Obama lays out US Plan for Arab Democracy, Resolving Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Obama lays out US Plan for Arab Democracy, Resolving Israeli-Palestinian conflict

(FOJ) The President’s Mideast Peace Plan places the United States at “ground zero” in a Biblical “curse” regarding the Promised Land.  America will suffer greatly because of today’s action!

May 20….(Yahoo) In a widely anticipated speech at the State Department today, President Barack Obama laid out a sweeping vision for US policy in the Middle East and North Africa. Obama stressed a renewed US support for democracy, political reform and economic development in the region, and drew heavily on the "Arab spring" popular rebellions of the past six month, which have challenged and in some cases upended, seemingly stable authoritarian regimes in the Arab world. At the same time, Obama defied expectations he would only briefly discuss the stalemated Israeli-Palestinian peace process, laying out a more detailed US vision for how the Israelis and Palestinians should resolve their dispute over borders based on pre-1967 war lines with agreed swaps. "It will be the policy of the United States to support democracy and civil society in the region," Obama said in recognition of the Arab spring's legacy. And toward the end of the hour-long address, he cautioned that "the dream of a Jewish and democratic state cannot be fulfilled with permanent occupation." "What America and the international community can do is state frankly what everyone knows: a lasting peace will involve two states for two peoples," he said. "Israel as a Jewish state and the homeland for the Jewish people, and the state of Palestine as the homeland for the Palestinian people; each state enjoying self-determination, mutual recognition, and peace. "The United States believes that negotiations should result in two states, with permanent Palestinian borders with Israel, Jordan, and Egypt, and permanent Israeli borders with Palestine," Obama said, laying out the US position. "We believe the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states. The Palestinian people must have the right to govern themselves, and reach their potential, in a sovereign and contiguous state."

    Mideast experts called it a "moment of truth" and expressed relief that Obama chose to outline a US vision for resolving the conflict at this time. "I think the president intuitively understood that if he did not offer a legitimate way forward toward resolving the Israeli Palestinian conflict, that this broader vision for how America would engage with the citizens of the Middle East and North Africa would seem hollow," said former Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fl.), now president of the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace and a close Obama administration ally on the peace process. "By stating for the first time as an American president the American position that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be resolved based on '67 lines with agreed upon territorial swaps, Israeli prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Abbas now have decisions to make," Wexler continued. "And the decisions that they must make are not to be juxtaposed with the other sides' position, but with America's position. And this is a moment of truth." "For the Israelis and Palestinian publics, President Obama has offered the way forward," Wexler continued. Obama's laying out the US vision that Israel and Palestine should negotiate borders on the '67 borders with agreed swaps is "a huge advance," said Stephen P. Cohen, a former Middle East consultant to the National Intelligence Council. In a statement responding to Obama's remarks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Obama for his "commitment to peace," but said Israel would not "withdraw to the 1967 lines which are both indefensible and which would leave major Israeli population centers in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank] beyond those lines."

    The Israeli leader, who meets with Obama at the White House Friday, also asked Obama to reassert a promise Israel received in a 2004 letter from President George W. Bush that three major Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank would become part of Israel under the establishment of a Palestinian state. Presumably, this is the kind of "agreed swap" Obama's speech suggested Israelis and Palestinians could negotiate. Beyond the Israeli-Palestinian issue, Obama's speech underlined a broader compass for America's ties to the people of the Arab world beyond narrowly defined US interests of fighting terrorism, securing energy supplies and ensuring stability. He chastised regimes cracking down violently against their populations, from Libya's Moammar Gadhafi, to Syria's Bashar al-Assad (who was targeted for US economic sanctions yesterday). Significantly, Obama also criticized US-allies Yemen and Bahrain, whose Sunni rulers have been engaged in a Saudi-backed brutal crackdown against its Shiite majority. "Our support for these peoples is not of secondary interest: it is a top priority that must be translated into concrete actions," Obama said. The White House proposed over two billion dollars in foreign investment incentives and debt relief for Egypt among other measures to try to lend economic support to fledgling democracies in the region. Obama's speech heralded "the first opportunity for a serious American Middle East policy that we have had since the end of World War II," Cohen said. "Now I must tell you, it is going to be not easy to implement. But he has spoken clearly about some of the steps can take now to implement which include not only verbal support of these groups but also to work hard on economic development of Egypt."

Netanyahu Slams Obama Call for ‘Palestine’ Based on ’67 Lines

("Those borders are not defensible," PM rages as he flies off to Washington; Palestinian state must not come "at Israel’s expense"; US President urges resumed talks, focused on territory, security)

May 20….(Jerusalem Post) A day before their scheduled meeting in Washington, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama staked out dramatically conflicting positions Thursday as to the path for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Netanyahu issued a quick, bitter response on Thursday night to Obama’s landmark Middle East speech, saying that the establishment of a Palestinian state could not come “at Israel’s expense.” “The Palestinians, and not only the US, must recognize Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people,” he said. Obama, in his address earlier in the day on the changes sweeping the Middle East, called for a demilitarized Palestinian state along the 1967 lines with agreed upon land swaps.

    While thanking Obama for his commitment to peace, Netanyahu said he “expects to hear from President Obama a reconfirmation of commitments to Israel from 2004 that received wide support in both houses of Congress.” This was a reference to a letter from president George W. Bush to prime minister Ariel Sharon that did not call for a return to the 1967 lines, and that recognized that any agreement would take into account the changed realities on the ground, a line interpreted by Israel to mean a recognition that it would hold on to the large settlement blocs. The Bush commitments, said Netanyahu, “deal with Israel not being asked to withdraw to the 1967 lines, which are not defensible, and which place large population centers in Judea and Samaria outside of these borders.” Netanyahu’s statement also said that the Bush letter made clear that Palestinian refugees would be absorbed in a future Palestinian state, something that was not explicitly mentioned in Obama’s speech. “Without a solution to the refugee issue by settling them outside of Israel, no territorial concessions will end the conflict,” the statement read.

    In a wide-ranging address at the State Department, Obama devoted considerable attention to the Israeli-Palestinian issue, whose peaceful resolution he called “more urgent than ever,” and pushed back against those who have said the current tumult precluded a serious peace process. “While the core issues of the conflict must be negotiated, the basis of those negotiations is clear: a viable Palestine, a secure Israel,” the president declared. “We believe the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states.” Though he stressed that the United States can’t impose a solution, “what America and the international community can do is to state frankly what everyone knows, a lasting peace will involve two states for two peoples: Israel as a Jewish state and the homeland for the Jewish people, and the state of Palestine as the homeland for the Palestinian people.”

    Obama fleshed that out further by saying that Palestinians should have “a sovereign, nonmilitarized state” and that there must be provisions for stopping terrorism and weapons smuggling, and ensuring border security. He called for a “full and phased withdrawal” of the IDF to be coordinated with the Palestinians during a transition period with a clear duration and demonstrated security effectiveness. “These principles provide a foundation for negotiations,” Obama said. “Palestinians should know the territorial outlines of their state; Israelis should know that their basic security concerns will be met.” He pointedly skipped making any prescriptions on the “wrenching and emotional” issues of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees but argued that “moving forward now on the basis of territory and security provides a foundation to resolve those two issues in a way that is just and fair.” Obama’s comments codify long-standing American policy in a more explicit and detailed format than his predecessors offered. George W. Bush was the first to call for a Palestinian state, and later referred to “mutually agreed changes” to the 1949 armistice lines as its basis, in the 2004 letter to Sharon. The greater significance of Obama’s comments is likely to come in how they are perceived by both parties, as well as what they indicate about the United States’ intentions on shepherding the peace process. Though the US has not been engaged in active diplomacy since the Palestinians left the talks last year, this could signal an effort to raise the profile of US involvement in the issue. It comes at a time when the Palestinians are threatening to go to the UN with a unilateral declaration of statehood, a move that concerns Israel and is sure to be a subject of discussion when Netanyahu arrives at the White House on Friday.

    Obama strongly rebuked the Palestinians for this tactic on Thursday, saying, “Symbolic actions to isolate Israel at the United Nations in September won’t create an independent state.” He warned Palestinians that “efforts to delegitimize Israel will end in failure” and that they would “never realize their independence by denying the right of Israel to exist.” He chastised both sides for taking steps that don’t help the peace process. “Israeli settlement activity continues. Palestinians have walked away from talks,” Obama said. “The world looks at a conflict that has ground on and on and on, and sees nothing but stalemate.”

