Israel and the Middle East News Update Friday, July 22 Headlines: Lieberman Opposes Postponement of Broadcasting Corporation Lieberman Slammed for Comparing Palestinian Poet’s Work to Mein Kampf Arab MKs Plan to Read Darwish’s Poems in the Knesset Israel, Palestinian Authority in Diplomatic Battle Over Africa Egypt’s President ‘Serious’ About Pushing Forward Peace Talks Hollande: France Committed to Leading Israel-Palestinian Talks Turkey to Temporarily Suspend Human Rights Convention Iran Threatens Faster Uranium Enrichment If Nuclear Deal Violated Commentary: Al-Monitor: “War of Words: Palestinian Poetry Broadcast Terrifies the Right” By Shlomi Eldar, Israel Pulse Columnist, Al-Monitor Middle East Eye: “How Palestinian President Made an Enemy of the UAE” By Rori Donaghy, Founder, Emirates Centre for Human Rights 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 July 22, 2016 Ma’ariv Lieberman Opposes Postponement of Broadcasting Corporation The front against the prime minister in the coalition is expanding against his decision to postpone to 2018 the start of operations of the public broadcasting corporation broadcasts. Avigdor Lieberman, defense minister and Yisrael Beiteinu chairman, joined the opponents of postponement yesterday. Lieberman will meet with Netanyahu at the beginning of next week in the framework of the prime minister’s periodic meetings with the chairs of the coalition parties at which time he will likely inform him he is opposed to postponing the corporation’s broadcasts. Lieberman told his associates yesterday that it is too late to change things now and a postponement would entail high costs. See also, “Ministers Criticize Netanyahu Postponement of New Public Broadcast Body” (BICOM) Ha’aretz Lieberman Slammed for Comparing Palestinian Poet to Hitler Defense Minister Avidgor Lieberman was roundly criticized by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and from Israeli Arab lawmakers for comparing a recent Army Radio broadcast of a program about Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish with "glorification of the literary marvels of Adolf Hitler's 'Mein Kampf.'…Up to now, we've known that the defense minister was racist, violent and hallucinatory," said Joint List MK Ahmad Tibi, who had been a friend of the late poet. By summoning the manager of Army Radio, Yaron Dekel, to a meeting about the station's broadcast of the program about Darwish, Lieberman has shown himself to be ignorant, Tibi said, but by comparing Darwish and Hitler, "it turns out that he is also a Holocaust denier." Even in death, Tibi added, Darwish will "also withstand cultural commissars like Lieberman and [Culture and Sports Minister Miri] Regev." See also, “Lieberman to Army Radio Commander: Palestinian Poet Can't Be a Part of Israeli Narrative” (Ynet News) Ma’ariv Arab MKs Plan to Read Darwish’s Poems in the Knesset Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman (Yisrael Beiteinu) and Army Radio Commander Yaron Dekel met yesterday and clarified their positions on the matter of the military station’s content, after it dedicated a program to the Palestinian national poet, Mahmoud Darwish. Following the comparison made by Lieberman of Darwish’s works to Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf, the MKs of the Joint List announced that in protest they would read poems by Darwish in the Knesset plenum. Jerusalem Post Israel, Palestinian Authority in Diplomatic Battle Over Africa Israel is continuing to make inroads into Africa, as Chad – which has suddenly found itself on the front lines in the battle against Islamic extremists – is expected to be the next majority-Muslim African state to reestablish ties with Jerusalem. Guinea and Israel announced the reestablishment of ties on Wednesday, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who visited four East African countries earlier this month – said that another African country would soon follow suit. See also, “Israel, Guinea Renew Diplomatic Ties After Half a Century” (Algemeiner) 2 BICOM Egypt's President 'Serious' About Pushing Forward Peace Talks Egypt’s President yesterday reiterated his determination to lead progress towards peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). Yesterday, speaking live on Egyptian television, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi addressed “Egypt’s recent serious effort,” which “aims to break the deadlock that has hung over peace efforts”. He said: “It is a sincere effort to make everyone face their responsibilities and warn of the consequences of delays in achieving peace.” i24 News Hollande: France Committed to Leading Israel-Palestinian Talks French President Francois Hollande told Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas in Paris on Thursday that his country is committed to leading international efforts to help secure peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Hollande confirmed "France's commitment to building on the momentum created" on June 3, when Paris hosted senior