Tuesday, April 07, 2009

EGYPT ARRESTS 40 FOR GAZA SMUGGLING

Egypt arrests over 40 suspected smugglers to Gaza Tue Apr 7, 6:08 pm ET

CAIRO (AFP) – Egyptian police have detained more than 40 people suspected of involvement in weapons smuggling to the Gaza Strip, a security official said on Tuesday.

The men were suspected of having bought or rented homes in the Rafah border town with Gaza to smuggle weapons and contraband into the Palestinian enclave, the official said.Montassar el-Zayat, an Egyptian lawyer who has often represented jailed Islamists, said that Lebanese and Palestinians were among the arrested.Zayat said lawyers had not been allowed to meet the detained, but their families told lawyers they were being questioned about links to the Islamist Lebanese group Hezbollah.

Police were asking about a Lebanese man who was detained and whom security suspect of being a representative of Hezbollah,he said.It was not immediately clear when the arrests were made and no charges have been brought against the men.Egyptian security had charged an Islamist opposition activist who organised relief convoys to Gaza last year on charges of forming a criminal group belonging to Hamas, the Islamist rulers of Gaza.Hezbollah is a vocal supporter of Hamas and is thought to have helped train some Hamas fighters and to have tried supplying weapons to Palestinian militants in the past.Hamas fought a devastating 22-day war with Israel in December and January. Israel and Egypt have mostly blockaded border crossings with Gaza after Hamas took it over in June 2007.Israel, which is determined to stop Hamas from acquiring weapons, announced a ceasefire to the war in Gaza only after receiving assurances from the US and European countries to prevent Hamas from arming.Much of the goods smuggled into Gaza come through a network of tunnels linking the enclave with Egypt.But Egypt, which has taken increasingly robust measures to crack down on the smuggling, denies weapons are smuggled from its territories, saying arms come to Gaza by sea.

Obama speech draws praise in Mideast By SAM F. GHATTAS, Associated Press Writer – Tue Apr 7, 4:22 pm ET

BEIRUT – Syria's foreign minister praised President Barack Obama's address to the Arab and Islamic world in Turkey, and many Arabs were cheered by the American leader's promises to push for a Palestinian state.On his first visit as president to a predominantly Islamic nation, Obama reached out to Arabs and Muslims in his Ankara address, saying the United States is not and never will be at war with Islam. He also spoke of the Arab-Israeli peace process, saying he will actively pursue the goal of creating a Palestinian state alongside Israel.In an interview published Tuesday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said Obama's speech reflects a clear attention toward the two-state solution.Al-Moallem said Obama's words were important and positive.But he hinted that Arabs expect Washington to pressure the new hard-line Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept the creation of a Palestinian state.We need to see how the United States will deal with an Israeli government representing the extreme right, and continues to reject the two-state solution,al-Moallem told Lebanon's As-Safir newspaper.Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit praised Obama's remarks as insightful and credible.Netanyahu's office on Monday issued a statement saying Israel would work closely with the U.S. on peace, but it avoided any mention of a two-state solution.A spokesman for the Palestinian militant group Hamas, Taher Nunu, said in a statement Tuesday in Gaza that any change that would lead to justice for the Palestinian people would be welcome. However, Nunu said the real test of Obama's remarks and statements will be ending the unfair bias in favor of the Zionist occupation.

Syria is one of the big tests of the Obama administration's attempts to strike a new tone in relations with Mideast nations. Obama's predecessor George W. Bush sought to isolate Syria to force it to stop its support of militant groups like Lebanon's Hezbollah and Hamas and do more to prevent militants from entering Iraq.The Obama administration has said it seeks a dialogue with Syria — as well as with Syria's ally and Washington's biggest regional rival, Iran. Damascus has appeared eager for better ties, hoping for an economic boost and U.S. mediation of peace talks with Israel, though it has shown little sign of being ready to cut its backing for militants.More broadly, Obama's visit to Turkey aimed to overcome widespread resentment in the region for what many saw as the Bush administration's aggressive policies against Muslims and Arabs. Top Arab satellite news networks Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya carried his speech to Turkey's parliament live on Monday, as well as a town hall meeting Obama held with Turkish students on Tuesday in which he said he wants to work with Muslims.Lebanese columnist Rajeh Khoury said Obama's visit to Turkey draws a road map for the relationship between the West and Islam.Tareq Masarwah, a columnist in Jordan's Al-Rai newspaper, pointed to the significance of Obama's choosing Turkey — a mainly Muslim nation but with a strong secular tradition — as a nod to moderate Islam.
Moderation is what we need to confront the extremism and the violence which has dominated Muslims the past three decades,Masarwah said.

But, he said,the sole bridge toward reconciliation is a Palestinian state.Though many Arabs were angered by the U.S. invasion of Iraq and other American policies in the region, the biggest dispute they most often cite is the Palestinian issue, and what they see as Washington's bias toward Israel.Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat welcomed Obama's endorsement of a Palestinian state. We hope that the Israeli government will understand that this is the only path to peace,he told The Associated Press.But Yehia Moussa, a lawmaker with the Hamas militant group, said What's important is not that he talks nicely, but what he does on the ground.Until now we haven't seen any positive actions on the Palestinian issue. He is repeating the same positions as Bush,Moussa said.Associated Press writer Mark Lavie in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Lieberman rejects foreign intervention in Israeli politics by Marius Schattner – Tue Apr 7, 3:22 pm ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel's hawkish new Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told foreign powers on Tuesday to stay out of Israeli politics, in an apparent reference to the flagging Middle East peace process.We have never interfered in the affairs of others, and we expect from others that they not interfere in ours, Lieberman told a meeting of his ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party.I do not expect from others that they have a stopwatch in hand and tell Israel when it must produce a responsible political programme, he added.Visiting Turkey on Monday, US President Barack Obama voiced renewed hope that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could be resolved on the basis of a two-state solution and urged leaders on both sides for courage to make peace.I believe that peace in the Middle East is possible. I think it will be based on two states side by side,he said.In order to achieve that, both sides are going to have to make compromises. Now what we need is the political will and courage on the part of leadership,he added.The previous two Israeli governments committed themselves to a peace roadmap drafted by the international Quartet of the United States, Russia, European Union and United Nations in 2003.Under it, Israel bound itself to the principle of a Palestinian state -- a concept new Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes.

In remarks after taking office last week, Lieberman said Israel was not bound to conduct final settlement negotiations with the Palestinians as agreed at a 2007 conference in Annapolis, Maryland.The two sides agreed to relaunch the talks on core issues while also implementing the other phases of the roadmap.The talks produced little visible progress before being put on the back-burner in the run-up to the Israeli general election in February.There is only one document that binds us and it is not the Annapolis conference,Lieberman said.Only the roadmap. The Israeli government and the Knesset (parliament) never adopted Annapolis.We will go exactly according to the roadmap,he said. We will never agree to skip any of the stages -- and there are 48 of them -- and go straight to the last stage on negotiations on a permanent agreement.

We will go exactly according to each stage.

In his remarks on Tuesday, Lieberman said we are working on new ideas and that will take a month or two to sort out,adding that Israel would respect agreements it had reached but not mentioning Annapolis.Speaking in Beirut, visiting Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said his country would work to convince the Netanyahu government to accept the premise of a Palestinian state.Italy, as a friend of Israel, is keen to see the peace process launched on the basis of the Quartet and the Arab peace initiative, which envision two states with two free and independent peoples, he told journalists. We will work with the cooperation of the European Union and the United States to encourage the new government to move forward on this road.

Lieberman's stand has marked a sharp break with his predecessor Tzipi Livni, who had led the Israeli delegation at the renewed negotiations. The Palestinians slammed Lieberman's comments, with a senior aide to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas saying this minister is an obstacle to peace. He will cause harm to Israel first.Earlier on Tuesday, police questioned Lieberman over graft suspicions for the third time since he was sworn in.The former nightclub bouncer had already been quizzed last Thursday and Friday over suspicions of corruption, fraud, money laundering and breach of trust.

