podesta_email_01778.txt

podesta-emails 3,647 words email

P17 V11 P19 D3 V16

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http://www.centerpeace.org ** Israel and the Middle East News Update ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Wednesday, June 24 ------------------------------------------------------------ Click here for a printer-friendly version. (http://www.centerpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/June-24.pdf) Headlines: * Israel Air Force Strikes in Gaza After Rocket Explodes in Israel * UNHRC: Israel can’t Drop One-Ton Bomb on a Neighborhood * Iran Leader Dramatically Toughens ‘Red Lines’ for Nuclear Deal * Herzog Aligns with Netanyahu on Iran * PM: We will Capture Those from Druze Lynch Mob * Palestine Prepares to Submit File to see Israeli Officials Indicted * AIPAC Prepares to Battle Obama Over Iran Commentary: * The Washington Institute: “Don't Let the Deadline Drive the Deal” - By Dennis Ross * Ha’aretz: “Obama has a Stronger Record on Israel than you Might Have Been Led to Think” - By Greg Rosenbaum ** Ynet News ------------------------------------------------------------ ** IAF Strikes in Gaza After Rocket Explodes in Israel (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4672041,00.html) ------------------------------------------------------------ The Israeli Air Force struck a target in the northern Gaza Strip from which a rocket was launched earlier Tuesday night. A Salafist group sympathetic to the Islamic State group, the "Omar Brigades," claimed responsibility. Yisrael Beytenu Chairman MK Avigdor Lieberman said after the incident that "He who is willing to absorb 'trickles' will ultimately get torrential rain. "We cannot accept this situation. No government has a right to exist if it is willing to accept a situation in which less than a year after a military operation that cost us dearly in soldiers' lives and disruption of national life for two months. This situation is intolerable, unacceptable, and we must put an end to it." See also, “Rocket fired from Gaza explodes in southern Israel” (Ha’aretz) (http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.662653) ** Ha'aretz ------------------------------------------------------------ ** UNHRC: Israel can’t Drop Ton Bomb on Neighborhood (http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.662603) ------------------------------------------------------------ American jurist Mary McGowan Davis, who headed the independent UN probe into the events of last summer's war in Gaza, told Haaretz in an interview that the main message committee members wanted to transmit is that Israel must reexamine its policy of using its military might, because it led to unprecedented destruction in Gaza and to the killing of about 1,500 innocent civilians. “We wanted to make a strong stand that the whole use of explosive weapons in densely populated neighborhoods is problematic and that the policy needs to change,” she emphasized in a phone interview from Geneva. “Because it wrong to drop a one-ton bomb in the middle of a neighborhood.” ** Times of Israel ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Iran Leader Toughens ‘Red Lines’ for Nuclear Deal (http://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-leader-restates-red-lines-for-nuclear-deal/) ------------------------------------------------------------ Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dramatically toughened his country’s red lines for a nuclear deal Tuesday in an intervention during a meeting with President Hassan Rouhani and top officials. Contradicting agreements reached in a preliminary accord in Lausanne in April, and speaking days before a permanent deal is supposed to be finalized, Khamenei said he would “not accept long-term limitations” on his country’s nuclear program, and insisted on the right to ongoing nuclear research and development. He Also said that Banking and other economic sanctions imposed by the UN and the United States must be lifted “immediately” if a nuclear deal is signed. See also, “Iran passes bill to protect nuclear program from deal” (Times of Israel) (http://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-passes-bill-to-protect-nuclear-program-from-deal/) ** Jerusalem Post ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Herzog Aligns with Netanyahu on Iran (http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Herzog-aligns-with-Netanyahu-on-Iran-406951) ------------------------------------------------------------ Opposition leader Isaac Herzog presented Israel as a unified front against the proposed Iranian nuclear deal in his meetings in London over the last few days, sources close to him said Tuesday. Herzog discussed Iran as well as the Palestinian issue with advisers to British Prime Minister David Cameron at 10 Downing Street. “There is no difference between me and Netanyahu in reading the threat of Iran,” Herzog said in an interview with The Telegraph. “There is no daylight between us on this issue at all. I do not oppose the diplomatic process.” ** Ynet News ------------------------------------------------------------ ** PM: We will Capture Those from Druze Lynch Mob ------------------------------------------------------------ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed rising tensions in Israel's northern Druze communities Tuesday morning at an international cyber conference, saying that authorities wound capture those responsible for a Druze lynch mob that attacked an IDF ambulance on Monday night, wounding two soldiers and killing a Syrian rebel who was delivered to a hospital. "We are a State of laws," said Netanyahu. "We are not part of the anarchy that's spreading around us. We won't let anyone take the law into their hands; we won't let anyone interfere in the missions of IDF soldiers." "I call on the leaders of the Druze community, which is a magnificent community with which we have brotherhood, I call on them to calm things down and say to every