All previous attempts to reach a deal by extracting concessions from Israel did nothing but weaken Israel.

BY CAROLINE GLICK, JPOST

During Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with US President Donald Trump at the White House in February, the premier was reportedly taken by surprise when Trump gently prodded – ahead of their meeting – for Israel to “hold back on settlements for a little bit.”

Since their meeting, Trump’s prod that Israel curtail the property rights of Jews in Judea and Samaria has been the central issue Trump’s chief negotiator Jason Greenblatt has discussed with Netanyahu and his representatives.

From the moment Netanyahu returned from Washington, his government ministers have been asking him to brief them on his discussions with Trump. He has refused. But on Thursday, Netanyahu finally agreed to update his security cabinet.
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T. Belman. This is a good deal for Israel. Basically infilling is allowed with permission given for exceptions. Secondly the restriction applies to all settlements, not just the blocs. The decision says nothing about restricting construction to the settlement blocs or to communities within the security fence. There is enough infilling to do which will triple the number of Jews in J&S.

This deal also suggests, in any deal, the settlements will remain.

Arutz Sheva said we have agreed to “significantly” reduce construction.  I don’t see it.

No commitment made to restrict construction to large settlement blocs.

BY HERB KEINON, JPOST

Israel will restrict its building beyond the Green Line to the built-up areas of existing settlements, the security cabinet decided Thursday night after nearly three weeks of discussions on the matter with the US government.

The guiding principle behind the new guidelines is to limit as much as possible Israel’s settlement “footprint” beyond the existing communities. Sources said the decision was taken out of consideration of the position of US President Donald Trump, and that Israel will also significantly curb building to enable efforts to advance a diplomatic process with the Palestinians.
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T. Belman. Reduce from what?

Netanyahu tells Cabinet that new policy on Judea and Samaria will be in line with Trump’s views.

By Nitsan Keidar, ARUTZ SHEVA

Israel’s new policy on construction in Judea and Samaria will be in line with President Donald Trump’s views on the issue.

At Thursday night’s Cabinet meeting, during which a new community for the residents of Amona was approved, Netanyahu told the ministers that taking into account Trump’s positions, Israel will take significant steps to reduce the expansion of the built-up areas of Judea and Samaria.

He added that Israel would significantly reduce new construction in the region “in order to allow for progress in the peace process.”
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By Dr. Eric R. Mandel, JPOST

A future Palestinian state will have Islam as the dominate aspect of its governing system, despite Western wishful thinking to the contrary

Every few years like clockwork, an American administration comes along that thinks it can solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while politicians and pundits annually march through the halls of the AIPAC national meeting talking about a two-state solution with security for Israel. Their motivations are genuine, but they can’t seem to learn the lessons of previous failures. This is especially important now, as US President Donald Trump seems bent on solving this heretofore- intractable conflict.

To many Americans, Jews and Arabs are simply fighting over territory, so the logical answer is to simply divide the land. This has been the strategy for over 100 years. But this approach ignores the fact that this dispute, like so many others in the Middle East, is primarily a war of Islamic religious supremacy.
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By MARTIN SHERMAN

Instead of trying to resurrect the decrepit zombie of two-statism in pursuit of bipartisanship, AIPAC would do better to assist in promoting Zionist-compliant alternatives

A durable Israeli-Palestinian peace can best be achieved through direct negotiations between the two parties, resulting in a Jewish state living side-by-side in peace with a demilitarized Palestinian state… – From “The Peace Process: Israel’s Pursuit of Peace” currently on AIPAC’s website.

Rejecting decades-old policy, the Republican Party approved on July 12 a platform that does not include a call for a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict…and omits any reference to a solution that would establish an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel… – From “In Major Shift, GOP Rejects Two-State Solution” the Forward, July 10, 2016. Read more…

T. Belman. DEBKA advises that a separate statement was issued by the Arab countries in which “They called for a new round of peace talks based on a two-state formula and renewed the 2002 “reconciliation” offer (drawn up by Saudi Arabia) if “Israel quit occupied Arab land and agreed to a deal on Palestinian refugees.”” It could be significant that it didn’t say all occupied Arab land. I thought that they consider the land as Palestinian land.

This could be an opening that Trump and Netanyahu are pursuing.

DEBKA

Syria’s Bashar Assad still persona not grata in Arab world
All 15 resolutions passed by the Arab summit which took place in Jordan Wednesday, March 29, were devoted to an indictment of Iran, its Revolutionary Guards Corps and Lebanese surrogate, Hizballah. They were a testament to the depth of Arab-Iranian animosity and exposed the extent of the rift between the Sunni and Shiite Muslim worlds.

