• Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat takes to the Wall St. Journal to defend E1. Click via Google News.
The expansion of Jerusalem’s residential areas is essential for the natural growth of all segments of our population. It enables Jewish and Arab families alike to grow and remain in the city. The capital of a sovereign nation cannot be expected to freeze growth rather than provide housing to families of all faiths eager to make their lives there.
• The Gaza tunnel industry bouncing back, according to AP.
• A radical Hebron sheikh is considering running for PA presidency. Now why would the Jerusalem Post describe Sheikh Tayseer Tamimi — the PA’s former chief judge of Islamic courts — as radical?
- Tamimi claimed Jews have no historical ties to Jerusalem.
- Issued fatwas banning the sale of property to Jews — punishable by death.
- Announced that his party wants to file war crime charges against Britain over the Balfour declaration
- Ruled that Palestinian refugees may not accept financial compensation for their lands and properties.
- Launched a 10-minute verbal assault on Israel during an interfaith meeting with Pope Benedict XVI. The pope walked out of the meeting.
• Worth reading: Yonah Jeremy Bob (Jerusalem Post) assesses the friction between the IDF and the International Federation of Journalists; while the IFJ has a hard time accepting the notion of dual identity journalists/terrorists, the IDF hasn’t released the basis for its conclusions about the media facilities and people it targeted.
• Frida Ghitis: Settlement push now turns away Israel’s friends and gives ammunition to her enemies.
• Steve Linde got op-ed space at CNN to look into his crystal ball at what’s in store for 2013.
Arab Spring Winter
• CNN visits an Aleppo bombmaker identified only Sheik Omar. This Syrian got his experience from other people’s conflicts:
Sheik Omar tells us he trained in Libya in weapons making and fought alongside the Palestinians against the Israelis in the 1980s. He’s always believed that Israel is the oppressor, and no matter what, the Palestinians have a right to their land. In his time as a soldier for the Palestinian cause, the Israelis caught him twice and detained him.
What do you imagine happens to a man in that circumstance? But that was nothing, compared to what al-Assad is doing, he huffs.
The Israelis, they had more mercy, Sheik Omar insists.
• The US recognized the new Syrian opposition, but also designated Jabhat al-Nusra as a terror group. Time‘s Tony Karon assesses the move.
• NY Times columnist Tom Friedman’s in Egypt.
Egypt, the anchor of the whole Arab world, is embarked on a dangerous descent toward prolonged civil strife, unless a modus vivendi can be found between President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood and his growing opposition. If Syria and Egypt both unravel at once, this whole region will be destabilized. That’s why a billboard on the road to the Pyramids said it all: “God save Egypt.”
Iranian Atomic Urgency
• Amir Taheri weighs in on mullahs panicking over tricky efforts to stage-manage national elections in June, the rial’s plummeting value, losing Bashar Assad, declining influence over Hamas, Iraq and Venezuela. Taheri’s advice to the White House?
Obama could put the panic in Tehran to better use. He should throw his weight behind the 5+1 negotiations by making his offer of “direct talks” conditional on success on the nuclear issue, where Iran faces the whole United Nations and not America alone. Talks on bilateral Iran-US issues could start once Tehran has at last complied with the five Security Council resolutions.
(Image of Barkat via Hebrew Wikimedia Commons/Itzik Edre)
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