Friday, November 08, 2013
Dore Gold: The assault on Resolution 242
One of the intriguing aspects of Resolution 242 was that it said nothing about Jerusalem. In a letter to The New York Times on March 6, 1980, Arthur Goldberg wrote: "Resolution 242 in no way refers to Jerusalem, and this omission was deliberate." He explained that he never described Jerusalem as "occupied territory." Goldberg was reacting to the policy of the Carter administration, which was criticizing Israeli construction practices in east Jerusalem and misrepresenting Israel's legal rights. Goldberg believed that the status of Jerusalem had to be negotiated, but he insisted that "Jerusalem was not to be divided again."Frustrated Kerry’s peace critique a heavy slap in Netanyahu’s face
Israel itself may have contributed to confusion about its rights in Jerusalem. The 1993 Oslo Accords formally recognized Jerusalem as a subject for future final status negotiations. Yet that did not mean that Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was prepared to re-divide Jerusalem. Negotiability was one thing; withdrawal was something else. In his final Knesset address, on Oct. 5, 1995, one month before he was assassinated, Rabin declared: "The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six-Day War. We will not return to the June 4, 1967 lines." Rabin spoke the language of Resolution 242. He added that Israel would retain "a united Jerusalem."
Kerry seemed to place the blame for the failure to make rapid and major progress in negotiations overwhelmingly on Israel, with no acknowledgment — in his statements as broadcast Thursday — of two intifadas, relentless anti-Israel incitement in the Palestinian territories, the Hamas takeover of Gaza and the constant rocket fire from the Strip. (It is important to note that Channel 2 aired only part of the full interview on Thursday. More is set to air Friday evening.)Ya'alon: No need to fear Kerry's threats
In lamenting the IDF’s presence in the West Bank, Kerry positioned himself directly opposite Netanyahu, for whom an ongoing Israeli security presence in the Jordan Valley is a stated crucial condition for an agreement. Perhaps more surprisingly, he showed no evident concern over the danger of a Hamas takeover in the West Bank were the IDF to withdraw, disregarding a widely held concern — borne of the rapid ease with which Hamas swept Abbas’s forces aside in Gaza in 2007 — that the official Palestinian Authority forces alone would not be able to hold sway.
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon responded to Kerry's statements in the interview. "There is no need to fear threats of whether there will or won't be a third Intifada," he said.Can Arafat sabotage peace from his grave?
"We have been in an open and ongoing conflict [with the Palestinians], which as far as the Palestinians are concerned does not end in 1967 lines. There is Sheikh Munis -- Tel Aviv, Majdal -- Ashkelon. We got out of the Gaza Strip and they continue to attack us. They raise their youth to believe that Haifa and Acre are Palestinian ports and more. There is no sign of compromise here. Therefore we are likely not going to solve this based on what we thought. This does not mean we want to control them, they have political autonomy and good thing they do. We will have to be smart, and not fear threats of whether there will or won't be a third Intifada," he said.
Many parties would benefit from having the story of Arafat's poisoning stick. This would create the myth that he was a hero who not only fought for the Palestinians but died on their altar. The current story has no heroics involved.Palestinians: ‘Israel killed Arafat’
But those who are behind this are politicians who want to extract political mileage. They have already asked Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to halt talks with Israel, as if Israel had already been found guilty.
Israel must prepare a contingency plan in the event that Arafat story sabotages peace negotiations. In 1994, when then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, then-Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Arafat arrived in Egypt to sign the Cairo Agreement, the Palestinian leader created a ruckus on stage when, at the last minute, he changed his mind and refused to sign part of the deal. This prompted then Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to yell at him, "Ya kalb [you dog], sign already!"
The Palestinians themselves could come under renewed scrutiny, since Arafat was holed up in his Israeli-besieged West Bank compound in the months before his death, surrounded by advisers, staff and bodyguards.Jerusalem journalists point the finger at Arafat’s inner circle
The Russian findings were summarized on Friday by a member of the Palestinian team, Dr. Abdullah Bashir. He said the Russian team also found that Arafat died as a result of a toxic substance, but did not find sufficient evidence to point to polonium as the “cause of radiation that led to the death.”