Druze citizen in Israel, respect the law, respect the soldiers, do not take the law into their own hands.” ** Guardian ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Palestine Prepares to Submit File to I (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/24/palestine-prepares-tsubmit-file-israeli-officials-indicted-international-criminal-court) CC ------------------------------------------------------------ Palestinian foreign minister, Riyad al-Maliki, will arrive Thursday morning with a delegation at the office of the prosecutor of the international criminal court in The Hague He will hand over a file running to hundreds of pages. Those documents describe to prosecutors for the first time in detail the Palestinian complaint against Israel for alleged breaches of international law, including serious war crimes. In doing so al-Maliki will set in motion a chain of events that could eventually see senior Israeli military and political officials indicted for breaches of international law. The presentation will be given added impetus as it follows hard on the heels of the UNHRC report on Monday, which accused both Israel and Hamas of potential war crimes and called for those responsible to be “brought to justice”. Previewing the contents of the submission last week, Palestinian official Ammar Hijazi said it would detail alleged violations of international law by Israel. The ICC chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda must decide based on the complaint whether to order a preliminary examination and then a full criminal investigation. And as states themselves cannot be indicted, only individuals, she will also have to determine which Israelis can potentially be held culpable. ** Bloomberg View ------------------------------------------------------------ ** AIPAC Prepares to Battle Obama Over Iran (http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-06-23/pro-israel-lobby-prepares-to-battle-obama-over-iran) ------------------------------------------------------------ As U.S. and Iranian negotiators approach the June 30 deadline to reach a nuclear deal, America's largest pro-Israel lobby is campaigning to kill such an accord in Congress. Since last month, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee has mobilized its members to press legislators to endorse five principles for a nuclear deal -- principles that are almost certain not to be reflected in a final agreement. For example, AIPAC's principles say a deal should last "decades," while the framework for the nuclear agreement released in April would begin easing restrictions on Iran's program after a decade. Another principle says inspectors must be given "anytime, anywhere" access to suspected sites, "including all military facilities." Iran's leaders have consistently said there will be no inspections on military sites. Parallel to this campaign, major donors to AIPAC and other pro-Israel causes are forming a new and independent 501(c)(4) advocacy organization, according to fundraisers and other lobbyists involved in the effort. The new organization will buy TV, radio and Internet ads targeting lawmakers from both parties who are on the fence about the nuclear deal, these sources say. ** The Washington Institute– June 19, 2015 ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Don't Let the Deadline Drive the Deal (http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/dont-let-the-deadline-drive-the-deal) ------------------------------------------------------------ To get the best nuclear pact with Iran, Washington might have to let the June 30 target slide. By Dennis Ross As both a practitioner and also a student of high stakes negotiations, I am well-acquainted with the use of deadlines to push toward agreements in difficult talks. With the June 30 date for concluding an agreement looming in the negotiations with Iran, there are those who argue that the deadline is important and must be met. Others see it differently. They worry that it creates pressures on us, with the Iranians prone to use the deadline as a lever to gain concessions given what they may see as our desire for the deal. Both arguments have merit. Often times in difficult negotiations, it makes sense to impose a date by which a decision must be made -- or in other words, to create an action-forcing event. When I mediated between the Israelis and Palestinians on redeployment in Hebron, a highly controversial issue for the Likud-led government at the time, I imposed a deadline for two reasons: First, I felt there was a danger that an extraneous event or an act of violence would sink the negotiating process at a point when we were close to an agreement. Second, I could see how to resolve the remaining issues and the real challenge was to get each leader -- Yasser Arafat and Benjamin Netanyahu -- to make the final decisions and not try to hold out for what might be marginal gains. At the time, I knew each leader would face criticism for doing the deal and there was a natural instinct on both sides to postpone facing a likely backlash even as they tested to see if they could concede less. It is rare for any national leader to seek out criticism. Putting off difficult or painful decisions is natural and it is one of the reasons deadlines in negotiations are so often employed. But to be credible, they have to be real. Each side has to see that failing to reach the agreement by a deadline truly threatens the possibility of having an agreement. If there is a balance of interest in reaching the agreement, and a comparable fear about the consequences of failing to do so, the deadline can work. Some may question whether the U.S. and Iran have a balance of interest and fear when it comes to reaching or failing to reach an agreement on the Iranian nuclear program. Certainly, if one pays attention to public pronouncements, Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, has gone out of his way to suggest that his country does not need a deal. He speaks