e_Paper_Thursday_December 30, 2016

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10 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2016 DT World John Kerry’s Middle East peace framework • AFP, Washington, DC There was little new in US Secretary of State John Kerry’s outline for measures to revive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians presented Wednesday. Nothing in his speech will bind incoming US President-elect Donald Trump, and Kerry’s intervention has been angrily rejected by Israel. Here are the “six principles” Kerry says must underlie a renewed search for peace based on an Israel-Palestine two-state solution. Recognised international borders On November 22, 1967, after Israel’s victory in the Six-Day War over its Arab neighbours, the UN Security Council (UNSC) passed its Resolution 242. Israel’s win left it in possession of the Golan Heights, Gaza, Sinai, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in addition to its original territory. Under UNSC 242, Israel should hand back its new land and in 1993 the Palestinian Liberation Organisation agreed that 242 could serve as a basis for talks. Kerry’s speech insisted that UNSC 242 has long been “accepted by both sides” and must be followed, albeit with “mutually agreed equivalent swaps.” ‘Two states for two peoples’ Israel did not welcome Kerry’s speech, but many Israelis will welcome his second “core principle” for any deal. While the final settlement will see the Palestinians installed in their own state, they must in turn recognise Israel “as a Jewish state.” ‘Realistic solution for refugees’ There are an estimated 5m Palestinians claiming descent from those displaced from their homes during the creation of Israel. Their long-standing demand for a “right of return” to homes in some cases now within pre-1967 Israel has long been a stumbling block. Kerry’s principles acknowledged that international assistance and some kind of compensation will be necessary and fair for these people. Jerusalem capital of two states Israel claims the city of Jerusalem as its “undivided” capital, and Trump plans to move the US embassy there in support of this idea. But the city holds sites holy to Muslims, Jews and Christians alike and the Arab world would erupt in anger if a sole Israeli claim prevailed. Kerry admitted that the city’s fate “is the most sensitive issue for both sides” and suggested it be the “internationally recognised capital of the two states.” Satisfy Israel’s security needs Israeli forces and residents withdrew from the Gaza Strip in September 2005, but peace did not break out there. Gaza has since fallen under the sway of Hamas, an armed Islamist movement, and is a source of periodic attacks on Israel and a target for harsh retaliation. Kerry’s fifth principle stated that the larger West Bank must not become a similar threat, and that Israel must retain a right to intervene. Kerry said that a team led by US General John Allen had worked on “innovative approaches to creating unprecedented, multi-layered border security.” Normalised relations Finally, under Kerry’s vision, a final status settlement between Israel and a future Palestine would see an end to outstanding regional issues. “For Israel, this must also bring broader peace with its Arab neighbours,” he said. • FACTBOX Key crises in US-Israel ties The latest diplomatic spat between Israel and Washington over the United States abstaining in a UN Security Council resolution on settlements is not the first crisis between the two allies. US President Barack Obama’s frosty relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit new lows last week after the UN vote calling for an end to Israeli settlement building passed 14-0. And on Wednesday, in a parting shot from the Obama administration before US President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in on January 20, US Secretary of State John Kerry warned that building settlements on Palestinian land threatens Israel’s very future as a democracy. 1975: The Sinai crisis Perhaps the most significant crisis was in 1975, when Washington pressed Israel to withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula, which it had seized during the 1967 Six- Day War. But Israel refused to do so without a full peace deal with Egypt, prompting US president Gerald Ford to inform Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin that Washington would conduct a “reassessment” of bilateral ties. Between March and August of 1975, US arms shipments to Israel were suspended – a major step given Washington’s position as Israel’s biggest provider of financial and military aid. 1985: The Pollard affair Washington’s arrest in 1985 of American intelligence analyst Jonathan Pollard, who passed classified US information to Israel, marked a “major low” in the relationship. It was a regular source of tension for three decades until his eventual release in November 2015. Pollard was sentenced to life imprisonment, with the affair sparking a crisis in ties that only ended when Israel promised to end all espionage activities on US soil. 1990: White House phone number In a shaky start to cooperation between George Bush’s administration and that of Israeli premier Yitzhak Shamir, the US secretary of state very publicly rebuked Israel over conditions it sought to impose on the Palestinians in peace talks. Secretary of state James Baker directed the following remarks to Shamir at a meeting with the House Foreign Affairs Committee: “I have to tell you that everybody over there should know that the telephone number is 1-202-456-1414... When you’re serious about peace, call us.” 2015: Netanyahu Congress address Two weeks before the March 17 general election in Israel, Netanyahu travelled to Washington to give a speech to the US Congress at the invitation of Republican House of Representatives speaker John Boehner, bypassing diplomatic protocol by not running it through the White House. Incensed, Obama and dozens of Democrats boycotted the speech, in which Netanyahu railed against an emerging world deal with Iran over its nuclear programme. 2016: UN vote on settlements The UN resolution that sparked the latest crisis, backed unanimously by the rest of the 15 powers on the Security Council, effectively declared Israel’s settlements in areas of east Jerusalem and the West Bank beyond its 1967 border to be illegal. A furious Netanyahu, whose rightwing coalition is backed by the settler movement and who has insisted the home building is no threat to peace, accused Obama and Kerry of orchestrating the Security Council vote. • Source: AFP Benjamin Netanyahu subject of criminal investigation • Tribune International Desk Israel’s attorney general has ordered police to open a criminal investigation into two unspecified matters involving the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. A spokeswoman for Israel’s justice ministry declined to respond to the report. Netanyahu has in the past denied wrongdoing in the purchase of submarines from Germany, where media have reported a potential conflict of interest involving his lawyer. Netanyahu and his family have been subject to a series of allegations over the past two decades. In 1997, it was decided that there was not enough evidence to charge him over the appointment of an attorney general, though prosecutors said they had a “tangible suspicion” about Netanyahu’s role in the scandal. •
World 11 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2016 DT Boko Haram leader in new video: Group safe, not crushed • AFP, Kano, Nigeria Boko Haram’s elusive leader Abubakar Shekau appeared in a new video on Thursday to dispute a claim that the jihadist group had been routed from its Sambisa Forest stronghold. “We are safe. We have not been flushed out of anywhere. And tactics and strategies cannot reveal our location except if Allah wills by his decree,” Shekau said in the 25-minute video, flanked by masked armed fighters. “You should not be telling lies to the people,” he said, referring to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari who said on Christmas Eve that the extremist group had been defeated and driven away from the forest, its last known bastion. “If you indeed crushed us, how can you see me like this? How many times have you killed us in your bogus death?” he asked. It was not immediately clear where the new video was shot, but Shekau who spoke in both Hausa and Arabic said it was filmed on Christmas Day. Shekau last appeared in a video in September where he disputed a claim by the Nigerian military that he had been wounded in battle. He vowed to continue fighting on until an Islamic state was imposed in northern Nigeria. Buhari had announced that a months-long military campaign in the 1,300 square-kilometre forest in northeastern Borno state had led to the “final crushing of Boko Haram terrorists in their last enclave in Sambisa Forest”. •
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