Tuesday, March 04, 2014

UKRAINE CASTS SHADOW OVER US-IRAN TALKS

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Abbas: Freeze Construction or Else...

PA Chairman threatens to end peace talks and turn to international institutions unless Israel freezes construction in Judea and Samaria.-By Elad Benari-First Publish: 3/4/2014, 3:12 AM-Israelnationalnews

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas-Flash 90
Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is threatening to end the negotiations with Israel unless it freezes construction in Judea and Samaria.Abbas’s threats came during his meeting on Monday with Meretz Chairwoman MK Zehava Galon. “I will put the keys on the table and turn to international organizations,” he declared during that meeting."The only way we will agree to extend the talks is if Netanyahu announces a settlement freeze and the release of other prisoners beyond the next scheduled release,” Abbas told Galon.This is not the first that Abbas has imposed preconditions on talks with Israel and threatened that unless all these preconditions are met, there will be no peace.It is also not the first time that the PA threatens that if peace talks fail, Israel will go to the United Nations and unilaterally seek statehood recognition there.After Monday’s meeting, Galon wrote on Facebook that she had told Abbas that Meretz has “an unwavering commitment” to the peace process.“I told him that our commitment is backed by 76% of the Israeli public and 77 Knesset members who support a peace agreement, and what is needed right now is a determined and courageous leadership that will continue the negotiations that it began,” she wrote.
Galon went on to blame the Israeli government and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for the fact that peace talks were not advancing.“The problem is that instead of making new and courageous choices about peace Netanyahu prefers to make old and cowardly decisions on settlement construction,” she charged. “Ironically, just as Netanyahu's meeting with Obama began, a report by the Central Bureau of Statistics indicated that this year a record was set in the number of new homes in the settlements - a crazy increase of 125% last year(!).”“These, my friends, are the distorted priorities of the Netanyahu government. One hand builds settlements and the other hand flies to Obama to tell him stories about peace,” wrote Galon.Meanwhile on Monday, Netanyahu told President Barack Obama that over the past 20 years, Israel has made every concession possible to the PA, while the PA has responded with terrorism."In the 20 years since Israel embarked upon the [Oslo] peace treaty,” Netanyahu said, “Israel made great efforts to obtain peace – we evicted cities, we freed prisoners, and when you look at what we got in return – you see thousands of missiles on our cities, and suicide terrorists.”"Israel is doing its part and the Palestinians are not,” he stated. “And that is the truth, and the Nation of Israel knows it is the truth, because they live it.”

Kerry: US will not allow the West Bank to become Gaza

Secretary of state suggests that Arab neighbors have promised to invest millions in Israel if peace is achieved

A day after his boss launched a verbal attack on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s settlement policy, US Secretary of State John Kerry offered a more moderate tone on the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks during his address to the AIPAC Policy Conference Monday evening.In a speech that never once mentioned the settlements that US President Barack Obama criticized during an interview on the eve of his meeting with Netanyahu, Kerry instead assured attendees that “we will never let the West Bank turn into another Gaza.”
After Israel pulled all its troops and citizens out of Gaza in 2005, Hamas overran the coastal strip, turning it into a  launching ground for rockets designed to harm Israeli civilians.Kerry’s speech came hours after Netanyahu and Obama held a bilateral meeting in Washington in which the two discussed the peace process, as well as other regional concerns.Kerry warned that a peace agreement “will take hard work and hard choices on both sides,” but promised that “America will be there every day of week, every step of the way.”
He did, however, mention that “ending the conflict means ending the incitement,” a key demand that Israel has repeatedly made of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.Abbas, said Kerry, “knows the great benefits of peace, and the great cost of failure.” He added that, in talks with the leader of a “very wealthy” regional neighbor of Israel’s, Kerry had been assured that regional investment in Israel, should peace be achieved with the Palestinians, would contribute significantly to Israel’s economy.Kerry arrived at the conference almost a hour behind schedule, but was greeted enthusiastically with a standing ovation. Activists held cameras in the air, hoping to snap a picture of the secretary of state.“AIPAC’s work is in the best traditions of American democracy and I thank you for practicing it,” Kerry congratulated activists in the opening minutes of his speech. “These democratic values are stamped in the DNA of the United States and Israel.“Today as Israel faces serious challenges to her future it is America that will stand by her side,” Kerry reassured the crowd, but was greeted only by polite applause. “It is a matter of fact,” he argued, that under Obama “there has been a complete unmatched commitment to Israel’s security.”Obama, Kerry continued, “is committed to using the full force of our diplomacy on both the peace process and on preventing a nuclear Iran.”

