Javier Solana to step in as mediator/trustee for Israeli-Palestinian peace accord?
Some diplomatic movement has returned to the Middle East. Under American supervision, Israelis and Palestinians have been negotiating again since the end of 2007. Syria and Israel have begun an indirect negotiation process with Turkey as a mediator. In Lebanon, a new government including all relevant political factions has finally been formed.This would not have been possible without a green light from Syria. And this green light would not have come had Damascus not been convinced that its own negotiations with Israel could, in the medium term at least, lead to a bilateral agreement and also bring about an improvement of Syrian-American relations. Individual European Union states have already honored this constructive about-turn of Syrian policies.For all those engaged in Middle East diplomacy - this goes for the Arab-Israeli fold as well as for the Iranian nuclear file - the U.S. political calendar is always present: No one expects the current U.S. administration to settle any of the conflicts in the region or to bring any of the ongoing diplomatic processes there to a conclusion during the rest of its term.This is explicitly so for the Syrian-Israeli negotiations: Syria has already declared that it would not move from indirect to direct talks before the inauguration of a new American administration ready to actively engage with such a process.Implicitly, however, the same applies to the Annapolis process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. President Bush has repeatedly said that he wants the two sides to reach an agreement while he is still in office.Israel's outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, who lead the talks, are both aware of the contours of a possible, mutually acceptable agreement, and they seem to have come closer with regard to some of the particularly difficult so-called final-status issues.
Nonetheless, even under the most positive scenario, the best one could expect is a further narrowing of the gaps. A comprehensive agreement that would sort out such complex issues as the future of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, future borders between Israel and Palestine, or infrastructural links between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, will not be reached within only a couple of months.And neither Israel's prime minister nor the Palestinian president would today have the authority and the necessary majorities to ratify, let alone to implement a peace agreement.All this does not speak against the process, only against exaggerated expectations. The process is extremely fragile, and it could easily break down - particularly in the absence of sustained external care, of guidance and support from a third party both able and prepared to drive the process forward and encourage the negotiating parties to continue their efforts even in the face of domestic opposition.The current U.S. administration will cease to play its role after the November elections; many of its representatives will by then be looking for new jobs. The new U.S. president will first have to get his senior officials confirmed by Congress, and a foreign policy review, before he begins any major policy initiative. As a result, we should expect a time-out for any active American involvement in the Middle East peace process between the end of this year and at least March or April 2009.Herein lays Europe's challenge. As an active partner in the so-called Middle East Quartet with the United States, Russia and the United Nations, the EU has helped to bring about the current talks between Israelis and Palestinians.The EU and several of its member states are contributing to the process through the support of state- and institution-building in the Palestinian territories, particularly in the security and justice sectors.
But beyond that, the EU must now prepare itself to keep the process alive from the end of this year through to next spring. Considering such a task we also have to be aware of the particular structures of the Union.President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU, has already announced a more active support for the Middle East peace process. But the French presidency ends in December 2008, and the Czech government, which takes over in January 2009, is unlikely to summon the same energy and resources for the Middle East.The EU's special representative for the Middle East, the Belgian diplomat Marc Otte, does not have enough political weight to assume a role that so far has been played by the U.S. secretary of state. Individual EU states like France, Germany or Spain would have the resources and diplomatic skills and could even be interested in temporarily guiding the process until a new American administration resumes this function.
In practice, however, jealousy among EU states would make it impossible for any one of them to act for Europe in this or any other important foreign-policy field, unless this country happens to hold the EU presidency. EU states that want to promote a consensual and common European approach would therefore not even try to assume this role; others that might want to take it on would not be able to fill it.
This does not make the EU incapable of acting. The Union, through its Council of Foreign Ministers, should as soon as possible give a mandate to Javier Solana, the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the EU, to make himself available, with the approval of Israel, the Palestinians, and the current U.S. administration, as a temporary mediator for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations from the end of the year.Solana would not take such an initiative on his own, but he can do so with a mandate from the Council. His staff is familiar with the subject matter and his diplomatic skills are beyond doubt.Any coalition of willing EU states could support him by delegating some of their own experienced diplomats to his office for the task. Solana and the EU would not be expected to make peace or to bring the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations to a conclusion and to dispel any opposition to an agreement. This cannot be done by the EU, simply because, compared to the United States, it has less influence over Israel and cannot give security guarantees to either Israel or the Palestinians.The EU, however, can act as a temporary trustee for the process, thereby preventing it from breaking down and, given its knowledge of the regional situation, help the parties to find practical solutions for some of the most complicated final-status questions - for example, the political division of Jerusalem as the future capital of two states - only to hand back the process and the role of external guidance to Washington once the new administration there is ready for it.As an active trustee in this sense, the EU could not only show that it lives up to its own claim of contributing to crisis management through preventive diplomacy, it would also demonstrate to the new U.S. administration how high a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ranges on the European list of priorities, and how useful it can be for the United States to cooperate on this with its trans-Atlantic partners.
