Khaled Abu Toameh: What's Behind Abbas's Renewed Courtship of Hamas?
Abbas is now waging a battle aimed at extracting as many concessions as possible from Israel and the US. He has used the decision to apply for membership in 15 international organizations and treaties as a means to intensify pressure on the Israeli government and US Administration to accept his demands for pursuing the peace talks.Re-evaluate basic assumptions
Abbas may not be sincere about achieving reconciliation with Hamas. He knows that such a move would be counterproductive and that Hamas would take advantage of the reconciliation to advance its goal of seizing control over the West Bank.
But for Abbas, the issue of reconciliation with Hamas is yet another legitimate weapon to scare the Israelis and Americans into submitting to his demands and pre-conditions. It now remains to be seen whether the US Administration will take the bait.
As the prominent Palestinian advisor Professor Ahmad Khalidi has said: "The concept of Palestinian statehood is nothing but a punitive construct devised by our worst enemies -- the United States and Israel -- to constrain Palestinian aspirations and territorial ambitions."The Retrograde Israeli Left
Or as Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas made clear to U.S. President Barack Obama last month, the Palestinian liberation movement will never recognize Israel as a Jewish state or agree to forgo the so-called "right" of refugee return. He wants his state, but without an end to the conflict. He wants a state, rather, in order to continue the conflict.
In fact, there is no internal Palestinian constituency whatsoever pressing Abbas to compromise now and cut an end-of-conflict deal with Israel. Instead, the Palestinians really think they can pressure Israel by recourse to international institutions, in order to push Israel back from its red lines.
Listening to Israel’s “progressives” you might think it was still 1994, as if two decades of failed peace efforts, Palestinian intransigence, and unrelenting incitement and terrorism had simply never happened. They speak as if they’re still living in some heyday of the Oslo peace accords. Naturally, it is the role of the political opposition in any democracy to find fault with the actions of governing political rivals, but what Israel’s left-wing politicians are saying goes far beyond normal critique of government policy despite the fact that, although they would never admit it, the current government’s strategy for peace talks is not fundamentally different from what they themselves propose. (h/t Norman F)
'Every time, the Palestinians run away and try to blame us'
"Every time, the Palestinians run away and try to blame us," Ya'alon said. "On Passover, we need to free ourselves from mental enslavement to irrelevant concepts on the Israeli-Palestinian matter."Leftists Abuzz after TV gets 'Tough' with Terrorist
At a special recess Knesset session called by the opposition to discuss the faltering peace process on Monday, Deputy Minister Ofir Akunis (Likud) said, "The Palestinians have turned extortion into an art form and they know no bounds."
Akunis leveled harsh criticism at the PA, saying, "Every time the talks seem to make progress the Palestinian leaders bolt, essentially spitting in the Americans' faces. Israel has taken far-reaching steps to facilitate the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. If the Palestinians seek unilateral moves, Israel will be free to do so as well."
Left wing Israeli reporters are huffing and puffing, while nationalists are still rubbing their eyes in disbelief, following a relatively tough interview by Channel 2's news team with Palestinian Authority official Jibril Rajoub. The interview aired Friday in Israel's most widely viewed weekend newscast, Ulpan Shishi.What Peace Looks Like … And Requires
The reason for the flurry of emotion is that the interview was not what Israelis had come to expect of such occasions. Instead of the usual mollycoddling that PA officials receive from Israel's mainstream press, Rajoub's interviewers posed reasonably tough questions.
Apologists for the Palestinians claim that they have chosen peace with Israel via the Oslo Accords as well as the subsequent negotiations in which they have engaged. But in point of fact, first Yasir Arafat and now Mahmoud Abbas have steadfastly refused to accept the half a loaf of independence and freedom that a peace agreement would entail. They’ve refused to recognize Israel as a Jewish state or agree to its legitimacy no matter where its borders are drawn. Most of all, they have refused to face down their domestic opponents, such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad. They have instead competed with them for the title of the most anti-Israel. (h/t Norman F)Poll: Israelis glum on framework agreement odds
The majority of Israelis apparently take a dim view of the chances that their government will reach a framework agreement with the Palestinians, a poll published Tuesday showed.Palestinians ready to widen global recognition bid
According to a joint Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University survey, despite the fact that 65 percent of Israelis (62% of Israeli Jews and 80% of Israeli Arabs) favor peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, a decisive 87% are not optimistic about the odds for success (92% of Jewish Israelis and 62% of Arab Israelis).
Only 12% of Israelis (7% of Jewish Israelis and 35% of Arab Israelis) believe that the chances for the US-brokered negotiations to produce an agreement are high.
