‘Israel’

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11:28 pm Sep 2, 2010
Barack Obama: ‘don’t let the chance for peace slip away’
Israel • Palestine • United States

“Speaking ahead of the first direct talks between the two sides for nearly two years, Mr Obama warned the leaders they ‘cannot afford to let it slip away.   Differences between the adversaries are so deep that President Barack Obama’s revival of US efforts to finalise a ‘two-state solution’ that would create a Palestinian state could be wrecked in a matter of weeks.   ‘This moment of opportunity may not soon come again’, said Mr Obama, who was joined by Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State and George Mitchell, the Middle East envoy.   ‘Now is the time for leaders of courage and vision to deliver the peace that their people deserve’.  Mr Obama, who earlier condemned the ‘senseless slaughter’ of four Israeli settlers, promised to put the ‘full weight’ of the US behind the peace effort.   ‘If both sides do not commit to these talks in earnest, then the long-standing conflict will only continue to fester and consume another generation. This we simply cannot allow’, he said.   ‘We know there will be moments that test our resolve.  We know that extremists and enemies of peace will do everything in their power to destroy this effort’.   As Mr Obama held individual meetings with leaders from the region, it became clear that in the aftermath of the killing of four Israeli settlers by Hamas neither side was able to soften their position.   Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said there was no change to the cabinet decision to end the partial construction freeze on new settlements in the West Bank on Sep 26.   The freeze had been crucial in bringing the Palestinians to the table after they left talks in December 2008 when Israel launched a devastating attack on Gaza, the Palestinian territory controlled by Hamas militants”

9:50 pm Sep 1, 2010
Middle East talks: “No real desire for change spells little hope of success”
Israel • Palestine • United States

“The mood is gloomy as the Middle East peace talks begin because neither side appears prepared to make the concessions that meaningful negotiations require  No previous round of Middle East peace negotiations has begun with such rock-bottom expectations as the one being launched in Washington.  Neither side expects to be able to reach an agreement unless the US tries to impose one.   And few believe that if Barack Obama does attempt that, Binyamin Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas will be able to live with it – the Israeli premier because of his fractious rightwing coalition and the Palestinian president because of Hamas opposition and wider despair over years of peace ‘process’ without change.  Both sides prefer to continue the existing situation as long as they do not have to pay the costs that an agreement requires,” argued Nahum Barnea, the Israeli commentator.  Amr Moussa, secretary-general of the Arab League, was a tad more diplomatic. ‘We are hoping talks will succeed,” he said, “but we are all very pessimistic about the viability of the peace process because of past experience’.  Still, convention – and deference to the US host – requires a polite suspension of belief.  It was the same when George Bush convened the Annapolis conference in 2007 in a belated attempt to make up for ignoring the Israel-Palestine conflict for so long after 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq.  Scepticism was profound then too – even though everyone, including a Syrian minister, turned up for the group photographs at the launch of another process that predictably led nowhere slowly.  On the face of it, little has changed since. The core issues of the conflict remain the same: West Bank settlements, the future of Jerusalem, final borders, Israel’s demand for recognition as a Jewish state and the Palestinians’ for their ‘right to return’.  Overall, though, the situation is worse”

5:33 pm Aug 4, 2010
“Israel fears Turks could pass its secrets to Iran”
Brazil • Iran • Israel • Turkey • United Nations

“Israel’s Defence Minister Ehud Barak has voiced concern that once-stalwart ally Turkey could share Israeli intelligence secrets with Iran, revealing a deep distrust as Ankara’s regional interests shift.   The leaked comments by Barak cast doubt on how much Israel is willing or able to reconcile with Turks outraged at its navy’s killing of nine of their compatriots aboard an aid ship that tried to run the Gaza Strip blockade on May 31.   Until relations soured, Turkey had been the Muslim power closest to the Jewish state, a friendship largely based on military cooperation and intelligence sharing.   In a closed-door briefing to activists aligned with his centre-left Labour Party at a kibbutz near Jerusalem on July 25, Barak still called Turkey a ‘friend and major strategic ally’.   But he described Hakan Fidan, the new head of its National Intelligence Organisation, as a ‘friend of Iran’.   ‘There are quite a few secrets of ours (entrusted to Turkey) and the thought that they could become open to the Iranians over the next several months, let’s say, is quite disturbing’, he said in a segment of the speech broadcast by Army Radio. Barak was speaking in the context of past Israeli-Turkish intelligence cooperation, an audience member told Reuters.  An Israeli defence official said the event was private and that the aired recording of Barak had not been authorised.   Appointed in May, Fidan was previously a foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, whose AK Party has roots in political Islam and has often censured Israel.   Political sources in Ankara said that Fidan, a former envoy to theUN nuclear watchdog, was also involved in a Turkish- and Brazilian-brokered compromise proposal — received coolly in the West — to curb Iran’s controversial uranium enrichment”

