Israel is ready to cede parts of Jerusalem to the Palestinians in the framework of a peace deal, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Wednesday ahead of the start of talks in Washington.

Partition in Jerusalem – at the heart of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict — would include a “special regime” for managing the city’s holiest sites, Barak told Haaretz.

He said the killing of four Israelis by Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank on Tuesday should not stop the talks starting.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who meets Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House on Wednesday for their first face-to-face negotiations, has
publicly balked at dividing the city.

Barak’s disclosure suggested the Netanyahu government was willing to yield on Jerusalem, including its walled Old City where al-Aqsa, Islam’s third-holiest shrine, abuts the Western Wall, the vestige of Judaism’s two ancient temples and today a Jewish prayer plaza.

Read more here.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Barak Calls to Cede Parts of Jerusalem (israelnationalnews.com)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will fly to Washington on Monday evening to meet with President Barack Obama for the fifth time since the two leaders took office.

A senior source in Jerusalem said that Netanyahu hoped the meeting would enable him to regain Obama’s trust after months of tension regarding West Bank settlement construction. Netanyahu was planning to present Obama with a number of proposals for coordinating progress in the Middle East peace process, said the source.

Netanyahu and Obama have not yet managed to establish close and intimate working relations since taking leadership of their respective countries. The level of trust between the two appears very low, making it difficult to yield significant progress in the peace process.

Obama is not convinced that Netanyahu is serious in his declared intentions regarding the process, and the Israeli premier is not confident that the current American administration is committed to maintaining the same relations with Israel as those held by its predecessors.

Netanyahu will present Obama with a few new ideas for the political process, and he hopes that the consolidation of a new policy outline will assist the two countries in overcoming the “hurdles” that will surface when the temporary settlement freeze ends in September.

Read more here.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Netanyahu arrives for Obama talks (guardian.co.uk)
• Obama-Netanyahu ‘crucial’ talks (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Obama, Netanyahu seek to calm tensions (msnbc.msn.com)

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday that indirect talks between Israel and the Palestinians should be serious and substantive, warning that new Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank were jeopardizing progress and undermining U.S. mediation.

“New construction in East Jerusalem or the West Bank undermines mutual trust and endangers the proximity talks that are the first step toward the full negotiations that both sides want and need,” Clinton said in a speech to AIPAC, an influential pro-Israel lobby group, at its annual conference in Washington.

Clinton’s also highlighted the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program, which the United States and other Western members of the Security Council are seeking to target with a fresh round of UN sanctions.

Settlement constuction “exposes daylight between Israel and the United States that others in the region could hope to exploit. And it undermines America’s unique ability to play a role – an essential role, I might add – in the peace process,” she said.

Clinton’s speech underscored the Obama administration’s “rock solid” commitment to Israel’s security and its future, but she added that the U.S. was prepared to “tell the truth when it is needed” regarding the situation in the Middle East.

Read more here.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Clinton warns of Israel choices (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Clinton: new Israeli construction hurts peace (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• AIPAC’s Moment Of Truth (andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com)

Thousands of police, border police and special forces were deployed on Jerusalem’s streets on Wednesday amid fears that Palestinian riots might flare up again in the capital.

However, the official estimate was that the unrest would not resume, and the Temple Mount compound was accordingly open for visitors of all persuasions.

Overnight Tuesday, a closure on the West Bank was lifted after it had been enforced for three days.

Unrest on Tuesday included Arabs, some masked, throwing rocks, setting tires and garbage bins ablaze in east Jerusalem and even using live fire against police forces deployed by the thousands in the capital.

The rioting erupted in the Muslim quarter of the Old City, along with the east Jerusalem neighborhoods of Wadi Joz, Ras el-Amud, Isawiya, the Shuafat refugee camp and Jebl Mukaber, among other locations.

Read more here.

Palestinians have clashed with Israeli police in two areas of occupied east Jerusalem after the Hamas movement called for a “day of rage” over the reopening of a synagogue in the Old City.

Palestinians threw rocks at Israeli police who responded with stun grenades in the Shu-afat and Essawiyya neighbourhoods early on Tuesday.

At least 15 Palestinians were arrested by Israeli police.

About 3,000 police officers had been deployed in east Jerusalem and nearby villages after Hamas called for action in response to the reopening of the Hurva synagogue.

Micky Rosenfeld, an Israeli police spokesperson, told Al Jazeera: “Throughout the morning we have been dealing with local disturbances. A group of 50 to 60 Palestinians who are causing riots.

“The rest of Jerusalem itself is absolutely quiet. The Temple Mount is closed to visitors and tourists.

“Our units are responding to small incidents in and around East Jerusalem.”

Al Jazeera’s Sherine Tadros, in Essawiyya, said: “Palestinian protesters have been hurling stones at the border guards and they have responded using stun grenades. It is an extremely tense standoff.

“Police want to patrol the situation using as little force as possible, they told us, but they are wearing full riot gear.

