Wednesday, November 06, 2013
Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians: We Do Not Trust The Americans
"We want the Americans to be involved in the peace process. But the U.S. should focus its pressure on the Israelis and not on us. We want the Americans to force Israel to accept the two-state solution and dismantle all the illegal settlements." — Senior aide to Palestinian Authority's Mahmoud AbbasElliott Abrams: Does the US stand for anything at all?
The Palestinians' biggest fear is that the U.S. will try to impose a solution. That is why Abbas and his top aides have begun moves in the international community to persuade as many countries as possible to get involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, especially the European Union, United Nations and Russia. The last time the Americans tried to extract concessions from the Palestinians, within a few weeks the Palestinians launched the Second Intifada against Israel; Abbas has already threatened as much.
Does the United States stand for anything at all? Do we have a view about, say, slavery, or child prostitution, or the stoning of gays?Despite rifts, Kerry remains upbeat on peace talks
What should be a ridiculous question is raised by Secretary of State John Kerry's offensive obeisance to the Saudis yesterday when visiting Riyadh. Here is the AP story: "On the move for Saudi women to be allowed to drive, Kerry was careful not to appear to take sides. Noting that while the United States embraces gender equality, 'it is up to Saudi Arabia to make its own decisions about its own social structure and choices and the timing of whatever events.'"
“I am very confident of our ability to work through them,” Kerry told reporters as he opened a meeting in a Jerusalem hotel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “That is why I am here.”ADL finds Americans support Israel, but oppose US involvement in peace talks
“This can be achieved with good faith and a serious effort on both sides,” he said, urging both Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who he set to see later in the day, to make “real compromises and hard decisions.”
The majority of Americans consider Israel a trusted ally but believe the US should play only a “minimal” role in peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, according to a public opinion survey released by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on Tuesday.Min. Ariel: Abbas's Protests are for Show
The announcement that 62 percent of Americans believe “it is up to the Palestinians and the Israelis to solve their own problems” in pursuit of lasting peace came only hours before US Secretary of State John Kerry landed in Israel in an attempt to jump start stalled peace negotiations.
The data provide a stark reminder that while Americans support Israel and distrust Iran, they are ambivalent and often reluctant about intervention in the Middle East.
Abbas “knew in advance about the construction in Judea and Samaria,” Ariel told a delegation of French parliamentarians from the UMP party. “The Americans coordinated it with him, and so his protest is really a coordinated protest, too.”Lapid: Palestinians Must Recognize Jerusalem Will Never be Divided
Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lapid said it is a “founding ethos” of Israel that Jerusalem will never again be divided, and that the city is not up for negotiation.Terror Victims' Org Urges Kerry to Meet With Victims' Families
“If the Palestinians want a state, then they must know that this has a price and they will not get everything they want,” Lapid told Israel Radio.
The anti-terror and victim advocacy group Almagor - who recently launched a massive last-ditch effort to prevent last week's release of 26 convicted Palestinian Arab terrorists to Judea, Samaria, and Gaza - is reportedly appealing to US Secretary General John Kerry this week to stop pushing for terrorist releases as preconditions for negotiations. The group will also protest Kerry's refusal to meet with terror victims' families, who have been most affected by last week's release.Freed Terrorists get Guaranteed Work in PA
The Palestinian Authority has decided to grant more benefits to freed terrorists. The PA will now guarantee a place of work to “freed prisoners” – the PA’s term for Arabs who have served time in Israeli prison for terrorism-related offenses.Abbas says Israel wants to strip Israeli-Arab terrorists of citizenship
Under the new law, any person who served more than five years in prison for an offense related to terrorism against Israel will be eligible for a job in the public sector if they do not have an alternative source of income.
PA president warns move would put an end to peace talks; Israel says no decision yet on freeing Arab citizens in future phases of prisoner releasesHamas is Trying to Destroy the ‘Peace Process’
The process on the Palestinian side appears to be a fraud, designed to produce failure because the Palestinian Authority (PA) cannot afford a success with Israel in the absence of an agreement with Hamas. The PA fears exposing the fact that it does not have functional control of the Gaza Strip and 1.66 million people it claims to represent. And not only does it NOT represent them, the government of Gaza – Hamas – explicitly rejects rule by the PA.Young Israel Pres.: America Hypocritical on Pollard
Rabbi Pesach Lerner, Executive Vice President of the National Council of Young Israel, spoke out Tuesday calling for Jonathan Pollard's release, citing the hypocrisy of his imprisonment in America after revelations of spying against US allies by the country's intelligence agencies.Fatah leader to Israel: "Die in your rage"
In two weeks Pollard, who was accused of spying on the US for Israel, will enter his 29th year in an American jail cell.