Ishtayeh said the Palestinians won’t agree to an extension unless Israel first agrees to release the final group of prisoners.Carter Backs PA's UN Move
If it becomes apparent by April 29 that Kerry’s efforts have collapsed, the Palestinians are set to resume the recognition campaign, Ishtayeh said, without giving a timeline.
The 63 agencies, treaties and conventions have been divided into four groups, he said, adding that “the second tranche of UN organizations is ready for signing.”
Asked about possible Israeli retaliation, Ishtayeh said he believes the Palestinians can count on continued financial aid from Europe and the Arab world.
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on Monday expressed support for the Palestine Liberation Organization’s (PLO) move to seek membership in international organizations, reports the Ma’an news agency.Activist: Police Ignore Temple Mount Damage, Disrespect
"The decision by the Palestinians to exercise their right to join international organizations should not be seen as a blow to the peace talks," Carter said in a statement.
"I hope that, on the contrary, it will help to redress the power imbalance between Israelis and Palestinians, as we approach the 29 April deadline set by Secretary Kerry," he added, according to Ma’an.
On the Temple Mount visitors are often witness to picnics, weddings – and soccer games, with Arab children competing in a sweaty, curse-filled game at the holiest site in Judaism. Many Jewish visitors have complained to authorities about this, with little intervention on the part of police.Entry-Permit Forgery Lab Busted Near Hevron
On Monday, Michael Pu'ah, a director of the Manhigut Yehudit (Jewish Leadership) faction of the Likud, filmed a soccer game that took place on the Temple Mount. Speaking to Arutz Sheva, Pu'ah said that he had complained about this a year ago to Public Security Minister Yitzchak Aharonovich, who promised to halt the practice “in accordance with orders by the High Court” that such games not be permitted, Pu'ah said.
An Arab resident of Judea was arrested Sunday night, on suspicion of running a laboratory counterfeiting documents to cross security checkpoints into Israel.PA TV host receives journalism award for show that glorifies terror
The 40-year-old resident of Yatta, an Arab village near Hevron, was arrested by detectives from the Hevron district, together with Judea patrol police officers and border patrol forces, reports Walla!.
The police forces broke into the laboratory Sunday night, where they seized printing machines, laminating machines, stickers and seals.
The Palestinian Authority's policy is to honor terrorist murderers through all of the communication structures under its control. Palestinian Media Watch has documented that the PA TV program For You, a program about and for Palestinian prisoners in Israel, regularly promotes terrorists as role models. The program's host, Manal Seif, has called many murderers "heroes." Following a PMW report on three terrorists who in total are serving 156 life sentences for planning suicide bombings, Manal Seif criticized PMW for "slandering these heroes."PA TV attacks PMW for calling planners of suicide bombings "terrorists"
Now Manal Seif has received recognition for her work. The Palestinian organization Amin Arab Media Internet Network has awarded her the Palestinian Women Media Award for 2014. The network's director, Abu Akar, explained that Seif was selected as the winner due to "her role in serving the prisoners' cause." Deputy PA Minister of Communications Mahmoud Khalifa attended the ceremony.
Human Rights Watch Urges Kerry to Delay Aid to Egypt
Human Rights Watch has called on the United States not to resume military assistance to Egypt until its military-backed government ends human rights abuses and holds violators accountable, reported Reuters.Al-Qaeda Head's Former Deputy Arrested in Egypt
In October, the United States announced it would cut hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Egypt over its displeasure with the military's pace of restoring democracy following the ouster of Muslim Brotherhood president Mohammed Morsi.
Egyptian police have arrested a senior Islamist close to Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri, security officials said on Monday, according to the AFP news agency.Lebanese Leaders in Damage Control as Hezbollah Relaunches Controversial Militia
Thirwat Salah Shehata was arrested in a Cairo suburb, the sources said, adding he had been sentenced to death in absentia in the 1990s for an attempted assassination of a minister.
The militia, created by Hezbollah in 2009, has been a source of tension inside Lebanon in general, and specifically in Sidon. Hezbollah let it be known through Lebanese media that – in response to local concerns over the thuggishness of Resistance Brigades members – it was disbanding the militias in Sidon. Those reports turned out to be false, and in December Hezbollah reportedly ordered a “general mobilization” of Resistance Brigades fighters in response to a possible “snowball” of Sunni-Shiite conflict.Under Hezbollah’s Sway, Lebanese Army Takes Over Border Checkpoints
The gangs were deployed a few weeks ago against several Sunni towns in Lebanon, after Hezbollah seized the strategically critical Syrian border city of Yabroud.
