Friday, December 06, 2013
What You Can Lose When You Try Too Hard
In a sense, this is the greatest tragedy of Oslo. Despite its failure, no one on any side has any better ideas. It seems that it was not the Oslo concept itself that was flawed. Even the many mistakes made during the process, such as the fact that it was negotiated in secret, that it was pushed through the Knesset by a narrow margin, that its supporters felt it unnecessary to build a wide political consensus behind it, would not matter if it had succeeded—if the terrible “no” had not been uttered by Arafat at the end.We Really Need to Talk About Corruption
This “no” is what none of those involved in the peace process has ever really confronted or wanted to acknowledge. To a startling extent, all of the diplomatic efforts expended today by people like Secretary of State John Kerry are attempts to get back to the “no” and somehow reverse it. But there is little reason to think this will happen, mainly because the Palestinians still appear to regard a “yes” as something like a defeat. They do not seem to want a state through an agreement with Israel. They want to wrest it out of Israel’s hands. And, among some of them, a great deal worse than that.
It is this, more than anything else, that puts the lie to the claim that there is nothing to lose by negotiating peace. In fact, the concessions that must be made along the way can have terrible consequences. And at the end, one may well receive a “no.” Or a great deal worse than that. For the moment, it appears Israelis are less than enthusiastic about taking that gamble again.
Today, American diplomats are falling all over themselves to placate the wrong Palestinian leaders. Washington’s goal is to reach a peace deal, pure and simple, even as the Palestinian government suffers from the same endemic corruption and abuse of power it always has. The failure to address these issues will inevitably give rise to the same wave of frustration that elected Hamas, an outcome that would threaten the very peace deal Washington hopes to foster. Furthermore, the best possible way to encourage the civil society needed for a stable state, let alone a durable peace, may be better achieved from the bottom up, rather than simply hoping that corrupt leaders will make it happen from the top down against the interests of their profitable patronage networks and their own continued enrichment.Analysis: A tale of two Kerrys
In other words, administration officials continue to ignore the Palestinian struggle for good governance, despite the lessons learned from the election of Hamas and the Arab Spring movements that have recently toppled multiple Arab regimes similar to the PA.
Seemingly desperate for a peace deal and disinclined to challenge the Fatah leadership, Washington now appears only too willing to enter into yet another transactional relationship at the expense of a transformational one, and at the expense of a sustainable two-state solution.
The John Kerry that Israelis saw deliver a statement to the press following his meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday was not the John Kerry that they saw a short month ago in a joint television interview with an Israeli and Palestinian journalist.Trying to smooth over Iran feud, Kerry moves from sticks to carrots
That Kerry, the one from the interview with Channel 2’s Udi Segal and Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation’s Maher Shalabi on November 7, was the Kerry threatening Israel with a third intifada if the talks with the Palestinians collapsed.
That was the agitated Kerry who lectured about the settlements, pretty much placing the onus for a lack of movement in the talks with the Palestinians on Israel, and warning that if a peace agreement was not reached, Israel would face increasing isolation and delegitimization.
That was the Kerry who said, “Israel says, ‘Oh, we feel safe today, we have a wall, we’re not in a day-to-day conflict, we’re doing pretty well economically.’ Well, I’ve got news for you. Today’s status quo will not be tomorrow’s or next year’s.”
Speaking at a press conference after his meeting with Netanyahu Thursday morning at the Prime Minister’s Office, Kerry went out of his way to please his host. “I join with President [Barack] Obama in expressing to the people of Israel our deep, deep commitment to the security of Israel and to the need to find a peace that recognizes Israel as a Jewish state, that recognizes Israel as a country that can defend itself, by itself,” Kerry said. “That is an important principle with which the prime minister and the president and I are in agreement.”Palestinians reject US security ideas for peace accord
Kerry’s quasi endorsement of Netanyahu’s demand for Israel to be recognized by the Palestinians as a Jewish state does not signify a reversal on US policy. Back in March, Obama had said in Jerusalem that the “Palestinians must recognize that Israel will be a Jewish state.” But still, it’s music to Netanyahu’s ears every time he hears it, and Kerry knew exactly what to say to try to get back on “my friend Bibi’s” good side.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity and declined to elaborate on the proposals, said Kerry presented them to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas after discussing them separately with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.Israel agreed to absorb 200,000 refugees, ex-Fatah leader says
"The Palestinian side rejected them because they would only lead to prolonging and maintaining the occupation," the official said, referring to Israel's hold on the West Bank, where, along with Gaza and east Jerusalem, Palestinians seek an independent state. (h/t MtTB)
Israel agreed to absorb 200,000 Palestinian refugees in its territory during the latter half of 2000, a former Palestinian security official and negotiator told The Times of Israel on Tuesday.Bedouin Issue Prompts More Hate in the Irish Times
Mohammed Dahlan, the former leader of Fatah in the Gaza Strip and a Palestinian negotiator under Yasser Arafat, said that the Israeli position was put forth in the period between the failed Camp David peace summit in July 2000 and the presentation of the Clinton Parameters for a final status agreement in December of the same year.
