Britain revokes five Israeli arms export licences Mon Jul 13, 10:29 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Britain has revoked five Israeli arms export licences over the Gaza war, blocking the supply of replacement parts to navy gunships used in the offensive, officials and reports said on Monday.The Foreign Office told the Israeli embassy in London last week that following a decision by parliament, Great Britain will stop the sale of certain arms to Israel, a senior official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The move came after the British government reviewed all 182 licences for arms exports to Israel and ultimately decided to cancel five, which cover spare parts for Saar missile boats, said the Haaretz daily.By participating in the Gaza war, the boats violated the security agreements between Britain and Israel, which specify what uses may be made of British equipment, Haaretz quoted the British directive as saying.The British embassy in Israel said in a statement that there is no partial arms embargo on Israel as such a move would not improve the current situation in the Middle East.In light of Operation Cast Lead, and in line with our obligations after a conflict, we conducted a review of extant export licences for Israel,it said.We judged that in a small number of cases Israeli action in Operation Cast Lead would result in the export of those goods now contravening the consolidated criteria. These licences have been revoked.We do not grant export licences where there is a clear risk that arms will be used for external aggression or internal repression,it said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman brushed off the sanctions, telling public radio: We've had many embargoes in the past... We can manage. This shouldn't bother us.Israel launched its devastating three-week war on Gaza in December. More than 1,400Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed in the offensive that has been widely criticised around the globe.
Israel's Lieberman trades barbs with Palestinians Mon Jul 13, 10:26 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel's controversial Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman fanned the flames of a diplomatic feud on Monday when he cast doubt on the right of president Mahmud Abbas to represent the Palestinians.The more Abu Mazen's authority and legitimacy decline, the more he increases his demands and the more rigid he becomes in his attitude, Lieberman told Israeli public radio, referring to Abbas by his popular nickname.Today you have Fatah-land in Judea and Samaria (the Hebrew name for the occupied West Bank) and Hamastan in Gaza, Lieberman told Israeli radio, referring to Abbas's Fatah party and the Islamist Hamas movement ruling Gaza.And who exactly does Abu Mazen represent? Only half the people, at best.Lieberman went on to mock remarks made by Abbas to an Egyptian newspaper that he should be replaced as foreign minister, calling it a compliment.All of Abu Mazen's demands are simply a reflection of his distress and inability to conduct negotiations and spearhead a true political process,he added.The demand for a (settlement) freeze is not legitimate either.Lieberman's comments drew an angry response from the Palestinian leadership, which accused him of using diversion tactics to mask Israel's failure to halt settlement building in the West Bank.Israel?s foreign minister is hoping to deflect attention away from Israel?s refusal to implement its obligations,Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat said in a statement.Monday's fiery exchange was the latest in a row that erupted over the weekend after Abbas told the Egyptian press that Israel would be better off without its outspoken foreign minister.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had painted himself into a corner by bringing Lieberman's ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party into his government, Abbas told Egypt's October weekly magazine.The Palestinian president said that Tzipi Livni, the leader of the opposition and one of Lieberman's chief political adversaries,would have been much better as a coalition partner.Livni was foreign minister under the previous government led by Ehud Olmert, who joined with Abbas to relaunch the peace process under US auspices at an international conference in November 2007.Despite repeated invitations from Netanyahu, the Palestinians have said they will not hold any negotiations with him until Israel freezes all Jewish settlement activity in the West Bank in line with US demands.