Egypt against any anti-Iran military action Beirut, Aug 28, IRNA
Iran-Egypt-Nuclear
Egyptian Foreign Minister Wednesday evening stressed that his country would reject any probable military action against Iran. Addressing a press conference in Lebanon, Ahmed Ali Aboul Gheith called for peaceful settlement of Iran's nuclear dispute.
Urging the West not to take any military action against the Islamic Republic of Iran, Aboul Gheith called for resolve of Iran's nuclear case through dialogue.
Visiting Lebanon as of Wednesday, the Egyptian foreign minister said that Iran and Egypt enjoy active diplomatic ties.
Russia faces fresh condemnation AUG 28,08
Russia has said it hopes to avoid confrontation with the West
Seven of the world's leading industrialised nations have jointly condemned Russia's decision to recognise Georgia's breakaway regions. Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the US and UK said Moscow's recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia violated Georgia's integrity and sovereignty. Earlier, the UK's foreign secretary said Western countries should re-examine their relations with Russia. David Miliband also warned Russia not to start a new Cold War. Speaking during a visit to Ukraine, Mr Miliband said Moscow had not reconciled itself with the new map of the region and that the West should look at ways to reduce its dependence on Russian oil and gas.
Russia was, is and will continue to be the last country in the world that would want a repeat of the Cold War Dmitry Peskov Russian government spokesman.
Meeting Russia's Number One Testing for a new Cold War Jubilation and dismay in Georgia.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy meanwhile described Russia's move to recognise South Ossetia and Abkhazia as an unacceptable attempt to change borders. Russia said it was the last country that wanted a new Cold War. Fighting between Russia and Georgia began on 7 August after the Georgian military tried to retake its Russian-backed breakaway province of South Ossetia by force. Russian forces subsequently launched a counter-attack and the conflict ended with the ejection of Georgian troops from both South Ossetia and Abkhazia and an EU-brokered ceasefire.
Excessive force
In a statement, the Group of Seven said they condemned the action of our fellow G8 member and reasserted their support for the Georgian government. Russia's recognition of the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia violates the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia and is contrary to UN Security Council Resolutions supported by Russia, the statement said. The group also said it deplored Russia's excessive use of military force in Georgia and its continued occupation of parts of Georgia. We call unanimously on the Russian government to implement in full the six-point peace plan brokered by President Sarkozy on behalf of the EU, in particular to withdraw its forces behind the pre-conflict lines, the statement added. We reassert our strong and continued support for Georgia's sovereignty within its internationally recognized borders and underline our respect and support for the democratic and legitimate government of Georgia as we pursue a peaceful, durable solution to this conflict.The Russian government responded to earlier criticism from Western leaders by saying Moscow saw no threat of a new Cold War. A spokesman for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Russia had been taking measures of precaution against Nato warships in the Black Sea, but hoped to avoid confrontation. I wouldn't agree that we really have a threat of a new Cold War. Russia was, is and will continue to be the last country in the world that would want a repeat of the Cold War, Dmitry Peskov said. On Tuesday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he had been obliged to recognise the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia following the genocide started by Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili in South Ossetia in August. He also blamed Georgia for failing to negotiate a peaceful settlement.
Hard-headed engagement
The Group of Seven's statement came only hours after Mr Miliband said the conflict between Russia and Georgia had provided a rude awakening. David Miliband said Russia must not start a new Cold War.In a speech to a group of students in Ukraine's capital, Kiev, Mr Miliband said Moscow's unilateral attempt to redraw the map marks a moment of real significance. Russian President, he said, had a big responsibility not to start a new Cold War. Mr Miliband said the response of the EU and Nato to such aggression should be one of hard-headed engagement. That means bolstering our allies, rebalancing the energy relationship with Russia, defending the rules of international institutions, and renewing efforts to tackle unresolved conflicts, he explained. Mr Miliband again rejected calls for Russia to be expelled from the G8, but did suggest the EU and Nato needed to review relations with it. He also reiterated the British government's support for Ukraine's application for full Nato membership. Ukraine's President, Victor Yushchenko, said it was a hostage in a war waged by Russia against states in the old Soviet bloc. Mr Yushchenko also called for Ukraine's defences to be strengthened and said his country would consider increasing the amount of money Russia pays for the lease of the port of Sevastopol, where it stations its Black Sea Fleet.
* * * * FLASH TRAFFIC: WASHINGTON UPDATE * * * * WHO IS JOE BIDEN?
