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1. Netanyahu Visits Paris Aiming to Boost Economy
by Eli Stutz
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu flew to Paris today, where he'll accept an invitation for Israel to join the prestigious OECD group of 31 rich world economies. He'll also meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss the Arab-Israeli peace process.
Israel has long requested to become a member of the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), a Paris-based group of economically developed nations. The OECD finally invited Israel to join, despite the objections of Arab leaders who claim that Israel's membership conflicts with the organization's commitment to human rights.
OECD membership will help Israel's status with investment funds, as it now defines Israel as a developed country as opposed to an emerging economy. The OECD said yesterday (Wednesday) that the Israeli economy was expected to enjoy an impressive 3.8% growth in the coming year, and it has praised Israel for its response to the global economic crisis. Still, said the OECD, poverty in Israel is rampant with 20% of Israelis living below the poverty line.
Netanyahu will also conduct a 'working lunch' with Sarkozy at the Elysee Palace. Of late, there have been tensions between the two leaders, with Sarkozy displeased over Netanyhu's support for continued building in Jerusalem. Netanyahu commented on the tensions, saying that his relations with Sarkozy are, "very friendly...among friends and members of the same family, you can have occasional disagreements, but we remain fraternal."
Netanyahu is set to fly to the U.S. on Tuesday, where he will meet with U.S. President Barack Obama. Netanyahu was invited to the meeting with Obama via White House Cheif of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who is visiting Israel now for his son's Bar Mitzvah. The meeting with Obama is expected to focus on mending strained relations between the two leaders, and Obama is expected to give Netanyahu a warm reception, and focus less on content and more on the appearance of improved relations. Obama has also invited the PA's Machmoud Abbas to meet him in June, in an attempt to restart the negotiation process with Israel.
Netanyahu is scheduled to fly to Canada on Friday, ahead of his U.S. visit.
2. Activists'' 'Operation Rahm Emanuel' Continues
by Maayana Miskin
Activist and parliamentary aide Itamar Ben-Gvir is continuing “Operation Rahm Emanuel,” in which he probes the behavior of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who is in Israel for his son's Bar Mitzva. On Wednesday, Ben-Gvir charged that the hall in which the Emanuel family plans to celebrate the Bar Mitzva is not licensed to host such events.
The Emanuel family plans to celebrate in the Davidson Center in the archaeological park in Jerusalem's Old City, according to Ben-Gvir. Ben-Gvir has appealed to the Jerusalem District Court to call on the city of Jerusalem and on East Jerusalem Development Ltd to explain why the Emanuel family was given permission to use the center for a private event.
In addition, he has called to move the Bar Mitzvah to an alternate location. The “basic values of the state of Israel” determine that rules must be followed, even by the White House Chief of Staff, he said. “The principle of rule of law does not allow a Bar Mitzvah to be held in a place not licensed for such events,” he added.
The Davidson Center is next to the Western Wall (Kotel) in the Old City of Jerusalem and houses archaological finds and an auditorium where a film about coming to Jerusalem in Temple times is shown to visitors. The area is one of many in Israel's capital that was under Jordanian control between 1948 and 1967.
The Obama administration has publicly condemned Israel for building Jewish housing in such neighborhoods of Jerusalem, which the Palestinian Authority has demanded as the capital of a future PA state.
Ben-Gvir and Baruch Marzel, who serve as aides to MK Michael Ben-Ari, wrote to Emanuel in January and suggested that he move the Bar Mitzvah away from the Western Wall, and added, “We will take care to remind you during the length of your stay in Israel that the State of Israel will continue to exist, no matter how much it angers you.”
The two later explained their demand that Emanuel move the celebration, saying, “A person who hopes to give up the Kotel itself should not be celebrating in Jerusalem.”
Earlier this week, MK Ben-Ari criticized both Emanuel and the Tourism Ministry over reports that a ministry representative was handed the bill for Emanuel and his family after they dined in a non-kosher seafood restaurant in Eilat. The Tourism Ministry denied that it paid the bill, however.
