Israel authorities warn hospitals to prepare for earthquake Mon Jun 30, 3:04 PM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - A strong earthquake could soon rock Lebanon and parts of Israel, authorities said on Monday, urging health officials in northern Israel to make preparations for such an event. The probability of an earthquake of a magnitude of up to six on the Richter scale, originating in Lebanon and being felt in Israel has increased, the health ministry said in a letter sent to medical officials in northern Israel.Since February, abnormal seismic activity has been noted in southern Lebanon, which had suffered some 500 minor earthquakes in a three-month period, health ministry director-general Avi Yisraeli said in the letter.In May, the tremors have become more intense and were felt in northern Israel, he said adding that should an earthquake of such magnitude hit northern Israel, it may cause substantial infrastructural damage in the area.All medical facilities and organisations must do everything they can to enhance the level of readiness, Yisraeli said in the letter published by the ministry on Monday.
Similar concern was issued by Lebanon's national scientific research centre.The secretary general of the centre, Moueen Hamz, told AFP in Beirut that 800 tremors ranging in magnitude from 2.3-5.1 degrees on the Richter scale had shaken the south Lebanon regions of Tyre and Nabatiyeh since February 12.The tremors increased significantly in May and June, he said, urging the Lebanese authorities to take serious prevention measures.Experts in Lebanon expect a quake of between five and six degrees on the Richter scale to strike, like the tremor that shook Lebanon in 1956 killing 136 people and destroying 6,000 houses, Hamze said.Some seismologists in Israel say that quakes have historically rocked the region every eight decades, and the last one was nearly 81 years ago.About 300 people were killed in Jerusalem and nearby Jericho by the July 11, 1927 temblor.A similar quake measuring seven on the Richter scale and with an epicentre in the Hula Valley, today in northern Israel, devastated the town of Safed and killed some 4,000 people in 1837.
Rocket lands in Israel, straining Gaza truce Mon Jun 30, 4:48 PM ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A rocket fired from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip landed in southern Israel on Monday, putting further strain on a ceasefire brokered by Egypt. An Israeli police spokesman said the makeshift rocket had landed near a kibbutz bordering the coastal enclave, causing no damage or injuries.There was no immediate claim of responsibility for what was the fourth such attack since the truce went into effect on June 19.A Palestinian official who coordinates with Israeli authorities the passage of goods into the Gaza Strip said they informed him that Israel's border crossings with the territory would be closed on Tuesday in response to the rocket strike.On Sunday, Israel reopened three of its crossings with the Gaza Strip after cross-border rocket fire stopped.Israel had shut the crossings on June 25 after an Islamic Jihad rocket salvo which the Palestinian faction said was in retaliation for Israel's killing of one of its leaders in the West Bank.Other Gaza militants have also fired a rocket and two mortar bombs in two separate incidents.
The Egyptian-brokered ceasefire requires militant groups to halt rocket fire in return for Israel gradually easing its blockade of the impoverished territory.Israel sharply cut back the supply of goods into the Gaza Strip a year ago, after the Islamic militant group Hamas took over the territory from forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas's more secular Fatah faction.(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Writing by Joseph Nasr; Editing by Richard Williams)
JULY 1 FRANCE TAKES OVER EU PRESIDENCY
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=8576160&ch=4226714&src=news
Sarkozy combative as France assumes EU presidency By JOHN LEICESTER, Associated Press Writer Mon Jun 30, 5:36 PM ET
PARIS - President Nicolas Sarkozy was in combative mood Monday as France assumed leadership of the European Union, criticizing the bloc's trade chief and warning Europe's central bank against raising interest rates. Some analysts have questioned whether Sarkozy's sometimes brash and often direct style will be suited to the task of building consensus among the EU's 27 member nations as France holds the rotating presidency for the next six months.The EU is facing formidable problems in high oil prices, the threat to overseas sales from the euro's strength against the U.S. dollar and uncertainty about the bloc's future after Ireland's voters rejected a reform treaty this month.In a TV interview, Sarkozy reiterated France's priorities during its half-year at the helm would be stemming the influx of illegal immigrants, combatting global warming and softening the blow of oil prices. He said Europeans also want the EU to deal with threats posed by globalization.The European idea will be in danger if we don't protect Europeans, Sarkozy said.One of Sarkozy's long-standing complaints is that the EU's euro currency is overvalued, hurting European economic competitiveness in global trade.The European Central Bank is widely expected to raise its interest rates this week amid high inflation in the euro zone — a move that could send the currency even higher against the dollar.Sarkozy said raising interest rates would prevent people and companies from borrowing and investing. He blamed inflation on rising prices for commodities like oil and said doubling or even tripling interest rates would not bring oil prices down.
Don't tell me that to fight inflation, we must raise interest rates, he said.Sarkozy indicated that he, like his predecessor as French president, Jacques Chirac, would be a strong defender of European farmers.He accused the EU's trade chief, Peter Mandelson, and the head of the World Trade Organization of pushing trade proposals that Sarkozy said would lead to a 20 percent drop in European agricultural production and a 10 percent cut in its agricultural exports.That is 100,000 jobs lost. I will not let that happen, Sarkozy said.Irish voters' rejection of the EU reform treaty June 13 has cast a pall over France's EU presidency. The treaty can only take effect in 2009 only if ratified by all 27 EU states.The treaty, which took years to draft, aims to streamline the way the bloc makes decisions and bolster its powers in such areas as immigration and fighting crime. It also seeks to make the EU's foreign policy more effective with the creation of an EU president and single envoy to represent the bloc abroad.
FM wishes Syria did have nuclear programme Mon Jun 30, 4:21 PM ET
DAMASCUS (AFP) - Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said on Monday that his country had no nuclear programme but that he wished that it did in the face of Israel's undeclared nuclear arsenal. Muallem was speaking a week after a UN team inspected a desert facility in northeastern Syria that Israel bombed last year and which the United States says was a nuclear reactor being built with North Korean help and nearing completion.I speak as a Syrian citizen. If Syria had such a secret programme it would not have allowed them (the UN inspectors) to visit that site, Muallem told a joint news conference with visiting Norwegian counterpart Jonas Gahr Stoere.But as a Syrian citizen I would have wanted Syria to have such a programme because Israel has made huge strides in making nuclear bombs, Muallem added.A team from the International Atomic Energy Agency made a three-day trip to Syria last week during which it visited the Al-Kibar site at the centre of the US allegations.Syria has acknowledged that the facility was a military one but says it was disused.The UN watchdog's deputy director general Olli Heinonen who led the three-member team said the probe got off to a good start.We achieved what we wanted on this first trip. We took samples which we wanted to take. Now it's time to analyse them, Heinonen told reporters on his return to the watchdog's headquarters in Vienna on Wednesday.
Israeli defence minister to meet Palestinian leader Mon Jun 30, 3:49PM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak is due to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Tuesday in Greece, a statement from his office said. The meeting in the Greek capital, Athens, will be held on the sidelines of a meeting of Socialist International, the statement said.Israel and the Palestinians revived negotiations toward resolving core problems like the status of Jerusalem, the borders of a future Palestinian state and refugees at US-hosted talks last November.But no concrete progress has yet been announced.Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are due to meet in the United States in July, senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said last week.
Hamas emboldened by Israel-Hezbollah prisoner swap By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer Mon Jun 30, 3:37 PM ET
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Hamas militants holding an Israeli soldier said Monday they would stick to their tough demands in negotiations over his release, emboldened by the high price Israel is paying in a planned prisoner swap with Hezbollah. The declaration could complicate Israel's efforts to bring Sgt. Gilad Schalit home after two years in captivity. Israel agreed Sunday to free Samir Kantar, a Lebanese convicted in a grisly 1979 attack, along with other prisoners and bodies of Lebanese fighters, in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers.Israel has balked at Hamas' demands for a large-scale release of Palestinian prisoners, including many convicted in deadly attacks. But the Islamic militants said there was no reason to soften their demands in light of Israel's swap deal with Hezbollah.In a radio interview, Hamas strongman Mahmoud Zahar said the militants would work to release people Israel accused of having blood on their hands like Samir Kantar. We have to take advantage of this to release our prisoners.Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev would not comment on Zahar's remarks.Hamas-affiliated militants in the Gaza Strip captured Schalit two years ago in a cross-border raid that killed two other soldiers.Weeks later, Hezbollah guerrillas burst across Israel's northern border, seizing two other Israeli soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, touching off a monthlong war.After nearly two years of German-brokered negotiations, Israel's Cabinet voted 22-3 on Sunday to trade Kantar for Goldwasser and Regev's bodies.
Before the vote, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert confirmed the two soldiers were dead. In contrast, Schalit has made an audiotape and sent a letter from captivity.Refusing to release prisoners with blood on their hands — those directly involved in fatal attacks — has been a long-held Israeli principle, though it has been ignored several times in the past.Kantar was serving multiple life terms for infiltrating northern Israel and killing three Israelis — a 28-year-old man, his 4-year-old daughter and an Israeli police officer.
Witnesses said Kantar smashed the little girl's head against a rock and crushed her skull with a rifle butt. Kantar denied killing the girl or smashing her skull. Her mother, while trying to silence the cries of her other daughter, accidentally smothered the 2-year-old.
Because of the revolting details of the case, the planned release appears to set a new standard, possibly pointing the way to freedom for other prisoners in the future.Another prisoner serving multiple life terms, West Bank Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, is seen by many as a natural successor to moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas if he is released. Up to now, Israel has refused to consider freeing Barghouti because of the blood on their hands principle.Negotiations for release of Schalit are part of a June 19 cease-fire agreement hammered out by Egyptian mediators between Israel and Hamas. The military said Palestinian militants fired a rocket at southern Israel at dusk Monday, violating the truce. No injuries or damage were reported.In exchange for Schalit, Hamas has demanded freedom for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, though Barghouti is not known to be on the list.
Israel, which is holding about 10,000 Palestinians, has refused to free prisoners involved in deadly attacks. However, in recent days Israeli leaders have been talking about paying a painful price for the soldier, signaling a possible change.On Monday, after the Israel-Hezbollah deal was approved, Gaza militants took a hard line. Schalit will not see the light until the Israelis fulfill our demands, said Abu Mujahid, a spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees, another armed group involved in his capture. The (Israeli) occupation's decision to release Samir Kantar will pave the way for the release of Palestinian prisoners who are serving lengthy sentences.Critics of the Hezbollah swap have argued that trading Kantar for bodies would offer militant groups a greater incentive to capture Israeli soldiers and less reason to keep captives alive. I'm afraid Hamas, drawing a lesson from this deal, will harden its position, Housing Minister Zeev Biome, one of three government ministers to vote against the Hezbollah swap, told Israel Army Radio. Defending the deal, Olmert told a meeting of his Kadima party on Monday, I knew there would be criticism, but I did this because I wanted the boys to return home.
Israel MPs mull bill to make Golan pullout harder Mon Jun 30, 2:54 PM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - The Israeli parliament on Monday adopted at a preliminary reading a bill that would require any withdrawal from the occupied Golan Heights as part of a peace deal with Syria to be put to a referendum. The draft law stipulates that a referendum may only be avoided if a Golan pullout secures the support of two-thirds of MPs, parliamentary sources said.The bill must still be approved at second and third readings before it becomes law.
A total of 65 members of the 120-seat parliament backed the bill on Monday, with 18 voting against.Syria and Israel announced in May that they had resumed peace negotiations through Turkish mediators, ending an eight-year freeze.They have already had two rounds of indirect talks and are due to have two more in July.The Syrians want the return of all of the Golan Heights which Israel seized in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in 1981 in a move never recognised by the international community.Opinion polls suggest that a majority of Israelis oppose withdrawing from the Golan, now home to some 20,000 Jewish settlers and several military installations.But Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said Israel is ready to make concessions for the sake of peace.
Israel parliament adopts law on 'enemy' travel Mon Jun 30, 2:02 PM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - The Israeli parliament passed a law on Monday banning any citizen who has visited an enemy country in the previous seven years from standing for election to the legislature, triggering the anger of Israeli Arab MPs. Fifty-two members of the 120-seat parliament approved the law at a third and last reading while 24 MPs voted against it, parliamentary sources said.The legislation states that anyone who has visited an enemy country over the past seven years cannot stand for parliament.It is aimed particularly at MPs from Arab-led parties, some of whom have travelled to Lebanon and Syria, neighbouring countries officially at war with Israel.From now on, any Israeli who visits an enemy country without permission will not be elected to the Knesset for (a period of) seven years, crowed Zvulon Orlev, an MP from the far-right National Religious Party.From now, on Arab MPs must choose if they want to be elected to parliament in Damascus or in Jerusalem, added Orlev, one of the architects of the new law.Arab Israeli MP Ahmed Tibi said he would appeal to the Supreme Court against the new law, arguing that it did not receive the absolute majority of 61votes in parliament required of legislation affecting fundamental rights.Former Arab Israeli MP Azmi Bishara -- who had travelled frequently to Syria and Lebanon -- quit parliament and fled into exile in 2007 amid accusations he had collaborated with Shiite militant group Hezbollah during the previous year's war in Lebanon, charges he has consistently denied.
Syrian minister laments Israel's nuclear edge By Khaled Yacoub Oweis Mon Jun 30, 9:03 AM ET
DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syria's foreign minister said on Monday he wished his country could match Israel's atomic arsenal, but denied U.S. allegations that it had been building a secret nuclear reactor at a site bombed by Israel last year. Walid al-Moualem, making Syria's first official comments on last week's visit to the site by U.N. nuclear investigators, said it had been handled solely by Syrian security officials.Syria would not have allowed the inspectors in if it had such a secret (nuclear) program, Moualem told reporters after meeting his Norwegian counterpart, Jonas Gahr Stoere.As a private citizen, I wish Syria had this program quite simply because Israel has made huge advances in its manufacturing of nuclear bombs, the foreign minister said.Syria has accused the United States of helping Israel conduct the September 6 raid that Washington said destroyed a reactor built with the help of North Korea. Syria said the site was a normal military complex. Israeli officials have kept quiet on the nature of the target.Unlike Syria, Israel has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty. It is widely believed to have the only nuclear arsenal in the Middle East, developed over decades with Western help.
Investigators from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said after a four-day visit to Syria last week that they had examined the bombed site, but that more checks were needed.Chief inspector Olli Heinonen said the inquiry was off to a good start, with Syria's cooperation satisfactory so far.Syria said it was not hiding anything and urged the world to hold Israel accountable for what it described as a massive Israeli nuclear arms program.The IAEA sent Heinonen's team after receiving U.S. photos of the al-Kibar site that prompted the U.N. nuclear watchdog to put Syria on its proliferation watch list in April.The IAEA inspectorate is expected to report to the agency's board of governors before its next meeting in September.Syria and Israel began indirect peace talks months after the raid. Moualem said the Turkish-mediated talks had their ups and downs but he expected a third round of negotiations to take place in Turkey soon.The present negotiations process aims at establishing the basis to launch direct talks. We have an opportunity to reach a just and comprehensive peace. I hope the Israelis do not waste it by their internal wrangling, Moualem said.Divisions appeared in Israel's ruling coalition last month with the launch of a police investigation into money that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert received from an American financier while in previous government positions.Syria is demanding Israel returns all of the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the Middle East war 41 years ago. Israeli officials have said a peace deal depends on Damascus distancing itself from Iran and cutting links to groups such as Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah.(Editing by Alistair Lyon and Elizabeth Piper)
Egypt to reopen Gaza border By SALAH NASRAWI, Associated Press Writer Mon Jun 30, 6:49 AM ET
CAIRO, Egypt - Egypt will reopen its Rafah border crossing with the Hamas-run Gaza Strip for two days this week to allow hundreds of stranded on both sides to cross, a Palestinian diplomat in Cairo said Monday. Rafah has been closed for nearly the entire time since the Hamas militant group took over Gaza a year ago. With the opening, which begins on Tuesday, Palestinians who need medical treatment or have Egyptian residency permits would be allowed to cross into Egypt, the diplomat, Nabil Amr, told reporters in Cairo.
