NOVANEWS

Russia expels Israel’s military attache claiming he helped leak technological secrets to Israeli companiesAFP , Thursday 19 May 2011

Russia expelled Israel’s military attache at its Moscow embassy because he engaged in industrial espionage, an unnamed secret service official told the state RIA Novosti news agency on Thursday.

The source said air force Colonel Vadim Leiderman helped Israeli companies with links to the military illegally obtain sensitive technology from Russia.

“As far as Colonel Leiderman’s detention is concerned, this deals entirely with industrial espionage — or rather, his overly active work on behalf of certain Israeli companies on the Russian market,” the security source said.

The Russian foreign ministry added in a brief statement that Leiderman was “caught red-handed” while trying to receive secret information on May 12.

Russia then sent a protest note to Israel and expelled Leiderman, the ministry statement said.

Israel’s Haaretz daily said the Soviet-born Leiderman’s detention was the first incident of its kind to occur between the two countries in nearly two decades.

The Israel Defence Forces angrily denied the spying allegations.

“Security authorities in Israel completed a thorough investigation and concluded that these (spying) claims were unfounded,” the Israeli defence ministry said.

Israel’s state-run Channel One television said Leiderman was arrested in apparent breach of his diplomatic immunity while sitting at a cafe.

Russia and Israel enjoy close economic ties based on the Jewish state’s vast ex-Soviet diaspora.

But Russia is also a key arms supplier to the Arab world and continues to sell advanced missile systems to Syria that Israel fears make their way to the Shiite Hezbollah movement in neighbouring Lebanon.

NOVANEWS

Prime minister’s associate slam US president’s speech, says ‘he didn’t deliver the goods,’ fails to understand Mideast realities. Israeli PM prepared for confrontation with Obama over vital issues, Netanyahu’s aides say

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s associates expressed their disappointment with Barack Obama’s speech Thursday, with one aide saying that the US president is detached from regional realities.

The PM’s associates told Ynet early Friday that Netanyahu, who departed to the US Thursday night, is prepared for a confrontation withPresident Obama on vital issues.

Referring to the US president’s Mideast policy speech, a Netanyahu associate said: “He (Obama) didn’t deliver the goods…Obama apparently does not understand the reality in the Mideast.”

The PM’s aides added that Obama’s historic speech lacked many key points and that his address was “bad for Israel.” Netanyahu himself issued a quick response to the speech earlier, demanding that the president reaffirm previous US pledges that Israel will not be asked to withdraw to the 1967 borders in the framework of a peace deal with the Palestinians.

In his Washington speech, Obama said that a Jewish, democratic state must be based on the 1967 borders, with territorial tradeoffs. The president voiced his objection to the Palestinian intention to seek UN recognition of statehood in September, but refrained from addressing the contentious issue of Palestinian refugees.

Obama also refrained from harshly slamming the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation agreement, and reminded Netanyahu that the international community was getting tired of a process that has not culminated in a peace deal.

A Netanyahu associate told Ynet that the president apparently “forgot the conditions set forth by the International Quartet, which Obama himself endorsed.”

The aide added that Obama did not meet any demand set forth by the prime minister, referring to Netanyahu’s recent speech where he declared that Israel will not give up settlement blocs and maintain a military presence along the Jordan River.

Obama also did not address in his speech the issue of Palestinian recognition of the Jewish State as a pre-condition for negotiations.

“Netanyahu is willing to offer painful concessions. In his Knesset speech, the prime minister went far,” a Bibi associate said. “He contends with a problematic rightist coalition. We expected Obama to understand this and take these issues into consideration in his speech.”

NOVANEWS

East Jerusalem was captured by the Israeli military in 1967. Though their claim has never been recognized, Israel claims the territory is part of an “eternal, undivided capital.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mocked the notion of withdrawing to the 1967 borders around the same time as the vote.
Netanyahu is expected to arrive in the US some time early Friday, but it will likely be the rebuke and especially the Interior Ministry vote that will set the tone. Interestingly enough the Interior Ministry isn’t even under Netanyahu’s Likud Party’s direct control. Rather it is the far-right Shas Party, one of the coalition partners, which holds this ministry.
Though officials within the ministry have repeatedly denied that settlement announcements are in any way “timed” by external events this is far from the first time that such an announcement has come out at a particularly inopportune time for the prime minister. Last March Israel announced a major settlement expansions to coincide with the visit of Vice President Joe Biden, and announced other expansions in the wake of Netanyahu making claims about the prospect of a peace deal.
Though few US politicians will likely make anything of the announcement publicly, it will severely undercut what was supposed to be the expected goal of the Netanyahu visit, which was to convince the US that despite all evidence to the contrary, Israel is not sabotaging the administration’s failing peace efforts.