diplomats to work towards organizing an international conference to reboot talks by the end of the year. The French leader "expressed his concern over the fragile situation in the Middle East and escalating violence", a statement from the presidency said. Hurriyet Daily News Turkey to Temporarily Suspend Human Rights Convention Turkey will temporarily suspend the implementation of its obligations emanating from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), in line with the declaration of a state of emergency, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş has said, while vowing that fundamental rights and freedoms will not be affected during this period. “France has also recently proclaimed a state of emergency. And they suspended the ECHR, based on Article 15 of the convention,” Kurtulmuş told a group of Ankara bureau chiefs of media outlets on July 21. “A declaration of a state of emergency is not against the ECHR,” he said, adding that Ankara would announce its decision to suspend the ECHR through a formal statement. Article 15 of the ECHR stipulates: “In time of war or other public emergencies threatening the life of the nation, any High Contracting Party may take measures derogating from its obligations under this Convention to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation, provided that such measures are not inconsistent with its other obligations under international law.” See also, “With State of Emergency, Turkey Suspends Human Rights Convention” (Times of Israel) Times of Israel Iran Threatens Faster Uranium Enrichment If Nuke Deal Violated Tehran’s nuclear chief on Wednesday threatened that Iran would quickly resume uranium enrichment at a faster pace than before if the US-led P5+1 were to violate the year-old nuclear deal, and the speaker of Iran’s parliament called for preparation to build a new nuclear plant to carry out such enrichment. Speaking a year after the deal was signed, and amid Iranian complaints that promised economic advantages have yet to fully materialize, Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, said in a TV interview reported by Fars news that Iran can enrich uranium at an even higher capacity than before the agreement was signed. See also, “Iranian Official Warns: Iran Left with No Choice But to Confront US” (Jerusalem Post) 3 Al-Monitor – July 21, 2016 War of Words: Palestinian Poetry Broadcast Terrifies Israeli Right By Shlomi Eldar Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman summoned Army Radio commander Yiron Dekel for a reprimand July 20. The station had broadcast a program on the work of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, as part of a series on formative Israeli texts. “It is obvious that this represents a failure and cannot go unchallenged,” said the defense minister’s spokesperson. He commented that this is a serious matter, as to this very day Darwish’s works add fuel to the fire of terrorism against the State of Israel. The summoning of the commander of the military radio station for “clarification” by the defense minister led to some angry responses. Zionist Camp Knesset member Shelly Yachimovich, for example, slammed Liberman’s reaction on Facebook, calling it “a step that can only be defined as characterizing fascist regimes.” The Meretz chairman, Knesset member Ilan Gilon, argued, “In a place where poetry is silenced, people will be silenced as well.” The Darwish storm broke following a Facebook post by Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev. Regev wrote that she was shocked that Army Radio had featured the work of the Palestinian national poet. “The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] radio station has gone off the rails,” she said, and quoted a section of “Identity Card,” which was featured on the program. In his famous poem, written in 1964, Darwish wrote, “I do not hate people. I steal from no one. However, if I am hungry I will eat the flesh of my usurper. Beware, beware of my hunger and of my anger.” It made no difference to the defense and culture ministers that the poem was aired on Army Radio as part of a series of formative texts on the station’s “Broadcast University” program. The show targets students who want to broaden their educational horizons. Neither did it matter that Darwish’s poems are already included in Israel’s high school literature curriculum. “The poet’s freedom to write what he wants is the cornerstone of democracy,” Israeli poet Ronny Someck told Al-Monitor. “First you have to know and be familiar [with the poems]. Only afterward can you argue if you are pro or con.” Someck views Darwish’s poem collection as “the first bolt of the bridge we want to build between Jews and Arabs.” Today’s Israel, led by a right-wing government, seems not to support the building of this bridge. The outrage over Darwish’s poem joins the ongoing perversion of anything rejected by the worldview of the right-wing regime in Israel, including educational and cultural issues and basic historical concepts.