Following two public rebukes in two weeks, the Obama administration has found something to praise Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu for: pressuring Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat into backing-off from his well-planned and aggressively-promoted launch of a development scheme in the capital. Last week, a State Department spokesman called the inclusion of two holy sites located in the West Bank on Israel’s heritage list “provocative.” This week, it was news of 600 new housing starts being approved in a Jerusalem suburb that was “unhelpful.” On Tuesday, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said the U.S. “welcomed” Netanyahu’s muscling Barkat into turning a gala “launch” of the project into an elaborate trial balloon. A massive turnout by local and foreign media assembled at the Jerusalem municipality where they were given glossy, elaborate hand-outs describing the project in colorful detail: how a number of illegal homes would be legalized retroactively and others knocked down to build “The King’s Garden” in an area where Arab residents claim preference is being given to their Jewish neighbors. Following the heritage list brouhaha, Palestinian leaders made it clear that Barkat’s project would trigger the next round of unrest. Netanyahu interceded with the mayor and the event was downgraded. The Media Line’s Arieh O’Sullivan reported that at the event, the mayor was challenged on the use of the word “launch” on the printed literature to describe the event when, in reality, it was only an informative session to discuss future plans.

Dubai’s police chief said on Tuesday that he will seek arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Meir Dagan, head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency. Dahi Khalfan Tamim said he is “almost certain” that Israel was responsible for the January 19th killing of Hamas operative Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel room. He called on America’s FBI to investigate the use of credit cards issued by U.S.-based MetaBank by most of the 27 suspects so-far identified by authorities in Dubai. The bank says its internal investigation indicates all proper procedures and regulations were followed. Britain, Ireland and Australia have all dispatched police investigators to Israel to probe the use of fraudulent passports cloned from the real passports of legitimate nationals. 

Turkey is prepared to resume its role as intermediary between Israel and Turkey according to its foreign minister. Speaking in Cairo where he met with his Egyptian counterpart on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said both sides must show the “political will” to return to the talks that broke-off when Israel launched its military operation into the Gaza Strip in December 2008. Since that time, relations between Israel and Turkey have all but collapsed, with numerous incidents of discord between officials of both nations grabbing headlines. Israel’s foreign minister recently rejected the concept of indirect talks, calling instead for a session in Damascus followed by one in Jerusalem.      

The Press Trust of India is reporting that pamphlets dropped over North Waziristan accuse Israel, India and Al-Qaeda of funding the Taliban. The agency says the leaflets were dropped from Pakistani airplanes in the areas bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan. The two-page document charges that the Taliban have been buying large quantities of weapons and explosives with “huge funding” provided by Israel and Al-Qaeda – along with money from opium smugglers. Both Israel’s Mossad and India’s Raw intelligence agencies were named as providing assistance to the Taliban.