Two state solution blocks Saudi-Israel peace deal, says Pompeo

It could be impossible to establish a Saudi Arabia-Israel peace deal if a prerequisite is the Palestinians receiving or accepting a Palestinian state, according to former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo.

Pompeo helped orchestrate the Abraham Accords under former US president Donald Trump, which normalized relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Bahrain.

Pompeo told The Jerusalem Post that it is impossible to imagine a two-state solution with the current Palestinian leadership who is underwriting terrorism, taking money from Iran, paying citizens to kill Israelis.

“It is very difficult to imagine how one would strike a deal with the very leaders that have rejected every reasonable offer with which they have been presented.”

Pompeo spoke to the Post the day after Saudi Arabia’s first ambassador to the Palestinian Authority, Nayef al-Sudairi, visited Ramallah. During his visit, al-Sudairi emphasized that creating a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital would be a fundamental cornerstone in any prospective agreement with Israel.

“The Arab Peace Initiative is the central point of any upcoming agreement,” al-Sudairi said.

Saudi Arabia Peace Initiative was initially ratified by the Arab League in 2002 and subsequently reaffirmed in 2007 and 2017. It requires a complete withdrawal of Israel from the West Bank and Golan Heights, establishing a Palestinian state with eastern Jerusalem as its capital, and a just settlement of the Palestinian refugee crisis.

In speaking about normalization with Saudi Arabia at the United Nations General Assembly last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “We must not give the Palestinians a veto over new peace treaties with Arab states. The Palestinians could greatly benefit from a broader peace. They should be part of the process, but they should not have a veto over the process.”

Similarly, in an interview with Fox News, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman did not mention a Palestinian state but only said that the Palestinian issue is very important. We need to solve that part.

He said, “We got to see where we go. We hope that we will reach a place that will ease the life of the Palestinians and get Israel as a player in the Middle East.”

Pompeo said every American president would support a normalization agreement – Democratic or Republican. He said it is in America’s interest to have security relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia and between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

He said peace would be more easily attainable with a Republican president, meaning one that understands the greatest threat to peace in the region is Iran.

He explained that the Abraham Accords advanced due to the Trump administration’s acknowledgment of Israel as America’s primary democratic ally in the region while identifying Iran as the leading state sponsor of terrorism and a significant threat to all other countries.

“When we isolate Iran, the region becomes more peaceful and prosperous,” Pompeo said.

 

Pakistan Stock Exchange closes almost flat

The market remained lackluster throughout the week ended on September 28, 2023.

Despite the visit of the Caretaker Prime Minister to the UN, no significant positive developments or outcomes were observed.

On the macroeconomic front, the federal government is intensifying its efforts to reduce spending following a recommendation from the World Bank, aiming to simultaneously increase revenues. The news flows indicated a possible reduction in the PSDP spending.

 Inflation for this month is still expected to remain high, around 30%YoY. Meanwhile, the Pakistani rupee continues to strengthen against the greenback, posting a weekly gain of 1.4% to close at PKR287.7/US$ by week-end.

Internationally, oil prices have resumed their upward trend, amid supply crunch, after a brief easing earlier in the week, with Brent crude currently hovering at US$95.6 per barrel.

Overall, average trading volumes improved by 45.6%WoW rose to 202 million shares as compared to 139 million shares traded in the earlier week.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index lost 189 points during the week, depicting a 0.4% decrease in the index.

Other major news flows during the week included: 1) profit repatriation surged by 74% in July-August, 2) Jul-Aug period borrowing from multiple financing sources rose to US$3.206 billion, 3) RDA inflows reported at US$6.6 billion for August, 4) CGS of KSA Armed Forces met President, and 5) Pakistan owed US$1.2 billion to Chinese power producers.

Transport, Tobacco, and Paper & Board were amongst the top performing sector. Vanaspati and allied industries, Technology and Textile were amongst the worst performing sector.

Major net selling was recorded by Banks with net selling of US$6.3 million. Individuals and companies absorbed most of the selling with a net buy of US$3.7 million and US$1.4 million, respectively.

