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1. Lieberman: Stop Dreaming about a PA State
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Israel's straight-shooting Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov Tuesday that one can only dream about a Palestinian Authority state by 2012.
Lieberman, whose style of skipping over diplomatic niceties has earned him praise and criticism, said at a joint conference, “We can express interest, we can dream, but in reality, we are still far from reaching understandings and agreements on establishing an independent state by 2012."
PA spokesman Ghassan Khatib retorted, "Lieberman is issuing a challenge to the international community, which is in agreement on the two-year ceiling.” Abbas and his Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad, previously have said that if the PA is not recognized as a country in two years, they will turn to the United Nations to unilaterally impose the state within Israel’s current borders.
Lieberman’s remarks captured extra attention because they coincided with the arrival of U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell who is trying to bridge gaps between Israel and the PA over the proposal for creating a new Arab state in place of Judea and Samaria, the Old City of Jerusalem and all of the neighborhoods that were restored to Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967.
The Quartet, which includes Russia, has been pressuring Israel to agree to most of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ conditions for the creation of the PA as a new Arab state.
Lieberman has been promoting his own recipe for a new PA state, based on a land swap with Israel whereby Israel would surrender heavily populated Israeli Arab cities in return for Arab recognition of Israeli sovereignty over large Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.
Virtually all surveys have shown that Israeli Arabs would suffer a serious loss in their economic status if they were to give up their citizenship in order to become part of a Palestinian Authority state.
2. Mitchell, Armed with US Media, Trying to Extend Building Freeze
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell begins three days of talks with Israel and the Palestinian Authority Wednesday following PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ statement he will accept direct talks in return for an extension of the building freeze.
Abbas’ move gives him the upper hand in what has become a diplomatic struggle over which side can blame the other for what is widely viewed as fruitless efforts by the United States.
Mitchell began his visit by examining the flow of previously embargoed commodities being transferred by Israel to Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing. Earlier in the morning, Gaza terrorists attacked a nearby Jewish community in the western Negev with a powerful Kassam rocket that destroyed a packing house.
Residents told Voice of Israel government radio that Mitchell should be concerned with their humanitarian situation in the face of Gaza terror instead of worrying about increased shipments for Gaza while its terrorists continue to attack Israel.
Mitchell is armed by mainstream American media that generally have accepted U.S. President Barack Obama’s view that Israel should freeze all building for Jews in areas of Jerusalem claimed by the PA, as well as all of Judea and Samaria. Last fall, Prime Minister Netanyahu agreed to a 10-month freeze as a concession to both the Obama administration and Abbas.
The PA leader now has made a permanent freeze a co
ndition for returning to face-to-face talks with the Prime Minister’s negotiating team.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman threw ice water on Mitchell’s attempts Tuesday, telling his visiting Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, that there is no chance of the PA becoming an independent state before 2012.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has strong backing for a thaw in the building freeze that has left growing families and schools without solutions. Gershon Mesika, chairman of the Samaria (Shomron) Regional Council, told the Knesset Education Committee Wednesday morning that the September school year cannot be opened unless immediate approval is given for 27 permits for classrooms.
The Likud party has lined up solidly for Prime Minister Netanyahu to fulfill his promise that the 10-month freeze will not be extended, despite support for Mitchell's stand from left-wing Israeli media such as Haaretz, and the highly influential American weekly news magazine Newsweek.
The publication carried an article in early June that alleged similarities between the Bush and Netanyahu governments. Newsweek described both leaders as ideological and right-wing, with a population traumatized by terrorist attacks and a government of military officers as advisers who advocate a campaign against Muslim terrorism.
The Newsweek article continued its comparison and added, “The world doesn’t see it that way, and despite impressive deployments of troops—and plenty of military victories—the nation becomes more and more diplomatically isolated, tarnishing its reputation as a beacon of freedom.”
Newsweek’s conclusion resembles the strategy of the Obama administration. Netanyahu has “deployed overwhelming force where nuanced, tactical approaches would have worked better, spurned international opinion; and ignored gathering discontent among voters at home,” the magazine asserted. “Staying the course…could do serious harm to Israel’s reputation abroad and be disastrous for Netanyahu and his Likud Party at home.
