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Israel and the Middle East News Update Israel and the Middle East News Update Monday, January 25 Headlines: To Save Israel, Lapid Pitches ‘Separation’ from Palestinians Netanyahu: The World Must Work to Stop PA’s Incitement Gaza Rocket Hits Southern Israel, Prompting Strike on Hamas Teen Palestinian Twins Planned Terror Bombings, Shin Bet Says Netanyahu Seeks to Return Evicted Settlers to Hebron Houses IDF to Return Some of Jordan Valley Land to Palestinian Owners Zionist Union MK Yacimovich Blasts Herzog for ‘Playing into Bibi’s Hands’ U.S. Envoy Apologizes for Timing of His Criticism of Israel Commentary: The New York Times: “The Fading Two-State Solution” By Editorial Board Al-Monitor: “Why an Abbas Departure Would Be Bad for Israel” By Uri Savir, Honorary President, Peres Center for Peace 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 January 25, 2016 Times of Israel To Save Israel, Lapid Pitches 'Separation' from Palestinians Yesh Atid party leader MK Yair Lapid called Monday for a “comprehensive regional agreement” and a unilateral Israeli pullout from parts of the West Bank. Speaking Monday, Lapid made clear he was delivering a political speech. “At the next election, I’ll be running for prime minister, and will ask the Israeli public for their support,” he said. Lapid described the diplomatic plan his party would present at the next election—as much as three years away—aimed at separation from the Palestinians. “The details may be complex, but the basic idea is simple – Israel doesn’t want to absorb 3.5 million Palestinians. It is time to separate and guarantee our future as a Jewish and democratic state.” Arutz Sheva Netanyahu: The World Must Work to Stop PA’s Incitement Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday urged the international community to stop Palestinian incitement to terrorism against Israelis. Netanyahu’s message came after it was revealed that 16-year-old Arab terrorist who last Sunday stabbed to death Dafna Meir at the entrance to her home in Otniel was inspired by Palestinian TV. “The terrorist who murdered Dafna Meir last week has admitted that the images he saw on Palestinian television motivated him to murder the Israeli mother of six,” Netanyahu wrote on his Facebook page. “As I wrote at the time, the terrorist was ‘acting in a manner consistent with the values that the Palestinian Authority promotes in schools, on television shows, and in public statements.’ I demand that the international community stop its hypocrisy and do everything in its power to pressure the Palestinian Authority to stop its incitement against Israel.” BICOM Gaza Rocket Hits Southern Israel, Prompting Strike on Hamas A rocket was fired yesterday from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel. In response, Israel’s Air Force struck several strategic targets, including a training base for Hamas. Rocket warning sirens were sounded in Israeli communities in the Shar Hanegev region at around 9pm, sending civilians to protective bomb shelters. The rocket landed in an open area and did not cause any injuries or damage, according to the IDF, which said it is still investigating the incident. On Saturday, another rocket was fired from Gaza towards Israel, but landed before reaching Israeli territory. Ynet News Teen Palestinian Twins Planned Terror Bombings, Shin Bet Says The Shin Bet, in cooperation with the IDF, recently arrested 18-year-old Palestinian twin sisters Diana and Nadia Hawilah. The arrests of the sisters, residents of Shuwika near Tulkarm, followed a search of their house that revealed weapons including pipe bombs, fertilizers used for making explosives, as well as a knife and Hamas headbands. According to the Shin Bet investigation, Diana bought the chemicals found in her home independently, used online video tutorials to learn how to build explosive devices, and intended to use them against Israelis. See also, "Palestinian Twin Sisters ‘Plotted Bomb Attacks’" (Jerusalem Post) 2 Reuters Netanyahu Seeks to Return Evicted Settlers to Hebron Houses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he would allow Jewish settlers evicted by the Israeli army from two houses in the West Bank city of Hebron to return once proper permits were in place. About 80 settlers were removed from Hebron on Friday a day after Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon withheld his required approval of their occupancy in apartments in a city where tensions between Israelis and Palestinians run high. In public remarks at the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu said his government "supports the settlements" and would expedite an examination of the settlers' case. "The moment that the purchase process is authorized, we will allow the population of the two houses in Hebron," Netanyahu said, confirming his aide's remarks. See also, “Eviction of Hebron Settlers Poses Threat to Government Legislation” (BICOM) Ha’aretz IDF to Return Some of Jordan Valley Land to Palestinian Owners Almost 50 years after Israel occupied the Jordan Valley, the Israel Defense Forces intends to reduce the size of its closed-military areas in the West Bank territory and permit Palestinian landowners to return to cultivate their land. The fate of some 14 plots of land, all belonging to Palestinians but being worked by settlers since the 1980s, is still unclear. The decision to cut back the size of the IDF’s closed areas in the Jordan Valley was revealed in the state’s response to a court petition filed in the wake of a Ha’aretz report in 2013. Ha’aretz MK Yacimovich Blasts Herzog for ‘Playing into Bibi’s Hands’ Zionist Union MK Shelly Yacimovich criticized on Sunday comments that party leader Isaac Herzog made to French President Francois Hollande over the weekend, according to which "now is not the time for a Palestinian state." Yacimovich said that Herzog's remarks were wrong, that they constitute a wink to the right and that they contradict the Labor Party's values regarding the two-state solution. "Facing a coalition that is being dragged by the hair by [Habayit Hayehudi MK Bezalel] Smotrich and [Likud MK Oren] Hazan, Labor must present an alternative of political dialogue and not give it up under the common right-wing claim that there's no one to speak with," she said in a statement to the press. See also, “Yacimovich Rips Into Herzog for Turn to 'the Right'” (Times of Israel) Times of Israel U.S. Envoy Apologizes for Timing of His Criticism of Israel US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro sought to quell on Monday a flurry over his comments the previous week that charged that Israel appears to institute “two standards of adherence to the rule of law: one for Israelis and another for Palestinians” in the West Bank. He apologized for the timing of his comments, which came a day after a Palestinian teenager killed a Jewish mother of six in the West Bank settlement of Otniel, and on the day that a pregnant woman was stabbed in another Palestinian attack in the Tekoa settlement. See also, “U.S. Envoy Shapiro ‘Regrets’ Timing of Comments on Israeli Double Standard in West Bank” (Ha'aretz) 3 The New York Times – January 22, 2016 The Fading Two-State Solution By Editorial Board Given the brittle relations between the Obama administration and Israel, even truth-telling can ignite a firestorm. That happened this week when Daniel Shapiro, Washington’s ambassador in Tel Aviv, delivered a speech that drew unfair rebukes from Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his right-wing government. Speaking at a security conference, Mr. Shapiro said, correctly, that Israel’s quick-moving expansion of settlements on Palestinian lands “raises honest questions about Israel’s long- term intentions” and commitment to a two-state solution. What really enraged his critics was an observation that during a time of increased violence in Israel and the West Bank, “Too many attacks on Palestinians lack a vigorous investigation or response by Israeli authorities, too much vigilantism goes unchecked, and at times there seem to be two standards of adherence to the rule of law: one for Israelis and another for Palestinians.” A statement from Mr. Netanyahu’s office denounced the second comment as “unacceptable and incorrect.” Considering the relentless violence and attacks on Israel’s very existence, Israelis are understandably on high alert to defend themselves. On the day Mr. Shapiro spoke, an Israeli mother of six, who was killed by a Palestinian terrorist, was buried, and a pregnant woman was injured in a separate attack. But Palestinians have been victims of assaults and acts of vandalism by Jewish extremists, including an arson attack in July that killed a toddler and his parents in the West Bank village of Duma. None of this is acceptable. The criticism of Mr. Shapiro, a vigorous advocate for Israel, was unusually personal and unfair. He correctly identified a serious problem. Since 1967, there has been a dual legal system in the West Bank in which Palestinians are subject to military courts, where, experts say, they are almost always convicted. Israeli settlers fall under the Israeli civilian judicial system, with its greater rights and protections. The disparity is likely to become more acute if Israelis abandon the two-state solution in favor of a single state, as some in Mr. Netanyahu’s cabinet desire. Mr. Shapiro called indictments in the Duma case an important sign of Israel’s commitment to prosecute acts of terror against Palestinians, and he urged Israel to “develop stronger, more credible responses to questions about the rule of law in the West Bank.” He also said America had been “asking tough questions of the Palestinians and of Israel’s Arab neighbors, questions about murderous incitement, about withholding recognition, questions about threats to end security cooperation, about support for terror groups and about misuse of the U.N.
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