position:envoy

U.S. Will Lose Syria to Iran and Abandon Kurdish Allies, Former Ambassador Says
▻http://www.newsweek.com/us-military-kurds-lose-iran-syria-former-ambassador-627395

Robert Ford, who served as envoy to Syria under former President Barack Obama from 2011 through 2014, said during an interview Monday with the London-based Arabic-language newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat that “Obama did not leave the Trump administration many options to achieve its goal” of defeating the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) and curbing Iran’s foothold in the region. While Iran and Russia back Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against various insurgents and jihadists trying to topple him, the U.S. supports an irregular coalition, the Syrian Democratic Forces, made up mostly of Kurds, but including other ethnic minorities and Arabs. Despite the group’s recent successes in storming ISIS’s de facto capital of Raqqa, Ford said “the game was finished” for U.S. plans to overthrow Assad or compete with Iran’s success in the country.

(...) The Syrian Democratic Forces were mostly neutral in the battle between pro- and anti-Syrian government forces, but tensions have risen between the U.S. and pro-Syrian government forces that now share extensive front lines since ISIS’s collapse on multiple fronts. Recent clashes between the Syrian army and the Syrian Democratic Forces were followed by the U.S.’s unprecedented decision to shoot down a Syrian military jet it claimed was operating too close to positions held by the Syrian Democratic Forces. Siding with the U.S,, however, will turn out to be a grave mistake for the Kurds, according to Ford. He said U.S. support for Kurds would disappear, as it did in post-invasion Iraq, after ISIS was defeated in Raqqa and in other areas.

“[The U.S.] will not defend the Kurds against Assad’s forces,” the former envoy said. “What we’re doing with the Kurds is not only politically stupid, but immoral.”

“Syrian Kurds are making their biggest mistake in trusting the Americans,” he added.

De fait, on peut imaginer que ce seront les Kurdes qui finiront par payer la note en #syrie, même si c’est immoral comme le dit un ex-ambassadeur qui s’y connaît dans ce domaine...

Israel, Saudi Arabia are reportedly negotiating economic ties
Ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, two of Iran’s staunchest enemies, would start small, The Times reports

Haaretz Jun 17,
read more: ▻http://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/1.796215

Saudi Arabia and Israel are negotiating the establishment of economic ties, The Times reported on Saturday. 
The British daily quoted Arab and American sources as saying that the first steps toward ties between two of Iran’s staunchest enemies would start small, including allowing Israeli businesses to operate in the Gulf and letting Israel’s El Al airline fly over Saudi airspace.
>> Get all updates on Israel, Trump and the Palestinians: Download our free App, and Subscribe >>
But it also cited sources close to Saudi Arabia as saying that improved relations between the two countries are nothing more than wishful thinking on the part of the White House in the wake of President Trump’s promise to reach the “ultimate” peace deal in the Middle East.
The report said the prospect has caused discord in the Trump administration. Jared Kushner, Trump’s adviser and son-in-law, has grown close to Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi deputy crown prince, and the two have reportedly discussed improved ties with Israel as a step toward Israeli-Palestinian peace. In contrast, Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Jason Greenblatt, is favoring a more traditional approach to the peace process. 
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According to the report, the Palestinians are opposed to the idea, fearing it would normalize ties between Arab states and Israel without ensuring the establishment of a Palestinian state.

U.S. mulls formulating a principles paper on core issues of Israeli-Palestinian conflict - Israel News - Haaretz.com
▻http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.793023

The Trump administration is considering drawing up a set of principles for resolving the core issues, which would be the basis for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations on ending the conflict, Israeli, Palestinian and American officials say.
The White House has not yet decided on the outline of principles with which the administration will attempt to advance the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The possibility of drafting a “Principles Paper” is the subject of internal debates among various administration officials dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
Last Thursday, two days after the end of U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to the region, his envoy Jason Greenblatt came to Jerusalem and Ramallah, meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. An Israeli source familiar with these talks said the envoy and the two leaders discussed some ideas the administration is considering with regard to the plan to resume negotiations. The source stated that Greenblatt wanted to hear from them what plan they would like to see for resuming negotiations and how they wish to see the process conducted, as well as what they would like to see as its outcome.
A few days after this meeting, Netanyahu, in a meeting with Knesset members, provided a peek at some options being considered by the White House, hinting that one possibility is the outline of principles. “The current administration fervently wishes to put something on the table,” said Netanyahu in a closed meeting with Likud MKs last Monday. “We have positions that are important for us, but that doesn’t mean that these are acceptable to them,” he said.
Netanyahu and his senior advisers are preparing for the possibility that the Trump administration would want to draw up a Principles Paper as a first step in restarting negotiations, or will present the two sides with such a document as an American proposal that would serve as the basis for resuming talks on a final settlement. “We estimate that they will bring a plan but we don’t know what it will be,” said an Israeli official.

