Abbas under Pressure

Posted on 07/29/2010 by Rabbi Kaufman

An article in the JPost tells of how Fatah and the PLO’s Leader Mahmoud Abbas (let’s stop pretending that he is the leader of the Palestinian people until he actually wins an election by the people- shall we?) is telling the Arab League that he is under “immense pressure.” Rarely is one of my least favorite childhood terms so appropriate, “Duh!” Here is a man whose party lost the only election that has taken place during his “Presidency” and under whose leadership, the Palestinian people have become so divided that only those entirely ignorant of the reality on the ground or who wish to pretend that reality is unimportant could consider him to be the leader of “The Palestinian People.” Abbas is the leader of the Fatah party. He is the leader of the PLO. He is the titular “President” of the Palestinian Authority. He seems to be the leader of the West Bank, but Gaza he does not lead, nor the people of Gaza. Further, one must question whether or not he represents the majority of the Palestinian people or, and this is more likely the case, if he is simply the choice of those powers whose opinion is important as to who shall represent them.

Abbas is completely surrounded by rocks with hard places above and below. He is being pressured from every direction and told to yield. Which means of course that in spite of J Street’s assurances to the contrary, Abbas cannot actually yield. He’s in no position to do so. His position is in fact so bad that he needs to avoid direct talks at all costs and so must ramp up the preconditions for such talks beyond any hope of achieving them.

Israel cannot yield on the Right of Return, Security, or on much of Jerusalem remaining under its sovereignty. Abbas really cannot yield on any of these three issues either. He’s entirely avoiding the first lest he be accused of creating another blockade in the way of peace. Any sane person knows that Israel cannot permit the Right of Return to Israel of hundreds of thousands of descendants of refugees. Besides the Palestinian state would be their supposed homeland after a peace deal. As for security, Abbas does not even control Gaza, much less speak for Hamas. He cannot pretend to negotiate security. As for Jerusalem, Abbas cannot specify any boundaries to cede when the Arab League expects him to yield none. Thus, we have insistence on the 1967 boundary, which to ears in the Arab world includes all of the Old City and most of the rest of modern day Jerusalem. This is a leader prepared to make peace with Israel? One unable to yield on any of the issues about which Israel also cannot yield? Really?

Realistically, and we need to speak realistically or we might as well not speak at all–realistically, Abbas is not in a position to negotiate with Israel. In order to enter such a position, he must be able to concede on at least parts of all three of the major issues mentioned above. While many try to read into his words such an ability, this quote from today’s JPost article betrays them:

When I receive written assurances (about) accepting the 1967 border and halting the settlement (building), I will go immediately to the direct talks.

So here we have Abbas saying that he will only enter direct talks once Israel agrees to abandon all of the Old City, which was not part of Israel in the beginning of 1967, and disregards the security problems resulting from the 1967 borders, never mind that territorial exchanges have already been an assumed part of any final peace agreement since the inception of talks. This position is a non-starter and Abbas knows it full well. If the US and others wish to see those direct talks, their only choices are to force Israel to yield on issues that will result in the destruction of the nation or to force the Palestinians to yield on ones that will result in the construction of theirs. There really isn’t much of choice, yet too many out there continue to pretend that there is. This might just perhaps be why the process is getting nowhere fast.

Posted in Israel | 1 Comment

Flattery will get you nowhere, but keep talking

Posted on 07/29/2010 by Soccerdad

In an uncredited article, that seems largely based on Robert Mackey’s account, the New York Times once again reports:

Using unusually blunt language for a British prime minister speaking about Arab-Israeli tensions, Mr. Cameron added: “Let me also be clear that the situation in Gaza has to change. Humanitarian goods and people must flow in both directions. Gaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp.”

Really, there was a lot more to the speech than that and Barry Rubin has “fisked” PM Cameron’s efforts at currying favor with Erdogan in How Not to Conduct Diplomacy: A Case Study: UK PM in Turkey. The short critique:

What is the effect? A man goes into a bazaar, points to a carpet and says: That is the most beautiful carpet I have ever seen. I must have it no matter what the price! How much is it?

A specific example is:

“I’ve come to Ankara today to establish a new partnership between Britain and Turkey. I think this is a vital strategic relationship for our country.”

Note the cringing here. A proper prime minister might have said: “I think this is a vital strategic relationship for our countries.” In other words, the speaker would stress there is a mutual benefit. Instead, this polite approach makes it sound as if Turkey is doing the United Kingdom a favor by having a strategic relationship to it while Turkey doesn’t need Britain at all.