Israel tests Arrow ballistic missile interceptor by Ron Bousso – Tue Apr 7, 11:04 am ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel on Tuesday tested its Arrow ballistic missile interception system, a costly project launched two decades ago aimed at countering strikes mainly from archfoe Iran.The Arrow (Hetz in Hebrew) intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile similar to Iran's Shahab-3 which can reach Israel. The missile was fired by an Israeli fighter plane over the Mediterranean, a defence official said.This morning, the Arrow system performed a successful test, the defence ministry said in a statement.The success of the project marks a key step in its development plan and the improvement of the operational systems to offer a response to the growing threat of ballistic missiles in the region.Defence Minister Ehud Barak, who watched the test from a helicopter, said that combined with other rocket and missile interception systems under development, the Arrow project will offer optimal protection from near and immediate strategic threats,in the ministry statement.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the test launch, saying: We seek peace but we will know how to protect ourselves.It was the latest successful test of the Arrow, a project launched in 1988 during the now-defunct Star Wars programme under late US president Ronald Reagan.The Arrow programme 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 says it has carried out more than a dozen successful tests of the Arrow under various conditions.Israel considers Iran to be its arch-foe following repeated calls by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the Jewish state to be wiped off the map.Widely considered to be the Middle East's sole nuclear armed state, Israel and Washington suspect Iran of trying to develop atomic weapons under the guise of its civilian nuclear programme, a charge Tehran has repeatedly denied.In March, Iran said it had successfully tested an air-to-sea missile with a 110-kilometre (70-mile) range. The announcement came days after a top military commander said Tehran has missiles that can reach nuclear facilities in Israel.Mohammed Ali Jafari, the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps, said Tehran has missiles with a range of more than 2,000 kilometres, bringing all of Israel within range.But defence analysts question the accuracy of Iran's longer-range missiles.Jafari's comment came amid sustained speculation that Israel, which has a nuclear facility at Dimona in the Negev desert at which it is widely believed to have developed a nuclear arsenal, could target Iranian nuclear plants.

Palestinians, Israel hail Obama remarks Mon Apr 6, 4:09 pm ET

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) – The Palestinian Authority on Monday welcomed US President Barack Obama's renewed support for the Annapolis agreement and the stalled roadmap plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace.At the same time, the Israeli government hailed what it said was Obama's commitment to Israel's security.Leading Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat focused instead on the statements by President Obama confirming the principle of a two-state solution.Israel should understand that the track leading to an end of the occupation since 1967 of the Palestinian and Arab territories and to the start of a two-state solution is the only track that can be followed,said Erakat.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesman, for his part, said Israel appreciates President Obama's commitment to Israel's security and to the pursuit of peace.The government of Israel is committed to both of these goals and will formulate its policies in the near future so as to work closely with the United States towards achieving these common objectives,said Mark Regev.But Environment Minister Gilad Erdan, who is close to the right-wing premier, was less positive.

Israel does not take its orders from President Obama. In voting for Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli citizens decided not to become the 51st state of the United States,he said in a speech to parliament.Erdan said the government would act in Israel's interests, although Obama was a friend of Israel and the United States an important ally, and whatever happens between us will be the result of a dialogue.In an address to Turkey's parliament on Monday, Obama said the United States strongly supports the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security.His remarks came after Israel's new Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said last week that the 2007 Annapolis document did not bind Israel though he did accept the roadmap as the basis for progress.A November 2007 conference in Annapolis, near Washington, relaunched peace negotiations on the basis of the roadmap, although dozens of rounds of talks between Israel and the Palestinians have produced little visible progress.In Washington, the State Department later announced that US special envoy George Mitchell would return to the Middle East next week.Mitchell will travel to the region starting on April 13 and meet officials from Israel, the Palestinian territories, Egypt, the Gulf and North Africa, spokesman Robert Wood said.The former US senator and architect of Northern Ireland's peace agreement aims to advance the goal of the two-state solution and comprehensive peace in the region,Wood said.

Blair urges Netanyahu not to abandon peace talks Mon Apr 6, 11:25 am ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Middle East envoy Tony Blair urged Israel's prime minister on Monday to resume Palestinian statehood talks in parallel with a push to boost the West Bank economy and to let Palestinians control more of their territory.Blair met rightist Benjamin Netanyahu, who took office last week, laying out in broad terms how the Quartet of Middle East mediators -- the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations -- wants to see stalled peacemaking proceed.There is a great deal of skepticism out there,Blair told reporters after talks with Netanyahu.Tasked by the Quartet with spearheading economic development in the occupied West Bank, Blair said providing Palestinians with greater freedom of movement was central to creating the foundations for statehood.But the former British prime minister said he told Netanyahu that a credible political negotiation for a two-state solution should be conducted in parallel with that.

Marc Otte, the European Union's Middle East envoy, concurred: You cannot change things on the ground without having a political perspective on what it is that we're doing.Netanyahu has been vague about renewing talks over thorny territorial issues, saying his priority was to focus instead on the creation of development zones and on ways to ease roadblocks and checkpoints that inhibit travel and trade in the West Bank.Last week, Netanyahu's foreign minister, ultranationalist Avigdor Lieberman, declared that negotiations over statehood borders, and the fate of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees, launched at a U.S.-sponsored conference in Annapolis, Maryland in November 2007, had no validity.Otte, speaking to reporters in Jerusalem earlier on Monday, said that Annapolis was binding on Israel because it was endorsed by the U.N. Security Council.My view is that he (Netanyahu) does understand that, if the right context can be created for peace, the only lasting peace is based on a two-state solution,Blair said.He said he told Netanyahu that in addition to improving economic conditions in the West Bank, it was essential security forces of Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas progressively take control of their own territory.
Otte said the focus should be on creating what he called trade routes that would make it easier for Palestinian businesses to transport their goods to market.Blair also urged Netanyahu to ease Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip, which Hamas Islamists seized in June 2007 after routing forces loyal to Abbas's secular Fatah faction.

Aides said Blair saw Israel's decision last year to give Abbas's U.S.-trained security forces greater control over the northern West Bank city of Jenin as a model that could be applied to other parts of the territory.The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama plans to expand its training program for Abbas's forces. Speaking in Turkey on Monday, Obama said Washington strongly supports the goal of two states, living side by side in peace and security.(Reporting by Adam Entous; Editing by Samia Nakhoul)

Obama talks confidently of Turkish help on Mideast Mon Apr 6, 8:37 am ET

ANKARA, Turkey – President Barack Obama has beckoned for Turkey's help in working with the United States to promote a Mideast peace agreement, while acknowledging that the road ahead will be difficult.Speaking to the Turkish Parliament Monday, Obama said he believes the U.S. and Turkey can help Israel and the Palestinians achieve this elusive goal.Obama also said that peace in the region would also be advanced if Iran forgoes any nuclear weapons ambitions and both the U.S. and Turkey support negotiations between Israel and Syria.

Israeli attorney general considers charging Olmert Sun Apr 5, 7:51 am ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel's attorney-general put former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on notice on Sunday he was weighing criminal charges against him over suspected corruption during a 2003-2006 term as industry and trade minister.Olmert is suspected of having granted favors to clients of his former law partner while serving in the cabinet post. He has denied any wrongdoing in the case, one of several police investigations against him.Attorney-General Menachem Mazuz said he was considering charging Olmert with fraud and breach of trust, pending a hearing with his lawyers, the Justice Ministry announced.Olmert was replaced as prime minister on Tuesday by right-winger Benjamin Netanyahu.The former Israeli leader may also face indictment over allegations he submitted duplicate travel bills and inflated travel costs while serving as Jerusalem mayor from 1993 to 2003, and over suspicions he took bribes from a U.S. businessman.

Olmert has denied the allegations.