Palestinians returning from abroad will also be allowed into Gaza from Egypt, he said, adding that the opening of the border was humanitarian decision in response to appeals from Palestinians stuck because of border closures.The move followed talks on Sunday between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Egypt's chief of intelligence Omar Suleiman on the Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.
An Egyptian-brokered cease-fire between Hamas and Israel took effect in Gaza on June 19, though it has been marred by rocket attacks into Israel by the Islamic Jihad group that wounded two Israelis last week. That prompted Israel to close crossings between it and Gaza, though it re-opened one crossing on Sunday to cargo traffic, allowing a trickle of goods into the territory.The truce does not apply to the West Bank, but violence there has spilled over into Gaza and threatened the agreement.As part of the truce, the Palestinians demand the end of Israel's yearlong seal of Gaza's borders and an economic blockade that caused widespread shortages of basic humanitarian goods.The Rafah crossing is the main gateway for Gaza's 1.4 million people for travel abroad. In January, Hamas blew up the border wall between Egypt and Gaza, allowing thousands of people to move in and out for nearly two weeks before it was resealed. The incident seriously heightened tensions in the area.
Hamas has demanded the reopening of Rafah, but Israel has said it will not allow it until an Israeli soldier held captive by Hamas-allied Palestinian militants in Gaza is freed.
Israeli Cabinet approves Hezbollah prisoner deal By ARON HELLER, Associated Press Writer Sun Jun 29, 7:37 PM ET
JERUSALEM - The Israeli government agreed Sunday to free a Lebanese gunman convicted in one of the grisliest attacks in the country's history in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers killed by Hezbollah guerrillas. The German-mediated deal was a rare political victory for embattled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and closed a chapter from Israel's inconclusive war against the Lebanese militant group two years ago.But critics warned that the deal's heavy price for Israel could offer militant groups an even greater incentive to kill captive soldiers. In Lebanon Sunday, Hezbollah declared victory and planned celebrations.Israel's Cabinet voted 22-3 to OK the deal to return the bodies of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, captured by Hezbollah in a July 2006 cross-border raid that sparked a vicious monthlong war.Before a six-hour Cabinet debate, Olmert announced for the first time that the soldiers were dead. He nevertheless pushed for the deal to be approved, citing the country's deep moral commitment to its dead and captive soldiers.Since we were children, we have been taught that we don't leave wounded in the field and we don't leave soldiers in captivity without doing all we can to free them, he said.Israel will also receive the remaining body parts of its soldiers from the Lebanon war and a thorough Hezbollah report about Ron Arad, a missing Israeli airman whose plane crashed in Lebanon in 1986.The most difficult part for Israel was the release of Samir Kantar. He is serving multiple life sentences for infiltrating northern Israel in 1979 and killing three Israelis — a 28-year-old man, his 4-year-old daughter and an Israeli police officer.
Witnesses said Kantar smashed the little girl's head against a rock and crushed her skull with a rifle butt. The attack has been etched in the Israeli psyche as one of the cruelest in the nation's history. Kantar denied killing the girl or smashing her skull.Her mother, while trying to silence the cries of her other daughter as Kantar and three others rampaged through the apartment, accidentally smothered the 2-year-old.On Sunday, the mother, Smadar Haran Kaiser, said she was devastated by the decision but understood it.The despicable murderer Kantar was never my own personal prisoner, but the state's prisoner, she told a news conference. Even if my soul should be torn, and it is torn, my heart is whole.Israel also agreed to release four other Lebanese prisoners, dozens of bodies and an undisclosed number of Palestinian prisoners.Finance Minister Ronnie Bar-On, who voted against the deal, told The Associated Press that he objected to the deal because it included releasing Palestinian prisoners.Dovish lawmaker Yossi Beilin told Channel 10 TV he would have backed the deal if the soldiers were still alive.There is tremendous difference in my view between saving someone's life and receiving coffins, he said. I pray that we didn't give these people ideas that they can carry out more kidnappings and then ask for whatever they want.Israel was also negotiating a trade with Palestinian Hamas militants for the release of an Israeli soldier captured in a June 2006 cross-border raid from the Gaza Strip.Unlike his comrades in Lebanon, the soldier, Sgt. Gilad Schalit, has sent letters and an audio tape to his parents and is believed to be alive, though he has not been seen since his capture and the Red Cross has not been permitted to visit him either. In Beirut, Hezbollah said the Israeli approval of the deal reflected the guerrilla group's strength. What happened in the prisoners issue is a proof that the word of the resistance is the most faithful, strongest and supreme, the group's Al-Manar TV quoted Hezbollah's Executive Council chief Hashem Safieddine as saying. In the southern city of Sidon, members of the Popular Democratic Party were decorating the central Martyrs Square with pictures of Kantar and hanging banners such as Freedom to the hero, prisoner Samir Kantar and freedom comes with blood not tears.Hezbollah had offered no sign that Goldwasser and Regev were alive, and the Red Cross was never allowed to see them. Ahead of the vote, Olmert said for the first time that Israel has concluded the two soldiers were killed during the raid or shortly after.
We know what happened to them, Olmert told the Cabinet, according to comments released by his office. As far as we know, the soldiers Regev and Goldwasser are not alive.Goldwasser's wife, Karnit, praised Olmert for pushing for the trade, while still trying to come to terms with his declaration. My heart aches. It is very difficult for me. I am very tired, drained inside, she told reporters. All I want to do is to digest things, try to understand what happened ... to rest a bit ... to have my pain.Israeli officials said the deal could take place as early as next week. The trade will likely take place in Germany. Ofer Regev, brother of kidnapped soldier Eldad Regev, said he hadn't given up hope yet.
Until we see otherwise, we will continue hoping for a miracle to happen to us, he said.Associated Press Writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut, Lebanon, Ian Deitch in Jerusalem and Daniel Robinson in Tel Aviv contributed to this report.
A look at Israeli-Lebanese prisoner swaps By The Associated Press Sun Jun 29, 11:26 AM ET
A look at Israeli-Lebanese prisoner swaps:
• 2008: Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declares two soldiers captured by Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in 2006 to be dead. Cabinet approves deal to exchange Lebanese prisoner for bodies of the two soldiers and information on missing Israeli airman.
• 2004: Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon exchange an Israeli civilian and the bodies of three Israeli soldiers for 436 Arab prisoners and the bodies of 59 Lebanese fighters.
• 1996: Israel frees 65 Lebanese prisoners for the bodies of two soldiers captured in fighting in Lebanon.
• 1991: Israel trades 51 Lebanese prisoners for proof that one of its soldiers held in Lebanon is dead.
• 1985: Israel releases 1,150 Arab prisoners, almost all of them Palestinians, in return for three soldiers captured by Lebanese guerrillas in 1982.
• 1983: Israel swaps 4,600 Palestinian and Lebanese captives for six Israeli soldiers abducted Sept. 4, 1982, from their forward post in Lebanon. Most of the Arab prisoners had been rounded up during Israel's invasion of Lebanon.
U.S. proposes new Mideast talks: Palestinian official By Wafa Amr Sat Jun 28, 12:36 PM ET
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - The United States has proposed new talks in a push to reach a deal on Palestinian statehood before President George W. Bush leaves office in January, the chief Palestinian negotiator said on Saturday. Ahmed Qurie said U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had invited the Israelis and Palestinians to a series of trilateral discussions in New York and Washington.He added that if Israel changed some of its positions on key issues, we can reach a deal by the end of this year.Earlier this month Qurie said it would take a miracle to reach agreement in 2008. It was unclear what had changed since.Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said some progress had been made and a deal was doable, but none of the issues have been agreed yet.Qurie said negotiations were at a similar point to the one they reached in 2000when statehood talks in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Taba ended without agreement.Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas launched the first round of peace talks in seven years in Annapolis, Maryland, last November.
Bitter disputes over Jewish settlements in the West Bank have undercut U.S. efforts to reach a peace agreement this year.Olmert is involved in a corruption scandal that could force him from office and further disrupt peace talks.His spokesman Mark Regev said: Israel remains committed to the Annapolis framework of trying to reach a historic joint document by the end of this year. Important progress has happened but much work remains ahead.
Negotiators from both sides said progress has been made on some issues and they had started drafting a position paper to try to narrow the gaps between them.Israeli officials say headway has been made on the key question of borders.Among the most difficult stumbling blocks in talks have been the fate of Jerusalem and of Palestinian refugees, Jewish settlements, borders, security, and water.Palestinian negotiators said they had rejected an Israeli proposal to set aside the issues of refugees and Jerusalem for three years.
RICE INTENSIFIES PEACE EFFORT
Qurie said the Palestinians were seeking a state in the West Bank and Gaza, lands Israel occupied during the 1967 Middle East war, and were ready for a swap of equal areas of territory with Israel.
He said the Palestinians had rejected Israeli proposals to annex large settlement blocs in the West Bank and negotiate about the rest of the land.The Israelis began with one position and then changed it, based on accepting facts created on the ground ... We have rejected this Israeli approach, Qurie said. He said the Palestinians would reject any suggestion of an Israeli military presence in a future Palestinian state but would not object to the deployment of foreign or United Nations troops to oversee the implementation of a final deal. In a bid to push the two sides to reach a deal this year, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met negotiators from both sides in Berlin last week on the margins of an international donors' conference. Qurie said Rice had suggested holding more trilateral meetings in July in Washington, in September in New York on the margins of a United Nations General Assembly meeting, and again on November 15 in Washington. (Editing by Andrew Roche)
Mortars, closures disrupt shaky Gaza Strip truce By Nidal al-Mughrabi Fri Jun 27, 7:58 AM ET
GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired two mortar shells into southern Israel on Friday in the latest challenge to a ceasefire deal and the enclave's Islamist Hamas rulers, who appealed to all factions to abide by the deal. The shells landed in a farming community near the border with the Gaza Strip, causing no casualties, an Israeli police spokesman said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the cross-border fire, the fourth such incident since the Egyptian-brokered ceasefire began on June 19.Israel has kept border crossings used to bring humanitarian and commercial supplies into the Gaza Strip closed since Wednesday, after a cross-border rocket attack by the Islamic Jihad militant group.Israel allowed fuel to reach the territory's sole power station on Friday.Speaking in Gaza City hours after the two mortars were fired, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh urged all parties to respect the national consensus behind the ceasefire.Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri lashed out at militants who are defying the truce. It has become clear that some Palestinian parties do not want this calm deal to succeed and they do not want the siege to be lifted, Masri said.Those who fired the rockets did not aim them at the Zionist enemy but fired them to settle internal scores, he added, in an apparent reference to President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction.A militant arm of Fatah, al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, said it fired a rocket into Israel on Thursday.Al-Aqsa said it would abide by the ceasefire but vowed to respond to Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank.
The group said it was not behind Friday's mortar attack.
A European Union official said an estimated 600,000 liters of industrial fuel was being pumped through the Nahal Oz border terminal to Gaza's power station, enough to keep the plant running for several days.
The EU funds fuel deliveries to the power station.
Both sides have been trading blame for breaching the ceasefire agreement, which is backed by the West with the aim of advancing Israeli-Palestinian peace talks that have shown little outward sign of progress.The ceasefire deal calls for Hamas to stop cross-border rocket fire and for Israel to gradually ease its embargo on the Gaza Strip.(Additional reporting by Joseph Nasr; Writing by Adam Entous; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Monday, June 30, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
ARABS BREAK TRUCE TWICE ALREADY
Jailed prof in terror case faces contempt charges By LARRY O'DELL, Associated Press Writer Thu Jun 26, 6:49 PM ET
RICHMOND, Va. - A former professor who pleaded guilty to conspiring to aid a Palestinian terrorist group was charged Thursday with refusing to testify before a grand jury in a related investigation.
A federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va., indicted Sami al-Arian on two counts of criminal contempt. Arraignment is set for 10 a.m. Monday.Al-Arian has completed his nearly five-year prison term but remains in custody because he has refused to testify before a grand jury investigating Muslim charities and businesses. His attorneys had been negotiating his deportation, but the indictment puts that on hold.Al-Arian, a former University of South Florida computer science professor, was taken into federal custody in 2003. Prosecutors alleged that he was a leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which the United States calls a terrorist organization, but his 2005 trial in Florida ended in acquittal on some charges and a hung jury on others.The government decided to retry him, and he agreed to a plea bargain on lesser charges. He was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison.Critics say the case reflects overzealous prosecution of Muslim-Americans. Earlier this year, al-Arian went on a 57-day hunger strike to protest his detention.After failing to convict Dr. al-Arian before a Florida jury, the government has continued to use any and all means to prolong his confinement, said al-Arian's attorney, Jonathan Turley.
He said the government has used similar tactics to confine others acquitted of terrorism-related charges. For example, former Howard University professor Abdelhaleem Ashqar was sentenced to 11 years in prison for refusing to testify before a grand jury in Chicago after he was acquitted on charges of aiding the Palestinian terrorist network Hamas.Turley said al-Arian has given two sworn statements to the government and volunteered to take a polygraph test to demonstrate he's told everything he knows about the International Institute of Islamic Thought in Herndon, Va., which funded his Palestinian think tank in Tampa.This confirms that the government always intended to indict Dr. al-Arian regardless of his cooperation, Turley said.Jim Rybicki, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, said he could not comment on a grand jury matter.
The indictment alleges that al-Arian knowingly disobeyed a judge's order to testify before the grand jury. Al-Arian has claimed that terms of his plea agreement exempt him from testifying, but two judges have rejected that claim.
Rocket hits Israel, second violation of Gaza truce By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer Thu Jun 26, 3:35 PM ET
JERUSALEM - Gaza militants fired two rockets into southern Israel on Thursday, further straining a shaky, week-old truce as Israel kept vital Gaza border crossings closed in response. The rocket attack, the second since the cease-fire took effect, led to a call for retaliation by Israel's Foreign Minister while Palestinians charged that the continued closure of crossings violated terms of the cease-fire.Despite the breach, Israel dispatched an envoy to Egypt in hopes of negotiating a prisoner swap with Gaza's ruling Islamic Hamas.The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a violent offshoot of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah, claimed responsibility for firing the rockets Thursday. One exploded harmlessly in a field, the military said, refusing to disclose where the other landed. A statement from the militant group demanded that Israel halt its military operations in the West Bank.The truce, hammered out by Egypt over months of separate talks with Israel and Hamas, does not include the West Bank. On Tuesday, Islamic Jihad fired three rockets at Israel, wounding two people, linking the attack to an Israeli raid in the West Bank.Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said it should not matter who was behind the rocket attack.
