ISRAELS INHERITED LAND IN THE FUTURE
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.
VIDEO ON ISRAEL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBMo1fsJ9Z4&feature=player_embedded
CAN NEW YORK BUILD HOUSES ON THEIR OWN PROPERTY,CAN OTTAWA BUILD HOUSES ON THEIR OWN PROPERTY,CAN AUSTRALIA BUILD HOUSES ON THEIR OWN PROPERTY,CAN THE UK BUILD HOUSES ON THEIR OWN PROPERTY.SO HOW COME ISRAEL GETS TOLD THEY CAN NOT BUILD HOUSES ON THEIR OWN LAND OWN BY ISRAEL IS MY QUESTION?
Mideast tensions hurt US interests: Pentagon chief
11:15AM MAR 25,2010
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Israeli-Palestinian tensions are affecting US national security interests in the region, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Thursday.His comments at a news conference came amid US frustration with Israel over its announced plans to build settler homes in east Jerusalem, which Washington says hurts Mideast peace efforts.The lack of progress toward Middle East peace is clearly an issue that's exploited by our adversaries in the region and does affect US national security interests in the region,Gates said.The stalled peace process was a political challenge,he said.Gates was asked about recent testimony from General David Petraeus, head of US Central Command, who told a Senate hearing this month that the worsening Mideast conflict fed anti-American sentiment in the region due to a perception of US favoritism for Israel.The Obama administration has expressed anger over Israel's plans to build 1,600 new homes for Jewish settlers in annexed Arab east Jerusalem, announced during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden.Top officials have slammed the new construction and the timing of the announcement as insulting and destructive.
But Gates and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, said that ties between the US and Israeli armed forces remained strong.Gates added that concern over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was not new, saying the United States has considered peace in the Middle East to be a national security interest for decades.
Hezbollah members questioned in Hariri case By Bassem Mroue, Associated Press Writer – MAR 25,10
BEIRUT – International investigators have questioned members of the militant Hezbollah group in connection with the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Lebanese security and judicial officials said Thursday.They said a team from the Netherlands-based Special Tribunal for Lebanon has interviewed several Hezbollah members in Beirut, among dozens of other people.The judicial official said the investigators were speaking to a range of people who could have information about the assassination.Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.Many in Lebanon fear that if the Shiite, Iranian-backed Hezbollah is accused by the tribunal in connection with the assassination, it could lead to tension and possibly violence between Lebanon's Shiite and Sunni communities.Violence between members of the two sects left more than 100 people dead over the past five years.Hariri was a Sunni Muslim with close links to Saudi Arabia, one of the world's foremost Sunni powers.It was not clear whether Hezbollah members have been questioned before, but it was the first time officials disclosed that interviews with group members have actually taken place.
Hariri was Lebanon's most prominent politician since the 1975-1990 civil war ended. He was killed in a massive truck bombing that set off a spiral of political turmoil in Lebanon, including the withdrawal of Syrian troops after almost 30 years of military presence and domination of the country.Many Lebanese blame Syria for the killing, which Damascus denies.In May last year, German magazine Der Spiegel said the court had evidence that members of Hezbollah were behind the assassination.
Hezbollah has fiercely denied any role in the killing. The group's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, one of Syria's strongest allies in Lebanon, has said that any attempt to implicate Hezbollah in the killing will be considered a politically motivated Israeli accusation.Hezbollah officials have refused to confirm or deny the reports that its members have been questioned.The U.N. investigating team has questioned hundreds of people in the past few years, but it has kept silent on its progress and who might be charged.The court prosecutor's spokeswoman Radhia Achouri also declined to comment on whether members of Hezbollah were questioned.Associated Press writer Zeina Karam contributed to this report.
Israeli PM fails to resolve settlement spat with US by Joseph Krauss – MAR 25,2010
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put on a brave face as he flew home to a storm of derision on Thursday having failed to resolve a bitter row with Washington over settlement building.Netanyahu insisted ahead of his departure that the two close allies had made progress but his trip served to illustrate the growing divide between Israel and Washington on Jewish settlement activity.Despite meetings with US President Barack Obama and other top officials, Netanyahu appeared unable to tamp down the row over the construction of 1,600 new settler homes in annexed Arab east Jerusalem.Ahead of his scheduled departure, Netanyahu cancelled planned interviews with reporters, Israeli media said, after having none of the customary public appearances, even for photo opportunities, with US officials during his trip.Israel's Maariv newspaper called the visit a "humiliation" and said Netanyahu had received in the White House the treatment reserved for the president of Equatorial Guinea.Other media reported that the carefully coordinated dressing down of Netanyahu was accompanied by demands for wide-ranging measures including the extension of a partial settlement halt and the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture to president Mahmud Abbas.Everyone understood that this time Obama had Netanyahu with his back to the wall,Israel's mass-selling Yediot Aharonot said.
