04/05 Links: Kerry ‘Smothered in a Middle East Sandstorm’; The Bad Faith of Mahmoud Abbas

From Ian:

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Caroline Glick: A chance to move on

His desperate behavior showed PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas that there are no depths Kerry will not plumb to prolong the fictional peace process.
And so on Tuesday, in an open act of contempt for Kerry, Abbas applied for membership in international bodies, in breach of the foundational requirement of the peace process: that a Palestinian state only be formed as a consequence of a peace agreement with Israel to prevent such a state from gaining independence while in a state of war with Israel.
Until now, it was US pressure on Israel for concessions to the Palestinians that kept the Israeli Left going. Now, without any leadership, with its power base in the permanent bureaucracy weakened, and the US role as mediator wholly discredited not only among the Israeli public, but in the US media, the Left has nothing to latch on to.
If the government uses the opportunity to abandon the two-state paradigm, it stands its best chance in 20 years of succeeding.

To my colleague Caroline, a caveat

Regrettably, I feel this is the case with her new book, The Israeli Solution: A One-State Plan for Peace in the Middle East, which has received a warm reception among leading rightwing and conservative circles.
The book has considerable value for two reasons. First, it represents a welcome, and much needed, challenge to the monopolistic stranglehold the two-state approach has had on much of the public discourse on the Palestinian issue.
Second, it provides a penetrating historical review of how this choke-hold developed, particularly regarding the formulation of US Mideast policy, and of why this detrimental impediment should be removed.
However, while I strongly endorse her admirable analysis of the pernicious pervasiveness of the two-state principle, I strongly disagree with the conclusions she draws from that analysis. I therefore find myself compelled to take issue with her prescription for the measures with which the problem should be confronted, and with the nature of the alternatives she proposes to replace the dysfunctional paradigm that hitherto dominated the discourse. (h/t Bob Knot)

The Bad Faith of Mahmoud Abbas

The conclusion can only be that Abbas on behalf of the Palestinians is trying to prevent the peace process from continuing by preventing the possibility of negotiations. At his meeting with President Obama on March 17, 2014 he made it clear that he would not recognize Israel as a Jewish State, knowing that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had made this a condition for resumption of negotiations.
Most important of all is the sad realization that the Palestinian leaders show bad faith in their unwillingness to abide by international agreements. The crucial factor involved is the Oslo Accord of September 13, 1993, with Article V on permanent status negotiations issues that needs quoting in full. It says “It was understood that several issues were postponed to permanent status negotiations, including: Jerusalem, refugees, settlements, security arrangements, borders, relations and co-operation with other neighbors, and other issues of common interest. The outcome of these permanent status negotiations should not be prejudiced or pre-empted by the parties.”
It is essential that the officials of the 15 bodies to which Abbas is making applications for membership, as well as President Obama and the US State Departments should remind him of Article V before any action is taken. (h/t Elder of Lobby)

"Facts Have Become Distorted, Truth Has Become Irrelevant ..." (video)

Prominent British Zionist Paul Charney has initiated the following e-petition to the UK's Department for Internal Development (DFID). It is available for signing here:
"The Palestinian Authority (PA) currently provides salaries to any Palestinian convicted of committing terrorism offences against Israel. These wages are directly pegged to the length of the sentence, so the more grievous the crime, the higher the salary. Since these wages are much larger than those earned by average Palestinians, they clearly reward violence, including murder, and undermine peace. Around 40 per cent of the PA’s budget is made up from donor aid; the UK government has promised £33 million of taxpayer’s money for the 2013/14 period alone. The Palestinian ministers responsible for this policy publicly deride international donors who express unhappiness with their money being used to pay terrorists; only a credible threat of this aid being removed will alter the situation. We are therefore calling on DFID to cease all direct funding to the Palestinian Authority until it agrees to no longer provide salaries for those convicted of committing violent acts against Israel."

