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PM echoes Livni, extends hand to Palestinians plus comments
(JPost) – Israel is extending its hand once more for peace with the Palestinians, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Tuesday at a press conference while announcing that former foreign minister Tzipi Livni had joined his coalition and will lead the Israeli peace negotiating team.
“I am hoping for a peace deal based on two states for two people, as per the parameters I outlined during my speech at Bar Ilan University,” Netanyahu said at the conference. “Today Israel extends its hand once more for peace. We want a peace process, and we hope that it will yield results.”
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The prime minister also mentioned domestic issues more emblematic of potential coalition partners Yesh Atid and Bayit Yehudi, including equalizing the burden of service and lowering commodity prices. He also spoke of the importance of securing Israel’s borders amid dangers emanating from Iran, Syria and Hezbollah, which he called “unprecedented threats.”
“We must set aside our disagreements and join forces for the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said. “The State of Israel now needs a large national unity government. Today we’re making the first step towards this end.”
Read some of the comments here.
President Obama urged to visit Judea and Samaria
No exact date has been set for the US president’s visit. But with each passing day Obama fever in Israel is rising. Yesterday, the Prime Minister’s Office released an official logo that will be on all documents and signs relating to the trip.
The blue, red and white logo looks like a flag that is half American and half Israeli, with red strips on one side and blue strips and a Jewish star on the other. Underneath it are the words “Unbreakable Alliance.”
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The code name for the visit is Unshakeable Alliance (brit amim). Last week officials involved in organizing the visit translated this as Nations United.
National Security Council head Yaa’cov Amidror, who is coordinating Obama’s visit, told the cabinet that there will be an emphasis during this visit on utilizing social media to get the public involved, as is being done in choosing the logo. A media center will be set up to accommodate the hundreds of journalists expected to cover the visit, and that Israel will try to take advantage of the interest to showcase its high-tech industry.
Obama invited to visit the settlements
From personal letters to Facebook, settlers have reached out to Obama in an effort to sway him to visit Jewish communities in the West Bank during his visit to Israel. Both Ma’aleh Adumim Mayor Benny Kashriel and Efrat Council head Oded Revivi wrote letters to Obama, urging him to see for himself what life is like in their communities, both of which are located near Jerusalem.
“I would like to invite you to visit the city of Ma’aleh Adumim, and to get a first-hand expression of the issue of the neighborhood in area E1,” Kashriel wrote to Obama earlier this month.
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In his letter, which was released to the media, he explained that he understood that the issue of construction in the un-built area of his settlement, known as E1 to the international community and the Mevaseret Adumim neighborhood in Hebrew, had made it all the way to Obama’s desk.
Separately, the Samaria Citizens Committee has created a Facebook page urging Obama to visit its region of the West Bank. To date it has received 1,101 “likes.”
The most popular page on the issue, however, has been the Peace Now page, with 17,795 “likes” with a request that Obama give a speech for peace in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv.
Kerry will travel shortly to Europe and Middle-East
Meanwhile, Kerry’s 11 days of travel will take him to Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates as well as a handful of European destinations.
His stop in Egypt will seek to “encourage greater political consensus and move forward on economic reforms,” according to a statement put out by the State Department. While in the Gulf, Kerry will participate in a ministerial meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council, and in Qatar he will discuss regional concerns including Syria and the peace process.
