EDITOR: The Show Does Go On, after it was supposedly off…
So here we go again! After all US big knobs were doing all they could to bury the hatchet, and to praise Netanyahu for his willingness, and realy going overboard about US support for Israel, then Bibi bounces again and hits them with the ugly reality of Israeli deep unwillingness to negotiate peace on real terms. There will be no real negotiations, and no just peace as well as Israel has its way.
The rest of us must redouble our efforts against this bully, on the BDS campaign, raising international awareness of the the need to force Israel into proper just peace negotiations, as Zionism will never reform itself. Never.
Netanyahu Takes Hard Line on Jerusalem Housing: NY Times
By MARK LANDLER
WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, under extraordinary pressure from the Obama administration to curb the construction of Jewish housing in Jerusalem, served notice on Monday that his government would not yield easily to American demands.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the gala banquet of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) annual policy conference on Monday night.
In a speech to a pro-Israel lobbying group, Mr. Netanyahu reiterated that Israel had no plans to freeze housing in Jerusalem, the trigger for a recent dispute between Israel and the United States. He rejected the administration’s contention that Israel’s policies were impeding the peace process.
“The Jewish people were building Jerusalem 3,000 years, and the Jewish people are building Jerusalem today,” Mr. Netanyahu said to the group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. “Jerusalem is not a settlement; It’s our capital.”
Earlier Monday, Mr. Netanyahu met for 75 minutes with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in the first of a series of meetings expected to reveal whether the United States sticks to its hard line with Israel on settlements. He later met with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., and he was scheduled to meet President Obama on Tuesday.
The flurry of meetings is designed to calm the waters after nearly two weeks of tension between the United States and Israel, amid a diplomatic row that both countries have portrayed as the gravest in years. But judging by Mr. Netanyahu’s comments, it is far from clear that he plans to satisfy the demands that Mrs. Clinton made of him in a phone call 10 days ago.
The State Department spokesman, Philip J. Crowley, said that Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Netanyahu had “had a further discussion of the specific actions that might be taken to improve the atmosphere.” He did not give details.
The prime minister’s remarks were a pointed bookend to an earlier address to the same group by Mrs. Clinton. She warned that the Obama administration would push back “unequivocally” when it disagreed with the Israeli government’s policies. But she reaffirmed that America’s support for Israel was “rock solid, unwavering, enduring and forever.”
Mrs. Clinton sought to build solidarity with Israel on one area where they clearly have common ground, the potential nuclear threat from Iran. In the most enthusiastically received part of her speech, she pledged to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
She said the Obama administration was seeking sanctions with “bite.” That characterization is a modest, but noticeable, retreat from the administration’s language from last year, when Mrs. Clinton said the United States was seeking “crippling sanctions.”
“There must be no gap between the United States and Israel on security,” she said to loud applause.
The crowd of 7,000 quieted down quickly when Mrs. Clinton bluntly warned that the status quo in the Middle East was unsustainable, and that Israel’s continued construction of Jewish housing was undermining the prospect for peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians.
Mrs. Clinton defended her rebuke of Mr. Netanyahu’s government over its announcement of 1,600 housing units in East Jerusalem during Mr. Biden’s visit. The move, she said, jeopardized indirect talks that the administration is trying to broker between Israelis and Palestinians.
“Our credibility in this process depends in part on our willingness to praise both sides when they are courageous, and when we don’t agree, to say so, and say so unequivocally,” she said.
In her call to Mr. Netanyahu, she demanded that Israel reverse the housing plan in the neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo; that the Israelis avoid further provocations in Jerusalem during planned peace talks; and that Mr. Netanyahu commit to substantive rather than procedural negotiations with the Palestinians, as Israel has said it would prefer.
Daniel C. Kurtzer, a former American ambassador to Israel, said that Mrs. Clinton’s speech had succeeded in reaffirming the strategic importance of the United States-Israel relationship while not backing down on settlements. But he said the administration had not laid out a broader proposal for what comes next.
“There’s a choice being made here that the U.S. doesn’t want to put forward its own views,” Mr. Kurtzer said.
Still, after a week in which many pro-Israel observers worried that their country and the United States were on the brink of a breakdown in relations, Mrs. Clinton’s speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee seemed reassuring for Israel. Despite predictions that she would be booed, the audience greeted her politely.
“I thought she was excellent,” said Hal Rosnick of Easton, Conn. “She wants the parties to get back to indirect negotiations.” But Diane Hornstein of Chicago, said, “I would like her to recognize that Jerusalem is not a settlement. There’s no evenhandedness in the demands made of Israel.”
On one topic — Iran — Mr. Netanyahu and Mrs. Clinton seemed largely in agreement. “Iran’s brazen bid to develop nuclear weapons is first and foremost a threat to my country, Israel,” the prime minister said, “but it is also a grave threat to the region and to the world.” The Israeli people, he said, “always reserve the right of self-defense.”
In making her own tough statements on Iran, Mrs. Clinton acknowledged that the process of building support for sanctions in the United Nations was taking longer than expected. “Our aim is not incremental sanctions, but sanctions that will bite,” she said.
Mrs. Clinton praised Mr. Netanyahu for his 10-month moratorium on the building of settlements on the West Bank, and noted that the future status of Jerusalem would be hashed out at the bargaining table.
Mrs. Clinton condemned those who incite violence against Israelis, including Palestinians who whipped up anger after Israel rededicated a synagogue in the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem.
But Mrs. Clinton also made clear that the dispute over Mr. Biden’s visit might not be an isolated incident. The administration, she said, will continue to speak out against decisions it views as jeopardizing the peace process.
“As Israel’s friend,” she said, “it is our responsibility to give credit when it is due and to tell the truth when it is needed.”
Netanyahu reaffirms ‘right to build’ in Jerusalem: BBC
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asserted Israel’s “right to build” in Jerusalem, following a row with the US over plans for new homes in the city.
“Jerusalem is not a settlement, it’s our capital,” he said in Washington.
But Mr Netanyahu did not mention the decision to expand the East Jerusalem settlement of Ramat Shlomo in a speech to the pro-Israel lobby group, Aipac.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the meeting Israel had to make “difficult” choices for peace.
She said the continued expansion of Jewish settlements in Palestinian occupied territory undermined the US role in the peace process.
The Palestinian Authority is furious at Israel’s insistence on building on occupied territory. It sees it as a serious stumbling block to the resumption of talks, which have been stalled for more than a year.
Some 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, which Israel disputes.
Call to Abbas
In his speech to a convention of the influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) on Monday evening, Mr Netanyahu said that “the Jewish people were building Jerusalem 3,000 years ago and the Jewish people are building it today”.
