Pro-Israel News

BY JEFFREY HELLER

By ISABEL KERSHNER

JERUSALEM — President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority asked Rami Hamdallah, the prime minister, on Thursday to form a “government of national consensus” that would unite warring Palestinian factions for the first time in seven years and could send Israeli-Palestinian relations into a tailspin.

The new government, made up of politically independent professionals, would formally ally Mr. Abbas’s Palestine Liberation Organization, which is dominated by the mainstream Fatah faction, and its rival, Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls Gaza, under the terms of a unity pact reached last month. Palestinian officials said the new government would most likely be announced in the next few days, with Palestinian elections to be held in about six months.

“This letter designates Dr. Rami Hamdallah to form a new transitional government,” Mr. Abbas said on Thursday at an appearance with Mr. Hamdallah, according to WAFA, the official Palestinian news agency. “I wish him luck in this difficult task which he will undertake.”

The possibility has disrupted any prospect of a resumption of American-brokered peace talks and already prompted stern warnings from Israel, which says it will not deal with a government “backed by Hamas,” even if the ministers themselves are not politically affiliated. Hamas has refused to recognize Israel, which, like the United States and the European Union, classifies Hamas as a terrorist organization.

“We think that by embracing Hamas, Abbas is increasing the levels of volatility and danger,” an Israeli government official said, requesting anonymity because he was speaking before a new Palestinian government had been formally announced. “We are concerned that Hamas will exploit the pact to strengthen its position in the West Bank.”

But Muhammad Shtayyeh, a close aide to Mr. Abbas, said that the Palestinian fragmentation had to end.

“The political program of this government is going to be the political program of President Abbas and the P.L.O.,” he said by telephone. “Hamas is coming over to our course — we are not going over to theirs.”

The Israeli official said that once Mr. Abbas “consummates” his alliance with Hamas, he could be held accountable for any rockets fired against Israel by militants in Gaza. “He will become an address for our response,” the official said, refusing to elaborate.

After the unity pact between the Palestinian factions was announced in April, Israel broke off peace negotiations with Mr. Abbas, days before the expiration of the American-brokered talks. Israel said it would deduct money from the monthly transfer of tax revenue it collects on behalf of thePalestinian Authority to offset Palestinian debts to Israeli utility companies. Israel also limited meetings between Israeli and Palestinian officials.

Once the Palestinian government of national reconciliation is formed, Israel is expected to take further steps. In the past it has stopped the transfer of tax revenue altogether, putting the financially fragile Palestinian Authority under intense pressure.

The European Union, which gives substantial aid to the Palestinian Authority, has said it will support a new government of technocrats and continue direct financial assistance so long as the government upholds international principles of nonviolence, accepts previous agreements with Israel and recognizes Israel’s right to exist.

Mr. Abbas has said that the government would adhere to these conditions. But Israel insists on Hamas adhering to them as well.

Israeli officials have said they received a specific commitment in the pastfrom the American administration that it backed Israel’s position of not negotiating or dealing with a government in which Hamas played a role unless Hamas accepted those international principles. But more recent signals from Washington raise doubts about the Israeli assertions.

After the Palestinians announced their unity deal in April, Jen Psaki, a State Department spokeswoman, called the move “disappointing.” She added that “any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognition of the state of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations between the parties,” without mentioning Hamas.

“Clearly there are differences of opinion between Israel and the United States,” said Michael Herzog, a fellow of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former military official and negotiator based in Israel. “Even if there were such understandings,” he said, referring to the Israeli assertions about a past commitment, “the U.S. is not there today.”

With the Obama administration already laying much of the blame for the collapsed peace talks on Israel, Washington may not support Israeli sanctions and punitive actions against the Palestinians, he said, and they may be met with additional unilateral moves by the Palestinians to join more international organizations, despite Israeli objections. There could also be a push in Congress to stop funding the Palestinian Authority.

“This new Palestinian government will inject some new tensions between Israel and the United States, adding to the existing tension after the collapse of the talks,” Mr. Herzog added.

