Doc's Talk: Indirect talks will cover core issues

Sunday, May 02, 2010

Indirect talks will cover core issues

TOVAH LAZAROFF, HILARY LEILA KRIEGER AND KHALED
02/05/2010 02:49

Arab League endorses process; Mitchell returns early this week.

Israel has agreed to discuss all core issues, including Jerusalem and refugees, when the proximity talks begin this week, a government official told The Jerusalem Post on Saturday night.

As he spoke, the Arab League met in Cairo and endorsed the talks.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu welcomed the Arab League’s support.

Already on Friday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the launch of the indirect talks. She expressed the hope that this would soon lead to direct negotiations, where the final-status issues dividing the two sides would be worked out.

US special envoy George Mitchell is expected to return to Israel early this week, possibly on Monday, so that he can mediate the indirect talks.

An Israeli official said, “We are willing to discuss the core issues in the framework of the proximity talks, but it has to be only a preliminary discussion of the core issues.”

These issues, which also include borders, a demilitarized Palestinian state and recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, can only be resolved through direct talks, the official added.

The Palestinian Authority on Saturday briefed Arab League foreign ministers on the outcome of US efforts to relaunch peace talks with Israel.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas said last week he wanted to engage in indirect talks but needed the Arab League to support the process.

The meeting was chaired by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jasem al-Thani and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa.

It was attended by representatives of Jordan, Bahrain, Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Sudan, in addition to the PA and Qatar.

A PA official in Ramallah said that PA negotiator Saeb Erekat presented the Arab representatives with a detailed report on the results of Mitchell’s trip to the region last weekend.

The official told the Post that the PA was satisfied with “assurances” it received from the US administration regarding construction of new homes in Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem.

“I think we should give the US another chance to resume the peace process,” the official said, adding that Washington has adopted a “positive” approach toward Palestinian demands. He said that there was no reason now why the Arab League should not back the PA’s decision to resume the peace talks with Israel.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told reporters Saturday in Shanghai, China, that the Palestinians' executive committee will meet soon to make a final decision on resuming talks.

He also confirmed reports that he will visit Washington later this month for talks with U.S. officials "to push the peace process forward."

The PA halted direct talks with Israel in December 2008, to protest the IDF’s Operation Cast Lead offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

After Netanyahu took office in March 2009, the PA said it wouldn’t resume the negotiations until Israel halted all Jewish construction in West Bank settlements and east Jerusalem.

Israel has said it plans to continue building in east Jerusalem. It did, however, declare a 10-month moratorium in late November on new housing starts in the West Bank settlements.

To break the impasse, the PA in March agreed to indirect talks, but called them off almost immediately when – during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden – the Interior Ministry advanced a plan to build 1,600 homes in the east Jerusalem Jewish neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo.

The PA has since insisted that Israel must halt construction in east Jerusalem as a precondition for such talks and the West Bank.

On Saturday night Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Reuters that Israel must halt settlement activity if it wants the talks to proceed.

“If Israel builds one house in the West Bank, Palestinians will immediately stop the negotiations,” he said.

Netanyahu’s spokesman Nir Hefetz said that the prime minister has said many times that he wants to renew peaces talks with the Palestinians “any time, any place.”

He added, “that this must be done without any pre-conditions as it has for the last 16 years.”

The prime minister’s position has not changed in this regard, said Hefetz.

The start of proximity talks this week would mark the first time, since late 2008 that any movement has been made in the peace process.

An Israeli government official told the Post that the US was committed to solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through negotiations between the parties, and not through an international summit or by asking the UN Security Council to set the borders of a Palestinian state.

“The only way to achieve peace is through direct negotiations between the two parties, everything else is an illusion,” the official said. “The goal is preliminary talks that will lead to direct talks.”

It is hoped that once the proximity talks are underway, the Palestinians will focus their energies on a negotiated solution.

“We have seen in the last few months a Palestinian strategy to avoid negotiations and to to go places like the UN where they have an automatic majority and can force concession from Israel without having to make any of their own, the official said.

“Now that the diplomatic process is starting, we hope we will see an end to that,” the official continued.

In Washington on Friday, Clinton declined to comment on reports that US President Barack Obama had sent Abbas a letter extending guarantees on American positions or on assistance in achieving a Palestinian state within two years.

In advance of the proximity talks, Netanyahu plans to head to Sharm e-Sheikh on Monday to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

It is Netanyahu’s fourth visit to Egypt since taking office.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu has great respect for President Mubarak and his political experience. Now that we are restarting the [peace] process, he wanted to consult with the Egyptian leader as to how we can move this process forward in a successful way,” an Israeli government official said.

On Thursday, in an appearance before the American Jewish Committee in Washington, Clinton urged Arab states to do more to help the parties move toward negotiations and peace.

“We will continue to emphasize the responsibilities of Israelis and Palestinians, who must ultimately themselves negotiate a two-state solution. But there are also clear expectations of the Arab states,” she said on Thursday night.

