Gaza Latest: Why Israel Is Welcoming the UN Enquiry

On Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informed United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that Israel would accept an international probe into the raid on the Freedom Flotilla on 31 May.

The panel will begin its work on 10 August and will file its first report with the UN Security Council by the middle of September. Heading the panel will be former New Zealand Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer, an expert on international maritime law. The vice chairman is outgoing Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who is considered pro-Israel and pro-United States. Turkey and Israel also will send representatives.

This is the first time Israel is cooperating with a UN investigation of the actions of Israel Defense Forces. Haaretz reports the mandate of the panel:

The panel's mandate is to examine the investigations that Israel and Turkey are carrying out regarding the incident of the Gaza-bound flotilla on May 31. In addition, the panel will seek to examine the facts surrounding the flotilla and recommend ways to avoid such incidents in the future.

The panel will not be authorized to call witnesses --- especially no Israeli soldiers or officers.

So it will be a very limited investigation; the US Ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, said the nternational panel will be "complementary" to national enquiries. Rice added that the US expected  "that the Panel will operate in a transparent and credible manner and that its work will be the primary method for the international community to review the incident, obviating the need for any overlapping international inquiries".

So why did Israel, contrary to initial expectations, accept a UN panel? Because, at the end of the day, it is an investigation doing no more than looking at national (i.e., Israeli) investigations which have already tried to define the findings, findings which have already tried to contain the fact that nine activists died on board the Flotilla.

MENA House: Rockets on Jordan and Israel; Lebanon-Israel Clash --- UPDATES

UPDATE 0705 GMT: Robert Fisk, writing in The Independent of London, reviews the clash between Israeli and Lebanese forces.

On Sunday, a few hours before six rockets hit Israel, Jordan, and the sea off the coast, Israeli President Shimon Peres was returning from Cairo and talks with Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak.

Since Peres' departure, four key events have occurred, raising questions about growing instability in the region.

Early Monday morning, Deir el Balah, a refugee camp in the southern region of the Gaza Strip was attacked by Israeli F16 fighter jets. The home of leader  Alaa al-Danaf, Hamas wing leader and Al-Qassam Brigades leader was targeted. Military medical services coordinator Adham Abu Salmiyya said, "At least 42 civilians were injured in the attack."

UPDATED Israel-Lebanon: Border Clash Kills At Least 4 Soldiers, Journalist (Al Jazeera)
MENA House: “Iranian” Rockets Used in Attacks on Israel and Jordan

About 90 minutes later, the rockets struck Eilat in Israel and Aqaba in Jordan. One Jordanian was killed and four other people were injured.

On Tuesday, Israeli and Lebanese forces clashed on the border. Three Lebanese soldiers and a Lebanese journalist died. Lieutenant Colonel Dov Harari, an Israeli battalion commander, was killed, and a second Israeli officer was critically wounded. in an exchange with the Lebanese army.

Debate on Launch Location of "Iranian rockets"

A top Jordanian government official claims there is proof that the rockets were fired from the Sinai in Egypt; however, he did not elaborate on the precise location.

Ahmed Meslemani reported that Egyptian security officials have denied the assertion: "It would not be logical geographically to fire from the Sinai peninsula as the area is mountainous and with very high security."

An Egyptian intelligence official said that police and 100 Bedouin trackers searched the area in the Sinai thoroughly but found nothing. He added that surveillance cameras also picked up no indication of activity: "They (Jordanians and Israelis) said that the rocket was fired from the Pharaoh hotel close to Taba. We searched and we found nothing."

UPDATED Israel-Lebanon: Border Clash Kills At Least 4 Soldiers, Journalist (Al Jazeera)

UPDATE 1525 GMT: Israel Defense Forces have confirmed that Lieutenant Colonel Dov Harari was killed in today's skirmish. A platoon commander, Captain Ezra Lakia, has been seriously wounded.

Al Jazeera reports:

At least three Lebanese soldiers have been killed by Israeli forces during an exchange of rocket and gunfire along the border between the two countries.

A journalist was also killed, and five more Lebanese soldiers wounded in the Israeli shelling on Tuesday.

"The Israelis fired four rockets that fell near a Lebanese army position in the village of Adaisseh and the Lebanese army fired back," a Lebanese security official in the area said.

MENA House: “Iranian” Rockets Used in Attacks on Israel and Jordan

Hezbollah's Al Manar television station said a high-ranking Israeli soldier was also killed in the border incident. The report could not be independently verified, and the Israeli army refused to comment.

Lebanese news sources reported that the journalist killed was Assaf Abou Rahhal, from the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar.

