Georgetown Security Law Brief

UN: 3 peacekeepers abducted between Israel-Syria

05/17/13:  The Miami Herald reports armed men broke into a UN outpost in a buffer zone separating Israel and Syria and abducted three UN military observers, the UN peacekeeping chief said Thursday. Herve Ladsous told a group of reporters that the unarmed observers were held by the Syrian men for about five hours and released unharmed Wednesday morning. It was the third abduction of UN peacekeepers in the tense region since March and underlined again their vulnerability in the spillover of the conflict in Syria, which is now in its third year. Ladsous called the latest abduction "a very serious incident ... that illustrates the very difficult conditions that now prevail" in and around the area separating Syrian and Israeli forces which is supposed to be free of armed groups. UNTSO, the first UN peacekeeping mission, was established in May 1948 to help supervise a truce after an Arab-Israeli war that followed the breakup of Palestine into two states. According to the UN, its military observers, numbering about 150, have remained in the Middle East to monitor cease-fires, supervise armistice agreements, prevent isolated incidents from escalating and assist other UN peacekeeping operations.

ICC launches inquiry into Israeli raid on Gaza flotilla

05/16/13:  The BBC reports the International Criminal Court has launched a preliminary inquiry into an Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla which left nine Turkish activists dead. ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said it would establish whether there were grounds for a full investigation. The move follows a request from the Comoros islands, in which one of the vessels was registered. The boats were trying to transport aid supplies to Gaza in May 2010. The Free Gaza Flotilla, which had more than 600 pro-Palestinian activists aboard several ships, was trying to break Israel's naval blockade. The activists were killed when Israeli commandos boarded the lead flotilla vessel, Mavi Marmara. Israel's assault on the Mavi Marmara drew widespread foreign criticism and strained its ties with Turkey. A UN inquiriy in 2011 found the Israeli commandos' actions were "excessive and unreasonable". However, it also found Israel's naval blockade "was imposed as a legitimate security measure" which "complied with the requirements of international law". Israel says the blockade is necessary to prevent weapons and ammunition being smuggled to the Gaza Strip, which has been governed by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas since 2007. The ICC investigates and tries cases of war crimes and crimes against humanity in countries that are unwilling or unable to prosecute them on their own, often at the request of ratifying states.

Philippines eyes Golan peacekeeper pull-out after abductions

05/10/13:  The BBC reports the Philippines' foreign minister says he wants to pull its peacekeepers from the UN force in the Golan Heights after four were seized by Syrian rebels. Albert del Rosario said the soldiers were being held as human shields and that peacekeepers' exposure was "beyond tolerable limits". The UN peacekeepers patrol the line separating Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. A total of 342 are Filipinos - about a third of the UN contingent. The four peacekeepers were abducted by Syrian rebels on Tuesday. Two months ago Syrian rebels held 20 Filipino peacekeepers in the same area for a few days before releasing them. Footage released online on Thursday showed the abducted peacekeepers and a rebel - thought to belong to the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade, the group behind the March abduction - saying the four had been taken for their own safety because of fighting between Syrian rebels and government troops.

Israel PM Netanyahu 'curbs settlement construction'

05/08/13:  The BBC reports Israel's prime minister has issued an unofficial order to stop the approval of new plans or tenders for Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank, a leading pressure group says. Peace Now said it appeared Benjamin Netanyahu was responding to US efforts to restart Middle East peace talks. The Israeli government has neither confirmed nor denied the report. Direct negotiations with the Palestinians stalled in 2010 following a dispute over settlement construction. About 500,000 Jews live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The settlements are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this. After the Palestinians were granted "non-member observer state" status at the United Nations last November, a move which Israel strongly opposed, Mr Netanyahu's government announced plans to build 3,000 new homes in settlements.

Israel and Turkey in talks over deadly flotilla raid

05/07/13:  The New York Times reports talks here on Monday between Israeli and Turkish officials over compensation for a deadly Israeli commando raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla almost three years ago demonstrated that while relations between the two countries are improving, they will not be as warm as they once were. The Turkish delegation, led by the under secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Feridun Hadi Sinirlioglu, was the highest-level diplomatic mission to visit Israel since relations were frozen. But the Turks kept a low profile, and the sides put out a brief statement revealing little about the discussions other than to say that an agreement was near. Israeli officials and analysts say they do not see a return to the intimate Israeli-Turkish alliance of past decades, when the Israeli, Turkish and American Navies carried out joint exercises in the Mediterranean and Israeli fighter jets trained in Turkey's relatively vast airspace. Yet bilateral trade is thriving, and in recent months Turkish exporters have started using Israel as a trade corridor, with Turkish shipping lines docking in Israeli ports, then transporting goods overland to Jordan and other Arab countries in order to bypass the bloody civil war in Syria.