A False 'Admission' Begets Washington Post False Coverage

“Some ideas are so absurd that only an intellectual could believe them.” So said George Orwell. His observation could apply to recent Washington Post coverage of Theater J’s production of “The Admission.”
The work, by Israeli playwright Motti Lerner, raises but does not answer directly a question: Did Israeli forces massacre civilians in the village of Tantura in 1948? Never mind that the question, or rather allegation, already had been answered twice in Israeli courts, the second time on appeal to the Supreme Court. The massacre claim, made in a master’s thesis at Haifa University, was held to libel the soldiers who fought in the battle for Tantura.
Regardless, Lerner’s play pivots on insinuations of a slaughter of non-combatants in the village of “Tantur” and its destructive reverberations generations later. The District of Columbia Jewish Community Center houses Theater J. Its production of “The Admission” became particularly controversial when a local group, Citizens Opposed to Propaganda Masquerading as Art (COPMA), campaigned against staging the play at an institution subsidized by the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington.

The Economist falsely claims that exports from Gaza are banned.

First, it should be pointed out that there is nothing prohibiting the Palestinian artist in Gaza from sending the original painting to Israel, as there is regular postal service between the two territories. Moreover, The Economist blogger’s suggestion that ‘exports from Gaza are banned’ is flatly untrue.
The following graph published by Gisha – an NGO whose mission is to ”protect the freedom of movement of Palestinians, especially Gaza residents” – illustrates the number of truckloads of goods exiting Gaza for export (to the U.S., Europe and the Arab world).

Propaganda in the guise of art from the BBC News Gaza office

As the lively flow of Western politicians, activists and journalists to the Gaza Strip indicates, Hawajri’s claim that “the only way to enter is from the sea” is patently inaccurate. No explanation is offered as to why the Gaza Strip does not have a functioning airport and no mention is made of the fact that thousands of people exit the Gaza Strip via the Erez crossing alone every month or that there are no restrictions on exports from the territory.
And what of Hawajri himself? Well, according to his self-composed Twitter profile he has visited Jordan, Italy, France, Switzerland and Egypt. According to his profile on the website of the Al-Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art, Hawajri visited Jerusalem, Alexandria in Egypt and Pescara in Italy in 2008 alone.

Former Israeli Ambassador Pins Dead Peace Process on American Wishful Thinking, Says Kerry ‘Smothered in a Middle East Sandstorm’ (INTERVIEW)

Yoram Ettinger, the former Israeli Ambassador for U.S. Congressional Affairs, on Thursday had harsh words for U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who he said has ignored the lessons of history in favor of “wishful thinking.”
Hitting at the heart of Israel’s relationship with the U.S., and informed by his years as Israel’s Consul General in Houston, Texas, Ettinger told The Algemeiner in an interview that Kerry’s refusal to acknowledge the historical facts and realities of the Middle East left America’s top diplomat “smothered in a Middle East sandstorm.”

Palestinians Issue, Then Disavow, List of Conditions for Talks

Reports of the Palestinians’ new demands, moreover, were assessed by Israeli outlet Yediot Aharonot as indicating an even further “hardening of positions.” The list included requirements that the Jewish state cede East Jerusalem, lift restrictions on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, end anti-terror operations in parts of the West Bank, and release 1,200 prisoners.

Kerry’s threat to ‘evaluate’ next steps fails to break peace deadlock

Hours after US Secretary of State John Kerry warned that he needed to “evaluate very carefully” his ongoing engagement in peace efforts, and that the US was “not going to sit there indefinitely,” Palestinian Authority officials insisted Friday night that they had not abandoned the negotiating table, and Israeli officials said peace talks could resume if the PA rescinded its applications to join 15 UN and other international treaties. But officials on both sides sounded deeply pessimistic about the chances of saving the peace process, and each blamed the other for the rupture.
“If the Palestinians rescind [the applications signed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday], then we can resume [negotiations],” Israel’s Channel 2 news quoted Israeli officials as saying.

