Saturday, December 05, 2009

OIL PRICES PERFECT SAUDIS

Saudi oil minister: oil prices perfect By Tarek El-tablawy, Ap Business Writer – Sat Dec 5, 7:15 am ET

CAIRO – Saudi Arabia's oil minister said current global oil prices are perfect, as several key OPEC members indicated the group was unlikely to change output levels when it meets later this month.The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which supplies roughly 35 percent of the world's crude, has held its quotas unchanged since last year's record 4.2 million barrels per day in cuts.The price is perfect, Saudi oil minister Ali Naimi, whose country is OPEC's most influential member, told reporters.The market is stable right now, volatility is at a minimum.Since December, OPEC has focused on boosting compliance with output quotas of its 12 member states. The group's approach has helped oil prices rebound to almost $80 per barrel recently, after they collapsed last year as the world's worst recession in decades sapped demand for crude.The benchmark crude oil contract for January delivery settled at $75.47 a barrel on Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, hitting a seven-week low on high global inventories and the strong dollar.

Ministers from several key Arab OPEC nations, however, indicated that they were satisfied with the current situation in the market and said it was unlikely the group would change quota levels at its Dec. 22 meeting in Luanda, Angola.No, no, no, I don't expect anything, said Shukri Ghanem, the head of Libya's National Oil Corp. who serves as the North African nation's de facto oil minister.I think because ... of the market situation, because of the fluctuation of the market, we don't expect any change in the quota.Kuwaiti oil minister Sheik Ahmed Al Abdullah Al Sabah said the group would likely hold its output targets as is.Algerian Oil Minister Chakib Khelil said that it would be some time before OPEC likely considered raising its production targets, signaling a lingering unease with global inventory levels.All four officials spoke on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries.OPEC has said it wants to see crude in the $70-$80 per barrel range, a level which Saudi Arabia's king had first indicated was high enough to encourage producers to continue their work while not shocking the world's economy.

The producer bloc's efforts to bring global crude stocks down have been somewhat undermined, however, by weaker compliance by some of its members — a slippage that has become more pronounced as oil prices climbed. The overwhelming majority of OPEC nations rely on oil revenues for as much as 90 percent of their foreign revenues, and higher prices have encouraged the more cash-strapped member-states to boost their output.Libya's Ghanem said that he believed the group will have to call for more compliance by OPEC members because there is some ... excess production.An OPEC report last month said the group, excluding Iraq which is not bound by quotas, produced roughly 26.5 million barrels per day in October. That is about 1.5 million barrels per day above their production target.Naimi voiced satisfaction with the current situation, however, saying that inventories are coming down.

Jordan summons Israel envoy over Jerusalem church by Ahmad Khatib – Thu Dec 3, 2:30 pm ET

AMMAN (AFP) – Jordan summoned Israeli ambassador Nevo Dani on Thursday to demand a halt to unilateral work carried out by the Jewish state on the outer walls of Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre.The ambassador was summoned today to the foreign ministry where he was handed an official letter of protest expressing deep concerns and rejection of unilateral measures in the outer western walls of the church, a senior official told AFP.The Jordanian government demanded Israel immediately halt such actions and restore the status quo, according to the letter.

Israel's measures are illegal and violate international laws because Israel is the occupying force in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, the official said.Another Jordanian official said the Israeli authorities have removed iron bars around a gate in the walls that has been sealed since the British mandate of Palestine (which ended in 1948) and opened the gate.The official, who declined to be named, said that the Israelis claimed that they were doing renovations but nobody asked them to do anything.This is unprecedented and dangerous, the official said, noting that anything to do with the Holy Sepulchre is very sensitive.In Jerusalem, the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, which looks after the holy places on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church and liaises with other Christian denominations, also protested against what it said was a unilateral Israeli action.The work presently being carried out by the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) on the ancient sealed door known as Mary?s Gate, which is located on Christian Quarter road in the Old City of Jerusalem, is the sole and entire initiative of the same Israeli Antiquities Authority, it said in a statement.The Custody of the Holy Land never asked the IAA to do this work nor did the Custody give its permission.In fact the representatives of the Custody informed representatives of the IAA of the sensitive nature of this door.It must be stated that the Custody asked that no change to this door be made, and that the iron bars protecting the door be left in their present state, precisely because behind this sealed door is the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Sepulchre Church.

