Wednesday, October 07, 2009

EU DIPLOMATIC SERVICE ON TRACK

DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADE BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).

DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come (ROMANS IN AD 70) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMANS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he( EU ROMAN, JEWISH DICTATOR) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:( 7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,( 3 1/2 YRS) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

HERES GOING TO BE THE BEGINING OF THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE THAT WILL GUARENTEE ISRAELS SECURITY FOR THE 7 YEAR PEACE TREATY OF DANIEL 9:27.

MEPs pressure member states on diplomatic service-The European Parliament is keen to maintain the institutional power balance (Photo: EUobserver)HONOR MAHONY Today OCT 7,09 @ 09:20 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - MEPs are rushing to establish the European Parliament's formal position on the union's fledgling diplomatic service amid fears that member states will create a body that is beyond democratic scrutiny and control.Euro-deputies are keen to have the service attached to the European Commission and part of the overall community budget rather than an independent service only answerable to, and funded by, national governments.A diplomatic service is one of the major innovations of the proposed Lisbon Treaty, along with an EU foreign minister and a permanent president of the European Council.

A draft report on the issue, due to be voted on in plenary on 22 October, urges the commission to make use of the fact it has quasi-veto power over the formal decision by member states to establish the service.The External Action Service (EAS) should be administratively and budget-wise within the Commission, formally a part of the Commission,said German centre-right MEP Elmar Brok, in charge of drawing up the report, on Tuesday (6 September).According to British Liberal deputy Andrew Duff the diplomatic service should be a sui generis body attached to the Commission.MEPs are also calling for the service, whose exact shape and size still has to be fixed, to be staffed on the basis of merit, expertise and excellence and for balance in representation from the Commission, the Council - representing member states - and national diplomatic services.

Foreign minister hearing

The issue is set to cause a power scuffle with national governments. Member states – only slowly waking up to the foreign policy implications of the treaty - are reluctant to let parliament dictate the terms of the diplomatic service. This is not something that has great support in the Council,Swedish Europe minister Cecilia Malmstrom told this website when asked about making the service part of the commission's structure.But the parliament, which only has the right to be consulted by member states on the diplomatic service, believes it can influence the proceedings by playing hardball during its hearing of the foreign minister.This is the preparatory report. We will then have the hearing of the candidate for vice-president of the commission and foreign minister,said Mr Duff, referring to the fact that the new foreign minister will also be a member of the commission.We'll fail to support him. We've drawn blood before and we will do it again,the MEP, in charge of the hearings procedure, said.The European Parliament conducts hearings on the suitability of all members of the college of the commissioners and set a precedent in 2004 by rejecting an Italian nominee. This created a shift in the balance of power between the institutions which MEPs have been keen to build on ever since.The issues raised by the creation of a diplomatic service go to the heart of the union's perennial struggle between those who want an EU foreign policy that is a result of intergovernmental co-operation and those who want a communitarian approach, with the involvement of the commission and MEPs.

Blair manuouevre

The foreign service is just one point of unclarity in a list of several created by the Lisbon Treaty, which looks set to come into force early next year.Another issue is the exact job description of the proposed president of the European Council. Smaller countries fear the creation of a powerful post run by large member states.

Yesterday, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg circulated a confidential memo calling for the post to maintain the institutional balance of the union, according to the Irish Times.The memo also calls for someone who has demonstrated his commitment to the European project.This is being interpreted as a move against former British prime minister Tony Blair, who has been increasingly mentioned as a contender for the job.Poland has also indicated it may be unhappy with the Blair candidacy.We are not interested in a celebrity. It should be someone who is willing to spend a lot of time carrying out shuttle diplomacy among member states and talking to the commission in search of compromises,Polish EU affairs minister Mikolaj Dowgielewicz told EUobserver.

EU macro-regions could get own funding from 2014
VALENTINA POP Today OCT 7,09 @ 09:14 CET


EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – EU macro-regions such as the one surrounding the Baltic Sea could by 2014 be granted their own budget line from the Union's common coffers, the Swedish EU presidency said on Tuesday.The Baltic Sea Strategy is fantastic, but it has its limitations. It mainly focuses on projects and won't solve all the problems of the region,Swedish minister for EU affairs Cecilia Malmstrom said at a press panel during the Open Days, a marathon of events in Brussels dedicated to regions and cities.The Baltic Sea Strategy is the EU's pilot project for so-called macro-regions comprising several member states featuring a common geographical characteristic. As with the states bordering the Baltic Sea, the EU could soon see a strategy for the Danube region, one for the Alps and another for the Carpathian mountains.In the case of the Baltic Sea Strategy, the main aims are to clean up the highly polluted waters, to connect the transport and energy networks of the bordering countries and to spur research and exchange among different universities.

Adopted by the European Commission in June, the strategy still needs the endorsement of all member states – something the Swedish EU presidency is hoping to achieve by the end of October.The strategy does not provide for new funds, only how to better co-ordinate existing projects among the eight countries concerned – Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Poland, Germany, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia.As discussions on the next seven-year EU budget (2014-2021) are about to begin, Ms Malmstrom was asked if the so-called macro-regions could get their own financing in the future.I could imagine, within the cohesion funds, one headline for macro-regional co-operation,she said. It is not on the agenda so far, but it could very well come up,she added.EU regional affairs commissioner Pawel Samecki said that discussions on this matter had already started last month in Stockholm, when foreign ministers gathered for an informal meeting on the Baltic Sea strategy.The question was raised whether we should have a separate budget line for macro-regions. It is a relevant question, which would have other implications as well, as to who will manage this money – the EU commission, existing structures or a new body?

Carsten-Ludwig Ludemann, a local official with the German city of Hamburg, said it was actually good that the commission did not attach a specific sum to the Baltic Sea strategy, as it was still facing acceptance issues with the member states not concerned.We are a federal state and all 16 Bundeslaender [regions] had to approve the strategy, which they did. But no land said they wanted a Danube or another strategy now,he noted.The Baltic Sea strategy is due for review in 2011, under the Polish EU presidency, when countries and regional organisations responsible for specific projects will report about the actual implementation of the measures.It is very important to make states responsible,Finnish EU affairs minister Astrid Thors said.I hope we won't need to name and shame countries in two years time,she added.