Bashir did not elaborate on the discrepancies.
What they don’t know is where the poison came from, but they are keeping tabs on the story. They theorize that it was one of the powerful men in Arafat’s circle who accessed the polonium from either Israel or the former Soviet Union, where Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas spent time while working on his doctorate.‘Arafat poisoned’ report may hamper Abbas in talks with Israel
Despite his status as father of Palestinian nationhood, Arafat was disliked by most segments of his society, Frisch said. As a result, Israel could expect little more than sporadic demonstrations or stone throwing on the Palestinian street in protest of his alleged poisoning.Former FM insists Israel had no hand in Arafat’s death
“He’s a very controversial figure,” Frisch said. “Among supporters of Hamas there was no love for him, and Palestinian liberals and reformists considered him a dubious character.”
Silvan Shalom, who served as Israel’s foreign minister in 2004 when Yasser Arafat died, insisted Thursday that Israel had “nothing whatsoever” to do with the death of the Palestinian leader. Had Israel wanted to kill Arafat, Shalom said, it would have been “the simplest thing” not to permit him to leave Ramallah for medical treatment in Paris.Facts about Yasser Arafat’s death and life the Guardian won’t report
The original ‘exclusive’ Al Jazeera report on the Swiss findings noted that, in the event Arafat was poisoned, his Palestinian rivals at the time of his death would have to be considered main suspects – a possibility not even mentioned in the more than 3200 words the Guardian devoted to the story.Wave of Palestinian attacks against Israelis washes over Judea and Samaria
Al Jazeera reported that though the evidence suggests poisoning, “no evidence has emerged that implicates [Israel]“, while the Guardian framed the findings as merely ‘not definitively proving that Israel murdered the Palestinian leader’.
An Israeli man and woman were wounded Friday morning when a Palestinian assailant threw a Molotov cocktail at their car as they drove by the Tekoa settlement in Gush Etzion. Both were treated by paramedics at the scene and were taken to Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem for further care. Their car was destroyed in the fire.Border Police shoot, kill knife-brandishing Palestinian at checkpoint near Jerusalem
Friday's attack came after Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian on Thursday at the Tapuach Junction in Samaria, after he used a makeshift gun to shoot at Israelis, according to a witness and Israeli authorities.
The spokesman said the Palestinian man had brandished a knife at a West Bank checkpoint near Jerusalem and ignored calls from paramilitary Border Police officers to stop before he was shot and killed.Shin Bet shuts down Hamas offices in east Jerusalem
Al-Quds Development ran one and Amara al-Aksa the other. Both organizations are part of the Islamic Movement in Israel, and managed from Nazareth and Umm el- Fahm, the Shin Bet said.Fatah defends glorifying terrorists on Facebook: "They are our role models"
Palestinian Media Watch has documented many times that Fatah continuously uses its "Main Page" on Facebook to glorify terrorists. Recently, Fatah used this Facebook page to praise a murderer of two as the "nation's symbol."Shalom threatens to cut off Palestinian electricity over unpaid bills
Now, Fatah has responded to PMW's exposures and to criticism of Fatah by world leaders.
"Israel (i.e., Palestinian Media Watch) has been monitoring Fatah's main [Facebook] page and sending messages to friendly nations regarding what is written on the page. Israel claims this is incitement to violence," the administrator wrote. He addressed Israel, defending Fatah's practice of glorifying terrorists who have murdered Israeli civilians:
"Israel, you oppose our posting photos of Martyrs (Shahids) on our page, [but those Martyrs] are our role models for everything related to freedom."
