role; Israeli settlements; boycotts; the possibility of a third Intifada; alleged CIA links to Palestinian “torture”; and the Goldstone Report on Gaza.
Abbas’ message in the interview was that he was siding with a “wait and see” approach following his re-election as the head of the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Abbas indicated that, with the international community supporting the Palestinian Authority on the status of the settlements and Jerusalem, there was no need for a call to a third Intifada – although he would like to see more pressure from Washington on Tel Aviv.
Q – A recent opinion poll shows that 57% of Palestinians support you over Hamas, which got just 37% support, a big change over polls from just two months ago. The Fatah and PLO leaderships have similarly asked you to remain in office. So can you start by explaining why you decided not to run for reelection?
On Monday afternoon, during the celebration of Hamas’s 22nd anniversary, Gazan Prime Minister Ismail Haniya said that gaining control of the Gaza Strip was “just a step toward liberating all of Palestine”.
Criticising Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the Obama Administration, Haniya said, “This movement liberated the Gaza Strip with the help of the militant factions. Brothers and sisters, we will not be satisfied with Gaza. Hamas looks toward the whole of Palestine.”
This is not the end of the “liberation” story. A day before the celebration in the Gaza Strip, Hamas political director Khaled Meshaal was in Tehran. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad praised the “resistance” of Hamas and welcomed the “liberation project of the Palestinian lands from Israel”. Ahmadinejad said: Read the rest of this entry »
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!
The Palestine Liberation Organization Central Council is expected to convene in Ramallah on Tuesday to vote on extending Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s term in office until new elections are held. The council is also scheduled to approve the extension of the term of the Palestinian Legislative Council, whose 132 members were elected for four years in January 2006.
After the Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas’s bluffs that he was not to run for next elections, the PLO Central Council — packed with Abbas loyalists — has put an end to that game. Now, the next one: will elections occur soon or is Abbas now installed as a President without an end to his term?
Officials from the Palestinian Liberation Organization stated on Tuesday that Abbas’s term as the Palestinian “President” will be extended when the PLO supreme body meets in December. Abbas’s term, depending on the interpretation of Palestine’s electoral law, has already expired or officially expires on 25 January.
Azzam al-Ahmad, a senior official in Fatah said: “The Central Council has only one solution and it is to entrust the president, as head of the PLO, with continuing as president of the Palestinian Authority until it is able to hold presidential and legislative elections.”
Tension between Fatah and Hamas increases. After Hamas’s decision to postpone the reconciliation talks in Cairo, the Fatah Party’s Central Committee has urged Fatah and Palestianian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas to issue a presidential decree on 25 October for presidential and parliamentary elections.
Fatah’s counter-plan is more of a rescue operation for the party itself, rather than for Abbas himself. The problem is now far more than Hamas’ declaration that they would not shake the hand of the “traitor”. Within the last two weeks, the furour over Abbas’ blocking of a UN vote on the Goldstone Report on Gaza has turned many in the West Bank against him. Faced with renewed corruption allegations against Fatah and a weakening position, Fatah elites are looking for a way to re-take the initiative.
The council must reach a decision to judge anyone who committed crimes against the Palestinian nation… I respect the majority opinion, and in the wake of everything that has happened, I have decided that the matter should be turned over again to the Human Rights Council!” Then, he defended his previous decision at the Council: “The decision to postpone [the vote] was a result of a consensus among the different parties at the Human Rights Council … and in order to secure the largest number of supporters for any resolution in the future.
Both sides continue to blame each other for political manipulation of the Gaza finding. Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior PLO official and adviser to Abbas, accused Hamas of exploiting the Goldstone Report to “damage national unity.” In return, Hamas warned the Palestinian Authority not to declare new elections unilaterally. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said that polls in the West Bank alone would further divisions between Palestinians.
Here’s the background: last Friday, US Mideast Special Envoy George Mitchell’s deputy, David Hale, said Israeli-Palestinian understandings since the Annapolis talks would not be binding.
Last week, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas spoke with the Wall Street Journal’s Charles Levinson about a wide range of issues including : the future of peace talks with Israel and the Obama Administration’s role; Israeli settlements; boycotts; the possibility of a third Intifada; alleged CIA links to Palestinian “torture”; and the Goldstone Report on Gaza.
On Wednesday, 
The Palestine Liberation Organization Central Council is expected to convene in Ramallah on Tuesday to vote on 
Officials from the Palestinian Liberation Organization stated on Tuesday that 
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