WarSclerotic

RubinReports: Why are 104 Palestinian Terrorists Being Released? No Good Reason.

I just don’t get it and there is simply no proper motive for following—or needing to pursue—such a terrible policy.

Hamas: Abbas is fabricating stories to defame us in Egypt | The Times of Israel.

‘We initially thought Mossad was behind the smear campaign,’ Hamas official tells Al-Jazeera

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas heads a Palestinian cabinet meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah July 28, 2013 (photo credit: Issam Rimawi/Flash90)

As Hamas struggles to recuperate from the ouster of its ally Mohammed Morsi in Egypt, the Palestinian Islamic party on Monday accused rival movement Fatah of inciting the Egyptian public against it by fabricating news intended for the Egyptian media.

In a press statement issued Monday on its official website, Hamas claimed it has obtained documents indicating that Fatah had established a special committee tasked with fabricating news meant to demonize Hamas and incite the Egyptian public against it.

The documents, Hamas claimed, expose “the conspiracy led by Fatah to demonize and defame Hamas and the Palestinian resistance.”

Hamas official Salah Bardawil told Al-Jazeera on Monday that the secret committee was headed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah official Tayeb Abdel Rahim.

Al-Jazeera displayed an image of a signed letter ostensibly sent from Fatah’s media department to Abdel Rahim on July 24, requesting that PA security agencies concoct documents linking Hamas to the killing of 16 Egyptian soldiers in Sinai last August, ahead of Abbas’ trip to Egypt.

“Hamas had thought the Israeli Mossad or certain countries were behind the campaign, but was surprised to discover that President Mahmoud Abbas is behind it,” Bardawil told Al-Jazeera, claiming the allegations against Hamas amounted to incitement to kill Palestinians and “annihilate” Hamas.

On Friday, Egypt’s official news agency reported that Morsi had been arrested for 15 days and was being investigated over contacts with Hamas, which allegedly helped in his escape from prison in 2011. This was the first official statement tying Hamas to the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, though reports to that effect have been circulated by Egypt’s independent press for months prior.

Abbas flew to Cairo on Monday along with a high-ranking Palestinian delegation for talks with the new Egyptian government. The Palestinian officials met with Interim President Adly Mansour, his deputy for international relations Mohamed ElBaradei and Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy.

But Hamas claimed in its statement that Abbas was visiting Egypt only to “incite” the public against it and convince the leadership in Cairo to officially accuse Hamas of killing 16 Egyptian soldiers in Sinai last year, “which is completely false and fabricated.”

Hamas had been at pains to deny its involvement in fanning the flames of Egypt’s unrest, accusations that only increased in Egyptian media since the ouster of Mohammed Morsi on July 3.

Expressing Hamas’ defensive panic, spokesman Osama Hamdan on Monday claimed that the accusations leveled at Hamas were part of a “hostile conspiracy” aimed at “the entire region, and at the resistance project first and foremost.”

Arguing that Hamas had colluded with the Muslim Brotherhood was bizarre, Hamdan added, given “the perfect harmony between Egypt’s new political standpoint and the allegations of the Israeli occupation.”

Saving the Arab Levant | James Zogby.

Anyone who cares about the Arab World has to be profoundly shaken by the unraveling that is taking place across the Levant. Reviewing events unfolding from Iraq in the East to Lebanon in the West can give one the distinct feeling that the region is on a path leading to self-destruction. What, if anything, can be done to reverse course?

Syria is committing suicide — tearing itself asunder in a civil war that, with the support and prodding of outside forces, has increasingly become an exercise in sectarian blood-letting. American combat forces may have left Iraq, but the country has not found a way to make peace with itself. Daily terrorist bombings are killing scores of civilians, while a dysfunctional sectarian government appears to be focused more on prosecuting and persecuting its opponents, than providing for the needs of its people.

