Israel News since September 17th 2011

Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington last year
at talks aimed at restarting the Middle East peace process. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

DURING a quiet Sunday walk around an archeological site in the backblocks of the West Bank, we spot four Israeli soldiers under a tree. They become alert when they see us coming over a rise, holding their guns at the ready, but the presence of five children appears to make them relax. One, however, insists we cannot take photographs, but his commander corrects him: "Take whatever photographs you want," he says. "Where you from ?" The first soldier doesn't like being overruled. He charges at my wife when he sees her raise her camera, and his commander rushes in to stand between them.

The West Bank today is an unpredictable and volatile place. There is also little apparent accountability. The soldier's commander says it was not acceptable behaviour but won't give us his name or that of the soldier. The soldiers are anonymous, wearing neither their names nor identifying numbers on their sleeves. As we walk away we hear them shouting at each other.

The incident last weekend, in the biblical village of Sebastia, highlights the tensions under Israel's occupation of the West Bank, also known as the Palestinian territories.

This biblical village of Sebaste is in an area anciently known as Samaria. Sebaste is in fact the site for the city of Samaria, 12 km northwest of Nablus. And at the entrance of the modern city of Nablus is Jacob's Well, where Jesus encountered the Samaritan woman, 63 km north of Jerusalem.

Next week, how the West Bank works will be the focus of international attention as 193 countries vote on whether to grant membership of the UN to "Palestine". Delegates to the UN will focus on the status of the 2.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank who, ultimately, are under Israeli military rule. Between 122 and 140 of the countries in the UN General Assembly are expected to vote in favour of Palestinian membership.

Inside Israel, the vote has reinvigorated the debate about what benefits Israelis gain from the occupation and the price they pay in terms of resources and reputation. Privately, Israeli officials admit they are extremely nervous; they say the vote could mean, for example, that the UN will take the view that one member of the UN, Israel, is occupying another member, and that Palestinians may then use their subsequent membership of UN tribunals to target Israelis.

In the lead-up to the vote, the Israeli Defence Forces is giving additional guns, tear gas and training to the estimated 350,000 Jewish settlers. Settlers are already heavily armed; the IDF has a policy under which if a settler believes they may be threatened, the IDF will give them weapons and training. The potential for catastrophe is obvious.

Israel's "settlement enterprise" began after it captured the West Bank in the 1967 war. Some Israelis believe the country now pays too high a price in terms of damage to its international reputation and resources. Under international law, Israel's settlements are held to be illegal. The Fourth Geneva Convention states: "The occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies."

Israel gives substantial financial incentives for people to move into the Palestinian territories: for example, while only 5 per cent of Israelis live in settlements, they receive 15 per cent of the housing budget. But there is growing concern within Israel that the settlements may be getting out of control. Some settlers practise a "price tag" policy: if the Israeli government does something they do not like, such as trying to close an illegal outpost, they in turn punish Palestinians, by poisoning or burning olive trees, desecrating mosques or attacking cars. Some have now extended the policy to the IDF. In July, settlers surrounded the car of a senior commander, attacked it and called him a traitor because he tried to close an outpost. This week, others broke into an army base and smashed 13 vehicles. While settlers had previously fire-bombed and burned army vehicles, this was the first time a military base was breached.

Last Sunday night settlers entered the Jerusalem apartment building of an official from Peace Now, which monitors settlements, and spray-painted her door and stairwell with "price tag". Peace Now's Yariv Oppenheimer responded: "The term 'price tag' must be erased from the lexicon and replaced with 'Jewish terrorism'."

Israel's top-selling newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, reported that at the same time in Palestinian villages cars were set ablaze, a water-tanker destroyed, "revenge against the Arabs" written and Stars of David drawn. The influential Haaretz newspaper also reported that Israel's intelligence agency Shin Bet believes right-wing Jewish extremists had moved from "spontaneous acts against Arabs" to terrorist activity.

But even in this climate, settlers are being given more weapons and powers. Israeli authorities have just given a legal opinion to settlers: "Those authorised to perform guard duty in Judea and Samaria are permitted to open fire against unarmed demonstrators who are threatening to infiltrate a settlement, if such an infiltration, under the circumstances, presents in the guard's opinion an immediate and real life threatening danger."

While some characterise alarm about Israel's direction as anti-Semitic or as attempts to "de-legitimise" Israel, many of the warnings come from within the Israeli establishment. The former head of Mossad, Meir Dagan, has warned of the possibility that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may attack Iran. He said he was going public because while he, security service Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin and Israeli Defence Forces chief Gabi Ashkenazi — all now retired — were in office they could block "any dangerous adventure". "Now I am afraid there is no-one to stop Bibi [Netanyahu] and [Defence Minister Ehud] Barak," he said.

Two former heads of Shin Bet have also joined the Israeli Peace Initiative, which calls for a Palestinian state along 1967 lines, with land swaps. One of those is Yaakov Perry, who warns: "Our continued presence in the territories is a threat to Zionism. With every passing minute further damage is done to the state of Israel." Another signatory was the son of assassinated PM Yitzhak Rabin, Yuval Rabin, who said: "The state of Israel has no foreign policy path. The PM is not initiating such a path and is not presenting an alternative to horrific scenarios that I don't even want to think about."

Israeli commentator Yoel Marcus warned in Haaretz that Israel had "clouds of disaster floating above us". "Bibi is getting on the nerves of the entire world," he wrote. "And that's because of four words: they don't believe him … Israel is marching to the UN General Assembly weak and hated, under very difficult negotiating conditions." In Maariv, the country's second highest selling newspaper, Yaron Dekel wrote of "the global wave of support for the Palestinians" and said the US was now "Israel's last remaining strong supporter". But in the US, influential commentator Thomas Friedman wrote: "He [Netanyahu] has spent his time trying to avoid such a [peace] deal — and everyone knows it."

Netanyahu's inner circle disagrees. In an interview with Inquirer, spokesman Mark Regev says: "He [Netanyahu] would agree with the larger picture that in the end we have to see two states for two people, that Israel does not want to rule over the Palestinians, but you can't just pull out and hope for the best". "The fundamental reason for the current impasse in the peace process is the decision by the Palestinian leadership not to negotiate," he says. "Far from being passive, my Prime Minister has pressed for direct negotiations without preconditions, which encompass the core issues." As to the UN vote, Regev says: "We hope there will be a moral minority, countries like Australia, the US, Canada and South Korea, who will not support a maximalist Palestinian resolution." Does that mean countries that support the motion would be "the immoral majority" ' "I would not use those words," says Regev, "but there is an automatic anti-Israel majority."

But growing frustration is being expressed even by political figures close to Netanyahu. Labor's Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said recently, "The world is tired of this conflict and angry at us because we are viewed as conquerors, ruling over another people … we are left with one ally, America, and that relationship is strained, too."

In the past two weeks Israel has ceased to have ambassadors in traditional allies Egypt and Turkey. In Egypt, its diplomats were evacuated after a mob stormed the embassy; and Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador after the killing of nine Turks on the Gaza flotilla.

The relationship with Turkey has not recovered since a confrontation two years ago between Danny Ayalon, Israel's deputy foreign minister, and Turkey's ambassador to Israel. Ayalon was upset by a Turkish television program depicting Mossad as baby-snatchers, and summoned the ambassador. Ayalon told photographers the ambassador, whose hand he would not shake, would be sitting in "the low chair". Israel's former ambassador to Turkey, Alon Liel, responded: "This time they made him sit in a low chair, next time maybe they'll make him crawl and, who knows, maybe the time after that they'll beat him up at the entrance." The straight-talking Ben-Eliezer said: "Why would you pick a fight with a country with 72 million Muslims ?"

After he lost the prime ministership the first time, Netanyahu admitted he had circumvented Washington's peace efforts. Israeli TV last year broadcast a video in which Netanyahu told settlers in 2001: "I de facto put an end to the Oslo Accords." Not knowing he was being filmed, Netanyahu said: "America is a thing you can move very easily, move it in the right direction." He had got around the Oslo peace accords, he confided, by promising Washington he would implement them, but then using the definition of "military zone" to remove "the entire Jordan valley" from the accords.

His advisers insist this time he is serious. They reject claims he has made the demand that Palestinians recognise Israel as "a Jewish state" to ensure any peace deal is unachievable. Such a precondition would be politically impossible for any Palestinian leadership, given the unresolved issue of 4.5 million Palestinian refugees and the million Arabs — 20 per cent of Israel's population — living in Israel. "This was not a precondition," Regev says. "We said this was a vital element in any final agreement."

Last year Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman pushed through cabinet a motion that all future citizens must pledge an allegiance to "a Jewish and democratic state". He wants to require all 16-year-olds to sign a declaration of loyalty to Zionism before getting an identity card. Palestinians say this could mean the million Arabs in Israel who are Christian and Muslim may have to swear allegiance to Zionism to get a job.

Politically, Netanyahu and Lieberman appear engaged in a battle for leadership of the Right. Lieberman's success at the last election gives him enormous power: he could bring down the government tomorrow and is probably at least as powerful as Netanyahu. In February, Netanyahu announced that his confidant, Uzi Arad, was the new ambassador to London. Lieberman called a press conference and said: "He [Arad] will not be the ambassador to London, simple as that."