And this is precisely the interpretation put on such things in the local context: The Turkish regime can take its Western alliances for granted while taking the side of the West’s radical Islamist enemies.

Much of the rest of the critique involves similar statements made by Cameron. But it’s interesting to note that the Obama administration could be viewed as taking the same tack with the Palestinians. Also from Barry Rubin:

–U.S.-Israel relations are quite good, the best at any time during the current presidency, and this could be expected to continue into early 2011 at least.

–The U.S. government has upgraded the Palestinian Authority representatives in the United States to the level of a general delegation, allowing them to fly the Palestinian flag in Washington DC. If this had come after the PA accepted direct negotiations with Israel that might have been understood. But once again we see the fatal pattern: first give a unilateral concession in hope that the other side will reciprocate. Shall I list the occasions on which that approach has failed during the last 18 months? You can develop your own list. That’s not the way to do foreign policy.

Essentially, the administration decided that it considered Palestinian cooperation essential so it flattered the PLO. But by showing how essential it considered the Palestinians, the administration gave the Palestinians a veto. What it did wasn’t a bribe; it was sacrificing its leverage. (And where is the administration’s outrage over one more Palestinian snub?)

It’s also outrageous that the Washington Post chooses to report Pressure mounts for Mideast talks as Israel’s settlement freeze nears end, without even mentioning once that it’s Abbas who has been refusing to engage with direct talks with Israel. By fawning all over Abbas and the Palestinians, this administration (and to be sure the Bush and Clinton administrations too) continues to allow Abbas to engage in his passive aggressive diplomacy and ensure that nothing gets done.

UPDATE: I forgot about Martin Peretz’s critique of Cameron, David Cameron Has Been to Washington. He Got The Message…And Now He’s Delivering It.

Peretz’ clearly means that Cameron got the Obama administration’s message figuratively, but Jonathan Hoffman thinks it may be literally:

I may have maligned the FCO who reportedly were as surprised as anyone to see the Cameron comments about Israel. It seems that Obama may have been the one who fed him the drivel — and that he willingly swallowed…

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Israel, Israeli Double Standard Time, Turkey | Tagged | Comments Off on Flattery will get you nowhere, but keep talking

Rethinking the administration’s views towards Israel, Iran

Posted on 07/29/2010 by Soccerdad

Last week, based on some upbeat articles, I wondered if the administration was changing its approach. Now Caroline Glick argues against that proposition in The New Improved Obama.

The basic notion informing both of these nearly identical articles is that the Obama administration’s foreign policy is fundamentally pragmatic rather than ideologically motivated. Both Ya’ari and Benn, like many of their fellow commentators on the Left, argue that Obama’s decision to invite Netanyahu to Washington and treat him like an ally rather than an enemy is proof that when stripped to its essentials, his foreign policy is pragmatic.

After a year and half in office, Obama recognized that his previous view of the Middle East was wrong. And as a pragmatist, he has embarked on a new course.

Yet before the ink on their proclamations had a chance to dry, Obama demonstrated that their enthusiasm was misplaced. Late last week the administration decided – apropos of nothing – to upgrade the diplomatic status of the PLO mission in Washington.

From now on, the PLO will be allowed to fly its flag like a regular embassy.

Its representatives will enjoy diplomatic immunity just like diplomats from states.

I’m not sure that the articles were claiming that Obama administration was pragmatic rather than ideological as much as they were claiming that the administration realized that its strategy was failing and that it fears that open hostility towards Israel will hurt Democrats in November. Still the upgrade in the PLO’s status certainly showed that the administration cannot be considered pro-Israel.

On the other hand there have been a few more articles playing up the administration’s military support for Israel. I have to believe that, at the very least, for its own political purposes, the administration wants to keep the diplomatic waters with Israel calm. That’s not to say that allowing the PLO to fly its flag at its embassy hasn’t been counterproductive.

But my other speculation (based on someone else’s speculation) that perhaps it was indicative of the administration’s changing views of the Iranian threat, is just speculation.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

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Muslim ERA watch

Posted on 07/29/2010 by Meryl Yourish

Students at an Islamic university in India are demanding that their female teachers wear the all-covering burqa—the sack with the wire mesh for the eyes. The teacher, who is also Muslim, refuses to wear one.

