ISRAEL ATTENDS AMERICAS SUMMIT

Lebanon charges 4 with collaborating with Israel By HUSSEIN DAKROUB, Associated Press Writer MAY 30,4:30PM

BEIRUT – Lebanon charged four people with collaborating with Israel on Saturday, raising to 23 the number of suspected spies who have been charged in the last few months, a court official said.Since the recent crackdown began in April, Lebanon has arrested 35 people on suspicion of spying for Israel, the country's archenemy, Lebanese police commander Brig. Gen. Ashraf Rifi told The Associated Press.Lebanon considers itself at war with Israel and bans its citizens from having any contact with the Jewish state. Spying for or collaborating with Israel can be punishable by death.Military prosecutor Saqr Saqr also charged the four men Saturday with providing Israel with information about civilian and military positions and political figures, said a court official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.Israel has refused in the past to comment on the spying allegations.Lebanese army commander Gen. Jean Kahwaji vowed to continue the crackdown against Israeli spies in a speech to troops Saturday, the state news agency reported.Meanwhile, the Lebanese army sent a message to its troops warning them against Israeli attempts to infiltrate the military. Saturday's warning came only days after security officials said authorities detained a Lebanese army colonel on suspicion of spying for Israel in the first case involving a high-ranking military officer.Some of the 23 people who have been charged are still at large. Those in custody have all been accused of providing intelligence to Israel on the militant group Hezbollah, which fought a 34-day war with Israel in 2006 that killed 1,200 people in Lebanon and 159 in Israel.Lebanese officials have said three suspected spies fled across the border to Israel.

Hamas says Fatah arrests 22 of its activists Sat May 30, 8:54 am ET

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) – Hamas Islamists said on Saturday Fatah forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrested 22 of their activists in the West Bank.

A Palestinian security official in the city of Ramallah said police rounded up several men across the West Bank involved in hiding weapons, money laundering and incitement to violence but he denied the arrests were politically motivated.

He refused to give the number of men arrested.

Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri said Abbas's Fatah-dominated forces were pursuing a crackdown on the Islamist group in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in an attempt to sabotage Egyptian efforts to reconcile the rival factions.Hamas and Fatah have been accusing each other of arresting rival activists. Tensions have been high between the groups since Hamas Islamists seized the Gaza Strip in June 2007 after routing forces loyal to Abbas.Hamas has also accused Fatah of helping Israel hunt down one of its fugitive militants who was killed on Thursday by soldiers who encircled his house near the West Bank city of Hebron.During unity talks between Hamas and Fatah in Cairo earlier this month, Egypt set a July 7 deadline for a deal to bridge their divisions.
(Reporting by Ali Sawafta; Writing by Joseph Nasr, Editing by Richard Meares)

Israel to attend Americas summit Sat May 30, 4:43 am ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel's deputy foreign minister will attend the annual summit of the Organization of American States next week in a bid to counter Iran's growing influence in Latin America, an official said on Saturday.Danny Ayalon plans to meet representatives of several Latin American states at the summit in Honduras as arch-foe Iran tightens trade and military ties with a number of countries, mainly Venezuela and Bolivia, the official told AFP.Israel sees in the summit a chance to deepen economic and diplomatic ties with Latin America and to match Iran's and (the Lebanese militia) Hezbollah's involvement in the region,said the official, who asked not to be identified.The decision to send a high-ranking Israeli representative to the OAS summit for the first time in years stems from Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's plan to bolster diplomatic ties in regions such as Latin America and Africa.The ultra-nationalist minister is giving top priority to halting the Islamic republic's nuclear programme, which Israel says is aimed at developing an atomic bomb, a claim denied by Tehran.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called Iran's ambitions an existential threat after its President Mahmoud Ahmadinajad called for Israel to be wiped off the face of the map.Ayalon will then travel to Washington where he will meet senior State Department and White House officials to discuss US-led efforts to end the Iranian nuclear standoff.Lieberman himself plans to travel to Latin America and Africa in coming months as part of the diplomatic offensive to halt Iran's growing influence,the official said.A foreign ministry document leaked last week said that Israel suspects Venezuela and Bolivia of supplying uranium to Iran to advance its nuclear programme.Israel has also accused Venezuela, which severed diplomatic ties with the Jewish state following its offensive in Gaza earlier this year, of backing Hezbollah and the Palestinian Islamic Hamas movement.

US lawmakers urge Obama to push for Mideast peace Fri May 29, 10:45 am ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – More than 400 US lawmakers have signed letters urging President Barack Obama to step up efforts aimed at achieving Mideast peace, officials said Friday.In the lower House of Representatives, 330 legislators signed a letter sponsored by Democratic majority leader Steny Hoyer and Republican minority leader Eric Cantor.The letter was sent to the White House late Thursday, the same day Obama hosted Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas for their first Oval Office talks since the US president took power in January.In the Senate a similar letter, signed by 76 senators, was sent to Obama last week during a visit here by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.While the obstacles are formidable, we agree with you that every effort should be made to try to realize that peace at the soonest possible time,the House letter reads.It pointed out key priorities for the lawmakers: the parties must negotiate the peace themselves; the United States would work in close cooperation with Israel; it would insist Palestinians renounce violence and build institutions needed for a viable Palestinian state; and the United States should encourage more participation in the process by Arab states.The pro-Israeli lobby AIPAC, which supported the lawmakers' moves, said AIPAC strongly applauds Congress for this important expression of overwhelming bipartisan support for US efforts to help Israel achieve peace with all her Arab neighbors,according to spokesman Josh Block of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Obama meets Abbas, ups pressure on Israel – Fri May 29, 5:19 am ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama Thursday renewed pressure on Israel but rejected a timetable for his peace drive, noting domestic pressures heaped on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.As Obama met Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas for the first time as president, he called for a halt to settlement building on the occupied West Bank, while his administration sparred with Israel over the sensitive issue.Obama vowed an aggressive mediation effort, ahead of his visit to Saudi Arabia and Egypt next week, while Abbas pledged to live up to all previous peace agreements and warned time is of the essence for a two-state solution.Abbas presented the US president with a document outlining ideas about how to take the peace process forward.

The document does not veer from the (US-backed) roadmap and the Arab peace initiative,Abbas told AFP.It contains ideas to introduce implementation mechanisms for these two plans.A top Abbas aide said Obama had promised to study the text.The US president recalled that last week he had been very clear with Netanyahu about the need to stop settlements.Asked by a reporter if he would strong-arm Israel if it did not back down in its refusal to support a Palestinian state, he said: I think it's important not to assume the worst, but to assume the best.Obama, who rejected an opportunity to set a date for the establishment of a viable, potential Palestinian state, added: I don't want to put an artificial timetable.I am confident that we can move this forward if all parties are ready to meet their obligations.On Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had significantly hardened the US position on settlements, prompting a blunt dismissal from Israel.But Obama appeared to give Netanyahu some leeway, noting the fierce pressures imposed on the Israeli leader by his hawkish right-wing coalition.I think that we don't have a moment to lose, but I also don't make decisions based on just a conversation that we had last week.Because obviously Prime Minister Netanyahu has to work through these issues in his own government, in his own coalition,said Obama.The US president also called on Abbas to offer security improvements to Israel and to quell anti-Israel incitement in Palestinian mosques and schools, and took note of challenges Abbas faces with the West Bank ruled by his Palestinian Authority and the Gaza Strip run by Hamas.I very much appreciate that President Abbas has been under enormous pressure to bring about some sort of unity government and to negotiate with Hamas,Obama said.Abbas added that he had shared ideas with Obama based on the roadmap and the 2002 Saudi peace plan backed by the Arab league.The US-backed roadmap calls for a halt to Jewish settlement activity in Palestinian territories and an end to Palestinian attacks against Israel but has made little progress since it was drafted in 2003. Clinton had on Wednesday said Obama wants to see a stop to settlements. Not some settlements, not outposts, not natural growth exceptions.

But Israel on Thursday dismissed the blunt US call.

Normal life will be allowed in settlements in the occupied West Bank, government spokesman Mark Regev said, using a euphemism for continuing construction to accommodate population growth. He added that the fate of settlements will be determined in final status negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians and in the interim, normal life must be allowed to continue in those communities.The Palestinian Authority has ruled out restarting peace talks with Israel unless it removes all roadblocks and freezes settlement activity. Netanyahu told Obama last week at their first White House meeting that he was willing to immediately relaunch the peace talks but failed to publicly back the creation of a Palestinian state or to freeze settlement activity.The Abbas meeting represented Obama's latest attempt to revive the stalled Middle East peace process.Next week, Obama will deliver a long-awaited address to the Muslim world in Cairo, but he said he would not lay out his long-awaited peace plan in the speech, which he said was designed to lay out a path for a better US relationship with the Islamic world.

Obama meets Abbas, presses Israel on settlements By Matt Spetalnick – Thu May 28, 7:30 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Thursday ratcheted up pressure on Israel to freeze settlements as he sought to reassure visiting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of U.S. support for Palestinian statehood.Faced with an Israeli rebuff of Washington's latest appeal to halt settlement building, Obama held talks with Abbas 10 days after hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who remains at odds with the U.S. administration over peacemaking strategy.Seeking to revive stalled peace efforts, Obama made clear he would continue pushing Netanyahu to impose a total freeze on Jewish settlement construction in the occupied West Bank and embrace the goal of Palestinian statehood.We can't continue the drift ... We need to get this thing back on track,Obama told reporters with Abbas, a Western-backed moderate weakened by Hamas Islamists' control of the Gaza Strip, seated at his side in the Oval Office.Obama stressed that Israel's obligations under a 2003 Middle East peace road map include stopping settlements ... and making sure that there is a viable Palestinian state.He said Palestinians had to do more to strengthen their security forces and reduce anti-Israel incitement he said was sometimes spread in schools and mosques.In his first Washington visit since Obama took office in January, Abbas had been expected to make his case for a tougher U.S. approach toward Netanyahu, who heads a new right-leaning Israeli coalition with pro-settler parties at its core.

Netanyahu's government on Thursday spurned U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's blunt assertion that all settlement activity must stop, including the natural growth of existing enclaves that Netanyahu has vowed to continue.Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev responded by reaffirming Netanyahu's intention to allow some further construction to accommodate the expansion of settler families.Even as policy differences have exposed a rare U.S.-Israeli rift, it remains unclear how hard Obama is willing to push the Jewish state to make concessions when his administration has yet to complete its Middle East strategy.

