Monday, May 05, 2008

ISRAEL GREETS 400 NEW ISRAELIS

Rice embraces Mideast errands By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer MAY 5,08

JERUSALEM - Seems no job's too small for Condoleezza Rice when it comes to the Middle East these days. After initially resisting the idea, the top envoy for a Bush administration that once sniffed at Mideast peacemaking as a fool's game is shuttling between Israeli and Palestinian leaders and getting into nitty-gritty obstacles that have blocked progress and dimmed hopes for a peace deal this year.It's been five months since President Bush heralded the first substantive peace talks between the two sides in more than seven years. Yet the secret talks have yielded no obvious successes, and the novelty has worn off.Some of Bush's optimism that the U.S. could referee from the sidelines seems to have worn off too.Rice left the region Monday without a clear accomplishment. She plans to return in less than two weeks.Rice has made four trips to Jerusalem and the West Bank in those five months and with each visit her job gets less lofty but arguably more important. She's deep in the Mideast weeds now, tossing off jargon about roadblocks and checkpoints and asking for assessments of whether if Israel lifted this roadblock instead of that one it might help Palestinian farmers get vegetables to market.You may think to yourself, What in the world am I doing spending time on these things? Rice acknowledged Monday.Those sort of detailed questions smothered Bush's first-term peace proposal, a step-by-step program called the road map. Similar small-bore issues have undermined peace talks past, and every effort has ultimately foundered on a basic lack of trust or will.It's always been a system in which one side had a view, and the other side had, if not 180 degrees the opposite view, pretty close to it, Rice said, and it takes an objective monitor to sort things out.

This time, the United States has agreed to judge whether both sides are meeting their obligations under the road map, which says that Palestinians must disarm and corral militants while reforming a historically corrupt leadership. Israel agreed to stop new settlements on land the Palestinians claim for an eventual independent state and ease movement for Palestinians.The reason they both agreed there should be an impartial U.S. role is they could accept if the United States is saying, Here are the obligations you need to meet and here are the obligations you need to meet, and you have or have no met them, she said.Bush and Rice reject previous administrations' conclusion that it will take the United States to write much or all of any workable peace deal, but Rice's analysis acknowledges a central and decisive role.Rice sat first with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, then with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, then with Olmert for breakfast before she left on Monday. In between she saw numerous other officials on both sides and huddled with her own advisers, including an Air Force general named to oversee road map compliance on both sides. He's been making lists, and Rice told reporters she went over the findings with each side.I found it useful to go back and forth a little bit — not to just do one meeting and have that be the end, Rice told reporters traveling with her.Shuttle diplomacy got a bad name early in Bush's presidency, when advisers said it rarely amounted to much and made a superpower look small.

Perhaps more significant than her individual meetings, Rice has twice held sessions that included both Israelis and Palestinians, including one with the top negotiators for both sides. Hard to be more in the middle than that.But time is running out and nerves are fraying, particularly on the Palestinian side.Just after she left, a top aide to Abbas sharply criticized Rice and the administration for constant visits that produce no visible results. That's why there should be American pressure on Israel, instead of continuous visits and statements, the aide, Nabil Abu Rdeneh, said. Settlements are continuing, the siege is continuing, and Israelis aren't serious enough.Abbas aides said the Palestinian president is giving the negotiations two or three more months to produce progress. Abbas retains the option of walking away from the talks if he believes progress is impossible, Abu Rdeneh said. In that case, the president will take a dramatic decision, he'll inform the Palestinian people of the complete story of negotiations, and he'll take the right decision at the right moment, the aide said. In some ways, Rice may be on a fool's errand. The situation on the ground makes the goal of a deal by year's end look somewhat absurd, with the sides failing to enact basic trust-building measures necessary for negotiations to succeed. Israel has failed to dismantle roadblocks, halt settlement activity, release Palestinian prisoners, take down illegal West Bank outposts and call off military raids in cities where Abbas is deploying his own forces.

The Palestinians, while stationing police in key cities to keep down crime gangs, have done little to dismantle what Israel calls the terrorist infrastructure of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The Israeli leader finds himself weakened by corruption scandals, including a new police investigation into alleged financial wrongdoing announced this past week. Abbas, too, has seen his popularity plummet because of the lack of visible progress, and the 73-year-old leader's health was called into question after he underwent a sudden heart test last week. Bush has only a few months left in office — making the goal of suddenly solving one of the world's most intractable problems look increasingly unrealistic.

Even if the parties could overcome these obstacles, the big elephant in the room is Hamas. The militants' control of the Gaza Strip makes implementing any peace deal extremely problematic. After Hamas capitalized on Israel's 2005 Gaza withdrawal to launch rocket attacks on southern Israel, the Jewish state is highly unlikely to evacuate any more territory unless it can be assured against a repeat. Olmert himself has said no deal will be implemented until Abbas regains control of Gaza. Associated Press Writer Mohammed Daraghmeh contributed to this story from Ramallah, West Bank. EDITOR'S NOTE — Anne Gearan covers diplomacy and foreign affairs in Washington.

