SWI NEWS: Friday, April 29 2011 25 Nisan,5771
Friday, April 29th, 2011UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday cautiously welcomed a unity agreement aimed at ending the rivalry among ruling Palestinian factions, but stressed that it should not undermine peace with Israel.
"The Secretary-General welcomes efforts being made to promote Palestinian reconciliation and the important contribution of Egypt in this regard," UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said in a statement.
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"He hopes that reconciliation will now take place in a manner that promotes the cause of peace, security and non-violence," he said.
The Egyptian-brokered deal, announced on Wednesday, calls for forming a new government acceptable to both Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, which is dominant in the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip Hamas's rulers.
Egypt has invited Palestinian leaders to Cairo next week for the signing of the deal, Palestinian officials said on Friday.
Israel denounced the agreement, saying Abbas could not be a peace partner if he mends ties with Hamas, an Islamist group whose charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state, but which has said it is open to a long-term ceasefire.
Nesirky indicated that Ban wanted Abbas' more moderate Fatah movement to lead any unity government.
"The United Nations has long underscored the need for progress towards Palestinian unity within the framework of the Palestinian Authority led by President Abbas and the commitments of the Palestine Liberation Organization," he said.
"The United Nations will study carefully the agreement as soon as the details are available," Nesirky added.
Fatah-Hamas accord – by-product of secret Israel-Turkish talks, Syrian crisis
The deal initialed by the two rival Palestinian factions, Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah and the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip in Cairo Wednesday, April 27, hailed by the Israeli media as "historic," drew an instantaneous critical response from Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu: "You can't have peace both with Israel and Hamas," he warned the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority. It raises concerns about the Palestinian Authority's weakness and a possible Hamas takeover of Judea and Samaria like the coup it staged in the Gaza Strip, he said. "Hamas aspires to destroy the state of Israel and is quite open about it. Hamas shoots rockets at Israeli cities and our children," he added.
At least three Fatah-Hamas reconciliation pacts have been signed with loud acclaim in the past, only to crash into oblivion. Netanyahu has himself to blame if the latest draft accord which caught him by surprise survives Palestinian fractiousness and actually produces a transitional government and elections a year hence.
This time, the interests of both Palestinian factions are served: It fulfills PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas' ambition to appear before the UN General Assembly in September demanding recognition of Palestinian statehood within the 1967 borders on behalf of a united people. Hamas' political chief Khaled Meshaal is looking for a new address for his Damascus headquarters away from President Bashar Assad's bloody crackdown on dissent.
But the deal struck in Cairo Wednesday was galvanized most of all by Netanyahu's secret track with Washington and Ankara for patching up the Israeli-Turkish quarrel.
debkafile's sources report that in quiet shuttles between the offices of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and Netanyahu, unofficial American figures obtained Ankara's consent to postponing the Gaza-bound flotillas due to sail in the coming months. They are now parked on the Israeli leader's doorstep for the quid pro quo demanded by the Turks.
The comment by the Hamas official Abu Marzuk on April 14 about a fresh mediation channel for negotiating the release of the kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilead Shalit was in fact a signal from Ankara that Turkey could be helpful on that sensitive issue as well.
While Netanyahu and his advisers believed that their exchanges with the Turkish government had gone unnoticed behind the sound and fury of the Arab revolt, they missed two intent observers: the new Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Alaraby and Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). The two decided to work together on what they reckoned would be the most effective scheme for pulling the rug from under the US-Turkish-Israeli track which left them out in the cold. It entailed a rapid move for getting Fatah-Hamas reconciliation in the bag before anyone realized what was happening.
To attain this goal, Abbas was pressed into major concessions to Hamas. If the initialed pact is finalized and he eventually delivers on those concessions, his dominant position and that of his Fatah on the West Bank will be seriously compromised, not to mention Israeli security interests.