5:05 pm Aug 4, 2010
“Key political risks to watch in Iran”
Iran • Israel • United States

“President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has derided a new wave of sanctions against Iran as ineffective, but, as the measures bite, he has said the Islamic Republic is willing to return to talks about its nuclear program.   Iran has always said its nuclear activities are peaceful, but that has not assuaged fears that its real motivation is seeking an atomic bomb, something the United States, and its ally Israel, say they could not tolerate.   So the risk of military action against Iran — something which would have major repercussions on the global oil trade — remains, despite renewed efforts to seek a diplomatic solution.   At home, Ahmadinejad has largely re-asserted political control, with a crackdown on the opposition which challenged his 2009 re-election in the streets.  But economic problems might stir further unrest.  As well as the new sanctions, Ahmadinejad’s policy to phase-out subsidies on staples such as fuel and food — starting in September — is also likely to have a big economic impact.  Both might already be having at least a psychological effect on Iranians who complain of rising inflation, despite official figures to the contrary, and growing queues at filling stations, possibly due to fears that sanctions will cause gasoline shortages”

Click here for an outline of the main political risks for Iran:

9:30 pm Jul 7, 2010
“Israeli army: Gaza war troops to be disciplined”
Israel • Palestine

“The Israeli military indicted a soldier  on a charge of manslaughter during last year’s war in the Gaza Strip — the most serious criminal charge to come out of an internal investigation into the devastating offensive in the Hamas-ruled territory.   The soldier was among three troops, including a field commander, to face new disciplinary action stemming from their conduct during the offensive, which has drawn international condemnation for its civilian death toll.   An Israeli human rights group praised the announcement, but said the disciplinary measures announced by the army so far were insufficient.   The steps against the soldiers were linked to four specific incidents during the offensive, which Israel launched to halt years of rocket fire from Gaza.  Around 1,400 Gazans, many of them civilians, were killed in three weeks of fierce urban fighting and aerial bombardments.  Thirteen Israelis were killed.  A report commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council accused Israel of deliberately targeting civilians, a charge Israel rejects.  In a statement, the military said its chief prosecutor would indict an infantry sergeant for manslaughter in connection with an incident in which two Palestinian women — a mother and daughter — were killed while reportedly holding white flags.   The military said there were discrepancies between the troops’ accounts of the incident and the details reported widely by human rights groups.  The troops reported shooting one man at the site, not two women, and on a different date.   Also, it was unclear exactly whom the soldier was charged with killing.  Asked for clarification, the military did not offer further details.   The military said this was the first manslaughter indictment from the Gaza war”

9:25 pm Jul 7, 2010
“In tit-for-tat with Obama, it’s Netanyahu’s turn to move”
Israel • Palestine • United States

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu andUS President Barack Obama will have two issues on the agenda at their meeting at the White House  – stemming Iran’s growing strength and Palestinian statehood.   Netanyahu wants Obama to act against Iran and Obama wants Netanyahu to curb the settlements and reach an arrangement in the West Bank.   This deal, foiling Iran’s nuclearization for stopping the West Bank settlements, has been on the agenda since the two were elected.   Each one knows what the other wants, but is trying to lower the price. Netanyahu would have been happy for America to strike Iran while Israel continued ruling the territories. Obama would have been happy for Israel to remove all West Bank settlements, withdraw to the Green Line and clear the area for an independent Palestine, without having to confront Iran.  During their first year in office the two did not reach an agreement or move toward their mutual goals.  Iran is enriching uranium and there is no Palestinian state.  But Obama did strengthen Israel in its arms race against Iran and protected it from international investigation committees and courts, in exchange for a partial construction freeze in the settlements, removing roadblocks in the West Bank, strengthening the Palestinian Authority’s defense forces and alleviating the blockade on Gaza”

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