IMEU : News & Analysis

How Israel won the settlement battle, again (Ramzy Baroud, The Palestine Chronicle)

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:35:08 PST

The Palestinian leadership understands that unconditional negotiations will yield Palestinians, the weak party in any negotiations, nothing but further humiliation, while the strong party will determine a solution, any solution, it finds suitable to its interests. Considering that Israel is under no serious pressure, the rightwing government of Benjamin Netanyahu has no reason to stop, or even slow down its illegal settlements project and the subsequent ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

Netanyahu says meeting with Obama was 'important' (Natasha Mozgovaya and Barak Ravid, Haaretz )

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:06:44 PST

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday voiced confidence that his meeting Monday with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington would benefit Israel's security and peacemaking efforts, adding that "I think this visit will turn out to have been very important." Netanyahu, whose ties with Washington have been strained by Israel's settlement construction in the West Bank, met U.S. President Barack Obama in a hundred-minute closed-door meeting on Monday evening.

Israeli rabbi approves murder of non-Jews (Vita Bekker, The National)

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:03:48 PST

A book published this week by a radical Jewish rabbi from the Israeli-occupied West Bank and endorsed by prominent religious right-wing figures suggests killing any non-Jew, including children and babies, who pose a threat to Israel. The book's publication, just days after the arrest of Jewish settler Jack Teitel, who is charged with a string of killings, including two Palestinians, reflects a growing antipathy towards Palestinians among Jews living in the occupied territory.

Delusional self-defense, delusional congressional vote (Jimmy Leas and Noura Erakat, The Huffington Post)

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:01:19 PST

The 344-36 House vote last week condemning the Goldstone Report, which encourages Israel and Hamas to conduct "credible" independent investigations of war crimes committed in Gaza, may help Israeli leaders avoid prosecution in the short-term. However, the House vote and the negative US votes at the UN will have long-term detrimental effects both on Israel and on the U.S.'s moral authority.

French FM fearful Israel doesn't want peace (Ma'an News)

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:03:15 PST

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner expressed his fear that Israel no longer appears prepared to pursue negotiations in the Middle East, adding that Paris remains fervently opposed to settlement construction in the West Bank, Israeli media reported on Tuesday. In an interview with France Inter radio, Kouchner elucidated that he did not anticipate a forthcoming breakthrough in peace talks between Israel and Palestine.

Settlement construction contradicts negotiations (Ghassan Khatib, Bitterlemons.org)

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:38:45 PST

The issues of Israeli settlement activity and the need for a settlement construction freeze are again at the top of the political agenda. Abbas has explained that his decision was prompted by a US position that continues to condone Israel's settlement project, rendering the peace process that Washington is calling for meaningless.

Palestinian leaders foresee bleak future (Omar Karmi, The National)

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:06:15 PST

It must be assumed that the discussion at the somewhat reluctantly and hastily arranged meeting in Washington last night between Barack Obama, the US president, and Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, would have focused almost exclusively on the future of the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. Certainly, Palestinian leaders and officials are publicly declaring that future is at risk.

Obama-Netanyahu talks see no result (Al Jazeera)

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:05:59 PST

The latest attempt by the US president to salvage the Middle East peace talks appears to have come to nothing after his meeting with Israel's prime minister ended with only a brief statement from the White House. Binyamin Netanyahu left the White House on Monday after spending an hour and forty minutes inside with Barack Obama, without making the customary public appearance with his host.

Without Abbas, does doomsday loom? (Donald Macintyre, The Independent)

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:02:29 PST

When Western diplomats considered Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's announcement that he did not want to stand for re-election yesterday, they must have asked themselves the famous question attributed to Metternich about the death of a rival, "What did he mean by that?" An easy answer is, "Not very much". It isn't hard to see why Mr Abbas is fed up with pretty well everybody.

UN: Gaza needs construction material before winter (Diaa Hadid, The Associated Press)

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:52 PST

Thousands of Gaza Palestinians left homeless by an Israeli invasion face a cold and rainy winter unless Israel allows building supplies in, a senior U.N. official said Monday. Although the offensive ended nine months ago, the homes have not been repaired because Israel does not allow raw materials to enter the territory, part of its two-year blockade imposed after Hamas seized power in Gaza.