Tony Blair met Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal twice in Doha to discuss ways to end the Gaza siege, the Middle East Eye website has reported, citing unnamed sources.
The website reported on Monday that the pair last met prior to Blair stepping down from his post as the representative of the Quartet of Middle East power brokers in May.
It was reported that they discussed ways to end the Gaza siege,
including the possibility of a rolling ceasefire, and that Blair's
negotiations were being supported by the UK, the United States and the
European Union. Two Arab states and Israel were also reportedly aware of
the discussions.
Though Blair has stepped down from his post with the Quartet, the discussions are reportedly continuing.
Neither the recognition of Israel, nor the decommissioning of Hamas'
arsenal, would be a requirement for any potential deal, the website
reported.
Wonder which two Arab states? I'd bet on Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Only in Israel: 'Commitment to peace' claimed to trump taking $600,000 in bribes
Only in Israel would a disgraced former Prime Minister have the gall to call as a character witness the former Prime Minister of a foreign country to urge a reduced sentence for taking $600,000 in bribes because of his 'commitment to peace.' The disgraced former Prime Minister is Ehud K. Olmert (pictured above being greeted in jail by convicted rapist and former President Moshe Katzav). The former Prime Minister of a foreign country is Britain's Tony Blair.
Blair's letter, which highlighted Olmert's commitment to "ensuring that
Israel was protected," but noted his appreciation that "peace was an
indispensable part of such protection," was issued to the court as
Olmert's defense team attempted to roll back the scrutiny assailing
Olmert's reputation and pleaded for the former Labor leader not to serve
any jail time.
...
The Defense emphasized Olmert's personal relationship with other major
figures during his tenure, with Blair's letter suggesting that the two
leader's report going "beyond that between heads of Government", being
"based on friendship and trust with a clear understanding of the needs
and sensitivities of the other side."
A second letter was issued on Olmert's behalf by former Mossad chief Meir Dagan, a man who has probably done more than any other Israeli to ensure that Iran becomes a nuclear weapons state.
Just how corrupt is Olmert? From the original link above:
[I]n March, the court assessed the new [Olmert's former secretary Shula] Zaken recordings, her journal and
much of her testimony, changing their conclusion from acquittal into
convicting Olmert after finding that the evidence proved beyond a
reasonable doubt that at least $153,950 out of the over $600,000 Olmert
was accused of using for illegal personal use was in fact used
illegally.
Damningly, the court found that a recording of Olmert
telling Zaken she could take funds from a secret safe for her illegal
use contradicted his narrative that he was unaware of any such funds
or that he thought they were being used for permitted political
purposes.
Yes, Israelis, our government is often as corrupt as we think it is.
If you watch this video (Hat Tip: Ruchy A), you will see that at former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's funeral on Monday morning, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US Vice President Joe Biden are both wearing kipot (skullcaps). Blair and Biden are both non-Jews. On the other hand, Sharon's two (to the best of my knowledge, Jewish) sons, Omri and Gilad, are both bare-headed.
Middle East Quartet envoy Tony Blair says he 'can't be sure' of what Hamas wants
Former British Prime Minister and current Middle East Quartet envoy Tony Blair said during an interview on Morning Joe in the US on Tuesday that he 'can't be sure' of what Hamas wants. How reassuring.
But there's a lot more here too. And the bottom line is that Blair advocates doing the same old thing that hasn't worked for the last 20 years. In fact, he reminds me of the 'peace processors' who are always saying 'now is the time' when nothing has happened to make 'now' the time.
For the record, Israel is not Northern Ireland. More on that story here.
Finally, there's only one comment there now, but it's a great one:
Does Mr. Blair have comprehension problems? How many times must Ismael
Haniyeh, Mousa Marzook and the rest of the senior Hamas members have to
repeat that their objective is a Muslim Palestine “from the [Jordan]
river to the [Mediterranean] sea” before he understand what they’re
saying?
"I continue to call on the Israeli government to release the clearance revenues it is withholding from the Palestinian Authority without delay and resume their transfer on a regular basis," Blair said in a statement.
"The funds are vital for the functioning of the PA and Israel's withholding of these Palestinian funds threatens the salaries of some 180,000 employees, including Palestinian security officials who are working to provide security in the West Bank," the Quartet representative added.
