Who will be appointed the next ambassador to Syria? Two names have been mentioned by Laura Rozen at Foreign Policy.com - Jake Walles and Daniel Kurtzer. They are both career diplomats, but what else do we know of them and who would be more effective?

Jacob Walles is not well known (here is his official bio), but from Googling him one finds that as Consul General in Jerusalem, he was in the thick of the Bush Administration’s efforts to get the PLO to confront Hamas in 2007. See this memo, entitled, “Abbas Coup Talking Points,”

While reporting “The Gaza Bombshell” for Vanity Fair, David Rose acquired an extraordinary trove of documents showing how the U.S. pressured its Palestinian allies to take on Hamas—a strategy that proved disastrous when Hamas staged what appears to have been a pre-emptive coup in Gaza in June 2007.

These “talking points” were left behind in Ramallah by a State Department envoy. Palestinian and American officials say they formed the basis for State Department official Jake Walles’s discussions with Palestinian president and Fatah party leader Mahmoud Abbas in late October or early November 2006. According to the memo, Walles urged Abbas to dissolve the Hamas-led government if Hamas refused to recognize Israel’s right to exist, promising that the U.S. and its Arab allies would strengthen Fatah’s military forces to deal with the likely backlash from Hamas.

Jake Walles explained to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that he would get Western and “Arab” monetary and military aid, as well as political backing if he took on Hamas decisively and created a “new P.A. government” that “fully and clearly accepts the Quartet principles.” When Hamas failed to comply with Abbas’ proposals, Abbas was to “declare emergency rule and form an emergency government” in order to take on Hamas and rule Palestinians.

It must be remembered that Welles is in no way the author of this terrible Bush administration policy. He was merely carrying out orders, as they say. There are also complaints by Israelis that Walles acted in a pro-Palestinian manner during his service as U.S. Consul General in Jerusalem, a post which has ambassadorialal rank and seems to be designed to serve the Palestinians in contrast  to the office of Ambassador to Israel, which is designed to serve Israelis. See this and this.

Daniel Charles Kurtzer, we know much more about. I met him at a Council on Foreign Relations conference during the presidential campaign, where we talked about making peace between Israel and Syria. An orthodox Jew, he was Dean of Yeshiva University in New York, from which he graduated. He was U.S. ambassador to Israel from 2001 to 2005 and before that ambassador to Egypt. He is considered more even-handed than Dennis Ross. He is a visiting professor of Middle East policy studies at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. See his Wikipedia blurb, and also this excellent recent article in the Washington Post explaining why there is no US agreement with Israel for limited expansion of settlements, contrary to Israeli claims. He concludes:

The Obama administration is pursuing policies that every administration since 1967 has articulated — that settlements jeopardize the possibility of achieving peace and thus settlement activity should stop. This does not diminish the Palestinians’ responsibilities, especially their commitment to stop violence and terrorism and uproot terrorist infrastructure. President Obama emphasized this in his Cairo speech. But Palestinian failures in no way justify Israeli failure to implement their road map commitments with respect to settlements and outposts. It is time for Israel to freeze all settlement activity and dismantle the unauthorized outposts.

He has written a book on US diplomacy of peace: and believes that the US should create opportunities for peace in the Middle East. “Why wait for an opportunity to present itself? Why not go out and try to create an opportunity for Arabs and Israelis to talk to each other?”

Kurtzer was a firm believer that the Palestinian track should be solved first before the Syrian track and Golan issue.

Martin Indyk writes in his book on the peace process (P. 24) that

Daniel Kurtzer and Aaron Miller … felt keenly that the United States could not hope to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict unless it treated the “core” Israeli-Palestinian problem first.

Indyk believed and still believes that Israel should make peace with Syria first. Kurtzer and Miller “felt that it was clearly the wrong one.”