I am not interested in who fired and who didn't fire at Israel, she told reporters. It is a violation, and Israel needs to respond immediately, militarily, for every violation.Previous truces have come apart quickly because Gaza militants claimed the right to retaliate for Israeli raids in the West Bank.Since the cease-fire agreement took effect June 19, Israel has responded to rocket attacks by closing crossings rather than retaliating with airstrikes at Palestinian rocket squads, as it did routinely since Hamas overran Gaza a year ago. Closure of the crossings, where vital supplies are shipped into Gaza, restores a blockade that has caused severe shortages.That hits at the main interest of Hamas — ending the blockade and easing the hardships facing the people under its control. Hamas officials charged that by restoring the blockade, Israel is violating the truce. Underlining the high level of distrust, Palestinians formed a committee to track Israeli violations.At a high-level security meeting late Thursday, Israel decided to keep the crossings closed Friday because of the latest rocket attack, defense officials said. A limited amount of fuel will be transferred, they said.At a meeting Wednesday, Israeli defense officials discussed how to proceed once the crossings are reopened. According to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was closed, Israel might reset the truce clock each time it closes the crossings in response to a Palestinian violation.Israel had significantly increased the amount of supplies flowing into Gaza on Sunday, in accordance with the truce agreement, and was ready for another increase next Sunday. But the rocket attack stopped the process. Now Israel is considering counting three days from each reopening of the crossings before it reinstates the original increase.During a visit to Prague, Czech Republic, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Israel should reopen the crossings to preserve the truce.
(The reopening is) important because the closure ... of Gaza is actually producing a situation where you have 1.5 million of our people who live there with a sense of not much to lose, Fayyad said. That is a situation that's got to end.Hamas charged that the reimposed blockade is a violation, but Hamas official Taher Nunu said the group remains committed to the truce.The (Hamas) government will not allow anyone to violate this agreement, he said.
The rocket attack Thursday came as Israeli envoy Ofer Dekel headed to Egypt to meet with Egyptian officials on the final stage of the truce — a swap of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for an Israeli soldier Hamas has held for two years. Israel has balked at Hamas' demands, saying its list of prisoners includes militants involved in deadly attacks on Israelis. Hamas also has demanded that Israel allow reopening of Gaza's only border crossing with Egypt in the final phase of the six-month truce deal. The Rafah crossing has been sealed since the Hamas takeover, confining Gaza's people to the seaside territory. Israel has said it would not allow reopening of Rafah until the soldier is freed.
Israeli official to Egypt for Hamas prisoner swap talks Thu Jun 26, 7:05 AM ET
CAIRO (AFP) - An Israeli negotiator was due in Egypt on Thursday in a bid to speed up indirect negotiations with the Hamas movement for the release of an Israeli soldier as part of a prisoner swap. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's envoy Ofer Dekel was due to hold talks with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, an Israeli government official said.According to the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat, quoting trusted Egyptian sources, Corporal Gilad Shalit would be handed over to Egypt before heading home after two years in captivity.The prisoner exchange deal would see the release of 150 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the release of Shalit who will be handed over to Egypt, where he will stay for a week and see his family, a source said.He would then go to Israel and once there, another 300 Palestinian prisoners would be released. Two months later 550 prisoners would be released, mainly women and children, the source said.Israel has objected to many names put forward by Hamas because they have Jewish blood on their hands, the source said.Egypt has given Israel a list of 1,000 names, but (Israel) has reservations about 75 percent of them.Israel is willing to consider their release on condition they leave the Palestinian territories to guarantee that they will not carry out any operations against Israel, the source said, adding that Egypt had objected to this condition.Israel is eager to maintain this series of steps but there is disagreement over the names.Suleiman had already played a key role in mediating a truce that went into effect on June 19 in and around the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
Army radio said Dekel would seek to ensure Egypt does not open the Rafah crossing with Gaza until militants there release Shalit, who was seized in a bloody cross-border operation by Hamas and other Palestinian militants two years ago.Rafah, the only Gaza crossing that bypasses Israel, has been closed since 2006, although Egypt has allowed some medical cases in.Israel has allowed only a trickle of goods to pass through the other crossings as part of a blockade it imposes on Gaza in a bid to force militants to halt rocket attacks.On Wednesday -- the second anniversary of Shalit's capture -- Hamas insisted once again that Shalit's release was not related to the truce agreement and that he would only be freed in exchange for jailed Palestinians.Under the terms of the prisoner exchange a certain number of Palestinian prisoners will be released in exchange for the captive Zionist soldier, said Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas's armed wing.
Israel's embattled Olmert survives, for now By Ilene R. Prusher Thu Jun 26, 4:00 AM ET
Jerusalem - Only hours before the Israeli parliament had been poised to dissolve itself early Wednesday – the first step in a no-confidence motion to bring down the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert – the unpopular Mr. Olmert secured himself a few more months in office by agreeing to hold primaries in his Kadima Party by late September. Many Israelis went to sleep Tuesday thinking that Wednesday would be the beginning of the end, and woke up the following morning to find that Olmert and the left-leaning Labor party, led by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, had reached a deal: They put the brakes on bringing the government down and Olmert would commit to stepping aside and allowing the Kadima, not yet four years old, to choose a new leader.Why did some of Olmert's toughest adversaries allow him to stay, following widespread calls for him to resign as details of a criminal investigation into a cash-taking scandal became apparent in the past month? Some cite fear of losing seats in the next parliament, while others say decisionmakers are convinced that Israel is in such a precarious place, with so much movement in various international and regional conflicts that throwing out the government now is too risky.The bigger parties – Shas, Labor, and Kadima – are not interested in early elections, because they don't think they will do better in early elections. About 80 or 90 of the 120 members of Knesset [Israel's parliament] can see that they won't be returning if there are early elections, says Peter Medding, an expert on Israeli politics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.Both the Labor Party and the Likud feel that this is the last thing the country needs and wants at this stage – because you go into a limbo, a sort of domestic spin, and it's not as if we don't have a few other things to keep us busy.
In these, he listed Israel's shaky truce with Hamas, which is just six days old and already being tested by militants who fired rockets into Israel Tuesday; possible negotiations with Hezbollah over Israel's captured soldiers; indirect talks with Syria; and nuclear tensions with Iran.I think that the overwhelming position in the country is that the prime minister should step down because he's in an untenable situation. But how do you get him do that? adds Mr. Medding.That Olmert's departure as prime minister is now a question not of if but of when seemed apparent from the way the last-minute deal was interpreted by the local Israeli press.Olmert knows that his term is finished, Columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in the mass-circulation paper, Yediot Aharonot. His enemies have beaten him. Even if he succeeds in surviving until next March, he has lost the ability to lead and the public confidence he needs to implement tough decisions. He clings to his hope for a miracle.... As long as he sits on the seat of the prime minister, he must create the impression that he will sit there forever. Otherwise he will be eaten alive.Right-wing parties were outraged that the pro-peace Labor Party backed out of its plans to bring down Olmert, following all-night mediation efforts. Rightist opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu criticized Labor Party chairman Mr. Barak for going easy on Olmert and said that the whole coalition had shown itself to be opportunist.Expectations that Mr. Netanyahu might be a formidable candidate for prime minister – he was premier from 1996 to 1999 – is a major factor in the political calculations of Labor and Kadima.Some analysts were concerned that the decision has the appearance of stability, but could backfire, and will certainly tie Olmert's hands from making any bold peace moves in the coming months.Anything he does in any direction, whether for peace or antipeace, he will be accused and suspected of doing it for political or personal motives, and of trying to distract people from all of the mounting evidence against him, says Medding.
Syria opens site to U.N. atom probe By Mark Heinrich
Wed Jun 25, 6:35 PM ET
VIENNA (Reuters) - Syria gave U.N. investigators a good look at the site of what Washington says was a secret nuclear reactor before Israel destroyed it, but initial checks were inconclusive and more are needed, they said on Wednesday. Chief U.N. inspector Olli Heinonen said his team was able to take extensive environmental samples at the remote desert location and the sensitive inquiry was off to a good start, with Syria's cooperation generally satisfactory at this stage.Heinonen, speaking to reporters on his return to Vienna after four days in Syria, said it was too early to draw conclusions about the nature of the site, bombed by Israel last September, and follow-up investigations could take some time.
Syria denies hiding anything from U.N. inspectors, saying Israel destroyed an ordinary military building and accusing the United States of spreading disinformation.Heinonen said his team gathered environmental samples of quite a lot of things in search of traces of material that might point to what Washington said was a nascent, plutonium-making reactor before it was flattened.To a great extent, we achieved what we wanted ... and agreed to do ... on this first trip, said Heinonen, the International Atomic Energy Agency's deputy director-general in charge of non-proliferation inspections worldwide.Pressed on whether his three-man team was able to see what it wanted to check and speak to relevant Syrian officials despite diplomatic reports its room for inquiry would be severely restricted, he said: Yes, quite a lot. But there is still work that remains to be done. It will take a while.The IAEA dispatched Heinonen's team after receiving U.S. photos of the al-Kibar site that prompted the U.N. watchdog to put Syria on its nuclear proliferation watch list in April.
SOME ANALYSTS SUSPECT SYRIAN COVER-UP
U.S. nuclear analysts say satellite images show the Syrians had removed debris and constructed a new building at the site destroyed by Israel in what they see as a possible cover-up.The initial scope of the inquiry was limited by what diplomats said was Syria's refusal to let the inspectors search three other sites for any evidence of a source of fuel for the reactor, or relevant processing equipment.Syria denied access on national security grounds, asserting such sites were conventional military bases only and off-limits.Asked about other sites of IAEA interest, Heinonen said: That (issue) will be something to deal with later.He said he did not know how long it would take to get results from the environmental samples.But the IAEA's inspectorate is expected to issue a detailed report on findings in Syria to the agency's 35-nation Board of Governors before its next meeting in September.The IAEA has criticized Washington for waiting until long after the Israeli raid to brief the U.N. nuclear watchdog about its suspicions that Syria, with North Korean help, had almost completed a reactor that could have yielded plutonium for bombs.IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei said ahead of the inspectors' trip that he doubted they would find any useful evidence so long after the site's destruction.ElBaradei also said there was no evidence that Syria, whose only declared nuclear facility is an ageing research reactor under IAEA monitoring, had the skills or fuel to run a major nuclear complex. Washington disputes this. But ElBaradei said he took the U.S. accusations very seriously and demanded "absolute transparency from Damascus. Damascus has denied concealing anything from the IAEA in possible violation of its Non-Proliferation Treaty obligations. Syrian officials and state-dominated media maintained silence about the IAEA mission throughout. Syria, an ally of Iran whose secretive nuclear program has been under IAEA investigation since 2003, has accused the United States of doctoring evidence in collusion with Israel, believed to be the Middle East's only nuclear-armed power.(Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
Last-minute deal saves Olmert govt by Ron Bousso
Wed Jun 25, 11:22 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert averted a major crisis on Wednesday, after his Labour allies agreed to reverse a decision to vote on dissolving parliament -- a move which could have brought down the government. Under the accord, Olmert agreed to a demand that his Kadima party hold primary elections by September 25 and Labour undertook not to back opposition efforts to bring down the government, parliamentary sources said.The deal between Olmert's centrist Kadima party and Labour, which is headed by Defence Minister Ehud Barak, was reached just hours before the motion to dissolve parliament was to be submitted in a preliminary reading.Kadima's leadership is now scheduled to meet by July 10 to fix a date for the primaries, which will choose a party chief and were expected to pit Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni against Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz and possibly Olmert.On Monday, 15 of the 19 Labour MPs had voted in favour of Barak's decision to support the dissolution bill on Wednesday.Barak had also threatened earlier this month to quit Olmert's coalition government if the prime minister did not resign over suspicions he had illegally accepted cash from a US businessman.Labour is Olmert's key partner in government and without its support the prime minister's fragile coalition would not have the required 61 seats for a majority in the 120-member parliament.Opposition leader and former premier Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the decision.This is a government of failure. You simply don't care. Well, you do care, you care for your seats, Netanyahu said in parliament.
Olmert has not ruled out running in the primary, but political analysts doubt he would be able to draw enough support.He has lost popular legitimacy, said Hanan Cristal, a political commentator with Israeli public radio.But he pointed out Olmert did gain time at a crucial moment when Israel is involved in indirect negotiations with Syria and considering prisoner swaps with the Lebanese Hezbollah militia and the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip.
Olmert has denied any wrongdoing but has admitted receiving campaign donations from US financier Morris Talansky, who last month told a Jerusalem court he had given Olmert envelopes stuffed with large amounts of cash.Kadima's leadership meeting could take place just days before Talansky is scheduled to be cross-examined by the prime minister's lawyers.Olmert on Sunday had warned that any Labour minister who voted in favour of dissolution would be out of office within 48 hours, a Labour official said.But Labour's secretary general, MP Eitan Cabel, said then that Labour ministers were ready to lose their jobs and head for early elections.The current legislature is due normally to run until the end of 2010.
Israel investigates security scare at Sarkozy departure Wed Jun 25, 5:46 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli authorities on Wednesday were investigating the apparent suicide death of a policeman which stirred a security scare during French President Nicolas Sarkozy's departure ceremony. A police spokesman confirmed an investigation had been launched into the death of Raed Ranen, 32, who seemingly shot himself while standing guard during the ceremony at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv on Tuesday.Authorities believe Ranen committed suicide, a version rejected by the man's family.After the shot that killed Ranen rang out, bodyguards rushed Sarkozy and first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy to their plane, while security officials whisked Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Shimon Peres into their armoured cars.Once it became evident there was no security risk, Olmert and Peres boarded the plane to bid farewell to Sarkozy, who had spent three days in Israel and the occupied West Bank.The policeman's brother Nayef made it clear he didn't believe in the suicide theory.He had no reason to take his own life. It may have been an accident or he was unwittingly killed by another Israeli guard, the Ynet news website quoted him as saying.His father Assad said his son was in good spirits when he left home to join his unit on Tuesday.He had a family, a house, friends and plans for the future, he had no reason to commit suicide, he said.The family hired a lawyer to ensure there is a complete and detailed investigation and to gain access to security video footage from the airport.
The shot was fired just as Olmert kissed the French first lady on the cheeks and President Shimon Peres bid farewell to his counterpart.The first lady, a model-turned-singer clad in a black pantsuit, rushed up the steps of the plane's gangway escorted by a bodyguard.The French president kept his composure, calmly walking up the steps and briefly raising his hand in a farewell gesture to his hosts.Police said Ranen hailed from the northern Israeli town of Beit Dajan and was a member of the Druze community, a minority group whose religion includes an eclectic mix of beliefs initially rooted in Islam.
Israel keeps Gaza crossings shut after rocket attacks: military Wed Jun 25, 3:26 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel kept three border crossings with the Gaza Strip closed on Wednesday following rocket attacks that breached a truce with the Palestinian territory's Hamas rulers, a military spokesman said. We are keeping the Karni, Sufa and Nahal Oz crossings closed for the time being following the firing of rockets in flagrant violation of the truce deal, the spokesman, Peter Lerner told AFP.He said however that one crossing, Erez, remained open.Three rockets slammed into southern Israel on Tuesday, slightly wounding two people. The Islamist Jihad movement claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Major powers fret over Israeli settlements, shaky Gaza truce by Lachlan Carmichael Tue Jun 24, 4:58 PM ET
BERLIN (AFP) - The United States and other peace brokers fretted Tuesday over the fragility of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks by calling for a truce in Hamas-run Gaza to last and Israel to freeze settlements. The appeal from the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and United States followed international pledges of 242 million dollars to bolster the Palestinian police and justice system to help pave the way to a viable state.Following a series of meetings here, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters that a peace agreement could still be framed before President George W. Bush leaves office in January.I continue to be hopeful that we can reach the solution by the end of the year as envisioned by Annapolis, said Rice flanked by her counterparts from the other members of the so-called quartet.At US-sponsored talks in Annapolis, Maryland last November, Israel and the Palestinians revived negotiations toward resolving core problems like the status of Jerusalem, the borders of a future Palestinian state and refugees.But the quartet acknowledged difficulties by stressing the urgent need for tangible progress toward a deal this year for an independent and viable Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, and an end to the conflict.A senior US official told reporters that the negotiations remained complicated by both events in Gaza -- which is run by the extremist Hamas movement -- and by volatile Israeli domestic politics.There was a recognition throughout the conversations today that the situation on the ground is very fragile because of Gaza, he said.US Generals William Fraser and James Jones are expected to return to the West Bank and Israel to resume their roles in seeking to improve the security situation, the official said.Two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip slammed into southern Israel on Tuesday, the first such attacks since the truce came into effect on June 19.One landed in the courtyard of a house and caused some damage and the other landed in a field.
