Abbas rejects Netanyahu compromises ahead of Palestinian statehood bid

• Published 23:14 18.09.11
• Latest update 23:14 18.09.11

Faced with a possible recognition of an independent Palestinian state later this week, Quartet officials, including Mideast envoy Tony Blair, labor to draft a statement that would send Israel and the Palestinian Authority back to the negotiations table.

By Barak Ravid

The Palestinian Authority has rejected several attempts to sway it away from its statehood bid at the United Nations and toward resumed peace talks with Israel, Haaretz learned on Sunday, with sources saying that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rebuffed proposals that included compromises by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Representatives of the Quartet on the Middle East – which includes the United States, Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations – are scheduled to meet in New York later Sunday in order to draft a statement that will call on Monday for direct peace talks to resume.

	Mahmoud Abbas and Benjamin Netanyahu last year.
	Photo by: AP

Netanyahu has reportedly agreed to several compromises in regard to the Quartet statement's wording, specifically on issues such as the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, among others.

Regarding the proposed borders of a future Palestinian state, Netanyahu reportedly agreed to a vaguer wording concerning the West Bank's main settlement blocs. One Quartet draft spoke of negotiations based on the 1967 borders, with land swaps, with borders that are not identical to those of 1967 and taking into account "demographic reality on the ground."

Netanyahu gave his consent to have a more ambiguous wording to that statement, in order to provide the Americans and Blair more leeway with the Palestinian side.

On the subject of recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, an older version of the Quartet proclamation offered "two states for two nations, with Israel as a Jewish state and the national home of the Jewish people."

Netanyahu agreed to compromise here as well, and allow the statement to speak of two states for two as well as of two national states, without mentioning a "Jewish state."

Furthermore, the premier also reportedly agreed to be more flexible on the length of future negotiations as well as on security assurances, a subject he has until now refused to address and which was not included in the Quartet's July statement.

American officials want the current version to limit negotiations to six months, while Netanyahu is prepared to agree to one year of peace talks.

Until this point, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has rejected all of the proposed draft statements, even those which included Netanyahu's revisions. Eventually, Quartet Mideast Envoy Tony Blair and American officials decided that a statement would be released regardless of any objections, in order to gauge the sides' responses later.

One U.S. proposal handed to Abbas has been to ask the UN Secretary General and the Security Council that Palestine be accepted as a full UN member, on condition that the membership is processed for a period of several months, at which time direct talks between Israel and the PA could resume along the guidelines stipulated in the Quartet statement.

However, sources have indicated that Abbas has rejected that offer as well, with aides to the Palestinian president saying that Abbas was interested in bringing Palestinian statehood to the General Assembly and to the Security Council at the same time, as a result of the length of time needed to process the proposal at the UNSC.

A reported Palestinian proposal is to bring to the UNGA an offer to recognize Palestine as an independent state within the 1967 borders, but not as a full member of the UN.

Speaking of their repeated rejections of Quartet drafts, Palestinian officials have said that the United States was working with cooperation with Israel, going as far as saying that Blair spoke to them like an "Israeli diplomat" and not like an international emissary, adding that U.S. Mideast envoy Dennis Ross used "undiplomatic language."

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/abbas-rejects-netanyahu-compromises-ahead-of-palestinian-statehood-bid-1.385226

Egypt bans export of palm fronds ahead of Jewish holiday of Sukkot

• Published 01:06 19.09.11
• Latest update 01:06 19.09.11

Agriculture Ministry to issue special licenses allowing import of lulavs from Spain, Jordan and the Gaza Strip, so that no major shortage is experienced in the run-up to the holiday.

By Amiram Cohen

Egypt has barred the export of palm fronds - used ceremonially in the upcoming Sukkot holiday - to Israel and to Jewish communities abroad, the Agriculture Ministry has learned.

The move by the Egyptian government comes just weeks before the fall holiday when the lulavs are in demand. In the past, Israel has imported about 700,000 palm fronds a year prior to Sukkot, representing about 40 percent of the total demand for them every year here.

	Boy with Lulav
	Photo by: Nir Keidar

In addition, about 700,000 of the 2 million lulavs purchased in Jewish communities in the Diaspora, primarily in North America and

 Europe, normally come from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.

The Egyptian Agriculture Ministry said the ban would be in effect until the end of 2011.

Israel's Agriculture Ministry will issue special licenses to allow the import of lulavs from Spain, Jordan and the Gaza Strip, so that no major shortage is experienced in the run-up to the holiday. The ministry will require that palm fronds coming into the country be inspected to prevent the spread of plant disease.

Israel's Agriculture Minister Orit Noked said her ministry would also work to supply the Israeli public with lulavs at a fair price by encouraging domestic date farmers to greatly boost their supply.

Date growers here said they have no intention of hiking prices beyond the labor costs they incur. Last year, regular lulavs sold for about NIS 100 each.

Israeli growers are expected to supply about 650,000 lulavs to the Israeli public in addition to another 200,000 special lulavs for the ultra-Orthodox community here.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/egypt-bans-export-of-palm-fronds-ahead-of-jewish-holiday-of-sukkot-1.385247

U.S. to Netanyahu: Don't sanction Palestinians following statehood bid at UN

• Published 01:06 19.09.11
• Latest update 01:06 19.09.11

Under pressure from within his government, Netanyahu decides to hold off on Palestinian sanctions, until implications of UN vote are clearer.

By Barak Ravid

The United States and several European countries have been urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to take drastic punitive measures against the Palestinians after they ask the United Nations to recognize their state.

Netanyahu, who is under heavy pressure from Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz and Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon to respond strongly to the Palestinian Authority, has decided at this point to wait until the significance of the Palestinian move becomes clearer to commit to any course of action.

	Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, flankers by his advisers, arriving for the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem Sunday.
	Photo by: Tomer Appelbaum

According to a senior diplomatic source in Jerusalem, U.S. envoys Dennis Ross and David Hill, as well as other American officials, have asked Netanyahu over the past two weeks not to take any steps that would destabilize the PA, such as cutting off security cooperation.

U.S. President Barack Obama last week told reporters that if Jerusalem suspends security cooperation with the PA as a result of the latter's approach to the United Nations, it would be only hurting itself.

A similar message was delivered to Netanyahu last week by EU Foreign Minister Catherine Ashton and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle.

Netanyahu's national security adviser, Yaakov Amidror, who made an unreported visit to Berlin last Monday, got the same request from his German counterpart, Christoph Heusgen.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Intelligence Minister Dan Meridor are leading the opposition to sanctions against the PA. Both warn that it could lead to violence and the cessation of security cooperation between the PA and Israel, and could, under certain circumstances, lead to the total collapse of the PA, throwing responsibility for all of the West Bank's inhabitants back on Israel.

Barak met in New York yesterday with PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to discuss how to prevent a violent flare-up during Palestinian demonstrations that are planned during the PA's approach to the UN General Assembly.

Countering these international demands is heavy internal pressure on Netanyahu to punish the Palestinians for going to the United Nations.

The camp is led by Lieberman, who has spoken several times of the need to cut all ties with the PA in response to its approach to the United Nations. He has also called for a re-evaluation of the Oslo Accords.

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, who attended a conference of nations that contribute financially to the PA, said yesterday that if the PA continues to proceed in contravention of all the agreements that have been signed, which include those governing economic relations, "Israel will not have any legal or diplomatic obligation toward a Palestinian state, which will have been founded artificially, in breach of signed agreements."

Ayalon was thus hinting that Israel could cancel the tax-forwarding agreement it has with the PA and impose other economic sanctions.

Steinmetz, who also supports sanctions against the PA, has suggested measures meant to hurt the PA financially. During a meeting of Netanyahu's forum of senior ministers a few weeks ago, he presented a slide show that included a proposal to stop the transfer of customs levies that it collects for the PA, which comes to some NIS 400 million a month, even before the PA approaches the United Nations.

When Barak objected to this move, saying it would lead to the PA's collapse, Steinmetz presented a slide showing that Barak himself, as prime minister in 2000, had suspended these tax transfers to the PA for more than three months.

"They didn't collapse then, and they won't collapse now," Steinitz said.

Ya'alon suggested that Netanyahu declare Israel's intention to build thousands more homes in the settlement blocs as a response to the PA's statehood bid.

He has told confidants that he believes that "as far as the PA gets in the United Nations, that's how far our response should go." He also rebuffed suggestions that the PA could collapse, saying it wouldn't happen "because of the internal Palestinian interest," in keeping it afloat.

A senior figure in the Prime Minister's Office said that while Netanyahu personally tends toward Barak and Meridor's approach, there is a chance that he will nonetheless follow Lieberman's and Ya'alon's lead.

Netanyahu recently told a U.S. Congressional delegation not to rush to freeze American aid to the Palestinians, but rather to wait and see how their approach to the United Nations plays out.

The U.S. administration provides the PA with more than half a billion dollars to cover its budget. Several members of Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, have threatened to re-evaluate U.S. aid to the PA if it applies to the United Nations for statehood.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/u-s-to-netanyahu-don-t-sanction-palestinians-following-statehood-bid-at-un-1.385233

Norway FM: We will recognize Palestinian state

• Published 14:33 18.09.11
• Latest update 14:33 18.09.11

Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store believes negotiations can 'solve' matters between Israel and the Palestinians, but that the Palestinians have a 'right to go to the UN'.

By DPA

Norway will recognize a Palestinian state, Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store said Sunday as Palestinians prepared to seek statehood recognition from the United Nations.

"Only negotiations can solve matters between Israel and the Palestinians, and should commence immediately," Store wrote in an entry on his Facebook page.

	Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R) gestures during his meeting with Norway's Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere in the West Bank city of Ramallah August 27, 2011.
	Photo by: Reuters

"But the Palestinians have a right to go to the UN. Norway will support this and is prepared to recognize a Palestinian state," he added.

A Palestinian bid was expected during the UN General Assembly that opens Monday in New York.

Store and Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg were due to attend the UN gathering.

Before that, Store was to chair a meeting of a donor support group for the Palestinians, the so-called Ad Hoc Liaison Committee.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/norway-fm-we-will-recognize-palestinian-state-1.385141

Palestinians hack Jewish 'Facebook' site

• Published 12:23 17.09.11
• Latest update 12:23 17.09.11

Group calling itself 'Challenges HackerS' take over 'FaceGlat', say will never stop hacking 'until you stop killing our brothers and sisters and mothers in Palestine'.

By Elka Looks

FaceGlat, an ultra-Orthodox alternative to Facebook that separates between male and female profiles, was hacked on Saturday by a group calling themselves, “Challenges HackerS”.

The site, normally frequented by Haredi Jews who do not wish to be tempted by the voyeurism of Facebook, now calls to “free Palestine”. The hackers wrote that if they could change the domain they would, but for now they are telling “the owner of this site that am gonna get this PC soon or later,” adding, “Palestine is the best of the best.”

The group pledged to never stop hacking “until you stop killing our brothers and sisters and mother in Palestine,” warning that “the day is coming.”

	An image posted on the Haredi 'FaceGlat' website by hackers, September 17, 2011.

The hackers, who claim to be from Jordan, posted a picture of a hand making the peace sign on the site, signing it M17 Hacker, DrZero Hacker and Sn!peR Hacker.

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/palestinians-hack-jewish-facebook-site-1.384983