Sun 22nd August: Clinton announces Israel-PA talks, but they already look doomed

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the weekend announced the impending resumption of direct peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel hailed the development as a significant achievement, but the Palestinians were already throwing cold water on the talks before they ever began.

Clinton told a press conference in Washington that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas had been invited to the US capital in September 2 to officially relaunch direct talks, and that she believed the negotiations on a final status peace agreement could be “completed within a year.”

Netanyahu’s Likud Party issued a statement welcoming the final resumption of negotiations without preconditions. “It took a year and a half to persuade the international community and the Palestinians that direct dialogue is the only way to try to reach a solution to the conflict,” said Likud spokesman MK Ofir Akunis. “This is further proof that when you stand up for your principles and do not give in, you can attain diplomatic achievements.”

Another unnamed Likud official later told The Jerusalem Post that while Netanyahu is hoping to conclude an accord with the Palestinians, he is committed to bring any agreement to the Israeli people before signing it.
The Palestinians, meanwhile, were far less optimistic, and appeared determined to sink the talks even before Netanyahu and Abbas reach the negotiating table.

Nearly every Palestinian faction outside of Abbas’ own Fatah movement slammed the decision to negotiation with Netanyahu, and accused Abbas of surrendering to American pressure. Abbas’ top aides sought to reassure his Palestinian critics by insisting that if Israel continued building new Jewish homes in Judea and Samaria (the so-called “West Bank”), Abbas would pull out of the talks. The threat included Jewish housing projects on the eastern side of Jerusalem, which, despite being home to hundreds of thousands of Israeli Jews, the Palestinians claim as their capital.

“Even if Israel builds one house in the settlements,” the negotiations will come to an end, declared Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee member Hanna Amireh.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat added that if Israel did not extend its self-imposed 10-month settlement building freeze that is set to expire on September 26, there would be nothing to negotiate about.

“If the Israeli government decides, on 26 September, to continue to permit the submission of settlement bids, then there will be no talks,” said Erekat.

It is widely believed that Netanyahu will quietly extend the building freeze in Jewish towns around Judea and Samaria in order to give talks a chance, but that construction in large Jewish neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem will continue, giving the Palestinians the opportunity they need to again sidestep an opportunity for a negotiated peace.
Israel Today

Wednesday 25th August: ‘Israel a scum state,’ says top Amnesty International official

The head of Amnesty International’s Finnish branch, Frank Johansson, wrote in Finland’s third largest newspaper this week that he views Israel as a “scum state.”

In his column for Iltalehti, Johansson recounted that during a recent visit a friend who works in Israel told him that Israel is, in his eyes, “a scum state.”

Johansson then wrote that “based on my own visit[s], which occurred during the 1970s and for the last time in the 1990s, I agree.”

When questioned by The Jerusalem Post, Johansson stood by his remarks, and said they were based on what he called Israel’s “repeated flouting of international law,” and his own personal experiences with Israelis.

Israel has long maintained that organizations such as Amnesty International and the people who run them do not give the Jewish state a fair shake due to personal biases and politicized views of the conflict.

Wednesday 25th August: Palestinian stone throwers wound Jewish baby

Palestinian Arab stone throwers attacked a Jewish vehicle south of the Judean town of Hebron on Tuesday, wounding an infant passenger.

Israeli army medics treated the baby at the scene, but decided the child needed to be evacuated to a Jerusalem hospital for further treatment.

While such an attack by Jews on an Arab family likely would have made headlines around the world, Tuesday’s attacks by Arabs on a Jewish family were all but ignored.

