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If Israel and Iran want to set new rules for the game played on the Syrian front, and if they would rather avoid all-out war, they should look back at the understandings reached between Israel and former Syrian President Hafez al-Assad in Lebanon back in 1976. Both parties could stand to learn from what happened there.After the events of “Black September” in 1970, the PLO was expelled from Jordan, taking up residence in Lebanon. This led to a conflict with the Christian population, which appealed to the Syrian army for help. Long seeing themselves as the patrons of Lebanon, responsible...

The former US Secretary of State also surprised his interlocutor by saying he was seriously considering running for president in 2020. By BEN CASPIT/MAARIV January 24, 2018 08:08 The former US Secretary of State also surprised his interlocutor by saying he was seriously considering running for president in 2020. . . . During the conversation, according to the report, Kerry asked Agha to convey a message to Abbas and ask him to "hold on and be strong." Tell him, he told Agha, "that he should stay strong in his spirit and play for time, that he will not break and...

Former minister Yossi Beilin said Saturday that former Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin was a man with a short temper and a long streak of nastiness when it came to dealing with residents of towns in Judea and Samaria. “It wasn't worthy behavior for a Prime Minister,” said Beilin, a former Labor politician who was identified with the radical-left elements of the party. Beilin, one of the proponents of the Geneva Initiative, which advocated a total Israeli withdrawal from all lands liberated in 1967, said that Rabin “would fight with the settlers for fighting's sake. When you want to remove thousands...

Former minister Yossi Beilin revealed in a column published in the Israel Hayom daily on Sunday that the Egyptian army rigged the results of last year’s presidential elections, in which Islamist Mohammed Morsi was declared the winner. … The source who asked to remain anonymous told Beilin that former president Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, won the race “by a narrow margin. But the army generals—wanting to ensure that law and order would be upheld following the elections—feared that if Morsi was defeated, the Muslim Brotherhood would refuse to recognize the results and would end up conducting themselves...

Israel should not be dismissing de facto recognition by Hamas Following Hamas' election victory, the Quartet presented three conditions that would have to be met before it recognizes the new government: Recognition of Israel, curbing terror, and honoring past agreements. For Israel, this was certainly an important achievement. Even though Hamas boasted a large majority in democratic elections, which the world demanded and supervised, the international community was unwilling to automatically approve of the new government before it accepts the pre-conditions, which are so important for Israel. Today, the Hamas government is finding it difficult to meet residents' exceptions in...

Palestinian security forces in Ramallah on Monday arrested a suspect in the murder of Samir Rantisi, a local journalist and spokesman for former PA Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo. Rantisi, 42, had for years urged Palestinians to endorse non-violent methods in their confrontation with Israel and was strongly opposed to suicide bombings. He was murdered early Monday morning while he was sleeping in his bedroom in the Sateh Marhaba neighborhood. A lone gunman who broke into his apartment in the Shkukani Building shot him twice in the head in front of his wife. The wife managed to identify the suspect,...

Settler leader Adi Mintz sent an apology letter Thursday to US Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer explaining that he regretted calling him a yehudon (little Jewboy) in an interview he gave to the Shas movement newsletter From Day to Day. "I wrote a letter in which I told him that I didn't mean to insult him personally," said Mintz, who is the director-general for the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip. He added that he had not meant to hurt Kurtzer. Mintz told The Jerusalem Post the use of the word yehudon was also unfortunate in that...

Nov. 26, 2003Who backs Beilin? By URI DAN Billionaire George Soros recently announced that he would spend money like water to prevent President George W. Bush's re-election. He explained that he opposes Bush's foreign policy, especially the war against Saddam Hussein. This doesn't surprise me. Soros has also long adopted a pro-Palestinian posture in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Unlike many Jewish millionaires, Soros hasn't learned the lessons of the Holocaust, despite being one of the few survivors of Hungarian Jewry. Bush made a stand against extremist Muslim fanaticism which threatens the free world. Israel is fortunate that Bush created a common...

Oct. 27, 2003 The fine print By EVELYN GORDON Yossi Beilin When the "Geneva Initiative" was first unveiled two weeks ago, it was immediately clear that it constituted a gross violation of democratic norms: A small band of opposition figures, acting without the elected government's knowledge or consent, had negotiated a draft "peace agreement" with an enemy, with the explicit aim of generating international pressure on future governments to endorse the concessions contained therein.The full extent of the damage, however, became evident only last Friday, with publication of the document's full text – because a close reading makes it clear...

Strategic Slyness of the Geneva Accord by Stan Goodenough Oct 27, '03 / 1 Cheshvan 5764 So what's the big deal with the so-called Geneva Accord - the "agreement" concocted by a cabal of Israeli non-officials in cahoots with second-tier Palestinian leaders, and sprung upon the unsuspecting Jewish public just a few days ago? Certainly it has some very dangerous, potentially disastrous elements, chief among them the offering up of Israel's holiest site in exchange for another Palestinian paper promise, this time that they will no longer insist on the "right" of their people to "return" to pre-1967 Israel and...