“As the world is turning against Netanyahu, so are Israelis: a poll last month showed that a majority of voters don’t approve of the prime minister…. Policymakers in Washington, its lockstep ally, are tearing their hair out over Netanyahu’s settlement intransigence.”
In fact, all public opinion polls that past year have shown that if elections were held today, the Likud party and the nationalist camp would maintain their strength -- if not grow even stronger. Surveys all show that a large of majority of Israelis, as well as PA Arabs, do not believe that the PA and Israel can come to an agreement.
3. Kassam Roulette: Pre-Dawn Rocket Narrowly Misses Negev Workers
by Tzv Ben Gedalyahu
Gaza terrorists attacked the Western Negev Wednesday morning with a Kassam rocket before workers arrived, but it heavily damaged a packing house that was knocked out of operation. Workers who had not yet arrived at work remained in their homes in the Sdot Negev area, south of Ashkelon.
The explosion occurred around 4 a.m., seconds after the Color Red early-warning system shattered pre-dawn silence. The latest attack returned residents to the trauma of the constant spate of missiles explosions that have plagued Negev residents since the outbreak of the Second Intifada, also known as the Oslo War, in 2000.
No terrorist organization has taken responsibility for Wednesday’s rocket strike. Many of the packing house workers hurried to synagogue to recite the traditional prayer for their lives being saved from danger.
Last year’s Operation Cast Lead war against the terrorist infrastructure in Hamas-run Gaza severely reduced the number of attacks, but Hamas and allied terrorist groups have violated a number of declared ceasefire announcements.
More than 300 rockets and mortars have struck the Western Negev since the end of Cast Lead, and most of the attacks have been immediately followed by an IDF retaliatory strike. Most of the rockets have exploded in open fields, allowing a relatively calm atmosphere in foreign and mainstream Israeli media that ignore a large number of the terrorist attacks when no one is injured.
One major foreign news service reported this week that the Negev area has been "quiet" since the end of Cast Lead.
4. Yesha Leaders: We'll Build Classrooms Even if We're Jailed
by Hillel Fendel
The Knesset Education Committee, following wall-to-wall criticism of Defense Minister Ehud Barak for his freeze of additional classrooms in Judea and Samaria, resolved that it’s time for the entire government to intervene.
The background for Wednesday’s debate was the urgent need for the approval of 177 new classrooms. Though originally the 10-month freeze on Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria did not include public buildings such as schools, Defense Minister Ehud Barak unilaterally decided that this exception was no longer valid.
"New classrooms" in this context generally does not mean new construction, but rather bringing in "caravans," which are mobile-home-like structures without wheels.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the Likud and the government have all come under sharp attack from the nationalist camp for allowing Barak, who commands the loyalty of only 8-9 Knesset Members (the other 4-5 Labor Party members have declared themselves an internal party opposition) to have such a strong say in political matters.
The various localities in Judea and Samaria and the Education Ministry have submitted 250 requests for new classrooms, 73 of which have been approved. Of the remainder, 27 more have received Defense Ministry approval but are stuck somewhere in bureaucracy-land, while the remaining 150 have not even received the Defense Ministry’s OK.
Committee Chairman Zevulun Orlev (Jewish Home) opened the session by saying, “The law states that pupils must go to school and that the State must establish schools for them… As long as children are living in Judea and Samaria, it is incumbent upon us to apply the Compulsory Education Law to them.
“It cannot be that some clerks will declare that there is a legal problem,” Orlev said, “and therefore classes are not added. If a solution is not found, we will bring this matter to the government.”
Shomron Regional Council head Gershon Mesika said: “I find myself in a dilemma of which law to violate – either the construction freeze regulation, or the law that requires me to provide classes for all children… We will build classrooms no matter what, and I am willing to be arrested on this matter, to enable every child to have normal, minimal conditions for studying just like other students in Israel. I believe that dozens of MKs will join us…”
Danny Dayan, head of the Yesha Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria, said, “Barak doesn’t internalize this simple principle of ‘a classroom for every child,’ and tries to explain it away with various judicial excuses - but the truth is simple: Everywhere else in Israel, problems like this are solved, but here in Judea and Samaria, they are not solved, and this is for only one reason: The Defense Minister’s desire to restrict the Jews of Judea and Samaria - even at the expense of children. This is intolerable, and we will absolutely not accept it.”
