Settlement Moratorium A Deal Breaker For Egypt, Palestine

Ambassador Soliman Awaad, spokesman for the Egyptian Presidency, told reporters at a briefing Wednesday that he, along with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, believe that newly launched peace talks between Israel and Palestine will only be successful if Israel ends their settlement expansion.

President Mubarak said in a New York Times Op-Ed that the success of these negotiations is contingent upon whether or not the current moratorium on Israel’s settlement expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is extended. 

“For its part, Israel should make no mistake; settlements and peace are incompatible,” Mubarak said. “A complete halt to Israel’s settlement expansion… is critical if the negotiations are to succeed.”

Awaad reiterated to the press that the moratorium’s extension plays a very pivotal role in bridging the gap between Israel and Palestine.

“This twenty-sixth day is of crucial importance,” Awaad said. “If [the moratorium] is not extended, all bets are off.”

The spokesman said Egypt wants the moratorium extended and would sympathize with Palestine in breaking negotiations if Israel does not comply. If the 10-month expansion moratorium, scheduled to expire on Septermber 26, is not extended, Awaad said negotiations will likely cease and a peace agreement between Israel and Palestine will end once again.

“The expansion of Israeli settlements have led to a collapse of trust on both sides,” Mubarak said. “For the talks to succeed, we must rebuild trust.”

Secretary General Says Gaza War Crimes Investigations Still Incomplete

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon believes it is too early to say if Israel and the Palestinian Authority have properly investigated allegations of war crime during the Israeli Cast Lead operation in Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009.

Last November, a General Assembly resolution called on both parties to investigate, after the Goldstone report into the Gaza fighting suggested war crimes might have occurred on both sides and called for credible investigations by all parties involved.

In his report to the Assembly, Ban included documents form Israeli and Palestinian investigations and said he hoped “the resolution has served to encourage investigation by the government of Israel and the Palestinian side that are credible and in conformity with international standards."

However he concluded that: “the processes initiated are still ongoing…As such, no determination can be made on the implementation of the resolution by the parties concerned”

Human rights group Amnesty International criticized Ban for missing an opportunity to advance accountability in Gaza, arguing that the responses the Secretary General received clearly demonstrated that neither side had conducted investigations “that are independent, credible and in conformity with international standards”

The Secretary General’s spokesperson was unable to say if or when conclusive reports on the matter would be completed, stating that any further action was dependent on the General Assembly and member states.

Polls Show Israelis and Palestinians Want Two-State Solution

By Sam Wechsler - Talk Radio News Service

A series of recently released poll results suggest there may be peace in the Middle East in the near future. Nader Said, the General Director for Arab World for Research and Development, shared during a briefing that 78% of Israelis and 74% of Palestinians are willing to accept a two-state solution. He also stated that 95% of Israelis and 92% of Palestinians are willing to accept negotiated peace.

James Zogby, Founder and President of the Arab-American Institute said Arab-Americans and Jewish-Americans agree “on almost every issue, to the degree whereby [their] attitudes are within the margin of error of each other on almost all questions.”

Zogby also stated that the most troubling information he gathered was the partisan split in American opinion over the Arab-Israeli conflict: 70% of Obama supporters in the most recent Presidential election believe the President should “get tough on [Jewish] settlements [in the West Bank]”, whereas 71% of McCain supporters believe the President should not.

Jim Gerstein, Principal at Gerstein Agne, said that in a July 2008 poll, Jewish-Americans were asked what the two most important issues they would be voting on were. Only 8% cited the Arab-Israeli conflict as one of the two most important issues. In addition, 72% of Jewish-Americans approve of President Obama’s approach to the conflict.

Optimism for Middle East Peace

By Courtney Ann Jackson- Talk Radio News Service

Today former British Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed to members of Congress his support of a two state
peace solution between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. Speaking to the U.S. Senate Committee on
Foreign Relations, Blair said that he looks at the Middle East with the eyes of an optimist.

Significant arguments over territory, refugees, security and water in the region, Blair said, “although immensely challenging, are resolvable.”

He said that if the possibility of a two state solution became a reality, a majority of Palestinian and Israeli citizens would support it.

Blair currently serves as Quartet Representative and was in Washinton to promote the Quartet objectives. He is responsible for revitalizing the Palestinian economy and promoting the Quartet objectives. In his written statement to the Committee, Blair said "The opportunity is there. But it won't remain if not seized. As President Obama has recognized, this is the right time to seize it."

Committee member Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) said that “a peace settlement would require Israeli and Palestinian leaders with thin majorities to get beyond calculations designed to protect their own political interests.” Lugar also said the United States would have to be “very active and very creative” as they aided in the progress toward a settlement.

Blair said that leaders need to make sincere efforts to "reinvigorate the credibility" of a peace process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority need to “The only unity that works is a unity of genuine agreement,” he said.

Group: Obama and Bush the same on Israel

By Kayleigh Harvey - Talk Radio News Service

The Obama administration is no different than its predecessor when it comes to providing intelligence and military aid to Israel, an action that continues to hamper positive U.S. relations with other Middle East countries. That is the opinion of representatives of the Council For the National Interest, which conducted a public hearing to discuss the implications of current U.S. military aid to countries in the Middle East.

“The Obama administration has shipped replacement munitions that were used up in Gaza, very high-tech missiles and that sort of thing, to Israel in an emergency effort just about 10-days ago,” said Eugene Bird, President for the Council of National Interest. “I think this reflects that the Obama administration – with regard to the re-supply of Israel – is no different than the Bush administration.”

Some speakers suggested the United States should re-evaluate its unconditional support of Israel, especially within the current political identity.

“We do not sell arms to Israel, we give arms to Israel,” said Edward Peck, former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and deputy director of President Reagan's terrorism task force. Additionally, the Israeli government decides how it wants to utilize the resources and funds given by the U.S. “There is no purchase involved, which is a nice thing. It’s a blank check, and, as you know, that blank check is delivered on the first day of the fiscal year, October 1st, and the Israeli’s can then earn interest on this money while they decide how to spend it... (This) is not necessarily in our interests,” Peck said.

Bird estimates that over the next 10-years the U.S. will give Israel $30 billion to Israel and “that there will be 150,000 more Jewish colonists on the West Bank during that period… The American taxpayer, over the years and in the future, will be paying about $200,000 for each colonist that is placed on Arab land and which destroys the chances for a two-state solution.”

Israeli peace activist, journalist and writer, Uri Avnery said, “I think American arms to Israel should be conditioned...so that the peace agreement will be signed between Israel and the Palestinian people, hopefully a Palestinian unity government including both Fatah and Hamas – I would (expect such results) by the end of 2009 or the middle of 2010 not later.”

Some say that the Middle East is an issue of which Americans remain uninformed and that American politicians view the subject as a killer of constituent support.

Peck blamed said that the lack of information available was a result of the pro-Israel lobby. “They don’t allow anyone else to talk....We’ve been silenced. We are not allowed to criticize Israel. You’re instantly an anti-Semite if you do, He said. “In Israel you are allowed to criticize Israel government policy...but you cannot do it here without provoking a fire-stone.”