The US middle east envoy, George Mitchell, was in Israel today to reassure Israeli president Shimon Peres that their countries would remain "close allies and friends" despite recent disagreements. Their conversations come amid an intensification of middle eastern diplomacy in which Mitchell will later today meet Israeali prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who held a telephone conference with US president Barack Obama on Monday, and meet Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday.
The toD verdict: Mithchell's efforts were clearly directed at allaying any Israeli anxieties raised by Obama's watershed address to the Muslim world in Cairo last week, in which Obama again called on Israel to freeze settlement building in the West Bank and labelled Palestinian suffering "intolerable". While Mitchell echoed Obama's insistence on a two state solution, his main purpose seems to have been to emphasise US-Israeli solidarity. The US is walking a fine line in its middle eastern diplomacy, attempting to apply pressure on Israel to change its policies without seeming to threaten the US' "unshakeable" commitment to Israeli security.
However, the prospect that the US can significantly alter Israeli behaviour without at least the closet threat that its military support of Israel is conditional on such changes seems overly optimistic. So far Netanyahu's concessions have been limited, promising only to withdraw a handful of Israeli outpost settlements, those furthest from the 1967 boundries of the two states, allowing "natural growth" to continue in the remainder and refraining from referring to a "Palestinian state". The success or failure of such a tactic is likely to be confirmed on Sunday, when Netanyahu will give a speech outlining Israel's peace policy with Palestinians.
Keep up to date with the latest developments and sharpest perspectives in a world of strife and struggle. Sign up to receive toD's daily security briefings via email by clicking hereGunmen kill twelve in Thai mosque attack
Unidentified armed men raided a mosque in Cho-ai-rong, southern Thailand, yesterday, killing twelve people including the mosque's imam. The attacks come amid an intensifying separatist insurgency, which has so far claimed the lives of 3,700 people in the three southernmost provinces of the country, a predominantly Muslim region annexed by Thailand in 1902. Since the attack, insurgents have blocked roads with logs and burning vehicles, while bomb squads have been called into the region to dispose of several suspected explosives after a blast at an oil depot injured two people. General Songkitti Chakkrabat, the Thai military's supreme commander, claimed that the army was in control of the situation.
US in prisoner exchange scheme with Iraqi insurgents
The US military released Laith al-Khazali, a Shia insurgent implicated in an attack which killed five US marines, in a prisoner exchange bid according to US military spokesman Brian Maka. The move is intended to encourage political reconciliation between the armed Shia group Asa'ib al-Haq, of which al-Khazali was a prominent member, and the Iraqi government. The group had now "pledged to give up violence", Maka said. Two Shia leaders indicated it was the first stage of negotiations for the release of two British citizens, held hostage since May 2007, but the US refused to acknowledge any such connection.
British troops seize £65m of Taliban harvested opium
In a major raid against an drugs processing plant in Afghanistan's Upper Sangin Valley, 450 Black Watch troops and 100 Afghan soldiers seized opium, heroin and cannabis with a street value of £65m as well as a small arms cache. The Black Watch's commanding officer, Stephen Cartwright, claimed the victory was a "significant setback" for the Helmand insurgency, but it represents a small dent in an industry thought to have an export value of £2.1bn in 2008. Opium production declined in Afghanistan over the last year by around 25 percent, but the UN ascribed these changes to economic variables rather than any success in eradication.
UN war crimes investigation in Gaza unlikely to prosecute
Richard Goldstone, the judge leading the UN's war crimes investigation in Gaza, admitted a series of difficulties which make prosecutions resulting from his mission unlikely. Israel has refused to cooperate with the investigation, which was incapable of reaching an "unbiased conclusion" according to Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, and blocked interviews with its soldiers or victims of rocket attacks. The mission is further imperilled by the lack of an effective court system in Gaza and the dominance of Hamas security forces who might intimidate potential witnesses. Despite these difficulties, Goldstone hoped his report would lead to further action by other UN departments.
Violence flared in Gaza again today, with reports of a brief incursion by Israeli military forces and bulldozers into the southern Gaza Strip and two Palestinian vessels coming under fire from the Israeli navy. In a separate incident, four militants carrying explosives were killed at a Gazan border crossing yesterday by Israel security forces.
North Korea warns of "merciless offensive" if provoked
North Korea promised a "merciless offensive", including nuclear war, against any encroachment on the country's "dignity and sovereignty". The stark warning, made in the country's state-run media, is likely to refer to any proposed countermeasures to its successful nuclear weapons test on 25 May.
Relations with its southern neighbour have further deteriorated since the test, with a South Korean firm deserting one remaining economic cooperative project seen as a beacon of reconciliation between the two countries. Meanwhile, the North has provoked further ire from the US after sentencing two American journalists, who were detained after crossing into North Korean territory, to twelve years hard labour. Members of the Obama administration appealed for their release on "humanitarian grounds" and denied the case had any political connection.