Israeli president likens Iranian nuclear threat to Hitler By STEVEN GUTKIN and AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writers MAY 5,08

JERUSALEM - In sweeping comments Monday before Israel's 60th anniversary, Israeli President Shimon Peres compared the Iranian nuclear threat to Hitler's Germany and said engaging Gaza's Hamas rulers would be like talking to a wall. His birthday wish for Israel, he said, would be to have it lead the world in science.I would like that it should be as old as the Ten Commandments and as new as nanotechnology, Peres said.The 84-year-old president appeared before foreign reporters at his official residence in Jerusalem — musing on everything from the U.N. resolution leading to Israel's creation to his plans for a country-wide network of electric cars to the seven wars fought by the Jewish state.Though Israel's presidency is largely ceremonial, Peres plays a unique role in the country and on the world stage — one of the few leaders remaining from Israel's founding generation, a three-time prime minister and a vocal proponent of peace.

As for Iran, Peres said the combination of fanatic leadership and a nuclear bomb would be a nightmare for the world.In a way it's more complicated than in the time of the Nazis, he said. Hitler didn't have a nuclear bomb.Still, Peres said that if the world unites to block Iran's nuclear ambitions, no military action would be necessary. Tehran denies its nuclear program is meant to develop a bomb — something Peres said should not be believed.You don't develop long-range missiles unless you plan to arm then with nuclear warheads, he said.Peres' secret talks with Yasser Arafat's PLO movement in the 1990s led to the so-called Oslo accords, which won him the Nobel Peace Prize along with Arafat and then-Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin.Asked on Monday if he could be a pioneer for similarly audacious talks with Hamas, he replied, It would be like asking if I will be a pioneer in having a dialogue with the wall.

The Palestinians would have already had a state had it not been for Hamas' refusal to accept Israel, Peres said.Israel and the West have been boycotting Hamas since the militants violently seized control of the Gaza Strip nearly a year ago. The takeover paved the way for peace talks with the moderate Palestinian leadership in charge of the West Bank but at the same time complicated prospects for carrying out any eventual peace deal.With Hamas exploiting Israel's 2005 withdrawal from Gaza to pound southern Israel with rockets, a similar evacuation of the West Bank — an essential element of a future accord — would be unlikely.Peres called Hamas' vague indications that it might accept a state alongside Israel without actually recognizing Israel not even a beginning.Despite the obstacles, Peres said Israel and the Palestinians could still achieve their declared goal of forging a peace deal by the end of the year. However, he said it would be essential to show Palestinians that peace will ease their hardship.The problem is people lost their trust in speeches. The only voice that people will trust, in my judgment, is the voice of a tractor and a Hummer, Peres said, emphasizing his belief that the best way to promote Israeli-Palestinian peace is to promote economic development in the Palestinian territories.Peres said Israelis and Palestinians will have to move quickly to divide the land, saying we don't have time.
To mark Israel's 60th, Peres is organizing a three-day conference this month focusing on Jewish and Israeli contributions to humanity. Israel will celebrate its independence day this Thursday, just before the Jewish calendar date for Israel's declaration of statehood on May 14, 1948. Among the hundreds expected to attend the conference are President Bush, Tony Blair, Rupert Murdoch, Mikhail Gorbachev, Henry Kissinger and the founders of Google and Facebook.

Hezbollah training Iraqi fighters: report MAY 5,08

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Fighters from the Lebanon-based pro-Iranian Hezbollah group have been training Iraqi militia members at a camp near Tehran, The New York Times reported Monday. Citing US interrogation reports, the newspaper said the account of Hezbollah's role was provided by four Shiite militia members who were captured in Iraq late last year and separately questioned by US interrogators.The State Department neither confirmed nor denied the report.Information gleaned from the questioning was given to the Iraqi government before Baghdad sent a delegation to Tehran last week to discuss allegations of Iranian aid to militia groups, the paper said.It is not known if the delegation confronted its Iranian hosts with the information, or how the Iranians responded, The Times noted.We have experienced in the past that Iran interfered and has special groups in Iraq, but Iran also had evidence that they were participating in positive ways in security, Ali al-Dabbagh, a senior Iraqi government spokesman, was quoted in the report as saying.We would like the Iranians to keep their commitment, the commitments they made in meetings with the prime minister and with other groups that have visited them, Al-Dabbagh said.They had made the promise that Iran would be playing a supportive role.Militiamen mostly loyal to Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who according to his Najaf-based office is currently in Iran, have been battling US troops in Baghdad's Sadr City.Sadr's Mahdi Army militants have fought running streetbattles with US and Iraqi forces since late March in the district, killing hundreds of people.State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said: I'm not sure where that story came from, adding: I'm neither confirming nor denying any of the individual elements of it.He referred reporters to the multinational forces in Iraq.