Energy and Water Minister Silvan Shalom on Thursday threatened to cut off Israel’s electric supply to the Palestinian Authority if it did not pay its massive debts.Hamas Official: We'll Expel or Kill All the Zionists
“They have over a billion shekels of debt and they’ll need to pay them,” he told the Jerusalem Post at the Israel Democracy Institute’s Eli Hurvitz Conference on Economy and Society in Eilat. “We sent them a letter this week and if they don’t give the right response, we will be forced to act.”
A senior Hamas official declared on Thursday that his group intends to stick to its mission - “liberating” all of “Palestine” (meaning all of Israel).Hamas: New Terror War ‘A Matter of Time’
The official, Khalil Al-Khiya, stressed that Hamas will never give up on one inch of “Palestine”. He made the comments during a memorial event for five Hamas terrorists who were killed by IDF soldiers in Gaza last week.
“This way (in which the dead terrorists acted) sends a message to the Zionists, according to which they have no place in the land of Palestine,” said Al-Khiya, who threatened, “We shall expel you from our land, we will fight on it against you, and we will either kill you or expel you from it after you surrender.”
Gaza Minister of Religious Affairs Ismail Radwan accused Israel of “raiding the holy Aqsa Mosque” and called for a holy war, Hamas’ Al-Qassam website reports.Netanyahu urges Kerry not to sign deal with Iran
Each “raid” on the mosque brings a third “intifada” terror war closer, he warned, using the term commonly used by extremist groups to describe Jewish visits to the Mount. Any attack on the mosque is an attack on “the Islamic nation and its dignity,” he declared.
“Iran gets everything that it wanted at this stage and pays nothing. And this is when Iran is under severe pressure. I urge Secretary Kerry not to rush to sign, to wait, to reconsider, to get a good deal,” Netanyahu added. “But this is a bad deal, a very, very bad deal. It’s the deal of a century for Iran; it’s a very dangerous and bad deal for peace and the international community.”Carney Claims No ‘Daylight’ Between U.S. and Israel on Iran; Netanyahu Disagrees
White House press secretary Jay Carney claimed Thursday that there was “no daylight between Israel and the United States” on preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, but that comment is contradicted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s assertion that any deal with the Iranians would be a “mistake of historic proportions.”The Iranians are feeling the pinch
Carney was asked about Netanyahu’s comment, but he nevertheless said the two countries were of one mind on the issue.
Sanctions are what have brought Iran to the table to talk in the first place. In 2012, the Islamic Republic’s net exports of petroleum dropped to their lowest level since 1990.Al Jazeera Paying for Exiled Muslim Brotherhood Leaders’ Hotel Rooms
Its GDP has dropped for the first time in 20 years. The Iranian Central Bank acknowledged an annual inflation rate of 45 percent in late July 2013; many economists believe it is more likely in the 50-70 percent range.
In short, the Iranians are feeling the pinch. The sanctions are working.
Al Jazeera officials are keeping quiet following reports that the Qatari-owned news organization is funding hotel suites for the exiled senior leaders of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.Muslim Brotherhood Loses Appeal Against Ban
Following the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood-backed President Mohamed Morsi in July, many of the Islamist organization’s high ranking officials fled to Qatar, where they are now being hosted by Al Jazeera, according to the Washington Post.
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood lost an appeal against a court decision to ban the group, Al Arabiya reported Wednesday.UAE preempts Muslim Brotherhood with trials
The verdict bans all of the group’s activities and includes seizing its funds.
Concerned by the perceived threat of the Arab Spring as it washed over the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) opted to act defensively, eyeing its opposition as a possible third column. This week, 30 defendants – 20 Egyptians and 10 Emiratis – went on trial in the emirate Abu Dhabi, where they are accused of assisting the Muslim Brotherhood by creating a branch of the Islamist group.Russian parliament passes tough new anti-terror bill
Russian parliament’s lower house on Friday approved new legislation that toughens punishment for terrorism and requires terrorists’ relatives to pay for the damages caused in attacks.
The document comes as Russia is preparing to host the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February amid concerns about security threats posed by an Islamic insurgency that has raged across the North Caucasus region.