The Custody would like to state for the record that the status quo regarding this ancient door must be left unchanged.The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is shared uneasily by six Christian denominations -- Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Egyptian Coptic, Syrian Orthodox and Ethiopian Orthodox as well as Roman Catholic.It is regarded by most Christians as the holiest place in Christendom.Church sources in Jordan told AFP that Israel started work on the walls on November 23.Jordan, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, stressed in the letter the need to maintain the status quo between all Christian denominations.It is the custodian of Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, in coordination with the Palestinians.

Palestinian president to visit Lebanon
Thu Dec 3, 12:50 pm ET


BEIRUT (AFP) – Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas will make a brief visit to Lebanon next week for talks with President Michel Sleiman on relations and the plight of Palestinian refugees, officials said on Thursday.A Lebanese official who did not wish to be identified told AFP that during Monday's visit Abbas will also discuss the Middle East peace process and the rebuilding of a refugee camp in northern Lebanon destroyed in 2007.A Palestinian official in the West Bank town of Ramallah where Abbas has his headquarters confirmed the visit, speaking on condition of anonymity.The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) lists almost 400,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.But Lebanese and Palestinian officials say the actual number resident in Lebanon may be as low as 250,000 because UNRWA does not strike off its lists refugees who have gone abroad.

Most of those that remain live in 12 camps across the country.One of the camps, Nahr al-Bared, was destroyed in 2007 in fierce battles between an Al-Qaeda-inspired group and the Lebanese army.

EU report says Israel illegally annexing east Jerusalem by Philippe Agret – Thu Dec 3, 12:40 pm ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – In a confidential report obtained by AFP on Thursday, the European Union accused Israel of actively pursuing the annexation of Arab east Jerusalem and undermining hopes for peace with Palestinians.The annual report drafted by the EU heads of missions in Jerusalem accused Israel of implementing in 2009 an intricate policy which includes expanding Jewish settlements and demolishing Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem.Developments in east Jerusalem in 2009 were marked by the continued expansion of Israeli settlements and a considerable number of Palestinian house demolitions and eviction orders, said the report, published first by Israel's liberal Haaretz daily.Israel occupied and annexed east Jerusalem in 1967 and considers it its eternal indivisible capital in a move never recognised by the international community.Israel is, by practical means, actively pursuing its illegal annexation of east Jerusalem by weakening the Palestinian community in the city, impeding Palestinian urban developments and ultimately separating east Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.The future of east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want to make the capital of their promised state, is one of the most sensitive issue in Middle East peace talks, which have been suspended for almost a year.The EU report said that the Jewish state's policies in east Jerusalem are undermining prospects for a Palestinian capital in east Jerusalem and incrementally render a sustainable two-state solution unfeasible.

The 14-page report dated November 23 said that Israel's policy in east Jerusalem is an integral part of a broader Israeli strategy.It goes on to accuse the Israeli government and Jerusalem municipality of supporting and assisting private right-wing Jewish organisations of strengthening the Jewish hold in and around the Old City.The continued settlement expansion plans around the Old City effectively encircles and contains the historic basin and separates the Muslim holy places from the rest of east Jerusalem, the report said.It said the municipality places severe restrictions on issuing building permits for Palestinian houses in east Jerusalem, forcing them to construct without permits.As a result, over 600 Palestinian-owned structures have been demolished since the year 2000, it said.Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a freeze on new permits for house construction in Jewish settlements in the rest of the West Bank, but the decision does not affect east Jerusalem, where some 200,000 Jews live in 12 settlements.

Foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor branded the report as dishonest.This report is based exclusively on Palestinian versions and figures. It reflects the Palestinian propaganda, he told AFP.

Israel opposition leader holds talks with Sarkozy
Thu Dec 3, 11:48 am ET


PARIS (AFP) – Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni said Thursday she had discussed the need for a quick resumption of Middle East peace talks during her meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.Time is against us, she told reporters following talks at the Elysee palace that also touched on Iran.We discussed the need to re-launch the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians and I believe that this is part of Israel's interest to relaunch the negotiations from the point at which we stopped basically a year ago.Israel last month announced a 10-month moratorium on settlement construction in the occupied West Bank in a step aimed at restarting stalled peace talks after months of US pressure.The Palestinians, who have demanded a full settlement freeze before resuming the talks, rejected the measure as insufficient.Sarkozy has in recent months stepped up French diplomatic efforts to revive the peace process, but there have been no concrete gains.Concerning Iran's disputed nuclear programme, Livni called for more effective sanctions on Tehran to force it to meet international demands to reveal the extent of its atomic activities.

