Israel spurned Qatar's Gaza offer after Egypt protest
Mubarak government advised Israel to spurn Qatari proposal to restore ties in return for Gaza reconstruction role.
By Zvi Bar'el
 |
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Rome, May 19, 2010 |
| Photo by: AP |
Israel rejected a Qatari proposal by the Persian Gulf emirate to carry out rehabilitation work in the Gaza Strip in exchange for renewing diplomatic relations with Israel after Egypt made it clear that it would find such a deal "difficult to digest".
According to Egyptian sources, Israel provided Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak with an outline of Qatar's proposal, which would allow it to bring construction materials and other goods into the Strip.
The Qataris would have undertaken reconstruction of infrastructure and earned an Israeli declaration recognizing Qatar's important status in the Middle East. In exchange, the Israeli diplomatic mission the Qataris closed during Operation Cast Lead would reopen.
Israel's rejection of the plan, it seems, resulted largely from Egyptian opposition.
An Egyptian source said his country was acting in coordination with Israel and the Quartet (the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia ). The source added: "Egypt has barred free passage of goods across its border into Gaza, despite criticism from other Arab countries and from the Egyptian public, and it would be inappropriate for Israel, in an effort to serve its own interests "to harm these agreements and put Egypt in an impossible position of being the only party blocking the passage of goods into Gaza."
Relations between Qatar and Egypt are tense, in part because of the sharp criticism voiced on Al Jazeera of Egypt and its Gaza policy. The TV station is owned by the emirate's ruling family. Qatar has been pursing its own independent foreign policy. It is seen in Egypt as an Iranian ally acting contrary to Arab interests. It is also, however, an American ally.
Assad: Israel sought direct negotiations
Meanwhile, Syrian President Bashar Assad has disclosed that President Shimon Peres sent him a proposal via Russian President Dmitry Medvedev for direct negotiations on condition the Syrians break their ties with Iran and rejectionist organizations such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Assad said Israel would not commit to withdrawing from the Golan Heights.
Assad, in a meeting with Arab intellectuals in Damascus, said the proposal showed Israel was not interested in peace. He was quoted as saying Syria would not give up its claim to the "smallest portion" of the Golan Heights. Assad also told his audience that Syra had no intention of cutting ties with Iran. He condemned those who "have decided to eliminate the option of armed opposition and have become prisoner to the option of peace when they should be ready for both options [at the same time]."
Commentators see his remarks as being directed primarily at the Palestinian Authority but also hinting at the peace treaties Egypt and Jordan signed with Israel. Assad was quoted as saying opposition is designed "to achieve an honorable peace and not war for war's sake."
The Syrian president condemned pressure on Hamas, apparently from Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which, he said, was designed to push the organization to adopt positions contrary to its own wishes.
As for Syria's role should Israel attack Lebanon, Assad commented with ridicule that "we have to worry when Israel is silent and not when it makes threats." Assad met yesterday with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri in advance of the Lebanese leader's upcoming trip to Washington. According to Lebanese sources, Assad is convinced the United States will post an ambassador to Damascus shortly.
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see where war takes you...
I have a gut feeling either this story is fake or as suspicious as when Egyptian "intelligence" said Iraq had WMD's
I don't understand for how long Israel will be following Egypt, We all understand that Mubarak will never love us, and he wants to destroy our country, we must be more tough with Egyptians,it's a very strong country but we don't care.
So let me get this straight - Israel was ready to allow a massive reconstruction of the Gaza strip, and, no matter what you think of the Israeli Palestinian conflict - it's clear that the Gazans are suffering. Egypt deep six's it for there own political gain? How the heck does that happen? Israel should have done the Quatari deal anyway, if that really was the only objection, but somehow someway, the world is going to make Israel look like the bad guys again... Cosmo
"In the end, a senior Israeli official said, the issue was removed from the agenda due to American opposition." - Haaretz This was the "excuse" a couple of days ago. Today, Egypt is the "guilty" party! Both are fake excuses. Even with tense relations between Qatar and Egypt, there would have been no harm for Egypt to allow reconstruction in Gaza. As for the "American excuse", I don't see why the US should object to having Qatar gain some prestige. Qatar is a good friend of the US and has many US soldiers stationed there. Qatar also tries to be friendly to Iran, its neighbor and potential trouble-maker, but this is natural. If the UN passes a sanction resolution against Iran, Qatar will comply like other nations. I simply don't believe that the US objected to Qatar's involvement in Gaza, especially since the US is opposed to the siege Gaza is under. Most likely, this is some excuse by Israel, and the real reason is that Israel wants to continue with the siege.