of not giving into the "bullying" of the "arrogant powers"; of not providing access to Iran's military sites or permitting inspectors to "interrogate" its nuclear scientists; of the Islamic Republic's need to develop a "resistance economy" to ensure it can tolerate sanctions; and that there are "no commitments" that Iran has made in the framework understanding. The tone of the Obama administration has obviously been different -- with the president calling the framework understanding a "historic opportunity" and other leading officials saying that there is no alternative to an agreement -- with some conjuring up the fear that war may be the only way to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear weapons state if the deal is blocked. To be fair, President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have both also said that "no deal is better than a bad deal" and that the military option remains on the table. But those words seem to carry less weight than the emphasis given to the dire consequences of the alternative to turning the framework understanding into an agreement. From a negotiator's standpoint you never want to signal that you need an agreement more than your partner or adversary at the table, and the conventional wisdom at this point is that the administration has not only positioned itself that way but that the Iranians also perceive that to be the case. While the Iranians may have such a view, we should not discount that whatever their public posturing, their stake in reaching an agreement is high. Why else do the Iranians so insist on trying to get all sanctions lifted immediately -- notwithstanding Khamenei's call for a resistance economy? Moreover, the announcement of the framework understanding triggered spontaneous celebrations on the streets of Tehran. The Iranian public clearly wants an end to sanctions, the prospect of a better economy and less isolation internationally. No doubt the supreme leader's initial silence and subsequent downplaying of what had been achieved and announced in Lausanne, Switzerland -- saying there were no commitments and there was no deal -- were designed to lower expectations lest those become an increasing pressure on Iran to take steps to conclude the deal. Moreover, as Mehdi Khalaji has pointed out, there seems to be a difference between the supreme leader's public pronouncements and his private instructions to his negotiators. Notwithstanding his declarations that there would be no access to military sites, the Islamic Republic's foreign minister and his deputy told the Iranian parliament that there would be "managed access" to military facilities under the rubric of the Additional Protocol of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty -- and they explained, when criticized for negotiating such understandings, that they had done so under "instructions." Only Khamenei could give such authoritative orders. The Iranians clearly understand that they have much to gain by reaching an agreement, and there is probably much more of a balance of interest in reaching a deal than their public posture would suggest. While that could argue for sticking to the June 30 date to force decisions, there are two reasons not to do so: First, there is a pattern to the negotiations in which the Iranians hold out until the deadline, offer minimal concessions and count on us to creatively overcome the gaps. That creates too much pressure on us if there is deadline. Second, the sanctions clearly are a pressure on them, so why relieve them if they are not prepared to meet our essential minimums for the deal? Precisely because the framework understanding offers the Iranians a lot -- it is essentially a roll-back of sanctions in return for transparency, not a roll-back of sanctions for a roll-back of their nuclear infrastructure -- we should not let the deadline push us toward any softening of what we need both on transparency and the high consequences that must be imposed if that transparency reveals that the Iranians are cheating. That Iran will be permitted to have a large nuclear infrastructure, and after 15 years not be limited in expanding it, creates a premium not just on thorough visibility into Iran's nuclear activities but also on ensuring unmistakable consequences for any transgressions. As such, it is the content of transparency and the agreed, meaningful costs for cheating -- not the deadline itself -- that matter. The administration would be wise to make that clear both to the Iranians and members of Congress. Ironically, for those members of Congress who might be inclined to seize on the failure to meet the June 30 date to try to adopt new sanctions, this might be a reassuring message. It would certainly signal that the administration is holding out and won't be driven to accept something less than it needs -- and that could be used to get Congress to hold off on pressing immediately for new sanctions at a time when the other members of the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council as well as Germany) are likely to oppose such action. In other words, if fear of congressional action is creating a pressure on the administration to try to meet the June 30 date, there ought to be a way to manage this concern. For now is not the time for the administration to treat June 30 as an inviolable deadline. As Yitzhak Rabin once said about the timetable of the Oslo process, there are no "sacred dates." And, certainly, while June 30 might be a target, we should not regard it as a sacred date, particularly if we are to avoid it becoming a point of pressure on us and not the Iranians. ** Ha’aretz – June 23, 2015 ------------------------------------------------------------ ** Obama has a Stronger Record on Israel than you Might Have Been Led to Think (http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.662588) ------------------------------------------------------------ While Democrats sometimes get a bad rap, let’s not forget that