A biweekly feature of news and opinion pieces from the Israeli and Palestinian press.
1.) After meeting with former President Jimmy Carter over the weekend, exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said that in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 borders, his organization would agree to a ten-year ceasefire. American and Israeli officials were quick to throw cold water on the offer, however. David Baker, a spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, had this to say: “Israel is targeted on a daily basis by rocket barrages from Hamas controlled territory in the Gaza Strip. Israel sees no change in Hamas’s extremist positions.” A spokesman for the State Department responded similarly: “It is pretty clear to us that there is no acceptance on the part of Hamas of any kind of negotiated settlement.”
2.) As for the Syrians, Carter said that they are “eager” to conclude a long-term peace agreement with Israel, and that the details of a treaty had been almost entirely worked out in prior negotiations. “Syria believes that for all practical purposes all the differences have already been resolved between Syria and Israel and it is just a matter of reconvening the talks and concluding an agreement,” Carter suggested. He also indicated that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad desired a greater role in this effort from the United States. Meanwhile, both the Israelis and the Syrians continue to send out tentative, but nonetheless clear, signs of desiring a peace deal. President Assad was recently quoted by the official Syrian news agency (SANA) as having said that he has been trading messages with Israeli officials via a third party. Some reports suggest that it is the Turkish government that is playing the role of “friendly third party mediator.”
3.) The former Israeli ambassador to the United States, Zalman Shoval, writes a dissenting view about Syrian-Israeli peace in Ynet News. He argues that despite the big talk from Syria, there is little indication that they’d have the incentive to sever their longstanding ties with Iran (with which they’ve been close since the 1980s) and Hezbollah.
…one of the most common illusions around here among those backing the Syrian channel, in addition to the desire of some of them to view it as a counterweight to the Palestinian channel, is the hope that if we reach a peace agreement with Syria it will immediately sever its close alliance with Tehran.
There is no evidence that supports this theory in reality – among other things, because for the ruling Alawite minority Iran serves as an insurance policy vis-à-vis the threat posed to the regime by the Sunni majority. Moreover, Syria’s status in Lebanon is in practice being maintained by Hizbullah- which follows Iran’s orders. Can we imagine President Assad risking the loss of this lever?
4.) Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, writing in Haaretz, scoffs at the belief that the Israeli blockade against Gaza will lead to a decline in popularity for Hamas.
The belief that the siege of the Gaza Strip will cause the support for Hamas to drop is crazy: Our experience has shown us that the opposite is true. Whenever the threat of increased terrorist attacks rose, Israeli public opinion moved to the right. Every attack only intensified our nationalism and hatred for Palestinians, so why should we believe that the siege and the killing will affect the other side differently? The thought that if we starve 1.5 million civilians, and we prevent them from having enough water, medical treatment and a livelihood, we shall influence their views in our favor, has already proved to be silly. Since the siege was put in place, there are no signs that Hamas has weakened.
5.) Palestinian journalist Rami Almeghari details the far-reaching problems that Palestinians are experiencing due to Israel’s cutoff of fuel supplies:
The Gaza Strip Society for Taxi Drivers estimates that only 50 to 60 percent of Gaza’s taxis are operating. Not only affecting those who drive taxis as their source of income, the lack of transportation has made it difficult for patients to access health care, students to reach their schools, and employees to travel to their workplaces. The cuts have grounded ambulances as well. On Tuesday, four major universities and other places of higher education announced in a Gaza City press conference the suspension of studies due to the inability of students and faculty to reach their schools.