"Only those who oppose peace," Blair added, benefit from withholding the funds from the PA.
Earlier Tuesday, Ban Ki-moon asked Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to resume the transfer of tax revenues to the PA, according to a UN spokesperson.
In a telephone conversation with the prime minister, Ban also expressed concern about Israel's plans for construction in the settlements, while praising the country's "approval of new UN construction projects worth US$ 5.5 million in Gaza."
The secretary-general emphasized the importance of creating "an environment conducive for the resumption of direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians."
Why on earth should we abide by the agreement by turning money over to the 'Palestinians' when they have disdainfully violated that very same agreement by seeking 'statehood' unilaterally at the United Nations?
There’s little doubt that the transition to democracy is in danger. But the fault lies not with protesting Copts, Islamic fundamentalists or others who have been organizing and agitating for change in Cairo, but with the military regime. The 24 senior officers on the ruling council have repeatedly said that they wish to hand over power to civilians as soon as possible. But they keep extending their time: Having at first promised to carry out a transition by last month, they now are talking about a timetable that would keep them in office for at least a year, and maybe much longer.While they linger, the generals misrule. They have subjected thousands of civilians to unfair military trials, intimidated the media and spooked tourists and foreign investors with erratic economic decisions, including the rejection of much-needed foreign loans. They issue laws and even constitutional amendments, then abruptly change them. They have failed to protect Christian churches and the Israeli embassy, which was sacked by a mob of thugs as police stood by. They then cite such outbreaks of violence as justification for still more repression — including the extension of the previous regime’s autocratic emergency law.
Yes there's something disturbing about the behavior of Egypt's military. But once the military council surrenders power, there's no reason to assume that democracy will prevail. While the Muslim Brotherhood might not achieve power on its own, it will influence how Egypt is run and will use its first election as basis for expanding its influence and power. However the military council is manipulating the foment for its own purposes, it appears that the attacks on the Copts come from Islamists.
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is an infuriating character. Just when you think you have got him neatly categorized as a pretentious, self-seeking political wrecker, he does something right and brave.Maybe he has acted for no more noble a motive than consideration for his American royalties and lecture fees, but anyway he has stood up and unequivocally opposed Mahmoud Abbas's bid for full recognition of a Palestinian state at the UN."You can pass whatever resolution you like at the United Nations or the Security Council, it doesn't actually deliver you a state on the ground in the West Bank and Gaza, and if you don't have a negotiation, whatever you do at the UN is going to be deeply confrontational," Blair, who is the international community's official Middle East representative, was quoted as saying.
The Palestinians have strongly slammed Blair for his support to Israel's demands to resume the peace talks with the Palestinians. The Palestinian leadership insists that any direct or indirect peace talks with Israel must be based on two major conditions, a full Israeli cessation of settlement construction and a recognition of a Palestinian state on the 1967 territories.
The lack of negotiations is not because of anything Israel did or did not do. It's the because the Palestinians are insisting on preconditions before returning to talks. The crisis, if it is one, can be resolved by bringing pressure on the Palestinians to drop the preconditions. It's amazing that the Palestinians preconditions aren't bigger news.
The preconditions aren't bigger news because the media is biased against Israel and therefore are under-reporting them.
As 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud AbbasAbu Mazen winged his way to New York on Monday, he told reporters on his private jet (for which you and every other taxpayer in Israel, the US and Europe are paying) that 'all hell has broken out.'
Speaking to journalists on his flight to New York, Abbas said that the Palestinian leadership had seriously discussed all proposals put forward by the Middle East Quartet and its special envoy Tony Blair, a correspondent reported.
The proposals, however, did not support the goal of a sovereign Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, Abbas said.
The president said he had been told by the United States and European governments that "matters will be bad" after a UN move which reflects his frustration with a moribund peace process.
He is scheduled to meet with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavarov on Monday to discuss international developments and proposals on the bid, a reporter said.
Abbas said there had been "huge pressure" on the Palestinian Authority not to continue with the UN bid for statehood, adding that third party mediators had not made any useful suggestions.
"We told them that any proposals which do not include a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders and an end to settlement expansion are unacceptable."
