Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon on Thursday told
a group of foreign military attaches that the Palestinian Authority
(PA) would have to disarm Hamas to signal that it is genuinely pursuing a
viable and united Palestinian state, the latest in what has become
daily criticism from diplomats, analysts, and journalists blasting a
recent Palestinian unity pact for embracing a "Hezbollah model" that
left intact Hamas's estimated 10,000 fighters and vast missile and
rocket arsenal. Ya'alon added that a decision by Palestinian
Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas not to disarm the Iran-backed
terror group would signal that the recent reconciliation agreement -
inked between Hamas and Abbas's own rival Fatah faction - was a farce.
On Wednesday the Wall Street Journal noted that
leaving Hamas's military force in place put the Palestinian Authority
in violation of core peace process treaties going back to 1995. A day
before, top Israeli military analyst Ehud Yaari linked
Hamas's insistence on the Hezbollah model to coordination meetings
conducted between the group's leaders and top officials from Iran and
Hezbollah, and Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Lee Smith has assessed that the Hezbollah model would likely trigger a reevaluation of Washington's stance toward the Palestinians. Hamas has openly bragged
that it is indeed following Hezbollah's approach to seizing and
maintaining power in Lebanon, a boast that got the attention of both U.S. analysts and the Arabic-language Al Arabiya [Arabic].
This week's round of balloting in Syria - in which Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad reportedly won 88.7% of the vote in the war-torn country - marked a defeat for the West and for Western conspiracies, per Friday remarks issued by Hezbollah head Hassan Nasrallah.
The terror group chief specifically blasted Secretary of State John
Kerry for describing the election as a "great big zero," retorting "this
is your zero." The developments came as Syrian fighters loyal to Assad
continued what has become a systematic campaign - backed by Hezbollah and Iranian forces - to recover and hold territory inside the country. Some diplomats have recently gone so far as to suggest that Assad has functionally won his country's civil war. Al Arabiya on Friday published an assessment
suggesting that Assad's success in consolidating his power was a
victory of Iran in general, and more specifically was being used by the
Islamic republic to project power across the region. The article, by
Iranian-American foreign policy specialist Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, declared
that "[t]he Iranian government is attempting to project a picture that
it totally and efficiently controls the destiny of, and the war in,
Syria'" and that Tehran was seeking to establish that "Iran is the key
player even though the United States, the West, and other Arab countries
are putting all their efforts to support the rebels." National Security
Adviser Susan Rice hinted on Friday that the Obama administration may be considering sending some lethal assistance to opposition elements.
The Hindu on Friday conveyed recent remarks
from Hassan Nourian - Iran's Consul General in Hyderabad - urging
Indians to shrug off American pressure aimed at limiting trade with the
Islamic republic and boasting that, since the U.S. was unable to impose
its will on Iran, then certainly Washington would fail if it tried to
retaliate against the much larger country of India. Iran has been aggressively seeking
to leverage eroding U.S. sanctions, which were weakened under the
interim Joint Plan of Action (JPA), and to specifically bolster its
energy trade. The moves were not unexpected. Foreign policy and energy
analyst Aaron Menenberg had already back in January
outlined scenarios under which the ability to limit development of
Iranian energy infrastructure and exports would become a critical test
of whether sanctions remaining in the aftermath of the JPA could hold.
Iran's Fars News Agency reported Friday
that Iran and Kuwait are moving forward on an arrangement that would
see the two co-developing offshore energy resources. The various
developments emerged amid what appear to be
renewed moves by lawmakers to reassert a congressional voice in
diplomacy toward Iran, months after the administration had successfully
fought and blocked legislation that would have locked in future pressure
on the Islamic republic in the event that negotiations failed.
Zaman on Friday rounded up a series of recent exposés
and incidents, published by Turkish media organs, describing moves made
by Turkey's Justice and Development Party (AKP) to establish what the
outlet bluntly assessed as "full control" over Turkey's judiciary. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has for months
been locked in a battle with judiciary figures - as well as with
elements of the country's security forces - as part of a wide-ranging
pushback by the AKP against a corruption probe that had engulfed many of
the party's elites, including Erdogan and his family. The pushback has
involved, among other things, the purge of literally thousands of
judges, police officers, and others deemed by the AKP to be opponents. A
different report published on Friday by Zaman
revealed that those purges had even extended into Turkish Airlines,
where 20-year veterans were among a group of high-level employees either
demoted or forced out of the company entirely. The open political
warfare has pitted the AKP against rivals from the Islamist Gulen
movement, who look to U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. A May 10 speech
by Erdogan had the prime minister defiantly declaring,
regarding the purges aimed at the Gulenists, "if this is called a witch
hunt, then yes, we perform a witch hunt" and "in order to sterilize
this dirty water that contaminated the milk, we will either boil or
molecularize it."
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