Its terms provide for the two factions to establish a supreme security council with final authority on matters of security. It would override the Palestinian-Israeli coordinating panel operating under US supervision because neither Washington nor Jerusalem would agree to Hamas oversight, even if only indirect, of their security and undercover activity.
Abu Mazen agreed to a full exchange of prisoners, meaning all the Hamas operatives jailed on the West Bank would go free, especially those captured in the last two years as a result of two years of US-Israel-Palestinian counter-terror operations on the West Bank. Their release will make it harder than ever for Netanyahu to argue that he can't release all the dangerous terrorists Hamas is demanding in return for Gilead Shalit.
Hamas also beat Abbas down on a critical point at issue, that within a year of signing a formal agreement, elections are held for all the Palestinian institutions including the presidency, the legislative council (the Palestinian parliament) and also for PLO institutions.
Hamas will final gain membership of the PLO after being shut out for many years.
Since any Israel-Palestinian peace accord would be with the PLO rather than the Palestinian Authority, the way is opened for the Oslo Interim Peace Accords to be revoked in the same ways as future elections in Egypt would enable a future legislature and administration to revoke the Egyptian peace treaty with Israel.
The draft initialed in Cairo provides for the establishment of a joint transitional government of apolitical technocrats to serve until elections. Ministerial appointments from prime minister down would be subject to the approval of both parties. In other words, Hamas will have veto power over these appointments, which places the continued tenure of the incumbent Prime Minister Salem Fayad in great doubt.
debkafile's intelligence sources report that neither Washington nor Ankara, and especially Jerusalem, had the slightest inkling that a Palestinian accord was in the works or achievable at such high speed. They were all caught napping as a result of overconfidence, the absence of strategic forethought and planning and failed intelligence.
Substantial adjustments will have to be made in the three capitals to prepare for the pictures to be broadcast from Cairo next week of Abbas and Khaled Meshal kissing and embracing with Egyptian Foreign Minister al-Arabi, after affixing their signatures to the final version of their accord.
Palestinian reconciliation
Egypt Draws Closer to Hamas, Iran
Egypt has drifted farther from Israel following the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, with protesters calling to end the peace treaty with Israel, a position supported by more than half of the Egyptian population. Now political candidates are catering to the public mood by drawing closer to Iran and Hamas.
Egypt's new Foreign Ministry heads plan to normalize ties with Iran, according to spokeswoman Mena Bakhoum. “All the world has diplomatic ties with Iran with the exception of the United States and Israel,” she said this week. “We look at Iran as a neighbor in the region that we should have normal relations with.”
Iran is currently perceived as neither enemy nor friend, she added.
During anti-regime protests in Egypt, Iran encouraged protesters and expressed hope that a “new Egypt” would become part of an Islamic revolution in the Middle East. Iran has since called for stronger ties with Egypt.
Gulf regimes have expressed concern over Cairo's warmer ties with Iran.
Bakhoum also announced that Egypt intends to completely open its border with Gaza. She termed the one-time blockade on Hamas “shameful.”
Egypt previously put in place a blockade of Hamas more stringent that Israel's, as Israel allowed humanitarian goods to enter through its borders. However, over the past two years Egypt has increasingly allowed people and goods to pass through its border with southern Gaza. Israel has relaxed its policy as well, but continues to forbid the import to Gaza of weapons or dual-purpose materials.
Most of the weapons in Gaza are believed to have entered the region via smuggling tunnels under the Egyptian border. Israel has relied on Egypt to fight smuggling and the weapons trade in the Sinai Peninsula.
Egypt showed its new approach to Hamas during talks for Palestinian Authority unity held with Hamas leaders and leaders of the rival Fatah faction. Hamas representatives were invited to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and met with senior leaders, including interim head of state Mohamed Tantawi.
(IsraelNationalNews.com)
PLC Member Puts The Lie to Abbas' Vow to Talk
by Gavriel Queenann
Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member and Fatah party member Fuad Kokali put the lie to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' claims he will negotiate with Israel Thursday.
