SWI NEWS: Monday, April 4 2011 29 AdarII,5771
Monday, April 4th, 2011
Green Light on 942 Housing Units for Gilo
by Chana Ya'ar
The southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo will expand to the east and south, gaining 942 new housing units, thanks to a committee decision Monday in Jerusalem.
A zoning decision by the city's Building and Planning Committee may allow an additional 300 housing units in the future as well.
The land where the units are to be built is owned by the Jewish National Fund (JNF) and private individuals, according to media reports.
“The private owners are asking to advance building plans in accordance with the law,” said the municipality in a statement quoted by UPI. Also on the agenda were plans to discuss the building of “scores of units for the city's Arab sector, as it does every week,” city officials said.
Four Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria – Eshkolot, Hemdat, Nofim and Rotem – are also to be approved for urban zoning, according to Defense Ministry sources. Such zoning allows for higher- density apartment buildings.
“These are legal settlements that were built on state lands, received authorizations from the government, but their urban construction plans were not arranged,” said the ministry in a statement to the media. “Only recently were those arrangements completed. This is an approval for the current situation. Any additional construction will require additional authorization,” the statement said.
The approvals came at the start of a visit to the U.S. by President Shimon Peres, who was set to meet Monday afternoon in Washington DC with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Before leaving for the visit, Peres was told the committee planned to discuss expansion of three other neighborhoods as well: Ramat Shlomo, Har Homa and Pisgat Ze'ev. The president allegedly asked the committee to postpone the discussions.
Peres is expected to meet for a working lunch Tuesday with President Barack Obama. Both meetings are to be held at Blair House, where Peres is staying, rather than at the White House, for reasons that are unclear. Blair House is the president's official guest house in Washington.
(IsraelNationalNews.com)
Palestinian engineer charged with upgrading Hamas missiles DEBKAfile Special Report April 4, 2011, 6:09 PM (GMT+02:00)
Dirar Abu Asisi, the Gazan Palestinian who claims to have been abducted by Israel's secret service from the Ukraine, was charged before the Beersheba district court Monday, April 4, on 15 terror-related counts, including upgrading the range and capabilities of thousands of Grad and Qassam rockets launched from Gaza at Israeli towns and cities in recent years as well as anti-tank missiles. Abu Asisi was also identified as the commander of the military academy run by Hamas' armed wing, Ezz e-din al-Qassam, where he was nicknamed Dr. Rocket.
He obtained his PhD degree from the Ukrainian military engineering academy where he specialized in missile control systems and upgrading the ranges of Grad and Qassam missiles.
He is therefore charged with the attempted murder of thousands of Israelis, membership of a terrorist organization, providing services to an illegal organization, conspiracy to commit a crime and illegal weapons manufacture.
The accused Palestinian engineer's cover job as chief engineer of the Gaza electricity network is alleged to have concealed his clandestine functions for the Hamas terrorist organization and his close ties with Hamas's military leaders, Ahmad Jabari and Muhammad Deif.
His family and defense council say he was abducted from a train in Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine, on Feb. 19 to extract information about Gilead Shalit, the Israeli soldier held captive and incommunicado by Hamas for almost five years. Hamas spokesmen in Gaza say he is innocent.
Palestinian engineer charged with upgrading Hamas missiles DEBKAfile Special Report April 4, 2011, 6:09 PM (GMT+02:00)
Dirar Abu Sisi, Hamas missile expert
'US firmly opposed to PA seeking UN statehood declaration'
By HILARY LEILA KRIEGER JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDE 04/04/2011 19:51WASHINGTON – The US is firmly opposed to Palestinians pursuing a unilateral declaration of statehood through the UN, the top White House Middle East adviser said Monday.
“We have consistently made it clear that the way to produce a Palestinian state is through negotiations, not through unilateral declarations, not through going to the UN,” Dennis Ross told the Anti-Defamation League’s annual leadership conference. “Our position on that has been consistent in opposition.”
RELATED:
'Quartet ‘parameters’ must address our needs'
How Palestinians will use the GA to advance statehood
As expectations increase that the Palestinians will seek a UN resolution on the issue this September, Ross disparaged the idea as unhelpful not only to the overall diplomatic environment, but to advancing the Palestinians’ own goals. “This doesn’t make it more likely that there’ll be a Palestinian state,” he said.
Instead Ross reiterated the need for Palestinians and Israelis to engage directly, particularly given the regime-toppling occurring in the region. He said that young and emerging leaderships needed to see that Israel could make peace with the Palestinians and that negotiations were a course for achieving results.
