Diplomatic Briefing
Your exclusive news aggregator handpicked daily!Archive for Palestine
Newsline: Diplomat wife dies after forced to renew Jerusalem permit
Israeli authorities forced the wife of the Palestinian ambassador to the UK to return to Jerusalem to renew her residency status during chemotherapy treatment, British media reported. Samira Hassassian died in August aged 57 after she contracted a virus on the return flight to the UK in the midst of cancer treatment, her husband Manuel told The Guardian newspaper. A spokesperson at the Israeli embassy in London denied Samira had been refused an extension of her residency, telling the paper “If there is a health issue there is no question that she would have had to travel.” Palestinians have to renew their residency status in East Jerusalem with the Israeli authorities every two years. Hassassian said his wife, who was a US-trained chemist and lecturer in business studies, was determined not to lose her right to live in East Jerusalem.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=445615
Newsline: Palestinian diplomat in Canada regrets controversial tweet
The top Palestinian diplomat in Canada says she deeply regrets retweeting a video which, according to an English translation, calls for a war on Jews, saying she did not look at the clip before reposting it. “I do regret retweeting it,” an emotional Linda Sobeh, Palestinian charge d’affaires, said. “I am against hate. I am pro-peace. I’m a person who is advocating for the dialogue between Jewish and Palestinians because that is the only way that will lead us to a just, lasting peace.” Sobeh said the issue has been blown up intentionally by certain lobby groups to damage relations between Canada and her government, and she is leaving Ottawa to ensure that doesn’t happen. “This unfortunate incident was intentionally magnified and misinterpreted by groups who are working against any rapprochement in the Canadian-Palestinian relationship,” she said. “I am being reassigned to another post by my country and I’m leaving Canada for the benefit of our relationship.” Sobeh said her replacement is expected in a couple of days. The clip in question is entitled “I am Palestinian” and shows a young Palestinian girl reciting a poem in Arabic. The accompanying English translation includes a line calling viewers “to a war that raze the injustice and oppression and destroy the Jews.” Media reports indicate Foreign Minister John Baird took issue with the tweet and video and ordered a formal complaint. Sobeh said she was using her BlackBerry, which does not show videos, when she saw the original tweet bearing the video’s title and a link and reposted it. Shimon Fogel, head of the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy, confirmed it was his organization that discovered the tweet and forwarded it to Baird’s office. But he rejected any suggestion his organization was trying to drive a wedge between Canada and the Palestinian Authority. Sobeh’s Twitter account is no longer active. Sobeh arrived at the Palestinian delegation in Ottawa in July 2010 after serving as an adviser to Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki. She took over as charge d’affaires a year later.
Newsline: Palestinians’ UN bid is US failure
US Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro admitted that the quest of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) for UN recognition of the Palestinian state constitutes “a failure for the US Administration.”Washingtonwill not support the PNA unilateral statehood initiative; it would rather veto the initiative at a possible UN Security Council vote late this month, Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot quoted on its website ‘Ynet’ Shapiro as saying. He made the comments at a lecture to students of the Lander Institute, a Haredi Judaism college in occupiedJerusalem. He saidWashingtonis commitment to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through negotiations, according to the report. “It’s clear that the US Administration did not succeed in solving the conflict in the manner in which it had hoped to do so – through negotiations, and that each side in the conflict had failed – so it was everybody’s failure, ” Shapiro added. The US Administration is deeply committed to the resumption of the Palestinian-Israeli direct talks and not through unilateral moves. It continues to support the establishment of Palestinian institutions that could help create a secure environment for both sides and serve as a basis for the resumption of negotiations, he made clear.
