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PM Olmert has responded to the Arab initiative (see my take on the Arab initiative here) by proposing a summit:

In his first public reaction to the Arab League summit’s relaunching of its 2002 peace initiative last week, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday night invited the heads of the Arab states to a conference where these and other ideas would be discussed…

He said it was clear that each side would be able to bring its positions to such a meeting, alluding to Israel’s stance that the Arab peace initiative was a starting point for negotiations, not the finish line…

Olmert said there was a “significant gap” between the Israeli and Arab positions, but that “in a correct, responsible and careful process we can move forward toward negotiations.” — Jerusalem Post

It’s certain that the Arab leaders will not accept this. First, they see their proposal as too magnanimous already, since it gives lip service (albeit no more) to the continued existence of a state of Israel. So they feel that they have gone as far as they can, and now it’s up to Israel to accept the proposal or else (and I think the implication of the ‘or else’ is ultimately war).

Second, they will not accept any proposal that is an Israeli proposal, because to do so would be to admit that Israel is as much a legitimate nation as the Arab states. Their view of Israel is analagous to Israel’s view, for example, of Hamas: an entity so illegitimate that even to talk with it is out of the ordinary. To accept Israel’s proposal is to put themselves on the same level as Israel.

And third, they believe that Israel’s strategic position is weak after the Lebanon war, and her ally the US can be pressured because of the Iraq situation. Therefore they feel that she can be forced to accept their terms (and if not, nothing is lost).

Olmert’s initiative does have an important function, however. By presenting an alternative that no-one (except the Arab states) should see as unreasonable, Israel makes it clear that she is not the obstacle to peace in the region. Although it’s highly unlikely that anything will come of it, the statement that it makes needs to be emphasized. It’s also possible that Israel’s strategic position will improve, at which point it could provide a basis for real talks.

Update [2 APR 1015 PDT]:

[an anonymous] Saudi official told The Associated Press that “before any meeting could be considered,” Israel should accept the 2002 Arab peace initiative that would recognize Israel in exchange for withdrawal from captured territory and a just solution for the Palestinian refugees. — AP (Yahoo)

No surprises.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Arab initiative, Olmert, summit

By Vic Rosenthal

The UN Human Rights Commission suggests that freedom of speech can go too far:

(more…)

The EU is optimistic about the possibility of Mideast peace, says the Jerusalem Post. The only problem is that one of the parties refuses to even lie about preferring war:

Still, they have faced a dilemma over how to deal with the newly formed Palestinian unity government – a coalition between Hamas and the more moderate Fatah of Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Its platform falls short of international demands that it recognize Israel, renounce violence and abide by existing Palestinian-Israel agreements.

On Saturday, the Europeans agreed they will judge the new government by its actions rather than its words and progressively help it build up credible government institutions

The cynicism is thick enough to cut with a knife.

The new government’s actions consist of preparing for war by stockpiling smuggled arms, building and firing rockets, developing new kinds of rockets, and constructing Lebanon-like fortifications in Gaza. They are also continuing incitement against Israel in schools, mosques, media, and every other institution.

In fact, it’s impossible to find either actions or words of peace coming from this ‘government’ that we in the West are paying for.

Technorati Tags: EU, Israel, Palestinians

By Vic Rosenthal

Tuesday’s flood of human excrement from a broken sewage reservoir, described as a “frothing cascade of waste and mud” which killed five people (and who knows how many will fall ill from it), nevertheless did not stop Gazans from their most important enterprise, trying to kill Jews.

A total of seven Qassam rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza today, and the IDF attacked from the air a cell of three terrorists who were in the process of firing more.

The tsunami of stinking slime was probably caused by local residents stealing sand from the embankment of the reservoir in order to sell it to construction companies.

Rescue crews and Hamas gunmen rushed to the area to search for people feared buried under the sewage and mud. Dressed in wetsuits, they paddled boats through the layer of foam floating on the green and brown rivers of waste. Others waded up to their hips into the sewage.

The noxious smell of waste and dead animals hung in the air.

Angry residents drove reporters away and mobbed government officials. When Interior Minister Hani Kawasmeh arrived to survey the damage, his bodyguards fired in the air to disperse the crowd. — AP

Could they be tired of watching billions of dollars of aid from international donors flushed into the pockets of the terrorist militia leaders or used to buy weapons and explosives to kill each other and attack Israel, rather than being used to fix the deteriorated infrastructure?

Update [1638 PST]: The death toll from the accident has reached six.

Technorati Tags: Gaza, sewage

The UN Security Council has voted to place new economic sanctions on Iran:

The new draft UN resolution bans all Iranian arms exports, freezes the overseas assets of 28 additional officials and institutions linked to the Islamic Republic’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, including senior officers of the Elite Revolutionary Guards Corps and the state-owned Bank Sepah, and restricts financial aid or loans to Tehran.

It gives Iran 60 days to comply with the repeated UN demands or face “further appropriate measures” — economic sanctions but no military action — under Article 41 of the UN Charter…

The text builds on the December sanctions which included a ban on the sale of nuclear and ballistic missile-related materials to Iran, foreign travel restrictions on Iranians involved in sensitive atomic and ballistic missile work and a freeze on their overseas assets.– YNet

The resolution was passed unanimously today.

The problem is that in order for sanctions to be effective, they must make it more advantageous for Iran to stop her nuclear program than to continue it. And if the Iranian leadership feels that the strategic advantage of possession of nuclear weapons is great enough to risk an attack by the US or Israel, then relatively mild sanctions will not be effective.

The UN should apply sanctions that will be felt throughout the Iranian economy, and not just on the nuclear program. This might put enough pressure on the government to at least temporarily halt the program, or it might result in a change in government, one hopes to one which will have a different evaluation of the risks and benefits that come with Iran’s becoming a nuclear power.

As I wrote yesterday (see “Iran: we’re serious“), these risks are great, both for Iran and the rest of the world.

Technorati Tags: Iran, UN