Israel News Net

Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Obama vigorously shook hands today at the White House in a meeting that helped to dispel the past few months of tension between their respective countries.

Yesterday, Israel said that they would take steps to ease the blockade on Gaza. A list of items that are supposed to encourage economic growth in Gaza has been reviewed and repealed. Today President Obama said that the bond between Israel and the U.S. is “unbreakable.” Netanyahu said he looked forward to taking “concrete steps” to peace.

After March, when talks about how to diplomatically proceed with Palestine reached an impasse, relations were at their worst. Today marks a return to a relationship based on good appearances.

In the West Bank, the New York Times reports a list of groups that have given large, tax-deductible sums to Jewish development. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Netanyahu has stalled the building projects that were announced in March to be constructed in East Jerusalem in hopes of kick-starting a peace process.

While critics say that this is simply political posturing, the fact that cameras were allowed to photograph the Prime Minister and the President is reassuring to many Jews who hope for peace and a strong friendship between Israel and the U.S.

Hamas is looking more poweful than ever, with Turkey proud to lead the Muslim community, and Netanyahu’s promise to ease the blockade. But they don’t even need, or want the blockade eased – there were plans to turn Gazan sewage into fertilizer to make the Strip into a little organic farm. Some of the tunnels to Egypt will shut down, but others will survive. Hamas is ready to continue making the little country self sufficient, even as it taxes its people.

As Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Abbas hopes for a country and gets shut down, Hamas is whistling while they work. While much of the West is still wary, Turkey is looking to increase its clout, American investors of Palestinian origin are opening Gaza’s first mall, and Saudi sheiks are sending out management consultants to look for opportunities; land prices in Gaza city are shooting up.

Tony Blair, who organized the easing of the blockade on the part of the Quartet (the EU, UN, U.S. and Russia) says he wants to visit, but right now only talks to officials via teleconference. So Hamas remains more powerful than ever, although Gazans just want to be free.

What is Israel to do?

Turkey was once a key ally to both Israel and the U.S. Today, under the leadership of Prime Minister Erdogan, Turkey is becoming  a leader of the Arab League.  Erdogan is at present the most popular man in the Muslim world for his vitriolic depiction of Israeli leadership. His ties with extremist Hamas are not comforting and his dinner invitations to Iranian president Ahmadinejad are even more unsettling.

This geographic crossroads in no longer a mediating presence between East and West – today Turkey is representative of the East, and an extreme East at that. The Erdogan government is becoming increasingly anti-sectarian, anti-democratic and anti-Israel. Where does this place them? Right in the forefront of Islamic Extremism.

What can be done about this? For one, the U.S. could stand in and invite Erdogan as a mediating force between Israelis and Palestinians, where the West Bank is taking pragmatic steps towards a two state solution. Diplomacy seems to be the best move to make in this global world, where isolationism foments extremism.

Meanwhile, the E.U. passed sanctions on Iran that are stronger than the U.N.’s expected restrictions. Israel is moderating their sanctions on Gaza in response to international criticism.

Here’s hoping that moderation infects the rest of the Middle East.

After the raid that occurred on Monday, there has been wide censure of Israel. Today, Israel has begun returning activists back to their native lands. Turkey, a large player in this game, has threatened to end all diplomatic ties with Israel if all Turkish detainees are not returned by the end of the day. More than 600 will be deported over the coming days.

In the meanwhile, Egypt has opened its borders with Gaza. Turkey has also condemned the American and international reaction to the flotilla raid, saying that it was not immediate enough, and was too light. The U.S. mildly reproached Israel for the loss of life, and said that the embargo is “unsustainable.” They also said that delivery by sea of these goods is “certainly not effective,”according to Alejandro D. Wolff, a lead official. While an investigation will likely be made, the next boat intent on delivering humanitarian aid may be deployed as early as next week.

It is clear that Israel will stop the next ship, and the one after that. The only options become more violence, or a two state solution, which would appease the Arab community. Determining how, if ever that can happen is now more up to the aggressive flotilla deployers than the Israelis.

Born in Moldova, and immigrating to Israel in the early 70’s, Mr. Lieberman is a right wing figure who is Israel’s Foreign Minister. He founded the Yisrael Beitenu party which came in third in the 2009 elections. He is controversial for advocating a required oath of loyalty to the state. Those who decline the acceptance of the Jewish colors, anthem, and military service would also refuse suffrage. This notion is in response to the growing number of Arabs living in Israel.

Although he has supported the death sentence for Arab leaders who meet with Hamas and Hezbollah, and is often aligned with the far right, he favors a two state solution between Israel and Palestine. A trade of Arab populated Israeli regions for near-Jewish areas in the West Bank would reduce the number of Arab denizens, which currently number more than a million of the 7 millions Israelis.

