Israel Update – Monday, July 3
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Israel and the Middle East News Update Wednesday, December 21 Headlines: Dermer Calls on Trump to Move the Embassy to Jerusalem UN Warns Palestinian Population Will Double to 9.5 Mil. by 2050 Cracks Deepen in Palestinian Politics as Abbas Clamps Down Netanyahu: Israel Looking to Absorb Injured Syrians from Aleppo MK Ghattas: Visits to Security Prisoners—Out of Humanitarian Motives IDF Wants to Acquire Surface-to-Surface Missiles Amona: Peaceful Evacuation in Doubt If Court Nixes Delay Russia, Iran, and Turkey Meet for Security Talks, Excluding US Commentary: Bloomberg: “Israel Needs Arab Friends More Than U.S. Embassy Move” By Eli Lake, Columnist, Bloomberg View Al-Monitor: “Rift Growing Between Israeli Arabs and Israeli Arab Party” By Shlomi Eldar, 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 December 21, 2016 Jerusalem Post Dermer Calls on Trump to Move the Embassy to Jerusalem Israel's ambassador to the US on Tuesday called on President-elect Donald Trump to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. At his annual Hanukkah reception, Ambassador Ron Dermer said such a move "would be a great step for peace," help Israel battle efforts to delegitimize the state, and "should have happened a long time ago." Democrats in the room, several of whom still serve in the Obama administration, were furious, questioning why Dermer was acting while the "body was still warm" of the current leadership. But Dermer said maintaining an embassy in Tel Aviv over Jerusalem was the equivalent of Israel keeping its embassy in New York. See also, “Dermer: ‘Moving Embassy to Jerusalem Would Be for Greater Peace’” (Arutz Sheva) Times of Israel UN Warns Palestinian Population Will Double to 9.5 Mil. by 2050 A new UN study projecting rapid growth in the Palestinian population should serve as a “wake up call” to Israel and the international community, a senior UN official said Tuesday. The report said that without international attention, growth in the Palestinian population, particularly Gaza, will lead to an even greater crisis in unemployment, overwhelm a strained infrastructure and increase the lure of militant groups. “We are on a downward spiral, especially in Gaza, and things are getting worse by the day,” said Anders Thomsen, director of the UN Population Fund’s office in the Palestinian territories. “If that continues, you can of course only imagine that this will be an environment ripe for radicalization and for the conflicts, so I think that should be avoided.” Ynet News Cracks Deepen in Palestinian Politics as Abbas Clamps Down Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has tightened his grip on power by stripping the parliamentary immunity of 5 lawmakers seen as opposing him, weeks after being reappointed chairman of the main political party. The move follows a decision by a Palestinian court last week to sentence Mohammed Dahlan, a former Fatah party member and vocal Abbas critic, to 3 years in prison over the disappearance of $16 million when he was in office several years ago. Dahlan has dismissed the sentence as politically motivated and "ordered by Abbas". All five of those who had their immunity from prosecution revoked are regarded as allies or associates of Dahlan. Jerusalem Post Netanyahu: Israel Looking to Absorb Syrians from Aleppo The Foreign Ministry on Tuesday began exploring ways for Israel to expand the medical assistance given to civilian casualties in Syria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday. “We see the tragedy of the terrible suffering of the civilians,” Netanyahu said. “We are prepared to take in wounded women and children, and also men if they are not combatants. Bring them to Israel, [we will] take care of them in our hospitals as we have done with thousands of Syrian civilians. We are looking into ways of doing this. It is being explored as we speak.” 2 Ma’ariv MK Ghattas: Security Prisoners Visits for Humanitarian Reasons MK Basel Ghattas of the Joint List, who is suspected of smuggling miniature cell phones to security prisoners in Ketziot Prison, said last night that he visited security prisoners for humanitarian reasons. A day after Attorney General Mandelblit gave authorization to launch an investigation against him, MK Ghattas was questioned yesterday under caution, on suspicion of conspiring to commit a crime, fraud and breach of trust, and violations of the Prisons Service Ordinance (bringing in a forbidden or dangerous object). Ghattas is suspected of bringing 12 miniature cell phones into Ketziot Prison and transferring them to security prisoners during his visit. In addition, the MK is suspected of transferring to the prisoners notes bearing coded