PRELUDE TO OBAMA TRIP

Obama sees engagement in Palestinian-Israeli peacemaking as crucial to repairing America's image in the Muslim world and drawing moderate Arab states into a united front against Iran.Netanyahu's refusal to endorse a two-state solution to the decades-old conflict, long the cornerstone of U.S. policy, has added a new obstacle to Obama's diplomatic efforts.In Thursday's talks, Obama also sought to shore up Abbas, who governs only in the West Bank while Hamas holds sway in Gaza. We are fully committed to all of our obligations under the road map,Abbas said.Palestinians contend that expansion of settlements, deemed illegal by the World Court, are aimed at denying them a viable state. Israel says the Palestinian Authority has not done enough to rein in militant violence.Abbas' visit could be a preview of what Obama can expect next week when he sees Saudi King Abdullah in Riyadh and Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo and then delivers a speech to the Muslim world.Muslims will be looking for signs of how Obama will tackle the Arab-Israeli standoff. His predecessor, George W. Bush, was criticized for neglecting the decades-old conflict and most Muslims believed his policies were biased in favor of Israel.Obama said he would talk about his ideas for Israeli-Palestinian peace in the June 4 address but brushed aside speculation that he would unveil a new peace initiative. It is a critical factor in the minds of many Arabs throughout the region and beyond the region,he said.Obama signaled, however, that he hopes to work toward a broader peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors.Abbas has ruled out restarting peace talks until Israel commits to Palestinian statehood and a settlement freeze.Netanyahu has said he is ready to resume negotiations immediately but wants to exclude tough territorial issues.Abbas said on Thursday there could be no progress unless final-status issues were discussed.Further underscoring the difficult path ahead, Israeli troops killed a fugitive leader of Hamas' military wing in the West Bank on Thursday, Palestinian and Israeli officials said.(Additional reporting by Ori Lewis and Alastair Macdonald in Jerusalem; editing by Mohammad Zargham)

IMF talks with Hezbollah about Lebanon reforms Thu May 28, 12:29 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The International Monetary Fund acknowledged Thursday its mission in Lebanon had spoken with Hezbollah, among other political parties, about the need for economic reforms in the country.An IMF spokesperson downplayed reports in The New York Times and the Financial Times saying that the IMF had discussed a possible loan for Lebanon with Hezbollah, which is vying to oust a pro-Western faction dominating the parliament in June legislative elections.On the latest IMF mission in Lebanon, in February and March, staff met with the main political parties as part of their outreach activities,the spokesperson said in an email to AFP, on condition of anonymity.The objective of these meetings was to explain the role of Fund surveillance and to gather support toward economic reforms,the official said.In response to a question about the reported loan talks, the spokesperson said:The IMF has not negotiated with Hezbollah members or sympathizers in Lebanon over a possible loan. By no means were future fund arrangements discussed.The June 7 legislative election will pit the current US-backed majority in parliament against a Hezbollah-led coalition supported by Syria and Iran.The current parliamentary session was marked by a war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006, and a political crisis that degenerated into factional clashes in 2008.Hezbollah, considered a terrorist organization by Washington, stands a good chance of winning the vote along with its allies.The IMF spokesperson also said that during the mission visit, staff had met Abed Al Halim Fadlalah, then deputy director of an economic research center that is close to the Hezbollah.In November, the 185-nation institution awarded 37.6 million dollars in financing to Lebanon, on top of the 76.7 million dollars in post-conflict emergency aid awarded a year and a half earlier.In April, in its annual evaluation report, the IMF had praised the remarkable resilience of the Lebanese economy in the face of the global financial crisis.The IMF spokesperson noted that any new aid would require the approval of the institution's executive board.The United States, whose IMF share gives it veto power, has repeatedly said that it will have no dealings with Hezbollah.

IMF denies reports it negotiated with Hezbollah By Lesley Wroughton – Wed May 27, 7:45 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund denied media reports on Wednesday that it had discussed possible loans with Lebanon's Hezbollah before parliamentary elections next month.The Financial Times and New York Times on Wednesday reported that Hezbollah had held talks with the IMF and the European Union to secure financial support for Lebanon if its alliance won the election.The IMF has not negotiated with Hezbollah members or sympathizers in Lebanon over a possible loan,the IMF said in a statement.It said an IMF mission visiting Beirut in March for annual consultations on economic policies met with the country's main political parties as part of standard outreach activities that also include talks with nongovernmental groups.During the talks, it met with Abed Al-Halim Fadlalah, then deputy director of an economic research center that has close ties with Hezbollah, to explain the IMF's visit and gather support toward economic reforms,the IMF said.The IMF conducts annual economic consultations with all of its 185 member countries.The Fund has a long history of meetings with political parties and/or parliamentarians, the IMF said. Many Fund missions do this as part of their outreach activities.

By no means were future Fund arrangements discussed,it added.

Lebanon votes on June 7 in a poll that pits an alliance including Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah, which Washington classifies as a terrorist organization, against an anti-Syrian coalition now holding a majority in parliament.Many experts predict gains for Hezbollah and its allies. Russia on Wednesday said the international community must recognize the result of Lebanon's general election regardless of who wins a majority.Hezbollah is the only Lebanese faction to remain armed after Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war and that has involved itself in domestic politics.In a statement at the end of the visit on April 15, the IMF mission said Lebanon's financial system had so far weathered the global financial crisis and shown a remarkable resilience to the global downturn.The IMF has supported the country under an Emergency Post-conflict Assistance program since 2007.(Editing by Will Dunham)

Netanyahu cites reciprocity on eve of Abbas U.S. trip By Jeffrey Heller – Wed May 27, 4:52 pm ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on the eve of a White House visit by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that Palestinians must also be pressed to meet commitments under a U.S.-backed peace plan.Pledging to honor Israel's international agreements, which include a 2003 peace road map with the Palestinians, Netanyahu said, We want an end to the conflict and we want reciprocity in the demands made of both sides, and in carrying them out.After meeting Netanyahu on May 18, Obama reaffirmed a main hallmark of the road map -- creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel -- and called for a halt to Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.Netanyahu, who delivered a policy speech in parliament, has not directly endorsed Palestinian statehood and has said construction in existing Jewish settlements would continue to accommodate growing families.In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States wanted Israel to stop expanding Jewish settlements without exception and would push this point with its ally.The president was very clear when Prime Minister Netanyahu was here. He wants to see a stop to settlements -- not some settlements, not outposts, not natural growth exceptions,Clinton said at a news conference with Egypt's foreign minister.That is our position. That is what we have communicated very clearly, not only to the Israelis but to the Palestinians and others, and we intend to press that point.Netanyahu has demanded Abbas' Palestinian Authority meet its commitments under the road map, including a crackdown on militants -- a task complicated by the 2007 takeover of the Gaza Strip by Hamas Islamists.In Washington Thursday, Abbas intends to urge Obama to press Israel to stop settlement expansion, Palestinian officials said.

Responding to Netanyahu, Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rdainah said the Palestinians had fulfilled their obligations but Israel had not met its commitments to halt settlement building.Rdainah accused Netanyahu of pressing demands to crack down on militants as a pretext to avoid recognizing the two-state solution.Underscoring some common ground with Obama, who is to make a June 4 speech in Egypt to the Muslim world, Netanyahu called in parliament for Arab countries to join the peace effort.The Israeli leader has proposed shifting the focus of currently suspended peace talks with the Palestinians from difficult territorial issues he said have stymied progress to improving economic, security and political relations.Abbas has said Netanyahu must accept the principle of Palestinian statehood before negotiations can resume.We are prepared to take, and we will take, concrete steps toward peace with the Palestinians. We also expect the Palestinians to take concrete steps,Netanyahu said.

A statement issued by the prime minister's office said Netanyahu convened a ministerial committee earlier in the day to discuss ways to improve the situation of Palestinian residents in the West Bank.Netanyahu told the committee it would soon be asked to examine several economic projects that would benefit the Palestinians and that Israel would seek international funding for the initiatives.(Editing by Alastair Macdonald and Doina Chiacu)

Britain urges stronger drive for Mideast peace Wed May 27, 8:15 am ET

ANKARA (AFP) – British Foreign Secretary David Miliband Wednesday urged stronger efforts to revive peace efforts in the Middle East, warning that the current impasse would make a settlement harder to reach.The comprehensive agenda that is set out by the Arab peace initiative is very significant.Now it's time to reinforce that drive because the longer the crisis of Palestinian statelessness and Israeli insecurity carries on, the harder it is to resolve,Miliband, on a visit to Turkey, told a press conference.The UK is very committed to helping the bottom-up as well as the top-down measures to support a settlment,he said.The Arab peace plan offers Israel full normalisation of relations in return for a complete withdrawal from all the territories it occupied in the 1967 Middle East war, a Palestinian state and an equitable solution to the Palestinian refugee problem.But new Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to commit his government to a Palestinian state.

Israel rescue services to stage doomsday drill Wed May 27, 5:53 am ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel will stage its largest-ever national exercise next week to test security and emergency responses to potential missile attacks, bombings and natural disasters, an official said on Wednesday.The five-day exercise begins on Sunday and will simulate simultaneous rocket strikes from the Gaza Strip and Lebanon and missile attacks from arch-foes Syria and Iran, Defence Ministry spokesman Shlomo Dror told AFP.We will be exercising the doomsday scenario of simultaneous strikes against Israel on all fronts and by different means,Dror said, stressing that such a scenario is highly unlikely.This will include conventional, chemical and biological strikes against large population centres. It will also simulate a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings.A high point of the drill will be on Tuesday when air-raid sirens sound across the country and citizens must scramble to shelters, in some areas within seconds and others within no more than three minutes.Exercise Turning Point 3 will also simulate rescue and medical services' conduct during earthquakes and epidemics.

And there will be simulated cabinet meetings in which ministers will weigh their response to such attacks and scenarios.This will be the third such exercise since Israel's 2006 war in Lebanon that saw nearly one million citizens in the north of the country coming under heavy rocket fire for more than a month.The Second Lebanon War revealed that the homefront was not well prepared for war and citizens found it hard to adapt to the special situation,Dror said.The army plans to distribute gas masks to all of Israel's 7.2 million citizens in November, he added.The drill comes just two weeks after the air force wrapped up a massive four-day exercise that tested its ability to defend against missile and jet strikes from Syria and Iran.It was the first time the army has simulated strikes from the Islamic republic, located more than 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) away, he said.

EU must step up Mideast engagement: Portugal Wed May 27, 5:16 am ET

LISBON (AFP) – The European Union needs to step up its engagement in the Middle East and actively cooperate with the United States to resolve crises in the region, Portugal's foreign minister said Wednesday.More than ever, Europeans and Americans must work together ... on a global security agenda for the Middle East, Foreign Minister Luis Amado wrote in the daily Diario de Noticias, calling for greater EU engagement.The two Western powers must actively cooperate for the stabilisation of Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, prevent a military nuclear programme in Iran and resolve the long Israeli-Arab conflict,he wrote.On the eve of Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas's first meeting with US President Barack Obama at the White House, Amado said there can be no turning back on the goal of creating a Palestinian state.The EU and US must find a durable solution to the Palestinian question,the cornerstone of peace and security in the Middle East and the stability of the international system in the next few years.

Israel claims Venezuela sending uranium to Iran Mon May 25, 4:24 pm ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel suspects Venezuela and Bolivia of supplying uranium to Iran, according to a foreign ministry document leaked to media.We have information according to which Venezuela provides uranium to Iran for its nuclear programme, the document says.It seems that Bolivia is also a supplier of uranium to the Iranian nuclear programme,the document said, adding that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has played a key role in boosting Iran's ties with Bolivia.The document said Venezuela is helping Iran dodge UN imposed sanctions.It further claimed Iran is establishing cells of the Hezbollah militia in northern Venezuela and on Venezuela's Margarita Island.