New construction in east Jerusalem or the West Bank undermines mutual trust and endangers the proximity talks that are the first step toward the full negotiations that both sides want and need
Settlements in occupied East Jerusalem were an “inextricable” part of the city, he said, and would remain part of Israel under any peace agreement.
“Therefore, building in them in no way precludes the possibility of a two-state solution.”
He said Israel wanted Palestinians to be “our neighbours, living freely” and called on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to “come and negotiate peace”.
Mr Netanyahu added that while the US could help resolve both sides’ problems, peace could not be imposed from the outside.
Speaking just hours earlier to the same audience, Mrs Clinton urged Mr Netanyahu to extend Israel’s suspension of new building in the West Bank to include East Jerusalem.
ANALYSIS
Jeremy Bowen, BBC Middle East editor, Washington
Prime Minister Netanyahu made a tough speech, reasserting what he believes to be Israel’s right to build wherever it wants in Jerusalem.
Israel’s latest building plans in occupied East Jerusalem have been condemned by the Obama administration and are at the heart of the current crisis in relations between the two countries.
Both sides have been trying to take the heat of the dispute, re-emphasising their friendship.
Perhaps Mr Netanyahu has given some kind of private assurance to the Americans that he won’t surprise them with any more building projects.
But his speech shows that on the fundamentals of the issue the US and Israel are far apart.
She said the continued expansion of Jewish settlements undermined “mutual trust and endangers the proximity talks that are the first step toward the full negotiations that both sides want and need”.
“It exposes daylight between Israel and the United States that others in the region hope to exploit,” she added.
Last week, the Israeli prime minister proposed a series of “trust-building measures” that he said represented “a real effort” to aid US peace efforts.
Although details have not yet been made public, Israeli officials said these included an agreement to discuss all outstanding issues in the indirect “proximity talks” being mediated by US special envoy George Mitchell.
In Monday’s speech, Mr Netanyahu also warned that “Iran’s brazen bid to develop nuclear weapons… is the threat to the entire world”.
He urged the world community to act “swiftly” to “swart this danger”.
Iran insists its nuclear programme is solely for civilian purposes.
Mr Netanyahu is scheduled to meet President Obama later on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, at least three people were injured in an Israeli air strike overnight in the east of Gaza City, Palestinian officials said.
Israel said the air strike in Gaza was retaliation for rocket attacks
The Israeli military said its aircraft had targeted a weapons storage facility in retaliation for Palestinian rocket attacks since Thursday, one killing a Thai farm worker.
In a separate incident, an Israeli soldier was shot dead by his comrades on the Gaza border.
An army spokesman said one group of soldiers had opened fire on another after mistaking them for Palestinians who had crossed the border into Israel.
Three Palestinian men who were later captured and taken in for questioning were found to be unarmed.
Netanyahu meets Obama for crisis talks to defuse tensions: The Independent
By Rupert Cornwell in Washington, Tuesday, 23 March 2010
Benjamin Netanyahu refuses to change policy on East Jerusalem
But they seemed no nearer a resolution to the row over new Israeli settlements, especially in disputed East Jerusalem. The hastily-arranged White House meeting, due today, would not have taken place at all but for Sunday’s crucial healthcare vote in Congress, which led Barack Obama abruptly to cancel a foreign trip that would have seen him in Indonesia and Australia at the very moment Mr Netanyahu was in the US, to address the annual conference of AIPAC, the main pro-Israeli lobby group here.
That it has been scheduled is a sign of both sides’ desire to end what has been described as the worst crisis in decades in Israel’s relations with its most important ally. But the US is still smarting from Israel’s announcement, during a visit by Vice-President Joe Biden earlier this month, that it would build 1,600 housing units in East Jerusalem.
In a speech to AIPAC yesterday, Hillary Clinton, the Secretary of State, warned that new settlements on land claimed by the Palestinians threatened peace prospects and undercut Washington’s ability to broker an end to the conflict. The East Jerusalem plan in particular exposed differences that “others” could exploit, she noted, in a thinly veiled reference to Iran.
“We objected to this announcement because we are committed to Israel and its security, which we believe depends on a comprehensive peace,” Mrs Clinton said – adding it was an ally’s duty to “tell the truth when needed”.
Her remarks were greeted coolly, in marked contrast to the loud applause when she talked tough against the regime in Tehran. A nuclear-armed Iran, she said, was unacceptable. “It is unacceptable to the United States. It is unacceptable to Israel. It is unacceptable to the region and the international community.” She pledged that the US would seek “sanctions that will bite”.
A day before Mrs Clinton spoke, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei brushed off Mr Obama’s latest message that Washington’s offer of better relations was still on the table. Instead, the Ayatollah accused the US of plotting to overthrow the clerical regime.
During his stay the Israeli premier will meet Mrs Clinton, and have dinner with Mr Biden, whose unhappy visit to Israel had been intended to cap agreement between Israel and Palestine to restart indirect “proximity” talks, indirect contacts channelled through the US Middle East envoy, the former senator George Mitchell.
Mr Netanyahu has made some concessionary gestures, including a profession of willingness to include preliminary discussion of key points of contention, such as the status of Jerusalem and the right to return of Palestinian refugees, in the proximity talks. But in remarks at a cabinet meeting before his departure for the US, the Prime Minister did not give an inch on the issue of East Jerusalem. His policy was that of every Israeli premier since 1967: “from our point of view, construction in East Jerusalem is like construction in Tel Aviv”.
The friction between the two countries has caused increasing concern both in Israel and in the Jewish community here – on its liberal and conservative wings.
“Our commitment to Israel and its security now and in the future, is rock-solid, enduring and for ever,” Mrs Clinton told AIPAC. But doubts are starting to gnaw, especially in Israel, a country Mr Obama has yet to visit as President, and which suspects that he is less instinctively supportive of the Jewish state than any of his predecessors.
*Israeli forces opened fire on each other along the Gaza border yesterday, killing one of their own soldiers in an incident in which three Palestinian infiltrators were captured, a military spokesman said. Two separate forces had been alerted to a suspected infiltration from Hamas-ruled Gaza, but neither knew the other was in the area, the spokesman said. One of the forces “mistakenly identified the tank team (at the site) as suspects and began opening fire.”
After AIPAC speech, Netanyahu courts U.S. leaders: Haaretz
WASHINGTON – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is criss-crossing the Washington power grid in a bid to explain Israel’s position on plans to construct 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem.
Netanyahu had a meeting scheduled with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) a day after holding talks with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. He plans to meet later Tuesday at the White House with President Barack Obama.
