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Entries in Danny Ayalon (5)

Sunday
Feb212010

Middle East Inside Line: Dubai Killing, French FM on "Palestinian State", Moscow Missiles to Tehran?

Israel's Official Response on Dubai: Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said on Saturday that there was no evidence tying Israel to the assassination of Hamas strongman Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai. He added:
I don't forsee a crisis with European allies because there is nothing that ties Israel to the assassination.

Britain, France and Germany all share our interests in the battle against global terror, therefore there will be no crisis, instead our relations [with these countries] will continue to deepen.

Palestinian-French Relations: French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told the French Journal du Dimanche that the assassination in Dubai underscores the need for peace in the Middle East and demonstrates the need for an immediate recognition of a Palestinian state.

Before Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas's scheduled visit to Paris next week, Kouchner said, referring to Abbas's reportedly acceptance of indirect talks under U.S. mediation:
France is training Palestinian police, businesses are being created in the West Bank... It follows that one can envision the proclamation soon of a Palestinian state, and its immediate recognition by the international community, even before negotiating its borders.


Palestinian Authority leader Salam Fayyad had said on Friday:
If by mid-2011, the political process has not ended the [Israeli] occupation, I would bet that the developed state of Palestinian infrastructure and institutions will be such that the pressure will force Israel to give up its occupation.

Russia to Deliver S-300s to Iran: Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying that Russia intends to fulfill a contract to supply S-300 air defense missile systems to Iran. He said:
There is a contract to supply these systems to Iran, and we will fulfill it. Delays (with deliveries) are linked to technical problems with adjusting these systems.

It is absolutely incorrect to put the emphasis on the issue of S-300 supplies... and to turn it into a major problem, to say nothing of linking it to the discussion on restoring trust in the purely peaceful character of Iran's nuclear program.

Syrian-Israeli Row: Following the meeting between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met with the French Prime Minister Francois Fillon on Friday, Syrian Prime Minister Naji al-Otari warned Israel Saturday that any new Middle East war would be catastrophic for the region and beyond.
Thursday
Feb182010

Middle East Inside Line: Dubai Assassination, Ayalon Appeal to US, Washington's Man in Syria, and More

Uproar over Dubai Assassination: Discussions and accusations are running at full speed over the assassination of senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel room. Dubai police chief Dahi Khalfan Tamim said that "it is 99 percent, if not 100 percent, that Mossad is standing behind the murder," and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Thursday demanded Israel's full cooperation in investigating of the fraudulent use of UK passports by the killers. On Wednesday, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown promised that his government would launch an inquiry into the matter.

Speaking to a memorial rally for Mabhouh in Gaza, Hamas political director Khaled Meshal said from Damascus, "We call on European countries to punish Israel's leaders for violating laws. Israel deserves to be placed on the terror list."

Iraq Snapshot: The Dispute over “Democracy” and Elections (Alaaldin)


Official "wanted" notices, with the faces of 11 suspected Israeli secret agents, were released Thursday by the Interpol website.



Ayalon's Play for US Support on Palestine: Speaking at the Jerusalem Conference on US-Israel relations, Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon criticized the Palestinian Authority and then praised the "unique" relationship with Washington:
The Palestinians have signed agreements that have called on them to dismantle terrorist groups and collect illegal weapons while they focus on the issue of the settlements, this is wrong and the settlements should not be singled out.

We also call on Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and President Mahmoud Abbas to cease the incitement against Israel. They should stop not only the incitement in the schools, mosques and websites but should also refrain from traveling to various capitals around the world and vilifying Israel and calling for Israel's relations with a third state or international organizations to be held hostage to the conflict.

We have excellent relations with the US and its uniqueness is that regardless of minor disputes, the overall relationship is never affected. Every facet of our relationship bodes well and is the cornerstone for stability in our region. We welcome the important work of Senator [George] Mitchell who came recently to the region and placed an offer on the table. Israel accepted and we are still waiting to hear from the Palestinians.

US Tops Up Relations with Damascus: Washington has formally named Robert Ford, a career diplomat, as its new ambassador to Syria. After meeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, William Burns, the US Undersecretary of State, said: "I have no illusions about the challenges. But my meeting with President Assad made me hopeful that we can make progress together in the interest of both of our countries."

Bomb in Iraq: Outside an Iraqi government compound in Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar, a bomb exploded killing at least 13 people and wounding at least 20 people.
Saturday
Feb132010

Middle East-Afghanistan Inside Line: Ayalon on Peace; NATO Operation Against Taliban; US Relations with Syria & Israel

Israel's Ayalon on Peace: On Saturday, in an interview with the London-based Arabic daily Asharq al-Awsat, Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon talked about the conditions of the peace process with Palestinians. He pointed towards two demographically "pure" states with the swap to Palestine of Israeli Arab towns and villages in the north (except Nazareth) in exchange for Palestinians relinquishing the "right of return" to their former lands in Israel.

