Today’s Top Stories
1. The Israeli media picked up on a Times of London interview with Donald Trump for this snippet at the very end about Mideast peace:
Mr Trump also confirmed that he would appoint Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, to broker a Middle East peace deal, urged Britain to veto any new UN Security Council resolution critical of Israel and repeated his criticism of President Obama’s handling of the Iran nuclear deal.
https://twitter.com/amirtibon/status/820821963883028480
2. In the end, not much came out of the Paris peace conference. According to the Washington Post, both Netanyahu and Abbas were briefed on the wording of the joint communique before it was released, “and neither raised any objections.” So is the statement any big a deal? Depends on who you ask:
U.S. officials believe the diplomatically worded “welcome” for these previous initiatives amounts to an implicit acknowledgment by the Arab nations that Israel will be a Jewish state and that a million or more Palestinians who have demanded the right of return to Israel will never come back. None of that was mentioned explicitly, so it is unclear whether the Arab governments will be able to speak to their publics about such emotional and deep-seated issues.
Israeli officials cheered the fact that “problematic passages” from resolution UN resolution 2334 were not included in the joint statement and expressed satisfaction at no further UN action before the end of the Obama presidency.
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3. Hamas is allowing Islamic State jihadists from the Sinai “to run a media production operation inside Gaza, out of the reach of the Egyptian military,” the Times of Israel reports.
This operation has produced propaganda materials that include messages claiming responsibility for terror attacks in Sinai, Cairo and other sites within Egypt.
Egypt is aware of these activities, including the media office, but has apparently chosen to turn a blind eye to this cooperation.
Israel and the Palestinians
• Britain raised eyebrows by sending junior diplomats to Paris and refusing to sign the joint statement, saying the gathering “might harden Palestinian negotiating positions.” Australia FM Julie Bishop also created daylight between Canberra and the final statement.
• Outgoing US President Barack Obama to 60 Minutes: Abstaining on UN Resolution 2334 didn’t create a rupture in Israel-US relations and is even in Israel’s interest. Take your pick of the full interview (video or transcript) or a Times of Israel summary of the key moment.
• The Shin Bet busted a Hamas terror cell in the West Bank. “Among those arrested was a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council for Hamas,” writes the Jerusalem Post.
• Israelis, Palestinians signed a deal to improve the West Bank water supply and restart a joint water committee that hasn’t met in years. More at the Times of Israel.
Commentary/Analysis
• Everybody’s talking about Paris . . .
– Amb. Ron Prosor: Paris peace conference: Wrong message, wrong time, wrong place
– David Harris: Five reasons the Paris conference failed
– Dr. Tsilla Hershco: France’s counterproductive “peace initiative”
– Barak Ravid: Paris: Trump was the elephant in the room
– Dror Eydar: A farce in Paris
– Herb Keinon: Paris peace conference — Much ado about nothing
– Shimon Koffler Fogel: Building Israeli-Palestinian peace from the ground up
Featured image: CC BY-NC Kartik Malik; propoganda vectors by Vecteezy; Paris CC BY-NC-ND **ste**;
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