PM Olmert, PA's Abbas Meeting in Jerusalem

(IsraelNN.com) Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the leader of the Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria, Mahmoud Abbas, are to meet Tuesday evening under a haze of contradictory public messages regarding the agenda. While Olmert insisted this week that the status of Jerusalem is not yet on the table, Abbas said it can no longer wait. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni Abbas and other PA officials said that talks on Jerusalem cannot be delayed any longer. said that the substance of the Israel-PA negotiations "should not be disclosed."

The Jerusalem encounter will be the latest in a series of meetings between Olmert and Abbas as promoted by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last year.

In reaction to speculation that the government has already conceded parts of Jerusalem to the PA, Prime Minister Olmert said that the city will not be discussed until the final phase of negotiations. "Jerusalem will be the last issue to be negotiated. It has been discussed and so agreed between me and the president of the Palestinian Authority," Olmert told delegates from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations on Sunday night.

This past week, though, Abbas and other PA officials said that talks on Jerusalem cannot be delayed any longer. "The negotiating process has begun and it involves all of the 'core issues' - the issue of borders, the issue of refugees, and the issue of Jerusalem," Abbas said following a meeting with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner in Ramallah.

Meanwhile, in a letter to Jerusalem City Councilman Nir Barkat, Foreign Minister Livni wrote that the negotiations between the PA and Israel will include all issues of dispute, with no interim agreements scheduled. However, she added, the substance of the Israel-PA negotiations "should not be disclosed." Speaking in the Knesset on Monday, Livni angrily said that she will continue negotiations with the PA despite continuing Kassam rocket attacks. She assured the MKs that she is not "playing Santa Claus or some uncle giving out perks" to the PA.

In his opening remarks at the Jerusalem Conference on Tuesday morning, Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yonah Metzger turned to Foreign Minister Livni and asked that she use her role as "chief negotiator with our enemies" to prevent Jerusalem from being divided. "You come from a family of lovers of Israel who was raised on the values of the completeness of the land," he said. "Jerusalem is above and beyond this conflict."

PA to Offer Ceasefire A senior PA negotiator, Saeb Erekat, complained that the pace of talks was too slow. He also told the press this week that the issue of Jerusalem would not be discussed on Tuesday. Abbas would propose "a mutual and full calm in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank," Erekat told the PA official radio station on Monday. He did not clarify how Abbas, the leader of the Fatah terrorist organization, would guarantee an end to Kassam rocket attacks from Gaza, which is controlled by the rival Hamas terrorist group.

As Fatah leaders Abbas and Erekat are discussing the agenda of peace negotiations, Fatah's al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades terrorist organization has formed a new cell named after Hizbullah mastermind and arch-terrorist Imad Mughinyeh, according to WorldNetDaily. Mughniyeh was killed in a car bombing in Syria last week. Israel has been credited with the elimination of the wanted arch-terrorist, but no confirmation has been forthcoming from Jerusalem.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/125303

Published: 02/19/08, 9:42 AM

Jerusalem Conference Gets Underway Under Blanket of Snow

by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz

(IsraelNN.com) Despite slush-filled roads, the fifth annual Jerusalem Conference began as scheduled Tuesday morning as light snow blanketed the city. The conference hall was filled to capacity.

Chief Rabbi Yonah Metzger and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni are the opening keynote speakers of the two-day conference, which is taking place at the Regency Hotel in northern Jerusalem. Senior government and opposition leaders, distinguished academics from Israel and abroad, leading rabbis, experienced former US and Israeli military commanders, and influential American congressmen will address the forum. Among those taking part are Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu, US Senator Sam Brownback, Natan Sharansky, Minister of Welfare
Chief Rabbi Yonah Metzger and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni are the opening keynote speakers.
Yitzchak Herzog (Labor), Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor), and Princeton University Professor Bernard Lewis.

Hear Senator Brownback in a pre-Conference talk with Chairman Rechnitz by clicking here.

This year’s conference celebrates the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel and the 40th year of a reunited Jerusalem, as well as exploring the existential threats to the country from Iran, Hizbullah, the Palestinian Authority and international jihadist terrorism, such as that of al-Qaeda.

The opening session focused on the past, present and future of Jerusalem. Under the heading “Eternal Undivided Capital City - Definition of the Jewish State & Nation,” participants heard from former Israeli Ambassador Dr. Dore Gold, archaeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar, Professor of Law Eliav Shochetman and Jerusalem City Council Member Nir Barkat.