Mr. Lieberman has often been pursued by Israeli police, most recently for his business dealings in 2008. While counts of breach of trust, bribery, and fraud have been pressed against him, he welcomes the attacks, due to the publicity he receives from the media. As a result, many align with his views, and support his ideas.

In Gaza, the tunnels that lead to Egypt are a key mechanism for the transportation of goods.  They have recently been multiplying like rabbits, fueling illegal trading of supplies that Israel has outlawed, in turn, dropping prices and leading to rebuilding of the areas that Israel bombed last year. Overall, Gaza is in much better shape than the West Bank, which often gets mired in Israeli bureaucracy. Yet Hamas remains politically isolated from the other Arab countries in the region.

In the West Bank, nonviolent efforts for peace are taking root – literally. Palestinians are planting trees and inviting peace mongers like MLK III and Gandhi’s grandson to the region in hopes that a peaceful resistance will lead to a Palestinian state. Public support for military approaches has dipped below 50%, a large factor in prompting these small efforts.

Meanwhile, in the U.S., President Obama has been discussing with officials the possibility for putting forth a treaty. Fears rest on possible Israeli rejection of a proposal, and the subsequent refusal of Palestinians to work with anything less than what the U.S. puts forth. While details remain uncertain, a sharing of Jerusalem and a return to 1967 borders would be certain. Likely would be an Arab recognition of Israel as a state and U.S. or U.N. troops stationed along the Jordan river to prevent paramilitary attacks.

With things going the way they have been, look for an American attempt at fostering peace talks in the imminent future.

The Obama Administration has condemned the Israeli comments about building new homes in Ramat Shlomo, leading to the absence of warmth and fuzziness in the American-Israeli relationship so characteristic of preceding American presidencies. Obama believes the only way to peace in the region is a two state solution, and that the way to achieve this is through compromise.  Chances are President Obama will take a hard line with both Israel and Palestine, but for the former this may seem a pugnacious attempt to improve American standing in the Middle East, at the expense of Jewish-American relations.

Prime Minister Netanyahu is hawkish when it comes to Israeli rights, but the renewed violence in the Gaza strip only underscores the need for a peaceful solution in the form of two states. If, as Obama hopes, he is able to coerce Palestine into severing their ties with Iran, the while enforcing Palestinian leaders to recognize and appreciate a Jewish state, perhaps Netanyahu will surrender certain parts of East Jerusalem to the Palestinians. That’s a lot to ask for, especially from a state that harbors such large extremist groups. Some have suggested financial compensation to move Palestinians out of the area, others have scoffed at the possibility for peace at all, but for Obama, forming ties to Syria and other Middle East countries are the focus. It seems that  rather than lashing out against American enemies, Obama is trying to foster pro-American sentiment within those countries by scorning pro-Israeli action.

The success of the upcoming proxy peace talks will determine not only the relationship between Israeli and Palestine, but that of Israel and America as well.

Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Israel on Tuesday to call for negotiations between Palestine and the Jewish state and to dissuadeIsraelis from unilateral military actions against Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah.

Calling the U.S.’s ties to Israel “unshakeable,” the Vice President arrives on the eve of indirect peace talks between Palestine and Israel, which mediate through American ambassadors in Ramallah.  Saeb Erekat, the Palestinians’ chief negotiatior believes that this will be one of the last chances for a two state solution and that Palestinians are willing to yield a large part of the West Bank in exchange for a parcel of equivalent sized land.

Israel is hesitant to oblige Palestine because of their association with paramilitary groups. Mr. Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, wants to retain Israeli military presence on the country’s eastern borders. Ceding of land to Palestine would also require more than half a million Jews relocate.

Biden’s trip serves to mediate between the two states, but more than anything, its purpose is to back Israel’s confidence as a lone satellite in a constellation of extremism. Essentially, Biden as figurehead, is attempting to quell the Israeli fear of Iran’s nuclear program.  The best way to determine the kind of job he is doing is by following the peace talks, the first in over a year, over the course of the next few months.

After the assasination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, there has been much international finger pointing at Israel.  If al-Mabhouh’s attempt to procure supplies for Iran in order to facilitate nuclear warfare is true, then his assasination is just another prevention measure against bringing rockets into Gaza. Essentially there is no problem with this. Hamas, Hizbullah, and Iran are all in cahoots together and the Massad is right in discovering how and where arms can be located. This is another battle of east vs. west. The question is how it can  be resolved.

While some Jews rightly say that Arabs in the West Bank still refuse to acknowledge the formation of a Jewish state, and that their insurrection  is the target of Mossad,

it is important to examine a perspective from another side.

A recent article entitled “Does Mossad Really Make Israel Safer?” printed in this week’s Economist, proposes an alternate vision. Meir Dagan seems to be leading Mossad more towards a totalitarian structure in his dismissal of younger subordinates to rise in the ranks, in his kill ‘em all campaign against Hamas, and the agency’s general arrogance cripple attempts at peace, the article argues.

