Israel and the Middle East News Update Monday, October 9 Headlines: • Israel to Approve Almost 4,000 New West Bank Homes • Israeli Lawmakers Bash Trump for Delaying Embassy Move • Egypt's Sisi: Palestinian Unity a Stepping Stone to Peace • IDF Destroys Hamas Outpost in Retaliation for Rocket Fire • 30,000 Take Part in Women Wage Peace Rally in Jerusalem • Court Greenlights protests near Attorney-General's House • Anti-Israeli UNESCO Resolutions Postponed by Half a Year • 3 Israeli Judokas Take Gold at Tashkent Grand Prix Commentary: • Yediot Ahronot: “Israel-Iran Conflict in Syria Reaching Point of no Return” − By Alex Fishman, military correspondent at Yediot Ahronot • Ha’aretz: “Trump’s Iran Ploy Could Isolate Washington, Implicate Netanyahu and Divide American Jews” − By Chemi Shalev, columnist at Ha’aretz S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace 633 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20004 The Hon. Robert Wexler, President ● Aaron Zucker, Editor News Excerpts October 9, 2017 Times of Israel Israel to Approve Almost 4,000 New West Bank Homes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is reportedly set to approve almost 4,000 new homes in Israeli settlements in the West Bank next week. According to a Channel 2 news report Sunday, the 3,829 units are slated to be built in various areas across the West Bank, including in isolated settlements. The approval will include 30 units in the West Bank city of Hebron, 296 in the settlement of Beit El, 453 in Givat Ze’ev, 102 in Naguhot, 97 in Rechalim, 54 in Har Bracha, 86 in Kochav Yaakov, 48 in Ma’aleh Michmash, 158 in Kfar Ezion, 129 in Avnei Hefetz, 120 in Nofim, and 206 in Tekoa, according to the TV report. See also, “ISRAEL TO ADVANCE PLANS FOR OVER 3,000 SETTLER HOMES NEXT WEEK” (Jerusalem Post) Jerusalem Post Israeli Lawmakers Bash Trump for Delaying Embassy Move Politicians from Prime Minister Netanyahu’s Likud party expressed disappointment with US President Donald Trump’s announcement that he wants to try to make peace between Israel and the Palestinians before considering moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Jerusalem Affairs Minister Ze’ev Elkin said he believed Trump made the wrong decision to trust Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. “I am very disappointed that President Trump chose to delay implementing his campaign promise to move the US embassy to Jerusalem due to an illusion that a real peace process can be advanced with the current Palestinian administration,” Elkin said. See also, “Ministers lament Trump decision to delay US embassy move” (TOI) i24 News Egypt's Sisi: Palestinian Unity a Stepping Stone to Peace Egyptian president Sisi said on Sunday that he hopes the prospect of reconciliation between rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas will pave the way to broader Israeli-Palestinian peace. His statement came as the representatives from both Palestinian camps are set to arrive in the Egyptian capital Cairo on Monday to push ahead with talks to heal the divide that has split the Palestinians for over ten years. See also, “Hamas Deal to Cede Gaza Control Sets Up Showdown Over Guns” (Bloomberg) Ha’aretz IDF Destroys Hamas Outpost in Retaliation for Rocket Fire The Israeli army destroyed a Hamas observation post on Sunday night in the Gaza Strip in retaliation for a rocket that was fired from the Strip at Israeli territory earlier in the evening, the military announced. According to the army, an Israel Defense Forces tank fired a mortar at the target, destroying it. Reports from Gaza said that the strike took place next to a refugee camp in the center of he Strip. When the rocket was fired from the Strip at southern Israel on Sunday evening, sirens sounded in the Eshkol Regional Council communities next to the Gaza border. See also, “ISRAEL STRIKES HAMAS TARGET IN RETALIATION FOR ROCKET FIRE FROM GAZA” (Jerusalem Post) 2 Ha’aretz 30,000 Take Part in Women Wage Peace Rally in Jerusalem Some 30,000 Israelis and Palestinians took part in the Women Wage Peace rally in Jerusalem on Sunday night in Independence Park. The rally was the high point of a “peace walk” that began two weeks ago in Sderot in the Negev and passed through the territories and Israel, with the participation of thousands of Israeli and Palestinian women, calling for a peace agreement. Adina Bar-Shalom, founder of an ultra-Orthodox women’s college and the daughter of former Sephardi Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef also participated. See also, “Women march through desert for Israeli-Palestinian peace” (Reuters) Jerusalem Post Court Greenlights Protests near Attorney-General's House The High Court of Justice on Sunday ruled it legal to hold demonstrations near the attorney-general’s home protesting corruption and other probes against the Netanyahus. Critically, the High Court also declared