podesta_email_00828.txt

podesta-emails 3,946 words email

P17 V11 P19 D6 V16

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http://www.centerpeace.org ** Israel and the Middle East News Update ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Monday, February 15 ------------------------------------------------------------ Click here for a printer-friendly version. (http://centerpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/February-15.pdf) Headlines: * Six Attempted Terror Attacks Foiled in Jerusalem, West Bank * PM: Time to Expect Some Ties with Arab States to Come Out of the Closet * Dozens of Palestinians Injured in Clashes with IDF Near Ramallah * America’s UN Envoy Lands in Israel to Push Two-State Solution * Jordan’s King: Two-State Solution Key to Defeating ISIS * Ya’alon Meets with Jordan’s King Abdullah * Bennett Calls for Palestinians to Have ‘Autonomy on Steroids’ * Israel-EU Relations “Close and Friendly” After Bibi-Mogherini Chat Commentary: * Yedioth Ahronoth: “Iran? Boring. The Palestinians? Who Cares?” - By Ronen Bergman, Senior Political and Military Analyst, Yedioth Ahronoth * Al-Monitor: “Could Jerusalem Get a Palestinian Mayor?” - By Mazal Mualem, Israel Pulse Columnist, Al-Monitor ** Ynet News ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Six Attempted Terror Attacks Foiled in Jerusalem, West Bank (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4766061,00.html) ------------------------------------------------------------ Israel's security forces thwarted five attempted terror attacks on Sunday, while a sixth was prevented when a civilian escaped her would-be attacker. No Israeli forces were hurt in any of the incidents, while five of the Palestinian attackers were shot dead. On Sunday night, two attackers armed with homemade M-16 rifles opened fire at a police force near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City. See also, "Israel Says Its Forces Shot Dead Five Palestinian Assailants in Single Day" (Reuters) (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-idUSKCN0VN0L9) ** Jerusalem Post ------------------------------------------------------------ ** PM: Time for Some Ties w/ Arab States to Come Out of Closet (http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/PM-Time-to-expect-some-ties-with-Arab-states-to-come-out-of-the-closet-444894) ------------------------------------------------------------ Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, who speaks often about behind-the-scenes cooperation taking place between Israel and many countries in the region, hinted Sunday night that the time has come to expect that some of those contacts come out into the open. Netanyahu, speaking to the annual meeting in Jerusalem of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said Israel and its supporters should not be shy about calling upon states around the world who want and have good relations with Israel, to change their voting patterns against Israel in international forums. Turning to the countries of the Middle East, he said there has been no place where there has been a greater shift toward Israel than in the region. See also, “Ya’alon: Israelis Secretly Meeting with Officials from Gulf States” (Ha'aretz) (http://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/.premium-1.703206) ** Ha'aretz ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Dozens of Palestinians Injured in Clashes w/ IDF Near Ramallah (http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.703484) ------------------------------------------------------------ Over two-dozen Palestinians were injured Monday morning in clashes with the IDF that erupted during an arrest operation in the Al-Amari refugee camp near Ramallah. One of the soldiers was lightly injured by a stone during the clashes, when Palestinians shot at the IDF, threw explosives and stones. The army reported that about 100 Palestinians took part in the clashes, which began when Israeli soldiers entered the refugee camp and arrested two Tanzim militia members. It noted that its force opened fire at and hit 10 Palestinians in response to the rioting. According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, 28 Palestinians were injured, one of them seriously. Red Crescent teams stated that they evacuated six people who were injured as a result of live fire or rubber-coated bullets. See also, "Security Forces Arrest Head of Palestinian Tanzim in Kalandiya" (Jerusalem Post) (http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Security-forces-arrest-head-of-Palestinian-Tanzim-in-Kalandiya-444958) ** Times of Israel ------------------------------------------------------------ ** America's UN Envoy Lands in Israel to Push Two-State Solution (http://www.timesofisrael.com/in-israel-un-envoy-power-reiterates-us-commitment-to-two-state-solution/) ------------------------------------------------------------ US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power reiterated Saturday her country’s commitment to advancing a two-state solution as well as a peaceful resolution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as she arrived in Israel for a series of high-level diplomatic talks. “[I] will meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders… to