3. "Blockaded" Gaza is Awash in Goods
by Hillel Fendel
Part One of a Two-Part Series
Israel’s Foreign Ministry (MFA) has prepared a “counter-attack” to the flotilla of anti-Israel “humanitarian” ships scheduled to arrive in Gaza later this week: a detailed account and list of aid Israel provides Gaza. Part Two is an explanation as to why the blockade is internationally justified, given the state of armed conflict in effect between Israel and Hamas.
The article on the MFA website, entitled “Behind the Headlines: The Israeli humanitarian lifeline to Gaza,” begins with this introduction: “Despite attacks by Hamas, Israel maintains an ongoing humanitarian corridor for the transfer of food and humanitarian supplies to Gaza, used by internationally recognized organizations including the United Nations and the Red Cross.”
Well over a million tons of humanitarian supplies entered Gaza from Israel over the last 18 months, equaling nearly a ton of aid for every man, woman and child in Gaza. International food aid worth millions of dollars continually flows through the Israeli humanitarian apparatus, ensuring that there is no food shortage in Gaza.
The list of Israeli aid to Gaza is so impressive that the question has been asked why Israel is doing so much for an entity with which it is in a state of armed conflict. The question is made more acute in view of the promises the Israeli government made regarding “total separation” in order to make the 2005 Disengagement from Gaza more palatable to the Israeli public.
Excerpts from the MFA report:
* Large quantities of essential food items like baby formula, wheat, meat, dairy products and other perishables are transferred daily and weekly to Gaza. Fertilizers that cannot be used to make explosives are shipped into the Strip regularly, as are potato seeds, eggs for reproduction, bees, and flower industry equipment.
* Photos in local newspapers show local markets aplenty with fruit, vegetables, cheese, spices, bread and meat.
* In the first quarter of 2010, 94,500 tons of supplies were transferred in 3,676 trucks to the Strip: 48,000 tons of food products; 40,000 tons of wheat; 2,760 tons of rice; 1,987 tons of clothes and footwear; 553 tons of milk powder and baby food.
* At holiday times, Israel increases transfers. During the Muslim holy days of Ramadan and Eid al-Adha, Israel shipped some 11,000 heads of cattle into the Strip.
* No Palestinian is denied medical care in Israel. However, if the Hamas regime does not grant permits for medical care, the Israeli government can do nothing to help the patient. Israel will facilitate all cases of medical treatments from Gaza, unless the patient is a known perpetrator of terrorism.
* Since 2005, Palestinians exploited medical care arrangements more than 20 times to carry out terror attacks.
* While the import of cement and iron has been restricted into Gaza because they are used by Hamas to cast rockets and bunkers, monitored imports of truckloads of cement, iron, and building supplies such as wood and windows are regularly coordinated with international parties. In the first quarter of 2010, 23 tons of iron and 25 tons of cement were transferred to the Gaza Strip.
* On May 13 of this year, Israel allowed approximately 39 tons of building material into Gaza to help rebuild a damaged hospital.
* The UN report of May 2010 states that while 10% of Gaza’s electricity comes from Egypt and 18% is home-made, nearly 3/4 of Gaza’s electricity needs – 72% - is supplied by Israel. Since January 2010, the supply of electricity has deteriorated because the Hamas regime is unwilling to purchase the fuel to run the Gaza City power station.
* Israel transferred 41 trucks of equipment in 2009 for the maintenance of Gaza's electricity grid.
* In 2009, 127 trucks containing more than 3,000 tons of hypochlorite entered the Gaza Strip for water purification purposes, with Israel-UN coordination.
* The U.S., Israel, Canada, and the EU have frozen funds to the PA Hamas government since 2006, recognizing it as a terror organization. Israel has taken measures to support trade and commerce, the banking system, and the existing financial market in the Gaza Strip.