Israel rejects call for Palestinian state deadline by Marius Schattner – Mon Jul 13, 8:58 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel on Monday rejected a European Union call for the United Nations to recognise a Palestinian state by a certain deadline even if Israel and Palestinians fail to agree on a peace deal.A peace agreement can come only following direct negotiations and cannot be imposed, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told public radio.Lieberman was commenting on a speech by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana in London on Saturday in which he called for the international community to set a deadline for recognising the state of Palestine.The mediator has to set the timetable, Solana said, according to a transcript of his speech. If the parties are not able to stick to it, then a solution backed by the international community should ... be put on the table.After a fixed deadline, a UN Security Council resolution should proclaim the adoption of the two-state solution. This should include all the parameters of borders, refugees, Jerusalem and security arrangements, he said.It would accept the Palestinian state as a full member of the UN, and set a calendar for implementation. It would mandate the resolution of other remaining territorial disputes and legitimise the end of claims.A spokesman for Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said UN recognition would be one option if Israel derails the efforts of US President Barack Obama's administration and its vision of a two-state solution.Europe, as a member of the international Quartet, must continue in its efforts to apply pressure to Israel to freeze the settlements and stop wasting time, Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP.But the Israeli foreign ministry blasted Solana's call, which would effectively impose a solution to the decades-old Middle East conflict.
Any approach that calls for an artificial deadline undermines the prospects of actually reaching a bilateral agreement,it said in a statement.Israel has come under increasing pressure from its closest ally Washington to take steps in the stalled peace process, such as freezing all settlement activity on occupied land, but the right-leaning government led by hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to do so.Israel and the Palestinians revived peace negotiations at an international conference in November 2007, but the talks were put on ice after Israel launched its war against the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in December.The Palestinians have said they will not return to the negotiating table unless Israel freezes all settlement activity, one of the main obstacles in the hobbled peace process.On Sunday, Netanyahu called on Abbas to meet him to restart talks. I say to the leader of the Palestinian Authority, let's meet to reach a political and economic peace, he said at Israel's weekly cabinet meeting.Netanyahu has said he will not allow new settlements to be built but will permit construction in annexed east Jerusalem and existing settlement blocs that Israel intends to keep in any future peace deal.The premier has spoken on the phone with Abbas since being sworn into office on March 31, but he has yet to meet the Palestinian leader.
Israeli minister dismisses Solana's peace ideas Mon Jul 13, 7:50 am ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel on Monday dismissed and the Palestinians welcomed a call by the European Union's foreign policy chief for U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state if negotiators fail to achieve a peace agreement.Peace must be built, not imposed,Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Israel Radio, questioning whether remarks made by the EU's Javier Solana in a lecture in London on Saturday represented the policies of the European Union.With all due respect to Solana, he's about to retire ... and we should not overstate the importance of his statement,Lieberman said.
Solana said mediators should set a timetable for an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement and if the parties are not able to stick to it, then a solution backed by the international community should be put on the table.After such a deadline has passed, he said, a U.N. Security Council resolution should proclaim the adoption of the two-state solution and accept a Palestinian state as a full member of the United Nations.Asked about Solana's proposal, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said: We do not object. It's time for the international community to stop treating Israel as above the laws of man.Israeli-Palestinian peace talks backed by a quartet of international mediators -- the European Union, the United States, the United Nations and Russia -- are frozen.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said he will not revive the negotiations unless Israel halts settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, in accordance with a 2003 peace road map that commits the Palestinians to rein in militants.U.S. President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, was due to return to the region soon, U.S. officials said, for further talks with Israel on ending a rift with Washington over halting construction within settlements.No date has been announced for the visit, but Erekat said Mitchell would arrive in 10 days' time.(Additional reporting by Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah and Anne Jolis in Brussels; Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Andrew Dobbie)
Israel to keep only Hebrew names on road signs Mon Jul 13, 4:23 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – The Israeli transport ministry said on Monday that it will get rid of Arabic and English names for cities and towns on road signs, keeping only the Hebrew terms.Minister Yisrael Katz took this decision that will be progressively applied,a ministry spokeswoman told AFP.Currently Israeli road signs are written in Hebrew, Arabic and English, with the city names in each language. So Jerusalem is identified as Yerushalaim in Hebrew, Jerusalem in English and Al-Quds in Arabic (along with Yerushalaim written in Arabic script).Under the new policy the Holy City will only be identified as Yerushalaim in all three languages. Nazareth (Al-Nasra in Arabic) will be identified as Natzrat and Jaffa (Jaffa in Arabic) will only be written as Yafo.Katz told the mass-selling Yediot Aharonot that the move was a response to the Palestinian refusal to use Hebrew names for some Israeli towns.On Palestinian maps, Israeli towns are often still identified with the Arabic names used before the 1948 war when Israel was created, he said.Israel gave Hebrew names, often of biblical origin, to many villages, towns and areas that came under its control following the 1948 war.Elections earlier this year brought a right-wing coalition to power that includes the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party, which has demanded Israel's Arab minority demonstrate greater loyalty to the Jewish state.Israel's 1.2 million Arab citizens account for 20 percent of its population and are descended from Palestinians who remained inside Israel following the 1948 war and the creation of the state.
