Israel and Middle East News Update

Monday, May 10

Headlines: ● Supreme Court Delays Session on Sheikh Jarrah Evictions ● Clashes and Arrests as Protests Spread to Haifa, Nazareth ● Two Gaza Rockets Fired at Southern , One Intercepted ● IDF Sends Reinforcements to West Bank Amid Violence ● Jordan Summons Israeli Envoy Over Clashes ● In Swipe at Biden, Netanyahu Pledges to ‘Build in Jerusalem’ ● Bennett, Lapid Aim to Swear in Government Thursday ● Hoping Abbas Will Thwart Bennett-Lapid Gov't

Commentary: ● Yedioth Ahronoth: “Events on the Ground Will Decide’’ - By Shimrit Meir

● Yedioth Ahronoth: “Abbas Wants to Be a Minister’’ - By Yuval Karni

S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace 1725 I St NW Suite 300, Washington, DC 20006 The Hon. Robert Wexler, President News Excerpts May 10, 2021 I24 News Supreme Court Delays Session on Sheikh Jarrah Evictions Israel's Supreme Court postponed its hearing on the contentions Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood evictions, the Court said. The hearing, which had been slated for Monday, was postponed at the request from Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit. The court was expected to deliver its decisive ruling in the lengthy legal battle between several Palestinian families and Jewish settlers claiming the houses they live in. The group of settlers facing off with the families claims to have acquired the land they reside on legally in the late 19th century. The for their part, say that they had been living in the area since 1950s, with a nod from Jordan, after fleeing from the fighting in the War of Independence. The postponement follows fresh overnight clashes in Jerusalem as Palestinian rioters lobbed rocks at the Israeli security forces. Dig Deeper ‘‘Palestinians Fear Loss of Family Homes as Evictions Loom’’ (Associated Press)

Ynet News Clashes and Arrests as Protests Spread to Haifa, Nazareth Clashes between Arab protesters and police broke out in several locations across Israel mainly in Jerusalem and Haifa, following days of confrontations between security forces and Palestinians in Jerusalem. Shortly after the end of a mass prayer session at the Western Wall plaza that opened the events of Jerusalem Day (marking the 54th anniversary of Israel capturing Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War) riots erupted in Sheikh Jarrah and at the Damascus Gate. Several clashes were also reported in the northern city of Haifa, where 15 rioters were arrested after attacking officers and trying to break through a police barrier and obstruct traffic. In Nazareth, protesters gathered opposite the police station in a show of solidarity with the Sheikh Jarrah residents. Dig Deeper ‘‘Arab Citizens of Israel Show Unprecedented Involvement in Jerusalem Protests’’ (Ha’aretz)

Ha’aretz Two Gaza Rockets Fired at Southern Israel, One Intercepted Two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip toward southern Israel, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said in a statement after sirens sounded in Ashkelon and the area immediately surrounding the Gaza border. One rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system, and the other landed in an open area, the statement added. Israel's Nature and Parks Authority said the fires were detected in fields from Ashdod to Eilat in the south. Trains from Ashkelon to Netivot near the Gaza border were temporarily initially shut. The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories announced it is closing off Gaza's fishing zone amid the recent escalation. COGAT said in a statement that the decision would immediately go into effect and remain in place until further notice. It added that Israel views as solely responsible for the rocket fire and arson explosive-laden balloons. Dig Deeper ‘‘Jerusalem’s on Fire, and It’s Poised to Spread in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank’’ (Times of Israel) 2 Jerusalem Post IDF Sends Reinforcements to West Bank Amid Violence The IDF has sent an additional three battalions to the West Bank to reinforce four already in the area, following violence in Jerusalem and overall heightened tension in the area. The additional forces have been deployed with the aim of strengthening troop readiness, with an emphasis on strengthening defenses over the Seam Line. Israeli security forces on Friday increased their alert level and sent more than two and a half extra battalions to reinforce troops after two Palestinians were killed earlier in the day and a third was seriously wounded after they opened fire toward the Salem base in the northern West Bank. The three gunmen, all armed with knives and improvised Palestinian-made Carlo submachine guns, opened fire on the gate of the Salem base before they were shot by Border Police officers. Dig Deeper ‘‘IDF Launches Largest Military Exercise in Israel's History’’ (I24 News)

Ha’aretz Jordan Summons Israeli Envoy Over Jerusalem Clashes The Jordanian Foreign Ministry summoned the Israeli envoy in Jordan to voice its official protest in light of the recent clashes in Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex. The chargés d'affaires said that Israel protects freedom of expression and religion and that it must prevent harming Jews' right to pray at the Western Wall. Jordanian news outlets reported that King Abdullah II had spoken with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and expressed his support for the Palestinian people and condemned the Israeli conduct in East Jerusalem. "What the Israeli police and special forces are doing, from violations against the mosque to attacks on worshippers, is barbaric behavior that is rejected and condemned," Jordan said in a statement. Jordan had provided the Palestinians with land deeds in Sheikh Jarrah it says proves Israeli settler claims to the property were groundless. Several hundred Jordanians protested near the fortified Israeli embassy in Amman as dozens of anti- riot police stood by. Dig Deeper ‘‘Canada, Quartet Slam Jerusalem Violence, International Pressure Grows on Israel’’ (Jerusalem Post)

