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Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton forcefully rejected yesterday Israeli claims that the Bush administration had secretly agreed to expanding Jewish settlements on the West Bank, deepening the impasse between the two countries.
"We have the negotiating record, that is the official record, that was turned over to the Obama administration by the outgoing Bush administration," Clinton told reporters after meeting with her Turkish counterpart in Washington. "There is no memorialization of any informal and oral agreements."
Iran seems to be hurtling toward nuclear weapons capacity, Hezbollah could win Sunday’s election in Lebanon and Hamas is smuggling long-range rockets into Gaza again. So why is President Obama focusing such attention on the building of homes by Israeli Jews in the West Bank?
As President Obama was arriving in Cairo on Thursday to urge the Middle East toward peace, Hamas militants in the West Bank city of Qalqilya were fighting a gun battle against Palestinian Authority forces in which three men were killed. Israel Radio was reporting that settler extremists had sent letters to an Israeli general threatening him and his children, and comparing the forces that remove settler outposts with the Jewish councils obliged to collaborate with the Nazis.
I thought President Obama's speech in Cairo was eloquent and historic and could well be regarded as one of the most important foreign policy speeches ever made by any U.S. president.
Some American Jews do not like Mr. Obama in his speech publicly calling out Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for refusing to support a two-state solution and a freeze on all settlements. My answer is: Why is this? Mr. Netanyahu is breaking not only with the policies of three prior presidents but of three prior Israeli prime ministers.
Four Palestinian militants have died in a clash with Israeli soldiers along the Israel-Gaza border, medics and officials in the Hamas-run Strip say.
Up to 10 Palestinian gunmen tried to cross the heavily fortified border into Israel, Palestinian officials said.
The Israeli military says troops opened fire after being shot at by the gunmen.
It is one of the most serious outbreaks of violence between Israel and militants from Gaza since the end of a three-week conflict in January.
United States President Barack Obama wants "immediate" talks between the Palestinians and Israel to forge a comprehensive Middle East peace agreement, U.S. envoy George Mitchell said on Monday.
"The President has told me to exert all efforts to create the circumstance when the parties can begin immediate discussions," Mitchell told reporters at the start of a Palestinian donors' conference in the Norwegian capital.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dismissed on Friday reports that administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush had an understanding under which Israel could keep expanding settlements on the West Bank.
Dov Weisglass, chief of staff to former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, wrote in an op-ed piece published this week in the Yedioth Ahronoth daily that the Bush administration had secretly agreed to expanding Jewish settlements on the West Bank within their existing boundaries.
Israel's economy, unscathed by costly wars in Lebanon and Gaza, faces a new challenge, this time from an ally -- the United States.
Differences with U.S. President Barack Obama over Jewish settlement of occupied West Bank land that Palestinians want for a state has some experts predicting a price in terms of U.S. fiscal support and investment for Israel.
Some diplomats say Washington could eventually reconsider Israel's receipt of hefty U.S. loan guarantees or $3 billion in annual defence aid. That would scare off foreign investors seeking a buffer against Middle East instability.
A day after President Barack Obama told Israel its key ally would no longer tolerate building settlements in the West Bank, the European Union was considering using its trade clout to bolster U.S. pressure, diplomats said.
The EU is the Jewish state's biggest trading partner and one option it may have is to crack down on fruit, vegetables, olive oil and other farm produce grown by Israeli settlers on occupied Palestinian land.
Some European governments have long suspected such products are entering the EU at low import tariffs reserved for output labeled as coming from Israel proper.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will deliver a "major diplomatic speech" to outline his government's "principles for achieving peace and security."
Netanyahu announced the speech, planned for next week, at the beginning of Sunday's weekly Cabinet meeting.
For years now, my colleagues and I at the American Task Force on Palestine have been arguing that everyone who believes in a negotiated end-of-conflict agreement in the Middle East that allows for two states, Israel and Palestine, to live side-by-side in peace need to form a real, functioning national coalition to support this goal.
In order for Arab and Muslim leaderships and populations to benefit from the momentum of the new tone in US-Israeli relations, the depth and the meaning of the distance crossed by President Barack Obama, in defining a new framework for this relationship and in promoting this framework before US public opinion, must be carefully examined.
Interior Minister Eli Yishai has begun to make good on a pledge to exploit all the resources of his ministry, "its branches and its influences over local government" to expand settlements in the territories.
Yishai, who is also chairman of Shas, made the promise last Thursday to the heads of the Yesha Council of settlements. His party is concerned by the freeze on construction that has been in effect since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office, which Yishai said is "drying out" the settlements.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will lay out his political stance on peace with the Palestinians in a speech at Bar Ilan University next week. The speech comes as a response to the historic address delivered by US President Barack Obama in Egypt last week, officials close to the prime minister said on Sunday.
A majority of Israelis believe that the Middle East policies of US President Barack Obama are not good for the Jewish state, according to a Dahaf Institute poll taken ahead of Obama's speech to the Muslim world.
The poll of 501 Israelis, sponsored by Yediot Aharonot and representing a statistical sample of the population, found that 53 percent believed Obama's policies were not good for Israel and just 26% said they were good. The rest did not respond.
US President Barack Obama wants "immediate" talks between the Palestinians and Israel to forge a comprehensive Middle East peace agreement, US envoy George Mitchell was quoted by Reuters as saying on Monday.
En route to the Middle East, Mitchell said such talks were aimed at reaching "a comprehensive peace and normalization of relations" between Israel and its neighbors, which would also serve "the security interests of the United States."
Links:
[1] http://www.americantaskforce.org/print/7403
[2] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printmail/7403
[3] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printpdf/7403
[4] http://www.americantaskforce.org/rss/wpr
[5] http://www.acpus.org/
[6] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/05/AR2009060503490.html
[7] http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/06/world/middleeast/06mideast.html?_r=2&ref=middleeast
[8] http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/weekinreview/07bronner.html?ref=middleeast
[9] http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/08/does-israel-need-obamas-tough-love/?source=newsletter_must-read-stories-today_more_news_carousel&page=2
[10] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8088635.stm
[11] http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1091223.html
[12] http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1090709.html
[13] http://www.reuters.com/article/middleeastCrisis/idUSL7638913
[14] http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandidateFeed1/idUSTRE55478Q20090605?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true
[15] http://jta.org/news/article/2009/06/07/1005695/netanyahu-announces-major-diplomatic-speech
[16] http://www.ibishblog.com/blog/hibish/2009/06/06/time_real_national_coalition_middle_east_peace
[17] http://www.daralhayat.com/portalarticlendah/24324
[18] http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1091163.html
[19] http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3727709,00.html
[20] http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1244371037911&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
[21] http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1244371034500&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
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