And something is happening, and you don’t know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?

First I share with you this blog

Find the Terrorist, Not the Bomb

Thursday, December 16, 2010 

Israel’s Approach: “Are you a terrorist?” -David Rose

The security checks at Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport are intense, but they are surprisingly discreet. There are no groups of armed police patrolling through the concourses.The new intrusive body scanners recently introduced in America are not in use.

Instead, Ben-Gurion’s critical line of defense consists of polite, highly trained agents, most of them women, who will speak to every passenger while they wait to check in.

“We operate on the principle that it’s much more effective to detect the would-be terrorist than try to find his bomb,” says a senior Israeli official.

“The 9/11 hijackers killed 3,000 people without real weapons or explosives. To be safe, you have to be able to stop the person who has hostile intentions. That’s how our system works.” The Israelis call this method ‘behaviour pattern analysis’…
(Daily Mail-UK)

***

So, after weeks of anxiety among the pro-Israel camp, President Obama vetoes the pro-Palestinian Security Council resolution declaring West Bank settlements to be illegal.

The public PA reaction is highly anti-American, including a veiled threat to (gasp!) refuse US aid

PM Fayyad criticizes US “extortion”:

“Our rights are not for sale or trade for a handful of dollars”

http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=4750

From PMW’s archive – November 2010:

The following is Salam Fayyad’s statements calling US aid “extortion” as reported in the official PA daily:

“Yesterday Prime Minister Salam Fayyad attacked the US in an unprecedented manner. He emphasized his opposition to American ‘extortion,’ which is expressed in the threat to halt aid to the PA if it insists on appealing to the Security Council to denounce Israeli settlement. Fayyad said: ‘We did not agree, and will not agree, to extortion, and our people will never agree to that. We are not interested in the first place in receiving assistance from any source that threatens to halt its aid for political reasons.’ In an announcement to the press during his inauguration of a school in the village of Al-Jalameh in the Jenin district, he added: ‘I emphasize that we do not view the assistance offered to us as an alternative to liberty for our people. Justice is on our side, and our rights are not for sale, barter, or trade for a handful of dollars.’”

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 21, 2011]

Obama meets with Jewish leaders to reassure them:

US President Barack Obama told a delegation of Jewish leaders on Tuesday that Israel must create a context for peace with the Palestinians. President Obama said that Israel must use its military, political and cultural strength to create this climate in order to move forward towards peace talks. The participants who attended the meeting reported that President Obama said that the Palestinians are not confident with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government as a serious partner for peace negotiations. The US president told the delegates that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas would be willing to accept a deal establishing a Palestinian state during his tenure.
A White House statement said that the meeting was productive and noted “America’s unshakable support for Israel’s security, opposition to any effort to delegitimise it or single it out for criticism, and commitment to achieve a peace that will secure the future for Arabs and Israelis alike.” Two of the president’s senior Middle East advisors, Dennis Ross and Fred Hoff, are scheduled to arrive in Israel in the coming days. The two will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak and will focus on the possible avenues for renewing the peace process with the Palestinians. Regional developments in the Arab world are also likely to feature high on the agenda. (Haaretz)

Unnamed sources deny any quid-pro-quo between Israel and the US regarding further peace initiatives. Haaretz prints gloom-and-doom.

Netanyahu can’t afford to stutter in his next Mideast policy speech

Will Netanyahu have the strength to make a Churchillian speech based on a real peace plan to break up the empire in exchange for saving the country?

By Ari Shavit

The strategic question is open. Nobody knows whether we can achieve peace with the Palestinians in the near future. But the tactical question is closed. It is absolutely clear that Israel must do everything to achieve peace with the Palestinians in the near future. Even if peace is impossible, Israel must not refuse it. Israel must launch a peace initiative if it wants to be on the right side of the war for peace.

The problem is credit. Due to the occupation, Israel has no international credit in the 21st century. Israel cannot exist without international credit. So every prime minister’s first duty is to create a credit line in which Israel can function. Ariel Sharon 1 beat the second intifada thanks to the international credit his predecessor Ehud Barak provided him at Camp David. Sharon 2 did well thanks to the international credit the disengagement afforded him. Ehud Olmert received generous international credit for the Annapolis Conference. Benjamin Netanyahu received scanty international credit due to his speech at Bar-Ilan University. But now the credit is dwindling. Israel’s international credit shortage has become a credit suffocation.

The strategic situation is clear. Without international credit, Israel cannot deal with Iran’s nuclear program, the rocket challenge and the dramatic upheavals in the Arab world. Israel already faces grave threats, and its war reserves are empty. If obligated to use force to protect itself, it will have trouble doing so. Its insistence on the occupation undermines its right to self-defense. With no international credit, Israel has no military power.