Future of internet has dangers for privacy, Brussels warns
LEIGH PHILLIPS Today OCT 7,09 @ 09:25 CET


EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - There is a dark side to some of the impressive new online technologies that are appearing, from social networking to behavioural advertising to RFID smart chips, the European Commission's internet chief has warned.While such technologies offer great vistas of opportunity, the commission is monitoring their development closely for the very real potential threats to privacy they contain, information society commissioner Viviane Reding said on Monday at a debate on the future of the internet in Brussels.Ms Reding threatened that if social networking sites such as Facebook themselves do not make moves to ensure the profiles of minors are kept private, she would intervene with legislation to force them to do so.

Privacy must, in my view, be a high priority for social networking providers and for their users. I firmly believe that at least the profiles of minors must be private by default and unavailable to internet search engines,she told the meeting in the European Parliament, organised by Icomp, an industry initiative backed by Microsoft to discuss the online marketplace.The European Commission has already called on social networking sites to deal with minors' profiles carefully, by means of self-regulation,she continued.I am ready to follow this up with new rules if I have to.But she said she worries about all users of social networking, not just children, and fears that most users of such sites are unaware of the dangers to their privacy.
Social networking has a strong potential for a new form of communication and for bringing people together, wherever they are,she said.But is every social networker really aware that all pictures and information uploaded on social networking profiles can be accessed and used by anyone on the web?

Advertising concerns

The EU's internet chief also said that behavioural advertising - those ads that appear that seem to know exactly the sort of books or vacations or concerts you would be interested in - was another privacy concern repeatedly mentioned to the European Commission these days.Behavioural adverts are able to do this by keeping track of internet users' web browsing to better target them with advertisements.Ms Reding said that the EU executive was watching this development for infringement of privacy: European privacy rules are crystal clear: a person's information can only be used with their prior consent.The commission is closely monitoring the use of behavioural advertising to ensure respect for our privacy rights,she added.I will not shy away from taking action where an EU country falls short of this duty.The commissioner also warned of the perils contained within the internet of things - the use of radio frequency identification (RFID), or smart chips, that could be attached to any product.There is enormous potential from a world in which all mugs, containers, shoes or airplane parts are attached with tiny identifying devices. Analysts predict that common events that plague businesses and individuals such as running out of stock, product wastage, and theft. Losing your keys could be a thing of the past, if we know where a product is at all times. But there are also great privacy pitfalls in such a world, noted Ms Reding.I am convinced [RFID] will only be welcomed in Europe if they are used by the consumers and not on the consumers,she told the crowd.No European should carry a chip in one of their possessions without being informed precisely of what they are used for, with the choice to remove or switch it off at any time.The Internet of Things will only work if it is accepted by the people.

Her speech also focussed on the need for a single online market for digital content, which she has repeatedly argued is fragmented, a competitive disadvantage for Europe when compared to the United States.Before the end of the current commission's mandate, she said, she and internal market commissioner Charlie McCreevy would publish a reflection paper over a set of possible legislative options to create such a single digital market.Ms Reding would also like to see the development of a European Rights Registry to ease the digitalisation of books. Such a registry would aim to overcome the current problem of books republishing online books that are out of print, but whose copyright ownership remains cloudy.Although the Luxembourgish Ms Reding has expressed an interest in returning to Brussels as part of President Jose Manuel Barroso's second college of commissioners, it is not clear that if she returns, she would be awarded the same dossier.She underlined that in making her comments on the future of the internet, she did not want to pre-empt the new commission.

Monday, October 05, 2009

UNEASY TENSION ON HOLY SITE

Israeli police deploy around tense holy site By MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press Writer – OCT 5,09

JERUSALEM – Israel deployed thousands of policemen in and around Jerusalem's Old City on Monday to prevent a new round of disturbances around a tense site holy to Jews and Muslims.Police have been clashing sporadically for several days with Muslim protesters in and around the compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. No one has been seriously injured, but in the past deadly violence has erupted at the site.Thousands of Jewish worshippers gathered at the foot of the Old City compound for services at the supporting wall known as the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray. Monday's prayers marked the weeklong Jewish holiday of Sukkot. Tourists and men in white prayer shawls packed the plaza opposite the wall as police officers patrolled and kept watch nearby.

Police restricted the entrance of Muslim worshippers to the compound, saying calls by Israeli Arab leaders for protests could spark violence. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that only men over the age of 50 were being allowed to pray at the compound. There were no restrictions on women.Early Monday, a small group of Palestinians threw stones at a group of Jewish worshippers outside the Old City, but no one was hurt, Rosenfeld said.In a separate incident, a Palestinian man stabbed an Israeli security officer checking bus passengers near a refugee camp in the city, lightly wounding him, police said. The assailant was apprehended. No further details were immediately available.The recent clashes appear linked to rumors among Palestinians that Jewish extremists plan to enter or damage the compound, home to the Al-Aqsa mosque and the gold-capped Dome of the Rock and sanctified by Muslims as their third-holiest site. Similar rumors in the past have led to riots.Light disturbances broke out a week ago when a group of Muslim worshippers, drawn to the site by a cleric's warning that Jewish settlers were planning to enter the compound, threw stones at a group of visitors escorted by police. Police said the visitors were French tourists.

Rioters and policemen were lightly wounded in the clash.

In neighboring Jordan, Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh summoned the Israeli ambassador and protested what the Jordanian government called Israel's continuous violations of the sanctity of Muslim and Christian holy sites in east Jerusalem,according to the country's official Petra news agency.Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said Israel told the Jordanians that the provocations have originated from radical elements who wish to create a crisis around the Temple Mount.Jews venerate the site as the location of two biblical temples. Israel has controlled it since 1967, but day-to-day administration is in the hands of Muslim clerics.Jerusalem correspondent Michael Barajas contributed to this report.

Police flood Jerusalem's Old City after clashes by Majeda El Batsh – OCT 5,09

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Police flooded into Jerusalem's Old City on Monday following clashes with Palestinians near the Al-Aqsa mosque compound and as tens of thousands of Jews attended a religious ceremony.Authorities restricted access to the compound to Muslim men aged 50 and over, with no restrictions for women, after Sunday's clashes in which seven Palestinian protesters were injured and three arrested.Ten masked Palestinians were arrested on Monday for throwing stones at security forces just outside the Old City, police said.Thousands of officers deployed in and around the area, focusing on the Al-Aqsa mosque compound which is holy to both Muslims and Jews, and the Western Wall, the main Jewish pilgrimage site also known as the Wailing Wall.Two Arab neighbourhoods adjoining the Old City were sealed off as helicopters and a surveillance drone flew overhead.These measures were taken to avert new incidents on the compound and the Old City and to prevent stones being thrown at the Jewish faithful who come to pray at the Western Wall,police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.Tension flared on Sunday after police closed access to the Al-Aqsa compound -- known to Muslims as Al-Haram Al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary) and to Jews as the Temple Mount -- saying calls for Muslims to gather there were inciting violence.

