Jerusalem – Prime Minister Ehud Olmert held an extended meeting last night with Defense Minister Amir Peretz, Foreign Minister Tzippi Livni, Mossad Director Meir Dagan, GSS Director Yuval Diskin and Director of Military Intelligence Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin. The meeting, according to the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth’s Shimon Shiffer, revolved around Israel’s approach to the future Palestinian government that is expected to be formed on the basis of the Mecca agreement.

Prime Minister Olmert reportedly said, “The agreement on the establishment of a unity government in the PA places the region at a juncture of a strategic decision of enormous significance – no less dramatic than what happened after Hamas’ victory in the PA elections a year ago.” Olmert, moreover, spoke about the existence of a genuine possibility for renewing peace negotiations with the new Palestinian government, provided certain conditions were met. European diplomats with whom Shiffer spoke said they believed that a direct channel of dialogue between Olmert and the Saudi royal family had contributed to the “balanced and non-belligerent Israeli response” to developments in the Palestinian arena.

The prime minister believes there is a chance of renewing peace negotiations if the Hamas-Fatah government forswears terror and recognizes Israel and honors the agreements signed between Israel and the Palestinians. This transpires from remarks the prime minister made in the course of a discussion that he held with security and political establishment leaders after the Mecca agreement.

Olmert said, “The agreement on the establishment of a unity government in the PA places the region at a juncture of a strategic decision of enormous significance – no less dramatic that what happened after Hamas’s victory in the PA elections a year ago.” Olmert hinted that the new unity government would be at the focus of his talks with Abbas and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The three-way summit is expected to be held in Jerusalem in five days.

Olmert will demand of Abu Mazen that he act so that the first step taken by the new government be the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit. However, sources close to the prime minister said last night that there is no chance that Shalit will be released before the three-way summit Monday. The sources said that the talks with the Palestinians on this subject are far from the stage of being “ripe:” While the sides did indeed agree on the number of Palestinian prisoners to be released from Israeli jail, the dispute now is over the identity of those released.

European diplomats believe that a direct channel of dialogue between Olmert and the Saudi royal family is helping, at this time, to formulate the balanced and non-belligerent Israeli response. The Israeli decision to act with restraint toward the agreement signed in Mecca is meant to encourage the moderate Arab states, headed by Saudi Arabia, which are trying to distance the Palestinian government from Iranian influence and to persuade it to recognize Israel and to renew the peace process. The Saudi king, who has worked mainly behind the scenes up until now, took the initiative openly when he gave his sponsorship to the Mecca summit.

Syrian Organization Claims Capture Of Israeli Soldier

Is Israeli Artillery Corps soldier Guy Hever, who has been missing since 1997, being held by the Syrians? Last night the “Popular Committees for the Liberation of the Golan Heights” issued a statement saying it was holding the “Zionist soldier.”

In its announcement, the organizations proposed a prisoner exchange in return for the soldier and tells the Zionists: “Do not think that your millions of dollars will bring you back your missing soldier from the Golan. You know very well how to get him back.”

A Syrian source told Ynet, the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot’s internet site, that the organization is demanding that Israel release nine Syrian prisoners who live on the Golan Heights and who are imprisoned in Israel. Four of them, the source said, have been in jail for over 22 years. Two of them are being held in solitary confinement and the organization warns Israel against hurting them. The news about Syria holding an Israeli soldier was not broadcast on the Arab media last night, except for the announcement by the organization, whose location is unknown.

Immediately after the announcement, the Israeli security establishment began to examine the new information. So far Israel has not had a clue and reliable security sources said the announcement is being examined. They said that caution is necessary because this is not the first time that various organizations announce that they are holding missing soldiers and the announcement this time is vague. “We are not aware of any such information except for the media announcement, but it is being checked with the utmost seriousness.”

©The Bulletin 2007

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David Bedein
David Bedein
David Bedein is an MSW community organizer and an investigative journalist.   In 1987, Bedein established the Israel Resource News Agency at Beit Agron to accompany foreign journalists in their coverage of Israel, to balance the media lobbies established by the PLO and their allies.   Mr. Bedein has reported for news outlets such as CNN Radio, Makor Rishon, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, BBC and The Jerusalem Post, For four years, Mr. Bedein acted as the Middle East correspondent for The Philadelphia Bulletin, writing 1,062 articles until the newspaper ceased operation in 2010. Bedein has covered breaking Middle East negotiations in Oslo, Ottawa, Shepherdstown, The Wye Plantation, Annapolis, Geneva, Nicosia, Washington, D.C., London, Bonn, and Vienna. Bedein has overseen investigative studies of the Palestinian Authority, the Expulsion Process from Gush Katif and Samaria, The Peres Center for Peace, Peace Now, The International Center for Economic Cooperation of Yossi Beilin, the ISM, Adalah, and the New Israel Fund.   Since 2005, Bedein has also served as Director of the Center for Near East Policy Research.   A focus of the center's investigations is The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In that context, Bedein authored Roadblock to Peace: How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict - UNRWA Policies Reconsidered, which caps Bedein's 28 years of investigations of UNRWA. The Center for Near East Policy Research has been instrumental in reaching elected officials, decision makers and journalists, commissioning studies, reports, news stories and films. In 2009, the center began decided to produce short movies, in addition to monographs, to film every aspect of UNRWA education in a clear and cogent fashion.   The center has so far produced seven short documentary pieces n UNRWA which have received international acclaim and recognition, showing how which UNRWA promotes anti-Semitism and incitement to violence in their education'   In sum, Bedein has pioneered The UNRWA Reform Initiative, a strategy which calls for donor nations to insist on reasonable reforms of UNRWA. Bedein and his team of experts provide timely briefings to members to legislative bodies world wide, bringing the results of his investigations to donor nations, while demanding reforms based on transparency, refugee resettlement and the demand that terrorists be removed from the UNRWA schools and UNRWA payroll.   Bedein's work can be found at: www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com and www.cfnepr.com. A new site,unrwa-monitor.com, will be launched very soon.

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