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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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Monday, October 12, 2009 | ||
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In-Depth Issues:
Israel to UK: Support for Goldstone Report Could Mean London Will "Find Itself in Handcuffs" - Ben Lynfield (Independent-UK)
Iran Plans to Execute Three Election Protesters - Michael Slackman (New York Times)
Nuclear Engineer at Swiss Lab Arrested for Al-Qaeda Links - Adam Sage (Times-UK)
Israeli Foreign Minister Visiting Kazakhstan (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
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News Resources - North America, Europe, and Asia:
Secretary of State Clinton met with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Sunday in London and said: "We are speaking with a single voice, and delivering a clear message to Iran: The international community will not wait indefinitely for evidence that Iran is prepared to live up to its international obligations." (State Department) See also Iran Dismisses U.S. Warning Ahead of Nuclear Talks Iran dismissed Monday a U.S. warning that major powers would not wait forever for Tehran to prove it was not developing nuclear bombs, saying any threats deadlines would have no impact. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi also reiterated Iran's refusal to discuss its "nuclear rights" with the six world powers. Such comments are likely to fuel Western suspicions that Iran is seeking to win time by engaging for the sake of engaging while further mastering enrichment technologies. (Reuters-Washington Post) In his Oct. 9 Friday sermon in Tehran, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami spoke of the Geneva talks between Iran and the 5+1 Western nations: "The meeting was a great victory for the Islamic Republic of Iran to such an extent that even the Western and Zionist media had to admit defeat....Prior to the talks, they (Westerners) used to speak of suspension and sanctions against Iran, but after the talks, there has not been any word of suspension or sanctions, rather, Iran's package of proposals was the axis." (MEMRI) See also Iran: If Vienna Talks Fail, We Will Enrich Uranium to 20% Iranian Nuclear Energy Organization spokesman Ali Shirzadian said Saturday that, should the Oct. 19 nuclear talks with the 5+1 in Vienna fail, Iran will inform the IAEA of its intention to produce uranium enriched to a level of 20% for use in its research facility in Tehran. (MEMRI) The U.S. pulled out of an annual multinational air force drill in Turkey after that country decided to exclude Israeli participation. The exercise was to have been the sixth annual maneuver of its kind and was to have included U.S., Italian and NATO forces. Israeli political scientist Amikam Nachmani called the Turkish decision "a warning bell" since Turkey had never before disturbed its military ties with Israel. Israel and Turkey have wide-ranging military, economic and strategic ties, but since Erdogan's government came to power in 2003, Turkey's ties with Israel have cooled. (AP) See also Turkey Sliding in the Wrong Direction - Efraim Inbar Turkey under the AKP is increasingly succumbing to Islamic impulses, relegating its political and cultural links to the West to a secondary priority. Worrying trends by the current leadership, such as invitations to radical leaders and defense of Hamas, show a possible "loss" of Turkey to Islamism. (Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies/Bar-Ilan University) News Resources - Israel and the Mideast:
The extraordinary incitement by the Islamic Movement's northern branch, Hamas, various Muslim leaders throughout the Arab world and Al Jazeera failed to rally the Palestinian masses on Friday to "defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque" against the Jews. Clashes with Israeli security forces began, as expected, in the areas around Jerusalem. But sound management of the security forces' response and complete apathy on the part of the Palestinian public brought an end to the demonstrations. Despite calls to engulf the area in flames, there were hardly any injuries and no ripple effect throughout the West Bank. The residents of the West Bank are tired of violent confrontations, no less when their living conditions are improving. In addition, there has been a lack of leadership and no one out there is capable of organizing demonstrations at more than one place at the same time. (Ha'aretz) See also Netanyahu to Arabs: Don't Be Deceived by Temple Mount Digging "Lies" Prime Minister Netanyahu on Monday called on Arabs not to be deceived by "lies" about Israel digging under the Temple Mount. "Extreme elements spread lies, saying we were planning to dig under the Temple Mount. I want to clarify that this is a lie - it is imaginary," he told the cabinet. "I appreciate the fact that an overwhelming majority of Israel's Arab citizens were not dragged along by these provocations and didn't let the extremists use the lies for evil," he continued. "I want to turn this morning to Israel's Arab citizens, the non-Jews, who want to live normal lives here and say to you that you are part of the state of Israel." (Jerusalem Post) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Sunday in Jerusalem with U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell to discuss the restart of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. They also met on Friday. Netanyahu's envoy Yitzhak Molcho, as well as Defense Minister Ehud Barak's chief of staff Michael Herzog, will travel to Washington later this week to continue the discussions. The U.S. has so far failed to get the Arab world, especially Saudi Arabia, to commit to normalization gestures to Israel as part of a package that would lead to a relaunch of negotiations. Netanyahu has said that any moratorium on settlement construction needed to be met by gestures from the Arab world. (Jerusalem Post) Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis (Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
The Goldstone report - accusing Israel of war crimes for daring to defend itself from terrorists hell-bent on its destruction - will be debated in the UN Security Council this week. Those who trumpet its "findings" assert, in effect, that Israel has no right to self-protection. Which is tantamount to declaring that Israel has no right to exist. This shameful charade springs from the UN Human Rights Council, where the document's accusations about the battle Israel waged to halt the rain of rockets from Gaza was cheered by some of the world's worst human rights abusers. On Oct. 1, the Palestinian Authority, under pressure from the U.S. and others, had a brief interlude of decency. Its representatives chose to defer further discussion on the Goldstone report in the Human Rights Council. But that decision sparked ridicule by Hamas and anger in the Arab streets toward PA chief Mahmoud Abbas - including posters reading "to the trash heap of history, you traitor." Abbas reversed course. The enemies of Israel are an energetic bunch. So, too, must be its defenders. This means you, veto-wielding Security Council member United States of America. (New York Daily News) The funny thing is that Hamas, which used the dirtiest expressions against Mahmoud Abbas because he agreed to postpone the discussion of the Goldstone report, is itself the party that rejected and attacked the report, considering it a Jewish conspiracy by Jewish Goldstone. Hamas stepped up the campaigns against Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad because it knows very well that the PA's performance in the West Bank is the best in the history of the Palestinian leadership in terms of its fairness and commitments toward its Palestinian citizens. The Goldstone report is not worth the ink in which it was written. At best, if the report is discussed, which is unlikely, it will be submitted to the UN Security Council where it will be revoked by a veto. Besides, the report itself incriminates Hamas in the recent war and says it too committed war crimes. Very regrettably, what we see is a serious decline in Palestinian politicians' ethics. The writer is general manager of Al-Arabiya television. (Asharq Alawsat-UK) The Palestinian Authority's first law adopted in 1994: the death penalty for any Palestinian who sells land to Jews. Over 100 Palestinians have died, under sentence or extrajudicially, for such sales in the last 15 years, including one last May. The Fatah [ruling party's] charter foresees a Palestine that is free of Jews - at the same time that Israel is home to over one million Arab citizens. The U.S. administration remains committed to stopping growth of any kind in all Jewish settlements in the West Bank. This policy implies acquiescence in the banning of Jews from a future Palestinian state. Why? The administration's fixation on preventing even minor construction internal to a settlement assumes that Jewish settlers are on the verge of taking over the entire West Bank. This is fanciful: The settlers live on about 1.5% of the West Bank, and comprise a very substantial majority in four major settlement blocs. In the two previous administrations, the U.S. had accepted that in any reasonable peace agreement these blocs would remain under Israeli control. The writer is a former director of Central Intelligence under President Clinton. (Wall Street Journal) Observations: Palestinian Leadership Double-Crosses U.S. - Barry Rubin (Jerusalem Post)
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