NY Times worries Israel will make peace with Saudi Arabia and leave the 'Palestinians' in the cold
In an editorial in Sunday's editions, the New York Times worries that Israel will make peace with Saudi Arabia (and Egypt, with which we made peace nearly 40 years ago) and leave the 'Palestinians' out in the cold.
The Israelis and the Saudis
have reasons to work together. They share antipathy toward Iran, the leading
Shiite-majority country. Both are worried about regional instability. Both are
upset with the United States over the Iranian nuclear deal and other policies,
including those dealing with Syria. For some time, Israeli and Saudi officials
have been cooperating covertly on security and intelligence matters.
...
It’s hard to tell sometimes
whether and through whom the Saudi royal family is speaking, and some analysts
do not view General Eshki as a serious interlocutor. But his visit to Jerusalem, which included a meeting with members of Parliament,
suggested a new Saudi openness to testing how the public in both countries would
react to overt contacts.
Significantly, Saudi Arabia has also begun a media
campaign in the kingdom, apparently to prepare its citizens for better relations
with Israel.
In recent years, Israelis
and Saudis have encountered each other often at academic and policy forums. In
addition, Israel has established separate official channels of communication
with Saudi Arabia, as well as with the United Arab Emirates, and these channels
are considered “real and significant,” according to Daniel Levy, president of
the U.S./Middle East Project.
Egypt
has also been pursuing warmer ties with Israel. A week before the Saudi
delegation arrived, Sameh Shoukry became the first foreign minister of Egypt
to visit Israelin nine years. Although the two countries signed a peace treaty in 1979, the
relationship never fulfilled its promise. However, ties have improved since
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi became Egypt’s president in 2014, enabling greater security
cooperation against Hamas in Gaza and the militants battling Egyptian troops in
the Sinai.
Where does this leave the
Palestinians? Both the Saudi and Egyptian visits were ostensibly aimed at
promoting peace between Israel and the Palestinians, who have relied on the
Sunni Arab states to advance their interests. General Eshki, for instance,
talked of reviving the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which promised Israel
normalized relations with the Arab League countries as part of a deal to end the
Palestinian conflict.
Unfortunately, neither the
Israelis nor the Palestinians show interest in serious peace talks. And there
are reasons to doubt that the Palestinians are the Arab countries’ real focus.
Mr. Netanyahu, in fact, has made clear his preference for improving relations
with the Arab states first, saying Israel would then be in a stronger position
to make peace with the Palestinians later on.
Of course, improved
relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors do not preclude a Palestinian
peace deal. The danger is that these countries will find more value in mending
ties with each other and stop there, thus allowing Palestinian grievances, a
source of regional tension for decades, to continue to fester.
In an interview given by Zuhair Mohsen to the Dutch newspaper Trouw in March 1977, Mr. Mohsen explains the origin of the 'Palestinians':
The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab
unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians,
Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical
reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people,
since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a
distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.
For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan.
It's long past time to acknowledge reality: There aren't going to be two states - a Jewish state of Israel and an Arab state of 'Palestine' living side-by-side in peace - unless the Arab state is the one known today as Jordan. The 'Palestinian grievances' can never be satisfied, and even the Arab states recognize today that they have more important things to do with Israel than try to dismember it by creating a 'right of return' for 'Palestinian refugees' who are non-citizens in weaker Arab countries like Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. There will be no 'right of return.'
The 'Palestinians' who live within Israel (including Judea and Samaria) will either learn to accept reality and economic and political conditions in the State of Israel that are far better than those anywhere in the Arab world outside of the royal families of the Gulf, or they will leave for Western countries that are willing to have them (Frau Merkel?). And Israel will eventually have relations with Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, and maybe even Qatar (which today is Hamas' biggest supporter) because economic realities dictate that those relationships will happen.
And the New York Times will go off crying into the sunset. Speedily and in our times.
If anyone was still confused about the aims of the Saudis and their
allies, they’re making it quite explicit. “Persian Gulf leaders, set to
convene at a Camp David summit this week, are pressing President Obama
to strengthen the U.S. security relationship with the region and expand
military assurances to address their growing concerns about Iran, U.S.
and regional officials said,” The Washington Post revealed on Tuesday.
Senior officials from several gulf nations said they
understand that a mutual defense alliance, similar to NATO, is not
possible. At the very least, however, they want a firmer and more
specific U.S. promise to protect them from external threats.
“In the past we have survived with a gentlemen’s agreement with the
United States about security,” said Yousef al-Otaiba, ambassador to
Washington for the United Arab Emirates, one of the six Gulf Cooperation
Council countries participating in the summit. “Today, we need
something in writing. We need something institutionalized.”
The concerns of the Arab states are perfectly valid. The Obama
administration has demonstrated clearly over the course of its tenure
that they have no regard for America’s historic alliances, the United
States’ long-term interests, or any discernable grand strategy.
America’s word is no longer good. “Today, we need something in writing.”
The Gulf Arab states already sought a mutual defense pact with the
United States that was rejected by this White House several weeks ago.
