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The Situation

Monday-Friday mid-day reports from Israel by Robert Rosenberg
Images by Silvia Rosenberg (unless otherwise noted)

Bluster, sarcasm and humor

Thursday, November 27, 2003

Look at your demons, from the Goddess series, acrylic and pencils on paper by Silvia Rosenberg

Look at your demons acrylic, pencils on paper by Silvia Rosenberg

State President Moshe Katsav told reporters this morning he has “more than’ belief that Ron Arad is alive, but refused to say whether the information he has – presumably from Israeli intelligence – includes Arad being in Iran. The comment was a reminder that the Hezbollah prisoner exchange deal is still not done. Reports today said that Egypt turned down an Israeli request to free Azzam Azzam, in his seventh year of hard time in an Egyptian prison after being convicted as an Israeli spy – something denied by Israel at its highest levels – in exchange for Israel freeing Lebanese-Palestinian Samir Kuntar, serving consecutive life sentences for the murder of four Israelis in Nahariya in 1979 during a seaborne raid. Katsav also criticized U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell for even considering meeting with Geneva Accords authors Yossi Beilin and Yasser Abed Rabo. Katsav did meet with the Israelis who worked on the accords, but has said he opposes the document, and has been critical of their methodology.

The Geneva initiative was on the agenda at the annual meeting between the prime minister and the newspaper editors and leading reporters, which took place in Tel Aviv against the background of reports that the prime minister’s son, MK Omri Sharon, was in London today at the invitation of the British Labor Party, along with two Israeli Labor Party politicians for a two day ‘academic discussion’ about the state of the peace process with PA National Security Advisor Jibril Rajoub and two other Palestinian Authority officials. The two delegations were meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and then heading for the retreat.

Prime Minister Sharon’s comments and answers to the questions posed at the traditional Balfour Day (November 29) meeting with the newspaper editors was broadcast on Israel Radio, in anticipation of him clarifying the hints he’s dropped about the possibility of Israel taking unilateral steps.

Instead, with bluster, sarcasm and humor, Sharon offered nothing really new. He did say that ‘if I’m convinced there’s no point waiting for a Palestinian government or another one, we’ll be forced to take unilateral action,’ not specifying what that action might be, and warning the Palestinians that they should not wait forever before taking action against terror if they want to strike a deal with Israel.

Asked about the outposts, Sharon went into a rambling explanation about there being three kinds of outposts, some of which would be ‘legalized’ as deputy defense minister Ze’ev Boim said this morning – but all the outposts since the Aqaba summit have been taken down and no new ones have gone up since. (The roadmap, which Sharon defended against today as Israel’s policy, specifically states that all the outposts established since March 2001 must be dismantled.) But Sharon also said ‘painful concessions clearly mean we won’t be everywhere we are now’ and he refused to promise Netzarim residents their settlement will remain in place.

According to Sharon there are contacts underway to organize a meeting between him and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei’ – perhaps next week, he indicated. But next week the Palestinian factions are meeting in Cairo as part of an overall effort being orchestrated by Qurei’ to reach a cease-fire he can present to Sharon as a fait accompli. Sharon reiterated today his basic approach to the PA government – ‘it will be judged not by words and speeches but by deeds.’

In other developments, Haaretz reported that humanitarian welfare and aid agencies are threatening to shut down operations in the territories, citing Israeli obstruction and lack of cooperation; Former prime minister Ehud Barak went on Israel Radioto slam the Geneva accords authors as being ‘the lunatic left’ – former Knesset speaker Avraham Burg, of Labor and a Geneva signatory, went on immediately afterward to say that ‘Barak failed at Camp David and Taba and can’t bring himself to compliment those who succeeded where he failed.’; and in the territories, three Palestinians were reported wounded during IDF operations in Jenin, while the army admitted that three Palestinians killed last night in Gaza were not armed, although the soldiers that fired on their vehicle believed them to be so. Two of the dead were Islamic Jihad operatives, said the army. The soldiers who opened fire thought the car was carrying two men spotted earlier in the evening trying to infiltrate a Gush Katif settlement; and in Gush Katif, Knesset Speaker Likud MK Reuven Rivlin, led a group of Rightist MKs on a tour of the settlement bloc in the southern part of Gaza, saying that ideologically, he cannot support giving up the sprawling collection of settlements; and Italian Deputy Prime Minister Fini, the presumably reformed fascist, comketed his journey to Israel and headed home. Sharon today called Italy 'unique, remarkably unique' in Europe as a country 'where they are not biased against Israel.'

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