Olmert, then leader of the centrist Kadima party, resigned as prime minister in September, saying he intended to wage a legal battle to clear his name. He remained in office through a February 10 election and stepped down when Netanyahu's new right-leaning government was sworn in.Other corruption probes into Olmert's purchase of a house and alleged misconduct in the sale of an Israeli commercial bank were recently closed for lack of evidence.As in past affairs that the state comptroller initiated that began with sparks and fireworks ... this affair will end with nothing, Olmert adviser Amir Dan told Israel Radio.(Writing by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Charles Dick)

Israel's Netanyahu chairs first cabinet meeting by Ron Bousso Ron Bousso – Sun Apr 5, 7:33 am ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chaired his first cabinet meeting on Sunday, after less than a week in power dominated by his top diplomat sparking concern over the fate of peace talks.Vowing to pull up our sleeves and get to work,Netanyahu said his government will set its peace and defence policies within weeks.In the coming weeks, we will complete a policy for the advancement of peace and defence, he said at the start of the first get-together of Israel's largest ever cabinet.The size of the right-leaning government is such that it required the installation of a new table large enough to accommodate the 30 ministers including the premier along with a slew of deputies.The remarks are the first public statements by Bibi, as he is popularly known, since he assumed office on Wednesday.Since then, the focus has been on firebrand Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who sparked controversy as soon as he took office last week with his comments on peace and then his grilling by police in a corruption probe.In the foreign ministry handover ceremony on Wednesday, Lieberman said that the new right-leaning government was not bound by a US-backed 2007 agreement to relaunch peace talks with the Palestinians at a conference in Annapolis, Maryland.There is only one document that binds us and it is not the Annapolis conference, Lieberman said.Only the roadmap.

We will never agree to skip any of the stages -- and there are 48 of them -- and go straight to the last stage on negotiations on a permanent agreement.The roadmap is a step-by-step international peace plan launched in 2003 under which Israel bound itself to the principle of a Palestinian state -- a concept that Netanyahu opposes.It calls for Israel and the Palestinians to take a series of steps -- among them a freeze on Jewish settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and an end to violence -- eventually leading to talks on a final peace deal.In Annapolis, the two sides agreed to jump to its final phase and relaunch peace talks on core issues while at the same time implementing the other phases of the plan, although the talks have produced little visible progress since.Lieberman's comments provoked a furious reaction from the Palestinians, who called the firebrand an obstacle to peace.On Thursday, the Soviet-born former nightclub bouncer poured oil on the fire, rejecting any withdrawal from the occupied Golan Heights in exchange for peace with Syria.He was then questioned by police for seven hours on Thursday and five hours on Friday as part of a probe into corruption, fraud, money laundering and breach of trust.

Netanyahu's return to the prime minister's chair 10 years after his first term in office ended had already triggered concern among Palestinians and some in the international community over the future of the peace process.The new premier is opposed to the two-state solution that foresees the creation of a viable Palestinian state alongside a secure Israel, saying that the economy in the occupied West Bank needs to improve first.He has repeatedly made clear that his top priority was arch-foe Iran's controversial nuclear programme, which Israel and Washington believe is aimed at manufacturing atomic weapons, a charged Tehran has repeatedly denied. Israel is widely believed to be the Middle East's sole nuclear-armed nation, something it has never confirmed or denied. Netanyahu's stance on the peace process is at odds with the position of Israel's key ally Washington, where President Barack Obama has vowed to vigorously pursue a settlement to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on a two-state solution.

Saturday, April 04, 2009

IRAN GLAD VENEZUELA CUT ISRAEL TIES

Khamenei hails Venezuela's courageous cut in Israel ties by Farhad Pouladi – Sat Apr 4, 4:29 pm ET

TEHRAN (AFP) – Iran's supreme leader Ali Khemenei hailed on Saturday as a courageous step the Venezuelan government's decision to cut ties with Tehran's archfoe Israel over the Gaza war.Venezuela expelled the Israeli ambassador in January to protest the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip that left more than 1,400 Palestinians dead.

Khamenei hailed the courageous stance taken by the Venezuelan president in cutting ties with the Zionist regime,in a meeting with the visiting Hugo Chavez, the leader's website reported.The action taken by the government of Venezuela is in reality the duty of the European nations who claim to be supporters of human rights,the Islamic republic's guide added.The comments came three days after new Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the biggest threat faced by the Jewish state was the possibility of a radical regime armed with nuclear weapons,in a reference to Iran.

Khamenei also criticised the West over its approach to Iran's nuclear drive, feared by the West to be a covert programme for military purposes but claimed by Tehran as purely for peaceful.The anger shown by the world's arrogant powers is due to the fact that Iran acquiring nuclear technology is an effective action in consolidating the front of righteousness in the global arena,he said.The West knows well that we are not seeking nuclear weapons, but their anger emanates from the fact that we acquired nuclear technology without their permission,Khamenei said.At the end of Chavez's visit to Iran, during which the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding on boosting banking and oil cooperation, a joint statement expressed satisfaction with developments.Both sides are pleased by the opening of a joint bank in Tehran and emphasise the opening of a joint strategic fund in Caracas as soon as possible, state television quoted part of the statement as saying.On Friday, Tehran and Caracas inaugurated a bank to finance their joint economic, industrial and mining projects projects.The Iran-Venezuela Joint Bank, based in Tehran, has an initial capital base of 200 million dollars, with each nation providing half the funds.

The Export Development Bank of Iran, which is under sanctions from the US Treasury, was tasked with creating the joint bank with the Venezuelans.The United States has also imposed sanctions on three large Iranian banks -- Mellat, Melli and Saderat -- accusing them of financing weapons proliferation.In October, the US Treasury said it had imposed sanctions on the Export Development Bank of Iran (EDBI), alleging it helped with the country's nuclear programme.Iran is also under international banking sanctions over its nuclear programme.Iran and Venezuela are members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and have vowed to further strengthen ties and find common ways to cope with the global economic crisis.Both presidents emphasised joint cooperation in OPEC and more coordination among the non-OPEC oil producers in order to defend the rights of the oil exporting and importing nations, especially when it comes to determining a fair price for oil in the international market,the joint statement added. The two sides also signed a number of deals in the field of mining, agriculture, visa waiver, oil exploration, gas refinery and pharmaceutical plants.The leftist Venezuelan leader's visit to Tehran was his sixth as president and follows an Arab-South American summit in Doha.

Israeli police kill armed Arab woman in Israel Sat Apr 4, 7:54 am ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli security forces shot and killed an armed Arab woman on Saturday in a rare confrontation inside southern Israel, a security official said.

Police were trying to defuse a bomb strapped to her body, the security official said. Army radio reported there were no Israeli casualties in the incident.It was not immediately clear whether the woman was an Israeli Arab citizen or a Palestinian from occupied territory who had infiltrated into Israel.Israel's Ynet news Web site said the woman approached a border police base near the town of Arad in southern Israel and opened fire at the guard. Police at the base fired back, killing her, the security source told Reuters.The shooting occurred hours after Israeli troops shot and killed two Palestinian gunmen near the border fence with the Gaza Strip.(Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Charles Dick)

Two Gaza gunmen die in clashes with Israeli forces Sat Apr 4, 6:24 am ET

GAZA CITY (AFP) – Two Palestinian gunmen were killed on Saturday in clashes with Israeli troops along the border of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, local medics said.An army spokeswoman said the gunbattle took place when Israeli ground forces crossed several hundred metres into Gaza after identifying the gunmen approaching the heavily-guarded border fence in northern Gaza.The troops clashed with the gunmen and identified hitting at least two of them,she told AFP.Palestinian medics later recovered the bodies of two gunmen killed in the clashes, according to Muawiya Hassanein, the head of emergency services for the Gaza Strip.

It remained unclear if there more people were injured in the incident.

The clashes follow a period of relative calm in the wake of a tenuous ceasefires that Hamas and Israel declared on January 18 to end a 22-day war in the impoverished territory.