Should the unity deal fall apart, Israel said it would resume talks with its Palestinian interlocutors. But Mr. Abbas has said that any resumption of talks depends on a three-month freeze of all Israeli settlement construction and talks that focus on the borders of a future Palestinian state. Israel has rejected these conditions.

The Vatican announced on Thursday that a prayer meeting between Pope Francis, Mr. Abbas and President Shimon Peres of Israel, who plays a largely ceremonial role, will take place in Vatican City on June 8.

For the Palestinians, national reconciliation is popular after seven years of schism. The rivalry between Hamas and Fatah peaked in 2007 when Hamas took control of Gaza a year after it won Palestinian elections and after a brief but bloody factional war in the Palestinian territory. Hamas routed the forces loyal to Mr. Abbas, whose authority was limited to parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. There have been no elections since.

Mustafa Barghouti, an independent Palestinian politician who took part in the reconciliation talks, said in a telephone interview that “the most important thing is that this government will mean the end of this terrible division and it will reactivate the Palestinian democratic system.”

Mr. Barghouti added that the new government would open the way for negotiations with the Egyptian government on new security arrangements that would allow the opening of the Rafah crossing on Gaza’s border with Egypt. That, he said, would begin to alleviate the crushing isolation of Gaza, caused largely by Israel’s closure of the territory. The new government in Egypt has also been squeezing the Hamas-run enclave.

Many of the thorniest issues, like the future of Hamas’s armed forces and the payment of 40,000 employees of the Hamas government, remain unresolved.

The new Palestinian government “will create an opening for discussions on these issues,” Mr. Barghouti said.

Still, Gaza will remain separated from the West Bank by 25 miles of Israeli territory at the narrowest point, with Israel strictly controlling movement between the two territories.

In a special Knesset session honoring Jerusalem Day, the premier marveled at the development and growth of the capital.

By DAMIEN GAYLE

PUBLISHED: 13:37 EST, 26 May 2014 | UPDATED: 16:23 EST, 26 May 2014

Iran's supreme leader has said that his country's struggle will only end when it defeats U.S.-led oppression.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told members of parliament in Tehran that Iran must be armed and 'have the capability to defend itself' in a 'world full of thieves'.

His comments came as negotiations with the international community over Iran's nuclear programme ran into a stalemate, with Tehran saying world powers were 'demanding too much'.

'Battle and jihad are endless because evil and its front continue to exist,' Khamenei told MPs, according to a translation by U.S. news site The Daily Caller.

'This battle will only end when the society can get rid of the oppressors’ front with America at the head of it, which has expanded its claws on human mind, body and thought.

'This requires a difficult and lengthy struggle and need for great strides.'

The Daily Caller's translation of a Fars News Agency report is by a reporter pseudonymously bylined Reza Khalili, who claims to be a former CIA agent in Iran's Revolutionary Guard.

Khamenei's address to Parliament on Sunday continued with veiled references to the actions of the West and Arab states as he justified Iran's continued defiance of international sanctions against its nuclear programme.

'Logic and reason command that for Iran, in order to pass through a region full of pirates, needs to arm itself and must have the capability to defend itself,' he said.

'Today’s world is full of thieves and plunderers of human honour, dignity and morality who are equipped with knowledge, wealth and power, and under the pretense of humanity easily commit crimes and betray human ideals and start wars in different parts of the world.'

There has been little progress in the latest round of nuclear talks between Tehran and the U.S., Russia, France, Britain, China - the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - and Germany.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, speaking in Tehran today before a visit to Turkey for talks with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, laid the blame for the impasse at the feet of the six powers.

'They should stop demanding too much. We have our red line, and they too want assurances that our nuclear programme will always remain peaceful. We believe these two add up,' he was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

'I feel the realism awakened from the last round of talks will bring us closer to conclusion. We may be able to remove one of two of the previous hurdles, or rather face new ones. In any case, we should make an effort to pass through this phase.'

Iran considers the right to enrich uranium for nuclear energy a red line but that levels of enrichment are negotiable.

Enriched uranium provides fuel for nuclear generating stations but it is also, if refined to a high level, the key ingredient for atomic bombs.