This came hours after Israeli troops killed a senior Islamic Jihad fighter and another young man in the northern town of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, which was not included in the Egyptian-brokered truce.The quartet issued a statement urging that the calm be respected in full and expressed its hope that it would endure and lead to improved security for Palestinians and Israelis alike, and a return to normal civilian life in Gaza.European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana underscored the point later by saying to maintain the calm will be the most beneficial for everybody, adding it is the most important thing before them.And, reiterating their deep concern, the United States and fellow quartet members also called for an immediate freeze to Jewish settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and the dismantling of outposts built since March 2001.Israeli authorities said earlier this month that they had approved a plan to build 40,000 new homes in Jerusalem over the next 10 years, including in the annexed Arab eastern sector of the city.The move infuriated the Palestinians, who want east Jerusalem as their future capital, and drew international criticism.Actions on both sides undermine the roadmap which was launched by the quartet in 2003 to pave the way for a Palestinian state by first calling for a halt to both extremist violence and settlement building. The quartet said it planned to next come together in September at the UN General Assembly, where they would discuss plans for an international meeting in Moscow to bolster the Annapolis process. It would be the latest in a series of such meetings. Berlin played host Tuesday to a conference involving 41 countries which pledged 242 million dollars toward establishing a criminal-justice system based on the rule of law. The money will be passed to the Palestinian Authority (PA) over the next three years for measures such as putting more police on the beat, rebuilding destroyed courthouses and training judges, host Germany said. The cash comes out of 7.4 billion dollars already pledged by donors in Paris in December. On the sidelines of the talks in Berlin, Rice hosted a trilateral meeting with Israelis led by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Palestinians led by chief negotiator Ahmed Qorei, according to Palestinian and US officials.
Countries commit $242M to strengthen Palestinians By GEIR MOULSON, Associated Press Writer Tue Jun 24, 2:50 PM ET
BERLIN - Countries at an international conference Tuesday agreed to commit $242 million to strengthen the Palestinian Authority's police and judicial systems, sending what Germany's foreign minister called a clear signal of support for building a Palestinian state. The money will go to projects that include police training, building a forensic lab and prisons, installing communications networks, and creation of courthouses.Organizers had hoped for commitments of $190 million going into the meeting, which brought together officials including Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Arab League Secretary-General Amre Moussa.The result, I must say, is that a clear signal of support for the building of a Palestinian state was sent from here today, said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the conference host.Officials stressed that improving the civilian security infrastructure of the Palestinian Authority — which controls only the West Bank after last year's takeover of Gaza by the Islamic militant Hamas — was essential to the creation of a Palestinian state.It is not enough to determine the borders of a future Palestinian state, Livni said as the conference opened. When handing over the keys to the Palestinians, we must know that our neighbor is not a failed state or a terror state but a partner in peace.International Middle East envoy Tony Blair said upgrading security was essential regardless of whether progress is made toward an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by the end of the year, a precursor to establishing a Palestinian state.It is important in any event that we build the capacity and the capability of the Palestinian Authority, Blair said at a news conference.Not only does it matter to Palestinians that there is a proper authority for law and order, he said, but having additional security capacity will make it easier to push for an end to Israeli occupation.
Fayyad welcomed what he called a strong expression of support for a Palestinian state and said that security is the most important service any responsible government must provide to its citizens. But he also stressed the need for Israel to comply with international demands for a freeze in building Jewish settlements and for a change in Israeli security behavior.He cited an Israeli raid Tuesday in Nablus in which a senior Islamic Jihad commander was killed and a bystander shot as an example of the kind of activity that has to stop immediately if, in fact, we are going to succeed in the provision of security to our people.To bolster the projects, the European Union plans to increase its 32-member police mission to provide 70 training personnel, including judges, prosecutors and other legal experts.The so-called EUPOL COPPS mission has been bolstering a now 900-strong civil police force. It plans to widen its focus to improving jails and how courts operate.
The mission's leader, Colin Smith, has said the court system is seriously backed up, with 80 percent of prisoners in Palestinian jails waiting to be sentenced.Smith welcomed the outcome of Tuesday's meeting, saying in a statement that the financial commitments that have been made today ... will be instrumental in turning words into palpable results.The conference was followed by a meeting of the Quartet of Middle East peacemakers — the U.S., EU, U.N. and Russia. The group stressed in a statement the urgent need for more visible progress on the ground in order to build confidence and support progress in negotiations toward peace launched at Annapolis, Maryland, in November.
Sarkozy speaks out in favour of Palestinian state by Philippe Alfroy Tue Jun 24, 1:01 PM ET
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday spoke out strongly in favour of a Palestinian state after talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in the occupied West Bank town of Bethlehem. The security of Israel is non-negotiable for France, but the creation of a viable, democratic, modern state for the Palestinians is a priority for France, he said at a news conference with Abbas in the Biblical town.Later, preparing to head home from Ben Gurion airport, near Tel Aviv, his departure ceremony was disrupted by a security scare. A shot rang out when a member of the Israeli guard of honour killed himself in what police said was a suicide.Bodyguards rushed Sarkozy and first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy to their plane.Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Shimon Peres were taken to their armoured cars, but later boarded the plane to bid farewell to the Sarkozys.Sarkozy, who spent three days in Israel and the occupied West Bank, pledged in Bethlehem to work toward the creation of a Palestinian state.
We will use the same strength, the same commitment we used in ensuring Israel's security, said Sarkozy, who on Monday had addressed the Israeli parliament.He reiterated his call for Israel to freeze Jewish settlement activity in the West Bank, widely seen as a major hurdle to already slowly moving peace talks.Israel in recent months announced the construction of hundreds of new settler homes in the West Bank, infuriating Palestinians and drawing sharp criticism from the international community.I told our Israeli friends the injustice done to the Jewish people can't be resolved by creating conditions of injustice for the Palestinian people, Sarkozy said.The French leader, who urged Israel to ease travel restrictions in the West Bank, said it was a pleasure to come here to Bethlehem to see what the checkpoints were like, the wall, the misunderstandings on either side. This must stop.Israel has set up hundreds of roadblocks and checkpoints and erected a barrier separating itself from the West Bank, which often protrudes well inside the Palestinian territory.It claims the measures are vital to its security, but the World Bank says they are a major obstacle to Palestinian economic growth.Sarkozy also had sharp criticism for Hamas, the Islamist movement that seized power in the Gaza Strip last June and launched almost daily rocket attacks on Israel until a truce went into effect on June 19.Violence cannot solve the problems. Hamas is very wrong to have acted the way it did. You do not create peace through terrorism.As he spoke, another Palestinian faction, Islamic Jihad, claimed it had fired two rockets that slammed into southern Israel without causing any casualties.The attack from Gaza came after Israeli forces killed a senior Islamic Jihad fighter and another man in the occupied West Bank, which is not part of the truce agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Abbas, who has had no control over Gaza since Hamas ousted his forces last year, praised Sarkozy, saying: Your positions, your initiatives are those of a friend. You are a friend, you have the interests of this region at heart.On Monday, Sarkozy had told Israeli MPs that a lasting peace would entail a future Palestinian state and Israel sharing Jerusalem as their capital. There can be no peace without recognising Jerusalem as the capital of two states and the guarantee of freedom of access to the holy places for all religions, he said. Israel occupied Arab east Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed it -- a move unrecognised by the international community. It has since insisted it regards the whole city as its eternal, indivisible capital.
RICHMOND, Va. - A former professor who pleaded guilty to conspiring to aid a Palestinian terrorist group was charged Thursday with refusing to testify before a grand jury in a related investigation.
A federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va., indicted Sami al-Arian on two counts of criminal contempt. Arraignment is set for 10 a.m. Monday.Al-Arian has completed his nearly five-year prison term but remains in custody because he has refused to testify before a grand jury investigating Muslim charities and businesses. His attorneys had been negotiating his deportation, but the indictment puts that on hold.Al-Arian, a former University of South Florida computer science professor, was taken into federal custody in 2003. Prosecutors alleged that he was a leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which the United States calls a terrorist organization, but his 2005 trial in Florida ended in acquittal on some charges and a hung jury on others.The government decided to retry him, and he agreed to a plea bargain on lesser charges. He was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison.Critics say the case reflects overzealous prosecution of Muslim-Americans. Earlier this year, al-Arian went on a 57-day hunger strike to protest his detention.After failing to convict Dr. al-Arian before a Florida jury, the government has continued to use any and all means to prolong his confinement, said al-Arian's attorney, Jonathan Turley.
He said the government has used similar tactics to confine others acquitted of terrorism-related charges. For example, former Howard University professor Abdelhaleem Ashqar was sentenced to 11 years in prison for refusing to testify before a grand jury in Chicago after he was acquitted on charges of aiding the Palestinian terrorist network Hamas.Turley said al-Arian has given two sworn statements to the government and volunteered to take a polygraph test to demonstrate he's told everything he knows about the International Institute of Islamic Thought in Herndon, Va., which funded his Palestinian think tank in Tampa.This confirms that the government always intended to indict Dr. al-Arian regardless of his cooperation, Turley said.Jim Rybicki, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, said he could not comment on a grand jury matter.
The indictment alleges that al-Arian knowingly disobeyed a judge's order to testify before the grand jury. Al-Arian has claimed that terms of his plea agreement exempt him from testifying, but two judges have rejected that claim.
Rocket hits Israel, second violation of Gaza truce By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer Thu Jun 26, 3:35 PM ET
JERUSALEM - Gaza militants fired two rockets into southern Israel on Thursday, further straining a shaky, week-old truce as Israel kept vital Gaza border crossings closed in response. The rocket attack, the second since the cease-fire took effect, led to a call for retaliation by Israel's Foreign Minister while Palestinians charged that the continued closure of crossings violated terms of the cease-fire.Despite the breach, Israel dispatched an envoy to Egypt in hopes of negotiating a prisoner swap with Gaza's ruling Islamic Hamas.The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a violent offshoot of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah, claimed responsibility for firing the rockets Thursday. One exploded harmlessly in a field, the military said, refusing to disclose where the other landed. A statement from the militant group demanded that Israel halt its military operations in the West Bank.The truce, hammered out by Egypt over months of separate talks with Israel and Hamas, does not include the West Bank. On Tuesday, Islamic Jihad fired three rockets at Israel, wounding two people, linking the attack to an Israeli raid in the West Bank.Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said it should not matter who was behind the rocket attack.
I am not interested in who fired and who didn't fire at Israel, she told reporters. It is a violation, and Israel needs to respond immediately, militarily, for every violation.Previous truces have come apart quickly because Gaza militants claimed the right to retaliate for Israeli raids in the West Bank.Since the cease-fire agreement took effect June 19, Israel has responded to rocket attacks by closing crossings rather than retaliating with airstrikes at Palestinian rocket squads, as it did routinely since Hamas overran Gaza a year ago. Closure of the crossings, where vital supplies are shipped into Gaza, restores a blockade that has caused severe shortages.That hits at the main interest of Hamas — ending the blockade and easing the hardships facing the people under its control. Hamas officials charged that by restoring the blockade, Israel is violating the truce. Underlining the high level of distrust, Palestinians formed a committee to track Israeli violations.At a high-level security meeting late Thursday, Israel decided to keep the crossings closed Friday because of the latest rocket attack, defense officials said. A limited amount of fuel will be transferred, they said.At a meeting Wednesday, Israeli defense officials discussed how to proceed once the crossings are reopened. According to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was closed, Israel might reset the truce clock each time it closes the crossings in response to a Palestinian violation.Israel had significantly increased the amount of supplies flowing into Gaza on Sunday, in accordance with the truce agreement, and was ready for another increase next Sunday. But the rocket attack stopped the process. Now Israel is considering counting three days from each reopening of the crossings before it reinstates the original increase.During a visit to Prague, Czech Republic, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Israel should reopen the crossings to preserve the truce.
(The reopening is) important because the closure ... of Gaza is actually producing a situation where you have 1.5 million of our people who live there with a sense of not much to lose, Fayyad said. That is a situation that's got to end.Hamas charged that the reimposed blockade is a violation, but Hamas official Taher Nunu said the group remains committed to the truce.The (Hamas) government will not allow anyone to violate this agreement, he said.
The rocket attack Thursday came as Israeli envoy Ofer Dekel headed to Egypt to meet with Egyptian officials on the final stage of the truce — a swap of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for an Israeli soldier Hamas has held for two years. Israel has balked at Hamas' demands, saying its list of prisoners includes militants involved in deadly attacks on Israelis. Hamas also has demanded that Israel allow reopening of Gaza's only border crossing with Egypt in the final phase of the six-month truce deal. The Rafah crossing has been sealed since the Hamas takeover, confining Gaza's people to the seaside territory. Israel has said it would not allow reopening of Rafah until the soldier is freed.
Israeli official to Egypt for Hamas prisoner swap talks Thu Jun 26, 7:05 AM ET
CAIRO (AFP) - An Israeli negotiator was due in Egypt on Thursday in a bid to speed up indirect negotiations with the Hamas movement for the release of an Israeli soldier as part of a prisoner swap. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's envoy Ofer Dekel was due to hold talks with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, an Israeli government official said.According to the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat, quoting trusted Egyptian sources, Corporal Gilad Shalit would be handed over to Egypt before heading home after two years in captivity.The prisoner exchange deal would see the release of 150 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the release of Shalit who will be handed over to Egypt, where he will stay for a week and see his family, a source said.He would then go to Israel and once there, another 300 Palestinian prisoners would be released. Two months later 550 prisoners would be released, mainly women and children, the source said.Israel has objected to many names put forward by Hamas because they have Jewish blood on their hands, the source said.Egypt has given Israel a list of 1,000 names, but (Israel) has reservations about 75 percent of them.Israel is willing to consider their release on condition they leave the Palestinian territories to guarantee that they will not carry out any operations against Israel, the source said, adding that Egypt had objected to this condition.Israel is eager to maintain this series of steps but there is disagreement over the names.Suleiman had already played a key role in mediating a truce that went into effect on June 19 in and around the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
Army radio said Dekel would seek to ensure Egypt does not open the Rafah crossing with Gaza until militants there release Shalit, who was seized in a bloody cross-border operation by Hamas and other Palestinian militants two years ago.Rafah, the only Gaza crossing that bypasses Israel, has been closed since 2006, although Egypt has allowed some medical cases in.Israel has allowed only a trickle of goods to pass through the other crossings as part of a blockade it imposes on Gaza in a bid to force militants to halt rocket attacks.On Wednesday -- the second anniversary of Shalit's capture -- Hamas insisted once again that Shalit's release was not related to the truce agreement and that he would only be freed in exchange for jailed Palestinians.Under the terms of the prisoner exchange a certain number of Palestinian prisoners will be released in exchange for the captive Zionist soldier, said Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas's armed wing.