“From our vantage point we can only see about 20 Palestinian protesters, hurling stones, which they have been doing throughout the night and into the morning.

“It seems a few amount of protesters against a large amount of border guards.”

The synagogue, considered by some people to to be one of Judaism’s most sacred sites, reopened for the first time in 62 years a day earlier in the Jewish quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City.

Khaled Meshaal, Hamas’ political chief who is exiled in Syria, warned against the reopening on Monday.

“We warn against this action by the Zionist enemy to rebuild and dedicate the Hurva synagogue. It signifies the destruction of the al-Aqsa mosque and the building of the temple,” he said at a meeting of Palestinian groups’ leaders.

He urged Palestinians in Jerusalem to “take serious measures to protect al-Aqsa mosque from destruction and Judaisation”.

Meshaal also said that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank need to “launch a campaign to protect Jerusalem and Islamic and Christian holy sites there”.

The walled Old City is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which makes the reopening of the synagogue controversial.

Read more here.

Related articles by Zemanta

• U.S. ups pressure on Israel (msnbc.msn.com)
• Officials: US wants Israel to cancel building plan (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• US To Israel: Cancel Controversial Settlement Plan (huffingtonpost.com)

Palestinian youths on Friday hurled stones at Israeli security forces near the Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem and tried to breach a barrier to gain entry to the area, which has been sealed off amid concerns over violence.

Police Commissioner Dudi Cohen on Friday discussed the increased police presence in the area saying, “The deployment of police and extra security forces in Jerusalem at this hour is in line with the situation.”

Police forces managed to prevent the youths from breaching the Ras el-Amoud checkpoint near East Jerusalem, and one Palestinian was arrested after he assaulted a police officer.

Four other Palestinians were detained on suspicion of throwing stones and two officers were slightly injured in Jerusalem, a police spokesman said. Reuters journalists saw one protester treated by medics.

As hundreds of youths streamed away from noon prayers at a mosque in the district of Ras el-Amoud, a Reuters journalist saw men hurl stones at a car carrying Orthodox Jewish children. One rock smashed a side window, but there were no obvious injuries.

Islamists in the blockaded Gaza Strip rallied supporters to protest at Israel’s policies in Jerusalem: “We will redeem al-Aqsa mosque with our souls and our blood,” the crowd chanted.

As demonstrators burned U.S. and Israeli flags, Khalil al-Hayya, a leader of the Hamas movement which rules Gaza, urged Hamas’ rival, West Bank-based Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, to reverse his decision to engage in “proximity talks” with Israel through U.S. mediators after a hiatus of 15 months.

“These direct and indirect negotiations provide a cover to the Zionist aggression against our people and our lands,” Hayya told the crowd. “Our angry people now are calling on the Palestinian negotiator to back off from these negotiations which encourage more settlements and the Judaization of Jerusalem.”

Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Thursday ordered the Israel Defense Forces to impose a general closure on the West Bank, preventing Palestinians from entering Israel.

Read more here.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Israel Seals Off West Bank Amid Riot Fears (news.sky.com)
• Israel seals off West Bank (cnn.com)
• Biden Appeals to Restart Peace Talks (nytimes.com)

International Solidarity Movement activist Ariadna Jové (26) was released on bail today by Israeli forces, after her arrest in the early hours of Sunday morning from her home near Ramala, reports El País.

Jové, from Barcelona, and her Australian colleague, Bridgitte Chappell, sat before the Supreme Court this morning, while the defence argued that their arrest was illegal. Jové stated: “Around 2.30 on Sunday the door opened and 15 or 20 soldiers entered, pointing their weapons at us.” The soldiers raided the apartment, taking a computer, pro-Palestinian banners, ISM volunteer membership forms, and then arrested the women on the pretext that their visas had expired and took them to the Oz Unit, which deals with illegal immigration. Another Czech activist and a U.S. journalist faced the court today, but were deported. Jové and Chappell are forbidden to enter occupied territory whilst out on bail, as the Israeli government has classified them as a threat to security.

According to El Mundo, an army spokesperson stated both women had been “involved in illegal disturbances that interfered with Israeli security.”  Jové has been living in the region since August 2009. The detainment of the two women flouted the terns of the Oslo Accords since the women were arrested by Israeli forces in a designated Palestinian zone of the West Bank. The Spanish government have formally requested an explanation for Jové’s arrest from the Israeli authorities.

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh called Israel’s ambassador to Jordan Daniel Nevo on Thursday after a roadside explosive device went off near a convoy of cars carrying three Israeli diplomats traveling from Jordan toward Israeli earlier.

The blast occurred at around 6 p.m. close to the Allenby Bridge crossing between Jordan and the West Bank. No one was hurt.

Judeh stressed in his conversation with the Israeli ambassador that Jordanian authorities were investigating the incident and that every effort was being made to apprehend the perpetrators of the attack as soon as possible.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry emphasized that Nevo was not in the convoy, and was never in any danger.