NOVANEWS

(Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu headed for talks in Washington on Friday saying that U.S. President Barack Obama’s vision of a Palestinian state on the borders of 1967 could leave Israel “indefensible.”

“The viability of a Palestinian state cannot come at the expense of Israel’s existence,” he said in a statement before flying to the United States for scheduled talks with Obama.

Responding to a major Obama speech on Thursday outlining Middle East strategy, Netanyahu said he expected Washington to let Israel keep major settlement blocs beyond the 1967 lines in the occupied West Bank, under any peace deal with Palestinians.

Israeli officials seemed taken aback by the language in Obama’s speech. Asked if Netnayahu had been forewarned by Washington, one said: “No comment.” But some Israeli reporters accompanying the prime minister predicted a stormy meeting.

Setting out the principles of a Middle East peace accord, Obama reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to Israel’s security.

He called for a deal resulting in two states, Israel and Palestine, sharing the border that existed before Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war.

It would include “mutually agreed land swaps,” he said. In a pointed reply, Netanyahu said he expected “to hear a reaffirmation from President Obama of U.S. commitments made to Israel in 2004″ — an allusion to a letter by then-President George W. Bush suggesting the Jewish state may keep big settlement blocs as part of any peace pact.

“Those commitments relate to Israel not having to withdraw to the 1967 lines,” Netanyahu added. Such a border, Netanyahu said, would be “indefensible.”

ABBAS “APPRECIATES” OBAMA EFFORTS

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed Obama’s efforts to renew the talks with Israel that collapsed last year, and had made plans to convene an “emergency” session of Palestinian and Arab officials to weigh further steps, a senior aide said.

Saeb Erekat, a former chief peace negotiator, said: “Abbas expresses his appreciation of the continuous efforts exerted by President Obama with the objective of resuming the permanent status talks in the hope of reaching a final status agreement.”

Obama’s blunt language about the need to find an end to Israel’s occupation of Arab land looked certain to be the crunch issue in his talks with Netanyahu.

“The dream of a Jewish and democratic state cannot be fulfilled with permanent occupation,” Obama said.

His emphasis on 1967 borders went further than Obama has before in offering principles for resolving the stalemate between Israel and the Palestinians. But he stopped short of presenting a formal U.S. peace plan.

Obama’s criticism of continued Israeli “settlement activity” sent a message to Netanyahu on the eve of their talks that Washington expects the Jewish state to make concessions.

A senior member of Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party, Danny Danon, accused Obama of seeking to destroy Israel by adopting the vision of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

“Netanyahu only has one option: to tell Obama to forget about it,” Danon said, according to Israeli media.

However, Obama’s suggestion that negotiations should focus initially on territory and security, leaving the difficult issues of Jerusalem and the return of Palestinian refugees to a later date, appeared to chime with Netanyahu’s own position.

Likewise, Obama’s firm rejection of Palestinian moves to seek recognition of their statehood at the United Nations delighted Israeli officials. Abbas made no comment.

The Palestinians plan to pursue their statehood quest in September at the annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly.

Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, brokered by Washington, collapsed last year when Netanyahu refused to extend a moratorium on Jewish settlement-building in the West Bank and Abbas refused to carry on negotiations.

In Gaza, the Islamist Palestinian movement Hamas said Obama had no business criticizing the recent reconciliation pact between Hamas and Abbas’s secular Fatah movement, intended to end a damaging four-year split and produce a unity government.

“The peoples of the region are not in need of Obama’s lectures,” spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said. “Obama reaffirmed his absolute support for the policies of the (Israeli) occupation and his rejection of any criticism of the Occupation.”

“We affirm that Palestinian reconciliation is a Palestinian affair and that the (peace) negotiations have proven to be pointless,” he said. “Hamas will never recognize the Israeli occupation under any circumstances.”