Plus: transcript from Glenn Beck's radio interview with me By Joel C. Rosenberg
AUG 28,08
(Washington, D.C., August 27, 2008) -- Tonight, Delaware Senator Joe Biden will accept the vice presidential nomination in Denver. But most Americans have no idea who he really is or what he believes. Here, then, are a few facts worth noting.
First, by all accounts, Biden is a wonderful family man who has endured a terrible personal tragedy. In 1972, just before Christmas and just weeks after being elected to his first term in the United States Senate, Biden's wife and only daughter were killed in a horrific car crash caused by a drunk driver.
Five years after this [trauma], no one man deserves one great love, let alone two, Biden later recalled in an interview with David Brody of CBN. I met and married my wife of 30 years who actually put my life back together again and put my family back together again. But you know, when something like that happens to you. It's like there's a big black hole in your chest, and you feel like you're being sucked in to that black hole. You feel like there isn't anything that will ever get better again in your life. But my mom has an expression, she said God sends no cross that you cannot bear, and she said, I remember literally the week of the accident her saying Joey, out of everything horrible something good will come if you look hard enough. And I thought that was the cruelest thing in the world someone could say, but it's true. Obviously I wished it never, ever, ever happened, but my sons and I, it's like a steel belt that runs through our chest connecting us. My family is so strong, and I really believe and my wife Jill of 30 years believes that Neilia my wife, is looking down on us. You just never, it never leaves, but there comes a time and it happens earlier than you think, there comes a time when the memory brings a smile to your lips rather than a tear to your eyes. And so many people have gone through tough stuff, but I had family. When I went through it I had people helping me. It has taught me that I have such intense admiration for people who are alone and these things happen to and they fight. There are so many people right outside this library, this morning got up, put one foot in front of the other, dealing with crisis that were similar to mine and they do. And they do it for their kids and they do it for their family and they do it without the kind of help I had. I was really lucky. I just had an awful lot of people to help me and they were my family. I'm not very good talking about it as you can see, but I know there is a continuum. I know that God is -- there's a giant piece of my deceased daughter, a giant piece of my deceased wife that is in me and in my children and in my wife.Despite such immense pain, Biden emerged as a kind, funny, friendly and personally engaging leader, who has built strong personal and professional relationships with Republicans such as John McCain, among others. To his credit, he has been a good friend of Israel over the years. He has been good on expanding democracies around the world. He was also right on the Georgia crisis, having long encouraged the expansion of NATO to include fledgling democracies.
I like Joe Biden. I like his love of family and country. I like that I can disagree with him but would still enjoy a good policy discussion over dinner. But I do disagree with him profoundly on most important issues. He is, after all, the third most liberal man in the Senate, according to National Journal. And when it comes to most epicenter issues, he is just plain wrong. He reminds me in many ways of President Jimmy Carter in the mid- to late-1970s -- kind, friendly, warm, engaging, but someone who often misunderstands the nature and threat of evil, particularly in the Middle East.
Consider a few of Biden's positions:
* Voted against the Gulf war in 1991 to liberate Kuwait
* Voted against the surge in Iraq in 2007 to defeat the Jihadists [Told the Boston Globe in the summer of 2007: The surge isn't going to work either tactically or strategically.]
* Opposes regime change in Iran. [Instead of regime change, we need to focus on conduct change. -- speech on Iran at the Iowa City Public Library on December 3, 2007]
* Believes in direct negotiations with Ahmadinejad
* Voted against a bill to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization
* Strongly opposes taking preemptive military action to neutralize Iran's nuclear weapons threat and has threatened to impeach President Bush if he bombs Iran
* Does not see Ahmadinejad's End Times theology as a serious problem. [My concern is not that a nuclear Iran some day would be moved by messianic fervor to use a nuclear weapon as an Armageddon device and commit national suicide in order to hasten the return of the Hidden Imam. My worry is that the fear of a nuclear Iran could spark an arms race in the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria, and others joining in.-- speech on Iran at the Iowa City Public Library on December 3, 2007]
* In 1979, he shared Carter's starry-eyed belief that the fall of the shah in Iran and the advent of the ayatollahs represented progress for human rights, writes Amir Taheri, the former editor of one of the largest newspapers in Tehran and a respected analyst of the current regime. Throughout the hostage crisis, as US diplomats were daily paraded blindfolded in front of television cameras and threatened with execution, he opposed strong action against the terrorist mullahs and preached dialogue….For more than a decade, Biden has adopted an ambivalent attitude towards the Islamic Republic in Tehran, now emerging as the chief challenger to US interests in the Middle East. Biden's links with pro-Tehran lobbies in the US and his support for unconditional dialogue with the mullahs echo Obama's own wrong-headed promise to circumvent the current multilateral efforts by seeking direct US-Iran talks, excluding the Europeans as well as Russia and China.
Mideast running on different clocks at Ramadan By KATARINA KRATOVAC, Associated Press Writer AUG 28,08
CAIRO, Egypt - The start of the holy month of Ramadan next week is causing clock confusion in the Middle East. Egypt and the Palestinians are falling back an hour far earlier than usual, trying to reduce daylight hours for Muslims fasting until sunset in sweltering summer temperatures. Politics is also adding a twist. The Palestinian militant group Hamas is ending daylight-saving time at midnight Thursday in the Gaza Strip, which it controls — while the West Bank, run by the rival Fatah faction, is waiting until midnight Sunday.The Palestinians have traditionally changed their clocks at different times from Israel in a gesture of independence. Now for the first time, they're directing the gesture at each other, reflecting the rival claims for power in the more than year-old split between the Palestinian territories.Hamas just wants to show they're different from the Palestinian government, to pretend that they are the real government here, said Jamal Zakout, a spokesman for the prime minister of the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority. He said the PA chose midnight Sunday because Ramadan is expected to begin Monday.Egypt will also move its clocks back one hour at midnight Thursday, a full month earlier than usual. The switch will put Egypt two hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time and at least an hour later than its Mideast neighbors.The creeping-up of the clock change reflects the complications of the lunar Islamic calendar.
Ramadan comes around 11 days earlier each year. Currently, that brings it more into the long, hot days of summer, making it particularly tough for Muslims, who abstain from food and drink from sunrise to sunset during the holy month. Even in September, temperatures in Egypt are in the upper 90s.Egypt's decision will enable its people to have their iftar evening meal, breaking the fast, an hour earlier.Israel goes off daylight-saving time on Oct. 5, before the Jewish holy day Yom Kippur. It won't reduce the length of the 25-hour fast, which goes from sunset to sunset, but makes it a bit easier by reducing the number of daytime hours observant Jews must go without food or water.Jordan and Lebanon will switch the clocks back as usual by the end of October. Syria falls back in late September, while Saudi Arabia and Iraq don't change clocks.Ramadan, which commemorates the revelation of the first verses of the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad, begins and ends with the sighting of the new moon. During the month, families and friends gather for sometimes lavish iftar meals, ending with the Eid al-Fitr, a three-day holiday of the breaking of the fast.
Associated Press Writers Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City and Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah contributed to this report.
Palestinians should not linger in Lebanon: Abbas Thu Aug 28, 8:56 AM ET
BEIRUT (AFP) - Palestinian refugees in Lebanon should not be permanently resettled in the country, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said on Thursday after talks in Beirut with Lebanese President Michel Sleiman. The Palestinians have the right of return and this is an issue we are discussing with the Israelis, Abbas told a media conference after the meeting.We are against the resettlement of Palestinians in Lebanon, he added.An estimated 400,000 Palestinian refugees live in 12 camps in Lebanon. According to the United Nations agency responsible for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), there are around 4.6 million Palestinian refugees worldwide.Most of Palestinian refugees came to Lebanon when the state of Israel was created in 1948. There are fears among the Lebanese that their settlement will be permanent, shifting the country's delicate sectarian balance.Abbas said that any solution with Israel should be wide-ranging and address all issues.I told the president if we want to reach a solution with Israel, it should be a comprehensive one, Abbas told reporters.
It may not be easy, but we want to reach a political solution to our cause. It's important to us to end the occupation of the Golan and the Shebaa Farms, he added.
The Shebaa Farms, a mountainous sliver of land rich in water resources measuring 25 square kilometres (10 square miles), are located at the junction of southeast Lebanon, southwest Syria and northern Israel.Israel seized the Farms from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war when it captured the neighbouring Golan Heights which it later annexed.Israel and the Palestinians formally relaunched the peace process after a seven-year hiatus at a US-hosted conference last November, with the goal of signing a full peace deal by the time President George W. Bush leaves office in January 2009.But they have made little tangible progress on resolving the core issues of the conflict, including final borders, the status of Jerusalem and the fate of the millions of UN-registered Palestinian refugees.Abbas said he endorsed the Lebanese government's decision in 2006 that armed pro-Syrian Palestinian groups outside of the camps should be disarmed.We are with the decision of the Lebanese government in terms of Palestinian weapons... In Lebanon, we are under the law and not above it, Abbas said.The Palestinian camps in Lebanon are considered to be be unstable, with security incidents taking place frequently and extremist groups often taking advantage of the poor state of the camps.Last year the army fought a deadly 15-week battle against Fatah al-Islam, which adopted an ideology inspired by Al-Qaeda, in the northern refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared.More than 400 people, including 168 soldiers, were killed in the fighting which left the camp almost entirely destroyed.
