US, Israel, PA fail to reach agreement on settlement freeze - Jerusalem Post

 
Photo by: Associated Press By HERB KEINON 
12/07/2010 23:29 Talkbacks (2) The US-lead diplomatic process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority is going back to the drawing board, with a senior US official announcing Tuesday night that following consultation with the sides it was determined a further settlement moratorium would not provide the basis for a framework agreement.

The official, in a telephone briefing with reporters in Jerusalem, said that "in the days and weeks ahead" the US would engage with the sides, as well as with other countries in the region, about the "core substantive issues."

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The official said that Israeli and Palestinian officials would visit Washington in the coming days for discussions.  He would not say whether or not these would be direct talks. He was careful in not placing responsibility for the current stalemate on any one party

Israel is expected to be represented at the talks by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's envoy Yitzhak Molcho.

The surprise announcement came nearly a month after Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton agreed in principle on 90-day settlement moratorium extension in exchange for a package of incentives from Washington.

Since that time the US has held intensive talks with both Israel and the PA about the precise details of the incentives and what would happen during the three months of negotiations during the freeze.  What emerged, according to diplomatic officials, was a gap between what Israel thought could be achieved during this time, and Palestinian expectations.

The Palestinians, according to Israeli sources, wanted the talks to focus on border issues, in the expectation that this issue would be solved within three months.

Israel, however, refused to commit to this timetable, arguing that it would not talk about borders without talking about security agreements, and that it would not agree to ceding land without knowing in advance what security arrangements would be put in place when it withdrew. Among security arrangements Israel is demanding are an Israeli presence on the eastern border of a future Palestinian state, and that the future state be demilitarized. 

According to Israeli sources, the US – after hearing the position of both sides -- came to the conclusion that even if there was a moratorium for the next 90 days, it would not ensure success of the process, and that the entire process could actually explode on the 91st day if an agreement on borders was not reached.

Interested in forestalling that scenario, the US has – according to Israeli sources -- decided to rethink the entire process, look at the process with "fresh eyes," and perhaps come up with a new path forward.

One Israeli official said that construction in the settlements,  re-started after the initial 10-month moratorium expired on September 26, will continue as it has since then. The official said the US position on a settlement moratorium is the same.

 The US has made clear that it would have liked to see a continuation of the settlement freeze that began in November 2009.

The Israeli official said that the breakdown of the talks over the moratorium would not impact on efforts to get the US to supply Israel with a second squadron of 20 F35 fighters.  Under the package of incentives that were reportedly being discussed with the US, Israel was to receive the planes in exchange for an additional settlement freeze.

An Israeli official said, however, that the second squadron was requested independent of the settlement moratorium as a vehicle by which Israel could retain its "qualitative military edge" following a massive $60 billion US arms deal with Saudi Arabia.

The US official said in the phone briefing Tuesday night that the US remained firmly committed to Israel's security and to its retention of a qualitative military edge.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in a private meeting Tuesday that the US has a "central role in navigating the diplomatic process as a party accepted by both Israel and the Arabs." Barak said that in the coming days the discussion will continue between Israeli officials and Clinton "with the aim of leading to progress in talks with the Palestinians."function initServerVars() {_headup.clientHost = 'http://newstopics.jpost.com';_headup.termsFromServer = 'Ehud Barak$$Jerusalem';_headup.annotatedTerms = ['City/name/Jerusalem/displaytype/City/dbpediaSubject/Jerusalem/$$1', 'Person/name/Ehud Barak/displaytype/Prime Minister/dbpediaSubject/Ehud_Barak/$$1']_headup.widgetMode = 'snippet';_headup.snippetButtonStyle = 'banner';_headup.blackListedUrl = false;}  Subscribe to our Newsletter to receive news updates directly to your email         Author:   LBCountry:   Canada12/07/2010   23:39
Highly surprising. LOL. Was there ever any doubt?

1. Incentives or disincentives..Author:   jim lCountry:   USA12/07/2010   23:33
nothing can diminish the land value to Israelis. Their economy requires it. Their security requires it. Even if every Israeli got a windfall in cash from this deal and, the Arabs normalized relations with them, their growth and assets would necessitate expansion. The Arabs have no such situation. Their policies and behavior should raise red flags in every direction.

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US 'offers Israel incentive plan' - BBC News

13 November 2010 Last updated at 18:06 ET The US has offered Israel a package of incentives in exchange for a settlement construction freeze in the West Bank, diplomatic sources say.

Under the reported plan, Israel would stop construction for 90 days in the West Bank but not in East Jerusalem.

Israeli media say the cabinet has been discussing the package.

The settlement row threatens to derail direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which resumed in the US in September after a break of almost 20 months.

In addition to the 90-day construction freeze, the plan includes a US pledge not to seek any further extension to the moratorium, the diplomatic sources say.

In return, Washington reportedly offers Israel various security guarantees and commits itself to fighting international resolutions critical of Israel.

The US-brokered Middle East peace talks stalled only a few weeks after their resumption in September.

The Palestinians - backed by the Arab League - have pledged not to return to the talks without a full settlement construction freeze, but have given US negotiators until early November to try to break the impasse.

Israel has occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since 1967, settling close to 500,000 Jews in more than 100 settlements. They are considered illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.

