News Update - December 4

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http://www.centerpeace.org ** Israel and the Middle East News Update ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Friday, December 4 ------------------------------------------------------------ Click here for a printer-friendly version. (http://centerpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/December-4.pdf) Headlines: * Rivlin: Confederation of Two States Is the Only Solution * West Bank Settlements Are Legal, Foreign Ministry Says * Arab MK: Does Arab Minority Integrate into Israeli Society? * Wild Outposts Reveal Extreme of ‘Hilltop Youth’ * Police: Difficulty Indicting Young Jewish Suspects for Duma Terror Attack * Hebron Stabbers: 15 and 17 Year-Old Palestinians * Leader of Sinai ISIS Affiliate Visits Gaza, Coordinating with Hamas * Israeli Jets Carried Out Strike North of Damascus Commentary: * New York Times: “Israeli Military Leaders Agree: Separation is a Must” - Advertisement Campaign: “One State or Two?” * Al-Monitor: “The Radicalization of Israel” - By Nurit Canetti, News Anchor, “Security Zone” ** Ha'aretz ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Rivlin: Confederation of Two States Is the Only Solution (http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.689949) ------------------------------------------------------------ President Reuven Rivlin believes the appropriate solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict is the establishment of two states, Israeli and Palestinian, in the context of a confederation with defined borders and land swaps. Rivlin's statement was made in a meeting with foreign journalists, the radio station said, adding that a recording of the conversation had come into its possession. There was no indication as to when the statement was made. The president predicated his two-state solution on the existence of only one army – Israel's – and two parliaments with two constitutions. See also, “Israeli President Rivlin Proposes Israeli-Palestinian Confederation” (i24 News) (http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/diplomacy-defense/94493-151204-israeli-president-rivlin-proposes-israeli-palestinian-confederation) ** Times of Israel ------------------------------------------------------------ ** West Bank Settlements Are Legal, Foreign Ministry Says (http://www.timesofisrael.com/west-bank-settlements-are-legal-foreign-ministry-asserts/) ------------------------------------------------------------ The construction and establishment of Jewish settlements in the West Bank is legal under both Israeli and international law, as well as justified on historical and ethical grounds, according to a new document drafted by the Foreign Ministry. The document, was issued under the directive of Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely and distributed to Israeli diplomats across the globe. It states that Israel has “valid property claims” to West Bank territory, as “Jewish affinity” with the region and in cities such as Hebron is thousands of years old. See also, “New Foreign Ministry Document: 'Settlements’ Are Legal” (Arutz Sheva) (http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/diplomacy-defense/94493-151204-israeli-president-rivlin-proposes-israeli-palestinian-confederation) ** Jerusalem Post ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Arab MK: Does Arab Minority Integrate into Israeli Society? (http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Arab-MK-expert-debate-Does-the-Arab-minority-integrate-into-Israeli-society-436292) ------------------------------------------------------------ Israeli Arab MK Esawi Frej and expert on the Arab minority, Prof. Hillel Frisch, debated at Bar-Ilan University the Arab community’s success at integrating into Israeli society. MK Esawi Frej argued Israel should be “a state for all its citizens” and the fact that “we are part of the Palestinian nation” is compatible with playing “an active part in the Israeli state.” It can be just like in any European country, he said, where a minority is integrated into the state. “Now a days, with [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s right wing government, he continues saying to the Arab minority: ‘You are not part of the country, you only live here. If you want to be Israeli, you must be Zionist and a Jew.’” ** Ynet News ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Wild Outposts Reveal Extreme of ‘Hilltop Youth (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4734509,00.html) ’ ------------------------------------------------------------ The radical right-wing 'hilltop youth' have become in recent years a major headache for Israel's security forces, with their incitement against the authorities and their desire for revenge. They are younger, more radical, have dropped out of the education system and are trying to find their way in the hills. Some study in yeshivas and even work during the day, but by evening return to the 'Baladim outpost' in the Binyamin region of the West Bank - which has become a pilgrimage site - and spend the night there. They all have one common denominator: Serious friction with the authorities. Going through the Facebook pages of several of the hilltop youth placed in administrative detention reveals incitement against senior military officers like former GOC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Nitzan Alon. ** Ma'ariv ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Police: Difficulty Indicting Young Jewish Suspects for Duma ------------------------------------------------------------ For several months, security officials have clearly stated they know the identity of the perpetrators of the arson terror attack at the Dawabshe home in the Palestinian village Duma. Yesterday the court permitted it to be reported that several young Israelis, suspected of belonging to a Jewish terrorist group that carried out terror attacks including the Duma attack, had been arrested. However, security officials voiced doubt as to the establishment’s ability to indict them. The investigators say this is a group of young Jewish extremists who are “experts in concealing information and know exactly how to behave and what do in interrogation rooms. At this stage we are far from drawing up indictments.” See also, “Despite Arrests, West