Clashes broke out after more than 150 people gathered to pray outside the compound. After the prayers, worshippers threw stones and security forces responded with stun grenades and a water cannon.Rumours had earlier swept through the Old City that the Israeli authorities would allow right-wing Jewish settlers to enter the compound during the week-long Jewish festival of Sukkot.On Monday an estimated 30,000 Jewish worshippers prayed at the Western Wall below Al-Aqsa for the Priestly Blessing ceremony, a highlight of the Sukkot celebrations.Rosenfeld earlier said hostile elements are inciting to violence,pointing the finger at the Islamic Movement, an Arab-Israeli group that regularly calls the faithful to rally to the defence of Al-Aqsa.Sheikh Azam Al-Khatib, who heads the Islamic trust that manages the compound, claimed the current tension was caused by Jewish extremists who provoke the Muslim faithful and don't hide their ambition to kick the Muslims out to build a temple.The compound was the site of the Second Temple, Judaism's holiest site, which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.In Gaza, thousands of people joined a protest organised by the Islamist Hamas rulers of the Palestinian enclave, calling for a popular uprising or intifada to defend the mosque compound.

The Palestinian Authority on Sunday urged the international community to immediately intervene and bring the question of the Al-Aqsa mosque before the UN Security Council.Jordan summoned Israel's ambassador in Amman on Sunday to demand a halt to repeated violations at the compound.A week ago several people were wounded in unrest that erupted after a group of non-Muslims entered the mosque compound. Police said they were French tourists, but the Palestinians insisted they were Israeli extremists.The site of the compound is the holiest in Judaism and third holiest in Islam, and has often been a flashpoint for Israeli-Palestinian violence.The second Palestinian intifada began there in September 2000 after a visit by Ariel Sharon, the right-wing politician who became Israeli prime minister the following year.

New Israeli settlement construction underway: report OCT 5,09

JERUSALEM (AFP) – A Peace Now report said on Monday that some 800 new housing units are being built in settlements across the occupied West Bank, despite US calls for Israel to freeze settlement construction.The Israeli settlement watchdog said that work got underway over the past three months in 34 settlements for the construction of the units.In addition, some 55 buildings are in the process of being completed and foundations are being laid for an additional 50, the report said.According to a Peace Now report, the new projects are not among some 2,400 houses already in different stages of construction that Israel aims to complete despite agreeing to a temporary halt in settlement construction.The settlers are working fast to produce as many construction starts as possible so that these new housing units will be counted as existing settlements and not included in any future agreed upon freeze, it said.Washington has been pressing hard for Israel to halt all construction work on occupied Palestinian land ahead of the resumption of Middle East peace talks. Israel has so far balked at the demand.

Israel minister cancels UK trip over arrest fears Mon Oct 5, 8:52 am ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel's vice Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon recently cancelled a planned trip to London over fears that he could be put on trial for alleged war crimes, his spokesman said on Monday.He called off the trip for fear pro-Palestinian groups in London might seek his arrest for his role, as military chief-of-staff at the time, in the 2002 deaths of 15 people, among them a Hamas leader and eight children.Yaalon, who is also strategic affairs minister, had been invited to attend a fund-raising dinner hosted by the British branch of the Jewish National Fund, but the foreign ministry's legal team advised against it.Yaalon was military chief-of-staff when an Israeli warplane dropped a one-tonne bomb in Gaza City which killed Salah Shehadeh, the head of the armed wing of Hamas, and 14 civilians, including his wife, in July 2002.Last Tuesday Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak branded a bid to have him arrested in Britain absurd as he attended the governing Labour party's annual conference.British activists had sought his arrest over Israel's 22-day offensive in Gaza at the start of this year, when more than 1,400 Palestinians and 13Israelis were killed. The request was denied on the grounds of diplomatic immunity.

Azerbaijan jails two Lebanese over Israel embassy plot Mon Oct 5, 7:31 am ET

BAKU (AFP) – An Azerbaijani court on Monday found two Lebanese men guilty of plotting an attack on the Israeli embassy in the capital Baku, jailing them for 15 years each, a court spokesman said.

Abbas postpones Syria visit Mon Oct 5, 5:36 am ET

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) – Syria has postponed a visit to Damascus by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas due to begin on Tuesday, a Palestinian official told AFP.The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the postponement came because of a surprise visit to Damascus by Saudi King Abdullah.A report on Al-Jazeera television had earlier said Damascus postponed Abbas's trip in protest over the Palestinian delegation to the UN Human Rights Council dropping its support for an immediate vote on a damning report on the Gaza war.But the official insisted the claim by the pan-Arab channel was not true. Abbas had been due to arrive in Damascus on Tuesday and hold talks with President Bashar al-Assad.Abbas has faced a growing wave of criticism both at home and abroad over the decision not to support a vote on the Gaza report, which was widely seen as a result of intense pressure from the US and Israel.The UN report on Gaza, authored by respected South African Judge Richard Goldstone, accused both Israel and Hamas of war crimes and recommended that the Human Rights Council pass the findings to the UN Security Council and the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court at The Hague.On Friday, the 47-member council in Geneva decided to postpone until March 2010 a vote on the report, following a request by Pakistan on behalf of Arab, African, Non-Aligned and Muslim states that supported the report.

Mubarak urges Israel to resume peace talks Sun Oct 4, 4:47 pm ET

CAIRO – Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak urged Israel to resume peace talks with the Palestinians where they broke off more than a year ago, warning that the peace process can't take another failure.Israeli-Palestinian negotiations tapered off last year and haven't resumed since last winter's war in Gaza and the election of Benjamin Netanyahu as Israeli prime minister. Since then, the two sides have yet to establish a framework to renew talks. The Palestinians want to pick up where negotiations left off, while the hawkish Netanyahu says he is not bound by any concessions his more dovish predecessor made.But in an interview published Sunday, Mubarak called on Israel to respond positively to the renewed push for peace and resume talks where they left off.It is unreasonable and unacceptable to start from zero,Mubarak told the Armed Forces newspaper. I told (Israel) that ... settlements are eating away Palestinian land and must stop immediately.Mubarak's comments were part of a wide ranging interview published days ahead of the 36th anniversary of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war that opened the way for the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty six years later.U.S. President Barack Obama has spearheaded renewed efforts to bring the Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table, but key sticking points remain.The Palestinians say talks should resume where they left off, and want a complete freeze of Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank.

