Meanwhile, a former Israeli Foreign Ministry official who had contacts with Syrians for more than two years says Syrian President Basher Assad is “very interested” in reopening peace talks with Israel.
And Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet Hamas political chief Khaled Mashaal in the Syrian capital on Saturday to try to clinch a long-elusive agreement on forming a coalition government, an Abbas aide said Thursday.
All this came as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she had drawn encouragement from her recent meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, who she said signaled a desire for quick progress toward a peace agreement.
In other developments:
- Israel plans to turn over $100 million in frozen tax funds to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas by Friday, an Israeli official said. The money is part of Israel’s strategy to boost the moderate Palestinian leader in his standoff with the Islamic militant group Hamas, the official said. The money will include funds for humanitarian assistance and to beef up Abbas’ Presidential Guard, which has clashed with Hamas gunmen in recent weeks. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter with the media and spoke on condition of anonymity.
- The Israeli army has raised objections to American plans to equip the security forces of moderate Abbas with bulletproof vests and other battle gear, reports CBS News correspondent Robert Berger (audio). It’s part of an $86 million dollar plan to strengthen Abbas who is locked in a violent power struggle with the ruling Islamic militant group Hamas. The army said it fears the military equipment will fall into the hands of militants and be used against Israel.
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(AFP/Getty Images) The resignation of Israel’s army chief over the admitted failures of the Lebanon War is putting pressure on Israel’s embattled political leadership, reports Berger(audio). There are calls for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz (at left with outgoing Army Chief of Staff Dan Halutz) to follow the example of the general and step down. “The political level, the prime minister and the defense minister, they carry the major burden of the fiasco of the second Lebanese war. They should have resigned,” said former Defense Minister Moshe Arens. A poll shows that 69 percent of Israelis want Olmert to resign, while a whopping 85 percent believe Peretz should quit.
- The head of the European mission monitoring operations at the Egypt-Gaza border urged Israel on Thursday to stop restricting operations there, saying disruptions only promote “extremism and terror.” Israel, citing security alerts, has kept the Rafah terminal – Gaza’s main gateway to the outside world – closed for about 80 percent of the time since Palestinian militants from Gaza kidnapped an Israeli soldier in June.
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(AP) The international community must confront Iran for the threat it poses to the entire Middle East through “a horrific combination” of extremist Islamic ideas and its nuclear program, Israel’s foreign minister said Thursday. “Iran’s goal is not just to wipe Israel off the map, but to change the entire region,” Tzipi Livni (shown at left) said during a trip to Tokyo. “It’s clear that even if we can solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iran won’t change its ideology.”
(AFP/Getty Images) “Two years are enough to conclude a detailed agreement,” Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh (shown at left) told an academic conference. “We should discuss, maybe for six months, the principles, and move forward about the details of final status agreement.”
He appealed for urgent action, saying the timing was favorable because moderate Arab states want to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“We have an opportunity, but I don’t know for how long will it last,” Sneh said at the Netanya Academic College. “We have to do it very, very quickly.”
Rice plans to meet in coming weeks with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Abbas to explore ways to accelerate peacemaking. The so-called Quartet of Mideast negotiators – the U.S., EU, U.N. and Russia – will convene ahead of those talks, Rice said.
Sneh said a peace deal is still possible even though previous rounds collapsed over explosive issues such as the fate of Jerusalem and Jewish settlements.
Nearly four years ago, Israel and the Palestinians accepted the internationally backed “road map” peace plan that was to have led to Palestinian statehood by 2005. But the plan foundered soon after it was presented. Both sides have failed to carry out obligations that were to be fulfilled before negotiations on a final deal could be launched.
A peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians is now “a bit closer,” Germany’s foreign minister said Thursday, calling on the international community to keep the momentum going by providing as much support as possible.
“I think there’s a true chance, and the American government is determined to engage itself more. There’s a big chance that a two-state solution, of which we’ve talked for a long time, can now come a bit closer,” Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters after addressing the Vienna-based Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
(AFP/Getty Images) Steinmeier, who met with Rice (shown at left) Thursday, said one could see that “first, encouraging steps” have been made between Abbas and Olmert.
They held their first substantive meeting Dec. 23 to try to get the peace talks moving again. The transfer of the $100 million in frozen funds is important to the Palestinians, whose finances have deteriorated sharply in the past year because of an international boycott of the militantly anti-Israel Hamas government.
Abbas, whose Fatah faction is locked in a bloody power struggle with Hamas, needs the concessions to prove to the Palestinian people that there are benefits to engaging Israel in dialogue designed to lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Asked in Tokyo if it was true that Israel and Syria have talked about easing the problems in Lebanon, Livni replied, “It’s not. It was also written in the article that it was informal, not official, something like this. Don’t ask officials about unofficial stuff.”
But former Israeli Foreign Ministry official Alon Liel said the Israeli government was aware of his activity, which involved eight meetings with Syrian envoys abroad. The final session occurred during last summer’s Lebanon war, he said.
“It’s very clear to us that Assad wants to talk,” said Liel. “This doesn’t guarantee in any way an agreement. But for several reasons, not all of them clear to us, he is very interested to launch negotiations.”
Meanwhile, the rivalry between the two Palestinian factions has spiraled into deadly internecine fighting.
Abbas negotiator Ziad Abu Amr said Abbas and Mashaal would try to put the finishing touches to a deal at their meeting Saturday, but did not elaborate on their agenda.
“There are issues we have agreed upon and issues that still need agreement, but we are continuing our efforts and did not reach a deadlock,” Abu Amr said.
The two men have not met since Abbas took office in January 2005. Their frosty relations took a turn for the worse in April after Mashaal publicly accused Abbas of being a traitor for opposing the formation of a heavily armed Hamas militia.
For months Abbas shunned all contact with the Hamas leader, and only recently agreed to take a phone call from him.
Previous negotiations have failed because of disagreements over recognizing Israel and control of key Cabinet portfolios.