Ayalon denied that this was an attempt to rid Israel of the country's Arabs: "Israel's Arabs who are moved to Palestine will also help the Palestinian state economically".

Ayalon also said that Israel is willing to give up land for peace and that the claim that settlements affect peace is an exaggeration; however, he did not specify how many settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem that Israel would relinquish.



US-UK-Afghan Offensive Against Taliban: Thousands of British, US and Afghan soldiers are engaged in the biggest military offensive since 2001 in central Afghanistan. The push, codenamed Mushtarak ("together"), is against the Taliban in Helmand province, especially the towns of Marjah and Nad Ali.

US Restores Ambassador in Syria: Philip J. Crowley,  Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, confirmed Saturday that Washington has "agreement from the Syrians on the candidate" to be the new ambassador in Damascus. He added, "The decision reflects our growing interest in working constructively with Syria and the leaders of that country." Crowley also said that Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns will travel to Syria next week.

US Military Mission to Israel: On Sunday, Admiral Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, will meet with Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi as well as Minister of Defense Ehud Barak and other senior IDF commanders. Discussions will include joint defense issues between Israel and the US and mutual security concerns.
Wednesday
Feb102010

Israel: A Loose Cannon for a Middle East Conflict?

Sharmine Narwani writes in The Huffington Post:

Another war is looming in the Middle East, say the pundits. It is hard to ignore the whispers -- now louder -- when they are regularly punctuated by hostile statements from various officials in the region, leading further credence to a possible conflagration.

The likely site of the newest regional battle is the Levant. Funnily enough, nobody can pinpoint exactly where, although it is clear that Israel will be involved. Which should tell us something right there.

Middle East Inside Line: Hamas in Russia, Iran FM on “Crazy Israel”, Palestine Talks
Israel, Hamas, and Russia: Who is in Bed with the Bear?


Since the Jewish state's military attack on Lebanon in 2006, it has been itching for a "do-over." Why? Because for the first time in its history, Israel did not win a war. The month-long bombardment of Lebanon resulted in a stalemate -- an intolerable outcome by the standards of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

To add to the indignity, it was a mere few thousand men -- not even a national army -- that took the IDF by surprise.

The cornerstone of Israel's military strategy is deterrence -- whether though brandishing a nuclear arsenal to warn off threatening nation-states, or by Gaza-style intensive attacks that send a strong message to a weaker party. This is a highly militarized state that has lived under the legacy of conflict its entire existence. Loss -- or even perceived loss -- is not an option.


So instead of self-examination, Israel's conflicted, and increasingly right-wing political body unleashed a belligerent tone -- angry, defiant, threatening, unfocused like a petulant and wounded child. Diversionary tactics came into play to focus domestic and international attention elsewhere and fill the frustrating void -- Hamas in Gaza, the potential nuclear aspirations of Iran, Palestinian intransigence on peace talks, Hezbollah's weapons, Syria, Turkey, anti-Semitism, the Goldstone Report.

In recent weeks, Israeli officials have made inflammatory statements about conflicts on half a dozen fronts.

SYRIA:

"When there is another war, you will not just lose it, but you and your family will lose power," right-wing Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman challenged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad last Thursday, after Assad claimed that Israel is "driving the region towards war, not peace."

Lieberman went further and hit at the heart of any future Israeli-Syrian rapprochement: "We must bring Syria to realize that...it will have to give up on its ultimate demand for the Golan Heights." Israeli leaders have in the past accepted in principle that the Syrian Golan Heights, captured and occupied by Israel in 1967, would necessarily be part of any bilateral peace deal.

GAZA:

In January -- one year after Israel's Operation Cast Lead in Gaza that lead to the deaths of 1,400 Palestinians -- Major General Yom Tov Samia, former head of the IDF's Southern Command, told the Jerusalem Post: "We are before another round in Gaza... another war with Hamas is inevitable." And Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned Gaza's leaders to "watch their step, and not to cry crocodile tears if they force [us] to take action."

The hue and cry about Hamas' rockets hitting Israeli towns was Tel Aviv and Washington's driving narrative in defense of Israel's military actions in Gaza. Still is. But just this week, the Jewish State announced that a new $200 million rocket defense system called the "Iron Dome" will not be deployed against Gaza as promised. Too expensive for Gaza, says the military, explaining that it will be deployed elsewhere where there is more of an "imminent" threat.

And this comes after months of Israeli insistence that Hamas has significantly boosted its military capabilities and has obtained long-range rockets, mostly from Iran. So which is it -- either they do or don't have weapons, either they do or don't pose a threat?

