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   Palestinians defy U.S. peace initiative request, issue ultimatum on unilateral action. Hezbollah consolidating power in Lebanon as opposition forces prepare to counter-attack in Syria. Palestinian human rights group blames Hamas for infant’s November death, threatens to reignite media bias controversy. Egyptian official: Hamas participated in Egypt violence

 

What we’re watching today: The Palestinian Authority (PA) will defy U.S. calls and pursue a unilateral diplomatic strategy unless Israel meets a series of preconditions by June 3rd, according to a report published this morning in The Tower. The Palestinian campaign would among other things see the PA seeking membership in a number of U.N. organs. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry began a renewed peace push last month, and U.S. officials made plain to the Palestinians that Washington would not accept artificial deadlines that would undermine Kerry’s initiative. The Secretary of State sought and secured assuranced from the Palestinians that they would postpone bids for enhanced status at the U.N. and within international bodies – including in the International Criminal Court – by eight weeks. Palestinian negotiators initially agreed but have now decided to set the new June 3rd deadline. They are demanding that the U.S. force Israel to accept the Jewish state’s 1949 armistice lines as the basis for negotiations, and that a map is produced verifying that understanding. The Palestinians understand that unilateral initiatives at the U.N. will likely trigger Israeli responses, including possibly economic sanctions. Similar moves have generated harsh reactions from U.S. lawmakers and from the White House. U.S. analysts have outlined that they “threaten[] United States and Israeli interests” and “undermine[] all internationally accepted frameworks for peace.” Israeli officials seek negotiations without preconditions and are unlikely to accept the Palestinian ultimatum. Hezbollah is tightening its grip on southern Lebanon, with Lebanese armed forces withdrawing from the area and U.N. peacekeepers finding themselves paralyzed and humiliated. The peacekeepers say they are being increasingly harassed by Hezbollah, and are now routinely forced to back down during confrontations and at checkpoints. Hezbollah’s activities in Syria, where it is fighting on behalf of the ruling Bashar al-Assad regime, have generated substantial criticism of the group and risk dragging Lebanon into the Syrian conflict. Syrian opposition figures reported earlier this week that dozens of Hezbollah fighters were killed in battles on Syrian territory. Rebel groups may be preparing to launch a counter-attack against elite Hezbollah fighters, and the organization’s leaders may be consolidating their positions in anticipation of a widened conflict. A new report from a Palestinian human rights group is threatening to deepen a controversy over anti-Israel media bias that has already generated sustained criticism of major news organizations and NGO’s. The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) has published an investigation concluding that the death of Gaza-based BBC journalist Jihad Mishrawi’s infant son, which was at widely blamed on Israeli forces fighting during last November’s Operation Pillar of Defense, was in fact the result of Hamas rocket fire. The iconic photograph of Mishrawi cradling and mourning the boy was extensively broadcast and printed – landing on the front page of major newspapers across the globe – and used by human rights organizations as the basis for widespread and heated censure of the Israeli campaign. Blogger Elder of Ziyon analyzed photographs of the Mishrawi house at the time and concluded that the nature of the damage indicated the house had been struck, and the infant killed, by a Hamas rocket. His analysis was ignored in the media frenzy that surrounded the boy’s death. The PCHR report confirms Elder of Ziyon’s analysis, citing “the type of damage caused to the family home” and “the course or the direction of the rocket.” The incident has triggered calls for media outlets to install checks in order to prevent similar errors in the future. An Egyptian newspaper has published accusations linking Hamas to violence in Egypt stretching back to the country’s Arab Spring revolution. Former interior minister Mansour al-Essawy – who served in the Hosni Mubarak government which was overthrown during that revolution – alleged that the Iran-backed terror group fomented riots inside the country and participated in storming Egyptian prisons to release Islamic radicals. Al-Essawy has a motive to deflect criticism of the government’s heavy-handed response to that rioting, but his accusations come at a time when the Egyptian army is locked in a kind of media cold war with Hamas. Egyptian security officers blame the group for facilitating and conducting terrorist operations on Egyptian soil, and have been steadily leaking as much to Egyptian outlets. Arab nations are seeking to diplomatically punish Canada over Ottawa’s support for Israel. The incumbent Harper government has sided with the United States and Israel on critical Arab-backed United Nations votes – including on a motion for Palestinian non-member statehood strongly opposed by President Barack Obama – and elements in the Arab world are reportedly looking to retaliate. One potential avenue involves promoting a Qatari campaign to take the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization from where it is currently stationed in Montreal and move it to the Middle East. That the U.S.’s Arab allies are seeking to isolate one of Washington’s closest diplomatic, military, and economic partners will likely trigger concern on the part of American policymakers. The Wall Street Journal earlier this week published an account documenting deep frustration in Washington with other recent Qatari diplomatic gambits. The family of Palestinian terrorist Salam Zaghal, who earlier this week stabbed to death Israeli Evyatar Borovsky in a West Bank attack, is defending his action as “a duty for all Palestinians.” The murder has been greeted positively across swaths of the West Bank, and official outlets of the ruling Fatah faction have praised the killer. Fatah’s official Facebook page described Zaghal as a “hero” and posted images glorifying him. Officials from the Palestinian Mujahideen group – an offshoot of Fatah – also celebrated the stabbing. The celebrations and exhortations for more violence will deepen skepticism regarding the readiness of Palestinian civil society to accept a lasting and robust peace deal with the Jewish state. Iran and its terrorist proxy Hezbollah are coordinating to seize control of large swaths of Syria in the aftermath of Bashar al-Assad’s expected downfall, according to analysis published today by Israeli Brig.-Gen. (ret.) Dr. Shimon Shapira. Details of the Iranian plan have been emerging since early 2013, when the Washington Post revealed Tehran’s moves to create a network of militias inside Syria to preserve Iranian interests. Shapira’s analysis outlines the dimensions of a planned 150,000-man force, to be composed mainly of Shiites drawn from Iran and Iraq. Iranian officials publicly emphasize the strategic importance of Syria to the Islamic republic. Mehdi Taeb – the chief of a top Iranian think tank linked to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei – has described the country as Iran’s “35th district… [and of] greater strategic importance” than parts of Iran. Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has again called for the destruction of Israel, according to excerpts of a speech he gave at the annual World Conference of Ulama and Islamic Awakening, published on Ahmadinejad’s official website and via Iranian state media. His statements come in the immediate aftermath of multiple annihilationist threats leveled by other Iranian officials, and a year after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei declared that Israel is a “real cancerous tumor” that will be excised. The last decade has seen the development of a cottage industry in the U.S. foreign policy community dedicated to denying that Iranian leaders make genocidal threats against Israel. A fixation on the syntax and semantics of Ahmadinejad’s statements regarding maps has emerged as a particular talking point in those corners. Ahmadinejad’s speech is likely to deepen skepticism regarding such analysis.   The Israel Project 2020 K St. NW Washington, DC 20006