Top performing scrips of the week were: EFUG, PGLC, CEPB, NRL, and PAKT, while top laggards were: POL, GADT, SYS, FFBL, and HBL.

Looking ahead, the market's performance is anticipated to be significantly influenced by the upcoming IMF review scheduled for November.

Regarding the political landscape, while the expected timeline for elections is given, providing exact dates for the elections would be a positive development.

Upcoming inflation readings and current account data would remain in the limelight. Overall, we continue to advise our investors to remain cautious while investing and consider companies with strong fundamentals and high dividend-yielding companies.

US tells Israel settlements serious issue

The United States has raised its concern at the highest level about Israel’s continued settlement activity, its UN envoy told the Security Council as she pledged her country’s commitment to a two-state solution and the normalization of Israeli ties in the region.

“Make no mistake, the expansion of settlements undermines the geographic viability of a two-state solution, exacerbates tensions, and further harms trust between the two parties,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.

She spoke in the aftermath of a dramatic spike of 303% in housing starts from the first and second quarters of 2023, according to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics published this month.

From January to March of this year, ground was broken for 255 settler homes, compared to 1,028 housing starts from April to June of the year, the CBS reported.

Despite the second-quarter rise, housing starts have dropped this year by 18.7% in the first two quarters when ground was broken for 1,283 settler homes compared with the same time period last year when there were 1,580 settler starts.

All total, there were 2,568 settler housing starts in 2023.

Israel has advanced plans this year for 12,349 housing starts, according to the left-wing group Peace Now. It’s the largest such number since the group started collecting data in 2012.

“The United States strongly opposes the advancement of settlements and urges Israel to refrain from this activity.

“We take the issue very seriously, as it undermines the possibility of a future contiguous Palestinian state, and we raise it at the highest levels on a consistent basis,” she said.

Thomas-Greenfield spoke during the UNSC’s monthly meeting Wednesday on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which took place amid a push for an Israeli-Saudi normalization deal and in the aftermath of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with US President Joe Biden.

The potential Saudi agreement is a subset of a deal between Washington and Riyadh that would consist mainly of a security pact. The US-Saudi deal could also include an interim agreement with the Palestinians at a time when the Israeli government does not support a Palestinian state and supports all settlement activity.

Thomas-Greenfield in her speech also took Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to task for his speech in August blaming the Jews for the Holocaust.

 “The sharp rise in violence by extremist Israeli settlers against Palestinians is also deeply alarming.“All perpetrators of violence against civilians, whether Israeli or Palestinian, should be held accountable according to the law,” Thomas-Greenfield stated.

“Ongoing violence sets back the prospects for peace and is responsible for so much needless suffering,” she said.

The US is deeply concerned by the levels of violence in the West Bank and Gaza and it expresses condolences for those injured or killed in the past month across Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza.

She welcomed de-escalation efforts and called on all parties to refrain from actions and rhetoric that inflamed tensions – including hateful rhetoric, settlement activity, evictions, the demolition of Palestinian homes, terrorism, incitement to violence, and Palestinian Authority payments to the families of terrorists,” she said.

Thomas-Greenfield re-affirmed the US commitment to the status quo on the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif.

We oppose actions that depart from the historic status quo, or otherwise disturb the sanctity” of religious sites in Jerusalem. Such action is unacceptable, she added.

Work is underway to convene the Forum of Five – Egypt, Jordan, the US, the Palestinian Authority, and Israel – which met twice this year in Sharm el-Sheikh and Aqaba.

Thomas-Greenfield also confirmed her country’s support for freedom of movement for the peacekeeper forces on the Lebanese border and affirmed the decision taken under the Trump administration to recognize Israeli sovereignty on the Golan Heights

“Our policy in this regard the status of the Golan Heights remains unchanged from 2019,” she said.

UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland said that from June 15 to September 19, Israeli security forces demolished 238 illegal Palestinian structures, as he noted that authorizations for structures are almost impossible to obtain.

