Newsletter No. 1180
News-Analysis
October 25, 2008

 

ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN “CONFIDENCE-BUILDING” TALKS IN TOKYO

On the 22nd and 23rd MOFA hosted the “Fourth Conference for Confidence-Building between the Israelis and the Palestinians.” The chief Israeli delegate was Minister of the Interior Meir Sheetrit and the chief Palestinian delegate was Saeb Erekat of the PLO. Needless to say, Japan is still cooperating with the boycott of the Palestinian political party which actually won the last free elections in early 2006.

The Japanese side featured Dr. Tatsuo Arima, Special Envoy of the Government of Japan for the Middle East Peace Process, and Professor Ryoji Tateyama of the National Defense Academy. Other specialists were said to have been in attendance. This conference, which follows the Third Conference in the series held in March 2007, is a Japanese initiative.

Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone dropped in for about twenty minutes on the 22nd. Erekat used the occasion to call for serious US engagement in the peace process and to suggest that peace should not expected during the Bush term. Prime Minister Aso did not visit the event, but he did offer words of encouragement talking to reporters while sitting in the Kantei.

Arima in New York

From September 21st to 26th a meeting of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee for Assistance to the Palestinians (AHLC) was held in New York. As has become customary, Tatsuo Arima was in attendance at the event. Almost equally customary, we have little idea what he did there other than to “exchange opinions.”

GSDF Golan Heights Mission Quietly Continues

Every six months, the Cabinet decides to extend the GSDF peacekeeping mission in the Golan Heights for another six months. The Golan Heights, of course, are Syrian territories captured by Israel in the June 1967 War. Currently, there are said to be about forty-five GSDF members providing airlift and other logistical support for the UN operations. Based on the reports I have seen, I believe that the mission is currently authorized through March 31, 2009.