The diplomatic effort comes after Netanyahu on Monday told thousands of participants at AIPAC’s annual conference that Jerusalem is not a settlement.
The prime minister met Monday Clinton in an attempt to put an end to the crisis that began when the report broke of plans to build 1,600 new units in Ramat Shlomo in East Jerusalem two weeks ago during the visit to Israel of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.
Before Netanyahu left for Washington he asked Housing Minister Ariel Atias not to participate in the dedication ceremony for a new neighborhood in Pisgat Ze’ev in East Jerusalem. Netanyahu made the request in light of the recent tensions between Israel and the United States over construction in East Jerusalem.
Atias canceled his participation and the festive ceremony, which could have overshadowed Netanyahu’s Washington visit.
Netanyahu informed Clinton that the ceremony had been postponed but also said he would not change government policy on construction in East Jerusalem, which has not changed in the 42 years it has been in Israeli hands.
Netanyahu is to meet Tuesday evening at the White House with U.S. President Barak Obama.
During his meeting with Clinton, Netanyahu showed her graphs and data regarding planning and construction in Jerusalem to show her the difficulties the government faces in monitoring every phase of planning approval in the capital.
Netanyahu said the planning process was a long one, but every phase could engender an international crisis even though it might not mean construction was imminent.
Netanyahu also spoke Monday before some 300 representatives and senators at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee banquet. He discussed the Iranian nuclear program and the peace process with the Palestinians, but mostly worked to convey a message of common interests and close relations between Israel and the United States.
The prime minister called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to come to the negotiating table and added that the United States could assist in the process but that peace could not be imposed from the outside.
Netanyahu’s attempts at fence-mending were prominent, and he praised Obama a number of times for his commitment to Israel’s security. He noted that in the past Israel helped the United States to contain the Soviet Union and today Israel was helping the United States curb militant Islam.
Netanyahu also addressed voices in the administration that said Israel was endangering American soldiers by its conflict with the Palestinians. He said Israel traded intelligence and cooperated in the war on terror, which saves American lives.
The prime minister told AIPAC that the hatred of radical Islam for the West did not stem from anything Israel was doing, but because it saw Israel as an outpost of Western freedom. When Israel fought its enemies, it was fighting America’s enemies, he said.
Netanyahu also said Israel expected the international community to deal decisively with Iran to thwart the danger of Iran obtaining nuclear weapons, but that Israel retained the right to self-defense. He said that if Iran obtained nuclear weapons, it would end the period of nuclear peace the world has known for the past 65 years.
Clinton’s earlier speech at the AIPAC convention was warmly received and punctuated with stormy applause. Ten days after scolding Netanyahu over building in East Jerusalem, Clinton spoke with feeling about her visits to Israel and vowed that American support for Israel’s security remains “rock solid, unwavering, enduring and forever.”
Clinton devoted much of her address to the stagnated peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. She said resuming the talks should be serious and substantive, and warned that Israeli building in East Jerusalem and the West Bank were hurting U.S. mediation.
Settlements have cost Israel $17 billion, study finds: Haaretz
Israeli settlements in the West Bank encompass 12 million square meters of roads, homes and factories that cost more than $17 billion to build, according to a study by the Macro Center for Political Economics.
Using satellite imagery and other technology, the research institute mapped every home and structure put up in the settlements.
Its work was the result of a years-long effort to gauge the total value of the Jewish settlement enterprise in the West Bank.
The findings will be unveiled Tuesday at a conference.
According to the study, Israeli settlements are home to 868 publicly owned facilities occupying 488,769 square meters.
These include 127 synagogues that cover 94,848 square meters, 96 ritual baths over a territory of 10,755 square meters, 321 sports facilities over 382,867 square meters, 344 kindergartens over 91,353 square meters, 211 schools over 296,933 square meters, 68 yeshivas over 100,943 square meters and 21 libraries over 8,962 square meters.
As for residential units, the total number of apartments stands at 32,711 spread over a space of around 3.27 million square meters, as well as 22,997 private homes over 5.74 million square meters.
There are 187 shopping centers in the settlements occupying 162,399 square meters, 717 industrial structures on 904,817 square meters of land, 15 banquet halls on 23,186 square meters and paved roads that cover more than 1.02 million square meters.
Macro’s team of researchers, however, noted that their calculations did not represent the actual market value.
“The logic behind the economic calculation is to assess the cost of construction and infrastructure in the settlement enterprise,” said Macro director general Dr. Robi Nathanson. “This isn’t market value, but rather the cost of building infrastructure.”
Macro’s economists estimated that private homes in the settlements are worth a total of $9 billion, apartments are worth $4.5 billion, roads are worth $1.7 billion, and public institutions, synagogues and bathhouses combined are worth $0.5 billion.
To read further reports by the Macro Centre, Click here
EDITOR: They Kill, Then They Lie
The IOF (Israeli Occupation Forces) propaganda machine has first totally denied that live bullets were used, as reported on this site three days ago. Now that the main media outlets have taken up the story, and the X Ray of the bullets is there for all to see, they are going to ‘inquire’. Like all IOF inquiries, it will end up with finding nothing was amiss, apart from the Palestinians. Even the terminally gullible might have some doubts by now, surely?
B’tselem says live bullets may have killed Palestinians: BBC
Four Palestinians died in disputed incidents on Saturday and Sunday
An Israeli rights group is calling for an investigation into the deaths of two Palestinians it suspects were killed by live fire, contrary to military claims.
The Israeli army said only rubber bullets were used during the West Bank clashes on Saturday in which Mohammed and Osayed Qadus were fatally injured.
But the group, Btselem, said pictures and an x-ray showed wounds inconsistent with rubber-coated bullets.
The military says “violent and illegal riots” were taking place at the time.
The shooting took place while anti-Israeli protests, during which stones were thrown at Israeli security forces, were being held in the village of Iraq-Burin near the town of Nablus, in the north of the West Bank on Saturday.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the deaths, saying that Israel’s response to diplomacy was violence.
“The Israeli escalation and the killing of Palestinians on a daily basis is the actual response of the Israeli government to the Palestinians, the Arabs and to American peace efforts, and an answer to the Quartet’s statement,” he said in a statement.
‘False reporting of facts’
During the incident 15-year-old Mohammad Qadus sustained chest injuries. He was dead by the time he arrived at hospital.
X-ray apparently of Osayed Qadus’ head showing a bullet lodged inside (Source: Btselem)
Photographs obtained by Btselem from the hospital show wounds in both his chest and back, which Btselem’s director, Sarit Michaeli, said were “completely inconsistent” with the use of rubber-coated bullets.
“It’s unheard of that a rubber-coated bullet will penetrate and then exit the body,” said Ms Michaeli.