What’s keeping Syria’s Palestinian refugees from returning to camps?
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/05/syria-palestinian-refugee-camps-return-clashes.html

Khaled Abdul-Majid, secretary of the Palestinian Revolution Factions Alliance in Syria, told Al-Monitor no one has returned yet because militants remaining in southern Damascus and nearby areas could infiltrate the camp again.

Abdul-Majid said negotiations are underway to remedy the situation. Meanwhile, the residents remain in the nearby town of Sahnaya on the outskirts of Damascus in shelters provided by the Syrian government and the UNRWA.

“We have established contact with the concerned state authorities to accelerate the process and have people immediately return,” he added.

However, Ayman Abu Hashim, general coordinator of the Free Palestinian Syrian Assembly, told Al-Monitor, “The regime forces controlling the Sabina refugee camp are the ones obstructing the return of refugees.”

“Families might return to the camp, but the regime forces are failing to take any serious steps in this regard,” Abu Hashim added.

As the Sabina camp awaits the return of its residents, Palestinian families have started to move in and out of the Khan al-Shih refugee camp southwest of Damascus, which had a population estimated at more than 19,000 in 2011, per the latest UNRWA statistics.

Ahmed al-Majdalani, envoy to Syria for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and a member of the PLO’s Executive Committee, told Al-Monitor that Khan al-Shih, unlike the Sabina camp, had not been fully deserted. The Syrian government reached an agreement back in November with the gunmen, who gradually left the camp heading toward Idlib and Daraa. Majdalani said forces of the PLO-affiliated Palestine Liberation Army and Syrian army are working on logistic arrangements aimed at restoring normal life there.

Read more: ▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/05/syria-palestinian-refugee-camps-return-clashes.html#ixzz4gwziLt00

Abbas believes ’historic opportunity’ for peace under Trump, says Palestinian envoy

’President Trump has the political capital, the relationships with all the parties involved and the will to actually achieve this goal,’ Husam Zomlot says ahead of Abbas visit to Washington

Amir Tibon (Washington) Apr 28, 2017
read more: ▻http://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/palestinians/.premium-1.786177

WASHINGTON - Five days before Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrives in Washington for his first meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, one of his closest advisers told Haaretz that Abbas believes there is a “historic opportunity” to reach a peace agreement under Trump’s leadership, and that he is looking forward to forging a “strategic partnership” with the new American president.
Dr. Husam Zomlot, the recently appointed chief representative of the PLO in Washington, said that Abbas is coming to Washington with one clear objective: creating a political horizon for peace together with Trump. He added that Trump and Abbas had a “very positive conversation” when they spoke on the phone last month, and that Abbas is ready to “employ his vision for peace with full force.”
Asked about the meeting’s agenda, Zomlot clarified that “there is one thing on the agenda – and that thing is the historic opportunity for peace presented by President Trump.”
In an interview with Reuters overnight, Trump said, “I want to see peace with Israel and the Palestinians. There is no reason there’s not peace between Israel and the Palestinians - none whatsoever.”
In contrast to some in Israel who declared that Trump’s election was the end of the peace process, Zomlot sounded positive about working with the U.S. administration.

#Palestine #OLP #Etats-Unis #Israël

Will Israel be a casualty of U.S.-Russian tension after Trump’s missile attack? - Syria - Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/syria/.premium-1.782265

Putin might want to prove that an attack on Russia’s ally has implications for America’s ally. But Israel needs coordination with Russia over Syria’s skies

Zvi Bar’el Apr 08, 2017 7:30 AM
 
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2013. AP
Analysis Syria strike marks complete turnaround in Trump’s policy
Analysis Trump challenges Putin with first Western punishment for Assad’s massacres since start of Syria war
Russia: U.S. strike in Syria ’one step away from military clashes with Russia’
A military strike was warranted but the likelihood was low − so U.S. President Donald Trump surprised everyone, as usual. Russian President Valdimir Putin was furious, Syrian President Bashar Assad screamed, but the 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles fired by the USS Ross and USS Porter weren’t just another tug-of-war or show of strength.
>> Get all updates on Trump, Israel and the Middle East: Download our free App, and Subscribe >>
Without a UN Security Council resolution and without exhausting diplomatic chatter, the U.S. strike on the air force base near Homs slapped Assad and Putin in the face, sending a message to many other countries along the way.
The military response was preceded by a foreign-policy revolution in which Trump announced that Assad can no longer be part of the solution. Only a few days earlier, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, announced that Assad’s removal was no longer an American priority.
Did American priorities change as a result of the chemical weapons attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun near Idlib, and will Trump now work to bring down Assad? Not yet. Will Trump renew the military aid to the rebel militias so they can fight the regime? Far from it.