Indyk mentions that he, Dennis Ross, Kurtzer, David Miller and Robert Malley were dubbed the “five rabbis” by an Arab journalist because “all the members of Clinton’s peace team were Jewish.” He argues that it is untrue that their Jewishness and relationships to Israel or the “Israel lobby” prejudiced the talks or contributed to the failure of the talks. On the contrary, Indyk argues that it helped. He writes, “Behind the stereotyping lay the reality that our Jewish identities generated a deep desire in all of us to make peace since we all believed that Israel’s security depended on ending the conflict with its Arab neighbors…” (p. 25).

David Aaron Miller disagrees with Indyk. He argues that America’s peace team acted as “Israel’s lawyer,” causing the failure. He writes,

For far too long, many American officials involved in Arab-Israeli peacemaking, myself included, have acted as Israel’s attorney, catering and coordinating with the Israelis at the expense of successful peace negotiations. If the United States wants to be an honest and effective broker on the Arab-Israeli issue, than surely it can have only one client: the pursuit of a solution that meets the needs and requirements of both sides.

I do not know who would make a more effective US ambassador in Damascus, Kurtzer or Walles. Kurtzer has more clout in Washington, he campaigned hard for Obama within the Jewish community and thus Obama would be obliged to give him a hearing. He is much better known than Walles. He would give Damascus a higher profile in Washington and could do an effective job of selling any agreement to Israelis and Americans. His Jewishness and close relationship to the Jewish community in the US will undoubtedly make many Syrians believe that he may act as “Israel’s lawyer.” All the same, many, if not most of Washington’s top envoys for negotiating peace have been Jewish since Kissinger was Secretary of State. Syrians have gotten used to it even if they are not happy about it. Would Kurtzer’s obvious strengths out weigh his baggage? It is hard to say. What is more, we know too little about Jake Walles to say anything about his abilities or politics. In the mean time, we can be content that an ambassador will be returned to Damascus.

[end]

The following is Washington gossip on appointments:

Kurtzer to Syria? [Via Capital J]

Laura Rozen at Foreign Policy.com reports on some possible choices for the new ambassador to Syria, and a former ambassador to Israel is one of them. She says Dan Kurtzer, who was an early surrogate for President Obama in the Jewish community during the campaign, is a possibility. The other name she mentions is Jake Walles, currently serving as the U.S. consul general in Jerusalem.

Rozen also has news on positions possible being filled at the State Department’s Near East Affairs department, and some moves for some familiar names at the Brookings Institution:

Ronald Schlicher, a career Foreign Service officer who previously served as the consul general in Jerusalem, is expected to be named principal deputy assistant secretary of state, diplomatic and Washington Middle East hands say. The Brookings Institution’s Tamara Cofman Wittes is a candidate to be the deputy assistant secretary who oversees Middle East democracy issues. The job, which was previously held by Liz Cheney and J. Scott Carpenter, has been fashioned to focus on “Arab reform.” Wittes declined to comment, and Schlicher couldn’t immediately be reached. …

Brookings Institute:

Because Brookings’ director of Foreign Policy Studies, Carlos Pascual, has been nominated to be Obama’s ambassador to Mexico, some shuffles are expected at the think tank. As previously reported, Martin Indyk, former U.S. ambassador to Israel and current director of Brookings’ Saban Center for Middle East Policy, is expected to succeed Pascual. Kenneth Pollack, a former CIA analyst, is expected to be named director of the Saban Center. (He didn’t respond to a query.)

News about Dennis Ross: Read Harper at Col. Pat Lang’s blog, who writes that Washington sources are telling him that Ross’s move from the State Dept. to the NSC will not give him more authority. He writes:

[Ross] did something that clearly crossed the line, and was working at cross-purposes to Secretary of State Clinton and special envoy Mitchell. Maybe he also crossed Richard Holbrooke. I hope to get more of the inside details soon, but for now, I am convinced by these sources, that Ross was dumped, and that it was the AIPAC/WINEP crowd that had to be somewhat appeased, by giving Ross a desk at the National Security Council, somewhat equivalent to a cell with a view at one of those old Soviet gulags.