The hospital also showed Btselem an x-ray, which it said showed the skull of Osayed Qadus, 18, who died from his injuries on Sunday morning.
“There is very clearly a bullet inside the skull,” said Ms Michaeli.
“The bullet is consistent with live ammunition. It is completely inconsistent with rubber-coated steel bullets of the two types used by the IDF [Israeli Defence Forces] – there are cylindrical and circular ones, neither looks anything like what you can see in the x-ray.”
The organisation is calling for a military criminal investigation, not just into “who shot them and why”, but also into the “suspected reporting of false facts by the soldiers who participated in the events”, Ms Michaeli said.
On Saturday, the Israeli military said live fire had not been used.
On Monday, spokeswoman Avital Liebowich told the BBC that had been the conclusion of an initial investigation, and maintained that the army “did not give any orders to use live fire”.
She said a “debriefing” was taking place at brigade level regarding the incident.
‘Not involved’
The family of Osayed Qadus told the BBC both youths were on their way home from college, and were not taking part in the clashes, when they were shot.
Btselem also wants an investigation into an incident on Sunday, in which two Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli security forces in disputed circumstances.
The military initially said the Palestinians had tried to stab a soldier. Later reports said they had attacked security forces with pitchforks and an axe.
On Monday Ms Liebowich said the two Palestinians were carrying a container filled with rocks and a medical syringe, and possibly also pitchforks.
“The soldiers understood they were about to get hurt and opened fire to save themselves,” she said.
But a local Palestinians told the BBC the two men were arrested before they were killed, on the basis of a phone call a village elder says he received from the military saying they were being held, before later hearing that they had been shot dead.
Ms Liebowich denied accusations from Palestinians that the military was provoking tensions by using heavy handed tactics during clashes.
“We see in the past several weeks Palestinian extremist factions inciting the entire area… that’s why we see an increase in the protests, in the violence, this is the real reason for the flaring up – it has nothing to do with the Israeli military’s rules of engagement,” she said.
IDF probing ‘regrettable’ killings of 4 Palestinians in West Bank: Haaretz
The IDF is investigating two West Bank incidents in which Israeli soldiers shot dead four Palestinians in less than 24 hours.
Military sources said the two Palestinians who were shot on Saturday in the village of Iraq Burin, near Nablus, were apparently killed by live Israel Defense Forces fire, contrary to the IDF’s initial claim that only rubber bullets were used.
IDF doctors met with Nablus hospital doctors Sunday night to examine X-rays of one of the men killed in Iraq Burin, which the Palestinians said show that a live bullet had penetrated his head.
IDF sources said however it was not certain the bullet was a 5.56 mm., the kind used by the IDF, or a 7.62 mm., used by Palestinian security forces.
They also said it was not verified the X-ray was of the Palestinian who was killed in this incident or of someone else.
The Central Command intends to appoint a team of specialists to investigate the incident.
If it turns out that both Palestinians were shot with live ammunition, the Military Police will open an investigation, the sources said.
The officers and soldiers at the site said they had only fired rubber-coated bullets.
Elsewhere, the IDF said the sergeant who shot dead two Palestinians farmers in Awerta really felt his life was in danger when they attacked him with a bottle and a syringe. Soldiers nearby confirmed this.
But Palestinian Authority officials accused Israel of killing the two Palestinian youths in cold blood after they had been arrested on Sunday.
They said Israel was escalating tensions to thwart U.S. efforts to resume the peace talks in the region.
Palestinian government spokesman Ghassan Khatib called for an independent investigation into the deaths of 19-year-old cousins Mohammed Koarik and Salah Koarik.
The Central Command admitted yesterday that the shooting was “a regrettable incident” and should not have ended in killing two Palestinians. Officers said it could be difficult to obtain the “full picture” of what had happened because the sergeant who shot the victims and his three soldiers are the only witnesses.
Military sources commended the PA’s efforts to prevent a wider conflagration and praised the security coordination between the sides.
The two incidents reflect the IDF’s difficult role in the West Bank, where they have to juggle working with Palestinian forces and remaining alert to any hint of an attack.
Netanyahu tells AIPAC: Jerusalem is no settlement: Haaretz
WASHINGTON – Jerusalem is not a settlement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told thousands of participants at AIPAC’s annual conference here on Monday.
The prime minister met Monday with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in an attempt to put an end to the crisis that began when the report broke of plans to build 1,600 new units in Ramat Shlomo in East Jerusalem two weeks ago during the visit to Israel of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.
Before Netanyahu left for Washington he asked Housing Minister Ariel Atias not to participate in the dedication ceremony for a new neighborhood in Pisgat Ze’ev in East Jerusalem. Netanyahu made the request in light of the recent tensions between Israel and the United States over construction in East Jerusalem.
Atias canceled his participation and the festive ceremony, which could have overshadowed Netanyahu’s Washington visit.
Netanyahu informed Clinton that the ceremony had been postponed but also said he would not change government policy on construction in East Jerusalem, which has not changed in the 42 years it has been in Israeli hands.
Netanyahu is to meet Tuesday evening at the White House with U.S. President Barak Obama.
During his meeting with Clinton, Netanyahu showed her graphs and data regarding planning and construction in Jerusalem to show her the difficulties the government faces in monitoring every phase of planning approval in the capital.
Netanyahu said the planning process was a long one, but every phase could engender an international crisis even though it might not mean construction was imminent.
Netanyahu also spoke Monday before some 300 representatives and senators at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee banquet. He discussed the Iranian nuclear program and the peace process with the Palestinians, but mostly worked to convey a message of common interests and close relations between Israel and the United States.
The prime minister called on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to come to the negotiating table and added that the United States could assist in the process but that peace could not be imposed from the outside.
Netanyahu’s attempts at fence-mending were prominent, and he praised Obama a number of times for his commitment to Israel’s security. He noted that in the past Israel helped the United States to contain the Soviet Union and today Israel was helping the United States curb militant Islam.
Netanyahu also addressed voices in the administration that said Israel was endangering American soldiers by its conflict with the Palestinians. He said Israel traded intelligence and cooperated in the war on terror, which saves American lives.
The prime minister told AIPAC that the hatred of radical Islam for the West did not stem from anything Israel was doing, but because it saw Israel as an outpost of Western freedom. When Israel fought its enemies, it was fighting America’s enemies, he said.
Netanyahu also said Israel expected the international community to deal decisively with Iran to thwart the danger of Iran obtaining nuclear weapons, but that Israel retained the right to self-defense. He said that if Iran obtained nuclear weapons, it would end the period of nuclear peace the world has known for the past 65 years.