On the Palestinian issue, Lieberman is hardly objective: he lives in a settlement that would probably become Palestinian under any peace deal. He has led attacks by government ministers against Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas; the most damaging claimed Abbas had privately telephoned Israeli officials during the Gaza war and urged them to topple his Palestinian rivals, Hamas.

Meanwhile, Israeli officials point to The New York Times in May to show Abbas's real agenda. Abbas wrote: "Palestine's admission to the United Nations would pave the way for the internationalisation of the conflict as a legal matter, not only a political one. It would also pave the way for us to pursue claims against Israel at the United Nations, human rights treaty bodies and the International Court of Justice." Says Regev: "Palestinians seem to be saying they want a state, not to make peace with Israel, but to continue the conflict."

So, after 63 years, this dispute enters a dangerous new phase: a majority of countries look set to support UN membership for Palestinians but the reality on the ground is probably worse than for years.

Same Day
Clinton: NY not road to Palestine
AFP

SAN FRANCISCO: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says she sees a "growing recognition" among "parties in the region" that it would be best for Palestinians to abandon a bid for UN membership. Mrs Clinton, at a joint news conference after talks with Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd in San Francisco, yesterday said she did not want to set odds of success for the US-led diplomatic effort to ward off the UN bid, but she saw growing support.

In a move that has infuriated Washington and Israel, Palestinian leaders have said they would lodge an application for full membership of the UN next week or go to the General Assembly for enhanced observer membership. Washington has threatened to veto the application if it is made in the Security Council, saying it would harm prospects for peace talks and that a Palestinian state could result only from negotiations with Israel.

"We believe strongly that the road to peace and two states living side by side does not go through New York, it goes through Jerusalem and Ramallah," Mrs Clinton said. "I cannot give you the odds of how successful our entire effort will be, but I think there is certainly a growing recognition among not only the parties in the region but beyond that there is no real answer to all of these concerns that we share other than negotiations on the tough issues." The concerns "will not be resolved if another route is taken", she added.

The US has sent envoys to the region in a last-minute bid to thwart the Palestinians' effort for membership at the UN, a move vehemently opposed by Israel. Mrs Clinton voiced hope that Israel and the Palestinians could resume talks along the contours of a framework laid out by President Barack Obama in May. "We are absolutely committed to pursuing that," she said.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad greets the US deputy envoy for the Middle East, Mara Rudman,
as Tony Blair looks on at the UN in New York yesterday. AFP
Abbas urges backing for Palestinian state
The Australian
AFP
Tuesday, September 20, 2011

NEW YORK: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said yesterday that he expects a "very difficult" situation after the Palestinians submit their request for full membership at the UN General Assembly. Speaking as he arrived in New York last night, Mr Abbas said he had faced international pressure against the UN bid, which is opposed by the US and Israel. "The Palestinian people and their leadership will pass through very difficult times after the Palestinian approach to the UN through the Security Council to seek full membership for the Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with east Jerusalem as its capital," Mr Abbas said. He called on the Israeli people to recognise the state of Palestine, "proving there can be a two-state solution, and not to lose an opportunity for peace".

Mr Abbas is to present the Palestinian request for full membership in an address to the UN on Friday, after which it will be put to the Security Council — a step Washington warns it will veto.

A new flurry of diplomatic activity began overnight as major powers and Israel leaders undertook frantic efforts to avoid a showdown over the membership bid. Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak held an unannounced meeting yesterday. Mr Fayyad said the two had discussed security issues and the Palestinian Authority's readiness to govern.

Officials from the diplomatic quartet on the Middle East — the US, Russia, the EU and the UN — held their own meeting. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held talks with EU foreign affairs representative Catherine Ashton, while quartet envoy Tony Blair held separate talks with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Mr Abbas was expected to hold his first meeting with Mr Ban overnight.

Mr Blair expressed hope a deal could be reached. "I think there is a way of avoiding a confrontation," the former British prime minister said. Diplomats said talks were likely to continue up to Mr Abbas's request to the UN on Friday.

If the US wields its veto powers, the Palestinians could go straight to the UN General Assembly to seek elevated observer status. This would almost certainly be supported by a majority of the 193 members, and no veto is possible. The US is trying to convince other Security Council members to oppose or abstain on any resolution. If the Palestinian appeal fails to secure nine votes from the 15 council members, any resolution would fail and the US veto would not be necessary, easing embarrassment 12 months after US President Barack Obama said he wanted to see a Palestinian state at the UN within a year.

Mr Blair is seeking a formula that would allow for greater recognition of a Palestinian state and a path back to direct talks with Israel that could satisfy the US. "What we will be looking for … is something that allows their claims and legitimate aspirations for statehood while renewing negotiation directly between the two sides," he said.

Last-minute bid for Middle East talks as vote looms
The Australian
John Lyons, Middle East correspondent
Additional Reporting: Agencies
Wednesday, September 21, 2011

BOTH leaders in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict say they are prepared to resume direct negotiations as the UN prepares to consider a motion to admit Palestine. Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas said last night he was prepared to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in New York provided there was "real substance" to the talks. Mr Netanyahu said he was prepared to meet Mr Abbas in New York negotiations to continue in Jerusalem and Ramallah. On Friday, both men will address the UN General Assembly — Mr Abbas will speak first and is expected to call for full UN membership for a Palestinian state, while Mr Netanyahu is expected to argue against, saying he supports "two states for two peoples" but only by direct negotiation.

The manoeuvring came as a new poll found strong international support for Palestinian membership of the UN. The BBC poll of 20,446 people in 19 countries found 49 per cent wanted their countries to support the motion, with 21 per cent opposed and 30 per cent undecided.

Mr Abbas told Fox News yesterday he would meet any Israeli official anytime, "but there is no use if there is nothing tangible". Referring to US President Barack Obama's declaration to the General Assembly last year that he wanted the state of Palestine to be a UN member by this September, Mr Abbas said: "You promised me a state by September 2011. I hope you will deliver." Mr Abbas said at least nine of the 15 UN Security Council members would support the motion — which would force the US to use its veto to stop it, which it does not want to do given its stated support for a Palestinian state.

Mr Netanyahu said last night: "I am offering President Abbas the chance to launch peace negotiations instead of wasting time on futile unilateral steps." Israel has been engaged in an all-out international effort to block the Palestinian motion. Haaretz newspaper reported that the ambassadors of the five largest European nations — Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Spain — were summoned to Israel's Foreign Ministry last week and "scolded" for their attempt to achieve a unified European position to support a Palestinian motion rather than voting against.

Israel's neighbour Jordan said that unless Israel changed its approach, the future was "very bleak" and this would affect every country in the region. "Israel is at a critical juncture," Jordan's King Abdullah told The Wall Street Journal. "Israel has to decide — does it want to be part of the neighbourhood or does it want to be fortress Israel ?"

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas meets US President Barack Obama in New York yesterday. Picture: AP
Defiant Abbas ignores Obama's plea
The Australian
John Lyons, New York
Additional reporting: AP, AFP
Friday, September 23, 2011

PALESTINIAN Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will defy international pressure and push for UN membership tonight despite a warning from Barack Obama that "there are no short cuts" to peace. Top Palestinian officials conceded after Mr Abbas met the US President yesterday that the membership bid was likely to be delayed for months but they brushed off Mr Obama's claim that "one-sided declarations in the UN" would not achieve statehood. Mr Obama and Mr Abbas discussed the issue for more than 45 minutes. The US President had a similar meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hours earlier.

The White House refused to confirm whether Mr Obama directly asked the Palestinian leader to abandon his plans to pursue full UN membership, saying only that he reiterated his opposition to the statehood bid and the US intention to issue a veto. Mr Abbas gave no indication that he was ready for compromise, but his aides said they were not setting deadlines for the Security Council to consider the application. And they left the door open for a plan-B request to the General Assembly for an upgrade of their status as a permanent observer to a non-member observer state.

"This is an option that is open to us … starting tomorrow, if we chose to do so, but President Abbas does not want anybody to suspect a lack of seriousness if we address the two councils at the same time," Palestinian negotiator and senior Abbas adviser Nabeel Shaath said. "So he will give some time to the Security Council to consider first our full membership request before heading to the assembly. "We do not have a time limit," Mr Shaath added. Nevertheless, he said, "this is a moment of truth". Saeb Erekat, another top aide, said the pursuit of UN membership would not be slowed. "We will not allow any political manoeuvring on this issue," he said.

That persistence has put the Palestinians on a collision course with the US and Israel. A frustrated Mr Obama told world leaders yesterday in his UN speech that "there are no shortcuts" to peace. A year ago, he made a case for Palestinian statehood, but in his speech he did not mention key issues such as an end to the construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank or Palestinian demands that borders be drawn largely according to those that existed before the 1967 Mid-East war. "Peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the UN," Mr Obama told delegates. "If it were that easy, it would have been accomplished by now."

