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Visit our Web site: www.bridgesforpeace.com | October 28, 2011 |
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1. Diplomats: Turkey Disaster Won't Boost Relations2. US Senator Landrieu: Don't Cut Aid to Israel3. US Iraqi Pullout Whets Iranian Appetite for Trouble4. UN Committee Report on Palestinian Bid Expected Next Month5. Israel Asserts Control over East Jerusalem Textbooks6. Saudi Cleric: Kidnap Soldier, Get US $100,0007. Peres Visits Gilad Shalit in Mitzpe Hila
1. Diplomats: Turkey Disaster Won't Boost RelationsFormer ambassadors to Turkey reacted Tuesday [October 25] to Ankara's request for aid from Israel following the devastating earthquake that hit Turkey's eastern region, saying: "Like the Carmel fire disaster, we must not develop diplomatic expectations."
As Israel prepares to send aid to the disaster-stricken area, Israeli diplomats who have previously served in Ankara are suggesting that the public distinguish between humanitarian gestures and the diplomatic crisis. "Today's situation between the two countries is much worse than what it was during the Carmel disaster," they noted.
Alon Liel, former Director General of the Foreign Ministry and former Charge D'affairs in Turkey in the 80s, said that from the moment the news of Turkey's request for mobile structures was published, he has been inundated with calls from companies and people interested in helping and contributing.
"Offering natural disaster aid is not something that can change the diplomatic state of affairs," he told Ynet. "The Carmel fire disaster did not bring about any diplomatic changes either," Liel noted. "There was a conversation between Netanyahu and Erdogan in an attempt to find a phrasing for an apology, but it didn't work.
"Today the situation is much worse, with the downgrading in diplomatic relations and the expulsion of diplomats. You need to remember that today we're only at second-secretary level in Ankara. The relationship is in a tough place, with open wounds on daily display," Liel added.
According to Liel, the best thing to do at the moment is stick to the humanitarian level, keeping away from pushing the diplomatic buttons. "At the moment, they have tens of thousands of people who need housing…, since winter is closing in and the weather there is cold.
"The question is also how much will they let us give - at this stage, we want to give more than they want to receive, proven by the fact that they have rejected medical aid. Even if we help and transfer hundreds of homes that leave an 'impact,' we need to let the Turkish public judge our actions. We shouldn't go to the Turkish regime the next morning with an attempt to cash in diplomatically," Liel declared.
Uri Bar-Ner served as Israel's ambassador to Turkey during the massive earthquake of 1999. Bar-Ner believes that humanitarian gestures and diplomatic troubles should be separated. "This is, of course, a positive step, but it doesn't reflect as such on relations with Israel. I would base this move on the humanitarian issue without placing false diplomatic hopes at this stage," he stressed.
Bar-Ner expressed hopes that the next move would bring about a change in public opinion in Turkey, but made it clear that it was too early to say that the move would restore relations. He claimed that the chance of improving relations between the two countries hangs on the will of Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan.
Meanwhile, diplomatic wrangling aside, a Defense Ministry cargo plane will head to Turkey with the first aid shipment on Wednesday.
(Excerpts of an article by Roen Medzini and Yoav Zitun, Ynetnews, October 26, 2011)
Prayer Focus
Praise God that Israel can look beyond Turkey's political snobbery and think only of those who are hurting. Pray that Israel will have many opportunities to be kind and compassionate and that the people of Turkey will see their "enemies" in a different light.
Scripture
"But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:44-45).
2. US Senator Landrieu: Don't Cut Aid to IsraelMary Landrieu, a powerful U.S. senator and member of the Appropriations Committee, says military aid to Israel shouldn't be cut despite the American government's severe budgetary problems. "I support the aid to Israel and we are going to hold the line on that," Sen. Landrieu told The Media Line.
"There are pressures on our budget, but we really value our relationship with Israel and want to see it strengthened. America does have very serious budgetary problems, but foreign aid represents less than 1% of the total budget of the United States."
Israel is the biggest recipient of American aid, but with Washington facing a huge budget gap, calls have mounted to trim the US $3 billion the United States provides the Jewish state annually. This week veteran Washington Post columnist Walter Pincus urged the White House to reevaluate the aid, noting that Israel was slashing its own defense budget to step up social spending.
Landrieu, a member of President Barack Obama's Democratic Party, spoke to The Media Line during a visit to Israel, as head of a trade mission seeking collaboration opportunities in oil and gas development with Louisiana and other U.S. Gulf Coast states.
Louisiana has some of the world's leading companies that deal in developing oil and gas ventures, something Israel could benefit from in its efforts to extract the massive natural gas deposits found offshore. "We helped to invent the offshore oil and gas industry and that is specifically why I am here, to understand more about this extraordinary find," Landrieu said.