messages. See also, “Police Show Israeli Arab Lawmaker Evidence He Smuggled Phones to Prisoners" (Ha'aretz) Ma’ariv IDF Wants to Acquire Surface-to-Surface Missiles The security establishment is carrying out preparatory work for purchasing surface-to-surface missiles. “I want to see a significant force in the IDF with warheads of 400-450 kilograms for a very long range,” said a security official yesterday. “This is significant in terms of the army’s structure. We have to have the ability to strike from afar at a 200-kilometer radius.” The Defense Ministry wants to purchase a significant number of such missiles, the cost of which is expected to be high. One missile could cost as much as NIS 3 million. Times of Israel Amona: Peaceful Evacuation in Doubt If Court Nixes Delay Residents of the Amona outpost will consider cancelling an agreement to leave their homes peacefully if the High Court rejects a state request to delay the court-imposed evacuation slated for this week until February 2017, a spokesman said Tuesday. The government officially asked the High Court of Justice for a month-and-a-half delay in the evacuation on Tuesday, two days after it promised residents of the West Bank outpost to do so as part of a deal for them leave peacefully. Authorities are hoping the deal can prevent a repeat of the violence that followed the destruction of several permanent buildings in the outpost in 2006. “We are not obligated by the agreement,” Amona spokesman Ofer Inbar told The Times of Israel. “If they reject it, we will have to see what to do.” See also, “State Asks for 45 More Days to Evacuate Amona” (Jerusalem Post) New York Times Russia, Iran, and Turkey Meet for Security Talks, Excluding US Russia, Iran and Turkey met in Moscow on Tuesday to work toward a political accord to end Syria’s nearly six-year war, leaving the US on the sidelines as the countries sought to drive the conflict in ways that serve their interests. Secretary of State John Kerry was not invited. Nor was the UN consulted. With pro-government forces having made critical gains on the ground, the new alignment and the absence of any Western powers at the table all but guarantee that President Bashar al-Assad will continue to rule Syria under any resulting agreement, despite President Obama’s declaration more than five years ago that Mr. Assad had lost legitimacy and had to be removed. See also, “Russia, Iran, Turkey Ready to Guarantee Syria Deal" (Times of Israel) 3 Bloomberg – December 21, 2016 Israel Needs Its Arab Friends More Than U.S. Embassy Move By Eli Lake For the last eight years the American president has approached the Jewish state the way a do- gooder deals with an alcoholic friend. You know the pose: Because we care so much about your long-term survival, we want to help you end your addiction to apartment construction in East Jerusalem. To put it mildly, Donald Trump has a different perspective. It's not just that he has nominated his bankruptcy lawyer David Friedman, an enthusiast of greater Israel, to be his ambassador there. Nor is it the elimination of language about a "two state solution" in the Republican Party's platform for 2016. It's that the incoming president's administration is promising to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem after the election. It's been the other way since the 1980s. Usually presidents promise to move the embassy in the campaign and break that promise while in office. Trump looks like he is going to keep his word. As Friedman said in a statement last week, he looks forward to conducting his official diplomatic business "from the U.S. embassy in Israel’s eternal capital, Jerusalem." For many Trump supporters this is good news. Dayenu, as some might say. Congress has been on record since the 1990s endorsing a U.S. embassy in Jerusalem. Moving the embassy would help discredit those who seek to delegitimize Israel. This was Israeli ambassador Ron Dermer's argument Tuesday evening at an embassy Hannukah reception. With all due respect to Ambassador Dermer, this is risky business. Jonathan Schanzer, the vice president for research at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies told me Tuesday before the ambassador's remarks: "I have heard from Israelis that any sudden moves on the U.S. position on Jerusalem would potentially precipitate a third intifada, disrupt the strategic ties between Jordan and Israel and cause a break in the quiet diplomacy with Saudi Arabia." Dan Arbell, who served as Israel's deputy chief of mission in Washington from 2009 to 2012, also worries about the embassy move. He told me it risked making Israel's quiet relationships in the region more prickly. "I wouldn't go as far as saying it will be an end to the Jordanian or Egyptian peace agreement," he said.