Why They Don´t Like the Geneva Initiative 11:44 Oct 27, '03 / 1 Cheshvan 5764 Dr. Aaron Lerner of IMRA has studied the Geneva initiative in depth, has interviewed several of its promoters, and has found many points that are likely to prove harmful to Israeli interests. Dr. Aaron Lerner of IMRA ("www.imra.org.il") has studied the Geneva initiative in depth and has interviewed several of its promoters. He spoke with Tzvia Greenfield, for instance, whom he described as "an ultra-orthodox public figure active in support of withdrawal... [who] has been interviewing with the media as part of the promotion campaign...

Oct. 26, 2003 Shalom: France, Belgium giving $7 million to 'Geneva' group By HERB KEINON France and Belgium have pledged $7 million to the developers of the "Geneva Initiative" freelance peace plan drawn up by Israeli and Palestinian former government officials and politicians, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Sunday. Shalom told the weekly Cabinet meeting that the government has registered protests with the two countries for their support of this unofficial, non-government venture. He did not elaborate at the meeting on the nature of the protest. The initiative's developers, led by Yossi Beilin, were in Europe last week seeking support....

Oct. 26, 2003 The people want a plan By NACHMAN SHAI Yosef (Tommy) Lapid, the justice minister, has sharp instincts, possibly going back to the time he was a journalist and later a television commentator in the early days of the television shoutfest Popolitica. As a panelist he always knew how to find the right word, the right reaction. It is very possible that those qualities, and others, are what carried him to the peaks of politics. He became a minister and head of the second-biggest party with 16 seats. Last week, he unexpectedly stood up and admitted: We made...

Oct. 15, 2003 Israel angered by Swiss sponsorship of "Geneva Initiative" By ASSOCIATED PRESS Israel's government is angered by Swiss sponsorship of an unofficial peace plan worked out between former Israeli and Palestinian politicians and veteran peace negotiators, an Israeli Foreign Ministry official said Wednesday. The still-unreleased 50-page document, worked out primarily under the sponsorship of Switzerland, has no official standing, but outlines a solution to generations of conflict and includes a map of a future Palestinian state alongside Israel. On Wednesday, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Jonathan Peled said the government was peeved at the Swiss, who helped fund the...

Oct. 15, 2003 Straw commends "courage" of Geneva Initiative negotiators By DOUGLAS DAVIS LONDON Foreign Secretary Jack Straw Photo: AP British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw yesterday praised the "courage" of Israeli and Palestinian "negotiators" who were involved in the Geneva Initiative. According to some media reports, British officials played a central behind-the-scenes role in drafting the "agreement," which would give Palestinians sovereignty over the Temple Mount while nullifying the Palestinians' right to return. Addressing parliament, Straw did not refer to Britain's involvement, but he said: "I commend the courage of all of those involved, especially Yossi Beilin and Yasser Abed...

Oct. 13, 2003 Ministers steer clear of 'Geneva' deal By GRACE B. MCMILLAN Not a single minister in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's cabinet is expected to support the Geneva Initiative hammered out over the weekend by a team of Israeli leftists and Palestinians in Amman. Former Justice Minister Yossi Beilin, who initiated the plan, had expressed hope of attracting support from Shinui and Likud MKs. The two sides in Amman agreed to bring the deal to their governments for approval. But Shinui leader Yosef (Tommy) Lapid released a statement criticizing the initiative and National Infrastructure Minister Yosef Partitzky, who considers...

Oct. 13, 2003 Riskin: Efrat to outlast Yossi Beilin By GIL HOFFMAN Residents of Efrat are not losing any sleep worrying about the Geneva Initiative, Efrat Chief Rabbi Shlomo Riskin said on Monday. The plan, hammered out by a group of Palestinians and Israeli leftists over the weekend, would leave the 8,000 resident Gush Etzion community outside the borders of the State of Israel as part of a final-status agreement. But Riskin said he does not expect the initiative of former Justice Minister Yossi Beilin and former Palestinian Culture Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo to gain enough legitimacy to threaten Efrat....

Nov. 25, 2002 Beilin, Abed Rabbo come up with draft peace plan By MATTHEW GUTMAN The Palestinians are willing to give up on the right of return in exchange for Israel's symbolic acceptance of its "responsibility" for the refugee problem and a token number of returnees, according to an unofficial draft for a final peace accord, drawn up by former Justice Minister Yossi Beilin and the Palestinian Minister for Information Yasser Abed Rabbo. The unfinished document, leaked just days after Labor Chairman Amram Mitzna indicated his willingness to negotiation with Yasser Arafat, is based along the lines of the Clinton...