    Israel has expressed doubt that any progress toward negotiations can be made for the time being with the recent announcement of a Palestinian unity government that will include Hamas. Obama acknowledged these concerns when he referred to the unity deal as raising “profound and legitimate questions for Israel” and emphasized that “in the weeks and months to come, Palestinian leaders will have to provide a credible answer to that question.” Elsewhere, he said, “Palestinian leaders will not achieve peace or prosperity if Hamas insists on a path of terror and rejection.” He stressed American support for Israel: “Our friendship is rooted deeply in a shared history and shared values. Our commitment to Israel’s security is unshakeable. And we will stand against attempts to single it out for criticism in international forums.” He continued, “But precisely because of our friendship, it’s important that we tell the truth: The status quo is unsustainable, and Israel too must act boldly to advance a lasting peace.” Obama added, “The dream of a Jewish and democratic state cannot be fulfilled with permanent occupation.” Referring to Obama’s statement about Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people, the Prime Minister’s Office said the Palestinians and not only the US need to recognize that as a fact. Netanyahu also said that he will make clear in his meeting with Obama that Israel will need to remain on the Jordan River, and that he was disappointed by Fatah’s reconciliation with Hamas.

    While Obama noted the emotive nature of the Palestinian issue for the broader Arab world, he also criticized dictators for deflecting attention from their autocratic rule by focusing on Israel. “Antagonism toward Israel became the only acceptable outlet for political expression,” he said. His speech was delivered in response to the Arab uprisings against these autocracies, and Obama pledged American support for those who sought democracy and freedom. “There must be no doubt that the United States of America welcomes change that advances self-determination and opportunity,” he said. “Yes, there will be perils that accompany this moment of promise. But after decades of accepting the world as it is in the region, we have a chance to pursue the world as it should be.” He stressed, “The status quo is not sustainable. Societies held together by fear and repression may offer the illusion of stability for a time, but they are built upon fault lines that will eventually tear asunder.”

    Obama criticized Syrian leader Bashar Assad for firing on his own citizens, who have taken to the streets to demand such self-determination. But he didn’t refer to Assad as illegitimate, much less call on him to go, as he has with other Arab leaders in similar positions, as some had speculated he would before the speech. Instead, Obama said, “President Assad now has a choice: He can lead that transition, or get out of the way. The Syrian government must stop shooting demonstrators, and allow peaceful protests.” He also called on Assad to “start a serious dialogue to advance a democratic transition,” warning that “otherwise, President Assad and his regime will continue to be challenged from within and will continue to be isolated abroad.” He spoke of significant American aid to help Egypt and Tunisia reach democracy, and spoke of the need for religious freedom and rights for women throughout the Arab world. Obama concluded with his comments on the peace process, and used the experience of bereaved Israelis and Palestinians who chose to seek reconciliation rather than violence as a message for the greater region. “That is the choice that must be made, not simply in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but across the entire region, a choice between hate and hope; between the shackles of the past and the promise of the future,” he said. “It’s a choice that must be made by leaders and by the people, and it’s a choice that will define the future of a region that served as the cradle of civilization and a crucible of strife.”

Russia Warns of 'New Cold War' as US Focuses on Mideast

May 20….(Hürriyet Daily News) As the United States prepares to unveil its new Middle East strategy Thursday, major rival Russia has warned of a new Cold War era if an agreement on missile defense cannot be reached.The comments by Russian President Dimitry Medvedev signal a new spat between the two major world powers amid ongoing unrest in the Middle East and North Africa. “We would then be talking about developing the offensive potential of our nuclear capabilities. This would be a very bad scenario,” Medvedev said Wednesday in a rare press conference.

    Russia is increasingly worried about US plans to build missile-defense facilities in ex-communist Eastern Europe. It is also offended that NATO appears to have shunned its proposals for a joint missile-defense shield. Washington has already made deals with a number of Eastern European countries, including Poland and Romania, to deploy missile-defense systems, at the expense of angering Moscow. “President Medvedev’s warning is nothing new, having been made before within the context of the ongoing debate on missile defense,” Semih İdiz, a foreign-policy columnist for daily Milliyet, told the Hürriyet Daily News on Wednesday. “Russia continues to be wary about this project, which also includes Turkey, but is hardly prepared to make this a major issue with the United States at a time of turbulence in the Middle East.” Medvedev told reporters that the US decision to push ahead with construction of the missile-defense system despite Russia’s objections would force Moscow “to take retaliatory measures, something we would very much rather not do.” “This would be a very bad scenario. It would be a scenario that throws us back into the Cold War era,” he said.

    The Russian president is engaged in a balancing act between appearing strong against the West and cooperating with it to the extent that he can, especially given the growing interest Russia has in Europe, according to İdiz. NATO defense ministers will meet in Brussels in early June to discuss the alliance’s plans to move ahead with the missile-defense project, in line with its Strategic Concept embraced at a summit last year. The missile-defense project has already launched debate not only in Europe, but also in the Middle East as its primary target is seen as being Iran. Turkish diplomats said Turkey was still pondering whether or not to participate to the project. The negotiations between Turkey and NATO include the project’s financial costs and whether a radar system would be hosted on Turkish soil.

New Mideast strategy

    Medvedev’s statement was made all the more noteworthy because it came just ahead of US President Barack Obama’s scheduled speech Thursday, in which he is expected to disclose Washington’s new Middle East strategy. Medvedev is also posturing on the eve of President Obama’s policy speech on the Middle East, which is expected to underscore that Syria’s instability poses a risk for the whole region, making it incumbent on the regime to initiate reforms immediately, painful as they may be, for the sake of the unity of the country,” İdiz said. He added that this Russian stance is very much in line with the Turkish view on Syria. “Obama sees an opportunity to sort of step back and assess what we’ve all witnessed,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said Wednesday. “He’ll talk specifically about ways we can best support that positive change while focusing on our core principles: nonviolence, support for human rights and support for political and economic reform.”

    On the eve of the Obama speech, US envoys held meetings with regional countries to seek alignment in their policies. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met Wednesday with Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg and Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Jeffrey Feltman on the recent unity deal between his Fatah party and rival Hamas. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with Obama on Friday. In Ankara, US Ambassador to Turkey Francis J. Ricciardone met with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday to discuss the developments in the Middle East, with particular attention to Syria. “We have just wanted to evaluate the developments in the Middle East,” Erdoğan told reporters Wednesday. He said that some delegations from the Middle East and North African countries would come to Turkey, without specifying which countries or when.

Obama Sides With Palestinians and Arabs Against Israel

(FOJ) President Barack Obama is endorsing the Palestinians' demand for their future state to be based on the borders that existed before the 1967 Middle East war, in a move that sides with the Arabs against Israel.

May 20….(Arutz) Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was quick on the draw Thursday in voicing clear displeasure with President Barack Obama’s mideast policy speech.  “Israel appreciates President Obama’s commitment to peace,” the response began, curtly. “Israel believes that for peace to endure between Israelis and Palestinians, the viability of a Palestinian state cannot come at the expense of the viability of the one and only Jewish state.” “That is why Prime Minister Netanyahu expects to hear a reaffirmation from President Obama of US commitments made to Israel in 2004, which were overwhelmingly supported by both Houses of Congress.” “Among other things,” Netanyahu reminded Obama, “those commitments relate to Israel not having to withdraw to the 1967 lines which are both indefensible and which would leave major Israeli population centers in Judea and Samaria beyond those lines.” “Those commitments also ensure Israel’s well-being as a Jewish state by making clear that Palestinian refugees will settle in a future Palestinian state rather than in Israel.” “Without a solution to the Palestinian refugee problem outside the borders of Israel, no territorial concession will bring peace.” Equally, the Palestinians, and not just the United States, must recognize Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people, and any peace agreement with them must end all claims against Israel.” “Prime Minister Netanyahu will make clear that the defense of Israel requires an Israeli military presence along the Jordan River.” “Prime Minister Netanyahu will also express his disappointment over the Palestinian Authority’s decision to embrace Hamas, a terror organization committed to Israel’s destruction, as well as over Mahmoud Abbas’s recently expressed views which grossly distort history and make clear that Abbas seeks a Palestinian state in order to continue the conflict with Israel rather than end it.”