Iran denies Western and Israeli suspicions that it is developing nuclear weapons, asserting that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only. It is defying a UN demand to halt uranium enrichment.Chavez has voiced support for Iran's nuclear programme.The release of the document came one week before Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon is due to travel to Honduras to attend the Organization of American States (OAS) general assembly in what the ministry said would be an opportunity to challenge the penetration of Iran and Hezbollah into the region.

Israel's ultra-nationalists table loyalty bill Mon May 25, 7:49 am ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's ultra-nationalist party has submitted a bill to parliament to require Israelis to take a loyalty oath, in a move aimed mainly at the large Arab minority.A parliamentary committee is expected to debate the bill on Sunday, said David Rotem, an MP with Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu party who wrote the proposal.If the committee approves the bill, it will then go before the full Knesset, where it has to be approved in three votes in order to become law.The pledge of allegiance was a key element in Yisrael Beitenu's campaigning for the February general election.The proposed pledge is: I pledge loyalty to the state of Israel as a Jewish, Zionist and democratic state, to its symbols and values, to serve the state as much as I am required in military service or alternative service, as decided by law.Under the proposed law, the interior ministry will be able to revoke the citizenship of anyone who does not perform his military service or other civil service.The bill by the secular nationalist party is aimed mostly at Arab citizens -- some 20 percent of Israel's population -- and also at the ultra-Orthodox community. Neither group does the military service mandatory for most Israelis.The Israeli government on Sunday approved a draft law aiming to ban marking the Naqba, the catastrophe the 1948 creation of Israel represented for many Palestinians, raising a storm of protest from Arab and left-wing politicians.

Yisrael Beitenu, Israel's third biggest party with 15 of the 120 seats in parliament, targeted Israel's Arab minority during the election campaign, adopting the slogan No Citizenship Without Loyalty.The Israeli Arab community comprises around 1.2 million people of the country's total population of about seven million.They are descended from 160,000 Palestinians who remained on their land after the establishment of Israel in 1948.Israeli Arabs have voting rights and enjoy a better standard of living than Palestinians in the West Bank or Gaza Strip, but they still face widespread discrimination.

Sarkozy says Palestinian state vital to Mideast peace Mon May 25, 3:30 am ET

DUBAI, (AFP) – Creating their own state is a legitimate right for Palestinians and necessary for Middle East peace and Israeli security, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has told the UAE state news agency WAM.No one would think seriously about peace in the Middle East without giving the Palestinians a state they have been persevering for years. It is their legitimate right,he said ahead of a formal visit to the United Arab Emirates.The best guarantee for security of Israel is setting up an independent, democratic, modern and viable Palestinian state.Sarkozy said that the construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank should stop as it is an obstacle to peace, adding that he would not compromise Israel's right to live in peace.He who knows me is aware I'm a true friend of Israel and will not compromise the right of Israel to live in peace and security,he told WAM.Sarkozy's comments come ahead of an expected meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on June 3 in Paris, the first such encounter since the right-winger became Israeli premier in March.France last week denounced Netanyahu's statement that Jerusalem would remain Israel's undivided capital for ever.The French president will arrive in the oil-rich Gulf state of the UAE later on Monday for an official visit during which he will inaugurate France's first permanent military base in the Middle East.

Israel to ban Naqba commemoration Sun May 24, 3:40 pm ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – The Israeli cabinet on Sunday approved a draft law aiming to ban marking the Naqba, the catastrophe the 1948 creation of Israel represented for many Palestinians, a government official said.The draft law is scheduled to be submitted for parliamentary approval next week and will propose punishment of up to three years in prison for breaches of the prohibition, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.The government's legal commission brought forward the law at the instigation of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party.Israeli Arab MPs immediately slammed the proposal, branding it the act of an apartheid regime.The civil rights association also attacked the draft law.For the past year we have witnessed a worrying deterioration in Israel of the right to expression and other democratic rights,association chairman Sammy Michael said in a statement.Commemoration of the Naqba does not threaten Israel at all. It is a legitimate expression of the feelings of individuals and an entire people,he said.

Yisrael Beitenu, Israel's third biggest party with 15 of the 120 seats in parliament, targeted Israel's Arab minority during this year's election campaign, adopting the slogan No Citizenship Without Loyalty.The Israeli Arab community comprises around 1.2 million people of the country's total population of about seven million.They are descended from 160,000 Palestinians who remained on their land after the establishment of Israel in 1948.They have voting rights and enjoy a better standard of living than Palestinians in the West Bank or Gaza Strip, but are still the target of discrimination.

Israel to keep expanding settlements: Netanyahu by Ron Bousso – Sun May 24, 12:59 pm ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said Israel will continue to expand settlements in the occupied West Bank despite calls by main ally the United States to stop.The hawk also referred to a Palestinian state for the first time since re-assuming his post on March 31, but stopped short of backing the principle that is the cornerstone of international Middle East peace making efforts.I have no intention to construct new settlements, but it makes no sense to ask us not to answer to the needs of natural growth and to stop all construction,a senior official quoted him as telling the cabinet.During Netanyahu's first official visit to key ally Washington last week, US President Barack Obama told him that settlements must be stopped,a call echoed by other senior administration officials and on Capitol Hill.Israeli settlements in the West Bank are one of the major stumbling blocks in the halting Middle East peace process, which Obama has vowed to push forward despite a new largely right-wing government in Israel that backs settlements.Briefing the ministers on his Washington trip, Netanyahu said that clearly we need to have some reservations about a Palestinian state in a final status agreement... when we reach an agreement on substance, we will reach agreement on terminology.It was the first time since he returned to the prime minister's post that Netanyahu publicly said the words Palestinian state.But he stopped short of endorsing the concept, backed by Washington, to which Israel committed under the 2003 roadmap Middle East peace plan.

If we talk about a Palestinian state, we have to first and foremost verify what kind of sovereignty and rights this state will have,a senior official quoted Netanyahu as saying.We have to make sure that we are not threatened,Netanyahu was quoted as saying, referring to previous Israeli demands that such a state be demilitarised.

Netanyahu also vowed to deal with settlement outposts in the West Bank, those that the Israeli government itself considers illegal but that most ministers in the government do not want to dismantle.We will take care of them,he said.If possible by dialogue. There is no doubt that we have committed ourselves to deal with them.

Earlier on Sunday ultra-nationalist Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman ruled out a return to Israel's pre-1967 borders, saying such a move would not end the conflict, would not guarantee peace or security. It would simply move the conflict to within the 67 borders,he said, referring to Israel.Israel seized the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and east Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War and, except for Gaza, continues to occupy the territories that today are home to about half a million Jewish settlers.The new Israeli cabinet largely opposes dismantling the settlement outposts, an idea to which the Jewish state committed itself under the roadmap.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak, whose Labour party is the most liberal member of the Netanyahu cabinet, backed the idea of removing outposts, but spoke of 22 such structures -- a number several times lower than that of watchdog groups.We should deal with the remaining 22 (outposts) in a responsible and correct way,he said. First by talking and if that doesn't work then unilaterally.Under the roadmap plan, Israel undertook to dismantle all outposts in the West Bank constructed after March 2001, with an Israeli commission later determining there were 26 such structures.The Peace Now anti-settlement group, however, says that more than 50 outposts have been erected since March 2001 and that at present the West Bank has more than 100 outposts. The international community considers all Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be illegal.The main settler organisation Yesha blasted Netanyahu's statements, saying that he should respect the wishes of voters who voted en masse for parties that are in favour of continuing construction in Judea and Samaria,the Israeli name for the West Bank.

Assad discusses Mideast summit with Russia's Lavrov Sun May 24, 8:24 am ET

DAMASCUS (AFP) – Russia's planned international conference on the Middle East must be well-prepared if it is to succeed, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Sunday.The official SANA news agency said Lavrov briefed Assad on Moscow's wish to organise a conference on the Middle East in order to discuss the peace process.It said the Syrian president responded that the conference must be well-prepared and set out objectives as well as the positions of those parties concerned in the Israeli-Arab conflict.Assad also said it was important to know the extent of Israel's commitment to achieve a just and comprehensive peace, SANA reported.On Saturday, he branded Israel as the major obstacle to peace in the Middle East and backed the right of resistance to recover occupied land.Addressing a ministerial gathering in Damascus of the 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference, Assad said the current state of Middle East peacemaking had exposed the true nature of this aggressive state.

The OIC represents 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide.

Russia announced in January its intention to stage a Middle East conference in the first half of this year, but the idea has not been received with enthusiasm in either Israel or its key ally, the United States.The Palestinians, who have had good relations with Russia since the Soviet era, welcomed it.Russia, with the European Union, the United Nations and the United States, is a member of the international quartet for Middle East peace.On Saturday night, Lavrov met Khaled Meshaal, the Damascus-based leader of Hamas, a spokesman for the Palestinian Islamist movement said without providing further details.On Monday, Lavrov will visit Lebanon.

Israel's Lieberman rules out return to 67 borders by Ron Bousso – Sun May 24, 6:08 am ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Sunday ruled out a return to Israel's 1967 borders, as its largely right-wing cabinet rebuffed calls to remove Jewish settlements built on Palestinian land.A return to the borders of 67 today, as we are being pressured to do, would not end the conflict, would not guarantee peace or security,Lieberman told reporters ahead of a government meeting.It would simply move the conflict to within the 67 borders,he said, referring to Israel, as the cabinet met for the first time since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's talks with US President Barack Obama in Washington.During his trip, the hawkish Israeli premier was told repeatedly by the administration and Congressional leaders that the Jewish state must stop settlement activity in the occupied West Bank, one of the main stumbling blocks in the halting Middle East peace process.But on Sunday, most ministers in the right-leaning cabinet criticised the idea of dismantling any settlements, including so-called outposts -- those the Israeli government itself considers illegal.Lieberman said that dismantling the outposts should come in the framework of the international 2003 roadmap for Middle East peace, a step-by-step plan that foresees the creation of a Palestinian state.Under its first phase, Israel committed to removing outposts and the Palestinians undertook to halt violence.But Lieberman, known for controversial statements, said the plan may have to be re-examined.Removing outposts should be part of an overall policy and cannot be patchwork,Lieberman said, referring to Israeli settlements in the West Bank that were not authorised by the Israeli government.The correct outline is the roadmap, which we might have to re-adopt on all its stages,he said.And if it is necessary within the framework of the roadmap to remove outposts, we will do so.His position was largely echoed by other ministers in Netanyahu's hardline cabinet that was sworn in on March 31.We shouldn't accept diktats and we shouldn't dismantle (settlement) outposts, said Interior Minister Eli Yishai of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party.

