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Rarely have the lines in the Middle East's sands been drawn so distinctly. Arrayed on one side is the peace-seeking camp that opposes militant extremism and favors direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians. On the other are the organizations, many of them surrogates for Iran, that work to undermine moderate governments and violently impede any effort for peace.
In a dramatic turnaround, the Palestinian city that served as the heart of the second intifada now boasts a new shopping mall. A return of Israeli Jewish shoppers after nearly a decade appears imminent and – as of today – the city boasts its first cinema.
The Palestinian economy may grow 20 percent annually if there is peace with Israel and become less dependent on international donors, said Mohammad Mustafa, who runs the Palestinian Authority’s main investment fund.
In the meantime, Palestinians are pushing ahead with development of a new West Bank financial center and what may become the biggest initial public offering yet when mobile phone operator Wataniya Palestine Telecom sells shares before the end of the year.
Hamas' armed wing the Al-Qassam Brigades released a statement late Thursday night attesting total non-involvement with the Monday rocket launches that hit Eilat and Aqaba.
"Military acts from the resistance are carried out inside of Palestine," spokesman of the brigades Abu Obeida said, added in a statement that also welcomed "any resistance targeting the occupation, whether from in our outside of Palestine."
Business leaders from Nazareth in northern Israel met up with their counterparts in the West Bank on Thursday, holding a meeting with Hamas and Fatah officials in a bid to encourage reconciliation.
Nablus governor Jibrin Al-Bakri attended the discussion hosted by telecommunications tycoon Munib Al-Masri at his Palladian-style palace atop Mount Gerizim. The talk focused on developing economic ties on both sides of the Green Line.
The big screen is back in Jenin after a 23-year intermission, marking a fresh start for the West Bank city that was a bastion of armed militias at the peak of the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.
Mothballed in the grim atmosphere of 1987, Jenin Cinema was finally reopened on Thursday evening with a screening of "Heart of Jenin", a wrenching documentary that spurred its renovation.
Israel has Iranian-supported enemies in Lebanon to the north and Gaza to the south. Its back to the sea is safe. But security on its eastern border may be threatened if hostile Iran expands into an unstable Iraq.
Israeli analysts differ on the risk of encirclement by enemy forces allied to Tehran, on the degree to which Hamas and Hezbollah will do Iran's bidding, and on the chances of Iran gaining greater leverage in Baghdad via its Shi'ite connections.
From his ramshackle Gaza home, Palestinian Sobhi Hamami, 61, fondly recalls the 23 years he worked on an Israeli kibbutz, where he learned Hebrew, swam in the pool with Israeli friends and celebrated holidays with his Jewish boss.
His son Mohammed, 21, sees Israelis differently: "They're the enemy," he says, "without exception."
Three militants were injured in clashes between the Hamas movement and the Islamic Jihad (Holy War) group on Thursday.
The Islamic Jihad movement said in a press release that clashes erupted after an argument between one of its fighters and Hamas gunmen in the outskirts of Gaza city.
"The argument developed into clashes which left two Hamas militants injured," said the press release, adding "one of our fighters was kidnapped and beaten up by Hamas militants."
The Israel Defense Forces West Bank division commander, Brig. Gen. Nitzan Alon, has warned Israeli settlers to be on alert for possible abduction attempts across the territory.
In a letter sent to Yesha Council leaders, Alon said that the warning is based on intelligence and interrogations of Palestinians arrested on involvement in plotting such kidnappings.
The IDF said intelligence has shown Hamas leaders in Damascus are pressuring followers in the West Bank to abduct Israeli settlers and citizens.
It's hard to know whether in our relations with the Palestinians we have reached a turning point of the kind that is termed "historic," but it's clear we're at a point where the sides have to take off their masks. A peace agreement is apparently closer than ever right now. The Arab states that are united in an anti-Iranian coalition want an agreement, as does Syria, which thirsts for the Golan Heights.
