Sunday Round-Up - November 10, 2013

This is the weekly selection of news and opinion from sources outside the US mainstream media.  Today we look at the deteriorating Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Sources include Le Monde Diplomatique, Al Jazeera, boston.com, and Haaretz.

Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, considered illegal by international organizations and by most countries, continue to be approved and Palestinian anger over the continued settlement building is rising.  John Kerry is in the Middle East trying to save the peace talks.

January 2011 map from Peace Now. Blue areas are Israeli settlements
in the West Bank; the brown areas are Palestinian localities.  Peace Now
is "Israel's most veteran and diverse peace movement with over 10,000
members from the Middle East and around the world." 

The Background
An article in the November Le Monde Diplomatique describes the significance of the settlements. Laurence Bernard writes that the settlements, are "jeopardising the two-state solution.  The West Bank has...been reduced to an archipelago of little urban islands by the Separation Barrier, the line of which annexes nearly 10% of Palestine’s territory.... 60% of all Palestinian territory ...
remains under complete Israeli control. This [controlled area] already has 350,000 Israeli settlers living in 35 settlements, compared with 180,000 Palestinian residents. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is concerned at the growth of violence by settlers, the denial of construction permit applications to Palestinians by the Israeli civil administration..., and the systematic demolition of buildings erected 'without a permit'."  Bernard also discusses other key issues.

• Water - "Palestinians only have 20% of the West Bank’s water resources...[and] use only 25% as much water per person per day."
• East Jerusalem - "250,000 settlers living in Palestinian areas"
• the blockade of Gaza, "already one of the most densely populated territories in the world", - "[the] Israeli...buffer zone along the barrier denies residents access to 17% of the territory (and 33% of the farmable land)...the outer limit of the fishing zone, set at 20 nautical miles under the Oslo accord, is now reduced to between 3 and 6 miles."
• Palestinian refugees  - "nearly five million expelled from their villages in 1948 and 1967.  A third still live in 'temporary' camps in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria; 3.5 million rely on the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for basic health and education."  

So what can the EU do to make "credible its official support for an 'independent, democratic, contiguous and viable' Palestinian state" ?  Bernard recommends that the EU build on its recent directive that will make Israeli entities operating on Palestinian land "ineligible for grants, prizes and financial instruments" from the EU.  The EU, Israel's largest trading partner, could "threaten reprisals under the EU-Israel Association Agreement, ... freeze specific accords,... and suspend negotiations on strengthening the Association Agreement.  It could also stop importing goods manufactured or assembled in Israeli settlements in the West Bank." Finally, the EU could take action on the arms trade with Israel, the world's fourth leading arms exporter.  The arms trade "continues to grow in spite of the EU code of conduct that prohibits sales of military equipment that  might be used for internal repression or international aggression, or contribute to regional instability." 

Kerry's Trip to the Middle East

Al Jazeera reported on Wednesday on Kerry's efforts:  "Acknowledging that the negotiations had run into difficulties, Kerry spoke of a need for 'real compromises and hard decisions' from both sides...  Palestinians...have said an Israeli plan announced last week for 3,500 more settler homes in the occupied West Bank was a major obstacle to the success of the negotiations....'The Israeli side is determined to continue its settlement and we cannot continue negotiations under these unprecedented settlement attacks,' [a senior Palestinian official] said after a meeting of Israeli and Palestinian negotiators....  The settlements that Israel has built in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories it captured in the 1967 Middle East war, are considered illegal by most countries."

AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee's story on Kerry's trip to Jordan was reported on Thursday on boston.com.  Kerry went to Jordan to gain support from this close US Arab ally for the stalled peace process.  Kerry "issued a stark warning to Israel on Thursday, saying it faces international isolation and a possible explosion of violence if it does not make progress in peace efforts with the Palestinians.  Kerry issued the blunt remarks in a joint interview with Israeli and Palestinian television channels, ensuring the message would reach its intended audience.  'The alternative to getting back to the talks is the potential of chaos. I mean does Israel want a third intifada?' Kerry said, using the term for past Palestinian uprisings against Israeli occupation....'If we do not find a way to find peace, there will be an increasing isolation of Israel. There will be an increasing campaign of de-legitimization of Israel (that) has been taking place in an international basis,' he said...'What is the alternative to peace?' Kerry asked at a joint news conference with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh. 'Prolonged continued conflict.'

Haaretz provided additional details of Kerry's comments on "Israel’s decision to build roughly 5,000 new housing units in East Jerusalem and other settlements, alongside the release of a group of Palestinian prisoners. Kerry said settlement expansion sends a message that 'perhaps you’re not really serious,' during an interview which aired on Israel’s Channel 2, as well as in Palestinian media.  The lengthy interview ...focused on the struggling peace negotiations and Kerry’s efforts to prevent a total collapse in talks between Israel and the Palestinians.   Kerry denied the claims made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that there had been an agreement between the two sides stipulating that each wave of Palestinian prisoners released would be accompanied by settlement expansion. According to Kerry, the deal was that Israel would release Palestinian prisoners in exchange for a halt of unilateral Palestinian actions at the United Nations during the nine months of negotiating.   'Palestinian leadership made it absolutely clear they believe the settlements are illegal, they object to the settlements and they are in no way condoning the settlements, but they knew Israel would make some announcements,' said Kerry."