Speaking of dysfunction — Lebanon, reeling from the pressure emanating from Syria next door, is once again teetering on the brink of civil conflict. Meanwhile, the conflicts raging around Jordan are having a destabilizing impact with that country receiving yet another massive influx of refugees — its fourth in the past six decades. And poor dismembered Palestine and its dispersed people are suffering from new and old tragedies. Palestinian refugees from Syria have flooded into Lebanon’s already congested and impoverished camps creating new tensions. Despite the news that another “peace process” might be underway, the Palestinians in the occupied territories see what remains of their lands being chewed up by settlement construction and a barrier wall that snakes deep into the West Bank, while Gaza continues to be strangled by a cruel blockade.

It was back in 2002 that then British Foreign Minister Jack Straw noted that many of the “problems we [the United Kingdom] are dealing with [in the Middle East] are a consequence of our colonial past.” Straw was referring to what he called his country’s “not entirely honorable past” — its betrayal of the Arabs in the post-World War I period and its imposition of the Sykes-Picot Agreement on the region.

Straw was right. By denying Arab aspirations to establish a unitary state in the Levant; by carving the region up into British and French spheres of influence and imposing their colonial authority and regimes of their choosing in each of these newly created “states;” by pitting sect against sect and paving the way for the loss of Palestine — the British and French laid the groundwork for many of the problems the Levant is confronting today.

One might be tempted to ask what the Levant might look like had US President Woodrow Wilson been able to win the day and secure the “right of self-determination” for the Arabs who had just come out from under the Ottoman yoke? And what if the world had paid heed to the findings of the Wilson-authorized King-Crane Commission survey and granted the Arabs the unitary state they so overwhelmingly desired?

We can indulge in such speculation, but, in the real world, politics is a function not of “what if” but “what is.” And so despite Straw’s lament, the way forward is to be found not in looking back at what might have been, but in an honest assessment of what can be done to address current realities.

During the past century, there were many attempts by Arabs living in the Levant to redress their aggrieved history. Refusing to succumb to the efforts of outsiders who sought to exploit their religious diversity, in an effort to “divide and conquer,” they developed “Arab” nationalism — fostering an identity that would transcend both religious sect and the mini-states that had been the legacy of Sykes-Picot. It remains a tragedy that this Arab identity movement was exploited by military regimes who manipulated its emotive power to support their rule. In the end, the idea of “Arabism” became discredited, not on its merits, but because of the brutal regimes that had embraced it.

Another approach was found by those who accepted the new reality of Sykes-Picot created sub-national identities. These stressed, for example, the uniqueness of being “Lebanese” or the differences between being “Palestinian” or “Jordanian.” It was important to note that even within these state-based nationalisms, religious divisions were transcended.

What I have always found to be among the most intriguing results in the polling we have done during the past decade is the persistence of an Arab identity and a sense of a common destiny among the people of the Levant. While sectarian wars raged in Iraq, or while Lebanon’s political system remained grounded in a system of sect-privilege, the principal identity of most Iraqis and Lebanese remained not their sect, but being both “Arab” and “Lebanese” or “Iraqi.” And when we asked the publics in all of the countries of the Levant why what happened to Palestinians, Syrians or Iraqis was important to them, the most common response was “because they are Arabs like me.”

It is for this reason that I cannot accept that it is inevitable that the Levant drown in the blood of sectarian conflict. Nor can I imagine that the people of the region desire their fate to be a checkerboard of “cleansed” sectarian cantons. It makes no sense that Iran or the Muslim Brotherhood should be driving the Levant’s agenda when the region’s people, despite their religious diversity, express an attachment to their common bonds born of history, culture and blood-ties.

Egyptians have demonstrated their rejection of religious sect-based government. Syrians are now waging an anti-sectarian rebellion within their rebellion against the regime. And polls show that Palestinians in Gaza, despite having voted for Hamas in 2006, are now rejecting this movement’s divisive rule.

What the Levant needs today is a unified revolt against sectarian division and recognition of the futility of its self-destructive path. It can be done. I have seen the seeds of the way forward in the young Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian entrepreneurs — Muslim and Christian — working together to create innovative businesses in the Arab World’s “Silicon Valley” of Dubai. I have seen much the same in gatherings of Arab business leaders hosted by the World Economic Forum. It is their experience, and not that of their contemporaries, inspired by hate and armed with guns, that represents the most promising future for the Levant. The notion that this region’s people share common bonds and have a common destiny cannot be rejected because this idea had once been abused by brutal regimes. To borrow an American expression “one shouldn’t throw the baby out with the Ba’ath.” New life needs to be breathed into this region to save it before it drowns in its own blood. It can be done. The region can be saved, but it will take leaders with vision and a determination as strong that being demonstrated by those who appear hell-bent on destroying it.