The Palestinians refused to accept they could not negotiate peace after winning UN recognition. Mr Shaath said that "20 years after Oslo, we're still occupied" by Israel, a reference to the Oslo Accords that were intended to serve as a framework for future negotiations. "The kind of freakish control the Israelis impose on us is unbelievable," he said, referring to restrictions on movement between the Palestinian Authority-ruled West Bank and Hamas-governed Gaza.

Speaking at a joint appearance with Mr Netanyahu, Mr Obama said the goal of all parties was two states, side by side, living in peace. "Recent events in the region remind us of how fragile peace can be and why the pursuit of Middle East peace is more urgent than ever," he said. "I think we need to pursue that peace, and know that the Prime Minister (Mr Netanyahu) recognises America's commitment to Israel will never waiver, and that our pursuit of a just and lasting peace is one that is not only compatible but we think puts Israel's security at the forefront."

Mr Netanyahu, referring to the joint effort by the US and Israel to avoid a motion by Palestinians seeking membership of the UN, said: "We both agree that Palestinians and the Israelis should … negotiate an agreement of mutual recognition and security. I think this is the only way to get to a stable and durable peace. You've (Mr Obama) also made it clear the Palestinians deserve a state, but it's a state that has to make that peace with Israel, and therefore their attempt to shortcut this process, not negotiate peace — that attempt to get state membership in the UN will not succeed".

"The Palestinians want to achieve a state in the international community, but they're not prepared yet to give peace to Israel in return. My hope is that there will be other leaders in the world, as part of the UN, who will meet your call, Mr President, and oppose this effort to shortcut peace negotiations - in fact, to avoid them - because I think that avoiding these negotiations is bad for Israel, bad for the Palestinians and bad for peace."

Tens of thousands of Palestinians rallied across the West Bank in a show of support for the campaign to become a UN member. The Israeli army said there were isolated incidents of stone throwing, while Palestinian medics said a 13-year-old boy lost an eye when troops fired a teargas cartridge at stonethrowers in Qalandia near Ramallah. But it was well short of the unrest predicted by the Israeli establishment. About 15,000 people created a festive mood in Nablus, with similar numbers in Ramallah and Hebron. Another 10,000 were on the streets of Bethlehem.

Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas hands over a formal letter for Palestine to be admitted as a state
to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York. Picture: AFP Source: AFP
Abbas, Netanyahu call for immediate peace talks at UN
The Australian Online
John Lyons, Middle East correspondent
Saturday, September 24, 2011

THE two leaders of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have called for the immediate resumption of stalled Middle East peace talks. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both made powerful appeals to an international audience in a diplomatic showdown at the United Nations. In an emotion-charged General Assembly of the UN, Mr Abbas addressed the chamber first, followed by Mr Netanyahu.

The tone was set when Israel 's Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, walked out as Mr Abbas was being introduced - before he had spoken a word. When it came time for Mr Netanyahu to speak, the Palestinian delegation remained but the delegations from Iran, Lebanon and Syria were absent. During Mr Abbas' speech, a fight broke out in the public gallery and police had to intervene.

Mr Abbas said the Palestinian Liberation Organisation and the Palestinian people had "renounced violence and terrorism in all its forms". He said the time had come for Israel 's occupation of the West Bank, which it captured in the 1967 war, to end. "Our people are waiting to hear the answer of the world," he said. "Will it allow Israel to continue the last occupation in the world ' We are the last people to remain under occupation. Will the world allow Israel to occupy us forever ?"

Mr Abbas said Israel 's policy of expanding Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories embodied colonisation and brutality. "The loss of hope is the most ferocious enemy of peace," he said. "The time has come for our men, women and children to live normal lives, for them to be able to sleep without waiting for the worst that the next day will bring. For mothers to be sure their children will return home without fear of being arrested, for students to go to schools and universities without checkpoints obstructing them, for people to go to hospitals normally, for farmers to be able to take care of their land without fear of occupation, or fear of the settlers with their guard dogs who attack the Palestinians … they build on our lands their homes and uproot and burn olive trees that have existed in Palestine for hundreds of years."

Mr Netanyahu, in his address, called for an immediate meeting in the UN building with Mr Abbas. "I cannot make peace alone, I cannot make peace without you," he said. "President Abbas, I extend my hand, the hand of Israel, in peace, I hope you will clasp that hand, we are both the sons of Abraham … we share the same patriarch, we dwell in the same land, our destinies are intertwined." Mr Netanyahu said Israel and he wanted peace. "We cannot achieve peace through UN resolution but only through direct negotiations between the two parties," he said.

He said when Israel withdrew from the Gaza strip "the entire world applauded. (But) We didn 't get peace, we got war," he said. "We got Iran, which, through its proxy, Hamas, promptly kicked out the PA (Palestinian Authority.) Israelis rightly ask what 's to prevent this from happening again in the West Bank ' Would any of you bring danger so close to your cities ' Israel is prepared to have a Palestinian state in the West Bank but we 're not prepared to have another Gaza there."

Mr Netanyahu said settlements were not at the core of the conflict. "Our conflict has been raging for nearly half a century before there was a single Israeli settlement in the West Bank," he said. "The settlements are a result of the conflict, the settlements are an issue that has to be addressed and resolved in the course of negotiations but the core of conflict is and remains the refusal of Palestinians to recognise a Jewish state in any borders. Israel is the Jewish state. President Abbas, stop walking around this issue. Recognise the Jewish state and make peace with us … Israel is prepared to make painful concessions."

New peace push
The Sunday Mail
Lesley Clark, New York, McClatchy Tribune
Sunday, September 25, 2011

HOURS after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas made an impassioned appeal for full UN membership for an independent Palestinian state, US and European diplomats on Friday proposed a new round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks to begin within a month, with the goal of reaching a deal by the end of 2012.

Having failed despite furious lobbying to persuade the Palestinians to drop their application for UN membership, US officials said the proposal by the so-called Quartet of mediators — the US, the UN, the European Union and Russia — offered the best chance to restart negotiations. "The Quartet proposal represents the firm conviction of the international community that a just and lasting peace can only come through communications between the parties," US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said. In a statement, the Quartet called for "comprehensive proposals" within three months on territory and security and "substantial progress" within six months.

The statement appeared to be an effort to lower the temperature after weeks of intense wrangling by the US and allies to block or delay the Palestinian bid. There appeared to be little common ground between Mr Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as each took the stage at the annual gathering of world leaders at the UN General Assembly. Both leaders reiterated their positions and blamed each other for the lack of progress in solving the conflict.

Mr Abbas delivered an emotional call for an end to "63 years of suffering" by Palestinians. At the end of his speech, he held up a copy of the statehood application and received a loud ovation from a packed chamber. "This is a moment of truth," Mr Abbas said. "Our people are waiting to hear the answer of the world. Will it allow Israel to occupy us forever, and will it allow Israel to remain a state above the law and accountability ?"

Mr Netanyahu, who followed Mr Abbas on the stage just an hour later, insisted that Israel wanted peace but that the Palestinians were the obstacle to a negotiated settlement. "The Palestinians want a state without peace, and you shouldn't let that happen," a defiant Mr Netanyahu said. He did not hide his contempt for the UN, calling it a "theatre of the absurd" for awarding key roles to Hezbollah-dominated Lebanon, currently chair of the Security Council. He mocked Abbas for saying that Palestinians were "armed only with their dreams, courage, hope and slogans."

"Yes," Mr Netanyahu said. "Hopes, dreams and 10,000 missiles and Grad rockets supplied by Iran."

UN officials said that Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon submitted the Palestinian application to the Security Council, which decides whether to recommend admission to the 193-member General Assembly. It was unclear when a vote would take place.

Palestinians in the West Bank town of Ramallah listen to Mahmoud Abbas's speech to the UN. Picture: Yossi Zamir
Netanyahu ready to embrace international plan for peace
The Australian
AFP, The Sunday Times
Monday, September 26, 2011

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he is ready to accept a quartet plan that foresees a peace deal with the Palestinians by the end of next year. "If the quartet calls for the resumption of direct negotiations without preconditions, I think it's an important thing," Mr Netanyahu said in a television interview in the US yesterday.

But the hope of talks without preconditions was dealt a blow last night when Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told cheering crowds on his return to Ramallah that the Palestinians would not hold talks without a halt to Israeli settlement building. "There will be no negotiations without international legitimacy and a complete halt to the settlements," he said in an address to thousands who gathered to welcome him back from his bid to secure full UN membership for a Palestinian state. The comments appeared to be a rejection of the quartet's proposal for new talks but no freeze on settlements.

Mr Netanyahu had been cautious when asked about the chances of reaching an agreement by the end of next year. "If there is a willingness to conclude (the deal), it will succeed, because it is promising, but if the will does not exist it will not work," he said. Mr Netanyahu said his government's official position on the quartet's proposal would be announced in the coming days. "I hope the Palestinians will understand in the end it is not possible to do away with the negotiations, they cannot obtain a state and continue the conflict." Mr Netanyahu said Israel's security was his priority. "We will not make the same mistake as in Gaza which became an Iranian base," he said, referring to the seizure of power in the Palestinian territory by Hamas.