Republicans have a mixed record on standing with Israel, which continues to be top recipient of U.S. foreign military financing. By Greg Rosenbaum The past week has seen the latest episode in an unrelenting campaign to delegitimize President Barack Obama’s strong commitment to Israel. It’s time to set the record straight on a president who has stood with Israel in times of crisis and has strengthened the Jewish state’s security in concrete ways, ensuring it maintains a qualitative military edge. From his campaign for office to his recent talk at Adas Israel, a synagogue in Washington, D.C., Obama has made it clear that his commitment to Israel is and always will be unshakable. “It would be a moral failing on my part if we did not stand up firmly, steadfastly not just on behalf of Israel’s right to exist, but its right to thrive and prosper,” he has said. Obama’s actions prove his commitment. Israel continues to be the top recipient of U.S. foreign military financing, and for fiscal year 2016, the administration requested $3.1 billion in funding. The two nations also have begun preliminary talks on a long-term package that would provide up to $45 billion in security assistance grant aid through 2028. Early this year, Israel signed a contract with the United States for the purchase of 14 F-35 fighter jets, amounting to $3 billion. Since Obama entered office, Israel has received more than $20.5 billion in foreign military financing. Unlike President George W. Bush, who rejected Israel’s request for bunker-buster bombs, Obama became the first president to approve the sale of these advanced weapons, and in the fall of 2012, the U.S. and Israel participated in Austere Challenge 12, the largest joint military exercise ever to be held between the two countries. Under Obama, the U.S. and Israel have continued Juniper Cobra, a joint exercise that has been held every two years since 2001 to test our joint ability to respond to missile attacks and improve preparedness, as well as coordination between our armed forces. Unlike Bush, who gave Israel’s Iron Dome system a frosty response, Obama has led the way in funding and supporting the research, development and production of the Iron Dome — which has been crucial in helping Israel defend itself against terrorist rocket attacks — as well as the joint U.S.-Israel missile defense systems David’s Sling, the Arrow II and Arrow III. Since 2011, the United States has provided Israel with more than $1.3 billion for the Iron Dome system alone. The military cooperation has been so strong that in a 2012 speech to the Israel National Defense College, then-Defense Minister Ehud Barak said, “The security ties between us and the current administration are at the highest level they have ever been.” In the international arena, under Obama’s leadership, the U.S. has fought for Israel’s full participation in the United Nations, has voted against resolutions in the General Assembly condemning Israel, cast the only “no” votes on five anti-Israel measures last year in the Human Rights Council, and worked to ensure that the General Assembly held its first-ever session on anti-Semitism. Obama also prevented the Palestinians from unilaterally declaring an independent state. Under Obama, the United States continues to support the Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation, or BIRD, which facilitates U.S.-Israel cooperation in such areas as agriculture, healthcare and homeland security. Supporting collaboration between the U.S. Department of Energy and Israel’s National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources Ministry, BIRD-Energy has facilitated nearly $50 million in U.S.-Israel cooperation. Obama has been unfailing in supporting Israel’s right to exist and defend itself against its enemies, and has been a phone call away when Israel needed assistance in times of crisis, taking personal steps to help avoid a catastrophe when a mob attacked Israel’s embassy in Cairo and providing unprecedented support in fighting Israel’s major forest fire on Mount Carmel in 2010. Regardless of political attacks against Obama's pro-Israel record, let’s not forget the mixed record of Republican presidents when it comes to standing with Israel. Let’s briefly give some historical context to the relationship between the two countries under Obama. Not only did George W. Bush refuse to stand with Israel on promoting Iron Dome and selling bunker-buster bombs, but in 2005 he also froze nearly all U.S.-Israeli joint defense projects. And, just before Bush left office, the U.S. abstained rather than veto a one-sided UN Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. Under Ronald Reagan, the U.S. joined a Security Council resolution condemning Israel for its destruction of Iraq’s Osirak nuclear facility and, despite Israel’s strong objections, undermined the Jewish state's qualitative military edge by selling AWACS surveillance planes to Saudi Arabia. Dwight Eisenhower threatened to isolate Israel during the Suez War; and George H.W. Bush opposed loan guarantees to Israel. There is no question that Obama is committed, both in word and deed, to the safety and security of Israel — and in many ways is more committed than his Republican predecessors. Greg Rosenbaum is chairman of the National Jewish Democratic Council. ============================================================ S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace 633 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20004 ** www.centerpeace.org (http://www.centerpeace.org) 2015 S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace, All rights reserved. YOU ARE RECEIVING THIS EMAIL BECAUSE YOU SIGNED UP FOR OUR NEWS UPDATES. ** unsubscribe from this list (http://centerpeace.us7.list-manage.com/unsubscribe?u=232a4a45176fccacab865e520&id=929d521884&e=a7f9100a75&c=2987a4f78a) ** update subscription preferences (http://centerpeace.us7.list-manage.com/profile?u=232a4a45176fccacab865e520&id=929d521884&e=a7f9100a75)