Insightful News

Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Feds don't explain separating Jerusalem, Israel'I don't know why it would be listed that way. I don't put out the directory'
Posted: November 27, 20071:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
Jerusalem

A new U.S. government listing of State Department contacts around the world that separates Jerusalem from Israel apparently is going to be unexplained.

The document, the United States Department of State Telephone Directory (unclassified), was finished just days ago, as a U.S. promotion of a political division of Jerusalem to accommodate demands from the Palestinian Authority developed.

The split of the Israeli capital is one of the issues on the table at the Annapolis Middle East peace summit beginning today, and the PA wants to base the capital of a future Palestinian Arab state in Jerusalem. There also have been calls for Jerusalem to be made an international city.

Multiple WND calls to the State Department seeking an explanation went unreturned. But an operator finally connected WND with a State Department press office employee, who said the action was "not political."

"I don't know why it would be listed separately. I don't put out the directory," he told WND. He declined further comment and disconnected the call.

While the directory, dated Nov. 20, 2007, lists the consulates for various cities in nations under that nation listing, such as listing Baghdad, Basrah and others under Iraq, there are separate listings for Israel (Tel Aviv) and Jerusalem.

WND has obtained a draft Israeli-Palestinian declaration to be presented at the Annapolis conference and to serve as an official outline of a final settlement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Palestinian leaders have asked the U.S. to support a demand that the Palestinian Authority be allowed to open official representative institutions in eastern sections of Jerusalem, including a sanctioned headquarters in Israel's capital, WND has learned.

Political sources in Jerusalem said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is studying the request. The opening of PA offices in Jerusalem would serve as a major statement that the city would become the capital of a future Palestinian state, said senior Palestinian negotiators speaking to WND.

In line with previous Israeli-Palestinian accords, the PA until now has been barred from conducting political activity in Jerusalem, although it maintained an office, called Orient House, in an eastern Jerusalem neighborhood that previously functioned as a de facto PA headquarters.

Orient House was closed down by Israel in 2001 following a series of suicide bombings in Jerusalem and information Israel said indicated it was used to plan and fund terrorism. Thousands of documents and copies of bank certificates and checks captured by Israel from Orient House – including many documents obtained by WND – showed the offices were used to finance terrorism, including direct payments to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group.

Palestinian officials speaking to WND said they are urging the U.S. to support what they said is a key demand allowing the PA to open official institutions and to reopen Orient House to serve as their headquarters.

The PA already hired a new director for Orient House, Adnan Husseini, the former director-general of the Waqf, or Islamic custodians of the Temple Mount, said the Palestinian officials. Husseini's cousin, Faisal Husseini used to run Orient House and served as the PA's main representative in Jerusalem until his death in 2001.

"The U.S. has completely backed us on our legitimate requests that Israel halt all settlement expansion and dismantle illegal outposts," said a senior Palestinian negotiator speaking on condition of anonymity. "We are urging the Americans to now back us in our request to open institutions in Jerusalem."

Olmert told the Knesset Israel would not establish any new Jewish communities in the West Bank and will begin to dismantle what are termed existing illegal outposts, or Jewish structures built without government permits.

At the Annapolis summit, Olmert is widely expected to outline a Palestinian state in most of the West Bank, which borders Jerusalem and is within rocket range of Tel Aviv and Israel's international airport. Hamas leaders, including the group's chief in Gaza, repeatedly have vowed to take over the West Bank if Israel withdraws from the strategic territory. Hamas in June seized the Gaza Strip, overrunning all U.S.-backed compounds of Abbas' Fatah organization.

There have been reports – denied by Olmert – the prime minister will also seek to hand over eastern sections of Jerusalem to Abbas.

Last month, Olmert hinted he would be willing to divide Jerusalem, asking during a speech whether it was "really necessary" to retain certain Arab neighborhoods in Judaism's capital.

Vice Premier Haim Ramon, a member of Olmert's ruling Kadima party, last month reportedly mapped out a future partition of Jerusalem under a deal with the Palestinians.

Ramon wrote in a letter to Jerusalem City Councilman Nir Barkat, according to the Israeli newssite YnetNews.com, that under his plan, "The Jewish neighborhoods (of Jerusalem) will be recognized as Israeli and under Israeli sovereignty. Accordingly, the Arab neighborhoods will be recognized as Palestinian."

Monday, November 26, 2007
FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU

Palestinian state by '08, says BushTells PA president in private meeting U.S. committed to Israeli withdrawal
Posted: November 26, 20075:00 p.m. Eastern
By Aaron Klein
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

The U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., is the site of the Middle East peace summit this week.