Lebanese witnesses said that Israeli shells are continuing to hit Adaisseh village.

The clashes erupted after Israeli soldiers reportedly attempted to uproot trees on the Lebanese side of the border.

Read rest of article....

MENA House: "Iranian" Rockets Used in Attacks on Israel and Jordan

On Monday, Red Sea ports in Israel and Jordan suffered rocket attacks killing one man and wounding six other people wounded.

Reports say a rocket exploded outside the Intercontinental Hotel in the Jordanian city of Aqaba, 300 km (185 miles) south of Amman. Five were injured, with taxi driver Subhi Yousef al-Alawneh dying of his wounds.

One rocket struck the Israeli city of Eilat; however, there were no casualties reported. Three others landed in the sea off Israel and Jordan.

Israel-Palestine Analysis: Who Wants A One-State Solution?

Condemning the Attack

Ali Ayed, Jordan's information minister described the attacks as a "terrorist and criminal act, which serves shady agendas, is strongly condemned....Jordan will always fight terrorism and terrorists."

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke on the telephone with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordanian King Abdullah on Monday about the incidents.

"The attacks perpetrated on innocent citizens of Jordan and Israel were carried out by terrorists that want to thwart the peace process," Netanyahu said in a statement .

A spokesman for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign affairs asserted that the rocket attacks "were not an attack on Israel but rather, an attack on the region bringing about instability".  He blamed Hezbullah and Hamas, saying that the rockets were unlikely to come from Egypt, contrary to speculation.

Rockets Made by Iran?

Eilat police found that the rockets were "Grad-type Katyushas" made in Iran, witha range of around 20 kilometers and weighing 6 kilograms each.

Egyptian officials denied the rockets came from their territory: "No rockets were launched from the Sinai.  To launch rockets from Egypt, it takes equipment and complicated logistical preparations. It is impossible, since the Sinai Peninsula has heavy security."

BBC Arabic reported that Egyptian security forces were scouring the area around Taba and Nuweiba, but had found no sign of a rocket launch.

The day before the attacks, Xinhua reported that Egyptian security had blocked off ten openings of secret tunnels at borders with the Gaza Strip; located in a residential area north of Rafah crossing.


Egyptians in Aqaba

The rocket in Aqaba landed 300 metres from the Egyptian Consulate.  No one from the Consulate or the Egyptian community in Aqaba, estimated at around 20,000, was injured.

Israel-Palestine Analysis: Who Wants A One-State Solution?

Let's ask a very basic question: What is the most likely alternative to the two-state solution? For the Israeli right and the majority of Palestinians settled in the West Bank (according to a poll by the Palestinian Ma'an News Agency), it is a one-state agreement. Based on this data, we can read political motivations behind these preferences.

In an article published in Haaretz, former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Arens argued that Israel had to break its taboos by granting Israeli citizenships to Palestinians. He said:

We are already a binational state and also a multicultural and multi-sector state. The minorities [meaning Arabs] here make up 20 percent of the population --- that's a fact and you can't argue with facts.

Israel-Palestine: A Secret Deal to Start Direct Talks?
Middle East Inside Line: Rockets Hit Eilat, Iran Responds to “US War Plan”, US $ for Israel Missile Defence

So Palestinians would be granted equal rights, such as the right to vote for a new Knesset. The second generation of Palestinian granted equal rights, if not the first generation, would be enjoy their lives in Jerusalem's telecommunication sectors, on Tel Aviv's beaches (world's 9th best) and in Israel's Hebrew University (which is in the top 100 universities in the world).

Critics from the Israeli "left" contend, however, that while this proposal provides the Palestinians full personal rights, it also envisages a country whose symbols and spirit will remain Jewish: what is sought by the right-wing is a "democratic Jewish Israel". The Palestinian problem would become a domestic issue. Instead of dealing with the Obama Administration, Ramallah's foot-dragging strategies, United Nations' telling offs and "provocative" flotillas, problems related with Palestinians granted Israeli citizenships would turn to their loyalty to the Jewish character of the state or their relatively high birthrate.

On the Palestinian front, those who argue for a one-state alternative and political "vision" assume that Palestinians would overtake the rule of the state through the state's democratic channels. However, the Palestinian question would face new and more complex problems and the nationalist movement could lose its support from the emerging Palestinian elite.

Beyond these political calculations, if the Ma'an poll reflects the general public opinion of Palestinians, questions emerge. Is this a "hopeless" reaction to the division of Palestine and a historical memory of defeat? Is it a surrender to the "enemy"? Or is it weariness of harsh living conditions imposed by politics and the futile hope of the better life lived by their Jewish neighbours?