I don't see any reason to dismantle outposts before we decide on a unified policy. Nevertheless we should not get into a clash with the Americans.Defence Minister Ehud Barak, whose Labour party is the most liberal member of the Netanyahu cabinet, backed the idea of removing outposts, but spoke of 22 such structures -- a number several times lower than that of watchdog groups.We should deal with the remaining 22 (outposts) in a responsible and correct way,Barak said.First by talking and if that doesn't work then unilaterally.Under the roadmap plan, Israel undertook to dismantle all outposts in the West Bank constructed after March 2001. An Israeli commission later determined there were 26 such structures.The Peace Now anti-settlement group, however, says that more than 50 outposts were put up since March 2001 and that at present the West Bank has more than 100 outposts.The international community considers all Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal.

RUSSIA IN SYRIA TO DISCUSS PPROCESS

Russia's Lavrov in Syria to discuss Mideast summit MAY 23,09

DAMASCUS (AFP) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has arrived in Syria for talks with President Bashar al-Assad on Moscow's plan for a Middle East conference, a Russian diplomat told AFP.Lavrov and Assad will meet on Sunday, the diplomat said.

Russia has been seeking a greater role in Middle East diplomacy, and foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said on Thursday Moscow was striving to strengthen and develop political dialogue and mutual cooperation with Syria.Lavrov will also attend a session of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference which began a three-day meeting in Damascus on Saturday.Russia, with the European Union, the United Nations and the United States, is a member of the international quartet for Middle East peace.

In January Russia said it wanted to organise a Middle East conference in the first half of this year.The United States and Israel were unenthusiastic about the idea but the Palestinians, who have had good relations with Russia since the Soviet era, welcomed it.On Monday, Lavrov will complete his Middle East trip with a visit to Lebanon.

Israel focusing on outpost removal-deputy minister By Ori Lewis – Sat May 23, 7:54 am ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel's removal of about two-dozen settler outposts in the occupied West Bank has become a central issue for the current government, Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said on Saturday.The United States, Israel's main ally, has put increasing pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to halt all settlement activity in the occupied West Bank, part of territory Palestinians want for a future state.Israel removed five families and razed makeshift homes in the West Bank at the outpost of Maoz Esther on Thursday, close to the Jewish settlement of Kokhav Hashahar, northeast of the Palestinian West Bank city of Ramallah.In defiance, settlers returned later in the day to try to piece together the flattened wooden structures but Vilnai said the army would prevent all the some 24 outposts being rebuilt.Certainly, right now this is a central issue and after we have a discussion we will be able to set a timetable for removal,Vilnai said in an interview on Israel Radio.Netanyahu met U.S. President Barack Obama for talks at the White House on Monday and the U.S. president afterwards reminded Israel of its commitment under a 2003 U.S.-backed peace road map to stop West Bank settlement activity.The United States and the European Union see all settlement activity as an obstacle to peace and the EU and the World Court have deemed all settlements illegal.

CONSTANT STRUGGLE

Vilnai, a former army general, said that while in the past governments had failed to act decisively to remove outposts, currently there was a will to remove them.I admit that there was an ambiguity in the past but now we are unequivocal. We are dealing with it,he said.Vilnai is a lawmaker in the center-left Labour party, a coalition partner in Netanyahu's right-leaning coalition. He said that Labour, which is headed by Defense Minister Ehud Barak would not set Netanyahu an ultimatum for removing the outposts.But he added that the Israeli military, that controls the West Bank, had begun making detailed plans to remove the outposts since Netanyahu's return from Washington on Wednesday.We will act according to the arrangements between the army and Netanyahu,he said.There is a clear standing order to ... remove every outpost. There is a constant struggle in which we (the army) remove outposts and they (the settlers) return them to build them ... it happens all the time,Vilnai said.About half a million Jews live in more than 100 settlements Israel has built on land Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war in the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem, territory in which close to three million Palestinians live.Palestinians say the settlements, and the security barrier the Israel army builds around them, mean confiscation of land. But settlers say Jews have a biblical right to the West Bank.
(Editing by Jon Hemming)

Assad brands Israel major obstacle to peace by Roueida Mabardi – Sat May 23, 7:21 am ET

DAMASCUS (AFP) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad launched a tirade against Israel on Saturday, branding it the major obstacle to peace in the Middle East and backing the right of resistance to recover occupied land.He said the current state of Middle East peacemaking had exposed the true nature of this aggressive state.Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and indirect contacts between the Jewish state and Syria have been on ice since Israel's massive offensive against the Gaza Strip in December and January.The failure of the peace process is a blatant demonstration that Israel is the major obstacle to peace,Assad said in an address to a ministerial meeting of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference in Damascus.Our experience with Israel during indirect peace negotiations mediated by Turkey is further proof of this.Turkey brokered four rounds of indirect talks between the two foes last year, the first such contacts since previous peace negotiations were broken off in 2000 over the fate of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.But Syria froze the contacts at the turn of the year when Israel launched its 22-day war on Gaza, controlled since June 2007 by the Islamist Hamas movement whose exiled leader Khaled Meshaal lives in Damascus.The failure of political methods to recover their legitimate rights gives them the right of resistance,he said, referring to Syrians and Palestinians whose land is occupied by Israel.Israel occupied the Golan Heights in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and annexed the strategic plateau in 1981, moves not recognised by the international community.

For decades, Israel was considered a gentle lamb seeking peace in the face of besieging wolves, including the Palestinians, the rightful owners of the land,Assad said.A state built on occupation and the massacre of Palestinians, can it really work for peace? he asked.A state whose successive governments have prevented all solutions and whose current government is one of the most racist, can it be a partner for peace?
Assad said peace remained Syria's strategic objective to restore our rights fully, including occupied land, but underscored what he said was the large popular support for the forces of resistance in the region.In his address to the meeting of foreign ministers, OIC secretary general Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu spoke about the suffering of the people of the Gaza where he said Israel had committed flagrant war crimes.Ihsanoglu called for those who committed the crimes to be hauled before international justice and said the world should act to force Israel to end its occupation of Arab land.The 57-member OIC represents 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide.

Biden links US aid to outcome of Lebanon election By SAM F. GHATTAS, Associated Press Writer – Fri May 22, 2:06 pm ET

BEIRUT – Vice President Joe Biden said Friday that future U.S. aid to Lebanon depends on the outcome of upcoming elections, a warning aimed at Iranian-backed Hezbollah as it tries to oust the pro-Western faction that dominates government.Confident its alliance will win, Hezbollah criticized Biden's visit as a U.S. attempt to influence the June 7 vote and held a mass rally to show its popular support.Biden is the highest-level U.S. official to visit Lebanon in more than 25 years and the attention shows American concern that the vote could shift power firmly into the hands of Hezbollah. U.S. officials have said before they will review aid to Lebanon depending on the composition of the next government, apparently meaning military aid.The election of leaders committed to the rule of law and economic reform opens the door to lasting growth and prosperity as it will here in Lebanon, Biden said. The U.S. will evaluate the shape of our assistance programs based on the composition of the new government and the policies it advocates.The U.S. considers Hezbollah a terrorist group and Biden's one-day visit was clearly timed to bolster the Western-leaning faction led by Prime Minister Fuad Saniora ahead of the vote. He expressed strong support for the government.I assure you we stand with you to guarantee a sovereign, secure Lebanon, with strong institutions, he said after the meeting with President Michel Suleiman.With the election about two weeks away, Lebanon is in the throes of an increasingly abrasive campaign that has split voters into two main camps. One made up mainly of Sunnis favors close ties to America, France and moderate Sunni Arab countries while the other is dominated by Shiites and backed by U.S. foes Iran and Syria.Biden said the U.S. did not want to interfere in the elections and tried to steer clear of the political divisions by meeting the neutral president, Saniora and Hezbollah-allied parliament speaker Nabih Berri.But he signaled a tilt toward America's allies when he met behind closed doors with leaders of Saniora's faction at a private residence. A similar meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during the monthlong Hezbollah war with Israel in 2006 was broadcast on TV and drew months of sharp condemnation from Hezbollah.

Biden said the Lebanese stand to benefit from Arab-Israeli peace and called for the isolation of opponents of the process.Lebanon has suffered terribly from war and we have a real opportunity now ... for peace, he said after talks with the president. So I urge those who think about standing with the spoilers of peace not to miss this opportunity to walk away from the spoilers.Biden's visit caps a transformation in American policy toward Lebanon. It began four years ago after more than two decades of steering clear of the country long viewed as a quagmire. Pro-Iranian militants targeted Americans with bombings and kidnappings in the 1980s during the civil war and more than 250 Americans were killed. That led to a 12-year U.S. ban on citizens traveling to the country that was lifted in 1997.But by stepping into Lebanon's political fray, the United States risks deepening the rift between rival factions. If it does not win, an embittered Hezbollah could take a harder line against its opponents.While the vice president was still in Beirut, Hezbollah flexed its muscle by holding a mass rally in the southern city of Nabatiyeh to mark the 2000 departure of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon. Tens of thousands of flag-waving supporters listened to leader Hassan Nasrallah's video address on a giant TV screen. He spoke from his hiding place in south Beirut.Hezbollah said the visits by Biden and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton a month ago raised strong suspicion and amounted to a clear and detailed interference in Lebanon's affairs.The militant group, which is highly critical of U.S. Mideast policy and has a strong anti-Israel agenda, is looking to strengthen its political hold beyond the veto power it currently has in the government. The Shiite group has only 14 seats in the 128-seat parliament, but got the veto power after a show of force a year ago when its gunmen overran Sunni neighborhoods in Beirut. Hezbollah and its allies have a total of 58 seats, while the Western-backed majority holds 70.

The coalition dominated by the heavily armed Hezbollah stands a good chance of winning, which could increase the influence of its sponsors Iran and Syria in the region. Israel and U.S. Arab allies such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt are concerned about the growing influence of Iran in the Middle East, especially through the militant groups Tehran backs such as Hezbollah and Hamas in Gaza.The U.S. has provided Lebanon with more than a billion dollars in assistance since 2006, including $410 million to the military and the police. At the airport before leaving, Biden said the United States was committed to meeting your army's needs.He reviewed a display of the military hardware the U.S. has provided to Lebanon including a tank, a helicopter and an armored carrier. Lebanon is still trying to chart its own direction four years after Syria pulled its army out of the country and ended nearly three decades of domination. The withdrawal came in the wake of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005 in a bombing that his supporters blamed on Syria. Damascus denied the accusations, but mass protests in Lebanon and U.S.-led international pressure forced Syria out of Lebanon. U.S. support for Lebanon shot up after the Hariri assassination under the former Bush administration, which had isolated Syria. But the Obama administration has shifted policy, reaching out for a dialogue with Syria and Iran. Those moves have alarmed America's allies in Lebanon, prompting recent reassurances from U.S. officials that they will not sell out Lebanon in any dialogue with Syria. The last U.S. vice president to visit Lebanon was George H.W. Bush under President Ronald Reagan. He came in October 1983, days after a massive suicide truck bombing destroyed the U.S. Marine base at Beirut airport and killed more than 240.

