Egypt reportedly offers Abbas a Palestinian state in the Sinai
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi reportedly offered Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas a Palestinian state in Sinai.
Egypt had been working on the proposal for several weeks and presented it to Abbas in Cairo over the weekend, Army Radio reported Monday. The plan involves transferring 620 square miles to the PA as the territory of a Palestinian state.
The Egyptian initiative proposes expanding the Gaza Strip to five times its current size and settling all of the Palestinian refugees in the new state, which would be demilitarized. The PA would also be granted autonomy in the West Bank’s Palestinian cities in exchange for relinquishing the demand for Israel to return to its pre-1967 borders, according to the Army Radio report.
Sources privy to the details of the proposal said Abbas rejected the proposal despite substantial Egyptian pressure to accept it. The U.S. was involved and green-lighted the initiative, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was also in the loop, but did not brief his cabinet on the matter.
*
Avigdor Lieberman: Don’t negotiate with Abbas before Palestinian elections
(JNS.org) Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Sunday, Sept. 7, that Israel should not engage in diplomatic negotiations with the Palestinian Authority (PA) until there are elections in the West Bank and Gaza, which will clarify who controls those territories.
“[PA President Mahmoud Abbas] is not authorized to sign any agreement with us on behalf of the Palestinians,” Lieberman said. “Without new [Palestinian] elections, we cannot take any far-reaching steps with Abbas. Whoever succeeds him will say, ‘It’s your problem, you signed on ice.’”
Lieberman said Abbas, whose Fatah party is currently part of a unity government with the Hamas terrorist group, has been consistently opposed to reaching a peace agreement with Israel.
“The reality has changed, but for us it is as if nothing has changed since the Oslo Accords,” he said. “The diagnosis was wrong. Our conflict is not with the Palestinians. The conflict is three-dimensional—with the Arab states, the Palestinians, and Israeli Arabs.”
*
Gwyneth Paltrow reportedly converting to Judaism
(Israel Hayom/Exclusive to JNS.org) Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow is “quietly converting to Judaism,” The New York Post reported.
The outlet’s gossip column, Page Six, reported that Paltrow is converting after following kabbalah for years. Many non-Jewish celebrities have adopted or followed the teachings of kabbalah, most notably Madonna.
Paltrow’s late father, Bruce Paltrow, who died in 2002 of cancer, was Jewish. Her mother, Blythe Danner, is Christian. The actress has said she was raised with both religions.
Paltrow was featured in NBC’s “Who Do You Think You Are?”—a show that looks into the ancestry of its participants. Documents uncovered in the program showed Paltrow’s relationship to Rabbi Simcha “Simon” Paltrovich, who immigrated to the U.S. in the 19th century.
The actress has reportedly said she wants to raise her two children, 10-year-old Apple and 8-year-old Moses, in a Jewish environment.
*
Rebuilding Gaza must include demilitarization, Israeli president tells Norwegian FM
(JNS.org) The reconstruction of Gaza “is one of our interests as much as it is [an interest] of all the free world,” Israeli President Reuven Rivlin told Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende during a meeting in Jerusalem on Sunday. Norway and Egypt are gathering funds to rebuild Gaza following this summer’s conflict.
Reconstruction efforts, however, “should go along with the demilitarization of Gaza because otherwise we can see the next round [of violence] in no time,” said Rivlin. Without demilitarization, Hamas will put the international funds it receives for building “into military aims and the ability to attack Israel once again,” he said.
Brende said, “I know that this has been a very difficult summer for Israel. I was here in July and I saw this. It has been tough on Israel and tough on the Palestinian people.”
*
Abbas threatens to dissolve Palestinian unity government
(JNS.org) Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas threatened to dissolve the unity government between his Fatah faction and Hamas.
“Hamas must recognize that the West Bank and Gaza are a single unit, with one legal system and one weapons policy,” Abbas said at a press conference in Cairo over the weekend.