Defense head: Reason for freeing prisoners will be revealed in future | The Times of Israel.

( Yalon is making it pretty clear that the release is for reasons other than the talks themselves.  Hhmmm…. Wonder what THAT could be. – JW )

Release of 104 long-term Palestinian inmates still must be okayed by president, court

An Israeli prison guard escorts Palestinian prisoners before their release from the Ofer Prison near the West Bank town of Ramallah, December 15, 2008 (photo credit: Kobi Gideon/Flash90)

Ministers who voted to release long-term Palestinian security prisoners on Sunday were forced to choose between  ”a bad decision and a worse decision,” Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said Monday, as peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians kicked off.

The controversial move, approved after a stormy and lengthy cabinet session, will be carried out in stages and will still need to be cleared by the president and the court, should the release be appealed, Ynet news reported Monday.

Ya’alon said “the considerations that were taken into account” would one day be revealed, and added that security would be increased following the release of the 104 prisoners, many of whom were convicted for murders or terror attacks and have been in jail since before the Oslo Peace Accords of 1993. Ya’alon said security forces would respond with an increase in alertness.

Releasing the prisoners was a Palestinian precondition for peace talks, and while the decision was widely pilloried by politicians on the right and the Israeli public, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was for the “good of the country.”

The release will be in stages linked to continued progress in the talks, which are planned to last 6-9 months.

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni flew to Washington Monday to initiate the first round of renewed peace talks with chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, under the auspices of US Secretary of State John Kerry. In conjunction with this, the first round of prisoners is expected to be released later this week.

For each batch, a list of prisoners to be released is to be prepared by the Justice Ministry and approved by Livni. As part of this process, the exact locations where each prisoner will be released will also be determined, which could be in the West Bank, Gaza or potentially abroad. 

After this, the list will be transferred to President Shimon Peres, who will officially sign off on their early release. After this step the list will be made public, allowing citizens to petition the High Court against the release of specific prisoners.

In 2011, the court struck down a petition by families of terror victims seeking to stop the release of some 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit. Israel has carried out prisoner swaps several times in the past, usually amid public opposition.

The Prison Service will be tasked with preparing the prisoners, which involves in each case positive identification, medical tests and debriefing with prison officials. Each prisoner will reportedly be asked to sign an agreement that he will not return to terror activity once granted his freedom.

Once all the pre-release steps have been accomplished, each group of prisoners will be driven, under heavy security, to predetermined locations for their release, where they are likely to be greeted by enthusiastic crowds of Palestinians.

Ya’alon on prisoners’ release: We’ll pay a cost – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Day after cabinet votes to release 104 Palestinian prisoners as part of peace talks, defense minister says, ‘We had to choose between a bad decision and even worse one. We will pay a cost in terms of deterrence’

Yoav Zitun

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said Sunday that Israel will pay a cost in terms of deterrence following a decision to free 104 Palestinian prisoners as part of resuming peace talks. Talking to new IDF recruits at the military induction center, Ya’alon said;. “In the future the strategic considerations behind the decision will be revealed.”

He further noted, “We had to choose between a bad decision and an even worse one. It wasn’t an easy day. These are murderers and of course we’ll pay a cost in terms of deterrence.”

Addressing the peace process’ chances of success, he said: “A third intifada is not in the cards and neither were the threats of a political tsunami. I advise the prime minister and cabinet ministers not to take such threats into consideration. The Palestinians were the ones to walk out on negotiations in the past four years. We will not sacrifice anything connected to security during negotiations.”

Ya’alon stressed there were many question marks surrounding the talks. “We will ask the other side whether they recognize Israel as the Jewish people’s nation state and whether a territorial compromise will end all claims.”

