New Israeli Government Likely to Take 2 More Weeks
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who was re-elected a month ago and is due to submit his coalition government by Tuesday, is expected to request a two week extension from President Reuven Rivlin. Netanyahu is expected to take one of two directions: to create either a narrow, right-wing government including the ultra-Orthodox parties; or a unity government that includes political foe Isaac Herzog, who heads the Labor Party and opposition. Despite growing speculation that the unity option is Netanyahu’s preferred choice, Herzog said on Saturday that his bloc is headed to opposition. Herzog denied rumors that he has met secretly with Netanyahu.
Palestinian Authority Agrees to Accept Israeli Transfer of Tax Funds
The Palestinian Authority has agreed to accept the transfer from Israel of about $470 million that the Israelis first held up in retaliation for the PA initiating action at the International Criminal Court and then rejected by PA President Mahmoud Abbas when monies owed to Israeli utilities were deducted from the amount due. Following negotiations between the Israeli military and the PA, the Palestinians accepted the amount that included the payment of debts and agreed to the establishment of a joint committee with the Israelis to deal with the issue of debts owed. The Palestinian Authority receives most of its electricity from an Israeli provider and owes Israeli hospitals large sums for treatment of Palestinian patients. Under terms of the 1993 Oslo Accords, Israel is obligated to collect taxes and tariffs on behalf of the PA and transfer the money, some $140 million monthly, to the PA. The Israeli government frequently uses the withholding of that money as a means of punishing the PA when it does something that irks the Israelis. The withholding of funds since last December created a cash-flow crisis that resulted in the PA making only partial payments to its employees which triggered job actions.
Israeli Court Upholds Absentee Ownership Law but Cautions How it’s Used
Israel’s Supreme Court said in a ruling handed down on Thursday that the “Absentee Ownership Law” that allows the government to strip residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip of their ownership of property in east Jerusalem is legal, but cautioned to apply it only in the “rarest of rare” cases. Legal title to property owned by those declared to be “absentee” reverts to the government’s Custodian of Absentee Property and as such can be rented, normally to Jewish tenants. A number of Palestinians who lost title through the law brought the suit. The ruling was blasted by Palestinian officials who called the law a mechanism for the confiscation of Palestinian land. One judge writing for the majority noted that the law could be applied to Jewish residents of illegal communities in the West Bank who owned land in Israel. The president of the court admonished that while the law is legal, she doubts it could be applied practically – a caveat lost on the Palestinian plaintiffs. The law was enacted in 1950 following the creation of the state of Israel and the departure of tens of thousands of Arabs who had lived in areas that became the state. The court and a plaintiff’s attorney quoted by the newspaper Haaretz seemed to agree the problem was that the law was created at a different time for a different purpose.
Iran Exposes another Misstatement of US View of Nuclear Deal
A senior Iranian military official has debunked a second key US interpretation of the framework agreement on Iran’s nuclear program. On Sunday, General Hossein Salami, deputy chief of the Revolutionary Guard, told state-run television that no inspections of military sites would be allowed under any agreement accepted by Iran. Salami’s statement comes in stark contrast to the fact sheet issued by the US State Department that says access for inspectors from the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency would be granted to any “suspicious sites.” Previously, Iran’s Supreme Ruler, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and President Hassan Rohani both denied President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry’s insistence that sanctions will be removed gradually on a merit basis. The Iranian leaders declared there would be no agreement unless all sanctions ended with its signing. On Sunday, Iraqi President Ashraf Ghani began his first visit to Iran since taking office. His trip comes one day after responsibility for a mass suicide bombing in Jalalabad that left 33 people dead and wounded more than 100 was taken by the Islamic State, one of the most lethal of Iran’s terror proxies.