Akiva Eldar

U.S. rejects plan to send aid to Abbas

Akiva Eldar — 2006-05-05T04:52:00Z

The United States has rejected a proposal by the European Commission to use Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas as the interface for transferring foreign aid to the PA while bypassing the Hamas government, according to a Western diplomat involved in talks with the U.S. on this issue.

According to the diplomat, the U.S. has also blocked separate aid transfer proposals by Britain, France and the Arab League, in the belief that an aid cutoff will prompt Palestinians to rebel against the Hamas government. Yet even as it blocks humanitarian aid to the PA, Washington supports aid to Force 17, a PA security force that reports to Abbas, the diplomat said.

The European Commission proposal, a copy of which was obtained by Haaretz, calls for transferring aid earmarked for specific purposes, such as health and education, via Abbas. According to the document, the World Bank has already begun informally examining whether existing fund transfer mechanisms are sufficient for this purpose, or whether a new apparatus should be set up. (...)

- / Ha'aretz

Washington blocking direct donations to Palestinians

Akiva Eldar — 2006-05-04T05:51:06Z

Several initiatives by donor states to bypass the Hamas government and get money directly to the Palestinians are being thwarted by the U.S.

The British government, in partnership with the European Commission and the Arab League, suggested last week that donor states' money and the taxes that Israel collects for the Palestinian Authority be transferred directly to the Palestinians through the Holst Fund. The money is intended for basic services and wages of vital workers, and could prevent the collapse of the health, education and welfare systems in the territories.

However, the United States objected to the plan and blocked it, with the encouragement of senior Israeli officials. This was one of the reasons for Quartet envoy James Wolfensohn's resignation on Sunday. (...)

- / Ha'aretz

Why does Sharon need Peres?

Akiva Eldar — 2005-12-05T12:37:00Z

What need does a party called Kadima (forward) have for a serial loser? Did Ariel Sharon's strategic consultants not warn him that Benjamin Netanyahu would hang Shimon (Oslo) Peres around his neck? Did they really not consider the possibility that the last remnant of the Mapai era would send the Likud back to its former loves?

It is hard to believe that Sharon did not take all this into account when he decided to embrace the political orphan. But despite everything, Peres is the prime minister's most important possession. To Sharon, one picture with him in The New York Times or Le Monde is worth more than thousands of votes in Jerusalem and Dimona. (...)

- / Ha'aretz

And this is what they do to the little guy

Akiva Eldar — 2005-11-30T11:56:00Z

Two weeks ago, under the not-so-gentle pressure of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Ariel Sharon was forced to pledge that Israel would not disrupt the elections for the legislative council of the Palestinian Authority, scheduled for late January 2006, due to the participation of Hamas, which is defined as a terror organization. This means the Hamas candidates, like their counterparts in other parties, will also be vying for the votes of Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem.

Despite this, three youths from East Jerusalem are now standing trial in Jerusalem District Court. Their crime: political activity prior to the elections for the legislative council. The criminal charges: membership and activity in a terrorist organization - the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). If the small fry from the Popular Front are being thrown into jail, what will be done to big fish of Hamas? (...)

- / Ha'aretz

A dangerous anger

Akiva Eldar — 2005-11-11T16:05:00Z

When renowned Middle East specialist Prof. Shimon Shamir looks at the Muslim immigrants who are rioting in Europe, he thinks with concern about the Arab citizens of Israel. A member of the Or Commission − which investigated the deaths of 13 of those citizens five years ago − when he listens to the reactions of the French politicians today, Shamir sadly ponders the reaction of Israel's ministers and Knesset members to his commission's grave report. As he watches the pictures of Parisian policemen dealing with serious violence without killing anyone, he recalls Israel Police's sharpshooters during the riots of October, 2000.

MK Dr. Jamal Zahalka of Balad and Dr. Danny Gera, who serves as a special adviser to the Knesset Interior and Environment Committee on the implementation of the Or Commission report, share Shamir's view. All three of them warn that if the Israeli establishment continues to ignore the situation of the Arab minority, when the flames ignite again they will flare up even higher than those in the Paris suburbs. (...)

- / Ha'aretz

Fold up the road map

Akiva Eldar — 2005-11-11T12:05:00Z

When Shimon Peres' supporters ran out of conventional arms in the battle against Amir Peretz, they brought out their Judgment Day weapon: "Picture Amir Peretz sitting in the White House and having a talk with President Bush about the road map," they said mockingly.