U.N. official pleads for opening of Gaza borders By Louis Charbonneau – Fri Apr 3, 3:45 pm ET

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The top U.N. aid official in the Gaza Strip urged Israel on Friday to ease restrictions on the flow of goods into the conflict-torn territory, saying they were devastating for the people.It's wholly and totally inadequate, John Ging, head of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency in Gaza, said about the amount of goods Israel permits into the territory, where some 1.5 million Palestinians live.

It's having a very devastating impact on the physical circumstances and also the mindset of people on the ground,he said.Israel says it has opened Gaza's border to larger amounts of food and medicine since its December-January offensive against Hamas militants who control the Palestinian enclave and were firing rockets against Israeli towns.The war destroyed some 5,000 homes and, according to figures from a Palestinian rights group, killed over 1,400 people. Around 80 percent of Palestinians are reliant on aid.

Ging said access to goods was still a severe problem.

We need access,he said.It's the number one issue. It's the number two issue. It's the number three issue, and so on. Until we get it, there's nothing as important as solving the access issue.Israel fears opening the borders would allow Hamas to smuggle more weapons and ammunition into the territory.Ging said that all the crossing points from Israel into the Gaza Strip should be opened, and those that were currently opened in a limited way to only selected people or goods should be fully opened.In addition to restrictions on what it deems luxury goods, such as cigarettes and chocolates, Israel has blocked entry of materials such as cement and steel for rebuilding because it says they could be used for bunkers and rearming.Since Hamas seized the Gaza Strip in a 2007 civil war with Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah faction, Israel has tightened its blockade of the 30-mile (45-km) strip in an effort to weaken Hamas' hold on power.Ging said he understood the real security challenges to the operation of crossing points, such as when militants were firing rockets that could endanger people at the crossings. But he said it was not clear why they were closed at other times.Israel's U.N. Ambassador Gabriela Shalev said last month that an expansion of activity at Gaza's border crossings could be discussed once Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who was captured by Hamas in 2006, is released.(Additional reporting by Claudia Parsons; Editing by Alan Elsner)

Friday, April 03, 2009

BRITAIN URGES 2 STATE SOLUTION

Britain urges Netanyahu to seek two-state solution APR 3,09

LONDON (AFP) – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged new Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to engage constructively to seek a two-state solution with Palestinians, his office said Friday.Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas claims that Netanyahu, who took office this week, has never believed in a two-state solution of Israel and Palestine living peacefully as neighbours.Brown's Downing Street office said the British leader called Netanyahu on Thursday night to congratulate him, and also discussed Iran and the Middle East peace process.The prime minister encouraged Netanyahu to engage constructively towards a two state solution, building on the Arab Peace Initiative, in particular through action on settlements,it said in a statement.

Netanyahu began his second term as Israeli prime minister on Wednesday as the Palestinians warned that the hawk heading a largely right-wing cabinet does not believe in peace.Abbas told the official Palestinian news agency: Benjamin Netanyahu never believed in a two-state solution, or accepted signed agreements and does not want to stop settlement activity. This is obvious.

Israel's Hawkish New Leaders: Still Open to a Syrian Peace? AP By SCOTT MACLEOD / CAIRO – Fri Apr 3, 5:35 am ET

It sounds more than a little fanciful to imagine Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signing a historic peace agreement with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on the White House lawn, with President Barack Obama looking on. Taken at face value, Israel's new, hard-line government is not exactly campaigning for the Nobel Peace Prize.At his swearing-in ceremony, Netanyahu's Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, sent out aggressive signals, renouncing some of the relatively dovish positions of outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert - whose government spent its final year in office negotiating indirectly with Syria and directly with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Lieberman rejected the Bush Administration's Annapolis peace initiative, under which Olmert and Abbas had talked about the parameters of a Palestinian state. And he insisted that Israel would never withdraw from the Golan Heights, captured from Syria in 1967. Whoever thinks that he will achieve something by way of concessions - no, he will only invite more pressure and more wars, Lieberman said. If you want peace, prepare for war.Despite his hard-line and inflammatory rhetoric, however, Lieberman may be a pragmatist. Unlike many on Israel's right - including Netanyahu - Lieberman supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In a Ha'aretz interview after taking office, Lieberman said Israel should abide by the 2002 Roadmap, which calls for a Palestinian state. The Roadmap obliges the Palestinians to stop violence and dismantle the capabilities of terror organizations, and reform their political institutions, before any movement toward the creation of a Palestinian state. But, in the same phase, it obliges Israel to freeze settlement construction and dismantle all settlement outposts built since March 2001. Lieberman appears to recognize those obligations, and in the Ha'aretz interview, he mocked Olmert and his team as hypocrites who advocated peace but did little to achieve it. How many outposts did Olmert, Barak and Livni evacuate? he said.

It remains to be seen whether Lieberman would be willing to accept a truly independent Palestinian state - Netanyahu has indicated that he won't, insisting, in the name of the Jewish state's security, that Israel control the air space and borders of such an entity, and have veto over its military and foreign policies. Netanyahu's track record, however, is also more pragmatic than ideological. Despite his open loathing of Yasser Arafat, his previous government in 1998 signed a deal with the late PLO leader for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from parts of the West Bank, including the sensitive biblical town of Hebron. It's worth noting, of course, that even had the more dovish Tzipi Livni been in charge, peace with the Palestinians would not be achieved any time soon. That's because political divisions on the Palestinian and Arab side are an even bigger mess than the hawkish Netanyahu's hodgepodge coalition of ultranationalist hard-liners like Lieberman and longtime peace negotiators like his Defense Minister, Labor Party leader Ehud Barak. Still, Netanyahu is experienced enough to know that his success as a leader of Israel will depend substantially on his ability to manage the peace process - and, at least, to be seen to be making progress. And that may make him more open to pursuing the Syria option. Publicly, at least, Netanyahu continues to take a hard line, rejecting the idea of an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights in order to get peace with Syria. Lieberman talks only of peace for peace, rather than land for peace. But Netanyahu knows that no peace deal is possible without returning the Syrian territory captured in the war of 1967, and he may be ready to find a formula for its return if Syria is truly ready for a peace deal. Syrian President Assad, having established firm control of the often opaque regime he inherited from his late father, Hafez al-Assad, appears to be willing to pick up where his father left off in seeking a deal with Israel. Assad was instrumental in starting indirect, Turkish-mediated talks with Israel despite initial opposition by the Bush Administration. In the past, two former Labor Prime Ministers, the late Yitzhak Rabin and Barak, were ready to withdraw from almost all of the Golan Heights. Netanyahu himself may have been, too: during his first term as Prime Minister, he reportedly ran a back-channel negotiation with the Syrians.

President Obama recently sent two senior officials to Damascus to test the waters, signaling Washington's willingness to end its campaign to isolate Syria. And early success on the Israel-Syria track would do wonders for the Administration's wider Middle East ambitions. Not only would it formally cement the 40-plus years of relative calm on the Israeli-Syrian frontier, it would potentially detach Syria from its alliance with Iran, and enlist Damascus in moderating or eliminating two key radical elements - Hamas and Hizballah - on Israel's borders. Iran's resulting loss of influence in the region could, in turn, help induce Tehran to rethink its more confrontational positions, particularly on the nuclear issue. A Syria-first approach to peace talks has often encountered resistance in diplomatic circles on the grounds that the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict is the Palestinian problem. That may be true, but the counterargument might go that in the Middle East, you also have to play the hand you're dealt. Despite their hawkish talk, Netanyahu and Lieberman are unlikely to resist an opportunity to conclude a peace agreement between Israel and Syria. And nor will Obama.