Israel greets 400 immigrants ahead of 60th birthday MAY 5,08

TEL AVIV (AFP) - Four hundred new Jewish immigrants from 23 countries landed on Monday on Israeli soil, as part of special events this week to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Jewish state. The minister of immigrant absorption, Yaacov Edery, and Jewish Agency chief Zeev Bielsky met the new arrivals who arrived on flights from Moscow and Paris at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv.I am moved to be able to celebrate the 60 years of the state of the Israel by welcoming hundreds of new immigrants, said Edery, who himself immigrated from Morocco in 1959.Children from a Jerusalem school greeted the immigrants with red roses.

I have had a dream since childhood when in 1948 my parents told me about the possibility of living in Israel and 60 years later, here I am, said Richard Dana, a retiree from Corsica who plans to live in Ashdod, a coastal town south of Tel Aviv.It is the most wonderful moment of my life, said another immigrant from France, David Benhamou, 27, who is a singer with the stage name Shai.The chief Sephardi rabbi of Israel, Shlomo Amar, offered words of welcome before breaking a hala bread and dipping it in salt, according to an ancient Jewish tradition, and then handed out pieces to the new arrivals.The 400 immigrants will take up residence in about 50 towns around Israel, according to the Jewish Agency, a governmental organisation charged with immigration.In the past few years, the immigration of Jews to Israel has been in decline, hitting the lowest level in 20 years in 2007 with fewer than 20,000 new arrivals.Since the founding of Israel six decades ago, three million immigrants have come to settle in Israel, more than one million of them from the former Soviet Union.Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948, but the event will be officially celebrated on Thursday in line with the Hebrew lunar calendar.

Israel army promises fun for all the family Mon May 5, 10:54AM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - The Israeli military on Monday announced it will celebrate the country's 60th anniversary with displays of military prowess and magic for the whole family. Israel's vaunted army would normally be busy seizing suspected militants in the West Bank and launching air strikes at rocket launchers in Gaza, but on Wednesday it promises shows and events for the entire family.Various weaponry and other military equipment will be on display as well as displays by security forces, the military said of the planned events for Independence Day celebrations.The doors to several Israeli bases will be open to the public -- no cameras or weapons allowed -- while the army, air force and navy exhibit their vast arsenals.A base near the southern town of Beersheva will offer an exhibition of tanks, Hummers and weapons of different kinds, the army said.

There will be shows for children as well as magicians, clowns and telepathy, it added.Another event promises a tour of the army intelligence school involving displays of special satellite equipment, visual, spying, listening as well as stations manned by the censorship, information security and localisation.There will also be guided tours of model tunnels similar to those used for weapon smuggling in Gaza, as well as a tour of a model nature reserve used by Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia with which Israel fought a bloody war in 2006.The Israeli military has long been considered the region's strongest but was heavily criticised following the bloody 34-day stalemate in Lebanon and has since struggled unsuccessfully to halt rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled Gaza.Israel has planned several events in honour of its 60th anniversary and a number of world leaders, including US President George W. Bush, are expected to visit the country in honour of the occasion.

Mideast talks make significant progress on borders: Israel Mon May 5, 9:16 AM ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel said on Monday it had made significant progress on the issue of the future borders of a Palestinian state following a top-level meeting between the two sides. We have made significant progress on the two issues of outlining the borders of the future Palestinian state and the security arrangements between Israel and the Palestinian state, a senior Israeli official said.

The official was speaking after a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas at which he was present.The two leaders met hours after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrapped up her latest visit to the region during which she pressed the two sides to advance US-brokered peace talks launched five months ago.

Documents show UK post-WWII dilemma over Jewish refugees By GREGORY KATZ, Associated Press Writer Sun May 4, 7:05 PM ET

LONDON - Documents released Monday show how the British government tried to send thousands of Palestine-bound Jewish survivors of the Nazi genocide back to postwar Germany without inflaming world opinion. Could it be done? The answer was no. It was just two years after the end of the war and the world was outraged by the systematic murder of 6 million Jews by the Nazis in what became known as the Holocaust.Despite the best efforts of early spin doctors to portray the move in the most sympathetic light, the decision to turn away the more than 4,500 Jews on board the Exodus refugee ship turned into a humanitarian and public relations debacle for Britain.The story is detailed in more than 400 pages of formerly secret documents at Britain's National Archives made available to the public on Monday.The Jews aboard the Exodus were trying to enter Palestine illegally during the tumultuous months in 1947 before the United Nations voted to create a Jewish homeland in part of Palestine.Britain was still governing Palestine and the British government felt it had to keep the immigrants out to preserve the demographic balance between Arab and Jew. But Britain did not have a safe place to send the Jews from the Exodus, who were placed on three smaller British steamers.