The world cannot afford to have Iran with a nuclear weapon, said Livni, a former foreign minister and now leader of the centrist Kadima party.

Israel think-tank warns EU off Swedish proposal
Thu Dec 3, 7:05 am ET


JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A proposal before the European Union to endorse the division of Jerusalem would risk closing off half the city to non-Muslims, according to a think tank close to the Israeli government.The Israel Project said the plan could be backed at a regular meeting of the bloc's 27 foreign ministers on Monday, as part of what it called a bid to forge a high-profile role in resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.Diplomats in Brussels said the EU meeting was likely to discuss the stalled Middle East peace process, but no radical new policy change was in the works. East Jerusalem has been seen for years as prospective capital of a future Palestinian state.The think tank singled out current EU president Sweden and its foreign minister Carl Bildt, saying he aimed to sideline the EU's more balanced existing policy.Relations between Sweden and Israel have been irritated recently by what was seen in Israel as an anti-Semitic story in the Swedish press and Israel's refusal to let a Swedish minister visit Palestinians in the blockaded Gaza Strip.

The Israeli strategists say the EU's current policy calls for a two-state solution which should take into account the political and religious concerns of both sides, and protects the religious interests of Jews, Christians, and Muslims worldwide.They said that when East Jerusalem fell under Arab control in the 1948 Middle East war, access typically was denied to all but non-Muslims, forbidding Christians and Jews from visiting their holiest sites.The think tank said that Israel, by contrast, after its victory in the 1967 Middle East war, liberated Jerusalem and opened it up to people of all faiths.The Israel Project said that the EU proposal also implies recognition of a unilaterally declared Palestinian state that it says the Palestinian Fatah movement intends to announce without waiting for any peace treaty with Israel.It said Israel's foreign ministry had responded to the Swedish proposal urging the EU to instead focus on getting the Palestinians to take steps to demonstrate they are interested in pursuing peace.(Writing by Douglas Hamilton; editing by Tim Pearce)

Chemical weapons watchdog pursues holdout nations
Thu Dec 3, 6:46 am ET


AMSTERDAM – The newly elected chemical weapons chief says he will pursue the last seven holdouts — including Israel, Egypt and Syria — to get them to sign a disarmament treaty and submit weapons stockpiles for inspection.Ahmet Uzumcu says he expects one nation, Angola, to sign the Chemical Weapons Convention soon. The Mideast countries, however, have said joining the convention is linked to an agreement on nuclear disarmament.Uzumcu told reporters on Thursday chemical disarmament should be weighed on its own merits.

North Korean, Myanmar and Somalia also have not signed the 1997 treaty.The veteran Turkish diplomat was elected Wednesday to be director of the 188-nation Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, based in The Hague. He takes over next July.

Record number of Palestinians lost Jerusalem IDs in 2008 by Charly Wegman – Wed Dec 2, 12:56 pm ET

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel last year stripped a record number of Palestinians of their Jerusalem residency status, and the accompanying freedom of movement and insurance benefits, government figures revealed on Wednesday.In 2008, a total of 4,577 Palestinians lost the so-called blue ID, the Israeli identification card that entitles holders to national insurance and freedom of movement throughout the country, according to the interior ministry which issues the cards.By comparison, 8,558 Jerusalem Palestinians lost their residency status between 1967, when Israel captured the Arab eastern part of the city, and the end of 2007, the figures showed.

Palestinians living in east Jerusalem, which Israel later annexed in a move not recognised by the international community, hold Israeli IDs but not passports.They are entitled to all the insurance benefits of Israeli citizens and can vote in municipal -- but not national -- elections.They also enjoy complete freedom of movement within the country, unlike their compatriots in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip, who cannot enter the Jewish state without special permits that are hard to obtain.According to the liberal Haaretz daily, which first reported on the story, the dramatic increase in the number of confiscated IDs came after the previous interior minister, Meir Sheetrit of centrist Kadima party, decided to update the residency lists of east Jerusalem Palestinians.Those who could not prove that they still lived in east Jerusalem were stripped of their IDs.In the beginning of 2008, it was decided to conduct a census of those who do not live in Israel but are still registered as residents, so that the population register could be corrected, interior ministry spokeswoman Sabine Haddad told AFP.To be a resident of Jerusalem, a person must prove that Israel is their main place of residence. Otherwise the population register must be altered, she said.Some 180,000 Israeli settlers currently live alongside nearly 270,000 Palestinians in east Jerusalem.

