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Israel and Middle East News Update Friday, December 4

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Israel and Middle East News Update Friday, December 4 Headlines: ● Katz to Meet with Gantz in Bid to Stave off Elections ● Amir Peretz Announces Run for President ● Israel May Get COVID Shots This Month, Start Vaccinating ● Israel Urges Citizens to Avoid Gulf, Cites Iran Threat ● Ashkenazi Meets Jordanian Counterpart ● Gantz Urges Palestinians to Return to the Negotiation Table ● Trump, Sisi Discuss Middle East Peace ● Qatar: 'There Are Some Movements' on Gulf Dispute Commentary: ● Yedioth Ahronoth: “Everyone is to Blame’’ - By Sima Kadmon ● Ma’ariv: “The Price of Retaliation” - By Alon Ben David S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace 1725 I St NW Suite 300, Washington, DC 20006 The Hon. Robert Wexler, President News Excerpts December 4, 2020 Times of Israel Katz to Meet with Gantz in Bid to Stave off Elections A day after giving preliminary backing to a bill to dissolve the Knesset and call early elections, Defense Minister and Blue & White leader Benny Gantz said that he would meet with Finance Minister Israel Katz (Likud) next week in a last-ditch effort to try and avoid elections. “Finance Minister Israel Katz has reached out to Benny Gantz, requesting a meeting to present a budget for 2020-2021. The two are expected to meet next Sunday,” Gantz’s spokesperson said. Blue & White and Likud are reportedly using the time until a final vote to seek a compromise to avert elections, though most analysts believe Israel will return to the ballot box between March and June. If the Knesset dissolution bill isn’t ultimately approved, the government has until 12/23 to pass a 2020 budget or the government will fall and elections will automatically be scheduled for March 2021. See also ‘‘Defiant Gantz Defends Election Bill, Calls for February Vote’’ (Ynet News) Jerusalem Post Amir Peretz Announces Run for President Labor leader Amir Peretz intends to run for president of Israel in the next round of elections, he said. The other officially announced candidates are former Likud MK Yehudah Glick and former Labor Party minister Shimon Shetreet. Others who are considering running include Jewish Agency chairman Isaac Herzog, whose father, Chaim Herzog, was president; Israel Prize- winning educator Miriam Peretz and singer Yehoram Gaon. There has been speculation that Prime Minister Netanyahu could decide to seek the presidency if he does not form the next government, joining Shimon Peres as the only men who will have been both prime minister and president. Becoming president would automatically freeze Netanyahu’s criminal trial for the seven years he would be in office and provide a new official residence for him and his family. See also ‘‘Former IDF Chiefs Eisenkot and Ya’Alon Said Weighing Joint Election Run’’ (Times of Israel) Times of Israel Israel May Get COVID Shots This Month, Start Vaccinating Israel may receive up to four million doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine by the end of this month — enough for two million people — and the Health Ministry is preparing health maintenance organizations for the possibility of inoculating some 80,000 Israelis every day, Israeli TV networks reported. Such a development could see up to a fifth of Israel’s population vaccinated by January — a far more optimistic projection than previously assumed. The vaccines may start arriving as early as next week, though they will still not be used as they have not yet received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration, Channel 12 News reported. See also ‘‘Israeli Medical Delegation Enters Gaza to Provide Essential COVID-19 Care’’ (Times of Israel) 2 Ynet News Israel Urges Citizens to Avoid Gulf, Cites Iran Threat Israel urged its citizens to avoid travel to the Gulf states of the UAE and Bahrain, citing threats of Iranian attacks. The travel advisory by the National Security Council (NSC) comes as Iran is threatening to attack Israeli targets following the assassination of its top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, in an attack the Islamic Republic attributes to Israel. Israel has not commented. The travel advisory further warns against travel to Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, the Kurdish area of Iraq and Africa. Iran and its proxies have targeted Israeli tourists and Jewish communities in the past. Hezbollah agents bombed a bus carrying Israeli tourists in Burgas, Bulgaria, in 2012, killing six and wounding dozens. Concerns for the safety of Israelis in Dubai also is not without precedent. In 2000, an Israeli ex-colonel was kidnapped by Hezbollah and held captive in Lebanon until he was released in a prisoner exchange in 2004. See also ‘‘Iran Likely to Hold off on Retaliation Over Scientist's Killing, US Envoy Says’’ (Reuters) Arutz Sheva Ashkenazi Meets Jordanian Counterpart Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi met with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi. The Foreign Ministry confirmed the