Israeli News: A Daily Analysis May 19, 2009-Netanyahu-Obama Meeting

A Daily Analysis

May 22, 2009-Rumors of an Obama Peace Plan- Iranian Missile Test

Rumors are circulating on the possibility President Obama is going to present a peace plan when he speaks in Cairo on June 4th. It is not clear he will indeed do so, but reports are the plan will call for the establishment of a Palestinian State on the pre-67 borders, a resolution of the refugee problem by either: the repatriation of the refugees to new Palestinian state, or their resettlement where they are currently. It calls for the establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and all 23 Arab states, and calls for UN stewardship over the holy sites. The refugee solution may be non-starter for the Palestinians, but who knows. More importantly, if this is the plan, it will be very bad if Israel were to reject it out of hand. Hopefully, the government will accept it with reservation. Of course its not clear that the Netanyahu government would be able to hold together if he makes that choice.

Which brings us to the most important reason for accepting the plan... Wedsnesday's missile launch by Iran was a big deal. They have made rapid progress in missile technology. The missle launched this week was solid state, meaning it is ready to fire at any time. This would give Israel no advance warning of a launch requiring Israelís anti-missile missile systems to be ready 24/7. The new missile has longer range and a larger throw weight (meaning, it can carry a larger warhead). The Arab states are buying weaponry at an alarming rate to counter-balance Iran. Needless to say, if those countries should ever fall under the control of the wrong regimes, it could be very problematic.

One of our readers sent in an interesting link. The piece is long, but chronicles the differences in the way a number of media sources covered the story of reports by Israeli soldiers of crimes they may have been committed in Gaza- the article- A Matter of Trust in the Columbia Journalism Review†