Sirin Middya, who described herself as a devout Muslim, said she was appointed in March but has not been allowed to teach her classes since she refused to wear the garment, which covers the entire body and face. A mesh net covers the eyes.

“The students have threatened us and have put up banners saying those who oppose the burqa rule can go back home,” Middya said.

But here’s the scary part of the situation:

“I don’t have a problem wearing the burqa, but when I wear it, it will be of my own free will,” Middya said.

She should have a problem with wearing a sack, even of her own free will. Because there is no free will to be had in “choosing” to wear a garment that turns a woman into an anonymous bundle of clothing.

Posted in Feminism, Religion | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Wednesday evening funny

Posted on 07/28/2010 by Meryl Yourish

Sarah gets the greatest spam. My spam is all boring. The best one I ever got had one really funny line: “I look pushy to hearing from you.” Sarah and I used “I look pushy” for weeks after that. Sarah’s got this awesome example of English as a second language:

my father Hon. Mr Felix Newman later died last year as he was poisoned by his family brother.

Hey, being poisoned by your family brother is probably worse than being poisoned by your stranger brother. Go click the link, the letter’s a hoot.

Posted in Bloggers, Humor | 1 Comment

The madness of Mad Mahmoud

Posted on 07/28/2010 by Meryl Yourish

Mad Mahmoud is even crazier than usual.

“We have precise information that the Americans have devised a plot … they plan to attack at least two countries in the region within the next three months,” he said in remarks Press TV posted on its website from an interview with him late Monday.

Ahmadinejad said the United States was seeking to achieve two main objectives from these wars.

“First of all, they want to hamper Iran’s progress and development since they are opposed to our growth, and, secondly, they want to save the Zionist regime because it has reached a dead-end and the Zionists believe they can be saved through a military confrontation,” he said referring to Israel.

So, Mad Mahmoud has “precise information” that America is about to enter two more wars in the region to try to destroy Iran and prop up Israel. Could he be any crazier?

Well, yes.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has criticized Paul the octopus, who gained fame by correctly predicting the outcome of eight World Cup matches.

The Iranian leader called Paul a symbol of decadence and decay in the Western world. Mr. Ahmadinejad also said those who believe in a psychic octopus cannot be leaders of nations like Iran “that aspire to human perfection.”

You know, if this guy wasn’t in charge of a country laden with oil that sits atop the Persian Gulf, has a huge army, and is trying to attain nuclear weapons, he’d be hilarious. Nobody really thought the octopus was psychic—at least, nobody with a brain. This is as funny as the Arab News editorial that cited dogcatcher elections:

The American system is based on perpetual elections at all levels; in many places even the dog-catcher is elected.

Yeah, because the phrase “He couldn’t get elected dogcatcher” means something different in Arabic, apparently.

Back to Mad Mahmoud and Paul the Octopus: We can laugh, but never forget that he and the Mad Mullahs have the capability of bringing life as we know it to a very different path—if they get the bomb.

Posted in Iran, Israel, Juvenile Scorn | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Beware of Turks bearing glass houses

Posted on 07/28/2010 by Soccerdad

PM David Cameron of England, yesterday, gave a speech in Turkey in which he pandered to the Islamist Turkish PM Tayyip Erdogan, in which he alleged, among other things, that Gaza was a “prison camp.” As is typical of the New York Times’s The Lede blog, Robert Mackey takes great delight in highlighting criticisms of Israel. Mackey, at least, posted an objection from the Israeli ambassador, but still the focus of the post is on the condemnation of Israel and not on how accurate it was.

In reference to a snarky article in the Independent, Elder of Ziyon writes:

The problem in Gaza has never been available goods – it has been poverty for the many unemployed people, unemployed in a large part because of Hamas policies. Remember the Erez Industrial Zone and what happened to that? Israel kept it open as long as it could until the terror attacks that Hamas performed there became too much. Thousands of employees lost their jobs as a result.

We seething conservative bloggers, as the Independent condescendingly refers to us, are pointing out that all the “aid” ships that the British newspaper fawns over were based on the same lies that the Independent itself peddled – that Gaza was a large prison camp. Now that the absurdity of that characterization has been destroyed by the Gaza Mall and other quite nice hotels, restaurants and tourist spots that we have discovered and publicized, the Independent refuses to admit its mistakes and instead reframes the discussion to minimize its lies.

