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Israeli and Palestinian negotiators began addressing the most difficult issues of their decades-old conflict Monday, keeping a promise to President Bush but putting Israel's coalition government under strain.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Korei emerged from a two-hour session at a Jerusalem hotel with little to say about what they had discussed. Israeli officials said the two lead negotiators planned to meet at least once a week.
With its focus on strengthening the moderate Arab coalition against Iran, President Bush’s tour of the Persian Gulf countries, Saudi Arabia and Egypt could prove extremely significant for Israel.
From an Israeli perspective, the three key elements were isolating Iran, coaxing moderate Arab countries into moving toward normalization with Israel and getting oil-rich Arab states to honor their financial pledges to the Palestinians.
Progress on all or some of these issues would significantly boost Israeli foreign policy goals.
A small group of Palestinian Christians stands outside Gaza City's Baptist Church on a Sunday morning, waiting for the generator to power up. The church is cold and dark in the dead of winter, Israel having reduced fuel supplies to Gaza in an effort to pressure Hamas to halt rocket fire into Israel.
After his talks in Jerusalem and Ramallah, U.S. President George W. Bush said that an Arab-Israeli peace agreement would be reached by the end of the year. He was less optimistic of a settlement within Palestine; and he was unsure that the Palestinian president would be able to resolve the problem anytime soon.
President George Bush was last night working to persuade Saudi Arabia to maintain its support for a revived, but fragile, Israeli-Palestinian peace process and to confront Iran across the Middle East.
Arriving in Riyadh on the penultimate stage of his regional tour, Bush went into talks with King Abdullah as the administration prepared to notify Congress of a $20bn (£10.2bn) arms package for the Saudis - satellite-guided weaponry and other high-tech munitions - highlighting the oil-rich kingdom's privileged relationship with Washington.
Israeli forces killed 17 Palestinians in an intense battle today, including the son of Mahmoud Zahar, the hardline leader of Hamas.
A Palestinian sniper also shot dead a volunteer from Ecuador who was working on a communal farm near the volatile coastal territory.
The latest clashes were the most intense since the recent visit by President Bush to push Israel and the Palestinians towards renewed peace talks, and threatened to undermine negotiations.
Politics isn't just about words and ideas; it has to be about action. The recently held Palestinian donors' conference in Paris was a day when the international community collectively put its money where its mouth is and committed the funds which are desperately needed if the Palestinians are to rebuild their economy and take further strides down the road to peace.
America has to learn to listen to its friends in the Middle East, and should stop lecturing them from a prepared script. George W. Bush's historic visit to the region is the first time a sitting US president has come to the UAE, and it has given him a tremendous opportunity to hear from the leaders and the people of the region how to tackle the region's serious issues.
Our region is not short of bloodshed and instability. Iraq, Lebanon, the occupied Palestinian territories and Afghanistan are all scenes of past and present conflicts where largely innocent blood has flowed in plenty. We do not need yet another dangerous conflict.
The United States clarified to Israel during U.S. President George Bush's visit this week that it disapproves of all building in East Jerusalem and the West Bank - including in the large settlement blocs, a senior Western diplomat said Tuesday.
The diplomat added that Israel and the U.S. differ on their interpretation of the letter President Bush sent to former prime minister Ariel Sharon in April, 2004.
United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the main impetus in the Bush administration for squeezing something out of the 2008 drought year, convinced the president to break from his principle of linkage - the basis of his road map - and skip to the final stage, the final status framework. This is a concession to Palestinian demands, and a further reversal for the Israeli position since Yasser Arafat opened fire in September 2000 and frightened Israel with the possibility that he might declare an independent state unilaterally (the "Magic Melody" scenario).
A balding, bearded visage loomed over President Bush's visit here last week, peering down from banners and from posters on buses barreling along quiet streets. The face was that of Jonathan Pollard, an American who pleaded guilty in 1986 to passing top-secret information to Israel.
Israeli supporters seeking his release were rebuffed by President Bill Clinton during the last period of extended negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. Now they are ramping up their campaign for a presidential pardon.
Links:
[1] http://www.americantaskforce.org/print/5871
[2] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printmail/5871
[3] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printpdf/5871
[4] http://www.americantaskforce.org/rss/wpr
[5] http://www.americantaskforce.org/world_press_roundup/20080115t000000
[6] http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mideast15jan15,1,6203214.story?coll=la-headlines-world&ctrack=8&cset=true
[7] http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/news/article/2008011420080114bushinmideast.html
[8] http://wpherald.com/articles/6437/1/Gaza-Christians-increasingly-face-difficulties/Gazas-Christian-population-wanes.html
[9] http://www.metimes.com/Opinion/2008/01/15/op-ed_maria_appakova/9500/
[10] http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2240839,00.html
[11] http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article3191814.ece
[12] http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=88035
[13] http://www.gulfnews.com/opinion/editorial_opinion/region/10181971.html
[14] http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7&section=0&article=105662&d=15&m=1&y=2008
[15] http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=944647
[16] http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/944673.html
[17] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/14/AR2008011402725_pf.html