discuss US commitment to two states side by side in security and peace,” Power tweeted upon her arrival. See also, "Rivlin to US Ambassador: No Solution Can Be Imposed" (Arutz Sheva) (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/208069) ** Times of Israel ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Jordan's King: Two-State Solution Key to Defeating ISIS (http://www.timesofisrael.com/jordans-king-two-state-solution-key-to-defeating-is/) ------------------------------------------------------------ A two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is vital to the defeat of the Islamic State, King Abdullah of Jordan argued Friday, saying that the decades-long dispute only served to benefit the jihadist group. “[T]he community of nations cannot talk about universal rights and global justice, but continue to deny statehood to Palestinians,” he told the Munich Security Conference. “This failure has created a festering injustice, and continues to be exploited by Daesh (Islamic State) and its kind,” he said. “Left unresolved, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will become a religious conflict of a global dimension. And it is only a matter of time before we may be faced by yet another war in Gaza or in South Lebanon. ** Ynet News ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Ya'alon Meets with Jordan’s King Abdullah (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4765465,00.html) ------------------------------------------------------------ Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon met with Jordan's King Abdullah on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. The Defense Ministry said the two discussed "the bilateral ties between Jordan and Israel, the latest development in the Middle East, and the possibility of advancing the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians." The official Jordanian state news agency confirmed the meeting, but provided no further details. The fact Ya'alon's meeting with King Abdullah was made public is very unusual. While coordination meetings between government officials between the two states have been ongoing, the existence of these meetings was kept secret out of concern their publication will serve as ammunition for opposition in the kingdom to its security ties with Israel. ** Arutz Sheva ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Bennett Calls for Palestinians to Have 'Autonomy on Steroids' (http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/207989#.VsHZFsdaH0s) ------------------------------------------------------------ Education Minister Naftali Bennett called once again for the unilateral annexation of "Area C" in the West Bank. When asked about the war on terror, Bennett responded that he "believes the government has done a lot to combat terror." "I want to remind you that there was an incredible terror wave that hit Jerusalem and due to the government's crackdown that wave has gotten much smaller and moved out of Jerusalem and into Hebron and Gush Etzion." He continued, "we have already separated ourselves from the Palestinians, they rule themselves in their own autonomous region. My plan would be to give the Palestinians 'autonomy on steroids' in areas A and B, and to begin to annex area C in stages beginning with Gush Etzion. We need to get this started already." ** BICOM ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Israel-EU Relations “Close, Friendly” After Bibi-Mogherini Chat (http://www.bicom.org.uk/news-article/28514/) ------------------------------------------------------------ Relations between Israel and the EU were said to have returned to normal, after a conversation between Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. The two spoke by telephone over the weekend and appeared to resolve tensions over EU guidelines issued in November, which called for the separate consumer labeling of West Bank goods. Following Netanyahu’s conversation with Mogherini, the spokesman for Israel’s Foreign Ministry Emmanuel Nachshon said that Israel-EU relations are once more “close and friendly.” See also, “Foreign Ministry: Diplomatic Crisis Between Israel-EU Over” (Ynet News) (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4765461,00.html) ** Yedioth Ahronoth – February 15, 2016 ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Iran? Boring. The Palestinians? Who Cares? ------------------------------------------------------------ By Ronen Bergman Munich – There was good news and bad news for the prime minister at this year’s Munich Security Conference—the most important forum in the world for foreign relations, intelligence and security—which ended yesterday. Let’s start with the good news, at least insofar as pertains to Israeli foreign policy: the predominant atmosphere throughout entire conference was one of despair, confusion and the sense that winds of war are now blowing. This time, however, as opposed to some of the 51 pervious conferences, with the exception of a few perfunctory statements by Arab representatives at the conference, no one tried to suggest that Israel was connected to the overriding problems—ISIS, Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and Syria and the refugee problem—which