The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) has begun taking over Hezbollah checkpoints in the Bekaa Valley in northeastern Lebanon, close to the border with Syria. This move offers considerable advantages to Hezbollah, which gets the benefits of containment of blowback from Syria in the former of Sunni rebel fighters crossing over into Lebanon and wreaking havoc on Hezbollah’s homefront, while at the same time protecting the Shi’ite group’s public image as a resistance group rather than a surrogate for the Lebanese government. It also helps dampen the obvious incongruity of Hezbollah needing to man checkpoints to contain a blowback that they are simultaneously denying is an actual risk back home:Germany bans fundraising group over Hezbollah ties
German authorities banned an organization they say has raised millions of dollars for the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, which the European Union considers a terrorist organization.Iran’s Choice for U.N. Post Denied Entry Into the U.S.
Emily Haber, a deputy interior minister, said police raided 19 locations early Tuesday in six German states used by the so-called “Orphaned Children Project — Lebanon.”
“The name of the group masks its actual purpose,” Haber said in a statement.
They seized 40 boxes of evidence, including Hezbollah paraphernalia, “many kilograms” of gold coins and two bank accounts containing about €65,000 ($90,000) in total. There were no arrests.
The Senate voted unanimously on Monday night to bar Iran’s newly named ambassador to the United Nations from entering the United States, charging that he was involved in the hostage-taking at the United States Embassy in Tehran in 1979.Senators Call on Obama to Sanction Iran Over Deal with Russia
The vote came together in a matter of hours after Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the Senate’s No. 3 Democrat, joined forces with Senator Ted Cruz, the Tea Party firebrand from Texas, who has been inveighing against the ambassador, Hamid Aboutalebi, for more than a week.
Last week it was reported that Tehran and Moscow had made progress toward an oil-for-goods deal that sources said could be worth $20 billion and enable Iran to boost vital energy exports in defiance of Western sanctions.Former Advisers to Obama: Washington Must Signal to Iran the Costs of Failed Nuke Talks
In the wake of that report, senators Robert Menendez and Mark Kirk wrote to Obama and said that if Iran moved forward with the plan, Washington should respond by reinstating sanctions eased under a preliminary nuclear agreement, rigorously enforce reductions in global purchases of Iranian crude and punish any violations to the fullest extent of the law.
The Wall Street Journal on Friday morning conveyed comments by former Obama administration advisers Robert Einhorn and Dennis Ross calling on the Obama administration and Congress - per the outlet - “to increase the threat of using military force against Tehran if talks aimed at curbing its nuclear program fail – or the country’s Islamist government is caught cheating on the terms of an agreement.”Spain smashes Iran missile material export plan
The Journal noted that while the two are “both strong proponents of President Barack Obama‘s diplomacy with Iran,” existing and persistent gaps between the P5+1 global powers and Iran have reinforced diplomatic unease over whether negotiations can convince Tehran to verifiably put its atomic program beyond use for weaponization.
A Civil Guard statement Monday said officers seized two Leifeld metalworking machines that had been imported illegally from Britain last year.Iranian Nuclear Chief Salehi: We Have Enough Enriched Uranium for 2-3 Years
The statement said the machines are classified as “dual use” — meaning they can be used in both civilian and military industry — and their shipping to Iran would violate UN sanctions.
Aleppo: What’s Left Behind
Those who have escaped the city have found that most of the refugee camps that line the Turkish border are full to capacity. In Marea, a village close to Tel Rifat on the road that runs between Aleppo and the Bab As-Salaam crossing, more than a thousand people are living in a hastily constructed camp that has been funded by the local relief council and private donors. “I won’t go back to Aleppo; I have lost two children already and I won’t lose any more,” said Nesrin, a young mother of four. She said she was struggling to keep her children clean and her husband was finding it impossible to get work, but she could not foresee them moving anywhere else in the near future. There are just four bathrooms in the camp and no electricity, and the local volunteers working there told us they fear diseases could spread as the summer approaches.
Many of the people Asharq Al-Awsat spoke to in Aleppo expressed anger, not only towards the regime but also towards the Syrian National Coalition’s humanitarian wing, the Aid Co-ordination Unit, and the international aid organizations for failing to send assistance to those affected by the bombing. While the large NGOs pour money and manpower into the camps along the border, few are willing to enter into the country to help the people who are still trapped inside. The daunting task of dealing with Aleppo’s huge and continuing humanitarian crisis has largely been left to private donors and local volunteers.
“Nobody is supporting the people who are working inside Syria, they only support the people who are working in Turkey,” said Abdul Aziz, the leader of the Aleppo Local Council. “We need medicines, and equipment for the Civil Defense Team and to clean the streets, especially with the summer coming.” (h/t Zvi)