Israel has agreed to slow settlement building, but has rejected a total halt to construction. Israel had pledged to stop settlement building in a 2003 U.S.-backed peace plan, but has not done so, claiming that the Palestinians have not carried out their obligations.Mubarak said he was optimistic that U.S. efforts would bring the two sides back to the table and would usher in wider regional talks to settle the Arab-Israeli conflict.The region is rife with crises, conflicts and tension, Mubarak said.The Middle East will remain a region of instability in the absence of a peaceful and just settlement to the Palestinian issue. The situation is critical, and the peace process ... can't take another failure.Mubarak urged Israel to reconsider the way it deals with the Palestinians and Arabs to ensure a return to normal relations in the region.Israel must take a big step like the total halt to settlement and achieving tangible results in peace negotiations before talking of any Arab gestures, initiatives or step toward it,he said.

Fatah and Hamas eye truce deal, but hurdles remain By Nidal al-Mughrabi – Sun Oct 4, 1:42 pm ET

GAZA (Reuters) – Hamas and Fatah, the warring parties that have divided the Palestinian territories, may agree this month to an Egyptian-brokered deal that sketches out a path to peace between them, but which also faces many further obstacles.Officials close to the negotiations, which have been going on for much of the two years since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in a brief civil war, said on Sunday a deal may be signed in Cairo on October 22. Talks are due to begin on October 19.Despite frequent such meetings in Egypt, the Islamist Hamas and secular Fatah, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, have missed several previous deadlines. The deal would map out a process of reconciliation, intended to culminate in presidential and parliamentary elections.Both sides are sounding more positive on the chances of signing an accord this time, which would start the countdown toward elections in late June. But officials are still cautious on the chances of seeing the process through, given the deep resentments felt on either side.Mohammad Dahlan, a Gaza-born senior figure in Fatah, now based with Abbas in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, told Reuters much depended on clarifications Abbas would be seeking on Hamas's final offer when he meets Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman in the Jordanian capital Amman on Monday.

STICKING POINTS

There is a difference between what we are hearing from our brothers in Egypt and the positive statements by Khaled Meshaal,Dahlan said of the Egyptian mediators and the Syria-based leader of Hamas. The Islamists have said they expect to sign a revised reconciliation pact later this month.There are still sticking points,Dahlan said on Sunday.Among these were Fatah's rejection of a key element in the draft pact that calls for a joint committee of members from Hamas, Fatah and other political parties that would liaise between the internationally isolated Hamas government in Gaza and Abbas's Western-backed Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.Hamas would also be able to supervise a joint police force in Gaza in the run-up to the June elections, something Fatah sees as cementing Hamas control there after what it calls the coup of June 2007.Dozens of Fatah men were among over 100 people killed then in a week of fighting in the coastal enclave, which is divided from the West Bank by 30 km (20 miles) of Israeli territory.In Gaza on Sunday, however, Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said things looked set for an agreement.We have accepted the content of the Egyptian paper and that has prepared the ground for signing an agreement at the forthcoming Cairo meeting,he said.Any failure to reach that would not be of Hamas's making.Egypt hopes to end Fatah and Hamas disputes over hundreds of political detainees jailed in the two territories. Progress on this track could determine whether such a deal could hold.(Additional reporting by Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah, editing by Alastair Macdonald and Mark Trevelyan).

Israeli planes strike Gaza Sun Oct 4, 2:35 am ET

GAZA CITY (AFP) – Israeli warplanes carried out three air strikes in the Gaza Strip over the weekend, without causing casualties, the army and Palestinian witnesses said on Sunday.

They said two of the raids targeted the south of the Palestinian territory while the other hit Gaza City.Our planes on Friday night attacked a structure in Gaza City being used to build weapons and carried out a twin raid on Saturday night on tunnels in the south of the territory on the border with Egypt, an army spokesman said.The air strikes came after Palestinian militants in Gaza fired a rocket and a mortar shell against southern Israel, the spokesman said, also without causing casualties.

Mubarak urges Israel to start final status talks Sat Oct 3, 1:14 pm ET

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has urged Israel to open talks with the Palestinians on the full range of issues blocking the path to peace.
Stuttering negotiations between the two sides on a step-by-step road map toward peace have been suspended completely since Israeli forces launched an assault on Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip last December.Mubarak said they should move straight to the six final status issues: borders, the status of Jerusalem, refugees, Israeli settlements in occupied territory, security and use of water.What is required now is political will, particularly by the leaders of Israel,Mubarak said in an interview with the newspaper al-Quwat al-Musallaha (The Armed Forces).Mubarak said he was in regular contact with Israeli leaders including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.He said talks should resume where they left off under the previous Israeli government.It is not reasonable or acceptable to start from scratch. I told them that the negotiations should address all six final status issues without exception,he said.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said last month that, for talks to resume, Israel must honor agreements on borders and Jerusalem that he says its previous government made in talks last year.No clear agreements were ever published before talks were suspended. Netanyahu, a right-winger who took office in March, has made clear he does not wish to repeat any such offers that Olmert may have made.

SETTLEMENTS

After talks with U.S. President Barack Obama and Netanyahu, Abbas also repeated a Palestinian insistence that Israel halt settlement building in the occupied territories, including East Jerusalem.But Netanyahu has fought off U.S. and Arab pressure to freeze settlements.Since then, U.S. diplomacy has focused on an immediate and unconditional resumption of negotiations.Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, the first Arab state to do so.Mubarak said that agreement, which saw Israel withdraw troops and settlers from Egypt's Sinai peninsula, should be seen as a model for future pacts between Israel and the Palestinians and other Arab states.Mubarak's comments, cited by the state news agency MENA on Saturday, are the latest in a string of calls for Israel to accept a framework for peace based on U.N. resolutions and a land-for-peace formula contained in the Arab peace initiative.