The peacemaking quartet, comprised of the US, UN, EU and Russia, proposed a new timetable for talks in a statement shortly after the Palestinians submitted their bid for UN membership on Friday. "This is a moment of history," Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas told the UN General Assembly as he held aloft the printed submission for membership, already on its way to the Security Council. "Our people are waiting to hear the answer of the world." Nawaf Salam, the Lebanese ambassador to the UN, who is president of the Security Council, said the 15-member body would meet today to consider the Palestinian request. The Israelis said they were studying the proposal but were ready to negotiate at any time. The Palestinians, however, reiterated their insistence that settlement building must stop before talks can begin.

In an emotional address, Mr Abbas identified settlements as the greatest impediment to peace, insisting that Palestinians would return to negotiations as soon as Israel stopped seeking to shrink a future Palestinian state by building Jewish settlements on Arab land. "The occupying army is racing against time to redraw the borders," Mr Abbas said. Palestinian dreams of nationhood were being "shattered on the rock of the Israeli settlement project", Mr Abbas warned. "The loss of hope is the most ferocious enemy of peace."

Mr Netanyahu denounced the Palestinian application as an attempt to avoid tough negotiations over issues including settlements. Talks between the two sides have been on hold for nearly a year, grinding to a halt shortly after they were relaunched in Washington over the issue of settlement construction. Israel refused to renew a part freeze on settlement building that expired shortly after the talks started, and the Palestinians say they will not hold any talks while Israel builds on land they want for a state.

Israel hits back at Turkey as tensions soar
The Australian
Abraham Rabinovich, Jerusalem
Wednesday, September 28, 2011

REPLYING for the first time to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's almost daily tongue lashings of Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday termed Mr Erdogan's latest accusation — that Israel has killed hundreds of thousands of Palestinians — "outrageous". Israel's outspoken Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, waded into the fray by declaring that Mr Erdogan's administration was "a radical Islamic extremist leadership that supports and develops terror".

Mr Erdogan's attacks on Israel, which have included warnings of naval confrontations, ostensibly stem from Mr Netanyahu's refusal to apologise for the killing of nine Turkish militants aboard an aid flotilla that attempted last year to break Israel's naval blockade of the Gaza Strip. Mr Netanyahu expressed sorrow for their deaths but declined to apologise for the use of force by Israeli naval commandos against men who attacked them with knives and metal staves as they descended from a helicopter. He also rejected Mr Erdogan's demand for a lifting of the blockade, which is intended to prevent rockets reaching Gaza by sea.

The Turkish leader began venting his fury after a UN committee, headed by former New Zealand prime minister Geoffrey Palmer, issued a report a month ago finding that, contrary to Turkey's position, the Israeli blockade was legal, as was its boarding of the flotilla on the high seas. It faulted Israel for using excessive force, but acknowledged that the commandos who boarded the vessels were obliged to use force when attacked by the militants.

The Turkish leader ordered the termination of extensive defence contracts and other dealings with Israeli firms and recalled his ambassador to Tel Aviv. He also threatened to send warships to dispute Israeli claims to gas-rich underwater tracts in the eastern Mediterranean. No less ominous were his warning to send warships to protect Turkish aid vessels running Israel's blockade of Gaza, an almost certain scenario for war, at least at sea. In a tour of Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, his attacks on Israel were a central feature of all his talks.

Through it all, Mr Netanyahu did not respond and demanded his ministers do likewise so as not to exacerbate relations with Israel's one-time ally. However, his hopes that Mr Erdogan's attacks would taper off were not realised.

In an interview last weekend on CNN, Mr Erdogan said Israel had killed "hundreds of thousands" of Palestinians in response to the killing of a small number of Israelis. He was apparently referring to Israel's incursion into the Gaza Strip three years ago in which some 1400 Palestinians were killed, including militants and civilians. Mr Erdogan did not relate the cause of the incursion to the firing of some 10,000 rockets and mortar shells at Israeli villages and cities in recent years that had terrorised residents. Mr Erdogan also told CNN that Israel was using the Holocaust to perpetuate the idea "that they are the victims all the time".

Mr Netanyahu, in an interview with The Jerusalem Post, said the charges had nothing to do with the facts. "We don't use the Holocaust," he said. "To hear this allegation just 60 years after the Holocaust is outrageous."

Mr Lieberman, who for the past month had obeyed Mr Netanyahu's low-profile order, gleefully unburdened himself yesterday after Mr Netanyahu himself had finally picked up the gauntlet. Accusing Turkey of suppressing free speech, he said 57 Turkish journalists were presently imprisoned in their country. "I saw Erdogan on CNN and his appearance was excellent for Israel," he said. "If I wanted to improve Israel's public relations I would have him talk from morning until night."

Same Day
Erdogan pushes all the buttons to spell danger
Daniel Pipes

IN a Middle East wracked by coups d'etat and civil insurrections, the Republic of Turkey credibly offers itself as a model thanks to its impressive economic growth, democratic system, political control of the military and secular order. But in reality Turkey may be, along with Iran, the most dangerous state of the region. Count the reasons:

Islamists without brakes: When four out of five of the Turkish chiefs of staff abruptly resigned on July 29 this year, they signalled the effective end of the republic founded in 1923 by Kemal Ataturk. A second republic headed by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamist colleagues of the AK Party began that day. The military safely under their control, AKP ideologues can now pursue their ambitions to create an Islamic order.

An even worse opposition: Ironically, secular Turks tend to be more anti-Western than the AKP. The two other parties in parliament, the CHP and MHP, condemn the AKP's more enlightened policies, such as its approach to Syria and its stationing a NATO radar system.

Looming economic collapse: Turkey faces a credit crunch, one largely ignored in light of crises in Greece and elsewhere. As analyst David Goldman points out, Erdogan and the AKP took the country on a financial binge: bank credit ballooned while the current account deficit soared, reaching unsustainable levels. The party's patronage machine borrowed huge amounts of short-term debt to finance a consumption bubble that effectively bought it the June elections. Goldman calls Erdogan a "Third World strongman" and compares Turkey today with Mexico in 1994 or Argentina in 2000, "where a brief boom financed by short-term foreign capital flows led to currency devaluation and a deep economic slump".

Escalating Kurdish problems: Some 15-20 per cent of Turkey's citizens identify as Kurds, a distinct historical people; although many Kurds are integrated, a separatist revolt against Ankara that began in 1984 has recently reached a new peak with a more assertive political leadership and more aggressive guerrilla attacks.

Erdogan, hero of the Arab street: In the tradition of Gamal Abdel Nasser and Saddam Hussein, the Turkish Prime Minister deploys anti-Zionist rhetoric to make himself an Arab political star. One shudders to think where, thrilled by this adulation, he could end up.

Looking for a fight with Israel: After Ankara backed a protest ship to Gaza in May last year, the Mavi Marmara, which led Israeli forces to kill eight Turkish citizens plus an ethnic Turk, it has relentlessly exploited this incident to stoke domestic fury against the Jewish state. Erdogan has called the deaths a casus belli, speaks of a war with Israel "if necessary" and plans to send another ship to Gaza, this time with a military escort.

Stimulating an anti-Turkish faction: Turkish hostility has renewed Israel's historically warm relations with the Kurds and turned around its cool relations with Greece, Cyprus, and even Armenia. Beyond co-operation locally, this grouping will make life difficult for the Turks in Washington.

Asserting rights over Mediterranean energy reserves: Companies operating out of Israel discovered potentially immense gas and oil reserves in the Leviathan and other fields located between Israel, Lebanon, and Cyprus. When Cyprus announced its plans to drill, Erdogan responded with threats to send Turkish "frigates, gunboats and air force". This dispute, just in its infancy, contains the potential elements of a huge crisis. Already, Moscow has sent submarines in solidarity with Cyprus.

Other international problems: Ankara threatens to freeze relations with the European Union in July next year when Cyprus assumes the presidency. Turkish forces have seized a Syrian arms ship. Turkish threats to invade northern Iraq have worsened relations with Baghdad. Turkish and Iranian regimes may share an Islamist outlook and an anti-Kurd agenda with prospering trade relations, but their historic rivalry, contrary governing styles and competing ambitions have soured relations.

While Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu crows that Turkey is "right at the centre of everything", AKP bellicosity has soured his vaunted "zero problems" with neighbours policy, turning this into a wide-ranging hostility and even potential military confrontations (with Syria, Cyprus, and Israel).

As economic troubles hit, a once-exemplary member of NATO may go further off track; watch for signs of Erdogan emulating his Venezuelan friend, Hugo Chavez. That's why, along with Iranian nuclear weapons, I see a rogue Turkey as the region's greatest threat.

Daniel Pipes is president of the Middle East Forum and Taube distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University

Israeli building plan destabilizes peace talks
The Australian
Joshua Mitnick, The Wall Street Journal
Thursday, September 29, 2011

TEL AVIV: Israel yesterday approved a plan to build 1100 housing units in a section of Jerusalem claimed by the Palestinians, earning condemnation from the US and complicating efforts to persuade Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to resume peace talks. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the move "counterproductive" in a statement and the UN said the building plan "sends the wrong signal" on peace talks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Jerusalem Post that the building plans in Gilo are "nothing new" and continued 40-year-old Israeli policies to build up Jerusalem and surround it with Jewish enclaves as a way to solidify its control. The plan, approved by an Interior Ministry panel and now subject to a 60-day public comment period, would expand the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo southward towards Bethlehem.

