Americans for Peace Now

News Nosh 05.23.13

2013-05-23T13:16:22Z

APN's daily news review from Israel

Thursday May 23, 2013

Quote of the day:

"In the Border Police, (murderer at the Beersheva bank, Itamar) Alon learned not just how to shoot but how to behave rudely, violently and to solve problems with weapons while receiving respect and glory for doing so."
--Haaretz's Gideon Levy looks at the thread of Israelis who serve in Israel's Border Police and later feel they have license to act violently also outside of the Palestinian Territories.**

Front Page News:

Haaretz

Murder of the girls: Police ignored mother's complaint
Preparations for escalation on Syria border - Air Force commander warns of possible surprise war
IDF did not listen to warnings about defect in mines
Bank shooter was dismissed from his position as officer because he was wild and dangerous (and attacked Palestinians)
Yehud mayor arrested on suspicion of receiving bribes
Secrets of the Chinese regime on the shelf in Hong Kong
Azrieli planning fourth skyscraper

Yedioth Ahronoth

In cold blood - Horrifying clip: The killing spree at the bank
Even at the Technion they had trouble solving the math matriculation exam
"Tell us why our Roee was killed" Parents of soldier Roee Alfi: His death was avoidable
Children, you don't need to finish everything on your plate

Maariv

Member of negotiation team said in closed talks: Two-state solution is not feasible (Hebrew)
Air Force Commander: Threat of surprise war exists
This is how Itamar Alon made certain his victims were dead in the Beersheva bank
Bad film // Amnon Lord
Suspicion of terror attack in London: Two Muslims stabbed a soldier to death with a knife and were shot by police
MK Moti Yogev from Habayit Hayehudi: Bennett acting undemocratically on the issue of choosing a chief rabbi (Hebrew)
The math matriculation exam storm - Students threatened the Education Ministry's math supervisor: "We are following you, you better correct the injustice"
From Lod to Paris - For the first time: 1700-year-old mosaic discovered in an archaeological dig in Lod was exhibited in the Louvre

Israel Hayom

Chills - Moments of craze, minute by minute: Security cameras at the Beersheva bank reveal the depths of the horror
"Prepared for surprise war with Syria" - Air Force Commander warns of escalation
Likely: Arad police chief to be dismissed - Police negligence: Eve of the murder of two little sisters in the Bedouin village of Al-Furah, the mother filed a complaint against the father with the police (that was ignored)
Terror in London: Soldier decapitated with a machete
"I welcome the examination of public persons' expenses over the years" - Prime Minister responds to State Comptroller's announcement that in light of reports, he decided to examine Netanyahu's and other's expenses
Charges: Moshe Peretz evaded paying some 1 million shekels in tax
Kerry arrives in Israel: today he will meet with Netanyahu
Call to students: Give up on flashy proms

News Summary:
A chilling video of the murder spree at the Beersheva bank, the Air Force commander's warning to Syria, and the questions over an unusually difficult math matriculation and over an avoidable death of a soldier were top stories in today's Hebrew papers. Meanwhile, both Israeli and Palestinian officials express little faith in a peace process as US Secretary of State John Kerry arrives in Israel today. Yedioth reveals that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu wanted to prohibit demonstrations and that Justice Minister Tzipi Livni has made an interesting change in the passage of laws. And Maariv reported on what the Central Command commander and the settlers had to say about the increase in Palestinian Molotov cocktails and stone-throwing and the 'humiliation' felt by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank.

The tension around the border between Israel and Syria is increasing and after the IDF Chief of Staff and the Defense Minister warned the Assad regime, it was now the Air Force Commander who spoke out, saying Israel was prepared for a surprise war. he also said that advanced weaponry, including Russian S-300 missiles were en route to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. According to a report, the German intelligence has revised its estimate and now says the Assad regime is growing stronger. Meanwhile, a US Senate panel has backed arming the Syrian rebels. Kerry spoke in Amman before a meeting of the Friends of Syria group of nations, saying that Assad's achievements in recent days were only temporary.

Today Kerry lands in Israel and some officials from both the Palestinian and Israeli side have expressed little faith in his efforts to reignite the peace process and bring about a two-state solution to the conflict, both sides blaming the other. The Associated Press interviewed Hanan Ashrawi and other Palestinian officials who said the US effort to restart peace talks is doomed, and that they're preparing instead to resume their campaign of seeking membership in key international organizations as soon as next month.

Meanwhile Maariv reported that a member of the Israeli negotiation team said that a two-state solution is not feasible. Dr. Tal Becker, the diplomatic advisor to Livni, who is responsible for leading the negotiations on the Israeli side, said in closed circles that the reason was that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is not excited to return to talks with Israel, while Israel does want to return to talks. According to Becker, Fatah and the Palestinian street oppose returning to talks and Abbas is aware of that and fearful he will pay the political price if he does. Becker, who presently serves as Deputy Legal Adviser of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, led the negotiation team in the Annapolis peace talks. Israel Hayom wrote that although reigniting the peace process is Kerry's declared agenda, the tense situation in the region means that Kerry will be discussing Syria with Netanyahu today. A few hours later, Netanyahu will meet with British Foreign Minister Alexander Haig to discuss the same subject (and he will meet with former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, who is on a private visit). The German justice minister is visiting the country and yesterday, Yedioth noted that she did not meet with her counterpart at Livni's office in E. Jerusalem where Israel's Justice Ministry is [ironically - OH] located, but for dinner in W. Jerusalem. (NRG Hebrew)

Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein revealed yesterday that Netanyahu wanted to prohibit certain demonstrations. "Prime Minister Netanyahu and security forces requested permission from me to prohibit demonstrations with a security characteristic, but I refused... Demonstrations are the first right in a democracy," said Weinstein at the Israel Bar Association's crime forum. Yedioth writes that Weinstein refused to say which specific demonstrations he was referring to, but that it was likely he was referring to those taking place over the sale of Palestinian homes to Jews in Silwan neighborhood of E. Jerusalem. Some of the demonstrators are left-wingers and some were right-wingers, writes Tovah Tzimuki. [Maybe the right-wingers were protesting their evacuation from one of the homes in dispute, e.g. Beit Yonatan - OH]

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni has decided that from now on - for the first time since Israel was established - the ministerial legislative committee will have to reveal who voted for and against each law, Yedioth reported. The committee is very powerful. Any bill proposed by an MK must get the committee's approval first before going on to the Knesset to be voted and if it does pass, it has a high chance of becoming law, writes Tzimuki.

In the end, GOC Central Command Commander Nitzan Alon did speak to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee - but without the settlers present, as he and the Defense Minister had requested, Maariv reported. And he had news for the MKs on the committee who were carrying the Maariv article in which Israeli soldiers and officers said they felt humiliated that they can't open fire when Palestinians throw stones and Molotov cocktails at them and their outposts. Alon emphasized that this is *not* a new phenomenon, rather the problems are specific and are mostly among the junior ranks and " less quality" reserve units. Meanwhile, the head of the committee, MK Eitan Cabel, said MKs will make surprise visits to examine the situation of soldiers in the W. Bank and a sub-committee for 'IDF preparedness' will be discussing the rules of engagement (i.e. opening fire). After Alon left the room, representatives of the settlers entered. The meeting was very tense, Maariv wrote. They announced: "We won't allow continued harm to our way of life. Until now we let things pass, but if this situation continues, we will not be able to stem the tide. They claim that the IDF has made the rules of engagement harder and that has led to a significant rise in public disturbances and Palestinian daring to act, including inside the settlements themselves. Pro-settler Habayit Hayehudi MK Moti Yogev presented statistics showing a rise of more than 112% in security incidents following Operation Pillar of Cloud last November, compared to the same period the year before. (NRG Hebrew)

Quick Hits:

Be'er Sheva bank shooter dismissed from IDF post for attacking Palestinians, released from reserve duty - Friends, neighbors describe Itamar Alon as strange, surprised such a person had been an IDF officer. (Haaretz)
Israel detains 5 students in Jerusalem - Israeli forces detained five students, aged 13-15, from a school belonging to an Islamic orphanage after they were accused of attacking a settler in Jerusalem. (Maan)
Israeli forces raid Beit Ummar - Israeli soldiers ransacked the home of Khaled and Nasser Ekhlayel accompanied by dogs and handed a summons order to the son of Muhammad Ekhlayel, locals said. (Maan)
Man behind Israeli report on infamous killing of Mohammed al-Dura has right-wing ties - Brig. Gen. Yossi Kuperwasser previously worked for the Israel Law Center, which sought to prevent the reporter who broke the story from continuing to work in Israel. (Haaretz)
MKs: Permit (extremist Likud MK) Feiglin to enter the Temple Mount - 14 MKs from Likud and Habayit Hayehudi signed a petition calling on Netanyahu to cancel the prohibition on Feiglin. They claim: "Giving in to the demands of the Waqf hurts our sovereignty." (NRG Hebrew)
Palestinians: IDF arrests men involved in Joseph's Tomb shooting - Sources say IDF arrests three members of Palestinian security forces, suspected of killing Limor Livnat's nephew; they were imprisoned by PA in past, released after year later. (Ynet)
In wake of Netanyahu's bed debacle, state comptroller launches probe - A recent report revealed that PM spent $127,000 of taxpayers money on installing a 'resting chamber' on a flight to London for Margaret Thatcher's funeral; MKs requested the investigation. (Haaretz and Ynet)
Sources allege nepotism in former Mossad chief's business - Meir Dagan's intention to set up a handgun plant in Beit Shemesh encountered objection from local police academy, subsequently withdrawn. Did his friendship with interior defense minister help? (Yedioth/Ynet)
Police fail to detain Palestinian who tried to steal decoy car - Video obtained by Ynet shows police op to thwart motor vehicle theft in West Bank gone awry. (Ynet)
Low-cost airline Ryanair mulls Israel-Auschwitz route - The Tel Aviv-Krakow route would cater to visitors of the former death camp near the southern Polish city. (JTA, Haaretz)
On Saturday: Muslim hackers will attack Israel - A hacker attack on internet sites in Israel is planned for this Saturday by mostly Muslim hackers. 9,000 hackers have signed up and they are using the name of 'Anonymous.' Security professionals in Israel are getting prepared. (Maariv, p. 14)
Germany backs terror label for Hezbollah - Britain launches bid to add Hezbollah to EU's list of terror groups after discussions on Burgas bombing; Germany says supports initiative. (Agencies, Ynet)
Islamist militants release seven members of Egyptian security forces kidnapped in Sinai - Six Egyptian policemen and a soldier were freed following talks with kidnappers, who demanded the release of convicted militants, sources say. (Agencies, Haaretz)
Robert de Niro to attend President Shimon Peres' 90th birthday - De Niro, wil arrive in Israel next month to participate in the President's Conference and in the birthday celebrations. (Yedioth, p. 22)
Turkey shuts Syria border crossing after bombings that killed 51 - Yayladagi gate is last crossing controlled by Assad; bomb-detecting equipment to be stationed at gate; 12 people facing charges over bombings that killed 51; U.K.'s Hague: Iran, Hezbollah 'propping up' Assad. (Agencies, Haaretz)
IAEA: Iran expanding sensitive nuclear capacity, but remains below Israeli 'red line' - According to report by UN nuclear watchdog, the Islamic Republic increased its capacity to refine uranium by installing hundreds of more centrifuges in Natanz. (Agencies, Haaretz)
U.S. House committee approves measure to back Israel in case of nuclear Iran attack - New sanctions package targeting Iranian oil exports affirms U.S. support for Israel's self defense if confronted by a nuclear Iran. (Agencies, Haaretz)

Features:
Poem of the Week / Salman Masalha and a seaview apartment called homeland
'Haifa by the Sea' is a meditation prompted by the death of Emil Habiby, an Israeli-Palestinian writer and politician whose tombstone inscription refers to the Arab concept of remaining on one's land. (Haaretz)

Commentary/Analysis:

**The blurred line between hero and murderer (Gideon Levy, Haaretz) It appears Itamar Alon did not fully internalize the fact that what is allowed in the occupied territories is forbidden in Be'er Sheva; with the realities facing IDF soldiers, such is to be expected.
Assad is playing with fire (Dan Margalit, Israel Hayom) If Damascus instructed its army to fire at an IDF vehicle, this would be seen as a dangerous provocation.
U.S. willing to keep Assad in the picture to avoid threat of all-out Mideast war (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz) Due to the lack of U.S. policy on Syria, encouraging a negotiated solution between Assad and the rebels now appears to be the West's least dangerous course of action.
Israel must stop provoking Assad (Haaretz Editorial) The recent volley of aggressive Israeli rhetoric is reflective of a one-dimensional attitude towards dealing with Syrian tensions - and is entirely unhelpful in preventing any future escalation.
S-300 deal not necessarily a tiebreaker (Dr. Gabi Avital, Israel Hayom) The final word about the Russian-Syrian arms deal has not been spoken, especially if Israel can counter the threat.
Lapid's true beliefs, finally emerging, do not bode well for peace (Ari Shavit, Haaretz) After many murky months, Yair Lapid's true stance is finally becoming clear; it appears the man who inherited Israel's political center is about to bury the idea of a two-state solution, once and for all.
Strategic stone (Yoaz Hendel, Yedioth/Ynet) Palestinians realize certain photos can cause more damage than anti-Israel resolutions in UN.
An Egyptian shop called 'Hitler' (Khaled Diab, Haaretz) An urban boutique near Cairo decorated with a swastika raises uncomfortable questions about whether the Nazi dictator is a hero or villain in the Arab world.
Dangerously close to anarchy (Dr. Aviad Hacohen, Israel Hayom) To what degree are we, as a society, responsible for the bloodshed that is becoming ever more prevalent in our streets?
Israel's have-nots will keep paying for Birthright, if Sheldon Adelson has his way (Itay Ziv, Haaretz) Why did Yair Lapid agree to meet with Sheldon Adelson and promise not to cut funding to his pet project?
Why is no Israeli minister in charge of relations with Diaspora Jews? (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz) The broken-up Diaspora affairs portfolio, traditionally manned by governmental neophytes, has had its responsibilities split up between hard-right hawks. Peacenik Jews of the world, don't hold your breath for any change.

Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.

Don't let It Become Routine.

2013-05-22T21:15:09Z

I would like to share with you a compelling article that was published Tuesday in the Chicago Tribune, my hometown newspaper. It's short and powerful. It talks about how the malignancy of the occupation has become such a damaging part of the lives of both Israelis and Palestinians.