In an interview with the pro-'Palestinian' Alternative Information Center, Kokali said "it is a must to have this reconciliation because we need the world to recognize a... Palestinian state and without Gaza ... this weakens our position."
"And now they are building a new policy to stop the Palestinian state in September," Kokali said about opposition to unilateral PA efforts outside the Oslo framework that circumvent peace negotiations with Israel, to gain a declaration of statehood by the United Nations in September.
"And they justify their actions that still the region is not ready, the Palestinians are not ready. So they took the position of Israel. And so that means we have to negotiate another 20 years. And I think this will be refused by the Palestinians," Kokali said.
Kokali also admitted Hamas had not agreed to pursue peace with Israel - one of the Quartet's key conditions for the admission of Hamas to the Palestinian Authority if it wishes to retain legitimacy.
"For Hamas there is no other choice so they will go for this ," Kokali said. "But, if we are talking about principles, for example what will be the position with Hamas toward the peace process, or Fatah, this we will continue to negotiate later."
"We will continue to negotiate with Hamas about the peace process, about the peace with Israel, about the resistance, and what kind of resistance we need if peace fails .. this needs more negotiation," Kokali said.
Kokali's admission that Hamas only agreed to unity because it had no choice, and that Hamas' position vis-a-vis Fatah remained ambigous, underscores not only the tenuous nature of the agreement, but also the tenuous permanence any PA-Israel agreement would have.
It also buttresses concerns the inclusion of Hamas in the PA may lead to a Hamas takeover of PA areas in Judea and Samaria.
Perhaps forgetting the period when Hamas terorists threw Fatah terrorists to their deaths out of upper stories of hospitals during Operation Cast Lead , Kokali said "Unity is one of our goals as Palestinians,"
How Israel Should Deal with PA's Intention to Declare a State
by Hillel Fendel
How should Israel deal with the Palestinian Authority’s intention to declare, with United Nations General Assembly support, a state in all of Judea, Samaria and Gaza this coming September?
Three well-known figures – Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, ex-Ambassador to Egypt Tzvi Maz’el, and Yesha Council Chairman Danny Dayan - answered this question for the weekly B’Sheva magazine. Hevron Jewish Community David Wilder and the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel also issued their opinions.
Their answers:
Ex-Ambassador to Egypt, Sweden and Romania Tzvi Maz’el:
We must deal with this on the diplomatic and informational levels… It appears that the Prime Minister is traveling to France and Great Britain to discuss this topic. In my opinion, he must make it clear to the Americans, Europeans, and others that convening the UN General Assembly will strike a blow at all the agreements we have signed with the , which determined that all problems and issues that arise between us and them… must be solved in direct talks between the sides
When a foreign body such as the UN decides on the establishment of a Palestinian state, it essentially voids the Oslo Agreements of their content. In such a case, Israel will have to act unilaterally to protect its interests, without coordinating with the PA as we do today…
In addition, all the negotiations between Israel and the PA are based on UN resolutions 242 and 338… and on which were based the Oslo Agreements. The moment that the UN recognizes a Palestinian state, it means that 242 and 338 and all agreements based on them are void. This must be stated, in legal and political terms, as clearly as possible.
In addition, the General Assembly can only recommend, but cannot make binding decisions…
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon:
Let us not frighten ourselves with ungrounded theories. The Palestinian move for unilateral recognition is a threat with nothing behind it, and will not serve the Palestinians. A decision by the General Assembly will not change anything on the ground, and certainly not without Israeli cooperation…
We are working on many fronts to present the Israeli position, and many countries are realizing that this unilateral move is not relevant. The PA’s actions and intentions prove again that they are not interested in real peace with Israel– for if they were, they would come to the negotiating table and talk with us…
Those in our country who say that September will be very fateful for Israel, are often the same ones who systematically call on Israel to retreat from its position. Israel has dealt successfully in the past with even bigger challenges than this one, and has flowered and blossomed afterwards. We are in the midst of a ‘political intifada’ on the part of the PA, and we must continue to watch out for our security and interests…
At a time when we see many changes in regional regimes, it is important for the world’s democracies not to allow the establishment of another terrorist state in the Middle East.