LEBANON:

No two other parties have been more relentlessly subjected to Israeli threats than Iran and Hezbollah. Last summer, after it was clear that the Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah would likely participate at the cabinet level in any unity government formed following Lebanon's June elections, Israeli leaders fell over themselves in their rush to issue warnings. Netanyahu, Barak and Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon all threatened that any border attacks would be blamed on the Lebanese central government -- with repercussions.
Just last month, Israeli Minister Yossi Peled opined, "Without a doubt we are heading for another round (of battle) in the North. No one knows when, but it's clear that it will happen."

And so both Hezbollah and Israel have moved weapons systems closer to their mutual borders.

IRAN:

Iran, in turn, has been the recipient of non-stop bombing threats from Israel over its civilian nuclear program, which the Jewish State claims is really a clandestine plan to build nuclear weapons and delivery systems. Never mind that some two dozen International Atomic Energy Agency reports over six years show no diversion of materials to weaponization. Or that Israeli military intelligence has been extending the date for a finished Iranian nuclear warhead since the 1990s. Last June, Mossad Chief Meir Dagan declared the new date for the first Iranian nuke would be in 2014. But Israel's war drums have kept beating as though these weapons were already sitting on launch pads, ready to go.

TURKEY:

Relatively new on the scene in the game of belligerent words is Turkey. A rare Israeli ally in the Middle East both in political and military terms, Turkey has drawn away from the alliance since Israel's widely-criticized Gaza attacks last year, when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan lashed out at the particularly brutal IDF campaign.

Things have gone from bad to worse since, culminating a month ago in the now-infamous Ayalon row when the Israeli deputy foreign minister publicly and deliberately humiliated Turkey's ambassador in front of cameras. Israel has called Turkey anti-Semitic and very recently slammed the Turkish prime minister again when he drew attention to the continuing Israeli blockade of Gaza and its daily violations of Lebanese airspace.

**********

Some Israeli critics suggest that the destabilizing escalation in rhetoric may not just be as a result of Israel's psychological loss in 2006, but more recently, because of an increased paranoia about international isolation -- the result of war crimes allegations documented against Israel in the UN's Goldstone Report about the Gaza war, and the country's ongoing occupation of Palestinian lands.

In a stunning attack on his government two weeks ago, Israeli writer Gideon Levy wrote a commentary piece in Haaretz in which he takes to task their "cynical" use of Holocaust Remembrance Day to propagandize toward political ends:
"An Israeli public relations drive like this hasn't been seen for ages. The timing of the unusual effort - never have so many ministers deployed across the globe - is not coincidental: When the world is talking Goldstone, we talk Holocaust, as if out to blur the impression. When the world talks occupation, we'll talk Iran as if we wanted them to forget."

But the escalation of rhetoric from Israel's right-wing government is not being viewed as simple political posturing -- more, like a promise of battle. As concerned as the Jewish State may be about conflict on its borders, its neighbors -- having been on the receiving end of superior Israeli weapons, and having suffered far larger numbers of civilian casualties -- are taking these words very seriously.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, at a joint press conference with Spain's Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos on Thursday pointed to this verbal escalation of hostilities by calling on Israel to "desist from making threats against Gaza, southern Lebanon, Iran and now Syria."

Because rhetoric after all creates a perception. And perception is 100% of politics -- not to be played with when standing on a tinderbox. The Levant has always been rife with small-scale border skirmishes -- that is the way of an area re-mapped by foreigners, with unnatural, artificial borders. But it is only Israel that has, since 1973, launched full-on military battles from these skirmishes. And without a doubt it is gearing up for a fight. Where, is anyone's guess.
Thursday
Feb042010

Israel-US: Ayalon vs. Livni on Future of the "Special Relationship"

Earlier this week Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon declared that Israel's relations with the United States have "never been better", adding that the ties between the allies go well beyond dealing with the Middle East conflict:
What makes the U.S. special is the fact that it has maintained its good relations with Israel over the years. Its support is not based on the financial pockets of the Arab states.

Everyone is waiting for the Palestinians to come to the negotiating table.

Palestine Special: All Along Israel’s West Bank Watchtower


Not so fast, replied opposition leader Tzipi Livni. She warned the Israeli leadership that the US support should not be taken as granted and then launched into criticism of the Netanyahu Government:
Israel is a state that is threatened in its very neighborhood. Every blow to our relationship with the U.S. can create wide-ranging strategic problems.

The Israeli leadership doesn't understand Israeli interests. We cannot expect the U.S. to defend our interests where this lack of understanding exists. Israel can't request help from the U.S. without giving it the proper tools to do this while facing the international community.