Obama asked Netanyahu during two high-stakes meetings late on Tuesday to take specific confidence-building steps to boost indirect talks with the Palestinians, but officials remained vague on the details.White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the discussions were honest and straightforward,a diplomatic euphemism hinting at tensions, after Netanyahu went into the talks having laid down a hard line on settlement construction in east Jerusalem.The White House had not even characterised the talks until Gibbs spoke, 15 hours after the Israeli prime minister left the presidential residence, and, unusually, did not release an official photo of the closed-door talks.The Israeli leader on Tuesday said US demands for a settlement freeze could delay the resumption of Middle East peace talks for a year, a day after a fiery speech in which he said: Jerusalem is not a settlement.But as he left Washington, Netanyahu insisted the two sides had found a balance between the traditional policy followed by all Israeli governments and our willingness to find ways to revive the the peace process.He was expected to meet senior ministers later on Thursday to discuss Washington's demands.A day after his meetings with Netanyahu, Obama discussed the latest tensions in the Middle East with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the White House said. Chronology: US-Israeli relations since 1991 The talks by secure video link also focused on another key issue that concerns Israel -- Iran.
Many Israelis fear that the growing rift with Washington could hinder progress on containing Iran's nuclear programme, which Israel views as its greatest strategic threat. Tehran insists the programme is peaceful.The spat erupted after Netanyahu's government announced the construction of 1,600 new housing units in east Jerusalem as US Vice President Joe Biden visited the region earlier this month to boost peace talks.The Palestinians, who view east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised state, have refused to meet face-to-face with Netanyahu without a complete freeze of settlement construction in the occupied territories. The United States has warned such construction undermines its credibility as a mediator, and despite Netanyahu's apology over the timing of the announcement the dispute has rumbled on for two weeks. As Netanyahu met Obama, it emerged Israeli officials had given final approval for 20 new settler units in east Jerusalem, annexed by Israel after the 1967 Six Day war in a move not recognised by any other government. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the project, saying that the planned apartments are illegal under international law and that all settlement activity must stop.And Jordan, one of just two Arab countries to have signed a peace treaty with Israel, said it was playing with fire.
Israeli PM gets home support in dispute with US By JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press Writer – Thu Mar 25, 8:12 am ET
JERUSALEM – Senior members of Israel's ruling coalition on Thursday rallied behind embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his dispute with the U.S., saying Israel would keep on building Jewish homes in east Jerusalem and accusing Washington of unfairly putting pressure on the government.The hard-line stance signaled even deeper trouble for the U.S. as it tries to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which broke down more than a year ago.Netanyahu left Washington early Thursday after a last-ditch effort to heal the rift over Israel's policies in east Jerusalem appeared to fail. The U.S. wants Israel to stop building Jewish homes in east Jerusalem — the section of the city that the Palestinians want as the capital of a future state.Netanyahu refuses, saying the entire holy city must remain Israel's capital.Silvan Shalom, Netanyahu's deputy and sometimes rival in the ruling Likud Party, told Israel Radio on Thursday that he completely supports the prime minister, saying that the Jewish people's historical bond to Jerusalem is unbreakable.The subject of building in Jerusalem is unconditional and if we blink we will lose everything,Shalom said, warning the government would collapse if Israel backs down.
The prime minister has a mandate not just from Likud voters or the Jewish people here but from the Jewish people from throughout the generations and therefore in this regard we have no option to accept another decision and no other decision can be made.While he said the relationship with Washington is critical for Israel, he said the United States needs to understand that if it is one sided only and all the pressure is on Israel only, then that way doesn't contribute and might cause an opposite effect. The efforts need to be directed to both sides.Netanyahu's culture and national infrastructure ministers made similar comments in radio interviews Thursday.The fate of Jerusalem is the most explosive issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Israel captured east Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war and immediately annexed the area — a move that has never been recognized internationally. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem to be the capital of an independent state that includes the neighboring West Bank, as well as the Gaza Strip to Israel's south.Over the years, Israel has built a ring of Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem to cement its control over the area. Some 180,000 Israelis now live in these neighborhoods, which the international community view as illegal settlements.The Palestinians have refused to return to the negotiating table until Israel freezes construction in all settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Netanyahu has only offered to slow construction in the West Bank.There was no immediate Palestinian reaction. But in neighboring Jordan, King Abdullah II warned Israel that it is playing with fire over its settlement policy and that the Jewish state must decide whether it wants peace or war.He urged Israel to take tangible actions toward ending settlements and resuming peace talks.
The crisis with the U.S. erupted earlier this month when Israel announced during a visit to Israel by Vice President Joe Biden that it plans to build 1,600 new apartments in a Jewish neighborhood of east Jerusalem.Biden condemned the move, and plans to resume peace talks through U.S. mediation were put on hold. The U.S. has asked Israel to cancel the plan.Netanyahu's Washington visit this week had been meant as a fence-mending mission. But he again refused to soften Israel's line on east Jerusalem — a position that was underscored by an announcement from Jerusalem city officials that they had approved 20 new apartments for a Jewish housing project in the heart of an Arab neighborhood. Interior Minister Eli Yishai, whose office oversees approval of new housing construction, pledged in a newspaper interview to keep on building in east Jerusalem. I thank God I have been given the opportunity to be the minister who approves the construction of thousands of housing units in Jerusalem,he said.Associated Press writer Ian Deitch contributed to this report.
Iran dismisses Israel PM's self-defence warning
Thu Mar 25, 6:44 am ET
TEHRAN (AFP) – Iran on Thursday dismissed as worthless Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's warning that the Jewish state has the right to self-defence.
Netanyahu's comments stem out of Satanic thoughts and are worthless, ISNA news agency quoted Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast as saying.The Israeli leader's comments made during a visit to Washington were low life thoughts, said Mehmanparast.Along with the West, Israel suspects Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the guise of an atomic energy programme. Tehran denies these claims.Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israel expects the international community to act swiftly and to act decisively to thwart this danger, but we will always reserve the right of self-defence.Israel, widely considered the Middle East's sole if undeclared atomic weapons power, has refused to rule out military force against the Islamic republic's nuclear programme.
