It isn't enough for Israel to just object. There has to be alternative plans and offers to engage a sincere effort toward peace. I don't see an obstuctionist agenda for any authority involved.
Olmert: No firm timetable for peace talks with PA
By Reuters
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday played down expectations for a peace deal with the Palestinians before the end of 2008 as laid out at a U.S.-sponsored peace conference last week.
"We will make an effort to hold speedy negotiations in the hope we may conclude by the end of 2008, but certainly there is no commitment for a firm timetable for their completion," Olmert said at the start of Sunday's cabinet meeting.
U.S. President George W. Bush assured Israeli and Palestinian leaders at the conference in Annapolis, Maryland, that Washington would actively engage in peacemaking, despite deep skepticism over chances for a deal before he leaves office.
Advertisement
Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met Bush to launch the first formal peace talks in seven years at the conference and agreed to try and reach a deal on Palestinian statehood by the end of next year. But, speaking at Israel's first cabinet meeting since Annapolis, Olmert urged caution.
Study: U.S., Israel should begin planning strike on Iran nuclear sites
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent
Israel and the United States should begin an intense dialogue on ways to deal with Iran's nuclear plans and should examine ways to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, according to a new study published by an influential Washington think tank.
The report, by a former deputy head of the National Security Council, Chuck Freilich, says Israel and the U.S. should discuss nuclear-crisis scenarios between Israel and Iran. The report, entitled "Speaking About the Unspeakable," was released over the weekend by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
reilich assumes that detailed talks between the U.S. and Israel on Iran do not extend beyond exchanges of intelligence, coordination of diplomatic moves and the supply of sophisticated weapons to Israel.
According to Freilich, a lack of symmetry exists between the U.S. and Israel on the Iranian threat, although both use similar rhetoric toward it. From Israel's perspective, Iran presents a potential existential threat, so its nuclear plans must be stopped at almost any price. In contrast, the U.S. is disturbed by the implications of nuclear weapons in Iran but does not see it as an existential threat.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/930162.html
Israeli Airstrike in Gaza Kills 6 Palestinians
Hisham Abu Taha & Mohammed Mar’i
GAZA CITY/RAMALLAH, 2 December 2007 — A sixth Palestinian was killed and three were wounded by Israeli troops yesterday, just hours after five fighters from Hamas’ military wing died in an overnight airstrike in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian medics said. An Israeli unit operating east of Gaza City killed the Palestinian whose identity was not immediately known, the medics said.
Those killed in the earlier attack all belonged to the Ezzeddine Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamist movement, a statement from the group said. Four were killed in the attack near the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis and a fifth died later of his wounds, the medics said.
An Israeli military spokesman confirmed to reporters that warplanes had launched an overnight raid in the Khan Younis area, targeting what he called “a group of terrorists.”
Another two fighters were wounded in the strike, said the Brigades statement, which called the attack “the direct result of Annapolis... we will respond very toughly to this aggression.”
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=104196&d=2&m=12&y=2007