that the police cannot condition the protests on granting a license nor can the police move the protests given that the number of attendees has ballooned to more than 2,000 people. The ruling amounts to a huge victory for the protesters, who have been pressing Avichai Mandelblit to expedite his decisions regarding criminal probes of Netanyahu and his wife. Though Mandelblit announced he would likely indict Sara Netanyahu on September 7, he still has not done so. And with no immediate end in sight regarding the prime minister, the protesters have remained focused on the attorney- general. See also, “Israeli Court: Protesters Outside Attorney General's Home Don’t Need Police Permit” (Ha’aretz) Ynet News Anti-Israeli UNESCO Resolutions Postponed by Half a Year There won't be any anti-Israeli resolutions raised in the upcoming session of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) after the chairman of the organization's Executive Board worked to postpone in half a year two such votes. In recent years, the Palestinians, with the help of Arab nations, have pushed for several anti-Israeli resolutions in UNESCO, including one that failed to recognize Jewish ties to the Temple Mount, one that rejected Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem and one listing Hebron's Old City—and with it the Cave of the Patriarchs—as a Palestinian World Heritage Site. But the fact there will be no anti-Israeli resolutions put to a vote in the coming UNESCO gathering is not due to the lack of trying. Yediot Ahronot 3 Israeli Judokas take Gold at Tashkent Grand Prix Three judokas; heavyweight Or (Ori) Sasson, lightweight Sagi Muki and half-lightweight Betina Temelkova, all won first place at the Tashkent Judo Grand Prix 2017, taking place in Uzbekistan. This places Israel at the top of the tournament bracket, with two more golden medals than any other country. Sasson, 27, returned to the mat after a break of a year and two months, winning in the +100 kg (+220 pounds) category on Sunday after beating Iurii Krakovetskii from Kyrgyzstan, who finished third in the Asian Championship this year. This is Sasson's first competition since he won the bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Rio a year ago. See also, “Watch: Hatikvah played in Uzbekistan as Israel's Sagi Muki wins gold in judo” (Jerusalem Online) 3 Yediot Ahronot – October 8, 2017 Israel-Iran Conflict in Syria Reaching Point of no Return As Tehran keeps ignoring the Israeli warnings against an Iranian expansion in the Middle East, the atmosphere created by the Trump administration against the nuclear agreement is only adding fuel to the fire. The effort to prevent a deterioration will resume immediately after the High Holy Days, but if the diplomatic move fails—Israel is likely headed toward a conflict with Iran. By Alex Fishman, military correspondent at Yediot Ahronot • The open conflict taking place between Israel and Iran on Syrian soil is increasingly reaching a point of no return. The Iranian regime, it seems, isn’t taking the public warnings issued by the Israeli defense establishment heads seriously and is hectically pursuing its talks with the Syrian regime, as well as patrols in search of a military airport near Damascus which would serve as a base for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ combat squadrons. • At the same time, the Iranians and the Syrians are making progress in the talks for an autonomic Iranian military pier in the Tartus port and the creation of an Iranian division on Syrian soil. Israel, however, has made it clear both to the Iranians and the Syrians, as well as to the Russians, that it will not allow any Iranian presence in Syria, especially war planes or an Iranian pier in the Tartus port. • According to the Israeli policy in the current crisis, there is no diplomatic way of bringing about a significant change in Iran’s regional conduct. Thus the only way to deal with it is by stepping up the sanctions—in other words, punitive measures—or through “a different crisis” in the form of a military threat against Iran, in Syria or in any other arena in the region. The atmosphere created by the Trump administration against the nuclear agreement is contributing to the approaching hurricane. • The effort to prevent a deterioration will resume immediately after the High Holy Days. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu will arrive in Israel in nine days for a meeting with Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman and with the defense establishment’s top brass. The next day, the defense minister will leave for the United States for a meeting with Secretary of Defense James Mattis. All these meetings will focus on the Iranian issue, both on the regional level and on the global level, as President Donald Trump keeps alluding to a possible change in the US Policy toward the nuclear agreement with Tehran.