US envoy to return to Mideast soon AP Thu Apr 2, 4:30 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US envoy George Mitchell will return soon to the Middle East to help revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks now that a new Israeli government has been formed, an official said Thursday.He's going to the region soon. I don't have dates for you yet, because I don't think they've been worked out, but he's planning to travel to the area,State Department spokesman Robert Wood told reporters.Wood said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had telephoned new Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman to congratulate him on his new job, but he added that the two had not yet decided on when they would meet.The spokesman said the call was brief but would not go into details when asked if the US chief diplomat told Lieberman directly that the United States insisted on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem.What I can tell you about the call is that she looks forward to getting together with him,Wood said.Wood told journalists that the US position has been for quite some time and remains focused on a two-state solution, but did not say whether Clinton repeated this to Lieberman.Our position is well known by all of the players in the Israeli government,he said when pressed on the issue by a journalist.

Netanyahu does not support the two-state solution, saying the Palestinian economy needs to improve first.Lieberman on Wednesday rejected the decision by the preceding Israeli government of Ehud Olmert to relaunch talks with the Palestinians that was taken at a November 2007 conference in Annapolis, Maryland hosted by then president George W. Bush.There is only one document that binds us and it is not the Annapolis conference,Lieberman said. Only the roadmap. The Israeli government and the Knesset (parliament) never adopted Annapolis.The roadmap is an international peace plan launched in 2003 under which Israel bound itself to the principle of a Palestinian state living in peace alongside a secure Israel.Lieberman said Israel will stick by the roadmap but not the Annapolis process which speeded up talks on the fate of Palestinian refugees, the boundaries of a future Palestinian state and the status of Jerusalem.

U.S. says will push hard for Palestinian statehood By Sue Pleming – Thu Apr 2, 3:21 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States will push hard for Palestinian statehood despite a new rightist government in Israel but anticipates a rough road ahead, a U.S. official said on Thursday.We're going to be working hard to see what we can do to move the process forward. But we're under no illusions. It's not going to be easy, said State Department spokesman Robert Wood.We have to engage constantly and remind the parties of their obligations and to try to set up a framework, a process for getting us toward that goal of a two-state solution, Wood added, referring to the goal of separate Israeli and Palestinian states, living side by side in peace.

Israel's new foreign minister angered Palestinians and raised the prospect of tension with Washington on Wednesday by saying Israel was not bound by a deal to start negotiations on establishing a Palestinian state.On his first day at the Foreign Ministry, ultranationalist Avigdor Lieberman said the U.S.-backed Annapolis declaration of 2007 has no validity,confirming a shift in stance under new Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made her first contact with Lieberman on Wednesday, telephoning him from London where she is with President Barack Obama.It was primarily to congratulate him on coming into his new position, but no dates have been set for any type of meeting, said Wood.Wood said U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, former Sen. George Mitchell, is set go to the region soon.He did not comment on whether Clinton had raised U.S. concerns over Lieberman's comments, but said the new Israeli foreign minister was well aware of the U.S. position.We're going to pursue that two-state solution, because we believe it's in the best interests of all the parties in the region,said Wood.Lieberman's anti-Arab rhetoric has particularly alarmed Palestinians as well as Arab leaders in the region. Lieberman says land where many of Israel's 1.5 million Arabs live should be swapped for West Bank Jewish settlements in a peace deal with the Palestinians.

Netanyahu was prime minister from 1997 to 1999 and clashed constantly with the administration of Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton.Netanyahu is expected to visit Washington soon, possibly as early as next month, an Israeli official told Reuters. However, he said no date had been set yet for that visit.
(Editing by Doina Chiacu)

Palestinian kills Israeli teenager with pickax By SEBASTIAN SCHEINER, Associated Press Writer – Thu Apr 2, 12:48 pm ET

BAT AYIN, West Bank – A Palestinian killed an Israeli teenager with a pickax and seriously injured a 7-year-old boy in a rampage through this West Bank Jewish settlement Thursday, posing an early test for the country's new hard-line government.

Israeli media broadcast pictures of the body of 13-year-old Shlomo Nativ, bespectacled with long sidecurls and a large skullcap worn by observant Jews. The images also showed the red pickax on the ground with drops of blood splattered on a road.The attacker escaped the scene and Israeli troops, joined by bearded settlers armed with automatic rifles, were conducting a manhunt in the area. In the nearby Palestinian village of Safa, troops searched houses and rounded up residents in a schoolyard. The military said all roads around the settlement of Bat Ayin were closed.

The settlement is notorious in Israel for being the base of the so-called Bat Ayin Underground,whose members were arrested over a botched 2002 bombing on an Arab girls' school in Jerusalem. The wounded boy's father, a member of the underground, is currently serving a 15-year sentence for his involvement in that bombing attempt.

Avinoam Maymon, a 45-year-old resident of the extremist settlement, said he tried to stop the assailant after the attack, violently struggling with him for a minute or two.He tried to kill me. I grabbed his hand and took the ax and he escaped,he told The Associated Press.He said the attacker fled to a neighboring murderous village.The attacker apparently entered Bat Ayin, located between Jerusalem and the southern West Bank city of Hebron, unhindered. The religious settlers have refused to build a security fence around their community — standard practice in most settlements — saying it would be a sign of weakness.The teenager was quickly buried at a funeral Thursday afternoon, which was closed to the media at the family's request.The attack came a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office and will likely heighten tensions with the Palestinians. The leader of the hawkish Likud party has promised a firm hand against militants and lowered expectations on the prospects for peace.Government spokesman Mark Regev called it a senseless act of brutality against innocents and warned the new leadership will have a zero tolerance policy toward militants.A murky Palestinian militant group calling itself the Martyrs of Imad Mughniyeh claimed responsibility for the attack in an e-mail sent to the AP.

The group is named for a Hezbollah mastermind killed in Syria last year in what is believed to have been an assassination by Israeli intelligence. It has claimed a number of past attacks, but Israeli defense officials believe it is likely a name used by other groups to avoid Israeli reprisals.The e-mail said the militant group Islamic Jihad was also involved. The group's spokesman in Gaza would not comment.The new government has already voiced skepticism about peace negotiations in its first days in office.The Palestinian leadership must both in word and in deed too have a zero tolerance policy to this sort of attack to demonstrate its commitment to peace and reconciliation,said Regev, the government spokesman.Netanyahu was elected on a campaign that criticized the previous government's peace negotiations with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Since then, Netanyahu has said he will seek peace, but has given few details about his vision for a final agreement. He has specifically refused to endorse the idea of an independent Palestinian state — a key demand of the Palestinians and centerpiece of U.S. diplomacy in the region.On Wednesday, Netanyahu's ultranationalist foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said Israeli concessions to the Palestinians would only invite more war. He also rejected the previous government's peace talks, launched at a U.S.-sponsored conference in 2007. Netanyahu has not commented publicly on Lieberman's statements. But a close Netanyahu ally, Cabinet minister Gilad Erdan, said Thursday that Lieberman's comments largely reflected the position of the prime minister's Likud Party. The appointment of the Lieberman has angered Palestinians and raised international concerns because of his hard-line positions on peace and an election campaign that was widely seen as racist.In Cairo, Egypt's Foreign Ministry called Lieberman's remarks a setback to peace efforts.

Fatah, Hamas adjourn unity talks APR 2,09

CAIRO (AFP) – Rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas decided on Thursday to suspend Egyptian-mediated unity talks for three weeks in order to consider new proposals, senior Fatah official Nabil Shaath said.There are new creative proposals and each movement needs to consult its leadership, Shaath said. We decided to resume the negotiations at a later date, sometime between April 21 and 26.Senior delegations from the Islamist group Hamas and the Western-backed Fatah movement of Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas had met in Cairo on Wednesday to resume talks on agreeing a unity government.It was the third round of meetings between the long-time rivals since Hamas, winners of 2006 parliamentary elections, seized the Gaza Strip from in a week of fighting in June 2007.Fatah retains control of the Palestinian Authority in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.The factions had agreed to form committees that would resolve their differences and form a unity transitional government that would prepare for general elections early next year.The committees began their work in Cairo last month, but the talks were adjourned after they failed to agree on a new government, with Hamas insisting it would not commit to previous agreements between the Palestinian Authority and Israel.Shaath refused to call the suspension of the talks a failure, saying it was neither a failure nor a success.