Abbas, whose last visit to Beirut in 2004 was the first for a Palestinian official in 22 years, was during his two-day visit to meet Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and parliament speaker Nabih Berri as well as Palestinian officials.
Livni widens lead in race to replace Olmert Thu Aug 28, 6:33 AM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni will easily win leadership elections in the ruling Kadima party to replace embattled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, poll results showed on Thursday. The survey in the daily Maariv showed Livni winning 49 percent of the votes among Kadima members, widening her lead over her closest party rival, Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz. The poll showed Mofaz receiving 28 percent.Support for two other candidates was in single figures. Previous polls showed Livni, Israel's chief negotiator with the Palestinians, with a lead of 8-18 percentage points over former military chief Mofaz.The scandal-hit Olmert threw Israel into political turmoil that could hamstring Middle East peacemaking by announcing last month he would stand down as prime minister after a September 17 leadership contest.Olmert would remain caretaker prime minister until his successor builds a new coalition, and officials have questioned whether Livni would be able to put together a new government.Should the new Kadima leader be unable to form a coalition and snap elections were called, recent polls show Livni would be neck and neck in the vote with opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, a former prime minister from the rightist Likud party.Thursday's survey was taken among 400 Kadima voters with a margin of error of 4.9 percent.(Writing by Ari Rabinovitch; editing by Andrew Roche)
Israel reopens Gaza crossings after two-day closure Thu Aug 28, 4:58 AM ET
GAZA (Reuters) - Israel on Thursday reopened its border crossings with the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, two days after they were shut in response to rocket attacks.
Palestinian officials said three of the main commercial crossings were opened but a fourth remained closed.Israel tightened its borders with the Gaza Strip after Hamas Islamists seized the enclave more than a year ago.A June ceasefire has largely ended border violence, but Gaza militants occasionally fire rockets into Israel. Israel usually responds by shutting the crossings the following day.(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Editing by Catherine Evans)
Israeli peace pioneer Abie Nathan dies at 81 Wed Aug 27, 5:37 PM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Abie Nathan, an Israeli peace activist who blazed trails to Egypt and the Palestinians that his country would eventually follow, died on Wednesday. He was 81. Nathan famously piloted a private plane, dubbed Shalom (Peace) 1, to then enemy Egypt in 1966 and was twice imprisoned by Israel for meeting Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasser Arafat in the late 1980s and early 1990s when such contacts were illegal.He was a great fighter against war, poverty and discrimination, Israeli President Shimon Peres said in a statement after Nathan's death in a Tel Aviv hospital.A former pilot for Israel's El Al airline and once the owner of a Tel Aviv restaurant that attracted the city's glitterati in the 1960s, the Iranian-born Nathan worked for decades to secure humanitarian aid for disaster areas worldwide.From 1973 to 1993 his Voice of Peace radio station, on a ship anchored off the Israeli coast, broadcast pop music and messages of peace in English, Hebrew and Arabic.Short of funds to continue to operate the station, he scuttled the vessel in 1993, the same year Israel and Arafat's PLO signed their first interim peace deal.Nathan suffered a severe stroke in 1997 and had been in ill health since.
Jordan reaches out to militant Hamas By JAMAL HALABY, Associated Press Writer Wed Aug 27, 3:41 PM ET
AMMAN, Jordan - In an about-face, Jordan is reaching out to the Hamas militant group amid fears that a collapse of Mideast peacemaking would bring an influx of refugees. But the U.S. ally must walk a delicate line to avoid angering its American and Israeli friends. Hamas is outlawed in Jordan, which has accused the group in the past of trying to destabilize the country. But Jordanian intelligence chief Mohammed al-Dahabi held two covert meetings with top Hamas leaders this month, ending a nearly decade-long banishment of the group.The talks don't mean Jordan, which signed a 1994 peace deal with Israel, is embracing the militant group or is turning its back on Arab-Israeli negotiations. But the kingdom has clearly decided it's better to rebuild a relationship with Hamas than keep shunning it as an enemy amid doubts over the peace process' future.We're at a crossroads and Jordan must protect itself and its national interests, former Jordanian parliament speaker Abdul-Latif Arabiyat said.Jordan fears that the possible failure of Palestinian-Israeli peace talks backed by the Bush administration, which leaves office early next year, could embolden Hamas in the neighboring West Bank, as well as Muslim extremists in Jordan and across the Mideast. Quiet contacts with Hamas could mollify any fallout for Jordan if that happens.Also, Jordan is worried a failure of talks will revive Israeli hardliner calls for ejecting West Bank Palestinians to Jordan, or for parts of the West Bank to form a confederation with the kingdom as an alternative to an independent state.
