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Thursday, December 18, 2014
Excerpts: Netanyahu, no better choice. No attacks Jordan Posts on Iraqi border. Jordan's 1 million guest workers. EU. insists on Hamas terror status December 18, 2014

Excerpts: Netanyahu, no better choice. No attacks Jordan Posts on Iraqi
border. Jordan's 1 million guest workers. EU. insists on Hamas terror status
December 18, 2014

+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon) 18 Dec.’14:”Poll: Israelis Want Netanyahu Out
but Don’t See Better Choice”, Agence France Presse

SUBJECT: Netanyahu, no better choice

FULL TEXT:Most Israelis would like to see Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
replaced after March elections but, paradoxically, he is seen as most
suitable for the job, an opinion poll said Thursday[18 Dec.].

Israelis go to the polls on March 17, just over two years after Netanyahu's
right-leaning coalition took office and following a spat in which the
premier fired two ministers.

The survey conducted by the Dialog Institute and published by Haaretz
newspaper, showed that 53 percent of those polled do not want Netanyahu to
win a third consecutive term in office, for four in total.

Nevertheless, 34 percent agreed that the incumbent and head of the
right-wing Likud Party is the most credible candidate and the most capable
to be prime minister.

Coming a distant second, at 17 percent, was Labour party head Isaac Herzog.

The survey also said Likud could end up neck and neck with an alliance of
Labour and the centrist party HaTnuah of former justice minister Tzipi
Livni, one of the two cabinet members sacked by Netanyahu.

In that case each would secure 21 seats in the 120-strong Knesset,
parliament, said Dialog, which had given Likud 24 seats in a survey
published three weeks ago.

A poll published by Maariv newspaper last week said the Labour-HaTnuah
alliance could gain 23 seats against 21 for Likud.

A total of 505 people were polled by Dialog in the latest survey which has a
margin error of 4.2 percentage points.


+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 18 Dec.’14:”No attacks on Jordanian posts on Iraqi
border –Army”
SUBJECT: No attacks Jordan Posts on Iraq border

FULL TEXRT:AMMAN — The army on Wednesday[1 dismissed news reports claiming
that an armed group had attacked military posts on the Jordanian-Iraqi
border.

In a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Jordan Armed
Forces-Arab Army (JAF) Spokesperson Col. Mamdoh Al-Ameri said an armed group
driving three jeeps believed to belong to the Islamic State group clashed
with Iraqi army personnel within Iraqi territory and bombed two military
barracks before withdrawing further into Iraq.

Ameri underlined JAF's readiness to deal with any infiltration, and attempts
to hamper the security and stability of Jordan.

Also on Wednesday[17 Dec.], Border Guards foiled an attempt to smuggle
narcotic pills, hashish, weapons and ammunition into the Kingdom through the
border with Syria, Petra quoted the JAF spokesperson as saying.

Ameri added that Border Guards exchanged fire with smugglers while they were
trying to bring the contraband into the Kingdom from Syria.

One of the smugglers was injured in the skirmish, he noted, adding that the
smuggled items are being examined, with further details to be announced
later.

The army has various measures in place to safeguard border security and foil
infiltration and smuggling attempts which could endanger national security,
JAF has said in previous statements.

+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 18 Dec,’14:”Over 700,000 guest workers unregistered”,
by Khetam Malkawi
SUBJECT:Jordan 1 million guest workers,only 275,000 registered
EXCERPTS:AMMAN — Although the Kingdom is not a signatory to the
International Convention on Migrant Workers, it has several laws that
regulate migration and rights of migrant workers, according to the Phenix
Centre for Economic and Informatics Studies.

But Phenix Centre Director Ahmad Awad on Wednesday[17 Dec.] said the migrant
worker market requires more regulation as there are thousands of illegal
workers.

According to figures he cited, there are 1 million guest workers in Jordan
and only 275,000 of them are registered at the Ministry of Labour. The
rest — more than 700,000 — are not registered.

+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 18 Dec.’14:”E.U. insists on Hamas terror status
after blacklist removal”, Agence France Presse
SUBJECT:E.U. insists on Hamas terror status

QUOTE:”The E.U. insisted it still viewed Hamas as a terrorist group”

FULL TEXT:.

BRUSSELS — The European Union scrambled to set the record straight on Hamas
Wednesday[17 Dec.] after an EU court ordered the removal of the Palestinian
Islamist group from its terror blacklist, infuriating Israel.

The ruling threatened recent Brussels attempts to play a bigger role in
reviving the moribund Middle East peace process, with Israeli premier
Benjamin Netanyahu saying it showed Europeans had learned nothing from the
Holocaust.

A vote by the European Parliament backing the recognition in principle of a
Palestinian state just hours after the Hamas decision, following a series of
such votes in European nations, added fuel to the fire.

The EU insisted that it still viewed Hamas as a terrorist group, saying that
the ruling by the General Court of the European Union was based on a
technicality and that it might appeal the decision.

"This is a legal ruling, not a political decision," European Commission
spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said.

She said the EU would "take appropriate remedial action" and pointed out
that under the ruling the designation of Hamas as a terror group and the
freeze of its funds remains in place for three months or pending the outcome
of an appeal.

She added: "The EU continues to consider Hamas a terrorist organisation."

Britain also said it wanted to maintain the terror listing.

Its embassy to the EU said the judgement "does not change UK or EU's
position on Hamas, a terrorist group."

Hamas's military wing was added to the European Union's first-ever terrorism
blacklist drawn up in December 2001 in the wake of the September 11 attacks
on the United States. The EU blacklisted the political wing of Hamas in
2003.

Europe 'learned nothing' from Holocaust

However the General Court of the European Union, its second highest court,
ruled Wednesday[17 Dec.] that the listing was based on "factual imputations
derived from the press and the Internet", instead of sound legal judgements.

It stressed that the decision was procedural, and did "not imply any
substantive assessment of the question of the classification of Hamas as a
terrorist group”.

But Israel was in no mood for legal niceties.

"It seems that too many in Europe, on whose soil six million Jews were
slaughtered, have learned nothing," Netanyahu said, demanding that the EU
reinstate Hamas on the list.

"But we in Israel, we've learned. We'll continue to defend our people and
our state against the forces of terror and tyranny and hypocrisy."

Hamas, meanwhile, hailed the decision as a "victory".

"This is a victory for the Palestinian question and for the rights of our
people," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum told AFP.

"We thank the European court for this positive decision which must be
followed by international steps to lift the oppression of the Palestinian
people."

The row comes as a blow to the EU's new diplomatic chief, former Italian
foreign minister Federica Mogherini, who has focused on the Middle East
peace process since taking office on November 1.

One of her first visits was a trip to Israel, Gaza and the West Bank during
which she called for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Meanwhile, frustration has been growing in European capitals, with growing
pressure on Israel to halt new settlements and get the peace process back on
track.

In Spain, France, Britain, Ireland, Portugal and Luxembourg, national
parliaments have backed motions calling on their governments to recognise
Palestinian statehood, while Sweden's government has actually done so.

===
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA

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