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Abbas
Cannot Make Concessions on Any Core Issue
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"The dispute with Israel is
not only over recognizing Israel as a Jewish state.The dispute is over
Jerusalem, settlements, refugees and borders." — Mohamed Shtayyeh,
Member of Fatah Central Committee.
Abbas is not authorized to make
concessions on any of these issues.
Today it is clear that the
Palestinian Authority is preparing to hold Israel responsible for the
failure of the peace talks because of its refusal to comply with all of
the Palestinians' demands.
Even if the Palestinian Authority recognizes Israel as a Jewish state,
the gap between the two parties remains as wide as ever over most of the
core issues.
As the Americans and Israelis continue to demand Palestinian
recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, a senior Palestinian Authority
official revealed that this issue was no longer the main obstacle to
reaching a peace agreement between the Palestinians and Israel.
Mohamed Shtayyeh, member of the Fatah Central Committee and former
member of the Palestinian negotiating team, said
that gap between the two parties now remains wide over major issues such
as settlements, Jerusalem, borders and refugees.
Shtayyeh and other senior Palestinian officials insist that the only
way to move forward with the peace process is by forcing Israel to accept
the Palestinian demands regarding these major issues.
"The dispute with Israel is not only over recognizing Israel as a
Jewish state," Shtayyeh said. "The dispute is over Jerusalem,
settlements, refugees and borders."
The Palestinians say that the real problem facing the peace process is
the refusal of President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry
to accept the fact that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is
not authorized to make any concessions on any of these core issues.
"The Americans are behaving as if this is a personal dispute
between President Abbas and [Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu," said
a senior advisor to Abbas in Ramallah. "Obama and Kerry think that
once Abbas signs an agreement or accepts Israeli and American demands,
all the Palestinians would take to the streets to support the peace
process."
"Abu Mazen [Abbas] remains fully committed to the Palestinian
national rights and he will not succumb under any form of pressure,"
explained Palestinian political analyst Hani Habib.
Habib said that despite their weakness, the Palestinians are
determined to go to the United Nations to seek recognition of a
Palestinian state once the talks fail. He also said that the Palestinian
Authority has plans to file complaints against Israel with the
International Criminal Court.
Abbas, who is expected to meet with Obama in Washington on March 17,
will once again make it clear that without accepting all Palestinian
demands on the core issues there would be no agreement with Israel.
Abbas's position on the core issues was relayed to Obama and Kerry on
a number of occasions over the past few months.
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U.S. Secretary
of State John Kerry and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
at a press conference in Ramallah, on January 4, 2013. (Image source:
U.S. State Department)
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On the issue of Jerusalem, Abbas continues to insist on a full Israeli
withdrawal from east Jerusalem, including the Old City, and turning it
into the capital of a future Palestinian state.
As for the borders, Abbas has made it clear that the pre-1967 lines
would become the borders of a Palestinian state, with "minor"
amendments that take into consideration new facts created on the ground
over the past four decades.
With regards to the settlements, the Palestinian position is also very
clear: Israel must remove all settlements and settlers from the West
Bank.
And on the explosive issue of the refugees, Abbas continues to insist
on the "right of return" for those Palestinians who wish to
move to Israel. True, Abbas recently declared that he does not wish to
"flood" Israel with millions of refugees. However, this is out
of the conviction that most of the refugees would agree to accept
financial compensation or resettlement in Arab and Western countries.
Representatives of the refugees have responded by criticizing Abbas,
arguing that he is not authorized to make any concessions on the
"sacred right of return."
Nabil Sha'ath, a senior Palestinian official, reaffirmed the
Palestinian position this week when he accused
Israel of rejecting the "foundations for peace."
Sha'ath stressed that Israel's refusal to accept the Palestinian
demands regarding the core issues would lead to the failure of the peace
talks.
Today it is clear that the Palestinian Authority is preparing to hold
Israel responsible for the failure of the peace talks because of its
refusal to comply with all of the Palestinians' demands.
The peace talks are scheduled to end in late April in accordance with
Kerry's nine-month deadline. But the Palestinian Authority leadership has
no plans to wait until then to declare the failure of the peace process.
Palestinian officials in Ramallah say that the talks with Israel have
already failed, but Obama and Kerry continue to live in denial. There are
no direct talks between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. Rather,
each side is conducting separate negotiations with Obama and Kerry.
