Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi speaks during a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi left Cairo for Washington on Saturday where both sides will seek a renewed relationship after tensions over Sisi’s crackdown on opponents.
As well as meeting President Donald Trump, Sisi will see the top officials at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, where he will pitch for help with his country’s’ ailing economy.
The trip will be Sisi’s first U.S. state visit since being elected president in 2014 as former U.S. President Barack Obama had never extended an invitation.
Israeli border police secure an alley following a stabbing attack inside the old city of Jerusalem April 1, 2017
Israeli paramilitary police officers shot dead a Palestinian on Saturday after he stabbed three Israelis in Jerusalem’s Old City, a police spokesman said.
The assailant wounded two ultra-Orthodox Jewish men in the street before fleeing into a nearby house where he was caught by border police officers who had given chase. He stabbed one of them before being shot, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
One of the two civilians was stabbed in the upper body and suffered injuries described as moderate. The other man and the border policeman were lightly wounded, Rosenfeld added.
Palestinian web sites identified the assailant as 17-year-old Ahmed Ghazzal, from the city of Nablus in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.
“All I’ve done with Israel is tell the truth,” US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley told a New York City gathering on Wednesday about the prominent role she has taken in defending the Jewish state since she assumed her current position two months ago. “So when I saw something wrong, I called it out.”
At a Council on Foreign Relations event, the former South Carolina governor was asked by Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove of Park Avenue Synagogue, “How can you signal to Israel that we are Israel’s friend and ally but also when we see something that might not be in the best interests of a two-state solution, communicate that?”
In response, Haley said, “I will tell you, there is such a huge want of so many people to see Israel and the Palestinian Authority come together. And I think that’s why you have seen President [Donald] Trump, who’s just adamant that this is going to happen, do that. I met…with the representative from the Palestinian Authority, and we talked about the situation here at the United Nations. And what I said to him was: Look, we just want balance. We just want it to be fair. And in doing that, what I, you know, had asked of him was, don’t put any more resolutions on the table bashing Israel. But at the same time, we’re not going to be able to really support you going forward in moving up if you don’t come to the table and negotiate.”
Israel will curb construction in West Bank settlements as a goodwill gesture to US President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told members of the security cabinet on Thursday night.
The announcement came hours after the security cabinet decided to establish a new settlement for families evicted from the razed Amona outpost, and does not apply to that community.
The specifics of the limitations were not immediately available, and it was not yet clear whether they constituted any significant change in policy beyond a general declaration of intent.
President Donald Trump holding a meeting with members of his cabinet including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, left, and Secretary of Defense James Mattis, right
White House officials appeared to show understanding of the Israeli government’s decision to build a new settlement in the West Bank for the first time in 20 years, despite condemnations at the United Nations and by the Palestinians of the move.
One official told the Times of Israel yesterday that “we would note that the Israeli prime minister made a commitment to the Amona settlers prior to President Trump laying out his expectations” that Israel reduce construction in settlements. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
Earlier on Thursday, Israel’s security cabinet gave the go-ahead for the building of a settlement for Jewish residents of Amona, a West Bank outpost of 40 homes that was evacuated in February.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is disappointed and alarmed by Israel’s decision to build a new settlement in occupied Palestinian territory, his spokesman said on Friday.
Israel’s security cabinet on Thursday approved the building of the first new settlement in the occupied West Bank in two decades, even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu negotiates with Washington on a possible curb of settlement activity.
“The Secretary-General has consistently stressed that there is no Plan B for Israelis and Palestinians to live together in peace and security,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan on Thursday lamented a Jewish organization’s decision to host a convicted terrorist at its weekend conference in Chicago, saying it made him feel “ashamed” as a Jew.
“As a Jew, I am ashamed that a conference filled with hatred for Israel, and that is hosting a terrorist as a central speaker, is led by a Jewish organization,” Erdan said.
The Likud minister, whose office oversees efforts to combat Israel boycott campaigns, was referring to the Jewish Voice for Peace group in a statement published by his office a day before the gathering began.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II, right, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi
The Arab summits held every year at the end of March don’t generally produce dramatic headlines. They are dull events, even for the aging and unpopular rulers who participate, some of whom have been known to fall asleep at the discussion table.
This week’s summit in Jordan, by contrast, manage to create, if not headlines, then at least significant trends that might, just might, have dramatic implications for Israel.
The Palestinian issue, to the dismay of certain Israeli leaders, is returning to center stage. After long months in which the grab-bag of right-wing coalition leaders and self-styled experts on “Arab affairs” explained to the Israeli public that the Arab states don’t care about the Palestinians, suddenly those very states, who had indeed been showing little interest of late in dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, are changing their attitude following the change in government in the US. More than that, they are presenting a united front on the matter. And the bottom line that came out of Amman is: Palestine first.
Gen. Joseph Votel, Commander of the US Central Command
The nation’s top military official in the Middle East on Wednesday said Iran is one of the greatest threats to the U.S. today and has increased its “destabilizing role” in the region.
“I believe that Iran is operating in what I call a gray zone,” Commander of the U.S. Central Command, Army Gen. Joseph Votel, told the House Armed Services Committee in testimony Wednesday. “And it’s an area between normal competition between states — and it’s just short of open conflict.”
The general said Iran is exploiting this area in a variety of different ways, through things such as “lethal aid facilitation,” the use of “surrogate forces” and cyber activities, among other things. He also believes Iran poses “the greatest long-term threat to stability” in the entire region.
In over five years as U.S. Ambassador to Israel, I found no issue more impervious to solutions than Gaza. We were constantly preventing, managing or responding to crises — trying to head off terror attacks by Hamas and others, supporting Israel’s right to defend itself, negotiating ceasefires and working to alleviate human suffering.
I also learned that Gaza wars follow a kind of routine. Hamas upgrades its attack capabilities, and tensions build. Both sides prefer to avoid an escalation, but some incident, perhaps unintended, leads Hamas to increase the rate of rockets fired into Israel. Eventually, Israel deems the provocations intolerable, and launches a heavier response, such as when it conducted a targeted strike on Hamas military wing chief Ahmed Jabari at the start of Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012. A full-on conflict ensues, with ceasefire negotiations competing with Hamas rocket and tunnel attacks, Israeli airstrikes and calls from the Israeli public for a ground invasion to “finish the job.”
Unhappily, there are growing signs that this cycle is about to start anew…
Author Netzach YisraelPosted on Categories News