The Independent is now moving the goalposts, not willing to admit that the myth of Gaza as a “prison camp” was one that it helped to push and now deriding those who proved that this very newspaper was among the worst purveyors of that very myth.

No, the Elder wasn’t addressing Cameron, but the critique applies to the PM too.

And Daniel PIpes, points out a different aspect to the Turkish hypocrisy regarding Israel that Cameron validated. (Again, this was written before Cameron’s remarks, but it applies to his “prison camp” comment.)

This Turkish rage prompts a question: Is Israel in Gaza really worse than Turkey in Cyprus? A comparison finds this hardly to be so. Consider some contrasts:

  • Turkey’s invasion of July-August 1974 involved the use of napalm and “spread terror” among Cypriot Greek villagers, according to Minority Rights Group International. In contrast, Israel’s “fierce battle” to take Gaza relied only on conventional weapons and entailed virtually no civilian casualties.
  • The subsequent occupation of 37 percent of the island amounted to a “forced ethnic cleansing” according to William Mallinson in a just-published monograph from the University of Minnesota. In contrast, if one wishes to accuse the Israeli authorities of ethnic cleansing in Gaza, it was against their own people, the Jews, in 2005.
  • The Turkish government has sponsored what Mallinson calls “a systematic policy of colonization” on formerly Greek lands in northern Cyprus. Turkish Cypriots in 1973 totaled about 120,000 persons; since then, more than 160,000 citizens of the Republic of Turkey have been settled in their lands. Not a single Israeli community remains in Gaza.
  • Ankara runs its occupied zone so tightly that, in the words of Bülent Akarcalı, a senior Turkey politician, “Northern Cyprus is governed like a province of Turkey.” An enemy of Israel, Hamas, rules in Gaza.
  • The Turks set up a pretend-autonomous structure called the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.” Gazans enjoy real autonomy.
  • A wall through the island keeps peaceable Greeks out of northern Cyprus. Israel’s wall excludes Palestinian terrorists.

Contrary to Cameron’s assertions, Israel was justified in stopping the flotilla and Gaza is not a prison camp. These are points that Mackey could have emphasized in opposition to Cameron’s reckless charges.

But it’s the New York Times, you can’t really expect better.

UPDATE: To his credit, Jackson Diehl isn’t impressed:

Standing alongside Cameron, Erdogan compared Israel to the “pirates of Somalia” and added that people in Gaza “are living under constant attacks and pressure in an open air prison.” That was fairly mild stuff for the Turkish PM, who regularly accuses Israel of “state terrorism” and last month called it an “adolescent, rootless state.”

If Cameron was troubled by such rhetoric, or by Turkey’s role in the ferry incident, he gave no indication of it. Instead he proclaimed that “when I think about what Turkey has done to defend Europe as a NATO ally… it makes me angry that your progress toward E.U. membership can be frustrated in the way it has been.”

That may win the new British government some points in Ankara. But the price will be paid by Israel, which has just seen the international campaign to delegitimize it gain a little more momentum.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

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Wednesday briefs

Posted on 07/28/2010 by Meryl Yourish

If this were a law in America, most single man would have prison records: Lying for sex is against the law in Israel? Since when, 1000 BCE? Really, people. This is a ridiculous law. It’s another stone that will be used in the wall to delegitimize the Jewish state.

Oh, goodie! Hamas draftees will run away from the IDF in the next war: Yes, Hamas is discussing a draft. Will you hear howls of anger from the Palestinian defenders? Will you hear the argument from Israelis that since Hamas will be drafting Palestinians, everyone is a legitimate target? Of course not. What are you, crazy?

Neo-nazis feeling the hate: The state of world anti-Semitism is rising, and the Jew-haters are increasing their activities. They vandalized a Maryland synagogue with anti-Semitic graffiti and Nazi slogans. Well, since Jew-hate has become an arm of the Hollywood elite, and since Israel-hate has become an arm of the left, expect more of the same.

Posted in Anti-Semitism, Gaza, Hamas, Israel | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Oliver Stone, paving the way to mainstreaming anti-Semitism

Posted on 07/28/2010 by Meryl Yourish

So Oliver Stone came out as an anti-Semite. Well, you know, it fits with his whole conspiracy theory issue. What is the oldest, biggest conspiracy of all? The Jews control the world. Just ask Stone. He apologized? Don’t believe it. The Jews made him do it. What do I think? Scratch a conspiracy theorist, and you’ll find a bleeding anti-Semite. What else do I think? That anti-Semitism is now utterly mainstream, apology or no apology. Look what came up first in a Google news search on the phrase “Oliver Stone apologizes”:

Director Oliver Stone has been forced to make a groveling apology over an anti-Semitic outburst.