Donald Trump after U.S. missiles strike Assad regime airbase in Syria, April 7, 2017JIM WATSON/AFP
>> Read top analyses on U.S. strike in Syria: Trump challenges Putin, punishes Assad for first time | Russia, Iran, denounce strike, Saudi Arabia praises it | Trump’s move could backfire | Trump’s 48-hour policy turnaround <<
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The American attack also provides no answers to the tactical questions. The Tomahawk missiles didn’t hit the warehouses where Assad’s chemical weapons may be stored, but rather the air force base where the planes that dropped the weapons took off.
It’s possible the chemical weapons are still safely stored away. The logic behind the attack on the air force base is understandable, but does it hint that Trump won’t hesitate to attack the person who gave the order and the president who gave the initial approval? For now the answers aren’t clear.
Trump did on a large scale what Israel has been doing on a smaller scale when it attacked weapons convoys leaving Syria for Hezbollah. Unless Washington decides to surprise us once again, it won’t return to being a power on the Syrian front, it won’t steal the show from Russia. Diplomatic efforts, as far as there are any, will be made without active American participation.
So the immediate and important achievement for Trump is an American political one: He tarred and feathered Barack Obama and proved to the Americans that his United States isn’t chicken. Trump, who demanded that Obama receive Congress’ approval before attacking Syria in 2013, has now painted Congress into a corner, too. Who would dare criticize the attack, even if it wasn’t based on “the proper procedures,” and even though the United States didn’t face a clear and present danger?

U.S. envoy to the UN Nikki Haley holds photographs of victims during a UN Security Council meeting on Syria, April 5, 2017. SHANNON STAPLETON/REUTERS
The question is whether as a result of the American cruise missile attack, Russia and Syria will opt for a war of revenge in order to prove that the attack didn’t change anything in their military strategy against the rebels and the civilian population. They don’t feel they need chemical weapons to continuously and effectively bomb Idlib and its suburbs. They don’t need to make the entire world man the moral barricades if good results can be achieved through legitimate violence, as has been going on for six years.
Such a decision is in the hands of Putin, who despite recent rifts with Assad is still committed to stand alongside the Syrian president against the American attack. This isn’t just defending a friend but preserving Russia’s honor. As recently as Thursday, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia’s support for Assad was unconditional and “it is not correct to say that Moscow can convince Mr. Assad to do whatever is wanted in Moscow.” But the Kremlin has said such things before, every time Russia has been blamed for Assad’s murderous behavior.
Read Russia’s response to the attack very carefully. Peskov called it “aggression against a sovereign state in violation of the norms of international law and on a made-up up pretext.” He didn’t embrace Assad and didn’t describe the attack as one that harmed an ally. And he didn’t directly attack Trump − just as Trump didn’t hold Putin responsible for the original chemical weapons attack.
It seems that despite the loud talk, which included a Russian warning about U.S.-Russian relations, neither country is keen to give Assad the ability to upset the balance between the two superpowers.
The only practical step taken so far by Russia − suspending aerial coordination between the countries over Syria based on the understandings signed in October 2015 − could turn out a double-edged sword if coalition planes start running into Russian ones. It’s still not clear if this suspension includes the coordination with Israel, which isn’t part of the Russian understandings with the United States.
But Putin is angry about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments about Assad, and might want to prove to Trump that an attack on Russia’s ally has implications for America’s ally. So he could freeze or cancel the agreements with Israel regarding attacks inside Syria.
This would mean the war in Syria puts Israel in the diplomatic crossfire too, not just the military one. It could find itself in a conflict between Trump’s policies and its needs for coordination with Russia.

Zvi Bar’el
Haaretz Correspondent

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Netanyahu announces policy of restrained settlement construction in ’show of good will’ to Trump

Prime Minister informs ministers that while no formal understandings have been reached in talks with the White House, Israel will unilaterally limit new construction almost exclusively to already-developed areas of existing settlements.