“If the classrooms are not built or added in an ‘organized’ [legal] manner, then they will be built in an ‘unorganized’ fashion,” Dayan said. “And I am happy that members of the Land of Israel Knesset forum have said that they will join us in this effort if necessary.”
Shai Rinsky, an aide to Education Minister Gideon Saar, explained that the delay is being caused by the fact that the Defense Ministry has not approved buildings from previous years. He said that Saar and Barak had discussed the matter last Thursday, and that the Prime Minister’s Bureau had also called in. “We must find the way to approve these buildings and put a roof over these students’ heads,” Rinsky said.
MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union): “The Defense Minister chooses which law he wants to fulfill, and refuses to recognize the Compulsory Education Law. We will work via the Knesset committee and lobbies to correct this distorted situation.”
“There are no legal problems,” said Efrat Mayor Oded Revivi, “there are only bureaucratic problems.”
Avi Roeh, who heads the Binyamin Regional Council, said, “No one in the government is concerned with Jewish life in Yesha; they’re worried only about the Palestinians. The responsibility lies upon the entire government, and primarily the Prime Minister, to provide a classroom for every child. We, in any event, plan to provide a classroom for each pupil in any event.”
Representing the Defense Minister at the session was his Assistant for Settlement Matters, Eitan Baroshi, who placed the responsibility on the residents:
“I hope that the school year will begin as scheduled with no problems; there is no need to roll your eyes and no need to attack the Defense Minister who is not here. The Defense Ministry is fully involved in order that the school year will open as scheduled. The rules are of the government of Israel, not Ehud Barak [personally]… Whoever decides to live in Yesha, takes upon himself the responsibility for problems of this nature. The Defense Minister only has one vote in the Cabinet… We must shorten the bureaucratic process and reach a quick solution. I request a few more days in order to solve some of the problems.”
5. Islamic Movement 'Penetrated Arab Schools in Israel'
by Gil Ronen
“It turns out that the Islamic movement is illegally penetrating into the schools and running study programs,” MK Zevulun Orlev (The Jewish Home party) who chairs the Knesset Education Committee, has told Arutz Sheva TV.
“I believe they are also involved in accepting teachers and principals for work – and this is all being done against the law and under the nose of the Ministry of Education", he said. "Just yesterday we saw the arrest of youths who are suspected and being interrogated for their membership in the murderous organization of Al Qaeda, and there is no doubt that Sheikh Ra'ad Salah is pulling the strings here.”
Orlev said that while the Ministry of Education is doing its best to enforce the law, this is not enough. The phenomenon is widespread, he continued, involving hundreds of students in dozens of schools, and the Minister of Education needs to intervene so that the Islamic Movement does not “poison the minds and opinions” of the students.
Knesset Member Masoud Ghanayem (Raam-Taal) took part in the debate on the subject at the Knesset Education Committee meeting on Tuesday and objected to the Education Ministry's attempts to supervise schools' choices regarding educational materials. He claimed that a school principal's decision was sufficient for allowing any NGO to participate in the pupils' education.
An Education Ministry representative told the MKs that a committee appointed by the ministry has recently finished drawing up new guidelines regarding the entry of foreign bodies into the educational system. A directive issued this month instructs principals not to let NGOs into schools without approval from a ministry unit that deals with NGO relations.
6. Day in Court for the Son of Hamas
by Hana Levi Julian
Former Shin Bet spy and “Son of Hamas” Mosab Hassan Yousef faces an immigration judge in San Diego on Wednesday to plead against deportation.
Known by his undercover name, The Green Prince -- green is the signature color of Hamas -- Yousef is the first-born son of one of the founders of the terrorist organization that now controls Gaza. But his subsequent conversion to Christianity, combined with his public admission of helping Israel, marked him as a traitor among his own people.