That’s from a Tulsa talk radio host’s blog. The blog does not go into detail why apologizing for hateful remarks are groveling.

Up second: The disgusting and anti-Semitic Gilad Atzmon, carried on the Salem (Oregon) News website.

The fact that Stone felt perfectly comfortable in dowplaying the genocide of Europe’s Jews (while also insisting that Hitler needs to be looked at “in context”) tells you volumes. The Jew-haters are starting to think that it’s okay to press their case. He was deadly serious when he told the Times of London that Jews had effed up American foreign policy for years. The apology? Hollow.

“Jews obviously do not control media or any other industry. The fact that the Holocaust is still a very important, vivid and current matter today is, in fact, a great credit to the very hard work of a broad coalition of people committed to the remembrance of this atrocity — and it was an atrocity.”

That’s a far cry from what he said a few days prior:

“Hitler did far more damage to the Russians than the Jewish people, 25 or 30m.”

Why such a focus on the Holocaust then? “The Jewish domination of the media,” he says. “There’s a major lobby in the United States. They are hard workers. They stay on top of every comment, the most powerful lobby in Washington. Israel has f***** up United States foreign policy for years.”

Norm may think it’s churlish not to accept his apology, but I think an insincere apology deserves nothing but contempt. Which, apparently, is what Stone thinks of Jews. Back atcha, video hack. Back atcha.

Postscript: Watch this post bring out the anti-Semites and Buchananites in droves. I don’t think I’ll display a “worst-of”, though. I’m really tired of the Jew haters. They can all eff off and die.

Posted in Anti-Semitism | Tagged | 1 Comment

Barak on withdrawals, peace

Posted on 07/27/2010 by Soccerdad

Yesterday’s Washington Post featured an interview with Israeli Defense Minister, Ehud Barak.

Meryl noted a too typical assumption made by the reporter.

Israel Matzav played up a threat made by Barak, but has little confidence that the Defense Minister will act as tough as he talks.

I found this response to be interesting.

WP: Will you be looking for something specific in terms of funding or technology regarding Israel’s Iron Dome system that is meant to defend Israeli towns against rocket attacks?

Barak:…

Now we bear in mind that after we pulled out of Lebanon 10 years ago under my premiership it ended up that the area is now full with tens of thousands of rockets or missiles covering the whole state of Israel. In some five or 10 years they will become accurate enough not just to terrorize urban populations but also to be operational against concrete targets. You know, chosen targets. That could easily make Israel with probably four or five power plants, one international airport, 1.5 golf courses, that’s all of the country. We are a very tiny country so we need to have this protection.

We did it once in Lebanon. We pulled out and ended up with an area full of rockets and missiles. We did it next in Gaza and ended up with an area full of rockets covering Tel Aviv as well as other parts of the south and half of Israel. And within the framework of considering an agreement with the Palestinians that will establish a Palestinian state side by side with Israel we should make sure that the three underlying principles of our security are fully assured, namely the West Bank will not become like Gaza and southern Lebanon, another launching pad for rockets against the coastal plane of Israel, the kind of terror wave that flooded Israel with blood spilling in the streets in 2001-2003, all of them practically from the West Bank, will not repeat itself and that in the future if the whole overall situation, geopolitical situation changes and we face once again an eastern front, which is not existing now, we will be able to respond. All these elements should be answered within a peace agreement with the Palestinians. Clearly, with the Syrians and Lebanese, it should be answered. So we need this main pillar which is multi-layered interception system as well as the offensive capabilities and technologies for border inspection and early warning.

Barak here acknowledges that the Israeli withdrawals from Lebanon and Gaza led to more not less terror. And he seems to be saying that a major part of any peace deal will be the deployment of a defensive system like Iron Dome. Unless I’m reading this wrong, even a dove like Barak, feels that an essential element to peace is for Israel to be able to defend itself from attacks orignating from the PA. That’s either an admission that he doesn’t much trust the PA’s peaceful intentions, or if he does, that he doesn’t believe that the PA will be able to prevent an eventual takeover by Hamas.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Israel | Tagged | 1 Comment

Briefs

Posted on 07/27/2010 by Meryl Yourish

Cameron goes for the Islamist vote: By this statement alone, Britain’s new PM shows himself to be either an utter fool, an anti-Zionist, or a politician who panders to every audience.