"We decided to take this step and all hell has broken out against us," he told reporters.
One person who will apparently not meet with Abu Mazen while he is in New York is US President Barack Hussein Obama.
Abbas said Sunday that he had not scheduled to meet with US President Barack Obama during the 66th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, but is open to the possibility.
“Neither I, nor Obama asked for a meeting, so I don’t believe we will meet. However, if we meet, I will remind him that he promised last year that the state of Palestine would be a full member of the UN this year, and I came here on the grounds of the promise I heard."
He said the Palestinians' only decision so far was to request full membership through the Security Council.
"From now until I give the speech, we have only one choice: going to the Security Council. Afterward, we will sit and decide."
Politico reports that while Abu Mazen has committed to going to the UN Security Council, he is not yet committed to going to the UN General Assembly, where the 'Palestinians' claim to have 126 countries who support their 'statehood' bid (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).
If they fail to gain recognition from the 15-member Security Council, some Palestinians officials have said they then plan to turn to the full U.N. General Assembly to upgrade their status from an “entity” to a “non-member state.” The Palestinians say that they have support from at least 126 members of the 193 members of the General Assembly,reports Reuters.
However, Abbas himself has not yet pledged to go quite that far. “From now until I give the speech, we have only one choice: going to the Security Council. Afterwards, we will sit and decide,” he said.
Abu Mazen also claims that his 'people' will not resort to violence.
Abbas also vowed that the Palestinians would not again resort to violence, as some did after the failure of the Camp David Summit in 2000.
“We will never return to an intifada [uprising]. We will never return to violence,” Abbas said. “All our people will do is demonstrate peacefully inside the [Palestinian] cities.”
I don't know a single Israeli who believes that, although we are all hoping and praying that the IDF will be able to contain the 'demonstrations' within the 'Palestinians' cities.
Here's a report that includes video of Abu Mazen's arrival in New York. Let's go to the videotape.
See below regarding video.
JPost reports that the quartet is frantically trying to help President Obama to avoid a veto.
A last-ditch international push began in New York on Sunday to try to relaunch Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and avert a crisis over Palestinian statehood at the United Nations as members of the so-called Quartet of Middle East mediators met in New York.
Officials met two days after Abbas said he would demand full membership of the world body for a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly this week, setting up a diplomatic clash with Israel and the United States.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held talks with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. Asked before the meeting if either could report any progress, Clinton replied, "We are meeting to talk about the way forward." Asked if that meant no progress, she said, "I didn't say that."
...
The United States says it will veto in the Security Council a Palestinian application for full UN membership, but former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who serves an an envoy for the Quartet, said on Sunday a showdown could still be averted.
Blair told reporters, "The Palestinians are here at the UN now, so the question is ... can people find a way that enables the Palestinians to take a significant step forward to statehood at the same time as not ending up in a situation where the UN replaces negotiations?"
On Sunday, Israel's Channel 10 reported that a 'Palestinian' source complained that Blair was behaving 'like an Israeli diplomat' (link in Hebrew).
Who's fault is it? I'll get to that later today.
UPDATE 3:02 PM BOSTON TIME
LiveLeak took down the video. No great loss - the rest of the post is more important.
The Middle East 'quartet' met over dinner for two hours and 15 minutes in Washington on Monday night and ended without making any progress. They did not even issue a statement.
The Quartet wants to find a way to resume talks and to avert a diplomatic showdown expected at the United Nations in September, when the Palestinians may seek wider international recognition for a Palestinian state.
"There are still gaps that are impeding progress," said a senior Obama administration official who briefed reporters after the meeting on condition of anonymity. "Realistically ... more work needs to be done to close those gaps."
"There is a time and a place for public statements and there is a time and a place for private diplomacy," he added. "We need to do more work, privately, quietly, with the parties, in order to see if we can't close these gaps."
The official declined to discuss the nature of the gaps and he said the Quartet perceives "an urgent need to appeal to the parties to overcome current obstacles and find a way to resume direct negotiations without delay or preconditions."
Given Israel's expectations from this meeting, I suppose we ought to be pleased with this result.
