Tag: senate foreign affairs committee
Deal Or No Deal, Congress Primed To Act On Iran

Deal Or No Deal, Congress Primed To Act On Iran

By William Douglas, McClatchy Washington Bureau (TNS)

WASHINGTON — Whenever a deal is announced on Iran’s nuclear program, President Barack Obama faces a tough slog in Congress, where skepticism abounds about the ability of the administration and five world powers to curb Tehran’s nuclear program.

With Congress out of town on vacation Tuesday, there was little commentary about the administration’s decision to extend talks past a midnight deadline that had been set for finding a framework agreement.

If no deal is struck, the House of Representatives and the Senate may move quickly to impose new sanctions on Iran. If a deal is struck, both chambers, Republican controlled, are expected to move quickly to pass legislation requiring Congress to pass judgment on the agreement.

“Congress will make its skepticism clear, its disapproval clear,” said Jon Alterman, director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Middle East Program. But whether Congress could stop a deal remains to be seen. “I have a hard time seeing how it will be an insurmountable obstacle,” he said.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has signaled his intentions, telling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday in Israel that he shares the prime minister’s concerns that whatever is negotiated in Lausanne, Switzerland, will be tilted in Tehran’s favor.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, who also is making his way to Israel during Congress’s two-week spring recess, told CNN on Sunday that “sanctions are going to come, and they’re going to come quick.”

But it’s not just Republicans who have doubts about dealing with Iran.

The Senate Foreign Affairs Committee is preparing to act on April 14 on a bill co-authored by Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and ranking Democrat Bob Menendez of New Jersey. The bill would require Obama to submit text of a nuclear agreement to Congress and would prohibit the administration from lifting sanctions against Iran for 60 days while lawmakers conduct a review.

The bill has 21 co-sponsors, including eight Democrats and independent Angus King of Maine.

Bipartisan distrust toward Iran was evident Thursday when lawmakers voted 100-0 for a nonbinding amendment to impose new sanctions on Iran if it violates the interim nuclear deal or any future agreement.

(Anita Kumar of the Washington Bureau contributed.)

(c)2015 McClatchy Washington Bureau, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

Photo: Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell meet in the U.S. Capitol. January 7, 2015. (Official Photo by Caleb Smith; Speaker Boehner/Flickr)

Israel’s Netanyahu Orders Officials To Halt Ties With Palestinians

Israel’s Netanyahu Orders Officials To Halt Ties With Palestinians

By Batsheva Sobelman, Los Angeles Times

JERUSALEM — Relations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders continued a downward spiral Wednesday with a new Israeli directive to its ministers to halt cooperation with their Palestinian counterparts.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered government ministries to stop high-level communications with corresponding Palestinians, halting assorted economic and civilian cooperation efforts.

Netanyahu’s directive was an Israeli response to the “Palestinian abrogation of their commitments and violation of understandings,” said an Israeli official speaking on condition of anonymity. The official declined to say whether the government was planning to impose further sanctions on the Palestinian Authority.

The recent disruption of the peace talks erupted after Israel delayed the planned release of a group of Palestinian prisoners in an attempt to secure a Palestinian commitment to continue the talks past April.

In response, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas submitted to the United Nations requests to join 15 international conventions, after which Israel canceled the prisoner release altogether, sending the talks into deep crisis.

Despite the disruptions in negotiations, Israeli and Palestinian officials have continued to work cooperatively to some degree on issues related to the environment, agriculture, tourism and infrastructure. Contacts at ministerial and top officials levels are now suspended, permitting only lower field-level cooperation, Israeli media reported.

Security coordination is exempt from the directive and will continue as usual. Also exempt is Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, head of Israel’s negotiation team that has met several times in recent days with the Palestinian and U.S. delegates seek an end to the crisis.

The directive came several hours after U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry addressed the crisis in the talks during a hearing of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.

While noting both sides had taken “unhelpful” positions, Kerry suggested the delayed prisoner release followed by the announcement of a controversial housing plan tipped the talks over the edge. “And then … 700 settlement units were announced in Jerusalem and, poof, that was sort of the moment,” Kerry summarized.

So far, Netanyahu’s office has not responded publicly to Kerry’s comments, regarded as blaming Israel for the breakdown of the talks, but hawkish members of Netanyahu’s government rejected the notion. “Israel will never apologize for building in Jerusalem,” said Economy Minister Naftali Bennet.

Opposition leader Isaac Herzog called Wednesday’s directive an “unnecessary move” that would undermine Israeli interests and the business sector. Commenting to Israeli media, Herzog said “frustration and helplessness are no policy.”

Photo: Downing Street via Flickr