EDITOR: Who believes the Jerusalem Charade?
It is now unclear who still hangs on to this charade set up by the combined efforts of the US and Israeli administration. No one in Israel or Palestine is confused about what happened here – how could they be? After all, this comedy routine has been played to international audiences for over four decades: Israel wants peace, is crazy for peace, loves peace, eats and drinks peace, etc. If it wasn’t for those terroristic Palestinians, peace would already be here, and Israel would be able to continue building settlements in peace…
It is interesting that the writing in Israel about this charade is even clearer and stronger than that aboroad.
Biden to address Israelis as peace talks crisis looms: Haaretz
U.S. condemns Israel after E. Jerusalem building plans threaten negotiations with Palestinians.
United States Vice President Joe Biden will address the Israeli public directly on Wednesday amid a growing diplomatic storm after Israel approved the construction of 1,600 Jewish housing units in East Jerusalem.
According to his official itinerary, Biden is due to focus on American commitment to Israel’s security, Iran’s nuclear program and the peace process.
But the vice-president, the most senior official in the administration of President Barack Obama to visit Israel, has already seen his schedule disrupted as the surprise announcement of the new building work by Interior Minister Eli Yishai coincided with his arrival.
Biden reportedly came close to canceling a state dinner with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the issue and on Tuesday censured Israel in strong language rarely used by the U.S in reference to its close ally.
“I condemn the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units in East Jerusalem,” Biden said.
Earlier Tuesday, the Interior Ministry approved the building of 1,600 new housing units in Ramat Shlomo, beyond the Green Line in northeast Jerusalem, with a ministry official saying the plan would expand the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood to the east and south.
Israel’s commitment last year to suspend new settlement construction in the West Bank, a response to continued U.S. pressure, did not include East Jerusalem. But the timing of Tuesday’s decision, which came just as Israel and the Palestinians apparently agreed to renew mediated peace negotiations, aroused anger in the U.S. and across the Arab world.
Biden said: “The substance and timing of the announcement, particularly with the launching of proximity talks, is precisely the kind of step that undermines the trust we need right now and runs counter to the constructive discussions that I’ve had here in Israel.”
On Wednesday Amr Mousa, General Secretary of the Arab League, said that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had told him he intended to pull out of the negotiations.
Collapse of the latest round of talks before they are even underway would be a blow to the Obama government, which has so far made little progress in its efforts to revive the deadlocked peace process.
Thank you, Eli Yishai, for exposing the peace process masquerade: Haaretz
By Gideon Levy
Here’s someone new to blame for everything: Eli Yishai. After all, Benjamin Netanyahu wanted it so much, Ehud Barak pressed so hard, Shimon Peres wielded so much influence – and along came the interior minister and ruined everything.
There we were, on the brink of another historic upheaval (almost). Proximity talks with the Palestinians were in the air, peace was knocking on the door, the occupation was nearing its end – and then a Shas rogue, who knows nothing about timing and diplomacy, came and shuffled all the proximity and peace cards.
The scoundrel appeared in the midst of the smile- and hug-fest with the vice president of the United States and disrupted the celebration. Joe Biden’s white-toothed smiles froze abruptly, the great friendship was about to disintegrate, and even the dinner with the prime minister and his wife was almost canceled, along with the entire “peace process.” And all because of Yishai.
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Well, the interior minister does deserve our modest thanks. The move was perfect. The timing, which everyone is complaining about, was brilliant. It was exactly the time to call a spade a spade. As always, we need Yishai (and occasionally Avigdor Lieberman) to expose our true face, without the mask and lies, and play the enfant terrible who shouts that the emperor has no clothes.
For the emperor indeed has no clothes. Thank you, Yishai, for exposing it. Thank you for ripping the disguise off the revelers in the great ongoing peace-process masquerade in which nobody means anything or believes in anything.
What do we want from Yishai? To know when the Jerusalem planning committee convenes? To postpone its meeting by two weeks? What for? Hadn’t the prime minister announced to Israel, the world and the United States, in a move seen at the time as a great Israeli victory, that the construction freeze in the settlements does not include Jerusalem? Then why blame that lowly official, the interior minister, who implemented that policy?