Addressing the turmoil in Egypt he said, “The Egyptian army is in the midst of an operation in Sinai and we wish them success. There is an actual war being waged in Sinai and we are monitoring the developments in coordination with Egypt.”

Meanwhile it has been reported that Israel is preparing to transfer food and gas to Gaza via the Kerem Shalom so as not to exacerbate the Strip’s economic state following the destruction of the majority of smuggling tunnels by the Egyptian army.

A senior defense source said, “There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza. There is economic pressure following the destruction of the tunnels which still serve for the transfer of cheap fuel. Hamas has dealt with the two latest rocket attacks at Israel, and is trying to maintain calm.”

Discussing the issue of hardei draft, Ya’alon said that he decided to postpone the enlistment of 550 haredim from August to November “because we still need to pass the new draft bill in second and third readings.”

Syrian army and Hizballah capture Homs – opening way to Aleppo and decisive Assad victory.

Ravaged Homs falls to Assad’s forces

Three months after winning the strategic town of Al Qusayr, the combined Syrian and Hizballah armies have captured the historic Muslim Brotherhood city of Homs, 162 kilometers northeast of the capital Damascus. debkafile’s military and intelligence sources report that Sunday, July 28, jeeps with recoilless guns, pick-up trucks with anti air guns – all loaded with defeated rebel Farouq Brigades fighters were to be seen fleeing the city. As they fled, Syrian and Hizballah army tanks facing no resistance rolled into the center of Homs, the old city and the Khladiyeh district and hoisted images of President Bashar Assad.

The fall of Homs, which the rebels designated from the start of the uprising “capital of the revolution,” opens the way for Syrian-Hizballah forces to move north on Aleppo, Syria’s largest city.

Aleppo’s capture would grant Assad a decisive victory in the civil war and confer on the Lebanese Shiite terrorist Hizballah for the first time the standing of an armed force with strategic capabilities, as well as giving the Iran-Syrian-Hizballah alliance a major boost.
Early Monday, Syrian ground-to-ground missiles were pounding rebel fortifications Aleppo to soften their resistance, while Syrian air force helicopters struck Kurdish PYG units ranged along the Syrian-Turkish border. Although the helicopters flew over the frontier, they did not run into any interference from the Turkish air force, its artillery emplacements or the NATO Patriot anti-missile batteries deployed there.

The Kurdish units were targeted to prevent them moving into Aleppo in defense of the city’s Kurdish quarters against the Syrian army-Hizballah advance.
After the fall of Homs and the fast approaching Syrian assault on Aleppo, Washington, Jerusalem and Ankara have run out of time for quibbling whether to step into the Syrian conflict. The critical decision facing them now is whether to save Aleppo from a savage Syrian army-Hizballah onslaught that will determine the final fate of the war, or continue to stand aside.

The various tactics outlined by top US soldier Gen. Martin Dempsey last week for US military intervention at a cost of $1 billion per day have been overtaken by events. The Obama administration must now decide very quickly whether Assad and his Russian and Iranian backers should be allowed to win the Syrian civil war or stopped at Aleppo.

US confirms: Peace talks to begin Monday – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Americans, Palestinians confirm talks to begin Monday. Livni, Molcho to meet Erekat, aide in State Department for first round of talks in bid to ‘develop procedural workplan’ for rest of negotiations. Israeli, Palestinian senior officials remain skeptical

Attila Somfalvi

The US has confirmed that peace negations between Israel and the Palestinians will begin Monday. Palestinians have also confirmed the reports. Both Palestinian and Israeli senior official sources, however, said there was little chance the talks would lead to meaningful results.

An Israeli source expressed little faith in the negotiations, saying: “The problematic issues are numerous. It’s hard to believe that any progress can come about, but one cannot ignore the opportunity and one must give the process a chance.”

State Department spokeswoman Jan Psaki said talks would begin Monday evening and continue Tuesday. “Secretary Kerry spoke with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and personally extended an invitation to send senior negotiating teams to Washington to formally resume direct final status negotiations,” a State Department announcement said.