UPDATE 11:22 AM
So here's the bad news. Israel Radio reports that the quartet will meet again on Tuesday in an effort to reach an agreed statement, and that all parties present voiced approval for President Obama's call for a 'Palestinian state' on the '1967 lines' with 'agreed swaps.'
With the Middle East 'quartet' (US, Russia, UN, EU) scheduled to meet on Monday in Washington former chief 'Palestinian' negotiatorbottle washer Saeb Erekat has given the 'international community' their marching orders.
“We call on the Quartet to issue a statement urging Israel to freeze construction in the settlements and accept the 1967 lines as the borders of the Palestinian state,” said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.
He said the PA has been in contact with representatives of the Quartet to explain to them the Palestinian position and urge them to issue the appeal to Israel.
“Intensified settlement activities in the West Bank and Jerusalem is a basic pillar of the Israeli government’s policy,” Erekat said. “This proves that Israel is trying to prevent the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.”
Erekat said that during his talks with US government officials in Washington last week he presented them with a document detailing all of the settlement activities since the beginning of this year.
The document reveals Israel has built thousands of housing units in various settlements in the West Bank, and in east Jerusalem, Erekat said.
He accused Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of “racing against time to prevent the establishment of an independent Palestinian state” by increasing construction in the settlements, including Jerusalem’s neighborhoods of Gilo, Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan, Pisgat Ze’ev, the Mount of Olives, Givat Hamatos and Ras al-Amoud.
“These settlement activities are illegal and violate international law,” Erekat complained.
“They will also destroy any chance of implementing the two-state solution and US-led international efforts to revive the peace process.”
Erekat’s document is largely based on a report by Peace Now on settlement activities in the West Bank and Jewish housing in east Jerusalem.
“We hope that the Quartet meeting will come out with a serious statement that focuses on the two-state solution on the basis of the 1967 borders and calls for an immediate cessation of settlement construction,” he said.
Erekat called on the US and EU to recognize a Palestinian state that would become the 194th UN member, after South Sudan.
Prime Minister Netanyahu is reported to be concerned about a surprise of the type President Obama threw at him in his May 19 speech.
A source in Jerusalem said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet colleagues have concerns that the Quartet announcement could provide a surprise for Israel similar to Obama's May speech, the contents of which were revised less than 24 hours before it was delivered.
And what type of surprise might Netanyahu fear?
Monday's meeting of Quartet foreign ministers and the UN secretary general comes after the European Union exerted intense pressure for the presentation of an international peace plan on the conflict. The EU's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, has argued such a peace proposal would constitute an alternative to the Palestinian push for recognition of an independent Palestinian state at the UN in September, and that it might convince the Palestinians to refrain from going forward with their plans.
In the past two weeks, France has put heavy pressure on Ashton and the other Quartet members for the group's statement to include an invitation to Israel and the Palestinians to resume negotiations based on Obama's remarks on the 1967 borders and on recognition of Israel as a Jewish state.
The U.S. is proposing a Quartet statement that mentions the Obama address in relatively general terms and announces that a Quartet delegation would visit the region for additional talks.
On the other hand, many Israelis would be surprised to hear the points to which Prime Minister Netanyahu has agreed.
Israeli sources have said Netanyahu has been somewhat more flexible in his stance regarding the principles expressed in Obama's address, saying that he would agree to base talks on the 1967 borders with land swaps. In exchange, he is seeking Obama administration ratification of President George W. Bush's letter to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon regarding Jewish West Bank settlement blocs coming under Israeli sovereignty and for Palestinian refugees to be resettled in a future Palestinian state.
So Obama has the chance to re-sell the same concession Bush sold to us seven years ago. What could go wrong?
The third annual President's conference opened on Tuesday at the Jerusalem Convention Center. I have managed to wrangle myself a blogger's pass and will be reporting from the conference on Wednesday and Thursday - work obligations prevented me from attending on Tuesday.
It sounds like I didn't miss many of the people I really want to hear - the speakers on Tuesday included Shimon Peres (who is the sponsor), Amos Oz and Tony Blair.
The speakers at this year’s President’s Conference will include Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, opposition head Tzipi Livni, Quartet envoy Tony Blair, former Shas chairman Arye Deri, British Ambassador Matthew Gould, US Ambassador Dan Kurtzer, French intellectual Bernard- Henri Lévy, author Amos Oz, US diplomat Dennis Ross, hitech entrepreneur Yossi Vardi – and, of course, President Shimon Peres.