Barak Ravid Mar 31, 2017
read more: ▻http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.780641

Israel will adopt a policy of limiting new construction in West Bank settlements to within the boundaries of areas that have already been built upon or in some specific cases precisely adjacent to them, Prime Minister Netanyahu said at a security cabinet meeting late Thursday night
>> Get all updates on Israel, Trump and the Palestinians: Download our free App, and Subscribe >>
A minister who was present at the meeting and requested to remain anonymous said Netanyahu informed the cabinet that despite several weeks of discussions on the issue, no understandings have yet been reached between Israel and the United States regarding settlement construction and that the differences between the sides remained unchanged.
>>U.S. senator slams decision to build new settlement: ’Netanyahu not serious about two states’>>
However, Netanyahu said he had decided to respond to U.S. President Donald Trump’s reservations regarding the settlements by unilaterally adopting a policy of restrained construction that will almost exclusively include building in already-developed areas of existing settlements to avoid appropriating new land or expanding the territory of established settlements.
“There are no understandings with the Americans and this wasn’t agreed one with the administration, but rather these are restrictions that Israel is taking upon itself in response to the president’s request,” said the minister. “In any case, the ’payment’ to the Americans isn’t over.”

>> Israel’s settlers are beginning to miss Obama | Analysis >>
Another senior source who also requested to remain anonymous said Netanyahu told the cabinet ministers that out of consideration for Trump’s positions, Israel will take significant steps to reduce, in so much as possible, the expansion of existing settlement territory beyond already-developed areas and that this too would be significantly restricted to allow for the progress of a peace process.
At the meeting, Netanyahu presented four main points outlining Israel’s new policy in the settlements:
1. Israel will continue construction, when permissible, within previously developed areas.
2. Where this is not permissible, Israel will allow construction in areas adjacent to those already developed.
3. Where neither of these criteria are met, due to legal, security or topographical constraints, Israel will allow construction on the closest land possible to developed areas.
4. Israel will not allow the creation of any new illegal outposts.
A second minister who participated in the meeting said that Netanyahu said no understanding had been reached in the talks with the White House and that, in effect, the sides had decided “to agree to disagree.”
However, Israel unilaterally agreed to adopt a policy that would take into consideration Trump’s concerns that continued construction in the settlements would expand its West Bank territory to a point that would prevent the creation of a Palestinian country in the future.
“This isn’t an agreement with the Americans, but rather unilateral policy by the government of Israel,” said the second minister. “The Americans said that they don’t agree with construction in the settlements in any case, but that they can live with it and there won’t be an international crisis over every new home that’s built.”
Netanyahu told the ministers in the meeting that he believes Israel should limit construction in a show of good will toward Trump.
“This is a very friendly administration and we need to take his requests into consideration,” Netanyahu told the ministers. No vote was taken during the meeting, but all the ministers agreed to the policy of restrained construction and there were no arguments or conflicts between Netanyahu and any of the ministers.
“This is moderate, reasonable policy,” said one of the cabinet ministers. “There’s no limit on the number of housing units and no distinction between the blocs and the solitary settlements. It will be possible to build, but in a gradual and measured way and without taking more and more hills.” 
Netanyahu’s announcement of new policy came as the cabinet approved the construction of a new settlement for the first time in over 20 years, in part to house those evacuated from the illegal outpost of Amona in February. 
A White House official told Haaretz that Netanyahu had informed the Trump administration that he intended to stand by his commitment to build this new settlement, but that a new policy would then be adopted that would restrict new construction in consideration of Trump’s concerns.
Over the past few weeks, Netanyahu mostly kept the minister’s in the dark on the details of the talks with the American government and managed them with only his closest advisors. The only minister who was briefed was Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who had to know because the Civil Administration, which is responsible for planning and building in the settlements, is under his authority.
Last week, Netanyahu’s senior advisors held four days of talks in Washington with U.S. envoy Jason Greenblatt and his team, but didn’t succeed in reaching a final understanding. However, in a joint statement released by the two sides at the end of the round of talks, they said that Israel is prepared, in principle, to restrict construction in the settlements in consideration of Trump’s desire to push forward with a peace process.
Israel’s umbrella organization for settlers, the Yesha Council, responded to the news, but did not attack the decision. “In wake of the decision and despite some restrictions, the understandings reached between the governments of Israel and the U.S. administration permit the continued settlement construction in all the communities in Judea and Samaria, and even the establishment of a new settlement for the residents of Amona,” the council said.
“The true test will be the immediate renewal of planning and development throughout the settlements. We will stand guard and work to make sure that the Israeli government will actualize this plan,” they said.

On his first visit to the Middle East, Trump’s envoy Jason Greenblatt surprises everyone

Greenblatt leaped effortlessly from a Palestinian refugee camp to meeting settler leaders, making positive impressions on all, along with a clear message: Trump’s serious about peace, and Israel ought to be too.

