Abbas Playing Spoiler for Gaza Ceasefire?

Today’s Top Stories

1. According to Mideast media reports, Hamas has agreed to a gradual ceasefire “that would begin with a halt to arson attacks and other violence along the Gaza border in exchange for eased border restrictions.” The Israeli cabinet was updated on the truce talks and the situation in the Strip yesterday, but ministers weren’t asked their opinions, per Israeli media reports.

Although Mahmoud Abbas has been sidelined in the Egypt-brokered discussions, Ynet reports Israeli cabinet ministers aren’t optimistic about the proposal because of the PA’s potential spoiler role:

Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is also hardening his positions. He remains intransigent to increasing the salaries of PA employees in Gaza and objects to the Egyptians’ proposals, which makes it all the more difficult to resume Palestinian reconciliation.

If Abbas refuses to take civil control of the Gaza Strip, it’s doubtful cash money could be brought into the strip to increase the residents’ purchasing power.

Therefore, the stage that is most likely to succeed is the first one, the ceasefire: Hamas will commit to stopping the launching of incendiary balloons and kites, and Israel will agree to reopen the Kerem Shalom border crossing.

Indeed, Hamas is already accusing Fatah of trying to thwart the ceasefire. And in response to the Israeli pessimism, the Hamas leadership held a meeting discussing battle-readiness.

2. A raft of US sanctions on Iran are due to go into effect tomorrow after Washington pulled out of the nuclear accord. What’s in store?

Sanctions are due to return in two phases on August 6 and November 5 – with the first targeting Iran’s access to US banknotes and key industries including cars and carpets.

The second phase – blocking Iran’s oil sales – is due to cause more damage, although several countries including China, India and Turkey have indicated they are not willing to entirely cut their Iranian energy purchases.

Plenty of questions abound. Will the pressure force Tehran to renegotiate the deal? Will US allies follow? Will sanctions lead to mass Iranian protests against either the US or the ruling ayatollahs? What exactly is President Donald Trump’s strategy? Will Tehran lash out with attacks on US interests? And of more immediate concern to to Israelis, will Iran stir up terror against Israel by its proxies?

Iran may respond to the reimposition of US sanctions by trying to stoke attacks on Israel from the Palestinian territories or by Hezbollah – Israeli security cabinet minister @YoavGallant to @EfiTriger @GLZRadio

— Dan Williams (@DanWilliams) August 6, 2018

3. According to Israel HaYom, the Trump administration is delaying the rollout of its long-anticipated Mideast peace plan till sometime after November’s mid-term congressional elections “because certain components of the plan call for Israeli concessions and could harm Republican candidates’ election bids,” and also in expectation of Israel going to early elections:

The official also said that if Israel goes to elections after the Jewish holidays this September, then the administration would postpone the peace plan even further, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would not be able to adopt certain aspects during an election campaign . . .

If Israel does not hold elections this year, a window of opportunity for unveiling Trump’s Middle East peace plan would be opened.

In the News

• Poll: More than 60 percent of Palestinians support the PA’s rejection of the US as a mediator for peace talks.

• An arson kite landed in a West Bank settlement vineyard today. The fire was quickly extinguished and no damage was reported to the Tura winery, near Nablus.

• Israel released the first images of the sea barrier it is building to block attacks from Gaza. Why now? My guess is that it adds to the psychological pressure on Hamas amidst the ceasefire talks.

• The Daily Telegraph visited the Druze community of Daliyat el-Karmel to take the pulse of its opposition to the nation state law.

• Still under fire for not adequately addressing UK Labour antisemitism, party leader Jeremy Corbyn released a video acknowledging the party is too slow in disciplining members.

However, the video didn’t address the standoff over Labour’s partial adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism. More on the story at the Daily Mail while the Times of London sums up the impasse over the definition:

Mr Corbyn has indicated that he is now ready to include in his party’s code three of the four examples of antisemitism given by the alliance. He will continue to insist, however, that it is not necessarily antisemitic to say that the existence of the state of Israel is a “racist endeavour”.

• Writing in the New Statesman, two of Britain’s top Jewish leaders, Marie van der Zyl and Jonathan Goldstein, disclose that they advised Corbyn not to release his statement on antisemitism on Friday afternoon, as it would be “an act of tremendous bad faith” just before the Sabbath.

• The vandalizing of Elie Wiesel’s childhood home with antisemitic graffiti is going to put pressure on Romania because it is the first incident to fall under the provisions of a recent law to combat antisemitism. New York Times coverage.

Vandals spray-painted hot-pink pejoratives on the childhood home of author, Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel on Friday https://t.co/u7L0wqVocB pic.twitter.com/9MaZt92CQZ

— CNN International (@cnni) August 6, 2018

• Brown U. condemns ‘disturbing’ antisemitic incident on campus.

• “Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, head of the Roman Catholic Church from 2005 to 2013, is being accused of fostering anti-Semitism after publishing a controversial essay in a German-language theological journal.” The point of contention has to do with ““supersessionism,” but if I try explaining it, this roundup’s word count will go through the roof . . .

Commentary

• For commentary on the domestic scene, Moshe Arens and Peter Lerner weigh in on the nation state law.

• Here’s what else I’m reading today:

– Pinhas Inbari: Stabilizing Israel-Hamas Relations in Gaza: Can It Be Achieved?
– Smadar Perry: Walking a tightrope: Negotiating a ceasefire deal with Hamas
– Charles Bybelezer: The Gaza conundrum
– Ron Prosor: UNIFIL has another chance to do its job
– Haisam Hassanein: Why younger Saudis won’t fund, facilitate or fight for a Palestinian state
– Seth Frantzman: Syrian scientist killing is a message to Assad and Tehran
– Yoav Limor: Syrian scientist neutralized at the last minute
– Robert Philpot: Do latest Corbyn disclosures show the rift in Labour now too wide to bridge?
– Anshel Pfeffer: Why Corbyn’s column on anti-Semitism won’t allay Jewish concerns
– Rod Liddle: Bigots of the world, unite!
– Dave Rich: Jeremy Corbyn needs to do much better to convince Jews he acts in good faith

Featured image: CC BY-NC-ND gato-gato-gato; Abbas via YouTube/WION; Pope Benedict CC BY-NC-SA Catholic Church England and Wales;

For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream and join the IDNS on Facebook.

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