Livni, Kerry (Photo: Reuters)

“The Israelis will be represented by Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Yitzhak Molcho, and the Palestinians will be represented by Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat and Mohammad Shtayyeh. The (upcoming) meetings in Washington will serve as an opportunity to develop a procedural workplan for how the parties can proceed with the negotiations in the coming months,” the US stated.

According to the statement, Kerry “commended the courage shown by Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas,” with the US secretary of state saying: “Both leaders have demonstrated a willingness to make difficult decisions that have been instrumental in getting to this point. We are grateful for their leadership.”

Nabil Abu Rdaineh, a senior aide to Palestinian President Abbas who was in the Jordanian capital Amman, said Abbas has received the official invitation to come to the talks.

The Palestinian news agency, WAFA, quoted Abu Rdaineh as saying that the first meeting would aim to develop the procedural working plan for both sides to enable them make headway in talks in the coming months.

Talks to resume (Photo: Kobi Gideon, GPO)

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, also welcomed the invitation as well as Israel’s decision to free prisoners and join talks: “We call on Israel to seize the opportunity… to put an end to decades of occupation and exile and to start a new stage of justice, freedom and peace for Israel, Palestine and the rest of the region.”

Destination: DC

However, as Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s representative attorney Yitzhak Molcho prepared to take off for Washington for the beginning of talks, sources within the defense and political establishment warn of Palestinian reluctance to reach an agreement as well as the possibly devastating results that could come with the collapse of negotiations.

The short time for which Livni and Molcho are expected to stay in Washington is telling. The two are scheduled to return to Israel Wednesday after only two meetings with their Palestinian counterparts.

According to a source, the meetings will probably be held in the State Department, far from the cameras’ lenses and will probably deal with technical issues: Dates, locations, procedures, lines of communications, agendas, ways to prevent talks from falling apart.

An Israeli source said that the Palestinians want to begin talks with the issue of settlements and final border agreements, while Netanyahu wants to discuss security. The Palestinians also want to tie Netanyahu to a map, while he wants to secure Israeli control of the Jordan valley, but “there will be no empty concessions,” a source said.

“We are approaching this negotiation so as to discuss all the issues and resolve all the disagreements.”

According to the source, the prime minister “realizes that things have changed. As many of his predecessors did, he changed his perceptions. Today he approaches things differently from what he used to, so you can’t tell what he’ll do next.

“He used to say that he opposes the presence of an international force in the Jordan Valley, but no go figure. In the past he would never have agreed to a Palestinian state, now he’s talking about the demographic threat. When this is the situation, anything can happen.”

One of the major threats impeding the talks’ success is the issue of Gaza and the PA’s relations with Hamas, as well as the authority’s lack of sovereignty in Gaza, which is currently run by Hamas. Nonetheless, the source told Ynet that an “interim agreement could be the best thing at this point.”

The source further expressed doubt regarding Abbas’s willingness to make “hard decisions.”

According to the source, “He’s playing for time coming to talks. He is not capable of making decisions, nor does he want to do so. He was pushed into a corner by the Americans, so he’s coming to talks. If he could derail talks because of the prisoners issue – he would.”

Bereaved familes protest release (Photo: Gil Yochanan)

Earlier Sunday, the Israeli government cleared the way for the renewal of the talks by approving the release of 104 Palestinian prisoners. Palestinians have demanded that Israel release the prisoners, and that this group include Israeli-Arabs detained for security offenses.

As part of his efforts to convince ministers to support his proposal, the prime minister decided Thursday to defer the decision on the release of Arab-Israeli prisoners to a later date and only discuss the release of Palestinian prisoners. “Any decision on the release of Arab Israelis, if such a decision is reached, will be sent for reapproval by the government,” he stressed.

However, a senior Palestinian source spoke to Ynet and said that the Palestinians agreed to return to peace talks only after receive assurances from the Americans that the Israeli-Arab prisoners will also be released.

News agencies and Ynet correspondents contributed to this report

Decision to release prisoners legitimate – Israel Opinion, Ynetnews.