Syria stands ready if war is imposed: Assad
Wed Mar 24, 7:50 pm ET
BEIRUT (AFP) – Damascus stands ready if war is imposed by Israel as regional tensions rise and hopes for peace fade, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told Lebanese television Wednesday.We are faced with an enemy that has shown until this day that it understands nothing but the language of force, and it seems that peace in the region is not in the horizon, Assad said in an interview in Arabic with the Hezbollah-run Al-Manar television late Wednesday.His statement came amid heightened tension in the region and concern in Lebanon over recent Israeli threats against Shiite militant party Hezbollah and its backers Syria and Iran.Assad said the current tension, which he described as a state of no-war, no-peace, would inevitably lead to either war or peace.Do we have any hope in the Israeli government? No. But we do believe that Israel is left with no choice but peace, he said.But when war is imposed on you, you wage that war irrespective of the balance of power, he added.
Israel and Syria in 2008 launched Turkish-mediated indirect peace talks which failed at the end of that year when Israel launched a devastating military offensive in Gaza.In December 2009, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman dismissed indirect talks with Syria through Turkish mediation, calling instead for direct talks, to be held in Damascus and Jerusalem.Earlier this month, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Israel was moving towards again accepting Turkey as a mediator to restart the stalled peace talks.
UN chief will urge Arabs to back Mideast talks
Wed Mar 24, 5:13 pm ET
UNITED NATIONS – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he will urge Arab leaders this weekend to support indirect talks between the Palestinians and Israelis despite their anger over Israel's approval of new homes for Jews in predominantly Arab east Jerusalem.He said it's crucial for Arab countries to help create a favorable atmosphere for the talks to succeed.Ban said Israel's announcement on March 9 that it intends to build 1,600 new homes and Wednesday's announcement that it will construct 20 new apartments for Jews in east Jerusalem have created a crisis of confidence as efforts continue to start the indirect talks.The secretary-general leaves Thursday for the Arab League summit in Sirte, Libya, on March 27-28.
Kadhafi hosts first Arab summit in bid to rescue Jerusalem by Imed Lamloum – Wed Mar 24, 12:53 pm ET
SIRTE, Libya (AFP) – Libya's maverick leader Moamer Kadhafi hosts his first Arab summit this weekend that aims to rescue Jerusalem as Israel defies international calls for a settlement freeze in the Holy City.The Saturday-Sunday summit in Sirte is also expected to home in on Sudan where President Omar al-Beshir, although faced with an international arrest warrant for alleged war crimes in Darfur, is seeking re-election.The Israeli-Palestinian peace process has already dominated the runup to the summit amid calls for both the Arab world's pro-Western and radical leaders to set aside feuding and unite against Israel.Kadhafi, who himself has been known to storm out of Arab summits in the past and has a history of ruffling the feathers of fellow Arab leaders at such forums, has set the tone.His Mediterranean hometown of Sirte in central Libya is decked with banners that proclaim: The time is not for disputes,We must work together,and The interest of the (Arab) nation rises above all differences.Syria has also set the lofty target of Arab unity and circulated a proposal on how to resolve Arab differences,according to delegates.Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose country like Libya is emerging from international isolation, called on Wednesday for the Arab world to close ranks and rescue Jerusalem from Israeli schemes.Israel has infuriated the Arab and international community with plans to expand Jewish settlements in annexed mainly Arab east Jerusalem.
Its US ally has warned that the settlement plans would derail its efforts to revive Israel's peace talks with the Palestinians amid a rise of violence in and around Jerusalem over the past two weeks.The 22-member Arab League's secretary general, Amr Mussa, has even suggested that all peace talks with the Jewish state, direct or indirectly through US mediation, be suspended.Negotiations with Israel at this time are pointless, he said ahead of the Sirte summit.His deputy, Ahmed Ben Helli, said on Tuesday that Arab foreign ministers meeting before the heads of state would draft a summit resolution outlining measures to rescue Jerusalem from being Judaised.The draft will be discussed at a preparatory meeting in Sirte on Thursday and be submitted to the summit for approval.Arab diplomats said the aim was to set up a commission to record Israeli violations in east Jerusalem for referral to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.Israel has refused to go back on its announcement to build 1,600 new homes for settlers in east Jerusalem.US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described the timing of the announcement -- during a visit to Israel by Vice President Joe Biden on March 9 aimed at promoting indirect peace negotiations -- as insulting.But after White House talks on Tuesday, Israel's hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remained defiant.If the Americans support the unreasonable demands made by the Palestinians regarding a freeze on settlements in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, the peace process risks being blocked for a year,he said.
Further riling the Palestinians, Israeli media reported that municipal authorities had approved a plan to build a further 20 homes for Jewish settlers in east Jerusalem. The Quartet of major players in the Middle East peace process -- the United States, European Union, Russia and the United Nations -- on March 19 called on Israel to freeze all settlement activity, including natural growth.The Palestinians are under mounting US pressure to enter indirect peace talks as soon as possible, but regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday that it was unrealistic given Israel's stubborn stand. Meanwhile, it remains unclear how many Arab leaders will turn up in Sirte. Saudi King Abdullah who has traded insults with Kadhafi at past summits could stay at home, while Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, recovering in hospital from surgery, is sending Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif. Lebanon which blames Libya for the disappearance in 1978 of leading Shiite cleric Mussa Sadr is still mulling the invitation.