France denounces Netanyahu's Jerusalem forever vow Fri May 22, 12:47 pm ET

PARIS (AFP) – France accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday of prejudicing the outcome of the Middle East peace process by declaring that Jerusalem would forever be Israel's undivided capital.The declaration made by the Israeli prime minister yesterday in Jerusalem prejudices the final status agreement, foreign ministry spokesman Frederic Desagneaux told reporters in Paris.Separately, President Nicolas Sarkozy's office announced that the French leader had invited Netanyahu to talks in Paris on June 3, their first meeting since the Israeli right-winger returned to office in February.The international community does not recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital and the city's status is a stumbling block in negotiations with Palestinians, who want east Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state.

Desagneaux said the internationally-sponsored Middle East road map to peace called on both parties to negotiate an agreement on Jerusalem.On Thursday, at a ceremony marking Israel's occupation of east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War, Netanyahu said: Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. It has always been, will remain so forever and will never be divided.Reacting to the speech, the French spokesman took the opportunity to restate Paris' position on the future status of Jerusalem and to criticise Israel for allowing Jewish settlers to build on disputed land.In France's eyes, Jerusalem should, within the framework of a negotiated peace deal, become the capital of two states, he said, adding that Sarkozy had told Israeli lawmakers this in a speech to the Knesset last year.Actions such as the destruction of Palestinian homes or the transformation of Arab districts risk provoking an escalation in violence. They are unacceptable and contrary to international law,Desagneaux said.

In broad terms, France condemns the ongoing settlement, including in East Jerusalem. We reiterate the need for a freeze on colonisation activities, including those linked to natural population growth,he added.The previous Israeli government said it might agree to give up sovereignty on some Arab neighbourhoods in east Jerusalem, but Netanyahu has ruled this out and has refused to endorse the creation of a Palestinian state.

Israeli tourism poster withdrawn after complaints By RAPHAEL G. SATTER, Associated Press Writer – Fri May 22, 11:52 am ET

LONDON – An Israeli tourism poster is being pulled from the London subway after the Syrian Embassy complained that the map on it appeared to show the Golan Heights and Palestinian territories within Israel's boundaries, officials said Friday.Britain's Advertising Standards Authority received more than 300 complaints about the ad, a promotion for the Israeli Red Sea resort town of Eilat, according to the agency's spokesman Matt Wilson.The Syrian Embassy and pro-Palestinian groups complained about it because the featured map appeared to show the territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war — the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights — within the borders of the Jewish state, according to the Israeli Tourism Ministry and the British standards authority.Syrian Embassy spokesman Jihad Makdissi said the move follows days of lobbying to get rid of the ad, which he called offensive. Although Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005, Israel maintains a tight blockade on the narrow strip of land and remains in the West Bank.Israel's hold on the Golan Heights — a strategic plateau captured from Syria — is a particularly sensitive issue for Syrians. Damascus has said it will not make peace with Israel until the land is returned.Israeli Tourism Ministry spokeswoman Shira Kazeh said the decision was made to pull the poster earlier than planned because we don't mix politics and tourism.

Transport for London confirmed that the posters were being taken down, but referred further questions to CBS Outdoor Ltd., which manages advertisements on the London Underground railway.A message left with CBS Outdoor was not immediately answered. A call placed with the Israeli Embassy in London was not immediately returned.The sensitive politics of Middle Eastern mapmaking have posed problems for U.K. companies in the past. Last month British airline BMI apologized for excluding Israel from its electronic in-flight map.Israeli media had reported that on BMI's London-Tel Aviv flights, Israel and most of its cities were not marked. Only Haifa was identified — by its Arab name, Khefa.BMI explained that the plane had been acquired from a defunct airline that flew to several Arab countries.Associated Press Writer Matti Friedman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

PM vows Jerusalem will remain Israel's capital forever by Ron Bousso – Thu May 21, 3:34 pm ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Thursday that Jerusalem would remain Israel's capital forever as the Jewish state marked the 42nd anniversary of the annexation of the city's mainly Arab sector.Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. It has always been, will remain so forever and will never be divided,Netanyahu said at a ceremony marking the occupation and annexation of east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War.The international community does not recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital and the future of the city is a key stumbling block in negotiations with the Palestinians, who want east Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state.Thousands of people, many waving Israeli flags, staged a parade in Jerusalem to celebrate the city's reunification, while about 200 Palestinians and Israeli left-wing activists took part in a protest sit-in at the Old City's Damascus gate, chanting No to occupation, yes to peace.The ties of the Jewish people and Jerusalem goes back thousands of years... Jerusalem will always remain united under our sovereignty,Netanyahu said at the rally at Ammunition Hill, which was the scene of major fighting between Israeli and Jordanian troops in the June 1967 war.The anniversary is marked each year in accordance with the Jewish lunar calendar.

The Palestinians slammed Netanyahu's remarks as undermining the principle of a two-state solution which has formed the bedrock of the peace process over the past two decades.East Jerusalem is occupied Palestinian just like all the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel since June 4, 1967, president Mahmud Abbas's spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina said.Such declarations defy the idea of a two-state solution, he said, urging US President Barack Obama to intervene in order to halt the Israeli policies and these declarations that destroy all efforts to reach a just and comprehensive peace in our region.But Israeli MPs from the ruling right-wing coalition on Thursday submitted a bill aimed at blocking any concessions to Palestinians on the status of Jerusalem.The projected legislation would require any change in the city's boundaries to have the backing of a majority of 80 of the 120 parliamentary deputies, compared with 61 at present.The MPs said the aim is to guarantee the unity of the city.The previous government had indicated the Jewish state might be willing to give up sovereignty on some Arab neighbourhoods of east Jerusalem.

But the Netanyahu government, which was sworn in on March 31, has ruled this out and he has stoked international criticism because of his refusal to endorse the creation of a Palestinian state.Jerusalem's population currently stands at 760,800, with 492,400 Jews and 268,400 Arabs, according to a report published by the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies this week.Some 74 percent of Arab children in Jerusalem live below the poverty line, compared with 48 percent of Jewish children, the study said.The mortality rate among the Palestinian population stood at 5.1 deaths per 1,000, compared with 2.7 deaths per 1,000 among the Jewish population.

Netanyahu evicts settlers on return from Washington By Baz Ratner – Thu May 21, 2:37 pm ET

KOKHAV HASHAHAR, West Bank (Reuters) – Israeli police evicted Jewish settlers from a West Bank hilltop on Thursday, a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned from Washington, where he was urged to take just such action.Yet soon after paramilitary border police removed some three dozen people, bulldozing seven makeshift cabins, some were back rebuilding what they call Maoz Esther, or Esther's Stronghold -- an outpost deemed unlawful even by Israeli courts, which reject international rulings that all settlements are illegal.U.S. President Barack Obama met Netanyahu on Monday at the White House. Obama wants the newly elected, right-wing prime minister to take concrete steps to revive stalled peace talks with the Palestinians, including a halt to all Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank and the removal of the outposts.Netanyahu, whose coalition took over from its centrist-led predecessor in late March, has been noncommital about settlements and has balked at opening negotiations on the most sensitive issues, including the future status of Jerusalem.Netanyahu, at a ceremony later on Thursday marking the anniversary of Israel's capture of Arab East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East War, angered Palestinians by saying the holy city would always be the undivided capital of the Jewish state.Palestinians want the capital of their future state there.

Netanyahu said: A united Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Jerusalem was and will always be ours.It shall never be divided and disunited again.The city, which even Israel's allies do not recognize as its capital, was divided by a Green Line into Arab East and Jewish West between 1948 and 1967, a result of the war over the establishment of Israel in formerly British-ruled Palestine.

PALESTINIAN REJECTION

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Netanyahu's comments were a setback to the goal of a two-state solution, which is strongly supported by the new Obama administration.Mr. Netanyahu, by saying that, he's saying the state of conflict will be eternal,Erekat said.Half a million Jews live in settlement blocs and smaller outposts built in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, all territory captured by Israel 42 years ago in the Six Day War.The World Court says all are illegal. The United States and European Union agree and regard them as obstacles to peace.Israeli leaders have pledged for years to remove a least a couple of dozen unauthorized outposts, part of the terms of the U.S.-backed road map to peace agreed to in 2003.Maoz Esther sits about 300 meters (yards) from the government-approved Jewish settlement of Kokhav Hashahar, northeast of the West Bank administrative center of Ramallah.About three dozen adults and children were in the middle of Bible study when the police arrived. They were allowed to finish and then left as ordered, one evicted resident said. A Reuters journalist saw some of the settlers return after police left.Yariv Oppenheimer of the Peace Now movement said the evacuation was just a public relations stunt.One day before the homes at Maoz Esther were razed, Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Jewish settler leaders that all of the unauthorized outposts had to go. A statement quoted him as saying Israel cannot compromise over enforcing the law.

Netanyahu's spokesman, Mark Regev, said the government wanted the outposts taken down through a process of dialogue. He could not say how long the process might take.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman denied the West Bank settlements obstruct a peace agreement with the Palestinians. I always hear people trying to portray Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria as an obstacle to peace,he said, using the Israeli term for the West Bank. I ask, what was happening before 1967, when there wasn't a single Jewish settlement ... but there was no peace either? Palestinians say the settlements, and the security barrier the Israel army builds around them, mean confiscation of land.

But settlers say Jews have a biblical right to be there.

We have a great love for the land of Israel,29-year-old Avraham Sandak, one of the Maoz Esther settlers, said. Even if some of our brothers don't understand, and face great pressure from the Americans and Europeans, that doesn't bother us. The Torah says the land of Israel belongs to the people of Israel, he said. We will build this again.(Additional reporting by Allyn Fisher-Ilan, Adam Entous and Douglas Hamilton in Jerusalem, writing by Ari Rabinovitch, editing by Alastair Macdonald)

Israel wraps up drill to combat Iran strike Thu May 21, 2:25 pm ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel's air force on Thursday wrapped up a large-scale four-day exercise which simulated its ability to defend against missile and jet strikes from Syria and Iran, a military official said.The exercise was aimed at testing the air force's ability to counter rocket and missile attacks from the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria and archfoe Iran, as well as the infiltration of jets overland, the official told AFP.This is the first time the Israeli army has simulated strikes from the Islamic republic, located more than 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) away, he said.The drill, however, did not simulate a strike on Iran, the official said, amid foreign media reports that Israel had recently performed massive air exercises to simulate strikes on Iran's nuclear sites.On Wednesday, Iran said it had successfully test-fired a new medium-range surface to surface missile capable of reaching Israel, a move which raised concern in the United States.Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said that the exercise was successful and important. What we saw strengthens our security that there is someone we can trust.Heavy air force jet and helicopter activity was noticeable across the country during the drill, among the biggest the air force has ever carried out.An Israeli army spokesman said the exercise was "routine and part of the army's annual training plan and is intended to prepare the Israeli air force to successfully face any possible threat.

Israel, widely considered to be the Middle East's sole nuclear armed power, suspects the Islamic republic of using its nuclear programme to develop atomic weapons, a charge that Tehran has long denied.The Jewish state considers Tehran to be its arch-enemy because of repeated calls by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for Israel to be wiped off the map.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that countering Iran's nuclear ambitions topped his agenda and that the Jewish state reserves its right to self-defence against Iran.