In addition, he said, shrinking grazing land and settler violence have forced Palestinians to leave their homes in Area C of the West Bank.

In describing the violence of the last three months, he said, 68 Palestinians, including 18 children, were killed by Israeli security forces during demonstrations, clashes, security operations, attacks or alleged attacks against Israelis, and other incidents.

In conjunction, there were 10 Israelis, including one woman, two children, and three Israeli security forces personnel were killed.

Wennesland said he remained gravely concerned by the intensification of violence in the occupied West Bank and Israel – at levels not seen in decades – and the use of increasingly lethal weaponry, including in densely populated areas.

Wennesland said, “I condemn all acts of violence against civilians, including acts of terror.”He added, “I am disturbed by the high levels of settler-related violence, often in the proximity of Israeli Security Forces, with perpetrators rarely held accountable. Israel must act to stop all settler violence.”

Iran terms Netanyahu speech at UNGA a comedy show

Iran has termed speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly a “comedy show” and utterings against its peaceful nuclear program and its regional actions “unfounded”.

In a statement released, the delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran noted that Netanyahu had rambled on during his talks to the United Nations about the “curse of a nuclear Iran” and claimed that Tehran had spent “billions to arm its terror proxies.”

In addition, Netanyahu bragged that the scandalous Abraham Accords would herald a “New Middle East” that would bring “Arabs and Jews closer together” and bring about significant changes in the region.

“The baseless allegations made by Israeli officials no longer fool anyone. Iranophobic campaigns and widespread systematic dissemination of disinformation and unfounded allegations against Iran have always been one of the main elements of statements—or better to say, comedy shows—made by the Israeli authorities in this august body,” the Iranian delegation said.

It added, “The regime attempts to portray Iran’s conventional weapon capabilities or its exclusively peaceful nuclear program, one that is under the most robust verification of the International Atomic Energy Agency, as a challenge to regional stability; this is but a hypocritical move to distract from the real danger this regime poses to regional peace and security, particularly its nuclear-weapon arsenals, clandestine and unsafeguarded nuclear installations and activities.”

It also emphasized the Israeli regime’s checkered history of housing, funding, inciting, and arming the most deadly terrorist networks.

“The repulsive Israeli occupation has brought many crises and instability throughout the region. As such, it is ironic that the prime minister of the Israeli regime spoke about developing a regional peace initiative while his bloodthirsty regime plans to annex even more of the already occupied Palestinian territories,” the statement noted.

Netanyahu’s claim that Iranian drones were used in the conflict in Ukraine was also rejected by the delegation, which stated that “such baseless allegations, which are solely based on false flags and fabricated assumptions, are nothing more than a propaganda apparatus launched by certain States to further their political agenda.”

The statement emphasized how Israel continues to threaten regional and international peace and security by possessing all known forms of WMDs.

The delegation responded to Israel’s threats to use force against Iran by saying, “The Islamic Republic of Iran reserves its inherent right to self-defense, under international law and the United Nations Charter, to decisively respond to any threat or wrongdoing committed by the Israeli regime.”

Israel’s disruptive policies and practices were also condemned by the Iranian delegation, which said that the regime has been committing atrocities against Palestinians for more than 70 years “in flagrant violation of the basic principles of morality, humanity, and the rules of international law.”

 

Collective security alliance for Persian Gulf

Rear Admiral Ali Reza Tangsiri, the commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Navy, has put forth the idea of forming a security alliance in the Persian Gulf that would include all the countries of the region. 

He suggested that eight littoral states of the Persian Gulf should form a naval alliance to ensure regional security without the presence of outsiders.

In comments at a televised program on Sunday, Tangsiri said the Persian Gulf countries are capable of ensuring regional security through mutual cooperation within the framework of an 8-nation alliance, according to Tasnim News. 

He added that the naval alliance would help the regional people live in peace, reminding the neighboring states that the outsiders provoke Iranophobia to justify their illegitimate presence in the region.

The commander warned that the foreign military forces are in the region with the purpose of selling arms and plundering the oil resources.

In June, Shahram Irani, the chief commander of the Iranian Army’s Navy, dropped a bombshell that jolted the US into reiterating its presence in the Persian Gulf.

Irani said a maritime coalition in the north Indian Ocean will be established with the participation of Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Pakistan, and India.

“Today, the countries of the region have reached the point, where they believe, that if there is to be security in the region, it can be done and established through synergy and cooperation,” he said, adding that new coalitions are taking shape in the region and beyond in this regard. 

Irani continued, “Soon we will witness that our region will be free from any unjustified force and the people of the region will be dominant in their security field using their soldiers.”

The commander said Iran had already launched joint regional action with Oman. Saudi Arabia has entered this action, he noted. “The UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq, Pakistan, and India are also included,” Admiral Irani stated. 

He pointed out, “Almost all the countries of the north Indian Ocean area have come to believe that they should stand by the Islamic Republic of Iran and jointly establish security with significant synergy.”

The US was quick to dismiss the Iranian initiative. It described the Iranian proposed maritime coalition as defying reason.

“It defies reason that Iran, the number one cause of regional instability, claims it wants to form a naval security alliance to protect the very waters it threatens,” US 5th Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces spokesperson Cmdr. Tim Hawkins said, according to Breaking Defense.

 

Canadian allegations against India put United States in a pinch

The United States is caught in the middle of a diplomatic war between India and Canada, after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations that Indian agents were behind the killing of a Sikh Separatist leader in the country.

The explosive allegation comes amid the Biden administration’s charm offensive toward India as a key bulwark against China, with many questioning the US relationship with India’s controversial Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

The US reportedly worked closely with Canada in investigating the apparent murder on its soil. President Biden has not publicly commented on the allegations, highlighting the tricky balancing act of standing by Canada without alienating India.

All eyes are now on whether Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will present evidence to support his claims and just how bad relations between Ottawa and New Delhi will get before the US is forced to step in.

Since Trudeau’s public allegations against India on Tuesday, relations between the two countries have hit rock bottom. Canada has received no public support from its allies backing up the claim. 

Vivek Dehejia, professor of economics and an India-Canada policy expert at Carleton University in Ottawa, told The Hill that Canadian officials and Trudeau assumed they would get unconditional support from their allies and from the US in particular. 

“They have been disappointed by the level of support that they have received. If you look carefully at National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan’s recent comments, he’s walking a tightrope because Canada’s very dramatic allegations have put the US and other NATO allies in a bind,” he added.

On Thursday, Sullivan offered a vague statement in support of Canada’s undertaking in this investigation and said the US has also been in touch with Indian government.  

“It is a matter of concern for us. It is something we take seriously. It is something we will keep working on, and we will do that regardless of the country,” he told reporters at the White House on Thursday.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US was coordinating with Canada on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Friday, and called for India to cooperate in the ongoing probe.

“We want to see accountability. And it’s important that the investigation run its course and lead to that result,” Blinken told reporters in New York.

The Washington Post reported earlier this week that several senior officials of Canada’s Five Eyes allies, of which the US is a member, were informed of the allegations ahead of the G20 summit in New Delhi. Nevertheless, no public comment was made by any senior leaders among the group’s members, which also include the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

According to Sadanand Dhume, a senior fellow at the Washington, DC-based American Enterprise Institute, the Biden administration has no intention of sacrificing its relationship with India over an ill-judged accusation by Trudeau.

Biden has made closer ties with India a foreign policy priority in its efforts to counter China’s influence in Asia, inviting Modi for an official state visit in June, when he also addressed Congress. 

That was the same month that masked gunmen killed Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a Sikh temple in Vancouver. The 45-year-old separatist leader had previously been designated as a terrorist by India. 

India has long maintained that Canada has turned a blind eye toward extremist elements against India, especially Khalistani secessionists who demand a separate homeland for Sikh in the Punjab region. 

“The fact is that the Canadians have allowed some pretty dodgy people to use Canadian soil and to spread violent messages,” Dhume said.