A veiled Palestinian woman walks near a television during a speech by US President Barack Obama, in the West Bank city of Nablus, Thursday. Obama's endorsement of a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders - those that existed before the Six Day War in which Israel occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, was a significant shift in US policy and seemed certain to anger Israel.

Hamas Slams Obama Speech As Evil

(Hamas doesn't need democracy lessons from American president, terror group says)

May 20….(YNET) President Barack Obama's Mideast policy speech Thursday was a "total failure," Hamas said Thursday evening. "The Arab nation does not need a lesson on democracy from Obama," said Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip, Sami Abu-Zuhri. "Rather, Obama is the one who needs the lesson given his absolute endorsement of Israel's crimes and his refusal to condemn Israel's occupation." "We will not recognize the Israeli occupation under any circumstances," the Hamas spokesman said, while adding: "We object to intervention in our internal affairs." Abu-Zuhri also urged the Palestinian Authority not to endorse the American president's speech. He stressed the need to coordinate Palestinian positions in the face of what he referred to as "American-Israeli arrogance." Other Hamas sources said the president's speech was "deceptive."

    Immediately following Obama's speech, the Palestinian Authority's leadership met for an urgent session convened by PA President Mahmoud Abbas. The president's spokesman, Nabil Abu-Rudaina, took the opportunity to condemn Israel's decision Thursday to build 1,550 new homes in the Jerusalem area, beyond the Green Line. "It's a despicable act and the American Administration must make sure that Israel bears the responsibility for the ongoing deterioration of the peace process," he said. "We respect the American decision to revive the peace process."

Obama: Israel Is An Occupier

May 20….(Arutz) US President Barack Obama dramatically changed US foreign policy, sandbagging Israel and aligning himself with PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas'  preconditions for talks, when he called Thursday for a "full and phased withdraw of Israeli forces" from "occupied Palestinian lands" to what he termed "1967 borders" - the 1949 armistice lines Israel's former Foreign Minister and UN ambassador Abba Eban, in 1967, referred to as the "Auschwitz borders."  Obama left room for some  "land swaps" at those borders. Obama's comments came during his much anticipated policy address at the State Department in which he outlined the United State's new foreign policy for the Middle East and North Africa in light of the "spring revolutions" that have rocked the region. Saying the world was tired of "nothing but stalemate" in the Arab-Israeli conflict, and complaining that "settlement activity continues" while the "Palestinians have walked away from talks," Obama said Israelis cannot obtain the dream of a democratic and Jewish state through "occupation."

    Obama called for "two states for two peoples" with permanent borders based on the "1967 lines with agreed upon swaps." The borders referred to as "1967 lines" are in fact the lines agreed upon in the 1949 armistice, following which Jordan occupied Judea and Samaria for 19 years. The armistice lines, considered indefensible by defense experts, are often called "Auschwitz borders" in Israel. He also mentioned that the PA state should be contiguous. This word may refer to Judea and Samaria's Jewish communities that separate Palestinian areas from one another, or even more dangerously, refer to a connecting road between Gaza and Judea and Samaria, which would make Israel non-contiguous. "Our policy is two states for two peoples. Israel as a Jewish state for the Jewish people. Palestine as a Palestinian state for the Palestinian people. A viable Palestine; a secure Israel." Calling for final negotiations on permanent borders, although he left only land swaps to negotiate, and security before deciding  the “future of Jerusalem” and "Palestinian refugees," Obama said he believed these "wrenching issues" would eventually be solved because, in his words, "I am convinced majority of Israelis and Palestinians would rather look to the future than be trapped in the past." Abbas has stated almost the same thing: that returning to the 1949 Armistice lines is non-negotiable, but included Jerusalem in those borders, and said that only the refugees are a negotiable issue. Obama, who tried to justify remarks endorsing PA territorial demands by invoking the long-standing friendship between Israel and the United States, said that "because of that friendship we must speak the truth," but at the same time endorsed PA leaders maximalist demands, ignoring most of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's conditions for a peace accord.

Obama's Speech Stuns Israelis. Netanyahu Rejects Obama Plan

May 20….(DEBKAfile Special Report) US President Barack Obama's declaration in his policy speech Thursday, May 19, that Israel should withdraw to the 1967 lines with mutually agreed territorial swaps caused consternation in Jerusalem. Before flying to Washington, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu stated: The 1967 lines are indefensible. Israeli security demands an IDF presence on the Jordan River. Israel appreciates the US president's commitment to peace but a Palestinian state cannot rise at the expense of Israel's existence. In his statement, the Prime Minister pointed out that not only the US but the Palestinians must recognize Israel as the national home of the Jewish people and a peace accord must guarantee an end to all claims against the Jewish State of Israel.

    In effect, Israel has rejected Obama's new Middle East policy as it relates to resolving its dispute with the Palestinians before he meets the US president at the White House Friday. As presented Thursday night, Obama call for mutual swaps of land amounted to calling on Israel hand over to the Palestinians large chunks of sovereign territory in return for leaving the settlement blocks in the West Bank. This demand was not agreed in the exchanges between the White House and the Prime Minster's Office ahead of the speech. It also contradicts the guarantee the Bush presidency gave Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2004 not to force Israel to return to the indefensible borders of 1967.

    Obama is also the first US president to demand that Israeli Defense Forces withdraw from the Palestinian state without the security measures Israel required after numerous Arab and Palestinian attacks and still threatened. The US President's plan would also entail the IDF's evacuation of its the vital defense lines in the Jordan Valley against invasion from the east, which would pass to the Palestinian state. The US president stated repeatedly that the Palestinian state was entitled to "a sovereign, contiguous state" bordering on Egypt, Jordan and Israel. This would give the Palestinian state sole control of its borders without regard to Israeli's security requirements. Israel was advised to be satisfied with America's "unshakeable commitment" to its security.

    Obama introduced a new concept for potential Israel-Palestinian peace negotiations, from which he admitted "the Palestinians have walked away." The Palestinians state would be "non-militarized," he said, not demilitarized as Israel has demanded but possessed of an army of a size to be negotiated by the parties. Washington sources informed reporters later that Obama's speech was delayed by more than an hour over a behind-the-scenes argument the White House had with Jerusalem and Ramallah in pursuit of approval from both for the fundamentals contained in his speech. Debkafile's Washington sources report that although both Netanyahu and Mahmoud Abbas voiced strong reservations on some points, those sources concluded that they need not stop them entering into negations on the basis of the Obama principles. According to other sources, nothing of the kind was agreed and major differences lie ahead of Netanyahu's White House talks in Washington and his speeches to Congress and the conference of AIPAC the Israel lobby

Uprisings In Mideast, Obama Looks to Reshape the Peace Debate

May 19….(New York Times) Six months after the Arab world erupted in a political firestorm, President Obama has been searching for ways to link the region’s historic transformation to the long-stymied peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. It is far from clear how he can do that. President Obama will have a chance to reshape the debate on Thursday, when he delivers a major speech on the region at the State Department. The president plans to argue that the political upheaval raises the prospect for progress on all fronts, and will offer “some specific new ideas about US policy toward the region,” the White House press secretary, Jay Carney, said Tuesday. Officials said Obama was weighing whether to formally endorse Israel’s pre-1967 borders as the starting point for negotiations over a Palestinian state, a move that would be less a policy shift than a signal by the United States that it expected Israel to make concessions in pursuit of an agreement. But several officials said the president did not plan to present an American blueprint for breaking the stalemate between the Israelis and Palestinians. In the absence of that, experts said, there is little he can do to draw the two sides closer, especially since the Arab upheaval has deepened the rift between them. President Obama has been grappling for a more coherent response to the violent crackdowns in Bahrain, Syria and Yemen and may use the opportunity to increase the pressure on Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said stiffer sanctions against the Assad government could be imposed in the coming days.

    Beyond the sanctions, Obama may personally criticize Assad in his speech, abandoning his somewhat restrained response to the Syrian government’s repression of protesters. Some administration officials said the American reticence stemmed in part from a hope, clearly unfulfilled, that the tumult could serve as a wedge to peel the Syrian government away from its alliance with Iran. For Arab allies of the United States, Mr. Obama is offering encouragement to pursue reforms. On Tuesday, he welcomed King Abdullah II of Jordan to the White House and announced more than $400 million in American investments in Jordan, as well as aid in the form of 50,000 tons of wheat, which he said would help Jordanians and allow the government to speed up its overhaul of the economy. Mr. Obama’s speech comes during a hectic week of Middle East diplomacy. In addition to King Abdullah, the president plans to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Friday. On Sunday, he is to address a major pro-Israel lobbying group, the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee. And later next week, Mr. Netanyahu plans to deliver his own speech, before a joint session of Congress.

