Middle East Update - March 10, 2010 - Bibi Disses Biden

Tikkun / BIBI DISSES BIDEN - March 10, 2010 Jerusalem - Yesterday, on the first evening of Vice President Joe Biden’s official visit to Israel, when you’d think there would’ve been a state dinner to honor him, Bibi Netanyahu joined John Hagee in a massive Night to Honor Israel.  Bibi pointedly dissed Biden while celebrating with Christians United for Israel, that country’s intransigence (or its adherence to God’s divine mission, depending on your point of view) and resistance to U.S. efforts to broker a peace agreement with the Palestinians.  This night was full of praise for settlers and the most extreme of Israel  nationalist politics.  It was full of denunciation of peace and Arabs.  It was fully of love for evangelical Christianity and revanchist Judaism, and smearing of Islam. Among Pastor John’s more memorable dinner quotations was one in which he called Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the “Hitler of the Middle East.” Prime Minister's Office / PM Netanyahu’s Address to the Christians United For Israel Jerusalem Summit Jerusalem - "Christian Zionism preceded modern Jewish Zionism, and I think enabled it.  But it received a tremendous impetus several decades ago when leading American clergymen, among them most notably, Pastor John Hagee, a dynamic pastor and leader from Texas, began to say to their congregations and to anyone who listened, it’s time to take a stand with Israel.  It was time to take a stand with the sole democracy in the Middle East.  It was time to take a stand against the lies and the slander and the vilifications.  It was time to defend the Jewish state’s right to defend itself.  Today, Christians by the thousands, by the tens of thousands, by the hundreds of thousands, by the millions, by the tens of millions – today they have heard this call, and they stand with Israel.  I salute you, the people of Israel salute you, the Jewish people salute you." The Atlantic / Israel Humiliates Biden by Andrew Sullivan - 09 MAR 2010 08:26 PM Washington - People seem to think I have been imagining a contemptuous attitude toward the US by the Israeli government, or that my concerns about its "Go Cheney Yourself" policy on the peace process are somehow a function of obsessiveness or something that isn't anti-Semitism but is somehow even "darker". But I am not imagining these things. They are real and they are dangerous. Washington Post / U.S. condemns Israel's plans to build housing in east Jerusalem By Janine Zacharia -  March 10, 2010 JERUSALEM -- After spending most of Tuesday celebrating what he called the "unshakable" bond between the United States and Israel, Vice President Biden ended the day strongly condemning the longtime U.S. ally for approving 1,600 new housing units in disputed east Jerusalem -- an awkwardly timed move that threatened to kill a new push for Mideast peace by the Obama administration. Guardian / Biden condemns Israel over homes plan by Rory McCarthy - March 9, 2010 Jerusalem - Joe Biden, the US vice-president, condemned a plan by Israel to build 1,600 homes on occupied Palestinian land in an East Jerusalem settlement.  The Israeli interior ministry's approval of the plan cast a cloud over a visit to the country by Biden just hours after he pledged strong support for the Israeli government.  In an unusually strong statement issued after he arrived 90 minutes late for a dinner with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden said: "I condemn the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units."  Al-Arabiya / UN, Biden condemn Israeli settlement plans - March 10, 2010 Dubai - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday condemned Israeli plans to build 1,600 more homes on occupied land where Palestinians seek their own state, echoing comments made earlier by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.  "The secretary-general condemns the approval of plans for the building of 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem by the Israeli Ministry of Interior earlier today," U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said in a statement.  Next week, Ban will lead a delegation of the Quartet on an official visit to Gaza where Israel bombed the UN building during Operation Molten Lead. Haaretz / When Israelis degrade Israel by humiliating Joe Biden By Bradley Burston - March 10, 2010 Jerusalem - Why would Israeli officials degrade Israel by humiliating the vice-president of the United States?  