Struggle for Jerusalem goes on, four decades after war By Tom Perry – Wed Mar 24, 8:43 am ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Wael Kawamle was raised by his Palestinian parents just outside the ancient walls of Jerusalem, yet his children have never visited that city.They cannot get Israeli permission to live in the place their father calls home.
Today, Kawamle lives beyond a 21st-century wall that skirts Jerusalem's eastern rim. His home is technically within the city limits, as drawn by Israel, but beyond the security barrier it has built with the stated aim of keeping out suicide bombers.
Jobless, he has turned down work because the commute through checkpoints in the wall can take hours. And he cannot move home; Kawamle has an Israeli-issued permit letting him into the city but his four children, aged 14 to 24, do not. Like many, they are caught in the bureaucratic tangle of Jerusalem ID.The obstacles placed between Kawamle, his family and the city where he grew up have led him to a simple conclusion about the Israelis: They are trying to keep us out of Jerusalem.Forty-two years come June since Israel captured Jerusalem, the city remains at the heart of the Middle East conflict. For Israelis, it is their eternal and indivisible capital, the home the Jews dreamed of through 2,000 years of bitter exile.For Palestinians, there can be no peace deal until Israel cedes them control over at least part of the city, a symbol of their national struggle and home to Islam's third holiest site.
Israel's military conquest of Jerusalem from Jordan in 1967 was for the Palestinians just the start of a campaign they think still aims to force them out, deepen Israeli control and render impossible any two-state peace deal that would divide the city.
Jewish settlement building around the city, pursued by successive Israeli governments, is now at the heart of a row between Israel and its main ally the United States, which says the policy is endangering its latest attempt to advance peace.As Israel builds in Jerusalem, and encourages foreign Jews to settle there, Palestinians say it is pushing them out. Their leaders say Israel is working ever harder to Judaise the city.Palestinians who face eviction and demolition orders from the Israeli authorities complain of planning restrictions that make it near impossible to build legally and residency laws that lawyers say treat them as foreigners in their own city.But Naomi Tzur, the Israeli deputy mayor, said claims that Palestinians are being pushed out were absolute nonsense.We see in numbers that the Palestinian population of Jerusalem has grown faster than the Jewish population, she told Reuters.
SILENT DEPORTATION
Yet for many Palestinians, one in three of Jerusalem's 750,000 residents, hanging on to the Israeli-issued ID permit to reside in the city is a struggle that dominates their lives.Israel revoked 4,577 Jerusalem IDs in 2008, accelerating such action massively, says Hamoked, an Israeli human rights group, citing Interior Ministry data. That's more than 35 percent of the total since 1967, said Hamoked's Leora Bechor.These explosions in numbers we see as efforts to create a silent deportation, diluting the population of East Jerusalem in order to maintain a Jewish majority, said Bechor, an attorney.One Palestinian who lost her Jerusalem ID in 2008 said Israeli officials cited her marriage to a fellow Palestinian who had become a U.S. citizen and had lost his own Jerusalem permit: She had decided to seek residency in a foreign country.Requesting anonymity for fear of damaging her appeal, she said:I lost my residency rights in my own country.Now staying in the United States and permitted only brief visits to Jerusalem, where her family have lived for centuries, she said: We, the people of the land, are being thrown out.
Not everyone has the same complaint. Shana Lipsky is Jewish. She moved from Chicago two years ago and soon got an Israeli passport.It was very quick. It's much faster than in the States,said the 29-year-old mother of two. Her family now lives in Neve Yaakov. To Israel it is a part of the Jerusalem municipality, but to Israel's Western allies it is occupied land in the West Bank, illegally annexed after 1967.
FIGHT AND WIN
Taking advantage of Israel's policy of welcoming all Jews to the state created in 1948 in formerly British-ruled Palestine, the Lipskys came partly to escape American materialism and to live their religious lifestyle in the biblical Jewish homeland.
While Israel offers passports and tax breaks to new Jewish immigrants, the Lipskys also had help from American Christians who believe that the end of the world and coming of the Messiah will be hastened when all the world's Jews live in Jerusalem.
The Lipskys have no doubts about their right to be there. When you fight and win territory, that becomes yours,said Shana's husband Noach. Citing Jews' biblical ties to Jerusalem, he added: We have a much stronger claim to it than anyone.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed U.S. criticism this week:The Jewish people were building Jerusalem 3,000 years ago and the Jewish people are building Jerusalem today,he said in Washington.Jerusalem is not a settlement.Israel's allies see it differently. Settlements form a belt that separates Arab districts of East Jerusalem from the West Bank. They are in turn encircled by the snaking West Bank security barrier, built in recent years with the stated aim of keeping out suicide bombers. It has also cut tens of thousands of Arab Jerusalem residents off from the city center.