Asef shawkat is out of the Syrian military intelligence andl an abridged and rough English version

The draft Personal Status Law that has stirred such controversy has been rejected by the Syrian Parliament.

Haaretz

… diplomatic sources in New York reported that American officials are working behind the scenes to prevent new sanctions from being imposed against Iran. U.S. officials claimed that a tough stance toward Iran could backfire, bringing about an opposite outcome to that desired by those who support such measures.

Syria mends US, Arab ties as ally Iran in turmoil
By SAM F. GHATTAS, Associated Press Writer  Jul 3, 2009

BEIRUT – Syria’s leader sent a July 4 message full of praise to President Barack Obama on Friday and invited him to visit Syria — the latest signs Damascus is hedging its bets in Mideast politics, warming up to its rival the United States at a time when its longtime ally Iran is in turmoil.

The United States and its Arab allies have been hoping to pull Syria out of the fold of Iran and Islamic militant groups in the region.

Damascus so far appears unlikely to take such a dramatic step, but it does appear worried about Iran’s reliability and the long-term impact of that country’s postelection unrest. Also, its Lebanese ally Hezbollah suffered a setback when its coalition failed to win June parliament elections, beaten out by a pro-U.S. bloc.

Syrian President Bashar Assad has been expressing hopes for better ties with Washington for months. But the latest developments may make dialogue look even more attractive.

Assad sent a telegram to Obama on the occasion of the July 4 Independence Day holiday, saying, “The values that were adopted by President Obama during his election campaign and after he was elected president are values that the world needs today.”

“It is very important to adopt the principle of dialogue in relations with countries based on respect and mutual interest,” Assad said in the telegram, which was carried by state-run news agency SANA.

In an interview with Britain’s Sky News, Assad invited Obama to visit Damascus to discuss Mideast peace.

“We would like to welcome him in Syria, definitely. I am very clear about this,” Assad said in English. Asked whether such a visit could take place soon, Assad said: “That depends on him.”

He added with a smile, “I will ask you to convey the invitation to him.” The last time a U.S. president visited Syria was a 1994 trip by Bill Clinton.

For the U.S., even pulling Syria only partly away from Iran and its militant allies would represent a major shift and could help ease Mideast crises. The U.S.-Syrian rivalry has fueled instability in Lebanon, and the U.S. and Israel say Syria’s backing of the Palestinian Hamas undermines the Arab-Israeli peace process. Syrian cooperation could make Obama’s fresh push for a peace deal take off.

The Obama administration has stepped up its wooing of Syria. The U.S. is sending back its ambassador to Damascus after a four-year break over terrorism accusations. Obama’s special Mideast peace envoy, George Mitchell, became the highest-level U.S. administration official to visit Damascus since 2005, and he acknowledged Syria’s clout, declaring Damascus has a key role to play in forging Mideast peace.

In a separate interview with Sky News, Assad’s wife, Asma, said she believed the Syrian and American leaders could work together.

“The fact that President Obama is young — well President Assad is also very young as well — so maybe it is time for these young new leaders to make a difference in the world,” she said.

In one sign of Syrian cooperation on regional issues, Damascus is believed to have played a behind-the-scenes role in ensuring Lebanon’s elections remained peaceful.

Damascus likely won’t move away from its Iran alliance easily. Iran’s regional clout has been key to boosting Syria’s status in the Middle East, and Tehran gives considerable financial and military backing. Assad was the first Arab leader to congratulate Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for winning the disputed presidential election.

But Iran is now mired in the fallout from that election, following the widespread protests that erupted amid claims Ahmadinejad’s victory in the June election was fraudulent. A heavy crackdown has largely quelled the protests, but the show of anger has raised questions over Ahmadinejad’s long-term legitimacy.

“All the world around Syria on which it built its policy is falling apart,” said Sateh Noureddine, managing editor of the Lebanese As-Safir daily, which tilts toward Syria’s Lebanese allies.

“Hezbollah lost the election in Lebanon, Hamas is being subjected to unprecedented attrition and Iran is drowned in its internal crises,” he told The Associated Press. “All the elements of strength they (Syrians) built on their foreign policy are collapsing, so for certain they are going to reassess and look for alternatives, without abandoning their past.”

