Backlash Muslim Brothers and Kerry’s Role in Peace Talks

9 Comments

1. 

   Oui on July 30, 2013 at 3:27 am

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   In a new article by Prof. Juan Cole, he too puts great doubt in the intentions of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

   Egyptian Backlash against Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi’s Call for foreign Intervention in Egypt

   (Informed Comment) – In a letter to a number of international bodies, Qaradawi called for the Arab League, the UN, and the African Union, among others, to “take a stance” toward the deposing of Morsi and “to come to Egypt and see what is happening” there. He also said, “I call on Muslim throughout the world in every place, in Indonesia, Malysia, Nigeria . . . India, Somalia, Iraq, Iran . . . and in every country of the world, I call upon them to be shuhada’ [witnesses or martyrs].” Many observers interpreted this last statement as a call for volunteers to go fight in Egypt as jihadis seeking martyrdom.

   Egyptians and many others are certainly taking the letter as a call to vigilanteism against Egypt, and they are furious.  Muhammad Fathi writing in the Youth edition of al-Ahram, Egypt’s newspaper of record, slammed Qaradawi for being more loyal to the Muslim Brotherhood than to Egypt, for urging foreign interference in his own country, and for giving fatwas or legal opinions widely viewed as outside the mainstream and idiosyncratic. (Qaradawi has a huge following because of his television show, by Sheikh al-Tayyib has an institutional position that dwarfs that of Qaradawi.

   Middle East Online rounded up a number of reactions from Egyptians:

   Tareq al-Khouly, a founder of the left-liberal April 6 youth movement, criticized Qaradawi’s statements as “an open call for civil war” and worried that they “invite other nationalities from among the jihadis to make war in Egypt, as is happening in Syria, to cause massacres in the country.”

   May Wahba, a young woman who is a founding member of the Rebellion Tamarrud Movement that went to the streets in the millions to depose Morsi said, “God will hold Qaradawi to account for his calls for foreign intervention in Egyptian affairs.”

   Qaradawi condemned the rector of al-Azhar Seminary, Sheikh Ahmad al-Tayyib, for having supported the revolution/ coup against Morsi. Al-Tayyib is the highest-ranking institutional leader of Sunni Islam.

   I had written in my diary about the close friendship of the Emir of Qatar to Shaikh Yousuf Al Qaradawi – The MB Axis Egypt – Turkey – Qatar Faces Defeat

   Cross-posted from my diary – Classic Agitator: Preacher Safwat Hegazy Inciting Violence In Cairo.

2. 

   Oui on July 30, 2013 at 3:47 am

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   One of the major failures by the Obama team to appoint this man as the US envoy to the Middle East. He was Bill Clinton’s advisor and became policy maker under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

   The Fuel for the Flames by Dennis Ross of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy

   JERUSALEM (New York Daily News) – As I sit here in Jerusalem and watch not just a war of words but also exchanges of rockets and air strikes between Israel and Hamas, it feels as if we are at one of those hinge points in the Middle East. The Arab Awakening has initiated changes without transformation. It has produced new governments, principally Islamist-led, but no certainty about how the region will ultimately evolve.

   Will these new governments be driven by their ideological beliefs and aspirations that are inherently anti-western and anti-Israel? Or will they rationalize that long-term Islamist aims can and must wait in order for them to act in a way that will be necessary to improve their economies, lest they lose the legitimacy they may currently have with their publics — publics that now have an expectation that their needs and hopes should count for something?

   Nowhere are these questions more likely to be put to the test than in Egypt today, particularly with the events in Gaza. Hamas is quite literally an outgrowth of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. They are not just sister parties, they are organically linked.

   Emotionally, ideologically and even politically, given the mood on the Egyptian street as pictures of Palestinian casualties in Gaza provoke anger, President Mohamed Morsi instinctively supports Hamas.

   And, so, without any recognition that Israeli civilians are targeted by Hamas rockets from a territory Israel left completely in 2005, Morsi has condemned the Israeli “aggression” in Gaza and recalled Egypt’s ambassador to Israel. He has sent his Prime Minister, Hesham Kandil, to Gaza to express solidarity and strong support.