The economic situation is also clear. Without international credit, Israel’s economic miracle will not last long. The economy is thriving. Exports are winning new markets. Israel is an economic tiger rushing forward. But nobody knows when exactly a besmirched state becomes a pariah state. Nobody knows when exactly Israel will turn into South Africa. What we do know is that the moment Teva, Iscar and Check Point are made to pay a heavy price for being Israeli, panic will strike. The international bankruptcy will threaten to become an economic one. We will all realize belatedly what we are supposed to realize now – without international credit, Israel has no economic power.

The political situation is just as clear. With no international credit, the prime minister is finished. It happened to Yitzhak Shamir in 1992. It happened to Netanyahu in 1999. It will happen to Netanyahu again already in 2011. In a no-hope situation, Avigdor Lieberman will swallow Likud, Aryeh Deri will devour Shas and Barak will liquidate Barak. In a futile situation, the government evaporates. The lack of international credit is the end of Prime Minister Netanyahu.

This September is going to be a black September. The UN General Assembly is set, in six months, to establish a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders without peace. If this happens, Israel will be defeated internationally as it never has been before. The prime minister will be seen as responsible for a grave diplomatic failure. Israel’s credit crisis will become a strategic, economic and political crisis. The landslide will be felt everywhere. As beaten Israel licks its wounds, Netanyahu will be turned out of office in disgrace.

Two months ago I coined a new term in this column – Bar-Ilan speech B. Today it is clear there will be a Bar-Ilan speech B. Netanyahu will have his say in a festive setting at a special venue. But the question is, will Netanyahu be daring and practical enough? Will he have the strength to make a Churchillian speech based on a real peace plan to break up the empire in exchange for saving the country?

The film “The King’s Speech” tells the story of a head of state who suffers from a flaw, fights it and conquers it. It tells the story of a head of state whose good wife and loyal aide get him to say at the last moment the words he has to say. The Netanyahus would do well to take an evening off and go to the movies. When they come out of “The King’s Speech,” they will understand that the time has come. Now he must not stutter. Netanyahu’s speech is Netanyahu’s last chance.

And now The Israel Project  reports

Netanyahu Considers Peace Plan
for Immediate Palestinian State

• Palestinian state within temporary borders will be created right away
• Israel says it will not build on private Palestinian land in West Bank
• Erekat refuses meeting with Israeli envoy; Quartet in Israel next week

Jerusalem, March 2 – A new peace plan that would immediately create an interim Palestinian state is being considered by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The proposal would establish their state within temporary borders while a final-status agreement is worked out.

Several Palestinian officials are reportedly not interested in Netanyahu’s peace plan.

The plan would resemble other initiatives recently proposed by Israeli leaders.

Shaul Mofaz, Chairman of the Knesset’s (Israeli parliament) Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, recommends a temporary Palestinian state be created along 60 percent of the West Bank “with an Israeli commitment that the borders would eventually be aligned with the 1967 Six-Day War,” Israel’s Haaretz reported.

“The state will include over 99% of the Palestinian population of the West Bank, in a way which will enable territorial contiguity in the West Bank and freedom of movement,” Mofaz’s peace plan states.

“Simultaneously, and alongside the establishment of the Palestinian state, a negotiation process will take place over the Final Status issues: Jerusalem, refugees, permanent borders and security arrangements,” it adds.

An optimal solution for the resettlement of Israelis living in the West Bank would be completed during the first year of the process, the peace plan says.

Israel dismantled an illegal outpost in the West Bank this week and arrested eight people who tried to prevent it.

Israel also announced it will dismantle “all illegal settlement outposts built on privately-owned Palestinian land,” according to Haaretz. The move applies to at least three outposts that house approximately 100 families, the paper added.

Israel cannot ignore world pressure and the country should not push for new construction plans in the West Bank, Netanyahu said Monday during a meeting with lawmakers from his Likud party.

In another effort to push Israeli-Palestinian peace forward, the Quartet on the Middle East, made up of Russia, the EU, the United States and the United Nations, will meet in Israel next week.

The Quartet had tried meet with Israeli and Palestinian envoys in Brussels, but Netanyahu decided not send his envoy, Yitzhak Molho, because Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian negotiator, refused a meeting with him.

The Palestinians only wanted separate meetings with the Quartet.

The Palestinians have found new methods to push their concerns in the international arena, such as trying to garner support for a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state. Israel fears that these methods decrease the urgency of peace talks.