After much agonizing, the British concluded that the only place they could send the Jews was to the British-controlled zone of postwar Germany, where the Jews could be placed in camps and screened for extremists.After Germany, many of the passengers were eventually detained in military camps in Cyprus along with other Jews deported from Palestine. When the state of Israel was founded in 1948, the Exodus' passengers were able to move there.The Exodus' ordeal focused world attention on the British blockade of Palestine and the plight of Jews fleeing Europe after World War II.The documents show that diplomats and military officers knew that sending Jews back to Germany and putting them in camps so soon after the Holocaust would set off protests.These documents show the British perspective for the first time, said Mark Dunton, contemporary history specialist at the National Archives. It's obvious in the files the British were sensitive to the claim they were putting Jews into concentration camps.A British diplomat in France sent a coded warning to the Foreign Office in London in August 1947.You will realize that an announcement of decision to send immigrants back to Germany will produce violent hostile outburst in the press, he says.He suggests an early measure of spin control — telling the press that the Jews will enjoy some freedoms even though they will be confined.An unsigned cable from the Foreign Office on Aug. 19, 1947, explains that the decision to land the Jews in Germany has been made because it is the only suitable territory under British control that can handle so many people at short notice.Three days later, a follow-up Foreign Office cable warns diplomats that they should be ready to emphatically deny that the Jews will be housed in former concentration camps after they are offloaded in Germany.The Aug. 22 cable states that German guards will not be used to keep the Jews in the refugee camps and adds that British guards will be withdrawn once the Jews have been screened.But security concerns were heightened on Aug. 30 when a secret telegram from the British Embassy in Washington warned of a possible terrorist attack by the Irgun and Stern gangs, two Zionist extremist groups determined to prevent the forced offloading of the Jews in Germany.

The Exodus passengers were successfully taken off the vessels in Germany, although a number were injured in confrontations with British troops that involved the use of batons and fire hoses. An officer identified as Lt. Col. Gregson, in a formerly secret report, said he considered using tear gas to subdue the Jews but decided not to risk inflaming the situation.

The Jew is liable to panic, he wrote.

Security fears seemed justified after the Jews were removed when a large, homemade bomb with a timed fuse was found on one of the three ships. It was apparently rigged to detonate after the Jews had been removed, the cables indicate. The postscript on the operation comes from the British regional commander who says that the disembarkation could be regarded as successful because it was carried out with only minimal casualties. But he says Britain's reputation was damaged by the highly critical press coverage of OASIS, as the operation was known in diplomatic and military circles. It is impossible to deny that among the Hamburg population OASIS was one additional cause for reduction in British prestige, he ruefully concludes. Associated Press Writers Mark Lavie in Jerusalem and Meera Selva in London contributed to this article.

Sunday, May 04, 2008

RICE STILL PRESSURES ISRAEL

Abbas sends forces to north West Bank By Adam Entous and Wael al-Ahmed Sat May 3, 3:01 PM ET

JENIN, West Bank (Reuters) - Hundreds of forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas deployed to the northern West Bank city of Jenin on Saturday for a law-and-order campaign meant to show the government is laying the ground for statehood. In a campaign dubbed Operation Smile and Hope, jeeps and buses, which commanders said carried up to 600 security men, arrived in the city in coordination with Israel. Another 150 men already in Jenin, long a militant bastion, will join them.Washington, whose efforts for a deal on a Palestinian state this year have shown little sign of progress, sees the Jenin push as a chance for Abbas to prove he can rein in militants -- Israel's main condition for implementing a peace agreement.The deployment of the men, some of whom receive U.S.-funded training in Jordan, coincides with the start of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to the region on Saturday.In comments to reporters travelling with her, Rice urged Israel not to undermine the Palestinian security efforts.

There have to be very insistent efforts to make sure that they are not being undermined, Rice said.General Diyab al-Ali, head of national security forces in the West Bank, told reporters in Jenin the deployment would lead to a Palestinian state.This is our country, our land and we will do our jobs regardless of what the Israelis do until we establish our own state, he said.A similar security push last year in Nablus was marred by Israeli army raids, travel restrictions and Israel's refusal to let the forces have certain equipment such as body armour.Western officials hope the Jewish state will be more cooperative in Jenin, but Ali said he had not received any assurances from Israel.The Israeli government has emphasized that ultimate security responsibility will remain in Israel's hands.

MILITANTS

A senior Palestinian security official said the forces would target criminals such as car thieves, and had orders to confiscate illegal weapons, but stopped short of explicitly saying the campaign would target militants.

Security men gave out leaflets to residents asking for help on tackling troublemakers and underlining that they alone have the right to carry guns.U.S.-backed peace talks were launched in November with the goal of reaching a deal before Bush leaves office in January, but Washington says neither side is doing enough to meet their obligations under a 2003 peace road map.Under the road-map, Israel is meant to halt settlement activity and remove Jewish outposts. The Palestinians are meant to combat militants in the West Bank, where Abbas holds sway, and in the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Hamas Islamists.Washington is keen to show security and economic progress in the West Bank before U.S. President George W. Bush visits Israel later this month. The Jenin operation will be accompanied by a series of economic development projects.