Israel bombs Syria as the US weighs options

05/04/13:  The New York Times reports Israel aircraft bombed a target in Syria overnight Thursday, an Obama administration official said Friday night, as United States officials said they were considering military options, including carrying out their own airstrikes. American officials did not provide details on the target of the Israeli strike. The Associated Press quoted Israeli officials Saturday as saying the target of the raid was a shipment of advanced missiles bound for the Hezbollah Shiite militia in Lebanon. While saying the shipment did not include chemical arms, the official described the missiles as “game changing,” an apparent reference to the capability of the missiles. In late January, Israel carried out airstrikes against SA-17 antiaircraft weapons, which the Israelis feared were about to be moved to Hezbollah. Israel has been worried that chemical weapons and advanced arms might be transferred to Hezbollah from Syria, and the Israeli military has made clear that it is prepared to take action to stop such shipments. President Bashar al-Assad of Syria has long had a close relationship with Hezbollah, and Syria has been a gateway for shipping Iranian weapons to the militia. Hezbollah has sent trainers and advisers to Syria to help Mr. Assad with his war against the Syrian opposition, American officials say, and Syrian opposition officials report that Hezbollah fighters are also involved in the conflict. The Lebanese government confirmed on Saturday the Israeli warplanes flew over its airspace overnight Thursday, circling over Beirut and its suburbs, although it was not immediately clear if they were the same jets that carried out the raid in Syria.

Israel encouraged by apparent softening of Arab League position on Palestine borders

05/01/13: Reuters reports Israel responded favorably on Tuesday to an apparent softening by the Arab League (AL) of its 2002 peace plan after a top Qatari official raised the possibility of land swaps in setting borders between the Jewish state and an independent Palestine.  “Israel welcomes the encouragement given by the [AL] delegation,” a senior government official said after talks in Washington on Monday.  After meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry, Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani said any agreement “should be based on the two-state solution on the basis of the 4th of June 1967 line, with the [possibility] of comparable and mutual agreed minor swap of the land.”  Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, designated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be his chief peace negotiator with the Palestinians, said news of a change in the AL position was “very positive.”

Israeli minister says US should intervene in Syria

04/28/13: The Miami Herald reports an Israeli Cabinet minister has called on the US to intervene in the Syrian civil war after intelligence reports of chemical weapons use there.  The US has warned such weapons cross a ‘red line’ and last week said the weapons were probably used.  Israel says they were used.  Environment Minister Amir Peretz said Sunday action should have been taken long ago due to the high civilian death toll.  “We expect whoever defines red lines will also do what is needed, first and foremost the US and of course the entire international community,” he said.  His remarks do not reflect Israeli policy.  The White House says it is still trying to pin down definitive proof of the use of chemical weapons.

Israeli army to halt use of white phosphorus

04/26/13:  The Miami Herald reports Israel's army said Thursday that it would soon halt its use of white phosphorus shells after years of international criticism for using the incendiary munitions in crowded Palestinian areas. The army said in a statement that it would replace white phosphorus shells with ones based entirely on gas. Officials didn't offer further details, nor give a specific date for when they would retire the shells. Israel came under heavy criticism after the three-week winter war in Gaza in 2008 and 2009 against the territory's Hamas for using white phosphorus shells. During the conflict, shells were used against a UN warehouse where more than 700 Palestinians were sheltering. White phosphorus can be used legally in some battlefield situations, but Israel's use of it in Gaza drew war crimes allegations by the UN.

Israeli military shoots down drone

04/25/13:  The Miami Herald reports Israel shot down a drone Thursday as it approached the country's northern coast, the military said. Suspicion immediately fell on the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon. The incident was likely to raise already heightened tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, a bitter enemy that battled Israel to a stalemate during a monthlong war in 2006. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was in northern Israel at the time of the incident, said he viewed the infiltration attempt with "utmost gravity." "We will continue to do everything necessary in order to protect the security of the citizens of Israel," he said. Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a military spokesman, said the unmanned aircraft was detected as it was flying over Lebanon and tracked as it approached Israeli airspace. Lerner said the military waited for the aircraft to enter Israeli airspace, confirmed it was "enemy," and then an F-16 warplane shot it down. The drone was flying at an altitude of about 6,000 feet (1,800 meters) and was downed roughly five miles (eight kilometers) off the Israeli coast near the northern city of Haifa. Lerner said Israeli naval forces were searching for the remains of the aircraft. He declined to say who sent the drone. But other military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to talk to the media, said they believed it was an Iranian-manufactured aircraft sent by Hezbollah. Hezbollah sent a drone into Israeli airspace last October that Israel also shot down.

US arms deal with Israel and two Arab nations is near

04/19/13:  The New York Times reports the Defense Department is expected to finalize a $10 billion arms deal with Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates next week that will provide missiles, warplanes and troop transports to help them counter any future threat from Iran. A weeklong visit to the region by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel will culminate a year of secret negotiations on a deal that Congressional officials said will be second only to the $29.5 billion sale of F-15 aircraft to Saudi Arabia announced in 2010. But the delicate balancing act that was necessary in weighing the differing interests of each nation made it among the most complex ever negotiated. While one goal was to ensure that Israel continues to field the most capable armed forces in the region to deter Iran and counter a range of threats, it was equally important to improve the capabilities of two important Arab military partners. Another challenge, senior administration officials said, was coming up with a package that could help Israel deal with various security challenges — but devised so it would not be viewed as an American endorsement of accelerated planning by Israel to strike alone at Tehran’s suspected nuclear facilities. Those other security risks, officials said, include the roiling civil war in Syria — a country with chemical weapons that could be used by the Assad government or seized by rebels — and militant violence in the Sinai Peninsula.