Israel has consistently urged the PA to return to the negotiating table in order to work out a long-term decision on vital issues that include settlements, such as mutual security, borders, water and refugees.

Striving for peace, Israel already removed 9,000 settlers from Gaza and parts of the West Bank in 2005. Homes, schools, businesses and places of worship were abandoned in a painful sacrifice for peace by Israel.

Eye on Egypt

Muslim Brotherhood comes out of the closet

The Islamist Brotherhood, Egypt’s biggest political organisation, said the new cabinet showed Mubarak’s “cronies” still controlled national politics and that a call for a million man march on Friday would show people’s anger and frustration.

“This new cabinet is an illusion,” senior Brotherhood member Essam el-Erian told Reuters. “It pretends it includes real opposition but in reality this new government puts Egypt under the tutelage of the West,” he added.

“The main ministries of defence, justice, interior and foreign remain unchanged, signalling Egypt’s politics remain in the hands of Mubarak and his cronies,” Erian said.

A New Low: New York Times Running Interference for Yusuf Qaradawi

Lately, The New York Times has been running interference for the Muslim Brotherhood. In addition to publishing commentaries by apologists for the Brotherhood, the Times published a news story that depicts the group’s spiritual leader, Yusuf Qaradawi, as “committed to pluralism and democracy.” In fact, Qaradawi is a virulent anti-Semite who has worked to undermine free speech by defending the Iranian fatwa calling for the death of Salman Rushdie and by promoting a “day of rage” against cartoons of Mohammed printed in Sweden and Denmark. He has also defended female genital mutilation and affirmed Muslim teachings calling for the death penalty to be applied to those who leave Islam and encourage others to do the same.

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Live interview with Egypt’s military ruling circle:

http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/2822.htm

Egypt redux…

Voice of Freedom

Whatever the ultimate outcome, it’s hard not to want to congratulate the protesters who brought about the revolt in Egypt.  Here is a sweet video reflecting their feeling of empowerment and liberation.

Natural Gas sales to Israel disrupted

But the road ahead might be bumpy between Israel and Egypt. Sales of natural gas from Egypt to Israel, initiated in a 2005 agreement, have been disrupted. Terrorist attacks are one factor. The delay in resuming gas supplies from Egypt comes amid reports that some leaders of the protest movement that resulted in the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, had demanded the transitional military government suspend gas shipments to Israel. The protest leaders reportedly presented a position paper that cited the low price of gas that was being sold to Israel and referring to what they said was the mistreatment of Palestinians by Israel.

Discovery of natural gas fields in offshore Israel

Fortunately huge natural gas fields have been discovered offshore and are expected to be the long-term solution to Israel’s energy needs, though for the short term increased burning of coal and diesel oil are expected.

Prospects for the Egypt-Israel 1979 treaty

Israel is deeply unpopular among the Egyptian public, a situation augmented by widespread antisemitism and anti-Israel propaganda in the media. In this context, there is a high risk that secular parties will adopt hostile rhetoric towards Israel in a bid to win popular legitimacy. For example, on Sunday 13 February, Dr Ayman Nour, a secular presidential hopeful, told Egyptian radio that the ‘Camp David accord is over’ and should be renegotiated. Regarding Nour, Dr. Daniel Pipes, a MidEast specialist who has lived in Egypt for many years, states ” I have worried about him for years.” — even though Pipes has stated publicly that he is generally “sanguine” about the eventual outcome in Egypt.

Report: Egypt blocked Iran ships from entering Suez Canal?

The IDF has been on the alert due to reports that two Iranian warships were due to traverse the Suez Canal and sail to Syria by way of the Mediterranean.

Officials overseeing the strategic waterway that connects the Red Sea to the Mediterranean could not confirm the report, saying
only that they have been told that plans by two Iranian naval vessels to cross through the canal had been canceled.

Will the Israeli/Egypt treaty stand?

February 14, 2011

Egyptian Foreign Minister Abu Al-Gheit

http://www.memritv.org/embedded_player/index.php?clip_id=2803

(Video) Ahmad Abu Al-Gheit: “Well… I believe that any new regime with a new elected president… We should remember that if the rule is passed from one president to another, the president will know that after 5, 6, or 10 years, he will go. So the question of whether he is allowed to carry out fundamental change in the foreign policies of Egypt, in a way that would take the country in a different direction… I believe that this is a sensitive decision that should be well thought out. It’s not just up to the president. It’s up to the president and society to decide whether they want to do this or not.”

Interviewer: “Will the U.S. allow a new regime to sever relations with Israel?”

Ahmad Abu Al-Gheit: “Will the president be elected by the U.S.?!”