This is not how she imagined her visit to Israel. Prof. Donna Shalala, who served as the US Secretary of Health and Human Services for eight years under Clinton and is currently the president of Miami University, was held for two-and-a-half hours at Ben Gurion Airport during which she underwent a humiliating security debriefing because of her Arab last name – all this despite the fact that her hosts notified the airport ahead of time that she is a VIP.
Saudi Arabia is urging Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to enter direct talks with Israel, and can “sweeten a deal” by offering financial assistance for agreeing to negotiations, a top Israeli diplomatic official said on Thursday.
According to the official, the US – which is pressing Abbas to enter the talks – was behind a meeting in Riyadh on Wednesday between Abbas and Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah.
Although Israel eased its blockade in mid-June - allowing in consumer goods - little has changed for Gaza's poorest families, who cannot afford the food and clothing in the market, and rely instead on aid handouts.
Unemployment runs at 40% in Gaza, which has been largely sealed off from the outside world by Israel and Egypt since 2007, when the Hamas militant movement seized power in the territory.
The UK-based aid group Save the Children, working with Getty photographer Warrick Page, has spoken to some of Gaza's young breadwinners.
Raed Ahmed Moussa, 14, mechanic, Gaza City
It's three years since I've been back to Gaza. Much has happened since my last visit. Fatah waged a failed coup and now rules only the West Bank, while Hamas is in charge of Gaza. Israel launched its deadly Cast Lead assault. Fuel shortages. Electricity crises. And so on.
I needed to regain perspective. So I walked and I talked and I listened. I went to the beach where women – skinny jeans and all – were smoking water pipes, swimming and generally having a good time, irrespective of the purported Hamas ban on women smoking sheesha.
What is it like being a Palestinian in Israel?
Israel did everything it could to make us forget our history: controlling education and the media, putting us in a ghetto, preventing us from having normal relations with the Arab world and visiting our families in Syria and Lebanon.
Are Arab members of parliament treated differently?
Of course. The state treats all Jews and Palestinians differently. Israel doesn't recognise us as the owners of this homeland. The theory is that we have equal civil rights, but the practice is very far from this.
Do you endorse a two-state solution?
Israeli soldiers last week again had to chase lawless settlers on the hills of the West Bank.
This time, it was settlers from Yitzhar and Bracha, near Nablus, who vandalized Palestinian property, blocked roads, torched fields, sabotaged Israel Defense Forces vehicles, punched, kicked Israeli police officers, cursed and harassed them and resisted arrest -- all in reaction to the demolition of two illegally built structures at an outpost near Yitzhar.
In the context of the Obama administration's strong push for direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, the frankly undignified and needlessly complicating behavior of almost all the national leaderships in the Middle East has never been more apparent.
Links:
[1] http://www.americantaskforce.org/print/14582
[2] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printmail/14582
[3] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printpdf/14582
[4] http://www.americantaskforce.org/rss/wpr
[5] https://www.americantaskforce.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=1
[6] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/05/AR2010080505132.html
[7] http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2010/0805/From-intifada-hub-to-model-Palestinian-city-How-Jenin-turned-around
[8] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-08-04/palestine-economy-may-grow-20-a-year-in-peace-with-israel-fund-head-says.html
[9] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=305792
[10] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=305666
[11] http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE67426F.htm
[12] http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE674106.htm
[13] http://www.statesman.com/news/nation/older-gazans-recall-israelis-youth-sees-only-army-844594.html
[14] http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-08/05/c_13432092.htm
[15] http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/hamas-leaders-in-syria-urge-west-bank-operatives-to-kidnap-israeli-settlers-1.306406
[16] http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/take-the-masks-off-1.306316
[17] http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3931210,00.html
[18] http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=183831
[19] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-10878970
[20] http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/05/gaza-prison-camp-understatement
[21] http://www.newstatesman.com/middle-east/2010/08/israel-interview-palestinian
[22] http://www.washingtonjewishweek.com/main.asp?SectionID=31&SubSectionID=49&ArticleID=13208&TM=77632.13
[23] http://www.ibishblog.com/blog/hibish/2010/08/05/middle_east_leaders_undignified_behavior
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