In the absence of American security guarantees, the Gulf states will
provide for their own defense.
In case you missed it, the key sentences there are "The Obama
administration has demonstrated clearly over the course of its tenure
that they have no regard for America’s historic alliances, the United
States’ long-term interests, or any discernable grand strategy.
America’s word is no longer good." That's been true since the beginning of this administration. It took just a few months after Obama took power.
Will a new administration in Washington return to its traditional allies and demonstrate loyalty and reliability? Twenty months may be too long to wait to find out.
Can the Gulf states defend themselves? That's part of the problem. They have the equipment and they can certainly afford to buy more. But their armies and their operational capabilities leave a lot to be desired.
The Schengen Visa is the representative of the collective of 26 European
countries that have mutually decided to eliminate passport and
immigration controls at their joint borders. Within the Schengen area,
concurrently, the citizens of these 26 European countries are free to
travel in and out of this zone as one single country sharing equal
international travel rights. The citizens of the Schengen zone countries
cherish the right to migrate internationally without any limitations,
the basis of free movement, one of the basic human rights.
It starts: Emirates first two nuke plants applies for licenses, to go online by '17
Anyone who thought that an Iranian nuclear capability would not set off an arms race in the Middle East needs to be concerned about this: The United Arab Emirates has submitted its first two applications for operating licenses for nuclear power plants, with four such power plants expected to go online by 2020.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Federal Authority for Nuclear
Regulation (FANR) will now examine the submission. ENEC is aiming to
receive the operating licence for Barakah unit 1 in 2016, in time for
the plant to become operational in 2017, with the licence for Barakah
2 expected to be received the same year. The company is seeking a
licence to operate both units for 60 years, in line with the expected
operating life of the Korean-designed APR1400 units.
ENEC CEO Mohammad Al Hammadi said the on-time submission of the OLA
was a crucial milestone towards the 2017 start-up of the UAE's first
nuclear power plant. "The submission is the culmination of many years of
work by ENEC and Kepco. It is proof of the organization's successful
transformation into a world-class nuclear operating company," he said.
ENEC has already applied to FANR for two separate licences covering
the import, receipt and possession of radioactive and nuclear materials,
which it anticipates receiving well ahead of its first fuel load for
Barakah 1 in 2016.
Barakah will ultimately comprise four APR-1400 reactors built by the
KEPCO-led consortium. Unit 1, under construction since 2012, is now over
69% complete and on schedule for its 2017 start-up. Units 2, 3 and 4
are scheduled to follow on at 12-month intervals, with units 2 and 3
under construction. Work has yet to begin on the fourth unit, which is
expected to start up in 2020.
The Emirates has the fourth largest (fifth if you include OPEC as a country) proven oil reserve in the world. Now, obviously these plants are intended for civilian purposes (the United States actually is helping the UAE to build the plants), but Iran claims the same thing about their nuclear power plants, and one has to wonder whether the United Arab Emirates would be seeking a nuclear energy capability were it not facing Iran, which will soon have one. And like Iran, the UAE is not exactly a democracy.
If you happen to own a commercial jetliner, I sure hope you didn't park it in Tripoli.
In yet another indication that the Arab world understands the implications of an Islamist takeover, while much of the West does not, the New York Times reports that Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have taken matters into their own hands, 'secretly' carrying out airstrikes in Libya (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).
The
United States, the officials said, was caught by surprise: Egypt and
the Emirates, both close allies and military partners, acted without
informing Washington or seeking its consent, leaving the Obama
administration on the sidelines. Egyptian officials explicitly denied
the operation to American diplomats, the officials said.
The
strikes are another high-risk and destabilizing salvo unleashed in a
struggle for power that has broken out across the region in the
aftermath of the Arab Spring revolts, pitting old-line Arab autocrats
against Islamists.
Since the military ouster of the Islamist president in Egypt one year
ago, the new Egyptian government, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates have formed a bloc exerting influence in countries around the
region to roll back what they see as a competing threat from Islamists.
Arrayed against them are the Islamist movements, including the Muslim
Brotherhood, backed by friendly governments in Turkey and Qatar, that
sprang forward amid the Arab Spring revolts.
Libya
is the latest, and hottest, battleground. Several officials said that
United States diplomats were fuming about the airstrikes, believing they
could further inflame the Libyan conflict at a time when the United
Nations and Western powers are seeking a peaceful resolution.
“We don’t see this as constructive at all,” said one senior American official.
The Obama administration is so enamored with political Islam that they don't get (or don't want to get) that for most people in this region, political Islam is a death sentence. It's being thrown back to the 8th century with no chance of escape. It's going back to an agrarian economy that doesn't produce enough of anything, and to a brutal 'justice' system. And if you're not Muslim, it's even worse....
By the way, what do these 'American officials' think? That these countries are going to come and beg them for permission to act? This is their territory! Since when do they have to ask the Lord King Hussein Obama for permission to act in their territory? They at least understand that they have to protect their populations (Egypt shares a border with Libya).
