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Showing posts with label middle-east-conflict. Show all posts
Showing posts with label middle-east-conflict. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

The Middle East peace process could become a "casualty" of the calls for change sweeping across the Arab world.

8 February 2011 Last updated at 20:35 ET

Middle East peace process at risk, William Hague says

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William Hague spoke to the BBC's James Robbins who is travelling with the foreign secretary on his tour of North Africa and the Middle East

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The Middle East peace process could become a "casualty" of the calls for change sweeping across the Arab world, the foreign secretary has warned.
William Hague, who is touring the region, said it could "lose further momentum" if international focus shifts to countries like Tunisia and Egypt.
He urged Israel to avoid "belligerent language" and called for "bold leadership" from the United States.
Protests are continuing in Egypt with the aim of ousting the president.
Last month, Tunisia's President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali stood down after weeks of anti-government demonstrations.
His exit sparked a wave of similar uprisings elsewhere, most prominently in Egypt, where protesters were back on the streets in large numbers on Tuesday demanding the immediate resignation of President Hosni Mubarak.
There have also been anti-government demonstrations in Jordan - where King Abdullah dismissed his government - and in Yemen, where President Ali Abdullah Saleh announced he would not stand for re-election in 2013.
'Legitimate fear'
Mr Hague is currently on a three-day tour of north Africa and the Middle East.
In an interview on his way to Jordan, he voiced concerns about the future.

“Start Quote

Time for bold leadership on Middle East Peace Process from the US”
William HagueForeign Secretary, via Twitter
"Amidst the opportunity for countries like Tunisia and Egypt, there is a legitimate fear that the Middle East peace process will lose further momentum and be put to one side, and will be a casualty of uncertainty in the region," he said.
"Part of the fear is that uncertainty and change will complicate the process still further. That means there is a real urgency for the Israelis and the United States."
Mr Hague spoke after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to "reinforce the might of the state of Israel" whatever the outcome of the unrest.
Responding directly to those words, the foreign secretary said: "This should not be a time for belligerent language."
He added that without action now, "within a few years, peace may become impossible".
He re-iterated his feelings in a message on the micro-blogging website Twitter, saying: "Time for bold leadership on Middle East Peace Process from the US & equally bold steps by Israelis and Palestinians".
BBC diplomatic correspondent James Robbins said Mr Hague's blunt language was a reflection of his frustration at Israel's refusal to compromise on settlement building in and around Jerusalem, and the Obama administration's failure to set a clear timetable for negotiations.
While in Tunisia - his first calling point - Mr Hague met senior members of the interim government and offered the UK's assistance to help build democratic institutions.
He also announced the creation of the Arab Partnership Initiative, which will provide £5m of funding to support reform projects across the wider region.
Click to play
William Hague spoke to the BBC's James Robbins who is travelling with the foreign secretary on his tour of North Africa and the Middle East
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12400828?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
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Monday, February 7, 2011

Another Reason For Israeli Anxiety Over Egypt

The Sinai Gas Blast: Another Reason for Israeli Anxiety over Egypt

By KARL VICK / JERUSALEM Monday, Feb. 07, 2011
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Flames are seen after an explosion went off at a gas terminal in el-Arish, in Egypt's northern Sinai Peninsula, on Saturday, Feb. 5, 2011, setting off a massive fire. No injuries were reported, and the blaze was quickly brought under control after the gas flow was shut off
Ashraf Swailem / AP
The explosion that ripped through a natural-gas pipeline in the northern Sinai Desert on Saturday, Feb. 5, did more than cut off the flow of Egyptian fuel to Israel and Jordan. It also deepened Israeli fears about the changes under way in a powerful neighbor rendered at least neutral over the past 30 years by a peace treaty that might not survive the change in government.
The massive fireball, at a monitoring station outside the Egyptian city of el-Arish, could be seen from rooftops in the Gaza Strip, 45 miles (72 km) to the east. Though initial reports blamed a leak, Israeli intelligence judged it sabotage. Local press reports mentioned a detonation device placed inside a terminal.(See pictures of heartbreak in the Middle East.)
Suspects include members of the peninsula's Bedouin tribes, traditional nomads who are unhappy with Egypt's central government and who are alleged to have expressed their discontent by trying to sabotage the pipeline. But the dreaded working assumption places the blame on Islamist militants, rejectionists who control Gaza — and who Israel worries will take power in Cairo if President Hosni Mubarak leaves a vacuum in his wake.
Word that the Muslim Brotherhood joined negotiations over the transition on Sunday, Feb. 6, brought little comfort to the Jewish state. Though by most accounts it enjoys the support of only perhaps a third of Egyptians, the Brotherhood, which preaches both political Islam and nonviolence, was by far the most organized political opposition party under Mubarak's regime. The young people who have led the massive demonstrations across Egypt appear to be organized only in their desire to see change.
"The worst-case scenario is that the Muslim Brotherhood will take over," says former Israeli military chief Shaul Mofaz, now chair of the Knesset committee on foreign affairs and defense. "And they're against a peace process with Israel."(See video of last year's Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty.)
At stake for Israel: the 1979 peace treaty with a country it used to war against regularly, and a government that under Mubarak proved itself an ally against Israel's primary enemies — Iran and its militant clients Hizballah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. Still, in his most extensive remarks on the unrest, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strove to frame the crisis in positive terms.
"It is obvious that an Egypt that fully embraces the 21st century and that adopts these reforms would be a source of great hope for the entire world, the region and for us," Netanyahu told the Knesset. "If we have learned anything from modern history, it is that the stronger the foundations of democracy, the stronger the foundations of peace."
Over the weekend, however, the concern was energy. Egypt supplies Israel with some 40% of its natural gas, which Israel now uses to generate electricity, replacing dirtier coal and diesel. The two countries are barely three years into a 15-year contract for 1.7 billion cubic meters of Egyptian gas a year, provided via an undersea pipeline that branches off the line shattered by the blast. Officials warned that the connection may be closed as long as a week while the pipes cool.(See how anxieties in Egypt and Israel are correlated.)
Meanwhile, Israelis are bracing for hikes in their electrical bills and raising the volume on calls to exploit newly discovered offshore gas fields within Israel's territorial waters. The biggest and newest is called Leviathan; its 16 million cubic meters border — and possibly edge into — territorial waters claimed by Lebanon. Another field, called Tamar, is half the size of Leviathan but deemed closer to producing.(Comment on this story.)
"We have to do everything to improve Israel's energy security," Uzi Landau, the Minister of Infrastructure, told Israel Radio. "It is Israel's obligation to remove every obstacle to developing Tamar as soon as possible."
Officials say the new field could be ready in 2013. Israel's only currently producing field, off the port city of Ashdod, is expected to be exhausted in 2014. Unless, that is, Egypt decides it is willing to cut off both the gas and the money Israel pays for it — more than $2 billion a year, according to published reports. In that event, the Ashdod field would be called upon to make up the difference and could exhaust itself as early as next year.
"There is enough gas in that deposit to last Israel for a year and a half, provided there is also Egyptian gas," a spokesperson for the field's owner told the daily newspaper Ma'ariv. "If there isn't any Egyptian gas, we've got a problem."
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