Barak Ravid Mar 17, 2017
read more: ▻http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.777881

Jason Greenblatt’s Twitter account was the best show in town this week. Anyone following his tweets might have thought he wasn’t the U.S. envoy for the peace process, but the Energizer bunny. 
Greenblatt didn’t rest for a moment during his four days here. He bounced from Jerusalem, to Ramallah, to Jericho, to Bethlehem, to Amman and back to Jerusalem. After every meeting, he tweeted pictures and updates.
On the eve of his visit, the New York Times published an article describing him scornfully as a man with no diplomatic experience who landed his job almost by chance. But Greenblatt proved this week that even if he lacks the experience of veterans of the peace industry in America, he is blessed with sharp instincts, seriousness, common sense and a great deal of personal charm and emotional intelligence. Everyone on the Israeli side who met with Greenblatt this week, on both the right and the left, as well as everyone on the Palestinian side, had a positive impression.
“Greenblatt is a serious, honest envoy,” tweeted MK Tzipi Livni (Zionist Union) after meeting him. “There’s no doubt President Trump is committed to peace, and that’s good news. It won’t be easy – but there’s hope.”
On his first visit to the region as Trump’s envoy, Greenblatt came mainly to listen and learn. Alongside his meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, he held a great many meetings with segments of the population that until now most U.S. envoys had passed over. 
He surprised many on the Palestinian side by meeting with residents of the Jalazun refugee camp near Ramallah, and surprised others on the Israeli side by meeting with two mayors of settlements, Oded Revivi and Yossi Dagan. He met with Palestinian and Israeli students, with residents of the Gaza Strip, with senior Jewish, Christian and Muslim clerics.
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Wednesday night, Greenblatt took a tour of Jerusalem’s Old City. One stop on the tour was Yeshivat HaKotel, from which he tweeted a picture of the Western Wall and the Temple Mount. Five minutes later, he visited the house of a Palestinian resident of Jerusalem and tweeted a picture of the same holy sites from a different angle.
“Peace and coexistence are not just possible in this extraordinary city, they exist already and have for centuries,” he added in a follow-up tweet.
The message Greenblatt reiterated against and again, to both Israelis and Palestinians, was that President Donald Trump is very serious when he talks about his desire to make “the ultimate deal” and that Israeli-Palestinian peace is very high on his priority list. Opposition leader Isaac Herzog (Zionist Union) said after meeting with Greenblatt that he got the impression Trump was very committed to this issue and plans to launch a serious diplomatic process. A senior minister in the ruling Likud party got the same impression.

Netanyahu expects to reach deal with U.S. on restrained settlement construction -

’There’s no blank check from Trump for construction in the settlements and that was known from the first minute he entered the White House,’ says Israeli official.

Barak Ravid Mar 15, 2017
read more: ▻http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.777320

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expects to reach understandings with the United States within a few weeks on curbing construction in the settlements, according to an Israeli official.
Although the understandings with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration are likely to include Israeli willingness to impose significant restrictions on construction in West Bank settlements, the Prime Minister’s Bureau believes that this will not weaken the coalition.
“There’s no blank check from Trump for construction in the settlements and that was known from the first minute he entered the White House,” said the official, who is involved in contacts between Israel and the United States on the subject. “We are looking for the common denominator with the Americans that will allow construction on the one hand, and on the other promote with the Trump administration diplomatic moves in many areas.”

Israeli-U.S. negotiations on restraining settlements.
Netanyahu met on Monday evening for more than five hours with American envoy Jason Greenblatt. Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, was present for most of the meeting and the most significant part of the conversation dealt with the attempt to formulate understandings on construction in the settlements.
Netanyahu and Greenblatt are expected to meet again this week before the envoy leaves the country.
Speaking at a Tuesday press conference at his office, Netanyahu described his conversations with Greenblatt as “good and thorough.” Netanyahu added: “I can’t say that we finished or summed things up; we are in a process, but a process of true and sincere dialogue in the positive meaning of the word. It is not yet open to the press.”

#colonies #Israël #Palestine #Etats-Unis

Egypt’s policy in Libya: A Government of National Accord by other means | MadaMasr

▻http://www.madamasr.com/en/2017/01/26/feature/politics/egypts-policy-in-libya-a-government-of-national-accord-by-other-means

As various parties return to discussion of political agreements and reconciliation, it might seem as though time stood still in Libya since the end of 2015. A little over a year has passed since the United Nations-sponsored Libyan Political Agreement (LPA) was signed in Skhirat, Morocco. Rather than stemming division, however, implementation of the deal has been held back by the factions it was designed to tame. Thus, talks have begun anew, and, this time around, Egyptian and Algerian representatives find themselves in prominent assisting roles.

Egypt has maintained an influential position in the conflict, between the most recent talks and the signing of the LPA, wagering political and speculated military support on several forces that have eroded the legitimacy of the Government of National Accord (GNA), the unity government that was produced by the December 2015 deal and is internationally recognized despite failing to be endorsed by the House of Representatives (HoR) in Tobruk. In the last month, however, Egyptian authorities have seemingly marshaled a new policy that opens the door to dialogue with both Libyan governments. Libyan parties also say Egypt is preparing to host a direct meeting between the Tobruk HoR and Tripoli General National Congress (GNC) for the first time in over a year.