Bank Arson Case Is Far From Solved” (Ha'aretz) (http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.689960) ** Arutz Sheva ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Hebron Stabbers: 15 and 17 Year-Old Palestinians (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/204421#.VmGJkd-rTBI) ------------------------------------------------------------ The terrorists behind the Hebron stabbing attack (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/204394) Thursday night were a pair of teen cousins living in the city in Judea. Mustafa and Taher Fanoun, 15 and 17, arrived at a security checkpoint in Hebron's Tel Rumeida neighborhood overnight and stabbed a soldier; IDF forces shot them dead at the scene. Taher posted to his Facebook page that he is a member of the "Hizab a-Tahrir" - a group which advocates an Islamist Caliphate, like Islamic State (ISIS) - and urged his fellow Palestinian Arabs to wage attacks in the name of establishing a state under Islamist Sharia law. ** BICOM ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Leader of Sinai ISIS Affiliate Visits Gaza, Coordinating w/ Hamas (http://www.bicom.org.uk/news-article/27755/) ------------------------------------------------------------ The leader of the ISIS-affiliated terror group Sinai Province is reportedly in the Gaza Strip for talks with Hamas over deepening cooperation which already exists between them. Although Hamas officially opposes ISIS, Israeli security agencies have assessed for some time that there is ongoing cooperation between Hamas and Sinai Province, which pledged loyalty to ISIS last year. Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon said in July, “Hamas is fighting ISIS in the [Gaza] Strip, but on the other side there is cooperation between Hamas elements from Gaza and ISIS in Sinai.” See also, “Islamic State's Sinai Chief Said in Gaza to Coordinate with Hamas” (Times of Israel) (http://www.timesofisrael.com/islamic-states-sinai-chief-said-in-gaza-to-coordinate-with-hamas/) ** Times of Israel ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Israeli Jets Carried Out Strike North of Damascus - Reports (http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-jets-carry-out-strikes-north-of-damascus-reports/) ------------------------------------------------------------ Israeli jets carried out several raids north of Damascus overnight Thursday-Friday, Channel 2 reported, citing foreign reports. There were no immediate reports of casualties. The airstrikes were said to have targeted a four-truck Syrian army convoy, loaded with ballistic missiles. The Israeli planes struck the vehicles after they left an army base, the reports said. The Israeli Air Force also reportedly hit a gas supply, sparking massive explosions. Israeli airstrikes in Syria have been widely reported over the last almost-five years of the country’s civil war, though officials have refused to confirm them on the record. See also, “IDF: ‘We Don’t Move A Centimeter in Syria Without Informing the US’” (Algemeiner) (http://www.algemeiner.com/2015/12/03/idf-we-dont-move-a-centimeter-in-syria-without-informing-the-us/) ** The New York Times – December 4, 2015 ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Israeli Military Leaders Agree: Separation Is a Must ------------------------------------------------------------ http://centerpeace.org/center-news/one-state-or-two/ ** Al-Monitor – December 2, 2015 ------------------------------------------------------------ ** The Radicalization of Israel (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/12/israeli-mainstream-two-state-solution-left-right-settlers.html) ------------------------------------------------------------ By Nurit Canetti Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emerged satisfied (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/11/netanyahu-obama-meeting-compensation-package-disengagement.html) from his Nov. 9 meeting with US President Barack Obama in Washington, but his coalition partners made sure to dampen his enthusiasm. At the meeting, Netanyahu had spoken about his commitment to a two-state solution. HaBayit HaYehudi Chairman Naftali Bennett, in competition with Netanyahu for right-wing voters, considers the concept illegitimate. Instead, Bennett supports the partial annexation of the occupied territories to Israel. “When the prime minister supports the creation of a Palestinian state, that is not a right-wing government (http://glz.co.il/1064-71981-HE/Galatz.aspx) ,” said Bennett to party activists. Bennett is not alone in his thinking. Some members of Netanyahu’s own Likud feel the same way. If, in the past, the political camps were divided over the question of how to realize a two-state solution and whether a trustworthy partner existed on the Palestinian side, today anyone who says the phrase “two-state solution” is viewed as a left-wing extremist by those on the right. This exemplifies the radicalization of Israeli society (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/07/israel-center-left-camp-likud-veer-right-lapid-herzog.html) . The public discourse in Israel leaves the impression that the society is divided between the two extremes on the right and the left, with an ever-widening ideological chasm between them. Nevertheless, there is a silent majority of citizens whose mouths remain shut, their voices absent from social networks and the public space — the Israeli mainstream, the centrists. “The range of what is permitted and forbidden to be said on the social networks has shrunk greatly since Operation Protective Edge,” said Karine Nahon, an information politics expert at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya and the University of Washington. “In my eyes, the networks are the looking-glass of reality. There are some reflections of this, for example, in the call to dismiss people from their jobs as a result of things they write on the networks. We have also seen the seepage of violence (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/fr/originals/2014/07/incitements-protective-edge-ben-ari-danon-regev-galon.html) from the networks to the streets. During the Protective Edge campaign, right-wingers went to demonstrations against the war and hit protesters (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DuKTI7caiA) .” According to Nahon, most