Fears that ISIS will Destroy Ancient Artifacts at Palmyra
As the Islamic state (ISIS) routed the Syrian army at the ancient city of Palmyra on Wednesday, fears grew that the Islamist gunmen will destroy the artifacts there as they have done in other places of conquest. Palmyra is a United Nations World Heritage site. Colonnades along the streets, an ancient temple and theatre have stood for more than 2,000 years, but the international community believes they will not last for long under ISIS control. By contrast, modern Palmyra is home to Syrian military installations and sits along a highway that links Damascus to eastern Syria. Antiquities chief Maamoun Abdulkarim told Reuters that while many artifacts have been moved to safety, “The fear is for the museum and the large monuments that cannot be moved.” On Wednesday, a group that monitors the Syrian civil war said that ISIS now controls fully one-half of what was Syrian territory. In Paris on June 2, France will host a high-level international conference to discuss the international threat by ISIS, focusing on Iraq. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said attendees will include US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi; and added that it’s “not impossible” that Syria will also be a topic of discussion.
United Nations, European Union Ratchet-Up Efforts on Israeli-Palestinian Peace Track
The new United Nations envoy to the Middle East has sounded a note more optimistic than the typical comments being expressed about Israel’s new government. Echoing Palestinian insistence that any new peace efforts include specific time markers, Special Middle East Coordinator Nicholai Mladenov told the UN Security Council in New York on Wednesday that he and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon “will be engaging the new government to explore realistic options for a return to meaningful negotiations towards a two-state solution within a reasonable time-frame.” France has said it will take the point in an effort to draft a new Security Council resolution that would, in effect, be a framework for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, but agreed to delay its work until after the Iranian nuclear negotiations are completed. There is growing speculation that the United States, under President Obama, might forego casting its traditional Security Council veto against measures Israel finds threatening.
Netanyahu Overrules Defense Minister on Ban of Palestinians from Certain Buses
Amid a loud and angry reaction to Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon’s announcement of plans to ban Palestinians from riding buses on West Bank routes that service the Jewish Israeli population, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has cancelled the proposal. In announcing a three-month trial of the plan, the defense ministry said in a statement [using Biblical names for the West Bank] that, “Palestinians who work in Israel will…need to return home by the same crossings without taking buses used by (Israeli) residents of Judea and Samaria.” The requirement of leaving and returning through the same check-point could, in many cases, have added considerable travel time. Ya’alon said the plan was inspired by security needs and that it was not an effort to enforce segregation. Israeli President Reuven Rivlin was gratified to hear that the plan was scrapped, saying that statements in support of the separation of Arabs and Jews on buses, “go against the very foundations of the State of Israel, and impact upon our very ability to establish here a Jewish and democratic state. Such statements cause great damage to the State of Israel, and to the settlement movement. It is important we remember that our sovereignty obligates us to prove our ability to live side by side.”
US Military Package for Israel includes Bunker Buster Bombs
A package of military armament for Israel worth almost $1.9 billion, including bunker-buster bombs, has been approved by the US State Department and the Pentagon, clearing the way for approval by Congress. It’s not unusual for a major procurement bill for Israel to be put through when significant arms sales to Arab nations are in the pipeline. At Camp David last week during a meeting with representatives of Arab states, President Obama committed the US to providing new arms packages to the Gulf States. It has been long-standing US policy to assure Israel’s military edge against its regional neighbors. The massive arms bill is also seen as a means of encouraging Israeli leaders to refrain from lobbying against the Iranian nuclear deal. In addition to the bunker-busters, the package includes several thousand air-to-surface Hellfire missiles, delivery of which was suspended by Washington during last summer’s incursion into the Gaza Strip, and precision-guided missiles.