Clinton?s earlier speech at the AIPAC convention was warmly received and punctuated with stormy applause. Ten days after scolding Netanyahu over building in East Jerusalem, Clinton spoke with feeling about her visits to Israel and vowed that American support for Israel’s security remains “rock solid, unwavering, enduring and forever.”
Clinton devoted much of her address to the stagnated peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. She said resuming the talks should be serious and substantive, and warned that Israeli building in East Jerusalem and the West Bank were hurting U.S. mediation.
Hamas: Israel prompting Gaza violence: Ma’an News Agency
Published 22/03/2010 16:55
Gaza – Ma’an – Multiple Israeli airstrikes on Gaza seek to disturb the peace and prompt a response in order to defer attention from Jerusalem, senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar said on Sunday.
Addressing a commemoration ceremony for Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, assassinated six years earlier by Israeli forces, Zahhar hinted that recent projectile launches were “conspiracies plotted by some collaborators,” providing excuses for Israel to strike Gaza.
“We respect resistance regardless of which factions are adopting it. Palestine belongs to all including us,” Zahhar said, but reiterated his cation that Hamas “warns of some conspiracies plotted by collaborators.”
According to an Israeli military spokesman, 35 homemade projectiles were launched from the Gaza Strip toward Israel since the end of the country’s Operation Cast Lead in 2009. Three were claimed by members of Hamas’ Al-Qassam Brigades, but later refuted by spokesmen.
Zahhar said Hamas would not abandon resistance, nor would the movement give up on inalienable Palestinian principles. However, he said Hamas was evaluating its experiences of almost four years of Gaza rule.
“Every experience should be reconsidered,” he said, stressing that reconsideration “does not mean failure,” but explained that it was part of the “process that Hamas initiates every year.”
The Hamas official called on both the UN and the Arab League to step up efforts, demanding actions rather than words.
“Moon came to Gaza to say ‘lift the siege’ but [should have] taken practical steps through the UN Security Council and other international entities to end the siege,” Zahhar said, noting Ban’s comments were worthless “words we can’t buy.”
At AIPAC conference, U.S., Israel try to lower tensions: Washington Post
By Glenn Kessler, Tuesday, March 23, 2010
The United States and Israel on Monday attempted to get their relationship back on track after nearly two weeks of tension by continuing to disagree on Jewish construction in a disputed area of Jerusalem but pledging to press forward on peace efforts with the Palestinians.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton defended the administration’s stance before a leading pro-Israel group in Washington, then met one-on-one with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for more than an hour before he offered a sort of rebuttal at the same gathering of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. He met with Vice President Biden and is to meet with President Obama on Tuesday evening.
Israel on March 9 announced the construction of 1,600 homes in East Jerusalem, where Palestinians hope to make their capital, during a goodwill tour by Biden, prompting a tense 45-minute phone call from Clinton to Netanyahu on March 12.
The administration has pressed Netanyahu for a reversal of the housing approval, gestures to the Palestinians and agreement to add Jerusalem and other final status issues to the agenda for indirect talks with the Palestinians being arranged by special envoy George J. Mitchell. Netanyahu appears to have accepted the latter two but rejected any concession on the first.
In a defiant speech Monday night before 8,000 cheering people attending the AIPAC conference, Netanyahu declared, “The Jewish people were building Jerusalem 3,000 years ago, and the Jewish people are building Jerusalem today. Jerusalem is not a settlement. It’s our capital.”
He added that nearly 250,000 Jews “live in neighborhoods that are just beyond the 1949 armistice lines,” all within a five-minute drive from the parliament. “They are an integral and inextricable part of modern Jerusalem. Everyone knows that these neighborhoods will be part of Israel in any peace settlement. Therefore, building them in no way precludes the possibility of a two-state solution.”
Netanyahu said that Israel does not want to govern or rule the Palestinians, and “we want them as our neighbors, living freely in security, dignity and peace.” But he reiterated that Israel would insist on keeping a military presence on the eastern border of any future Palestinian state.
Clinton used her speech before the AIPAC conference to defend the administration’s pressure on Israel and to make the case that pursuing peace now is essential, because technological and demographic changes are putting Israel at risk and making the “status quo” unsustainable. Better rocket technology used by militants in the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon is putting many Israeli towns and cities at risk, even those far from the border, she said. Long-term population trends means that one day, there will be more Palestinians under occupation than Jews in Israel.
“The inexorable mathematics of demography are hastening the hour at which Israelis may have to choose between preserving their democracy and staying true to the dream of a Jewish homeland,” Clinton said. “Given this reality, a two-state solution is the only viable path for Israel to remain both a democracy and a Jewish state.”
Clinton was greeted respectfully by the group, which has criticized the public spat with Israel, and won applause when she spoke of defending Israel’s security, promised sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program that “will bite,” and criticized Palestinian incitement. “For President Obama, for me, and for this entire administration, our commitment to Israel’s security and Israel’s future is rock-solid, unwavering, enduring and forever,” Clinton declared, as delegates stood and cheered.
But the crowd was largely silent as Clinton gave no ground on the administration’s handling of the dispute over construction in Jerusalem.
Clinton signaled that the administration seeks to dampen the dispute with Israeli officials. She said that Netanyahu last week offered “specific actions” that Israel is prepared to take to rebuild confidence. “We are making progress, and we are working hard to keep the proximity talks moving ahead,” she said.
She told AIPAC the United States objected to Israel’s construction announcement because such actions undermine the administration’s “essential role” in the peace process.
But Netanyahu appeared to knock that argument. “The United States can help the parties solve their problems, but it cannot solve the problems for the parties,” he said. “Peace cannot be imposed from the outside. It can only come through direct negotiations in which we develop mutual trust.”
Clinton asserted: “New construction in East Jerusalem or the West Bank undermines mutual trust and endangers the proximity talks that are the first step toward the full negotiations that both sides want and need.”
Though the crowd was motionless during Clinton’s defense of the administration’s actions, she drew scattered clapping when she said: “This was not about wounded pride. Nor is it a judgment on the final status of Jerusalem, which is an issue to be settled at the negotiating table. This is about getting to the table, creating and protecting an atmosphere of trust around it — and staying there until the job is done.”
Erekat: Israel prefers belligerency over peace: Ma’an News Agency
Published 23/03/2010 10:00
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat condemned on Monday the killing of Palestinian civilians and the continuation of Israeli settlements in occupied East Jerusalem.
Erekat said Israel’s decision to defy international calls for a settlement freeze in occupied East Jerusalem would prove fatal for the two-state solution, a statement read.
