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1. Clinton: If Rabin Lived, We'd Have Reached Peace in 3 Years
by Gil Ronen
Former US president Bill Clinton said Saturday that “if Yitzchak [Rabi had not been murdered, I believe we would have achieved peace in three years' time, and created cooperation between Israel, Palestine and Lebanon.”
Clinton added: “In the past 14 years, not a single week has passed in which I did not think of Yitzchak Rabin, and missed him very much.”
Clinton, who landed in Israel Saturday evening, is a guest of the Saban Forum which is being held for the sixth straight year in Jerusalem. Besides Clinton, participants from the US will include California governor Arnold Schwartzenegger and his wife Maria Shriver. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will address the forum, as will Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Opposition Leader Tzipi Livni and Israel Bank Governor Stanley Fischer.
Defense Minister Barak met with Clinton Saturday evening for about thirty minutes and discussed several subjects, including Iran's nuclear program and negotiations with the Palestinian Authority.
2. Egypt Warns of Iranian Maneuvers, Tehran Cozies Up to Cairo
by Hana Levi Julian
Egypt has issued a warning about Iran's growing potential to change the balance of power in the Middle East. Cairo's suspicions are based on an estimate of the Iranian regime's intentions to spread its Islamic Revolution to Shi'ite and Sunni states and communities in the region -- including those in Egypt.
The concern was discussed at a conference held at the Center for International Political Studies in Cairo late last month, at which experts evaluated the entire Iranian strategic threat to the region.
Participants emphasized the need to maintain tight surveillance on Iranian operations in the East Horn of Africa and their impact on the strategic security interests of countries in the region, especially Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the Gulf states.
Egyptian General Ahmed Fakhr, head of the political studies center, called on the Arab world to work together to thwart Iranian activities in the Horn of Africa and its direct threat to Cairo. Fakhr said the Iranian operations poses a challenge to Egypt and to other countries in the region.
Muhamad Abas Naji, an expert on Iranian affairs in the Strategic Research Center of Ah-Ahram University, noted that Iran is striving to create a presence in the region. Such a move, he said, will reduce pressure on the Islamic Republic as the country moves its forces around in the Middle East, in order to avert an American or Israeli attack. He also explained that the Iranian activities are being carried out by companies and associations that represent the economic arm of the Islamic Republic. Financial institutions that support social services also spread spiritual messages by funding Shi'ite religious centers, he said.
Even as Egypt raises the red flag about Iran's growing strength in the region, however, the Islamic Republic is moving to allay Cairo's fears.
Iran Cozies Up to Egypt?
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki invited his Egyptian counterpart, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, to pay a visit to Tehran to discuss bilateral ties between the two countries. According to the Iranian Fars news agency, Mottaki issued the invitation Saturday during a meeting with the newly appointed head of Egypt's Interest Section in Tehran, Alaedin Hassan Yousef.
Mottaki was quoted by the state-run news agency as saying that Tehran-Cairo deliberations would favor regional nations. He noted that Aboul Gheit was the foreign minister of the nation presiding over the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), which he noted is expected to have a mounting role in international issues.
Iran attempted to solicit the support of NAM nations in its bid to win a rotating seat on the United Nations Security Council last year.
The 118-member nation NAM is an international organization of countries that consider themselves not formally aigned with or against any major power bloc. The group comprises nearly two-thirds of the United Nations's membership and some 55 percent of the world's population, primarily those of the third world and developing nations.
The Iranian foreign minister expressed his hope that Iran and Egypt could together take steps "in favor of Islamic countries under mutual understanding," according to Fars.
3. Schwarzenegger to Sign Cooperation Treaty with Israel
by Gil Ronen
Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will sign an document of understandings regarding industrial cooperation in the field of renewable energy. The signing will take place in the course of Schwarzenegger's visit to Israel as part of the Saban Forum.
The agreement with California will advance strategic commerce cooperation between the State of Israel and California in the renewable energy and environmental technologies fields, by creating partnerships between Israeli firms that specialize in these fields on the one hand, and California industries and municipalities on the other. Mutual investments between the countries will increase, as will research cooperation and other coordination in these fields.
The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor's attache on the US west coast, Sigal Admoni Ravid, said that the US clean-tech market, and especially the renewable energy market, has tremendous commercial potential for Israeli companies. “President Obama's stimulus package allots billions of dollars to projects in the water and energy fields,” she noted.
Trade with the US between the months of January and September 2009 totaled about 17 billion dollars. 12 billion of these were exports, and 5 billion were imports to Israel. This is a 12% drop compared to the same period in 2008.
