June 1, 2010

A delicate diplomatic maneuver by President Barack Obama to smooth frayed relations with Israel without alienating America’s Arab allies may have been blown out of the water Monday morning by Israel’s botched attempt to enforce the Gaza blockade — and by the lack of condemnation from Washington that followed it.

Raid Complicates U.S. Ties and Push for Peace

WASHINGTON — Israel’s deadly commando raid on Monday on a flotilla trying to break a blockade of Gaza complicated President Obama’s efforts to move ahead on Middle East peace negotiations and introduced a new strain into an already tense relationship between the United States and Israel.

Israel says Free Gaza Movement poses threat to Jewish state

Once viewed only as a political nuisance by Israel's government, the group behind the Gaza aid flotilla has grown since its inception four years ago into a broad international movement that now includes Islamist organizations that Israeli intelligence agencies say pose a security threat to the Jewish state.

The flotilla fiasco

THE ISRAELI commandos who landed on the deck of the Turkish ferry Mavi Marmara off the coast of the Gaza Strip early Monday were totally unprepared for what they encountered: dozens of militants who swarmed around them with knives and iron bars. The result was a bloody battle in which at least nine passengers were killed -- and a diplomatic debacle for the government of Binyamin Netanyahu. Though the investigations to come will find many to blame, it's already clear that Israel's response to the pro-Palestinian flotilla was both misguided and badly executed.

Israel flotilla raid deals a blow to ties with Turkey

Turkey, a longtime ally of Israel, recalls its ambassador and calls off joint military exercises as Turks take to the streets in protest. Ties had been deteriorating since the Gaza assault in 2008-09.

Israel's raid on an aid flotilla that sailed out of Turkey may have eviscerated, at least for the foreseeable future, any lingering remnants of goodwill among the political elite of Turkey — a country long prized by the Jewish state as its most stalwart Muslim ally.

Israel's deadly Gaza flotilla raid sparks diplomatic crisis

An Israeli naval raid on a flotilla bent on breaking its blockade of the Gaza Strip with a cargo of humanitarian supplies is sparking an international diplomatic crisis for the Jewish state after at least 10 activists were killed and dozens wounded in clashes with soldiers.

The Gaza flotilla raid prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel a visit to the White House, while Israeli diplomats were summoned to foreign ministries across Europe.

PLO calls for isolation of Israel, investigation of attack

Ramallah - Ma'an - The Palestinian leadership in Ramallah set out a six-point plan in the wake of Israel's attack on the Freedom Flotilla ships Monday morning, involving calls to isolate Israel and investigate the death of at least 10 activists at top levels.

Member at the Fatah Central Committee Mohammed Dahlan said an emergency meeting in Ramallah saw leaders from the PA and the PLO agree to a plan in the face of the military operation, noting that officials "know well how dangerous the situation is," and are prepared to act accordingly.

2,000 financiers to attend Palestine Investment Conference

Bethlehem - Ma'an - Over 125 projects will be presented to investors attending this year's Palestine Investment Conference in Bethlehem beginning Wednesday, which will see 2,000 conveners, Palestinian Authority Minister of National Economy Hasan Abu Libdeh said.

Each projects' feasibility will be discussed during PIC, giving investors the chance to "build relations between businesses," the minister told Ma'an on Sunday.

The conference will focus on small to medium enterprises, which Abu Libdeh said the ministry is keen on promoting during the conference.

Turkey calls for punishment of Israel for killings

Turkey called on Tuesday for Israel to be punished for storming a Turkish aid ship bound for Gaza in an attack that left nine dead and Israel increasingly isolated in the face of international outrage.

Israel detained or deported hundreds of activists who were aboard a flotilla of ships seized en route to the Palestinian enclave which has been under Israeli blockade since 2006.

UN Security Council statement on Gaza flotilla

UNITED NATIONS, June 1 (Reuters) - Following is the full text of a formal presidential statement adopted on Tuesday by the United Nations Security Council on Israel's action against an aid flotilla heading for Gaza.

The Security Council deeply regrets the loss of life and injuries resulting from the use of force during the Israeli military operation in international waters against the convoy sailing to Gaza. The Council, in this context, condemns those acts which resulted in the loss of at least ten civilians and many wounded, and expresses its condolences to their families.