Officials said that the government of Qatar has already provided weapons
and support to the Islamist aligned forces inside Libya, so the new
strikes represent a shift from proxy wars —where regional powers playout
their agendas through local allies —to direct involvement.
The only complaint I have is that the strikes were not successful - the Islamists have taken control of the airport. But the old line Arab countries have decided that it's better to go down fighting than passively. And they're right. If the Islamists take over this region, no one will be happy except for Obama.
President Hussein Obama may not be crazy about Israel, but some other people are warming to the Jewish state.
As Israel
seeks to sideline Hamas in any accord on the Gaza Strip's future, it's
finding quiet support among Arab nations where antagonism toward the
Islamist group eclipses their enmity toward the Jewish state.
Egypt,
which mediated a second 72-hour halt to Gaza fighting yesterday, is now
ruled by an army chief who presided over a crackdown on Hamas's
Islamist patrons. Saudi Arabia's king didn't explicitly criticize Israel
in a recent lament over civilian deaths in Gaza. The United Arab
Emirates, which pledged aid to help rebuild the coastal strip, is also
hostile to political Islam.
There's an "alignment of
interests" between nations that aren't allies yet have "common
adversaries," said Martin Indyk, vice president of the Brookings
Institution in Washington
and a former U.S. negotiator in the Middle East. "As they see that the
U.S. is less engaged than it was before, it's natural that they look to
each other -- quietly, under the table in most respects -- to find a way
to help each other."
Talks
in Cairo first delivered a three-day truce that collapsed Aug. 8 amid a
barrage of Hamas rockets. Israel sent a delegation to Cairo today after
rocket attacks ended at midnight with the start of the second accord.
Israel and Hamas are pressing for an agreement that addresses issues
earlier pacts didn't resolve. Hamas wants to end the blockade of Gaza by
Israel and Egypt, while Israel seeks to demilitarize the territory.
...
Israel has had greater contact in recent weeks with Arab governments
opposed to radical Islamists, according to an Israeli official who asked
not to be identified because he was not authorized to comment publicly.
Israel, like the U.S. and European Union, considers Hamas a terrorist
group.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have played a significant role in returning Hamas to the negotiating table
over a permanent ceasefire, a security official revealed Sunday on
condition of anonymity, after pledging to contribute money to rebuild
Gaza.
Hamas initially insisted on a financial plan backed by their longtime
ally, Qatar, to recover from the conflict, the source stated to Walla!.
However, since Jerusalem and Cairo both aim to lessen Qatar's
stronghold on the terror regime - as well as the influence of
Qatar-based Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Meshaal - Hamas then turned to
Riyadh and contacts in the United Arab Emirates for assistance after
Operation Protective Edge.
The Saudi funding is conditional on the promise that the funds will
be used for legitimate civilian projects only - specifically barring the
rebuilding of terror tunnels.
It is unclear what system of checks and balances exist to ensure that
promise is kept will be in place, however, and the fact remains that
Hamas routinely sets up headquarters in civilian buildings, and has
stored rockets and booby traps in schools and hospitals.
But somehow the money is already there.
Earlier Sunday, the Palestinian news agency Sawa revealed
that Hamas was able to funnel millions of dollars into Gaza over the
past two months despite the IDF crackdown - and that two months' salary
was paid in full to its terror "military wing," the Al-Qassam Brigades,
in the early hours of Sunday morning. Additional funds will also be paid
to Hamas government officials.
Analysts suspect that the funds - which seemingly appeared out of
nowhere - may have been procured, at least in part, from Saudi and UAE
donors.
The revelation is surprising, considering both Riyadh and the UAE have also heavily backed Egypt's crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, which has been closely linked with Hamas. Hamas itself was blacklisted in Egypt earlier this year.
Hmmm.
There's more about the seaport too - both Egypt and Israel are opposed. Read the whole thing.
The Hill reports that Arabs in Arab countries are 'warming' to President Obama.
Since 2011, opinions of Obama’s policies have grown exponentially in
Egypt (from 3 percent to 34 percent), in Jordan (from 3 percent to 25
percent) and in the UAE (from 8 percent to 38 percent).
Views of Obama in Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Lebanon have also increased between 7 and 24 percentage points.
Saudis,
Emiratis and Egyptians gave the administration the highest scores, but
ratings in each country remain well below 50 percent.
Those surveyed
said the Obama administration has been the most effective in ending the
U.S. presence in Iraq, after troops pulled out in 2011, and working to
end Iran’s nuclear program.
The administration has been the least
effective in improving relations with the Muslim world and handling the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Arab Spring, according to the poll.
Talk about framing the questions to get the results you want in a poll. Obama has been most effective in ending US presence in Iraq because he just ended it and let the consequences be damned. He's been totally ineffective at ending Iran's nuclear program (look at the news from Geneva), but is still 'effective' because US 'intelligence agencies' tied Bush's hands from trying in 2007. None of this actually makes Obama popular.
Strong majorities in each country support U.S. policies to spur a
negotiated solution to the civil war in Syria, and favor the U.S.
providing more assistance to its refugees. Majorities in all countries
oppose any form of U.S. military engagement in Syria.
