Deal includes two desalination plants and is reportedly in exchange for oil; Russia built first and only reactor at Bushehr.

Air defense chief Shohat says Israel likely to face tens of thousands of rockets of all types, and drones, from both Gaza and Lebanon.

AFP

Washington — The United States said Wednesday its intelligence services and military worked with Israel to track a ship carrying an intercepted shipment of advanced Iranian rockets for Palestinian militants.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Washington started to work with Israel through intelligence and military channels and at the national security advisor level as soon as it knew the shipment was on the move.

President Barack Obama also directed the US military to work out contingencies in case it became necessary to intercept the vessel, White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One.

"Throughout this time our intelligence and military activities were closely coordinated with our Israeli counterparts who ultimately chose to take the lead in interdicting this shipment of illicit arms," Carney said.

"We will continue to stand up to Iran's support for destabilizing activities in the region in coordination with our partners and allies," he said.

"These illicit acts are unacceptable to the international community and in gross violation of Iran's Security Council obligations."

Israel said earlier that its forces intercepted the Syrian-made weapons, which were shipped overland to Iran and then onward towards Gaza by sea before being intercepted in the Red Sea between Sudan and Eritrea.

The announcement came hours after Israel said it struck two Hezbollah fighters as they tried to plant a bomb near the Syrian-Israeli frontier and just over a week after Israel reportedly bombed the Iran-backed group inside Lebanon for the first time since 2006.

Israel has long accused Iran and Syria of providing military aid to Hezbollah and to Palestinian militant groups.

Israel latched onto the weapons shipment to chide Western powers for negotiating with Tehran over its nuclear program.

Iran said reports that it was involved in the shipment were without foundation.

Special Dispatch from MEMRI.org

In a February 24, 2014 article in the Jerusalem daily Al-Quds, titled "The Palestinian Refugees In Kerry's Proposals," Fatah Central Committee member Dr. Jamal Muheisen called on Israel to recognize its responsibility for the refugee problem. He stated that its doing so would allow the Palestinians to show flexibility and political realism on the path to implementing U.N. Security Council Resolution 194, which is aimed at solving this problem. Claiming that a realistic and rational solution to the refugee problem does not require Palestinian concessions, Muheisen said that the refugees should not be asked to forgo their right of return as part of the solution, because this right is the collective and personal right of every individual Palestinian. He added that he personally would choose to return to his village of 'Iraq Al-Manshia, which was located within the 1948 borders.

The following are excerpts from the article:

Dr. Jamal Muheisen

"During the intensifying political debate, in the circles of the negotiations and of the international and regional meetings and discussions, regarding the initiative of [U.S. Secretary of State John] Kerry, this proposal vis-à-vis the Palestinian refugees headed the public discourse in the Palestinian, Arab, and international arenas.

"From a deeply [rooted] starting point, and in recognition of the political facts and of the need for dealing with them based on adherence to the [Palestinian] national principles, we must courageously deal with these proposals. Therefore [it is important] for the official Palestinian position to be known to every Palestinian citizen in the homeland and abroad. This [knowledge] will strengthen and establish our Palestinian strategy, which relies on the Palestinian people and its right to self-determination, on [its right] to determine its own national and political options; on the adherence to the principles, and on the development of Palestinian action. [All this] is aimed at opening the path to a possible political achievement, in light of [current] regional and international circumstances and the [global] balances of power...

"Fatah is now the one that has a feasible plan. It was not borne away to imaginary regions in its strategic perceptions – [unlike] some [others] who seek to perpetuate the struggle, the refugees, and the diaspora under slogans that can never come true.

"It is the role and duty of every leadership to develop the requisite tools and conditions for national and political [self-]determination... Fatah did this when it launched the revolution and led the armed struggle, and  it does it today when it leads the negotiations.

"The Fatah leadership, headed by the brother president [Mahmoud ‘Abbas] is running a real campaign for political achievement, and is responding to the American proposals in accordance with how close they are to our own goals and principles. We handled Kerry's proposal on the refugees based on our own national principles, and demanded that Israel bear its legal and international responsibility, according to the international legitimacy, for its expulsion of our people, and that it recognize Resolution 194, which guarantees the right of return and reparations.

"If Israel recognizes its responsibility for the refugee problem, we can courageously and responsibly deal with the proposals for implementing Resolution 194 and for ways of implementing it in accordance with any initiative that meshes with our steadfast rights. And, if Kerry's proposals on this issue give a Palestinian four [options]... – to return to the Palestinian state, to remain where he is and receive restitution, to [move] to some specific other country and receive restitution, or for a limited return of some of our people to Israel, [the last of] which the Israeli government still opposes – then we call on Kerry, for the sake of his initiative's success, to focus his efforts and pressure on the side that is holding up the initiative. All the proposals submitted by Mr. Kerry on this issue are still being rejected by the Israeli government...