Ori Nir, who wrote this article, was born and raised in Israel. He served in the IDF and covered the West Bank for Israel's Haaretz newspaper. He wrote this from his heart. Ori now works for the organization that I proudly serve - as Chair of its Board of Directors - Americans for Peace Now (APN), the sister organization of Israel's Peace movement Shalom Achshav (Peace Now).

Together, APN and Peace Now work to remind us all - Israelis and Americans alike - that Israel's occupation of the West Bank is not a decree of fate. It is reversible and it must be reversed if Israel is to be a Jewish state and a democracy for years to come.

We can't be complacent, we can't stand idly by. We must support ending the occupation before it comes to define Israel, before it destroys it.

Join our effort to end the occupation. I will match any and all tax deductible contributions you make today up to $18,000.

We just celebrated the holiday of Shavuot, which commemorates the giving of the Ten Commandments. I would suggest an additional one, one that has guided me in public life: Thou shall not be complacent. Israel must end the occupation -- for Israel's sake -- and we ALL need to speak-out to help make it happen.

Thank you for your support,
Jim Klutznick

P.S. Here's Ori's article.Or read below:

By Ori Nir

Israel TV Channel 2 recently ran a lengthy report of pre-dawn arrests of Palestinian children -- rock-throwing suspects -- at a West Bank Palestinian refugee camp. The TV crew was embedded with an Israeli unit that raided the camp.

No, there was no blood, no violent confrontations and no big drama. Everything was done routinely, efficiently, as if scripted. Including the polite soldiers ("please get dressed") and the business-as-usual reactions of tweens who moments ago were in bed and are now handcuffed and blindfolded, in a military jeep. One of them, a boy named Ahmad who seemed around 10, tried to negotiate. "Tomorrow I have an exam. I will be thrown out of school if I don't take the test," he tried to reason with the soldiers. "Had you come any other day, I would have gone with you. Please!" Then he manned up and joined the soldiers.

So what's new? What's the big deal, my wife asked me when I told her about the report. That's exactly the point, I replied. The big deal is that there is nothing new, that this routine has been going on for 46 years. My wife and I, both former reporters, reminisced about covering such night raids together, more than 26 years ago.

Next month, Israelis and Palestinians will mark the 46th anniversary of the occupation. Think about it: For almost half a century, Israeli kids in their late teens have been arresting Palestinian kids in their early teens. Night in, night out, year after year. Guilty or not, justified or not, due process or not -- these are not really the questions.

What bothers so many Palestinians and Israelis -- among them the six former Israeli General Security Service chiefs who were interviewed for the award-winning documentary "The Gatekeepers" -- is how routine it has all become. Israelis and Palestinians live with the perpetuation of the anomaly that the occupation is.

Consider this: Only 7 percent of Palestinians and 19 percent of Israelis are over the age of 55. That means that a small minority of both populations remembers life without occupation. Only a sliver of the Palestinian public has any recollection of not living under a foreign military occupation. For Palestinians, resisting the occupation -- the only reality they know -- is a way of life. For Israelis, oppressing the Palestinians is perceived at best as necessary evil. And so they both live with the banality of this anomaly.

Nissim Levi, a 20-year veteran of the Israeli GSS, several years ago described the impact of this routine. You go to a Palestinian village to arrest a suspect named Muhammed, he told Israel's Haaretz newspaper. "From the moment you leave for the village, to take the man and go, you create four more potential terrorists. ... You are entering a small room, in which five people are sleeping, and in order to get to my Muhammed, I need to step on four people." He continued: "On the way to enter the village to arrest someone, I already created damage."

How much damage? According to estimates by the Palestinian Authority's Bureau of Statistics, Israel has made more than 800,000 arrests of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza since 1967. That is an average of almost 50 arrests per day. Go calculate the damage.

Israelis and Palestinians know that their relationship is not normal. They should be shown, however, that it could be different, that things can change. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry are now trying to launch a process that would do just that. They deserve our support.

This article originally appeared in the Chicago Tribune on May 14th, 2013.

Tell Secretary Kerry you've got his back.

2013-05-22T15:21:44Z

Yesterday, the news broke that Secretary of State John Kerry personally called Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren to protest the Israeli government's decision to "legalize" four illegal outposts - a decision that, if implemented, will mean the establishment of four new settlements. Secretary Kerry reportedly also asked the Israeli government to delay the move or rethink its decision.

Thank Secretary Kerry for stepping up and taking action for peace, and tell him to stay the course!

The Israeli decision to legalize the outposts is bad news but par for the course for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who has for years pandered to the settlers and their supporters. The personal intervention of Secretary Kerry, on the other hand, is a welcome development.

Thank Secretary Kerry for not letting Netanyahu's pandering go unchallenged!

This high-level démarche to the Israeli government - the first in recent memory - underscores Secretary Kerry's apparent recognition that this Israeli government decision is exactly what Peace Now called it: "A slap in the face of Secretary Kerry's new process and [a] blatant reassurance to settler interests."

Tell Secretary Kerry that you're outraged at this slap in the face. Tell him you've got his back.

As Peace Now's Hagit Ofran notes, the decision to launder illegal settler actions flies in the face of past promises Israel has made to the international community to not create new settlements or expand existing ones.

Urge Secretary Kerry to stay firm and insist that Israel honor its obligations.

Our sister organization in Israel, Peace Now (Shalom Achshav), is leading the way in sounding the alarm against the establishment of these new settlements and pressing the Israeli government to cancel the decision. Last week, it launched a highly successful media campaign, drawing Israeli and international media attention to the issue. Yesterday, Peace Now demonstrated at the site of one of the four outposts. Click here for our resource page with worldwide media reports on Peace Now's powerful campaign.

Support Secretary Kerry's efforts to reinvigorate peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians -Israel must stop building and legalizing settlements contrary to their own laws, and contrary to international law.

News Nosh 05.22.13

2013-05-22T13:10:19Z

APN's daily news review from Israel

Wednesday May 22, 2013

Quote of the day:

What is worrying me is not a Palestinian state but the existence of the Jewish state. I am in doubt. Time is not on our side."
--Labor MK Benjamin Ben-Eliezer at Knesset committee meeting which revealed how deep the divisions in the government are on the peace process.**

Front Page News:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

The mine tragedy - soldier killed during training in Golan
Gantz warns Assad: We will not accept shooting into Israeli land
Beersheva cries - Day after the (bank) massacre
From a hero to a murderer - In 2002, Itamar Alon received a certificate of recognition after killing a terrorist
The shock after the storm - Oklahoma
Pupils and teachers: Math matriculation exam was impossible

Maariv

Assad ordered shooting at Golan Heights; Israel approved Egyptian fighter jets bomb in north Sinai (Hebrew)
Chief of Staff Gantz: "If Assad undermines the stability in the Golan, he will pay the price" (Hebrew)
Engineering Corps soldier killed by old mine explosion in south Golan; IDF opens investigation (Hebrew)
Expose - Draft of Peri Commission conclusions: Military draft targets of ultra-Orthodox reduced during transition period (Hebrew)
"Near the photos, the bouquets, the candles, they talked about life in the land of (financial) edicts. (Netanyahu's) flying bed, (Netanyahu's) ice cream (budget), everything was chewed to a mixture of anger - but it was not the 6000 shekels or 30 thousand that made Itamar decree death on himself and four others, but a deep, unending, desperate depression
Within 40 minutes, a tornado destroyed dozens of kilometers in an Oklahoma town. Hundreds buried in rubble. 24 killed

Israel Hayom

"We're sick of the shooting from Syria; Assad will pay the price" - For first time: Syrian Army announced it shot at IDF force in Golan
Soldier killed from mine explosion
Deadly tornado in US
"All of Beersheva is crying"
Settlers enraged: "Google offers us to use Palestinian browser
Suspicion of double murder: Bodies of two little girls found in Bedouin community in Negev
After the exam, high school students complaining: The math matriculation exam was particularly difficult

News Summary:
Israel threatens Syria after the regime army claims responsibility for firing at an IDF vehicle, Beersheva cries after a deadly shooting rampage at a bank and the papers reveal that only the Bedouin man who was injured was taken to the hospital handcuffed. Meanwhile, Haaretz reveals a dispute during a Knesset committee meeting that reveals the depth of the rift over the peace process within the government coalition.

For the first time, the Syrian army claimed responsibility for firing at an Israeli force in the Golan Heights. However, Syria claimed that the IDF jeep had entered the demilitarized zone Tuesday and shot two missiles at a Syrian base. IDF Chief of Staff responded quickly saying the claim was false, the jeep was on the Israeli side and that Syrian president Bashar al-Assad would suffer consequences if there were any more attacks on Israel. This was the third this week.

The nationwide drill that two weeks ago was postponed so as not to create more tension along Israel's northern borders will now begin as originally planned on Sunday, May 26th. The nation-wide drill aims to prepare the Israeli population in the event of missiles and rockets hitting population centers and strategic installations across the country. Home Front Minister Gilad Erdan said, "There is no longer a question whether missiles will be launched at Israel's major population centers, only when it would happen."

Right-wing and Left-wing papers agreed - a travesty was committed by the Israeli police, which handcuffed and dragged only one wounded unconscious young man from the massacre at the bank and transferred him to the hospital handcuffed. He was a dark-skinned Bedouin. "Saved a life and was evacuated in handcuffs," read the title in Yedioth. "Saved life, seriously injured and transferred to hospital in handcuffs," read the Israel Hayom title. When a crazed depressed man opened fire in a bank in Beersheva, people ducked. A man next to Bedouin Omar Walid asked Walid to cover him with his body. Walid did and saved the man's life, but got severely injured. When the police began evacuating the injured people, they handcuffed and dragged Walid out. Maariv quoted his brother saying, "They dragged him like a dog." Maariv published a photo from Channel 10 showing Walid being dragged by police. Even more worrying was what his brother told Haaretz Hebrew edition: "They shot him because they thought he was a suspect. The surgeon told us that there were several bullets in his body, which were not of the same type. I ask why didn't they take care of him properly and brought him here in handcuffs? We are very angry that they didn't treat him like a human being. " (This quote was not translated the English edition and was brought to my attention by Sol Salbe - OH]

At the Knesset, Meretz party MK Issawi Freij criticized the police, NRG Hebrew reported. He explained that "Muslims in Israel suffer from stigmas" and called for a law prohibiting the media from making claims about suspects until the police has officially declared them suspects.

**Haaretz reported: A discussion at the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday regarding the peace process with the Palestinians uncovered just how deep the divisions are on this issue in the government and within the ruling coalition. While Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said the government's goal is to restart negotiations, other coalition members insisted a two-state solution was never an official government position. MK Orit Strock, from the pro-settler Habayit Hayehdi party cut Livni off. "Two states for two peoples is not the government's official position," she said. "It is not part of the government's guiding principles, and for good reason."

Quick Hits:

Settlers severely beat handicapped Palestinian boy near Hebron - Settlers from Maon outpost assaulted a 16-year-old handicapped boy in Yatta on Tuesday, leaving him bruised all over his body. He was taken to hospital for treatment. Last week, settlers from Maon torched two dunams of wheat fields in the south Hebron hills. (Maan)
Clashes in Hebron as Israeli forces bodysearch Palestinian woman - Sundus al-Azza, 19, was called to be patted down by Israeli soldiers. Al-Azza demanded that a female soldier carry out the search, as is normal protocol, but the soldiers insisted on doing it themselves. The woman then shouted for help and locals in the area immediately rushed to her assistance. (Maan)
Palestinian vehicle set on fire by settler Molotov cocktail near Beit El - Settlers from Beit El on Saturday evening threw a Molotov cocktail toward Palestinian passersby and vehicles on the Ramallah-Nablus road and near al-Jalazun refugee camp north of Ramallah. One car burned completely, but the driver was able to escape. (Maan)
Attorney General: State fails to handle settlement construction violations - Yehuda Weinstein urges defense minister to ensure criminal enforcement of planning and construction violations in West Bank, which he says go largely unpunished. (Yedioth, p.10/Ynet)
Supreme Court orders Israel's AG to explain law allowing confiscation of Palestinian land in Jerusalem - Critics say the law, passed soon after Israel was founded to claim the property of Palestinian refugees, is now used to unjustly seize property inside the Jerusalem city lines that is owned by families whose live just over the line that Israel drew. (Haaretz)
Palestinian hurt by live IDF fire at West Bank demonstration - IDF soldiers shot protester holding Molotov cocktail while trying to apprehend him; extent of wounds unclear. Witnesses said Atta Sabah, 13, was walking with school friends when he was shot in the back. (Haaretz and Maan)
Reserve generals: "Give deterrence back immediately to IDF soldiers in the West Bank" - Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee to discuss today testimonies of soldiers that were published in Maariv, according to which they are forced to deal with Palestinian violence with their hands tied because of unclear rules of engagement (about opening fire). (Maariv, p. 6)
Tourist tip #241 / Visiting the southern West Bank - Few dare to visit the beautiful and expansive South Hebron Hills, but a trip there sheds valuable light on the dynamics of Israeli occupation. (Haaretz)
Israel expands territorial limit for fishing off Gaza coast - Responding to a period of relative quiet in the region, Israel allows Palestinian fisherman to work in waters that were declared out of bounds following Palestinian rocket fire during Obama visit in March. (Haaretz and Maan)
Sources: EU putting Hezbollah on terror list - Military wing of Shiite group may soon find self on global blacklist, if EU has way. As militia's fighters get more involved in Syrian war, international pressure grows to rein them in. (Haaretz and Ynet)
Anger in Gush Etzion (southern W. Bank): Google offers residents to use 'State of Palestine' browser - Settlers from Gush Etzion were surprised to discover recently that according to Google, they are in Palestine. The site offered them to use google.ps, not google.co.il. "It's simply chutzpah," said Shachar, a settler there. The Legal Forum for Israel is trying to change that. (Israel Hayom, p. 8)
Strapped for cash, Defense Ministry looks to banks to fund projects - The Defense Ministry is desperate for funds for several endeavors, including the relocation of a handful of major army bases, and is hoping the banks will ease restrictions on lending in order to fund them. (Haaretz)
Israeli forces demolish 2 houses in East Jerusalem - Israeli forces forced the Shalan family to evacuate their homes early Tuesday before demolishing them. "The house was built 12 years ago on land that my parents bought a long time ago. We tried so many times to get a building permit but the Israeli courts kept refusing..." (Maan)
Israeli blogger faces arrest for urging citizens to create 'chaos' against government - After Omri Hayun railed against Israel's economic situation last week on the social networking site, he found police knocking at his door. (Haaretz)
Palestinians to the UN: Our health situation is deteriorating - Israel ambassadors were told to refute the Palestinian allegations that health in the Territories is crashing and the health of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails is bad. (Maariv, p. 6/NRG Hebrew)
Tragedy in Golan: Mine blast kills IDF soldier - Corp. Roee (Israel) Alfi, an Engineering Corps soldier recruited only a few months ago, killed during minesweeping activity; two soldiers lightly hurt; army launches investigation. (Ynet)
Israel's defense minister defends al-Dura panel, calls second intifada incident 'a blood libel' - Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon says a French militant used the al-Dura affair to justify the killing of Jews, even though the special committee's report says otherwise. (Haaretz)
New enterprise by former Mossad chief: Weapons assembly factory and enormous target practice complex - Meir Dagan wants to establish with his son a 17-room target practice center in Beit Shemesh called 'Maoz Shimshon' next to a handgun assembly factory. When the police did not give the okay, he turned to the Minister of Interior Security to intervene on his behalf. (Yedioth, p. 10)
Official: Hamas willing to close down tunnels - The Hamas government in Gaza is willing to close down all smuggling tunnels under the Egyptian border once a commercial crossing opens. "We do not want the tunnels in the first place," said Ghazi Hamad. "They burden citizens and cause hundreds of fatalities, but they are essential because there is no alternative." (Maan)
Rights group seeks disciplinary action against 'racist' Safed rabbi - Safed Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu once urged Jewish homeowners not to rent apartments to non-Jews, reportedly said that driving Arabs out of Jewish neighborhoods was "part of our strategy." Criminal probe against rabbi was closed without proceedings. (Israel Hayom)
Gaza security forces to uphold 'standards of manliness' - Hamas security forces in the Gaza Strip have been instructed to uphold standards of manliness. In April, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights reported that Hamas had forced young men to get haircuts. (Maan)
Israel hospitalizes hunger striker- Ayman Abu Daoud, 32, was transferred from Ramle prison clinic to the Haemek Medical Center in Afula. He has been on hunger strike since April 14. He was released in 2011 in the Shalit prisoner swap, but rearrested four months later and accused of violating his release terms by distributing financial allocations to persons affiliated with a political party. (Maan)
(Right-wing) report: Anti-Israel NGOs receive US funding - (NGO Monitor, a right-wing) research institute says some Mideast organizations receiving grants from Washington 'demonize Israel, promote BDS campaigns targeting Israel. [NGO Monitor is right-wing org focusing on delegitimizing left-wing orgs. - OH] (Ynet)
Jordan denies entry to Islamic Jihad official - Abu Imad Rifaee, a senior Islamic Jihad official, was en route to Jordan to take part in a reconciliation committee meeting tasked with reactivating the PLO. It is the second time that Jordan has denied entry to Rifaee, although it is unclear on what grounds he was refused entry. (Maan)
PA security forces detain 3 Hamas members - Three Hamas members were detained in Bethlehem and Nablus, the group said. (Maan)
Palestinian, Lebanese journalists tour Jordan - Journalists from Palestine and Lebanon traveled through Jordan in May as part of efforts to increase tourism to the kingdom. The group discussed ways to encourage Palestinians and Lebanese to spend their holidays in Jordan, by organizing more special deals and religious trips. (Maan)
IAEA report: Iran taking steps to expand sensitive nuclear capacity - Next quarterly report on Iran's nuclear program by the IAEA is likely to show continued installation of the centrifuges used for enriching uranium, diplomats say. (Agencies, Haaretz)
Jewish group gives tolerance award to Indonesian leader blamed for crackdown - Decision by Rabbi Arthur Schneier's Appeal of Conscience Foundation to give the award to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been the subject of street protests, newspaper articles, and angry statements by major national figures. (Haaretz)
In one hard-knock British city, a secret Muslim donor helps save a synagogue - The Bradford Synagogue in northern England was facing a dwindling population and serious financial woes when the local Muslim community reached into its pockets to save the day. (Haaretz)

Features:
Meat and greet art festival reaches the Arab Galilee
The curators of the Mediterranean Biennale have deflected flack from all sides to bring this exhibition to Sakhnin. (Haaretz)

'If the settlement of Elon Moreh wasn't here, we'd be living in paradise'
Unknown individuals - probably settlers from the nearby settlement of Elon Moreh - have started working land that belongs to Azmout, a Palestinian village near Nablus. A protest has been launched. (Haaretz)

Commentary/Analysis:

Soccer/Racism - Why Maharan Radi must leave Maccabi Tel Aviv (Tamir Cohen, Haaretz) Radi could be the Israeli Rosa Parks, the one who finally puts his foot down and says "enough" to racist fans.
The Jewish coercion administration (Haaretz Editorial) Zionism dreamed of a state for the Jews, not a Jewish state; the Balfour Declaration promised a national home, not a religious one.
Jewish terror - From 'price-tag' to Torah-tag (Bambi Sheleg, Yedioth) "...Price-tag actions add fuel to the fires to which the State of Israel has been marching for many years...These actions weaken the strength of the large Arab public that desires coexistence and lends validity to the Arab fanatics and inciters...The fact that the official State of Israel is fighting with full force against price-tag actions enshrines an absurd situation in which the Arab and Jewish extremists have the upper hand. In this awful equation, both peoples' extremists have great influence in setting the security and civil agenda, and neither group has any interest in weakening the flames...Just so that we understand the price of inaction, we learned yesterday about 'Torah-tag' being employed against the Women of the Wall. There is no such thing as a vacuum. Whoever fails to deal with price-tag will receive other tags."
Confronting the psychological costs of the occupation (Mira Sucharov, Haaretz) Psychoactive, a group of Israeli mental health professionals, seeks to increase awareness around topics that are often seen as taboo, such as the mental health effects of occupation on Israeli soldiers and the psychological barriers to peace.
No need to show Assad the door, yet (Dr. Gabi Siboni, Israel Hayom) Letting radical Islam enter Syria through the front door could prove to be a strategic blunder of the highest order.
The hands are Tehran (Asaf Gabor, Maariv) "Iran ordered Hezbollah to heat up the border with Israel on the Golan Heights for two reasons: Defeating the rebel forces and stabilizing Assad's status as a president who does not fear a clash with the great enemy - Israel...A low-intensity confrontation with Israel will divert the media spotlight to the Israeli-Syrian border at a time when Hezbollah fighters, Iranian officers and Assad's murderous Shabiha militias are continuing to slaughter Syrians in the Al-Qusair area on the Lebanese border..."
Lapid, the ever-changing billboard (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz) As his recent interview in The New York Times shows, Finance Minister Yair Lapid knows how to sell himself as everything to everyone, but his brand is wearing thin.
American style 'lone gunman' shooting stuns Israelis (Allison Kaplan, Haaretz) No matter what label the media chooses to put on what happened in Be'er Sheva on Monday, in the end it all comes down to four dead bodies, four destroyed futures, and four shattered families. It doesn't matter who did it or why it was done. It is terror, pure and simple.
The unstoppable madness (Dan Margalit, Israel Hayom) The tragedy in Beersheba is not a one-off event; it is bound to recur.
The hope is lost (Uzi Baram, Haaretz) Israel has experienced many leadership crises in the past but even in periods of anger, frustration and vast disappointment with the leaders there was still hope.

Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.

Times of Israel - Houses, fences and fruit trees: A decade of watching settlements grow

2013-05-21T17:12:59Z

A trip through the West Bank with Dror Etkes, who tracks how Israel's settlements are altering the physical, political and human landscape in one of the world's most complicated pieces of land

By Matti Friedman

It has been just over a decade since Dror Etkes began criss-crossing the West Bank in a long war of unstinting dedication and uncertain efficacy against the spread of Israeli settlements...

Peace Now Leads the Fight against New Settlements

2013-05-21T15:15:42Z

Israel's Peace Now movement (Shalom Achshav) is leading a vociferous campaign against the Israeli government's intention to establish four new settlements in the West Bank.

The government informed Israel's Supreme Court last week that it intends to legalize four settlement "outposts" that settlers built illegally, and which the Government of Israel has previously committed to remove. Benjamin Netanyahu's government did so in a formal response to a petition that Peace Now has filed to Israel's Supreme Court in 2007 against the creation of six illegal outposts.

The government's documents indicate that its policy on illegal outposts is one that strives to legalize illegal outposts, as long as they are not constructed on privately owned Palestinian land. By applying this policy, the government of Israel is violating a longtime commitment of consecutive Israeli governments to not establish new settlements in the West Bank.

Peace Now activists today demonstrated at the site of one of the four outposts. Last week, it launched a successful media campaign. Numerous media organizations in Israel and worldwide reported on Peace Now's opposition to a government policy that may result in the establishment of many more new settlements through retroactive legalization of illegal outposts. Here is a sample:

Reuters - May 16, 2013

Jerusalem Post - May 16, 2013

BusinessWeek (Bloomberg story) - May 16, 2013

Ynet - May 16, 2013

GlobalPost (AFP story) - May 16, 2013

Middle East Online - May 16, 2013

International Business Time - May 16, 2013

Middle East Monitor - May 16, 2013

WAFA - May 16, 2013

Xinhua - May 16, 2013

Arutz 7 - May 16, 2013

News Nosh 05.21.13

2013-05-21T13:35:36Z

APN's daily news review from Israel

Tuesday May 21, 2013

Quote of the day:

"If Lapid thinks Issawiya, Shuafat and Beit Hanina need to be part of the Jewish state and that stopping settlement construction is an American, European or Qatari interest, then apparently our Finance Minister is more connected to the settlers than the reality."
Labor MK Omer Bar-Lev on Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid's statement to the New York Times.**

Front Page News:

Haaretz

Four murdered in vendetta at bank in south
Failure of supervision of private weapon carriers // Gili Cohen
Esteemed Border Police officer who lost his direction // Yaniv Kobovitz
Crime the police could not thwart // Amir Oren
Bank security guards - only at large branches
Kerry chastised Amb. Oren over legalization of outposts
Lapid: Opposes freezing and cutting benefits of settlements
Bennett's plan for empowering Jewish identity
Gal Hershkovitz, responsible in Treasury for budgets, resigns after two years on job

Yedioth Ahronoth

Crazed vendetta at the bank - In the morning he could not withdraw money from the bank because of a debt, in the afternoon he returned with a gun. One after another, he shot at employees and customers, murdering four, then...committed suicide

Maariv

Four murdered in economic-related attack
From brave charge at terrorists to being fired from the municipality - the deteriorating path of Itamar Alon
Senior person at Bank Hapoalim: "There is no doubt that the public atmosphere and the attitude of the banks caused this shooting incident"
Minister Yuval Steinitz breaks the Israeli silence on the Syrian issue: "Preferable that Assad falls" (Hebrew)
In Druze villages in the Golan Heights they have begun to store food ahead of escalation: "No one knows what will happen here"
Yaalon associates: Defense Minister ordered General Alon not to appear in the Knesset in order to avoid a dispute with the settlers

Israel Hayom

Massacre at the bank
Deliberately and willingly to take revenge // Dr. Yaakov Rofeh
Nothing justifies violence // Hezi Sternlicht
'Israel Hayom' makes for the first time on the list of 'Superbrands'
Today: Some 200,000 pupils take mathematics matriculation exam

News Summary:
Murder at the bank and statements by Yair Lapid on settlements and the peace process made top news in Israeli newspapers today. Haaretz reported on the first dispute between Israel and the new Obama administration, just ahead of US Secretary of State John Kerry's visit to Israel and Palestine. Meanwhile, a chief Palestinian negotiator expressed his support for Kerry's efforts, but Israeli officials said they won't approve one of Kerry's confidence-building measures. And NRG Hebrew reports on the launch of a new pro Arab-Israeli peace caucus in the Knesset.

Depending on which one you read, the Israeli papers were either shocked or excited by Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid's statements to the New York Times. Yedioth noted in its title that "Lapid broke right - Opposes freezing construction in settlements." Indeed, Lapid raised a storm when he presented what Yedioth called 'right-wing positions regarding the negotiations with the Palestinians and the peace process. Maariv noted that Lapid "supports allowing 'natural growth'" in settlements. Lapid also said he opposes dividing Jerusalem. "We didn't come here for nothing," he said. "Jerusalem is not a place, it's an idea." He also suggested that Palestinian President Mahoud Abbas was not a partner for peace and said he hopes to succeed Netanyahu but he is in 'no hurry.' He did say that thousands of settlers would be uprooted. Later he said that he really does believe in a two-state solution. "We are not looking for a happy marriage with the Palestinians, but a fair divorce." He also told Yedioth that US President Barack Obama should set a three-year timeline for determining the final borders of a Palestinian state. And he called on Obama to endorse the position laid out by President George W. Bush in 2004, allowing Israel to keep some of the Jewish settlements it has built in Judea and Samaria.

**Justice Minister Tzipi Livni lambasted Lapid's remarks on peace talks calling them 'disappointing' and saying they don't reflect Israeli policies and that his alliance with pro-settler Habayit Hayehudi party leader Naftali Bennett "is also on the diplomatic issues." Labor MK Merav Michaeli accused Lapid of lying to his voters because he does not support a change of the government's policy on settlements and does not believe Israel needs to divide Jerusalem in the framework ofa peace agreement with the Palestinians, NRG Hebrew reported. "He proved he works for Netanyahu," she said. Labor MK Omer Bar-Lev said, Between Habayit Hayehudi, Yisrael Beiteinu and the extremists of the Likud, and it appears now Lapid, only Tzipi Livni is left as a fig-leag to continue to draw out what we once called a process and is now a complete freeze...If Lapid thinks Issawiya, Shuafat and Beit Hanina need to be part of the Jewish state and that stopping settlement construction is an American, European or Qatari interest, then apparently our Finance Minister is more connected to the settlers than the reality." Yedioth commentator Aviad Kleinberg writes a sharp piece about Lapid's laissez-faire attitude towards the Palestinians. (See translation in Commentary below.)

