Israel Update for August 2010

Israeli officials lobbied hard to halt a planned two ship Lebanese convoy from heading to the Gaza Strip in late August. The Beirut government subsequently announced it would not allow the ships, carrying some 70 female pro-Palestinian activists, to depart from the port of Tripoli on August 22. This came after nearby Cyprus said it would not let the vessels transit through its ports, saying to do so would threaten regional peace. Lebanese law bars direct sailings to Israeli ports or territory it controls, since Beirut is still formally in a state of war with Israel. The Greek Cypriot declaration came shortly after PM Netanyahu returned from a very warm visit to Athens, the first ever by an Israeli Premier. Ties with Greece have dramatically improved even as they have deteriorated with Greece's traditional adversary, Turkey, which illegally occupies northern Cyprus.

Meanwhile George Galloway, the former British Parliament member well know for his fierce anti-Israel stands, announced that aid ships will head to Gaza from three different locations on September 18. Writing in the socialist newspaper Morning Star, he said one set of ships will depart from London, with others coming from Casablanca, Morocco and Doha in Qatar.

Called Viva Palestina, Galloway said the flotilla would meet up in the Mediterranean and then provocatively attempt to violate Israel's Gaza Strip naval blockade. Revealing that his real intention is to harm Israel more than to help the Palestinians, he wrote that it is time for the world to challenge Israel's "criminal apartheid policy" with the goal of isolating the country and crushing its government, as occurred in South Africa during the 1980s and 90s.

Meanwhile Israeli leaders gave testimony to a special committee investigating the May 31 clash aboard a Turkish ship, which left nine Muslim activists dead and several IDF troops severely wounded. Saying he took "full responsibility" for the action, PM Netanyahu also noted he was out of the country at the time and that Defense Minister Barak was actually in charge of the operation. Barak in turn seemed to blame military leaders for any errors made. Analysts said retiring Chief of Staff Avi Ashkenazi was the only leader to actually take responsibility for the operation, admitting that army intelligence was not up to speed on the radical, and therefore potentially violent, nature of the Turkish IHH Muslim group which sponsored the flotilla.

Senior military leaders were relieved when the Israeli police cleared all of them from direct involvement in what appeared to be a smear campaign by one of the leading IDF candidates to replace Ashkenazi when his term ends next February. A document stating that current Southern Commander Gen. Yoav Galant had engaged a public relations firm to cook up false charges against his rivals for the top military job was discovered by police to be a fabrication. The story dominated local headlines in August, producing severe tension inside the IDF during a very dangerous time in Israel's modern history. Barak later announced he was appointing Galant as the next Armed Forces Chief, with the decision expected to be approved by the cabinet on August 29.

Direct Talks On The Way

Israeli officials expressed mixed feelings over Hillary Clinton's announcement that face to face peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority will resume on September 2 in Washington. The talks were suspended by the PA during the Cast Lead Gaza Strip conflict that began in December 2008. President Obama is expected to host Netanyahu and PA leader Abbas at the ceremonial launching of the American-mediated negotiations, along with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah. The US leader has asked the two sides to complete a final peace accord by the autumn of 2011. Netanyahu pledged to do everything he could to meet that goal.

However other Likud party cabinet ministers and legislators voiced strong skepticism that the negotiations will succeed, especially since Hamas and its ally Iran remain adamantly opposed to them. Similar sentiments were expressed by other government coalition partners, especially members of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party. Only the Labor party seemed to eagerly support the resumption of peace talks.

Deputy PM Eli Yishai said Netanyahu will only partially end a ten month Israeli home building freeze in Judea and Samaria, due to expire September 26. The PA demands that the suspension be permanently extended, warning it will walk out of the Washington peace talks if it is lifted. Yishai said Jewish home construction would resume in three large settlement blocks that Israel intends to retain in any final peace deal, but not in scattered isolated communities slated for evacuation. Many analysts say Abbas only agreed to resume direct talks because he knows he can shift the blame for their rapid failure onto Israel.

Several Israeli commentators warned that Obama may be pushing the region to an explosion by forcing the resumption of peace negotiations at this volatile time. One of them, Caroline Glick of the Jerusalem Post, noted that Iran-whom she termed "the nuclear elephant in the room" - will only exert greater pressure on Hizbullah and Hamas to stir up trouble in the region to thwart America's plans, as they are currently doing with allied Shiite groups in Iraq. Some pundits also found it ironic that the US announcement came just two days before Russia began fueling up Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactor, a move that will produce weapon's grade material. Russia is supposed to supervise spent fuel rods from the power plant, but Israeli analysts note this process could be thwarted later on by extremist Iranian leaders.

At the end of yet another month of mostly unnerving news in this tempestuous region, it is comforting to proclaim that "The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice, let the many islands be glad. Fire goes before Him and burns up His adversaries round about" (Psalm 97: 1,3).