Syria Claims: Israel Sending Fighters to Help Rebels

Assad's adviser claims that Israel is sending fighters and officers to help the rebels fighting to oust Assad.
By Elad Benari-First Publish: 3/4/2014, 4:44 AM-Israelnationalnews

Bashar Al-Assad
Bashar Al-Assad-AFP photo
The Syrian regime on Monday accused Israel of being involved in the ongoing fighting in the country, Kol Yisrael radio reports.Bouthaina Shaaban, political and media adviser to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, claimed that Israel was sending fighters to help the rebels fighting to oust Assad.Speaking to the Lebanese Al-Mayadeen network, which is affiliated with Hezbollah, Shaaban said that Damascus has information indicating that there were undercover agents among the wounded Syrians recently treated by Israel.She further claimed that Israeli officers are operating in Syria and monitoring the fighting in the war-torn country.
Shaaban also said, in reference to last week’s airstrike near the Syria-Lebanon border that was attributed to Israel, that Israel is using weapons shipments as an excuse to attack Syria and Lebanon.This is not the first time that Syria has accused Israel of taking part in the war in the country, despite Israel having more than once clarified that it is not a part of the war and that it does not take sides in the fighting.Assad himself told an Argentinean newspaper a few months ago that Israel is assisting the rebels fighting to topple his regime.
“Israel is directly supporting the terrorist groups in two ways,” he claimed. “Firstly it gives them logistical support, and it also tells them what sites to attack and how to attack them."The Syrian opposition, however, has claimed the exact opposite, that Israel was collaborating with Iran and Hezbollah to keep Assad in power.Last week’s airstrike along the Syria-Lebanon border reportedly targeted missiles that are able to carry warheads heavier and more dangerous than almost all of Hezbollah's current massive arsenal.The IDF declined to officially comment on the alleged airstrike, but an Israeli security source confirmed to the Reuters news agency that there has been "unusually intense air force activity in the north", referring to Lebanon.A day later, an unnamed official told Time magazine that Israel was behind the airstrike.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu remained elusive on the topic, saying, "We are doing everything that is necessary in order to defend the security of Israel."Lebanon has filed a complaint to the United Nations against Israel over the airstrikes, saying they were a violation of UN Security Council resolution 1701, which brought an end to the 2006 Second Lebanon War.

Ukraine casts shadow over US-Israel talks on Iran

Watching developments in Crimea, some officials ponder its meaning for stopping Tehran’s nuclear program

March 4, 2014, 2:28 am 2-The Times of Israel
“He’s asking us to trust him. Now we’re watching Ukraine and wondering,” a senior member of the Israeli government told The Times of Israel on Monday, speaking about US President Barack Obama’s response to the Russian incursion in the Crimea this week.The official noted that the United States has a defense agreement with Ukraine, the 1994 Budapest Memorandum signed by President Bill Clinton and Russian President Boris Yeltsin, which affirms that “The United States of America, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, reaffirm their commitment to Ukraine…to respect the Independence and Sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine.”The Israeli skepticism mirrors criticism of the Obama administration from some domestic critics.The Ukraine crisis “is directly related to what happens in the Middle East,” Senator John McCain (R-AZ) told the AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington on Tuesday. The crisis “is the ultimate result of a feckless foreign policy where nobody believes in America’s strength anymore,” charged McCain.That message resonates with Israeli political leaders.
“There’s a limit to what the president [Obama] can ask of us if America isn’t willing to stand by its promises,” the Israeli official said.But that concern, while it reflects continued skepticism over American dependability on the world stage on the part of much of the Israeli political leadership, is not necessarily shared by defense officials. One senior Israeli defense official said the American equivocation on Ukraine was understandable.“We shouldn’t be too quick to apply lessons from Ukraine to Israel,” said the official on Monday. “Crimea has been an overriding strategic imperative for Russia for centuries. They have a military base there. So what’s America going to do? Send troops?”That’s a very different situation from the Israel-Iran standoff, the official added.McCain, too, acknowledged the lack of a military option.”I have to be very honest with you,” he told the pro-Israel lobby Tuesday. “There is not a military option that can be exercised now. But the most powerful nation in the world should have plenty of options,” he insisted, calling for personal and economic sanctions to be levied against Russia and its leaders.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in Washington Tuesday for talks with Obama over the Iranian nuclear issue and US-brokered Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.The visit is marked by increasing tensions between the two leaders, with the American leader openly chastising the Israeli government over West Bank settlement construction and the slow pace of negotiations, while the Netanyahu government has vociferously protested US-led nuclear talks between Western powers and Iran.