Israel ready to act on Syria weapons, warns Netanyahu

04/18/13:  The BBC reports Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the BBC that Israel has a right to prevent weapons from falling into the wrong hands in Syria. He said that if terrorists seized anti-aircraft and chemical weapons they could be "game changers" in the region. There have been growing calls for the international community to arm rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad. But there is increasing concern that Islamist militants could use such weapons to further their own causes. Israel has said its policy is not to get involved in the Syrian conflict. But in recent months it has retaliated following Syrian fire into Israeli-controlled areas in the Golan Heights. Israel first occupied the Golan Heights in 1967 and later annexed the territory in a move that is not internationally recognised. Mr Netanyahu, in an exclusive interview with the BBC's Lyse Doucet, said Israel's concern was "which rebels and which weapons?" "The main arms of concern to us are the arms that are already in Syria - these are anti-aircraft weapons, these are chemical weapons and other very, very dangerous weapons that could be game changers," he said. "They will change the conditions, the balance of power in the Middle East. They could present a terrorist threat on a worldwide scale. It is definitely our interest to defend ourselves, but we also think it is in the interest of other countries."

Israel: no charges in Gaza family deaths

04/15/13: BBC News reports Israel’s military announced it will not order a criminal investigation into the bombing of a house in Gaza last year which killed twelve civilians.  Ten members of one family and two neighbors were killed on November 18, 2012 when the house was hit by a missile.  The Israeli Defense Forces said that the deaths were “regrettable,” but concluded the strike was justified as it happened during an attempt to target a senior militant, although Yahia Rabia, described as the head of a Hamas rocket unit, escaped unharmed.  Those killed included Mohamed Dalou, a Hamas policeman, nine members of his family – including four children – and their two neighbors.

Analysis: Palestinian future, peace process uncertain (even more than usual) after Fayyad resignation

04/15/13: The New York Times has this piece discussing the uncertain future in Palestine after Saturday’s resignation of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.  Fayyad, the internationally respected Palestinian politician and economist, is widely credited with ending the chaos in the West Bank and putting things in order in his six years in office.  But his resignation over the weekend, the result of internal power struggles, has left the Palestinian Authority suspended in political ambiguity and confusion.  By accepting Fayyad’s resignation, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has put himself in a political bind just as the Obama Administration has been trying to restart long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, because the vacuum created by Fayyad’s resignation presents an opportunity for renewed reconciliation efforts between Abbas’ Fatah party and its bitter rival Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls Gaza.  Healing the rift would be a popular course of action among Palestinians, but it could complicate peace efforts and cause some Western donor nations to consider withholding much-needed funds, fearing that they could be used by Hamas.  The group is classified as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, and the European Union, and it seeks the ultimate destruction of the Jewish state.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad 'resigns'

04/13/13:  The BBC reports Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is reported to have accepted the resignation of his PM, Salam Fayyad. The two have been at odds over economic policy since the finance minister quit last month, and rumours were rife that Mr Fayyad would step down. Reports of the resignation come despite efforts by US Secretary of State John Kerry in recent days to reconcile them. Mr Fayyad is expected to remain as caretaker prime minister until a new government is formed. No official announcement has yet been made.  Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that Mr Abbas asked Mr Fayyad to stay in his post until the Palestinian president names a new government, which he is expected to do shortly. Mr Abbas reportedly waited several days before accepting the resignation. Mr Fayyad, 61, has been prime minister of the Palestinian Authority since 2007. He is considered a liberal and is widely respected among international organisations and donors.

Tensions rise as Israel and Gaza swap strikes

04/04/13:  The New York Times reports Israeli-Palestinian tensions rose sharply on Wednesday, with a resumption of clashes at the Gaza border as Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails declared a three-day hunger strike to protest a fellow inmate's death, saying Israel was responsible. In response to rockets fired from Gaza into southern Israel, apparently in support of the Palestinian prisoners, the Israeli military said it carried out an airstrike in Gaza late Tuesday night, its first since a cease-fire that ended eight days of fierce cross-border fighting in November. Warplanes struck two open areas in northern Gaza, causing no damage or casualties, the military said. Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls Gaza, called the airstrikes a clear violation of the cease-fire. “We call on international parties to intervene immediately to end the Israeli escalation and also the violations against the prisoners,” he said in a statement. The rocket fire from Gaza was the third such violation of the cease-fire brokered by Egypt in November, evidence of its fragility. There have also been several episodes of Israeli gunfire directed at fishermen and farmers approaching newly relaxed security perimeters, sometimes with deadly consequences. An Islamic extremist group in Gaza, the Mujahedeen Shura Council — Environs of Jerusalem, claimed responsibility for the rocket fire, saying in a statement that it was in support of the Palestinians held by Israel. The group criticized other Palestinian factions for their inaction on the prisoner issue. On Wednesday morning, Gaza militants fired two more rockets into southern Israel. One landed at the entrance of the Israeli border town of Sderot, according to the police, and the other fell on open ground. No one was hurt. The death of the prisoner has also stirred unrest in the West Bank. On Wednesday night, a Palestinian youth was fatally shot and three others were wounded in a clash with Israeli soldiers near the West Bank town of Tulkarem, according to Palestinian news reports. The Israeli military said that several Palestinians had attacked a military post with firebombs and that soldiers responded with live fire. A spokeswoman said the episode was being reviewed.