The latest statements from Palestinian Authority officials show that
the issue of Israel's Jewishness is only a secondary issue compared with
the sensitive issues of Jerusalem, refugees, borders and settlements.
Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state is not going to
bring the two sides closer to reaching agreement on any of these core
issues. This is what Obama needs to take into consideration when he meets
with Abbas. He also needs to take into consideration what many
Palestinians are saying – that Abbas is not authorized to make
concessions on any of these issues.
Iran's
Two-faced Regime Exposed Again, but is Anyone Paying Attention?
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According to UN Security Council
Resolution 1747, Iran is banned from trading in or sending weapons
across, international borders. Yet, as the latest arms shipment
intercepted by Israel shows, Iran systematically violates this
resolution. Will diplomats prefer to look the other way?
In recent days, Israel's intelligence services and navy intercepted
a cargo ship in the Red Sea, off the coast of Sudan and Eritrea,
which was found to be carrying an Iranian weapons delivery to terrorists
in the Gaza Strip.
Iran's attempt to get 40 powerful medium-range rockets, 180 mortar
rounds, and nearly half a million bullets to Gazan terror groups like
Islamic Jihad would have affected the security of millions of people in
southern and central Israel.
The shipment serves as the latest example of the dangerous,
destabilizing and violent foreign policy pursued by the Iranian regime.
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Israeli naval
commandos inspect one of the missiles found aboard the Klos-C cargo
ship, which was found to be smuggling missiles from Iran to the Gaza
strip, via Sudan, March 5, 2014. (Image source: Israel Defense Forces)
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Under the leadership of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran is
pursuing two utterly contradictory tracks when it comes to its dealings
with the world:
On one hand, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani continues to engage the
international community in a diplomatic process over Tehran's nuclear program.
He has achieved many successes in a charm offensive designed to rebrand
his country as a reasonable and more moderate international player.
Simultaneously, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), and its
overseas special operation unit, the Quds Force, are strengthening,
financing, and arming terrorist organizations all over the Middle East.
With thousands of operatives active throughout the region and beyond,
the Quds Force is following an ambitious program to arm Hezbollah, the
murderous Assad regime in Syria, Shi'ite armed organizations in Iraq, and
fanatical armed groups in Gaza.
A second function of the Quds Force is to subvert Sunni states that
stand in the way of the Iranian agenda for Middle Eastern hegemony.
Iran is stirring up Shi'ite unrest in the Gulf state of Bahrain,
supporting Houthi rebels in Yemen, and arming Sudan's repressive
government.
In addition, the Quds Force promotes the spread of Khomenist ideology
in an effort to "export" the Islamic Revolution as far and wide
as possible.
The Quds Force, headed by a mastermind named Qassem Suleimani (who
answers directly to Khamenei), uses banks and front companies to pay for
and manufacture weapons, before attempting to transit them to proxies.
According to UN Security Council Resolution 1747, Iran is banned from
trading in, or sending weapons across, international borders. Yet, as the
latest arms shipment intercepted by Israel demonstrates, Iran
systematically violates this resolution.
The Quds Force is a part of the IRGC, a vast organization that has
some 130,000 members among its ranks. Its goal is to ensure the survival
of Iran's Ayatollah regime. The IRGC is a parallel military power – it
has its own air, ground, and navy forces, separate from the Iranian
military.
When the regime feels the need brutally to suppress internal dissent,
it can call the Basij (a volunteer paramilitary force that
receives orders from the IRCG) and its two million volunteers to the
streets of Iranian cities.
But Ayatollah Khamenei is now trying a new way of keeping the streets
free of protesters by allowing Rouhani to pursue talks with the West.
This, Khamenei evidently hopes, will put a lid on growing disquiet over
the country's economic troubles, many of them caused by international
sanctions.
At the same time, he is permitting the IRGC and Quds Force to continue
their global terrorism exportation program -- an effort combatted around
the clock by Israel's intelligence agencies. The intercepted weapons ship
is just one of many arms transfer attempts being blocked by Israel.
Israeli defense officials describe these efforts as a "war
between wars;" today, this mostly covert battle is a central
component in maintaining Israeli security.
Israel's efforts rely on a range of classified intelligence means, and
are highly impressive, but cannot stop all of the weapons Iran is sending
to the region.
Will the international community take note of the latest example of
Iran's attempt to put deadly weapons in the hands of war criminals in
Gaza, who target Israeli civilians indiscriminately? Or will diplomats
prefer to look the other way?
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