    But the whirl of activity comes against one of the most forbidding backdrops for the peace process in many years. Israeli security forces clashed with thousands of Palestinian protesters who marched into border areas on Sunday. And the Palestinian Fatah party recently signed a unity agreement with the Islamic militant group Hamas, which Mr. Netanyahu condemned as antithetical to a peace deal. “I’ve never been more concerned about where this is headed than I am now,” said Robert Danin, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who used to run the Jerusalem office of the group known as the Middle East quartet. “There seems to be increased momentum towards what could be a real explosion.” Mr. Obama had considered laying out American parameters for a peace deal, several officials said, a move that Mrs. Clinton favored, but one that would have put him at odds with his national security adviser, Thomas E. Donilon, and his top Middle East adviser, Dennis Ross. But the unity accord between Hamas and Fatah, the party of President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, effectively killed the plans to try to push through an American proposal, one administration official said. “It’s hard to imagine how we do that when Hamas hasn’t agreed” to recognize Israel’s right to exist and to forswear violence against Israel, the official said. On Tuesday, Mr. Obama reaffirmed his commitment to help broker a deal between the Israelis and Palestinians. “Despite the many changes, or perhaps because of the many changes that are taking place in the region, it’s more vital than ever that both Israelis and Palestinians find a way to get back to the table and begin negotiating a process whereby they can create two states that are living side by side in peace and security,” the president said after his Oval Office meeting with King Abdullah. Palestinian officials said they were forging ahead with their own plans to pursue United Nations recognition of a Palestinian state when the General Assembly meets in September in New York, a gambit that alarms American officials, who loathe being put in the position of having to vote against Palestinian statehood just as popular democratic movements are taking hold throughout the Middle East.

    In an Op-Ed article in The New York Times on Tuesday that analysts interpreted as the diplomatic equivalent of a declaration of war on the status quo, Abbas said flatly that he would request international recognition of the state of Palestine, based on the borders of Israel before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Such a move would most likely get a lopsided majority of votes in the General Assembly, diplomats said, with Latin American, African, Asian and Middle Eastern countries all expected to vote in favor of it. That, by itself, would be embarrassing to Israel. So Israeli officials are trying to make sure that big European countries, including France, Italy, Britain and Germany, join the United States in either voting against it or abstaining, thus denying the Palestinians’ plan recognition by the major world powers. For the Palestinians, a formal American endorsement of the 1967 borders as a baseline for negotiations might make them somewhat less suspicious about returning to the table. Israel has historically rejected any preconditions for talks, and analysts said Netanyahu’s reaction would be critical. In a speech on Monday to the Israeli Parliament, Netanyahu ruled out any dealings with Hamas but suggested that Israel would be open to surrendering most of the West Bank in a peace agreement with the Palestinians. The speech by Netanyahu “was more forthcoming than I’ve seen him in the past,” said David Makovsky, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “It actually gave me some hope for the peace process.”

Russia Will Not Support UN Resolutions Against Syria

May 19….(Novosti) Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday that Russia will not support a UN resolution on Syria. Britain, France and Germany have been pushing for the UN Security Council to condemn Syria's crackdown on pro-democracy protests. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been using tanks and troops to crush the dissent. "I will not back this resolution even if my friends are going to beg me to," Medvedev told a news conference at the Skolkovo School of Management near Moscow. "It is sad that these resolutions can be manipulated," he said. Russia also abstained from supporting resolution 1973 which authorized air strikes to protect Libyan civilians against forces loyal to Col. Muammar Gaddafi.

US to Sanction Syria's Assad for Human Rights Abuses

(Sources say dramatic escalation of US pressure on Damascus to cease its brutal crackdown on protesters will be announced.)

May 19….(Jerusalem Post) The United States will impose sanctions on Syrian President Bashar Assad for human rights abuses on Wednesday, sources briefed on the matter said, in a dramatic escalation of US pressure on Damascus to cease its brutal crackdown on protesters. The sources declined to provide further details on the US decision other than to say it would be announced on Wednesday and that the US sanctions would flow from alleged human rights abuses by Assad. Targeting Assad personally with sanctions, which the United States and the European Union have so far avoided, would be a significant new break with Damascus and raise questions about whether the West ultimately seeks his removal from power. Syrian rights activists say at least 700 civilians have been killed in two months of clashes between government forces and protesters seeking an end to his 11-year rule. European governments agreed on Tuesday to tighten sanctions against the Syrian leadership, but said they would decide next week about whether to include Assad on the list. US President Barack Obama last month signed an executive order imposing a first round of US sanctions against Syria's intelligence agency and two relatives of Assad's for alleged human rights abuses. The EU, for its part, put 13 Syrian officials on its sanctions list in what it described as a move to gradually increase pressure.

Obama Planning to Get Tough With Assad

May 19….(DEBKA) Debkafile's Washington sources report exclusively that President Barack Obama has finally resolved to stamp down hard on Syrian President Bashar Assad in person as the man responsible for the inhuman Syrian crackdown on protest against his regime and the massacre of hundreds of dissenters. Before his much-awaited speech on US relations with Middle East Muslim nations Thursday, May 19, Obama is preparing to impose sanctions on the Syrian president.  The White House is working on the final text of the announcement but has already decided to recall the newly-appointed US Ambassador to Damascus Robert Ford for consultations. An American ambassador was last recalled from Damascus in 2005. It took five years for Obama to appoint Robert Ford to the post in late 2010. The administration has also decided to authorize the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna to report to the UN Security Council that Syria was building a plutonium reactor for military purposes at Deir A-Zour, which it was bombed by Israeli in September 2007. Damascus has refused to cooperate with the nuclear watchdog in making the site available for inspection. The IAEA is therefore urged to seek the same Security Council for Syria as those imposed on Iran for its nuclear activities.

    Barack Obama was finally convinced that Assad must be stopped without delay by the horrifying discovery of hastily-dug dug mass graves near the protest center of Daraa in southern Syria. The civilian death toll from Assad's savage three-month crackdown on dissent is now well past 1,000. It is taken into account, Debkafile's military sources report that tough American measures targeting Assad will bring forth heightened Syrian-Israeli border tensions, potentially in the form of a limited Syrian military strike into Israel or Lebanon or both. Indeed his cousin Rami Makhlouf threatened that instability in Syria would cause instability in Israel. The expectation of trouble to come was strengthened by the information reaching Washington that Syrian military intelligence and Ahmed Jibril's PFL-General Command had organized the forcible crossing of the Israeli border on the Palestinian Nakba (Catastrophe) Day, Sunday, May 15, of thousands of Palestinians streaming out of the camps in which they are held near Damascus. The operation was also synchronized with the Lebanese Hizballah. According to this information, Syria and the PFL-GC are planning another mass incursion in the same format for June 5, the 44th anniversary of the 1967 War, when Syria lost part of the Golan after attacking Israel. In advance of the event, the Israeli Defense Forces and Lebanese army have reinforced the units guarding their borders and are on a high state of preparedness.

    The IDF's engineering corps has embarked on a crash operation for building a proper defense system with physical obstacles along the 220-kilometer Israeli-Syrian border in place of the fragile fence that crowds of Palestinians trampled on May 15. Washington's impatience with Syria was evident in the harsh tone of the White House rebuke of Syria as "inciting protests on the Golan Heights" and therefore responsible for the clash and loss of life which resulted: "The Jewish state has the right to prevent unauthorized crossing at its borders," said White House spokesman Jay Carney Monday. The White House's allusion to Israel's borders in the Golan context was deliberate, our Washington sources report.It signposted Barack Obama's intention to emphasize the importance the US attaches to Israeli border security as a matter of policy when he meets Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the White House Friday, May 20 and again when he addresses the conference of the US-Israeli lobby AIPAC Sunday, May 22. According to our sources, too, the US President has no intention of outlining a Middle East peace plan for dictating to Israel in his address to the Muslim world Thursday, May 19. This suggestion which is the subject of heated debate in Israel did not originate with US administration sources but political opposition elements at home which have an interest in pushing the Netanyahu government to the wall.