 

Hamas Gaza Prime Minister in Egypt, meets with intelligence chief

04/01/13: The Miami Herald reports the Gaza Strip’s Hamas ruler has met with Egypt’s intelligence chief to discuss Palestinian reconciliation and the cease-fire between the militant group and Israel.  Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh met with Rafaat Shehata on Sunday, a day after arriving in Egypt.  Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi mediated a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel last year.  Relations between Egypt and Hamas are high on the agenda for Haniyeh’s visit.  Hamas, a Palestinian offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood – the group from which Morsi hails – has come under attack by some in Egypt who accuse it of harboring militants that operate in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.  Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal is also in Egypt.

NATO manual: Stuxnet attack on Iran nuclear facilities was act of force

03/25/13: The Washington Times reports a new manual commissioned by NATO’s cyberwarfare center says the cyberattack by the US and Israel that crippled Iran’s nuclear program by sabotaging industrial equipment constituted “an act of force” and was possibly illegal under international law.  The Tallinn Manual on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Warfare says, “Acts that kill or injure persons or destroy or damage objects are unambiguously uses of force.”  The international group of researchers who wrote the manual were unanimous that Stuxnet — the self-replicating cyberweapon that destroyed Iranian centrifuges that were enriching uranium — was an act of force, but were divided on whether its effects were severe enough to constitute an “armed attack,” which would trigger hostilities under the UN Charter and allow Iran to retaliate in self-defense.  Neither Israel nor the United States has publicly acknowledged being behind Stuxnet, but they are widely believed to have been responsible.

Turkey sees greater regional role after agreements with Israel, Kurds

03/25/13: The Miami Herald reports that after two major breakthroughs in less than a week – an accord to end a three-year squabble with Israel and a landmark step by a jailed Kurdish leader to settle a 30-year insurgency – Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s star appears to be rising, and with it, the country’s role as a major regional power.  Erdogan seemed matter-of-fact and serious on Saturday as he voiced hope that the Turkish-Israeli reconciliation that President Barack Obama brokered on Friday might even help resolve the Arab-Israeli dispute.  Israel, for the first time in memory, formally apologized for a military operation and promised compensation to families of eight Turks and one Turkish-American killed in the attack on a ship bringing supplies to civilians in Gaza in July 2010 that ran Israel’s blockade.

Israel says Gaza blockade will continue despite Turkey reconciliation

03/24/13: Reuters reports Israeli officials said Sunday that Tel Aviv did not commit to ending its Gaza blockade as part of reconciliation with Turkey and could clamp down even harder on the Palestinian enclave if security is threatened.  After a US-brokered fence-mending announcement on Friday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Israel had met his demands to apologize for killing nine Turks aboard a Gaza-bound activist ship in 2010.  But although Erdogan has also insisted on fully ending the blockade, Israeli officials said Hamas, the Islamist faction that governs Gaza, was still trying to bring in arms, and thus “the blockade is as necessary as always.”  Although Israel has relaxed curbs on overland civilian imports to impoverished Gaza, it signaled that the naval cordon, imposed during a 2008-2009 offensive, would remain.

Israel returns fire against Syria after Golan troops shot at

03/24/13: BBC News reports Israel’s military has destroyed a machine-gun nest inside Syria after troops were shot at twice in the Golan Heights.  An Israeli military spokesman said the shots had not been stray fire from fighting in the civil war between the Syrian government and rebels but had intentionally targeted Israeli soldiers, who responded by firing a guided missile at the Syrian position.  Israel has occupied the Golan Heights since the 1967 Six-Day War.  Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said his country will not let “Syria’s army or any other element” violate its sovereignty.  The military said that although the shooting hit army vehicles, no Israeli soldiers were hurt.