Rice arrives on Saturday for meetings with Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. A senior Abbas aide said the two men would also meet on Monday and that the Palestinians expected Israel to produce maps showing the borders of a future state. The Jenin forces are expected to take up positions on Sunday. The campaign is supposed to last three months. Israel reoccupied West Bank cities -- seven of which had been under Palestinian control after the 1993 Oslo peace accords -- after the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising in 2000. One Palestinian security source in Jenin said Abbas's forces would be authorized to enter Jenin's volatile refugee camp and other areas that have been off-limits to Palestinian forces. Security has improved in Jenin over the last six months as militants from Abbas's Fatah faction turned in weapons as part of an amnesty program coordinated with Israel. (Editing by Matthew Jones)

Egypt intelligence chief to Israel after 60th celebrations MAY 4,08

CAIRO (AFP) - Egyptian intelligence supremo Omar Suleiman will head to Israel after its 60th anniversary celebrations to discuss a truce with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, President Hosni Mubarak told reporters on Sunday. Omar Suleiman will head to Israel after the celebrations to discuss the truce with the Israelis, Mubarak said in response to a question during a visit to an industrial complex.

The visit comes after we agreed with Hamas, the PLO and other Palestinian factions like (Islamic) Jihad, he said.Israel celebrates 60 years of existence on Thursday.On Wednesday, 12 Palestinian groups meeting in Cairo agreed to a proposal for a truce with Israel that Egyptian mediators will now try to sell to the Jewish state.A deal for a six-month period of calm had already been accepted by the Islamist movement Hamas, while Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, from rival Fatah, gave the negotiations unconditional support.Egypt's intelligence chief has been serving as a go-between in the truce negotiations, as Israel refuses any direct contacts with organisations it considers terror groups.

WHEN WILL AMERICA EVER TAKE A HINT TO LAYOFF PRESSURING ISRAEL. THE DEMISE OF AMERICA IS CLOSE DUE TO PRESURRING ISRAEL TO DIVIDE JERUSALEM. I CAN GUARENTEE A BAD HURRICANE SEASON THIS YEAR. AS IF ALL THESE TORNADOES ALREADY ARE NOT A HINT TO AMERICA.

Rice pushes for Mideast peace progress By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer MAY 4,08

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday that a year-end goal for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal is still achievable, even though both sides question whether the target is realistic. Rice made the comments after a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has sounded increasingly pessimistic about reaching an agreement with the Israelis. Abbas accuses Israel of undermining talks by continuing to build Jewish settlements on lands the Palestinians claim for a future state, and refusing to remove hundreds of military checkpoints that dot the West Bank.At a news conference with the Palestinian leader, Rice urged Israel not to prejudice a final deal — a reference to the settlement construction. And in unusually pointed criticism, Rice suggested the Israeli government could do more to improve life for West Bank residents.She said Israeli gestures in the West Bank must have a real effect on the lives of people there. We are trying to look not just at quantity, but also quality of improvements, she said.Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert relaunched peace talks at a U.S.-hosted conference last November and set a December 2008 target for a peace deal.Their talks are to be based on the U.S.-backed road map, a peace plan that sets out a phased process leading to the formation of an independent Palestinian state. As interim measures, Israel is supposed to halt settlement activity and take steps to improve the freedom of movement for Palestinians, while the Palestinians are supposed to dismantle militant groups. Neither side has fully met these obligations.

Rice said carrying out the roadmap is very painstaking work, but noted that President Bush believes the time has come for the establishment of the Palestinian state.That is why we are working so hard on the roadmap simultaneously with the negotiations. And we continue to believe that it is an achievable goal to have an agreement between the Palestinians and the Israelis by the end of the year and by the end of President Bush's term, she said.Rice arrived on her latest peace mission on Saturday night, and spent Sunday in a series of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. With no concrete signs of progress, Rice is seeking to breathe new life into peace talks before a visit to the region later this month by Bush, who is joining Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations.Rice said that during talks with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, there was an extensive discussion of the checkpoints.Israel maintains hundreds of roadblocks and checkpoints throughout the West Bank, saying they are needed to protect settlements and prevent would-be attackers from crossing into Israel. The Palestinians claim the travel restrictions have stifled their economy and made free movement in an area they claim for their independent state extremely difficult.It was the first time that I had raised this issue, and so it will be now a discussion as to how to carry out that concern, or how to address that concern, Rice said.

At the same time, she acknowledged there is a real security dimension for the Israelis. She praised the Palestinians for their move over the weekend to deploy hundreds of security forces in the West Bank town of Jenin — a onetime stronghold of militant groups.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad toured Jenin on Sunday, meeting with Palestinian police who had deployed there a day earlier. Fayyad said that during a joint meeting with Rice and Barak, they discussed the future deployments of Palestinian police in other West Bank areas.After a White House meeting last month, Abbas was critical of the U.S. for not pushing Israel harder to create conditions that he thinks are more conducive to peacemaking. But on Sunday, he praised the U.S. involvement and said failure is not an option.We want to achieve success, and we need to reach a comprehensive agreement, he said. If we don't reach an agreement, we have to think about what the next step will be. Now, let's not think about failure.Later Sunday, Rice was to meet the chief negotiators, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia.Despite Rice's optimistic comments, the sides face new obstacles unrelated to the substance of peacemaking. Abbas, 73, underwent an unannounced heart test last week, raising new questions about his health, while Olmert has become the subject of a new police investigation, the fifth since he took office two years ago. A gag order has been imposed on the Olmert case. But speaking to his Cabinet on Sunday, Olmert said the case has unleashed a wave of malicious and wicked rumors and pledged to push forward with his agenda.