* During 2009, 7.5 million tons of flowers and 54 tons of strawberries were exported from Gaza with Israeli cooperation.
* In 2009, 1.1 billion shekels (close to $300 million) were transferred to Gaza for the ongoing activity of international organizations and to pay the salaries of PA workers. 40 million damaged bank notes were traded for new bills, and at the request of the Palestinian Monetary Fund, 282.5 million shekels were transferred from Gazan to Israeli banks.
* Israel transfers school equipment supplied by UNRWA including school bags, writing implements and textbooks. Israel is currently coordinating the transfer of 200,000 laptops for Gaza children and the shipment of 74 maritime containers for conversion into Gaza classrooms.
* In the first quarter of 2010, Israel transferred 250 trucks with equipment for the UNWRA summer camp, including arts-and-crafts equipment, swimming pools, inflatable toys, ice cream machines, musical instruments, clothing, sports equipment.
* About 20% of the population in Gaza owns a personal computer, more than in Portugal, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Russia. They have access to ADSL and dial-up Internet service, provided by one of four providers. About 70% of Gazans own a TV and radio and have access to satellite TV or broadcast TV from the PA or Israel. Gaza has well-developed telephone landlines, and extensive mobile telephone services. 81% of households in Gaza have access to a cell phone.
* Despite the inherent dangers involved, Israel permits Gazans and visitors to travel between Gaza and Israel, from Gaza to Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), and even abroad for medical treatment, religious pilgrimages, and business trips.
* In additional to medical travel, 21,200 activists from international organizations and over 400 diplomatic delegations were permitted entry into Gaza.
Swimming Pools and More
National Post correspondent Tom Gross revealed this week that the Gaza Strip is actually not as impoverished as is commonly believed. “Western journalists refuse to report on [this] because it doesn’t fit with the simplistic story they were sent to write,” he notes. He reported specifically on a new Olympic-size swimming pool recently built in a Gaza town, something that “most Israeli towns don’t have,” and on a popular Gaza City restaurant serving gourmet meals and whose owner says business is booming.
4. Foreign Min. Legal Expert Explains Why Gaza is Blockaded
by Hillel Fendel
Part 2 of a Two-Part Series. The first part of this series, a detailed account and list of aid Israel provides Gaza, can be seen here.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry (MFA) has prepared a three-pronged “counter-attack” to the flotilla of anti-Israel “humanitarian” ships scheduled to arrive in Gaza later this week. Among the elements of the Israeli response is a detailed explanation of the blockade Israel has imposed on Hamas, as outlined below.
Sarah Weiss Maudi, the Foreign Ministry's expert on maritime and humanitarian law, was interviewed by the FMA website about the justification for the blockade on Gaza. She explained that the reason why ships are not allowed into Gaza is Israel has imposed a maritime blockade on the coast of Gaza. Israel did this, Maudi said, “because Israel is currently in a state of armed conflict with the Hamas regime that controls Gaza.”
Hamas has repeatedly bombed civilian targets in Israel proper, she said, “with weapons that have been smuggled into Gaza by various routes, including the sea… Maritime blockades are a legitimate and recognized measure under international law, and may be implemented as part of an armed conflict at sea.”
She further said that “under international maritime law, when a maritime blockade is in effect, no vessels can enter the blockaded area. That includes both civilian vessels and enemy vessels. Any vessel that violates or attempts to violate the maritime blockade may be captured or even attacked.”
“Various naval manuals, including the naval manuals of the US and UK, recognize the maritime blockade as an effective naval measure that can be implemented in times of armed conflict,” Maudi continued. “And those manuals give various criteria for making a blockade valid, including the requirement to give due notice of the blockade. Israel, in accordance with the requirements of international law, has publicized the existence of the blockade currently in effect, and has published the exact coordinates of the blockade via the accepted international professional maritime channels.”
The interviewer then said, “Let's talk about the transfer of supplies over land. Why can Israel decide what goes in and what can't?”