Are the Jews the Chosen People?

May 18….(Dennis Prager/JewishWorldReview.com) I assume that the type of person who reads columns such as this one has wondered at one time or another why, for thousands of years, there has been so much attention paid to Jews and why, today, to Israel, the one Jewish state. But how do most people explain this preoccupation? There is no fully rational explanation for the amount of attention paid to the Jews and the Jewish state. And there is no fully rational explanation for the amount of hatred directed at Jews and the Jewish state. A lifetime of study of this issue, including writing (with Rabbi Joseph Telushkin) a book on anti-Semitism ("Why the Jews? The Reason for Antisemitism") has convinced me that, along with all the rational explanations, there is one explanation that transcends reason alone. It is that the Jews are G0d's chosen people. Now, believe me, dear reader, I am well aware of the hazards of making such a claim. It sounds chauvinistic. It sounds racist. And it sounds irrational, if not bizarre. But it is none of these. As regards chauvinism, there is not a hint of inherent superiority in the claim of Jewish chosen-ness. In fact, the Jewish Bible, the book that states the Jews are chosen, constantly berates the Jews for their flawed moral behavior. No bible of any other religion is so critical of the religious group affiliated with that bible as the Hebrew Scriptures are of the Jews. As for racism, Jewish chosen-ness cannot be racist by definition. Here is why: a) The Jews are not a race; there are Jews of every race. And b) any person of any race, ethnicity or nationality can become a member of the Jewish people and thereby be as chosen as Abraham, Moses, Jeremiah or the chief rabbi of Israel. And with regard to chosen-ness being an irrational or even bizarre claim, it must be so only to atheists. They don't believe in a Chooser, so they cannot believe in a Chosen. But for most believing Jews and Christians (most particularly the Founders who saw America as a Second Israel, a second Chosen People), Jewish Chosen-ness has been a given. And even the atheist must look at the evidence and conclude that the Jews play a role in history that defies reason. 

    Can reason alone explain how a hodgepodge of ex-slaves was able to change history, to introduce the moral G0d-Creator we know as G0d; to write the world's most influential book, the Bible; to devise ethical monotheism; to be the only civilization to deny the cyclical worldview and give humanity belief in a linear (i.e., purposeful) history; to provide morality-driven prophets and so much more, without G0d playing the decisive role in this people's history? Without the Jews, there would be no Christianity (a fact acknowledged by the great majority of Christians) and no Islam (a fact acknowledged by almost no Muslims). Read Thomas Cahill's "The Gifts of the Jews" or Paul Johnson's "A History of the Jews" to get an idea about how much this people changed history. What further renders the claim for Jewish chosen-ness worthy of rational consideration is that virtually every other nation has perceived itself as chosen or otherwise divinely special. For example, China means "Middle Kingdom" in Chinese, meaning that China is at the center of the world; and Japan considers itself the land where the sun originates ("Land of the Rising Sun"). The difference between Jewish chosen-ness and other nations' similar claims is that no one cares about any other group considering itself Chosen, while vast numbers of non-Jews have either believed the Jews' claim or have hated the Jews for it. Perhaps the greatest evidence for the Jews' chosen-ness has been provided in modern times, during which time evil has consistently targeted the Jews:

— Nazi Germany was more concerned with exterminating the Jews than with winning World War II.

— Throughout its 70-year history, the Soviet Union persecuted its Jews and tried to extinguish Judaism. Hatred of Jews was one thing communists and Nazis shared.

— The United Nations has spent more time discussing and condemning the Jewish state than any other country in the world. Yet, this state is smaller than every Central American country, including El Salvador, Panama and even Belize. Imagine if the amount of attention paid to Israel were paid to Belize, who would not think there was something extraordinary about that country?

— Much of the contemporary Muslim world, and nearly all the Arab world is obsessed with annihilating the one Jewish state.

    In the words of Catholic scholar Father Edward Flannery, the Jews carry the burden of G0d in history. Most Jews, being secular, do not believe this. And many Jews dislike talk of chosen-ness because they fear it will increase anti-Semitism; they may be right. But it doesn't alter the fact that the obsession with one of the smallest countries and smallest peoples on earth, and the unique hatred of the Jews and the Jewish state by the world's most vicious ideologies, can be best explained only in transcendent terms. Namely that G0d, for whatever reason, chose the Jews.

Not all Palestinians Want a State

May 18….(Israel Today) Come September, the international community in all its great wisdom will seek to solve the Israeli-Arab conflict by birthing a Palestinian state on the ancient Jewish lands of Judea and Samaria. Half of the biblical city of Jerusalem will be the capital of that state. The world insists that for the Palestinian Arabs to experience dignity and live meaningful lives, and for Israelis to have security, a Palestinian state is a must. Jews and Arabs cannot have peace any other way, according to world leaders. But for years, those Jews living in Judea and Samaria, and the handful of Arabs brave enough to speak openly, have argued that peace begins and ends with them, and that they already live together in relative harmony. In order to catch a glimpse of what the mainstream media so often ignores as it stokes the fires of the Israeli-Arab conflict Israel Today visited one of these communities where Jews and Arabs have already forged peace on their own terms, and all without the need for diplomatic intervention and international treaties.

Pakistani PM Hails China as his Country's 'Best Friend'

(Yousuf Raza Gilani has been effusive in his praise of China)

May 18….(BBC) Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has arrived in China on a four-day visit to commemorate 60 years of diplomatic ties between the countries. Earlier, he described China as Pakistan's "best friend". Although the visit was planned long ago, correspondents say it is especially timely for Islamabad because of strains with the US over the killing of Osama Bin Laden. China is one of Pakistan's staunchest allies and trading partners. "We appreciate that in all difficult circumstances, China stood with Pakistan. Therefore we call China a true friend and a time-tested and all-weather friend," Mr Gilani told China's official Xinhua news agency. "We are proud to have China as our best and most trusted friend, and China will always find Pakistan standing beside it at all times," he said in an interview released on Tuesday. The BBC's Jill McGivering says this latest display of warmth seems designed to reflect Pakistan's appreciation for China's uncompromising support in recent days. Any divisions between Pakistan and the United States could be an opportunity for China, Pakistan is desperate for foreign investment, especially in infrastructure, one of China's specialties, our correspondent adds.

Diplomatic balance

    Gilani's first stop is Shanghai. On Wednesday he is due to speak at a cultural forum in the eastern city of Suzhou. He will then travel to Beijing, where he will meet Chinese leaders, including President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. The two sides are expected to sign a series of agreements and discuss how they can fight extremism. Trade between the two countries is increasing significantly. It reached $8.6bn (£5.3bn) last year, an increase of nearly 30% compared with 2009.

    China is now believed to be Pakistan's biggest supplier of military equipment, providing surface-to-air missiles, warships and fighter jets. Last week Pakistan opened a new nuclear reactor in Punjab, built with Chinese help. At least two more are planned. Chinese officials and state media have hinted that they will use Mr Gilani's visit to portray Beijing as a steadfast and reliable partner in contrast to Washington, described in one editorial as a fickle and demanding interloper. "US opinion has not only failed to criticize its own unilateralism in this action against Bin Laden, violating Pakistani territorial sovereignty, it has vilified Pakistan as a scapegoat for its own rough going in its war against terror," an editorial said on Monday in the overseas edition of the People's Daily, China's main official newspaper.

Netanyahu: Abbas 'Blatantly Distorting' Documented History

May 18….(Jerusalem Post) Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu crossed swords with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday, saying an op-ed Abbas penned in Tuesday’s New York Times was a “blatant distortion” of history. Netanyahu leaves for Washington on Thursday, and is expected to argue against recognition of a Palestinian state at the UN in September. Abbas argued in print for that recognition, saying such an acknowledgement would mend a historic wrong. “It is important to note that the last time the question of Palestinian statehood took center stage at the General Assembly, the question posed to the international community was whether our homeland should be partitioned into two states,” Abbas wrote in the Times. “In November 1947, the General Assembly made its recommendation and answered in the affirmative. “Shortly thereafter, Zionist forces expelled Palestinian Arabs to ensure a decisive Jewish majority in the future state of Israel, and Arab armies intervened. War and further expulsions ensued,” he wrote.