UN Bodies Double-Edged Sword for Palestinians

The PA’s human-rights violations against other Palestinians may not be well publicized but they are no secret either. Israel’s Economy Minister Naftali Bennett has even spoken of pursuing the PA at the ICC for its sponsorship of terrorism. That is certainly a reminder that in the event that the Palestinians were ever to join these more significant bodies, we need not assume that attempts at prosecution would be all in one direction. And it is for that very reason that Abbas will no doubt be far more cautious about applying to join the international organizations that actually carry the most significant clout. In the meantime the diplomatic war of words, threats, and counter-threats goes on. We are pretty much back to where we were before Kerry’s embarrassingly ill-conceived process began: negotiating about negotiating.

Abbas rejects plea by Kerry to halt international treaty applications

According to the AFP report, Kerry sternly warned Abbas that Israel was threatening a strong response to the Palestinian move.
Abbas reportedly shrugged off the cautionary words saying, "Israel scares no one. They can do what they want."

PA Foreign Minister Doesn’t Expect “Any Consequences” from US on UN Moves

Reuters on Thursday published details from a Wednesday press conference held by Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki, in which Malki declared that he didn’t “expect any consequences coming from the U.S. Congress” after Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas signed papers requesting membership for the “State of Palestine” in 15 international treaties.

‘Palestinian prisoners to embark on hunger strike’

Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli jails will begin a new wave of protests next week, including a hunger strike that will last indefinitely, a senior Palestinian official said on Friday.
Ziad Abu-Ein, the Palestinian Authority’s deputy minister for prisoner affairs, said the protests are in retaliation for Israel’s failure to release a fourth group of pre-Oslo prisoners, as agreed to at the beginning of the current round of US-brokered peace talks.

Iron Beam Intercepts Mortar Shells ‘Like Flies’

Israel’s new Iron Beam anti-mortar shell system achieved a high interception rate in tests that showed it “shoots down flying objects like flies,” according to the CEO of Rafael Advanced Systems, which developed the technology.
Yedidia Yaari told Israel Defense, “This is a system for a shorter range than Iron Dome,” which has been deployed around urban centers and has a high success rate of interception short and medium-range missiles.
The Iron Beam uses a laser that “is designed to intercept simpler munitions, such as mortars,” Yaari explained.

‘Every counter-terrorism raid you’ve heard about includes us’

Hidden from view in camouflaged lookout positions, soldiers from the Nitzan Combat Intelligence Collection Battalion keep a close eye on terrorist suspects and transmit live data from a range of sensors to military commanders planning the next counter-terrorism raid.
Should peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority fail and result in an elevated level of violence, the battalion’s members and their ghost-like presence throughout the West Bank will direct the army to the location of terrorist suspects. That is what the battalion, under the IDF Central Command, has been doing until now, and its members say they are ready to deal with any future threats.
“We’ve been involved in every incident that made the news involving an operation in Judea and Samaria.
We identify the enemy, and provide data to other forces. Our mission includes monitoring suspects trying to escape, or those who attempt to fire on the army,” said Maj. Nadav Abargil, a company commander in the battalion.

Mubarak Says Jews Are Trying to Take Over Sinai

Speaking to the news outlet from his hospital bed, the former leader said that in the past, the Muslim Brotherhood sought to take over the eastern bank of the Suez Canal as a pathway to bring foreign companies there on foreign passports.
“But they actually were Jews, who are continuing to spread out, building facilities and places until they reach [the Sinai city] Al-Arish,” he claimed.
“In such a scenario, we will lose the Sinai because of the Israeli companies that occupy it. Likewise, they might also be entering it on U.S. passport[s] except they are Israeli citizens,” he said. “If they want to invest in the sea, why don’t they go to Al-Ain Al-Sukhna [a tourist and industrial town on the Gulf of Suez], for instance, and revive its port? What they mean [by going to] the [eastern] bank of the Suez Canal means that they want the Sinai, if truth be told.”

