Israel and the Middle East News Update
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Israel and the Middle East News Update Wednesday, May 4 Headlines: IDF Fires at Gaza After Four Border Incident in 24 Hours In Upgrade of Ties, Israel to Open NATO Office for First Time Pardo: I’m Worried We’re Reaching Point of No-Return IDF Touts ‘Victory’ Over Terror Thanks to PA Coordination Three Israeli Soldiers Wounded in West Bank Vehicle Attack Gaza’s Sewage Poisons Coastline, Threatens Israel Opposition Lawmakers Doubt Herzog Will Join Coalition U.S.-Israel Aid Talks Stumble Over Missile Defense Commentary: Yedioth Ahronoth: “Racial Discrimination in Practice” By Ronen Bergman, Senior Political and Military Analyst, Yedioth Ahronoth Mauldin Economics: “Israel’s Ephemeral Power” By Jacob Shapiro, Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University 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 May 4, 2016 Ha’aretz IDF Fires at Gaza After Four Border Incidents in 24 Hours The Israeli army fired tank shells at Gaza following four shootings and explosions along the border on Wednesday. No Israeli soldiers were wounded. Earlier on Wednesday, an Israeli tank fired a shell at what the IDF said was a "suspicious area" after a mortar bomb was fired from southern Gaza at an Israeli force near the border. Later, Israeli forces operating on the northern Gaza border heard in two separate incidents loud explosions believed to be the result of mortar fire targeting them from Gaza. In both incidents, the IDF responded with tank fire at positions in Gaza's Shujaiya neighborhood. See also, “As Gaza Border Heats Up, Explosion Hits Near IDF Soldiers” (Times of Israel) BICOM In Upgrade of Ties, Israel to Open NATO Office for First Time In a significant upgrade of ties, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has recognized an official Israeli representative to the body and will give Israel a permanent office at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels. Israel is not a member of NATO, but enjoys military and security cooperation with the bloc. It is part of the Mediterranean Dialogue, a NATO outreach program involving 7 allied countries in the Mediterranean region. However, the new status brings Israel-NATO relations significantly closer. See also, “Israel to Open Permanent Office at NATO HQ, 5 Years After Turkey Blocked Move” (Jerusalem Post) Walla News Pardo: I’m Worried We’re Reaching Point of No-Return Mossad Director Tamir Pardo was part of a panel discussion at Harvard University, along with CIA Acting Director Michael Morell. Pardo answered questions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the nuclear deal with Iran and fight against ISIS. He confirmed statements he had made in the past that the greatest threat to Israel was the Palestinian conflict and added: The declaration made years ago by Netanyahu that Israel needs to act to achieve the two-state solution was correct. I am worried the more time that passes, that opportunity is growing farther away and perhaps is no longer valid. Pardo said: if the implementation of that solution proves impossible, then at a certain stage we are liable to see our Palestinian cousins prefer a one-state solution. As a member of the second generation to the Holocaust, that is unacceptable. I am worried we are nearing the point of no-return. Arutz Sheva IDF Touts 'Victory’ Over Terror Thanks to PA Coordination A report Tuesday night revealed the IDF has partially withdrawn from the West Bank’s Area A in a reduction in security coordination that may have helped cause Tuesday evening's terror attack near Dolev. But the IDF continues to tout the security coordination with the Palestinian Authority (PA) even as PA delegates continue to discuss cutting the security coordination completely. Israel’s security establishment on Wednesday praised the security coordination, saying that while the scope of arrests of terrorists conducted by PA Security Forces stood at around 10% at the start of the terror wave last September, it currently takes up roughly 50% of the burden in areas under its control. 2 BICOM Three Israeli Soldiers Wounded in West Bank Vehicle Attack Three Israeli soldiers were wounded Tuesday evening, one seriously, after a Palestinian man rammed a car into a West Bank roadblock they were manning. The Palestinian assailant is reported have to have sped up as he approached the Ein Arik roadblock, near the settlement of Dolev northwest of Ramallah, plowing into the soldiers on duty. Three were injured, one seriously, who was evacuated by helicopter and said to be in a life-threatening condition. The other two were transported by ambulance to hospitals in Jerusalem. Meanwhile, the attacker, 36-year-old Ahmed Riyad Shehada, , was shot and killed at the scene by troops as the attack unfolded. Shehada’s body was returned to his family last night, despite Israel’s recent policy to withhold the bodies of terrorists killed. See also, “Lieberman: Netanyahu’s Behavior Encourages More Attacks, Calls for Resignation” (Jerusalem Post) Ynet News Gaza's Sewage Poisons Coastline, Threatens Israel Each day, millions of gallons of raw sewage pour into the Gaza Strip's beachfront, spewing out of a metal pipe and turning miles of once-scenic coastline into a stagnant dead zone. The sewage has damaged Gaza's limited fresh water supplies, decimated fishing zones, and after years of neglect, is now floating northward and affecting Israel as well, where a nearby desalination plant was forced to shut down, apparently due to pollution. Environmentalists and international aid groups say that if the problem isn't quickly addressed, it could spell even more trouble on both sides of the border. See also, “Lieberman: Decision to Return Terrorist's Body ‘Encourages Terrorism’” (Ynet News) Ha’aretz Opposition Lawmakers Doubt Herzog Will Join Coalition There is a growing feeling in the opposition that Zionist Union is unlikely to join the coalition, although some of the faction’s MKs said they did not believe chairman Isaac Herzog would stop trying. The fact that Herzog has not explicitly ruled out joining the coalition in this term under any circumstances, coupled with his keeping talks on the matter from his faction colleagues, are contributing to the feeling that Herzog has still not abandoned the idea. “I call on Herzog to start acting like the chairman of the opposition and announce clearly that he has not given up on the possibility of replacing the government and that he will not join a right-wing government,” Meretz chairwoman Zahava Galon said Wednesday at a meeting with students at Tel Hai Academic College. Times of Israel U.S.-Israel Aid Talks Stumble Over Missile Defense Negotiations over a new U.S. security package to Israel have hit a snag, and the two sides are in disagreement not only over the size of the annual increase but also over a request from Israel that a separate sub-package for missile defense be enshrined in the deal. The current aid package stands at $3 billion annually, and Israel has demanded the amount for the next 10-year deal be raised to $3.7 billion. In addition to the extra $700 million per year, Israel is also asking the memorandum include a separate deal for missile defense spending, which could raise the total amount to over $4 billion annually. It would be the first time missile defense was addressed in a subsection of the deal. See also, “Differences Over Missile Defense, Fine Print Snag U.S.-Israel Aid Deal” (Reuters) 3 Yedioth Ahronoth – May 3, 2016 Racial Discrimination in Practice By Ronen Bergman For several reasons, the Knesset would do well to accept the norms bill that Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said she would promote, which would apply Israeli law to the settlers in the territories. First, because it makes Shaked’s vision for the country’s future very clear—the destruction of the Zionist vision by creating an Arab majority from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, and destroying Israel’s moral backbone by creating a regime based on legal racial discrimination, where the Jewish minority would enjoy more rights than the Palestinian majority. Secondly, the Prime Minister’s Bureau would no longer have to waste words denying the harsh criticism by US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro, who said that Israel selectively enforces the law on settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank, since this would be clearly written in law. Third, and most importantly, the bill would reflect the current situation in the territories in practice: the Palestinians are subject to military law, and Israelis are subject to Israeli law. In the resultant situation, which flagrantly contradicts international law, people living in the same unit of territory are subject to two sets of laws, with the only distinction being based on religion: one for Jews and one for Arabs [sic]. This is not, heaven forbid, a call to apply Israeli law to the territories, but the opposite—to apply military law to everyone living there. The discrimination is particularly blatant in everything pertaining to the war on terrorism. The Palestinians are dealt with under military law, which grants draconian (and effective) counterterrorist powers to the IDF, police and GSS. Although military law is imposed on the entire occupied region, where most of the Jewish suspects of terrorist or violent activities live, they are subject to a completely different type of law—Israeli civil law, which is supposed to apply only to the territory within Israel’s borders. The differences are vast. For example, if a GSS agent wants to tap the phone of a Palestinian resident of the territories who is suspected of involvement in terrorism, he just does it.