Ms. Weiss Maudi responded, “In order to answer that question, we need to think about the events of the past few years. In 2005, Israel completed its disengagement plan and completely withdrew from the Gaza Strip, so that no Israeli military or civilian presence remained in the Gaza Strip. The disengagement plan ended Israel's effective control of the Gaza Strip after almost 40 years of effective control… What currently exists is a state of armed conflict.”
She added that though Israel had hoped “that the disengagement would be used as a springboard for more positive relations with our neighbors in Gaza, in actuality, the opposite occurred. Instead of positive relations happening, the terrorist organization of Hamas seized power in Gaza and stepped up the rocket and mortar attacks on Israeli communities and towns in Israel proper adjacent to the Gaza Strip.”
“Therefore, in light of the Hamas-sponsored attacks on Israeli civilian targets, Israel undertook a number of measures against the Hamas regime. One of these measures is the imposition of economic sanctions against the Hamas regime in Gaza… Under international law, every state gets to decide what goes in and out of its borders. Also under international law, every state gets to decide whether it wants to forge economic relationships with any entity or state. Similarly, a country has a sovereign right to decide whether to impose economic sanctions on any enemy state or entity.
“I want to emphasize that this is not an act of collective punishment, but is rather a measure to put pressure on a regime that is attacking Israel's citizens. Under international law Israel has a basic right to defend and protect its citizens.
“Such economic penalties have been imposed throughout modern history. There are many examples of bilateral sanctions: the U.S. against Syria and against Libya, for instance… In the international arena these are considered a legitimate and effective tool to exert pressure on terrorist or other regimes, such as that of the Hamas terrorist regime.”
Interviewer: “So how do we make sure that our actions are against the regime, but not against the citizens?”
Ms. Weiss Maudi: “Well, Israel has a humanitarian obligation to make sure that certain vital humanitarian interests are met and that supplies go in. But I want to emphasize that Israel is under no obligation to supply non-vital goods or goods that could give Hamas a military or economic advantage. That is why Israel limits, for example, the supply of concrete into the Gaza Strip. Concrete could be used to mold rockets. It could be used to build reinforced bunkers which are clearly for military purposes against Israel.”
She emphasizes that Israel supplies Gaza with large quantities of humanitarian supplies, including baby formula, meat, dairy products, and more. “And in the last year and a half it has supplied Gaza with over a million tons of goods. The Israel Supreme Court constantly reviews these supplies to make sure that Israel is in line with its requirements under both Israeli domestic law and international law to supply vital civilian goods that are needed. And indeed, it has confirmed that Israel has been meeting its obligations under international and domestic law.”
It should be noted that Egypt has also closed its border with Gaza.
Remarks by MFA spokesman Yigal Palmor comprise the third prong of Israel's information response to the flotilla. Excerpts thereof:
“Ships forcing their way into Gaza will do nothing to aid the people there. Existing land crossings are more than capable of meeting their needs. International aid organizations and the private sector of Gaza ensure that all the necessary food, medicine and clothing are provided to the Strip via Israel… The land crossings remain the most efficient system to transfer goods to Gaza, and the flotilla organizers are well aware of this fact… Israel has invited the organizers of the flotilla to use the land crossings, in the same manner as all the reputable international organizations.
“However, they are less interested in bringing in aid than in promoting their radical agenda, playing into the hands of Hamas provocations. While they have wrapped themselves in a humanitarian cloak, they are engaging in political propaganda and not in pro-Palestinian aid. If the organizers were truly interesting in providing humanitarian aid - as opposed to engaging in publicity stunts - they would use the proper channels to ensure delivery of any supplies.”
5. Exclusive: J'lem Light Rail On Track
by Eli Stutz
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat and Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz have unveiled a new plan for public transportation in the capital that spans half a decade, costs 8 billion shekels, and includes additional light rail lines.
Israel National News spoke with Shmuel Elgrabli, strategic advisor for the Light Rail and Rapid Transit project, which operates under the auspices of the Ministry of Transportation and the Jerusalem Municipality.