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry begins his latest Middle East trip today just as a dispute has begun between the Obama administration and Israel. Haaretz reported that he called Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren demanding an explanation for Israel's intention to legalize four West Bank outposts that it has been ordered by the High Court to demolish. Haaretz writes that a senior Israeli official told Haaretz that Kerry "personally called Oren and requested clarifications, stressing that the move undermines his efforts to restart negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Kerry requested that the government rethink its decision, or at least postpone the outposts' legalization." Kerry lands today in Oman, tomorrow he continues to Jordan to meet with the King and discuss the situation in Syria and the region at large, as well as reigniting the peace process. On Thursday and Friday, Kerry will visit Jerusalem and Ramallah where he will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, respectively, as well as with Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat declared the two-state solution has a chance under Kerry's efforts and that the Palestinians have frozen their push to join international bodies in order to give Obama and Kerry the opportunity to reignite the peace process.
Erekat also told a UN committee that the situation in the West Bank and E. Jerusalem 'can be summed up with one word - apartheid' for which the Israeli ambassador to the UN accused him of "using every microphone to demonize the State of Israel."

One of the gestures Kerry asked Israel to make to the Palestinians was permission to build factories in Areas C of the West Bank - areas under Israeli civilian and military control. But Israeli officials told Maariv they refused in principle because it would give the Palestinian Authority a diplomatic achievement under the cover of being an economic gesture. "Why should I give them gestures on the ground without getting anything," said the Israeli official. (NRG Hebrew)

A caucus for advancing a two-state solution to end the Israeli-Arab conflict was established by Labor MK Hilik Bar and launched yesterday in the Knesset. Only Maariv's Arik Bender reported on it and the article only appeared on the NRG Hebrew website. The caucus was in line with the Arab Peace Initiative (API). According to Bender, the hundreds of people invited for the launch waited with baited breath to hear what the two invited right-wing MKs would say. Likud Deputy Foreign Minister Zeev Elkin and Likud-Beiteinu Deputy Education Minister Avi Wartzman "did not surprise and expressed their complete lack of confidence in the peace process." Elkin refused to express his views on the API, but had cold words for the expressions of excitement by Bar and other MKS over the statements in Washington by the Qataris about willingness to make the API open to land swaps. He said "there was nothing new" in their statement and that even the Egyptian Foreign Minister had said so. (NRG Hebrew) Open Zion had a first-person piece about it and PR Newswire gave more details.

Quick Hits:

Israeli forces issue demolition orders to Bedouins in Yatta - Israeli military vehicles raided an area east of Yatta and forces issued the orders to seven Bedouin families from the al-Hathalin tribe. (Maan)
Reporter: Israeli forces arrest fishermen - Israeli forces detained two Palestinian fishermen off the coast of Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip and confiscated their boat. (Maan)

Israel allows Gaza families to visit relatives in Nafha prison - Eighty-seven family members were allowed to visit their loved ones in Nafha prison after receiving permission from Israel to cross via Beit Hanoun. (Maan)
PA minister denies phone smuggling claims in Israeli jails - The Palestinian Authority minister for prisoners on Monday denied Israeli media reports alleging that the ministry is involved in illegally providing detainees with mobile phones. (Maan)

Israel nixes UNESCO Jerusalem visit, alleging Palestinians tried to make it political - Foreign Ministry rescinded its offer to let a team from the UN cultural agency inspect historical sites in the Old City of Jerusalem, saying the Palestinians violated a prior agreement that the visit be apolitical. (Haaretz)
IDF testing new 'sponge-tipped' bullet for riots in West Bank - Push to include non-lethal riot dispersal means in Judea and Samaria comes amid backdrop of increasing rioting in region, including protests against construction of security fence, and increasing friction between Palestinians and settlers. (Israel Hayom)
Qatar: Arab Spring makes Israeli-Palestinian peace more pressing - Gulf state's emir tells Doha Forum Mideast revolutions put Israel 'in direct confrontation with Arab people, not only their rulers.' (Agencies, Ynet)
Rachel's Tomb attacked: 200 Molotov cocktails in three months - The firebombs were thrown at people going to pray and at soldiers, according to senior army and Border Guard officers in a meeting of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense committee. (Israel Hayom, p. 17)
Mohammed al-Dura's father calls for international probe into whether IDF killed his son - Palestinians say the 12-year-old died during a shootout with the IDF at the start of the second intifada; Israeli committee disagrees. Says he is willing to have his son exhumed from his grave. (Haaretz and NRG Hebrew)
Palestinian village hangs large Swastika flag on electric line - The Israel Defense Forces Civil Administration on Monday ordered the Palestinian Electrical Company to remove a Swastika flag hanging on one of its electric wires in the Palestinian village of Beit Ummar. (Israel Hayom)
Torah tag' sprayed on Women of Wall member's house - Officials say act of vandalism represents 'terrorism against pluralism and tolerance'; Women of Wall say rabbis should issue condemnation. (Ynet and Israel Hayom)
Ex-IDF chief rabbi takes over Israel's new Jewish Identity Administration - Administration's goal is to instill 'Jewish values' in the Israeli public. (Haaretz)
Man launches hunger strike at Rabin Square - Itzik Cohen, cardiac patient, unable to afford medicine, goes on hunger strike, sets up tent in Tel Aviv: 'I cannot survive without these meds.' (Ynet)
Kibbutz residents attack Bedouin village in the Negev - Israelis from Kibbutz Retamim attacked the Bedouin village of Bir Hadaj on Sunday, setting fire to a tent. "The setters of Retamim are acting like they are in the West Bank," Ibn Hamid added. "These people have the mentality of the occupying settler to attack every Arab." (Maan)
Bedouin ambush Israeli woman, 3 children in 'price-tag' attack - Masked Bedouin on ATVs smash woman's windshield with a brick at entrance to Negev community in protest over government demolitions of illegal Bedouin homes in the area • Last week, a pregnant woman was similarly attacked, residents say. (Israel Hayom)

Ashton Kutcher looking for Tel Aviv office - American actor, who visited Israel last week, said to be considering opening business incubator center in country. (Yedioth/Ynet)

Israel to demolish car dealership in Jerusalem - Israeli bulldozers demolished a car dealership in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem. The owner was shocked when he received a call from the Israeli side informing him that he had to remove 65 cars from the site ahead of the demolition. (Maan)
Israel Police looking into allegations Yacimovich appointed donors to top Labor posts - The examination is in response to a complaint filed last month by party activist Yoni Ariel, a supporter of Yacimovich rival Amram Mitzna, who later left the party for Hatnuah. (Haaretz)
Attempt to bribe prison guard at Nafha prison thwarted - Two (Palestinian) security prisoners tried to bribe a guard with 20,000 shekels in exchange for smuggling cellular phones into the jail through a middleman in E. Jerusalem. (NRG Hebrew)
Streisand to receive honorary PhD in Israel - Hebrew University of Jerusalem to honor legendary American singer in recognition of her support for human rights, dedication to Israel and Jewish people. (Ynet)
Enhanced Protector to join Israeli Navy operations - After successful trial period, Israeli Navy is expected to absorb newest version of Protector unmanned watercraft. (Ynet)
South Korea deploys Israeli-made missiles on border - South Korea military official: "Dozens of Spike [Called the Tammuz in Israel] missiles and their launchers have recently been deployed on Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong islands" • Report comes after North Korea fires two more missiles over the coast on Monday. (Israel Hayom)
Jordan: Arab Spring paved way for press freedoms - PM Ensour says Hashemite Kingdom has 'come a long way' in improving standards of national media. (Agencies, Ynet)
Minister Yuval Steinitz: "Israel prefers Assad falls - to weaken the Iranian regime" - The minister contradicted the media report according to which Israel is interested in Assad staying in power. "We received messages from Europe that it's time to gie Iran a military threat." (Maariv/NRGHebrew)
Gunmen storm Egyptian security post in Sinai - Gunmen fire automatic weapons in raid on base in the Al-Ahrash as Egyptian army send tanks to Sinai where Islamists kidnapped seven soldiers, policemen. (Agencies, Ynet)

Features:

Love in the Territories
Noga Netzer had never personally knew an Arab. Until she took a shared taxi from Jerusalem and met Faris. Even her left-wing friends did not understand what she was doing with this Palestinian guy who was living in Israel illegally. She also didn't know how to explain it except that they had fun together. And then one day he disappeared. Armed with a camera she went to look for him in the Territories. A happy-sad meeting and a documentary film came out of it. ("My Arab boyfriend" - On Doco Yes tonight at 9PM)

Palestinian film on love and occupation breaks new ground at Cannes
'Omar', a political thriller by director Hany Abu-Assad, is the first film to be fully funded by the Palestinian cinema industry. (Haaretz)

Commentary/Analysis:
Self-awareness - The battle over victimhood (Aviad Kleinberg, Yedioth) ...Lapid does not think that Israel needs to change its settlement policy in order to renew peace talks. He does not think that Jerusalem needs to be the capital of the Palestinian state and he is not at all sure that the Palestinians want a state. In general, it does not appear that Lapid has much energy for the Palestinians. This whole thing about their rights, it appears, bores him a little. Preventing rights, arrests, dispossession, land confiscation - really, what's the big deal! It really appears the Palestinians are whining too much. Lapid even knows who is guilty: "Abu-Mazen is one of the founding fathers of the concept of Palestinian victimhood." Because of the Palestinians we'll have to evacuate isolated settlements and "this will break our hearts," said the Finance Minister. Great. Now we know where the problem is. The problem is not the occupation and the dispossession and the continued prevention of their rights, but it's about Palestinian victimhood. Why are they doing this to us? Why do we deserve this? What did we do for goodness' sake? Because what really characterizes the Israeli-Palestinian conversation is that both sides feel like victims...It does not matter how much power we use; it does not matter how many innocent people pay the price; it does not matter that we hold the cards in our hands. In the end, we and only we are the victims....

Israel's focus on al-Dura is harmful propaganda (Haaretz Editorial) The report released on the death of Mohammed al-Dura doesn't lift the fog off the case, if there ever was any. Instead, it raises a more painful issue: the many young people killed by IDF soldiers during the second intifada.
The Palestinian industry of lies (Dror Eydar, Israel Hayom) The Muhammad al-Dura affair proves that the international media is gobbling up the Palestinians' lies indiscriminately and that every Palestinian report should be taken with a grain of salt.
Defining Zionism: The belief that Israel belongs to the entire Jewish people (A.B. Yehoshua, Haaretz) Given the ways in which the word 'Zionism' is thrown around both in Israel and outside of it, and the vast permutations it's gone through over the past decades, perhaps it's time we try to define it realistically.
Suffering versus cynicism (Uri Heitner, Israel Hayom) Ahmed Tibi's cynical maneuvering is more sophisticated than Holocaust denial.
Take land swaps off the table (former Yesha settler council director Dani Dayan, Haaretz) The territorial exchanges Israel once offered the Palestinians in return for peace were never obligatory and are no longer practical.
Putin taught Bibi a lesson (Shimon Shiffer, Yedioth/Ynet) PM should have saved his demand from Russian leader for private rather than public dialogue.
Russian rock, American hard place (Dr. Reuven Berko, Israel Hayom) Israel's desire to defend itself has dragged it into the middle of a fight between two global superpowers, with only hesitant support from its American "protector."

Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.

Akiva Eldar for Al-Monitor Israel Pulse: Israel, China and the Arab Initiative

2013-05-20T16:18:07Z

By: Akiva Eldar

According to unofficial reports, certain progress was made at the talks held earlier this month (May 8) in Rome between Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's representative Isaac Molho and US Secretary of State John Kerry, in which senior officials from Jordan and Qatar also took part. Nonetheless, diplomatic sources caution that the progress regarding negotiation guidelines (a return to the 1967 border and an exchange of territories) is, in fact, a "manipulation" designed to improve Israel's international standing in order to prepare for a possible attack on Iran.

At the same time, there has been a considerable slowdown of construction in the settlements in the past few months. The Palestinians have set June 6 as the deadline for resumption of the diplomatic process...

Hard Questions, Tough Answers with Yossi Alpher: May 20, 2013

2013-05-20T15:38:44Z

Alpher discusses Syria's civil war and Israel's possible involvement, the best Syrian end-game from Israel's standpoint, whether, as long as Assad holds onto power, can the Syria-Israel border remain quiet, whether there are any signs of progress in Kerry's effort to renew final status negotiations,

Q. The past week has witnessed a flurry of Israeli and other media pronouncements, some perhaps apocryphal, regarding the desired outcome in Syria's civil war and Israel's possible involvement. Where does this leave us?

A. The allegations, threats and counter-threats have come at a bewildering pace. The most suspect of these pronouncements (e.g., Israel prefers that Assad remain in power) are those published by the Times and Sunday Times of London, which tends to feature sensationalism over credibility. By the end of the week, we witnessed the Netanyahu government--having been threatened by Syria's Assad and having responded by threatening to topple his regime if it attacks Israel--trying to return to its earlier sound policy of the most minimal involvement possible by reiterating its threat only to intervene to prevent the transfer by Syria of strategic weaponry to non-state actors like Hezbollah in Lebanon. By the by, Netanyahu traveled to Russia to meet President Putin, but apparently failed to prevent Moscow from selling more such weaponry to Syria.

This round of threats and counter-threats, some of which appeared to reflect a sense of panic among Jerusalem decision-makers, was provoked by an unfortunate Pentagon assertion that Israel was behind attacks on Syrian-Hezbollah weapons transfers two weeks ago. That revelation rendered it difficult for Israel to maintain the opaque nature of its policy toward Syria and helped launch an escalatory verbal spiral. For now, the threats may have ended. But only until the next time: the situation in Syria is far too volatile for Israel to be able to remain entirely passive.

Q. All well and good. But what, in your view, is the best Syrian end-game from Israel's standpoint?

A. The following thoughts are highly speculative. They should be understood as little more than an exercise in creative strategic thinking. Broadly speaking, we are attempting to separate bad alternatives from worse in a situation where Israel has virtually no influence over the outcome.

I would argue that the least bad long-term end-game scenario from Israel's standpoint is the takeover of Syria by a moderate secular Sunni-dominated government. Note that the chances of this happening are close to nil: while secular Sunnis are active in the Syrian opposition, such governments don't exist today in the Arab Middle East. Despite this near-zero probability, were secular Sunnis somehow to grasp power, Israel would come under heavy pressure to reward this outcome by declaring its readiness to turn over the Golan Heights to Syria in return for peace. The Levant region would at least temporarily be stabilized.