Wed 25th August: Blair: De-legitimization of Israel offends humanity

While speaking at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya on Tuesday, Quartet envoy Tony Blair said de-legitimizing Israel not only insults Israelis, people “everywhere, in every part of humanity, who share the values of a free and independent human spirit.” Blair said during the conference on de-legitimization of Israel that the best solution to those who tried to de-legitimize the Jewish State “lies in the character of Israel itself, in the openness, fair-mindedness and creativity of the Israelis…. My advice is to guide that spirit and keep it. The restart of direct negotiations to be launched next week is important. It is important in itself, and it is important in that it shows that Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu, on behalf of the new government of Israel, is an advocate of peace.”  Blair will be in Washington next week to participate in direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Wednesday 25th August: Press Release (Communicated by the Bureau of Deputy Foreign Minister Ayalon)

Today, (Wednesday, 25rd August), Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon met with 14 Israeli police officers who are about to leave to join a multinational policing force under the command of UN forces stationed in Haiti. The delegation will become the first Israeli contingent to serve in active duty under the command of the United Nations.

The Deputy Foreign Minister congratulated the officers and told them that they represent Israel. “You are Israel’s true face. The value of human life is important to all of us and you represent Israel and the Jewish spirit of Tikkun Olam (repairing the world) to the international community,” Ayalon told the officers. “This was already proven when Israel was amongst the first to land in Haiti immediately after the earthquake and save so many lives, you continue this tradition.”

“Your goal is to save human lives and help with law and order in Haiti.  This will further our standing in the world, which is especially important against those who campaign to delegitimize us. This mission will demonstrate to friends and foes alike that Israel is always willing to contribute and volunteer anywhere and at any time. It is important for people to see Israel beyond the conflict and to see that this is the real Israel. We are not only strong materially, but also strong in spirit.”

“What you are doing is part of our foreign policy of cooperation in the international agenda as a full member of the United Nations,” Ayalon said.

Deputy Police Chief Ilan Franco said that it was Israel’s honor to restore public order in Haiti. “On Monday the contingent will leave for Haiti for a number of months. This mission was coordinated between the Ministry of International Security, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Israeli Police. I am proud to say that this delegation is made up of our best forces.”

Representatives of the United Nations recognized Israel’s contribution and congratulated the officers on their bravery and commitment.

Examples of this are the fact that two police officers have delayed their wedding to take part in this mission and one officer’s wife is in the latter stages of pregnancy. Officer Golan De-Leon said, “Even though this will be my first child, I am personally committed to this mission and have the full support of my wife.”

Thursday 26th August: Lebanese attack on Israeli soldiers was unprovoked, UN confirms (Israel Today Staff)

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on Wednesday completed its investigation into an August 3rd border clash that left two Lebanese soldiers and one Israeli officer dead. The findings were sent to both the Israeli and Lebanese armies.
“Both the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Israeli Defense Forces cooperated fully with the UNIFIL team during the investigation, and that the report confirms the preliminary conclusions of UNIFIL,” said UN spokesman Martin Nesirky.

UNIFIL’s preliminary findings were that Lebanese forces had launched an unprovoked attack on Israeli soldiers who were pruning a tree on the Israeli side of the UN-demarcated Blue Line, the de facto border between the two countries. The tree had been setting off Israel’s security fence sensors.

At the time of the incident, Lebanon insisted that while the tree may have been south of the Blue Line, the area is nevertheless Lebanese territory. Lebanese President Michel Suleiman later visited the site and praised the violent action by his nation’s soldiers.

Ignoring Suleiman’s belligerence, Nesirky said that “UNIFIL force commander Major-General Alberto Asarta Cuevas hopes that this report will assist the parties in preventing the recurrence of such incidents.”

Thursday 26th August: Israel opens flotilla investigation to the public

The Turkel Commission set up by the Israeli government to investigate the Gaza flotilla incident has been opened to public review with the launch of an official website.

The May 31 interception of the humanitarian aid flotilla trying to break the maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip resulted in the deaths of nine violent Turkish activists after they and others aboard the flotilla’s largest ship, the Mavi Marmara, attacked and abducted members of the Israeli boarding party.

The internal Israeli investigation is being headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Jacob Turkel, and is being observed by several distinguished international figures, such as Nobel Peace Laureate Lord David Trimble, former First Minister of Northern Ireland.

With thanks to JP; Israel Today; ICEJ; Israel21c