“It’s not as though there’s deep sympathy for Canada given that Trudeau has not handled this really well. He’s really been forced into a corner here.”

Trudeau has also come under scathing criticism from some former officials back home. 

Omer Aziz, a former foreign policy advisor for Trudeau’s administration in Canada, wrote in The Globe and Mail that Ottawa’s foreign policy initiatives have never understood South Asia or India, but were instead aimed at winning over the sizable ethnic Sikh vote at home. 

“Under Trudeau, the foreign policy choices have been subordinated to domestic diaspora politics, given the importance of the Sikh diaspora in Canada, which have been important liberal voters. Trudeau, who has a minority in Canadian parliament, is only in power because of the New Democratic Party led by Jagmeet Singh,” Dehejia told The Hill.

Singh is the first Sikh to lead a major federal party in Canada, and helped Trudeau form a minority government last year after the Liberals failed to win a majority in parliament. 

In New Delhi, the Canadian allegations have united a fractious political landscape. 

“The Indian response has been ferocious, and it’s been uniform,” said Dhume, adding that it has dredged up memories of the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984 and Air India bombing the next year, both of which were linked to Sikh separatists. 

Even Modi’s main opposition, the Indian National Congress has backed his government’s stance on Trudeau and Canada in a rare show of unity. 

“The Congress reiterates that the country’s fight against terrorism has to be uncompromising, especially when it threatens India’s sovereignty, unity and integrity,” it said in a statement.

Pressure is now on Trudeau to reveal how Canada obtained the intelligence that led it to so publicly suggest the Indian government was behind the killing. 

The prime minister doubled down on his claims Thursday, again saying Canada had credible reasons to believe that agents of the government of India were involved in the killing of a Canadian on Canadian soil.

Canada may not be in a position to reveal where it got the information, Dhume said, but the Indian view is that if you’re not in a position to corroborate … then don’t make the allegation in public.

Yet ultimately it may depend on the US to settle the growing feud, which has resulted in India halting new visas for Canadians and expelling a Canadian diplomat. 

“Only the US has the ability to solve this as only they have both trust and influence in both Ottawa and New Delhi,” Dhume added. 

 

 

 

 

 

Why can’t Pakistan buy oil and gas from Iran?

The United States first imposed sanctions on Iran in 1979 on the pretext of radical students storming its embassy and taking staff hostage. Since then sanctions have remained in force, in fact new sanctions have been imposed over the years.

While the United States continues to play the mantra that Iran is busy in the production of nuclear warheads, it hasn’t come up with any credible proof. Many doubt it is a hoax call like presence of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and Iraq busy in the production of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

The growing perception is that the United States considers Iran a hurdle in the creation of its hegemony in the region, the major source of crude oil.

There is also growing impression among Pakistanis that the successive governments in Pakistan due to the US pressure stopped buying crude oil from Iran and didn’t go ahead on the construction of Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline.

The US administration is fully cognizant of the fact that Pakistan’s GDP growth is being pegged due to looming energy crisis. However, Pakistan is not allowed to buy crude oil and gas from Iran.

It is on record that India has been buying crude oil from Iran and also from Russia, despite imposition of sanction.

It is high time Pakistan should ask the United States to allow it to import crude oil and gas from Iran.

To be honest, the United States has no legal or moral authority to restrict any country from buying Iranian energy products.

Lately, the United States has not only swapped prisoners with Iran, but also allowed transferred US$6 billion to Iran. This was in fact Korean money payable to Iran, against crude oil already purchased.

Is it not the height of hypocrisy that United States has used money which it never owned for the exchange of prisoners, but didn’t release the funds when Iran needed it the most during COVID-19 pandemic?

The time has come Pakistanis should assert themselves and convince the US that buying energy products from Iran bodes well for Pakistan. If India can pay Russia in different currencies, Pakistan should also be allowed to buy energy products from Iran against supply of food.

On may recall that during sanctions on Iraq, the country was allowed to export certain quantity of crude oil and use the proceeds for buying food under “Oil for Food Program”.