The next best outcome is the rise to power in Damascus of the Muslim Brotherhood. A few years ago, this seemed like a nightmare scenario. But with the strengthening of more extreme Salafist movements in Arab revolutionary countries like Egypt, Tunisia and Syria, and in view of the relatively responsible behavior toward Israel displayed thus far by the Egyptian Muslim Brethren, a Syrian Brotherhood regime begins to look more acceptable. It might just be capable of coexisting peacefully with Israel, especially in view of the daunting task it would confront in rebuilding Syria.

Note that both of these two opening alternatives offer Israel the added advantage of removing Iranian influence from Syria and to a large extent from Lebanon's Hezbollah as well.

Third, Somalization: Syria descends into the chaos of warring clans and ethnic groups, none strong enough to wield effective power in Damascus. Peace or even peaceful coexistence would not be an option. Yet, while Israel's border with Syria would undoubtedly come under terrorist attack, the likelihood of a strategic threat emanating from Syria would be low, since most Syrians would be busy fighting one another and just surviving. On the other hand, Israel would confront the danger of this sort of anarchy spreading to neighboring countries like Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey, with ramifications that are difficult to foresee.

In some ways, option three increasingly describes the current situation in Syria, which could indeed prevail for years.

Fourth in order of preference for Israel would be the survival of the Assad regime, bolstered by its allies Iran and Hezbollah. For the foreseeable future, this would likely mean no peace and no war with Syria--an extension of the status quo of the past 40 years. It would take years for Assad to reconsolidate his control over the entire country and rebuild infrastructure, thereby distracting the regime from external adventures. On the other hand, from Israel's standpoint this means the aggrandizement of Iranian power and influence in the Levant--a very negative prospect. Even in the short term, Iran and Hezbollah might feel empowered to open an active front against Israel along its Lebanon border. Moreover, from a broad regional perspective, this scenario appears to ratify or rationalize the wholesale murder and exile of a country's civilians by its embattled leader--a daunting prospect for the Middle East.

This is the "better the devil we know" approach that was ascribed last week to certain Israeli security figures.

Fifth and last, I would rank a takeover of Syria by Sunni Salafists of the Qaeda-Nusra school. To the extent they attained uncontested power in Damascus, they would quickly set their sights on neighbors like Israel and Jordan. Were they able to take over even a portion of Assad's arsenal of chemical weapons and missile delivery systems, this could mean, within a relatively short time, all-out war with Israel.

Additional scenarios come to mind, such as the partition of Syria into two or more ethnic statelets. But it is virtually impossible at this juncture to assess their specific ramifications for Israel or "rank" their desirability from Israel's standpoint.

Q. Meanwhile, and as long as Assad holds onto power, can the Syria-Israel border remain quiet?

A. In recent days, the Assad regime has begun responding to the perception of intervention by Turkey, Jordan and Israel not only with threats to attack them, but also by resurrecting dormant irredentist movements and "sponsoring" possible new guerilla/terrorist cross-border warfare by them. According to one report, Iran has persuaded Assad to allow Hezbollah to open an active front against Israel on the Golan. A hitherto unknown Palestinian group called the "Abd al-Qader al-Husseini Brigade" took credit for firing rockets at an Israeli observation point on Mount Hermon last week. Additional pro-Assad secular Palestinian groups like the Popular Front-General Command and the Popular Democratic Front have also boasted of planned attacks.

On the Turkish front, terrorist car bombs that killed over 50 Turks on May 11 in the border town of Reyhanli were blamed by Turkish authorities on a Turkish Marxist group resurrected by the Assad regime. Assad has also reportedly revived a Hatay liberation movement that he had closed down in 2005 when, at the height of a renaissance in Turkish-Syrian relations, he announced that Syria would no longer contest Turkey's 1939 annexation of the controversial border province, also known as Alexandretta.

This new Syrian strategy of encouraging cross-border attacks on Israel and Turkey should be understood as an attempt by Damascus, with Iranian and Hezbollah support, to deter Syria's neighbors from intervening in the fighting in Syria, whether they do so by supporting the rebels (Turkey, Jordan) or by attacking arms transfers to Hezbollah (Israel). Considering Hezbollah's active participation in the Syrian fighting and the growing involvement there by Iraqi Shiites and Sunnis, this is almost certainly yet another step toward the regionalization of the Syrian civil war. On the other hand, Assad presumably calculates that pin-prick border attacks will not provoke an all-out Israeli or Turkish response, thereby enabling Assad to claim that he is "fighting back", yet without launching the kind of missile attacks that would provoke a regional war and hasten his downfall.

Q. US Secretary of State Kerry returns to the Israeli-Palestinian arena this week. Any sign of progress in his effort to renew final status negotiations?

A. To the extent Kerry has registered achievements in the form of commitments by PM Binyamin Netanyahu and President Mahmoud Abbas to offer mutual confidence-building measures, they are still being kept under wraps. Only a few such measures, such as Palestinian readiness to postpone appealing to international bodies in return for a UNESCO visit to certain East Jerusalem Muslim sites, have actually been carried out. At surface level, most indications should trouble Kerry.

Take, for example, recent revelations that, in his previous term, Netanyahu maintained behind-the-scenes peace negotiations with both senior PLO official Yasser Abed Rabbo and, through American good offices, the Assad regime. Neither track led to a breakthrough, just as during Netanyahu's first term of office, 1996-1999, similar negotiations proved fruitless. Kerry and Abbas beware: Netanyahu is not afraid to negotiate; he knows this is good for stability and his international image. He simply doesn't want to reach agreement that requires giving up the territory in question.

Or take the Israeli "national panel of inquiry" that pronounced on Sunday that iconic footage from the start of the second intifada revealed that the Palestinian child, Mohammed Dura, who was allegedly killed in his father's arms by IDF bullets, did not actually die in the incident. Thirteen years after that famous exchange of fire in Gaza, we are informed by the prime minister and his associates that "there are many indications" that Mohammed and his father, Jamal, "were never hit by gunfire".

We will almost certainly never know what killed that little boy. His death was a tragic by-product of the fog of war. At the time, TV footage of the incident was energetically exploited by pro-Palestinian forces to sully Israel's image, boost the fortunes of the Palestinian underdog, and somehow rationalize Palestinian suicide bombings.

Why, years later, are all these Israeli efforts being invested, almost certainly with negligible international impact, to "correct" the record? The Netanyahu government is pathologically preoccupied with the need to improve Israel's image, yet without dealing with the root cause of its growing international isolation. Just last week we say how it countered the decision by British physicist Stephen Hawking to boycott next month's Jerusalem Conference because of the Palestinian issue: by reminding Hawking, as if that were relevant, how dependent he is personally on Israeli high-tech inventions. In general, Israeli "hasbara" or public diplomacy seems to think it can rectify Israel's image by reciting the country's many high-tech, agricultural and intellectual accomplishments. The guiding principle appears to be: talk about anything but the occupation and its disastrous consequences for all concerned, while hastening settlement construction that makes the situation even more intractable. (Not that I condone Hawking's boycott; it is ill-informed and counter-productive.)

Meanwhile, Palestinian preparations for a peace breakthrough look no more promising. Last week, Fateh and Hamas informed us that creation of a new national unity government--an important building block in Kerry's efforts--would be postponed for three months, which in the Middle East means an eternity. And senior Fateh members in the West Bank issued a document burying the two-state solution and calling for a single bi-national state in Israel-Palestine. Kerry, beware yet again: in Ramallah you are dealing with a well-intentioned leader who is virtually incapable of delivering on a full-fledged end-of-conflict agreement.

I hope Kerry succeeds. But I'm pessimistic. Perhaps more significantly, I hope that if and when he fails to renew full-fledged final status talks, he will consider falling back on more promising partial steps--like an additional Israeli territorial withdrawal or forward-looking exploitation of Palestine's new "state" status--that don't necessarily end the conflict but at least keep alive the process of solving it and maintain some sort of peace momentum.

News Nosh 05.20.13

2013-05-20T13:24:46Z

APN's daily news review from Israel

Monday May 20, 2013

Quote of the day:

"The expert opinion attached to the report reads like an article by a movie critic and not by a pathologist."
--Haaretz's Barak Ravid on the government inquiry report that claimed Mohammed Al-Dura was never killed.**

Front Page News:

Haaretz

Reform in religion services will allow couples to register anywhere in country and it will make it easier for converts
Assad on way to conquering strategic city - Netanyahu declares: We will attack weapons convoys to Hezbollah
Government committee: The boy Mohammed Al-Dura was never injured by bullets
The Israeli connection: This is how cellular phones are smuggled to security prisoners
Chernoy: Investigators leaked information from Holyland case
Tnuva admits: Animals are taken for slaughter bellowing in horror. The public prefers to suppress

Yedioth Ahronoth

Battle over ports intensifies - This time till the end - Bennett: Previous governments gave in to labor unions.
The MK battling to get pregnant - New MK Adi Kol courageously reveals: "I am in fertility treatments."
"No proof that Al-Dura died" - Israeli ministerial committee refutes story that turned into the symbol of the Second Intifada
Angelina effect: Will all the women in Israel be called for a check for the breast cancer gene?
Worth more - Report by the Authority for state income reveals: Who makes the most money in the country and where
Olympic electricity - Taking care of them: Retiring Olympic athletes to get work at Electricity Co.
Oh, our Kinneret - A journey of six beautiful lookout sites around the lake

Maariv

Government report: The boy Mohammed Al-Dura looked alive after the shooting (Hebrew)
The lie already won // Ben-Dror Yemini
The end of a blood libel // Amnon Lord
Another zigzag by Yesh Atid - (Education Minister) Piron opposes extending military service of Hesder Yeshiva soldiers, Lapid not demanding ultra-Orthodox go out to work as a condition for subsidizing dormitories (Hebrew)
Assad improving his position - Syrian army took over city of Qusayer yesterday, which was held by rebels over last year
Following Maariv investigation - GOC Central Command commander refuses to testify in front of Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on the security situation in Judea and Samaria (W. Bank) if settler representatives are in the room (Hebrew)
Between spin and ship - What is behind the challenging calls of the politicians against the port labor unions?

Israel Hayom

It's official: IDF did not kill Al-Dura
The Palestinian industry of lies // Dror Eydar
The boy from the clip is still alive // Dr. Yehuda David
With the aid of Hezbollah: Assad gave rebels a blow
Without pressure: This is how you will succeed in mathematics matriculation
Where are they rushing? Indictments against High Court Justice Hanan Meltzer and MK Arel Margalit and former soccer star Eyal Berkowitz had his driver's license revoked for speeding
The producer who spoke: "(singer) Kobi Peretz hid millions"
Fighting real estate prices: Interior Minister approved double arnona on ghost apartments
Reform on the way to the chuppah: It will be possible to register for marriage anywhere in the country
Horror in Ashkelon: 25-year-old stabbed his brother to death during an argument

News Summary:
An Israeli government committee report claims Mohammed al-Dura was not killed by shooting, the Syrian army pushes the rebels from a stronghold near the Golan border and reforms in religion services were top stories in today's Hebrew papers. Meanwhile, Ynet reports on more plea bargains for the Jewish youth who brutally attacked a young Arab in Jerusalem's city center. And Maariv reports that the IDF commander of the Central Command won't testify in front of settlers.

A report by an Israeli government panel claimed that the symbol of the Second Intifada was never killed by gunshots. Mohammed al-Dura was alive at the end of the famous France 2 video, according to the conclusions of the panel of inquiry. In contrary to what had been published before, the report stated there was no evidence that the boy or his father were injured at the time the video was shot, thereby noting there was reasonable doubt regarding IDF's responsibility to the boy's death. All the Israeli papers took that as fact with the exception of Haaretz. "The film proves: Mohammed Al-Dura remained alive," screamed the headline in Yedioth with a list of 'lies and contradictions' in the Al-Dura report compared to the findings of the Israeli panel.

**However, Haaretz's Barak Ravid questioned the veracity of the report in a piece well-worth reading. He questions the 'expert,' Dr. Ricardo Nachman, deputy director of Israel's National Forensic Institute, who, based on viewing poor quality video footage, wrote: "The final scenes, in which the boy is seen raising his head and arms, bringing his hand to his face and looking into the distance are not compatible with death throes, but seem like voluntary movements." Ravid suggests that the report is also a campaign of revenge launched by Israel against French journalist, Charles Enderlin, who first reported Mohammed al-Dura's death. Ravid notes that Enderlin is an Israeli Jew who served in the IDF spokesman's unit and whose two sons served in the country's military and yet "the committee went even further and hinted at Enderlin's responsibility for the massacre of Jewish schoolchildren in Toulouse." Ynet's Atilla Somfalvi interviewed the boy's father who asked, ""So they're basically saying that Muhammad is alive?"

As Hezbollah forces reportedly help the Syrian army take back control over Qusayer, a town near the Golan border, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu declared yesterday that Israel will keep preventing arms shipments from reaching Hezbollah.

Last August and September the Israeli media reported on two unprovoked brutal attacks on a couple of Arab youth by gangs of Jewish youth in the Jerusalem's city center. Now Ynet reported that another plea bargain - the sixth - was struck with one of those indicted for the Zion Square attack. The Jewish minor c onfessed to racist aggravated assault of Arabs and causing severe injury to one of them. Eight people were indicted in the affair, and further plea bargains are currently in process. The first and the most lenient plea bargains, exposed by Ynet, changed the charges against two suspects from assault to incitement.

