BBC Monitoring Quotes From Israel’s Hebrew Press 15 Jan 07
The following is a selection of quotes from editorials published in 15 Jan editions of Hebrew-language Israeli newspapers available to BBCM.
Condoleezza Rice
This was another “listening visit”. “Nursery teacher” [US Secretary of State] Condoleezza Rice is to arrive here for another three visits like this, something like a visit a month when the heroes of the Middle East will reveal the secrets of their hearts. She will listen, take notes, assist the “patients” in making decisions, calm, encourage, strengthen … In April she will present the complete treatment plan … The close attention the secretary of state is giving to the Israeli-Palestinian file is testimony to the fact that the US administration, despite its denials, see a clear link between progress in the Palestinian issue to progress in the Iraqi issue. Another thing the State Department sees from there is that if there is a chance of an achievement of some kind before the end of President Bush’s term in two years, this opportunity lies, of all places, in the Israeli-Palestinian arena and not the Iraqi one. This is where the concentration of effort and attention on the part of the secretary of state seems to stem from … [From commentary by Alex Fishman in centrist, largest circulation Yediot Aharonot]
Israel’s political agenda for the coming few months will not be set by the “no plan” of Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, the irrelevant road map of [Defence Minister] Amir Peretz or even the ideas Prime Minister [Ehud] Olmert raised when he met [US] President [George] Bush, but perhaps by the political agreements on the Middle East achieved recently by [German] Chancellor Angela Merkel and the US president. It is to be remembered that Germany is president of the EU and heads the G-8 group … However, her real importance goes beyond this as, against the backdrop of a Europe that’s unsympathetic to the US (barring Blair’s Britain), Merkel’s Germany has become almost the only political support for Washington, at least in Europe … The first result of the above is Bush’s agreement to renew the activity of the Quartet. What we have here is not a technical or procedural matter because what could be at the base of this agreement is a fundamental change in the approach of the Bush administration, namely that progress on solving the Israeli- Palestinian conflict and establishing a Palestinian state could be a vital step to solving the other problems in the Middle East, including Iraq … [From commentary by former ambassador to US Zalman Shoval in centrist, largest circulation Yediot Aharonot]
A few hours after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice came to Israel on another diplomatic mission, she hurried to meet Strategic Threats Minister Avigdor Lieberman. Rice met Lieberman two days after the chairwoman of his Yisrael Beytenu faction, MK Esterina Tartman, made crudely racist statements against the now postponed appointment of MK Ghalib Majadilah as the first Arab minister in the country’s history. Tartman said Majadilah’s appointment was like “swinging an axe at the tree of Judaism” and that “we need to uproot this terrible evil from among us” … Rice’s meeting with Lieberman was like giving a stamp of approval to the racist positions he and his party have adopted … Instead of the US States denouncing his racist positions, it has given them support in the form of a well- publicized and unnecessary meeting. Rice, who came to the region to “strengthen moderate forces” thereby in fact lent her hand to strengthening the extremists, at least on the Israeli side. And what message did she send to the moderate forces on the Palestinian side by meeting Lieberman\? [From editorial of left-of-centre, independent broadsheet Ha'aretz]
The surprise this time was the lack of a surprise. After major headlines touting supposed plans to be put forth by [US] Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice or by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, both top diplomats stood side by side and redeclared their allegiance to the Quartet’s road map. As Sherlock Holmes once asked, what is there to learn from a dog that doesn’t bark? One possibility is that there are plans afoot which have not yet been revealed. In their brief press conference, Livni stressed the need four times to provide a “political horizon” for the Palestinians and Rice did so once … But why talk about a “political horizon” as if it is something to be provided rather than something that already exists? The horizon has been repeated endlessly: an independent Palestinian state … The problem is that the Palestinians are too weak, divided and radicalized to walk towards it and claim it. They need help – not so much from Israel as from the Arab world and the international community … [From editorial of English-language Jerusalem Post]
[US Secretary of State Condoleezza] Rice’s visit has come at a most awkward time – a time when neither her main Israeli interlocutor, [Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert, nor her Palestinian partner, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmud Abbas, can deliver the goods. Olmert laid out his diplomatic vision in his Sde Boker speech in November, but at present, with polls showing Kadima on the slide, he does not have the political strength needed to carry out any controversial steps … The same is true on the Palestinian side. Abbas can’t stop the firing of Qassam rockets on the western Negev, let alone uproot the terrorist infrastructure as the first phase of the road map demands. It is no surprise therefore that, contrary to some of the pre-visit hype, Rice didn’t come to Israel with any grand diplomatic design or plan. In the current configuration, neither Olmert nor Abbas is politically strong enough to deliver much of anything. Rice is relegated to taking stock of the situation, gauging in the current situation what, if any, small steps Olmert or Abbas may be able to take. [From commentary by Herb Keinon in English-language Jerusalem Post]
Sources: as listed
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