March 3, 2009

Middle East News: World Press Roundup

Secretary of State Clinton's visit to Israel and the West Bank prompts speculation on the future of the peace process and the American role under a new Administration (1) (2) (3) (4) (14). A senior Palestinian Authority official warns that if a right-wing government forms in Israel and abandons the two-state solution, the peace process may crumble (6), while Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu continues to avoid taking a clear public stance on the issue (9). In an op-ed for The Weekly Standard, former Deputy National Security Advisor Elliot Abrams, argues that institution building in Palestine is key for establishing a lasting peace (11). The Christian Science Monitor looks at how the Gaza war has made coexistence harder for Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel (14).

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Re-Engagement

Hillary Clinton answered the question yesterday of who in the West is driving policy on the Middle East. She began her first visit to the region as Secretary of State with the most intractable issue: what to do about Gaza. At a pledging conference in Sharm el-Sheikh she joined dozens of others promising Gaza substantial cash to rebuild houses and infrastructure destroyed by three weeks of Israeli air attacks.

Mrs Clinton's task

The visit this week to the Middle East by Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, will offer the first opportunity to assess the Obama administration's policy in the region. It comes at an unpropitious time, with sensibilities in the region still raw after Israel's three-week invasion of Gaza, which resulted in such terrible loss of life. Mrs Clinton's first task, at a donors' conference in Sharm el Sheikh yesterday, was to offer a $900 million (£642 million) aid package to Gaza and the West Bank.

Clinton: US to 'vigorously' promote peace efforts

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promised Tuesday to work with the incoming Israeli government, but delivered a clear message that could put her at odds with the country's next leader: Movement toward the establishment of a Palestinian state is "inescapable."

At the same time, Clinton said she would not dictate orders to Israel, saying the Jewish state would determine its interests. In her first visit to the region as secretary of state, she also pledged "unrelenting" support for Israel's security.

Netanyahu: Clinton and I found common ground

Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu met with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Jerusalem on Tuesday, saying following their meeting that he had "found common ground with Clinton in attaining the common goals of our two countries."

"We need to think creatively in order to move forward and create a different reality, both in terms of security and politically, and this is a common goal for both sides," Netanyahu added.

Netanyahu's naysaying

United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's debut trip to the Middle East will be depicted - as usual - as a "familiarization tour," aimed at meeting with regional leaders and listening to their ideas. However, there should be no mistake about Clinton's message: President Barack Obama's administration expects the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians to continue, with the aim of advancing a two-state solution and establishing an "independent and viable" Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

PA official warns peace process at risk of crumbling

Should rightist government being formed in Israel abandon notion of two-state solution, Palestinian moderates will likely lose public's support while Islamic forces gain in strength, senior PA official says
Ali Waked

Should the two-state solution fail to become viable in the near future," the entire notion of the two states and the diplomatic process in general will collapse," a senior Palestinian official told Ynet Tuesday.

Peace Process
Clinton reiterates need for two-state solution / Roni Sofer

For Gaza’s sake this can’t be just another summit

Another summit in Sharm el Sheikh to deal with the fallout of another violent episode in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That is one way to understand yesterday’s meeting between heads of state, foreign ministers and officials at the Egyptian resort. But given the magnitude of the human suffering in Gaza, this cannot be just another meeting.

Could Netanyahu be an Israeli Maverick?

Kadima chairwoman and Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, has lashed out at prime minister-designate and leader of the hawkish Likud party, Benjamin Netanyahu, for being an extremist and unwilling to compromise with the Palestinians.

"Netanyahu is more extreme than Lieberman, who doesn't rule out a two-state solution. Netanyahu isn't even willing to discuss it," said Livni on Friday after meeting with him to discuss the possibility of Likud and Kadima joining forces in a unity government.

Netanyahu faces moment of truth

Pressed to take a firm stand on the two-state solution, Benjamin Netanyahu’s moment of truth may have come sooner than he wanted.

Despite strong international and domestic pressure, Israel's prime minister-designate is refusing to come out in support of the idea of two states for two peoples, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace.

Ever since President Bush outlined his vision of two states in June 2002, the two-state solution has been consensus international policy and the basis for Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Abbas: Palestinian unity government must support two-state solution

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday said that a Palestinian unity government with Hamas must support a two-state solution.

In a Ramallah speech, Abbas went on to say progress was being made toward establishing a Palestinian unity government "that will be committed to our values and will respect agreements previously signed by the Palestinian Authority," Israel Radio reported.

The Path of Realism or the Path of Failure

Repetition of failed experiments is not a sign of mental health or a path to scientific progress, nor is it a formula for Israeli-Palestinian peace. Yet that is the road we may again take, unless the lessons of the Bush years are learned.

Challenge of Israeli settlements

Israel's Prime Minister designate, Benjamin Netanyahu, will not openly commit to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But the US insists it's the only way forward, and Hillary Clinton is visiting the region for the first time as secretary of state.

"I feel like a stranger in my own land. I can't go for a long walk. I have to sneak around. Otherwise I'm stopped by Israeli soldiers or threatened by Israeli settlers."

“ This is no longer occupation, this is colonisation. Israel has no right to this land ”
Raja Shehadeh

After Gaza war, a harder coexistence for Jews and Arabs

The Hagar bilingual kindergarten was founded as a rare cocoon from ethnic alienation for children and parents in Israel. But even this place of innocence and coexistence isn't immune to the deeper divisions between Jews and Arabs here that has followed the Gaza war.

"When Assin came back from her first day [after the war] she said, 'Mommy, today we played war between Israel and Gaza,' " says Suha Farhat, about her 5-year-old daughter.

Clinton puts 'heart' into Mideast peace

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday committed herself personally to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, saying that finding a solution is "in my heart, not just my portfolio."

Mrs. Clinton cited the persistent peacemaking efforts of her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and linked a solution to the future of Israeli and Palestinian children.

Hillary vs. The Israel Lobby

In her 2000 race for the US Senate, Hillary Clinton was loudly denounced by uncritical right-wing supporters of Israel for a 1999 trip to Ramallah, where she kissed Palestinian First Lady Suha Arafat and listened as Arafat denounced Israel (in Arabic). Pictures of "the kiss" were repeatedly slapped across the cover of the New York Post, in TV ads and invoked by the campaigns of Rudy Giuliani and Rick Lazio. The flap almost derailed Clinton's campaign.

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