Meanwhile, GOC Central Command Nitzan Alon refuses to speak before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on the security situation in Judea and Samaria (W. Bank) if settler representatives are in the room, Maariv reported. Alon was called to speak about the increased number of incidents of throwing of Molotov cocktails and stones by Palestinians at Israel cars in the West Bank. But members of the committee said Alon's office said he would come only if he could enter the room after they walked out. [The settlers have gripes against Alon who has publicly stated that price-tag attacks amount to terrorism. They have attacked his jeep, protested outside his home and harassed his family. - OH] (NRG Hebrew)

Quick Hits:

Israeli man 'sexually assaults' 2 boys in Jordan Valley - In late April an Israeli man wearing a police uniform approached two 14-year-old boys attending goats north of Jericho, and with his firearm visible, ordered them to strip before sexually assaulting them one at a time. (Maan)
Clashes as locals try to unblock major linking road closed by Israel - Israeli forces and Palestinians clashed on Sunday as locals tried to unblock a road between that links Dair Jarir and neighboring villages with Ramallah and Jericho. Israel's military closed it a day earlier with cement blocks. (Maan)
Since beginning of 2013, Israel effectively barring tourists from West Bank by neglecting to explain mandatory permit -To visit Palestinian-controlled areas, some foreign nationals need military entry permit that Israel doesn't explain how to get. (Haaretz)
Jordanian regime scuttles attempt to expel Israeli envoy - Legislators drop no-confidence motion under palace pressure; protesting Israeli settlements, MP promises to push again for ambassador's expulsion. [Note: Media Line claims that police 'allegedly' detained Jerusalem Mufti. That is a fact. -OH] (Media Line, Ynet)
Livni: Erdogan wrong to think Hamas can be part of peace process - Justice minister says Turkish PM's assertion that Hamas is imperative to peace talks is skewed by his personal, Islamic politics. (Israel Hayom)
Video reveals details of shooting of rabbi by IDF soldiers - Documentation of IDF soldier shooting at car of Dan Martzbach in November 2011 obtained by Ynet; IDF says details of inquiry handed to victim's family. (Ynet)
Netanyahus' friends take to TV: 'They live modestly' - Close cronies cite the prime minister's long hours, the expense of entertaining, and on the cosmetics budget: 'NIS 64,000 is a token.' (Haaretz)
Match made in hell: (Arab killer) Ami Popper weds mother of abused kids - Man serving multiple life sentences for murder of seven Palestinians marries M., woman who allowed self-proclaimed rabbi Elior Chen to viciously abuse her children. (Ynet)
Ultra-Orthodox riot in Jerusalem as soldiers cross Mea Shearim - Police claim dozens set fire to trash bins, hurled stones in protest of two ultra-Orthodox soldiers crossing ultra-Orthodox neighborhood. No injuries reported. (Ynet)
Nablus vendor tries to set self on fire after crackdown - Muhammad Yaesh, 40, tried to set himself on fire in Nablus on Sunday in protest against a police campaign to regulate street vendors in the West Bank. (Maan)
Foreign Ministry demands fudnign for security of embassies - The sharp rise in costs for security for Israeli embassies following a rise in danger of terror attacks against them has caused the Foreign Ministry to demand funding from millions of shekels a year from the Defense Ministry. (Maariv, p. 8/NRG Hebrew)
Peres sends condolences to Turkey following May 11 terror attack - Message is first high-level expression of sympathy; Netanyahu had refrained from contacting Turkish PM after the bombings near the Syrian border. (Haaretz)
Minister: France in talks with US, Israel to buy drones - Defense Minister Le Drian says France looking to buy intelligence-gathering drones suitable for modern warfare. (Agencies, Ynet)
Israel is world's largest exporter of drones, study finds - In eight years, Israel exported $4.6 billion worth of UAVs to countries ranging from Britain to India and Uganda. (Haaretz and Ynet)
Final exams start in West Bank schools despite ministry's opposition - Palestinian school children across the West Bank started final exams Sunday despite the ministry of education's decision to delay them until the end of the month. (Maan)
Israel's Home Front minister urges cabinet to reconsider power plant planned near missile-exposed town - The 450-megawatt natural gas power plant has already been approved but Home Front Defense Minister Gilad Erdan says alternative locations where the potential risk is lower were not considered. (Haaretz)
Netanyahu: Not true that Israel prefers Assad to rebels - PM refutes Times of London report; Israeli politicians shouldn't take sides for fear of diverting the debate towards Israel, says Tzipi Livni. (Haaretz)
Opposition: Syrian army, Hezbollah attack rebels in border town of Qusayir - At least 32 killed as rebel fighters clashed with mechanized Syrian army units, Hezbollah guerillas; 'Most of the dead are civilians killed by the shelling,' activist says. (Agencies, Ynet)
PFLP-GC leader dies in Syria - Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command leader Ibrahim Salama passed away in Syria on Saturday. Salama, also known as Abu Arab, was one of the founders of the PFLP-GC and spent 13 years in Israeli prisons before being released in a swap deal in 1979. He was also a poet. (Maan)
Iran hangs two spies allegedly working for Israel and U.S., local media reports - Mohammed Heidari and Kourush Ahmadi were accused of passing classified Iranian information to Israeli Mossad agents and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in exchange for money. (Agencies, Ynet)

Features:

The Gospel according to Sand: We are not Jews
In 'How and When I Stopped Being Jewish,' author and professor Shlomo Sand argues that there is no such thing as a secular Jew. (Haaretz)
Extreme in the Territories
Hundreds of bicyclists from across the country arrived Friday at the inauguration of a complex for extreme bicycling paths in the Binyamin mountains (W. Bank). The paths are spread over dozens of kilometers between settlements, Palestinian villages and Jewish heritage sites - and along them there are ramps and springboards. The organizers hope to turn the area, which normally makes the headlines for security and political reasons, into a magnet for extreme sports. (Yedioth Sunday, photocaption)
Big in Tetouan, Morocco: The Jewish women who pioneered modern Arab music
Upcoming concert in Tel-Aviv is occasion to recall these artists who were honored in the Arab world - but in Israel, not so much. (Haaretz)
Russian military aid to Syria: Burning questions and answers
What are the new missile systems Russia is supplying to the Assad regime and how will they affect the region? Anshel Pfeffer breaks it down. (Haaretz)

Commentary/Analysis:

**Report on IDF shooting of Palestinian boy during intifada may cause Israel more damage than good (Barak Ravid, Haaretz) Publishing the report 13 years after the incident took place and accompanying it with a government PR campaign is not only surreal, but could backfire by awaking sleeping dogs.
No alternative to integration (Haaretz Editorial) Without the integration of the Haredim and the Arabs into the economy, the state will have difficulty sustaining itself over time. The government must make dealing with these two communities one of its top priorities.
Aborted yeshiva cuts show Israel can't wish its minorities away (Aluf Benn, Haaretz) In the wake of Finance Minister Yair Lapid's failed bid to slash yeshiva budgets, it's clear Israel will never win over the Haredim and Arabs by ignoring their desires.
Erasing Sykes-Picot (Elliott Abrams, Israel Hayom) The Israeli public is realizing that what was first presented to them as ruthless cuts to the government's budget was just a euphemism for "recession."
The Dromi Law in the service of the Palestinians (Ithamar Handelman-Smith, Haaretz) Jewish settlers in the West Bank are allowed to use live fire to defend their lives or their property, but might the same law also enable Palestinians to act in self-defense?
As usual, the defense budget balloons (Reuven Pedatzur, Haaretz) The IDF in one breath turned the civil war in Syria into a major threat justifying an increase to the defense budget, even though the war there actually removes the threat of a war against the crumbling Syrian army.
No asylum, no status (Rachel Neeman, Haaretz) There is one bureaucrat for every citizen in Israel, but in too many cases applicants don't get the treatment they deserve. At the Interior Ministry ... it's systematic. It's no to asylum on humanitarian grounds, no to resident status on humanitarian grounds.
What if Assad wins? (Prof. Eyal Zisser, Israel Hayom) Assad's recent victories on the battlefield should not come as a surprise if you consider the all-out support from his allies: Russia, Iran and Hezbollah.
Before confronting Syria, Israel should consider saving its energy for Iran (Amos Harel, Haaretz) Israel will have to tread very carefully if it wants to avoid confrontation with Syria and Hezbollah, particularly as as global forces begin to intervene, and as Iran elections approach.
One man's terrorist, another man's freedom fighter - or journalist (Ilene Prusher, Haaretz) While its noble aim was to honor felled reporters, the Newseum wound up walking into a minefield when it included then deleted from its list of honorees two Gazans who were killed in an Israeli airstrike while working for Al-Aqsa TV.

Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.

News Nosh 05.19.13

2013-05-20T13:21:33Z

APN's daily news review from Israel

Sunday May 19, 2013

Quote of the day:

"Torching Arabs for education."
--Printed on T-shirt of guide affiliated with the Ezra Jewish religious youth movement. **

Front Page News:

Haaretz

Not just Shas institutions: Lapid canceled the budget cut planned for all the yeshivas
Thousands demonstrated in Tel-Aviv against the austerity budget
Netanyahu couple's attorneys: They live modestly
Assad: Conditions for an international discussion - ending support for the rebels
Between Russia and the US // Amos Harel
Spying crisis: Russia exposed the head of the CIA in Moscow
At request of the US, EU delaying decision to mark settlement products
End to the Migron affair - Weinstein ordered the (last) structures to be dismantled in the evacuated settlement outpost
No more Mr. Nice Guy: The sellers of drugs at kiosks are not giving up
Barekat battling to remain mayor of Jerusalem - without any competition

Yedioth Ahronoth

Preparing for the strike - The plan: IDF will operate the ports - This is how the government will fight the strongest labor union in the country
State Comptroller holding special session on Netanyahu's expenses
Cards of hatred - An anti-Zionist card game for children now being circulated in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods
Goal of honor - Moment before hanging up their shoes: Walid Badir scored a goal past goalie Nir Davidovitz in their parting game
The transparent studio - Young homeless, drug addicts and criminals turned into musicians and recorded together their first clip

Maariv

The 'Times': Israel changed its position regarding Assad and wants his rule to continue
The battle over the gas - A demonstration in front of the home of Yitzhak Tshuba protesting his intention to export natural gas turned into a violent conflict between demonstrators and the police (Hebrew)
Distributed justice // Aviv Lavie
Lapid ordered Yesh Atid MKs: Invest half an hour a day in writing Facebook posts in order to defend the budget
Chairman of Ashdord Port labor union: "Bennett is a small minister who speaks bull and tells the public nonsense"
One week till it finishes its work: The Peri Commission for 'sharing the burden' to recommend establishing Hesder yeshivas (military service combined with yeshiva) for ultra-Orthodox
IDF escalating the response to the violence in Judea and Samaria (W. Bank): Snipers hit Palestinians demonstrators (Hebrew)

Israel Hayom

Israel prefers Assad - the known devil" - Putin increasing his involvement in Syria: Sent missiles and warships
Inconceivable cruelty // Boaz Bismouth
Unnecessary Israeli chatter // Yossi Beilin
Hung up their shoes and parted honorably - Maccabi Haifa and Hapoal Tel-Aviv fans parted yesterday from two great stars: Walid Badir and Nir Davidovitz
Protest and violence in front of Tshuva's house - Protests held in a number of cities against austerity measures
Disappointing turnout in weekend social protests
Negligence at Gaza Strip border - Breach found in fence; Company commander to stand trial
Winds of cold war: Russia exposed the CIA's head of mission in Moscow
Terrible car accident between a BMW and a Porsche - Father and son injured

News Summary:
Protest over austerity measures and the sale of Israel's natural gas and reports on Syria and Israel from the British newspapers were top stories in today's Hebrew papers. Also in the news, the German Foreign Minister expressed his country's interest on getting involved in peace talks. Meanwhile, settlers and Palestinians and Israeli security forces clashed over the weekend and Maariv reported that the IDF is now using snipers against Palestinians. Interestingly, Israel Hayom and Maan News Agency had very different reports about the same clashes. Read on.

The Sunday Times reported today that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is preparing a missile strike against Tel Aviv in case his country were attacked again. The Syrian army is reportedly deploying advanced surface-to-surface missiles aiming at Israel in the aftermath of the alleged Israeli strikes. At the same time, Israel prefers Assad, whom it knows, in power over possibly Islamist rebels, an Israeli intelligence officer in the north of the country told the London Times. This has been discussed in the papers for some time, but for some reason it made headlines in Israel. At the same time, Assad accused Israel of giving the rebels logistical support.

German Guido Westerwelle told President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem that Germany wishes to aid the revival of peace talks. To help make that happen he stressed the importance of economic growth within Palestinian Authority. He also said that a nuclear-armed Iran was not an option.

Israel Hayom dedicated an article to the 'Wild West Bank' after settlers, police, and Palestinians clashed over the weekend. However, the individual reports it gave about appeared to be wrong or misinformed. Maan News Agency reported on two of the same clashes giving a broader more detailed picture of what happened. Read on.

AmonaHilltop 904/Silwad: Palestinian protesters rioted on the outskirts of Ofra on Friday morning, to protest the settlement activity on nearby Hill 904, which is adjacent to the illegal outpost of Amona. (Israel Hayom) (See more on conflicts between hilltop youth on #904 and Silwad from Ynet here.)
Silwad/AmonaHilltop 904 - Israeli forces and Palestinians clashed on Friday in a weekly protest in Silwad village north of Ramallah. Several Palestinians were hurt when Israeli forces showered the protesters with tear gas canisters and plastic-coated bullets while chasing them through the streets and alleys of the village. (Maan VIDEO)

Yitzhar/Urif: Another riot broke out around noon near Yitzhar, south of Nablus, when Palestinians from the nearby village of Urif began stoning local Jewish homes and clashing with security forces. (Israel Hayom)
Urif/Yitzhar: Three Palestinians were injured in clashes in Urif village south of Nablus. Dozens of settlers set fire to lands in the villages of Urif, Einabus, and Asira al-Qibliya south of Nablus. They assaulted citizens and threw burning tires at people's homes. (Maan)

Israel Hayom also gave a vague report on an incident between settlers and Israeli forces. Interestingly, there was no report of arrests of settlers: Border policemen who sought to detain two settlers for disturbing the peace, faced resistance from the neighborhood's residents. The settlers threw stones at the troops and set several tires on fire in an attempt to block the road.

