Former NATO head expected to join Rice's Mideast team
By Haaretz Correspondent and Agencies , By Amir Oren
Tags: Jim Jones
Former NATO commander, retired General James Jones is expected to accept a role as adviser to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on security issues related to peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, according to official sources.
The retired Marine Corps general will go by the official title of "Special Envoy for Middle East Security."
According to State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, the job involves monitoring the development of the Palestinian security services, and how they interact with their Israeli counterparts.
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Without referring to Jones specifically, McCormack said that the person who takes up the position would "take a look internally at not only the efforts of the Palestinians to build up their security forces, but how those efforts relate to the Israeli government and Israeli security efforts and how those efforts also relate throughout the region."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/929221.html
Jordan-US ties remain strategic - US envoy
By Khalid Neimat
AMMAN - Jordan-US relations would not be affected by any change in administrations in Washington as these decades-old ties are “strategic”, US Ambassador David Hale has said.
Hale added that these “strong” relations were cemented by successive US administrations, noting that the Kingdom enjoys support from many US politicians.
In an interview with The Jordan Times and Al Rai, the ambassador stressed his country’s keenness to help Jordan overcome economic challenges facing it.
He also paid tribute to Jordan’s efforts to revive the dormant Mideast peace process.
Throughout the past few years, the Kingdom has been making great diplomatic efforts, led by His Majesty King Abdullah, to restore the Israeli-Palestinian peace process in an attempt to generate a just and comprehensive peace in the region, with the solution of two states living side by side in peace and security, Hale said.
Jordan is an example of a state that is working to accomplish peace and stability in the area, the envoy added.
The US and all parties to the peace process realise Jordan’s interests in issues related to Palestinian refugees, but they know have focus on moving the process forward to discuss all relevant matters, Hale said.
http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=4029
Longing for Deri
By Gideon Levy
In a tailored suit, his beard well groomed, and no longer bespectacled, Deputy Prime Minister Eli Yishai shuttled from interview to interview: "Nothing will emerge from Annapolis." This minister of nothing now constitutes the government's right-wing benchmark, competing with Avigdor Lieberman over who is more extreme and who will be first to quit the government.
These two ministers represent ethnicity, and both paint their ethnic focus in strong nationalist colors. But while Lieberman represents a party that was founded on racism, Yishai received a relatively moderate party and took it to the extreme right. Seeing him makes one long for the party's founder, Aryeh Deri. Deri's Shas was not a left-wing party, but it expressed relatively moderate political positions and even refrained from undermining the first Oslo agreement (although it opposed Oslo II).
The new Shas, on the other hand, acts and talks as if it is seeking war, and is doing its utmost to undermine the prime minister's efforts - which seem sincere - to end the conflict. This is not just a matter of ideological oscillation. The problem is that Yishai is leading a broad public - some of whom are moderate - to racism, extreme nationalism and hatred of Arabs. He has restored the old status quo to its glory: Mizrahim, versus the Arabs and peace. His views, therefore, are disastrous.
Completely lacking the charisma and personal charm of his predecessor, Yishai has benighted views: He recently spoke about "medication" for homosexuality. He has said he finds the sale of pork, civil marriages and workshops for Jewish and Arab teenagers equally disgusting, which brings him in line with his uncivil spiritual mentor, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/930032.html
World should ensure parties honour commitments - King
AMMAN (Agencies) - His Majesty King Abdullah on Saturday said that intensified international efforts are required in the coming stage to ensure that all parties to the Middle East conflict honour their commitments to a peaceful solution.
In a phone call, the King discussed with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice means to proceed with the peace process after last week’s Annapolis meeting.
King Abdullah said it was also important to build on the meeting's outcome. Rice said she appreciated King Abdullah's endeavours to bring about a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday in Amman that he "did not receive any guarantees from the American administration regarding the upcoming negotiations with Israel".
"All I can say is that we felt seriousness from President [George W.] Bush and Secretary [of State Condoleezza] Rice and the whole American administration towards resolving the Palestinian problem," he said.
