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Last update - 09:19 22/07/2008
Israeli official: U.S. intervention in minor Palestinian issues could damage ties
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Israel, Palestinians, U.S.

Senior officials in the U.S. State Department, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, have repeatedly complained to Israel recently over relatively minor Palestinian issues that it would have ignored until a few months ago, Israeli officials say.

Complaints about settlement construction or army operations that kill Palestinian civilians have always been the norm. But Israeli officials are worried by the State Department's new tendency to intervene in a much broader range of issues.

One such case occurred two weeks ago, when the daughter of Palestinian parliamentarian Hanan Ashrawi sought to visit Israel. At one time, she had lived in East Jerusalem and had permanent resident status, but after several years of living in the United States, her residency had lapsed.
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She therefore asked the State Department to intervene, which resulted in Israel giving her a laissez-passer to come here and arrange her status. However, she was warned at Ben-Gurion Airport that she had two weeks to do so.

Via her mother, a personal friend of Rice, the younger Ashrawi complained to the State Department again over this dictum. Within minutes, Israeli sources said, Assistant Secretary of State David Welch had phoned senior Israeli officials to demand they intervene. The surprised Israelis responded that these procedures are required by law.

Another case was Washington's demand that 10 Gazan Fulbright scholars be allowed to enter Israel for visa interviews at the U.S. consulate in East Jerusalem. However, Israel refused, saying they had been blacklisted for security reasons.

Rice personally intervened. In addition, an Israeli official said, the consulate leaked the story to the New York Times to embarrass Israel.

Israel suggested that the interviews be conducted at the Erez border crossing with Gaza, and Washington eventually agreed. Now, the students are waiting for the consulate to approve their visas.

Yet another case involved an eviction order issued to an East Jerusalem family over nonpayment of rent. Officials from the U.S. consulate visited the family and sent a telegram to Washington, and the State Department demanded that Israel prevent the eviction. The stunned Israelis responded that the eviction had been upheld by the High Court of Justice. Moreover, they said, this was an internal affair.

A senior Israeli official said that the person behind this growing American criticism is the U.S. consul in Jerusalem, Jacob Wallace. "Every week, he receives dozens of complaints from Palestinians and transfers them to Washington without examination," the official said. "He's really inflaming the atmosphere, causing public relations damage to Israel and even may damage our relations with the U.S."