Writing in the Saudi-owned daily Al-Hayat, Saudi analyst Dawood al-Shirian urged Syria to “take this opportunity and rid itself of having to pay a price for the Iranians’ reputation.”

U.S. ally Saudi Arabia — one of the bitterest rivals of Syria in the region since 2005 — has been working in recent months to thaw ties with Damascus in hopes of drawing it away from Iran.

The oil powerhouse sent a senior envoy to Damascus on June 28. Assad and Saudi King Abdullah have twice met in recent months in Riyadh and Kuwait, and there has been persistent media speculation that Abdullah will visit Damascus in July — perhaps as early as next week — to crown the renewed relationship.

Assad and Jordan’s king have also recently exchanged visits for the first time in several years.

Syria has several long-term aims in any reconciliation with the U.S. Assad has said he wants the U.S. to mediate Syrian-Israeli negotiations, in which Damascus seeks the return of the Golan Heights, which Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.

Syria also wants U.S. economic sanctions lifted and foreign investment, particularly Gulf Arab money for its economy. It is also wary of an international tribunal set up to try the perpetrators of the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut at a time when Syria controlled the country.

___

Associated Press writers Albert Aji in Damascus and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.

Incoming IAEA chief: No evidence Iran seeking nuclear weapons
By News Agencies

The incoming head of the United Nation’s nuclear watchdog said on Friday he did not see any hard evidence that Iran was trying to gain the ability to develop nuclear weapons.

“I don’t see any evidence in IAEA official documents about this,” Japan’s Yukiya Amano told Reuters in his first direct comment on Iran’s nuclear program since his election to head the International Atomic Energy Agency, when asked whether he believed Iran was seeking a nuclear weapons capability.

Current IAEA head Mohammed ElBaradei told the BBC last month it was his “gut feeling” that Iran was seeking the ability to produce nuclear arms, if it desired, as an “insurance policy” against perceived threats from neighboring countries or the United States.

“I’m not going to be a ’soft’ director general or a ‘tough’ director general,” Amano told Reuters, when asked how he would approach issues like Iran and Syria, which are both subject to IAEA probes….

Iranian carmaker SAIPA inaugurated a car assembly line in Homs, Syria, on Thursday.

Rami Makhlouf says Pearl Airline will be back in the air soon because of improving US-Syrian relations. He blames the grounding of the airline on the Spanish company which should have made sure that US sactions against the Syrian use of Airbus planes did not apply.

رامي مخلوف متفائل بعودة العلاقات السورية الأمريكية
ويقول: ما حصل مع اللؤلؤة ناجم عن خطأ من الشركة الإسبانية
02/07/2009

بدا المهندس رامي مخلوف مطمئنا إلى شركة لؤلؤة سورية إحدى شركات شام القابضة (والتي يعد مخلوف أحد المساهمين الرئيسيين فيها)، خاصة في ظل وجود بدائل عن الطائرات التي سحبتها الشركة الاسبانية المؤجرة، بعدما طلبت وزارة الخزانة الأمريكية سحبها لعدم حصولها على الموافقة لوجود مكونات أمريكية فيها، علماً ان إجراءات الموافقة كانت جارية.

ارتياح مخلوف ظهر أيضاً على خلفية التحسن الملحوظ في العلاقات السورية الأمريكية في ظل التطورات الأخيرة والتي تم على أثرها إعلان أوباما إعادة السفير الأمريكي إلى سورية.

مخلوف قال في تصريح لسيرياستيبس: إن اللؤلؤة ستعود قريباً للعمل مشيرا إلى أن التحرك جاد لإعادة رحلات الشركة سريعا و بطائرات قد تكون مستأجرة من شركة إقليمية.