Jordan, which ruled the West Bank from 1950 to 1967, strongly opposes such a move, as do Hamas and other Palestinians. Jordan's worries are demographic: Roughly half of its 5.8 million population are of Palestinian descent, from families that were displaced to the kingdom in two wars with Israel since 1948. Jordan is ruled by an elite drawn from its native, Bedouin-rooted clans.Another flood of Palestinians could overwhelm Jordan and even spark civil unrest. In 1970, the Palestine Liberation Organization tried to overthrow Jordan's Hashemite monarchy by setting up a Palestinian government. But Jordan fought a bloody war, known as "Black September, as it evicted the PLO from its territory.Jordan's contacts with Hamas have already irked Israel and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose U.S.-backed Palestinian Authority controls the West Bank and has been battling to end Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip last year.Abbas sent his interior minister, Abdel Razak Yehiye, to Jordan last week to find out what the Jordanians are up to and if their contacts with Hamas meant dropping support for the Palestinian Authority, said an Amman-based Palestinian official, insisting on anonymity citing diplomatic sensitivities.Israeli Embassy spokesman Itai Bardov in Amman called Jordan's contacts with Hamas unhelpful to the peace process.We're against any negotiations with Hamas because we regard it as a terrorist movement, he said. We should find ways to strengthen the Palestinian Authority instead of legitimizing Hamas, which made an illegal military coup in Gaza.
The U.S. also considers Hamas a terror organization and has refused contact with it. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said after meeting with Palestinian and Israeli leaders that there was hope for a Mideast peace deal, but she offered no reason for optimism beyond the fact that both sides are speaking.Mindful of its allies' worries, Jordan only reluctantly confirmed its meetings with Hamas, days after they occurred.State Minister for Information Nasser Judeh said Jordan wanted the meetings to continue, and that the discussions so far had focused only on pending security issues.Deputy Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouk said the talks, headed by Hamas official Mohammed Nazzal, tackled a wide range of issues, including the plight of Palestinians under Israeli occupation, Jewish settlements in the West Bank and ways to confront a substitute homeland for the Palestinians in Jordan.With the meetings, Jordan may be hoping to help mend the Hamas-Abbas rift and boost the peace process, averting any talk of a Jordanian solution to the Palestinian question. It may also be trying to help in mediating a release of Israeli Sgt. Gilad Schalit, captured by Gaza militants more than two years ago. Abu Marzouk said the Jordanian intelligence chief inquired in the meetings about Schalit.The split between Jordan and Hamas dates back to 1999, when Jordan came under tremendous pressure from the U.S. and Israel because Hamas leaders on its soil were making statements disparaging peace and ties with Israel and America. Jordan ejected Hamas political chief Khaled Mashaal and other top leaders for unspecified illegal activities,shut down Hamas offices and clamped down on lower-ranking members.
Hamas breaks Gaza school strike led by rival Fatah By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer Wed Aug 27, 2:40 PM ET
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - The ruling Hamas movement replaced hundreds of striking teachers with its own supporters Wednesday, purging Gaza's schools of political rivals and deepening its control of this coastal territory. Labor strife this week disrupted the public school system at the start of the academic year and added to the misery in Gaza, which has suffered from international isolation and Israeli economic sanctions since the Islamic militants of Hamas violently seized power last year.The local teachers union, one of the last remaining strongholds of the Fatah movement in Gaza, called the strike to protest the transfer of dozens of educators to new schools. It said Hamas forced the transfers to give its supporters key posts in the education system.Hamas denied this, but then installed hundreds of new teachers almost immediately after the walkout began. Education Minister Mohammed Askoul estimated 2,000 of the 9,000 public school teachers had been replaced.Anybody who left their job will not be allowed to return, Askoul said. They have become irrelevant and cannot be trusted anymore as educators.The move ensures Gaza's education system will now be stacked with Hamas loyalists. While the group has said it will not impose its strict Islamic views on society, its control of classrooms is likely to change the tone of instruction and create more sympathy for the group's ideology among the territory's 250,000 public school students.The dispute caused widespread confusion this week. Many parents kept their children home. Some students appeared torn, going to school but skipping class.What's happening is a joke. We came to school and the teachers told us to go home, said Hussam Abdullah, 16, standing outside his school in Gaza City. But the new (Hamas) principal says if we don't go to school for a week, we'll be expelled.The Hamas regime in Gaza and the Fatah-dominated administration of President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank have been sharing the same educational curriculum and exams — one of the few areas the rivals had in common. But that could soon change.Abbas' government, which pays teachers' salaries, seized on the strike as a loyalty test.