Israel considers Jerusalem to be its eternal, indivisible capital, while the Palestinians claim the eastern and mostly Arab part as the capital of their promised state.Israeli law stipulates that permanent residence status can be revoked if an individual has lived at least seven consecutive years abroad or has received foreign residency or citizenship, according to the Israeli HaMoked rights group, which slammed the move.Revocation of residence has reached frightening proportions, it said in a statement.The interior ministry campaign in 2008 is only part of a general policy whose aim is to limit the Palestinian population and preserve a Jewish majority in Jerusalem, whose future is supposed to be determined in negotiations.The Palestinians are natives of this city, not residents who have recently arrived.

Israel strips more Palestinians of Jerusalem status By Douglas Hamilton – Wed Dec 2, 8:09 am ET

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel stripped Palestinians of Jerusalem residency status last year at a faster rate than at any time in the history of the Jewish state, an Israeli rights group said on Wednesday, citing official Israeli statistics.

Revocation of residence has reached frightening proportions, said Dalia Kerstein, executive director of Israel's HaMoked Center for the Defense of the Individual.
Statistics HaMoked obtained from the Ministry of Interior under a Freedom of Information Act request show 4,577 residents of East Jerusalem had their residence revoked in 2008, which was greater than half the total revoked in the past 40 years.

The United Nations, the United States and the European have criticized Israel's policies in Jerusalem, which include the eviction of Palestinians from homes whose ownership they cannot prove, demolition of housing built without Israeli permits, and expansion of settlements on land occupied since a 1967 war.The Palestinians say Israel's aim is to get rid of as many Palestinian residents as possible from East Jerusalem, to reduce their presence in its eastern districts and undermine the claim to half of the Holy City as capital of their future state.The Interior Ministry campaign in 2008 is only part of a general policy whose aim is to limit the Palestinian population and preserve a Jewish majority in Jerusalem, whose future is supposed to be determined in negotiations, Kerstein said.The Palestinians are natives of this city, not residents who have recently arrived, she added in a HaMoked statement.Israel annexed East Jerusalem after capturing the area in the 1967 Middle East war and regards all of the city as its capital, a claim not recognized internationally.Some 250,000 Palestinians now live in East Jerusalem and adjacent suburbs alongside 200,000 Israelis. The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects calls for the city to be divided or shared as part of a peace agreement.

EU REPORT CITED

The United Nations and Western powers, which do not recognize Israel's claim, say the status of the city is one of the core issues to be settled in peace negotiations, which have been suspended for the past year and show no sign of resuming soon.The Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Wednesday quoted an internal European Union document as saying Israel was helping Jewish right-wing zealots to implement its strategic vision of changing the demographics.At the same time, the paper quoted the EU report as saying, the Israeli-run municipality was depriving Palestinians of needed building permits and providing them with inferior health, sanitation and educational services.While 35 percent of Jerusalem citizens are Arab, less than 10 percent of the city's budget goes to Arab areas, the EU internal report said.The consulate of Sweden, which holds the rotating presidency of the 27-member EU, confirmed the existence of the report but refused to release it to Reuters. A senior Palestinian official also refused to disclose the document.HaMoked said the Israeli Interior Ministry had provided statistics for all of the years from 1967 to 2008 apart from 2002 for which it said no figures were available.They show that 8,269 Palestinians had their Jerusalem residence revoked over the 40-year-period. The previous high was in 2006, when 1,363 Palestinians were stripped of Jerusalem resident status. No figures were available for the current year.Palestinians in East Jerusalem have permanent resident status but Israeli law says it may be revoked if they spend more than seven consecutive years outside Israel, or take foreign residence or citizenship. HaMoked quoted the Interior Ministry as saying most of the 2008 revocations -- under the previous government of Ehud Olmert -- were carried out on those grounds in March and April as part of an initiated check by the ministry.