Plenary sessions will deal with nations, ethics, trends, challenges, decisions, global perspectives for tomorrow and future media.
The panel discussions promise to be more interesting but will in many cases leave audiences frustrated because there will be too many people addressing each topic, which means that few if any participants will have time to develop a theme and audiences will not be much wiser, if any wiser, at the end. The topics of some of these discussions are: Thin Ice – Criticism vs. Loyalty in Israel-Diaspora relations; The Israel Economy – A Small, Leading Market; Israel and America: Has the Love Cooled?; The Future of European Jewry; The Israeli- Palestinian Peace Process; Delegitimization; Conversion: Who Keeps the Gate for the Jewish Nation; Jewish Identity; Israel and the Diaspora: Relationship among Equals?; Cutting Edge Medicine; Will We Miss the Old Middle East?; New Energy for Tomorrow; The Jewish Dimension of a Peace Agreement; Where is Jewish Philanthropy Headed?; The Drama of Brain Research; and Stopping Nuclear Proliferation.
The plenary session tickets for bloggers are limited. I may not get into all of them. But I should be able to choose one panel discussion for each session.
Evelyn Gordon makes a great case for why Quartet Middle East envoy Tony Blair ought to be fired. But it's probably not for the reason you think: They don't listen to him anyway.
This week, for instance, Blair warned that the Arab Spring, far from making Israeli-Palestinian peace talks more urgent, makes them almost impossible. Israel no longer knows what regional threats it may face, he explained, while Palestinian leaders will have trouble making “difficult compromises which will be tough to sell, in circumstances where they don’t know the regional context into which such compromises will be played.”
That should be obvious.
...
But instead of recognizing these obvious facts, France is pushing a plan to resume negotiations in Paris this fall, while the U.S. is working on its own plan for autumn talks in Washington. That both also propose a formula entirely unacceptable to Israel — requiring it to cede the entire West Bank without any Palestinian concession on the refugees in exchange, in line with Barack Obama’s May 19 speech — is mere icing on the cake.
It would be better if the Quartet actually took Blair’s advice. But since it won’t, it may as well at least stop wasting money on an unheeded envoy.
Middle East 'quartet' envoy Tony Blair writes in the foreword to the new paperback edition of his autobiography that the 'Arab spring' has made peace between Israel and the 'Palestinians' more difficult.
Blair, still the special envoy of the quartet in the Middle East, admits the Arab spring is going to make it harder to secure a Palestinian peace deal since Israel is less certain about the nature of the threat it faces.
The stability and predictability of Israel's neighbours, he says, has been replaced by instability and unpredictability.
"For similar reasons, but with an opposite conclusion, the Palestinian leadership find it hard to go into negotiation with an Israeli partner they don't trust, to make difficult compromises which will be tough to sell, in circumstances where they don't know the regional context into which such compromises will be played."
Blair also supports US-European intervention in Libya, saying that it would be inconceivable to leave Muammar Gadhafi in power after the West agreed to Egypt's Hosni Mubarak being deposed. Curiously, Blair apparently has nothing to say about Syria.
Tony Blair, Gordon Brown not invited to royal wedding because....
Britain's two most recent Prime Ministers, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, are not invited to Friday's royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton.
There are two different explanations for the non-invite. According to al-Guardian, it's all a matter of protocol.
Ministerial sources accused Clarence House of a blunder in declining to invite Labour's longest serving prime minister and his successor because they are not Knights of the Garter.
Sir John Major and Baroness Thatcher, who are members of Britain's highest order of chivalry, have been invited. Major, appointed guardian to Princes William and Harry after the death of their mother, will attend. Thatcher will not attend on health grounds.
One senior Whitehall source told the Guardian: "This is courtier lunacy. It beggars belief that St James's Palace is saying … that the wedding is not a formal state occasion and … that Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have not been invited because they are not Knights of the Garter."