The Prawer-Begin bill is a five-year economic development initiative seeking to regulate Bedouin settlement in the south of Israel. It aims for a compromise solution for tens of thousands of Bedouin currently scattered in unrecognized villages throughout the Negev, legalizing 63 percent of claimed land.BBC claims Ben Gurion “opposed” the Partition Plan
The plan has become a new cause célèbre for anti-Israel activists who have succeeded in reducing legitimate debate over a very real issue into yet another means to bash Israel.
Writing in the Irish Times, Eamonn McCann resorts to manipulation and falsehoods in an article entitled “Space for everyone in the history of the Negev – except the Bedouins.”
The unsourced, unsupported BBC claim that Ben Gurion “opposed” partition has remained on its website for twelve years and it is clearly high time for that inaccuracy to be corrected. But it is no less relevant to look at the function of that inaccurate claim within the context of the article as a whole.Dueling Arafat Reports Divide Palestinians — And Al Jazeera
The only leader on either side named in that article is Ben Gurion and readers are informed that his and others’ ‘opposition’ to the Partition Plan stemmed from “their ambition was a Jewish state on the entire territory of Mandate Palestine”.
Al Jazeera reported last month that the Palestinian Liberation Organization chairman had died in 2004 after being poisoned — apparently confirming suspicions across the Arab world. The new report flatly contradicts that finding.Golan resident accused of passing information to Syria
And internal Al Jazeera emails seen by BuzzFeed reflect deep internal concern about the network’s relationship with the former PLO leader’s widow, Suha Arafat, and with the scientific researcher involved in the report. “We should be bringing in another independent investigator. This is going to look biased,” one Al Jazeera journalist wrote.
The network Tuesday stood by its reporting, even as it carried the contradictory French report on its website.
The prosecution filed charges in the Nazareth District Court Friday against Majdal Shams resident Rafat Halabi, 28, lifting a gag order on the case.Favorite Course of Terrorists in Israeli Jails - Genocide
According to the indictment, Halabi crossed into Syria three months ago to join the Bashar Assad regime in its fight against opposition rebels. He was arrested upon his return to Israel and interrogated by police and Shin Bet security service agents.
All topics of study for the jailed terrorists were approved by Prison Services, according to the document.Hamas orders hanging of alleged Israel collaborator
The course on genocide reportedly engages questions such as how genocide occurs and what historical processes and forces bring it into being. It also includes an attempt to understand how political regimes decide on genocide as their course of action.
In 2011, before the courses were cancelled, 323 prisoners enrolled in classes, 40% more than in 2010.
After Genocide, the most requested courses were Democracy and Dictatorship, Israel in its First Decade, Between Zion and Zionism, Introduction to Middle Eastern History in the New Era, Islam - Introduction to the Religion's History, and Introduction to National Thought. (h/t Yenta Press)
A Palestinian man who allegedly provided Israeli authorities with secret information was sentenced to death Thursday by a Hamas Military Court in Gaza.Dare We Say It? The Mullahs Must Go
The man, whose identity remains unknown, will be publicly hanged, news site NRG reported.
Khamenei knows that the greatest threat to his power comes from the Iranian people, who despise him and want to be free of his regime. They have long experience with self-government, they are the best-educated people in the Middle East this side of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and they are willing to fight. We should help them.Former Obama Adviser: White House Convinced Israel Not to Strike Iran in 2012
As the Greens wrote to Obama in 2009, “It is up to the countries of the free world to make up their mind. Will they… push every decision to the future until it is too late, or will they reward the brave people of Iran and simultaneously advance Western interests and world peace?”