The Economist is a centrist leaning international magazine, and so it is important to consider such an opinion in the aftermath of this news-making assasination. In noting that much depends on Mr. Dagan’s succession, a view of a more moderate Mossad is proposed.

Thirty-nine young people from Gaza applied to attend a peace education workshop sponsored by the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information, or IPCRI, which was held recently in a school in Beit Jala.

Thirty-five of them were denied entry by the Israeli Defense Forces, or IDF, and did not have the opportunity to join the 70 other Israelis and Palestinians who spent the weekend in dialogue, debate, disagreement and agreement, rejoicing in the mutual recognition that we all want peace and that peace is possible.

Actually, all 39 Gazans were denied entry, but we managed to get agreement to allow four people to come. The refusal of the army to allow their entry had nothing to do with security; the army officer in charge even told me so. This is the policy and the army is implementing that policy.

What exactly is the policy and why was it designed, you ask? The policy is to completely isolate Gaza from the rest of the world so that the people of Gaza can be convinced that they should take action against the ruling Hamas government. The policy is that no one leaves Gaza. Period.

Of course there are the exceptions – those with immediate humanitarian needs. There are also some other exceptions – judgment calls made by the commander of the Erez crossing – that is how we managed to get four young people from Gaza to attend our peace education workshop and that is how roughly five businessmen get out of Gaza every day as well.

But even with all of these exceptions, more than 1.5 million Gazans are trapped inside this tiny and crowded piece of land, with no right of movement into and through Israel or into and through Egypt.

This policy is actually supposed to convince the people of Gaza that Hamas is their enemy and that they should rise up against them. Analysts in the army and in the security forces claim that the policy is working because public opinion research shows that there is a decline of public support for Hamas in Gaza. This might be true – there is no way we can really know what has brought about a decline in public support for Hamas – but it is very unlikely that the economic siege is the reason.

Gazans are really suffering. This is what we heard from the four who joined us for the workshop. This is what I continue to hear from dozens of other friends that I speak with regularly all over the Gaza Strip. They all report the same thing. While most average Gazans – the secular and non-fundamentalist people – are paying the price of the siege, Hamas activists and Hamas-connected entrepreneurs have become the nouveau riche.

The underground economy has created the need to establish a Ministry of Tunnels with a full policy of tax collection for goods coming into Gaza, as well as for the time used for their transport. At the same time, the factory owners, farmers and shopkeepers who were dependent on trade with Israel have gone bankrupt. What was once the mainstream of Gazan society, a kind of middle class, has been decimated by the policies aimed at making them turn on Hamas. This will not happen.

The majority of Gazans are broken. They have lost hope. They have no strength for a long, drawn-out struggle. They feel detached from the world, an abandoned people – “even God has forgotten us” – one of them said.

The four people who left to meet Israelis took a big personal risk. They were stopped by Hamas on the way out and they were stopped and questioned upon their return. The other 35 who couldn’t get out were willing to demonstrate the same courage.

We told the army, check all of them; if there are any who are a security risk, don’t let them out. But the policy is not about security, so they were not even checked by the Shin Bet, Israel’s security agency. I cannot find the logic in prohibiting young people from Gaza from meeting with Israelis. Is the government implementing an anti-normalization campaign?

Ironically I find myself often encountering Palestinians in the West Bank who refuse to meet Israelis because they see it as “normalization” with the enemy while the occupation continues. To them I always say, “Please explain to me how you not meeting with Israelis is advancing your struggle. How will you liberate Palestine and end the occupation by not talking to Israelis?”

I don’t get it. I say to them, if you want to end the occupation and liberate your land and create your state next to Israel, go and meet with Israelis from the Likud and from Yisrael Beiteinu, don’t boycott them – that has no logic to it at all. So I say to the government, if we want to change the regime in Gaza without reoccupying it, we must change the hearts and the minds of the Gazan people.

One of the young participants from Gaza said, “My father, who used to work in Israel, told me that he knew many Israelis who wanted peace with us, but I never believed him. After being here this weekend, I now know that there are Israelis who want peace as much as we do, and some even more than us!”

Israel’s current policy is not only not working, it is counterproductive and it is morally wrong. Collective punishment against a civilian population will never create future partners for peace. If we want to weaken Hamas, end the economic siege. If we want to bankrupt Hamas economically, open the passages for trade – it will put the tunnels out of business. If we want to build partners for peace, enable thousands of Gazans to come out to meet with Israelis. If we want change in Gaza, we have to change the way we treat Gaza. Hamas is the enemy, the people of Gaza are not.

* Gershon Baskin is co-chief executive officer of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information (www.ipcri.org) and an elected member of the leadership of the Green Movement political party. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) with permission from The Jerusalem Post.