Israel apologizes to Turkey over 2010 flotilla raid

03/22/13:  NPR reports in a phone call today with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to Turkey over the 2010 Israeli raid of a flotilla that left nine people dead. The flotilla was attempting to break an Israeli naval blockade of Gaza, when it was intercepted by Israel. "PM Netanyahu made it clear that the tragic Consequences of the Mavi Marmara flotilla were not intended & that Israel is sorry for loss of life," Ofir Gendelman, the prime minister's spokesman said on Twitter. "PM Netanyahu apologized to the Turkish ppl for any mistake that could have led to loss of life, agreed to complete the compensation agreement." This is a tremendous diplomatic breakthrough. As we've reported, back in September of 2011, Erdogran said the raid in international waters was "cause for war." Israel had refused to apologize since the incident. In September of 2011, a United Nations panel found Israel's naval blockade of Gaza was legal but that the raid was "excessive and unreasonable." According to a senior White House official, Erdogan accepted the apology. Another senior administration official said this was a "first step" toward normalization of relations between the two countries. The phone call between Netanyahu and Erdogan took place in a trailer at the Tel-Aviv airport where President Obama was taking off for Amman. The senior administration official said at one point Obama jumped in on the call.

Obama renews call for 2-state solution in Middle East

03/21/13:  The New York Times reports President Obama, visiting the Israeli-occupied West Bank, appeared to move closer to the Israeli position on Thursday regarding resumption of long-stalled peace talks with the Palestinians, stopping short of insisting on a halt to Israel’s settlement expansion as he had done early in his first term. Hours after rockets from the Palestinian enclave of Gaza hit southern Israel, Mr. Obama met with President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority on the second day of Mr. Obama’s Middle East trip, and challenged both sides to resume face-to-face talks, pledging the United States “would do our part.” Mr. Obama condemned the rocket attacks, which broke a three-month cease-fire, but he insisted that the Israelis should not use violence as an excuse to avoid negotiations, no more than the Palestinians should insist that Israel halt construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank as a condition. Mr. Abbas reiterated his demand that Israel halt settlement construction, but he did not explicitly cite that as a condition for entering into direct talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Talks have basically been stalled since 2010.

New Israel housing minister pledges more settlement building

03/18/13: Reuters reports Israel’s new housing minister said Sunday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s incoming cabinet would keep expanding Jewish settlements to the same extent as his previous government.  The remarks came two days ahead of a visit by US President Barack Obama who has urged Israel to halt settlement on land that Palestinians seek for an independent state.  Housing Minister Uri Ariel, a member of the pro-settler Jewish Home party (and himself a settler) said in a television interview that building in the occupied territories “will continue in accordance with what the government’s policy has been thus far.”  Using the biblical names for the territory Israel captured in 1967, Ariel said the government “will build in Judea and Samaria more or less as it has done previously.  I see no reason to change it.”

Iran indicts 18 over killing of nuclear scientists

03/18/13: The Miami Herald reports Iran’s judiciary has indicted eighteen suspects on charges of involvement in the killing of nuclear scientists.  Since 2010, at least five Iranian nuclear scientists, including a manager at the Natanz enrichment facility, have been killed.  Tehran has accused Israel’s Mossad, the CIA, and Britain’s MI6 of being behind the assassinations; Washington and London have denied the allegations, while Tel Aviv has not commented.  Iranian state media said Sunday that authorities have issued indictments against the eighteen suspects, who will be tried in the coming months.  In 2012, Iran hanged a man for the 2010 killing of a nuclear physicist.

Iran nuclear weapon to take year or more, Obama says

03/15/13:  The New York Times reports President Obama told an Israeli television station on Thursday that his administration believed it would take Iran “over a year or so” to develop a nuclear weapon, and he vowed that the United States would do whatever was necessary to prevent that from happening. Less than a week before his first visit as president to Israel, Mr. Obama pledged to continue diplomatic efforts, but he promised that the United States would keep all options on the table to ensure that Iran did not become a nuclear threat to its neighbors. Mr. Obama’s estimated timeline contrasts with Mr. Netanyahu’s stated belief that Israel and its Western allies are likely to have to intervene by the spring or summer, when, he says, Iran’s scientists will have enriched enough uranium to become a nuclear threat. Iran denies that its nuclear program has any military aim. Mr. Obama has rarely been so specific about how long American intelligence agencies estimate it will take Iran to build a bomb. In defining the problem as he did — when Iran could get a weapon, rather than when it could have the capability to build one — he subtly indicated that he and Mr. Netanyahu still saw the problem in very different terms.

 

Egypt raises alert level in Sinai

03/11/13: Al Jazeera reports Egypt’s interior ministry told police in the Sinai Peninsula to raise a state of emergency Saturday after obtaining intelligence that “jihadists” might attack their forces there.  Officials have expressed growing worries about security in the desert region which borders Israel and is home to a number of tourist resorts.  “The Minister of Interior has raised the level of emergency in north and south Sinai after receiving information that jihadist groups intend to attack police buildings there,” an interior ministry official said on state media.  Last August, attackers killed at least fifteen Egyptian policemen in an assault on a police station at the border between Egypt and Israel before seizing two military vehicles and attempting to storm the border.  It was the deadliest incident in Egypt’s tense Sinai border region in decades.

France, Israel express support for stronger Iran sanctions

03/10/13: The Space War blog reports French President Francois Hollande and his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres said on Friday sanctions on Iran over its contested nuclear program are biting but need to be strengthened further.  “I have said how much we want the sanctions to be beefed up, which are already efficient,” Hollande said after meeting Peres.  Iran last month held talks with the five UN Security Council permanent members, plus Germany, in Kazakhstan.  “I was very glad to hear from [President Hollande] that he plans to take more measures because if we can end this danger without military use, it will be better,” Peres said.  Although Hollande and Peres both hold the title “President,” the latter is a figurehead; the real power in Israel lies with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Peres’ former political rival.