He also confirmed reports that he would meet with Abbas on Monday. The two leaders meet regularly to assess progress. Perhaps the biggest obstacle to a peace deal is the Hamas militant group's continued control of the Gaza Strip. The Islamic group violently overtook the area last June from Abbas' forces, leaving the Palestinians with two rival governments. The Palestinians want to build an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza — which lie on opposite sides of Israel. But Olmert says that even if a peace agreement is reached, Israel cannot carry it out until Abbas regains control of Gaza. Israel considers Hamas a terrorist group because of its history of suicide bombings and commitment to Israel's destruction.

Israel's Olmert says he will meet Palestinian president Sun May 4, 7:47 AM ET

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he will meet Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas on Monday. Olmert made the announcement Sunday at the regular weekly meeting of his Cabinet. Palestinian officials had previously said the meeting would take place Monday in Jerusalem.Abbas visited Washington last week and has complained that months of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have yielded no progress.U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in the region for talks with Palestinian and Israeli officials. She is trying to nudge the two sides toward an agreement by the end of this year.

Friday, May 02, 2008

QUARTET MEETING MAY 2,2008

Mideast Quartet urges Israel to stop West Bank settlements By GREGORY KATZ, Associated Press Writer MAY 2,08

LONDON - Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad warned Friday that peace talks could collapse unless Israel changes course and accepts a more conciliatory approach in negotiations. Fayyad, in London for diplomatic talks, said Israel has not complied with any of the obligations set out at the U.S.-backed peace conference in Annapolis, Md., late last year.Israel has failed to meet any of its obligations from the road map, including a freeze in settlement activity, he said. Unless that changes, the political process is being stripped of its meaning.Fayyad gave a highly pessimistic progress report after meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. He said the Palestinian government had met its commitments by reforming its financial sector and praised the donor community for providing additional money desperately needed by Palestinian authorities.In response, Israeli diplomats released remarks that Livni made in private meetings with Fayyad and other leaders earlier in the day.They said she had told Fayyad that 60 road blocks, one major checkpoint, and other impediments to Palestinian freedom of movement had been removed, and that an additional 5,000 work permits have been granted to help Palestinians seeking work inside Israel.

However, the United Nations says there are more than 500 obstacles impeding movement in the West Bank, including gates, checkpoints and dirt mounds blocking passages. The 60 impediments Livni referred to are mostly dirt mounds, the removal of which has had little significance.Many of these measures involve significant security risks for Israel, she said, according to the released remarks. We expect the (Palestinian Authority) to live up to its obligations in order to ensure that these steps will not be exploited by terrorists and endanger further progress.But she said Israel needs assurances that the Palestinians will actively fight terrorism before it takes any further steps.Fayyad said the Palestinian Authority needed roughly $1 billion to meet its obligations for the second half of this year.But he said Israel had refused to take steps that would allow normal economic activity in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.The remarks came after the Middle East peace Quartet — the U.S., Russia, the European Union and the United Nations — urged Israel to cease all settlement activity in the West Bank. The diplomats called for more negotiations in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.There were no signs of a breakthrough, but Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said an agreement on the creation of an independent Palestinian state remains possible during President Bush's waning days in office.

It's hard work and it's labor intensive and I know there's skepticism, but I think they do have a chance to get an agreement by the end of the year and that's what we're going to work for every day, she said.Rice cited Northern Ireland as an example of a conflict that seemed intractable until just before peace was achieved.Rice said Arab countries that have pledged money to the Palestinian Authority, but not delivered, will be prodded to come up with the funding they have promised.Last year, a Paris donor meeting netted $7.7 billion in aid pledges to the Palestinians over three years. The money was earmarked both for the Palestinian budget and reform and development programs. The optimism that surrounded the pledges has long since faded.Clearly when you make a pledge you ought to fulfill it, and that will be my message," Rice said. According to U.S. figures, only $215 million of roughly $835 million pledged by Arab League nations has been handed over to the Palestinians, with the shortfall contributing to the economic and humanitarian crisis in the occupied territories. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, a special Quartet envoy to the region, is focusing on the economic crisis. He expressed frustration Friday at the slow pace of negotiations with the Israeli government on agreements to lift roadblocks and checkpoints in the West Bank so normal business activity can resume.

