Israel and the Middle East News Update Friday, September 23 Headlines: Netanyahu: UN a 'Moral Farce'; we Will Never Accept Dictates In Fiery UN Speech, PM invites Abbas to Address Knesset Abbas Calls to Return to 1947 Partition Lines PM Explains Russia's interest in Cooperating with Israel World Crises Push Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Off U.N. Center Stage New Attacks against Israelis Show Palestinians are Losing Hope Beduin Drama wins 'Israeli Oscar' in a Controversial Event Commentary: Ha’aretz: “Netanyahu Does His Usual “Shtick” Before UN Audience With Zero Expectations” - By Chemi Shalev Senior Correspondent at Ha’aretz Politico: “Trump's Israel Ground Game” By Katie Glueck, national political reporter at POLITICO 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 September 23, 2016 Ha’aretz Netanyahu: UN a 'Moral Farce'; Will Not Accept Dictates Prime Minister Netanyahu attacked the UN at his General Assembly address on Thursday. In his speech, Netanyahu said he will resist any attempt by the UN to dictate terms to Israel and said he welcomes "the spirit" of the Arab Peace Initiative and boasted that most of the Arab world was already in talks with Israel, despite the way they vote at the UN. Netanyahu was harshly critical of the UN, for "obsessive bias against Israel." He described the General Assembly as a "disgrace," the UN Human Rights Council as a "joke" and UNESCO, the UN's cultural organization as a "circus." "Began as a moral force, the UN has become a moral farce," the prime minister said. See also: “Analysis: In stark contrast to Abbas, Netanyahu radiates optimism at UN” (Jerusalem Post) Times of Israel In Fiery UN Speech, PM invites Abbas to Address Knesset Prime Minister Netanyahu on Thursday invited Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to speak at the Knesset and offered to speak at the PA headquarters in Ramallah to advance peace. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday invited Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to speak at the Knesset and offered to speak at the PA headquarters in Ramallah to advance peace. “You have a choice to make,” Netanyahu said, still addressing Abbas, who had spoken in the plenum only minutes before. “You can continue to stoke hatred, as you did today. Or you can confront hatred and work with me to establish peace between our two nations.” See also, “PA official: Netanyahu’s invitation to address Knesset ‘bluff’ ’’ (Times of Israel) Ynet News Abbas Calls to Return to 1947 Partition Lines Palestinian President Abbas called to return to the borders originally proposed in the UN's 1947 Partition Plan that divided Mandatory Palestine into two countries—a Jewish one and an Arab one. "Israel, since 1948, has persisted in its contempt for international legitimacy by violating UNGA Resolution 181 (II): The partition resolution... Israeli forces seized more land than those allotted to them," Abbas said during his address to the UN General Assembly. "Regrettably, however, the SC is not upholding its responsibilities to hold Israel accountable for its seizure of the territory allotted to the Palestinian State according to the resolution. I appeal to you read this resolution once again. "The Israeli War of Independence was fought due Arab refusal to accept this initial partition plan.” See also, “Netanyahu: Road to peace runs through Jerusalem and Ramallah, not NYC' (Ynet News)” Jerusalem Post PM Explains Russia's interest in Cooperating with Israel Netanyahu explained Russia's possible interests in cooperating with Israel on Thursday during a discussion organized by a New York-based think tank. "I think Russia has variegated interests. The first interest is to make sure militant Islam does not penetrate and destabilize Russia. Netanyahu addressed the crowd gathered for the Hudson Institute's annual gala at the iconic Plaza Hotel. 2 New York Times World Crises Push IL.-Pal. Conflict Off U.N. Center Stage They took the stage, one after the other, two aging actors in a long-running drama that has begun to lose its audience. As the Israeli and Palestinian leaders recited their lines in the grand hall of the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, many in the orchestra seats recognized the script. “Heinous crimes,” charged Mahmoud Abbas. “Historic catastrophe.” “Fanaticism,” countered Netanyahu. “Inhumanity.” Still, if the diplomats were not ready to embrace Israel, they were also focused elsewhere. It did not go unnoticed in Jerusalem that Mr. Obama devoted just one sentence to the Israeli-Palestinian issue in his final United Nations speech as president, compared with some years when the topic took up to a quarter of his address. See Also, “After Much Rancor, Obama and Netanyahu Meet, Probably for Last Time” (New York Times) Washington Post New Attacks against Israelis Show