Most of the
countries strongly support U.S.-led negotiations to curb Iran’s nuclear
program, but they have little confidence the talks will succeed.
On
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, strong majorities in every Arab
country surveyed said they aren’t confident the U.S. has been
even-handed in its approach to negotiating peace. More than half of
Palestinians, for instance, felt that way.
The US State Department is sponsoring the Abu Dhabi book fair at which anti-Semitic books - including Hitler's Mein Kampf - are being sold.
The U.S. State Department is listed as a “cultural partner” of the
24th Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, which is currently being held
(from April 30 to May 5). Among the anti-Semitic publications on display
at the fair (in both English and Arabic) – books which paved the way
for The Holocaust – are “The International Jew,” “Mein Kampf” and “The
Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion”.
“The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion” is now reported to be
the second most widely published book in the Arab world. It promotes
anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that Jews are planning global
domination.
Then other “cultural partners” for this year’s Abu Dhabi
International Book Fair include the French government TV channel France
24, National Geographic magazine, and the French Embassy. (There are, it
should be noted, many other titles on display at the book fair, which
are not anti-Semitic or have nothing to do with Jews.)
Several senior diplomats at the U.S. State Department, as well as a
number of French Foreign Ministry employees (not those stationed in Abu
Dhabi) subscribe to this website email list and one would hope they
would take steps to have the Book Fair’s organizers remove the
anti-Semitic titles.
Similar anti-Semitic literature appeared at the 2014 Casablanca Book
Fair and in the recent past at the Frankfurt Book Fair. For more, see this dispatch:
To me, this seems completely in line with State Department behavior.
Dutch soccer team slammed for leaving Jewish player out of UAE trip
The Dutch soccer team Vitesse is facing criticism at home and abroad for leaving home a Jewish player who was not granted a visa to play two matches in the United Arab Emirates.
Two Dutch politicians and several media criticized the team Vitesse
from Arnhem over the weekend for agreeing to play in Abu Dhabi despite
the refusal Saturday to let Dan Mori into the country for matches
against two German teams.
Geert Wilders, leader of the rightist, pro-Israel Party for Freedom,
on Sunday called the team cowardly on his Twitter account. “Vitesse
shouldn’t have gone to the United Arab Emirates to protest the refusal
to let Mori in. They are now accepting the emirates’ Jew-hate.
Cowardly.”
Pieter Omtzigt, a lawmaker for the CDA party, told Dutch media on
Monday that Vitesse should behave like Dutch lawmakers, who refuse to
visit places which try to dictate the make-up of parliamentary
delegations.
Ester Bal, communications director for Vitesse, said the team “stays
away from politics and religion. We have always done this. We are a
soccer club.”
Management said in a statement that the decision to go to Abu Dhabi
was made because “the team had obligations and wanted to prepare to the
best of our abilities for future matches.”
Recall that in 2009, Israeli tennis player Shahar Pe'er was barred from playing in neighboring Dubai. There was such an uproar over her exclusion that Pe'er was allowed into the 2010 version of the same tournament and reached the semi-finals. Something tells me that Mori won't be allowed to play in the Emirates next year either because no one stood up for him.
Hmmm.... US has F-22's parked a 6-minute flight from Iran
I'm sure you all remember the F-22, the plane Hussein Obamadidn't want. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel did some mouthing off in Washington on Thursday, and it turns out that the United States now has some F-22's parked in an airbase in the United Arab Emirates just a six-minute flight from Iran (Hat Tip: Sunlight). In fact, they've actually been there since at least April 2012. This is from the third link.
At a dinner in downtown Washington Thursday, US Defense Secretary
Chuck Hagel touted the Pentagon’s deployment of advanced weaponry,
including the Air Force F-22 Raptor, to the Middle East.
The stealthy fighters, as well other “high-end air, missile defense,
and naval assets,” have been positioned in the region “to deter Iranian
aggression and respond to other contingencies,” Hagel said during his
remarks to The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
It just so happens that satellite imagery of those F-22s in the Middle East has popped up on Google Earth.
Five F-22s have turned up on satellite imagery
at Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates about 100 miles from
Iranian territory. While it’s no secret the US has deployed the
radar-evading Raptors to the Al Dhafra, this is the first time they have
popped up on publicly available satellite imagery.
The satellite picture was taken about a year ago, however it appears to have been put on Google Earth in recent months.
...
The US military goes to great lengths not to disclose the location of
Air Force assets in the region, mostly due to host nation sensitivity.
That said, the Air Force has periodically released pictures of F-22s on
the ground and training. Photo captions simply refer to the jets being
in “Southwest Asia.”
One of the two men who has been arrested in connection with a plot to blow up a Canadian passenger train is the son of a 'Palestinian' who was granted asylum in Canada (Hat Tip: MFS - The Other News via Scaramouche). (Note - the link to the original article in the Toronto Sun does not work).