That initiative, launched by Saudi Arabia in 2002, offers normalization with all Arab states in return for withdrawal from territories occupied in 1967 and a just settlement for refugees.Mubarak said peace was difficult but not impossible.Egypt has played a central role in negotiations to secure the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in return for freedom for Palestinians held in Israeli jails. On Friday, Israel freed 20 female prisoners after receiving evidence that Shalit is alive and well.Egypt is also trying to broker reconciliation between the rival Hamas and Fatah factions running Gaza and the West Bank respectively, and hopes they will sign a pact this month.(Writing by Alastair Sharp; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Palestinian economy minister resigns: source Sat Oct 3, 11:19 am ET

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) – Palestinian economy minister Bassem Khuri resigned on Saturday, an official close to him said, becoming the second minister to step down since the government was formed earlier this year.Bassem Khuri has resigned to protest the Palestinian Authority's agreement not to discuss the Goldstone report, the official said on condition of anonymity.The UN Human Rights Council on Friday delayed a vote on a damning report by former international prosecutor Richard Goldstone on alleged war crimes by Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas during the Gaza war.The move followed a request by Pakistan, on behalf of the several Arab, Muslim and African states who supported the report, to defer endorsement.Earlier, the Palestinian delegation to the council had stopped pushing for the report's immediate consideration because of US pressure, according to media reports.Khuri, a political independent, was a new face in the government formed by Western-backed Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad in May. The team does did not include any members of Hamas, which rules Gaza.The Palestinian Authority's minister for Jerusalem affairs, Hatem Abdel Qader, resigned in July over what he said was the government's failure to aid residents in battling Israeli housing demolitions.

UN rights council postpones vote on damning Gaza report Fri Oct 2, 12:35 pm ET

GENEVA (AFP) – Members of the UN Human Rights Council on Friday postponed a decision on a damning report on Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip that raised evidence of war crimes by both sides and possible crimes against humanity.The 47 member Council decided to delay until March 2010 a vote on the report by an independent international fact-finding mission headed by former international war crimes prosecutor Richard Goldstone.Goldstone last month recommended that the UN Security Council should ask the International Criminal Court to examine possible charges, unless progress was made in investigations in Israel and the Palestinian Territories within six months.Friday's move followed a request by Pakistan, on behalf of Arab, African, Non Aligned and Muslim states that supported the report, to defer endorsement, according to documents filed with the Council.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had warned on Thursday that Human Rights Council would have dealt a fatal blow to the stalled Middle East peace process if it passed the report on to the Security Council.The United States, which recently joined the Council, had opposed endorsement while the European Union had also expressed concern about moves to adopt a resolution endorsing the report's recommendations.The report by Goldstone and three other legal experts said there was evidence that both Israeli forces and Palestinian militants committed war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity during the offensive and in rocket attacks against Israel.Unusually, the mission set up by the Council earlier this year held public hearings with some Palestinian and Israeli victims and witnesses.

Thursday, October 01, 2009

ARAB WOMEN RELEASED BUT NO SHALIT FREED

Palestinian women prisoners return to new worlds By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH, Associated Press Writer – Thu Oct 1, 3:04 pm ET

RAMALLAH, West Bank – Women make up only a tiny minority of more than 7,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, but they often pay a high personal price for what has largely been a supporting role in the Palestinian uprising.Some have raised babies behind bars, and others have watched their families torn apart in their absence.When 20 of them go home early on Friday — in exchange for the first videotaped sign of life from an Israeli soldier held by Gaza militants — they're returning to worlds very different from what they left behind.The violent revolt they were swept up in has largely fizzled. Nine years after the outbreak of an uprising against Israeli occupation, Palestinian pragmatists seeking a peace deal have pacified the West Bank. Even Gaza's Islamic militant Hamas rulers have been holding their fire, cowed by Israel's bruising offensive last winter.

Personal circumstances have also changed.

Fatima Ziq, 41, was pregnant when she was arrested in May 2007 as an alleged accomplice in a foiled suicide bombing. She returns to Gaza City with a toddler — her ninth child — who has known only prison life.Zhour Hamdan, 45, was a married mother of eight when she was picked up in 2003, also as an accomplice in an aborted bombing. Her husband has remarried, and her children were forced to fend for themselves.Our mother was the heart of our family,said one of her daughters, Neveen, 22. "When she was arrested, our entire life changed.The video-for-prisoners exchange is seen as a down payment for a broader swap, in which Israeli Cpl. Gilad Schalit would be traded for about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. The soldier was seized by Hamas-allied militants from an army base near Gaza in June 2006.As of late summer, Israel held 7,430 Palestinian prisoners on security-related charges, from involvement in deadly attacks to throwing stones at Israeli soldiers, according to government figures provided to the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem.Fifty-three of the prisoners are women, according to Palestinian activists, including the 20 slated for early release Friday.Among those remaining behind bars are five serving life terms, including an accomplice in a 2001 suicide bombing that killed 15 Israelis in a Jerusalem pizza parlor and a woman who used an Internet promise of romance to lure an Israeli teen into a deadly West Bank ambush.

The release of prisoners is an emotional issue for both sides.

Palestinians view the prisoners as heroes fighting Israeli occupation at great personal cost, and virtually every Palestinian family has current or former detainees in its midst.In contrast, many Israelis see the inmates as terrorists. Since the outbreak of the uprising, 1,171 Israelis have been killed, most in bombings, shootings and other attacks by Palestinian militants. In the same period, more than 6,300 Palestinians were killed by Israelis.The Israeli public is divided over whether to release large numbers of prisoners in exchange for Israeli captives. Some argue that such releases only drive up the cost of future exchanges and increase the dangers of future attacks.Israeli military correspondent Alex Fishman said Israel is paying an exorbitant price by releasing the women.We have become accustomed to being pushovers,he wrote Thursday in the Yediot Ahronot daily.Among Palestinians, there's a broad consensus that women should be first in line for release.We are a conservative Muslim society,said Issa Karake, the prisoners affairs minister in the West Bank government.Women are the pillar of the house. When a wife or mother leaves the house, it would be ruined.Bothaina Duqmaq, a prisoners' rights activist in the West Bank, said that four babies have been born to Palestinian women in Israeli prisons over the years.The women slated for release Friday were jailed for relatively minor offenses, were close to release or did not harm Israelis. One woman had a month left on an 11-month sentence for interfering with police activity, according to the Israeli Prisons Service.Only a few of the women were members of militant groups, and most were assigned supporting roles, such as helping bombers reach their targets, Duqmaq said.

Many were driven by the desire to avenge relatives killed or arrested by Israeli troops.Linan Abu Gholmeh, 30, from the West Bank city of Nablus, who is getting out after serving four years on a five-year sentence, attempted to stab an Israeli soldier after her husband was killed in a clash with Israeli forces. Heba Natche, 19, tried to stab a soldier in an act of revenge and completed her high school diploma in prison, while serving half of her 40-month sentence.Hamdan, the mother of eight, told her children she never expected to be arrested when she led a suicide bomber into Israel. The assailant was caught and gave her name to the Israelis. Hamdan told her children that in 2003, at the height of Israeli-Palestinian violence, she was swept up by the angry mood and felt she needed to do her part.Her youngest, Mohammed, was 18 months old at the time and was raised by his siblings, some of whom quit school to feed the family.The siblings said their mother's arrest wreaked havoc with their lives and they're eager for her to come home.These are tears of happiness,Neveen said.Additional reporting by Ben Hubbard in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Ali Daraghmeh in Nablus and Nasser Shiyoukhi in Hebron, West Bank.