US, EU struggle to rally against Putin

Western countries are alarmed by Russia’s military moves in Ukraine, but their options are limitied

March 4, 2014, 12:59 am 1-The Times of Israel
WASHINGTON (AP) — The US and major allies strained on Monday to rally a strong Western front to persuade Russia to step back from a military takeover of Ukraine’s strategic Crimea region. But several acknowledged there are few options beyond already-threatened economic and diplomatic penalties, and critics said administration efforts were too little, too late after years of pressing for friendlier relations with Moscow.A stern-faced President Barack Obama labeled the Russian advance in Crimea a violation of international law. He urged Congress to approve an aid package for the Ukrainian government, and repeated earlier threats that the US would take steps to hobble Russia’s economy and isolate it diplomatically if President Vladimir Putin does not back down.US Secretary of State John Kerry was leaving for Kiev to reinforce US support for the new Ukrainian government that only weeks ago ousted its pro-Russian president.But French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Russia’s control of Crimea would not be easy to reverse. And the suggestions he offered — sending in observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation, questioning Russia’s membership in the G-8 economic group and holding out for a diplomatic dialogue proposed by Germany — were an indication of how limited the options were for the US and Europe.Still, alternately threatening and cajoling Putin, Western leaders pointed to the damage that his nation’s natural gas, uranium and coal industries could suffer if sanctions cut off exports to the European Union, its largest customer.Britain’s prime minister warned of diplomatic, political, economic “and other pressures” that could be brought against Moscow. And the European Union’s foreign ministers issued a Thursday deadline for Putin to pull back his troops or face a rejection of visa-liberalization and economic cooperation negotiations that have long been in the works.“I think the situation is relatively clear, you need to see a return to barracks,” EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in Brussels, where ministers also froze preparations for the Group of Eight summit of major economies that is set for June in Sochi.In Washington, Obama declared, “The strong condemnation that has proceeded from countries around the world indicates the degree to which Russia is on the wrong side of history.”“So there are really two paths that Russia can take at this point,” Obama said. “Over time, this will be a costly proposition for Russia, and now is the time for them to consider whether they can serve their interests in a way that resorts to diplomacy as opposed to force.”The West stopped far short of suggesting that its own military force might be used to push Putin’s troops out of Crimea — even as Ukrainian officials reported that four Russian navy ships in Sevastopol’s harbor had blocked two vessels controlled by Kiev.Russia, too, tried to steer the world debate.
At a UN session in Geneva, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Ukraine should return to a February 21 agreement that sought to end months of unrest in Kiev by addressing an array of issues at the heart of the dispute between protesters and the government of then-President Viktor Yanukovych. However, that agreement did not address the grievances that caused the protests in the first place, and the pro-Russian Yanukovych fled Kiev for protective sanctuary near Moscow within days of signing it.“Instead of a promised national unity government,” Lavrov complained, “a ‘government of the victors’ has been created.”US officials say the February 21 agreement could form the basis for a political resolution to the crisis but would have to be significantly altered.Both Kerry and Lavrov are to attend meetings in Paris on Wednesday about refugee spillover in Lebanon from the other war on a NATO border — the three-year bloody conflict in Syria. It is likely they will discuss the crisis in Ukraine, too.Some critics said the Obama administration should have seen Russia’s advances coming and blamed the White House for policies emboldening Putin.Said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who was defeated by Obama in the 2008 presidential election: “The president of the United States thinks that the Cold War is over. That’s fine. It is over. But Putin doesn’t believe it’s over.”
Obama for years tried to cultivate Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, the former president, as a friend of the United States. Significant changes were made to Bush administration plans for a European missile defense to try to ease Russian concerns, and a new arms control treaty was signed, as part of Washington’s hopes to “reset” U.S.-Russia relations.Conservative foreign policy experts in the US said Monday that the reset has long since crashed and burned.“When you implement a policy of appeasement toward Moscow, that policy is going to spectacularly backfire,” said scholar Nile Gardiner of the conservative Heritage Foundation. “We’ve seen that with regards to Crimea and Ukraine.”American Enterprise Institute security expert Gary Schmitt outlined a number of steps that he said the West should embrace to pressure Putin. Among them, he said, is the buildup of NATO forces in neighboring nations to make clear to Russia that there is a line it cannot cross in Europe. He also said Navy ships and assets should be moved to the Mediterranean Sea, and possibly the Black Sea, “to remind Russia there is a military cost for its activities.”He noted that Russia paid little for invading Georgia in 2008.Georgia’s prime minister met with US officials last week in Washington, and Kerry on Monday pledged a fresh $2.8 million to Moldova to help that nation’s economic prospects. All told, Kerry said the U.S. has provided close to $1.5 billion in economic assistance to help Moldova, which, like Georgia, is a former Soviet republic that has rejected Russia in recent years in favor of Western inclusion.“So what happens today in Ukraine is just a reminder to us … that we need to do much more in order to address this issue,” Moldova Prime Minister Iurie Leanca said Monday at a State Department meeting with Kerry. “Because if it’s not addressed in time, then it becomes very contagious.”

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