The Palestinians, who are still preparing a formal answer to the Quartet invitation, demand that Israel stop all building activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as a precondition to any talks. The Palestinians and the international community view any Israeli housing in East Jerusalem as settlements, whereas Israelis generally view the structures as neighborhoods in their capital city. Israel annexed East Jerusalem and portions of the West Bank to its capital after capturing the territories in the 1967 Arab Israeli war. "We plan in Jerusalem, and we build in Jerusalem. Period," said Mr Netanyahu in an interview with the Jerusalem Post that appeared on Tuesday.

Proponents of a political compromise in Jerusalem have warned that the Gilo building project limits the potential to reach a compromise on Jerusalem. "It basically closes off the southern portion of East Jerusalem," said Sara Kreimer, a spokeswoman for Ir Amim, an Israeli non-profit that focuses on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "It doesn't leave any room for negotiations."

Commentary: Netanyahu, Abbas hail wins but victories Pyrrhic at best
Weekend Australian
John Lyons, Middle East correspondent
Saturday, October 1, 2011

AFTER all the rhetoric at the UN by the Israeli and Palestinian leaders, the looming future for the region has became abundantly clear: utter hopelessness. While the two sides are unable to sit down and hold direct talks, what has became clear is that they are even unable to hold indirect talks. Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas's speech at the UN was clearly designed to appeal to Palestinians and the Arab world. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's own speech was directed to the Israeli and American publics. The speeches of both men were about shoring themselves up for battle — whether diplomatic, public relations or in the streets — rather than moving towards peace.

"It doesn't matter which of the two speeches induced more despair and hopelessness, Abu Mazen's (Mahmoud Abbas's) radical speech or Netanyahu's conservative speech," wrote Sima Kadmon in Israel's biggest-selling newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth. "The question is where the rest of this non-process is going to play itself out, on the street or in the international arena."

What is most disturbing is that although the UN event provided no progress to the peace process — there are still no peace talks and no sign of them occurring — both sides claimed victory. "It was an amazing political victory for us," one of Netanyahu's advisers told The Weekend Australian. "A week ago the US faced the prospect of having to use its veto in the UN Security Council — we didn't want them to be put in that position and they weren't." Abbas, for his part, returned to a rapturous welcome in Ramallah. But why ' A Palestinian state is as far away as ever.

Two things showed that, despite claims by both sides that they want to sit down to talk, neither side has any good will towards the other.

On the Israeli side, something happened off-camera that revealed the real attitude of one of the most powerful men in the Israeli government, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. A few minutes before Abbas was due to speak, hundreds of UN delegates and members of the public rushed into the UN General Assembly in New York. Foreign ministers and ambassadors from around the world, including Mr Lieberman and Israel's ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor, joined the crowd. The sense of anticipation was palpable. For months this had been a much-discussed speech. Although Lieberman had said for the past two years that Abbas was not a legitimate leader and was the obstacle to peace, he did the correct thing by turning up.

With Abbas due to come to the podium, there was not an empty seat in the chamber. But due to a scheduling error, just as everyone expected Abbas to walk on stage, the chairman announced that the leader of Armenia was to speak. The chamber broke out into laughter. Lieberman, like everyone else, listened politely to Armenia's perspective on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. Then, finally, the moment came — the chairman announced the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas. Hundreds gave Abbas a standing ovation. CNN described the applause as "thunderous".

As the applause continued, something strange happened at Israel's table. Lieberman stood up and walked out. Prosor followed. Lieberman, a man who would be a key part of any peace agreement, walked out without hearing a word. An hour later, he walked back into the chamber to hear Netanyahu describe Abbas as his "partner for peace". Leading Israeli journalist Nahum Barnea wrote: "I was ashamed for all of us."

The other side showed a lack of good will as well. This was Abbas's opportunity to speak not just to millions around the world, but to every Israeli. Since the barbaric Palestinian campaign of killing civilians in the second intifada, or uprising, only eight years ago, Israelis distrust Palestinians. That intifada affected thousands of Israeli families and virtually wiped out the Centre and the Left — those Israelis prepared to support a peace deal. This was Abbas's chance to extend the olive branch.

For a while he did. "We extend our hands to the Israeli government and the Israeli people for peacemaking," he said. "I say to them: let us urgently build together a future for our children where they can enjoy freedom, security and prosperity. Let us build the bridges of dialogue instead of checkpoints and walls of separation, and build co-operative relations based on parity and equity between two neighbouring states, Palestine and Israel, instead of policies of occupation, settlement, war and eliminating the other." Then, with one line, he reinforced distrust.

"I come before you today from the Holy Land, the land of Palestine, the land of divine messages, ascension of the prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) and the birthplace of Jesus Christ (peace be upon him), to speak on behalf of the Palestinian people." To an Israeli audience, this was devastating. Obviously Jews, Christians and Muslims all have a historical connection to parts of Israel and the West Bank, but to try to expunge the Jewish connection as if they had no claim was provocative and self-defeating.

"Abu Mazen's speech was disgusting," one of Israel's leading journalists, Shimon Shiffer, said. "For me as an Israeli, it was disgusting to mention Muslims and Christians but not us." Shiffer is hardly hostile to the Palestinians. Like many leading Israeli journalists, he supports a Palestinian state, claiming it is both in Israel's interests and just. But to anger someone who has been one of the biggest supporters of the Palestinians was extraordinary. That didn't mean Shiffer was impressed with Netanyahu's speech either. "It was a catastrophe. For a day or two, he will get a boost in Israel, but in two weeks nothing will have changed. This is a catastrophe for my country."

The future now looks bleak. Politically, both men feel they won. Abbas was hailed in Ramallah and Netanyahu is now more popular in Israel than when elected. Both sides are insisting on conditions they know the other cannot accept. The Palestinians are insisting on a freeze in settlement growth. Netanyahu will not agree to this as it would outrage Lieberman and possibly bring down his coalition. The Israelis are insisting on the Palestinians formally acknowledging Israel as a Jewish state. But Abbas cannot, as it would be seen to be abandoning the million Arabs who live in Israel.

And, like so many other US presidents before him, Barack Obama has been defeated by the Middle East — at least until the next election. The last thing he wants as he battles for re-election is a year-long fight with the powerful pro-Israel lobby.

All three leaders have made their positions clear and retreated into their own constituencies. The big question is: does the Israeli-Palestinian conflict descend into a new round of violence, or will both sides be able to manage the daily hostilities indefinitely to prevent another devastating intifada '

Panetta warns Israel of isolation
The Australian
Julian Barnes, Washington, The Wall Street Journal
Tuesday, October 4, 2011

US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta warned Sunday that Israel was at risk of becoming isolated and more vulnerable if it did not take steps to repair ties with neighbouring countries and restart negotiations with the Palestinians. Mr Panetta said the US remained committed to helping Israel maintain its "qualitative military edge" in the Middle East, however, genuine security would not come through military hardware but by returning to peace negotiations. "The question you have to ask is: 'Is it enough to maintain a military edge if you are isolating yourself in the diplomatic arena '?" he said. "Real security can only be achieved by strong diplomatic efforts as well as a strong effort to protect your military strength."

Mr Panetta made the comments while en route to Israel for a visit, starting Monday. While there, he will try to restart direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Mr Panetta, a former director of the CIA, said the US wanted to give the Israelis confidence that they could "take risks for peace" and make "room to negotiate."

He is also scheduled to travel to Egypt to meet officials, and said he would attempt to help improve communications and co-operation between Cairo and Jerusalem. Israel has strained to maintain ties with neighbouring countries that it formerly had strong working relationships with. Turkey, which once had close ties to Israel, has grown distant over the issue of the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza. Israel's relations with Egypt have also deteriorated, culminating in a recent attack on the Israeli embassy by protestors in Cairo.

Mr Panetta said the events of the Arab Spring had made it critical for Israel to repair those frayed relationships, and suggested that the start of direct negotiations could be the kind of diplomatic overture that improves ties. "It is pretty clear at this dramatic time in the Middle East when there have been so many changes that it is not a good situation for Israel to become increasingly isolated. And that is what has happened," Mr Panetta said.

On Sunday, Israel again appeared to endorse — with qualifications — calls to resume direct negotiations with the Palestinians, but Palestinian officials say they will return to negotiations only after Israel promises to freeze settlement building. The US last week issued another rebuke to Israel for announcing plans for 1100 units in southeast Jerusalem.

Mr Panetta insisted the two sides risked nothing by resuming direct talks, and said that would be among the message he delivered in his meetings. He said during negotiations no one would tell either side what they had to give up. "In many ways they can protect their interests when they go into negotiations and at the same time open the door to finding a way to resolve the difficult issues that are there," Mr Panetta said.