Mohamed Jaser [the alleged terrorist's dad], who was born in Jaffa City,
in Palestine, on Feb. 1, 1947, stated in his refugee claim in Canada
that his "family was forced to leave their homeland" and moved to the
Gaza Strip when Israel was established in '48.
"Being non-Jewish residents of Palestine, we were not subject to the Law
of Return (favouring Jewish settlement in Palestine) and had to leave
during the time of Jewish migration into the area," Jaser wrote.
"The Israeli army seized our land," and the state "established a policy
of 'religious cleansing,' which promoted and forced the transfer of
non-Jewish citizens and residents from the state of Israel," wrote
Jaser, who lived in Gaza until '66.
What a load of crap. There are still Arabs living in Jaffa today. In fact, it's just about all Arab.
The article then goes on to say that the family moved to the United Arab Emirates where they lived until they were kicked out in January 1991 because the 'Palestinian' leadership backed Saddam in the Gulf War. Then they moved to Canada as refugees. I guess this is how they are showing their appreciation. That doesn't bode well for others who might want to move to Canada in the future.
When US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel comes to the Middle East next week, one of his goals will be to finalize an arms deal with Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that's intended to help those countries respond to a nuclear Iran.
A weeklong visit to the region by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel
will culminate a year of secret negotiations on a deal that
Congressional officials said will be second only to the $29.5 billion
sale of F-15 aircraft to Saudi Arabia announced in 2010. But the
delicate balancing act that was necessary in weighing the differing
interests of each nation made it among the most complex ever negotiated.
While one goal was to ensure that Israel continues to field the most
capable armed forces in the region to deter Iran and counter a range of
threats, it was equally important to improve the capabilities of two
important Arab military partners. Another challenge, senior
administration officials said, was coming up with a package that could
help Israel deal with various security challenges — but devised so it
would not be viewed as an American endorsement of accelerated planning
by Israel to strike alone at Tehran’s suspected nuclear facilities.
The objective, one senior administration official said, was “not just to
boost Israel’s capabilities, but also to boost the capabilities of our
Persian Gulf partners so they, too, would be able to address the Iranian
threat — and also provide a greater network of coordinated assets
around the region to handle a range of contingencies.”
Those other security risks, officials said, include the roiling civil
war in Syria — a country with chemical weapons that could be used by the
Assad government or seized by rebels — and militant violence in the
Sinai Peninsula.
Under the agreement, each country would be allowed to purchase advanced
armaments from American contractors. In the case of Israel, there is
also substantial American financial assistance, topping $3 billion in
military aid this fiscal year.
Israel would buy new missiles designed to take out an adversary’s
air-defense radars, as well as advanced radars for its own warplanes,
new refueling tanker planes and — in the first sale to any foreign
military — the V-22 Osprey troop transport aircraft.
The United Arab Emirates would buy 26 F-16 warplanes, a package that
could reach $5 billion alone, along with precision missiles that could
be launched from those jets at distant ground targets. Saudi Arabia
would buy the same class of advanced missile.
The expectation is that the arms sale, which was outlined to Congress on
Thursday, will encounter little opposition from lawmakers, especially
from members representing the many districts where defense contractors
are concerned about the impact of cutbacks in the Pentagon’s own weapons
budget. But Congressional officials said members were seeking
assurances that the package was in keeping with American policy to
guarantee Israel’s “qualitative military edge” while not recklessly
emboldening Israeli hawks.
...
Israel also would receive antiradiation missiles. Launched from a
warplane, they can home in on an adversary’s air-defense radar signals
and destroy those sites. New, advanced radars for Israel’s military jets
also would be in the package.
Two issues: First, I'm kind of surprised there's nothing here about Israel getting bunker busting capabilities. And second, the US is selling all this equipment to the Saudis, but the Saudis have never actually fought on their own behalf (remember Gulf War I?).
I'm sure that many of you remember Inspector Tamim from Dubai. Tamim regularly warns about the Muslim Brotherhood trying to undermine the governments of the Gulf state countries. Now, his warnings are becoming increasingly urgent.
"The
Brotherhood as a ruling party in Egypt has no right to interfere with
other countries. They are no longer a political party and should respect
the independence of other countries," Khalfan told Reuters in an
interview this week.
He reiterated charges that Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood was linked to an
alleged plot to topple the UAE government, saying the group's ultimate
goal was Islamist rule in all Gulf states.
Khalfan, who
has often railed against the Brotherhood on his Twitter account, is one
of only a few UAE officials to speak publicly about politics.
While
he says his tweets are personal views, diplomats say they reflect
concerns among the UAE ruling elite about the regional popularity of
Islamists and the possibility that the West will engage with them.
Khalfan complained that the West "sympathies, adopts and supports" the Brotherhood, saying he did not understand why.
In Monday’s election, 18 states gained seats, even though activists
had denounced each potential member’s human rights record days earlier.
“We need better ingredients in the soup,” Hillel Neuer, executive
director of UN Watch,
said during an event on Friday at the United Nations in New York where
questions were raised about several candidates for the panel.