What’s the big deal? Another 1,600 apartments for ultra-Orthodox Jews on occupied, stolen land? Jerusalem won’t ever be divided, Benjamin Netanyahu promised, in another applause-winning move. In that case, why not build in it? The Americans have agreed to all this, so they have no reason to pretend to be insulted.
The interior minister should not apologize for the “distress” he caused, but be proud of it. He is the government’s true face. Who knows, perhaps thanks to him America will finally understand that nothing will happen unless it exerts real pressure on Israel.
What would we do without Yishai? Biden would have left Israel propelled by the momentum of success. Netanyahu would have boasted of a renewed close friendship. A few weeks later, the indirect talks would have started. Europe would have applauded, and Barack Obama, the president of big promises, would even have taken a moment away from dealing with his country’s health-care issues to meet with Netanyahu. George Mitchell, who has already scored quite a few diplomatic feats here, would shuttle between Ramallah and Jerusalem, and maybe Netanyahu would eventually have met with Mahmoud Abbas. Face to face. Then everything would have been sorted out.
Without preconditions, certainly without preconditions, Israel would have continued to build in the territories in the meantime – not 1,600 but 16,000 new apartments. The IDF would have continued arresting, imprisoning, humiliating and starving – all under the auspices of the peace talks, of course. Jerusalem forever. The right of return is out of the question, and so is Hamas. And onward to peace!
Months would go by, the talks would “progress,” there would be lots of photo ops, and every now and then a mini-crisis would erupt – all because of the Palestinians, who want neither peace nor a state. At the very end, there might be another plan with another timetable that no one intends to keep.
Everything was so ready, so ripe, until that scoundrel, Yishai, came and kicked it all into oblivion. It’s a bit embarrassing, but not so terrible. After all, time heals all wounds. The Americans will soon forgive, the Palestinians will have no choice, and once again everyone will stand ceremoniously on the platform and the process will be “jump-started” again – despite everything that the sole enemy of peace around here, Eli Yishai, has done to us.
The Obama administration asked for the East Jerusalem fiasco: Haaretz
By Yossi Sarid
Don’t believe Benjamin Netanyahu for one moment when he says he “never knew.” The Jerusalem planning committee is only too aware of what the bosses want, and the government has decided to step up construction in greater Jerusalem. Dispossession and taking possession, kicking out and moving in – that’s what it’s all about.
Over the years, a streamlined and generously lubricated machine has evolved, one that makes it possible to take solace in the building of Jerusalem (in the phrase used to console mourners) and to take pride – but also to take cover – behind a facade of disingenuousness and disowning. Yesterday, it was convenient to disown.
No pretext is more dismal than “bad timing.” Ehud Barak immediately put out a press release about the “harmful timing of the publication.” As if there were a proper time for provocations. If the announcement of the 1,600 planned housing units had come before Joe Biden’s trip, they would have said it was aimed at sabotaging the visit, and if it happened after he left, they would have said Biden himself was in on the secret.
But with Barak, that willing slave-minister of Netanyahu’s, everything’s cool, but if only they had kept that call for bids confidential, if only they built apartments in some dark secluded hideaway, like the Western Wall tunnel.
Don’t believe for a moment that they never knew: The chaos works like clockwork. The detonation mechanism is activated remotely and a safety range is carefully observed. It will always be possible to make procedural claims – “it’s a technical matter” or “the political echelon wasn’t involved” or “the timing was purely coincidental” or “three years of deliberations happened to end now.” What judge hearing a case would accept “I didn’t know” as a mitigating circumstance?
This is one visit Joe Biden will not quickly forget. First he was compelled to sit through 25 minutes of an annoying speech in his honor by our president. Shimon Peres really believes that he is the destination for pilgrims from all over the world who drink in his musings and are intoxicated by his vision.