“It’s important that they see that peace is a possibility,” he said. “They need to see that negotiations can not only take place, but they can produce.”
For that to happen, he said, each side needed to show that it understood the other’s needs and realities, including the Palestinians providing assurances over Israel’s very real security needs.
In addition, he said, “The Palestinians need to see that they can have an independent state that’s contiguous and viable.”
Despite the regional confusion and the stalemate between Israelis and Palestinians, Ross declared that “one thing in this period of uncertainty that is certain is our relationship with Israel, bound with a set of shared values and interests.”
He continued, “The commitment to Israel’s security is unshakable and ironclad. It’s not just words. We are giving it life and meaning each day.”
He noted the very real risks, particularly Iran, and emphasized America’s intention to make sure Iran doesn’t acquire a nuclear weapon.
“We will continue to increase the pressure on the Iranians,” Ross said, pointing to sanctions and other diplomatic measures already being deployed against the regime, which is continuing to enrich uranium in defiance of the international community.
Ross also acknowledged the risk that Iran would take advantage of the regional upheaval. “Iran sees in the turmoil something to exploit,” he said, though he also spoke of opportunities stemming from the unrest.
For one thing, Ross pointed to Arab regimes that have long blamed Israel for ills in the Middle East so as not to have to focus on the very frustrations among their population that triggered the current rebellions; a dynamic that would likely change.
“They sought to deflect the anger they knew existed in their own societies onto others – onto the United States and onto Israel,” he said.
While so far the popular demonstrations have focused very little attention on Israel and the Palestinians, former US ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk warned that they could.
“This doesn’t mean they won’t come around to the Palestinian issue,” said Indyk, who spoke at an ADL conference panel after Ross. “It’s not that this cause isn’t important to the Palestinian state. It’s that they have more important issues to deal with.”
He assessed that while the prospects for a deal between Jerusalem and Damascus had dramatically shifted as a result of the demonstrations – “the potential for making peace between Israel and Syria out the window” – he urged the Israelis and Palestinians to hold quiet talks “while the rest of the Arab world isn’t watching.”
Though he said the US would never allow the unilateral declaration of statehood to pass at the UN, Israel’s diplomatic alliances were fraying nonetheless.
“Time is not on Israel’s side,” he warned. “This would be a good time for the Israeli leadership to take initiative.”
Elliott Abrams, a deputy national security adviser in the George W. Bush administration who appeared alongside Indyk, agreed that Israel should take action despite the uncertainty in the region.
While Abrams didn’t foresee much likelihood of a final-status deal being reached with the Palestinians, he argued that Israel could still take steps in the short term toward the goal of a two-state solution that would yield dividends.
“There is a very broad consensus in Israel that they need to separate from the Palestinians,” he said. “I think that Israel would get a tremendous amount of diplomatic credit if it took any steps toward the goal that it seeks.”
Two proposals by Abrams were that the Knesset pass a law to compensate anyone living in far-flung settlements if they voluntarily moved within the security fence line, and that Israel itself recognize a Palestinian state, thereby undercutting the diplomatic momentum against Israel.
“We need to get past the notion that separating from the Palestinians is a favor for the Palestinians,” he declared. “The Zionists did not create Israel by waiting for the help of others.”
Following the panel, ADL National Director Abraham Foxman said it would help make the case for Israel if the Netanyahu government made a diplomatic initiative, given efforts to isolate Israel and blame it for the impasse with the Palestinians.
“Ninety percent of American Jews would want the prime minister to take some kind of initiative,” he said, though he didn’t offer any specifics or indicate whether he felt the Jewish community had a policy preference.
“Israel has to do it for Israel’s sake,” Foxman said. “Part of Israel’s sake is the diplomatic atmosphere.”
CAIRO - Cairo is ready to re-establish diplomatic ties with Tehran after a break of more than 30 years, Egypt's foreign minister said on Monday, signaling a shift in Iran policy since the fall of President Hosni Mubarak.
"The Egyptian and Iranian people deserve to have mutual relations reflecting their history and civilization," said Foreign Minister Nabil Elaraby after meeting Iranian official Mugtabi Amani.
RELATED:
Iran: US fomenting Mideast unrest to save Israel
Amadinejad: UN should stop Western 'interference'
Egyptian FM says Israel won’t receive ‘special treatment’
"Egypt is open to all countries and the aim is to achieve common interests," Elaraby said, adding that Cairo welcomed "opening a new page with Iran."
It was the first publicly announced meeting between officials from both countries since Mubarak was toppled on Feb. 11, handing power to the army.