Egypt has also recently expended efforts to draw in regional players. Ministers from countries neighboring Libya gathered for a meeting in Cairo, which was also attended by UN envoy to Libya Martin Kobler, and issued a communique on January 21 that emphasizes the importance of their vision to resolve the conflict. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry traveled to Tunisia on January 24 to discuss the conflict with Tunisian president Beji Caid Essebsi.

British Government was warned about Tiananmen Square ’bloodshed’ two weeks before Beijing massacre | The Independent
▻http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/tiananmen-square-massacre-warning-british-government-1989-beijing-cen

https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2017/01/05/15/tiananmen-square.jpg

The British Government was warned the Chinese People’s Liberation Army were preparing to kill hundreds of student protesters in #Tiananmen Square two weeks before the massacre took place, recently declassified documents suggest.

A secret diplomatic cable, recently declassified by the National Archives, showed Britain’s envoy to Beijing had warned officials in London of the potential “bloodshed”.

...

At the time, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said she was “shocked and appalled by the shootings”.

#massacre #Chine #diplomatie

’Claiming Israel is a racist endeavor’: Britain adopts new definition of anti-Semitism

The move is seen by many as specifically highlighting anti-Zionist anti-Semitism. But the government could also be using it as a political tool against the left.

Daniella Peled Dec 12, 2016
read more: ▻http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/europe/.premium-1.758552

Britain will adopt a new definition of anti-Semitism in a move widely interpreted as intended to target prejudice on the anti-Zionist far-left.
The new wording was agreed in May at a Bucharest conference of the 31-member International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
“Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews,” the IHRA definition read. “Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”
The Berlin-based body went on to provide further guidance, including “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor” and “applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.”
Conservative lawmaker Eric Pickles, the U.K.’s envoy to the IHRA, told the BBC that the new definition “catches up with modern anti-Semitism.”
"I think it’s important not to conflate Jewish people with Israel," he said. “That actually is the point in the definition.”

Ici, l’Arabie séoudite en train de faire ce qu’elle fait de mieux : ne pas se mêler des affaires intérieures libanaises (autant prévenir : c’est du sarcasme) ;
▻http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2016/Oct-28/378525-saudi-envoys-visit-signals-aoun-support.ashx

A Saudi envoy landed in Beirut Thursday and immediately began wide-ranging high-level consultations seen as a tacit approval of next week’s anticipated election of MP Michel Aoun as president.

Agenda.ge - Making history: Russia to return Georgian film archives
▻http://agenda.ge/news/67994/eng

http://agenda.ge/uploads/news/67994/Natvris_xe.jpg

After more than 20 years of talks, in the coming weeks Russia will begin transferring old Georgian films created between 1916 and 1990 back to the homeland, announced Georgia’s Special Envoy to Russia Zurab Abashidze.

I want to announce very positive news before I meet with Russia’s Special Envoy Grigori Karasin tomorrow in Prague. The process of transferring Georgian film archives from Russia will begin in the coming weeks,” Abashidze said today.

Georgian film archives, including feature and animated movies created between 1916 and 1990, are currently preserved in Russia’s Gosfilmofond, a Russian state-run fund established in 1937 during the Soviet Union era.

#cinéma géorgie #russie

A no-fly zone for Aleppo risks a war that could engulf us all | Jonathan Steele
▻https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/12/no-fly-zone-aleppo-war-russia-syria

There are only three sensible ways to save Aleppo’s people. One is the voluntary departure of the jihadis who, in the words of UN envoy Staffan de Mistura, are holding civilians hostage. One could go further and say they are keeping eastern Aleppo’s civilians as human shields. Why, for example, have most people not left already, given the intensity of Russian bombing: is it that the jihadis are blocking people’s escape? Syria is also mired in a propaganda war, and in the heart-rending images that the rebels put out on social media about life and death in Aleppo, the seamier side of the armed groups’ control is suppressed.

Hundreds of civilians recently left the besieged Damascus suburb of Daraya after the rebels gave in, with no reprisals from Assad forces. Gunmen were even allowed to keep their weapons and were taken by buses to rebel-held areas in the north.

The second option is for Syrian government forces to retake the whole city, just as Iraqi forces retook jihadi-held Ramadi and Falluja in recent months. Iraqi barrel bombs and US airstrikes had left three-quarters of those cities in ruins, but civilians got the chance to rebuild their lives.

The concept of an Assad victory will stick in the throats of hundreds of thousands of Syrians who have lost so much in the fight against him. But if the secular multicultural tolerance of pre-war Syria is to be restored, it is better to deny victory to the Sunni extremists who pose the main opposition to Assad, whether it is Islamic State, the al-Qaida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra or similar groups.

The third option is a ceasefire. Last month’s Russian-US agreement provided for the superpowers to separate the al-Nusra fighters from those Syrian Islamists prepared to negotiate with Assad’s representatives in Geneva for a coalition government.

The ceasefire never took hold because the Islamists refused to split. Al-Nusra understandably did not want to be isolated and left vulnerable to a joint US-Russian air campaign. So they used their dominance among the Aleppo fighters to press the other groups to stick with them. For their part, the non-Nusra fighters feared an alliance between the Americans, the Russians and Assad’s army.

Timing & other aspects of US strike on Syrian army suggest intentional provocation – Churkin — RT News
▻https://www.rt.com/news/359691-us-strike-syria-unsc-churkin

Bonnes questions des Russes :

The US’ sudden attempt to “help” the Syrian army fighting ISIS in the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor, which resulted in a strike that killed and injured dozens of soldiers, does not look like an honest mistake, Russia’s UN envoy told journalists at the UNSC meeting.

“It is highly suspicious that the United States chose to conduct this particular air strike at this time,” Russia’s ambassador Vitaly Churkin said.

Churkin questioned why the US suddenly chose to “help” the Syrian army defend Deir ez-Zor after all these years, recalling how American forces just observed terrorists’ movements and did “nothing when ISIS advanced on Palmyra.”

“It was quite significant and not accidental that it happened just two days before the Russian-American arrangements were supposed to come into full force,” Churkin added.

#syrie #daesh #ei

A Syrian Tempest in the Geneva Teapot - The Century Foundation
►https://tcf.org/content/commentary/syrian-tempest-geneva-teapot

On April 25, an opposition group known as Building the Syrian State (BSS) issued a statement saying it had left the High Negotiations Committee, or HNC, which is the main Syrian opposition delegation negotiating at the Geneva III peace talks. The HNC itself announced on April 18 that it was suspending its participation in the talks, in a move seemingly related to the faltering truce in Syria, but UN Envoy Staffan de Mistura has said he would try to continue to organize some form of discussions.

At this point, reports about Syrian opposition splits may seem along the lines of “the sky’s still blue.” On closer inspection, the split itself turns out to be less than meets the eye—but it provides a window into the world of the Syrian opposition and its enduring structural problems, internal rivalries, and ties to foreign states, all of which have helped render anti-Assad negotiators impotent.

’No victors, no vanquished’ : UN sees Assad staying, post-conflict
▻http://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2016/4/25/no-victors-no-vanquished-un-sees-assad-staying-post-conflict
▻https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/file/getimagecustom/b72fbb5c-e11e-4dca-bf67-c4afb4a71156/600/338

President Bashar al-Assad should remain in power in the immediate aftermath of Syria’s war, as the Damascus government, opposition and civic society groups form a transitional authority, according to the UN envoy’s peace plan, The New Arab can exclusively reveal.

Assad would, however, be stripped of authority over the military and security apparatus as the first step in a multi-stage transition designed to draw a line under the war that has killed at least 400,000 people in the past five years.

The proposal is mentioned in a draft communique from Geneva, believed to have been authored by UN envoy Staffan de Mistura as the framework for negotiations. The document has been leaked exclusively to The New Arab and its sister Arabic-language publication.

#Syrie
#Assad
#Transition
#poker

#Iran Not Seeking Entry to U.S. Financial System, Envoy Says
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/21/world/middleeast/iran-nuclear-deal-mohammad-javad-zarif.html

“We never asked to have access to your financial system,” Mr. Zarif said. “What we asked was to implement the nuclear deal, which requires the United States to allow European financial institutions to have peace of mind for dealing with Iran.”

[...]

Because many international financial transactions are conducted in #dollars or converted to dollars, foreign companies interested in doing business with Iran remain wary of inadvertently violating the American rules. This reluctance has frustrated Iran and led to accusations by Iranian officials that the United States has subverted the nuclear agreement.

#Etats-Unis

Le PYD kurde annonce unilatéralement la création d’une région fédérale (autonome) au nord-est de la Syrie (Qamishli-Kobané), en pleine discussion à Genève (dont les Kurdes ne font pas partie) :
Dépêche AP :
▻http://bigstory.ap.org/urn:publicid:ap.org:6bfb16dc44214b5bb8fb4bbb204e3589

BEIRUT (AP) — A powerful Kurdish party announced plans Wednesday to declare a federal region in northern Syria, an idea promptly dismissed by Turkey and Syrian government negotiators at U.N.-brokered peace talks.
The declaration was expected to be made at the end of a Kurdish conference that began Wednesday in the town of Rmeilan, in Syria’s northern Hassakeh province.
It comes as the Damascus government and Western- and Saudi-backed rebels are holding peace talks with a U.N. envoy in Geneva on ways to end the devastating civil war, which this week entered its sixth year.
The main Syrian Kurdish group, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), and its military wing, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), have so far been excluded from those talks so as not to anger Turkey, despite Russia’s insistence that they be part of the negotiations. Ankara views the group as a terrorist organization.

Et dans le même temps le YPG kurde semble mettre un coup de pression au gouvernement en assiégeant le quartier-général des Forces de Défense Nationale (milice pro-régime) dans la ville kurde de Qamishli.

U.S. Envoy Power to Netanyahu : ’NGO Bill’ Could Harm Israeli Democracy - Israel News - Haaretz

▻http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.704065?can_id=c04bd6c1866a7591ea05420e1dd77aec&source=email-what

paywall, sorry, je sais pas comment faire pour percer le mur !

http://www.haaretz.com/polopoly_fs/1.704066!/image/2204592877.jpg_gen/derivatives/headline_1200x630/2204592877.jpg

American diplomat’s criticism was followed by similar concerns by Germany’s Merkel; Netanyahu’s response: legislation would promote transparency and therefore strengthens democracy.

While Brazil rejects Israeli envoy, it inaugurates Palestinian embassy - Israel News - Jerusalem Post

►http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/While-Brazil-rejects-Israeli-envoy-it-inaugurates-Palestinian-embassy-443960

Voilà, c’est facile à comprendre : les Israéliens sont super jaloux, c’est tout.

▻http://www.jpost.com/HttpHandlers/ShowImage.ashx?ID=329120

RIO DE JANEIRO — A new building housing the first Palestinian Authority embassy in the Western Hemisphere was inaugurated in Brasilia.

The PA’s envoy to Brazil, Ibrahim Alzeben, led Wednesday’s event, which was attended by leftwing Brazilian government officials, representatives of Arab countries and members of the local Arab community.

The Road to Geneva: the Who, When, and How of Syria’s Peace Talks - Syria in Crisis - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
▻http://carnegieendowment.org/syriaincrisis/?fa=62631

A new round of Syrian peace talks, known as Geneva III, was supposed to begin on January 25 but ended up being postponed to January 29. Now that the day has arrived, they’re still not quite ready to begin—but UN envoy Staffan de Mistura is putting on a brave face. He has already met with the Syrian government delegation headed by President Bashar al-Assad’s UN representative Bashar al-Jaafari, but other invitees remain absent.

The reasons for these delays are complex, but the primary issue is a dispute over who should be allowed to represent the Syrian opposition and perhaps whether it is useful to think in terms of a single Syrian opposition at all. Opposition groups and individuals who participated in the December Riyadh meeting as well as Russian-backed individuals have been invited in various capacities, while so far Kurdish groups are excluded. And while no one expects any significant progress toward a resolution of the Syria conflict to emerge from the meetings, de Mistura is hard at work trying to establish Geneva III as a framework for conflict management and the mitigation of Syrians’ horrific suffering.

What’s Behind de Mistura’s Insistence on Involving Civil Society in Geneva Talks ? (Al-Souria Net, site de l’opposition)
▻http://syrianobserver.com/EN/News/30458/What_Behind_Mistura_Insistence_Involving_Civil_Society_Geneva_Talks

De Mistura’s comments strongly emphasized the need to involve civil society organizations and women in Geneva, which the Syrian opposition considered another attempt to infiltrate its delegation, especially as the envoy has been vague about the size and nature of their participation, saying only that “it needs consultation.”

(Ça, je crois qu’on pouvait se douter que l’opposition-syrienne-de-Riyad n’avait pas l’intention de se laisser « infiltrer » par des femmes…)

Via @Moscow_Ghost sur Twitter.

U.N. Envoy Signals That Riyadh Is Obstructing Syria Peace Talks
▻http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/01/20/u-n-envoy-signals-that-riyadh-is-obstructing-syria-peace-talks

In a barely veiled swipe at one of the Middle East’s leading powers, the United Nations’ special envoy for Syria accused Saudi Arabia of undermining his efforts to bring a broad slate of Syrian opposition groups to upcoming peace talks designed to end Syria’s brutal civil war.

In his confidential Jan. 18 briefing to the U.N. Security Council, which was obtained exclusively by Foreign Policy, Staffan de Mistura said Riyadh is complicating his efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the Syrian conflict by trying to tightly control which opposition groups will be allowed to participate in the negotiations.