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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to bury the Levy Report, which recommends legalizing most unauthorized settlement outposts in the West Bank and making it easier for existing settlements to expand, a senior politician who spoke with the premier about the issue told Haaretz yesterday.
Ambassador Oren: Israel's clock on Iran 'ticking faster' than Obama's
While White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Monday that the Obama Administration still believes that there is "time and space" for a diplomatic track, coupled with sanctions, to succeed in convincing Iranian leadership to stop the nuclear program, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren stressed in an interview to MSNBC that the Israeli clock "is ticking faster."
Panetta: No Israeli decision yet on attacking Iran
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Tuesday that he did not believe that Israel had made a decision on whether to attack Iran over its nuclear program, and added that he thought there was still time for a stronger sanctions push.
Panetta’s comments came at a Pentagon briefing against the background of the very loud and public debate in Israel about whether to attack Iran.
Panetta held a round of talks in Israel two weeks ago, and met with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
Ex-Obama Official Warns: Take Israel Iran Threat 'Very Seriously'
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Colin Kahl traveled to Israel 13 times during his tenure as the Obama administration’s top Pentagon Middle East civilian policy advisor from 2009 to the end of 2011. Kahl, now a Georgetown University professor, senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, and foreign policy advisor to the Obama campaign, told Al-Monitor in an interview Tuesday that he takes the signs that Israeli leaders are contemplating a fall strike on Iran “very seriously.”
PA spokesman Ghassan Khatib leaves post
Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib has decided to leave his position and return to teaching, the PA's official news agency Wafa reported Wednesday.
Khatib had taken a three-year leave of absence from Birzeit University to work as a spokesman and head of the PA government media center at the request of PA prime minister Salam Fayyad.
Three years is the maximum amount of leave a university employee can take, which is why Khatib is returning to his former position, a statement from the center said.
Despite ban, PLO leaders host Ramadan event in Jerusalem
PLO leaders hosted a Ramadan event in east Jerusalem late Monday, in the first official Palestinian gathering in the 18 years since Israel imposed a ban on such activities in the holy city.
Hanan Ashrawi, a senior PLO leader, and Adnan Husseini, the Palestinian Authority governor of Jerusalem, hosted the Iftar meal and briefed diplomats on a bid to join the United Nations in the coming months.
Morsy to resume Hamas-Fatah unity efforts in Cairo
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy has decided to resume efforts to end the power struggle between Fatah and Hamas, Palestinian sources said Tuesday.
The sources said that Morsy has invited representatives of the two rival parties to meetings in Cairo after the holiday of Id al-Fitr, which begins next week.
Morsy’s decision to resume efforts to end the Fatah-Hamas dispute comes amid growing tensions between the two sides, especially in the wake of last week’s terror attack in Sinai, in which 16 Egyptian border guards were killed by unidentified terrorists.
South Africa: SA Not Boycotting Israel
South Africa has no policy aimed at boycotting Israel, International Relations and Cooperation Deputy Minister Ebrahim Ebrahim said on Tuesday.
But Pretoria did discourage people from visiting Israel because of the latter's continued occupation of Palestinian land, Ebrahim told reporters in Pretoria.
"We have no policy that says boycott Israel but we believe that Israel is an occupying power and that we should discourage people from visiting that country," he said.
Israel blasts EU listing
Israel criticized a European Union listing that stated an Israeli city was a settlement and said its products will not be allowed duty-free entrance into Europe.
"For anyone who deals in reality, there is not the slightest doubt that the Modi'in, Maccabim and Re'ut localities are an integral part of Israel, and their future is not in question," a Foreign Ministry statement published by The Jerusalem Post said. "The EU ignores reality when it extends the domain of conflict to places and issues that do not belong there. "
Lebanese Army relocating in Nahr al-Bared
The Lebanese Army is relocating in the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp to give residents space, and the government has reiterated its commitment to releasing detainees from recent clashes and removing the camps’ restrictive permit system.
The head of the Lebanese Palestinian Dialogue Committee Khaldoun al-Sharif announced the state-backed steps Monday night at a committee iftar held in the camp, according to a statement from the organization.
PA grants 4.7 million NIS to West Bank universities
The Palestinian Authority Ministry of Finance on Wednesday transferred financial aid to seven universities, the PA education minister said.
Ali al-Jarbawi said that Al-Najah University, Bethlehem University, Al-Istiqlal Academy, Bir Zeit, Hebron, the Open University and Palestinian polytechnic will all receive the funding, designed to alleviate the financial crisis affecting universities.
