Israel up date

Olmert Offers Partial 'Right of Return' under New Name
13 Av 5768, August 14, '08 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/151454


(IsraelNN.com) Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's offer to Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas to turn over 93 percent of Judea and Samaria included a proposal allowing 20,000 foreign Arabs to enter the PA. The offer was conditioned on Abbas's' agreeing not to call the move the "right of return" but rather "family reunification." Abbas rejected the proposal outright.

However, the two leaders agreed last week that 1,000 Arabs from foreign countries or who are in Judea and Samaria illegally be allowed to reside there.


Olmert Denies Promising Abbas Partial 'Right of Return'
13 Av 5768, August 14, '08 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/151458

(IsraelNN.com) Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has denied a report that he offered Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas the immigration of 20,000 foreign Arabs into the PA. However, the denial did not relate his reported condition that the immigration of the Arabs be defined as "family reunification."

The Bethlehem-based Maan news agency, closely aligned with Abbas, reported that the Prime Minister agreed in a recent meeting with the PA leader that 1,000 Arabs, either living abroad or living in Judea and Samaria illegally, can reside in the area. Prime Minister Olmert previously has agreed to other small numbers of Arab to immigrate to the PA for "humanitarian" reasons.


Olmert to PA: You Take Land, We'll Take Arabs
by Hillel Fendel and Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu 13 Av 5768, August 14, '08 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/127188
Just two days after reports that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has offered 93% of Judea and Samaria for a Palestinian state, it is now reported that the same offer includes a proposal to accept 20,000 Arabs inside Israel. The PA has turned it down.

The latest report means that Olmert has reneged on a principle on which Israeli consensus has stood fast for over six decades - namely, what the Arabs call the Right of Return. The Arabs demand that some five million Arabs who claim that they or their ancestors were displaced from Israel during the War of Independence (1948) and Six Day War (1967) be allowed to live in Israel.

Olmert has reportedly agreed to accept 20,000 of the Arabs over the next ten years. However, his conditions stipulate that the process be called "family unification" on a "humanitarian basis," and that the Palestinian Authority drop its remaining "right of return" demands. All other Arabs who wish to "return" must live in a future Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria, Olmert insists.

A response from the Prime Minister's Bureau later denied the entire report, saying that Olmert continues to insist that no refugees be allowed to enter Israel.

PA Chairman has rejected Olmert's package deal outright. Without relating to the report of the offer to accept the 20,000 Arabs, PA spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said that Israel's insistence on keeping 7% of Judea and Samaria is "unacceptable because it contradicts Palestinian, Arab and international resolutions." He said that Israel must withdraw all of its "settlements" and enable the establishment of a Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 borders.

Livni: Against
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, leading the negotiations with the PA, is opposed to any Israeli concessions on the matter of the so-called Arab refugees.

Arab countries have long demanded that Israel allow up to five million Arabs to move from foreign countries to within Israel's pre-1967 borders. Most media have adopted the Arab term "refugees" when referring to the approximately 600,000 Arabs who fled the country during the War of Independence in 1948.

Many, if not most, of them no longer are living, but the PA defines all of their descendants as "refugees" and claims they have the "right of return," similar to the right of all Jews throughout the world to move to Israel and become Israeli citizens.

Virtually all Israeli politicians, including left-wing leaders, have rejected the demand. However, by using the term "family reunification," Prime Minister Olmert may lead to a crack in the Israeli wall of resistance.

Israeli Skepticism
An Israel official, insisting on anonymity, told Reuters that the entire plan, including the offer for almost all of Judea and Samaria while the status of Jerusalem remains undefined, was made by Olmert only in order to establish a legacy for himself before his political exit. "There will be no agreement, period," the official said.

Prime Minister Olmert's offer to Abbas is publicized a week before U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's next trip to the region. She has been pressing Israel and the PA to come up with an "agreement of principles" that can be announced before U.S. President Bush's term of office ends in January.

PMO: Israel won't take in any Palestinian refugees
by Shmuel Rosner and Aluf Benn August 14, 2008 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1011401.html

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that Israel will not allow the return of any Palestinian refugees as part of a future statehood deal, Olmert's office said on Thursday.

The rare official statement was issued in response to a Haaretz report that Olmert had proposed absorbing 20,000 refugees per year for 10 years as part of an agreement to establish a Palestinian state in most of the West Bank and all of the Gaza Strip.

"The prime minister never offered to absorb 20,000 refugees in Israel. The prime minister again reiterates that under any future agreement, there will not be any return of Palestinian refugees to Israel in any number," Olmert's office said.

There was no immediate comment from Palestinian officials.

According to the report, Olmert had proposed to Abbas that the "shelf agreement" the two sides are working on include an agreement for Israel to take in Palestinian refugees as part of "family unification."

Sources in Israel and the United States said that according to Olmert's offer, the absorption would be based on a humanitarian basis and according to a formula to be determined in advance.

The Prime Minister's Office responded to the report by saying: "The prime minister's stance is that the establishment of a Palestinian state is meant to provide an answer to the absorption of Palestinian refugees. Those refugees who are not returned to a Palestinian state will be dealt with by an international force."

"The American stance on this matter is identical to the Israeli stance, as expressed in [U.S.] President [George] Bush's April 2004 letter, in which he says Palestinian refugees will not be returned to the State of Israel but to a future Palestinian state," the PMO added.

According to Haaretz's report, the absorption of these refugees would depend on all the other issues being resolved first, and on the Palestinians agreeing that there would not be a "right of return" to Israel and that most refugees would be absorbed in the future Palestinian state.