Most of the cases lived abroad, the ministry said. Only 38 cases involved Palestinians who moved to the Israeli-occupied territories outside East Jerusalem.
(Editing by Alison Williams)

Hezbollah strikes softer tone in second manifesto: analysts by Rouba Kabbara – Tue Dec 1, 2:39 pm ET

BEIRUT (AFP) – Hezbollah's new political platform signals a shift in its position as it seeks to portray itself as an integral part of Lebanon's domestic scene rather than an Iranian proxy, analysts said Tuesday.The manifesto is reassuring as it shows Hezbollah's integration with Lebanese political life, said Paul Salem, who heads the Beirut-based Carnegie Middle East Centre.In the first manifesto, it posited itself straight out as a proponent of an Islamic republic, whereas this document strikes a balance between the party's ties to Lebanon and its ties to Iran, Hezbollah's main backer, Salem told AFP.Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Monday announced his party's second manifesto since 1985.The first manifesto called for the establishment of Islamic rule in Lebanon, but the party leadership has toned down its rhetoric in recent years as it gained political clout.On Monday, Nasrallah said that his party's continued ideological commitment to Iran's brand of Islamic government did not contradict its role in local politics.In his newspaper column on Tuesday, Rafiq Khoury wrote: It would seem the party has had a change of form whilst maintaining the same content.But political analyst Rafiq Nasrallah, who is not related to the Hezbollah chief, said the second manifesto signalled a new phase in the militant party's history.Hezbollah has now confirmed that it is a major player in local politics, thereby contradicting its first manifesto, he told AFP.In this manifesto, Hezbollah did not say it was the sole power on the ground, but spoke of cohabitation between a strong army and popular resistance, Nasrallah added.But Salem points out that the second manifesto, while softer in tone, nonetheless defends the party's right to bear arms.It refers to the weapons as a fixture and not as a transitional phase followed by integration with the army, he said. And not all Lebanese will agree to that.Oussama Safa, who heads the Lebanese Centre for Policy Studies, says that while the manifesto sounds more Lebanese in tone, Hezbollah is unequivocal about its right to keep its arsenal.This manifesto clearly shows Hezbollah's arms are not open to discussion, he told AFP.But in its manifesto, Hezbollah, which has been accused of running a state within a state with its arsenal, called for a united Lebanon that represents everyone.

We want a Lebanon that is united through its land, its people, its state and institutions, Nasrallah said in announcing the 32-page manifesto.Hezbollah is the only faction which refused to disarm after Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.It argues that its weapons are needed to protect the country against Israel, which withdrew its troops from south Lebanon in 2000 after a 22-year occupation. Nasrallah, 49, has headed Hezbollah since 1992 when his predecessor, Abbas Moussaoui, was killed in an Israeli helicopter raid. The party has participated in parliament since 1992 and had ministers in government since 2005.Prime Minister Saad Hariri's new cabinet in November agreed on a policy statement that acknowledged Hezbollah's right to hold weapons for use against Israel, despite disagreement by some members of the ruling majority.The statement underlines the right of Lebanon, its government, its people, its army and its resistance to liberate all Lebanese territory.

Issue of east Jerusalem sparks EU-Israel row
Tue Dec 1, 1:22 pm ET


BRUSSELS (AFP) – A row broke out between Israel and the European Union Tuesday over a draft EU proposal that east Jerusalem should become the capital of a future Palestinian state as part of a Middle East peace deal.At the heart of the diplomatic spat is a suggestion by the Swedish EU president that EU nations should call for an independent, democratic, contiguous and viable state of Palestine comprising the West Bank and Gaza and with East Jerusalem as its capital.

However it has already caused a storm in Israel where it was first aired in the Haaretz daily.The process being led by Sweden harms the European Union's ability to take part as a significant mediator in the political process between Israel and the Palestinians, the Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement.After the important steps taken by the government of Israel to enable the resumption of negotiations with the Palestinians, the European Union must now exert pressure on the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table. Steps like those being led by Sweden only contribute to the opposite effect.The draft text was prepared for a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels next week, and diplomats said there was plenty of opposition to it within member states and it could change ahead of the meeting.One EU diplomat said that half disagree with this statement, adding there were now three options -- for the text to remain as it is, to be completely scrapped or for it to be in edited in some way.The text will be worked on at various diplomatic levels trough the rest of the week but it is quite likely that it will be left for the foreign ministers to thrash out next week, the source added.