http://nvonews.com/2011/09/20/palestinians-un-bid-is-us-failure-us-diplomat/
Newsline: Young Egyptian Man Climbs 15 Floors To Reach Israeli Embassy, Burn Flag
A young Egyptian man managed, on Sunday at dawn, to climb 15 floors on a high building where the Israeli embassy is located in Cairo, to remove the Israeli flag from the embassy balcony and replace it with the Egyptian flag. The youth, Ahmad al Shahhat, stated that he managed to find his way through Egyptian security personnel surrounding the building, and gradually climbed the building. The Egyptian officers could not stop him, and he managed to reach the embassy balcony before he removed the Israeli flag. The flag was torn into pieces as he was removing it, and some of the protestors set it ablaze after its pieces fell to the ground. Thousands of Egyptians are still protesting in front of the Israeli embassy inCairodemanding the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador. The protests started after Israeli soldiers killed on Thursday five Egyptian border police officers across the border with Egyptin Eilat. The Egyptian government decided to recall its ambassador to Tel Aviv pending an Israeli apology for its statements regarding what was described as “hasty accusations made by Israeli leaders following the Eilat attack”, when gunmen attacked an Israeli bus carrying off-duty Israeli soldiers in the coastal city of Eilat, in addition to an empty buss and a vehicle, killing eight soldiers and wounding 30. It added that an Israeli expression of regret regarding the killing of the Egyptian officers in not enough. In related news, Egyptian ambassador inIsrael, and Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, stated that Egypt is conducting efforts to restore calm between Israel and the Gaza Strip, and called onIsraelto stop its military escalation.
Newsline: Abbas raises PA flag at Beirut embassy
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas raised the PLO flag at a ceremony marking the upgrade of a PA delegation in Beirut to the status of embassy on Wednesday. Attending the event were Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat. Abbas is inBeirutas part of a visit aimed at pushing for Lebanese support for the Palestinian statehood bid next month.Lebanon, a temporary member of the United Nations Security Council, assumes the Security Council presidency in September. On Tuesday, Lebanese President Michel Suleiman saidBeirutintends to support the PA’s statehood bid whenLebanontakes the rotating UN Security Council leadership next month. Abbas said that Palestinians living in Lebanon will receive Palestinian passports alongside the establishment of a Palestinian state. Meeting with Suleiman in the Lebanese coastal city ofBaabda, Abbas said he opposes the re-settlement of Palestinian refugees and their descendants – in his words, “temporary guests” – in their countries of habitation. “We do not want [the Palestinians’s] nationalization and we do not seek it,” Abbas said, according to Lebanon’s As-Safir newspaper, adding, “When the Palestinian state is established, Palestinians will have their passport and nationality.”
Newsline: Pro-Palestinians occupy Spanish embassy in Athens
A group of Spanish activists from an international flotilla banned by Greek officials from setting sail for the Gaza Strip continued to occupy their country’s embassy in Athens for a second straight day Wednesday, embassy officials said. Embassy officials said four activists were currently inside the embassy as part of a ‘symbolic occupation,’ while another 17 were gathered at the entrance outside. The activists had draped a Palestinian flag from one of the embassy’s balconies. The group of 21 Spanish activists are from the Spanish boat Gernica, which has been docked on the southern Mediterranean island of Crete for the past few weeks, awaiting an opportunity to sail. The Spanish activists insist they will continue to ‘peacefully’ occupy the premises of the embassy until their government asks Greek authorities to allow them to sail to Gaza. Greek authorities have banned a 10-vessel flotilla, loaded with aid and carrying several hundred pro-Palestinian activists from 22 countries – including Greece, Canada, France, Spain and the United States – from sailing towards Gaza.