Times of Israel In Swipe at Biden, Netanyahu Pledges to ‘Build in Jerusalem’ Prime Minister Netanyahu weighed in on the recent tensions in Jerusalem at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, emphasizing that Israel retains the right to “build in Jerusalem,” after the Biden administration criticized the impeding evictions of Palestinian families in East Jerusalem and Israeli construction in the West Bank. “We emphatically reject the pressures not to build in Jerusalem. Unfortunately, these pressures have been increasing of late. I say even to our best friends: Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Just as every people builds its capital and in its capital, so too do we reserve the right to build and in Jerusalem. This is what we have done and what we will continue to do,” he said, according to a statement from his office. Beyond the Biden administration, the impending eviction has drawn criticism from allies throughout Europe, as well as Israel’s newfound friends in the Persian Gulf, the UAE and Bahrain. Dig Deeper ‘‘UN Security Council to Hold Emergency Meet on Escalating Jerusalem Violence’’ (Times of Israel)

3 Jerusalem Post Bennett, Lapid Aim to Swear in Government Thursday Negotiating teams of and met with representatives of their potential coalition partners in an effort to swear in a new government by the end of the week. Yamina Party chairman and Yesh Atid Party leader want the deal done this week and before the Shavuot holiday next Monday, and Bennett is under intense pressure from the Right to not give into Lapid. Bennett made significant progress in a meeting with the Ra’am Party () head Mansour Abbas, and he will meet with him again with Lapid today, as negotiating teams will try to finalize a full coalition agreement with Ra’am. Abbas will not become a minister, but his party will be an official part of the coalition in return for several economic steps that help his Arab constituents. Lapid will also meet on Monday with leaders and in an effort to persuade them to abstain in a vote on the new government. But Abbas wants full credit for whatever he delivers for the Arab sector and does not want to share it with his rivals. Dig Deeper ‘‘Islamist Ra’Am Said Ready to Give Crucial Support for a Lapid-Bennett Government’’ (Times of Israel)

Israel Hayom Likud Hoping Abbas Will Thwart Bennett-Lapid Gov't The Likud party has no plans to sit idly by as negotiations between Lapid and Bennett continue apace. Party members are working to thwart the so-called "change" bloc from establishing a coalition government. A close associate of Netanyahu met with Mansour Abbas for three hours in an attempt to convince him to oppose the government in the works. The source walked away from the talks with the impression Abbas was inclined to side with the Right. Likud officials also hope Joint Arab List members will be uncomfortable supporting a Bennett-led government, and as a result, will abstain from voting in favor of such a coalition, torpedoing the move. Dozens of protesters demonstrated outside of senior Yamina official Ayelet Shaked's office. Among those shouting cries of "You promised not to support a left-wing government were Yamina's Binyamin branch chairman Chaim Bar Geva as well as representatives of the Bereaved Families Forum. Protesters called on Shaked to announce she would not join a Bennett-led left-wing government, with some accusing Yamina of fraud for what they said amounted to stealing their votes for the Left. Dig Deeper ‘‘Naftali Bennett Could Be Israel’s Next Prime Minister’’ (Al-Monitor)