Lebanese say UAE pressed them to spy on Hezbollah By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Writer – Thu Oct 1, 12:57 pm ET

BEIRUT – A Lebanese businessman alleged Thursday that he and several hundred other Lebanese were expelled from the United Arab Emirates country because they refused to spy on the Shiite militant group Hezbollah and other fellow citizens.Hassan Alayan said more than 300 Lebanese — mostly Shiites — have been forced to leave the Emirates over the past three months. He said most of those deported said UAE authorities asked them to inform on fellow Lebanese Shiites living in the country and on Iranian-backed Hezbollah.Authorities told the Lebanese they were being deported for security reasons, but they believe their refusal to spy was the real reason, Alayan told a news conference in Beirut. The Emirates refused to comment on the allegations, and Lebanese officials said they were contacting authorities there over the matter.One of those deported, Zuhair Hamdan, said his residency permit was rejected after he refused to give authorities information about fellow Lebanese or possible Hezbollah sleeper cells in the UAE.I told them I have been living in the UAE for 33 years. How can I have information about Hezbollah,said Hamdan, who lived in the Emirates since he was 2 years old and worked as a traffic policeman.The UAE is among several predominantly Sunni Arab nations wary of Shiite Iran's growing regional clout — which Iran partly maintains by supplying weapons and cash to the powerful Hezbollah in Lebanon.

A statement by a committee set up to represent the deportees suggested the decision by the Emirates could be the result of U.S. pressure to try to choke off routes of funding for the anti-American and anti-Israel Hezbollah. The U.S. considers Hezbollah a terrorist organization.The Emirates is close to the United States and has cooperated with Washington in trying to shut down networks smuggling weapons to Iran, U.S. officials have said.Alayan said some of those deported were forced to leave even after Lebanese President Michel Suleiman sent a military delegation five weeks ago to the UAE to try resolve the matter without success. More than 100 people who said they were deportees, as well as two Hezbollah legislators, attended the news conference in Beirut.In whose interest is it to ask Lebanese to spy on one another and on the resistance of Lebanon and Palestine? said the committee's statement.Alayan alleged UAE authorities have also deported Palestinians who refused to spy on the militant Hamas group, which rules the Gaza Strip. He said the Palestinians recounted similar pressures by authorities to inform on Hamas.Some Arab media have reported that those who were deported were sending money to Hezbollah, a claim denied by Alayan and Ali Faour, another member of a committee representing the deportees.Faour told reporters that most of those deported have been living in the UAE for decades and most were business owners.Hezbollah, the largest and most powerful Shiite group in Lebanon, came to the defense of the deportees because most of them are Shiite. The deportees had been silent for a few months but last week started meeting with Lebanese officials to complain about their treatment.Lebanon's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, urged UAE President Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan to take a quick initiative to rescue hundreds of Lebanese families.Hezbollah's deputy leader, Sheik Naim Kassem, described the deportations as clear injustice and called on the UAE to be fair with people who are not suspected of working against their host country.

Israel warns UN body against Gaza report Thu Oct 1, 10:51 am ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel warned on Thursday that the UN Human Rights Council would strike a fatal blow to the stalled Middle East peace process if it passes its damning Gaza war report on to the Security Council.The adoption of what is called the Goldstone report would deal a fatal blow to the peace process,Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, repeating comments he made at the UN General Assembly last week.Israel will not be able to take further steps and further risks towards peace if the report is adopted and it is denied the right to self-defence, Netanyahu said.The Geneva-based Human Rights Council this week has been discussing the results of the probe which accused both Israel and Palestinian militant groups of war crimes.The panel also recommends sending the report to the UN Security Council and to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague.

Richard Goldstone, the respected South African judge who headed the probe, on Tuesday urged the United Nations to refer Israel and the Palestinians to the ICC if they fail to conduct independent investigations as called for by the report.Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon warned that the Palestinian Authority's support for the report and sanctions against Israel could hamper future negotiations on the creation of an independent Palestinian state.They were the ones that instigated the report and that are calling for measures. We would expect them to cease this altogether, not just because there is no basis for it but also because this is the most unfriendly act if we want to deal together on the most difficult issues, Ayalon told reporters.Any action taken on this report would have a detrimental effect on the peace process, if not deal it a fatal blow... The Palestinians cannot try to talk peace and attack us at the same time,he said.He nevertheless said that Israel was not planning any steps against the Palestinians.The United States has been putting heavy pressure on Israel and the Palestinians to renew the peace talks which broke down late last year during the Gaza offensive.

Israel to free prisoners for video of held soldier by Ron Bousso – Wed Sep 30, 4:16 pm ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel will free 20 Palestinian women prisoners in return for a video of a soldier held in Gaza, in a breakthrough in nearly three years of indirect talks with Hamas, officials said on Wednesday.The Israeli security cabinet decided to authorise the release of 20 Palestinian women detainees and prisoners,the Israeli prime minister's office said in a statement.Israel will receive updated and clear proof on the health and condition of Gilad Shalit. This proof of life will be handed to Israel by the mediators in the form of a videotape that has recently been filmed.

The release of the prisoners and the handing over of the videotape to Israel will be done back-to-back on Friday, a senior Israeli official told reporters.The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, confirmed the deal, which was proposed by Egyptians and Germans mediating the indirect talks between the Islamist rulers of the Gaza Strip and the Jewish state.The development marked a major breakthrough in nearly three years of on-again, off-again Egyptian-brokered negotiations between Israel and Hamas for an exchange. German mediators joined the talks in July.Shalit, now 23, was seized in June 2006 after Gaza militants, including Hamas, tunnelled out of the Palestinian territory and attacked an Israeli army post, killing two soldiers.

Since 2006, Cairo has been trying to broker a deal under which Shalit would be released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.The video to be handed over on Friday proves that Shalit is alive, officials said.The video is one minute long and is proof that Shalit is alive,a spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees, one of the three groups that carried out the raid in which Shalit was captured, told AFP.The Israeli official declined to comment on Shalit's state of health in the video, saying only that the recording was probably several weeks old and that the German mediator has already seen the video. We have indications of the contents but no Israeli official has seen it.A Hamas spokesman said that the movement has already handed the recording over to the mediators.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quoted by his office as saying: It is important that the entire world know that Gilad Shalit is alive and well, and that Hamas is responsible for his health and state.All but one of the Palestinian women due to be released are from the occupied West Bank and none has been directly implicated in the killing of Israelis, the official told reporters.The prisoners to be released include four from Hamas, three from Islamic Jihad and five from Fatah, seven independents and one from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said.The developments do not spell the imminent release of Shalit himself, Netanyahu's office warned, saying it is meant as a confidence-building measure... ahead of decisive stages in the negotiations for Shalit's release.The negotiations are still expected to be long and arduous,an Israeli official said.