At a Fatah event celebrating Israel's release of three murderers from among the 26 terrorist prisoners released last week, Abbas Zaki, speaking for Fatah, mocked Israel for agreeing to release Palestinian murderers. He said that Israel gave them life sentences and categorized them as having "blood on their hands," yet, "here they are... fighters, knights, free men":Fatah official mocks Israel for releasing murderers from prison
"No one expected that Israel, which hands down life sentences and decided that they [the prisoners] would go from prison to the grave, [would release them]... We say to Israel: Die in your rage. Go to your cemeteries and recite over your dead whatever you recite. Here they are [who Israel said] 'have blood on their hands' (i.e., murderers); here they are [back] among their own people: fighters, knights, free men!"
Year after IDF op, Hamas deterred, tactics altered, official says
Nearly one year after Israel’s eight-day offensive in Gaza, during which Palestinians fired over 1,500 rockets at Israel, a senior government official hailed the enduring nature of the relative quiet. He asserted that Hamas — hemmed in by Egypt and Israel and partially estranged from Iran — has not managed to build up its stockpiles to 2012 levels and has shifted its focus from sheer quantity and continuity of attacks to the ability to carry out strategic rocket strikes and raids.Would the world blame Israel if Iranian nuclear talks fail?
“Of course it is not like it was last year, because they were not able to replenish everything that they lost. And they lost a lot,” Brig. Gen. (res) Yossi Kuperwasser, director general of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs, said at a briefing arranged by The Israel Project in Jerusalem.
This is why Israel's dilemma is so complicated. If Netanyahu is absolutely sure that Tehran wants a nuclear weapon, his challenge is how to stop that from happening -- including perhaps by opposing the nuclear talks he sees as enabling Iran -- without drawing so much of the blame that European sanctions weaken. That's why it's so important for the Obama administration to convince Netanyahu that they share his skepticism: If they convince him that they will oppose any deal likely to enable Iranian enrichment, that reassures Netanyahu and makes him less likely to oppose it himself. This may help explain why the White House is going so far out of its way to work with the Israelis on negotiations.Netanyahu’s Hypothetical Rouhani Conversation: Stop Threatening Israel
If Iranian President Hassan Rouhani were to call him on the phone, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would tell him to stop threatening his country, he told Israel’s i24 News.Analysis: Saudis unconvinced by Kerry's show of US goodwill
“I’d tell him to stop calling for the eradication of Israel, stop calling Israel the cancer of the world and stop building nuclear weapons to destroy the state of Israel and coincidentally to threaten Europe,” he said.
Netanyahu also rejected Iran’s claims that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
King Abdullah, who is 90 this year and rarely meets visiting officials, mustered a full complement of senior princes to sit in on Monday's talks with Kerry. Such a lineup marked both his high regard for the old alliance with the United States, and his ire at Washington's recent actions.US official: Syria may try to hide chemical weapons
Saudi leaders fear President Barack Obama's administration has stopped listening to its Arab ally, particularly on Syria's civil war and the nuclear dispute with Iran. This risks handing regional supremacy to their chief rival, Tehran, they believe.
Syria submitted the lengthy declaration of its chemical weapons program on October 27 and must agree a plan with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) by mid-November that explains in detail how and where to destroy the poisons, including mustard gas, sarin and possibly VX.Syrian chemical weapons mission funded only until end of month
"We are still reviewing that document. We obviously bring skepticism born of years of dealing with this regime, years of obfuscation in other contexts, and of course a lot of broken promises in the context of this current war," Power said.
The international body tasked with ensuring Syria's chemical weapons are eliminated has enough money to fund its mission only until the end of this month, and needs more funds soon for the destruction of poison gas stocks next year.NYT: Qatar Must Halt 2022 World Cup Abuses
An official at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which won the Nobel Peace Prize last month, expressed confidence that governments would find more money to ensure the process does not lose momentum.
Human rights exposes about horrific working conditions for migrant workers have spread globally, and the story has bounced between the substantive allegations and Doha’s efforts to block journalists and human rights workers from discovering the extent to which those allegations are accurate.
Qatar’s large population of migrant workers – roughly 88% of its total population – makes the country’s labor issues particularly tangled. A New York Times editorial published over the weekend knit the various issues together and called for major reforms:
