We would like to clarify a statement made in Ethan Bronner’s July 16^th New York Times article, “Signs of Hope Emerge in the West Bank.”

Statement:

“Israel has promised to free a second frequency so that a competitor to Paltel can provide cell phone service, but it has not yet done so.”

Clarification:

Israel supplied a second cell phone frequency earlier this year, in accordance with its July 28, 2008 agreement with the Palestinian Authority to supply the necessary frequencies for a second cellular company.

The agreement is founded upon Israel’s commitment to assist in improving economic conditions in the West Bank. Unfortunately, competition between Palestinian cellular companies has resulted in this frequency going unused to date.

Furthermore, Israel’s Minister of Defense Ehud Barak wrote a letter this week to Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad reiterating the fact that the second frequency has been supplied and is available for use.

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When Prime Minister Netanyahu delivered his foreign policy address at bar Ilan University last week, he seemed to be restating what others have previously said.  In an insightful opinion piece in the New York Times today, Ari Shavit analyzes the speech and finds in it a new declaration of principles that represents an important turn on the part of the State of Israel.

An excerpt:

Many failed to see what was new in Netanyahu’s vision. For decades, peace professionals and activists believed that when peace comes, Palestine will be demilitarized and Israel will be Jewish. Americans, Europeans and Israelis involved in the peace process took this premise to be self-evident.
But the Palestinians never accepted this premise. They did not agree to limit the sovereignty of their future state so that Israel’s security would be guaranteed. They did not recognize the existence of a Jewish people which expresses its right of self-determination in the Jewish nation-state. They did not go through the profound ideological conversion required so that a real two-state peace could be achieved and sustained.

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On June 17th, David Saranga (@DavidSaranga), Consul for Media and Public Affairs at the Consulate General of Israel in New York (@IsraelConsulate), addressed the 140 Character Conference (#140conf) about the use of twitter in Public Diplomacy.

Twitter “allows us to reach people and segments of society that usually we don’t reach,” @DavidSaranga explained at the conference. “There is a lot of room to include dialogue between people.”

To read more about Saranga’s speech at the #140conf, click here.

At the conference, @DavidSaranga announced the launch of twt4peace, a dialogue on twitter encouraging the discussion of topics that concern everyone: environment, minority rights, and education.

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A report available through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and published this week discusses the steps taken during 2008 and the beginning of 2009 to bloster Palestinian capabilities.  These include helping to improve the Palestinian economy and  security capabilities, both in a bilateral and multilateral arenas.

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In reaction to today’s speech by President Obama in Cairo, the Government of Israel released the following statement:

The Government of Israel expresses its hope that this important speech in Cairo will indeed lead to a new period of reconciliation between the Arab and Moslem world and Israel.

We share President Obama’s hope that the American effort heralds the beginning of a new era that will bring about an end to the conflict and lead to Arab recognition of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people, living in peace and security in the Middle East.

Israel is committed to peace and will make every effort to expand the circle of peace while protecting its interests, especially its national security.

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This week’s New York Jewish Week covers an extremely important yet underreported story of Israeli-Palestinian cooperation.  For much of the past four years, US General Keith Dayton has been training a Palestinian police force to police West bank areas under their jurisdiction.  And while the stakes are extremely high, the efforts seem to be making a noticeable and growing difference.  The ability of the Palestinian people to attend to the need for security arragements in these areas is vital to any future negotiation process.

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Photo: State of Israel, Government Press Office

The State of Israel welcomes Pope Benedict XVI to the Holy Land this week, when he visits holy sites throughout the region.  On his trip to Israel, the Pope has meetings scheduled with the President and Prime Minster, but he will also minister to the region’s Christian faithful.

In conjunction with the visit, the Israeli Consulate in New York has released a Facebook application that will allow users to encounter the sites of Israel firsthand and share their knowledge with friends.  Enjoy!

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After the comments last week by Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman which referenced the Roadmap for Two States and the Annapolis Declaration, there was a lot of talk about what these two documents are all about.  And while these two plans for Israeli-Palestinian peace have the same goal of a two-state solution, they go about achieving those aims through very different methods.  We present below a short discussion of both plans to aid in understanding the situation.

The Roadmap for Two States was presented by President George W. Bush to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Chairman Yasser Arafat in April of 2003, and the Israeli Government subsequently adopted the document with a number of reservations.  Basically, the document envisioned a bottom-up peace process taking place step-by-step in three stages:

1. Addressing Israeli security demands (namely that Palestinians would end terrorism and incitement against Israel) and the Palestinian desire for a freeze on settlement building
2. Establishing a Palestinian state with temporary boundaries
3. Negotiating the “core issues”  and Arab recognition of the State of Israel.  (Note that negotiations would only begin in the third stage.)

The Annapolis Declaration was the result of a November 2007 summit, and functions as an addendum to the Roadmap.  Essentially, it envisions a top-down process, in which negotiating on the “core issues” would begin immediately (Roadmap Stage 3) and reaching the agreement that would be shelved until such time as the Palestinians can rein in terrorism (Roadmap Stage 1).  At that future date, the agreement reached would be implemented in full.  While Prime Minister Olmert reported to the government on the Declaration, the government was never asked to approve its guidelines.

Note that the result of both the original Roadmap and the modifications introduced by the Annapolis Summit have the same end in mind: a Palestinian state beside the State of Israel.

For more information, please see the table by Itamar Eichner from Yedioth Aharonoth, 07 April 2009.

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President Carter, Prime Minister Begin, and President Sadat join hands on the
North Grounds of the White House to celebrate the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty, 26 March 1979.
Photo: Jimmy Carter Library and Museum

Today, 26 March 2009, marks 30 years since the signing of the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty at the White House in Washington.  The passage of time has shown the importance of this document, not only for the bilateral relationship, but for the entire Middle East.  The vision of the two leaders who signed this treaty, Menahem Begin and Anwar Sadat, has ushered in an era of strategic and economic cooperation.  We hope that our ties with Egypt will continue to strengthen and that the friendship and cooperation between the two countries will only grow.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni commemorated the anniversary in a speech at the official government ceremony.

Additionally, Jehan Sadat, widow of President Anwar Sadat, noted the anniversary with an opinion piece in today’s Wall Street Journal (subscription required).  Here’s an excerpt:

Thirty years ago today, Anwar Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter signed the Camp David Peace Accords. It was a culmination of a journey Anwar Sadat, my husband, began in October 1970 following the sudden death of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser. Within hours of Nasser’s funeral, my husband asked the U.S. ambassador to tell President Richard Nixon that Egypt was ready for peace.
There was no response, since at the time Egypt was a defeated nation having lost the Sinai Desert to Israel in the 1967 war. But Egypt’s victory in the October War of 1973 put Sadat in a position to restart his mission for peace.
On Nov. 9, 1977, in an address to the Egyptian Parliament, my husband announced his intention to make peace with Israel. The audience, which included Yasser Arafat, was stunned at first. Then, they began clapping. When Sadat arrived 10 days later in Jerusalem, then Prime Minister Golda Meir said: “Why are you late? We have been waiting for you.”

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This month commemorates the 30th anniversary of the signing of the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. In honor of this occasion, the Menachem Begin Heritage Center (currently Hebrew only) has prepared the following video retrospective.

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