News Nosh 8.23.17

APN's daily news review from Israel
Wednesday, August 23, 2017

NOTE: Orly Halpern, editor of News Nosh, is on holiday from August 15th until August 24th, during which News Nosh will be produced as a truncated version and sent later in the day. 
 

Quote of the day:
“Balfour became famous for his promise to the Jews to establish a state for them on the land of Palestine . . . I call for the current British foreign minister to be famous for giving the Palestinians a promise called the ‘Johnson declaration’ that recognizes a Palestinian state.”

-- PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said on Tuesday in a meeting with British Middle East and International Development Minister Alistair Burt
 


Front Page:
Haaretz
Ynet News
Times of Israel
Israel Hayom
i24 News

News Summary:
Dominating the headlines are Prime Minister Netanyahu's comments to Russian President Putin during their meeting in Sochi. Netanyahu warns that “Iran is already in the advanced stages of taking over Iraq and Yemen, and, in effect, already controls Lebanon." Israel is concerned that Iran will fill the vacuum left by the ISIS and build a land bridge through Iraq and Syria into Lebanon to more effectively support it's ally, Hezbollah. Israel has expressed similar concerns that weapons supplied by Russia to Iran and Syria are being given to Hezbollah, but Russia continues to deny these allegations. 

Jason Greenblatt, Jared Kushner, and Dina Powell's trip to the Middle East seems to be off to a rocky start as the Egyptian foreign minister cancelled a meeting with Jared Kushner after the US said it would withhold aid to Egypt for violations against human rights and democracy. They will be meeting with the Palestinians in a few days, who expect to receive concrete plans from the American delegation to move forward with the peace process, or they will likely renew their bid for full UN membership. This could involve dissolving the Palestinian Authority (PA) and transferring governing power back to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

Quick Hits:
  • In Foreign Affairs, Ghaith al-Omari and Grant Rumley ask: "Is war in Gaza Unavoidable?" They argue that exiled Fatah leader Muhammad Dahlan's agreement with Cairo and Hamas for emergency fuel, and his arrangement to raise money for Gaza abroad in exchange for letting Dahlan's supporters operate in the strip, may have delayed a summer war but will ultimately make future conflict more likely. Read more here
  • Haaretz reports that guards at Tel Aviv's central bus station were ordered to racially profile Arabs. They were "instructed to demand ID from anyone who looks Arab and detain anyone who doesn’t have ID until the police come." One security guard said that they've "become illegal-resident hunters." Read more here.
  • The Jerusalem Post reports that PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki called on British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson to recognize a Palestinian state in a declaration akin to the Balfour Declaration of 1917. “Balfour became famous for his promise to the Jews to establish a state for them on the land of Palestine. . . I call for the current British foreign minister to be famous for giving the Palestinians a promise called the ‘Johnson declaration’ that recognizes a Palestinian state.” Read more here.
  • In +972, Orly Noy highlights that "while much of the world justly focuses on land theft in the occupied territories, we must not forget that Israel uses the pretense of ‘Jewish and democratic’ to actively dispossess its own Arab citizens." Read more here
  • In the Atlantic, Natan Sachs argues that as the investigation against Netanyahu gains momentum, he will continue to play to the right-wing base that has kept him in power. Read more here.