She called on the Arab countries to support Abbas in negotiating with Israel, in providing assistance with the two-year development plans the PA is pursuing, and to make gestures of normalization toward Israel. The latter demand was emphasized last year but in recent months dropped out of focus until Clinton’s speech last week.

She also stressed the importance of Arab states stopping weapons from getting into the hands of terrorist groups such as Hizbullah and Hamas.

“Every rocket smuggled into southern Lebanon or Gaza sets back the cause of peace,” she declared.

Clinton noted that the terrorist organizations are growing in capability, saying, “They have stockpiled tens of thousands of increasingly sophisticated rockets in Gaza and southern Lebanon – rockets they aim at Israeli homes and civilians.”

And she noted Syria’s role in supplying these arms, something she strenuously condemned.

“[Syrian] President [Bashar] Assad is making decisions that could mean war or peace for the region,” she warned, before arguing that the dangers in the region added to the need for a US ambassador in Damascus.

Many critics argue that sending an ambassador would reward Syria and are calling for the Senate to hold up the confirmation of the administration’s nominee.

But Clinton countered, “We know he’s [Assad’s] hearing from Iran, Hizbullah and Hamas. It is crucial that he also hear directly from us, so that the potential consequences of his actions are clear. That’s why we are sending an ambassador back to Syria.”

AP contributed to this report.

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The IDF’s Minorities in Numbers and Pictures

In honor of IDF Diversity Week, we present diversity through numbers and pictures. Each year, more and more Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouin and immigrants from around the world take on the responsibility of defending Israel.

MUSLIMS:

Muslim Arab Israelis are not required to draft in the IDF, but there are many who volunteer. In 2013, there were over 200 Muslims serving in the IDF and over 300 in the reserves.

Bedouins:

Bedouins are nomadic Muslims who were in Israel when modern borders were set in place and are now considered Israeli citizens. They are not required to draft but a growing number choose to enlist. In 2012, there were over 1,400 Bedouin Muslim soldiers doing regular IDF service and almost 1,500 in the reserves.

Read more:http://www.idfblog.com/2014/02/27/truth-idf-numbers-pictures/#more-34027

Are you aware that in 2013, Middle class taxes go up-significantly?

In January of next year, the federal income tax rate for middle-class taxpayers is scheduled to rise from 25 percent to 28 percent, and the payroll tax is scheduled to rise from 13.3 percent to 15.3 percent… This drives the marginal tax rate based on the aforementioned three taxes to 48.12 percent. Add in state and local property, corporate, excise, and other state and local taxes, and the percentage of each additional dollar that is taxed hovers around 50 percent… When half of each additional dollar earned is taxed away, taxpayers experience a disincentive to start businesses or expand existing ones. This leads to fewer jobs being created.

Why is HAMAS Inside Tampa Schools?

Clare Lopez

Kelly Miliziano, who teaches history classes at Steinbrenner High School in the Tampa, Florida area apparently thinks it’s perfectly OK to invite a senior official of a HAMAS-affiliated organization into her classroom to discuss Islam with her students. According to local media reports, not only has this been going on for years, but in spite of the civil and criminal proceedings that could result from such reckless negligence, the Hillsborough County school superintendent, Mary Ellen Elia, and the chairman of the school board, Candy Olson, also expressed approval for students under their responsibility to be exposed repeatedly to guest speaker, Hassan Shibly, who is the Executive Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Tampa area.
More...

Did You Know... Ignoring the Call to Islam will Bring Jihad

‘Conquest through Da’wa [proselytizing] that is what we hope for. We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through sword but through Da’wa.’
-- Yousef al-Qaradawi , Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader The Arabic word ‘Da’wa’ means the “call to Islam.” But do not think that Da’wa is the same thing as an invitation to an optional holiday event. The classical Islamic doctrine of jihad mandates that enemies must be given the opportunity to convert to Islam or pay the jizya tax before it is permissible to attack them.
Clare M. Lopez

Who is being discriminated-facts tell the truth

Religious bias

Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,409 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-bias offenses showed:

65.4 percent were anti-Jewish.
13.2 percent were anti-Islamic.
9.5 percent were anti-other religion, i.e., those not specified.
4.3 percent were anti-Catholic.
3.8 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.
3.3 percent were anti-Protestant.
0.5 percent were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2010/narratives/hate-crime-2010-incidents-and-offenses.

On March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview

with PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, a PLO executive, said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism."

