While in Egypt millions are getting ready for a clash that could bring down the Morsi government and wash Egypt in rivers of blood, and while Syria and Iraq are already awash in blood, and Turkey is about to implode, Secretary of State John Kerry is focusing all his efforts on the truly important thing – making sure that Jews who live in East Jerusalem won’t be allowed to close up their porch, as this would violate the Prime Minister’s decree against settlement construction.
Still, someone in Jerusalem is trying to use the opportunity of the extended Kerry visit while all around him the Middle East is burning (he stayed for one Shabbat meal – next week could he come for kiddush?), and turned the supposed Netanyahu concessions to Mahmoud Abbas into a stick with which to poke Naftali Bennett.
Hopefully not in the shrapnel area…
Diplomatic sources in Jerusalem told Reshet Bet that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s upcoming gestures which are needed in order to kickstart the talks with the Palestinians might force Naftali Bennett’s party to quit the government.
Those same sources said that Secretary of State John Kerry signaled that even if no progress is made round the current talks would continue with the talks.
Jewish Home Minister Uri Orbach this morning told The Jewish Press that the above news, regarding Bennett et al quitting was sheer nonsense.
“We’re not leaving the government so quickly,” Orbach stated.
He was delighted, however, with the news—unconfirmed as of this morning by the office of the Prime Minister—that the government is currently promoting the construction of 930 housing units in Har Homa in Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, a senior official in Jordan’s King Abdullah inner circle told Al-Hayat that at the moment there is no information on a four-way conference with Israel, the PA, the U.S. and Jordan, and that the king’s schedule this week does not include meetings with Israelis, Americans or Palestinians.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, Hamas said that peace negotiations with Israel were ‘futile,’ Ma’an reported. Hamas warned Fatah and the Palestinian Authority against the “mirage” of negotiations, and called on the PA to reject U.S. pressure to accept economic initiatives and instead focus on implementing national unity between Palestinian factions.
“We in Hamas look carefully at U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s efforts to re-launch the so-called peace process, which is based upon an American-Zionist agenda which sees settlements devour land and the Judaization of Jerusalem and holy sites.”
Hamas warned that the negotiations will not bring anything new, and will only perpetuate national divisions.