To date, we have tried to come to terms with the regime and utterly failed to help the Iranian people; even though it wouldn’t be very difficult or expensive to do so. We should maintain sanctions, which send an important political message to the Iranian people, and we should openly support them, call for the release of political prisoners, broadcast accurate news about the Islamic Republic to them, work with the international trade union movement to support Iranian workers (tens of thousands of whom are not being paid on time), and relentlessly expose the crushing repression to which they are subjected and which has not improved under the new President, Hassan Rouhani. But above all, they should hear from us. To my knowledge, no Western government has contacted the Iranian opposition inside the country since shortly after the 2009 uprising. That must change.
Dr. Gary Samore, the recently retired White House Coordinator for Arms Control and Weapons of Mass Destruction, told Israel’s Yediot Ahronot that the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama talked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu down from striking Iran in 2012 to harm its ability to develop nuclear weapons.Hagel reassures Gulf allies that US not naive on Iran
Dr. Samore is now a senior international affairs lecturer at Harvard University, and is visiting Herzliya this week, taking part in a conference on Israel’s overall strategy, Yediot said.
The US is entering the new nuclear pact with Iran “very clear eyed” and it remains to be seen whether Tehran is serious about keeping its nuclear development peaceful, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Friday while on a confidence-building trip in the Persian Gulf.Battlefield lessons in Syria strengthen Hezbollah's fighting force
Hagel spoke from the massive deck of the Navy’s USS Ponce. It gave him a platform to showcase America’s vow that its military commitment to the region remains strong and will not ebb as a result of the Iranian deal.
Fighters from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have helped Bashar al-Assad's regime to stay in power and roll back some of the earlier battlefield gains made by the Syrian armed opposition.Syrian Rebels Allege Assad Used Poison Gas
Hezbollah’s involvement in the Syrian conflict, however, has had a spin-off benefit for the Iranian-backed organization: turning a new generation of young recruits into battle-hardened veterans. This experience should make them a more capable combat force in the event of another war against Hezbollah’s arch enemy – Israel.
Amid the grinding brutality of Syria’s war, analysts say Hezbollah combatants have learned valuable lessons in mounting offensive and defensive operations in urban and rural environments. They have learned how to coordinate with other forces, such as the Syrian army and loyalist paramilitaries; how to build supply lines to sustain long periods of fighting; and simply experience the rigors and chaos of combat.
It’s been a particularly violent day in different hotspots in the world. First, out of Syria, the forces loyal to Syrian dictator Bashar Assad are being accused of using poison gas in Syria’s nearly three-year-old civil war.Israel Completes 245 Mile, NIS 1.6 Billion Security Fence Along Sinai Border with Egypt
These aren’t the first accusations since a massive chemical weapons attack on the outskirts of Damascus in late August nearly prompted a military response from the United States. While the reports are impossible to verify, two different rebel groups are leveling the charge.
After three-and-a-half years of construction and decades of border infiltrations, the last section of the Sinai border fence between Israel and Egypt has finally been completed. Spanning 245 miles, from Rafah to Eilat, the final cost of the fence came in at NIS 1.6 billion ($450 million), one of the largest projects in recent Israeli history.Time poll: Sissi ‘Person of the Year’
Egyptian General Abdel Fattah el-Sissi raked in the most votes in a Time magazine readers poll for the title of “Person of the Year,” beating out Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and American pop star Miley Cyrus, who placed second and third, respectively.Egypt Arrests Most Famous Christian Convert
Sissi, who orchestrated the overthrow of Egypt’s first-ever democratically elected government earlier this year, received 449,596 votes, which comprised 26.2% of polled readers. Erdogan received 356,771 votes (20.8%) and Cyrus received 279,300 votes (16.3%).
Bishoy Armiya, Egypt's most famous Christian convert from Islam, has been arrested by national security forces.
Armiya, formerly known as Mohammed Hegazy, had fought publicly to change his religion on his identification card. He and his family had been running for their lives after Muslim leaders pronounced a death sentence against him.
In a 2010 interview, he told CBN News he had been jailed and tortured by Egyptian state security agents who wanted him to return to Islam.
Now Mideast Christian News reports he's been arrested again, this time for proselytizing.