Israeli PM calls on Abbas to meet Sun Jul 12, 9:19 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called on Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to meet him to restart stalled Middle East peace negotiations.I say to the leader of the Palestinian Authority, let's meet to reach a political and economic peace, Netanyahu said at the weekly cabinet meeting.The hawkish premier has previously called on the Palestinians to revive peace talks that were relaunched in November 2007 but suspended after Israel launched its three-week war on Gaza in late December.The Palestinians have said they would not resume talks unless Israel freezes all settlement activity in the occupied West Bank in line with US demands, something that Netanyahu has so far refused to do.As we have said before, what is required... is for all parties, Palestinian and Israeli, to fulfill their obligations under the roadmap,Abbas told reporters in Ramallah.The internationally adopted 2003 roadmap agreement requires Israel to halt all settlement activity -- including the so-called natural growth of existing settlements -- and for the Palestinians to halt attacks against Israel.Netanyahu has said he will not allow new settlements to be built but will permit construction in annexed east Jerusalem and existing settlement blocs that Israel intends to keep in any future peace deal.
Sunday's cabinet meeting was held in the desert town of Beersheva instead of Jerusalem to show the government's commitment to development in the Negev desert.
Netanyahu has spoken on the phone with Abbas since being sworn into office on March 31, but he has yet to meet the Palestinian leader.The presence of more than 280,000 Jewish settlers in communities across the West Bank and another 200,000 in mostly Arab east Jerusalem has been a major stumbling block in past peace negotiations.
Israeli-Palestinian peace not moving forward: French FM Fri Jul 10, 1:14 pm ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – The peace process between Israel and the Palestinians is not moving forward" though there is progress in the Middle East as a whole, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Friday.In the region, things are moving... countries such as Syria and Saudi Arabia appear to be moving closer to one another, Kouchner said after meeting Lebanese President Michel Sleiman.In the Middle East, things seem to be advancing. But the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not moving forward -- on the contrary,Kouchner said in Beirut.The situation is a worry for France but we are very hopeful that this will move forward as well, meaning (the creation of) a viable, independent Palestinian state that can live in peace side by side with Israel, he added.The French minister reiterated a call for Israel to freeze its settlement activity and urged the Jewish state to resume peace talks.Israel has refused to stop construction work in settlements in occupied territory, which the international community considers illegal and which is one of the major obstacles in the hobbled Middle East peace process.In a move considered a sign of rapprochement, Saudi Arabia in June named an ambassador to Syria after leaving the post vacant for a year.Relations between the two had soured following the allegedly Syrian-linked 2005 assassination of Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, who was close to the Saudi monarchy. Damascus has denied any link.Riyadh was also unhappy about Damascus's warm relations with Saudi arch-rival Iran and their support for the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah.Diplomats in Riyadh say the Saudis have viewed approvingly Damascus's apparent non-interference in Lebanon's recent elections, which led to the designation of Hariri's son, Saad Hariri, as next prime minister.Kouchner, who on Friday held talks with officials including Hariri and Hezbollah international relations chief Nawaf Moussawi, called for the formation of a Lebanese government without any foreign intervention.It is up to the prime minister-designate to form a government (after consultations) within Lebanon or abroad, whatever he wants, Kouchner told reporters. It is not for France to advise on this.The French FM also said he was pleased with the improvement of his country's relations with Syria, Lebanon's former powerbroker.I am not unaware that Syria continues to be important in this part of the world, and we are pleased to have established normal relations with Syria,he said.Kouchner heads to Damascus on Saturday for a two-day visit.
