Israel and the Middle East News Update
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Israel and the Middle East News Update Friday, February 12 Headlines: Netanyahu May Meet Obama in March to Ink Aid Deal, Envoy Says Shin Bet: Terror Attacks Drop Back to Pre-Escalation Level IDF Requests Command of Beit Horon After Deadly Attack UN Human Rights Expert Accuses Israel of Excessive Force IMF: Palestinian Economy Stalled by Slow Aid, Israeli Restrictions Netanyahu Names Nadav Argaman as Next Shin Bet Chief Ya’alon Throws Cold Water on Talk of Imminent Israel-Turkey Reconciliation Major Powers Agree to Seek Syria Ceasefire, Fail to End Russian Airstrikes Commentary: Ma’ariv: “Bibi’s World” By Alon Ben-David, Military Affairs Commentator, Channel 10 Israel Al-Monitor: “Israeli Minister: After Abbas, There Will Be No More PA” By Ben Caspit, Israel Pulse Columnist, Al-Monitor S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace 633 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20004 www.centerpeace.org ● Yoni Komorov, Editor ● David Abreu, Associate Editor News Excerpts February 12, 2016 Times of Israel Bibi May Meet Obama in March to Ink Aid Deal, Envoy Says U.S. President Barack Obama may sit with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu next month to clinch a massive 10-year aid package, the U.S. envoy to Israel said Thursday. Jerusalem and Washington have been attempting to hammer out details of the military aid deal before the current package of $3 billion annually expires in 2018. The White House reportedly wants to wrap up the deal before Obama leaves office in 11 months, but Netanyahu has intimated he is considering holding out for a better deal with whoever wins the presidency. See also, “Obama, Netanyahu May Agree Defense Deal in Washington Next Month, Envoy Says” (Reuters) Jerusalem Post Shin Bet: Terror Attacks Drop Back to Pre-Escalation Level The number of terrorist attacks recorded in Israel last month decreased by 32% over December, bringing the total to a level last observed prior to September’s escalation in violence. Shin Bet documented 169 terrorist attacks by Palestinians on Israelis in January, compared to 246 such incidents the previous month, Shin Bet wrote in its monthly report, which published earlier this week. It is the first time since July the number of attacks dropped below the 171 mark observed in August. In September, October, and November, Shin Bet recorded 223, 620 and 326 attacks respectively. Arutz Sheva IDF Requests Command of Beit Horon After Deadly Attack In the wake of the recent stabbing attack in Beit Horon which claimed the life of 23-year-old Shlomit Krigman, Israel Police and the IDF investigated the circumstances of the attack. In the report which followed the investigation, the IDF proposed it be given authority over security of the town, which is strategically located on Highway 443. The decision however does not belong to the IDF alone, and the police have to sign off on it. The proposal is not only for the town of Beit Horon itself, but for protecting the entire highway which connects Jerusalem to the Modi'in area. The highway has become a terrorist hot spot over the past few months, especially the area between Beit Horon and Jerusalem. Currently, the Border Police have been entrusted with protecting Beit Horon, and are under the authority of the police. The IDF prefers the force to be working under their authority. Ynet News UN Human Rights Expert Accuses Israel of Excessive Force The UN human rights investigator for Gaza and the West Bank called on Israel on Thursday to investigate what he called excessive force used by Israeli security forces against Palestinians and to prosecute perpetrators. Makarim Wibisono, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, also challenged Israeli authorities to charge or release all Palestinian prisoners being held under lengthy administrative detention, including children. "The upsurge in violence is a grim reminder of the unsustainable human rights situation in the 'Occupied' Palestinian Territory and the volatile environment it engenders," he said in a final report to the Human Rights Council. 