Israel's embattled Olmert survives, for now By Ilene R. Prusher Thu Jun 26, 4:00 AM ET
Jerusalem - Only hours before the Israeli parliament had been poised to dissolve itself early Wednesday – the first step in a no-confidence motion to bring down the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert – the unpopular Mr. Olmert secured himself a few more months in office by agreeing to hold primaries in his Kadima Party by late September. Many Israelis went to sleep Tuesday thinking that Wednesday would be the beginning of the end, and woke up the following morning to find that Olmert and the left-leaning Labor party, led by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, had reached a deal: They put the brakes on bringing the government down and Olmert would commit to stepping aside and allowing the Kadima, not yet four years old, to choose a new leader.Why did some of Olmert's toughest adversaries allow him to stay, following widespread calls for him to resign as details of a criminal investigation into a cash-taking scandal became apparent in the past month? Some cite fear of losing seats in the next parliament, while others say decisionmakers are convinced that Israel is in such a precarious place, with so much movement in various international and regional conflicts that throwing out the government now is too risky.The bigger parties – Shas, Labor, and Kadima – are not interested in early elections, because they don't think they will do better in early elections. About 80 or 90 of the 120 members of Knesset [Israel's parliament] can see that they won't be returning if there are early elections, says Peter Medding, an expert on Israeli politics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.Both the Labor Party and the Likud feel that this is the last thing the country needs and wants at this stage – because you go into a limbo, a sort of domestic spin, and it's not as if we don't have a few other things to keep us busy.
In these, he listed Israel's shaky truce with Hamas, which is just six days old and already being tested by militants who fired rockets into Israel Tuesday; possible negotiations with Hezbollah over Israel's captured soldiers; indirect talks with Syria; and nuclear tensions with Iran.I think that the overwhelming position in the country is that the prime minister should step down because he's in an untenable situation. But how do you get him do that? adds Mr. Medding.That Olmert's departure as prime minister is now a question not of if but of when seemed apparent from the way the last-minute deal was interpreted by the local Israeli press.Olmert knows that his term is finished, Columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in the mass-circulation paper, Yediot Aharonot. His enemies have beaten him. Even if he succeeds in surviving until next March, he has lost the ability to lead and the public confidence he needs to implement tough decisions. He clings to his hope for a miracle.... As long as he sits on the seat of the prime minister, he must create the impression that he will sit there forever. Otherwise he will be eaten alive.Right-wing parties were outraged that the pro-peace Labor Party backed out of its plans to bring down Olmert, following all-night mediation efforts. Rightist opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu criticized Labor Party chairman Mr. Barak for going easy on Olmert and said that the whole coalition had shown itself to be opportunist.Expectations that Mr. Netanyahu might be a formidable candidate for prime minister – he was premier from 1996 to 1999 – is a major factor in the political calculations of Labor and Kadima.Some analysts were concerned that the decision has the appearance of stability, but could backfire, and will certainly tie Olmert's hands from making any bold peace moves in the coming months.Anything he does in any direction, whether for peace or antipeace, he will be accused and suspected of doing it for political or personal motives, and of trying to distract people from all of the mounting evidence against him, says Medding.
Syria opens site to U.N. atom probe By Mark Heinrich
Wed Jun 25, 6:35 PM ET
VIENNA (Reuters) - Syria gave U.N. investigators a good look at the site of what Washington says was a secret nuclear reactor before Israel destroyed it, but initial checks were inconclusive and more are needed, they said on Wednesday. Chief U.N. inspector Olli Heinonen said his team was able to take extensive environmental samples at the remote desert location and the sensitive inquiry was off to a good start, with Syria's cooperation generally satisfactory at this stage.Heinonen, speaking to reporters on his return to Vienna after four days in Syria, said it was too early to draw conclusions about the nature of the site, bombed by Israel last September, and follow-up investigations could take some time.
Syria denies hiding anything from U.N. inspectors, saying Israel destroyed an ordinary military building and accusing the United States of spreading disinformation.Heinonen said his team gathered environmental samples of quite a lot of things in search of traces of material that might point to what Washington said was a nascent, plutonium-making reactor before it was flattened.To a great extent, we achieved what we wanted ... and agreed to do ... on this first trip, said Heinonen, the International Atomic Energy Agency's deputy director-general in charge of non-proliferation inspections worldwide.Pressed on whether his three-man team was able to see what it wanted to check and speak to relevant Syrian officials despite diplomatic reports its room for inquiry would be severely restricted, he said: Yes, quite a lot. But there is still work that remains to be done. It will take a while.The IAEA dispatched Heinonen's team after receiving U.S. photos of the al-Kibar site that prompted the U.N. watchdog to put Syria on its nuclear proliferation watch list in April.
SOME ANALYSTS SUSPECT SYRIAN COVER-UP
U.S. nuclear analysts say satellite images show the Syrians had removed debris and constructed a new building at the site destroyed by Israel in what they see as a possible cover-up.The initial scope of the inquiry was limited by what diplomats said was Syria's refusal to let the inspectors search three other sites for any evidence of a source of fuel for the reactor, or relevant processing equipment.Syria denied access on national security grounds, asserting such sites were conventional military bases only and off-limits.Asked about other sites of IAEA interest, Heinonen said: That (issue) will be something to deal with later.He said he did not know how long it would take to get results from the environmental samples.But the IAEA's inspectorate is expected to issue a detailed report on findings in Syria to the agency's 35-nation Board of Governors before its next meeting in September.The IAEA has criticized Washington for waiting until long after the Israeli raid to brief the U.N. nuclear watchdog about its suspicions that Syria, with North Korean help, had almost completed a reactor that could have yielded plutonium for bombs.IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei said ahead of the inspectors' trip that he doubted they would find any useful evidence so long after the site's destruction.ElBaradei also said there was no evidence that Syria, whose only declared nuclear facility is an ageing research reactor under IAEA monitoring, had the skills or fuel to run a major nuclear complex. Washington disputes this. But ElBaradei said he took the U.S. accusations very seriously and demanded "absolute transparency from Damascus. Damascus has denied concealing anything from the IAEA in possible violation of its Non-Proliferation Treaty obligations. Syrian officials and state-dominated media maintained silence about the IAEA mission throughout. Syria, an ally of Iran whose secretive nuclear program has been under IAEA investigation since 2003, has accused the United States of doctoring evidence in collusion with Israel, believed to be the Middle East's only nuclear-armed power.(Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
Last-minute deal saves Olmert govt by Ron Bousso
Wed Jun 25, 11:22 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert averted a major crisis on Wednesday, after his Labour allies agreed to reverse a decision to vote on dissolving parliament -- a move which could have brought down the government. Under the accord, Olmert agreed to a demand that his Kadima party hold primary elections by September 25 and Labour undertook not to back opposition efforts to bring down the government, parliamentary sources said.The deal between Olmert's centrist Kadima party and Labour, which is headed by Defence Minister Ehud Barak, was reached just hours before the motion to dissolve parliament was to be submitted in a preliminary reading.Kadima's leadership is now scheduled to meet by July 10 to fix a date for the primaries, which will choose a party chief and were expected to pit Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni against Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz and possibly Olmert.On Monday, 15 of the 19 Labour MPs had voted in favour of Barak's decision to support the dissolution bill on Wednesday.Barak had also threatened earlier this month to quit Olmert's coalition government if the prime minister did not resign over suspicions he had illegally accepted cash from a US businessman.Labour is Olmert's key partner in government and without its support the prime minister's fragile coalition would not have the required 61 seats for a majority in the 120-member parliament.Opposition leader and former premier Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the decision.This is a government of failure. You simply don't care. Well, you do care, you care for your seats, Netanyahu said in parliament.
Olmert has not ruled out running in the primary, but political analysts doubt he would be able to draw enough support.He has lost popular legitimacy, said Hanan Cristal, a political commentator with Israeli public radio.But he pointed out Olmert did gain time at a crucial moment when Israel is involved in indirect negotiations with Syria and considering prisoner swaps with the Lebanese Hezbollah militia and the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip.
Olmert has denied any wrongdoing but has admitted receiving campaign donations from US financier Morris Talansky, who last month told a Jerusalem court he had given Olmert envelopes stuffed with large amounts of cash.Kadima's leadership meeting could take place just days before Talansky is scheduled to be cross-examined by the prime minister's lawyers.Olmert on Sunday had warned that any Labour minister who voted in favour of dissolution would be out of office within 48 hours, a Labour official said.But Labour's secretary general, MP Eitan Cabel, said then that Labour ministers were ready to lose their jobs and head for early elections.The current legislature is due normally to run until the end of 2010.
Israel investigates security scare at Sarkozy departure Wed Jun 25, 5:46 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israeli authorities on Wednesday were investigating the apparent suicide death of a policeman which stirred a security scare during French President Nicolas Sarkozy's departure ceremony. A police spokesman confirmed an investigation had been launched into the death of Raed Ranen, 32, who seemingly shot himself while standing guard during the ceremony at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv on Tuesday.Authorities believe Ranen committed suicide, a version rejected by the man's family.After the shot that killed Ranen rang out, bodyguards rushed Sarkozy and first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy to their plane, while security officials whisked Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Shimon Peres into their armoured cars.Once it became evident there was no security risk, Olmert and Peres boarded the plane to bid farewell to Sarkozy, who had spent three days in Israel and the occupied West Bank.The policeman's brother Nayef made it clear he didn't believe in the suicide theory.He had no reason to take his own life. It may have been an accident or he was unwittingly killed by another Israeli guard, the Ynet news website quoted him as saying.His father Assad said his son was in good spirits when he left home to join his unit on Tuesday.He had a family, a house, friends and plans for the future, he had no reason to commit suicide, he said.The family hired a lawyer to ensure there is a complete and detailed investigation and to gain access to security video footage from the airport.
The shot was fired just as Olmert kissed the French first lady on the cheeks and President Shimon Peres bid farewell to his counterpart.The first lady, a model-turned-singer clad in a black pantsuit, rushed up the steps of the plane's gangway escorted by a bodyguard.The French president kept his composure, calmly walking up the steps and briefly raising his hand in a farewell gesture to his hosts.Police said Ranen hailed from the northern Israeli town of Beit Dajan and was a member of the Druze community, a minority group whose religion includes an eclectic mix of beliefs initially rooted in Islam.
Israel keeps Gaza crossings shut after rocket attacks: military Wed Jun 25, 3:26 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel kept three border crossings with the Gaza Strip closed on Wednesday following rocket attacks that breached a truce with the Palestinian territory's Hamas rulers, a military spokesman said. We are keeping the Karni, Sufa and Nahal Oz crossings closed for the time being following the firing of rockets in flagrant violation of the truce deal, the spokesman, Peter Lerner told AFP.He said however that one crossing, Erez, remained open.Three rockets slammed into southern Israel on Tuesday, slightly wounding two people. The Islamist Jihad movement claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Major powers fret over Israeli settlements, shaky Gaza truce by Lachlan Carmichael Tue Jun 24, 4:58 PM ET
BERLIN (AFP) - The United States and other peace brokers fretted Tuesday over the fragility of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks by calling for a truce in Hamas-run Gaza to last and Israel to freeze settlements. The appeal from the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and United States followed international pledges of 242 million dollars to bolster the Palestinian police and justice system to help pave the way to a viable state.Following a series of meetings here, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters that a peace agreement could still be framed before President George W. Bush leaves office in January.I continue to be hopeful that we can reach the solution by the end of the year as envisioned by Annapolis, said Rice flanked by her counterparts from the other members of the so-called quartet.At US-sponsored talks in Annapolis, Maryland last November, Israel and the Palestinians revived negotiations toward resolving core problems like the status of Jerusalem, the borders of a future Palestinian state and refugees.But the quartet acknowledged difficulties by stressing the urgent need for tangible progress toward a deal this year for an independent and viable Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, and an end to the conflict.A senior US official told reporters that the negotiations remained complicated by both events in Gaza -- which is run by the extremist Hamas movement -- and by volatile Israeli domestic politics.There was a recognition throughout the conversations today that the situation on the ground is very fragile because of Gaza, he said.US Generals William Fraser and James Jones are expected to return to the West Bank and Israel to resume their roles in seeking to improve the security situation, the official said.Two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip slammed into southern Israel on Tuesday, the first such attacks since the truce came into effect on June 19.One landed in the courtyard of a house and caused some damage and the other landed in a field.
This came hours after Israeli troops killed a senior Islamic Jihad fighter and another young man in the northern town of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, which was not included in the Egyptian-brokered truce.The quartet issued a statement urging that the calm be respected in full and expressed its hope that it would endure and lead to improved security for Palestinians and Israelis alike, and a return to normal civilian life in Gaza.European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana underscored the point later by saying to maintain the calm will be the most beneficial for everybody, adding it is the most important thing before them.And, reiterating their deep concern, the United States and fellow quartet members also called for an immediate freeze to Jewish settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and the dismantling of outposts built since March 2001.Israeli authorities said earlier this month that they had approved a plan to build 40,000 new homes in Jerusalem over the next 10 years, including in the annexed Arab eastern sector of the city.The move infuriated the Palestinians, who want east Jerusalem as their future capital, and drew international criticism.Actions on both sides undermine the roadmap which was launched by the quartet in 2003 to pave the way for a Palestinian state by first calling for a halt to both extremist violence and settlement building. The quartet said it planned to next come together in September at the UN General Assembly, where they would discuss plans for an international meeting in Moscow to bolster the Annapolis process. It would be the latest in a series of such meetings. Berlin played host Tuesday to a conference involving 41 countries which pledged 242 million dollars toward establishing a criminal-justice system based on the rule of law. The money will be passed to the Palestinian Authority (PA) over the next three years for measures such as putting more police on the beat, rebuilding destroyed courthouses and training judges, host Germany said. The cash comes out of 7.4 billion dollars already pledged by donors in Paris in December. On the sidelines of the talks in Berlin, Rice hosted a trilateral meeting with Israelis led by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Palestinians led by chief negotiator Ahmed Qorei, according to Palestinian and US officials.
Countries commit $242M to strengthen Palestinians By GEIR MOULSON, Associated Press Writer Tue Jun 24, 2:50 PM ET
BERLIN - Countries at an international conference Tuesday agreed to commit $242 million to strengthen the Palestinian Authority's police and judicial systems, sending what Germany's foreign minister called a clear signal of support for building a Palestinian state. The money will go to projects that include police training, building a forensic lab and prisons, installing communications networks, and creation of courthouses.Organizers had hoped for commitments of $190 million going into the meeting, which brought together officials including Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Arab League Secretary-General Amre Moussa.The result, I must say, is that a clear signal of support for the building of a Palestinian state was sent from here today, said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the conference host.Officials stressed that improving the civilian security infrastructure of the Palestinian Authority — which controls only the West Bank after last year's takeover of Gaza by the Islamic militant Hamas — was essential to the creation of a Palestinian state.It is not enough to determine the borders of a future Palestinian state, Livni said as the conference opened. When handing over the keys to the Palestinians, we must know that our neighbor is not a failed state or a terror state but a partner in peace.International Middle East envoy Tony Blair said upgrading security was essential regardless of whether progress is made toward an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by the end of the year, a precursor to establishing a Palestinian state.It is important in any event that we build the capacity and the capability of the Palestinian Authority, Blair said at a news conference.Not only does it matter to Palestinians that there is a proper authority for law and order, he said, but having additional security capacity will make it easier to push for an end to Israeli occupation.