Israeli PM says Jerusalem will never be divided Thu May 21, 12:58 pm ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Jerusalem would never be divided and would remain the capital of the Jewish state, drawing an angry response from the Palestinians.The remarks followed talks with U.S. President Barack Obama earlier this week in Washington where the Israeli leader said he hoped to widen the peace process across the Arab world but stopped short of embracing the creation of a Palestinian state.Palestinians seeking to establish their own state in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, as part of a future peace agreement with Israel, say they want their capital to be in Jerusalem.Netanyahu's comments on Thursday, at a ceremony marking Israel's capture of Arab East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East War, were in line with his election pledge to keep Jerusalem united.A united Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Jerusalem was and will always be ours. It shall never be divided and disunited again, Netanyahu said at the ceremony.Netanyahu, whose right-leaning coalition took office nearly two months ago, said that only Israeli sovereignty over a united Jerusalem would ensure free religious practice and access to holy sites by the three major faiths.Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Netanyahu's position on Jerusalem was a setback to the goal of a two-state solution, which is strongly supported by the Obama administration.Mr. Netanyahu, by saying that, he's saying the state of conflict will be eternal,Erekat said.

Netanyahu wants talks with Palestinians to focus on shoring up their economy and improving security in the West Bank instead of tackling thorny issues like the status of Jerusalem, the fate of Palestinian refugees and final borders.Palestinians reject this approach, saying the renewal of peace negotiations with Israel hinges on Netanyahu publicly endorsing Palestinian statehood and halting settlement activity.

The statement by Netanyahu on Jerusalem was similar to one made by Obama during last year's U.S. presidential campaign.In a speech to a pro-Israel lobby group last June, Obama said Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.

He later said Palestinians and Israelis had to negotiate the status of the city.We don't want barbed wire running through Jerusalem, similar to the way it was prior to the 67 war,Obama explained.(Jerusalem newsroom)

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to visit Ottawa Thu May 21, 10:47 am ET

OTTAWA (AFP) – Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas is to visit Ottawa next week and meet with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, before going to Washington, his envoy said Thursday.After arriving on Monday, Abbas will hold talks with Harper and main opposition Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, Palestinian Authority general delegation chief Amin Abou-Hassira told AFP.He would also inaugurate the Palestinian government's new offices in the Canadian capital, before traveling to Washington to meet with US President Barack Obama on May 28.Abbas, who last visited Ottawa in May 2005, recently met with Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon during Cannon's Mideast tour in February.Since taking office in 2006, Harper's Conservative government has firmly sided with Israel in Mideast affairs and was the first to suspend aid to the Palestinian government after Hamas won elections the same year.

Hamas has been listed in Canada as a terrorist organization since 2002,responsible for several hundred terrorist attacks against both civilian and military targets," according to a Canadian government website.In January, Arab ambassadors in Ottawa protested to Cannon what they viewed as Canada's unbalanced Mideast policies, notably in the recent Gaza conflict.

Israel, US agree on strategy: Lieberman Thu May 21, 9:45 am ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel and the United States agree on what needs to be achieved with the Palestinians but not on how to achieve those goals, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Thursday.The meeting with (Barack) Obama showed that there is complete understanding with the United State concerning strategic targets, he told industrialists in reference to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's White House meeting with the US president on Monday.On the Palestinian issue, there is agreement as to the final destination,Lieberman said in Tel Aviv.Everyone wants to see security, economic prosperity, and stability. Perhaps there is a tactical disagreement as to what is the best way to attain these goals, Lieberman said, according to Israeli media.He also stressed that both the United States and Israel seek to halt Iran's dangerous plan which threatens the entire world.Western countries suspect Iran is seeking to obtain nuclear weapons, but Tehron insists its atomic programme only aims at producing energy.Lieberman also said that Iran supports terrorist groups such as the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and Lebanon's Shiite fundamentalist Hezbollah.He also said that both sides agreed Israel should keep its qualitative edge over other states in the region in military technology.

Israel needs to accept two-state solution: Egypt Thu May 21, 8:36 am ET

CAIRO (AFP) – Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said on Thursday that the international community needs to push Israel to accept a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict.Abul Gheit urged the international community to take responsibility for obliging Israel to accept a two-state solution and take tangible steps towards its implementation,spokesman Hossam Zaki said in a statement.The top diplomat, whose country is Israel's main Arab ally, also urged Israel to stop settlement activities.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far failed to endorse the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, which has been the basis of all peace initiatives over the past nearly two decades.The creation of a Palestinian state is a bedrock principle of international peace efforts to which Israel committed itself under the 2003 roadmap plan.US President Barack Obama has been pushing for a two-state solution and urged Netanyahu during his visit to the US this week to stop Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

Israel MPs seek to prevent Jerusalem concessions Thu May 21, 7:07 am ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – MPs of Israel's ruling right-wing coalition on Thursday presented a bill aimed at blocking any concession to Palestinians on the status of Jerusalem, which Israel considers its eternal capital.The projected legislation would require any change in the city's boundaries to have the backing of a majority of 80 of the 120parliamentary deputies, as compared with 61 at present.The MPs said the aim is to guarantee the unity of the city.The move came as Israel observed the 42nd anniversary of its occupation and annexation of Arab east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day-War.

Israel considers Jerusalem its eternal and indivisible capital despite international rejection of the claim and Palestinian ambitions to make east Jerusalem the capital of their future state.The previous government had indicated the Jewish state might be willing to give up sovereignty on some Arab neighbourhoods of east Jerusalem.But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, which was sworn in on March 31, has ruled this out.The Jerusalem issue is among the main stumbling blocks in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, which have made no tangible progress since they were relaunched at a 2007 conference in Annapolis, Maryland.

Hezbollah's growing regional role piques Arabs By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer – Thu May 21, 5:08 am ET

BEIRUT – Arab governments are starting to see the fingerprints of Lebanon's Hezbollah all over the Middle East, adding to their growing alarm over Iran's power and a widening Sunni-Shiite rift.The worry comes at a time when Hezbollah, a Shiite militant group and political party backed by Iran, already is expected to make strong political gains inside Lebanon in June 7 elections.The double whammy by Hezbollah — of growing political influence at home, coupled with more outreach abroad — has put the squeeze on traditional but waning Arab powers like Egypt, alraedy rattled by President Barack Obama's outreach to their foe Iran.Hezbollah ..... (now) plays a role that is heavier, more important and influential than many Arab nations, said Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, a Lebanese expert on the group.Nowhere has the feud been as overt as between Hezbollah and Egypt, which recently accused the Lebanese Shiite group of organizing a cell to carry out terror attacks inside Egypt.Yemen's president also has accused Hezbollah operatives of training Shiite rebels there, while Saudi Arabia has repeatedly warned of Iranian influence across the region. Morocco unexpectedly cut ties with Iran earlier this year, accusing it of spreading Shiite influence in that mainly Sunni nation.Hezbollah insists it has no intention of interfering in any country's internal politics. Leader Hassan Nasrallah has denied interference in Yemen and said the Hezbollah operative arrested in Egypt was organizing weapons smuggling to neighboring Gaza, not targeting Egypt.Even that — the first time Hezbollah has admitted arming the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza — was a startling, direct revelation of Hezbollah's reach.

We are not shy about providing the Palestinian people with the support they need, said the Hezbollah leader's point man on Arab affairs, Hassan Izzedine, in a recent interview. But we don't intervene, even if we are asked, when it is a problem between a regime and its people, or a regime and the opposition.However, Izzedine also suggested that Hezbollah hopes its record at fighting Israel would be a role model for Arabs. He also suggested Hezbollah would be ready to intervene to end any serious Sunni-Shiite rifts outside Lebanon. Nasrallah on Wednesday accused the United States and Israel of trying to create strife between Sunni Arab countries and Shiite Iran.

Shiite Hezbollah might normally have little appeal among the Sunni-dominated nations of the Arab Mideast. But Nasrallah's popularity skyrocketed because of his guerrillas' tough stand against Israel in a summer 2006 war in Lebanon.Hezbollah wants to make inroads into the wider Sunni Arab world,said Ibrahim Bayram, an expert on Shiite affairs who writes for Beirut's An-Nahar daily.Hezbollah got its start, funded by Iran, by fighting the Israeli army after its invasion of Lebanon in 1982. It now doubles as a political party with lawmakers in parliament and a guerrilla army with rockets in Lebanon's south to use against Israel.Hezbollah has not hesitated to use its arms to push political aims: A year ago, it sent armed militants into the streets of Beirut to assert political power.Outside Lebanon, Hezbollah is known to have operated clandestinely for years — including in Arab countries — to raise money, gather intelligence and seek weapons. In Iraq, it also is accused of training Shiite militiamen in conflict with Iraq's central government, and of helping to plan a brazen 2007 attack on U.S. troops.But other than in Iraq, there had never been accusations of Hezbollah directly targeting an Arab country's government, as Egypt has claimed. Generally, Arab governments have turned a blind eye to Hezbollah activities.Hezbollah's new prominence comes as the Sunni-Shiite rift has worsened considerably in the last few years. On one side are Sunni Arab allies of the United States like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. On the other are Shiite Iran and its allies Syria, and Hezbollah and Sunni Hamas.The pro-U.S. camp's fears have spiked recently, in part because of Obama's efforts to open dialogue with Iran. U.S. Arab allies worry that outreach will leave them in the lurch.

At the same time, Hezbollah's power only seems to grow. In Lebanon, a coalition that includes Hezbollah holds a strong chance of winning upcoming parliamentary elections. And Britain is considering starting a dialogue, which would give the group a measure of international legitimacy. The United States calls Hezbollah a terror group but Britain and the rest of the European Union do not.Regionally, Egypt's arrest of the 47-member cell it claimed was organized by Hezbollah quickly turned into an ugly spat. Egypt's state-run press blasted Nasrallah as a criminal and fake sheik. President Hosni Mubarak warned Iran and Hezbollah not to interfere in Egypt's security and stability.Nasrallah replied by mocking Egypt as a fading power. Did (the arrest) restore to Egypt its regional and international prestige? he asked in one recent address. Certainly not.

US reassures Israel on Arrow missile shield Wed May 20, 4:05 pm ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel has received assurances from Washington about US support for the continuation of the Jewish state's Arrow anti-missile system, the Ynet Internet news site reported on Wednesday.The costly Arrow (Hetz in Hebrew) interceptor project was launched two decades ago and is aimed at countering strikes mainly from arch-foe Iran.Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday that the Islamic republic had successfully test-fired a new medium-range missile, and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said it appeared to have been successful.Ynet reported that Israel had received assurances of continued funding and cooperation on the new-generation Arrow 3 system from the United States during a meeting between top defence ministry and Pentagon officials.Defence ministry spokesman Shlomo Dror confirmed to AFP that Israel had received such assurances, adding that the meeting took place several weeks ago.On April 7 Israel tested the system, with an Arrow intercepting and destroying a ballistic missile similar to Iran's Shahab-3 which can reach Israel.

Israel says it has carried out more than a dozen successful tests.