Later, Biden was given a certificate memorializing his mother, but the glass broke. Once again, Bibi didn’t pay attention, leaned on it and shattered it. No fear, his speeches have always diverted attention from such mishaps. And finally, to add a finishing touch of infuriating disgrace, the Haredi neighborhood Ramat Shlomo was dumped on the vice-presidential head.
Truth be told, the Obama administration just about asked for this slap. In Jerusalem, the lesson has been learned that the White House doesn’t fulfill its obligations – it just goes through the motions by issuing insincere rebukes. And now, they’ll begin the “proximity talks” – Orwellian for distance, which is greater than it’s been in 20 years.
If I were Rahm Emanuel, I wouldn’t advise Barack Obama to follow in his Veep’s footsteps and visit Israel soon. It’s safe to predict that on the day he’s addressing the Knesset, they’ll tell him work has begun on the Temple Mount. The first Temple was that of Solomon the Wise, the Second was that of Ezra the Scribe, and the Third of Netanyahu and Eli Yishai. Let the Temple be built, and the home of the nation will be laid waste.
EDITOR: Sleepless in Gaza and Jerusalem
Two more excellent episodes of this unique and courageous project. Each day, 26 minutes of new material is filmed, edited, and put onto YouTube. The material is just amazing – this is like being there on a daily basis! A big Thank You to all the incredible women working on this project!
Sleppless in Gaza and Jerusalem 6
Ala’ from Jerusalem attends a lecture on gender issues in Bethlehem University in the Holy Land, where she is going for a master degree.
Nagham waits for her brother to arrive from Dubai in the bus station but was her waiting in vain?
Sleepless in Gaza and Jerusalem Day 9
Two IDF soldiers charged with using 9-year-old ‘human shield’ in Gaza war: Haaretz
IDF court free soldier convicted of beating Palestinian, rejects demand to return officer to the ranks.
The Israel Defense Forces prosecution on Thursday filed an indictment against two combat soldiers suspected of inappropriate conduct during Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip in 2008.
The soldiers, who served as staff sergeants in the Givati Brigade during Operation Cast Lead, allegedly forced a 9-year-old Palestinian boy to open a number of bags they thought might contain explosive materials.
The soldiers, who breached the army’s rule against using civilians as human shields during war, will be tried for violating their authority and for inappropriate conduct.
The incident in question occurred in the Tel Al-Hawa neighborhood in south Gaza City in January 2009, toward the end of the war.
IDF court releases soldier convicted of beating Palestinian
In a separate incident earlier Thursday, the military court ordered the release of Adam Malul, an IDF officer convicted in December on charges of aggravated assault and conduct unbecoming an officer after hitting a Palestinian in the West Bank.
In sentencing the officer, 1st Lt. (res.) Adam Malul of the Kfir infantry brigade, the court ruled that he had already served a sufficient punishment after spending 64 days in jail and a further 32 days under house arrest.
The court also rejected a request by the prosecution to demote Malul to the rank of private.
Malul was convicted in of hitting a man while making an arrest in the West Bank village of Kadum in September 2008.
In its December verdict, the court rejected testimony by a former commander of the Kfir infantry brigade, Col. Itai Virob, and a former commander of the Shimshon unit, Lt. Col. Shimon Harush, in which they justified hitting Palestinian detainees under exceptional circumstances.
Malul’s family has said that the trial was a smear campaign against him and accused the court of scape-goating him while acquitting his superiors.
During his trial, Malul testified that he was not ashamed of hitting the Palestinian man, saying, “It was what I had to do”.
However, GOC Central Command Gadi Shamni testified during the military trial that IDF soldiers were not authorized to attack Palestinian civilians during arrest raids, adding that those who cross the army’s “red lines” must be put to trial.
Shamni added that the IDF never authorized the use of such aggression during questioning of detainees.
Joe Biden steps up pressure on Israel over E Jerusalem: Haaretz
Joe Biden: Israeli government’s decision “undermines trust”
US Vice-President Joe Biden has again condemned Israel over a controversial building project, saying its approval undermined trust in the peace process.
Mr Biden was speaking after meeting the Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, in the West Bank.
Mr Abbas also said the approval of another 1,600 homes in occupied East Jerusalem threatened the peace process and demanded the plans be scrapped.