Iran was accused of meddling in the internal affairs of Arab nations, inciting Shiites against Sunnis, and arming and training Shiite terrorist groups for operations against legitimate Arab governments. The Arab rulers combined to put Tehran in the dock for its interference in the Syrian civil war and assault on its sovereignty.
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T. Belman. But no alternate is suggested. Russia is not the Boogyman, though Americans think so. I am fully open to such a deal. Alex Markofsky wrote that Crimean is Russian and should remain Russian. Few would dispute this. As for the eastern provinces of Ukraine, he argues that Russia doesn’t want to annex them They are a liability. A deal would be very much in Israel’s favour.

Trading Ukraine for Syria would legitimize Moscow’s conquest and endanger Europe’s security.

By Mark Helprin, WSJ

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford Jr. with his Turkish and Russian counterparts, Gens. Hulusi Akar and Valery Gerasimov, March 7. Photo: RUSSIAN MINISTRY PRESS OFFICE/TASS/ZUMA PRESS

The new administration may be sorely tempted to close a showy diplomatic “deal,” the origins of which are President Obama’s extraordinary policy failures in the Middle East. With American financing rather than resistance, Iran has thrown a military bridge from Afghanistan to the Mediterranean, a feat the U.S. could not equal at the height of its powers when it unsuccessfully tried to construct the Central Treaty Organization in the 1950s. Worse still, Mr. Obama’s “executive agreement” with Tehran gives it a U.S.-guaranteed path to nuclear weapons.
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T. Belman. This author laments the “new brutality” but I don’t. It gets the job done. Victory is good. Stalemate is bad. He complains that the “new US military deployments are taking place without any sign of US diplomatic initiatives or discussion of the future of peace talks in conflict zones, or a more rounded strategy and narrative to woo Muslims hearts and minds in order to defeat the Islamic State.” But I am pleased. First win, then talk.

Another technique Trump has instituted is the designation of “fire zones” in which collateral damage, ie killing of civilians, is permitted. The IDF should adopt these new rules of engagement with US backing.

By Ahmed Rashid, NY REVIEW OF BOOKS

In the opening months of the Donald Trump administration, there has been little sign of a coherent foreign policy taking shape. What is happening, however, is a dramatic militarization of US policy in the Middle East—one that is occurring largely without the consultation of American allies, and with hardly any public scrutiny. In the case of the war in Yemen and the campaign against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, these developments could have extraordinary consequences for US security and even the stability of the Middle East itself.
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Wasn’t He Supposed to Make Israeli-Palestinian Peace?

Donald Trump’s erstwhile point man for the region is now focusing on strange domestic roles. It could be his father-in-law simply doesn’t want him anywhere near a task that usually ends in failure.

Allison Kaplan Sommer, HAARETZ

It hasn’t been announced with any fanfare and it’s unlikely it ever will. But with every news cycle, it’s becoming clear that President Donald Trump’s senior adviser Jared Kushner is no longer the U.S. administration’s point man for Middle East peace.

Whether the shift is coming from Kushner himself or the president, the son-in-law-in-chief doesn’t seem to be in the driver’s seat when it comes to foreign policy in general and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict specifically.
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We Want it to Be Normal for Muslims and Jews to Be Allies

by Barney Breen-Portnoy, ALGEMIENER

Azerbaijani Ambassador to the US Elin Suleymanov. Photo: Barney Breen-Portnoy.

Over the past two and a half decades, the Caucasus nation of Azerbaijan — a Shiite Muslim-majority state — has become a close ally of Israel, manifested by deep economic and military bonds.

In December, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Baku, where he met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. “The world sees so much intolerance, so much darkness, and here is an example of what relations can be and should be between Muslims and Jews everywhere,” Netanyahu said at the time.
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By Ted Belman

Well, the Arab Summit has come and gone and what do we have to show for it. Intransigence.

The Arab leaders led by King Abdullah of Jordan insisted on the two-state solution and the creation of Palestine. Also they offered no admendments to the Arab Peace Initiative.

The hopes for a regional peace agreement or any peace agreement expressed by Netanyahu and Trump have been dashed.

Ambassador Freedman has now been sworn in. Jason Greenblatt clearly stated that the US will not impose a solution. By the way, it would appear that Greenblatt has replaced Kushner as the negotiator in chief of Mid-East peace. Kushner is now heading a new department in the White House tasked with increasing efficiency in government.
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Leaders of 21 nations expected to reaffirm 2002 peace plan offering normalization with Israel after deal with Ramallah

BY KARIN LAUB AND MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH, TOI

AD SEA, Jordan (AP) — Arab leaders held their annual summit Wednesday, poised to endorse key Palestinian positions in the conflict with Israel — a signal to US President Donald Trump that a deal on Palestinian statehood must precede any Israeli-Arab normalization.

Jordan’s King Abdullah told the summit’s opening session that there can be no peace or stability in the region without setting up a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

The Arab summit was to adopt a series of resolutions, several dealing with the Palestinian issue. The statements, subject to last-minute change, were previously endorsed by Arab foreign ministers.
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FOX NEWS

President Trump moved Tuesday to unravel a host of energy regulations imposed by his predecessor, targeting in particular the Obama administration’s signature program that was intended to curb carbon emissions – but blasted by Republicans for hurting the already-struggling coal industry.

With a sweeping executive order signed at EPA headquarters, Trump initiated an immediate review of the Clean Power Plan, which restricts greenhouse gas emissions at coal-fired power plants. Surrounded by coal miners, the president described that plan as a “crushing attack” on workers and vowed to nix “job-killing regulations.”
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By EVELYN GORDON / COMMENTARY 3-28-17 

DEBKA

If the Arab summit opening in Amman Wednesday, March 9 meets the expectations of Washington and Jerusalem, the session will ratify a pivotal initiative for promoting an historic peace process between the Arab world and Israel. This effort, which matured through five months of mostly secret diplomacy, was launched by Donald Trump in November, shortly after he was elected US President.

The official Arab summit agenda covers the disastrous war crises preying on the Arab world in Syria, Yemen and Iraq, as well as economic issues. But the rulers will also quietly discuss off-stage a proposal brought by Saudi King Salman and Egyptian President Abdel-Fatteh El-Sisi to embark on steps destined to lead to peaceful relations between the moderate Arab regimes and Israel and exponentially to a resolution of the Israeli-P\alestinian conflict.
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ISRAEL HAYOM

In 2005, 60% of Israeli Jews said they would support a peace deal that included Israeli withdrawal from territory and a Palestinian state • Poll shows that number has dropped to only 36% today, and 81% want Israel to retain sovereignty over Jordan Valley.

Support among the Jewish population of Israel for a peace deal with the Palestinians that would include an Israeli withdrawal from territory and the establishment of a Palestinian state is waning, according to a poll commissioned by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, headed by former Foreign Ministry Director General Dr. Dore Gold.

The poll indicates that while in 2005, 60% of respondents said they would agree to such a peace deal, the number has dropped to 36% today. The current poll results also show that only 10% of respondents said they supported conceding the Temple Mount to the Palestinians, whereas an overwhelming majority of 83% said they opposed it.
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Stranger Things Happened

By CONRAD BLACK, NY SUN

The health-care-reform fiasco illustrates perfectly why the United States has been an ineffectual, gridlocked failure at legislative self-government for more than 20 years. It is not only not a system with two parties ready to govern; it is not a system with one party ready to govern.

The Cruz Right took 30% of the vote in the Republican primaries and the Sanders Left took almost 50% of the vote in the Democratic primaries. The Clinton-Obama Democrats are chasing pathetically after the itinerant base of their party as it has scurried to the left like a frightened lobster, and the Republican Right has cooled down to some degree, but shows no disposition to take one for the team.

There is little point in assessing blame for how the Trump administration and the Democratic congressional leadership have reached such a lamentable state of vituperative hostility, but deescalating it will take time, work, and a will that is not now visible.
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By JNi.Media

Habayit Hayehudi activists, led by attorney Yossi Fuchs, Chairman of the Legal Forum for Israel, are convinced Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked is a more capable leader for their party than Chairman Naftali Bennett, one who could help Habayit Hayehudi establish itself as a prominent power in the next Knesset.

To prove their point, Fuchs et al have ordered a poll from one of Israel’s most reliable pollsters, Rafi Smith, and the results backed them up.

Shaked “increases and changes the part supporters,” Smith told Army Radio on Tuesday. “While Bennett attracts his traditional supporters, she draws a different crowd.”
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By Edwin Mora, BREITBART

The U.S. and Russia-backed Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) has offered the people of Raqqa the opportunity to join its autonomous federal region in northern Syria once the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) is pushed out of the city.

Saleh Muslim, the co-chair of the PYD party, told Reuters that the residents of Raqqa would be the ones to decide their fate once the city is liberated from ISIS, adding that he believes the city will join the Kurdish autonomous “democratic federal” system.

“We expect [this] because our project is for all Syria… and Raqqa can be part of it,” Muslim told Reuters during a telephone conversation. ”Our only concern is that the people of Raqqa are the ones who take the decision on everything.”
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