But that's what Egypt is in the Middle East. I honestly don't think Egyptians are respected in the Middle East, at least not the Egyptian government. I think their government is perceived as an American SPY agency.
"We did so [peace] with Egypt and Jordan and we aspire to do so with Syria and the Palestinians. We can achieve this with two conditions: The first is that we hold negotiations without preconditions." - Netanyahu (Haaretz, 22 Feb. 2010) Netanyahu ran (2009) on an election platform which offered Syria only peace for peace, with a promise to strengthen Golan settlements. Offering talks with no pre-conditions was "progress" for him, except that of course he did not mean what he said. Previously he explained the no-talks situation with Syria by: "to our sorrow", the Syrians are continuing to supply Hizballah, and now it is Iran. Forget it, Netanyahu. The Syrians are part of the Iran system for their protection, and they support Hizballah as part of this deal and in order to pressure Israel. They are not going to "disarm" before a peace agreement is achieved. Talks should proceed without preconditions, as both Assad and Netanyahu stated. Of course, both sides know what a deal-breaker for the other side is. Israel needs security and Syria needs the Golan back. How to achieve both things will be what the talks are, and were about already in the days of Papa Assad and Barak, were there were No Preconditions.
the west, and in particular the united states, made a terrible mistake by letting assad out of his isolation. it is well known that the minority alawite regime can survive only as long as it claims the mantle of "resistance," namely, "armed opposition." the doha accords which were supported by the west and by the saudis gave syria-iran free reign in lebanon. the opposition felt betrayed and abandoned. hence the humiliating parade of hariri and jumblatt kissing the ring of assad. the obama administration's policy of "engagement" has been a total disaster for those who would be opposing the radicals in the region. these recent policies will unfortunately result in a very bloody war in the near future.
Is advantageous to both parties, not a reward to one party, especially not with Qatar.
Even if all Arab countries would recognize Israel right to exis in returnt for a 2 state solution with Palestinians,Israel would not accept the offer.How else would Israel get financial and moral support to fight those imaganery enemies if she accept the peace offer?
Your post is absolute nonsense. Try us and see what happens. Do you really think that we do not want peace. Do you really think that we want to keep on sending out our children to fight and die defending our country against radical Islam. By the way. Do all those Artab countries include Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah
what drugs are you tripping on ? You think civilians in southern & northern Israel imagined thousands of crude rockets & mortars raining down on them is a dream? It never ceases to amaze me how dumb people are living in this planet
So according to Egypt the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia are the true enemies of the people of Gaza. I feel that is hard to digest.
Once the totalitarian regime of Mubarak is gone. So out of touch with their own people there will be hell to pay
I understand Hamas is indirectly a danger to Egypt, do in part to its Iranian ties and support of anti Egyptian groups but there has to be more to it than that. With 52% of Gaza refugees Hamas could be reelected for years to come. The blockade is starting to cause problems for Israel albeit small but growing in both with the Muslim street and in the EU. With many Hamas/Gaza leader being released from jail, I see pressure starting to build against it and likely next year will become a major problem for Israel's PR.
The release of criminals from a prison is not related to foreign pressure. They had a sentence and a verdict and then they were released after doing their time.
Everything is mixed into everything, no one knows what's going on anymore. Egypt, Israel, Aljazeera, Qatar, Gaza, Lebanon, Chomsky, Syria, and Iran. Its become a mixed Salad.
Assad: "direct negotiations on condition the Syrians break their ties with Iran and rejectionist organizations such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Assad said Israel would not commit to withdrawing from the Golan Heights" It does rather sound like (a) Israel is setting pre-conditions and (b) Israel is demanding something for nothing. After all, Assad has to cut those ties BEFORE Israel agrees to talk, and all he gets in return is a "promise" that Israel will sit down and "talk". Well, whoop-de-dooo!
Now you know how we feel with the Palestinians
johnboy .....what Avi said plus the rest of the Muslim world too who still dream of destroying Jews
It isn't a "precondition" to insist that a party live up to a written agreement (unless you want to argue that Israel's signature on an agreement is worthless). Abbas is insisting only that Israel halt all settlement construction and remove all roadblocks set up since 2000, and Israel *already* *agreed* to do both of those things as far back as 2003.