Elgrabli said that the first stage of the project will be up and running by approximately April 2011, less than a year from now. That includes a light rail line running from Pisgat Ze'ev to Mt. Herzl, and the Rapid Bus Transit line from Talpiyot to Har Hotzvim. This first stage will enable 250,000 passenger trips per day. "The goal is to bring Jerusalem to a new level of public transportation," he said. "The CityPass company will operate the Light Rail, and the Egged Bus Company will operate the bus line."
But this is not enought, it was realized, and additional light rail and bus lines are at the heart of the new plan. "We realized that to solve the problem, one light rail line and one bus line are not sufficient,” Elgrabli explained. “The first additional line will connect the university campuses, running from Mt. Scopus in the east to Givat Ram and the museums on the western side of the city, via the center of the town. This line will extend 11 km in total, 8 km of which are part of the initial light rail line. This makes optimal use of the existing light rail infrastructure, but adds another 50,000 passengers per day."
The new plan also includes an extension of the initial light rail line as far as the N'vei Yaakov neighborhood in the north, and Hadassah Ein Kerem in the south. This extension will add tens of thousands of additional passengers. The plan also includes a new rapid bus line from Ammunition Hill and Ramat Eshkol to the Central Bus Station, intended to provide a solution for hareidi-religious residents.
Part of the challenge, says Elgrabli, is getting people to change their habits. "It's hard to make car drivers move over to public transportation. The way to do it is by making a major, modern change. This has been done in Europe, but also in Israel. The high speed railway line from Tel Aviv to Haifa, which now takes less than an hour, attracted many car drivers to switch over to the train. We hope to do something similar with the light rail and rapid buses in Jerusalem."
The light rail is not incredibly fast, but Elgrabli says it will be faster than cars traveling in the city. "The top speed is 60-70 km per hour, and the average speed is 28 km/h. That doesn't sound like a lot, but in reality it is, since a car traveling through a traffic-congested city has an average speed of 5 km/h because of traffic, pedestrians, and traffic lights. When the light rail goes through the center of town, it will slow down too, for safety reasons. It will be kind of like a moving sidewalk."
Elgrabli is proud of the size and frequency of the light rail as well. "500 passengers can fit into one car. During rush hour, there will be a train every three minutes. At each stop, there will be a machine for buying passes [tickets]. A card will be available to which people will be able to add credit. There is even a company now that is offering to enable payment via cellphone."
"People are going to be attracted to the light rail due to its punctuality and the ease of entry and exit. There will be eight doors on each train. There are, of course, security considerations that will slow things down a bit, but we are working with Israel Police and Israel's security authorities to ensure the safety of the passengers and at the same time keep the traffic moving smoothly."
When asked when the first trip will take place, Elgrabli said he couldn't promise that it would happen by the target date of April 2011, "but it should happen within no more than 2-3 months from that date."
"There will also be shuttle buses that will take passengers from Jerusalem's surrounding areas to the light rail, for example, from the Binyamin Region northeast of the capital," Elgrabli noted.
Elgrabli says that the work included in the new plan will be completed by 2015 or 2016, adding that while these years will be difficult for Jerusalem residents, "a few years of discomfort are worth it. What are three or four years, compared to 3,000 years? It's nothing."
When asked about the anger of Jerusalem residents over the two-year delay on delivering the light rail, Elgrabli says the anger was justified in part: "They should understand that the infrastructure and the state of the city center was no less than archaic, with even remnants of Turkish times, and to revive it, the transportation had to be improved. This revival is historic. I hope that after this period of labor pains, the citizens of Jerusalem will enjoy the fruits of the labor. We also learned many lessons along the way, and we believe that the future lines will be built much more efficiently. The additional lines will not be added to the city center, and therefore we are letting the center rest for five years. We ask the populace to be patient. It is said that anyone who builds a building in Jerusalem brings closer the building of the Holy Temple. I truly believe that what we are doing is for the good of Jerusalem."