Other violence in the West Bank over the weekend:
Abu Dis/Jerusalem separation fence: Palestinians in Abu Dis, near Jerusalem, hurled Molotov cocktails at security forces. At some point the protesters, using sledgehammers, were able to damage the fence, creating a 3-meter (10-foot) hole in it. (Israel Hayom)
Old City/E. Jerusalem - Dozens of Palestinians in Jerusalem protested Friday after Israel granted access to right-wingers at the al-Aqsa compound. (Maan)
Old City/E. Jerusalem: Several dozen Palestinians gathered near Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City on Saturday and stoned police and Border Police troops stationed in the area. [No explanation why - OH] (Israel Hayom)
Clashes in Kafr Qaddum and Bilin - Dozens of Palestinians and international activists on Friday suffered tear-gas inhalation in clashes in Bilin near Ramallah and Kafr Qaddum near Qalqiliya. (Maan)

Jalazoun Refugee Camp/Ramallah - Nine Palestinians were wounded by shots from Israeli forces. The Palestinians from the Jalazoun refugee camp stoned Israeli motorists near the neighboring Beit El settlement and came under fire from soldiers sent to disperse them. (Maan)
Al-Arrub Refugee Camp/Hebron - Luay al-Badawi is in a critical condition after he was shot in the face Friday with a plastic-coated bullet that broke his jaw, and then shot again in the head. he and another Palestinian were injured after clashes erupted when Israeli forces stormed the al-Arrub refugee camp, north of Hebron. Residents confronted the soldiers and threw stones at them, and the soldiers fired tear gas and plastic-coated bullets. (Maan)

Maariv reported that the IDF has begun using snipers with 0.22 bullets wounding seven people Friday. (NRG Hebrew) The report coincides with the Maan reports on the injured from Al-Arrub and Jallazoun Refugee Camps. This decision to use this ammunition follows a magazine features Maariv ran on Friday about Israeli soldiers and officers complaining they felt 'humiliated' that due to orders they could not respond with fire to Palestinian stone-throwing. As News Nosh readers may remember, Israeli forces have been instructed by commanders to avoid firing on Palestinians in order to avoid an escalation and possibly a third Intifada. Today Maariv reported that five Palestinians were wounded by snipers: two in Gush Etzion - likely the two in Al-Arrub refugee camp including one shot twice in the head - and three others near Beit El - probably those from Jallazoun Refugee Camp. The ammunition has a smaller diameter in order to prevent serious injuries. Nevertheless, writes Maariv, the use of it again is a significant change in policy. Human rights groups had called for ending its use for public disorder because it can be deadly. The IDF used it widely against Palestinians who protested Operation Pillar of Cloud against Gaza. But then it stopped.

Maariv also reported that settlers complained to Judea and Samaria Division Commander, Brigadier General Tamir Yadai, that during dispersal of public disturbances, Jewish residents were also were affected because they were so close to the location of the disturbances, and they inhaled the tear gas. Yadai promised them that in the future, "We will stop stone-throwing not through use of tear gas, but by more painful means."

Quick Hits:

Land of West Bank settlement to be returned to original Palestinian owner - The land of the settlement Homesh, which was evacuated in 2006, was originally confiscated by the IDF. (Haaretz)
AG tells state to remove empty structures at West Bank outpost of Migron - Migron, set up in 2002 on private Palestinian land on a hill near Ramallah, was evacuated in 2012, but around 50 prefabricated homes remained intact. (Haaretz)
Erdogan: Hamas vital to peace talks - Future of negotiations depends on Palestinian unity and inclusion of Hamas, claims Turkey's PM; 'Israel must retreat to 1967 line,' he says in Washington. (Ynet)
After U.S. request, EU delays decision to label products from Israeli settlements - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry asked his EU counterpart Catherine Ashton to put off the move as he tries to restart Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. (Haaretz)
Large breach discovered in Gaza security fence - As a result of the discovery, company commander in charge of the sector in the northern Gaza Strip to be court-martialed. One officer from the IDF's Southern Command calls the incident a "Yom Kippur for the Northern [Gaza] Brigade." (Israel Hayom)
Laborers hurt after Israel police dog attack near Hebron - Three Palestinian laborers were wounded on Friday in Beit Ula northwest of Hebron after Israeli forces fired rubber-coated steel bullets and unleashed police dogs at them. (MaanPhoto)
Israeli economy unsustainable if Haredim, Arabs don't join workforce, experts warn - National Economic Council presents cabinet both internal and external threats that Israel's economy is expected to face until 2050. (Haaretz)
IDF army dogs get serial numbers, personal files - IDF introduces unique computer project aimed at tracking activities of dogs from Oketz Canine Unit. Medical background, performance reports, photos are all included in their personal files. (Yedioth/Ynet)
Interior minister's intimate wedding held at powerful Israeli lobbyist's home - Israeli power couple Gideon Sa'ar and journalist Geula Even's nuptials included quite a few movers and shakers; friend Shelly Yacimovich declined to attend. (Haaretz)
Palestinian scales Mt. Everest - Mountaineering trailblazers include first Saudi woman to scale soaring summit, man of Palestinian extraction who dedicates trip to compatriots languishing in Israeli prisons. (Ynet)
**Israel religious youth movement shirts display anti-Arab racism - Picnickers from northern Israel were surprised Thursday when they saw anti-Arab racist slogans printed on T-shirts of a female guide affiliated with the religious youth movement Ezra while hiking in the south. Ezra CEO: "It's a bad play of words. Those responsible were told of their grave mistake." (Maan and NRG Hebrew)
Is the Temple Mount really in our hands? This week a senior official from the Foreign Ministry's Jordan desk was asked who was in charge of the Temple Mount. Without hesitating, the official said: The de facto sovereign of the Temple Mount is not the State of Israel but rather the Kingdom of Jordan, which has effective rule there. (Israel Hayom)
PM, president to cut household budgets amid public outcry - Netanyahu's attorney: "The prime minister appointed an accountant of his own initiative, expenses have already been cut by 15%." PMO: The ice cream budget was less than 10 shekels per day. The president's household budget will be reduced from 62 million shekels ($17 million) to 39.95 million shekels ($11.2 million). (Israel Hayom)
Egypt blocks Gaza border, Hamas calls continued closure 'unjustified' - Angered by kidnapping of seven Egyptian policemen by Islamist gunmen in Sinai, Egypt keeps Gaza crossing closed Friday and Saturday, leaving hundreds of Palestinian travelers stranded. (Agencies, Haaretz)

Commentary/Analysis:
Stop rewriting history (Haaretz Editorial) Without recognizing the Palestinian Nakba it is impossible to understand the source of the Israeli-Arab conflict.
Catastrophic thinking: Did Ben-Gurion try to rewrite history? (Shay Hazkani, Haaretz) The file in the state archives contains clear evidence that the researchers at the time did not paint the full picture of Israel's role in creating the Palestinian refugee problem.
Cliff Richard will come (Gideon Levy, Haaretz) When Stephen Hawking visited here in 2006 he received the royal treatment; but then he decided to criticize Israel.
Spies coming in from the cold (Dan Margalit, Israel Hayom) There is mounting evidence to suggest that the U.S. and the Russian Federation are rapidly becoming estranged, with Syria serving as one of several flash points.
The police's big test (Amir Oren, Haaretz) Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch can look forward to a hot summer of political and organizational challenges.
Qatar's two-faced Israel policy (Yaakov Ahimeir, Israel Hayom) Behind the scenes, Qatar is waging a vengeance campaign against Canada for its pro-Israel stance.
The judge report (Kobi Niv, Haaretz) Is it true that Israeli soldiers serving in the territories always tell the whole truth when describing Palestinian acts, but lie when describing settlers' actions? Is there a shred of logic in this?
Left-wing Israeli academics, shunned at home and abroad (Or Tshuva, Haaretz) Growing support for an academic boycott of Israel abroad and subtle censorship at home make it hard for Israeli scholars to play a role in moving their country toward peace.
Hurrah for the 'hilltop youth' (Haaretz Editorial) The government's intention to make the crime of settlement outposts kosher is in direct and flagrant contradiction to its masquerade that it wants to advance the peace process.
Someone fell asleep on guard (Yael Paz-Melamed, Maariv/NRG Hebrew) The author refers to the continuing controversy over the expenses of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara. The author wonders how the chief accountant at the Prime Minister's Office could have approved the sums in question and says, "It could be that he is concerned for his job." The paper asserts, "What needs to be checked is how officials in the Prime Minister's bureau approved these expenses," and asks, "Does fear rule there or merely distorted standards?"
The end of the era of concealed racism (Oudeh Basharat, Haaretz) When Upper Nazareth Mayor Shimon Gafsou says he wants to 'preserve the Jewish character of the city,' it's a sign that racist statements are no longer taboo. Whoever provides a school for Moshe but denies it to Omar must suffer the consequences.
When the Russians are angry - The bear is having a fit (Alex Fisman, Yedioth) On recent events in Syria Fishman writes on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin Fishman that, "One may guess that the Prime Minister's request regarding arming Syria and the dangers of the transfer of this weaponry were met by a cold and cynical stare from the retired KGB officer - 'Who are you to tell us what to sell and to whom? You are among the biggest arms exporters in the world.'...The Russians know that Assad is lost, but they do not intend to abandon him publicly, like the Americans did to Mubarak in Egypt. And when another country attacks their client and works - in their view - against their strategic interests, it will pay. For 40 years, the Russians have been making gigantic investments in building a bastion on the Mediterranean Sea and in the Arab world and they do not intend to give it up so easily, with or without Assad..."
Moscow on the Mediterranean (Boaz Bismuth, Israel Hayom) Turkey and Israel, both afflicted with the same Syrian problem, are watching as a Russian return to dominance in the region unfolds. To overpower the Russians, we apparently need Ronald Reagan, not Barack Obama.
Israel caught in the middle as U.S. and Russia clash over Syria's future (Amos Harel, Haaretz) The conflict of interests between the U.S. and Russia over Syria is closely linked to an issue that has recently slipped down the priority ranks but is expected to take center stage again soon - the Iranian nuclear program.

Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.

APN Capitol Hill event with Marwan Muasher and Tamara Cofman

2013-05-19T17:39:32Z

On Friday, May 17, Americans for Peace Now co-sponsored an event on Capitol Hill to discuss the Arab League's Peace Initiative (API) and its potential as a tool to advance Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.

The event, organized by J Street and co-sponsored by APN and the American Task Force on Palestine, featured Marwan Muasher, who as Jordan's Minister of Foreign Affairs more than ten years ago helped draft the API, and Tamara Cofman Wittes, former deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs and currently the director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institute.

For a recording of the event, click here.

News Nosh 05.17.13

2013-05-17T14:37:19Z

APN's daily news review from Israel

Friday May 17, 2013

Quote of the day:

"This is a slap to the efforts of Kerry. Instead of protecting the interests of the State, the Defense Minister is protecting the 'Hilltop Youth' and asking for the legalization of outposts that are supposed to be evacuated."
--Peace Now on the State's request to legalize four settlement outposts.**

Front Page News:

Haaretz

Drafted = 30,000 people demonstrated near the IDF draft center in Jerusalem against Peri Committee plan to draft yeshiva students. 10 police and three students injured
Netanyahu's smashing - PM dreams to do Sharon-type act and divide Likud
The debt failure - In 3 years the economy has deteriorated to an enormous debt, where were the gatekeepers?
Like in the Third World - WHO: Serious lack of nurses and beds in Israel
In contravention of the law, dozens of prisoners are put in severe isolation conditions
Ballad for the naive: US Secretary of State John Kerry's mission destined for failure
Housing Ministry report: Ultra-Orthodox and Arabs need less parks
Researchers found fetal gene cells for the first time
Wedding of Even and Saar (translates to: stone and storm): The paparazzi's Yom Kippur failure

Yedioth Ahronoth

CIA director on quick secret visit
The face and the pain behind the poverty
Voice of the groom, voice of the bride - (TV presenter) Geula Even and (Likud minister) Gideon Saar marry
"The dissector from Thailand landed and disappeared" - Eli Cohen, who murdered and dismembered his wife many years ago in Thailand, was released and landed at Ben-Gurion Airport. His family says he is hiding in Israel

Maariv

Bennett: We must change the rules of engagement (rules according to which soldiers may open fire) in order to allow our soldiers to defend themselves (Hebrew)
12 wounded in riots by ultra-Orthodox against "The draft edict" (Hebrew)
White House trying to stop Obama's declining image as president who lost control of the elite in his administration
The crack in the alliance is turning into a crisis - Yesh Atid threatens: "Habayit Hayehudi is not acting like a coalition partner - they act as if the budget and the 'sharing of the burden' are our problems"

Israel Hayom

Tension in Israel: Russia to supply Assad with missiles
Protest of the ultra-Orthodox
Beckham hangs up in shoes
Geula, oh Geula - (TV presenter) Geula Even marries Likud minister Gideo Saar
Appears that Avi Kompani to be dismissed from his position at ORT
Is the battle over the seaports beginning?
Round of appointments in the police: Commander Nissim Mor appointed deputy commissioner
Disappointment in Israel: Moran Mazor did not make it to the Eurovision finals

News Summary:
The ultra-Orthodox demonstrate against military draft, the State requests legalization of four settlement outposts and Russia sends missiles to Syria making top news in Israeli papers today. Meanwhile, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni is leading an initiative to recognize 'price tag' attacks as 'terror', while Economics and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett has called to make it easier for Israeli soldier to open fire in the West Bank - ostensibly on Palestinians.

**In what Peace Now has called 'a slap in the face' to US Secretary of State John Kerry, Israel plans to check if it can avoid evacuating four settlement outposts in the West Bank that were scheduled for evacuation a year ago. The announcement yesterday comes just days before Kerry arrives here to try to arrive peace talks.

Meanwhile, CIA director John Brennan was just here in a secret meeting with Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon and other Israeli security chiefs to discuss Syria and Iran's nuclear program. This comes just as Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu failed to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin not to sell 'game-changing weapons' to Syria. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday that Russia plans to go ahead with sale of missile defense systems to Syria. Former Israeli Ambassador to Russia Zvi Magen told Israel Hayom that Russia is adamantly against any Western intervention in Syria.

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Interior Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch are working to make 'Price tag' attacks on Palestinians and Israeli-Arabs be tried as acts of terror. The shift is part of a larger initiative to bolster the actions by the police and the Shin Bet against "price tag" offenders in the West Bank and Israel.
At the same time, the Education Ministry and the Shin Bet have started a program called 'Hebrew Shepherd' to educate so-called 'hilltop youth' and try to convince them not to attack Arabs and their property and religious places.