Ir Amim, an Israeli organization which says it aims for a more viable and equitable Jerusalem, says 50,000 new settler homes for East Jerusalem and annexed areas of the West Bank are passing through the planning and approval process. Such building would take a significant bite out of the last property reserves of the Palestinian neighborhoods,it says. While the Israeli government has led the settlement expansion project around Jerusalem, Palestinians say they have been forced to build illegally to house growing families. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that some 60,000 Palestinians are at risk of house demolitions in Jerusalem for building without permission. Tzur, the deputy mayor, says East Jerusalem development has been neglected.This was because in many ways everyone was holding their breath and waiting for some kind of final status decision about the city, she said, adding that allowance had been made for thousands of new homes under new plans. But municipal planning is a controversial issue in a city where a third of residents do not recognize Israeli sovereignty. Adnan al-Husseini, the Palestinian Authority-appointed mayor of the city, said Israel had no right to make any such plans.This is a municipality of occupation, he said. There is a battle against the land and a battle against the people. They do not want people on this land.(Additional reporting by Jihan Abdalla, editing by Alastair Macdonald and Samia Nakhoul)
Israel plans 100 more new homes for East Jerusalem
Wed Mar 24, 4:47 am ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel plans to build more Jewish homes in occupied East Jerusalem, an Israeli official said on Wednesday, a day after talks between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama.Elisha Peleg, a Jerusalem city councilor and member of the municipal planning commission, said 20 units had been approved for a compound in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem known as the Shepherd's Hotel.Peleg called it just a technical step adding that a total of 100 homes would be built, beginning with 20 cottages.Sheikh Jarrah has become a flashpoint of tension in the city since last year when Israel evicted several families descended from Palestinian refugees after an Israeli court found for Jewish families claiming ownership of these properties.Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state but Israel, which annexed East Jerusalem after capturing it along with the rest of the West Bank in 1967, considers the whole of the city as its capital.Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said President Mahmoud Abbas would insist that Israel revoke the plans to build in Sheikh Jarrah, as well as another published two weeks ago to build 1,600 houses at another site near the city.When we say peace or settlements, it seems he goes for the settlements, Erekat said of Netanyahu.(Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Dominic Evans)
Obama, Netanyahu seek to defuse U.S.: Israel tensions By Jeffrey Heller and Matt Spetalnick – Tue Mar 23, 6:02 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Tuesday in a bid to ease strained ties but with dim hopes for any breakthrough in the stalled Middle East peace process.The talks, unusually low profile for a visiting Israeli leader, were held a day after Netanyahu struck a defiant note in the face of new U.S. criticism of Jewish home construction in a part of the occupied West Bank annexed to Jerusalem.American and Israeli officials have sought to get relations back on track after the housing dispute touched off the worst diplomatic rift between Washington and its close ally since Obama took office last year.In a sign of White House concerns about lingering tensions, press coverage of the Oval Office talks was barred and no public statements were planned.Netanyahu, under intense pressure at home from members of his right-leaning coalition, was showing few signs of backing down during his American trip.Before seeing Obama, Netanyahu told U.S. lawmakers he feared peace talks may be delayed for another year unless Palestinians drop their demand for a full freeze on Jewish settlements.We must not be trapped by an illogical and unreasonable demand, Netanyahu said during a meeting with House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders, according to his spokesman.
It could put the peace negotiations on hold for another year, he said of the talks, which have been suspended since December 2008.Palestinian officials said it was Netanyahu's policy that was keeping the peace process in limbo.The Palestinians retreated from their agreement to begin indirect, U.S.-mediated peace talks two weeks ago after Israel announced plans to build 1,600 homes for Jews in an area of the occupied West Bank annexed to Jerusalem.
KEEPING OUT OF SPOTLIGHT
Despite a promise from Netanyahu of confidence-building steps -- which have not been disclosed publicly -- to encourage Palestinians to return to talks, the White House sought to keep his meeting with Obama out of the spotlight.It was held in the early evening after Obama's signing of landmark healthcare reform bill.The announcement of the disputed housing project coincided with a visit to Israel this month by Vice President Joe Biden and drew strong U.S. condemnation.Israel captured East Jerusalem, along with the West Bank, in a 1967 war and regards all of Jerusalem as its capital. The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a state they hope to establish in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.Netanyahu's policy is the one that is obstructing the return to negotiations, Nabil Abu Rdainah, a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, told Reuters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
We are ready to go back to negotiations if Netanyahu adheres to what came in the statement of the Quartet.At a meeting in Moscow on Friday, the Quartet of mediators -- the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations -- called on Israel to freeze settlement activity in line with a 2003 peace road map.That plan also obliged the Palestinians to take action to disarm militants. Netanyahu began his Washington visit on Monday, delivering a defiant address to the influential pro-Israel lobby AIPAC in which he declared Jerusalem is not a settlement.(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell; editing by Chris Wilson)
Grandiose plan for east Jerusalem submitted
Tue Mar 23, 1:59 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Jerusalem city hall has submitted a grandiose plan for hotels, businesses and new housing for Palestinians in the center of east Jerusalem.The plan calls for developing a large area across from the Old City wall for tourism and commerce, as well as 1,000 additional apartments.A statement said the proposal has been given to the local planning commission for debate. That's the first of many steps of approval before construction could begin. That could take years and could stall at any stage.A graphic accompanying the statement shows new housing built on top of present structures, indicating that the old buildings would not be destroyed.
The plan dates to 2008. In the past, Palestinians have objected, charging that vast areas would be bulldozed.