On Friday, UN Watch and the Human Rights Foundation
had invited activists from Venezuela, Pakistan and Kazakhstan to speak
about human rights violations. The three countries all gained council
membership on Monday, even though the two groups judged them “not
qualified” to serve, based on an examination (PDF) of their domestic rights protections and their voting record at the United Nations.
“It
would be immoral to let Venezuela join if it doesn’t improve its
behavior,” said the Venezuelan businessman Eligio Cedeño, who supported
opposition politicians before being arrested and charged with
circumventing currency controls.
As my colleague Simon Romero reported in 2010, a judge, María Lourdes Afiuni, freed Mr. Cedeño after a U.N. legal panel said
his pretrial detention exceeded the limits set by Venezuelan law. The
ruling by Judge Afiuni angered President Hugo Chávez, who, while
contending on national television that she would have been put before a
firing squad in earlier times, sent his secret police to arrest her. She
was sentenced to 30 years and is currently under house arrest. Mr.
Cedeño fled to the United States.
UN Watch and the Human Rights
Foundation also criticized Pakistan for failing “to meet the minimal
standards of a free democracy.” A major point of international scrutiny
and condemnation has been Pakistan’s blasphemy law.
Sajid
Christopher, a Christian activist, denounced the law as an instrument of
intimidation against religious minorities. “The law requires neither
proof of intent nor evidence to be presented after allegations are made,
and includes no penalties for false allegations,” said Mr. Christopher,
the founder of a group called Human Friends International.
...
Igor Vinyavsky, a newspaper editor from Kazakhstan, denounced
harassment and persecution against independent media outlets. In its
latest press freedom index, Reporters Without Borders ranked Kazakhstan 154th
out of 179 countries. Mr. Vinyavsky was detained in January and held
for two months, accused of distributing leaflets calling for an
insurrection, a charge he has denied. He was arrested after a raid on
his Almaty-based newspaper, Vzglyad, in which the security forces
confiscated all reporting equipment, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported.
“To elect Kazakhstan would be a baffling and shameful act,” Mr. Vinyavsky said through a translator on Friday.
The Obama administration was
reelected today for a second three-year term to the U.N.’s top
human-rights body, the Human Rights Council, with substantially fewer
votes than human-rights heavyweights United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan,
Côte d’Ivoire, Venezuela, and Pakistan. Moreover, fewer than half of
Council members now poised to begin applying democratic standards to the
rest of the world, are themselves “fully free,” according to Freedom
House rankings.
Also coming out a big winner today was the Organization of Islamic
Cooperation (OIC), which retained the balance of power on the Council.
Council membership is divided among five regional groups, and the
African and Asian regional groups comprise the majority of members. OIC
states will continue to make up the majority on each of the African and
Asian regional groups.
None of that fazed Obama U.N. ambassador Susan Rice. She told
reporters after the vote that the outcome validated the administration’s
decision to join the Council. Actually, the reverse is true. U.S.
membership validates the Council as a serious human rights body —
despite the fact that it is the U.N. entity chiefly responsible for the
demonization of the state of Israel as allegedly the world’s worst
human-rights violator. Thirty-eight percent of all the human rights
criticism directed at specific countries by the Council in its six-year
history has been directed at Israel alone. None has been directed at
countries such as Saudi Arabia and China, to name but a few.
Rice is, of course, no stranger to diplomatic deceit, a trait shared
by her Council colleagues. With a straight face Pakistani ambassador
Masood Khan told the press after his country’s election today, “All
forces and all segments of civil society in Pakistan are committed to
civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.” That would be
news to say, Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani girl shot in the head by
fellow Pakistanis for advocating girls’ education.
Here's Soccer Dad's Middle East Media Sampler for Thursday, March 29.
1) "Nearby" Ashdod
A recent New York Time news story, As Rockets Fly, New Conditions Shape Fight in Gaza, was illustrated with a picture of school girls taking cover from a rocket attack. The captions read, "In a fourth day of cross-border fighting, schoolgirls in Ashdod, Israel, took cover on Monday during a rocket attack launched from the nearby Gaza Strip."
The use of the word "nearby" is curious. According to Google Maps Ashdod is about twenty miles from Gaza. Gaza is not visible from Ashdod as it is from Sderot. To shoot a rocket from Gaza to Ashdod requires more fuel and technical skill. This is what the terror groups in Hamas controlled Gaza invest in, not creating a better and more productive society.
My 3-year-old has trauma. She shakes in my hands every time a siren is heard. She hugs me and wouldn’t let go for long time. She asks me: ”Dad, why is the siren coming down at us?”. What do you say to your baby when she asks this? That Arabs Hate us and want us dead? How can I explain it to a baby? No we do not teach our children hate. We teach them hope and love and respect.
Sirens blare in my head. Realizing this is not a drill, I jump out of bed and dash to the closest bomb shelter. Within seconds, the room fills with American, Canadian and Israeli students, all here in fear for their lives. Boom one, that was close…boom two, that was closer…wait for it…boom three. We wait to hear the booms because, ironically, that’s the most calming sound. That’s when we know that the bombs have landed and we are momentarily safe. To get some perspective of the rocket threat to Israel, go theJCPA website, click on the "Israel and its neighbors" tab (on top) and then choose the "Gaza Strip" button (to the left).