Meanwhile, Economics and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett wants to make it easier for Israeli soldiers to open fire - ostensibly on Palestinians, Maariv reported today. (NRG Hebrew) Following an article in Maariv reporting that soldiers feel frustrated and helpless in the face of unclear orders about rules of engagement in the West Bank. (NRG Hebrew). [He refers only to violence by Palestinians and it is unlikely that he would want the same rules applied to hilltop youth and other violent settlers. - OH]

Quick Hits:

Israeli law professors call out IDF on draft resister's 10th jail sentence - Academics wrote letter criticizing policy of jailing conscientious objectors, called for release of Natan Blanc after 150 days in prison. (Haaretz)
After one-year break, weekly protests to resume in East Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah - Activists to demonstrate Friday ahead of Supreme Court's hearing of a Palestinian family's appeal against its eviction. (Haaretz)
Settlers plan to build road in Hebron's Old City - A group of extremist settlers on Thursday assaulted Palestinian homes and lands in Wadi al-Husayn neighborhood of Hebron in the southern West Bank. (Maan)
Senior Fatah officials call for single democratic state, not two-state solution - New initiative would allow Palestinian refugees the right of return to 'a state of all its citizens.' (Haaretz)
82-year-old Hebron woman challenges Israeli settlers, troops alone - In the heart of the old city of Hebron, an elderly woman insists on staying in her old house despite provocative practices by both settlers and Israeli troops. (Maan)
Israel closes al-Aqsa Mosque - Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the mosque was closed to visitors "to prevent incidents." On Wednesday, dozens of Israeli right-wingers raided the compound through the Moroccan gate, leading to clashes at the Bab al-Hutta gate as Israeli forces escorted rightists into the mosque area. (Maan)
Israeli ministries propose toll on Palestinian goods to plug budget deficit - The Defense and Finance Ministries proposed making Palestinians pay more for importing and exporting goods; opponents say move violates international treaties Israel signed. (Haaretz)
Soldiers, commanders recorded in Egoz hazing video dismissed - Hazing video of soldiers defecating on head of comrade leads to dismissal of 5, including officers, from IDF elite unit; head commander: Let other units, soldiers hear this story, learn its implications. (Ynet)
1940s revolver turned in during weapons collection op - During operation to collect weapons, police find 1940s revolver that belonged to farmers' association member, expected to be passed on to police museum. Entire op collected 2,000 weapons. (Ynet)
The organization behind illegal West Bank outpost construction - With friends in high places, law-evading ploys and piles of money in the bank, veteran settler leader Ze'ev Hever and his organization Amana are seemingly immune to Israeli legal action. (Haaretz)
It's not just settlers who oppose Israel's plan to relocate Bedouin in West Bank - Bedouin say plan would merge different tribes, which clashes with their tradition; Israel has already shelved plan due to settler opposition, Maariv reports. (Haaretz)
Israeli forces uproot olive tree saplings near Nablus - Soldiers uprooted more than 1,200 saplings, dug up over 40 dunums of farm land and demolished a water tank and stone walls in Ras Karker. (Maan)
Home front report: High likelihood of chemical terror - Internal report obtained by Ynet points to 'high probability' of chemical terror, says there would be no warning. Gas masks shortage is 'critical,' could harm citizens' resilience and confidence.' (Ynet)
For first time, Israel's Water Authority to pump Kinneret water into Jordan River - The plan is intended to ecologically rehabilitate the neglected river. (Haaretz)
Nakba survivor: 'If you wanted to live, you left' - Ghatheyya Mifleh al-Khawalda was 15 years old when she fled her home during the Nakba of 1948. "We had a very nice house, a big house with marble floors in the hallway. My father was a farmer, and we had farmland with orange trees, apple trees, grapefruit trees and others." (Maan)
OECD report: Israel the member with highest poverty rate - One in five Israelis and one in three Israeli children live in poverty, with 21% of the population living in poverty. Findings make uncomfortable reading, attesting to widening salary gaps, growing number of children living in poverty. (Ynet)
Despite US objection, Erdogan to travel to Gaza, West Bank - US President Barack Obama hosts Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at White House. On agenda: Syrian civil war, Iranian sanctions, Jerusalem-Ankara relations. (Ynet)
New smuggling service to Gaza: Fast food deliveries from Egypt - Al-Yamama Delivery Services has added to its list sandwiches from the KFC branch in Al-Arish, Egypt. (Maariv, p. 3 and Agencies, Haaretz)

Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.

Book Review: Israel's Political Dilemma

2013-05-14T19:01:06Z

This is the eighth in a series of reviews of new books on Middle Eastern affairs. We asked Dr. Gail Weigl, an APN volunteer and a professor of art history, to review Shlomo Hasson's new book on Israel's geopolitical dilemma in a changing Middle East.

Shlomo Hasson, Israel's Geopolitical Dilemma and the Upheavals in the Middle East, translated by Mairav Zonszein (College Park: University of Maryland Institute for Israeli Studies, 2013). 92 pages.

This slim, densely written book is recommended to anyone interested in Israel's future as a democratic state. It is particularly relevant to those who seek to understand that future in the context of regional and global social, political, economic and cultural developments. It is the work of an analyst steeped in knowledge of the geopolitical circumstances confronting Israel, her allies and enemies, with the added advantage of presenting a lucid and canny synopsis of how those circumstances are impacted by conditions as diverse as the changing face of the Arab world, and the challenges facing the United States as a global power.

The book underscores Hasson's scholarly distance, lack of sentimentality and careful articulation of complex interactions whose patterns kaleidoscopically shift with the slightest nudge in one direction or another. Most impressive is the author's ability to articulate multiple scenarios in a style that is lucid and highly readable. Hasson articulates each scenario with such depth and scope that his final conclusions are all but indisputable.

Because Israel's future cannot be separated from regional and global events, Hasson's grasp of how developments in one arena ripple through others is invaluable. His concern, as he tells us in the Introduction, is to examine how Israel can sustain itself as a democratic state in the Middle East within secure, defensible borders.

He then proceeds to discuss Israel's current dilemma within the context of the end of the Cold War and the power struggles taking place among regional players seeking to fill the vacuum left in its wake; the decline of America's international standing in the region; the Arab Spring and the degree to which internal developments are generated by anti-Israeli sentiment; and finally, the impact of Israeli and Palestinian unilateral action as the byproduct of failed negotiations.

Section One, "Geopolitical Approaches: Journey into Israel's Imaginary World" looks at approaches to border issues prevalent among Israelis, in consideration of concerns ranging from defense to national identity.

Here, in separate sections accompanied by illustrative maps, Hasson examines the pros and cons of five possible scenarios, which, in fact, mirror those of the Palestinians: the 1967 borders with agreed upon land swaps; defensible borders; interim borders; blurred borders; and borders of the Greater Land of Israel. In each case, he first lays out the argument, its justification and rationale, and the difficulties it presents. A final comparison summarizes these various positions, noting the lack of political consensus in Israel, and the fundamental dilemma of each party's conviction that it alone understands the history of the conflict, and it alone possesses the solution to a viable way forward. Hasson himself takes no position, simply presenting the alternatives objectively, while observing that alternative readings of reality are conditioned by divergent cultural codes that prevent consideration of possibilities other than one's own.

The second section, "The Driving Forces," considers global, regional and local forces as well as relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. This is the most complex and substantive portion of the book, in which the author elaborates his thesis that unpredictable political changes occurring throughout the Arab world make it unlikely that Israel and the Palestinian Authority can reach any agreement without being heavily influenced by the interests of the superpowers, actions by regional players, and internal developments in the Arab world. At the global level, Hasson speculates in a lengthy analysis of the decline of U. S. power that a possible result of this decline could be the emergence of Iran as a dominant force in the region, but more ominously, an America which sees an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement as the cornerstone of its Middle Eastern policy is in fundamental disagreement with an Israel which sees Iranian nuclear power as the greatest threat to its existence. Hasson rightly cautions that Israel must consider the imperatives of geopolitical interests as possibly trumping shared values. As for Russia, her role as a potential partner for Iran and the ambivalence of Russian policy toward Israel and of its foreign policy in general renders Russia an unpredictable quantity. In the face of European Union criticism of Israel, countered by the rise of anti-Muslim parties in Europe, and in the face of America's still potent role in NATO, Hasson concludes that it is in Israel's best interests to strengthen America's capacity to act as a guarantor of Israeli-Palestinian peace.

The rise of an Iran in conflict with an emerging Turkey--that is, a "regional geostrategic competition" between "radical Shiite-oriented forces and the Sunni-oriented axis"--is the most unpredictable scenario facing the region, a scenario that could develop into full scale war, a regional balance of power, or the emergence of one dominating power.

Hasson discusses at some length Iran's goal of regional dominance, but is most concerned with one of the most important strategic players in the region, Turkey, a country which serves as a role model for Islamic movements, and which is now challenging Israel's status in the region.

While entertaining various questions concerning Turkey's policies both present and future, Hasson envisions scenarios ranging from the return of the Cold War, to Turkey becoming a regional superpower that can bring stability to the region. But in any case, the fluidity of changing alliances, and the unpredictability of Turkey's alliances bodes ill for an Israeli-Palestinian two-state solution based on the 1967 borders. It also suggests that Israel will maintain defensible borders in the face of unknown and unknowable threats. Similarly, the unrest and uncertainty that characterizes internal developments in Arab countries, together with the rise of Islamism and the use of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a focus around which ideologically antagonistic groups can coalesce suggests that now is not the time to anticipate any agreement--even an interim one--between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. This sad conclusion is reinforced by the unique character of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, infused with cultural issues of no concern to the Arab countries, issues such as the status of Jerusalem and of the refugees. United in the Palestinian refusal to recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, these issues have resulted in the stalemate which continues to confound: "Israel has reacted to the Palestinian refusal to recognize it as a Jewish state by continuing to build settlements in the West Bank."

Israel's Geopolitical Dilemma concludes with four scenarios which take the preceding analyses and the Israeli scenarios outlined in Section One into account, and present potential solutions to the overriding question of whether an Israeli-Palestinian peace is possible without settling wider regional conflicts and the global, regional, and national considerations that inform them. Hasson proposes in each of these scenarios a possible model for the kind of interdisciplinary and trans-national cooperation necessary to understanding the social, political, economic, and security issues impacting the superpowers, Middle Eastern countries, and relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Hasson argues that a return to the 1967 lines - he calls it Pax Americana -- not only involves ignoring the geopolitical issues previously discussed, but also, the importance of Turkey's diplomatic and military positions and America's increasing interest in allying itself with moderate Islamic regimes. While it may be in Israel's best interests to return to the 1967 lines with land swaps, Israel's policy regarding borders will be dictated by developments in the region and globally. A second scenario envisions an Islamic Caliphate and interim borders, but here the variable is, again, Turkey's ability to confront Shi'ite Iran and its allies. In this scenario, Israeli opposition to Hamas may serve to ally her with a Sunni-axis which potentially could promote an interim agreement. The third scenario, defensible borders, envisions anarchy in the region, and nation-states consumed with internal issues which have no bearing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The absence of security and ongoing conflict will undermine any efforts toward a two-state solution, regardless of Arab governments' declarations of support for such a solution. This may lead simply to the continuation of the status quo, or Israeli withdrawal to defensible borders in recognition that a continued Occupation of the West Bank would undermine Israel's democratic and Jewish character.

Finally, Hasson posits a clash of civilizations between a radical Islamic bloc and the West, negating any possibility that Israel would or could renegotiate her borders. Unlikely as such a scenario might be, here again Turkey seems to be the critical variable.

Finally, the author summarizes Israel's geopolitical dilemma in light of the different scenarios, and concludes that with the exception of the American peace scenario, Israel is destined to find itself increasingly isolated. If Israel is to survive as a homogenous Jewish nation-state, it is in her best interests to promote an American presence in the Middle East, and to withdraw to the 1967 borders with land swaps. Under current circumstances, however, such a solution is unfeasible, while the status quo in the Territories also is not an option for both demographic and geopolitical reasons. Ultimately, due to the potential for regional anarchy or for the emergence of what Hasson terms an "Islamic Caliphate", most likely under Turkey, Israel's most viable option at present is to withdraw to interim borders or what Hasson calls "defensible" borders.

This review only touches on the comprehensive and complex arguments presented in this excellent study, an example of the work necessary to realistically assess the role of Israel in the world, in the Middle East, and in relation to the Palestinians and a Palestinian state. It is the second in a series commissioned by the University of Maryland Joseph and Alma Gildenhorn Institute for Israeli Studies. They are to be commended for this invaluable contribution to increasing our understanding of the dilemmas facing Israel, and to increasing thereby the possibility of informed and intelligent debate.

Stop Ignoring How Routine the Occupation Has Become

2013-05-14T13:23:59Z

No, there was no blood, no violent confrontations and no big drama. Everything was done routinely, efficiently, as if scripted. Including the polite soldiers ("please get dressed") and the business-as-usual reactions of tweens who moments ago were in bed and are now handcuffed and blindfolded, in a military jeep. One of them, a boy named Ahmad who seemed around 10, tried to negotiate. "Tomorrow I have an exam. I will be thrown out of school if I don't take the test," he tried to reason with the soldiers. "Had you come any other day, I would have gone with you. Please!" Then he manned up and joined the soldiers.

So what's new? What's the big deal, my wife asked me when I told her about the report. That's exactly the point, I replied. The big deal is that there is nothing new, that this routine has been going on for 46 years. My wife and I, both former reporters, reminisced about covering such night raids together, more than 26 years ago.

Next month, Israelis and Palestinians will mark the 46th anniversary of the occupation. Think about it: For almost half a century, Israeli kids in their late teens have been arresting Palestinian kids in their early teens. Night in, night out, year after year. Guilty or not, justified or not, due process or not -- these are not really the questions.

What bothers so many Palestinians and Israelis -- among them the six former Israeli General Security Service chiefs who were interviewed for the award-winning documentary "The Gatekeepers" -- is how routine it has all become. Israelis and Palestinians live with the perpetuation of the anomaly that the occupation is.

Consider this: Only 7 percent of Palestinians and 19 percent of Israelis are over the age of 55. That means that a small minority of both populations remembers life without occupation. Only a sliver of the Palestinian public has any recollection of not living under a foreign military occupation. For Palestinians, resisting the occupation -- the only reality they know -- is a way of life. For Israelis, oppressing the Palestinians is perceived at best as necessary evil. And so they both live with the banality of this anomaly.

Nissim Levi, a 20-year veteran of the Israeli GSS, several years ago described the impact of this routine. You go to a Palestinian village to arrest a suspect named Muhammed, he told Israel's Haaretz newspaper. "From the moment you leave for the village, to take the man and go, you create four more potential terrorists. ... You are entering a small room, in which five people are sleeping, and in order to get to my Muhammed, I need to step on four people." He continued: "On the way to enter the village to arrest someone, I already created damage."

How much damage? According to estimates by the Palestinian Authority's Bureau of Statistics, Israel has made more than 800,000 arrests of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza since 1967. That is an average of almost 50 arrests per day. Go calculate the damage.

Israelis and Palestinians know that their relationship is not normal. They should be shown, however, that it could be different, that things can change. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry are now trying to launch a process that would do just that. They deserve our support.

This article originally appeared in the Chicago Tribune on May 14th, 2013.