JERUSALEM – President Bush told Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during a private meeting today the U.S. will ensure the Palestinians will have a state on the ground before Bush leaves office, a senior Palestinian negotiator told WND.

"Bush and the U.S. administration gave us a commitment there will be a Palestinian state before he leaves office, and not just an outline of a state on paper but contiguous territory on the ground," said the Palestinian negotiator, who spoke on condition his name be withheld because he was revealing the contents of a private meeting.

"Bush said he is committed to seeing an Israeli withdrawal from most of the West Bank," the negotiator said.

Bush met separately today with Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ahead of tomorrow's U.S.-sponsored Annapolis summit at which the Israeli and Palestinian teams are slated to present a joint declaration widely expected to outline a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and eastern sections of Jerusalem.

After holding private meetings with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders, Bush told reporters at a press conference he was "optimistic" tomorrow's summit would be successful.

"We want to help [Abbas]. We want there to be peace. We want the people in the Palestinian territories to have hope," said Bush after his meeting with the Palestinian leader.

Abbas later told a news conference he has "a great deal of hope that this conference will produce permanent status negotiations, expanded negotiations, over all permanent status issues that would lead to a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian people."

"This is a great initiative and we need [Bush's] continuing effort to achieve this objective," said Abbas.

In what has been described by some media outlets as a diplomatic coup for Bush, the governments of Syria, Saudi Arabia and dozens of other Arab states are sending senior representatives to tomorrow's summit.

WND reported yesterday that according to top diplomatic sources in Jerusalem, in exchange for Saudi Arabia attending the Annapolis conference, the Israeli government agreed to recognize the importance of a Saudi-sponsored "peace initiative" in which the Jewish state is called upon to evacuate the strategic Golan Heights, the entire West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount and the Western Wall.

While Israel doesn't commit itself to the Saudi-backed Arab Peace Initiative's requirements, a clause in the current draft of the Israeli-Palestinian declaration slated for the Annapolis conference and obtained by WND reads: "We recognize the critical supporting role of Arab and Muslim states and the importance of the Arab Peace Initiative."

As well, Syria reportedly agreed to attend Annapolis after Damascus received American and Israeli commitments the Golan Heights would be put on the table at the Israeli-Palestinian conference.

The Golan Heights is strategic mountainous territory that looks down on Israeli population centers and twice was used by Syria to launch ground invasions into the Jewish state.

While Israel is not expected to commit itself to evacuating the Golan Heights at Annapolis, the mere mentioning of the strategic territory at the international summit could serve to put the issue back on the bargaining table.

Syria is in a military alliance with Iran and is accused by the U.S. of supporting the insurgency in Iraq and generating instability in Lebanon. Israel says Syria regularly ships Iranian rockets and weaponry to the Lebanese Hezbollah militia. The chiefs of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad Palestinian terror groups are based in Damascus. Syria is also accused by Israel of holding Israeli soldiers missing in action, including Brooklyn-born Zachary Baumel, who was captured by Syrian forces 23 years ago.

Syria was invited to the summit without any preconditions or pledges to cease its purported backing of terrorism or its alleged meddling in Lebanese affairs.
To interview Aaron Klein, contact Tim Bueler Public Relations by e-mail, or call (530) 401-3285.

Rabbi: Cleanse country of Arabs

Prominent right-wing rabbis gather for 'emergency meeting' ahead of Annapolis conference, state no peace can be achieved if Arabs stay on Israel's land Kobi Nahshoni "We must cleanse the country of Arabs and resettle them in the countries where they came from," head of the Yesha Rabbis Council, Rabbi Dov Lior, declared Monday, adding that, "If this means we have to pay them, we will. Without doing so, we will never enjoy peace in our land."

Lior made the statement during an "emergency meeting" of the Association of Rabbis for the People of Israel and the Land of Israel held in Jerusalem ahead of the Annapolis peace conference.

"You have no cause for concern, no peace will come out of all these conferences and agreements," Lior told the participants. The rabbi stated that although he was interested in peace, Israel could never hope to achieve peaceful relations "with evil people of this kind."

MK Uri Ariel (National Union), who also attended the meeting, said that the prime minister aimed to convince the public that Judea and Samaria should be given to the Palestinians. Ariel also called on the attendees not to waste their time on trying to change the minds of MKs and ministers. "This is a struggle of good versus evil," he exclaimed.

'No leader has the right to give away land'

Rabbi Zalman Melamed stated that assisting or participating in the handing over of parts of Eretz Israel to non-Jews was strictly prohibited. "We must declare clearly that we will not do anything that is against our holy Torah. We shall fight all those who attempt to violate the Torah's mitzvot."

