Dr. Emmanuel Navon, Tel Aviv U and Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center The main rationale of the Oslo Accords was that establishing a 23rd Arab state ten miles away from Tel-Aviv would bring peaceto Israel and stability to the Middle-East. This theory no longer passes the laughing test. Besides the bloody mess engendered by Oslo, the so-called “Arab Spring” has brought the European-inspired model of Arab nation-states to its knees. So why resuscitate a failed and dying model for a fictitious “Palestinian people” that has embraced Islamism like the rest of the Arab world? More than 50 lawyers and academics on Monday sent an open letter to Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman, Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein and Cabinet Secretary Tzvi Hauser, in which they criticize the conduct of the Prosecution in the case of the planned demolition in Migron. Among the signatories are Israel Prize winner Professor Nahum Rakover, formerly the Deputy Attorney General, law professor Eliav Shochetman and Dr. Itamar Warhaftig, professor of Jewish Law at Bar-Ilan University. Israel Policy Forum: The Network of Intrigue By Moshe Dann, FPM A recent letter to PM Netanyahu opposing the Levy Report organized by the Israel Policy Forum (IPF) and signed by 40 critics of Jewish communities built in Judea and Samaria (“settlements”) received wide media attention. With perhaps a few exceptions, those who signed the letter did not read the report, since it was only in Hebrew at that time. This was a typical hit-job by a marginal, tiny elite organization that promotes the “two-state solution,” a second or third Arab Palestinian state and evacuating Jews from the area. Touted as “American Jewish leaders,” the individuals who signed, except for those associated with the Reform Movement, Eric Yoffee and David Saperstein, represent no organizations or constituencies. They are mega-bucks “philanthropists,” very wealthy businessmen like Charles Bronfman, Lester Crown, Marvin Lender, owner of Lender’s Bagels, and Richard Pearlstone, financier and real estate mogul, who bought their way into Jewish communal organizations, Susi Gelman (heiress to the Levi Strauss fortune), Edith Everett who runs a family foundation, some corporate lawyers, a few academics, a former Clinton advisor, and two former US ambassadors to Israel. By Vic Rosenthal, FRESNO ZIONISM The single greatest misconception about the conflict between Israel and its neighbors is that it’s about the Palestinians. A corollary to this is the idea that creating a Palestinian state would be a step toward peace. Focusing on the relations between Israel and the Palestinians turns the conflict inside out. In fact it is driven by the absolute rejection of a Jewish state in the Middle East by all the Muslim nations in the region, which dates back to the beginning of Zionism, before the founding of the state of Israel, before the development of specifically Palestinian nationalism, and long before the 1967 war. Deep beneath “Damascus volcano” and “the battle of Aleppo”, the tectonic plates of the global energy chessboard keep on rumbling. Beyond the tragedy and grief of civil war, Syria is also a Pipelineistan power play. More than a year ago, a $10 billion Pipelineistan deal was clinched between Iran, Iraq and Syria for a natural gas pipeline to be built by 2016 from Iran’s giant South Pars field, traversing Iraq and Syria, with a possible extension to Lebanon. Key export target market: Europe. During the past 12 months, with Syria plunged into civil war, there was no pipeline talk. Up until now. The European Union’s supreme paranoia is to become a hostage of Russia’s Gazprom. The Iran-Iraq-Syria gas pipeline would be essential to diversify Europe’s energy supplies away from Russia. It gets more complicated. Turkey happens to be Gazprom’s second-largest customer. The whole Turkish energy security architecture depends on gas from Russia – and Iran. Turkey dreams of becoming the new China, configuring Anatolia as the ultimate Pipelineistan strategic crossroads for the export of Russian, Caspian-Central Asian, Iraqi and Iranian oil and gas to Europe. (Read more…) And how the United States can still come out ahead. BY AARON DAVID MILLER, FOREIGN POLICY We’re already deep into Last Chance 3.0 for Bashar al-Assad’s regime, but the arc of its demise is still likely to take more twists and turns before the story ends. Most difficult to divine — and upon which so much of the future hinges — is who or what will emerge to rule in Damascus when the dust finally settles. Indeed, the bulk of the so-called silent majority of Syrians — Sunnis and Alawites alike responsible for Assad’s longevity — have not been spoken for. Still, here’s a preliminary scorecard of who is likely to come out on top, ahead, behind, or underground. Biggest Losers
The Two-State Religion
(Read more…)Lawyers and Academics Slam Prosecution Over Migron
(Read more…)Who signed the letter against the Levy Report
(Read more…)Its not about Palestine, its about Israel
(Read more…)Syria’s Pipelineistan war
The Winners and Losers of Syria’s Civil War
(Read more…)
Ted Belman
Jerusalem, Israel
Wednesday, 15 August 2012
Posts