   But he may well have conveyed something else in private, namely: Find a way to bring this to an end; we are not going to war with Israel over you, and if you provoke the Israelis with continuing rocket attacks on Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, you are on your own.

   Article in The Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) is a Washington-DC-based think tank and part of the so-called pro-Israel Lobby; WINEP was founded in 1985. WINEP was founded by AIPAC, and initially WINEP staff and offices overlapped; WINEP’s founding director was Martin Indyk, AIPAC’s former research director. While AIPAC sought to influence the US Congress directly, WINEP is seen as a means to influence US foreign policy, discussion of foreign policy in the media, to serve as a conduit to place its own personnel in key policy-making position, and to recruit important policymakers to its cause.

   Biography: Ambassador Dennis Ross, the Institute’s Ziegler Distinguished fellow and counselor from 2001-2009, rejoined the Institute as counselor in December 2011 after serving two years as special assistant to President Obama as well as National Security Council senior director for the Central Region, and a year as special advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, focusing on Iran.

   For more than twelve years, Ambassador Ross played a leading role in shaping U.S. involvement in the Middle East peace process and dealing directly with the parties in negotiations. A highly skilled diplomat, Ambassador Ross was U.S. point man on the peace process in both the George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations. He was instrumental in assisting Israelis and Palestinians to reach the 1995 Interim Agreement; he also successfully brokered the 1997 Hebron Accord, facilitated the 1994 Israel-Jordan peace treaty, and intensively worked to bring Israel and Syria together.

   • Dennis Ross Back in Town – 2011
   • Netanyahu video: A Palestinian state? ‘Not today, not tomorrow, not ever’ – 2010
   • Dennis Ross Moves to NSC ¶ A Hawk Within? – 2009
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     Salunga on July 30, 2013 at 7:19 pm

     Will these new governments be driven by their ideological beliefs and aspirations that are inherently anti-western and anti-Israel?

        Israel has about ten minutes to start acting human in regards to the Palestinians. Egypt’s military saved their asses. I have no doubt Netenyahu went around the U.S. and went directly to Al Sisi before the coup. The first thing Egypt’s military did was block the tunnels. Israel has more to fear from the Muslim brotherhood then anyone on this side of the Atlantic.

3. 

   Oui on July 30, 2013 at 3:50 am

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   Abu Al-‘Ela Abd Rabbo assassin of Faraq Foda in 1992

   (MEMRI/Wikipedia) – One of the participants in Faraq Foda‘s murder, Abu Al-‘Ela Abdrabu, was released from prison in 2012 under Mohamed Morsi’s government. Abdrabu has shown no regret, claiming that he acted under the name of executing sharia law. Abdrabu also declared that he wouldn’t apologize to Foda’s daughter, allegedly to avoid her getting “hurt” by knowing that her father was a “kafir” (infidel).

   Morsi gives Egypt governorships to Islamist allies

   (BBC News) – Adel al-Khayat is a member of the political wing of al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya, which claimed responsibility for the 1997 Luxor massacre in which around 60 tourists were killed. The group subsequently renounced violence. An office of the Brotherhood’s political party in Al-Daqahliyah, north of Cairo, has reportedly been set on fire in protest against the appointments.

4. 

   Oui on July 30, 2013 at 4:06 am

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    « (Photo REUTERS/Yuri Gripas)
Israeli, Palestinian delegations meet in Washington for iftar dinner, July 29, 2013.  

5. 

   Oui on July 30, 2013 at 7:26 am

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   Saudi Appointment Suggests Bigger Regional Ambitions – archived WSJ article

   RIYADH (WSJ)–Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah appointed a veteran former Saudi ambassador to Washington as the head of the country’s intelligence agencies, restoring an internationally popular Saudi to prominence as the kingdom pushes for stronger action on Syria.

   Prince Bandar bin Sultan, who was popular with Western leaders as Saudi envoy to the U.S. from 1983 to 2005, succeeds Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz al Saud.