Danny Dayan, Chairman of the Yesha Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria:
The first and primary thing that the government of Israel must do, even without taking the Palestinians’ intentions into account, is to declare clearly our claim to ownership and sovereignty over all of Judea and Samaria. While the Palestinians claim this area with lies and distortions, we must present the People of Israel’s unshakeable claim to its homeland and its intention to actualize this right. But if the Arabs talks about national rights and Israel demands only security, the game is lost from the beginning.
Of late, the government of Israel has been broadcasting signs of panic in light of the PA’s intentions. Expressions such as a ‘diplomatic tsunami’ that await us [as Defense Minister Ehud Barak said – ed.], simply increase our enemies’ motivation… causing self-fulfilling prophecies. This vicious cycle must be stopped immediately.
How? By making a 180-degree turn in policy: No more promises for concessions and gestures if they drop their unilateral approach, but rather a clear and direct threat that their unilateral steps will be met by some unilateral steps of our own. But not merely declaratory unilateral steps, like the one they are planning, but some very practical ones – such as our annexation, with all that that entails, of all or parts of Judea and Samaria… We have many tools at our disposal… and we must be less restrained in using them.”
David Wilder, Spokesman for the Hevron Jewish Community (written after the announcement of the Hamas-Fatah agreement):
…I believe the agreement is a reason to break out the wine, set up a band, and celebrate. this time has hit the nail on the head , ‘The agreement will prevent creation of a Palestinian state.’ …
[Netanyahu’s] Bar Ilan 2 speech, to be recited before a full house of Senators and Congressmen in Washington in a few weeks, just about finished, concession after concession, abandonment of more land to our enemies, relinquishment of additional security precautions, a 'Palestinian state' in temporary borders, perhaps even with a taste of Jerusalem for dessert. It was all set. And now - what bombshell can he initiate? Not a one. At least, certainly not in the direction he planned…
The conflict between Hamas and Fatah anything to do with ideology. Both agree that the state of Israel is an insufferable thorn in the collective throats of the Arabs that must be plucked out of existence at the first opportunity. Abu Mazen certainly hasn't changed his life's philosophy, which he expressed while planning the 1974 Ma'alot massacre and funding the 1972 Olympic terror killings in Germany…
Bibi already announced his acceptance of a Palestinian state. But what can he do now? Every rocket now shot into Israel, at Sderot, Ashkelon or Tel Aviv, has not one signature on it, but rather two: Ismail Haniyeh and Abu Mazen . Gilad Shalit is now a captive of Hamas-Fatah. Every attempted terror attack initiated from Gaza is rubber-stamped: Fatah-Hamas…
Just as G-d hardened Pharaoh's heart, so too, today, He is throwing dust into the eyes of our enemies, blinding them, dulling their senses, and leading them down a dead-end road - leading, not to Israel's destruction, rather to their own obliteration. This does not mean, under any circumstances, that we will have an easy time of it. Far from it. Dead end roads aren't necessarily short, and they can be quite bumpy. But the chances of another Arab state on our eastern border, created with Israel's blessings, have hit the lowest level they've been at in years.
It won't be easy, but we will prevent creation of a Palestinian state. G-d is watching over us. G-d is protecting us, even from ourselves. Thank G-d!
Nachi Eyal, Head of the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel:
The murder of an innocent person praying at Joseph's Tomb proves that the world cannot allow a Palestinian state. A people whose policemen are murderers cannot join the family of nations. The Forum expects the government of Israel to have its UN ambassador issue a formal complaint to the United Nations, as the murder of a person at prayer is considred a war crime .
(IsraelNationalNews.com)
