International Relations -- A Rocky Roadmap

December 9, 2008

Faiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Satyam Khanna, Matt Corley, Benjamin Armbruster, Ali Frick, Ryan Powers, and Matt Duss

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

The Rocky Roadmap

Riots broke out in the West Bank city of Hebron last week when, "for the first time in two years, the Israeli government...ordered its police and military to carry out a large-scale evacuation of an illegal outpost in the West Bank." Protesting their Israeli High Court-ordered eviction from the outpost -- known as the House of Contention -- settlers rampaged through Arab neighborhoods, and, in one instance, shot Palestinian rock-throwers. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he "was ashamed at the scenes of Jews opening fire at innocent Arabs in Hebron," and referred to the attacks as a "pogrom." The Hebron rioters represent a violent, extremist wing of Israel's settler population that has "adopted a 'price tag' policy to make costly every government effort to remove outposts or stop settlement growth." Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) chief Yuval Diskin "has warned the [Israeli] cabinet that the radical fringe perceives the price-tag policy as successful and that the group is threatening to expand the use of violence outside the West Bank," and in Israel itself.

THE HEBRON FLASHPOINT: One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Hebron was home to a vibrant Jewish community until 1929, when a series of conflicts between Jews and Arabs culminated in riots in which Arabs murdered 67 Palestinian Jews. Soon after, the British authorities ordered Jews out of Hebron in order to avoid more violence. Jordan occupied Hebron etween 1948 and 1967, and Israeli forces took over the city after conquering the West Bank in the Six Day War. In 1968, a group of Israeli religious students founded the settlement of Kiryat Arba on the outskirts of Hebron. The first settlers moved into the city itself in 1979, and since then Hebron has become a magnet for extremists. In February 1994, Hebron was the scene of one of the conflict's most notorious acts of violence, when the settler Baruch Goldstein opened fire in a mosque, killing 29 Palestinian worshipers and wounding 150. Today, guarded by some 4,000 Israeli troops, 600 Israeli settlers live in Hebron among nearly 200,000 Palestinians.

A PROBLEM FOR THE PEACE PROCESS: "The evacuation of the House of Contention is an important, if overdue, first step," wrote Middle East Progress editor Moran Banai last Friday. "Israel's ability to control extremist settlers...will have serious implications for the future of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations." The conflict over the forced evacuation of the House of Contention is an indication of the massive problem posed by Israeli outposts and settlements in the West Bank, many of which will likely have to be abandoned as part of an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. There are almost 500,000 Israeli settlers living in the West Bank, including 200,000 living in East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in 1967. In a scathing 2006 report, according to Haaretz, Israeli attorney Talia Sasson presented "a picture of numerous governmental bodies cooperating while committing blatant offenses to establish outposts." The continued construction of settlements and outposts has also caused some Palestinian leaders to lose faith that a two-state solution is even possible. In September, Sari Nusseibeh, the president of Al Quds University, suggested that it may be too late. "The lack of progress, as well as the unmistakably expansionist reality on the ground and the growth in popularity of Hamas, have left little room for anyone seeking a positive future for Palestine," he wrote. "Today, with over half a million Jews living across the 1949 Armistice Line," he added, "it's almost too late to reverse the process."

NEW ADMINISTRATION MUST ENGAGE: Suggesting a shift from the Bush administration's policy of trying to broker an agreement after seven years of doing nothing, President-elect Barack Obama has said that he will make Israeli-Palestinian negotiations a priority for his administration. "What I think can change is the ability of the United States government and a United States president to be actively engaged with the peace process," Obama told reporters in July. Announcing his selection of Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, Obama said that "seeking a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians" would be one of his top priorities. Former U.S. ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer, one of Obama's Middle East advisers, wrote in Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace that, to move the process forward and maintain trust, the United States must assure Israeli and Palestinian compliance to commitments by "setting standards of accountability, reporting violations fairly to the parties and exacting consequences when agreements or commitments are not implemented." Speaking to the BBC in November, former British prime minister Tony Blair, the Quartet's envoy to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, encouraged more American engagement. “There is a foundation on which a new American administration and a new Israeli prime minister, with the Palestinians and ourselves in the international community, can build," Blair said. "What we've got to do is move it forward with the energy and the commitment and the dedication from the first day of the new American president."

LABOR -- OBAMA EXPRESSES SOLIDARITY WITH STRIKING WORKERS IN CHICAGO: Over the weekend, laid-off workers from the Chicago-based factory Republic Windows and Doors began what they call a "peaceful occupation," refusing to leave the shuttered business due to claims that they are "owed vacation and severance pay and were not given the 60 days of notice generally required by federal law when companies make layoffs." The workers -- members of the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America -- said that they were given only three days notice that the factory was closing. Yesterday, President-elect Barack Obama offered his support, saying, "The workers who are asking for the benefits and payments that they have earned, I think they're absolutely right." The parent company said that Bank of America had shut off its line of credit and refused to allow further expenditures, forcing the shut-dowm. Yesterday, Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-IL) threatened that Illinois would withhold business worth "hundreds of millions" of dollars from Bank of America, including fees, commissions and other payments until it provided assistance to the workers. Last month, the bank received a $15 billion federal bailout.