An Arab-Israeli boy looks at the remains of the mosque burned overnight in an arson attack by Jewish extremists
in northern village of Tuba Zangaria, 2 kms west of the Golan Heights, which is predominantly Bedouin. AFP
Mosque burning in Israel fuels tensions
The Australian
John Lyons, Middle East correspondent
Additional reporting: agencies
Wednesday, October 5, 2011

ISRAEL will immediately send extra police and Shin Bet agents to its Arab towns as fears grow of an escalation of violence. The move comes after Jewish extremists were believed to have burnt a mosque and its holy books in what was seen as a "price tag" attack, under which Jewish extremists target Palestinians or their property as retribution for something the Palestinians or Israeli government has done.

Israeli President Shimon Peres last night described the attack on the mosque as "horrible". "It is unconscionable that a Jew would harm something that is holy to another religion," Mr Peres said. "These acts destroy relations between us and our neighbours and between the various religions in Israel. We will not allow extremists and criminals to undercut the need to live together equally in equality and mutual respect."

The arson attack came as US Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta was visiting Israel, and he warned now was not the time for the US congress to withhold $US200 million ($212m) in financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority as retribution for the Palestinian motion at the UN seeking statehood. "The US administration opposes holding these funds from the Palestinians," he said. "This is a critical time and it is not the time to withhold those funds." Mr Panetta urged the Israelis and Palestinians to resume direct negotiations to seek a peace agreement.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told Mr Panetta the Palestinians were ready to return to negotiations if Israel stopped building Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, and to agree to a two-state solution based on 1967 borders. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for the renewal of direct negotiations without preconditions, but has demanded the Palestinians acknowledge Israel as a Jewish state.

The attack on the mosque dominated the news in Israel yesterday. While attacks by Jewish extremists are not uncommon in the West Bank, under Israeli military occupation, they are rare inside Israel. The mosque was in the northern village of Tuba Zangaria, which is predominantly Bedouin. The attack shocked Israelis, as many Bedouins from this and other villages serve in the Israeli Defence Forces. Under a front-page headline "Jewish terrorism gaining steam", The Jerusalem Post said the latest attack should serve as a "wake-up call" for Israel's legal and defence establishment. The paper said in recent months Shin Bet, the domestic security and intelligence service, had recorded a growing number of "price-tag" attacks amounting to several dozen over the past year. "In most cases, no one is ever arrested, and if someone is arrested, they are sometimes let off without charges," it said.

Police said the situation in the village remained tense. "Large numbers of police remain deployed in the village of Tuba Zangaria," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. "Last night, there was a series of demonstrations during which rocks were thrown at security forces, who responded with anti-riot means to disperse the protesters," he said, adding that a medical clinic and a cultural centre had been set alight. Israel's largest-selling newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, warned that action against "the price-tag underground" was urgently needed. The paper called on Shin Bet to "thwart and stop Jewish terrorism, to get the 'Price Tag' underground out of the area, and to convince the legal establishment not to go lightly on Jewish terrorists and law-breakers".

Same Day
Inside or out, Israeli militancy makes no friends
John Lyons

JERUSALEM: President Barack Obama might well have retreated from the Middle East conflict to engage in his battle for re-election, but clearly some of his officials remain on the job. Leon Panetta, the US Secretary of Defence, made that clear this week as he flew to Israel — and warned about Israel becoming increasingly isolated. "The question you have to ask is: is it enough to maintain a military edge if you're isolating yourself in the diplomatic arena ?" he said. The assessment echoes that reported recently by his predecessor Robert Gates who, like Panetta, is a former head of the CIA. According to Jeffrey Goldberg of Bloomberg, Gates told Obama that Benjamin Netanyahu was "not only ungrateful but also endangering his country by refusing to grapple with Israel's growing isolation and with the demographic challenges it faces if it keeps control of the West Bank".

In Egypt, Israel no longer has a resident ambassador since mobs attacked the embassy, and in Ankara it no longer has an ambassador since Turkey expelled him when Israel would not apologise over the killing of nine Turkish citizens on the Gaza flotilla. In Jordan, the Israeli ambassador was evacuated when the security situation deteriorated, although he has returned. Of all Israel's neighbours, Jordan is the only one with which it has a predictable relationship, but even that is strained. Jordan's King Abdullah, traditionally a supporter, blames Israel for a lack of progress in peace talks. He recently told The Wall Street Journal: "I think the best way to describe my view toward Israel is my increasing frustration because they're sticking their heads in the sand and pretending that there's not a problem."

A senior Israeli official speaking to The Australian yesterday conceded that Israel was "growing increasingly isolated", but argued that some of this was beyond Israel's control. The incident in which Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon called in Turkey's ambassador, refused to shake his hand and made him sit in a low chair "didn't help". He felt Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was making capital in the Muslim world by "bashing Israel". In Egypt, he said, there was a constituency hostile to Israel.

Meanwhile,this week Jewish extremists in Israel are suspected of having burnt a mosque and holy books. Israel's President Shimon Peres said: "This act is not Jewish, (it is) illegal, immoral and brings upon us heavy shame." With growing isolation externally and growing tensions internally, there are few signs for optimism for Israel.

An Israeli soldier sits in an army jeep as Palestinian protesters throw stones after troops destroyed a water well
in the West Bank village of Beit Kahel, near Hebron. AFP
Settlers in 'price-tag' hit on Israeli troops
Weekend Australian
John Lyons, Middle East correspondent
Saturday, October 8, 2011

TENSIONS in the West Bank have escalated as Jewish settlers stepped up their "price-tag" campaign against Palestinians and attacked Israeli troops for the first time in living memory. The assault on Israeli soldiers came as an 18-year-old Jewish settler was arrested over the burning of a mosque and holy books in northern Israel.

Violence has increased since Jewish extremists were reported to have burnt the mosque in the northern Israeli town of Tuba Zangaria last Monday as part of their "price-tag" attack campaign. This means the settlers attack Palestinians to punish them for actions they disapprove of — on this occasion in response to the Palestinians taking their bid for statehood to the UN. They also use "price tag" - often writing the words during an attack - against Palestinians if the Israeli government or army does something they dislike, such as dismantling one of the illegal Jewish outposts in the West Bank.

In recent weeks, the hardline settlers have broadened the "price-tag" campaign to attacks on the Israeli army, including a raid on a military base in which they damaged 13 vehicles. In the latest assault, settlers surrounded an Israeli patrol in the West Bank and began attacking the soldiers. One of the soldiers was punched in the face. One settler was detained but later escaped into a Jewish outpost.

An Israeli Defence Forces spokeswoman, Lieutenant Colonel Avital Leibovich, told The Weekend Australian the soldiers on patrol were initially stopped by "a roadblock of rocks". "I cannot remember the last time violent contact took place between settlers and soldiers," Colonel Leibovich said. "It is disturbing, and we cannot accept this kind of hooligan behaviour."

The burning of the mosque on Monday shocked many Israelis — mosque burnings in the West Bank, which is under Israeli military occupation, have occurred before, but this was inside Israel and in a village where many members of the Bedouin community serve in the IDF. Despite efforts by Israeli President Shimon Peres and Muslim and Christian leaders to call for calm, clashes have occurred in and around the Bedouin village since. The 18-year-old arrested over the mosque arson was a student at a Yeshiva school in the settlement of Yitzhar.

In a separate matter, two Palestinians were reported to have confessed to throwing rocks at a car near the settlement of Kiryat Arba, which caused a crash that killed a father and his son. This week, several olive groves have been cut down and burned - Jewish settlers said Palestinians had set their olive trees on fire, while Palestinians said the settlers cut down their trees. The Haaretz newspaper said that in their campaign, the settlers were publishing on websites the full names of members of Shin Bet, Israel's secret security service, which are meant to be kept secret. The paper said the extremists were trying to intimidate senior law-enforcement officials.

People gather outside the Israeli Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem yesterday to celebrate the prisoner exchange with Hamas
Getty Images
Foes rejoice at prisoner exchange
The Australian
John Lyons, Middle East correspondent
Additional reporting: Agencies
Thursday, October 13, 2011

ONE of the largest prisoner swaps in modern history, announced yesterday by bitter enemies Israel and Hamas, was greeted with exultation by both Jews and Palestinians while Western nations were quick to offer congratulations. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he was "delighted" at the news of the accord and telephoned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to congratulate him for this "major success", the Elysee said.

Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who has been held in captivity in the Gaza Strip for five years, is set to be freed in coming days in return for the release of up to 1000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. After several occasions in which a deal was close, Mr Netanyahu and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal yesterday both confirmed the swap. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas — for whom Hamas is a rival for Palestinian power — last night "warmly" welcomed the deal, describing it as a "Palestinian national achievement". In the Gaza Strip, Hamas said "tens of thousands" of Palestinians had flooded streets to celebrate the expected release of Palestinian detainees.

Corporal Shalit, 25, was captured in a cross-border raid by Hamas while he was on patrol near the Israel-Gaza border in 2006. Mr Netanyahu said Corporal Shalit was likely to be freed "in coming days" but the exact date of return was not known. The deal is likely to be a political win for both sides. The Shalit family in the past has accused Mr Netanyahu of not doing enough to secure the release of Corporal Shalit but last night praised him. The Palestinian prisoners will be released in two waves, the first 450 in coming days and the rest in the weeks after.