"But we can't claim that we have any guarantees on the negotiations and their outcome."
"We're depending on the righteousness of our cause and on the international community, including the United States, which is sympathetic towards the Palestinian issue," added Abbas during a brief stopover at Amman’s Marka Airport. He later flew out to Saudi Arabia.
Former Palestinian premier Ahmed Qureia, speaking separately with reporters at the airport, said the Palestinians were determined to "achieve statehood" by the end of next year.
http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=4032
Belying assurances
While much fanfare has surrounded the relaunching of a peace process between Israelis and Palestinians, Israel has quietly continued to do what it always does to undermine the possible success of such a process, namely killing Palestinians.
Yesterday, five Palestinians, all members of Hamas’ armed wing, were killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza. There was no suggestion that the five were posing any threat to Israel. Indeed, the Israeli army simply said it struck once it had identified armed men near its border.
Hamas said its men were on patrol. Neither side suggested anything about any rocket attack.
This, in Israeli parlance, constitutes self-defence. Indeed, the demolition of houses, the building of settlements and the taking of Palestinian lives all constitute self-defence in Israeli terminology.
And this in spite of the stated “urgent efforts” by the Israeli government to sue for peace during the next year.
Is it any wonder that no one takes the Israeli government seriously? It is true that many want to take Israel seriously, among them the Arab countries that attended last week’s Annapolis conference. But that has time and again proved to be wishful thinking. Hence, among ordinary Palestinians, the call by Hamas for no negotiations until there is a full ceasefire from the Israeli side and a complete freeze on settlement building is convincing.
How, say critics of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, can Palestinians negotiate when they are being killed and imprisoned daily and their land is being expropriated?
What kind of “partner for peace” is this?
http://www.jordantimes.com/index.php?news=4040
Bush’s ‘diplomatic achievement’ at Annapolis
Musa Keilani
US President George W. Bush stood tall at Annapolis and declared that he was committing himself to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. But there was a sense of superficiality to the US pledge that Israelis and Palestinians will work out a peace agreement in one year.
One could only celebrate an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement if that were fair and just to all and comprehensively addressed the roots of the conflict.
The ability of the Palestinian leaders to deliver on the Annapolis pledge is also under question because of domestic reasons. And one is aware that the US stand is, of course, based on the fact that Bush will definitely want to leave something as legacy to the American people when he steps out of the White House in January 2009.
Will that mean that Bush will be consistently following up on the planned Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and, more importantly, be willing to twist arms when the circumstances warrant such action? It could, but not the Israelis’. The heat would remain on the Palestinians to make compromise after compromise.
It is not to be negative and sceptic about everything the US does, but the Annapolis pledge will be more convincing in real terms if we could see some sign of a realistic approach to the issues that need to be addressed.
http://www.jordantimes.com/index.php?news=4041
More than meets the eye
Walid M. Sadi
I am one of those who still cannot make heads or tails of the Annapolis peace conference.
The conference was more or less hastily convened and hurriedly ended. All that the world knows now is that US President George W. Bush is committed to brokering peace between Israel and the Palestinians before his term in office at the White House ends next year and that he will put his weight behind the negotiated settlement of the Palestinian question before the year 2008 ends.
We also know that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have committed themselves to seeking a negotiated settlement of their differences on final status issues within the span of one year. What we don’t know is how these commitments will indeed be translated into deeds, especially in the wake of similar assurances in the past that all ended not only in utter failure but also in violence.
Perhaps there is something different in the air this time that outsiders know little about. Perhaps there is a true change of heart in Israel’s case on the Palestinian case; maybe it has reconciled itself to accepting the fair and just case of the Palestinian side.
The Palestinians have gone a long way to meet Israel’s concerns and anxieties, and cannot be expected to yield any more concessions in order to attain a lasting peace accord.
http://www.jordantimes.com/index.php?news=4042
Weekly Poll
Do you think the new government is capable of tackling socio-economic challenges?
Yes (19 %)
No (66 %)
I don't know (15 %)
Total Votes : 128
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