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Israel getting kicked for its stand on heritage sites

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Message: If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/41554/full/41554/israel-getting-kicked-for-its-stand-on-heritage-sites/ Israel getting kicked for its stand on heritage sites Thursday, March 4, 2010 | by ron kampeas & marcy oster The Obama administration sharply criticized Israel last week for designating the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel’s Tomb to be added to the list of Jewish heritage sites marked for renovation and preservation. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Feb. 21 announcement about both West Bank sites is only one of the vexing problems facing the U.S. administration these days. Other issues include: • Plans by Jerusalem’s mayor to level some Palestinian dwellings and move the families elsewhere. • A Palestinian reluctance to return to direct talks, resulting in awkward “proximity” talks, where the parties communicate only through a U.S. interlocutor. • Israeli anxieties about the Obama administration’s reluctance to go for the jugular ASAP in confronting Iran. • A declaration this week by Netanyahu that Israel won’t pull out of the Jordan River Valley, noting the area’s strategic importance, even if there’s a peace agreement with the Palestinians. The area is in the West Bank along its eastern border. <div class="capDivLeft" style="width: 360px;"><img alt="MEjta heritage" class="left" height="246" src="http://www.jweekly.com/images/uploads/y_photos_2010/zp03_05_10/MEjta heritage.jpg" title="Palestinians in the Khan Yunis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip rally Feb. 26 against an Israeli plan to renovate two holy sites in the West Bank." width="360" /> <div class="caption">Palestinians in the Khan Yunis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip rally Feb. 26 against an Israeli plan to renovate two holy sites in the West Bank.</div> </div> Vice President Joe Biden — the president’s big-picture guy — met March 2 with pro-Israel leaders and the White House’s top Middle East staffers, evidently in a bid to see how he can smooth the picture’s corners before he arrives in Israel on March 8 for a three-day visit. Of all the rough edges, it seems as if Netanyahu’s announcement about the heritage sites caused the biggest fraying. The Cave of the Patriarchs is located in Hebron, and the traditional tomb of the biblical matriarch Rachel is near Bethlehem. The Palestinian Cabinet held its most recent meeting in Hebron to protest, and Palestinian uprisings in Hebron last week spilled over into rioting Feb. 26 at the ultrasensitive patch of Jerusalem land where two mosques abut the Western Wall. Hamas called for the launch of a new intifada, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas declared that the Israeli decision could lead to religious war. “These sites are in occupied Palestinian territory and are of historical and religious significance not only to Judaism but also to Islam, and to Christianity as well,” said Robert Serry, the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process. True enough, Israeli officials say — and they have facilitated renovations to the Muslim part of the Patriarchs’ cave in the recent past, undercutting arguments that this is part of an attempt to “Judaize” the sites. “This is not in any way changing the status quo,” Netanyahu spokesman Mark Regev said. “This is about renovating important historical and religious sites of the Jewish people.” Settler leaders said the Palestinian reaction underscored how important it is to remind the world of the Jewish stake in the sites. “The reaction of the Palestinians shows how important it was,” said Danny Dayan, chairman of the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip. “They erroneously thought the Jewish people had abandoned” the sites. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the U.S. administration viewed the move as provocative and unhelpful to the goal of getting the two sides back to the table. He also said American diplomats conveyed the administration’s displeasure to senior Israeli officials. The criticism came on the same day Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she hopes the long-stalled peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians will resume. The Palestinians, however, have said they want a freeze on all Israeli settlement building before they return to talks. In meetings last week, top Israeli officials dropped their demand for direct talks with the Palestinians and agreed to “proximity” talks, the cumbersome process where every back-and-forth runs through U.S. diplomats. That was a “get” for the Obama administration, but it was followed this week by Israel’s announcement of building starts in the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood Pisgat Ze’ev. And that earned a rebuke. “We have relayed our strong concerns to the government of Israel that this kind of activity, particularly as we try to relaunch meaningful negotiations, is counterproductive and undermines trust between the parties,” State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said in a statement March 1. The Obama administration advocates a holistic approach to tamping down Middle East tensions. Its officials want to see Israeli-Arab talks moving forward while rallying international efforts to isolate Iran as long as it fails to make transparent its nuclear plans. The Israelis are happy with any effort to push Iran back from the nuclear brink — but the devil is in the details. The Obama administration is still operating on assumptions that the Iranians are several years away from weaponization, while the Israelis are convinced that it will happen before 2010 is out. The Associated Press and the Jerusalem Post contributed to this report.

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