On the one hand, the PIJ, which joined the attacks despite the fact that the targeted killing had not been directed at an operative of its own, launched most of the rockets with ranges greater than 20 kilometers (12.4 miles). Of the 20 terrorist operatives killed by IDF fire, 14 belonged to the PIJ (the other six belonged mainly to the PRC). On the other hand, the PIJ did not force Israel to pay a high price in lives for the targeted killing of two senior PRC terrorist organizations and the deaths in air strikes of its own operatives, despite the massive amounts of rocket fire directed against Israel, far greater than in previous rounds of escalation (About 240 rockets were fired at Israel, 170 either falling in Israeli territory or intercepted by the Iron Dome, which was successful in destroying long-range rockets.). In addition, public conduct on the home front contributed to the small number of civilian casualties. While a number of civilians were wounded and damage was done to property, in our assessment, the PIJ and PRC regarded the price exacted from Israel as far too low.
The universities are also contributing to much-needed original research on the Middle East, which education experts say can be patchy and outdated. The N.Y.U. Abu Dhabi Institute is spending $35 million on research into Middle Eastern issues. Wharton Abu Dhabi, an office that opened in early 2010, is supervising 30 research projects funded by the CERT Foundation, the entrepreneurial arm of the Higher Colleges of Technology in Abu Dhabi. “Our goal is to create and disseminate knowledge in the region and the best way to do that was to set up an office in the Mideast,” said Pankaj Paul, regional manager for Wharton’s U.A.E. office, the business school’s sole presence outside the United States.
Hmmm. They're studying "Middle East issues" in Abu Dhabi. I wonder how academic that enterprise is! All in all the article reads more like a brochure for those looking to study in the Gulf, rather than a serious journalistic effort. After all, how could the New York Times have failed to note the arrest of Nasser bin Ghaith last year?
The arrest of Nasser bin Ghaith, a lecturer at the Abu Dhabi branch of the University of Paris IV (Paris-Sorbonne) who has participated in the Doha Debates, a respected regional political forum, leaves observers asking what freedoms the academics working at new Western branch campuses in the emirates will enjoy. "Are professors only protected in the 90 minutes when they are giving seminars, and after that they are fair game?" asks Samer Muscati, a researcher on the United Arab Emirates for Human Rights Watch.
If lecturers (and students) are not free to discuss issues and topic that the hosting government disapproves of, it necessarily limits the quality of the academics. In the mid-90's the New York Times applauded Yale University for rejecting a contribution from alumnus Lee Bass for a Western Civilization curriculum because Bass demanded a say in who could teach in the program. But, the same newspaper seemingly has no problem with this limit on academic freedom.
Clearly this is a business decision, that will hurt the quality of education at these institutions.
Does the world much care about the principle of occupation? Not really. Consider land that has been “occupied” in the fashion of the West Bank since World War II. Russia won’t give up the southern Kurile Islands it took from Japan. Tibet ceased to exist as a sovereign country—well before the 1967 Middle East War—when it was absorbed by Communist China. Turkish forces since their 1974 invasion have occupied large swaths of Cyprus. East Prussia ceased to exist in 1945, after 13 million German refugees were displaced from ancestral homelands that dated back 500 years. The 112-mile green line that runs through downtown Nicosia to divide Cyprus makes Jerusalem look united in comparison. Over 500,000 Jews have been ethnically-cleansed from Arab capitals since 1947, in waves of pogroms that come every few decades. Why are they not considered refugees the way the Palestinians are? The point is not that the world community should not focus on Israel’s disputes with its neighbors, but that it singles Israel out for its purported transgressions in a fashion that it does not for nearly identical disagreements elsewhere. Over 75 percent of recent United Nations resolutions target Israel, which has been cited for human rights violations far more than the Sudan, Congo, or Rwanda, where millions have perished in little-noticed genocides. Why is the international community so anti-Israel?
One more point worth citing:
On the flip side, since the 1960s, trillions of petrodollars have flowed into the Islamic Middle East, not just ensuring that Israel’s enemies now were armed, ascendant, and flanked by powerful Western friends, but through contributions, donations, and endowments also deeply embedded within Western thought and society itself. Universities suddenly sought endowed Middle East professorships and legions of full tuition-paying Middle East undergraduates. Had Israel the oil reserves of Saudi Arabia, then “occupied” Palestine might have resonated at the UN about as much as Ossetia, Kashmir, or the Western Sahara does today.
Backlash against Obama in Saudi Arabia and the UAE
Remember how I warned that there would be a price to pay with Saudi Arabia and others for the US abandonment of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak? We're starting to see some of that.
In deciding to set itself against Mr. Mubarak, a U.S. ally for decades, the U.S. is now facing the disquiet of other friendly Arab governments, who have long provided support for American policy goals. Meanwhile, Islamists in the region, including Hamas and Hezbollah, believe they are on the ascent as U.S. allies falter.