2 Times of Israel IMF: Palestinian Economy Stalled by Israeli Restrictions The International Monetary Fund said Thursday that economic growth for Palestinians in the West Bank slowed to an estimated 2.8% in 2015 and was likely to remain below 3% this year. In a statement concluding a week-long visit to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the IMF said Gaza rebuilding after the destruction of the 2014 summer war with Israel gave some boost to the coastal strip’s economy. But it said that the recovery was “hampered by slow aid disbursements and (Israeli) restrictions on imports of construction materials, and the humanitarian situation remains dire…Unemployment remains stubbornly high in the West Bank and higher still in Gaza, where two-thirds of young people are without a job,” it added. See also, “IMF Says West Bank Economy Dips on Slower Aid, Israel Blockade” (Al Arabiya) Ynet News Netanyahu Names Nadav Argaman as Next New Shin Bet Chief Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu named deputy Shin Bet security service chief Nadav Argaman as the next Shin Bet head on Thursday. The 55-year-old Argaman, a resident of the central Israeli city of Rosh Ha’ayin, will replace Yoram Cohen in May 2016. Netanyahu praised Argaman, saying that he is confident that the Shin Bet will continue to stregthen itself at the operational and technical level and will continue to protect Israel under Argaman's command. Opposition leader MK Isaac Herzog (Zionist Union) said that "Nadav Argaman is a worthy man with considerable experience in maintaining the security of Israel's citizens, and there's no doubt he will bring this experience to the position of Shin Bet head in a few months." See also, “Nadav Argaman Named New Shin Bet Head” (Ynet News) Jerusalem Post Ya'alon Throws Cold Water on Israel-Turkey Reconciliation Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon on Thursday appeared to be lowering expectations that Israel and Turkey would soon strike a deal restoring full diplomatic relations. To reporters in Switzerland, Ya’alon said an agreement between the two sides remains elusive so long as Ankara doesn't adequately address Israel's concerns. "Turkey is supporting Hamas, generally speaking. It should be, of course, discussed," Ya'alon said. "I'm not sure we are going to reach a settlement. It may be, but they have to address our conditions for any political settlement in order to overcome this obstacle." See also, "Progress in Israel-Turkey Reconciliation Talks, But No Deal Yet" (BICOM) Ha’aretz Major Powers Plan Syria Ceasefire, Fail Over Russian Airstrikes Major powers agreed on Friday to a cessation of hostilities in Syria set to begin in a week and to provide rapid humanitarian access to besieged Syrian towns, but failed to secure a complete ceasefire or end to Russian bombing. Following marathon talks in Munich, the US, Russia and over a dozen other nations, reaffirmed commitments to a political transition when conditions on the ground improved. But diplomats cautioned that Russia had until now not demonstrated any interest in seeing President Bashar Assad replaced and was pushing for a military victory. See also, “UAE Special Forces to Deploy in Syria as Russia Warns of World War” (Times of Israel) See also, “World Leaders Announce Syria Ceasefire at Talks in Munich” (BICOM) 3 Ma’ariv – February 12, 2016 Bibi’s World By Alon Ben-David The gap between the virtual reality fed us by most of the media and politicians and what is actually going on in the world around us has been growing weekly. You read the newspapers and listen to the leaders’ statements and then then you look at what is taking place on the ground and it looks like two worlds that have no connection between them. I am referring, for example, to the gap between a prime minister who speaks of a million and a half Palestinians who live in Judea and Samaria and the figures provided by the IDF Civil Administration, which counts 2.86 million Arabs there; the gap between the proud reports by Bashar Assad and the Russians about their victories on the battlefield and the fact that they are brutally shelling a civilian population and causing it to flee; the gap between John Kerry, who continues to enjoy his new Iranian partners, and the Islamic Republic, which continues to develop long-range missiles and which releases humiliating pictures of American soldiers for good measure; or the gap between our binary question regarding the tunnels in Gaza—to go in or not to go in—and the fact that there is another option that does not entail sacrificing the lives of dozens of our children on the soil of Gaza. New York Times reporter Tom Friedman crowned Binyamin Netanyahu this week with the title “the founding father of the binational state.” Netanyahu is doing everything he can to rightfully earn that title, but when he speaks of 1.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank, it is best that he be honest when it comes to the facts. The Civil Administration, the organization that issues identification documents to Palestinians, counts 2.86 million residents. It may be that some residents of East Jerusalem may be included in that number, but even the most modest assessments by anyone who deals with Palestinians in Judea and Samaria do not go below 2.5 million. Put that number together with 1.8 million Palestinians in Gaza and another 1.7 million Arabs in Israel and in East Jerusalem and you will receive an almost equivalent number of Jews and Arabs between Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea.