Israel and the Middle East News Update Wednesday, February 12 Headlines: • Abbas, Olmert Denounce Trump's Peace Plan in Rare Joint Address • Gantz: Joint List Won’t Be Part of my Coalition, will implement Trump Plan • Arab Israeli Leader: Party Won't Back Gantz if He Supports Annexation • Israeli UN Envoy: No Progress Toward Peace as Long as Abbas in Office • Report: Hamas Halts Balloon Bomb Attacks as Part of Gaza Agreement • Netanyahu Meetings with Saudis, Won’t Happen Before Election • Ex-Qatari PM: Israel & Gulf States to Sign Non-Aggression Pact Soon • TAU's Vered Noam First Woman to Win Israel Prize for Talmud Scholarship Commentary: • Ha’aretz: “Today, Palestine Launches a Real Peace Process. Not Trump’s Ignorant, Arrogant Sham” - By Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the PLO • Ma’ariv: “The Israeli Division into Blocs Remains Static, Frozen in Ice” - By Camil Fuchs, a prominent Israeli pollster S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace 633 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20004 www.centerpeace.org ● Yoni Komorov, Editor News Excerpts February 12, 2020 Yent News Abbas, Olmert Denounce Trump's Peace Plan in Rare Joint Address Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert held a joint press conference in New York on Tuesday where they denounced U.S. President Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan, viewed by Palestinians as largely favoring the Israeli side. The televised address came just hours after Abbas said the U.S. initiative strengthens "the apartheid regime" during a fiery speech at the United Nations Security Council. Olmert and Abbas held negotiations during the former's term as prime minister. Olmert was forced to resign a decade ago ahead of a corruption indictment that later sent him to prison for 16 months. "The only partner in the Palestinian community that represents the Palestinian people and has manifested that he's prepared to negotiate," Olmert said. See also, “ Palestinian Chief and Ex-Israeli PM Show 2 Sides Can Talk” (NYT) Times of Israel Gantz: Joint List Won’t Be Part of my Coalition, will implement Trump Plan Blue and White Party chief Benny Gantz on Tuesday ruled out including the predominantly Arab Joint List in any future coalition and declared that he would implement the Trump administration’s peace plan if elected in the upcoming national vote. But Gantz, a former army chief of staff, came out against provisions of the White House deal that suggested Arab Israeli towns could become part of a future Palestinian state. Touring Arab Israeli communities in the country’s north, Gantz rejected the prospect of partnering with the alliance of four majority-Arab parties in any future government. See also, “Gantz: I Will Not Form a Government With Arab Party” (Ha’aretz) Ha’aretz Arab Israeli Leader: Party Won't BacK Gantz if He Supports Annexation The Joint List will not recommend that Kahol Lavan leader Benny Gantz form the next government unless he makes a clear statement against the annexation of West Bank settlements, said Ayman Odeh, the chairman of the Arab-majority slate. “If we don’t hear a very clear statement from him against the transfer and annexation, there’s no way we will recommend him,” Odeh said in an interview on Army Radio on Tuesday.“I want to hear from Gantz in the most explicit way that he opposes a transfer” of Arab citizens of Israel to a Palestinian state, said Odeh. “They are silent about the attack on the Arab population, Netanyahu’s attack. Let Gantz say something. Does he think that we’re in his pocket?” See also, “Arab party head: No support for Gantz unless he objects to parts of Trump plan” (TOI) TOI Israeli UN Envoy: No Progress Toward Peace as Long as Abbas in Office Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations on Tuesday said peace will remain impossible as long as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas stays in office. “Let’s not beat around the bush. Progress toward peace will not be made so long as President Abbas remains in his position,” Danny Danon told the UN Security Council during a debate of the US administration’s peace proposal. “Only when he steps down can Israel and the Palestinians move forward. A leader who chooses rejectionism, incitement and glorification of terror can never be a real partner for peace,” the Israeli envoy said. See also “ US envoy to Abbas: If you choose peace, America will be there” (JPost) 2 Ynet News Report: Hamas Halts Balloon Bomb AttacKs as Part of Gaza Agreement The Hamas terror group, which runs the Gaza Strip, has decided to halt the use of explosive laden balloons to attack Israel in return for relief for the residents of the besieged coastal enclave, a Palestinian newspaper reported Tuesday. According to Al-Quds newspaper, which is affiliated with the Fatah movement, a message was sent Tuesday morning to all cells carrying out balloon attacks, following a meeting in Gaza between the Hamas leadership and Egyptian mediators trying to negotiate a long-term ceasefire arrangement between the terror group and Israel. Despite the report, a balloon carrying a small explosive landed Tuesday morning outside a kindergarten at Kibbutz Sa'ad in the Negev. A police sapper neutralized the small explosive charge and there were no injuries or damage. Jerusalem Post Netanyahu Meetings with Saudis, Won’t Happen Before Election Meetings between Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman or leaders of other Gulf states will not take place before the March 2 election, Rabbi Marc Schneier told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday. These leaders are considering a summit with Netanyahu, but “want to wait until the elections are over,” said the American rabbi who has extensive ties in Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf. Schneier, president of the interfaith dialogue organization Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, commented on reports of a US-backed summit in Cairo between Netanyahu and the leaders of Sunni states in the coming weeks, following his visit to Saudi Arabia as a guest of its Foreign Ministry for a series of high-level meetings, including with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and State Minister Adel al-Jubeir. i24 News Ex-Qatari PM: Israel & Gulf States to Sign Non-Aggression Pact Soon Qatar's former prime minister claimed on Monday that a non-aggression pact between Gulf states and Israel will soon be signed and may include the North-African country of Morocco. In a statement posted to Twitter, Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim declared that "On December 14 last year, I posted a tweet in which I spoke about the deal of the century and said that it would announce the beginning of this year. "Now it will be followed by a non-aggression agreement between Israel and the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council in addition to Egypt, Jordan and possibly Morocco." The former Qatari politician noted that he was "not against" such an agreement with Israel, and believed the unanimous decision taken by the Arab League to reject the deal last week was not in the best interest of the region. Jerusalem Post TAU's Vered Noam First Woman to Win Israel Prize for Talmud Scholarship Vered Noam of Tel Aviv University has been awarded the Israel Prize in Talmudic Studies — the first time that a woman has received the award. Noam, current chair of the university’s Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies and Archaeology and a full professor in the Department of Jewish Philosophy and Talmud, is recognized internationally for her research. Education Minister Rafi Peretz, making the announcement on Monday evening, called Noam “a source of inspiration for a whole generation of women studying Torah.”“Her work, her research, and her efforts to make Talmud studies accessible to many populations have been a breakthrough,” he said. In an interview Tuesday with the Kan public broadcaster, Noam said that women still have a way to go before they have equality in the study of Torah and Talmud. See also, “Prof. Vered Noam to get Israel Prize for Talmud studies, in first for a woman” (TOI) 3 Ha’aretz – February 12, 2020 Today, Palestine Launches a Real Peace Process. Not Trump’s Ignorant, Arrogant Sham By Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the PLO • A vision of peace can never mean legitimizing violations of international law. Donald Trump’s so-called "Peace to Prosperity" Mideast plan, unveiled at the White House, has done just that. It is an annexationist plan that well defines the current U.S. administration’s political blindness, arrogance, and ignorance. While both Israel and the Trump Administration try to mislead the world with promises of a "better future," the fact remains that the ideological synergy between the two populist right-wing leaderships shares only one vision: apartheid. • This annexation plan is a collection of Israeli positions, many of which were presented verbatim by Israeli counterparts in previous negotiations. It’s a negotiated plan between Israeli settlers and U.S. representatives who are infamous supporters of Israel’s illegal colonial-settlement enterprise. It provides a pathway to apartheid as embodied in the map they presented, and not "two states." Aaron David Miller, one of the most experienced former U.S. officials involved in the peace process, said he told Jared Kushner not to act as "Israel’s lawyer" if he wanted to succeed. Evidently, Kushner went beyond that - becoming the lawyer of Israel’s annexation and colonization policies. • Arguing that annexation and colonization, manifestly illegal under international law, should be normalized as the outcome of their plan, sets a dangerous precedent for any powerful country to impose any reality it deems necessary, even in violation of international law.