Commentary: Diplomatic intrigue, or intriguing diplomacy
For true believers, some truths die hard – like the axiom that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is at the center of the universe. Or, at least, that it is at the center of our region. Reuters, in a report of a speech Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave inWashingtonto the US-Islamic World Forum, wrote the following: “President Barack Obama will lay outUSpolicy toward theMiddle EastandNorth Africain the coming weeks,Clintontold Arab and US policy makers in a speech that placed particular emphasis on Israeli-Palestinian peace.” But will we be the focus – with everything else going on around us? Unlikely. America’s core interests in the region and values have not changed, Clinton said, including its commitment to “promote human rights, resolve longstanding conflicts, counter Iran’s threats, and defeat al- Qaida and its extremist allies.” She added that this included “renewed pursuit of comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace.” While Israel and the Palestinians were certainly not the emphasis of this speech, there were some interesting points in those few words having to do with the current diplomatic process. First, the US remains committed to a negotiated two-state solution. That’s a key principle to reiterate, especially in the run-up to the Palestinians’ efforts to get the UN to recognize a state for them in September. The message is that only a negotiated settlement – not one that’s imposed – will work. Second, Clinton restated that there is no substitute for active American leadership. This, perhaps, was a signal meant for the Europeans and the UN, who have pushed for greater involvement in the process by the Quartet, which is made up of the US, EU, Russia and the UN. In recent days, though, there have been a number of reports saying the US has been behind a push by England, France and Germany to get the Quartet to issue a statement saying a future Israeli-Palestinian agreement should be based on the pre-1967 lines, with agreed upon land swaps. According to this way of thinking, the US was engaged in the classic good cop/bad cop routine, with the EU in the bad cop role vis-a-vis Israel, but with the US encouraging it to play that role in order to pressure Jerusalem. One problem with this theory, however, is that the US would have wanted to see the Quartet meet in Berlin on Friday, as expected, rather than working behind the scenes to scuttle it. Indeed, the Quartet meeting – first planned for last month – has been put off yet again. In the hundreds of hours of talks that Netanyahu’s envoy, Yitzhak Molcho, has had with the White House over the past few months, he probably was trying to convince the Americans to accept certain Israeli initiatives and then present them as their own. No one is saying whether the Americans have adopted any of these ideas, and it is certain that the Palestinians – in their own talks with the US – are playing the same game. But when Obama does give his Middle East and North African speech, and when he does relate in that speech to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, what the world might hear is elements of ideas that Netanyahu would have liked to say but couldn’t, because if he had, they would have been summarily dismissed.
Newsline: Palestinian, Israeli embassies in Ukraine not commenting on disappearance of Palestinian
The Palestinian and Israeli Embassies in Kyiv have declined to comment on the disappearance of Palestinian citizen Dirar Abu Sisi in Ukraine. “At the moment, the situation is such as it is, and the embassy is not commenting on anything,” the Palestinian National Authority Embassy in Kyiv said. The Israeli embassy also declined to comment on the situation. Earlier, local media reported that Dirar Abu Sisi, the deputy director of the Gaza power plant, boarded a Kharkiv-Kyiv train on February 18. According to the Palestinian Information Center (Hamas Web site), at Kyiv’s Boryspil airport he was supposed to meet his brother whom he had not seen for some 15 years, ever since he had moved to the Gaza Strip. Abu Sisi’s Ukrainian wife, Veronika, quoting train conductors, said that two hours after her husband boarded the train; two men entered his compartment, produced IDs of special service officers and took him away. However, later the conductors refused to testify and said that nothing had happened in the train and that there had been no abduction. On March 10, some foreign media reported that Abu Sisi was being held in an Israeli prison.
Newsline: Britain upgrades status of Palestinian diplomats
Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague announced the U.K. will upgrade the status of Palestinian representatives in London, ahead of talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Hague is scheduled to meet with Abbas in London on Tuesday and said he would also raise his concern over the lack of progress on resuming talks on the Middle East peace process. He told lawmakers that the Palestinian representation would be recognized as a full diplomatic mission, rather that its previous status as a delegation. The change is largely symbolic and representatives will not have diplomatic immunity or other privileges accorded to those working on behalf of nations Britain recognizes as independent. However, members of the Palestinian mission will have a simplified visa regime. “Given the extent of our aid to the Palestinian Authority and our work with them, we will join many other countries in upgrading the status of the Palestinian delegation to London to the level of a mission,” Hague said. After peace negotiations with Israel broke down last year, the Palestinians have embarked on a campaign to win international recognition for a state in all of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem — territories Israel captured in the 1967 war. So far ten countries have complied, all of them in Latin America. In January, the Irish government announced it would upgrade the Palestinian diplomatic status to that of an official embassy. France and Spain have also made similar gestures.
Commentary: Diplomats scramble ahead of Palestinian UN bid
September 19, 2011 at 8:24 am · Filed under Commentaries, Israel, Palestine, United Nations, US
With a tense week ahead for the future of theMiddle East, the United States and Europe scrambled Sunday for a strategy that would help avoid a jarring showdown over whether to admit an independentPalestineas a new United Nations member. Instead, they sought to guideIsraeland the Palestinians back into the tough bargaining on a long-sought peace agreement. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton discussed the current trajectory in New York, in which the Palestinian plan to gain statehood and membership at the U.N. would run headfirst into an American veto in the Security Council, and possible Israeli recriminations. Yet there was no apparent and immediate solution to the many problems that have hinderedMideastpeace efforts for months. Diplomats were working feverishly as part of an increasingly desperate effort to guide the two parties back into direct negotiations, but were tight-lipped on whether the slim chances for a breakthrough were improving. The Palestinians are frustrated by their inability to win fromIsraelconcessions such as a freeze on settlements in the West Bankand east Jerusalem. And with violence out of the question and bilateral talks with Israel failing, they see the U.N. route as the only viable route for progress in the short term. To address the Palestinian concerns, Western officials were discussing the possibility of including some timeframes, however vague, in any statement put out by theMideastpeace mediators _ the U.S., EU, U.N. and Russia_ known as the Quartet, officials said. These would focus on the restart of Israeli-Palestinian talks and signs of tangible progress. Envoys from all four gathered Sunday inNew Yorkand U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with Quartet envoy Tony Blair. A further meeting of Quartet officials was planned for Monday, officials said, with Ashton possibly presenting some ideas to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the same day. The timeframes wouldn’t be deadlines, as such, but would seem to address the Palestinian desire to see quick action. The offer would come with an unchanged message thatWashingtonwould veto a Palestinian bid at the Security Council for U.N. recognition and membership, but at the very least it would represent a dignity-saving compromise for Abbas’ U.S.-backed government. The alternative concern is that an embarrassment for his government would embolden Hamas, which the U.S. and Israel consider a terrorist organization and which would be far less eager to negotiate a two-state settlement with the Jewish nation. The irony is that only 12 months ago, President Barack Obama said he wanted the U.N. to be welcomingPalestineas its newest member this year. But talks broke down long ago, and theU.S.is in the unenviable position of leading the opposition to something it actually supports, fearful a Palestinian victory might cause a debilitating rift withIsraeland set the talks back further. American officials were working to secure additional opposition to recognition, officials said. Without nine affirmative votes in the 15-member Council, the Palestinian resolution would fail andWashingtonwouldn’t have to act alone.U.S.officials believe six other members may vote against or abstain, meaning the Palestinians would fall short. That tally could not be immediately confirmed. Heading off or watering down the Palestinian resolution had been the goal of international diplomats. If they can accomplish that, they hope to parlay it into a meeting between the Israeli and Palestinian leaders where the two sides would re-launch negotiations. But the Palestinians have refused to back down and give up the little leverage they hope to win. Even with a loss in the Security Council, the Palestinians were expected to take their case for recognition to the General Assembly, where they enjoy widespread support and the U.S. cannot block it. A nod from the General Assembly could give the Palestinians access to international judicial bodies such as the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. The Israelis fear such courts would target them unfairly. Given the stakes and entrenched positions, the best theU.S.and its allies may be able to achieve is a delay in action on the Palestinian bid.
http://m.billingsgazette.com/mobile/article_55d0c58c-b7b3-5a91-963b-9624ade8d14d.html
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