World will stop Iran getting nuclear arms: Blair
Tue Mar 23, 11:24 am ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair warned Iran on Monday the world will do whatever it takes to stop it acquiring a nuclear weapon.Iran must not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons capability. Iran must know that we will do whatever it takes to stop them getting it, Blair told the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC.The danger is if they suspect for a moment we might allow such a thing,he told delegates on the last day of the three-day annual policy conference of AIPAC, the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee.We cannot and we will not. This is not simply an issue of Israel's security. This is a matter of global security, mine yours, all of us, the former British prime minister said.Iran's regime is the biggest destabilizing influence in the region,he said, adding that both Israelis and Arabs know this.He was alluding to Iran's support for anti-Israeli Muslim militant groups in Lebanon and in the Palestinian territories as well as to Shiite militants in Iraq, which was formerly led by Sunnis, the majority group in the Arab world.Yemen has also accused Shiite northern rebels of taking money from Iranians and of plotting to create a Shiite zone along the Saudi borders.During the AIPAC policy conference, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Seccretary of State Hillary Clinton raised alarms about the perceived nuclear threat from Iran.
Clinton said it was worth taking the time needed for the United Nations Security Council to adopt new sanctions that bite against Iran.Israel, which sees the threat more urgently, has raised the threat of a pre-emptive military strike against Iran's nuclear sites.The United States, Israel and others fear that Iran's uranium enrichment program masks a drive for a nuclear bomb. Tehran denies the charge, saying it is for peaceful nuclear energy.
Clinton, Netanyahu show clashing Jerusalem views By MATTHEW LEE and MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press Writers – Mon Mar 22, 11:50 pm ET
WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented dueling positions on Jerusalem construction Monday, underlining a recent spat between the allies while simultaneously suggesting the incident is behind them.Israel recently announced new housing plans for east Jerusalem, the part of the city Palestinians want for a future capital, drawing unusually sharp criticism from the Obama administration. Clinton renewed that disapproval on Monday, telling a pro-Israel audience that provocative Israeli land policies in areas claimed by the Palestinians are not in Israel's long-term interests and undermine U.S. credibility as a mediator.Speaking later in the day to a crowd of nearly 8,000 pro-Israel activists at the same forum, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, including hundreds of congressmen and senators, Netanyahu did not budge from his position that building anywhere in Jerusalem is an Israeli right.But at the same time both sides appeared to be indicating that while differences may remain, the spat — unique in recent memory for its harsh rhetoric and public nature — should not be allowed to further mar ties or delay the launch of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.The spread of Jewish homes on land claimed by the Palestinians threatens the Obama administration's first attempts at shuttle diplomacy intended to establish an independent Palestinian state, Clinton said in her speech, and makes it hard for the United States to be an honest broker.Our credibility in this process depends in part on our willingness to praise both sides when they are courageous, and when we don't agree, to say so, and say so unequivocally,Clinton said. She also criticized Palestinian incitement to violence.
President Barack Obama has remained out of the fray as Clinton and other U.S. officials have rebuked Israel for its announcement of new construction in Jerusalem, which came while Vice President Joe Biden was visiting the country. It embarrassed Biden, a staunch supporter of Israel, and led to new stress in relations between Washington and its top Middle Eastern ally.Obama agreed to see Netanyahu on Tuesday at the White House — Obama's first meeting with the Israeli leader since the severe diplomatic breach over the housing announcement this month. But it will be closed to reporters, an unusual choice when hosting a close ally and a sign that suggested the rift may not be entirely healed.New construction in east Jerusalem or the West Bank undermines mutual trust and endangers the proximity talks that are the first step toward the full negotiations that both sides want and need,Clinton said.It exposes daylight between Israel and the United States that others in the region hope to exploit,and undermines what she called an essential U.S. role as mediator.The AIPAC crowd responded with notably more enthusiasm to Netanyahu's assertion that Jews had been building in Jerusalem for 3,000 years and that Israel would continue to do so.
Jerusalem is not a settlement. It's our capital, Netanyahu said to a prolonged standing ovation.The neighborhoods Israel has built in east Jerusalem are an inextricable part of the city, the Israeli leader said, and will remain part of Israel under any peace agreement.Therefore, building in them in no way precludes the possibility of a two-state solution,he said. Israel does not want to rule over Palestinians, he said, while calling on Palestinian leaders to begin talks.But despite the clashing positions, Israel and the U.S. both appeared to signal that the spat should not further delay Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.In her speech, Clinton assured Israel that the U.S. administration's commitment to its security and future is rock solid.And after she met the Israeli leader Monday, Israeli officials termed the talks friendly and said both the United States and Israel were interested in leaving the rift behind and getting talks started quickly. A statement from the State Department also said the goal was to move to direct negotiations as soon as possible.
Clinton said talks with Netanyahu on action Israel can take to restore confidence were under way.Some Israeli officials say that while there will be no formal building freeze, construction may be restricted, as in a partial 10-month West Bank construction freeze that Netanyahu has already enacted.The steps have not been made public, but officials say another element is agreement to discuss all outstanding issues in the indirect talks that the United States is to mediate. Those would include the future of Jerusalem, borders, Jewish settlements and Palestinian refugees. Clinton got loud approval when she talked tough on Iran — an issue on which there is more agreement between Israel and the United States. Both countries believe that Iran wants nuclear weapons, that it could be able to develop them soon and that such weapons would pose a grave threat. The secretary said the Obama administration would not accept a nuclear armed Iran and is working on sanctions that will bite as a deterrent. In his speech, Netanyahu said that should Iran obtain nuclear weapons, Our world would never be the same.