ADMINISTRATION -- EPA ADMINISTRATOR ON RELIGION AND SCIENCE: 'IT'S NOT A CLEAN-CUT DIVISION': Environmental Protection Agency Administrator (EPA) Stephen Johnson has willingly endorsed the Bush administration's push to put business interests ahead of the EPA's mission "to protect human health and the environment." An extendeded profile of Johnson published Sunday by the Philadelphia Inquirer reveals that he is also unwilling -- or unable -- to distinguish a "clean-cut division" between religion and science. "It's not a clean-cut division," he said. "If you have studied at all creationism vs. evolution, there's theistic or God-controlled evolution and there's variations on all those themes." The Inquirer noted that Johnson declined to elaborate, saying only that "perhaps after Jan. 20, I'll be happy to discuss it," and "as a practical matter [it] has not been an issue" at the EPA. The piece also reveals that Johnson's rise was due to his political connections, not his scientific background, as corporate lobbyist and Bush fundraiser Charles Grizzle, a long-time friend of Karl Rove, helped propel Johnson. An EPA assistant administrator under the first President Bush, Grizzle took note of Johnson, then a staff scientist, and brought him to Rove's attention when Bush became president.

JUSTICE -- FEINGOLD: OBAMA SHOULD 'RENOUNCE THE EXTREME CLAIMS OF EXECUTIVE POWER' IN INAUGURAL SPEECH: During an interview last Friday on PBS with Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) host Bill Moyers asked what Feingold wanted from the upcoming Obama administration. "I would like the new president to do exactly what he said he's going to do," Feingold said, such as bringing the country together, ending the Iraq war and closing Guantanamo. Feingold also told Moyers that in his inaugural address, Obama should "renounce the extreme claims of executive power." The next day, writing on the Daily Kos, Feingold expounded on why Obama needs to the condemn Bush's abuses of executive power as soon as he takes office. "[F]ailing to act swiftly to reverse the damage could essentially legitimize that conduct and the extreme legal theories on which it was based," Feingold wrote, adding that "stating this position clearly in the inaugural address would affirm to the nation, and the world, that respect for the rule of law has returned to the Oval Office."

Yesterday morning, the Wall Street Journal reported that Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain was suggesting to his company's board that he deserved a $10 million bonus for his performance in 2008. But by yesterday afternoon, Thain had dropped his request after New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo called it "nothing less than shocking."

The White House and Congressional Democrats moved closer to a deal "to rush $15 billion in emergency loans" to the Big Three car makers. "Democrats bent to the will of the president on several key demands," and the White House is still opposing Democrats' requirement that automakers "pull out of lawsuits against states seeking to enforce tougher tailpipe-emissions standards."

Internal Freddie Mac documents reveal that "senior executives at the company were warned years ago that they were offering mortgages that could pose dangers to the firm" and generate more risky loans throughout the industry. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which has the documents, is holding a hearing today to discuss them.

As more of the unemployed and uninsured "turn to the nation's emergency rooms as a medical last resort, doctors warn that the centers -- many already overburdened -- could have even more trouble handling the heart attacks, broken bones and other traumas that define their core mission."

79 percent: The share of Americans who approve of President-elect Barack Obama's performance during the transition, according to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll. Seventy-nine percent also think Obama "will do a good job as president," compared to 71 percent who disapprove of the job President Bush is doing. More »

A new CBS News polls finds that 45 percent of Americans approve of a government bailout of U.S. automakers, while 44 percent disapprove. Over two-thirds of Americans, however, say that "if taxpayers do help automakers, the government should have a say in how the companies are managed."

Big business is lining up behind President-elect Obama's stimulus plan to invest in infrastructure projects. "[L]obbyists from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) are asking lawmakers and Obama's transition team to funnel federal funds to 'shovel-ready' projects as the best way to stimulate the flagging economy."

Though the Pentagon "was aware of the threat posed by mines and improvised explosive devices" and "of the availability of mine resistant vehicles [MRAPs] years before insurgent actions began in Iraq in 2003," it did little to develop such vehicles, the Pentagon Inspector General reports. Marine officials "did not develop a course of action for the (request) [or] attempt to obtain funding for" MRAPs.

And finally: Yesterday, President Bush let loose and danced during the Children's Holiday Reception and Performance at the White House. Watch his performance here.

Pulitzer Prize announced Monday that it will be expanding its journalism awards to include online-only publications. The move reflects "our willingness to adapt to the remarkable growth of online journalism," said Pulitzer Administrator Sig Gissler.

WONK ROOM: Gov. Jon Corzine (D-NJ): If we had "sense of urgency," we could provide "access to affordable health care."

YGLESIAS: No Blame, no credit.

OPEN LEFT: Both Policies and personnel matter.

CALIFORNIA: "Day Without A Gay" is scheduled for today and billed as "a nationwide strike and economic boycott."

ILLINOIS: Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) is taken into federal custody for abusing his authority to appoint Obama's Senate successor, among other charges.

NEW HAMPSHIRE: "The Superior Court system in New Hampshire will take the unusual step of halting jury trials for a month early next year because of a widening state budget crisis."

ECONOMY: Many governors who will be inaugurated next month "are scaling back their celebrations as economic troubles hit state coffers."

"These are not 'midnight regulations' or 'rushed regulations.'"
-- White House spokesman Tony Fratto, 12/8/08, on President Bush's implementation of regulations

VERSUS

"According to a study by Veronique de Rugy at George Mason University's Mercatus Center, if Bush continues at this pace -- an average of a major regulation a day from Nov. 1 to Nov. 20 -- he'll produce more last-minute rules than any other president."
-- USA Today, 12/8/08

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