An embassy spokesman responded that the embassy considers its relationship with the Foreign Ministry "excellent."
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  1.   Jacob Wallace = George Wallace 02:59  |  Absolute Israel 22/07/08
  2.   Fulbright Scholerships tainted with blood! 03:05  |  Avram 22/07/08
  3.   Fulbright scholarships tainted with blood 3 Americans murdered! 03:19  |  Avram 22/07/08
  4.   Drip, drip go the leaks to the newspaper... 03:33  |  Aphemia 22/07/08
  5.   THE ANSWER IS SIMPLE 04:05  |  Arik Silverman 22/07/08
  6.   ARE THESE PALESTINIANS AMERICAN CITIZENS ? 04:13  |  Arik Silverman 22/07/08
  7.   why now, perhpas Rice is using Israel to secure a job post Bush 04:50  |  r 22/07/08
  8.   Poor Poor Israel Cannot Stand the Scrutiny 04:52  |  Lev Bronstein 22/07/08
  9.   U.S. should butt out of our internal issues 04:57  |  Free Gilad Shalit 22/07/08
  10.   Unreal 05:07  |  Sam 22/07/08
  11.   State Department 05:37  |  Fish 22/07/08
  12.   Its About Time 05:56  |  Janice 22/07/08
  13.   Another case of racism and ethnic cleansing 06:01  |  Janice 22/07/08
  14.   To Free Gilad Shalit 06:05  |  Janice 22/07/08
  15.   Rice = conflict of interest 06:15  |  Great White North 22/07/08
  16.   Officials irked by increasing U.S. complaints about Palestinian i 06:18  |  H. Geriai 22/07/08
  17.   Jacob Walles is a US State Department gem 06:31  |  BBSNews 22/07/08
  18.   Damn Yankees! 06:37  |  Mark of Lewiston 22/07/08
  19.   #4 From the USA point of view it isn`t "an internal issue", FGS 06:43  |  Johnboy 22/07/08
  20.   Condi Rice is idiotic 06:47  |  Frank 22/07/08
  21.   To Janice 06:50  |  Proud Jew 22/07/08
  22.   To Janice 06:55  |  Arieh 22/07/08
  23.   To Geriai 06:59  |  Proud Jew 22/07/08
  24.   To Johnboy 07:07  |  Proud Jew 22/07/08
  25.   To Sam 07:15  |  Proud Jew 22/07/08
  26.   #21 Arieh 07:22  |  Janice 22/07/08
  27.   #16 It is an impressive Israeli dummy-spit, BBSNews 07:31  |  Johnboy 22/07/08
  28.   Condoleeza 07:36  |  PARIS 22/07/08
  29.   Curbing Israels behavior 07:38  |  Natallie Durson 22/07/08
  30.   Israel can sometimes go too far. 07:39  |  Semsem 22/07/08
  31.   What happened to the commom sense of the Americans ? 08:09  |  Jean Van Daem 22/07/08
  32.   Anti-American sentiment permeates the Arab Muslim culture. 08:11  |  Jean Van Daem 22/07/08
  33.   US finally tries to tell Israel what to do not the other way arou 08:22  |  William Cook 22/07/08
  34.   show me the money!!!! 08:23  |  RM 22/07/08
  35.   Proud Jew is in denial 08:27  |  Abu Firas Al Qudsi 22/07/08
  36.   Stop the systematic harrasment of the Palestinians 08:39  |  Pablo B 22/07/08
  37.   The US is interfering in internal matters 08:44  |  x-ray 22/07/08
  38.   Isnt it nice when your terrorist supporting mother has friends in 09:07  |  Republican 22/07/08
  39.   oh yes such "minor" grievances 09:08  |  Deborah 22/07/08
  40.   #18 johnboy LIES again 09:11  |  CK Tan 22/07/08
  41.   Curbing Natallie`s behavior 09:15  |  hmpierson 22/07/08
  42.   Without Israel the US would have all the electronic gadgets it so 09:16  |  Historian 22/07/08
  43.   Another possibility for the Israelis to consider 09:18  |  Clickfool 22/07/08
  44.   This should tell Israel something 09:22  |  Clickfool 22/07/08
  45.   The US vetoed UN resolutions and ignored the World court, now the 09:32  |  Rod Hutchinson 22/07/08
  46.   IRAQ WAR WOULD BE THE LAST BIG FAVOR FOR ISRAEL 09:41  |  indrajaya 22/07/08
  47.   We behave like a banana republic so ... 09:42  |  Ilan 22/07/08
  48.   To Proud Jew 09:51  |  Chet 22/07/08
  49.   "minor" Issues In A Major Outrage 09:53  |  Gray 22/07/08
  50.   #26 Annnnnd just to point this out to CK Tan 09:53  |  Johnboy 22/07/08
  51.   To Proud Jew 09:55  |  Chet 22/07/08
  52.   To Proud Jew 09:59  |  Chet 22/07/08
  53.   #26, CK TAN and his usual lies 10:08  |  VIPER 22/07/08
  54.   Bush administration`s too-little too-late gestures 10:13  |  Chanalau, Tova 22/07/08
  55.   Arik Silverman 10:19  |  rich 22/07/08
  56.   Geriai 10:30  |  rich 22/07/08
  57.   #5, Are you Israelis American citizens? 10:33  |  Che Vive 22/07/08
  58.   A BAG OF RICE AND A SOVEREIGN POWER 10:49  |  victor hardman 22/07/08
  59.   yankees: mind your own business! 10:52  |  non-yank 22/07/08
  60.   Che Vive 10:54  |  rich 22/07/08
  61.   GRAY Daily targetting of Israeli civillians sure to cause problem 11:16  |  PETER SM 22/07/08
  62.   FIRAS in dreamworld.Where his elected govt.says PEACE&RECOGNITION 11:19  |  PETER SM 22/07/08
  63.   #52 rich (with a little "r") 11:21  |  Che Vive 22/07/08
  64.   DURSON Want to"curb Israels behaviour"? start with your own 11:22  |  PETER SM 22/07/08
  65.   hmpierson - In case your questions are not rhetorical 11:23  |  Natallie Durson 22/07/08
  66.   How sad 11:25  |  Joseph Jibran 22/07/08
  67.   PETER SM - 11:26  |  Natallie Durson 22/07/08
  68.   Not everybody approves of US internal policy either 11:29  |  Iz Ray Leigh 22/07/08
  69.   CHANALAU BUSH administration has put up with too much 11:36  |  PETER SM 22/07/08
  70.   HUTCHISON Arabs sidelined the UN on day one of this conflict 11:39