Mr Netanyahu told the Israeli cabinet: "I believe we have reached the best agreement possible at this time when storms are raging in the Middle East. I don't know if we could have reached a better agreement or even one at all, in the near future. It's possible that this window of opportunity would have closed for good and we never would have brought Gilad home."

Mr Meshaal, speaking from his home in Damascus, said: "We are happy with this great achievement and we thank our God for that. But our happiness is mixed with sorrow because we were not able to gain the freedom of all prisoners." There are about 6000 Palestinians in jail in Israel. It appeared that Marwan Barghouti, often touted as a possible successor to Mr Abbas, would not be on the list.

In Israel, there has long been support for a deal to repatriate Corporal Shalit, but some oppose such a deal on the grounds it will inevitably involve the release of some prisoners responsible for killing Israelis, and would give Hamas an incentive to kidnap other soldiers. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman opposed the deal, saying he did so "with a heavy heart", but the leaders of Israel's two main security organisations, Shin Bet and Mossad, were in favour. The head of Shin Bet, Yoram Cohen, told Israeli radio that Israel did not agree to refrain from killing "terrorists" who were to be released if they went back to committing acts of violence.

In recent years, Corporal Shalit's parents, Noam and Aviva, have set up a tent near the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem that has become their makeshift home. The tent has become a place where leaders and foreign ministers often visit to meet the parents. Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd visited last year. Ms Shalit said she would wait "with great trepidation" for her son's return.

Gilad Shalit salutes PM Benjamin Netanyahu after arriving in Israel. Getty Images

Noam Shalit hugs his son Gilad Shalit as Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu looks on at Tel Nof Airbase. Getty Images
Freedom at last for Israel's lost son
The Australian's front page headline
John Lyons, Middle East correspondent
Wednesday, October 19, 2011

PALE and thin, and wearing an Israeli army uniform several sizes too big, freed soldier Gilad Shalit has returned to his home town to a hero's welcome. After more than five years in solitary confinement in the Gaza Strip, a motorcade carrying Sergeant Major Shalit and his family was greeted by hundreds of well-wishers carrying Israeli flags.

In one of the largest and most complicated prisoner swaps in history, Sergeant Major Shalit, 25, was transferred by Hamas through a crossing in Gaza into Egypt. He was then handed to Israeli army officers, who flew him to Tel Nof military base where his parents, Noam and Aviva, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waited for him.

"Hello Gilad, welcome back to Israel. It's so good to have you back home," Mr Netanyahu told the newly released soldier. As he presented Sergeant Major Shalit to his parents, Mr Netanyahu said: "I have returned your son home." In his first interview after leaving Gaza, Sergeant Major Shalit said he hoped his release would help improve relations between Israelis and Palestinians. He said he would like to see the release of the remaining thousands of Palestinian prisoners still in Israeli jails "on condition that they stop fighting against Israel". "I hope this deal will promote peace between Israel and the Palestinians," he told Egyptian state television.

The United States has raised concerns about some of the Palestinians released as part of the prisoner swap deal, with a spokesman for the State Department suggesting some would pose a security threat. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was visiting Libya at the time, saluted the end of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit's "long ordeal," saying he had been held "far too long." Scenes of celebration were also seen in the West Bank and Gaza, as families were reunited. Men wept as they embraced their sons and brothers, while women, some of them draped in the Palestinian flags and the green banner of Hamas, ululated.

Shalit was captured in 2006 by Hamas fighters when he was in a tank on the Israeli side of the border with Gaza. A corporal when seized, he was twice promoted while in captivity, most recently on Monday. At times during last night's interview, he looked pale, thin and stressed, and breathed heavily. He gave the interview shortly after being handed over by Hamas to Israeli officials as part of a deal under which 1027 Palestinians will be released. Sergeant Major Shalit looked happier a short time later when speaking to his parents by telephone once on Israeli soil.

In a carefully orchestrated series of exchanges, once it was confirmed Sergeant Major Shalit had left Gaza — just after dawn — 27 female Palestinian prisoners were released. Then 450 male prisoners were released. The remaining 550 will be released in coming days. The process began with Sergeant Major Shalit being driven by Hamas to the Rafah crossing on the border between Gaza and Egypt where he was handed to Egyptian officials.

In the interview, Sergeant Major Shalit was asked what he had missed most. "Obviously I missed my family a lot and also I missed my friends," he said. "I missed meeting normal people to talk to them, to tell them about my experience through these years in captivity. I have a lot to do when I am free." He was asked about the thousands of Palestinian prisoners who remain in Israeli jails. "I will be very happy if all these prisoners are freed so that they can be able to go back to their families, loved ones and to their territory," he said. "It would give me great happiness if this happens."

Sergeant Major Shalit said he always believed he would be released but thought it would take longer than it had. Asked about his release, he said: "I think the Egyptians succeeded through their good relations with Hamas and also with the Israeli side. "These relations helped the conclusion of the deal."

The deal proceeded after Israel's Supreme Court rejected an appeal on the basis that any delay could endanger Sergeant Major Shalit's life. Some relatives of Israelis killed in terrorist acts appealed against the release of prisoners involved in the killing of their relatives. Opinion polls in Israel showed support of about 70 per cent for the deal. Given the central role of the army in Israel — serving for 18-year-olds is compulsory — the desire to bring a captured soldier home has outweighed concerns about some of those released. Mr Netanyahu, addressing the sentiment of relatives of those killed, said yesterday: "I know that you have a heavy heart, that your wounds have been opened anew these past days, that your thoughts are not at ease. The decision regarding Gilad Shalit was among the most difficult I have made."

Israel is believed to have a further 5000 Palestinians in prison. The Shalit family had since last year maintained a tent in Jerusalem to keep the case in the public eye.

US wary as Israel applauds Shalit
The Australian
John Lyons, Middle East correspondent
Additional Reporting: Agencies
Thursday, October 20, 2011

AS Israel exploded in joy at the homecoming of released soldier Gilad Shalit, the US has expressed unease about some of the prisoners released from Israeli jails as part of the exchange deal. "We have looked at some of these individuals and we've communicated our position," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told a press briefing yesterday. Later, the State Department issued a statement saying: "As a matter of principle, the US opposes the release of individuals who have been convicted of crimes against Americans". Despite these reservations, the White House welcomed the release of Sergeant Major Shalit, 25, who spent his first night at home in northern Israel after five years of solitary confinement. He was captured in 2006 by Hamas fighters who had dug their way under the border between Gaza and Israel.

Amid a rapturous welcome to his village Mitzpe Hila yesterday, his father, Noam, told supporters: "Today we have experienced the rebirth of our son. When I saw Gilad, I didn't say much. I just hugged him and, if I remember correctly, said 'Welcome'." Sergeant Major Shalit was freed in return for 1027 Palestinian prisoners. Yesterday, 450 Palestinian men and 27 women were released, and families rejoiced to welcome home their sons and daughters. The remaining 550 men will be released in coming weeks.

Underlying the deal is intense rivalry between the two main Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah. The most notable Palestinian left off the list was Marwan Barghouti, widely seen as a possible successor to Mahmoud Abbas. The deal was done by Hamas, rather than Fatah, and the fact that Barghouti was left off may reflect his political rivals not wanting to see him strengthen Fatah.

In Gaza, where many of the freed prisoners were transferred, more than 100,000 people gathered to celebrate. As a sign of the sense of victory felt by supporters of the Hamas regime due to the large number of prisoners returned for one soldier, some in the crowd chanted "Another Shalit!" In Cairo, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said: "We are victorious against Israel. The Israeli public knows who has retreated." Another Hamas official, Mussa Abu Marzuk, said: "Israel must realise it has to free our remaining prisoners. If they are not released normally, they will be released in other ways."

Before arriving home in Israel, Sergeant Major Shalit told Egyptian television: "I'm very emotional. I don't feel that good." Noam Shalit told supporters "Gilad feels quite well" but suffered from minor shrapnel wounds that had been untreated during his captivity. He said his son was not able to face the size of the crowd that had gathered at the family home. Hamas denied their captive Red Cross or any other medical access. Noam Shalit said his son had told him that at first he was not treated well but as time progressed this improved and he was given access to a radio and television. He thanked "the faithful activists" who had kept his son's case in the public mind.

While Mr Shalit and his wife, Aviva, campaigned tenaciously within Israel for their son's release, supporters around the world worked to keep the issue alive as well. In Australia, members of the Jewish community such as Danny Lamm, Ginette Searle and Elly Shalev had worked for years on activities to keep awareness of Gilad Shalit's plight high. Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd last year insisted on visiting the Shalits to tell them they had enormous support in Australia.

Reaction around the world to his release was generally positive. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said it was "a huge relief for France" — Shalit is a dual citizen of Israel and France. The Arab League secretary-general Nabil al-Arabi called for "the release of all Palestinian and Arab prisoners and detainees who are still being held by Israeli occupation forces".