Fayyad welcomed what he called a strong expression of support for a Palestinian state and said that security is the most important service any responsible government must provide to its citizens. But he also stressed the need for Israel to comply with international demands for a freeze in building Jewish settlements and for a change in Israeli security behavior.He cited an Israeli raid Tuesday in Nablus in which a senior Islamic Jihad commander was killed and a bystander shot as an example of the kind of activity that has to stop immediately if, in fact, we are going to succeed in the provision of security to our people.To bolster the projects, the European Union plans to increase its 32-member police mission to provide 70 training personnel, including judges, prosecutors and other legal experts.The so-called EUPOL COPPS mission has been bolstering a now 900-strong civil police force. It plans to widen its focus to improving jails and how courts operate.
The mission's leader, Colin Smith, has said the court system is seriously backed up, with 80 percent of prisoners in Palestinian jails waiting to be sentenced.Smith welcomed the outcome of Tuesday's meeting, saying in a statement that the financial commitments that have been made today ... will be instrumental in turning words into palpable results.The conference was followed by a meeting of the Quartet of Middle East peacemakers — the U.S., EU, U.N. and Russia. The group stressed in a statement the urgent need for more visible progress on the ground in order to build confidence and support progress in negotiations toward peace launched at Annapolis, Maryland, in November.
Sarkozy speaks out in favour of Palestinian state by Philippe Alfroy Tue Jun 24, 1:01 PM ET
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AFP) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday spoke out strongly in favour of a Palestinian state after talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in the occupied West Bank town of Bethlehem. The security of Israel is non-negotiable for France, but the creation of a viable, democratic, modern state for the Palestinians is a priority for France, he said at a news conference with Abbas in the Biblical town.Later, preparing to head home from Ben Gurion airport, near Tel Aviv, his departure ceremony was disrupted by a security scare. A shot rang out when a member of the Israeli guard of honour killed himself in what police said was a suicide.Bodyguards rushed Sarkozy and first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy to their plane.Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Shimon Peres were taken to their armoured cars, but later boarded the plane to bid farewell to the Sarkozys.Sarkozy, who spent three days in Israel and the occupied West Bank, pledged in Bethlehem to work toward the creation of a Palestinian state.
We will use the same strength, the same commitment we used in ensuring Israel's security, said Sarkozy, who on Monday had addressed the Israeli parliament.He reiterated his call for Israel to freeze Jewish settlement activity in the West Bank, widely seen as a major hurdle to already slowly moving peace talks.Israel in recent months announced the construction of hundreds of new settler homes in the West Bank, infuriating Palestinians and drawing sharp criticism from the international community.I told our Israeli friends the injustice done to the Jewish people can't be resolved by creating conditions of injustice for the Palestinian people, Sarkozy said.The French leader, who urged Israel to ease travel restrictions in the West Bank, said it was a pleasure to come here to Bethlehem to see what the checkpoints were like, the wall, the misunderstandings on either side. This must stop.Israel has set up hundreds of roadblocks and checkpoints and erected a barrier separating itself from the West Bank, which often protrudes well inside the Palestinian territory.It claims the measures are vital to its security, but the World Bank says they are a major obstacle to Palestinian economic growth.Sarkozy also had sharp criticism for Hamas, the Islamist movement that seized power in the Gaza Strip last June and launched almost daily rocket attacks on Israel until a truce went into effect on June 19.Violence cannot solve the problems. Hamas is very wrong to have acted the way it did. You do not create peace through terrorism.As he spoke, another Palestinian faction, Islamic Jihad, claimed it had fired two rockets that slammed into southern Israel without causing any casualties.The attack from Gaza came after Israeli forces killed a senior Islamic Jihad fighter and another man in the occupied West Bank, which is not part of the truce agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Abbas, who has had no control over Gaza since Hamas ousted his forces last year, praised Sarkozy, saying: Your positions, your initiatives are those of a friend. You are a friend, you have the interests of this region at heart.On Monday, Sarkozy had told Israeli MPs that a lasting peace would entail a future Palestinian state and Israel sharing Jerusalem as their capital. There can be no peace without recognising Jerusalem as the capital of two states and the guarantee of freedom of access to the holy places for all religions, he said. Israel occupied Arab east Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed it -- a move unrecognised by the international community. It has since insisted it regards the whole city as its eternal, indivisible capital.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
FRANCE WANTS TO GUARENTEE ISRAELS SECURITY FOR PEACE
LAND FOR PEACE (THE FUTURE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH)
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
THE WEEK OF DANIEL 9:27 WE KNOW ITS 7 YRS
Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.
DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.
DANIEL 11:36-40
36 And the king shall do according to his will;(EU PRESIDENT) and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS A EUROPEAN JEW) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(HES A MILITARY GINIUS) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds (CONTROL HEZBOLLAH,AL-QUAIDA MURDERERS ETC) with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south(EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR PROTECTING ISRAELS SECURITY) and the king of the north(RUSSIA) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
JERUSALEM DIVIDED
ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
Tuesday June 24, 2008 France's Sarkozy offers in Israel to broker peace By Francois Murphy
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy put himself forward on Monday as a possible Middle East peace broker, offering in a speech to Israel's parliament to help reach agreement and mobilise French troops if necessary.France President Nicolas Sarkozy delivers a speech beside his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy at a meeting with the French community in Jerusalem June 23, 2008. (REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer)
I ask you to trust us because we want to help you, said Sarkozy, the first French president to address the Knesset since Francois Mitterrand in 1982.Since taking office a year ago, Sarkozy has broken rank with his predecessors by repeatedly describing himself as a friend of Israel, fostering closer ties with the Jewish state and reiterating that there can be no compromise on its security.
France is ready to provide its guarantee, ready to mobilise its diplomatic service, its resources, its soldiers, he said, without specifying what role French troops could play.Sarkozy said peace with the Palestinians was possible if Israel stopped all settlement activity, lifted the checkpoints that criss-cross the West Bank, ended a blockade of Gaza and accepted Jerusalem as capital of two states.Create the conditions for movement, Sarkozy told lawmakers, urging them to back a proposal for settlers to leave the West Bank in return for compensation and rehousing in Israel.There can be no peace without a halt to settlement activity, he said, condemning terrorism and telling Israel it was not alone facing what he said was a military Iranian nuclear programme.Israel has said it will press ahead with construction in settlement blocks it intends to keep in any final peace deal with the Palestinians. Palestinians fear such settlements will deny them a viable state in the West Bank.In a welcome address, Olmert praised Sarkozy but, in an apparent allusion to the dispute over settlement expansion, added: Not always do we see eye to eye on every detail.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed Sarkozy's comments on settlements and Jerusalem, a senior aide said.It's a speech that the Israeli leaders need to listen to, Saeb Erekat said.
OPENING
In a part of his speech prepared for delivery, Sarkozy said he was prepared to host various peace talks. Although he did not pronounce it, a senior French official said he stood by it.(France) is ready to organise on its soil all the talks that could lead to (peace), whether in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, the Syrian-Israeli dialogue, or the talks that will have to resume, one day soon I hope, between Israel and Lebanon, the text said.France takes over the European Union's rotating six-month presidency on July 1, and as such will be a member of the Quartet of Middle East peace negotiators, along with Russia, the United States and the United Nations.It was not clear how any facilitation of talks by Sarkozy would affect the Quartet's envoy, Tony Blair.During his three-day state visit to Israel, which began on Sunday, Sarkozy has said an Israeli-Palestinian deal could be reached soon, a more optimistic view than most observers, who point to Olmert's weakness at home and divided Palestinians.Despite deep public scepticism, the United States, the main broker in talks between Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, hopes that a framework statehood deal can be achieved before President George W. Bush leaves office in January.An official close to Sarkozy said preoccupation with the U.S. presidential election campaign created a sort of an opening for anyone who wants to head into it in efforts to aid talks.The president's visit could give an indication of who could, in the coming months, say why not create a bigger role for the European Union under France's presidency?, he said.(Additional reporting by Emmanuel Jarry and Dan Williams)
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
THE WEEK OF DANIEL 9:27 WE KNOW ITS 7 YRS
Heres the scripture 1 week = 7 yrs Genesis 29:27-29
27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife also.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her maid.
DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.
DANIEL 11:36-40
36 And the king shall do according to his will;(EU PRESIDENT) and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS A EUROPEAN JEW) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(HES A MILITARY GINIUS) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds (CONTROL HEZBOLLAH,AL-QUAIDA MURDERERS ETC) with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south(EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR PROTECTING ISRAELS SECURITY) and the king of the north(RUSSIA) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
JERUSALEM DIVIDED
ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
Tuesday June 24, 2008 France's Sarkozy offers in Israel to broker peace By Francois Murphy
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy put himself forward on Monday as a possible Middle East peace broker, offering in a speech to Israel's parliament to help reach agreement and mobilise French troops if necessary.France President Nicolas Sarkozy delivers a speech beside his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy at a meeting with the French community in Jerusalem June 23, 2008. (REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer)
I ask you to trust us because we want to help you, said Sarkozy, the first French president to address the Knesset since Francois Mitterrand in 1982.Since taking office a year ago, Sarkozy has broken rank with his predecessors by repeatedly describing himself as a friend of Israel, fostering closer ties with the Jewish state and reiterating that there can be no compromise on its security.
France is ready to provide its guarantee, ready to mobilise its diplomatic service, its resources, its soldiers, he said, without specifying what role French troops could play.Sarkozy said peace with the Palestinians was possible if Israel stopped all settlement activity, lifted the checkpoints that criss-cross the West Bank, ended a blockade of Gaza and accepted Jerusalem as capital of two states.Create the conditions for movement, Sarkozy told lawmakers, urging them to back a proposal for settlers to leave the West Bank in return for compensation and rehousing in Israel.There can be no peace without a halt to settlement activity, he said, condemning terrorism and telling Israel it was not alone facing what he said was a military Iranian nuclear programme.Israel has said it will press ahead with construction in settlement blocks it intends to keep in any final peace deal with the Palestinians. Palestinians fear such settlements will deny them a viable state in the West Bank.In a welcome address, Olmert praised Sarkozy but, in an apparent allusion to the dispute over settlement expansion, added: Not always do we see eye to eye on every detail.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed Sarkozy's comments on settlements and Jerusalem, a senior aide said.It's a speech that the Israeli leaders need to listen to, Saeb Erekat said.
OPENING
In a part of his speech prepared for delivery, Sarkozy said he was prepared to host various peace talks. Although he did not pronounce it, a senior French official said he stood by it.(France) is ready to organise on its soil all the talks that could lead to (peace), whether in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, the Syrian-Israeli dialogue, or the talks that will have to resume, one day soon I hope, between Israel and Lebanon, the text said.France takes over the European Union's rotating six-month presidency on July 1, and as such will be a member of the Quartet of Middle East peace negotiators, along with Russia, the United States and the United Nations.It was not clear how any facilitation of talks by Sarkozy would affect the Quartet's envoy, Tony Blair.During his three-day state visit to Israel, which began on Sunday, Sarkozy has said an Israeli-Palestinian deal could be reached soon, a more optimistic view than most observers, who point to Olmert's weakness at home and divided Palestinians.Despite deep public scepticism, the United States, the main broker in talks between Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, hopes that a framework statehood deal can be achieved before President George W. Bush leaves office in January.An official close to Sarkozy said preoccupation with the U.S. presidential election campaign created a sort of an opening for anyone who wants to head into it in efforts to aid talks.The president's visit could give an indication of who could, in the coming months, say why not create a bigger role for the European Union under France's presidency?, he said.(Additional reporting by Emmanuel Jarry and Dan Williams)
Sunday, June 22, 2008
TROOPS IN WITH POLICE IN ITALY
EUROPEAN UNION ARMY
DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.( BE HEAD OF 3 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)
DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.
DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king (EU DICTATOR) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS JEWISH) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.(CLAIM TO BE GOD)
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(WAR) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god,(DESTROY TERROR GROUPS) whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)
THIS IS HOW ALL THE EU WILL BE AND THE TROOPS WILL BE GOING TO ISRAEL IN THE SAME WAY TO GUARENTEE ISRAELS SECURITY FOR A LAND FOR PEACE DEAL WITH THE ARABS AND MANY OF DANIEL 9:27 IN THE FUTURE.
Berlusconi puts 2,500 troops on streets of Italian cities to patrol alongside police 16 June 2008 By Nick Pisa
SOLDIERS are to be deployed in Italian cities as Silvio Berlusconi, the prime minister, cracks down on crime as part of his government's new domestic security package.The troops – drawn from those who have served abroad – will patrol alongside regular state police and carabinieri paramilitary police.They will be able to stop, search and identify suspects but will have no powers of arrest. Instead they must call for support or take suspects to the nearest police station.Defence minister Ignazio La Russa said: We are talking about a contingent of 2,500 troops who will patrol, alongside ordinary police, in order to safeguard the security of citizens.The scheme will be initially for six months and then renewed for another six months as a one-off and that will be it.
If it was possible to recruit and train 2,500 police officers immediately then I would be delighted not to use troops.Opposition MPs and police unions did not share his enthusiasm with Antonio Di Pietro, of the Party of Values, saying: Troops on the streets are only seen in places like Colombia against terrorists and armed insurrectionists. The idea of militarising cities gives an impression of insecurity and will affect tourism and the economy.
Mr Berlusconi came back to power two months ago after campaigning on a strong law and order manifesto. The cities earmarked for troop patrols are Rome, Milan, Naples, Florence, Genoa, Bologna, Turin, Palermo, Bari and Venice.
DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.( BE HEAD OF 3 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)
DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.
DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king (EU DICTATOR) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS JEWISH) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.(CLAIM TO BE GOD)
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(WAR) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god,(DESTROY TERROR GROUPS) whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)
THIS IS HOW ALL THE EU WILL BE AND THE TROOPS WILL BE GOING TO ISRAEL IN THE SAME WAY TO GUARENTEE ISRAELS SECURITY FOR A LAND FOR PEACE DEAL WITH THE ARABS AND MANY OF DANIEL 9:27 IN THE FUTURE.
Berlusconi puts 2,500 troops on streets of Italian cities to patrol alongside police 16 June 2008 By Nick Pisa
SOLDIERS are to be deployed in Italian cities as Silvio Berlusconi, the prime minister, cracks down on crime as part of his government's new domestic security package.The troops – drawn from those who have served abroad – will patrol alongside regular state police and carabinieri paramilitary police.They will be able to stop, search and identify suspects but will have no powers of arrest. Instead they must call for support or take suspects to the nearest police station.Defence minister Ignazio La Russa said: We are talking about a contingent of 2,500 troops who will patrol, alongside ordinary police, in order to safeguard the security of citizens.The scheme will be initially for six months and then renewed for another six months as a one-off and that will be it.
If it was possible to recruit and train 2,500 police officers immediately then I would be delighted not to use troops.Opposition MPs and police unions did not share his enthusiasm with Antonio Di Pietro, of the Party of Values, saying: Troops on the streets are only seen in places like Colombia against terrorists and armed insurrectionists. The idea of militarising cities gives an impression of insecurity and will affect tourism and the economy.
Mr Berlusconi came back to power two months ago after campaigning on a strong law and order manifesto. The cities earmarked for troop patrols are Rome, Milan, Naples, Florence, Genoa, Bologna, Turin, Palermo, Bari and Venice.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
MIDEAST WILL BURN IF IRAN HIT
INVENTION OF THE ATOMIC BOMB.
2 PETER 3:10-11
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.
REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)
ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).
ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
JOEL 2:20,30
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE 17:34-37
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).
