Eighty Palestinians and at least one Israeli police officer were injured today during riots in several East Jerusalem neighborhoods (عربي) today, including Ras al-Amud and the Shuafat refugee camp.
The demonstrators, mostly young, threw rocks at police and burned tires; security forces responded by firing rubber bullets and tear gas at the crowds. Many of the patients treated in Ramallah hospitals suffered facial injuries, according to Al-Jazeera. Nearly 100 people were arrested.
The award for curious news story of the day goes to this piece from Politico's Josh Gerstein, who reports that a federal magistrate in Washington, D.C., has denied an effort by the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization to get Atlantic writer and stubborn, fiery Israel-defender Jeffrey Goldberg to testify on their behalf in a case brought by a Jewish settler.
Abraham Foxman, the head of the Anti-Defamation League -- last seen using his position to attack noted anti-Semite Joe Biden -- now wants everyone to know that the main force undermining Middle East peace is the Obama administration's "flawed policy" and not, say, Israel's inflexible right-wing government.
Important story by Mark Perry this morning on Foreign Policy's Middle East Channel: Gen. David Petraeus, the head of U.S. Central Command, reportedly warned the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the White House that the Israeli-Arab conflict is endangering U.S. interests in the region.
Supporters of a "special relationship" between America and Israel -- Aaron David Miller, for example -- often cite two justifications for these close ties: shared values and strategic interests.
The former claim is hard to assess, because it's so subjective. I have Israeli friends who share my personal values, but I'm an agnostic liberal from New York; I wouldn't claim my values are perfectly representative of "American values." I've met other Israelis, those who seem to prefer an elected theocracy to a liberal democracy, whose values I find repellent -- but perhaps other Americans find more common ground with those Israelis.
How about the other question, then? Does America's "special relationship" with Israel serve its strategic interests? Consider a few areas of foreign policy.
Gregg and I have been wondering for a couple of days how the United States would respond to being publicly embarrassed by an Israeli government that seems bent on continuing with the expansion of illegal settlements even as the West tries to organize highly sensitive negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
We didn't have to wait that long: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called up Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a 43-minute phone conversation on Friday morning to rebuke the Israeli leader about the "deeply negative signal" his government sent by approving more settler homes in East Jerusalem. Could this be the first sign of a tougher Obama administration approach toward Israel?
I thought about writing a long rebuttal to these two Aaron David Miller pieces, but after keeping up with a week of tiresome news from Israel I just don't have the energy.
Suffice it to say that his argument -- Obama shouldn't pick a fight with Israel over East Jerusalem settlements, and instead should focus on restarting proximity talks -- is the triumph of process over peace. Miller literally encourages both sides to "continue the dance," to perpetuate the untenable status quo.
In the wake of Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Israel, a Knesset committee on Thursday endorsed a change to the country's planning procedures aimed at preventing a similarly embarrassing episode of bad timing from occurring again, the AP reports.
Within 24 hours of Biden's arrival, shortly after the Palestinians had agreed to so-called "proximity talks," Israel approved the construction of some 1,600 illegal homes in Palestinian East Jerusalem.
But the proposed change in the Knesset isn't meant to give greater scrutiny to settlement decisions; it's supposed to ensure that the timing of such announcements isn't as embarrassing in the future.
U.S. vice president Joe Biden is wrapping up his Middle East trip with a visit to Petra, in Jordan. A little sightseeing might be a welcome relief after a tumultuous week in Jerusalem and Ramallah.
The phrase "turning point" is grossly overused, but this week really feels like a watershed in the region -- and not at all in a good way. Few observers had high hopes for the Israeli-Palestinian proximity talks, but now even that modest dialogue appears off the table. The announcement that Israel is planning another 50,000 homes in East Jerusalem will poison any future talks: How can the Palestinian side negotiate when tens of thousands of illegal homes are considered non-negotiable?
Joe Biden's harsh condemnation of the new construction at Ramot Shlomo -- but the timing of the announcement still made the United States look weak and unwilling to confront Israel.
The White House finally sent along a copy of U.S. vice president Joe Biden's speech at Tel Aviv University this morning. A full transcript of the speech is posted after the jump.