The stakes are high after a devastating 22-day war between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip over the new year.In March, countries pledged 4.5 billion dollars in reconstruction aid to Gaza at a conference in Egypt. But many donors, backed by Abbas's government, have said they will not deal with the Hamas authorities in Gaza.

The Middle East Quartet -- Russia, the United States, United Nations and European Union -- has conditioned dealing with Hamas on its recognition of Israel and commitment to past Palestinian-Israeli agreements.Hamas, and some smaller Palestinian factions, say that is unacceptable.

Israel's Lieberman links peace with disarming Hamas AP Thu Apr 2, 9:29 am ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in remarks published on Thursday it would be difficult to make progress in peace talks with Palestinians as long as armed Hamas Islamists control the Gaza Strip.The Palestinians must first of all confront terror, take control of Gaza and demilitarize Hamas, right-winger Lieberman told Haaretz newspaper. Without these, it will be difficult to move forward,he said.Lieberman angered Palestinians and raised the prospect of tension with Washington on Wednesday by saying that Israel was not bound by an understanding to start negotiations on setting up a Palestinian state.On his first day at the Foreign Ministry, Lieberman said the U.S.-sponsored Annapolis declaration of 2007 has no validity, confirming a shift in Israel's stance toward the Palestinians under new Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.The White House responded to those remarks by saying it was committed to working for a two-state solution. (We) understand that we will have frank discussions,a U.S. spokesman added.Under understandings reached at the conference in Annapolis, Maryland, Israel and the Palestinians tried to revive peace negotiations by tackling core issues leading to statehood.Lieberman, a Soviet immigrant denounced as a racist by many Arabs, told Haaretz however that Israel was only obliged to meet its commitments under a road map of 2003, which include removing unauthorized outposts and freezing settlement activity.

The road map, also backed by the United States, calls on Palestinians to stop attacks on Israel before any talks on the final shape of a statehood deal take place.We will conduct talks with the Palestinian Authority, but we want to make sure their checks don't bounce,Lieberman said.Israel undertook obligations regarding the road map and it will honor them, but there must be reciprocity.Lieberman's remarks on Wednesday confirmed that Netanyahu's government has withdrawn from its predecessor's commitment to negotiate on borders and issues such as the status of Jerusalem before the two sides are satisfied road map pledges are met.That could push negotiations on statehood deep into the future. With Gaza in the hands of Hamas Islamists, many doubt Western-backed Palestinian leaders in the West Bank can meet Israeli security conditions for such talks any time soon.Whoever thinks that he will achieve something by way of concessions - no, he will only invite more pressure and more wars, Lieberman told Haaretz.

If you want peace, prepare for war.

Netanyahu has not endorsed statehood for Palestinians, saying instead he wants to focus the talks on shoring up the Palestinian economy and security issues.Lieberman's ultranationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party is the biggest ally of Netanyahu's Likud in the cabinet.(Writing by Joseph Nasr, Editing by Jonathan Wright)

Israel's foreign minister rejects Annapolis deal by Ron Bousso – Wed Apr 1, 10:06 am ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel is not bound to conduct negotiations on a final settlement with the Palestinians as agreed at a 2007 conference in Annapolis, Maryland, new Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Wednesday.There is only one document that binds us and it is not the Annapolis conference, Lieberman said at a handover ceremony at the foreign ministry a day after being sworn in by parliament.Only the roadmap. The Israeli government and the Knesset (parliament) never adopted Annapolis, he said.We will go exactly according to the roadmap, he said. We will never agree to skip any of the stages -- and there are 48 of them -- and go straight to the last stage on negotiations on a permanent agreement.

We will go exactly according to each stage.

The roadmap is an international peace plan launched in 2003 under which Israel bound itself to the principle of a Palestinian state.The plan calls for Israel and the Palestinians to take a series of steps -- among them a freeze on Jewish settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and an end to violence -- eventually ending with a final peace deal.The Annapolis conference relaunched peace negotiations on the basis of the roadmap, although dozens of rounds of talks between the two sides have produced little visible progress.Lieberman's comments marked a sharp break with his predecessor Tzipi Livni who had led the Israeli delegation at the renewed negotiations.The Palestinians slammed his comments, with a senior aide to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas telling AFP that this minister is an obstacle to peace. He will cause harm to Israel first.The firebrand Lieberman, who has been criticised as a racist for his diatribes against Israeli Arabs, said that concessions would result only in more conflict.Whoever thinks that through concessions he will bring something, no, he will only invite more pressure and more wars,he said.If you want peace, prepare for war. We yearn for peace and we want peace, we've proven that more than any other country in the world.The Oslo process started in '93 and since then 16 years have passed and I can't see it has brought us any closer to a peace deal.

Lieberman also reached out to Egypt, whose leadership has reportedly been angered by his appointment as foreign minister just six months after he said President Hosni Mubarak could go to hell if he continued to avoid visiting Israel.Egypt definitely is an important element and an important state in the Arab world, Lieberman said.It is a force that is stabilising the region. I would be glad to visit Egypt and I would be glad to have Egyptian leaders to visit here and for the foreign minister to visit.It is all based on reciprocity. I see in Egypt an important partner and a stabilising element in the region.

Blair: Mideast peace process in jeopardy.By ROBERT WIELAARD, Associated Press Writer –Wed Apr 1, 9:23 am ET

BRUSSELS – Middle East envoy Tony Blair said Wednesday the peace process was in jeopardy and Israel must fully support the goal of living in peace next to an independent Palestinian state.He said a period of political inactivity caused by Israeli elections and the change of administration in Washington has harmed the peace process. The hiatus coincided with the launch of Israel's Gaza offensive in December to try to halt years of rocket fire at Israeli towns and cripple Hamas.We face a situation of very great jeopardy for the peace process in 2009, said Blair after talks at EU headquarters with Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU external relations commissioner.We need a combination of strong political negotiations toward a two-state solution and major change on the ground.The next six months actually will be completely critical in determining whether this process can move forward or whether it will slip back,he added.He spoke a day after Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's new leader, promised to seek peace with Jerusalem's Arab neighbors but remained silent about a Palestinian state living next to Israel in peace — which has long been the goal of the international community on whose behalf Blair speaks.Netanyahu is observed with trepidation in European capitals. He favors pressing ahead with construction in West Bank settlements. His new foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, is an ultranationalist and several of his cabinet members oppose territorial compromises with Palestinians.Now that we have a new administration in place in the United States, now that we have a new government in place in Israel this is the time when we have to make 2009 a year of progress,said Blair.

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

NETANYAHU GOVERNMENT TAKES OFFICE

Netanyahu takes helm of hawkish new Israeli govt by Joseph Krauss – Wed Apr 1, 7:15 am ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Benjamin Netanyahu began his second term as Israeli prime minister on Wednesday as the Palestinians warned that the hawk heading a largely right-wing cabinet does not believe in peace.At a formal handover ceremony attended by President Shimon Peres and former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Netanyahu said a difficult task lies ahead of us and we must start working immediately.The 59-year-old Netanyahu heads a coalition that includes his right-wing Likud, the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu, ultra-Orthodox Shas and a small religious faction as well as the centre-left Labour party.In his inaugural address to the 120-seat parliament on Tuesday, Netanyahu said the biggest threat Israel faced was the possibility of a radical regime armed with nuclear weapons -- a clear reference to arch-foe Iran.But the hawkish Likud leader said he would pursue a final accord with the Palestinians, while making no mention of a future Palestinian state.Under the final accord, the Palestinians will have all the rights to govern themselves except those that can put in danger the security and existence of the state of Israel,Netanyahu said Tuesday.