“Faced with mounting pressure over illegal settlements, Israel is again resorting to deadly violence against Palestinians in a deliberate move to further incite and inflame tensions on the ground. Its actions are not only morally reprehensible, but highlight just how out of step Israel is with international efforts to get the peace process back on track,” he said.
On Saturday, Israeli forces shot dead 16-year-old Muhammad Qadus, and 19-year-old Ousayab Qadous. Their deaths were closely followed by the killing of Mohammed Quarek and Salah Quarek yesterday. Both were 19-years-old, both were detained while working on their land, and both were subsequently shot dead while still detained.
“Israel continues to demonstrate a preference for belligerency and the violence of occupation over any commitment to peace or seriousness about meaningful negotiations. Its actions are not just harming Palestinians. They are also harming Israel and its own interests, as well as hopes for peace. Even Israel’s closest allies are finding it increasingly difficult to justify the path of confrontation and obstruction Israel is plotting.”
On Israel’s decision to defy the Quartet’s call for Israel to halt to all settlement construction in occupied East Jerusalem in keeping with the Road Map and international law, Erakat said: “East Jerusalem is occupied Palestinian territory. Unlike what is happening in occupied East Jerusalem, Israel does not demolish Palestinian homes, steal and settle occupied Palestinian land and openly flout international law to build in Tel Aviv.”
“We now know that whatever statement the Israeli government makes about negotiations and peace, its words ring hollow. It is not by what it says, but by what it does that Israel should be judged.”
Erakat again reiterated the PLO’s call for a complete lifting of Israel’s siege over Gaza.”Laying siege against the people of Gaza, creating a humanitarian disaster condemned the world over, and then making a few exceptions to what can and cannot pass through Gaza’s borders is not a ‘goodwill gesture’, but the continuation of Israel’s occupation by siege.”
“The international community needs to decide what role it wants to play in the Middle East peace process. Past experience shows that words alone are not enough. No longer is it a question of who wants negotiations, but who wants solutions. No amount of negotiations will succeed without a radical change in Israel’s policies on the ground,” Erakat concluded.
U.S. era of Jewish and Evangelist pressure is over: Haaretz
By Tzvia Greenfield
A little more than a year ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formed the largest, most wasteful and extreme coalition in Israeli history. Tzipi Livni and Kadima may have won the most votes, but Netanyahu chose to bond with the wackiest, most extreme elements in Israeli society – to ensure Israel’s continued hold on the territories and keep a two-state solution at bay.
Netanyahu’s belief that occupation and messianism would serve Israel better than rational pragmatism is worrying, but not surprising.
Netanyahu’s ideological preferences are known. It is still surprising, however, that once again he has emerged as a failing schlemiel of a politician. He cannot read the new global map and is incapable of evaluating his real chances of surviving as prime minister of a radical right-wing cabinet opposite the new administration in Washington.
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In opting against a centrist-pragmatist coalition with Livni, Netanyahu kept moderate people out of his government who could speak in a language acceptable to Barack Obama. This would have saved Netanyahu’s cabinet from moments of tension and disagreement with the Americans.
It is clear that to do so he would have had to agree to Livni’s demand to reach a final decision regarding the peace process, in order to ensure Israel’s legitimate existence as a democratic Jewish state. He would also have had to agree to a rotating premiership with Livni – which would have spared him the shameful surrender to Yisrael Beiteinu and the ultra-Orthodox parties.
But Netanyahu did not accept Livni’s terms to join the government and instead got himself into an impossible situation.Now he has thrown Israel into a dangerous, insufferable collision course with the United States and will apparently have to pay for it with his post.
Netanyahu could have been expected to understand the meaning of Obama’s election as U.S. president and to prepare accordingly. Obama was elected without really needing the Jewish vote. He came to power on the back of a clear, enthusiastic agenda to make a fundamental break with all the previous administration’s principles.
The era of Jewish and evangelist pressure in America is over, and a renowned Americanologist like Netanyahu should have seen that his lunatic politics would raise strong objections in the United States and endanger Israel and its future.
The writing was on the wall. Livni, who represents the Israeli center, could have conducted a friendly, more moderate dialogue with the Americans, thanks to her credibility and clear support for the two-state principle, unlike Netanyahu’s lack of credibility in this arena.
Had Netanyahu really been an adroit statesman, he would have understood immediately that Livni was actually offering him the only way of running Israel in a new world. But Netanyahu did not understand. In his blindness he assumed that in the worst case he could trust the faded magic tricks of Ehud Barak and Shimon Peres. In view of the storm coming from Obama’s direction, it is clear that these two cannot divert the lightning.
Washington wants unequivocal progress toward an agreement, and only Livni can do that. Anyone who doesn’t see that has failed in a pathetic, worrisome way.
Netanyahu’s wretched entanglement with the U.S. administration proves again that his judgment is fundamentally flawed and his political assessments are not merely invalid, but put Israel at risk.
Anyone who can’t understand that we will end up bruised in a collision with a tough U.S. administration isn’t capable of the simplest reality check and cannot be entrusted with fateful decisions of war. Bibi is dangerous to the Jews.
Report: U.K. to formally link Israel to Dubai hit: Haaretz
Britain is expected to formally link Israel to the killing of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, who was found dead in a Dubai hotel room in January, according to a report Tuesday in the British Telegraph.
Israeli Ambassador to London, Ron Proser, was summoned to the Foreign Office in London on Monday to be told that results of an inquiry into the murder of Mabhouh have determined for certain that British passports were cloned as part of the operation, the Telegraph reported.
Mabhouh was killed January in what Dubai police have said they are near certain was a hit by Israel’s Mossad spy agency. Police said the killers traveled to the Gulf Arab emirate using forged passports from the U.K., Ireland, France, Germany and Australia.
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According to the newspaper, there was growing speculation that “a senior Israeli diplomat would be expelled as a mark of the ‘anger’ within the Government that British passport holders had been put at risk as a result of the operation.”
Prosor was also reportedly told that a ministerial statement will be made to Parliament in the coming days formally naming the Israeli security services as responsible for the cloning of up to 15 British passports as part of the Dubai operation.
The statement will not state definitively whether the Mossad was involved and will instead mention both them and the Military Intelligence Directorate.
But the Foreign Office made it clear to Prosor that the probe had determined for certain that the passports were cloned when British citizens passed through airports on their way into Israel, with officials taking them away for ‘checks’ which lasted around 20 minutes.
There was no immediate response from the embassy
Haifa divides over restaurant’s ban on Israeli soldier: IOA
Posted by admin on Mar 21st, 2010
By Jonathan Cook, The National – 20 March 2010
An Arab-owned restaurant in the Israeli city of Haifa has been caught in a whirlwind of legal action and threats of violence after staff refused to serve a soldier in military uniform, an incident that is rapidly tarnishing the city’s reputation as a model of good Jewish-Arabs relations.
