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Prepared for the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
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To contact the Presidents Conference: click here In-Depth Issues:
Houses Urges Charges Against Ahmadinejad (JTA)
PLO Official Says Iran Supported Hamas to Use Force in Gaza - (People's Daily-China)
Hamas Presses Clan Holding BBC Reporter - Khaled Abu Toameh (Jerusalem Post)
UK Trade Union Backs Israel Boycott - Ronen Bodoni (Ynet News)
BAE Paid for Luxury Saudi Honeymoon - David Leppard (Times-UK)
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
Former Palestinian foreign minister Mahmoud Zahar warned Wednesday that Fatah's effort to repress Hamas in the West Bank could lead to Fatah's downfall there as well. In an interview, Zahar said Hamas would not sit idle if Fatah continued to attack Hamas institutions and politicians in the West Bank. "If they continue to dismantle the local elections in the West Bank and punish Hamas there, the United States and Israel will face another surprise there," Zahar said. (New York Times) President Bush issued the following statement after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Olmert on Tuesday: "I am strongly committed to Israel's security and viability as a Jewish state, and to the maintenance of its qualitative military edge....I am committed to reaching a new ten-year agreement that will give Israel the increased assistance it requires to meet the new threats and challenges it faces." (White House) This year, Israel will receive $2.4 billion in military aid from the U.S. Israel asked for a $50 million per year increase over a 10-year period, but the exact amount has yet to be determined. (Prime Minister's Office/Ha'aretz) UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon joined Western nations on Wednesday in criticizing the UN Human Rights Council for picking on Israel. A UN statement said: "The Secretary-General is disappointed at the council's decision to single out only one specific regional item, given the range and scope of allegations of human rights violations throughout the world." The EU, Canada, and the U.S. had already attacked the singling-out of Israel for continued special investigation by the council. Alejandro Wolff, deputy U.S. permanent representative at the UN, accused the council on Wednesday of "a pathological obsession with Israel." (Reuters/Washington Post) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
Shadi, 23, a Palestinian policemen who was attacked by Hamas gunmen, is hospitalized in Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv. "There were five of them. They stood over me and shot my legs from the knee down. One of them put his Kalashnikov to my head. Instinctively I moved the barrel aside and the bullet hit my hand," Shadi said Wednesday. He arrived at Ichilov with one leg amputated and the other leg crushed. "I wanted to shoot myself for voting Hamas," another patient said. He came with his brother, who had been shot in the head while evacuating wounded people in his taxi. "Hamas has money and weapons for the next 20 years. All the youngsters want to join it," he said. Zecharia Alrai, 39, an officer in Fatah's Force 17, had been abducted by four Hamas gunmen who shot three bullets into his leg. "How ironic that Israel is rescuing us from our Muslim 'brothers,'" he said. (Ha'aretz) Three people were lightly wounded and at least seven others suffered from shock after a barrage of Kassam rockets fired by Palestinians in Gaza hit Israel Wednesday evening. Two homes and a synagogue in Sderot sustained damage. A high-tension wire was hit near Kibbutz Nir Am, leaving the area in darkness. The Israel air force destroyed two rocket launchers in northern Gaza on Wednesday. (Jerusalem Post) The Shin Bet security agency on Wednesday released details of a foiled plot to kidnap Israeli citizens in Jerusalem last year. The mastermind, Ala Hamad, 29, a Jordanian citizen who holds an Israeli ID, was recruited by Hamas operatives based in Damascus. (Ynet News) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
Abbas may have expelled Hamas from the PA government, but the Fatah party he leads has terrorist links of its own, not to mention a 40-year reputation for corruption. If "supporting Fatah" is now the Administration's policy, we are in for rougher times ahead. The Bush Administration continued to funnel money to Abbas and Fatah after Hamas took control of parliament. Yet Fatah's troops were routed last week despite being better armed and far more numerous than Hamas. Why the same recipe that failed in Gaza should now work in the West Bank is anyone's guess. The U.S. might be better served if it began to call on its allies in the Arab world to show some leadership. Egypt, Gaza's other neighbor, also has much to fear from a terrorist movement with historic links to the Muslim Brotherhood and current links to Iran. At a minimum, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak must finally get serious about stopping the flow of arms from the Sinai to Gaza. Above all, the flow of Saudi money to violent Palestinian factions needs to be addressed and stopped. All of this runs contrary to the State Department's efforts to make yet another big push toward establishing a Palestinian state. If events of the last week demonstrate nothing else, that idea has been laid to rest by the Palestinians themselves. (Wall Street Journal, 21Jun07) All the experts on the Palestinian issue are in agreement that the prospect of negotiating a final-status agreement with a Fatah regime in the West Bank is nothing but an illusion. Firstly, the separation between Gaza and the West Bank is unacceptable to the Palestinians. Fatah has not forfeited Gaza and Hamas has not forfeited the West Bank. Secondly, Fatah is so divided internally that it is doubtful whether it would be capable of stabilizing a regime that would meet the expectations of the U.S. and Israel. (Ynet News) See also New West Bank Government Is a Fiction - Israel Harel The Palestinian government sworn in earlier this week is a fiction and does not represent the Palestinians in the West Bank. In Ramallah, where the government sits, Hamas won four seats in parliament in the last elections, with only one seat for Fatah. In Nablus, four seats went to Hamas and two to Fatah. In Hebron, nine to Hamas and none for Fatah. In the cities of the West Bank Hamas won 30 parliamentary seats. Fatah got only 12. (Ha'aretz) Khalid Mashaal, Hamas' "Supreme Leader" who lives in exile in Damascus, initially endorsed the Mecca Palestinian unity government deal, but was persuaded to change his position under Iranian and Syrian pressure. During a visit to Tehran, Mashaal heard point-blank that Iran favored "an intensification of the struggle against the Zionist enemy" rather than an easing of tension that a coalition with Abbas implied. Iranian President Ahmadinejad has structured his foreign policy on the assumption that a military showdown with America and Israel is inevitable. He also thinks that the radical forces led by Tehran would be able to resist long enough and to raise the cost of the conflict in human terms to break the adversaries' will to fight. For Ahmadinejad's policy to succeed, it is imperative that Lebanon and the Palestinian territories become advanced posts for the Islamic Republic. (New York Post) Had Israel acquiesced to the U.S. plan several months ago when it was first brought up by Secretary of State Rice to allow truck convoys to connect Gaza and the West Bank, Hamas would have been well-positioned today to complete its conquest of the West Bank as well. For more than 10 years, initiatives have been undertaken to foist different versions of "connectivity," "contiguity" and "continuity" on successive Israeli governments. When diplomacy is restarted at some point in the future, officials will have to think out of the box and not just return to the policies of the 1990s that clearly didn't work. Maybe, considering their difference, Gaza and the West Bank will evolve separately and new political structures will have to be considered that take that possibility into account. (Washington Times) See also Linking the Gaza Strip with the West Bank: Implications of a Palestinian Corridor Across Israel - Justus Reid Weiner and Diane Morrison (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) (64pp., pdf file] Observations: Fears in Arab World Following Gaza Coup: Hamas Is Threatening Entire Arab World (MEMRI)
See also Hamas Conquest of Gaza Disturbs Arab World - Michael Slackman
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