Israel and the Palestinians
• Perhaps there are some limits to the world’s patience with Palestinian obstructionism at the peace talks. Norway’s foreign minister, Espen Barth Eide, told the Jerusalem Post:
“The donors will not be ready to keep funding Palestinian state-building much longer if we are not seeing a political horizon,” said Eide . . . .
“I think this is important for the Palestinians to know, because if anyone there thought they could sort of just fall back to the comfort of an internationally subsidized state-building endeavor, that may be wrong,” he said in an interview.
Elliott Abrams calls Eide’s comments “extraordinary,” but then adds:
Put another way, Eide continues the failed policy of wanting to create a Palestine whose borders might be known– before we have any idea what will be within those borders: failed state or successful economy? Democracy or terrorist base?
• It’s only an outrage when Israel does this:
• A Hamas court handed down a death sentence to an unidentified Gaza man it says collaborated with Israel.
• Politics, or another case of “two Jews, three opinions?” According to the Daily Telegraph, Israel’s chief negotiators, Tzipi Livni and Yitzhak Molcho, don’t agree on the best approach to the peace talks, or compromises raised with the Palestinians.
• The PA has tasked a committee “to scare Israelis that failure to accept all Palestinian demands would plunge the region into another cycle of violence and bloodshed.” Khaled Abu Toameh says the PA should instead focus on reaching out to Palestinians:
As Abbas was meeting with the Israeli parliamentarians, thousands of Palestinians in the streets of Gaza City were demonstrating against the peace talks and two-state solution.
These are the people with whom Abbas needs to work to change their hearts and minds. These are the people who need to be told that peace with Israel will only do good for the Palestinians . . .
The Palestinian Authority has chosen to “educate” Israelis about the significance of peace while it has done almost nothing to persuade its own people to move towards moderation and pragmatism.
If the Palestinian Authority really wants to win the support of the Israeli public for peace, it should start by showing that it is making every effort to convince Palestinians to support the peace process.
• Ending a year-long federal investigation, the US Dept. of Education dismissed complaints from Jewish students at the U. of California-Berkeley about an “illegally hostile and anti-Semitic atmosphere on that campus.” LA Times coverage.
The department’s civil rights office has determined that the campus protests last year against Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, which reportedly included mock military checkpoints, may be upsetting to Jews but “do not constitute actionable harassment,” according to a letter from the department released by the University of California on Tuesday.
More details at Berkeley’s campus paper, the Daily Californian.
• Nice staff-ed in The Australian slamming BDS efforts Down Under.
• S#!t debaters say about Israel and “the Jews”
Arab Spring Winter
• Hamas denies Egyptian media reports that it set up joint terror training camps in Gaza with the Muslim Brotherhood.
• International peacekeepers in the Sinai (remember them?) face rising danger from jihadis, reports the Washington Post.
Heavily armed locals have blockaded bases and convoys, and, in a few instances, launched attacks against the peacekeepers, raising concerns not only about their safety, but also the long-term stability of their mission . . .
The peacekeeping force, which includes American, Colombian, Fijian and Uruguayan troops, operates out of two main bases and a network of 30 small outposts.
• Reuters: Egypt backed off from a plan to dissolve the Muslim Brotherhood.
Rest O’ the Roundup
• AP: Israel-Turkey reconciliation is evaporating.
The official said the sticking point was not about compensation, but persistent Turkish demands that Israel go beyond its apology and accept greater responsibility for the bloodshed.
(Image of Eide via Flickr/Minoritenplatz8)
For more, see yesterday’s Israel Daily News Stream.