Israel’s increased isolation, Iranian nuclear threat left PM with no choice but to accept Palestinian demands

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to release Palestinian prisoners stems from strategic and security-related considerations. There is no doubt that the increase in the number of prisoners slated for release and the inclusion of Arab Israelis in the group constitutes a capitulation to American pressure and Palestinian obstinacy. This is why it is so hard to accept Netanyahu’s decision.

But the opposition to such a move is not merely emotional. The decision to release murderers who are citizens of the State of Israel and allow them to return to their homes causes severe damage to Israeli sovereignty and the justice system the country is so proud of. The argument can be made that a precedent has already been set and that the murderers of Israeli civilians have been released in past prisoner exchange deals, but this time it is being done while surrendering to pressure applied by the Palestinian Authority, not by a terror organization, as was the case in the past.

The PA is becoming the representative body of the Arab Israelis – both legally and diplomatically. But a look at the overall picture, while considering all of the options rationally, leads to the conclusion that the prime minister, with the support of the defense minister, made the right decision, for two main reasons.

The first and most important reason has to do with the Iranian nuclear program. Over the next few months, apparently by next spring, Iran will have the capability to produce a nuclear weapon, on all its components, and will become a country on the brink of weapons capability. During this time Israel will be able to stop the Iranian nuclear program, should it receive support and legitimacy from the West, and mainly from the US.

The release of Palestinian prisoners is a reasonable price to pay for something that is so crucial for the State of Israel, at least according to Netanyahu’s security doctrine.

The second reason is Israel’s diplomatic isolation, which has intensified over the past few months and has become a real strategic threat to the State’s economy and the morale of its citizens.

Israel’s increased isolation is the result of the Palestinians’ successful propaganda campaign in the UN’s institutions, coupled with semi-violent unrest in the West Bank. A clear indication that this isolation is becoming an economic and diplomatic threat is the EU’s recent decision regarding the settlements, and there are a number of other similar measures the Palestinians are ready to pursue. Some of these measures relate not only to the European arena, but even to far off Australia.

Protest outside PMO against release of prisoners (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

The opening of negotiations with the Palestinians is supposed to stop this process – mainly the Palestinian protest maneuvers in the UN – and give Israel some breathing space.

Israeli government officials who took part in the discussions on the release of Palestinian prisoners confirmed that Netanyahu’s decision was based on these two assumptions. But it is safe to assume that the PM had another reason for his decision to release the prisoners: Preventing a violent third intifada in the territories.

Both the IDF and Shin Bet have detected a sharp rise over the past year and a half in the number of incidents involving the throwing of stones and firebombs in the West Bank. For now it appears that the PA is able to contain the violence, but the army and internal security service estimate that an intifada will erupt unless progress is made on the diplomatic front.

In this regard, it is important to note that revolts are taking place in all Arab countries, with varying levels of violence. The Palestinian Authority and Gaza are the exception, and Israel has an interest in preserving this situation, at least for another nine months – at which point the peace negotiations, as well as the release of prisoners, are expected to conclude.

Preventing or delaying an intifada in the territories will obviously help Israel focus on the Iranian threat.

Therefore, the decision regarding the Palestinian prisoners was difficult yet reasonable in light of all the strategic advantages it gives Israel. Plus, as I’ve mentioned, a precedent has been set. Israel has released terrorists on a number of occasions due to external pressure. At least this time around it is being done as a gesture to a man who publicly supports a non-violent struggle.

One-upping EU, Gulf states blacklist all of Hezbollah | The Times of Israel.

Arab group begins canceling visas, freezing Hezbollah transactions, both military and political

Hezbollah fighters take an oath to continue the path of resistance against Israel during a parade in 2000. (photo credit: AP/Hussein Malla)

Six days after the European Union placed Hezbollah’s military wing on its list of terror organizations while leaving cooperation with the party’s political branch unaffected, a union of six Arab Gulf states has begun officially blacklisting all of Hezbollah.

The Gulf Cooperation Council, a political and economic umbrella organization encompassing Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait, has begun implementing a decision adopted by its foreign ministers on June 2 to place financial and security restrictions on Hezbollah, “making no distinction whatsoever between its military and political arms,” the Saudi daily Al-Watan reported on Sunday.