"The issue of return in accordance with the international legitimacy remains a national, collective, and personal right. No one can force the Palestinians [to accept] no [chance of] return, because [returning] is up to the free choice of every Palestinian in the diaspora and every refugee in the homeland. I personally, for example, choose my right to return to my village, 'Iraq Al-Manshia, the land of my father and my father's fathers. This is the free choice of every Palestinian, and the American proposal must be in accordance with this [and must offer] every individual the option of either returning or remaining where he is and receiving restitution. Palestinians in Lebanon, for example, cannot become [Lebanese] citizens – because doing so is unacceptable both to them and to the Lebanese state.

"The success of the American initiative depends on the [extent] to which it meets the rights of the Palestinian and his freedom to choose how to realize Resolution 194. In any case, Israel's position still renounces the international legitimacy and the right of the Palestinians, and throws spanners in the works of Kerry's initiative – which requires the U.S. administration to pressure the Israeli government. We are convinced that the American administration has the tools, if it chooses to use them, to pressure Israel – as with the understandings on the Iranian issue [i.e. Geneva] which happened over Israel's objections...

"Solving the Palestinian refugee problem is considered one of the foundations of international stability, and serves global peace and security. It is not distinct from the U.S. administration's international and regional interests, because the refugee issue is considered the heart of the Palestinian problem and one of the most explosive aspects of the conflict in the region. The U.S. administration must decide whether it lays out its policy based on its own interests, or whether it bends it to Israel's interests – even if the latter are contrary to or even endanger U.S. interests.

"The realistic and rational way to deal with the issue of the refugees is not with Palestinian concessions but with boldly dealing with it through [displays of] international and regional responsibility, and with the international community and the Occupation State [i.e. Israel] taking responsibility for it. Then, the Palestinians will undoubtedly show the flexibility and political realism discussed in the Arab Initiative, on which the Palestinians and 57 Arab and Islamic states agreed."

Right-wing lawmakers demand Pollard's release in meeting with US ambassador; MK Rotem asks: Why should we trust you?; Shapiro says Washington participating in negotiating process because "Israel is our ally".

February 19, 2014

Annual Gallup survey finds perception of Israel up from 66 percent in 2013; Iran ranks lowest at 9 percent. 

A new poll by Gallup shows that 72 percent of Americans have a favorable view of Israel, up from 66 percent last year. 

The annual Gallup World Affairs poll, conducted from February 6-9, also shows a relatively stable perception among Americans of Israel and seven other "important" Middle East countries - Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, the Palestinian Authority, Saudi Arabia and Libya.

The positive view of Egypt and the Palestinian Authority also increased by small margins. Forty-five percent of Americans said they had 

a favorable perception of Egypt, up from 40 percent in 2013, and 19 percent expressed a favorable view of the PA, up from 15 percent the year before. 

Israel is by far the most positively viewed Mideast nation among Americans. The country scoring the next highest is Egypt, followed by Saudi Arabia, with 36 percent of the US population having a favorable perception of the country, a minute dip from the 35 percent of 2013. 

Just 13 percent of Americans have a positive view of Syria, the poll found, slightly higher than the 12 percent who have a favorable view of Iran. 

BY MITCH GINSBURG February 19, 2014, 6:05 am 3

Route 443, one of only two roads linking Tel Aviv to the capital, has seen an uptick of grassroots terror; the IDF shows The Times of Israel how it’s keeping drivers safe

Behind the Paratroopers’ red-and-white flags at the entrance to the base, in a warm, airless caravan lit by fluorescent lights and lined with IDF code maps, a dozen female soldiers worked a four-hour shift, their eyes fixed on the screens in front of them.

In a corner of the room, a soldier with coral-pink nail polish monitored what the IDF has deemed a “strategic route” – the West Bank section of Route 443, a 16-kilometer stretch of road linking Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The route, one of the two main roads into the capital, runs east of the security barrier. After months of near total quiet, it has witnessed a flare-up of violence, including 20 Molotov-cocktail attacks during the first two months of the year. In early February, the Israel Police unit Magen, concerned by the unpredictability of the attacks, ruled the road off limits to Israeli government ministers under its protection.

This week, after several consecutive days of quiet, an intelligence officer showed the Times of Israel the route’s hot spots and sketched the measures the IDF has taken to limit friction.

In the surveillance caravan, he noted that the pictures on the screen are provided by two cameras atop a pair of 42-meter-high (138 foot) towers along the route. The female soldier watching the screen has a daytime option of rich color and a nighttime option that projects thermal images in a blurry black and white. She has a surveillance routine, patrolling a string of troublesome spots for a set amount of time, the intelligence officer said, but she is allowed to linger elsewhere if something seems awry. In event of an attack, the soldier said, she is able to translate the scene of a crime into a set of 10 coordinates on a topographical map and to either relay that number to forces in the field or to guide them to the spot if necessary.

Speaking in her officer’s presence, she never once swiveled her head or removed her eyes from the screen. “Their powers of concentration are incredible,” the intelligence officer said, noting that very few males would be capable of maintaining the grueling attentiveness necessary to patrol a stretch of road for four straight hours.