Landrieu met with Israeli Minister of National Infrastructures Uzi Landau as well as executives from Nobel Energy Inc., the Houston company [that has] partnered in three offshore Israeli gas fields and is now exploring in waters off the island of Cyprus.
The U.S. Geological Survey last year estimated that more than 122 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas reserves lie under the waters of the eastern Mediterranean, most of it within Israeli waters. The fields are so large that plans are afloat to team up in order to seek investors.
Landrieu said she is visiting "to ascertain what the situation here is in Israel so that the service companies along the Gulf Coast can be a part of helping Israel to develop this industry in a very positive and productive way. This is an extraordinary game changer for Israel to be energy self sufficient," she said.
Landrieu stressed that although she is leading a group of executives from firms in Louisiana and Texas, her mission is not just to promote their companies but to share with Israel the Louisiana and Texas government experience in creating "the right framework of taxation and regulation so that this industry can really flourish," she said.
(Excerpts of an article by Arieh O'Sullivan, The Media Line, October 26, 2011
Prayer Focus
Pray that US financial aid for Israel will continue and that cooperation between the US and Israel in the gas venture will benefit both countries.
Scripture
"Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God…The LORD will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you" (Deuteronomy 28:1a, 8).
3. US Iraqi Pullout Whets Iranian Appetite for TroubleEven with stern warnings from Washington not to "miscalculate" as American troops begin their pullout from Iraq, Iran will be tempted to foment turmoil in the region, mainly as a diversion to its own internal problems, analysts say. American troops leave behind a volatile Iraq vulnerable to Iranian influence.
Iraq's Kurdish minority have already carved out a semi-autonomous region in the oil-rich north, and Tehran may encourage the south, where the population shares Iran's Shiite Islam. That would leave the Sunnis in control of a truncated state in the middle.
U.S. President Barack Obama announced on Friday [October 21] that nearly all U.S. troops would be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of the year, ending an invasion begun in 2003 to overthrow Saddam Hussein. Ahead of the pullout, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over the weekend gave numerous interviews that far from signaling a reduced American presence in the region, U.S. forces would now be freer operationally to act.
"No one should miscalculate America's resolve and commitment to helping support the Iraqi democracy. We have paid too high a price to give the Iraqis this chance. And I hope that Iran and no one else miscalculates that," Clinton told CNN's State of the Union.
"Iran is facing challenges internally, in Syria and in the Gulf, and it aims to export its problems to the outside. The best way to solidify its regime and unite its forces is by an external threat. There's no greater external threat than the U.S. presence," Sami al-Faraj, president of the Kuwait Center for Strategic Studies, told The Media Line.
Al-Faraj said Teheran believes correctly that the Arab Spring protests are contagious and that the only way to keep them from reaching Iran is to export the problem to the outside by stirring up fights, like in Bahrain, Iraq. and the eastern provinces of Saudi Arabia.
Iran's former president, Mohammad Khatami, recently warned the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the threats against Iran are real and that the stage is being set for an attack against Iran.
"I don't think the U.S. forces would be withdrawn to a level that would make it very weakened. They will position materiel all over the area. They will probably have a larger force over the horizon and will substitute large numbers of troops with strategic capabilities such as naval forces. I assume that the U.S. will maintain its capabilities outside of Iraqi soil," said Zaki Shalom, a senior researcher on contemporary history at Ben-Gurion University in Israel.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told reporters on Sunday that some 40,000 troops would remain in the region "along with a large number of troops in other countries as well, along with the fact that we have 100,000 troops in Afghanistan. We will always have a force that will be present and that will deal with any threats from Iran."
Nevertheless, Shalom said, Iran is engaging in a policy of brinkmanship and had a keen sense of never crossing red lines that would draw bold U.S. actions. He said the U.S. was caught up in presidential elections and the Europeans were bogged down in economic distress, further restricting Western action against the ayatollahs' regime.
(Excerpts of an article by The Media Line, October 24, 2011)
Prayer Focus
Pray that this withdrawal of US troops will not destabilize the region further and that God will guard over any opening that could be vulnerable to attack. Pray that the Iraqi government will stand strong against any Iranian effort to infiltrate the country.
Scripture
"Plead my cause, O LORD, wit those who strive with me; fight against those who fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for my help" (Psalm 35:1-2).
4. UN Committee Report on Palestinian Bid Expected Next MonthThe United Nations committee currently reviewing the Palestinian application for UN membership is set to draft and review the report on the bid in November, according to information obtained by The Mideast Update.
Security Council diplomats have said that the Committee on the Admission of New Members is to meet at the expert level twice more, with the committee drafting a report following a review of the expert's work on November 3. Then on November 11, the committee will review the report. If there is no consensus position, the varying positions in the committee will be summarized.