“The Israeli attack on the Gaza flotilla was completely unacceptable,” Cameron said. In a reference to the Israeli blockade of the Palestinian territory, he said: “Gaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp.”

Ah, the British. Such friends to Israel and Jews that they actually had a celebration on the 350th anniversary of Jews being allowed back into Britain. Too bad we didn’t stay out.

Somebody alert the UN Human Rights Council: A nation is utterly refusing to grant restitution for seizing the property of citizens who were forced out of their country by violent attacks and government inaction. Israel? Palestinians? Nope. Algeria and Jews. The action that initiated the refusal? The Ministry of Pensioners’ Affairs is going to sue Arab states for property left behind by Jews. I’m quite sure the UN will leap into action on behalf of Jewish refugees. Just as sure as I’m going to find a unicorn on my deck tomorrow.

Sure, because they’ve already accomplished their goal: Israel is being crucified once again in world opinion, a kangaroo court has been established to create yet another anti-Israel UN report, and the Gaza blockade has been mostly lifted. So of course Turkey is working to prevent the Lebanese from sending any more ships to Gaza. They don’t want them to steal Turkey’s glory by having their own martyrs to parade on posters.

Posted in Gaza, Israel, Israeli Double Standard Time, Turkey, United Nations | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

If you’re happy and you know it …

Posted on 07/27/2010 by Soccerdad

… you’re Israeli.

How the results were determined..

As summarized at the Daily Alert Blog:

Israel tied for 8th place with Australia, Switzerland, and Canada in a Gallup World Poll survey of 155 countries that measures well-being.

Denmark, Finland and Norway led the list, the U.S. tied with Austria for 14th place, while the highest ranking Arab country, the United Arab Emirates, was 20th.

Israel’s neighbors ranked as follows: Egypt (115 tied), Syria (115 tied), Jordan (52), and Lebanon (73).

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

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The anti-Bibi media narrative

Posted on 07/26/2010 by Meryl Yourish

Interesting that the Washington Post, in an interview with Ehud Barak, chose to portray the lack of direct negotiations in this manner:

U.S. Middle East envoy George J. Mitchell has been trying for months to broker a resumption of direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Netanyahu has said he is willing to meet Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas directly; Abbas, skeptical of Netanyahu’s sincerity, reportedly told his party’s leadership last week that he wants more specific U.S. assurances before agreeing to direct talks.

That sounds familiar. Hm. Let’s look at a recent AP article:

The Palestinians are wary of entering open-ended negotiations with Israel’s hardline prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. They want Israel to first accept the principle of a Palestinian state in the lands it captured in the 1967 Mideast War, with some alterations.

Why, it’s almost as if there’s one narrative when it comes to writing about Israel.

Exit remark: Barak stated explicitly that the Lebanese government will bear the responsibility for rockets from Hezbollah fired at Israel. Countdown to condemnation in 3, 2, 1….

Update: And right on cue, the AP adds the narrative to its latest release on getting the Palestinians to agree to talks without preconditions:

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been reluctant to proceed from the current U.S.-mediated talks to direct negotiations. He is skeptical of Netanyahu’s commitment to peacemaking and wants more assurances from the U.S. that progress will be made.

Right. The Palestinians are refusing to conduct negotiations, but it’s the Israelis’ fault because the Palestinians think Netanyahu is insincere. Laughable.

Posted in Israel, Lebanon, Media Bias | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Two positive developments from Iran

Posted on 07/26/2010 by Soccerdad

I’ve recently been following some developments on the Iranian front. There appears to be another effect the most recent round of sanctions have had on Iran – Sanctions Slow Development of Natural Gas Field in Iran

Threatened by tougher international and U.S. penalties that target the financing of oil projects and technical support for Iran’s energy sector, Western firms such as Shell, Total and Halliburton have pulled out of the development of the South Pars gas field. South Pars is the Iranian portion of a natural gas reservoir about two miles below the Persian Gulf between Iran and Qatar. The reservoir is the world’s largest gas field, covering 3,745 square miles and containing an estimated 1,800 trillion cubic feet of gas. About 38 percent of it lies below Iran’s territorial waters.

