EU foreign ministers on Saturday moved to ease a threat of renewed Middle East tension triggered by a Palestinian bid for full United Nations membership, scheduled less than three weeks away.
Speaking at the close of two-day talks in this Polish seaside resort, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said the European Union hoped "to avoid what could turn out to be a failure for everyone in September" at the United Nations General Assembly.
Weeks before the Palestinians are to formally submit a request for UN membership, the bloc's 27 ministers devoted substantial time debating an issue hotly criticised by many, notably Israel and the United States.
Split between themselves on the move, EU ministers urged both Israel and the Palestinians to return to direct peace talks while offering to take a lead role in hammering out a solution acceptable to all sides.
"Our idea is to work to find the grounds for a resolution that would be acceptable to the different parties," Juppe said. "It is possible to find such a balance."
FP: If consent is possible, why did they wait until now? Whenever Europeans propose to insert themselves into the process and promise to achieve consensus, Israel should run like hell.Speaking at the close of two-day talks in this Polish seaside resort, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said the European Union hoped "to avoid what could turn out to be a failure for everyone in September" at the United Nations General Assembly.
Weeks before the Palestinians are to formally submit a request for UN membership, the bloc's 27 ministers devoted substantial time debating an issue hotly criticised by many, notably Israel and the United States.
Split between themselves on the move, EU ministers urged both Israel and the Palestinians to return to direct peace talks while offering to take a lead role in hammering out a solution acceptable to all sides.
"Our idea is to work to find the grounds for a resolution that would be acceptable to the different parties," Juppe said. "It is possible to find such a balance."
Waking up from the dream of a peaceful border
The deployment of Egyptian troops in the peninsula is temporary, despite being a violation of the 1979 peace treaty, but the troops will never return to their bases. The demilitarized buffer between the two countries is thus starting to crumble.
FP: Due to many strategic and tactical blunders Israel has now returned itself to a worse than its pre-1967 border situation: it now has 4 hostile and deteriorating borders (Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and Egypt), with Jordan on its way to become the fifth, not to mention forthcoming Palestine. It also faces a hostile West now including the US, that is funding genocidal terror, pressures Israel and inhibits its defense. Herb Keinon: Jerusalem brushes off Ankara threat to go to The Hague
Already, Congressman Eliot Engel (D-New York) issued a statement following Turkey’s decision to expel Israel’s envoy saying “Turkey should be ashamed of itself.”
“In an almost unbelievable act of hypocrisy, the Syrian ambassador sits comfortably in Ankara, while the Assad regime kills more than 2,000 of its own people, but Turkey has expelled the Israeli ambassador for Israel’s proper enforcement of a legally- established blockade,” said Engel, a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “Rather than bashing the only real democracy in the Middle East, Turkey should focus on its own problems, such as ending its occupation of Cyprus once and for all.”
The US, according to Israeli officials, continues to be involved in efforts to defuse the situation.
FP: This is how Israel should have responded immediately to Turkey’s demand, that’s how you really defuse bullies. Unfortunately, the defusing that the Obama administration is working on is most likely pressure on Israel to cave in in some way or form.“In an almost unbelievable act of hypocrisy, the Syrian ambassador sits comfortably in Ankara, while the Assad regime kills more than 2,000 of its own people, but Turkey has expelled the Israeli ambassador for Israel’s proper enforcement of a legally- established blockade,” said Engel, a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “Rather than bashing the only real democracy in the Middle East, Turkey should focus on its own problems, such as ending its occupation of Cyprus once and for all.”
The US, according to Israeli officials, continues to be involved in efforts to defuse the situation.
Amr Bargisi: An Islamist President in Egypt?
...Hazem Salah Abu Ismail. Meet the man who may well follow Mubarak as Egypt’s first Islamist president.
This 50-year-old lawyer is no stranger to large crowds and acclaim. He’s a TV star whose weekly broadcasts on various religious channels over the last few years have covered a wide range of issues, from Islamic history and jurisprudence to politics and economics. Abu Ismail promotes Islamic finance, wants more sharia in the Egyptian constitution, and thinks the peace treaty with Israel should be trashed—all are controversial positions.
...
Up until Abu Ismail’s candidacy, the prospect of an Islamist president seemed far-fetched, not least because the Muslim Brotherhood announced it was not going to run a candidate. But Abu Ismail is not a member of the Brotherhood, and this may be one of his most powerful political assets.
He is a Salafist, Islamists typically distinguished by their long robes and beards, and less cagey than the Brotherhood about expressing their political views. And yet Abu Ismail is a Salafist with a Muslim Brotherhood exterior. He wears the long beard, but instead of a robe he dons a suit, like any member of the country’s professional classes, who are much more likely to line up with the Brotherhood than the Salafists. He doesn’t shout, but speaks calmly, soothingly and makes his case rationally, even when he’s verbally attacked on TV by hostile interviewers. Abu Ismail’s ability to bridge the gap between the Salafists and the Brotherhood is a real challenge to the latter, especially now that they’re not sure what sort of role they want to play in the political process.
...
If the prospect of an Islamist president seems a shocking turn for a revolution that began with such high hopes, Abu Ismail’s candidacy is perhaps a blessing in disguise. Whoever rules Egypt next is in for a difficult time. It is preferable for the Islamist project to be discredited sooner rather than later. A much worse scenario would be the Egyptian masses petitioning the Muslim Brotherhood to come to the rescue after the failure of a secular regime.
FP: Islamism won’t be discredited once it is in power. It rules in the name of Allah and anything it does is its will. Given the anti-semitism and religiosity of the Egyptians, they may well be satisfied with hostilities towards Israel and Sharia even in harsh economic circumstances.
This 50-year-old lawyer is no stranger to large crowds and acclaim. He’s a TV star whose weekly broadcasts on various religious channels over the last few years have covered a wide range of issues, from Islamic history and jurisprudence to politics and economics. Abu Ismail promotes Islamic finance, wants more sharia in the Egyptian constitution, and thinks the peace treaty with Israel should be trashed—all are controversial positions.
...
Up until Abu Ismail’s candidacy, the prospect of an Islamist president seemed far-fetched, not least because the Muslim Brotherhood announced it was not going to run a candidate. But Abu Ismail is not a member of the Brotherhood, and this may be one of his most powerful political assets.
He is a Salafist, Islamists typically distinguished by their long robes and beards, and less cagey than the Brotherhood about expressing their political views. And yet Abu Ismail is a Salafist with a Muslim Brotherhood exterior. He wears the long beard, but instead of a robe he dons a suit, like any member of the country’s professional classes, who are much more likely to line up with the Brotherhood than the Salafists. He doesn’t shout, but speaks calmly, soothingly and makes his case rationally, even when he’s verbally attacked on TV by hostile interviewers. Abu Ismail’s ability to bridge the gap between the Salafists and the Brotherhood is a real challenge to the latter, especially now that they’re not sure what sort of role they want to play in the political process.
...
If the prospect of an Islamist president seems a shocking turn for a revolution that began with such high hopes, Abu Ismail’s candidacy is perhaps a blessing in disguise. Whoever rules Egypt next is in for a difficult time. It is preferable for the Islamist project to be discredited sooner rather than later. A much worse scenario would be the Egyptian masses petitioning the Muslim Brotherhood to come to the rescue after the failure of a secular regime.
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