وقال أن اللؤلؤة وجدت كي تنمو وتتطور وماحصل معها كانت نتيجة خطأ من الشركة الاسبانية التي كان عليها أن تحصل على الموافقة الأمريكية قبل أن ترسل طائراتها إلى اللؤلؤة لتسييرها في الأجواء السورية ضمن محطات داخلية.

Housing Minister: Spread of Arab population must be stopped

MK Ariel Atias attending the wedding of the granddaughter of Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef in Jerusalem last month.

By Guy Lieberman, Haaretz

Housing Minister Ariel Atias on Thursday warned against the spread of Arab population into various parts of Israel, saying that preventing this phenomenon was no less than a national responsibility.

“I see [it] as a national duty to prevent the spread of a population that, to say the least, does not love the state of Israel,” Atias told a conference of the Israel Bar Association, which focused on a reforming Israel’s Land Administration.

The Shas minister referred to Harish, a housing project built for the Haredi community in northern Israel, saying that the Arab population from the nearby Wadi Ara was spreading into the Harish area.

Atias went on to address the issue of the Galilee, saying that “if we go on like we have until now, we will lose the Galilee. Populations that should not mix are spreading there. I don’t think that it is appropriate [for them] to live together.”

“Look at what happened in Acre,” Atias continued, referring to violent protests that broke out on the Eve of Yom Kippur last year over Jewish-Arab tensions in the mixed town.

“The mayor of Acre visited me yesterday for three hours and asked me how his town could be saved,” Atias said. “He told me ‘bring a bunch of Haredis and we’ll save the city, even if I lose my political standing.’ He told me that Arabs are living in Jewish buildings and running them out.”

Atias argued that lands should be marketed to each sector separately, in order to create segregation, not just between Jews and Arabs but also between other sectors, such as ultra-Orthodox and secular Jews. “There is a severe housing crisis among the young ultra-Orthodox couples, and in the general population. I, as an ultra-Orthodox Jew, don’t think that religious Jews should have to live in the same neighborhood as secular couples, so as to avoid unnecessary friction. And since some 5,000 to 6,000 religious couples get married every year, a problem arises because they require a certain kind of community life that goes along with their lifestyle.”

The housing minister went on to say that the problem stemmed from faulty handling of land within the Land Administration and the Housing Ministry, among other reasons. “Today there is a serious housing crisis facing all the young couples in Israel, in part because of the limited appropriation of land in recent years in the Lands Administration and the Housing Ministry, and also due to faulty decision making which resulted from the high turnover of ministers over the last decade ? 8 ministers have held the office of Housing minister in the last decade and the Land Administration wasn?t under the ministry’s authority for part of the time.”

According to Atias, the solution he is spearheading is to flood the market with available land for housing construction. Atias explained that a team of planners has already begun working on the project. “I plan to market large amounts of land to the Arab population in the Galilee in order to solve their problems, as well as land for secular and religious Jews,” he said.

A few recent scholarly articles of interest on Syria are:

• Mir H. Sadat and Daniel B. Jones, “U.S. Foreign Policy Toward Syria: Balancing Ideology and National Interests” [93-105]: MIDDLE EAST POLICY, Summer 2009 (Vol. 16, No. 2)

• Shana Marshall, “Syria and the Financial Crisis: Prospects for Reform?” [106-115] MIDDLE EAST POLICY, Summer 2009 (Vol. 16, No. 2)

• Yücel Güçlü, “Will Untapped Ottoman Archives Reshape the Armenian Debate?” [35-42] Middle East Quarterly. [Gives a Turkish slant.]

Rafida: See the following article if you have been following the recent debate in the comment section about “Rafida” or the Shiite doctrine of promoting Alid line of Caliphal succession over that prefered by Sunnis.