Western powers claim Iran's declared civilian nuclear energy programme is a facade for seeking a weapons capability. Iran denies this but it has a history of hiding activity from U.N. nuclear inspectors.

The powers want Iran to agree to scale back enrichment and other nuclear activity and accept tougher U.N. inspections to prove it can't quickly build atomic bombs, in exchange for an end to economic sanctions.

But Mr Zarif said world powers should refrain from additional pressure on the Islamic Republic to force it into concessions.

'Sanctions haven't served them any purpose, only led to our making 19,000 centrifuges,' he said, according to IRNA, referring to the machines that enrich uranium.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN

Head of political-military affairs at Defense Ministry, Amos Gilad, warns of storm clouds "on the horizon," says Israel has not been able to stop build up of Hezbollah's rocket arsenal.

WASHINGTON – A group of about 150 Christian clergy, leaders, and Congressmen have signed a pledge to support persecuted Christians in the Middle East.

Meant as a stance of solidarity with Christians in Syria, Iraq, and Egypt, the pledge was entered into the congressional record by Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) and Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Calif.).

"Now facing an existential threat to their presence in the lands where Christianity has its roots, the Churches in the Middle East fear they have been largely ignored by their coreligionists in the West," reads the pledge in part.

"American religious leaders need to pray and speak with greater urgency about this human rights crisis."

Many of the signatories gathered at the Cannon House Office Building on Wednesday morning to speak about the ongoing persecution of Christians in the Middle East.

Congressman Wolf, who co-chairs the bipartisan Religious Minorities in the Middle East Caucus with Rep. Eshoo, gave the opening remarks.

"I regularly meet with beleaguered Christians from this part of the world … In the face of this violence, Christians are leaving in droves," stated Wolf.

"The resounding theme that emerges is quite simply a plea for solidarity, and an appeal for help. Where is the West they wonder?"

In an interview with The Christian Post, Wolf called the pledge "the beginning" of "all the different denominations" coming together to tackle this issue.

Wolf has sponsored legislation to create a Special Envoy on Middle East Religious Minorities, which has passed the U.S. House of Representatives, only to stall in the US Senate.

"Hopefully it will break away the hold that is in the Senate so that we can pass the bill in the Senate," said Wolf to CP.

"Every person running for office, Republican or Democrat, really ought to be able to say what are they going to do to help out with regard to the persecuted church."

Slated to retire from Congress this year, Wolf also told CP that he believes "there'll be many" to fill his shoes on this issue in Congress and that he will continue to pursue the issue after retirement.

In recent years, political and social upheavals in the Middle East have led to a surge in the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities in predominantly Muslim nations.
Various human rights groups have pointed to the increasing number of Christian refugees leaving the Middle East, many from communities that have existed since the days of the Roman Empire.

Nations like Egypt, Iraq, and Syria have seen their Christian populations plummet amid the outbreak of violence from Islamic extremists.

The signers and speakers included representatives from the Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Church, and assorted Protestant churches. Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, gave remarks on the need to not be silent.

"I often ask how is it that things like this can happen? Who is it that there can be concentrated continuous, persistent acts of violence directed against groups of people?" said Wuerl.

"The answer keeps coming up. It happens because of the silence around it. It takes place because so many others are simply silent."

In addition to Wolf, Eshoo, and Wuerl providing comments, other speakers at the Cannon building included Dr. Jerry Johnson, president and CEO of the National Religious Broadcasters; His Eminence Metropolitan Methodios of Boston, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America; Nina Shea, director and senior scholar at the Hudson Institute Center for Religious Freedom; Rev. Canon Dr. Andrew White, chaplain at St. George Anglican Church in Baghdad; and Dr. Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals.

Anderson told CP that his organization was involved because "religious liberty has always been a priority for the National Association of Evangelicals."

"The first step is raising awareness and in a competitive world where there is so many things going on its such a challenge to get people's attention," said Anderson.

"I think if we can do that, then that can lead to other steps, like a special envoy, like encouraging other governments. If evangelicals raise the issue, then the government will also raise the issue."