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Ahmadinejad taunts Israel from border with Lebanon - Christian Science Monitor

Bint Jbiel, Lebanon

Iran's president taunted archenemy Israel on Thursday from just across the tense border in Lebanon, rallying tens of thousands of Hezbollah supporters as Israeli attack helicopters buzzed in the skies nearby.

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"The world should know that the Zionists will perish," declared Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, echoing previous verbal attacks in which he has said Israel should be wiped off the map.

"Occupied Palestine will be liberated from the filth of occupation by the strength of resistance and through the faith of the resistance," the Iranian leader vowed as cheers went up from the crowd, waving a sea of Lebanese, Iranian and Hezbollah flags.

The fiery speech was delivered in the border village of Bint Jbeil, which was nearly destroyed by Israeli bombs in the 2006 war with Hezbollah and rebuilt with the help of Iranian cash. A stronghold of the Shiite militant group, Ahmadinejad's visit to the southern Lebanese area was denounced by Washington and Israel as a provocation.

The Iranian president's first state visit to Lebanon, it was turned into a show of strength by Hezbollah, Iran's close ally in Lebanon, which shares power in a fragile unity government with a Western-backed coalition.

Hezbollah organized a rapturous welcome Wednesday in Beirut's streets, which were bedecked with billboards and signs bearing photos of Ahmadinejad.

By contrast, Lebanon's pro-Western leaders have been pushed to the background, underscoring their eroding position— and suggesting the competition over influence in Lebanon may be tipping in favor of Iran and its ally Syria, away from the United States and its Arab allies, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to Ahmadinejad's border visit by saying Israel knows how to protect itself.

"We heard today the cursing and invectives from the Lebanese border. The best answer to the deriders was given here 62 years ago — the state and all that we've built and created since," Netanyahu said.

"Look what a nation, what a state and what an army the state of Israel has. We will continue building, we will continue to create our state and we will know well how to defend ourselves."

While Ahmadinejad received a hero's welcome from Hezbollah's Shiite supporters, his visit intensified fears among Sunnis and Christians that Iran and Hezbollah are seeking to impose their will on Lebanon and possibly pull it into a conflict with Israel.

Van loads of Shiites organized by Hezbollah made their way Thursday to Bint Jbeil's stadium, traveling along roads lined with Iranian flags. Located just two miles from the Israeli border, the village has a special significance for Shiites.

Dubbed "the capital of resistance" during Israel's two-decade occupation of the south, Hezbollah's leader gave a victory speech here after Israel withdrew in 2000, calling Israel "weaker than a spider's web" — a phrase that adorns a stadium wall along with photographs of weeping Israeli soldiers.

During Hezbollah's 2006 war with Israel, Bint Jbeil was targeted by Israeli troops, who met stiff resistance from dug-in Hezbollah guerrillas. The close-quarter fighting was among the fiercest of the monthlong war and much of the town was destroyed or damaged.

Now, with an influx of Iranian money, it looks brand-new, with freshly built roads and apartment buildings.

Addressing the roaring crowd in Bint Jbeil's stadium, Ahmadinejad said: "You proved that your resistance, your patience, your steadfastness, were stronger than all the tanks and warplanes of the enemy."

"You are the mighty mountain, and I am proud of you," he said.

Ali Daboush, a 35-year-old Shiite who works in Saudi Arabia, said he came home to Lebanon just to see the Iranian leader.

"He liberated this land. It was thanks to him," Daboush said. "No Arab leader has done what he has done."

Nearby, two Israeli attack helicopters could be seen hovering above the Israeli border town of Moshav Avivim.

Iran, whose ties to Hezbollah date back nearly 30 years, funds the militant group to the tune of millions of dollars a year and is believed to supply much of its arsenal. Hezbollah boasts widespread support among Shiites and virtually runs a state-within-a-state in Shiite areas of Lebanon.

Ahmadinejad met late Thursday with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and held talks earlier in the day with Lebanon's pro-Western prime minister Saad Hariri.

Throughout his visit, the Iranian leader has stressed unity among Lebanese, aiming to depict Iran as an ally of the entire nation, not just Hezbollah.

But the strains have been clear.

The Western-backed coalition has warned that Ahmadinejad is seeking to transform Lebanon into "an Iranian base on the Mediterranean." And among Shiites, mentions of Hariri were roundly booed during Ahmadinejad'sspeeches.

Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev slammed the trip.

"Iran's domination of Lebanon through its proxy Hezbollah has destroyed any chance for peace, has turned Lebanon into an Iranian satellite and made Lebanon a hub for regional terror and instability," he said.

Hezbollah has nearly quadrupled its arsenal since the 2006 war to more than 45,000 rockets and missiles, including weapons that are more accurate and more powerful than the past, Israeli ambassador Michael Oren said in Washington.

Washington also came out strongly against the Iranian leader's visit, with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reiterating American concerns about Iran's nuclear program and its "support of terrorism."

"So when the Iranian president goes to Lebanon, and we know that they are supporting financially and in every other way Hezbollah, which is on the border of Israel and the border of the Palestinian areas, then that is a volatile situation," she said in an interview aired Thursday on ABC.

Still, Israeli residents of Avivim, a farming village that looks across the border at a makeshift stage and replica of the Dome of the Rock built in honor of Ahmadinejad, showed little interest.

"We're not excited about his visit. ... Ahmadinejad is a big coward," said resident Rafi Peretz. "Why does he come only 300 meters from us? Why doesn't he come here?"

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