Senior administration official dismisses report on comprehensive peace plan and potential U.S. pressure on sides, saying it “would be more newsworthy if we weren’t working toward an enduring peace” • U.S. official: Egypt has strong desire to help peace efforts.

By Erez Linn and Israel Hayom Staff

The White House on Sunday dismissed a Channel 2 News report that the U.S. was finalizing a comprehensive regional peace plan that would depart from previous administrations’ initiatives, saying the report did not properly reflect ongoing diplomatic efforts.

Hamas strongly denies report the Gulf nation is unhappy with terror group’s rapprochement with Egypt

By Dov Lieber, TOI

Hamas’s leader Ismail Haniyeh (C-R) meets with Egyptian Intelligence Minister Khalid Fawzi at the latter’s office in Gaza City on October 3, 2017. (AFP Photo/Mahmud Hams)

The Qatari envoy to the Gaza Strip, Muhammad al-Amadi, arrived overnight Monday in the Palestinian enclave, where he is expected to clarify his country’s stance on the ongoing Egyptian-sponsored reconciliation talks between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah, Palestinian media reported.

Amadi arrived in the Strip accompanied by four other members of the Qatari committee for the reconstruction of Gaza, the Hamas-linked Palinfo news site reported.

The Qatari envoy, the report said, is expected to attend a ceremony Monday for the launching of services from the Palestinian Wataniya Mobile company. He will reportedly be joined by Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad bin Nasser Al Thani, CEO of the Qatari international telecommunications company the Ooredoo Group. Wataniya Mobile is a member of the Ooredoo Group.
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Report claims US peace plan focuses on ‘regional normalization’ between Israel and Arab world, makes no demands of either Israel, PA

By David Rosenberg, INN

The Trump administration is preparing to unveil its much-anticipated Middle East peace plan, one which is expected to include a radically different approach from other plans promoted by world leaders seeking to broker a final status agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

According to a report by Channel 2 Sunday night which cited senior US officials, the new Middle East peace plan now being drawn up by the Trump administration will not focus solely on the Arab-Israeli conflict, but will look to lay the groundwork for “regional normalization” between the Jewish state and the Arab world at large – deemphasizing final status talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
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Two years after the Kurds fought against the Islamic State, America turned its back as they sought independence

By Bernard-Henri Lévy, TABLET

What has just transpired in Iraqi Kurdistan is heartbreaking.

Here is a people who, for decades, have been fighting every form of tyranny that the terrible 20th century spawned in that part of the world.

Here is a small but great people who, in the very midst of the complex Middle East, embody an exceptional strain of enlightened Islam that is open to universal values, welcoming to minorities, and inclined toward secularity and democracy.
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https://www.scribd.com/document/362240822/Kurdistan-Update-10-22-17

Prospects for a high-profile D.C.-meeting promoting unambiguous and aggressive American support for an independent Kurdistan continue to brighten, as potential supporters emerge; the issuance of a letter by four House members will prompt efforts on Monday-a.m. to link their offices with others who are like-minded. Again, EVERYONE receiving these “Blast” e-mails is cordially invited to pitch-in, for TIME-IS-TIGHT!
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If the U.S. allows the Kurds to be defeated, the entire region will take notice of U.S. abandonment of an ally in time of need.

By: Joseph Puder

Iranian supported Iraqi-Shi’ite militias along with the Iraqi army have converged on Kirkuk, bringing the oil-rich city under Baghdad’s control. A fresh new conflict in Iraq is ready to erupt, and it will test the U.S. administration’s commitment to its allies, especially the Kurds. The Kurds have been loyal and supportive American allies. The fresh conflict will confirm whether the Trump administration is merely high on bluster but short on action, or conversely, that it is true to its word regarding support for its allies, and countering Iran’s imperialistic and terroristic ambitions. Suppressing the Kurdish aspirations for independence, which includes Kirkuk, would place the U.S. on the side of Iran and Turkey, who along with the Shi’ite Iraqi government and the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, have ganged up against the Kurds.
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JNi.Media