    Aghast at what sources in the Prime Minister’s Office termed Abbas’s Stalinist-style rewriting of history, Netanyahu issued a statement calling it a “blatant distortion of known and documented history.” “The Palestinians are the ones who rejected the partition into two states, even as the Jewish Yishuv agreed to it,” Netanyahu said. Arab armies, with the assistance of Palestinian forces, “are the ones who attacked the Jewish state with the intention of destroying it. There is no mention of that in the article,” the statement said. Netanyahu also took strong issue with another part of the op-ed, where Abbas writes that Palestine’s admission to the UN “would pave the way for the internationalization of the conflict as a legal matter, not only a political one. It would also pave the way for us to pursue claims against Israel at the United Nations, human rights treaty bodies and the International Court of Justice.” In response, Netanyahu said, “One can draw the conclusion that the Palestinian leadership sees the establishment of a Palestinian state as a means toward continuing the conflict with Israel, rather than end it.”    

    Government sources said that calling for a Palestinian state to be a platform for continuing the struggle against Israel was “diametrically opposed to how we in Israel and in the international community see it. “We see the issue of Palestinian statehood as ending the conflict, Abbas is saying they want a state to continue the struggle against Israel.” The sources said it was extremely problematic for the Palestinian leader to divorce the issues of peace and statehood, and to say that the purpose of a state is not peace, but rather to get a better platform to continue the struggle against Israel. Based on the PA president’s column, the sources said, “One can only conclude that Abbas has abandoned even the pretense of embracing the path of peace and instead chosen a strategy to establish a Palestinian state and use this improved position to wage a diplomatic and legal war against Israel.” According to the sources, “Abbas’s strategy for the past two years has been to avoid a negotiated settlement with Israel. “That’s why he avoided Netanyahu’s continued call for negotiations. That’s why he placed a settlement freeze as a precondition for negotiations, something he never did before in the 18 years of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. That’s why he walked away from peace talks last September.” And, the sources added, “That’s why he had no qualms about forging a pact with Hamas, which refuses to recognize the existence of Israel and refuses to abandon terrorism.”

US, EU Planning New Steps in Response to Syria Crackdown

May 18….(Ha Aretz) The United States and the European Union will 05take new steps to respond to Syria's crackdown in coming days if the government does not change course, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Tuesday. Ashton told reporters ahead of a meeting with Clinton that she had spoken recently to Syria's foreign minister to convey the message that it was time to stop the violence. "This is extremely urgent," Ashton said. "If the government really does want to see some kind of change, it's got to be now." We are now in a situation where we need to consider all of the options. So I think there will be a number of moves in the coming hours and days that you will see," she added. Clinton said she agreed and that both the EU and the United States, which have already slapped targeted sanctions on a number of senior Syrian officials but not on President Bashar Assad himself, were planning new moves. "We will be taking additional steps in the days ahead," Clinton said. Syria has been widely criticized for its crackdown on the two-month wave of protests against the government. Syrian rights activists say at least 700 civilians have been killed by security forces. Villagers near Syria's southern city of Daraa said they had found two separate mass graves, containing up to 26 bodies. The government denied the existence of any mass graves, saying the reports were part of a "campaign of incitement" against authorities.

Netanyahu: Conflict is about 1948, not 1967

(Prime minister addresses Knesset plenum following 'Nakba Day' riots, claims Palestinians to blame for failure of peace process over their refusal to recognize State of Israel. Opposition chairwoman warns of establishment of 'Hamastan')

May 17….(YNET) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday addressed the Knesset plenum as part of the Knesset's "Herzl Day" events. "We must stop beating ourselves up and blaming ourselves," Netanyahu said, "The reason there is no peace is that the Palestinians refuse to recognize the State of Israel as the Jewish people's nation state." The prime minister added, "This is not a conflict about 1967, this is a conflict about 1948, about the State of Israel's very existence. You must have noticed that yesterday's events did not take place on June 5, the day the Six Day War erupted, they took place on May 15, the day the State of Israel was established." Netanyahu also addressed the reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas. "A Palestinian government half of which is comprised of those who declare their willingness to destroy the State of Israel on a daily basis is not a partner for peace. "Anyone who says 'one makes peace with one's enemies' must add 'one make's peace with an enemy who has decided to make peace.'" He stressed that Israel is ready to make painful concessions for "parts of the homeland" if the Palestinians recognize Israel and denounce terror.

    Netanyahu claimed there was wide consensus over his fundamental positions, including his demand that the Palestinian refugee issue be resolved outside Israel's borders and that a Palestinian state be established as part of a peace agreement. "I believe there is also consensus around the fact that a Palestinian state must be disarmed including Israeli military presence along the Jordan River. We also agree that our people must retain the settlement blocks. Finally I insist that Jerusalem remain the State of Israel's capital." Netanyahu concluded his speech by addressing the opposition. "In this historic moment, while our very existence is being challenged, we must unite for the state's benefit, and I call members of the opposition, rise above partisan interests, join us and together we shall present a united front."

Pakistan Cozying Up To Russia

May 17….(Arutz) The three-day state visit to Moscow by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari (May 11-13) was the first visit by a Pakistani president to Russia since 1974. During the Cold War, Moscow was a firm supporter of India, a country viewed as a key to influence in the Third World and later on as a counterweight to Moscow's rival within the international communist movement, China. Pakistan received support from the United States as a member of the CENTO alliance and as part of the northern tier against the then-Soviet Union. Pakistan was also friendly with China and helped broker negotiations that led to the rapprochement between Washington and Beijing in the Nixon era .

    When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979,Pakistan served as a forward base for American assistance to the Afghan guerrillas who were fighting the Russians, and whose descendants are now fighting the Americans. It is therefore understandable that visits by Pakistani presidents to Moscow were few and far between. Both sides have an interest in warming up the relationship. The Pakistanis, who have received billions of dollars in assistance from the United States, are sensing a cold wind from Washington in the aftermath of Osama bin Laden's killing. Congress wants answers to the question of who facilitated the arch terrorist's lengthy and visible stay in a Pakistani garrison town. Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, visited Pakistan this week calling for sober and serious discussions to resolve the rift and suspicions.

    Pakistani leaders were thoroughly embarrassed by the US raid because the United States did not inform Pakistan beforehand. A further complication to the relationship is a trial of a Chicago businessman accused of providing financial support to the Pakistani group that carried out the 2008 attack in Mumbai. According to reports, the government witness is going to claim that the guerrillas were supported by the main Pakistani spy agency Inter-Service Intelligence or ISI. If the Americans were to cut the purse strings, it would be necessary to have another major power in addition to China to provide aid. The Pakistani president signed agreements in Moscow to modernize Pakistani steel production facilities and receive Russian assistance in developing Pakistan's gas industry. A Pakistani newspaper Dawn editorialized on the visit; “A `former` superpower it may be, Russia remains Eurasia`s most important country. With its vast territorial expanse, huge energy resources and a level of technology that enabled it to put the first man in space, Russia deserves greater attention from Pakistan at a time when the need for Islamabad to broaden its economic and political ties has never been greater as we head towards a post-Cold War, multipolar world.”

    Russia has its reasons as well for embracing friendlier relations with Pakistan. For one, it may serve as a useful reminder to India. Russia was once India's principal supplier of weaponry. Lately, New Delhi has preferred European and American weapons. Cozying up to Islamabad can make the Indians take notice. Russia has to make provisions for the day that the Americans exit Afghanistan, leaving Pakistan to have a major say on what transpires in Afghanistan. Afghanistan poses the threat of terrorism and narcotics. The visit by the Pakistani president touched on both topics. As opposed to the Cold War situation where Pakistan's close relations to China proved a hindrance, currently they provide a force of attraction, as Moscow and Beijing share an opposition to US and NATO interventionism. The two powers are building what they hope will be an alternative to NATO, called the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, in which Pakistan, supported by China is pressing for full membership an upgrade from the current observer status. India has also applied for full membership to the organization. So has Iran.