China, U.S. risk rifts in Middle East: former Chinese envoy By Chris Buckley – Wed Sep 30, 1:41 am ET

BEIJING (Reuters) – China and the United States risk deepening rifts over influence and oil in the Middle East, Beijing's former envoy to the region has said, urging his nation to bolster ties with Iran and other energy-exporting powers.Sun Bigan was China's special envoy on the Middle East until March, and in a new essay he said U.S. President Barack Obama's effort to improve ties with Islamic states in the Middle East was a tactical shift that had not removed the potential for friction between Washington and Beijing in the region.China faced growing risks to energy security as it increasingly relied on imported oil, especially from the volatile Middle East, where Beijing's sway had been limited, Sun said.The U.S. has always sought to control the faucet of global oil supplies. There is cooperation between China and the U.S., but there is also struggle, and the U.S. has always seen us as a potential foe,he wrote in the September issue of Asia & Africa Review,which reached subscribers this week.Bilateral quarrels and clashes are unavoidable. We cannot lower vigilance against hostility in the Middle East over energy interests and security,Sun wrote in the Chinese-language journal, which is published by the State Council Development Research Center, a prominent state think tank.Sun's essay was written before the latest flare-up over Iran's nuclear ambitions, which has renewed Western pressure on Beijing to distance itself from Iran and back sanctions.China's Foreign Ministry has urged restraint on all sides ahead of talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, as well as Germany, in Geneva on Thursday. The permanent Council members are the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China.Sun, who now works for a government-run association promoting ties with Asia and Africa, was not directly involved in nuclear negotiations with Iran, but he served as China's ambassador there, as well as in Saudi Arabia and Iraq.He could not be contacted at the association on Wednesday.

BLUNT WARNING

The unusually blunt warning from a former senior diplomat, nonetheless underscores some of the anxieties over oil, influence and security that are likely to shape China's response to the West's confrontation with Iran.Both now and in the future, the Middle East should be our first choice in importing oil and developing oil cooperation,Sun wrote. China should focus on strengthening trade with Saudi Arabia, Iran and Oman, he added.Washington would strive to ensure Iraqi oil remained under U.S. control, he said, but Iran has bountiful energy resources and its oil gas reserves are the second biggest in the world, and all are basically under its own control.Oil gas is the natural gas found in oil fields.In the first eight months of this year, Iran was China's third biggest foreign source of crude oil, with shipments of 17.2 million tonnes, a rise of 14.7 percent compared to the same period last year. Angola and Saudi Arabia were the first- and second-ranked suppliers.

Chinese imports of Iranian oil and gas have been held back by U.S. sanctions, Iranian commercial demands and Chinese jitters, Sun said. But China could find access to Iranian supplies drastically curtailed if political power in Tehran passed to forces more sympathetic to Washington, he suggested.Obama's new Middle East policy is merely a tactical adjustment, and the United States will not and cannot alter its global goals and dominance,Sun wrote.(Editing by Dean Yates)

Bid to arrest Ehud Barak in Britain rejected By RAPHAEL G. SATTER, Associated Press Writer – Tue Sep 29, 7:06 pm ET

LONDON – A Palestinian bid to have Israeli defense chief Ehud Barak arrested for alleged war crimes during a visit to Britain has failed, a lawyer for the groups involved said Tuesday.Attorney Tayab Ali said a London court rejected his application late Tuesday. Palestinians had hoped to take advantage of Britain's principle of universal jurisdiction, under which alleged war criminals can be tried in domestic U.K. courts, to arrest Barak. But Israeli officials had said they weren't worried because, as a top government minister, Barak was immune from arrest.

The British arrest bid is the latest in a series of attempts to arrest or prosecute Israeli officials abroad, something Barak said was absurd.This has to stop otherwise the world will give a prize to terrorists,the defense minister said in a statement.

Barak traveled to Britain to attend the annual conference of Britain's left-leaning Labour Party. He shared what his office said was a hug and a handshake with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown before engaging in talks about Iran and the Middle East peace process with Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Defense Secretary Bob Ainsworth.Tipped off to his visit, the Mezan Center for Human Rights in Gaza and the Ramallah-based al-Haq put together a case against the defense minister accusing him of committing war crimes while directing the Israeli winter offensive against the Gaza Strip, according to the Mezan Center's Mahmoud Abu Rahma.Their case was dismissed at a hearing at the City of Westminster Magistrates' Court in London, according to Ali, who said the judge cited the immunity tendered to senior foreign officials. Ali called the outcome a disappointment.We don't accept that it's correct that immunity applies to him for this type of crime,he said.Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said the attempt to have Barak arrested would not survive past today's headlines, but the defense chief is the latest Israeli official threatened with arrest over war crimes charges abroad.In 2005, Doron Almog, a retired general, dodged arrest by staying on aboard his plane at London's Heathrow airport after a tip-off that police were outside to arrest him. The Israeli jetliner flew him straight back home, and the warrant was eventually dropped for procedural reasons.

The war crimes allegations stemmed from his role as commander of the Israeli army in Gaza in 2002, when Israeli forces destroyed 59 houses in Gaza that Israel said were used by militants and Palestinians said belonged to civilians.In December 2007, Israeli public security minister Avi Dichter, a former chief of the Shin Bet internal security agency, turned down an invitation to visit Britain after being advised he could be arrested for his role in the 2002 assassination of a senior Hamas militant in Gaza. The deadly airstrike on the militant killed 14 other people, including nine children.Earlier this year, a Spanish court shelved a judge's investigation into the same airstrike, siding with prosecutors who said Spain lacked jurisdiction. Complaints have also been filed in Britain against two former Israeli military chiefs, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz and Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, in connection with the airstrike.In 2001, then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was tried in absentia in Belgium, though not convicted, in connection with a 1982 massacre in Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut carried out by Lebanese militants.Barak said Israel needed to do its all to ensure that Israeli citizens and Israeli officials can move freely in the free world.It's absurd that those who try to protect the citizens are those who have to protect themselves,he said.Associated Press Writers David Stringer in Brighton, England, Gregory Katz in London, Joseph Federman and Ian Deitch in Jerusalem, Ben Hubbard in Gaza City, Gaza Strip contributed to this report.(This version CORRECTS Corrects day of the week to Tuesday STED Wednesday)