6. New Jewish Town Launched in Sharon Region
by Hillel Fendel
A temporary unofficial settlement outpost near the lower Galilee will become a full-fledged Jewish town, a Haifa-area Interior Ministry planning committee announced today.
Originally known as Mitzpeh I’ron, its official name is Mitzpeh Ilan, named for fallen astronaut-pilot Ilan Ramon.
Located just north of the Samaria region, in the eastern Sharon, the community was first founded in 2005, and is populated by 44 families – all living in caravans or simple pre-fab housing. Due to the new decision, however, permanent construction will be allowed, and the town is slated to grow to 350 families.
“All of the founding families arrived on their own, without really knowing each other in advance,” one long-time resident told Israel National News. Asked if their common goal was “to build a new town in Israel, but not in Judea and Samaria,” she answered in the affirmative, but then qualified: “It wasn’t really ‘not Judea and Samaria,’ but rather to populate this specific area of Wadi Ara (Nachal I’ron) with Jews.”
Wadi Ara is located along the Hadera-Afula highway, and large Israeli-Arabs towns such as Umm el-Fahm threaten to overtake small local Jewish communities such as Mei-Ami. On the other hand, a new hareidi-religious city for tens of thousands of Jews is planned for the area, to be built in what is now the small town of Harish.
The new town and its hundreds of new housing units will be built, the decision states, “in accordance with the unique topographical and scenic conditions, as well as the environmental limitations, such as the Narbeta Stream, forest lands, the planned city of Harish, and the village Um el-Qutuf on the west.”
Mitzpeh Ilan was originally initiated by an organization called Ohr National Missions. It was founded several years ago by a group of young idealists from central Israel, with the goal of promoting Jewish settlement and development in the peripheral areas of the Land of Israel, particularly in the Negev and the Galilee. Among its successes was the rescue of a failing agricultural kibbutz of the secular Kibbutz Movement named Retamim and its re-population with 30 religious-Zionist families. It has also been instrumental in forming the new communities of Sansana, Merchav Am, Be'er Milka, Giv'ot Bar, and Haruv. It has facilitated 22 core-groups.
The spiritual leader of Mitzpeh Ilan is Rabbi Sinai Levy, a Haifa native who studied in Yeshivat Har Etzion.
7. Jordan's Head of Senate: Unite Two Banks of Jordan River
by Malkah Fleisher
Just a year after Jordan erupted in outrage over an Israeli Knesset Members suggestion to turn Jordan into a Palestinian state, a Jordanian legislator is calling for his country to become a "state of two united banks" – Jordan on both sides of the Jordan River.
According to a Wednesday report by Britain's al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper, Jordan's head of senate Taher al-Masri addressed an audience of approximately 1,000 attendees celebrating Jordanian independence, including King Abdullah II and his family, envisioning "the two united banks, with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan emerging on both banks of the holy river."
Some analysts say the statements were more ideological than political, intended to promote more warmth between Arabs inside Israel and Arabs in Jordan. Others, however, see the statement as a telling step backward between the Jewish state and its eastern neighbor, and an attempt to reignite tensions regarding Jewish and Arab claims to Judea and Samaria.
In 1988, just after the outbreak of the First Intifada, then-leader King Hussein renounced all territorial claims to any lands inhabited by the State of Israel. However, in 1994, Jordan signed a treaty with Israel in which it gained a role in Christian and Muslim hallowed sites in Jerusalem.
Last year, a bill by Knesset Member Arieh Eldad (National Union) calling for two states for two peoples on both sides of the Jordan River – an Arab one on the Jordanian side and a Jewish one on the Israeli side – met with public outrage and a diplomatic row. Israel's ambassador to Amman was called in for reprimand, and members of parliament urged the King to cut ties with Israel.
Almost half of Jordan's 6 million citizens are considered "Palestinian" in origin.