Minister: Power outage could reach 6 hours daily due to fuel shortage

Power outages could be extended from two and a half hours to 6 hours aday due to fuel shortage, Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker told CBC Channel Wednesday.
If the fuel available to the Ministry of Electricity becomes 10 percent less than the required quantity to run power plants, deficit in the capacity of electricity will reach 3,000 megawatts, which means power outage would be from two and a half hours to three hours a day, the minister said.
He added if a shortage in fuel reached 20 percent, power outage could extend to six hours a day.

Syrian Opposition Accuses Assad of Chemical Attack

Syrian opposition activists have once again accused President Bashar Al-Assad’s forces of using chemical weapons, Reuters reported Friday.
The alleged attack took place in the Jobar neighborhood of Damascus on Thursday. The opposition showed footage of an apparently unconscious man lying on a bed and being treated by medics.

What does Erdogan’s AKP election victory say about Turkish society?

Erdogan has clamped down on the press, internet, and weeded out his opponents in the police and prosecutor’s office after corruption charges broke in December. And despite this, his party still gained widespread support despite polarizing Turkish society.
The growing fracture was evident on Tuesday as thousands gathered in Ankara to contest the results and demand a recount.
“Is Turkey still part of the free world?” asked Harold Rhode, a senior fellow at the New-York-based Gatestone Institute and a former adviser at the Pentagon told The Jerusalem Post.

Turkish PM lampooned for 'helium' voice

Turks on Twitter are making jokes about Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan after a campaign speech he gave in which his voice was very high-pitched - with many on Twitter saying it was if he had sucked in helium.

Prime minister Erdogan you won't believe the voice

Controversial UK TV show claims Hitler’s wife may have had Jewish ancestry

After the hairs were acquired, a genetic analysis by a team of scientists on the show revealed that Braun, the Aryan poster girl, may have had Jewish ancestry on her mother’s side. In DNA from the hair, they found a sequence passed down through the maternal line — haplogroup N1b1 — which was “strongly associated” with Ashkenazi Jews.
Ashkenazi Jews dispersed into central and eastern Europe in the early Middle Ages, and some converted to Catholicism in Germany in the 19th century.
“This is a thought-provoking outcome — I never dreamt that I would find such a potentially extraordinary and profound result,” presenter Evans said of the findings.

Dutch community rediscovers forgotten mikvahs

A Dutch Jewish organization rediscovered two ancient ritual baths that had been forgotten after the Holocaust.
In reporting about the find Friday, the Crescas Jewish education institute wrote on its website that large parts of the 19th-century ritual baths, or mikvahs, were unearthed last week at a Jewish community building in the northern city of Groningen.
“The mikvahs are an exciting find,” Crescas wrote. “They are remarkably well-preserved. The marble of one of the baths was partially damaged during renovations.”
The mikvahs, which are seven-feet deep, have seven marble stairs, according to Crescas.

British Library Publishes 1917 Letter Calling for Creation of Jewish State in Saudi Arabia

On Thursday, the British Library said on its website that, in the letter, in French, dated September 12, 1917, Britain’s Ambassador to France, Lord Francis Bertie, received this “unusual proposal” from the unknown Dr. M. L. Rothstein.
The saga was revealed in diplomatic correspondence between Bertie and British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour, who weeks later published his eponymous declaration, in a letter to Lord Rothschild, expressing Britain’s support for the Zionist movement’s aim of “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.”
Rothstein asked for British arms and support “for the conquest of the Turkish province of El Hassa,” an oasis on the east coast of present Saudi Arabia, that had been promised but not yet delivered to the Ibn Saud family.
Rothstein said: “I undertake to assemble, for next spring, a Jewish fighting troop, a force of 120,000 strong men” that could be doubled with soldiers provided by Britain and its allies. He admitted that the plan “may appear unrealistic,” but this would cease “as soon as the first thousand men have arrived on the scene.”