The Arrow project began in 1988 during the now-defunct Star Wars programme under late US president Ronald Reagan. It was stepped up after Israel was hit by 39 Iraqi Scud missiles during the 1991 Gulf War.Development of the Arrow is now half-funded by Israel's main ally, the United States. Israel considers Iran to be its arch-foe following repeated calls by Ahmadinejad for the Jewish state to be wiped off the map.

Russia's Medvedev praises strategic ties with Egypt Wed May 20, 2:19 pm ET

MOSCOW (AFP) – President Dmitry Medvedev praised his country's strategic ties with Egypt on Wednesday, ahead of a planned visit by the Russian leader to Cairo in late June.The level of our dialogue has become that of a strategic order, Medvedev told Egyptian foreign minister Ahmed Abul Gheit at his Barvikha residence outside Moscow, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.The Kremlin reserves the phrases like strategic partnership or strategic cooperation for its closest friends and allies.Abul Gheit told Medvedev that he and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were working on the text of a new bilateral treaty that would cement a new, strategic level of cooperation.Earlier Wednesday at a press conference with Lavrov, Abul Gheit said that a summit between Medvedev and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak would be held in the last 10 days of June in Cairo.During his visit to Russia in March 2008, Mubarak committed an embarrassing faux pas when he told then-president Vladimir Putin that he found it difficult to distinguish between him and Medvedev, the president-elect at the time.Russia has long had friendly ties with Arab countries and is also a member of the diplomatic Quartet that is pushing for a negotiated resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Russia and Egypt are calling for the convening in the near future of the Quartet of mediators in the Mideast peace process,Lavrov said at the news conference with Abul Gheit.Lavrov, whose country has been pressing to revive the dormant Mideast peace process, was also scheduled to visit Syria at the weekend, Russian diplomatic sources said on Thursday.Russia has been pressing for years to host an international Mideast peace conference.

Obama's stance on two-state solution heartens EU By ROBERT WIELAARD, Associated Press Writer – Tue May 19, 12:18 pm ET

BRUSSELS – The European Union on Tuesday welcomed President Barack Obama's appeal to Israel to commit to a two-state solution — Jewish and Palestinian nations living side by side — calling it the way forward to peace in the Middle East.A day after Obama met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the EU presidency was clearly heartened by the American president's insistence that Israel abide by peace commitments it has made in the past.Obama told Netanyahu in Washington to respect Israel's past commitment to an independent Palestinian state. He spoke of a historic opportunity to get a serious movement on this issue. That means that all the parties involved have to take seriously obligations that they have previously agreed to.That language from Obama is what the 27-nation EU wanted to hear.Officials of the bloc have been insisting for weeks on the need for a two-state solution, to the chagrin of Israel. With Obama now taking the same line, the EU foreign ministers will reconfirm their view at their meeting in June.The two-state solution will remain the basis of the policy of the EU toward Israel, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout, whose country holds the EU presidency, told The Associated Press.The notion of Israel living next to a Palestinian state was a centerpiece of a conference in Annapolis, Maryland, in November, 2007. It came about with broad international support, including from Saudi Arabia and Syria.Kohout said Obama's reiteration of the two-state solution means that it remains very much the general feeling of the international community. That is the way forward.The EU's relationship with Israel has been in turmoil in recent months.

In December, the EU agreed in principle to a broad upgrade of relations with Israel in political, economic and trade terms.But the war in Gaza changed all that, especially because of Israel's no to repeated EU demands for free access to the area for humanitarian deliveries. Upgrading relations with Israel is now such a divisive issue in the EU that talk of it has been suspended altogether.Additionally, Washington's new outreach to Iran and the emergence of a more hawkish government in Jerusalem have became significant new realities.In recent weeks, senior Israeli officials have fanned out across Europe to spread the word that Iran's nuclear ambitions must take precedence over talk about a two-state solution — a point Netanyahu stressed in his talks with Obama.The Israeli view is that the international community must deal with Tehran first, saying it poses a threat not just to the Jewish state but also to Arab nations in the region.That view is not finding much support in Europe.

A senior EU diplomat said Israel's assessment of Iran was right but its solution was wrong

While all Mideast governments agree Iran is a potential threat to peace, it must not be used as an excuse not to talk about a two-state solution, said the official who asked not to be named because of the sensitive nature of the issue.If there is a two-state solution, the official added, Arab nations will likely sign peace with Israel. That will not only have a positive impact on stability in the region but also be a signal to Iran (which now) only has an interest in creating instability in the Middle East.Before Obama urged Israel to commit to a two-state solution, EU relations with Israel nosedived and Jerusalem warned that the Europeans risked forfeiting their role as Mideast peace broker unless they eased up on their criticism of Jerusalem.The EU is one of four members of the so-called Quartet — the international body charged with promoting an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. The other members are the U.S., Russia and the United Nations.

Hamas wants acceptance without changing ideology By KARIN LAUB, Associated Press Writer – Mon May 18, 12:54 pm ET

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Leaders of Hamas have begun reaching out to the West with conciliatory words, saying the Islamic militant group wants to be part of a Mideast solution and raising the possibility they would someday accept a Palestinian state alongside Israel.In the most significant statement so far, Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal told British lawmakers recently that the group is open to real peace. In Gaza, the Hamas government said last week it is ready to discuss any approaches and proposals that can lead the region out of its current situation.In a recent interview, Hamas lawmaker Yehiye Moussa said the group is not demanding to destroy Israel. West Bank legislator Mahmoud Ramahi added that Hamas is ready to talk to the West — stressing the group has nothing in common with the virulently anti-Western al-Qaida.The new tone seems mostly aimed at President Barack Obama, who was meeting Monday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington. As he puts together a new Mideast strategy, Obama must decide whether the U.S. will keep shunning Hamas, which seized Gaza by force in 2007 after winning parliamentary elections.So far, the U.S. and international community insist they will deal with Hamas only if the group recognizes Israel first.But some foreign policy experts in the U.S. and Israel are advocating a new approach to Hamas, noting that neither the boycott nor Israel's recent war in Gaza have toppled the militants.Those advocating change include a former Israeli military commander of Gaza, an ex-chief of Israel's Mossad spy agency and a group led by Obama's now chief economic adviser, Paul Volcker.Volcker's group told Obama that any future Palestinian government that includes Hamas should be judged by whether it's ready to observe a truce with Israel, and allow moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to negotiate with Israel — not by whether Hamas is ready to revoke its ideology.

Hamas has said in the past it's open to such ideas, and would leave it to Palestinians to decide whether to accept any peace deal that emerges.But others insist any change in policy toward Hamas would be dangerous.They warn that Hamas hasn't abandoned its goal of destroying Israel, citing as evidence the continued weapons smuggling into Gaza and Hamas' ties with Iran. Engaging Hamas would legitimize violence, weaken Abbas and undermine moderate Arab countries trying to contain Iran, these critics say.Hamas is notoriously difficult to pin down to clarify its positions, with hard-liners and more pragmatic politicians often issuing contradictory statements. Even as some have reached out in recent weeks, other Hamas figures continue to highlight what the group calls its right to wage armed struggle against Israeli occupation.Still, a change in Hamas tone has been noticeable, particularly in comments by Mashaal.In a televised speech last month aimed at British lawmakers, Mashaal urged Europe to prod the Obama administration to take a new Mideast approach.You will find not just Hamas, but also the Palestinian people and all the Arabs keen on making real peace, one based on restoring rights and free of occupation,he said.He also praised as a golden opportunity the Arab peace initiative, which offers Israel recognition in exchange for a withdrawal from all territory it captured in 1967. Such feelers appear part of Hamas' attempt to win acceptance of its Gaza rule, plus an end to the stifling two-year border closure there.

Yet the feelers fall short of meeting the West's conditions.

On that point, Hamas politicians insist there's no way the group will recognize Israel now — because they say, it is one of their few negotiating strengths and they can't give it up until they know what they will get in return. Israel is not impressed by the Hamas outreach. Its governments have been deeply suspicious of the group, which has fired thousands of rockets at Israeli towns in recent years. Israeli officials note that Hamas' founding charter remains pledged to Israel's destruction.

Netanyahu has said he wants to see Hamas deposed. And Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor argues that Western engagement with Hamas would be a severe blow to both the moderate Abbas and to ally Egypt — undermining their efforts at stability, security and political compromise.Obama is expected to unveil his Mideast strategy sometime in June. He has it is in U.S. interests to have a Palestinian state alongside Israel. But officials in the Obama administration also have signaled that Hamas won't be permitted to cut corners and fall short of recognizing Israel. The officials indicate that the new U.S. Mideast strategy won't include direct U.S. contacts with an unreformed Hamas. The stalemate over Hamas is just one of the factors stalling Palestinian-Israeli peace talks — but it is considered significant.

Abbas doesn't speak for all Palestinians and rules only in the West Bank. Palestinian unity talks have run aground because Hamas won't be part of a government that recognizes Israel. The situation is further complicated by Netanyahu's unwillingness to accept the idea of Palestinian statehood.Amid the stalemate, the idea of a different approach has gained some traction. In Israel, Doron Almog, a retired general who commanded troops in Gaza from 2000-2003, says Israel should hold direct negotiations with Hamas on a cease-fire and prisoner swap, threatening massive Israeli retaliation for any transgressions such as rocket fire. Until now, such talks have been conducted indirectly only, through Egypt. Ephraim Halevy, former chief of Israel's Mossad spy agency, also has said direct talks are a good idea, but that he'd wait a little longer to let Hamas stew in the aftermath of the Gaza war and become more pliant.Parts of Hamas — it is not something unitary — could become part of the solution,he said.In the U.S., the independent Volcker team called on Obama to both reconsider its Hamas approach, and to flesh out the outlines of a final Israeli-Palestinian agreement now rather than leaving it to the two sides, said Henry Siegman, who runs the U.S./Middle East Project think tank and is in touch with the group.The only way one can expect Hamas to change its position, in some significant way, is if they finally believe they might be missing an opportunity, he said.

The Six Issues That Divide Bibi from Barack By TONY KARON – Mon May 18, 8:50 am ET

President Barack Obama welcomes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House on Monday, at a moment when the White House and the Israeli leadership are undeniably at odds over the path to Middle East peace. While the Obama Administration remains steadfastly committed to Israel's security, its ideas on how to achieve that security differ markedly from those of the hawkish Netanyahu government. As Obama moves to revive the stalled Middle East peace process, Monday's meeting has been widely predicted to be a tense affair, but that may be overstating the drama. Netanyahu, like any Israeli Prime Minister, has an overwhelming incentive to get along with Israel's single most important ally; Obama, for his part, needs to fashion a peace process that produces results, for which he requires Netanyahu's cooperation. So Monday's encounter won't be a showdown as much as the opening exchange of a difficult conversation that could continue for months.Herewith, a short guide to the issues that divide Obama and Netanyahu:

A Two-State Solution?