At the conclusion of the meeting, the association's secretary, Rabbi Yosef Artziel, read out the decisions agreed upon in the gathering: "No leader, in any generation, has the right to give away Eretz Israel… we call on the Jews abroad, and especially on community leaders and rabbis, to join us in our efforts against this treaty and its implications.

"Together, we will save the people of Israel from the government's terrible plan."

www.gamla.org
Inviting A Bull Into The China Shop

Barry Rubin, JPOST.com
November 27, 2007 ::: 17 Kislev 5768

What would you do if your foreign policy agenda had these priorities:

• get Arab and European support for solving the Iraq crisis;
• mobilize Arab and European forces against a threat led by Iran and its allies Syria, Hamas, and Hizbullah;
• get Iran to stop its campaign to acquire nuclear weapons;
• reestablish American credibility toward friends and deterrence toward enemies; reduce the level of Israel-Palestinian conflict.

That pretty much describes the US framework for dealing with the Middle East nowadays.

The Annapolis conference is not going to contribute to these goals. Its most likely outcome is either failure, or a non-event portrayed as a victory because it took place at all.

No one is going to say, We are so grateful at the US becoming more active on Arab-Israeli issues that we are going to back its policies on other issues.

On the contrary, the conference is more likely to show the inability of the US to produce results, thus undermining belief in American leverage in the region in general. It shines the spotlight on the most divisive issue, the great excuse for not doing more to help US efforts, raising its prominence.

What most of Washington simply fails to understand is that any real demand for Palestinian or Arab concessions will be fodder for radical groups and frighten Arab regimes, pushing the latter away from support for America rather than toward it. And any Israeli concessions obtained by this process will not satisfy their demands, either.

Despite thousands of claims by lots of famous people, national leaders and respected journals, solving the Arab-Israeli conflict will not make radical Islamism or terrorism go away.

Would you like to know why? Because even if this issue could be solved - which isn't about to happen for reasons requiring a different article - doing so would necessitate a compromise including an end to the conflict, acceptance of Israel and compromises by the Arab side.

These steps would inflame the extremists and make any Arab rulers who accepted them vulnerable to being called traitors. It would increase instability in the Arab world, also by removing the conflict as a splendid excuse and basis for mobilizing support for the current rulers. Arab politicians understand this reality; most people in the West don't.

Such considerations are accurate analytically, but the conference will take place anyway. It has been reinterpreted by the US government as the opening of a long-term process rather than its culmination. The analogy is with the Madrid meeting of 1991 - which started a nine-year-long, failed peace process - rather than the Camp David summit of 2000, which marked its breakdown.

Given the fact that the meeting is going to take place, and one would like to see as little damage result as possible, what is the worst mistake that could be made to ensure that an already difficult situation becomes worse? Answer: Invite Syria.

Let's remember a few things. The meeting was called to deal with the Palestinian issue. Bringing in the Syrian question is going to destroy that focus. Palestinian leaders know this to be true and are no doubt horrified by Damascus getting equal time.

But that's just the start of the problem. Run your eye back up the page to the five points listed as priorities for US policy.

Iraq? Syria is the main sponsor of the terrorist insurgency. It has a deep interest in ensuring that no moderate, stable, pro-Western regime takes root in Syria.

The radical alliance? Syria is a leading factor in the problem, a partner with Iran for 20 years. Anyone who believes that Damascus can be split from Teheran understands nothing about the mutual benefits Syria gets from the alliance - far greater than anything the West could possibly give to its dictator President Bashar Assad.

Iran's nuclear ambitions? The day Iran gets atomic weapons will be a great day for Syria, ensuring its strategic protection, damaging Western influence, and helping the radical Islamist cause that Syria backs.

American credibility? It undermines years of US efforts to pressure Assad away from radical adventurism. Syria can now show that it can kill Americans soldiers in Iraq, murder democratic Lebanese politicians, foment Hamas's takeover of the Gaza Strip and sponsor Hizbullah's effort to seize power in Lebanon - all without incurring any serious risk or cost.

On the contrary, Syria is now making demands on the US for concessions in order to entice it to show up. This is happening at the very moment when plans for an international trial of Syrian leaders for political assassinations in Lebanon are gathering momentum, as Syria's campaign to install a puppet government in Beirut has just been foiled.

Is the conference's purpose, however ill-conceived, to make progress on Arab-Israeli peace and strengthen the Palestinian Authority? Having Syria present lets in the main Arab sponsor of Hamas, a state working tirelessly to throw out the current Palestinian leadership and raise the level of Arab-Israeli violence.
Believing Assad really intends to negotiate peace seriously is folly enough. But inviting Syria is the equivalent of inviting Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida to an anti-terrorism conference.