The Palestinians have given a cold welcome to the new government, with president Mahmud Abbas saying Wednesday that Netanyahu does not believe in peace and urging the international community to pile pressure on Israel.Benjamin Netanyahu never believed in a two-state solution or accepted signed agreements and does not want to stop settlement activity. This is obvious, Abbas told the official Palestinian news agency.

We have to tell the world that this man does not believe in peace, so how should we deal with him? Let's put the ball in the world's court.Jordan, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, said it hoped regional peace efforts would continue under the new government.We hope things do not retreat... they should move forward to achieve peace for everybody,Information Minister Nabil Sharif told AFP.The Islamist Hamas movement ruling the Gaza Strip, which endured a massive Israeli offensive at the turn of the year, said it did not differentiate between Israeli governments but called the new coalition racist and extreme.Since being charged with forming a government after the February 10 general election, Netanyahu has repeatedly made clear that his priority was confronting Iran, rather than moving the hobbled peace talks forward.Israel's Haaretz newspaper said Netanyahu is committed to halting Iran's nuclear programme -- which Tehran has always insisted is peaceful -- by any means necessary, including a possible military strike.The basic assumption is that diplomacy and sanctions will not gain a thing, and the only way to stop Iran's nuclear programme will be by force, which only Israel is motivated to apply,it said.

A poll published by Haaretz meanwhile found that 54 percent of Israelis are disappointed with the new government, mainly because of its size.With 30 ministers Netanyahu's cabinet is the largest in Israel's nearly 61-year history, the product of weeks of horse-trading in the country's notoriously chaotic political landscape.

Israel's Peace Now anti-settlement watchdog has called the new cabinet one of the most right-wing governments ever known in Israel.The international community has expressed alarm over the future of already stalled peace talks with the Palestinians relaunched in November 2007. Netanyahu has never supported the creation of a Palestinian state, a principle which Israel agreed to under the 2003 international roadmap.He put the brakes on the Oslo autonomy accords during his first term as premier in 1996-1999, says economic conditions should be improved in the occupied West Bank before negotiations take place on other issues.But keen not to antagonise key ally Washington, where US President Barack Obama has vowed to vigorously pursue the peace talks, the new Israeli leader has said he will continue the negotiations with the Palestinians.

Israel parliament approves Netanyahu govt by Patrick Moser Patrick Moser – Tue Mar 31, 4:52 pm ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Benjamin Netanyahu was sworn in as Israeli prime minister on Tuesday, pledging to seek peace with the Palestinians amid international concern his largely right-wing cabinet could bury negotiations.Parliament approved by a 69-45 vote Netanyahu's coalition, which includes his right-wing Likud, the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu, ultra-Orthodox Shas and a small religious faction as well as the centre-left Labour party.Netanyahu, 59, was then sworn in, followed by the 29 other ministers in his cabinet, the largest in Israel's 61-year history.In his address to the Knesset, the 120-seat parliament, Netanyahu told MPs the biggest threat Israel faced was the possibility of a radical regime armed with nuclear weapons -- a clear reference to arch-foe Iran.But the hawkish Likud leader said peace with the Palestinians was possible, while making no mention of a future Palestinian state.I am telling the leaders of the Palestinian Authority -- if you really want peace, it is possible to reach peace, he said. We will carry out peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority with a view to reaching a final accord.Under the final accord, the Palestinians will have all the rights to govern themselves except those that can put in danger the security and existence of the State of Israel,Netanyahu said.But he added that Palestinians must fight against terrorism if they want peace.

The Palestinian Authority said Netanyahu's statements mark a start that is not encouraging.The American administration should pressure the Netanyahu government to stick to the fundamentals of the peace process, in other words land for peace.This means the restitution of all the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967, including east Jerusalem,said Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's spokesman.Since being charged with forming a government after the February 10 general election, Netanyahu has repeatedly made clear that his priority was dealing with arch-foe Iran, rather than moving the hobbled peace talks forward.It is shameful that decades after the Holocaust, calls by Iranian leaders to destroy Israel are greeted with indifference by the world,he told MPs.The Jewish people have learned the lesson; they cannot lower their heads before dictators who threaten to destroy them.Contrary to what happened during the last century, today we have the means to defend ourselves. We know how to defend ourselves.Israel's Peace Now anti-settlement watchdog has called the new cabinet one of the most right-wing governments ever known in Israel.The new foreign minister is Avigdor Lieberman, a firebrand ex-bouncer and immigrant from the former Soviet republic of Moldova who has been branded a racist by critics for his anti-Arab diatribes.With Netanyahu, who opposes the creation of a Palestinian state, and Lieberman, the international community has expressed alarm over the future of the already uncertain peace process with the Palestinians that was relaunched in November 2007.The European Union last week warned of consequences if the new government does not commit itself to the principle of the two-state solution, saying relations would become very difficult.And US President Barack Obama acknowledged that peace efforts under a Netanyahu cabinet were not getting any easier but were just as necessary.

One of the main issues is Netanyahu's opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state, a principle to which Israel committed itself under the 2003 international roadmap for peace. Netanyahu, who put the brakes on the Oslo autonomy accords during his first term as premier in 1996-1999, says economic conditions should be improved in the occupied West Bank before negotiations take place on other issues. But keen not to antagonise key ally Washington where Obama has vowed to vigorously pursue the peace talks, the new Israeli leader has said he will continue the negotiations with the Palestinians.Despite his hardline rhetoric, Netanyahu signed several deals with the Palestinians under US pressure during his first term as premier, and some analysts in Israel say he would do so again if pressed by Washington.

Olmert leaves office after unfulfilled promises By JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press Writer – Tue Mar 31, 7:46 am ET

JERUSALEM – Ehud Olmert took office with bold promises of a broad withdrawal from the West Bank and a push for peace with the Palestinians. He goes home empty-handed, tainted by corruption scandals, remembered as the mastermind of two inconclusive wars, and with peace prospects as elusive as ever.But while Olmert's three-year term is widely viewed as a failure in Israel, his legacy is likely to be much more complicated.Although there were no major breakthroughs with the Palestinians, Olmert may have prepared his nation for significant concessions by publicly raising previously untouchable issues, such as the dangers of prolonging Israel's occupation of the West Bank and the need to share control of the holy city of Jerusalem.Olmert relaunched peace talks with Syria. Wars in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip seem to have reinforced Israel's deterrent capabilities with its enemies, and Israel appears to have carried out a series of successful covert military operations in hostile countries on his watch.Ultimately, history will judge Olmert's three-plus years as prime minister more favorably than is the accepted contemporary analysis,said Mark Regev, the outgoing prime minister's spokesman.

On the surface, Olmert's tenure appears to be a wasted opportunity.

Olmert inherited the reins of the Kadima Party after his predecessor, then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, suffered a stroke in January 2006. Sharon was wildly popular in the wake of his historic unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, which ended a 38-year military occupation and raised hopes of a broader peace agreement.Olmert led Kadima to victory in parliamentary elections, promising a similar withdrawal from the West Bank if negotiations with the Palestinians did not bear fruit. He offered Israelis a somewhat novel argument: Instead of harming security, ceding occupied land would make Israel safer by ensuring the country's Jewish majority.Olmert's withdrawal plan was short-lived, however. Weeks after he took office, Hamas militants in the evacuated Gaza Strip burst across Israel's border, seizing a soldier who remains in captivity today.Two weeks later, Hezbollah guerrillas conducted a similar operation along Israel's northern border with Lebanon, capturing two more soldiers and sparking a monthlong war. Despite an intense Israeli air and ground offensive, Israel failed to meet Olmert's goals of rescuing the soldiers or destroying Hezbollah. The inconclusive results cast a cloud over the rest of Olmert's tenure, even though Hezbollah has remained quiet since the fighting.Rocket fire that grew in scope after Israel's withdrawal from Gaza rapidly made Israelis skeptical of further unilateral withdrawals, rendering Olmert's promise of a West Bank pullout unrealistic.Olmert's reputation was further tarnished by a series of criminal investigations into his real estate dealings, political appointments and fundraising efforts abroad. A wealthy American businessman's testimony that he personally handed Olmert thousands of dollars in cash-stuffed envelopes set off a chain reaction that forced him to announce his resignation last September.