Amani carried a message from Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, who welcomed Egypt's initiative.
"Foreign Minister Salehi ... called for developing bilateral cooperation, beginning with hosting Egypt's foreign minister in Tehran or having Iran's foreign minister visit Cairo," Menha Bakhowm, spokeswoman for Egypt's foreign ministry, said in a statement.
Egypt and Iran have been at odds on a number of issues including the Middle East peace process and ties with Israel and the United States.
Shi'ite Muslim Iran and mainly Sunni Egypt severed ties in 1980 following Iran's Islamic revolution and Egypt's recognition of Israel. Both have competed for influence in the Middle East.
TEHRAN - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the West on Monday of fomenting unrest in Syria and across the Arab Middle East to secure Israel's position, state television reported.
Ahmadinejad accused his arch foe the United States and other Western nations of hatching a plot, singling out Tehran's ally Syria which is being rocked by anti-government protests.
RELATED:
Turkey says it seizes illegal Iran arms shipment
Congressman: US policy on Iran shows 'weakness'
'Iran, China, N. Korea execute hundreds in 2010'
"They want to save the Zionist regime (Israel) by interfering in the region aimed at creating discord among the regional nations and governments," he told a news conference.
"America and the Zionist regime want to weaken Syria's resistance by creating discord between the Syrian government and the Syrian nation," said Ahmadinejad.
Syria, which maintains an anti-Israel alliance with Iran and supports the terror groups Hezbollah and Hamas, has has been hit by growing political unrest, inspired by uprisings that toppled leaders in Egypt and Tunisia.
Iran, which has crushed its own opposition protests at home, has welcomed uprisings in the region as an "Islamic awakening" against despotic rulers.
"The government of Syria and its nation are our friends," said Ahmadinejad. "We think they will resolve their problems with expediency."
Ahmadinejad also rejected as illegal a statement issued by the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on Sunday that "severely condemned Iranian interference in the internal affairs of Bahrain which is in violation of international pacts."We attach no legal value to this statement that was issued under political pressure of America and its allies," Ahmadinejad said, adding that he had asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon "to prevent catastrophes happening in the region as occurred in Afghanistan and Iraq".
Ahmadinejad renewed Iran's call on Saudi Arabia to withdraw its troops from Bahrain, a small but important ally of Washington which is home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet.
Yes/No Question
Do I have the right to toss a copy of the koran on the barbeque, or not?
P.S. I live in America (or did).
Muslim Brotherhood Advocates "Modesty Police" ... in EGYPT
Officials of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's leading Islamic group, have called for the establishment of a Saudi-style modesty police to combat "immoral" behavior in public areas in what observers say in another sign of a growing Islamic self-confidence in the post-Mubarak era.
In the political sphere, the Brotherhood led a successful drive to get voters to approve a package of constitutional amendments. On the street level, at least 20 attacks were perpetrated against the tombs of Muslim mystics (suffis), who are the subject of popular veneration but disparaged by Islamic fundamentalists, or salafis. After some initial hesitation, Islamic leaders have publicly praised the revolution.
"This is incredibly worrying to many Egyptians," Maye Kassem, a political scientist at the American University in Cairo (AUC), told The Media Line. "The salafis were always undercover in Egypt and now they are emerging as a political force. They are getting too vocal."
Newly freed from the political strictures of the Mubarak era, Egypt has turned into a battleground between those who envision a liberal, secular state and those who advocate various shades if Islam. The conflict mirrors those taking place elsewhere in the region. In Bahrain, unrest has evolved into a conflict between Sunni- and Shiite Muslims and the US has pulled back from supporting Libyan rebels over concerns they are dominated by Islamists....
Obama Throws Yet Another Ally Under The Bus
Shavua tov, everyone. I am much distracted by Other Things at the moment, so blogging is light (to non-existent). I appreciate readers' comments, as they keep BtB on life support for the time being.
BUT... that being said, this seems to me yet another indication of our national insanity (i.e. presidential ineptitude or anti-American hostility, however you see it):
Even the leftist New York Times seems wary:
U.S. Shifts to Seek Removal of Yemen's Leader, an Ally
SANA, Yemen — The United States, which long supported Yemen’s president, even in the face of recent widespread protests, has now quietly shifted positions and has concluded that he is unlikely to bring about the required reforms and must be eased out of office, according to American and Yemeni officials.
This does not bode well for any remaining allies.... like, say, Israel. It's Obama who should be "eased out of office," before he ruins Absolutely Everything