The soldier, Raviv Roth, has launched a damages claim for US$16,000 (Dh58,700) over his treatment at Azad, a restaurant located in a bohemian neighbourhood of the northern port city.
Mr Roth’s lawyer alleges that the restaurant broke anti-discrimination laws and humiliated the soldier, while Azad’s owner says he only wants to ensure a relaxed and non-partisan atmosphere for all his customers.
Since the incident occurred three weeks ago, soldiers and right-wing students have staged a large demonstration outside Azad demanding a boycott of the restaurant, and Azad’s staff have received dozens of calls threatening to kill them or burn the premises down.
A Facebook group demanding Azad’s closure has attracted tens of thousands of supporters. The local municipality has launched its own legal action to close the restaurant, arguing it has violated licensing conditions in refusing to serve the soldier.
“I can’t believe what’s been happening,” said Anas Deeb, Azad’s owner. “The soldier and municipality have been waging a vendetta campaign against me ever since they learnt we have a dress code that does not allow uniforms. Our policy is not ‘against’ the army – it covers every uniform, even the boy scouts’.
“Everyone is talking as if we refused to serve the soldier, but that’s not true. He was told he was welcome here any time but only if he first changed out of his army uniform.”
One in 10 residents of Haifa, the third-largest city in Israel with a population of 270,000, is Arab. The city is often cited as a unique example in Israel of a multicultural community that has sought to integrate, rather than marginalise, its Arab population.
But the rapid escalation of tensions over the Azad incident risks creating a deep ethnic fissure, as has occurred in other mixed cities in Israel. In Acre, 20km up the coast, ethnic strains led in late 2008 to clashes between groups of Arab and Jewish youths. Several Arab families were chased out of mixed neighbourhoods and had their homes set on fire.
In Israel, where most of the secular Jewish population is conscripted for three years and many men continue to do annual reserve duty until their 40s, soldiers expect to be treated as heroes.
Buses give soldiers discounted tickets, those who have served in the army are entitled to lower tax rates, cheap mortgages and preferential rights to buy land, and employers often specify that only former soldiers will be considered for jobs.
Almost all of Israel’s Arab citizens, who comprise a fifth of the country’s population, are exempted from the army and do not receive such benefits.
Mr Deeb, 30, said he established his restaurant – whose Arabic name means “Free man” – to offer a space where the city’s Jews and Arabs could “mix as equals and without intimidation”.
“Haifa is famous for being a multicultural city,” he said. “Many of my clients are Jews, so this case has nothing to do with discrimination. All I want is peaceful dialogue.
“Places all over the world have dress codes, including requirements to wear a tie or a jacket, and no one makes any fuss. Why is an army uniform any different?”
Mr Roth’s lawyer, Pinhas Weller, said Mr Deeb had until this weekend to pay compensation to the 23-year-old soldier or he would be sued in the courts. Mr Roth, he said, had been told not talk to the media by the army.
Mr Weller added that the refusal to allow the soldier entry to Azad was no less discriminatory than refusing to serve someone because of his skin colour or his religion.
“In Israel, most people at some stage in their life wear a military uniform and the army is seen as protecting our way of life,” he said. “If you refuse to serve someone in the army, it says something about your attitude to the country.”
Similar sentiments were expressed at a demonstration outside Azad this month. Police had to stop protesters breaking into the restaurant as they waved Israeli flags and held banners saying “Don’t discriminate against soldiers” and “Soldiers keep us safe”.
One man was filmed shouting at customers and staff inside: “Until you’re shut down, we won’t leave this spot and we’ll give you trouble. The soldiers protect you and me too. It’s because of them that you exist … All of Israel, all businesses, will welcome the army and those in uniform with respect.”
However, human rights lawyers say the restaurant has broken no laws. Anti-discrimination legislation, introduced in 2000, covers race, religious affiliation, nationality and sexual orientation, but not military service.
Sawsan Zaher, of the Haifa-based Adalah legal centre for the Arab minority, said the involvement of the municipality was of particular concern.
“We regard this as a case of harassment by city officials,” said Ms Zaher. “In arguing that the restaurant should have its licence revoked because it discriminated against the soldier, the municipality is including a licensing criterion that is not authorised by the law.”
But Reshev Cheyne, the City Attorney, maintained that barring a soldier in uniform did constitute discrimination and was not a justifiable dress code. “Soldiers are obliged to dress the way they do. If you say no to the uniform, you’re sayng no to the soldier.”
Jafar Farah, head of Mossawa, a Haifa-based advocacy group for the Arab minority, said his organisation had been monitoring a growing number of cases in which public places in Haifa refused Arabs entry.
“There is a smell of hypocrisy in this case,” he said. “Bars and discos in Haifa are turning away Arab customers but the municipality never seeks to prosecute them, even though it is clear that in these cases laws against discrimination are being broken.”
Mr Farah said the city’s climate of coexistence was breaking down, partly as a result of an influx during the 1990s of right-wing immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Today, a quarter of Haifa’s population is Russian-speaking.
The city’s deputy mayor, Yulia Shtraim, a member of the far-right party of Israel’s foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, which is popular with Russian speakers, made headlines during last year’s local election when she barred Arab reporters, but not Jewish journalists, from party rallies.
“Unfortunately, the soldier in this case is being backed by far-right groups who want to present this incident as an example of Arab disloyalty to Israel,” said Mr Farah. “That is dangerous because it could play well in parts of Haifa where Lieberman’s party has attracted voters with its slogan of “No citizenship without loyalty.”
Two years ago, an Arab lecturer, Nizar Hassan, was suspended from his job at Sapir College in the Negev after he admonished a student who arrived at his class armed and in uniform. The college president threatened to dismiss Dr Hassan if he did not apologise to the soldier and publicly express his “respect for the IDF [Israeli military] uniform”.
An Arab professor at Haifa University was ejected from a city restaurant last year when he objected to a military-style T-shirt worn by a waiter that advocated the killing of Palestinian children.
Report: Britain to expel Mossad official over Dubai hit passports: Haartez
Britain will expel Mossad’s representative at the Israeli embassy in London over the use of forged British passports in the assassination of a Hamas chief in Dubai, the British Daily Telegraph reported on Tuesday.
Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was killed in January in what Dubai police have said they are near certain was a hit by Israel’s Mossad spy agency.
Dubai authorities have named 27 alleged members of the team that tracked and killed the Palestinian, and said they used fraudulent British, Irish, French, German and Australian passports to enter and depart from Dubai.
