Israel Update for November 2009

David Dolan

Israeli government officials spent much of November dealing with daunting issues related to Iran's menacing nuclear programme. The annihilationist threat posed by the fundamentalist Shiite regime was raised by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu during a White House meeting with American President Barack Obama in early November. Discussions about Iran were also held in Paris and other world capitals. Obama secured Russian backing for stiffer economic sanctions against Iran during a meeting in Singapore with Russian President Dimitry Medvedev.

The discussions came amid fresh Iranian resistance to United Nations attempts to get it to come clean on its self declared "nuclear energy" programme. A proposal to send uranium for supervised enrichment abroad was formally rejected by Iran's bellicose leaders, who also issued fresh verbal assaults against the Jewish state and further denunciations of the United States, Great Britain and other Western countries that are leading international efforts to get Tehran to reveal the full details and final aims of its nuclear programme.

Meanwhile a huge Iranian arms shipment, apparently heading to Shiite Hizbullah forces in Lebanon, was intercepted off the coast of Cyprus by Israeli naval vessels acting on information provided by the United States. The massive weapons cache, including rockets that can hit many parts of Israel, was later displayed at the port of Ashdod for inspection by foreign diplomats stationed in Israel.

Instability and verbal brawling continued to rock the Palestinian political scene during November, with the radical Hamas movement rejecting Palestinian Authority plans to hold legislative and presidential elections early next year. This came as PA President Mahmoud Abbas announced that he will not be a candidate in the leadership race.

PA leaders said that in light of the ongoing impasse in peace negotiations with Israel, they are preparing to declare a unilateral Palestinian state alongside of Israel in the near future. This prompted PM Netanyahu to retort that any such move will completely crush the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.

Meanwhile more warnings were issued by PA and Hamas officials that a new violent Palestinian uprising may be looming on the horizon. Tensions escalated after the Jerusalem municipality announced that 900 new apartment units will be constructed in the southern neighborhood of Gilo, a move condemned by the Palestinians, the White House, European leaders and Iran. Obama himself added significant fuel to the political firestorm, saying the apartment construction "does not contribute to Israel's security, and embitters the Palestinians."

On the brighter side of the news-really the wetter side-Israel experienced some of its heaviest ever "former rains" the end of October and early November, bringing flooding to several parts of the country. Despite the damage done, hydrological officials were generally delighted, given the huge water deficit that they are projecting in the coming years.

Nice Meeting Or Nasty?

Aids to PM Netanyahu were sitting on pins and needles as they waited in early November for late word whether or not US President Obama would meet with the visiting Israeli leader. Although primarily in the country to address the General Assembly of the influential Jewish Federations of America, Netanyahu was hoping for another chance to speak face to face with Obama, especially since there has been public tension between the two leaders over the stalled peace process; in particular the President's vocal demand that Netanyahu halt all Jewish home construction in the eastern half of Jerusalem and throughout all of Judea and Samaria.

In the end, the meeting not only took place in the US capital city, but lasted over half an hour longer than planned. Netanyahu was accompanied by several top aids, including National Security Council chief Uzi Arad. Also present was Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who like Netanyahu, is a well known figure in Washington. Obama's Middle East envoy George Mitchell and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel sat in on the President's team.

During the last portion of the one hour forty minute meeting, the two elected leaders sat alone. What exactly was discussed between them was not revealed. Reports that the White House parlay had been sour started to circulate in the Israeli media when both Netanyahu and Ehud Barak unexpectedly cancelled scheduled press conferences. However the PM later vigorously denied that his talks with Obama had been difficult, insisting just the opposite was the case. He cryptically stated that "the importance of the meeting will be ascertained in the future," which some speculated might indicate that he received some level of presidential approval for Israeli military action against Iran if the rogue Muslim nation continues to defy international demands that it halt its uranium enrichment programme. Other reports said Netanyahu pledged to halt all settlement building for ten months, which was said to be well received by the US leader.

The only thing known for sure is that two topics were discussed at the meeting: the faltering Palestinian-Israeli peace process and something to do with Iran. This was spelled out in a brief White House statement which said "The President reaffirmed our strong commitment to Israel's security, and discussed security cooperation on a range of issues," adding that "The President and Prime Minister also discussed Iran and how to move forward on Middle East peace."

Secret Deal In The Works?

The Washington meeting came soon after Iranian officials formally rejected the latest United Nations offer regarding the country's controversial nuclear programme. As noted last month, the UN's Atomic Energy Agency signaled it would oppose any further international economic sanctions against Iran if the country's leaders agreed to ship 70% of their current uranium stockpile to an energy facility in Russia, where it would be further enriched under UN supervision for use as fuel rods. According to the rejected proposal, the rods would then be sent to France for additional treatment before being returned to Iran for use in nuclear energy and research reactors. Israeli leaders had expressed strong reservations over the proposal, saying the UN should instead be insisting that Iran stop enriching uranium altogether.