Zvi Bar'el: "Israel's rejection of the plan, it seems, resulted largely from Egyptian opposition." And yet, less than a week ago..... Barak Ravid: "In the end, a senior Israeli official said, the issue was removed from the agenda due to American opposition." Gosh! Anyone else you want to point the finger at, guys? Hey, maybe Israel dropped the idea because the PA complained? Or maybe it was Qatar who complained about, err, Qatar's meddling? Yeah. Maybe that's it....
The article recites Egyptian sources, so what are you moaning about? And if you're going against the newspaper need I remind you its a leftist news source?
"The article recites Egyptian sources" Actually, if you look down the page you will see "An Egyptian source said ", so the plural is quite misleading. I'll note that Ravid claimed that HIS sources were equally reliable. Funny, but neither one actually NAMED their sources. How odd..... "need I remind you its a leftist news source?" yeah, of course, and it is completely immune to being used for propaganda..... Riiiiiiight......
"The article recites Egyptian sources," Actually, if you read it again you'll see that it gives away that there is only "a source", not "sources". Ravid can see Bar'el his "Egyptian source" and raise him some "Israeli officials", and no doubt both will soon be trumped by someone else. "if you're going against the newspaper" I have consistently pointed out that Barak Ravid is a sock puppet. Heck, should I call Jpost a commie rag because it has Larry Derfner on its staff....
Syria has in the past been a very strong ally to the US in middle eastern affairs. Four things were pivotal in Syria being pushed out of favor as a strategic US ally and into the arms of Iran, and finally being tarred as a member of the "axis of evil" 1. The kidnapping of CIA case officer William R. Higgins by Hezbolla, and his subsequent torture and murder. This marked the virtual cessation of active CIA involvement in that area for years, and resulted in the co-opting of intelligence duties on the ground, largely to Israel. 2. The Marine corps barracks in Lebanon. In this, it has come to light that the Israelis had credible and specific intel that an explosives laden truck assault was immenent, and they failed to pass this on to the US, whose presence was resented by the Israelis. 3. A successful campaign by the Israelis to paint Hamas as a terror group, while legitimizing the PA. This effectively removed Syria as a broker of influence, as their support was to Hamas. Vis a vis, this successfully painted Syria as a supporter of 2 terror groups, Hezbollah and Hamas. 4. Finally, with Rabin removed from the picture, Israel was able to delegitimize the PA by running a false flag op whereby large amounts of war material were supposedly to be floated ashore to gaza, supposedly arranged by one of Arafat's leutenants. This completely ludicrous false flag op (laughably implausable), was supposedly to be done, undetected so as to not scuttle the Oslo Accords?? lol. This gave the junior bush the cover to dump any support for the peace accords. Of course, this delighted Israel, as they have never been comfortable with direct contact between the US and any non Israeli controlled faction in the ME. In short, Israel wants to be the sole broker of C3, Intelligence and influence in the middle east. This gave rise to numerous false flag ops, such as WMD, Yellow Cake, and yes... the concept that no arabs, expecially the Syrians, could be trusted. That is a pretty far fall from their position of prominance in Desert Storm. They were considered on a par with the Pakis, less than a decade before baby bush "pushed" them into the "axis of evil". Ask yourself, who most benifits from this arrangement?? It sure ain't Syria, or Iran,for that matter!!
During the Cold War Syria was a Soviet ally. In fact the closest Soviet ally in the ME. In the meanwhile and till now Syria has been governed by authoritarian regimes specifically now by the Assad dynasty for the past 40 years (in another words it's a dictatorship). Syria has very close relationship and sponsors a good number of organizations who are very hostile to both Israel and USA. I guess if USA was to choose between who it's ally is supposed to be - Syria would definitely be my number 1 choice...... NOT.
to put it shortly: syria was never a us ally. furthermore, syria was always a supporter of terror groups of all manner all of them headquartered in damascus: hamas, islamic jihad, pflp, hezbollah. the cold blooded murder of us marines, of us embassy personnel, of french army personnel, could not have occurred without syrian support for hezbollah.
What a load of BS . Are you getting all your news and conspiracy theories from "Realjewnews". Do you also believe that 2001 was an American False Flag job. Were the moon landings faked. Man these Talkbacks sure bring the crazies out of the woodwork and of course Haaretz lets them all have their say.