The Palestinian application ultimately must go to the Security Council as a whole for a vote, although it remains unclear when that vote will take place. The Palestinians need nine "yes" votes and no vetoes in the Council for the application to advance to the UN General Assembly for a final vote on their membership bid. The US has pledged to veto the proposal if necessary.
Meanwhile the diplomatic efforts regarding the UN bid are ongoing. The WAFA Palestinian news agency reported that Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations Riyad Mansour told Voice of Palestine radio [that] he asked the "Non-Aligned Movement" to meet in the Security Council in the near future. The non-aligned states in the Security Council include India, Lebanon, Nigeria and Colombia.
The Israelis are also continuing their diplomatic efforts as well. According to Prime Minister's spokesperson Ofir Gendelman's Twitter feed, Netanyahu met with Columbian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin and "thanked her for her country's opposition to a unilateral establishment" of a Palestinian state. As one of the current Security Council members, Columbia is an important state in the current Palestinian UN bid.
(Excerpts of an article by Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, October 19, 2011)
Prayer Focus
Pray that as this process is prolonged, the nations will reconsider their stance on a two-state decision to force a division of God's land. Praise God that He has never withdrawn His promise of the Land to Israel!
Scripture
"Also I give to you [Abraham] and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God" (Genesis 17:8).
5. Israel Asserts Control over East Jerusalem TextbooksIs it an expression of Palestinian nationalism or is it delegitimizing the State of Israel? That's the question at the heart of a controversy over Israel's decision to expurgate Palestinian symbols and a nationalist take on history from the textbooks used by students in largely Arab east Jerusalem.
Jalal Abukhater, a high school senior who studies in Palestinian-ruled Ramallah, brought the controversy to the public eye over the weekend in the +972 Web site, a forum for left-of-center Israelis, in an essay "Israel imposes censored Palestinian textbooks in East Jerusalem."
"It's really weird. The children are the core of every society, and they [the Israeli government] are trying to deface their identity to alter their history and background. That is really dangerous," Abukhater told The Media Line. "What I learned I will never forget. It is basic education, and if you do this and alter their identity through textbooks, they will grow up having a blind side and might be ignorant on many issues."
But the Knesset [Parliament] Education Committee, which ordered the textbooks used by public schools in east Jerusalem to be modified, says the books engage in incitement and intolerance.
At a meeting last year, committee chairman Zevulun Orlev, who belongs to the right-of-center Habayit Yehudi Party, said an examination of the textbooks detected "delegitimization of the State of Israel" as well as "inculcating values of hatred, violent confrontation, jihad and martyrdom, absence of conciliation, absence of peace, ignoring the map of Israel and the existence of Israel."
The textbook controversy is the latest tussle in the battle over the character [of] east Jerusalem, which Israel seized in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed shortly afterwards. Unlike their peers in the West Bank [Judea and Samaria], east Jerusalem's largely Palestinian population have Israeli residency and enjoy government benefits and unhindered movement. But in recent years, they have felt besieged by Israeli Jews moving into their neighborhoods.
Acting on directives from the Knesset committee, the Jerusalem Education Administration (JEA), the municipal educational authority, began ensuring last year that public schools in east Jerusalem used approved-only textbooks. But the controversy heated up this year when the directives were imposed on private schools, which make up about half of the schools east Jerusalem Palestinians attend.
At a meeting of the Knesset committee least year, Dani Bar-Giora, the chairman of the JEA, said Israel has for some time been vetting Palestinian textbooks before they are printed and distributed to east Jerusalem schools. The textbooks are written and edited under the auspices of the Palestinian Authority but must be approved by Israel before they reach students.
"Textbooks go through a process of censorship. The books come to us. There is a whole process of inspection and supervision over them. Whatever needs to be changed is changed. It is reprinted and then sent back into the system," Bar Giora told the committee, according to published minutes.
These modifications include the removal of maps, slogans and historical references, including all mention of Israeli control of the West Bank and Gaza Strip as well as references to the "Nakba," or catastrophe, the term Palestinians use to describe the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.
Yochanan Manor, the chairman of Impact-SE, an organization that examines textbooks for tolerance, said his group has detected a growing "Islamization" in Palestinian Authority textbooks.
(Excerpts of an article by Arieh O'Sullivan, The Media Line, October 23, 2011)
Prayer Focus
Praise God for this bold stance. Pray that Israel will not waiver in this as criticism arises. Pray that a new generation of east Jerusalem Palestinian children will grow up without hate in their hearts toward Israel.
Scripture
"Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, and so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man" (Proverbs 3:3-4).