4. Cohen Brothers Hope to Build on Jerusalem-Bethlehem Seam
by Hillel Fendel
Jerusalem brothers Danny and Benny Cohen have gone public with their ownership of “thousands” of dunams (quarter-acres) of land in southern Jerusalem, on which they hope to build between 1,000 and 12,000 housing units.
The Globes internet business site broke the news of the next planned controversial real estate development. The Cohens are little-known businessmen who purchased, over the past 26 years, thousands of acres of land along the Jerusalem-Bethlehem seamline area. They said they plan to file, within a few months, a construction plan for the area - Givat Yael - with the Jerusalem Regional Planning and Building Commission. Construction in this area means expanding the borders of greater Jerusalem.
Danny Cohen emphasized repeatedly, in his interview with Globes, that his interest in this project is only financial and not political. He appeared to be slightly embarrassed by his association with his close colleague, Meir Davidson, who at one time represented the religious-nationalist Ateret Cohanim, the non-profit organization that seeks to buy properties in eastern Jerusalem and settle Jews there.
"No right-wing organizations are involved, and no tycoons with a political interest," he said. “It’s just my brother and I; Benny identified the potential many years ago, and now we’re just hoping to realize the profits that can be garnered here.”
The Kim Lustigman Development and Building company has signed on with the Cohens as a strategic partner in the project. Cohen says the construction several years ago of Teddy Stadium and then the Malha Mall “was very gratifying” to him, because it brings construction on his property closer to fruition. Part of the area is under the jurisdiction of the Jerusalem Municipality, and part is in Judea/Samaria; Cohen is well aware that the former will be developed before the latter.
"We believe that 20,000 housing units will be needed in Jerusalem over the next ten years," Cohen told Globes. "I'm not a megalomaniac, I don’t imagine that we'll build everything. We'll get 1,000 housing units approved initially, and then we'll see. This is a modular plan. At present we are not working on the area in Judea and Samaria.”
Many large Jerusalem neighborhoods are located in areas that were liberated during the 1967 Six Day War. These include Ramat Eshkol, French Hill, Neve Yaakov, Ramot, Pisgat Zev, Gilo, Har Homa, East Talpiyot, and more.
5. MK Pans Peres-Netanyahu Coordination
by Hillel Fendel
“I believe Shimon Peres 100%,” says MK Yaakov "Ketzaleh" Katz, “when he says that his declarations in Brazil of his willingness to give over Judea, Samaria and the Golan to our enemies were stated in coordination with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu… We must unite our forces to unseat Netanyahu.”
President Peres told Brazil’s Congress last week, “For the sake of peace, we returned to Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon all the territories and the water. In a similar spirit, we are seeking solutions to the issues that remain between us and the Syrians and between us and the Palestinians.”
On Sunday, Peres confirmed that these statements were made with total coordination with Prime Minister Netanyahu. “I expressed the image that the government wishes to present to the world,” Peres told IDF Army Radio. “I presented Israel’s desire for peace, and expressed the prices that we paid or that we will pay.”
Encouraged by Rightward Trend
As incensed as Katz was at the president’s remarks, he was equally encouraged by the recent Haaretz public opinion poll showing that the party he heads, the National Union, will nearly double its current electoral strength in the next elections. “It shows that the national-religious public is waking up from the false prophecies of Moshe Feiglin and Effie Eitam that lobbied this precious and Land of Israel-loving public to vote for Netanyahu.”
Feiglin has waged a campaign for over a decade to have the religious-Zionist public join and support the Likud, so as to be able to influence its policies from within. He himself was voted into the 20th slot on the Likud list of Knesset candidates, but was moved down to the 40’s in what some felt was a “political machination” by Feiglin’s political nemesis, Netanyahu.
“The public voted so strongly for the Likud,” Katz said, “because it believed Netanyahu’s promises that he would never agree to a two-state solution, and that he would renew Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria. Yet after nearly a year in office, Netanyahu is actually worse than his predecessors Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert.”
The poll shows that the public has moved significantly rightwards, with the Likud gaining six seats at the expense of Labor, and the National Union gaining three seats at the expense of other parties.
'Netanyahu Against Jewish Judea/Samaria'
Katz reached back into history to condemn Netanyahu: “Not since the Crusaders has there been a leader who so strongly fights against Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel as Netanyahu. I believe Housing Minister Ariel Attias when he says that Netanyahu instructed him not to issue a single tender in Jerusalem and Judea/Samaria.”
Katz says he believes that future polls will show more Likud voters moving to the National Union. “Those who thought Netanyahu had changed his mind from the Oslo path, and from his support for the Wye Plantation, Hevron and Disengagement deals, and now realize they were tricked, will not want to give Netanyahu yet a third chance,” said Ketzaleh, who served in the early 90’s as top assistant to then-Housing Minister Ariel Sharon.