   Prince Muqrin has been criticized privately by diplomats, and publicly by Saudis on Twitter, for perceived ineffectiveness as the head of Saudi intelligence. Prince Muqrin will serve instead as an adviser to the king, the official Saudi Press Agency said, in announcing the change.

   For Saudis and Westerners who remember Prince Bandar as a driving force rallying international support and procuring weapons for Muslim fighters seeking to push Soviet forces from Afghanistan in the 1980s, the appointment was a sign that the Saudis might play a more influential role as uprisings that may remake the Arab world, especially in Syria.

   “In these very hectic moments for Saudi foreign policy…we need Bandar bin Sultan,” said Abdullah al-Shammri, a political analyst. “He’s a volcano, and we need a volcano at this moment.”

   Mr. al-Shammri cited what he called Prince Bandar’s “special relationship” with American officials. He also mentioned parallels between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia working together in the 1980s against the Soviets in Afghanistan, and current circumstances in Syria, where the U.S., Saudi Arabia and others are trying to overcome Russian objections to tougher action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

   The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was also responsible for the good relations Prince Bandar enjoys with China, noted Michael Stephens, an analyst at the Royal United Services Institute in Qatar.

   “If they’re looking to increase multilateral engagement on the Syrian issue, he’s their man,” Mr. Stephens said of the Saudis and Prince Bandar.

   BAE and the Saudis: How secret cash payments oiled £43bn arms deal named al-Yamamah

   • US Elite Military Taking Mercenary Jobs In Abu Dhabi UAE with Gen. McChrystal in the footsteps of Blackwater founder Erik Prince.

     Re-posted from my diary – Leading Fighters in Syria are Al-Qaeda Linked Al-Nusra Front
     Wed Jan 9th, 2013 at 01:55:07 AM PDT

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     Oui on July 30, 2013 at 7:28 am

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     King’s Ransom, How vulnerable are the Saudi royals? by Seymour M. Hersh October 22, 2001

     (The New Yorker) – Annals of National Security about the corrupt state of the Saudi royal family… National Security Agency intercepts have demonstrated to analysts that by 1996 Saudi money was supporting Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda and other extremist groups in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Yemen, and Central Asia, and throughout the Persian Gulf region. “Ninety-six is the key year,” one American intelligence official told me. “Bin Laden hooked up to all the bad guys-it’s like the Grand Alliance-and had a capability for conducting large-scale operations.” The Saudi regime, he said, had “gone to the dark side.”…

     Tells about the decrepit state of King Fahd following a stroke… Fahd’s nominal successor is Crown Prince Abdullah, his half brother, who is to some extent the de-facto ruler-he and Prince Sultan, the defense minister, were the people Defense Sec. Donald Rumsfeld came to see shortly before the beginning of the air war in Afghanistan… The American intelligence officials have been particularly angered by the refusal of the Saudis to help the F.B.I. and the C.I.A. run “traces”-that is, name checks and other background information-on the nineteen men, more than half of them believed to be from Saudi Arabia, who took part in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon… The N.S.A. intercepts reveal the hypocrisy of many in the Saudi royal family, and why the family has become increasingly estranged from the vast majority of its subjects.

     …
     The American military response has triggered alarm in the international oil community and among intelligence officials who have been briefed on a still secret C.I.A. study, put together in the mid-eighties, of the vulnerability of the Saudi fields to terrorist attack. The concerns, both in America and in Saudi Arabia, about the security of the fields have become more urgent than ever since September 11th. A former high-level intelligence official depicted the Saudi rulers as nervously “sitting on a keg of dynamite”-that is, the oil reserves. “They’re petrified that somebody’s going to light the fuse.” One U.S. government Saudi expert complained last week that religious leaders had been allowed to take control of the press and the educational system. “Today, two-thirds of the Saudi Ph.D.s are in Islamic studies,” a former Presidential aide told me. There was little attempt over the years by American diplomats or the White House to moderate the increasingly harsh rhetoric about the U.S. “The United States was caught up in private agreements”-with the Saudi princes-“while this shit was spewing in the Saudi press,” the former aide said. “That was a huge mistake.”