We'd like to blog about Joe Biden's Tel Aviv speech, but the White House still hasn't e-mailed a transcript to reporters (perhaps because it was undergoing some last-minute revisions?).
News reports say Biden urged Israel and the Palestinians to begin proximity talks without delay. But they're already in doubt: The Arab League held an emergency meeting in Cairo last night (عربي), and decided to withdraw its support for the talks because of the new construction in Ramot Shlomo.
Israel's interior minister, Eli Yishai, has apologized for the announcement of 1,600 new homes in East Jerusalem's Ramot Shlomo neighborhood while U.S. vice president Joe Biden is in Israel -- though not for the decision itself.
Bernard Avishai is right that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu should take meaningful steps to advance his "economic peace" agenda. There's little downside -- as Avishai writes, Bibi can do these things "without endangering Israelis or even removing settlers" -- and a growing economy will help to reinforce stronger Palestinian institutions.
Economic peace is not a replacement for meaningful peace talks, of course; an occupied territory with a vibrant economy is still an occupied territory. But bolstering the Palestinian economy would be good policy for Netanyahu, and it would buy him a bit of needed international goodwill.
So much for the velvet glove. The White House -- which obviously recognizes that the latest new construction in East Jerusalem has the potential to overshadow vice president Joe Biden's entire trip -- put out a harsh statement on the Israeli decision.
It's just a statement, of course, and not backed by any real consequences, but by diplomatic standards -- and the standards of Washington's recent statements on Israeli settlements -- it's rather strong. Full statement is after the jump.
The Israeli government continues to roll out the red carpet for U.S. vice president Joe Biden: Israel's interior ministry just announced the approval of 1,600 new homes in East Jerusalem's largely-haredi Ramot Shlomo neighborhood. (The neighborhood is actually north of Jerusalem proper, but it's on the Palestinian side of the Green Line.)
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office hasn't said anything yet about the new construction, nor has Biden.
But the decision will clearly be a big story in Arabic-language media, and it will figure prominently in any coverage of Biden's visit. Al-Jazeera is treating it as a breaking news item, and it's already catching on (عربي) in Palestinian sources. Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, called it a "disaster" that will undermine proximity talks.
Evan added some details overnight to my post on Israel's latest West Bank settlement construction, including a statement from State Department spokesman PJ Crowley. State belatedly sent reporters a full transcript of Crowley's remarks -- and, as Evan said, it's pretty lukewarm stuff.
U.S. vice president Joe Biden arrived in Israel on Monday ahead of a week-long trip to the Middle East. The Obama administration is billing this as a hugely important trip -- a chance to lay the groundwork for "proximity talks" between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and also a chance to speak directly to the Israeli people. And indeed, the White House announced on Monday that both sides had agreed to the talks.
President Obama's special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, arrived in Ramallah last night to begin "pre-talks" to the "proximity talks" the United States hopes will occur between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the National reports. You'll be hard pressed to find anyone who has much faith in their ultimate success.
Syrian foreign minister Walid al-Moallem, in Cairo this week for an Arab League meeting, did an interview with Al-Sharq Al-Awsat and partially walked back his comments (عربي) about allowing Israel to return the Golan Heights in stages.
"This is not true. What we are interested in doing is recovering every inch of the Golan, up to the June 1967 borders, because this is Syrian land, and this is a matter of our national honor... any dialogue with the Israelis must begin with this objective -- the full return of the Golan, up to 1967 borders -- and the details will be discussed later."
I don't want to read too much into Moallem's wording, but that last part -- "the details will be discussed later" -- is carefully phrased. Moallem seems to leave the door open for the Israeli government to return the Golan in stages, as long as Israel commits up front to eventually returning the whole thing.
He seems to split the difference, in other words, between the historic Syrian position -- the full return of the Golan is a precondition for talks -- and his phased-return comments in December.
Another Friday, another violent confrontation in Jerusalem: As many as 50 Palestinians were injured (عربي) by rubber bullets and tear gas during a riot at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound. It's the second battle at the mosque in less than a week.
