News brief: U.S. official: Israel must refrain from E. Jerusalem construction during freeze

U.S. official: Israel must refrain from E. Jerusalem construction during freeze

Regarding the package of U.S. incentives likely to be offered Israel in exchange for a 90 day settlement moratorium, a U.S. official has said Secretary of State Clinton will request that East Jerusalem is not exempted from the deal. “If the moratorium deal goes through”, the official said, “we will continue to press for quiet throughout East Jerusalem during the 90 days, regardless of what Bibi [Netanyahu] is telling Shas now.” The ultra-Orthodox Shas party has indicated previously that it would abstain from a cabinet vote on the moratorium so long as it excluded East Jerusalem from consideration. Yet the American official was clear about the Obama administration’s view on “actions that would seriously undermine trust”, such as East Jerusalem building. He added that such a view “will continue if the negotiations resume under a 90-day moratorium and the Israelis know it. So whatever Bibi is telling Shas to reassure them about U.S. policy on East Jerusalem is not true.”

• The Hajj pilgrimage draws to a close
• IDF officer suspected of covering up Gaza killing
• Dissident Egyptian blogger freed after 4 years in prison
• Iraqi President Talabani refuses to sign execution order for Tariq Aziz
• Al-Qaeda-linked group records first Hebrew message aimed directly at Israel

DAILY SNAPSHOT

Lightning strikes over Mina, near the holy city of Mecca, on November 17, 2010 as more than 2.5 million Muslim pilgrims launched into the final rituals of the hajj ahead of their massive exodus from Mecca, Islam’s holiest city (MUSTAFA OZER/AFP/Getty Images).

Arguments & Analysis

‘Saving Yemen: Is counterterrorism enough?’ (Marisa L. Porges, Foreign Affairs)
Yemen is now one of the lead cases in U.S. counterterrorism efforts. But in order to effectively combat al-Qaeda without seeing the country disintegrate, much will have to be done on the development and political reform track. Some things to keep in mind as the U.S. crafts its policy: “Yemen is the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest state and more closely resembles many sub-Saharan countries than any of its Gulf neighbors. The country faces recurring food security issues, and Sana’a is projected to be the first capital city in the world to run out of water by 2025. Of Yemen’s nearly 24 million citizens, 43 percent live on two dollars a day, while approximately 40 percent are unemployed. Half of adult Yemenis are uneducated. This precarious situation is further exacerbated by the fact that Yemen’s population is expected to double in the next 15 years. This swelling demographic of young, unemployed Yemenis represents a significant.”

‘Iraq’s lost generation’ (Nir Rosen, Boston Review of Books)
On a recent dispatch to Iraq, the author contends with the realities of 7 years of war, and what the violence means for ordinary Iraqis. To wit: “Like many Iraqis, Mu’min and his family fled to Syria in 2006 at the height of the violence. When they returned to Amriya after a few months, al Qaeda men were occupying their house. The family went to live with an uncle nearby. At the time, former anti-occupation fighters, in cooperation with the Americans, were establishing an Awakening group in Amriya to fight al Qaeda. Over the mosque loud speakers, they urged anybody who wanted their home back to join their group. Mu’min and his father both joined. Mu’min was trained and stood guard in the neighborhood every day with an AK-47. Five months later, in 2007, the family got their house back. They found Shiite corpses inside and buried them. Mu’min dropped out of school. I can’t go back to school after what happened to me, he explained. Now he does odd jobs and hangs out at the café every night, just one of another lost Iraqi generation.”

‘Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan: dynamic variables’ (David Gardner, U.S./Middle East Project)
In a brief for the U.S./Middle East Project, the FT’s international affairs editor discusses some of the regional dynamics in the Middle East and how Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Turkey et al. are not as isolated as many policymakers pretend. An example of how Turkey spans many of the issues of the region: “A recent spate of commentary describing the foreign policy of Erdogan and his peripatetic foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, as anti-Western, anti-Israeli, neo-Ottoman-even a challenge to rival the threat from Iran-misses an important part of the point, it seems to me. By emerging as a popular champion of Palestinian rights, Turkey has ended Iran’s ability to make the running in the region. Tayyip Erdogan now eclipses Hassan Nasrallah of Hizbollah, Tehran’s most potent ally, in the fickle affections of the Arab street. That is something to work with.”