Labour MPs have rejected a claim by St James's Palace that it is wrong to draw a parallel with the royal wedding in 1981 when all five former surviving prime ministers were invited. Harold Macmillan, Alec Douglas-Home, Harold Wilson, Edward Heath and James Callaghan attended the Prince of Wales's marriage to Lady Diana Spencer which was a formal state occasion because he is heir to the throne.
Chris Bryant, Labour's former Europe minister, told the Daily Mail: "Those who have been prime minister have served this country, and I think that the same proprieties that have been followed on previous occasions should have been followed again."
There is, however, a perfectly neat and plausible explanation, and it’s this.
Prince William cannot stand Tony Blair, whom he blames for making political capital out of the death of his mother – “the People’s Princess”, as Blair’s spin doctors dubbed her within hours of her death.
The Prince has a long memory and a capacity for cold fury. We catch a glimpse of it in the section of Blair’s memoirs relating to the week after Diana’s death: “I had also spoken to William who was not only still grieving but angry. He knew, rationally, why the week between Diana’s death and the funeral had to be as it had been. But he felt acutely the conflict between public position and private emotion.”
That anger is likely to have reawakened by Blair’s decision to record such a private conversation in the book. It is not hard to imagine William saying “I’m not having that man at my wedding” – and getting his way: after all, in nearly 60 years, only one of the Queen’s prime ministers has twisted her arm to persuade her to do something that went against her instincts, and that was Tony Blair virtually demanding that she broadcast to the nation after the death of William’s mother. And can anyone doubt that the Royal family dislikes blabbermouth Cherie more than any other prime ministerial spouse?
My guess is that the Blairs were never on the wedding list, and that this also explains the absence of the Browns. Inviting Brown but not Blair would have brought the feud into the open: the Palace could not even have trotted out its implausible Knights of the Garter story. If I’m right, then one can’t help feeling a bit sorry for Gordon and Sarah, who are being punished for the crimes of their predecessors. But perhaps they saw it coming: one doesn’t have to spend long in royal company to know that forgiveness doesn’t come easily to the Windsors.
A “Who’s Who” of Arab dictators are invited to tomorrow’s British royal wedding, at the advice of the British Foreign office. But Tony Blair and Gordon Brown are not invited for the “crime” of overthrowing Saddam Hussein.
Hmmm. You can read more about some of those dictators at Tom's site and also here. The Syrian ambassador to London has earned the distinction of being the first person ever to have his invitation to a royal wedding withdrawn on the day before the wedding. More on that story here.
Tony Blair to jump on 'Palestinians are ready' bandwagon
In a report he is to present in Brussels on Wednesday night, Middle East quartet envoy Tony Blair is expected to jump on the 'Palestinians are ready' for a 'state' bandwagon.
A copy seen by The Times concludes: "It is clear that since 2007 the PA [Palestinian Authority] has greatly enhanced its capability to govern and to deliver services ... if the PA maintains its performance in institution-building and delivery of public services, it is wellpositioned for the establishment of a state in the near future."
Mr Blair told The Times: "Palestinian state-building under the Palestinian Authority and [Salam] Fayyad [the Palestinian Prime Minister] is a bright light among a lot of diplomatic darkness. It shows what can be done; how the Palestinians are able to govern a state and therefore the vital importance of re-energising the political process. Palestinian state-building is also an important factor in addressing Israel's real security concerns."
They're able to govern a 'state' with massive amounts of foreign aid. They're not willing to live in peace with their neighbors, and continue to incite against Israel in their official media and in their schools. And they represent - at best - half of their 'people.'
Breaking: Blair hints quartet will recognize 'Palestinian' unity government without Hamas recognition of Israel
British Prime Minister Tony Blair is apparently listening to his sister-in-law. Blair's sister-in-law, Lauren Booth (pictured with Hamas 'Prime Minister' Ismail Haniyeh), is a long-time supporter of Hamas who recently converted to Islam.
Since Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007, the West has consistently had three requirements for dealing with the terror group: That they renounce terror, that they recognize Israel's right to exist, and that they agree to abide by all agreements signed by the 'Palestinian Authority.'
Israel Radio reports (3:00 pm) that in a press conference with the Arab media on Monday, Middle East quartet envoy Tony Blair said that the quartet would work with a 'Palestinian' unity government if Hamas would renounce violence. Despite being asked twice by reporters, Blair did not say that the terror group must recognize Israel's right to exist. Israel Radio did not mention the third condition - the reporters may not have asked.