The original text will be changed we believe.The European Union has long supported the idea of an independent Palestinian state as part of an overall peace settlement.
But till now the 27 EU nations have not dealt so directly with the idea of splitting Jerusalem in two.The EU position is well known, the way forward should allow Jerusalem to become the shared capital of the two states, European Commission spokesman Lutz Guellner said.In 2003 the international Quartet -- EU, Russia, UN, US -- called in their peace roadmap for the problem of the status of Jerusalem to be resolved with a two-state solution, but did not explicitly mention a shared capital or a divided Jerusalem.Earlier this month the Swedish EU presidency published a statement calling for a solution whereby Jerusalem would become the capital of both Israel and a Palestinian state.

The Israelis were surprised enough at this kind of talk, one diplomat said.It was the first time that such language was used and the Israelis feared this would create a precedent, the diplomat said.The formula of Jerusalem as the capital of two states, appears elsewhere in the draft EU text.

Bethlehem traders still waiting for Christmas cheer By Erika Solomon – Tue Dec 1, 6:04 am ET

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (Reuters) – The lights are going up and carols are ringing from Manger Square, but Christmas cheer hasn't spread to all of Bethlehem's residents.

While calm has returned to the Biblical birthplace of Jesus, scene of heavy fighting during the Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, in the early years of this decade, big-spending foreign tourists have mostly not, say the shopkeepers and restaurant owners who depend on them for their livelihood.Last year, the West Bank town enjoyed its first tourism boom since the Intifada. About 1.5 million people visited Bethlehem in 2008, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism.People's presence here during Christmas reflects on coming seasons, and how well the city is doing and whether the situation in the region is good, said Elias al-Arja, president of the Palestine Hotels association.But even as visitor numbers are projected to rise again, shopkeepers insist they are not feeling the benefit.Foreign tourists are whisked through Bethlehem from nearby Jerusalem on half-day visits organized by tour companies located in Israel. The two cities are divided by just a few kilometers (miles) but also an Israeli wall that complicates the journey.

I have a clear impression that the Israeli government would prefer that I not come here, said Doris Warrell, an American Protestant minister who was one of the few foreigners that stayed to browse a Christmas market set up this week on Manger Square outside the Church of the Nativity, which stands on the spot revered by Christians as the birthplace of Jesus.Visiting from the United States, Warrell reflected on a very different trip to Bethlehem in 1994, shortly after the launch of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process which is now stalled.People were happy and celebrating. There was a checkpoint, but you didn't have this huge visual impediment, she said, in reference to the West Bank barrier, which Israel says it has built in the past five years to thwart attacks on its citizens.As someone who wants peace for both Palestinians and Israelis, to see that wall there is just an indicator of how many steps back we've taken, Warrell said.Things for some people may not be as violent, but they're still not peaceful.Israel says the barrier has largely succeeded in reducing violence. Palestinians, backed by a ruling from the World Court, see its construction on occupied West Bank territory as a land grab and a tool to consolidate Israeli control of Jerusalem.

NOT LIKE THE GOOD OLD DAYS

Most of the visitors to the Bethlehem Christmas market, selling decorations, needlework, olive oil and jeweler, were local Palestinians: Everyone knows how great it is to come to Bethlehem during Christmas, says 20 year-old Hanne, from the West Bank administrative center of Ramallah.And if the people of Bethlehem make us feel the situation is quiet, and they hold these kinds of activities, it encourages us Palestinians to visit.The new government of Israel's right-wing prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has taken steps to ease freedom of movement for Palestinians around the West Bank, cutting back on military checkpoints in an effort to promote economic growth.Palestinian leaders, while spurning peace talks in protest at Netanyahu's refusal to do more to curb Jewish settlement in the West Bank, acknowledge that his economic peace moves have contributed to economic growth of some 7 percent this year.But Bethlehem merchants complain that fellow Palestinians do not spend like the foreign tourists, who once gave business a major annual boost in the years when violence seemed to be over.

And those foreigners who do come are often not big spenders.