Ofer Vinter exposing a tunnel in the Gaza Strip during the 2014 War
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will soon announce his choice for his next military secretary, but according to Ha’aretz pundit Yossi Verter, so far the PM has rejected three brigadier generals suggested by IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot: Yehuda Fuchs (Gaza Division), Yaniv Asor (Golan Division) and Uri Gordin (Reserve Paratroopers Brigade). Netanyahu cannot directly pick his choice for MS, since the position is under the control of the Chief of Staff. So, until Eizenkot comes up with the man Netanyahu wants, things will remain at a standstill.
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by Michael J. Totten
World Affairs Journal

Turkey, along with the American-Turkish relationship, is going so far off the rails so quickly right now that there’s no chance you’re aware of everything that’s going on unless you track it professionally or get Google Alerts in your inbox.

Where to even begin? We could start, I suppose, with the fact that a Turkish court sentenced a Wall Street Journal reporter to two years in prison in absentia for “promoting a terrorist organization.” Her real crime? Interviewing and quoting members of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK). In other words, doing her job.

The reporter, Ayla Albayrak, is in the United States now, so President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an can’t get his grubby mitts on her, but let this be a lesson to all journalists who write about Turkey. You can and will be sentenced to prison.
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By Robert B. Sklaroff and Lynne K. Lechter

An Exponent letter-writer recently suggested that advocates for Donald Trump had grown silent, presumably embarrassed by his performance.

As the two essayists on these pages advocating for his election a year ago, we respond to this invitation by doubling-down on our endorsement, emphasizing that it is more enlightening to take his actions seriously than to become distracted by his tweets.

Lechter’s articles primarily extolled the candidate, whereas Sklaroff’s focused on contrasting him with his opponent.

If anything, our projections were understated, both for the Jewish community and for the nation.
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Economist Intelligence Unit

Despite a decline in several key measures of activity in the Israeli life sciences sector, according to a recent report published by Israel Advanced Technology Industries (IATI; an umbrella organisation representing high-technology and life science firms), the wider
picture and the long-term trends are decidedly positive. Firms are melding Israel’s strong research reputation in the field with its leading information technology and software know-how, but more traditional firms are also important contributors to the economy and changing rapidly. Life-science-rooted firms are now a key component of Israel’s high-tech offering. Nevertheless, the sector is not without challenges.
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Maxim A. Suchkov  AL MONITOR October 18, 2017

MOSCOW — Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu paid a two-day visit this week to Israel — his first as the top Russian military commander. On Oct. 16, Shoigu met in Tel Aviv with Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman and the Israel Defense Forces’ Chief of General Staff Gadi Eizenkot. On Tuesday, he was hosted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Hours before Shoigu landed in Tel Aviv, the Israeli air force destroyed a Syrian army anti-aircraft battery in an alleged retaliation to Damascus firing a missile at Israeli planes while they were on a reconnaissance mission over neighboring Lebanon. Israel said it informed Russia of the incident “in real-time mode” and “comprehensively briefed” Shoigu to alleviate a potentially negative response from Moscow.
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It’s a mistake to hold trans-Atlantic ties hostage to a flawed deal
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The Editorial Board Wall Street Journal 10-18-17

President Trump’s decertification of the Iran nuclear deal is kicking up a mini-panic in Europe. The Continent’s leaders warn that Mr. Trump’s move could undermine trans-Atlantic relations, and that no U.S. President can unilaterally walk away from the deal. But Europe was overdue for a moment of truth on Iran, and Mr. Trump is providing one.

Europeans embraced the deal even before the final agreement was signed in 2015. Business trips to Tehran started under the pre-2015 interim agreement, and France opened Europe’s first trade office in the Iranian capital barely two months after the final deal was struck. Airbus has agreed to sell billions of euros’ worth of commercial planes to Iran. Germany’s chemical and machine-tools industries have cashed in with deals. French and German auto makers have signed agreements to export cars to Iran or make them there. And oil and gas companies across Europe are piling in.
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