Transcript No. 309 (2 February 2009)

At a Palestine Center briefing entitled “Requirements for Co-existence with Hamas,” Mr. Amjad Atallah of the New America Foundation said that in engaging with Israel and Palestine, the U.S. will have to deal with everyone because Hamas controls the Gaza Strip and Fateh is in control of parts of the West Bank. Dr. Robert Pastor of American University and senior advisor to the Carter Center explained that there are extraordinary opportunities that await everyone in the Middle East, in the form of the Arab Peace Initiative to the appointment of U.S. Senator George Mitchell as Middle East envoy.

To view the video of this briefing online, go to [LINK] for Mr. Atallah’s remarks and [LINK] for Dr. Pastor’s remarks.

[Read the transcript]

Likud Charter Does Not Recognize Palestine
By Frank Barat – London, Palestine Chronicle, 31 January 2009

In a few weeks, on February the 10th, Israel will elect its new leaders during legislative elections. The three main contenders are Tzipi Livni from the Kadima party (Ariel Sharon’s party), Ehud Barak from the Labour party and Benyamin Netanyahu from the Likud party.

Before the Gaza “war”, it was a two-horse race: Livni against Netanyahu, with Netanyahu leading by a good margin in all the polls. The race became a three-horse one thanks to the Gaza “war” launched by Livni and Barak. Barak saw his ratings surge and is now back in the race. Even if he does not get elected, his party will get quite a few more seats than it had planned a few months ago.

But the frontrunner has always been Benyamin Netanyahu and he remains, in the eyes of the majority of Israel’s journalists (Gideon Levy from Haaretz) or activists (Jeff Halper from ICAHD), the more than probable future PM.

[Read the report | hat tip]

Israel’s nuclear hawk Avigdor Lieberman in poll surge
Uzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv, The Sunday Times, 1 February 2009

AN ultra-rightwinger, who is said to favour flattening Tehran if Iran develops nuclear weapons, has emerged as the politician gaining the most ground in next week’s general election in Israel.

Avigdor Lieberman, 50, is advancing so rapidly in the polls that his Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel Our Home) party is set to overtake Labour and become the third largest party in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.

In a recent interview Lieberman said: “I definitely see myself as ready for the post of defence minister.” Although it is unlikely he would be granted access to Israel’s nuclear arsenal, he could be in line for a senior post in a coalition government led by Binyamin Netanyahu, head of the centre-right Likud party and frontrunner in the polls.

[Read the report | hat tip]

Ali Abunimah: Can Mitchell turn Jerusalem into Belfast?

Israeli clinic closes after treating five Palestinians

TEL AVIV, 28 January 2009 (IRIN) – The Israeli emergency clinic at the Erez crossing, which opened on the day Israel declared a ceasefire in Gaza (18 January), has closed after treating only five wounded Palestinians.

The original purpose of the clinic, according to press releases, was to provide emergency care and evacuate those needing further care to hospitals in Israel.

Gynaecologists, paediatricians, general practitioners and trauma specialists were available at the clinic, which was operated by the Health Ministry and Mada (Israel’s national emergency, disaster, ambulance and blood bank service).

Foreign press and aid workers said the clinic was merely a publicity stunt. Scores of journalists were invited to its opening day.

[Read the report| hat tip]

In his 30 January 2009 post, “Increasing even-handedness in the Middle East”, Glenn Greenwald wrote:

Obama’s decision to name George Mitchell as his Middle East envoy (as opposed to, say, the hopelessly biased Dennis Ross) may turn out to be one of the most significant steps he will take.  Consider the reaction that decision has generated.

Stephen Sniegoski considered the reaction generated and reaches different conclusions that ring truer than Greenwald’s confabulations.

Greenwald continues:

On PBS’s News Hour this week, Jimmy Carter (who, with his success at forging an Israel-Egypt peace agreement, probably did more for Israel’s security than any foreign leader in the last century) said that Obama’s “choice of an envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, is absolutely superb, and it shows that he’s going to take a more balanced position between the Israelis and their neighbors.”

Carter guaranteed U.S. coercion and bribery would sustain an Egyptian dictatorship that serves at the whim of Israeli-U.S. governments. Jimmy’s success enables the oppression of Palestinians, Egyptians, and a global consumer/workforce that funds the colonial enterprising and murderous expansion of it.

Greenwald continues:

J Street’s Executive Director, Jeremy Ben-Ami, “enthusiastically” praised the selection of Mitchell, saying that it “signals the President’s serious intention to inject new thinking and fresh perspectives into America’s efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”

The “J” in J Street must stand for “joke” in the context this group represents a new vehicle that is changing the landscape of the Israeli-Palestinian “peace process”.

The jokers, like Mitchell, support freezing the expansion of illegal settlements but not returning the land and its resources to Palestinians. They’d also deny Palestinian sovereignty by installing an international force to control borders and ensure the prisoners remain unarmed. Same old hand, new players.

Lanny Davis, Clinton retread, quintessential liar, bigot and racist, delivered a performance on Washington Journal, Saturday 31 January 2009, that is vintage Clinton-era and a bellwether of things to come in the wake of its resurrection.

Translation | hat tip