Palestinian Violence Erupts on Three Borders

May 16….(Reuters) Violence erupted on Israel's borders with Syria, Lebanon and Gaza on Sunday, leaving at least eight dead and dozens wounded, as Palestinians marked what they term "the catastrophe" of Israel's founding in 1948. Israeli troops shot at protesters in three separate locations to prevent crowds from crossing Israeli frontier lines in the deadliest such confrontation in years. Israeli and Syrian media reports said Israeli gunfire killed four people after dozens of Palestinian refugees infiltrated the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from Syria, along a disputed border that has been quiet for decades. Witnesses on the nearby Lebanese frontier said four Palestinians were killed after Israeli forces fired at rock-throwing protesters to prevent them from crossing the border. The Lebanese army had also earlier fired in the air in an attempt to hold back the crowds. On Israel's tense southern border with the Gaza Strip, Israeli gunfire wounded 60 Palestinians as demonstrators approached Israel's fence with the Hamas Islamist-run enclave, medical workers said. In Tel Aviv, Israel's commercial hub, a truck driven by an Arab Israeli slammed into vehicles and pedestrians, killing one man and injuring 17 people. Police were trying to determine whether the incident was an accident or an attack. Witnesses said the driver, who was arrested, ran amok with his truck in downtown traffic.

    Israeli security forces had been on alert for violence on Sunday, the day Palestinians mark the "Nakba," or catastrophe, of Israel's founding in a 1948 war, when hundreds of thousands of their brethren fled or were forced to leave their homes. In the Druze village of Majdal Shams, on the Golan Heights captured by Israel from Syria in 1967, Mayor Dolan Abu Salah said between 40 and 50 Nakba demonstrators from Syria tore through the frontier fence. Hundreds of protesters flooded the lush green valley that marks the border area, waving Palestinian flags. Israeli troops attempted to mend the breached fence, firing at what the army described as infiltrators. "We are seeing here an Iranian provocation, on both the Syrian and the Lebanese frontiers, to try to exploit the Nakba day commemorations," said the army's chief spokesman, Lieutenant-Colonel Yoav Mordechai. Syria is home to 470,000 Palestinian refugees and its leadership, now facing fierce internal unrest, had in previous years prevented protesters from reaching the frontier fence. "This appears to be a cynical and transparent act by the Syrian leadership to deliberately create a crisis on the border so as to distract attention from the very real problems that regime is facing at home," said a senior Israeli government official who declined to be named. In a Nakba protest in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian youths threw rocks at Israeli soldiers, who fired tear gas and rubber bullets in a clash at the Israeli military checkpoint outside the city of Ramallah, a constant flashpoint. A Palestinian teenager was shot dead during protests in Jerusalem on Friday. Police said it was unclear who had shot him and they were investigating. That shooting took place in the tense neighborhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem, where violence regularly breaks out between Palestinian stone throwers and Israeli police and Jewish settlers. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of the state they intend to establish in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Syrians Invade Golan Heights

May 16….(Israel Today) Hundreds of Syrians broke through the border fence and entered the Golan Heights on Sunday to mark "Al Nakba Day," the Day of Catastrophe when Israel was reborn as a nation-state. The infiltrators clashed with Israeli soldiers, who were authorized to open fire. Four Syrians were reportedly killed in the clashes, and dozens more were wounded. At least five Israeli soldiers were also wounded. A large number of Syrians are reported to have escaped deeper into the Golan Heights, and are being pursued by the Israeli army. Arab demonstrators also massed on the Israel-Lebanon border, threatening to break through that barrier, as well. Israeli soldiers fired over the protesters' heads, prompting them to halt their advance, and Lebanese soldiers and members of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) then stepped in to control the demonstrators.

    In Gaza, demonstrators broke through Hamas checkpoints and approached the Gaza security fence forcing Israeli tanks to open fire to keep them back. Palestinian sources claimed dozens were wounded in the clash. Violence also erupted in Jerusalem, where Arabs stoned police and Jewish motorists, and hurled firebombs at Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital. On Saturday, an Arab teen from the Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan was shot dead during a clash with Israeli security officers. It remains unclear who actually shot the youth, but officials feared his death would spark much more severe violence. For months, pro-Palestinian activists around the world have been encouraging Arabs in neighboring states and territories to march on Israel en masse to mark the 63th Nakba Day. The largest promotional avenue was Facebook. However, by mid-afternoon, it appeared the popular assault on the Jewish state would be less intense than feared. Nevertheless, more than 10,000 soldiers and police officers remained on high alert for any flare-ups.

Arab Protesters Assault Israeli Borders, Using Media Barrage

May 16….(Yahoo) Mobilized by calls on Facebook, thousands of Arab protesters marched on Israel's borders with Syria, Lebanon and Gaza on Sunday in an unprecedented wave of demonstrations, sparking clashes that left at least 15 people dead in an annual Palestinian mourning ritual marking the anniversary of Israel's birth. In a surprising turn of events, hundreds of Palestinians and supporters poured across the Syrian frontier and staged riots, drawing Israeli accusations that Damascus, and its ally Iran, orchestrated the unrest to shift attention from an uprising back home. It was a rare incursion from the usually tightly controlled Syrian side and could upset the delicate balance between the two longtime foes. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who heads to Washington at the end of the week, said he ordered the military to act with "maximum restraint" but vowed a tough response to further provocations. "Nobody should be mistaken. We are determined to defend our borders and sovereignty," he declared in a brief address broadcast live on Israeli TV stations. The violence showed Israel the extent of Arab anger over the Palestinian issue, beyond the residents of the West Bank and Gaza, and came at a critical time for US Mideast policy.

    President Barack Obama's envoy to the region, George Mitchell, resigned Friday after more than two years of fruitless efforts. The US president may now have to retool the administration's approach to peacemaking. Obama is expected to deliver a Mideast policy speech in the coming week. Deadly clashes also took place along Israel's nearby northern border with Lebanon, as well as in the Gaza Strip on Israel's southern flank. The Israeli military said 13 soldiers were wounded, none seriously. Sunday's unrest, which came after activists used Facebook and other websites to mobilize Palestinians and their supporters in neighboring countries to march on the border with Israel, marked the first time the protests that have swept the Arab world in recent months have been directed at Israel. The events carried a message for Israel: Even as it wrestles with the Palestinian demand for a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, areas Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war, there is a related problem of neighboring countries that host millions of Palestinians with aspirations to return. The fate of Palestinian refugees is one of the thorniest issues that any Israeli-Palestinian peace deal will have to address.

    Palestinians mark Israel’s birthday by marking the "nakba," or "catastrophe," the term they use to describe their defeat and displacement in the war that followed Israel's founding on May 15, 1948. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were uprooted. Today, the surviving refugees and their descendants number several million people.

    The Syrian incursion was especially surprising. Israel captured the Golan from Syria in the 1967 war, and Syria demands the area back as part of any peace deal. Israel has annexed the territory. Despite hostility between the two countries, Syria has carefully kept the border quiet since the 1973 Mideast war. Around midday, thousands of people approached the frontier, hoisting Palestinian flags, shouting slogans and throwing rocks and bottles at Israeli forces. When hundreds of people burst across the border fence into the Israeli-controlled town of Majdal Shams, surprised soldiers opened fire. Syrian forces did not intervene, and Syrian officials reported four people were killed, and dozens wounded. The Israeli army said more than 100 people were sent back to Syria by the time the unrest died down several hours later. Officials also said there were strong signs that Syria and its Iranian-backed Lebanese ally, Hezbollah, orchestrated the unrest. "The Syrian regime is intentionally attempting to divert international attention away from the brutal crackdown of their own citizens to incite against Israel," said Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich, an Israeli military spokeswoman. Hezbollah's al-Manar TV was in place to film much of the day's clashes, and defense officials said the activists were bused in from Palestinian refugee camps throughout Syria. Many of them held European passports and told interrogators they had been flown in from abroad for the march. "It's our land," one of the infiltrators, Sufian Abdel Hamid, told Israel's Channel 2 TV. "We won't stop trying to come back." An explosion of unrest along the border could play into the hands of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has faced two months of popular protests against political repression and rights abuses in his country. The uprising, in which human rights groups say more than 800 people have been killed, is the most serious challenge to the Assad family's 40-year dynasty. Assad has cast himself as the only person who can bring stability to Syria, a country with a volatile mixture of religions and sects, and with a hostile neighbor in Israel.