Israel gets two more German submarines Tue Sep 29, 3:51 pm ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel has taken delivery of two German submarines ordered four years ago, a military spokesman said on Tuesday.We have received two Dolphin-class submarines built in Germany,he said, on condition of anonymity.The submarines, called U212s, can launch cruise missiles carrying nuclear warheads, although when it confirmed the sale in 2006 the German government said the two vessels were not equipped to carry nuclear weapons.The subs were ordered in 2005 and delivery was initially expected in 2010.Including the two new ones, Israel has five German submarines -- the most expensive weapon platforms in Israel's arsenal.Germany, which believes it has a historic responsibility to help Israel because of the mass murder of Jews in World War II, donated the first two submarines after the 1991 Gulf War.

It split the cost of the third with the Jewish state.

According to Jane's Defence Weekly, the U212s are designed for a crew of 35, have a range of 4,500 kilometres (2,810 miles) and can launch cruise missiles carrying nuclear warheads.Israeli media have written that the Dolphin submarine could be key in any attack on arch-foe Iran's controversial nuclear sites.An Israeli submarine recently used the Suez Canal for the first time in June, escorted by Egyptian navy vessels, in what Israeli media said was intended as a message to Iran.Widely considered the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power, Israel suspects Iran of trying to develop atomic weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear programme, a charge Tehran denies.

Palestinian unity talks in Egypt in October: Meshaal Mon Sep 28, 2:27 pm ET

CAIRO (AFP) – Rival Palestinian factions will meet in Egypt in October for talks aimed at reaching a national reconciliation agreement, Hamas supremo leader Khaled Meshaal said on Monday.The exiled leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement was in Cairo for talks with officials over Egyptian proposals to reconcile Hamas with the secular Fatah party of president Mahmud Abbas.The Egyptian proposal can be a good basis for achieving Palestinian reconciliation,Meshaal told reporters.Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who is overseeing the mediation, told us that (Egypt) will work on a final draft of the reconciliation agreement in the coming days and will invite different Palestinian factions next month, October, for a national meeting,he said.According to extracts of the proposals obtained by AFP, the plan calls for both presidential and parliamentary elections to be held across the Palestinian territories in the middle of 2010.It also calls for the reinforcement of the Fatah-dominated security forces under Egyptian supervision and the release of prisoners in both the Fatah-run West Bank and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.Egypt has twice postponed the scheduled date for the signature of a reconciliation agreement in Cairo because of continuing disagreements between the two Palestinian factions.

Zawahiri brands Obama a criminal: TV Mon Sep 28, 1:28 pm ET

DUBAI (AFP) – Al-Qaeda's second-in-command branded US President Barack Obama a criminal who turns a blind eye to the expansion of Israeli settlements, in an audiotape broadcast by Al-Jazeera television on Monday.Have we realised the truth of Obama the criminal, or do we still need more crimes to be carried out in Kabul, Baghdad, Mogadishu and Gaza to be sure of his criminality?Ayman al-Zawahiri asked.

Have we realised the lowliness of America under the leadership of the smiling and wooing Obama?he asked in the recording which could not be immediately authenticated.
Zawahiri accused the US president of showing little interest in curbing the growth of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank, while at the same time forcing Arab leaders to make further concessions to Israel.Obama leaves the settlements spread in the West Bank and around Jerusalem, showing little remorse, while he presses the surrendering (Arab) rulers to give in further,he charged.Egypt-born Zawahiri, the right-hand man of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, was speaking in a recording released to praise the former leader of Pakistan's Taliban who is believed to have been killed in a US attack in August.Zawahiri eulogised Baitullah Mehsud in the 28-minute statement, reported IntelCenter, a US-based group which monitors Islamist websites.US and Pakistani officials said Mehsud had most probably died after a missile attack by an American drone in August.In a recording posted on the Internet on September 23, Zawahiri said Obama would be defeated by Islamist fighters.In his latest tape, Zawahiri also scolded Turkey for its forthcoming assumption of the leadership of NATO forces operating in Afghanistan.

Every Turk who is concerned about Islam and the Muslims should know that his country's troops will assume next month the leadership of the Crusade in Afghanistan that is burning the villages, destroying homes, killing women and children and occupying the land of Islam,he said.The Turkish forces in Afghanistan will lead the same (kind of) operations that are conducted by the Jews in Palestine. How could the free zealous Turkish people accept this crime against Islam and the Muslims,he added.

Syria calls for Israel to join nuclear treaty By SLOBODAN LEKIC, Associated press Writer – Mon Sep 28, 1:20 pm ET

UNITED NATIONS – Israel must comply with the demands of the International Atomic Energy Agency if the Mideast is to become a region free of weapons of mass destruction, Syria's foreign minister said Monday.Foreign Minister Walid Al-Moualem echoed calls by many Arab nations during the current U.N. General Assembly session for Israel to comply with the IAEA's demand to submit its nuclear facilities to the agency's safeguard regime and to adhere to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The treaty restricts any nuclear program to nonmilitary purposes.Israel has never said it has nuclear weapons, but is universally believed to possess a sizable arsenal of such warheads.The U.S. and its allies consider Iran the region's greatest proliferation threat, fearing that Tehran is trying to achieve the capacity to make nuclear weapons despite its assertion that it is only building a civilian program to generate power. They also say Syria — which, like Iran is under IAEA investigation — ran a clandestine nuclear program, at least until Israeli warplanes destroyed what they describe as a nearly finished plutonium-producing reactor two years ago.Islamic nations, however, insist that Israel is the true danger, saying they fear its nuclear weapons capacity.

Earlier this month, the 150-nation IAEA conference adopted a resolution directly criticizing Israel and its atomic program for the first time in 18 years. Iran hailed the vote as a glorious moment.The result was a setback for Israel, the United States and other backers of the Jewish state. It also reflected building tensions between Israel and its backers and Islamic nations, backed by members of the 120-nation Nonaligned Movement.The meeting adopted a resolution calling for a Mideast free of nuclear weapons in a near-consensus vote, with only Israel voting against.

Syria stresses the need to commit Israel to comply with the resolution adopted by the IAEA ... regarding Israeli nuclear capabilities,Al-Moualem said.Attempts to contact the Israeli mission to the U.N. for comment were unsuccessful on the holiday of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.