Now, in the wake of the sweet victory, Peretz's camp can snort. If Peretz becomes prime minister, they say, he will fold up the map and save the expense of traveling to Washington. He has promised them that the day after he steps into the Prime Minister's Office, he will invite Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas for direct negotiations on a final-status agreement - no more unilateral withdrawals, an end to the season of dictates, an end to belligerence, an end to conditioning the continuation of the peace process on "the dismantling of the terror infrastructures." (...)

- / Ha'aretz

World Bank: Use 3 routes for people, cargo between Gaza and West Bank

Akiva Eldar — 2005-11-09T12:49:00Z

The World Bank technical team examining the provision of a "safe crossing" between the Gaza Strip and the areas of the West Bank controlled by the Palestinian Authority has recommended that convoys carrying passengers and cargo operate on three routes connecting the Strip to the southern, central and northern West Bank several times a day, according to a report recently sent to the Palestinian Authority. The report, which details the proposed use of bus, cargo truck and passenger vehicle convoys, is expected to come up in discussions between Middle East Quartet envoy James Wolfensohn and Israeli and Palestinian security officials. Both Israel and the PA accept, in principle, the major points raised in the report, a copy of which has been obtained by Haaretz.

According to the World Bank report, three routes are needed because of the restrictions Israel imposes on movement within the West Bank. It recommends that the routes be located away from built-up and heavily trafficked areas whenever possible and suggests that convoys of trucks carrying goods could also be used for travel between Palestinian areas and Ben-Gurion International Airport, as well as the Ashdod and Haifa ports. (...)

- / Ha'aretz

Who needs Abu Mazen?

Akiva Eldar — 2005-11-07T14:49:00Z

Every day that Rabin's heirs sit in a government that has put the peace process into formaldehyde is a holiday for Hamas. Nothing could be further from Yitzhak Rabin's worldview than the substitution of dictates for dialogue.

If anyone should have been upset by Deputy Prime Minister and Acting Finance Minister Ehud Olmert's statement that the Oslo Accords helped to "sober up the public," which in turn paved the way for the disengagement from the Gaza Strip, it was not the "Likud rebels," who opposed the unilateral withdrawal. Olmert's words should have outraged the leaders of the Labor Party, who claim to be following in the footsteps of the prime minister who paid with his life for seeking a peace agreement with the Palestinians. Nothing could be further from Yitzhak Rabin's worldview than the substitution of dictates for dialogue. Even in the darkest days of the suicide bombings, he viewed slamming the door in Yasser Arafat's face as giving in to terror.

In his last speech to the Knesset, a month before his murder, Rabin declared unequivocally: "We have no intention of halting our efforts for peace, even if additional acts of terror occur." He added: "We will not allow terror to defeat peace." (...)

- / Ha'aretz

EU to launch PA police mission, debate Rafah role

Akiva Eldar — 2005-11-07T14:14:00Z

The European Union plans to announce the launch of a three-year mission today to help the Palestinian Authority build a credible police force, EU officials said yesterday.

Officials said the decision by the EU foreign ministers will not mean European police officers patrolling the streets of Palestinian cities. Instead, the EU plans to provide 33 law-enforcement experts to advise the PA on how to staff, manage and finance Palestinian police forces. Seven such EU experts, including police officers and specialists in criminal identification, are already advising PA forces in the West Bank and Gaza, and 26 more will join them on January 1, when the mission formally begins.

Seventeen Palestinian staffers will join the EU experts, bringing the mission's total personnel to 50. Initially, the force will be stationed in Gaza and Ramallah, followed by Nablus and other Palestinian cities. (...)

- / Ha'aretz

Why settle for less?

Akiva Eldar — 2005-10-14T13:15:00Z

As everyone knows, there are "ideological" settlers and "quality-of-life" settlers. A meeting with residents of the settlement of Ma'aleh Ephraim, in the western Jordan Rift Valley, revealed the existence of a third group: the "life-is-rotten" settlers. Many years ago, when they were young and beautiful, they were captivated by the idea of a house with a red roof and a green garden at a bargain-basement price.

