Palestine: Abbas Resign? It's a Bluff

Israel-Palestine: Clinton Tries to Help Abbas

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Just before the arrivals of the U.S. Mideast special envoy George Mitchell and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Israel, the declaration of Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas that he would resign or decline to run in next January's elections have been exposed as a bluff.

A high-ranking figure in Fatah told journalists, "You can remain calm. On our side, no senior official resigns."

Palestine: Is the Third Intifada Possible?

Palestine: Hamas Rejects Elections in Gaza

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After mass protests and clashes this month between Israeli police and Palestinians in East Jerusalem, the prospect of a "Third Intifada" has re-emerged.

According to Israel Radio, after leaders had urged Palestinians and Israeli Muslims to defend Jerusalem against "Jewish conquest", a call which triggered a response for Israeli Jews to visit the Temple Mount, Israel's police stated that it will strengthen their forces around the Temple Mount on Sunday.

Haaretz's Zvi Bar'el write about the possibility of a Third Intifada, sharing the thoughts of Egyptian thinker Kamal Gabriel. According to Gabriel, Palestinians lack both a universally shared ideological authority and a leadership that is convinced of its ability to conduct another rising. Religious activism is not enough to trigger a new Intifada. Bar'el concludes that the deepening division between Hamas and Fatah and the increasing tension in the East Jerusalem makes the Intifada an event which is always "possible" but never occurs.

Meanwhile, Haaretz, passing on areport in the London-based Al-Quds al-Arabi, says Sultan Abu al-Ghneim, who represents Fatah in the refugee camps of Lebanon, gave a speech last week at a Ramallah rally calling on Fatah to resume suicide bombings against Israel. Given the assessment that an Intifada is not imminent, the question arises: what purpose does Ghneim's statement serve?

Israel-Palestine: Clinton to Obama "Little Progress"

Israel-Palestine: Space for a US-Brokered Solution Narrows
Bring It On: Israel Counter-attacks UN over Gaza Enquiry

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, accompanied by Mideast special envoy George Mitchell, submitted her report on the Palestinian-Israeli peace process to President Barack Obama on Thursday.

Despite Mitchell's many claims of "highly productive" discussions, Clinton's report says there has been little progress in efforts to renew stalled peace talks. Challenges remain even though Palestinians have strengthened their security efforts, and the Israelis have expressed a willingness to curtail settlement activity.

The White House still maintains that Mitchell will return to the region next week to relaunch negotiations. However, the Obama Administration needs a strategic manoeuvre to get both sides to the table. Washington is pursuing this through an attempt to bring in UN resolutions 242 and 338 on Israeli-Palestinian borders. Yet, given the full U.S. support to Israel's rejection of the UN resolution on Gaza, will this merely be another burden rather than the bricks to build a resolution?

Really?! Israel & Iran in Direct Talks on Nuclear Weapons

Enemy Iran: The US-Israeli Military Drill
The Latest from Iran (22 October): Unsteady as She Goes

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UPDATE 1030 GMT: No, Not Us. Unsurprisingly, Iran has denied the reports that it was at the same table as Israeli representatives. Ali Shirzadia, the spokesman for Iran's atomic energy organisation, said, "This lie is a kind of psychological operation designed to affect the constant success of Iran's dynamic diplomacy in the Geneva and Vienna meetings,"

Yes, really.

The rumour was out there, but this morning it seems to be  reality. According to Ha'aretz:

A representative of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission and a senior Iranian official met last month to discuss the chances of declaring the Middle East a nuclear-free zone....This is the first direct meeting between official representatives of the two states since the fall of the Shah in 1979.

Meirav Zafary-Odiz, director of policy and arms control for the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, and Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), met several times over September 29 and 30 and, together with representatives of other countries, conversed, presented questions and gave replies.

To be precise the encounter, which took place at the Four Seasons Hotel in Cairo under the auspices of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, including representatives of the Arab League, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, Turkey, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia.

But to be more precise, for the sake of engagement, European and American officials were also at the discussions. The sharp-eyed reader will note that the talks came just before the 1 October meeting on Iran's nuclear programme in Geneva, the first time US and Iranian delegations had been in direct, open talks in decades.

Australian sources --- the ICNND is chaired by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd --- leaked the story to the newspaper The Age. The Israeli Atomic Energy Commission confirmed the report.

Of course, both sides maintained their peaceful intentions during the talks. Zafary-Odiz, the director of policy and arms control for the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, set out her country's responsible approach while noting that four countries in the region (Iraq, Iran, Libya, and Syria) had broken their commitment to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. During the meetings, She said that Israel was willing, in principle, to discuss the Middle East as a nuclear-free zone,  but regional security must be strengthened, security arrangements must be agreed upon, and a peace agreement must be sealed before Israel would further discussions.

Soltanieh insisted that Tehran was not striving for nuclear armament and did not endanger Israel. He added that the Israel did not understand the Iranian mentality and ideology: Iran did not oppose or hate Jews, but was merely politically opposed to Zionism.

At one point Soltanieh "in an impassioned voice", asked his Israeli counterpart, "Do you or do you not have nuclear weapons?" According to Ha'aretz, "Zafary-Odiz smiled, but did not respond."

Israel-Turkey Tensions: Now the Israeli Public Joins In

Video: The TV Series and A New Turkey-Israel Crisis

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Amidst the tension between Ankara and Tel Aviv over political and military issues, Israelis have protested against the Turkish government and, indirectly, punished Turkish people. On Sunday, the Ilan coffee chain announced that it would stop selling Turkish coffee. Michael Steg, director of marketing, said:

We have decided for the time being to stop selling 'Istanbul coffee' - our Turkish coffee blend, and we shall keep doing it until matters improve....We believe anyone can be active in his own way and this is our small and symbolic way of doing that.

An El Al official told Army Radio that many Israeli businesses have decided to stop subsidizing employee vacations to Turkey during the high season of Passover, which usually sees up to 80,000 Israelis travelling to Turkish resorts.