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Monday, February 10, 2020

ANALYSIS: U.S. warns Israel against 'unilateral' West Bank moves

February 10, 2020 11H:00 GMT/ZULU

by Jenny Feder and Biodun Iginla, BBC News and Reuters News Analysts, JERUSALEM

JERUSALEM - A U.S. envoy warned Israel on Sunday not to declare sovereignty over West Bank land without Washington’s consent, pushing back against calls for immediate action by ultra-nationalists within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan, unveiled on Jan 28, envisages Israel keeping key swathes of the occupied territory where Palestinians seek statehood. But the question of timing has opened up a rare rift between the allies.

Netanyahu initially pledged a speedy “application of Israeli law” - de facto annexation - to Jewish settlement blocs and the Jordan Valley, delighting his religious-rightist base ahead of Israel’s March 2 election, where he hopes to win a fifth term.

But he was forced to backpedal after the White House made clear it wanted a U.S.-Israeli mapping process - likely to take weeks or more - completed first.

The Palestinians, for their part, have rejected the Trump plan as a non-starter.

With Defence Minister Naftali Bennett and other Israeli ultra-nationalists urging an immediate cabinet vote on sovereignty in the West Bank, the U.S. ambassador intervened.

“Israel is subject to the completion (of) a mapping process by a joint Israeli-American committee. Any unilateral action in advance of the completion of the committee process endangers the Plan & American recognition,” envoy David Friedman tweeted.

In a separate speech, Friedman elaborated that his message was “a little bit of patience, to go through a process, to do it right, is not something which we think is too much to ask for”.

A demonstrator holds a Palestinian flag as the Jewish settlement of Modiin is seen in the background, during a protest against the U.S. President Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan, in the village of Bilin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank February 7, 2020. Picture taken February 7, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman

‘POTENTIALLY ADVERSE’

“With the news out that the (Israeli) cabinet was about to be pushed in a direction that was potentially adverse to our view of the process, we just let people know where we stand,” he told the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) think-tank.

“It was not a threat.”

In parallel, Netanyahu invoked the White House position.

“The (U.S.) recognition is the main thing and we don’t want to endanger that,” the premier told his cabinet on Sunday.

At the JCPA, Friedman said the mapping process was unlikely to be completed before March 2. But he held out the possibility of implementation even if the election does not produce a clear winner, as was the case twice in the last year.

Asked if Washington first wanted a permanent Israeli government - as opposed to a caretaker government of the kind Netanyahu has headed by default for months - in place, Friedman said: “We have not made that demand.”

Most countries consider Israeli settlements on land captured in the 1967 Middle East war to be a violation of international law. Trump has changed U.S. policy to withdraw such objections and the prospect of Israeli annexations have drawn widespread condemnation.

Palestinians say the settlements make a future state unviable. Israel cites security needs as well as biblical and historical ties to the land on which they are built.

“Any unilateral step is rejected whether it is taken before or after the election,” said Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. “Facts can’t be created on the ground and they will never become a reality.”

Slideshow (9 Images)

“The only thing we can accept is the Palestinian map on the 1967 borders,” Abu Rdainah added.

On Saturday, Netanyahu told an election rally that the mapping process with the Americans was already under way. “We’ve been waiting since 1967 and some people are making a big deal out of a few weeks,” he said, alluding to rightist rivals.

Saturday, December 14, 2019

ANALYSIS: Israel eyes Dubai expo as 'portal' to Arab world

Issued on: 15/12/2019 - 04:44Modified: 15/12/2019 - 06:44 GMT/ZULU

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Tel Aviv

by Jenny Feder and Biodun Iginla, France24 News Analysts

With the world's largest trade fair opening in an Arab country for the first time next year, Israel is stepping up preparations, hoping to boost nascent ties with regional neighbours.

The Dubai Expo 2020 trade fair will gather nearly 200 countries vying for the attention of a projected 25 million visitors over nearly six months from October.

Like most Arab countries, the United Arab Emirates has no diplomatic relations with Israel.

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But the Jewish state has been quietly moving closer to Gulf Arab countries on the basis of shared security interests and a common enemy -- Iran.

An Israeli pavilion at an Arab-hosted expo presents a unique opportunity to speed up the "normalisation" of relations and reach out to Arab peoples, officials say.

"To us, the added value is in the Arab and Muslim visitor," said Elazar Cohen, the Israeli foreign ministry's pointman for the expo, which is organised by the Paris-based Bureau International des Expositions (BIE).

So far public overtures between Israel and Arab nations have been cautious, but notable, with Israeli athletes and officials increasingly allowed into Gulf countries.

The expo is "a unique meeting between cultures and languages and people who don't routinely meet", said David Knafo, the Tel Aviv-based architect behind the design of Israel's pavilion.

- 'No walls, no borders' -

Designed to reflect Israel's sense of belonging to the region as well as the openness the Jewish state seeks to broadcast to its Arab neighbours, "the pavilion is therefore an open space -– a living room to host the expo visitors."

Concept videos of the pavilion reveal stairs leading up a representation of a sand dune.

Described as a "pavilion with no walls and no borders," the stairs are arched by large LED screens showing images of different aspects of Israeli society.

The aim, Knafo said, is to symbolise Israel's transformation of its deserts through culture and technology, hinting at the possibility that other desert lands could do the same.

An auditorium below the pavilion will offer visitors an interactive multimedia experience, the foreign ministry's director general Yuval Rotem told us at France24.

It aims to showcase "the Israeli spirit and culture" in innovations and developments from fields such as water, medicine and information technology, he said.

- Portal to Arab world -

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described the Israeli expo pavilion as part of "the continued progress of normalisation with the Arab states".

Past Israeli leaders saw peace with the Palestinians as the gateway to ties with the broader Arab and Muslim world.