meeting took place but did not provide further details. The Jordanian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Safadi stressed during the meeting that Israel should halt all its procedures that undermine peace opportunities on the basis of the two-state solution. Safadi also called “for halting all provocations in the Al-Aqsa Mosque/ Al-Haram Al-Sharif in occupied Jerusalem and preserving the legal and historical status quo in holy city, urging Israel to honor its commitments as the occupying power’’. Safadi and Ashkenazi discussed a number of pending issues between the two countries including water, lifting restrictions on Jordanian exports to PA-assigned areas of Judea & Samaria (West Bank), enabling Jordan to provide the Palestinian Authority with additional amounts of electric power, and regulating movement through the crossings in light of their closure due to the novel coronavirus. I24 News Gantz Urges Palestinians to Return to the Negotiation Table Benny Gantz called on the Palestinians to resume to the negotiation table and tighten collaboration with Israel with regards to the coronavirus crisis. In a video uploaded to the Facebook page of the IDF spokesperson in Arabic, Gantz addressed the Palestinians in Hebrew -- with Arabic subtitles -- stressing that “The Middle East is changing, it is in your interest to resume negotiations.” The former military chief stipulated that “We will help you with the issue of vaccines -- we will increase enforcement on the non-entry of Israeli citizens into A and B territories [in the West Bank] in coordination with the Palestinian Authority and we will begin sample tests at the crossings.” Gantz further pledged to advance “big” projects in the Gaza Strip, such as providing large quantities of work permits, and promoting energy, water and agricultural projects. Relations between Israel and the Palestinians have taken a slight turn recently, after Israel has released more than $1b in funds withheld from the PA. See also ‘‘The PA's Codependence Problem’’ (Ynet News) 3 Jerusalem Post Trump, Sisi Discuss Middle East Peace Egypt might become a major actor to further stabilization in the Middle East alongside the US, according to President Trump, as reported by Egyptian media. In a phone call with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, Trump commended the fruitful partnership and constructive cooperation between Egypt and the US, Egypt Today reported. Trump also praised the mutual understanding between the two countries on enhancing security and stability in the Middle East. The Egyptian President is looking to host a summit that will bring together PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu to discuss peace between the two sides, according to Israeli sources. Deputy leader of Palestine's Fatah movement, said a committee that includes Palestinian, Jordanian and Egyptian officials has been formed to coordinate holding the conference, which the Palestinian public reportedly called for, a separate report by the Middle East Monitor said. The sources added that Netanyahu was seeking "to send positive signals to the new American administration", just one month after Joe Biden has been elected president of the US, succeeding Trump whose relations with Egypt were excellent. Ha’aretz Qatar: 'There Are Some Movements' on Gulf Dispute Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Al Thani said that there has been movement on resolving a bitter diplomatic dispute among the Gulf countries but that he could not predict whether a breakthrough was imminent or would fully resolve the matter. The US and Kuwait have been working to end a row that has seen Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt sever diplomatic, trade and travel ties with Qatar since mid-2017. Washington says it wants a united Gulf front against Iran. The Foreign Minister’s comments to an Italian diplomatic conference come after White House senior adviser Jared Kushner held talks in Doha following a visit to Saudi Arabia. Qatar's Al Jazeera reported it was "close to striking a preliminary agreement" with Saudi Arabia, which gave Qatar a list of 13 demands for reestablishing ties, including cutting links to Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood, closing down Al Jazeera and shutting a Turkish military base. According to a report from Bloomberg News, the Saudi-Qatar deal involves a detailed plan for restoring ties, which is likely to include a reopening of the long-blockaded land and air borders, as well as an end to the information war being waged by the two states. The Bloomberg report adds that the latest rapprochement effort does not include UAE, Bahrain or Egypt. See also ‘‘UAE Envoy: If US Unwilling to Supply Weapons, We’ll Have to Turn Elsewhere’’ (Times of Israel) 4 Yedioth Ahronoth – December 4, 2020 Everyone is to Blame By Sima Kadmon ● The opposition chairman lost no time. Yesterday, a day after the vote on the bill to dissolve the Knesset, he called on Blue & White to reunite with Yesh Atid. He feels that he has a solid basis for this.
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