UPDATE 24 December: At least in its rhetoric, the Obama Administration appears to have made a coordinated shift to the issue of “rights” for the Iranian people. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley made his second statement in two days on the topic on Wednesday: “Iran is increasingly showing itself to be a police state”, claimed Crowley, adding that the regime is using its security forces to try to “stamp out” the “aspirations of the Iranian people”.
UPDATE 1920 GMT: Yesterday the US Senate passed a resolution “condemning the Government of Iran for restricting and suppressing freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and freedom of assembly, and for its human rights abuses, and for other purposes”. The resolution urges the implementation of the VOICE Act, amongst other measures, but does not appropriate funds or carry any legal authority.
Thanks to EA readers, who have brought me up-to-date on the US Government’s initiatives on Iran.
This includes the Victims of Iranian Censorship (VOICE) Act, unanimously passed by the US Senate in July to provide $30 million for expanded Persian-language broadcasting into Iran and $20 million for a new “Iranian Electronic Education, Exchange, and Media Fund” to aid in getting access to information and circumventing censorship and filtering. The money was not appropriated, however, merely authorised (in other words, a statement of intention rather than confirmed action), and the measure has not been agreed yet with the US House of Representatives. Read the rest of this entry »
Contrary to initial reports from the US, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did get his private meeting with President Obama in Washington, with discussions on the Iranian nuclear programme and the Middle East peace talks. The White House headline statement was, “The president reaffirmed our strong commitment to Israel’s security, and discussed security cooperation on a range of issues.”
The problem for the Obama Administration is that journalists were unwilling to let “security cooperation” stand in place of other issues. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly was forced to hand trickier problems back to the White House:
QUESTION: On the peace process, is Senator Mitchell planning to go back to the Middle East, and what are you planning to do after the latest development on the Palestinian side?
MR. KELLY: Well, I think a lot of the focus today, of course, will be on the visit of Prime Minister Netanyahu. He’s meeting with the President tonight. We remain committed to our goal, which is the re-launch of negotiations between the sides and try and create the kind of atmosphere where these negotiations can succeed as soon as possible. As far as Senator Mitchell’s immediate plans, I’m not sure that he has plans in the very near term to return to the region. But of course, he’ll be ready to do so if that can be helpful.
On Friday, the U.S. State Department stated that $200 million, as part of a $900 million pledge from March, was on the way to the Palestinian Authority. On the same day, Deputy State Department spokesman Robert Wood said, “It’s premature to talk about imposing economic sanctions on Israel.”
So could this really be a new American economic approach to carrots-and-sticks on Israel and Palestine? There is no problem with the $900 million pledge to Palestine but there may be a problem on the 2007 Memorandum on Understanding calling for $30 billion. over 10 years, to Israel?
The United States is the leading provider of bilateral economic and development aid to the Palestinians, providing an estimated $2.5 billion through USAID since 1993. The $200 million in direct budget assistance to the Palestinian Authority (PA) that the Secretary announced July 24 represents the single largest transfer of budget support to the PA from any country since its inception. It is a part of the $900 million pledge for 2009 that the Secretary announced at the March 2 donors’ conference in Sharm al-Sheikh to address the immediate needs of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza and support our longer-term approach of fostering the conditions in which a Palestinian state can be realized.
The United States is committed to improving the humanitarian situation in Gaza. In 2009, the United States has provided more than $72 million to date in humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza through the United Nations Consolidated Appeal (CAP) and other partner organizations.
In 2008, the U.S. was the single largest national donor to the Palestinian Authority. The U.S. exceeded its Paris Donors’ Conference pledge of $555 million (December 2007), committing more than $600 million in assistance to the PA in calendar year 2008, including:
· $239 million for activities in economic growth, democracy and governance, food assistance, education, health, and water supply to the PA.
· An additional $300 million in direct budget support to the PA for debt owed to commercial vendors and financial institutions.
· $75 million for security sector reform.
In addition, in fiscal year 2008 the U.S. provided $184.7 million in Migration and Refugee Assistance (MRA) and Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance (ERMA) funds to United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for assistance to Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.
QUESTION: Would U.S. be ready to exert some financial pressures on Israel to convince the government to stop settlements?
