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Hamas deployed forces near the Israeli border on Thursday to try to prevent smaller militant groups from firing rockets, a sign that the movement may be concerned about possible Israeli retaliation. Hamas, the militant Islamist movement that governs Gaza, met with representatives of the groups late Wednesday and told them to hold their fire. The Israeli military says at least 25 rockets and mortar shells have exploded in southern Israel this month, wounding several Israelis.
Barack Obama has been fortunate in the Middle East so far. Yes, his attempt to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process has been a high-profile failure. But Israel, the Palestinians and the region as a whole have enjoyed a remarkable stretch of relative tranquility and stability during the past two years.
With U.S. Middle East peace efforts at an impasse, the Obama administration has sought new ideas from outside experts on how to advance the peace process.
One task force has been convened by Sandy Berger and Stephen Hadley, former national security advisers to Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush, respectively, to offer recommendations on the Middle East peace process to the National Security Council.
Guyana became the 10th nation to recognize a Palestinian state on Thursday, joining Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia and Ecuador who all pronounced their support over the past two months.
Two other South American nations, Paraguay and Uruguay said recognition would come in 2011, while recognition from Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Cuba came during the 1980s.
Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth made the latest announcement on Friday, saying the move comes as a "push for Palestinians and Israelis to negotiate a peace deal."
US Middle East envoy George Mitchell met separately on Thursday with Israeli and Palestinian envoys as part of Washington's bid to revive peace negotiations, the State Department said.
State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said Mitchell met first with Palestinian envoy Saeb Erakat and then with Israel's Yitzhak Molcho.
Direct talks began on September 2, but stalled three weeks later with the end of an Israeli moratorium on settlement building. The Palestinians refuse to talk while Israel continues building.
Women in every society have a different perception of their respective roles, which are generally molded by social and cultural norms. Evidently in many parts of the world, these social and cultural norms have restricted women of their due rights.
After denying reports that the Karni crossing would close at the end of January, Israeli security officials told The Jerusalem Post that the military intends to close terminal.
On Thursday, when Gaza officials learned of the intended closure, spokeswoman for Israel's Coordination and Liaison Administration for the Gaza Strip Lieutenant Nili Aharon told Ma'an she was not aware of any planned changes in the crossings schedule. She said proper notification would be given if such an change were to occur.
Gaza's Hamas rulers deployed forces near the Israeli border Thursday to try to prevent smaller militant groups from firing rockets, a sign that the movement fears Israeli retaliation for the escalating barrages from the Palestinian territory.
Hamas leaders called together representatives of militant groups in the seaside strip and told them to hold their fire, according to a meeting participant, before Hamas sent its forces to the border area.
The prime minister of Turkey, whose ties with Israel have been badly strained over the past year, has called on the Jewish state to remove its hawkish foreign minister who he says poses an obstacle to Middle East peace.
Avigdor Lieberman is a polarizing figure in Israel and outside, with his outspoken skepticism about peace with the Palestinians and his questioning of the loyalty of Israel's Arab minority.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party on Thursday warned Hamas movement against increasing internal tension in the West Bank.
"Fatah is engaged in a political fighting against Israel and hopes that nobody would change the direction of the fight in the West Bank," said Mahmoud al-Aloul, a member of Fatah Central Committee, referring to Palestinian diplomatic moves to secure more global support against the Israeli occupation.
"It should be clear that we will not let anybody threaten our unity and support in the West Bank," al-Aloul said.
Following Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile, Guyana has become the seventh South American nation to recognize an independent Palestinian state, Al Jazeera reported on Thursday.
In a statement by the country's Foreign Ministry, Guyana's said it hoped "that the increasing recognition of the state of Palestine will contribute to a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the creation of lasting peace and stability in the region."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday he would not allow the illegally built homes of two Israeli soldiers killed in action to be demolished. Both houses were built on illegal outposts in the West Bank, one on private Palestinian land.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that unless a legal solution is found, the state will have to tear down the houses of the two soldiers, Eliraz Peretz and Roi Klein.
The Judea and Samaria Division has decided to collect hundreds of weapons handed to West Bank settlers by the army in light of the relative calm in the territories in recent years, infuriating settlement leaders.
At the start of the al-Aqsa Intifada, more than a decade ago, the settlers received weapons from the army to help defend their communities.
The recent improvement in the security-related situation in the West Bank, alongside a significant increase in weapon thefts in the settlements, has led to a decision to reduce the amount of military weapons available to settlers.
As chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's emissary Yitzhak Molcho continue their separate talks in Washington with US special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell, the Obama administration is looking for new ideas to jumpstart the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
The POLITICO website reported Thursday that the Obama administration is seeking new ideas from diplomats and former administration officials familiar with the Mideast conflict and on how to advance the peace process.
The “spy” vulture – a raptor Saudis captured and accused of collecting intelligence for Israel – was finally freed on Monday after six days in captivity. Prince Bandar bin Saud Al Saud, the head of Saudi Arabia’s wildlife agency, confirmed the global positioning technology found on the bird was being used by scientists to track its movements.
In a bleak but beautiful landscape of undulating stony hills I watched a group of Palestinian schoolchildren take their lessons yesterday in the open air next to a heap of rubble that, until this week, was their classroom.
This is the village of Dkaika, about as far south in the West Bank as you can get. It's a community of around 300 people, without electricity or running water, whose days are spent tending their herds of goats and sheep and trying not to attract the attention of nearby Jewish settlers.
A dozen Israeli companies working on a Palestinian construction project have signed contracts stipulating they must not use Israeli products originating in the West Bank, East Jerusalem or the Golan Heights.
The move has sparked calls from Jewish settler groups and their supporters for a counter-boycott.
The lucrative contracts are conditional on the firms agreeing to eschew "products of the territories" in line with the Palestinian Authority's boycott of goods and services from settlements.
"It is a decision to be made by individual countries in their respective capitals," says one U.N. diplomat, who also ruled out any chances of a collective decision by regional or other power blocs such as the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) or African Union (AU).
But still, the Latin American initiative is expected to pick up steam within the region as other countries join the growing list.
The move was led by outgoing Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva when he made the announcement to formally recognise Palestine back on Dec. 3.
Disturbed by the diplomatic deadlock over negotiations with the Palestinians, many Westerners, and some Israelis themselves, have focused on the need to accommodate the demands of Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority (PA). For, they suggest, the alternative would be much worse: namely, being forced to deal with the chronic and openly violent rejectionism of Hamas, the terrorist movement that controls the Gaza Strip.
The recent bomb attacks against Christian communities in Egypt and Iraq have been roundly condemned by most political and religious leaders, commentators and public opinion in the Arab world. They have also been met with an outpouring of passionate condemnation by ordinary people who have taken to the streets to express anger and demand justice. People have sensed the danger to their whole society inherent in such atrocities.
Since then, US efforts to restart the talks, including a generous package of sweeteners to induce a further Israeli settlement-building moratorium, have failed. The Palestinian leadership has consistently argued that it cannot negotiate while settlement construction continues in areas of the West Bank and East Jerusalem that will likely be part of a future Palestinian state. Meanwhile, settlement construction proceeds apace. Hence, despite last summer's hopeful beginnings, movement in the direction of peace has come to a screeching halt.
Links:
[1] http://www.americantaskforce.org/print/17065
[2] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printmail/17065
[3] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printpdf/17065
[4] http://www.americantaskforce.org/rss/wpr
[5] https://www.americantaskforce.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=1
[6] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/14/world/middleeast/14briefs-Gaza.html?_r=2&ref=middleeast
[7] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/13/AR2011011304899.html
[8] http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/47571.html
[9] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=350987
[10] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=350964
[11] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=350622
[12] http://maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=350387
[13] http://www.statesman.com/news/nation/hamas-deploys-forces-to-stop-gaza-rocket-fire-1182878.html
[14] http://www.statesman.com/news/nation/turkish-pm-israel-must-remove-foreign-minister-1182441.html
[15] http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-01/13/c_13689648.htm
[16] http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/guyana-becomes-7th-south-american-state-to-recognize-palestinian-independence-1.336944
[17] http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/netanyahu-forbids-demolition-of-illegal-west-bank-homes-of-slain-idf-soldiers-1.336884
[18] http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4013641,00.html
[19] http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4013573,00.html
[20] http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=31075
[21] http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/view-from-jerusalem-with-harriet-sherwood/2011/jan/14/palestinian-territories-israel
[22] http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/13/israeli-firms-palestinian-project-boycott-settlement-goods
[23] http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=54122
[24] http://www.jewishideasdaily.com/content/module/2011/1/14/main-feature/1/the-hamas-fatah-two-step/r&jtahome
[25] http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=123649#axzz1AvPff2YK
[26] http://arabnews.com/opinion/columns/article234056.ece
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