What conceivable advantage is there in the Interior Ministry choosing the occasion of a high-profile visit by Joseph R. Biden, Jr., a mission aimed at soothing strained relations between Israel and the Obama administration, to announce the approval of 1,600 new homes for Israelis in East Jerusalem? Reuters / Palestinians complain to Biden about settlement plan - March 9, 2010 Jerusalem - Biden kept Netanyahu and wife Sara waiting for 90 minutes at a dinner they were hosting for him and his spouse Jill on Tuesday, after the project was made public.  "I condemn the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units," Biden said in a statement issued after he finally arrived for the meal. The Daily Star (Lebanon) / Barak: Israel will hold all of Lebanon responsible for any Hizbullah attack By Patrick Galey - March 10, 2010 BEIRUT: Israel will not launch an assault on southern Lebanon but will retaliate indiscriminately should it be provoked, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Tuesday. Guardian / Israeli court to hear civil case over death of Rachel Corrie in Gaza:  Parents of American activist killed by Israeli bulldozer seven years ago take fight for justice to Haifa courtroom by Rory McCarthy - March 10, 2010 Haifa - A court today began hearing a civil suit brought against the Israeli government over the death of Rachel Corrie, the US activist who was killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza seven years ago.  The case, brought before a Haifa court by Corrie's family, challenges the official Israeli version of events in which the military said its troops were not to blame. The family hopes the hearing will be a chance to put on public record the events that led to their daughter's death in March 2003. If the Israeli state is found responsible, the family will press for at least $300,000 (£201,000) in damages. Al-Jazeera / US family seeks Israeli damages - March 10, 2010 Doha - The family of a US student activist killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza has launched a case against the Israeli government.  Rachel Corrie, whose family is seeking $324,000 in damages from the defence ministry, was one of several foreign activists killed in confrontations with Israel in occupied territory in the past decade.  She was nonviolently protesting against Palestinian home demolitions when the army bulldozer crushed her to death. AP News / Israel, Syria announce nuclear energy ambitions:  Rivals Israel, Syria want to develop civilian nuclear energy, raising prospect of inspections by Angela Charlton - March 09, 2010 Mideast rivals Israel and Syria on Tuesday each announced ambitions to develop nuclear energy, with Israel facing the prospect that its plan could bring new international attention to its secretive nuclear activities. AP / Turkey says Syria-Israel talks may restart - March 10, 2010 ANKARA -- Turkey's prime minister said Tuesday that Israel had accepted that his country again mediate talks with Syria but the Israeli prime minister said no decision had been made. Gulf News / Dubai Police chief asks spies to leave the region - March 10, 2010  Dubai: Dubai Police have warned spies operating in the Gulf to leave the region within one week or face consequences.  "Those spies that are currently present in the Gulf must leave the region within one week — if not, then we will cross that bridge when we come to it," Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim told Gulf News.  The statement comes following the January 19 assassination of Hamas commander Mahmoud Al Mabhouh, which Dahi has blamed on Israel. Guardian / Britain to Hamid Karzai: start Afghanistan peace talks now by Julian Borger - March 10, 2010 London - Britain will today urge the Afghan government to put more effort into the pursuit of peace talks amid fears that the war could be prolonged – and more British lives lost – as a result of incompetence and lack of political will in Kabul.  A speech to be delivered in the US by the foreign secretary, David Miliband, will reflect growing anxiety in London that President Hamid Karzai's professed desire for a political solution has not been backed up by any serious planning or concrete proposals. AP News / Egypt to pay for restoration of all synagogues:  Egypt says it is dedicated to restoring all the country's synagogues  by Hadeel Al-Shlachi - March 09, 2010 12:48 EST Cairo - Egypt will shoulder the costs of restoring the country's Jewish houses of worship said the culture minister Tuesday, two days after a historic synagogue in Cairo's ancient Jewish quarter was rededicated in a private ceremony.  Farouk Hosny said in a statement that his ministry views Jewish sites as much a part of Egypt's culture as Muslim mosques or Coptic churches and the restorations would not require any foreign funding.