With Blair's help, the struggling Palestinian government is organizing an investment conference in Bethlehem later this month. The meeting is designed to showcase moneymaking possibilities in the region for investors willing to gamble on the possibility of improved security conditions. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, reading the statement after the Friday morning meeting, said the Quartet expressed its deep concern at Israel's continued settlement building on the West Bank and called for all outposts built since March 2001 to be dismantled. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Arye Mekel said the Jewish state was not building new settlements and was only allowing natural growth in existing settlements.
We have not changed our position on this, he said. The written statement by the Quartet members read out by Ban explicitly states that natural growth of the settlements is unacceptable. He also expressed concern over worsening humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip. A U.N. official reported Friday that rising prices and funding shortages have forced the U.N. to stop providing emergency food aid to more than 13 percent of the 750,000 Palestinian refugees it generally feeds in Gaza. Associated Press Diplomatic Writer Anne Gearan contributed to this report.

Source: Middle East Quartet Date: 02 May 2008
Statement by Middle East Quartet, 2 May 2008 SG/2137


Following is the text of the statement issued today in London by the Quartet ( United Nations, Russian Federation, United States and European Union):

Representatives of the Quartet -- United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, High Representative for European Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana, European Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner, and Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel -- met today in London to discuss the situation in the Middle East. They were joined by Quartet Representative Tony Blair.

The Quartet expressed its strong support for ongoing Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and encouraged the parties to make every effort to realize the shared goal of an agreement on the establishment of a Palestinian State by the end of 2008. Commending the parties for their continuous and intensive negotiations, the Quartet emphasized the urgent need for progress and called on the international community to remain constructively engaged in support of negotiations with the goal of the establishment of a Palestinian State in the West Bank and Gaza and an end to the conflict.

The Quartet emphasized the importance of visible progress on the ground to build confidence and create an atmosphere supportive of negotiations. The Quartet welcomed concrete steps by both sides in the wake of the trilateral meeting between Secretary of State Rice, Prime Minister Fayyad and Defense Minister Barak, and stressed the urgent need for rapid and continued implementation of these and previous commitments to improve conditions on the ground. While taking note of some positive steps, including the removal of some roadblocks and an outpost by Israel, and improved security performance by the Palestinian Authority, the Quartet noted that much more remained to be done to improve the situation on the ground in order to change the conditions of life in the West Bank and to keep the political process on track.

In this context, the Quartet expressed its support for Quartet Representative Tony Blair, and underscored the urgent need for progress and close donor coordination. It also expressed its strong backing for the planned Bethlehem Conference on Private Sector Investment in May as well as the parties' agreement to improve security and economic conditions in Jenin, which can offer a model for important progress on the ground.

Noting the particular importance of justice sector reform, the Quartet looked forward to the meeting that will take place in Berlin in June to promote and coordinate donor assistance in this area.

The Quartet called upon both sides to fulfil their obligations under the Road Map. It also called on both sides to refrain from any steps that undermine confidence or could prejudice the outcome of negotiations. In this context, the Quartet expressed its deep concern at continuing settlement activity and called on Israel to freeze all settlement activity including natural growth, and to dismantle outposts erected since March 2001.

It called on the Palestinian Authority to fulfil its commitments to fight terrorism and to accelerate steps to rebuild and refocus its security apparatus. It urged Israel and the Palestinian Authority to increase cooperation in that respect and to facilitate the delivery of security assistance to the Palestinian Authority.

The Quartet condemned continuing rocket attacks from Gaza on southern Israel, including against Sderot and Ashkelon, as well as the terrorist attacks at a seminary in Jerusalem on 6 March. The Quartet also expressed deep concern at Palestinian civilian casualties, including the recent death of a mother and four of her children in Gaza. It called for an end to all violence and terror and urged all parties to take all feasible steps to ensure the protection of affected civilians in accordance with international law.

Noting its deep concern over humanitarian conditions in Gaza, the Quartet called for continued emergency and humanitarian assistance and the provision of essential services to Gaza without obstruction. The Quartet expressed its continuing concern over the closure of major Gaza crossing points given the impact on the Palestinian economy and daily life. The Quartet condemned the terrorist attack on Nahal Oz fuel terminal on 9 April, and noted that such attacks on the Gaza crossings interfere with the supply of essential services and undermine the interests of the Palestinian people. Principals strongly encouraged Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Egypt to work together to formulate a new approach on Gaza that would provide security to all Gazans, end all acts of terror, provide for the controlled and sustained opening of the Gaza crossings for humanitarian reasons and commercial flows, support the legitimate Palestinian Authority Government, and work towards conditions that would permit implementation of the 2005 Agreement on Movement and Access.

Looking forward to a productive meeting of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee, the Quartet encouraged all parties to do their part to support Palestinian institutional capacity-building and economic development. The Quartet called for all donors to follow through on pledges made at the December 2007 Paris Donors' Conference. Underlining the crucial role of Arab States in support of the peace process, and the importance of the Arab League peace initiative, the Quartet encouraged the Arab States to fulfil both their political and financial roles in support of the Annapolis process.