The total amount of funding to be divided between the seven universities is 4.7 million shekels ($1.1 million).
What Edward Really Said
Few contemporary thinkers have been more revered and reviled than the late Palestinian-American professor Edward Said. But even his most ardent critics can hardly deny that Said was one of the most significant public intellectuals of our time. And while he is probably best remembered for his political activism, it was as a major literary theorist that he produced his most important work.
What's the point of Israel's psychological warfare against Iran?
Full disclosure: Maj.-Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, hasn’t spoken to me recently. Actually, he has never spoken to me at all. Nor has Iranian Defense Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, or any other defense establishment officials in Tehran.
The Israeli film that refuses to portray IDF soldiers as monsters or heroes
David Grossman, in the introduction to his collection of non-fiction essays Death as a Way of Life, writes that beyond the sound, the fury and the grand political rhetoric, there is a silent place buried inside the soul of every Israeli and every Palestinian, where each one knows that this terrible conflict, in the end, is futile. Politicians are required to give the impression that they know where they are taking the country. Political commentators are supposed to make sense of events, and potentially suggest ways of action.
Contesting history: A tale of two Tekoas
The Gush Herodion Development Corporation has big plans for Tekoa. Already boasting a pizza parlor, a swimming pool and a horse ranch, this idyllic "Jewish village" of approximately 1,600 will soon add six new buildings with eight "spacious" apartments each, designed by the architect Jacques Gabay.
On Laws and Walls
This past week, Israel’s Justice Ministry issued new regulations that, if implemented, will make it impossible for many Palestinians and all undocumented immigrants to file suit in Israeli courts.
How the Arab Spring might help Israel
A few months ago, as I was speaking to a non-profit group about how developments in the Arab world would affect Israel, I noticed the faces in the crowd looking back at me with deep skepticism. I understood the reason.
I was arguing that there is a possibility — not a certainty — that Israel will eventually emerge safer than before as a result of the Arab revolutions, also known as the Arab Spring. I have not changed my mind.
The Rise of Settler Terrorism
Late this past June, a group of Israeli settlers in the West Bank defaced and burned a mosque in the small West Bank village of Jabaa. Graffiti sprayed by the vandals warned of a "war" over the planned evacuation, ordered by the Israeli Supreme Court, of a handful of houses illegally built on private Palestinian land near the Israeli settlement of Beit El.
Front Page FeaturesLinks:
[1] http://www.americantaskforce.org/print/27153
[2] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printmail/27153
[3] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printpdf/27153
[4] http://www.americantaskforce.org/rss/wpr
[5] https://www.americantaskforce.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=1
[6] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/15/world/middleeast/lone-soldiers-arrive-in-israel-to-serve-in-its-military.html?_r=1&ref=middleeast
[7] http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-08/15/c_131787559.htm
[8] http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-08/15/c_131785364.htm
[9] http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/diplomania/israel-s-foreign-ministry-gives-envoys-a-lesson-on-twitter-diplomacy.premium-1.458420
[10] http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/netanyahu-set-to-bury-levy-report-on-legalizing-illegal-west-bank-outposts-1.458264
[11] http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/ambassador-oren-israel-s-clock-on-iran-ticking-faster-than-obama-s.premium-1.458024
[12] http://www.jpost.com/IranianThreat/News/Article.aspx?id=281254
[13] http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2012/al-monitor/israel-threats-against-iran-are.html
[14] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512714
[15] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512368
[16] http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=281212
[17] http://allafrica.com/stories/201208141022.html
[18] http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2012/08/15/Israel-blasts-EU-listing/UPI-87411345031817/
[19] http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Aug-15/184714-lebanese-army-relocating-in-nahr-al-bared.ashx#ixzz23cHE09ry
[20] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=512739
[21] http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=427954
[22] http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/east-side-story/what-s-the-point-of-israel-s-psychological-warfare-against-iran.premium-1.458444
[23] http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/strenger-than-fiction/the-israeli-film-that-refuses-to-portray-idf-soldiers-as-monsters-or-heroes.premium-1.458435
[24] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=511394
[25] http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/13/on-laws-and-walls.html
[26] http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/08/15/162099/commentary-how-the-arab-spring.html
[27] http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/137825/daniel-byman-and-natan-sachs/the-rise-of-settler-terrorism?page=show