• Chase F. Robinson, “The Ideological Uses of Early Islam” [205-228]: PAST AND PRESENT, May 2009 (Vol. 203, No. 1)

Chase Robinson explains that all too commonly Sunnis push:

what is a crucial doctrine that belongs to the ninth century into the first half of the eighth. The doctrine is that of the ‘Four Rightly Guided Caliphs’, which posits that Ab Bakr (reigned 632–4), Umar (634–44), Uthmn (644–56) and Al (656–61), the latter two championed by implacably hostile groups, ruled in succession, all legitimate, albeit of declining merit (according to Sunnis). A narrative of just succession over the polity was superimposed upon a history of internecine conflict. The theory of ‘Four Rightly Guided Caliphs’ was thus a retrospective projection, one of the most conspicuous features of the relative ecumenism of Abbasid rule, a time that would also generate the closely related doctrine of the Prophet’s Companions. Along with the Prophet’s inerrancy, both are principal ingredients in the Islamic foundation myth.

Time for an Israeli Strike?
(By John R. Bolton, The Washington Post)

Israel must act quickly to strike the nuclear program of a resurgent regime. …

…Since there is no likelihood that diplomacy will start or finish in time, or even progress far enough to make any real difference, there is no point waiting for negotiations to play out. In fact, given the near certainty of Obama changing his definition of “success,” negotiations represent an even more dangerous trap for Israel.

Those who oppose Iran acquiring nuclear weapons are left in the near term with only the option of targeted military force against its weapons facilities. Significantly, the uprising in Iran also makes it more likely that an effective public diplomacy campaign could be waged in the country to explain to Iranians that such an attack is directed against the regime, not against the Iranian people….

Hello Syria: Obamas Offered Road To Damascus
2009-07-02, Sky News (GB):

Dominic Waghorn, Middle East correspondent Syria’s First Lady has exclusively told Sky News she would welcome the Obamas to Damascus. Asma al Assad’s comments are the latest in a series of signs US Syrian relations are improving after years of …

First lady’s interview with Sky. (4 minute video) She speaks about her efforts to get Syrian youth to participate in building the future of the country.

Syria changes “honour killing” law
By DPA, Jul 2, 2009

Damascus - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad issued a decree changing the penalty for ‘honour killing’ to at least two years in prison, Minister of Justice Minister Ahmad Hamoud Younes said in a statement Thursday.

‘The number of wife-killings has increased recently on the pretext of adultery, and the article that was abolished by the President pardoned these crimes,’ the official SANA news agency quoted Younes as saying.

The new law reads: ‘He who catches his wife, sister, daughter or mother by surprise in the act of committing adultery or having unlawful sex with another and then unintentionally kills or hurts either of them can benefit from attenuating circumstances, provided that he serves a prison term of no less than two years in the case of killing.’

Women rights groups welcomed the change with reservations.

‘This is only a small contribution to solving this problem, for in this new version too the paragraph still invites murder,’ said Women of Syria group in a statement on its website.

‘The new law still leaves a wide door open for the killers. Who gave men the right to kill women?’ the statement added.

Last May a Syrian court sentenced a man who deliberately killed his sister and her lover to only only seven and a half years in prison, as the case was considered an ‘honour killing.’

Hussein Pointed to Iranian Threat
(By Glenn Kessler, The Washington Post)

Saddam Hussein told an FBI interviewer before he was hanged that he allowed the world to believe he had weapons of mass destruction because he was worried about appearing weak to Iran, according to declassified accounts of the interviews released yesterday. The former Iraqi president also denounced…

The former Iraqi president also denounced Osama bin Laden as “a zealot” and said he had no dealings with al-Qaeda. …

At one point, Hussein dismissed as a fantasy the many intelligence reports that said he used a body double to elude assassination. “This is movie magic, not reality,” he said with a laugh. Instead, he said, he had used a phone only twice since 1990 and rarely slept in the same location two days in a row.

Hussein’s fear of Iran, which he said he considered a greater threat than the United States, featured prominently in the discussion about weapons of mass destruction. Iran and Iraq had fought a grinding eight-year war in the 1980s, and Hussein said he was convinced that Iran was trying to annex southern Iraq — which is largely Shiite. “Hussein viewed the other countries in the Middle East as weak and could not defend themselves or Iraq from an attack from Iran,” Piro recounted in his summary of a June 11, 2004, conversation.