Bassam Zakarneh, a union leader, said Abbas' government would fire teachers who accepted school promotions — because it indicated loyalty to Hamas.The Palestinian Center for Human Rights, an independent rights group, said the threat was effectively against any teacher who did not participate in the strike. Teachers in Gaza also saw the threat that way.This is a disaster, said Aly, a 47-year-old math teacher who declined to give his full name for fear of offending Hamas or Fatah. The big losers are me and my students.Wael, a 38-year-old physics teacher and Fatah loyalist, said he felt bullied into striking.My salary and future are tied to the side that pays me, he said. At the same time, I am afraid there'll be (Hamas) procedures taken against me. He declined to give his family name because he did not support the Fatah-led walkout and feared his pay would be cut.Associated Press writer Diaa Hadid in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report.
Russia Flexes Its Muscles in Mideast By ANDREW LEE BUTTERS / BEIRUT
Wed Aug 27, 11:50 AM ET
With Russian soldiers occupying swaths of the Republic of Georgia, one might have thought that Russian President Dmitri Medvedev would have more pressing matters than scooting off to the Black Sea summer resort town of Sochi. But last week Medvedev did just that for a pleasant - and possibly ominous - bit of business: entertaining Syria's President Bashar al Assad, one of the few world leaders who have flown to Russia's side during the Georgian crisis. The trip paid off for Assad when Russia agreed to strengthen military ties with Syria. According to the Russian press, Assad also offered to host advanced Russian missile systems on Syrian soil. The Syrian state media later denied that Damascus was offering to set up Russian rocket bases. But even rumors of such a deal look suspiciously like a Russian response to U.S. plans to set up a missile defense system in Poland, an agreement signed earlier this month at the height of the Georgian conflict and denounced by Russia. Moreover, the rejuvenated Russian-Syrian connection is just one example of how the so-called new Cold War between the U.S. and Russian is spreading to the Middle East, mapping itself onto the region's pre-existing conflicts, and complicating efforts to bring stability to a region that is on the verge of a new hot war. Since the Iraq war began in 2003, the Middle East has been split by its own not-so-cold war for regional domination between Iran and its allies (Syria, Hizballah and Hamas) and the U.S. and its allies (Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt). Though Russia has been a mostly peripheral player, it has often wound up on the opposite side of Washington. In 2005, Moscow agreed to help Iran develop a civilian nuclear reactor, infuriating the Bush administration, which claims that Iran's nuclear energy program is merely a cover for developing weapons. Russian also supplied Syria with weapons that wound up in the hands of Hizballah, the Lebanese anti-Israeli militant group. Israeli military sources say that these Russian weapons - especially advanced anti-tank rockets - were vital in enabling Hizballah to face down the Israeli army during its disastrous incursion into Lebanon in the summer of 2006.
These tensions are now likely to grow as Russia flexes its muscles in a region where the U.S. is vulnerable. For one thing, Russia sees fewer and fewer reasons to tread lightly around Israel. During the 2006 Lebanon war, Russia condemned Hizballah actions as terrorism, and afterwards claimed it had made efforts to prevent weapons sales to Syria from helping Hizballah. But the war in Georgia highlighted that Israel is itself in a kind of arms race with Russia. Israel was supplying the Georgian army with weapons and Israeli security companies were training Georgian soldiers. And recent Israeli press reports claim that Hizballah has set up Russian-made radar-guided air defense systems since the 2006 war in the eastern Bekaa Valley in order to shoot down Israeli jets. What's more, ever since the U.S. circulated a draft Security Council Resolution condemning Russia's Georgian invasion, Washington can expect scant Russian help at the United Nations to prevent Iran from developing nuclear technology. This could have dramatic consequences. Israeli officials have been implying that if the U.S. and the U.N. fail to halt the Iranian nuclear program, they will take matters into their own hands and launch air strikes against Iran. Of course, the new Cold War in the Middle East may end up amounting to no more than a passing chill. Assad's flirtation with Russia could be intended to strengthen Syria's hand in ongoing indirect peace talks with Israel through Turkish mediation. On the other hand, Syrian hardliners opposed to peace could see Russia's backing as one more strong argument for holding out against American and international pressure to recognize Israel. A disturbing sense of dÉjÀ vu adheres to all these alliances, arms races and nuclear programs. The Middle East was a major theater in the original Cold War. Before the Camp David Accords of 1978, Syria, Iraq and Egypt were all Soviet client states; indeed, Syria still has the aging Soviet-era fighter jets and tanks to prove it. And while all stayed quiet on the European front of the Cold War, it got pretty hot in the Middle East. In at least three major wars between Arabs and Israelis (in 1967, 1973 and 1982), the U.S. and the Soviet Union got to see how their weapons stacked up against those of their foe. As the chill spreads today, it's worth remembering that the Middle East is a region where conflicts too often don't stay on ice. View this article on Time.com
Egypt seeks to ease Lebanon-Israel tension Wed Aug 27, 4:27 AM ET
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Egyptian officials are trying to ease tension between Lebanon and Israel that has risen over an exchange of threats. Israel's prime minister warned last week that his country would hit back harder than in the 2006 war if Hezbollah guerillas attacked again. Hezbollah's leader answered back on Sunday, saying the response from his fighters would also be more fierce than in the monthlong war two years ago.Egypt's foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, says he discussed Israel's threats with Lebanon's president during a visit to Beirut Wednesday.Aboul Gheit says Egyptian officials also urged Israel to avoid making such threats during meetings with visiting Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Tuesday in Egypt.