Since the intifada, especially the second one, these homes have become detention facilities, one of the women sitting in Yehudit Krinsky's garden said. Yehudit related sadly that if we had just come a bit earlier, we would have seen that she has the last green garden in the settlement. Despair has deprived the residents of the desire to cultivate their surroundings. The last vestiges of the quality of life that drew her here are the size of the living room and the number of rooms in the house. Their industrial zone is largely deserted, she explained; more than half the people are unemployed, and relatives and friends are infrequent visitors. There is not even a doctor. No wonder, then, that the spacious homes have plummeted in value. The neighbors across the way, someone said in an unconcealed tone of envy, recently sold their villa for a paltry $37,000 and vanished. (...)

- / Ha'aretz

Once again the olive orchards will become closed military zones

Akiva Eldar — 2005-10-11T13:15:00Z

Yesterday marked seven months since the cabinet decision approving the report prepared by attorney Talia Sasson on illegal outposts. In the decision, a black line was drawn beneath the words, "Six outposts can today be evacuated immediately," after all legal proceedings were exhausted. To this day, not a single outpost has been dismantled.

According to that same cabinet decision of March 10, 2005, Israel is committed to the road map peace plan, which stipulates that Israel must dismantle unauthorized outposts built since March 2001. The Sasson report lists the names of 24 illegal outposts set up since the cutoff date. (...)

- / Ha'aretz

Freeing ourselves of the prisoners

Akiva Eldar — 2005-10-10T13:00:00Z

What would have happened if the damage to the wing of the plane that dropped a one-ton bomb, killing 11 sleeping Palestinian children, had forced the Israeli pilot to eject over Gaza? Would his release not have been the first subject on the agenda of a meeting between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen)?

Who would have been prepared to agree that the pilot should remain jailed "because his hands were stained with blood?" We do not leave prisoners - sorry, prisoners of war - on the battlefield, even if they are dead. On our side, those who kill such prisoners are pardoned and able to reach key positions. But when it is the Palestinians we are talking about, everyone is called a terrorist. (...)

- / Ha'aretz

Withdraw and win

Akiva Eldar — 2005-10-08T16:20:00Z

The activists from MachsomWatch could not believe their ears. Representatives of the women's organization that monitors Israel Defense Forces checkpoints in the West Bank) were attending a conference last Monday at the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem to mark their annual checkpoint report. The expression on the face of the meeting's chairman, Prof. Yossi Yona, a supporter of the Geneva Initiative, also reflected surprise. The eyes of those present darted back and forth between the silver-haired speaker and the lines of text displayed on the screen. Major General (ret.) Amiram Levine, once a commander of the elite Sayeret Matkal unit, a military man who spent most of his years fighting Palestinian terror, said that any occupation, including the Israeli occupation in the territories, necessarily entails acts of terror against the civilian population. It was not the last time that evening that Levine left his listeners with mouths agape. (...) - / Ha'aretz

Time for active enforcement

Akiva Eldar — 2005-10-03T16:25:00Z

In their dreams, Israelis see Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) signing a peace agreement between the states of Israel and Palestine next year, shaking hands warmly and striding hand in hand toward the future. According to the latest public opinion poll conducted by Hebrew University's Truman Institute, 67 percent of Israeli Jews and 63 percent of Israeli Arabs support mutual recognition of Israel as the state of the Jewish people and Palestine as the state of the Palestinian people. A parallel poll by the Palestinian research institute headed by Dr. Khalil Shikaki found a similar rate of support (63 precent) among Palestinians in the territories and East Jerusalem.

But when they wake up to the political and security reality, most Israelis predict that the conflict with the Palestinians will continue next year as well. According to the two polls, which were conducted as part of the same research project, only 5 percent of Israelis (and 25 percent of Palestinians) expect negotiations to resume and terror attacks to stop, next year. Only 37 percent (30 percent of Palestinians) believe that the other side's leadership is ripe for a comprehensive solution. (...)

- / Ha'aretz

The State of Israel versus the hyssop pickers

Akiva Eldar — 2005-09-27T16:15:00Z

Whoever said there is no law and order in Judea and that in Samaria everyone does as he sees fit? Ask the Palestinian woman who arrived at the checkpoint on her way to the market, carrying her modest wares on her head, a large bunch of hyssop, (za'atar) which she had gathered from a field in the heat of the day. The Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority (INNPPA) ranger's sharp eyes followed the woman. Arguments and explanations were to no avail. Even the old woman's tears did not distract the Israeli agent of the law from his mission. The merchandise was confiscated and the offender was sent home. Perhaps she thought, silly woman, that the checkpoints were intended only for security inspections, to stop terrorists carrying explosive belts on their way to the Carmel market, not women carrying herbs. (...) - / Ha'aretz