Hamas to crack down on Palestinians collaborating with Israel

03/04/13: The Miami Herald reports Gaza’s Hamas rulers say they will begin a new campaign to find Palestinian collaborators with Israel.  Colonel Mohammed Lafi of Gaza’s Interior Ministry said Monday that the campaign aims to protect Palestinian militant groups battling Israel and will also warn other Palestinians of the dangers of spying.  Israel security officials have long relied on a network of informants in the Palestinian territories to keep tabs on militants, but since Hamas seized power in Gaza in 2007, it has taken a tough line on Palestinians accused of collaboration with Israel. Gunmen have assassinated more than twenty-four suspected collaborators and jailed twenty suspects.  Colonel Lafi says the campaign, including TV ads and offers of amnesty, will begin on Wednesday.

Rocket from Gaza hits Israel, breaking cease-fire

02/26/13:  The New York Times reports for the first time in more than three months, at least one rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed in southern Israel early on Tuesday morning, according to Israeli authorities, breaking a cease-fire that had been in place after eight days of intense violence between Israel and Gaza last fall. The Israeli police and military reported that a single Grad rocket landed in a road outside the city of Ashkelon, causing damage but no injuries. A subgroup of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the military wing of the Palestinians' Fatah faction, said in an e-mailed statement that it had fired the rocket in “an initial natural response to the assassination of prisoner Arafat Jaradat,” a 30-year-old Palestinian who died in an Israeli jail on Saturday. The statement also said that Palestinians “should resist their enemy with all available means.”

Palestinians dispute Israeli finding on prisoner's death, protests erupt

02/25/13: The New York Times reports Israel’s Health Ministry said Sunday night that preliminary autopsy findings could not determine the cause of death of 30-year-old Palestinian prisoner Arafat Jaradat, which Israeli officials had at first attributed to a heart attack.  But Palestinian officials said the lack of heart damage coupled with bruising on the man’s chest, back, and neck suggested that he was tortured during interrogation.  “The signs that appeared during the autopsy show clearly that he was subjected to severe torture that led immediately to his death,” said Issa Qaraka, the Palestinian minister of prisoner affairs, at a news conference in Ramallah.  The 4,500 Palestinians in Israeli jails refused meals on Sunday to protest Jaradat’s death, and hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated in several cities and villages in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Israel, US successfully test missile defense system

02/25/13: The Miami Herald reports Israel and the US on Monday carried out a successful test of the next-generation Arrow 3 missile defense system, for the first time sending an interceptor into outer space, where it could destroy missiles fired from Iran.  The Arrow 3 is part of a multilayered system that Israel is developing to protect against a range of missile threats, from short-range rockets in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon to medium and longer-range missiles in the hands of Syria and Iran.  The Arrow is designed to stop sophisticated Iranian-made Shahab ballistic missiles.  Israel’s Defense Ministry said it was the first flight test of the Arrow 3 interceptor.  It was conducted at an Israeli test range over the Mediterranean Sea.  The system is about three years away from becoming operational.

Egypt floods tunnels into Gaza

02/13/13: Reuters reports Egyptian forces have flooded smuggling tunnels under the border with the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip in an effort to shut them down.  The network of tunnels is a vital lifeline for Gaza, bringing in an estimated 30 percent of all goods that reach the enclave and circumventing a blockade imposed by Israel for more than seven years.  “The Egyptians have opened the water to drown the tunnels,” said Abu Ghassan, who supervises the work of thirty men at one tunnel some 220 yards from the border fence.  An Egyptian security official said the campaign started five days ago.  Dozens of tunnels have been destroyed since last August following the killing of sixteen Egyptian soldiers in a militant attack near the Gaza fence.

Israel gives final approval for 90 new settler homes

02/11/13: Reuters reports Israel gave final approval Monday for ninety new settler homes in the occupied West Bank, a move likely to drive another wedge into a rift with the US ahead of a visit by President Barack Obama.  The dwellings will be built in Beit El, a major Jewish settlement north of Jerusalem, the Defense Ministry said.  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged that 300 new homes will eventually be erected in Beit El, where thirty settler families were evicted last June after the Supreme Court ruled they were living illegally on private Palestinian land.  Israel has come under international criticism, including from Washington, over its construction policy in the West Bank, territory it captured in the 1967 Six-Day War and which the Palestinians want for their future state.

Israel's Lieberman dismisses possibility of peace accord

02/10/13: Al Jazeera reports a close ally of Israel’s Prime Minister has called peace with the Palestinians “impossible,” saying their conflict with Israel can only be “managed” rather than solved.  Former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman Saturday linked the more than two-year-old impasse to political turmoil in the Arab world.  “It is not possible to solve the conflict here.  The conflict can be managed and it is important to manage the conflict ... to negotiate on a long-term interim agreement.”  A spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Lieberman was expressing his own opinion in the interview.  The ultranationalist Liberman’s role in the next coalition government is unclear, as he faces trial for corruption.  He resigned from his post as Foreign Minister after he was indicted, but says he is innocent and would like to return.