Pal. are Losing Hope A 13-year-old Palestinian girl approaches an Israeli checkpoint and is shot in the legs when she refuses to stop. A 16-year-old Palestinian boy tries to stab Israeli soldiers at a different checkpoint and is immediately shot and killed. A Jordanian holding a kitchen knife in each hand and shouting “Allah Akhbar attempts to stab Israeli police officers. He, too, was shot. These and other incidents over the past week show a sudden uptick in violence in Israel and the West Bank. Six Palestinians — who Israelis say carried out attacks or attempted to — have been killed, plus the Jordanian. At least six Israelis — civilians and security forces — have been injured. Palestinians say the attacks are a natural reaction to a situation of hopelessness fostered by the growth of Israeli settlements on land they want for a future state, a rightward shift in government policies and ineffective Palestinian leadership. “It is like an accumulation of water in a glass; each drop adds to the water, and eventually it spills over,” said Diana Buttu, a Palestinian analyst who was once involved in peace negotiations. “There is no progress. The Palestinian people are just fed up.” See also“At UN, Abbas Highlights the Palestinians' Despair While Calling for the World's Help” (Ha’aretz) Jerusalem Post Beduin Drama wins 'Israeli Oscar' in a Controversial Event Sand Storm, a drama about two strong Bedouin women, won the Best Picture Prize at the Ophir Awards, which were presented in a ceremony at the Performing Arts Center in Ashdod on September 22. Sand Storm is now Israel’s official choice for consideration for a nomination for the Best Foreign Language Oscar. This is the first time that a movie entirely in Arabic has won the Ophir Award for Best Picture. But the evening was marred by an ugly and unprecedented confrontation between the audience and Minister of Culture and Sport Miri Regev. It had its origins in a controversy over a performance by Palestinian rapper and actor Tamer Nafar, who said he would refuse to appear at the ceremony over a controversy concerning his decision to perform a musical rendition of a poem by Mahmoud Darwish, but he did perform the poem. Regev said, just before the Best Picture Prize was awarded, that she had left the auditorium during Nafar’s performance because she did not approve of the lyrics by Darwish and said that no other Israeli should either. She spoke strongly against the, the late Palestinian poet, and drew many boos and some walkouts and refused to leave the stage till she had finished, in one of the most acrimonious appearances by an Israeli government official in recent memory. 3 Ha’aretz– September 23, 2016 Netanyahu Does His Usual “Shtick” Before UN Audience With Zero Expectations Right wing Israelis are willing to turn a blind eye to Netanyahu’s declarations, as long as they see he’s winking himself. By Chemi Shalev Benjamin Netanyahu is lucky that his competition comes from such an underwhelming orator as Mahmoud Abbas. Besides the fact that the Palestinian president prefers to speak in Arabic in a decidedly, excuse the pun, subdued manner, Abbas always sounds as if he’s more concerned what the guys in Hamas and Islamic Jihad at home will say than how his speech will be received by diplomats and public opinion in Paris or New York. Conventional Israeli wisdom once held that Arab leaders tell their public one thing in Arabic and sound much more moderate when they speak to international audiences in English, but it seems to be the other way around. Palestinians don’t allow their leaders to tailor their words to please foreign ears nor are they willing to make allowances for the sake of hasbara, as most Israelis do. It’s highly doubtful, after all, if there are many Israelis who actually believe Netanyahu when he says he is full committed to a two-state solution. All but the most delusional of Israelis understand that someone who depicts evacuation of settlers as “ethnic cleansing,” who has no intention of giving the Palestinians an inch in Jerusalem, who insists that the Israeli army will remain responsible for security in every nook and cranny inside the so-called “Palestinian territories” doesn’t really mean “two states for two peoples” in any ordinary sense of the term. But for the sake of hasbara, for the show that Netanyahu puts on every year at the United Nations, for the hope that our winning arguments will melt hearts and break down walls, even right wing parties such as Habayit Hayehudi and its Tekuma faction are willing to turn a blind eye, as long as they can discern that Netanyahu himself is winking. This time Netanyahu invited Abbas to Jerusalem and himself to Ramallah, as he has in the past, and the novelty, such as it was, lay in his promotion of a regional framework for peace which the Palestinians can join or not, it’s up to them.