“It is more extensive than the EU decision to include Hezbollah’s military wing in the terror list,” the article reported.

The Gulf measures against Hezbollah began in early July through the restriction of all financial transactions emanating from Hezbollah bank accounts in the Gulf. The main reason cited for singling out Hezbollah was its military support of Bashar Assad in Syria. The Arab League, based in Cairo, on June 5 strongly condemned Hezbollah’s intervention in Syria, but fell short of dubbing it a “terror organization.”

On July 6, the Saudi daily Okaz reported that the kingdom’s banks were prepared to cooperate “fully and transparently” with Saudi Arabia’s security apparatus in monitoring Hezbollah’s bank transactions, “after the party’s support for terrorist attacks has been proven.”

GCC Secretary General Abdullatif Al-Zayani told Okaz on July 23 that the interior ministries of the six Gulf states have agreed to restrict the residency permits and financial transactions of proven Hezbollah members.

“Hezbollah’s true goals transcend the borders of Lebanon and the Arab world. It continues to illegally operate against innocents, using its despicable militias,” Al-Zayani said.

The European Union declared that its decision would not prevent it from continuing its dialogue with all Lebanese parties, including Hezbollah.

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah ridiculed the European distinction between his party’s armed and political wings.

“This invention of a military wing, a political wing; this is a British act. They usually try to find such ways out,” Nasrallah said at dinner marking the end of a Ramadan fast day on July 24.

“Despite my disagreement with this division and distinction, I propose that our ministers in the next Lebanese government come from Hezbollah’s military wing,” Nasrallah joked.

Cabinet votes to free prisoners, paving way for peace talks | The Times of Israel.

Government okays release of 104 Palestinian convicts; terror victims’ families protest outside PMO

Israelis rallying against a planned prisoner release with fake blood on their hands Sunday. (photo credit: Flash90)

Israeli ministers voted Sunday to release 104 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for beginning peace talks, after a several hour debate.

The issue of releasing the prisoners, in jail since before the Oslo peace Accords of 1993, has divided Israelis, many of whom see the release of convicted murders and terrorists as a price too high to pay for only a promise to return to talks.

After being unsure he could push the measure through the Cabinet, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was guaranteed a majority for the move with the announcement that ministers Gideon Sa’ar (Likud) and Sofa Landver (Yisrael Beytenu) would support it.

Thirteen ministers voted for the measure, seven against and two abstained.

Earlier, Education Minister Shai Piron (Yesh Atid) and Homefront Defense Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud) unexpectedly announced that they planned to vote against the motion, though Piron’s party colleagues were subsequently trying to change his mind.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu postponed the commencement of the meeting in order to take time to convince his Likud party ministers to back up his proposal for the release of 104 mainly Palestinian prisoners jailed since before the 1993 Oslo Accords. Netanyahu invited Shin Bet head Yoram Cohen to brief the ministers on the security ramifications of approving the release, reiterating that decisions regarding the release of Arab-Israeli prisoners would be brought before the cabinet and that any “provocation” would lead to the halt of further planned releases.

Crucially, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said he would back the move “with a heavy heart,” though he would oppose freeing pre-Oslo Israeli Arab convicts since, he said, the Palestinian leadership did not represent them. Ya’alon has opposed prisoner releases in the past, and his security credentials — he is a former chief of staff of the IDF — may ease the worries of some ministers who are hesitatant to vote with Netanyahu.

“I believe that renewing the diplomatic process is important for Israel, both in order to bring an end to the conflict and in light of the complex realities in our region, primarily the security challenges from Iran and Syria,” said Netanyahu at the start of the meeting, stressing that “this is not an easy day for me.” He added: “Any agreement that will be reached through negotiations, will be brought before the public in a referendum. It is important that on such critical decisions, every citizen gets to weigh in directly.”

The cabinet subsequently approved a bill mandating a referendum for any accord involving Israel relinquishing sovereign territory.