6. 

   Oui on July 30, 2013 at 9:20 am

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   Bibi: Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Richard Silverstein

   (Tikun Olam) – This statement shows the extraordinary, even bizarre rubberiness of these talks, which were restarted today in Washington under the tutelage of John Kerry and his pro-Israel sidekick, Martin Indyk.  The Palestinians have conceded on two of their three major conditions for entering negotiations (67 borders and settlement freeze).  Bibi in turn has conceded on one of his conditions: despite his constant denials that he would do so, he has agreed to a prisoner deal before negotiations started and included Israeli Palestinian and East Jerusalem residents among those to be freed.  The question is whether the Palestinians, having folded once on these two conditions, will also fold during negotiations when they find Bibi adamant in rejecting any flexibility.  My guess is that they will (as they did in the earlier negotiation with Ehud Olmert, as shown by the Palestine Papers expose), though the deal will be camouflaged to look as if Abbas has made some sort of achievement.

   The Maariv reporter says that when Abbas was faced with the choice between his demand for 67 borders or a prisoner release, he chose the tangible achievement (Palestinians seeing their prisoners physically return home to their loved ones) over the intangible (the return of territory that hasn’t been considered Palestinian-or Jordanian for that matter-since 1967).

   Martin Indyk arrives, saluting Kerry’s ‘noble endeavor to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace’

   • Minister Uzi Landau warns PM not to concede ahead of talks
   • Fearing criticism, Netanyahu angers Likudniks by skipping convention
   • MK Orit Struk: Why Did the Government Lie About Releasing Terrorists?
7. 

   Oui on July 30, 2013 at 12:44 pm

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   All three parties gave a strong message of perseverance and a spark of hope, thanking President Obama and Minister-President Netanyahu for their courageous decisions to make these peace talks possible. Next meeting will be in the Middle-East and expected time to finish negotiations is nine months. A common time frame for creation!

   U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says Israel and Palestinians agree to remain in substantive negotiations

   (Haaretz) 19 min. ago – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry convened a press conference Tuesday following the start of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in Washington. The sides will hold their next round of peace talks within the next two weeks in Israel or the Palestinian territories, he said.

   Kerry praised the sides for their engagement, adding that “both Netanyahu and Abbas have both demonstrated courageous leadership.”

   Kerry said that “the parties have agreed that all of the final status issues, core issues and other issues are on the table for negotiations.” He added that the objective is to reach a final status agreement within nine months.

   During the press conference, chief Israeli negotiator Tzipi Livni said Kerry has shown that nothing can stop a “true believer.” Livni said that despite the hope, Israel cannot afford to be naïve and promised “to do everything for the security of Israel.”

   “It is not going to be easy. It will be hard with ups and downs. We are not going to argue about the past but talk about the future,” she said. “There is a new opportunity, and we can’t afford to waste it.”

   Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat spoke briefly at the press conference saying “Palestinians have suffered enough and no one will benefit more from this process than the Palestinians.”

   Livni: Keeping talks secret essential to creating mutual trust. Watch for new videos at State.gov.

   Obama meets Israeli, Palestinian negotiators

   (JPost) – US President Barack Obama met privately with lead Israeli and Palestinian negotiators the day after they restarted long-stalled peace negotiations in Washington, a White House official said.

   The meeting at the White House came after Israeli and Palestinian negotiators held their first peace talks in nearly three years on Monday in a US-brokered effort that US Secretary of State John Kerry hopes will end their conflict despite deep divisions.

   In an interview with Israel Radio on Tuesday morning, Livni said she believes that Israel does not have the option of conceding defeat on a permanent peace agreement with the Palestinians, and that such an agreement is in fact possible. She expressed a hopeful note at the outset of the latest round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. There was, she said, a positive atmosphere at the US State Department dinner on Monday night that served as the official start of the negotiations, three years after the last talks ended in failure.

   Livni refused to elaborate further on the content of Monday night’s meeting, saying that there has been a decision to keep what is said behind closed doors.

   “This is part and parcel of creating mutual trust between [us and the Palestinians],” she said.