Israel Matzav

US letter of assurances ready, EU in disarray on Mideast

Although no one in Israel has seen it yet, the letter of assurances from the United States to Israel regarding the 90-day 'settlement freeze' extension has been prepared. Here are some details of what is in it.

The crux of the deal centers on the US providing Israel with advanced fighter jets in return for a three-month West Bank settlement freeze that both the US administration and the government in Jerusalem hope will get Palestinians back to the negotiating table, he said.

Makovsky pointed out that while the Obama administration is making the offer, it’s Congress that must eventually sign off on sending fighter jets to Israel. Although Congress is typically supportive of Israeli aid and military acquisitions, incoming Republicans who will be taking over the US House have been talking about the need to save money and perhaps cut foreign aid.

In this climate, Makovsky said that Netanyahu is looking for some sort of “fallback understanding” so that he can present the security cabinet with an iron-clad arrangement for the planes in order to get the ministers’ backing for the freeze.

He also referred to a “verbal affirmation” from Netanyahu to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the there would be “meaningful progress” on border issues during the 90-day freeze. He said that Israeli officials have concerns about a solitary focus on territory, or even on territory and security, over those 90 days, since Israel sees its best “chips” as being land. Officials are worried that if they give ground on this issue it will leave them in a weaker position when it comes to dealing with the even more sensitive issues of Jerusalem and refugees, so they are looking to find a formula they feel comfortable with.

Makovsky said that while the text didn’t contain any references to a long-term Israeli presence in the Jordan Valley – a key point Palestinians objected to – Israel would raise it in the future.

In addition, Shas ministers are trying to “ramp up” East Jerusalem building, Makovsky noted. While the agreement between the US and Israel would keep the same terms of the previous moratorium – which exempted East Jerusalem – Shas is looking for explicit permission for building which the US has long opposed and is unlikely to look on favorably.

My guess is that if this report is accurate, Shas will declare victory and abstain. Unfortunately, I don't see them voting against this deal.

Meanwhile the Europeans continue to talk out of both sides of their collective mouths on the Middle East.

[Italian Foreign Minister Franco] Frattini, meanwhile, related to recent Palestinian threats to get the world to recognize a Palestinians state inside the June 4, 1967, lines, thereby imposing a solution on the parties, by saying that “so far” there is an understanding among the EU states that “we should support negotiations and negotiators, not replace the negotiations and negotiators.

“What is very important is to let the negotiators sit around the table and get an agreement including on the borders, not to decide from Brussels or elsewhere what should the Palestinian state be,” Frattini said. “We do want a Palestinian state as soon as possible, but there is no consensus and there are no proposals in Europe to have a decision on behalf of the two negotiators.”

As Frattini was meeting with top Israeli officials, in Brussels foreign ministers and other senior representatives of EU countries were discussing the Middle East at the monthly Foreign Affairs Council.

Following the meeting, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton issued a statement saying that the ministers exchanged views and “voiced their concern at the current lack of progress and the ongoing settlement activities, particularly in east Jerusalem. The High Representative [Ashton] pointed to the Council’s December 2009 conclusions and recalled that settlements are illegal under international law, are an obstacle to peace and threaten to make a two-state solution impossible.”

According to the statement, the “ministers also expressed their ongoing concern at the situation in Gaza, calling for the Gaza crossings to be opened and, in particular, for exports to be allowed out of Gaza.”

One Israeli diplomatic official said that what was so striking was that the statement was completely out of sync with the message that Frattini brought to Israel, one reason why the EU’s influence here is so limited.

Regarding the EU statement, the official said that “as long as this is their world view, they will continue to remain locked in their own fantasy work, without any possibility of influencing the real one.”

It is also mind boggling, the official said, that the statements routinely issued from the EU “make no acknowledgment of Israeli positions. They hold on to their slogans for dear life, and no reality makes them change it.”

My own view is that Ashton - in addition to being a pompous ass - is an anti-Semite. I haven't done a head count to see how many other European Foreign Ministers are like her, but she is not the only one.

Labels: Catherine Ashton, David Makovsky, Franco Frattini, Hillary Clinton, settlement freeze extension

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:11 AM