Same Day Commentary
Joy ' No, another chapter in Israel's book of sorrows
Daniel Finkelstein, The Times

ON January 3, 1895, a journalist stood in the courtyard of the Ecole Militaire in Paris and witnessed a ceremony that changed his life and the life of millions. The ceremony was the degradation of Captain Alfred Dreyfus and the journalist was the Paris correspondent of the Neue Freie Presse of Vienna, Theodor Herzl. Watching as Dreyfus's epaulettes, buttons and chevrons were torn from his uniform, as the guards adjutant broke the captain's sword over his knee, the captain let forth a cry of innocence and the mob jeered, Herzl turned finally from his settled way as an assimilated Jew.

The wrongful conviction of Dreyfus for espionage struck the journalist as obviously the result of prejudice against the Jewish soldier. That summer he sat down to write his book, Der Judenstaat, a call for the Jews to have a land of their own, a refuge against antisemitism and persecution. With its publication, he became the great Zionist pioneer.

On Tuesday, in the land that Herzl helped to create, there was a ceremony of a different kind. An outpouring of joy, relief and emotion as young Gilad Shalit returned home from captivity and embraced his family once again. The two ceremonies, different though they are, are linked.

The deal that Hamas accepted to release Shalit was an extraordinary one: more than 1000 prisoners in exchange for one Israeli soldier. Amana Muna, who lured a 16-year-old boy into a trap and murder by her friends, freed; Musab Haslemon, who sent two suicide bombers to Beersheba, where they mounted buses and killed 16 people, freed; Nasser Yataima, who planned the bombing of the Park Hotel in Natanya in which 30 died, freed; Ahlam Tamimi, who drove a suicide bomber to a pizza parlour in Jerusalem, where 15 people died, freed.

Why would you agree to a deal like that ' Herzl's experience provides the explanation.

In the moment of Dreyfus's degradation, Herzl had the thought that came to define the Zionist movement. He decided world opinion could not be trusted. He determined that Jews would have to defend themselves. And the events of the 20th century both before and after his death bore out his analysis.

In the end, after World War II, the international community concluded that it would have to let Israel exist because for many survivors of the concentration camps there was nowhere else for them safely to go. So the idea of defending every Israeli life is bound up with the country's very existence. Israel is an idea — the Jews will save each other one by one. And Israel is a pact — you will defend me to the death and I will defend you.

Seen this way, the deal to release Shalit is an expression of the national spirit. Israel would not be Israel if it did not do this. Agreeing to release such a large number of prisoners in exchange for one person is not a piece of maths about Palestinians — 1000 of them for one of us; it is a piece of maths about Israelis — all of us for one of us.

There is one other element to the arrangement to free Shalit. A religious one, the mitzvah of pidyon shvuyim, the commandment to redeem prisoners. It is a law that sees captivity as worse than starvation or death. It helps a little to explain why Shalit in captivity was such a powerful symbol in Israel. But, like every Jewish law, pidyon shvuyim is open to argument. It is true that it attaches immense importance to freeing captives. Yet at the same time, it insists that the price should not be greater than the value of the captive. Viewed coolly, it is hard not to conclude that Israel has broken this part of the commandment.

Hamas has acted out of weakness, as it has been losing support in Gaza, but it gains strength as a result of this deal. And it is — for all that the Palestinian people need a state — a vile, murderous organisation. The British released terrorist prisoners when the IRA finally decided that the armed struggle was over. Not so with these prisoners. Hamas says that they will return to the conflict. Peace will come when it is obvious that war will not succeed. The Shalit deal sends the opposite message. It says that capturing Israelis and ransoming them is the route to success. Yesterday, in Gaza, Palestinians were chanting: "We want another Shalit." And surely, they will get one. In 2004, Israel exchanged the bodies of three soldiers and one living civilian for 430 Palestinian prisoners. Now the price is higher still.

In the 1920s, my grandfather was one of the leaders of the assimilated German Jewish community. And he was engaged in constant debate with Zionists. A Jewish state in Palestine would always be at war, he argued. The experience of the Jewish people teaches only one lesson, the Zionists replied: the lesson that we need a place to call our own where we can defend ourselves. The great tragedy of Jewish history in the last century, and of the Palestinian people, too, is that my grandfather and the Zionists were both right. That's why, when I watched the celebrations in Gaza and in Israel, I felt still the fear and the sadness that Herzl felt. Tuesday was not a triumph, just another chapter in a book of sorrows.

US pulls Syria envoy after regime threats
The Australian
AP, AFP
Wednesday, October 25, 2011

WASHINGTON: The US has pulled its ambassador out of Syria over security concerns, blaming President Bashar al-Assad's government for the threats. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said last night that ambassador Robert Ford returned to Washington at the weekend after "credible threats against his personal safety".

Mr Toner could not say when Mr Ford might go back to Syria, saying it depended on a US "assessment of Syrian regime-led incitement and the security situation on the ground". The spokesman said Washington hoped the Syrian regime would end its "incitement campaign" against the ambassador. "Ambassador Ford's presence is a benefit to our mission in Syria as he has worked diligently to deliver our message and be our eyes on the ground," he said. "This decision was based solely on the need to ensure his safety, a matter we take extremely seriously." Haynes Mahoney, US deputy chief of mission in Damascus, confirmed that Mr Ford was out of the country, but emphasised Washington had not formally recalled him.

Mr Ford has enraged Syrian authorities with his forceful defence of peaceful protests, and harsh critique of a government crackdown that has now killed nearly 3000 people. He particularly angered Mr Assad's regime in July when he was met by demonstrators in the restive city of Hama. Mr Ford has been the subject of several incidents of intimidation by pro-government thugs, usually in co-ordination with pro-Assad media capturing the humiliation.

Last month, Mr Ford and several colleagues from the embassy were pelted with tomatoes and eggs as they visited an opposition figure in Damascus. US officials said the assault was part of a campaign to intimidate diplomats investigating Mr Assad's repression of pro-reform demonstrators. Other such incidents have occurred after meetings with dissident groups or individuals. Although Mr Assad's government has allowed Mr Ford to remain in the country, it has tried to restrict where he can travel.

Earlier this month, the US Senate unanimously approved Mr Ford's nomination, with Foreign Relations Committee chairman John Kerry, praising the diplomat for continuing to visit cities under siege and "speak truth to power". Mr Ford had been in Syria since January after being appointed to the post temporarily when the Senate was out of session. Senator Kerry said Mr Ford has been steadfast "despite even being physically attacked and assaulted by the regime's goons".

Israelis, Palestinians exchange rocket fire; 11 dead
The Globe and Mail
Patrick Martin, Jerusalem
Monday, October 31, 2011

Israel sent a deadly message to Palestinian militant groups in Gaza this weekend as at least 10 Palestinians and one Israeli were killed in an exchange of missile fire Saturday and Sunday. Israeli actions were directed at Islamic Jihad and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), both of which were attacked as they reportedly prepared to launch rockets against Israel. These smaller resistance groups, fortified by weapons apparently smuggled into Gaza from Libya, have grown increasingly militant of late, disappointed by Hamas 's apparent willingness to co-operate with Israel. Israel 's attacks have cast Hamas, which governs Gaza, in an awkward role familiar to the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank — that of enforcing non-violence in the territory it controls for the benefit of Israel.

By late Sunday night, a ceasefire by all parties negotiated by Egypt appeared to be holding, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had made it clear that ceasefire or not, Israel wouldn 't hesitate to strike again. "There is no ceasefire," Mr Netanyahu told his cabinet colleagues as they gathered in the northern Israeli town of Safed for their Sunday meeting. "We will prevent any attempt to shoot at Israel, and will strike at anybody who nevertheless succeeds," the Prime Minister said. Mr Netanyahu explained that Israel 's defence policy is based on two principles: "Kill or be killed" and "He who harms you should bear the blood on his head."

The sequence of events began as early as Wednesday night when a Grad rocket launched by Islamic Jihad landed in an area just south of Tel Aviv. While no one was hurt, it was the furthest any missile had been fired from the Gaza Strip and set off alarms in Israeli Defence headquarters. Israel waited until Saturday morning before retaliating, choosing a meeting of a high-ranking Islamic Jihad military commander and several of his rocket men as a target. The commander, Ahmed Sheikh Khalil, was said by an Israel Defence Forces spokesman to have been associated with the launch of Wednesday 's rocket. Commander Khalil and four others were reported killed by missiles fired by two Israeli fighter jets.

Islamic Jihad responded with fury, firing some 20 missiles into southern Israel. A 56-year-old Israeli father of four was killed Saturday night from shrapnel from a rocket that landed in Ashkelon, the major Israeli municipality nearest to Gaza. The man had apparently just left his car to take refuge in a bomb shelter when the missile landed. Israeli jets struck again Saturday night, killing at least four other members of Islamic Jihad as they were said to be preparing to launch a rocket from the Rafah area.

Islamic Jihad rockets continued to fall Sunday morning even as Egypt attempted to negotiate a ceasefire between the two sides. The rockets fell silent by midmorning as the ceasefire appeared to hold, for a few hours at least. Israel then struck again Sunday afternoon, this time at two members of the DFLP who were said to be preparing to launch a rocket. One of the men was killed, the other badly wounded.