6. Saudi Cleric: Kidnap Soldier, Get US $100,000Saudi cleric Dr. Awad al-Qarni is offering a US $100,000 reward to anyone who kidnaps Israeli soldiers. He is responding to an ad published by the Libman family offering a similar reward for anyone who catches the person who murdered their relative Shlomo Libman. Libman was killed by terrorists near the settlement of Yitzhar in 1998.
"The press reported that the Zionist settlers will pay huge amounts of money to whoever kills the freed Palestinian prisoners," al-Qarni said. "In response to these criminals, I declare to the world that any Palestinian who will jail an Israeli soldier and exchange him for prisoners will be rewarded with a US $100,000 prize," he wrote on his Facebook page.
Al-Qarni's post has already received more than 1,000 likes and extensive coverage in Hamas-affiliated newspapers in Gaza. Al-Qarni is a famous Muslim cleric who often guests on TV shows and operates his own website where he discusses various religious law issues. The Palestine-Islam issue is particularly close to his heart.
Meanwhile in Gaza, Hamas Minister Fathi Hamad admitted that Israel's withdrawal from the Strip enabled Hamas to hide Gilad Shalit for so long. In an interview with Lebanese daily as-Safir, Hamad said that the "military campaign in Gaza abolished any security coordination with Israel, and the Strip's liberation allowed us to conceal Shalit for five years."
Hamad stressed that Izz al-Din al-Qassam, Hamas' military wing managed to keep Shalit captive despite Israeli attempts to extract him and admitted that they paid a heavy price for keeping Shalit captive. "That is why the deal is a triumph for the Palestinian people and residents of Gaza who have sacrificed 600 lives during Israel's first response to the bold abduction."
(By Roee Nahmias, Ynetnews, Oct 25, 2011)
Prayer Focus
Pray that all attempts to abduct Israeli soldiers come to naught.
Scripture
"When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, my enemies and foes, they stumbled and fell" (Psalm 27:2).
7. Peres Visits Gilad Shalit in Mitzpe HilaPresident Shimon Peres visited the home of the Shalit family on Monday [October 24] morning in the first official visit since the return of kidnapped IDF [Israel Defense Forces] soldier Gilad Shalit.
The president hugged Gilad and told him: "You have no idea how excited I am to meet you here, in your home, alive and well…The entire nation has followed your progress with concern. We were all thinking of what you were going through alone in the dark and how you were managing to deal with the disconnection, loneliness, and uncertainty. Where did your incredible internal strength come from?"
Peres told Shalit: "As a man, as a human, you have passed the test of harsh captivity that not many people could endure. Gilad, know that the entire nation, from infants to senior citizens, enlisted to bring you home. It came from a depth of love and devotion, and your return is an extraordinary personal and national event. When you stepped off the helicopter, we were all relieved."
The president then told Gilad: "Be strong and have courage. Your whole life is ahead of you and you can, now and in the future, achieve anything you like." Peres then turned to Aviva and Noam Shalit and said: "I want to tell you, Aviva and Noam, how much I have respected the campaign and how you managed it. I was not unaware of the difficulties you were faced with.
"I'm pleased that you were stubborn and that you didn't let go for even a moment along with your team of volunteers. It was a spontaneous awakening of a nation seeking to bring its son home."
Gilad told the president: "Thank you for all the support and help that you gave to my family." Noam added: "We appreciate and thank you for all that you have done throughout the years. We know that you were involved behind the scenes and we needed any help we could get."
Aviva Shalit reinforced the president's statements and said: "Gilad is a true hero". She then added: "I want to thank you for coming to our home and for your warm words to Gilad. I would once again like to thank the prime minister for making a brave decision in bringing Gilad home alive and proving that mutual obligation is not just an empty phrase but a value, and I believe that the entire Israeli nation agrees," she noted.
After Peres left, Noam Shalit said Gilad was aware of the public's support and the many visitors who have arrived at the family home in recent days, bringing flowers, candy and personal souvenirs. "He has seen the people and appreciates it. He knows about the widespread public support during the years of the struggle," Noam Shalit said.
"The main thing that we ask for at this time, and so does Gilad, is to quickly return to old habits: playing basketball and ping-pong, watching television." On Sunday, police removed the roadblock that was placed near Shalit's home and left the premises. The barrier kept onlookers and reporters from getting too close.
(Excerpts of an article by Ahiya Raved, Ynetnews, October 24, 2011)
Prayer Focus
Pray for the full healing of the physical, emotional, and mental wounds that Gilad has sustained.
Scripture
"I have seen his ways, and will heal him; I will also lead him, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners. 'I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace to him who is far off and to him who is near,' says the LORD, 'and I will heal him'" (Isaiah 57:18-19).
Note: All Scripture is taken from the New King James Version, unless otherwise noted.
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