Ehud Olmert's government came into power with tremendous potential, but did almost nothing it promised the voters, said Reuven Hazan, a political scientist at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. "Ehud Olmert could go down in history — and only history will judge — as one of the worst prime ministers Israel has had.Such a verdict, however, could be premature. At a dramatic U.S.-hosted conference, Olmert relaunched peace talks with the Palestinians in November 2007 after an eight-year break.Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas exchanged ideas that were never exchanged before, such as discussions on the key issues of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees.However, in the end the two leaders failed to reach a deal — which would have been all but impossible to implement anyway after Hamas militants violently seized power in the Gaza Strip in June 2007.Israel carried out an overwhelming military offensive early this year against Hamas. The operation struck a tough blow against the Islamic militant group, but has been questioned because of heavy Palestinian civilian casualties and failing to weaken Hamas' grip on power.Olmert's most significant accomplishments may never be known. Israel has not commented on foreign reports that it destroyed a Syrian nuclear reactor, assassinated a top Hezbollah mastermind in Syria, or more recently, attacked a convoy in Sudan carrying arms destined for Gaza. In a farewell speech to parliament this week, Olmert spoke of the heart-wrenching concessions Israel will have to make to reach peace and offered some advice to his successor, Benjamin Netanyahu. Take the initiative in your hands bravely. Don't be afraid, and history will thank you, he said.

Israel's Netanyahu pledges to seek Middle East peace By Jeffrey Heller – Mon Mar 30, 12:01 pm ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Incoming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged on Monday to make every effort to achieve peace with Israel's neighbors and the Arab world, but again made no mention of Palestinian aspirations to statehood.The government I am forming will do its utmost to achieve a just and lasting peace with all our neighbors and the Arab world in general, Netanyahu said in a speech to parliament, a day before his administration was to be sworn in.Israelis, Netanyahu said during a session marking the 30th anniversary of Israel's peace treaty with Egypt, recognize genuine peace when they see it,and the Jewish state would answer the call of any peace-seeking Arab leader.Netanyahu, leader of the right-wing Likud party, has said he would negotiate with the Palestinians but wanted to focus on shoring up their economy rather than on territorial issues that have blocked progress in negotiations that are currently frozen.He has shied away from a direct commitment to the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, the main goal of U.S.-backed peace efforts.

Palestinian officials have said peacemaking stands no chance without an explicit Israeli commitment to statehood.In parliament, Netanyahu listened without expression as outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert urged him to endorse clearly the creation of a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.Two states for two peoples. There is no alternative. There is no trying to be clever about it,Olmert said.We are talking about a dramatic, painful and heart-wrenching compromise, but one that is necessary.

He called on Netanyahu to follow up on the previous government's indirect peace talks with Syria, Israel's neighbor to the north.

CABINET POSTS

Netanyahu handed out cabinet posts in Jerusalem to Likud members, putting the finishing touches to a government dominated by right-wing and Orthodox Jewish factions, but including the center-left Labour Party.It is due to be sworn in at a parliamentary session starting at 5 p.m. (10 a.m. EDT) on Tuesday.The goal of Palestinian statehood was reaffirmed last week by U.S. President Barack Obama. Israeli political sources said Netanyahu was trying to arrange a meeting with Obama in early May in Washington.International concern has been raised by Netanyahu's appointment of Avigdor Lieberman as foreign minister.Lieberman, leader of the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu party, advocates trading parts of Israel where many of its 1.5 million Arab citizens live to a future Palestinian state in return for Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.On paper, Netanyahu commands up to 69 seats -- 13 of them held by Labour -- in the 120-member parliament. The margin could be cut if Labour legislators opposed to its coalition deal with Likud vote with the opposition.
(Editing by Andrew Dobbie)

Peres calls for regional peace in Middle East By ONDREJ HEJMA and GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writers – Mon Mar 30, 11:27 am ET

PRAGUE, Czech Republic – Israeli President Shimon Peres expressed optimism Monday that his country's next government can achieve Mideast peace, even though the coalition will contain parties traditionally opposed to making concessions to the Palestinians.His comments appeared aimed a soothing both U.S. and EU concern that the new government under Benjamin Netanyahu may abandon the concept of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel as the primary goal of a Western-backed road map to peace in the Middle East.Peres spoke on the eve of the swearing in of a new Israeli coalition government, including hawkish parties opposed to major concessions to the Palestinians, and after meeting with Vaclav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic, which holds the rotating EU presidency.Netanyahu has been a critic of past peace efforts that require Israeli concessions. But he recently pledged that his government — which includes the centrist Labor Party — will pursue peace with the Palestinians.Peres seized on that promise by expressing optimism that the new government will be fully committed to seeking a Middle East settlement.They say,We shall continue the negotiations with the Palestinians, he told reporters.They say, We shall negotiate with each one of our neighbors.They say, Yes, we would like to develop the regional economic opportunities, and they say also, We are going to see what can be done in terms of peace on regional level.And then they are saying also they are going to respect the previous government commitments. So I would think this is a very reasonable and promising beginning.An Israeli government statement on the visit quoted Peres as saying the Israeli people want true peace between Israel and its neighbors, and the new government ... will be for peace.Netanyahu last week said his government would be a partner for peace with the Palestinians. His comments, just a day after President Barack Obama pledged that the U.S. would push creation of a Palestinian state, reflected a softening of his previous skepticism about Mideast peace negotiations.During the election campaign, Netanyahu derided the past year of peace efforts and indicated he would halt negotiations to focus on developing the Palestinian economy — a stance alluded to by Peres Monday. Netanyahu also said he would allow existing Jewish settlements to expand to accommodate natural growth in their populations.

Even if he has moderated his stance, however, Netanyahu has still not specifically expressed backing for an independent Palestinian state. Nor has he spelled out how he would quell expected internal opposition to meaningful talks with the Palestinians.

Israel's neighbors also are concerned.

On Monday, Syrian President Bashar Assad told a summit of Arab leaders that the real aim of Israel's recently elected government is against peace and that the composition of the incoming Cabinet is a clear, unsurprising message to us.Besides Labor, at the forefront of peace efforts, Netanyahu's chief partner is Yisrael Beitenu. Its leader and designated foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, has drawn allegations of racism for a proposal that could strip Israeli Arabs of their citizenship unless they declare loyalty to the Jewish state.Another coalition partner, the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, objects to even discussing sharing Jerusalem with the Palestinians.The Israeli statement quoted Klaus as saying that his country, in its EU presidency role, will continue to support the advancement of the peace process. We understand well the problems and threats that Israel is coping with, and we intend to continue to be a major player in the process, including with the new government,Klaus was quoted as saying.Like the U.S., the EU also has backed a two-state solution — an independent Palestine living side to side with Israel — and cautioned that bilateral ties may hang in the balance.The EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, warned earlier this month that the EU would rethink its support for Israel unless it backed an independent Palestinian state. And Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg last week said after chairing an EU foreign ministers' meeting that both parties must stick to past commitments that included the two-state solution.The Czech government is keen to push other members to strengthen the bloc's relations with Israel, including better access to the vast European market. But skepticism on the part of some EU member nations may have been strengthened because of perceptions that Israel overreacted in the Gaza conflict and over the incoming government's commitment to the peace process. Peres suggested that economic cooperation should not be tied to political developments in a global economy. We have borders that remain political but are not any more economic,he said, adding Israel needed a coalition with the rest of the world.George Jahn reported from Vienna. Associated Press Writers Josef Federman in Jerusalem and Robert Wielaard in Brussels contributed to this report.