Despite this, Katz still feels that Netanyahu deserved the votes of at least one sector – those who supported Kadima in the previous election. “But Likud members should return to the healthy approach of Land of Israel leaders such as Ze’ev Jabotinsky and Yitzchak Shamir,” and not vote for those who brought upon the catastrophes of “Sharon, Netanyahu and Olmert.”
6. Tens of Thousands Visit Hevron for 'Chayey Sarah' Sabbath
by Gil Ronen
Tens of thousands of people flooded Hevron, the biblical City of Patriarchs, in honor of the “Chayey Sarah Sabbath.” Among the guests were Justice Minister Yaakov Ne'eman and MK Uri Ariel (NU).
"Chayey Sarah” – Hebrew for “Lifetime of Sarah” – is the Torah portion which recounts the passing of Sarah the Matriarch and Abraham's purchase of a burial plot for her from Ephron the Hittite. The passage, in which Abraham insists on paying the full price for the plot, has been quoted by Jews for millennia as proof of Jewish rights to the Cave of Machpelah, where most of the first Patriarchs and Matriarchs are buried, and by extension, to all of Hevron.
The spokesman for the Jewish community in Hevron, Noam Arnon, told Arutz Sheva that mass prayers were held at the Cave of Machpelah. The entire Cave, including the Yitzchak Hall, was open to Jews.
"It was a wonderful Sabbath,” Arnon said. “Over twenty thousand people came, it was an extraordinary experience. Even the rain came down on time during the prayers and the Sabbath meals.” Arnon said people from all religious streams came to Hevron: hareidis, knit-kippahs, hassidic Jews, Ashkenazics and Sephardics. “The guests did not just come from Israel but also from the US and Europe,” he said.
The Jewish community in Hevron offered guests tours of the Jewish neighborhood, including the Avraham Avinu Synagogue, Hadassah House and Admot Yishai.
7. They Save Horses, Don't They?
by Hana Levi Julian
Cart horses will be able to step a little lighter around the Tel Aviv area after the CHAI (Live) and HaKol Chai (They All Live) animal rights groups won a long-fought battle to ban horse-drawn carts from Tel Aviv streets.
For more than a decade, the two groups have pressured the Tel Aviv municipality to regulate -- and then later ban -- the practice of horses pulling heavily-laden carts through city streets. "These animals are often starved, beaten, and made to work in the hot sun without water, and not provided with veterinary care," charged a spokesman for HaKol Chai.
The group first approached city officials with their concerns in 1999, the spokesman said, with little progress to show for their efforts. In response, CHAI repeatedly exposed incidents of horse abuse in Yafo (Jaffa), rescuing and rehabilitating the abused horses along the way.
One of the worst cases of abuse was documented in 2001 and again in 2003 in two reports about a man named Nissim, who starved and sold the beasts of burden. Nissim was filmed hacking his animals with an axe in front of each other, and selling their meat in the market as beef. The undercover video of the abuse by Nissim shot by Hakol Chai was shown on Israeli television, forcing authorities to close his place down.
Other cases of abuse of donkeys forced to pull heavy loads, including one who had his ears cut off, led the organization's attorney in 2005 to demand that the Transportation Ministry and City Council ban cart horses and donkeys altogether.
Years of grassroots organizing followed. Cart horse owners lobbied the mayor's office to counter enactment of a ban, letter-writing campaigns by Hakol Chai activists pressured city hall, and finally, a concert supporting Hakol Chai's cause in December 2008 raised awareness still further.
The straw that broke the cart horse's back, however, was a civil disobedience demonstration at the entrance to Tel Aviv city hall in June 2009, with dozens of protestors waving signs saying "Animals are not cars," "Horses and donkeys are not vehicles," "They're hurting; don't you care?" "Stop Animal Abuse" and "Carriages and cars are a dead trend."
CHAI, an acronym for "Concern for Helping Animals in Israel", was formed in 1984 to improve the condition and treatment of Israel's animals. Hakol Chai, the group's Israeli sister charity, came later, in 2001.
"Israel, with its security and economic problems, has only recently turned its attention to animal protection issues," the group observed in a statement on its web site. "Concerned Israelis are now working hard to make the Jewish principle of tzaar baalei chaim, the mandate not to cause 'pain to any living creature,' a part of daily life in the country. However, many others see the need to help animals as a very low priority."
CHAI director Nina Natelson said the fight has just begun, however. "We are pleased that, at long last, there will no longer be sights of thin, injured, beaten cart horses in Tel Aviv, and we will continue pressing mayors of other cities in Israel to issue similar bans."
The Israeli group has meanwhile become part of an international coalition of organizations called Horses Without Carriages International, which seeks to end the practice of horse-drawn carts and carriages.