Obama visit to Israel to focus on Iran, Syria, Palestinians

02/10/13: The Miami Herald reports Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the upcoming visit of US President Barack Obama will focus on Iran’s nuclear program, the violence in Syria, and the stalled peace process with the Palestinians.  Speaking at a government meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu said he had agreed with Obama on the issues to be discussed.  Obama is expected to visit Israel along with the Palestinian Authority and Jordan next month.  The visit has raised expectations that peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, which collapsed about four years ago, can be resumed.  Netanyahu welcomed Obama’s trip, his first visit to Israel as president.

Hezbollah linked to Burgas bus suicide bomb

02/05/13:  The BBC reports a suicide bombing that killed five Israelis and a bus driver in Bulgaria was the work of Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group, officials say.  The bombing, in the Black Sea resort of Burgas in July 2012, was carried out by a bomber who died at the scene.  But police and Bulgarian officials said he was part of a Hezbollah cell that included two operatives using passports from Australia and Canada.  The group is believed to have arrived in Burgas a month before the bombing.  In the wake of the bombing, Bulgaria's PM said there was "no chance" of detecting the group's activities before the attack.

Israel arrests 23 Hamas members in West Bank

02/04/13: Reuters reports Israel arrested twenty-three Hamas members in the occupied West Bank on Monday, some of them lawmakers.  Hamas said in a statement that lawmakers Ahmed Attoun, Hatem Qafisha, and Mohammed al-Talhad had been detained in the early hours of the morning, as well as several local leaders.  An Israeli military spokeswoman would not confirm whether Hamas lawmakers had been arrested and did not provide any of the men’s names or say why they had been detained.  “Twenty-five Palestinians were arrested, twenty-three of them belonged to Hamas,” she said.  Hamas, which is dedicated to the destruction of Israel, won the last Palestinian parliamentary election in 2006.  In 2007, after a unity government collapsed, it seized control of the Gaza Strip from Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement.

Iran defends Syria, vows Israel will regret airstrike

02/04/13: The Washington Times reports Iran has rushed to the defense of its regional ally, Syria, and vowed Israel will regret its “latest aggression,” the airstrikes over Syria last week.  The comments from Saeed Jalili, the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, came a day after Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak appeared to acknowledge that Israel carried out a strike in Syria last week.  Reports indicate the Israeli air strike was aimed at a convoy of trucks transporting weapons by the Syria-Lebanon border.  Jalili promised that Iran would not allow a Western attack against Syria.

Israel appears to acknowledge responsibility for Syria airstrike

02/03/13: The Miami Herald reports Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak indicated Sunday that his country was behind an airstrike on Syria that US officials said targeted anti-aircraft weapons bound for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.  It was the first public comment by an Israeli official on the Wednesday strike; Israel generally refuses to comment on military operations.  “I cannot add anything to what you have read in the newspapers about what happened in Syria several days ago,” Barak said, but he added, “I keep telling frankly that we said – and that’s proof when we said something we mean it – we say that we don’t think [Syria] should be allowed to bring advanced weapons systems into Lebanon.”  Israel worries Syria’s civil war will cause President Bashar al-Assad to lose his grip on the country and on its arsenal, including chemical weapons.

UN panel says Israeli settlement plan violates international law

01/31/13:  The New York Times reports Israel has used the expansion of Jewish settlements to pursue a creeping annexation of the occupied Palestinian territories and committed multiple violations of international law in its treatment of Palestinians, the United Nations Human Rights Council said in a report on Thursday that called for an immediate halt to all settlement activity.  Presenting its findings after a nearly six-month investigation, the panel of three jurists led by a French judge, Christine Chanet, said Israel’s settlements had clearly violated the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit a state from transferring its own civilian population into territory it has occupied.  The panel examined 67 submissions from academics, diplomats, Israeli civil society and Palestinians, Ms. Chanet said, but Israel refused to cooperate with the mission, which was unable to visit the West Bank and instead went to the Jordanian capital, Amman, to hear testimony.

Israeli airstrike in Syria targets arms convoy

01/31/13:  The New York Times reports Israeli warplanes carried out a strike deep inside Syrian territory on Wednesday, American officials reported, saying they believed the target was a convoy carrying sophisticated antiaircraft weaponry on the outskirts of Damascus that was intended for the Hezbollah Shiite militia in Lebanon.  The American officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Israel had notified the US about the attack. In a statement, the Syrian military denied that a convoy had been struck. It said the attack had hit a scientific research facility in the Damascus suburbs that was used to improve Syria’s defenses, and called the attack “a flagrant breach of Syrian sovereignty and airspace.”