    About 25 miles (40 kilometers) to the west, Israeli troops clashed with a large crowd of Lebanese demonstrators who approached that border. The military said it opened fire when protesters tried to damage the border fence. Security officials in Lebanon reported 10 dead. It was the deadliest incident along the volatile border since Israel fought Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas during a month-long war five years ago. Sunday's shooting erupted at the tense border village of Maroun el-Rass, which saw some of the fiercest fighting in 2006. Thousands of Palestinian refugees traveled to the village in buses adorned with posters that said: "We are returning." Many came from the 12 crowded refugee camps in Lebanon where some 400,000 Palestinian refugees live. Hundreds of Lebanese soldiers, UN peacekeepers and riot police deployed heavily in the area, taking up positions along the electrified border fence and patrolling the area in military vehicles. Young Hezbollah supporters wearing yellow hats and carrying walkie-talkies organized the entry to the village and handed out Palestinian flags.

    In Cairo, a security official said more than 1,000 protesters tried to push their way past a tight security cordon toward the Israeli Embassy, located on the top floor of a building. Egyptian soldiers guarding the embassy fired tear gas to disperse the crowd. One protester burned an Israeli flag. There was also violence in a predictable location, Gaza. Palestinian medics said 125 people were wounded when demonstrators in the Gaza Strip tried to approach a heavily fortified border crossing into Israel. One man was killed by an Israeli sniper. The military said he was trying to plant a bomb. In Jordan, meanwhile, police blocked a group of protesters trying to reach the border with Israel. In addition, hundreds of West Bank Palestinian threw stones at Israeli police and burned tires at a checkpoint outside Jerusalem before they were dispersed.

Syria Breaches Israel's Golan Border

May 16….(DEBKAfile Special) Israel's enemies breached three of its borders in an operation that caught its government, army and intelligence napping. Their reaction to the massive violation of its Syrian, Lebanese and Gaza borders showed all three to be muddled and incapable of an organized, rational tactical response to a multiple security crisis. This weakness ("maximum restraint"), which was no doubted noted in Tehran, Damascus, Beirut and Ramallah, may be expected to lead to the next Syrian step to recover the Golan, not this time by thousands of civilians, but by military and terrorist forces. Debkafile's military sources report that the Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, the chief of staff and his deputy, instead of dropping their routine occupations and taking charge of the crisis, preferred to make light of it. Local commanders, left to handle extreme situations developing at high speed during the day, were reluctant to assume responsibility for the weighty decisions called for.

    This weakness, which was no doubted noted in Tehran, Damascus, Beirut and Ramallah, may be expected to lead to the next Syrian step to recover the Golan, not this time by thousands of civilians, but by tough military and terrorist forces. Eleven months ago, Israeli intelligence missed the coming of the Turkish Mavi Marmara at the head of a flotilla for breaking the Gaza blockade. Israeli commandos who boarded the ship were therefore unprepared for the violence which met them. The Israeli government and IDF did not learn from this incident. However, Syria, Hizballah, Hamas and Turkey (which is preparing a second flotilla for next month) did and have adjusted their tactics to Israel's conspicuous shortcomings. The popular uprisings sweeping through Arab countries confirmed these anti-Israel forces in their conviction that massed civilians when wielded as a surprise weapon can achieve more than armies or individual terrorists. Crowds of civilians activated on several synchronized fronts are extremely difficult to withstand. The coalition organizing the exceptionally violent events of the Palestinian Nakba Day Sunday, marking the founding of Israeli in 1948, first tested the water in the morning:  An Israeli Arab drove his truck at high speed through a Tel Aviv thoroughfare, slamming into more than a dozen vehicles and running over pedestrians. He had killed one civilian and injured 17 over a 2-kilometer stretch of road before he was overpowered and apprehended. When Israel's police chiefs declined to designate the attack an act of terror and insisted it could have been a traffic accident, Damascus, Hizballah and Hamas felt they were safe in letting their master plan go forward: There was no risk of a tough Israeli response. And indeed, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu later admitted that local commanders and police chiefs were directed to deal with all fronts "with maximum restraint while defending Israel's borders and sovereignty."

    Debkafile's military sources found this contradiction in terms perplexing hours after the IDF failed to defend Israel's borders and sovereignty against invaders. Because of this directive, Israelis were shocked to discover at 13:30 that hundreds of Syrians, Palestinians and a Hizballah group had crossed the border and hoisted Syrian and Palestinian flags in the main square of the Israel Golan village of Majd al Shams. They had already been there for four hours and no one was stopping them crossing the border back and forth during that time. Throughout the day, only a small squad of soldiers had been left to guard this border because nothing untoward had been expected there. It was only at 17:00 hours that tanks and reinforcements arrived. The invaders had every reason to march around the village declaring they had recaptured the territory Syria had lost 44 years ago while attacking Israel. By then, military spokesmen had got their act together. It was fortunate that we undermanned the Syrian border, they said, otherwise the incident would have ended with hundreds of dead. The claim that Iran was behind the massive incursion convinced no one.

    The Syrian interlopers were finally driven back across the border, not by Israeli troops, but by local Druze chiefs. Israel still does not know how many left and if any remained. It is to be regretted that the IDF did not meet its fundamental duty to defend Israel's Golan border by bringing up large reinforcements to surround Majdal Shams, seal the Syrian border and shoot trespassers. The Syrians should not have been released but held until Damascus forced the Hamas to free the Israeli soldier Gilead Shalit. Former Shin Bet director Israel Hasson, who is today an opposition Kadima lawmaker, commented later Sunday that Israel must make it crystal clear to Damascus, Hizballah and Hamas that they will not be allowed to toss their internal problems into the Israeli court or violate Israeli sovereignty. His words fell on deaf ears, judging from the prime minister's statement. Debkafile's strategic sources fear that Israel will pay a heavy price for its flaccid response and misplaced "maximum restraint." Syrian President Bashar Assad can be counted on not to miss the chance of sending over to the Golan the Syrian and Palestinian terrorist teams he has held in reserve for more than a year for the right opportunity. That opportunity is clearly now at hand. The Majd al-Shams invasion followed by violence by masked Paletinians in Jerusalem and a terrorist attack in Tel Aviv. It was synchronized with mass incursions from Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. This round is not over. It will not be stopped by military restraint.

Hamas: The Zionism Must End

(Hamas PM in Gaza tells thousands of worshipers that Palestinians have 'right to resist' Israeli occupation, reiterates that the Islamic movement will not recognize Israel)

May 16….(Ha Aretz) Hamas' leader in the Gaza Strip on Sunday affirmed the Islamist movement's hard-line principles in a speech to thousands of Muslim worshippers Sunday, as they commemorated the uprooting of Palestinians during the 1948 Independence Day War. "Palestinians mark the occasion this year with great hope of bringing to an end the Zionist project in Palestine," Ismail Haniyeh, the prime minister of the Hamas government in Gaza, told about 10,000 people at a Gaza City mosque. Haniyeh's apparent call for Israel's destruction comes just weeks after Hamas reconciled with Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after a four-year split. Abbas has been trying to market the Islamic militants to the international community as an acceptable political partner. Marches commemorating the 1948 events, known in Arabic as nakba (catastrophe), were also planned in the Abbas-ruled West Bank and in Arab towns in Israel. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were driven out during the fighting more than six decades ago. The dispute over the fate of the refugees and their descendants, now several million people, remains at the core of the Middle East conflict. Israeli security forces were on high alert Sunday, and the Israeli military sealed the West Bank for a day, barring Palestinians from entering Israel. Haniyeh launched the Nakba Day events with a dawn sermon at Gaza City's al-Omari Mosque. "Palestinians have the right to resist Israeli occupation and will one day return to property they lost in 1948," Haniyeh told worshipers. "To achieve our goals in the liberation of our occupied land, we should have one leadership," he added, praising the recent unity deal.

    As part of the reconciliation agreement, Hamas and Abbas' Fatah movement are to share power in a transitional government until elections are held next year. The US and Europe consider Hamas a terrorist group and have said they will only deal with it if it renounces violence, recognizes Israel and honors previous peace commitments made by the Palestinians. Haniyeh reiterated Sunday that his movement would not recognize Israel at the outset. However, Hamas leaders are often vague or issue contradictory statements about the group's political aims. In recent weeks, some in the group have spoken of reconciliation with the West and a halt to armed hostilities with Israel, and even hinted at some sort of political accommodation. While Israel is not convinced, there are hopes in some Palestinian circles that the Iran-backed group could become a more accepted part of the Middle East diplomatic equation.