Israeli soldier killed in friendly fire near Gaza By Nidal Al-mughrabi – Mon Mar 22, 7:41 pm ET
GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli forces opened fire on each other along the Gaza border on Monday, killing one of their own soldiers in an incident in which three Palestinian infiltrators were captured, a military spokesman said.Tensions have run high along the Israel-Gaza frontier this month, with Israel launching repeated air strikes at the Hamas-ruled territory in response to rocket attacks by militants which killed a Thai worker in southern Israel last week.Separately on Monday Israel launched an air strike at Gaza City, targeting what Hamas security called an old water well. An Israeli military spokesman said a weapons storage facility was targeted in response to rocket firings at Israel.Three civilians were wounded in that attack, medics said.
The Israeli spokesman, responding to media reports, including one by Al Arabiya television which said an Israeli soldier had been killed, said the serviceman was apparently killed as a result of friendly fire.Two separate forces had been alerted to a suspected infiltration from Hamas-ruled Gaza, but neither knew the other was in the area, the spokesman said. One of the forces mistakenly identified the tank team (at the site) as suspects and began opening fire,he added.A soldier was killed as a result, and three unarmed infiltrators were also arrested, said the spokesman, who added that a colonel has been named to investigate the incident.None of the militant groups in Gaza claimed responsibility for any of the infiltrators, suggesting the men could have tried to enter Israel in search of employment.Palestinians from the Israeli-blockaded territory have been known to steal across the fortified border in the same area, often in search of work in Israel.A Palestinian security source in Gaza said Israel fired artillery into the area shortly afterwards and medics reported one man was wounded, but it was unclear in which incident he had been hit.
Later Israel launched the air strike. after militants fired two rockets and several mortars at Israel, causing no casualties.(Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan)
Top US lawmaker: Iran sanctions coming soon
Mon Mar 22, 4:53 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US Congress will soon take final action to approve tough new sanctions on Iran over its refusal to freeze its suspect nuclear weapon, a top Democratic lawmaker said Monday.We can't expect a change of heart from a regime founded in violence, and in violent disregard for world opinion -- but we can demand a change of behavior,House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told the potent AIPAC pro-Israel lobby group.So Congress will soon take final action on sanctions to target the Iranian economy at its weakest point, the refined petroleum it depends on, Hoyer said in a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.Because of a lack of domestic refining capacity, oil-rich Iran is dependent on gasoline imports to meet about 40 percent of domestic consumption.The House and Senate have been working to reconcile rival versions of legislation aimed at that vulnerability, producing one compromise version both chambers would approve and send to Obama to sign into law.These sanctions will demonstrate the high cost of Iran's self-imposed isolation from the community of nations,said Hoyer, who vowed he would not leave Israel's security hanging on a button in a bunker under Tehran.
Iran denies Western charges that its atomic program hides a quest for nuclear weapons, and is under several rounds of UN sanctions for refusing to halt uranium enrichment.The top two Republicans in the House of Representatives also pressed for tough new sanctions on Iran and urged the White House to defuse a feud with Israel over settlements in order to focus on the threat from Tehran.The administration can and should move forward to impose meaningful and targeted sanctions now and urge all nations to follow suit, Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner said in a statement.Boehner lamented a predictable pattern in Obama's diplomacy of concessions to countries acting contrary to US national interests while it ignores or snubs key allies, citing the Israeli settlement dispute.The number two House Republican, Representative Eric Cantor, told AIPAC that Iran must be dealt with firmly, with real sanctions that have real teeth in order to make clear that our willingness to use force is on the table.The message should be clear: If you deal with Iran, you are not welcome to deal with the US,said Cantor, the only Jewish House Republican.We are in a critical time. Now is not the time to be picking fights with Israel in what seems to be an attempt to curry favor with the Arab world. Now is the time when the US must stand with Israel in the global struggle against the threats posed by radical Islam,said Cantor.
US urges restraint from Israel, Palestinians By DALE GAVLAK, Associated Press Writer – Mon Mar 22, 3:58 pm ET
AMMAN, Jordan – The Obama administration is seeking to establish conditions for the stalled Israel-Palestinian talks to resume, U.S. Mideast envoy George Mitchell said Monday, urging the two sides to exercise restraint.Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, meanwhile, said the Palestinians wanted to give a chance to indirect talks with Israel mediated by the United States.Mitchell and Erekat spoke in Amman, the Jordanian capital, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu headed to Washington. His trip there comes as U.S. and Israeli officials try to ease one of their worst-ever crises that erupted when Israel announced plans to build 1,600 new apartments in east Jerusalem, the part of the city that the Palestinians want as capital of their future state.The announcement, made during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden, threw U.S.-sponsored peace talks into doubt and helped set off Palestinian protests in Jerusalem and the West Bank.On Monday, Mitchell told reporters that the U.S. will continue talking to Israel and the Palestinians as we seek to establish the conditions which will make possible the early commencement of proximity talks.He did not elaborate, but added: We urge all sides to exercise restraint...What is needed now is a period of calm, quiet in which we can go forward in the effort in which we are engaged.