“The threat from Iran was the major factor as to why he did not allow the return of UN inspectors,” Piro wrote. “Hussein stated he was more concerned about Iran discovering Iraq’s weaknesses and vulnerabilities than the repercussions of the United States for his refusal to allow UN inspectors back into Iraq.”

Hussein noted that Iran’s weapons capabilities had increased dramatically while Iraq’s weapons “had been eliminated by the UN sanctions,”…

When Piro noted that there were reasons why Hussein and al-Qaeda should have cooperated — they had the same enemies in the United States and Saudi Arabia — Hussein replied that the United States was not Iraq’s enemy, and that he simply opposed its policies.

IAEA Chooses Japanese as New Head
2009-07-02 15:17:14.258 GMT

VIENNA (AP) — By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer George Jahn, Associated Press Writer – Thu Jul 2, 1:12 pm ET

VIENNA – The world’s top nuclear watchdog chose Japan’s Yukiya Amano as its next head on Thursday — and he touched on the devastation U.S. atom bombs wreaked on his country in pledging to do his utmost to prevent the spread of nuclear arms.

The decision by the 35-nation International Atomic Energy Agency board ended a tug of war on who should succeed Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, who saw his agency vaulted into prominence during a high-profile 12-year tenure.

North Korea left the nonproliferation fold to develop a nuclear weapons program on ElBaradei’s watch and his agency later launched inconclusive probes on suspicions that those to nations were interested in developing nuclear weapons.

ElBaradei’s activist approach to his job often rankled with Washington — and it had a strong preference for Amano, seen by the U.S. as a technocrat amenable to pursuing a hard line on Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Amano’s allusions to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki pointed to a deep commitment to non-proliferation. And Japan, which is separated from North Korea only by a narrow body of water, keenly shares the United States’ concerns about Pyongyang’s nuclear program.

Iran, Syria push economic ties
July 2, 2009

DAMASCUS, Syria, July 2 (UPI) — Syria and Iran wrapped up meetings in Damascus to move forward with plans to develop bilateral economic ties further, officials say.

Engineering companies active in Syria have set up 11 different economic projects that have generated more than $1.3 billion in the decade since they were established.

Trade between both countries, meanwhile, stands at $350 million per year.

Mohammad Saeidikia, the Iranian housing and urban development minister, met with Syrian Trade Minister Amer Husni Lutfi for two days in Damascus to further develop those economic trends, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting agency reports.

Saeidikia called for expansion in bilateral trade and pushed for stronger regional relations, including the establishment of free-trade agreements between Syria, Iran, Iraq and Turkey.

Damascus recently announced the opening of a rail-traffic line from Syrian ports on the Mediterranean to Basra on the Persian Gulf as part of a broader Syrian effort to increase its regional trade performance.

Growing Gulf Between U.S. And Israeli Jews on Obama
Daily News Article by Nathan Jeffay
The Jewish Daily Forward - July 2, 2009 - 12:00am

He swept to power with the support of 78% of American Jews. But has Barack Obama become the bane of Israeli Jews? A gulf between American and Israeli Jews was evident even before Obama moved into the White House. Just a third of Israelis would have endorsed him had they been allowed to vote, polling indicated, while almost half would have chosen John McCain.

Some See Extended Olive Branch For Israel In Ross Appointment to NSC
Daily News Article by Nathan Guttman
The Jewish Daily Forward - July 2, 2009 - 12:00am

The promotion of Middle East adviser Dennis Ross to a senior White House position may open the door to a more positive tone by the United States toward the Israeli government, experts believe.

Amnesty says Israel ‘wantonly’ destroyed Gaza
Daily News Article
The National - July 2, 2009 - 12:00am

Amnesty International said today that Israel inflicted “wanton destruction” in the Gaza Strip in attacks that often targeted Palestinian civilians during an offensive in December and January in the Hamas-run enclave. The London-based rights group, in a 117-page report on the 22 days of fighting, also criticised movement Hamas for rocket attacks on Israel, which it called “war crimes”.