The Quartet also discussed the proposal for an international meeting in Moscow to lend continued support to the parties in their negotiations and efforts on the ground.

The Quartet authorized its envoys to continue to work to facilitate the achievement of all of these goals.

The Quartet reaffirmed its commitment to a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East based on United Nations Security Council resolutions 242, 338, 1397 and 1515.

For information media • not an official record.

Thursday, May 01, 2008

EU AND WORLD TRADE BLOCKS

DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE 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.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) 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 KINGS OR NATIONS).

A Europe of blocs? (WORLD TRADE BLOCKS....YES)
Mark Mardell 30 Apr 08, 12:01 AM


The French President nearly upset the EU apple-cart when he proposed a Mediterranean Union including EU and non-EU countries around that sea. How far will the Poles go when they make proposals for a similar Baltic-to-the-Black-Sea Union? The idea was a little noticed result of the European Council meeting back in March. Then, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk suggested that if Turkey and the countries of North Africa could link up with the EU countries bordering the Med, it was only fair the East should have the same opportunities.

He was given the go-ahead, perhaps to both balance President Sarkozy's brainwave, and perhaps to further down-grade it. Perhaps a rather brutal move, as it had already been thoroughly and efficiently eviscerated by Chancellor Merkel.Polish diplomats do not see their plan as ambitious as the Mediterranean, but argue that if the French, Italian, Spanish and Greeks can link up with countries in North Africa and negotiate with the rest of the European union as a bloc, then they should be allowed to do the same alongside Georgia and Ukraine. I presume the link-up would be between the 10 former communist countries of the East and those six in the relevant European neighbourhood policy.As far as I know, there will be no invitation to Russia to join this would-be new power bloc. The Poles point out that at the moment they, and the EU members in the region, can only talk to the European Union as individual nations. The suggestion is those next to the Med would get an unfair advantage. Part of this is no doubt there's gold in them there hills: such an organisation would of course get more EU money for the region. More cash is a reasonable goal in itself, but I wonder about the consequences.

Sometimes countries do argue within the European Union as regional blocs, but more often they don't. Mr Tusk's report, to be presented to the other leaders in June, is probably of not much moment in itself but is it the beginning of a trend? And would that trend be a dangerous undermining of EU solidarity, or a realistic recognition of other identities and alliances ?

EU attempts to woo Serbia with pre-accession deal
29.04.2008 - 17:44 CET | By Elitsa Vucheva


EUOBSERVER / LUXEMBOURG – With just over a week to go until what is being billed as decisive elections in Serbia, the EU on Tuesday (29 April) sent a strong political signal to the western Balkan country that its future belongs in the European Union.In a piece of political manoeuvring that gives the pro-EU forces in Belgrade something to use at home but upholds a key European demand, both sides signed a pre-membership deal at a meeting of foreign ministers in Luxembourg.The deal came after the Netherlands and Belgium dropped their opposition to the move but on condition that the implementation of the agreement depends on Belgrade's cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal.This is a good day, a happy day for both Serbia and the EU, Slovenian foreign minister Dimitrij Rupel whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, said after signing the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) in Luxembourg.Europe is ready to go a common way with Serbia and now the European future of Serbia is in the hands of the Serbian people, he added.Serbian President Boris Tadic, who flew from Belgrade especially for the signing ceremony after a call from Mr Rupel earlier on Tuesday, said he was also extremely pleased that Serbia is entering a contractual relationship with the EU.

Signing the SAA constitutes an important step towards eventual EU membership and this in turn will ultimately bring about a final reconciliation of the peoples of the western Balkans, he added.The decision was taken on Tuesday morning after Belgium and the Netherlands agreed to sign the SAA.The two countries had originally said that Serbia must first fully cooperate with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), and arrest war crimes indictee Ratko Mladic.

Signing but not implementing

They yielded to the pressure of other EU states – who have been prepared to sign the agreement for weeks - on condition that Serbia will not get any concrete benefits from the agreement until Belgrade is judged as fully cooperating with the ICTY.Normally, ratification of such documents is launched immediately after they are signed.But in this case, the lengthy process will not start until all EU member states unanimously agree that Belgrade's cooperation with the ICTY is sufficient.This could happen at the earliest in July, with a report on the matter by UN war crimes prosecutor Serge Brammertz expected in June.

Rejection by Serbia's prime minister

Meanwhile, the party of Serbia's prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, has reiterated its opposition to signing the SAA and said the country's parliament would never ratify the document, according to Russian news agency Itar-Tass.On Monday, Mr Kostunica himself said again that the SAA undoubtedly represents an act against the state, an anti-constitutional act.The Serbian premier argues that the fact that a majority of EU countries has recognised Kosovo's independence has changed the political situation, and has called for talks with the EU on this new reality.Whether the EU's concession has worked will become evident on 11 May when President Boris Tadic's pro-Western Democrats will face off against the radical and nationalist parties in Serbia.