The U.S. wants to enter proximity talks at the earliest possible time in a manner in which we hope will lead to direct negotiations and ultimately to an agreement that leads to a comprehensive peace in the Middle East, Mitchell said after talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Amman.Washington, he said, envisaged a future Palestinian state that is economically independent, geographically contiguous.The American later met with Jordan's King Abdullah II, a strong U.S. ally and the leader of only two Arab nations that signed peace treaties with Israel.A palace statement quoted Abdullah as telling Mitchell that Israel must stop all unilateral measures in the occupied Palestinian territories, especially provocative moves aimed at changing Jerusalem's identity and threaten its holy sites.Separately, Erekat condemned Israel's settlement activities in east Jerusalem and added: We need to give the proximity talks the chance they deserve, but we want to make sure that the decisions of the Israeli government to construct 1,600 housing units in east Jerusalem and more to come is really stopped.He said the Palestinians also wanted assurances that similar Israeli moves would be prevented in the future.
Hamas should be part of Mideast peace talks: Lula
Mon Mar 22, 12:04 pm ET
BRASILIA (AFP) – A negotiated Middle East peace will only be possible if Iran, the Islamist Hamas movement and the Shiite Hezbollah military group are part of the dialogue, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Monday.In his weekly Coffee with the President broadcast, Lula advocated dialogue with the Iranians, with the Syrians, with Israel, with the Palestinians, with Hamas and with Hezbollah.He said ignoring any of these interlocutors would leave a void at the negotiating table.
The Islamic Hamas movement is listed by the European Union and the United States as a terror organization, while Hezbollah is a longtime adversary of Israel's.Lula's remarks here echoed comments made during travels last week in the Middle East, where he met with Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian leaders -- the first visit to the region by a Brazilian head of state.He offered his government's services in helping to resolve the Middle East impasse, but added that his country would only play role if invited to do so.Everyone talks about the crisis in the Middle East, but no one is doing anything to fix it. Brazil is trying to do its part,Lula said.
Obama invites defiant Israeli PM for talks by Gavin Rabinowitz – Sun Mar 21, 11:45 pm ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – US President Barack Obama has invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet him at the White House, even as the Israeli leader rebuffed a key US demand to halt settlement construction in east Jerusalem.The invitation for the Tuesday meeting to discuss Middle East peace efforts was handed to Netanyahu by Obama's Middle East envoy George Mitchell at the start of a meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu's office said.US Vice President Joe Biden will host Netanyahu for dinner on Monday.Biden will welcome the Israeli leader to his official residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington, on the eve of Netanyahu's meeting with Obama, the White House said.The US Vice President was in Israel less than two weeks ago when an Israeli announcement on the construction of 1,600 new settler homes in east Jerusalem sparked an argument between Washington and the Israeli government.Biden condemned the substance and the timing of the announcement but later said he accepted Netanyahu's expressed regret for the incident.Earlier, Netanyahu vowed there would be no halt to settlement building in east Jerusalem, but in an apparent concession to Washington, he said Israel was willing to widen the scope of planned indirect talks with the Palestinians. Related article: Pro-Israel meeting airs fears
His comments on settlements were quickly denounced by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas as unhelpful to attempts to restart talks. Abbas also condemned the weekend killing of four Palestinians in the West Bank by Israeli forces.Our policy on Jerusalem is the same as all previous governments of Israel for the last 42 years, it has not changed, Netanyahu said ahead of Sunday's weekly cabinet meeting.As far as we are concerned, building in Jerusalem is the same as building in Tel Aviv and this is something we have made very clear to the US administration.The hardline premier said he had spelled out his position in a letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who had demanded a series of Israeli steps to end a crisis over settlement-building in the Holy City.Israel and the United States have been at loggerheads for the past two weeks after the Jewish state announced plans to build 1,600 new homes for settlers in east Jerusalem during a visit by Biden.Netanyahu's office said he had suggested mutual confidence-building measures that could be carried out by Israel and the Palestinians.He also said on Sunday that Israel had agreed that all issues could be discussed at planned indirect -- or proximity -- talks that were delayed by the settlement row, reportedly another US demand.We have also made clear that in the proximity talks both sides can raise any issues that are in dispute,Netanyahu said.
But a real solution to the basic problems between us and the Palestinians can only be solved during direct talks and peace negotiations.Netanyahu later met visiting UN chief Ban Ki-moon, who said he would encourage Arab states to support proximity talks. Related article: UN aids Gaza reconstruction Ban, who ended a two-day visit after meeting the prime minister, had earlier toured the Gaza Strip where he slammed Israel for blockading the Hamas-ruled territory, saying it was causing unacceptable suffering.It was Ban's second visit to Gaza since the war that ended in January 2009 in which some 1,400 Palestinians were killed and thousands of houses were severely damaged or destroyed. Thirteen Israelis were killed in the conflict. Mitchell, who arrived in the region on a visit originally set for last week but postponed by the controversy, was to hold talks on Monday with Abbas, who had threatened to call off indirect talks with Israel in protest at the settlement announcement. On Friday at a meeting in Moscow, members of the Middle East peace Quartet -- the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- came out with a prescription for getting moribund peace talks back on track. They called on Israel to freeze all settlement activity, dismantle settlement outposts erected since March 2001 and stop house demolitions in annexed east Jerusalem. The last round of peace talks collapsed at the start of the Gaza war. The latest manoeuvring came amid a rise in violence in the occupied West Bank, where four Palestinians were killed in weekend clashes with Israeli soldiers, including two on Sunday the military said were shot dead after trying to stab a soldier. In Washington, meanwhile, a pro-Israel conference opening on Sunday exposed fears that the settlements row had left scars in US-Israeli ties.
Robert Satloff, the executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy think-tank, told the conference that the crisis between the allies was serious and real even if both sides were now trying to defuse it.