"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

The Arab Apartheid

Ben-Dror Yemini
In 1948, the Arab countries refused to accept the UN partition proposal and they launched a war of annihilation against the State of Israel which had barely been established. All precedents in this matter showed that the party that starts the war - and with a declaration of annihilation, yet - pays a price for it. Between 550,000 and 710,000 Arabs fled because of the war and a larger number of 850,000 Jews were expelled or fled from Arab countries (the "Jewish nakba").
Population exchanges and expulsions were the norm at that time, occurring in dozens of other conflict points and affecting about 52 million people. In all the population exchange precedents that occurred during or at the end of an armed conflict, there was no return of refugees to the previous region, which had turned into a new national state.
Only the Arab states acted completely differently from the rest of the world. Instead of assimilating the refugees, they crushed them despite the fact that they were their coreligionists and members of the Arab nation - instituting a regime of apartheid. So the "nakba" was not caused by the actual dispossession, which had also been experienced by tens of millions of others. The "nakba" is the story of the apartheid, oppression, abuse and denial of rights suffered by the Arab refugees at the hands of the Arab countries. (Maariv)

International Law and Military Operations in Practice - Col. Richard Kemp

"Islamist fighting groups study the international laws of armed conflict carefully and they understand it well. They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses. Their very modus operandi is built on the correct assumption that Western armies will normally abide by the rules, while these insurgents employ a deliberate policy of operating consistently outside international law. "

Lost Historical Moments

What Rabin’s last Knesset speech really said:repudiation of a Palestinian state

Rabin ruled out a fully sovereign Palestinian state :

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority.”

Rabin ruled out a total withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and thus a return to the pre-June 1967 borders :

“The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Rabin ruled out withdrawing form the Jordan Valley:

“The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.”

Rabin ruled out uprooting settlement blocs, like the Gush Katif bloc in Gaza (which was subsequently uprooted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon):

“The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.

AND

Rabin ruled out removing any settlement before coming to a full peace agreement with the Palestinians:

“I want to remind you: we committed ourselves, that is, we came to an agreement, and committed ourselves before the Knesset, not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder building for natural growth.”

Rabin insisted on Israel retaining full security control of the borders with Egypt and Jordan, contrary to Israel’s relinquishment of the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt:

“The responsibility for external security along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, as well as control over the airspace above all of the territories and Gaza Strip maritime zone, remains in our hands.”

Correcting Oslo Myths-Part 2

3) Kuttab laments that the post-1993 Oslo process resulted in a Palestinian Authority "whose ministers and legislators are not guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank ...."

Before free passage or other perquisites, PA leaders were obligated, among other things, to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, end anti-Israeli, antisemitic incitement in schools, mosques, and communications media, and resolve all outstanding issues through peaceful negotiations. They met none of these commitments, sometimes bolstering terrorism and greatly increasing incitement.

4) Kuttab complains that under Oslo the PA got "lightly armed police ---- but no real sovereignty over the land or contiguity between our communities in Gaza and the West Bank."

Oslo agreements repeatedly were revised, regardless of Palestinian non-compliance, until the authorized number of police grew from 8,000 to 40,000. Though they were to be the only armed forces in the territories, Israeli estimates early in the second intifada put the number of gunmen - police, "security services," terrorists, and armed gangs - at 85,000. Their armament reportedly included not only heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but also anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Sovereignty was to be negotiated in the envisioned 1998 "final status" talks - after a five-year period of confidence-building. Palestinian leadership chronically undermined the process. Palestinian terrorism made the 1993 - 1998 Oslo period more deadly for Israelis than the 15 years preceding it.

The United States doesn't have contiguity between the lower 48 states and Alaska and Hawaii; territorial contiguity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip - that is, through the 20 miles of Israeli territory between them - was never promised and would destroy Israeli contiguity.

5) "Palestinians have been made to endure hundreds of checkpoints in the West Bank, an eight-foot wall deep in our territories, and tight Israeli control over borders."

The security barrier is not "deep in Palestinian territories," but rather encompasses less than 8 percent of Judea and Samaria, and is mostly a fence, rarely a wall; the land in question is not "our [Palestinian] territories" but disputed territory to which, according to the authors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, Jews as well as Arabs have claims; and there are no international borders, only the 1949 armistice lines with Jordan. Under 242, borders remain to be negotiated. As for checkpoints - like the security barrier and "tight Israeli control" - Palestinian Arabs precipitated these measures themselves. No terrorism and there would be no fence or tight Israeli control and few checkpoints - like before the first intifada.

Correcting Some Oslo Myths

1) In Oslo "Israeli, Palestinian and other world leaders promised that ... Palestinian sovereignty would be solidified."

No, they didn't. The 1993 Declaration of Principles and subsequent Oslo agreements outlined a process by which final status negotiations about the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be reached. The process required an end to anti-Israel terrorism and incitement and a commitment to peaceful negotiations. The PA, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other terrorist groups, sabotaged the process from the start.

2) "The reality is that, in defiance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which states that it is inadmissible to occupy land by force, Palestinian territories are still under foreign military occupation."
Wrong again. Resolution 242 (1967) does note "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war." It also affirms the right of every state in the area "to live in peace with secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." There were no "Palestinian territories." Jordan occupied the West Bank, Egypt controlled Gaza. Israel did not have "secure and recognized boundaries," so retention of some of those territories was possible under 242. Israel is not a "foreign" military occupier in the West Bank but, pending final negotiations, the lawful military administrator as a result of a successful war of self-defense.

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