February 18, 2010

JERUSALEM—A soldier and two Border Police officers were injured when West Bank teens rioted, believing an army exercise was an eviction.

Some 30 teens threw rocks and bottles filled with paint at Israeli soldiers and other Israeli security forces Wednesday evening in the middle of an exercise aimed at defending Israeli communities against terrorist attacks, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

The exercise took place in the northern West Bank settlement of Yitzhar, located near Nablus.

The rioting teens also blocked the community’s gate to prevent the security forces from leaving.

In addition to the injuries, several military vehicles were damaged, according to the IDF.

The IDF had cleared the exercise with community leaders, according to reports.

“The IDF condemns tonight’s events, and will take severe measures against those involved,” an IDF statement said.

WASHINGTON —The head of a Democratic congressional delegation to Israel is criticizing the country’s deputy foreign minister for refusing to meet with the group over its connection to J Street.

Danny Ayalon, the deputy foreign minister, declined to meet Wednesday with the delegation of five Democratic Congress members led by Rep. William Delahunt (D-Mass.) due to the trip’s sponsorship by the J Street Education Fund and Churches for Middle East Peace.

Additionally, JTA has learned that the Israeli army blocked the delegation from a planned tour of the Gaza Strip.

“In our opinion this is an inappropriate way to treat elected representatives of Israel’s closest ally who are visiting the country—and who through the years have been staunch supporters of the U.S.-Israeli special relationship,” Delahunt said at a news conference.

Joining Delahunt in the delegation are Reps. Bob Filner and Lois Capps, both California Democrats, Mary Jo Kilroy (D-Ohio) and Donald Payne (D-N.J.). The five-day trip included meetings with top Palestinian officials, the king and prime minister of Jordan, and members of the Knesset.

Maariv reported that the Foreign Ministry recommended the Israeli prime minister and president not meet the delegation, and permitted only a meeting with Dan Meridor, one of five deputy prime ministers. Sources within J Street expressed their dismay.

On Thursday, the delegation met with the opposition leader, Tzipi Livni, who also implicitly criticized Ayalon in a statement.

“Even if there are difference of opinion, and there are, that is not the way to treat Israel’s friends who want what is good for it,” she said.

J Street, which describes itself as “pro-Israel and pro-peace,” favors U.S. pressure on Israel and the Palestinians, and criticized Israel’s invasion of Gaza. In recent months, however, it also has backed Israel on several high-profile issues and lined up behind immediate passage of new U.S. sanctions against Iran. Israel’s ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, recently told The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles that “the J Street controversy has come a long way toward resolving” and said the group had moved “much more into the mainstream.”

Ayalon offered to meet with the lawmakers as long as representatives of the sponsoring groups were not present, a condition the delegation rejected.

In response to Delahunt’s request for an explanation, the Foreign Ministry released a statement that said it was “happy to arrange such meetings for U.S. Congress members currently in Israel, without any mediators. The Foreign Ministry is troubled by the attempt to dictate who will be present at such meetings, which is unacceptable in diplomatic life.”

Meetings between Israeli officials and such delegations are typically mediated by representatives of pro-Israel groups.

Ayalon already had voiced his displeasure with J Street on Tuesday when addressing the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, telling the audience that “[J Street] cannot say that they are pro-Israel”—a claim that Delahunt branded as inaccurate.

An elevator was transferred to Gaza for use in the coastal strip’s only maternity hospital.

The elevator will be installed in the three-story Al-Awda Maternity Hospital in Jabaliya, which is used by all women giving birth in the Gaza Strip, according to a statement by the Defense Ministry’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories department.

The transfer of the elevator was executed with the cooperation and funding of the World Health Organization, and following a formal request by the Quartet, the diplomatic grouping of the United States, the United Nations, Russia and the European Union that is mediating the Middle East peace process.

A new campaign will turn Israeli citizens into goodwill ambassadors for Israel abroad.

The Ministry for Public Diplomacy and the Diaspora has started an initiative to teach Israelis how to present Israel positively. The initiative includes pamphlets given to Israeli passengers leaving Ben Gurion International Airport, a Web site and training workshops across the country.

The trainees will include ordinary citizens, as well as businessmen, celebrities, athletes, youth groups participants and politicians, among others.

“To counter the vast sums of money invested by Arab states in propaganda against Israel, we have to mobilize our human capital, meaning the residents of Israel,” Information Minister Yuli Edelstein said in a statement.

A poll commissioned by the ministry found that 91 percent of the 495 Jewish Israelis surveyed believed that Israel has a bad or very bad image abroad. Some 85 percent said they would want to help represent Israel when they are abroad.

Three million Israelis go abroad each year.