pose a threat to world order. Israel is only marginally relevant to any of those issues, if at all. The Palestinian issue was not on the agenda of even a single one of the conference’s panels, and was not mentioned at all except in Defense Minister Yaalon’s speech. If the Munich Security Conference is any measure of trends in the realm of diplomacy and international relations, one can say that in 2016 the Palestinians are of no interest to anyone. The Europeans have other problems, which are far more pressing and substantive. In the new world that has evolved, it is hard to see how anyone on the continent, let alone the United States, is going to have the time, resources or desire to apply any real pressure on Israel. The grim mood that was created by the colossal failure of European and American foreign policy vis-à-vis Russia and Syria also produced the second piece of news for Israel—the bad news. That failure created the need to highlight successes. More specifically, the one development that is perceived and was framed as a shining European and American success: the nuclear agreement with Iran. Everyone who spoke (with the exception of John McCain and Moshe Yaalon) described that agreement as a victory for dialogue over war, as a brilliant diplomatic coup by several countries that invested a huge and unprecedented effort to avert conflict—and were successful. And that applies only to the people who showed any interest in the nuclear agreement. In the two previous conferences in Munich, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was the big star—an eloquent, sophisticated and affable diplomat who spoke to the West in its own language, in stark contrast to his predecessors, who were grim men who presented benighted views and denied the Holocaust. The Iranian nuclear program—against the backdrop of the crippling sanctions that were imposed on Iran, the losses incurred by Western corporations and the threat of an Israeli strike—made it the most important issue on the conference’s agenda [in previous years]. The rooms in which discussions were held about the Iranian nuclear program, and first and foremost Zarif’s speech, were filled to capacity. Alternatively, the panel discussion about the refugees that was held last year drew very little attendance. This year those trends were reversed. Everything pertaining to the refugees drew a great deal of attention. Wolfgang Ischinger, chairman of the Munich Security Conference, honored Zarif by scheduling his speech for early Friday afternoon, but to no avail—the room was half-empty. The Iranian nuclear program, which is still defined by the Israeli intelligence community as the primary threat to national security, is of no interest to the world. It’s a thing of the past. Over and done with. Finished. The lack of interest shown by the international community in the Iranian nuclear program teaches us two things. First of all, contrary to the real worry it elicits in Israel, the Munich Security Conference demonstrated that if Israel wants to clash with Iran in one way or another, it is on its own on that count. Conversations I held with senior officials from intelligence agencies in the United States and major European countries led me to understand that while they might pay lip service to the issue and say they are still concerned, in practice, given the other threats that are perceived as far more significant, the Iranian issue has been downgraded far beneath the first or second place it once held. The second thing we can learn from the West’s declining interest in the Iranian nuclear program is that the gap between the things that frighten top government officials in Jerusalem (Hizbullah, Hamas, Iran) and the concerns harbored by their counterparts in the West (Russia, ISIS and refugees) is growing larger. Ronen Bergman is a senior political and military analyst for Yedioth Ahronoth, and is the author of several books on Israeli security. He is currently working on a history of the Mossad. ** Al-Monitor – February 12, 2016 ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Could Jerusalem Get a Palestinian Mayor? (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/02/israel-interview-haim-ramon-diplomatic-plan-jerusalem.html#ixzz40FO47RHx) ------------------------------------------------------------ By Mazal Mualem “Unless we break away from the villages in East Jerusalem, our capital will become an Arab city with a Palestinian majority. But there’s more. As soon as the Arabs from East Jerusalem exercise their voting rights, Jerusalem’s mayor will be a Palestinian one. I would strongly advise Jews not to rely on them not ever exercising those rights.” Presenting that equation in an interview with Al-Monitor, former Minister Haim Ramon will try to relay his plan to the general public in a bid to mobilize them and “save Jewish Jerusalem.” This is also the name of the movement Ramon launched (http://www.maariv.co.il/news/politics/Article-524873) earlier in February together with other public figures, some with a security background. The movement’s overriding objective is to apply pressure on the Israeli government to unilaterally disengage from 28 villages in East Jerusalem by amending the “Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel (https://www.knesset.gov.il/laws/special/eng/basic10_eng.htm) ,” aka Jerusalem Basic Law. Among the people who support the move are retired generals Ami Ayalon, Amos Yaron and Amiram Levin as well as retired police commissioners Elik Ron and Aryeh Amit. Despite being nonpartisan, the movement’s underlying tenets express a centrist, pragmatic political outlook. It is fashioned after former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to disengage from the Gaza Strip (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/en/originals/2015/06/israel-disengagement-plan-gaza-sharon-two-state-solution.html) and northern Samaria in 2005. In other words, it seeks to do away with the Israeli-Palestinian status quo by taking unilateral action. The lone-attacker intifada (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/10/young-generation-palestinians-despair-terrorists-fatah-hamas.html) , one of whose key factors are the Palestinian villages in East Jerusalem, should serve as tailwind for the movement to engage the Israeli public at large. After a tumultuous career that started in the Labor Party and culminated in Kadima — the centrist party that had been his dream and which he co-founded — Ramon left the world of politics in 2009. Upon Kadima’s establishment in November 2005, he believed that a centrist political platform could lead to a historic diplomatic arrangement resulting in the partition of the land into two states. Seeing his dream fading, he is now trying to make a difference from the outside. The full text of the interview follows: Al-Monitor: How is your plan supposed to save Jewish Jerusalem? Ramon: First, we need to recall the original sin. Intoxicated by its victory at the end of the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel annexed 28 West Bank Palestinian villages that historically had never been part of Jerusalem, such as Jabel Mukaber and the Shufat refugee camp. Almost 50 years later, what we ended up with is a reality whereby out of a city of 800,000 residents, 300,000 are Palestinians. In other words, close to 40% of Jerusalem’s permanent residents are Palestinians (http://www.acri.org.il/en/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/EJ-Facts-and-Figures-2015.pdf) . Furthermore, in the demographics of children up to 18, 60% are Palestinians, most of whom attend the Palestinian educational system that’s funded by the Israeli taxpayer. If I were to use [Prime Minister] Bibi Netanyahu’s rhetoric, I would be saying that the Israeli taxpayer is funding incitement in the Palestinian Authority’s [PA] schools, which includes the children of Palestinian Jerusalem. We all agree that the security reality in Jerusalem is intolerable. What we are saying is that there is a solution to this unacceptable situation. The Jerusalem Basic Law must be amended in a way that those Palestinian villages with some 200,000 residents will be cut off from Jerusalem and be returned to their original status in the West Bank. This is where areas A and B will be formed [Area A being under Palestinian security control and Area B under Israeli security control]. Al-Monitor: Will this materialize in a unilateral move? Ramon: Their annexation was a unilateral move too. Those people were never asked whether they wanted to be residents of East Jerusalem, and most of them never asked for it. They didn’t take as much as a single act on their own to remain in Jerusalem. I’m only talking about the permanent residents that were willy-nilly [forcefully] annexed and will be returned, albeit not necessarily willy-nilly. After all, President Mahmoud Abbas demands that these villages be returned to the Palestinian state. This 1967 annexation has been adhered to by all of Israel’s governments over the years. The only one who did something about it was Ariel Sharon, who set up a fence from [Palestinian West Bank village of] Kalandia to the southern part of the Shufat refugee camp. When I served in his Cabinet, I demanded that he continue building the fence. He refused to do so and told me, “Right now, I’m not going to confront the radical right,” because he was busy with the disengagement from Gaza. The point is that even Sharon didn’t amend the Jerusalem Basic Law and the 50,000 Palestinians he kept outside the fence continue to enjoy all the benefits that permanent residents do. Al-Monitor: The Israeli public was sorely disappointed with disengaging from Gaza, a unilateral move. How will you convince it that this [the "save Jerusalem plan"] is the right thing to do? Ramon: The plan we’re proposing has three advantages. It improves security in the sense that there will be a fence and that the Israel Defense Forces [IDF] will be able to operate in those villages. Today, Jabel Mukaber is exactly like Tel Aviv in the sense that the IDF cannot operate there. The second aspect is demographics. From a situation of 60% Jews and 40% Palestinians, we will move to a ratio of 80% Jews and 20% Palestinians. And third, the government will be saving some 2 to 3 billion shekels [approx. $500-$750 million] that it can invest in more vital spheres. Israelis need to understand that they’re financing social security benefits, full health services, as well as welfare