people hid anonymously behind their keyboards before the campaign in Gaza, but today many pen their invectives while revealing their names along with photos of themselves, sometimes even with their children. “It began with Operation Protective Edge but deteriorated further during the [March 17] elections and now during the current wave of terror. Everyone attacks everyone else, from right to left and vice versa. But we need to remember the bottom line — that we’re only talking about a few tens of thousands of vocal civilians, some of whom may even have phony profiles. That’s not a lot, but on the networks it creates the impression of a huge mob.” So where is everyone else? The only place where the voice of the moderate majority has been heard of late was at the memorial rally (http://www.timesofisrael.com/obama-to-address-rabin-memorial-rally-in-recorded-message/) marking the 20th anniversary of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination, held in the Tel Aviv square bearing his name. According to police estimates, 100,000 people attended the gathering, which was organized to be free of political messaging (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/10/yitzhak-rabin-yitzhak-shamir-debate-prime-minister-leader.html) , only calling for tolerance and the denunciation of violence. To those in attendance, the rally seemed like a cry of the silent masses for calm and conciliation (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/07/israel-tisha-beav-temple-destruction-rabin-murder-hatred.html) , for a united social front to avoid the destruction of the Third Temple, that is, the Jewish nation. According to Yedidia Stern, a law professor and vice president of research at the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI), the Rabin rally was a manifestation of political capital that no Israeli leader to date has succeeded in harnessing and turning into a tool for leadership. In a conversation with Al-Monitor, Stern said that Israel is in the throes of a leadership crisis and a culture war among its citizens. “The manifestations of the war are religious, national and global, and it’s not only that the mainstream has shrunk. The disparate visions (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/10/netanyahu-david-ben-gurion-vision-violence-terror.html) of the future of the state are the key to understanding the situation. There is a big quarrel going on regarding how to understand the current reality and the future. The extremist camps are gaining strength around the unresolved questions, and the inability to talk to one another is only growing.” The results of IDI’s Annual Democracy Index support Stern’s assertions. In 2010, 43% of Jews surveyed in Israel responded that they attributed equal importance (http://en.idi.org.il/media/1357724/Index%202010%20full%20-%20Eng.pdf) to the characterizations of the state as "Jewish", "democratic." Meanwhile, 31% viewed the Jewish component as more important, and only 20% viewed the democratic component (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/fr/originals/2013/09/jewish-democratic-liberal-israel-state.html) as more important. In the 2015 index, only 25% of respondents valued the two characteristics as being equally important, while 37% placed emphasis on the Jewish component (http://www.idi.org.il/%D7%90%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%A2%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%9E%D7%93%D7%93-%D7%94%D7%93%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%A7%D7%A8%D7%98%D7%99%D7%94-%D7%94%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%AA/the_democracy_index_event_2015/) and 35% on the democratic component. “The group that believed in the combination of the two components [in 2010] became more radicalized. A large part of it perceived the ‘Jewish’ characterization to be problematic and prefers a ‘democratic’ state instead,” Stern explained. He also said that some of his colleagues bear much of the responsibility for social radicalization in Israel. Stern remarked, “Academia is keeping mum, a shocking silence (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/12/israel-society-lost-intellectuals-writers-celebrities-media.html) . Where are the humanities? Social sciences? Judaic studies? Law? There is an ongoing neglect of the world of concepts. The intellectual arena is suffering from a conceptual bankruptcy that facilitates the growth of competing visions in the public space. Each tribe wants to see a different Israel. The ultra-Orthodox, the Tel Avivans, the settlers, the Arabs — none of these groups feels at home. What we need is an inclusive ideological package for everyone, but there is an impoverishment of the spirit, and the academic world does not contribute its part to the creation of new ideas.” “With our own hands, we turned our society into a collection of ghettos. Other countries also have ethnic groups, but they provide additional educational frameworks to their children in addition to uniform state education (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/05/israel-education-minister-bennett-shaked-religious-zionism.html) ,” said Udi Label, Israeli sociologist. “Someone who does not belong to a sector of Israeli society lacks the experience of a real community, awareness of the difference in social classes and guiding leadership. Therefore, the ones to set new processes in motion are, ironically, the avant-garde.” Is the present situation reversible? Can the moderate majority reclaim the reins of power in Israeli society? Stern said, “It is still possible to rouse the Israeli mainstream, but unfortunately that will come during a period of great crisis, when there will be no choice.” Nurit Canetti is the chief editor of the leading daily news talk show "What's Cooking?'' on Israel's Army Radio and an anchor on the "Security Zone" news program. ============================================================ S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace 633 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20004 For comments, please contact us at ** [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) . ** www.centerpeace.org (http://www.centerpeace.org) 2015 S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace, All rights reserved. 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