Israel has insisted the move had nothing to do with Mr Biden’s visit.
‘Lasting peace’
Israel and the Palestinians had agreed to hold indirect “proximity talks” in a bid to restart the peace process, which has been stalled for 17 months.
However, the Israeli settlement announcement has cast a shadow on those talks, with the Palestinian Authority saying the approval showed Israel believed US negotiation efforts had failed before they had even begun.
Joe Biden was forthright in condemning Israel’s approval of plans for another 1,600 homes in East Jerusalem.
In the future, he asserted, Washington would hold both sides accountable for any statement or actions that inflamed tensions or prejudiced the outcome of talks. Strong words. But was Israel’s prime minister listening?
Many observers see Mr Netanyahu’s priority as being political survival, and he is practiced in the art of navigating between domestic pressures and those coming from Washington.
Historical boldness, as Mr Biden put it, is not in his nature – nor in fairness is it part of the make-up of President Abbas. But that is just what the US now expects.
Mr Biden’s mission underscores the fundamental ambivalence in the US position. It must seek to make Israel feel secure, because only a secure government – it is said – can take the risks needed for peace.
But equally it wants to exert some pressure over a government that, in resisting a full-scale settlement freeze, has pretty well outfoxed the US during the first year of President Obama’s tenure.
Mr Biden told a joint press conference with Mr Abbas that he would condemn all statements that inflamed the situation or prejudiced the peace process.
He said the US would play an active and sustained role in the talks process and warned that it was “incumbent on both sides not to complicate the process”.
“Yesterday, the decision by the Israeli government to advance planning for new housing units in East Jerusalem undermines that very trust – the trust that we need right now in order to begin as well as produce profitable negotiations.”
Mr Biden said achieving peace would require both Israel and the Palestinians to take “historically bold” steps.
Mr Abbas said he was addressing the Israeli people in saying that the “time is right for peace based on two states – an Israeli state living in peace and security alongside a Palestinian state”.
He said there should be a “permanent, lasting and just peace” that took in all areas, including Syria and Lebanon.
But he was also highly critical of the planning decision, saying it represented “the ruining of trust and a serious blow” to peace efforts.
Mr Abbas has refused to resume direct negotiations with the Israeli government because of its refusal to put a complete stop to the expansion of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Israeli denial
In November, Israel announced a 10-month suspension of new building in the West Bank, under heavy US pressure. But it considers areas within the Jerusalem municipality as its territory and the restrictions do not apply.
Close to 500,000 Jews live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel’s 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They are considered illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.
During their dinner on Tuesday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Mr Biden that he had no prior knowledge of the decision to authorise the new housing units in the ultra-Orthodox settlement of Ramat Shlomo, officials said.
He said the plans had been submitted three years ago and had only received initial approval that day.
“The district committees approve plans weekly without informing me,” Interior Minister Eli Yishai, the chairman of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, told Israel Radio on Wednesday morning.
“If I’d have known, I would have postponed the authorisation by a week or two since we had no intention of provoking anyone.”
But the US government has not accepted Israel’s explanation that the announcement was essentially part of a bureaucratic process that had no connection with Mr Biden’s visit, says BBC Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen in Jerusalem.
Israel, deliberately or not, inflicted something close to a humiliation on the Obama administration and the words they chose in reaction reflected that, our correspondent says.
The UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband condemned the announcement by Israel.
“This is a bad decision at the wrong time. It will give strength to those who argue that Israel is not serious about peace,” he said in a press statement.
“I condemn it as certain to undermine the mutual confidence we need.”
EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton also condemned the move, saying it risked peace talks before they had even begun and called on Israel to reverse the decision.
The Arab League was due to meet in Cairo to decide on a response.
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev insisted Israel had “a very good working relationship and a very good personal relationship” with the US.
He dismissed speculation that the interior ministry’s announcement was a deliberate move by some members of Mr Netanyahu’s cabinet to scupper any chance of peace talks.
The US special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, is scheduled to arrive in the region next week to conduct the second round of proximity talks.