August 4-August 11 Prisoner Release and New Building

The news this evening was dominated by a combination of coverage regarding the release of the first Palestinian prisoners, together with the announcement that the Ministry of Housing had issued new tenders for the building of apartments in East Jerusalem, as well as in Maale Adumin and Ariel. The fact that these two stories were occurring simultaneously is no accident. The agreement to allow the right wing Housing Minister to announce a new housing initiative was a form of payment by Netanyahu to keep the right quiet. It would seem the whole action has been carefully choreographed– with both the Americans and the Palestinians– both of whom will attack the decision. However, the action will not delay the opening of peace talks this week in Jerusalem.

Meanwhile the events in Sinai (specifically the unconfirmed reports) that Israel had a hand in the killing of Islamic militants who were about to strike Israel) has caused a further stirring of events in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood has now attacked Sisi and the Egyptian Army for cooperating with Israel. On the other side of the coin, I have now actually seen Egyptian liberals write defending the action– if it is indeed an action of the Israeli army– stating straight out that Israel is no threat to Egypt, while the Muslim Brotherhood is a threat. How wide spread this feeling is, is certainly hard to ascertain sitting in Tel Aviv. However, I did not see the statement of the Egyptian liberals get flamed with criticism.

Meanwhile the Muslim Brotherhood refuses to give in, staying in the streets, almost daring the government to do anything about it . In the meantime the west wastes efforts, trying to negotiate the Brotherhood's return to the Egyptian government and politics, instead of working together to make sure they are never part of the government again. Much of the liberal Egyptian public is totally fed up with the US and the EU.

There are reports that Netanyahu has chosen Maro Blejer, an Argentinian economist as his next prospective candidate for the Governorship of the Bank of Israel. His selection has been met by near derision by Israeli observers– basically saying, he brings nothing special to the job, other than a locker full of personal issues. Could Netanyahu be batting 0-3?