On Saturday, the engineering and construction arm of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, Khatam ol-Anbia, which is also under new U.N. and U.S. sanctions, unexpectedly withdrew from two key gas refinery projects. It also refrained from bidding on the three final parts of the South Pars gas field, said Mohammad Hassan Mousavizadeh, a technical adviser to the state-owned Pars Oil and Gas Co.

“In the present circumstances, it is possible that continued activity . . . will endanger national resources,” Khatam ol-Anbia said in a statement after the pullout.

However Daniel Pipes, in a recent interview doubts whether sanctions would have an effect. (via memeorandum)

I don’t think so. I don’t think sanctions have any value beyond window dressing. I don’t think agreements have any value. I don’t think threats have any value. It boils down to whether we accept the Iranian nuclear program or we destroy it.

(Israel Matzav focuses on a different aspect of the interview. Perhaps the most controversial suggestion made by Dr. Pipes.)

In addition Michael Ledeen believes that the Iranian regime has lost a measure of control:

Moreover, in the city of Zahedan — where the murderous suicide attacks took place last week (the best coverage, as usual, was from Banafsheh, who was first with the pictures of the killers) — the Revolutionary Guards control things during the day, but once night falls, anti-regime forces, many of them armed, take to the streets. In short, the people have lost their fear. The regime may very well arrest them, beat them, torture them, and kill them, but it is getting more and more difficult to control them.

Very few news stories noticed the two most significant aspects of the bombing at the Zahedan mosque. The first was the regime’s panicky reaction: at first they announced, correctly, that the attack had been carried out by Balouch fighters. Then they realized that this was bad for the regime, since they had bragged for some time that the Revolutionary Guards had shut down all possibility of protest, following last year’s devastating suicide bombing of a big RG meeting in the region. So they quickly changed their story, reverting to the party line that anything bad in Iran is the fault of the Satanic forces embodied in the United States and Israel.

The second key feature of the attack in Zahedan was the day on which it occurred: it was Pasdar day, the occasion of celebrating the great strength and virtue of the Revolutionary Guards. Supreme leader Ali Khamenei himself had delivered the official tribute that very morning in the capital. The suicide bombing showed that the regime is not in control of the situation, and that the people have not accepted its authority.

These two items are positive developments. (I’m not meaning to applaud the death of innocents.) The degree to which they are helpful are not at all clear.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Posted in Iran | Tagged | 2 Comments

Goldstone follow-up: The fix is in

Posted on 07/26/2010 by Meryl Yourish

The post-Goldstone committee, tasked with the responsibility of reporting on whether or not Israel is “following” the report’s recommendations, includes at least one appointee who is actively, vehemently, biased against Israel. And oh yeah—he’s the chairman.

The chairman of the UN committee responsible for following up on the findings of the Goldstone Report on Operation Cast Lead acknowledged on Saturday that he had helped prepare an advisory opinion analyzing legal aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian issue in the 1990s, but said he could not recall whether he had done this work on behalf of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

In any other legal case in any democratic nation, an investigator with such conflicts of interest would either recuse himself or be dismissed. But this, of course, is the UN Human Rights Council, and there is no such thing as a biased report on Israel—the subject of 27 anti-Israel resolutions since 2006. And the jurist himself? Why, of course he’s not biased. Just ask him.

In any case, said German jurist Christian Tomuschat, the legal work had been objective, should not be regarded as “a blemish” and did not constitute a reason for him to step down from the Goldstone follow- up panel.

Here is why his bias matters so much for Israel:

The panel is charged with examining the efficiency, independence and professionalism of Israel’s court system and its adherence to internationally accepted standards.

The committee is another step on the road to delegitimizing Israel. This is a widespread attempt by Israel’s enemies to get the international community to declare Israel a rogue nation. They can’t really move forward with their phony “apartheid” claims, but they continue to move forward in courts of international law—even though those courts have no real jurisdiction. It is the court of public opinion that they’re really after, and in most of the world, they’re winning. If the UNHRC declares Israel’s court system unable to investigate its own army, the anti-Israel factions will have won a very big battle.

And Tomuschat already believes that the Israeli court system is flawed. He has said that targeted killing are Israeli “state terrorism” and said that targeted killings are always unjustified.

There is, of course, no mention of this outside the Israeli press. It’s an international human rights investigation, but since this is about an investigator with an anti-Israel bias, it isn’t news. Of course not. It’s just another day in the world of the anti-Israelites.

Posted in Gaza, Israel Derangement Syndrome, United Nations | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Goldstone follow-up: The fix is in