This is a serious breach for Israel. The assumption here has always been that the quartet - or at least the US - would abandon negotiations with a 'Palestinian' unity government that included Hamas unless Hamas accepted Israel's right to exist (whatever that means).
The 'Palestinians' can't even accept a gift and say "thank you"
Prime Minister Netanyahu and Quartet envoy Tony Blair met on Friday, and worked out yet another package of unilateral concessions for the 'Palestinians.' You and I would call them gifts, and honestly, I think some of them were excessive anyway.
The proposal was presented as the committee of the Quartet – made up of the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia – prepared to meet in Munich, Germany. It reportedly includes expanding Arab construction in east Jerusalem and giving the Palestinian Authority security powers in seven West Bank cities.
Netanyahu also agreed to begin discussions on the development of a Palestinian Authority gas field adjacent to an Israeli gas field off the coast of Gaza. The PM said future revenues from the Palestinian field will go to the PA.
But the 'Palestinians' mommies never taught them how to accept a gift and say "thank you." This is 'Palestinian' chief negotiator bottle washer Saeb Erekat.
Erekat said the proposal "is just a trick and procrastination of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu."
"What Netanyahu should do, if he wants to build confidence, is immediately stop settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem and recognize a Palestinian state on the territories occupied in 1967,” the Palestinian news agency Ma'an quoted the chief negotiator as saying.
Erekat expressed his hope that western nations "stop dealing with Israel as if it is a country that is above the law" and "reach a historic decision that will recognize a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with east Jerusalem as its capital.
The senior official called on the Quartet to force Israel to halt settlement construction, "including in Jerusalem."
In other words, Israel should just concede up front everything the 'Palestinians' want in a 'final solution.' Are we dealing in statecraft or are we dealing in Kindergarten?
But then Erekat comes up with this doozer.
Addressing the dramatic political developments in the Arab World, Erekat said "what is driving the region to violence and extremism is the continued occupation and Israeli insistence to maintain the settlement enterprise."
Lauren Booth wants brother-in-law indicted for war crimes
Just be happy she's not your sister-in-law (Hat Tip: Soccer Dad via Twitter)....
Former prime minister Tony Blair’s sister-in-law Lauren Booth, a rights campaigner and Muslim convert, said on Wednesday that he should be tried for war crimes over the invasion of Iraq.
Booth, the half-sister of Blair’s barrister wife Cherie, is in Malaysia for lectures organised by Viva Palestina, a British-based organisation associated with controversial politician George Galloway.
Asked whether Blair should be arrested and sent to the International Court of Justice in The Hague for war crimes, Booth replied: “Absolutely. He misled the British people and took Britain to war on a lie.”
The conflict in Iraq was “an offence”, she told reporters after a speech at a Malaysian university, saying it was organised well in advance between Blair and the United States leadership.
In case you need any proof of Ms. Booth's lack of sanity....
“Muslim women are not oppressed, it is Western women who are oppressed… Western women are bored, lonely and oppressed.”
A recently released diary by Alistair Campbell, formerly Tony Blair's communications director when Blair was Prime Minister of England, quotes Ehud Barak saying that Prime Minister Netanyahu is a bull****ter.
So here, in the style of the Guardian's king of live blogging Andrew Sparrow, are ten interesting facts from the diaries:
1) Britain believes that Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, is an "armour-plated bullshitter". Campbell writes that this was the foreign office description of Netanyahu in April 1998 during Tony Blair's first visit to the Middle East during as prime minister.
This is what Campbell wrote on 17 April 1998:
In the end a lot depended on Netanyahu, or the armour-plated bullshitter as some of the FCO guys called him.
2) Ehud Barak, the former Israeli prime minister who recently left the Labour party to strengthen his coalition with Netanyahu, also believes the Israeli prime minister is a bullshitter.
This is what Campbell wrote on 20 April 1998:
We had a meeting with [Ehud] Barak [Labor Party leader], who was OK but not everything he had been cracked up to be. He said he was pessimistic because Bibi was a total bullshitter.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
