News From the Israeli and Palestinian Front: May 11th
Sunday, May 11, 2008 at 9:05 pm Under World News
A biweekly feature of news and opinion pieces from the Israeli and Palestinian press.
..1.) Israeli analyst Daniel Levy writes that Condoleezza Rice may be finally coming to her senses about how difficult it is to end the Israeli occupation. On her recent visit to Israel, she met with Prime Minister Olmert three times during a two-day visit to discuss the issue of roadblocks. But Rice has gotten virtually nowhere. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, in late 2005 there were 376 roadblocks; in November, 2007, at the time of the Annapolis Conference, there were 561; in March of this year, 580 existed; and the current count is 610. As Levy argues, Rice is starting to realize that putting a stop to the occupation is an extremely formidable challenge:
Secretary Rice, to be fair, seems not particularly amused and is beginning to suggest that she is aware that not only is she being given the run around, but that ‘improving’ the occupation is something of a thankless task;while ending it—well that’s also not so easy.It appears that Rice now realizes that the latter may actually be more doable than the former.
2.) It is often surprising what hard-line opinions can be found in the mainstream Israeli press. An op-ed by Ynet News columnist Gilad Sharon provides a good example. Reacting to ongoing Hamas attacks against the Israeli town of Sderot, Sharon makes the case for leveling entire Palestinian neighborhoods.
Start with targeting senior leaders, supplies, and infrastructure, and if this is not enough, we should escalate our response to the end of the scale: Evacuating civilians in Gaza and erasing neighborhoods used to fire at us. Any normal country would act that way. Imagine fire from Mexico directed at Texas; imagine fire from Ireland directed at England; an attack on France by Andorra; rockets launched by Finland at Russia. Not only would we not see supplies being provided to the attackers, not one house would remain standing there.
3.) An Israeli tech company has reportedly developed a way of using behavioral science to identify terrorists before they attack.An article in Haaretz has the scoop:
Quietly, even stealthily, this unknown company has been working for five years now on one of the more interesting technological innovations to be created in these parts. WeCU (”We see you,” in case you are unaccustomed to SMS-speak) promises an automated system to detect people with mayhem on their minds. The system integrates methods and doctrines from the behavioral sciences with biometric sensors.According to the company’s founders, in under a minute it can screen an individual, withou his or her knowledge or cooperation and without interfering with routine activities, and disclose intentions to carry out criminal or terror activity. It can identify subjects who are not carrying any suspicious objects, do not demonstrate any suspicious behavior, do not fit into a predefined social or other profile and do not arouse any suspicion.
Unlike systems currently in use, such as polygraphs or biometric systems based on identifying an individual under emotional pressure, WeCU does not attempt to determine whether the subject is lying, concealing information, under stress or feeling guilty. Instead, it seeks to identify concealed intentions by uncovering an associative connection between the subjects and defined threats.
4.)Reuters has an excellent write-up on the issues that are currently in dispute between the Palestinian and Israeli negotiators. -SECURITY. Israel has insisted that a peace agreement is impossible until all Palestinian militant groups are disarmed. The Palestinian Authority, in an effort to clamp down on militants, has recently deployed additional policemen to Jenin and Nablus but argues that Israeli raids and restrictions have undermined effective Palestinian control. -BORDERS. Olmert has stated privately his willingness to return 92% of the West Bank to the Palestinians, while offering a land swap equivalent to an additional 4-6%. He has also agreed to give back all of Gaza. Mahmoud Abbas, however, has said that he will only settle with 100% of the West Bank, although there are indications that he might be open to a very limited land swap (equaling about 1-2%). -JERUSALEM. There has been no progress on Jerusalem, with the Shas Party threatening to block any concessions that the Olmert government might decide to make. - REFUGEES. Abbas insists on a “right of return” for Palestinian refugees; Olmert denies it, but suggests that a few Palestinians might be allowed to resettle in Israel.
5.) If Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is forced out of office by an ongoing corruption scandal, some Israeli analysts think that Kadima and Shas will back Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni as his replacement.
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