4 Yedioth Ahronoth – May 10, 2021 Events on the Ground Will Decide By Shimrit Meir ● Allah says in the Quran: “The night of Al-Qadr is better than a thousand months,” referring to the night marking the end of Ramadan. This is a night for prayer, requests, conciliation and peace—but the Jerusalem District Police probably would not describe it that way. We tend to view the clashes during Ramadan as having a life of their own. Nobody is more tensed for Eid el- Fitr, which ends the month of fasting and the start of the Shawwal month, than the Israeli security forces. They watch as the new moon rises, and they count the minutes. A high-ranking officer said yesterday: if we can only keep everything together for another 72 hours, we’ll be okay. ● Perhaps it really was from Allah. A cosmic confluence of circumstances that converged the eviction of the families in Sheikh Jarrah—a very complex issue, but fairly marginal up until now—with the cancelation of the elections in the PA, Hamas’s threats to escalate the situation, Iranian , Laylat al-Qadr and Israel’s Jerusalem Day—and all this, at a very sensitive time politically. But precisely because a certain amount of violence under these circumstances is inevitable, their volume and duration depend very much on the decisions that are made on the ground. Those decisions will determine whether there will be two-three exhausting days on the Temple Mount or whether there will be a long round of violence that will also engulf Gaza and the West Bank. ● It’s easy to criticize, and there is nothing easier than aiming sharpened Twitter barbs at the police. The police are under immense physical and mental pressure. In the eyes of the Palestinians, they are stormtroopers, every movement of theirs is documented by dozens of cellphone cameras. In the oppressive heat, the tension stretched from Sheikh Jarrah to the Temple Mount to the city’s entrance. But the decision to block buses of Arab citizens coming from the north to the Temple Mount, for example, was counterproductive, as it imbued them with a sense of purpose and unity. Taxi drivers and vehicles from East Jerusalem came to pick up the people who had been taken off the buses. Some of them, including elderly people, began to walk on foot, in the heat, while fasting. The residents of Abu Ghosh and Ein Rafa brought them water and dates to break their fast. This is the stuff that makes up stories for the next generation going to Al-Aqsa Mosque. ● The Palestinians enjoyed worldwide attention this weekend: The White House expressed concern, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and even the United Arab Emirates, condemned Israel. The Arab League will meet next week. The American and European left-wing side with the residents of Sheikh Jarrah. Just like in the past, there are even some who changed their profile picture to PLM (Palestinian lives matter). Abu Mazen, in an appearance that was reminiscent of Arafat, spoke on Palestinian television on Saturday evening, gave a fiery speech and cast responsibility on Israel, as usual. But the star of the current situation is without a doubt the Hamas chief of staff, Mohammed Deif. Deif promised the residents of East Jerusalem that they were not alone. The reciprocal flirtation between him and the demonstrators continued over the weekend. 5 ● The latter chanted “we are Mohammed Deif’s people,” and he sent the Hamas spokesperson to say that there was nothing to worry about, he had not forgotten them. If the situation escalates significantly, this will pose the Israeli security echelon with a difficult dilemma: on the one hand, it cannot accept Gaza reacting to events in Jerusalem. That will set an intolerable precedent. On the other hand, the sensitive political timing is not conducive to fateful decisions, of the kind that Israel has avoided making for years, such as an operation in Gaza. The long political crisis is interpreted, once again, and rightfully so, as Israeli weakness, and invites the other side to test how far it can go.

6 Yedioth Ahronoth – May 10, 2021 Abbas Wants to Be a Minister By Yuval Karni ● Sources close to Yamina Chairman Naftali Bennett said that they anticipated that an agreement would be signed in the course of this week with United Arab List Chairman MK Mansour Abbas, whose party would vote in favor of the new government [in a vote of confidence]. Yesterday Abbas met with Bennett and said to him: “I’m prepared to support the government.” In the course of their meeting Bennett and Abbas did not discuss the UAL’s list of demands as a condition for supporting the government, since an agreement had already been reached that those demands would be civilian in nature and would not touch on any contentious issues. “Abbas’s list of demands is similar to the list of demands that he presented to Netanyahu,” said one source close to Bennett yesterday. “Anything that was acceptable to Netanyahu will also be acceptable to us since we’re talking about issues that pertain to Arab society, such as the fight against violence, infrastructure and budgets for the sector.” ● Abbas convened the UAL Council to present it with a proposed agreement with Bennett and Lapid and to present the UAL’s list of civilian demands formally. One Arab source said that Abbas has consulted with figures within Arab society to contemplate whether to serve as the minister for Arab society affairs. The source said that Abbas wants to play an active role in the government, “but the Shura Council may not want its representative in the government to vote on an operation in Gaza.” The UAL has not yet come to a final decision whether to ask that Abbas be appointed minister for Arab society affairs. Yamina is likely to object in any event. ● Intended prime minister Bennett and intended alternate prime minister Lapid accelerated their coalition negotiations yesterday. Following the progress that was made on the Bennett-Abbas front, Lapid is now expected to meet with Joint List Chairman Ayman Odeh Ayman and Ahmed Tibi to discuss with them the possibility that they might not actively vote nay in the vote of confidence in the new government and, instead, might choose either to abstain or to be absent from the plenum for that vote so as to avert [the optics of] having the new government sworn in by a narrow one or two-vote majority. Yesterday the negotiating teams of the parties that are to be part of the new government convened at Kfar Maccabiah in Ramat Gan to hold talks. ● One of the negotiators said: “The coalition agreements are going to be very skinny with the goal of not getting into the disagreements but, instead, of finding the common ground that is shared by most of the coalition parties.” Yesterday an unnamed senior figure involved in the negotiations accused Labor Party Chairwoman of “derailing the unity government train. She’s insisting on two of four portfolios: either justice or finance as the first portfolio, and interior or education as the second.” A short time afterwards Lapid wrote: “Contrary to all of the rumors and the smears, Merav Michaeli is a central and very positive force in forming the unity government and is working with us in full coordination and responsibly.”

7 ● Bennett and Lapid denied allegations yesterday as if they had tapped the former state attorney, Shai Nitzan, as the next attorney general. Meanwhile, a new crack formed in the right-wing-Haredi bloc after Deputy Minister and MK Yisrael Eichler of called on Netanyahu to step aside as prime minister for a year and a half to allow for a right-wing government to be formed. “The only way to avert a left-wing government and to avert an election is a clear statement by you that you will grant someone from the right-wing bloc who is able to unite the 65 right-wing MKs the premiership for the first year and a half in an alternating premiership arrangement.” A Likud official said in response: “That’s an internal UTJ issue that has no bearing on the absolute commitment we have to a right-wing government.”

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