MR. WOOD: Well, Sylvie, it’s premature to talk about that. What we’re trying to do, as I said, right now is to create an environment which makes it conducive for talks to go forward. And as I said, Senator Mitchell is working very hard on this. And what we all need to do in the international community is support this effort, and that means Americans, that means Arabs and Israelis, to do what they can to kind of foster a climate in which the two sides can come together and negotiate their differences peacefully so that we can get to that two-state solution.
QUESTION: But Robert –
MR. WOOD: Yes.
QUESTION: Dan Meridor has said – that the agreement we had with the Americans is binding on us and them. And he added that they should keep to the agreement. He’s calling the U.S. to keep to the agreement.
MR. WOOD: I think we’ve been very clear with regard to settlements. They need to stop, and that includes natural growth. I don’t have anything more to add to that. The Israelis are well aware of our position. And we’ll obviously continue to have talks with the Israelis on this subject and other issues, but our policy remains the same.
I strongly condemn the attacks that occurred this morning in Jakarta, and extend my deepest condolences to all of the victims and their loved ones.
Indonesia has been steadfast in combating violent extremism, and has successfully curbed terrorist activity within its borders. However, these attacks make it clear that extremists remain committed to murdering innocent men, women and children of any faith in all countries. We will continue to partner with Indonesia to eliminate the threat from these violent extremists, and we will be unwavering in supporting a future of security and opportunity for the Indonesian people.
The American people stand by the Indonesian people in this difficult time, and the U.S. government stands ready to help the Indonesian government respond to and recover from these outrageous attacks as a friend and partner.
After ““L’Aquila Statement on Non-Proliferation Declaration”“: it’s a long name for the G8’s balancing act on the Iranian nuclear programme. This is a diplomatic document seeking common ground through careful language: “We reiterate our unanimous commitment to working for a comprehensive, peaceful and diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear issue and strongly support ongoing efforts to resolve it through negotiations.” Read the rest of this entry »
Yesterday Scott posted on US State Department’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Diplomacy Colleen Graffy’s use of Twitter, noting that while the Gaza situation escalated, her latest tweet was about a visit to the Apple store.
A short while ago Ms Graffy stopped by Enduring America to offer a response:
1:10 a.m. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon calls for immediate cease-fire. CNN prefers to repeat, without analysis, the statement of Israeli Minister of Defense Ehud Barak.
1 a.m. Watching Fox News to find out their angle — They go to their man on the Israel-Gaza border, Mike Tobin, who quite clearly has no decent sources of information and is just making up “news”, such as possibility that Hamas set fires to the gas tanks in Gaza — The media-literate might find a Tobin/Fox News look-a-like in The Day Today’s Peter O’Hanra-hanrahan
12:55 p.m. Al Jazeera: US State Department says cease-fire is needed as soon as possible and is concerned about humanitarian situation but says “Hamas is holding Gaza’s people hostage”
12:42 p.m. CNN gives 10 minutes to military analyst Retired General David Grange, who says despite “extraordinary precautions” by Israel, Number One risk is civilian casualties — He says Hamas wants to “induce casualties among its own people” as well as Israeli forces
Why not just identify Grange as “spokesperson for Israeli Defense Forces”?
12 midnight. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband calls for immediate cease-fire. UN Security Council to meet at 7 p.m. New York time (2 hours from now).
UPDATE 24 December: At least in its rhetoric, the Obama Administration appears to have made a coordinated shift to the issue of “rights” for the Iranian people. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley made his second statement in two days on the topic on Wednesday: “Iran is increasingly showing itself to be a police state”, claimed Crowley, adding that the regime is using its security forces to try to “stamp out” the “aspirations of the Iranian people”.
Contrary to initial reports from the US, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did get his private meeting with President Obama in Washington, with discussions on the Iranian nuclear programme and the Middle East peace talks. 
On Friday, the U.S. State Department stated that $200 million, as part of a $900 million pledge from March, was on the way to the Palestinian Authority. On the same day, Deputy State Department spokesman Robert Wood said, “It’s premature to talk about imposing economic sanctions on Israel.”
After 
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