Thursday’s bombing was the first time a roadside explosive device was used in an attack in Jordan, where suicide bombings and shootings have targeted foreigners in recent years. The method is widespread in neighboring Iraq.

The sundown attack also exposed a security breach for Israeli diplomats, who are usually escorted by security personnel from both countries and use different routes and departure times during their occasional travels in Jordan.

The explosion ripped through the right side of a curvy road cutting through hilly villages on the western outskirts of the capital, Amman. The blast left a large hole about 3 feet deep and damaged a highway guardrail.

Jordanian forensic officers were inspecting the site of the attack, a security official said. The area is halfway from the Allenby Bridge over the Jordan River, which links Jordan with the West Bank.

Israel and Jordan, which signed a peace treaty in 1994, maintain close security cooperation and cordial diplomatic ties.

Read more here.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Bomb near Israel convoy in Jordan (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Attack in Jordan targets Israeli Embassy convoy (seattletimes.nwsource.com)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Tuesday that Israel would never cede control of united Jerusalem nor retreat to the 1967 borders, according to a bureau statement.

The statement came after Egypt’s foreign minister said in Cairo last week that Netanyahu was ready to discuss making “Arab Jerusalem” the capital of a Palestinian state.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority could abandon its demand for a freeze on construction in East Jerusalem in exchange for an easing of the siege on Gaza and a halt to Israeli assassinations in the West Bank.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit met the foreign ministers of Egypt, France, Jordan, Spain and Tunisia in Cairo last week to revive the nascent Mediterranean Union. He briefed them about Netanyahu’s talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak a few days earlier, Israeli and European officials said.

Aboul Gheit reportedly said Israel’s willingness to give the Palestinians “100 percent of the West Bank” and the readiness to discuss Arab Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine indicate “openness, goodwill and a change compared to the past.”

According to the Arab foreign ministers, the Palestinians have agreed to waive their conditions for reopening the negotiations with Israel in exchange for other terms that Netanyahu could accept more easily.

Read more here.

Muna Ennab, 23, and Samar Quzmar, 24, two of the contestants in the Miss Palestine heat, where only four girls turned up. Jamal Aruri for The National

Just as a fair selection of the world’s media began to assemble at a small hotel in Ramallah on Wednesday for what was billed as the first heat in the first ever Miss Palestine competition, two girls stormed out the front door, followed by one of the members of the press.

“We are not talking, and we are no longer taking part,” one of the girls called out over her shoulder to the pursuing reporter, who gave up the chase. Inside the lobby, a gaggle of photographers stood around looking forlorn.

“There’s no one here,” said one to a colleague. And he was almost right. A little further inside the lobby, on a beige sofa, sat what turned out to be the only contestant present. Next to her, putting a brave face on proceedings was Salwa Yousef, the pageant’s organiser.

Ms Yousef confirmed to The National that the two girls had indeed left the beauty pageant. “Problems with their families,” she said without elaborating.

She was not precise about how many contestants were left. “Between 15 and 20,” Ms Yousef said. Beyond that, she urged the increasingly restless journalists not to worry. A group of contestants were on their way from Jerusalem. The event would proceed as planned, if a little late.

Late again, she might have added. Wednesday’s event, ostensibly to select 10 finalists for the main event on December 26, was supposed to have been held on December 10. It was postponed twice. On December 15, the heat was cancelled for a third time, less than an hour before it was due to start, with many journalists already en route from Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. For all that, Trip Fashion, the company behind the competition, nevertheless managed to secure the participation of an impressive number of media outlets from across the world, including Israel.

Here was a story, after all, that appealed to journalists and editors tired of always reporting war and politics. Miss Palestine not only provided a possible new angle on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, it featured pretty girls.

But with conservative elements in Palestinian society reportedly angry at the competition, there was already a brewing controversy between traditionalists and liberals, maybe even a reflection of the division between the West Bank and Gaza.

In fact, The Jerusalem Post reports that ‘Hamas has come out strongly against a plan to hold the first Miss Palestine beauty pageant.’

Salwa Yusef said that the event would take place despite the pressure and threats by Hamas.

“We will hold the contest unless the Palestinian Authority decides otherwise,” she said. “We call on all those who are attacking us to give us a chance because we are seeking to send a message of civilization to the world.”

The names of the candidates have not been made public to avoid exposing them to threats.

The International Analyst Network calls the pageant an ‘opportunity’ for the Muslim world:

Miss Palestine should be crowned on 26 December. If for any reason she is not it will be just another one of those opportunities missed by the Palestinian Authority  over the last 16 years to try and bring some semblance of normality into the lives of the West Bank and Gazan Arabs free of governmental controls or religious coercion.

“To cancel the beauty pageant  now,” continues IAN, “would involve grave loss of face by the Palestinian Authority and would be perceived by the West Bank Arab population as a real sign of weakness in the face of strident Hamas opposition.”