….

(Video) Prominent opposition leader Ayman Nour expresses personal opposition to the Camp David accords and calls for a national referendum on continuing them

http://www.memritv.org/embedded_player/index.php?clip_id=2807

……..

Erakat resigns

On a bright note, the Quartet (US, UN, EU and Russia) denied the PA’s bid last week for recognition of a Palestinian state and a demand that settlement construction in Israel end. PA negotiator Seeb Erakat had harsh words for the Quartet; by today he had resigned from his post. His resignation is not a loss to the peace process.

Hosni who-?

With Mubarak gone and soon forgotten, how do pro-Israel supporters face the future? Here’s a courageous and intriguing outlook from Natan Sharansky, the well-known Soviet dissident who was the leading force in the emigration of Soviet Jews (this content appeared in the Febuary 11, 2011 on-line Jerusalem Post):

If I was in the Senate, I would immediately pass a law maintaining US assistance to Egypt on condition that 20% of it goes to democratic reforms. What’s needed is real linkage.

The desire of the people has to be heard. It’s not up to us to decide whether it will be Omar Suleiman or Mohamed ElBaradei or someone else [who takes over]. Whoever it is, whoever is the leader, won’t want to depend on Iran, or even on Saudi Arabia so much. So they have to listen to the free world, and after all, Egypt is between the free world and Muslim fundamentalists.

 

And the entire free world has to say, “We are ready to help you, we are ready to support you, we are ready to be with you, but on condition that: first, there is no persecution for freedom of speech and for free press and so on; second, there is an independent economy; third, there is a tolerant, pluralistic education system where people can choose how they want to learn, what they want to learn; and, finally, that agreements that were signed with the neighbors about stability in the region have to be respected.

The entire free world should say that only those who accept these principles, and accept the principles of democratic change, should be permitted to participate and be empowered by the process. If the Muslim Brothers genuinely accept everything, then they can be part of it. But if, whatever they say, they continue in their mosques to speak about the war against Israel, or they declare that democracy will not determine what to do, then they cannot be a part of it. At this moment, it is still possible for the free world to do this….

At this moment, almost everything depends on the position the free world takes. The fact that some leaders of the free world, and some leading journalists, are coming to us and saying, “This is the time. This is the time to make concessions,” simply shows that they really don’t understand what’s going on. I mean, to whom to make concessions? The people in the streets of Egypt, or to dictators whose days are numbered? This is the moment, not to speak of concessions with Abu Mazen, but to start building bottom-up peace, and finally bring democracy to the Palestinians.

If the free world helps the people on the streets, and turns into the allies of these people instead of being the allies of the dictators, then there is a unique chance to build a new pact between the free world and the Arab world. And we, Israel, will be among the beneficiaries, simply because these people will then be dealing with their real problems.

And the standoff in Egypt continues…

Contrary to Leon Panetta’s assurances and certain Egyptian officials’ hints to the contrary, President Hosni Mubarak asserted once again to angry crowds in Tahrir (Liberation) Plaza today that he would remain in office until September elections. The media tells us that his speech kicked up the anger another notch.

One has to wonder what his motivations were for speaking today if he hasn’t modified his position. It’s taking on the dimensions of a long-running tragedy. And who will wear down first — the international community? the international media? the protesters? the Egyptian public? the NDP? the army? Mubarak?

It’s interesting to see that, at least for now, Mubarak holds the army’s loyalty.

As perceptions shift, it’s also interesting to gauge the current sentiment. Just a couple of days ago, when the tide appeared to be shifting against the protesters, I caught this very interesting comment in favor of the “go it slow” approach:

One Arab diplomat likened the democracy movement to a train fueled by university students and human rights advocates.

“Eventually, those students will have to get off that train and go back to school, and the human rights people will have to go back to work, and you know who will be on the train when it finally rolls into the station?” the diplomat asked. “The Muslim Brotherhood.”

Careful what you say…CNN.com

[Update 10:00 p.m. in Cairo, 3:00 p.m. ET] Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak “remains utterly critical in the days ahead as we sort our way toward the future,” and must stay in office, President Barack Obama’s point man for Egypt, Frank Wisner, said Saturday at the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

Wisner is the diplomatic official who delivered a message from President Barack Obama’s administration to Egypt’s leadership this week.

In response, U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said that
Wisner is no longer acting in any official capacity.

“We have great respect for Frank Wisner and we were deeply appreciative of his willingness to travel to Egypt last week. He has not continued in any official capacity following the trip. The views he expressed today are his own. He did not coordinate his comments with the U.S. government,” Crowley said.

So much for the party line…