Outside, the officer began the tour of Route 443 at the Maccabim Checkpoint, where Israeli vehicular traffic either moves east, into the West Bank, in the direction of Jerusalem, or west, toward Modiin and Tel Aviv.

Driving east, he stopped at the first Palestinian village on the route, Bayt Sira. Representatives of the village, in 2007, petitioned the High Court of Justice. They contended that the IDF had initially appropriated Palestinian land in order to modernize the old British road linking the rural communities to Ramallah, and then, after six Israelis were shot and killed along the road during the Second Intifada, had barred all Palestinians from using it, whether by car, by beast or by foot. As the violence waned, Israel began building a series of “fabric of life” roads that connected the villages along Route 443 with Ramallah, the educational and medical hub for the 55,000 Palestinian residents in the region. All roadblocks between the villages and Ramallah, on the internal roads, were removed, too, but Palestinians, still barred from using the highway, asserted that the blanket ban was both discriminatory and an example of undue collective punishment.

Chief Supreme Court Justice Dorit Beinisch wrote in December 2009, in a concurring majority opinion, that despite the undeniable security concerns of the OC Central Command, “the decisive factor is the grave end result and not the integrity of the [commander's] considerations.” The IDF’s ban, Justice Uzi Fogelman wrote, was “disproportionate.”

The army, forced to pay the plaintiffs’ court expenses, was given five months to come up with an alternative arrangement.

Today Palestinians may enter the road in either direction. At the eastern edge though, at the Ofer checkpoint, they cannot continue on to Beitunya and Ramallah, and at the western edge, at the Maccabim checkpoint, they cannot continue toward Modiin and Tel Aviv. Those that choose to enter the road are required to undergo a thorough security check. The convenience of the highway, Btselem spokeswoman Sarit Michaeli said, is offset by the time spent in security checks and the inability to reach Ramallah, leaving “no reason whatsoever for a Palestinian to use that road today.”

The intelligence officer confirmed that of the 40,000 vehicles using the road daily perhaps only 10 were Palestinian. And yet, he said, keeping safe the 180 kilometers of road that run through the Binyamin Brigade’s territory alone, including this stretch on Route 443, is a continually trying task.

One reason for that relates to the nature of the threat. Stones and firebombs, while potentially lethal, are easy to hide and require no planning or accomplices. Pointing across the four-lane highway at the village of Bayt Ur a-Tahta, home to 3,000 people and stretching across nearly four kilometers of road, the intelligence officer said that from that village, a central point of friction, all someone has to do is walk down to the edge of the road with a bottle of fuel in one coat pocket and a lighter in the other. “He can keep them in the pockets of his coat and light it up one second before he reaches the road, then throw it, and escape,” he said.

Since only small parts of the road are fenced off and since the army does not have the manpower or the inclination to position soldiers all along the route, he said, ambushes in the field have become a central tactic to reduce attacks.  ”It’s possible that right now there is an ambush tucked into this wadi,” he said, pointing to a gentle slope dotted with olive trees and bright gray rocks, “and even if they can’t catch him and prevent the firebomb from being thrown, they can make sure that he will be arrested.”

The violence along the road has come in spurts. In June 2013, he said, there was a sudden and inexplicable rise in rock and firebomb attacks. In 2014, starting with a rock thrown on New Year’s Eve at a car carrying Habima actors back to Tel Aviv, there have been 15 attacks, using 20 firebombs and dozens of stones. The IDF, responding to threats, brought high quality troops to the area and doubled the manpower in position. “The increased manpower does its thing,” the officer said.

Since January, the IDF has arrested 24 people from Bayt Ur a-Tahta and, over the course of the past 10 days, there have been no further attacks. The officer said that all those arrested were from the same clan and may have been looking to advance some sort of agenda or to make a point with violence.

On the south side of the road, outside Khirbat al-Mizbah, the other central point of friction along the route, the officer pointed to a black mark on the asphalt, where someone recently placed a burning gas canister inside of a car tire, causing it to explode. The officer said that in some instances he receives intelligence in real time about an attack about to happen and, more frequently, only learns the names of the perpetrators later on. If they are over the age of 12, he said, they can be apprehended and pressure can be placed on their families by, say, revoking a work license.

Otherwise, they can be delivered to the Palestinian Authority’s security forces. He said that the PA’s forces have arrested dozens of people in every county across the West Bank over the course of the past year and that, while the security forces are hesitant to operate in the refugee camps, “in most places they are working and they are working well. If they don’t work, it’s because they can’t, not because they don’t want to.”

The officer, before heading back to the Maccabim Checkpoint, said that the IDF had nothing to do with the controversial decision to bar ministers from using the road – a decision that prompted one former senior intelligence officer to lash out [Hebrew] at the head of the Magen unit. He did say, though, that every stone thrown on Route 443, a crucial traffic artery, means “a phone call from the IDF Chief of Staff.”