Palestinian Chief Negotiator: Don’t Expect Resumption of Talks with Israel Soon

Palestinian chief negotiator Sa’ib ‘Ariqat told radio interviewers on Monday not to expect a return to the negotiation table with Israel any time soon. ‘Ariqat repeated a demand he has been making recently: that the United States brand Israel the “party that is obstructing the launching of peace negotiations.” He contends that the stalemate is the result of Israel failing to fulfill its commitments under the Road Map peace plan, in particular by refusing to impose an absolute freeze on all construction activity in communities located on land acquired in the 1967 war – land the Palestinians want as part of a future state. The Israelis counter that the Palestinians have yet to fulfill their Road Map obligation to end incitement and violence against Israel, with their finger pointed primarily at Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Israelis also contend that under the terms of the Road Map, Israel has no obligations until the Palestinians have curbed terror and ended incitement. Observers expect no movement before Palestinian elections, now scheduled for January. And with no sign of reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, prospects for any resumption of talks between Israel and the Palestinians remain bleak. The Obama administration’s next gambit will be to shore up Palestinian Authority head ‘Abbas in advance of the election, including pressuring Israel to present a series of goodwill gestures to ease the plight of the Palestinians with credit inuring to ‘Abbas. 

Report: Teams of European Lawyers Draw Up List of Israeli Soldiers for Foreign Prosecution

Encouraged by the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Goldstone report, teams of lawyers throughout European Union countries are cooperating in an effort to identify and prosecute Israeli soldiers with the rank of battalion commander and higher who participated in the military operation in the Gaza Strip last January. The daily Ha'aretz quotes a London-based lead attorney as saying that a number of Israelis are already on the police watch list and any of those who travel to the U.K. face immediate arrest. The Israeli army is warning soldiers who served during the Gaza operation about the legal jeopardy they face if they travel to Europe. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has vowed that no Israeli soldier will face charges in any nation: a guarantee few believe he is able to make with certainty. 

Amnesty International Report Says Israel Hogging West Bank Water Supply

The international human rights group Amnesty International is accusing Israeli communities on post-1967 lands in the West Bank of taking more than their share of water at the expense of their Palestinian neighbors. The 112-page report places Palestinian water consumption at 70 liters per day compared to 300 liters per day for Israelis. Israel says the report is not accurate and that the Palestinian consumption exceeds the allocation agreed to in the Oslo Accords of 1993. Problems are even greater in the Gaza Strip, where an Israeli blockade is preventing the entry of building materials needed for repair of the water system.   

Israeli Army Chief in Berlin: “We’ll Control Our Own Security”

Israeli Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi has delivered a passionate address from the site in Berlin where Jews were loaded aboard trains bound for extermination camps during Hitler’s rule. Speaking from Platform 17, he cited the obligation of Israel’s army and his own as its chief-of-staff to protect its people. Ashkenazi vowed that the security of the people of Israel will not be left “in the hands of foreigners,” and said that Israel’s fight against terrorism has provided a “pretext for anti-Semitic attacks by Holocaust deniers.”

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