US Pushing Israel to Transfer Parts of West Bank to PA Rule?

Today’s Top Stories

1. Is the US pushing Israel to transfer parts of West Bank to PA administrative rule? Here’s what Israeli media is reporting:

Despite a series of economic incentives approved on Sunday by the Israeli cabinet, the US wants to see greater concessions to the Palestinian Authority and views the recent measures as insufficient, Channel 10 reported Wednesday.

 

Specifically they have asked for areas in the northern West Bank to be transferred from Area C to Area B, according to the report.

 

Under the Oslo Accords, Area C of the West Bank (60%, where most of the settlements are located, and some 150,000 Palestinians live) is under full Israeli administrative and military control, while in Area B (22%), administrative control is the responsibility of the PA while the IDF is in charge of security. Area A (18%, encompassing the major Palestinian cities) is under the full administrative and military control of the Palestinian Authority.

As part of efforts to renew Isr-Pal negotiations US wants Israel to re-designate areas in the north of the West Bank from area C to area B.

— Moav Vardi (@MoavVardi) May 24, 2017

2. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is said to be considering a plan to separate eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods from Israel, according to the Jerusalem Post:

Most of these neighborhoods, it is worthwhile noting, were never in the city’s jurisdiction area throughout the city’s history.

 

As far as it is understood, according to Berko’s plan, Palestinians would eventually receive municipal responsibility over those east Jerusalem neighborhoods. That responsibility would include municipal services, education, health, welfare, etc. The next step after that would be for the state to revoke Israeli citizenship from the residents of those neighborhoods, and thus save the country hundreds of millions of shekels.

3. Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman confirmed Israel is revising the way it shares intelligence with the US but insisted the cooperation between the two countries will continue at a high level. This comes in response to reports that Trump inappropriately shared sensitive Israeli intelligence with Russian diplomats.

4. HonestReporting’s mission continued today with a visit to the Herzl Museum, a briefing at city hall with Jerusalem council member Fleur Hassan-Nahum, a walking tour of the Old City and Western Wall tunnels, and a buffet lunch at HonestReporting’s International Headquarters.

Visit our mission web site to find out more about next year’s special mission honoring Israel’s 70th birthday.

HR CEO Joe Hyams speaks to the #HRmission over lunch on our HQ roof deck with its panoramic views of Jerusalem pic.twitter.com/GECR0Sj3pr

— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) May 25, 2017

Israel and the Palestinians

• Israel to reduce electricity supply to Gaza over NIS 2 billion ($530 million) in unpaid bills.

• Israel and the Vatican are in talks over a papal visit to the Holy Land.

• Terror victim’s mother to UN: My son’s murderer gets payments from the PA.

• The Associated Press shows its possible for boilerplate background to fairly touch all the bases of nuance about the significance of the Temple Mount to both Jews and Muslims.

The Old City is home to the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, and the adjacent hilltop compound revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, the spot where the biblical Temples once stood. The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Jerusalem.

 

But for Palestinians, there is little to celebrate. They claim east Jerusalem as their capital, and revere the same hilltop compound as the “Noble Sanctuary.” This compound, home to the Al Aqsa Mosque and gold-topped Dome of the Rock, is Islam’s third-holiest site.

• Estonia’s foreign minister denounced BDS, calls Israel ‘a friend and partner.’

• Construction of a contentious security wall around a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon is nearing completion. Work carried out by the Lebanese army was briefly halted in the face of opposition from residents of the Ain al-Hilweh camp, located next to the coastal city of Sidon.

The move was to maintain security in the camp, which has been rocked by clashes, most recently in April. The nearly six days of continuous clashes left at least 10 dead and over 50 wounded.

You can imagine the outrage if Israel built a wall around a refugee camp . . .

• A fake Israel story exposes real tensions between Qatar and Gulf.

Commentary/Analysis

It’s like I have two lives. One before the bombing and one after. I really do feel that I was reborn that day. Every time there’s a “tekes” (a memorial ceremony) on June 1, we survivors, many of us good friends, wish one another happy birthday.

 

The terrorists try to paralyze us with fear and make us weaker, but it made me the opposite. I became kinder, more grateful, more attentive to the smallest details of life, and, yes, more resilient.

 

I try my best not to focus on the horror of the attack, but not a day goes by that I don’t think about it, and every time I see an incident on the news it feels surreal: I can’t believe that I went through it. And that now I’m one of the people sitting on the couch watching the news of children murdered, this time by the Islamic State.

• Ira Rifkin wonders why foreign reporters “quote Haaretz big time when the left-leaning Israeli newspaper reflects a small minority’s views.” He’s expanding on a recent Shmuel Rosner column.

As with everything else in life, it’s best when reading the news to consider the source.

 

That’s even more the case in this age of down-and-dirty online – not to mention often lightly edited, if edited at all – news. And no, I’m not saying this is particularly Haaretz’ problem.

 

What I am saying is that it’s misleading reporting when foreign journalists present Haaretz as an influential player in contemporary Israeli politics.

• Here’s what else I’m reading today . . .

– Einat Wilf: Why Jerusalem would be better off divided
– Shireen Qudosi: The world needs to drive out destructive fantasies about Jerusalem
– Yaron Friedman: Can the Saudi weapons pose a threat to Israel?
– Alan Dershowitz: Terrorism persists because it works
– Amb. Daniel Shapiro: Don’t be the one who says ‘no’ to Trump
– David Horovitz: For now, Trump’s peacemaking approach is all unfounded optimism
– Neri Zilber: Trump’s flying circus and peacemaking medicine show leaves Israel wanting more

Featured image: CC BY PACAF; Dolphinarium via YouTube/AP Archive; Haaretz via Wikimedia Commons;

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

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