Yousef would indeed be likely to face death if he returned to Judea and Samaria following the publication of his book, “Son of Hamas,” in which he confessed to collaborating with Israel for a decade.
Former CIA Director James Woolsey agreed, writing in a letter released to the media by Steven Seick, Yousef's attorney, “It is not an exaggeration to say that such an action would set us back years in the war on terrorism. Mosab's deportation would be such an inhumane act it would constitute a blight on American history.”
More than 20 members of Congress also wrote to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano this week, warning her that the 34-year-old former spy would be in “grave danger” if the United States deports him.
Ex-Shin Bet officer Gonen Ben-Itzhak, known for years only as “G” or “Captain Loai” went so far as to break his own cover in an attempt to help his former protege. Ben-Itzhak, identified in court papers only as “Loai,” has agreed to testify, and told hundreds of attendees at an awards ceremony last week that Yousef saved hundreds of lives with his actions.
Members of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee have also written to recognize his work for the Shin Bet and to express their thanks, although there has been no official comment from the State of Israel.
Yousef applied to the United States for asylum after arriving in Los Angeles with a tourist visa in January 2007. However, in February 2009, the Department of Homeland Security decided that Yousef was a terrorist danger to the U.S., precisely due to the information he revealed in his book, and initiated deportation proceedings.
The Department quoted passages from the text in court documents shared with the Associated Press by Seick to support its position that Yousef “discusses his extensive involvement with Hamas," which is on the official American list of banned terrorist organizations. Citing an instance in which Yousef identified five suspects in a 2001 suicide bombing, and admitted driving them to safe houses, the Department nevertheless did not offer any further pre-hearing detail about any specific threat the ex-spy might pose to America, according to AP.
Although hearings such as this are generally closed to the public, applicants have the option to allow them to be open. Yousef has welcomed the publicity, noting in his Internet blog that “exposing terrorist secrets and warning the world in my first book cost me everything... and now the country I came to for sanctuary is turning its back.” He has invited anyone who is interested to attend the hearing in San Diego.
7. New and Improved Flotilla Committee
by Hillel Fendel
The committee appointed to investigate the flotilla crisis of a month ago has had its mandate expanded slightly, has withdrawn its threat to resign, and will convene for its second session on July 11.
The committee, headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Yaakov Turkel, was established earlier this month under heavy international pressure to find out exactly what occurred before and during the boarding of the Turkish-IHH Gaza-bound ship.
Israeli forces repeatedly warned a flotilla of ships heading for Gaza not to do so, as the area was under Israeli blockade. The ships did not adhere to these orders, but did not resist when the forces boarded them and steered them towards Ashdod – except for the Mavi Marmara, whose passengers attacked the Israelis with iron clubs, knives, and axes, and even shot at them and held some commandos captive. The Israelis were finally able to regroup and overcome their attackers, killing nine in the process – some of whom had expressed the prior wish to die as Islamic martyrs.
The Turkel committee was widely mocked for having “no teeth” and little real authority. On Tuesday, it was announced in Judge Turkel’s name that he planned to resign if the authorities were not expanded.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, after discussing it with Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein and Justice Minister Yaakov Ne’eman, quickly agreed that Turkel’s demands were not worth refusing.
The main changes are that Turkel’s committee will be able to subpoena witnesses and have them testify under oath, and will be expanded from three members to five.
It will still not be mandated to investigate the government’s decision-making process regarding the flotilla, however. Instead, it will investigate the legality of Israel’s take-over of the ship, which is related to the legality of the blockade imposed by Israel on its enemy, Hamas-run Gaza. In addition, it will examine why Israel imposed the blockade, as well as the behavior of those who organized the flotilla, mainly the terrorist-associated Turkish IHH organization and Turkey itself.
The commission held its first session on Monday, and featured short statements by the two international observers, Lord David Trimble of Ireland and former Canadian judge advocate-general Ken Watkin.
In addition to Judge Turkel, the committee also numbers international law expert Shabtai Rosenne and Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Amos Horev. Most of the committee hearings will be open to the public.