With Piron wavering, Yesh Atid’s other ministers and Hatnua’s two were planning to vote for the releases. In the Likud, Netanyahu will obviously vote in favor, as will those ministers who are politically dependent on Netanyahu for their positions, including Minister of Intelligence, International Relations and Strategic Affairs Yuval Steinitz and most likely also Culture and Sport Minister Limor Livnat.

Sa’ar and Water and Energy Minister Silvan Shalom were set to support the release, or at least to be willing to grudgingly vote in favor in order to permit Netanyahu to move ahead with the American-brokered peace talks.

Firmly on the “no” side are the Jewish Home’s three ministers — party head Naftali Bennett, Housing Minister Uri Ariel and Pensioners Affairs Minister Uri Orbach — and Likud’s Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz. Katz on Sunday morning called the prisoner releases “a mistake.”

Yisrael Beytenu’s four ministers were granted the right to vote as they see fit by party leader Avigdor Liberman. While Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch is expected to vote in favor, it is likely that Agriculture Minister Yair Shamir and Tourism Minister Uzi Landau will vote against.

While waiting for the meeting to begin, Bennett spoke to families of terror victims who were staging a demonstration against the decision outside the prime minister’s office.

“Releasing murderers brings a lot of bereavement and it is a mark of disgrace against Israel. Anyone on the other side [the Palestinians] who today calls for the release of murderers and burners of children and women, does not deserve to be called a partner,’ said Bennett.

Bennett told the families to keep their heads held high. “Terrorists need to be wiped out, not released. We will vote against releasing murderers,” he promised.

Relatives of Israelis killed in terror attacks hold up signs as they demonstrate outside the prime minister’s office as the Cabinet votes on Netanyahu’s proposal to free 104 prisoners as a good will gesture to the Palestinians, on Sunday, July 28 (photo credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Finance Minister Yair Lapid said ahead of the meeting that while he was saddened by the decision to release murderers, it was necessary in order to give peace a chance.

“This is not a happy day for the State of Israel. These people should rot in prison all of their lives, but we need to do what is possible in order to start the peace process,” said Lapid.

A new appointment that Netanyahu hopes will prevent future cabinet squabbles was announced Sunday. Minister of Science and Technology Yaakov Peri will be joining the inner cabinet committee set up to select which prisoners will go free and oversee the implementation. Peri, a former Shin Bet head who belongs to the centrist Yesh Atid party, will join Netanyau, Ya’alon, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Aharonovitch on the committee.

The addition of Peri is meant to ensure Netanyahu a majority in the event that Ya’alon and Aharonovitch were to decide to torpedo aspects of the deal.

Opposition leader Shelly Yachimovich on Sunday urged the ministers to vote in favor of the releases. “It is a difficult and painful decision, first and foremost to the victim’s families, but it will not damage Israel’s national fortitude and instead will enable the jump-starting of the negotiations,” said Labor chair Yachimovich. “The prime minister must stop being led by the extremist elements of his cabinet.”

Netanyahu reportedly promised US Secretary of State John Kerry that the decision to release the 104 long-term prisoners would go through. On Friday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told the Palestinian public that it could expect a “pleasant surprise” on Sunday.

The prisoners are set to be freed in four phases over the next nine months, as Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, set to resume in Washington on Tuesday, progress.

On Saturday, Netanyahu called the decision “extremely difficult,” saying it “pains the bereaved families [of the victims], it pains the entire Israeli public and it pains me very much. It clashes with a foundational value — justice.”

The letter continued: “Our best response to the loathsome murderers who tried to terrorize us into submission is that in the decades that they sat in prison, we built a state to be proud of.”

Shortly after his announcement, families of Israeli terror victims came out strongly against Netanyahu.

Netanyahu’s decision constituted “surrender,” the families from the Almagor terror victims’ association said in a harshly worded statement. “Again it seems that the prime minister is falling apart and can’t withstand pressure at the difficult moment.”

The families alleged that Israel was being “pressed again into failed negotiation” because of the personal ambitions of US President Barack Obama and his secretary of state, John Kerry.

They said that Netanyahu had issued “repeated assurances” that Israel would not be releasing terrorists and had rebuffed with “various evasions” their requests that he meet with them.

Elhanan Miller contributed to this report.