Schlaglicht Israel Nr. 19/13 Aktuelles aus israelischen Tageszeitungen 19. November – 02. Dezember 2013 1. Übergangsabkommen zum iranischen Atomprogramm Nach langen Verhandlungen haben der Iran und die USA, Russland, China, Frankreich, Großbritannien und Deutschland in Genf ein Übergangsabkommen zur Eindämmung des persischen Nuklearpro­gramms unterzeichnet. Die Vereinbarung gilt für sechs Monate, in denen ein finales Abkommen ausgehandelt werden soll. Wäh­rend dieser Zeit soll der Iran keine Urananreiche­rungen über 5% vornehmen und keine neuen Zentri­fugen und Anreicherungsanlagen errichten. Im Ge­genzug werden die Sanktionen gegen das iranische Regime teilweise zurückgefahren. Der israelische Premierminister Benjamin Netanya­hu kritisierte die Vereinbarung, die die Sanktionen für minimale Konzessionen von Seiten des Irans zurückschraube, als"historischen Fehler". Inzwi­schen empfinden aber immer mehr Israelis die von Netanyahu insbesondere an den USA geübte Kritik als kontraproduktiv und treten für einen gemäßigte­ren Ton ein. Give the agreement a chance "Netanyahu succeeded during recent years in con­vincing most of the world’s nations that the Ir anian nuclear threat is real, and that an Iranian bomb would endanger not only Israel, but the Middle East and in truth the entire world. Israel’s call to impose severe sanctio ns and its threat to use force[…] heightened the sense of urgency and ultimately advanced the agreement’s success. Nonetheless,[…] he must now[…] give the agree­ment a chance[…]. Automatic opposition and threats isolate Israel, and weaken its power to influence future agreements with Iran, which will be even more important." HAA 25.11.13 Editorial Mind the gaps "Netanyahu is right when he says that if the U.S. and Iran fail to strike an agreement after six months, they would prefer to stop short of declaring the talks a failure; rather, they would extend the interim agreement until it becomes the de facto permanent deal. The current agreement, despite its positive aspects, will not scale back Iran's capability to man­ufacture nuclear weapons in any meaningful way-­a provision that must be incorporated into any per­manent agreement as far as Israel is concerned. […] Only through cooperation and close coordin a­tion would Israel and the U.S. be able to accept a Plan B-- which would go into effect if Iran breaches the agreement or if the parties fail to reach an agreement after six months of negotiations. This plan would have to ratchet up sanctions and make the military option more credible and more threatening." Avner Golov, IHY 27.11.13 Geneva deal a victory "Netanyahu is raising meaningful points about the problematic character of the Geneva agreement: It leaves Iran as a nuclear threshold country[…] and it is even a withdrawal from the Security Council reso­lutions which called for a complete freeze of the Iranian nuclear program. What Netanyahu is not doing is acknowledging reality: The agreement was inevitable from the moment Rohani was elected Iranian president. Israel's job is now to stand on guard[…]. That is done through an ongoing and sincere dialogue with the US, and not through cries of despair and gloomy prophecies about an agreement which is an estab­lished fact." Alon Pinkas, JED 26.11.13 1