Israel condemns Argentina-Iran probe of 1994 Jewish cultural center bombing

01/30/13: BBC News reports Israel has strongly criticized Argentina for its decision to work with Iran to investigate athe 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires.  The “truth commission” will be made up of five independent judges, none of whom will be from the two countries.  But an Israeli spokesman said the move was tantamount to “inviting a murderer to investigate his own killing.”  Argentine Ambassador was Atilio Norberto Molteni was also summoned by Israel’s Foreign Ministry.  Argentine courts have blamed Iran for the bombing of the center run by the Israeli-Argentine Mutual Association (AMIA), which killed eighty-five people.  Tehran has always denied any involvement, but Argentine prosecutors say the attack was planned and financed by Iran, and carried out by the Lebanese Shi’a Islamist group Hezbollah.

Israeli jets increase flights over Lebanon

01/30/13: The Miami Herald reports Lebanon’s military said Wednesday that Israeli warplanes have sharply increased their activity over Lebanon in the past week, including at least twelve sorties in less than twenty-four hours in the country’s south.  The flights come amid Israeli concerns about the civil war in neighboring Syria and fears that advanced weapons could reach hostile groups in Syria or the militant anti-Israel Hezbollah group in Lebanon.  Among Israel’s chief concerns is that Hezbollah could get its hands on Syrian chemical arms and anti-aircraft missiles.  If that happened, it would change the balance of power in the region and hinder Israel’s ability to conduct air sorties in Lebanon.  A Lebanese army statement said the last of the sorties took place at 2 AM local time Wednesday.  There was no immediate comment from Israel.

Israeli Defense Minister hints Pentagon plans for Iran strike may make unilateral action unnecessary

01/27/13: The New York Times reports outgoing Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in an interview published Friday that the Pentagon had prepared sophisticated blueprints for a surgical operation to set back Iran’s nuclear program should the United States decide to attack, possibly indicating that Israel might have shelved any plans for a unilateral strike, at least for now.  Last year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was pushing hard for the Obama Administration to set clear “red lines” on Iran’s nuclear progress that would prompt the United States to undertake a military strike, infuriating the administration.  The Pentagon declined to comment, but a senior defense official said, “The US military constantly plans for a range of contingencies we might face around the world, and our planning is often quite detailed.”

Israel plans to construct a Syrian border fence

01/07/13:  The New York Times reports Israel announced Sunday that it was constructing a border fence along the length of its armistice line with Syria in the Golan Heights and that it was coordinating its intelligence with the United States in light of the deteriorating security situation in Syria. Mr. Netanyahu’s announcement came as he sought to reinforce his security credentials as a strong leader ahead of national elections on Jan. 22, and as he appealed to his traditional supporters to cast their ballots for the conservative Likud-Beiteinu ticket he is leading and not be lulled by polls showing that he is favored to win.

Israel, in shift, lets building materials cross into Gaza

01/02/13:  The New York Times reports for the first time in five years, Israel on Sunday allowed 20 truckloads of building materials into Gaza for use by the private sector, according to Israeli and Palestinian officials. One of the first tangible concessions under a cease-fire deal reached after eight days of intesnive fighting in November, it signaled a shift in Israel’s approach to the Palestinian enclave. Israeli officials said that construction materials would now be allowed in on a daily basis via the Kerem Shalom crossing on Israel’s border with Gaza. The shipment on Sunday came in addition to 34 trucks of gravel that crossed into Gaza over the weekend from Egypt, which also had Israel’s approval. The materials from Egypt were earmarked for housing complexes and other construction projects.

Israel approves another 1,200 settlement units around Jerusalem

12/27/12:  The Guardian reports Israel has given the green light for the fast-track development of a further 1,200 settlement units around Jerusalem. It brings the total number of new approvals to 5,500 in just over a week, the largest wave of proposed expansion in recent memory. The latest plan, which would see almost 1,000 new apartments built over Jerusalem's green line in Gilo, comes as the Israeli media is reporting mounting pressure on the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, to drop his commitment to a two-state solution from his platform for re-election in January.

Israel settlements: UN steps up pressure

12/20/12: The BBC reports the UN is stepping up pressure on Israel over its settlement building on occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The secretary general and all Security Council members except the US demanded an immediate halt to new construction. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government would press ahead with settlement expansion. The US protects Israel at the UN but the state department accused Israel of "a pattern of provocative action".

European governments summon Israeli ambassadors over settlement plan

12/05/12: NPR reports Israel’s ambassadors to Britain, France, Denmark, Spain and Sweden were summoned Monday to hear opposition to the newly announced E1 settlement plan.  It calls for Israel to build 3,000 housing units in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.  While the international community opposes all Israeli settlement building, construction near Jerusalem is particularly sensitive because the Palestinians seek the eastern part of the city for a future capital, and this plan could bisect the West Bank and greatly undermine efforts for a two-state solution.  The US has called the plan “counterproductive,” and now the Europeans have weighed in with even more pointed criticism.  Israel also announced Sunday that it would withhold $100 million in tax revenue from the Palestinian Authority and use it to repay what the Palestinians owe to Israel’s electric company.