During Christmas, there will be more than 50 buses of Filipinos and other foreign workers from Tel Aviv and Netanya, said Tawfiq Lama, a partner in one of the largest family restaurants and souvenir shop businesses in Bethlehem. No one will profit from their tourism, he said. Christian Filipinos are widely employed in Israel, often as care workers for the elderly. Bethlehem's hotels are enjoying a boom, however, thanks largely to demand from Arab visitors from other parts of the West Bank and Israel who come for a holiday, said Arja, who expects his business to rise 60 to 70 percent this year. At Christmas time, there won't be a single empty room.

Kholoud Daibes-Abu Dayyeh, tourism minister for the Palestinian Authority, expected visitor numbers to rise.But that projection gives little comfort to Samer Kara'a, owner of a restaurant and souvenir shop, who wants foreigners to spend more time and money in Bethlehem, whose merchants live by sales of their ubiquitous, carved olive wood crucifixes, Christmas decorations, Nativity cribs and ornamental camels.

Foreign tourism to Bethlehem is largely organized by tour companies run from Israel, locals say.They do the shopping in Israel, and they just come here for two hours, Kara'a said.And we cannot say no because we want them to come to Bethlehem.
Additional reporting by Mustafa Abu Ganiyeh, editing by Tom Perry and Samia Nakhoul)

Israel rejects European Union plan to divide Jerusalem By Ilene R. Prusher – Tue Dec 1, 4:00 am ET

Jerusalem – Israel's foreign ministry said Tuesday that a Swedish-led push for the European Union to call for the division of Jerusalem and the recognition of East Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state would trip up Europe's own efforts to play a role in Middle East peacemaking.We would like to see the Europeans more involved and playing a role, but it will be more difficult for them to do so if they press ahead, says Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor. The Swedish initiative does not contribute to promoting the peace process, and all it can do is to marginalize the European role.

It will only convince the Palestinians that they can remain the trenches, he adds.

Israeli diplomats have been working overtime across Europe to stop the document from being adopted when European foreign ministers meet Dec. 7 to set a Middle East policy statement.

Greater European role
Several individual European countries have taken a more active role in the peace process in recent weeks. France's Nicolas Sarkozy has been facilitating Israeli-Syrian communication, and German mediators are playing a role in negotiations over a prisoner deal, in which Israel would win the release of its captive soldier, Sgt. Gilad Shalit, who has been held for more than three years by Hamas, in exchange for up to 1,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.But European policy as a whole has been more of a concern, Israeli officials say. Sweden is at the forefront because it holds the rotating EU presidency through January. Relations between Jerusalem and Stockholm have been chilly since a Swedish tabloid ran a report in August suggesting that the IDF [the Israel Defense Forces] harvested organs from Palestinians held in Israeli custody. Israeli officials asked that the Swedish government officially publicly criticize the sensationalist report, but it declined to do so. More recently, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt canceled a planned trip to Israel, Israel's foreign ministry announced over the weekend, apparently due to reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might refuse to meet with him.

Israel: Swedish draft one-sided
Quotes from the draft under Sweden's authorship have been sourced by the Israeli press, but no official copy is being provided because it is an internal document, an official at the Swedish embassy in Tel Aviv told the Monitor.We see no reason to comment on an internal draft document. And if there is a comment to be made, it will be made on behalf of the 27 member states and not just Sweden, says Annika Ben David, counsellor at the Swedish Embassy to Israel.Israel's problem with the draft is that it is one-sided, a senior Israeli official says.If Europe is thinking of going public on what is final status, why only support one side of the issue? The official continues,If you say in your position paper that Israel will have to compromise on Jerusalem, why not come out publicly and say what the Palestinians will have to compromise on? Why not say that Palestinian refugees will have to go back to the state of Palestine, not Israel?

EU official: Support for Palestinians
One European official in Tel Aviv, speaking on background, says that the EU position on Jerusalem does not represent a radical change, but is rather an attempt to show the Palestinians that they have international support for their claim to East Jerusalem as their future capital. In so doing, they hoped to draw Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas back to the negotiating table, despite the fact that the settlement freeze that Netanyahu announced last week did not include East Jerusalem – a prerequisite to peace talks that Mr. Abbas has insisted on. This might be a way to encourage the Palestinians to enter the negotiating process, said the European official.But I don't think Europe is interested in the recognition of a Palestinian state now, ahead of negotiations. It's more saying, if and when it comes to it, we will recognized East Jerusalem as a capital of a Palestinian state.Israel settlement freeze: Benjamin Netanyahu promises 10-month halt, angering allies.