Syria, Iran warm to Russia as US tensions grow By SAM F. GHATTAS, Associated Press Writer Tue Aug 26, 1:27 PM ET
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Syria's President Bashar Assad has publicly stepped up his outreach to old ally Russia in recent days, seeking aid to build up Syrian military forces and offering Moscow help in return — in an apparent effort to exploit a new Russian-American rift. U.S. officials have noticed: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Mideast leaders this week that they should worry about Syria's efforts to gain more sophisticated weapons.Syria's long-term aim, however, remains unclear, in part because Assad also continues to pursue peace efforts with Israel — a key U.S. and European goal — even as he makes overtures to Russia that are sure to antagonize the West. Syria has a long history of apparently contradictory diplomatic moves as it maneuvers to find options and balance its interests.Yet the latest Syrian moves feed directly into larger Western fears that the Russian-American standoff — prompted by Russia's invasion of Georgia — could lead Russia to provide more military and diplomatic aid to a host of countries and militant groups the United States sees as troublesome.The Russian move into Georgia has begun a tectonic shift in the (Mideast) region, said Joshua Landis, a Syria expert in the United States. It has emboldened Syria, Hezbollah and Iran to push harder against Israel and the U.S.Some military officials in Iran have, like the Syrians, openly supported Russian actions in Georgia, although Iran's Foreign Ministry called the clashes merely a result of miscalculations by powers and called for dialogue.
Some Iranian media have gone further, asserting Russia is now less likely to back U.S.-led efforts to pressure Iran to curb its nuclear program.The Russian ambassador to Iran, Alexander Sadovnikov, told the official IRNA news agency this weekend that Moscow won't support a new round of U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iran. But that position did not appear to be a direct result of the new Russia-U.S. tensions, because Russia often calls publicly for dialogue.Russia is never after a new (sanctions) resolution. We hope constant contacts between Iran and the IAEA (the U.N. nuclear agency) will lead to a realistic solution, guaranteeing that Iran is not after nuclear weapons technology, IRNA quoted the ambassador as saying.Lebanon's Hezbollah is another worry for the West and for Israel.The Iranian- and Syrian-backed militants have long hoped for weapons systems and greater diplomatic backing from Russia, Landis said, although there is no evidence Russia has shown more warmth toward Hezbollah lately.Hezbollah does not disclose its weapons sources, except to say they are bought on the international market. But it receives money and much hardware from Iran through Syria. Israel complained to Russia that Hezbollah used Russian anti-tank missiles in its war with Israel in 2006. Russia says its sales comply with international rules.For now, Syria is the most public example of Mideast fallout from the Georgian fight.Syria's bad negotiating position (with Israel) is leading it to look for more weapons and to try to grow more teeth before returning to the table with Israel, Landis said.
Both Iran and Syria have long-standing ties with Russia, leading some to play down the recent moves as having little significance. Russia has sold Syria weapons systems in the past, including the advanced surface-to-air Strelets system, and its warships already had been calling on Syria's northern port of Tartous. Many of Iran's weapons systems also have long come from Russian suppliers.Yet Assad clearly aimed for deeper ties during last week's Moscow visit.He asked Russia for weapons, and Moscow's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, said his government was prepared to sell Syria arms with defensive character that would not upset the Mideast's strategic balance — a reference to Israel, which holds military superiority over its Arab neighbors.Syria reportedly is interested in air defense missile systems and aircraft. Notably, Assad also told the Russian business daily Kommersant that Syria was ready to cooperate with Russia in any way that can strengthen its security, including discussing deploying Iskander missile defense systems on Syrian territory to strengthen Russia's security. Assad also said Syria was ready in principle to help Moscow respond to the planned U.S. missile defense shield in Europe, although the Russians have not asked for such help, the newspaper said. As that news grabbed headlines in the Mideast, Syria's government swiftly denied that Assad had made such an offer to host Russian missiles on Syrian land, or even discussed it with Russia.
The swift denial apparently came because Syria does not want to overly antagonize the United States. Assad has long wanted to regain the strategic Golan Heights from Israel, and his only chance of that is through a peace deal with Israel. He has long sought more robust U.S. involvement in the negotiations with Israel, maintaining progress is unlikely without it. Syria is holding indirect low-level peace negotiations with Israel through Turkey, a U.S. ally.