The other Tuesday session topics are: “Aliyah - Is It Still Vital To Israel?”; “Social-Economic Welfare: Defining the Problem and Traditional Responses”; “Do Israel, the United States and the West Face World War III?”; “Palestinian Media, Education and the View from Israel”; “The Forgotten ‘Other Refugees’ – Jews From Arab Countries”; “Israel’s Growing Role On The World’s Economic Stage”; and “The Winograd Commission: Ethics and Responsibility in Israeli Politics.” Addressing or chairing these sessions are speakers such as Shabtai Shavit, former Director General of the Mossad; Dr. Uzi Landau, former Minister of Public Security; Itamar Marcus, Director of Palestinian Media Watch; Morton Klein, President of the Zionist Organization of America; Rabbi Dr. Eliyahu Zinni of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa; and Judge Tzvi Tal, former Justice of the Israeli Supreme Court.

The conference this year has more of an international flavor than in previous years, with two United States senators addressing the event. Several US generals are also participating in conference sessions, as are senior fellows from various overseas think tanks and institutes.

Click here for a complete schedule of conference events. Beginning at 3 p.m. Tuesday, recorded sessions from the Jerusalem Conference will be posted with English translation on demand here. A live broadcast from the conference is available in Hebrew by clicking on the “play” button of the video screen here.

When the Jerusalem Conference was first established, one of the motivations was the left-wing slant of the Herzliya Conference, which went to the extent of not hosting even one opponent of a Palestinian state in 2004 - the year then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon unveiled his Disengagement Plan during the keynote address. Jerusalem Conference Chairman Robert Rechnitz said, however, that the Jerusalem Conference is not seeking to be a sectarian counter-balance, but to be the new consensus - to return Jerusalem to center stage with a diverse meeting of the minds that befits a discussion on the Jewish future taking place in Israel’s eternal capital.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3508695,00.html

Livni: I think of Temple Mount prayers during negotiations

Foreign minister tells Jerusalem Conference she approaches talks with Palestinians with ‘tears of paratroopers at the Western Wall’ in her mind. ‘Time is not on Israel’s side, and we will eventually have to concede parts of the country,’ she adds

Neta Sela Published: 02.19.08, 13:15 / Israel News

The tears of the paratroopers at the Western Wall and the Temple Mount prayers accompany me in the negotiations room, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Tuesday at the opening session of fifth annual Jerusalem Conference held at the Hyatt Hotel in the capital.

During the session, which was dedicated to the Jerusalem issue, the minister said that “as the person holding negotiations on behalf of Israel, I do not accept the distinction between Right and Left.

“We all have a common denominator, and I do not accept the differentiation between those who seek peace and those who love the Land of Israel. We all love Israel and we all want peace.”

Livni stressed that there may be disagreements throughout the negotiations, but that everyone must remember that the joint goal is a democratic Jewish state and a safe country in the Land of Israel.

“There will no one in the political arena who will not say that this is a decision we must reach eventually, and it is our responsibility to do the right thing,” she said.

The foreign minister went on to explain Israel’s main goals of the negotiations: Two states for two people; not taking part in finding a solution for the Palestinian refugee problem; a Palestinian state which will provide a complete solution to the refugee camps and the Palestinian aspirations.

Livni clarified that a Palestinian state including Gaza “will undergo substantial alteration in the Strip,” and stressed that “Israel’s security is not only an Israeli interest, but an essential step ahead of a Palestinian state.”

Addressing the calls to cease the negotiations in light of recent terror attacks, the foreign minister said, “Halting the negotiations will not stop terror. Terror must be answered with force, and simultaneously we must create a process with the moderate elements.

“It’s true that they are still unable to implement agreements, but I believe that it’s time, otherwise it will be too late. The time passing by is not benefiting us,” she said.

In favor of disengagement

Livni also referred to the disengagement plan and to the evacuation of Gush Katif residents from their homes.

“I voted in favor of the process which removed 7,000 Jews from their homes, and I still believe this should have been done. We are entering the negotiations room in a pragmatic manner. I did not delude myself that an agreement will lead to a solution in Gaza.”

Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, who opened the session, turned to Livni during his speech. “The right over Jerusalem is a proven, historic right. When the Muslims pray in the mosques on the Temple Mount, they pray with their back to the West Wall, with their back to Jerusalem.

“Talking about Jerusalem harms us. If we unite for the sake of our capital, which cannot be discusses, we shall win it,” he said.

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