MATTHEW 24:37-51
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
ISRAELI - IRAN STRIKE REHEARSAL
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=8414171&ch=4226714&src=news
ISRAELS PLANS
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=8413742&ch=4226714&src=news
Ball of fire if Iran attacked: IAEA chief JUNE 21,08
DUBAI (AFP) - The UN atomic watchdog chief warned on Saturday that an attack on Iran over its controversial nuclear programme would turn the region into a fireball, as Tehran rejected any Israeli strike as impossible.Mohamed ElBaradei also warned that he would not be able to continue in his role as International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general if the Islamic republic were attacked.His stark comments came as Iran stressed yet again that it will not negotiate with world powers over its nuclear programme if it is required to suspend its controversial uranium enrichment.
A military strike (against Iran) would in my opinion be worse than anything else ... It would transform the Middle East region into a ball of fire, ElBaradei said in an interview with Al-Arabiya television.A report by the New York Times on Friday cited US officials as saying a major Israeli military exercise earlier this month seemed to be a practice for any potential strike against Iran's nuclear facilities.In Athens, an official with the Greek air force's central command confirmed the substance of the US media report, stating that it had taken part in joint training exercises with Israel off the Mediterranean island of Crete.The manoeuvres, code-named Glorious Spartan 08, took place on May 28 and June 12, and consisted of aerial exercises and knowledge exchange, said the Greek source, who requested anonymity.The goal was for more than 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighter jets to prepare for long-range strikes and demonstrate Israel's serious concern over Iran's nuclear ambitions, the Times reported.ElBaradei said any attack would simply harden Iran's position in its row with the West over its nuclear programme.
A military strike would spark the launch of an emergency programme to make atomic weapons, with the support of all Iranians, including those living abroad, he said.He did not believe that there was an imminent risk of proliferation given the current status of Iran's nuclear programme and made it clear he would not have a place as IAEA head in the event of a military strike.The West fears that Tehran could use uranium enrichment to make an atomic bomb although Tehran insists it only wants nuclear technology for peaceful energy purposes.ElBaradei's comments come as Iran stressed on Saturday it will not negotiate with world powers over its nuclear programme if it is required to suspend its enrichment activities.Suspending uranium enrichment has no logic behind it and it is not acceptable and the continuation of negotiation will not be based on suspension, Iranian government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham told reporters.He responded to talk of a military strike by saying "such impudence and audacity to have an aggression against our national interest and integrity is an impossible action.For his part, Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said Tehran would continue uranium enrichment non-stop since this activity is under the 24 hour surveillance (of IAEA cameras).The request to stop uranium enrichment is an old issue and does not have any legal or technical foundation, he added.In Jerusalem, the Israeli parliament foreign affairs and defence commission chairman Tsahi Hanegbi said Saturday that Western diplomatic efforts to halt Iran's nuclear programme had failed. Next year and the year after that will be crucial. The world must must decide if it gives more time to diplomatic efforts, which currently do not seem very promising, he told Israeli public radio.
Western measures against Iran's nuclear programme have failed.
On June 6 an Israeli Deputy Prime Minister, Shaul Mofaz, warned that Iran would face attack if it pursues what he said was its nuclear weapons programme. A week ago, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana presented a new offer to Mottaki on ending the six-year standoff over Iran's nuclear drive, offering economic and trade incentives. Iran is still considering the plan.
It was made on behalf of Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States. Referring to that offer, Iranian negotiator Said Jalili said Tehran was prepared to discuss it and a set of Iranian proposals to solve the problems of the world. But he reiterated that Iran will not accept under duress any illegal demand aiming to deprive it of its right to pursue its peaceful nuclear activities.
Syria, NKorea helped Iran develop nuclear programme: German report JUNE 21,08
BERLIN (AFP) - Damascus and Pyongyang helped Iran to develop its nuclear programme through the construction of a suspected nuclear site in Syria that Israel destroyed last September, Der Spiegel reported. But the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is considering withdrawing his support for the Iranian programme, added the German newsweekly in its next edition out Monday, quoting German secret service reports.According to those intelligence reports, it said, a joint plan by Syria, North Korea and Iran for a nuclear reactor for military use was to have been developed at the Al-Kibar site in the east of Syria.The site -- to be inspected next week by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) -- was destroyed by Israeli warplanes with Washington's support. Syria denied it has military purposes.The reports cited by Der Speigel claimed that North Korea was to help Iranian scientists to advance their nuclear programme, and that Al-Kibar was to have been used as a temporary site for Iran to develop a nuclear bomb until it was able to do so on its own territory.The plan was discussed during a visit by Iranian President Mamhoud Ahmadinejad to Syria in 2006, according to the magazine.The three countries also cooperated in the production of chemical weapons, said Der Speigel, quoting the same source. At the time of an explosion at a chemical site in July 2007, 15 Syrian soldiers, 12 Iranian engineers and three North Koreans were among the victims.
Ten months after the destruction of the Al-Kibar site, on the basis of allegations that a nuclear reactor was being built there with the aid of North Korea, the IAEA said it was sending experts to Syria to investigate.Documents and detailed photographs supplied in April by Washington to the IAEA backed up the suspicions, but Syria rejected the allegations describing them as ridiculous.Iran and Syria, both parties to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, signed a memorandum of cooperation at the end of May on the two countries' independence and territorial integrity.The alliance between the two regional neighbours, which goes back to the 1979 Iranian revolution, was strengthened in 2006 with the signing of an agreement on military cooperation.
Besieged Gazans await relief as truce holds for third day by Joseph Krauss Sat Jun 21, 7:26 AM ET
RAFAH, Gaza Strip, June 21, 2008 (AFP) - As the truce between Israel and Palestinian militants entered its third day on Saturday, weary Gazans hoped for the easing of a year-long blockade of the impoverished Hamas-ruled territory. But in the dusty border town of Rafah, black market petrol smuggled through tunnels from Egypt was still selling for the same price it did before the truce -- around seven dollars (4.5 euros) per litre.If you think the Jews are going to open the border to let petrol in you are dreaming, said Abu Mohammed, as his sons sucked fuel from a plastic tank to siphon it into used soft drink bottles in the heart of a crowded market.
Gaza's 1.5 million people hope the ceasefire will lead to a lifting of a near-total blockade that has spawned widespread fuel shortages and left 80 percent of them reliant on international food aid.
But Hamas has said smuggling will continue, and on Saturday the streets of Rafah were lined with tables of cheap Chinese goods brought in through the tunnels, which Israel says are also used for smuggling arms.Rafah merchants said as long as the blockade continued the network of tunnels between Egypt and Gaza were a lifeline to the territory.We are poor and we need the tunnels to live. How can Hamas prevent us from earning a livelihood? said a 37-year-old merchant, who gave his name only as Nabil.Like many others on Saturday, he was trying to sell goods -- in his case a motorbike -- bought in Egypt in January after militants temporarily blew open the border fence.Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said Friday that the Egyptian-brokered truce explicitly stated that arms smuggling must halt and that Hamas was seeking to weaken the peace by claiming otherwise.
Most merchants said they would prefer to go back to using the crossings.I would prefer they open the crossings because I used to make more money, Abu Ali said as he hawked knock-off perfumes and toothpaste he said were brought in through tunnels from Egypt.The tunnel owners benefit from the siege but everyone else loses, he said.The six-month truce -- the first since Hamas took power a year ago -- has brought a welcome calm to Gaza after months of near-daily Israeli military strikes killed hundreds of people, mostly Palestinian fighters.Across the border, Israelis living along the Gaza frontier hoped for an end to the near-daily rocket and mortar attacks that have killed four people since January.Both Hamas and Israel have vowed to respect the truce, but Israel has made it clear the armed forces are prepared to act should the ceasefire fail.Gaza farmers meanwhile ventured into the war-scarred land along the frontier under the distant but watchful eyes of Israeli troops.Since the Islamist Hamas movement seized power over a year ago farmers along the border have been caught in the crossfire between rocket-launching Palestinian militants and Israeli troops stationed just over the horizon.Mazen Muhanna began work at dawn clearing the bleached remains of dozens of olive trees destroyed in an Israeli incursion outside the southern Gaza village of Al-Qarara less than two weeks ago. They are both awful, but the Israelis are worse. The resistance just fires rockets, but the Israelis come with tanks and bulldozers, Muhanna said, his hand sweeping across a wasteland of mangled trees and meandering tank tracks. Fadi, a 17-year-old farmer working the same land, said they would prefer Palestinian militants stay away. But if you say anything to them they will call you an agent (of Israel), he said.
Although the calm has held for more than two days the border remains tense.
Siham Smeri, a farmer and mother of five, says the Israelis still fire warning shots when the farmers get too close to the fence. Her family owns land near the border that they haven't farmed in more than two years. The first day of the truce we went to a hill near the border. An Arab Israeli soldier yelled out to us: Get away from here or we will shoot you and break the truce. They have not been back since.
UN nuke chief urges Syria to cooperate By OMAR SINAN, Associated Press Writer Sat Jun 21, 2:41 AM ET
CAIRO, Egypt - The U.N. nuclear watchdog chief urged Syria on Friday to show transparency and cooperate with inspectors from the world agency visiting the Mideast country this weekend. It marks the start of an international fact check of U.S. and Israeli assertions that Damascus had tried to build a plutonium-producing facility under the radar of the international community.Mohamed ElBaradei, who heads the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, told the pan-Arab Al-Arabiya Television that he hoped Syria will let IAEA inspectors visit all locations they are interested in.
Syria said earlier this month it won't allow IAEA to probe beyond a site bombed by Israel last September, despite IAEA's expressed eagerness to visit three other suspect locations.We will go (to Syria) with open eyes and we will observe the facts ... All I ask of Syria is to show absolute transparency and help the IAEA probe, ElBaradei said in the interview, aired late Friday.I hope that Syria will take us to all the locations, where allegedly there could be other reactors, ElBaradei added.His remarks reflected IAEA hopes that Syria could still warm to giving IAEA access to the three other sites. The main focus on the agency's three-day visit that begins Sunday is the Al Kibar facility — a building in the country's remote eastern desert that was destroyed in September by Israeli jets.ElBaradei again rebuked Israel for the bombing. Before (Israel's) hitting Syria ... we could have had the time to go to Syria to investigate and learn of any covert Syrian reactor, ElBaradei said.In the interview, part of which was aired earlier this week, ElBaradei also said that his agency doesn't have evidence Syria possesses the fuel or technical know-how for a large-scale nuclear plant.Syrian President Bashar Assad has repeatedly denied that his country has a secret nuclear program.Israel has never officially confirmed September's air strike on Al Kibar, though it has not disputed the foreign reports, or U.S. government comments, on the incident.
Chavez refutes US Hezbollah charges Sat Jun 21, 1:48 AM ET
CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez says the United States is trying to bring him before an international court. Chavez says the United States is using accusations that the Venezuelan government is supporting the Lebanese group Hezbollah to see if the world will make a move against him.The U.S. has charged a Venezuelan official and others with helping Hezbollah. Washington considers the armed group and political party in Lebanon a terrorist organization.The U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday that it has frozen the accounts of two Venezuelans: Diplomat Nasr al Din and Lebanese-born businessman Fazwi Kan'an.Kan'an, who owns a travel agency in Caracas, called the accusations pure lies.Chavez spoke out against the accusations on Friday.
US still favors diplomacy to settle Iran nuclear issue: envoy Fri Jun 20, 3:04 PM ET
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The US ambassador to the UN said Friday said Washington favored diplomacy in the Iranian nuclear crisis for now despite reports of Israeli preparations for a possible air strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. We're in the phase of diplomacy, we want a diplomatic settlement of this issue, Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters when asked to react to media reports that recent military exercises by the Jewish state were a possible practice for a strike against Iran.I saw the article in paper today, Khalilzad said. You know our view with regard to Iran, which is that it would be unacceptable for Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.Right now we are in the phase of diplomacy, that's what we are pushing for, we want a diplomatic solution to this problem. The ball is frankly in Iran's court, he added.The New York Times Friday quoted US officials as saying that a major military exercise carried out by Israel earlier this month seemed to be a practice for any potential strike against Iran's nuclear facilities.US President George W. Bush, who was not expected to respond publicly to the news report, said repeatedly on his just-completed trip to Europe that he prefers a diplomatic solution but has not ruled out using force.
At the State Department in Washington, spokesman Sean McCormack said that it was not yet at the point that Iran and this regime have changed its behavior.US officials are hopeful that there are those reasonable officials within the Iranian government who will see that continuing on the course that they are on -- continuing their enrichment and reprocessing-related activities -- in the face of the demands of the international community, McCormack said.It was not a good road for the Iranian government to go down, because they will continue to incur greater and greater costs as a result of actions by the international community, he said.A Pentagon official briefed on the exercise said a goal of the practice was to send a message that the Jewish state was prepared to act militarily if diplomatic efforts failed to halt Tehran's production of bomb-grade uranium.But Iran warned its arch-enemy Israel Friday of a strong blow if it resorts to force.If enemies especially Israelis and their supporters in the United States would want to use a language of force, they should rest assured that they will receive a strong blow in the mouth, senior cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said in his Friday prayers sermon.
Hamas says smuggling to Gaza will continue Fri Jun 20, 2:46 PM ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) - Smuggling into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip will not stop, the head of the territory's government, Ismail Haniya, said on Friday, threatening an already tenuous two-day-old truce with Israel. During Egyptian-mediated negotiations, Israel wanted to force Hamas to stop what they call the smuggling of contraband across land and sea borders, Haniya told worshippers before Friday prayers.They also said that (the release of detained Israeli soldier) Shalit must be part of the truce deal. But we have not agreed to these demands because they are unjust and go beyond the capabilities of this government, he said.Reacting to Haniya's remarks, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert underlined that the Egyptian-brokered truce explicitly stated that arms smuggling into the impoverished territory must halt.The agreement with Egypt states clearly that there must not be any contraband arms heading for Gaza and no attacks from Gaza towards Israeli territory by any of the armed groups, Mark Regev said.
Those people in Gaza who claim this is not true are seeking to weaken the peace, he added.Israeli security sources say Hamas has smuggled more than 100 tonnes of explosives into Gaza, including rockets and anti-tank missiles, since the Islamists seized control of the strip in June 2007.As well a halt to militant rocket fire and Israeli strikes on Gaza, the deal calls for Israel to progressively ease its blockade of the overcrowded strip of land where most of the 1.5 million population depend on aid.Israel has also been pushing for progress over the release of Israeli Corporal Galid Shalit, who was captured by Palestinian militant groups including Hamas in a deadly cross-border raid on June 25, 2006.
Hamas has repeatedly stated that Shalit's release and the Gaza truce were separate issues and that Hamas would free him in exchange for 450 prisoners held by Israel.
Middle East Quartet to meet in Berlin on Tuesday Fri Jun 20, 4:17 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The quartet of Middle East peace mediators will meet in Berlin on Tuesday for their first gathering since Egypt brokered a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the U.S. State Department said. The quartet, which comprises the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States, will meet on the sidelines of a German-hosted conference to support Palestinian civil security and rule of law.The United States hopes to achieve an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement by the end of the year despite the weakness of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government and the divisions among Palestinians.As part of its efforts, Washington has sought to strengthen security forces under Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah movement holds sway in the West Bank but lost control of Gaza to Hamas fighters a year ago.Abbas is seeking to strike a peace deal with Olmert while the Islamist Hamas movement opposes the negotiations.(Editing by Bill Trott)
2 PETER 3:10-11
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.
REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)
ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).
ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
JOEL 2:20,30
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE 17:34-37
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).
MATTHEW 24:37-51
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
ISRAELI - IRAN STRIKE REHEARSAL
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=8414171&ch=4226714&src=news
ISRAELS PLANS
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Ball of fire if Iran attacked: IAEA chief JUNE 21,08
DUBAI (AFP) - The UN atomic watchdog chief warned on Saturday that an attack on Iran over its controversial nuclear programme would turn the region into a fireball, as Tehran rejected any Israeli strike as impossible.Mohamed ElBaradei also warned that he would not be able to continue in his role as International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director general if the Islamic republic were attacked.His stark comments came as Iran stressed yet again that it will not negotiate with world powers over its nuclear programme if it is required to suspend its controversial uranium enrichment.
A military strike (against Iran) would in my opinion be worse than anything else ... It would transform the Middle East region into a ball of fire, ElBaradei said in an interview with Al-Arabiya television.A report by the New York Times on Friday cited US officials as saying a major Israeli military exercise earlier this month seemed to be a practice for any potential strike against Iran's nuclear facilities.In Athens, an official with the Greek air force's central command confirmed the substance of the US media report, stating that it had taken part in joint training exercises with Israel off the Mediterranean island of Crete.The manoeuvres, code-named Glorious Spartan 08, took place on May 28 and June 12, and consisted of aerial exercises and knowledge exchange, said the Greek source, who requested anonymity.The goal was for more than 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighter jets to prepare for long-range strikes and demonstrate Israel's serious concern over Iran's nuclear ambitions, the Times reported.ElBaradei said any attack would simply harden Iran's position in its row with the West over its nuclear programme.
A military strike would spark the launch of an emergency programme to make atomic weapons, with the support of all Iranians, including those living abroad, he said.He did not believe that there was an imminent risk of proliferation given the current status of Iran's nuclear programme and made it clear he would not have a place as IAEA head in the event of a military strike.The West fears that Tehran could use uranium enrichment to make an atomic bomb although Tehran insists it only wants nuclear technology for peaceful energy purposes.ElBaradei's comments come as Iran stressed on Saturday it will not negotiate with world powers over its nuclear programme if it is required to suspend its enrichment activities.Suspending uranium enrichment has no logic behind it and it is not acceptable and the continuation of negotiation will not be based on suspension, Iranian government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham told reporters.He responded to talk of a military strike by saying "such impudence and audacity to have an aggression against our national interest and integrity is an impossible action.For his part, Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said Tehran would continue uranium enrichment non-stop since this activity is under the 24 hour surveillance (of IAEA cameras).The request to stop uranium enrichment is an old issue and does not have any legal or technical foundation, he added.In Jerusalem, the Israeli parliament foreign affairs and defence commission chairman Tsahi Hanegbi said Saturday that Western diplomatic efforts to halt Iran's nuclear programme had failed. Next year and the year after that will be crucial. The world must must decide if it gives more time to diplomatic efforts, which currently do not seem very promising, he told Israeli public radio.
Western measures against Iran's nuclear programme have failed.
On June 6 an Israeli Deputy Prime Minister, Shaul Mofaz, warned that Iran would face attack if it pursues what he said was its nuclear weapons programme. A week ago, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana presented a new offer to Mottaki on ending the six-year standoff over Iran's nuclear drive, offering economic and trade incentives. Iran is still considering the plan.
It was made on behalf of Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States. Referring to that offer, Iranian negotiator Said Jalili said Tehran was prepared to discuss it and a set of Iranian proposals to solve the problems of the world. But he reiterated that Iran will not accept under duress any illegal demand aiming to deprive it of its right to pursue its peaceful nuclear activities.
Syria, NKorea helped Iran develop nuclear programme: German report JUNE 21,08
BERLIN (AFP) - Damascus and Pyongyang helped Iran to develop its nuclear programme through the construction of a suspected nuclear site in Syria that Israel destroyed last September, Der Spiegel reported. But the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is considering withdrawing his support for the Iranian programme, added the German newsweekly in its next edition out Monday, quoting German secret service reports.According to those intelligence reports, it said, a joint plan by Syria, North Korea and Iran for a nuclear reactor for military use was to have been developed at the Al-Kibar site in the east of Syria.The site -- to be inspected next week by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) -- was destroyed by Israeli warplanes with Washington's support. Syria denied it has military purposes.The reports cited by Der Speigel claimed that North Korea was to help Iranian scientists to advance their nuclear programme, and that Al-Kibar was to have been used as a temporary site for Iran to develop a nuclear bomb until it was able to do so on its own territory.The plan was discussed during a visit by Iranian President Mamhoud Ahmadinejad to Syria in 2006, according to the magazine.The three countries also cooperated in the production of chemical weapons, said Der Speigel, quoting the same source. At the time of an explosion at a chemical site in July 2007, 15 Syrian soldiers, 12 Iranian engineers and three North Koreans were among the victims.
Ten months after the destruction of the Al-Kibar site, on the basis of allegations that a nuclear reactor was being built there with the aid of North Korea, the IAEA said it was sending experts to Syria to investigate.Documents and detailed photographs supplied in April by Washington to the IAEA backed up the suspicions, but Syria rejected the allegations describing them as ridiculous.Iran and Syria, both parties to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, signed a memorandum of cooperation at the end of May on the two countries' independence and territorial integrity.The alliance between the two regional neighbours, which goes back to the 1979 Iranian revolution, was strengthened in 2006 with the signing of an agreement on military cooperation.
Besieged Gazans await relief as truce holds for third day by Joseph Krauss Sat Jun 21, 7:26 AM ET
RAFAH, Gaza Strip, June 21, 2008 (AFP) - As the truce between Israel and Palestinian militants entered its third day on Saturday, weary Gazans hoped for the easing of a year-long blockade of the impoverished Hamas-ruled territory. But in the dusty border town of Rafah, black market petrol smuggled through tunnels from Egypt was still selling for the same price it did before the truce -- around seven dollars (4.5 euros) per litre.If you think the Jews are going to open the border to let petrol in you are dreaming, said Abu Mohammed, as his sons sucked fuel from a plastic tank to siphon it into used soft drink bottles in the heart of a crowded market.
Gaza's 1.5 million people hope the ceasefire will lead to a lifting of a near-total blockade that has spawned widespread fuel shortages and left 80 percent of them reliant on international food aid.
But Hamas has said smuggling will continue, and on Saturday the streets of Rafah were lined with tables of cheap Chinese goods brought in through the tunnels, which Israel says are also used for smuggling arms.Rafah merchants said as long as the blockade continued the network of tunnels between Egypt and Gaza were a lifeline to the territory.We are poor and we need the tunnels to live. How can Hamas prevent us from earning a livelihood? said a 37-year-old merchant, who gave his name only as Nabil.Like many others on Saturday, he was trying to sell goods -- in his case a motorbike -- bought in Egypt in January after militants temporarily blew open the border fence.Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said Friday that the Egyptian-brokered truce explicitly stated that arms smuggling must halt and that Hamas was seeking to weaken the peace by claiming otherwise.
Most merchants said they would prefer to go back to using the crossings.I would prefer they open the crossings because I used to make more money, Abu Ali said as he hawked knock-off perfumes and toothpaste he said were brought in through tunnels from Egypt.The tunnel owners benefit from the siege but everyone else loses, he said.The six-month truce -- the first since Hamas took power a year ago -- has brought a welcome calm to Gaza after months of near-daily Israeli military strikes killed hundreds of people, mostly Palestinian fighters.Across the border, Israelis living along the Gaza frontier hoped for an end to the near-daily rocket and mortar attacks that have killed four people since January.Both Hamas and Israel have vowed to respect the truce, but Israel has made it clear the armed forces are prepared to act should the ceasefire fail.Gaza farmers meanwhile ventured into the war-scarred land along the frontier under the distant but watchful eyes of Israeli troops.Since the Islamist Hamas movement seized power over a year ago farmers along the border have been caught in the crossfire between rocket-launching Palestinian militants and Israeli troops stationed just over the horizon.Mazen Muhanna began work at dawn clearing the bleached remains of dozens of olive trees destroyed in an Israeli incursion outside the southern Gaza village of Al-Qarara less than two weeks ago. They are both awful, but the Israelis are worse. The resistance just fires rockets, but the Israelis come with tanks and bulldozers, Muhanna said, his hand sweeping across a wasteland of mangled trees and meandering tank tracks. Fadi, a 17-year-old farmer working the same land, said they would prefer Palestinian militants stay away. But if you say anything to them they will call you an agent (of Israel), he said.
Although the calm has held for more than two days the border remains tense.
Siham Smeri, a farmer and mother of five, says the Israelis still fire warning shots when the farmers get too close to the fence. Her family owns land near the border that they haven't farmed in more than two years. The first day of the truce we went to a hill near the border. An Arab Israeli soldier yelled out to us: Get away from here or we will shoot you and break the truce. They have not been back since.
UN nuke chief urges Syria to cooperate By OMAR SINAN, Associated Press Writer Sat Jun 21, 2:41 AM ET
CAIRO, Egypt - The U.N. nuclear watchdog chief urged Syria on Friday to show transparency and cooperate with inspectors from the world agency visiting the Mideast country this weekend. It marks the start of an international fact check of U.S. and Israeli assertions that Damascus had tried to build a plutonium-producing facility under the radar of the international community.Mohamed ElBaradei, who heads the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, told the pan-Arab Al-Arabiya Television that he hoped Syria will let IAEA inspectors visit all locations they are interested in.
Syria said earlier this month it won't allow IAEA to probe beyond a site bombed by Israel last September, despite IAEA's expressed eagerness to visit three other suspect locations.We will go (to Syria) with open eyes and we will observe the facts ... All I ask of Syria is to show absolute transparency and help the IAEA probe, ElBaradei said in the interview, aired late Friday.I hope that Syria will take us to all the locations, where allegedly there could be other reactors, ElBaradei added.His remarks reflected IAEA hopes that Syria could still warm to giving IAEA access to the three other sites. The main focus on the agency's three-day visit that begins Sunday is the Al Kibar facility — a building in the country's remote eastern desert that was destroyed in September by Israeli jets.ElBaradei again rebuked Israel for the bombing. Before (Israel's) hitting Syria ... we could have had the time to go to Syria to investigate and learn of any covert Syrian reactor, ElBaradei said.In the interview, part of which was aired earlier this week, ElBaradei also said that his agency doesn't have evidence Syria possesses the fuel or technical know-how for a large-scale nuclear plant.Syrian President Bashar Assad has repeatedly denied that his country has a secret nuclear program.Israel has never officially confirmed September's air strike on Al Kibar, though it has not disputed the foreign reports, or U.S. government comments, on the incident.
Chavez refutes US Hezbollah charges Sat Jun 21, 1:48 AM ET
CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez says the United States is trying to bring him before an international court. Chavez says the United States is using accusations that the Venezuelan government is supporting the Lebanese group Hezbollah to see if the world will make a move against him.The U.S. has charged a Venezuelan official and others with helping Hezbollah. Washington considers the armed group and political party in Lebanon a terrorist organization.The U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday that it has frozen the accounts of two Venezuelans: Diplomat Nasr al Din and Lebanese-born businessman Fazwi Kan'an.Kan'an, who owns a travel agency in Caracas, called the accusations pure lies.Chavez spoke out against the accusations on Friday.
US still favors diplomacy to settle Iran nuclear issue: envoy Fri Jun 20, 3:04 PM ET
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The US ambassador to the UN said Friday said Washington favored diplomacy in the Iranian nuclear crisis for now despite reports of Israeli preparations for a possible air strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. We're in the phase of diplomacy, we want a diplomatic settlement of this issue, Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters when asked to react to media reports that recent military exercises by the Jewish state were a possible practice for a strike against Iran.I saw the article in paper today, Khalilzad said. You know our view with regard to Iran, which is that it would be unacceptable for Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.Right now we are in the phase of diplomacy, that's what we are pushing for, we want a diplomatic solution to this problem. The ball is frankly in Iran's court, he added.The New York Times Friday quoted US officials as saying that a major military exercise carried out by Israel earlier this month seemed to be a practice for any potential strike against Iran's nuclear facilities.US President George W. Bush, who was not expected to respond publicly to the news report, said repeatedly on his just-completed trip to Europe that he prefers a diplomatic solution but has not ruled out using force.
At the State Department in Washington, spokesman Sean McCormack said that it was not yet at the point that Iran and this regime have changed its behavior.US officials are hopeful that there are those reasonable officials within the Iranian government who will see that continuing on the course that they are on -- continuing their enrichment and reprocessing-related activities -- in the face of the demands of the international community, McCormack said.It was not a good road for the Iranian government to go down, because they will continue to incur greater and greater costs as a result of actions by the international community, he said.A Pentagon official briefed on the exercise said a goal of the practice was to send a message that the Jewish state was prepared to act militarily if diplomatic efforts failed to halt Tehran's production of bomb-grade uranium.But Iran warned its arch-enemy Israel Friday of a strong blow if it resorts to force.If enemies especially Israelis and their supporters in the United States would want to use a language of force, they should rest assured that they will receive a strong blow in the mouth, senior cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said in his Friday prayers sermon.
Hamas says smuggling to Gaza will continue Fri Jun 20, 2:46 PM ET
GAZA CITY (AFP) - Smuggling into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip will not stop, the head of the territory's government, Ismail Haniya, said on Friday, threatening an already tenuous two-day-old truce with Israel. During Egyptian-mediated negotiations, Israel wanted to force Hamas to stop what they call the smuggling of contraband across land and sea borders, Haniya told worshippers before Friday prayers.They also said that (the release of detained Israeli soldier) Shalit must be part of the truce deal. But we have not agreed to these demands because they are unjust and go beyond the capabilities of this government, he said.Reacting to Haniya's remarks, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert underlined that the Egyptian-brokered truce explicitly stated that arms smuggling into the impoverished territory must halt.The agreement with Egypt states clearly that there must not be any contraband arms heading for Gaza and no attacks from Gaza towards Israeli territory by any of the armed groups, Mark Regev said.
Those people in Gaza who claim this is not true are seeking to weaken the peace, he added.Israeli security sources say Hamas has smuggled more than 100 tonnes of explosives into Gaza, including rockets and anti-tank missiles, since the Islamists seized control of the strip in June 2007.As well a halt to militant rocket fire and Israeli strikes on Gaza, the deal calls for Israel to progressively ease its blockade of the overcrowded strip of land where most of the 1.5 million population depend on aid.Israel has also been pushing for progress over the release of Israeli Corporal Galid Shalit, who was captured by Palestinian militant groups including Hamas in a deadly cross-border raid on June 25, 2006.
Hamas has repeatedly stated that Shalit's release and the Gaza truce were separate issues and that Hamas would free him in exchange for 450 prisoners held by Israel.
Middle East Quartet to meet in Berlin on Tuesday Fri Jun 20, 4:17 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The quartet of Middle East peace mediators will meet in Berlin on Tuesday for their first gathering since Egypt brokered a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the U.S. State Department said. The quartet, which comprises the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States, will meet on the sidelines of a German-hosted conference to support Palestinian civil security and rule of law.The United States hopes to achieve an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement by the end of the year despite the weakness of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government and the divisions among Palestinians.As part of its efforts, Washington has sought to strengthen security forces under Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah movement holds sway in the West Bank but lost control of Gaza to Hamas fighters a year ago.Abbas is seeking to strike a peace deal with Olmert while the Islamist Hamas movement opposes the negotiations.(Editing by Bill Trott)
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