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With Prisoners Release, Palestinians Demand Israel Withdraw To 1949 Lines, Renounce E. Jerusalem

The new Palestinian terms are so harsh as to surely defy even US Secretary of State John Kerry’s skills in bridging differences.
The prime minister also kept mum about his offer to the Palestinians of financial compensation for land remaining under Israeli control – the first time any Israeli leader has put a price tag on disputed territory.

The 16 Palestinian demands, make the release of convicted Palestinian murderers a dangerous exercise in futility, because each demand is enough to drive the negotiations into impasse, just as Mahmoud Abbas did two years ago.

After seeing the Palestinian list, Netanyahu should have put the release of prisoners on hold until Abbas comes around to a rational perception of the negotiations as a give-and-take process for the object of reaching an agreement – not an opportunity for outrageous extortion.

Mahmoud Abbas, rather than seeking common ground, has used the time to raise his price for a deal to an exorbitant level, while keeping his hand firmly on the terrorist spigot

The United States and Israel must acknowledge that the Palestinian state is “under occupation.” (This is the Palestinian response to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s demand to recognize Israel as the Jews’ national state.)

• The Palestinians will have exclusive control of all border crossings to neighboring nations. i.e. Israel and Jordan.
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• Israel’s withdrawal to the pre-1967 boundaries is not enough. Its pull-back must go all the way to the 1949 armistice lines, additionally annexing to the Palestinian state broad strips of Israeli land that were demilitarized at that time. Among the areas which the Palestinians want to lay hands on are the Ayalon Valley, the Latrun enclave and the Armon Hantatiz district of Jerusalem between the Old City and West Jerusalem; the Huleh Lake Valley; the Golan slopes running down to the Sea of Galilee; and the Nitzana belt north of the Gaza Strip – plus one third of Dead Sea water and shore.

( The Palestinians hope to grab substantial Israeli territory beyond the pre-1967 borders by invoking the long moribund 1949 accords.)

• Israel and its armed forces will draw back from the Palestinian state over a three-year period. Six months after the drawdown is complete, the Palestinians will be willing to sign final peace treaties with the State of Israel
• The US and Israel must accept the settlement of the Palestinian refugee problem as “a just and agreed solution.”

• Every Palestinian refugee (as per the Palestinian Authority’s definition of up to the fourth generation) will be free to choose between three options: settlement in Israel or the Palestinian state or staying at their present locations.
• Whichever option is chosen, the refugees will be entitled to appropriate restitution.
• Only when the refugee issue is finally resolved will the Palestinians agree to declare their dispute with Israel at an end
• An international mechanism will be tasked with administering the disposition of the Palestinian refugees and their resettlement.  It will be composed of Palestinian, Israeli, American, European, Canadian, Australian, Japanese and Arab League representatives

Kerry Takes An 'Apparent Dig' At Netanyahu: 'U.S. Won't Succumb To Fear Tactics' When Pursuing Talks With Iran

The renewed international negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program are “an opportunity to put to test” the Islamic Republic’s intentions, and it would be “the height of irresponsibility” to let “fear tactics and forces that suggest otherwise” block those negotiations, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday

Kerry’s comments appeared to constitute a response to Israel’s repeated warnings to the international community over Iran’s true intentions regarding negotiations. Israel has said it believes Iran is using the talks as a stalling tactic while it marches forward toward the bomb, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly asserting that Tehran is duping the world and has no intention of halting its rogue nuclear program.

The US is engaged in “an opportunity to try to put to test whether or not Iran really desires to pursue only a peaceful program, and will submit to the standards of the international community in the effort to prove that to the world,” Kerry said, speaking in Washington, DC, at a Ploughshares Fund event.  

Terrorist Attacks And Deaths Hit Record High, Report Shows

As terrorism increasingly becomes a tactic of warfare, the number of attacks and fatalities soared to a record high in 2012, according to a new report obtained exclusively by CNN. More than 8,500 terrorist attacks killed nearly 15,500 people last year as violence tore through Africa, Asia and the Middle East, according to the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism. That’s a 69% rise in attacks and an 89% jump in fatalities from 2011, said START, one of the world’s leading terrorism-trackers. Six of the seven most deadly groups are affiliated with al Qaeda, according to START, and most of the violence was committed in Muslim-majority countries. The previous record for attacks was set in 2011 with more than 5,000 incidents; for fatalities the previous high was 2007 with more than 12,800 deaths.

Ecuador's Correa In Moscow Amid Reheated NSA Debate

The president of Ecuador, one of the most vocal critics of the US’s spying methods is in Moscow for talks with Vladimir Putin. The visit comes as a fresh portion of NSA revelations compels the US to face a new wave of international pressure.

Rafael Correa, who is due to meet President Putin later in the day, has already addressed the issue of NSA surveillance in his interview with RT’s Spanish channel, Actualidad. 

“At first they said it was necessary for fighting against terrorism. I don’t know if Angela Merkel is a terrorist. I think it is clear they used surveillance programs for economic reasons, for helping their transnational companies,” he said, referring to the latest leaks, according to which the NSA had an ear to the phones of 35 world leaders, including the German chancellor. 

Ecuador’s president also said the NSA scandal revealed double standards in global politics, as Correa believes any other country would have been put on international trial for such large-scale spying.   

“But in this case nothing is going to happen, because international justice, as in the Chevron case, still does not work. And until now justice works only for the convenience of the stronger. In this case the stronger is the USA,” Correa said. 

White House Okd Spying On Allies, U.S. Intelligence Says

The White House and State Departmentsigned off on surveillance targeting phone conversations of friendly foreign leaders, current and former U.S. intelligence officials said Monday, pushing back against assertions that President Obama and his aides were unaware of the high-level eavesdropping.

Professional staff members at the National Security Agencyand other U.S. intelligence agencies are angry, these officials say, believing the president has cast them adrift as he tries to distance himself from the disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden that have strained ties with close allies.

Precisely how the surveillance is conducted is unclear. But if a foreign leader is targeted for eavesdropping, the relevant U.S. ambassador and the National Security Council staffer at the White House who deals with the country are given regular reports, said two former senior intelligence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in discussing classified information.

If U.S. spying on key foreign leaders was news to the White House, current and former officials said, then White House officials have not been reading their briefing books.

Some U.S. intelligence officials said they were being blamed by the White House for conducting surveillance that was authorized under the law and utilized at the White House.

"People are furious," said a senior intelligence official who would not be identified discussing classified information. "This is officially the White House cutting off the intelligence community."

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