Livni: Absorbing refugees would set dangerous precedent

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who is conducting parallel talks with the Palestinians' chief negotiator, Ahmed Qureia, is opposed to Israel's taking in any Palestinian refugees, and also refuses accepting them on the basis of family reunification.

Livni told U.S. President George W. Bush during his visit to Israel last January that allowing any refugees into Israel would set a dangerous precedent.

"It's like in a thriller, where you see the heroine open the door a crack and you know that the man with the knife is going to come in and stab her," Livni told Bush.
In her opinion, Israel must not compromise on letting in refugees, because that would be interpreted as an opening to exercising the "right of return."

Livni made it clear to the American administration that if the cabinet is presented with a memorandum of understanding that includes allowing refugees into Israel, she might vote against it. In the current political situation, Livni's opposition could scuttle the agreement if brought to a government vote.

Washington's position is that the refugee issue is a matter for the Israelis and Palestinians to discuss, but Bush might have a problem if Olmert brings for his government's approval an agreement unacceptable to most ministers.

Bush would have to decide whether to bless the agreement before it has been approved - and thereby enable Olmert to pressure ministers to support the agreement - or refrain from a sympathetic public response. This would signal to the Israeli cabinet that Olmert does not have the automatic backing of the American administration.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is returning to the region next week, and wants an Israeli-Palestinian agreement - even a partial or watered-down one - before Bush's tenure ends. Olmert believes an agreement is still obtainable, and according to political sources close to the talks, the sides have shown more flexibility in recent weeks.

Israel Agrees to U.S. Request for Flak Jackets for PA
13 Av 5768, August 14, '08 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/151444

(IsraelNN.com) Israel has acceded to a long-standing United States request to allow Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces to wear flak jackets but has rejected a model that would include stronger body armour that can repel fire from IDF M-16 rifles. The IDF has feared that advanced flak jackets will fall into the hands of terrorists, who previously have obtained thousands of rifles Israel gave to the PA and then used them to attack Israelis.

"They're getting the same flak jackets that police get in the United States," an official told Reuters News Agency. "The protection they are receiving from these vests is adequate to the task." They are strong enough to defend against Kalashnikovs, the Soviet-designed rifles commonly used in the PA.

Israel gives U.S. green light to supply PA police with flak jackets
August 13, 2008 by Reuters http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1011278.html

After months of delay, the United States has received the green light from Israel to supply flak jackets to Palestinian security forces, whose performance in the West Bank may hold the key to a future Israeli withdrawal.

But reflecting wider problems of trust between Israel and Palestinians, permission has come on condition President Mahmoud Abbas' men get standard-issue police flak jackets instead of the heavier-duty body armor that the Palestinians and some American advisers had sought, officials close to the deal said.

Israel's fear is that top-end body armor could fall into militant hands and offer fighters greater protection from Israeli fire. Standard flak jackets have less stopping power.

"They're getting the same flak jackets that police get in the United States," a Western official involved in the program said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"There is no degradation in their protection. The protection they are receiving from these vests is adequate to the talk."

Another official working on the project said there was Palestinian concern about equipment and Israeli meddling.

Palestinian officials referred questions on the matter to the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem, which declined to comment.

The year-and-a-half-long tug-of-war over flak jackets underscores skepticism in Israel's defense establishment about the multimillion-dollar U.S. training program for Abbas' men.

"You have to understand, we've been burned before," said Danny Ayalon, Israel's former ambassador to the United States.

At the height of the Palestinian uprising that started in 2000, Israel targeted some security men loyal to then-leader Yasser Arafat, arguing they were complicit in attacks.

Paid for by U.S. taxpayers, the flak jackets will be distributed to Abbas' forces once they clear Israeli port security, a process that could take weeks, officials said.

Western sources said Israel objected to heavy-duty body armor on the grounds its own forces in the West Bank don't always have similar protection.

Because of funding delays in the United States, the training program for Abbas' forces did not really get under way until well after Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007.

Getting even non-lethal equipment approved by Israel has been difficult and time-consuming. Washington does not supply so-called "lethal aid" to Abbas' men.

Israel seized British-supplied body armor from Abbas's forces on the eve of the first Palestinian law-and-order campaign, launched in the West Bank city of Nablus in November.

Six months later, Abbas' forces deployed in the northern city of Jenin, again without flak jackets.

But with Palestinian statehood talks in limbo, the security program may be all that emerges from U.S. President George W. Bush's end-of-term push for peace. Israel has conditioned statehood on Abbas' forces reining in militants.

Israeli objections to the body armor surfaced in January 2007 when Keith Dayton - the U.S. general who coordinates security between Israel and the Palestinians - proposed including protective gear in the security assistance package.

A former Israeli defense official who took part in the negotiations said the army did not want Abbas' men to receive protective gear that could defend against a bullet fired from an M-16, the U.S.-made rifle carried by many Israeli soldiers.

But the defense official said Israel was more "relaxed" about allowing them to have flak jackets that could defend against bullets fired from Kalashnikovs, the Soviet-designed rifles used by Palestinian security forces and most militants.

Ayalon pointed to Israeli fears Hamas could seize the West Bank and send militants in body armor to attack civilians. "This kind of equipment can be very offensive," he said.

Yoni Fighel, a senior researcher at Israel's International Institute for Counter-Terrorism, said he personally found it hard to understand why flak jackets became such a big problem.

But this mindset of suspicion is understandable in light of events that happened in the past," said the former army colonel who served as governor of Ramallah and Jenin in the early 1990s. Then, peace talks fostered Israeli-Palestinian security cooperation, but the goodwill quickly broke down after 2000.
"You build up trust and personal connections and then, one day, you find yourself being shot at," Fighel said. "These wounds need to be healed but it's a matter of time."