U.S. Lifts Embargo To Help Abbas

[Jedburgh]

Testimony on U.S. Assistance to the Palestinians before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, 23 May 07:

Rep. Gary Ackerman, Chairman, Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia

David Welch, Asst Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs

LTG Keith Dayton, U.S. Security Coordinator

Mark Ward, USAID

[SWJED]

19 June Washington Post - U.S. Lifts Embargo To Help Abbas by Glenn Kessler.

The United States yesterday lifted its embargo on direct aid to the Palestinian government, joining the European Union and other countries in a swift demonstration of support for embattled President Mahmoud Abbas in his struggle against the anti-Israeli militant group Hamas.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she had called Salam Fayyad, the new prime minister named this week by Abbas, to tell him she was ending bans on aid and diplomatic contacts imposed after Hamas's unexpected victory in legislative elections last year. "We want to work with his government and support his efforts to enforce the rule of law and to ensure a better life for the Palestinian people," she told reporters...

19 June NY Times - U.S. Unfreezes Millions in Aid to Palestinians by Helene Cooper.

The United States on Monday ended an economic and political embargo of the Palestinian Authority in a bid to bolster President Mahmoud Abbas and the new Fatah-led emergency government he has established in the West Bank as a counterweight to Hamas-controlled Gaza.

The American decision freed up tens of millions of dollars in aid to the Palestinians that has been frozen since the Hamas victory in legislative elections in early 2006. The European Union similarly announced plans to resume direct aid to the Palestinians, while Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel would release to Mr. Abbas Palestinian tax revenues that Israel has withheld since Hamas took control of the Palestinian parliament...

[SWJED]

20 June Washington Post - Strategy for Propping Up Abbas by Peter Baker.

President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed yesterday on a strategy to prop up the embattled Palestinian government of Mahmoud Abbas with financial aid, eased travel restrictions, moral support and peace talks as they struggled to counter the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip.

Appearing together at the White House just days after bloody street fighting ripped the Palestinian territories into rival camps, Bush and Olmert gave unequivocal backing to Abbas, repeatedly calling him the "president of all the Palestinians" despite the division on the ground. Olmert pledged to meet with Abbas and help "suffering Palestinians" through the crisis...

20 June NY Times - Israel Lets Food and Medicine Enter Gaza to Avert Crisis by Isabel Kershner.

Israel allowed 12 trucks of food and medical supplies to enter the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Israeli officials and international aid representatives said, in an effort to avert a looming humanitarian crisis now that Hamas is in control...

Israel sealed the crossings on its border with Gaza after Hamas violently seized power there five days ago. The Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority security services that had operated the Gaza side of the border crossings ran for their lives during the fighting. Israel, like much of the West, considers Hamas a terrorist organization and will not deal with it...

[SWJED]

25 June Washington Post - Israelis, Arabs Meeting to Shore Up Abbas by Ellen Knickmeyer and Scott Wilson.

Israel and its Arab neighbors readied for a summit Monday to explore restarting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process in an attempt to shore up the emergency government of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert headed to the meeting at Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh with a message that his government would support Abbas, whose administration now appears limited to the West Bank. The Palestinian leader swore in a new cabinet on June 17 after fighting in the Gaza Strip in which the rival Hamas movement overwhelmed security forces loyal to Abbas's Fatah party and effectively severed political links between the two Palestinian territories...

[Jedburgh]

ICG, 18 Jul 08: Ruling Palestine II: The West Bank Model?

In June 2007, as Hamas took control of Gaza and a new government was formed in the West Bank, observers ventured two scenarios. The West Bank might become a model, whose economic revival and improved relations with Israel and the wider world contrasted with Gaza’s sorry fate; or, given continued occupation and the structural dysfunctionality of the Palestinian Authority (PA), it would see little progress. Both were wrong. Under Salam Fayyad’s competent leadership, it has made gains, particularly in law and order.

But a model it is not. The advances are insufficient to persuade Israel to loosen the closure regime or halt military incursions deemed critical to its security. Absence of a functioning parliament and Palestinian security services’ harsh tactics against Hamas sympathisers are inconsistent with accountable, transparent, legitimate governance. Israel and the PA should improve coordination; their international partners should prod them to do so, while giving significant financial aid. But ending the geographic division and restoring parliamentary democracy are critical for longer term stability.....

[Rex Brynen]

Ha'aretz
Last update - 07:51 22/07/2008

U.S. official preparing scathing report on Israel's West Bank policies
By Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff

The United States security coordinator for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, retired general James Jones, is preparing an extremely critical report of Israel's policies in the territories and its attitude toward the Palestinian Authority's security services.

A few copies of the report's executive summary (or, according to some sources, a draft of it) have been given to senior Bush Administration officials, and it is reportedly arousing considerable discomfort. In recent weeks, the administration has been debating whether to allow Jones to publish his full report, or whether to tell him to shelve it and make do with the summary, given the approaching end of President George Bush's term.

[Tom Odom]

Ha'aretz
Last update - 07:51 22/07/2008

U.S. official preparing scathing report on Israel's West Bank policies
By Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff

Wow, I love the smell of a cover up in the morning....

Smells like...election year

[Rex Brynen]

Smells like...election year

It is a little off-topic, but I rather liked this advice for Barack Obama from one of the columnists at Ha'aretz.

[Tom Odom]

It is a little off-topic, but I rather liked this advice for Barack Obama from one of the columnists at Ha'aretz.

10. Remember who you are.

Resist the urge to fall in love with the place, and with one side. Of all the sophisticated traps this place lays, this is by far the most insidious.

If only it was taken to heart