and educational services in the villages of East Jerusalem. As minister of Jerusalem affairs, I started talking about it. It was then that I realized the extent of the absurdity. Today I understand it even more so. Al Monitor: And how will you explain to the world such a radical move that weakens the PA and perhaps strengthens Hamas? Ramon: I’m not throwing the residents of East Jerusalem under the bus. They will be part and parcel of the PA. Hamas? I’m not aware that it is present in [the Palestinian town of] Abu Dis. These are right-wing arguments that the radical left has adopted. Those villages will be part of the PA. Why would Hamas go there instead of Nablus? What’s the difference? There will be no difference. Why is there no Hamas presence in [the Palestinian city of] al-Eizariya? Because the IDF is in control there and because of the PA. The PA will fight Hamas as it does across the West Bank, and it will find it easier to do so. You need to realize that currently the PA is unable to operate in Shufat, which has become a no-man’s-land. We’re not going in there because the police are afraid. The military is prohibited from going in. The PA can’t go in either because it’s not its territory. According to our plan, these areas will finally have a landlord. The claim that Hamas will take over is nonsense voiced by radical right-wingers who want [Israel] to keep staying there. What I understand much less is why the radical left is opposed to the plan. On the other hand, the radical left was also opposed to the separation fence and the pullout from Gaza. Had we listened to those people, we would have been without a fence today and we would have still been controlling the Gaza Strip. I can tell you that according to the polls we conducted, our plan enjoys a large majority: 70% of the public support it. Of the 30% that are opposed to it, two-thirds are the radical right and another third is the radical left, which apparently cares about the Palestinians and is less interested in the Jews. I can also say that many Likud voters support this move. We’re talking about huge numbers of supporters. Al-Monitor: How will you explain to the public that this is not the partition of Jerusalem, as the right claims it is? Ramon: What we’re talking about is saving Jerusalem. I’m not cutting off the Temple Mount, the Old City or the Holy Basin. What embodies the true essence of Jerusalem stays that way. 100,000 Palestinians will remain in the city. I believe that the public knows what’s good for it. My explanation consists of three things that the Jewish public is in favor of: It doesn’t like giving money to Arabs, it wants its state to be Jewish and it wants to have security. If our plan doesn’t go through, Jerusalem will become an Arab city with a Palestinian majority. Moreover, if the Palestinians stop being stupid [as they boycott the municipal elections], Jerusalem’s next mayor won’t be [incumbent Mayor] Nir Barkat — he will be a Palestinian. Once they decide to take part in the elections, [Jerusalem] will have a Palestinian mayor. Al-Monitor: The chair of the Zionist Camp, Isaac "Buji" Herzog, has recently presented his plan to separate from the villages in East Jerusalem. What’s the difference between his plan (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/01/israel-herzog-diplomatic-plan-separation-palestine-security.html#ixzz3zgWUu3xB) and yours? Ramon: The problem is that Herzog adopted it in a warped way, because he doesn’t have the guts to go the whole hog. He doesn’t say that the Jerusalem Basic Law — which is the key element — needs to be changed. What he talks about is separation and a fence. He is throwing slogans into the air without elaborating. The right thing to do is to come before the Knesset tomorrow morning and propose to amend the Jerusalem Basic Law. The only positive aspect in all of this is that the Labor Party has finally started addressing diplomatic issues instead of just dealing with having more assistants in kindergartens. After two election campaigns during which they thought that by focusing on the salaries of senior officials and kindergarten assistants they would rise to power, they finally realized that they also need to tackle diplomatic topics. By contrast to them, we are an apolitical movement, so Likud supporters can join us as well. You can support a movement to save Jerusalem and still root for Bibi, and vice versa. What we’re saying is that we need to do away with the status quo or else we’ll lose the Jewish majority in Jerusalem, and down the line we’ll lose the [Jewish] majority in the state. Our interest is to have two states or else we will first become a binational state, which will then become an Arab state (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3397174,00.html) . Mazal Mualem is a columnist for Al-Monitor's Israel Pulse and formerly the senior political correspondent for Ma’ariv and Ha’aretz. She also presents a weekly TV show covering social issues on the Knesset channel. ============================================================ 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) 2016 S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace, All rights reserved. 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