“If Hamas does not accept these conditions, I will announce to the foreign ministers at the Arab League conference that I am concerned about proceeding with this risky process and that I will be suspending the reconciliation deal with Hamas and dissolving the unity government,” he said.
*
Israeli-founded company SuperDerivatives sells for $350 million
(JNS.org) Financial giant Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has agreed to purchase the Israeli-founded SuperDerivatives for an estimated $350 million.
The deal is for cash and is expected to be wrapped up some time in the last quarter of this year. ICE is assessed to be worth some $20 billion.
SuperDerivatives was founded in 2000 by Dr. David (Dudi) Gershon to bring transparency to option pricing, a complex field that uses complicated mathematical formulas and models to arrive at pricing. Its business headquarters are located in New York, and the company also has a research and development center in Tel Aviv.
ICE Chairman and CEO Jeffrey C. Sprecher told The Wall Street Journal that SuperDerivatives “is an innovative developer of valuable derivatives data and technology, and will play a key role in extending our financial market clearing and data capabilities.”
*
J Street co-sponsors event with anti-Israel group at Swarthmore College
(JNS.org) The self-labeled “pro-Israel, pro-peace” lobby J Street states that it opposes the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, but its campus arm has sometimes come under scrutiny for partnering with anti-Israel organizations. In response to the latest such test case, at Swarthmore College in eastern Pennsylvania, J Street is clarifying that it in fact does “not have any problem” with co-sponsoring programs with pro-BDS groups.
The Swarthmore chapter of Students for Peace and Justice in Palestine (SPJP), an offshoot of the well-known anti-Israel group Students for Justice in Palestine, on Sept. 4 co-hosted a discussion on the recent Gaza conflict with J Street U.
“We are co-hosting a discussion with J Street tonight at 7:30 in Kohlberg 116. Everyone is welcome,” Swarthmore SPJP tweeted.
Additionally, J Street U, SPJP, and other campus groups recently held a vigil to honor those who died in the Gaza conflict.
In response to an inquiry about the Swarthmore events, J Street said its co-sponsorship policy does not preclude partnering with pro-BDS groups.
“Our policy in terms of co-sponsorship is pretty consistent. We do not support BDS, but we do not have any problem with co-sponsoring programs with organizations that do,” Jessica Rosenblum, J Street’s director of media and communications, told JNS.org.
*
Shin Bet: at least 10 Israeli Arabs fighting with Islamic State
(JNS.org) Israel’s Shin Bet security service believes that at least 10 Israeli Arabs have joined the Islamic State and are fighting with the terrorist group in Iraq and Syria.
Furthermore, the Shin Bet believes at least 25 individuals with radical views have left Israel to join jihadist groups in Syria since the civil war began there in 2011.
While the number of Israeli Arabs fighting for Islamic State remains low, the Shin Bet is concerned about rising Israeli Arab interest in the terror group. The Shin Bet, Mossad, and the IDF have all stepped up intelligence-gathering efforts on Israeli Arabs who join Syrian rebel groups.
*)
U.K. anti-Semitic incidents hit record level during Gaza war, watchdog says
(JNS.org) Anti-Semitic incidents in the United Kingdom reached record levels in July during the war in Gaza, according to the British watchdog group Community Security Trust (CST).
“The 302 anti-Semitic incidents recorded in July 2014 is the highest ever monthly total recorded,” CST said. “The previous record high of 289 incidents in January 2009 coincided with a previous period of conflict between Israel and Hamas.”
CST said at least 150 anti-Semitic incidents took place in August, the third-highest monthly total ever.
Fifty-one percent of reported anti-Semitic incidents were directly tied to the Gaza conflict. Among reports accompanied by a description of the offender, 51 percent of offenders were described as “south Asian,” 30 percent were white, and 14 percent had an Arab or north African appearance. The latest U.K. census said that Muslims make up 4.4 percent of the country’s population.
*
Articles from JNS.org appear on San Diego Jewish World through the generosity of Dr. Bob and Mao Shillman