Such a scenario was one that defenders of the Middle East's status quo warned was possible, and shows how Mr. Obama's options were all, in some sense, unpalatable. The president was criticized early in the unrest for not clearly favoring antigovernment protesters. Now, having done so, he might have alienated key regional U.S. partners in the fight against al Qaeda and Iran. People familiar with the situation said Israel, the U.S. closest ally, has privately echoed Arab concerns about a U.S. push to kick out Mr. Mubarak, and worries Washington underestimates domestic Egyptian support for the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist parties.
It is unclear how much sway the Saudis have with Mr. Mubarak's regime in Cairo, given that the extent of its financial aid to Egypt isn't known. The U.S. gives Cairo about $2 billion a year. Egypt and Saudi Arabia are major trading partners, and experts say Saudi and Egyptian intelligence services have especially close ties.
Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud has harshly criticized Egyptian protesters in a statement carried by the Saudi state news agency, describing them as "infiltrators" bent on destabilizing Egypt and the region, accusing them of "malicious sedition."
"You don't need to read between the lines too much to see [the Saudis] are in favor of stability," said Richard Fontaine, an analyst with the Center for New American Security and a former adviser to Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona.
Senior officials from the U.A.E., another key regional ally, have said in recent days that the unraveling of Mr. Mubarak's government threatens to provide breathing room for Islamic extremists and Tehran. Egyptian security forces have been among the most aggressive in seeking to combat Hamas and Hezbollah, Palestinian and Lebanese militant groups that receive their arms from Iran and Syria.
"What hurts men and women as well as the leadership in Egypt hurts us all, and our standing with Egypt is an urgent need," U.A.E. Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan said on a visit to Iraq this week. "But our disapproval is of certain parties who might try to exploit the situation with an external agenda."
Another Arab official from a government aligned with Washington said the Obama administration seems to be humiliating Mr. Mubarak, despite his close cooperation over the years. This could lessen the willingness of Arab states to cooperate with Washington in the future, said the official.
"[The Saudis] are at odds with the U.S. position, publicly pushing Mubarak out. And frankly so are we—this isn't how you handle issues in region," said the Arab official. "Egypt needs to be treated with respect."
I have a sick feeling that Israel is going to be asked to pay the price to clean up Obama's relations with the Arab countries through 'concessions' to the 'Palestinians' (remember how the Madrid Conference came about in 1991?).
One of the amazing things that's come out of the Wikileaks treasure trove of documents is that the issue of who is pushing for a strike against Iran is finally settled. For months now, the Left has dismissed as 'neocon speculation' the idea that the Arab countries are even more concerned by the prospect of a nuclear Iran than Israel is. But the Left is totally wrong about that. In fact, the Arab countries have been pushing the US - at least since 2005 - to take military action against Iran.
This is from a cable of a meeting between Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed and a visiting National Defense University delegation. The meeting took place on May 16, 2005:
(S) Turning to Iran, MbZ voiced certainty that the EU-3 efforts with Iran would break down and that Iran would resume its nuclear activities ) if it had not already done so. Repeating concerns first voiced to us in February (reftel), MbZ appeared convinced that it was only a matter of time before Israel or the U.S. would strike Iranian nuclear facility targets. U.S. installations in the Gulf could be targeted by Iran in the aftermath of such an action, he warned. MbZ agreed with the USG,s tough line with Tehran and the Europeans. A nuclear-armed Iran would destabilize the Gulf region and possibly allow terrorist access to WMD. MbZ asked Lt. Gen. Dunn whether it would be possible for &anyone8 to "take out" all locations of concern in Iran via air power; Lt. Gen. Dunn voiced doubt that this would be possible given the dispersed locations. "Then it will take ground forces!" MbZ exclaimed. Ambassador noted that the UAE's Director of Military Intelligence, BG Essa al Mazrouei, would pay counterpart visits this week to CENTCOM, J-2, DIA, and CIA for discussions on Iran and Iraq-related matters. MbZ said he looked forward to sharing "contingency planning" scenarios in future conversations.
According to the leaked document, part of the conversation between King Abdullah and the US officials touched on Saudi attitudes towards Iran, its influence in Iraq and the need to increase pressure on the Islamic Republic.
The cable quotes former Saudi Ambassador to the US Adel al-Jubeir recalling, "the King's frequent exhortations to the US to attack Iran and so put an end to its nuclear weapons program. 'He told you to cut off the head of the snake,' he recalled to the Charge, adding that working with the US to roll back Iranian influence in Iraq is a strategic priority for the King and his government."
The document says that the Saudi foreign minister called for "severe US and international sanctions on Iran, including a travel ban and further restrictions on bank lending." It added that, "the foreign minister also stated that the use of military pressure against Iran should not be ruled out."
In its assessment, the US Embassy cable concluded that the Saudis, "are eager to work with the US to resist and reverse Iranian encroachment in Iraq."
That document is here. It's from April 2008 (before Obama took office) and it turns out that David Petraeus was at that meeting.
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