The idea of creating an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel on the territory it occupied in 1967 is the overwhelming international consensus, accepted even - according to opinion polls - by a majority of Israelis. The Obama Administration is not content to simply articulate that vision, as President George W. Bush did; instead, it seeks to move briskly toward realizing such a solution before the evolving facts on the ground make it untenable. Netanyahu, however, has refused to endorse the principle of Palestinian statehood, insisting that sovereign independence for the Palestinians would endanger Israel's security. The Palestinians, Netanyahu has argued until now, will have to settle for a more limited form of self-government within borders still effectively controlled by Israel. Despite some speculation that he might make a rhetorical concession on the statehood issue on Monday, a top aide told the Israeli media Netanyahu would not do so - at least, not yet. (See pictures of Israel's recent war in Gaza.)The Administration has made clear that it expects Israel to work toward a two-state solution. Netanyahu is expected to agree to talk to the Palestinians, to ease their circumstances and build their economy. But he maintains that trying to reach a final-status agreement right now is misguided and counterproductive, arguing that the priority is to build Palestinian administrative, security and economic capacity - and to tackle Iran, which he sees as a spoiler to any peace effort. (See pictures of Israel at 60.)Next: What Gets Priority?

Iran First?

Netanyahu will argue that Washington's goals are best achieved if it gives priority to curbing Iran's nuclear and geopolitical ambitions before separating Israel from the Palestinians. He claims his Arab neighbors agree that reining in Iran is the region's priority, because it threatens their own stability. Given Tehran's support of Hamas, he'll say progress toward peace between Israel and the Palestinians is impossible until Iran has been pushed back. (See pictures of Jerusalem divided.) Obama will agree that curbing Iran's regional influence and limiting its nuclear activities is an urgent priority. But the U.S. President won't buy Netanyahu's sequencing. Resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains a matter of urgency, Obama will argue, and he'll point out that the moderate Arab neighbors with whom the Israelis want to stand against Iran are also the ones most urgently insisting on the immediate implementation of a two-state solution with the Palestinians, whose unresolved plight strengthens radicals against moderates. Netanyahu will say no progress is possible on the Palestinian front until Iran is defanged; Obama will argue that rallying Arab support against Iran's ambitions requires resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Next: The Timetable

What's the Hurry?

Netanyahu will argue that whether the outcome is two states or something less, this is not the moment to try to conclude the peace process. The Palestinians are hopelessly divided, with the moderate Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas lacking the political authority to deliver on any peace promises. Indeed, the PA President's term of office expired in January, and polls show he'd lose to Hamas in an election held now. Instead of final-status negotiations, Netanyahu will advocate building the Palestinians' administrative and security capacity, and promoting economic development, in enclaves currently under Abbas' control. Without this infrastructure of stability - and the neutralizing of Hamas - he'll argue, no progress is possible. (See pictures of Hamas-Fatah conflict.)Obama will make clear that whatever stability has been created thus far in the West Bank is premised on the achievement of Palestinian statehood, and will collapse without rapid movement along that path. Politically, President Abbas' Fatah movement suffers from the fact that its moderation and almost two decades of negotiation has seen only an expansion of Israel's occupation of the West Bank. Fatah cannot remain committed to a peace process without end if it is to reverse its declining political fortunes among its own people. The same may be true for the U.S.-trained security forces that have helped subdue the West Bank. Hamas has proven to be an intractable reality of Palestinian political life, and Obama may argue that a workable peace process would require its consent. Most importantly, he'll note that time is running out for Abbas and the Arab regimes that have cooperated with Israel and have come away empty-handed in the eyes of their own people.Next: The Settlements

Freeze the Settlements

Obama will tell Netanyahu that stability is undermined, potentially fatally, by Israel's continued expansion of its settlements in the West Bank, and by its moves to extend control over East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 war but claimed by the Palestinians as their future capital. But Netanyahu's government includes strong settler representation, and while he'll unenthusiastically promise to dismantle outposts built in violation of Israeli law, he's unlikely to court a confrontation with the settlers unless there are substantial political rewards. He'll insist on maintaining the natural growth of Israel's settlements, and reiterate his view that sharing Jerusalem with the Palestinians is a nonstarter. (See pictures of Israeli settlers resisting eviction.)Next: Gaza

Unfreeze Gaza

The Gaza war earlier this year forced the Israeli-Palestinian issue to the top of the Obama Administration's agenda, and although the fighting has ended, no formal cease-fire has been agreed, and the Israeli blockade - and Palestinian political infighting - has prevented any of the $4.5 billion pledged for reconstruction by international donors from actually reaching the territory. The potential remains high for a renewed outbreak of fighting, and Obama will press Netanyahu to ease Israel's blockade to allow in construction materials and normalize economic traffic. Netanyahu remains committed to overthrowing Hamas in Gaza, and he wants Obama to pursue the same course. And his government will insist on securing the release of captive soldier Gilad Shalit before easing up on Gaza.Next: Dealing with Iran

How to Handle Iran

While supporting Obama's diplomatic efforts, Israel wants to see time limits imposed to prevent Iran playing for time while increasing its nuclear capabilities. Netanyahu has repeatedly warned that if diplomacy fails, Israel stands ready to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities. Obama agrees that negotiations with Iran should not be open-ended, but will allow a longer time frame than that preferred by the Israelis for diplomacy to succeed. Israel's leaders believe Iran will not back down and that negotiations are necessary primarily to win support for stronger sanctions or military action. Israel has agreed to refrain from attacking Iran without first consulting the U.S. following reported warnings from the White House to avoid surprising Obama, whose military and security advisers have long argued that military strikes on Iran would cause more problems than they would solve. Once the diplomatic process with Tehran gets under way, the two sides may also disagree on where to draw the bottom line on uranium enrichment on Iranian soil.

Obama hosts Netanyahu as Mideast strains ties by Ron Bousso – Mon May 18, 7:04 am ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for their first meeting on Monday as discord over Mideast peace and Iran's nuclear bid clouds ties between the close allies.The meeting marks Obama's most testing diplomatic challenge yet after he vowed to vigorously engage in attaining an elusive regional peace as part of a comprehensive strategy to peacefully resolve the Iranian nuclear standoff.Israel's hawkish premier, who wants a fresh approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, was set to unveil in the White House meeting his own long-awaited policy for regional peace focused on countering Iran.

Yet Obama's hopes appear at odds with Netanyahu, who earned world criticism over his persistent refusal to endorse the creation of a Palestinian state, a bedrock principle of peace efforts in the Middle East for nearly two decades.And while Obama wishes to make headway on the Palestinian track, Netanyahu's national security advisor Uzi Arad told reporters that the Iranian issue was set to top the leaders' talks in the Oval Office.There might be some differences in approach, but we are confident that the sense of pragmatism and the desire for progress will drive the discussions,Arad said.Obama himself admitted in March that Netanyahu's right-leaning coalition did not make peacemaking any easier.Netanyahu is expected to further irk his hosts and the Palestinians by telling Obama that Israel will keep building in existing settlements in the occupied West Bank, a key obstacle in the stuttering peace process.But both US and Israeli officials sought to play down any speculation of an open clash between the two leaders at the key summit.Despite the friction, Netanyahu hopes to convince Obama of the viability of his new plan which will effectively replace the latest Israeli-Palestinian peace talks launched at the Annapolis naval academy near Washington in 2007.

Netanyahu this month called for a Middle East peace process based on a three-pronged approach including talks, security cooperation and development of the Palestinian economy.He advocates bolstering the West Bank economy before negotiating a full peace deal, arguing the Palestinians are not ready for independence and that any Israeli concessions will only strengthen radical groups such as Hamas.Netanyahu has also said he wishes to renew negotiations with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in the coming weeks.If we bring forward a new plan, the Americans will not reject it if they feel it can help their policy," a senior Israeli official said.But the Palestinians dismissed Netanyahu's proposal as ambiguous and insist that any peace talks should resume from the point reached during negotiations with his predecessor Ehud Olmert.

Washington is also said to be preparing a new peace plan, building on a Saudi-backed Arab initiative, perhaps for unveiling in Obama's address to the Muslim world in Egypt on June 4.Obama is also under pressure from human rights groups, with Human Rights Watch demanding Sunday the his administration endorse a comprehensive UN investigation into alleged violations of international law during Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip in December and January.The 59-year-old Israeli premier, who held the same office for a turbulent term at the height of the Oslo peace process between 1996 and 1999, assigns top priority to halting the existential threat of Iran's nuclear ambitions and sees little chance of progress in peace with Palestinians. But the new tone of the Obama administration has raised fears in Israel that Washington may sacrifice the interests of its staunchest ally in its attempt to mend ties with the Muslim world strained under former president George W. Bush. Obama's break from Bush's tough approach to Iran by engaging in talks to defuse the nuclear standoff has also raised concern in Israel, which together with the United States accused Iran of seeking to develop an atomic bomb, a claim denied by Tehran. Israel says that any negotiations must be limited in time and accompanied by economic and diplomatic sanctions of the international community. Meanwhile, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi called Netanyahu a racist and warned that US officials should think of the American people and not make them partners in Israel's problems.

Peres welcomes new US peace push Sun May 17, 3:26 pm ET

SHUNEH, Jordan (AFP) – Israeli President Shimon Peres welcomed on Sunday the prospect of a new US drive for Middle East peace that could mean the recognition of Israel by 57 states.His majesty the king of Jordan has referred to what he calls 57 members of peace, Peres told a session of the World Economic Forum (WEF) on the shores of the Dead Sea in Jordan.I think it is a very encouraging and timely proposition. Time has come to depose war, hatred and terror and come to real business -- how to assure the life, the safety and the future of our children.Peres said the gap was narrowed with the Palestinians.We were negotiating with them (the Palestinians) for quite a while. I think the gap was narrowed and I do believe it is a bridgeable gap. With... a little bit of fresh ideas, it can be bridged.Jordan's King Abdullah II told AFP in an interview on Saturday that the United States is expected to unveil a plan to relaunch Arab-Israeli peace negotiations.We expect an announcement from the US administration... of its plan to restart negotiations to achieve a comprehensive solution, the king said.US President Barack Obama is expected to lay out the framework of the plan when he visits Cairo for a major speech to the Muslim world next month.Expectations in the Arab world are that the speech will present the outlines of a peace plan, including the recognition of Israel by 57 states.

But officials in Washington have declined to elaborate on any new peace bid.

The Arab peace initiative has offered Israel a place in the neighbourhood and more: acceptance by 57 nations, the one-third of the UN members that do not recognise Israel,the king said at the opening of the WEF on Friday.Peres also met the Jordanian king and later told a news conference that Israel wants peace with the Palestinians, describing them as our friends and neighbours.We have to negotiate and we are willing to negotiate,he said.A palace statement said the king stressed to Peres that peace means the creation of a Palestinian state side by side with Israel.Peres, who now occupies the mostly ceremonial post of president, played a central role in the launching of the Oslo peace process in the 1990s for which he won a Nobel peace prize.

He also called for direct peace talks with Syria.

If (President Bashar) Assad wants peace why is he shy? We suggested many times direct talks and they think that the direct talk is a prize to Israel, it is not a prize... it is normal,Peres said.Assad said on Friday that Syria was keen to resume Middle East peace talks just as soon as it had someone it could deal with on the Israeli side.