But with the peace process frozen for years now, Netanyahu argues instead that building relations with Arab countries will push the Palestinians toward a peace deal with Israel.

The Israeli presence in Dubai "will create a buzz", said Cohen, noting that the lack of a peace agreement, or even process, with the Palestinians is still liable to draw the attention of at least some Arab visitors at the expo.

The pavilion's display won't touch on politics, he added, instead "focusing on what Israel has to offer".

Dore Gold, former director-general of the Israeli foreign ministry, said the "quasi-diplomatic presence" of the pavilion is one of several developments with "a cumulative effect".

He cited sporting competitions and the 2015 opening in Abu Dhabi of an Israeli mission to the International Renewable Energy Agency, which is based there.

"It's not normalisation, but it's an enhanced presence," he said.

While the Gulf Arab states have not lost interest in the Palestinian issue, "these countries are looking after themselves", Dore said, including enhancing security cooperation with Israel against Iran.

Gold, who heads the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs think-tank, said the expo was part of attempts to slowly publicise aspects of relations in the region not pertaining to security.

"The name of the game is how to find joint interests that don't create a big stir," he said.

"In any case, if you did public opinion surveys, you'd find that throughout most of the Gulf there's a kind of understanding that Israel's part of the region."

Diplomat Cohen and architect Knafo both noted the warm welcome they have received in the Gulf state, as work on the pavilion entered advanced stages and their visits to Dubai became more frequent.

"The attitude of the hosts is excellent," Cohen said.

"I didn't expect anything else but when you encounter it, it's heartwarming."

The expo could be "a portal to a world that was blocked to us, and our pavilion is a portal to the Israeli experience at all its levels -- scientific, cultural, human," said Knafo.

Tuesday, June 25, 2019

ANALYSIS AND BREAKING: US kicks off Mideast plan, with Palestinians boycotting

Date created : 25/06/2019 - 11:08 GMT/ZULU

Stone-carrying Palestinians near Hebron stand behind a burning tyre as they protest against a US-led Middle East conference in Bahrain AFP

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Manama (Bahrain)

by Leila Mohamed and Biodun Iginla, France24 News Analysts

After a wait of two and a half years, the US administration is launching its Middle East peace plan Tuesday -- with an economic initiative that the Palestinians are boycotting.

For this most unconventional of US presidents, Donald Trump's Middle East peace-making bid is unlike decades of previous US attempts.

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There is no talk of land swaps, a Palestinian state or other political issues that have vexed diplomats for decades.

The Trump administration says it will get to the political issues later.

For now, its plan will open over cocktails and dinner Tuesday evening in Bahrain at an intimate two-day "economic workshop" at a luxury hotel overlooking the Gulf.

Led by Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, the "Peace to Prosperity" framework dangles the prospect of $50 billion of investment in the Palestinian territories and neighbouring Arab countries over 10 years.

Listing a slew of projects to develop roads, border crossings, power generation and tourism, the framework sets an optimistic goal of creating one million Palestinian jobs.

But the Palestinian Authority and its rival Hamas have both denounced the initiative, saying it amounts to a bid by the unabashedly pro-Israel Trump to buy them off in return for not enjoying their own state.

"For America to turn the whole cause from a political issue into an economic one, we cannot accept this," Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said Sunday.

Hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets in the occupied West Bank on Monday to denounce the conference.

Near Hebron, demonstrators burned pictures of Trump and the king of Bahrain.

They sat around a coffin that read, "No to the deal of the century", a derogatory phrase for the US president's ambitions in the Middle East.

- Trump support for Israel -

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has cast the Palestinians' stance as a sign that they are not serious about peace.

"I don't understand how the Palestinians rejected the plan even before knowing what it contained," Netanyahu said.

The right-wing Israeli leader has spoken in recent months of annexing parts of the West Bank, a move that could effectively close Palestinian hopes of their own state.

The US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, has said that Washington could accept the annexation and the Trump administration has hinted that its political plan will not mention a Palestinian state -- a sharp shift from the goal of years of US diplomacy.

Trump has already taken landmark steps to support Israel including recognising bitterly contested Jerusalem as Israel's capital, and Kushner is a family friend of Netanyahu.

Most European allies of the United States, uneasy about the Trump administration's hawkish instincts, are staying away from Bahrain.

In attendance will be oil-rich Gulf Arab states, who would be expected to pick up the tab for the massive Palestinian investment if the plan succeeds.

Jordan and Egypt, the only two Arab nations to have signed peace deals with Israel, will also send mid-level officials.

However, Jordanian foreign ministry spokesman Sufyan al-Qudah insisted that "no economic proposal could replace a political solution that ends the occupation" of Palestinian territories by Israel.

- Success in 'failure'? -

Gulf Arab rulers have increasingly found common cause with Israel due to their shared hostility to Iran, reinforced by rising friction between Tehran and Washington.

In an apparently unprecedented step, a handful of Israeli journalists invited by the White House are flying openly to Bahrain.

Most Arab nations ban Israeli citizens unless they enter on other passports, although Bahrain -- whose Sunni rulers have especially tense relations with Iran -- is comparatively open to Israel.

Other prominent figures due to take part in the Bahrain conference are International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde, World Bank President David Malpass and former British prime minister Tony Blair.

Richard LeBaron, a former US diplomat in the Middle East, said that the Trump administration fully expected that the Palestinians would stay away.

But Bahrain allows Kushner to portray Palestinian leaders as not caring about their own people as he keeps advancing Israeli interests, said LeBaron, now a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank.

"The 'failure' of the Manama workshop will be success for the Trump strategy," he wrote in an analysis.

"It will permit Kushner and his colleagues to claim that they tried their best to address the situation and allow them to blame others for not cooperating."