Mossad chief: Israel gradually becoming burden on U.S.

Mossad Chief Meir Dagan said on Tuesday that Israel is progressively becoming a burden on the United States.

"Israel is gradually turning from an asset to the United States to a burden," said Dagan, speaking before the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Dagan said that the U.S. government has recently examined the possibility of coercing a settlement on Israel and the Palestinians, but retreated from the idea after realizing it would not lead to a peace agreement.

Palestinians: Three killed in IDF strike on Gaza rocket-launching cell

The Israel Air Force on Tuesday attacked a group of Palestinian militants at a rocket-launching site in the Gaza Strip. Three people were killed in the attack, according to Palestinian officials.

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed striking Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip. The army said it identified a secondary explosion in the attack.

Palestinians said a senior member of the Palestinians Resistance Committees and a woman were killed in the attack. The third fatality has not yet been identified.

Top ministers fume after Gaza flotilla operation goes ahead without their approval

Senior ministers have been sharply critical of the fact that the decision to seize control of the flotilla to Gaza was made after two meetings of the forum of seven senior ministers but without official deliberation by the inner cabinet, the body that has the authority to approve military actions of this scale.

Straight into the trap

The Israel Defense Forces had little trouble explaining the naval commando raid yesterday to the Israeli public. The troops slid from helicopters into a violent crowd, which attacked them with sticks. It's no wonder the troops opened fire in self-defense.

Zero housing starts in W. Bank

For the first time in more than two decades, and possibly in the history of the settlement movement, a three-month period has passed without any new settler construction in Judea and Samaria, according to numbers released on Monday by the Central Bureau of Statistics.

The report, which shows zero settler housing starts in the first quarter of 2010, is part of a larger report on construction in Israel that is released by the CBS four times a year, including at the end of May.

Gaza: From blockade to bloodshed

If an armed group of Somali pirates had yesterday boarded six vessels on the high seas, killing at least 10 passengers and injuring many more, a Nato taskforce would today be heading for the Somali coast. What happened yesterday in international waters off the coast of Gaza was the work of Israeli commandos, not pirates, and no Nato warships will in fact be heading for Israel. Perhaps they should be.

Israel itself may be among the victims of its pathology

Resorting to brute force is an expression of fear. Its deployment yesterday by the Israeli soldiers who raided and opened fire on the freedom flotilla en route to Gaza, killing at least 10 civilians and injuring dozens more, will not serve Israel or treat its existential anxiety.

No excuse

Displaying, yet again, utter disregard for international humanitarian law and contempt for the sanctity of life, Israeli commandos yesterday attacked the Gaza-bound aid flotilla and cold-bloodedly murdered several activists on board a Turkish ship.

Their mistake: trying to deliver much-needed aid to the 1.5 million Gazans suffering under a prolonged Israeli blockade that constitutes, according to the Amnesty International’s director for the Middle East and North Africa, “collective punishment under international law”.

Terror at dawn

What Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has so rightly called “a massacre” saw the death of at least 10 peace activists on board the lead ship of the six-vessel Freedom Flotilla and the injury of scores others, as heavily armed Israeli commandos seized the convoy and sailed it toward their port of Ashdod. Israeli sources put the toll at nine. The full details of this outrage are not yet clear since the Israeli authorities are censoring all reports and used sophisticated jamming technology to halt media broadcasts from the vessels as they were assaulted.

U.S. must deal with Benjamin Netanyahu

Israel’s disastrous commando operation against the Gaza relief flotilla delays and complicates — but does not entirely derail — the kiss-and-make-up session that would have played out at the White House on Tuesday, had Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not canceled his planned meeting with President Barack Obama

Dr. Asali Named to US Presidential Delegation to the Palestine Investment Conference

President Barack Obama today announced the designation of a Presidential Delegation to Bethlehem to attend the Palestine Investment Conference from June 2-4, 2010.

The Honorable George Mitchell, Special Envoy for Middle East Peace will lead the delegation.

Members of the Presidential Delegation:

The Honorable Neal Wolin, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury
Mr. Daniel Rubinstein, American Consul General in Jerusalem
Mr. Alonzo Fulgham, USAID Chief Operating Officer

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