The British Foreign Office said Foreign Secretary David Miliband would make a statement on the matter at 5:30 P.M. (1530 GMT).
Miliband also canceled his appearance at a ceremony scheduled for Tuesday evening at the Israeli embassy.
The Foreign Ministry said it had no immediate comment. Spokesman Yigal Palmor said he was checking the details of the report.
Israel has neither confirmed nor denied a role in the killing of Mabhouh.
Israeli Ambassador to London, Ron Prosor, was summoned to the Foreign Office in London on Monday to be told that results of an inquiry into the murder of Mabhouh have determined for certain that British passports were forged as part of the operation.
According to media reports, there was growing speculation that a diplomat would be expelled as “a mark of the ‘anger’ within the government that British passport holders had been put at risk as a result of the operation.”
Prosor was also reportedly told that a ministerial statement will be made to Parliament in the coming days formally naming the Israeli security services as responsible for the cloning of up to 15 British passports as part of the Dubai operation.
The statement will not state definitively whether the Mossad was involved and will instead mention both them and the Military Intelligence Directorate.
But the Foreign Office made it clear to Prosor that the probe had determined for certain that the passports were forged when British citizens passed through airports on their way into Israel, with officials taking them away for ‘checks’ which lasted around 20 minutes.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had ordered a probe into the use of British passports and investigators from Britain’s Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) traveled to Dubai to investigate.
The agency has submitted a report to other government departments but “there are still some areas of enquiry,” a spokeswoman for SOCA said.
Britain’s normally warm relations with Israel have been strained by the threat of arrest for alleged war crimes faced by senior Israeli officials visiting Britain.
Britain expelled an Israeli diplomat in 1988 in an espionage row. The man, Arie Regev, was described at the time by informed British sources as an agent for Israel’s Mossad secret service
Britain expels Israeli diplomat over Dubai passport row: BBC
Mr Mabhouh was killed by electric shock, tests have confirmed
The UK is to expel an Israeli diplomat over the use of 12 forged British passports by the killers of a Hamas leader in Dubai, the BBC has learned.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband will make a statement to Parliament later.
Israel has said there is no proof that its agents were behind the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai in January.
BBC Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen said the person to be expelled is likely to be the London head of Israel’s secret service, Mossad.
Strong message
Diplomatic sources stressed the British government has stopped short of accusing Israel of the murder.
However Mr Miliband has previously demanded that Israel co-operate fully with the investigation into how the passports were obtained.
The foreign secretary is to make the statement after Britain’s Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) found proof of the cloned passports.
Soca agents had travelled to Israel to speak to those whose passports were copied with new photographs inserted.
The BBC’s Jeremy Bowen said the expulsion would send a “very clear message” of British disapproval.
“It is a very big step for a government like the British to expel one of the diplomats belonging to one of its important allies,” he said.
The head of Britain’s diplomatic service, Peter Ricketts, met Israel’s ambassador to London, Ron Prosor, on Monday, Downing Street has confirmed. He was also summoned last month.
But Mr Prosor will not be the diplomat to be expelled.
Former Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Menzies Campbell, said for a diplomat to be expelled, Israel must have had “some hand” in the matter, or been unwilling to co-operate with Soca.
He told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme: “It is very serious indeed… there can’t be a greater violation of trust for one ally to abuse the passports of another ally.”
Last month Mr Miliband described the use of fake UK passports as an “outrage” and vowed that the inquiry would “get to the bottom” of the affair.
ANALYSIS
Tim Franks, BBC News, Jerusalem
In the land where they love to talk, Israeli officials are staying remarkably tight-lipped. At least until David Miliband speaks.
“It doesn’t look good,” was the terse verdict of one former senior diplomat, before he decided it would be better if he said no more. Other sources suggest that this is a “standard dance” the British have to go through. They expected that the UK would not want this to be an “ongoing irritant”.
There is a clear Israeli desire to talk this argument down from one where it could damage the wider relationship.
As for the more general Israeli view, that is mixed. Many believe that there is a measure of slightly unconvincing righteous indignation from the countries whose nationals had their passports cloned. Those Israelis argue that Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was as much an enemy of the West, as of Israel.
But there are a good number of Israelis who also believe this was a cack-handed operation, which blew the identities of 27 valuable agents, and caused an unnecessary diplomatic stink.
Twelve fake British passports were used in the plot to murder Mr Mabhouh – the founder of Hamas’s military wing – in his hotel room in Dubai on 19 January.
The names and details on the UK passports used by eight of the 12 suspects belonged to British-Israeli citizens living in Israel. All of them have denied involvement.
Dubai officials said they were “99% certain” that agents from Mossad were behind the killing but Israel has said there is no proof.
Other members of the hit squad travelled on fake Irish, French and Australian travel documents, Dubai police said.
Following his death, Mr Mabhouh’s family said medical teams that examined him determined he had died after receiving a massive electric shock to the head. They also found evidence that he had been strangled.
Blood samples sent to a French laboratory confirmed he was killed by electric shock, after which the body was sent to Syria, they said.
Dubai police have used CCTV footage to identify 27 alleged members of the team that tracked and killed Mr Mabhouh.
Thousands of people attended his funeral at the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp, on the outskirts of Damascus in January.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman said Mr Miliband would make a statement to the House of the Commons at 1530 GMT.
In 1988 Britain expelled Israeli diplomat Arie Regev over a spying row. He was described by UK sources as a Mossad agent.
Hundreds Protest Jerusalem’s Mayor Visit to London: Imemc
Tuesday March 23, 2010 01:15 by Saed Bannoura – IMEMC & Agencies
Hundreds of Arabs, Muslims and British nationals held a protest on Monday evening in the center of the British Capital, London, to protest the visit of Jerusalem Mayor, Nir Barkat, who was invited to speak in London.
Ahmad Al Turk, spokesperson of the Palestinian Forum in the U.K. said that the protestors were angered by the British government for inviting Barkat instead of prosecuting him for demolishing dozens of Palestinian and Arab homes in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Barkat is also behind the decision to construct 1.600 homes for Jewish settlers in occupied East Jerusalem.
He plans to double the number of Jewish settlers in Jerusalem and approved a plan to build 50.000 homes for the settlers in the city.
Barkat was invited to speak at Chatham House (10 St James’s Square, London SW1Y 4LE), in London.
The Badil Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights called for “a protest against the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from East Jerusalem”.
The protest was organized by Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Stop the War Coalition, British Muslim Initiative, Jews for Justice for Palestinians, Friends of Lebanon, Friends of Sabeel UK, Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine.
The protestors, approximately 300, slammed the visit of Barkat and demanded the British government to arrest and prosecute him for his violations against the indigenous Palestinian people in Jerusalem.